Listening to Xu Miyu's questions, Sister-in-law impatiently chimed in: "Third sister, don't play dumb! So of course you should go talk to Nie Yucheng and tell him to stop giving your eldest sister and me such a hard time. We're family! Because of you, your eldest sister and I are being given a hard time—you need to stand up for us!"
Xu Miyu laughed, her smile full of mockery.
"You want me to go find Nie Yucheng? On what grounds? We're already divorced—why would Nie Yucheng still listen to me? And what gives you the right to make such a ridiculous and shameless demand?"
Sister-in-law slammed the table. "What's so ridiculous and shameless about it? After all, you and Nie Yucheng slept in the same bed for so many years. Even if you're divorced, there must still be some affection left. I saw it clearly back when you were going through the divorce—Nie Yucheng still had feelings for you. So this matter today—you're the one who has to go to Nie Yucheng and plead our case."
Xu Miyu's heart filled with a cold laugh. Yes, he still had feelings for her. So much so that he turned around and married the woman who had wronged them. Such deep feelings indeed.
A faint rustling sound came from behind as someone shifted a newspaper. Xu Miyu paid it no mind, focusing entirely on the two "relatives" in front of her.
Xue Rui had been listening to the man's words and was nearly at his breaking point. Especially when he heard the part about "sleeping in the same bed for so many years," he couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Disgusting."
Beside him came the sound of crumpling paper. He turned to look and saw that where Ji Feng was gripping the newspaper, his hands had crumpled the pages.
He immediately understood—Ji Feng couldn't stand hearing intimate matters between a man and a woman described in such a vulgar way.
The next moment, he heard Xu Miyu say coldly to her sister-in-law, "Watch your language! And what makes you think you can order me around? Who do you think you are?"
Her sister-in-law's face instantly changed color at her retort, as if he were about to leap up in anger at any second.
Xue Rui tensed his muscles, ready to step in and defend her.
But just as he braced himself to help, he suddenly sensed an undeniable tension beside him.
Turning to look, he found that Ji Feng was also poised and ready. Today, Ji Feng was wearing only a shirt without his suit jacket, and now his arms were visibly straining against the fabric of his sleeves.
Xue Rui marveled inwardly. It took truly outrageous people to provoke any extra emotion from Ji Feng. It seemed Xu Miyu's relatives were outrageous enough.
Xu Miyu's eldest sister quickly restrained her furious husband.
She spoke to Xu Miyu in a gentle, coaxing tone: "Third sister, if you can't help us with Nie Yucheng, then we really won't be able to keep working at the travel agency. I see you're doing quite well for yourself—in such a short time, you've already become a supervisor. How about you pull some strings and get your eldest sister and brother-in-law jobs here at this hotel too?"
She paused, leaning closer to Xu Miyu with a somewhat mysterious and suggestive expression: "From what Mom hinted before, there might have been something ambiguous between you and your boss. If you whisper in your boss's ear, it shouldn't be too difficult!"
Xue Rui nearly threw the newspaper in his hands when he heard this.Xu Miyu was clearly nearly harassed by her former supervisor, so how did it become some ambiguous advantage in her mother's mouth? Absolutely ridiculous! And this elder sister actually seemed to share her mother's view, thinking that men's ambiguous intentions toward her younger sister could be exploited. How could there be such unreasonable mothers and sisters in this world!
He glanced at Ji Feng and noticed his face had grown so long it seemed almost two meters, the edge of the newspaper nearly crumpled under his grip.
Xue Rui thought, it seemed Ji Feng disliked hearing such talk even more than he did.
After hearing Xu Mizi's words, Xu Miyu turned her head in despair and looked outside through the hotel lobby's floor-to-ceiling glass.
Ji Feng and Xue Rui, seeing her suddenly turned profile, quickly raised their newspapers to cover most of their faces.
Outside the hotel were lush green plants, blooming flowers among them, and a fountain continuously spraying water columns. These scenes bathed in sunlight appeared clean and full of vitality. This was the life state Xu Miyu yearned for most.
