After Flirting with the God-Tier Beautiful Tycoon - Chapter 79

After Chen Yi finished her check-up, Shen Xiaojiang was already able to understand the report.

The column for Helicobacter pylori value read “0.”

The two left the hospital and walked toward the parking lot.

Chen Yi held the report, quietly stepping on Shen Xiaojiang’s shadow as they walked.

“That’s good,” Shen Xiaojiang suddenly muttered.

Chen Yi froze for a moment. When she looked up at the other girl, the corners of her eyes seemed to catch the first light of a midsummer morning.

Shen Xiaojiang was still the same Shen Xiaojiang.

As time passes, no emotional bond remains entirely stable; everyone changes.

But she…she was still that cleanest, purest person who made Chen Yi’s heart yearn.

“Where are you going?” Chen Yi subconsciously moved closer to Shen Xiaojiang’s side. On the gray pavement, their shadows cautiously drew near.

According to the class group chat, the power in the dormitory hadn’t been fixed yet. Some people couldn’t stand the lingering heat and were already teaming up to stay in hotels.

“I,” Shen Xiaojiang also looked at their approaching shadows, “will go back to my rental.”

It was late at night. The shops around the neighborhood were turning off their lights and closing one by one, leaving only the 24-hour convenience store light to illuminate the lonely travelers.

Chen Yi’s car was different from others, it didn’t have that unpleasant smell of leather seats baked by the sun.

There was only a quiet, elegant woody fragrance, the same as the scent on her body.

The melodious, soothing light music playing was still Shen Xiaojiang’s favorite piece.

All of this made Shen Xiaojiang feel inexplicably familiar, inexplicably close.

When the car arrived at the entrance of Emerald Garden, Shen Xiaojiang glanced out the window and prepared to unbuckle her seatbelt.

“Wait a moment,” Chen Yi’s voice drifted over faintly.

The security guard had just put on his glasses and stood up when he saw the horizontal gate arm slowly rise.

After a casual glance, he took off his glasses and sat back down.

When did Chen Yi enter her license plate into the Emerald Garden’s access system? Shen Xiaojiang wondered.

She tightened the seatbelt that was still slanted across her body. Her gaze wavered, unsure whether to look ahead or at Chen Yi.

The car drove slowly and came to a steady stop in front of the building where Shen Xiaojiang lived.

Neither spoke, both staring blankly ahead.

Chen Yi cleared her throat, lowered her eyes, and curled the corners of her mouth. Her tone was slow and ambiguous: “Curious?”

“Hmm?” Shen Xiaojiang turned her head, catching Chen Yi’s eyes.

The other woman had both hands on the steering wheel, her face leaning against her arm. In her eyes, reflecting the lights, there was a clear transparency, as if a hint of mischief was swirling within.

Shen Xiaojiang withdrew her gaze and looked at the report she was clutching, pretending she didn’t want to talk.

Chen Yi also looked away and pressed the windshield washer button.

Water sprayed onto the glass, and the wipers began to work rhythmically.

Shen Xiaojiang’s attention was drawn to the black wipers swaying left and right.

“It’s not raining today, yet the wipers work more smoothly,” Chen Yi said with a shallow smile in her voice.

Shen Xiaojiang didn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say.

She remembered her father saying that windshield wipers are consumables and should ideally be replaced every year; otherwise, over time, they won’t wipe cleanly, which obscures the driver’s vision and is dangerous.

Chen Yi raised her hand and mimicked the frequency of the wipers for a couple of beats. “Perhaps there was nothing wrong with the wipers to begin with. Maybe the problem lies with the rain, or the windshield itself.”

Shen Xiaojiang turned to look at Chen Yi’s hand as it slowly retracted.

She didn’t know the underlying meaning of Chen Yi’s words, but her instinct told her it wasn’t literal.

Chen Yi slowly turned her gaze back to Shen Xiaojiang. “What do you think?”

Shen Xiaojiang blinked, looking into Chen Yi’s beautiful phoenix eyes, momentarily losing herself.

“I… I don’t know,” she said.

Chen Yi looked back at the now clean windshield and spoke softly: “Perhaps many times, it’s just my own self-righteousness. Like these wipers, they were clearly fine, but I insisted there was a problem and even thought about replacing them. Truly ridiculous. Living life isn’t always about winning or losing, nor is it always about finding the ‘correct’ answer.”

