Chapter 13
During the two days of mid-term exams, Shen Shiwu personally drove her to and from school, a level of attention that made Jiang Siyi feel like she was taking the college entrance exam.
“I even took the bus home by myself for the high school entrance exam.”
The girl sat in the passenger seat, holding a stack of stapled test papers.
Her casual remark, however, tugged at Shen Shiwu’s heartstrings.
“Being independent is great, but it’s okay to rely on others sometimes.”
Jiang Siyi paused in her flipping through the papers and nodded slightly.
In truth, she had already become reliant on Shen Shiwu.
She just hid it so well that the other woman hadn’t noticed.
Jiang Siyi traced the surface of the paper with her fingertip, staring blankly at a reading comprehension question.
She was usually quite good at these types of questions, able to grasp the author’s intended emotions and answer accurately.
But no matter how well she did, she couldn’t apply the same principles to her own life.
Because Jiang Siyi couldn’t figure out what she felt for Shen Shiwu.
“We’re at school, Jiang Siyi.”
“Good luck with your exams.”
The girl finally snapped back to reality.
She felt a little flustered, almost forgetting her backpack as she got out of the car and rushed into the school under Shen Shiwu’s slightly puzzled gaze.
The exams went relatively smoothly. She filled in all the answers she knew, and as for the troublesome, complicated problems…
Little Jiang believed in knowing her limits.
During lunch, Jiang Siyi, who had vowed not to engage in puppy love, called out to Xu Yuan, signaling for her to listen.
“What?”
“Well…”
Seeing her hesitation, Xu Yuan became wary. “Don’t tell me you have a crush on me? That’s not allowed.”
“Get out!”
Jiang Siyi rolled her eyes. “Have you ever liked someone? What does it feel like?”
Xu Yuan quickly backed away. “You really do have a crush on me!”
Seeing the girl’s darkening expression, she stopped joking and said cheerfully, “Yeah, in junior high, I really liked the lady who had a food stall by the school gate. You have no idea how delicious her roasted chicken legs were…”
“That’s not the kind of ‘like’ I’m talking about.”
Jiang Siyi waved her hand. “It’s… the kind of ‘like’ where you want to date them.”
Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I had a crush on a transfer student in my class in ninth grade.”
“As for what it feels like…” She paused. “It’s like constantly wanting to get their attention, thinking about them all the time.”
“Blushing and your heart racing whenever they’re near.”
Xu Yuan chattered on, then concluded, “Just search ‘what does it feel like to have a crush’ on Baidu.”
After thinking for a moment, she realized something and poked Jiang Siyi with her finger, smiling. “So you really do like someone.”
“Tell me, who is it!”
She couldn’t possibly say it was Shen Shiwu.
Jiang Siyi pretended not to hear, burying her head in her food, playing dumb.
***
No. 1 High School had a long-standing rule: mid-term exams were held at different times for each grade. And since senior year students had so many exams, their mid-terms were postponed for a few weeks.
By the time they were over, it was almost Christmas.
On the weekend, Jiang Siyi was sleeping soundly when she was woken up by the vibration of her phone. She reluctantly opened her eyes and irritably checked the group chat.
This actually woke her up completely.
Because after only two days, the exam results were out.
This speed showed that it wasn’t just the students who were going crazy in senior year.
The teachers were almost possessed too.
She quickly sat up and zoomed in on the spreadsheet, searching for her name.
“Chinese, 121. English, 90. Math…”
“93!”
She actually passed.
Jiang Siyi kicked off the covers and almost rushed downstairs barefoot. The housekeeper was preparing breakfast and was surprised to see her in such a hurry. “What’s wrong?”
“Where’s Shen Shiwu?”
“Miss Shen went to the company early this morning.”
“Oh…”
Didn’t she say she was staying home today?
Jiang Siyi pouted, feeling a little down.
Not long after the housekeeper left, just as she was about to go upstairs and do the homework Wu Ying had assigned, her phone rang.
It was Shen Shiwu.
She answered, her voice flat, “Hello.”
“The housekeeper said you were looking for me?”
“No, I wasn’t.”
She walked back to her room, slamming the door shut.
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then, as if remembering something, Shen Shiwu explained, “I have an important contract to discuss today, so I couldn’t stay home with you.”
“Sorry, Xiao Si.”
Jiang Siyi sniffed, pretending to be magnanimous. “I said work is important.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
After hanging up, she obediently took out her homework and started working quietly. If she had seen herself like this a few months ago, she would have been shocked.
“Miss Jiang!”
A voice interrupted her train of thought.
She looked down from the window, puzzled, and saw Auntie Wang waving at her.
“Miss, the boss’s office is huge. You can run around in there all you want.” Auntie Wang joked as she drove.
“Did Shen Shiwu ask you to pick me up?”
“Of course, otherwise how would I dare to come and get you without permission?”
Jiang Siyi opened the window slightly, her mood finally improving.
Seeing the Christmas trees displayed in the shops along the street, she blinked and murmured, “The year is almost over…”
Auntie Wang, always sharp-eared, thought the girl was talking to her and replied, “Yes, time flies.”
“After the new year, you’ll be an adult, right?”
Jiang Siyi nodded. “Yes, I’ll be eighteen.”
