Chapter 17

Yue Ling’s long, straight black hair fell down her back. Her lips curved as she reached out to ruffle Qin Yao’s hair. “Yao Yao, hearsay isn’t always true. I’ll only believe it when I see it myself.”
She’d been abroad for so long, an ocean away; she’d never taken gossip at face value.
“I know you’re doing it for me. But sometimes what people want you, or me, to hear… isn’t necessarily the truth.”
Listening on the side, Wen Jiu could barely resist standing up to clap.
Wide perspective, stable emotions, this was a rare, genuine white moonlight.
Now that she was Yue Ling’s assistant, there was no way she’d sit back and watch her go down the wrong path.
Wen Jiu still refused to believe someone like Yue Ling would twist herself for love’s sake. She wanted to see what had happened in the original book that could possibly push her Big Sister Yue Ling into that mess.
It was getting late, and Young Lady had to rush home for her beauty sleep, so the three of them didn’t stay out for supper.
Once everyone went home, Wen Jiu racked her brain for every plot point she could still remember, and finally dug up a crucial name, male supporting role Ji Yujing.
Ji Yujing was male lead Ji Yanting’s biological younger brother, and he liked the white moonlight, too. He was not your average long-suffering, silently-protecting second male lead; his philosophy was, “Even without a title, I’ll fight for it,” and he was determined to become Yue Ling’s man.
After he realized the heroine Wen Ling had some connection to his brother, he evaluated her. She didn’t resemble Yue Ling at all in his eyes, but he was more than happy to use her to drive a wedge between Yue Ling and his elder brother.
After targeting Wen Ling again and again, Ji Yujing gradually fell for her. He jumped ship from Yue Ling’s team to the heroine’s, becoming her devoted little lapdog.
The more Wen Jiu thought about it, the more she felt that the rumor Young Lady had heard had Ji Yujing’s fingerprints all over it.
But the Ji family wasn’t Qin family; she couldn’t just barge in there in the middle of the night.
She tossed and turned, unable to sleep, then opened her contacts, found Shen Xingzhou’s number, and rudely dragged him out of dreamland.
Before the call went through, her chest was full of righteous fury on Yue Ling’s behalf. By the time his sleepy, muffled voice came through the speaker, something exploded in Wen Jiu’s ear and fizzled straight down into her heart, warm and tingly, and all that righteous anger turned into guilt.
“Older sister, why aren’t you talking? Did something happen? Where are you? I’ll come find you.”
She’d stayed silent too long; on the other end, he was clearly getting anxious. She could hear the rustle of clothes and sheets as he sat up.
Wen Jiu instantly felt even worse.
Bullying such a pure, good-natured boy like this, she really deserved to be hung up on some tower and sun-dried for three days.
“I’m fine,” she blurted out. “I just wanted to ask if you’re free tomorrow. Can you take me to see your other cousin, Ji Yujing?”
He went quiet.
Freshly woken, his voice was still low and rough, a far cry from the clear, bright tone he had in the daytime. It made it very obvious that beneath that sunny boyishness, he was definitely a grown man.
He sounded a little aggrieved, that hoarse adult baritone tangled with teenage hurt. “Older sister… do you like Cousin Yujing?” Why else would she call about him in the middle of the night?
The moment Ji Yujing’s name came up, Wen Jiu thought of the nonsense Young Lady had heard and her temper spiked. She shot upright in bed. “No way! I’d never like him!
He actually spread rumors that his brother is keeping a stand-in for Yue Ling, and even let Big Sister Yue Ling hear it. I have to go get justice for my boss.
Oh, right, Big Sister Yue Ling is my new boss, I’m her assistant now.
When my boss gets wronged, it means I’m wronged too.”
Big Sister Yue Ling was such a good person; how could they let Ji Yujing lie to her?
Shen Xingzhou had spent most of his life overseas and honestly didn’t know much about anyone who wasn’t blood-related. His elders weren’t the gossiping type either, they never filled the kids’ ears with stories. He didn’t even know what, exactly, the relationship was between Ji Yanting and Yue Ling.
But hearing Wen Jiu’s explanation, he couldn’t help the quiet laugh that slipped out.
He didn’t really care what the deal was with Yue Ling or his cousin, he barely understood what a “stand-in” was. He only cared that Wen Jiu didn’t like his second cousin.
“Okay.” The thread of happiness in his voice practically hummed through the line. “Cousin Yujing really did go too far. I’ll take you to him first thing tomorrow.
Do you have any food allergies? I’ll bring you breakfast. Where are you staying? Can you send me your address? I’ll come pick you up.”
He fired off questions one after another, sounding perfectly casual, but he was being careful with each one. His eyes were probably fixed on the screen, cautious and hopeful.
Wen Jiu had no car and no idea where Ji Yujing would even be. After thinking it over, she decided to accept the offer and sent him her address.
She was still living in the year-long suite the Young Lady had booked for her, so getting around was easy.
After they hung up, Shen Xingzhou didn’t show even a hint of being annoyed about his sleep getting interrupted.
Now that he’d been woken up, he was the one who couldn’t sleep.
Staring at the address Wen Jiu had sent, a hotel name, he rolled over and over in bed, completely restless.
Was it because he’d done something wrong that Wen Jiu didn’t trust him enough to send a home address and only gave a hotel?
What could he do to make Wen Jiu feel he was a good person? It wasn’t like he’d greeted her the way foreign friends did, with cheek kisses and hugs, he definitely hadn’t scared her off… right?
With one big worry off her chest, Wen Jiu slept like a rock in the second half of the night, deep, warm, and dreamless.
She woke at dawn to the alarm, and the moment she remembered she was going to settle accounts with the male supporting role today, even the alarm sounded like heavenly music.