“Often, what I thought was ‘right’ was just my own assumption. I never asked others, nor did I put myself in their shoes. I lived in my own little square of space and missed so much scenery along the way.”

Chen Yi’s voice was very pleasant a gentle tone with a magnetic quality. It wasn’t too sharp, nor too heavy. Every syllable was perfectly placed.

She sounded like a late night radio host for an emotional program, using a slow, soft voice to tell stories that required the heart to listen.

After speaking, Chen Yi looked out the window.

Her words seemed meant for Shen Xiaojiang, but in reality, they were meant for herself.

Shen Xiaojiang watched her, still silent.

The next day, after Shen Xiaojiang woke up, she continued writing code.

Although the books she read yesterday didn’t provide a specific solution, she had been able to learn by analogy since she was a child. She could integrate what she had learned with expanded knowledge, find the connections between them, and thus discover a brand-new method.

Even though she found the method, the coding process was extremely complex and couldn’t be finished in one go.

Shen Xiaojiang skipped breakfast and sat in front of the computer for the entire morning.

Naturally, she forgot to take her medicine as well.

Before she knew it, it was lunchtime.

Ding-dong!

The doorbell sounded hoarse and piercing it was an old fixture.

Shen Xiaojiang didn’t care, she was too lazy to change it.

But at this moment, hearing it made her feel a bit uneasy.

At least it’s morning, she told herself.

But who would it be in the morning?

The landlord lived abroad and wouldn’t come.

Sun Jiabao had a key to the place and should have just opened the door.

It wouldn’t be food delivery, let alone a package, because she hadn’t left the address of this rental on any software platforms.

Who else could it be?

Could it be a prank?

Shen Xiaojiang’s eyes were still glued to the computer. After typing the last character of the line, she stood up with doubt and curiosity and walked to the door.

There was no peephole on the door, but there was a rusty, thick chain connecting the door to the wall an old-fashioned type of security.

Many hotels still use them today.

“Who is it?” Shen Xiaojiang shouted toward the door.

No one answered.

Shen Xiaojiang’s brow furrowed slightly as she muttered to herself, “Could it really be a prank?”

She let out a soft laugh and shook her head. She was a “ninth-dan black belt” (self-proclaimed), but with her years of experience playing volleyball, she could easily take down one or two adult men without a problem.

Just then, the ear piercing doorbell rang again.

Shen Xiaojiang stretched her fingers, preparing for a “battle.”

She pulled the door open with a serious expression, only to be stunned.

The visitor’s narrow eyes slowly lifted. In those pale amber depths, a tiny reflection of herself was mirrored.

“Auntie… Auntie?!”

Shen Xiaojiang stammered, her voice a mix of surprise and joy.

How could she forget? Chen Yi also knew her address. Even if she didn’t know the apartment number, she could find out whenever she wanted.

A second later, Shen Xiaojiang suppressed her inner delight and asked with a forced, expressionless face: “It’s you. I called out just now, why didn’t you answer?”

Chen Yi was wearing a qipao today. The color was very light, a pale fleshy pink that leaned closer to skin tone.

Whiter than a red lotus, redder than an orchid.

It was a perfectly balanced shade between red and white.

The wind blew from the window into the hallway, lifting the edge of the slightly sheer flutter sleeves. From Shen Xiaojiang’s position, she could see Chen Yi’s snow white, soft upper arm.

“I just wanted… to scare you a little,” Chen Yi’s voice was low.

Hearing her say that in such a tone felt a bit strange.

Shen Xiaojiang couldn’t help but wonder what Sun Jiabao or Chen Xingnan would look like or sound like if they said that.

Slower? Faster?

It seemed that regardless of speed or emotion, it would be different from Chen Yi.

Chen Yi was clearly someone who had long held a high position of authority, yet at this moment, she was being uncharacteristically docile.

Shen Xiaojiang clenched her back teeth hard.

“Oh,” she responded, pretending to be calm.

Chen Yi blinked quickly in embarrassment. Her lips parted slightly, her voice even lower than before: “So… were you scared?”

Shen Xiaojiang’s hand rested on the inner door handle. The thick chain connecting the door to the wall kept the door open at a fixed angle.

“No.”

