Chapter 53: A Few Things About the Comic Convention
By the time she sat down at this table, it was already past her work hours. The boss knew she knew the people at that table and let her clock out early. After she changed out of her work uniform and back into her casual clothes, Dai Wenqian unceremoniously pulled her over.
“Hello, little sister. You must be Zhiyun’s friend. You look so cute, and your skin is so good. Do you use any skincare products?”
Yu Linna remained silent, feeling a bit pressured being watched by so many people. Moreover, the people opposite her were students from the First Experimental Middle School, completely different from her, someone from the City Middle School. Besides, Ye Zhiyun also looked like she had a headache (dan teng – literally ‘egg ache’, slang for feeling troubled/annoyed), which made her feel awkward.
Sigh, why did it turn out like this?
Getting into this situation on the first day of work… was she destined to be enemies with Ye Zhiyun?
“Is the little sister a bit shy? It’s okay, we’re all good people, we won’t do anything to you. Right, Zhiyun?”
“Ahaha, that’s right…”
Ye Zhiyun could only force a smile now, a far cry from her cheerful chatting appearance just moments ago.
She didn’t know things would turn out like this either. She had originally just come over purely to tease Yu Linna. Who knew Dai Wenqian would jump out halfway? This girl was good at everything except being too capable of stirring things up. As long as there was fun to be had, she would find a way to make it happen.
When she learned that Yu Linna had a connection with Ye Zhiyun, she wanted to stir things up again.
“Um, what’s your name?”
The junior girl took the initiative to ask this seemingly introverted (?) blonde girl, trying to start a conversation.
“My name is Yu Linna.”
“Nice name. Are you a foreigner?”
“I’m Chinese.”
“Your hair looks great. Is it dyed?”
“Natural.”
The two exchanged brief sentences, the atmosphere seeming quite awkward. But the junior girl seemed happy to do this; just being able to talk to her made her excited. First time seeing a mixed-race person in real life, a bit exciting! The junior girl’s heart blossomed with joy.
“Little sister, you know Zhiyun, right? Your relationship should be pretty good.”
“No, you’re thinking too much.”
Regarding this point, Yu Linna denied it without hesitation. To say she and Ye Zhiyun had a good relationship was absolutely impossible. Although Ye Zhiyun had helped her a few times, and they didn’t argue upon meeting like at the beginning, it didn’t mean their relationship had become very close. At most, it had eased somewhat. Ye Zhiyun herself didn’t step forward to explain, probably tacitly agreeing.
“Zhiyun, Zhiyun, I suddenly have a bold idea.”
“You want to stir things up again?”
“How can you slander my innocence!”
“Innocence? Yesterday I saw you secretly dressing up a first-year junior boy in girl’s clothes, got called by the homeroom teacher for a lecture, lectured until your eyes were red.”
“Ugh… People doing great things call that experimenting themselves. How can people doing great things be called stirring things up!”
The junior students burst into laughter, and the inside and outside of the shop were filled with cheerful air.
Yu Linna just wanted to say, could she go home? She was so bored here. She didn’t know anyone here; staying felt awful.
Dai Wenqian was indeed keen on stirring things up. Don’t be fooled by her seemingly obedient appearance; she could actually cause a ruckus. If she didn’t turn the sky upside down, she wouldn’t be called Dai Wenqian. Therefore, she also had the nickname Little Witch.
She seemed to have thought of something fun. Her eyes darted around, and she patted Yu Linna’s shoulder.
“Young lady, I see your bone structure is unique, excellent material for martial arts practice. Interested in learning the Sunflower Manual with me?” (Note: Sunflower Manual is a fictional martial arts manual from a wuxia novel, requiring castration to learn.)
“What???”
Yu Linna completely didn’t understand what she was saying.
“Speak human language. She doesn’t understand your bird language.”
At the critical moment, it was Ye Zhiyun who spoke up.
“My meaning is, the summer comic convention is coming. Want to participate in our club’s cosplay? We’re doing an event and need cosplayers.”
“…Sorry, no time.”
Regarding this kind of thing, Yu Linna just wanted to refuse. What kind of international joke was this? How could she possibly go? She didn’t have that much time. She still had to work part-time, still had to earn money. It was impossible to run off and do this kind of thing; it was a complete waste of time.
Although, as an otaku, she knew what cosplayers were and had some understanding of this circle. But asking her to cosplay herself? Better let her off. She didn’t have that confidence.
She, Yu Linna, didn’t have the spare time to play with these little kids.
“Eh, why refuse? Isn’t it great? Look at you, your appearance is so good, why not cos? If you can become our fighting force, we can definitely become a hotspot at the comic convention!”
“Let’s not talk about becoming a fighting force or not first. I don’t have the time. I have to work. I happen to be working that day.”
“…Working? Little sister, aren’t you a middle school student? Why do you need to work?”
“I’m in my third year of high school! Damn it!”
“Eh eh eh??!”
