Chapter 186 - 184: You Miss Me Again?

Chapter 186: Chapter 184: You Miss Me Again?

Li Weiya wanted to take this opportunity to ask a few more questions, but she saw Lin Yanwan already walking out of the residential complex.

"I’m so sorry, Aunt Li, for making you wait," Lin Yanwan said apologetically.

Li Weiya shook her head gently and smiled. "How is he? Is Ah Xia feeling any better?"

"Mhm... Aunt Xia made him some hangover soup to drink." Lin Yanwan gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling a little helpless as she remembered how clingy Jiang Xia had been just now.

"That’s good." Li Weiya glanced at the rearview mirror and asked, "By the way, Yanwan, where do you live?"

"Brocade Splendor City, Aunt Li."

"Oh."

The car slowly started moving. Lin Yanwan rolled down the window and watched the city’s neon lights flash by.

Back at home, Xiao Man was already asleep. Lin Gaoyuan was brainstorming ideas for the *Cat and Mouse* merchandise, while Ji Wanqiu was online, looking for *Cat and Mouse* videos to watch.

"Have you been drinking?" Lin Gaoyuan sniffed the air. As an old hand when it came to alcohol, he was all too familiar with the smell.

"No, Jiang Xia had a little to drink, so the smell is on me," Lin Yanwan said.

"Ah, I see."

Lin Gaoyuan nodded and went back to thinking about the toy factory’s future development plans. Now that he had the merchandising license for *Cat and Mouse*, he had a lot of room to work with. He could ride the wave of the hit animation’s popularity to get a head start and capture a share of the domestic toy market.

But right now, the most important thing was naturally product development. Once the merchandise went into mass production, coupled with a major promotional push from the official *Cat and Mouse* team, how could he not make a fortune?

Therefore, among all the steps, product design was the absolute top priority.

Seeing Lin Gaoyuan constantly writing and sketching on a piece of paper, Lin Yanwan pursed her lips and asked casually, "Dad, how did the meeting with the *Cat and Mouse* people go today?"

"We got the license." A happy smile couldn’t help but spread across Lin Gaoyuan’s face as he spoke of it.

The negotiation process was surprisingly smooth. He had even been prepared to bleed a lot of money, but Li Weiya didn’t mention a flat buyout fee at all. Instead, she proposed a revenue-sharing strategy based on sales.

This way, Gaoyuan Toys’ risk was minimized. Whether they sold a lot or a little, he wouldn’t lose out.

"Congratulations, Dad," Lin Yanwan said with a smile.

"Thanks for my daughter’s well-wishes~" Lin Gaoyuan chuckled. "Go wash up and get some rest. I need to work a little longer."

"Okay, I’m going to go check on Mom in her room."

Lin Yanwan clasped her hands behind her back and tiptoed to her mom’s bedroom. Without a word, she peeked her head in. Ji Wanqiu was resting her chin on her hand, intently reading up on *Cat and Mouse* and jotting down useful information in a document.

She subconsciously glanced toward the door and saw a head seemingly suspended in midair, which made her jump.

Once she saw it was her daughter, she complained mildly, "Yanwan, what are you doing just standing there without making a sound? You nearly scared me to death."

"Hehe, Mom, I just didn’t want to disturb your work."

Lin Yanwan smiled and walked over, placing a hand on her mother’s shoulder and kneading it gently. "Mom, what are you working on?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just browsing some information. You have to know what people like the most to be able to design a good product," Ji Wanqiu said with a smile.

Lin Yanwan nodded slightly. ’This is basically market research.’ She really wanted to say that Jiang Xia had already finished the product designs, but it was obvious that saying so now would give the game away. She would just have to find a chance to give them to her mother tomorrow.

"Yanwan, you’ve watched *Cat and Mouse*, right?" Ji Wanqiu asked suddenly.

"Mhm, I have."

"Then which episode, or which scene, do you think is the funniest?"

Lin Yanwan thought about it, but she couldn’t really pick one right away. After all, there were too many classic scenes; many of them could be considered iconic moments on their own.

"Mom, instead of asking me, you’d be better off asking the audience. Just take a look around the official *Cat and Mouse* forums. See which GIF has the most replies under it. Wouldn’t that make it obvious?"

Ji Wanqiu’s eyes lit up. ’That’s a great idea.’

’It really takes a young person to think of that. They’re just so much more familiar with the internet than us older folks.’

"Mom, Jiang Xia likes *Cat and Mouse* too. I’ll help you ask him about it tomorrow."

"Okay, good."

"Then I’m going to go wash up and sleep. Good night."

Lin Yanwan smiled. The seed she had casually planted was sown. As long as she slowly revealed bits of information, her mom wouldn’t get suspicious right away.

She yawned, went back to her room to grab a clean pair of pajamas, and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

◇

Around ten o’clock the next morning, Jiang Xia slowly woke from a deep sleep. He had drunk too much yesterday, and his head was still buzzing. He only had a vague impression that his wife had been the one to take him home.

Realizing he’d been slacking off for the past two days, he walked out of his room. Not seeing Xia Shanshan, he hastily ate something, logged into QQ to check Shen Ying’s work report, and then planned to grind out the unfinished storyboards.

Then he saw that his old deskmate had actually sent him a message a while ago.

"There’s a teacher appreciation dinner tonight at 6 PM at the Fenghua Hotel. Old Wang says you absolutely have to be there. Don’t forget."

"By the way, can you let Wang Ming know? I don’t have his QQ."

Jiang Xia spaced out for a moment. He checked the time and realized, ’It’s already the 10th today?’ Time really flies.

"Alright, I’ll definitely be there," he typed in reply.

To be honest, he didn’t really want to go to the teacher appreciation dinner. Aside from a few people, he didn’t know the others well, and it was unlikely they would meet again after graduation. However, he was genuinely grateful to those few teachers.

Besides, he had promised last time, and his homeroom teacher, Teacher Wang, had specifically requested his presence. Bailing now would be a bit out of line.

So, he immediately copied and pasted the message, forwarding it to Wang Ming verbatim.

"There’s a teacher appreciation dinner tonight at 6 PM at the Fenghua Hotel. Old Wang says you absolutely have to be there. Don’t forget."

"Are you going?" Wang Ming replied.

"Don’t really want to, but I have to."

"Okay, I’ll come meet up with you in a bit."

Wang Ming stared at the concept art in front of him, a little dazed.

In the past, getting into the Central Academy of Fine Arts would have been something to be incredibly proud of. He could have been the star of the teacher appreciation dinner, showered with endless compliments.

But compared to *Cat and Mouse*, that kind of empty fame was absolutely nothing. It was just a waste of time, completely useless.

Jiang Xia sent a short "OK" emoji and then called his wife.

"Baby, good morning."

"You’re awake?" Lin Yanwan was adjusting some sound effects on her software, and her tone inexplicably brightened.

"Without my baby by my side, my heart just feels so empty," Jiang Xia said, feigning distress.

Lin Yanwan couldn’t help but roll her eyes. ’His heart feels empty, yet he can sleep all the way until ten?’

"Mhm, so you called just to tell me you want to sleep with me?"

"Not exactly."

Jiang Xia chuckled. "Actually, I have to go to a teacher appreciation dinner tonight."

"6 PM at the Fenghua Hotel?"

"The hell?"