A Billion Stars Can’t Amount to You - Chapter 725-734
Ji Yi didn’t think too much of it and just bent over to pick the pouch up. She didn’t know what was inside but it felt kind of heavy.
Ji Yi couldn’t help but feel the object a little from outside the pouch. It felt just as hard as it did when she stepped on it.
She stared at it curiously for a few seconds then cautiously opened the pouch and poured the object into her palm.
It was a clear piece of jade which had a glowy, water-like quality.
The jade was in the shape of a moon, and it had an intricate carving of an energetic dragon.
The only imperfection on the jade was the small chip at the bottom…
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With just one glance, Ji Yi’s entire body felt like all her pressure points were pressed as she stood still in her tracks.
She was very familiar with this piece of jade… Last year during Chinese new year, Yuguang Ge rushed over to Lijiang to check on her sprained ankle. After he left, he forgot this piece of jade in her hotel room… But this was clearly Yuguang Ge’s, so why was it in He Jichen’s apartment?
Could Yuguang Ge have dropped by after He Jichen left?
Did Yuguang Ge accidentally leave it here without realizing?
However, He Jichen left Beijing and the He Family must’ve known that Yuguang Ge dropped by He Jichen’s apartment. Could Yuguang Ge have helped him retrieve something?
Speaking of which… Maybe Yuguang Ge knows where He Jichen is?!
As a series of questions barged into Ji Yi’s mind, she realized that all this time, she’d been so focused on thinking about He Jichen’s location that she forgot to ask about He Yuguang.
With that thought, Ji Yi pulled out her phone and searched for He Yuguang, who she hadn’t contacted for a year. She clicked his WeChat contact and sent him a message.
Her message was lost like a stone thrown into a vast sea. There was no response.
Ji Yi waited for about half an hour then selected He Yuguang’s number and gave him a call.
After the call went through, a service message came on: “Sorry, the person you called has turned their phone off.”
Turned off?
Could Yuguang Ge’s phone be out of battery?
Ji Yi sent He Yuguang another WeChat message then carefully put the jade back into the pouch and left He Jichen’s apartment.
When she returned to the dorms, Bo He and Tang Huahua were already asleep.
Ji Yi carefully stepped into the bathroom. After she freshened up, she hurriedly climbed into bed.
She wasn’t sleepy, so she opened WeChat and noticed that He Yuguang hadn’t replied to her message yet.
Ji Yi tossed and turned for who knew how long before she finally fell asleep.
When she woke up the next day, it was already ten in the morning. The first thing she did when she opened her eyes was to grab her phone and check to see if He Yuguang replied to her message.
Their WeChat convo was silent. He hadn’t sent her a single message.
Ji Yi clicked into her call logs, found He Yuguang’s number, and called again to find out his phone was still off.
He Yuguang can’t possibly still be asleep, right?
Ji Yi vaguely felt like something wasn’t right but she wasn’t entirely sure what it was. She was in a daze on the bed for a while before she climbed down and walked into the bathroom.
He Yuguang’s phone was still turned off in the afternoon…
Something wasn’t right. He Yuguang was usually really busy with work. There was no way he would leave his phone turned off for so long. He couldn’t have stopped using that phone number, right?
The strange feeling she had in the morning crept into Ji Yi’s mind once again.
After dinner, Ji Yi called He Yuguang again but to her complete confusion, it was still turned off.
Even if He Yuguang changed his number, his WeChat account should still be active, right…
Though they hadn’t spoken for almost a year, she still knew him pretty well. He would never go a day without his phone.
In the evening at their dorm room, Tang Huahua asked Ji Yi to play some games, but since she was distracted by things on her mind, she lost three whole rounds. Completely flustered, Ji Yi was no longer in the mood to play and told Tang Huahua she wasn’t going to play anymore. She tossed her phone aside and walked out of the dorm.
When she came back, it was already bedtime.
As Ji Yi reached for her phone while laying in bed, her fingers touched the pouch she put under her pillow last night.
Her fingers trembled then she stared up at the ceiling for a while.
It was no plan to just continue waiting for Yuguang Ge’s reply.
After all, He Jichen ended up like this today only because of her…
With that thought, Ji Yi quickly reached for her phone and booked a flight to Sucheng for early the next morning.
Maybe it was because she was finally taking action and personally taking a trip to Sucheng, but Ji Yi slept easier that night compared to the night before.
