Crossing the Line – Chapter 20

Warmth at the Waist

When Jiang Siyi turned around, she was startled—her bright eyes clearly showed she felt flattered.

Lin Ji knew she shouldn’t be doing this. She was merely the Biaojie¹ of Siyi’s arranged marriage partner—someone who should always remain beyond the bounds of normal social distance.

            

What the person before her needed and wanted was not care from her.

And back then, tormented by her own psychological struggles, she’d had no right to approach either.

She’d been as cold as ever and refused to take back the trench coat, because she had already decided to walk out of Jiang Siyi’s life for good.

            

No more intruding. No more putting that bewildered look on her face.

And at the same time, freeing herself.

…

            

Those three years overseas were three years of completely immersing herself in work.

Her career had achieved even greater success than anticipated. At the same time, she willingly lived with exhaustion, day and night.

When she thought of the person on the other side of the ocean, it was usually in the dead silence of midnight.

            

She could picture her in scenes of happiness.

That happiness, which had nothing to do with her, reassured her again and again. Forcing herself to forget was the right choice—one she’d made willingly.

Until she saw Song Ti at the airport—the person who should have cherished and loved Jiang Siyi for a lifetime—being intimate with someone else.

            

Witnessing this betrayal firsthand, the desire Lin Ji had personally burned to ashes in her heart reignited from the dead embers.

So it turned out that what Jiang Siyi needed and wanted wasn’t necessarily something others cared about or would give.

Since she had exiled herself to the far side of the world and the person in her heart hadn’t received the happiness she deserved, then she would come back.

            

She would be the one who cared. She would be the one who gave.

…

What she had thought was the last transgression turned out not to be the last.

            

Now, standing in Jiang Siyi’s apartment, Lin Ji unfolded the trench coat and caught a faint scent.

The trench coat had no wrinkles and was still dry—everything indicated that Jiang Siyi had kept it in pristine condition.

Lin Ji’s gaze shifted slightly. “You kept this.”

            

Jiang Siyi, characteristically frank, blurted out:

“How could I just throw away your clothes? I’ve been wanting to return it to you in person.”

“I’ll go change.”

            

“Mm-hm.”

Glancing toward the bathroom, Lin Ji said, “Change in the bathroom?”

Jiang Siyi nodded like a docile guest—she could only manage nods.

            

“Sure, sure.”

After Lin Ji entered the bathroom, turned on the light, and closed the door, Jiang Siyi suddenly realized a fatal problem.

She had lived here for years, and this was the first time she’d noticed that the bathroom’s glass door was this translucent.

            

She definitely couldn’t see details, but the silhouette of a mature woman was faintly visible—curves distinct, even the motion of slowly unbuttoning was unmistakably clear.

When the shadow undid the third button, Jiang Siyi snapped out of her daze. She quickly tore her transfixed gaze away and called Xueqiu to the balcony.

The rain was too heavy today to walk the dog, so the bathroom and balcony were Xueqiu’s designated toilet spots indoors.

            

Jiang Siyi laid out a pee pad in the corner of the balcony and pointed. Xueqiu understood immediately, trotting over and squatting with his back to her.

Xueqiu was actually very smart and very well-behaved—never deliberately causing trouble.

Why his previous owner had abandoned him, no one knew. All anyone knew was that when he was first adopted, the human-inflicted wounds on his body had barely begun to heal, and even now his left hind leg was still slightly lame. The world hadn’t given Xueqiu much kindness.

            

Jiang Siyi remembered the way Lin Ji had cautiously patted Xueqiu’s head earlier.

Once, in her mind, Lin Ji was someone who could run over a competitor without hesitation—and there were even more terrifying rumors, enough to earn her the label “ruthless and cold-blooded.”

These days of close contact had gradually diluted those stereotypes.

            

She was somewhat different from the cold, exalted, intimidating figure in her memory.

Now she was a devoted child searching for her grandmother’s lost keepsake, gentle with dogs, someone who would tilt an umbrella toward another person.

Being her wife must be wonderful.

            

Realizing what she was thinking, a stampede thundered through Jiang Siyi’s mind.

