-72- You come
"Uh..." Lu Kai's mind went blank. It wasn't that he couldn't think of any good qualities about Zhao Jinghuan, but rather that what Zhao Jinghuan had just said was so beautiful and touching that he felt like anything he said would pale in comparison. Lu Kai began to regret asking her if she liked him tonight. Now, she had finished her eloquent speech and won first prize for the city's outstanding essay competition. You, on the other hand, didn't even dare to hand in your paper, fearing the grader would read it and have your enrollment revoked. The more he struggled to think of something to say, the more nervous he became, and the more nervous he became, the more he struggled to think of anything to say. Seeing Lu Kai trapped in this cycle, his brow furrowed and sweat pouring down, Zhao Jinghuan smiled and stopped prodding him. "Okay, I'll stop teasing you. I don't need your praise; I'm confident." She said, "Go home. We have to discuss reopening the studio tomorrow." Lu Kai insisted, saying, "Give me ten more minutes." Zhao Jinghuan tapped him on the head, as if comforting a child. "Stop it, go home. If you insist, you can think about it later." Lu Kai knew he wouldn't be able to come up with a suitable explanation anytime soon, so he just let it go and said goodnight to Zhao Jinghuan. Zhao Jinghuan slept in late that night. When she woke up the next day at noon, Lu Kai had already finished his resignation from the cat cafe and was driving over to pick her up. They returned to the studio together and climbed the six flights of stairs. The newly-opened security door was no longer covered with the "family portrait" of several people. When they reached the door, they couldn't help but feel a wave of sadness. Lu Kai wanted to rush in, but he was clearly not used to the combination lock, and he entered the wrong code over and over again. Seeing the door about to sound the alarm, Zhao Jinghuan quickly pried his hand away and entered the code to open the door. It had only been three months since he'd been there, but the tables, chairs, and computers in the room were covered in a thick layer of dust. After a moment of melancholy, they realized that the window had been left open for two months. They spent the entire afternoon dusting and cleaning the room. They wiped down the computer, the figurine cabinet, the air duct, but it was hard to tell if the tension in their hearts had been alleviated at all. After the room was clean, they both collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. The breeze from the window made their limbs limp. Lu Kai looked up at Zhao Jinghuan, who lay atop him, and suddenly, with a frivolous look, he reached out and tickled the soles of her feet. "What are you doing?" Zhao Jinghuan's foot flinched, retaliating by stepping on his head. Lu Kai took the hit, then reached out to grab Zhao Jinghuan's foot again. After a while of rambling on the floor, the last bit of their energy was spent, completely...
"Well……"
Lu Kai's mind went blank. It wasn't that he couldn't think of any good qualities of Zhao Jinghuan, but the words Zhao Jinghuan had just said were so good and touching that he felt that no matter what he said at this moment, it would seem inferior.
Lu Kai began to regret asking her if she liked him tonight. Now, she'd finished her eloquent speech and won first prize for the city's outstanding essay. And you, on the other hand, didn't even dare to hand in your paper, fearing the grader would read it and have your student status revoked.
The more he couldn't think of what to say, the more nervous he became, and the more nervous he became, the more he couldn't think of anything to say. Seeing Lu Kai trapped in a loop, his brow furrowed with worry and cold sweat pouring down, Zhao Jinghuan smiled and didn't embarrass him anymore: "Okay, I won't tease you anymore. I don't need your praise, I'm confident."
She said, "Go home. We have to discuss reopening the studio tomorrow."
Lu Kai was stubborn and said, "Give me ten more minutes." Zhao Jinghuan tapped his head, as if comforting a child. "Stop it. Go home. If you really want to talk, you can think about it slowly."
Lu Kai actually knew in his heart that he probably couldn't think of a suitable description in a short period of time, so he just let it go and said good night to Zhao Jinghuan.
Zhao Jinghuan slept in that night. When she woke up at noon the next day, Lu Kai had already finished his resignation from the cat cafe and drove over to pick her up.
The two returned to the studio together and climbed six flights of stairs. The "family portrait" of several people was no longer on the new security door. When they walked to the door, they couldn't help feeling a little sad. Lu Kai wanted to go into the house quickly, but he was obviously not used to the password lock and entered the wrong password over and over again.
Seeing that the door was about to sound the alarm, Zhao Jinghuan quickly pulled his hand away and entered the password to open the door.
It was clearly only three months since he last came, but the tables, chairs, and computers in the room were all covered with a thick layer of dust. The two of them sat in the room feeling sad for a while before they realized that the window had been left open for two months.
So they spent the whole afternoon dusting and cleaning the house.
They cleaned the computers, the figurine cabinets, and the air ducts, but they couldn't tell whether the depression in their hearts was also wiped away at the same time.
After the room was cleaned, the two men were so tired that they lay down on the floor. The wind blowing in from the window made their limbs weak. Lu Kai looked up at Zhao Jinghuan who was lying on top of him, and suddenly reached out and tickled the soles of Zhao Jinghuan's feet in a mean way.
“What are you doing!”
Zhao Jinghuan's foot shrank back, and in retaliation, she stepped on his head. Lu Kai took the blow, then reached out to grab Zhao Jinghuan's foot. The two of them roamed around on the floor for a while, using up the last bit of their energy and completely paralyzed. Zhao Jinghuan caught his breath, but he didn't want to move anymore, so she said, "Take another day off. Starting tomorrow, you have to focus on designing."
Lu Kai shook his head: "It's you who should do the design well."
Zhao Jinghuan was stunned, curled up and looked down, and asked him what design he was working on. Lu Kai said, of course it's the Jiji Cat.
"It was you who came up with the idea of putting a chirp on the cat, so of course it should be done by you."
