Boss

The next day.

Tang Yao woke with a slight headache, a side effect of staying up late. But after she got up and sat on the edge of the bed for a little while, she felt better.

She was young, after all.

Tang Yao threw off the thin blanket and got out of bed, then raised her arms and stretched hard.

As she stretched, her already shapely, curvy figure became even more pronounced.

Then,

she looked at the completed short comic on the desk, and a smile appeared on her face.

That was pretty fast. She'd finished it in one night. Even if she'd copied a work from her previous life to tide herself over, this pace was clearly abnormal.

Could it be... that her drawing skills had somehow combined with the original owner's?

That didn't seem possible either.

Maybe she'd just been in the zone?

Tang Yao tilted her head, unable to figure it out, so she gave up for now and glanced at the upper bunk.

Tang Xun was already gone, and her blanket had been folded neatly.

Tang Yao went outside.

As expected,

breakfast was already made.

Tang Xun had changed into her loose school uniform and was sitting on the sofa, looking at her phone. Her long hair, which usually fell to her shoulders, was tied in a high ponytail. It had to be said... when you were beautiful, you could get away with anything. Even the loose, old-fashioned uniform looked especially good on her, making her seem youthful and full of energy.

But not too much like a student, either.

After all, the two of them were sisters.

Like her older sister, Tang Xun was very tall and had a gorgeous, curvy figure. She had the body of a grown woman.

"..."

Elsewhere,

hearing footsteps, Tang Xun put down her phone. She looked up at her older sister in confusion, then got to her feet and walked straight over. She reached out and gently wiped the faint mark at the corner of Tang Yao's eye.

"Go wash up. I'll do your makeup, then we can head to school."

"Um... you should go to school first."

Tang Yao's expression stiffened. She declined politely. "I'm not used to it."

"..."

Tang Xun looked at her older sister. She didn't show it too clearly, but her expression seemed to ask, What are you even talking about?

"I've given up. Your sister's only wish now is to make money, got it?"

Under her younger sister's gaze, Tang Yao's face reddened slightly. She knew this sudden change would be hard to explain, so she forced out an explanation, patted Tang Xun's shoulder, then turned and fled toward the bathroom.

Tang Xun watched her older sister's retreating figure, then glanced back toward the bedroom. She thought of the comic pages she'd seen on the desk that morning, and of the strange, incredibly striking heads in the comic... balloons. She pressed her lips together lightly.

Was the pressure really that bad?

Meanwhile,

after washing up and changing, Tang Yao stood in front of the bathroom mirror and looked at her fair, delicate face. She felt a little helpless.

The human ability to adapt was beyond her comprehension.

But there were still some things she couldn't bring herself to do...

And those things weren't easy to explain.

What a hassle.

It almost felt more troublesome than taking a bath. She'd already gotten used to that, after all...

But she supposed she'd just have to get used to the other things too.

After all, she'd already passed the initial stage of questioning her existence. Now she was at the stage of accepting reality...

What else could she do?

Run out into the street and throw a tantrum, begging Heaven to send her back?

That wasn't realistic either.

Besides...

Tang Yao gently pressed a hand to her heart. Right now, all she wanted was to make money. Whenever she came home and faced the girl outside, that intense feeling that she had to make sure the girl had a better life was impossible to suppress.

Actually, she'd been unable to suppress it from the moment she arrived. Otherwise, she wouldn't have adjusted so quickly.

Was it some kind of lingering echo?

...It didn't matter.

"Either way, I have to make money whether I have a sister or not. It'd be ridiculous to end up broke again after getting a second chance at life. Mm!"

Tang Yao pressed down lightly on her chest and muttered to herself with determination. Then she abruptly changed the subject and looked down at her chest. "Huh, why does it feel a little tight? Do I need to buy a bigger size... Bah!"

Bah!

How did her thoughts suddenly go off track?

Make money! Make money! Make money!

Don't even think about a bigger size!

Tang Yao lowered her hand, slapped her cheeks hard, and gathered her thoughts before leaving the bathroom and returning to the living room.

Tang Xun didn't insist on doing her makeup. She only glanced up at her older sister now and then, her gaze a little strange.

Tang Yao pretended not to notice.

After breakfast, she cleaned up.

Tang Xun went to school, while Tang Yao took a deep breath and opened the door to leave. But before going, she thought it over and returned to the bedroom to find a kraft-paper envelope, then took the original pages with her.

Ten in the morning.

Wenxin Hall.

The Big Comic Editorial Department.

If the Editorial Department had been nearly deserted yesterday, today it was a madhouse.

Because the editor-in-chief was back.

And the deadline for printing this week's magazine was fast approaching.

"Qiao Yunming! Is that crossover comic still not ready? How many times have I told you? It's important! It's really important! If you want Big Comic to go under and yourself to lose your job, just say so!"

"Right away, right away. The artist ran into some trouble with the panels..."

"Go deal with it right now! I want to see the original pages this week! I mean it!"

"..."

As soon as Tang Yao walked in, she heard a familiar roar.

At the editor-in-chief's desk, at the head of the rows of workstations, a man in his early forties was roaring. He wore glasses, had pronounced eye bags, and seemed to have a hangover.

A man in his thirties stood in front of him, sweating profusely as he tried to explain something.

The former was the editor-in-chief of Big Comic, Ding Yilong.