She knocked on her own head, wondering whether she should replace the bathroom’s glass door with a completely opaque wooden one.

“Jiang Siyi.”

            

Lin Ji’s voice came from behind her.

“Mm? What is it?”

Jiang Siyi’s reply came at a speed that betrayed a guilty eagerness.

            

Having changed back into her own trench coat, Lin Ji acted as though she hadn’t noticed the other woman’s awkwardness.

One hand gathered her slightly tousled, freshly dried hair, bunching the thick black strands between slender fingers and pressing them back.

With her arm raised, the trench coat’s cinched-waist design traced her beautiful figure all the more directly.

            

Far clearer than what she’d glimpsed through the hazy glass door.

Meeting Jiang Siyi’s dazed stare, Lin Ji asked, “Do you have a claw clip?”

“I do…”

            

Jiang Siyi didn’t know whether Lin Ji had caught her gaze lingering where it shouldn’t have. She pulled it back quickly.

She dug out a handful of claw clips for Lin Ji to choose from.

Jiang Siyi sighed inwardly. So it was true—when you felt guilty, you really did pretend to be busy.

            

Among the pile of clips, Lin Ji spotted a pink butterfly-shaped claw clip.

The one Jiang Siyi had used at the salon last time.

Jiang Siyi thought the others were all fine, but the pink butterfly one was too childish for Lin Ji.

            

To her surprise, Lin Ji picked that one alone, securing her long hair with it.

“Does it suit me?” Lin Ji asked.

She’d clipped it casually, a few strands falling loose. The camel-colored silk trench coat had a soft texture too.

            

The heavy black and the coldness untouched by affection were both softened.

It was the first time she’d seen Lin Ji look so domestic.

As though it wasn’t Lin Ji who had stepped into someone’s private domain, but Jiang Siyi herself.

            

An inappropriately timed thought about a very private question crossed her mind.

Had anyone else seen Lin Ji like this?

“Y-yes, it suits you…”

            

Why was her throat tightening?

Jiang Siyi immediately rushed to explain, protesting too much:

“I’m a little thirsty. I’ll go make some tea. Wait for me a moment.”

            

Before Lin Ji could finish speaking, Jiang Siyi ducked into the kitchen.

…

In the kitchen.

            

Hot water bubbled in the kettle.

She had already taken out the cinnamon. But her mind had been wandering for half the evening, and Jiang Siyi suddenly realized that at this hour, whether black tea or green tea, there was a risk of insomnia. Better to make some calming herbal tea instead.

She put away the black tea and lined up the jars and bottles of herbal tea across the counter.

            

Jiang Siyi discovered again that she didn’t know Lin Ji at all—had no idea what she liked.

She needed to ask.

She turned around—and collided with the person behind her.

            

“Mmph.”

Caught off guard, she fell into a soft field of cool fragrance.

When had Lin Ji come in? She hadn’t noticed at all.

            

Her forehead grazed Lin Ji’s cool lips. Her waist fell into the other woman’s palm.

Body warmth, through clothing, pressed against her sensitive waist.

The glass window to the side reflected the silhouettes of two women pressed close together.

            

Jiang Siyi’s forward-leaning posture looked for all the world as if she were throwing herself into Lin Ji’s arms.

“Sorry…”

Jiang Siyi braced against Lin Ji’s shoulder and immediately pulled away from her embrace.

            

“I wanted to make you some calming tea, but I don’t know if you have any dietary restrictions. I was going to ask you.”

Compared to Jiang Siyi’s flushed face, Lin Ji showed no trace of panic. Her palm slowly lifted from the warm, soft waist, fingertips carrying a lingering thread of warmth.

“No restrictions. Anything is fine.”

            

“Then I’ll make you some sour jujube seed and lily tea². It worked quite well for me when I couldn’t sleep before.”

“Okay.”

She fetched the wellness kettle and expertly dropped in dried sour jujubes and dried lily bulbs.

            

Just these two ingredients would make it somewhat sour, so she needed some sweet supplementary ingredients to balance the flavor.

