See You Again (Time Already Knows) - Chapter 85
Chapter 85 - “Shen Minyu. Is That The Person You Mentioned Before?”
When Shi Jian ended a day of work, she drove back to Tianmei Jia Park. She skillfully backed the car into the parking space. She subconsciously glanced at the empty parking spot beside her.
She’d purchased two garage spaces, the same ones that Ye Jiacheng had bought in the past.
The apartment was also the same. The first time Tianmei Jia Park went onto the market, she bought the best suite at an employee price of 97% of the original price. But when Tianmei Jia Park went on the market, the housing prices in A-City were already scarily high. She took out a loan for a part of the price.
When she finished parking, Shi Jian took out a package from the car and took the elevator to the twenty-seventh floor. Before the door was even opened, an annoying voice came from behind her, “Little fox, is it convenient for me to get a meal off you tonight?”
Shi Jian turned and looked at the door across from her. Gao Yanfei was leaned against the doorway, begging for a meal from her with a virtuous face.
Gao Yanfei still became her and Ye Jiacheng’s neighbor.
“Apologies, I’m not making dinner today,” Shi Jian spoke truthfully and went inside her door. The package was filled with fresh food that she’d bought online. She put all the contents into the embedded fridge in the kitchen. Then she took out a bottle of mineral water and took a few sips.
The doorbell rang again. Shi Jian helplessly opened the door. Gao Yanfei raised the Apple Plus in his hand and said, “……I invited Xiaojing. Since you aren’t cooking, do you want to come eat a late night snack with us?”
The late night snack stalls in A-City were still in the same place. Song Xiaojing immediately said when she arrived by herself, “Why is it barbeque again?!”
Gao Yanfei replied, “Of course we have to eat barbeque when eating late night snacks. You would go out to sip porridge?”
Song Xiaoing looked at Shi Jian. Shi Jian was amused for two moments. It was rare for her to agree with Gao Yanfei on anything. Song Xiaojing took off her jacket and sat down. She said, “Then, who’s paying today?”
Shi Jian pointed to Gao Yanfei, and saw that Gao Yanfei was pointing towards herself. She might as well just magnanimously nod her head. She said to Song Xiaojing, “Alright, I’ll pay, I’ll pay. Just consider it me comforting you for yet another failure in your blind dating.”
Song Xiaojing: “Shi Jian, you!”
Gao Yanfei: “Song Xiaojing, you’re going on blind dates again?”
Song Xiaojing replied to Gao Yanfei: “I can’t go on blind dates?”
Gao Yanfei seemed to be too lazy to say anything. Shi Jian glared at him and couldn’t help but interrupt, “You two…… Can’t you hurry up and get together?” Being in an ambiguous relationship for so many years was just dragging out the time they weren’t able to spend together. It really was a waste…… of time. It was this way in the past, and it was still this way now.
Then, Gao Yanfei and Song Xiaojing said simultaneously: “Impossible.”
Whatever……
The three of them drank together and talked about interesting things that happened to each of them recently. Sing Xiaojing suddenly asked her in a gossipy manner, “Did Yi Pei really get together with Shen Minyu of U Yi?”
Shi Jian shook her head.
“You can’t say, or you don’t know?” Song Xiaojing asked.
“Both.”
Song Xiaojing ridiculed her, “How can you be Yi Pei’s assistant for so long and not even know any close up and personal gossip?”
“I’m not anymore,” Shi Jian continued to eat barbeque. She relaxedly set down her chopsticks and said with sincerity, “And Yi Pei isn’t a male celebrity entertainer. Isn’t it very normal for him to date?”
“Ai, it is very normal. Only, many women will be heartbroken afterwards.”
“Are you included?” Gao Yanfei asked.
Song Xiaojing: “Isn’t this nonsense?”
The next day when Shi Jian went to work, everyone was also privately discussing whether Yi Pei was dating Shen Minyu or not. Someone also asked her whether she knew anything. Shi Jian really didn’t know. Last year, after the Yi Mao annual meeting ended, she was finally kicked out from the Yi Mao skyscraper by Yi Pei. She was no longer an assistant.
Yi Mao was now a large company. How could ordinary employees know about their boss’s relationship status? But did she really not know at all?
Shi Jian still knew a little that others didn’t know. After all, many years ago, Emily and the others often said, “No need to say it; Shi Jian knows all!” The origin of this phrase came from the time when she was an intern at Yi Mao. She could always guess the ending of television dramas correctly, along with some other news. She often surprised Emily and the others. Then they gave her the title of wise woman. Last year, when «Little Apple» became popular, Zhang Kai was humming and even muttered, “This song is so familiar…… It has reached into my heart.”
……
There was half a year where she knew everything that would happen in this world. But how could a person know everything? For example, some things could never be changed, regardless of how much time had passed.
