After A Secret Marriage Agreement With A Rival Omega - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

◎ “Ruxi, what do you think love is?” ◎

Jian Jixing took a bite of the soft, sticky outer layer. The taste of cranberries filled her mouth, and she looked at Sheng Ruxi speechlessly. Before she could retort, Zou Xinjie came over.

“You’re used to making jokes, aren’t you afraid of getting into trouble?” Zou Xinjie looked over helplessly, just catching sight of the thing in Sheng Ruxi’s hand. “What is that? I’m hungry too.”

“Mind your own business? If you’re hungry, can’t you get something for yourself? How dare you try to snatch my stuff?” Sheng Ruxi was just as blunt with her. She hadn’t even considered cooperating with Zou Xinjie.

She walked to the back, and Zou Xinjie naturally followed close to her.

Jian Jixing chewed the food in her mouth, realizing something belatedly.

The snack didn’t seem to be prepared by Zou Xinjie. And Sheng Ruxi had only given it to her, no one else.

She felt she should go and talk to Sheng Ruxi, but from then on, all the way to their rest stop, Zou Xinjie never left Sheng Ruxi’s side. With her and Pigeon taking care of Sheng Ruxi, there wasn’t much for Jian Jixing to worry about.

At an altitude of nearly 4,200 meters on Snow Sheep Peak, there was a naturally formed cliff, which was their destination for this trip. A helicopter had caught up with them from behind, filming a shot of them successively crossing the mountains.

Jian Jixing had her own work to do and couldn’t focus all her attention on Sheng Ruxi. But every time she looked, she saw Zou Xinjie circling around Sheng Ruxi, asking endless questions.

She’s so annoying. Sheng Ruxi is an adult; wouldn’t she speak up if she needed something? There’s no need for you to be so talkative.

By the time they reached the rest stop, they had been walking for a full two hours. Sheng Ruxi felt exhausted, and she was annoyed that Jian Jixing hadn’t come to talk to her and help pass the time. After all, she had eaten her snack.

And Zou Xinjie, flying around her, was quite bothersome!

“You’re better off in bright colors. You’re the only one in the whole team I can see.” Who wants to wear this? If her older brother hadn’t asked Zou Xinjie to bring these, she wouldn’t have used them.

Sheng Ruxi had been with the crew for some time, and some habits had subtly changed. Her gaze would occasionally follow Jian Jixing.

Because Jian Jixing was so focused on arranging her work, every time she looked, she could only see Jian Jixing’s profile.

She was talking to Xie Ruizhang, Yu Miaolan, Aiyileta, and others… But she wasn’t talking to her!

But when Jian Jixing spoke within the team, her expression was focused and calm. It was as if any problem could be easily solved in her hands. The serious Jian Jixing had a certain quality that made people want to follow her.

“Ruxi, after this is filmed, Director Bian Dairong said there’s a script perfect for us. Let’s film it, okay?”

“Ruxi, what are you drinking? Let me have a sip… Ugh, what is this? It’s so sour. How can you drink this?”

“Ruxi, let me carry your bag. It’s getting colder the higher we go. Don’t let yourself freeze.”

Sheng Ruxi rolled her eyes at her: “Can you be quiet for a bit? Who are you to carry my bag?”

She took the yogurt drops back from Zou Xinjie’s hand. In fact, she still hadn’t gotten used to the taste; it was too sour. The ones made at Wang Renqing’s camp had sugar in them and were more to her liking.

When she heard Zou Xinjie complain, she couldn’t stand it. She felt that Zou Xinjie was so demanding. They were all here to work. Wasn’t the current work environment good enough? What was she being so picky about?

She put one in her mouth, not wanting to talk to Zou Xinjie. Zou Xinjie said, “Don’t eat these things. What if you get an upset stomach?”

Sheng Ruxi impatiently pushed her away with her walking stick: “If I get an upset stomach, I’ll go to the toilet. How old are you?”

Zou Xinjie looked at her in disbelief, finding it hard to believe such crude words came from Sheng Ruxi’s mouth. She looked around and whispered, “Where are you going to do that?”

Sheng Ruxi: “The whole mountain is right here, isn’t it? Go away. Stop.”