When she roared, everyone was startled.
No way, looking so young, yet already a high school student. And it was said that Westerners were generally tall. How come she was an exception? If she hadn’t said it, they would have thought she was even younger.
Yu Linna got angry, really angry. She hated it most when people said she was a middle school student! She was clearly already a high school student! Wasn’t it just because she ate less when she was little and didn’t develop well? Was it necessary to be like this!
Ye Zhiyun secretly smiled on the side. Putting other things aside, just Yu Linna being short was a joke she could laugh about for a year. Unintentionally, she seemed to have found another reason to tease Yu Linna.
“How about this, little sis… cough, Classmate Yu Linna, be our cosplayer. Three hundred fifty yuan a day, you only need to come for two days.”
She originally wanted to call her little sister, but after being glared at fiercely by Yu Linna, she quickly corrected herself.
“If that’s the case… it can still be considered.”
For Yu Linna, nothing was more attractive than money. She was in urgent need of money right now. Relying solely on food delivery, she could earn at most one hundred yuan a day. And she wasn’t full-time; she had other jobs to do, so she didn’t have much time to spare each day.
Plus, she had to go to the tutoring center for classes again soon, so she naturally couldn’t juggle the food delivery job.
But the income from being a cosplayer was considerable. Two days’ income was equivalent to her one month’s income at the tutoring center. All she needed to do was stand there, put on a smile, and let people take pictures. No matter how you thought about it, it was very worthwhile.
“Alright, if you decide to come, just let me know. I’ll be going anyway. I’ll pick you up then.”
Ye Zhiyun, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, spoke up.
Her relationship with Yu Linna wasn’t particularly good, but just picking her up shouldn’t be a problem.
“Zhiyun, I forgot to mention something. Just now, my juniors suggested that when we participate in cosplay, please be our private photographer.”
“Huh?”
Her hand holding the drink trembled, her face blank.
“Me, a photographer? I’ve never taken photos for people at a comic convention.”
“Don’t you often take photos for classmates in our class?”
“But that’s different.”
“Relax, Zhiyun. We’ll still pay you. Don’t let the benefits flow to outsiders. Although you haven’t joined our Light Manga Club, you’re my good bestie after all, one of us. Just come be our photographer. We kids need you!”
“Yeah, yeah, Senior Zhiyun, you take such beautiful photos. Just be our photographer!”
The junior students were already cheering in the back.
Indeed, for the same price, hiring Ye Zhiyun as a photographer would be a great deal. They were all just students without much funding, unable to hire very good photographers. But hiring Ye Zhiyun was different. Her photography skills were truly amazing. Hiring her as a photographer would be incredibly profitable. Besides, Miss Ye wasn’t short of money at all.
“Alright, just this once. Anyway, I’m quite free too.”
Although there was business to discuss later, forget it, postpone it for now. Focus on the comic convention matters first.
“Then it’s settled. We’ll go next Saturday. I’ll add you to the group chat. Little Sister Linna, I’ll add you first, pull you into the group.”
Dai Wenqian got excited again. Today was really lucky. Just coming out for something to eat, she actually harvested two treasures: a cheap photographer and a very good-looking girl. It just so happened they could cosplay a Western anime character; using this girl was perfect.
Yu Linna joined the group under pressure. Afterward, she had no interest in talking, just nodded to indicate she would come. Then she excused herself because she still had a shift at the convenience store and really had no time. She couldn’t possibly deliver food late at night unless she wanted a repeat of the dai pai dong incident.
After Yu Linna left, Dai Wenqian excitedly asked Ye Zhiyun about this girl. With her personality that loved stirring things up, how could she not cause some trouble?
“Zhiyun, this friend of yours is quite nice, just has too many things going on. Is she always that busy?”
“You’ll get used to it.”
Ye Zhiyun couldn’t be bothered to explain anything. For her, as long as the comic convention went well, nothing else mattered. There were new arrangements for next week, so she would be busy again. She had finally returned home from her family’s place, thinking she could relax for a few days. But it turned out, on the very first day, things got busy.
While she was still thinking about things, a phone call came in. She made an apologetic expression to Dai Wenqian and started talking to the person on the other end. At first, her expression was calm, but slowly, her face became unpleasant.
“Is this true? Orange River is interfering?”
Her expression became increasingly serious, and her eyes turned quite unfriendly.
“Alright, I understand. Just let them in. Don’t argue with them. It’s just one project; it won’t affect all of us.”
“Okay, that’s it.”
Hanging up the phone, Ye Zhiyun’s face turned gloomy. She hadn’t expected things to change so quickly. The movie project she was one of the investors in was actually being interfered with by Orange River. An arm can’t twist a thigh. She had no confidence in confronting such a huge commercial empire.
Most likely, this company has taken a fancy to the seedling Nangong Ying. Openly poaching people, this was the first time she had encountered this in her many years of doing business.
Things were getting tricky.