Li Yi lightly clicked the mouse and accepted the compressed file sent by Duck Neck.
Editor Guapi: Hold on a sec.
Despair Duck Neck: You don’t even send me any hearts when you talk to me anymore qaq [heart emoji]
When Li Yi first took Duck Neck under his wing, he thought Duck Neck was a cute girl, so his tone naturally softened a lot. But ever since Duck Neck revealed the truth by sending a series of photos, Li Yi’s attitude completely flipped.
Like this:
Editor Guapi: What the hell are you sending?
Editor Guapi: Stop sending your little “battle balls” (playful nickname for photos)
The person on the other end of the internet raised their eyebrows helplessly.
Despair Duck Neck: Come on qwq, here, look at my hands [picture]
Editor Guapi: You’re NOT allowed to send me any more photos!!!
There was no more response from Duck Neck. Li Yi moved his mouse to the compressed file and opened it, starting to carefully review the storyboard sketches.
Duck Neck’s manga serialization was different from other authors’, like Achi and Miss Number One. Those were complete stories from start to finish starring the same two main characters.
But Duck Neck’s story was an anthology — each issue had a different story and different main characters.
This issue’s story took place in a coffee shop.
“A coffee shop, huh…” Li Yi pondered as he read, casually picking up the coffee by his side—carefully made extra sweet and creamy by Chang Qi—to avoid the sharpness hurting his molars, and took a cautious sip.
When Li Yi had previously reviewed storyboards for his authors, the drafts were usually rough sketches or just stick figures roughly outlining the scenes. But the files Duck Neck sent him were already clean line art.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll send it back for a redo?” Li Yi put down his coffee and started looking through the storyboard.
The main “top” character in the story was a barista working part-time at the coffee shop—a classic hardworking college student. The character design was quite likable.
But Li Yi kept thinking about Chang Qi, and took another sip of his coffee.
The main “bottom” character was an ordinary office worker, working nine to five, wearing thick glasses—his character felt a bit stiff.
“How are these two supposed to spark anything?” Li Yi shook his head, circling something on the storyboard with his stylus.
The story began pretty typically: the office worker buys a coffee before rushing to catch the subway. The coffee shop guy seemed like a rookie, still a bit clumsy on the job, accidentally spilling half of the coffee.
The barista was busy apologizing, the office worker was busy squeezing onto the subway, and a bit taciturn. He said, “Just leave it like this, I’m in a hurry.”
When they exchanged the coffee cup, their hands briefly touched.
When Li Yi saw this part, he quietly erased the circle he had just drawn on the storyboard.
There was a spark after all.
After their first meeting, the story naturally progressed to them getting to know each other and becoming closer.
At the point where they get acquainted, the current issue ended—if you wanted to see them fall in love, you’d have to wait for the next issue.
The plot, character designs, and artwork were all impeccable, but a few of the storyboards and lines still needed some tweaking.
Li Yi sent his notes back to Duck Neck and didn’t hear anything for a long time. He assumed Duck Neck was busy, but he still needed to follow up.
Editor Guapi: I’ve read through the story—looks good, and the characters work. Keep going like this, just make the storyboard changes I marked.
After taking another sip of his overly sweet coffee, Li Yi clicked and typed again.
Editor Guapi: Draw more, and focus less on other distractions—you know what I mean. Work hard, kid, I’m rooting for you [pat on shoulder].
He sent several messages in a row, but it was like they disappeared into a black hole. Li Yi started wondering if maybe he had been too harsh.
His fingers lightly tapped the keyboard without typing anything, but in his mind he wrote over ten thousand words.
Had he been too blunt?
After all, even though Duck Neck was a guy, his tone was so cute and soft—what if he was too fragile and got hurt?
Would Duck Neck think his editor was too harsh?
Li Yi carefully chose his words in his mind and was about to type the first word when suddenly several “beep beep beep” notifications popped up—the old company computer nearly crashed from the flood of messages.
Duck Neck had sent over more than a dozen images in a row.
All of Li Yi’s painstaking advice was washed away, completely ignored.
There were pictures of hands, collarbones, abs, the “absolute territory” around wrists, and more—including a half-body photo.
Despair Duck Neck: Does this look like Shen He?
Shen He was the main “top” character in Duck Neck’s current storyboard—the barista.
The half-body photo Duck Neck sent looked somewhat like Shen He, both wearing the typical aprons seen in coffee shops. It seemed like a lot of trendy cafés dressed their baristas like this nowadays.
Editor Guapi: You…
Despair Duck Neck: Does it look like him qwq?
Editor Guapi: Just focus on drawing well…
Despair Duck Neck: Just tell me if it looks like him or not [little kitten acting cute].
The company boss walked by behind him. Li Yi hadn’t gotten a good look at the photo yet, so he quickly switched windows on his computer, pretending to be busy reviewing manuscripts.
After the boss passed, Li Yi switched back to the chat and saw that Duck Neck had already retracted the half-body photo.
Li Yi clicked his tongue, recalling that fleeting half-body photo, suddenly feeling something was off.
But his mind felt foggy, like the overly sweet coffee Chang Qi had given him today had dulled his thoughts. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.
The next day, the temperature dropped in the provincial capital. Li Yi, having worn something too thin yesterday, was now honorably down with a fever and a cold, so he took the day off to rest at home. Honestly, his work wasn’t much different at home than at the office, as long as he logged in on time.
Thanks to his good biological clock, he still woke up at his usual time. Sitting on his bed reviewing manuscripts, it felt much the same as usual—except there was no coffee.
Normally, Li Yi drank his coffee black, no sugar or cream—just bitter, pure coffee.
But that extra-sweet, creamy coffee from yesterday left a lingering taste in his mouth. And he found himself reminiscing about the person who made it, and the one who added the sugar and cream.
He made himself a cup of instant coffee, but it didn’t taste right.
Something was missing.
He swung his legs off the bed and decided to go out to the coffee shop by the subway entrance to buy a fresh cup.
“Chang Qi’s probably already at class,” Li Yi thought as he pushed open the coffee shop door. “Looks like I won’t see her today.”
Unexpectedly, in the large café, by the floor-to-ceiling window sat a figure with their back to him, dressed in their usual outfit. Hearing the chime of the door’s wind bell, the person turned and saw him, then said first, “Why didn’t you reply to my messages?”
Li Yi was stunned.
Wait—since when did we exchange contact info???
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