Page 25

Before long, Xuan Yu had made three brooch designs. After that, he only needed to set them into the bases.

Setting aside another finished brooch, he picked up the largest piece of gold and secretly glanced at Jinbai...

Cai Jinbai was laughing at a scene in the TV drama when Xuan Yu's voice rang out. "Jinbai, if you have too many bracelets, how about—"

"Hm?" Cai Jinbai looked up at him in confusion.

Xuan Yu stared intently at his ankle. "—an anklet."

It would definitely look good. No, it would absolutely look good.

But would Jinbai be willing?

Xuan Yu secretly watched Cai Jinbai's expression.

Cai Jinbai found it strange for a moment. Why had Xuan suddenly thought of making him an anklet?

"Oh, then give it a try." He said it casually, extending his foot forward and straightening one leg again.

A smile appeared on Xuan Yu's face. He immediately scooted closer to Cai Jinbai, placing his foot and calf across his own lap. The black loungewear fabric made his fair skin stand out all the more starkly.

Cai Jinbai shifted and changed positions. Holding one leg bent and the other straight was uncomfortable, so he placed his other bent leg on Xuan Yu's lap too. That felt much better, and he continued watching the tablet in his hands.

Xuan Yu stretched out the gold, settled on a width about the size of a thumb, then held it beside Cai Jinbai's ankle to measure it before bending it into a ring.

How did he measure it? First, he gripped the ankle in his palm and used the distance between his thumb and middle finger as a guide before cutting off the appropriate length of gold.

Once the gold was wrapped around the ankle, it fit perfectly.

White jade against gold, gold setting off jade—it was unexpectedly harmonious.

Cai Jinbai looked at it twice and said, "Not bad."

No matter what kind of gold jewelry he wore, it looked perfect on him.

It was just that wearing this would make socks inconvenient. Given this world's standards and acceptance, probably no man would wear something like this either.

So Cai Jinbai was about to ask Xuan Yu to remove the anklet and make something else instead.

But before he could speak, Xuan Yu stared at it for a long while before suddenly taking the anklet off himself.

"It isn't quite suitable to wear it here," Xuan Yu said.

Cai Jinbai: Mm-hm, exactly.

Xuan Yu said, "Try wearing it on your leg."

Cai Jinbai: Mm, hm?

Xuan Yu added more gold to it, kneading, stretching, and measuring it, then tried to slip it over Cai Jinbai's calf.

But before it could close around his leg, Cai Jinbai pulled his calf back with a whoosh—he was gone.

"Who wears gold around their calf? I'm not wearing it," Cai Jinbai said.

Xuan Yu paused, lowered his brows in thought, then agreed. "You have a point, Jinbai."

"Then wear it around your thigh. It won't look strange there, and no one will see it."

As he spoke, he set down the stretched-out gold strip and reached to roll up Cai Jinbai's loose pants.

Cai Jinbai: "...?"

Smack—he slapped Xuan Yu's hand away.

"Wearing it on my thigh is strange too. I'm not wearing it."

"How is it strange? Just try it, Jinbai."

"How is it not strange? If anyone should try it, it should be you."

"Isn't it the same principle as a shirt garter? It would be strange if I wore it."

"...A shirt garter? You really know how to think." Cai Jinbai was a little swayed. It did seem... kind of right.

"So just try it, Jinbai." Seeing that, Xuan Yu pressed his advantage.

The moment Cai Jinbai hesitated, Xuan Yu grabbed his leg and rolled up his pants. The loose fabric was pushed up to his thigh just right.

One of Cai Jinbai's legs rested in the crook of Xuan Yu's arm. They were extremely close; Xuan Yu knelt with one leg while the other planted itself on the carpet outside the sofa.

This dragon was extraordinarily stubborn about certain things, domineering to the point that he would not give up until he got what he wanted.

Who knew what madness had taken him now, or which screw had come loose? In any case, he looked impossible to kick away.

Cai Jinbai pursed his lips and conceded. "Fine, play with it."

He lightly kicked Xuan Yu's waist. It was not hard, more an expression of dissatisfaction.

Forget it. It was nothing. This sort of thing was hardly a first or second occurrence.

What else could he do with the dragon he had picked up as a child?

Xuan Yu fastened the gold around Cai Jinbai's thigh. The gold strip was neither loose nor tight, yet it still pressed up a little flesh, making it somehow seem...

Suddenly, Xuan Yu pulled the gold strip right back off and said, "Better not wear it. It doesn't look good at all."

Cai Jinbai had been admiring it, thinking that using gold as a shirt garter was a pretty good option. As for the weight, he could ignore it.

Before he could praise Xuan's idea, the gold strip was taken away again.

"It doesn't look good?" Cai Jinbai asked, full of confusion. "How doesn't it look good? I think it looks great."

