They were so close.
So close that their breaths mingled, and Lin Qianwei could clearly feel the warmth radiating from Ji Yunxiao’s body.
The skin on her wrist, held in Ji Yunxiao’s palm, was faintly burning, as if it might ignite at any second.
But Lin Qianwei forgot to pull away, just stared up in a daze.
Ji Yunxiao looked really good.
Her features were sharp and beautiful, her nose high and striking, her lips full and soft—she looked like someone you’d want to kiss.
Lin Qianwei stared at her, and suddenly, as if possessed, reached out and gently touched those soft red lips.
It felt like a subtle current ran from her pale fingertips straight to her heart.
Lin Qianwei’s long lashes trembled, and her eyes quickly filled with mist.
She couldn’t even explain what she was feeling.
She remembered before the wedding, her mother Lin Yuan had asked, full of confusion, “Weiwei, I just don’t get it.
You said you wanted to get married so someone could take care of Youran, but is that really necessary? We can hire a nanny, a tutor, and if it comes to it, I can quit my job to look after the child.
Why throw your marriage into the mix?” At the time, Lin Qianwei brushed it off: “It’s complicated, not something I can explain in a few words.”
But in truth, Lin Qianwei was just as bewitched by this face as she was now.
She couldn’t say why—just one look at Ji Yunxiao, and she’d been inexplicably compelled to marry her.
Even when Ji Yunxiao later acted out and was nothing like she’d hoped, Lin Qianwei still put up with it.
Why was that? Lin Qianwei’s fingertips traced along Ji Yunxiao’s lips, to the corner of her mouth, down her jaw, following the smooth lines of her face, her gaze growing hazy.
Her soft, floating hair fell down, a strand just brushing across Ji Yunxiao’s eyes.
Ji Yunxiao’s vision was blocked, so she reached up to tuck the stray hair behind Lin Qianwei’s ear.
Lin Qianwei’s ears were always sensitive.
The touch snapped her out of it, and she quickly pulled her hand back.
Lin Qianwei couldn’t figure out what she’d just done.
Had she really just stared at Ji Yunxiao like she was lovesick? Heat crept from the back of her neck to her cheeks.
Both annoyed and embarrassed, she tried to get up and leave, to get away from Ji Yunxiao, the source of her distraction, but Ji Yunxiao pulled her into her arms.
Ji Yunxiao said, “Don’t go.”
Lin Qianwei’s beautiful face was flushed, but she still tried to sound cold: “Let me go.”
Ji Yunxiao smirked.
“You haven’t answered my question yet.”
Lin Qianwei kept a straight face.
“What question?”
Ji Yunxiao’s tone was soft and lingering: “Did I hurt you that night?”
Lin Qianwei sneered, “Why would you be the one hurting me? Why not the other way around?”
Ji Yunxiao raised an eyebrow.
“Are you saying President Lin can be the top?”
Lin Qianwei was so annoyed by her tone that she snapped, “What do you mean, ‘can I be the top’? I am the top.”
Ji Yunxiao leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Sure, President Lin is the best.
I just wonder if someone as amazing as you is satisfied with me?”
Ji Yunxiao lowered her voice, almost nuzzling her ear, “To be precise, with my body.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Lin Qianwei couldn’t sit still.
She tried to leave, but Ji Yunxiao grabbed her wrist again.
Ji Yunxiao brushed her burning ear and said hoarsely, “Answer me.”
Lin Qianwei got even angrier.
She couldn’t take it anymore.
“Ji Yunxiao, stop teasing me! And for the record, nothing actually happened between us that night! Don’t overthink it!”
Ji Yunxiao thought back to the details and frowned slightly.
“But when I woke up the next day, my wrist was sore.”
Lin Qianwei glared at her.
“That’s because I pried your hand off.
You wouldn’t let go even in your sleep—how is that my fault?”
“Of course it’s not your fault,” Ji Yunxiao chuckled, then added after a pause, “But I also had scratch marks on my back.”
Lin Qianwei forced herself to calm down and said stiffly, “Oh, that was me.
I scratched you because I was annoyed.
Is that not allowed?”
Ji Yunxiao almost burst out laughing.
Only a kitten would scratch someone just because they were annoyed, right?
Lin Qianwei didn’t want to waste any more time with her and tried to get up from her lap.
This time Ji Yunxiao didn’t stop her, but Lin Qianwei still couldn’t leave.
Because her hair was caught on Ji Yunxiao’s rose choker.
The more Lin Qianwei thought about it, the angrier she got, but she could only sit back down on Ji Yunxiao’s lap, face cold as she ordered, “Hurry up and untangle it.”
Ji Yunxiao reached out to help.
But Ji Yunxiao’s slow movements only made the beauty angrier.
Watching her pick at her hair, Lin Qianwei suddenly snapped, “Why are you wearing something so indecent?”
Ji Yunxiao was taken aback.
“You mean… this rose choker?”
Lin Qianwei: “Yeah.”
Ji Yunxiao patiently explained, “It’s just like a necklace, it’s for decoration.
What’s indecent about it?”
Lin Qianwei fell silent.
Ji Yunxiao asked again, “Or did it make you think of something else?”
Lin Qianwei: “Of course not!”
Ji Yunxiao smiled and kept working on the tangled hair.
When she was almost done, she glanced up at Lin Qianwei and said softly, “It’s a bit of a shame, but honestly, I’m more relieved.”
Lin Qianwei didn’t get it.
“Relieved about what?”