Zhao Jinghuan, who had just been about to collapse on the ground for the rest of his life, sat up straight away: "But the reason I could think of that was because of your previous dog chirping."
Lu Kai didn't get up, still lying there lazily: "What are you afraid of? I won't sue you for infringement. I'm not trying to be humble. I still prefer to be the boss. Bosses don't do any work."
Zhao Jinghuan frowned and said nothing. Lu Kai said, "Don't you want to design a trendy toy yourself?"
Zhao Jinghuan suddenly became nervous, waving her hands and saying she couldn't do it. She made a bunch of excuses, saying she had never made trendy toys, that she wasn't good at using software, and that she had no talent. Lu Kai shook his head and said, "I want you to do it because I believe you can do it better than me. Whether you have talent or not is not up to you to decide. You still have to try it first to see. The most important thing is...
"Do you want to do it or not?"
…………
Zhao Jinghuan had originally thought she'd continue to work on the business side of things after the studio reopened, but she hadn't expected Lu Kai to push her into the designer role. Suddenly, she felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. It's not that business isn't important, but for trendy toy production, no matter how important it is, it's just a supporting role. If a toy sells well, you won't get the most plaudits, but if it fails, you won't bear the brunt of the blame, or even the accusations.
Just like the journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures, if something went wrong on the way, it was always Tang Monk and Sun Wukong who got scolded. No one would dwell on Sha Monk's mistakes and ask him to write a 15,000-word self-criticism.
But Zhao Jinghuan studied art after all, and even though she never mentioned it, she still had the desire to create in her heart. After hesitating for two days, she decided to jump out of her comfort zone and jump into this sea of fire and swords.
"I...I'll try, but I'm not sure I can do it right. Don't be disappointed then. And if you think I can't do it well, don't force yourself to use my design."
Lu Kai smiled and said, "Okay." Then he began to assist Zhao Jinghuan. He helped her choose the theme and color scheme, and also found works by various cutting-edge artists for her to draw inspiration from. Lu Kai had good intentions, but Zhao Jinghuan was just silently horrified.
Isn’t it just drawing a cat!!!
That being said, when it came to actually starting the design, for several days, Zhao Jinghuan's hands were just scribbling on the digital tablet, but he was just pretending, and not even a horizontal line was left on the blank document.
Zhao Jinghuan tentatively asked Lu Kai how much the first order for Jijimao was going to be.
Lu Kai didn't think much about it and said directly that he would have to see the effect of the final product and how many styles a group made.
"But the previous Jiji Dogs were huge sellers, so we have to make at least 10,000 sets this time, right?"
Zhao Jinghuan nodded in agreement, but silently calculated in his mind that the cost would be around one or two hundred, or even three or four million.
So for the next half month, she was haunted by nightmares almost every night. In her dream, 3 million RMB were burning in a fire. After the fire burned out, a pile of paper money stood up from the ashes, holding a machete and chasing Zhao Jinghuan.
The greater the pressure, the more Zhao Jinghuan dared not to write. Even after more than a month of restarting the studio, the document of Jijimao was still blank.
She was tormented by her new identity as a "designer," and Lu Kai could naturally sense her emotional shifts. He knew Zhao Jinghuan could only resolve these emotions on her own, so all he could do was continue to provide her with "support." He gathered all the materials he could think of for her, and when he had nothing else to do, Lu Kai simply started making "love meals" for her.
Lu Kai said: "While working hard, you also have to eat well. Only when you have enough nutrition can you produce good works. Isn't there a saying that goes: when you are well fed and warm, you will be creative."
Zhao Jinghuan was very sure that this sentence was not originally said like this.
Honestly, the stingy Lu Kai brought himself lunch every day, which had indeed honed his cooking skills. Plus, he was even more willing to spend money than usual cooking for Zhao Jinghuan. Every day, lunch and dinner, they cooked prawns, spare ribs, abalone, steak, chicken soup—a variety of dishes, nutritious and delicious. If Zhao Jinghuan was in a good mood, she would definitely find him gentle and considerate, but when she ate his food, she felt a surge of guilt. The more she looked at Lu Kai, the more she felt he was sinister, cunning, and abominable.
"They must be exploiting my guilt, urging me to finish the design quickly and do it well. It's a silent form of moral kidnapping."
Lu Kai was not in a good situation, and Zhao Jinghuan's nightmares became more intense:
The 3 million is still burning in the fire, and the ghost money is still chasing her with a machete. In addition, the prawns, spare ribs, and beef brisket soup have also become spirits, holding the Ruyi Jingu Bang and the Nine-toothed Rake, posing to block the way for the journey to obtain the scriptures.
Seeing that Zhao Jinghuan's face was getting gloomier day by day, Lu Kai was also a little worried. During lunch that day, he couldn't help but comfort Zhao Jinghuan. However, the words that came out of his mouth had a different meaning when they heard Zhao Jinghuan's ears.
What Lu Kai said was: "Don't be anxious, it's okay to take your time."
What Zhao Jinghuan heard was: "It's been a month, and all you do is eat and eat."
Lu Kai said: "Don't be too hard on yourself. Even for Dorasi, it's rare for a first draft to be successful without revisions."
What Zhao Jinghuan heard was: "Forget it. What you make will definitely be rubbish. I expected that."
Lu Kai said, "If there's anything you can't figure out, you can take out the draft and we can discuss it together."
What Zhao Jingdan heard was: "Looking at you, I know you haven't painted a single stroke. You're just pretending every day."
Lu Kai said: "This is not an easy task..."
This time, Zhao Jinghuan simply refused to listen. She threw her chopsticks on the table. She originally wanted to say something harsh and retort fiercely, but when she opened her mouth, she didn't say a word. Instead, she burst into tears out of grievance.
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