Crossing the Line – Chapter 64
by Little PandaXiao You…
From sitting sideways, she’d ended up sitting facing her.
Siyi was draped over Lin Ji’s shoulder, her sweat-slicked back rising and falling without pause, the tips of her trembling feet lifted clean off the floor.
Lin Ji kissed her ear, lifted her up once more, and murmured against it, like encouragement: “Good girl.”
Siyi was sunk deep in Lin Ji’s spell.
However unbearable it became, whatever Lin Ji said, she would obediently do.
That beautiful woman’s hand — more elegant and precious than a work of art, immaculate — burned hot and slick in the flickering light of the screen.
Saturated with Siyi’s scent, steeped in abandon.
……
Her legs had gone soft, so naturally it was Lin Ji who carried her back to the bedroom.
Still holding her face-to-face, letting her shift not an inch, Lin Ji lifted her entire body into the air.
Siyi startled, afraid of falling, and pressed closer at once.
Lin Ji’s interlocked palms served as her seat; her arms were the safety belt.
She kissed her neck and said:
“I won’t drop you.”
And it seemed she truly wouldn’t.
From the cinema, up the steps, through the courtyard lights — Siyi was held steady the whole way.
Thank goodness it was at home. She had the nerve to cling to Lin Ji’s chest in that babyish posture the entire journey.
Back in the main house, Siyi flopped onto the bed. Her back ached.
The alcohol had long since evaporated to who-knows-where, and her whole body was drained — how to explain this feeling of being exhausted and deliciously sated all at once?
That night they both slept early, slept deep, and dreamed of nothing.
The next morning, the phone alarm woke her as usual.
The person beside her had just woken too.
Her back still ached a little, admittedly — but it had bought Lin Ji a full seven hours of easy, unbroken sleep.
Bracing her back as she got up to wash, Siyi thought: worth it, probably.
Xueqiu trotted over to nuzzle her ankles, gave an enormous yawn from his tiny mouth, and settled down at her side.
What they’d done in the cinema yesterday was honestly a bit outrageous.
She had never imagined her own body could respond like that.
Still less had she imagined that Lin Ji’s encouragement, beyond giving her the courage to speak with poise, could also give her the confidence to go three rounds, two nights running.
The more Siyi brushed her teeth, the hotter her face burned.
The first time she’d ever sat on Lin Ji’s lap — and it was for that.
And to leave her dress stained like this…
She squeezed her eyes shut in mortification and screamed “help” inside her own head.
A mess, an embarrassment — and Lin Ji hadn’t minded her one bit.
As if no matter what she did, however graceless, Lin Ji would accept her completely.
Even carried her back to the bedroom, so she didn’t have to walk a single step.
— Here with me, you can do anything you want. You never have to apologize.
She remembered Lin Ji saying that to her once.
How many people only ever said pretty words, and once the words were spent, offered nothing but perfunctoriness and hypocrisy?
Lin Ji meant what she said, and did what she meant.
A soft sigh.
How did someone this good end up with me?
And how does she even like me?
Their morning routine used to be Lin Ji seeing Siyi to the garage and watching her walk into the elevator hall.
That was already very considerate.
Now the garage alone no longer sufficed — Lin Ji had to get out of the car and walk her wife all the way to the elevator doors.
Few could imagine that this aloof, cool-looking woman was, in perfect silence, being clingy.
Clingy without a single word — just standing as close to Siyi as physically possible.
Around them stretched the long line waiting for the morning rush elevators.
Drowsiness, irritation, the lethargy of people worn down by life filled the space — which made Lin Ji, her gaze quiet and reserved, look all the more strikingly pure and vivid.
Their hands brushed by accident.
Siyi wondered whether to take hers.
Even if the elevator was coming any second, she wanted to touch Lin Ji — just a little.
While she was still deliberating, Lin Ji hooked her little finger first.
The inner edge of that finger grazed hers, feather-light, barely there.
A warm tickle spread up from her fingers.
Siyi’s eyes went round; her lips pressed together awkwardly as she glanced sideways at the woman beside her.
Not enough.
Lin Ji caught the look. Slender fingers trailed one by one across the backs of Siyi’s fingers.
Skimming the ridges of her knuckles, folding over her hand, then hooking into the gaps between her fingers.
