51. Enormous

The next evening, Xiao Bai was still wearing that red traditional Chinese jacket, but unlike yesterday, the sleeves were rolled up. Even so, the little girl’s forehead was sweating from the heat, and since she liked running around, she quickly went from smelling sweet like Cheng Cheng to becoming rather smelly.

To prevent things from getting worse, she had to stay inside the classroom, sitting under the air conditioner reading picture books or playing games and singing songs with the other children. Playing soccer was out of the question—what a pity.

The sun hadn’t set yet. Summer evenings were painted with a sky full of glowing clouds, the golden sunset spreading everywhere. The Little Red Horse Academy was lush with trees swaying gently in the breeze, unknown birds chirping hidden among the leaves. Everything was so beautiful, perfect for children to run about and laugh heartily.

But Xiao Bai had to obediently stay at home. She went to find Zhang Tan and knocked on his door, but no one answered; he hadn’t come back yet.

After work, Zhang Tan met with Li Rui from Yonglong Entertainment Company at a café on West Chang’an Street, as planned.

He arrived ten minutes early and had just settled into a seat when a young man approached and asked, “Are you Mr. Zhang Tan?”

Zhang Tan sized him up. The man looked no older than thirty, had an ordinary build and appearance, wore black-rimmed glasses, and carried a black leather briefcase.

“Yes, that’s me. Are you Manager Li?” Zhang Tan stood up.

“That’s right, I’m Li Rui. Nice to meet you, Mr. Zhang.”

Zhang Tan invited him to sit down.

“You’re quite young, Mr. Zhang. Your videos are excellent…”

Zhang Tan ordered two coffees and discussed the cooperation details with Li Rui.

Li Rui was straightforward, offering a price for a series of five pre-roll advertisements, with a total advertising fee of 30,000 yuan.

Though Zhang Tan had never taken on ads before, he had some awareness and expectations. Li Rui’s offer was reasonable, though not particularly high.

After some negotiation, they settled on five consecutive pre-roll ads for 40,000 yuan.

The ads would promote the upcoming film "Tomorrow’s You," which was set to release during the latter half of the summer movie season.

Li Rui took a contract from his briefcase, signed it with Zhang Tan on the spot, then left.

Pre-roll ads were just one form of advertising; others included post-roll ads, dedicated videos promoting "Tomorrow’s You," and subtle product placements.

However, Zhang Tan knew his limits—he was just a small content creator, so advertisers wouldn’t prioritize him too much. Getting any ads was already a blessing.

Compared to others, Li Rui’s offer was sincere.

If these five ads performed well, there might be deeper collaborations in the future.

The company would first transfer 30,000 yuan before the ads began, with the remaining 20,000 paid after all five were completed.

They also required the five videos be uploaded within half a month.

Zhang Tan averaged one video every three days. Although the "Unlucky Bear" project was starting, which might delay things slightly, the scripts were now on track. With five people working together, he no longer had to struggle alone and could manage production alongside his other commitments.

Having earned some money, Zhang Tan bought another box of Bear Drinks. Returning to the urban village, he had just parked his car when he ran into Huang Meimei coming home.

She was dressed rather formally, in a women’s blazer and pencil skirt.

She greeted Zhang Tan first, then her gaze dropped to the box of Bear Drinks he carried, featuring a giant, embarrassingly cute bear on the front.

Huang Meimei immediately cast a disdainful look, and Zhang Tan seemed to hear a strange “ugh~~” sound in her tone.

“Switched from alcohol to Bear Drinks?” she asked.

“Occasionally. Mostly for the kids,” Zhang Tan explained.

“Oh—”

“Oh, my foot,” Zhang Tan thought. Was an adult man not allowed to drink Bear Drinks?

“Xiao Bai likes it.”

“Xiao Bai?” Huang Meimei said in surprise, then pursed her lips. She thought Zhang Tan didn’t know, but the moment Zhang Tan met Xiao Bai, they didn’t get along; Xiao Bai had even bitten him. Yet he was buying Bear Drinks for her?

Seeing her expression, and given she’d already judged him a little after the last time he bought children’s socks, Zhang Tan guessed Huang Meimei now considered him half a weirdo.

He was too lazy to explain. “Let’s go.”

Click-clack, click-clack. Huang Meimei followed in high heels, gossiping: “Zhang Tan, guess who I ran into today?”

“Who?”

“Guess.”

“Me.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you ran into me.”

“Boring!”

Seeing Zhang Tan was truly uninterested and refused to guess, she sighed and revealed, “It was Tang Yu.”

Tang Yu? Zhang Tan thought for a moment and recalled that person—she’d sent him texts and called several times, he’d replied to some texts but never answered the calls.

“What about it? Remember now? Isn’t she your ex-girlfriend?” Huang Meimei pressed, full of curiosity.

Zhang Tan replied simply, “You said it—ex-girlfriend. No point talking about it. Enough gossip; let’s go. Bye. Oh, by the way, a little advice—don’t wear that short skirt, it makes your butt look huge.”

Huang Meimei froze in place, turning to look at her rear but could only see a little.

It did seem quite large.

She caught up and said, “Big butts look better.”

“Ugh,” Zhang Tan said with disdain, “It just makes you look dirty.”

“Zhang! Tan—”

Zhang Tan was already hurrying away.

Back at the academy, he saw a bunch of children chatting and playing games in the classroom. Though he hadn’t found Xiao Bai, he heard her distinct Sichuan accent, happily calling out from among the crowd.

Returning home, Zhang Tan unpacked the whole box of Bear Drinks and put them in the fridge. After showering and changing, he sat at his desk and buried himself in video editing. Pressure fueled his motivation; otherwise, he might have procrastinated again.

At 10:30 p.m., he shut down his computer and went for a walk downstairs, intending to check on Xiao Bai, only to learn she had already gone to bed.

With no Xiao Bai to keep him company, the first floor was empty. The other children were either picked up or asleep upstairs.

As Zhang Tan strolled into the yard, a plump man appeared. His yellowed white shirt was stretched tightly, almost bursting at the seams—clearly too small.

“Hello, Boss Zhang.”

Zhang Tan recognized him as Meng Guangxin, Cheng Cheng’s father.

“Hi, here to pick up Cheng Cheng? You’re earlier than usual.”

“Finished work early, so I got off ahead of time.”

“Do you work night shifts?”

“Night shift? No, nine to five, haha.”

That kind of overtime was insane—not 996, but 007.

Zhang Tan chuckled and changed the subject. “Cheng Cheng is asleep. You should go check on her.”

“Okay, goodbye, Mr. Zhang.”

“Goodbye.”

Zhang Tan watched him enter the building, noticing the large patch of sweat soaking his back, clinging to his shirt.

Soon, Meng Guangxin carried Cheng Cheng out. The little girl wore a beautiful princess-style puffy dress, curled up in her father’s arms like a kitten, sleeping soundly.

Zhang Tan, of course, knew that dress well. Everyone at Little Red Horse Academy—teachers and children alike—noticed it the first day Cheng Cheng wore it. The little girls admired it, the boys thought it looked nice, and the teachers praised how cute she was.

Shy Cheng Cheng’s cheeks had been rosy these past few days, her eyes sparkling, and she smelled sweet like a blossoming melon.

Meng Guangxin gave Zhang Tan a silent smile, holding Cheng Cheng as he steadily walked away from the academy.