Crossing the Line – Chapter 61
by Little PandaI Like You Too.
Early the next morning, Lin Ji’s car was already waiting downstairs at the hotel for Jiang Siyi.
She still insisted on driving her to work.
Siling had slept plenty on the plane, which didn’t stop her from sleeping soundly last night either.
Half-asleep, she heard her younger sister answer Lin Ji’s call, lying on the bed with half-open eyes:
“Coming to pick you up for work?”
Siyi: “Mm…”
“My my, someone’s being pampered.”
Flustered by her elder sister’s teasing, Siyi changed the subject.
“Your breakfast…”
“Don’t worry, go to work. I’m a grown adult, I’ll go eat on my own. Going back to sleep…”
After closing the door, Siyi arrived at the outdoor parking lot downstairs and saw Lin Ji standing outside the car, waiting for her.
September had arrived, and J City wasn’t as hot anymore, though the sunlight was still abundant.
The woman waiting for her had a head of long black curls, dyed caramel by the morning sun.
Aloof eyes gazed only in the direction Siyi would come from.
When the figure she had been waiting for appeared, they softened slightly.
Specks of laughter and light fell into those dark pupils—everyone else in her field of vision was a passerby, and she watched only that one person.
With her straight shoulders, narrow waist, and striking silhouette, Lin Ji was too conspicuously beautiful. Siyi spotted her from far away.
Under that ever-focused gaze, her footsteps faltered slightly, wanting to reach Lin Ji’s side faster.
Just two steps away, her foot caught on a raised brick.
Jiang Siyi: !
Her body pitched forward involuntarily—Lin Ji stepped forward and caught her steadily.
“Careful.”
In her panic, she instinctively threw her arms around Lin Ji to keep her balance.
When she came to her senses, she found herself wrapped tightly around Lin Ji’s waist, pressed entirely against her chest—a complete and total case of throwing herself into Lin Ji’s arms.
“Sorry, it was an accident…”
Siyi immediately tried to let go and stand straight.
“It’s fine.”
Lin Ji grasped the arms about to leave her waist, pulled them back around herself, and held them there.
“It’s fine even if it wasn’t.”
Jiang Siyi, forced to keep hugging Lin Ji: ?
It was morning and everyone was busy; few people would notice two women embracing in a corner of the parking lot.
Why did it feel like Lin Ji was a bit clingy today?
“Did you sleep well last night?”
Chest to chest, there was a risk of her racing heartbeat being detected, yet she didn’t want to pull away.
“Don’t worry, I slept well.”
Lin Ji breathed in the scent that put her at ease, holding the body that made her feel grounded.
It was the truth—she slept much better than before, when Siyi wasn’t there.
Of course, with her bedmate absent and having learned something important, her thoughts had been too active—she hadn’t managed six hours of sleep.
Last night.
“I chose Jiang Siyi myself? I chose her to be my fiancée?”
“Yes, you chose her.” Lin Xuebo smiled. “You were six, I think. Our family and the Jiang family went on vacation together. Siyi’s mother and grandmother were both still around.”
What she was like at six years old, Lin Ji no longer remembered.
The truth was, the beautiful memories from before her seventh birthday, the personality that was still being shaped—nearly all of it had been destroyed by that catastrophic kidnapping.
When it came to childhood, what Lin Ji recalled was extreme suffering, sleepless terror, life-and-death struggle, and wounds that still couldn’t be smoothed over to this day.
She never expected that one year before the event that tore her life apart, there had been forgotten moments of warmth.
Siyi’s grandmother and Lin Ji’s grandmother were old comrades. That winter, the two elderly women went to a warm southern island to spend the season.
It happened to be Lin Ji’s grandmother’s birthday, so Lin Xuebo prepared gifts and brought Lin Ji to visit.
Siyi’s mother, Tao Xu, also brought her two daughters along.
Lin Ji was six at the time, and she boldly took the little Jiang sisters out to play on her own.
By the time the parents noticed, all three children had already come back from playing.
Lin Ji was carrying a sleeping Siyi, exhausted from play, her clothes covered in dust from who knows where.
Siling, meanwhile, was tugging at Lin Ji’s hem, her head decorated with cobwebs and a bonus leaf.
Tao Xu was speechless.
She asked Siling: “Why aren’t you carrying your younger sister?”
Siling’s voice was loud and self-righteous.
“I can’t carry her!”
Tao Xu: …
Tao Xu thanked little Lin Ji and was about to take her daughter back.