Hooked until her slightly curled fingertips flushed pink.
Finger fitted to finger, flush to the last seam, without a sliver of space between.
Fingerpads ground gently against her palm.
Until Siyi had to fight to keep her breathing even.
The elevator arrived.
“I’m going.”
Meaning: time to let go.
“Mm.”
The person saying “mm” had not let go at all.
Siyi could neither leave nor stay.
Helplessly, she begged for mercy at Lin Ji’s ear.
“Xiao You…”
Siyi calling her by her childhood name — so soft, so sweet. It sounded lovely.
Only when the elevator doors fully opened did the person clasping her tight reluctantly let go.
“Can you call me that often, from now on?”
Siyi nodded, the barest movement.
Delighted, Lin Ji poked her knuckles several times over.
Only when the doors slid shut and Siyi was out of sight did Lin Ji turn to leave, still wanting more.
……
What a grueling workday.
Once again she had to force herself to focus.
Only now did Siyi discover that both her energy and her stamina were somewhat depleted.
The three drinks last night at the cinema hadn’t actually been that many.
The problem was the three rounds that came after.
Her back still ached, her thighs felt weak, and that phantom sense of it all was clearer than yesterday.
Her combat class alone might not cut it anymore.
Should she add more exercise? Build up her stamina?
Back from her morning meeting with a little time to spare, she threw herself into finishing and printing the appraisal reports for the newly catalogued lots.
In her peripheral vision, someone was standing at the door.
Who knew how long Oliver had been planted there — if his head hadn’t kept bobbing at the edge of her vision, Siyi, deep in her work, might never have noticed him at all.
Seeing her finally look over, Oliver plastered on a full-face smile and waved her toward him.
“Siyi, there’s something I’d like to chat about. You’re done with your work, right? Come on, lunch is on me.”
Come to think of it, Oliver had messaged her on WeChat before the London trip, and she’d simply ignored him.
Now he’d persisted — showing up in person.
Siyi didn’t move an inch from her desk.
“What is it?”
Seeing that Siyi had no intention of chatting privately, Oliver found himself doing all the talking while she answered in four cold words.
His fake smile very nearly slipped. But he couldn’t afford to keep sulking — he was the one who needed something.
He dragged a chair over from next door and sat down at her side.
No crossed legs this time. Hands on knees, like a schoolboy waiting to be handed an award.
“I fired Wan Xin.”
As he said it, those prominent thick eyebrows bounced up and down on his grinning face, as if claiming credit.
He just waited for Siyi’s reaction, hoping she’d ask, curious.
Siyi was not the least bit pleased. Her gaze didn’t even leave the computer screen.
She didn’t look at him. She showed no sign of picking up the thread.
His smile froze right at the corners.
Oliver had courted a spectacular snub.
Yes, it was humiliating — but given the situation, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and come humiliate himself on his own initiative.
How could he ever have imagined that in under half a year, Siyi’s standing would turn completely upside down?
The moment he learned that Siyi’s wife was none other than Lin Ji, he’d known his job was in danger.
Even though Siyi hadn’t done anything to him yet, he’d suffered heartburn and stomach pain for days on end.
Work was beyond him. Every time CEO Gu summoned him, every time the HR director so much as glanced his way, he was certain he’d be fired the next second.
He couldn’t stay passive any longer.
He’d kept Siyi out of the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department back then, and targeted her at the spring auction besides. There was no way she didn’t hold a grudge.
The Siyi of today was Jiashibi’s fast-rising new pillar; the positive example that President Yan, the global CEO, held up at meetings for everyone to learn from; a hot favorite for this year’s Global Emerging Auctioneer; an online sensation whose auction videos cleared 100,000 views without breaking a sweat; and, above all, the new bride who had Huanwei’s chairman so besotted she wouldn’t leave her side for a single step.
Any one of those alone was enough to make Oliver’s heart quail.
For days he’d been measuring a gentleman’s heart with his own petty mind, and at last he’d drawn up a plan.
Rather than sit and wait for Siyi’s revenge, better to move first — pledge his loyalty proactively.
Every wrong had its author, every debt its debtor. It was Wan Xin who’d been fighting Siyi for everything. Removing the culprit on her behalf had to count as making up for his past faults, didn’t it?
