Chapter 68: Exaggerated p2
Six-thirty in the evening.
The pace of this city of Yudu was always a little lazy, and even the sound of the traffic was gentle, not piercing. Jiang Mi preferred this tranquility. Rows of magnolia trees flashed by the window, and the pure white flowers on the trees spread a poetic atmosphere in the darkening sky.
In a simple restaurant with a Japanese and elegant style.
Jiang Mi pulled down the brim of her hat and, at the waiter’s signal, gently pulled open the thin wooden lattice door of the private room.
“Mo Xi.”
Mo Xi stood up from her chair and walked towards Jiang Mi, hugging her joyfully. “Oh my god, I miss you so much, Sister Mi.”
Jiang Mi’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment, and then she smiled and patted her back politely. “Was the competition smooth?”
“It was great. I got first place.” She held up her index finger.
“Wow, so amazing.”
Jiang Mi walked to the table and sat down.
“A judge suggested to me that I might also be suitable for a career in the entertainment industry!” Mo Xi also sat down, her eyes sparkling. “But my homeroom teacher doesn’t really approve. She thinks I should focus on my studies.”
She said as she poured water for Jiang Mi.
“What are your own thoughts?” Jiang Mi asked casually, watching the tea flow into the cup.
Mo Xi put down the kettle, her gaze burning as she looked at Jiang Mi. “I want to be like my sister.”
She paused, her voice tinged with a hint of eagerness and probing. “Sister Jiang Mi, do you think I can become someone like my sister? Reach her level?”
It’s very difficult.
Yan Wei’s achievements were not achieved overnight. Yan Wei had been struggling since she was very young. She had also been very envious before, but the closer she got to this person, the deeper she went into the entertainment industry, the more she knew, don’t look at the glamorous resume—a little girl, without any support, to have grown up like this, how much must she have paid?
Of course, Jiang Mi couldn’t pour cold water on her. “…Maybe.” She gave a vague answer.
“My dream is to be like my sister, so I don’t have to ask my mom for money, and my sister for money.” Mo Xi said, “I really admire my sister, although she hasn’t liked me since she was a child.”
“She doesn’t like you?”
Jiang Mi was surprised to hear this.
She remembered that at the very beginning, Yan Wei almost never went back to that apartment. It was because Mo Xi had begged Yan Wei to go back that Yan Wei had gone back. But if she really hated her, with Yan Wei’s personality, how could that be possible?
Mo Yun knew about it. Would Mo Xi not know? So this was not true.
Jiang Mi’s fingertips unconsciously rubbed the rim of the cup.
Taking a step back, even if Mo Xi was really so dense that she was completely unaware, this complaint of “my sister doesn’t like me” should not have been said so easily to an outsider like her.
To say that Yan Wei and Mo Xi had a falling out, in her opinion, it was more like a matter of these few months. But in the long run, she didn’t think Yan Wei owed anyone.
Jiang Mi herself hadn’t realized that she would always unconsciously favor Yan Wei, unconditionally.
As dusk fell, the streetlights of Yudu lit up one after another, and the soft, warm light dyed the street corner.
The aroma of the food floated in the quiet private room.
Mo Xi’s eyes were slightly lowered, as if she were recalling something unpleasant. Her voice had lowered a lot. “Yes… since we were young, my mom has always been more concerned about me. Maybe my sister can’t help but feel… but she was actually quite good to me before. Before she was 18, all the money she earned was given to my mom. It was only after she became an adult that we seemed to have become a little distant. Especially these few months, a lot of things have happened, and I don’t know why, my sister… seems to be getting more and more annoyed with us.”
She paused, her voice even lower. “Last month, she simply cut off all contact with us… and even took back the house she had given us, including the one I was renting near the university. Now my mom and I can only sell the old house and move into a much smaller apartment… life is much harder than before.”
Jiang Mi’s chest suddenly felt as if it were being blocked by something, and it was very uncomfortable.
Mo Xi might not have even noticed the contradiction in her words—Yan Wei’s income was already amazing when she was a minor. She had heard Mo Yun mention it herself. Yan Wei had long since prepared a separate house for Mo Xi! Plus their own old house, they clearly had two properties… how could it be called “hard”?
Using Yan Wei’s money, enjoying the comfortable life that Yan Wei had brought, and in the end… what had Yan Wei gotten?
Jiang Mi’s expression turned cold. All her past tolerance for Mo Xi because of her youth turned to ashes in an instant.
