Princess Syndrome - Chapter 141

Extra: Gift

Ji Zhiyi sometimes felt that Su Lingyue was like a rainbow, capable of painting her monotonous life in color. She was so immersed in all the colors Su Lingyue brought, until her own world was also filled with vibrancy. Su Lingyue herself was still unaware, always feeling that when she was with Ji Zhiyi, Ji Zhiyi was the one being wronged. Even though Ji Zhiyi was very happy now, the thought of past events always made her curse herself: "I'm really not a good person."

Chu Yi sat to the side, tilting her head. "What?"

Su Lingyue muttered to herself again, "I'm really not a good person."

Chu Yi was puzzled. "What did you do?"

Then her eyes lit up. "What did you guys do last night?"

Seeing the mischievous look in her eyes, Su Lingyue's face flushed for no reason. She was clearly talking about how she had let Ji Zhiyi down, but Chu Yi's interruption had steered it towards unspeakable things.

Mainly because.

They really had done something.

And it was in the study. Thinking of Ji Zhiyi leaning against the bookshelf, her clothes half on and half off, Su Lingyue coughed and came back to her senses.

Chu Yi chuckled.

Su Lingyue said seriously, "We didn't do anything."

Her words were utterly unconvincing, her face red to the tips of her ears. Chu Yi chimed in, "Okay, okay, you didn't do anything."

The boss's wife was the highest authority; whatever the boss's wife said was right.

Su Lingyue noticed the perfunctory tone and glared at her. As the end of the year approached, Su Lingyue had resigned from her job, but hadn't officially started at the new company. She simply came here every day, claiming it was to accompany her wife to work, but in reality, she rarely saw Ji Zhiyi. Ji Zhiyi was either in a meeting or out on business. Since she didn't follow, she stayed with Chu Yi.

Chu Yi was truly bold, letting the boss's wife run errands. Of course, Su Lingyue didn't mind, taking it as a way to familiarize herself with the environment.

The scale here couldn't compare to Yilin, but Ji Zhiyi had a complete company system similar to Yilin's, so Su Lingyue didn't feel out of place when she was busy. Ultimately, they were in the same industry, just with slight differences in styles and types. The new company was just starting, so there weren't that many styles. Ji Zhiyi wasn't taking Yilin's old route of starting with basic shoe samples. Instead, she planned to go the mid-to-high-end route, aiming to create a new brand.

Su Lingyue felt like Ji Zhiyi was glowing when she talked about these plans.

She liked Ji Zhiyi's enthusiasm for work and her love for her career. When Ji Zhiyi asked her what she liked to do, she had said, "The things I like to do..."

She had thought about it seriously for a long time.

Strictly speaking, there wasn't anything she particularly wanted to do. There was a time when she was unwilling to let Zhou Yan have his way in the company, so she had insisted on joining the company. Later, when she actually joined and was isolated and excluded, she didn't care. Her strongest sense of belonging was probably when she was transferred to the secretary's office and worked with them on projects. She was very happy then, but not to the extent Ji Zhiyi was.

Speaking of which.

Su Lingyue said, "Yes, there is."

Ji Zhiyi asked, "What is it?"

Su Lingyue said, "Watching Su Qi go bankrupt."

Ji Zhiyi didn't laugh at her desire, but said very seriously, "Then congratulations."

Su Lingyue looked at her. "Congratulations for what?"

Ji Zhiyi said, "Your wish is about to come true."

Su Lingyue laughed.

She nodded fiercely. Su Qi was under investigation by the control group due to the raw materials incident. Afterwards, several brands also sued them. The last time Su Lingyue saw Zhou Shiyu was after the annual meeting. She had gone to Yilin's headquarters for a meeting and bumped into Zhou Shiyu. That woman was far from having the confident demeanor she once had, but she was still gritting her teeth and trying to save face.

Zhou Shiyu had gone to Yilin to discuss a collaboration, but Yilin had turned her away.

Su Lingyue still remembered the look she gave her at the end. Was it hatred?

Or more complex emotions?

Su Lingyue didn't know. Probably hatred. If it wasn't for her, Ji Zhiyi wouldn't have targeted Su Qi. But she didn't regret it at all. If she could do it over, she would probably have gone to Ji Zhiyi much earlier, so that before that man died, he could watch Su Qi disappear bit by bit.

When Chu Yi returned to the office, she saw Su Lingyue looking down at her phone. She put down the documents and sighed, "We have a holiday tomorrow. Are you going back to your hometown?"

Su Lingyue looked up at her. "Yeah, we're going to Ji Zhiyi's hometown tomorrow."

Chu Yi said, "Are you worried?"

Su Lingyue asked, "Worried about what?"

Chu Yi said, "Worried that her parents won't like you!"

Su Lingyue thought for a moment. "No, I'm not worried."

Chu Yi was surprised. "So confident?"

Su Lingyue said, "It's not confidence, it's that I think they probably won't like me anyway."

So there was no need to worry about whether they liked her or not.

Chu Yi was amused by her words. Then she thought, this was the real Su Lingyue. Although she was with Ji Zhiyi, her composed personality hadn't changed much. What she didn't know was that many, many people liked her.

Like their friends, like Ji Zhiyi, and like Ji Zhiyi's family.

Su Lingyue herself didn't care much about the word "family," but the thought that these were Ji Zhiyi's parents made her care a lot. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so happy to receive Ji Zhiyi's sister's gift.

So, she was actually apprehensive about going back to their hometown this time, but Ji Zhiyi didn't give her time to be apprehensive. Every time she sensed her retreating a little, she would reassure her. Su Lingyue really felt like Ji Zhiyi could read her mind sometimes.

Chu Yi patted her shoulder. "It's okay. I think they'll like you. Didn't you tell me before that Ji Zhiyi's mother is very gentle?"

