One Year After Her Sister-In-Law Was Widowed - Chapter 29

Kneading on the Pitiful Spot

The rain fell heavily.

The rain outside the window, the rain in the movie, and Ji Zhuozhou’s…

Xiao Shuangyu’s face was burning. Amidst the horror sound effects blending with the rain inside and outside the screen, she reached out to catch Ji Zhuozhou’s rain.

The scent of rain and mist became increasingly pervasive. Ji Zhuozhou leaned against her shoulder, her voice carrying a distinct pant, “Which number is it?”

She was asking about the death toll in the movie.

Ji Zhuozhou sat astride her lap, unable to see the screen behind her, yet she paid attention to the movie’s progress. Before they began, she had told Xiao Shuangyu that she would quiz her.

Xiao Shuangyu struggled to multitask. She could hardly spare half a bit of attention for the movie anymore, her lingering kisses falling on the side of Ji Zhuozhou’s neck and her beautiful collarbones.

Hearing the question, Xiao Shuangyu remembered the movie existed. Her dark eyes hurriedly lifted, looking over Ji Zhuozhou’s shoulder at the screen behind them.

Just then, a person in the movie was torn apart by a massive chainsaw. Caught off guard, she jumped in fright, her hand jerking violently, which immediately caused Ji Zhuozhou to jerk as well.

Xiao Shuangyu surreptitiously withdrew her gaze and rubbed her head against Ji Zhuozhou’s ear, kissing her lightly, her voice tight, “Not… not many lefts.”

As she spoke, she sought Ji Zhuozhou’s lips again, “Can I… go a bit heavier?”

Ji Zhuozhou seemed to like the accidental, uncontrolled jerk of her hand from just now.

Ji Zhuozhou’s voice was blocked between their meeting lips and teeth, finding almost no gap to escape.

However, Xiao Shuangyu’s hand was clearly increasing in strength and speed, kneading the pitiful spot over and over again.

Ji Zhuozhou bit her tongue.

The sharp, stinging sensation lasted only a moment, and Xiao Shuangyu took it as consent.

The movie ended at some point; even the credits had finished, leaving the screen in a quiet, blank void.

Ji Zhuozhou wanted to collapse to one side, but she was held tightly in Xiao Shuangyu’s strong arms, unable to stop trembling amidst the still-vivid numbness.

Ji Zhuozhou’s breathing was ragged. The clear sound of her panting fell into Xiao Shuangyu’s ears, sounding lethally beautiful.

Xiao Shuangyu wanted to continue.

But Ji Zhuozhou’s rain kept falling, never-ending.

She probably… couldn’t continue for the time being.

With immense regret, Xiao Shuangyu licked her own fingertip but suddenly felt soft pads of fingers touching her back shoulder.

She froze involuntarily, only to hear a panting voice whisper in her ear.

Ji Zhuozhou said, “It seems to be broken.”

Her warm fingertips traced the red swelling on the back of Xiao Shuangyu’s shoulder, where she had accidentally scratched herself with her nails. Ji Zhuozhou propped herself up and leaned back weakly, “Does it hurt?”

Xiao Shuangyu hurriedly hugged Ji Zhuozhou’s waist to keep her from slipping.

She shook her head.

Those deep green eyes met her gaze gently. Her gentle face was flushed a lovely red, and her moist lips, slightly swollen and glistening, pulled into a smile, “How could it?”

Ji Zhuozhou swallowed a gasp and said to her, “Go wash up, I’ll apply some medicine for you.”

As she spoke, she moved to step aside.

A sense of stickiness pulled apart. Xiao Shuangyu looked down, only to see a mess rendered there.

She involuntarily hugged Ji Zhuozhou tighter, “I… I’ll help Sister wash.”

Ji Zhuozhou refused her, “Go by yourself, be good.”

In the end, Xiao Shuangyu didn’t get to go with Ji Zhuozhou. Hearing Ji Zhuozhou say “I’ll wait for you,” she walked into the bathroom alone.

Ji Zhuozhou was still very tired. After setting Xiao Shuangyu aside, she slumped limply onto the sofa, letting the large damp patches remain on her nightgown, refusing Xiao Shuangyu’s request to help her change.