As soon as Shen Xiaojiang spoke, she saw a clear flash of disappointment on Chen Yi’s face.

Her thin eyelids drooped obediently, and her eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she were thinking about something or perhaps nothing at all.

Her matte, warm red lips were bitten in slightly. She looked as though she had been soaked in a cool mountain spring.

Shen Xiaojiang’s fingers gripped the door frame tightly. She cast a quick glance at Chen Yi before immediately looking away. “How about… let’s do it over.”

Chen Yi looked up, her brow twitching slightly and her gaze softening, as if asking with her eyes, What do you mean?

Shen Xiaojiang pursed her lips, and after two seconds, repeated: “I said, the conversation we just had, let’s do it again.”

Chen Yi stared at her blankly, her fingers subconsciously picking at the band-aid still stuck to her palm.

She picked at it once, then again.

“So, were you… scared?” She actually asked it a second time.

Shen Xiaojiang ran a hand through her hair and pushed her black-rimmed glasses up to a more comfortable height on the bridge of her nose.

Her answer was flat, utterly flat: “No.”

The next second, the scene seemed to freeze, as if time had come to a standstill.

The two of them just stood there one inside the door, one outside lingering in silence for a moment.

When Chen Yi finally reacted, her face flushed red, and her voice rose slightly: “Shen Xiaojiang! You…”

Being called out like that made Shen Xiaojiang really want to laugh for some reason.

Why is Chen Yi being so obedient today?

With her level of sophistication, she could have easily ignored Shen Xiaojiang after all, it was such a boring and nonsensical request.

But she didn’t.

Despite knowing Shen Xiaojiang was joking, she was still willing to play along with this “game” that barely qualified as one.

“So, am I disturbing you?” Chen Yi slowly raised her hand, using the tip of her pinky to hook a strand of hair away from her face. As she did, the white jade bracelet on her wrist slid down quickly.

Her arms were slender, and the bracelet slid all the way to the crook of her elbow.

Steeling herself, Shen Xiaojiang gave a stiff reply: “It’s fine.”

As soon as she said it, she felt a bit speechless at herself.

Disturbing is disturbing, not disturbing is not disturbing, what did “it’s fine” even mean?

“Then…” Chen Yi tilted her chin up slightly, her gaze drifting casually as she spoke in a lazy tone, “You don’t plan on inviting me in to sit for a while?”

Shen Xiaojiang’s fingertips pressed hard against the wooden door, leaving a shallow nail mark in the grain.

“Sorry, I… forgot.” After saying that, Shen Xiaojiang unhooked the chain lock and politely pulled the door open.

Chen Yi was wearing lace-up stiletto heels. The black velvet ribbons were wound three or four times around her extremely thin ankles, and two velvet cords of the same width across her instep were decorated with black faux fur.

The shoes had no platform, the soles looked thin and tiring to walk in.

The dark red polish on her toenails was particularly captivating.

“Please come in, sit wherever you like,” Shen Xiaojiang said, closing the door behind them.

Once inside, Chen Yi looked around the space with an air of unfamiliarity.

Though the place was small and lacked any specific interior design style, it was arranged to feel exceptionally cozy.

As Shen Xiaojiang turned around, she bumped right into Chen Yi’s gaze.

“Are there slippers I can change into?” Chen Yi held Shen Xiaojiang’s gaze for a second before turning to look at the empty white shoe rack by the door.

Shen Xiaojiang rarely stayed here, so she didn’t have many shoes kept on site.

“Oh, I remember Jiabao has a pair…” As she spoke, Shen Xiaojiang pulled out Sun Jiabao’s bright yellow slippers.

They were a summer style, but they didn’t seem to fit Chen Yi’s feet quite right.

Sun Jiabao’s feet were a normal size, but Chen Yi’s feet were remarkably small.

She was the only person Shen Xiaojiang knew who found a size 35 shoe to be too big.

Her shoes were almost all haute couture, size 34.5.

When Chen Yi stepped into Sun Jiabao’s slippers, it looked like a mouse crawling under a lotus leaf.

“Sorry, they seem too big,” Shen Xiaojiang said, looking at the shoes.

Chen Yi narrowed her eyes and, as if feeling mischievous, slipped her feet out of the slippers and stepped onto the floor barefoot.

She seemed to know that Shen Xiaojiang liked looking at her feet.

