Crossing the Line – Chapter 41
by Little Panda“I pursued her.”
First floor banquet hall.
Song Ti kept glancing toward the upstairs lounge, distracted, the hand holding her wine glass still trembling unnaturally.
Lin Yunting had come today too, alone.
The news of Song Ti’s affair and the subsequent broken engagement with Jiang Siyi had spread like wildfire. Song Liming found it humiliating, and with Lin Ji’s persistent coldness toward the Song family, he had steeled himself and stayed away.
Truth be told, Lin Yunting, who always cared about appearances, hadn’t wanted to come either.
On instinct, she felt that Lin Ji, who disliked hosting banquets, must have had a purpose in suddenly throwing such a grand one.
Something big was bound to happen, and she couldn’t rest easy without seeing it for herself.
Lin Yunting stood beside her daughter, also waiting for Lin Ji to appear.
Her attention caught by Song Ti’s unnatural wrist, she glanced over and asked, “What happened to your hand?”
That woman who had come out of nowhere had nearly snapped her arm—the wretched state she’d been in at the time wasn’t something she wanted anyone else to know about.
Song Ti only said, “It’s nothing. Twisted it a bit.”
Not far away, Xie Shuyi, Zhou Yanlin, and a crowd of trust-fund kids had all arrived. Seeing that Lin Yunting’s expression wasn’t pleasant, they had the good sense not to come over and be an eyesore.
Lin Yunting knew that after being serious about work for a while, Song Ti had started fooling around again. These past few days she had been even worse, spending all her time in nightclubs with her disreputable friends.
Just as she had thought before—when Song Ti was with Jiang Siyi, Siyi’s steady nature could look after her, prop her up at least somewhat, and keep her from making any major mistakes.
Look at things now—that woman named Tan Ya had brought such disgrace to their family. The scandal was known throughout the entire circle, yet she had never once come to visit, never conveyed the slightest remorse. She didn’t understand basic human decency.
Being with someone like that, Song Ti would only sink further.
What troubled Lin Yunting even more was that she had heard her eldest sister, Lin Xuebo, had recently become obsessed with auctions for some unknown reason, frequently visiting the auction house where Jiang Siyi worked and spending at least several million each time.
Not only were the two growing closer, but Lin Xuebo had actually invited Jiang Siyi to her home for a private sale, calling together a crowd of family and friends to buy, buy, buy.
What depressed Lin Yunting the most was that with so many people invited, she hadn’t been included.
Perhaps they felt her relationship with Jiang Siyi was sensitive and spared her on purpose—but it still gnawed at Lin Yunting.
Her third cousin said Jiang Siyi had brought three cases of jewelry and jade that day, all snapped up in a flash.
And she had even let Lin Ji take Jiang Siyi clothes shopping.
The implication was clear: the two children got along well.
What did that mean? Were they trying to set the two of them up?
No matter how Lin Yunting looked at it, it was too absurd. Impossible.
Though… originally, the one Jiang Siyi’s grandmother had arranged the engagement with was Lin Xuebo’s child—that is, Lin Ji.
But that was ancient history.
Lin Ji had gone missing in an accident as a child. Lin Xuebo had claimed to everyone that her daughter had gone abroad to study, strictly forbidding anyone from revealing the truth. Naturally, Lin Yunting hadn’t dared say a word.
Very few people knew the truth. No one believed Lin Ji would ever come back alive.
At the time, the tiny Song Ti had simply thought her Biaojie1 had gone abroad. She kept pestering Lin Yunting to get the engagement changed.
“Did Biaojie not want Jiang Siyi anymore? If she doesn’t, give her to me?”
The Jiang family was at its zenith that year, and Lin Yunting had given in to Song Ti.
After waiting a while, once her eldest sister’s emotions had stabilized somewhat, Lin Yunting had shuttled back and forth between her eldest sister and Jiang Siyi’s mother many times, brokering the change of engagement.
Later, Lin Ji miraculously returned—physically and mentally, she was severely ill.
Lin Xuebo was busy taking her child abroad for treatment, and Jiang Siyi’s mother had already passed away a few years prior. No one brought up the changed engagement again.
Lin Ji spent two years in treatment overseas. When she was said to have improved, Lin Xuebo brought her back home and cared for her attentively.
She had to admit—her eldest sister thought far ahead.
