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

By early April, the sample copy had already reached Zhang Dabiao's hands.

The publisher ordered 1 copies, but Zhang Dabiao thought that was too conservative, so he put the sample book in his pocket and rode his motorcycle directly to the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

This book, "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King," shouldn't be limited to the domestic market.

He has to squeeze the value out of this thing to the extreme.

I arrived at Director Zhao's office with practiced ease.

Director Zhao was looking at documents while wearing his reading glasses when he saw Zhang Dabiao come in. He immediately stood up with a smile.

"Oh dear, Da Biao is here."

"Please sit down, please sit down. Xiao Chen, pour Comrade Zhang Dabiao a cup of tea!"

This year, Zhang Dabiao helped the ministry solve the major problem of the cultural relics store's inventory and also brought in a huge amount of foreign exchange.

Director Zhao now sees Zhang Dabiao as a god of wealth.

Zhang Dabiao didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down, took a sip of tea, and got straight to the point.

"Director Zhao, I'm here today to present the ministry with some achievements."

Director Zhao's eyes lit up.

"Oh? What good idea do you have now?"

"Has your design studio released a new product again?"

Zhang Dabiao shook his head, took out the sample copy of "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" from his pocket, and pushed it in front of Director Zhao.

"Director Zhao, please take a look at this first."

Director Zhao picked up the sample book with suspicion.

These days there are plenty of comic books, and the ministry doesn't really care about publishing them.

But after he turned a few pages, his reaction was exactly the same as that of Teacher Zhou and Old Li before him.

I was deeply attracted by the stunning art style and the highly dynamic visuals.

"Da Biao, this drawing is really good! It's much better than those dull comic books on the market."

"Who painted this? Why are you showing it to me?"

Zhang Dabiao pointed to the author's name on the cover.

Director Zhao looked closely and exclaimed in surprise.

"Author: Zhang Dabiao?!"

"You drew this?!"

Director Zhao stared incredulously at the burly young man before him.

He can design products, fight, deal in antiques, and now he can even draw comic strips of this caliber?

Is this kid some kind of omnipotent god?

"Just some casual drawing," Zhang Dabiao said modestly, waving his hand.

"However, Director Zhao, you only saw its artistic value, not its commercial value."

Zhang Dabiao leaned forward and lowered his voice.

"Think about it, what is this picture book about?"

"It is an Eastern myth, a spirit of resistance against tyranny."

"Most importantly—it doesn't involve any sensitive evidence-based issues!"

Having navigated the treacherous waters of officialdom for so many years, Director Zhao understands things instantly.

He slapped his thigh sharply.

"yes!"

"This pure Eastern fantasy mythology, combined with such impactful visuals!"

"If translated into Russian, English, French..."

Director Zhao stood up and paced excitedly back and forth in his office.

He seemed to have seen a completely new channel for earning foreign exchange.

Previously, the Ministry of Foreign Trade exported cultural products, mostly propaganda posters, traditional paper-cuts, or large volumes of books on the "red" ideology.

Foreigners don't really buy into it, and sales have been consistently dismal.

But this book, "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King," is different!

This art style and this story perfectly cater to the curiosity and aesthetic sensibilities of foreigners!

"This could definitely sell to Russia! It could sell to Europe!"

Director Zhao was so excited that his face turned bright red.

"This is cultural export, a real and tangible way to earn foreign exchange!"

Zhang Dabiao leaned back in his chair, smiling as he looked at Director Zhao.

"Director Zhao, if this matter is successfully completed, it will be much more than just earning some foreign exchange."

"This is about bringing our country's traditional culture into the international market in a completely new way."

"Is this achievement significant enough?"

Director Zhao held Zhang Dabiao's hand tightly.

"Da Biao! What's wrong with your brain?!"

"Leave this to me!"

"I immediately contacted the translation department and simultaneously sent a telegram to the Canton Fair, requesting expedited inclusion of this catalog in the exhibition list!"

"Our foreign trade department placed an order directly with the People's Fine Arts Publishing House, initially ordering 100,000 copies for multilingual international editions!"

Zhang Dabiao was overjoyed.

The foreign trade department placed direct orders, and sales skyrocketed.

This not only greatly enhanced the influence of the work, but more importantly, it resulted in a massive order of 100,000 copies from the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Zhang Dabiao's status in the publishing and cultural circles will be instantly elevated to a terrifying level.

The scope has been broadened; this is the true meaning of a disruptive attack.

In this day and age, no matter how many books are published, the original author won't receive much money, but the reputation—

Editor Li already thought the initial print run of 10,000 copies was excessive, but then the order for 100,000 copies of the multilingual edition came in…

Zhang Dabiao just wants to say, with these sales figures, who else can compete?

Am I, Zhang Dabiao, good enough to gain a foothold in the arts and culture circle?

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

At this time, Editor Li was being criticized at the publishing house—Zhang Dabiao's illustrations were good, but he was still a student; paying him celebrity royalties was already unreasonable. And you still agreed to retain his adaptation rights? Who gave you that right?

Moreover, they gave a first print run of 10,000 copies of a comic book with mythological content?

What should we do with those revolutionary books?

You're clearly disregarding the main mission and the overall strategy. There's something wrong with your thinking, Old Li. You're clinging to feudal remnants and capitalist ideas…

Old Li was so angry his blood pressure was about to spike. They hadn't even discussed the foreign exchange issue yet, and they'd just printed 10,000 copies when he was dragged in for a public criticism session. But then the publishing house received a phone call, and the operator rushed into the meeting room—

"Old Li! 10 more copies of 'Nezha Conquers the Dragon King' have been printed! The Ministry of Foreign Trade has placed a direct order for a multilingual international edition!"

"This is a crucial task! It must be completed before May; we need to participate in the Canton Fair!"

"They need to sign a pledge! They want us to know if we can do it!"

"If they can't do it, they should switch publishers!"

Zhang Dabiao's divine intervention has arrived?!

Old Li immediately stood up straight and slammed his hand on the table—

"Absolutely!"

Then, the entire publishing house got busy.

A denunciation meeting?

What is that thing?!

It's almost the end of April.

That morning, long queues formed outside Xinhua bookstores across the country, a rare occurrence.

The first batch of "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" comic books has been officially released.

Thanks to the People's Fine Arts Publishing House's all-out efforts in distributing the product, coupled with its extremely eye-catching color cover (Zhang Dabiao redrawn the movie poster version cover).

Almost on the first day it was released, it triggered a buying frenzy.

In an era of extreme scarcity of cultural and entertainment products, this comic book, which completely subverts traditional aesthetics, is like a depth charge.

Once the person who buys the book, whether an adult or a child, turns to the first page, they can't take their eyes off it.

At the entrance of the alley, in the courtyard, and in the school corridor.

Everywhere you look, you see a group of people surrounding one person, craning their necks to look at the book "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King".

"This painting is so eerie! The dragon looks incredibly realistic!"

"I cry every time I watch the scene where Nezha commits suicide."

"This painting skill is amazing! Who exactly is this artist, Zhang Dabiao? I've never heard of him before!"

"Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" has become a huge hit not only among ordinary people.

Soon, this trend spread to the children of high-ranking officials in Beijing.

The children in the compound are usually arrogant and have seen all sorts of good things.

But this picture book completely won them over.

This became the most valuable form of currency within the compound circle.

If you don't have a copy of "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" in your hand, you'd be too embarrassed to greet people when you go out.

Then, a good friend sent a copy to Zhang Hongqi and his friends who were still in Saihanba.