Chapter 3

Editor: Michi

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“What’s the matter? Looking at the scenery at the door?” The woman’s clear and bright voice was like divine music from heaven, accompanied by the sound of heels clicking on the ground, this ‘music’ was very sweet-sounding to Lin Yue’s ears at the moment.

Lin Yue was standing beside the door at a loss. As if she had been saved after hearing her voice, Lin Yue ran towards Ji Youyan in small steps, feeling wronged as she wailed, “Ji-jie…”

The male assistant also reacted, following rather half a beat behind Lin Yue to welcome her over. He was somewhat flabbergasted and asked, “Ji-jie, how… how come that you’re up here?”

He had just called the assistant director to explain the situation and had been told that he’d come up to discuss, but now, why did Zhou Kangcheng not come and instead, the subject directly arrived?

“It’s okay, don’t panic.” Ji Youyan patted the little assistant’s shoulder as a reassurance before calmly answering the male assistant, “Director Zhou went to pick up Teacher Liang and Teacher Su, and Director Chen and my agent couldn’t stop talking with each other, so I volunteered to come up.”

When the male assistant went down, Ji Youyan was sitting with the two directors, and they heard everything.

Chen Desheng was afraid of offending Jing Xiu but also didn’t want to offend Ji Youyan either, so he decided to become the mediator by saying that there seemed to be a misunderstanding between Jing Xiu and Lin Yue, which was why she was temporarily unable to enter. Ji Youyan knew in her heart. What misunderstanding could Jing Xiu have with Lin Yue? This was clearly the way of Jing Xiu showing her displeasure for Ji Youyan through her little assistant, Lin Yue.

But in the bottom of her heart, she was actually somewhat relieved by this.

When she heard that Jing Xiu was willing to live with her, she was half surprised and half disturbed. What was surprising was that she used her connections for her goal and what disturbing was that… didn’t Jing Xiu appear too calm when she knew about her [JYY] appearance?

She wasn’t afraid that Jing Xiu would loathe or harbor a grudge against her because of what happened previously; she was only afraid that Jing Xiu had really let go of the past and moved on, and that she was now able to naturally become the most familiar stranger to her.

Fortunately, Jing Xiu told her with action——she was not very calm either.

Maybe agreeing to live together was just a matter of her not wanting to cause more trouble to the program crew?

Revealing a smile on her face, Ji Youyan pretended to be calm and walked towards the room. “It’s no big deal, Teacher Jing was probably just joking with you guys, or she was sleepy and half-conscious so she was slow to react, why are you guys acting as though you’re confronted by a formidable enemy?”

She deliberately didn’t let the director come up to mediate, and now she purposely used a light-hearted tone to soothe the two people, just not wanting to make a big deal out of it and involve Jing Xiu in any rumors of her ‘acting like a prima donna’.

The familiarity and nonchalance in her tone really calmed Lin Yue’s resentment for Jing Xiu’s rudeness and also subsided the inexplicable conviction of the male assistant on the side. Only Ji Youyan herself knew how her heart was beating like a drum in her chest right now.

She led the two assistants, who were also blindly following suit, and finally stood in front of the sturdy wooden door. This was the closest distance between her and Jing Xiu in these recent years——just a door apart.

Ji Youyan’s hand tightly clenched into a fist under her windbreaker sleeve to restrain her fingertips from unconsciously trembling. A short while later, she adjusted her best smile and reached out to knock on the door.

 “A’xiu, it’s me, Ji Youyan.” She squeezed those words out from her mouth. Having said that, she found out how acerbity and hoarse her throat was when she spoke.

She stood in the doorway with a smile, waiting apprehensively for a response from inside the door, as if she was waiting for an unknown trial.

Fortunately, just as though the person inside knew of her torment, the door promptly opened as soon as those words left her mouth.

“Ji-jie, long time no see, please come in.” This time, what appeared from the inside was not the breathtaking face of Jing Xiu with a stunned expression Ji Youyan had expected.

