Chapter 55

Shu Shiran had two meetings back-to-back today.

The second meeting took place in the afternoon, leaving her neck rather stiff from sitting for too long.

As the meeting concluded, she walked out of the conference room alongside Dai Jiao, noticing that Dai Jiao kept glancing at her.

"What is it, Della?"

Was there something on her face?

Dai Jiao said, "You're in a really good mood today."

Shu Shiran asked, "Am I?"

Dai Jiao nodded, "You are practically radiant."

She lowered her voice and asked, "Are things going well with Ji Xi lately?"

"..."

Was it really that obvious?

Shu Shiran did not deny it.

Dai Jiao let out an amused sound and intended to say more, but her assistant called out to her.

Someone from Qin Shengyan's side would be arriving shortly. She needed to go and prepare to meet the client.

Dai Jiao said, "Let's talk more when we have time."

Shu Shiran returned to her office and sat by herself for a while.

Because she had been away at the meeting, her computer had entered sleep mode after a long period of inactivity.

Unintentionally, she caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the monitor's screen.

It seemed she really did look quite cheerful.

She withdrew her gaze and was just about to call Yu, the receptionist, into her office when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in."

Yuanyuan entered carrying a box.

Shu Shiran recognized it immediately as afternoon tea from her favorite hotel.

"Where did this afternoon tea come from?"

She had just been about to ask Yu to order afternoon tea for everyone.

Yuanyuan replied, "The person who delivered it said Mr. Ji ordered it."

Shu Shiran had not expected it to be from Ji Xi.

Noticing the faint smile at the corners of Sharon's mouth, Yuanyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Ever since the day she returned from her business trip, she could clearly sense that Sharon's mood hadn't been very good.

Now, it seemed they had made up.

Yuanyuan said, "Everyone asked me to say thank you on their behalf."

Shu Shiran answered, "You're welcome."

After Yuanyuan left, Shu Shiran picked up her phone and sent a message to Ji Xi.

- Shu Shiran: The afternoon tea arrived.

A few minutes later, Ji Xi sent a voice message.

"Are you coming back for dinner tonight?"

- Shu Shiran: Yes.

Ji Xi sent two more voice messages.

"Should I have the driver pick you up? I'll be back a little late."

"Tell Aunt Dou whatever you'd like to eat. Before I left for New Zealand, she even asked me if we had been fighting."

Shu Shiran realized it had indeed been many days since she last went upstairs for dinner.

Her phone vibrated once more.

- Ji Xi: Wait for me to get back.

**

When Shu Shiran finished work and returned, Aunt Dou had not yet left.

Aunt Dou was delighted to see her, and the two chatted for a while.

Aunt Dou made no mention of the fact that Shu Shiran had been missing from sight for all these days.

Seeing Aunt Dou hesitate as if she had more to say, Shu Shiran smiled and said, "Aunt Dou, if there's something you want to say, just say it."

Aunt Dou had never been kept in the dark about the fact that Shu Shiran and Ji Xi did not live together.

Nor had Aunt Dou ever pried into their personal affairs.

Now that Shu Shiran gave her permission to speak her mind, Aunt Dou thought for a moment before saying, "Because of his experiences when he was young, Ah Xi might find it hard to let down his guard and give his whole heart to someone. But I can tell, he has given his whole heart to you."

Hearing the words "whole heart," Shu Shiran felt a quiet stir in her chest.

"I know. Don't worry, Aunt Dou, I'll be good to her—to him, too."

Aunt Dou said, "Well then, as long as you two are happy together, that's all that matters. I'm off to go dancing now."

After Aunt Dou left, Shu Shiran ate her meal while pondering the phrase "whole heart" that Aunt Dou had mentioned.

Looking back now, it seemed there were traces of it all along.

When he first came to the firm to discuss the Jinhe Mansion project, he made no demands whatsoever and acted extremely agreeable.

When they got married, he sent her flowers, and later presented her with a wedding ring. She hadn't even thought of needing a wedding ring herself.