Ji Yunxiao looked away, focusing on the tangled strands, and sighed, “It might be a bit much, so maybe I shouldn’t say.”
But Lin Qianwei wouldn’t let her off.
She said coldly, “No way.”
Ji Yunxiao asked, “You really want me to say it?”
Lin Qianwei: “Say it.”
Ji Yunxiao looked into her clear eyes and said clearly, “Something that wonderful and happy—I want to do it with you when we’re both sober.”
Lin Qianwei’s face immediately darkened at her words.
Ji Yunxiao quickly put on a pitiful expression and said, “Wife, you’re the one who made me say it.”
Lin Qianwei snapped, “Don’t call me wife.”
Ji Yunxiao agreed easily, “Okay, wife.”
Lin Qianwei was so mad her lips pressed into a thin line.
Seeing this, Ji Yunxiao quickly corrected herself, “Sorry, President Lin.
I just like you so much, I can’t help wanting to call you wife when I see you.
It’s a hard habit to break.”
Ji Yunxiao looked at her with big, pleading eyes, looking genuinely pitiful.
“I’ll be more careful from now on.”
But just as Lin Qianwei was about to soften, she heard Ji Yunxiao add, “I won’t call you that in front of you anymore, but can I still call you wife in my heart?”
Lin Qianwei instantly snapped back to her senses and replied coldly, “What do you think?”
Once the hair was finally untangled, Lin Qianwei immediately separated herself from Ji Yunxiao.
She sat down in the office chair behind her desk, chin lifted, her aura back in full force, returning to her usual indifferent self.
“I didn’t call you here just to watch a video,” Lin Qianwei said.
Ji Yunxiao smiled.
“So what else does President Lin want from me?”
Lin Qianwei tossed out two words, light as air: “Divorce.”
Ji Yunxiao couldn’t smile anymore.
Ji Yunxiao said, “I’m not getting a divorce.”
Lin Qianwei glanced at her coldly and said, “You should know, if I want to divorce you, I have countless ways to end this marriage smoothly.
I don’t need your consent at all.”
“I understand,” Ji Yunxiao leaned on the table, smiling lazily.
“But you still chose to stay in this marriage.
That means you’ve softened toward me, haven’t you, Qianwei?”
Lin Qianwei wouldn’t admit it and said, “I still have business with the Ji family.
The only reason I tolerate you is because of the Ji family.”
Ji Yunxiao raised an eyebrow.
“Is that really it?”
Lin Qianwei said seriously, “That’s it.”
Ji Yunxiao studied her expression, feeling like she didn’t really want a divorce.
So after thinking it over, Ji Yunxiao probed, “Is there really no room to negotiate about the divorce?”
Lin Qianwei told her, “There is.”
Ji Yunxiao perked up.
“What is it?”
Lin Qianwei looked out the window and said softly, “Youran will be back soon.”
Ji Yunxiao asked, “That little kid?”
“Yeah,” Lin Qianwei said, “I’ll give you three months.
If you can get Youran to forgive and accept you, and make her cheerful and lively again, we can stay married.
But if you can’t, I won’t show any more mercy.”
She wants her to coax a kid? Ji Yunxiao was good at a lot of things, but coaxing kids was definitely not one of them.
The only kid she’d ever coaxed was little Qianqian, and that was ages ago.
Ji Yunxiao suddenly felt a headache coming on.
But of course, she couldn’t refuse.
Ji Yunxiao said, “Alright.”
Then Lin Qianwei pulled out two copies of a contract.
Ji Yunxiao picked one up and glanced at it, a little amused.
“So formal?”
Lin Qianwei handed her a pen coldly.
“I don’t trust your words, so black and white on paper is more reassuring.”
Ji Yunxiao smiled, picked up the pen, and signed her name with a flourish.
The handwriting was bold and full of character, completely different from the old Ji Yunxiao.
Lin Qianwei’s eyes flashed with admiration, but she hid it when Ji Yunxiao looked over.
Lin Qianwei immediately told her to leave.
“Take your contract and go.”
Ji Yunxiao teased, “So heartless? Not even inviting me to dinner?”
Lin Qianwei glared at her.
“Keep dreaming.”
Even though she was really reluctant, Ji Yunxiao still turned and left.
Two days later, Lin Qianwei sent her a message with the time and place of Lin Youran and Lin Yuan’s flight arrival.
Ji Yunxiao dressed up carefully and headed out.
She even brought a stuffed animal balloon and lollipops, hoping to make the kid happy.
But before she could say anything, Lin Yuan looked shocked and stepped in front of Lin Youran, saying, “What are you doing here? What do you want now? My daughter should have divorced you, right? Are you here to pester us again?”
Ji Yunxiao smiled.
“Mom, I’m not divorced from Qianwei.”
“Still not divorced?” Lin Yuan rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide her dislike.
“Divorced or not, don’t call me mom.
I think it’s bad luck.”
After saying that, she picked up Lin Youran and tried to leave, telling the bodyguards to block Ji Yunxiao.
Ji Yunxiao was a bit helpless and was about to leave when she saw the quiet little girl suddenly struggle to get out of Lin Yuan’s arms.
Lin Yuan put her down and asked gently, “What is it, Youran?”
The little girl, looking like a glutinous rice ball, held Lin Yuan’s hand, turned around, and looked at Ji Yunxiao.
Ji Yunxiao blinked and quickly gave her a friendly smile.
Lin Youran, soft and sweet, said, “Her clothes are so pretty.”
