Crossing the Line – Chapter 12
by Little PandaBreak Off the Engagement, as You Wish
Jiang Siyi quickly checked her reflection in the mirror. She looked fine.
The moment the video call connected, her sister’s bright, cheerful voice came through.
【Baby—are you off work? It was too noisy just now, so I didn’t hear your voice message.】
Taking off her coat, Jiang Siyi said, 【You sound so happy. Did the exhibition go well?】
【It went beyond well, and it wasn’t just the exhibition that was successful. Guess who I just had breakfast with?】
Jiang Siling was walking down the street. Her nose was red from the cold, but the freezing weather did nothing to dampen her excitement.
Jiang Siyi sat down on the sofa with a faint smile, looking as if she were the gentle older sister doting on a younger sibling.
【How could I possibly guess?】
【Jules! He is the star agent of NEXT. Oh, by the way, NEXT is the hottest contemporary art agency right now. He visited my exhibition and spoke very highly of my work. When we were having breakfast just now, he said he wanted to sign me. Baby, do you know how incredible the terms he offered are? It’s absolutely thrilling. I’m still wondering if I woke up too early and I’m just dreaming.】
While chatting with her, Jiang Siyi quickly used her tablet to look up the contemporary art agency called NEXT and its agents.
It was indeed a highly renowned contemporary art agency, and there was indeed a bearded agent named Jules.
Jiang Siyi said, 【I looked up the agency you mentioned. That Jules looks a bit fierce.】
Jiang Siling knew her sister was worried she would get scammed. Seeing her immediate investigation and top-tier efficiency, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
【Jules is very famous in our circle. He looks a bit rough around the edges, but without a doubt, he’s an excellent agent who loves discovering new talent.】
【Is the contract drafted?】
【He told me to take a few days to think about it. Once I’ve made up my mind, I’ll go to the office to see him.】
【Send me a copy as soon as you get it. I’ll have a lawyer review it carefully.】
To put it nicely, her sister was easygoing; to be blunt, she was a bit scatterbrained and far too trusting.
If Jiang Siyi didn’t have a lawyer look it over, her sister would likely sign it without reading a single word. Jiang Siling was indeed capable of doing such a thing.
Jiang Siling was also used to relying on her sister and following her arrangements.
【Sure! As soon as I get the contract, you’ll be the first to see it.】
While she was still slightly uneasy, this possible way out gave Jiang Siyi a glimmer of hope.
Her sister’s career abroad had previously relied on the Song family’s support. If her works were truly appreciated by an agency on their own merits—rather than a trap laid by the Song family—then Jiang Siyi would have no lingering worries about breaking off the engagement.
Leaning back against the sofa as she let out a small sigh of relief, Jiang Siyi watched the video as Jiang Siling walked up an old, dark staircase and entered her dimly lit rented room.
【Baby, are you in a bad mood? Did you run into some trouble during the Spring Auction?】
Jiang Siling was slow to notice other things, but she was exceptionally sensitive to her younger sister’s emotions.
Jiang Siyi replied, 【No, the Spring Auction was highly successful. It’s just that because it went so well, I’ve been hosting the daily auctions lately. I’ve been too busy to get much rest, so I’m a bit tired.】
Jiang Siling knew her sister wasn’t a good liar; whenever she made things up, she’d subconsciously over-explain.
Without calling her out, Jiang Siling said, 【Then you have to hang in there. The upward phase of a career is always a bit tougher. My, our baby can stand on her own now! It’s such a pity I couldn’t return to witness you becoming an outstanding auctioneer in person during this Spring Auction. I’ll definitely be back for the Autumn Auction next time.】
Jiang Siling’s words made Jiang Siyi think back to the Spring Auction, and to Lin Ji, who had been sitting in the very center of the crowd.
In that sense, she hadn’t been entirely alone during that Spring Auction.
【Oh, right, I sold a few paintings at the exhibition. I transferred the money to you yesterday, but you were probably too busy to notice.】
Jiang Siyi let out a surprised “Hmm?” and immediately opened her mobile banking app. A massive foreign remittance had indeed arrived.
【Why did you send me money? You’re the one who needs money over there.】
【I have enough to eat. Jules gave me a lot of paint, so I won’t have many expenses for a while. Besides, holding too much cash on hand actually slows down my painting. You’re different. You still have to prepare for the wedding. We can’t count on Jiang Luo, so we have to figure it out ourselves. Jiejie is useless and doesn’t have much savings—this is all I’ve earned after painting for so many years. In any case, a dowry should be as large as possible so the Song family won’t look down on you.】
Her sister’s words brought a slight sting of tears to Jiang Siyi’s nose.
If she could crack her sister’s heart open, she would find that over half of it was filled with her artistic dreams, and the rest was packed entirely with Jiang Siyi, her only younger sister.
