A Promise in a Thought 46

Chapter 46

The next morning, Jiang Chenyin was the first to wake up. Bo Muyu was still fast asleep.

She sat up slowly, then leaned down and gently pressed her cheek against Bo Muyu’s, staying there for a moment before reaching out to feel her forehead.

After a moment, she was finally relieved. The fever had completely subsided. For breakfast today, she would stir-fry a couple of light side dishes to go with the congee, and a little more nourishment in the evening should be enough.

Jiang Chenyin got out of bed quietly, washed up, changed her clothes, and then went downstairs to make breakfast.

When Bo Muyu woke up, she stared at the ceiling for several minutes. The fatigue and weakness in her body were almost gone. Her body was probably mostly recovered. She had still been a little groggy last night, so she had gone to bed very early after taking her medicine and hadn’t been able to think clearly about what Jiang Chenyin was planning to do.

Yesterday afternoon, she had felt that Jiang Chenyin seemed to have made a decision, because when she had told her that she would not be seeing Meng Yi’an again, she had felt an inexplicable chill.

But Jiang Chenyin had been very gentle at the time. Where had that feeling come from?

Bo Muyu shook her head and sat up in bed, leaning against the headboard. Forget it. It was better not to think about it. That uncle shouldn’t be appearing in front of Jiang Chenyin again. She had already made it so clear last time, yet he had still contacted her yesterday to talk about those things. He should bear the consequences.

She got out of bed, washed up, put on a coat, and went downstairs.

Jiang Chenyin was slicing a cucumber. As Bo Muyu approached, she could smell the cool, fresh scent.

“Auntie Yin, good morning,” Bo Muyu said, stopping beside her, her eyes curving up.

“Morning. Did you sleep well?” Jiang Chenyin smiled and stopped what she was doing to turn and look at her.

Bo Muyu’s spirits seemed to have recovered a lot. Her voice and appearance were clear and bright, her hair like black jade. As she smiled with her lips pressed together, a hint of clarity and distance appeared in her brow, making her a pleasant sight.

“Mmm, and I feel like my body is fine now.”

“That’s good,” Jiang Chenyin smiled at her. “Go and wait outside. We’ll take another dose of medicine after breakfast and see how you are.”

Bo Muyu nodded in agreement. Jiang Chenyin turned back and continued to slice the cucumber, the sound of the blade hitting the cutting board clear in the kitchen.

Bo Muyu tucked a stray strand of hair that had fallen forward behind her ear, and then saw the corners of her lips curve up at her action.

The scenes of her taking care of her these past two days replayed in Bo Muyu’s mind. The night before last had been the busiest. She had to take her temperature, take medicine, and she had woken up repeatedly during the night because of the high fever.

Every time she woke up, she could feel Jiang Chenyin holding her, her hand gently comforting her back. It was only under such care that she could fall back asleep peacefully.

She had been groggy then, and still dazed yesterday, but today, Bo Muyu could feel many emotions. She was extremely dependent on the person who would hold her at night and give her a complete sense of security. She also felt sorry for this person for repeatedly breaking her well-maintained lifestyle for her sake.

“Auntie Yin,” Bo Muyu moved a little closer and said softly, “I want to hug you.”

Jiang Chenyin let out a laugh. “Don’t fool around. Go and wait outside…”

Her words and her slicing of the cucumber stopped at the same time. The kitchen was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist, a soft body pressed against her back, and a weight settled on her shoulder, a source of heat by her ear.

All of this brought her a feeling of intimacy and gentleness. Although her refusal had been ignored, there was no aggression in it.

“Auntie Yin, you’ve worked hard these past two days,” Bo Muyu said in a low, gentle voice. “You had to take my temperature, cook for me, and supervise me to take my medicine. I know you’re very tired. I was in a lot of pain from the fever the night before last. I couldn’t sleep for long before waking up, and every time I woke up, you were still awake.”

Jiang Chenyin didn’t speak, a curve still on her lips.

Bo Muyu hugged her a little tighter, her voice closer to her ear. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have had to stay up all night, and you could have gone back to see Grandpa and Grandma Jiang on the weekend, without having to rush back and forth.”

“Muyu…”

“Auntie Yin,” Bo Muyu interrupted her comforting words and said, as if making a promise, “I will take care of you in the future too, just like you take care of me.”

“Pfft…” Jiang Chenyin laughed out loud.

This child was still so direct. The meaning of her words was a bit ambiguous, as if she would get sick in the future. If these words were heard by someone with ill intentions outside, who knows what kind of gossip would spread.

