Shu Bai stared at the coin, his memory suddenly pulled back to a certain afternoon.
The sun was shining so brightly that the bluestone slabs were hot; he was genuinely angry with Li Yuheng at that moment.
I've long forgotten the specific reason, but this beagle always manages to infuriate him.
It might have stolen his food, blew air into his ear while he was dozing, or even splashed mud on his carefully groomed fur.
He walked ahead with a cold face, while Li Yuheng followed behind with droopy ears, sobbing softly.
Then, this bastard pulled out the coin from some corner, nudged it with his wet nose, and chased after him, kicking and pawing at him.
"Ding-click...ding-ding-click..."
The sound of the coin rolling over the uneven stone slab was not pleasant; it was even a bit harsh.
Li Yuheng's paws were clearly not suited for such delicate work; he kicked haphazardly, flailing left and right.
The coin's trajectory was bizarre, sometimes serpentine, sometimes spinning in place, but its general direction always stubbornly moved towards Shu Bai's feet.
He was furious at the time and thought the stupid dog was even stupider. Without even looking, he kicked the coin far away.
Li Yuheng let out a loud "howl" at that moment.
It was as if he had been kicked not a coin but his testicles; his four short legs darted about quickly, and he shot into the bushes like a small cannonball.
After a clattering sound, it came running back, clutching the coin it had found again.
He spat the coin onto the ground with a "pui" sound, and then continued!
He resumed his clumsy yet persistent coin-kicking project.
"Ding-a-ling... Ding... Crack..."
The coin rolled crookedly toward Shubai again.
Shu Bai: "..."
He was probably too angry at the time, and when the coin rolled to his paw again, he inexplicably reached out his paw and gently nudged it.
"Crack".
The coin slowly rolled back to Li Yuheng's side.
Li Yuheng's eyes instantly lit up like light bulbs, and he quickly used his nose and front paws to push the coin toward Shu Bai.
"Ding-a-ling..."
Shu Bai then pushed it back.
"Crack".
Li Yuheng arched over again.
"bite……"
Back and forth, the poor coin rolled back and forth between the cat's and dog's paws, the sound monotonous yet strangely rhythmic.
A cat and a dog were playing around a one-yuan coin like two idiots.
I don't know from which round it started, but the anger in my heart had long since dissipated.
Then this coin became their temporary toy.
You give it a push, I'll give it a push, and we'll play from one end of the street to the other.
And then...
Shu Bai's eyes darkened.
Later, Li Yuheng's father appeared without warning and picked Li Yuheng up like a chick and took him away.
When Shu Bai recovered from the sudden separation and tried to turn back to look for it, the coin was gone.
He thought it had been swept away by a passing child or a garbage collector, and squatted there alone for a long time.
The setting sun scorched the black fur, and the sound of the coin rolling across the stone slab seemed to still echo in my ears.
…
Shu Bai stared at the coin that gleamed coldly under the lamplight, and memories instantly flooded back.
He twitched the corner of his mouth and let out a cold laugh that was hard to decipher.
"Oh."
"So it turns out you secretly pocketed it."
Li Yuheng held the coin in his hand, flicked it with his fingertip, and the coin flipped over in the air.
"Steal? Little Shubai, that's slander. This coin, from beginning to end, was transformed by me using ghostly energy!"
"……What did you say?"
“It means exactly what it says.” Li Yuheng handed the coin to him, lightly tapping it with his fingertip, and a layer of black light appeared on the surface of the coin.
"See this? It's a special product from the underworld, made from pure yin energy, and it's the real deal. We even made it look old so you wouldn't recognize it, making it look exactly like the ones circulating in the human world."
Li Yuheng changed the subject, her tone tinged with barely concealed smugness: "How about it? My skills are pretty good, aren't they? You've never noticed before, have you?"
Shu Bai: "..."
Seeing his reaction, Li Yuheng smiled even more and casually tossed the coin into the air.
The coin transformed into a cloud of inky mist in mid-air, wrapping around Shu Bai's body as if it were alive, flowing delicately from her hair to the hem of her clothes, and finally silently seeping into the fabric, leaving no trace.
Shu Bai subconsciously raised his hand and waved: "What is this?"
“A protective shield, huh? My dad took you away back then, afraid that after I left, your mouth would be too sharp and you'd get beaten to death on the street.”
Li Yuheng crossed his arms and shook his head, his tone heavy: "You have no idea how worried I was back then. With your temper, you look like cannon fodder who won't survive three episodes."
Shu Bai squinted: "So?"
"So I put a curse on you with this coin! It guarantees you won't get beaten to death! At most, you'll just get a beating and whine. Aren't you touched?"
"..."
Shu Bai remained silent for a few seconds.
Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Li Yuheng by the back of the neck, pressed him down, and then thrust his knee upward.
"Ouch! What are you doing!"
"Let's see if your shield works. It seems to be working well; at least it can still make this much noise."
Li Yuheng rubbed his aching abdomen and said in a resentful tone, "Do you know how much ghost energy I used to maintain this spell? When I first returned to the underworld, I was so weak that I was almost swept away by the River of Oblivion. My father thought I had indulged in too much debauchery in the mortal world."
Shu Bai remained unmoved: "...Don't change the subject. What kind of token of love is this? Didn't someone say that their feelings for me back then were just those of a 'friend'?"
“You’re right… but it upgraded in the first world.”
"...?"
Before Shu Bai could react, Li Yuheng raised his hand and grabbed him.
The familiar black mist swirled once more, condensing in his palm into the ring he had given to Shu Bai in the first world.
Li Yuheng held the newly formed ring between his fingers and waved it in front of Shu Bai.
"See that? You received it and wore it yourself. The evidence is there, so you have nothing to say now, right?"
Shu Bai stared at the ring that shimmered faintly under the lamplight, and for a moment he was truly speechless at this ingenious logic.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, finally managing to squeeze out only one sentence: "...You call this a token of love?"
"Otherwise what?" Li Yuheng flicked his finger, and the ring turned into black mist and disappeared. "The token of love for a leading man is about mutual understanding and freedom of form."
"And look, from a coin to a ring, what a beautiful meaning this symbolizes: our feelings, once worth only a dollar, have been elevated to an unbreakable bond. How romantic!"
Li Yuheng clasped his hands together in front of his chest and swayed his body in ecstasy.
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