Chapter 252 - 250: Ah Xia, I’ve Arrived at the Imperial Capital

Chapter 252: Chapter 250: Ah Xia, I’ve Arrived at the Imperial Capital

Su Qing slowly looked away from Jiang Xia. ’How is it that *this* guy is the boss?’ he wondered. He just couldn’t shake the strange feeling.

"Nanny Su, our office space is all set. I’ll take you to check it out when you have time," Jiang Xia said.

Su Qing nodded slightly. "Where is it?"

"Not far. It’s in the Tsinghua Science Park. It’s only about a half-hour bike ride away."

He was a little surprised. After all, not just any company could get into the Science Park—the conditions were quite harsh. Yet Jiang Xia had managed to secure a spot in such a short time. ’His business acumen is truly impressive.’

"Brother Jiang, what are you guys talking about? What office space?" Zhou Zijian asked, leaning in.

"It’s nothing much. Nanny Su and I just started an internship at an animation company," Jiang Xia said casually.

"Holy shit?!"

Zhou Zijian was stunned. In his mind, weren’t internships something you only thought about in your junior or senior year? First-year students barely had any basic professional skills.

This was just outrageous.

"It’s just a small startup. We’re learning as we work," Jiang Xia said with a smile.

Zhou Zijian couldn’t help but feel a little envious. Working while studying, studying while working—the two went hand in hand. They were bound to improve so much faster. Not to mention, their starting point was already leagues above everyone else’s.

He pursed his lips and hesitated. "So... are you still hiring? Programmers, I mean. I don’t know much about coding right now, but I’m a really fast learner!"

Jiang Xia didn’t doubt the learning ability of these Tsinghua prodigies for a second. It was just that his company didn’t need programmers right now; things like an official website or a video site with bullet comments weren’t on the immediate agenda.

"I’ll ask around for you when I get a chance," he said with a smile.

Su Qing, who was currently grinding away at keyframes, couldn’t help but roll his eyes. ’This guy is at least a junior manager at Qitian Animation Company, and they’re hiring like crazy right now. An answer like that must mean they have no plans to hire programmers at the moment.’

"Alright, thanks, Brother Jiang!"

"You two keep working hard. Look, it’s just a startup for now, but they’ll definitely need programmers in the future. Once your skills are up to par, I’ll recommend you."

"Yeah!"

Zhou Zijian and Zhao Ning exchanged a look, each seeing the motivation burning in the other’s eyes. If they could get an internship this early, they could probably become senior programmers by the time they graduated in four years.

Having dangled a pretty big carrot in front of his roommates, Jiang Xia started to seriously think about recruitment.

He didn’t need a storyboard director for now; he could handle that himself. After all, he was the only one who knew about all the classic anime from his past life.

The main roles they were lacking right now were key animators and in-betweeners. They also needed editors, sound designers, production assistants, and operations and administrative staff.

Key animation itself was subdivided into first and second key animators. On top of that, there were dedicated staff for in-betweening and coloring.

Since he was only making traditional 2D animation at the moment, he didn’t need people for 3D modeling, motion capture, scene editing, or animation engines just yet. That could wait until the studio was more stable.

He wrote down the required positions, headcounts, and job descriptions one by one on a sheet of paper. Then, he opened his laptop, logged onto a recruitment website, and posted a series of job listings under the name of the "Cat and Mouse Company."

By the time he finished, it was already approaching eleven-thirty.

Remembering he had class the next morning, he took a quick shower, chatted with his wife on his phone for a bit, then closed his eyes and went to sleep.

◇

His first university class was "An Introduction to the Art of Animation," a theory-based course. The first Chapter covered the origins of animation, its core concepts, its rise and development, and different animation styles from around the world.

Jiang Xia had taken this course in his past life, but considering this parallel world differed from his previous one in many ways, he still paid close attention in class and took thorough notes.

Of course, to him, all his major courses in university were relatively easy. He had long since mastered practical subjects like animation techniques.

The entire morning was spent on courses about animation theory. He had to admit, the professors at Qingmei really knew their stuff. They could turn dry, textbook material into something lively and interesting, so it wasn’t boring at all.

After class let out at noon, he and Su Qing left the School of Fine Arts Building. Lin Yanwan and her three roommates were just coming out of the School of Economics and Management Building, and they happened to cross paths midway.

Watching the upperclassmen ride their bikes toward the cafeteria, the first-years could only trudge along miserably on foot. By the time they made it to Bauhinia Garden, there would probably be nothing but leftovers.

Seeing Jiang Xia leisurely riding ahead with Lin Yanwan on the back of his bike, Cui Jiaying called out irritably, "Handsome Jiang, are you two trying to make us jealous on purpose?"

"How could that be? We have a bike, yet we’re staying with you. Isn’t this a perfect display of camaraderie between classmates?" Jiang Xia said with a wide smile.

Cui Jiaying’s mouth twitched. "Fine, fine, we get it. In that case, can you and Yanwan go ahead to the cafeteria and get food for us?"

"Sorry, I can’t do that. You’re putting me in a tough spot," Jiang Xia refused flatly. ’Two people getting food for six? Impossible.’

"What happened to that ’camaraderie between classmates’?"

"Here, you can have the bike. You go wait in line and get the food."

Cui Jiaying immediately deflated. She couldn’t possibly get food for six people by herself, either. It was better to just head to the cafeteria and wait in line together. It was a longer walk, but at least it was simpler.

At the same time, she made a decision in her heart: she absolutely had to buy a bike to get around campus!

Otherwise, with the thirty-minute walk from the dorm to the academic buildings, her feet would be shot by the end of the day.

Fortunately, by the time they reached the cafeteria, the crowd had thinned out. The upperclassmen had either finished eating or gone to the upper floors.

The group got in line, grabbed their food, and gathered around a small round table, chatting about interesting things that had happened in class as they ate.

"Su Qing, do you art students just spend all class drawing and watching videos?" Cui Jiaying asked.

Su Qing answered honestly, "Not really. The first year is still mostly theory, though we have practical classes too. I imagine starting from sophomore year, it’ll be mostly technique-based courses. We’ll probably be drawing nonstop then."

"I’m so jealous. We liberal arts majors never get to experience that. It sounds like you’re just having fun."

"Fun? I bet you don’t know the miserable life of an art student. For them, drawing is just a mechanical task. You think there are any feelings involved?"

Si Si glanced at her and said faintly, "I used to study art, but I didn’t stick with it."

Jiang Xia was slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected her to have studied art.

After lunch, Jiang Xia didn’t have any afternoon classes, but Lin Yanwan did. He was thinking about sitting in on her lecture when he suddenly got a call from Li Weiya.

"Ah Xia, I’ve arrived in the Imperial Capital."