Resisting Arranged Marriages: Starting with Myself - Chapter 11

Before long, the molten silver was poured into the mold and began to take shape.

Le Xiao took the formed silver piece and started tapping it with a small hammer. This was done to reach the required thickness for cufflinks while increasing the density and hardness of the metal to ensure it would not easily deform.

“What kind of cufflinks are you going to make, Xiao Xiao?”

Ye Jiming asked the question casually, but he did not expect Le Xiao to react like a startled cat, hissing at him fiercely. “None of your business! How can the person receiving the gift start making demands?”

In this state, he completely forgot his previous dissatisfaction regarding the plain ring Ye Jiming intended to make.

Ye Jiming waved his hands, caught between laughter and tears. “Alright, alright, I will not ask.” He lowered his head to pick up his own silver block.

Le Xiao watched his every move with suspicion. Still feeling uneasy, he turned his back completely to block Ye Jiming’s prying eyes.

Gradually, amidst the rhythmic tapping of the small hammer, his heart began to settle. He became immersed in his own world, oblivious to his surroundings.

As Ye Jiming watched Le Xiao’s movements become more practiced and his breathing stabilize, a slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He then lowered his head to begin polishing his own ring.

Once the forging was complete, Le Xiao picked up a carving knife and carefully cut out the letter shapes he needed. As he worked, he shielded his creation, occasionally glancing back to see if Ye Jiming was peeking. He looked exactly like a student trying to cheat while watching for the proctor, or perhaps a protective kitten warily eyeing an intruder.

Ye Jiming kept his head down, concentrating on polishing his silver bar, seemingly unaware of the scrutiny.

After cutting and polishing came the most important step: engraving.

Engraving involves using a chisel to strike the silver piece bit by bit, creating textured patterns with distinct layers. This step requires the artisan’s full concentration. A single slip could lead to a mistake that ruins the entire finished product.

As a novice, Le Xiao did not dare to be careless. He gripped the chisel so tightly that his palms began to sweat.

Perhaps because he was too tense, his pheromone concentration began to rise unconsciously. Even the monitor on his wrist started to trigger an alarm, yet he remained completely unaware. With every breath, pheromones escaped and drifted through the air, surfacing despite the suppression patch. Before long, the entire room was filled with a faint, crisp scent of mint, making Ye Jiming feel as though he were sitting on pins and needles.

However, the culprit could not smell his own pheromones and continued to let them overflow, his breathing becoming increasingly rapid.

Ye Jiming was nearly losing his mind to the intense scent. He finally could not help but speak. “Xiao Xiao, are you having trouble?”

“Shh.” Le Xiao was completely lost in his own world and had no idea of Ye Jiming’s predicament. “Do not be noisy. I cannot focus.”

“Xiao Xiao.”

“I said do not be noisy!” Perhaps due to the tension, Le Xiao’s voice jumped an entire octave, nearly cracking.

Seeing him like a rabbit with reddened eyes ready to bite, Ye Jiming could only laugh helplessly.

He then quietly signaled to the cameraman. The cameraman understood and immediately shut down the equipment.

The moment the devices stopped operating, Ye Jiming pulled a dose of “Blue Tears” from his pocket. He skillfully tore open the packaging, removed the cap, and precisely injected it into his gland.

Only after the medication had flowed steadily into his bloodstream did he breathe a sigh of relief, feeling as though he had escaped death. The earth shattering vibrations subsided, the sharp alarms went quiet, and it was as if nothing had happened.

Once he had completely regained his composure, he dared to pick up his tools and silver bar again to continue making the ring.

The Secret of the Inner Circle

After two or three hours of bated breath, the engraving process was finally finished. By then, Le Xiao was drenched in sweat, and his hands were so sore they felt weak. He dropped the carving knife, set aside the silver piece, and slumped into his chair in a “spread eagle” position. He twisted his aching neck and let out a long, weary sigh.

