Episode 1 Heavy Rain
Lin Ying had been waiting in the heavy rain for half an hour.
My husband finally called back, but he came to spoil my fun.
"Hey, honey! I forgot to tell you, I'm in Libo now, planning to spend half a month in seclusion to finish my painting. My mom will be back in Shanghai in a couple of days, so let her go with you. Just stay home and wait for me to come back! Love you~"
An hour ago, Lin Ying took a taxi to Jufuchang to meet a partner. After sitting in the coffee shop and waiting for nearly twenty minutes, she suddenly received a call from the other party saying that the appointment had been cancelled - the date had been temporarily rescheduled due to weather reasons.
Furious, she had no choice but to report the truth to her boss, who inevitably scolded her. Less than five minutes after turning left, a torrential downpour suddenly began to pour down, trapping her at the bus stop. She called her husband for help, but he didn't respond three times, so she had no choice but to send a WeChat message:
"It's raining. Can you pick me up at Julu Road?"
Then he threw out a positioning.
The other party called back half an hour later. There was no anxiety in his tone, let alone concern. He lit a fire in her heart, igniting her, and then casually threw her into the rain to extinguish it...
Her husband Yan Yiming is an unknown painter. With the support of his parents, he has no worries about food and clothing after marriage. It is normal for him to go on business trips and collect folk songs without returning home for ten days or half a month.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Ying stood there for a long time, wanting to cry but unable to.
The phone switches back to the taxi-hailing screen: 84 people are in line ahead, and the estimated waiting time for the driver to accept the order is 1 hour and 11 minutes.
It was the evening rush hour in Shanghai, with heavy rain pouring down. The small streets in Wutong District were completely blocked, so Lin Ying decided to give up hope and sneak off to take the subway.
Less than two blocks into the rain, the traffic improved slightly. She was crossing the road just before the green light when a car turning right braked hard, nearly scaring her to death as the driver yelled at her, "You're going to die!"
She didn't say a word, but just mechanically walked around. Only after she calmed down did she realize that the hem of her woolen coat was stained by the splashed sewage...
This is her favorite coat, and this is only the second time she has worn it today.
The jade-white off-shoulder woolen fabric suits her skin tone and figure best.
However, the jade was splashed with stains, making her look more miserable than a drowned dog, and the white color stood out in the rain.
I really hate rain - everything always goes wrong when it rains.
The pent-up emotions reached their limit, she shuddered, and everything in front of her eyes became blurry—it wasn't the rain that blurred her vision, it was tears.
But tears are nothing in the rain.
"A Ying?"
A faint call came from the rain.
Immediately afterwards, a black Porsche stopped beside her, the window rolled down, and in the driver's seat was an unexpectedly familiar face - her brother, Jiang Shu.
When Lin Ying sat in the passenger seat, he looked disheveled, with half-wet hair and muddy coat. A song called "Under the Mount Fuji" was playing in the car, which seemed strangely appropriate given the rain blocking the road.
She mechanically fastened her seat belt, tilted her head, wiped her tears and asked:
"Why are you here?"
"We discussed a project nearby this afternoon."
Fortunately, he met him, otherwise Lin Ying really didn't know how to end it in such weather.
"Why are you crying? Because your coat is dirty?"
He asked casually, without even moving his eyes.
Before Lin Ying knew how to answer, her cell phone suddenly rang again. Jiang Shu reached out and turned off the music, motioning her to answer the call first.
The caller was her mother-in-law, Ren Jiahui. Lin Ying cleared her throat and pretended to be calm.
"Hello, Mom? Well, Yiming has already told me... No, no, he told Auntie that I'm just going to sleep at home, so you don't need to stay with me... Okay, I get it."
If her husband goes out to collect folk songs, her mother-in-law always comes to stay with her for a while, and even asks a live-in nanny to stay behind.
But Lin Ying did not enjoy this kind of "care". She felt suffocated as if she was being treated as a prisoner.
After hanging up the phone, she stared at the rain and fog on the car window, and her whole body was about to disappear into nothingness again.
Jiang Shu asked again, "Did Yan Yiming go collecting folk songs again?"
"Well, I'm going to Libo this time. I'm supposed to stay there for half a month."
"So what are you going to do?"
"No big deal, I'll just stay alone. I have work to do anyway... I came here today to meet with the organizer to discuss the exhibition venue on behalf of my boss, but they stood me up. I don't know if I can still negotiate this venue. It's raining, and I waited a long time just for the car. I originally wanted Yiming to pick me up, but he didn't reply until over half an hour later, saying that he had to go on a field trip for half a month... He's always like this, always acting first and asking for permission later. There were a few times before, and I almost thought something had happened to him..."
