Chapter 11

Across a few passing figures, Shu Shiran’s gaze met Ji Xi’s.

Ji Xi’s eyes were fixed on her, his eyebrows raised slightly, as if in greeting.

Zheng Tingyan asked, "I wonder if the Wenguang Art Museum has chosen its new name yet."

Shu Shiran looked away and replied casually, "Probably not."

"How would you know? Did you hear it from someone?"

"……I guessed."

Her phone vibrated against her palm. Shu Shiran opened the message.

- Ji Xi: Just got back.

Whether he had returned yesterday or the day before, "just got back" could apply to both. Their relationship had not reached the point where he needed to notify her of his return to the country.

Just as she was about to dismissively reply with an emoji, another message popped up.

- Ji Xi: During the day today.

It was as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Shu Shiran’s fingertips paused, and she glanced toward Ji Xi.

He was looking down at his phone. Surrounded by the shifting crowd, he appeared indifferent, like a cool, suave young master waiting for a reply.

"Who are you texting?" Zheng Tingyan suddenly asked.

Shu Shiran felt a pang of guilt and instinctively tilted her phone screen away. "A client."

Fortunately, Zheng Tingyan didn't pay it much mind, only remarking, "They're looking for you even on the weekend?"

"Just a minor issue. I'll reply and be done with it."

She typed a few words on her screen.

- We'll talk later.

After sending the message, she tucked her phone away. Just then, Wu Tianqi walked over.

"Sister Ran."

He greeted Zheng Tingyan as well, "Sister Yan, long time no see."

"It certainly has been a while," Zheng Tingyan replied.

With Wu Tianqi was another man.

"Feng Kuan is a good buddy of mine," Wu Tianqi introduced.

Feng Kuan greeted Shu Shiran and Zheng Tingyan, then said to Shu Shiran, "Please take care of our little Wu here."

The two of them were cut from the same cloth—both had the air of carefree, wealthy young men. Shu Shiran and Zheng Tingyan knew him, but not well. Knowing it was a joke, Shu Shiran offered him a smile.

Wu Tianqi looked annoyed. "Who is 'little Wu'?"

"You, of course, little Wu."

As the two men stood before Shu Shiran and Zheng Tingyan, they effectively blocked her view of Ji Xi, so Shu Shiran stopped looking in that direction.

Zheng Tingyan remembered something and asked Wu Tianqi, "Are your parents close with Ji Xi?"

"With Ji Xi?" Wu Tianqi looked puzzled. "I don't think so."

"Then why did he come?"

"Oh, that? I invited him."

"How did you manage that?"

"I asked him on WeChat, and he said he was free, so he came."

"You’re that close with him?"

"It’s alright. We’re Harvard alumni, and he happens to be a client of our firm now," Wu Tianqi said, his tone casual and familiar.

Shu Shiran clearly remembered that when they were at the firm, Ji Xi hadn't even recognized him at first. It was all one-sided familiarity on Wu Tianqi's part.

"By the way, Sister Ran, I brought a new project to the firm," Wu Tianqi said.

"What project?"

Wu Tianqi pointed at Feng Kuan. "His."

"I’m building a golf club," Feng Kuan added.

Zheng Tingyan said to Wu Tianqi, "Not bad, making a contribution to the firm so soon after joining."

"That’s right! As soon as I heard he wanted to build a golf club, I immediately recommended our company. Why let the business go elsewhere?" Wu Tianqi wore an expression that shouted, "Aren't I great?"

Shu Shiran asked, "Where are you building it? How large is it?"

***

"Over in Haicheng. I have some photos." Feng Kuan opened his phone.

Wu Tianqi said, "You two go ahead and talk? I have some things to attend to."

The gala was hosted by the Wu family, so Wu Tianqi naturally had to help with the reception. Shu Shiran didn't think much of it and nodded. "Go ahead."

***

After Wu Tianqi left, he sought out Ji Xi. When he arrived, someone had just finished speaking with him.

"Ji Xi."

Ji Xi looked up at Wu Tianqi.

Wu Tianqi approached him with a familiar tone. "There are quite a lot of people today; sorry for the poor hospitality. You just got back, so you probably don't recognize many people, right?"

"I don't recognize most of them, that's true." Ji Xi’s gaze drifted into the distance, settling on a specific spot.

Noticing him staring in a particular direction, Wu Tianqi looked over as well. Zheng Tingyan had left at some point, leaving Feng Kuan and Shu Shiran alone together.

"Is that a friend of yours?" Ji Xi asked.

"Yeah, my good buddy, Feng Kuan."

Wu Tianqi had assumed Ji Xi was looking at Shu Shiran, so he was surprised to find he was looking at Feng Kuan. He couldn't help but pay attention to their interaction. After a few seconds, he whispered to Ji Xi, "Let me tell you, he’s been into Sister Ran for a long time. When I went to Chunxiang, he wanted to come along with me."

Ji Xi arched an eyebrow, his tone imperceptibly cooling. "Is that so?"

Wu Tianqi complained, "Ever since Sister Ran broke up with that guy surnamed Yan, he’s been pestering me every day to create opportunities for him. My ears are almost calloused from his nagging."

Ji Xi asked, "And how are you creating these opportunities for him?"

"Since he’s building a golf club, I took this chance to recommend her."

