Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Rose x Kiss

Jiang Ji’s message—Ji Mingzhu didn’t reply.

After getting into the car, Ji Mingzhu hugged her shoulders with both hands, lowered her eyes, and remained silent the whole way.

Rather than silence, it was more like a change in aura.

After the driver delivered her to Park Hyatt Residence and confirmed that Ji Mingzhu’s figure disappeared into the lobby downstairs, he wiped nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead and called Jiang Ji.

Maybe he was overthinking, but the pressure inside the car had been too low; even now he still felt lingering fear.

“President Jiang, as instructed, I’ve safely delivered her.”

“Mm.”

“It’s just that Miss Ji…”

The driver placed a hand on his chest, unsure whether he should say it.

“What about her?”

“Miss Ji seemed slightly unhappy.” The driver slowly added. Then, as if he felt he’d talked too much, he quickly steered back, “I’ll park the car in the underground garage here first.”

There was a pause on the other end for a few seconds before he responded, “Okay.”

…

Night had grown deep, yet the top floor of Jiang Corporation was brightly lit.

Coming out of the conference room, Jiang Ji rubbed his temple and went straight into the office.

The three assistants trailing behind him had intended to follow in, but with a gesture from Jiang Ji, they all withdrew and thoughtfully closed the door.

Jiang Ji stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the bustling night view of Yin City. After listening to the driver’s report over the phone, he hung up.

From the driver’s description—

She… seemed slightly unhappy?

Jiang Ji rested his index finger in front of his lips, lightly brushing them, lowering his head in thought.

He rarely fell into such a daze. Two knocks sounded slowly on the door behind him, and before receiving permission, the person pushed the door open and walked in.

Hearing the movement, Jiang Ji turned sideways. He was just about to coldly order them out, but upon seeing who it was, he withdrew the words in time.

That didn’t stop him from ignoring the other party.

Jiang Ji sat down at the desk, picked up the proposal discussed in the meeting earlier, and began marking the documents.

Xiao Yi was treated like air and immediately found it unbelievable. “Such a big living person—can’t you see me? What kind of brother are you!”

As he spoke, Xiao Yi didn’t stand on ceremony. He casually dragged over a black chair, sat down, and crossed one leg over the other, posture relaxed.

His fingers tapped idly on his knee joint.

“You didn’t wait for me when the meeting ended. As soon as you came in, you were posing gloomily by the window. Jiang Ji, you’re really something.”

Jiang Ji lazily raised his eyes. “You’re very free?”

“Mm, yeah.” Xiao Yi really responded twice. “Meeting’s over, I’ve got nothing to do.”

“If you’ve got nothing to do, go back.” Jiang Ji lowered his gaze, clearly not intending to chat.

Xiao Yi appearing at Jiang Corporation today was coincidental. He had also attended the Song family’s full-month banquet tonight.

It just so happened that the new investment plan Jiang Corporation recently launched had participation from the Xiao family, and a batch of smart robots for domestic and overseas cooperation had also sent over some samples. Xiao Yi dragged people back to Jiang Corporation for detailed discussion.

At the same time, he had also brought a few of the new sample units with him.

The product was still in the development stage; with samples, internal testing was naturally needed. Since everything currently had no major issues, Xiao Yi thought he might as well let insiders try them out.

“Working this hard, eager to go home?” Xiao Yi looked at Jiang Ji, who was buried in work again, and sighed—he truly was a workaholic.

As if the person who had just been standing by the window wasn’t him.

Xiao Yi knew that Jiang Ji had originally planned to go back with Ji Mingzhu tonight, but urgent matters came up, leaving him no choice.

However, after Xiao Yi talked himself hoarse here for so long, Jiang Ji still had no reaction at all.

Boring.

Thinking this, Xiao Yi waved his hand.

“I won’t bother you anymore. I’m getting ready to leave.”

“Not seeing you off.” Jiang Ji finally responded.

