Chapter 66: Her Affectation
Ever since she helped the young girl wash her hair, Tong Yao had been a little afraid to be alone with her.
The atmosphere when they were alone was different from when they were in public. She would always think of the young girl’s bare upper body. That accidental glimpse, the small lotus flower, the sharp corner… the impression was as deep as a brand. The young girl was a little taller than her, but her chest was… smaller. No wonder she was still wearing junior high school style underwear.
At this moment, she had just finished explaining a problem to Xu Yin. Staring at Xu Yin’s scratch paper, she was uncharacteristically distracted.
“Teacher Tong, I’ve solved it.”
Xu Yin let out a breath, her eyes curving into a smile.
“Mhm,” Tong Yao glanced at it. “That’s how you do it. By the way, are you still tutoring Chen Mo on the weekends?”
“Yes,” Xu Yin smiled. “She’s very smart. She can basically learn very well just by looking at my notes.”
“Then I’ve troubled you.”
“Not at all… I’m the class president, after all.”
Outside the office, it was noisy from the students on break. Tong Yao looked up at the door, suddenly lost in thought, and said to Xu Yin, “Let’s take a break this weekend. No more math tutoring. You can inform them.”
“Okay, Teacher Tong, you should also get some good rest!”
Xu Yin left. Tong Yao paused for a moment, looked around, and secretly opened a webpage.
That anime convention Ruan Ruan mentioned… there should still be tickets for sale, right?
**
Tong Yao wasn’t actually a big fan of anime conventions, which were a mix of otaku culture and commercialism. She quite liked otaku culture, but she didn’t like it when others shoved it in her face, that kind of deliberate pandering to otakus.
For example, the Sora Kasugano cosplayer in front who was showing too much.
She was wearing a bucket hat, her eyes searching for the stalls selling merchandise. She didn’t need to look at the large commercial stalls; the young girl definitely couldn’t afford to rent one. She just needed to focus on the small stalls.
The barrier to entry for anime conventions in China was very low. Basically, you could set up a stall as long as you had money. For conventions outside of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, official merchandise was scarce and expensive. Besides the official booths, most were individual sellers. Those with money would wholesale bootleg figures and novels, and those without would wholesale bootleg posters and badges. They usually lacked originality and were a typical case of bad money driving out good.
And that was what Tong Yao was worried about. Who knew the female protagonist of Dream Walk? Would anyone really buy it? Others were selling Yukinoshita Yukino, Miyazono Kaori, and Asuna. How could the young girl’s drawings stand out?
She continued to walk. When she reached the other side of the hall, her foot suddenly retracted, and she hid herself.
She saw Ruan Xi.
A table was a stall. Posters were spread out on the table. The young girl sat there, like a pancake seller at the school gate, with a few comic books piled in front of her.
Is that a single volume of Dream Walk? It was probably self-printed. She didn’t know if she had negotiated with Ican Manga Net. Tong Yao realized that she rarely paid attention to the young girl’s manga, didn’t know the progress of the manga, and didn’t even know the protagonist’s name.
She saw a man go over, ask the young girl something, and then shake his head and leave. The young girl smiled, waved her hand, and waited for the next interested person.
The hall suddenly became lively. Many people left this area to pay attention to the official activities. It seemed that a famous singer had arrived and was going to sing the OP of a certain anime. The tourists were all gone, and the stalls in this less-than-ideal location became even more deserted.
Ruan Xi opened a bottle of mineral water. It was past ten o’clock. She was a little hungry, so she took out a piece of toast from her bag.
Nothing had been sold.
Her heart was a little heavy. Although she had thought about the possibility of not selling well, she had never thought that she wouldn’t sell a single one. Yan Zhi had said that the people at anime conventions were easy to fool, but it turned out that everyone just looked and didn’t plan to buy—maybe they only came to look because the stall owner was a pretty little sister.
“Hey, have you sold anything?” the stall owner next to her suddenly asked.
Ruan Xi turned her head. The stall owner next to her was a girl who looked to be of university age. She had a lot of small items on her table, and business didn’t seem to be good either.
