All-rounder Artist

The next day.

Lin Xuan drove to the company, using her deputy editor’s work badge to enter the elevator and access the newly formed Fairy Tale Department of Silver Blue Books.

In the department.

A number of employees were flattering an attractive woman with long hair:

“Editor-in-Chief Shui, how did you manage to get a submission from Teacher Yuanyuan?”

“Teacher Yuanyuan’s stories are the most elusive in the world of fairy tale writers.”

“I heard that last time, Prosperity Publishing House sent their general manager to personally invite submissions from Teacher Yuanyuan.”

“That’s not surprising, Teacher Yuanyuan’s ‘Three Little Pigs’ was a childhood favorite for many.”

“Even today, ‘Three Little Pigs’ remains popular with children, which sustains Teacher Yuanyuan’s preeminent position in the world of fairy tales.”

“Now that we have a long fairy tale from Teacher Yuanyuan, Deputy Chief Shui should be the only candidate for the position of Editor-in-Chief.”

“…”

The long-haired woman surrounded by everyone was smiling, and on seeing Lin Xuan, she greeted warmly:

“Good morning, Deputy Chief Lin.”

The staff in the department turned their heads to see Lin Xuan and greeted her with surprised smiles.

“Good morning, Deputy Chief Shui.”

Lin Xuan smiled, “Good morning, everyone. It’s about time to wrap up and get ready to work.”

Everyone went back to their seats.

The long-haired woman, known as Deputy Chief Shui, approached Lin Xuan, asking with a smile, “Deputy Chief Lin, have you found a suitable manuscript?”

“I’m still missing one,” Lin Xuan admitted begrudgingly.

The long-haired woman reminded her, “The magazine is going to be published before the year-end, we’re running out of time. If you can’t find a suitable manuscript, perhaps you can leave the last spot to me. I can arrange for an additional submission, all for the sake of our magazine.”

“No problem,” Lin Xuan nodded.

The long-haired woman shrugged, turned, and left, revealing a sly smile at the corner of her mouth.

“Editor…”

A bald man drew cautiously next to Lin Xuan with a somewhat disappointed expression, “Teacher Qiqi just refused our submission request. Apparently, Zhang Yang has already secured a submission from her.”

This bald man, Zhang Cheng, was Lin Xuan’s former magazine’s editor-in-chief, and is now her assistant.

“Refused again?”

Lin Xuan was irritated, “How is it that Zhang Yang also knows so many fairy tale writers like Shui Zhourou?”

Shui Zhourou was the long-haired woman earlier.

She, Lin Xuan, and Zhang Yang are the three deputy editors of the Fairy Tale Department.

Among the three, there’s serious competition.

Zhang Cheng lamented, “It’s quite normal that Shui Zhourou and Deputy Editor Zhang Yang would have such connections considering their strong family backgrounds. Any fairy tale writers that you can think of, surely they can too. They probably approached them in advance to get one step ahead of us. I even suspect that they’re doing this deliberately to sabotage us.”

“There’s nothing we can do.”

Lin Xuan tried to perk up, “There are submissions in the email, let’s go prospecting. We need to hurry, otherwise, I might really have to give the last spot to Shui Zhourou or Zhang Yang.”

“Prospecting…”

Zhang Cheng looked helpless, but he knew this was the only option they had.

The Fairy Tale Department is in its infancy and is preparing to launch a fairy tale magazine, which needs to carry some fairy tales stories. Each deputy editor is responsible for two to three stories.

When it comes to performance, the other two deputy editors have solicited submissions from well-known writers in the fairy tale world.

Only Lin Xuan has so far managed to secure one fairy tale story, and the author isn’t even a top-notch fairy tale writer, just someone reasonably famous.

Better a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.

Yet, she did not have any leads for the second story.

Lin Xuan was left with no option but to look through submissions from new writers for a suitable story.

Lin Xuan had her own email, which was open to the public.

Following the recent call for fairy tale submissions, she received quite a few submissions.

However, since most of the submissions were from newbies, Lin Xuan didn’t find any appealing stories in her email. This was why the other two deputy editors had decided to directly invite submissions.