Lin Ji wouldn’t let go—and wouldn’t even let the biological mother hold her.
“I worked so hard to coax her to sleep.”
Tao Xu looked at Lin Xuebo, who was equally surprised.
Her daughter’s personality was actually quite similar to her own childhood self—rather introverted and solitary.
She was also precocious, never liking to play with kids her own age.
Let alone little Jiang Meimei who was three years her junior—she even found kids three years her senior childish.
Aside from plush toys, she had never held anything this tightly.
Lin Ji didn’t want to let go of Siyi, so Tao Xu let her hold on and took Siling to bathe—she was the dirty one.
Lin Ji sat down on the sofa with the sleeping Siyi in her arms.
A layer of sweat covered her forehead.
Lin Xuebo helped wipe her sweat, and she asked her mother for another tissue to wipe the sleeping Siyi’s sweat too.
The stray hairs at Siyi’s temples were damp with sweat, and Lin Ji carefully dabbed them dry.
The two grandmothers were still reminiscing about the old days—they shared a bond forged through life and death. Seeing their granddaughters hit it off right away, they asked Lin Xuebo and Tao Xu whether they’d like to arrange a betrothal, to keep the friendship between the two families lasting forever, adding kinship to kinship.
Lin Ji and Siling were close in age, so the grandmothers initially thought of arranging the betrothal between the two of them.
Lin Xuebo always respected Lin Ji’s opinions, so she asked her:
“How about arranging a betrothal with the Jiang family’s older girl, Siling?”
The six-year-old girl asked seriously: “What’s a betrothal?”
Lin Xuebo: “It means… growing up and getting married, spending a lifetime together.”
Lin Ji furrowed her little brow and asked: “What about Meimei?”
This “Meimei,” of course, referred to Jiang Siyi.
Lin Xuebo: “Meimei? Meimei will marry someone else, and have another person to spend her life with.”
Hearing this, Lin Ji held the sleeping Siyi even tighter.
As if someone would snatch her away right then and there.
“Can’t I marry Meimei? If I don’t hold her, she’ll cry.”
The child roughly knew what marriage was, and roughly knew what a lifetime meant.
Only roughly.
The most concrete feeling at that moment was simply an unwillingness to let go of the person in her arms.
She couldn’t bear to see this Meimei—beautiful as an elf, fragile as a dewdrop—shed another tear.
She liked her more than all her plush toys combined.
She didn’t want to let her go.
The adults heard this and understood perfectly, exchanging amused glances.
In the end, the grandmothers took charge and arranged the betrothal between Lin Ji and Jiang Siyi.
…
After Lin Xuebo finished speaking, Lin Ji gradually recalled a few scenes and feelings.
She believed everything Lin Xuebo had said was true.
She had always believed there was an indescribable destiny between her and Jiang Siyi.
After all, when her life had reached a dead end, when she had given up hope of surviving, Jiang Siyi had saved her.
The letter still preserved in the climate-controlled cabinet could testify to that.
Lin Xuebo had always wanted to ask Lin Ji.
“Does Siyi remember this? You two were the original parties to the betrothal.”
Lin Ji: “She’s never mentioned it. She probably doesn’t remember.”
Lin Xuebo was a bit regretful. “Yes, it’s possible. She was so young then.”
When the grandmothers verbally arranged the betrothal, Siyi was only three.
One year later, Lin Ji’s accident happened.
No one ever brought up the betrothal again, until the engagement was changed to a different match.
Even when the engagement was changed, Siyi was only in kindergarten—it was perfectly normal not to remember things from when she was even younger.
Lin Ji: “It’s fine. I’ll tell her.”
Lin Xuebo nodded, but she was worried.
To talk about this, she would inevitably have to mention the kidnapping.
For Xiao You, who had only just begun to improve, it wasn’t something easy to bring up.
For anyone, it would be hard to bring up.
Lying in bed, Lin Ji’s thoughts swirled in every direction.
It was nearly one in the morning. Not wanting Siyi to worry about her sleep, she hugged the mushroom plushie Siyi had brought from her old rental apartment and slowly found her way to drowsiness.
She came to the hotel early in the morning to pick up Siyi for work.
And refused to sit in the car.
Just stood outside, where she could see Siyi the moment she appeared.
The warmth and closeness around her waist made her greedy for more.
She just couldn’t hold on too long—someone was thin-skinned.
After dropping Siyi off at the company, Lin Ji didn’t ask whether she would be coming home tonight. She walked Siyi to the elevator in silence, standing with her in the crowd waiting for the doors to open.