Misery loves company. Ruan Xi lowered her head. “No.”
“Sigh, this location is too remote, and the stall is so expensive,” the girl with blond hair complained. “Which character is your poster of? Did you draw it yourself?”
“Mhm, it’s the female protagonist of my manga.”
“That’s amazing,” the blond girl praised. “I can only read other people’s manga.”
But no one reads my manga, Ruan Xi thought. There are so many people in the world whose works are not appreciated.
She didn’t want to talk about her own manga, so she took out a bag of toast from her bag.
“Do you want some?”
The blond girl was delighted. “Thanks. By the way, why don’t you try drawing Naruto next time? Both boys and girls watch it. It will definitely sell well.”
Ruan Xi nodded silently.
She actually didn’t plan on having a next time.
“And did you set the price too high…” the blond girl said. “Look, the hanging scroll next door has sold more than ten, right? Small profits but quick turnover. Oh no, anyway, the cost is low, so it’s high profits and quick turnover.”
The young girl had something in her heart that she didn’t say.
Others sold them cheaply because they were bootlegs. But this was her original work, into which she had poured her heart and soul. She didn’t want to sell it for the same price as a bootleg. It was true that her manga’s art was rough, but the poster character had been polished for a long time and was definitely not shoddily made. Even as a beautiful drawing, it wouldn’t be devalued. She had self-awareness and wouldn’t compare it to the official merchandise of popular works, but she would rather not sell it than treat it as a bootleg.
At worst… she would give it to her classmates when she got back.
At the corner, Tong Yao sent away who knows how many people who had asked for her Weibo. Suddenly, she called back the person she had just sent away.
“Wait.”
The man turned back in surprise. He had a Canon camera hanging around his neck. He walked over, rubbing his hands.
“Miss…”
“Can you do me a favor?” Tong Yao tried to smile as beautifully as possible, pointed to the young girl’s stall in the distance, and said softly, “That stall selling posters, that’s my sister. I’ll give you the money. You go buy a set of posters and manga, and you can have them all. Is that okay?”
The man looked like he understood and gave a thumbs-up.
“Good sister! I’ll buy a few more sets with my own money. Can you give me your Weibo, miss?”
Tong Yao’s Weibo never had any updates. She basically didn’t use it. After a moment’s thought, she agreed. “Sure.”
“And… can I take a picture of you?” the man asked, scratching his head with a red face.
Tong Yao: “…Okay.”
The man was overjoyed. He said, “Miss, you look like a beautiful anime girl,” and “Miss, you have a great figure,” while pressing the shutter.
Tong Yao pursed her lips. “Are you done?”
“Done, done!”
The man was satisfied, put away his camera, and then strode away. However, when he saw that the stall owner was a young girl who was more eye-catching than most cosplayers, he subconsciously wanted to take a picture, but he quickly remembered his mission, pretended to be examining, and asked, “Did you draw this?”
The young girl thought it was another person who would only look and not buy, so she wasn’t very enthusiastic and said softly, “Mhm.”
“I’ll buy five sets,” the man said grandly. “Posters, hanging scrolls, and manga.”
“Huh?” The young girl was shocked.
There was no reason not to take the money that came to her door, especially since it was the first bucket of gold for her small shop. She suppressed her inner joy, put the works in a bag, and the man looked at her, put the money on the table, and suddenly felt an itch.
“Miss, can I take a picture of you?”
Ruan Xi was taken aback. The other party was her only customer, and she was very grateful, but she had never been specially taken care of by a professional camera before and was quite uncomfortable. After struggling in her heart for a while, she could only nod reservedly.
“…Okay.”
The man shouted “Yay” in his heart. He had taken a picture of a great beauty and could now take a picture of a little beauty. It was a huge profit.
He took several pictures before he stopped, picked up the bag, and was about to leave, but was suddenly called back.
“Can I see the pictures?”
He turned back. The young girl was embarrassed. “If they’re not good, I want to delete them.”
“Right, right,” the man tapped his head. “I was too excited, I forgot to show you.”
With that, he opened the album and flipped through it one by one. The changes in each photo were not large. The young girl looked at them. Fortunately, she hadn’t been made to look ugly. But the next second, the photo was flipped, and it became another person.
