Jiang Ruoning wasn’t lying.
First, she truly didn’t know. Second, they said a qualified ex should be treated as if they were dead.
She was also qualified—qualified to the point that she had forgotten the other person’s name and didn’t even remember how they had dated. If Qin Zheng hadn’t let it slip after she woke up that time, she wouldn’t have even known she had been in a relationship.
Any traces of that romance had either been deleted or were gone.
The person had been cleanly erased from her world.
Jiang Ruoning wasn’t heartless. She thought that no matter what, even if she didn’t remember, she should give the other person an explanation. But the other party didn’t need it at all and had run off overnight.
Over these few years, Jiang Ruoning had pieced together a story from scraps.
It was very cliché.
It was nothing more than dating a girl whose parents didn’t approve, and when the other side learned of her accident and memory loss, she chose to leave.
It was the first half of any novel’s “broken mirror reunited” trope.
But Jiang Ruoning had waited all these years without the second half ever arriving.
The time span was several years.
She had even almost forgotten she had such a past.
If Xiao Guai hadn’t just brought it up, and if she hadn’t thought of Ye Yu’s words the second before, she probably wouldn’t have said it so smoothly.
Xiao Guai was stunned: “Sister, did your girlfriend die?”
In her little mind, she had no idea what a girlfriend was, but she knew what death was.
Because she had seen dead people. Mom said it meant you could never see them again.
Xiao Guai blinked: “Sister, will you never see her again?”
Jiang Ruoning was in a bind and let out an “uh”: “Yeah.”
She really had seen her.
But she wouldn’t recognize her.
What difference did that make from not seeing her?
Xiao Guai’s voice was soft and glutinous: “Do you miss her?”
“I—” Jiang Ruoning had shot herself in the foot. She scratched the top of her head and noticed Shi Sui looking at her too. She gave a dry laugh.
Shi Sui saw the unnatural look on her face and called out: “Xiao Guai.”
Xiao Guai looked up.
Shi Sui said: “How about I take you inside to buy a bag of chips?”
Xiao Guai jumped three feet high: “Okay!”
She hopped up.
Shi Sui followed behind her. Jiang Ruoning had just started to stand when Shi Sui placed her bag on her lap and said: “I’ll take her inside. Hold this for me.”
Jiang Ruoning was forced to sit back down, Shi Sui’s bag on her knees.
It was a black laptop bag with two zippers. The bottom layer held the laptop, hard and firm. Jiang Ruoning slightly unzipped the top layer a bit and glimpsed a stack of documents. She quickly zipped it back up.
This person was really so trusting.
Daring to let anyone hold her stuff.
Not afraid she’d leak company secrets.
When Shi Sui led Xiao Guai out of the supermarket, she saw Jiang Ruoning holding the bag with both hands on her lap, her long legs stretched out slightly in front of her as she sat, swinging them side to side. She wore a pair of white flat shoes.
She wasn’t wearing socks.
She never liked wearing them before.
In summer, Jiang Ruoning liked wearing sandals. In winter, if she needed to run out quickly, she’d just slip into cotton shoes and head out. Shi Sui would always stop her, staring at her feet for a long time. Jiang Ruoning would get annoyed: “I’m just buying groceries.” Or: “Just eating hotpot.”
She would shake her head: “Cold starts from the feet. You’ll catch a cold if you don’t wear socks.”
Jiang Ruoning would mutter unhappily: “You’re just like my mom.”
She wondered if she wore socks in winter now.
“Sister.” Xiao Guai held her hand and looked up. Shi Sui patted her head and, seeing Jiang Ruoning look over, smiled at them both.
In the past, Jiang Ruoning had a quick temper. Every time at the school gate waiting for her, she’d ask on the phone where she was. Jiang Ruoning would rush over, hook her arm, and the memory overlapped with the present figure.
But they were no longer the people from those memories.
Shi Sui’s eyes stung a little. She rubbed the corner of her eye with her fingertip, pulled by Xiao Guai to stand in front of Jiang Ruoning.
Jiang Ruoning saw her action and asked: “What’s wrong with your eye?”
Shi Sui met her concerned gaze and lied: “A bug just flew into it.”
Jiang Ruoning knew there were many mosquitoes and bugs in summer. She always wore goggles when riding her bike out, but once a small flying insect had crashed into her eye, hurting all night. Now seeing Shi Sui’s eye corner reddened from rubbing, she said: “Squat down.”