Xiao Shuangyu’s heart was preoccupied. She filled the tub absentmindedly until she lifted the hot water; the stream hitting the broken skin on her back shoulder brought a stinging, nummimg pain.

Xiao Shuangyu snapped back to her senses, hurriedly rinsed her whole body, and rushed out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

Ji Zhuozhou still looked like she hadn’t quite recovered, yet she stood up, “I’ll go wash up first before applying medicine to Lianlian. Wait for me a moment.”

Xiao Shuangyu followed behind her, reaching out her hand in concern.

Ji Zhuozhou turned around and squeezed her palm, “I’m fine.”

Xiao Shuangyu was stunned; her hand was released before she could grip back.

She was left outside the bathroom door.

Ji Zhuozhou came out quickly, though Xiao Shuangyu clearly didn’t feel that way.

Urgency filled her dark gaze, even though Ji Zhuozhou had appeared before her perfectly fine.

Ji Zhuozhou was also wrapped in a towel. She looked clean and refreshed, showing almost no signs of fatigue.

Bringing over the first-aid kit, Ji Zhuozhou squeezed out a large glob of ointment and used a cotton swab to gently apply it to Xiao Shuangyu’s back shoulder.

Xiao Shuangyu’s skin was as pale as her face, lacking color, but it reddened easily. Several nail marks had turned almost her entire back red, looking even more distinct and pitiful than when she had stopped checking earlier.

Even the gland on the back of her neck seemed slightly swollen and tinged with a faint red. Fortunately, it was far enough away that it hadn’t been touched; otherwise, the pheromones inside might have already leaked out.

Xiao Shuangyu’s pheromones were the scent of chamomile—a sweet apple fragrance with the slight bitterness of herbs. Ji Zhuozhou still remembered it clearly.

Ji Zhuozhou lowered her eyes.

The ointment was spread bit by bit over the swollen and broken areas. There was no pain; instead, an itch hooked into the depths of Xiao Shuangyu’s heart. She lowered her head and gently touched her own knuckles.

It was as if she were stroking that softness and warmth.

After a short while, a soft, light voice came from behind her. Ji Zhuozhou said, “All done.”

When she turned back, she heard Ji Zhuozhou give a light chuckle.

Two question marks instantly rose in Xiao Shuangyu’s dark eyes.

Ji Zhuozhou shook her head, the smile still curling in her deep green eyes.

She just thought that with one mark on the back shoulder and one on the front neck, their marks were quite symmetrical.

She didn’t say it.

Instead, she asked Xiao Shuangyu, “What was the ending of that movie just now?”

The question instantly stumped Xiao Shuangyu.

Xiao Shuangyu blinked dryly, looking at Ji Zhuozhou and then at the now-black TV screen.

Now, her memories of heavy rain, thunder, and horror movies had perhaps been entirely refreshed.

She said, “They all died… I think.”

Ji Zhuozhou’s smiles deepened.

On Monday morning, Xiao Shuangyu was still called into the car by Ji Zhuozhou to head to Huarui together.

Today she was going through the job transfer process; from now on, her commute times would be synchronized with Ji Zhuozhou’s.

Just like on the day of her interview last week, she did not walk out of the parking lot at the same time as Ji Zhuozhou.

Rumors about Ji Zhuozhou were still spreading. She didn’t know how much Ji Zhuozhou knew, but she felt that Ji Zhuozhou must know at least something.

It was nothing for colleagues to happen to meet and walk together, but if they were seen getting out of the same car and walking out of the parking lot together, there might be gossip.

Especially with someone like Ji Zhuozhou, whose every move was hard not to notice.

That gossip would be magnified and blurred infinitely in the pantry, eventually turning into another rumor that would wound Ji Zhuozhou.

She watched Ji Zhuozhou’s back disappear into the parking lot and instinctively wanted to raise her hand to rub her face.

Her hand stopped mid-air.

She had applied some foundation to cover her dark circles; she couldn’t rub it.

She set off, walking out of the parking lot from the other side.

