Chapter 48
Jiang Siyi felt that her girlfriend had separation anxiety.
She had three days left before her business trip, and she could have spent this time sleeping and writing.
But Shen Shiwu had dragged her to the office to sit and stare blankly.
This was her first time back here in four years.
Not much had changed, the black and white color scheme still the same. Jiang Siyi sat at the desk, remembering the times she had been forced to do her homework here.
The memory of those tedious math problems was still fresh in her mind, and as she recalled those moments from when she was eighteen, especially the times she had been punished for not being able to solve a problem, her heart skipped a beat.
Someone tapped her head lightly with a pen.
Jiang Siyi instinctively looked down, as if about to start doing her homework, then, snapping back to reality, she saw Shen Shiwu looking at her, a smile playing on her lips.
“Student Jiang, what are you daydreaming about?”
The memories did feel like they were breaking through the barriers of time and space.
Jiang Siyi rubbed her eyes and grumbled, “You dragged me here without even letting me bring my laptop, and you have the nerve to ask me what I’m thinking about?”
“So busy every night, and you still have the energy to write?”
“Ah,” she gasped dramatically, her smile mischievous, “don’t tell me you got your inspiration from this?”
Facing the current Shen Shiwu, Jiang Siyi felt that her own ability to talk nonsense paled in comparison.
She put on a stern face, glared at the woman beside her, then started playing on her phone.
It was already eleven o’clock, and her stomach rumbled softly in protest. Jiang Siyi pretended not to notice, continuing to read the script on her phone.
There was a knock on the door, and Shen Shiwu, pausing her work, said, “Come in.”
Jiang Siyi looked up and saw her assistant walk in, carrying a table.
She frowned, puzzled, then saw several chefs following behind, each carrying two dishes, placing them on the table in an orderly manner.
After that, they quickly left, closing the door softly behind them.
“What are you up to now?” Jiang Siyi asked, smelling the delicious aroma, although tempted, she still maintained her composure.
“It’s lunchtime,” Shen Shiwu said calmly, taking off her glasses. “You like Thai food, so I hired chefs from Thailand to make it for you.”
“And had it delivered.”
At this rate, Jiang Siyi felt that Shen Shiwu was going to spoil her rotten again. She mumbled, “I’m a grown-up now… no need to be so extravagant, even having lunch delivered.”
“You are a grown-up,” Shen Shiwu twirled a pen between her fingers, then tapped it on the table, “but unfortunately, you’re still under my care.”
***
After the satisfying meal, Jiang Siyi leaned back in her chair, rubbing her full stomach, thinking that being spoiled by Shen Shiwu wasn’t such a bad option after all.
Daydreaming was her usual post-meal activity.
Just as she was lost in thought, someone patted her head.
Jiang Siyi looked up, startled, and before she could react, she was kissed on the cheek.
She had wanted to protest this for a long time.
So, she said, slightly annoyed, “Can you stop suddenly kissing me?”
“Sure,” Shen Shiwu said agreeably, “I’ll give you a warning next time.”
“…”
“I have a meeting downstairs, I’ll be back after that. The password to my computer is your birthday. You can use it to write if you want.”
As if her computer wasn’t much better than hers.
Jiang Siyi waved her hand dismissively, not feeling the slightest bit tempted. “I know, you can go now.”
After sitting cross-legged for a while, she glanced at the time and realized that if she didn’t start working on her manuscript soon, she might be assassinated by Lin Yusheng before the new year.
She reluctantly got up and sat down in Shen Shiwu’s chair.
The leather sofa was comfortable, still carrying Shen Shiwu’s faint scent, making Jiang Siyi almost drowsy.
She rubbed her eyes, then her sleepiness instantly vanished—Shen Shiwu had set her photo as the desktop wallpaper.
Seeing her own face magnified several times, Jiang Siyi was startled.
Opening her writing software and logging into her account, the great author began her writing journey. Just as she was typing, a new email notification popped up. It was from Yang Yu.
[We’re friends, aren’t we? It’s not very nice of you to block me, Senior.]
Jiang Siyi’s fingers froze on the keyboard.
She stared at the words, wanting to ignore it, but she felt a surge of anger.
Unable to hold back, she replied using Shen Shiwu’s account: “I’m her girlfriend, can I help you?”
For the next two hours, there was no response from the other end. This was Jiang Siyi’s first time confronting Yang Yu directly, and she had to admit—it felt good.
Perhaps because she was in a good mood, she wrote twice as fast as usual. During a break, she logged into her long-neglected Weibo account.
She rarely updated her social media, practically a once-a-year poster. As soon as she logged in, she was greeted by a flood of notifications, mostly greetings from readers, and messages from other publishing houses trying to poach her.
As she was scrolling through the messages, she suddenly saw a message from an old reader.
The account hadn’t changed in years, still using the default profile picture and a random string of characters as the username. Clicking into the chat, she saw that the reader had been sending her a message almost every day since she disappeared from social media: “Why haven’t you been posting? Are you feeling down lately?”
“How’s your new book coming along?”
“How’s the weather in London? Does it still snow a lot in winter?”
