See You Again (Time Already Knows) - Chapter 33
Chapter 33 - “Dad, Are There Guests Over?”
After Shi Jian bought the medicine, she returned to her room on the seventeenth floor. She also unexpectedly noticed that Zhao Wenwen had come back.
Zhao Wenwen had already changed into silk pajamas and was leaning against the headboard watching a television program. She even had a face mask on. This further confirmed Shi Jian’s guess that Zhao Wenwen and Yi Pei had a fight. She greeted Zhao Wenwen. Zhao Wenwen looked up but didn’t reply to her.
She looked extremely upset.
Shi Jian changed into her own pajamas, then sat on the bed to administer the medicine.
She didn’t know if it was a misconception, but when she was applying the medicine, she felt that Zhao Wenwen was unceasingly sizing up a certain part of her body. Shi Jian lowered her head and also looked at her own chest. Was Zhao Wenwen comparing these?
Alright, she won.
Shi Jian slowly finished applying medicine, then wrapped the gauze around it.
“Shi Jian, I’ve discovered that you’re also quite attractive.” Zhao Wenwen spoke.
Coming from Zhao Wenwen, this assessment was paramount.
Shi Jian turned, inwardly bursting out laughing. Was this Zhao Wenwen’s conclusion after observing her? She smiled at Zhao Wenwen and modestly replied: “You’re even more attractive.”
Zhao Wenwen didn’t say anything and assumed a slight sneering expression. Then, she seemed to agree with Shi Jian and continued to face the television and watch the program expressionlessly.
It was normal for girls to compare their hardware with each other. Shi Jian burrowed into her blankets, separated from Zhao Wenwen by a necessary distance. Other than with Ye Jiacheng, she didn’t have a habit of sleeping with other people. So, she would probably have trouble falling asleep tonight.
In the end, she had thought too much. She didn’t have to fall asleep at all tonight.
Zhao Wenwen watched television all night.
Shi Jian wasn’t the kind of person to force herself to sleep if she couldn’t fall asleep anyway. Since Zhao Wenwen was sleeping in her room tonight, Zhao Wenwen had half of the usage rights of the room. What’s more, Yi Pei was the one paying for the room.
She leaned against the headboard and watched the boring romance film with Zhao Wenwen.
The more Zhao Wenwen watched, the more conscious she became. The Hong Kong films shown at night were pretty bold and maturely rated, but they were just about to end. Around 3:00 AM, Zhao Wenwen turned and asked her, “Shi Jian, have you seen that kind of film before?”
Shi Jian naturally knew what she meant by “that kind of film”. She picked up the mug of freshly brewed green tea, took a sip, and replied: “I have.”
Zhao Wenwen sort of wanted to watch them.
Shi Jian studied Zhao Wenwen’s expression. No way. Two women watching porn in the early hours of the morning?! Weren’t her spirits too high for this?
Zhao Wenwen gave up and continued to watch the television drama. Then, she said in a very disdainful tone: “There’s nothing good to watch on domestic tv. The channels in foreign countries would broadcast that kind of film late at night.”
Shi Jian nodded……
There was nothing good to watch, but Zhao Wenwen had watched it all night long anyway.
In the latter half of the night, Zhao Wenwen ordered some midnight snacks to be delivered to their room. Shi Jian leaned against the headboard and finally couldn't take it anymore. She shut her eyes in a daze, not knowing when she would be able to get some sleep.
When she woke up the next day, Zhao Wenwen was packing up her luggage.
She just arrived and wanted to go already? Shi Jian squinted and turned over sleepily. Looks like Zhao Wenwen and Yi Pei had a truly unpleasant fight yesterday night.
Zhao Wenwen was getting ready to leave.
Yi Pei had chosen to leave last night. His attitude pretty much made it clear that their engagement was about to fall through. In the current situation, if she continued to stay, she was afraid that she wouldn’t have any leeway to turn back. The Zhao family was the best choice for Yi Pei, but wasn’t his only choice. Moreover, Yi Pei wasn’t a man that only cared about the benefits his bride would give him.
If he decided to choose a person to contend against the whole Yi family with in the end, then what did the Zhao family amount to in Yi Pei’s eyes?
Before Zhao Wenwen left, she ate breakfast at the hotel.
Four people had breakfast together. Shi Jian was drinking the coffee delivered by the waiter to wake herself up. Where was the strangeness? Even the chatterbox Zhang Kai had his head lowered as he quietly ate, not making a sound.
Did no one get any sleep last night?
Zhao Wenwen had a flight back to A-City later. Yi Pei said to Zhang Kai: “Take Vivi to the airport later.”
A clattering noise sounded. The knife and fork in Zhang Kai’s hands were accidentally dropped onto the ground. He stooped down to retrieve them, looked up, then looked at Yi Pei with a difficult expression. Finally, he spoke: “……my stomach hurts.”
Yi Pei: “……”
Zhang Kai added: “I probably ate too much seafood these past few days.”
“No need,” Zhao Wenwen also declined Zhang Kai, and smiled towards Yi Pei. She understandingly said, “I can go by myself.”
Zhang Kai hurriedly lowered his head.