Watching from afar as Feng Kuan acted like a fool, Wu Tianqi shook his head inwardly. These days, Feng Kuan had been droning on about the "Great Princess of the Shu family" in his ear, saying that if he didn't help him create an opportunity, someone else would beat him to it. He was sick of hearing it.

With that in mind, Wu Tianqi blurted out the nickname: "Did the 'Great Princess Shu' have a lot of suitors back in high school?"

"High school, huh..." Something flickered in the depths of Ji Xi’s eyes, the light within them seemingly shattered and sunken. "There were many."

It lasted only a split second before everything returned to calm, leaving only his usual detachment and indolence.

"How are things at Chunxiang?" he asked, as if in passing.

Wu Tianqi didn't have time to dwell on his tone before the subject was shifted. He sighed, "It’s a long story."

"How so?"

"It’s just like school; I have to turn in homework every day." When it came to work, Wu Tianqi had endless complaints. "Sister Ran is really strict."

"You have to turn in homework to her every day?"

"Yeah, for her to critique."

"Seems like she’s very busy."

"Actually, once you get used to it, it’s not bad—not as busy as she and the others are." He mostly just drew a few sketches a day, and now that he was proficient, he could finish them during office hours as long as he didn't slack off too much. Sometimes he helped others or made models. "It’s just that I get nervous every time I hand in my work. I wasn't even this nervous handing in assignments in school."

"What, does she lecture you?"

Wu Tianqi didn't know if everyone who worked complained this much, but he certainly did. "Not really. But she looks at me with that very calm gaze. I don't know how to describe it—it's not fierce, it's actually quite gentle, but it makes you feel guilty and puts you under a lot of pressure."

Privately, he called it the "Death Stare."

Ji Xi seemed to think of something and smiled faintly. When his peripheral vision caught the figures talking nearby, the smile faded.

***

Shu Shiran had finished her conversation with Feng Kuan.

"Then we can discuss the specifics later at our firm? Or give us a location and we’ll go there."

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll definitely come by," Feng Kuan said.

Shu Shiran nodded. "Any other questions?"

Feng Kuan came back to his senses, hiding his enthusiasm. "No, no. Let's keep in touch on WeChat."

***

After Shu Shiran left, Wu Tianqi came up to Feng Kuan. Seeing him beaming, Wu Tianqi asked, "Looks like it went well?"

"We agreed that I’ll go to your firm next time."

Wu Tianqi doubted he had heard right. "...That's it? This is the first time I've realized you’re such a romantic."

"What do you know! Is she the same as everyone else?"

"What's so different about her? You won't think that after working at Chunxiang for a few days."

"You think I don't want to? They aren't hiring."

Wu Tianqi was speechless.

Feng Kuan added, "Forget it, you wouldn't understand, you're practically a monk anyway."

"..."

Zheng Tingyan had gone to the restroom while Shu Shiran and Feng Kuan were discussing the golf club and hadn't returned, so Shu Shiran went to find her. Before she reached the restroom, she heard voices.

"She is really something tonight. I’m dying, you can’t even tell she just went through a breakup."

"She has to endure it, even if it’s hard. She can’t let people laugh at her in a place like this."

"I really didn't think they’d break up. I thought they were doing well."

"Me too. I don't know where I heard it, but they were supposedly planning to get married next year."

"It’s probably all just an act. As arrogant as she is, she still got cheated on."

That last voice was unmistakably Zhao Siling’s.

At first, Shu Shiran thought she might be overly sensitive, as she wasn't the only one who had broken up recently. But hearing Zhao Siling, she knew for certain they were talking about her. She sneered to herself, wanting to hear exactly what Zhao Siling had been saying about her lately.

"I heard Yan Yi rekindled things with his first love. Someone saw them a few days ago, and they seemed so close."

"He only ever had real feelings for his first love; all that talk about him caring about her family background was just talk."

Zhao Siling scoffed, "She’s nothing special, just looks good on the surface."

"Exactly."

"By the way, was that Ji Xi who arrived later?"

Shu Shiran hadn't expected to hear Ji Xi’s name.

"It was Ji Xi. I didn't expect him to be on good terms with the Wu family."

"He was ruthless to the Ji family. The Ji family has been cursing him ever since the art museum changed its name."

Zhao Siling said, "Cursing doesn't change anything; it still had to be changed."

"Come to think of it, Ji Xi is truly handsome. The actors who came today don't even compare to him."

Zhao Siling replied, "Those guys just have a face, and it’s not even that good. You get bored looking at them after two seconds."

"Lingling, weren't you asking about Ji Xi before? Do you have your eye on him?"

"Don't talk nonsense."

The three of them laughed.

A loud *bang* came from inside—the sound of a stall door opening. The laughter vanished instantly.

"I was wondering why it was so noisy; turns out it's a flock of sparrows holding a meeting."

It was Zheng Tingyan.

Shu Shiran hadn't heard her voice, so she assumed she wasn't inside. Amidst the awkward silence of the three women, Zheng Tingyan walked out of the stall to wash her hands. "A restroom is the only place suitable for the likes of you, with mouths that foul."

"We’re just speaking the truth," Zhao Siling retorted.

Zheng Tingyan said, "Realizing a scumbag is a scumbag—so what if she broke up?"

Shu Shiran walked into the restroom.

"Since you’re all so full of pity for me, why don’t I just give him to you?"

***

In the corridor outside the restroom, Zheng Tingyan was busy texting Xu Ying to vent about what had just happened. Shu Shiran walked out, and Zheng Tingyan finished sending the message.