Make Her Heart Flutter - Chapter 28

Jiang Qi pointed at the surveillance camera on the ceiling downstairs. “There’s a camera.”

Chi Shuang turned to her with a smile. “Is the young mistress Jiang afraid of this?”

Young mistress Jiang?! Jiang Qi froze in place. It wasn’t as if she had never heard such a form of address before, some were mocking, others were sycophantic in business settings, but never one with such playful teasing.

In her mind, joking around or teasing each other were things only close friends did. And young mistress Jiang, who had everything, lacked precisely that… close friends.

In an instant, countless fragments flashed through her mind. Could it be that Chi Shuang wanted to be friends with her?

Be friends?

Friends?

A wave of sorrow washed over Jiang Qi, and even her usual aloof expression faltered, twisting slightly.

“What’s wrong? Surely young mistress Jiang isn’t actually afraid of being linked to me in some scandal?” Chi Shuang, seeing her expression as if she had just suffered a great loss, couldn’t resist teasing her again.

“Of course not.” Jiang Qi denied it outright, turning her head as if to look at the camera, using her height and the difference in the stairs to keep Chi Shuang from seeing her expression.

Chi Shuang laughed heartily. “You’d better not be.”

Feeling as if she had been mocked, Jiang Qi sat expressionlessly at the dining table. Chi Shuang brought over two bowls of vegetable and egg noodles. “Here, I made a special treat just for you.”

Those few simple words sent ripples through Jiang Qi’s heart, causing the tiny sprout swaying in the storm within her to suddenly grow several centimeters taller.

Her lifelong upbringing made her take the bowl almost immediately. She looked up at Chi Shuang and said, “Thank you.”

In that moment, emotions long buried in Chi Shuang’s heart surged up, followed by a fine, needle-like stabbing pain.

This was the first time Chi Shuang had looked down at her like this. Under the warm yellow light, even Jiang Qi’s usually cool features seemed to soften.

Chi Shuang blinked a few times to conceal her momentary daze. When she opened her eyes again, they were misty, and her voice was tinged with grievance. “The kitchen fumes got in my eyes. I need to take care of it.”

“Ah, okay.” Jiang Qi stood up nervously, wanting to reach out but restraining herself. She added, “Does it hurt?”

Chi Shuang had already taken a tissue from the coffee table to wipe her tears, then brought the entire pack to the dining table. “It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt now.”

Since Chi Shuang hadn’t taken her seat, Jiang Qi didn’t pick up her chopsticks either, even though the fried egg in the bowl looked irresistibly delicious, the edges of the egg white crispy and the yolk still tender and runny.

Chi Shuang headed to the kitchen to wash her hands and said to Jiang Qi, “Go ahead and eat. It’s just the two of us, no need to stand on ceremony.”

Jiang Qi shook her head. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Alright then.” Chi Shuang smiled helplessly and quickly went to wash her hands in the kitchen.

This was enough. Being friends was enough.

After finishing their late-night snack, Jiang Qi took the initiative to handle the dishes. After all, Chi Shuang had made the food, so it was only right for her to wash the bowls.

Moreover, she glanced at Chi Shuang’s hands: pale, slender, and delicate, hands that deserved to be cherished and well cared for.

Jiang Qi thought again of Chi Shuang’s childhood and the series of tragic experiences that the “Jiang Qi” in the book had caused her. Chi Shuang was such a good person.

She didn’t deserve to be treated that way.

After all the commotion, it was almost midnight. Chi Shuang usually woke up early and went to bed early, maintaining a rigidly regular schedule. At this hour, she couldn’t hold back and had already yawned several times.

“You should go back and sleep now,” Jiang Qi’s voice unconsciously softened, carrying a hint of tenderness.

“Good night.”

After exchanging good nights, Jiang Qi, now full and satisfied, began to feel a bit drowsy herself. But the moment she returned to her room, her faint smile froze.

She hadn’t closed her curtains, and since her window offered a view of the other room’s balcony, Chi Shuang could also see into hers from over there.

Maybe Chi Shuang had closed her curtains?

Jiang Qi stubbornly craned her neck to check: Chi Shuang seemed to be preparing to change into her pajamas and was collecting clothes from the balcony. Her gaze inadvertently drifted over, and she waved at Jiang Qi.

Jiang Qi’s wrist went numb, and she nearly lost her balance and tumbled off the bay window.

Her mind was a muddled mess. Could it be that Chi Shuang had seen her rummaging through the cabinets for food and that was why she had cooked the noodles?

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Instantly, she felt utterly humiliated. Lying on the bed, she stared blankly at the ceiling.

She wasn’t going to continue with this wretched variety show. She was going on strike, she…

“Ugh…” Jiang Qi covered her face, unable to hold back a couple of muffled sobs. She wanted to go home, to bite her tongue and end it all.

With her dignity in tatters, what was the point of staying on the show?

Lost in these chaotic thoughts, Jiang Qi soon closed her eyes and fell asleep.

But her sleep was far from peaceful. At one moment, she was being chased by a giant vegetable; at another, she was struck by a massive fried egg falling from the sky. There was even Chi Shuang, wearing a chef’s hat and wielding a spatula, trying to flatten her.

She could only frantically dodge, evading the vegetable and the fried egg while keeping an eye on Chi Shuang’s spatula to avoid being squashed.

In short, it was chaotic and bizarre. The next morning, she woke up with an aching back and sore limbs, as if she had truly been running for her life all night.

She picked up her phone and saw it was already past ten. There were several unread messages.

She opened them, all from Lin Wei. They had arrived a bit later than she had expected.

But they weren’t some major media company anyway. It was fine; she shouldn’t put too much pressure on her assistant.

Putting down her phone and rubbing her temples, Jiang Qi suddenly felt like she had forgotten something.

After the humiliation of the previous night, her hasty decision to quit the show ultimately couldn’t be taken seriously. She changed her clothes, stealthily poked her head out of the room, and found the outside eerily quiet.

Jiang Qi breathed a sigh of relief, then slipped sideways into the bathroom to wash up, moving as furtively as a thief.

After mentally preparing herself, she went downstairs as usual.

“Good morning, Sister Jiang!” Jiang Ran greeted her with a squinty-eyed smile.

“Good morning.” Jiang Qi nodded slightly and scanned the room but didn’t see any sign of Chi Shuang.

Just as she was about to ask, Jiang Ran cut her off: “By the way, the director is looking for you. He said to go to the control room as soon as you’re up.”

Jiang Qi nodded and glanced around once more, but Chi Shuang was still nowhere to be seen.

In the control room, the director’s face was practically blooming like a chrysanthemum. Seeing Jiang Qi, he greeted her warmly, “Xiao Qi, you’re awake? Have you eaten?”

Jiang Qi couldn’t help but shudder, goosebumps rising all over. “Please act normal.”

She took a step back, the words “If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave” stuck in her throat, cut off by what the director said next.

The director rubbed his shiny bald head. “What’s so abnormal about it? Thanks to you for what happened yesterday.”

Why was everyone cutting her off so early in the morning?

Jiang Qi kept a straight face, ignoring the director’s smile. “No need to thank me. Just flipping the bird, that’s all.”

The director hurriedly said, “Not that.” He drew out the last word with exaggerated tenderness.

Jiang Qi really didn’t want to stay here for another second!