For now, she didn’t want to mention breaking off the engagement to her sister. Too much was involved, and she was afraid her sister would overthink it.
Besides, now that her sister had another path to walk, she could wait until these troubles were completely resolved and everything had stabilized before telling her.
Once she hung up, Jiang Siyi packed up all of Song Ti’s belongings in the apartment and called a courier to send them out.
After returning from walking her dog, she continued to look into that contemporary art agency.
Xueqiu, her little accessory of a dog, followed his owner wherever she went. Right now, he was sprawled on Jiang Siyi’s lap, staring along with her at the incomprehensible words on the tablet.
She spent a long time researching and even asked some classmates working in related fields abroad; they all said the company was quite reliable.
Most importantly, she was able to confirm that this company had no connection to the Song family’s capital.
She let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed her sister’s talent was finally truly being seen by the industry.
With so many things on her mind, Jiang Siyi woke up very early the next day.
She hadn’t slept very soundly last night either; her smartwatch showed she hadn’t entered deep sleep at all the previous night.
Today was her day off, so she didn’t have to go to the office. Jiang Siyi took Lin Ji’s cashmere shawl out of the wardrobe.
A faint, cold fragrance still lingered on it. Lin Ji must have used this shawl often.
The tactile sensation of her hair and fingers being wrapped in it suddenly spread to her heart. Jiang Siyi blinked rapidly several times, carefully placed it inside a bag, and took it to the dry cleaner.
The dry cleaning staff told her it would be ready to pick up in three days. Jiang Siyi set a reminder on her phone, thought for a moment, and asked:
“Excuse me, will there be any fragrance on it after dry cleaning?”
“If you don’t want any fragrance, we can do an unscented treatment,” the staff member replied.
“Then please make it unscented. Thank you.”
Lin Ji probably wouldn’t like her belongings carrying the generic, unfamiliar fragrance typical of dry cleaners.
As she was leaving the dry cleaner, she received a call from Jiang Cheng.
When Jiang Siyi saw Jiang Cheng’s name on the screen, she hung up immediately.
But Jiang Cheng was relentless, calling back again and again.
In the past, the one who pursued her so tirelessly was Zhao Jun; why had the person changed today?
Surely Jiang Luo hadn’t died?
She answered the call, feeling a touch of disappointment. Jiang Luo wasn’t dead; Jiang Cheng was simply throwing a tantrum.
The moment the call connected, Jiang Cheng went straight to the point and questioned her.
【Jiang Siyi, when exactly are you going to give me my motorcycle?】
【Motorcycle?】
【Are you playing dumb with me? Stella-jie promised long ago to buy me that new Kawasaki model. She already contacted her friend in London and said you would handle the rest of the arrangements. She said once it’s sorted, the bike would be sent directly to me. It’s been so long and there’s still no news. Just tell me where the bike is. I’ll go pick it up myself.】
Jiang Siyi told the truth: 【She never said anything to me about a motorcycle.】
【Come on, Jiang Siyi. Stella-jie already agreed to it. Why are you dragging your feet and making excuses? Is there any point in lying like this? You’re just afraid I’ll spend her money, aren’t you?】
Many times, Jiang Siyi felt that Jiang Cheng was like a pre-fabricated human, whose intelligence might not even reach half that of a normal human. Talking to him was exceptionally exhausting.
Jiang Siyi really didn’t want to think about how Jiang Luo and Zhao Jun had raised Jiang Cheng, let alone bicker with him.
【If you want something, go buy it yourself. Go ask whoever promised it to you. I won’t explain such a simple concept a second time.】
Jiang Cheng hadn’t expected Jiang Siyi, whom he had always treated as a pushover, to talk to him like this.
【You…】
Jiang Siyi recalled the words Lin Ji had spoken—
“You’re the treasure your mother found hardest to let go of. Don’t mistreat yourself.”
Don’t mistreat yourself.
Without giving Jiang Cheng another chance to speak, she hung up and blocked him in one smooth motion.
The pleasure of saying “no” surged in her chest.
The WeChat message she hadn’t had the chance to send was also sent out with a single tap.
After sending the message, Jiang Siyi didn’t wait for Song Ti’s reply, because it didn’t matter anymore.
She no longer needed to wait miserably for Song Ti to give her an answer.
The heavy boulder weighing on her heart had been lifted.
Tossing her phone into her bag, she planned to go have a good meal.
Although she didn’t want to admit it, Song Ti had indeed been waiting for a WeChat message from Jiang Siyi to coax her.
Those boring advertisements and sales pitches that came to disturb her were all ruthlessly blocked.
Her friends’ banter, and even Tan Ya’s messages asking to meet, only made her feel bored and even irritated.
