Chapter 4 Bimonthly
Ayumi Ito had just walked to the restaurant next to the company's office building. It was still opening hours and there weren't many customers in this fast food restaurant chain.
There were only three or four customers dining in the restaurant, one was a young couple wearing couple's costumes, the other was a balding middle-aged man in a suit and there was a handsome young man with messy hair.
But they had already ordered fast food and were eating. It probably wasn't Professor Qingshan who asked Ayumi Ito to invite him to dinner.
It seems that Professor Qingshan hasn't arrived yet.
But it was still a few minutes before the agreed time, so there was nothing wrong with her waiting.
Ayumi Ito was planning to walk to an empty place and wait for Lin Qingshan to arrive.
But at that moment, the handsome young man not far from her waved to her: "Is that Ito-san?"
Ayumi Ito was shocked for a moment, "Um... I am..."
This was the first time since she had come to Shanghai to take up the post that she had heard other people address her in the usual way in her hometown.
Lin Qingshan smiled happily, "You're here... Oh, by the way, I'm Lin Qingshan!"
"You're... Professor Qingshan?!" Ayumi Ito blinked and said in surprise.
"Yes... I just..." Lin Qingshan touched the back of his head and said a little embarrassed.
...
Ayumi Ito looked at the handsome young man with slightly longer hair in front of her, still a little incredulous.
After all, in the comics industry, although age isn't very important, most cartoonists manage to survive through experience.
This is especially true in Japan, because most cartoonists don't start creating directly at the beginning, but as assistants to experienced cartoonists.
Even if there are cartoonists who create their own works from scratch, most of their first works will be a failure.
After all, Lin Qingshan presented his work to the Manjie Culture Company as a new cartoonist from the start.
So isn't it appropriate to be younger?
But Ayumi Ito looked at the mature painting style of "Edgerunners" and the storyboards that were almost comparable to animation production, and subconsciously thought that Lin Qingshan should be an older cartoonist.
But now it seems...
The young man's hair in front of him is a little messy, but it's very thick and black. Under the fringe are a pair of slender eyes that are very bright at this time of year. His chin is like a clear V. He looks almost exactly like Ayumi Ito. A young man of his age!
"What's wrong?" Lin Qingshan picked up the noodles and stuffed them into his mouth, asking with a happy smile.
Ayumi Ito shook her head, "It's okay, but... Mr. Qingshan, I'd like to order something else to eat... I still have some money, so I can offer you something other than green vegetable ramen."
Lin Qingshan had already ordered vegetable noodles and eaten here before she even arrived at the restaurant and was waiting for her to pay the bill.
That sounds a bit rude, but let's call it rude. He ordered the cheapest fast food, like vegetable noodles...
Ayumi Ito felt that Lin Qingshan was a little unpredictable.
Lin Qingshan swallowed the rest of the vegetable noodle soup, clicking his lips.
Then he said carelessly, "It's okay. I'm satisfied with the vegetables and the noodles. But after all, you're going to pay. I can't be too presumptuous, right?"
Lin Qingshan has always been very careful and can't just rely on others to treat him, so he can't waste it.
And seeing the Japanese woman in front of him, it's not easy to live in the magic city, and it's not easy for people to come here, so he just eats green vegetable noodles to fill his stomach.
But speaking of which, he had been hungry for a long time, and the vegetable noodles almost tasted like delicious food.
"So... Okay." Ayumi Ito said, "Now let's talk about Edgerunners' business cooperation?"
Lin Qingshan nodded, "No problem."
"Does Mr. Qingshan bring his comic book manuscript and ID card?" asked Ayumi Ito.
"Here you go." Lin Qingshan took a bag of documents from the side and then took out his ID card.
Ayumi Ito subconsciously looked at the ID card.
Lin Qingshan, 25 years old...
He's only two years older than her...
So she picked up the manga manuscript, but...
Unlike ordinary scribbled manuscripts, Lin Qingshan's comic book manuscripts are so complete that they don't look like original manuscripts.
Generally speaking, the original manuscript is the sketch drawn by the cartoonist when conceiving the comic plot and the layout of the drawing.
When it comes to this type of sketch, cartoonists basically don't put much effort into it. The characters will be drawn extremely carelessly. They might even draw a blank doll or even a stick figure and put it there, and even draw circles for the scenery. and other things. Then write down in words what scenery should be drawn here.
However, Lin Qingshan's comic manuscript is almost a highly complete portrait of the characters and the setting. When Ayumi Ito compared the final draft of "Edgerunners" in her mind, she realized that there was still some gap between the original manuscript and the final version.
This is due to Lin Qingshan's master-level drawing skills. If he draws to his heart's content, the whole picture will be extremely complete.
Another thing is... he's not a serious cartoonist and doesn't actually know the original manuscripts. In his opinion, comics can only be well drawn or redrawn if they're not good.
These "originals" are the ones he drew badly at the beginning.
After reading these manuscripts, Ayumi Ito immediately determined that "Edgerunners" was Lin Qingshan's manuscript.
But after she had finished leafing through the first twelve pages of the "original manuscript", she was shocked for a moment when she turned to the next page.
"This is... the contents of the fourth episode of Edgerunners?" Ito Ayumi said.
"Well, yes, I've brought the contents of chapters 4, 5 and 6 as well." Lin Qingshan shrugged and said, "I didn't bring much of the original manuscript."
Ayumi Ito's eyes suddenly sparkled, "So, Mr. Qingshan, how many chapters have you completed in your work?"
"I've reached episode 23." Lin Qingshan said casually.
Ayumi Ito was suddenly shocked, "Our Newcomer Grand Prix is calling for entries of medium-length works... Mr. Qingshan, you can't..."
"I know that." Lin Qingshan said carelessly: "Don't worry, 'Edgerunners' is expected to be serialized in just 40 chapters."
Since the "Edgerunners" animation only has 10 episodes, an episode of the comic usually has 2 to 3 chapters, so if it were adapted the other way around, the comic would only have around 30 chapters at most.
But since "Edgerunners" is actually an adaptation of a game, and the audience is made up of almost all gamers who have played the game "Cyberpunk 2077", its background setting basically doesn't need to be described in the animation.
But in this world there is no such game as "Cyberpunk 2077". So you want to describe the story's background, division of forces and story settings, right?
That's why Lin Qingshan drew more of the plot adapted from the "Cyberpunk 2077" trailer in the first episode, mainly to introduce the background of "Cyberpunk 2077".
Lin Qingshan also gave a corresponding introduction to the definition and classification of prosthetic transformation and the division of forces and regions in Night City, so it won't be finished for another 40 chapters or so.
"Episode 23!" Ayumi Ito was very surprised, "So, Mr. Qingshan, what's your next plot plan?"
"This is the story of the protagonist implanting a powerful body prosthesis, joining a gang, meeting the heroine and her partner and starting to reach the top of his life," said Lin Qingshan carelessly.
"Absolutely! The protagonist will find a group of very good partners!" Ayumi Ito nodded with satisfaction.
"Then let's sign a contract. In accordance with company procedures, Mr. Qingshan, you have made your debut in this Newcomer Grand Prix. Your work will be published in Comic World. Ours is a biannual magazine, and we'll serialize one article each semester. In that case, at the same time, based on the popularity of the professor's work and the votes of the fans, we will hold the Newcomer Grand Prix and the PK for the same period."
"In terms of manuscript fees, the best treatment we can give new teachers is 400 yuan per page of manuscripts submitted. If the teacher serializes two chapters a month, that's about 30 to 40 pages..."
(End of chapter)