The Woman I Was Flirting With Turned Out To Be A Chaebol Heiress - Chapter 23

Neither of them mentioned the little incident just now, as if by silent understanding.

The bowl still emitted steam. Jiang Ji was careful not to burn Li Nianyi before the spoon reached her lips, Jiang Ji would blow on it until it was at a suitable temperature.

Li Nianyi accepted her care quietly. This was very different from her usual self she had lost the confident ease with which she teased others and instead had become overly well behaved.

She ate in small sips, a few strands of hair stuck to her forehead, dampened by sweat. Although her lips had regained some color compared to before, she still looked weak and listless.

This strange calm lasted until the bowl of porridge was empty.

Li Nianyi wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere, but before she could open her mouth, Jiang Ji quickly turned and went to the living room.

Seeing her back that gave no chance for conversation, Li Nianyi pursed her lips slightly. Before she could hide the expression, Jiang Ji returned with a cup of hot water and some medicine.

She placed the medicine box by the bedside and handed the cup to Li Nianyi.

“I see your lips are a bit dry. Drink more water… take the medicine a little later, otherwise it will irritate your stomach.”

Li Nianyi took the cup and looked down at her small, blurry reflection in the water.

The air fell silent again. This eerie quiet made Jiang Ji somewhat restless.

“You said on the phone earlier that you had calmed down. What did you mean by that?”

Li Nianyi did not look up. Her voice was soft, weak, but loud enough for the two of them in the room to hear clearly.

“I…”

Jiang Ji opened her mouth but didn’t know where to start.

Suddenly, she dashed back to the living room, took the glass cup with a line-drawn puppy from the cupboard, poured herself a glass of water, then returned to the room.

Facing Li Nianyi’s incredulous gaze, Jiang Ji took a sip of water before finally gathering her thoughts and deciding where to begin.

“I came to Japan when I was fifteen.”

Jiang Ji tried to tell the events that had happened over the years using her scarce and poor words.

At this moment, she realized she had always deliberately avoided the past, trying to turn every day of it into a yellowed, dusty old photograph, sealed away forever, never to be seen.

The days after seemed like time she could simply waste away in her life.

Jiang Ji’s mother was an illegitimate child, and consequently, Jiang Ji, an unknown “wild child,” was also not welcomed. For reasons she had long forgotten, mother and daughter were “exiled” abroad naturally a matter of course.

The strangers who shared blood ties with them had never contacted them again, as if they were dead.

Actually, at this point, things hadn’t reached their worst.

Whether it was working odd jobs or living in poverty, at least they could survive.

But for unlucky people, misfortunes always clustered together.

Jiang Ji’s mother fell ill.

Coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis between them, all their money wasn’t enough for a 4 million yen surgery fee, let alone the subsequent maintenance costs.

At that time, Jiang Ji was no longer attending school, cycling daily between work and the hospital. She secretly worked at a casino, simply because the pay was better.

But the surgery fee was simply too expensive. No matter how much Jiang Ji worked herself to exhaustion in the casino, it was difficult to raise the money.

Her mother urged her to give up treatment, saying she was suffering in this body and it would be better to die and be done with it.

But Jiang Ji was unwilling.

She was so afraid. Terribly afraid.

That kind of fear that sinks deep into your bones, she would never forget in this life.

It was hard to describe the feeling.

It was as if you were clearly aware that soon, you would be the only one left in the world. The death of the one person with the deepest blood bond would also take away your only connection to the world.

Just thinking about this fact made Jiang Ji uncontrollably panic, unable to breathe.

She didn’t want her mother to die. If even she wasn’t here, then life in this world seemed meaningless.

Jiang Ji knew she was always a coward.

At that time, she had already decided: she couldn’t bear the terror of her mother’s death. It might be better to die together.

It was then that Saionji Kiriko appeared.

She was the casino’s behind the scenes boss, Jiang Ji’s direct superior, and at her hardest time, Kiriko paid for her mother’s surgery fees. The price was that Jiang Ji had to work by her side.

Fifteen-year-old Jiang Ji did not understand what this powerful woman saw in her, but the life-saving money made her deeply grateful.

Her mother’s life was extended by this money, but not saved completely. She still died. Yet Jiang Ji could no longer recklessly choose to die with her.

She had already sold her life to the Saionji family.

