My Favorite Ship Became My Sister-in-Law - Chapter 16

It was Ji Zhiruo who opened the door.

“Big Yue,” Ji Zhiruo asked Shi Yue in surprise, “What is wrong? You look like you are in a great hurry.”

“Where is Chenchuan-ge?” Shi Yue did not answer, only asking his own question.

“My brother,” Ji Zhiruo said, “is in his room.”

Shi Yue immediately brushed past Ji Zhiruo and entered her home, heading straight for Ji Chenchuan’s room.

The door to Ji Chenchuan’s room was closed. For the first time, Shi Yue was very impolite and opened the door without knocking.

Ji Chenchuan was standing by the window making a phone call. Hearing the door suddenly open, he turned around and saw Shi Yue looking extremely anxious. Ji Chenchuan quickly ended the call and asked Shi Yue, “What is the matter?”

Exactly. What was the matter with him?

Shi Yue stood blankly by the door, his dark and bright eyes staring fixedly at Ji Chenchuan. He suddenly became flustered. Speaking was supposed to be a simple act of moving one’s lips, yet he could not squeeze out a single word for a long time.

“Are you feeling unwell?” Thinking of what had happened during the day, Ji Chenchuan strode toward Shi Yue and quickly pressed the back of his cold hand against Shi Yue’s forehead to see if he had a fever.

Shi Yue remained dazed as he gazed at Ji Chenchuan.

“You are not hot.” Ji Chenchuan compared the temperature by pressing his hand against his own forehead.

“If I go to another province for university, will you contact me?” Shi Yue finally managed to move his lips and asked this frightening question.

“Answer me quickly. Do not think about it. An answer that requires thought is not true,” Shi Yue urged.

Ji Chenchuan did not know whether to laugh or cry. Shi Yue was in such a hurry just to ask him this? Thus, he said, “I will.”

“How often will you contact me?”

“How often do you want?”

“I want to connect at least three times a week, can I?” After saying this, Shi Yue felt it was unlikely and immediately lowered his requirements, almost pleading, “If you do not have time, twice or even once is fine. In short, you just cannot stop contacting me.”

The pleading tone in Shi Yue’s voice made Ji Chenchuan’s heart sting as if something had pricked it. It felt painful. He placed his large hands on Shi Yue’s shoulders and asked softly, “Did something happen?”

Shi Yue nodded, then immediately shook his head. After a long pause, he lowered his head and said sadly, “There is only one year left before I go to university. Once I am in university, I will not be in Lincheng. If I am not in Lincheng, I will not be able to see you.”

So it was for this reason. Ji Chenchuan felt a sense of relief in his heart.

“Do not think too much. Just focus on your studies,” Ji Chenchuan promised. “I promise you that after you go to university, regardless of which city you are in, I will contact you at least three times a week and visit you once a month, alright?”

“Really?”

“Really.”

The hypothetical failure was dismissed.

The gloom on Shi Yue’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a handsome smile. He then went home happily, coming and going like the wind.

Watching Shi Yue’s cheerful silhouette as he ran out of the house, Ji Chenchuan shook his head with a helpless smile.

Ji Zhiruo looked at Shi Yue’s beaming face and found it completely incomprehensible. Was her brother a famous doctor who specialized in treating various difficult and complicated diseases?

It seemed that if she felt unwell in the future, she would also go to her brother for a cure.

The next evening.

He Lin and Shi Jingsong were on a business trip to Zhejiang this time. Since Hangzhou-style women’s clothing in Zhejiang is prestigious, He Lin specifically bought three new styles of dresses for Feng Liuyu and Ji Zhiruo that were not yet available in other provinces. In the evening, the two families gathered at Ji Chenchuan’s house for dinner again, and the topic of Shi Yue and Ji Zhiruo was brought up as usual.

In the past, Ji Zhiruo had been like Shi Yue, letting it go in one ear and out the other. This time, she tried her best to show that she was willing.

Ji Chenchuan had not yet returned from the construction site. Looking at the empty seat beside him, Shi Yue stood up just after finishing his meal. He said he still had unfinished homework and went home.