The one who answered the door was Jing Xiu’s assistant, Yao Xiao. She wore a pair of black-framed glasses and had a calm, professional smile. She glanced at Lin Yue behind Ji Youyan as she greeted her [JYY] and explained for Jing Xiu, “I’m sorry, Ji-jie. Jing-jie was recovering from the jet lag when she was suddenly woken up by someone. She was somewhat peppery from getting disturbed while sleeping and ended up neglecting your assistant. I hope you didn’t take it to heart.”

Yao Xiao was the assistant who had been with Jing Xiu since her debut, and she couldn’t be more clear about what happened between Ji Youyan and Jing Xiu. Before long, she and Ji Youyan were close friends too.

“What are you talking about, Xiaoxiao? Even though we haven’t seen each other for a long time, you don’t need to be this unfamiliar.” Ji Youyan’s words were soft and witty, but her smile was bitter and astringent. 

Yao Xiao smiled, not commenting. Thi s was tran slated by Yu ri trans lati ons

Upon seeing this, Ji Youyan didn’t force the issue. She just changed the subject and teased Lin Yue beside her, “See what I just said? You guys were not sensible enough and disturbed other people’s sweet dreams.”

Then, she turned back to Yao Xiao, “We are sorry for disturbing Teacher Jing’s rest.” After a pause, she thoughtfully said, “Is Teacher Jing still resting? Is it convenient for us to move in? If it’s inconvenient…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she heard a clear, cold voice questioning from inside, “Xiaoxiao, who is it?”

 In an instant, Ji Youyan involuntarily stiffened as she looked past Yao Xiao and straight inside the room.

 Yao Xiao backed away a bit and turned back to answer, “Jing-jie, Ji-jie and the others are here. I was just preparing refreshments for you in the restaurant when you answered the door in a daze and shut Ji-jie and the others out from her place.” 

Her five fingers hidden inside the pocket of her windbreaker trembled as she anxiously awaited and stared inside the room. Not being able to wait for the person inside the room to respond, she eagerly followed Yao Xiao into the room.

In the next second, her apprehensive vision finally found the figure she was expecting.

A tall woman with long hair trailing over her shoulders was holding up a clear bone china cup as she stood at the entrance to the corridor a short distance away, scanning the visitors calmly.

When she saw Ji Youyan, she seemed to frown imperceptibly.

Ji Youyan felt a pain in her heart. The calm and collected composure she had forcibly put on fell apart in an instant.

Whatever the case was, she was reluctant to look away. She only stared at Jing Xiu’s calm eyes with greed and sentiment.

Jing Xiu looked at her without saying a word. There was a ripple in her amber eyes, but it soon disappeared without a trace.

“Ji-jie?” Lin Yue saw that Ji Youyan hadn’t moved for a long time and called out hesitantly.

After she heard someone call her, she felt like something was obstructing her from speaking for a while before she quickly snapped out of trance. She bit her tongue brutally, using the pain to calm herself down. Then, she lowered her head and blinked away the tears from the corners of her eyes before revealing a soft smile as she looked up at Jing Xiu, and said with a deep emotion, “Long time no see, A’xiu. We… finally met again.”

At last, a harmonious scene of old friends meeting each other.

“It has indeed been a long time.” Jing Xiu took in all of Ji Youyan’s emotional shifts, calmly suppressing her surprise. She rubbed her thumb gently over the rim of the cup, her smile not reaching her eyes.

“Come on in first.” Ji Youyan stepped sideways like a host of the house and called out to Lin Yue, and said to the male assistant, “Thank you, it’s all right till here, you can go and tell Guide Zhou to be at ease.”

Jing Xiu gave Yao Xiao a meaningful glance and Yao Xiao quickly took Lin Yue to Ji Youyan’s arranged room.

Ji Youyan politely sent the male assistant away with a forced smile on her lips, which disappeared the moment she closed the door.

She didn’t know that there were only two people in the large living room as she had her back turned towards Jing Xiu while Jing Xiu bit her lips and indulged herself in looking at Ji Youyan profoundly. 

When Ji Youyan turned back, Jing Xiu sorted out all her emotions and quietly walked to the coffee table with her cup.

She gathered her skirt and took a sip of her hot milk tea before indifferently asking Ji Youyan, “Won’t you come over and reminisce about the past?”