What made her even more uncomfortable was that the board wouldn’t stop nagging about the failed investment. With net profit dropping fifty-five percent year-on-year and the stock price repeatedly suffering, they had to lay off employees on a massive scale. Song Liming had convinced the board on the grounds that “traditional manufacturing no longer needs so many R&D roles,” cutting four thousand people globally.
With four thousand people losing their livelihoods, they naturally wouldn’t let the matter drop.
These past few days, laid-off employees could always be seen protesting with signs downstairs at the company. The media caught wind of it, sending out press release after press release, and some had even come to do live broadcasts.
Song Liming was overwhelmed, and Song Ti’s life naturally wasn’t easy either; she had to cover her face and sneak through the back door just to enter her own company.
After two days of trembling in fear, in the brief gaps between her shaking and shuddering, Song Ti kept her phone close at hand, opening it every so often during brief moments of respite, only to be disappointed each time.
Today, she finally received a WeChat message from Jiang Siyi.
She’s finally bowing her head.
When everything was going wrong, Jiang Siyi’s apology was a miracle cure, a banner of victory that could soothe Song Ti’s frustrated, prideful heart.
When Jiang Siyi’s message arrived, Song Ti was in the middle of a meeting.
The phone vibrating on the table was too loud, drawing displeased, covert glances from the board members and shareholders.
Seeing it was from Jiang Siyi, Song Ti’s eyes lit up. Completely ignoring the warning glare Song Liming shot her, she grabbed her phone, pushed open the door, and walked out of the conference room.
Clack, clack, clack—
Song Ti walked quickly toward the end of the corridor, checking her WeChat as she went.
An arrogant, slight smile played on her lips, wondering what kind of wording Jiang Siyi would use this time.
Yet the moment she opened the message, the smile froze on her face.
【Let’s break off the engagement, as you wish.】
Clack.
Her footsteps abruptly stopped.
The sound of the door behind her being pushed open rushed into her ears, but it didn’t register in her mind.
Song Liming came out of the meeting room, calling after her, mockingly chiding and scolding her, but she stood there blankly, completely ignoring him.
Breaking off the engagement.
She had waited all these days, only to get this?
While she was still in a daze, she received a text notification for a courier pickup.
She hadn’t bought anything recently. She had a premonition that this was related to Jiang Siyi.
Song Ti rushed back home, retrieved the packages, and opened them. They were filled with all the things she had previously bought for Jiang Siyi.
Every single piece was there, not a single item missing, all returned to her.
A nerve in her head throbbed abruptly, twitching in pain.
Jiang Siyi ate hot pot alone.
Crispy pork, beef tripe, freshly cut marbled beef… She ordered all the meats and vegetables she liked; even if she couldn’t finish, she could pack them up and take them back.
The hot pot restaurant was very lively, and with Jiang Siyi eating so intently, she completely missed Song Ti’s WeChat messages and voice call requests.
As the sour plum juice trickled down her throat, the rolling heat and spice were soothed by this mouthful of sweet and sour. She felt utterly satisfied.
Directly across from the hot pot restaurant was a tattoo studio.
The tattoo studio was very low-profile, tucked away in the deep corner of a turn. There were no decorations at the entrance, only a rather retro red-and-blue sign.
The sign was even more unique: it only had the two Chinese characters for “Tattoo” with the simplest English word “Tattoo” written underneath.
It was clear that the owner of this studio had no business ambition whatsoever, focusing purely on letting fate guide them.
At the exact moment of deciding to break off the engagement and conveying this decision to Song Ti, Jiang Siyi wanted to leave a keepsake for herself, so she’d forever remember her courage today.
She wanted to gift herself a tattoo.
After finishing her meal, she walked into the tattoo studio. The interior decor was extremely simple, with micro-cement floors and plain white walls displaying some tattoo artworks.
The young girl at the front desk greeted her warmly and asked what kind of design she wanted and if she had any specific ideas in mind.
Many who came for tattoos weren’t actually sure of the exact design they wanted, only having a general concept. Usually, they’d consult with a tattoo artist to pin down a precise direction.
This customer, however, was very certain of what she wanted.
“Yes,” Jiang Siyi said. “I want a pair of wings, right here on the back of my neck.”
Inside the tattoo studio, in the owner’s breakroom.
Yan Yu was sprawled on the sofa wailing like a ghost. After howling for ages without anyone paying attention, she’d exhausted herself and was now weakly whimpering.
Lin Ji sat in the executive chair belonging to Yan Yu, looking through the bookings on the computer as she spoke:
“It’s just a breakup. Is all this really necessary?”
Yan Yu’s red, teary eyes turned from the face of the sofa.
“What do you mean, ‘just a breakup’… My mom literally forced us apart! If she’d just forced us, fine, I wouldn’t have cared. But who would have thought that as soon as my mom offered five million, she’d agree to break up with me? She could’ve at least bartered! She didn’t even give my mom a chance to raise the price! Am I only worth five million? Is our relationship of one year and four months only worth five million? Just one hit and it crumbles?”
