Chapter 453 - 250: Lu Fan: Jiang Guoqiang Was Moved?! He Relented

Chapter 453: Chapter 250: Lu Fan: Jiang Guoqiang Was Moved?! He Relented

Jiang Silu answered, "Okay, bro, thank you."

"Nothing to thank me for. Keep it up. Call me if anything comes up, don’t try to carry it all by yourself."

After hanging up, Jiang Silu took a deep breath, opened the rendering she hadn’t finished earlier, and continued to work on it.

She was drawing a landscape plan for a residential community. She had drawn inspiration from Spring Glow Garden and had created several versions she wasn’t happy with. But today, for some reason, as she drew, the ideas just started to flow.

As she worked, a message box popped up in the bottom right corner of her screen.

"Are you there? Excuse me, can you design novel covers?"

Jiang Silu froze for a moment, then clicked open the message.

It was an inquiry from a Taobao buyer. Their avatar was a book cover, and their username was "Deep Sea Fishy Fish."

She quickly replied.

Jiang Silu: [Hello, yes, I can. What style of cover are you looking for?]

The other person replied quickly.

Deep Sea Fishy Fish: [Modern romance, something sweet. I want a seaside background, large text, and warm colors. It’s for the website Jinjiang, and the book title is *Starlight in the Deep Sea*.]

Jiang Silu stared at the words, her heart pounding nervously.

She had studied landscape architecture and designed landscape plans; she had never made a novel cover before.

But after a moment’s hesitation, she replied anyway.

’This is my first client. No matter what it is, I have to take the job.’

Jiang Silu: [Okay, I’ll give it a try. Do you have any reference images?]

Deep Sea Fishy Fish sent over a few reference images. They were all typical romance novel covers found online: blue skies and white clouds, silhouettes of the male and female leads, and a large title.

Jiang Silu looked them over a few times and replied.

Jiang Silu: [I’ll make a draft for you tonight. If you’re not satisfied, I can revise it.]

Deep Sea Fishy Fish: [Okay, how much?]

Jiang Silu thought for a moment and typed out a price.

She didn’t know how much to ask for. She was afraid of scaring the client away if she asked for too much, but if she asked for too little, it would be hard to raise her prices later.

Gritting her teeth, she quoted her price.

Jiang Silu: [Five yuan.]

After sending it, even she thought it was cheap. But it was her first order, so she decided to think of it as making a new friend.

Deep Sea Fishy Fish: [That cheap? Alright, go ahead. Send it to me when you’re done. No rush, take your time.]

And just like that, Jiang Silu received the first commercial order since starting her business.

She immediately closed the chat window, opened her design software, and started working on the cover.

Finding assets, adjusting colors, arranging the layout, adding text.

She had never made a cover before, but the principles of design were universal.

Composition, color matching, font pairing—she had a foundation in all of these.

She chose a photo of a beach for the background: golden sand, a blue sea, and a sunset dyeing the ocean’s surface orange-red.

She added silhouettes of the male and female leads, holding hands as they walked on the beach.

The book title was in a warm yellow font, placed right in the center with a soft glow around it.

After bustling around for over half an hour, she finished the first draft.

She sent it over, and the client replied: [It’s pretty good, but can you change the font? This one is too plain. I want a handwritten style, something that looks a bit gentler.]

Jiang Silu made another version.

She changed to a handwritten font, adjusted the letter spacing, and added a small line of text below the title.

"You are my starlight in the deep sea."

She sent it.

Deep Sea Fishy Fish: [Beautiful! This is it! Thank you]

Jiang Silu: [You’re welcome.]

And just like that, her first commercial order was complete.

The pay wasn’t much, but her eyes suddenly felt hot.

She took a screenshot of the chat history, then another of the completed order, and saved them to her phone.

This was her first order. It was only five yuan, but it meant something different.

She sent over the finished cover, and the client quickly confirmed receipt. They even left a five-star review that read, "The shop owner is very patient, the design is beautiful, will come again."

Jiang Silu stared at the review for a long time, then smiled.

She picked up her phone and sent a message to Lu Fan.

Jiang Silu: [Dad, I got my first order! Five yuan, to make a novel cover!]

Lu Fan replied quickly.

Lu Fan: [Nice. What kind of novel?]

Jiang Silu: [A modern romance, the sweet kind. I didn’t know how to make a cover, so I just bit the bullet and did it.]

Lu Fan: [You did well. Keep up the good work. Why don’t you send me the cover so I can see it?]

Jiang Silu sent him the cover image.

A moment later, Lu Fan replied.

Lu Fan: [It’s quite good. The color combination is nice. Have you made covers before?]

Jiang Silu: [No, this was my first time. I just tried to follow the client’s requests.]

Lu Fan: [To do this well on your first try, you have a talent for it. Keep it up. Dad supports you.]

Reading his words, Jiang Silu felt a warmth spread through her heart.

She put down her phone, leaned back in her chair, and stared at the ceiling.

Five yuan. It wasn’t much, but she had earned it herself.

Not from her dad, not from her brother. It was an order she had taken herself, a graphic she had made herself.

She remembered when she was little, whenever she saw other kids with pocket money, she never dared to ask her mom for any.

Although she had worked many part-time jobs after starting college.

But that was all just working for other people.

It was different now. She could earn money on her own. Even though it was only five yuan, it was a start.

She looked at the screenshot of the cover one more time and saved it into a folder named "First Order."

’This folder will get fuller and fuller in the future,’ she believed.

「In the study of Zijin Manor.」

Lu Fan put down his phone, a smile on his face.

He leaned back in his chair and looked out at the night sky.

He picked up his phone and sent a message to Jiali.

Lu Fan: [Jiali, have Xiaoya send some small commercial jobs Silu’s way. Nothing too big, don’t want to pressure her. But be careful. Don’t let her find out it was arranged. She did a good job on this first order; it looks quite professional.]

Jiali replied quickly. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Jiali: [Yes, Boss. I’ll arrange it right away. Don’t worry, I won’t let the young miss suspect anything. Xiaoya said the young miss is a fast learner. Her first order was a bit rough, but her aesthetic sense is on point.]