Chapter 51 Butterfly "Next time you see me, remember..."
Quiet.
It's too quiet.
The three people's breathing overlapped in the room, and two pairs of eyes stared at a pair of silent eyes.
Ji Jiazhen and Wen Siyu stared at each other, his "life or death" question echoing in her ears. His eyes remained unmoved as he calmly awaited her answer.
After a long eye contact, she lowered her gaze, her lips pressed tightly together for a moment, her teeth clenching in that instant. Then she raised her hand and forcefully wiped the lipstick off her lips with the back of her hand, a subtle change in her eyes.
She looked up at Duan Qiyin, who was also waiting, and asked, "If you choose him, will you voluntarily withdraw?"
"you……"
Duan Qiyin had barely uttered a single word when Ji Jiazhen turned his head to look at Wen Siyu again and said, "Speak up."
"I'm asking you."
Wen Siyu paused for four or five seconds, not in silence, but because his throat tightened so much that he couldn't speak, because he couldn't fully process what she said.
She asked him if he would voluntarily withdraw if he selected Duan Qiyin's work.
This is not a question.
This is the answer.
He lowered his head, forced a smile, his eyes welled up with tears, and when he looked up again, Shi Qiyin was already standing next to Ji Jiazhen, and they were standing side by side.
Duan Qiyin rarely smiles, and when he does, the smile is small. Even from two meters away, Wen Siyu could tell that he was smiling at that moment.
That smug, proud, mocking, disgusting smile of a victor.
Wen Siyu looked at Ji Jiazhen, chuckled twice, his shoulders shaking with the laughter, and when he spoke again, his voice was weak, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness, "You're doing great."
He got up, the exhaustion from not sleeping all night and the excruciating pain weighing down his shoulders and body. He dragged his weary body to Ji Jiazhen, put his hand on her shoulder, and then climbed up to loosely grasp her neck.
I really want to strangle this fickle person. I really want to ask her why she chose this person who deceived her, cheated her, used her, and whose ulterior motives I can still see now.
But in the end, he couldn't bring himself to use force, nor did he ask a single question.
He simply reached out and used the pad of his thumb to wipe away the remaining red from the corner of her mouth.
"Ji Jiazhen, I really..."
I don't understand you.
Ji Jiazhen's eyelashes trembled slightly as she looked away from him, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms.
Wen Siyu continued, looking at Duan Qiyin, and said to her, "I slept in this bed with you, you can't sleep in it with him."
“I sat on this sofa with you in my arms and kissed you more than once. He can’t sit on it.”
“I’ve been with you in the bathroom once, so he can’t go in.”
He seemed determined to go through every single corner of the room, which made Ji Jiazhen's scalp tingle, so she interrupted him.
"The room is yours, I don't want it."
Wen Siyu's voice suddenly stopped. He stared at Ji Jiazhen's impatient expression and sneered, "Fine, then please get out of my room."
As he said this, his hand remained firmly on Ji Jiazhen's lips, stubbornly staring at him, hoping to hear a different answer.
But no.
Duan Qiyin had just raised his hand halfway when he saw Ji Jiazhen forcefully shake off Wen Siyu's hand.
"Next time you see me, remember to call me sister-in-law."
Wen Siyu suddenly smiled, his eyes reddening. Everything he had done with her was still vivid in his mind. He really wanted to scold her, and he really wanted to keep her, but he couldn't say a word.
The harsh words stuck in his throat, and in the end, he could only turn his head and say to Duan Qiyin, "Are you worthy?"
Duan Qiyin put his arm around Ji Jiazhen's shoulder, not responding to Wen Siyu's words, because at this moment, whether he responded or not was unimportant.
After all the twists and turns, the person standing next to Ji Jiazhen is still him.
Ji Jiazhen glanced at the hand on her shoulder and frowned from the bottom of her heart. "I'll pack my things and go get me a room."
Duan Qiyin withdrew his hand, and her slightly furrowed brows relaxed. She watched him leave the room before turning to walk towards her suitcase. Throughout this process, Wen Siyu remained silent, quietly watching her.
