Chapter 88: Wife, We’re Rich
Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Wife, We’re Rich
"Wifey, our family’s got money now!"
In the car on the way back, Jiang Xia took out his phone and sent a text to his girlfriend.
Lin Yanwan was playing with the adorable Xiao Yuyuan when her phone chimed. She picked it up from the table and glanced at the screen. The words "Wifey" and "our family" made her blush involuntarily.
"Did you sell the first-run broadcast rights?"
"Yeah. 4,000 per episode, and we signed a contract for twelve episodes. Cat and Mouse will be airing at the end of the month. I finally don’t need you to help me pay the June salaries."
Jiang Xia’s heart still raced with excitement as he typed out the words. The trip to the TV station had gone even more smoothly than he’d anticipated.
It was a shame his phone couldn’t do video calls, or he would have absolutely shared this joyous moment with his wifey right then and there.
Lin Yanwan silently did the math in her head. 48,000 yuan wasn’t a huge amount, but if Cat and Mouse became a hit, the potential profit would be far more than this initial sum.
"Congratulations. Three months of hard work has finally paid off."
"Babe, you deserve most of the credit! You have no idea, the people at the TV station were raving about your voice acting!"
"So what’s my reward?"
"I’ll give you a big kiss when I get home!"
"...Isn’t that more of a reward for yourself?"
"I don’t care, I don’t care, I’m gonna kiss you~ It’s true what they say: behind every successful man is a supportive woman. Babe, I love you so much!"
Lin Yanwan really couldn’t handle this guy. ’He’s a grown man, and still pouting like a child.’
’Hmph. If I couldn’t do voice acting, would he still tell me he loves me like this?’
"Where are you now?"
"In Aunt Li’s car. I’ll be back in a bit."
"Have you eaten?"
"Mhm, I’ve already eaten. Wait for me, muah~ muah~"
Li Weiya glanced over from the driver’s seat. An irrepressible smile was plastered on Jiang Xia’s face as his thumbs furiously tapped away on his phone.
"Sharing the good news with your family?"
"Mm..." Jiang Xia hesitated for a second, then nodded lightly.
’Well, a wifey is family, of course. Even though we aren’t sleeping in the same bed yet... we already did in my past life, and we’re bound to in this one sooner or later.’
"Shanshan really raised a wonderful son," Li Weiya remarked with feeling.
’She’d always considered her own son to be quite outstanding, but compared to Jiang Xia, he seemed to be lacking by a wide margin.’
"Aunt Li, could you please not tell my parents about this yet?" he asked hesitantly.
Li Weiya was taken aback. "They don’t know?"
"No, they don’t."
"Then how on earth did you make Cat and Mouse!"
"I just drew it in secret. If my mom found out I was doing this during my final review period for school, she would’ve confiscated all my drafts long ago."
Li Weiya’s eyelid twitched. ’Is he for real?’ she thought. ’To secretly make an animation of this quality in his spare time... And Ah Ming said his grades are even improving!’
’Damn it, she was already starting to get jealous of Shanshan for having such a perfect son.’
’Starting a company, making animations, and still getting good grades... Is there anything he can’t do?’
After reporting back to his wifey, Jiang Xia opened the Qitian Animation Company group chat. He thought for a moment, edited a new message, and hit send.
[Jiang Xia]: Nice weather today. The company doesn’t have to go bankrupt after all.
[Operations Director - Shen Ying]: ?
[Art & Animation - Wang Ming]: Let me translate. What Old Jiang means is, he successfully sold the broadcast rights.
Seeing Wang Ming’s reply, Shen Ying shot up from her chair in excitement.
[Operations Director - Shen Ying]: You mean our cartoon will be on TV soon?
[Jiang Xia]: That’s right. It will start airing on the Yu Du TV Station’s children’s channel on June 30th at 7 p.m. However, I signed a contract for twelve episodes, so we need to finish producing episodes 11 and 12 as quickly as possible this month.
[Jiang Xia]: Old Wang, you’ll need to pick up the pace on your end. I’ll get you the storyboards for episode 12 as soon as I can. Shen Ying, starting today, you can start slowly leaking the news to build up hype in coordination with the TV station.
[Art & Animation - Wang Ming]: Okay, roger.
[Operations Director - Shen Ying]: Roger.
[Jiang Xia]: It’s going to be a tough period for everyone, but let’s push through. Once Cat and Mouse has a successful broadcast run, we’ll have a proper celebration! Let’s do this!
Having assigned the upcoming work, Jiang Xia finally put down his phone and watched the passing scenery.
"Aunt Li, Ah Ming’s workload is probably going to be a bit heavy for a while. Could you maybe keep an eye on him and help him out?" he asked, turning to look at Li Weiya.
"Isn’t it enough that you boss my son around all day? Now you want to exploit me, too?" Li Weiya teased. "Your dear auntie took a day off work just to be your chauffeur."
"I’d just feel more at ease with you keeping an eye on things. I’m worried Ah Ming might sacrifice the quality of the key animation to meet the deadline."
Jiang Xia said seriously, "If Qitian Animation Company is going to build a reputation, the quality of Cat and Mouse has to be excellent. There’s no room for compromise."
"That’s true. But Ah Ming is your employee, and I’m not. However, you could always outsource the project to me. Then you’d have a perfectly legitimate reason to put me to work."
Jiang Xia blinked. "Why outsource instead of a direct hire? If we had a professional like you as the animation director, I’m sure Cat and Mouse would be even more outstanding, right?"
Li Weiya chuckled. "You sure have big ideas. This auntie comes with a high price tag, you know. Besides, I’m doing perfectly fine at my current company. Why would I jump ship? Alright, I’m just kidding. I’ll keep an eye on Ah Ming, so you can rest assured."
Jiang Xia was overjoyed. "Thank you, Aunt Li!"
"You really are Shanshan’s son. Such a sweet talker."
The ride back seemed much quicker than the ride there. The two chatted and laughed the whole way; Li Weiya shared her work experiences, while Jiang Xia spoke passionately about his ambitions.
He had now taken the second step, bringing him just a little bit closer to achieving his grand ambitions.
As they passed a pet store, the Toyota slowed to a stop. Jiang Xia hopped out, went inside, and emerged a moment later with his arms full of supplies: deworming medication, a litter box, cat litter, nutritional paste, a teaser wand, a scratching board, cat food, and more.
"Did you get a cat?" Li Weiya asked, glancing at his purchases.
"Mm, sort of," Jiang Xia said, pursing his lips. "Auntie, could you drop me off at Brocade Splendor City?"
"You’re not going home?"
"I have something to take care of over there."
"Alright."
The car soon arrived at its destination. After unloading all his things, Jiang Xia waved goodbye to Li Weiya.
"Thanks for everything today, Aunt Li. I’ll visit you properly to thank you next time."
"That’s enough, no need for that. Just look after Ah Ming for me. Don’t be afraid to push him; it’s good for him to learn as much as he can from you."
"Don’t you worry, Aunt Li. Ah Ming is my dear friend, like a brother to me!"
Li Weiya smiled, stepped on the gas, and sped away.
Jiang Xia let out a long breath. Cradling all the cat supplies, he familiarly made his way to his mother-in-law’s door and knocked.
"Babe, I’m home~"
...
(Chapter 2 is being furiously typed as we speak...)