Chapter 28: Joy Starts to Bloom.

This was the most comfortable thunderstorm night Ji Wushan could remember.

She curled up in Xue Erbai’s arms, listening to her heartbeat, which seemed even louder than the thunder.

They didn’t go through with it.

When they were already half-stripped in the study, Ji Wushan suddenly buried herself against Xue Erbai’s chest and stopped her.

Actually, she just...

felt awful after having to deal with Song Quwen so often.

Her missing memories made her feel like a ship adrift on the sea, and Xue Erbai was the lighthouse.

She had never doubted Xue Erbai’s claim that they were in a contract marriage; in her heart, that had always felt perfectly natural.

It was only natural to be arranged into a marriage.

But when the other person was Xue Erbai, she really didn’t resist at all.

That quiet happiness she had been pretending not to see was laid bare that night.

All at once, she simply didn’t want to keep doing this with Xue Erbai.

Even though they had already done it before.

Thinking of that, Ji Wushan hooked an arm around her shoulder and lifted her head slightly to kiss her lips.

Quietly, gently.

The dazed look in Xue Erbai’s eyes shifted at that moment; she lowered her head and kissed the crown of Ji Wushan’s hair, her hand still resting on her back.

Neither of them knew when they fell asleep.

When Xue Erbai woke the next morning, the bed was empty.

She only found Ji Wushan in the living room, making breakfast again.

Hearing the sound, Ji Wushan turned around and asked, “Are you going to the company today?”

“Yeah.”

Xue Erbai answered quickly, but after saying it, she already felt a little reluctant.

Reluctant to go to the company...

So when she ate, she was very slow, hesitating as if she wanted to ask whether Ji Wushan would see her off.

But she felt embarrassed.

After breakfast, Ji Wushan told her to wait.

Not long after, Ji Wushan came out in a dress, holding the car keys, and walked up to her. “I’ll take you to work.”

At her words, Xue Erbai’s eyes lit up; she smiled sweetly. “Okay~! Thanks, wife!”

Xue Erbai had called Ji Wushan wife before, but that kind of casual, natural slip still made Ji Wushan’s cheeks flush. “You...” She hesitated, but in the end didn’t say anything.

After all, she and Xue Erbai were legally married; being called wife was only right.

But the faint shyness in her heart... was that really right?

The drive was still quiet, but her thoughts kept turning over the matter, and she couldn’t quite make sense of it.

And yet, in some vague way, she did.

She understood why she would feel shy when Xue Erbai called her wife.

The more she thought about it, the quieter she became. When they parked downstairs, she only looked at Xue Erbai without saying much.

Xue Erbai unbuckled her seat belt and smiled at her. “I’m going to work!”

Ji Wushan gave a slight nod, so small it was almost impossible to notice.

But Xue Erbai was watching her closely, and she still caught it.

She leaned over. Ji Wushan stiffened all over, wanting to pull back, but Xue Erbai came in first and brushed her cheek against hers.

It was only a simple cheek-to-cheek touch; then Xue Erbai withdrew.

“Bingbing-jie, will you come pick me up after work?”

Ji Wushan didn’t answer, only looked at Xue Erbai with a trace of expectation in her eyes.

Then she nodded again, never intending to refuse.

But inside, she was thinking...

Why wasn’t Xue Erbai calling her wife anymore?

--

Ji Wushan had the weekend off, but only by herself.

That made it very easy to start thinking strange thoughts.

So after sending Xue Erbai off, she went to the television station for a bit.

There was no one in the lounge. She sat there for about an hour before Mao Ying came in from outside, looking dusty and exhausted.

When she saw Ji Wushan, she was a little surprised. “Sister Ji, why are you here?”

After Ji Wushan confirmed that she would be participating in the recording of “Her Romantic Encounter,” Mao Ying had taken over a lot of the behind-the-scenes work. Right now, Mao Ying was responsible for going out to do interviews, while Ji Wushan reviewed the final script.

They were recording the following week in advance, on Tuesday, which was why Mao Ying had to work overtime over the weekend to get everything done.

Ji Wushan glanced at her and said indifferently, “Came to work overtime.”

Mao Ying had been around her for a while and was already used to Ji Wushan’s usual coolness. In the past, her eyes had also been calm and still, but now... they seemed a little lost?

Mao Ying was puzzled, but she didn’t dare ask, so she just nodded silently and handed over the interview draft.

This time the theme was an interview with an old bookshop.

They had actually done this before, and it was one of the classic segments of “Paperlight Shimmer,” so Mao Ying was already very familiar with it. Still, when she handed it to Ji Wushan, she couldn’t help feeling nervous.

After about twenty minutes, Ji Wushan took the interview draft from in front of her and handed it back. “Very good.”

That already counted as pretty high praise from Ji Wushan, so Mao Ying was in a great mood and said cheerfully, “Thank you, Sister Ji.”

“Then from now on, I’ll work with you.”

“And if there’s overtime again in the future, you can tell me.”

Ji Wushan said it as gently as she could, and Mao Ying nodded repeatedly after hearing that.

Although the station had reduced part of her workload on the grounds that Ji Wushan needed to stay in good condition for the variety show recordings, “Paperlight Shimmer” was still her main job; she could always come back.

Besides, having Ji Wushan there made Mao Ying breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Going out alone, even with occasional help from Zhou Mu, still left her without much confidence.

The two of them worked together, and the afternoon passed very quickly.

At five o’clock sharp, Ji Wushan glanced at the time.

Mao Ying also stopped.

“Sister Ji, let’s get off work?”

“You still have a lot of work next week.”

First the car accident injury, then the injury on the show; Mao Ying was worried about her too.

Having Ji Wushan help for a while and get things pointed in the right direction was a good thing.