“Maybe I’ll just go like this,” she said.

Shen Xiaojiang did indeed like looking at Chen Yi’s feet bony and slender, with snow-white skin and visible veins every toe looked like high-quality suet jade.

Who wouldn’t like them?

“Maybe you shouldn’t change your shoes then the floor isn’t that clean anyway.” Seeing Chen Yi turn away, Shen Xiaojiang instinctively reached out to stop her.

Chen Yi stopped and stood sideways within Shen Xiaojiang’s line of sight.

“High heels are tiring for the feet,” she replied.

Shen Xiaojiang let go with an expressionless face, then wordlessly kicked off her own shoes. “If you don’t mind, you can wear mine. Mine are one size smaller than Jiabao’s.”

“And you?” Chen Yi didn’t mind at all; she walked over and stepped into them in one smooth motion.

“I’ll wear Jiabao’s.” Shen Xiaojiang’s feet were the same size as Jiabao’s, but the pair she was wearing was actually a size too small. They fit just barely, if a bit tight, and she hadn’t bothered to replace them.

“Mm, okay.” Chen Yi looked quite happy, the corners of her mouth twitching in a half-smile.

“Oh, right,” Chen Yi stopped suddenly after taking two steps. “Does Jiabao come over often?”

Forced to stop, Shen Xiaojiang nearly bumped into her. She took a step back to maintain a safe arm’s-length distance. “Not often when I’m here. I don’t know about when I’m not here.”

Chen Yi’s eyes flickered. She slowed her speech, pronouncing almost every word individually: “When… you… are not here?”

Shen Xiaojiang hadn’t intended to bring up that key, but in this moment, she wanted to say it.

“There are two keys in total. I kept one, and I gave the other to her.”

Hearing this, much of the joy that had been on Chen Yi’s face vanished.

“You gave her the key to your apartment?” Chen Yi confirmed.

Shen Xiaojiang gave a nonchalant “Mm.”

Then, she asked: “Auntie, did you come here for something specific?”

Chen Yi’s expression stiffened, her gaze turning cold. Feeling somewhat displeased, she turned away, lifted the insulated food jar in her hand, and said, “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

Shen Xiaojiang feigned stubbornness: “I’ve eaten.”

Chen Yi curled her lip. “But I don’t smell any food.”

With that, she pointed toward the kitchen and asked, “Can I use it?”

Having her lie exposed, Shen Xiaojiang pushed her glasses up guiltily. “Whatever.”

She then ducked into her room, sat at her computer, and continued typing code.

She usually had strong focus and could code all day, but today, she couldn’t concentrate at all.

Her thoughts were like a pile of scattered sand.

Shen Xiaojiang pricked up her ears. After listening for only two seconds, Chen Yi’s voice drifted in from outside the room.

“Shen Xiaojiang, do you have vinegar in the house?”

Shen Xiaojiang thought seriously for a moment. “No.”

“Light soy sauce?”

“Uh… I don’t think so.”

“Eggs? Green onions? Nothing at all?” Chen Yi’s voice trailed upward.

Shen Xiaojiang tapped the space bar on her keyboard forcefully. “Yeah, nothing.”

“Fine.” After saying that, Chen Yi left the room.

After a while longer, the front door opened and then closed.

Silence returned to the apartment.

Shen Xiaojiang listened carefully for a moment to make sure she was gone.

She immediately got up and went to the door, but the moment she leaned against it, the sound of high heels echoed from outside.

Shen Xiaojiang spun around and flew back to her computer.

She pretended to type on the keyboard for a while.

Ding-dong! The doorbell rang again.

“My phone is in the kitchen. I forgot to take it.” It was Chen Yi’s voice.

Shen Xiaojiang stopped her frantic typing and went to the kitchen.

Sure enough, Chen Yi’s phone was lying quietly on the counter.

She picked it up and walked to the door.

When the door opened, Chen Yi’s fingers, which were fiddling with her hair, paused.

“Here.” Shen Xiaojiang handed the phone to Chen Yi with feigned indifference.

“Thanks.” Chen Yi’s fingertips gripped the edge of the phone, moving it forward bit by bit until there was only a tiny gap between her fingers and Shen Xiaojiang’s.

Both of them looked at the lit phone screen.

Chen Yi’s lock screen wallpaper was Shen Xiaojiang.