“Mo Xi, you’re not much younger than me. Since you call me sister, then I’ll act like a sister and say a few words to you.” Jiang Mi let out a heavy breath and said faintly, “Just based on the fact that the comfortable life you have now was given by Yan Wei, you shouldn’t have said that ‘she doesn’t like you’ just now, and you shouldn’t have said it to me. Is Yan Wei stupid? To raise someone she hates? You say she’s good in every sentence, but you’re also complaining about her in every sentence… and you don’t know about your family’s affairs? You don’t know how Auntie Mo treats your sister? You don’t know why she’s distant from you?”
Jiang Mi’s three consecutive questions left Mo Xi speechless. It seemed that she had not expected Jiang Mi to suddenly attack her.
Jiang Mi’s image in her heart was too gentle, so gentle that she felt she could be reckless.
“Taking a step back, if you really don’t know, and it’s me, an outsider, who knows the situation better, then don’t you think you’re even more out of line? Or is it that you clearly know, but you still have to tell me these things? But I don’t understand what you’re trying to get out of it. Can you tell me?”
Jiang Mi looked directly at Mo Xi, whose eyes were full of astonishment. The last sentence, every word was said very slowly.
For a moment, she suddenly understood Yan Wei.
For a moment, she felt the same.
She didn’t know the specific details of what had happened back then, but putting herself in her shoes, if she were Yan Wei now, she might not be less ruthless than Yan Wei. In this family, no one was on her side, no one loved her.
Even—
The scene from that night suddenly appeared in Jiang Mi’s mind.
Mo Yun’s heart-wrenching, almost-crazed treatment of Yan Wei seemed to be the norm.
But everyone thought that it was Yan Wei who had a personality problem.
An indescribable sourness welled up in her throat, and her heart was as if it were being pricked by fine needles, and a dull ache spread.
She asked, “Don’t you really think that your sister is sometimes very pitiful?”
Mo Xi’s face gradually turned pale. After a few seconds, she said tremblingly, “Sister Jiang Mi, you’re scaring me… I’m sorry, maybe I expressed it wrong. Actually, I wanted to say that there’s a misunderstanding between my sister and my mom. Of course, I’m also responsible for this. I’m not completely unaware. I can’t make them resolve the misunderstanding. On the contrary, I’m more of a burden… Sister Jiang Mi, actually, I’m also in a lot of pain in the middle.”
Perhaps.
But the one who was in more pain was, after all, not her.
Jiang Mi suppressed the discomfort in her heart. Unfortunately, she was just an outsider and couldn’t resolve other people’s family matters.
Probably seeing Jiang Mi’s displeasure and her dislike for this topic, Mo Xi said, “Sister Jiang Mi, don’t be angry. I really have a big problem in this matter. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have just cared about my own emotions… but I’m still very happy that you’re protecting my sister. If I tell her, she should also be very happy.”
“You’re in contact?” Jiang Mi found the key point.
Mo Xi nodded. “Yes, although we haven’t completely made up, we’re already easing into it. I even had dinner with her at her workplace that day. I took a picture. Let me show you.”
The light from the phone screen reflected on Jiang Mi’s lowered eyelashes.
Before she could speak, Mo Xi had already quickly unlocked the screen, her fingertips swiping through the photo album, and she quickly handed it over.
The shooting angle was clearly from across the dining table: a plate of colorful salad occupied the foreground, and the focus was on Yan Wei. She wasn’t smiling, but her eyes were naturally meeting the camera. Those eyes seemed to have a natural penetrating power, and the moment they were captured, they gave the person outside the screen the illusion of being seen through.
Jiang Mi’s gaze didn’t linger on Yan Wei’s face, but moved to the right edge of the photo.
By Yan Wei’s hand, another slender arm was casually resting on the edge of the table, very close to her sleeve. The woman, whose half-profile was showing, just from the smooth facial contours and exquisite hairstyle, should be a very elegant woman.
“Who is this?” Jiang Mi asked directly, her voice showing no emotion.
“Her name… I can’t remember.” Mo Xi tilted her head and thought for a moment. “But she seems to have been getting quite close to my sister recently. Sister Jiang Mi, have you not been in contact with my sister recently?”
“We haven’t been in contact for a long time.”
Jiang Mi’s gaze withdrew from the photo. It was undeniable that she was not so comfortable in her heart. Because Yan Wei really disliked people getting close to her. If this person could, then their relationship with Yan Wei must be relatively close.