Siyi was certain now—it wasn’t her imagination. Lin Ji was definitely clingy today.
Was it because she hadn’t come home last night?
At the office, a cup of coffee in the break room to wake up was a daily morning essential.
Siyi drank her coffee and spaced out for a moment, then sent a WeChat message to her elder sister.
Sanzhuang Tusi: 【Hotel breakfast is until 10 o’clock, don’t forget to eat.】
Ochre: 【I already finished eating!】
Ochre: 【Baby, you don’t need to come keep me company tonight, I’m totally fine. It’s you— if you don’t go home, your newlywed wife will get lonely~】
Ochre: 【You get it.jpg】
Jiang Siyi: …
She felt that ever since her elder sister’s romantic wiring had clicked on, she had become a bit more lively.
Unlike before, when she had only had her head buried in painting.
Ochre: 【I’m also meeting up with old friends anyway. Don’t worry, keep in touch~】
Sanzhuang Tusi: 【Okay, be careful.】
Ochre: 【Relax, I survived abroad on my own. Also, if Jiang Luo shows up at your company, absolutely do not engage him. Tell me immediately!】
After Siyi replied to her sister with a 【Mm-hmm】 sticker, she quickly tapped open the pinned chat.
Sanzhuang Tusi: 【I’m coming home tonight!】
She had already sent it, but that exclamation mark felt a bit too excited.
As if it were hinting at eagerly anticipating something.
Just as she was thinking about recalling it, Lin Ji replied.
，: 【Okay, waiting for you.】
Jiang Siyi: …
True, most of the time she replied quickly, but there were also busy times when it took half an hour.
But whenever she wanted to recall a message, it would always be seen and replied to instantly.
Not a sliver of room for regret.
Siyi had no choice but to say: 【I want to have dinner with Jiejie, then I’ll head back.】
，: 【Mm, waiting for you.】
Sanzhuang Tusi: 【This shouldn’t count as not coming home for dinner, right?】
She still remembered Lin Ji telling her she would come home for dinner every night from now on.
，: 【It doesn’t. Waiting for you.】
Siyi couldn’t help but laugh.
How could someone just keep parroting the same thing.
While Siyi was texting Lin Ji, she didn’t notice Oliver lingering at the doorway, watching her back for a while.
He wanted to wait until she looked up from her phone to call out to her.
Before the London exchange conference, Oliver had messaged Siyi on WeChat, with a bellyful of things he wanted to say to her.
But she hadn’t replied at all.
Now that they had finally returned from London, Oliver figured if she wouldn’t reply on WeChat, he would just talk to her face to face.
Siyi slipped her phone into her pocket. Oliver was just about to speak when Duan Ning called out from the other side:
“Siyi, meeting time.”
“Coming.”
Siyi picked up her coffee mug and notebook and headed to the conference room with Duan Ning, completely missing Oliver.
Oliver wanted to call out to her, but the opportunity had already slipped away.
The morning passed quickly.
After the meeting, she and Duan Ning went to the warehouse to log in a few new auction items.
Then a video call with a collector, answering questions about collection portfolios online.
In the blink of an eye, it was lunch break.
All the colleagues in the office had left; only Duan Ning was still waiting for her.
Duan Ning: “Finally done with you. Come on—a new creative cuisine restaurant just opened across the street at the mall. I barely managed to get a reservation, let’s go!”
Duan Ning loved trying new things the most—she would be first in line to “judge” every trending spot in J City.
Since Siyi had helped her performance soar, Duan Ning always thought of Siyi whenever there was good food or fun to be had.
Lunch left her belly stuffed—it was delicious, but right after eating, a carb coma hit her hard.
Back downstairs at Jiashibi, Siyi saw a person standing not far away—a middle-aged man.
Duan Ning had been walking arm in arm with Siyi just fine, but noticed her footsteps halt.
“You go up first,” Siyi said to Duan Ning.
Duan Ning looked at the middle-aged man—head of graying hair, thin as a rail, standing by a smoking bin stuffed with cigarette butts, a cigarette still dangling from his lips. When he saw Siyi, he immediately ground out the cigarette and walked toward her.
Duan Ning: “I’ll stay with you. That person…”
Doesn’t look like a good person.
She left the second half unsaid, sensing that his features were somewhat familiar.
Given his age, could he be Siyi’s father?
It was indeed Jiang Luo. He had been waiting here for Siyi for nearly an hour.
