The Sickly Fake Daughter, But a Beloved Darling of All - Chapter 96

“Alright, go to work now.”

After kissing her, Xu Chengjin gave Si Yu a little push. Her neck was flushed deep red. “I want to be alone for a while. Don’t come back to bother me.”

The secretary had long since pretended to see nothing. She cleared her throat softly. “Um, President Si, the meeting is about to start.”

Si Yu glanced at the secretary, then calmly withdrew her gaze. Seeing Xu Chengjin so shy she looked like she wanted to crawl under the sofa, she tried to hold it in but couldn’t help letting out a laugh. “Xiaojin.”

“What?”

Xu Chengjin buried her head in the cat’s belly. Fufu had a very good personality; perhaps it was a liking at first sight, as the cat was willing to show its most vulnerable side to her.

“Isn’t she well-behaved?” Si Yu stroked Xu Chengjin’s head, looking at the girl and the cat with a smile. “I’m going to the meeting. If you need anything, just call. Don’t be formal.”

“Mhm.”

Xu Chengjin nodded obediently. She grabbed the cat’s paw and waved it. “Go on.”

Watching their interaction, the secretary felt a sense of sighing in her heart. Fufu was spayed and naturally had a good temperament, but kittens were, after all, afraid of strangers. When she first started helping Si Yu take care of Fufu, she had spent a lot of time getting on the cat’s good side. She hadn’t expected the kitten to like Xu Chengjin so much upon their first meeting.

Could it be that Si Yu spent every day holding up a photo in front of Fufu, saying, “This is your other mother”?

The secretary kept her thoughts to herself and turned to follow behind Si Yu. “This is today’s meeting agenda…”

.

Left alone in the office with the cat, Xu Chengjin didn’t feel bored. The television was on for her, randomly playing a movie. However, she seemed to have seen this movie before; it was a foreign film with a somewhat melodramatic plot. The female lead (A) liked the third female lead (C), but was forced into a relationship by the second female lead (B). The two shared a relationship of “hate and deep love.” In the end, Female Lead B committed suicide by jumping into the sea, believing Female Lead A didn’t love her… and it was only after her death that Female Lead A realized she had already fallen for her.

Regardless, the story was highly controversial, but the lead actresses performed exceptionally well, portraying the tangled romance perfectly. Xu Chengjin had first encountered this film when she was sixteen. Now she was twenty, and she was encountering it again through sound.

While stroking the cat and eating an apple, Xu Chengjin was actually fully immersed in the movie’s content. She thought she had almost forgotten it, but as soon as the lines were spoken, the images flooded back into her mind.

“I love you enough, but your heart has no room for even a tiny gap for me.”

“I am greedy for you, I am shameless, but you cannot deny my love. You can love anyone, but I hope you can love me.”

“…”

The leads’ voices were full of story. Xu Chengjin gradually became entranced until the office door was pushed open, causing her to startle. “Who is it?”

“Hello, I’m here to see Sister Si Yu.”

The speaker’s voice was sweet, the kind that belonged to a girl who was stereotypically “cute.” Xu Chengjin tilted her head slightly and said hesitantly, “You are?”

“I am Sister Si Yu’s younger sister. Who are you?”

The other party seemed very familiar with the place, sitting down directly next to Xu Chengjin. She reached out to pick up Fufu to pet her, but as soon as she touched the kitten, she hissed, “Why did you bite me?”

Hearing this, Xu Chengjin immediately pulled Fufu into her arms. “She might be a bit shy with strangers.”

“Impossible!” the girl retorted. “I watched her be born! And who are you? Why are you in Sister Si Yu’s office?”

“I am her fiancée.”

Xu Chengjin’s mood had been fine, but after hearing the girl’s tone, she felt uncomfortable. “Who let you in?”

She called for another assistant. A second later, someone pushed the door open. “Does Miss Xu need something?”

“Who is this?”

Xu Chengjin held the cat and shifted slightly to the other side. She lowered her head and stroked the cat’s head. “Si Yu should have told you—don’t let unrelated people in.”

“Um… Miss Qin has been here before. President Si said it was no problem for Miss Qin to come here.”

The assistant was in a difficult position, but fortunately, Xu Chengjin did not make it harder for her. She just gave an “Oh” and let the assistant leave. “What is your relationship with Si Yu? I recall she doesn’t have any younger sisters, and her relationship with the collateral branches of her family isn’t very good.”

The girl gave a cold laugh. “I am Sister Si Yu’s fiancée. She promised she would marry me. Now it’s my turn to ask—who are you? Why are you here, and why are you trying to interfere in our relationship?”

Xu Chengjin fell silent for a few seconds. Then, finding it ridiculous, she couldn’t help but sneer. “Your relationship?”

“I don’t particularly like it when there are other people in a relationship. Since you say she promised, then I give up.”

Xu Chengjin reached out and directly swept the fruit plate on the table onto the floor. She stood up holding the cat. “No need to call Si Yu. I’ll wait here for her to finish her meeting. Earning money is important.”