He truly did not have the slightest interest in Ji Zhiruo in that regard, and he did not want to hear both sets of parents trying to push them together anymore.

Upon returning home, Shi Yue showered, changed into his pajamas, and began practicing problems. It was not until ten o’clock that his parents returned.

As soon as He Lin returned, she was busy attending to her face. Shi Jingsong sat on the sofa for a while. Knowing that Shi Yue was doing homework, he walked quietly to Shi Yue’s door, gripped the handle, and opened the door very gently.

Shi Yue had just finished the two math papers he did every day. Hearing a sound, he turned and saw Shi Jingsong.

“Did I disturb your homework?” Shi Jingsong smiled at him.

“No,” Shi Yue said.

“Then your father wants to have a chat with you. Do you have time?”

“Sure.”

Shi Yue nodded with a smile. It had probably been a year since he and his father had a proper conversation.

“Just now during dinner at Chenchuan’s house, your and Zhiruo’s matter was mentioned. Zhiruo is very willing, but your father noticed that you seemed unhappy. Do you not like Zhiruo?” Shi Jingsong asked as he sat on Shi Yue’s bed.

Shi Yue looked at Shi Jingsong with a bit of surprise. He never knew his father was so open-minded, discussing the topic of puppy love with a minor who was currently preparing for a math competition and the national college entrance examination.

“I do not like her,” Shi Yue said without hesitation.

This answer left Shi Jingsong somewhat disappointed. He asked, “Then are you in a relationship with any other classmate?”

“No,” Shi Yue replied. He then smiled. “Dad, I must say you are quite open-minded! I am not yet an adult. If I were to date, it would be puppy love. Are you not worried?”

“Who has not been young? Youth without puppy love is incomplete. As long as you know your limits and it does not affect your studies, dating is not a big deal,” Shi Jingsong spoke to Shi Yue like a friend.

“According to what you said, for the sake of making my youth complete,” Shi Yue said jokingly, “I should find someone to date.”

Though it was a joke, Shi Yue could not help but think of an ideal type. The person who popped into his head was actually Ji Chenchuan. Shi Yue shuddered violently; it was too absurd.

“What is wrong?” Seeing Shi Yue shudder so violently, Shi Jingsong asked.

Shi Yue hurriedly shook his head in guilt.

“If you really do date someone, just do not let your mother know. She will go crazy if she finds out,” Shi Jingsong leaned closer to Shi Yue and whispered, his expression looking a bit pained.

Actually, the reason Shi Jingsong said this was not that he truly supported puppy love. It was because he saw Shi Yue suddenly run off to find Ji Chenchuan last night, and his state at that time looked very poor. When he got up at two in the morning to drink water, he saw the light in Shi Yue’s room was still on. When he peeked in, Shi Yue was still practicing problems. He got up at six in the morning to memorize vocabulary and went to extra classes at eight for the entire day.

Having seen too many tragedies, he knew that as long as the child was around, everything else was secondary. Shi Yue’s sudden poor state last night set off alarm bells for Shi Jingsong. He feared that Shi Yue was under too much academic pressure, so he encouraged Shi Yue to date so that he would have someone to talk to about his stress.

Shi Jingsong’s expectations for his child were the opposite of He Lin’s. His hope was that a healthy and happy child was more important than anything else, even if they were a bit poorer. He Lin’s expectation was that studies came first, and having a respectable job and a good future was most important.

“Knowing that my mother will go crazy, you still encourage me,” Shi Yue said with a laugh.

Speaking of this, Shi Yue could not help but think of He Lin’s behavior. Sometimes Shi Yue really could not understand her. Every time they ate at Ji Chenchuan’s house and everyone linked him and Ji Zhiruo together, He Lin would agree. But as soon as they got home, she would immediately tell him that the adults were just joking and he was not allowed to take it seriously; he had to maintain his distance from Ji Zhiruo.

