Xie Mingzhe couldn't believe his eyes! He looked at the balance of his bank card and rubbed his eyes.
A poor boy, once having a deposit of only 200 in the bank, now became a little rich man with 300,200 crystal coins!
This was the first sum he had earned after he'd been reborn in this world. He didn't expect that the copyright fee of an original card would be worth so much. To be honest, ever since he was a child, this was the most money he had ever seen- 300,000!
Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath, ran to the bathroom to wash his face, soon feeling refreshed. Just at this time, Pang Yu went offline and finished washing his face, too. Xie Mingzhe would live with Pang Yu in the future, so they walked together to their dormitory upstairs.
Pang Yu was a natural socializer. After entering the room, he chatted with Xie Mingzhe, “Xiao Xie, you look so young. You must be under 20?”
“Yes, I'm just 18 years old this year. I'm taking part-time jobs during summer vacation to earn my living expenses.”
“That's great. You're very self-motivated.” Pang Yu made a thumbs-up sign.
“Well, Brother Yu. Do you know the Adjudication Club? What do you think about this club?” Xie Mingzhe tried to pump Pang Yu for information.
“Adjudication? It's a top-tier club. It's one of the six giants of the Star Card League.” Pang Yu enthusiastically introduced, “The Adjudication Club mainly uses beast cards. Its most famous player is Nie Yuandao who started his career ten years ago. He has the highest level of seniority in the league, so other players respect him very much… Why did you ask about the Adjudication Club?”
“I saw the introduction of Nie Yuandao when I searched online about the Star Card game before, so I'm a little curious about him.” Choosing a job was a big deal, so he must investigate it before he made a decision. Xie Mingzhe continued to ask Pang Yu, “Brother Yu, do you know card designers? What is the prospect of this job?”
“The chief card designer of a big club has an annual salary of millions, and general card designers of hundreds of thousands. Of course, this is a job that ordinary people dream of.” Pang Yu said with an admiring look, “However, once a person becomes a card designer and signs on with a club, he won't have the card copyright; it belongs to the club. Therefore, most original designers with high Inner Spirit will personally design cards to play. Only those who have low Inner Spirit, or whose age doesn't allow them to partic.i.p.ate in a fierce compet.i.tion, will become a professional card designer.”
"!!!!" Hearing this, Xie Mingzhe was shocked.
Fortunately he had been on the alert, not tempted by the benefits or indiscriminately agreeing to join the Adjudication Club.
Once he became the card designer of Adjudication, copyrights of all cards he designed in the future were in the hands of the Adjudication Club. He preferred to be free to design and sell cards rather than to be tied to one tree.
Xie Mingzhe had currently only sold one card's copyright, but the first step was the most difficult. He had already sold one copyright, so naturally he could sell more.
After [Wu Song]'s copyright was sold for a high price, Xie Mingzhe had a vague feeling – people in this world didn't know Wu Song? He thought the card's design was quite common. Wasn't it just the plot of “Wu Song Slaying the Tiger” in Water Margin? Why did Legend Lan appear to particularly appreciate him?
Thinking of that, Xie Mingzhe couldn't resist asking Pang Yu, "Brother Yu, have you ever read Water Margin(shuǐ hǔ)?"
Pang Yu was stunned, saying, "Water tiger(shuǐ hǔ)※? A tiger that can swim?"
"…" Xie Mingzhe wanted to weep and laugh all at the same time. In order to confirm that people in this world didn't know the characters within the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels of Chinese literature, he continued to ask, "Do you know Cao Cao, Liu Bei or Sun Quan※?"
Pang Yu was confused, saying, "Who are they?"
Xie Mingzhe said, "What about Sun Wukong※ and Jia Baoyu※?"
Pang Yu smiled, saying, "No, I don't know. They are your cla.s.smates? Their names are interesting."
"…" Xie Mingzhe's heart started to beat rapidly.
He was a fool!
When he first went to sell his card at the black market after painting 'Daiyu Burying the Flowers', he should have detected that n.o.body knew Cousin Lin. Everyone only praised the card for its beautiful cover and style of painting, even the stall owner focused on its attributes rather than the delicate picture.
At that time, he thought that his original cards were too common amongst the numerous cards in the World of Star Card, so they didn't sell well. Now he understood the cause. It was not because his cards were not powerful enough, but people didn't know the characters he painted at all, they thought Lin Daiyu was just a crying girl.
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It was because Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan obviously didn't know Wu Song that they thought his design was excellent and came to see him in person.
It seemed that the cultural background of this world was totally different from that of China in the 21st century. Maybe the human beings had experienced something, so the brilliant civilization was destroyed.
No wonder there was no Earth on the galaxy map.
At that time, he was confused about why people lived on Gemini rather than Earth if the 'solar system' had been used as the backdrop of the game.
Now it was 3001 on the star calendar, he couldn't figure out how many centuries had pa.s.sed since 2018.
In this world, had the five-thousand-years of Chinese civilization, and its brilliant culture, disappeared?
Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath to slow down his rapid heartbeat.
He perceived that he had made a big mistake – he had underestimated his potential as a card designer. He originally thought that he was just an ordinary player who had no talent and could only make common cards. He was foolish enough to sell [Lin Daiyu] and [Wu Song] at a low price in the black market.
However, now he realized that he had extremely precious wealth – the rich, treasure trove of knowledge that was as vast as the universe.
He had sold [Wu Song]'s copyright for 300,000. But there were 108 heroes in Water Margin.
[Lin Daiyu], whose skills were directed against a wider range of cards, would be sold for an even higher price. Besides, in Dream of the Red Chamber, there were there were another eleven beauties of Jinling that could be made into cards.
Not to mention the characters in Romance of the Three Kingdoms※, his favorite novel!
Xie Mingzhe clenched his fists, feeling that he was reinvigorated.
He loved reading novels, but he couldn't write novels, so he couldn't retell those stories in the novels.
However, he could paint those fantastic stories onto his cards!
Translator's Note:
1. In their dialogue above, Xie Mingzhe is talking about 水浒, but Pang Yu mistakes 水浒 as 水虎, which literally means water tiger, because they have the same p.r.o.nunciation (shuǐ hǔ). However, 水浒 (Water Margin) is one of the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels of Chinese literature. The story, set in the Song dynasty, tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gather at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to form a sizable army before they are eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces.
2. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 169 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280.
The story - part historical, part legend, and part mythical - romanticises and dramatises the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, who tried to replace the dwindling Han Dynasty or restore it. While the novel follows hundreds of characters, the focus is mainly on the three power blocks that emerged from the remnants of the Han Dynasty, and would eventually form the three states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The novel deals with the plots, personal and military battles, intrigues, and struggles of these states to achieve dominance for almost 100 years.
3. Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan are all important historical figures from the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China, AD 220 - 280. Cao Cao Liu Bei Sun Quan
4. Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is a figure who features in a body of legends that can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. He appears as a main character in the 16th century Chinese cla.s.sical novel Journey to the West and is found in many later stories and adaptations. In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven and being imprisoned under a mountain by Buddha, he later accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang on a journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from “the West”. Sun Wukong
5. Jia Baoyu is the princ.i.p.al character in the cla.s.sic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. He was born with a magical piece of “jade” in his mouth. In this life he has a special bond with his sickly cousin Lin Daiyu, who shares his love of music and poetry. Baoyu, however, is predestined to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai, whose grace and intelligence exemplify an ideal woman, but with whom he lacks an emotional connection. The romantic rivalry and friendship among the three characters against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes form the main story in the novel. Jia Baoyu