The literary era since 1979

After the dinner, the two groups parted ways at the hotel entrance and got into the cars they had taken.

Cui Xingzhong sat in the driver's seat, "Rongcheng, what do you think? Do you want to join Mr. Fang's company?"

Ma Rongcheng fastened his seat belt, "What do you think?"

"No matter from the treatment or the position, Mr. Fang obviously thinks highly of us and is definitely here with sincerity!"

Cui Xingzhong said in a serious tone.

"I can see that, too. Otherwise, I wouldn't have talked to Mr. Fang so openly for so long."

Ma Rongcheng smiled and said, "Even in front of Mr. Huang, I have never been so frank."

"No matter how honest we are with Mr. Huang, he can't possibly offer us such generous conditions as Mr. Fang."

Cui Xingzhong carefully compared the contract terms proposed by Wong Yuk-long with those mentioned by Fang Yan.

"The most important thing is the system. Mr. Fang's company has borrowed the management model from Japanese comic giants like Shueisha. I like this very much. I'm fed up with the supervisors in the company who interfere with our creations at every turn and are always on guard against whether we will change jobs."

Ma Rongcheng curled his lips.

"Indeed, I think Mr. Fang's publishing company will have a better future than our current company."

Cui Xingzhong said as he drove: "Especially with Mr. Fang personally in charge, and the theme of 'fantasy cultivation' he mentioned."

"Just from what Mr. Fang and Deputy Editor-in-Chief Pan said, I can feel that the theme of 'fantasy and cultivation' has a great market."

Ma Rongcheng said: "Even if we didn't join Mr. Fang's company, Mr. Fang would definitely achieve great things in the comics field!"

Cui Xingzhong agreed very much. Compared with Yulang International Company, whose stock price plummeted and internal chaos occurred, Fangyan's publishing company seemed like a rising star in the Hong Kong comics market. However, he was only Ma Rongcheng's assistant and agent after all. Whether to join or not would ultimately be decided by Ma Rongcheng.

"If Mr. Fang hadn't done this, I would have wanted to talk to Mr. Huang again."

Ma Rongcheng sighed.

"I thought you were going to say go it alone."

Cui Xingzhong said half-jokingly.

"I have thought about starting my own business, but just like what I said to Mr. Fang, I have the ability and experience in painting, but I am just a rookie with no experience in publishing. If I don't have the guidance of the big guys in the same field, I will easily fall."

Ma Rongcheng said: "Mr. Fang and his colleagues are the editors-in-chief and deputy editors-in-chief of Sanlian Bookstore. They have rich connections and publishing experience."

Cui Xingzhong thought carefully and said, "What you said makes sense."

"Besides, after all these years of getting along, no matter what, there is still some affection between us and Mr. Huang."

Ma Rongcheng recalled the ridiculous things Huang Yulang did after the company went public, and his face was full of helplessness.

Cui Xingzhong worriedly asked, "What if Mr. Huang brings up the old matter again and asks you to renew your contract?"

"That depends on whether Mr. Huang is willing to make changes."

Ma Rongcheng's eyes gradually became firm. "As the saying goes, people's hearts are exchanged for people's hearts. Mr. Fang thinks highly of me, I can't let him down."

...............

The next day, Yulang International Corporation.

Ma Rongcheng went to work at the Harbour Center building where his company was located as usual, as if he had not seen Fangyan last night.

However, before he reached the office, he was stopped by Huang Yulang's secretary, who informed him that Huang Yulang hoped to see him immediately.

"Dong dong dong."

Hearing the knock on the door, Huang Yulang shouted "Come in" and continued to make a phone call.

Ma Rongcheng has long been accustomed to this. Ever since Wong Yuk-long became a prominent figure in the Hong Kong comics industry, he has been surrounded by scandals. Recently, it was revealed by the gossip media that he is dating "Li Zi", a female artist from Cinema City who is almost 20 years younger than him. It is simply an old cow eating young grass.

Sitting quietly on the sofa, waiting patiently for Huang Yulang to finish his call with Li Zi.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Huang Yulang blurted out, "Rongcheng, how are you thinking about it?"

Ma Rongcheng pretended to be confused and asked, "What are you considering?" "Of course it's the contract."

Huang Yulang said dissatisfiedly: "I sent people to look for you twice, but your assistant turned them away each time."

"Mr. Huang, there's still more than a year before my contract expires. There's no need to talk about renewal so early, right?"

Ma Rongcheng frowned.

"It has to be sooner rather than later. You know that the company is in crisis right now, and many shareholders have challenged me at the board meeting."

Wong Yuk-long said sympathetically: "I promised them that I would find a way to find good news during this period to boost the stock price and morale."

Ma Rongcheng said calmly, "So that's how it is, but my contract renewal shouldn't be considered good news, right?"

"But it's not bad news!"

Huang Yulang raised his voice and said, "We have worked together for quite a while, so I won't hide it anymore."

As he spoke, he took out a contract that had been prepared long ago from the drawer, "Rongcheng, you are reluctant to renew the contract. Is it because you are not satisfied with this agreement? If you are not satisfied, just point it out directly. Let's sit down and have a good talk about what you are not satisfied with."

"To be honest, I'm not very satisfied."

Ma Rongcheng said seriously.

“Is it about salary?”

Wong Yuk-long said that the company is currently facing a dual crisis in terms of stock price and operations, so the most they can offer him is an annual salary increase to HK$625 million.

Ma Rongcheng did not comment, but instead focused on the harsh conditions involving annual salary:

"The contract states that I have to draw a comic book that is as good as "Chinese Heroes". If the sales volume does not meet the target, I will not be able to get the full amount of HK$625 million. In addition, a portion of my annual salary will be deducted depending on the amount of sales reduction!"

"Rongcheng, I hope you can understand the difficulties I and the company are facing..."

Huang Yulang looked serious.

"Let's not talk about this for now, let's talk about the company's production supervision process."

Ma Rongcheng said that whether the chief writer accepts supervision and other people's participation in his or her work should depend on the chief writer's wishes.

Listening to him venting his dissatisfaction with the supervisory system, Huang Yulang forced a smile:
"Since you are so disgusted, how about this, I will discuss a more suitable plan with the management and then make adjustments?"

"In other words, this supervision system will only change after I renew my contract, right?"

Ma Rongcheng said directly.

The corner of Huang Yulang's mouth twitched. No matter what he said, the company's stock price was still on a downward trend. The most important thing now was stability. Any institutional changes would easily cause panic among investors and shareholders, leading to a sell-off and putting the company in a precarious situation.

Ma Rongcheng refused and said, "If that's the case, then I'll wait until the day when things change, and then talk to Mr. Huang about the contract renewal."

"Rongcheng, I don't know why you are so resistant to supervision?"

Huang Yulang spread his hands.

"Because they interfered with my creation!"

Ma Rongcheng thought without hesitation, "I hope that my comics can have other values ​​besides commercial value."

"What value? Could it be artistic value?"

Huang Yulang was dismissive. "I've told you many times that comics are a lightly commercial product. Don't pursue that kind of illusory art. The reason why I set up a supervisor position in the comics team is because the painters may have an excess of themselves and go against the market."

Ma Rongcheng did not deny it, but just said that he has made enough money now and wants to make more contributions to the innovation of Hong Kong comics next.

Just like Akira Toriyama, he provided new directions and references for Japanese comics in terms of comic storyboard techniques and fighting comic narrative.

"Nonsense!"

The smile on Huang Yulang's face disappeared, and he slammed the table in frustration. (End of this chapter)