When Zhang Xian heard that Su Lingyue hadn’t come again at noon, she tsked, and then texted Su Lingyue, her teeth aching: [Are you going to resign?]

Su Lingyue was eating lunch, and she laughed when she saw Zhang Xian’s message: [No.]

Zhang Xian: [Then why haven’t you come to the company today? I thought you were going to resign.]

Su Lingyue looked at her message and asked Ji Zhiyi, “Should I resign?”

Before leaving, Ji Zhiyi had been worried that she would be bullied by Qi An, so she had mentioned the topic of resigning. But after things had been peaceful with Qi An, and she was thinking about waiting for Ji Zhiyi to come back, she hadn’t thought about resigning. But now that Ji Zhiyi wasn’t going back to Yilin, she was thinking about whether she should resign or not.

Ji Zhiyi said, “Wait a little longer. We’ll resign after our company has started.”

Su Lingyue repeated, “O, ur, com, pa, ny?”

Ji Zhiyi nodded.

Su Lingyue said, “Where did we get a company from?”

Ji Zhiyi sat down next to her, and handed her her phone. Su Lingyue saw the names of a few companies on her screen, but she hadn’t really heard of any of them. Ji Zhiyi said, “These are all ones that can be bought and used directly.”

Su Lingyue was curious. “Did you find these?”

Ji Zhiyi said, “Shen Yuan recommended them to me.”

Su Lingyue nodded.

She knew that Shen Yuan and Ji Zhiyi had been in contact recently. There were two times they had video calls when she was there, and she had overheard them. Thinking of this, she asked, “Then are you going to collaborate with Shen Yuan?”

Ji Zhiyi said, “Not really. Just exchanging some information.”

Because of her connection to Jiang Ya, Su Lingyue understood. She asked Ji Zhiyi, “How are things between Shen Yuan and Jiang Yunlu now?”

Ji Zhiyi shook her head. How else could they be? Chaotic. Jiang Ya and Ye Qiuyun were not easy to deal with. But Shen Yuan and Jiang Yunlu were not who they used to be. Shen Yuan had long taken control of Dingsheng’s lifeline. Ye Qiuyun didn’t dare to touch her easily. As for Jiang Yunlu, whose soul had been forcefully pulled back from death by Jiang Ya, Jiang Ya didn’t dare to provoke her. She could only turn to dealing with Dingsheng. This time, she would definitely be going all out to fight with Dingsheng to the death.

Shen Yuan, for the sake of Jiang Ya’s relationship with Jiang Yunlu, couldn’t do anything too drastic, so they were in a stalemate.

The market’s breaking point was the best time to develop.

Ji Zhiyi naturally knew that, not only was it the best time to develop, but after Su Qi’s cash flow was cut off and they couldn’t provide goods to Baoshun, she also planned to collaborate directly with Baoshun.

Su Lingyue leaned on her side. “Then should I resign to help you?”

Ji Zhiyi said, “Wait a little while longer.”

Su Lingyue pouted, “How long?”

Ji Zhiyi said, “Until Su Qi has fallen into the trap.”

Hearing this, Su Lingyue was happy, her eyebrows raised. She kissed Ji Zhiyi, then suddenly thought of something. “Then, why can’t Qi An come back?”

She knew why Ji Zhiyi wouldn’t go back to Yilin, but there was no reason for Qi An. Ji Zhiyi said, “Qi An’s meaning to Meng Jiu is different.”

She didn’t need Ji Zhiyi to say it, Su Lingyue could see that too. Whatever Qi An asked Meng Jiu to do, Meng Jiu wouldn’t even frown. But the more distorted the relationship was, the easier it was to become warped.

Back then, when Qi An was living with Jiang Ya, everything was developing steadily. But Jiang Yunlu and Shen Yuan’s matters made her extremely disgusted with same-sex relationships. Especially after Jiang Yunlu’s accident, she was even more resistant, to the point of being abnormal.

Hurting Qi An was unavoidable.

Qi An’s injured leg was related to her.

