Ni Zijing gave Qiao Qiao no room for refusal.
She reached out and wrapped an arm around Qiao Qiao’s waist, thinking to herself that this waist was simply too thin.
It was slender enough to be spanned by a single grip.
As Ni Zijing leaned closer, Qiao Qiao’s breathing suddenly grew hurried. Suppressing the churning in her stomach, she said with difficulty, “President Ni, let me go.”
“What if I refuse?” Ni Zijing raised an eyebrow.
Qiao Qiao reached up to cover her mouth, holding her breath. “Go away, I’m going to throw up.”
Ni Zijing chuckled softly. “Are you kidding me? I…”
Before she could finish, Qiao Qiao actually threw up.
Ni Zijing froze completely. After a long moment, she ground out a few words through gritted teeth: “Do you hate me that much?”
Did she really hate her so much that the moment she got close, she would vomit?
As the price of her own mischief, Qiao Qiao had no choice but to invite Ni Zijing back inside her home and find a clean pair of pajamas for her to change into.
The washing machine roared loudly as Ni Zijing’s sweater underwent the washing and spin-drying cycle.
Qiao Qiao had suffered from a weak stomach for a long time; her stomach had already been feeling a bit off when she went out earlier, but she hadn’t expected she would actually…
Looking at Ni Zijing sitting on the sofa, with the massive trash bag retrieved and placed on the floor, Qiao Qiao had no idea how to explain that this was all just a coincidence.
Since Qiao Qiao remained silent, Ni Zijing broke the ice instead, asking, “How long has it been since you ate?”
“I ate this morning.” With that, Qiao Qiao pressed her lips together, her stomach beginning to ache dully once more.
It was already four o’clock in the afternoon.
Speechless, Ni Zijing cast a look at Qiao Qiao and got up to head straight to the kitchen. She boiled some hot water and comically rummaged through that enormous trash bag.
Qiao Qiao watched her. “Are you going to feed me trash?”
If not for the consideration of Qiao Qiao’s newly healed foot injury, Ni Zijing would have wanted to toss this person onto the bed and wrap her up right now. Trash? How could she ever bear to feed Qiao Qiao trash!
“The milk, crackers, breakfast pastries, and other food and drinks I bought you, you didn’t touch a single one of them, did you?” Ni Zijing muttered as she fished out two small pastries.
Sure enough.
She had seen that Qiao Qiao’s home was completely bare, so she had bought a bit of everything and sent it over. And look how that turned out; the person hadn’t even given it a proper glance.
Qiao Qiao said nothing more, left with no choice but to watch as Ni Zijing brewed a cup of hot milk for her and placed an unwrapped pastry right in front of her.
“Eat a little to line your stomach first. I’ll go buy groceries later and come back to cook dinner for you tonight.”
Holding the cup of milk, Qiao Qiao took a few sips. Her stomach was indeed terribly uncomfortable, so she obediently ate the pastry. As she ate, she felt something was off. Ever since Ni Zijing stepped foot into her home, why had the direction of things turned so strange?
What had Ni Zijing come here for anyway? Why did her last sentence sound as though she intended to move into Qiao Qiao’s place?
Sipping her hot milk, Qiao Qiao tilted her head to look at the person standing before her with crossed arms. “Did you come looking for me because something happened?”
Ni Zijing was wearing another pair of Qiao Qiao’s pajamas, navy blue with a shirt collar. Standing there so casually, she somehow managed to make even pajamas look like a designer brand.
She stared until Qiao Qiao finished the milk before smiling faintly, her narrowed eyes carrying a hint of playful mockery. “A pretty big thing.”
“What is it?” Qiao Qiao asked instinctively.
“Didn’t you say that if the money wasn’t enough, I should come asking you for more?” Ni Zijing bent down to meet her eye level and curved her lips. “The money was too little.”
Qiao Qiao: “Are you kidding me?”
Who in their right mind would believe Ni Zijing was short of pocket change?
“Are you short on money, President Ni?” Qiao Qiao recalled the scene of Ni Zijing rummaging through the trash bag earlier.
Ni Zijing looked at her with an open, honest gaze. “Extremely short, especially yours. Let me put it this way: the money you gave me falls far short of covering it. Don’t bother making up the difference, just let me cook for you every day to pay off the debt.”