When Kiriko married into the Kurosaki group, she only brought two people: Ozawa and Jiang Ji.

“Actually… in some sense, I’m probably the same as you an orphan. Although I live in a big house, without a mother, what is a home?”

Arriving at the Saionji house was the first time Jiang Ji encountered such a luxurious world. The floor tiles were so shiny they reflected her face, and expensive clothes felt like they had no friction when worn.

But sitting in a bedroom larger than the entire rental room she had shared with her mother, she felt only discomfort.

The original house was a home. No matter how big this bedroom was, it was just a bedroom.

The water in the cup had cooled. Jiang Ji gripped the cup tightly until her fingertips turned white.

She was afraid.

Li Nianyi could clearly sense this.

So she covered Jiang Ji’s hand with her own, just like Jiang Ji had warmed her hands before. Li Nianyi also wanted to warm the twisted heart inside Jiang Ji.

The story was not over yet.

Kiriko officially adopted Jiang Ji as a foster daughter under the name of “international humanitarian aid.” To repay her, Jiang Ji could do anything for Kiriko, but she refused to change her surname. Fortunately, Kiriko did not insist.

“My name is the only inheritance she left me.”

When Jiang Ji said this, her voice seemed to carry a low sigh, entwining affection and longing, yet unable to send it to her closest relative anymore.

After entering the Kurosaki group, Jiang Ji only realized Kiriko’s intentions later she wanted to take over this place. Ozawa was her front agent, and Jiang Ji was a trump card.

Kiriko admired the wild beast like ruthlessness in Jiang Ji’s eyes. She hid it well, but being young, it was difficult to truly act like a well-behaved girl in front of such a cunning woman.

Using her previous experience in the casino as a springboard, Jiang Ji was appointed a henchman in the Kurosaki group. With Kiriko’s covert support, within a few years she climbed from obscurity to a position the chairman himself valued.

Then things went more smoothly.

With Kiriko attacking from outside and Jiang Ji from within, the stupid Kurosaki chairman was no match.

On the night Jiang Ji turned eighteen, the snow piled thick in the courtyard. Kiriko, in the bedroom she shared with her husband for countless nights, beheaded the chairman.

It wasn’t the first bloody scene Jiang Ji had witnessed, but it was the most deeply imprinted in her life.

The air was cold, but the blood splattered on her face was warm. Jiang Ji stared blankly at the woman before her.

The woman’s face wore the usual gentle smile, but beneath the glaring red stains, she looked like a demon risen from hell.

With the second cut, Kiriko tore open the robe that symbolized the chairman’s wife’s identity.

From then on, Kiriko fully controlled the Kurosaki group, and Jiang Ji became the legitimate second-in-command.

Jiang Ji always knew Kiriko was extremely smart, far more than her brothers. In the Saionji family inheritance battle, Kiriko was the undisputed winner.

And Jiang Ji naturally became a so called heiress.

But this identity was truly bought with all her wounds.

“Nian Nian, I didn’t mean to hide things from you. I just… don’t identify with this identity.”

Jiang Ji’s eyes scanned the calloused skin on her palm. Now, her hand was tightly holding Li Nianyi’s.

“More than you thinking I’m from the Saionji family, I hope you always know me as the small bar owner, your surprise reunion in a foreign land.”

The atmosphere quieted again. Li Nianyi looked at Jiang Ji’s clear, handsome profile and suddenly felt this world was even more magical than she imagined.

So Jiang Ji really was involved in the underworld!

After a long time, she gathered her feelings and slowly said:

“Jiang Ji, I’m with you as a person, not your background or status. That’s been my attitude from the beginning.

I felt hurt only because your hiding made me feel tricked… But I’ve thought about it and I can’t always force you to be honest with me.”

“It’s not forcing!” Jiang Ji was anxious.

“I’m willing to tell you these things, I’m just too scared… always avoiding the past.”

The story time ended. Jiang Ji refilled the cup with hot water and handed the medicine she had prepared in her palm to Li Nianyi.

“As for our relationship…”

Watching Li Nianyi swallow the medicine, Jiang Ji carefully spoke.

“Nian Nian, are we… friends?”

If Li Nianyi hadn’t finished the water, she thought she might have choked.

“You spent two weeks thinking, and your conclusion is that you want to be friends with me?”