“If you do not say anything and I do not say anything, your mother will not know. I am telling you,” Shi Jingsong said before cautiously glancing toward the living room. Seeing no one there and ensuring He Lin was still busy with her face, he continued, “Your mother does not understand the romance of youth. Back then when I was pursuing her and dating her, look at her! She was as nervous as if she were committing murder or arson.”

“What are you two whispering about?”

Just as Shi Jingsong was getting to the best part, He Lin’s white face, covered in a facial mask, peeked into Shi Yue’s room. She asked in a muffled voice.

Shi Yue and Shi Jingsong were startled into silence.

Shi Jingsong patted Shi Yue’s shoulder, signaling with his eyes for him to deal with He Lin and let Shi Yue get back to his business.

In the living room, He Lin pressed Shi Jingsong on what he was talking about with Shi Yue. Shi Jingsong made up some nonsense about discussing his studies.

Upon hearing this, He Lin immediately smiled and said Shi Jingsong had finally come around to her side. He Lin also mentioned that in Zhejiang, she had asked a friend to contact an elite math competition class taught by famous teachers from Tsinghua and Peking University. She had already signed Shi Yue up for a ten-day course with two classes a day. The friend price was 8,800 yuan, while the original price was 12,800 yuan. She would accompany Shi Yue to Zhejiang for the classes during the summer vacation.

As always, it did not matter whether Shi Jingsong agreed or not; He Lin was simply notifying him.

He Lin’s voice was moderately loud, and Shi Yue could hear her clearly from his room. He had no particular feelings about it; he had long since become numb. It had always been this way; He Lin was used to making decisions for others and never asked for his wishes. Since having him take the path of math competition for guaranteed admission was He Lin’s greatest wish, as her son, he would do his best to achieve it for her and give her the prestige she expected.

Wednesday.

He Lin and Shi Jingsong were on another business trip.

From that night until today, Shi Yue had not seen Ji Chenchuan for three days. The messages he sent to Ji Chenchuan were, as before, only replied to at ten or eleven o’clock. Although Ji Zhiruo was still a bit talkative toward him these few days, she was not as fanatical as before. Perhaps because she received no response, her enthusiasm had waned.

For Shi Yue, this was a good thing.

After school, Shi Yue packed all his books into his schoolbag because there was an exam tomorrow and he needed to take his books home.

Shi Yue put on his backpack and prepared to go to the bookstore as usual. Just as he reached the stairwell, he saw Ji Zhiruo crying while on the phone, running downstairs.

He had never seen Ji Zhiruo cry like this before. Shi Yue caught up to her in three steps and asked urgently, “Who bullied you?”

“Something happened to my brother,” Ji Zhiruo wailed. “He is being sent to the hospital right now.”

Shi Yue’s head suddenly began to ring. He did not know how he asked Ji Zhiruo which hospital Ji Chenchuan was in, how he hailed a taxi to the hospital, how he found the emergency room, or how he waited anxiously at the door with Ji Shengqiang and Feng Liuyu. Shi Yue did not know because he was completely dazed throughout the entire process; he was not sober at all.

Shi Yue was completely consumed, enveloped, and attacked by the word fear.

Time passed minute by minute, and Ji Zhiruo arrived as well.

The emergency room door finally opened. Before the doctor could call out, the four of them surrounded him at once.

“We did our best,” the doctor said, pulling off his mask with a somber expression.

Hearing this, Feng Liuyu immediately fainted. Ji Shengqiang caught her and hurriedly pressed her philtrum for emergency resuscitation. Ji Zhiruo wailed again.

At this moment, the ringing in Shi Yue’s head stopped. Instead, he was clearer than ever. In his memory, Ji Chenchuan was always indestructible. “Impossible, Doctor, you must be mistaken.”

“As family members, I can understand your feelings,” the doctor said.

“No, it is definitely a mistake,” Shi Yue said to the doctor once more, his voice heavy as tears flowed uncontrollably. “It must be a mistake. It is impossible, absolutely impossible, Ji Chenchuan!”

Shi Yue cried out Ji Chenchuan’s name loudly toward the emergency room. The sound was so loud that the entire floor was filled with echoes.

This was the first time Shi Yue had called Ji Chenchuan by his full name.