Su Wanyun's tone was too calm.
So calm that Ji Mingxuan didn't know how to react for a moment.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Su Wanyun raised a hand to cut him off.
"Are you wondering why, since I already know, I don't go argue or make a scene?"
Ji Mingxuan said nothing, but his eyes spoke for him.
Su Wanyun smiled. The smile was faint, like someone flipping past a book she'd long finished reading.
"Your father may not be a good husband, but whether it's toward the two of you or toward me, he's been responsible. Besides, even though he has women outside, he never brings the drama to my face."
She paused.
"Besides, if I argued and made a scene, what would it change? Nothing. It would only make him more annoyed. So why not just pretend I don't know?"
She looked at her son, her gaze as calm as still water.
"I'm happy to pretend I don't know."
Ji Mingxuan's throat bobbed, a thin layer of moisture in his eyes—feeling wronged on his mother's behalf.
Su Wanyun reached out and ruffled his hair, saying with a smile, "All right, you're grown up now. This world isn't just about right and wrong, black and white."
She sighed inwardly—she really had raised these two children to be too naive. Her daughter was fine, working at a school, but this son would one day have to take over Ji Corporation.
Ji Mingxuan wouldn't let it go, his voice a bit muffled. "Mom, what if he… has other children out there?"
The moment the words fell, the room went silent.
Su Wanyun smiled.
It was a smile neither Ji Mingyu nor Ji Mingxuan quite understood.
Not bitter, not mocking—more like… a kind of certainty.
"Rest assured," Su Wanyun said quietly, her tone as light as if she were remarking on the nice weather, "your father won't be having any other children."
Ji Mingxuan froze, not quite understanding what she meant.
Ji Mingyu, however, gave Su Wanyun a deep, searching look.
Her mother's meaning was definitely not something like "Ji Zhiyuan values us deeply and would never have children outside."
More likely, her mother Su Wanyun had done something.
Su Wanyun didn't explain further. She patted Ji Mingxuan's shoulder and stood up.
"All right, don't dwell on this anymore." Her tone returned to its usual gentleness. "Don't worry—Ji Corporation will be yours in the end. No one can take it away."
Seeing that the atmosphere had eased, Ji Mingyu felt how much had happened in a single day—her brain felt stuffed with cotton, swollen and heavy.
"Mom," she said with a yawn, "I'm heading back to my room. Don't call me for dinner."
Su Wanyun glanced at her, said nothing more, and just nodded.
Ji Mingyu returned to her bedroom, tidied up halfheartedly, and threw herself into the soft covers.
She'd thought she wouldn't be able to sleep—after all, in one day she had awakened, transmigrated into a book, and learned she was the villainous supporting female character. Any normal person would toss and turn all night thinking about it.
But the moment her head hit the pillow, she was out.
When she woke again, it was already noon the next day.
Sunlight leaked through the gap in the curtains. Ji Mingyu lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for three seconds before her stomach let out a long protest.
When Ji Mingyu came downstairs in her slippers, her steps faltered.
In the living room, her father Ji Zhiyuan and her mother Su Wanyun were both there.
Rare.
Su Wanyun saw her come downstairs and lifted her chin toward Wang Ma. "Wang Ma, have the kitchen bring up the bird's nest congee."
"Dad," Ji Mingyu called out, a smile spreading across her face.
She knew perfectly well—from the book—that Ji Zhiyuan wasn't her biological father.
But so what?
The affection built up over twenty-some years wasn't fake.
And neither was the money.
She walked over grinning and plopped herself down between the two of them, hooking her arm through Su Wanyun's on the left and leaning against Ji Zhiyuan on the right.
"Dad, how come you're so free today, Mr. Big Boss?" She tilted her head, her tone playfully coquettish. "It's the middle of the day and you're not at work—you're actually at home keeping my mom company."
Ji Zhiyuan smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening. "I was away on business for so long. I missed you two."
"You missed us?" Ji Mingyu drew out the words. "What good is just saying it—who knows if it's true or not."
Ji Zhiyuan laughed and tapped her forehead with a finger. "When you came down just now, you didn't take a good look at the coffee table in your sitting room, did you? Go up and see."
Ji Mingyu's eyes lit up, and without a word she sprang off the sofa.
She didn't even wait for the elevator—slippers slapping, she scampered up the stairs, taking them two at a time, dashing up to the third floor in one go.
She pushed open her bedroom door. On the coffee table in the sitting room, several gift boxes were neatly stacked.
She opened the biggest one.
A set of emerald jewelry lay quietly on the velvet lining—a necklace, bracelet, ring, and earrings, each stone a lush, dripping green, with carat sizes dazzling to behold.
Ji Mingyu's grin stretched nearly to her ears.
She put on the whole set in no time, then clattered back downstairs and twirled in front of Ji Zhiyuan and Su Wanyun, her skirt flaring out in a beautiful arc.
"Mom, look! Isn't it pretty?"
Without waiting for Su Wanyun's answer, she turned to Ji Zhiyuan, her voice sweet enough to pull taffy. "Thank you, Daddy. Love you!"
Ji Zhiyuan leaned back on the sofa, watching his daughter twirl in front of him wearing the full set, his eyes brimming with amusement.
"Worthy of my daughter," he said, short and simple.
Su Wanyun added mildly from the side, "That whole set is worth over twenty million. Of course it's pretty."
Ji Mingyu had sharp ears. The moment the number registered, her smile grew even brighter.
She immediately turned to Ji Zhiyuan, all attentiveness. "Dad, are you thirsty? You must be thirsty, right? Let me pour you some water."
With that, she darted off and came back with a cup of warm water, presenting it to Ji Zhiyuan with both hands.
Ji Zhiyuan was delighted by his daughter's antics and cooperatively took the cup and drank a sip.
The moment he set the cup down, the smile faded from his face and his tone turned serious.
"In a while, it's the Sheng family patriarch's birthday. Wear this set."
He paused.
"At that time, the marriage alliance between our Ji family and Shengshi Group will also be announced."
The smile on Ji Mingyu's face didn't change, but her words made the living room fall silent for a moment.
"Dad, I don't want to marry Sheng Tianqi."
The smile drained from Ji Zhiyuan's face.
He set down his water glass, the base tapping lightly against the coffee table.
"You don't want to marry Sheng Tianqi," he said, his tone not heavy, but every word weighty. "Then who do you want to marry?"
He leaned back on the sofa, his gaze settling on his daughter's face.
"You need to understand—you are the young lady of the Ji family. Not just anyone is fit to marry you. Playing around outside is one thing, but marriage is another."
The words were blunt, even a little cold.
Su Wanyun, sitting to one side, didn't interject. She picked up her teacup and took a slow sip.
Ji Mingyu wasn't intimidated. Instead, she leaned forward slightly, her tone turning serious.
"Dad, what are you imagining?"
She blinked.
"I only said I don't want to marry Sheng Tianqi. I never said I wouldn't agree to the marriage alliance with Sheng Corporation."
Ji Zhiyuan looked at her, his gaze scrutinizing, as if trying to judge how much of her words was true and how much was false.