CH 65

What kind of ID should she give?

Elder sister? Coco? Or...

Cheng Suran stared at the string of numbers, feeling that each one of them was vivid and beautiful, exuding the fragrance of iris, just like their owner—rebellious, cold, and full of mystery.

This was a number destined not to be dialed. Even if she possessed it, she could only let it lie in the cold contacts list.

She recalled the chat history.

Bai Lu could add Elder Sister's official WeChat account, while she could only lie in her sister's alternate WeChat account looking at that dull and gloomy profile picture. Every message sent by Bai Lu would receive a reply from her sister, but she would often be left hanging in the desolate chat box. Bai Lu could confidently enjoy the supper prepared by the nanny at her sister's house, while she didn't even know which direction the door of her sister's house opened.

In the vast sea of people, they were so close, appearing intimate, but in reality, they were separated by distant galaxies.

She was like the moon in the water and the flower in the mirror, beyond her reach.

Cheng Suran added the note "Flower in the mirror and Moon in the water*." to this phone number, then switched to Weibo–

*镜花水月 (jìng huā shuǐ yuè) means unreal/unreachable 

@YourLittleFriendcrr: Might as well dream of a flower in the mirror and moon in the water.

At that moment, the bathroom door opened.

Cheng Suran quickly closed Weibo and the contacts, nervously raising her head.

A faint mist emerged as Jiang Yu stepped out, wearing a wine-red robe that revealed only her slender and straight legs, with her hair half-damp, exuding charm.

"Sister..." Cheng Suran's eyes lost focus.

Jiang Yu smiled as she towel-dried her hair, gesturing towards the bedroom. "Wait for me while I blow-dry my hair."

That meant Cheng Suran should wait for her on the bed.

Blushing, Cheng Suran pressed her lips together and obediently nodded.

She slowly stood up, dragging her feet as she walked. In her peripheral vision, she saw Jiang Yu walk to the table, one hand picking up the hairdryer, the other tapping the phone screen, lighting it up.

She held her breath and slowed her pace.

Huh? There seem to be several green message bubbles on the screen...

Before she could see clearly, the phone was unlocked, and Jiang Yu held it up, bringing it closer to her eyes. Suddenly, a slight frown appeared between her eyebrows.

Cheng Suran's heart sank instantly.

It's over.

She didn't notice, right?

Slipping into the room, she pressed her ear against the door, secretly observing Jiang Yu's reaction.

Soon, Jiang Yu relaxed her frown, a faint smile curved at the corners of her mouth, and her fingers typed rapidly, as if she were chatting with someone and quite happy.

Huh, she didn't notice?

Cheng Suran quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but a sour feeling bubbled up in her heart.

Who could it be? Bai Lu? It's possible since she was the only one who sent a message to her sister... She wondered if her sister had a displeased expression and was impatient while replying with her alternate account. It must be, she could even imagine it.

The more Cheng Suran thought about it, the sadder she became.

The sound of a hairdryer filled the living room as Jiang Yu replied to messages while drying her hair.

A few minutes ago, Bai Lu sent over a dozen photos. Sometimes she would compliment how delicious the food made by the nanny was, and other times she would say that the living room was designed for taking photos, with every corner being picturesque.

The girl looked extremely beautiful.

Bai Lu: [When I have my own place in the future, I must hire you as my interior designer, hahaha...]

This girl just bought a car and is also saving up to buy a house. She is tight on money and moved to a remote area in the north, a 40-minute subway ride from the city center. Tomorrow morning, she has an interview with a client near Jiang Yu's place. To avoid being late and for convenience, she proposed staying at Jiang Yu's house for one night.

Jiang Yu agreed without hesitation. She instructed Xiao Zhou and the nanny to clean up the guest room and lock the entire master bedroom area that belonged to her. And go down when the person arrives.

Bai Lu: [Sister, why don't you live in such a beautiful house? When you're not at home, there's no one to chat with me. I'm so bored.]

Jiang Yu: [I have something to do tomorrow at Tian Lin's place.]

Bai Lu: [What about your little sister?]

Jiang Yu: [She went back to her own home.]"

Bai Lu: [Oh, I thought you and your sister were real siblings.]

Upon seeing this message, Jiang Yu furrowed her brows, sensing a subtle emotion. Was it Bai Lu's probing or was she being too sensitive?

As she contemplated how to reply, another message from Bai Lu popped up: [I'm going to sleep now, goodnight.]

Jiang Yu's expression softened: [Goodnight.]

The WeChat conversation fell silent, and Jiang Yu stared at the screen, lost in thought...

The humming sound continued in the living room for a while. Meanwhile, Cheng Suran felt restless and anxious in her room, her head buzzing along with the sound. She undressed herself and curled up in bed.

The sound suddenly stopped, and footsteps could be heard from outside. Cheng Suran held her breath, listening as the footsteps went to the master bedroom, then returned and headed in her direction.

