A Promise in a Thought 29

Chapter 29

In the morning, a fine rain began to fall outside the window. Tiny raindrops silently merged with the soil, bringing a damp scent and a cooler temperature.

A corner of the curtain was drawn back. A cool breeze blew in, slightly lifting the hem of the nightdress of the person by the window.

Jiang Chenyin held her phone to her ear with one hand, and with the other, she gathered the long hair spread down her back, casually flicking it over her shoulder, a curve on her lips.

On the other end of the line, her manager was so surprised she was on the verge of shouting, “Teacher Jiang, why did you go to Lingzhou by yourself? If you keep taking my job, how am I supposed to collect my salary!”

“I was just asking casually yesterday,” Jiang Chenyin said, squinting her eyes with a smile, her words seeming to hold a hidden meaning. “But it’s just right now. It can serve as a reason to come over.”

Staying for a week would be a bit hard to explain, but two days was enough. She hadn’t originally intended to mention any work to Bo Muyu, but the child both wanted her to stay and didn’t want her to delay her work in Qinzhou. Her eyes were full of conflict. She couldn’t bear it, so she had conveniently used this excuse.

The manager was taken aback and asked, “What reason do you need to go to Lingzhou?”

Jiang Chenyin reined in her thoughts and said, “It’s nothing. I was just talking. By the way, let’s turn down this game endorsement. I don’t have time.”

“You’ve finished your inspection that quickly?”

“I guess so,” Jiang Chenyin smiled.

Perhaps due to the sudden drop in temperature, Bo Muyu woke up. She groggily felt the space beside her. It was empty.

She became a little more awake, hugged the blanket, and looked towards the corner of the room. Jiang Chenyin was on the phone there. She was far away, and Jiang Chenyin had deliberately lowered her voice, so she couldn’t hear anything, only vaguely seeing her lips moving.

Bo Muyu thought for a moment, but didn’t get up, just watching Jiang Chenyin.

The current Jiang Chenyin was no different from four years ago, but she was clearly different from her first impression of her as a child.

Jiang Chenyin was becoming more and more gentle and serene. The clear smile from many years ago had now been replaced by a deep warmth in her eyes, and the corners of her lips would lift slightly, extremely gentle and graceful.

But she had more than just this side. When she was working, dressed in a woman’s suit with a serious expression, she had a kind of gentle aloofness. A slightly cold glance was enough to silence anyone.

And also, the way she looked after a workout, covered in sweat, the beads of sweat sliding down the lines of her body, over the muscles of her abdomen, her whole person exuded a beauty full of strength.

As Bo Muyu thought about it, she pulled the blanket up to cover the curve of her lips.

Auntie Yin has so many sides, but not many people get to see them. But I’m one of them.

She smiled for a while, then suddenly froze, abruptly realizing a problem. What if Jiang Chenyin had more than just these few sides? She occupied a lot of Jiang Chenyin’s private time, but she didn’t seem to know much about her.

On the contrary, Jiang Chenyin knew everything about her. Because it was Jiang Chenyin who had accompanied her as she grew up, not the other way around.

Even Jiang Chenyin’s past was the same. She didn’t know anything, didn’t understand anything. Jiang Chenyin spoiled her, but had never let her get close to her inner thoughts.

Her thoughts circled back to the doubts she had had after Old Master Jiang had sought her out a few days ago, but now there was an added touch of disappointment.

“You’re awake?”

“Ah…” Bo Muyu came back to her senses and saw that Jiang Chenyin had already approached.

She had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even noticed Jiang Chenyin had hung up and come back.

Jiang Chenyin’s footsteps paused. She walked back to the window and drew the curtains, then returned to the bed, lifted a corner of the blanket, and got in.

“The temperature dropped today. Wear a coat later and button it up. You can’t just wear a shirt like last night.”

Jiang Chenyin leaned against the headboard and looked down at Bo Muyu, who had snuggled up to her.

The girl’s eyes were heavy with sleep, her skin as fair as white jade. Her expression, before fully waking, was a little dazed, exquisitely beautiful. Her pink, moist lips were as tempting as flower petals nourished by the rain.

Jiang Chenyin’s heart was filled with emotion. Bo Muyu’s current appearance was no longer as childish as before. The childishness that had marked her immaturity was continuously fading.

She was very beautiful. Jiang Chenyin’s lips curved up almost imperceptibly.

“Mmm, Lingzhou is cooler than Qinzhou to begin with. It’s a bit cold now,” Bo Muyu said, rubbing against her waist, then also sat up and leaned against the headboard.

Jiang Chenyin gently rested Bo Muyu’s head on her shoulder. “I’ve ordered breakfast. It should arrive after we’ve washed up.”

Bo Muyu was quiet for a moment, then looked up at her. “Auntie Yin, did you sleep well last night?”

“I’m okay. It’s not like I haven’t traveled before. I rarely have trouble sleeping in a new bed,” Jiang Chenyin said. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had asked her this question. Because of the nature of her work, she would definitely travel, and she had been abroad for so long, so no one would ask this question anymore.

But Bo Muyu was different. This should be her first business trip after starting work.

Jiang Chenyin couldn’t help but ask, “What about you? Did you sleep well on your first business trip?”

Bo Muyu said frankly, without any concealment, “With you here, of course I slept well.”

She’s so direct. Jiang Chenyin wanted to laugh but couldn’t really laugh out loud. But on second thought, it wasn’t as if she had never had trouble sleeping while traveling. This time, she had slept until dawn. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely because of habit.

