This was an unexpected bonus for Ji Jie.
She hadn't held out much hope to begin with—even if she'd been rejected, a simple "okay" would have been her graceful exit, pretending she wasn't embarrassed at all.
As a child, she'd been too shy to speak up, but her later life in society taught her that the world always gives an extra candy to those who dare to ask.
And sure enough, she'd gotten it.
He Lingfeng's entire allowance for next month was about to fall into her pocket. His face was written with reluctance, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to say no.
Huo Zhenyan said his car had just been sent for inspection, and it was confirmed that it had been tampered with.
If she hadn't called off the race, he could very well have met his end tonight.
The person he looked down on had ended up saving his life.
Huo Zhenyan had also told him to stay in the hospital room and keep Ji Jie company all night.
Wasn't that just telling him to serve her as atonement? He figured there'd be no peace tonight—she'd definitely order him around, fetching tea and water, venting all the grievances she'd ever suffered.
So should he resist or cower?
He Lingfeng was deeply conflicted. It was agonizing—he'd rather have broken his own leg instead. He'd never been the type to overthink or dissect people's hearts.
But Ji Jie didn't ask him to do anything.
She didn't even say an extra word, treating him like he was invisible. She leaned against the headboard, played on her phone for a while, and then went to sleep on her own.
"…"
He Lingfeng paced around the living room outside the hospital suite, too restless to even look at his phone, poking his head out every now and then to glance at the hospital bed.
Seeing that she'd actually just fallen asleep like that, he stood there stunned for a long moment, a whirlwind of emotions washing over him. Finally, he deflated and curled up on the sofa for a nap.
At dawn, the driver came to pick him up for school. Ji Jie, for once, slept in.
She'd heard the little noises He Lingfeng made but was too lazy to open her eyes. With her foot still unable to touch the ground, she stayed in bed for ages, only replying to one message from Cheng Yunqiao, bored to distraction.
In the afternoon, she finally gave He Lingfeng a task—to film the class content for her. He Lingfeng simply started a video call, propping his phone on the desk to livestream the lesson.
Ji Jie heard the teacher on the other end notice the camera and ask about it, then received some blatant praise: "You're the most diligent student I've ever seen."
How embarrassing.
She just couldn't sit still.
Ever since she'd awakened, there had never been truly idle time in her life. Either she was in school, at work, or studying industry knowledge on the side while working. Doing nothing at all only made her restless.
In the afternoon, He Lingfeng arrived with his family's nutritious meal and that day's homework. At dinner, he feasted right in front of her. "You're eating that little?"
"I haven't gotten out of bed all day and haven't moved much—I don't burn many calories." Ji Jie took a few perfunctory bites and set down her chopsticks. "Let me see today's classwork."
He Lingfeng hadn't finished eating yet, but he picked up his backpack and tossed it to her. "There are two essays to write for history and economics. Don't touch my lab report."
"I know." She was a social sciences student—essays were the brunt of it for her—and she wasn't in the same subject group as He Lingfeng.
These short papers placed heavy emphasis on critical thinking, and she'd never actually written one during her school days. Fortunately, daily assignments didn't count heavily toward the final grade, so even if her early attempts were rough, they wouldn't affect her final diploma score.
He Lingfeng gnawed on a rib while sneakily glancing at her studying problems on the hospital bed. That serious expression, those gentle brows and eyes—she looked perfectly normal, even a little pretty.
He suddenly felt that a girl like this, blinded by infatuation with Wei Chao, was somewhat pitiful.
To put it another way, if his sister had fallen in love with his brother, didn't that brother bear some responsibility?
At this thought, he spoke up. "What month is your birthday?"
Ji Jie didn't look up, but still answered with the date on her ID card. He said smugly, "Then you really do have to call me ge."
Ji Jie smiled politely.
"Hey, you know what? Just last night, I have a cousin-uncle who was supposed to come hang out too, but he stood me up. I still can't reach him." He Lingfeng kept talking. "No idea where he flew off to. A cruel twist of fate let him dodge it—lucky bastard."
He'd only just gotten his driver's license, hadn't even had time to warm it up before it was confiscated again. Huo Zhenyan said not to even think about it before graduating high school.
"Mm-hmm, got it." Ji Jie said. "Can you stop talking to me now?"
"…"
He Lingfeng: "As if I care!"
Her foot injury wasn't serious—she just needed rest. After dinner the doctor came to check again and cleared her to go home.
"Are you going to school tomorrow?" He Lingfeng could tell she wasn't going to rest properly. "Did you tell my brother?"
"I'll tell him tomorrow morning," Ji Jie said.
She and Huo Zhenyan were fixed breakfast companions. They were the only two in the family who got up for breakfast.