"Ranran—"

"Yes?"

Cheng Suran lowered her blanket, revealing her head.

Jiang Yu sat at the edge of the bed, her gaze watery as she looked at the girl. She raised what she held in her hand and said, "Guess what this is?"

"...I can't guess." Cheng Suran widened her eyes and carefully observed Jiang Yu's expression. Seeing no abnormalities, she relaxed slightly and shifted her gaze.

It was a beautifully packaged small gift box.

Jiang Yu smiled faintly, tore off the outer wrapping paper of the gift box, and opened the lid. She took out a stack of thin, transparent card-like items. "I had the fairy flowers I picked last time turned into specimen bookmarks. Do you like them?"

The blue and white gradient-colored petals were sealed in plastic, connected to the verdant roots, stems, and leaves, vivid and lifelike.

However, the colors seemed somewhat dull.

Since the moment it was removed from the soil, it had lost its life. Before completely withering away, its most beautiful appearance was preserved.

Cheng Suran reached out and took it, her face breaking into a joyful smile. "They're beautiful! How did you come up with this idea? I thought you'd just press the petals between the pages of a book..."

"They would wither if pressed in a book." Jiang Yu smiled and pinched her nose.

Suddenly, she noticed that Cheng Suran's arms were exposed, with no sleeves in sight. She furrowed her brows in confusion and lifted the blanket.

A cleanly peeled little white rabbit came into view.

"Where is your pajama? Why aren't you wearing it?"

"?"

Cheng Suran was taken aback, and it took her a while to react. She whispered, "You said to wait in bed, wait until you finish blowing your hair... Ah, it's not what I thought, right?" Her face flushed, and she hurriedly got up to put on her pajamas.

Ah, how embarrassing.

She climbed out of the bed, her hand still reaching for her pajamas, but before she could grab them, two hands circled around her waist, and she fell into a warm and fragrant embrace.

"Ah, Sister..."

"Now the kid has learned to seduce." Jiang Yu held her, her gaze intense, a mischievous smile flickering in her eyes.

With those words, she leaned in and kissed her.

….

Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=4738582

This translation is originally posted on

love4baihe.blogspot.com

please read it there. and check out other stories too

In the late night, a subtle fragrance filled the bedroom.

Cheng Suran lay exhausted in Jiang Yu's arms, exhaling and murmuring, while Jiang Yu held her. Her full lips kissed from her forehead to her chin, while her other hand rested on the scar, gently and carefully caressing it.

Ever since that incident, whenever the two of them were intimate, Jiang Yu would instinctively touch it.

Like a mark.

Even though the scar was gradually fading under the effect of medication, it didn't look as ugly when examined closely.

"Sister..." Cheng Suran's heartache was indescribable. She held Jiang Yu's hand and said, "It doesn't hurt anymore, and it will continue to fade in the future. Please don't mind it, okay?"

In the darkness, she couldn't see Jiang Yu's face, but she felt that her hand stiffened for a moment, and her breath, brushing against her cheek, paused briefly.

Jiang Yu remained silent.

After a while, that hand finally moved away from the scar.

Cheng Suran relaxed, finally feeling a bit drowsy. Her eyelids were half-closed, and fragmented images flashed through her mind; Jiang Yu, Bai Lu, and a profile picture of a rabbit doll—

"Does Sister like rabbits?" Cheng Suran raised the corners of her lips, as if murmuring in a dream.

Jiang Yu was also about to sleep when she heard these words, and her consciousness instantly cleared. She looked at the person in her arms in the darkness and asked, "How did you know?"

"Hehe," Cheng Suran chuckled foolishly, "Because I was born in the Year of the Rabbit."

"..."

Where did this fool come from?

Jiang Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, pecked her lips, and was about to say that she was also born in the Year of the Rabbit when she suddenly remembered something long forgotten.

The payment for the contract renewal!

It had not been transferred yet, and more than half of the month had already passed.

"Ranran, pay attention to your bank messages tomorrow. I'll have Tian Lin transfer the money to you, settling two months' payment at once," Jiang Yu said each word slowly and deliberately.

As she calmed down, she realized that the clear boundary between her and the little one had become increasingly blurred in recent days.

How could she forget something so important...

In an instant, Jiang Yu felt a little panicked.

Cheng Suran's smile froze.

Like a needle piercing the softest part of her heart, a sharp and piercing pain spread slowly. She heard the sound of her dream being torn apart, and a hand forcefully dragged her out.

She returned to reality, and she remembered Bai Lu.

Bai Lu's face, Bai Lu's words, Bai Lu's photos...

Her eyes were flooded with sourness.

"I don't want the money... Please don't give me any more money..." Cheng Suran muttered while shaking her head.

