Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Rose No. 22: Temptation.

“Jiayuan Jie?” Fu Chaoying’s voice held a note of surprise, the end of it lifting slightly, tangled with barely concealed delight.

Her eyes shone, as if starlight were dancing in them.

Ye Jiayuan was dressed in a beige trench coat, which made her tall frame look even more elegant. She gave Fu Chaoying a slight nod; there seemed to be a soft glow in her eyes. “Morning.”

At that, Fu Chaoying curved her brows and eyes, her tone light. “When did Jiayuan Jie get back to Nanyan?”

“This morning.”

Another red-eye flight.

An indescribable feeling rose in Fu Chaoying’s heart.

Fu Chaohua poked her head out from the dining room at just the right moment and said with a smile, “I still have something at school, so I’m leaving first.”

With that, she even winked at Fu Chaoying, looking as if she were saying, I get it; I won’t disturb you two.

Fu Chaoying could only curve her lips helplessly and give her a perfunctory wave goodbye, watching her leave before she heard Ye Jiayuan speak in a low voice. “The gift isn’t me.”

Fu Chaoying couldn’t help but lift the corners of her mouth and blink at her. “I know.”

Her tone carried a hint of teasing.

“Hmm?” Ye Jiayuan’s voice rose slightly as she looked at her with interest.

Fu Chaoying’s gaze fell on her, sweeping over the dark blue shirt she wore. At that neat, buttoned-up appearance, the smile in her eyes deepened. “You didn’t tie yourself with a ribbon either.”

Ye Jiayuan usually looked so steady and restrained, so serious and proper; who would have thought she’d package herself up and send herself to her?

The smile at the corners of Ye Jiayuan’s brows deepened almost imperceptibly.

“Then have breakfast first; we’ll set out in a moment to see your gift.”

Aunt Wu was grinning from ear to ear as she enthusiastically greeted them, even asking, “Would Miss Jiayuan like to eat a little more too?”

Ye Jiayuan declined with a shake of her head, saying she had already eaten breakfast.

Fu Chaoying quickly finished breakfast in a few bites and set out with Ye Jiayuan.

Ye Jiayuan’s assistant, Liu Xin, had been waiting for quite some time. Seeing the two of them walk side by side, she immediately beamed and greeted them warmly. “Miss Chaoying, please get in.”

Fu Chaoying and Ye Jiayuan sat in the back seat respectively. The moment the door closed, the car fell utterly quiet.

The air carried a faint fragrance of magnolia and roses.

Fu Chaoying listened to the sound of Ye Jiayuan’s steady breathing beside her; caught in this unresolved, ambiguous relationship, she might not show it on her face, but she did feel a little uneasy inside.

After a moment of silence in the car, Ye Jiayuan suddenly said softly, “Put on some music.”

“What kind?”

Liu Xin was a little puzzled and glanced at Ye Jiayuan through the rearview mirror. After all, Ye Jiayuan rarely made this kind of request in the past; she had always preferred quiet and was never interested in arts like music.

“Something soothing. Piano music.” Ye Jiayuan’s voice was faint.

Just the right amount of instrumental music gradually smoothed over the subtle atmosphere in the car. Fu Chaoying’s brows and eyes softened as she turned her gaze out the window.

She didn’t ask Ye Jiayuan what the gift was, but she quickly realized the route the car was taking was very familiar.

“Are we going to Nanyan University?” Fu Chaoying asked, tilting her head.

Ye Jiayuan gave a slight nod, her gaze landing on her softly lit face. “I haven’t been back in a long time.”

Her tone carried a hint of barely perceptible gentleness.

Fu Chaoying suddenly remembered that conversation at the Ye residence that night—Aunt Chu had casually mentioned the graduation ceremony, and Ye Jiayuan had said her schedule had been tight that day, so she hadn’t had time to eat a meal with her.

So she had specially set aside time today and come back to take her to Nanyan University for a meal?

But it was still a little early for lunch.

Fu Chaoying was just about to ask when she caught sight of Ye Jiayuan already taking out her tablet and reading documents intently, so she swallowed the words that had reached her lips.

It wasn’t long before the car slowly drove into the west gate of Nanyan University.

The familiar campus scenery came into view; every tree and blade of grass here felt too familiar, yet there were still subtle differences from when she had been a student.

Fu Chaoying hadn’t returned to her alma mater in a long time either.

The car turned several times before finally stopping slowly in front of the university activity center.

At some point, Ye Jiayuan had put away her tablet and turned to her. “We’re here.”

Fu Chaoying got out of the car with her and followed her down the stairs to the basement level of the university activity center.

Lifting her eyes in confusion, Fu Chaoying saw that the metal sign by the entrance clearly read: Pet Rescue Station.

A few university students wearing volunteer uniforms were standing at the entrance. The moment they saw Ye Jiayuan, their eyes lit up and they greeted her in unison, “Hello, senior sisters!”