“Old Zhang.”

She rubbed her temples irritably and called Zhang Cheng, “Did any of the editors recommend any manuscripts?”

“Well, there are some…”

Zhang Cheng reluctantly stated, “But I’ve mostly checked them, and the quality is just ordinary. Plus, emails from the company’s pool do not count towards our performance.”

“We can’t just think about personal performance.”

Lin Xuan waved her hand, “Alright, I’ll look again, there are still some submissions I haven’t finished reviewing, maybe there’s gold in there.”

“Okay.”

Zhang Cheng left, and Lin Xuan continued reviewing the submissions.

Half an hour later.

Lin Xuan sighed.

All the submissions had been reviewed.

Unfortunately, she had not encountered any good fairy tale stories. Finding gold in the sand is a rare occurrence in the editorial department, the chances were extremely slim.

It seemed she would have to relinquish her slot to the other two deputy editors.

Meanwhile, as Lin Xuan was feeling utterly frustrated.

In the office next door.

Shui Zhourou’s assistant relayed the news with a broad smile, “I’ve just learned that Zhang Yang has secured a submission from Teacher Qiqi. Lin Xuan had intended to invite a submission from Teacher Qiqi, but she was beaten to the punch.”

“As expected.”

Shui Zhourou responded indifferently, “Teacher Qiqi and Zhang Yang’s mother are close friends. Even I couldn’t get a submission from Teacher Qiqi, let alone Lin Xuan.”

“But you got a submission from Teacher Yuanyuan. Teacher Yuanyuan is much more influential than Teacher Qiqi.”

The assistant flattered.

Shui Zhourou shook her head, “Teacher Yuanyuan’s submission is a long story, which can’t be published right now. We’re saving our ace in the hole for later. For now, we’re just using a story by Teacher Jin Shan as a placeholder to get all the short stories needed for the magazine sorted out. Good thing Teacher Jin Shan’s quality isn’t bad, it’s slightly better than Teacher Qiqi’s.”

“True.”

The assistant nodded, “I guess Lin Xuan is pulling her hair out right now. The deadline is fast approaching, and if she doesn’t secure a submission soon, she’ll have to renounce her slot to you or Zhang Yang.”

“Definitely to me.”

Shui Zhourou confidently stated, “At least, I didn’t do anything to her, whereas Zhang Yang cut her off. I believe she’ll understand that.”

“Brilliant!”

The assistant gave her a thumbs-up, “But if my memory serves me correctly, you informed Zhang Yang that Lin Xuan was intending to approach Teacher Qiqi for a submission. Initially, Zhang Yang didn’t plan on approaching Teacher Qiqi first…”

Shui Zhourou nonchalantly stated: “All is fair in war.”

As she finished speaking, the expression on Shui Zhourou’s face suddenly turned serious:

“Don’t go around gossiping about this. I don’t know what background Lin Xuan has, but she was airlifted into our company’s key department as soon as she joined. The person behind her must not be simple, but it seems like they didn’t step in to help her this time, or perhaps they couldn’t provide much help.”

“Of course.”

The assistant nodded hurriedly. Lin Xuan clearly had some clout, but few people in the company knew the truth.

Some people did try to probe, but Lin Xuan was tight-lipped, insisting she didn’t have any particular background.

Who would believe that?

You have no background, yet the chief editor is so considerate towards you?

You have no background, yet you were able to enter the key department to gain experience as soon as you arrived at the company, and then immediately became the deputy editor of the Fairy Tale Department?

You should know.

The Fairy Tale Department is a concentration camp the company set up specifically for insiders!

Both Zhang Yang and Shui Zhourou had big shots backing them up.

For example, Shui Zhourou’s father was at the director level of Silver Blue Books.

And Zhang Yang’s mother was a very influential person in the book industry.

“I’m also curious about her background…”

Shui Zhourou’s eyes narrowed slightly.

She had asked her father, who was a director, but he didn’t reveal anything. He merely reminded her solemnly not to offend Lin Xuan too harshly.

