The day the down-and-out animator Ruan Ningnan returned to China penniless, renowned animation director Yin Jie had a film blow up at the domestic box office.
At a promotional event, the young director wore casual work pants. Beneath his pitch-black sunglasses, half of his well-defined face was visible. Expressionless and arrogant, he answered the reporters' questions.
"Talent? I don't think talent is all that useful. There are plenty of geniuses whose work never sees the light of day. I'm not one of those talent-first types."
Ruan Ningnan, waiting for his rice ball in a convenience store with his legs crossed, heard the remark.
Ruan Ningnan, who had made a name for himself young, was talent-first, now overlooked, behind on rent, and unable to find work, squeezed the rice ball in his hand until it burst.
That hit a nerve.
As expected, ex-boyfriends belong in the trash.
*
And yet later, this same bastard picked him out at a glance from a pile of animated shorts.
"This is the best short film I've seen in my ten years in the industry." The notoriously picky director gazed at the awards screen, his eyes deep and unreadable.
You're finally back... he thought.
After all these years, after winning so many awards, was he finally qualified to lift up the person he'd always treasured like a jewel, and fulfill the diamond-bright dream they'd made when they were young?
Together, they would make the world marvel at the ultimate, unparalleled romance of Eastern animation aesthetics.
*
"Every stroke of your talent is more precious to me than all the stars in the sky combined."
Proud, prickly, innocent, adorable, and extremely hard to handle animator shou VS secretly smitten, stubborn, deeply devoted, cool-guy director gong
A powerhouse collaboration between a genius animator and a genius animation director
1v1, happy ending
(Blurb captured on September 13, 2023)
Theme: A lifelong passion, with no regrets.
