"I just went to take a shower."

After waiting for a while, Lin Yanwan replied to his message.

"Hehehe, I want to see." Jiang Xia perked up and immediately closed his deskmate's chat window.

"Black mushroom, white mushroom, maid outfit, or sexy lingerie?"

"Only children make choices!"

"Okay, I'll call my mom right now. If she agrees, I'll wear it for you myself, not just in photos."

Jiang Xia immediately backed down: "Alright, alright, Mrs. Xia, please don't do this. I won't watch it anymore, okay?"

Lin Yanwan snorted silently. To deal with this lecher, no other method works. You have to just throw a bucket of cold water on him like this, and even the toughest head will soften immediately.

"Shameless! Who's your wife? Don't call me that again."

"Yes, Mrs. Xia."

"..."

Forget it, arguing with a shameless person is just asking for trouble. In the eight years of their marriage, she has never won an argument, except in bed, where Jiang Xia can never beat her.

"Are you going to stay up late tonight to draw?"

"Not today, I'm not in the mood. If the ratings for Tom and Jerry are mediocre tomorrow, I'll start to consider whether to make other types of animation."

"Don't worry, you're just having pre-game anxiety. Who can resist an interesting episode of Tom and Jerry?" Lin Yanwan typed.

Sometimes she has more confidence in Tom and Jerry than Jiang Xia, the creator. Perhaps this is what is meant by "outsiders watching the show"—whether a work is good or not depends on whether the audience likes it or not.

Anyway, she and Xiaoman liked it quite a bit, and in this era there weren't as many online trolls as in later generations, so it was easy to tell whether it was good or bad.

"You know what, I was actually a little nervous. I wasn't even this nervous during the college entrance exam. It felt just like when I made my first anime. I thought it would be a huge hit, but nobody watched it."

Recalling the arduous journey of creating animation in his previous life, Jiang Xia couldn't help but laugh at himself. Although he finally gained a foothold in the animation industry with his excellent storyboards and visuals, he still fell into the trap of contracts.

"Even if you don't trust yourself, can't you trust cats and mice?"

"That's true, how could I question the God of Animation?"

Jiang Xia couldn't help but chuckle. In his previous life, Tom and Jerry was considered the pinnacle of the animation industry, an insurmountable peak, having won a total of 13 Academy Awards, not to mention countless other awards of all sizes.

Even if what he is replicating now is a "crude and poorly made" version, the core remains unchanged. As long as the core is there, the soul of the animation is there. It's just a matter of whether it is refined or not.

Once it airs, it's only a matter of time before it stands out among the current crop of animations.

"Alright, don't think about it too much. Just get some rest today. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll get too excited tomorrow and suffer from oxygen deprivation. It's supposed to be a happy day, but I'll have to call an ambulance for you."

"Why call an ambulance if I'm short of oxygen? My beloved baby can give me CPR." Jiang Xia typed rapidly, a mischievous smile unconsciously spreading across his face.

"Pah! Dream on. Okay, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight."

"Wait, where's today's kiss!?"

After waiting for more than ten seconds without seeing a reply, Jiang Xia thought his wife had turned off her phone and thrown it under the pillow. Unexpectedly, he immediately saw that she had called. His fingers reacted faster than his brain, and he answered the call in a second.

"mua~"

Before he could speak, the phone was immediately disconnected. Jiang Xia was stunned. His wife called just to give him a kiss?

This is just...incredibly cute!

To be able to marry such a wonderful wife in a past life, perhaps one must have saved the world in some reincarnation.

Jiang Xia let out a soft breath, looking at the bright starry sky outside the window. Tomorrow should be another clear and sunny day.

He turned off his computer, went back to his room to get some clean clothes, and went into the bathroom to shower and go to sleep.

◇

June 30, 2009, the eighth day of the intercalary fifth month, the year of Ji Chou, the month of Geng Wu, the day of Bing Wu, is an auspicious day for all activities.

Early in the morning, Jiang Xia was still dreaming of doing inch-stop exercises with his wife when he was woken up by a phone call.

Just as she was about to lose her temper, she saw that the caller ID showed it was Zhou Lu, the editor in charge of the children's channel of Chongqing TV.

"Good morning, Editor Zhou, yawn~~~" he yawned, his voice carrying a lazy, sleepy tone.

"Oh, Mr. Jiang, are you still sleeping? I'm so sorry to disturb your sweet dreams. But I've come today with two pieces of good news. One is about Tom and Jerry, and the other is about you. Which would you like to hear first?" Zhou Lu said with a smile, and it was clear that she was quite happy.

Jiang Xia sighed: "Anything that can't make me rich overnight is bad news."

"In that case, Mr. Jiang must be satisfied with these two pieces of news."

Zhou Lu smiled and said, "The first piece of good news is that the contract payment approval process is complete, and it should be deposited into your company's account today. Tens of thousands of yuan may not be a lot, but it's like becoming rich overnight, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia immediately sat up in bed. His first thought was, "After being reborn for so long, damn it, I'm finally rich!"

I no longer need to borrow money from my wife for my June salary, and I no longer need to be frugal when buying things. From now on, I'll have money in my purse and feel confident.

"And what's the second piece of good news?"

Zhou Lu smiled and mentioned a statistic: "In the past two weeks, during the preview period of the daily Tom and Jerry, the viewership rating of Chongqing TV has increased from 0.8% to 1.6%."

Jiang Xia was stunned for a moment, then realized that this meant his "Tom and Jerry" series might be a huge hit upon its premiere?

It's important to understand that in those days, CCTV dominated the ratings, with provincial television stations averaging only about 1% viewership.

However, the Tom and Jerry show, with just a few dozen seconds of preview, boosted the overall viewership of Chongqing TV by 2 times.

It's easy to imagine that once the full animation airs tomorrow, the viewership of Chongqing TV's children's channel will skyrocket in a short period of time!

My wife is right. Who can resist an episode of Tom and Jerry? Whether it's a child or an adult, everyone will be drawn to the interactions between Tom and Jerry.

"Does Editor Zhou mean that Tom and Jerry might become popular?"

"Yes, congratulations in advance, Mr. Jiang! You have created a truly remarkable animation. Based on our expectations, Tom and Jerry's viewership rating on the first day may exceed 5%, and it will increase by 1% every day thereafter. After all 12 episodes have aired, the final viewership rating may stop at around 10%, and it might even win the viewership rating championship this year."

Zhou Lu suddenly said something with great emotion.

"Mr. Jiang, after tomorrow, your company might really become a hit."

...

(Shareholders, Nanfeng is very sorry. With the wedding approaching, I've been incredibly busy, and updates have been a bit irregular. Waaah! Tell me, how should I make it up to you? Should I just take off my pants or put on my wedding dress?)