The hazy shadows lingered at the edge of the sky. The traffic was endless, and the lights and shadows were elongated on the infinite road. Tiny raindrops were sprinkled on the glass windows, blurring the neon lights into colorful glows.
It was illusory yet dreamlike.
Zong Ye stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing at the skyline in the distance.
At one moment, someone's taillights shone into the room, cutting across the walls and mirrors, and falling on Jian Jing's tranquil face. She was suddenly woken up from her dreams: "Ah, I fell asleep."
Zong Ye looked back: "It's alright, I'm done."
Jian Jing immediately became alert, her gaze fixed on the □□ on the table. She picked it up, feeling the thin, silky silicone texture, and slowly pressed it against her cheek as she faced the mirror.
In a flash, a completely unfamiliar face appeared.
"Amazing." She couldn't hide her delight.
Today was the third day she had arranged to meet Zong Ye, and it was also the last day. He had made this magical gadget for her.
Compared to the delicate and intricate makeup, the naturalness of the mask was far from enough - she still had to pair it with sunglasses and a face mask for it to work. But it was so convenient. Just get it wet and slap it on your face, adjust it slightly, and you could instantly change your face. For a newbie, it could be done in ten minutes, extremely user-friendly.
"Satisfied?" he asked.
Jian Jing was reluctant to let go of it: "Of course."
"Then I've fulfilled my promise to you," Zong Ye said.
"Hm?" Jian Jing looked up, showing no surprise, "You're leaving?"
Zong Ye said, "I told you, just three days. The time is up."
"Oh." She heaved out a long sigh.
"We'll see each other again," he said. "I firmly believe that."
Jian Jing asked curiously: "Soon?"
"It might be a little long this time," Zong Ye said meaningfully. "People always have to pay the price for their choices."
She let out an "Oh", and looked at him intently.
He laughed. "Don't observe me, analyze me, probe me. It won't do you any good."
Jian Jing said: "Curiosity is human nature."
Zong Ye still shook his head.
She hesitated for a moment, then conceded: "Alright."
Men, mysterious or not, it didn’t matter. Every time she could get some skills out of him, he was a good man!
"So, goodbye?"
Zong Ye couldn't help laughing. Sometimes, when a woman was heartless, she could also be very heartless.
This was especially true for pretty girls.
He bent down and whispered in her ear, "You have a way to find me."
The breath tickled her ears, and Jian Jing blinked innocently: "Do I?"
He just laughed.
"Goodbye."
When she returned home, the rain had stopped.
Jian Jing ruffled her energetic puppy. She saw the gift at the door.
The gift from Jiang BaiYan was something he happened to drop by with. He just left it on the front entrance cabinet - she had given him the dynamic password for temporary entry. He had also helped her tidy up the plants on the balcony, sunning those that needed sun, changing the pots for those due for new homes.
She texted Jiang BaiYan: [Received it, thanks!]
Jiang BaiYan: [You're welcome, it's nothing expensive anyway]
Jian Jing paused for a while, deciding it was still better to keep yesterday's incident from him.
It would be too pathetic to die alone.
She sent him a meaningless emoji and started unwrapping the gift.
In addition to the box she saw at the filming site, there was also a box of imported dog treats, still sealed, probably enough to feed Buding for a while.
Jian Jing tore open a pack and let Knight have a taste.
He really liked it, kept wagging his tail with his big floppy ears flapping about, extremely cute.
"Good boy," she stroked the puppy, but suddenly recalled something else, instantly pissed off again.
Some distance away, Ji Feng, Lao Gao, Xiao Li and a certain senior had just finished an investigation and were having breakfast at a small shop by the roadside.
A phone buzzed.
He had a spoon in one hand and a meat sandwich in the other, so it was inconvenient to pick up. He just tapped to open it directly.
It was a voice message. From Teacher Jian.
"You bastard!"
Everyone’s gazes instantly turned to look at him, including the shop owner lady.
Ji Feng: "???"
The voice messages played non-stop, not giving him a chance to cancel them.
The second one: "Who got robbed? Who got abused? Who got secretly photographed? Who got scammed online?"
He couldn’t help cursing, feeling that he was doomed.
"Do I look like that to you?" was the soul-searching third question.
Ji Feng: "......"
Lao Gao was super curious: "Yo, what did you do to piss Teacher Jian off so badly?"
Ji Feng went outside with an indescribable look on his face to make a call.
She picked up quite quickly.
She gave a cold laugh: "Heh heh."
"I really didn't recognize that it was you," Ji Feng said in disbelief. "I honestly didn't realize it was you at all. Impressive, Teacher Jian, where did you learn that?"
