See You Again (Time Already Knows) - Chapter 17
Chapter 17 - “How Do You Know It’s That They Don't Want To Buy It, And Not That They Can’t Afford It?”
The main point of Zhao Wenwen complaining that there was no one to accompany her shopping was to have Yi Pei spend more time with her. She’d only seen Yi Pei twice since she’d returned to the country. Twice was twice, and every time, Yi Pei also brought Zhang Kai along. He’d spent thirty minutes speaking to her like it was official business, and then left.
“I really have nothing to do.” Zhao Wenwen said, “I’ve studied in England all my childhood. I don’t even have classmates here. I don’t have anyone to accompany me shopping.”
The one that rushed to reply was Zhang Kai: “Vivi1, why don’t I introduce a female friend to you and she can accompany you shopping?”
“Special Assistant Zhang, thank you.” Zhao Wenwen looked up, and said very embarrassedly, “But I have very high standards for female friends. They must be well educated and not look ugly, of course. Otherwise, it would be very strange for us to walk together, as if I’d intentionally found someone to make myself look good.”
Yi Pei wasn’t able to restrain a laugh.
Zhao Wenwen felt some grievance: “A-Pei, don't mistake it as me not liking other people. It’s just that when people are on different levels, it’s really hard to foster a good relationship. You understand, right?”
“I understand.” Yi Pei stood up, “Vivi, you should let Zhang Kai arrange it. He wouldn’t pick the wrong person.”
……
In the end, Zhang Kai picked Shi Jian. Shi Jian had written her family background information in the Yi Mao records. Her parents were both intellectuals, and were even working in England. He’d even looked over the English meeting records Shi Jian had written; the grammar was much better than the average student who’d studied abroad. Additionally, “Shi Jian probably isn’t ugly?” Zhang Kai deliberately asked Yi Pei. He and Yi Pei were classmates. Besides having a professional relationship, they were also friends in private.
Yi Pei had no interest, and flatly reminded him: “Zhang Kai, Vivi isn’t a person you can make fun of; don’t overdo it.”
Zhang Kai pursed his lip; he’d just used his status as a friend to say the wrong thing. Vivi indeed wasn’t someone he could make fun of. She was the best fiancée for Yi Pei after all.
“I got it. Then I will assign Shi Jian to accompany Vivi.”
ShI Jian really didn’t expect Zhang Kai to assign this kind of miscellaneous task to herself. If it weren’t for her wanting to warn Zhao Wenwen to not go on next month’s ski trip, she definitely would have declined going on this assignment. It was true that she liked to shop, but there was no meaning to it if she was just there to accompany someone else shopping.
Moreover, Zhao Wenwen only shopped Nanwan. She definitely couldn’t afford that.
A-City’s Nanwan was one of the few famous international first and second tier luxury item shopping centers, and was also A-City’s most famous international shopping center. Shi Jian also used to enjoy strolling through Nanwan, but at that time she still had Ye Jiacheng’s gold card. She and Ye Jiacheng were always one of those “husband earns money, wife spends money” couples.
Shi Jian accompanied Zhao Wenwen to Nanwan. Even though Zhao Wenwen was a bit amiable and delicate, she was easy to get along with. Probably because she’d studied abroad her whole childhood, Zhao Wenwen had a habit of throwing a few English words into her Chinese sentences. Additionally, she was young, and liked friends and showing off. Luckily, she could chat a little bit about the things Zhao Wenwen said. Shi Jian had lived in England for a few years in the past, then she met Ye Jiacheng and got married. If they both had time, they basically just had fun traveling around and outside the country.
It would be reasonable to say that Zhao Wenwen was someone who liked to have fun, and she probably had many friends. How would rich people lack friends?
Zhao Wenwen said so herself that all her friends were abroad, and had so few inside the country that it was pitiful. Even if she did, they were all the malicious kind of people who were superficial and churlish. She completely despised them.
“Oh.” Shi Jian nodded, not revealing much.
Then, Zhao Wenwen brought up Zhao Yilin, disdain emerging between her words. Zhao Wenwen even told her a secret amusedly: “Shi Jian, did you know, all that Zhao Yilin writes in her diary is about Yi Pei. The whole book is filled with Yi Pei, and she’d only seen Yi Pei once! Can it be, she doesn’t know that Yi Pei is my fiancé……”
This damned secret! It turned out Zhao Wenwen had already known that Zhao Yilin liked Yi Pei. Of course, Shi Jian was unsure of how Zhao Wenwen had seen Zhao Yilin’s diary. Lai Qiao had said that the reason Zhao Yilin didn’t stay in the dorm was because her family had money. However, Zhao Yilin’s parents relied on Zhao Wenwen’s family to feed them.