She gazed outside and sighed. Then she smiled, a beautiful smile, yet filled with powerlessness and self-mockery.
Sunlight slanting through the glass illuminated her profile. Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly, her eyes misty with the weariness of one who has seen through worldly affairs. Her high nose bridge cast sharp contrasts of light and shadow from the sunlight, while the curve of her lips resembled a light switch, illuminating her entire face with that smile.
Compared to her usual smiles, this one possessed a unique beauty—seemingly fragile yet resilient—that captivated attention and made it hard to look away.
Xue Rui lowered his head to find his phone, wanting to capture Xu Miyu's smile from this angle. It was a composition handed to him by heaven, good enough to win some amateur photography award.
But when he shifted his gaze, he unexpectedly saw Ji Feng staring directly at Xu Miyu's profile.
He immediately felt excited—this time his aesthetic sense finally aligned with Ji Feng's. It seemed they both found Xu Miyu's smile beautiful.
Xu Miyu's inexplicable laughter made both the elder sister and her husband uneasy.
Xu Mizi asked Xu Miyu: "Third sister, what are you laughing at? To be honest, both Second Sister and I think you've become quite unlike yourself lately. Have you been through some trauma? How come you've suddenly turned against parents, sisters, and brothers alike! Even if you don't care about us or our parents, fine, we'll accept that; but you're not even caring for Mibao anymore? I think you've been bewitched—he's the only hope and heir of our Xu family! Hey, Third Sister, are you listening to me? What exactly are you smirking at so sarcastically?"
Xu Miyu turned her head back, still smiling that same way, and said to Xu Mizi: "I'm laughing because when I step outside of my old self and look at you and me, at our so-called 'family' relationship, I suddenly realize how right that person was. My birth family truly is a pile of mud, and yet I've been seeking validation, recognition, and attention from this mud. I must really be love-starved."
Hearing this, Xue Rui glanced at Ji Feng. He seemed to be listening intently, having completely set aside his newspaper.Seated in front of them, Xu Miyu paused briefly before putting away her smile and speaking seriously: "Thank you, Sister and Sister-in-law—this may be the last time I address you this way. Thank you and Ms. Jiao for your selfishness, which has strengthened my resolve to love myself more starting today. From now on, rely on yourselves for everything. If you truly lose your jobs next week, find work on your own. Do not contact me anymore—I will not answer your calls or help you with anything. Do not attempt to imitate Ms. Jiao by trying to force my compliance through harassment. If you dare to do so, I will retaliate twice as hard, and I guarantee you will suffer more than I do. I mean every word I’ve said."
Once, she had hoped to pull Xu Mizi and Xu Minan up, to awaken them from the brainwashing spell of their son-preferring family.
But now, it seemed unnecessary. They had clearly become as selfish as Jiao Xiumei.
Growing up, she had always felt that her older and second sisters had better lives because their parents favored them more.
Yet looking back now, did her older and second sisters truly have better lives? In reality, no. They only appeared to, because they unconditionally accepted the brainwashing.
Unlike her—though she seemed weak, she had always resisted silently and subtly. She wanted fairness equal to her brother’s; she wanted to study, she had to attend university. Because of these acts of resistance since childhood, she was especially disliked by her parents. Only now did she realize with surprise that she wasn’t as worthless as she had thought—deep down, she had never given up on saving herself, though she had never found the right method or direction.
Her older and second sisters, however, accepted everything. They were turning into people like Jiao Xiumei—oppressed by son-preferring ideologies while growing up, then becoming oppressors themselves. Once victims, they were now becoming perpetrators.
Xu Miyu used to think she was pitiable, but now she believed her older and second sisters were the truly pitiable ones. Not only were they pitiable, but they were also unaware of it. They willingly allowed themselves to be exploited by the family as sibling supporters, and they viewed her, who had broken free from the sibling supporter curse, as a rebellious outlier.
They were gradually becoming the next generation of Jiao Xiumei.