Ye Jiayuan gave a slight nod.

Fu Chaoying only grew more puzzled. Before she could ask anything, the student at the front said with a bright smile, “Both senior sisters, the puppies are inside. Please come with me.”

“Thank you.” Ye Jiayuan said that and was about to step inside when someone lightly tugged at her sleeve.

Ye Jiayuan stopped and turned her head, silently asking, “Hmm?”

Fu Chaoying tiptoed up to her ear and whispered so softly only the two of them could hear, “I... don’t want to raise a puppy right now.”

Warm, damp breath brushed Ye Jiayuan’s ear like a feather, leaving a slight itch behind.

Ye Jiayuan’s throat moved. Then she gently took Fu Chaoying’s wrist. “Don’t worry. Come with me and have a look first.”

The warmth of her palm seeped through skin and into the heart, carrying a reassuring force. Fu Chaoying’s heart trembled; drawn by that gentle strength, she followed her inside without thinking.

They hadn’t gone far before Fu Chaoying’s attention was caught by a group of puppies playing and roughhousing together. Their fur came in different colors, and they were of different breeds, but all of them were lively and adorable.

“These are all strays,” Ye Jiayuan said softly.

Fu Chaoying looked around, but her eyes settled on a tiny Pomeranian. It was wagging its tail and smiling particularly happily.

More importantly, the puppy looked strikingly similar to Xingxing.

Fu Chaoying’s heart skipped a beat. She froze instantly, staring dumbly at the little black-furred Pomeranian as memories kept rushing through her mind.

No, this black-furred little Pomeranian wasn’t her Xingxing.

Even though they both had a tuft of white fur on the right ear, her Xingxing had always been steadier and rarely wore such a bright, exuberant smile.

“Does it look a lot like Xingxing?” Ye Jiayuan’s voice sounded by her ear.

Fu Chaoying turned to look at her, only to meet those slightly warm eyes.

Xingxing had passed away so many years ago that hardly anyone ever brought it up.

Because very few people would remember a puppy that had only stayed with them for a short while.

Even Fu Chaoying’s own memory of it had blurred over time, yet Ye Jiayuan remembered it and could accurately recognize a Pomeranian that looked just like Xingxing.

“I remember that after Xingxing died, you never raised another puppy.

“Was it because you were afraid you couldn’t give it a complete home?”

Ye Jiayuan remembered that Xingxing had left not long after Fu Chaoying’s mother passed away.

She had hit the mark, straight to the heart.

Fu Chaoying stiffened slightly; even her breathing grew a little faster. She could only stare blankly into Ye Jiayuan’s eyes, unable to say anything for a moment.

Ye Jiayuan gazed at her earnestly, her eyes gentle, coaxing. “If you don’t want to raise a puppy, you can choose to adopt it here. There will be specialized students taking care of it.”

“It will have a home with many companions.”

Ye Jiayuan paused for two seconds, as if weighing her words.

Then she continued, “If we have a future later on... or if you one day have another stable partner, you can always consider bringing it home.”

Her voice was soft but steady, and every word sounded as if it had been considered for a long time. Every detail had been thought through carefully; she had even considered the future in which Fu Chaoying didn’t choose her.

At that moment, something in Fu Chaoying seemed to melt. A decision she had buried deep inside suddenly became clear.

Fu Chaoying walked up to the little Pomeranian and crouched down, gently stroking its soft fur.

Only when she turned her head did she realize Ye Jiayuan was standing far away, not approaching at all, only quietly watching her.

Fu Chaoying realized that Ye Jiayuan might not actually like puppies.

Then she suddenly remembered that when she was little, Ye Jiayuan hadn’t liked her either; she had thought of her as a crybaby little troublemaker and hadn’t wanted to take her along to play.

Fu Chaoying suddenly found that amusing. She couldn’t help but curve her lips, turning back to look at her with a tone full of teasing and anticipation as she asked softly, “Does Jiayuan Jie want to come touch it?”

Ye Jiayuan was slightly taken aback, then shook her head. “You play with it.”

Fu Chaoying knew she simply didn’t like it, so she didn’t insist. Not long after, she went with the station manager to handle the adoption paperwork.

Ye Jiayuan took her back out and asked, “Since you rarely come back, is there anything you especially want to eat?”

Thinking of all the food at her alma mater, Fu Chaoying blinked. “What I want to eat, you probably...”

Ye Jiayuan knew what she was about to say and nodded understandingly, her tone indulgent. “You decide.”

“That place is nearby; let’s walk there.”

The two of them strolled through the campus together, and along the way they ran into several classmates who recognized Ye Jiayuan, as well as some who recognized Fu Chaoying—after all, as the ex of a female celebrity and one of the inheritors of Southern-style ink painting, she had some name recognition too.

