Chapter 50

The air gradually grew thinner.

Just as Shu Shiran was struggling to breathe, Ji Xi let her go.

Both of their breaths were ragged. Shu Shiran unconsciously grabbed Ji Xi’s arm, every inch of her skin exposed to the air—from her ears to her neck—blushed bright red.

In a daze, Shu Shiran saw the digital floor display of an elevator behind Ji Xi jumping, now only a few floors away from where they were.

Although there was a high probability the elevator wouldn't come up to her floor, she still worried about that one-in-a-million chance.

This also made her realize that she had actually just kissed Ji Xi right there in the private elevator foyer.

With a flustered movement, she loosened her grip and raised her gaze to meet Ji Xi’s eyes.

Beneath the lingering intensity lay a clear trace of a smile, causing her heartbeat to skip a beat.

"You—"

"Shu Shiran—"

Their voices rang out at the same time.

Ji Xi motioned for her to speak first.

Shu Shiran’s gaze flicked away evasively, and she said, "It's getting late, you should get some rest early."

Ji Xi took hold of the hand she had just loosened, asking with a half-smile, "Is that all you have to say?"

Her plan to leave thwarted, Shu Shiran’s body stiffened slightly.

Ji Xi: "Shu—"

Shu Shiran interrupted him, "I still have to go to work tomorrow."

The surging wave of heat dissipated significantly in an instant.

The smile in Ji Xi’s eyes faded away at once.

Sensing his grip on her hand loosen, Shu Shiran pulled her hand away.

She didn't look at him again, uttered a second "goodnight" for the night, and turned to open the door.

When she pressed her thumb against the scanner, the door refused to open.

She tried two more times, but still nothing happened.

This was the first time Shu Shiran had ever encountered such a situation.

Was the door lock broken?

Why did it have to break at a time like this, driving her to anxiety?

Two more failed attempts would result in the lock being disabled for a period of time.

Shu Shiran intended to try entering the passcode, when Ji Xi’s low, soft voice came from behind her.

"Why not try your right hand?"

"..."

Stiffly, Shu Shiran switched to her right thumb, and the door successfully unlocked.

***

Finally back home, Shu Shiran let out a breath of relief.

She poured herself a glass of water.

Her burning lips touched the rim of the glass, feeling the cool hardness of the glass—so different from just a moment ago.

Shu Shiran’s mind drifted. As she drank, her fuzzy, dizzy brain kept replaying the scene outside the door.

The sensation seemed to still linger on her lips: soft, moist and warm, filled with his overbearing presence.

Originally, she had only intended to explain the matter concerning Qin Shengyan to Ji Xi, but she never expected that in the middle of the explanation, she would end up kissing him and even complying with the demand he made.

Both of them had been drinking; the kiss was, to some extent, the result of alcohol-induced bravado.

Walking over to sit on the sofa, Shu Shiran set down her water glass and touched her burning face.

Only now did she finally have the leisure to think about the sentence Ji Xi had added right before leaning in to kiss her.

He had spoken it so softly that she hadn't caught it clearly.

The four words seemed to be: "Never in my life."

Before that, she had caught the faint scent of perfume on him and assumed he had been with another woman earlier that evening. He had said no.

Then he added: Never in my life.

How could he possibly have never touched another woman?

So those probably weren't the words. She must have misheard.

Her phone suddenly chimed twice.

Shu Shiran picked it up to check—it was a message from Zheng Tingyan.

-Zheng Tingyan: @Shu Shiran

-Zheng Tingyan: Ranran, have you arrived yet?

Scrolling up, she saw messages from Zheng Tingyan and Xu Ying saying they had both arrived home safely. She was the only one who hadn't sent anything.

She remembered now that she had faintly heard the notification chime while standing outside the door, but had immediately cast it to the back of her mind.

-Shu Shiran: I'm here.

-Shu Shiran: Forgot to mention it.

-Xu Ying: That's good.

Shu Shiran stared at Xu Ying’s profile picture for a few seconds, recalling the things Xu Ying had said the last time they had dinner alone.

***

The next morning, Dai Jiao’s assistant, Tao Hui, created a work chat group and pulled in the person in charge from Qin Shengyan’s side to facilitate subsequent communication.

Wu Tianqi was also added to the group.

Wu Tianqi was in the middle of organizing blueprints when he suddenly saw the newly appeared chat group, startling him.

An architect drawing nearby asked, "What's wrong?"

Wu Tianqi: "Nothing, just suddenly felt a chill."

Seeing this project group simply reminded him of the gossip he had accidentally overheard yesterday.

He had spent all of last night thinking about it, but couldn't share it with anyone, which was driving him crazy. It had taken him all his effort to finally forget about it.

Shu Shiran spent most of her day communicating with others through the chat group and emails.

A sudden WeChat notification caused her fingers to pause on the keyboard.

-Ji Xi: Not coming back for dinner tonight?

She had sent Aunt Dou a message half an hour ago.

-Shu Shiran: Working overtime.

-Ji Xi: Alright.

Shu Shiran paused for a few minutes, then resumed reviewing the drawings.

***

At 8:00 PM, Dai Jiao was getting ready to leave work.

Passing by Shu Shiran’s office and seeing the lights still on, she knocked on the door.

Shu Shiran looked up and saw Dai Jiao pushing the door open.

"Still not off work, workaholic."

Shu Shiran: "You're leaving?"

Dai Jiao nodded, saying, "I remember Monday's report was practically finished two days ago. Why are you still working overtime tonight?"

Shu Shiran: "I'm looking at drawings for another project."

Dai Jiao thought about the progress of the various projects, "That's not very urgent though. You should head home early too."

