Chapter 4

Ji Qingyu wasn’t that shy. After all, she enjoyed looking at photos and videos of handsome men online.

After screaming internally, her eyes honestly stayed fixed on the photo.
This photo was taken three days ago in Zurich. From her not-so-picky perspective, Feng Chengze had quite an impressive physique.

Considering his age, he was now thirty-three, tall with long legs, broad shoulders, and a wide back. She could even faintly see his abs. She zoomed in with her index and middle fingers to confirm that he indeed had abs. Fortunately, it wasn’t an explicit photo, so looking at it a few more times didn’t feel burdensome.

This body was quite strange.

Ji Qingyu kicked off the covers, her chest rising and falling as she tried to calm her breathing and enter a state of tranquility. Her reaction reminded her of the words from those bedtime stories, forming a kind of reflex that made her mind wander. She placed the phone under her pillow.
Initially, she had hidden that thing in her suitcase. If she could still sleep soundly after this, her heart must be powerful. After tossing and turning in bed for a long time, she finally sat up, wrapped herself in a shawl, slipped into her slippers, and gently opened the door a crack, letting the dim light seep in.

Assistant Zhang had already reclined his seat and fallen asleep. He was probably used to frequent business trips, wearing an eye mask and earplugs, making the world as silent as a vacuum. Even occasional turbulence wouldn’t wake him up. Such perfect sleep was truly enviable.

No matter how slight the movement, Feng Chengze, whose nerves were on edge, heard it. He turned his head, his dark eyes casually looking at Ji Qingyu.

Ji Qingyu cleared her throat, pushed the door open, and walked towards him quietly.

“Sit.” Feng Chengze guessed she had something to say to him, nodding his chin to indicate she should sit opposite him.

The private jet was very spacious, with a distance between Assistant Zhang and them. Even without earplugs and not sleeping, he might not hear their conversation clearly. Now, the whole world seemed so quiet, as if only the two of them existed.

Ji Qingyu sat down lightly, adjusting her shawl, and looked at the empty champagne glass.

Feng Chengze glanced at it, got up, opened the cabinet, and asked her, “What would you like to drink?”

“Anything is fine.” Ji Qingyu indeed came out to have a drink to help her sleep. If she had found some melatonin in the suitcase, she would have taken it long ago and wouldn’t have been tossing and turning until now. Even though she could lie down and sleep, a flight of over twenty hours was too long and torturous. Looking at Feng Chengze, she could tell he was also tired, his eyes betraying his fatigue.

Feng Chengze chose a half-full bottle of rosé champagne. The dreamy pink color in the glass immediately captured Ji Qingyu’s heart. She stared at it, the delicate fruity aroma spreading, and suddenly felt a bit thirsty. She tentatively picked up the glass and took a sip. The taste was much better than she had imagined.

Feng Chengze didn’t particularly like this type of wine. But when he opened the cabinet, it was mostly rosé champagne. He thought somewhat complicatedly: it must have been stocked for his wife’s taste five years later.

Ji Qingyu didn’t know what to discuss with Feng Chengze, but she remembered something she was very concerned about and asked softly, “Mr. Feng, are we really going to pick up the child after we arrive in Jing City?”

Feng Chengze was stunned. He knew he had a daughter, but it didn’t feel real. He had only glanced at the photos on his phone—a slightly chubby little girl with round eyes and pigtails. His hand, resting on his knee, unconsciously tightened. While it felt absurd, he also felt a strange curiosity about the little girl.

“I don’t even know her name.”

Ji Qingyu guessed that the child’s name might include the character ‘Yuan.’

Feng Chengze didn’t know either.

“It shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Ji Qingyu was still a bit scared. Although it was her body, she hadn’t experienced the past five years.

“It won’t be.” Feng Chengze said calmly, “As long as you and I don’t say or do anything strange, no one will suspect.”

Indeed, if she hadn’t experienced it herself, Ji Qingyu wouldn’t believe it. She had read many books—about transmigration, rebirth, and quick transmigration from ancient to modern times. She even tried writing at her peak, but her author career ended at the 300th word. Writing an 800-word essay in school was torture enough, let alone a novel of hundreds of thousands of words. She knew those were fictional. But now, the reality was in front of her. She had really traveled from twenty-two to twenty-seven.

“Everything else is fine.” Ji Qingyu bit her lower lip, looking at him with some difficulty. “I know most of the people I can interact with, except for the child…”

Feng Chengze’s gaze was uncontrollably fixed on her lips. He looked away and took a sip of the rich champagne. “Don’t know how to interact with her?”