Tang Yao didn't want to say it—the line about every boss being incompetent, because otherwise they wouldn't need subordinates, and subordinates were there to do the work their bosses couldn't.

But unfortunately, this boss really was the incompetent type.

It wasn't that he knew absolutely nothing. He was simply better at administrative work... though most of the editors in the Editorial Department would rather call him a drinking-party expert, a master of flattering his superiors, and a cold-blooded report-making machine.

Perhaps he had other strengths his subordinates hadn't noticed. But given his terrible personality, nobody was interested in finding out.

And clearly,

he was in a very bad mood.

Big Comic's sales had been steadily declining lately. One objective reason was the impact of the internet, especially the rise of mobile internet... Another was that the quality of the magazine's recent serialized works had been steadily dropping.

Editor-in-chief Ding was powerless to fix the former, so he could only try to deal with the latter.

His solution was to deal with the editors who worked with the manga artists.

In a way, he really was a straightforward man. He wasn't interested in manga. Though he understood storyboards, he didn't care about stories, dreams, or artists' futures.

All he cared about was sales. As long as the magazine sold well and the reports looked good, he was easier to deal with than anyone.

But when sales were bad, the reports looked ugly, and the blame landed on him, he became the nightmare of the entire Editorial Department.

And clearly, this was one of those times. He might have been grilled by his superiors at yesterday's meeting.

That was probably why he looked so sour today.

Besides,

Tang Yao spotted someone she hadn't expected to see: Kang Ming, the young balding man she'd been assigned to deal with yesterday.

He was standing a short distance from the editor-in-chief's desk, looking like a nobody.

The editor-in-chief was too busy yelling at the editors to pay him any attention.

At that moment, Kang Ming heard footsteps and turned his head slightly. When he saw the angelic girl from yesterday, his eyes lit up.

But

before he could feel relieved,

the editor-in-chief's roar rang out again.

"Tang Yao!"

Tang Yao walked over expressionlessly, passed Kang Ming, and stood to the other side.

The other editors gave her sympathetic looks.

"Where's Shao Changqing's manuscript?"

Ding Yilong looked at the young woman standing in front of him, her face blank. Anger surged in his eyes. "The deadline is almost here. Don't make a chaotic mess of things like last time. You should know I have no interest in playing along with your little growth journey! If you can do the job, get the manuscript back. If you can't, leave. I don't know why HR assigned you to the men's magazine editorial team, but I'm not HR. This is your last chance..."

"Editor-in-chief, first, let me make one thing clear."

Tang Yao took a deep breath and interrupted him calmly. "I don't know how HR made its assignments, and I have no say in the matter. Don't act as if I had connections. Second, I already urged him yesterday, and I'll go out and urge him again shortly. I'll do my best to get the manuscript back. Even if I can't, I've prepared an alternative. What happened last time won't happen again, so please don't worry.

"Third, Editor-in-chief, I believe I've already told you about Teacher Shao's situation. I asked you to inform the relevant department not to schedule so many pointless signings and events. He's already the sort who likes to go out and socialize, and you said we should make full use of his good looks... I beg you not to forget that a manga artist's job is to draw manga, not to run around at events for the sake of sales. But you said sales were the most important thing.

"He complained to me yesterday, too. He has too many events!"

Seeing Tang Yao explain things so methodically, Ding Yilong didn't calm down. The anger in his eyes only grew stronger. Perhaps he felt his authority was being challenged, or perhaps there was some other reason. "Are you questioning me? Are you saying this is my fault?!"

"I wouldn't dare. I'll go urge him again shortly."

Tang Yao shook her head, then continued. "By comparison, I think you should pay more attention to Teacher Ou Congquan. He's practically drawing whatever he wants right now, and he completely ignores my feedback. I suggest you contact him yourself..."

Bang—

Before she could finish,

Ding Yilong slammed his hand on the desk. He startled Kang Ming and cut Tang Yao off, seeming to have finally lost his patience. He shouted, "I was about to bring that up! You beat me to it! Teacher Ou complained to me yesterday! He said you kept bothering him and were giving him directions despite knowing nothing! I told you to deal with Shao Changqing! Teacher Ou was just an extra assignment to give you some experience! You can't even tell what's important and what isn't! You're hopeless!

"Teacher Ou's work has problems? You think you know better than he does? Do you know which work sells the most in Big Comic? Do you know what a weeklong hiatus for Girl, Boy, and Sword would do?"

Tang Yao paused slightly, then took a deep breath. "Editor-in-chief, have you even read Teacher Ou Congquan's work?"

"The issue isn't whether I've read it! I'm asking you! You think you know manga better than Teacher Ou?"

"..."

Tang Yao stared at the furious editor-in-chief, her chest rising and falling slightly. Then she simply chose to shut up.

You stupid sales robot!

Just you wait!

"Arrogant little brat! Got nothing to say now, do you?"

Ding Yilong grew even angrier. "You're not allowed to visit Teacher Ou anymore! You only need to deal with Shao Changqing. Later, I'll consider assigning Teacher Ou to someone else. And the Manga Award..."

Before he could finish, Tang Yao cut in. "Teacher Tang, who agreed to provide work for the Manga Award, replied yesterday that he was too busy and had to drop out."

Ding Yilong's eyes widened, veins bulging on his forehead. "What—"

"But I contacted a very talented manga artist, and I've already seen their work."

Before he could start shouting again, Tang Yao continued, "I think it's better than Teacher Tang's work. I'll let you review it later."