She had kept her daughter’s disappearance under wraps all those years, forbidding anyone from speaking of it, precisely because she thought that if the child ever returned, no ugly rumors would follow her.
Only by severing ties with that dark past could there be any chance of a full recovery.
Against all expectations, the child really did come back, a little prodigy returning from studying overseas.
For the reason behind such a long disappearance, there were rumors of every kind.
There was even a rumor that Lin Ji had killed someone and fled abroad.
Very few people knew the true story of how she had gone missing.
Lin Ji was formidable too. After returning to the country, she had needed only one year to far surpass her peers, becoming a top student across every subject. She skipped Grade 10 entirely, jumping straight to Grade 11.
Her going abroad again later to start her business was another story.
Lin Yunting had quietly inquired and learned that Lin Ji appeared normal but still had unresolved psychological issues and was undergoing ongoing treatment.
What was even more laughable was that Jiang Siyi was afraid of her.
It was probably related to Lin Ji’s excessively cold and dark demeanor at the time, as well as the rumors circulating at school.
By the time the children grew up and left their student days behind, Jiang Siyi and Song Ti had completed a formal engagement ceremony.
They were each other’s fiancées. Everyone knew this. Yet those who knew that Jiang Siyi’s original engagement had been to Lin Ji were exceedingly few.
The matter of the switched engagement was known only to close relatives.
It was already an established fact. There was no reason to suddenly reverse it.
Otherwise it would be sister wife-swapping.
How could her eldest sister let something like that happen?
Wasn’t she worried it would damage Lin Ji’s reputation—and her own?
But… threading together everything that had happened recently, a terrifying thought took shape in Lin Yunting’s mind.
Had her eldest sister been plotting something all along?
Countless memories and tangled thoughts surged through Lin Yunting’s mind.
Until a wave of unusual whispers in the banquet hall interrupted her thoughts.
“Together with Jiang Siyi again?”
“Don’t their outfits look so coordinated? The dresses almost look like a couple’s set?”
“Not just the dresses—did you notice? The rings are matching too.”
“Those diamond rings are so flashy. They give off wedding ring vibes.”
Lin Yunting looked up abruptly, and together with a stunned Song Ti, turned to see the two figures gliding down from the second floor.
Jiang Siyi and Lin Ji wore haute couture gowns of strikingly similar style—top-tier, ahead-of-season pieces—descending the steps at a measured pace.
The matching red diamond rings circling their ring fingers were astonishingly beautiful, displayed openly for all to see.
Kong Yuchen, who had also been waiting for Lin Ji to appear, let out a soft “Huh” at the sight and whispered to his wife, Lin Xuebo, beside him:
“What does this mean?”
Lin Xuebo met his and the surrounding stares of astonishment with composure.
“What you think it means.”
“…Engaged?”
“Married.”
Kong Yuchen: …
Speechless for a moment, his mind in turmoil.
“But…”
The sheer volume of information was so overwhelming that he didn’t even know which question to ask first.
Lin Xuebo, of course, knew why Kong Yuchen was at a loss for words.
When she first learned that her daughter and Jiang Siyi were already married, Lin Xuebo had been equally shocked, with the same concerns.
But Lin Ji’s words—”She was my fiancée to begin with”—had twisted Lin Xuebo’s heart with a sharp ache.
What her daughter had lost in her life, she knew better than anyone.
Now all she wanted was to protect her daughter unconditionally, to help her reclaim the life she had lost, piece by piece.
Lin Xuebo gazed at Lin Ji and Jiang Siyi in the distant crowd, her eyes bright, murmuring in a low, heavy voice:
“Everything she has now should have been Xiaoyou’s.”
On the curved marble staircase.
Jiang Siyi appeared to wear an easy smile, but on closer inspection, the curve of her lips was on the verge of crumbling.
Unlike the previous times when Lin Ji had walked toward her under the gaze of others, the number of people at this banquet was incomparable to before.
More importantly, before now she had merely been someone associated with Lin Ji, and people’s attention had still been focused on Lin Ji.
At this moment, the meaning made plain by their matching dresses and matching wedding rings needed no explanation—anyone with half a mind could read it.
At this moment, she and Lin Ji were one.
If anything, more people were scrutinizing her than Lin Ji.
Scorching gazes—puzzled, stunned, envious—converged on her, studying her inch by inch, trying to glean more answers from her, to find a crack in the details.