“Yes.” Ji Qingyu and Feng Chengze had different attitudes on this matter.

Ji Qingyu couldn’t assume the role of a mother without having met the child. It was too difficult for her. One moment, she was a recent graduate, and the next, she had a daughter… The so-called blood is thicker than water felt vague. It was like walking down the street and someone suddenly pulling her aside, pointing to a completely unfamiliar child, and saying, “Hey, this is your baby.”

Although it was baffling, she would still take a look, then another. Thinking about meeting “Yuan Bao” soon, she felt a bit at a loss. She really couldn’t bring herself to hug and kiss the child right away.

Feng Chengze didn’t have time to think about his daughter. His mind was racing—one moment, the group’s affairs; the next, unfinished office work, all mixed together, leaving him no time to think about less urgent matters.
At this moment, Ji Qingyu brought it up, and a trace of confusion crossed his mind. Soon, the plane would land in Jing City, and then he and Ji Qingyu would go to the kindergarten to pick up the child.

Both fell silent.

Ji Qingyu continued drinking champagne, and Feng Chengze no longer minded the soft taste, drinking silently as well. Perhaps this body’s alcohol tolerance was good; after a glass, Ji Qingyu felt fine, just a bit flushed. She propped her chin, staring out the window in a daze.

“Until we come up with a better solution,” Feng Chengze suddenly said hoarsely, “it’s best to keep everything as it is. As for the child, she’s only in kindergarten.”

He didn’t say “easy to fool,” but the meaning was clear. Their combined ages were over fifty, so shouldn’t they be able to handle a child?

Ji Qingyu looked at him in surprise. “Children are actually more perceptive. If you don’t like her, she’ll notice.”

She would cry her heart out if she had gone from twenty-two to fifty-two. Although she always talked about retiring and living a laid-back life, thirty years passing in the blink of an eye would be too much. Even setting a small goal would make her hesitate for a long time. Now, going from twenty-two to twenty-seven wasn’t a big time span, just five years. She was still young, beautiful, and wealthy, so she felt she had gained. However, thinking about having a child made her a bit anxious. This child wasn’t a doll, a cat, or a dog. She now had a new label, a new identity—that of a mother. Just thinking about it felt like a mountain pressing down on her.

As the sky began to brighten and the plane prepared to land, she felt a sense of nervousness.

Feng Chengze frowned. “I don’t dislike her.”

After all, she was his child. How could he not like her? But she was indeed a stranger, and he didn’t know how to interact with her. The atmosphere suddenly became tense again.

Ji Qingyu thought for a moment, took out her phone, opened a photo, and pushed the phone towards him with a sharing attitude. “I think she looks a lot like you.”

Feng Chengze looked down.

In the photo, a mischievous child was wearing a one-piece swimsuit and a swim cap, making her head look round. She had swim arm bands on her chubby arms, and water droplets on her plump face as she grinned at the camera, showing her white teeth.

Thick eyebrows.
Big, round eyes.
Dimples when she smiled.

The light from the phone screen illuminated his face, and he didn’t even notice that his expression had softened significantly as he focused on the child in the photo.

“Like me?”

“Quite a bit.” Ji Qingyu had carefully studied Yuan Bao’s features. They indeed combined her and Feng Chengze’s best traits. Her eyebrows were finer and lighter, while his were sharp. Yuan Bao’s face shape was more like hers, a bit round.

Actually, just by looking at the photos, it was clear…
This was definitely their child.

But something made Ji Qingyu feel uneasy. Seeing that Feng Chengze was in a good mood, seemingly developing a bit of fatherly affection while looking at the photo, she softly asked, “How is Feng Yu?”

As the screen dimmed, Feng Chengze’s expression also became calmer.
It seemed that the warmth just now was her illusion. They didn’t know what had happened in the past five years. To him, Feng Yu was his brother, and she was Feng Yu’s girlfriend. In her eyes, he was Feng Yu’s older brother, and she had a good relationship with Feng Yu…

To put it bluntly, she was kissing Feng Yu yesterday. Today, she had become Feng Chengze’s wife, which was like a bungee jump. So, at this moment, she did miss Feng Yu a bit. But now, she and Feng Chengze had a child, making this longing feel confusing and complicated.

Feng Chengze’s expression was slightly obscure as he replied, “He’s fine.”

Ji Qingyu breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as he’s alive.

She hoped that whatever happened in the past five years wouldn’t make her think, ‘This jerk might as well be dead.’

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. Given the major events of marriage and having a child, how she and Feng Yu broke up seemed insignificant.