Yi Pei no longer insisted. Zhang Kai let out a breath.
Shi Jian scooped out a spoonful of crab cream, looked at Zhang Kai, and said: “I bought some medicine yesterday. Do you need any?”
Her stomach also used to hurt when she ate too much seafood. But, as she was the wife of someone from Qinglin City for five years, her stomach had also turned into a Qinglin stomach. When she was buying medicine at the pharmacy yesterday night, she had chanced upon the brand that Ye Jiacheng used to buy for her and bought it for herself. Right now, she wasn’t the wife of someone from Qinglin City, and she didn’t yet have a Qinglin City stomach.
She still hadn’t consumed that medicine she’d bought yet. Unexpectedly, the person who got a stomach ache after eating too much seafood wasn’t her, but Zhang Kai.
Zhang Kai looked at her gratefully, and hurriedly said without caring about the medicine: “Yes yes yes…… Shi Jian, I’ll go grab it now.”
Shi Jian quietly said to Zhang Kai: “But I haven’t finished eating yet……”
Zhang Kai had already pretended to be in pain: “Then I’ll go wait for you at your room.”
Shi Jian: “……”
Yi Pei: “……”
Zhao Wenwen looked at Yi Pei and said to him: “Then I’ll go now. I hope things go smoothly.”
“Alright.” Yi Pei stood up to walk her out. He just happened to have some words to say to her.
Zhao Wenwen didn’t give Yi Pei the chance to speak. The fact that she’d gambled on such an important thing, of course Yi Pei would talk to her about it face to face. She wouldn’t give him the chance to speak and even apologized before she left: “A-Pei, I was wrong last night. It's only that I love you too much, and I’m also not a girl who treats this kind of thing flippantly. I’m going now. See you in A-City.”
At the same time, Zhang Kai finally got an appointment booked with Ye Qingde from Gu Yitian. Mayor Ye was very busy. They had to be able to make the 11 o’clock appointment, and they only had a half-hour time slot. This was barely satisfactory and Zhang Kai had to put his foot down with Gu Yitian to arrange it. Originally, Ye Qingde had a distinct attitude of refusal.
No matter what, the Qinglin City bidding convention was about to begin. It was fitting to have a meeting at this time. Shi Jian recognized Gu Yitian, Ye Jiacheng’s Uncle Tian. When she and Ye Jiacheng got married, Uncle Tian had already been transferred to A-City.
Since it was an independent meeting, Yi Pei only brought Zhang Kai with him. As for her, probably because she seemed tired, Yi Pei let her go to her room and catch up on sleep.
“Thanks, President Yi.”
She seemed to not be useful at all on this business trip.
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Bundled in the warm hotel blankets, Shi Jian caught up on sleep with a long nap. Between three and four in the afternoon, Zhang Kai suddenly gave her a call and told her to prepare. Zhang Kai’s tone had some kind of excitement, “The morning’s meeting went extremely well. Mayor Ye even invited Yi Pei to be a guest at his house tonight. Shi Jian, get ready! President Yi is bringing us along!”
Zhang Kai was really too much! He originally called him Ye Qingde, but now he turned to calling him Mayor Ye.
Shi Jian put down her cellphone. She sat up hugging her pillow and ran her fingers through her hair. She slowly reacted to what Zhang Kai just told her. She also had to go?
She had to go to Gonggong1 and Popo’s house and be a guest for dinner?
Aaaaa! Shi Jian jumped down from the bed, opened her suitcase, and tipped all her clothing out. She pondered as she took deep breaths and told herself: Don’t be anxious, slow down. You look good in anything when you’re young!
Shi Jian put on an outfit that would look trendy in ten years. She moistened her hair with water and styled it until it was gentle and airy. Finally, she put on lipstick. Unsatisfied, she wiped it off and just put on lip gloss.
Her lip color was rosy in itself and looked good even without lipstick. At her current age, she had to look a bit younger! Finished, she faced the mirror and curved her lip in satisfaction. She narcissistically thought: Such a pretty young woman! Gonggong and Popo will definitely give her a few extra glances.
Who knows? With Popo’s personality, if she was satisfied, she might even play matchmaker between her and Ye Jiacheng herself. After all, Popo had always loved her, even if she disappointed Popo in the aspect of giving her grandchildren.
Shi Jian stowed away her regret. Zhang Kai called to tell her that she could go downstairs. She adjusted her hair one last time in front of the mirror, then happily left her hotel room.
Women only needed to dress themselves up a little bit to be noticed by men. Regardless of whether it was Yi Pei or Zhang Kai, when she walked over with bright enthusiasm, they both gave her a couple of glances.
Shi Jian didn’t feel like that had any intent in it. Yi Pei was alright. He quickly looked away after a few glances, unlike Zhang Kai who stared at her to no end. She said to Zhang Kai: “Aren’t we going to see Mayor Ye?” What was so weird about her dressing up a little bit?
Dressing up was normal, of course, but he worried that she would dress too casually. Zhang Kai continued to look Shi Jian up and down. He somehow hit the nail on the head: “I’m only…… You look like you’re going to see your in-laws.”