Before it was even six in the morning, her phone rang and woke her up.
Her flight was for half past eight. She didn’t want to be late so she bolted out of bed and quickly packed her suitcase. Then she grabbed her phone to call a cab as she walked out of the dorm room.
At eight on the dot, Ji Yi was on the plane to Sucheng.
At half past eight, the plane took off.
Two hours later, the plane safely landed at Sucheng’s international airport.
As Ji Yi came out of the airport, she lined up for a taxi then gave the driver the He family’s home address.
So many years had passed. Coming back to Sucheng, she realized that the city had changed significantly. The roads were wider and the buildings were taller. However, there were loads of areas she could still recognize from past memories, so she didn’t feel too much of a stranger. After passing by some places, she was still able to accurately name some streets.
The airport was pretty far from the He family’s estate, so it took a whole hour to reach the place Ji Yi spent many years of her adolescence in.
She noticed many years had passed as Sucheng’s grandest residential area now looked a little old.
Ji Yi stood at the gates and stared up at the familiar block of flats as if time had suddenly turned back to the time she studied there. It deeply moved her for a moment before she strode into the residential area.
Although it had been many years since she visited, Ji Yi could shut her eyes and still be able to find the front door to the He family’s estate.
Before she reached their door, Ji Yi walked past her grandma’s door first.
After her grandma passed away, her parents sold the apartment because they had no relatives in Sucheng. Now, the memory of her grandma was no longer there as another family moved in and the apartment was refurbished. However, Ji Yi still stared at the second floor for quite some time before walking over to the He family’s front door.
The He family’s home had also been completely renovated.
The front gates were changed. The fence was no longer wooden, but the large plot of sunflowers in the courtyard was still there. The swings she loved when she was younger were still there and the grape vines were thicker and denser since the year she left Sucheng.
Through the fence, Ji Yi stared at the courtyard for a long time before she reached out to press the doorbell.
Soon enough, the door opened and out stepped a young woman who rushed over with hurried steps.
From the way she was dressed, the young woman looked like the housekeeper hired by the He Family.
She was probably hired recently because Ji Yi didn’t recognize her.
“Hello, who are you looking for?” The He family courtyard was big, so the housekeeper sounded slightly at a loss of breath from running over there in a hurry.
“I’m looking for…” Ji Yi wasn’t sure if Mr. He and Mrs. He still remembered her but then she remembered she was talking to He Yuguang just last year, so she paused for a moment. Just to be safe, she replied, “…He Yuguang.”
When the housekeeper heard who Ji Yi was looking for, she looked evidently stunned. “You’re looking for the eldest?”
Ji Yi nodded without hesitation. “Yeah.”
The housekeeper didn’t say anything but looked at Ji Yi with a strange look in her eyes.
Ji Yi wasn’t sure if she was just being overly paranoid, but it seemed like the housekeeper was hiding something. She furrowed her brows slightly and seeing as the housekeeper didn’t look like she was going to say anything, she added, “Yuguang Ge, are you not home?”
After hearing what Ji Yi said, the housekeeper snapped out of her daze. She ignored Ji Yi’s question and asked one of her own: “Excuse me, are you his friend?”
“Yes…” said Ji Yi as she pointed to next door. “…That used to be my grandma’s house. I’ve known Yuguang Ge since I was young.”
Ji Yi was afraid the housekeeper didn’t understand her, so she pulled out the pouch from her pocket. “I came to see Yuguang Ge to give him this and to ask him about something…”
Before Ji Yi could finish, the housekeeper saw the jade in the pouch and looked like she suddenly understood something. She then said, “Miss, you came to see the young master, right?”
The young master? He Jichen?
Ji Yi paused and started to furrow her brows.
“It’s been a long time since the young master came back home. We don’t know where he is either…”
Before the housekeeper could finish speaking, Ji Yi hurriedly interrupted her by saying, “No, no, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not looking for He Jichen. I’m here for Yuguang Ge.”
The housekeeper shook her head with a smile and tried a different angle: “Miss, let me ask you. Are you looking for the owner of the jade?”
Ji Yi nodded.
“Then I’m right. The owner of the jade is the young master…”
The owner of the jade is the young master… Ji Yi was bewildered by what the housekeeper said.
