Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 319 - 312: Tiered Royalties

Chapter 319: Chapter 312: Tiered Royalties

Evening after work.

Returning home, He Fang was stewing pork rib soup with a pressure cooker. The kitchen buzzer was ringing nonstop, and she sat listlessly on the sofa, flipping through TV channels with the remote.

Qin Guanglin set his bag to one side and moved closer to take a good look at her eyes, feeling inexplicably joyful.

"So you can miscalculate too."

"Huh?" He Fang looked puzzled.

"Hehe... smells good. What are you making?"

He deftly changed the subject.

Before, he thought she was so capable, always nagging him to quit his job as if she had foreseen some issue with the company or that the job wasn’t good. Now, it seemed she completely miscalculated.

Direct hit!

But he still wanted to save her some face—who doesn’t misstep every now and then?

Learning that He Fang wasn’t as magical as he imagined made Qin Guanglin feel much more grounded. The idea of knowing the past and foreseeing the future, albeit impressive, felt somewhat awkward happening right around him.

He Fang stretched out her hand to touch his stomach, then stood up saying, "Hungry? I’ll start stir-frying the dishes now."

The vegetables were already chopped up, just needing a hot wok and some oil to start. In less than half an hour, by the time the soup was cooked, the meal was served on the table. Qin Guanglin sat at the table looking at the array of dishes and, for no apparent reason, felt an emptiness, as if something was missing.

Both of them had been cooking and eating together for over two years now, this scene had long since become an everyday occurrence...

Oh, they were missing a child.

"Xiao Yu’s child is due to be born soon, isn’t he?" he asked.

Cradling her bowl, He Fang looked up and thought for a moment before saying, "Probably around October or November."

"I included them in my comic, and now that the series is popular, I’m thinking about giving money to Xiao Yu, but he won’t accept it. How about when the child turns one month old, we send them some other expensive gifts instead?"

"That’s fine, whatever you decide."

He Fang nodded, she herself was also contemplating what to give; after all, Zhou Nan and his spouse played matchmaker last time, and this time they had used their wedding for a proposal—it was a significant favor.

She would have to give something separately from Qin Guanglin.

Qin Guanglin silently ate for a while, then suddenly said, "We’re considered middle class now, aren’t we?"

"Hmm?"

"We’ve stepped into a well-off life... I’ve realized that comics can indeed be quite lucrative. Just casually drawing our daily lives, and so many people watch it." He pondered and felt his earlier days of taking orders at home were pretty dumb.

"I want to give Xiao Yu a hand, but that guy is so stubborn... There’s popularity, the themes are there, the path is laid out and he still won’t take it."

"Everyone has their own destiny, he has his own work that he enjoys, why fret about it?"

"What he enjoys my ass, he’s always liked drawing those flashy comics... Cough! If it weren’t for the fear of getting caught, he’d definitely be making those ’whatsits’ already."

Qin Guanglin found it amusing to remember, back in school Xiao Yu had drawn those things and uploaded them online, only to get reported and panic. He quickly added clothes to the characters in the drawings and re-uploaded them, then claimed those without clothes were made by someone else.

Luckily, he got a warning and straightened up. Otherwise, he might have ended up drawing girlfriends for everyone in the class.

"Besides, it’s just a side job, I’m not asking him to bet it all on this... Right, indeed, everyone has their own destiny."

Qin Guanglin dismissed the thought. The idea for the public account came from Sun Wen during a meal they had together, Xiao Yu was there listening too, yet he didn’t do anything with it. Sun Wen himself never mentioned whether he did anything with it, and if he did, it didn’t take off; otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up eating that fateful bowl of noodles.

Only he himself gave it a shot, starting by teaching drawing which didn’t take off and then on a whim, switching to drawing his own daily life comics, which surprisingly became popular.

It all came down to fate.

After the meal, Qin Guanglin dutifully cleared the table and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, while He Fang went to the study to organize the teaching materials she’d need for the next day, and then took out a notebook to write her own novel.

Over the past two years, the novel had been published up to the fifth volume, with only one or two more volumes left for the conclusion. Having had prior experience, I could just sort it out from memory, but the latter parts, which I had not yet written, needed a rewritten ending, consuming several times more time and effort than before. The pace naturally slowed down, and it was estimated that it wouldn’t be truly finished until next year.