Shu Shiran let out an "mm" and replied, "About to head out."

Dai Jiao: "Then I'm off."

Shu Shiran: "See you tomorrow."

After Dai Jiao left, Shu Shiran took a sip of water, stretched her somewhat stiff neck and shoulders, picked up her phone, and leaned back in her chair.

First, she aimlessly swiped through her phone's home screen.

Then, she opened WeChat, scrolled through, checked for new messages in a few muted group chats, and subsequently clicked on her Moments.

Aunt Hui had posted a screenshot of a TV drama with the caption: This plot makes one furious.

Shu Shiran had never even heard of this drama.

She liked Aunt Hui's post and scrolled further down.

Shu Shiran hadn't checked her Moments all week, so there was a lot of content.

There were photos of people attending fashion shows in Paris and New York posing with creative directors, as well as industry news shared by peers or photos of their own completed projects.

She scrolled past a photo of gorgeous natural scenery.

Beneath a brilliant blue sky lay a sea of yellow flowers, their rich colors resembling an oil painting.

It was posted by Luke earlier that day, geotagged in the Netherlands.

He had only just returned to New York and had already gone off to the Netherlands again.

There were two comments beneath the Moments post.

Xue Fu: So pretty! Want to go!

Luke replying to Xue Fu: It's your brother-in-law's estate; wanting to go is just a matter of saying the word.

This was actually Ji Xi’s estate.

Shu Shiran’s fingers paused, and she looked at the photo again.

Only now did she notice that the sea of yellow flowers planted here consisted of roses.

She couldn't help but recall that the flowers Ji Xi always gave her were yellow roses.

He seemed to have a particular fondness for yellow roses.

Looking at the most distinct, fully bloomed yellow rose in the photo, Shu Shiran felt it looked somewhat similar to the ones she had received.

She pulled up the photos on her phone to compare. Indeed, they looked a bit alike, though she couldn't be certain.

Perhaps it was just the same variety she had bought.

She then remembered the florist saying last time that the flowers Ji Xi gave her looked somewhat like a new variety not yet seen on the market.

It probably wasn't.

A new message popped up, and Shu Shiran exited the photo.

***

The next day was Friday.

In the afternoon, Shu Shiran received a message from Aunt Dou.

-Aunt Dou: Shiran, are you coming back for dinner tonight? You haven't eaten at home for almost a week now.

Shu Shiran indeed hadn't eaten at home all week.

She was just about to reply that she was working overtime when she saw Aunt Dou send another message.

-Aunt Dou: Ah Xi isn't home today either. Why are you two both so busy lately?

Seeing the message, Shu Shiran hesitated, then deleted the half-typed reply.

-Shu Shiran: Aunt Dou, I'll be back tonight.

-Aunt Dou: Then I'll make stir-fried chicken with chili peppers for you.

-Shu Shiran: Sounds good.

After finishing work in the evening, Shu Shiran returned to the Chuansong No. 1 residence and went straight upstairs.

Entering and putting down her bag, she headed toward the kitchen, "Aunt—"

Her voice cut off abruptly.

She saw Ji Xi.

Shu Shiran’s footsteps stopped along with her voice, and she felt entirely awkward.

"Aren't you going out?" The first syllable of her words trembled slightly as she spoke.

Could it be that he had made Aunt Dou lie to her?

As if guessing what she was thinking, Ji Xi said, "Aunt Dou didn't lie to you. I originally told her I was going out, but changed my mind at the last minute."

"Oh." Shu Shiran’s gaze drifted, avoiding his eyes.

Ji Xi lowered his eyelashes to look at her, "Going back to work overtime?"

The intentional teasing in his tone was easily perceptible.

Shu Shiran dismissed the thought of leaving.

"Let's... eat."

The two of them sat down at the dining table, where the spicy stir-fried chicken Aunt Dou had mentioned on WeChat was waiting.

Shu Shiran picked up her chopsticks, sensing that Ji Xi was watching her from across the table, yet he remained silent.

She lifted her eyes, her gaze unintentionally sweeping across his lips, before quickly looking away.

The quiet atmosphere felt slightly awkward.

Shu Shiran picked up a piece of the spicy chicken and asked, "Where is Aunt Dou?"

Ji Xi: "Just left. Went dancing."

"Oh."

Shu Shiran lowered her head to eat.

In her peripheral vision, she could constantly see Ji Xi’s hands moving leisurely.

Apart from the subtle sounds of eating, there were no other noises in the dining room.

This kind of atmosphere felt entirely wrong.

Shu Shiran both hoped Ji Xi would say something as he usually did, and was terrified of what he might actually say.

She ate her meal absent-mindedly, unable to even recall later whether the spicy chicken Aunt Dou had specially cooked for her tasted good or if it was spicy.

After finishing, the two of them cleared the dishes into the kitchen as usual.

Once everything was cleared away, Shu Shiran washed her hands and looked at Ji Xi, who was leaning against the kitchen island watching her.

"I'm heading downstairs then."

As she walked past him, Ji Xi called out to her.

"Shu Shiran."

Shu Shiran halted, her heart fluttering with panic.

Ji Xi: "What are we considered to be right now?"

Shu Shiran said in a composed tone, "Just like before."

The already bizarre atmosphere froze further.

Ji Xi took a breath, "The night before yesterday—"

Shu Shiran interrupted him rapidly, "We both drank the night before yesterday."

Ji Xi paused, his gaze dark and obscure, "So everything you said didn't count?"

Shu Shiran was slightly startled, only then remembering what she had said, and realized he had misunderstood.

"Qin Shengyan and I really have nothing between us, and never did in the past," she explained, "I meant that because we had been drinking that night, we only—"

She glanced at Ji Xi.