Crossing the Line – Chapter 60

by Little Panda

Insisted on Little Siyi and No One Else

The ear was made warm and ticklish by Lin Ji’s breath when she leaned close to speak.

Sitting up straight, pretending to be unruffled, Siyi pointed out a few dishes for Lin Ji.

Lin Ji hadn’t intended to bully that ear.

After going most of the day without seeing her, she’d been worried about whether Siyi would develop another fever.

She rushed to the restaurant, only to discover that her identity as “Jiang Siyi’s one true Wife” had been revoked for some time now.

Her clingy tendencies flared up again—she wanted to be closer to Jiang Siyi.

She genuinely wanted to ask a question, but the moment she leaned in and whispered, the ear closest to her turned red…

It was an accident.

The heart that had been empty for most of the day was, unexpectedly, filled.

After Siyi’s guidance, Lin Ji noticed that of the ten dishes on the table, the ones Siling liked accounted for more than half.

It was easy to guess—the sisters’ tastes were very similar.

To demonstrate affability, Lin Ji used the serving chopsticks to frequently place food on Siling’s plate, her smile blooming exclusively for her.

On the surface, all was harmonious and joyful. In reality, Siling had been avoiding eye contact with Lin Ji the entire time.

And the food placed on her plate—she didn’t dare not eat.

However much Lin Ji served her, that’s how much she ate.

Siling: “Burp!”

Lin Ji: …

She could only temporarily set down the serving chopsticks.

What kind of feng shui does your Jiang family have? Both sisters are this afraid of me.

Is my bāzì¹ cursed to clash with the Jiangs?

Siling’s fear of Lin Ji wasn’t as intense as Siyi’s, but due to historical reasons, there was still some.

During the two years they were in the same class in high school, before Lin Ji helped her pick up a pen, her fear of Lin Ji had been about the same as her younger sister’s.

The murder rumors naturally deserved much of the credit.

The key milestone that cemented her fear of Lin Ji was an afternoon shortly before class was about to begin, when a classmate who secretly admired Lin Ji brought a problem over to ask her about.

There were very few people in the classroom at the time—only five or six. Siling was sitting in the front corner drawing when she heard voices from behind.

Lin Ji, the grade-skipper, was aloof, yes, and taciturn was an understatement.

But when others asked her questions, she’d help solve them if she had time.

“Wow, you can even do such a hard problem, that’s so amazing.”

This secretly admiring classmate, discovering that Lin Ji was more approachable than expected, pretended to accidentally brush the back of her hand after receiving the solution.

Lin Ji, who extremely disliked physical contact with people, remained expressionless on the outside while a layer of goosebumps rose on the inside.

Just then, Siling turned her head around.

Meeting Siling’s eyes, Lin Ji—who was no longer Jiang Siyi’s fiancée at the time—still maintained her unspoken sense of propriety.

She didn’t want Jiang Siyi’s older sister to think she was “attracting bees and butterflies.”

“It has nothing to do with being amazing. This problem is very simple,” Lin Ji said. “Would you like me to crack open your skull and check whether you brought your brain out today?”

The handsy classmate: .

Siling: …

So terrifying. Had she actually killed someone?

For a long time after that, Siling would subconsciously avoid Lin Ji’s gaze whenever she saw her.

Later on, Lin Ji not only held the undisputed number one rank in the entire grade—unshakeable by anyone—but was also outstanding in every way that made people feel a little inferior.

She spoke with her even less.

She always felt that saying one wrong word would get her treated like an idiot.

After graduation, they went to different universities. Beyond the title of “old classmate,” their lives had zero overlap.

Both of them were the type who never said a word in the alumni group chat.

Years passed. The terrifying old classmate suddenly had an ambiguous relationship with her younger sister.

She’d even caused the misunderstanding of mistaking the wrong wife.

Siling couldn’t not be nervous.

She also wasn’t sure if Lin Ji was doing it on purpose, but throughout the entire meal, Lin Ji kept specifically serving her dishes.

And with an unreadable smile, she said to her:

“Is it good? If it’s good, eat more.”

Her skull felt itchy.

There was a sense of crisis that if she didn’t finish everything Lin Ji served her, her skull would also be cracked open to check for a brain.

Siling didn’t stop eating the entire evening.

Stuffed to the point of burping.