Jiang Yu couldn't see her expression clearly, but she could sense the emotions, intense emotions that transcended their relationship, the emotions she least wanted to encounter.

"Then what do you want?" she patiently asked.

Cheng Suran became flustered, forgetting about many things, and choked out, "I want you."

The room fell into silence, a silence that was frighteningly still.

"Say it again? I didn't hear clearly," Jiang Yu's voice turned icy, and her face, hidden in the darkness, was covered with frost.

Cheng Suran trembled and abruptly snapped back to reality, realizing what she had said.

"No, no... I mean... I want the money that sister gives me..." She bit her lip tightly, burying her face in Jiang Yu's hair, preventing the sound of her painful sobbing from escaping.

A long and agonizing silence followed.

"The money that Tian Lin transferred to you is my money," finally, a familiar voice reached her ears, somewhat softer than before.

Cheng Suran trembled, her lips aching from how hard she bit them.

A soothing kiss was imprinted on her temple.

"Good..." Jiang Yu coaxed, gently patting the girl's back.

Cheng Suran gradually relaxed her body.

In the tranquility, she heard her own heartbeat slowing down, felt the heat on her head gradually subsiding, and beads of sweat forming on the back of her neck, damp and clammy, as if she had survived a disaster.

Intense nervousness was followed by double exhaustion, and drowsiness once again captivated her mind...

Just as she was about to doze off, a low and deep female voice sounded in her ear, "I'll be going on a business trip to Paris the day after tomorrow. Stay at home and behave, okay?"

Cheng Suran responded drowsily with a soft "okay."

….

Jiang Yu was gone for three days.

Ever since she had peeked at her chat history that night, Cheng Suran would occasionally think of Bai Lu, that face, those words, those pictures, all vividly etched in her mind.

She even started to feel a bit disgusted with her own boasted good memory.

Why?

Why could Bai Lu do it, but she couldn't?

Why did she have to immediately hide any hint of affection out of fear of losing it...

Looking at the additional two hundred thousand in the bank message, seeing those long zeroes that seemed endless to her, Cheng Suran knew it well.

Because she is a canary--

A canary that sincerely fell for the benefactor.

Wasn't she deserving of it?

It was her own fault, wasn't it?

Around four or five in the evening, the sky gradually darkened. Cheng Suran walked aimlessly in the empty campus, not feeling hungry. She walked and walked until she reached the sports field.

Some people were playing basketball, some were running, and others were training.

The cold wind blew on Cheng Suran's face, slightly chilling her. She adjusted her clothes and stepped onto the rubber track, leisurely strolling while opening WeChat.

The last message was an emoji she sent to Jiang Yu.

They were seven hours apart, and the messages exchanged these past few days were only "Good morning" and "Good night."

She wondered if her sister slept well without her at night. Cheng Suran thought somewhat self-indulgently, but then she realized that she was nothing more than a warm bed companion, just a pillow to hug. She chuckled at herself.

There were no updates in her sister's Moments.

In the past, she thought her sister didn't like playing with these things, unlike herself, a "kid." Now she understood that it wasn't that her sister didn't post updates, but rather she only did so on her main account.

She sighed, exhaling a faint puff of white smoke.

Today was the winter solstice.

Unconsciously, winter had arrived. And they met in the summer.

Thinking about it, Cheng Suran's finger slid across the screen and opened her contacts, finding "Flower in the mirror and Moon in the water". At that moment, she really wanted to press the call button and dial the number.

But reason told her she couldn't.

Looking at that familiar number, she reluctantly withdrew her hand, her eyes welling up with a hint of sourness.

A video call invitation suddenly popped up.

Cheng Suran was startled, but once she saw the initiator's name on the screen, she was both surprised and delighted. She hurriedly fumbled for her earphones.

The ringtone kept ringing, but the headphone cord got tangled and couldn't be untangled for a while.

"Ah..."

Cheng Suran stomped her foot in frustration, glanced around, and hurriedly went to a less crowded area before pressing the green button.

Jiang Yu's face appeared on the screen.

She had makeup on, her eyebrows slightly raised, her eyeliner dark and intense, her red lips plump and vibrant. There was a hint of sharpness in her gaze. As soon as the video connected, she smiled and said, "Ranran, it's the winter solstice today. Did you eat dumplings*?"

T/N: During Dongzhi Festival or Winter Arrival/Solstice, (usually falls on December 21 or 22), eating dumplings is believed to have several meanings and purposes. Firstly, dumplings are seen as a symbol of reunion and harmony. The round shape of the dumplings resembles the shape of the winter solstice, representing unity and completeness. Eating dumplings together with family and loved ones signifies togetherness and the strengthening of familial bonds.

Cheng Suran's body tensed slightly, her finger that was tangled in the headphone wire paused, and her heart, which had fallen into the abyss, suddenly rose rapidly.

Did it matter to her sister whether she ate dumplings or not...

