Ji Yunxiao bought a bouquet of dewy, vibrant roses on the way and then arrived at Lin Qianwei’s door.
Unfortunately, that door didn’t open for her.
Ji Yunxiao wanted to call Lin Qianwei, but Lin Qianwei had already blocked her.
Ji Yunxiao thought for a moment, then found Qiao Xi in her contacts and sent a message: [Are you free right now?] Qiao Xi happened to be available, and when she heard Lin Qianwei was upset, she hurried over.
Ji Yunxiao originally wanted to get in through Qiao Xi, but then Liu Zhi contacted her, saying it was urgent and she needed to come over.
After asking about the situation and realizing it couldn’t wait, Ji Yunxiao thought for a bit, handed the roses to Qiao Xi who had just arrived, and said, “Help me give these to Qianwei.”
“For Weiwei? What did you do to her?” Qiao Xi was confused.
Ji Yunxiao shook her head.
“It’s a long story.
I’ll tell you another time.
Just help me comfort her today.”
Qiao Xi agreed.
“Alright.”
Qiao Xi called Lin Qianwei and said she was coming up, so Lin Qianwei opened the door without hesitation.
But when she saw the bouquet of roses in Qiao Xi’s arms, Lin Qianwei’s pupils shrank and her tone changed.
“Why are you holding those flowers?”
“Ji Yunxiao asked me to give them to you.” Qiao Xi handed over the roses, but Lin Qianwei didn’t take them.
Qiao Xi watched her expression and smiled.
“You know Ji Yunxiao bought these, right?”
Lin Qianwei replied coldly, “I saw it on the security screen just now.”
Qiao Xi teased, “Had a fight? So you knew she was here but wouldn’t let her in?”
Lin Qianwei didn’t answer, just looked past Qiao Xi.
She waited quietly for a while, but the person she wanted to see never showed up, so she asked Qiao Xi, “Where’s Ji Yunxiao?”
Qiao Xi, not understanding, replied, “I’m not sure.
She got a call about something urgent and left in a hurry.
She asked me to help comfort you.”
Hearing this, Lin Qianwei’s beautiful eyes instantly filled with tears.
Qiao Xi was startled.
“Weiwei, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Lin Qianwei lowered her lashes, her tone cold and indifferent.
She wandered into the kitchen, looked at the bowl of washed raw chestnuts, and let out a self-mocking laugh.
She didn’t even know what she was doing.
She was clearly angry, but seeing Ji Yunxiao standing under the camera with flowers, looking so handsome and bright, she still couldn’t bring herself to open the door.
So Lin Qianwei went to the trash can, fished out the bag of raw chestnuts, and washed them one by one again.
She thought Ji Yunxiao would hold out a little longer.
If she just waited a bit longer, she would have opened the door.
“Why are there still chestnuts?” Qiao Xi put down the roses and came over.
“Are you making chicken with chestnuts? Or candied chestnuts? Or what?”
“None of that.” Lin Qianwei dumped the bowl of chestnuts back into the trash.
She wasn’t going to pick them up again.
Qiao Xi felt uneasy.
“Weiwei, what happened? Why don’t you tell me?”
Lin Qianwei took a velvet box out of her bag and turned it gently in her hand.
She said softly, “Lately, I feel like I’m not myself anymore.”
She said, “This isn’t right.”
When she opened the box, inside was a delicate moonstone silver anklet.
Under the night light, the moonstone on the silver chain glowed quietly.
“Isn’t that the anklet Ji Yunxiao gave you?” Qiao Xi didn’t understand what Lin Qianwei meant.
But Qiao Xi quickly figured it out.
Lin Qianwei gripped the moonstone anklet, walked to the window, and threw it out as far as she could.
Qiao Xi said, “You—”
“This way I won’t find it again, so I won’t embarrass myself picking it up.” There was no trace of regret in Lin Qianwei’s eyes.
She just turned to Qiao Xi and said calmly, “I’m tired.
I’m going to rest early.
Xixi, you should go home too.”
Qiao Xi hesitated.
“You’re going to sleep this early?”
Lin Qianwei lowered her lashes and said quietly, “Yeah, I’ll shower and go to bed soon.”
Qiao Xi said, “Alright then.”
After leaving Lin Qianwei’s place, Qiao Xi sent a message to Ji Yunxiao: [Weiwei said she’s tired and going to sleep.] She waited two minutes without a reply, put away her phone, and left with a sigh.
Lin Qianwei showered, dried her hair, but didn’t go to bed.
Instead, she stood by the floor-to-ceiling window.
She couldn’t help but think about all the moments with Ji Yunxiao lately—Ji Yunxiao taking her for a ride in the wind, making her breakfast, coming over with flowers just now, but leaving before they could meet.
Lin Qianwei wondered, was she the one in the wrong?
She was five years older than Ji Yunxiao, so she should be more mature and tolerant.
In fact, she used to be that way.
As a child, people said she was mature for her age.
When she grew up, she almost single-handedly held up the company after a sudden crisis.
It wasn’t like no one offered her help.
