The car started moving, and soft, slow instrumental music played from the sound system inside. Ji Xixing lowered her gaze, staring at her phone screen, which showed dozens of missed calls.
Her phone kept ringing again and again. This time, she did not even look at the caller ID and directly powered it off.
“Why didn’t you answer?” Gu Wangxuan glanced at her familiar motion of hanging up calls and asked casually.
“Unimportant junk calls,” Ji Xixing replied.
“So to you, calls from the Ji family are junk calls. Then what kind of calls are not junk calls in your eyes?”
Gu Wangxuan had only caught a glimpse of the names on her incoming call screen. His tone carried a hint of playful curiosity.
Although he already knew she did not get along with the Ji family, seeing her so unrestrained about it still felt novel to him.
Ji Xixing smiled and tilted her head to look at him. “If Mr. Gu called me, I definitely wouldn’t hang up so quickly.”
Those smiling eyes were clearly filled with indifference and distance. Gu Wangxuan believed that if he really called her, she would most likely hang up on him too.
“So I would get a few seconds of hesitation before being hung up on?” Gu Wangxuan asked.
“That would already be quite an honor for you. At least it means you’re worth a few seconds of hesitation.”
Ji Xixing was amused by him and followed up, “After all, who doesn’t know Mr. Gu’s name? You naturally deserve proper respect.”
Outside the window, the scenery flashed past rapidly. The music changed to a new track, and after their conversation ended, the car fell into a quiet silence.
Ji Xixing leaned back into her seat, quietly thinking about where she should go.
Fragments of memories that did not belong to her kept flashing through her mind. She tried to search through those old recollections for something useful.
In the later part of the original story, she would be completely ruined, but in reality, Ji Xixing was not some irredeemably vicious supporting villainess.
In the original novel, she had always been obedient to Ji Lifeng. Whatever Ji Lifeng told her to do, she would never go against it. Having grown up without maternal love, she had always longed for his approval.
Before the arrival of the mistress and her daughter into the Ji household, her life had actually been quite good. But afterward, she was inexplicably rejected by Ji Lifeng and became an outsider who did not belong anywhere in that home.
Yet Ji Xixing was a true wealthy young lady raised on luxury and resources. Even if Ji Lifeng never truly understood her, her abilities were outstanding in every aspect.
She was the kind of high society young lady who could handle any banquet with ease, completely different from Ji Chenhuan, that flower vase who only relied on sweet words and manipulation.
The route the car was taking gradually drifted away from the familiar road back to the Ji residence. Ji Xixing looked at the rapidly passing scenery outside and suddenly asked, “Mr. Gu, where are you taking me?”
This kind of uncertainty felt just like her feelings toward the unknown future. She did not know whether she should have gotten into this car in the first place.
But deep down, there was a voice telling her that if she refused this time, it might be the last time they ever saw each other.
A man of Gu Wangxuan’s status and experience would not endlessly chase after someone who kept rejecting him.
There was no such thing as endless fate. It was only something carefully created by one person.
“You didn’t tell me where you wanted to go. I assume you don’t actually know where you should go either,” Gu Wangxuan said with a faint smile, his voice mixing with the music.
“Then I’ll choose for you.”
“Alright,” Ji Xixing replied without refusing.
“Aren’t you afraid I might abduct you?” he asked, still focused on driving, eyes fixed ahead.
Ji Xixing heard the teasing tone in his voice.
“The rumors say Mr. Gu is rich enough to rival a nation. You probably wouldn’t bother with something like that.”
Gu Wangxuan let out a low chuckle. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”
“But if you marry me, at least you won’t end up standing alone in the cold with nowhere to go.”
That sentence struck a nerve in Ji Xixing, leaving her momentarily speechless.
She wanted to retort, but she could not deny it. What he said was the truth.
On a freezing night like this, she had left the house looking bright and composed, yet returning would leave her looking like a stray who had nowhere to go.
She sighed softly, thinking that this was already the second time Gu Wangxuan had made such an offer.
And they had only met twice in total.
In the capital city, countless women wanted to marry him. With just a gesture of his hand, Ji Xixing believed there would be endless women willing to throw themselves at him.
There was no need for him to keep showing interest in a woman like her, someone so unromantic and clearly trying to avoid him.
“Why me?” Ji Xixing could not understand. She turned to look at him, confusion deepening in her eyes. “Mr. Gu, why did you choose me?”
Ji Xixing did not believe in love at first sight.
She never had.
“Fate,” he said.
“You just seem very likable, Miss Ji. You suit my taste.”
It was clearly not the truth.
“Mr. Gu, that’s not very convincing,” Ji Xixing said without mercy. “I have known my fiancé for over ten years, and he still refused to marry me.”
“How am I supposed to believe that you, who have only met me twice, would say something like that?”
“That just means he has bad character,” Gu Wangxuan replied, smoothly avoiding the point.
“I am far more serious about relationships than he is.”
“Yes, his character is indeed not good,” Ji Xixing said, shifting her gaze away again.
“But the outside world does not have a good opinion of you either, Mr. Gu. It’s hard to believe you are more serious than him when it comes to relationships.”
Ji Xixing did not believe him. She was part of this circle and knew how chaotic it could be. Many men cheated even after marriage, let alone those who were not bound by anything at all.
“Rumors are only half true,” Gu Wangxuan said, frowning slightly as if reconsidering something she had reminded him of.
After a brief silence, he continued, “You can think about it carefully before giving me an answer. After all, marriage is a major life decision.”
“I will think about it,” Ji Xixing replied.
This was not something she was considering for now, but she still gave him a graceful answer.
Gu Wangxuan had met her mostly when she was smiling. Her eyes curved gently like a moonlight glow in the sky, soft and beautiful. Yet beneath that surface lay a coldness that made people feel the moon was distant and untouchable.
“Your smile makes it sound like you’re thinking, just brush him off for now. We won’t meet again anyway, so whether I consider it or not doesn’t matter,” Gu Wangxuan commented.
Ji Xixing’s smile stiffened slightly. She put on a hurt expression. “Mr. Gu actually thinks that of me. I’m not sure whether to be sad or to admit you understand me a little too well.”
“But since I already believe in fate and got into your car, maybe in the future we really could end up bound together by a red marriage certificate.”
Ji Xixing was only joking.
But she did not expect that in the near future, her words would come true.