Moreover, he remembered her birthday, specially coming to deliver a gift on that day and wishing her a "happy birthday."

Thinking of her birthday brought another matter to mind.

She picked up her phone and searched her WeChat contacts for Luke.

- Shu Shiran: Luke, let me ask you something.

Luke, wherever he happened to be at the moment, replied within a few minutes.

- Luke: What is it that you have to ask me instead of your husband?

- Luke: Go ahead and ask.

- Shu Shiran: How did you know my birthday is December 20th?

Shu Shiran recalled the time Luke had suddenly asked her if her birthday was December 20th. At the time, Ji Xi claimed he was the one who told Luke, and she hadn't thought much of it.

Thinking about it now, Luke's sudden question back then might have been an attempt to hint at something to her.

- Luke: I guessed it.

- Shu Shiran: Guessed it?

- Luke: Jaziel isn't the type to say anything at all.

- Luke: The date our very first company was founded was December 20th.

- Luke: Jaziel chooses this date for all important matters.

- Luke: I've always known that December 20th is a very important day to him.

Shu Shiran froze for a moment.

So that was how it was.

During all those years she knew nothing about, he had turned her birthday into an important day.

After dinner, Shu Shiran sat on the sofa for a while, checking the emails in her inbox.

Because she hadn't slept well the previous night, her eyelids grew heavy as she read, and she drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Shu Shiran woke up upon hearing a commotion.

It took her a dazed moment to remember that she was at Ji Xi's place.

A blanket had been draped over her, more than she had when she fell asleep. Shu Shiran tidied her hair, lifted her head, and quickly located Ji Xi.

Ji Xi walked over. "Awake?"

His hair hung down softly, damp with the lingering moisture of a shower, and he wore loose, comfortable loungewear.

He had clearly just taken a bath.

"Have you been back for a while?" Shu Shiran's voice still held a soft, sleepy drawl.

Ji Xi let out an affirmative "Mmm."

Shu Shiran asked, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You looked so peaceful sleeping."

Ji Xi sat down beside her, a fresh, damp breeze of a scent drifting over from his side.

With a natural gesture, he caught her hand and enveloped it in his palm, asking, "What did Aunt Dou make for you tonight?"

Shu Shiran's fingertips twitched involuntarily as she answered, "Crucian carp soup, beer duck."

Ji Xi murmured an acknowledgment, then asked a few seconds later, "Did Qin Shengyan go to your office this afternoon?"

He asked it as if it were a casual remark, his fingers playfully hooking and intertwining with hers in a nonchalant manner.

Shu Shiran asked, "How did you know?"

Then she realized, "Did Wu Tianqi tell you?"

There was no one else it could have been besides Wu Tianqi.

Indeed, it was Wu Tianqi who told him.

Wu Tianqi had been enjoying the afternoon tea ordered by Ji Xi when he happened to see Qin Shengyan arrive.

Mindful of Qin Shengyan's obvious intentions toward their supervisor, Wu Tianqi felt compelled to give Ji Xi a subtle heads-up as a courtesy for the afternoon tea.

He didn't say much—merely asked if he knew Qin Shengyan, and then mentioned that Qin Shengyan had come to their company.

"He probably arrived not long after you sent me that message," Ji Xi said. "So, did he get to eat the afternoon tea I ordered?"

Shu Shiran was momentarily stumped by the question.

Qin Shengyan had indeed arrived shortly after the afternoon tea was delivered.

Actually, Qin Shengyan's presence wasn't required for any of the subsequent matters, and Shu Shiran hadn't expected him to show up that afternoon.

When Dai Jiao had someone call her over, remembering Qin Shengyan's previous words and knowing Ji Xi had once misunderstood her relationship with Qin Shengyan, she made an excuse that she was too busy and had no time to go, simply having Yuanyuan send an extra portion of afternoon tea over. After all, she wasn't the one in charge of the project.