When the Lin family had trouble, plenty of people—sincerely or not—wanted to support her.
Some just wanted a glance from her, but Lin Qianwei never bowed her head.
No matter how hard things got, she always stood tall and handled it calmly.
But today, just because Ji Yunxiao didn’t come to comfort her, her nose stung and her eyes turned red.
Something was wrong.
This was all wrong.
Whenever she was around Ji Yunxiao, she became a different person.
She lost her usual restraint and calm, and couldn’t help but get angry and act spoiled.
After meeting Ji Yunxiao, she seemed to have become fragile.
Lin Qianwei realized she wanted to be reckless with Ji Yunxiao, and wanted Ji Yunxiao to indulge her endlessly.
She wanted Ji Yunxiao to always take care of her feelings, and to come comfort her whenever she was upset.
But what right did she have?
She wasn’t even that devoted to Ji Yunxiao, so what right did she have to expect Ji Yunxiao to treat her so well?
Besides, Ji Yunxiao was only twenty.
Twenty years old—it’s the age to be bright, bold, wanting to be loved and cared for.
But she wanted the twenty-year-old Ji Yunxiao to take care of her, to love her.
Wasn’t that ridiculous?
Why did she have these thoughts? Lin Qianwei didn’t understand what was going on in her own head.
The chill from the floor seeped through the fabric into her skin, finally snapping Lin Qianwei back to reality.
She struggled to her feet, dazed, glanced out the window, and eventually went back to her room alone.
Lin Qianwei curled up under her blanket, hugging it tight.
She felt a faint hunger in her stomach, but ignored it, just closed her eyes, trying to block out all the messy thoughts and fall asleep.
But it was too hard.
She tossed and turned, unable to settle, and finally got up and put on her clothes.
She stood by the window, deep in thought, her expression cold and heavy.
Then she bit her lip, as if finally making up her mind, threw on her coat, grabbed a flashlight, and ran downstairs.
With the flashlight, Lin Qianwei started searching the bushes for the moonstone silver chain.
But she’d thrown it so carelessly before, not even looking where it landed, and the thing was so small.
In this lush garden, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“Where the hell is it?” Lin Qianwei suddenly regretted her impulsive throw.
But what good was regret? After searching for ages with no luck, Lin Qianwei thought about other options.
Maybe she could have someone make a new one, or wait until morning and send a group out for a thorough search.
The dumbest way was what she was doing now—wandering around this huge place alone in the dark.
But Lin Qianwei couldn’t stop herself.
She was stubbornly determined to find the moonstone silver chain Ji Yunxiao had given her tonight, like she was possessed.
“Why can’t I find it?” Lin Qianwei grew more anxious and irritable, not even noticing how sharp the branches were.
She reached out with her hand to push forward.
It wasn’t until the pain of her skin being pricked hit her that she finally stopped.
She lifted her hand and saw red blood seeping from her pale wrist, frowning deeply.
It looked like the skin was broken, but it wasn’t too serious.
And she had a strong feeling that the moonstone silver chain was nearby.
So Lin Qianwei didn’t care, just snapped off the branch and kept searching.
But just then, a voice suddenly came from behind her: “Qianwei?”
Lin Qianwei’s grip on the flashlight tightened.
She didn’t turn around, just stood there stiffly.
Ji Yunxiao hurried over and asked, “What are you doing out here?”
Lin Qianwei pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Ji Yunxiao took her hand, turned her around, and asked, “Did you lose something? Want me to help you look?”
The streetlight nearby was dim, and the flashlight wasn’t shining on their faces, so Ji Yunxiao couldn’t see Lin Qianwei’s expression.
She could only hear Lin Qianwei snap at her in a strange tone, “Mind your own business.”
Ji Yunxiao moved closer, gently cupped her face with one hand, brushed her messy hair aside with the other, and asked softly, “Are you still mad at me?”
“Don’t touch me.”
Lin Qianwei tried to sound cold, but the catch in her voice gave her away.
Ji Yunxiao’s brow twitched.
“Are you crying?”
Lin Qianwei, like a bristling cat, slapped Ji Yunxiao’s hand away and snapped angrily, “Who’s crying?”
Her voice was trembling, it was obvious.
“There are a lot of mosquitoes out here.
Let me take you back first.”
Without waiting for a response, Ji Yunxiao grabbed Lin Qianwei’s hand and led her back to the apartment.
The hand she grabbed was the one scratched by the branch, and the wound started to ache again, but Lin Qianwei didn’t say a word.
She didn’t even struggle.
Not until they were back in the room and Ji Yunxiao turned on the light did she casually lift her hand to brush her hair, showing Ji Yunxiao the wound.
Sure enough, Ji Yunxiao’s face changed.
Ji Yunxiao rushed over, holding her fingertips, and asked worriedly, “How did this happen? Does it hurt?”
Lin Qianwei wanted to say it didn’t hurt.
She really wanted to say it didn’t hurt.
But looking into Ji Yunxiao’s worried eyes, she changed her mind and told her, “It hurts so much I could die.”