Qiao Qiao: “Do you think that logic holds up?”
“It holds up perfectly. What kind of logic does love need?” Ni Zijing finally showed off her new key in front of Qiao Qiao. “By the way, just to let you know, I’m your new neighbor.”
Qiao Qiao felt like she was going to throw up again.
Watching Ni Zijing dangle that ring of keys in front of her, she abruptly stood up, her cup slamming heavily onto the table.
“Are you ever going to finish?” Qiao Qiao said.
Ni Zijing wasn’t frightened by her outburst; instead, her gaze darkened slightly, her voice turning somewhat deep. “Not yet. Why do you always keep pushing me away? If you really hated me, you wouldn’t have let me into your home just now.”
She wanted to take care of Qiao Qiao.
People often grew very timid when approaching happiness, because sometimes it took immense courage to grasp hold of it. In her eyes, Qiao Qiao was currently in that exact stage. Ni Zijing had never intended to be the one to pull out Qiao Qiao’s quills; she wanted to wait for Qiao Qiao to retract her quills on her own.
She would wait.
Qiao Qiao had already walked over to the doorway and turned her head away. “You should leave.”
“Fine, I’m leaving, giving you time to calm down by yourself.” Ni Zijing scooped up her jacket and walked over. “I’ll come back at eight o’clock to cook dinner for you. I’ll go to the supermarket myself, so you just rest for a bit.”
Qiao Qiao didn’t speak, but Ni Zijing suddenly turned back to face her, letting out a sigh.
“Qiao Qiao, the first time I saw you was five years ago. That’s right, I fell for you first. No matter what you’re thinking in your heart, you need to know this; I am serious about you.”
When Ni Zijing said she was leaving, it merely meant she went next door.
After closing her door, Qiao Qiao could hear Ni Zijing unlocking the door next door with her key, followed by a muttered complaint: “Keys are such a pain, I need to find time to install a digital keypad lock.”
The door clicked shut.
Looking at the empty glass cup on the table, Qiao Qiao picked it up and rinsed it clean in the kitchen. Lying down on the bed, she suddenly felt the apartment was awfully quiet, so quiet that she could only hear the working sound of the washing machine.
Well, this was truly bizarre.
Could it be that she was already getting used to Ni Zijing? Ridiculous. Time to sleep.
Pulling the blanket over herself and closing her eyes, Qiao Qiao suddenly heard the washing machine beep.
“Wash complete! Wash complete!”
The washing machine chimed its notification sound.
Qiao Qiao decided to ignore it and continue sleeping, but the washing machine’s reminder system went completely crazy, repeating over and over without the lid being opened: “Wash complete, wash complete.”
“Wash complete, wash complete.”
“I know!” Qiao Qiao bounded up into a sitting position and got out of bed.
When she lifted the lid of the washing machine and pulled out Ni Zijing’s sweater, she froze.
The white sweater that had been loose and baggy on the tall Ni Zijing, the moment Qiao Qiao held it in her hands, she immediately felt its abnormal density. The original sleeves had shrunk down to elbow length, not to mention the neckline, which probably required one to sharpen their head to a point just to squeeze through.
President Ni’s sweater had shrunk in her washing machine.
Qiao Qiao felt like crying without tears.
Meanwhile, completely oblivious to this, Ni Zijing was tidying up at home and getting ready to head to the supermarket when she abruptly received a call from Song Cha.
Asking her to come over to Zhuose for a few drinks.
Ni Zijing said, “I’m not going. I need to go to the supermarket to buy groceries.”
On the other end, Song Cha slammed her hand on the table and laughed. “Turned over a new leaf, have you? Seriously, you haven’t hung out with me since you came back to China. Get your butt over here right now; I’ve also got some serious business to discuss with you.”
Seeing that Ni Zijing remained silent, Song Cha added, “There’s a supermarket right here at Zhuose, so it won’t delay you, alright?”
Only then did Ni Zijing agree.
Song Cha, twenty-nine years old, had been a hotshot gold-medal screenwriter in the industry ever since she entered the field at twenty. Having grown tired of writing television and film scripts, she was now looking to switch things up and produce a variety show with her husband, the program producer Peng Xinchen.
Arriving at Zhuose, Ni Zijing headed straight for the second floor.
