Chapter 345: The Twenty-fourth Day in the Entertainment World

Chapter 345: Day 24 in the Entertainment World

Miao Bin, under An Yi's calm gaze, felt his heart skip a beat, but he quickly recovered, stepped half a pace closer to An Yi, and flashed a bright smile: "I wanted to take a walk with you in the garden, get some air. It's pretty lively today—I was hoping to find a quiet spot to talk."

His gaze swept almost casually over the somewhat "unnecessary" cardigan in Yu Ziyun's hand, then landed back on An Yi's face. He gave the mosquito repellent in his hand a little shake, his tone carrying an easy familiarity: "The garden's full of bugs at night—here, this is for you. Don't get bitten."

He paused, then added, his voice dropping lower: "Also, there's something I'd like to say to you alone."

He put a little extra weight on the word "alone."

Yu Ziyun's brow moved almost imperceptibly, his gaze cutting like a blade across Miao Bin's hand holding the repellent and the too-bright smile on his face.

He narrowed his eyes, about to speak.

Just then, a cold, low voice came from the side, breaking the delicate standoff among the three.

"An Yi's not a kid anymore. He knows how to take care of himself."

Cang Xingjin had apparently wandered over too, probably unable to resist after seeing the commotion.

He stood a few steps away, hands in his pockets, his expression still sour, his gaze sweeping over Yu Ziyun and Miao Bin with barely concealed sarcasm: "The way you two are fawning all over him..."

He didn't get to finish before Yu Ziyun cut him off.

Yu Ziyun didn't even fully turn—just tilted his head, glancing at Cang Xingjin from the corner of his eye, his look cold and sharp, as if sizing up something irrelevant and noisy: "Not your business."

One sentence, crisp and clean, and Cang Xingjin was momentarily speechless.

Cang Xingjin's face darkened further. He opened his mouth to retort, but then heard Miao Bin chuckle lightly and take over.

Miao Bin's smile didn't waver—if anything, it got brighter. He looked at Cang Xingjin, his tone light but with an unmistakable edge: "I'm happy to."

With that, he even winked at Cang Xingjin, as if to say, "What's it to you?"

Cang Xingjin, boxed in from both sides, felt a surge of inexplicable anger bubbling up in his chest.

He pressed his thin lips together, his jaw tightening, and turned his gaze to An Yi, who had remained largely silent throughout. His eyes held a restlessness he didn't fully understand himself, along with a certain "I expected better from you" quality, and he said stiffly: "You..."

What did he want to say? To tell An Yi to get a grip? To stop letting these two hover around him? Or to demand to know what An Yi was even thinking?

"They're all crowding around you—feeling pretty pleased with yourself, huh..."

But before he could finish, An Yi laughed softly.

An Yi tilted his head slightly, looking at the grim-faced Cang Xingjin, his expression still that impeccably gentle smile, his eyes clear, his tone calm as he said:

"If that's how you want to see it, I can't do anything about that."

"Are you jealous of them, or what?"

The words were featherlight, carrying no aggression—almost resigned and indulgent. But combined with the situation and the utterly placid look in An Yi's eyes, they shut down every accusation, question, or "good intention" Cang Xingjin had left unspoken.

Cang Xingjin went completely still.

He looked at An Yi's face—stunningly beautiful under the corridor light, yet so calm it bordered on cold—and at those eyes that seemed to mirror exactly how ridiculous and meddlesome he must look right now. A powerful wave of embarrassment and defeat crashed over him.

He wanted to say, "That's not what I meant," but the words stuck in his throat, refusing to come out.

He really was... jealous.

In the end, he said nothing, just gave An Yi a long, complicated look, then turned and strode quickly away from this suffocating scene.

Bo Yangxia, who had been shrinking in the corner trying to make himself invisible and had witnessed the whole exchange, watched Cang Xingjin's retreating figure.

Then he looked back at An Yi, Yu Ziyun, and Miao Bin still locked in their three-way standoff, and felt like a casual player who'd wandered into a high-stakes battlefield, the words "out of place" practically stamped on his forehead.

He scratched his head, decisively resolved to flee the epicenter of this impending storm, muttered "I'm gonna go find Yangyang and the girls," and slipped away like a greased pig.

Even though the livestream was off, the cameras were still rolling.

In the monitoring room, the production team couldn't help but hold their breath.

They really wanted to air this!!

Too bad... thinking back to the call from Film King Cang's manager earlier, and Cang Xingjin's background—forget it.

It hurt.

Near the doorway, only An Yi remained, flanked by Yu Ziyun and Miao Bin, both clearly intent and refusing to back down.

The fresh scent of nighttime garden greenery drifted through the gap in the glass door, carrying a chill.

Faint sounds from other corners of the villa drifted in the distance, only making the tension here more palpable.

The soft glow of the corridor light bathed this corner, stretching the three figures' shadows long and interwoven on the floor, much like their own tangled, complicated relationship dynamics.

An Yi was "sandwiched" between Yu Ziyun and Miao Bin, close enough to feel the different body heat and presence coming off both sides.

So weird.

He lifted his lashes slightly, his gaze landing first on Yu Ziyun's face to the left.

Lawyer Yu's handsome, angular features were half in light, half in shadow, his deep eyes locked onto him, the turmoil within forcibly suppressed, leaving only focus and a resolute determination.

Then he turned to Miao Bin on the right.

Miao Bin was working hard to maintain his bright smile, but the light in his eyes carried a scorching intensity and a faint, barely concealed urgency. His fingers unconsciously rubbed the tiny bottle of mosquito repellent.

Did Miao Bin even understand what he was doing?

An Yi tilted his head almost imperceptibly, the gesture lending him a hint of near-childlike puzzlement that matched his appearance.

He blinked, those eyes clear as a mountain spring, sweeping across both their faces. Then, in his calm, melodious voice, he broke the silence: "Miao Bin."

He looked to the right first, his tone as gentle as ever: "Didn't you say you had something to tell me alone? Let's take a walk in the garden then."

Might as well clear things up with him.

Miao Bin's eyes lit up, a grin even brighter than before spreading across his face, as if he'd just won a preliminary victory: "Sure!"

An Yi turned slightly toward Yu Ziyun on the left: "Lawyer Yu, Miao Bin and I are going for a walk."

He hadn't explicitly refused, only informed—but the statement itself seemed to draw a certain boundary.

However, who was Yu Ziyun?

He could catch the smallest loopholes in an opponent's wording in court and deliver a fatal blow—how could he miss the implication beneath those plain words?

Instead of retreating or showing displeasure, he moved forward half a step with complete naturalness, as if he'd caught none of the subtext, closing the distance until he was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with An Yi. A smile that could almost be called tender spread across his face: "A walk in the evening does sound nice. I was thinking of getting some air too."

His attitude was clear: he was shamelessly tagging along.