Ji Shijing had a slight look of astonishment.
It was already very late at night, but his computer screen was still lit as he was working overtime at the company.
Around this time, he had just been preparing to finish up his work.
When his phone rang late at night, Ji Shijing had just gone out to pour a glass of water and didn’t see it ringing. By the time he returned, Ning Wanji’s third call was already ringing.
Not many people knew his phone number, and ordinary business partners wouldn’t choose to call him at this hour. Usually, ordinary people had to make an appointment to reach him, so even if he wasn’t familiar with the number calling him, he would definitely know the person.
Ji Shijing set his water glass on the desk, rubbed his temples, and just as he picked up the call—before he could even finish asking who it was—he was met with a head-on scolding from the other side.
Ning Wanji had drunk too much, but he had not been drinking and had remained sober all along. The man walked away from his office desk to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, drew back the curtains, and looked at the magnificent night view outside, his voice cold and quiet: “You’ve been drinking? What are your coordinates?”
Today, he was wearing a Rolex watch on his wrist. By the light, the man looked at the watch face; the hour hand was already vaguely pointing to two o’clock. Going out to drink so late and still thinking of calling a designated driver—he really didn’t know whether to mock her for having too much nerve, or to praise her high awareness of traffic safety rules, given that she actually thought of avoiding drunk driving by finding a designated driver.
The other side probably didn’t hear his words clearly and was still drunk-complaining: “Are you annoying or what? I’m just calling a designated driver, why do you care whether I drink or not?”
Ji Shijing didn’t like dealing with drunkards. In Ning Wanji’s current state, she eight out of ten couldn’t hear clearly what he was trying to express anyway, mistaking his phone call for a designated driver. He didn’t know when he had taken on the profession of a designated driver. If it were anyone else making such an unreasonable phone call to him in the middle of the night, he would probably hang up directly.
But perhaps because the other party was Ning Wanji—someone he knew and shared past intersections and bonds with—Ji Shijing said nothing and patiently listened through all the nonsense she rambled on the other end of the line.
It seemed she really had drunk too much.
Ji Shijing leaned sideways against the window, his finger lightly tapping the glass: “Ning Wanji, do you know who I am?”
Ning Wanji had a bit of a headache. When she drank to the point of feeling dizzy, she easily got confused and didn’t carefully distinguish the other person’s voice, merely opening her mouth to say: “How do you know what my name is… How can you, a designated driver, know what my name is?”
The person was truly drunk to confusion, unable to even speak properly, and after chatting for half a day, she still failed to recognize his voice. Ji Shijing rubbed his furrowed brow, and before he could speak to respond, he heard noisy voices over the phone: “Wanwan, why is it taking you so much effort just to call a designated driver? I’ve already settled the bill.”
“Don’t be noisy.” Ning Wanji crawled up from the table, looked at He Qingqiu, and said: “He’s asking me for my coordinates, so where are we right now? Do you know?”
She was truly drunk into a daze and didn’t even know where her current coordinates were. Fortunately, He Qingqiu’s intelligence was still somewhat normal; she wasn’t completely dead drunk, though she was also a bit out of it. The terrain in Beicheng City was too complex, and even locals couldn’t fully figure out the roads without relying on navigation. But He Qingqiu had been to this area before, so she still had some memory of it.
The other party patted her and continued: “Isn’t that easy?” He Qingqiu opened the location on Amap navigation, zoomed in on their current spot, and showed it to Ning Wanji: “Here, this is the place. Quickly report the location, or else we’ll have to spend the night here.”
In April in Beicheng, it was originally just early spring, and a cool wind blew at night. Ning Wanji’s head was still not very clear. Holding onto the table, she barely stood up from her seat, looked at the phone location handed to her by He Qingqiu, and reported her current coordinates word by word.
Ji Shijing leaned against the window, swiftly jotting down the address Ning Wanji gave him with a pen.
If Ning Wanji were sober right now, she would definitely think she had a lot of nerve, but she wasn’t sober now and was completely unaware of what she was doing.
The young girl’s voice was still as soft and sweet as it was back in high school, carrying a slightly sweet alcoholic tone. Ji Shijing turned on the phone speaker, got up, picked up the suit jacket draped over the chair, and then spoke: “Stay right there and don’t move. Wait for me to drive over and pick you up.”
Ning Wanji gave an “mm” sound, her whole body slumping over the table. Before she could recover her senses, Ji Shijing had already hung up the phone. The night was dim, and the streetlight shone on the side of her face. Ning Wanji softly raised her head and said: “Strange… Why does a designated driver drive over by himself to pick us up?”
He Qingqiu scratched her head and continued: “Really? Did you hear it wrong?”
…
It shouldn’t be hearing it wrong. Mm, also, why did this designated driver’s voice sound so familiar? Could she have dialed the wrong number?
Just as this thought occurred to her, the young girl shook her head like a rattle. She was so smart, she wouldn’t dial the wrong number.
＊
It didn’t take Ji Shijing very long to drive his Lamborghini to the location specified by Ning Wanji. Luckily, the late-night traffic environment in Beicheng City was okay and not that congested, otherwise the drive would have taken at least an hour.
He parked the car by the roadside. As he got out, he saw Ning Wanji sitting on the curb with her head buried in her knees. He Qingqiu beside her was a bit more clear-headed.
Ji Shijing strode down from the car, rubbing his furrowed brow. Walking against the light and shadows up to Ning Wanji, his voice was very gentle: “Ning Wanji.”
Hearing someone call her name, Ning Wanji shook her head, pressed her palms against the asphalt road, and struggled up from the ground. The loose hair on her forehead covered her dark obsidian-like eyes. Seeing Ji Shijing arrive, she looked up, boldly grabbed his hand, and said in a low voice: “Why are you here? Didn’t I call a designated driver?”