Xuan Yu said, "It just doesn't look good. Jinbai, don't wear it."

His eyes darted around, and there was little confidence in his voice. He clenched the gold strip, kneaded and crushed it, and directly turned it into a lump of gold.

Jinbai wearing that kind of thigh ring was far too strange. It made him feel uncomfortable all over, and he did not even know where to look.

He had lied to Jinbai. It was not that it looked bad—it looked too good.

Jinbai hadn't noticed he was lying, right?

Xuan Yu discreetly glanced at Cai Jinbai.

Then—a cushion flew straight at his face and hit the target with perfect accuracy.

Cai Jinbai: Crazy dragon. Asking for a beating.

If it looked bad, why had he kept pulling his leg over to try it on?

Xuan Yu did not dare dodge the cushion thrown at him. It did not hurt anyway.

But when he lowered the cushion, Cai Jinbai grabbed another one and pounced on him with it.

"Ah, Jinbai!"

The guilty dragon received a painful beating.

Cai Jinbao instantly buried his entire body in the crack of the sofa, not revealing so much as a speck.

At the kitchen entrance, Butler Ding and Auntie Cai, who had just been about to come out, exchanged a glance and immediately retreated inside again.

Jinbai Entertainment had only recently been established. Cai Jinbai had many ideas for it and would form quite a few projects afterward.

For instance, the company would not only develop within the film and television industry, but would also establish an animation department and a special effects technology department.

At present, Cai Jinbai first wanted to establish a screenwriting department, recruit talented screenwriters, create original scripts, or adapt novels and the like.

Within a production crew, screenwriters sometimes had the least say. They were not valued; directors could alter scenes, actors could casually change or add scenes, and even actors' agents could point fingers at and revise original scripts.

The industry's chaos continued without end, leaving truly talented screenwriters in short supply, while many screenwriters who earnestly wrote scripts were buried without recognition.

These were exactly the kinds of talented people Cai Jinbai wanted to find.

[Why hasn't Green Grass started a new novel yet? Have you stopped writing?]

[We're all waiting for you to come back. We've reread your previous books so many times. We want a new one.]

[What are you doing these days, dear author? I miss you.]

This was beneath an author's comment section, where readers voiced their longing for a new book.

The author herself—Li Qianqian—was sitting alone in a park, scrolling through the comments. Her face held both emotion and loneliness.

She pressed her lips together, exited the page, and stood from the bench. But irregular eating over the past several days had left her weak and lightheaded. Her vision went black, and she lost her balance, falling backward. Fortunately, just as she was about to hit the ground, someone caught her.

"Are you okay?" A clear, pleasant voice sounded.

Li Qianqian opened her eyes, froze, then stammered, "I-I'm fine."

Hearing that, Cai Jinbai helped her stand steadily. "Your lips are pale. Are you feeling unwell? Do you want to sit for a while longer?"

"Oh, okay." Li Qianqian blinked and obediently sat down, looking like a docile, timid little rabbit.

Cai Jinbai did not leave and sat beside her.

As for Xuan Yu, he had turned back into a little black dragon, coiling around Cai Jinbai's wrist like a bracelet.

Chapter 24

Li Qianqian cautiously glanced at the person beside her, and the tips of her ears quietly reddened of their own accord.

This person was far too handsome. He was dressed with meticulous precision, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and had a gold brooch pinned at his chest. Its design was exquisite and elegant, without the slightest hint of gaudiness, suiting him perfectly. It was clear that he was either wealthy or noble, like a character who had stepped out of a novel.

Why would someone like him come to such an ordinary little park by the roadside?

Li Qianqian could not help drifting off in thought when the person beside her spoke.

"How are you feeling now? Still uncomfortable?" Cai Jinbai asked.

Li Qianqian came back to herself and hurriedly answered, "I-I'm fine. I just didn't eat breakfast."

In truth, she had been eating irregularly for many days, and her stomach hurt a little now too.

Seeing that her complexion was still slightly pale, Cai Jinbai took a foil-wrapped chocolate from his pocket and held it out to Li Qianqian. "Want some? I think you might have low blood sugar. Did your vision go dark when you stood up just now?"

Li Qianqian nodded. After hesitating briefly, she accepted the chocolate and thanked him.

She did have low blood sugar. Eating it should make her feel a little better.

For some reason, although she was introverted and normally not good at accepting kindness from strangers, she did not really want to refuse this person.

Li Qianqian unwrapped and ate the chocolate. Its sweetness seemed to ease her mood a little, calming her emotions considerably. Even her stomach seemed soothed. But then she thought of everything that had happened recently. Perhaps because of the contrast with the chocolate's sweetness, a wave of bitterness finally rose to her nose, and tears uncontrollably filled her eyes.