If It’s Wrong, Then It’s Wrong - Chapter 35
Chapter 35: The Twelfth Day
Silence reigned, the bedroom filled with the subtle scent of sleep-inducing incense, yet Ji Chaozhou couldn’t fall asleep.
Perhaps it was the first time he had eaten so late, disrupting his usual routine.
His bedroom was on the first floor, with two floor-to-ceiling windows facing the backyard, offering a view of the neatly trimmed lawn and the blue swimming pool.
Tonight, the curtains were open. Ji Chaozhou lay on his side, his hands clasped beneath his cheek, the silvery moonlight bathing his elegant face in a soft glow, a captivating blend of ethereal beauty and mysterious allure.
But his gaze was fixed on the lawn outside.
He saw the faint light from the second floor next door, then, after a while, it went out. She must have gone to bed.
Ji Chaozhou couldn’t help but recall the way she had slept at Guyu Restaurant, slumped over the table.
…She slept soundly.
He didn't realize that, unlike usual, his mind wasn’t lost in the depths of darkness, but preoccupied with Cheng Liu's every action and word, until he finally drifted off to sleep.
…
The next morning, Ji Chaozhou slowly opened his eyes, lying there for a moment before sitting up, gradually waking up.
Perhaps because he had slept so deeply last night, he felt unusually relaxed this morning, not as tense as usual.
As he walked out of his bedroom and passed the kitchen, Ji Chaozhou frowned at the two cartoon aprons hanging there.
Cheng Liu hadn't taken them back.
Half an hour later, as he was about to tend to his garden, he saw the hideous, bright red plastic watering can. She hadn't taken that back either.
He turned his back to the left side of the yard, out of sight, out of mind, and quietly tended to his flowers.
Ji Chaozhou cut a few freshly bloomed flowers, picked up his pruning shears, and headed back inside. He stopped in front of the pot of lily-of-the-valley that Cheng Liu had brought.
The lily-of-the-valley had been damaged by the smoke, and although it had recovered somewhat after a few days, the largest bloom had withered. The smallest one was slowly blossoming, its leaves still bearing scorch marks.
Ji Chaozhou stared at the lily-of-the-valley for a long time, then put down his pruning shears, deciding not to cut them.
…They weren't in good enough condition yet.
He turned to go back to the front yard, the freshly cut flowers in his hand, and heard a familiar voice from the wall next door.
“Good morning, neighbor.”
Cheng Liu had woken up late. Her dreams had been too pleasant to leave, so she had simply climbed up a ladder, poked her head over the wall, and greeted Ji Chaozhou, who was in his front yard.
He was dressed more formally than usual today, in a sharp black suit that accentuated his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs. He looked like a natural model, ready for the runway.
“Do you have any plans today?” Cheng Liu asked, resting her hands on the wall, curious. This was the first time she had seen Ji Chaozhou in a suit. He hadn’t worn one even when she, mistakenly believed to be his bodyguard, had driven him to the Ranshan building.
Ji Chaozhou looked up at Cheng Liu across the wall, his gaze cold. She always seemed cheerful, her eyes always smiling. He tightened his grip on the flowers, then said indifferently, “You don’t have to water the grapefruit saplings every day.”
“Oh, then…I won’t water them today,” Cheng Liu said, abandoning her urge to climb over the wall.
Then she saw Ji Chaozhou walk straight out the gate.
The gate opened, then closed.
Cheng Liu slumped against the wall. It seemed he had plans today.
She suddenly missed her “bodyguard” days, when she could follow Ji Chaozhou around and be with him.
With her future boyfriend gone, Cheng Liu climbed down the ladder.
Time to go to work. The once workaholic CEO Cheng suddenly felt a sense of aversion towards her job.
Especially since she had just woken up from a pleasant dream to face cold, harsh reality.
She decided to take the day off.
Cheng Liu took out her phone and messaged her chief assistant that she wouldn’t be coming in, then hurried upstairs to her bedroom and drew the curtains.