She felt inexplicably excited at the mention of this.
“Old enough to date.”
Hearing this, Jiang Siyi clutched her backpack and buried her head, remaining silent for a long time.
Auntie Wang, puzzled, was about to ask what was wrong when she heard the girl’s quiet voice, “Auntie Wang.”
“What is it?”
“Shen Shiwu… she’s in her twenties, has she ever dated anyone?”
“I thought it was something serious. Turns out you just want some gossip.”
Auntie Wang chuckled. “At least in the few years I’ve been working here, the boss hasn’t dated anyone.”
Jiang Siyi rolled up the window tightly, afraid of missing a word.
“What about before? Didn’t she date anyone in school?”
“I wouldn’t know about that.” The driver offered a suggestion. “You can ask the boss directly.”
“She’s so good to you, she’ll definitely answer you.”
Jiang Siyi suddenly felt uneasy.
She thought about it and decided it made sense. “Mm, I’ll ask her later.”
Fifteen minutes later, Jiang Siyi regretted her decision. She wished she had stayed home.
Looking at the employees all dressed in professional attire, she looked down at her own sweater and quickly lowered her head, clutching her backpack.
She felt like a first-grader who had wandered onto a university campus.
“Boss, Miss Jiang is here.”
Only when she saw Shen Shiwu did Jiang Siyi raise her head.
“Okay, you can go now.”
After the door closed, Jiang Siyi held her backpack, her expression blank, and asked stiffly, “Why did you call me here?”
“To hang out.”
…Treating your company like an amusement park?
She responded with an “Oh” and randomly picked a chair to sit down.
“Sit next to me.”
Jiang Siyi couldn’t help but feel that the other woman had been calling her by her nickname less and less recently.
Heh, you fickle woman, changing so quickly without even a warning.
With a sullen face, she reluctantly moved her chair closer.
“Jiang Siyi, I already know your mid-term exam results.”
“Oh.”
“You passed math.”
“Mm.”
Seeing her unresponsive attitude, Shen Shiwu suddenly leaned closer. “Still angry?”
Jiang Siyi could feel her heart racing.
Remembering Xu Yuan’s words, she tightened her grip on the straps of her backpack.
“A little, I guess.”
“It was my fault. I didn’t keep my promise.” Shen Shiwu thought for a moment. “What does Xiao Jiang want? To make it up to you, I’ll get you a present, okay?”
Jiang Siyi’s eyes flickered.
“Anything?”
“Of course.”
She clutched her backpack tighter, as if seeking comfort, then said, “Then I’ll ask you a question, and you have to answer truthfully.”
It sounded like she was interrogating a criminal.
Shen Shiwu nodded. “Ask away.”
The girl kept her head down, not daring to look up.
Her voice suddenly became soft. “Have you… ever been in love?”
Shen Shiwu hadn’t expected this question at all.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise, watching the girl staring at the floor as if trying to see through it, and replied, “No.”
Jiang Siyi bit her lip, then nodded after a while. “Oh.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because…”
She had a sudden inspiration. “A lot of people are chasing after me.”
“So I just wanted to ask you what it’s like to be in love.”
Shen Shiwu stared at her for a moment, then said slowly, “Today is December 23rd. You’re eleven days away from being an adult.”
She tapped her pen against the table.
The tapping sound, mixed with Jiang Siyi’s heartbeat, was incredibly jarring.
“You can think about these questions after eleven days.”
Jiang Siyi’s voice was muffled. “I know…”
Before she could finish, the woman beside her asked, “Do you have someone you like?”
Jiang Siyi finally looked up at her, then quickly averted her gaze a few seconds later.
She lowered her eyelashes. “Maybe.”
There was a thud as Shen Shiwu threw her pen onto the table.
She hesitated, then resumed her usual gentle tone. “Even if you do, no dating before you’re eighteen, understand?”
Feeling the woman’s hand ruffling her hair, Jiang Siyi sniffed. “Of course not.”
It wasn’t like she could just date someone if she wanted to.
Just as she finished speaking, there was a knock on the door, and a female voice called out, “Boss, can I come in?”
“What is it?”
“Yes, I have a document I’d like you to review.”
Shen Shiwu finally responded.
The woman who entered seemed startled to see Jiang Siyi, then quickly smiled. “Boss, this is the market research report. Do you see any problems?”
Jiang Siyi’s gaze was fixed on the apple in her left hand.
Perhaps noticing her stare, the woman placed the apple on Shen Shiwu’s desk. “Boss, Merry Christmas Eve!”
Calling her “Boss” so casually and intimately.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was calling her “wife.”
Jiang Siyi was about to take out her worksheets from her backpack, then changed her mind and started playing on her phone instead.
“I don’t like apples. You can have it.” Shen Shiwu flipped through the pages and quickly handed them back. “Not good enough. Redo it and submit it before noon tomorrow.”
“Okay… Boss.” She picked up the apple and turned to Jiang Siyi, who was sitting beside her. “Little girl, do you like apples?”
You’re the little girl!
I should have dressed more maturely today.
The girl thought to herself, ignoring the woman for a moment.
“If she wants one, I’ll buy it for her,” Shen Shiwu said, her expression displeased. “You don’t have to worry about it.”
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