If It’s Wrong, Then It’s Wrong - Chapter 32
Chapter 32: The Eleventh Day
Ji Chaozhou stood at the gate, silently watching the car drive away. The light from the front yard cast a long, thin shadow behind him, a lonely figure in the darkness.
But the next moment, another shadow appeared beside his, and the quiet night suddenly felt less desolate.
“Neighbor, did you water the grapefruit saplings?” Cheng Liu asked, having parked her car in the garage and walked over to Ji Chaozhou.
CEO Cheng had no ulterior motives; she simply wanted to chat with her future boyfriend. As for whether the saplings would drown, that wasn’t her concern.
Ji Chaozhou turned his head, meeting Cheng Liu’s smiling eyes, his fingers twitching slightly. He paused, then said, “I watered them this morning.”
His voice, clear and pleasant, was like jade against silver in the moonlight.
Cheng Liu’s heart skipped a beat. She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then I’ll come water them again tomorrow morning.”
“…Okay,” Ji Chaozhou agreed.
They were her saplings, simply planted in his yard. It was perfectly reasonable for her to come over.
Cheng Liu cleared her throat and asked, “Can ‘next time’ be tomorrow night?”
The question seemed to come out of nowhere, yet Ji Chaozhou understood immediately. She was referring to his earlier message about dinner.
Ji Chaozhou lowered his gaze, shadows falling across his handsome face, his voice as indifferent as ever: “As you wish.”
“Then tomorrow night at 8, at Guyu Restaurant?” Cheng Liu asked immediately.
Ji Chaozhou looked up at Cheng Liu, didn’t reply, and turned to go inside.
Cheng Liu, taking his silence as confirmation, said confidently, “See you tomorrow then, neighbor.”
She had instinctively grasped a pattern. It seemed as long as Ji Chaozhou didn’t explicitly refuse, she could take it as a step forward.
Perhaps because he was closer to the light now, the coldness in Ji Chaozhou's expression seemed to soften as he walked into his front yard.
…
In the car, Yun Se sat with her eyes closed, not speaking. Yun Fei, sitting beside her, assumed she was tired and didn't disturb her.
When they arrived home, the caregiver came out to help Yun Se out of the car.
“Aunt Yun, I have a shoot tomorrow, so I’ll be going now,” Yun Fei said, bending down to speak to Yun Se, who was now in her wheelchair. “I’ll come visit you again in a few days.”
“Go on,” Yun Se said, looking tired.
After Yun Fei left, Yun Se asked the caregiver to take her back to her room. She sat there alone for a long time, then wheeled herself over to the bookshelf, opened the top drawer, and stared at the photo inside.
It was a six-inch photo in a wooden frame, showing two young women in their early twenties, standing on the lawn of a villa, the prime of their youth.
Yun Se looked at the tall, slender young woman on the left, with long, black hair, beautiful features, and smiling eyes, wearing a white dress and holding a flower.
She was so captivating that anyone looking at the photo would be drawn to her, overlooking the beautiful flower in her hand.
Yun Se reached into the drawer, gently touching the young woman’s face, lost in memories, a smile appearing on her thin face, then her eyes reddened: “Sister…”
Chaozhou was too much like his mother.
In both appearance and personality, he had even inherited her talent for perfume-making.
If she could, she would want Chaozhou to live a normal, peaceful life.
Remembering the atmosphere between Chaozhou and his neighbor, Cheng Liu, that evening, Yun Se wiped away her tears, closed the drawer, picked up her phone, and dialed a number.
“Yun Se?” Ji Mushan, still working in his office, answered the call immediately, worried that something had happened to his son.
“Who is Cheng Liu?” Yun Se asked, her voice calm again. “You said the bodyguard incident was a misunderstanding. What happened?”
There wasn't much of a relationship between Yun Se and Ji Mushan, especially after Yun Ran's death. They only contacted each other occasionally, for Chaozhou's sake.
That incident?
Ji Mushan put down his pen and explained, “Cheng Liu is the founder of Shenyin Technology. She mistook Chaozhou for someone else. It just so happened that we had discussed hiring a bodyguard for him, and when Chaozhou saw her WeChat, he assumed I had hired her. It was a misunderstanding on both sides, thankfully resolved now.”
Yun Se didn’t fully understand, but she had other questions: “Why is Cheng Liu Chaozhou’s neighbor now?”
“Li Dong knows her better, and Cheng Liu wanted to buy a villa in the city center, so he sold her one first,” Ji Mushan said, standing up, his stern expression relaxing slightly. As long as nothing had happened to Chaozhou.
“I just saw her coming home tonight,” Yun Se said, not mentioning anything else. “Didn’t Li Dong say she doesn’t live there often?”
“Cheng Liu does travel frequently for work,” Ji Mushan said. Although he wasn’t close to Cheng Liu, he knew she was a workaholic. “Why are you asking?”
“I saw her greeting Chaozhou tonight,” Yun Se said, pulling her shawl tighter. “It just seemed strange. Chaozhou rarely interacts with people.”
Ji Mushan wasn’t surprised: “That’s just how Cheng Liu is. She can talk to anyone. She could probably have a conversation with a rock.”
Ji Mushan recalled the day he had met her at the villa. He hadn't intended to talk to her, but they had ended up chatting for so long that he almost felt like they were old friends, nearly discussing his son with her.
Thankfully, he had regained his senses later.
But after that encounter, Ji Mushan knew that Cheng Liu was skilled at manipulating conversations.