But Jiang Chenyin knew that Bo Muyu’s intention was simply to say that she would take care of her. It was as simple as that.

“What are you laughing at?” Bo Muyu asked, puzzled.

“Nothing,” Jiang Chenyin said, suppressing her smile a little. She put down the knife and cucumber, turned to face her, and said softly, “We don’t need to say these things to each other. Besides, didn’t you tell me when you were a child that when you grew up, you would be as good to me as I was to you? What, have you forgotten?”

“No, I haven’t forgotten,” Bo Muyu immediately shook her head, then her expression became a little more serious. “I’m just afraid that you’ll treat my past words as childish nonsense, so I have to tell you again what I told you before.”

“Is that so? Then I can relive the happiness of the past,” Jiang Chenyin’s eyes were filled with a gentle smile.

The disadvantage of a direct and insensitive person was that sometimes their words were unpleasant to hear, but Bo Muyu’s introversion somewhat made up for this. It was hard for her to get close to others, and very few people could get through the transitional period after getting to know her. So far, there were only Lin Chuwan and Yang Shuhan. Even Su Man barely counted.

Unless someone she was not close to repeatedly did something that displeased her, she would not say anything that would make people feel uncomfortable.

But such a person also had a very likable point, which was that she almost never failed to comfort people, and in her definition, those words were not “comforting,” but just the truth.

Because of Jiang Chenyin’s cooperation, a sweetness filled Bo Muyu’s heart, and a smile appeared on her lips. “Then can I eat meat? I’ve almost forgotten the taste of meat.”

Jiang Chenyin raised an eyebrow and smiled, pinching her nose. “You little glutton. Finish this meal first. I’ll add a dish for you tonight.”

Bo Muyu’s eyes lit up. “I want to eat pork ribs, braised.”

Jiang Chenyin gently rubbed her cheeks with both hands and teased, “All you think about all day is eating, either sweets or meat.”

She was really good at picking things that would make her gain weight, and she wasn’t a picky eater either, but she just wouldn’t get fat. Although she didn’t have a good figure from working out, she was tall and thin, and her body proportions were quite good. She looked good in whatever she wore.

Bo Muyu squinted her eyes and smiled, the smile with her canine teeth showing a little sweeter than her faint smile.

After teasing her, Jiang Chenyin glanced at the pot of congee and patted the hand Bo Muyu had on her back. “Alright, go and wait for breakfast. I’ll just stir-fry a cucumber and some corn.”

“Mmm, then I’ll go out,” Bo Muyu said, reluctantly letting go of Jiang Chenyin and adjusting her coat as she walked out of the kitchen.

After breakfast, Jiang Chenyin said she was going out and would be back soon, no later than noon.

Bo Muyu saw her to the door but didn’t ask where she was going, because she could roughly guess what she was going to do.

She noticed that although Jiang Chenyin’s tone was the same as usual, the content of her words was a little unusual. Jiang Chenyin would usually tell her directly what she was going to do, but this time, she only said she was going out and set a time for her return.

This meant that Jiang Chenyin did not intend for her to know what she was going to do, but at the same time, Jiang Chenyin was also very clear about the outcome, which was why she was certain she could be home by noon.

This outcome should correspond to what Jiang Chenyin had told her yesterday, that Meng Yi’an would not appear before them again.

Bo Muyu was very at ease with Jiang Chenyin’s attitude on this matter. While Jiang Chenyin was out, she also had another important thing to do.

Looking at the phone number she had just saved, Bo Muyu thought for a while before her thumb finally pressed down.

It was Lan Yuxin’s phone number, which she had secretly recorded from Jiang Chenyin’s contacts last night while she was taking a shower.

At this time, Lan Yuxin was in her own large villa. Having finally stolen some free time, she didn’t want to take a single step out the door.

But even at home, she needed some fun. She had been reading too much yuri lately, which had made her interested in soft, fragrant women. When this interest arose, the first person she thought of was Jiang Chenyin, a woman who had been single for many years and was gentle and reasonable. This was definitely the most suitable person to be with.

But this woman was Jiang Chenyin. Lan Yuxin’s enthusiasm was helplessly dampened by more than half. Jiang Chenyin’s private life and work were both very clean. It was impossible for her to agree to mess around with her.

So at this time, a woman was standing in front of her, a delicate woman, with adoration and caution in her eyes.

“Sister Xin, thank you for being willing to see me even when you’re resting.”

“Oh…” Lan Yuxin was wrapped in a black silk robe, the collar slightly open, her legs crossed as she leaned lazily on the sofa. “I heard them say you like me very much? You always want to see me when I come back to the company, but I’ve been ignoring you?”