“Weibao!” Zou Xinjie’s expression froze for a moment, but when she said those two words, Sheng Ruxi’s face also changed. “Don’t call me that name anymore. I think we made that clear enough.”

Zou Xinjie paused and then smiled again: “There’s no real difference. Your brother always said we were a good match. We’re so familiar with each other and got along so well back then. Why can’t we be together? You know I really like you.”

Their conversation wasn’t loud, so Zou Xinjie was standing very close to Sheng Ruxi.

“Zou Xinjie, wake up. You haven’t gotten out of character.”

“No, it’s not that I haven’t gotten out of character. I genuinely like you,” Zou Xinjie said. “It’s been almost two years. This isn’t just a character; I like you even more after getting out of character.”

Sheng Ruxi retorted, “You have no idea what love is.”

Zou Xinjie smiled: “I understand. But you don’t, which is why you’ve always refused to admit it.”

She’s a little silly. Sheng Ruxi cursed in her heart, only remembering the phone call she had with Chu Wu before she left.

She had called Wu Wu many times before, and 80% of the calls were to complain to Chu Wu. The name “Jian Jixing” appeared quite often in her conversations with Chu Wu, but she had never realized it before.

This morning, Chu Wu had laughed and asked her back: “Haven’t you noticed? You only talk a lot when you’re talking about Jixing.”

This conversation was the same—Sheng Ruxi wanted to understand Jian Jixing better. She had first asked Wang Renqing and found that Wang Renqing only knew about Jian Jixing’s recent years but wasn’t familiar with her from her school days.

After thinking about it, she realized that in her school days, before Jian Jixing even pursued Chu Wu, wasn’t Chu Wu her only friend? She had asked Chu Wu and subconsciously said, “This is me knowing myself and my enemy, so I can win every battle.”

At that time, Chu Wu had also laughed and asked this question: “Ruxi, what do you think love is?”

“You and Jixing have been constantly fighting. Do you think love has anything to do with fighting, possession, and needing to prove who’s superior? Is this love, or a desire to win?”

The two questions successfully stumped Sheng Ruxi. After she hung up the phone, she left the tent and continued to hike, still thinking about the questions.

On the way up the mountain, the questions lingered in her mind. Although she hadn’t found the right answer yet, she could at least identify the wrong ones.

Zou Xinjie’s kind of “love” was the wrong answer. It wasn’t the kind of love she wanted.

“What is this?” Zou Xinjie saw Sheng Ruxi take out a leather object from her bag. It didn’t look exquisite; it seemed like a rough handmade item. She had never seen something like this in Sheng Ruxi’s hands before.

She wanted to get a closer look, but Sheng Ruxi treasured this thing so much that she didn’t let it anywhere near her.

At that moment, a figure rushed over and squeezed between them.

“Miss Sheng!” Pigeon came over with a smile and handed her a bottle of water. “Sister Jixing said everyone should rest and drink water to replenish energy. She specially asked me to give this to you.”

Sheng Ruxi thanked her, took a sip, and looked around but didn’t see Jian Jixing. Pigeon knew what she was doing: “Sister Jixing is in a work meeting with the helicopter crew. She’ll be over in a bit.”

Sheng Ruxi said softly, “I wasn’t looking for her.”

At that moment, Pigeon saw the small leather pouch Sheng Ruxi was holding and said in surprise: “Miss Sheng, you brought this with you!”

“I just happened to see it by my pillow this morning and grabbed it,” Sheng Ruxi said, trying to act calm and not revealing her fleeting awkwardness. “Does this have any special meaning?”

“Yes, of course, it does,” Pigeon said, glancing at the mountain peak above them. “This contains the first wool cut from a sheep. In our local tradition, it’s a blessing from the mountain god for a loving newlywed couple.”

“If unmarried people exchange them, it can also express their affection. We give these to each other when we get engaged.”

Pigeon leaned in and whispered in Sheng Ruxi’s ear: “She must like you a lot to give you this.”

Sheng Ruxi quickly put the leather pouch back into the inner pocket of her hiking bag and zipped it up. “She probably didn’t even know it had that meaning.” After all, this was a local tradition, and they weren’t from around here.

But the corners of Sheng Ruxi’s lips couldn’t help but turn up.

