Chapter 405 - 400: The New Year Approaches

Chapter 405: Chapter 400: The New Year Approaches

The promotional campaign for the *Cat and Mouse* feature film was progressing smoothly. With over a month to go before the Spring Festival on February 3rd, the current publicity push was more than enough to make *Cat and Mouse: Lucky Rabbit Year* a household name.

Even the broadcast of the ninth season of *Cat and Mouse* included a promo for the feature film at the end.

It constantly reminded kids to be sure to go see this fun animated movie in theaters over the New Year holiday.

And for the parents who saw it, the message was to take their kids.

And D Station, Qitian Animation’s home base, pinned the feature film’s promotional poster to its main page banner for a solid month.

Many animation content creators were promoting it of their own accord. After all, for one, they relied on the D Station platform for their livelihood; for another, President Jiang was a man of integrity; and finally, the quality of the animated *Cat and Mouse* series was guaranteed, so the film version, with its presumably more refined visuals, was unlikely to disappoint.

Speaking of which, Si Si and Cui Jiaying had been thriving on D Station over the past six months. They now ran a channel with over one hundred thousand fans, which put them in the top tier of creators on the platform.

The three series they ran together—"TV and Film Analysis," "Roasting Terrible Dramas," and "A Film Buff’s Take"—all received impressive view counts.

While this success was certainly helped by Jiang Xia funneling resources their way, it ultimately came down to the solid quality of their videos. Otherwise, viewers would click away in seconds, turned off by garbage content.

As time passed amidst these developments, Tsinghua University entered its two-week exam period.

Before the exams, Zeng Yixing had approached Jiang Xia, wanting to leak the final exam questions to him, but Jiang Xia refused the well-intentioned offer.

It was true that he had missed many classes this semester, his focus being entirely on work. He probably wouldn’t get high scores under normal circumstances, but with the photographic memory he’d gained after his rebirth, securing an average grade was a piece of cake.

And things turned out just as Jiang Xia had expected. He walked out of the exam hall looking perfectly calm, estimating he’d score around a 70 or 80.

◇

In January, the streets and alleys of the Capital City were festooned with lanterns and streamers in celebration of the coming New Year.

The box office results for *Let the Bullets Fly* were also announced during this period, coming in at a total of 710 million—tens of millions more than in his previous life. The entire film team went wild with joy.

To put it in perspective, the previous year’s highest-grossing domestic film was *Founding of the People’s Republic of China*, which earned 419 million. Had *Let the Bullets Fly* been released then, its performance would have made it the undisputed box office champion.

Jiang Xia and Lin Yanwan had even gone to the cinema to contribute two ticket sales. In his previous life, he had watched the movie for free online several times. Now, reborn, it was the perfect chance to finally pay for a ticket.

The film’s satirical take on social reality was "glorified" by later generations, spawning countless hilarious memes and becoming a timeless source of classic, enduring quotes.

Even its director, Jiang Wen, probably never imagined that the film’s lines could be applied to nearly any situation involving injustice. Had it been released a few years later, its box office performance might have been even greater.

But beyond the online discussions about *Let the Bullets Fly*, an even larger group was anticipating the release of *Cat and Mouse: Lucky Rabbit Year*.

Among the slate of Spring Festival releases, many of which were viewed with low expectations, Qitian Animation’s heavily promoted *Lucky Rabbit Year* was seen as the only one with the potential for a massive box office haul. And it was a domestic animated feature, no less.

Any success it achieved could potentially shatter existing records for animated films.

The entire creative team was waiting for that day with immense anticipation.

"Dummy, are you saying you might not come home for New Year’s?" Shen Ying had just finished her final exams and was excitedly about to buy a plane ticket to the Imperial Capital when his words threw a bucket of cold water on her plans.

She had originally planned to go to the Imperial Capital first, then travel home with her boyfriend to see their parents for the holiday. Now, her whole plan was ruined.

"Yeah, the *Cat and Mouse* movie comes out during the Spring Festival. As the lead artist, I’ll probably have to attend a lot of events with the team. I really won’t be able to get away," Wang Ming said helplessly.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go; the timing just didn’t work out. It was highly likely he would have to spend the entire Spring Festival in the Imperial Capital.

Shen Ying fell silent for a few seconds. As the one in charge of Qitian Animation’s online operations, she knew exactly how much buzz *Lucky Rabbit Year* was generating online. Given the current pre-release hype, its box office numbers were guaranteed to be high.

’Compared to other types of films, with their costs for actor salaries, costumes and props, location rentals, special effects, daily logistics, and marketing promotions, *Lucky Rabbit Year*’s only significant expense was marketing. Its production costs were extremely low—basically just employee salaries. As long as the box office wasn’t a total flop, the profits would be enormous.’

’And Wang Ming’s name was bound to become a rising star in the animation industry.’

’Both logically and emotionally, she knew she should support her boyfriend in pursuing a career with such a clearly promising future.’

’Forcing him to come home with her for the New Year would mean squandering this golden opportunity for him to make a name for himself.’

"It’s okay, Dummy, don’t worry about it," Shen Ying said with a smile. "If you can’t make it home this year, there’s always next year. An opportunity like this movie premiere might only come once in a lifetime. Besides, we don’t have to go home together just for the New Year. Any time is fine, right?"

Hearing his girlfriend’s words, Wang Ming breathed a small sigh of relief. He had been worried that going back on his promise to go home with her would make her upset.

"Okay! I promise I’ll come find you the second I’m done with everything here," Old Wang promised.

"So... should I still come to the Imperial Capital?" Shen Ying asked nervously.

’There was only about a week until the New Year. Honestly, she really wanted to go. But she would only be there for two or three days before having to fly home. Plus, Wang Ming would probably be swamped with work and might not even have time for her.’

’Unless... she went to the Imperial Capital and just didn’t go back home.’

’But her parents would definitely kill her for that.’

"No, don’t, Ying. It would be too tiring and too much of a hassle for you. Go home early so your parents won’t worry."

Shen Ying said nothing. ’They had already been apart for several months. If Wang Ming couldn’t make it back during the New Year’s holiday, it meant they wouldn’t see each other until summer vacation. By then, they would have been separated for an entire year.’

’It was too long. She had already endured an entire semester apart. Every day of the break she spent unable to see the man she loved would be torture.’

"I get it, Dummy. You just focus on work and don’t worry about me. I’ll be at home, eagerly waiting for our company’s movie to be released."

Shen Ying said, forcing a smile.

...

(Phew, we’ve finally reached Chapter 400! There’s not much content left; I expect to wrap it up at around one million characters~)