...

Days flowed by like a river, and after enduring the hottest July, a touch of coolness arrived by mid-August, and by September, the feel of autumn could be detected.

The comic’s explosive popularity lasted only for a short half-month before the data curve gradually fell by half and then steadily rose again. By the end of October, it had stabilized at the peak level of data during the initial buzz.

Qin Guanglin was not yet a master, but he had already acquired a group of fans of his own.

"I’ve contacted the publisher for you," Chen Rui caught a sheep and couldn’t wait to shear it bald but also understood that wool comes from the sheep, insisting on a win-win approach. The platform needed traffic, and Qin Guanglin needed money. Each had their place, and both sides were happy—this comic had become the pillar of the platform and was also the first physical edition to be published.

Qin Guanglin was taken aback, his pen pausing as he turned to look at Chen Rui across the office, "What did you just say?"

"I said..." Chen Rui wobbled the smartphone in his hand, "’My Wife is Too Cute’ is getting a physical edition. Surprised or what?"

He couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Qin Guanglin’s reaction. "The company will handle everything; you just sit back and make money—oh right, you need to draw some exquisite character illustrations and add a few extras not in the online version as freebies with the book. That fan fiction Chapter of yours would be perfect. Give it some thought."

"I’m going to publish a book?" Qin Guanglin scratched his chin, seemingly in a daze.

A long time ago, He Fang had said that his comics could be published in a physical edition, but he hadn’t taken it seriously. What kind of book would that be, a comic book?

He hadn’t expected that day would really come.

"Yes, we’ve just finalized the deal. Rush the extra Chapter and the illustrations, so they can send us a few sample copies to check the quality."

"Isn’t... I remember that stuff like ISBN and book number can be quite bothersome, and it costs money, right?"

Having been around He Fang, Qin Guanglin had a general understanding of publishing matters. It wasn’t something to simply dive into—there were many tedious procedures to go through.

"All taken care of by the company, you just wait for the money. For the initial distribution of twenty thousand copies, you get 7% below ten thousand sold, 8% above ten thousand, and for each additional ten thousand printed, the percentage increases by 1%, up to a cap of 13%."

As Chen Rui spoke, he brought over his computer to show him, displaying a concept for the cover on the screen: "This is roughly what the first volume’s cover will look like. What do you think? If it’s not okay, we can change it."

Qin Guanglin looked carefully, hesitating. The center featured a cartoon image of himself and He Fang. He Fang was standing on tiptoes, looking up as she tugged at his tie, appearing to want a kiss, and he himself had a blush, seeming a bit resistant.

This picture had originally been drawn as a joke to tease He Fang. Later, he added a few more and released them with the fan fiction Chapter. He had not expected Chen Rui to turn it into the cover.

Around the edges were other characters, reduced in size—Qin’s Mom held binoculars at the top left, looking toward the center with an exaggerated smile. He’s Daddy clenched his teeth and pounded his chest in frustration at the top right, looking at the two of them. He Shan and Zhao Qing were laughing and playing with He Cheng on the street, while Xiao Yu held his head in his hands, facing Zhou Nan, who was pregnant.

"This should be called ’My Husband is Too Cute,’ right?"

Chen Rui chuckled, "It’s the contrast—the appeal of contrast, get it?"

"..."

"There are a few more; take a look at them all, see which one you prefer... Never mind, we’ll have a meeting at the end of the day when it’s almost time to leave and let everyone vote for the best one." Chen Rui packed up his computer and returned to his seat to continue working on the comic’s publication.

During the vote, the company’s opinions were remarkably united. Half of the employees voted for the cover that Qin Guanglin liked the least, and the votes for the other options altogether barely surpassed it.

"See, I told you, I actually like this one the most too," Chen Rui shrugged at Qin Guanglin.

"When will the book be out?"

Qin Guanglin’s thoughts were elsewhere at the moment.

"It’ll probably take about a month for the sample, and the official release might happen by the end of the year or even later."

"Try to make it quick... or send a copy of this cover to me."

Qin Guanglin shook his phone, "I’m heading off work now."

"Sure, I have the image on my phone too, I’ll send it to you later."

Chen Rui responded, also beginning to pack his things.