Chapter 80: The Balance
On the other end of the screen, Yan Wei’s gaze lingered on Jiang Mi’s face for a long time, as if she were seeing the person who would blush at the sight of her again.
She suddenly called out very softly, “Mimi.”
Jiang Mi’s fingers, holding the phone, tightened almost imperceptibly. “…What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Yan Wei’s voice was low and slow, with an indescribable, almost-craving meaning. But it was also as if she were just letting the name pass between her lips and teeth. “Just calling you.”
Jiang Mi was speechless for a moment, and a kind of warm, astringent feeling quietly filled her heart.
After a short pause, Yan Wei raised her hand and casually swept a few strands of hair from her cheek to behind her shoulder. This unintentional action carried a relaxed laziness.
She then leaned a little closer to the camera. This closing of the distance made the lines of her neck completely exposed to the light.
She seemed to be just conducting a self-examination, her gaze lowered, focused on the skin on the side of her neck. However, every detail—the texture of the skin, the faint, reddish marks around her glands that had not yet completely faded… were all incomparably clear in Jiang Mi’s eyes.
The light was excellent, making her already-fair skin look almost transparent, and it also made the faint red marks around her glands impossible to hide.
Jiang Mi’s gaze lingered on that area for a moment, her throat moving slightly, trying to make her voice sound steady. “You should apply some more medicine. It’ll heal faster.”
Yan Wei hummed almost inaudibly and slowly sat up straight. The air once again fell into a silence, with only their faint breathing transmitted through the receiver.
Two or three seconds later, her voice sounded again.
She asked Jiang Mi.
“Are you still angry?”
Jiang Mi lowered her eyelashes, and her thick eyelashes cast a small shadow under her eyes, cleverly avoiding the direct, almost-scorching gaze from the other end of the screen.
The anger in her heart towards Yan Wei’s actions of achieving her goal at her own expense had indeed not completely dissipated.
She pursed her lips and gave an ambiguous answer, “Anyway, I’m not that comfortable yet. I don’t know.”
She should have just answered that she was angry. But in her heart, it wasn’t entirely anger, but more of an indescribable sense of loss. She added softly, “I’m still a little sad. This feeling is hard to describe.”
At this moment, the maturity she was showing seemed a little naive, because she also couldn’t say clearly, she clearly liked Yan Wei very much, she liked Yan Wei’s recent changes, she liked being with Yan Wei, she liked Yan Wei sending her messages and calling her.
But deep down, it was always like a small stone under a quilt, insignificant, but you could feel its existence.
The moment her words fell, Jiang Mi clearly caught a momentary stagnation on Yan Wei’s face on the other end of the screen.
Jiang Mi could feel the twisted feeling in her heart—a complex emotion that even she herself couldn’t sort out.
Yan Wei seemed to have keenly sensed it. An nameless agitation spread from her heart, flowing through her blood to her whole body, making her fingertips a little numb.
The silence in the call continued to spread, until the car slowly decelerated, and the destination was approaching.
“We’re almost there,” Jiang Mi spoke first, her voice a little softer than usual. “Should we hang up first?”
Yan Wei nodded, but her gaze was still on Jiang Mi’s face.
Jiang Mi looked at the face on the screen, and a fine, sour palpitation suddenly welled up in her chest. She couldn’t help but add, “After I finish work… I’ll contact you again.”
This sentence was like a key, instantly unlocking the slight frown on Yan Wei’s brow. The corners of her lips lifted slightly, outlining a faint but real smile.
Seeing this, Jiang Mi pursed her lips and thought to herself, I’ve been tricked again. This person must be doing it on purpose.
Just as her fingertips were about to press the red button to end the call, Yan Wei’s voice came again, lower and softer than before. “Mimi.” Jiang Mi’s movements paused. She looked up and met the focused gaze on the screen again:
“Have you ever suspected?” Yan Wei asked softly.
Jiang Mi was slightly taken aback. “Suspected what?”
Yan Wei paused for a moment, a faint curve on her lips. She seemed to already know the answer to the question.
She said, “Nothing.”
She paused, then said, “Jiang Mi, after this is over, let’s meet.”
