Parental Love: Jiang Weimin's Life of Lying Down

Before leaving home, Jiang Weimin obtained the photo that completely triggered Jiang Defu's emotions by reading books and finding information, and hid it under the box where he collected comic books.

Holding the second-class ship ticket given by Jiang Defu, Jiang Weimin never expected that in the 70s, people would travel from Qingdao to Shanghai by ship, not train.

After traveling all the way, we finally arrived in Qingdao.

As soon as Jiang Weimin got out of the car, he saw An Tai coming to greet him. An Tai walked up to him quickly and asked enthusiastically, "Weimin, are you working hard?"

As he said that, An Tai reached out to take the package from Jiang Weimin's hand.

Jiang Weimin quickly refused, "Uncle, no need, I'll come by myself. I'm really sorry to have you come all the way to pick me up."

An Tai smiled and patted Jiang Weimin on the shoulder: "We are all family, why are you saying such polite words? Are your parents in good health recently?"

Jiang Weimin smiled and replied, "Yes, everything is fine."

Then, An Tai asked curiously, "Is there something important that you are going to Shanghai for this time? It's not clear in the telegram."

Jiang Weimin told An Tai the reasons why he was going to Shanghai.

After listening, An Tai showed an excited expression on his face, and said excitedly: "Wei Min! You must seize this opportunity. If you have the chance to worship Master Gu as your teacher, it will be of great help to your future development!"

Jiang Weimin nodded seriously, saying that he would work hard to get it: "Okay, uncle, I understand."

An Tai warned him earnestly, "You must take this matter to heart. When you arrive in Shanghai, you must respect Master Gu and be careful in what you say and do."

Jiang Weimin nodded repeatedly in agreement: "I'll remember that, uncle."

“That’s good. Although you have published a lot of comic books, you are still outside the realm of painters.

You have no teacher, and you don’t have the support of an art academy. You are a rootless duckweed. If the policy changes one day, there will be no one to speak up for you.”

"Uncle, I understand."

In fact, Jiang Weimin knew very well that he had no shortage of opportunities to become an apprentice.

Qingdao Publishing House is also looking for candidates to be teachers for itself.

The editor of Shandong Publishing House had repeatedly expressed his willingness to introduce Jiang Weimin to Master Wang Qimin as his teacher, but Jiang Weimin declined the offer, saying that Qingdao Publishing House had been very kind to him.

Jiang Weimin felt that Master Wang Qiming's influence was limited to the Shandong region. If he wanted to promote the comic strip business nationwide, he had to find a more prestigious and influential comic strip artist as his teacher.

In addition, there were less than two years left before the resumption of the college entrance examination. As long as he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts, he could rely on the school's big tree and his own talent and hard work.

Even without the guidance of famous teachers, his influence will surpass that of Master Wang Qimin in the next few years.

Afterwards, An Tai rode his bicycle and took Jiang Weimin home.

"By the way, Wei Min, your new comic book is very popular. Many people want to buy it but can't!"

Jiang Weimin asked in surprise, "Really?"

"That's right. Every day when I go to and from get off work, I see a lot of people blocking the entrance of the bookstore.

I asked them a few times out of curiosity, and they all said they wanted to buy the comic book series "My Father's War of Resistance" but they were never able to buy it."

After hearing this, Jiang Weimin understood that this had something to do with him.

If the release schedule of his four comic books had not been too tight and the last two volumes had not been released later, perhaps this situation would not have occurred.

However, what he didn't expect was that the actual situation was much crazier than he had expected.

Readers are very receptive to Jiang Weimin's latest painting style.

Jiang Weimin has indeed come at a good time. The older generation of painters have not yet been rehabilitated, and the number of comic books published at this stage is still relatively small.

Publishing comic strips now is like standing at the center of a storm.

Moreover, the circulation of "Father's War of Resistance" published by Qingdao Publishing House is really too small.

The first two works were able to sell 40 copies each, while the last two were only 30 and 10 copies respectively.

The demand is far from enough to keep up with the market, resulting in many people coming to inquire at the bookstore and publishing house every day.

Today, Qingdao Publishing House has fallen into a state of chaos.

During this critical period, Qingdao Publishing House is holding an emergency meeting.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was tense and everyone seemed a little anxious.

“Boss, we really need to coordinate another printing machine! We have too many orders and we can’t handle them all.”

Zhao Jian said anxiously, his face full of fatigue and worry.

Song Wenqing nodded and sighed helplessly: "I have reported this to the higher authorities, but I have not received a definite reply yet."

A month ago, Shanghai People's Publishing House and People's Fine Arts Publishing House almost simultaneously launched a comic book on the theme of solving crimes.

This caught Qingdao Publishing House and Shandong Publishing House off guard.

Faced with the sudden attack from competitors, Qingdao Publishing House and Shandong Publishing House had to release their products in advance.

Due to the limitation of printing volume, Qingdao Publishing House was unable to reach the expected inventory target and could only publish the book in a hurry.

Subsequently, the two publishing houses launched rounds of publicity campaigns in major newspapers according to the predetermined plan.

Originally, this type of crime-solving comic book had a broad readership, and coupled with carefully planned marketing activities, sales soared rapidly.

Then, major bookstores started to publish "Police Dog Attack: Chasing Murderers in the Rainy Night".

I thought the stock of "Police Dog Attack: Chasing Murderers in the Rainy Night" had been printed out.

Due to the urgent calls from readers at major bookstores, many have started placing orders for the "Father's War of Resistance" series.

With orders pouring in, Qingdao Publishing House is facing tremendous pressure.

"Yunzhou, report the order status."

Yun Zhou handed the order information form to Song Wenqing. "President, this is the order I sorted out for the current market demand for "Big Knife King Tieshan". The order is 70.

"Sharpshooter Mao Yu" received 60 orders.

"Demolition Man Zhang Dalei" 50,

"Special Forces, Bravely Entering Yishui County" 110 million,

"Police Dog Attack: Rainy Night Chase" 150 million orders,

There are 30 other orders, nearly 500 million orders. And I estimate there will be more orders in the future.”

Everyone present was shocked when they heard this number. An order of 500 million is not a small amount. Now it takes Qingdao Publishing House nearly a year just to print it. In the past, Qingdao Publishing House did not have so many printing tasks in 5 years.

"Five million! Zhao Jian, what's the current inventory situation?"

"Boss, except for 'Police Dog: Rainy Night Chase' which has 50 copies in stock, all other copies are out of stock."

Liu Shuo said worriedly, "President, we have to find a solution quickly. The longer we delay, the more I worry that other publishers may directly print our works."

There was no concept of copyright in that era. As long as the comic book was excellent, many publishing houses would print it directly.

"Do you have any solution?" Song Wenqing looked at everyone.

For a moment, the office fell silent, and everyone was thinking about how to solve the problem.

"President, how about giving some of the orders to Shandong Publishing House?"

The president thought for a moment and replied, "Wait a little longer, I'll contact them about the printing equipment. Yunzhou, you and Zhao Jian should work out a printing and distribution plan first, and show it to me when it's done."

Yun Zhou responded, "Okay, President."

"Lao Liu, please give Comrade Xiao Jiang a call and ask him if he has any good ideas. Comrade Xiao Jiang has a flexible mind.

Oh, by the way, ask him when the next work will be finished."

Song Wenqing thought about it again and said, "Forget it, let's not ask."

Old Liu nodded to show that he understood: "Okay, President."

Finally, Song Wenqing gave another reminder: "Purchasing department, please pay attention to all the purchased materials. Don't let me down!"

After explaining the work tasks, Song Wenqing announced the adjournment of the meeting.