Chapter 4: Doing What You Love
Ji Ling didn't give her a chance to explain. He narrowed his eyes, pulled her up, and headed straight for the underground parking lot.
Xia Li felt that he had used all his strength, and the grip on his wrist was noticeably tight. When his fingertips rubbed against her skin, there was even a burning, rough feeling. He was almost thrown into the passenger seat, and there were still red marks on his wrist.
She let out a soft sob.
Ji Ling looked up at her soft voice, his eyes slightly flustered. He grabbed her wrist, examined it, frowned slightly, and asked with concern hidden in his cold tone, "Did I hurt you?"
Xia Li's eyes were slightly red as she looked up at him.
The underground parking lot was dimly lit. She couldn't understand the emotions of the person in front of her, but she noticed that he had a dry, furrowed brow. She subconsciously shook her head slightly.
They sped almost the entire way to Yunding Garden. The house in Yunding Garden was one of the birth gifts Ji Ling received from his mother when he was born.
"get off."
Ji Ling was impatient and parked the car at the front gate. He had already walked quite a distance. Xia Li hurriedly followed behind him, jogging. She was panting and looked up at his receding figure. She called out to him softly, "Slow down, I can't keep up."
Ji Ling paused, pondered for a moment, and without turning around, only slightly turned back, one hand in his pocket, gazing into the distance: "Can't you hurry up?"
That's what they said, but they still stopped and waited a moment. Seeing this, Xia Li quickly ran to his side, turned to the side, and looked up curiously to ask:
Why are you in such a hurry?
Ji Ling glanced down at her, his gaze lingering for a moment below her cheek before quickly looking away. His voice was slightly nasal, but he answered without blushing or skipping a beat: "My time is precious."
Actually, he lost his composure and his mind went blank.
There was no wedding dress to try on; it was just something he blurted out in a moment of impulse.
His original plan was to invite Xia Li to dinner, take her to Yundingyuan to familiarize her with the environment, and then mention moving in. However, a phone call came in the middle of the process, from Sheng Minyang, and he became furious and said some nonsense.
Xia Li tilted her head and leaned closer, frowning slightly as she looked him over. Before she could speak, Ji Ling grabbed her by the neck and moved her away.
Ji Ling turned her head shyly, her ears flushed, and her voice was hoarse with exasperation: "Why are you suddenly so close?"
Xia Li looked up, feeling wronged, and asked with concern, "Do you have a cold?"
Ji Ling spoke coldly, ignoring her gaze, and repeated her words, asking her the same question with extreme emphasis: "Do you have a cold?"
Xia Li whispered, "But your voice sounds so nasal."
“…”
Ji Ling didn't argue with her; he let go of her hand and walked straight ahead without paying any attention.
Xia Li really didn't understand, so she could only tiptoe closely behind him, awkwardly entering his territory.
The aggression was so strong that her body almost froze instantly, unable to make any smooth movements.
Just as he was about to find an excuse to leave, Ji Ling spoke up again, saying, "You're dawdling. The measurement master has already left."
Xia Li was somewhat dazed and didn't react for a moment. When she realized that Ji Ling meant the wedding dress hadn't been made yet and she needed to take measurements, she gave a slightly guilty "Mmm" in response.
It's all my fault for being too slow, making my master wait for so long for nothing.
However, it suited her wishes, as she now had a reason to go home. She asked Ji Ling, "What should I do? Should I go home?"
Ji Lingteng dialed a number: "No need, I'll call him over again."
“…”
The master was really quick, arriving in just over ten minutes. Xia Li looked him up and down, suspecting he might have been here before. Inadvertently, her eyes met the master's. She smiled awkwardly and stood aside, her whole body expressing apology.
Ji Ling noticed her gaze, looked over coldly, his eyes deep: "What are you looking at?"
Xia Li shifted her gaze from her master, raised an eyebrow slightly, and said uncertainly, "Looking at you?"
Their eyes met, and the living room was unusually quiet.
In the end, it was the master who took the lead in turning around to ease the atmosphere. He glanced at Xia Li up and down and confirmed with Ji Ling, "Shall we start with Miss Xia?"
As he spoke, he walked over.
Xia Li had already opened her arms and waited.
Seeing his master about to take over, Ji Ling's expression darkened further, and he casually took the measuring tape, saying, "I can do it."
Xia Li suddenly opened her eyes and froze on the spot.
Why didn't anyone ask for her opinion?
She refused...
Seeing Ji Ling's well-defined knuckles about to wrap around her waist, she quickly grabbed his wrist, then looked up and gave an awkward smile, stopping him from taking the next step: "I can do it myself, thank you."
Xia Li noticed that one of her words touched a nerve with Ji Ling, and seeing his expression change repeatedly, she quickly added anxiously, "I can manage here by myself. Please help me with the parts I can't reach. Thank you."
