Read Born Male, Raised Female

Lady

Ju Hui put down her pen and left the studio.

She passed the main entrance, went upstairs, and walked to the bedroom window.

Ju Hui's house and Sheng Qijing's house face each other from east to west. The loft is on the west side. From Ju Hui's perspective, the only window in the garage is facing her. The whole house looks like a milk carton with only the inner aluminum foil left. It is milky white all over, except for the back door which is blocked up and looks a bit mottled.

Ju Hui leaned against the railing, looking down.

Cheng Yi had taken off his suit jacket early on, his shirt damp with sweat. Holding gloves and a claw hammer, he was at a loss as to how to open the two packages. He stood with his hands on his hips, pondering for a long time. Finally, the young woman who was with him took the hammer, pried it open, and one side of the wooden frame was completely removed.

They carefully removed the yawning kitten's head and body.

Sheng Qijing seemed to take it very seriously, thickening and reinforcing the material regardless of cost, and even sending over the complete moss pattern.

They placed the earthen kiln directly opposite her, like a garden dwarf deliberately showing off in someone else's home. After tidying up, the woman took out a bag of cat food from the corner and filled the porcelain bowl next to the yawning kitten.

...You really think it's a cat?

Ju Hui was puzzled when she heard a cat meow.

The yawning kitten worked its magic; two kittens lying outside the fence came running at the sound of cat food falling.

The two kittens look like siblings. One is a black and white calico cat with more milk than the other. They eat gracefully and accept being petted by humans without any hesitation. Although they are stray cats, they must still have neighbors who feed them.

Cheng Yi suddenly turned around to look.

The neighbor's windows remain tightly shut, and the light-colored curtains inside have never been drawn, just like they have for the past three days.

There's probably no one living next door, so there's no need for President Sheng to tell him to keep his movements quiet so as not to disturb the neighbors...

Cheng Yi felt a sharp pain on the back of his hand; the cat had scratched him.

He dusted off his hands, finished his task with Ao Jiangxian, and quickly drove back to Laorun.

Once the car drove out of the alley, the surroundings finally became quiet.

But the car drove in and out again the next day.

On the third day, cars drove in and out...

Ju Hui was too tense; even when Sheng Qijing wasn't around, she was still bothered. She drew the curtains of her studio tightly and paced back and forth on the concrete floor, trying to force herself to come up with something new.

Ju Hui has always pursued art solely for the sake of making money. Inspiration ignites a fire within her, which she cannot simply let go of; she must seize it and fold it into a flower that is appreciated by all.

She currently has three new inspirations, two of which are extensions of the original series and are also prototypes that she had in mind for a long time. The last one is a new series that she is exploring recently. She wants to make something different and prepare for applying for Tera visa.

Since Sheng Qijing wouldn't extend an invitation, she proactively applied to sign a contract. She didn't understand why Sheng Qijing was unwilling to sign with her; if Tera gave Ju Hui a chance to discuss cooperation, she was even willing to accept a ten-year contract with the same treatment as Mo Cun.

Ju Hui picked up her pen and reluctantly sketched two more drawings, which resembled a popular cartoon IP. She crumpled them into balls, tore them up, wet them, and mixed them into the mud, but still didn't get the desired effect. She thought she needed a sofa.

This studio lacks a soft sofa that can provide inspiration. It could be the one in the loft next door, the little sofa that feels like a haven when the weather turns cool and the wind blows outside; or that light-colored sofa piled with Ju Hui's soaked clothes, wide and long, with rough and tight cotton fabric, where Sheng Qijing sits, his buttocks sinking slightly, the curve...

Click—!

Ju Hui suddenly stood up, kicked over the wooden chair she had just been sitting on, picked up her phone and opened WeChat: [Jiaping, are you busy tomorrow? Come with me to buy a sofa.]

After finishing posting, she walked out of the studio, circled around the living room twice, went upstairs and downstairs, passed the storage room, balcony, toilet, bedroom window, and a yawning kitten, and then went downstairs back to the kitchen island. Suddenly, Ju Hui caught a glimpse of something and froze.

The dinner that Kan Yu had brought early was waiting for her on the table.

She hasn't eaten yet.

That's right, that's it!

Relax, relax, breathe—breath—

She wasn't hungry physically, but she was hungry emotionally.