Wow! Shi Jian’s eyes lit up. She said the truth with a joking tone: “Assistant Zhang, I didn’t expect you to also know about this.”
She spoke the truth, yet Zhang Kai didn’t believe her.
Before they headed out, Zhang Kai confirmed with Yi Pei about the visiting gift. Two presents had been prepared. One was a normal Chinese chess set made of golden nanmu wood2, a gift where it was the thought that counted. The other was an authentic painting from a famous artist, worth far more than the former gift.
Yi Pei’s heart was probably still not satisfied after making Zhang Kai prepare the two gifts. Even though he’d met Ye Qingde already, he probably still couldn’t discern Ye Qingde’s genuine intentions.
This was normal. Just as Ye Jiacheng himself said once, “My dad is sometimes deep and sometimes shallow. He doesn’t like other people knowing his preferences and guards against other people sucking up to and flattering him.” Yi Pei had picked the right thing with this authentic painting. Her Gonggong extremely liked this artist, but if Yi Pei gave it to him, it might just have an effect that was the opposite of what he wanted.
“Mayor Ye is honest and uncorrupted. He is truly one of those noble and righteous individuals.” Shi Jia explained to Yi Pei, “……I feel that it is better to give him the chess set.”
“En, then we’ll give him the chess set,” Yi Pei decided. After a pause, he looked towards her and a flash of amusement passed through his eyes. Then, he said with approval: “Regarding Ye Qingde as a person, I think the same way as you.”
Eh? His way of saying this made people feel comfortable. Being the employer, shouldn’t he say “You think the same way as I do”?
There was a small district behind Qinglin City’s municipal administration building. This area had many two and a half story bungalows. This was where Mayor Ye lived. Ten years ago, these bungalows were still pretty new, with white walls and red roof tiles, and enveloped by lush evergreen trees. It was surrounded by mountains and rivers and looked very beautiful.
The car stopped on the asphalt road. Shi Jian and Zhang Kai came over as Yi Pei’s subordinates, and entered the house behind Yi Pei. Popo opened the door. Was Auntie Zhang not here?
When Shi Jian entered, nostalgia hit her right in the face. She couldn’t help the overwhelming emotion that surged up when Popo brought her into the house. The current Popo didn’t have many wrinkles on her face and appeared very amiable.
Of course, it was not the same kind of amiable that she showed to her daughter-in-law from her memories.
The dinner was pre-arranged tonight, so Gonggong was naturally waiting for them in the house. Gonggong also accepted the Chinese chess set from Yi Pei, meaning that this thoughtful gift was chosen correctly. Shi Jian stood at the back with a slight smile. Probably because her smile was too obvious, Gonggong turned his gaze towards her and also gave her a smile.
Hehehehehe. Shi Jian was extremely content. Being ten years younger, Gonggong was even more handsome than the one in her memory. She looked at this house again and compared it to the first time she came to the Ye family house. It seemed like only the sofa had changed.
The sofa was still the kind with a vintage floral print, with a white lace sofa covering draped over it. It seemed that Gonggong and Popo only changed the sofa right before she came to see them for the first time. Ye Jiacheng even joked because of this: “Shi Jian, look at you with your thick face. How many years has it been? They finally got a new sofa because of you.”
Hehehehehe. Shi Jian sat on the floral sofa after Zhang Kai. Across from them, Yi Pei and Gonggong sat across from each other, chatting about ordinary topics like the differences between the north and south.
But, why did Gonggong invite Yi Pei over to be a guest? Did he especially admire Yi Pei? Did he feel that Yi Pei would bring Qingling City positive development? Or……
“Have some fruit first.” Gonggong chatted with Yi Pei but did not forget about her and Zhang Kai.
Shi Jian took an apple from the table. She looked around for the paring knife. If Popo’s habits hadn’t changed, the paring knife would be…… The paring knife was indeed on the highest drawer on the left side. Shi Jian accidentally met eyes with Gonggong. Gonggong saw her smiling expression, then he looked around as if he was searching for someone.
Were there other people in the house?
At that moment, an amused yet reserved voice of a young man drifted down from the upstairs: “Dad, are there guests over?”
This voice……
Shi Jian looked up with the apple in hand, following the sound. Ye Jiacheng elegantly and gracefully appeared into her line of sight.
Ye Jiacheng stood by the mezzanine railing, leaning slightly against the wooden banister. His pair of long legs were somewhat slanted. He was wearing an ordinary brown sweater, hand-knit by Mama Ye, as well as a pair of warm black army cotton shoes. This Ye Jiacheng, wearing this kind of ordinary clothing, was charming and handsome as usual.
Then, Ye Jiacheng smiled down at Yi Pei, Zhang Kai, as well as herself.
Just like a gentle but reserved young prince.
He finally came out of his room to greet the guests courteously!
Author’s Note:
Ye Jiacheng, your dad is yelling at you to come downstairs and peel apples for the guests.
Ye Jiacheng: Ok.
I hope there’s no fighting. I’ve always said that both of them are protagonists. The scene comes accordingly with the plot. All the love will deepen along with time. Answers related to time will also follow with the story and development over time.
Muah muah.
TN:
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