But in her understanding, she only knew one Tan Zhaoxin.
Mo Xi looked up thoughtfully, her gaze sweeping over Jiang Mi’s face. “You really haven’t been in contact at all? Is it because of what happened last time? I feel that because of this, you’re not close to our family anymore.”
Jiang Mi picked up her water glass and took a sip.
Since when had the words Mo Xi said become unpleasant to her ears?
“I haven’t thought much about it. I’m just busy with work.” Jiang Mi put down her glass, her tone as flat as if she were reciting a script. “That’s how it is in this industry. After a drama is finished, most colleagues naturally go their separate ways, and contact becomes less frequent.”
“Oh, oh, yes, that’s how it is. But I still hope you’ll come to our house as a guest when you have a chance.”
“Of course.”
“By the way, I saw the hot search. I feel that you and Qi Wenxi are a good match. I’ve been shipping your CP recently! Can you tell me secretly, is there any hope?”
Jiang Mi paused. Not knowing what was on her mind, she said, “Not for now.”
“Not for now? Then do you have someone you like?”
“No.”
This time, almost subconsciously, Jiang Mi decisively shook her head. “Who can say? Maybe I’ll suddenly meet someone one day.” She paused, and a faint, sharp smile appeared at the corner of her lips. “If that day really comes, I’ll definitely invite you—and your sister—first.”
Her gaze was fixed on Mo Xi’s face for a moment, and she clearly emphasized the last two words:
“To dinner.”
After seeing Mo Xi off, Jiang Mi felt as if she had been completely drained. She leaned back in the car seat and closed her eyes. Her head seemed to be a little dizzier. She took several deep breaths.
Zhao Jia handed her a water glass and asked in a roundabout way what they had talked about that had made her so tired.
Jiang Mi said it was nothing.
She held the water glass and took a few more sips. She didn’t want to say anything now.
Jiang Mi was once again certain that Yan Wei had been right back then, but her method was wrong.
She had better not see Mo Yun and Mo Xi in private again.
When the car was quiet again.
Jiang Mi slowly opened her eyes and looked at the fleeting street scene. But her mind was filled with that photo. She had a gut feeling that Mo Xi had deliberately shown it to her. To see what? To see this woman who had suddenly appeared by Yan Wei’s side?
Why?
It didn’t seem to be just gossip and curiosity…
To see her reaction?
This thought made Jiang Mi’s heart tingle slightly. Her gaze slowly swept over the inside of the car and finally landed on the quiet figure in the passenger seat—Nine. After a moment of contemplation, she turned her head and, as if chatting, said to Zhao Jia:
“Mo Xi showed me a picture today.”
Zhao Jia was clearly taken aback. Her eyes subconsciously glanced at Nine in the front, with a hint of confusion. Weren’t they supposed to avoid this kind of sensitive topic in front of this “spy”? She quickly suppressed her emotions and asked cooperatively, “What picture?”
Jiang Mi: “Of her having dinner with Teacher Yan, and another very elegant woman. The two sisters seem to have made up.”
Zhao Jia: “Is that so? That’s great.”
Jiang Mi: “I think so too.”
Zhao Jia: “Congratulations to them.”
Jiang Mi: “Yes, yes.”
The car arrived at the hotel.
When Jiang Mi got out of the car, she couldn’t help but yawn. Zhao Jia accompanied her to the door of her room, reminded her of the time to get up in the morning, and then reminded her, “Take another dose of medicine before you go to bed. Even though it hasn’t broken out, you still have to be careful.”
“I know.”
Jiang Mi swiped her room card, and as she rubbed her throbbing forehead, she walked in.
“You’re back?”
“Ah—!” Jiang Mi was so startled by this that she gasped, almost jumping up. She calmed down and only then saw the person on the sofa clearly. “Jiang Hu?! No, you… how did you get in?! Who let you up?!”
She patted her chest, still in shock.
She saw Jiang Hu sprawled on the sofa, her legs crossed, playing with her phone. Hearing this, she just lazily turned her head and raised an eyebrow at her. “Me? I told them I was your girlfriend, and they let me in.”
Jiang Mi replied with a blank expression, “Are you out of your mind?”
Who would believe that?
Jiang Hu wasn’t angry either. On the contrary, she was amused. She put down her phone and said seriously, “Just kidding.”
Before Jiang Mi could speak, she said, “Actually… I said I was your mom.”
Jiang Mi couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you sick!”
