Princess Syndrome - Chapter 54
Chapter 54: Jealousy
Ji Zhiyi watched her standing there, seemingly waiting for someone to offer her a way out. She couldn't help but smile. "Eat up. You don't have to thank me."
Su Lingyue lowered her head. "You mean it?"
The slight upward inflection at the end of her sentence revealed her good mood. Ji Zhiyi really wanted to say, "I'm just teasing you," but would Su Lingyue turn around and go back to her room?
It was something she would do.
Ji Zhiyi said, "I mean it."
There was a hint of indulgent affection in her tone.
Su Lingyue felt the tips of her ears tingle. She didn't know if it was because she had just heard her call her name, or because of Ji Zhiyi's soft laughter, like an electric current rolling into her eardrums. She rubbed her ears.
They felt a little hot.
After sitting down, she faced Ji Zhiyi. Xiao Mafan was still wagging its tail, waiting to be fed. Su Lingyue poked its head. "Go eat your cat food."
Xiao Mafan meowed at her plaintively and lay down on the table, its round eyes fixed on Ji Zhiyi and Su Lingyue. Su Lingyue took a bite of the noodles, feeling warmth spread through her.
Neither of them spoke during the meal.
Su Lingyue noticed the wine glasses on the coffee table, breaking the silence. "Did Director Zhang come over today?"
Ji Zhiyi looked up. "Mm-hmm, she came to discuss some things."
Still discussing work on the weekend.
Were they that busy?
No, Ji Zhiyi hadn't specified whether it was work or personal matters. Why had she assumed it was work?
If it was personal.
What was it?
Su Lingyue realized that her curiosity was growing. This feeling of being curious about someone's past was something she had never experienced before. Su Lingyue scratched her brow. Because she had never experienced it, she didn't know how to deal with it.
She said, "Oh."
Her tone sounded a bit unhappy?
Ji Zhiyi looked up at her, wondering why she was displeased. Was it because Zhang Xian had come over?
Didn't she like having people over?
Ji Zhiyi said, "I'll meet with her outside next time."
She was stunned after saying those words.
The meaning she was conveying was a bit too obvious.
This was her home, yet she would meet with others outside. However, Su Lingyue didn't grasp this implication. She lowered her head and said, "There's no need for that."
Ji Zhiyi shook her head.
She hadn't grasped the implication.
Or was it that she didn't have those kinds of feelings for her yet?
She put down her chopsticks.
Su Lingyue said, "Are you full?"
Ji Zhiyi said, "Yes."
Su Lingyue had also finished eating. Seeing this, she took the initiative to pick up the bowl in front of her. Even though she had said there was no need to thank her, she couldn't really do nothing. She had to at least make a gesture. She put the bowls in the sink. When she reached out, she saw her fingernails and suddenly turned her head to ask, "President Ji."
Ji Zhiyi looked at her.
Su Lingyue asked, "When is your birthday?"
The topic changed too quickly.
Ji Zhiyi didn't catch up for a moment, pausing for a couple of seconds. "Why?"
"To thank you," Su Lingyue said matter-of-factly.
Thank her?
For a gift?
Ji Zhiyi said, "It's still early, December."
For some reason, she added, "December sixth."
She didn't know what she was expecting.
Su Lingyue nodded. "I know."
Acting so mysteriously. Ji Zhiyi was filled with curiosity. She watched Su Lingyue wash the dishes and put them in the sterilizer, then head towards the walk-in closet. Ji Zhiyi was puzzled and followed her in.
She saw her selecting nail art tools.
She understood even less.
Su Lingyue didn't explain. Ji Zhiyi had all kinds of cosmetics, and a drawer full of nail polishes. She used to have a lot too, but most of them were gifts. She guessed Ji Zhiyi's were probably similar. She was in the shoe business, so it wasn't strange for her to receive such gifts from other companies she did business with.
Then she found the corresponding image on her phone.
Luckily, she had asked Zhizhi's assistant to send it to her.
Su Lingyue quickly selected a light purple color. She turned her head to look at Ji Zhiyi and asked, "Want a manicure?"