"That's called acting first and asking for forgiveness later." He Lingfeng was speechless.
"If he wants you to rest, just stay home. What's the rush to go to school? My brother isn't the type you can win over with a few nice words."
Ji Jie was noncommittal. "But he's the type who'll tailor his approach."
Later that evening, Chu Yao also sent over the homework. Huo Zhenyan had probably told the school it was a sick leave, and as class monitor, he made a token inquiry about her condition.
She said it was just a cold and sent a thank-you sticker. Neither had more to say.
News from the hospital always synced back home. The next morning when she came downstairs for breakfast, she was already in her school uniform. Seeing Huo Zhenyan, she said she felt she could go to school today.
Huo Zhenyan agreed without any particular reaction.
She hadn't even said a single nice word!
—Which left He Lingfeng, who had deliberately gotten up early for breakfast just to watch the show, utterly shocked.
Her foot still couldn't bear much weight, but not to the point of needing crutches. Supported by him, Ji Jie hopped along into the car. Just as she was about to close the door, she saw him hop in after her.
Ji Jie was displeased. "Don't you have your own car to ride in?"
"Tsk, what's that supposed to mean!" He Lingfeng nearly flew into a rage. "You think I want to go to school with you? Yan-ge told me to look after you, that's why I came."
Ji Jie had planned to read the plot in the car and predict today's tasks, but he'd ruined that, so she just closed her eyes to rest.
Unfortunately, He Lingfeng was a chatterbox. It took him less than five minutes to crack, his gaze sweeping back and forth across her face. "Does Zhu Yixun really want to pursue you?"
Ji Jie said, "You should go ask him. Why ask me?"
"I've got nothing to say to him." He Lingfeng snorted. "He wants me dead, but didn't expect this young master to be so tough."
"It's just good luck," she said. "Running into a kind soul like me who puts aside past grievances to do the right thing."
"Hey, I've noticed you're pretty full of yourself."
"I suppose I am a little."
"…"
He Lingfeng fell silent for a moment. The awkwardness in his heart hadn't quite subsided, but he said earnestly, "Thank you for saving me."
Separate issues. He wasn't an ungrateful person.
"This isn't over," He Lingfeng said with certainty. "My brother will help me get back at him."
"Getting back at him is so pointless—it's not like you can actually kill him. When my brother Yan makes a move, it'll be aimed at his father. He'll take down his whole family in one go. If the whole family is in turmoil, how well off can that little brat be? Just wait and see—that Zhu guy won't be cocky for much longer."
Ji Jie said nothing, silently agreeing in her heart.
Huo Zhenyan had shown up in person that night. He didn't look like someone who would let things slide easily.
Nothing much stirred at school. Only Cheng Yunqiao came up to check on her the moment they met. Seeing He Lingfeng helping her along, she looked rather surprised.
On Thursday evening, Zhu Yixun was brought by his father to pay a visit and apologize.
He Lingfeng was unwilling to accept the apology. But between adults, what's discussed on the surface is friendship—in essence, it's all business. In the end, there would inevitably be a harmonious scene of mutual agreement.
He didn't like that kind of scene, so he simply dumped all the social obligations on his brother and hid in Ji Jie's room for some peace and quiet.
Ji Jie flipped through a book and said, "Your brother treats you pretty well."
"I never said he didn't." He rummaged around the mini-fridge like he owned the place and pulled out a can of ice-cold cola. "It's just that sometimes his personality sucks."
Ji Jie laughed. "If his personality were too good, you'd be walking all over him."
"Tsk, what kind of person do you take me for?" He Lingfeng drank her beverage and lounged on her sofa, complaining, "Seriously, my brother is way too overbearing. Nobody can stand him. How else would he still be single pushing thirty?"
This surprised Ji Jie a little. "Your brother's never been in a relationship?"
"Nope. A few years back he went on some blind dates—Uncle Huo set them up." Seeing her engage, He Lingfeng grew more animated. "But after meeting a few, the women complained he was too chauvinistic. My brother wasn't that interested either. Later, when they tried to set him up again, he just stopped going, saying he was too busy with work."
Ji Jie could understand.
When some people say they don't want something, it's often because they know too well how much they want, how deeply they want it—and how hard it is to be satisfied.
Better to just not want it at all. Less trouble.
Besides, dating is exhausting. Just the growing pains alone take so many twists and turns. Even the highest-energy person only has twenty-four hours a day. He has to make choices.
Ji Jie had been in two relationships. One during her student days, one two years after graduation. Both with people her own age, and neither lasted long.