"Hmph."
"I was completely unaware," he said sincerely. "You acted it out so realistically that I really can't blame myself for it."
"You really didn't suspect anything?" she asked doubtfully.
Ji Feng held back his laugh and said, "A complete transformation into another person, what was there for me to suspect?"
Jian Jing questioned: "You looked at me several times."
"The patrons there were all regulars. Naturally I’d look more at an unfamiliar face," Ji Feng explained. "It wasn’t just you I looked at. I checked out the one I caught yesterday too."
Her tone turned cold again: "Oh, so you also suspected yesterday that I was a fugitive?"
"Of course not," Ji Feng said sincerely. "The temperament was completely different."
There was silence on the phone for a moment.
After a while, she asked: "Did I have any loopholes? Tell me the truth."
"Uh..." Ji Feng recalled and said, "Hard to say."
"What does ‘hard to say’ mean?"
"Probably no loopholes." He said, "But at that time, I felt you were there looking for someone."
Jian Jing: "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Then why did you say you didn't suspect anything at all?" Her voice suddenly rose high again as her anger flared up. "Liar!"
"I didn't suspect it was you."
"You can't recognize me after a change of face. Men really only care about looks," Jian Jing rolled her eyes. "Bye."
She angrily hung up the phone.
Ji Feng was rendered speechless. He looked at the phone, then at the sky, sighed, and went back in to continue breakfast.
Lao Gao gossiped: "Managed to coax her?"
"Is this the Teacher Jian you guys mentioned several times before?" Xiao Li enthusiastically participated. "My girlfriend is her fan. I didn't expect her to be so fierce in private. I thought she was a very quiet and gentle teacher."
Lao Gao immediately defended her: "No, Teacher Jian is very nice to us, always polite and never refuses to help when she can."
"Then why is she so mean to Brother Ji?" Xiao Li wondered.
Lao Gao: "Because some people are being a jerk."
"I really didn't do anything this time," Ji Feng felt utterly helpless.
He said Teacher Jian must be unhappy that he discovered loopholes, so she wanted to win against him once. If he said he didn't notice anything, it became that men only cared about looks and changed attitudes depending on attractiveness.
Princesses will be princesses after all, what a temper... He shook his head, and suddenly laughed.
In the afternoon, the LEGOs were delivered. Jian Jing had just gotten up from a nap, feeling lazy and unmotivated. She didn’t have the interest to start building yet, only piling them to the side. Instead, she dawdled for a long while before finally opening the included card from Kang Mu Cheng.
What did he write?
She struggled over it for quite some time before slowly tearing it open.
A line of words.
[I'm sorry, won't happen again next time]
Jian Jing: "Pfft—"
Totally unexpected.
It looked just like a primary school kid's apology, not just similar - identical.
She took out her phone and texted Kang Mu Cheng: [Received the delivery]
Kang Mu Cheng: [Okay]
Her: [Your apology lacks sincerity]
He immediately called her phone, but after picking up, there was only the sound of breathing for a while.
Jian Jing chuckled and slowly drawled, "President Kang—"
"Want to come out for dinner?" He quickly adjusted his state and tried suggesting, "I'll come get you."
"Where to?"
"Anywhere is fine."
"Don't want to go anywhere," she yawned. "How about you get off work and come over to accompany me building LEGOs instead? The one you sent over - whenever we finish building it is whenever I'll forgive you."
Kang Mu Cheng: "......"
"If you don't come, I'll continue being pissed at you," she threatened menacingly.
Instead, Kang Mu Cheng laughed and gently said, "Alright, I'll get off work early."
"That's more like it," she hung up, satisfied.
It wasn’t even six yet and he hadn’t had dinner, yet Kang Mu Cheng was already here by past six.
Jian Jing opened the door in surprise: “I thought the earliest you’d come was past eight.”
Kang Mu Cheng smiled, patted Knight’s head, holding a food container: “Had dinner yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Then let’s eat together.” He said.
Jian Jing ordered sweet and sour fish tonight. Kang Mu Cheng brought Cantonese cuisine from a restaurant, the spread nearly filled half the table for the two of them - already very abundant.
Kang Mu Cheng broached it first: “How much have you written?”
"Don't rush me," she said. "I'm busy these days."
He asked, "Did you run into a case again?"
"No," she curved her lips happily. "Anyway, it's not dangerous."
Kang Mu Cheng paused slightly, looking at her face. Not dangerous... Since when did she start habitually adding this sentence?
Many times, in these two years, he always heard these three words from her mouth, but he knew it wasn't true.