Shi Sui thought she was going to blow on her eye and crouched in front of her.
Jiang Ruoning didn’t move but called Xiao Guai over: “Xiao Guai, blow on sister’s eye.”
Xiao Guai said “oh” and walked to Shi Sui, blowing once.
She blew too hard.
It made tears well up in Shi Sui’s eyes.
Jiang Ruoning thought she looked quite—quite pitiful like that.
She couldn’t resist the temptation and pulled Xiao Guai back as she tried to blow again: “I’ll do it.”
Shi Sui only felt a gentle breeze brush her eye. Suddenly, she remembered a time they had argued. She couldn’t quite recall the reason anymore, only that after the fight, they went to see a movie with pre-booked tickets, sitting in the third-to-last row. Few people were watching that movie; the whole theater had fewer than ten people. With so many empty seats, Jiang Ruoning sat two spots away from her, not next to her. Shi Sui turned her head sulkily and saw Jiang Ruoning two seats away, also sulking. Half the movie passed like that, treating each other as strangers.
In the second half of the movie, Jiang Ruoning let out a soft “ouch.” It wasn’t loud, but being close, Shi Sui heard it clearly.
Without thinking, she scooted next to her: “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Ruoning said: “A bug flew into my eye.”
It was pitch black inside, nothing visible. Others were still watching the movie, and she couldn’t conveniently use her phone light, so she said: “I’ll take you out.”
As she reached for Jiang Ruoning’s hand.
Jiang Ruoning pulled her back down into the seat.
She turned her head, and Jiang Ruoning leaned in close, face to face. Jiang Ruoning chuckled and kissed her.
That day.
She had kissed the corner of her lips.
Shi Sui’s eyes fixed on Jiang Ruoning’s thin lips. She had applied lipstick, pale pink, moist and not glossy, but smoothly matte. Her slightly parted lips revealed clean white teeth. Probably due to her profession, her teeth were well-maintained. Shi Sui had seen her professional smile on camera.
Red lips, white teeth, bright eyes full of charm.
Jiang Ruoning asked: “Better?”
Shi Sui blinked: “Yes.”
Jiang Ruoning: “Did the bug come out?”
Shi Sui rubbed the corner of her eye: “Doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Jiang Ruoning: “Then it must be out. If it was still in there, you wouldn’t be able to open your eyes.”
Shi Sui smiled faintly: “Mm.” She said: “Thank you.”
Jiang Ruoning replied politely: “No problem.”
She took Xiao Guai’s hand: “Time to go home?”
Shi Sui stood up too. Jiang Ruoning glanced at her and remembered: “Didn’t you say you came to buy something?”
She had mentioned it on the elevator ride down.
Shi Sui paused: “Couldn’t find it just now.”
Jiang Ruoning: “What were you looking for?”
Shi Sui said: “Scented diffuser.”
Jiang Ruoning laughed: “This little supermarket only has daily necessities. No scented diffusers.”
Shi Sui nodded. She knew there weren’t any.
She had just wanted a reason to come downstairs together.
On the way back, Shi Sui discovered for the first time how clumsy she was. She wanted to say so much, but nothing came out. It was Jiang Ruoning who asked: “Do you live here? Is your company nearby too?”
Shi Sui said: “The company’s pretty far. Forty minutes by car.”
Jiang Ruoning: “Yeah, that’s a bit far.”
Traffic in Shangjing was still a headache. During morning rush hour, two hours of gridlock wasn’t unusual. Jiang Ruoning said: “Did you buy this place?”
Shi Sui nodded: “Mm, before freshman year.”
Jiang Ruoning was amazed: “Was it expensive back then?”
Shi Sui thought of how Jiang Ruoning had freaked out the first time she learned the housing prices, tugging her: “Let’s sell the house now and elope?”
She smiled faintly: “A bit cheaper than now.”
Jiang Ruoning said: “Still too expensive for me. This neighborhood is way too pricey.”
Inch of land, inch of gold.
Shi Sui asked: “Where do you live?”
“East side,” Jiang Ruoning said. “Jingxin Neighborhood.”
Shi Sui nodded: “New place?”
Jiang Ruoning said: “Built just a couple years ago.”