At this point, she realized that she had said too much, and also realized that she seemed to have never said these words to anyone.
After graduation, Lin Ying, through her father-in-law Yan Song's connections, landed a job as an exhibition planner at a cultural center. It was a sinecure, but she volunteered to learn the curatorial process from her superiors. This time, she was on a sales trip, hoping to prove her skills with the hope of a promotion. However, a rainstorm brought everything to nothing.
If you fail in your career, you may not be successful in love.
Yan Song is a subordinate of her father Lin Jidong, and the two families are old friends. She and Yan Yiming are childhood friends and have had a harmonious relationship since childhood. They got married right after graduating from college, and it has only been two years since then.
But even with his childhood sweetheart's endorsement, Yan Yiming's concern for her was still superficial. Otherwise, he wouldn't have acted without consulting her every time he went on a field trip. Today, he even took a long time to answer her call, only focusing on explaining his own affairs, not caring at all why Lin Ying had asked him for help today...
"I really don't like him being like this, but no matter what I say, he never cares. Every time he leaves, my mother-in-law comes to accompany me, but I don't want her to accompany me at all. I would rather be alone... but I don't want to be alone all the time..."
She couldn't stop talking, and her words flowed out without restraint like a broken faucet.
"I don't know what I'm doing every day... What am I waiting for? It seems like nothing is right, and life is so unhappy... But I can't put my finger on what exactly is making me unhappy..."
The rain outside the window, the bitterness in her mouth, the depression in her heart, and the tears in her eyes all poured into the cramped and humid air in the car, almost suffocating her.
Like a water-filled balloon, it was pricked by a needle and finally burst, with liquid spilling all over the floor indiscriminately.
She had to vent her anger, but no matter how she looked at it, Jiang Shu was not a suitable person to vent to.
Although he is an elder brother, the two are not related by blood.
Lin Ying's stepmother Jiang Yueling is the current chairman and executive president of Jianglin Group. Although her biological father Lin Jidong also holds a lot of shares, compared with other shareholders, he is at most an emotional investment partner.
The Lin family had been farmers for three generations, but Lin Jidong's generation caught up with the education reform and became the first "pioneer" in the Lin family. He was admitted to Fudan University, registered his household, and graduated just in time for the development of Pudong New Area. With a diploma and passion, he became one of the earliest entrepreneurs and met Jiang Yueling, who came from a wealthy family.
Long before getting married, Lin Jidong knew that the other party had a son raised by relatives, but he gladly accepted it. He was a grassroots person, but he could achieve what he has today thanks to the strong foundation of the Jiang family, so he had little say.
As a result, not long after the marriage, he suddenly had a daughter...
When they were sent to the Jiang family, Lin Ying was five years old and Jiang Shu was nine years old.
Since then, the two have maintained this respectable brother-sister relationship.
In the past twenty years, Lin Ying has become accustomed to being ignored by her stepmother and biological father, being marginalized, and even being used as a tool. After graduation, she married Yan Yiming.
Lin Jidong is on good terms with the Yan family. If her complaints today were to reach her father, he would definitely scold her.
"...These aren't any big things. Don't take them to heart. Don't tell my dad, okay? Brother?"
Her voice was still choked with sobs when she prayed, but Jiang Shu didn't care. He turned around and asked her -
"Will your mother-in-law accompany you tonight?"
Lin Ying shook her head: "It will take a few days. She is on vacation in Sanya recently and hasn't come back yet."
"You said you didn't want to live with her, right?"
She was silent.
Jiang Shu changed the navigation without permission, and Lin Ying noticed that it was an address she was not familiar with.
"Why don't you stay at my villa? It's quiet there, and there's a nanny to cook for you. I'll pass by your house later and pick up some things to keep you company. I'll take you there tonight."
There was no negotiation in his tone, but neither was it stiff. Every step and every word touched Lin Ying's heart - this was a direction she had never thought of.
“…But it’s not convenient for me to live with you, right?”
"If you want peace and quiet, I don't have to go. I don't live here all the time anyway."
"I did not mean that."
"It'll only be two weeks. Just tell your mother-in-law that you're going on a business trip soon and let your manager know. If you have any concerns, I'll speak to you."
For such a not-so-small matter, he came up with various solutions in just five minutes.
"It depends on your wishes. If you really don't want to, forget it."
Her wish...is that she doesn't want to stay with her mother-in-law for more than half a month.
An hour and a half later, they arrived at Jiang Shu's modern villa in Gubei. The environment was secluded and perfect for a short stay.