But Qi An had endured it.

Meng Jiu hadn’t known about it before. Once she found out, how could she continue working for Jiang Ya? The only person she was loyal to was Qi An. But all these years, Qi An’s eyes had been on Jiang Ya. No matter how much pain Jiang Ya caused her, as long as Jiang Ya needed her, she would always be the first to go to her side.

Meng Jiu had seen all of this, holding herself back.

All these years, she had wanted to sever Qi An’s relationship with Jiang Ya. She had been waiting for too long, until it had become the most persistent thorn in her heart. Finally – the time was right. She just needed to pull out that thorn that was Jiang Ya.

Su Lingyue was a little surprised. “Would Qi An agree to that?”

“She definitely wouldn’t.” Ji Zhiyi said, “But she also can’t leave Meng Jiu.”

If Jiang Ya was the spiritual ideal she had been chasing her whole life, then Meng Jiu was her gentle haven.

No matter what she did, no matter when, Meng Jiu would always be behind her. So, they had slowly created a distorted bond. Over the years, her feelings for Jiang Ya were more like an obsession rather than genuine feelings. And the person who was really by her side was Meng Jiu. Using Meng Jiu to control Qi An.

It was easy to do.

Su Lingyue understood.

Meng Jiu and Ji Zhiyi had reached an agreement.

As long as Meng Jiu was ‘controlled’.

Then Qi An wouldn’t be able to go back to Yilin. Jiang Ya would definitely suspect her, and in that period, when Jiang Ya was under attack from all sides, if there was ‘betrayal’ from Qi An, then Jiang Ya wouldn’t be the same as before. Jiang Ya’s desire for control was too strong, she was like that with Jiang Yunlu, with Ji Zhiyi, and with Qi An too. Upon realizing that Qi An had ‘betrayed’ her, her fate would be the same as Ji Zhiyi’s – to be abandoned.

Meng Jiu just needed to wait.

Wait for Qi An to be abandoned.

Su Lingyue said, “It’s so complicated.”

Ji Zhiyi, seeing the confused expression on her face, found it endearing. She said, “Then, just don’t think about it.”

Su Lingyue agreed, “Okay.” Then she said, with a sigh. “But I was thinking yesterday, what if you had returned and found out that I had started dating someone else?”

Ji Zhiyi said, “I never thought about it.”

Su Lingyue was surprised, “Why not?”

She stubbornly said, “I’m very popular, you know. A lot of people confess to me.”

Ji Zhiyi said, “But you didn’t agree to any of them, did you?”

Su Lingyue said, “That’s because…”

That was, it had nothing to do with Ji Zhiyi.

It was because of her.

She didn’t know why, but after thinking of this answer, she felt a little sad. She thought about how Ji Zhiyi had been thinking about her and longing for her for so long, and she hadn’t known about it, and had even had misgivings about Ji Zhiyi after they had reunited.

If she was Ji Zhiyi, she definitely wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Perhaps after waiting for so long, she would have been unable to bear it.

Su Lingyue actually didn’t like to think about hypothetical questions, but she had been thinking too much these past two days. About going back to the past, and what if she was Ji Zhiyi. Ji Zhiyi saw that she had stopped talking mid-sentence. She couldn’t help but ask, “That is what?”

Su Lingyue said, “Nothing.”

She shook her head.

She looked at Ji Zhiyi and asked her, “What… what do you like about me?”

Ji Zhiyi seemed surprised that she would ask that question and paused. “Huh?”

Su Lingyue hugged her, repeating, “What do you like about me?”

Ji Zhiyi said, “You’re pretty.”

Her tone was playful, and her eyes showed amusement. Su Lingyue, who was not that dense, realized that she was being teased. She pinched Ji Zhiyi’s face. “Are you going to tell me or not?”

Ji Zhiyi pulled her hand away, saying very seriously, “At first, it was because I thought you were very beautiful.”

There was no doubt about that. She couldn’t deny that she was first attracted by Su Lingyue’s appearance. You can say that she was shallow. But later, through passing by each other again and again, she had fallen in love with Su Lingyue’s personality.