She would go back to sleep and try to recapture her dream.
But halfway through closing the curtains, Cheng Liu noticed a car pulling up to the villa next door.
The license plate looked familiar.
Cheng Liu quickly realized whose car it was.
With a sudden jolt, Cheng Liu ripped open the curtains, turned, and ran downstairs.
There was no time for sleep! Her "father-in-law" was here!
Cheng Liu rushed out, taking a moment to compose herself before opening the door, her face instantly breaking into her signature, disarming smile.
—Warm, welcoming, and universally appealing.
“CEO Ji,” Cheng Liu said, controlling her pace to appear less eager.
Ji Mushan had just gotten out of his car and was standing at his gate, hesitating about ringing the doorbell, when Cheng Liu emerged from next door.
“CEO Cheng, don't you have work today?” Ji Mushan asked, turning to her, testing the waters.
He had come primarily because of Cheng Liu's WeChat Moments post from last night.
Ji Mushan had been racking his brains, trying to understand what had happened.
When Chaozhou had moved in, he had walked around the villa. His son's kitchen was identical to the one in Cheng Liu’s photo.
Ji Mushan was certain the photos had been taken in the villa's kitchen.
The two villas were identical, having been purchased from the same person, their layouts mirroring each other.
And Cheng Liu had captioned the photo, “Dishes cooked with my neighbor.”
Her neighbor was Chaozhou.
Whether Chaozhou had gone to Cheng Liu's villa, or she had gone to his…
Both scenarios filled Ji Mushan with suspicion.
How…how was that possible?
Ji Mushan had never seen anyone get close to Ji Chaozhou, let alone have his son cook for them.
Cheng Liu must be dreaming.
Of course, he had to admit that CEO Cheng did have a certain charisma. Last time, they had only chatted briefly, and he had almost considered her a close friend.
Ji Mushan wouldn’t admit that he was jealous of Cheng Liu.
He preferred to believe that there had been a misunderstanding, which was why he had come so early this morning.
“Nothing important at the company today,” Cheng Liu said, not mentioning that she had taken the day off. She had to make a good impression on Ji Mushan.
“I heard from Li Dong that you don't live here often, CEO Cheng, yet I’ve run into you twice now,” Ji Mushan said casually. “Quite a coincidence.”
There was nothing coincidental about it. She lived here every day.
This was what Cheng Liu thought, but what she said was, “CEO Ji, I don’t think it’s a coincidence. It’s fate.” The fate of becoming family.
Ji Mushan, forcing a smile, said, “Is that so?”
“Absolutely,” Cheng Liu said, nodding seriously.
“Did you invite your old neighbor over for dinner last night, CEO Cheng?” Ji Mushan asked casually, then added, “It’s customary to have a housewarming party, but Chaozhou doesn’t have many friends, and I’m not sure who to invite.”
“Old neighbor? I own the entire floor where I used to live. I didn’t have any neighbors,” Cheng Liu said, then, her eyes lighting up, she continued, “It’s alright if Chaozhou doesn’t have many friends. I don’t have any either! We can have a housewarming party together! We’re neighbors, after all.”
What a perfect excuse!
CEO Cheng felt like she had found another opportunity to spend time with her future boyfriend.
Ji Mushan: “…”
Cheng Liu having no friends was probably the funniest thing he had heard all year.
However…
“Did you really cook with Chaozhou last night?” Ji Mushan asked, still finding it hard to believe.
So that was what he wanted to ask.
A glint of something flashed across Cheng Liu’s eyes, but her smile remained, even tinged with a hint of pride: “Chaozhou’s a good cook.”
She took out her phone, opened her photo album, and showed the pictures to Ji Mushan: “He cooked this dish. I cooked these two, but he added the seasonings.”
Ji Mushan’s expression shifted several times, the frown lines on his face finally relaxing slightly. He looked at Cheng Liu: “You and Chaozhou seem to be getting along well. He…rarely interacts with outsiders.”