She stood in front of the fridge for five full minutes, wondering if she should cook, lean on the fridge door and gnaw on lettuce like a rabbit, or just head downstairs for the breakfast buffet, when Shen Xingzhou’s call came in.
“You’re really early,” Wen Jiu said, opening the door to let him in.
Shen Xingzhou was bright-eyed and full of energy, nothing like someone who’d been jolted awake in the middle of the night. He was so refreshed that Wen Jiu couldn’t tell he hadn’t slept at all after that call.
He ruffled his fluffy chestnut curls and handed over a big bag of breakfast, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks for no good reason. He was visibly nervous; tiny beads of sweat glimmered on the bridge of his tall nose. “You only told me what you don’t eat, so I didn’t know what you do like. I just… bought a bit of everything.”
He didn’t tell Wen Jiu that he’d specifically not brought anything from the family chef. Instead, he’d followed several “must-try breakfast in Beicheng” guides online and started running around the city at five in the morning to line up at all the famous stalls.
Wen Jiu wasn’t picky. Whatever was there, she’d eat.
She just couldn’t eat much, so there was still a huge pile left. Shen Xingzhou didn’t mind at all and happily polished off the rest.
She could practically see his stomach rounding out under his shirt; she couldn’t help sneaking a few extra glances.
It was all puffed up and round. If not for the concept of boundaries, she really wanted to poke it once. She vaguely remembered the hard lines of abdominal muscles her hand had brushed in the chaos of tailing the heroine at the Ji estate. After all that breakfast this morning… would those abs survive?
Wen Jiu had no abs of her own, which only made her more curious.
Shen Xingzhou, clueless, sucked his stomach in self-consciously, cheeks burning.
Before driving, he quietly logged every single item Wen Jiu had eaten into the notes app on his phone. When he finished, his mood inexplicably brightened, and he started smiling to himself, even though she had no idea.
Wen Jiu glanced over at him several times, utterly lost as to what he’d seen on his phone that was so funny.
She was riding in his car, so she didn’t quite dare to ask.
Stop smiling like that, kid, she thought. You’re giving human-trafficker vibes.
“Cousin Yujing really was out of line. If he won’t listen when you talk to him, I can help you beat him up,” Shen Xingzhou offered earnestly, trying to make conversation.
Wen Jiu: “…”
Violent, yes. But it did sound pretty effective.
She really wanted to nod, but for the sake of social harmony, she swallowed her agreement in silence.
“Is that… not very good?” With no response, the boy’s voice went careful again.
Wen Jiu smiled.
No, I think it’s great.
But what she said was, “I still haven’t met Young Master Ji, so let’s at least see what he’s like first.”
Something about that sentence clearly hit a nerve. “Why do you call him ‘Young Master’?” Shen Xingzhou asked, voice oddly loaded. He’d never gotten that treatment, Ji Yujing certainly didn’t deserve it.
Divine inspiration struck; Wen Jiu tried, tentatively, “Young Master.”
Shen Xingzhou nearly stomped the gas instead of the brake, the car swerving dangerously close to the hedges.
“Young Master, please slow down when you open doors,” Wen Jiu yelped, terrified.
She still wanted to live.
“I’m sorry, older sister.” She didn’t see his face, but just below his Adam’s apple, the skin of his neck had flushed completely red.
Her “Young Master” sounded so good.
He wanted to record it and use it as his morning alarm tone.
Ji Yujing wasn’t at the Ji estate. At such an early hour, he still hadn’t gone home, he’d spent the night at a debauched, neon-lit club.
Same familiar entrance, same familiar elevator, it was the same high-end club Young Lady had once brought Wen Jiu and Lan Mingyan to.
So they served men in here too, not just women.
Shen Xingzhou assumed Wen Jiu had never been here before and took it upon himself to shield her all the way in, blocking her view as if afraid she’d be corrupted.
Wen Jiu: “…”
She’d already seen everything worth seeing and everything better not seen last time.
“Young Master Shen.” The manager, who’d been waiting outside a top-floor private suite for some time, swiped open the door for him.
Shen Xingzhou had called Ji Yujing last night; as the little cousin both branches of the family adored, he’d simply told the club to charge everything to Ji Yujing’s account.
What Ji Yujing hadn’t expected was that his dear little cousin, who used to fling himself into his arms on the verge of tears whenever he came home, would show up, grab him by the scruff, and drag him bodily out of bed.
At this hour of the morning, he should’ve been dead asleep. Being yanked upright left him clear-headed and painfully sober, like someone had made him chew a handful of fresh mint.
“Little cousin?” The shock on his face was so intense it might as well have been printed there.
Wen Jiu took the chance to sidle closer and get a good look at the novel’s male supporting role.
He wasn’t ugly, that was for sure.
He looked about the same age as Shen Xingzhou, with a head of pure black hair, un-dyed and glossy as night itself. Pulled from sleep, the strands stuck to his tanned cheeks, a few unruly pieces standing straight up.
Unlike his older brother Ji Yanting, the cold, elegant, fair-skinned gentleman described in the book, this younger brother was handsome in a completely different way, with a hint of Egyptian exoticism.
Strong features, wheat-colored skin, solid build… give him the right outfit and he could pass for a pharaoh from a thousand years ago.
Right now, that “pharaoh” was staring wide-eyed, unable to believe his little cousin would treat him like this.
When he noticed Wen Jiu, he rummaged furiously through every girl he’d ever met in his memory and came up empty. “Little cousin, is this for her? But I don’t know-!”
He would’ve been better off keeping his mouth shut, because the second he finished, Shen Xingzhou punched him square in the face.
The grin on Wen Jiu’s face froze; she was more horrified than the victim himself: !!!