Ji Youyan looked at Jing Xiu with an undisguised sullenness and tender sentiments. Ji Youyan regained a bit of the gentle elegance that Jing Xiu was once familiar with, and slowly walked over to the single couch next to her and sat down.

“Want a drink? Xiaoxiao had prepared my afternoon tea just a moment ago.” Jing Xiu lifted the glass teapot on the side and poured out a cup of hot milk tea and pushed it towards Ji Youyan with a small slice of cake.

Her attitude of making it seem like they were really just old friends reuniting, on the contrary, made Ji Youyan even more nervous.

Though her actions looked to be gentle, in fact, this was her way of alienating people. It was Jing Xiu’s defensive attitude towards strangers. In the past, Ji Youyan was fortunate enough to enjoy her gentleness exclusively. She had never thought that one day, she’d face such an elusive side of hers.

She peered at Jing Xiu’s quiet side face. Her hands on her thighs clasped and loosened as she mustered up the courage to speak, “A’xiu, I…”

“Jing Xiu.” Jing Xiu suddenly tilted her head and corrected seriously.

Ji Youyan breathing hitched as she solidified with her mouth open, seemingly displaying a ridiculous appearance.

Jing Xiu sized her up with a complicated gaze. The emotions in her eyes were a complex obscurity that Ji Youyan could not distinguish.

After a long while, she sneered, as if talking to herself, “Forget it, what old memories are worth catching up on between us.” Having said that, she stood up and said in a flat tone, “I’m tired from traveling. I need to catch up on my sleep and freshen up, so I shall be excusing myself then.”

Thousands of words were jammed inside her throat by Jing Xiu’s calm and indifferent attitude. Although Ji Youyan was mentally prepared to act cheeky, she choked on her words and turned pale.

She watched as Jing Xiu disappeared behind the wooden door, looked down at the hot milk tea and the dark black forest cake in front of her, before touching her forehead in dejection.

Yao Xiao settled down Lin Yue and came out of the door. As soon as she arrived in the living room, she saw that only Ji Youyan was left beside the coffee table. Looking at Ji Youyan’s expression, she guessed that she had been frozen by the Siberian cold air current.

“You still don’t like this chocolate that much, Ji-jie? It’s not that bitter, in fact, it’s actually quite delicious, and Jing-jie is especially fond of this one.” In the end, Yao Xiao couldn’t help but kindly warm up.

It’s normal for A’xiu to be annoyed by her scum ex now, Ji Youyan comforted herself.

She breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Yao Xiao sadly as she picked up her splayds, “Ah…”

She paused for a second. Her eyes darkened and she changed her tone, “Didn’t Jing Xiu used to like matcha flavors before? Don’t lie to me, she also hated the bitterness.”

Yao Xiao’s face sunk and pointed out, “You said that it was before. Jing-jie, these past few years, she…”

As she spoke, she felt that she had overstepped her boundaries and quickly changed the subject, “Never mind, it’s nothing, I’m going to find Jing-jie then.”

Ji Youyan heard her words “You said it was before”, and her mood that had just eased began to fluctuate again.

Right, things have changed with the passage of time. In fact, it was only her wishful thinking that they could rekindle their relationship. Wasn’t she being a rogue to be dwelling on that idea?

Her eyes grew more and more gloomy, and she mechanically cut a small piece of cake as she chewed on it slowly.

However, before her funeral, Jing Xiu had cried beside her for a long time. She had cried so much that the heart of a dead person like her ached. Was it all just a dream? Thi s was tran slated by Yu ri trans lati ons

The bitterness of the cake seemed to spread from the tip of her tongue to all the way to her heart…

Even on her late bite with her sweet milk tea, Ji Youyan had a sour nose and still felt bitter.

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The author has something to say: 

Jing Xiu raised her eyebrow: Is it that delicious?

Ji Youyan activated her bootlicking skills: It’s very delicious! Sweet!

Yao Xiao who has a disdainful face: That’s not what you just said…

Ji Youyan said enigmatically: Single dogs like you won’t get it.  (づ￣3￣)づ

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This is a fan translation presented by Yuri Translations. This novel does not belong to us. Support the author by donating to the site linked on the synopsis page. You can also donate to the translator if you appreciate their hard work.

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