“Shut up.”

Xu Chengjin anticipated the girl was about to speak and cut her off. She stood there with a cold face, feeling extremely displeased by the other’s subtle provocations. Although she believed in Si Yu’s feelings for her, she couldn’t avoid a moment of panic. The original plot never mentioned that Si Yu had other love interests…

But originally, Si Yu’s world revolved around Jin Xi. What Xu Chengjin knew was the plot trajectory between her and Jin Xi. The character of Si Yu was something she was only just beginning to fully understand. It was normal for people to like Si Yu, but when someone claimed to be her fiancée to her face—and the assistant recognized her—she still felt a flash of turmoil.

The girl frowned, startled by Xu Chengjin’s actions. “What are you doing? Throwing things around like that… you’re a lunatic.”

She looked at Xu Chengjin and finally noticed something was wrong. “You can’t see? Do I need to call a doctor?”

“You just noticed?”

Xu Chengjin steadied her breathing. She felt this girl might be younger than her; perhaps she had been too sensitive and lost her temper. She forced a smile. “No need, I’ve already taken my medicine.”

“Is that so?” The girl let out a “tsk.” She made an “aiyah” sound. “Seeing as you’re disabled, I won’t hold it against you. When I was coming upstairs, I heard people saying Sister Si Yu seems to be in a relationship. They wouldn’t be spreading rumors about you and her, would they? I don’t know why they’d think that.”

“Are you the lover Sister Si Yu keeps?” The girl crossed her legs and picked up a snack from the table. “But then again, I can forgive Sister Si Yu for this behavior. After all, I’ve been abroad for a few years. It’s understandable that she’d need someone by her side. But now that I’m back, stop pestering her. I’ll give you a sum of money later—just get lost on your own.”

“You really have a foul way of speaking.”

Xu Chengjin pursed her lips. Her mood suddenly leveled out. She sat back down on the sofa, crossed her legs, and gently stroked the cat. “You came back from abroad? Did Si Yu pick you up at the airport?”

“Yeah, she picked me up yesterday.”

“A mouth full of lies.” Xu Chengjin found it hilarious. Yesterday, besides meetings, Si Yu had spent all her time by her side. To pick someone up, she would have had to get from the house to the airport, drop this girl at a hotel, and return, all within an hour…

If Xu Chengjin remembered correctly, it took an hour and a half just to get to the airport from where they lived. Did Si Yu fly a plane there?

Does a CEO use a helicopter for every trip now?

President Si certainly puts on a grand show.

The girl folded her arms. “Believe it or not. Anyway, I’ve said what I needed to say. We’ll see how Sister Si Yu handles you when she gets here.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the office door was pushed open with force. As soon as Si Yu’s meeting ended, she heard the assistant’s report saying Qin Wen had arrived and made Xu Chengjin angry. Her eyes widened instantly, and she ran toward the office, her footsteps not daring to delay for a second. “Xiaojin.”

As she moved forward, she saw the fruit scattered on the floor and the shattered plate. She took a deep breath and looked Xu Chengjin up and down. Seeing that the girl’s complexion was alright and there were no visible injuries, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Clean up the office.”

Si Yu directed this to the secretary. She closed the office door. The next second, she heard Qin Wen call out in a high-pitched voice, “Sister Si Yu.”

“Who told you to come here?”

Si Yu looked displeased. She walked to Xu Chengjin’s side and took her hand. After letting out a breath, her voice softened significantly. “Are you okay? What did she say to make you so angry?”

“Sister Si Yu…”

“Qin Wen.”

Si Yu turned to look at Qin Wen and frowned. “When you were younger, and because your sister’s emotional state wasn’t great at the time, I didn’t lose my temper with you. I tolerated your inappropriate words and behavior many times. You are an adult now. Do you still think you can act like you don’t know any better?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Si Yu had the secretary call the assistant in. She lowered her voice in a sharp rebuke. “Even your sister needs to tell me in advance before she comes over.”

Qin Wen looked aggrieved. “You were the one who said I could come here back then.”

“Back then, you were skipping school and doing nothing productive! How many times did your sister and I have to go looking for you in the middle of the night?” Si Yu felt irritated just thinking about that time. A bratty kid who constantly ran away from home, whose sister was her good friend—Si Yu never wanted to experience that heart-palpitating feeling of receiving a phone call in the middle of the night ever again.

“I said you could come here back then because I was afraid something would happen to you.”

The more Si Yu thought about it, the angrier she got. She had been tormented into losing several pounds during that period by this girl.

“But back then, you also said you would marry me.”

Qin Wen looked like she was about to cry from sadness. “You said you’d marry me when I became an adult. Are you going to deny it now?”

Xu Chengjin, who had been silent until now, used her hand to nudge Si Yu. “Well, speak up, President Si. She says she’s your fiancée, and I’m just—”

“—Your lover.”

Xu Chengjin enunciated those last words slowly, biting down on them with particular weight.

Si Yu: “…”

She felt like she might need to call the police on herself.