Jiang Mi saw the shadow of misfortune dissipating, and everything starting anew.
It also seemed that Yan Wei was just about to get busy, and she was telling her this in a straightforward way.
It was only half an hour from the set to Yan Wei’s place. They were so close they could meet at any time, but they both knew that now was not the best time to meet, so these words also made Jiang Mi a little sad.
At this moment, Yan Wei had returned to the rational, somewhat-indifferent Yan Wei of the past.
Jiang Mi said okay.
Yan Wei said, “You hang up.”
So Jiang Mi hung up the phone.
Her thoughts wandered for a few seconds before she came back to her senses. She opened her phone again and found a note in her contacts that had been very familiar to her for a period of time.
The “beep” sound, like a heartbeat, made Jiang Mi a little nervous.
After a long time, just as she thought she should hang up, the other end picked up.
“Jiang Mi?”
Jiang Mi replied, “Auntie Mo.”
**
At night, a cool air floated in a coffee shop on the street in Yudu. The private room was by the window, and the blinds were halfway down. Occasionally, car lights would pass by, briefly illuminating a corner of the table and chairs in the private room, and then quickly dimming again.
The room was so quiet that you could hear the faint sound of sugar cubes dissolving in a cup.
Jiang Hu pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. Without beating around the bush, she looked directly at Yan Wei. “You and Jiang Mi are not suitable.”
Yan Wei didn’t respond immediately, but just narrowed her eyes slightly, lowered her gaze to the dark red liquid in the cup, and smiled silently, the curve very shallow. “Suitable or not, is it up to you?”
“It’s not up to me,” Jiang Hu’s tone was steady, but her eyes were sharp. “But it’s up to my Lao Jiang. Since you’ve checked our family, you should know that both Jiang Mi and I were adopted. My mom treats Jiang Mi like a treasure and has never let her suffer in the slightest.”
She paused for a moment, her body leaning forward slightly, her eyes filled with an undisguised scrutiny and sarcasm. “Tell me, if my mom knew that her sunny, cheerful, kind, and lively daughter is now so restless and sleepless because of you, and that a casual check of your identity reveals a complete mess, and such an incomprehensible family… at that time, will my little sister stand on the side of the family that raised her, or on your side?”
The wine was not strong, and it had been a while since she had swallowed it, but at this moment, Yan Wei felt a scorching sensation slowly spread from her lips and teeth, burning all the way down her throat to her stomach.
Which word had made her feel pain and anxiety in an instant?
She took a deep breath without a trace. The feeling of her blood vessels about to explode was rapidly occupying all her organs and nerves.
She felt a hint of pain.
She had actually felt it so easily.
But her face was still calm, and it could even be called cold. The only flaw was that the fingertips resting on the edge of the table were a little tighter. She met Jiang Hu’s gaze and said, word by word, “You can try.”
Jiang Hu’s gaze lingered on her slightly stiff fingertips for a few seconds, and she replied faintly, “Okay, I will.”
“Do you have any other words to threaten me with?” Yan Wei took a shallow breath. Her patience was at its limit. She didn’t want to get into a dispute with Jiang Mi’s family at this juncture.
It would be bad for her, and Jiang Mi would also be sad. This was a consequence she absolutely did not want to see.
Yan Wei endured it. “From what angle are you threatening me? Jiang Mi’s sister?”
“Threaten? What’s the point of threatening you?” Jiang Hu crossed her legs, noticed Yan Wei’s empty wine glass, and casually picked up the red wine on the table and poured herself a full glass.
She took two sips, and only then did she meet Yan Wei’s face, which was full of danger signals. “In this situation, it’s more effective to put pressure on that fool, right? If we force her to choose between our family and your balance, what do you think the result will be?”
Yan Wei’s eyes were cold. “You’re so sure Jiang Mi won’t choose me?”
“If it were someone else, she might choose you. But if it’s Lao Jiang…” Jiang Hu’s eyes were filled with an undisguised mockery and certainty. She took a sip of wine and suddenly changed the subject, “Do you know under what circumstances Jiang Mi was adopted?”
Of course, Yan Wei didn’t know.