In the afternoon when everyone was having lunch in the employee cafeteria, everyone discussed Shen Minyu again.
Shen Minyu was the it girl of entrepreneurs that recently became famous in the past two years. Last year, she was selected by celebrity media as the year’s most attractive woman. At the same time, Shen Minyu was the very popular founder of U Yi Net. The investor of U Yi Net was the Yi Mao Group. Thus, U Yi Net could be considered in the same family as Yi Mao.
Then, the sex scandal involving Yi Pei and Shen Minyu that came from when they interacted last time seemed to be breaking now. Afterwards, the Yi Mao officials admitted that Yi Pei had indeed been dating Shen Minyu, and they even had intentions of marriage.
At the time, she and Ye Jiacheng had even discussed this gossip before. She thought that Shen Minyu was a winner in life. She was a woman who had fought for her career all by herself, and could even marry the ideal man in many women’s hearts at the age of thirty-eight…… It was simply a harvest of both love and career. Then she changed the topic, “Husband, but I think I am more fortunate than Shen Minyu.”
At the time, Ye Jiacheng was playing video games. He stopped for a moment, then pecked her on the cheek, “Understood, baby.”
Then there was no afterwards. Before Yi Pei could marry Shen Minyu, she had a plane accident when she was traveling to Japan, and her whole world had turned ten years backwards in time……
Shi Jian returned to her desk and continued to work. She flipped through her calendar. Mama Ye’s birthday was in two days.
On the day of Mama Ye’s birthday, Shi Jian flew to Qinglin City to celebrate with Mama Ye and Father Ye. Mama Ye had adopted a daughter last year. She was now a little over one year old. Shi Jian carried Ye Meimei1, and her heart melted into a puddle.
In her arms, Ye Meimei cracked a smile.
Shi Jian poked Ye Meimei’s little cheeks. Her heart was satisfied and sour at the same time.
Mama Ye came to retrieve her daughter and started to chatter again. The chatter she had used to aim at Ye Jiacheng in the past was now redirected to Shi Jian. Shi Jian still used the “reply according to the situation” tactic. Mama Ye could only sigh, “Jian-er, you can’t live your whole life like this.”
Why couldn’t she live her whole life like this? Shi Jian played with Ye Meimei and pursed her lips. There were some things she’d said many times before, but she didn’t mind repeating them a few more times to let them not worry so much: “I’m doing good right now, really.”
“It’s not that we think you’re not doing good. It’s just that Ye Jiacheng has been gone for so long already……” Mama Ye said no more. The eyes of the little girl in her arms suddenly turned towards her, stopping her words. Shi Jian took the bottle from Mama Ye’s hands and helped feed Ye Meimei. When the bottle was almost finished, Shi Jian played with Ye Meimei with her head lowered, “Quick, call me Saosao2, Saosao……”
In the afternoon, Shi Jian went golfing with Father Ye. The golf course was on Tianyue Mountain in Qinglin. The air in Qinglin was better than the air in A-City, but the air atop the mountain was even better. Shi Jian hadn’t breathed this good of air in a long time. Her whole body felt abnormally alert and full of energy. She hit many good holes in a row.
The sun warmed her cheeks. Shi Jian talked with Father Ye about many events of the past. Time was temporarily stopped. And when it resumed, it had lost some of that maliciousness, and obtained a forgiveness that came from the passage of time.
At the time, the reason Father Ye did not investigate into his son’s business was indeed for Shi Jian on one hand. On the other hand, it wasn’t because he understood his son. It was more because he had made a mistake.
Shi Jian listened to Gongong and nodded. But in her heart, she was still calling for justice for Ye Jiacheng. Her Gongong loved Ye Jiacheng deeply and also hated him deeply. But the thing to be celebrated was that after so many years, he was no longer angry at Ye Jiacheng. Using her Popo’s words, clearly the one with the worse temper was Father Ye, and he even thought his son’s temper was bad.
“How has that Lady Yi been recently?” Mayor Ye suddenly asked.
Yi Biya? Shi Jian thought about Yi Biya, comparing ten years of their lives. Originally, Yi Biya had married her English boyfriend, then she seemed to have gotten divorced. Now, Yi Biya had also gotten divorced, and in the end…… she seemed to be doing similarly.
There was one more thing. Shi Jian didn’t not have any doubt at all inside. It’d been so long since the incident with Yi Qindong, but the good little sister Yi Biya had not visited him even once. But when Zhou Zi told her this, Yi Biya was already divorced and left the country.
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Shi Jian felt that maybe her Gongong also knew this, so he thought his son was reaping what he sowed. How could she say this? It was as if fate had pulled all of them into a time vortex, and the reason this vortex formed was because of her.
But Shi Jian would no longer blame herself for this.
“Little Shi, you still must keep the words Jiacheng’s mother said today inside your heart,” Mayor Ye looked at Shi Jian. He spoke with the intention of giving advice, “Since we have already let the other people get away, why not let yourself go as well?”
