Chapter 13: The First Royalty Payment Arrives

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As soon as Song Jiajia stepped outside, she saw Lu Hao’s grandmother, Liu Fenglian, sweeping the courtyard.

“Oh, Jiajia, you’re up,” Liu Fenglian said, her tone oddly strange and hard to place.

Song Jiajia smiled, “Grandma, I got up to make breakfast.”

Liu Fenglian’s triangular eyes, no longer gentle as before, carried a hint of mockery. “No need, Jiajia. How could I let you cook? I’ve already prepared it. After all, if we waited for you to finish, Haozi would be late for work.”

Lu Ting glanced at Song Jiajia. “I’m telling you, sister-in-law, you have to get up earlier from now on. My grandma isn’t in good health; she can’t always be the one to get up early and cook for you.”

Song Jiajia looked at Lu Ting, that stubborn girl—why don’t you get up and cook then?

Liu Fenglian didn’t stop Lu Ting.

Unwillingness flickered in Song Jiajia’s eyes as she gritted her teeth and said, “Sorry, Grandma, I was too tired last night, so I didn’t get up.”

Was Sang Yu like this at first too?

She still remembered when she married Jiang Jingming, sleeping until noon the day after the wedding.

Liu Fenglian smiled. “Jiajia, little Ting is young and doesn’t understand. Don’t listen to her nonsense. Come eat.”

Song Jiajia’s expression softened a bit.

...

When Sang Yu woke up, the clock on the wall showed it was already nine-thirty.

“Is it really this late?”

Fortunately, Jiang Jingming’s house had no elders; otherwise, this would have been quite impolite.

After washing up and changing clothes, Sang Yu went downstairs.

The house was quiet. She guessed Jiang Jingming must have gone to work.

After all, in the original story, Jiang Jingming was a busy man who rarely stayed home.

However, she noticed a note on the dining table with a line written on it:

“I cooked some porridge; it’s in the pot. Heat it up before eating.”

The handwriting was strong and vigorous, just like Jiang Jingming himself.

Sang Yu lifted the pot lid, and sure enough, there was porridge steaming inside.

Quietly, she gave Jiang Jingming another point.

After breakfast, she tidied up and took her finished sketches to the newspaper office, planning to check if there was any response to her previous submission.

—

Police Station

Jiang Jingming said, “Lin Wen, after work, come out with me for a bit.”

“Where to, Captain?” Lin Wen asked.

“Buy some things.”

“Buy things? Captain, since when did you start liking such girly stuff?” a man teased.

“You single dogs wouldn’t understand. Don’t forget, our captain just got married yesterday. Of course, he’s buying things for our sister-in-law.”

“Did you all see the sister-in-law? I was out on a mission yesterday and missed it. Such a pity.”

“I saw her; you really missed out. Our sister-in-law is beautiful, like a fairy.”

Lin Wen wore a knowing look. “You only know half the story.”

“What?”

Everyone looked at Lin Wen with curiosity.

“Lin Wen!” Jiang Jingming shot Lin Wen a warning glance.

Lin Wen tensed up. “Nothing, nothing, just saying the sister-in-law is indeed beautiful.”

“Coward!” the group said in unison.

“Captain, can we come help you buy things too?”

Jiang Jingming didn’t even look up. “Why? So free? Is it because the recent cases are all solved?”

...

At noon, Jiang Jingming and Lin Wen went to the commercial market together.

“Boss, what do you want to buy?”

“The big four,” Jiang Jingming said.

The big four? Wasn’t that the sewing machine, television, radio, and watch?

So he came here to do the heavy lifting?

Is it still possible to run away now?

Obviously not, because Jiang Jingming had already gone inside.

If only he hadn’t come.

Lin Wen followed Jiang Jingming with a wry smile.

Meanwhile, Sang Yu happily left the newspaper office.

An hour earlier

Sang Yu arrived at the newspaper office, ready to drop her finished sketches into the submission mailbox outside.

Suddenly, someone called out to her: “Comrade, hello.”

It was a woman about thirty years old.

“Hello,” Sang Yu replied politely. Since she just came out of the newspaper office, this woman must be someone from there.

“Comrade, I’m an editor here, called Chen Hong. I happened to notice what you wanted to submit—it looks like artwork, am I right?”

Sang Yu nodded, “Yes.”

“May I have a look?” Chen Hong asked tentatively.

Sang Yu glanced at her sketches. Since she would eventually submit them, it didn’t matter to show one now.

But she didn’t give all of them; she took out only one.

Chen Hong’s expression became very excited upon seeing it.

“This is wonderful, really wonderful. It’s really you!”

Looking at Sang Yu, Chen Hong’s eyes became earnest. “Did you draw all these?”

“Yes,” Sang Yu replied.

“That’s fantastic, comrade. You’re really talented. Our chief editor likes your drawing skills and storytelling very much. I was just about to leave you our address to send stuff, but I didn’t expect to meet you directly. Do you have time now? Can we talk?”

Sang Yu hadn’t expected the other party to be so fond of her story.

But this meant she was about to earn some payment for her work.

“Sure.”

Chen Hong led Sang Yu to the chief editor’s office.

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The chief editor here was a woman.

“Chief, this is the author of the serialized comic we talked about, named…”

“Sorry, comrade, may I ask your name?”

Since Sang Yu had used a pen name on the submission.

“My name is Sang Yu. You can just call me by my pen name, Xiaoyu.”

“Alright, Comrade Sang Yu, this is our chief editor, Liu Shumin,” Chen Hong introduced.

Liu Shumin sized Sang Yu up, her gaze filled with admiration. “You’re the creator of ‘Grey Lamb and Happy Wolf’?”

Sang Yu nodded. “Yes, Chief Liu.”

“Good, excellent. Your story is captivating, and your drawing is great. Would you be interested in a long-term collaboration?”

Their newspaper was not doing well lately, but upon seeing Sang Yu’s comic submission, Liu Shumin knew the paper would undergo unprecedented changes.

Sang Yu didn’t rush to answer. Liu Shumin admired how composed this young woman appeared despite being barely twenty.

“Here’s the deal, Comrade Sang Yu: you just need to submit one chapter of artwork each week. We can pay fifty yuan per chapter. Of course, if you have other works later, we can increase the payment based on that. How does that sound?”

Fifty yuan wasn’t a small amount, and one chapter a week wasn’t difficult.

She could draw other things too and might even earn more.

After thinking for a moment, Sang Yu said, “Okay, I have no problem with that.”

Liu Shumin smiled. “Good. Comrade Sang Yu, rest assured, if your comics receive positive feedback, we will increase your pay.”

“Alright.”

“Then it’s settled. This is your payment for this time, and here’s payment for your previous two submissions, totaling one hundred yuan. Please check.”

Liu Shumin was very generous with the payment for two submissions at once.

“You haven’t even seen this submission yet. Are you sure?” Sang Yu was surprised by the woman’s decisiveness.

“No need. I trust your skill,” Liu Shumin said with a smile.

Sang Yu smiled as well. “Since Chief Liu trusts me so much, I definitely won’t let you down.”

Liu Shumin smiled back.

As Sang Yu took the money, she suddenly remembered something. “Chief Liu, should we draft a contract? That way, both you and I can feel secure.”

“Of course.”

Soon, Chen Hong brought the drafted contract.

After both sides confirmed the terms were fair, they signed it.

Sang Yu earned one hundred yuan at once and was very happy.

Although it couldn’t compare to what Jiang Jingming gave her last night, this was the first money she had earned in this world.

She decided to go shopping first!

Earlier, when she went to the supply and marketing cooperative, she found the selection too limited.

So she came to the commercial market instead.

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