Xu Miyu was grateful she had escaped such a family. She had successfully saved herself. But it seemed her older sister would remain deluded forever.
So be it. From now on, they would cut ties completely and live their own separate lives.
After making her stance clear, Xu Miyu prepared to stand up and leave.
Suddenly remembering something, she didn’t rush to rise. She looked seriously at Xu Mizi and her brother-in-law and said, "One more thing: I struggled out of that family mess and worked my way up to this position—I didn’t achieve it through ambiguous relationships with anyone. Please show some decency and watch your words from now on."
Having said this, she immediately stood up, ignoring the sudden change in Xu Mizi and her husband’s expressions and disregarding the absurd accusations they were about to hurl at her.
She turned around to return to the lobby and continue working.
But as she turned, she froze in surprise.
She saw that at the corner table, the newspaper that had been raised when she arrived was now lowered. And sitting there were Ji Feng and Xue Rui.She looked at Ji Feng, recalling what Xu Mizi had just insinuated about having an ambiguous relationship with a superior, and suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. There had been absolutely nothing ambiguous between her and that scumbag former boss Feng Kaixin. But between her and Ji Feng, her current superior and boss... they had once shared an unexpected one-night stand, and it was Ji Feng who had promoted her to supervisor... Would he misunderstand and think she was referring to him?? Lately, he had already been suspecting her of deliberately trying to seduce him, and now with this, it seemed even harder to clear her name...
She was utterly embarrassed, quickly averted her gaze, clutched the hem of her clothes, and hurried past them with quickened steps.
Sister-in-law and her husband were stunned by the fierce resolve Xu Miyu had just shown in cutting ties with them, leaving them momentarily too intimidated to continue their unreasonable pestering. They finally realized that Xu Miyu was no longer the easy pushover she once was—they couldn’t afford to mess with her now.
Glaring resentfully at her retreating figure, they muttered a few curses like, "She’s gone mad, that heartless wretch," before reluctantly leaving as well.
Only Ji Feng and Xue Rui remained in the café.
Xue Rui watched as Ji Feng also turned to look outside through the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing at the same view Xu Miyu had just been observing. The corner of his mouth seemed to lift slightly.
He appeared lost in his own thoughts.
Xue Rui weighed the situation, considering whether to interrupt Ji Feng’s reverie.
In the end, he couldn’t resist calling out softly, "Boss?"
"Hmm?" Ji Feng responded lazily, still facing the window with his profile to Xue Rui.
"Your phone has been vibrating for a while... It’s your mother calling..."
Ji Feng turned back, glanced down, and saw his phone vibrating persistently on the table.
He was surprised that he hadn’t noticed such strong, prolonged vibrations today.
He answered the call and patiently listened to his mother on the other end.
After hanging up, he turned to find Xue Rui’s inquisitive, probing eyes fixed on him like two dark holes.
"Boss, what were you thinking about just now while looking outside? I thought I saw you smiling!"
Ji Feng shot him a cold glance and said expressionlessly, "If you keep being this nosy, I’ll send you off to that chaotic travel agency they mentioned earlier."
Xue Rui immediately fell silent.
Ji Feng stood up and told Xue Rui, "Let’s go upstairs. Get ready—I need to head out soon."
Xue Rui quickly gathered his things and followed.
In the elevator, Ji Feng watched the floor numbers change and pondered Xue Rui’s question.
What had he been thinking about while looking outside?
Nothing much, really. Perhaps he just felt a faint sense of relief at the transformation of a woman who had little to do with him.
After going upstairs, Ji Feng instructed Xue Rui to prepare the car—he needed to go to the airport in two hours.
Earlier downstairs, he had received a call from his mother, Feng Xuelan. She told him she would be landing at Xing City Airport in two hours and asked Ji Feng to pick her up when she arrived.
Ji Feng didn’t ask when she had left or where she had gone. The fact that she was willing to go out and distract herself was something he had been hoping for.
He wished she would take more of these spontaneous trips in the future.
