Because Jiang Zheng, this ‘family member,’ had joined them, Qiao Shu completely became a hands-off manager, throwing all the matters to Weng Kanya and Jiang Zheng.
Aside from some occasions where she had to appear in person to sign documents, at other times, she stayed home writing the fairy tales for the first issue of the magazine, as well as… drawing the corresponding simple illustrations.
This even changed Weng Kanya’s original intention of spending a fortune to hire writers and illustrators, despite their ample funds.
After all, her initial plan had been to build the children’s magazine around Qiao Shu.
Now that Qiao Shu could handle it alone, let the capable one bear more burden—let Teacher Qiao’s fresh stories and drawings make their children’s magazine famous, thereby attracting other writers and illustrators.
Make their Fairy Tale Princess Magazine a living signboard in the industry—of course, that living signboard was Qiao Shu.
“Teacher Qiao, I really didn’t expect that not only do you write great stories, but your drawings are so good too. They’re truly so fresh and original!”
Weng Kanya, who had come to the Feng Family to collect the manuscripts, sighed in admiration every time she saw Qiao Shu’s work, even though it wasn’t her first time.
After all… Qiao Shu’s stories were fun and novel enough, but even her drawings didn’t fit this era at all—they looked so cute, so innovative.
With just a few simple strokes, she created adorable and soft illustrations in a style entirely her own.
Weng Kanya believed that once their children’s magazine was published, not only would sales be boosted by Qiao Shu’s fairy tales, but even those who hadn’t read the stories would be drawn in by Qiao Shu’s illustrations!
These simple drawings were so appealing that even she, an adult, loved them and wanted to buy a copy!
“It’s okay, these are just simple line drawings—actually pretty easy, not hard at all. Anyone with a bit of artistic foundation can draw them.”
Qiao Shu remained quite calm in the face of Weng Kanya’s excessive praise, including claims that her style was one-of-a-kind.
After all, these drawings of hers were the popular simple Q-version style from later generations—not hard to draw, and even people without artistic training could copy them.
Of course, original creation and design would still require some foundation in art and aesthetics.
So Qiao Shu figured that if her illustrations really caught on, soon a bunch of people could imitate them, and she wouldn’t have much of an edge.
But Qiao Shu wasn’t worried—after all, the biggest strength of their children’s magazine wasn’t these novel illustrations, but the story content.
“Though these drawings look simple, Teacher Qiao, with just a few strokes, you’ve brought the characters and scenes to life so vividly, and the designs are so innovative—others can’t imitate that.”
Weng Kanya continued her stream of lavish praise, but Qiao Shu had grown used to the rainbow farts from her own editor.
Every day, Weng Kanya acted like a praise machine, gushing endlessly the moment she saw her. If Qiao Shu didn’t know her own limits, she might really have been flattered into dizziness!
“Okay, Sister Kanya, stop praising me like this all the time. I can handle all the illustrations for the first issue of the children’s magazine. But I won’t draw for the second issue—you need to find illustrators now. Since you like this illustration style of mine, you don’t need to hire those super experienced pros. Just go straight to art academy university students—my drawings are really simple, and with their skills, they can definitely handle it.”
Seeing how satisfied Weng Kanya was with her illustrations, Qiao Shu shared her idea.
However, what she hadn’t expected was that she only considered how simple her illustrations were, sufficient for university students to draw.
But Weng Kanya thought: “Teacher Qiao, you’re amazing! University students are perfect! They’re quick learners and imitators, most importantly, they’re obedient and energetic. Plus, if our Fairy Tale Princess Magazine trains them ourselves, wages will be relatively cheap, with high cost-performance…”
Seeing Weng Kanya’s eyes sparkle with that shrewd merchant gleam as she looked at her, Qiao Shu’s mouth twitched slightly.
“No need to be such a penny-pinching skinflint. I hope our Fairy Tale Princess Magazine feels like one big family—no nitpicking over wages.”
Recalling how she, as a ‘wage earner’ in her previous life, had been exploited by capitalist bosses, Qiao Shu thought that since she was the boss with say in this life, she should try to make her magazine’s employees happier at work!!!
“Ah, Teacher Qiao, don’t misunderstand! I’m not thinking of exploiting anyone. I just feel university students offer great value—we’ll adjust pay based on their abilities, absolutely no penny-pinching!”
As this was Weng Kanya’s first venture, and using someone else’s money at that, she naturally spent every penny wisely, calculating meticulously. So she just thought hiring university students was a smart deal.
She had no intention of squeezing or exploiting anyone—after all, a few years ago, that would have led to public criticism!
“Mm, once our Fairy Tale Princess Magazine is up and running, we can offer the highest pay in the industry. We’ll set salaries at the top tier. That way, our employees will feel more belonging, and other talented creators will naturally choose to work with our magazine…”
With no shortage of money and ample startup funds, Qiao Shu instinctively wanted to raise employee benefits from the start.
Qiao Shu, who had little concept of money and few material desires, simply followed her heart—realizing the ideals from her previous life: if she were the boss, she’d treat employees this way and that.
Though Qiao Shu’s ideas were purely for the employees’ benefit, aimed at improving workers’ welfare.
But the shrewd Weng Kanya saw that following Qiao Shu’s suggestions would actually benefit the company’s development more.
So after a brief thought, she decided to adopt the advice from Qiao Shu, the magazine’s largest shareholder.
As long as they were Fairy Tale Princess Magazine employees, their pay and benefits would be the highest in the industry!
Even interns!
“Teacher Qiao, you’re truly amazing. Not only are you great at writing and drawing, but you even came up with such a smart strategy for the company! I really admire you…”
Qiao Shu looked at Weng Kanya starting her praise again, utterly baffled. Had she said anything special just now?
Why was Weng Kanya reacting so strongly?
After sending off the excited and thrilled Weng Kanya, Qiao Shu stopped dwelling on her partner’s odd reaction and prepared to return to her room for some rest.
But as soon as she lay down, an ‘uninvited guest’ arrived at the Feng Family.
This person was none other than someone Qiao Shu had met once before—
“Lu Chengye…?”