Ji Zhiyi said, "You can do that?"
Su Lingyue said, "Just learned."
She was learning as she went—she used to get her nails done often, so she knew the steps, but since Ji Zhiyi's place lacked some tools, she just did a simple treatment before applying the nail polish to Ji Zhiyi's nails.
They sat on the sofa, and Su Lingyue bent her head in concentration as she held Ji Zhiyi's finger. The cool nail polish covered the nail, and Ji Zhiyi looked down to see her only painting the pinky finger, leaving the others untouched. Curious, she asked, "What does this mean?"
"This represents good luck," Su Lingyue said. "Since your birthday is in December, this is your lucky color."
Ji Zhiyi raised her hand to look at it in the light. She usually only used clear nail polish and rarely colored polish. The light purple was nearly transparent with just a hint of purple, not too noticeable. She nodded: "Are you going to paint the others?"
She didn't particularly like wearing nail polish.
She just liked the feeling of having her hand in Su Lingyue's palm.
Su Lingyue said, "No need, one is enough."
Ji Zhiyi asked, "Isn't it my lucky color? Shouldn't we paint them all?"
Su Lingyue started making up excuses. "Believe it and it is, don't believe it and it isn't. We should stick to the principle of believing half of it."
Ji Zhiyi laughed.
She looked at Su Lingyue and suddenly reached out, taking her hand.
Su Lingyue paused, looking at her.
Ji Zhiyi looked at her fingernails. "Yours are pink?"
Su Lingyue's hand was being held, but not forcefully. She could have pulled it away with a little effort, but for some reason, she didn't really want to. She let Ji Zhiyi hold her hand and examine her fingers closely.
After a few seconds, she replied, "Ah, yes, they're pink."
Ji Zhiyi stared at it for a couple of seconds, then took the bottle of nail polish from Su Lingyue's other hand, opened it, picked up Su Lingyue's hand, and applied the light purple nail polish to the ring finger of her left hand.
Su Lingyue was confused by her actions.
But she didn't interrupt.
Ji Zhiyi lowered her head, her eyelashes fluttering slightly, her gaze fixed on her ring finger. Su Lingyue felt uncomfortable with her hand being held. She instinctively wanted to curl her fingers, but her hand was being held. When she curled them, her fingertip brushed against Ji Zhiyi's finger, with a slight pressure.
It felt a little like hooking Ji Zhiyi's finger.
The atmosphere was a little ambiguous.
Su Lingyue broke the silence. "Why did you paint mine purple?"
Ji Zhiyi said, "Didn't you say this was my lucky color?"
Su Lingyue nodded. "Yeah."
Ji Zhiyi said, "Then I'll share my luck with you."
Hearing these words, Su Lingyue bit her lip.
What did she mean by that?
Was she believing her?
Really sharing her luck, or was she teasing her?
Based on her usual observation of Ji Zhiyi's serious demeanor, Su Lingyue felt the latter was more likely. However, she was still in a good mood because of those words. She looked at the nail on her ring finger and said, "Alright, then I..."
Before she could finish speaking, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen. It was Yang Zhizhi.
Su Lingyue thought of what had happened tonight and answered the phone, holding up her painted fingers carefully.
Yang Zhizhi said "Hello" and then was silent for a long time. Su Lingyue asked, "Are you awake?"
Yang Zhizhi said, "Yeah, I'm awake."
Su Lingyue said, "It's good that you're awake."
Yang Zhizhi gripped her phone. "Thank you for today."
Su Lingyue said, "You're welcome, Miss Yang."
That "Miss Yang" made Yang Zhizhi calm down. The first thing she did upon waking up wasn't to ask about her own condition, but to ask about Su Lingyue's. Her assistant held her shoulder. "Miss Su is fine. She already left with President Ji."
She was fine.
Yang Zhizhi breathed a sigh of relief. Then, after listening to her assistant's rambling, she called Su Lingyue.
When the call connected, she didn't know what to say. The words of gratitude stuck in her throat like a clamp. The things she had done to Su Lingyue in the past were like boomerangs, hitting her back every time.