That was true.

A few times when Ji Zhiyi was on video calls with her family, and the camera turned to her, she called out "Auntie," and her mother always smiled.

They probably wouldn't dislike her, right?

Su Lingyue took a deep breath.

Chu Yi glanced at her watch and asked her, "What time is President Ji's sister's flight landing?"

Su Lingyue said, "Six o'clock."

Chu Yi said, "Do you want me to go with you?"

Su Lingyue said, "No need, don't you have to go home and change?"

Chu Yi said, "Alright, then I'll head back first."

After Chu Yi left, Su Lingyue sat in the office for another half an hour. At five o'clock, she drove to the airport. On the way, she received a call from Ji Zhiyi. "What are you doing?"

She was sitting in the car, just about to speak when someone knocked on the window. She turned her head, and Ji Zhiyi was standing outside the window looking at her. Su Lingyue immediately put down her phone. "Why are you here?"

Ji Zhiyi said, "The event ended early. I passed by the airport and saw your car."

She had also been planning to call Su Lingyue to tell her not to come, but she hadn't expected Su Lingyue to arrive early. Su Lingyue said, "Chu Yi and the others have all left work. I had nothing to do, so I came over first."

Ji Zhiyi asked, "Where's Zhang Xian?"

Su Lingyue said, "Zhang Xian said she was going to prepare the cake."

She smiled after she finished speaking.

Ji Zhiyi looked at her. "What are you smiling about?"

Su Lingyue said, "Do you know that after I graduated, I didn't celebrate my birthday properly for many years?"

In the past, her birthdays were just an excuse for that man to drum up business, a reason for everyone to gather. A few times, she, the main person, had slipped away early, and that man hadn't even noticed.

Ji Zhiyi nodded.

She said, "Actually, I went to one of your birthdays once."

Su Lingyue was surprised. "When?"

Then she thought of the watch Ji Zhiyi had taken a picture of. "Was it after you returned to the country?"

Unexpectedly, Ji Zhiyi shook her head.

Su Lingyue looked at her.

Ji Zhiyi said, "It was in high school."

During her freshman year of university, she had actually bought a gift, but the memory of that high school birthday party had made her retreat.

Su Lingyue's eyes felt a little hot. "High school? Did you come looking for me?"

Ji Zhiyi said, "Yeah, I even bought you a gift."

Su Lingyue asked, "What gift?"

"Perfume," Ji Zhiyi said. "But it broke later."

Su Lingyue tried hard to search her memory, wanting to find clues about past events through a small crack, but it was in vain. Her memories of the past were becoming increasingly vague. Su Lingyue was a little unhappy.

Ji Zhiyi looked at her. "What's wrong?"

Su Lingyue said, "I'm really not a good person."

"Lingyue." Ji Zhiyi leaned closer to her, coaxing her. "You're always the best."

In her heart.

The best, irreplaceable existence.

Someone who had helped her through those agonizing times, allowing her to live again.

Su Lingyue met Ji Zhiyi's gaze after hearing these words. She said, "I'm not."

Before Ji Zhiyi could reply.

Su Lingyue straightened her expression, her tone serious. "Ji Zhiyi, I'm not the best. You are."

Being able to know her, to be with her, was the best thing in the world.

This time, Ji Zhiyi didn't argue, she just looked at her and smiled.

Su Lingyue was a little embarrassed by her smile. Just as she was about to turn her head, Ji Zhiyi handed her a box. It was square, tied with a bow, a gift box. Su Lingyue had received countless gifts, big and small, but she had never felt so excited about a box before.

She asked Ji Zhiyi, "What is it?"

Ji Zhiyi said, "The best gift."

Su Lingyue thought of their childish conversation just now and wanted to laugh. She turned her head, her reflection in the window showing her smiling face, smiling like a flower. A few seconds later, she snapped back to reality and watched Ji Zhiyi open the gift.

Inside the gift box was a red silk pouch.

So mysterious?

She picked up the pouch and touched the contents, her expression changing slightly. She looked at Ji Zhiyi. "This..."

Ji Zhiyi opened the pouch and took out a key. Su Lingyue recognized it as the key to her old family home. Su Lingyue's voice changed its tone. "When did you buy it?"

Ji Zhiyi said, "A while ago, when Zhou Shiyu's company had cash flow problems, she asked someone to sell this house."

At the time, she had asked a trusted friend to go, thinking that Zhou Shiyu would be arrogant and refuse, but she hadn't expected Zhou Shiyu to sell it directly without even investigating. It also showed that Su Qi had truly reached the end of the road.

Ever since the house was transferred to Zhou Shiyu, Su Lingyue had angrily thrown away the key and hadn't gone back since. It was only last time when she ran into Aunt Liu that she had returned once. Actually, she no longer had the same obsession with the old house as before, but she still occasionally thought of the times she had lived there with her mother. She lowered her head, blinked, and suppressed the heat in her eyes. Ji Zhiyi said to her, "From now on, whenever you miss Auntie, I'll go back with you."

Su Lingyue looked up at her, her nose slightly red. She nodded. "Mm."

Finally, she called out, "Zhiyi."

Hearing her soft tone, Ji Zhiyi's heart overflowed with warmth.

Su Lingyue reached out and intertwined her fingers with Ji Zhiyi's, their fingers locked together. As Ji Zhiyi looked down at their clasped hands, Su Lingyue leaned over and kissed her cheek. Ji Zhiyi turned her head, and Su Lingyue's smile was bright. "A return gift."

Ji Zhiyi looked at her. The sky was gradually darkening, and a beam of streetlight shone into the car through the window, landing on Su Lingyue. She was looking up at Ji Zhiyi and smiling. Ji Zhiyi felt like she had returned to that summer.

This time, she could reach out and embrace the girl she loved!

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