Jiang Siyi scrolled to the top and saw that her last reply was from three years ago.
She suddenly felt a pang of guilt.
She typed for a while before finally sending a reply: “Hello, I haven’t been active on social media lately. Thank you for your continued support.”
It was a formal reply, but there was nothing she could do—if it had been a few years ago, when she was still an unknown writer, chatting casually wouldn’t have been a big deal. But now, it was best to be careful with her words and actions.
Since the account looked fake, with no posts on the profile page, Jiang Siyi didn’t expect a reply.
After all these years, the reader might have moved on to other authors.
In the evening, Shen Shiwu finally finished her meetings. On the way home, Jiang Siyi suddenly craved candied hawthorns, but it wasn’t the season for them, and even if she could find some, they wouldn’t be fresh.
She had only mentioned it casually, her true intention being to go to the nearby shopping mall. Shen Shiwu, always indulging her, turned the car around.
The mall was crowded in the evening, and parking spots were scarce. After driving around for a while, they finally found a spot and walked out. The summer night breeze was refreshing, and Jiang Siyi squinted, feeling Shen Shiwu’s hand holding hers.
Shen Shiwu patted her head. “Watch where you’re going.”
Jiang Siyi responded with an “Oh” and continued squinting.
“They definitely won’t have candied hawthorns, let’s have soufflé instead.” Jiang Siyi suddenly craved something sweet. “Or dorayaki.”
Shen Shiwu chuckled helplessly. “Okay, we’ll get both.”
Having had a large lunch and now filling her stomach with sweets, Jiang Siyi felt like she would gain twenty pounds in a few days.
“Here, have some,” she offered Shen Shiwu her dorayaki.
Shen Shiwu raised an eyebrow. “How generous of you.”
Jiang Siyi almost snatched it back, pouting. “Don’t act like I usually mistreat you.”
“Okay,” the woman took a bite of the matcha ice cream filling, “then feed me again when we get home tonight.”
“And I’ll admit you don’t mistreat me.”
Jiang Siyi didn’t even bother smiling this time, quickly snatching the dorayaki back.
“You talk too much, don’t eat anymore.”
“But I’ve already taken a bite,” Shen Shiwu chuckled, “were you trying to indirectly kiss me?”
“You can just kiss me directly.”
Jiang Siyi choked, coughing violently.
After recovering, she said fiercely, “Get out.”
The woman patted her back, not reacting to being swatted away, but simply saying meaningfully, “That’s right.”
Jiang Siyi, thinking she was about to say something outrageous again, quickly walked away, until she was caught up by Shen Shiwu, and she gave up struggling.
“That’s right, be spoiled.”
Hearing her cheerful voice, Jiang Siyi was puzzled. She asked, “What?”
“Not blocking Yang Yu’s email was an oversight on my part.” Shen Shiwu put her arm around Jiang Siyi’s, reminding her again, “Watch where you’re going, you’re about to walk into a pole.”
Jiang Siyi finally stopped, seeing the utility pole right in front of her, and quickly took two steps back, bumping into Shen Shiwu’s embrace.
Although there were many people around, the darkness of the night provided some cover, and their close proximity didn’t attract much attention.
Shen Shiwu, pleased with the girl’s unintentional embrace, loosely put her arm around Jiang Siyi’s waist.
Jiang Siyi heard her voice above her head. “And I need Xiao Si to reply to her email.”
“Why are you blushing?”
If she could turn into a groundhog, Jiang Siyi would immediately dig a hole and disappear. She tried to maintain her composure, but her voice was still slightly unsteady. “I, I just replied casually.”
“She asked why you blocked her.”
“I asked her what she wanted. Isn’t that normal?”
“It is normal,” Shen Shiwu’s smile deepened, “my girlfriend does everything normally.”
Remembering her reply—”I’m her girlfriend”—Jiang Siyi knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight—it was too embarrassing.
And the reason for her embarrassment, she thought, was probably her insecurity and sensitivity.
If only her career could be a little more successful.
Shen Shiwu leaned down and kissed her hair. “That’s why I said, you should use my love for you to your advantage, be a little more spoiled, instead of keeping everything bottled up inside.”
“The phrase ‘to presume upon one’s favor and act arrogantly’ isn’t that difficult to understand, is it, my great author?”
The night breeze was pleasant, ruffling their intertwined hair. Hearing Shen Shiwu’s words, Jiang Siyi’s heart, which had been floating aimlessly, slowly settled down.
She closed her eyes, a sense of security washing over her, but her words were still defiant. “Tsk, when I start acting spoiled every day, you’ll get annoyed and start finding fault with me. Complaining that I eat too much, that I have a bad temper, that I’m always so fierce…”
She rattled off all her flaws, just like four years ago, when she had listed all her academic weaknesses, putting herself down.
“Finished?” Shen Shiwu asked.
Jiang Siyi’s throat was a little dry from talking. “Yes, finished.”
She looked up, and the woman behind her also lowered her gaze.
At the same time, she heard Shen Shiwu ask softly:
“Finished listing your strengths, then what about your weaknesses?”
“?”
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