Holding the jar of dried lily bulbs, she murmured “longan” while scanning the labels.

Before she could find the longan, a pale hand smoothly took the jar of dried lily bulbs from her, slotting it into the gap in the row of glass jars with practiced precision.

            

Then it picked up a jar from the corner, opened it, and handed it to Jiang Siyi.

“Is this longan?”

Lin Ji hadn’t left the kitchen. She stood just behind and to the side of Jiang Siyi, handing her the needed ingredients with pinpoint accuracy—commanding the space like she owned it.

            

“Yes…”

Taking the begonia-patterned glass jar, Jiang Siyi tried to ignore the fine hairs on the back of her neck, tingling under the brush of Lin Ji’s warm breath.

The breath was faint, but a gaze had also settled there—slow, meticulous, tracing the fully healed tattoo on the back of her neck.

            

Heat and tingling sparked a fine tremor, crawling slowly along Jiang Siyi’s spine.

Her legs went unnaturally weak.

An unspeakable, excruciating sensation was taking control of her body. She was shocked to find that her body was responding to Lin Ji of its own accord.

            

But after handing her the ingredient, the woman behind her rested that snow-white hand on the quartz countertop beside her waist.

With no intention of leaving.

There was no actual contact, but in this posture, she felt as though Lin Ji were surrounding her.

            

Jiang Siyi found it hard not to be drawn to Lin Ji’s hand resting against her waist.

The forward-reaching motion pulled the trench coat’s sleeve taut, revealing a stretch of pale wrist.

No watch. No ring. No adornment of any kind.

            

On the inner wrist, pale blue veins lay beneath snow-white skin, extending along the muscle like a pure river flowing past a faint red mole.

Jiang Siyi suddenly realized that this was the first time she and Lin Ji had truly been alone together in a private space.

The air they breathed together was slowly warming, thick with a suffocating viscosity.

            

“…right?”

When Jiang Siyi’s consciousness returned, she barely caught the last few words Lin Ji had just said.

She froze.

            

It was a question.

What had Lin Ji just asked her?

Jiang Siyi glanced back over her shoulder. Lin Ji was indeed waiting for her answer.

            

But her brain and eyes had been so busy just now—only her ears had been closed. She hadn’t heard a thing…

How could she possibly tell her that she’d been distracted the entire time, staring at that beautiful hand of hers until she zoned out completely, with no idea what she’d been saying?

Jiang Siyi’s lips moved. She decided to just brazen through it—summoning a smile, she gave an affirmative “Mm” in a confident tone.

            

God, please let her get away with it.

Hearing her affirmative response, Lin Ji revealed a faint smile.

“Then I’ll come pick you up when the time comes.”

            

Jiang Siyi: …

What?

Pick me up? Pick me up to go where?

            

While Jiang Siyi was still baffled, Lin Ji mercilessly ended the topic, leaving her no room to probe or follow up, and began drinking the calming tea.

Her mind still reeling, Jiang Siyi instinctively followed Lin Ji’s lead and slowly raised her own cup of calming tea.

One sip and she nearly spat it out.

            

Oh no.

While she’d been spacing out, not only had she missed what Lin Ji said, she’d also accidentally put too many ingredients in the tea.

Excessive amounts of sour, bitter, and sweet had mingled into a bizarre, intensely medicinal taste.

            

Calming was one thing—drinking this would probably keep her wide-eyed until dawn.

She was about to tell Lin Ji not to drink it, but turned to find that Lin Ji had already drained it down to the dregs.

Jiang Siyi: …

            

Lin Ji set down the empty cup. Jiang Siyi ventured a guilty probe: “Is it good?”

Lin Ji’s expression froze for a very brief moment before she said, “It’s good.”

Jiang Siyi: .

            

Good?

Strange.

She took another sip from her own cup and nearly passed out, eyes rolling back.

            

Not a hallucination. It really was that awful.

Jiang Siyi couldn’t understand it at all.

Could it be that Lin Ji genuinely liked this taste?

            

Her palate was a little too unusual…

Lin Ji had no idea that, in Jiang Siyi’s eyes right now, she was no different from Yan Yu, who liked drinking olive juice.