The man was taken aback and quickly flipped it back.
“Wait, flip back. Who was in the photo just now?” The young girl suppressed her urge to snatch the camera and asked anxiously.
“Uh…” Realizing it was not good, the man prevaricated. “A cosplayer I just took a picture of…”
“No, she wasn’t wearing a cosplay costume!”
“Mhm… that’s someone else’s photo. It’s not convenient for me to show you…”
“She was the one who asked you to come and buy, right?”
The young girl suddenly said.
The man was immediately speechless.
Ruan Xi wasn’t stupid. Many things became clear once she thought about them. She didn’t ask where Teacher Tong was, her eyes slightly red.
“Did she give you the money?”
The man coughed awkwardly. “Uh… the money she gave was enough to buy three sets, but she only asked me to buy one. I wanted to buy the other four myself… I think your drawings are quite interesting.”
The young girl clenched her fists, then suddenly relaxed, took out her wallet, and said, “I’ll give you the money she gave you. You give the money back to her, and can you delete her photo?”
Even she didn’t have a photo of Teacher Tong. A child’s possessiveness made her deeply jealous of the man in front of her. Teacher Tong usually didn’t interact with others. For her to let someone take her picture… it must be because of her.
“Huh? I can’t do that…” The man was reluctant. Seeing that things were getting troublesome, he slowly backed away, walking faster and faster, and finally ran away. The young girl wanted to chase, but her stall was here. After running a few steps, she didn’t dare to go far.
Ruan Xi lowered her head. The works on the table had finally decreased, but it was the most bitter happiness.
“You sold some?” The blond girl was clueless. “Congratulations!”
The young girl didn’t sit down. She took out her phone, bit her lip, and dialed Teacher Tong’s number. Then, she looked at the blond girl and said in a low voice, “Can you watch my stall for me?”
**
In the distance, Tong Yao, who was being hit on, glanced at her phone, quickly ran to a less crowded place, and answered just as the ringing was about to end.
“Hello?”
Ruan Xi lowered her eyes. “Teacher Tong, where are you?”
Tong Yao, still unaware that she had been exposed, said, “I’m at school, in my dorm.”
“But how come I hear live singing?”
“…Is there?”
Tong Yao was startled, covered her phone, and listened carefully. There was indeed. The singer’s voice in the hall was a little off-key.
She stammered, “…My computer is playing a song.”
“Is that so?” Ruan Xi said.
Tong Yao was taken aback. Why is there an echo?
As if possessed, she turned her head. The young girl was standing a few meters away from her, and she gently pressed the hang-up button on her phone.
Tong Yao was dazed for a moment. The young girl walked towards her. She subconsciously retreated, but quickly realized that it was very embarrassing, so she stood up straight where she was, holding her phone, at a loss. In a daze, the young girl had already arrived in front of her. Height was Tong Yao’s confidence. Wearing high heels, she was full of confidence. Just as she was about to explain something, the young girl threw herself into her arms.
“Ruan Ruan…”
Her body stiffened. She didn’t dare to touch the young girl’s body. One touch and she would think of the spring scenery from that day. She felt the young girl’s lips were a little moist, brushing past her neck, like a dependent kitten.
“Teacher Tong,” Ruan Xi’s eyes were red. “Regarding the manga, can you not help me, okay? Let me do it myself.”
“…Why?” Tong Yao asked subconsciously.
“There’s no why,” the young girl hugged her tightly and refused to say.
No one knew that this was the last bit of stubbornness, or self-esteem, in her heart. She was so humble and insignificant in front of the Tong family’s industry. She had already accepted so much of Teacher Tong’s help, yet her heart still clung to a foolishly sentimental thought: if she could achieve success in manga on her own, would they see her in a different light?
The posters didn’t sell. She had initially wanted to give up. Maybe it would be more appropriate to draw the manga well and then come back to sell the posters. But now she didn’t want to give up. She wanted to prove to Teacher Tong that she was not a child who could only rely on her.
She wanted to be Teacher Tong’s woman.