Fan Qing slowly ate a bite of quality protein, shaking her head with pity.

She definitely hadn’t eaten anything good abroad. She was inhaling food back home.

Seeing that Siling’s face had gone a shade greener, Lin Ji didn’t continue showcasing her affability.

She feared that if she kept it up, the Jiang sisters would be taking turns checking into the hospital.

After dinner, Siling needed to head to the hotel.

Lin Ji’s original intention was to have her stay at the house—there were guest rooms.

As an absolute introvert in front of anyone other than her younger sister, Siling felt awkward about it.

Plus, sometimes when inspiration struck, she might spring out of bed in the middle of the night to paint, and she was worried about disturbing Lin Ji.

So she politely declined.

Siyi hesitantly told Lin Ji that she wanted to stay at the hotel with her older sister tonight.

“My Jiejie finally came back, and we haven’t seen each other in two years. I can’t leave her alone in a hotel, so tonight…”

Lin Ji tapped the back of her hand, stopping her from explaining further.

“I know.”

She gently pressed the back of her hand against Siyi’s forehead, checking her temperature.

No fever had developed today.

Siyi: “Don’t worry, the fever’s already gone. It’s you who—”

Lin Ji’s gaze lingered on her moving lips for a moment.

“If I can’t sleep, I will ask you for help.”

Ask you for help.

Those four words made Siyi feel, in a daze, that she was very capable, very worth relying on.

After dropping the Jiang sisters at the hotel and settling their luggage, Fan Qing left.

Lin Ji didn’t come up.

Strange.

Siyi recalled that Lin Ji didn’t seem to like going to high places.

Her bedroom was on the first floor. Her office was also on the first floor.

Whenever she needed to go to upper floors, she would very likely avoid it.

Wait, she had gone up before.

That time at the art salon, she did go.

When leaving, she took the glass elevator.

Was it that she didn’t like high places?

Or that she didn’t like riding enclosed elevators?

The hotel suite Siyi booked for her older sister was close to both Linyu Shuian and Jiashibi.

Tomorrow was a workday, but they could still sleep in late before heading to work.

The suite was spacious, with a top-floor view overlooking J City’s forest of skyscrapers and its nighttime light show.

Too bad Siling was in absolutely no mood to admire any light show right now.

She’d eaten far too much. Clutching her stomach, she lay on the sofa, eyes glazed over, groaning continuously.

Siyi struggled to pull her up.

“When you’ve overeaten, you need to walk around to digest. Come on, I’ll walk with you.”

Fortunately, the room was large enough that the sisters could just circle the room without going outside.

Siyi walked behind her, supervising.

“Why did you eat so much? Lin Ji served you however much and you just ate it all?”

Ahead of her, Siling looked six months pregnant, belly protruding, hand bracing her lower back.

“That’s Lin Ji. When she serves me food, how would I dare not eat it…”

Siyi couldn’t help laughing.

Now she understood how Lin Ji must have felt watching Siyi be afraid of her.

“Don’t worry, Jiejie. She just looks fierce. She won’t bully you.”

“What’s going on? Why didn’t you tell me you married Lin Ji?”

Thinking back to the earlier misunderstanding, Siling still felt the world spinning, wanting to book the next flight off Earth immediately.

Siyi told her older sister about everything that had happened during this period.

She avoided the awkward details of having misunderstood Lin Ji’s character, only saying that after she discovered Song Ti’s infidelity, Lin Ji proposed an alliance marriage to her, and she agreed.

Siling turned around in astonishment.

“Lin Ji likes you, Baby?”

“Maybe…”

“What do you mean maybe? Can’t you feel whether she likes you or not?”

The moments spent with Lin Ji surfaced in her heart.

Her attentiveness, her thoughtfulness, and…

The indescribable possessiveness when they kissed.

The habit of holding her tightly in front of the mirror.

As she thought about it, Siyi’s pace slowed.

“She’s been… very good to me.”

Seeing her younger sister’s expression, Siling forgot about her ready-to-explode stomach and linked arms with her.

“I don’t know if she likes you, but you definitely like her.”

“But.” Siling thought of something else. “She and Song Ti are cousins. Their mothers are biological sisters. Can your marriage pass in their family? Will your relationship be made public before the wedding? If it’s kept hidden…”

If it’s kept hidden, the only one who’ll end up suffering is you.