This was her first time appearing with Lin Ji in a married state, completely unhidden, before this many people in a public setting.
Just like her first interview, her first time on the main auction podium, her first spring auction—she was very nervous.
On the surface, Jiang Siyi was calm and composed, as if she didn’t care about anyone, only occasionally turning her face slightly toward the woman beside her, listening to what she said, then offering a word or two in reply—the picture of intimacy.
The person who seemed to handle it all with ease actually had faintly damp palms.
Her steps on the staircase also carried a slight hesitation born from divided attention.
Whatever Lin Ji’s reasons for choosing this moment to make their relationship public, Jiang Siyi, as her partner and someone who owed her a debt, had to play this part well.
Sensing Jiang Siyi’s wavering, Lin Ji’s eyes shifted slightly, and she took her hand.
With the support Lin Ji provided, Jiang Siyi’s steps immediately steadied.
She looked at the person beside her with some surprise.
Her palms were damp—she hadn’t wanted Lin Ji to hold her hand.
But Lin Ji wasn’t bothered in the slightest. If anything, she gripped tighter.
At the last step, Lin Ji went down first, then turned with great care to lift Jiang Siyi’s magnificent but trailing skirt, eliminating any possibility of her wife tripping.
Her other hand held Jiang Siyi’s the entire time, not loosening in the slightest.
Lin Ji’s palm was cool and dry, her grip just right.
Not tight enough to hurt, but firm enough to leave no room for escape.
Jiang Siyi fought to control her racing heartbeat.
She didn’t know if her smile looked too forced.
At the same time, she was praying that her ears and cheeks wouldn’t betray her by flushing red just because Lin Ji was taking care of her, giving the whole thing away—
After all, very few people would blush all over because their wife held their hand.
The sight of Lin Ji silently attending to Jiang Siyi made countless eyes watching them fill with disbelief.
The universally acknowledged hardest person to pursue—the flower on a high peak2, the ice queen who never gave anyone a second glance—was actually lifting a skirt for a fallen heiress.
Xie Shuyi’s eyes, meanwhile, were fixed on their ring fingers.
Such an enormous cushion-cut red diamond ring.
She had once been captivated by a red diamond ring at an international jewelry exhibition.
That exceedingly rare, pure-blooded red diamond had looked like captive fire—so beautiful it made her heart race.
When she inquired, the smallest one—3 carats—was priced at over 50 million.
Xie Shuyi knew then that this world-class rare red diamond was far beyond her reach.
For a long time after, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. It became her white moonlight3 in the world of jewelry.
The rings Jiang Siyi and Lin Ji were wearing now—each was likely over 3 carats.
And the intense red was purer than the one she had coveted years ago, the cut even more exquisite.
The elegant design harmonized perfectly with Jiang Siyi’s look today.
It even looked slightly incongruous on Lin Ji.
As if, when crafting them, they had been designed entirely around Jiang Siyi’s aura—understated, not stealing the spotlight.
As if telling everyone that this rare treasure worth nearly 100 million was merely an accessory to complement Jiang Siyi.
Half an hour earlier.
When the two of them were in the upstairs lounge, Lin Ji had personally carried the tray holding the pair of rings and presented it to Jiang Siyi.
As a professional, Jiang Siyi knew better than anyone how much the red diamond rings were worth.
Lin Ji had already held the rings out to her, but she hadn’t dared reach for them.
Lin Ji’s brows dipped slightly. “You don’t like them?”
Jiang Siyi shook her head. “No… they’re just… far too valuable.”
She was well aware of her position as a marriage-alliance partner. She was willing to play along with Lin Ji’s act, but she couldn’t bear to accept such expensive rings.
Just like the jewelry Lin Xuebo had gifted her—she had never worn it once.
After a moment of silence, Lin Ji sat beside her, took her right hand by the fingertips, and unfolded it.
Feeling Lin Ji’s gaze resting quietly on her fingers, Jiang Siyi’s throat moved in a barely perceptible swallow.
Lin Ji studied her fair, slender fingers with careful appreciation.
She saw her own reflection in the red diamond.
“The price of jewelry is something people assign. Whether it’s a plain band or a red diamond, whether it’s tens of millions or hundreds of millions—it only has value when it has an owner. It only truly has a reason to exist when you like it.”
