When Zhi Qi finally got the location of Zhi Yu’s blind date, it was after much coaxing and pleading.
During this ti, Ji Liang kept her head down, eating her dessert elegantly and gracefully, her expression calm and unreadable.
“Uh, Sister Ji Liang.”
Zhi Qi, holding her phone, muttered awkwardly, “My brother, my brother he…”
“I heard it all, it’s a blind date, right? It’s fine.”
Ji Liang smiled and shrugged helplessly. “It seems like there’s no fate between us.”
“Don’t say that.”
Zhi Qi’s eyebrows twitched as she quickly tried to explain, “My brother went to the blind date reluctantly. He… he’s just doing it to appease my mom.”
By the end, the girl couldn’t help but feel a bit sad.
Who would’ve thought things would be this ‘unlucky’? Of all days, Zhi Yu just had to go on a blind date today. Otherwise, she could have taken Sister Ji Liang to see him!
Now it seed the ‘cooked duck’ had flown away.*
“No matter what, I can’t just disturb him during a blind date, can I? What I ant was, the plan to et him today fell through.”
Ji Liang reached out and pinched Zhi Qi’s delicate, soft cheek.
“As for the future, well, we’ll see.”
It truly was bad timing, as Ji Liang was set to join a new production in two days and would be away for a while.
She had originally thought of eting Zhi Yu before leaving, but who could have known…
Oh well, fate has its way.
Ji Liang shook her head, pushing away any thoughts of regret.
In reality, even if she had gone, nothing would likely have co of it.
When she added Zhi Yu on WeChat, she had clearly written her na in the notes, but he had completely ignored it. Wasn’t that a clear rejection?
They were both almost thirty. There were certain ‘unspoken rules’ that adults should understand.
This was just a man’s way of showing he wasn’t interested in a woman.
Ji Liang understood and knew she should take the hint.
But, so what? What are n anyway?
Miss one, and the next will be even better.
–
Working behind the scenes with the production crew is generally the hardest. Almost every actor needs guidance at so point, but not all their scenes are scheduled together, with shoots happening in the early mornings or late at night.
As a result, the crew usually stays on set from morning till night, and Ji Liang was no exception.
Under the high-intensity workload, ti passed in a blur, with her mind constantly in a state of tense focus.
In this situation, Ji Liang certainly had no ti to think about romantic matters, and forgetting about Zhi Yu happened naturally.
What she didn’t expect was that the person she should have forgotten actually sought her out after half a month.
One day, while Ji Liang was on set helping a young actor adjust their hand movents, she heard a staff mber say, “A gentleman surnad Zhi is waiting outside, saying he’s here to see you.” She almost thought she had misheard.
It was already late autumn, and the secluded set was starting to feel chilly.
Wrapped in a long, thin coat, Ji Liang walked out of the tent. Only when she saw the tall figure leaning against a BMW did she realize she hadn’t heard wrong.
Zhi Yu had indeed co to find her.
What Ji Liang couldn’t understand was why Zhi Yu was looking for her—he hadn’t even added her on WeChat, and yet here he was. What kind of logic was this?
As these thoughts swirled in her mind, Ji Liang walked over, her face calm, revealing just the right amount of surprise. “Mr. Zhi, you’re looking for ?”
“Mm.”
Zhi Yu responded faintly and, seeing her outfit, turned to open the car door. “Get in the car first.”
Once they were inside, he handed her a bottle of mineral water and offered a brief explanation, “There’s only water in the car.”
“Oh, that’s fine.”
Ji Liang politely took the bottle, twisted off the cap, and took a sip.
An inexplicable, faint awkwardness lingered in the cramped car.
Compared to their first sharp-tongued eting, this was their third encounter, yet now they were being overly polite.
Ji Liang couldn’t help but find it amusing. She leaned her head against the window, staring forward, but the corners of her lips curved up slightly.
“Sorry, I’ve been busy lately, so I didn’t accept your WeChat request…”
Zhi Yu’s voice paused as he glanced sideways at her.
In the dim light of the car, the woman’s pale profile seed to glow—sharp yet delicate, her skin smooth as jade. Sensing Zhi Yu’s gaze, Ji Liang tilted her head in confusion and looked over at him.
After a mont of thought, he continued, “Later, I t with Qi Qi, and then I ca to find you.”
As for why he ca and what Zhi Qi said to prompt him, the answer was obvious.
That girl clearly wanted to play matchmaker between him and her friend.
Ji Liang’s slender fingers subconsciously tapped the handle below the car window, and she chuckled softly. “So, you ca to find because you want to date ? How did your blind date go?”
She didn’t expect her question to be so blunt, and even Zhi Yu, who was used to being straightforward and hated pretense, was montarily taken aback.
“Not really,” he replied honestly. “I just thought it was necessary to explain things to you in person.”
“Mm?”
Ji Liang raised an eyebrow. “Why? Silence is a form of rejection.”
“No, that would be impolite.”
It would’ve been fine if he had simply not added Ji Liang on WeChat, but since Zhi Qi knew about it, it was clear the girl hadn’t hidden her feelings for him. Being too aloof would inevitably hurt soone.