She really had already let herself go. She had even already forgiven herself, the one whom she didn’t want to forgive the most. What else couldn’t she let go of? Her family thought she wasn’t living happily. In reality, she was living very freely, even very…… fortunately.
Mayor Ye wanted to continue but hesitated. Shi Jian took two steps forward and turned. She said in a joking tone, “Dad, do you think I can fall in love with another man in this lifetime? Is there another man who loves me more than your son did?”
“This child!”
Shi Jian laughed with a bright smile on her face that was just as brilliant and splendid as the sunshine.
Before Shi Jian returned to A-City, she returned to that tofu-ball shop. The address had already moved to a new neighborhood. The owner inside was carrying his grandson. He wore a brown cap. He immediately noticed her and walked forward with a smile. He was still grateful that she told him to go get a checkup all those years ago. He thanked her unceasingly each time it was mentioned, and he didn’t even accept payment from her.
“Young lady, I am truly thankful for you. Otherwise, how would I be sitting here holding my grandson?!”
……
Shi Jian arrived at the A-City airport in the middle of the night. She took a taxi back to Tianmei Jia Park. Before the taxi entered the neighborhood, she had the driver stop. She paid with Alipay and got out.
She could see a black car stopped in the front. It was the car that was dedicated for Yi Pei’s use. After she was no longer an assistant, there seemed to be a period of time where she didn’t see Yi Pei anymore. One reason was that Yi Pei now rarely showed his face. Another reason was that she was only an ordinary employee who didn’t have the chance to “face the gods” at all. The department she was in currently was mostly full of young people. The impressions they had of their big BOSS came from the economics news. They all wished for the opportunity to gain Yi Pei’s recognition. But the organization of Yi Mao was already very well developed. There were many talented and competent people amongst the employees, but being outstanding was very difficult.
There was a sweet chill in the early spring night.
Shi Jian was wearing a light colored checkered scarf. She retrieved her luggage from the taxi and walked over. Yi Pei stepped out of his black car. Driver Li was waiting inside.
“How have you been recently?” Yi Pei asked her. His voice made him sound like an old friend. But his question still did not give him any answers.
“Not bad……” She replied. It seemed to be the same each time, without any new information.
Across from Tianmei Jia Park was Linxi Public Park. Yi Pei found a set of stairs and sat down. He seemed to be in a slightly bad mood, and was a little bit intoxicated. Yi Pei drank very little in recent years, and he went to dinner parties even less often. In ten years, Yi Pei went from going to each dinner party to only going to business activities when he was in a good mood. If Yi Mao was a business empire that he constructed, then Yi Pei was currently the king of this empire. He could live more selfishly, gloriously, and prosperously than other people.
Time was mysterious. Yi Pei slowly became the Mr.Yi that she first learned about in that biography, that man with a legendary saga and character.
Shi Jian sat down with Yi Pei. She looked up. She could see the starlight above A-City today. Suddenly, she recalled that night on her birthday. She and Yi Pei were also sitting like this. At the time, she’d told Yi Pei everything that was on her mind. Her heart was bared. How could Yi Pei like her? How was she worthy of Yi Pei’s love?
Shi Jian sighed inwardly for a long while, a bit ruefully. Time had still passed very quickly, even though she felt it was difficult to bear.
When Ye Jiacheng left her and told her not to wait, he probably was afraid she wouldn’t be able to let go completely. She let go already. Only, she was still waiting, even though she clearly knew that the ending wouldn’t arrive…… She could only say that “waiting” could become a habit of love. She had no way to not love him.
“If at the time I went abroad directly, nothing would have happened to Ye Jiacheng.” Shi Jian had raised a hypothetical to Yi Pei before. She was sure that she wouldn’t wait like this. Only, there was no “if”, even if she wished it existed.
“Shi Jian, it’s been almost ten years,” Yi Pei said dully, but with his usual calm tone of voice.
Yeah, it’s been almost ten years…… She had returned to being thirty-one years old again. Shi Jian said lightly, “Feels like I’ve lived an extra ten years.”
Yi Pei smiled for a moment.
Shi Jian also smiled. She had lived ten more years, but the ten years had also resulted in a different ending. Her surroundings had changed a lot. There were bad things and good things, things that changed and things that couldn’t change…… All in all, this was a very strange and helpless feeling. She had experienced joy and sadness in ten years, as if the television drama had ended, the stage became vacant, and only the love that was remaining told her that all of it was real.
The breeze caressed her, and her silk scarf made noise as it shifted. Yi Pei gazed into the distance. He was calm, and his whole person seemed like a bright moon over the western mountains.
“Shi Jian, do you blame me?” Yi Pei asked, wanting to know an answer, “For Ye Jiacheng’s death.”
