Chapter 187 - 185: Teacher Xia, Don’t Be Like This

Chapter 187: Chapter 185: Teacher Xia, Don’t Be Like This

Jiang Xia was stunned for a moment. "How did you know?"

"You don’t know? In our past life, several of the liberal arts classes from our senior year held their banquets there," Lin Yanwan said.

"Er... I really didn’t know that."

Jiang Xia was taken aback. In his past life, he was just an obscure nobody who loved video games and couldn’t be bothered to care about what other classes were doing. After his rebirth, he had been too busy and paid even less mind to the teacher appreciation banquet. If Chen Yao hadn’t told him about it on QQ today, he probably would have forgotten. He figured he must have been the last one to find out.

"So, you’re going too?"

"I’m first in our year, after all. Teacher Ding called me directly a few days ago, so I don’t really have a choice," Lin Yanwan said helplessly.

She was quite happy about it, though. In her past life, she had failed the college entrance exams and felt too ashamed to face her teachers. In this life, she had worked hard to get first place in their year—only seven or eight points shy of being the city’s top scorer. She had finally lived up to her teachers’ expectations and washed away the humiliation of her past.

"Old Wang is coming over in a bit. Do you want to..."

"Mhm, I’ll come over. You just be a good boy and wait for me at home," Lin Yanwan anticipated, cutting him off.

"Why does that sound a little weird? Should I add, ’Yes, Mistress, I await my mistress’s favor’?"

"You’re impossible."

Lin Yanwan’s face reddened. ’He’s so improper all the time. First he calls me ’Mistress’, and I bet his next line would be something like, ’Mistress, am I serving you well~?’’

After his daily chat with his "wife," Jiang Xia hung up and gently rubbed his temples. He then noted the day’s tasks in the project log.

After lunch, at around two in the afternoon, Wang Ming knocked on the door, a backpack slung over his shoulder. Xia Shanshan opened it and smiled when she saw him. "Mingming, are you here for Xiaxia?"

"Hello, Teacher Xia. It’s been a while."

He wasn’t as smooth a talker as Jiang Xia. If this were Jiang Xia, he’d probably add something like, ’You still look as young as you did ten years ago.’

"I heard you got drunk yesterday too?"

"Yeah..." Wang Ming scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

Getting his acceptance letter yesterday was supposed to be a happy occasion, but who knew that drinking would only make his sorrows worse. Jiang Xia had kept pace with him, cup after cup, and in the end, both of them got completely wasted. He’d even almost thrown up all over his mom’s car.

Xia Shanshan smiled. "A celebration is understandable. It was for your acceptance letter to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, right? Congratulations. Having a student like you makes me incredibly proud, really."

Fate worked in mysterious ways. She had been Wang Ming’s elementary school Chinese teacher, while Li Weiya was Jiang Xia’s middle school art teacher. Now one of the boys had gotten into the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the other into Qingmei. She’d have to make time to get dinner with Li Weiya more often.

"I’m also very grateful for your guidance ever since I was little, Teacher Xia," Wang Ming said sincerely.

"Haha, go on and find Xiaxia. He’s in his room. I’ll go cut up some fruit for you two."

Wang Ming nodded and pushed open the door to Jiang Xia’s bedroom. He saw Jiang Xia with his head down, engrossed in drawing storyboards, likely not even noticing he’d come in.

He stood beside him and watched for a moment. The content of the storyboards for episode seventeen was just absurd.

"Whoa, he beat up that many cats all by himself? When did Jerry get so strong?" Wang Ming asked, surprised.

"That’s Jerry’s cousin. The idea is that he’s a muscle mouse, the kind with super high fighting strength. No cat can beat him," Jiang Xia said with a smile.

In his past life, this episode, "Jerry’s Cousin," had been nominated for an Academy Award. It was a classic among classics. Countless children had wished they were Jerry’s cousin so they would never have to worry about being bullied again.

"Interesting. So Jerry’s cousin is the star of this episode?"

"Pretty much. Jerry gets bullied by Tom, so he writes a letter to his cousin asking for help. The cousin then comes over and teaches Tom a harsh lesson. That’s the gist of it."

After hearing the description, Wang Ming was filled with emotion. He really wanted to ask just how many interesting stories this guy had stored in his brain. He never seemed to get stuck when drawing storyboards. It was just monstrous.

"How do you come up with all these ideas?"

Jiang Xia shrugged. The only answer was that he had inherited some of humanity’s greatest treasures from his past life, but he couldn’t very well say that.

"Actually, ideas like this are pretty easy to come up with. You just expand from a single point. For example, if I wanted to draw a cat, dog, and mouse becoming friends, I’d have them sign a contract after a big fight, promising to care for each other. But in the end, because the three species have such different instincts, the contract gets torn up, and they go back to their endless brawling."

He finished and patted Wang Ming on the shoulder. "You just haven’t drawn enough yet. Once you’ve drawn enough, and you’ve built up enough experience, you’ll be able to pull ideas out of thin air just like me. Only then can I truly feel at ease entrusting *Cat and Mouse* to you."

Wang Ming’s mouth twitched. That was a level of mastery that still felt a bit out of reach for him.

He was quite curious, though. Logically speaking, Jiang Xia was the same age as him, so their life experience should be about the same. How could he know so much? ’Is he really a genius?’

"Do you have another desk? A place I can draw?" Wang Ming looked around. The bedroom obviously only had room for one.

"You actually brought your sketchbook?" Jiang Xia’s eyebrows shot up. When it came to work ethic, he felt like he couldn’t even compare to this guy.

"Why wouldn’t I? What was I gonna do, spend the next few hours just shooting the breeze with you? I know you don’t like wasting time."

"Fine. You stay here, then. I’ll go do some editing in the study."

Jiang Xia tidied up the desk, and Wang Ming unapologetically took his spot. Between the two of them, being even a little polite would have been a sign of disrespect.

A little while later, Xia Shanshan brought in a plate of sliced pineapple and was surprised to see Wang Ming was the only one in the room.

"Busy at work, Mingming? Where’d that boy run off to?"

"He went to the study, Teacher Xia," Wang Ming said with a smile.

"His friend comes over and he doesn’t even know to keep him company. Just runs off," Xia Shanshan muttered, craning her neck to look at Wang Ming’s drawing. It looked pretty similar to her son’s work.

But then she remembered they were both taught by the same art teacher, and it made sense.

"Have some pineapple, Mingming. Don’t be a stranger here in your teacher’s house. And don’t you dare save any for him. There are two more in the fridge, and I can peel another if that’s not enough," Xia Shanshan said enthusiastically.

"This is plenty, Teacher Xia, more than enough!"

"Alright then, I’ll leave you to it. Just give me a shout if you need anything."

Wang Ming shook his head with a helpless smile. Teacher Xia was just a little *too* enthusiastic, just like how his own mom acted with Jiang Xia.

The thought that his mom would also be working for Jiang Xia in the future gave him a strange feeling. ’Is this guy planning to rope in every single friend and family member around him?’