It's 2 a.m. now. Ju Hui often forgets to eat because her days and nights are reversed. When she remembers, she often can't order any takeout, and ends up eating a bowl of instant noodles. Kan Yu can't stand it, so sometimes he comes to cook for her, and sometimes he orders takeout for her early and delivers it to the alley entrance, forcing her to go out and pick it up.

However, both of these methods essentially involve either making her wash the dishes or urging her to leave the house, neither of which allows her to eat on time.

Ju Hui walked to the dining table. Tonight's dinner was sushi and Japanese food from the restaurant near Liangmaqiao. It was so expensive that she usually didn't dare to order it. Kan Yu ordered three boxes. Ju Hui sent Kan Yu a message asking what it meant.

139XXX: [I only accept conversations with you in person.]

Ju Hui then saw the text message that Sheng Qijing had sent that afternoon.

Continue reading without replying.

Kan Yu is still awake: [This is for you. If you can't finish it, feed it to the stray cats.]

Kan Yu: [The freeze-dried food you asked me to buy just arrived; it's in the entryway.]

Kan Yu: [Feed me again tomorrow, hurry up and adjust my schedule!]

If you feed it to them tomorrow, the sashimi won't be fresh.

Half an hour later, Ju Hui carried a wooden box containing freeze-dried food and headed towards Qishi Park, a kilometer away, where there was a stray cat rescue point.

It was also by chance that Ju Hui discovered that there were volunteers responsible for managing the stray cats. The person in charge of the Strange Stone Park was a college student, whom Ju Hui had met at this time. At that time, she was wearing a hoodie and a mask, walking quietly. When she hurried past, she accidentally bumped into Ji Lai, who was feeding the cats, startling him. He mistook Ju Hui for a stray drunkard.

But he was the one who had just come out of the bar, his cheeks flushed under the dim streetlights. There are too many bars near 798; he said he came from an academic bar.

Ju Hui didn't understand.

Ji Lai explained: "It's the kind of bar where you don't go around flirting or being a 'highbrow' type, you only talk about 'intellectually educated topics.' The first time I went, it wasn't fun at all. The drinks there don't make you drunk, and all you can do is listen to the pretentious guy giving his opinions while you're slightly tipsy and still sober. It's so difficult. I just managed to escape..."

Ju Hui nodded and listened to him for a long time, but still didn't receive any signal about inspiration.

It wasn't until a kitten appeared at the feeding point, meowing softly, that Ji Lai pulled her aside a couple of steps, whispering a reminder: they couldn't talk anymore. She then realized and said okay, it was too late. She waved and nodded to Ji Lai before leaving the park.

Now that Ju Hui thinks about it carefully, what he probably said was, "We can't talk here anymore"...

His pronunciation here is so natural, it's ingrained in his very being.

Ji Lai is a local from Ruobei, right?

Ju Hui marveled at her own keen observation skills.

The park, now empty of crowds, was exceptionally spacious. The moon's shadow was hidden behind the trees, and the green branches and leaves blurred before Ju Hui's eyes. She silently followed her memories, searching for a fixed point.

“Classmate,” Ji Lai said, still under that dim streetlamp tonight, “you haven’t been here for several days.”

"Just call me Ju Hui. Do you feed them at this time every time?" Ju Hui was taken aback when the college student called her "classmate."

“Okay, Ju Hui,” Ji Lai smiled. He wasn’t drunk tonight and his speech was much clearer. He pointed to a park bench in the distance and said, “Let’s sit over there. They’re eating. We’d better not get too close, or they’ll lower their guard against humans.”

Ju Hui then noticed the tiny calico kitten on the ground. The sashimi was too big for her to eat right now, so Ju Hui took two steps back and only took out some freeze-dried food: "I won't sit here, you can have this."

Ji Lai took it, his expression not good: "I'm not... well, it's really dangerous for a girl to be alone so late."

Ju Hui wrapped her clothes tighter, her pretty eyebrows and eyes behind her mask furrowing as she said, "Staying up late affects a man's prostate."

“I go to bed early and get up early! I usually go for a morning run in this park with other runners. We’re all very healthy and in great shape. We don’t smoke or drink excessively. You must be healthy too, but don’t come so late all the time. There are a lot of trees in this park, and at night it emits a lot of carbon dioxide. I just wake up in the middle of the night and come out for a walk. I feed the cats and leave right away.”