She kept appearing at the crime scene, kept fighting wits and courage with the murderer, and even confronted extreme dangerous elements face to face more than once.
Too dangerous. Every time he saw the police bulletin, saw the vague "Jian" two characters, his heart would be suspended high.
Of course, being able to see the bulletin, he knew she was safe and sound, but he couldn't help feeling lost again and again because of her concealment.
Why did they get to this point, just because she had changed and became keen on taking risks?
It didn't seem so.
He knew he was also responsible, but didn't know how to resolve it.
"Mr. Kang?" Jian Jing asked hesitantly. "I didn't lie to you."
"I'm sorry," Kang Mu Cheng came back to his senses, paused slightly, and went straight to the point. "Jing Jing, now there are many things you don't want to tell me, are you afraid that I will stop you?"
Jian Jing was surprised that he was so direct. After a moment, she said, "No, I just...just don't want you to worry."
"How can I not worry when you are in danger?"
She showed a helpless look. This was the crux of the matter. No matter what, he could never let go of his concern, while she couldn't give up because of his worries.
"In fact, there is nothing wrong with it," she tried to convince him. "I can handle it. Not knowing also saves unnecessary worrying. If I can't handle it, worrying is useless anyway."
Kang Mu Cheng said, "I don't want to be kept in the dark."
Jian Jing was silent.
He couldn't help sighing and tried to negotiate, "At least let me know what you are going to do."
"Then what?" She asked back. "The danger won't increase or decrease."
"Right," Kang Mu Cheng nodded, but said, "At least you know someone is worrying about you, missing you. When making decisions, maybe you will think a little more."
She was stunned.
He said earnestly, "Jing Jing, I'm not asking you to give up anything for me, but as long as you can consider it a little more, I won't be worrying about you in vain, right?"
The words also made sense. She hesitated, not knowing how to respond.
Kang Mu Cheng said calmly, "In your heart, I should be worth a second of hesitation, right?"
"Not that little," Jian Jing couldn't help laughing. "Mr. Kang, you need to have more confidence in yourself."
Kang Mu Cheng glanced at her.
She: "?"
"From today on, call me by my name," he said.
Jian Jing was full of questions: "Why?"
"For you, the CEO of Jin Wu is probably not worth a second," Kang Mu Cheng said. "I hope I can be."
She: "Uh..."
"Aren't we going to build with Lego?" He said. "It's late, let's start."
The Lego boxes were piled nearby. Kang Mu Cheng cleared out the living room area and poured the bricks on the floor. He didn't move the chairs either, but took the wicker mats and started studying the patterns.
He had never played with this toy before. He just preferentially chose the most suitable retro typewriter for her.
Thousands of parts.
Kang Mu Cheng started assembling according to the instructions.
Jian Jing joined in immediately.
At first, Kang Mu Cheng chatted with her a few sentences, asking her where she was going to put it after finishing it, but after getting it wrong twice, he frowned and treated this game with a work attitude.
Jian Jing: Alas.
A workaholic is a workaholic wherever he goes.
She watched helplessly as Kang Mu Cheng sat upright, studying the instructions while looking up information online from time to time, stopping occasionally to think for a while, totally in the spirit of doing a big project.
"Mr. Kang, want a midnight snack?" She slumped on the knight's back without proper sitting posture.
"Call my name," Kang Mu Cheng corrected, then answered, "Okay, order what you want."
Jian Jing ordered pizza for supper while playing mobile games.
"Yours is not done yet," Kang Mu Cheng reminded.
Jian Jing: "..."
Why do you have to assign tasks when assembling Lego!
She crawled up unwillingly and started to complete her part.
At twelve o'clock.
She got up to stretch, walked around, drank some water, played with the dog, and tried to persuade him: "Why don't we just forget it, I think this is quite difficult, let's talk about it next time."
"Didn't you say you wanted to finish it?" Kang Mu Cheng had already taken off his suit jacket, sleeves rolled up, still showing no sign of giving up.
Jian Jing: "...I was just kidding."
"I promised you," he looked at the remaining parts and estimated, "It should be done before work."
Jian Jing: "Staying up late can easily lead to sudden death."
"Maybe, now you can also experience my usual worries," his tone was flat.
Jian Jing: "But I want to sleep."
"You go in and sleep, I can finish it."
She was completely defeated and had to sit back down to continue working.
At three o'clock in the morning, the typewriter was completed.
Jian Jing heaved a sigh of relief and announced, "Kang Mu Cheng, I never want to work with you again."
He chuckled lightly.
"Dream on," he said. "Submit the last chapter by September."