After working for a while, it was almost time. He took Xue Rui downstairs and set off.
They arrived at the airport just as the plane was scheduled to land.Ji Feng called his mother Feng Xuelan, asking her which exit she would be coming out from.
It was only then that Feng Xuelan came clean with him: "Actually, I didn’t ask you to go to the airport to pick me up—I’m at home. I wanted you to pick up the daughter of an old friend of your father and me. She just returned from abroad, comes from a good family that matches ours perfectly. She’s also wonderful and talented, with a lovely name, Jiang Zhichun. She’s only twenty-four—young and beautiful, not to mention smart and capable. She’s been working in music overseas and, despite her youth, has already held a global tour. This time, she’s taking a break during her tour to come home for a while. She’s truly a perfect girl, fitting all your criteria for a partner!"
Ji Feng listened to his mother’s enthusiastic pitch with a frown. Being tricked into an indirect blind date left him feeling irritated.
Before even hanging up, he instructed Xue Rui upfront, "Turn around, we’re heading back to the hotel."
His mother’s anxious voice came through the phone, "Wait! Don’t leave yet! Son, listen to me—since you’re already at the airport, just give her a ride back! We told her in advance that you’d pick her up, so her family didn’t send a car. If you leave now, she’ll be left waiting alone at the airport, and that’s just pitiful. If you’re not interested, just treat it as a simple favor. I promise I won’t push you two together after this!"
Fearing he might actually turn the car around, Feng Xuelan spoke quickly and urgently.
Ji Feng sighed silently and told his mother, "Just this once." After a pause, he added, "Send me her contact info later."
He hung up and informed Xue Rui that they wouldn’t be leaving just yet. Soon after, he received the phone number from his mother.
He handed the phone directly to Xue Rui in the front seat, "You contact her. Let her know where our car is parked and have her come find us."
Xue Rui took the phone, clicking his tongue inwardly.
What a straight-laced guy with no appreciation for women, making the young lady find her own way.
Xue Rui dialed the number, and after a few rings, a pleasant female voice answered.
Xue Rui introduced himself first, then asked, "Do you have much luggage?"
The girl replied in a sweet tone, "Not much, just one suitcase. I don’t travel with a lot."
Xue Rui then said, "In that case, Miss Jiang, I won’t come in to meet you. Once you’re out, just look for us. I’ll send you the directions and our license plate number."
There was a brief pause on the other end before she responded, "Alright then."
After hanging up, Xue Rui felt a bit guilty as he sent the location. When he returned the phone to Ji Feng, he couldn’t help asking, "Boss, aren’t we being a bit ungentlemanly?"
Ji Feng glanced at him and said calmly, "Knowing full well I was tricked here to be set up with her, if I act considerate and chivalrous, wouldn’t that just lead to misunderstandings and more trouble? It’s better to be distant from the start, so she doesn’t get any unnecessary ideas."
Xue Rui thought it over and realized there was some logic to that. Many of Ji Feng’s actions might seem cold, but they stemmed from a lack of false sentiment. In a way, that was far better than those who flirted with everyone like a "central air conditioner."As they were speaking, a girl in the distance approached them, pulling a suitcase with her skirt fluttering in the wind.
Xue Rui pointed at the girl and said to Ji Feng, "Boss, look!"
Ji Feng turned his gaze outside the car.
A slight sense of surprise washed over him.
His mother had been right about one thing—this girl, in both temperament and appearance, seemed tailor-made to fit his criteria for a partner.
Young, beautiful, pure, and elegant. She wore a pale yellow dress that wrapped around her figure. As she walked closer, her skirt swaying with each step against the backdrop of blue skies and white clouds, she looked like a painting.
She had been asked to find her own way with her luggage, and she did just that. This showed she was independent and not overly pampered.
His mother had mentioned that she studied music and, despite her youth, had already held international tours. She was now taking a break back home during a gap between performances.
So, it seemed she was truly a capable and outstanding girl.
Taking all these points into account, it was as if she were a future partner specially prepared for him by fate.
