Lin Qianwei thought she was seeing things.
She’d brought up divorce before, but back then Ji Yunxiao had refused no matter what, even threatening to jump off a building.
And now she was the one asking for a divorce? It should’ve been something to be happy about—after all, being able to cut ties with someone as unreasonable as Ji Yunxiao was worth celebrating from any angle.
But for some reason, Lin Qianwei just couldn’t feel happy.
After going back to the bedroom and lying down, she kept tossing and turning.
Every time she closed her eyes, all she could think about was last night’s kiss.
“She kissed me so hard…” She even said she missed her, said she liked her, as if she really meant it, almost fooling her completely.
Lin Qianwei sat up angrily.
She threw off the covers, slipped on her slippers, turned on the light, and picked up her phone.
Her pretty brows furrowed as she finally replied to Ji Yunxiao: [Are you sure?]
[I’m sure.] Ji Yunxiao replied quickly, even sending the time and place.
As if afraid Lin Qianwei would refuse, she added: [Don’t worry, I don’t have any unreasonable demands.
I can leave with nothing.
I just hope we can get the divorce done tomorrow.]
Tomorrow? That soon?
Lin Qianwei couldn’t sleep at all.
She poured herself a glass of cold water and gulped it down, but still felt unsettled.
Why was she like this? Shouldn’t she be happy?
Lin Qianwei lay back down in the soft bedding, still unable to sleep.
She figured it must be because of the coffee she had in the evening.
Blame it on the coffee for being too strong.
Since she couldn’t sleep, she decided not to.
Lin Qianwei got up, threw on some clothes, and went to the study to keep working.
After a few hours of nonstop work, exhaustion finally hit her.
Lin Qianwei took off her gold-rimmed glasses and rubbed her brow.
Her mother, Lin Yuan, sent her a video at that moment.
“The golden beach here is beautiful, and Youran really likes it.”
In the video, the sun was bright and dazzling, waves lapping at the sand.
A still-elegant middle-aged woman waved at the camera, then turned it toward a little girl playing in the sand.
That was Lin Qianwei’s biological mother and her niece.
Lin Qianwei typed: [How’s Youran?]
Ever since Lin Qianwei’s sister passed away, the little girl had become unusually quiet.
Later, after being hurt again by Ji Yunxiao, she spoke even less.
To cheer Lin Youran up, Lin Yuan quit her job and started traveling everywhere with the child.
Only now was Lin Youran starting to get a little better.
Lin Yuan called her, sounding a bit displeased: “It’s four in the morning over there, isn’t it? Why aren’t you asleep?”
Lin Qianwei said, “Busy.”
“No matter how busy you are, you have to take care of yourself.”
Lin Yuan wanted to say more, but Lin Qianwei changed the subject: “Mom, can I see Youran?”
“Sure.
Youran, come talk to your aunt.” Lin Yuan waved at Lin Youran, calling the little girl over.
Lin Youran had rosy lips and white teeth, cute as a doll, a face that was easy to like.
But she only glanced at Lin Qianwei on the screen, then looked away and kept playing in the sand.
Lin Yuan sighed.
“It’s my fault for what happened to Youran.” Lin Qianwei’s voice was low, hard to read.
Lin Yuan said helplessly, “It’s not your fault.
It’s that heartless Ji Yunxiao—she could even hit such a little kid… And Weiwei, I just don’t get it, why won’t you get a divorce?”
As she spoke, Lin Yuan got emotional.
“Is this just our family’s fate? I was foolish when I was young, got tricked by a man.
Then your sister married the wrong person, and now even you…”
Lin Qianwei’s face turned cold as she cut her off: “I’m getting divorced tomorrow.”
Lin Yuan couldn’t hide her joy: “Really? You’re not lying to me?”
Lin Qianwei lowered her lashes: “I’m not lying.”
Lin Yuan was overjoyed: “That’s great, you’re finally willing to be tough.”
Lin Qianwei pressed her lips together, looking even more upset.
It wasn’t that she was being tough—it was Ji Yunxiao who asked for the divorce.
But Lin Qianwei couldn’t say that.
She felt too ashamed.
After ending the video call with Lin Yuan, Lin Qianwei went back to her room.
She still felt a strange sense of grievance, but had nowhere to vent it, so she just let the endless loneliness swallow her up.
Lin Qianwei still fell asleep.
She was a restless sleeper.
Not long after dozing off, she kicked the covers aside.
The night was chilly, and with no one to tuck her in, she just frowned in her sleep and curled up into a ball.
Lin Qianwei slept fitfully, mumbling, “Jiejie…”
But she wasn’t calling Lin Youran’s mother.
In her dream, Lin Qianwei seemed to enter another world.
In the dappled light, a pretty, sharp-featured little girl with short hair came up to her and pinched her cheek.