She removed Jiang Siyi’s plain band.
Then the red diamond ring encircled Jiang Siyi’s pink fingertip.
Slowly pushing it forward, pressing it to the base of her finger, gently turning it along the root of her finger to center the red diamond.
The red diamond flashed with breathtaking fire. Lin Ji looked up at Jiang Siyi.
“A beautiful hand. This ring deserves you.”
Jiang Siyi was struck by a sudden swell of emotion, a warm rush swiftly wrapping around her heart.
Lin Ji always had the ability to leave her unable to argue back, much less refuse.
Respect the clothes before the person4—Jiang Siyi had understood this unpleasant truth very early on.
…
Now, Xie Shuyi gazed at the red diamond ring on Jiang Siyi’s finger with boundless envy, wishing she could steal it with her eyes.
All her attention had been drawn away by Jiang Siyi’s ring, and she had forgotten to ask about the most important thing.
Fortunately, someone nearby was even more eager.
Diagonally across from Xie Shuyi, a certain Miss Xu—who often appeared at dinners Song Ti organized—became her mouthpiece.
She asked in roundabout fashion how it was that Lin Ji and Jiang Siyi happened to dress so coordinately and wear matching rings.
Jiang Siyi was wondering how she should respond.
Lin Ji, holding her wrist, gently turned it until their fingers were interlaced.
Lin Ji: “We’re married.”
Not a single voice could be heard around them—only the hypnotic, languid melody of acid jazz spreading through the entire hall.
Everyone knew Lin Ji was uninhibited, but no one had expected her to be so utterly without pretense, answering so directly.
Stunned gazes shifted inch by inch from Lin Ji’s face to Jiang Siyi, then to Song Ti, standing five paces outside the crowd.
Song Ti could no longer control her expression at this point.
Her face was ashen, as if struck by lightning.
A certain Miss Lin, who always paired up with Miss Xu, spread her freshly manicured fingers over her mouth in shock, gasped “Oh my god,” and then leaned to whisper in Song Ti’s ear:
“Your fiancée became your Dasao5?”
Song Ti: …
Her ashen face was now entirely covered by an indescribable look of mortification.
Lin Ji had answered very directly, but most people present, after their initial shock, found it somewhat hard to believe.
Perhaps it was sour grapes at work, or perhaps they knew Lin Ji’s ex-fiancée Song Ti was nearby and wanted to stir the pot. Either way, curious questions about Lin Ji and Jiang Siyi’s marriage came one after another, each trying to read between the lines for something more intriguing.
“Who would’ve thought… Jiejie6 likes someone like Siyi? I always thought you two barely knew each other.”
“So, Siyi, hurry and share your secret—how did you win over our Lin Ji-jie?”
How she had won over Lin Ji…
Jiang Siyi maintained a proper smile while her brain ran at full speed.
Before coming, she had prepared answers to many questions, the way she would prepare for a major auction. Murphy’s law—the questions she had prepared answers for went unasked, while the ones she hadn’t anticipated were the ones thrown at her.
It was also because she was usually too reclusive and rarely got invited to social gatherings, so she lacked experience.
Even caught off guard, she had to answer with composure.
Her identity now was Lin Ji’s wife. If she let any crack show, it would embarrass Lin Ji.
Various answers whirled through Jiang Siyi’s mind.
Just as she was about to speak, Lin Ji beat her to it, wrapping an arm around her waist.
“I pursued her,” Lin Ji said.
The author has something to say:
Lin Ji: Wife-pampering Step 13—no matter who pursued whom, I’m the one who pursued my wife.
Footnotes
- 'Biaojie': maternal older female cousin.
- 'Gao ling zhi hua': literally 'flower on a high peak'—an outstandingly attractive yet distant, unapproachable person.
- 'Bai yueguang': literally 'white moonlight'—a literary metaphor for an idealized, unattainable love or desire one can never truly possess.
- 'Xian jing luo shang hou jing ren': a Chinese proverb meaning 'first respect the clothes, then respect the person'—people judge others by appearance before character.
- 'Dasao': literally 'older brother's wife'; here used by socialites to address Jiang Siyi as Lin Ji's wife, implying she is now Song Ti's sister-in-law.
- 'Jiejie': literally 'older sister'; used here as an affectionate, respectful address for an older female friend or acquaintance.
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