Fu Chaoying took a spare mask from her small bag and handed it to her, saying with mild resignation, “Looks like I’ll have to wear a mask whenever I come back to my alma mater from now on.”

Ye Jiayuan took it, but seeing that she hadn’t taken out another one, she asked, “You’re not wearing one?”

Fu Chaoying only had one with her. She shook her head and laughed lightly in teasing reply. “You wear it. Your recognition level is higher; otherwise, in just a few steps someone will be greeting you one after another—‘Hello, Senior Ye.’”

There was a faint sour note in that remark.

A hint of nearly imperceptible amusement flickered across Ye Jiayuan’s brows and eyes.

The two walked and stopped along the way; Fu Chaoying told her about amusing things from her university days, including how her roommates once got drunk after a breakup while she was the only one drinking juice, and they teased her about it for a long time because she hadn’t gotten drunk.

“Jiayuan Jie, what about you? Anything interesting from when you were in university?”

“I was busy in university; aside from studying, I was working. I wasn’t close with my roommates,” Ye Jiayuan said lightly.

She didn’t have that much time to experience university life.

Fu Chaoying pressed her lips together, a trace of tenderness rising in her heart. Then she slowed her steps and led her to the entrance of a small, shabby-looking restaurant at the end of the long street. “Is this place okay?”

Ye Jiayuan merely glanced at it and walked in without hesitation, seeming not to mind at all.

She was pretty down-to-earth.

Fu Chaoying curved her lips and followed her inside, finding a seat by the window before picking up the menu and ordering a few signature dishes.

“When our dorm went out for meals, we almost always came here; basically nothing on the menu was a bad choice.”

Ye Jiayuan gave a slight nod. “Your dorm often ate out together?”

Fu Chaoying was silent for a long moment, then said, “They often did.”

Ye Jiayuan gazed into her eyes for a moment but didn’t press further.

Noticing her line of sight, Fu Chaoying explained again, “Because I spent so much of my free time in the studio, I rarely had time to join their gatherings.”

And in the few other spare moments she had, she was almost always dragged off by Ye Yian.

Ye Jiayuan gave a soft “mm” and said nothing more, as if she didn’t care.

Fu Chaoying quietly changed the subject and started talking about the specialty dishes of the place.

They slowly finished the meal together.

As for that question about dating, Ye Jiayuan never brought it up again; originally, the atmosphere at the rescue station had seemed just right.

Fu Chaoying felt a little lost, then turned to ask her, “What do you have planned for this afternoon?”

At her words, Ye Jiayuan looked at her deeply, then slowly uttered a few words: “I’ll listen to your arrangements.”

Once again, she handed the choice back to her.

Fu Chaoying blinked and cautiously asked, “Then... how about going to my place?”

Ye Jiayuan thought for two seconds, then agreed. “Okay.”

Fu Chaoying pressed her lips together. She herself didn’t know why she had wanted to bring Ye Jiayuan home.

Before she could think it through carefully, she had already said it out loud.

And then, she brought Ye Jiayuan home.

When Aunt Wu saw Ye Jiayuan again, she was pleasantly surprised and hurried off to prepare afternoon tea.

But Fu Chaoying took Ye Jiayuan straight upstairs and opened the door to her bedroom.

Ye Jiayuan stood at the bedroom door, looking at her slender back and the fair skin exposed beneath the tied-up ponytail.

Ye Jiayuan’s gaze darkened, but she didn’t go in. “I’ll wait for you here.”

Moved by some ghostly impulse, Fu Chaoying grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside.

Ye Jiayuan looked toward the bed. Something flashed through her mind, but then she heard Fu Chaoying say, “Look.”

Ye Jiayuan followed the direction of her finger and saw two identical teddy bears lying side by side on her bed, both carefully covered with a thin air-conditioning blanket.

Ye Jiayuan turned her head in sudden realization and looked at her, amusement in her eyes. “You brought this one too.”

It was the bear she had given her that stormy night.

“So...” Ye Jiayuan gazed into her eyes, slowly leaning closer as she asked the question she had never asked before: “Will you agree to me?”

Her voice was very soft, but it carried an irresistible tenderness.

Fu Chaoying’s heartbeat suddenly quickened, but on the surface she merely blinked and asked as if she didn’t know, “Agree to what?”

Ye Jiayuan was slightly stunned; a hint of helplessness flickered in her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Now she was being evasive.

Fu Chaoying had thought that someone as cool and restrained as her wouldn’t ask again, but then she heard her continue in a low voice, asking once more: “Will you be my girlfriend?”

Something stirred in Fu Chaoying’s heart, but she feigned nonchalance and moved a step closer until the tips of their noses were nearly touching, their breaths mingling.

“Sure, but... I have a condition.”

The end of Fu Chaoying’s sentence lifted softly, carrying a hint of temptation.

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