Hearing such a cold reply, Xiao Yi became a bit unwilling. He stood up, walked to the desk, and braced both hands in front of Jiang Ji. “Don’t rush to chase me away. To show my apology, I’ll give you a little thing—consider it a housewarming gift for you and Xiao Ba living together.”

Hearing this, Jiang Ji’s hand paused. He lifted his eyelids. “If it’s those things you like to use, there’s no need.”

Xiao Yi had been waiting for Jiang Ji to agree—who would’ve thought he’d get this reply.

He nearly choked. “What do you mean… the things I like to use??? ”

“Isn’t that so?” Jiang Ji’s calm gaze swept over. Though phrased as a question, his tone was certain.

Under Jiang Ji’s gaze, Xiao Yi finally remembered his own reputation—and those wild years that were hard to look back on. Big and small clubs in Yin City, proper and improper alike, had all seen his presence.

“Alright, I admit, I do like to have fun a bit.”

“Remove ‘a bit.’”

“……”

“Alright, it’s really not some improper thing. I brought a smart robot. I’ll have my assistant deliver it to you later. After inputting the information, take it home and try it out.”

Seeing Jiang Ji only nod lightly, looking uninterested, Xiao Yi suddenly came up with an idea.

Before leaving, he lowered his voice deliberately, emphasizing, “You stood Xiao Ba up today—aren’t you afraid she’ll be angry?”

That sentence seemed to have some effect. Jiang Ji set down his pen and raised a brow.

“When you go back, try the robot’s appeasement mode. Twice the result with half the effort. It’s the most effective for coaxing girls.”

Jiang Ji neither agreed nor refused.

After Xiao Yi’s figure disappeared behind the door, he looked at the pen tip and pondered for a few seconds.

…

After Ji Mingzhu returned to Park Hyatt Residence, the first thing she did was throw her bag onto the bench at the end of the bed, then dive headfirst into the bedding.

No matter how she thought about it, she felt Jiang Ji did it on purpose.

He invited her to go back together, waited until she agreed, then ruthlessly ditched her.

Did he really think standing her up was that easy?!

Thinking about the cold wind earlier, her shivering body, and being stood up so blatantly, she felt a surge of anger condense inside her.

As if the next second she could pass through the door and directly shoot Jiang Ji.

However, he wasn’t here tonight.

The more Ji Mingzhu thought about it, the more she felt she’d been played. She grabbed the nearby Sally chicken in one go and punched it hard in the face three times. Only then did she feel the gloom in her chest disperse.

The heavily beaten Sally chicken’s face looked miserable. Its yellow fluff was darker in some places and lighter in others, looking especially pitiful.

“See that? This is your fate!” Ji Mingzhu said. Her gaze slowly moved downward to a certain part of the Sally chicken. Her mood suddenly cleared, and even her speech slowed. “Next time you annoy me, it might not be that simple~”

Ji Mingzhu clutched the little chick and plucked its fluff for a long time before going to wash up.

After washing up, the apartment looked the same as before. In the entryway, as usual, there were only the shoes she had just kicked off.

Judging from tonight, Jiang Ji probably wouldn’t come back.

Stimulated by tonight’s events, Ji Mingzhu was completely unable to sleep. She simply went upstairs to the loft in her pajamas.

Her new vlog had just finished editing, so she simply took the opportunity to release it early.

Setting aside the ten thousand ways in her mind to deal with Jiang Ji and how to regain face, Ji Mingzhu could only find a bit of spiritual comfort here.

This episode covered the scattered daily life from her years studying abroad, along with small tips for living overseas—extremely considerate.

It not only introduced the beautiful scenery of Australia’s four seasons, but also summarized many checklists that international students abroad might need.

Originally, there had been a scheduled pre-release date, but she wasn’t in the mood for those so-called rituals today, so she just posted it directly.

But that didn’t affect the video’s popularity at all.

【rl: Little shells, your Peipei-chan updated early, come watch [seduce.jpg]】

Night owls lurking online swarmed out at this moment, grabbing her new episode and cheering.