Cheng Liu was truly capable, having managed to get close to Chaozhou. She could probably have a conversation with a rock.
“You…” Ji Mushan paused for a long time before saying to Cheng Liu, “If Chaozhou needs anything, you can let me know.”
“If he needs anything, you should ask him,” Cheng Liu said, putting away her phone.
Ji Mushan looked at his closed gate, then asked, “Is he still asleep?”
“He’s awake. He had something to do and left a while ago,” Cheng Liu said casually.
“Did he go to Ranshan?” Ji Mushan asked, slightly regretting not coming earlier. He might have run into his son.
Cheng Liu, recalling Ji Chaozhou’s attire and the flowers he had been carrying, said, “He probably went to meet someone.”
“Meet someone?” Ji Mushan paused, then murmured, “Is that so…”
His voice was so low it was almost inaudible.
Cheng Liu looked at Ji Mushan's face for a moment, then looked away, her expression unchanged.
She had assumed Ji Chaozhou had gone to visit Aunt Yun, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
“I have something to do at the company. I’ll be going now,” Ji Mushan said, nodding politely at Cheng Liu. “Don’t…tell him I was here.”
Cheng Liu, her hands tucked in her hoodie pockets, raised an eyebrow slightly, but didn't reply.
Ji Mushan turned and got into his car, driving away.
Cheng Liu watched the car disappear down the road, then took out her phone, opened the map app, and typed in two words. Several results appeared.
She opened her browser and searched for each result, carefully reading the descriptions, then turned and went to the garage to get her car.
Cheng Liu placed her phone on the car mount, opened the map app again, and selected a destination.
…
Forty minutes later, Cheng Liu parked near a cemetery in S City.
It was a well-maintained, expensive cemetery, about half an hour's drive from the Wenxing Residential Complex, where the fire had occurred.
She didn’t get out, sitting quietly in the driver’s seat, her hand resting on the window, feeling unusually nervous.
Cheng Liu wasn't sure if Ji Chaozhou would be angry to see her, but she wanted to be there for him.
There was plenty of information about Ji Mushan online from twenty years ago, but very little from recent years, just a few brief sentences summarizing his life.
All Cheng Liu could find was a single line: “Wife, deceased.”
As for Ji Chaozhou, there was practically no information about him online, and Cheng Liu hadn't delved deeper.
A few days ago, on Tomb-Sweeping Day, the cemetery had been crowded with visitors, but today, on the 12th, there were very few people.
Cheng Liu sat in her car, watching people enter and exit the cemetery, but she didn’t see the familiar figure she was looking for.
Still, she waited.
Cheng Liu never doubted herself. She knew Ji Chaozhou was there.
As the afternoon wore on, the sun disappeared behind the clouds, the sky darkening.
It was about to rain.
Cheng Liu frowned, looking out the window. She paused for a moment, then took a black umbrella from the back seat and got out of the car.
She walked towards the cemetery, her pace slow.
A few people hurried past her, but Cheng Liu still didn’t see Ji Chaozhou.
As darkness fell, the sky grew heavy with rain clouds, the wind picking up.
Cheng Liu quickened her pace, walking into the cemetery.
Rows of black tombstones stood before her, adorned with wilting chrysanthemums, a few fresh ones scattered among them.
Cheng Liu continued walking uphill, her gaze scanning the tombstones, finally spotting a familiar figure in a secluded corner.
He was kneeling beside a tombstone, his head resting against it, the vibrant flowers he had been carrying earlier that morning placed before it, along with two wilted bouquets of chrysanthemums.
Cheng Liu stopped, looking at the desolate figure beside the tombstone.
His head bowed, he seemed to have lost all vitality, almost merging with the black tombstone, shutting out the world around him, as if an invisible force was pulling him downwards, into an abyss.
“Pitter-patter—”
The rain finally began to fall, droplets hitting the stone path.
Cheng Liu blinked, looked away, opened her black umbrella, and walked towards him.
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