On the fact that Zhao Wenwen talked about Zhao Yilin liking Yi Pei, she not only didn’t care, she was also satisfied to be happily complacent. Yes, Zhao Yilin had absolutely no way to compete with Zhao Wenwen over Yi Pei.
Speaking of that, Zhao Wenwen was also not a naive young lady.
Zhao Wenwen came out smiling from the fitting room: “Shi Jian, do you think this looks good on me? Which of these two do you think Yi Pei will like better?”
“Both of these are quite good on you. The lattice pattern is a classic, and the large collar is very feminine.” Shi Jian sat on the side, seriously “marveling”. She lowered her head to stifle a yawn, then looked up, “I am…… having a hard time choosing.” How would she know which one Yi Pei would like better?
“Okay, then I’ll buy both.” Zhao Wenwen turned around, adjusting her collar in front of the mirror. Then she asked, “Shi Jian, why don’t you pick anything? Is this place not up to your standards?”
Shi Jian could only smile faintly, asking silently in her heart: You paying?
“Women should treat themselves better.” Zhao Wenwen signed off her bill, then walked out with her arm linked with Shi Jian’s. She smiled, “Am I right?”
Shi Jian nodded: “En.”
They walked out of Nanwan. Zhang Kai had already stopped the car outside. He then courteously and completely chivalrously stepped out to open the door for them. Shi Jian basked in Zhang Wenwen’s status. Zhang Kai took advantage of Zhao Wenwen’s inattention and made a “you’ve worked hard” gesture towards Shi Jian.
Inside the car, Zhao Wenwen answered a call, speaking in English. Shi Jian sat in the front passenger seat, unintentionally hearing the word “skiing”. She concentrated somewhat on listening in. Sure enough, it was someone inviting Zhao Wenwen to go skiing in the United States.
What a coincidence. Zhao Wenwen hung up. Shi Jian turned towards her, casually asking Zhao Wenwen when she was going on the trip.
Zhao Wenwen seemed a bit unhappy about her asking like that. It was as if she’d intentionally listened in on her call. The edges of Zhao Wenwen’s mouth turned upwards. She asked Shi Jian with a sweet smile: “Do you also want to go? If you do, then I will tell you the date.”
“……” Shi Jian silently thought it over. She was a bit distressed. She’d been too nosy.
Zhang Kai took Zhao Wenwen back to the Zhao household first. Shi Jian didn’t say anything on the way back. Zhang Kai teased: “Shi Jian, I will definitely give you overtime pay for these past few days.”
“Thanks——.” Shi Jian unashamedly expressed her thanks. Thinking about it, this was actually quite meaningful. It wasn’t truly boring to accompany someone shopping. At least seeing Zhao Wenwen spend money like it was water broadened her horizons.
[Found on jeytranslations.blogspot.com | Do not repost to other sites. ]
Zhang Kai brought Shi Jian directly back to the dorm. Shi Jian stepped out carrying a bag of desserts that Zhao Wenwen had given her. Zhang Kai waved her right hand out of the window, poked out his head, and asked: “Shi Jian, I heard Emily from the secretary office say that you just broke up. They all want to find a boyfriend for you. Is that true?”
Shi Jian: “……” Had she written the words “broken up” on her forehead? She took a step forward, turned her torso, and asked: “Zhang Kai, is this matter related to work?”
“It isn’t.” Zhang Kai grinned widely, exposing a row of sparkling white teeth. Then he regretfully expressed, “I’m only caring about my friends. Jian Jian, I thought we’d become good friends already.”
Friends? How honored she was.
Shi Jian returned to the dorm to rest. She flopped onto the bed and sneezed. She again thought of what Ye Jiacheng had said, that whenever she sneezed, it meant that he was thinking of her. Shi Jian took out her cellphone. Then she flipped through her contact list. After hesitating for a long time, she changed “Dear Husband” to “Ye Jiacheng”.
He wasn’t her husband anymore. She would settle her feelings, she must!
——
Ye Jiacheng was bored the past few days, bored until he could only spend his time on his work, neglecting sleeping and eating. Gao Yanfei had pestered him to hang out a couple times, until he finally gave in. He shaved his stubble in front of the mirror and went out.
Long time no see. Ye Jiacheng appeared in front of his friend, as captivatingly handsome and as elegant as before.