Siling held back the second half of that sentence for now.

When it came to matters involving her precious younger sister, her usually absent emotional intelligence would briefly come online.

She could tell that her sister had fallen for Lin Ji. Some things were too direct to say out loud.

Even unspoken, Siyi could hear the implication.

“It’s already been made public, and very publicly at that. She hasn’t let me suffer the slightest grievance.”

Afraid her older sister wouldn’t believe her, Siyi recounted many details from that day and showed her the photos.

She also showed her the red diamond ring.

Siling didn’t have much concept of how expensive a red diamond ring was. She’d only heard of “carats”—the bigger the diamond, the more valuable.

The ring in the photo was almost as big as her eyeball.

Probably worth more than her life.

Where the money is, there the love is.

A vulgar saying, but true.

Siyi told her how seriously Lin Ji had filled out the questionnaire for her, how she’d helped find the salon venue when she was overwhelmed.

How, when she was betrayed and at her most wretched, Lin Ji told her there was another way out.

How she’d risked her own safety to save Xueqiu.

Moved for her, prepared everything for her.

Trusted her, encouraged her, thought only of her.

“And her mother has been so good to me too. Yesterday when I was sick, it was her mother who took me to the hospital…”

Halfway through, she noticed her older sister pursing her lips, eyes curved in a smile.

“…Hmm?”

“Wow, you really like her an incredible amount. I say one thing and you come back with eight hundred good words about her. Baby, looks like you’re in deep. Alright, from the looks of it, she didn’t force you into this.”

“We live in a society governed by law. How could she force me…”

She said that, but she had also worried that her older sister might think she’d sold herself out.

While teasing her younger sister, Siling felt much more reassured inside.

She’d thought that bastard Song Ti would have a huge impact on Baby, that her mood would be low for a long time at least.

She’d overthought it.

Or perhaps, it was precisely because she’d met Lin Ji in time that she hadn’t spiraled into the lowest point of her life.

Siling got tired of walking and plopped down on the sofa.

“You can’t blame me for overthinking. My Baby is this beautiful, this cute, this smart, with such a great personality—how could I not worry about her being alone in the country? I thought you married that surnamed Sen pervert and was already raising funds for your divorce lawsuit.”

“Divorce lawsuit?”

Siyi laughed.

“Okay, okay, I know you don’t want a divorce.” Siling lay across her younger sister’s lap, playing with the ends of her long hair.

“Have you already started raising funds?”

Siyi gently massaged her abdomen to help with digestion.

“Not exactly. I was going to. But then Glenda told me not to worry and gave me a card, saying it was a meeting gift for you.”

“Glenda?”

“Yeah, I just accepted it temporarily, in case of emergency. I’m planning to pay her back after my new painting sells successfully at auction.”

“Jiejie, are you and Glenda together?”

Otherwise, why would she prepare a meeting gift?

“Oh right, forgot to tell you. We’ve been together for almost a month now.”

“Isn’t that being together with the idol you’ve worshipped since childhood!”

“Hehe, yeah.”

“It’s been a whole month and you didn’t tell me.”

“I’ve been busy with the concept for my new painting, and just signed with a new agency, so busy…”

Siling felt guilty for a moment, then suddenly sat up and grabbed Siyi’s waist.

“You’re even worse—you got married and didn’t tell your own older sister.”

Siyi was most ticklish. She turned to flee, but her older sister caught her and pinned her on the sofa, continuing to tickle.

Her face was flushed red from laughing, tears in her eyes, curled up in a ball begging for mercy.

The sisters were as childish as when they were little. After fooling around for a while, Siling’s stomach finally wasn’t as stuffed. Both tired, she patted her younger sister’s head and lay back on the sofa.

Siyi lay across from her, and the two of them draped their legs over each other’s.

Back to Glenda.

“She’s busy with her touring exhibition lately, but she promised me she’ll definitely make time to come meet you this year. Your wedding with Lin Ji is in October, so she should be able to make it.”

“You’ve loved her paintings since you were little, and now you’re actually together with her. What an incredible feeling…”

She was genuinely happy for her older sister.

“Yeah, every now and then when it hits me, it feels like a dream. Do you know that feeling?”

Of course Siyi knew.