“Mmm, I do like you very much, but you haven’t been ignoring me…” the woman quickly waved her hands, a blush on her face, her eyes darting away, not daring to meet her gaze. “You’re just too busy. You don’t have time to see others. You haven’t even seen many of the fans who wait downstairs at the company.”

“Oh,” Lan Yuxin nodded. “How long have you been signed?”

“More than a year.”

Lan Yuxin shook her head. To have not made a splash after being signed for more than a year, she probably didn’t have much of a future. And although this person had the courage to seek her out, she always felt that something was missing. She just didn’t feel it.

Her desire to try a woman suddenly receded. Just then, her phone rang.

A strange number?

Lan Yuxin frowned, glanced at the woman in front of her, and then said, “You can go back first. Something suddenly came up. We’ll talk next time.”

“Ah… okay. Then, goodbye, Sister Xin.”

The woman looked a little disappointed before she left. Lan Yuxin breathed a sigh of relief and answered the call.

“Sister Lan.”

Lan Yuxin’s heart skipped a beat. This voice was a little familiar. She quickly asked, “Are you the little one?”

Bo Muyu was silent for a moment, then pressed her lips together and acknowledged the nickname. “It’s me.”

“Hahaha, why are you calling me?” Lan Yuxin’s previous annoyance completely disappeared. “What’s wrong? Want to ask your big sister out to play?”

Bo Muyu subconsciously shook her head, and only the next second did she remember that the other person couldn’t see. Then she said softly but with a hint of seriousness, “No, Sister Lan. I have something to ask you, something very important.”

The smile in Lan Yuxin’s eyes immediately froze. In an instant, both of them felt an unusual factor spreading in the air.

What could there be to ask between Lan Yuxin and Bo Muyu? It could only be about Jiang Chenyin. Lan Yuxin quickly thought of this, and Bo Muyu also understood that Lan Yuxin’s silence must mean that she had already guessed what she wanted to ask.

After a long while, Lan Yuxin spoke, “Go ahead.”

Bo Muyu took a deep breath, her right hand gripping the phone, her left hand unconsciously clenching into a fist. After taking another deep breath, she tried to keep her tone steady. “I want to know about the incident that happened to Auntie Yin when she was around twenty, the one you all know about. And also, when a person named Gao Yan was pursuing her four years ago, why did she leave? What happened that was related to the incident from over a decade ago? I want to know all of this.”

Lan Yuxin didn’t answer but asked instead, “Why do you want to know these things?”

“Sister Lan, I don’t want Auntie Yin to be hurt again,” Bo Muyu said, pacing back and forth in her room. A little anxiety and nervousness in her heart made her unable to control her body’s reaction, even though she could maintain a calm face and tone.

“What’s wrong with her?” Lan Yuxin’s thoughts stirred, and she immediately sat up straight.

“That uncle surnamed Meng has been looking for her.”

Lan Yuxin sighed. “I know about this. Meng Yi’an is just too stubborn.”

Bo Muyu stopped by the wall, her expression gradually turning cold, her eyes a little dim. “Auntie Yin told me that she and that uncle broke up because he was sad that he couldn’t feel her love. Auntie Yin is very afraid of hurting him. But he keeps looking for her like this, making her feel that she has caused him harm… Sister Lan, isn’t every one of his appearances a torment for Auntie Yin?”

Lan Yuxin was very surprised by these words from Bo Muyu. She had to admit that Bo Muyu was right. The situation was most severe when Jiang Chenyin and Meng Yi’an were about to break up and shortly after they had broken up.

Meng Yi’an’s mistake was that he clearly knew that Jiang Chenyin had a psychological shadow, yet he kept stimulating her, always talking about “hurt” and “sadness.”

Meng Yi’an probably couldn’t understand Jiang Chenyin’s fear. He couldn’t empathize, so he would always blurt out such ordinary but extremely fatal words to Jiang Chenyin.

“You’re right,” Lan Yuxin’s tone was rarely serious. “During the time when Chenyin and Meng Yi’an broke up, every time he said he was sad, every time he said Chenyin had hurt him, it was like a knife to Chenyin’s heart. But he didn’t understand what he had done. He drew a clear line between his and Chenyin’s matter and that incident, but the truth is, it’s impossible to draw a line, because Chenyin has never been able to escape the influence of that incident.”

“Sister Lan…”

Lan Yuxin ignored her and suddenly smiled. “Chenyin is just used to it now, so she doesn’t show it. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel the pain anymore.”