After finishing the tea, it was already late at night. Lin Ji knew her boundaries and took her leave.

            

“Fan Qing is still waiting for me downstairs. I won’t intrude any longer tonight.”

Jiang Siyi breathed a sigh of relief.

She’d been mentally composing the words to see her guest out. The other woman’s initiative to leave had done her a great favor.

            

Jiang Siyi found a shopping bag for Lin Ji’s wet clothes.

“Don’t see me out.”

Lin Ji stood at the door with her umbrella and the shopping bag.

            

“Let me borrow the hair clip. I’ll return it.”

The two of them seemed to be forever borrowing and returning.

There was always some belonging passing between them.

            

Jiang Siyi: “Okay. Thank you for tonight. Good night.”

Lin Ji: “Good night.”

Xueqiu poked his head out from behind Jiang Siyi’s legs and studied her curiously.

            

Lin Ji leaned slightly toward him. “Good night to you too.”

Xueqiu instantly shrank back behind his owner—not a single hair visible.

Jiang Siyi watched Lin Ji enter the elevator. After she closed her door, where Siyi couldn’t see, the elevator that hadn’t gone down reopened its doors.

            

Lin Ji stepped out, opened the fire escape door, and walked slowly down the stairs.

---

After her shower, lying in bed, Jiang Siyi couldn’t sleep, and she couldn’t say why.

So restless.

            

She sat up and fanned herself.

What month was it, even? Already this hot at night.

Since she was awake anyway, she opened WeChat to quickly handle some important messages from clients—lighten the load for tomorrow morning.

            

The first thing she saw was a WeChat message from Duan Ning, sent an hour ago.

Duan Ning, fresh from a Bentley ride: 【A gentle, wealthy dream older-sister type like that—doesn’t she absolutely outclass the emotionally-abusive trash ex? I just want to ask: when’s the wedding?!】

Duan Ning was just being randomly unhinged, but she’d stumbled onto the word “marriage” by pure accident.

            

Jiang Siyi rolled twice across the bed, face flushed, then struggled back onto her stomach with her tangled hair plastered to her face. She sent back a hand-over-mouth sticker: “Don’t talk nonsense.”

She worked through client messages one by one, but her fingertips suddenly paused—on Lin Ji’s chat.

Lin Ji’s WeChat name was something extremely simple, extremely low-key—so unobtrusive you could easily miss it: “,”

            

A comma.

Her profile picture looked like an abstract right angle, unclear in the thumbnail.

Jiang Siyi carefully tapped Lin Ji’s avatar, terrified of accidentally triggering the “Pat” function and exposing herself snooping. The entire time, she tapped as cautiously as a guilty thief.

            

The profile picture fully loaded.

It was a corner of slightly yellowed paper. The parts not captured in the photo were barely visible, revealing a hint of handwritten text.

Only the very tail end of a horizontal stroke was visible—impossible to tell what character it was.

            

But she could tell this was probably the corner of a letter.

Would someone as reserved and cold as Lin Ji really use someone’s letter as her profile picture…?

Jiang Siyi rested her chin in her hand, her gaze heavy with thought.

            

That person must be very important to her…

She’d been hoping to find some sleepiness, but the tangled emotions in her mind had no clear origin and no clear destination.

Hot and restless, even less able to sleep.

            

Could it be that awful calming tea taking effect?

In her sleeplessness, Jiang Siyi started second-guessing everything.

In the end, she picked up 《Auction Theory》. The book’s dense professional theory and mathematical models finally helped her find sleepiness.

            

She still didn’t sleep soundly—her drowsiness rose and sank fitfully.

In a midnight dream, she seemed to be back in the kitchen with Lin Ji, that soft, warm fragrance still lingering behind her.

Jiang Siyi’s eyes flew open.

            

So—what did I agree to with Lin Ji?

She clutched the blanket tight.

Where on earth am I supposed to go?

            

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The author has something to say:

Lin Ji: Wife-luring Step Eight—however good the figure is, the wife must know.

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