“Madam gave this jade to the young master. The masters are identical twins, so you might have mixed them up and thought the jade belonged to the older…”
The housekeeper said a lot, so when she saw Ji Yi’s expression change, she thought Ji Yi was embarrassed, so she hurriedly tried to comfort Ji Yi. “…But, Miss, I heard madam say that people often get the two of them mixed up…”
Ji Yi stopped listening to what the housekeeper said. Though Ji Yi had no idea what the housekeeper was saying, Ji Yi knew she was talking non-stop. After the housekeeper said “The owner of the jade is the young master,” her mind took some time to digest those words before she mumbled, “What did you just say?”
The housekeeper thought Ji Yi didn’t understand what she meant, so she explained, “I said, the brothers are identical twins and are often…”
Ji Yi appeared to not have heard what the housekeeper said and continued to ask, “You said, this jade belongs to He Jichen?”
Before the housekeeper could finish, she realized Ji Yi got it wrong and hurriedly said, “Yeah, that jade belongs to the young master. Everyone in the He family knows this…”
This jade belongs to He Jichen…
If this jade belongs to He Jichen, then the person who visited me every month in the hospital for three years while I was in a coma was actually… him?
If this jade belongs to He Jichen, why would He Yuguang have this jade on him when he rushed over to Lijiang overnight because of my sprained ankle?
Ji Yi felt herself slipping into a giant maze of doubts as her chaotic mind couldn’t comprehend this.
She spent a lot of energy forcing her mind to understand it. “Is this one of a kind?”
“Of course, only one. It’s an antique. On madam’s birthday, she mentioned that the jade was once worn by the emperor of the Qing dynasty!”
The housekeeper was clearly showing off proudly.
Why would Ji Yi care that it was once worn by an emperor? Her mind was filled with the thought of the jade belonging to He Jichen. Then who was the man at the Lijiang hotel back then?
“What’s more, this jade was a gift to the young master from madam herself on his first birthday. She said it was like a protective charm…”
The housekeeper continued to go on, but as she went on, she heard Ji Yi muttering to herself: “What’s going on? Just what the hell is going on?”
The more Ji Yi muttered, the more agitated her tone of voice became.
The housekeeper sounded worried and nervous. “Miss, what’s wrong?”
Ji Yi was deep in thought but didn’t reply to the housekeeper. She continued to mutter, “Who the hell was it? In the end, who was it? Who was it that day?”
“Miss, Miss!” The housekeeper raised her voice.
She cried several times, but Ji Yi was transfixed and continued to ignore her. Then the housekeeper quickly shut the door behind her and walked over to Ji Yi, tapping her shoulder to try to wake her up.
Just as the housekeeper’s hand landed on Ji Yi’s shoulder, a car drove in and stopped next to the two of them.
The car door opened and an elegant middle-aged woman stepped out. She didn’t take a good look at Ji Yi, but she swept a look over at the housekeeper and said, “Xiao Hong, did you prepare the items for the anniversary of Yuguang’s death?”
The housekeeper heard someone calling her, so she immediately turned her head and cried, “Madam.” Then she obediently replied, “They’re all ready.”
The housekeeper’s hand startled Ji Yi. The next second, the words “anniversary of Yuguang’s death” sank in.
The anniversary of Yuguang’s death… Yuguang… anniversary… death…
Those five words drifted repeatedly in Ji Yi’s mind for a while then she slowly turned her head and looked over at the person who spoke.
“Madam, are you going to see master now? If you are, I’ll go grab them for you now…” added the housekeeper to Mrs. He.
The moment after she said this, Ji Yi happened to turn her head to look over at Mrs. He.
Mrs. He was about to nod at the housekeeper when her eyes suddenly met Ji Yi’s eyes. Then she suddenly stopped and turned to look over at Ji Yi.
They hadn’t seen each other in five years. Ji Yi had changed dramatically from a youthful woman to a mature woman. Although Ji Yi looked familiar, Mrs. He wasn’t immediately certain who she was.
In the past five years, Mrs. He hadn’t changed, so she looked practically no different from when Ji Yi last saw her when she left Sucheng.
Ji Yi recognized Mrs. He. When Ji Yi spoke, she didn’t sound cold like she hadn’t seen Mrs. He for a long time. Instead, she said, “Auntie He, you just said…”
The rest of Ji Yi’s sentence was a little hard for her to say, so she struggled to continue speaking from there.
As soon as she spoke, Mrs. He immediately recognized who she was and a hint of surprise clearly flashed across her eyes. “Xiao Yi?”
