Usually, when Ji Fan was in a bad mood, she had two ways to deal with it.

The first was to drink coffee.

The second was to find Jiang Cha.

Now that the second option was definitely out of the question, Ji Fan asked her assistant to grind her some coffee.

The milk foam was thick. Ji Fan lowered her eyes and took a few sips. A slight bitterness spread from the tip of her tongue, and the caffeine metabolized quickly.

However, her mood didn’t improve, but instead became more irritable.

Knock, knock, knock.

A crisp knock on the door.

“Come in.”

A woman came in.

She was young, wearing a white shirt, black trousers, and golden curly hair pulled back, leaving a strand loose on her forehead. She was quite pretty. She wore a pair of retro metal-framed glasses, and her peach blossom eyes were smiling, making her look both cultured and shrewd.

“Xu Lu is here?” Ji Fan didn’t even look up.

Xu Lu, Xu Qingzhu.

She had just come to handle a contract-related legal case and had dropped by Ji Fan’s office on the way.

She was Ji Fan’s childhood friend.

They had been classmates for many years, from primary school to middle school, and all the way to university. Ji Fan had always been a solitary and aloof person, with almost no friends, but if you had to name one friend of hers, it would have to be Xu Qingzhu.

Xu Qingzhu had studied law in university and after graduation had become a lawyer at a well-known law firm. She had won many lawsuits and was quite famous.

Ji Fan had lost touch with many of her former classmates and gradually forgotten them, but Xu Qingzhu was different. Although they didn’t keep in touch very frequently, they had known each other since they were young, and just happened to have some work interactions, so their casual friendship had continued to the present.

“Congratulations on your marriage,” Xu Qingzhu said, oblivious to the situation, and went straight to the heart of the matter.

Ji Fan raised her eyelids and gave her a lukewarm glance.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Qingzhu asked, “What’s with that expression?”

“…”

Xu Qingzhu probed, “Not happy with your new marriage?”

Ji Fan had silver earrings with tiny diamonds hanging from her fair earlobes, the cold light flickering slightly, making her look somewhat aloof. Her features were exquisite, with a high nose bridge and beautiful lips. Her eyes were very spirited, with slightly amorous eyelids, and when she looked at people like this, she always seemed to be examining them with a hint of criticism; but strangely enough, people never resented her for it because she was so beautiful.

Her lips were slightly thin. When she was in a good mood, the corners of her lips would curve slightly, and her temperament would be relatively soft.

But now she was expressionless, her lips slightly pursed, and there was a cup of strong coffee on the desk, clearly indicating that she was not in a good mood.

Ji Fan sighed lightly and asked, “If a person does something wrong and causes very serious consequences, how can they make amends?”

“That depends on what the thing is,” Xu Qingzhu replied.

“…”

Ji Fan pondered for a moment and said cautiously, “I have a friend, and her wife is divorcing her.”

“Oh, are you asking me to represent her in a divorce case?”

Ji Fan shook her head repeatedly, “No.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, tucked a strand of curly hair behind her shoulder, and sighed softly, “What if she doesn’t want to divorce her wife?”

“Why does her wife want a divorce? Because of an affair? Or a dispute over property?”

“Neither.”

Ji Fan lowered her eyes, thought for a long time, and found the right words to express herself, “Her wife thinks she doesn’t love her.”

“Oh,” Xu Qingzhu said, “Then does she love her wife?”

“…”

Ji Fan said softly, “I don’t know.”

Xu Qingzhu laughed:

“If she doesn’t love her wife, why doesn’t she want to divorce her?”

Ji Fan lowered her head, and a beam of sunlight from a gap in the curtain illuminated her white neck, forming a clean and bright mark.

Her fingertips curled up.

The afternoon sunlight was too strong. Ji Fan reached out and pulled down the nearby khaki roller blind, making a clicking sound as she blocked out the overly glaring light.

The office had excellent lighting, with a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, a light oak floor, and a whole reindeer skin rug in the middle. There were a few spherical, indented soft sofas casually piled on the rug, which looked very comfortable.

A pile of documents was neatly stacked in the corner of the desk, and a cup of coffee and a few potted plants – a small aloe vera, succulents, and a cactus – were placed on the light wood-grained desktop.

There was a computer, and next to it was a light glass frame.

The frame seemed to have been accidentally knocked over and was lying face down.

Xu Qingzhu picked it up, ignoring Ji Fan’s attempt to stop her, and looked at it with amusement. The photo was like an ID photo, with a bright red background, and two stunning beauties standing shoulder to shoulder, smiling at the camera.