She hadn't expected Ji Xi to ask whether Qin Shengyan had eaten the afternoon tea he ordered.

Lowering his gaze to observe Shu Shiran's expression, Ji Xi asked, "Shu Shiran, what are you feeling guilty about?"

Shu Shiran retorted, "When have I ever felt guilty?"

Ji Xi pinched her fingers. "Then why aren't you speaking? Would you like me to give you a few more minutes to figure out what to say?"

"..."

Shu Shiran answered, "He ate it."

There was no point hiding it.

Ji Xi said, "Good."

This unexpected response caused Shu Shiran to look up at him.

Ji Xi added, "It's finally my turn to treat other people to afternoon tea."

"What?" Shu Shiran didn't catch his meaning at first.

Ji Xi said, "The very first time I went to your firm, I happened to run into your ex-boyfriend treating everyone to afternoon tea."

"..."

Shu Shiran racked her brain and recalled that such an incident had indeed occurred.

At the time, she hadn't thought anything of it at all.

"So that's why you didn't stay long and left right after?"

Ji Xi rubbed the wedding ring on her ring finger. "I also found out you two were about to get married. You tell me if I had any appetite left."

Shu Shiran was rendered speechless.

He definitely hadn't.

She reached out in return to stroke Ji Xi's palm, saying, "Then I'll let you treat the office to afternoon tea for the next week. No, given President Ji's financial standing, it should be a month."

Ji Xi accepted the proposition readily. "Deal."

"Before that, did you know I wasn't single?" Shu Shiran posed another question.

She deliberately avoided phrasing it as "having a boyfriend" and refrained from mentioning Yan Yi's name.

Ji Xi arched an eyebrow. "I knew. I didn't intend to do anything back then; I was just angry."

Long before he even knew of Yan Yi's existence, he had already investigated him.

"Angry that your taste could be so poor. At the very least, it should have been—"

Hearing him speak thus, Shu Shiran was reminded of Aunt Dou's remark about his "whole heart." A wave of emotional ache welled up in her chest, and she raised her other hand to cover his lips, cutting him off.

There was no one else.

A tender smile surfaced in Ji Xi's eyes. He pulled her hand away and pressed a kiss to her fingertips. "At the very least, it should have been me."

Shu Shiran let out a soft "Oh."

The spot on her hand where he had kissed her felt warm, and her heartbeat began to quicken in tandem.

Her gaze drifted elsewhere as she said, "It's getting late. I'm going downstairs."

It was almost ten o'clock.

Ji Xi refused to let go. "Just leaving like this?"

The heavy implication in his tone instantly reminded Shu Shiran of the uncompleted kiss in the car that morning.

Shu Shiran's eyelashes lowered, fluttering gently as her breathing grew shallow.

After waiting several seconds without him leaning in, she couldn't help but lift her gaze, confusion tinged with a measure of bashfulness.

Yet Ji Xi simply released her hand.

"Great Princess Shu, your husband is still jealous. Can't you take the initiative for once?"

Shu Shiran thought, "..."

What was there to be jealous about?

Shu Shiran bit her lip, hesitating between fleeing and taking the initiative. Finally, she braced her hand against the sofa's backrest and leaned forward.

The distance between them vanished in an instant.

Shu Shiran could see her own reflection in his dark, deep eyes.

Their warm, moist breaths brushed against each other in a tentative contact, causing Shu Shiran to draw back slightly.

Ji Xi leaned back lazily, not moving an inch, merely watching her eyes.

Judging by his posture, he truly expected her to take complete initiative.

Shu Shiran's eyelashes fluttered as her gaze swept across the short bangs falling over his forehead, his high-bridged nose, and finally his lips.

After staring at his lips for a few seconds, Shu Shiran shifted her gaze to his profile, lifted her chin, held her breath, and leaned in.

Just as she was about to reach him, Ji Xi turned his head to meet her halfway, causing her kiss to land squarely on the corner of his mouth.