She sighed and said in a low voice, “Maybe the reason I slept well has something to do with you.”

“Really?” Bo Muyu’s eyes immediately widened.

“Really,” Jiang Chenyin finally laughed out loud and pinched her nose. “I just said you’ve grown up yesterday, and today you’re acting like a child again. Can I take back my words?”

“No,” Bo Muyu said, her eyes narrowing, her voice clear. “I can only protect the person I want to protect when I’ve grown up, so you can’t take it back.”

Jiang Chenyin was stunned. Why did she feel that when this child spoke to her with a cold expression now, there was an indescribable feeling…

Like, a little domineering? No, this child didn’t have that kind of aura, but she was really much more formidable than when she was a little girl, holding her hand and speaking to her seriously.

It was probably a matter of age. The older she got, the more intimidating she became. Jiang Chenyin suddenly felt a little expectant, or rather, it was hard to imagine. She wondered what Bo Muyu would be like at twenty-seven or twenty-eight, or at thirty.

Bo Muyu’s brow slowly furrowed. Jiang Chenyin quickly came back to her senses and said, “I was just kidding. How could something like that just cease to exist because I said I’m taking it back?”

Only then did Bo Muyu contentedly snuggle back into her embrace.

“I can only protect the person I want to protect when I’ve grown up.”

Jiang Chenyin thought back to this sentence, and also to Bo Muyu’s well-thought-out arrangement from last night, and her eyes softened.

She asked with a smile, “Big screenwriter, is it time to get up?”

She had wanted to call her “little adult,” but thinking of the child’s serious look just now, she decided to drop the “little.”

Bo Muyu glanced at her phone. “Let’s get up. Breakfast will be here after we’ve washed up.”

The two of them washed up and changed their clothes. Jiang Chenyin finished first, and when she turned around, Bo Muyu was still getting dressed.

She walked over slowly and naturally took over the task of buttoning up Bo Muyu’s shirt, tucking the hem into her pants, fastening her belt, and finally putting on her suit jacket.

Although it wasn’t a formal gathering, everyone attended well-dressed, and the juniors were especially in suits.

After she was all dressed, Jiang Chenyin smoothed her collar and couldn’t help but say, “Muyu, have I ever told you that you look very good in a suit?”

Bo Muyu shook her head. “No.”

Jiang Chenyin’s lips curved. “Then let me praise you now. It shouldn’t be too late.”

Dressed in a suit, Bo Muyu had a more composed air, almost a completely different person from the sleepy-eyed girl who had just woken up in bed.

Bo Muyu pressed her lips together and asked her, “Then which do you prefer, the me now or the me before?”

“Hmm? This…” Jiang Chenyin winked slyly.

“What’s wrong?”

Bo Muyu immediately became nervous, afraid that Jiang Chenyin wouldn’t like the way she was now. She should be able to blend in with people in society now, right? She was no longer a student, and this version of her had only just begun a few months ago.

A smile appeared on Jiang Chenyin’s lips. “No matter what, it’s still you. I like all of it, okay?”

Bo Muyu licked her lips, her eyes sparkling with satisfaction.

Jiang Chenyin tilted her chin up. “Go and sit over there. Get ready for breakfast. By the way, should we ask Miss Su to join us?”

Bo Muyu’s steps, as she was turning, paused. She shook her head. “Let’s just eat by ourselves.”

“Okay, go and sit down then.”

After breakfast, Su Man sent a message. It was time for Bo Muyu to leave.

Jiang Chenyin only saw her to the door, because Su Man was waiting in the hallway.

Before leaving, Bo Muyu didn’t forget to turn back and say, “Auntie Yin, wait for me to come back for dinner.”

“Okay, go on,” Jiang Chenyin said, smiling at her and Su Man.

Su Man nodded and greeted Jiang Chenyin, then left with Bo Muyu, taking the elevator downstairs.

In the car, the assistant was in the passenger seat, and Su Man and Bo Muyu were in the back. Since Bo Muyu had told Jiang Chenyin that they would have dinner together, Su Man hadn’t said a word to her.

Su Man didn’t know what was churning inside her. She knew that there was no need to be emotional over an elder. But every time she saw Bo Muyu’s attachment, an attachment so strong that it was as if she couldn’t bear to be a step away from Jiang Chenyin, she would always feel a rare emotion that she had never felt before.

Yes, she could clearly feel that her emotions were off.

To distract herself, Su Man casually started a topic, “Xiaoyu, did you sleep well these past two days?”

“Very well,” Bo Muyu replied in a placid tone, then added softly, “I slept better last night than the night before.”

A smile touched Su Man’s lips, and she asked, “Is it because you’ve gotten used to it?”

Bo Muyu shook her head and said to her, “No, it’s because Auntie Yin was here.”

Su Man was stunned. “You’re staying in the same room?”

She hadn’t thought much of it when she saw Jiang Chenyin seeing Bo Muyu out of the room just now. She had thought that Jiang Chenyin had just gone over to Bo Muyu’s room in the morning. No matter how close the two of them were, it was unlikely that a twenty-two-year-old Bo Muyu would still be staying in the same room with Jiang Chenyin, and with only one bed at that.

But now, Bo Muyu’s reaction seemed to confirm her guess.

She saw Bo Muyu, whose side profile was somewhat indifferent, turn her head slightly, the corners of her lips curving up as she said, “Mmm, Auntie Yin and I have always been like this.”

Su Man’s expression immediately became complicated.