In the period right after marrying Lin Ji, she’d felt the same way.

Every time she thought about the fact that she and Lin Ji had registered their marriage, it felt like being in a dream.

As they talked, the two fell into a brief silence.

Siling gazed at the ceiling, painted with the city’s lights.

“If Mom were still here, seeing that we both have partners now, she’d be so happy.”

Siyi’s eyes reflected the nightscape outside the window, blinking slowly.

The year their mother passed away, Siyi had just started middle school.

An age of innocence about the world, but already possessing awareness.

It was her first time confronting death. The fear of losing her mother consumed her heart.

At the same time, their father had brought a strange woman into their home.

On a night much like this one, her older sister had held her hand and said—

Baby, don’t be afraid. Mom isn’t here anymore, but you still have me.

Through her older sister’s hand, she discovered that she was putting on a brave front, that she was trembling.

The young girl suppressed her fear of the unknown future.

She squeezed her older sister’s hand back and said, I will always protect Jiejie too.

The two young sisters who comforted each other, stubbornly trying to be each other’s support—in the blink of an eye, they’d both grown up.

They’d experienced setbacks, of course, and endured much pain.

Fortunately, they’d finally stepped onto a new path in life, with reliable partners who would walk alongside them.

No more needing to put on brave fronts, because they truly weren’t afraid anymore.

On the other side of the city.

Lin Ji pushed open the front door and saw Xueqiu lying on the floor.

Xueqiu’s belly was perfectly round, and on its head was clipped a candy-shaped orange-yellow hair clip.

Lin Ji: ?

“You’re back, Xiao You?” Lin Xuebo came over from the living room in her pajamas. “Where’s Siyi?”

“Siyi’s older sister is here. She went to keep her company tonight, won’t be back.” Lin Ji’s gaze fell on Xueqiu. “What happened to it?”

“Xueqiu was just too cute, so I bought it some snacks. The little one was hungry and ate a bit too much.”

Lin Ji looked at the mountain of dog food, dog cans, dog treats, and dog toys piled in the corner of the entryway…

Right. Bought “a bit.”

I stuffed Siling; you stuffed Xueqiu.

Truly mother and daughter.

Xueqiu lazily rolled over, wagged its tail, and—dutiful good dog that it was—still insisted on walking to the door to greet its owner.

Lin Ji picked it up and rubbed its belly.

Lin Xuebo hadn’t actually fed it that much proactively. The moment a snack wrapper was torn open, Xueqiu would charge over and eat until the whites of its eyes showed.

If she hadn’t intervened quickly, it might have inhaled twice as much.

Lin Ji set it down and played with it using its toys to help digest.

She said to Lin Xuebo, “Thank you for coming to take care of it.”

“Why be so formal with your mother.”

Lin Xuebo found the sight of Lin Ji interacting with a dog so extraordinary that she hesitated, wanting to say something but holding back.

“Xiao You, you…”

Are you not afraid of dogs anymore?

Lin Ji knew what her mother wanted to ask.

“I want to try not being afraid. Siyi said Xueqiu is very well-behaved and won’t bite. It won’t bite me.”

Lin Xuebo watched her daughter quietly, her vision gradually blurring.

She turned away under the pretext of pouring Lin Ji a glass of water, silently wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. She adjusted her voice before saying:

“That’s right, Xueqiu is very good… Here, I’ll play with it for a while. Go have some water.”

Lin Ji took the water cup and thought of a question.

“Mom.”

“Hmm?”

“Back when our family arranged the engagement with the Jiang family, why was it me and Jiang Siyi, not her older sister?”

By age, she and Siling should have been closer in years, while Siyi was three years younger.

Meeting Siling today, she couldn’t help but think of this.

“Hmm? You don’t remember? I suppose you were still too young then.” Lin Xuebo smiled. “You chose her yourself. You insisted on little Siyi and no one else.”

In the middle of the night, Siling got up to use the bathroom, groggy and disoriented.

While sitting on the toilet, her mind wandering, she vaguely recalled something.

Back then, Baby’s engagement partner… seemed to have been Lin Ji.

Hmm? Where did this memory come from? Was that actually a thing?

She thought about it for a long time.

Couldn’t remember… never mind.

The author has something to say:

Lin Ji: Wife-pampering Step 27—choose your own wife yourself.