“How are you so cute?”
Lin Qianwei just glared at her and ignored her.
“Can I kiss you?”
Lin Qianwei puffed out her cheeks, about to answer, but the girl hugged her and planted a big kiss on her face.
Her eyes went even wider, and after a moment, she managed to squeeze out a muffled, “No,” which only made the other girl laugh out loud.
“So what do we do now that I’ve already kissed you?”
Lin Qianwei turned away, sulking.
“Hey, little cutie, call me jiejie, and I’ll look out for you from now on.”
Lin Qianwei fiddled with her fingers and pouted, “No way.”
“Why not?”
Lin Qianwei muttered, “My mom says you’re the same age as me, both six.”
“But I was born two days earlier than you.”
Lin Qianwei frowned, “Being born two days earlier makes you jiejie?”
“Of course, being born two days earlier makes me jiejie.”
“Qianqian, call me jiejie.”
“Qianqian…”
“No, no.”
When she was little, Lin Qianwei was always quick to refuse, but for some reason, she changed her mind later on.
One night, as usual, she kicked off her blanket, but right after, another girl pulled her into her arms.
When she woke up, Lin Qianwei wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, her face red, and shyly asked, “Why did you climb into my bed?”
“Because you don’t sleep properly, you keep kicking off your blanket.
I was worried you’d catch a cold, so I had to come over and hold you,” the girl next to her said, sounding completely justified.
Lin Qianwei bit her lip and stayed quiet.
“We’re both girls, what’s wrong with sleeping together? Didn’t we always do that when we were little? Besides, I promised Auntie I’d take good care of you.”
Lin Qianwei huffed.
The girl patted her head.
“Good girl.”
The scene spun and shifted again, this time to the side of a campus road.
Under the ginkgo trees, Lin Qianwei called out, “Xiaoxiao…”
“Yeah?”
“Xiaoxiao-jie…”
“What is it?”
“Can you grow your hair out?” Lin Qianwei said, not too happy.
“Why?”
Lin Qianwei pouted, “Don’t you think you look like an iron T with that short hair?”
“Hahaha, how do I look like one? I’m straight.”
Lin Qianwei kept a straight face.
“But three girls have confessed to you this month already.
That’s got something to do with your haircut, right?”
“Alright, alright, if you don’t like it, I’ll change it.
I’ll listen to you.
Starting tomorrow, I’ll grow my hair out.
Happy now, baby?”
Lin Qianwei huffed.
In that world, Lin Qianwei seemed to always be happy.
Her parents loved her, her family spoiled her, and even though she was an only child, she never felt lonely because she had a childhood friend who grew up with her.
But what about later? Later, she ended up in another world.
In this world, her father was a scumbag.
He was a live-in son-in-law who married up into the Lin family, but still dared to cheat and keep a mistress, even having several illegitimate kids.
Her mother was no longer that fierce, strong woman, but a love-struck artist.
She also had a sister, who was kind and gentle, but just as weak, and with such poor health that Lin Qianwei couldn’t rely on her at all.
After her grandparents passed away one after another, the whole Lin family was on the verge of collapse.
Her father finally showed his true colors, bringing his illegitimate kids and trying to take over the whole company.
At that time, her sister was in the hospital, her mother could only cry, and it was Lin Qianwei who stood up alone, fought off her heartless father and all sorts of snakes and rats, and managed to stabilize things again.
Sometimes, looking back, Lin Qianwei didn’t even know how she did it.
It was like, a long time ago, she was just a little girl growing up spoiled and carefree, with someone always clearing the thorns from her path, someone always shielding her from hardship and pain.
Even if she ran into trouble, all she had to do was act cute and everything would be fine.
How did it come to this?
Scenes from both worlds kept flipping and falling apart, like fragments dropping into Lin Qianwei’s dreams. Her brow furrowed tighter and tighter, and when she finally woke up, her mind was a mess.
She felt like she’d dreamed of something.
It was all fuzzy and hazy, and she couldn’t remember any of it.
Lin Qianwei pulled the blanket over her shivering body, then rubbed her aching temples.
It was only by accident that she touched the wet streaks on her face.
What was this?
Lin Qianwei didn’t understand.
Had she just cried in her sleep?
…
Meanwhile, Ji Yunxiao had already finished her run and come back.
She was drenched in sweat, but felt especially light and relaxed.
Because she’d found Qianqian.
Even though the bar and hotel hadn’t given her any surveillance footage, it didn’t matter.
She still found a breakthrough on the route between those two places.
It was the camera outside a supermarket.
Ji Yunxiao was generous with her money, spent quite a bit, and after getting the footage from that night, she stared at it for hours.
Finally, she found it.
Through the half-lowered car window, Ji Yunxiao clearly saw Song Qianqian’s profile.