Oliver: “I could see long ago that Wan Xin was far too ambitious — bad for colleague solidarity. I’ve already sent her packing. With Lao Tong retired, the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department is short-handed right now. Next week, then — next week you come over to the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department. You know, if Wan Xin hadn’t insisted on fighting you for it back then, you’d have been the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department’s backbone ages ago. You were a top student in Chinese art history — you were born to eat from our Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department’s rice bowl.”
Oliver knew what Siyi wanted. When she’d first joined the company, the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department had been her target.
Her qualifications had matched on every count, and her ability had been the strongest of that whole cohort.
In the end she’d been stopped right here, at Manager Oliver — turned away on the grounds of a full roster.
Surely she still wanted into the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department. Who wouldn’t covet a department with commissions that high?
Of course, beyond cutting off future trouble, the olive branch was also greed for Siyi’s resources.
That ratty little Gold, Stone, and Jade Department — and she’d made it flourish. Last month it had outperformed the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department, and hadn’t that been carried on Siyi’s back alone—
Though, admittedly, also because he’d been so anxious lately, neglecting his work, letting his numbers slide quite a bit.
Word was that CEO Gu had connected with Huang Qingzheng and was planning a special auction for her new work.
Some said Huang Qingzheng had chosen Jiashibi precisely because of Siyi.
At first Oliver hadn’t believed it. Now he had no choice but to.
If Siyi came to the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department, wouldn’t Huang Qingzheng’s paintings follow her over?
Those were blue-chip benchmark pieces that cleared 100 million at the drop of a gavel.
He’d courted Huang Qingzheng’s assistant for ages and never even gotten a reply.
If he could poach Siyi, wouldn’t the autumn auction flatten the Gold, Stone, and Jade Department all over again? He might even trample the Oil Painting Department underfoot.
People climb toward higher ground. With the offer laid out to that degree, Siyi had no reason to refuse.
What he hadn’t expected: the young woman showed not the slightest flicker of temptation.
Her tone stayed perfectly level.
“That’s for my supervisor to decide.”
Oliver was struck dumb.
Siyi hit print, rose, and went to the far end for the appraisal reports.
Oliver meant to follow and keep lobbying, but Manager Wu emerged from her office and watched him warily.
He had no choice but to pretend nothing was amiss and stroll off humming.
Duan Ning walked over, teacup in hand, quietly watching Oliver’s retreating back.
Only when he was well and truly gone did she speak:
“Wan Xin wasn’t fired by him at all. She resigned on her own.”
“She resigned?”
“Mm. Remember when she missed that meeting? I went digging right away. Wan Xin submitted her own resignation — Manager Wu and the higher-ups approved it back then. She’d been done with this job for a while. Her heart wasn’t in it — she’s switched careers. She’s a makeup artist now.”
Clearly she’d gone digging at someone, fast.
Siyi laughed. “Manager Wu tells you this stuff?”
Duan Ning: “We’re basically besties now. If she didn’t tell me, I’d sit on her and torture it out of her.”
Siyi: …
Stop. Some very unfortunate images were already forming in her head.
Helping Siyi carry the appraisal reports back, Duan Ning stood at the edge of her desk, sorting as she talked:
“And that Oliver claims he fired Wan Xin. What authority does a Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department manager have to fire someone from our department? Shameless. Lies straight off the cuff, without even drafting a script first.”
In truth, Duan Ning’s heart was a little panicked.
Even as she said all this, her head was full of Oliver trying to poach Siyi for his department.
She was somewhat afraid Siyi really would leave.
Without her, who knew what would become of the Gold, Stone, and Jade Department?
Of course she hoped Siyi would climb to the peak of her profession, hoped her dear friend would keep doing better and better in work and in life alike — Siyi deserved it.
It was just that the whole department had been working in unison to plan the crucial autumn auction. If she left now, those plans would be thrown into disarray…
Stop, stop — don’t think about it. Duan Ning tried hard to empty her mind.
Siyi would make her own decision. It wasn’t her place to butt in.
That afternoon, Manager Wu really did come looking for Siyi.
CEO Gu had mentioned it, she said. There was a vacancy over in the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department, Siyi’s specialty was a perfect fit, and her ability was more than a match.
