Happy breakup, I wish you happiness.

"You can find someone better."

"I don't want to go through winter, I'm tired of the heaviness."

"Let's fly to a tropical island for a swim."

"..."

A chilly wind brushed against his face. Jiang Xia sang a song silently in his heart, his face showing disappointment. He couldn't help but recall the scene of his wedding with Lin Yanwan.

That sentence meant a complete breakup; there was no turning back.

I thought he could accept this fact calmly, but I didn't expect that he would just pretend to be indifferent in front of Lin Yanwan. The death of eight years of marriage still caused him pain in his heart despite his forced smile.

A sense of sadness gradually filled his heart. He looked up at the sky, and the glaring light made him squint unconsciously. Tears silently welled up from the corners of his eyes.

Just then, an untimely voice suddenly rang out.

"Old Jiang, are you heartbroken?" Wang Ming looked at him strangely, standing next to him for several seconds, but the guy didn't notice.

"..."

Jiang Xia twitched her eyelids, pretended to pinch the bridge of her nose, and subtly wiped away her tears.

"No way? You really broke up with your boyfriend? I've never heard of you being in a relationship. Or did the girl you love fall for someone else? Or did you finally muster up the courage to confess, only to be cruelly rejected?" Wang Ming speculated, stroking his chin.

Jiang Xia composed herself and looked at him expressionlessly: "It's a pity you don't write novels."

"You actually think so too?" Wang Ming was shocked. "My deskmate said the same thing last time. If I had known, I wouldn't have studied painting. It would have been better to be a writer."

"Although, it's not too late now."

Jiang Xia glanced at him, not wanting to talk to this idiot for the time being. She was already feeling down, so she turned around and walked towards the bus stop not far away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Wang Ming quickly followed.

"I'll buy some drawing paper at the bookstore."

"Didn't the art exams end a long time ago? Why are you still buying drawing paper?"

"draw."

Just as he finished speaking, bus number 101 slowly pulled up. Jiang Xia squeezed on with the crowd, and Wang Ming, though puzzled, followed suit.

The two of them held onto the handrails, squeezed into the crowd, and swayed along with the bus. Wang Ming noticed that he seemed to be in a bad mood, so he stopped asking him questions.

Soon after, the bus stopped at Xuehai Bookstore Station. Jiang Xia headed straight for the art supplies area with a clear purpose, found a 12F three-hole animation positioning paper, felt the texture of the paper, and immediately decided on it.

"This is……"

When Wang Ming saw the drawing paper Jiang Xia bought, he was stunned. He thought Jiang Xia was going to buy the usual sketch paper, but it turned out to be three-hole positioning animation paper, which is usually only used by professional animators.

Considering what he said in the internet cafe the day before yesterday about his future plans to make animation, it turns out he wasn't just joking around, but actually serious?!

Jiang Xia glanced at the price tag. A book of 200 sheets cost him 40 yuan. He almost forgot that this was not the future, and economic conditions were far from being as good. In addition, it was a physical store purchase, so it would be much more expensive. But this meant that the 100 yuan his mother had given him would not be enough.

He grabbed three books in one go, turned to Wang Ming and said, "Old Wang, can you lend me 20 yuan later? I'm a little short on money."

"Money's no problem." Wang Ming glanced at the thick stack of animation sheets in his hand, swallowed hard, and said, "Brother, you're really planning to make animation?"

Jiang Xia nodded and said, "Yes."

“But…” Wang Ming scratched his head and continued, “Making animation isn’t that simple. There are scripts, storyboards, key animations, voice acting, post-production, and so on. You can’t do all of these by yourself.”

"I know what I'm doing," Jiang Xia said calmly.

Even if he were to recreate other works, it would be impossible for him to do so much work by himself, or to create an excellent work in such a short time.

But Tom and Jerry is an exception. He has been mentally strategizing about this for a long time, and with the support of existing software technology, he is 100% confident that he can successfully replicate it.

"What about your studies? There are less than three months until the exams. Are you spending so much energy learning animation now because you're not planning to take the college entrance exam?"

Wang Ming earnestly advised, "Even if making animation is your dream, you should at least distinguish between what's important and what's urgent, right? You'll have plenty of time for that in college, why are you in such a hurry?"

Jiang Xia shook his head. Wang Ming was right, at least that's how it seemed to most people. But for him, it was the opposite; time was of the essence.

In 2009, although computers had become very common, television was still the fastest way for people to obtain information, and the on-demand channel, which had no advertisements, and even no logo or host, was still extremely popular.

Jiang Xia still remembers watching many anime series bit by bit by dialing over the phone back then. As a result, his phone bill that month was more than ten times higher, which earned him the most severe beating ever from his parents.

Even with such a booming on-demand service, it gradually faded away after 2010 due to the rapid development of the internet.

If you want to catch this last train, you must start making it now in order to maximize your first pot of gold.

But he couldn't explain these things to others.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it and make sure it won't interfere with my studies."

Seeing Jiang Xia's persistence, Wang Ming didn't say anything more. He took out a fifty-yuan note and handed it to him, thinking that Jiang Xia's decision to make animation was probably just a spur-of-the-moment decision. He figured that once his enthusiasm cooled down in a few days, he would probably give up.

After all, making animation is really difficult. It's not enough to just be able to draw; you also need a script, then turn the text into storyboards that create visuals, and then go on to draw the original artwork.

The sheer number of difficulties involved made Wang Ming's scalp tingle just thinking about it. Compared to that, the sketching, quick sketching, and color painting in the art exam seemed much simpler.

After paying and carrying the somewhat heavy bag, Jiang Xia breathed a sigh of relief once again. With the drawing tools, he was one step closer to creating the finished Tom and Jerry artwork.

"Where are you going now?" Wang Ming asked.

Jiang Xia hesitated for a moment: "Let's go back to school, it's a bit quieter there."

"You're already planning to start drawing? What about the script, the storyboard, the character designs? You haven't prepared anything yet. Are you kidding me?" Wang Ming looked at him speechlessly. His good brother didn't seem like someone who knew nothing.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia silently opened his backpack, took out the storyboard he had spent the whole day drawing yesterday, and handed it to him.

"Tom and Jerry...a business plan?"

Wang Ming raised his voice a few octaves, gave Jiang Xia a strange look, and then turned to the first page.

He was shocked.