After parking the car, Jiang Shu took the initiative to hold an umbrella, walked around to the passenger seat to help Lin Ying open the door, and when he reached the entrance, he let Lin Ying go in first, while he folded the umbrella and stood by the wall.
As soon as she entered the door, the nanny Liu Ma came to greet her. Seeing Lin Ying who had entered first, she was stunned for a moment, then greeted her tactfully -
"Hello miss, I'll go get you a new pair of slippers."
Lin Ying nodded politely and sat on a chair in the hallway to untie her boots, only to find that the laces had already been twisted into a knot and were soaked through by the rain and mud. She had no idea where to start...
She tried to dismantle it several times, but it only made things worse, and she felt embarrassed and anxious. It was Jiang Shu who realized her difficulty and leaned over, lying on her knees, and carefully studied it...
"Don't worry, I'll help you."
Lin Ying's whole body froze. He inexplicably felt that Jiang Shu was too meticulous at the moment. This kind of thing should not be done by him in any way. Even if he could solve it, he would definitely not help others solve it.
His fingers were very slender, perhaps because they had been caught in the rain, they looked particularly white and had distinct joints. Lin Ying's eyes were no longer fixed on the knot...
His fingertips slowly wrapped around and untied her shoelaces, but it twisted her heart into a knot again.
The heart was originally broken, but now it is twisted into a knot - which is also a kind of progress.
After finally taking off the heavy boots, Aunt Liu handed her new slippers and added in a flattering tone, "It's rare that Mr. Jiang is so considerate to a young lady."
Hearing her hidden meaning, Jiang Shu took the initiative to clarify——
"Auntie Liu, this is my sister Lin Ying."
“…Oh no wonder, it looks so good.”
Liu Ma quickly made amends, and Jiang Shu explained—
"Her neighbor is renovating their house recently. Ah Ying has trouble sleeping, so they asked her to stay here for two weeks. Please ask Aunt Liu to make some of her favorite food recently."
"That's easy."
Walking into the hall, the interior of the villa is decorated in Nordic modern style. The overall style is cool and simple, with exquisite details. Everything is well maintained, which inexplicably matches Jiang Shu's own temperament.
"What does Miss Lin like to eat?"
Lin Ying said politely, "I'm not very picky about food. Just cook whatever you like. Don't worry too much."
"She can't handle spicy food very well, but everything else is fine."
Jiang Shu added nonchalantly and was about to leave, but Aunt Liu hesitated and stopped him:
"Hey, Mr. Jiang, are you still coming during this period, Mr. Lu?"
Hearing this question, Jiang Shu paused, as if thinking about something: "I won't come, just take good care of her."
"Brother, you don't have to worry about me. I just sleep at night. If you have something to do, come when you need to."
Liu Ma's face was slightly embarrassed, but Jiang Shu said:
"Let's talk later. There's a driver to take you to work. If there's anything urgent, let me know. I'm leaving now."
She came and went in a hurry, and the arrangements made for her seemed as casual as a meeting.
As Aunt Liu led her to the second floor, she explained:
"Although you are Mr. Jiang's sister, his rules still apply. You are free to move around in other rooms except the study."
Lin Ying glanced at the room at the end of the corridor and didn't think much of it.
She was assigned to rest in the second bedroom, which was only separated from Jiang Shu's master bedroom by a wall. Although it was a second bedroom, the area and layout were just as good, and it was even more comfortable than her current new house.
"Then you take a rest first, I'll go downstairs to cook."
"Aunt Liu."
It seemed like she shouldn't meddle in other people's business, but when the words came to her lips, Lin Ying still asked seriously - "When does my brother usually come to stay here?"
Aunt Liu hesitated for a moment, then half-concealedly admitted, "He doesn't stay here for more than a few days a month. Usually... it's mostly friends who come to stay."
"Friend? Girlfriend?"
Aunt Liu said gently, "Well...I guess so."
However, this friend showed up in person on the third day after Lin Ying checked in.
At dinner that day, just as Liu Ma handed the chopsticks to Lin Ying, she heard someone ringing the doorbell. When Liu Ma opened the door, she was immediately confused.
"...Ms. Lu? Why are you here suddenly? Mr. Jiang hasn't been here recently."
"I know, Aunt Liu. My neighbor is renovating these days and it's so noisy. I'd like to stay here for a few days and get some peace and quiet."
She walked in without any hesitation, completely ignoring the awkwardness on Liu Ma's face.
Lin Ying had a head of fluffy black hair like scattered seaweed, and her tight jeans and white T-shirt could not hide her graceful figure.
Is this Jiang Shu’s girlfriend?
However, when this "girlfriend" saw Lin Ying and looked her up and down, she suddenly said:
"Are you his new sex partner?"
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