To everyone's surprise, Ji Ling's expression became even colder, showing no signs of improvement whatsoever.
It seems like I've touched a nerve again.
Was she being impolite? Should she have said, "Mr. Ji, I'm so sorry, I need your help with something. Thank you for your assistance?"
She was still pondering when she felt Ji Ling's warm palm, following the markings on the measuring tape, stroking her shoulder tightly. Through the fabric, she could feel his slight pressure, and he would occasionally pause and adjust the angle.
The sensation was so strange, like Ji Ling's fingertips brushing across her heart, sending a tingling sensation straight to her heart. Her chest clenched, and she felt even more anxious and uneasy.
Xia Li recalled the feeling she had when she first met Ji Ling.
The boy, the protagonist of the school's promotional video, reads the script with a confident and radiant smile. He is dazzling and unforgettable on camera.
She was a member of the photography club in charge of taking pictures, but instead of looking at the monitor, she gazed at the subject of the photograph from afar, just like most people, her eyes completely captivated.
Even after knowing her for nearly a decade, she still couldn't figure out where her fluttering heartbeat came from.
Ji Ling was also feeling unwell. Touching his beloved, whom he hadn't seen for many years, through the thin fabric, his first reaction was that she had lost a lot of weight. Then, realizing that she had unsuspectingly exposed her fair and clean nape, he felt an even more intense heat.
The feeling was as if he had returned to their first meeting. The girl was leaning against a heavy tripod in the distance, head down, adjusting the lens. Just that focused movement, without even looking up at him, made his heart pound wildly.
His physiological attraction told him that this feeling was called love at first sight.
Even after we parted ways, hearing her name still felt like my heart had been emptied, desperately needing a fresh source of comfort.
Meeting her again eight years later, my heart, which had been empty, was filled with spring water again. A pebble was thrown into the spring in my heart, and ripples spread outwards.
For some reason, Ji Ling suddenly remembered the photography award and Xia Li's suppressed tears. It was a rainy day, and her tears were welling up in her eyes but didn't fall. She said coldly, "I don't need your help. Let's both calm down for a while."
These were their last words to each other eight years ago when they parted ways.
A mixture of love and hate allowed Ji Ling to restrain his desires, and reason made him stop what he was doing. He then reported the measured size to his master.
After the event, Xia Li quickly distanced herself, her ears slightly red. She was a little embarrassed and sniffed.
"Then I'll be going now," she said to Ji Ling.
Still caught up in her own internal conflict, Ji Ling instinctively replied, "Stay for a meal."
Then, realizing they had just made plans to have dinner, she quickly added, "I noticed you didn't eat much."
Xia Li initially intended to refuse; after this awkward moment alone, she just wanted to escape. But Ji Ling didn't give her a chance to say no, and continued, "You loved Aunt Wang's croissants when you were in school, so I had Aunt Wang come along too..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xia Li stopped him, saying, "No need, Ji Ling."
Fearing he might misunderstand, she explained, "There's no need to trouble Aunt Wang today. Since she's here, there will be other opportunities in the future."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ji Ling looked at her with a deep gaze and slightly narrowed eyes, his expression unreadable.
Xia Li pursed her lips, not daring to meet his gaze. She recalled the accident that had just happened at Haiyue and explained earnestly, "The phone call today was from Sheng Minyang. He was also the one who called on the day of the photography exhibition. We are just ordinary friends, and I have no feelings for him. He is my senior and a benefactor in my work. I hope you don't misunderstand."
Ji Ling responded, "Mm."
Xia Li pondered for a moment, feeling that her previous words had been too deliberate, so she added, "The contract states that both parties must be loyal during the marriage and cannot have extramarital affairs. I don't want you to misunderstand, so I feel it's necessary to explain this to you."
It should have been a good thing, but Ji Ling was not happy after hearing it. His heart felt like it was blocked by a huge rock. The rock was too heavy to be moved or broken no matter how hard he tried. So he could only nod and say, "Then I'll take you home."
"I won't trouble you." Xia Li refused him again, picking up the excuse he made up on the spot, seemingly not easy but hitting him hard in the chest, "Your time is precious, I'll take a taxi back, and have someone deliver the wedding dress to my place, I'll send you the address later."
Ji Ling opened his lips awkwardly and responded in a hoarse voice.
Then she left, but as she walked to the gate of the courtyard, she suddenly seemed to remember something, stopped and stood there in deep thought.
The temperature difference between day and night is significant. The wind blowing from the north lifts her hair, blowing away the heat brought from the house and bringing her a moment of comfort, a comfort that is also tinged with alertness.
Avoidance is the best option; she cannot succumb to despair.
As night deepened, a cool breeze began to blow.