And in every way, she was so different from that Xu Miyu.
At this thought, Ji Feng was startled.
He found it strange that, at such a moment, he would suddenly think of that woman.
Quickly suppressing this inexplicable thought, he pushed open the car door and stepped out. By the time he stood up, Jiang Zhichun had already approached him.
He said calmly, "Hello, I'm Ji Feng."
Jiang Zhichun looked up at him, her eyes widening in surprise. Then, her cheeks flushed crimson as she tried to maintain her composure and replied, "Hello, I'm Jiang Zhichun!"
Ji Feng gestured for her to get into the car, and they sat together in the back seat.
Throughout the journey, Ji Feng clearly noticed that Jiang Zhichun kept stealing glances at him.
He suddenly turned and caught her gaze, asking, "What are you looking at?"
Jiang Zhichun blushed and looked at Ji Feng with a hint of shyness, saying, "I just think you're too handsome. Although my mom had told me you were good-looking, I never expected you to be this handsome in person..."
Ji Feng raised an eyebrow at her words.
He knew he was handsome, so he wasn't sure whether to reply that she was also quite attractive or to compliment her on her good taste.
Just then, he heard Jiang Zhichun suddenly ask him, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"
She blinked her deer-like eyes at him, eagerly awaiting his answer.
Looking at Jiang Zhichun's flushed cheeks, Ji Feng shook his head and told her, "Love at first sight? That's too childish—it's something for kids."
Jiang Zhichun let out a soft "oh" and lowered her head.
Her cheeks still red, she whispered, "Then I guess I'm just a kid right now."
After saying this, she chuckled quietly to herself.
Ji Feng watched her from the side.
This girl was quite unique, embodying both shy reserve and bold confession. Either she was incredibly innocent or incredibly cunning.
He hoped she was the former, as that would make her a truly suitable future partner for him. Her straightforward and proactive personality, without any affectation, aligned with his preferences.
He detested women who were timid and hesitant, just like someone from the past.Suddenly realizing he was about to think of a certain woman again, he immediately suppressed this inexplicable train of thought. He told himself that even if he encountered a potential suitable partner, there was no need to constantly compare her with someone else—doing so would only make it seem like he was putting that person down.
He asked Jiang Zhichun for her home address, had Xue Rui set up the navigation, and drove Jiang Zhichun directly to her doorstep.
It was a standalone villa in the central district. His mother Feng Xuelan was right—being able to live here meant Jiang Zhichun’s family background was indeed a good match for his. Not only were their personal conditions compatible, but their family statuses were also well-suited.
After getting out of the car, Jiang Zhichun didn’t rush inside.
She stood outside the car, bent down, and tapped on the window.
Ji Feng rolled down the window and looked out at Jiang Zhichun.
Jiang Zhichun's cheeks flushed crimson once more, her bright eyes fixed on Ji Feng as she asked, "Can I come see you tomorrow?"
Ji Feng thought for a moment and found no particular reason to refuse. Having met someone so compatible with him, he was also curious to see if things could develop further.
So he replied, "Barring any unexpected circumstances, I'll be staying on the top floor of the Sway Hotel tomorrow."
With a faint blush still coloring her cheeks, Jiang Zhichun told him, "Alright, then you can attend to your matters tomorrow. There's no need to send anyone to pick me up—I'll have the family driver bring me over." After a brief pause, she blinked and asked, "Does that mean I can come see you anytime tomorrow?"
Ji Feng raised an eyebrow slightly and answered, "Mm, anytime is fine."
Jiang Zhichun immediately beamed at him, her smile radiant. Paired with her pale yellow dress, she looked like a little sun: "See you tomorrow!" After bidding farewell, she dragged her suitcase and skipped happily toward her home.
Yet as Ji Feng watched her retreating figure, he couldn't help but critically think that although her smile was bright, it lacked a certain breathtaking quality.
It was like...
He abruptly cut off the thought, turned back to Xue Rui in the front seat, and said, "Let's go, back to the hotel."
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