After Mrs. He’s voice fell, she walked over to Ji Yi right away and scanned her up and down. Then she pulled her arm and happily cried, “I thought it was you but I didn’t dare assume. In the blink of an eye, you grew up so much and you look so much prettier…”
As Mrs. He spoke, she checked Ji Yi from head to toe. “And you grew so tall…”
With that, Mrs. He realized Ji Yi was standing at the door, so she turned around and blamed the housekeeper standing beside them. “Xiao Yi’s here – why didn’t you invite her inside? Why are you chatting at the door?!”
“Xiao Yi, I haven’t been a good host. Please don’t take it to heart. Come, let’s go inside.” Having told off the housekeeper, Mrs. He turned her head and smiled at Ji Yi with her eyes. Seeing as Ji Yi hadn’t moved from her spot, she nudged Ji Yi’s arm to walk away from the courtyard. “Xiao Yi, why did you suddenly come to Sucheng? How are your parents? Now that I think about it, it’s been many years since I last saw your mum…”
Ji Yi drifted off on a mental journey as Mrs. He stopped walking towards Ji Yi after just a few steps.
Mrs. He stopped speaking in bewilderment then turned to look at Ji Yi.
She wanted to ask Ji Yi: “What’s wrong,” but the words hadn’t reached her throat when Ji Yi quietly repeated the four words: “Anniversary of Yuguang’s death?”
Mrs. He, who was delighted to see Ji Yi at first, instantly turned blank.
Ji Yi knew exactly what those four words meant, but seeing as Mrs. He didn’t say anything, she asked again, “What did you mean by that?”
With that, Ji Yi’s eyes turned red and the words “Anniversary of Yuguang’s death?” escaped from her mouth again.
“Auntie He, did you misspeak earlier?”
A tear fell from the corners of Ji Yi’s eyes. “How could there be an anniversary? Isn’t Yuguang Ge alive and well?”
“Xiao Yi, let’s go in first. Let’s talk when we get inside,” said Mrs. He finally.
Ji Yi didn’t move and the tears started pouring down. “Auntie He, you misspoke, right? Or I heard wrong, right?”
Ji Yi didn’t dare to face the true meaning behind those words. Not only was she kidding herself, but she even turned to look at the housekeeper and said, “Hey, did I hear correctly just now? Mrs. He, you didn’t say those four words, right?”
The housekeeper wasn’t sure how to reply to Ji Yi’s question and showed a helpless look.
Her reaction made Ji Yi even more frantic. “I misheard. I must’ve misheard…”
“Yuguang Ge, how could he… How could he…”
Have died… Those two words lingered in Ji Yi’s mouth, but she couldn’t say it aloud.
Since He Yuguang passed away four years ago, Mrs. He had long accepted that reality. However, seeing Ji Yi crying over her biological son, her eyes couldn’t help but turn red. “You know Yuguang’s health was poor since he was young.”
“The doctors said he wouldn’t be able to live past eighteen years old. In the end, he held on till the age of twenty before passing away. To him, that was truly a miracle.”
Twenty years old?
Which means He Yuguang passed away four years ago?
But why have I not heard a word about this? Even my parents don’t know about this…
The tears in Ji Yi’s eyes continued to fall as she asked suspiciously, “Why have I never heard about this?”
“Yuguang slipped into a coma the day after you got into the car accident. One month later, he passed away. At the time, you were in a critical condition and you’re your parents’ only child; it was already bad enough to encounter something like this, and I didn’t want to make matters worse for them. What’s more, you know Yuguang grew up at home and didn’t really know many people outside, so when he passed away, only members of the He family were there to see him off.”
Mrs. He gave a long speech. After it was over, she stared at Ji Yi for a while then added, “Today happens to be the anniversary of Yuguang’s death. I’m going to see him in a moment. Would you like to come with me?”
…
Ji Yi stood in front of He Yuguang’s grave for three whole hours from the moment she found out he passed away.
At first, Ji Yi thought three hours would be enough for her to process the grief a little. However, when she saw the black and white photo of young He Yuguang on the gravestone and the three words “He Yuguang,” her heart felt a sharp pain striking her.
So six years ago, when she left Sucheng, that was actually the last time they would see each other.
The sickly, weak young man who called her “Manman” had already passed away.
The He Yuguang in the photo was the version Ji Yi was most familiar with. He looked warm with a smile on his face, and he made her feel happy and comfortable.
