Chapter 15: Fifteen Flames

When Yan Duo woke up, it was already nine o’clock the next morning. She was the only one left in the bed, and Ji Ran was nowhere to be seen. Yan Duo reached out and touched the spot where Ji Ran had slept; it was icy cold, indicating that he had gotten up a long time ago.

After several months, they finally shared a bed last night, but she didn’t even see him when she woke up this morning. Yan Duo wasn’t disappointed. After rolling around in bed a couple of times, she stopped at Ji Ran’s pillow and rubbed her face against it like a kitten, feeling incredibly happy.

Sleeping in the same bed with the person she had loved for over six years, like the most intimate lovers in the world… Ah, even if tomorrow were the end of the world, she would die without regrets.

Yan Duo dangled her legs, recalling the madness of last night, wishing she could sing a song, but the sound from the doorway was like a rest note—

“Do you want breakfast?”

The sudden sound made Yan Duo’s heart clench. Her dangling legs froze in mid-air, unsure how to react. Then she remembered she was wearing a very mini nightgown… and now she didn’t know where the hem had gone.

Thinking she might be exposed, Yan Duo quickly pulled her legs in and knelt on the bed, pulling down her nightgown. She turned away, not daring to look into Ji Ran’s eyes, “Um, you go ahead and eat. I’ll be down in a bit.”

Ji Ran didn’t say anything, he glanced at her and then turned and went downstairs.

After he left, Yan Duo’s straight back instantly slumped. Following her last attempt to act like a queen at home, which was caught red-handed, this time she was caught again, disheveled and rubbing against his pillow. Yan Duo sighed, probably thinking that in Ji Ran’s eyes, she was just a fool.

In Yan Duo’s mind, being seen as a fool was far worse than being exposed. After all, he had seen her without clothes before, but her foolishness kept hitting new lows!

After dawdling in the bedroom for a long time, Yan Duo, who had finished washing up, finally sorted out her mood, changed her clothes, and went downstairs.

Ji Ran wasn’t in the dining room. Yan Duo looked around the first floor and finally found him in the living room. He was sitting on the sofa, facing a man who was talking. That man wasn’t Shi Lei. Yan Duo felt he looked familiar but couldn’t remember who he was.

“Go eat breakfast, it’s on the table.”

Ji Ran took the time to say to Yan Duo, who was coming downstairs.

“Okay,” Yan Duo replied, obediently sitting at the table and uncovering the gold-rimmed ceramic dinner plate. The pasta and eggs on the plate were still steaming. Yan Duo picked up her fork and began to eat.

As she ate, a thought flashed through her mind, and she remembered who the man in the living room was.

Four years ago, a group of sasaeng fans secretly photographed Ji Ran and were discovered. After negotiations failed, both sides came to blows. Li Qiao, Ji Ran’s assistant, was seriously injured while protecting him, and from then on Li Qiao never appeared by Ji Ran’s side again. Many haters twisted the incident into a story of Ji Ran abandoning his lifesaving benefactor and being ungrateful. Ji Ran never explained, which gave the trolls a handle to latch onto and mock him at every opportunity. ggdbook.com

Now that I think about it, Ji Ran didn’t fire Li Qiao at all—he clearly promoted him!

On this side, Li Qiao withdrew his gaze from the dining table and asked Ji Ran, “Ji Ge, are you going to take this film?”

Ji Ran pondered for a moment, then said, “Take it.”

Li Qiao wasn’t surprised by Ji Ran’s decision at all. Although he couldn’t play the lead, it was still a substantial supporting male role, and besides, the film had a very high chance of becoming a hit. Taking half a month off was by no means a loss for Brother Ji.

After discussing other matters with Ji Ran, Li Qiao stood up with his briefcase and walked to the table to give Yan Duo a nod.

Yan Duo put down her silver fork and waved at Li Qiao with a smile. “Goodbye, Brother Li.”

Li Qiao was a bit surprised to hear that form of address; just a moment ago Yan Duo’s expression clearly showed she didn’t recognize him, and yet in such a short time she somehow knew who he was?

“Goodbye.”

After Li Qiao left, Ji Ran sat down at the dining table and asked Yan Duo, “Do you know Li Qiao?”

Yan Duo took a bite of the egg, her mouth full of the soft, sweet yolk—exactly the flavor she liked.

“He was your former assistant.”

Ji Ran thought about how Yan Duo had followed her for six years and that Li Qiao being her assistant was something she knew well, so she didn’t dwell on it.

“He is my manager now.”

Yan Duo paused, about to ask where Shi Lei had gone, but felt it wasn’t appropriate to ask, so she merely responded with a faint “Mm” and did not press further.

Ji Ran pulled out a tissue and wiped the yellow egg yolk from the corner of Yan Duo’s mouth, saying, “I’m joining a crew tomorrow, heading to City A.”

When Chu Chu heard Ji Ran speak, Yan Duo was a little surprised, but she quickly let it go. As a top-tier star, how could he stay idle at home for long? Not only would his status not allow it, his fans wouldn’t accept it either. She could easily understand Ji Ran’s current situation; for him, being busy with work was the norm.

“Oh, okay. Do you want me to help you pack your things?”

Ji Ran glanced at her, noticed her sincere expression without the slightest reluctance, stood up and said, “No need.”