If she didn’t have business to discuss, she might have sat downstairs to hang out with the younger crowd. The booth seating on the second floor offered a better view, higher spending minimums, and relatively fewer people.
It wasn’t quite peak business hours for Zhuose yet, and the bar’s background music was comfortable. Ni Zijing quickly spotted Song Cha waving at her and walked over.
“No alcohol, I drove here.” Ni Zijing requested a glass of plain water.
Peng Xinchen smiled and tapped the table, indicating that the groceries she had asked for had already been purchased and were waiting for her.
Ni Zijing picked up the shopping bag. “Thanks.”
Song Cha had been following all of Ni Zijing’s recent online entertainment gossip and smiled teasingly. “Well, well, looks like our big star Qiao Qiao is pretty hard to conquer?”
Ni Zijing unconcernedly picked up her glass and took a sip of water, thinking to herself that this water tasted utterly terrible, completely devoid of flavor.
Song Cha chuckled, offering earnest advice: “Zijing, Xinchen and I are working on a new variety show recently. How about we invite you to be a guest?”
Ni Zijing frowned. “Me?”
“Yes,” Peng Xinchen took over the conversation. “It’s a simulated romance show, and we want to invite six people to randomly pair up into three couples. We did a lot of data research recently, and the top three pairings with soaring public awareness online are you and Qiao Qiao, Qin Zhijian and Sang Yi, plus Yu Huai and Cheng Gan.”
Song Cha smiled. “Speaking of this Cheng Gan, didn’t he used to chase Qiao Qiao too?”
Peng Xinchen nodded. “I heard Yu Huai harbors feelings for Cheng Gan, though who knows what the situation is like now.”
Ni Zijing raised an eyebrow, selectively ignoring the other names. “Have you approached Qiao Qiao? Did she agree?”
“Not yet. Aren’t you her boss? We’re aligning with you first,” Song Cha said with squinted, smiling eyes.
Pondering for a moment, Ni Zijing asked, “Do you mean that as long as Qiao Qiao and I go on this show, I’ll be able to form a couple with her?”
She needed to confirm this point.
“It will only happen if she chooses you and you choose her as well,” Song Cha said leisurely. “What’s wrong? Lacking even this bit of confidence in yourself?”
“I am.” Thinking about how Qiao Qiao had thrown up all over her earlier today gave Ni Zijing a headache. She stood up, ready to leave. “I’m not coming.”
Song Cha let out an “oh” and whipped out her killer trump card: “Then you can just watch Qiao Qiao get paired up with someone else.”
“Song Cha!” Ni Zijing’s tone turned heavier, her footsteps halting.
Song Cha continued, “I’ll warn you ahead of time: that pair with Yu Huai and Cheng Gan wasn’t actually found by me; they were shoved in by upper management. Want to guess how coincidental it is? The company backing Yu Huai’s studio changed hands. Do you know who took over? Ling Yang was dug out by his original company. Now you see the connection, right? After Ling Yang got beaten up by you like that, he was locked up by Elder Ling for a while, and now he’s out and kicking up trouble again. You like Qiao Qiao so publicly and passionately, aren’t you worried about him tripping you up behind your back?”
Oh, that grandson dared?
Song Cha drawled leisurely, “Well? Consider joining our show. As long as you come, I’ll definitely call Qiao Qiao over, and it’ll also be convenient for you two to nurture your relationship.”
With her shopping bag hooked casually on one finger, Ni Zijing stood by the edge of the table for a long moment before looking at Song Cha.
Her pitch-black eyes held a trace of sharpness, the corners of her eyes curved upward, yet her smile was chillingly cold.
She withdrew her gaze and left without saying another word.
“Will this actually work?” Peng Xinchen pulled Song Cha into his arms and asked in a low voice, “Are we really putting these three pairs together? If Qiao Qiao doesn’t choose Zijing, won’t the two of us be hated to death?”
“Relax. If Zijing knows Qiao Qiao is coming, can you imagine her staying away? Besides, if it’s not with Zijing, who else could Qiao Qiao be with? Sang Yi? Forget it, that couple is locked in as genuine lovers. Cheng Gan is even less likely; Qiao Qiao would only ever choose Zijing. As for Yu Huai, Cheng Gan and Qiao Qiao already have bad blood between them, putting them all together on a show will guarantee massive attraction.”
Peng Xinchen sighed. “You really are something.”