Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

The principal gasped, his gaze towards Zhang Dabiao completely changing. He paced back and forth, his hands rubbing together until they were red, stammering, "The light and shadow! The composition! The paneling technique! Unheard of! This has created a whole new school of painting!"

The principal grabbed Teacher Zhou's hand: "Old Zhou, put them away! Put them away quickly! Not a single one can be lost! Tomorrow... no, this afternoon! I'll personally lead the team to the People's Fine Arts Publishing House! This set of books must be guaranteed by our school, going straight through the highest-level publishing process!"

The deans of studies and the teachers looked at each other, completely dumbfounded.

The teacher who was just complaining about Zhang Dabiao giving special treatment now wanted to slap himself. If he'd known it would be this kind of masterpiece, he would have insisted on joining the five-person group, even if it was just to help sharpen pencils or clean!

Zhang Dabiao stood to the side and yawned: "Principal, going to the publishing house is no problem. But let me make this clear from the start, I'll negotiate the publishing terms myself."

The principal waved his hand, exuding an air of arrogance: "You're in charge! As long as it bears the name of our Arts and Crafts School, whatever you, Zhang Dabiao, say goes!"

what is this?

This is legendary!

This is the achievement of their arts and crafts school!

This is just flattering him, the principal!

It must be met!

------------

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

A borrowed Jeep was parked at the entrance of the People's Fine Arts Publishing House.

Zhang Dabiao carried a huge military green canvas bag containing his 180 precious sketches. Teacher Zhou and the principal flanked him, making it look like an armored truck. Teacher Chen and the others stayed at school to catch up on sleep; the past month had been exhausting for them.

Upon entering the publishing house building, I went straight to find someone I knew. The principal and the editor-in-chief, Lao Li, were old acquaintances.

Old Li was reviewing several rejected manuscripts in his office when the principal walked in with his entourage. He greeted him with a smile, "Hey, old friend, what brings you here? I heard your school is undertaking a big project lately, and you even cancelled the model opera assignments we were given?"

His tone carried a hint of both harshness and gentleness.

The principal wasn't annoyed. He simply pushed Zhang Dabiao forward and said, "Old Li, enough nonsense. Today I'm bringing you a treasure that will make your publishing house famous. But you'd better be prepared, or you might have a heart attack."

Old Li chuckled, picked up his enamel mug, took a sip of water, and said, "Old buddy, I've been in publishing for decades. What masterpieces haven't I seen? I've handled Qi Baishi's shrimp and Xu Beihong's horses. A student's work, you think it can scare me?"

Zhang Dabiao didn't bother with any nonsense. He simply unzipped the canvas bag, took out the top stack of sketches, and slammed them onto Lao Li's large desk.

"Editor-in-Chief Li, please take a look."

Suddenly, the principal jumped out and waved his hand!

"etc!"

Old Li was so scared he almost had a heart attack. [What the hell is going on? Why are you so jumpy?]

"Put away all the water, ink, pens, and everything else on the table! Put them away!"

"Can you afford to pay for the damage if you break it even a little?"

Old Li looked completely bewildered. Did you really need to tell me that?

I've been a professional editor for decades, do I need you to tell me that?

It's just a student's comic book, is it really necessary to make such a fuss?

However, I still dutifully cleaned the table and then picked up the top poster concept image.

It's that extremely low-angle shot of Nezha standing on Ao Bing's dragon head, with his Hun Tian Ling (a magical ribbon) flying wildly.

I only glanced at it.

Old Li's hands trembled violently, his hands gripping the edge of the drawing tightly, and the muscles on his face twitched.

"This...this...this is a damn drawing done with a pencil and a pen?!" Old Li, a cultured man, blurted out a curse.

He flipped through the pages quickly. One, two, ten…

The more he rummaged through the drawing, the more rapid Old Li's breathing became. He pulled open a drawer, took out a magnifying glass, and leaned over the table, meticulously studying the short lines and light ink layers on the sketch.

More than half an hour passed before Old Li finally straightened up and let out a long sigh. He took off his glasses, rubbed his red eyes, and looked at Zhang Dabiao as if he were looking at an alien.

"The younger generation is truly formidable! They are indeed formidable!" Old Li exclaimed repeatedly. "Old friend, you weren't exaggerating. This 'Nezha Conquers the Dragon King' series, once it's printed, will absolutely blow up the entire national comic book market! The drawing style, the cinematography—it's amazing!"

Old Li was a straightforward man. He immediately pulled out a standard contract from the drawer: "Sign! Sign it now! At the highest rate, a thousand words... no, that's not many words. At the highest rate per image, I'll give you ten yuan per image! One hundred and eighty images, that's one thousand eight hundred yuan! I'll add a two hundred yuan bonus to round it up to two thousand!"

Two thousand dollars! In 62, that was an enormous sum of money. An ordinary worker would have to work for five years without eating or drinking.

The principal and Teacher Zhou's eyes lit up when they heard this.

Zhang Dabiao stood still, not even glancing at the contract.

"Editor-in-Chief Li, the money is no problem." Zhang Dabiao pulled up a chair and sat down with an air of authority. "Give me whatever you think is fair, I'll accept whatever you offer, high or low."

Old Li was stunned, as were the principal and Teacher Zhou. Was this kid crazy? He'd pass up a chance to make money?

However, when the principal and Teacher Zhou thought about Zhang Dabiao's enormous savings and then about the 2000 yuan in royalties, they shook their heads with wry smiles—this kid really could treat money like dirt, for no other reason than that he had too much money…

Zhang Dabiao explained to Editor-in-Chief Li in a serious tone, "You can give me as much or as little money as you want, even if you only give me a penny, I will accept it, but I have a few conditions. First: the right to be credited. I am the chief writer, and Teacher Zhou and Teacher Chen are the assistants. The names of our entire production team must be clearly printed on the title page, and our school's name must be included."

"No problem, that's only natural." Old Li nodded.

"Secondly, if this book is reprinted, I demand a royalty system based on the number of copies printed.

Old Li frowned. In the early 60s, the government had abolished the royalty system and replaced it with a one-time buyout payment. This condition was a bit too much.

"This... is a bit difficult, it doesn't comply with current regulations." Old Li looked troubled.

"Rules are rigid, but people are flexible. If that doesn't work, then we can change the terms—" Zhang Dabiao only mentioned royalties to lead into the next condition: "Apart from the right to print and publish the comic book, I will personally retain all other adaptation rights."

Old Li frowned – “What do you mean?”

"How it's printed as a comic book and how it's sold is your publishing house's business, it's none of my concern."

"But apart from that, for example, taking it to participate in competitions, or adapting this comic book into a movie, or an animated film, that's my decision. If I don't agree, no one has the right to take it and change it."

"My adaptation rights are my decision!"