Duan Ning thought for a moment, then said: “I’ll wait for you from a distance. I won’t leave. Call me if anything happens.”
Siyi: “Mm.”
As Duan Ning walked away, she shot Jiang Luo a sharp glare that said “I’m watching you.”
Jiang Luo had been here not long ago, too.
Compared to last time, when he had arrived in a car with subordinates, forcefully blocking Siyi, interrogating her with condescension, and ordering her around from on high—this time he had come alone, and his clothes were disgracefully rumpled, carrying a desolate sense of better days long gone.
His hair was white and disheveled, his face covered in unkempt stubble.
The first word that came to mind at the sight of him was—withered.
He looked as though his life force had been drained dry, leaving only a husk reeking of cigarette smoke.
Jiang Luo was about to speak when a woman rounded the corner from behind the Jiashibi building.
Zhou Ni.
Once again on bodyguard duty, Zhou Ni stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the glass curtain wall, fixing Jiang Luo with an icy stare.
She hadn’t uttered half a word, yet his arms already ached in phantom pain.
Her presence was thoroughly intimidating.
From a distance, Duan Ning kept her eyes fixed on Siyi while simultaneously calling Manager Wu.
Telling her to come over right this instant to protect their star auctioneer!
Jiang Luo: “Siyi, don’t be afraid of Dad. Dad won’t hurt you. It’s just… you’ve probably heard, your younger brother had an accident and urgently needs money. Could you lend me a little for emergencies?”
His attitude was good to the point of humility.
Siyi had already anticipated his purpose and simply said:
“I have no obligation to lend you anything.”
She was in a good mood today and didn’t want Jiang Luo to ruin it.
Hearing this, Jiang Luo’s expression shifted slightly, and he let out a hollow laugh.
“I knew it—you’re a cold-blooded creature with a heart of ice. I didn’t want to bring it up, but you’re forcing me to.”
Jiang Luo clenched his fists but didn’t dare actually approach, only saying:
“If Song Ti hadn’t promised to give Jiang Cheng a motorcycle and then never delivered, he wouldn’t have raced someone in a bet just to win that bike! He’s only eighteen, and now he’s lying in the hospital with a vacant stare, no different from a corpse, and yet…”
And yet he wouldn’t die. He swallowed the second half of the sentence back.
He steadied his emotions and continued:
“Shouldn’t you take some responsibility? You’re living well now—you can’t just abandon your family.”
Her sister had warned her that Jiang Luo might come looking for her, but she had thought he probably wouldn’t.
After all, last time they had had such an ugly scene that he had been hauled off to the police station.
From Jiang Luo to Zhao Jun and Jiang Cheng, she had blocked them all—it was a complete and irreparable rupture.
She hadn’t expected to still underestimate Jiang Luo’s shamelessness.
He couldn’t get through two sentences of fawning before resorting to begging.
She often felt bewildered by this world.
Why were there always people who were despicable and foul themselves, yet had the audacity to shift blame and point fingers back at others?
Siyi: “Whether my life is good or bad, I have lived it on my own. How long have I been cut off from your Jiang family? I have never relied on any of you—you know that better than anyone. Jiang Cheng was the one who asked Song Ti for the motorcycle. He brought it up himself. Whether he kills himself racing today or dies from anything else, it is his own choice, and it is all your family’s business. You and Zhao Jun raised him to be this way. It has nothing to do with me. I will say it again: I have no obligation to help.”
“Your mother…”
With every tactic exhausted, he still resorted to bringing up her mother.
Siyi was no longer angry, because she knew Jiang Luo was already an empty shell—devoid of energy, devoid of any power to intimidate.
She said slowly: “Jiang Luo, haven’t you realized? From the moment you sold her original vision—the company she first founded, the life’s work she was most reluctant to part with—your career went into a decline, plummeted, and never recovered.”
Siyi’s words cracked open something blood-red deep inside Jiang Luo.
His face went deathly pale.
“Your bankruptcy, your descent into ruin—these are all your own choices. Whether or not I have the ability to help, I will not help. From now on, whether your family falls apart or illness consumes you, it has nothing to do with me, and I will absolutely never intervene.”
This was her last conversation with Jiang Luo.
She had said everything she had left to say, completely and thoroughly.
Siyi walked toward Duan Ning and Manager Wu, who had just arrived.
Jiang Luo steeled himself and tried to follow, but Zhou Ni strolled over unhurriedly and blocked his path.