Besides, whether it was her imagination or not, Ji Wushan seemed to have a little more enthusiasm for work now than before.

Maybe changing her surroundings would make everything feel fresher when she came back?

Mao Ying wasn’t sure, but she still didn’t ask.

The two of them walked to the entrance together. Ji Wushan clearly intended to see her off, but Mao Ying suddenly became shy.

Ji Wushan looked at her in confusion, which only made her more awkward. Tugging at her sleeve, she said softly, “Sister Ji... I made it official with my girlfriend last week.”

“She’s coming to pick me up later.”

“Oh, I see.” Ji Wushan’s tone was flat, but her gaze lingered on Mao Ying’s face for a few seconds.

She had spent more than half a month with Mao Ying before and after work; Mao Ying was lively and decisive, sometimes even energetic to the point of being brisk. It was hard to imagine her looking like this.

Dating... could it change a person that much?

Ji Wushan wasn’t sure, and had no way to be sure.

She had never dated anyone. It was just that recently, being with Xue Erbai had made her think more.

For example, her heart would race when she had physical contact with Xue Erbai, and she would get annoyed when Xue Erbai talked to other people.

And that line Fu Lingnan had said—she felt it deeply too, both the good and the bad.

But excitement and shyness...

She didn’t seem to have that.

When she drove to pick up Xue Erbai, she even looked at her a few more times, wanting to ask whether Xue Erbai would...

Forget it.

Better not ask.

She started driving in silence, while Xue Erbai kept glancing at her.

It always felt like something was off with Ji Wushan.

Xue Erbai thought about it, then still asked, “Bingbing-jie, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Ji Wushan answered very quickly, almost without thinking.

Xue Erbai simply stopped talking and didn’t ask again.

That, however, made Ji Wushan start to feel a little uneasy.

She hadn’t felt any excitement, but because Xue Erbai wasn’t asking anymore, she felt a little lost.

From then on...

it became Ji Wushan who kept looking toward Xue Erbai instead.

But whenever Xue Erbai looked back, she would pretend nothing had happened.

Xue Erbai was baffled. Right before getting out of the car, she still couldn’t help asking, “Did Mom contact you?”

“Did she bully you again?”

Ji Wushan’s hand on the seat belt paused. She hadn’t expected Xue Erbai to ask that...

She looked at Xue Erbai deeply, and seeing the concern in her eyes, she suddenly felt a little agitated.

Because of her own family, because of her own personality.

She lowered her eyes and said softly, “No, she didn’t contact me.”

“Then what’s wrong with you?”

What was wrong...

Ji Wushan found it hard to say.

She couldn’t exactly say that because she saw Mao Ying change so much after falling in love, she had unconsciously started comparing them.

It seemed like neither of them had turned into the kind of person Mao Ying had become.

Kissing, hugging, sleeping together; it all seemed perfectly natural.

That feeling was too hard to pin down, and even harder to describe.

She could only shake her head. “Nothing...”

Who would have thought that the moment those words left her mouth, her phone chimed once with a WeChat notification, then a second time, then a third.

She said “wait a moment,” and let go of the seat belt to pick up her phone.

The messages on WeChat were from Fu Lingnan.

The first asked how her injuries were. The second said she would be back for the next recording. The third said see you at the recording.

Ji Wushan thought about it, then slowly typed back her thanks and said her injuries were basically fine now.

After replying, she realized Xue Erbai had been staring at her the whole time.

A strange sense of guilt followed, and even when she asked, her words came out a little haltingly. “W-what’s wrong?”

But the reply she got wasn’t Xue Erbai’s voice; it was Xue Erbai’s phone ringing several times too.

They were sitting very close together, so she saw it was Zhong Dai when Xue Erbai pulled out her phone.

It was a voice message.

But Xue Erbai didn’t listen to it directly; instead, she chose to convert it to text. Ji Wushan glanced over and roughly saw Zhong Dai affectionately calling her Bai Bai, asking why she wasn’t replying to messages.

She pressed her lips together. The name Bai Bai just wouldn’t leave her head, and in the end she chose to get out of the car directly.

Xue Erbai followed behind her, and when she slowed down, she heard Xue Erbai call out, “You haven’t locked the car!”

Ji Wushan stopped, pressed the lock button, and then turned back to walk away.

Her mind suddenly felt chaotic.

Last night they had gone home hand in hand; why was everything so irritating today?

The more disordered her thoughts became, the faster her pace grew. Xue Erbai followed behind her, squeezed into the elevator, and saw Ji Wushan’s tightly pressed lips before reaching out to hook her finger.

Then it was shaken off.

She hooked it again, and it was shaken off again.

All the way to the door.

Before either of them could open it, Xue Erbai wrapped an arm around her waist from behind and rested her chin on Ji Wushan’s shoulder. “Zhong Dai told me she saw her white moonlight today; too bad it was at her white moonlight’s ex-girlfriend’s child’s one-month banquet...”

Ji Wushan snapped her head around. The icy look in her eyes softened all at once, and the knots in her heart dissolved completely.

Only then did she realize what she had done; just because Xue Erbai had been chatting with Zhong Dai again, she...

She had actually gotten so angry she didn’t want to talk to Xue Erbai.

And after hearing her explanation, she calmed down instantly.

Then, without waiting for Xue Erbai to finish, she kept one arm around her waist and pulled at her hand too, whining in grievance, “Then what about you? Why was Fu Lingnan talking to you?”

“What did she say?”

“Can you tell me?”

“After all, we’re not on the show, and we didn’t sign any kind of contract.”

“You should be able to tell me, right?”

Her lips were too close to her ear, and Xue Erbai was speaking too fast; the warm breath made her tremble involuntarily.

A strange, yet unmistakable sense of happiness began to bloom.

She didn’t turn around, but her cheeks slowly flushed red.

---

Author’s note: