One Year After Her Sister-In-Law Was Widowed - Chapter 39

The house was now filled with a great deal of melon milk.

In June, one year ago, the funeral descended along with the overcast rain.

The weather was cold, and people’s words were fierce. Xiao Shuangyu was squeezed outside the crowd, unnoticed by anyone, while Ji Zhuozhou was within the crowd, weak and fragile, being parboiled in a frying pan of denunciation.

That was a day that went beyond merely “terrible.”

Returning from the cemetery, Ji Zhuozhou remained outside the door. The drizzling curtain of rain blurred that gentle face. From behind, Xiao Shuangyu looked at those green eyes that she couldn’t see clearly; it seemed as though all spirit had long since vanished from them.

Xiao Shuangyu turned around and left the villa. She brought back a bottle of melon milk from a convenience store—one that was slightly hot to the touch—and quietly walked to Ji Zhuozhou’s side. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was looking, she stuffed it into Ji Zhuozhou’s hand.

She said in a muffled voice, “This is my favorite flavor.”

She added, “Drinking it will make you feel better.”

Those green eyes looked toward her, beautiful yet full of exhaustion. She said to her, “Thank you.”

Her slender shoulders curled in slightly. Ji Zhuozhou made room for her, asking, “Am I blocking you?”

Xiao Shuangyu looked at the crowded villa and shook her head. “No, I want to step out for some fresh air too.”

As the overcast rain continued, Xiao Shuangyu led Ji Zhuozhou to a small pavilion nearby and personally twisted open the milk for her.

Before turning to leave, she asked, “Why… why don’t you cry?”

Ji Zhuozhou’s deep green eyes lifted from the milk in her hand and slowly landed on Xiao Shuangyu. Her voice was very shallow and faint, filled with a cold rationality: “Crying affects the sense of smell.”

Xiao Shuangyu was stunned. She knew that Ji Zhuozhou was a perfumer who relied heavily on her sense of smell.

It was said that when a person is in excessive grief, they might not have tears; thus, such a rational explanation became like an excuse.

She turned around and left Ji Zhuozhou’s side to avoid giving others a pretext to attack Ji Zhuozhou again, yet she uncontrollably clenched her fists.

Ji Zhuozhou’s excessive grief over Xiao Mingyi made her feel jealous.

Just like a month prior, when the incomparably beautiful Ji Zhuozhou became Xiao Mingyi’s wife, it had made her drive herself mad with jealousy.

From a distance, she came to the edge of the crowd, her dark eyes staring at Ji Zhuozhou outside the throng.

However, seeing Ji Zhuozhou pick up the milk and drink it, Xiao Shuangyu felt a faint sense of happiness. The atmosphere around her shifted repeatedly, like dark and viscous tentacles flailing about.

Just as it was now.

Xiao Shuangyu, having breakfast with Ji Zhuozhou on a weekend morning, felt happy because of the identical bottles of melon milk beside both of them.

Her excessively dark sanpaku eyes curled into a sinister smile. Seeing Ji Zhuozhou take a sip, she also picked up her melon milk and took a massive gulp, her cheeks puffing out with happiness.

Ji Zhuozhou thought this while Xiao Shuangyu still didn’t know that the melon milk on that day, and every day thereafter, was merely to coax her and distract her.

The diverted attention eventually circled back from another direction.

This was the third time in two weeks that Xiao Shuangyu had happened upon Ji Zhuozhou chatting privately with a client.

Was it because she ran up to the ninth floor too frequently?

Not necessarily.

Aside from work requirements, they basically only met once a day in the stairwell. If it wasn’t Ji Zhuozhou looking for her, then she was looking for Ji Zhuozhou.

Currently, it was for work.

After Xiao Shuangyu finished delivering some documents, she incidentally walked toward the laboratory door. Before she reached it, she saw Ji Zhuozhou in a small meeting room with a beautiful, beaming woman sitting opposite her.

When she first happened upon them, Ji Zhuozhou told her that this woman was a major client of Huarui. After conveniently commissioning a custom perfume a few years ago, she had been coming to Ji Zhuozhou for customizations ever since.

One could say she had a special fondness for Ji Zhuozhou’s perfumes.

Through the semi-transparent glass wall of the small meeting room, Xiao Shuangyu’s dark gaze stared at the woman whose physical gestures were as exaggerated as her smile.

They seemed to talk for a very long time every time they met. The snippets of conversation leaking out of the room had long since ceased to be about perfume.

Ji Zhuozhou was even responding with smiles, appearing to get along very well with that woman.

Xiao Shuangyu was jealous again.

Even though she knew Ji Zhuozhou was working.

She stopped a few paces away outside the meeting room, not expecting to attract Ji Zhuozhou’s attention.

Ji Zhuozhou looked over at her.

Xiao Shuangyu was startled. She hurriedly nodded and walked to one side.

After walking out of the meeting room’s range, she slowed her pace and glanced back.

She sighed for no reason and continued forward.

But just as she reached the elevator, her phone buzzed. Ji Zhuozhou had sent her a message.

Sailboat: Very soon.

Xiao Shuangyu halted her steps.

There were only two words, sent to her in a spare moment.

She really did seem to be interrupting Ji Zhuozhou’s work.

Before guilt could well up in her heart, two speaking voices slowly approached from behind her.

Ji Zhuozhou’s voice was, as always, clear yet soft: “President Si’s ideas are very good. I have noted them down. If President Si wants to make more changes recently, let’s talk again.”

Xiao Shuangyu pouted for no reason. What kind of ideas are these? Changing things three times in two weeks isn’t enough?

And this was just what she had witnessed; who knows if it had been five, six, seven, or eight times already.

The woman called President Si responded quickly, “As long as Teacher Ji doesn’t find me too full of ideas. Talking to you always makes time fly. It would be great if we could meet outside later as well.”

Xiao Shuangyu immediately became vigilant.

She spun around abruptly and stared over, coming face-to-face with the two people as they turned the corner.

Xiao Shuangyu said in a muffled voice, “Teacher Ji.”

Although Ji Zhuozhou had told her “Very soon,” she hadn’t expected to run into her at the elevator entrance. She nodded in response and then said, “This is President Si.”

President Si casually stroked her chin. “I think I’ve seen you before.”

Xiao Shuangyu instinctively retreated a few steps, still looking vigilant.

The previous two times she had caught Ji Zhuozhou meeting with this woman, once was when Ji Zhuozhou was about to lead her into the meeting room, and once was similar to today.

But what was consistent was that only Ji Zhuozhou should have seen her.

At the very least, today was likely the first time they had seen each other’s faces clearly while standing face-to-face.

And she had never seen any “President Si” before.

She said, “Is that so? I don’t think I’ve seen President Si.”

President Si laughed for some reason. “I seem to be unsure now. What position do you hold? Do you want to come work at my company, Miss Hedgehog?”

In an instant, all of Xiao Shuangyu’s fur bristled. She quickly shook her head. “No need.”

Ji Zhuozhou’s eyes darkened suddenly as she thought of something. “It’s not quite right for President Si to poach someone in public.”

President Si laughed and pressed her palm down. “Please pretend you didn’t hear that, Teacher Ji. However, Teacher Ji, let’s stay in touch—at other times.”

She was winking and gesturing, clearly referring to Ji Zhuozhou’s time after work.

Xiao Shuangyu wished she truly were a hedgehog, so she could prick this woman to death for poaching in front of her again.

How could Ji Zhuozhou fail to understand? She only replied vaguely, “Then I shall wait for President Si’s next visit.”

It was a polite refusal. President Si wasn’t annoyed either. Just then, the elevator arrived, and she walked straight toward it. “Easy to say, easy to say.”

Seeing Ji Zhuozhou enter the elevator, Xiao Shuangyu followed. In the elevator with only the three of them, she followed all the way to the first floor. She watched from a distance as Ji Zhuozhou saw the woman out of the Huarui building, then turned back to get into the elevator with her.

Xiao Shuangyu pressed the buttons for the sixth and ninth floors and said softly, “Sister.”

Ji Zhuozhou did not turn her head, only glancing at her reflection in the smooth mirror of the elevator.

In the mirror, Xiao Shuangyu stared at those deep green eyes. “Has she seen my sister?”

Just now, the moment Ji Zhuozhou saw the woman off, Xiao Shuangyu had suddenly realized.

Perhaps the “before” that woman mentioned wasn’t the “before” of these past two weeks. The person that woman had seen might not have been her.

She had a face that was seventy percent similar to Xiao Mingyi’s. If seen from a distance, one might truly not think they were two different people.

Ji Zhuozhou had also thought of this, but at the very least, the two of them had not met in her presence.

Her soft voice sounded like a sigh. “Perhaps.”

She added, “Does Lianlian care very much?”

Xiao Shuangyu shook her head. “I just thought of it.”

Fine, perhaps she did care.

Whether intentional or unintentional, the woman’s act of poaching was a fact. Both of them thought similarly.

The woman was a Beta—a Beta who had added countless ideas about wanting to simulate the scent of pheromones into a custom perfume request. It was hard to say what the woman’s orientation was.

Ji Zhuozhou knew; Ji Zhuozhou briefly told Xiao Shuangyu, and thus Xiao Shuangyu knew as well.

The two of them looked at each other in the elevator mirror, their expressions identical in their complexity.

On the sixth floor, Xiao Shuangyu exited the elevator early and turned straight into the stairwell.

On the ninth floor, when the elevator arrived, Xiao Shuangyu was already waiting at the landing between the eighth and ninth floors.

Ji Zhuozhou walked down half a flight, and the two of them held hands.

Holding hands then turned into an embrace. As their lips touched, Ji Zhuozhou put her arm around Xiao Shuangyu’s neck.

Xiao Shuangyu was startled, then she poked her tongue out to pry open Ji Zhuozhou’s lips and teeth.

The scent of rain and mist diffused. She hooked onto Ji Zhuozhou’s tongue, circling it gently.

There were no surveillance cameras in the stairwell, and no people. They could be slightly more unrestrained.

Ji Zhuozhou’s tongue was very soft, carrying a faint scent of tea—it must have been left over from her meeting with that woman.

She suckled with a bit of jealousy, wanting to suck away every bit of that faint scent.

Heat rose. Ji Zhuozhou was already pressed against the wall, her breathing chaotic.

Xiao Shuangyu stopped, taking Ji Zhuozhou’s lip into her mouth instead before letting go. She said in a muffled voice, “Does Sister need to meet with many clients?”

Ji Zhuozhou shook her head. Her increasingly lustrous and red lips opened and closed, speaking with a slight pant, “No. Perfumers rarely meet with clients directly or privately; usually, there are no specific requests for a certain person.”

Before Xiao Shuangyu could voice her doubt, Ji Zhuozhou explained, “President Si is somewhat special; the company came to discuss it with me.”

Xiao Shuangyu gave a muffled “Oh.” Since the company had stepped in, it was a reasonable work arrangement. Even if it was “special,” it wasn’t “exclusive.”

She rubbed against Ji Zhuozhou’s neck. “Then will you need to meet clients outside?”

Ji Zhuozhou felt a bit ticklish from the rubbing and instinctively touched the back of Xiao Shuangyu’s head. “Yes, but not privately. What’s wrong?”

Xiao Shuangyu felt a bit more at ease. She lifted her head and met those deep green eyes. “The person Sister took leave to see last time… who was that?”

Two weeks later, Xiao Shuangyu’s question was finally directed at Ji Zhuozhou.

Ji Zhuozhou realized. “Is Lianlian jealous?”

Xiao Shuangyu was startled, then she nodded.

Ji Zhuozhou smiled and kissed her lips. “Want to keep kissing?”

Xiao Shuangyu looked at Ji Zhuozhou’s reddened lips, which already had some marks. If she continued, perhaps someone would notice.

But those lips were so soft and beautiful, so kissable.

She leaned forward again, once more making Ji Zhuozhou’s breathing chaotic.

It took a long time for her to react. She immediately backed away a few inches. “Sister hasn’t answered me yet.”

Ji Zhuozhou was already somewhat limp, leaning against her shoulder and panting. There was a dark, mysterious shade in the depths of her deep green eyes. “Someone unimportant.”