Chapter 398 - 393: Parting Is for the Next Reunion

Chapter 398: Chapter 393: Parting Is for the Next Reunion

Deep into August, the Imperial Capital was still scorching hot.

Aside from his personal award for Best Animation Director, Jiang Xia placed all the other trophies and certificates on the company’s wall of honor, signifying that they were the result of the entire team’s efforts.

The employees from the Slam Dunk project team next door would often come over to take a look, their faces full of envy.

Now, the seventh season of Cat and Mouse was a hot broadcast on major television networks. Coupled with the Golden Dragon Award for Best Animation they had just won, the moment season seven went live, its popularity exploded across the internet.

Even Slam Dunk, which stuck to a weekly update schedule and built up its climaxes layer by layer, paled significantly in comparison when it came to popularity.

It couldn’t be helped. Slam Dunk was, after all, a relatively niche sports anime. The fact that it could already suppress other animated works was quite an achievement.

Additionally, production on the Cat and Mouse feature film was also progressing in an orderly fashion. The core team consisted of several group leaders from the original project team, and more key animators had been hired. A 90-minute film was roughly equivalent to the workload of a typical 12-episode season.

But since the decision was made to release it on the big screen, the visual requirements had to be far more refined than the animated series, achieving the standard of one drawing per frame—that is, 24 images per second.

Therefore, what was originally two months of work would now take about four or even five months to complete. This was a testament to Qitian Animation’s highest production standards, a battle to prove their mettle that could not be taken lightly.

The intense production continued until late August, when good news came from the operations department.

Cat and Mouse had successfully made contact with several neighboring countries and smoothly opened up overseas markets. Anime fan communities in each country gave it unanimously positive reviews, further expanding its influence in the world.

Jiang Xia couldn’t help but marvel. ’Cat and Mouse truly is a classic of classics. Even in this parallel world, it’s rapidly ascending to the pinnacle of animation once again.’

Meanwhile, thanks to the two livestreams of the Apple product launch and the Golden Dragon Animation Awards, Dili Dili had attracted many new users and content creators. Its daily active user traffic had now jumped by a huge margin, and its cultural community for young people was becoming more and more complete, much to the envy of many other video websites.

By the end of August, after nearly two months of work, Dili Dili’s software development department finally produced the first version of the Dili Dili app compatible with iOS.

However, this was still a trial version, not yet officially launched, and was only being used for internal beta testing within the company.

As the first user and product manager, Jiang Xia proposed over a dozen improvements to its existing functions and UI design. The official launch was estimated to be sometime in September.

By then, D Station’s usage would surely climb to another level.

◇

In the community garden, Shen Ying held Wang Ming’s hand as the two of them strolled slowly.

"Dummy, I have to go back to Yu Du in two days," she said softly after a long hesitation.

"So soon?!" Hearing this, Wang Ming’s hand tightened subconsciously, and he clearly froze for a moment.

"Yeah, it’s already the end of August. September is right around the corner, and I have to go back for classes," Shen Ying said.

"Oh."

Wang Ming lowered his eyelids slightly. His mood, which had been quite good, suddenly turned sour. After spending every day together for the past two months, he had grown accustomed to having Shen Ying around.

The thought of being separated for another half a year immediately made him feel miserable.

For a couple deep in the throes of love, every day apart is a form of torture.

But what could they do? One was in the Imperial Capital, the other in Yu Du, separated by a straight-line distance of 2,000 kilometers. If they were just in neighboring provinces, perhaps they could still meet every week or every month.

But now, they could only wait for a long holiday to have a chance to see each other.

"Are you unhappy?" Shen Ying tilted her head, looking at his downcast expression.

Wang Ming sighed softly. "It’s hard to be happy. How am I supposed to get through the days without you? It’s just... awful."

She gently shook her sweetheart’s arm. "Come on, I don’t want to leave you either, but there’s nothing I can do. It’s my fault for not studying hard in high school. I guess this is Heaven’s punishment for me."

"It’s clearly a punishment for me," Wang Ming muttered.

Shen Ying giggled. "Dummy, when I’m not around, you won’t cheat on me and find other girls, will you?"

"How could I! You know my whole heart belongs to you," he denied vehemently.

"Hehehe, I’m just kidding. I’ll stop teasing you. I promise, I’ll come find you as soon as winter break starts."

"Yeah!"

"And in the meantime, we’ll call, video chat, and talk on QQ. I know you’ll miss me, and I’ll miss you very, very much too."

"But I can’t hold you," Wang Ming pouted.

Shen Ying stopped, turned, and gently hugged him. "Dummy, they say a brief separation is just to make the next reunion even better. The emotions we hold back now will become a roaring fire when we meet again. My heart and your heart, even separated by thousands of kilometers, will always beat at the same rhythm. I will always love you."

"Ying..."

Wang Ming was touched, and he hugged her tightly.

"Dummy, I’ll spend these next two days making the most of our time together."

"I’ll go ask Old Jiang for time off," he said. "My storyboards are ahead of the project team’s schedule, so taking two days off won’t delay progress."

"I want to go to the zoo, and the aquarium, and a water park while the weather’s still hot, and see a romantic movie with you. But there isn’t enough time this year. How about next summer vacation?" Shen Ying smiled at him.

"Okay," Wang Ming nodded in agreement.

Their date was set for a year from now.

"While I’m gone, you have to keep working hard, okay? Study well, work diligently. Isn’t there still the Cat and Mouse feature film coming out in the second half of the year? At next year’s Golden Dragon Animation Awards, I want to see you standing on the awards stage."

Wang Ming sucked his teeth. "That wish seems a little difficult."

Next year, Slam Dunk would definitely be entered, and so would the Cat and Mouse feature film. If all goes as expected, the award for Best Director would probably go to Jiang Xia again.

Shen Ying burst out laughing. "Dummy, you don’t necessarily have to win the grand prize. There are so many individual awards, like for screenwriting and stuff. My Ming is so talented, winning an award should be a piece of cake for you, right?"

Wang Ming blinked. "If I win an award, can that count as a bride price?"

Shen Ying’s face flushed slightly. She lifted her head to look at him, a smile in her eyes. "Sure."

"Tsk, now I really have to work hard."

Nothing was more motivating than that promise.

"Dummy, thank you for being with me this summer vacation. I was very happy."

Shen Ying slowly closed her eyes, her delicate lips puckering slightly. "Dummy, kiss me."

The two kissed under a tree. Just then, Li Weiya, who was coming home from working overtime, happened to pass by. Seeing her son and daughter-in-law sneaking a kiss, she let out a soft cough.