“Miss Jiang is far too polite.”
Zhou Ni looked at Jiang Luo sidelong.
“Dog. Get lost.”
Jiang Luo hadn’t dampened Siyi’s mood or affected her afternoon work.
It was only over dinner with her elder sister Siling that evening that she mentioned it.
Siling was a bit worried at first—why hadn’t her younger sister told her right away?
But once she learned that department colleagues and the bodyguard Lin Ji had assigned were all protecting Siyi, and that Jiang Luo hadn’t bullied her, Siling was relieved.
Siling hadn’t returned to West 5th District immediately, naturally, because she feared Jiang Luo might harm her younger sister.
With her here, at least there was someone to consult with if anything happened.
At the same time, she also wanted to observe more of how Lin Ji and her younger sister interacted.
They had married so quickly—no matter what, as the older sister, she had to keep a watchful eye out for her younger sister.
And there was another matter that had been lingering on her mind, which now finally seemed possible.
Siling: “After the Jiang Family Old Mansion was sealed, will it go to judicial auction?”
Siyi: “Given Jiang Luo’s situation, it’s possible. Are you thinking…”
Siling nodded. “We grew up in that house. So many memories of Mom are still there. Before, we didn’t have the means, so we could only let Jiang Luo and Zhao Jun take it over. Now that there’s a real chance to buy it back, why not?”
Her sister’s words stirred Siyi’s heart.
“It’s just a shame that the company Mom founded… the price is too high. I don’t know if we’ll ever have the chance to get it back in this lifetime.”
Siling sighed softly.
By the time the sisters finished discussing the old mansion, it was already very late.
Siyi glanced at the time—oh no, it was almost midnight.
She had promised to come home tonight.
She didn’t know if Lin Ji had fallen asleep yet.
On her way home, Siyi pulled out the confession plan she had been working on for Lin Ji and continued narrowing down her options.
Her sister’s sudden return and the Jiang family drama had disrupted Siyi’s confession plan.
It was still so hard to choose.
As she crossed the courtyard lit with garden lights, Siyi thought—what if she waited for the wedding as the perfect opportunity to confess?
But the month had just begun, and the wedding was next month.
Did she really have to wait another month?
She didn’t want to wait.
Amid her swirling thoughts, she noticed the living room light was still on.
She pushed open the door—Xueqiu was already waiting for her.
Siyi scooped up the little furball wagging its tail frantically, and saw Lin Ji on the sofa, just setting down a book.
She had promised to come home tonight, but had ended up so late. Siyi felt a bit guilty.
She sat down beside Lin Ji and took her hand on her own initiative.
She explained that she had had dinner with Jiejie, that they had gotten to talking about the Jiang family, and she had lost track of time.
Mentioning her sister also reminded her of the Fan Qing mix-up that she hadn’t yet had the chance to apologize to Lin Ji for.
As Siyi talked on and on, patiently explaining, Lin Ji’s wrist turned slightly and clasped her hand in return.
“You don’t need to explain. I wouldn’t get angry or misunderstand over something so small.”
Soft long curls draped over her delicate collarbones, the reading lamp illuminating the perfect curve of her face—elegant, tranquil, like a late-blooming noble flower.
Her fingertips brushed across the back of Siyi’s hand, her clear voice carrying a texture that belonged only to the night.
“I was just waiting for you to come home.”
The utmost gentleness—yet it rolled over Siyi’s heart like a freight train.
Aching and swelling, restless.
When you first fall for someone, your heart sways—elated, then anxious, terrified of gain and loss.
You want to give her romance, want every step to carry a sense of ceremony.
But when you have fallen completely, when you love her with your whole being, that hesitant heart bursts wide open.
All you can think about is letting her in, holding her tight, and giving her everything.
Xueqiu jumped from Siyi’s arms onto Lin Ji’s lap.
Lin Ji gathered it into her embrace.
Siyi: “…I like you.”
Lin Ji, stroking Xueqiu’s head: “I know Xueqiu likes me.”
“Not just him.”
Through a heartbeat so fast it ached, Siyi gazed into Lin Ji’s eyes and said:
“I like you too.”
It turned out that a confession didn’t need a ceremony, didn’t need a venue, didn’t need careful selection.
Didn’t even need good weather.
It only needed to be me. It only needed to be you.
The author has something to say:
Lin Ji: Today is a day of almost being spoiled rotten by my wife ｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<)･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<)･ﾟﾟ･｡
Then, next chapter U・ᴥ・U
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