After Ji Yi tried so hard to stop the tears, they finally crashed down, drop after drop, as she stared at the photo.
…
Ji Yi didn’t leave with Mrs. He.
She stayed in front of He Yuguang’s grave from the afternoon till sunset. When night fell, Ji Yi finally reached out to stroke He Yuguang’s cold gravestone and silently said goodbye.
As she walked out of the cemetery, Ji Yi called for a taxi to the city.
Through the window, Ji Yi looked out at the dark sky as she sped through the streets and reminisced about every little thing that happened between her and He Yuguang after they reunited.
From the moment she received a text from He Yuguang saying “Manman” to the night he rushed over to Lijiang to see her to the sky lanterns he prepared for her…
Ji Yi quietly reminisced for a long, long time. It wasn’t until she entered the city that her mind lingered over a single thought: The real He Yuguang passed away many years ago, so the He Yuguang I reunited with was actually… He Jichen?
It’s no wonder that when He Yuguang rushed over to Lijiang overnight because I sprained my ankle, He Yuguang had He Jichen’s jade with him…
When the housekeeper told her the jade belonged to He Jichen, she couldn’t figure it out. But now, it was clear and simple.
Yuguang passed away a long time ago. Last year, the Yuguang she reunited with wasn’t “He Yuguang” – it could only have been He Jichen, who looked identical to him.
Ji Yi suddenly thought back to when “He Yuguang” showed up. At the time, she was busy thinking about marriage since Qian Ge was trying to set her up using the abortion she had when she was younger.
“Yuguang Ge” asked her out for a meal that night which was when he suggested the fake marriage.
At the time, she just wanted to make a comeback to showbiz and wanted to stomp ruthlessly over Qian Ge. She wanted to overcome this difficult obstacle as fast as possible. Now that she thought about it, “Yuguang Ge” seemed anxious to discuss the marriage. It was as though he was afraid that if he was just a bit too late, she’d get married to someone else…
After she promised “Yuguang Ge,” he didn’t let her come back to get married in Sucheng. Instead, he wanted all her details so he could pick up the marriage certificate himself. At the time, she thought he was treating it like a business negotiation, but now, she discovered He Yuguang already passed away and it was impossible for them to have gotten married…
With that thought, Ji Yi’s brows suddenly tensed up as she realized something important.
He Yuguang and I couldn’t have gotten married… Then is my marriage certificate real or fake?
He Jichen handled the marriage certificates, so the marriage certificate I had was fake. Then did we really get married?
All of a sudden, the image of the two red books in He Jichen’s office flashed across Ji Yi’s mind.
That day, He Jichen had a big reaction when she saw the marriage certificate; he sprung up from the sofa and headed straight for her. It was like he was afraid she’d flip through the marriage certificate so he shut the drawer and even locked it…
At the time, she had liked him for quite a while. Seeing the marriage certificate, she was a little hurt and failed to notice how flustered he was.
But now that she thought about it, if he was married, then why was he afraid to let her see the marriage certificate?
The look he had clearly seemed guilty…
He registered the marriage… He couldn’t have… A daring guess slowly crept into Ji Yi’s mind.
But I asked him about it, and he said he got married to Cola Girl, the person he’d liked for many years.
So did I just guess wrong?
Ji Yi’s brows creased while deep in thought for a long time, but she couldn’t think of any leads. In the end, she suddenly thought of Fatty, who was still in Sucheng and worked at the ministry of public security. She quickly pulled out her phone and called him.
Fatty was working overtime, so after Ji Yi asked what she wanted to ask, she hung up the phone and waited patiently.
After about five minutes, Fatty called back. Just as Ji Yi took the call, Fatty said with an angry voice, “Xiao Yi, are you playing with me?”
Before Ji Yi could ask, Fatty furiously continued by saying, “You especially called to ask me to find out who Chen Ge was married to when you’re the one he’s married to – like you don’t even know! Wow, Xiao Yi, you’re messed up!”
Me and Chen Ge got married… Ji Yi’s grip on her phone tightened.
So, the daring guess that flashed across her mind was right.
The person He Jichen married really was me!
“But speaking of which… Xiao Yi, when did you and Chen Ge get together? Why didn’t I hear anything about it? You didn’t call me today just to tell me you guys got married and to ask me for a red envelope, right? Don’t worry, Xiao Yi. If you got married to someone else, I might not give you one, but it’s you and Chen Ge! I’ll definitely give you one, and a big one at that…”
Over the phone, Fatty sounded more and more ecstatic.