Shi Sui asked: “How’s the environment?”
“Pretty good, lots of greenery,” Jiang Ruoning said. “Of course, can’t compare to here.” She asked curiously: “You looking to switch houses?”
Asking in such detail.
Shi Sui said: “It’s far from the company. Yeah, thinking about it.”
Jiang Ruoning nodded.
Shi Sui lowered her eyes: “You live alone?”
Jiang Ruoning said: “With my mom.”
Shi Sui fell silent at that.
Jiang Ruoning’s phone vibrated. She let go of Xiao Guai’s hand and answered the call. Shi Sui tactfully stepped forward a couple paces with Xiao Guai. Jiang Ruoning heard her agent on the other end: “I’ve sent you the time and hotel. Don’t be late tomorrow, Ruoning. This is a hard-won opportunity we fought for. Apologize properly to them.”
Jiang Ruoning knew times had changed.
At her previous company, she had almost no rest time. At her busiest, she flew to three countries in a day, sleeping on planes. Her agent then was Ai Wen, who besides managing her, had a newbie. The newbie was new to the industry, without a solo show yet. Ai Wen took it upon herself to send the newbie to a show Jiang Ruoning was invited to. The brand reluctantly agreed due to Ai Wen and her face, but afterward, when Jiang Ruoning found out and confronted Ai Wen for an explanation, Ai Wen apologized verbally, only to pull the same stunt days later.
On top of that, she repeatedly “forgot” her show times, making her late several times.
Jiang Ruoning saw the favoritism and didn’t want to argue further, requesting a new agent.
The boss said they’d arrange it soon.
But before that, the fiasco happened where she wore the wrong clothes to a shoot. They were shooting for Brand A, but Ai Wen gave her Brand B clothes. Brands A and B were always at odds, and these were unexposed new pieces. A’s photographer thought it was a designer change. When the photos surfaced, Brand B exploded, slapping A with a lawyer’s letter.
Brand A felt wronged—they hadn’t provided those clothes—so they dumped the blame on Jiang Ruoning’s company, which in turn dumped it on her.
When Jiang Ruoning confronted Ai Wen, she learned the newbie was the boss’s daughter, assigned to Ai Wen to boost with her resources.
That’s why the repeated “forgotten” times and latenesses.
Why the wrong-clothes shoot fiasco.
The goal was simple: make her mess up so the newbie could take her spot.
Jiang Ruoning was furious and reported it up the chain.
The result was obvious.
She got punished.
After that, all sorts of black marks followed.
“Ruoning.” The agent called her. Jiang Ruoning snapped back: “Got it, Wu Jie. I won’t be late tomorrow.”
Tomorrow’s hard-won apology opportunity was with that Brand A from the wrong-clothes shoot, Fengshang.
It was also the agent’s weighed decision as a chance for her to return to the circle. Insiders see the game, outsiders see the excitement. The incident had made waves back then, but with Jiang Ruoning and her old company at odds. If she collaborated with Fengshang now, it would make clear who was right and wrong.
It would slap her old company hard in the face.
Late?
Even if it rained knives tomorrow, she wouldn’t be late.
Jiang Ruoning took a deep breath, hung up, and turned to see Shi Sui and Xiao Guai at the entrance of the building lobby, sitting side by side on the steps. Shi Sui was saying something that had Xiao Guai laughing heartily.
She walked over.
Shi Sui’s eyes, still carrying a smile, turned to her. Jiang Ruoning met her gaze.
She had said Shi Sui’s eyes were beautiful.
They looked even better when smiling.
Shi Sui asked: “Done with the call?”
Jiang Ruoning smiled: “Sorry, held you up.”
“No worries,” Shi Sui said, her expression relaxing. “Nothing waiting for me back home anyway.”
She wished she could delay even more.
Jiang Ruoning took Xiao Guai’s hand: “Home time.”
Shi Sui looked at her own empty hand.
Before, she would hold her hand too, whispering in her ear like coaxing a child: “Home time~”
She would murmur nonsense in her ear: “Call me sister.”
Or bolder: “Call me mommy.”
Vivid memories reddened Shi Sui’s eyes. She looked up blankly, watching the elevator floors climb one by one.
How she wished that the moment the elevator arrived, Jiang Ruoning would take her hand as she always had and pull her out of the elevator.
