Chapter 153, Section 152: A Good Son (4K)
The taxi stopped at the east gate of Jinxiu Huacheng. Lin Yanwan looked at her building through the car window and said, "Uncle Jiang, I'll head back now. Thank you for your help."
"No trouble at all," Jiang Wende said with a smile. "Are there any streetlights in the neighborhood? I'll have this kid take you upstairs."
Jiang Xia's lips twitched slightly. As his son, he knew exactly what his father was up to.
"Dad, I know."
"Oh, and don't forget about the flowers."
Lin Yanwan's face flushed slightly.
The two got out of the car and walked into the residential area. Jiang Wende watched their backs and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face. He leisurely took out a Chaotianmen cigarette, lit it, and smoke swirled around him.
Jiang Xia is much better than he was when he was young.
◇
"You should go home early. I'm not a child anymore," Lin Yanwan said.
Jiang Xia took her hand and laughed, "Luckily you're not a child, otherwise I'm afraid someone would report me for pedophilia."
"..."
Lin Yanwan rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. This guy could be really annoying sometimes.
Xiaoman is only 6 years old, isn't she?
Jiang Xia escorted her to the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor, saying, "I won't go up. You should go to bed early tonight. You need to start dubbing episode 13 by the day after tomorrow at the latest."
"You too, remember this: you had a massage today, so you can't take a cold shower," Lin Yanwan reminded her.
"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll go back to sleep too."
"Okay, send me a message when you arrive."
As the elevator doors slowly closed, Jiang Xia stretched his limbs, stepped out of the elevator, and looked up at the clear night sky. The stars twinkled, as if they were smiling at him.
He opened the passenger door and got in. Jiang Wende exhaled the last smoke ring out the window, turned his head to look at him, and asked, "Did Yanwan's parents invite you in for a while?"
"They just dropped me off at the elevator; I didn't go upstairs." Jiang Xia pouted and fastened her seatbelt herself.
Jiang Wende nodded, his mouth moved a few times but he didn't ask any more questions. He started the car and drove home.
Back home, Xia Shanshan was watching TV and soaking her feet. A thick layer of mugwort leaves floated in the basin. She glanced back at the father and son who had just arrived home and said, "The water is freshly boiled. Come and soak your feet."
"You guys go to the bar, I'm going to take a shower."
Jiang Xia went back to her room, grabbed her pajamas, and went into the bathroom, leaving behind a faint scent of roses. Although she had wiped the rose essential oil off her back clean with blotting paper, it still felt a little sticky.
Xia Shanshan sniffed the air and asked in confusion, "Where did you see him?"
"The two of them were on a date at Gaosuntang Square. This guy even bought a rose. I was driving there when we ran into each other. You wouldn't believe it, but this guy probably saw the license plate and deliberately turned his back to me. But how could he fool his dad?"
Jiang Wende took off his shoes, put his feet, which had been pressing the brake and accelerator all day, into the foot basin, and let out a comfortable groan.
"I knew he was the one who ran out back then. Did you see that? There's still a faint lipstick mark on that kid's face," Xia Shanshan said with a smile.
"Really?" Jiang Wende was taken aback; he hadn't noticed.
"The child is growing up. Maybe in two years, we'll have to go and propose marriage."
"They'll be twenty in two years, so it'll be at least four or five years."
"Engagement is engagement, and marriage is marriage; they are not contradictory."
Why don't you say you'll be holding your grandson in a few years?
"That's not necessarily a bad thing."
The couple were whispering to each other when Jiang Xia, having finished her shower, came out wearing light pajamas and still damp from the water.
"Dad, Mom, I'm going to sleep now. You should go to sleep early too."
After closing the bedroom door, Jiang Xia lay on the bed and chatted with his wife on QQ for a while before turning off the lights and going to sleep.
◇
Around 10 a.m. the next day, Jiang Xia received a call from Zhou Lu. He guessed that the TV station had just finished a meeting, and the content was nothing more than his proposal to renew the contract and raise the price the day before.
As for the outcome, he didn't care much. He even hoped that the TV station would angrily reject him, so that he wouldn't have to care about the kindness shown to him.
With that thought in mind, Jiang Xia continued drawing the storyboard while pressing the hands-free button.
"Director Jiang, regarding your request yesterday, after serious discussion, the station has agreed to renew the broadcast rights for Tom and Jerry for the second time, at a price of 7,000 per episode." Zhou Lu didn't even bother with pleasantries this time, getting straight to the point, her tone sounding somewhat tired.
Upon hearing the words "seriously discuss," Jiang Xia smiled silently.
One can almost imagine how heated the discussion must have been. I bet some people even called him an ungrateful wretch who didn't know how to repay kindness. Without the heavy promotion from Chongqing TV, would Tom and Jerry be as popular as it is now?
"It's not an exclusive broadcasting right, is it?"
"no."
Zhou Lu swallowed hard, her throat dry, and continued, "No matter which TV station you sell the broadcasting rights to later, the station has only one requirement: stagger the broadcast times, and other TV stations' broadcast schedules must be at least one day later than ours."
Jiang Xia frowned slightly. He understood Zhou Lu's meaning, but this was also a kind of exclusive broadcasting right in disguise. If viewers wanted to watch the latest episode of the animation, they would have to switch to Chongqing TV. The progress of other channels would have to be delayed.
To come up with such conditions, one can only say that experience counts.
"Director Jiang, this is the biggest concession I can get for you." Zhou Lu pursed her lips, afraid that he might refuse out of displeasure, which would render all her efforts of persuasion futile.
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