About Ji Chi and Zhou Shou
Ji Chi was born into an ordinary family.
Why not call it a normal family?
Because Ji Chi thought being a “normal person” was actually kind of hard.
He always believed that a normal person was someone who, even when placed in a crowd, still had a little spark — someone who wouldn’t be completely invisible.
His sense of self-worth was pretty low. Maybe it was because of his family background, or maybe just because he never had much confidence in himself.
His parents never fought, but they also didn’t seem affectionate. They lived more like two people sharing a life out of convenience — in simple terms, just making do.
When Ji Chi was in elementary school, his parents took turns picking him up and dropping him off. But they never really asked about his school life. If Ji Chi wanted to talk, they’d let him, but they didn’t give much response.
And so, with that plain, colorless, uneventful routine, Ji Chi grew up.
He was grateful to his parents for raising him, so during college, he started working part-time.
He didn’t want to keep living off their allowance — he even wanted to send some money home.
If there was one phrase that summed up Ji Chi perfectly, it would be obedient little darling.
He was always good. Always well-behaved.
So he thought life was boring — but not entirely boring.
After all, being alive meant getting to eat delicious food and play fun games. Everything he hadn’t experienced before was, in some way, interesting.
His life might have been dull, but he could still find tiny moments of fun from different angles, different perspectives.
Maybe that was the cost of being too sensible.
He always looked for amusement in the smallest things, entertaining himself.
And he always, instinctively, thought about others first.
Then, one day, he met Zhou Shou.
His first impression of Zhou Shou was that he was bad — really bad.
No matter how he looked at it — bad, bad, bad!
Zhou Shou brought him experiences he’d never had before.
But sometimes, Ji Chi couldn’t help but wonder — there had to be a reason, something behind how things turned out the way they did.
When their relationship had softened a little, he once asked Zhou Shou about it, but Zhou Shou didn’t answer.
And after that, the topic never came up again.
Ji Chi wasn’t curious about Zhou Shou’s family, and he never asked why Zhou Shou never went home for the New Year.
To Ji Chi, liking someone meant liking who they were now, and who they’d become in the future. That was enough.
Getting to know someone’s past was messy. It could even bring up old wounds.
He wasn’t that selfless, and he didn’t have the power to heal someone else’s past.
He always believed that whoever tied the knot had to be the one to untie it.
Just like Zhou Shou — he had hurt Ji Chi deeply. But he made up for it. He apologized.
No one’s a saint, so Ji Chi could forgive Zhou Shou.
But Zhou Shou couldn’t forgive himself.
He’d regretted his mistakes many times, knowing he’d left a bad impression on Ji Chi. But even if he could redo everything, he’d probably still make the same choices.
No one had ever given him love or taught him how to love — so he simply didn’t know how.
He had climbed step by step to his current position through skill and strategy alone.
In the corporate world, there was no such thing as mutual affection — only endless blame-shifting between clients and contractors. His only job was to make sure the project turned out perfect.
Who was responsible for what didn’t matter — as long as the result was good.
So at first, Zhou Shou believed that as long as Ji Chi stayed by his side, that was good enough.
He went out of his way to find out everything about Ji Chi, putting on the same professional mask he used with clients, inching his way closer.
But to Zhou Shou, Ji Chi was too good.
To him, Ji Chi was perfect.
And who doesn’t like — who doesn’t want to possess — something or someone perfect?
Zhou Shou got impatient.
And then he made mistakes. Bad ones.
But luckily, Ji Chi was “the perfect person.”
Luckily, Ji Chi was willing to forgive him.
Luckily, Ji Chi woke him up, even if unintentionally.
Ji Chi thought, Zhou Shou did have a home now. A home with him.
And Zhou Shou thought, Ji Chi was the one who shone.
It was Ji Chi’s light that pulled him out of that dark, miserable corner.