Ji Lai was a chatterbox, but Ju Hui still had no inspiration. She was only slightly interested in his talk of morning runs and asked, "Are people who usually go for morning runs all in great shape?"

“The old man is in good health, the child is lively and adorable, and Brother Sheng, who just arrived, and I are the best in terms of physique. You can run between us.” Ji Lai raised an eyebrow. “Want to come?”

"Meow--"

Sanhua finished eating, called out to them, and left.

“Brother Sheng, he’s in a great shape,” Ju Hui asked. “Is he tall, fair-skinned, with a small mole on his nose, and works nearby?”

Ji Lai only confirmed that she was tall and her skin wasn't very fair. He said he would find out more about her mole and job later and tell her. Ju Hui nodded, added Ji Lai on WeChat, and asked him to add her to the 13th group of stray cat rescue volunteers, saying that she would learn to help stray cats.

"Do you come for a morning run?"

"Oh, I'll come as soon as I've adjusted my schedule." Ju Hui smiled brightly. "You must keep that older brother here and wait for me."

After returning home, Ju Hui didn't adjust her sleep schedule for a whole week, sleeping through day and night. One day, she woke up to find that Yun Aonan had called four or five times. She quickly dialed back and was relieved when he confirmed with her own ears that she was still alive.

Later, she met Ji Lai again in the park. He asked her when she was coming, and Ju Hui replied: Soon.

After visiting the park enough, Ju Hui chose to go to the supermarket to buy groceries when she woke up in the afternoon. She stopped at the fresh milk section to chat with the auntie and it took her a while to agree to buy two bottles.

Two large one-liter bottles of fresh milk. Ju Hui asked Kan Yu to take one bottle to Jiang Yiying, and Ju Hui spent a day drinking the other bottle.

Today, seeing the nice weather, Ju Hui sat in the yard with the last 300ml of milk, looking up at the millstone persimmon tree. It's late October now, and the persimmons are already translucent red, full of juicy juice yet wrinkled. There are no green branches on the black trunk, and they have to huddle together to block the wind, which is quite touching.

Kan Yu looked up and saw a small sparrow circling overhead, seemingly ready to poop at any moment. She told her, "I checked the weather forecast. It'll rain for three days next week. After the rain, all the persimmons will be ruined. I'll find two men to climb the tree and pick the persimmons tomorrow. After they're done, we'll pick the good ones, pack them in a box, and I'll take them to President Sheng."

Why did I give it to him?

Kan Yu pursed her lips: "Sister, I'm a smart woman. President Sheng has already come to Ruobei, who doesn't know what he means to you? The fact that the contract can't be signed now is because you two have a falling out. Go talk to him again, both of you should compromise and soften your stance. Don't make me arrange to meet with President Sheng, okay..."

Ju Hui twisted her neck: "No, you keep trying to reach out. Even if you can't reach out, you still have to keep trying. If you haven't met the sponsor by the time the draft is finalized, then you can meet with the sponsor while trying to reach out. If you have a sponsor but still haven't met them, then you can work on the project while trying to reach out. Only he can agree to this."

Kan Yu pressed his lips together, speechless to Ju Hui. He finally told her that dinner was on the table, which he had made, and to eat it while it was hot, along with a bowl of cocoa yogurt.

Ju Hui held up the half-glass of milk in her hand, expressing her shock.

Kan Yu smiled with narrowed eyes, pushed open the courtyard gate, and left.

Ju Hui is a stubborn person; once she gets really stubborn, nothing can move her. Kan Yu doesn't understand Sheng Qijing's words, and it's impossible to break through directly from him.

Kan Yu was in a dilemma. He had just left and hadn't driven far when he thought about it, pulled over, and immediately contacted Bian Jiaping, whom he had just met.

Bian Jiaping should have a solution.

Bian Jiaping is quite reserved. He wanted Ju Hui to eat well, but he did so through Kan Yu's name. He was also tactful and knew that Kan Yu couldn't always buy expensive things, so tonight he only ordered a harmless yogurt bowl.

Kan Yu edited the good news, click to send.

Furthermore, seeking his help might yield a winning strategy—Kan Yu had heard Jiang Yiying mysteriously mention that the relationship between the three of them was quite unusual.

...

After a while, as dusk fell, Ju Hui finished her milk and went back into the house.