He Qingqiu sobered up earlier than Ning Wanji. Hearing Ji Shijing’s voice, half of her drunkenness was already gone. Probably because she was often naughty in high school and had points deducted by Ji Shijing on duty, He Qingqiu almost subconsciously blurted out: “Hello, Senior.”
Ji Shijing glanced at her lightly, then said indifferently: “The two of you are out drinking in the middle of the night just like this?”
Originally, He Qingqiu wasn’t feeling guilty, but when Ji Shijing put it that way, she began to feel guilty, as if two girls getting dead drunk in the middle of the night really wasn’t very good.
Didn’t Ning Wanji say she was calling a designated driver? How did she end up bringing Ji Shijing over?
At this thought, He Qingqiu was about to pull Ning Wanji’s hand, only to discover that her little best friend beside her had already stood up and directly grabbed onto Ji Shijing’s arm, refusing to let go.
It seemed the only sober person was her.
Ning Wanji had drunk too much and her head was still not very clear. Ji Shijing leaned down, his pitch-black eyes gazing at her, his voice light and cold: “Drunk as you are, you still knew to call me, treating me as a designated driver.”
This dream felt quite real…
The voice sounded very much like Senior, but he could never possibly run over in the middle of the night to pick her up just because of a single phone call from her.
The dim yellow streetlight fell on the overly handsome, cold side profile of the man in front of her. His jawline was cold and white like jade, making one want to bite it. The man was neatly dressed, with only the sleeves of his suit jacket pulled into wrinkles by Ning Wanji.
Ning Wanji looked up at him. His eyes and brows were very beautiful, just a bit too cold, but she had loved this appearance of his most when she was a student. His dark eyes were deep, the pitch-black pupils bottomless, seemingly with myriads of stars twinkling within.
Ning Wanji rested her head against his suit and spoke: “Mm, Senior, your body feels so cool. But it’s a bit warmer than mine.”
Ji Shijing’s body was naturally cool. Upon receiving Ning Wanji’s phone call, he had thrown on his suit coat and driven out directly from the company’s underground parking lot.
After all, it was only early spring, and it was very cold outside at this hour. Ning Wanji’s body was even colder than Ji Shijing’s.
Her fingers were very bold, tracing Ji Shijing’s jawline. The man’s Adam’s apple rolled slightly, his dark eyes dimming: “Let go.”
Ji Shijing’s voice was very flat, devoid of emotion. Ning Wanji wouldn’t usually have the nerve, but having drunk alcohol, her courage had grown immense. Tracing his jawline with her fingers wasn’t enough; she even went to rub his thin lips.
The handsome and elegant man slightly turned his head, avoiding her touch. Ning Wanji’s voice carried a hint of complaint: “So stingy, you won’t even let me touch you in a dream.”
She raised her head, wanting to reach the outer corner of his beautiful eyes and count exactly how many eyelashes he had. Ji Shijing let out a light sigh, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into the passenger seat.
There was a moment of dead silence in the air. Even at this point, He Qingqiu didn’t dare ask Ji Shijing what to do about her car. At worst, she could just drive it back tomorrow after work; anyway, this place had a free parking lot.
She felt that when Ning Wanji woke up tomorrow morning and realized what she had done, she would probably doubt her life choices.
There weren’t many people in Beicheng who dared act like this toward Ji Shijing, or rather, Ji Shijing wouldn’t allow anyone to treat him this way. Ning Wanji was probably the sole exception. Yet when told that Senior Ji treated her specially, this person wouldn’t believe it.
If anyone claimed there was nothing going on between the two of them, He Qingqiu felt even her cat wouldn’t buy it.
After getting into the car, He Qingqiu hurriedly closed the car door, then heard Ji Shijing’s deep voice speaking: “Address? And hers.”
He Qingqiu paused for a moment, then reported a string of address details to Ji Shijing. Afterward, she waved her hand and spoke: “Senior, um, could I trouble you with Wanwan? I don’t know where she lives. And, let me say first! I live with my parents, so it’s not convenient to bring her back. So I’ll leave her to you.”
Ji Shijing raised an eyebrow slightly, turned over to fasten the seatbelt for Ning Wanji, and said: “Not allowed to bring people back at night, yet you can stay out drinking until this hour?”
“Um… about that.”
He Qingqiu naturally knew where Ning Wanji lived, but one had to learn to adapt. She could flexibly know where Ning Wanji lived, and naturally, she could also flexibly choose not to know where she lived.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll sell her off?”
Ji Shijing turned the steering wheel, saying in a low voice.
It had to be said, his voice was really pleasant to hear, like the texture of jade striking together. No wonder so many girls liked him during student days, He Qingqiu thought dully to herself. Selling Ning Wanji wouldn’t fetch much money; any one of Ji Shijing’s cars was worth far more than selling Ning Wanji.
Ning Wanji leaned dazedly against the passenger seat. The seatbelt was too tight, making her feel somewhat uncomfortable. She twisted her body back and forth, feeling the car moving, yet unable to distinguish between dream and reality. In her trance, she could only hear the man’s attractive voice talking about whether to sell her or not.
Her mind was muddled and groggy. She reached out her hand and grabbed the hem of Ji Shijing’s shirt.
The man’s hand turning the steering wheel paused there. Fortunately, his driving skills were adept enough that he didn’t get distracted.
The shirt was very thin, allowing body heat to seep into the skin through the fabric. Her hand was very soft, scratching against his skin texture like a feather.
Ning Wanji turned her body, striving to break free from the seatbelt to lean closer to him, and then whispered: “If it’s Senior, you wouldn’t sell me off.”
Her voice still carried a touch of spoiled coyness: “Right?