How could she so easily say "thank you" after doing such terrible things?
But besides "thank you," she didn't seem to be able to say anything else.
Su Lingyue noticed that there was no sound on her end and moved the phone away from her ear, frowning when she saw that the call was still connected. Yang Zhizhi's voice then came through the receiver. "Can I treat you to a meal tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Su Lingyue didn't have anything planned for tomorrow. She was free. She was also quite curious to know how Yang Zhizhi would deal with Zhou Yan, so she said, "Sure, what time tomorrow?"
Yang Zhizhi said, "Ten o'clock. Should I have my assistant pick you up?"
Su Lingyue said, "No need, just send me the address when the time comes."
Then she hung up the phone.
She met Ji Zhiyi's gaze. Su Lingyue shrugged. "Miss Yang."
Ji Zhiyi nodded. "How is she doing?"
Su Lingyue said, "I didn't ask."
Ji Zhiyi: ...
Su Lingyue blinked, also feeling that she might have been too careless. She should have at least asked how she was doing, even if just as a polite gesture. Now, trying to make up for it seemed too obvious. Su Lingyue pressed the screen, but in the end, she didn't send Yang Zhizhi a message.
Instead, she backed out and searched for Yang Zhizhi's name.
The results were mostly confessions of love and gossip. She asked Ji Zhiyi, "Do you think Zhou Yan will post what happened tonight online?"
Ji Zhiyi said, "Of course Zhou Yan won't post it, but her manager is another story."
This time, it was obvious that the manager had colluded with Zhou Yan to teach Yang Zhizhi a lesson, a lesson for not being obedient, hoping to use this to control her weakness and make her listen.
Yang Zhizhi's current predicament was whether her management company knew what her manager had done.
However, since there hadn't been any news about it, Ji Zhiyi was inclined to believe they didn't.
The management company indeed didn't know what the manager had done. After receiving the report from Yang Zhizhi's assistant, they immediately called the manager back to the company. Yang Zhizhi was currently the most popular cash cow in the company. Even the boss wouldn't make the wrong choice.
The manager had just entered the company when Yang Zhizhi also stepped inside.
The assistant followed behind Yang Zhizhi. "I really didn't expect Sister Lin to do something like this."
Yang Zhizhi hadn't expected it either.
Although she knew Sister Lin loved money and was controlling, she really hadn't expected her to do something like this. When she first entered the industry, it was Sister Lin who encouraged her. "You have potential, work hard."
During the scandal surrounding the movie, it was also Sister Lin who said, "Who hasn't been criticized? If you can't handle this little setback, how will you cope when you become famous?"
She hadn't expected that.
When she became famous.
It would lead her manager to do something like this.
Yang Zhizhi's face was tight. When entering the elevator, she said, "Help me book a private room at Haotai for tomorrow."
The assistant said, "Who are you planning to invite?"
Yang Zhizhi said, "Su Lingyue."
The assistant understood. "Is it to thank Assistant Su? Should we also invite President Ji?"
Yang Zhizhi didn't say anything.
She knew she should also thank Ji Zhiyi for this time, but she wanted to see Su Lingyue first tomorrow.
Su Lingyue was sitting on the sofa, searching for Yang Zhizhi's news, when her phone buzzed twice. She glanced at it. It was a message from Yang Zhizhi. The address was Haotai. She was becoming a regular at Haotai these days.
She replied to Yang Zhizhi with an "OK."
Then she put down her phone.
She looked up and saw Ji Zhiyi looking at her. She didn't know why she felt the need to explain. "It's Miss Yang."
Ji Zhiyi asked, "What's wrong with Miss Yang?"
Su Lingyue said, "Miss Yang asked me to have dinner tomorrow." She then looked at Ji Zhiyi. "Are you going tomorrow?"
"Why would I go?" Ji Zhiyi raised her lips at her, chuckling softly. "Miss Yang invited Assistant Su. Wouldn't it be too presumptuous of me to go?"
Su Lingyue: ...
Why did that sound so sarcastic?
jealous again 😂
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