Ye Jiacheng was very bored, but Gao Yanfei was even more bored.
“How come you aren’t hanging out with your little fox anymore?” Gao Yanfei bent his waist, hitting a beautiful jump ball. Unfortunately, it didn’t hit its target.
Ye Jiacheng automatically ignored Gao Yanfei, aiming at the 8 ball. His luck was a bit better than Gao Yanfei’s; it entered.
“Damnit.” Gao Yanfei became cautious, not moving on and kept speaking about Shi Jian, “Tell me, what exactly is going on?”
“Nothing much.” Ye Jiacheng played with the cue stick, “Dated for less than 24 hours, then split.”
“What!” Gao Yanfei got excited, “Not even a day?”
Ye Jiacheng glared at Gao Yanfei. Could he shut up?
Gao Yanfei continued indifferently, “Brothers understand you. Women who voluntarily pursue you can grasp that decisive power is better in your hands no matter what, right?”
Ye Jiacheng didn’t want to pay attention to Gao Yanfei. Gao Yanfei hooked an arm around his shoulder, “Do you need me to find you a new target?”
“You can.” Ye Jiacheng bent over, another ball entered. Then he carelessly even thanked him: “Thanks.”
Gao Yanfei looked at the balls on the table. He already couldn’t beat Ye Jiacheng, so he might as well say: “What requirements? Just say so directly.”
“No requirements.” Ye Jiacheng straightened, only concentrating his gaze on the cue ball. His delicate eyebrows softly quivered…… then, he suddenly had no interest to play anymore. He abruptly stopped, then as if he was intentionally troubling Gao Yanfei, he said, “Very simple. Prettier than Shi Jian.”
“The fuck, you call that having no requirements?” Gao Yanfei exclaimed, changing the topic, “But Ge2 will help you out like always!”
Gao Yanfei had a photo in his cellphone. He called Ye Jiacheng over to look, “Look at this one.”
Ye Jiacheng stepped forward, glanced at the photo, and smiled. He disapprovingly said things like “Just that?” and “You’re playing with me.” Gao Yanfei was infuriated. He picked out the hair, nose, eyes, brows, and even chest of the girl in the photos, then compared them to Shi Jian: “Her hair is longer than Shi Jian’s, right? And her eyes are a bit bigger. Look at her chin, then, she looks like Fan Bingbing. Most importantly——” Gao Yanfei raised an eyebrow at Ye Jiacheng, “Bosom!”
Good brother! Ye Jiacheng clapped Gao Yanfei’s shoulder, agreeably nodding, then he walked to the other side to continue hitting the remaining billiards.
So, accepted?
Ye Jiacheng lazily stood upright and said: “So this is who’s prettier than Shi Jian. Then they don’t need to be prettier than her. Almost as pretty as her is good enough.”
Damnit, is he toying with him? Gao Yanfei couldn’t believe this anymore, he really had one that was almost as pretty!
——
Zhao Wenwen wanted to invite Shi Jian shopping again. Zhao Wenwen said to Yi Pei, “I quite like Shi Jian. A-Pei, can I have her be my personal assistant?”
“You have to ask her about this.” Yi Pei didn’t say she could or couldn’t, and only reminded her: “Shi Jian’s father is named Shi Muzi. You’ve stayed in England for many years; you should’ve heard of him.”
Zhao Wenwen shut her mouth, dispelling the thought of having Shi Jian be her personal assistant. Yi Pei didn’t say it out loud, but clearly let Zhao Wenwen know that she couldn’t hire Shi Jian.
Her family sent her abroad to study from a young age, stressing education above all else. The reason was that being rich or pretty didn’t compare to being from a literary family. People living in this world were all trying to make up for things they were lacking.
Zhao Wenwen made a surprised expression: “Wow, I didn’t expect Shi Jian to be Professor Shi’s daughter. The last time she went shopping with me, she didn’t buy much at all. Next time she likes something, I’ll immediately buy it for her. I sincerely want to make friends with her.”
Yi Pei: “How do you know it’s that they don’t want to buy it, and not that they can’t afford it?”
……
It absolutely was that they weren't able to afford it!
The next day, Shi Jian was absentmindedly typing away on her keyboard when she suddenly received a text message notification from the bank. Then, she focused, her finger trembled as she touched the phone. The notification told her that X million was added to her work account.
She looked at it many times. There were indeed that many zeroes, not lacking a single one.
Author’s Note:
Shi Jian: “This money……”
Zhang Kai: “President Yi lended it to you.”
Shi Jian: “……”
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