The subsequent steps of making the pins and backings were significantly simpler. Once the soldering was done, the cufflinks were mostly complete. Finally, he only needed to boil the cufflinks in a prepared acid solution before polishing them to a shine.

On the other side, Ye Jiming had also finished the silver ring. The bright silver ornament shone brilliantly in the sunlight, its luster shifting like a star that had fallen to the human world.

According to the production team’s requirements, after the silver jewelry was finished, the partners were to put the pieces on each other. This symbolized infusing the jewelry with love and gifting it to one another.

The sparkling ring was now gripped in Ye Jiming’s palm. He balled his fingers into a fist, looking extremely nervous, and rubbed his hand against his clothes repeatedly until the high quality fabric wrinkled.

Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he called out, “Xiao Xiao?”

Le Xiao was hiding away, quietly admiring the pair of silver cufflinks he had made with his own hands. He was absolutely enamored with them. Hearing Ye Jiming call him, he gave an absentminded response. “What is it?” He did not even lift his eyelids.

It was not until he saw a pair of leather shoes stop in front of him out of the corner of his eye that he finally looked up.

First, he collided with Ye Jiming’s deep, affectionate eyes. Second, he saw the silver ring lying quietly in his palm.

The silver was so dazzlingly white, like sunlight, that it was hard to look at directly.

Le Xiao felt dizzy from the glare and his eyes grew hot. He almost thought he was going to cry.

His brain seemed to crash for a moment. His throat felt tight and dry. It took a long time before he managed to squeeze out a redundant question. “You… you made this?”

Ye Jiming was amused by his expression and replied softly, “Yes, I made it. Do you like it, Xiao Xiao?”

By now, Le Xiao had regained his senses and resumed his usual persona. He deliberately gave a sideways glance and said, “It really is just a plain ring, isn’t it?”

However, he overacted, making him seem arrogant instead.

Seeing him like a clumsy chameleon trying to disguise itself, Ye Jiming’s smile widened.

“No, look closer.” He held his hand out toward Le Xiao.

Le Xiao took the ring from his palm and examined it carefully. The outer circle of the ring was smooth and round, without a single flaw, flowing with brilliant light under the lamp. Perhaps because Ye Jiming had held it for so long, the ring felt warm, carrying the temperature of his palm.

He felt around the circle and finally discovered the secret: the inner circle of the ring was engraved with a string of numbers.

“What does this mean?”

“Guess.” Ye Jiming winked at him with a smile.

“It is not my birthday, and it is not yours.” Le Xiao quickly searched his brain. “0902 is the day we registered our marriage. Then 0413 is…”

Looking into Ye Jiming’s smiling eyes, he could not guess it no matter what. He could only resort to babbling nonsense. “My lunar birthday? Your lunar birthday? Your mother’s birthday? Your…”

He reached the end of his ideas and gave up. “I will not guess anymore. Just tell me!”

This sight made Ye Jiming burst into laughter. He could not resist pinching Le Xiao’s cheek. “Think about it slowly. One day, you will know.”

With that, he gently pulled the ring from Le Xiao’s fingers. “Give it back to me for now. Let me see the cufflinks.”

Hearing this, Le Xiao’s expression became a bit strange. His features seemed to twist together oddly. Then, he slowly pulled a pair of cufflinks from his pocket like a snail.

His clenched fist slowly opened, his fingers spreading. The silver white cufflinks lay quietly in his palm.

There were two cufflinks. One was carved into the letter “J,” with the upward curving tail looking like the trail of a shooting star. The other was carved into the letter “M,” with three neat folds resembling an accordion playing a melody. The silver tones seemed to pour down like moonlight.

Le Xiao used his fingertips to gently pull Ye Jiming’s arm toward him. He pinched the sleeve of the shirt and, though clumsy, very seriously threaded the cufflink through the buttonhole. During the process, his fingers kept brushing against the skin of Ye Jiming’s wrist as if they had a mind of their own. The skin felt scalding, making Le Xiao’s heart tremble. In every subtle, unintentional movement, he could almost feel the other man’s strong pulse.

