Jessie Sterling paused. "...My exposure to shonen manga is rather limited."
"Mr. Rhodes, you’re here too?" Just as Jessie was subtly implying that she might not have read Yvonne Rhodes’s manga, a man’s voice cut in.
A man who looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight walked over.
"Shawn Stuart," Yvonne Rhodes said.
As Shawn Stuart approached, his eyes landed on Jessie, who was standing beside Yvonne Rhodes. "And who might this be?"
"One of our artists. Why? Did you need sothing?" Yvonne Rhodes didn’t seem particularly friendly toward him. After saying this, she turned to Jessie and clarified who Shawn Stuart was. "Ever heard of ’The Twin Shadows of the Month’ from Manhui?"
Jessie shook her head.
Yvonne Rhodes suddenly laughed. "It’s fine. You don’t really read shonen manga anyway, so it’s normal that you haven’t heard of it."
Having overheard their conversation, Shawn Stuart smiled. "It’s true that fewer girls read this kind of manga."
"Don’t give that," Yvonne Rhodes shot back bluntly. "What does gender have to do with it? It’s just a matter of personal preference, isn’t it? The biggest spenders on our website are won. If you do the math, won are the ones spending the most on shonen manga, too."
Shawn Stuart quickly raised his hands in surrender. "Mr. Rhodes is right about everything, my mistake. I almost forgot that our dear Mr. Rhodes is a huge shonen manga fan herself. Sorry about that."
Yvonne Rhodes ignored his slick apology. "Was there sothing else?"
She was clearly telling him to leave.
Shawn Stuart let out a laugh. "Hey, I just saw a new face. We’re veterans on the site, and the editors told us old-tirs to liven things up with the newbies, so I thought I’d co see what’s happening." At this point, he changed his tune. "Well, I’ll let you two talk. Won’t interrupt. Monkey’s calling over."
Once Shawn Stuart was gone, Yvonne Rhodes lowered her voice. "So of the artists on our site might be pretty successful, so even have works that have gone mainstream, but success has nothing to do with character."
Jessie took another sip of the lychee-flavored sparkling wine. She had to admit, she loved the taste. It was delightfully sweet and didn’t seem to have much alcohol content, almost like juice.
"Okay, got it. Thanks, Mr. Rhodes," Jessie said with a pleasant smile.
She had no idea that when she smiled at people like that, she looked just like a proud little kitten that had set aside its pride, appearing so soft and sweet it was utterly adorable.
Yvonne Rhodes suddenly lifted a hand and touched her cheek.
Jessie jumped.
Yvonne Rhodes opened her hand to explain, "You had a piece of confetti on your face."
She showed Jessie the yellow piece of confetti in her palm.
Jessie let out a little "Ah," slightly chagrined. "I didn’t even notice..."
’So much for my image!’
Yvonne Rhodes chuckled. "Actually, it was quite cute."
Jessie didn’t pay much mind to what was clearly just a friendly complint between girls, and instead steered the conversation to the annual party’s schedule.
After a short while, Yvonne Rhodes was called away by her editor, apparently to confirm sothing about the award ceremony.
With Yvonne Rhodes gone, the spot next to Jessie was now empty.
One after another, quite a few people ca over to strike up a conversation with her.
Jessie had little interest in the male artists. She was wearing an enormous pink diamond on her ring finger, but it was as if none of them could see it.
But the n who ca to chat her up never said anything explicitly out of line, which left Jessie feeling frustrated. ’Do I really have to tell every single person who cos over that I’m married? That would sound so foolish.’
Thankfully, just after Jessie had given the cold shoulder to yet another man asking for her contact information, the two girls she’d bumped into in the elevator earlier walked over.
"Oh, it’s you! Li-Little Squid?" The girl in glasses and a puffy jacket greeted Jessie with a smile. "I’m Mochi Without Sticky Rice. We t in the elevator, rember?"
"Mochi Without Sticky Rice" had heard Zoe Marx call out Jessie’s pen na after they got out of the elevator. She seed a bit shy in front of Jessie. "At the annual party, we usually call each other by our handles. But you can use my real na if you want. I’m Holly Wilcox."
The girl beside her, who looked like she’d stepped right out of an ani, nodded along. "I’m Bella, and my full na is Bella Lane. Oh, but please don’t use my full na! I have this thing about people using my real na."
Jessie found the two of them amusing and couldn’t help but smile. "It’s nice to et you. I’m Jessie Sterling."
"Just yesterday I was telling Mochi about your comic, New Marriage Diary! Oh my god, it’s the sweetest thing ever! I’m a huge fan!" Bella said. "Hehe, and I even won one of the big cash prizes from your last Weibo giveaway!"
Mochi nodded. "We’re both following it. I’d say it’s the sweetest shojo manga on our site this year. We love it! But... don’t let what so people are saying online get to you."
Jessie hadn’t been paying any attention to online chatter lately. Hearing this, she was confused. "What kind of talk?"
"You don’t know?" Mochi was a little surprised.
Jessie: "I’ve been busy lately, so I haven’t really been online."
Mochi let out an "Oh." "We thought you stopped updating because you were upset about all that online drama."
Jessie realized the period they were referring to must have been the couple of weeks she was busy with her wedding. It was all just a misunderstanding.
Seeing this, Bella tugged on Mochi’s sleeve.
Jessie, however, didn’t mind. "It’s fine. Go on, I’m curious to know what this is all about."
"After you did that red envelope giveaway on Weibo, a lot of readers were celebrating in our site’s forums. That’s how so people discovered your work, and they went to read your comic, so your popularity surged. If you were watching the Newcor Rankings, you were actually in first place for a while," Mochi explained. "But your rank couldn’t have gone up just because of the giveaway. For all the leaderboards on Manhui, the most important tric is reader retention. It doesn’t matter how much outside traffic you bring in; only the readers who actually stick around affect your rank. That ans your comic has to be good for your ranking to rise in the first place."
Jessie really had no idea her giveaway would drive traffic to her comic. She’d only done it because she was in a good mood.
"They’re just jealous," Bella said. "Jealous that you ranked first, so they’re trying to find any reason to criticize you. They’re saying you’re just using marketing tactics, attracting readers with giveaways. And then... so people started digging into your comic..."
"Huh?" Jessie was genuinely surprised. "Digging into my comic?"
’If soone had really exposed who I am, Victor and Director Sterling would have definitely heard about it by now, which ans I would have, too.’
"Mhm," Mochi nodded. "So people were saying you were basing your story on real people, using their lives as material, which is an infringent. Pah! These people are just spouting nonsense. I bet they couldn’t find any real dirt on you, so they just resorted to making things up."
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