Lin Ji said, “So you’re only upset over your own poor judgment, not because you’ve parted ways with your girlfriend.”
Yan Yu: …
That seemed to be exactly what it was. Having her thoughts so easily exposed by Lin Ji made Yan Yu feel even worse.
“I’m crying like this, yet you’re still being so direct? Not even a little tactful?”
Lin Ji didn’t even raise her eyelids. “I don’t quite understand.”
“You’re just completely cold-hearted.”
Yan Yu rolled over and sat up, pulling out a few tissues to blow her nose.
“Hmph, don’t look at yourself now. Maybe when you actually fall in love, you’ll be even crazier than me.”
The Yan family was a leader in the solar photovoltaic industry and also dabbled in the hospitality sector.
Unfortunately, as their only daughter, she’d shown zero interest in her parents’ business since she was a child.
After graduating from the fine arts academy, she’d opened a tattoo studio to support herself, wanting to stop asking her family for money and escape their control to live a carefree life.
Unfortunately, although she’d taken her first step toward independence, she couldn’t easily shed her habits as a pampered heiress. She spent money way too extravagantly and had no sense of how a business owner should act.
It was one thing that her studio didn’t do any marketing or offer discounts, but she also flatly refused to serve any customers she didn’t like.
After getting into a conflict with some local gang boss, the studio was hit with bad reviews on all major platforms, causing business to plummet.
If it weren’t for Lin Ji, her childhood friend, occasionally injecting funds to save her life, her studio would’ve probably closed down long ago.
But Lin Ji wasn’t acting entirely out of charity here with Yan Yu.
Back then, Lin Ji had been pestered relentlessly by Yan Yu into reluctantly becoming a partner in the studio, and later found that tattooing was actually quite a stress-reliever.
Particularly the feeling of the needle piercing skin and the sense of achievement when finishing a piece allowed her to relax.
Lin Ji wasn’t an art student, but she had a gift for it. Because of her superb skills and stunning looks, she was extremely popular. Even though she’d been abroad and vanished for the last three years, her bookings had never stopped.
Whenever clients came in eagerly to make a booking, the front desk receptionist, Xiao Shen, would explain that their Teacher Lin was currently abroad and they didn’t know when she’d be back. There was a long queue, and she was very selective, only choosing designs that caught her interest.
Even so, there was still a group of people who didn’t care at all, waiting for Lin Ji indefinitely.
Now that Lin Ji was finally back, she had started looking through the bookings again.
While Yan Yu was still spouting nonsense, the computer screen in front of Lin Ji showed another booking request sent over by Xiao Shen.
Lin Ji’s gaze fell on the client’s name.
Unusually familiar—Jiang Siyi.
Lin Ji pushed the door open just as Xiao Shen was walking over.
Looking at Jiang Siyi, who was sitting on a sofa in the distance drinking lemon water, Lin Ji asked Xiao Shen:
“What pattern did she book?”
Xiao Shen hadn’t expected Lin Ji to be here today. Her eyes got a good SPA treatment, and she felt like she had the energy to get back to work again.
“That Miss Jiang didn’t book you. Since you’re too busy, I assigned her to Xiao Dong.”
To her surprise, Lin Ji said, “Transfer her to me.”
Xiao Shen let out an “Ah?” and looked toward the boss inside the room.
Yan Yu scrambled up. “Jiejie, don’t you still have a whole mountain of bookings?”
Lin Ji asked, “What did you promise me in the beginning?”
Yan Yu said, “I did say you could choose whatever you wanted, but…”
Lin Ji turned to Xiao Shen. “Go ask that Miss Jiang again if she really wants to get a tattoo. Once it’s done, it will be very hard to clean off completely.”
This time, Yan Yu heard clearly.
“Miss Jiang?”
Craning her neck to look out, she saw it really was Jiang Siyi. What a coincidence.
Yan Yu’s eyes turned playful as she looked at Lin Ji. “No wonder you’re suddenly so enthusiastic. Turns out an old house catching fire1…”
Lin Ji shot her a look, and Yan Yu shut up instantly.
Hearing the conversation between her boss and Teacher Lin, Xiao Shen’s gossiping heart instantly surged.
No way, really? Could it actually be what I think it is?
Teacher Lin, who’s never shown the slightest interest in anyone, is finally descending to the mortal realm?
Xiao Shen suppressed her gossiping mood and went to complete the task Lin Ji had assigned.
Lin Ji remained leaning against the doorframe, only showing half of her face, watching from afar as Jiang Siyi, who hadn’t noticed her at all, nodded earnestly to Xiao Shen.
The author has something to say:
Lin Ji: The first step of wife-luring is that I must personally apply the mark on my wife’s body.
0 Comments