It was Ji Fan’s wedding photo.

Why was it upside down?

Something was wrong.

She raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but laugh, “The friend you’re talking about is yourself, isn’t it?”

“No,” Ji Fan denied, “It’s really not.”

She denied it repeatedly, but her ears turned a slight shade of red, and her gaze lowered.

“You need to change your personality,” Xu Qingzhu said, “Do you know how annoying you can be?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Ji Fan frowned.

“You’re too arrogant, sometimes you think too highly of yourself,” Xu Qingzhu said, “Your wife is divorcing you, can’t you say a few soft words? Can’t you admit your mistakes?” Xu Qingzhu said, “How did you chase after Jiang Cha back then, why don’t you just chase her again now?”

Ji Fan frowned, “I never chased her.”

Xu Qingzhu looked at her in surprise.

Ji Fan continued to explain, “I’ve never chased anyone.”

“Then did Jiang Cha chase after you?” She exclaimed, “I don’t think so.”

Seeing that she couldn’t hide it anymore, Ji Fan had to tell her about her relationship with Jiang Cha, omitting the key points.

“Wait,” Xu Qingzhu said, “You said you took the initiative to ask her name? You still remembered that high school incident in college?”

“I know you pretty well,” Xu Qingzhu said, “If you weren’t interested in someone else all these years, how could you possibly ask her name…”

Ji Fan raised her eyes, a little annoyed, and used her gaze to stop her from continuing.

Xu Qingzhu continued, “…and remember the name of a girl you only met once for more than a year.”

Ji Fan frowned slightly.

This person was really noisy, and she didn’t like anything she said.

“Try to contact her proactively,” Xu Qingzhu said, “What are you afraid of? I never realized you were so face-saving.”

Ji Fan picked up her phone, lowered her head, and her fingertips trembled slightly.

The familiar number appeared on the screen.

The contact name had been changed from “Ms. Jiang” to “Mrs. Ji” after they got married.

It was Jiang Cha who requested it.

She hesitated for a moment, and then dialed the number.

It only rang once.

[The number you dialed is no longer in service.]

Jiang Cha had changed her number.

Why had she cut off all contact except for WeChat? Ji Fan frowned, unable to understand what Jiang Cha was trying to subtly convey to her.

It had been a few days since she sent the message, and there was still no reply.

Xu Qingzhu, sitting on the soft sofa next to her, was looking at her phone. After a moment, she suddenly looked up.

“By the way, you might not know this,” Xu Qingzhu said with a chuckle, “You’ve gone viral.”

Jiang Cha’s same-sex wedding had been a real eye-catcher, and netizens’ gossip instinct was immediately aroused. They quickly dug up information about Jiang Cha’s partner—the bride in the black veil—and Ji Fan’s background.

Search frequency related to Ji Fan was very high, and the search quickly rose from the bottom.

#JiFan

There was a long introduction below, accompanied by a short video from the wedding.

Ji Fan, the former academic overachiever at THU, graduated from the School of Management with nearly full marks in almost every course, and had won three national scholarships in a row.

According to her alumni, during her undergraduate years, she had completed courses from four “insane” departments: mathematics, physics, and computer science, and she had scored over 90 in all of them. Those departments were notoriously difficult and had a high failure rate, so it was extremely rare for anyone to achieve this level.

After graduating, Ji Fan worked for her father’s company, starting from the bottom and working her way up the ranks until she became the chairman of the Warner Group. A few years ago, she successfully made it onto the list of female billionaires, owning ten top-tier luxury homes worldwide and becoming the youngest woman on the list.

Ji Fan and Jiang Cha had completely different temperaments.

In the video, she wore a black wedding dress, looking mysterious and noble. The camera zoomed in closer than the official kissing photo, allowing a clear view of her facial features.

Her profile was beautiful, with a high nose bridge, long eyelashes, and thick, slightly wavy long hair. The shiny diamonds on the mesh slightly obscured her slightly bony jawline, and her eyes were deep, like a deep blue sea, looking at Jiang Cha with a soft and profound gaze.

Her bony and beautiful fingers cupped the back of Jiang Cha’s head, and her lips pressed against hers, deepening the kiss.

Ripples formed in Ji Fan’s eyes, her emotions rising and falling.

She kind of… missed Jiang Cha.

She missed her lips, her eyes, every part of her body, every inch of her skin.

She closed her eyes and stopped watching.

But the comments section continued to ferment.

“Oh my god.”

“This little sister is a bit tough.”

“The key is that she’s so beautiful!”

“??? I’m so confused, I clicked in and then clicked out.”

