Ji Xixing couldn’t help but give her best friend a huge thumbs-up. She could already imagine Cheng Songjin’s dark expression and impatient face.
She typed back to Jian Yao, “No! Even if you locked him up for the rest of his life, I wouldn’t feel sorry for him.”
Jian Yao immediately called her on WeChat. As soon as Ji Xixing answered, she heard her ask, “Darling, where are you right now?”
“At a hotel,” Ji Xixing replied.
“At a hotel?!” Jian Yao’s voice suddenly rose. “Darling, don’t tell me you’re saying you’ve let him go while secretly getting a room with him?”
“Darling, listen to me. He’s just a scumbag. Letting go of him means letting yourself go free.”
As she spoke, Jian Yao suddenly paused.
“Wait, that’s not right. That scumbag is still sitting in a cell.”
After a brief silence, she asked in confusion, “Then why are you staying at a hotel alone?”
Her thoughts jumped rapidly from one topic to another.
Before Ji Xixing could catch up, she had already moved on.
“Darling, don’t tell me you randomly found some guy to vent your feelings on just to get revenge on that jerk?”
Jian Yao was genuinely worried that Ji Xixing might do something irrational and throw her entire life away over Cheng Songjin.
After all, the two of them were close friends who shared everything and understood each other well.
Jian Yao naturally knew whether Ji Xixing had feelings for Cheng Songjin.
What she didn’t know was that the current Ji Xixing was no longer the Ji Xixing from the original novel.
She had no feelings for that scumbag at all, only disgust.
“Darling, I really haven’t lost my mind,” Ji Xixing explained. “I had an argument with Ji Lifeng and don’t want to go home.”
She summarized the matter in just a few words.
After hearing her explanation, Jian Yao finally relaxed, and her tone returned to its usual carefree manner.
“There’s another gathering tomorrow night. Are you coming? I’ll hire a few handsome male models for you and let you drown in a paradise of beautiful men.”
Halfway through her sentence, the bedroom door opened and Gu Wangxuan walked in from outside.
Ji Xixing had her phone on speaker, so every outrageous word Jian Yao uttered reached Gu Wangxuan’s ears without missing a single syllable.
The two looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, and a blush slowly spread across Ji Xixing’s face.
She hurriedly turned off the speaker. Embarrassment made her feel guilty for a second.
Gu Wangxuan said nothing. Showing impeccable manners, he quietly left the room again rather than interrupting her call.
“Darling, are you still there?” Having received no response for quite some time, Jian Yao asked in confusion. “Are you even listening to me?”
Ji Xixing calmed herself down and thought about what Jian Yao had just said.
She fell silent again. After a couple of seconds, she hesitantly said, “Darling, is it possible that I’m currently broke and can’t afford those kinds of places?”
“What do you mean?” Jian Yao asked, puzzled. Then she guessed, “After getting cheated on, you became depressed and spent a fortune on some male model until your cards were maxed out?”
Ji Xixing was speechless.
Did this woman have anything in her head besides male models?
“My cards were frozen by Ji Lifeng.”
“No way. Darling, you don’t even have a private stash?” Jian Yao exclaimed in shock.
“It’s okay, Darling. Even if you’re broke now, I won’t dislike you. My card is your card. Spend whatever you want when you come over.”
“No, no. I still have to deal with that mess involving the scumbag.”
Ji Xixing refused.
“Goodbye, Darling. Have fun tonight.”
Without even waiting for Jian Yao to reply, Ji Xixing hung up decisively.
Thinking about what had just happened, she sighed.
Suddenly, she felt that staying in the room until Gu Wangxuan left wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Imagination was only imagination. She still had too many things to deal with, and besides, she had already gone through things even more embarrassing than this.
After washing up, Ji Xixing opened the bedroom door and glanced around cautiously.
After scanning the surroundings and finding no sign of Gu Wangxuan, she had barely begun to relax when a deep voice tinged with amusement reached her ears.
“Looking for me?”
Following the voice, Ji Xixing turned her head.
Gu Wangxuan was leaning casually against the wall on the other side of a display shelf. His sharp, aloof eyes carried a distance that was difficult to decipher, and the metal-rimmed glasses resting on his high nose added a restrained elegance to his appearance.
“Good morning,” Ji Xixing greeted naturally, choosing to pretend that Jian Yao’s reckless words earlier had never happened.
“It’s already noon.” Gu Wangxuan mercilessly ruined the mood and pointed at the ticking clock hanging on the opposite wall.
The hands pointed precisely at twelve.
Ji Xixing glanced at it before looking back at him.
“All right then. Good afternoon.”
“I’m leaving. Thank you for taking me in last night, Mr. Gu.”
She headed toward the door.
“Why are you calling me that again?” Gu Wangxuan frowned slightly at the familiar title.
“Habit.” Ji Xixing smiled sweetly and casually shut the door behind her, separating the two of them.
In truth, she was thinking that they weren’t really that close, so calling him by his name didn’t seem appropriate.
After leaving the hotel, Ji Xixing used the little money remaining in her payment app to call a taxi and headed for the old district her grandmother had mentioned.
Many of the houses in the old district had demolition marks painted on them. The muddy roads were full of potholes and difficult to walk on. The area was already far from the city, and most of the residents had moved away.
The place felt desolate.
Among the dilapidated old tile houses stood a small white villa. Years of wind and sun had caused the paint to peel and turn yellow.
Based on her childhood memories, Ji Xixing was almost certain that this was the house she had been looking for.
The front door was tightly shut, but her sharp observation skills quickly told her that someone was living there.
Because the lock had been fastened from the inside.
Before Ji Xixing’s fingers could even touch the door, it was pulled open from within.
Standing inside was a woman in her forties or fifties. Time had carved deep traces into her face. Her complexion was sallow, and wrinkles lined her forehead.
She still held the door open, but when she saw Ji Xixing, her expression changed from confusion to astonishment.
“Y… Young Miss?” she called uncertainly.
“And you are?” Ji Xixing frowned.
Why did this woman look as though she knew her well and cared deeply about her?
Her grandmother had never mentioned anyone living here, and she herself had no memory of this woman.
“Young Miss, I’m Tang Yue. I’ve served your mother for many years.”
Tears welled in Tang Yue’s eyes as she held Ji Xixing’s hand.