Why does she always give her hope when she was feeling down? Why does she give her despair when she was hoping? She suddenly felt tired, as if renewing the contract wasn't something that brought happiness.

But this kind of exhaustion could exchange for staying by her sister's side.

She was tormented by contradictions every day.

"Ranran? What's wrong? Is the internet connection bad? Is it lagging?" Jiang Yu frowned, her expression slightly worried.

"Ah, no..." Cheng Suran tugged at the corner of her mouth, forcing out a bright smile. "I forgot it's the winter solstice today. I'll go eat dumplings later. How about you, sister? It's morning over there, right?"

Jiang Yu relaxed her brow and nodded with a smile. "Yes, it's a little past nine. I'm getting ready to attend a private salon."

The background was inside a car, very quiet. Cheng Suran didn't know if there was anyone else with her.

Cheng Suran stared at her absentmindedly and murmured, "When will sister come back?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the camera suddenly turned towards the window, and then the car window rolled down, creating some noise. The screen displayed one of the local iconic buildings: the Arc de Triomphe.

"Just passing by Charles de Gaulle Square, I'll show you the Arc de Triomphe. How about next time, when I have time, I'll take you there to play, okay?" A gentle voice of Jiang Yu came from the phone.

Cheng Suran stared at the screen, her eyes becoming misty, and she replied tremblingly, "Okay."

"We're almost there. I won't say more for now. I'll let you know when I land tomorrow night." The camera turned back to Jiang Yu's face. She seemed in a hurry. After saying that, without waiting for a response, she hung up the video call.

The screen returned to the "Flower in the mirror and Moon in the water" contact interface.

Cheng Suran held the phone absentmindedly, with teary eyes.

Not knowing how long she stood there, as the sky grew darker, she raised her hand to wipe her eyes and stuffed the phone and earphones into her pocket. She turned and walked towards the direction of the cafeteria.

….

It was the third day and Jiang Yu flew back.

It was a busy day. Cheng Suran received the message of Jiang Yu boarding early in the morning and was absent-minded throughout the day. Finally, in the evening on her way back to the hotel, she received the message of Jiang Yu landing.

Walking out of the teaching building, she was like a bird released from its cage, full of excitement, bouncing to the cafeteria for dinner, and then hurriedly rushing to the hotel.

Now she drove by herself every day, and the driver Xiao Wen sat in the passenger seat.

The downtown area was a bit congested.

A half-hour journey took forty minutes.

When she arrived at the hotel, Cheng Suran handed the car over to the driver to park and eagerly took the elevator upstairs. Her heart floated as the floor numbers kept rising, stopping at the twenty-seventh floor. She quickly stepped out and swiped open the platinum-colored door.

"Sister!"

The room was empty.

Where is she?

Hasn't she arrived yet?

Cheng Suran scanned the room and suddenly noticed that the master bedroom, which was usually left open, had the door closed.

Could her sister be inside?

She put down her backpack and walked over, raising her hand to knock on the door and softly calling out, "Sister? Are you inside?"

No one responded.

She knocked again, but still no response.

Cheng Suran cautiously opened the door, and the bedroom was empty. The large double bed was neatly made, but there was a pile of white A4 papers on it, which she didn't know when had appeared.

Huh?

Curiously, she approached and picked them up to take a look. It was a document similar to a resume.

The woman in the ID photo was Jiang Yu.

Name: Jiang Yu.

Former Name: Jiang Wanyin...

"!!!"

Cheng Suran took a deep breath and covered her mouth.

Time stood still at that moment.

After a while, there was a sound of the front door opening and closing from outside. She froze, her hands and feet stiff. Suddenly coming back to her senses, she hurriedly tried to put the documents back, but it was too late—

"Ranran?"

Jiang Yu stood at the bedroom door, holding a suitcase, her slender figure exuding a powerful aura. "Did you just come back?"

"..." Cheng Suran looked at her anxiously.

Before she could speak, Jiang Yu's gaze fell on the document in her hand. Her expression changed abruptly, she let go of the suitcase and quickly walked over, snatching it back and looking at it up close.

Her gaze swept over the former name.

She frowned, her breathing suddenly became rapid, and her shoulders trembled slightly.

"Who allowed you to touch my things?!" Jiang Yu raised her head, her eyes cold as iron.

"I..." Cheng Suran retreated in fear.

—Pak!

Jiang Yu slapped her across the face.

Cheng Suran's head tilted, feeling a buzzing sound in her ears, and a fiery pain quickly spread across her left cheek.

That fair and delicate cheek instantly turned red.

She stood there stunned, like a wooden chicken.

"Get out." Jiang Yu pointed to the bedroom door, her eyes turning red in an instant, her chest heaving violently.

Cheng Suran remained stunned for a while, tears streaming down her face, and in a disheveled state, she ran out of the room...