Jiang Shi felt as if she were nailed to the spot, unconsciously touching the stub of her missing pinky finger.
The bitterness in her heart surged up layer by layer.
How could she not know that she had become increasingly sharp and caustic? But she couldn’t control it.
Loathing herself on one hand, while intensifying it on the other.
Becoming less and less like herself.
Her throat felt dry and astringent. Jiang Shi turned her head to look out the window.
The streetlights dissolved into blobs of light and shadow in her moistened eyes.
“Cheng Jili, let’s talk.”
The man had just started the car, staring straight ahead. “Don’t talk. I’m driving.”
Jiang Shi, “…”
Cheng Jili had been growing more and more impatient lately. He could say whatever he wanted, but he refused to listen to her say one extra word.
She endured it the whole way, until the car pulled into the garage at home and Cheng Jili turned off the engine and got out.
She was just about to speak when she saw him take a car key off the wall, stride over to the orange Bentayga beside them, and pull open the door to get in.
“Where are you going?” Jiang Shi quickly spoke up.
Cheng Jili tilted his head, a cynical smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Mrs. Cheng sure loves to keep tabs on me. Want to come along?”
“…” Jiang Shi suppressed her emotions. “When are you coming back? I have something important to tell you.”
“I’ll come back when it’s time to come back.”
As the words fell, the car door shut, the engine started immediately, and the car drove straight out of the garage.
Two days later.
Cheng Jili still hadn’t come home. They had long since blocked each other on WeChat, and when she called, no one answered.
As if he had vanished from the face of the earth.
Early in the morning, Jiang Shi pushed open the door to the studio.
Han Xiaozhu immediately came up to greet her. “Teacher Jiang, you’re finally here! That lady from the Zhang family has been calling nonstop asking about how her qipao is coming along!”
“It’s done,” Jiang Shi said. “I’ll deliver it to her in person in a bit.”
“Then she’ll probably go on and on again trying to introduce you to her son,” Han Xiaozhu clicked her tongue twice. “This auntie, really. How many times have we told her—our Teacher Jiang is married. Why does she keep trying to play matchmaker?”
Jiang Shi smiled faintly and walked into the back room, lowering her head to organize the qipao patterns on the table.
Thankfully, she had a habit of finishing work ahead of time. Otherwise, taking two days off would have surely piled up a mountain of tasks.
Lin Yu, who was sorting threads nearby, suddenly let out a light laugh, her tone airy. “You can’t blame her, really. Our Teacher Jiang’s husband is so mysterious—even those of us who work together every day have never seen him. Mrs. Zhang must think Teacher Jiang is just using ‘married’ as an excuse to brush her off.”
“That’s true,” Han Xiaozhu said, sweeping the floor with a grin. “Teacher Jiang, is your husband especially busy? What kind of work does he do?”
Jiang Shi had married Cheng Jili right after graduating from university. She had come to this custom qipao studio some time after the wedding. By then, Cheng Jili already paid her little attention, so naturally he wouldn’t come here looking for her.
The wealthy ladies who knew her identity would contact her privately to commission qipaos—they wouldn’t come to the shop in person—so none of her colleagues knew her husband’s identity.
At the thought that the last time she’d seen Cheng Jili was two days ago, Jiang Shi spoke lightly, “A missing person. Probably trafficked across the border and busy running telecom scams.”
“…Teacher Jiang is really humorous,” Han Xiaozhu’s mouth twitched. “But outstanding men are all pretty busy. Just take it easy, okay.”
Lin Yu gave a light snort through her nose. “Xiaozhu, you’d better keep your eyes wide open when you look for a man in the future. Best to find someone like my husband—no matter how busy he is, he always puts me first. Just this morning he said he’d pick me up tonight to go see a movie.”
She and Jiang Shi had joined the studio in the same year, but her client count was nowhere near Jiang Shi’s. She was always picking fights with Jiang Shi, both openly and covertly, and her favorite pastime was bringing up her husband.