Shi Jian turned and stared blankly. She knew what Yi Pei was indicating. Yi Pei had already explained everything to her last year. Tonight, Yi Pei was upset because of this? It really was unnecessary.
How could Yi Pei have any relation to Ye Jiacheng’s death?
Yi Pei’s face was indistinct in the dim moonlit night. His pitch dark eyes had a thread of softness, as if he was sad that destiny latched onto everyone and didn’t let go.
At Yi Mao’s annual meeting last year, Yi Qindong had finally sobered up. Yi Pei went to the prison hospital to visit his maternal uncle. Yi Qindong spoke about the reasons for his wickedness. It was because Ye Jiacheng had endlessly pressured him, and even maliciously threatened him, and he reaped what he sowed. In reality, Yi Qindong had made a mistake. The one who pressured him wasn’t Ye Jiacheng, it was Yi Pei.
As the situation of the Yi family became more and more unclear, to make his grandfather understand some of Yi Qindong’s conduct, he investigated one or two things regarding his maternal uncle. He even specifically returned to eat at the Yi household that day, and he watched as Yi Qindong was taken away. Really, he didn’t expect this to lead to Yi Qindong hating Ye Jiacheng even more, and he was afraid Ye Jiacheng would make moves against himself. Yi Qindong immediately had malicious intentions after he was released. Until now, Yi Qindong was still thinking back on it. He’d said he was drunk at the time and that he only wanted to have someone mess with Ye Jiacheng. But he was even more afraid that he couldn’t afford to be against Ye Jiacheng…… After he received news of Ye Jiacheng’s accident, he also was stunned. Then, he immediately fled the country. When he learned that the Ye family did not investigate him, Yi Qindong thought maybe Ye Jiacheng’s accident was the will of the heavens……
Past events lingered in people’s minds.
Yi Pei looked slightly intoxicated, and inside his heart, he had some heartache and regret that was difficult to dispel. He looked at Shi Jian’s face, which was as beautiful as ever. He had let her down. When she had returned to the country, he had even come to Tianmei Jia Park to pressure her into working as his assistant, as if he was fighting for one last chance at victory. Some endings were probably predestined. He still lost. He didn’t accept defeat in the past and was only resigned. Did that mean he could admit defeat now?
“You can’t think about things like this……” Shi Jian had been silent for a long while. She comforted Yi Pei, “According to that way of thinking, I would be the murderer who killed Ye Jiacheng.”
Shi Jian smiled and turned. She continued, sincere and relieved, “Yi Pei, you were the one comforting me back then. Some influence and change is unavoidable. At the same time, they are unable to be predicted. And there's even less of a way to calculate rights and wrongs. It doesn’t seem to be a kind of plan from the heavens…… Some endings must be accepted, because humans can’t win against the heavens.”
Yes, humans can’t win against the heavens. Yi Pei laughed with part disappointment and part abjection. Only, his aura was still powerful as usual. Yi Pei asked Shi Jian a question, “Shi Jian, is there a big difference between the original me and the me right now?”
People liked to compare themselves, with both others and with themselves.
Shi Jian knew what Yi Pei was asking, but did he want to know about appearance or accomplishment?
It’d been ten years already. Shi Jian looked Yi Pei up and down. Time always left marks upon a person’s face. Yi Pei was more mature and noble than the first time she stopped him at Jia Shi Platinum Club back then. The space between his eyebrows was more calm. The charisma he emitted was still thick and dense. Strangely, she didn’t feel that her impression of Yi Pei had changed much with time, maybe because Yi Pei existed in her heart as more of a godly idol.
Only, in these ten years, she had attained a more genuine understanding of Yi Pei. She learned how he achieved success, how his heart also contained obsession, and how he also had some warmth and emotion in his epic life.
“Shi Jian, you should write me that biography sometime.” Yi Pei brought up an old topic and didn’t forget to add, “Like you said you would before.”
“Ah……” Shi Jian was ashamed and took a moment to react. She did seem to have said that before.
Yi Pei said, “What I said in the past still counts.”
What he said in the past. That if she wrote it, he would write a preface for her? Shi Jian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. There was a very distinct feeling of how things had stayed the same, but the people had changed.
Yi Pei had a hopeful gaze.
“Alright,” Shi Jian agreed and nodded. But she wanted to wait until Yi Pei and Shen Minyu got together to write it. She wanted to write an ending with a large reunion. No part of the so-called life with both love and struggle could be missing.
Unexpectedly, Yi Pei himself brought up Shen Minyu. He asked her, “Shen Minyu, is that the person you mentioned before?” That was also the woman that he chose to be “his” lifelong companion.
“Yes.” Shi Jian nodded.
Author’s Note:
Shen Minyu is that person in the chapter with Yi Pei’s birthday and the longevity noodles. The people who are supposed to appear will inevitably appear.
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