The rest period was quite long, and Sheng Ruxi still hadn’t seen Jian Jixing. Due to the increase in altitude, they added a thick inner layer to their jackets to keep warm during the rest stop.

She zipped her jacket all the way up. Although the other staff members had also lit a fire, and Pigeon had placed a plastic bottle filled with hot water in Sheng Ruxi’s hand, Sheng Ruxi still felt a cold wind seeping in.

“Why is it so cold?”

Pigeon said, “That’s normal. The weather in the mountains can be unstable, and Snow Sheep Peak is especially known for it. There’s a lot of water here, and in the winter, there are ice waterfalls. Another thousand meters up, there’s a beautiful blue ice lake. Are you experiencing any altitude sickness?”

She offered an oxygen tank to Sheng Ruxi, but Sheng Ruxi felt fine for now: “You brought a lot of stuff.”

“Sister Jixing told me to follow you.” The implication was that she didn’t prepare these things herself… Pigeon glanced at Sheng Ruxi’s backpack and thought to herself, Jian Jixing actually prepared even more things for Miss Sheng.

But Sister Jixing wouldn’t say anything. It was as if her mouth was useless, and it made others anxious. The things Zou Xinjie brought were pretty, but when it came to practical use, many were just for show.

“Isn’t Director Jian coming back yet? We’ve been delayed for so long. What are we going to do tonight?” Zou Xinjie complained. “Did she not arrange things properly before we came, which is why it’s taking so long?”

“What if our Ruxi gets cold?” Zou Xinjie rummaged through her hiking bag and found a few ski neck warmers. They could provide temporary warmth. She said, “These are new,” and tried to put one on Sheng Ruxi.

“I don’t want it!” Sheng Ruxi said. “It’s so ugly. I don’t want it. I’m not cold at all. I don’t need your things.”

“Don’t get cold. Be a good girl,” Zou Xinjie pleaded gently. “You’re more susceptible to the cold. Don’t you remember? You used to get frostbite easily when we were filming if it was even a little chilly.”

But Zou Xinjie also had a headache because of Sheng Ruxi’s temper. She knew Sheng Ruxi was very headstrong and had to be coaxed gently, or she wouldn’t cooperate at all.

Just then, a commotion suddenly came from a distance. It was Jian Jixing and her group returning. There were quite a few of them. A group of staff members followed behind her, as well as two locals, an old man and a young one, both with dark skin.

Jian Jixing was holding a long, black and grey scarf. As soon as she made eye contact with Sheng Ruxi, she walked over.

“There’s a small village over there. This is their handmade wool scarf. Put it on.” Jian Jixing’s gaze was entirely on Sheng Ruxi. She could tell Sheng Ruxi’s upper body was cold.

Zou Xinjie wanted to tell Jian Jixing to forget about it. She hesitated. How could Sheng Ruxi possibly use this? Even if she couldn’t handle Sheng Ruxi, how could Jian Jixing, who Sheng Ruxi already disliked, possibly succeed?

Sure enough.

Sheng Ruxi said, “No! I don’t like this dull color, and it doesn’t look—”

Jian Jixing directly wrapped the scarf around Sheng Ruxi’s neck. It was very thick and long, and half of Sheng Ruxi’s face was covered.

She looked like a glutinous rice ball that was being hugged, cute and delicious-looking.

She asked, “Be a good girl, Sheng Ruxi. It’s more troublesome if you get a cold.” Almost exactly what Zou Xinjie had said, Jian Jixing efficiently tucked the ends of the scarf in and asked, “Warm now?”

Sheng Ruxi didn’t resist. Instead, she pouted and mumbled in reply, “No, it’s not warm.”

Jian Jixing laughed. “Then I’ll take it back?”

“No! It’s mine now!” Sheng Ruxi glared at her, buried her face in the scarf, and then said with a proud tone, “It’s not bad. Thank you.”

Jian Jixing: “Don’t mention it. I’ll collect my reward later.”

Sheng Ruxi didn’t stay by the fire. She ran after Jian Jixing, trying to hit her. Watching them run away as if no one else was there, Zou Xinjie was left completely confused.

Wait—

Weren’t the words the same? Why was it okay for one person but not the other?