Chapter 27

After arriving home, the drowsiness brought on by the alcohol finally washed over Shu Shiran. Her social media feed was buzzing, and there were several private messages waiting, but she ignored them all, took a shower, turned off her phone, and went straight to bed.

She slept until past ten the next morning.

Upon waking, Shu Shiran lay in bed and switched her phone back on. A flood of missed call notifications popped up one after another. She glanced at them briefly before opening WeChat. Her post from the previous night had received countless likes and comments from both acquaintances and strangers alike.

Shu Shiran skimmed through them, then closed the app to return some messages. A call came in—it was her uncle, Xue Sheng.

She sat up and answered.

"Uncle?"

"Ranran, I only just saw your and Ji Xi's post after Xue Fu told me about it. You two registered your marriage??"

Shu Shiran replied, "Yes."

Xue Sheng said, "Why so sudden? You gave me quite a shock."

Shu Shiran answered, "We felt we were a good match, and we’re at the right age, so we just went ahead and did it."

The impact of this news on Xue Sheng was slightly less jarring than it was for others, especially since he had secretly hoped they would end up together. After the initial surprise, he accepted it quickly.

"Call Ji Xi another day, let's have a meal together."

Shu Shiran said, "Alright, Uncle."

Xue Sheng replied, "That's settled then."

As they were about to hang up, Xue Fu’s voice came from the other end: "Get it scheduled soon, Sis! I'm heading back to the States soon and I haven't even met my brother-in-law yet!"

After finishing the call, Shu Shiran saw Zheng Tingyan asking in their small group chat if she was awake.

-Shu Shiran: Awake.
-Zheng Tingyan: Once you turned your phone off, so many people started asking us about it.
-Zheng Tingyan: The news of you marrying Ji Xi is absolutely explosive.
-Shu Shiran: Sorry for the trouble.
-Zheng Tingyan: Not at all!
-Zheng Tingyan: You have no idea how crazy it was last night.
-Xu Ying: Ji Tang even messaged me last night to ask about it.
-Xu Ying: I heard the Ji family is furious.

Shu Shiran recalled what she had overheard Ji Tang say at the bar on the night of Wu Tianqi’s birthday. The Ji family had completely fallen out with Ji Xi; they couldn't control him, yet they still had to swallow their pride and rely on his money. The only thing that still gave the Ji family a sense of superiority was Ji Xi’s status as an illegitimate son. Now that he had turned around and married her, of course they would be angry.

But the Ji family's reaction had nothing to do with her.

-Zheng Tingyan: And Zhao Siling.
-Zheng Tingyan: I heard she was throwing a fit last night, hahaha.

***

Chunxiang held a general meeting every Monday morning, which everyone on the various projects attended unless they were on business trips. The atmosphere in the meeting room this morning was unusual.

When the meeting was nearly over, Shu Shiran met the curious, gossiping gazes of her colleagues and said, "I’m married. Many of you know the person—it’s Ji Xi. I’ll order lunch and treat everyone today."

With fewer than twenty people in the firm, gossip spread quickly. Besides, Shu Shiran hadn't blocked them from her social media post. Throughout the entire weekend, all of Chunxiang’s small group chats had been buzzing with speculation.

"Yay!"
"Congrats, Sharon!"
"Happy wedding!"
"Congratulations!"
...

After the meeting, Dai Jiao followed Shu Shiran to her office to discuss the aftermath of Friday night.

"That woman with the guy named Yan—does she have a grudge against you?" She was referring to Sheng Yao.

Shu Shiran replied, "I've never gotten along with her best friend."

Dai Jiao said, "No wonder. Do you think she has a crush on Ji Xi?"

Shu Shiran had just set a stack of project plans on her desk. Her hands paused as she pictured Ji Xi’s face, which seemed designed to attract trouble.

"I wouldn't know. But her best friend definitely has eyes for him."

Dai Jiao made a clicking sound with her tongue and said, "And that guy named Yan—after you left, he looked like a ghost. I don't know who he was trying to impress; it was bizarre. It was clearly him who cheated."

Shu Shiran said, "Whatever happens to him has nothing to do with me anymore."

Dai Jiao nodded. "I told him to stay away." She sighed, "I have to say, a man like Ji Xi is just too smooth. When he called you 'Wife' right in front of that guy and that woman, I was so excited I almost screamed. It was so satisfying. He’s really hard for anyone to resist; no wonder he’s so popular with women."

Ji Xi had always been like this: cool, roguish, and effortlessly in control. Shu Shiran remembered her own impulsive behavior at the time and set a mental alarm for herself. He was a player from Wall Street, after all—of course he would be smooth.

Seeing Shu Shiran drift off, Dai Jiao asked curiously, "Did you go home together later?"

Shu Shiran answered, "...We went our separate ways."

In the afternoon, Wu Tianqi came to Shu Shiran's office.

"Sharon, I’ve sent you my reflections on Friday’s lecture."

Shu Shiran nodded. "Let me take a look."

She opened Wu Tianqi's document on her computer and found it was much longer than she had expected.

"You wrote this quite seriously."

Wu Tianqi said, "Of course."

And it was a piece he had written under very difficult circumstances. On Friday night at the club, he had only managed to write one sentence, and he had spent all of Saturday gossiping. After Ji Xi and Shu Shiran posted their marriage certificate photos on social media, many friends had come to him asking if it was real or if there was some inside story. After all, one was his friend and the other was his boss. How was he supposed to know? He had only found out an hour earlier than the rest of them.