All Ji Yi could think about was “You and Chen Ge got married.” She disliked how chatty Fatty was since it interfered with her train of thought, so without saying a word and disregarding whether Fatty was finished speaking, she hung up the call.
With silence in her ear, Ji Yi’s mind ran a lot faster.
It looked like after He Jichen used He Yuguang’s identity to create their marriage certificate, he really did marry her.
However, on the real marriage certificate, it wasn’t her and He Yuguang but her and He Jichen.
Back then, although she and He Jichen had been reunited for some time, they weren’t on good terms. She avoided him and he wasn’t kind to her, so why did he want to marry her by all means possible?
As her confusion grew, another memory flashed across Ji Yi’s mind.
That day, when she was shooting “Palace,” Qian Ge tried to work with Lin Ya and sabotaged her by trapping her in the abandoned school building at B-film. It was He Jichen who came to save her.
She had just one day’s worth of filming. Her final scene was of Little Nine’s suicide in the rain for love.
Her wrist was injured, and because of the rain, it became extremely serious.
After the scene was shot, she got a text from “He Yuguang” on her way back to the city. That evening, he asked her to wait for him at the apartment he bought.
That night, she had a fever and it was “He Yuguang” who stayed up all night to take care of her.
And it was that night when “He Yuguang” found out she wanted to shoot “Three Thousand Lunatics” that she got a call from Cheng Weiwan, inviting her for a casting call.
She always thought Yuguang Ge did it all. Now that she thought about it, it was all actually He Jichen’s work.
Including when he showed up by her side at the apartment “He Yuguang” bought after she misunderstood He Jichen during the Lin Zhengyi incident. She was helpless and in pain but he stayed with her. God knew just how important it was to her when he told her that he believed her.
And in Lijiang, after she hurt herself in retaliation to Qian Ge while on the set of “Three Thousand Lunatics,” “He Yuguang” sent her the message: You’re not alone, you still have me.
At the most helpless, lowest point in her life, Yuguang Ge gave her warmth.
And it was because of this that the faded feelings she had for him when they were young started to germinate again.
So later on, when she couldn’t control her own emotions after falling deeply in love with He Jichen, she didn’t want to be with He Jichen because Yuguang He treated her far too well. She couldn’t hurt him.
Now, she finally realized that the warm and protective “Yuguang Ge” was He Jichen – the same He Jichen she slowly, irrefutably fell in love with.
And during the three years she spent in a coma, he came to visit her every month. Besides her relatives, the only person in the whole world who never forgot or abandoned her was He Jichen.
She always blamed herself and felt guilty for liking two men at the same time.
And she was also bewildered because love was supposed to be between two people. How could she have fallen for two people at the same time?
Now, the truth was out and she finally understood. She wasn’t fickle or half-hearted – “Yuguang Ge” and He Jichen were the same person. Even though he swapped identities, he moved her soul.
So He Jichen was the one who gave her all the warmth and happiness she felt for over a year since she woke up.
Why did he have to do that?
Didn’t he say he liked Cola Girl?
Didn’t he say that he liked Cola Girl so much that if he stared at her too long, he would want to embrace her?
Since he likes Cola Girl, why did he still treat me so well then? Why did he pretend to be Yuguang Ge and marry me?
Ji Yi was never the type to shower someone who wasn’t interested with affection, especially when it came to He Jichen. She loved him, but she’d never felt confident and felt inferior. However, at this very moment, as those questions flashed across her mind, another daring speculation came to mind: I can’t be… Cola Girl, right?
With that thought, Ji Yi picked up her phone and called Fatty again.
As soon as the call connected, Fatty’s angry voice erupted. “Xiao Yi, what was that? I didn’t finish speaking, and you hung up on me. That’s completely rude…”
Ji Yi didn’t wait for Fatty to finish complaining and interrupted him. “Where are you now?”
“Me?” Fatty asked in confusion then replied, “At work.”
“Where do you work?”
“What’s wrong? You want to see me?”
“Hurry and tell me where you work!!” Ji Yi’s tone of voice grew impatient.
“Take it easy! Take it easy! Alright, I give in…” comforted Fatty as he quickly messaged Ji Yi with his address. “…I’m sharing it to you on WeChat…”
Before Fatty could finish, Ji Yi felt her phone vibrating. She turned her gaze to the screen and saw that it was Fatty’s message. Just like before, she hung up on him again without saying a word. Then she gave the driver his address. “Sir, I’m not going to the Four Seasons Hotel. I want to go here.”