——【Am I seeing this right?? Pearl-chan actually updated early!】

——【Oh my god, what kind of fairy is this, what a fan-spoiling maniac. Today’s blogger wife ranking also goes to Little Pearl!】

——【Wuwuwu as a little shell about to go to Australia for further study, after watching this video I feel it’s super practical! Our Peipei-chan’s style is really different from others!】

——【As expected of Peipei-chan, there’s a whole segment filming a little koala’s butt. What! Is its butt more attractive than mine! Wife! Seeking love, seeking recognition!】

After posting the video, Ji Mingzhu went downstairs, then entered her room and lay on the bed to read the comments.

It had to be said—netizens were very talented. Maybe it was due to her personal style; the group of diehard fans she attracted all had similar personalities—completely immersed in admiration—and their tone was the most distinctive on the whole internet.

Clearly they were also girls, yet they all called her “wife.”

Sometimes reading their comments could make her laugh for quite a while.

Ji Mingzhu first browsed the hot comments, then skimmed too quickly to finish, so she simply scrolled to the bottom.

Just as she was about to exit, her gaze suddenly paused.

Unlike the overwhelming flood of praise, one comment stood out.

Not only was the avatar the default system image, even the name was gibberish.

One reason Ji Mingzhu’s videos stayed so popular was the weight of clicks and comments, and her fans were always highly active.

At first glance, an account that looked like a bot like this was really rare.

【bcdefg8888: 。】

Ji Mingzhu glanced over it, thinking it must be some bought account that ended up under her video.

After all, there wasn’t even any content—just a period.

…

After returning to the country, Ji Mingzhu rarely dreamed.

Most nights she slept deeply, without dreams.

After such a full night, when she woke the next day, she felt especially refreshed.

She casually shuffled in slippers, long wavy hair draped directly over her smooth snow-white shoulders, and walked out of the room.

Her gaze touched the tightly closed door opposite; she paused for a second, then quickly looked away.

Ji Mingzhu lazily wandered toward the living room, but unexpectedly, the moment she stepped over, a figure entered her sight.

Early in the morning, without any buffer, she gasped in fright.

Jiang Ji sat upright on the sofa, staring at her without blinking.

Like a Buddha statue, not speaking.

Ji Mingzhu was about to speak, but restrained herself.

Memories from last night suddenly surged up in her mind, lingering there.

For now, it seemed that in the next few months, this memory wouldn’t fade away.

She looked straight ahead, walked past him, and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.

However—

Even in the kitchen, she couldn’t escape this person’s presence.

The cooking counter was filled to the brim.

Compared to before, it was even more lavish. It was obvious the person who prepared this had put in effort and time.

Ji Mingzhu raised her head and cast her gaze toward Jiang Ji, who was still in the living room.

His eyes were still locked on her.

As if, if she didn’t respond, he would keep staring at her like that.

Being stared at by Jiang Ji for so long, Ji Mingzhu was of course uncomfortable. She huffed a few times and spoke first, “You’re not trying to curry favor with me, are you?”

Was she someone so easily appeased?

Of course not!

Before Ji Mingzhu finished her inner grumbling, she heard Jiang Ji respond, “No.”

She knew it!

Then she heard a slightly childish voice—

【Master, do you have any instructions?】

Ji Mingzhu’s eyelids twitched; she didn’t know where to look.

She only saw a small, blurry black shadow dart out from Jiang Ji’s leg.

Wait.

Jiang Ji actually… had this kind of hobby?

But she didn’t have time to think further.

The shadow gradually became clear.

It was a smart robot, but unexpectedly it didn’t look cold. Because it was small and miniature, its eyes were round, and its body was coated in black-and-white paint, looking adorably clumsy.

Jiang Ji patted the top of the little robot’s head and pointed at Ji Mingzhu. “Go over there.”

Ji Mingzhu stood still, watching as the little robot walked over seriously, then rubbed against her slender ankle.

【Hello, Mistress, I’m tomi~~】

Ji Mingzhu was almost petrified in place. Complicated emotions surged in her heart; she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

In the next second she was distracted—

Jiang Ji stood up and lowered his gaze at her.

“Speaking of currying favor, now it is.”