She hadn’t finished reading the file on Jiang Mi’s family back then. Later, all she cared about was Jiang Mi herself, so of course, she hadn’t thought of investigating anything else.
At this moment, hearing Jiang Hu ask this, her chaotic thoughts and churning emotions intertwined, making her feel a faint, throbbing pain in her temples.
Yan Wei’s expression was as usual as she poured the wine, her eyelids slightly raised. “Even if you don’t say, I will know.”
“Oh right, you’re not just a movie queen, you’re also President Yan.” Every word of Jiang Hu’s was like it was wrapped in a layer of ice. She couldn’t stand this kind of pretentious attitude. If it weren’t for Jiang Mi, she would have long since thrown the wine in her hand at her. Why waste her breath here?
Before Jiang Hu had finished speaking, the air in the private room suddenly froze.
Yan Wei had never been the type to swallow her anger. At this moment, her entire face was as cold as if it had been covered with a layer of frost. “If it weren’t for Jiang Mi, your life would definitely be very difficult.”
“If it weren’t for Jiang Mi,” Jiang Hu met her gaze without backing down, “you wouldn’t even have the right to see me.”
She admitted that this person, Yan Wei, did have an inexplicable presence, not a character an ordinary person could face. But she absolutely could not be weak at this moment.
Just as they were at loggerheads, a phone ringtone suddenly pierced the frozen atmosphere.
Jiang Hu glanced at the screen—it was the departure reminder she had set. She had specially bought a late-night train ticket. She liked to enjoy this kind of journey, which meant that she didn’t have many minutes left to waste on this woman.
“You’ve seen the tattoo on her ankle, right?” Jiang Hu suddenly asked.
Yan Wei was not happy to hear this. She probably imagined that Jiang Hu and Jiang Mi were not related by blood. Even if it was her ankle, it was still a part of Jiang Mi’s body.
She really disliked hearing such words from Jiang Hu’s mouth. She detested this intimacy.
Yan Wei didn’t speak. Jiang Hu didn’t know what this person was thinking in her heart, but she was in a hurry and said, “There was originally a scar there. It was a scar made by her biological mother with a high heel.”
Jiang Hu’s tone was as calm as if she were stating the weather, but the calmer it was, the more cruel and shocking this sentence was when it entered Yan Wei’s ears.
Jiang Hu was still continuing, her tone still the same, “Don’t think that you’re the only one in this world who has suffered. The reason Jiang Mi has grown up to have such a sunny personality is because my mom raised her with all her heart. Do you think you have the right to easily destroy all of this?”
Yan Wei’s pupils were filled with red wine, and the red seemed to be about to overflow. Jiang Hu’s annoying voice was echoing in her ears, and at the same time, Jiang Mi’s every smile appeared, so optimistic and enthusiastic that everyone liked her. She was friendly to almost everyone, and she smiled at everyone.
Once upon a time, she had even been jealous, annoyed.
Jiang Mi and she were not the same kind of person. Jiang Mi had a good family and a mother who loved her, which was why she had grown up like this.
But it turned out that she was not.
When the high heel had stepped into her flesh, did it hurt Jiang Mi?
It must have been very painful.
How painful was that?
Yan Wei’s fingertips had unconsciously tightened. It was a hatred for the woman whose name she didn’t even know, a hatred for her past self who had had such malicious thoughts.
“I won’t.”
Her tone and pitch lowered for the first time.
Then, she emphasized, “I absolutely won’t.”
She would not destroy Jiang Mi. She would always stand by Jiang Mi’s side.
“Is that so? Are you swearing to someone with your current reputation?” Jiang Hu had already stood up. If she didn’t leave now, she would miss her train.
“I’m telling you this to tell you, either you stay away from her, or I’ll find a way to make her stay away from you. Just like that, it’s best if we never see each other again.”
Jiang Hu closed the door and strode out. She even wanted to slap herself. After saying so much, if Yan Wei still didn’t do anything and quickly handle the matter, she really wouldn’t indulge Jiang Mi in this mess.
That quagmire was already so dark it was bottomless. To jump in again would be truly foolish.
Jiang Mi was already stupid enough. She couldn’t let her mind be clouded by mud anymore.