It was up to her. If she wanted to go to the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department, the transfer could go through next month.
Manager Wu’s expression was calm — a rare look of actual leadership.
In truth she was controlling her face, hiding her reluctance so it wouldn’t pressure Siyi.
Seeing Siyi silent for a moment, Manager Wu broke into her familiar grin:
“What is there to hesitate about? Go, Xiao Jiang! Go to the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department — there’ll be a better space for your talents. If it were me, hesitating even half a second would be disrespecting my own future!”
Siyi: “I’d like to think it over.”
Manager Wu: “Mm. Giving yourself more time to think is fine too. Xiao Jiang, we’ve worked together a long while now — speaking as a friend, not as your manager — you deserve a bigger stage.”
The weather was turning cool.
In early-autumn J City, the white-and-blue palette of summer was gradually giving way to saturated gold.
Siyi strolled leisurely home, came in through the back courtyard, and through the kitchen window saw Lin Ji at the counter prepping vegetables.
Soup was already simmering on the stove.
The tak-tak-tak of the knife was smooth as silk, oddly soothing.
Only when she’d finished a round of chopping did Siyi come close.
Just as Lin Ji started to turn, Siyi leaned gently into her back.
Neither of them spoke. They simply stood there, quietly feeling each other’s heartbeat.
So the tall Lin Ji, who could carry her so effortlessly, had a body this slight — a thin, slender frame.
And her heartbeat, too, quickened because Siyi was near.
After a long moment, Siyi straightened up and stepped back on her own.
“Something on your mind?” Lin Ji set down the knife and turned to ask.
Siyi told her about the transfer.
She wanted Lin Ji’s opinion — she felt Lin Ji could give her the right answer.
Lin Ji braced one hand on the counter. “Is it that you don’t want to work with Oliver, or that you can’t let go of the Gold, Stone, and Jade Department?”
Siyi: “A bit of both.”
“If it’s the former, don’t worry. The fact that he came to you himself about the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department means he can weigh pros and cons and knows what’s good for him. He’ll be too busy holding you up to give you trouble again. If it’s the latter, there’s even less to worry about. Manager Wu encouraging you upward shows she’s genuinely on your side — she won’t resent you for leaving. If I were you, I’d transfer after the autumn auction. The planning you and your colleagues have poured themselves into all this time won’t go to waste, the autumn commissions will earn the department a full purse, and everyone will remember you kindly.”
What Lin Ji said matched Siyi’s own thinking almost exactly.
Her approval gave Siyi all the more confidence.
“I’m still a little reluctant…”
“Reluctant to leave the Gold, Stone, and Jade Department?”
Siyi nodded. “Mm. I can’t bear to leave Duan Ning — from our student days until now, she’s helped me so much, no strings attached. And Manager Wu. Back when Oliver refused me entry to the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department, she’s the one who brought me into the Gold, Stone, and Jade Department. She’s trusted me all along, given me so many opportunities, invested so much in me.”
Lin Ji tilted her head slightly, gazing at her wife. “Then all the more reason to climb. Only from a higher place will you have the power to repay them.”
Lin Ji’s words swept her mind clear.
Yes… everything Lin Ji said was right.
Standing still, her capacity to repay them was limited.
She had to climb. She had to hold more say, more power of her own.
Siyi felt much better. She knew what she would do. There was nothing left to hesitate over.
She stole a look at Lin Ji.
Lin Ji must have been through so much, solved so many problems, to be able to soothe her anxiety in a few plain sentences.
That sense of a dependable older sister became, in an instant, so concrete it made her chest burn.
Her thoughts were still drifting when Lin Ji’s hand cradled the back of her head and a kiss descended — lips parting softly, working into hers.
So sudden that Siyi half-stepped back, then slowly leaned in again, rising onto her toes.
That sweet kiss wound her heart tight, left it pounding.
A tingling warmth surged from her spine up to the very tip of her heart.
Just as she tried to kiss back, the soup boiled over all at once.
Lin Ji paused, then had no choice but to end the kiss and turn back to kill the heat.
Siyi, in her long dress, hands clasped behind her back, wandered a few aimless steps in place before going over to wipe down the dining table.
The author has something to say:
Lin Ji: Wife-pampering step thirty — earnestly helping my wife resolve every single matter.
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