However, Xia Li did not go far away, but wandered alone for a long time.
However, Ji Ling did not stop, but silently followed behind her for a long time.
One lowered the red line on their own out of love, though the nature of that love was unclear.
A love affair troubled for years by a misunderstanding, making it difficult to suppress the feelings.
In the following days, Xia Li applied for a five-day leave from the studio, hoping to return after the awkwardness subsided.
Five days have passed in the blink of an eye, and the end of the month is fast approaching.
Intern Wang Shu messages her every day, urging her to come to work, claiming that the team can't function without her.
Xia Li originally planned to take a break until the beginning of next month, and then go back to work after getting married, but after thinking about the timing, it seemed that it wouldn't be very friendly to the other people in the studio.
So on the afternoon of the sixth day, she timed it perfectly, choosing a time when Sheng Minyang was unlikely to appear, and sneaked into her workstation.
"Hey, Xia Li! What are you doing?" Wang Shu happened to be passing by and was surprised to see Xia Li acting so unserious.
"Shh...keep your voice down." Xia Li touched her lips with her index finger, glanced at the door, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Wang Shu, I have a question for you."
Wang Shu raised her head and patted her chest: "Ask away, sis. I'm the most gossipy person in this team. There's nothing I don't know."
"The matter of the Way."
Xia Li gently tapped her head: "Did the boss come today?"
"Brother Sheng?"
"Um."
"That's rare. Usually it's Sheng-ge who contacts you, this is the first time I've seen you contact him." She leaned closer, her face full of surprise, her eyes gleaming, and teased, "Did something happen?"
"Stop gossiping, get to the point."
"Ouch." Wang Shu sniffed, then perked up, "Of course he didn't..."
But before he could finish speaking, he stopped abruptly.
"Did he come?" Xia Li asked again.
Wang Shu bumped into Boss Sheng at the door, their eyes met, and she stammered, "He...that man...he's here!"
"Is there something you need?" Sheng Minyang's voice came from behind.
He listened to the whole thing.
Xia Li gasped and quickly pretended to be very busy, typing away on the keyboard without turning around. She even forgot that Sheng Minyang was standing behind her, with a clear view of the computer screen.
"It's nothing," Xia Li replied.
Sheng Minyang waited for her reply before entering the room and walking to her workstation. "But I need to talk to you."
Wang Shu, with her sharp eyes, caught the hint of gossip and quickly said, "I'm a little tired, I'm going to the balcony for some fresh air, you guys chat."
An awkward atmosphere immediately followed after they left.
Xia Li: "That day..."
Sheng Mingyang: "That day..."
They opened their mouths almost simultaneously.
Sheng Minyang: "You go first."
Xia Li: "You go first."
They spoke almost simultaneously.
Sheng Mingyang: "Then I'll go first. Xia Li, are you avoiding me?"
Xia Li lowered her eyes, her confidence somewhat lacking: "No."
"Then you don't reply to my messages or answer my calls."
Xia Li, desperate as a last resort, said, "I didn't check my phone."
Sheng Minyang's eyes turned colder, and he cut to the chase, asking her, "Are you getting married?"
Suddenly, Wang Shu, who had just been taking a breath, jumped out in shock and exclaimed, "What?! Sister Xia Li is getting married?!"
Xia Li's face turned even paler.
Sheng Mingyang's expression also turned sour: "Wang Shu? Didn't you say you were going for some fresh air?"
Wang Shu pointed to the laptop on the table and explained, "I forgot my laptop, so I came back to get it. It really wasn't intentional."
After saying that, he hurriedly grabbed his notebook and fled the office.
Sheng Minyang then gestured for Xia to leave and talk on the balcony.
As soon as they stopped walking, Xia Li explained to him, "I was watching a drama that day, and the scene where I was trying on wedding dresses was the male lead talking in the drama."
Sheng Mingyang retorted: "Does watching a drama require you to hang up on me?"
Xia Li was about to make up an excuse when Sheng Minyang spoke up: "Xia Li, you don't need to hide it from me. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me and I will help you."
Xia Li kept her head down and remained silent.
Indeed, even after nearly a month of media reports, no one knows who Ji Ling's fiancé is; all that is known is that he has someone else in his heart.
After a long pause in his mental process, Xia Li politely said to Sheng Minyang, "Senior, I'm not having any difficulties. Some things can't be explained in a few words. I really appreciate your concern, but it won't affect my work."
Sheng Minyang let out a long sigh, "Why can't you understand? You don't understand me..."
He realized what he was about to say, paused, and changed his words, saying to Xia Li, "What I mean is, if you are being coerced and don't want to marry that person, I can take you away, and you can do whatever you like."
Xia Li frowned. Sheng Minyang's unexpected kindness made her uncomfortable.
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