Shax was not particularly surprised by Yu Mian’s hesitation.
Although it would certainly be great for promotional purposes if the author could attend, the immense popularity and influence of Contract Marriage’s adaptation had indeed stunned many in the industry.
Even though everyone knew the book was very popular, no one had expected that just a casting interview would generate such large-scale enthusiasm and attention.
On both Xingqiong’s official StarBlog and Kane’s personal StarBlog, countless readers had already flooded in, rushing to @mention and recommend various actors they had in mind for the roles.
One actor even publicly posted on their star blog, announcing that they had already signed up and swearing to fight for a role!
This post attracted massive attention almost overnight, and the actor, who had been relatively unknown before, saw their fanbase soar thanks to this wave of popularity!
It wasn’t just Gu Bai and Caesar’s roles—many readers were also eagerly choosing actors for the role of the grandfather, wishing for an experienced veteran actor to play the part.
Anyway, Boss Kane was rich, if they fancied an actor, he could simply throw money at them and get them to shoot. It sounded like the perfect plan.
It was truly the definition of a project that became popular before filming even started!
Yu Mian watched all the heated discussions about the adaptation of “Contract Marriage” online and felt he really didn’t want to miss out. He thought it would be such a shame if he didn’t attend this time!
[Crispy Shark: By the way, how many chapters do you have left to finish “Contract Marriage”? If it happens to wrap up before the casting interviews, the combined buzz from both could lead to a big explosion.]
Shax knew that he couldn’t really persuade Yu Mian, so in the end, he focused on the progress of “Contract Marriage’s conclusion.
[Fish: Well, the grand finale will probably be just before the casting interviews.]
After all, “Contract Marriage” was the first book Yu Mian had written after arriving in the interstellar era, so his emotions towards it were quite special. It was extremely important to him to finish “Contract Marriage” properly.
Therefore, with the perfect timing of the pre-casting publicity of Contract Marriage’s adaptation, the book’s grand finale finally approached its climactic moment.
After all, the return of the “white moonlight” Aarons seemed to cause a crisis between Gu Bai and Caesar, but in reality, it led to the resolution of their biggest misunderstanding.
[[When Gu Bai saw Aarons, the “white moonlight” the villain spoke about back then, walking toward him, he thought he might have to deal with Caesar’s messy love affairs.
But to his surprise, Aarons raised a glass of wine the next second and started chatting with him!
Even when Caesar was mentioned—
“Caesar’s always had that nasty temper since he was little, hardly anyone can stand him.”
“So you don’t like Caesar?”
Gu Bai hesitated for quite a while before asking the question in an inexplicable tone.
“Ah!? Who said that, that’s nonsense!”
In fact, Aarons had long regarded that period of his life as a dark history of his childhood, and when he suddenly heard Gu Bai say that, he thought one of his mischievous friends was sabotaging his image.
Someone must be trying to slander him in front of Gu Bai!
So when Gu Bai saw the angry, anxious, and embarrassed expression on Aarons’s face, he became thoughtful.
Especially when recalling Caesar’s last fainting incident and his helpless and aggrieved explanation, Gu Bai felt a certain doubt arise in his heart for the first time.
“Could it be that I really misunderstood Caesar?”
After all, the reason why all the lies from the villain were able to take root was precisely because of Caesar’s accidental action of blocking the exhibition hall, it inadvertently confirmed the issue.
As Gu Bai started to notice the inconsistencies, he naturally began to pick up on more and more clues.
“It seems like it was a long time ago the last time I arranged your tools like this.”
Gu Bai paid no attention to whether his clothes would get dirty, standing in the greenhouse with Caesar’s grandfather and carefully tending to the plants.
However, the atmosphere was completely different from before, it was now filled with a relaxed and joyful feeling.
“Yes, it’s great that you two can come visit this old man; of course, I’m happy.”
In fact, seeing Gu Bai back again, Caesar’s grandfather was both proud and happy.
He knew that his judgment back then had been correct.
Everything was progressing in a good direction, and now Gu Bai had become such an outstanding child.