She had no time to unpack slowly, and almost crammed everything into her suitcase in one go. The clothes piled up like a small mountain inside, and she knew it wouldn't be able to close properly later, but she just couldn't calm down. When she put in the last coat, it "collapsed," and two pieces of clothing fell to the ground. She looked at them, her chest heaving, but she didn't feel like picking them up. She simply threw the coat she was holding into the suitcase in a smashing motion and turned to go to the bathroom to pack up her skincare bottles and jars.
The moment Ji Jiazhen stepped into the bathroom, she finally snapped out of this indescribable emotion. Looking at herself in the mirror, she became more and more confused.
Why did things develop into this situation?
Wen Siyu said he couldn't understand her, and even she herself was a little confused.
Why is it that even when the words are on the tip of my tongue, I just can't say them?
Why remain silent and offer no explanation when you know there's a misunderstanding?
She lowered her head, placed her hands on the table, exhaled, and a bright red stain on the back of her hand caught her eye.
"fool."
Ji Jiazhen uttered a single word softly, a self-deprecating smile on her face. As she smiled, a tear fell, landing in the porcelain washbasin, glistening under the warm yellow light.
If she slept with Duan Qiyin, how could she still be wearing makeup in the morning?
He wasn't the only one who stayed up all night.
She sat on Duan Qiyin's bed all night without sleeping, and Duan Qiyin also watched her all night without closing his eyes.
I can't sleep.
The thought of him standing at the door made her restless. After glancing at the door countless times, Duan Qiyin even asked her if she really wanted to see him that much.
She even considered backing out at that time. Her decision, which she had thought about for so long, wavered because of him. She felt that it wasn't necessary to use such a desperate and irreversible method.
But that wavering lasted no more than three seconds.
After meeting Duan Qiyin's gaze, she thought there was no better way.
She cannot waver because of a man, much less place her hopes on a man.
The path she chose is one she must walk herself to end.
Ji Jiazhen raised her head, looked directly at herself in the mirror, held back the second tear, turned on the water, and washed away the red on the back of her hand.
She stayed in the bathroom for almost twenty minutes, and when she came out, the sight before her left her speechless.
The clothes that were originally scattered in the suitcase were now neatly folded and placed. Wen Siyu stood beside the suitcase, holding a pack of cigarettes in his hand.
Her cigarette.
He looked over, disappointment in his eyes, "You're the one who said you'd quit, but you're also the one who can't quit."
Ji Jiazhen looked at the cigarette pack in his hand. She knew that one cigarette was missing, and she also knew that he must have opened it and checked it.
She bought the cigarettes the night before last because she couldn't calm his emotions. After buying them, she removed the plastic wrap, lit one, but then remembered that she had promised him she would quit smoking, so she threw it away without taking another puff.
But now, whatever.
He thought it was all fine.
"We've already broken up, why are you still packing my bags? What's with this humiliation?"
Wen Siyu tightened his grip, and the cigarette box became crumpled in his hand.
"So you knew we were grouped together before?"
Ji Jiazhen didn't pay attention to the words she used in her words. Only after he reminded her did she realize it and stubbornly replied, "The 'fen' in 'separate,' not the 'fen' in 'break up.'"
Wen Siyu snorted coldly, "In the end, they still wouldn't give me an identity."
She walked up to him, squatted down, and closed the suitcase. There were so many things in it that she almost couldn't lift it.
"You've always had this identity, haven't you? Before, we were friends with benefits, now we're brothers-in-law."
Ji Jiazhen dragged her suitcase toward the door, looking like she didn't want to waste any more words.
She opened the door, and the suitcase came out first. Duan Qiyin was waiting outside. After handing the suitcase to him, she turned around and took the bag from the cabinet.
The door slammed shut the moment she turned her head, and she was pushed backward by a force, her back hitting the door. Wen Siyu leaned over her, raised her hands above her head and pressed them against the door, then lowered his head to kiss her lips, a passionate and intense kiss that seemed both reluctant and punishing.
Ji Jiazhen couldn't dodge or respond, so she could only stare at him with her eyes open, while he closed his eyes for the first time during a kiss.
She saw it; there were tear tracks in the corners of his eyes.
As the kiss drew to a close, his body trembled. He lifted his eyelids to look at her expression through his wet eyes, tears clinging to his eyelashes.
She was like a piece of wood, unresponsive, expressionless, with cold, even indifferent, eyes.
He was just as indifferent as Duan Qiyin.
Wen Siyu stopped and stepped back two inches. Her lips were red and swollen from his kiss, and coupled with her expression, it was too glaring.