As soon as she turned the corner, she saw Ji Zhuozhou already at the main entrance of Huarui, nodding her head to say good morning to the security guard on duty.

Jealousy suddenly surged forth. Countless tentacles wildly coiled toward Ji Zhuozhou’s direction, trying to wrap around her body, trying to hide one Ji Zhuozhou away.

She was very unwilling.

She wanted to be with Ji Zhuozhou.

She wanted to walk with Ji Zhuozhou.

The Ji Zhuozhou she couldn’t stop thinking about soon left the entrance. Xiao Shuangyu panicked and hurriedly quickened her pace.

The security guard on duty caught her attention, excitedly congratulating her on her successful transfer and wishing her all the best in her new position.

Xiao Shuangyu didn’t push him away to leave. Her gaze drifted to the elevators behind him, then she lowered her head and withdrew her gaze, seriously chatting with the guard for a few moments.

A short while later, Xiao Shuangyu started toward the elevators again, but her pace was no longer so urgent, even carrying a bit of delay.

Ji Zhuozhou should be gone by now. No matter how fast she walked, she wouldn’t see Ji Zhuozhou, nor could she take the same elevator.

She felt a bit dejected.

Dejected, Xiao Shuangyu turned the corner and saw Ji Zhuozhou standing alone in front of the elevator.

She froze on the spot.

Ji Zhuozhou saw her from the corner of her eye, turned her head slightly, and spoke softly, “Just in time. It was full just now, let’s wait for the next one.”

Xiao Shuangyu blinked.

The beating of her heart carried a sound that rang in her ears.

She lowered her head and walked to Ji Zhuozhou’s side, her heavy lips involuntarily curling up, “Okay.”

They didn’t speak, standing quietly as if they were two completely unrelated people, yet allowing the scent of rain and mist and the sticky tentacles to entwine indistinguishably.

Until soon, another group of people gathered in front of the elevator, crowding the two of them into the corner of the car.

Shoulder to shoulder.

Ji Zhuozhou took out her phone, tapped it for a moment, and after putting it down, she gently hooked Xiao Shuangyu’s stiff hand hanging by her side.

Xiao Shuangyu looked over, and Ji Zhuozhou glanced downward.

Xiao Shuangyu was stunned for a long time before she finally understood that she was being told to look at her phone.

Picking it up, sure enough, a message had come from Ji Zhuozhou.

Sailboat: I suddenly remembered, the Marketing Department is also on the sixth floor.

Sailboat: Tell me where Lianlian is sitting later.

Xiao Shuangyu looked at Ji Zhuozhou beside her.

Ji Zhuozhou had already turned her head toward her, her eyes containing a shallow smile.

Heavily, Xiao Shuangyu nodded her head.

Resigning the contract took some time.

By the time Xiao Shuangyu moved to the Marketing Department, it was already around ten o’clock.

Manager Wei from HR personally handed her over to the Data Analysis Supervisor. After a mutual “Feel free to communicate if there are any issues,” he turned and left.

Xiao Shuangyu then followed this supervisor.

This supervisor was the chief examiner from her second round of interviews. She remembered the introduction saying her name was Bian Ya; she looked even more serious now than she did during the interview.

Bian Ya led her further inside. “You studied Big Data, why did you think of being a security guard?”

Xiao Shuangyu spoke without changing her expression, “Huarui wasn’t hiring for anything else.”

At least not for her major.

Bian Ya nodded in realization, her deep eye sockets furrowing slightly. “No wonder. Our team didn’t originally have a recruitment plan either.”

She looked at her again. “You like Huarui very much?”

Xiao Shuangyu looked at her and slowly blinked, not saying a word.

She didn’t like Huarui; she liked Ji Zhuozhou, who worked at Huarui.

No matter how many times she heard this question, she would never give a hollow, agreeable answer.

Bian Ya didn’t ask further. She introduced herself to the other three members of the team, told her she would specifically handle the perfume group from now on, and then handed her a thick stack of materials.

Then she sent her a compressed folder, full of various industry reports.

“Finish reading all of this this week. I will test you next week.”