But when he looked up and saw Caesar, who was clumsily helping out by comparison, he immediately became frustrated.
“Useless brat, are you here to help me with the greenhouse or destroy it?”
The bamboo staff in the grandfather’s hand was raised, ready to give Caesar a whack.
“I’m clearly helping…”
Caesar was actually just happy to be by Gu Bai’s side, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit wronged after being scolded like that.
He had never been good at these kinds of tasks, after all.
Looking at Caesar sulking in another corner, the old man picked up some tea from the side and sighed deeply.
“Sigh, Caesar was spoiled when he was a kid, but he’s not a bad kid at heart.”
As for the complicated relationship between Gu Bai and Caesar at that moment, the old man had the intention of trying to mediate but had no way of doing so.
It was clear that Gu Bai didn’t completely dislike Caesar.
When he learned that Caesar had headaches, he would play the piano for him regularly to relieve it.
Occasionally, the two of them would also visit Gu Bai’s mother in the hospital, as she often asked why Gu Bai didn’t bring his friend to visit.
But when it came to truly resolving the barrier and misunderstanding between the two, it seemed that something was always lacking.
After all, no matter how much was said, everything was still tied to Caesar’s mischievous actions in the past.
How much could he really help Caesar?
Although Gu Bai understood the old man’s thoughts, he didn’t know how to respond and could only silently lower his head to tend to the plants.
“So Caesar must have been really cute when he was young? That’s why the elders liked him so much.”
Gu Bai was actually quite envious of the seemingly playful but deep relationship between the grandfather and grandson.
He envied that Caesar had such a grandfather who wholeheartedly cared for him.
This casual remark made the old man subconsciously smile and deny it, though he was actually quite proud.
“Aiya, no way. That kid was a troublemaker when he was little, but he was a bit clever too. Didn’t he collect a bunch of things? Medals, trophies, all sorts of stuff. Do you want to go see them?”
With the old man trying to salvage his grandson’s image, Gu Bai once again entered the exhibit hall that he had visited before.
In fact, Gu Bai already saw what was inside, but as he listened to Caesar’s grandfather enthusiastically recount the details of these items belonging to his only grandson, he listened patiently.
But when the old man went to open the last big door…
“Isn’t this room off-limits to outsiders?”
Gu Bai glanced at the butler and servants around, who seemed to want to say something but held back, and subconsciously reminded the old man.
“Huh? What’s off-limits to outsiders? Where are the outsiders here?”
Caesar’s grandfather noticed the attention from the people around them and quickly responded loudly, not wanting Gu Bai to feel like he had suffered any injustice.
With a helpless smile, Gu Bai understood the old man’s thoughts but couldn’t help but look at the door the old man had just pushed open.
So what was hidden inside?
If Caesar and Aarons really didn’t have the so-called childhood sweetheart relationship, why had Caesar tried to stop him from seeing what was inside?
“No, that’s not allowed!”
At that moment, Caesar, who had been following closely behind, suddenly realized that his grandfather had pushed open his private exhibition room, and he couldn’t help but jump out in a panic.
He never expected that his grandfather would reveal everything this time.
“What’s not allowed? Stop being so mysterious! If it’s not allowed, it still has to be allowed!”
Caesar’s outburst made the old man so angry that he couldn’t even scold him properly.
So even though Caesar wanted to stop him, it was already too late this time!
“What’s this doing here?”
Casually glancing at the first music sheet in front of him, Gu Bai immediately recognized it. He was familiar with it to the core.
So much so that he could even hum the melody on instinct.
Wasn’t this the first piano score he practiced backstage when he was working part time?
After realizing this, Gu Bai couldn’t help but look at Caesar in extreme surprise.
Caesar’s grandfather, who had no idea about the situation, looked blankly at the two little guys in front of him that had a strange atmosphere.
This time, Caesar had no room to avoid the situation anymore and could only watch as Gu Bai turned and looked at the entire exhibition room filled with scores and records.
With each new sheet Gu Bai turned, his expression grew more complex.
Because even many performance news reports he had long forgotten about were carefully printed and bound, and the photos on them made Gu Bai recall countless past events.]]