“Is that so…” Yun Se said, surprised, feeling relieved.
So she was just someone overly familiar with strangers.
And Chaozhou hadn’t responded to her greeting.
But the brief moment of interaction between them had reminded her of the subtle connection between Ji Mushan and her sister when they had first met.
Sometimes, Yun Se wished Chaozhou would always be loved, but never fall in love himself.
The burdens carried by the Yun family could corrode and destroy a person.
…
Late that night, Cheng Liu called Wang Hongyang, recounting the day’s progress and asking for new tactics to further their relationship.
Wang Hongyang stared at the messages on his phone and rolled his eyes.
Damn it!
How was Cheng Liu so good at this?!
She had even managed to plant her saplings in someone else's yard! And it had worked!
Why had she seemed like such a clueless woman during their six months together?
Was it just because Ji Chaozhou was more handsome than him?
Women!
However, for the sake of the gold plaque, Wang Hongyang swallowed his resentment and continued to offer advice: [Just go to his house every morning to water the saplings. Feelings will develop over time.]
Cheng Liu thought about it, agreed, transferred 6.6 yuan to him, and went to bed.
Wang Hongyang was shocked: [6.6 yuan?]
Was she treating him like an online beggar?
Cheng Liu replied: [Your advice tonight was too ordinary. Try harder next time.]
Wang Hongyang was speechless, seething with silent rage.
…
Early the next morning, Cheng Liu, carrying a bright red plastic watering can filled with water, ran several laps around her villa, waiting for the gate next door to open. As soon as it did, she immediately pretended to have just woken up and went to water her saplings.
Ji Chaozhou was pruning his flowers, not looking at her.
Cheng Liu walked over to the two grapefruit saplings, casually watered them, then approached Ji Chaozhou and offered, “Do you need help watering your flowers?”
Ji Chaozhou's eyes fell on the cheap, bright red plastic watering can in her hand, repeatedly looking away, yet drawn back to it.
From the shopping trip to the disastrous planting of her saplings, and now this watering can, Cheng Liu’s aesthetic choices consistently challenged Ji Chaozhou’s limits.
Under the sunlight, the bright red plastic watering can was an assault on the eyes.
Ji Chaozhou suddenly put down his pruning shears and went back inside. When he returned, he was holding a beige metal watering can, which he handed to Cheng Liu.
“For me?” Cheng Liu asked, stunned, her eyes lighting up. He was actually giving her a gift!
Ji Chaozhou, his gaze fixed on the plastic watering can in her hand, said calmly, “That one is of poor quality.”
Cheng Liu immediately put down the plastic watering can and took the metal one from him: “I’ll definitely treasure your…”
Under Ji Chaozhou’s gaze, she swallowed the word “love” and awkwardly finished her sentence, “…watering can.”
Cheng Liu refilled the watering can and helped Ji Chaozhou water his flowers.
“Why isn’t that pot of lily-of-the-valley planted in the yard?” Cheng Liu asked, looking around.
The lily-of-the-valley she had rescued from the fire was still in his living room.
Ji Chaozhou, noticing that Cheng Liu was about to water another flower, quickly stepped forward to stop her: “Those don't need watering.”
Cheng Liu made a mental note of the flowers that didn’t need watering, lest she make the same mistake again, not noticing that Ji Chaozhou had touched her arm.
Otherwise, CEO Cheng would have been secretly delighted.
Ji Chaozhou quickly withdrew his hand. Seeing that Cheng Liu had stopped watering, he took a few steps back and explained, “Lily-of-the-valley prefers shade.”
He was answering her earlier question.
“Okay,” Cheng Liu said, memorizing the flowers on the right side of the yard before turning to Ji Chaozhou. “Did you change your perfume?”
It was no longer the cold, desolate sandalwood scent, but something more like a cool, salty sea breeze, although that subtle, moist sweetness still lingered.
Ji Chaozhou paused. He wasn't wearing Midu today, only a new fragrance he had blended last night, clinging faintly to his clothes. The scent wasn't strong.
People with a keen sense of smell usually liked wearing perfume, but Cheng Liu…except for the time she had tried on Midu, she hadn't worn any perfume since.
She clearly wasn’t a perfume enthusiast.
“You have a good sense of smell,” Ji Chaozhou said, looking down at the flowers.
She had just been complimented by the man she admired!
Cheng Liu’s eyes curved into a smile, a smug look on her face: “I can only distinguish your scent. I can’t tell other scents apart.”
She didn’t realize it sounded like Ji Chaozhou had a particularly strong scent.
However, Cheng Liu strongly suspected that she had been glared at again.
Although Ji Chaozhou had only given her a cold glance, Cheng Liu felt certain he was glaring at her.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Ji Chaozhou asked coldly, looking at Cheng Liu, who was still lingering.
“Work?” Cheng Liu finally snapped back to reality. She checked the time, picked up the watering can, and stepped back. “Then I’ll go to work now. See you tonight.”
A short while later, a black SUV drove out of the villa next door.
Cheng Liu, passing by Ji Chaozhou’s house, rolled down her window and waved goodbye, as if they were close friends.
Ji Chaozhou looked away, his eyes falling to the ground, then pausing.
—The hideous watering can was still there.
After a moment, Ji Chaozhou picked up the bright red watering can with two fingers, moved it away from his flowerbeds, and placed it beside the bare grapefruit saplings.
He would let Cheng Liu take it back when she returned.
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