Le Xiao rarely wore shirts and had never put jewelry on someone else. His first attempt was naturally met with difficulties. His almond shaped eyes narrowed slightly as he finally pushed the pin through the hole. There were several layers of fabric on the cuff, and it took effort to thread it correctly. His brow was furrowed, his eyes fixed on the small cufflinks. He was as focused as if he were performing an extremely important task.

He was slightly faster with the second cufflink, but it was still not smooth. By the time both were in place, Le Xiao felt fine beads of sweat on his forehead.

“There.” He let out a soft breath that he thought went unnoticed. “Do… do you like them?”

Ye Jiming seemed to snap out of a dream. He was almost choked up by his own words. “Good, I mean, they are very beautiful. I like them very much. Thank you, Xiao Xiao.”

As if to prove his words, he raised his arm to admire them carefully. “Carving them into letters, you are so creative. Let me guess, JM? You engraved my name?”

The question made Le Xiao’s face heat up. He could not help but roll his eyes slightly and mutter, “You are asking something you already know.”

Ye Jiming smiled, not minding at all. He leaned down and whispered into Le Xiao’s ear. “But I hope if there is another chance in the future, do not engrave my name again. Engrave your name instead, okay, Le Xiao?”

Le Xiao looked up sharply, staring at him in shock.

How did he know what Le Xiao had originally thought? He…

Then he realized that this was perhaps the first time Ye Jiming had called him by his full name.

From the moment they met at home, Ye Jiming had always called him “Xiao Xiao,” just like his friends, family, and fans. Sometimes, Le Xiao even had the illusion that Ye Jiming was not a stranger met through a ridiculous arranged marriage, but an ordinary friend or a relative.

But when family and friends used his full name, it usually meant he had done something wrong and made them angry. However, when Ye Jiming used his full name, everything felt different.

The metronome in his heart skipped a beat. His heartbeat followed a broken rhythm, jumping frantically.

“Xiao Xiao?”

It was only when Ye Jiming called him again that he finally snapped out of it.

“Engrave my name? Why… why would I engrave my name?” He blustered.

“That way, everyone will know you made it. Everyone will know that you gave it to me,” Ye Jiming pushed further.

“Forget it!” Le Xiao indignantly pushed away the head that was leaning closer and closer.

“The ring, aren’t you going to give it to me yet?” Le Xiao acted out like a lion cub. “I already gave you yours!”

“I am giving it, right now.” Ye Jiming took out the ring and held out his own hand, signaling for Le Xiao to rest his hand in his palm.

Le Xiao froze for a moment, apparently not expecting Ye Jiming to put it on him. He blankly held out his right hand.

Ye Jiming froze too. He dodged the right hand and, caught between laughter and tears, went to take Le Xiao’s left hand.

“Little dummy.” His voice was full of laughter. “Who wears a wedding ring on their right hand?”

Le Xiao’s breath nearly stopped. “What? This… this is a wedding ring?”

“Of course not.” Ye Jiming laughed out loud. “But we are married. Shouldn’t the ring be worn on the ring finger of the left hand?”

As he spoke, he lowered his head slightly. His gaze was so focused it could make someone drown. He gently placed the ring on the tip of Le Xiao’s finger and slowly pushed it inward until it reached the base.

The cool silver ornament slid across his skin. Accompanied by the warm touch of the other man’s fingertips, a tingling sensation like an electric current swept from his ring finger to his entire body, making Le Xiao shiver. It felt as if fireworks were exploding in his mind, leaving him dizzy and nearly unable to breathe. The mint scent was so strong it almost tore off the unreliable suppression patch, bursting forth from the gland on the back of his neck and filling the small room.

It was clearly just a cheap, plain silver ring. He certainly had the means to buy many of them, but…

But at this very moment, the sound of his heartbeat was louder than a thousand horses.

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