Yan Duo saw him go upstairs and didn’t think much of it, lowering her head to continue eating breakfast.

After breakfast, Ji Ran took Yan Duo to the Ji residence to meet up with Li Changhai and the others, then they all went together to the Ji family ancestral home.

An Yixin was even happier to see Yan Duo than she would be to see her own son; she grabbed her and chattered away. In the end Yan Duo got into Ji Changhai’s car and sat with An Yixin, leaving Ji Ran on the sidelines.

The eldest of the Ji family, Ji Lang, is three years older than Ji Ran; he’s just turned thirty this year. He doesn’t have a girlfriend, let alone be married.

“Your wife is pretty great.” Ji Lang said to Ji Ran with a smile as he watched Yan Duo, who had cheered up his mother so much.

Ji Ran also glanced at Yan Duo, curled the corner of his mouth, and said nothing.

After the two brothers got in the car, the three vehicles drove together toward the Ji family old residence.

Grandma Ji turned eighty this year, but there was no grand banquet; the old lady simply asked the family to come together for a meal.

Yan Duo went with An Yixin to offer her birthday wishes. The old lady held her hand and talked with her for a while before letting her go.

Although the Ji family had only seen Yan Duo once at New Year and weren’t very familiar with her, An Yixin reintroduced her to everyone, which helped Yan Duo remember them. After going around meeting people, Yan Duo had drunk quite a bit of juice. Following her memory to find the restroom, she hadn’t yet gone in when, by accident, she overheard her own name.

“Ji Ran’s wife Yan Duo is said to be in the entertainment industry too. Looking her over, there’s really only her face to see.”

“Not bad, her family is scholarly—her father is a professor at T University, her mother is the head of discipline at T University. Pretty decent.”

“Decent? Can she compare to our Ji family?”

“True enough.”

“This kind of family is only liked by An Yixin. I heard she forced Ji Ran to get the marriage certificate by pressing his head down.”

“Ah, Ji Ran really has bad luck.”

“Tell me about it — first his elder brother took the company, and now his mother shoved a wife into him who doesn’t match the family… Hey, don’t tell me his wife was arranged by his elder brother on purpose?”

“Now that you mention it, it does sound likely. Even if he has a head for business, he has no voice in the company, and his wife’s family offers no support — what does he have to compete with his brother?”

“Now, his brother can finally get a decent night’s sleep.”

“Hey, do you think this lipstick looks good on me? My daughter sent it from abroad — it’s the latest from brand d!”

“It looks pretty nice…”

Hearing that, Yan Duo didn’t stay any longer. She lifted her foot and slowly started back. Just now, she seemed to understand why Ji Ran, a business administration major at Q University, would debuted in his freshman year.

Unconsciously walking into the banquet hall, Yan Duo stopped and immediately saw Ji Ran not far away, chatting with someone.

Some people seem to be born with their own light; among the crowd, you always spot him first.

In the more than six years I liked him, Yan Duo knew that Ji Ran didn’t smile much. Even when he won awards, even when box office records were broken, even when his body experienced great pleasure, at most he would only twitch the corner of his mouth… Could it be that his heart was bitter?

Because she was forced into the entertainment industry.

And because he was forced to marry her.

Maybe Yan Duo’s gaze was too intense. Ji Ran turned his head and met Yan Duo’s eyes; those eyes were not as pure as usual. They contained so much—so much that it made Ji Ran uneasy. But the next second, she put away all her emotions, smiled at him, and once again became the version of herself who, rubbing against his pillow, seemed to have found the whole world’s joy.

That night, after the nighttime activities were over, Yan Duo turned on her side and asked Ji Ran, who looked to be in a good mood, “Have you ever done something you didn’t want to do, but had no choice?”

Those words sounded a bit awkward, but Ji Ran understood quickly. After a moment’s thought, he answered, “Yes.”

Yan Duo felt a chill in her heart and pressed, “Then what do you plan to do?”

Ji Ran stared at the ceiling and replied, “Wait for the right opportunity to set things straight, or find another way to achieve the goal.”

Set things straight?

Another way?

Is this a fast track to divorce, or trying to force her to divorce?

Yan Duo suddenly felt she was going to lose sleep again tonight.

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?” Ji Ran asked when he saw her silent.

Yan Duo was startled inwardly. “Oh, I was just asking casually, just asking casually.”

Ji Ran: “Can I ask you a question?”

Yan Duo, distracted, “Go ahead.”

“Are you close to Fan Xian?”

Yanduo didn’t understand how the conversation had turned to Fan Xian, but she answered honestly: “He’s my senior, our relationship is pretty good.”

“So you signed with his agency?”

“No, I only found out it was his family’s company after I signed.”

“Ah, so that’s how it is.”

“Why did you suddenly bring him up?”

“Oh, just asking casually.”

Yan Duo propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at Ji Ran. This conversation felt so strange—why was Ji Ran imitating the way she spoke?

Ji Ran saw Yan Duo looking at him expectantly, and suddenly remembered the request she had made last night. He glanced obliquely at the emptied TT box that had been cleared out in two days, turned his head away without looking at her, and said, “I’m completely out of ammo for the next two days. Wait for me to come back.”

Yan Duo: ……

Can she never shake off the label of being a “valley girl”

Author’s note:

Boxes emptied in two days — let’s assume ten in a box, hahaha~