By Sunday, when he planned to write his reflections, he had been dragged out by Feng Kuan to go drinking. To their group, Shu Shiran getting married felt like they had all been dumped. When she had broken up before, they had been overjoyed, thinking their chance had come. Who could have imagined that only a few months later, she would be married!

Feng Kuan had dragged Wu Tianqi along to drink his sorrows away.

"I never imagined the one to get there first would be Ji Xi!"
"No wonder he blocked me from going to find Shu Shiran at your birthday party. How cunning!"
"You’re with her every day, how did you not know anything?"
"What use are you as a friend?"

After all that, seeing Wu Tianqi staring at his phone, Feng Kuan was furious. Seeing the cola in his glass made him even angrier.

"I'm so heartbroken, and you're still playing on your phone instead of listening to me!"

Wu Tianqi replied, "I'm listening, I'm listening. I'm not playing on my phone; I'm writing. I have a report due tomorrow."

Watching him frown and rack his brains, Feng Kuan said, "I think you've fallen in love with this job."

Wu Tianqi: ???

"You have to clock in on time every morning, work overtime constantly, and write essays on the weekend. Would you fall in love with that?" Only a fool would.

Feng Kuan said, "I would. Too bad they won't give me the chance; I’d even pay them to let me work there."

Wu Tianqi: "..."

Feng Kuan asked, "Then why are you being so serious about it?"

Wu Tianqi answered, "I have to."

Feng Kuan said, "Why do you have to? She wouldn't do anything to you."

This remark reminded Wu Tianqi. That was true; she couldn't really do anything to him. But then he thought of the way Shu Shiran looked at people, and he felt he couldn't slack off.

"You don't know how terrifying she is."

Feng Kuan said, "She's so gentle, how is she terrifying?"

Wu Tianqi answered, "That's just it—she's both gentle and terrifying."

Feng Kuan said, "Well, I wish she’d terrify me."

Wu Tianqi: "..." What a pervert.

Feng Kuan took a sip of his drink, set the glass down, and sighed. "Damn it! I wonder if they'll get a divorce."

Wu Tianqi downed half a glass of cola in one go. "Damn it! If I’d known I had to write a report, I would’ve actually listened that day."

After finishing the report, Shu Shiran asked, "You even looked up reference materials?"

Wu Tianqi nodded. Having no idea what else to write, he had looked up some of the guest speakers' past projects.

Shu Shiran said, "It’s well-written."

Complimented, Wu Tianqi felt great. "I knew I had some talent in this area."

Seeing that Wu Tianqi didn't leave after she finished reading, Shu Shiran asked, "Do you want to ask about my marriage to Ji Xi?"

Wu Tianqi said, "Sister Ran, you guys were not cool at all, keeping it a secret from me."

Shu Shiran replied, "There was a reason for keeping it quiet before."

Wu Tianqi asked, "It wasn't the reason Ji Xi gave, was it?"

Shu Shiran raised her eyes. "You asked him? What did he say?"

Wu Tianqi answered, "He said you were shy."

Shu Shiran: "..." She really shouldn't have expected him to say anything sensible.

***

Shu Shiran had two business trips this week, both short-distance. On Wednesday, she took Wu Tianqi and Yuanyuan to Suzhou to meet a client and check on a construction site.

After working under Shu Shiran for several months, Wu Tianqi was no longer as naive as he had been at the start. Not every client was as easy to talk to as Ji Xi. It wasn't just that their demands were numerous; some were downright unreasonable. Her colleagues often sighed, "We must have done something wrong in our past lives to become the service provider in this one."

As they left the site in the evening, Shu Shiran received a call from Ji Xi. She told Wu Tianqi and Yuanyuan to get in the car first while she stood outside to answer.

"Hello?"

Ji Xi’s voice came through: "When are you off work?"

Shu Shiran asked, "What's wrong?"

Ji Xi said, "I'm about to go have dinner with your father."

"Dinner with my father?" Shu Shiran was very surprised.

Ji Xi replied, "Your father reached out to me."

Shu Shiran asked, "He called you?"

Ji Xi hummed, his tone languid: "The father-in-law asked for me; I couldn't refuse."

"..."

The term "father-in-law" caught Shu Shiran off guard. She tucked a strand of hair blown by the wind behind her ear and said, "I'm still in Suzhou. It'll probably take two hours to drive back at this time. Maybe you shouldn't go."

Ji Xi replied, "I already promised. I'll go myself. It's just a meal; it won't be a trap."

Shu Shiran said, "That's not necessarily true."

Over the phone, Ji Xi chuckled, "Then you’ll have to come save me."

Though he claimed he needed saving, there wasn't a hint of worry or tension in his tone.

Shu Shiran thought for a moment and said, "Send me the location when you get there. I'll see if I can make it."

Ji Xi replied, "Sure."

After hanging up, Shu Shiran got into the car. Wu Tianqi looked back and asked with a smile, "Sister Ran, was that Ji Xi?"

Shu Shiran asked, "How did you know?"

Wu Tianqi answered, "He just messaged me to tell me to drive slowly."

Yuanyuan added, "Wow! I never would have guessed he was such a thoughtful person."

Shu Shiran said, "...Just drive."

The highway was packed at this hour; driving fast was impossible. Midway, Shu Shiran received the location and private room number from Ji Xi. He and her father had already met.

The Shu family had been in the gold and jewelry business in Nancheng and Hongcheng for years, and they had expanded into the real estate industry during her grandfather’s generation.