Xiao Shuangyu nodded, feeling a strange sense of awe as she opened the book on top, Introduction to Flavors and Fragrances.

Huarui was, after all, a flavor and fragrance company. Even if not every position required a major in that field, one still needed a basic understanding.

At the very least, you had to know what the company did, right?

Bian Ya didn’t sit with them; she had a separate desk across from them.

Once Bian Ya left, the colleague sitting next to Xiao Shuangyu pushed her chair over slightly.

“You don’t need to read this one too closely, just a general understanding is fine. Sister Ya won’t test the details too strictly.”

Xiao Shuangyu looked up.

The colleague, who looked to be about the same age as her, instantly broke into a smile. “Ah, my name is Yang Shanhe, you can just call me Xiao He.”

Xiao Shuangyu nodded. “You can call me Lianlian.”

The two colleagues across from her also popped over to share some experience.

Xiao Shuangyu listened to it a lot; she hardly managed to read anything all morning.

As lunch break approached, Bian Ya walked over. “Don’t leave Xiao Xiao behind when you go eat; take her with you.”

She completely forgot that Xiao Shuangyu wasn’t a new employee; before coming to the Data Analysis group, she had been a security guard for nearly two months and knew Huarui inside out.

Before Xiao Shuangyu could speak, Yang Shanhe beside her suddenly raised her hand and stood up. “Reporting to Sister Ya, it’s Lianlian.”

Bian Ya looked at her, her deep eyes showing a bit of confusion. “Lianlian?”

Xiao Shuangyu nodded.

Bian Ya gave a nod and looked at the others again. “Then don’t leave Lianlian behind.”

Yang Shanhe then asked if Bian Ya was going with them. Bian Ya looked incredulous. “You guys actually want to eat with the boss?”

Several people immediately started joking around. Bian Ya didn’t pay them any more mind and turned to leave.

Turning back, Yang Shanhe sent her an invitation. “Lianlian, let’s go eat.”

Xiao Shuangyu finally found a chance to speak and hurriedly shook her head. “No, I plan to go down a bit later.”

Yang Shanhe suddenly remembered. “Ah, I forgot Lianlian transferred from security. Then I’ll head out first~”

The other two didn’t stay either, saying their goodbyes before leaving.

The three of them didn’t walk together, each finding their own lunch partners.

Watching them walk away, Xiao Shuangyu felt a weight lift for no reason.

She looked down at her phone.

On her phone, she had just received a new message.

Sailboat: Okay.

Xiao Shuangyu was instantly excited, hurriedly responded, and then absentmindedly held her book to read.

It wasn’t until ten minutes later when another new message was sent that Xiao Shuangyu immediately dropped her book and ran for the elevator.

Although the Perfumery Department offices were on the sixth floor, Ji Zhuozhou’s lab was on the ninth floor, and she was currently coming down from upstairs.

Xiao Shuangyu pressed the button for every elevator, watching the flashing numbers above with great anticipation.

Ji Zhuozhou had told her which elevator she was in, but Xiao Shuangyu couldn’t be sure if that elevator would be full or if it would stop on her floor.

She was waiting.

If it didn’t stop, she would immediately take the one next to it down.

A moment later, behind the opening elevator doors, Ji Zhuozhou’s deep green eyes fell upon her.

There weren’t many people in the elevator, just a few scattered here and there.

The button for the sixth floor went dark, so Ji Zhuozhou didn’t step out; she just gave a slight nod.

Xiao Shuangyu hurriedly squeezed in next to Ji Zhuozhou, lowering her head deeply and speaking intentionally, “Teacher Ji, what a coincidence. Shall we eat together?”

Even though it had been arranged in advance via phone—even well before the lunch break, she had started sending requests to Ji Zhuozhou.

The question was… too obvious.

Ji Zhuozhou didn’t expose her. She looked sideways, a shallow smile curling her lips. “Sure.”

A moment later, a new message appeared on Xiao Shuangyu’s phone from Ji Zhuozhou.

Sailboat: I thought Lianlian wouldn’t eat with me either.

It seemed… she was talking about not walking together this morning.

Xiao Shuangyu quietly averted her gaze.