Su Lingyue clicked her tongue. “You’re crazy.”

Ji Zhiyi frowned.

Su Lingyue said, “My personality was so annoying back then.”

Ji Zhiyi actually liked her that way. What else was that if it wasn’t madness?

Ji Zhiyi said, “No.”

She lowered her head and said, “Very cute.”

Su Lingyue’s gaze fell on her profile. Ji Zhiyi coughed softly under her gaze, and tried to get up. “I…”

Her arm was grabbed by Su Lingyue, and Ji Zhiyi fell back on the sofa. Su Lingyue poked Ji Zhiyi’s cheek, finding that it was a little hot. Her eyes were full of laughter. Ji Zhiyi was actually shy!

It was so rare!

The expression that she couldn’t usually see was now being seen by Su Lingyue. Ji Zhiyi felt uncomfortable. She turned her head. “Lingyue.”

Hearing her soft tone, Su Lingyue’s heart tingled. She let go of Ji Zhiyi and said, “I’m going to make a call.”

To ask Chu Yi and Zhang Xian to come over for dinner tonight.

Ji Zhiyi watched her go to the room. She was just about to get up, when she caught sight of the letter on the coffee table. Only yesterday had she found out that the letter had been soaked in water. The words weren’t legible and there was not a single complete sentence. They were all blurred. So all her hopes, from the very beginning, had been a dream.

She didn’t know if it was a good thing, or a bad thing.

Ji Zhiyi held the letter in her hands. After so many years, she hadn’t expected to see this letter again. She had run for two blocks to choose this paper, and she had transcribed each word over and over again, hoping that she could convey her feelings to Su Lingyue.

But things didn’t go according to her plan.

Each word had been blurred, stained by the traces of time.

Ji Zhiyi put the letter on the coffee table, turning her head to look at the room. Su Lingyue was on the phone. She could hear some talking. Then, Su Lingyue came out, walking beside her, smiling. She took the letter and went back into the room.

Judging from her tone, she was probably on the phone with Zhang Xian.

Zhang Xian, who was about to get off work, had received a call from Su Lingyue, saying that she wanted her and Chu Yi to come over for dinner tonight. She was very eager to have someone treat her to a meal every day. She was always racking her brains about what to eat, so she didn’t hesitate at all when she received Su Lingyue’s call. “Okay, what time tonight?”

Su Lingyue said, “Anytime is fine, just come straight over after you get off work?”

“I’m going back home to take a shower.” Zhang Xian said. “The clothes I’m wearing today are killing me, so I’m going back to change.”

Su Lingyue said, “Okay.”

Before she hung up, Zhang Xian asked, “Are you and Ji Zhiyi okay?”

Although it was normal to invite them to dinner, based on her understanding of Ji Zhiyi, since she had just come back, shouldn’t she still be being clingy with Su Lingyue? How was she planning to invite them over for dinner instead?

Su Lingyue said, “We’re fine.”

Then, she thought of something and said, “Actually, there is something. There’s someone I want to introduce you to.”

Zhang Xian was immediately interested. “Who is it?”

Su Lingyue said, “Ji Zhiyi’s first love.”

Zhang Xian was speechless.

She wondered if there was a problem with her hearing.

Zhang Xian. “What?”

Su Lingyue said very patiently, “You don’t remember? The one that Ji Zhiyi wrote love letters to.”

Zhang Xian stammered, “I, I remember.”

How could she forget that!

A few days ago, she was still worried that the two of them would fight because of this. What was going on now? Was Su Lingyue that amazing? Did she directly invite that person home to be a guest? Zhang Xian wasn’t Ji Zhiyi, but her forehead was sweating. She felt like Ji Zhiyi’s home was probably a war zone. She stuttered, “Do I need to bring a gift?”

“No need.” Su Lingyue’s tone was smiling. “Just bring your mouths.”

Zhang Xian was speechless.

Even if she brought her mouth, she wouldn’t dare to eat!