HUFT Chapter 8

Chi Nan took a deep breath and discussed the details with his teacher, confirming a basic plan. Then, he opened his tablet and continued to work on the draft he hadn’t finished in the morning. Once this draft was completed, Chi Nan estimated he wouldn’t have time for anything else for quite a while, let alone take on new commissions.

Since returning at noon, Chi Nan had been sitting in front of his tablet. By the time the sun set, Chi Nan had finally finished.

“Phew.”

Chi Nan exhaled deeply, twisting his sore neck. Looking out the window, the sun had long since set. He had finished lunch close to 3 PM, so he wasn’t very hungry yet. Chi Nan finished the final touches, sent it to the client, and immediately received a reply.

“Wow! A god! You really are too godly, this drawing is so beautiful, I love you so much!”

Followed by several emoticons and a transfer. Chi Nan replied briefly, asking if there were any areas that needed modification.

“No, no, it’s so beautiful, where would it need modification? Can I commission a few more?”

Chi Nan typed a reply.

[I’m quite busy recently, if you want to commission, it will have to be after a month. If no modifications are needed, I’ll accept the payment.]

“Accept it, accept it, too godly.”

Chi Nan smiled when he saw the message. The best thing was for his drawings to be liked. He then accepted the transfer. Chi Nan had a habit of asking for a partial deposit, which was to prevent clients from running away and avoiding payment. Chi Nan had encountered this situation when he first started drawing, so he adopted the deposit policy.

Chi Nan glanced at his bank balance, which was enough for him to live on, and felt relieved. He also looked at the messages from Uncle Fu. Uncle Fu had sent him a message as soon as he got home, but Chi Nan was too busy at the time to reply. The previous message was from an hour ago, with Uncle Fu asking if he had eaten.

“Not yet, just finished working.”

[You’re not eating on time again, I’m going to turn you in to the police.]

Chi Nan smiled. Why did Uncle Fu’s style change so much all of a sudden? Yesterday, he was still so aloof. No matter what Chi Nan sent, Uncle Fu would reply with “Mm,” “Oh,” or “Okay.” Today, he had started joking with him. But this was also good. Chi Nan felt that this kind of Uncle Fu had a bit of humanity.

“I ate late at noon, so I’m not very hungry. The cafeteria should still be open.”

Chi Nan replied, glancing at the time. It was almost eight o’clock, so the cafeteria should still have food. But as soon as he got up, Chi Nan felt a creak in his waist.

“Could it be that I sat for too long and broke my waist?”

Chi Nan wanted to cry a little. He had indeed been sitting for a bit too long today. After not moving for a long time, his waist was a little sore. But just as he got up from the chair, he felt a little overwhelmed. After a minute or two, Chi Nan rotated his waist and felt a little better.

Chi Nan felt that his waist wasn’t as uncomfortable anymore, so he continued to walk outside. In summer, the sky darkened a little later. At eight o’clock, it was only a little dark. Chi Nan didn’t dare to run too fast, so he walked slowly, taking the opportunity to talk to Uncle Fu.

[What were you busy with, forgetting to eat?]

“I received a commission a few days ago and just finished it today. After finishing it, I have to prepare for our school’s anniversary celebration, so I probably won’t have time to draw. I was afraid of delaying it, so I quickly finished it this afternoon and sent it over.”

After Chi Nan sent the message, he had already arrived at the cafeteria, so he didn’t look at his phone. He found a window to buy food.

Fu Chaoyun heard Chi Nan mention a commission and, not understanding what it was, directly called Little Zhu to ask.

Assistant Little Zhu was lying comfortably on his sofa at home when his phone rang. Taking a look, it was Brother Fu. He immediately sat up straight and answered the call.

“Hello, Brother Fu, is there anything I can do for you?”

Little Zhu answered the phone cautiously, as if an ancient emperor had something to ask of his chief steward. In Little Zhu’s heart, his Brother Fu was no different from an ancient emperor, and he was more like a eunuch by the emperor’s side. His manager, Brother Li, was a bit like the chief steward with a sword. In short, they were all afraid of losing their heads.

“What does ‘commission’ mean?”

“Huh? What commission?”

Little Zhu didn’t understand what Brother Fu meant by “commission” at first.

“Just commission, something about drawing, it seems.”

Fu Chaoyun briefly conveyed Chi Nan’s meaning to Little Zhu. Although there was a slight deviation, Little Zhu still understood.

“Commissioning is when some people find artists online to draw. They pay, and the artists provide the drawings. Many of Brother Fu’s fan art and anime art are drawn by artists found by your fans. This is called commissioning. Simply put, it’s…”

“Okay, I understand.”

Fu Chaoyun didn’t need to listen to Little Zhu’s nagging once he understood the meaning and hung up the phone decisively. On the other end, Little Zhu hadn’t even finished half a sentence before he was mercilessly hung up on, so he had to swallow a mouthful of saliva.

“As you command, who told you to be the emperor?”

Little Zhu complained and threw his phone on the sofa, continuing to watch TV.

On the other side, after Fu Chaoyun understood what a commission was, he started to find common topics to chat with Chi Nan about.

[Good that it’s finished, eat on time.]

Chi Nan heard his phone ring after buying food and received Uncle Fu’s message.

“I will definitely eat on time tomorrow, but I guess I’ll be quite busy tomorrow too.”

Chi Nan was holding food in one hand, which wasn’t very convenient, so he sent Uncle Fu a voice message, turned off the screen, and put it in his pocket. He walked all the way back to the dormitory. On the way back, Chi Nan saw many couples, and many people taking a walk together at night. Although it was during the May Day holiday and many people had gone home, there were also many people like Chi Nan who didn’t go back. Others might not want to go back, but Chi Nan didn’t even know where he should go.

“If Uncle Fu were here, that would be great.”

Chi Nan always felt emotional when he saw couples, because he had always been alone, no matter when. If he ever met Uncle Fu one day, he would definitely take Uncle Fu to visit their A University campus. Unconsciously, Chi Nan wondered what kind of person Uncle Fu would be. Would he and Uncle Fu ever meet?

“Probably, after all, we’re both in City A.”

Chi Nan believed that one day, they would definitely meet. They were both in City A, and if they were destined, they might even bump into each other on the street, just not recognize each other. Meeting was only a matter of time for them.