Chapter 158: The Report Is Here

Chapter 158: The Reports Are In

After Meng Fan and his companions entered the school, Chen Daqiang and the others found excuses to depart, leaving only Meng Fan and Wu Tong behind. The two did not feel particularly awkward; they chatted naturally as they strolled toward the playground. After walking for a while, Meng Fan escorted Wu Tong back to the women’s dormitory, but instead of returning to his own, he left the campus and headed home.

He hadn't checked his phone much since the competition began. Scrolling through it just now, he saw several WeChat messages from the liaisons who had previously commissioned his poster work. Their intent was consistent: first, they expressed their gratitude, and then they inquired about further commissions.

These liaisons clearly handled multiple film, television, or variety show productions, and the demand for hand-drawn posters was constant. Meng Fan’s previous submissions had been of such high quality that they had earned him significant recognition.

Work like this—hand-drawn posters for film crews—is usually highly sought after. Firstly, the deadlines are rarely urgent; secondly, while the quality requirements are high, the pay is generally generous; and thirdly, if one happens to work on a blockbuster film or series, it does wonders for the reputation of the artist or studio.

Regarding that third point, many newcomers and fledgling studios would gladly work for free just for the exposure. For the clients holding these commissions, there was never a shortage of service providers; the term "client is king" was never just an empty phrase.

Yet, what they truly lacked were providers who were reliable, reassuring, and—damn it—a pleasure to work with. Meng Fan was undoubtedly that kind of provider.

Initially, they had handed over the work as a favor to Meng Caiwei’s assistant, but now, they were doing it purely for Meng Fan’s talent. To be honest, when they first assigned the work, they had braced themselves for junk. They figured spending a few tens of thousands was a small price to pay for the assistant's favor. But after Meng Fan submitted his work, they panicked—they realized they were the ones who now owed the assistant a debt of gratitude!

Panic aside, it didn't stop them from giving the work to Meng Fan; in fact, they were willing to pay even higher rates. There was no other reason: the work was simply that good. As long as the posters were top-tier, who cared about the "client is king" dynamic or haggling over prices?

Three liaisons reached out to Meng Fan this time, with one of them commissioning work for two separate film crews, totaling four sets of posters. Everyone was extremely polite, raising the pay from the previous round; no piece was priced lower than 4,000 yuan, with the highest offer reaching 6,500 yuan for ten posters.

Most courteous of all was that once Meng Fan accepted, they transferred the full payment immediately. In one fell swoop, Meng Fan had 215,000 yuan in his account.

Although Meng Fan had delivered his previous work within three days, they didn't impose overly tight deadlines, offering him over a week for each task and specifically telling him there was no rush—a few days of delay wouldn't matter.

Of course, even though these people had all been contacted by Meng Caiwei’s assistant on the same day, they were unaware that Meng Fan had scooped up all their commissions. Had they known, even if they viewed him as a studio, they would have been stunned by his output speed.

However, once these hand-drawn posters were used for promotion, they would likely realize that others were also commissioning Meng Fan. As for what kind of shock that would trigger, that was a story for another time.

A funny side note: once the posters were used in campaigns, some liaisons discovered through various channels that Meng Fan was a streamer. They learned of his incredible drawing speed and, naturally, stumbled upon the recent major event in his life—breaking a world record. Some of the sharper ones immediately turned it into a marketing gimmick: "Hand-drawn posters for Movie XX by a World Champion."

Is a world record holder the same as a world champion? Heh, they didn't care about that!

Meng Fan had originally planned to draw manga tonight or, if he felt lazy, go out to grind for night-patrol tasks. Seeing the poster commissions, he simply flexed his fingers and got to work.

Regardless, he needed to earn that 1.5 million as soon as possible to max out the "Scatter-Cash Boy" and "Million-Dollar Tip" tasks. The rewards for both were attributes Meng Fan coveted. Originally, he had planned to put off the "Million-Dollar Tip" task, but now that he possessed world-class drawing skills, he realized that even if he focused solely on manga, earning money wasn't as difficult as he had imagined, so he decided to tackle both simultaneously.

...

"How much weight have you gained now?"

Bai Zhi had been dragged out for a late-night snack by Meng Caiwei, who had just finished a recording session. Watching Meng Caiwei wolf down the food, Bai Zhi felt a mix of admiration and heartache.

"Over twenty pounds."

Meng Caiwei clearly had no anxiety about her weight gain; she was eating with immense joy. Seeing Bai Zhi too intimidated to eat and only busy blanching vegetables for her, she felt even happier. There was no greater luxury in hotpot than having someone else cook the food and place it directly into your bowl.

"When will this weight gain end? When do you start filming?" Bai Zhi asked.

Meng Caiwei spoke with her mouth full: "The crew has already started, but I'll be joining ten days late. Oh, right, I was talking about the script with Director Li yesterday, and he happened to get a call—one of the actors had an emergency and couldn't participate. I thought you’d be perfect for the role, so I recommended you. Expect a call in the next couple of days. It’s a standout role; if your schedule allows, you should give it a try."

Bai Zhi wasn't very confident. "Forget it. I auditioned for a role last time and got cut."

Meng Caiwei replied, "That was just a mismatch of roles."

Though Bai Zhi was a triple threat in film, television, and music, her acting skills were genuine. Otherwise, Meng Caiwei wouldn't have recommended her to the director knowing she had been rejected before.

Bai Zhi still felt the odds were slim, so the conversation drifted to other topics, eventually landing on Meng Fan.

"By the way, did you know Xiao Fan broke a world record?" Bai Zhi showed her phone to her.

Meng Caiwei truly didn't know; she had been busy with voice-over work for an animated film for the past few days. She took the phone, surprised, and after reading the news, she froze for several seconds. "This kid is really becoming more and more neglectful of his proper duties!"

She was secretly curious: when did this kid learn to play a basketball arcade game, let alone set a world record?

Something was off—very off. Meng Caiwei decided she needed to see Meng Fan before she headed to the film set.

...

Meng Fan drew until after two in the morning before sleeping. The next day, he rose to run ten kilometers with Wu Tong at school, then returned home to continue drawing.

He had no classes in the morning. In the afternoon, there were supposed to be two, but because the quarter-finals of the school basketball tournament were starting—the first time the Animation Department had ever reached the final four—all classes were rescheduled so that more people could cheer for the department's team.

From 6:30 AM, Meng Fan noticed the experience points for the "News Figure" task rising. It was clearly due to the reports from yesterday's interview, though Meng Fan didn't know which media outlets were involved or whether they were television or print.

By 9:00 AM, the first sub-task had risen to 7, meaning six media outlets had reported on him.

By 10:00 AM, Meng Fan noticed that the second sub-task had suddenly gained one experience point!