Ji Yi wasn’t far from Fatty’s workplace. It just required a left turn up ahead, which only took five minutes for her to reach.
As Ji Yi paid the fare, she gave Fatty a call. After Fatty picked up, Ji Yi didn’t give him a chance to speak and quickly cried, “I’m at the front door of your workplace. Come out!”
“For real? Are you lying to me?” asked Fatty suspiciously.
Ji Yi didn’t bother bickering with Fatty and hung up right away.
Ji Yi waited for the driver to give her the change and got out of the car. She walked just a few steps forward when she saw him hurriedly running over to the door.
He saw Ji Yi and paused for a moment then rushed over and reached Ji Yi in just a couple seconds. “You really came?”
“Have you eaten? I’ll book us a table somewhere. Let’s go eat?”
“Is there anything in particular you wanna eat?”
Fatty asked Ji Yi a couple questions.
However, Ji Yi didn’t give Fatty a reply. It wasn’t until he raised his phone to search for where to eat when Ji Yi gulped and suddenly asked, “Fatty, who the hell is Cola Girl?”
Fatty was stunned by Ji Yi’s question while he stared at his phone for a couple seconds. Then he raised his head to look over at her. “You’re already married to Chen Ge, yet you still don’t know who Cola Girl is?”
Even though Fatty didn’t answer Ji Yi’s question, her fingers trembled slightly. Deep down, she knew the answer. “I’m Cola Girl, aren’t I?”
After Fatty heard this, he realized he got it all wrong. He thought He Jichen confessed to Ji Yi, came clean about liking Cola Girl for many years and the two of them got married. “Then how did you two get married?”
“I only found out tonight that we’re married.”
When Fatty heard what Ji Yi said, he knew it would be a long story, so he didn’t let Ji Yi explain everything on the sidewalk. “Gimme a minute. I’ll drive the car around. Let’s get in and talk about it over some food.”
Ji Yi gently nodded and said “Alright.”
Fatty turned around and walked into his workplace. Soon after, Ji Yi heard a whistle from the roadside.
Ji Yi looked in the direction of the whistling and saw Fatty through rolled down windows in his car.
She walked over in a hurry, pulled the car door open, and sat inside.
After Ji Yi fastened her seatbelt, Fatty hit the gas while asking, “Let’s have Shanghai food?”
“Mhm,” replied Ji Yi with no questions asked. Then she continued, “I always thought the person I married was Yuguang Ge…”
It was really quiet in the car. Besides Ji Yi’s voice, nothing else was heard.
After she explained the details of what happened, she turned her head and glanced at Fatty then continued, “…If I hadn’t found the jade in his apartment, gone to Sucheng to ask Yuguang Ge about He Jichen’s whereabouts, and learned that Yuguang Ge passed away, I never would’ve imagined that the person I agreed to marry was He Jichen.”
After Ji Yi said this, the car happened to stop outside the restaurant.
Fatty got out of the car first and helped Ji Yi open her car door.
On the way there, Fatty booked a table, so after he stepped into the restaurant, he gave his name and was quickly escorted in by a waiter, who brought them to a quiet table.
Fatty frequently ate at this restaurant, so he ordered the food.
After the waiter left, Fatty took the teapot and poured them cups of tea. He pushed one of the cups over to Ji Yi then said, “Chen Ge was afraid Qian Ge’s video incident would drag you down, so he left Beijing?”
Ji Yi lowered her eyes and gently replied with “Yeah”.
“That’s definitely Chen Ge’s style…” said Fatty. He lowered his head and took a sip of tea. After a while, he put the cup down and stared at Ji Yi while saying, “…Do you still remember when you mentioned Cola Girl last year at Louwailou? At the time, you asked me who Cola Girl was and I was particularly surprised. Then I asked if you were stupid. At the time, I almost told you who Cola Girl was, but in the end, Chen Ge called me out…”
Ji Yi nodded slightly. “I remember.”
“After Chen Ge called me, do you know what he said to me?”
Ji Yi shook her head.
Fatty didn’t stop there and continued, “He asked me what we talked about while he wasn’t in the room. His expression at the time looked so nervous that he jumped in fright. After I told him about our conversation, he let out a hard sigh of relief.”
