Priceless Baby’s Super Daddy

“Morning, Wan Dou.”

“Morning, Ms. Jing Xi!” Wan Dou waved her hand in greeting. She quickly added, “Ms. Jing Xi, look, I bought the same bracelet as yours.”

“The same what?”

“You didn’t know? That bracelet on your wrist is now available for purchase on Taobao. They’re selling like hotcakes!”

“Let me see.”

Xu Xiyan was puzzled. She walked a little closer, and saw a bracelet around Wan Dou’s fair wrist. The bracelet had a dice pendant hanging from it, just like her own.

Wan Dou found the Taobao page and showed it to Xu Xiyan. The tags in the product title said “Same design as Jing Xi’s” and other such marketing gimmicks. The bracelets were, as Wan Dou had said, selling like hotcakes.

Xu Xiyan looked at the images in the product description, and saw that some of them were screenshots taken directly from her TV interviews.

She also noticed that the seller had quoted an old poem by the Tang Dynasty poet, Wen Tingjun, in the product description:

“The red dot on the delicate bone dice represents the love I have for you. Do you understand what that feels like?”

This was a love poem describing feelings of love so profound they were deeply embedded in the poet’s bones.

Xu Xiyan looked at the dice around her wrist. She was comparing it with the design on Taobao when it suddenly dawned on her.

If a dice bracelet was supposed to be a metaphor for the yearning between two lovers, did that mean that Huo Yunshen was using this dice to tell her he was always thinking of her?

Oh my god, thought Xu Xiyan. He already gave me a hint a long time ago, but I was too stupid to look under the surface. I wasted so much time!

So what did the bracelet mean?

It meant that Huo Yunshen had fallen for her a long time ago, haha!

Xu Xiyan’s heart swelled with emotion at the thought. She hugged Wan Dou in her excitement. “Thank you, Wan Dou! Thank you!”

She released Wan Dou and ran joyfully towards Xiao Yuqian’s office.

Wan Dou watched her rapidly retreating back. She scratched her head, unable to comprehend why her boss had suddenly thanked her.

Xu Xiyan entered Xiao Yuqian’s office with a radiant smile on her face. Xiao Yuqian gave her a puzzled look as she greeted her. “Yanyan, you look like you’re in high spirits today!”

“That’s right, I’m in a good mood.” Xu Xiyan seated herself before Xiao Yuqian and asked with a smile, “President Xiao, what are we discussing today?”

“You’ve recently been selected as the leading lady for ‘Root of Evil,’ and that helped generate a lot of positive buzz for you. A few companies have asked you to audition for their TV commercials. Take a look, and pick one.”

Xiao Yuqian handed her a file with all the details. Xu Xiyan was very surprised; she had not expected to receive TV commercial offers so soon.

The commercial offers were for a wide range of products: food, sanitary napkins, drinks, and clothing. Some of the offers were better than the others. Xu Xiyan asked Xiao Yuqian, “They all look equally good to me, President Xiao. Which one should I choose?”

“There are no real requirements for the job offers from the food, sanitary napkins, and drinks companies. Once you’re selected, you’ll probably have to be their product spokesperson. As for this offer from ROSUE, the clothing brand—they’re extremely picky, and you will have a lot of competition at the audition. You may not actually get the job.”

Xiao Yuqian gave a fair, unbiased explanation of the pros and cons of each offer. She did not try to force her own opinions on Xu Xiyan; she wanted the actress to decide for herself.

Xu Xiyan considered the offers. She said, “I’ll take whichever’s hardest!”

“Why?” Xiao Yuqian asked, genuinely curious. “As the saying goes, it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. Why are you giving up easy wins for something much more difficult and uncertain?”

It was simple enough to Xu Xiyan. She smiled and said, “Because a big pond is bigger than a small pond. I like a good challenge, and this is a rare opportunity to prove myself.”

Xu Xiyan was the type of person to face challenges head-on. The harder the challenge, the harder she fought. She wasn’t one to turn around and look for an easier way just because the road was bumpy.

“Okay.”

Xiao Yuqian smiled. Xu Xiyan’s choice was exactly what her boss had anticipated.

She removed the smaller job offers from the file and left her the details for the clothing commercial. She pointed out the time and date of the audition to Xu Xiyan and reminded her not to miss it.

…