Ji Jiazhen smirked, trying to pull her wrist away, "I am yours now..."
"If you dare say those two words, I'll strangle you."
“I’m your sister-in-law now.” Ji Jiazhen repeated the sentence, and said provocatively, “Pinch me then.”
Wen Siyu met her gaze with red eyes, quite angry at her words.
She knew he wouldn't have the heart to pinch her, so she would make him angry.
He lowered his head, buried his face in the crook of her shoulder, and bit her shoulder.
Ji Jiazhen gasped in pain, using this as an excuse to let out the tear she had held back in the bathroom.
The sharp pain gradually subsided, and Wen Siyu's voice sounded muffled.
“You have never chosen me, never.”
The restraints on her wrists were removed, and her hands hung down, her body still pressed against his.
She didn't push him away; instead, she placed her hand on his head and remained there without moving.
Did you ever trust me?
He asked, "When have I ever failed to send a letter?"
Ji Jiazhen shook his head, inserted his five fingers into his hair, and pulled his head off his shoulder.
"Recognize your own identity."
As soon as she finished speaking, she put her hand on the doorknob and was about to open the door when Wen Siyu pressed her hand down.
"You and him were just playing around, weren't you?"
Ji Jiazhen slapped his face, the action was somewhat insulting.
"It's enough to be a jerk once; don't actually live like a dog."
The meaning was clear enough. Wen Siyu let go, stepped back to give her space in the door, watched her turn around, and watched her disappear from his sight.
*
Outside the door.
Duan Qiyin looked at Ji Jiazhen; the redness and swelling around her lips and the teeth marks on her shoulder told him what had just happened.
He knew that Wen Siyu could not accept this, and would definitely not withdraw voluntarily as Ji Jiazhen had said.
However, he was very curious about Ji Jiazhen's attitude.
Her eyes clearly showed loneliness.
He cooperated with her in a play without her prior knowledge, and as long as the result was beneficial to him, he didn't care about her motives for acting.
But everyone has a sense of curiosity. He won this competition far too easily, so easily that he couldn't help but ask: Why?
He took Ji Jiazhen to the new room, and only asked the question when the door was closed.
Why did you lie to him?
Ji Jiazhen didn't tell him the truth: "I'm tired of it, I want to dump it."
Duan Qiyin stroked the end of her hair, "At least make up a plausible lie to deceive me."
"You know it's a lie, so what's the point of asking?"
She was fed up with the makeup on her face and desperately needed a hot shower to wash away her fatigue, so she pushed her suitcase inside and opened it in an open space to find her pajamas.
Duan Qiyin stared at her and asked, "If you can't bear to part with him, why did you choose me?"
When the box was opened, Ji Jiazhen looked at the neatly folded clothes and suddenly didn't know where to start.
Duan Qiyin waited patiently for her answer, neither urging her nor saying anything more, just waiting.
Why?
Only she knows the reason.
Only she knows.
Ji Jiazhen stared blankly at the suitcase, replying with an empty gaze: "You are a businessman who pursues self-interest in everything, and I am also a vulgar person who prioritizes profit. Weighing the pros and cons, you are the most useful."
She picked up a neatly folded piece of clothing, not caring whether Duan Qiyin thought it was true or false, she only wanted to know one thing:
What was Wen Siyu thinking when he folded these clothes?
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Author's Note: Regarding update frequency:
I can't give a precise answer, nor can I give a fixed update time, because I don't know when I'll have time to write, when I'll have the energy to write, or when I'll have inspiration to write.
I currently have zero drafts for this book. I'm just too busy with work. I don't get home until 8 p.m., and I'm also preparing my graduation thesis. I have very little time to write, and I'm physically and mentally exhausted. I really can't write anything in this state.
Besides all this busyness, I also need to live my life. This serial has been running for nearly four months. For the first three months, I turned down many gatherings with friends to keep up with the updates. Then, because of work, we were separated by distance, and we didn't have the chance to meet up. I feel it shouldn't be like this. More than writing, I need to live my life properly.
I want to update more and finish the story as soon as possible, but at the same time I love Ji Jiazhen and this story. I don't want to cut the plot or write a perfunctory ending just to finish the story.
I will do my best to update, but I can only guarantee one update per week.
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