Besides, Ji Liang was Zhi Qi’s friend. When Zhi Yu learned that Ji Liang was interested in him, he reflected on the WeChat request she had sent and realized that his cold attitude might have been excessive.
“So, you ca here to reject in person? To make it more formal?”
That was unnecessary!
Once Ji Liang understood what Zhi Yu ant, only four words remained in her mind, along with a sense of amusent—she knew Zhi Yu’s temperant was odd, but she hadn’t expected it to be *this* odd!
“Anyway, I just wanted to explain that I didn’t intentionally ignore you.”
He stopped short, as if that sumd everything up—these past two weeks had truly been too busy, with work piling up. Plus, he’d only just spoken to Zhi Qi… Zhi Yu ended his explanation without further elaboration.
“Mr. Zhi, thank you for the explanation, but there’s no need to dwell on it.”
Ji Liang reached out and lightly patted Zhi Yu’s shoulder, pretending to be relaxed. “I’ve already forgotten about it.”
Although she smiled, there was no real joy in her eyes—unless you saw a ghost, who could genuinely be happy in such a situation?
But Ji Liang had always been strong-willed and knew how to maintain her dignity in awkward situations.
Even so, a few sharp glances crept into her gaze—enough that even soone as clueless as Zhi Yu could sense it. He hesitated before asking, “Are you angry?”
What business is that of yours?
That sharp retort swirled around Ji Liang’s tongue before she swallowed it back down. After a mont of silence, she rely said, “You haven’t answered the second half of my question.”
About how the blind date went.
Zhi Yu paused, his long fingers absently stroking the steering wheel. “I just went through the motions. There’s no follow-up.”
Tsk, no surprise there.
Ji Liang couldn’t help recalling Zhi Qi’s previous grumble: “My brother’s temperant might just doom him to be alone forever.” She found herself blurting out, “So, are you planning to die alone?”
Her words ca out of nowhere, packed with unexpected force, enough that Zhi Yu even asked, “What?”
“Die alone.”
Ji Liang glanced at him with a confident smirk. “You’re not interested in , your blind date didn’t work out… are you waiting for a fairy?”
…
In fact, i Ran had made similar remarks before, but hearing them from this woman—whom Zhi Yu barely knew—delivered with such a sharp, mocking tone, felt strangely different.
Zhi Yu couldn’t resist snapping back, saying the very thing Ji Liang had bitten back monts ago: “What does that have to do with you?”
“Nothing at all.”
Seeing Zhi Yu get irritated made Ji Liang laugh. “I was just curious.”
Now she wasn’t curious anymore.
The woman shrugged and decisively stepped out of the car.
But as she walked away, her mocking smile and carefree deanor stirred sothing in Zhi Yu, prompting him to impulsively get out of the car and stop her. “Wait.”
Ji Liang raised an eyebrow, taking a cautious step back. “What now?”
“You said before that you were interested in …”
Zhi Yu felt like he might be losing his mind, but those mocking, bright fox-like eyes of hers had stirred up a challenge within him.
Without pausing to consider whether he might regret this later, Zhi Yu looked at her and firmly asked, “Does that still count?”
Ji Liang blinked. “What do you an?”
“I an, I suddenly feel the sa.”
Zhi Yu stated plainly, a rare trace of a smile ghosting his lips. “Maybe we should give it a try.”
…
It was the first ti Ji Liang had ever seen him smile, and for a mont, she was completely stunned.
Could it be that n are just naturally drawn to a challenge?
Given that they were now two people mutually interested in each other, there was almost no reason to refuse.
Ji Liang and Zhi Yu’s relationship seed odd yet perfectly logical. But even after she finished filming with the crew and returned to Lin Lan a month later, she still didn’t quite feel like she had a boyfriend.
It sounded cruel, but she had practically forgotten about Zhi Yu.
It wasn’t until the man, who had been just as stoic, sent her a text asking her out to dinner that Ji Liang finally rembered she had a boyfriend.
“Damn, I totally forgot.”
Ji Liang slapped her forehead, hurriedly turned down her best friend’s dinner invite, and replied to Zhi Yu with a simple “Okay.”
After all, he was her *nominal* boyfriend. Ji Liang thought of Zhi Yu’s handso, model-like face, long legs, and broad shoulders, and convinced herself she had to go to this dinner.
In the face of good looks, who cares about a bad temper?
Ji Liang’s life motto was to enjoy the mont.
She couldn’t deny that half of her initial attraction to Zhi Yu stemd from how he cared for his sister, stirring sothing in her heart. The other half… was definitely because of his looks. Every suggestion of a relationship without prior understanding cos from being attracted to soone’s appearance.
The agreed ti was six o’clock, but as with all girls getting ready, Ji Liang didn’t finish dressing until the very last minute.
By 5:58, Zhi Yu was already downstairs waiting at the location Ji Liang had sent. Only then did she finish her so-called ‘barely-there makeup’ and step out of the elevator, her layered vintage-style dress trailing behind her.
—
“Cooked duck flying away” is a taphorical expression aning to lose sothing or miss an opportunity just as it seems within reach.
Reviews
All reviews (0)