Because her energy was truly limited—there was no way she could worry about her graduation thesis, work a part-time job to earn living expenses, and still go to the basketball court to bring water to her boyfriend.
Or when she'd already worked overtime until late, utterly exhausted, she'd still have to check if the other person had slept, how they were feeling today, whether they'd eaten properly.
The feedback she got when they broke up was always the same: too cold, not caring or considerate enough.
She could accept that. She just didn't quite believe that when someone is so busy they can't even feed themselves on time, they'd really have extra energy to care whether there's meat in someone else's meal.
If this was what love meant, then she was destined to lack the talent for it.
She was stretched too thin even to love herself—it was only after becoming an adult, following the social tide of feminism, that she had slowly learned how.
"Your brother has a lot of people to worry about. It's pretty exhausting." She pondered for a moment, closed her book, and turned to look at He Lingfeng on the sofa.
"You treated me badly before. Besides the thing with Wei Chao, was it because you thought that once I came here, I'd threaten your position?"
He Lingfeng was taken aback, his expression stiffening as he made a dismissive tsk. "Do I look like that kind of petty person?"
"That's not being petty," she said. "It's human nature."
He Lingfeng's mother was no longer alive, and his biological father was unreliable. Now he was living in his stepfather's house, taken care of by his older stepbrother—to outsiders, he'd already gotten the better end of the deal.
He probably thought so himself. And it was likely for this reason that he acted so unbridled and domineering—to repeatedly confirm that he still mattered.
She had lived under someone else's roof before too. She knew what it was like inside—walking on eggshells, constantly anxious about gains and losses.
The novel's setup for this blended family was a bit bizarre—it said Huo Jinge was cursed to bring misfortune to his wives, and since he could never learn to sleep alone, he'd married one wife after another.
But Huo Zhenyan was born to the first wife, and Huo Yuxi was the child of the second. Both of them bore the surname Huo. In He Lingfeng's eyes, only he himself had no blood relation to this family.
Now there was also Duan Baoni. Though she didn't bear the surname Huo either, she had a living biological mother as her backing. All things considered, he was still the weakest one.
"It's normal for you to feel uneasy. But here's the thing," she said. "I'll tell you now—aside from being number one at school, I won't compete with you for anything."
"…"
His most secret worries had been laid bare. He Lingfeng held it in for a long while before forcing out, "That paper you wrote is even more… you still want to be number one?"
"I didn't say I'd be number one right away."
Ji Jie said flatly, "But I will be, eventually."
She didn't like competition. She didn't like competing with people. But if she had to compete, then she was going to win.
She'd been reborn into a second life, and she had such good conditions—how could she possibly settle for being an ordinary character?
He Lingfeng's eyes widened slightly, his brows and eyes—already showing some definition—relaxing into an expression full of youthful vigor. It was a vibrant, abundant youthful exuberance.
The girl before him was completely different. He felt Ji Jie had a strange kind of radiance about her—not attention-grabbing at all, but once you noticed it, it was hard to ignore.
She was very different from the her he'd seen before. Different from every friend he'd ever had, regardless of gender or age.
It just felt like this person… seemed to live with real clarity.
"Alright." He Lingfeng scratched his head. "You're pretty, uh, pretty ambitious."
Actually, there had never been any irreconcilable conflict between them. Taking the opportunity to clear the air was a good thing—at least in the future they wouldn't keep scheming against each other.
Ji Jie smiled at him—one could even call it gentle. His heart stirred slightly, and he actually felt a bit flustered, his gaze instinctively darting away.
The next second, he heard her say, "Today's Thursday. Hand over your allowance."
"…You just said you wouldn't compete with me!"
"This was agreed on long ago."
He Lingfeng pouted, reluctantly doing as told. "Here. It just hit my card. It's all yours now."
Ji Jie checked it. "Why is there only twenty thousand?"
"Otherwise, how much more do you want? It's the same amount every week—wait, don't tell me you get more than twenty thousand?! Why do you get special treatment!"
"…"
He Lingfeng was already burning with jealousy, but along with it came a bit of confusion. "Could the amount be wrong? The people working under my brother shouldn't make that kind of mistake. Which assistant sent it to you? How much did they send?"
Ji Jie: "…Ha."
What assistant?
Not only did she get fifty thousand, but Huo Zhenyan had given it to her personally. It really was special treatment.
"How much exactly?" He Lingfeng still had the attitude that he would throw a fit if she didn't tell him.
"What I mean is, you shorted me three yuan." Ji Jie adjusted her expression. "You also drank one of my cans of cola."
"…"
How can there be people like this!
He Lingfeng was so speechless that he rolled his eyes to the sky, but he still obediently paid her back the three yuan.
"You're a cheapskate."