So beautiful—there was no way it wasn’t Qianqian.
Ji Yunxiao memorized the car and the license plate.
Now she was sure that beautiful, magical night wasn’t just her imagination.
She really had spent the night with her baby.
But why did Qianqian leave? Did she not remember her, or was she mad after finding out she was married?
Either way, she had to get rid of this ridiculous marriage first, then show up in front of Qianqian fair and square.
After showering and changing, Ji Yunxiao recited the license plate number again and wrote it on a sticky note.
“Qianqian…”
Now that she had the car’s info, she just needed to look it up.
“We’ll see each other soon,” Ji Yunxiao murmured.
But Ji Yunxiao never expected that the reunion would come so soon.
She and Lin Qianwei had agreed to meet at a café to sign the divorce papers, but on the way there, she saw that obsidian-black Maybach again.
It was the same license plate.
She’d planned to get divorced first and then go find Qianqian, but when she actually saw her in front of her, Ji Yunxiao couldn’t control herself.
She wanted to see her.
She was desperate to see her.
With red eyes, she almost shouted at the Ji family’s driver, “Did you see that Maybach?”
The driver hadn’t seen it.
They’d hit a red light, and the Maybach had already turned the corner and disappeared.
Ji Yunxiao couldn’t care about anything else.
She opened the car door and ran after it, but still couldn’t catch up.
Instead, the Ji family’s driver caught up, rolled down the window, and asked, “Miss, do you want to get in?”
Ji Yunxiao caught her breath and said coldly, “Get out.”
The driver, confused, got out, only to see Ji Yunxiao get in the driver’s seat, close the door, and speed off.
The driver stood there, covered in dust.
He wiped his face, scratched his head, and thought it was strange: He’d heard that this young lady got her driver’s license two years ago, but didn’t she forget everything right after learning? And he hadn’t seen Ji Yunxiao drive at all in the past six months, so how did she suddenly get so good at it? Was he about to lose his job?
While the driver was worrying about his future, Ji Yunxiao was scared too.
She was afraid of missing her again, afraid she wouldn’t see Song Qianqian.
Luckily, the road after the turn was long, and Ji Yunxiao had sharp eyes.
She managed to spot that obsidian black Maybach among all the cars.
Ji Yunxiao stepped on the gas and sped up, tailing the car closely, and finally managed to cut off the Maybach on a stretch of road with few vehicles.
Lin Qianwei was completely baffled.
She recognized the car as the one the Ji family had assigned to Ji Yunxiao, but she didn’t understand—why was Ji Yunxiao chasing after her like this? Weren’t they supposed to meet at the café? Was there really any need to rush? Did Ji Yunxiao want the divorce that badly?
Today, Ji Yunxiao was just wearing a simple gray T-shirt and sweatpants, her makeup was minimal, and there wasn’t a single fancy accessory on her.
Even her hair had been dyed back to a neat black, hanging loosely over her shoulders.
But it was this simple look that made Lin Qianwei’s eyes light up.
The moment she saw her open the car door and step out, Lin Qianwei couldn’t help but stare in a daze.
“Knock knock.”
Ji Yunxiao walked over and tapped on the car window with her knuckle.
Lin Qianwei rolled the window down a little, her brows furrowed, her voice cold: “What do you want?”
Ji Yunxiao looked at her, eyes brimming with tears, her tone restrained and pleading: “Can you open the door for me?”
It was like Lin Qianwei was bewitched again.
She unlocked the car door.
The next second, Ji Yunxiao pulled the door open and threw herself into her arms.
Lin Qianwei was flustered and angry.
“What are you doing?”
“I miss you, I really miss you so much.” Ji Yunxiao hugged her, burying her face in her waist, sounding like she was crying.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you again, Qianqian.
I know I shouldn’t be looking for you right now, but I can’t help it.
The moment I see you, I just can’t control myself.
I miss you so much, I can’t live without you…”
Ji Yunxiao rambled on, then took Lin Qianwei’s hand and pressed a gentle kiss to the soft back of it.
With tears in her eyes, Ji Yunxiao looked up and confessed, “Baby, I love you…”
Lin Qianwei was completely thrown off by her.
She sat there in the car, stunned for a long moment, not knowing how to react.
But Ji Yunxiao just kept pushing her luck, leaning in to kiss her lips.
Lin Qianwei was shocked, embarrassed, and furious.
She raised her hand and slapped her.
With a crisp “smack,” Lin Qianwei’s face flushed as she snapped, “Ji Yunxiao, are you out of your mind?”
Ji Yunxiao, instead of getting angry after being slapped, actually smiled.
She gazed at her with infatuation and said, “Baby, you’re beautiful even when you’re mad.”
Lin Qianwei: “???”