If she wanted to be an editor, fair competition was enough.

Just then, there was a sudden commotion outside the door.

The assistant poked his head out to take a look and quickly said, “Editor, you’d better go greet him. Mr. Cao Dezhi has just arrived.”

“Cao Dezhi?”

Shui Zhourou was taken aback: “What is he doing here?”

Cao Dezhi was the editor of the mystery department. It wouldn’t have mattered in the past if Shui Zhourou didn’t go out to greet him.

But it wouldn’t do this year.

This year, Cao Dezhi could be considered a star of the company!

The reason was simple.

It was all because Cao Dezhi had latched onto Chu Kuang.

With the publication of Chu Kuang’s series of mystery novels, he directly revitalized the struggling mystery department. Chu Kuang’s Hercule Poirot series of mystery novels was still being eagerly serialized, selling incredibly well, and the performance of the mystery department could only be described as booming!

Some even said that Cao Dezhi might advance even farther because of this.

Even Shui Zhourou, a second-generation company employee, had to show him some respect.

With that in mind, Shui Zhourou walked out the door.

Meanwhile.

Zhang Yang, who had slicked-back hair and wore gold-rimmed glasses, also came out.

“Mr. Cao,”

Shui Zhourou greeted him with a smile.

Zhang Yang was curious: “What brought you here?”

“Acting on someone’s behalf.”

Cao Dezhi politely exchanged pleasantries with a smile.

At this time, Lin Xuan also came out of the office, having apparently heard news of Cao Dezhi’s arrival.

“Editor Lin!”

Cao Dezhi’s eyes lit up, and before Lin Xuan could speak, he quickly stepped forward and said, “Hello, I’m Cao Dezhi. Someone asked me to deliver something to you!”

“What?”

Lin Xuan was a little taken aback.

The expressions on Shui Zhourou and Zhang Yang’s faces were stunned as they looked at each other.

It seemed like Cao Dezhi’s enthusiasm for Lin Xuan was far greater than for them, wasn’t it?

“Manuscript!”

Cao Dezhi laughed: “A fairy tale manuscript!”

Lin Xuan was even more confused, although since joining the company, she had often encountered these inexplicable situations, like someone submitting a manuscript to her in such a roundabout way:

“Whose?”

“Chu Kuang’s!”

Cao Dezhi announced loudly, as if the name could add respectability to his own; and to be sure, this name had indeed brought him a lot of attention.

“What!”

Manuscripts from Chu Kuang?

Shui Zhourou and Zhang Yang’s faces changed dramatically.

Lin Xuan stood there dumbfounded: “Chu Kuang’s manuscript?”

Cao Dezhi quickly explained: “As you know, Chu Kuang is interested in writing all kinds of stories. Well, he just wrote a fairy tale manuscript and specifically instructed me to deliver it to you personally.”

“…”

Lin Xuan was a bit slow to react.

Zhang Yang behind her swallowed hard and then couldn’t help raising his voice, an undertone of dryness in his voice: “Chu Kuang also writes fairy tales?”

Shui Zhourou’s face was also blank as she murmured: “Chu Kuang’s… fairy tale?”

“I’ll send the manuscript to your email right now.”

Without paying attention to the two of them, Cao Dezhi focused all his attention on Lin Xuan. With a smile on his face, he started operating his phone.

Zhang Yang and Shui Zhourou were instantly confused.

You can send emails, so why did you specifically come all the way here?

Cao Dezhi must have felt awkward. He seemed to hear the voices of the two people behind him, coughed and explained, “I’d feel more at ease if I send it to you in person, in case you forget to read it.”

“Oh…”

Lin Xuan responded absentmindedly, a spark of realization flickering in her mind:

It seems that her younger brother and Chu Kuang are good friends, right?

This was a fact known to all netizens.

Chu Kuang and Xian Yu were very close.

Chu Kuang suddenly wrote a fairy tale and even asked for it to be delivered specially. Could it be at her younger brother’s request?

Wait a minute!

Oh my gosh!

The behind-the-scenes supporter turned out to be…

Chu Kuang!!!??

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