Jiang Shi didn’t want to bother with her.
Lin Yu went ahead and called her out by name. “Teacher Jiang, that new romance film is getting a lot of buzz lately. Hasn’t your husband asked you to go see it? There’s no way he can’t spare even that much time, right?”
Han Xiaozhu saw the situation going south and tried to intervene. “Teacher Lin, let’s drop it.”
“What’s the harm in asking?” Lin Yu raised an eyebrow smugly. “Teacher Jiang, let me give you a piece of advice—when a man loses his enthusiasm, odds are he’s got someone else on the side.”
Jiang Shi had reached her limit. She slowly lifted her eyes. “Thanks for the advice, but I don’t make a habit of discussing personal matters in the workplace. After all, my professional competence speaks for itself—I don’t need to prop up my pride by comparing husbands.”
“…”
With that, she picked up her car keys and left to deliver a cheongsam to the Huo family, leaving Lin Yu behind with a face gone green.
Just as Han Xiaozhu had predicted, Aunt Zhang once again brought up the idea of Jiang Shi meeting her son.
She had a deep fondness for the cheongsams Jiang Shi made and would commission several new pieces every season. Jiang Shi couldn’t bear to refuse her too bluntly, and it took several rounds of back-and-forth before she managed to leave smoothly.
She drove to another lady’s house afterward, measured her waist, and then returned to the office to draft the patterns.
Her grandfather had been a renowned master of custom cheongsam in northern Beijing, with over six decades in the trade. It was only through his personal tutelage that she had entered this profession.
Her grandfather once said that craftsmanship is the foundation of one’s livelihood, and reputation is a treasure passed down through generations.
She treated every client with sincerity, striving for perfection in every pattern she drafted.
And in those long, lonely nights, it was her work that kept her company.
But lately, her eyes had been bothering her.
Dark specks floated before her vision, her eyesight had deteriorated noticeably, and patterns would blur if she stared at them too long.
Today was even worse—a perfectly straight line on the paper seemed to bend and warp right before her eyes.
Jiang Shi rubbed her eyes. She couldn’t hold out any longer, so she went alone to the eye clinic for an examination.
The doctor pointed at the test results and said, “Your retina is naturally weak, and combined with eye strain, it’s led to retinal detachment. I recommend you stop working immediately and get surgery as soon as possible.”
“Surgery?”
She hadn’t expected it to be this serious.
The doctor nodded. “It’s best to have a family member accompany you after the operation. Go home and discuss it—see when your family has time, and schedule the surgery as soon as possible.”
Jiang Shi walked out of the hospital clutching the examination report, the doctor’s grave words still echoing in her ears.
Retinal detachment—work must stop.
Surgery needed soon—no time for delay.
Rest required afterward—no fine-detail work of any kind.
In that instant, bewilderment, helplessness, and a loneliness that sank into her very bones all welled up at once.
If even her work had to stop, then what did she have left?
And the most ridiculous part was that when she heard she needed surgery, the first person who came to mind was still that man who didn’t spare her a single thought.
Back in the car, Jiang Shi stared blankly at her phone for a while, then finally dialed Cheng Jili’s number.
Still no answer.
Jiang Shi was a proud woman. This dying marriage with Cheng Jili was nothing to be proud of, and even though everyone else had long figured it out, she had no intention of admitting it out loud herself.
But she was truly anxious today, so she simply called Cheng Jili’s assistant.
The other party answered almost instantly. “Hello, ma’am. Is there something you need?”
The familiar respectful tone only made her throat tighten.
A proper wife looking for her own husband, yet she had to go through an assistant.
Such a distant and ridiculous relationship—and it just so happened to be between her and Cheng Jili.
Her hand tightened around the phone. She suppressed the emotions surging in her heart and said calmly, “I have something very urgent to discuss with Cheng Jili. Have him pick up the phone.”