“I thought it had something to do with Ji Fan.”

“Hahaha, I knew this name sounded so familiar.”

Soon, a new super topic was created:

The CP super topic of Ji Fan and Jiang Cha.

Although it had only been created recently, the number of followers quickly increased.

“I have an idea,” Xu Qingzhu’s eyes lit up, “Anyway, to the outside world, you’re a newlywed couple who are inseparable, so you can create some hype and then participate in ‘Honeymoon Trip’ with Jiang Cha. Your feelings can always gradually warm up.”

“Honeymoon Trip” was a reality show that specialized in spreading dog food.

The show became popular last year, and the program team would invite celebrities who had been paired up by netizens. Whether the CP was real or fake didn’t matter as long as it was popular and had an audience. The program team had an open mind, from same-sex CPs to heterosexual ones.

Honeymoon was not a real honeymoon, it was just a more ambiguous term.

It was a reality show with a variety of content, and the main selling point was to feed dog food to the stars’ CP fans.

[Honeymoon Trip Season 2, does anyone have any CPs they’re looking forward to? Welcome to nominate in the comments section.]

Someone in the comments nominated her and Jiang Cha.

Then, with an unknown force, it was pushed to the top and became the most liked comment.

••••

The entertainment company’s office was on the third floor of the building, neither too high nor too low, with windows that could be pushed open.

A large banyan tree outside extended its dense branches almost to the window.

Jiang Cha was sitting on the sofa in the office, studying the script, while Yang Yan tapped her toes lightly, going back and forth as she planned her schedule.

“The program team just called to ask about your schedule,” Yang Yan said, holding a tablet. “I looked at it, and you only have this one movie recently, so you have enough time. So, will you participate in the second season of ‘Honeymoon Trip’?”

Jiang Cha was sitting on the sofa flipping through the script, her profile quiet.

She lowered her eyes and said nothing.

“What’s the benefit of participating?” Jiang Cha made a mark with her pen, turned a page, and said softly, “It’s useless, I won’t go.”

Yang Yan felt sorry and turned to look at her, “This reality show is very popular recently, it can attract a lot of traffic, it’s a bit of a pity not to go.”

Jiang Cha pursed her lips, her long, distinct eyelashes fluttered, and her fingertips paused slightly before making a decisive dot.

“I want to focus on the movie.”

Yang Yan knew she was reluctant because of Ji Fan.

“Actually, there are other people participating in the show, and besides, many celebrities have more than one CP.”

Her meaning was clear:

If Jiang Cha participated, her CP might not be Ji Fan.

Although Ji Fan was her nominal partner, she was not a celebrity but a financier. Normally, ordinary people would not participate in such a program, so if Jiang Cha went, she would most likely not encounter Ji Fan.

“Just agree to it first,” Yang Yan tapped her knee and said, “If the program team asks Ji Fan to join, you can always quit later.”

Jiang Cha’s long eyelashes fluttered, but she didn’t speak.

“If she goes, I definitely won’t.”

Jiang Cha’s thick, soft long hair cascaded down, without any extra decoration, yet she was as beautiful as an elf.

Her profile was cold, her expression determined, and she did not waver.

“There’s one more thing,” Yang Yan said. “Luo Yan has her eye on your role. How about it, are you willing to switch with her?”

If it were in the past, Jiang Cha might have agreed immediately, after all, she was not interested in her career and didn’t care about these things.

But things are different now.

“I’m not willing,” Jiang Cha lowered her eyes, her red lips curved into a slight smile as she said softly, “The role was originally set for me, so she can just switch it?”

“There’s also some disagreement on their side now,” Yang Yan said. “The director has invited both of you to audition tomorrow. Everyone will vote based on your performance to decide who will play the younger sister.”

Jiang Cha looked up.

There was a moment of helplessness in her bright eyes.

“Tomorrow?” She blinked, propping her chin up with her pen, a moment of tension. “That’s too fast.”

She had only studied half of the script.

The paper was covered with her dense handwriting.

The handwriting was very delicate, but it was sparse and rhythmic, like bamboo joints, upright and powerful.

She had supplemented the motivation and psychology behind each line of dialogue.

“It’s okay,” Yang Yan winked, smiling mysteriously, “There are a total of four people voting, and Director Song said she will definitely vote for you. As for Ji Fan, she will definitely vote for you too.”

Jiang Cha turned her eyes to the side, looking out the window. Her dark eyes were as if covered with a layer of frost, instantly becoming cold.

---

T/N: Ah! Ji Fan, you must vote for Jiang Cha, or else I will kill you!!!