Chapter 2
She lay there staring blankly for a while before reaching for the phone beside her pillow.
May 11, 2021, 9:30 a.m.
Du Qingyue closed her eyes for a moment, then turned on her phone again. After confirming that she hadn’t misread the date, she frowned in confusion.
How could it possibly be May? It should clearly be March 2025, after Ji Qiulin’s death and after she had spent the Spring Festival with Ji Qiulin’s mother.
Besides, this was her old phone. She had replaced it two years ago.
Clearly, I’m dreaming again, Du Qingyue thought.
She switched on the bedside lamp, looked around the room, then got out of bed and headed outside.
Ji Qiulin was out there.
She knew this with absolute certainty because she remembered that May 11, 2021, was the day after she and Ji Qiulin had accidentally slept together.
After Ji Qiulin’s death, she had dreamed of this scene countless times. She remembered every detail.
Ji Qiulin would be waiting for her in the living room. First, she would ask for Du Qingyue’s contact information, then say coldly, “My mother keeps pressuring me to get married, and I can’t be bothered to look for someone. If you’re single, we’ll go register our marriage on the next working day.”
Naturally, Du Qingyue was single, and so the two of them got married.
Back in the present scene, Du Qingyue’s hand had just reached the door handle. She took a deep breath before pushing the door open.
Sure enough, someone was sitting in the living room. Sunlight fell across her body, outlining the graceful curves of her figure.
The woman had her eyelashes lowered slightly as she fiddled with her phone, a stray lock of hair conveniently concealing the emotions in her eyes.
Du Qingyue approached slowly.
Part of her almost didn’t want to get any closer, afraid that the dream would end too soon. Yet she couldn’t bear not to approach either, because the dream might end at any moment.
She drew closer and closer to Ji Qiulin from four years ago. When she was less than a meter away, Ji Qiulin finally seemed to notice her. She raised her head and looked at her.
Ji Qiulin’s eyes were relatively large, with long, delicate eyelashes and almost black irises. When she looked at someone calmly, there was an unmistakable coolness to her gaze.
Ji Qiulin regarded her with that same cool expression. “Du Qingyue?”
Before Du Qingyue could speak, Ji Qiulin continued, “What happened last night was an accident. I don’t want anyone else finding out about it. As compensation, I can give you a substantial amount of money or provide you with career opportunities.”
Du Qingyue froze.
That wasn’t how the conversation was supposed to go. Could she be having a nightmare?
Seeing that the Alpha in front of her wasn’t responding, Ji Qiulin frowned and repeated herself.
After a pause, she added, “I can give you thirty million in cash. If there are any opportunities you want, you can tell me directly within the next three months.”
So it really was a nightmare. Ji Qiulin wanted to use money to sever all ties with her.
Du Qingyue gave a faint, mocking chuckle. “How generous of you, President Ji.”
“You think it’s not enough?” Ji Qiulin asked hesitantly.
Du Qingyue shook her head. “I just never realized I was worth so much.”
“It’s not that you’re worth that much.” Ji Qiulin carefully considered her words. After a two-second pause, she said, “There was something wrong with my body yesterday, and you were the victim. This is compensation for what happened to you, as well as payment for your silence.”
Du Qingyue replied, “I was the one who entered the wrong room. No one forced me, so I don’t count as a victim.”
Because she could no longer see Ji Qiulin in reality, she unconsciously kept gazing at her throughout the dream. Her gaze was so intensely focused and burning that she didn’t even realize it herself.
Ji Qiulin lowered her eyes to avoid the Alpha’s gaze. Beneath the table, her palm tightened slightly, but her voice betrayed no emotion. “It’s best that you see it that way. Yesterday was nothing more than an accident. We won’t have anything to do with each other from now on. I hope you understand that.”
There she went again, trying to draw a line between them.
Du Qingyue felt a dull ache in her heart. “I don’t understand. All I know is that we slept together yesterday. My scent is still on your body right now. There’s no way we can go back to being strangers.”
She spoke quickly, genuinely infuriated by how this dream was unfolding.
Perhaps because she hadn’t bothered to conceal her emotions in the slightest, Ji Qiulin looked momentarily stunned when she saw her expression.
Ji Qiulin was usually cold and aloof, as though she were constantly keeping her emotions under control, always holding herself tense and guarded. Only occasionally would her true feelings show.
Usually, that happened in bed or during her heat. It was extremely rare in everyday life.
Seeing Ji Qiulin reveal her genuine emotions for once, something stirred in Du Qingyue’s heart, and her frustration suddenly dissipated.
She gazed almost greedily at the Omega she had once marked. As her thoughts gradually became clearer, she suddenly realized something was wrong.
Why did her heart hurt?
How could she feel pain in a dream?
In a flash, her body moved faster than her mind, and Du Qingyue pinched herself.
It hurt.
This wasn’t a dream.
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows and fell across the Alpha’s face, illuminating her expression clearly.
Perhaps it was because the light was too dazzling, but a sheen of tears gathered in her eyes. She reached out, first touching the tabletop, then extending her hand toward the cheek of the woman sitting beside it.
But when her fingertips were barely three millimeters away, she suddenly seemed to remember something. She abruptly withdrew her hand, wiped away her tears, and said, “President Ji.”
Her voice had grown hoarse, but she spoke very quickly. “After all, something like that happened between us last night, and it was my first time. No matter how you look at it, shouldn’t you at least give me your contact information?”
Her words came out in a complete jumble. Du Qingyue bit the tip of her tongue, forcing herself to look directly at Ji Qiulin.
She couldn’t show weakness. That would leave a bad impression.
Ji Qiulin was looking at her too. After a moment’s hesitation, she asked, “Why are you crying?”
“A bug flew into my eye.”
Ji Qiulin frowned, clearly unconvinced, but didn’t press the matter. Instead, she took a card out of her bag. “This is my assistant’s WeChat contact. If you need any resources, you can contact her.”
“I want your contact information.” Du Qingyue didn’t take the card.
Ji Qiulin replied, “There’s no need. Contacting her is the same as contacting me.”
“Can I tell her about what happened last night too?”
“I’ve already explained what happened last night. It was an accident.”
“An accident that has already happened can’t simply be treated as though it never occurred.” Du Qingyue pulled out a chair and sat across from Ji Qiulin. Having composed herself, she adopted the posture of someone settling in for a lengthy discussion. “If President Ji isn’t willing to give me her private contact information, I’ll have no choice but to find it out through my own means.”
“You…” A flicker of emotion escaped Ji Qiulin’s eyes. “How can you do that?”
There was clearly no genuine reproach in the Omega’s tone. Du Qingyue smiled. “Because I want to get to know you, President Ji.”
Her voice was very soft, carrying a hint of nostalgia and regret that was difficult to put into words.
Ji Qiulin looked at the young Alpha before her, her palm tightening once again where Du Qingyue couldn’t see.
Their eyes met.
Du Qingyue was the first to look away, pretending to be magnanimous. “If President Ji really doesn’t want to, then forget it. I’m just an actress whose name nobody even knows. It’s only natural that President Ji wouldn’t think much of me.”
“It’s not that I look down on you.” Ji Qiulin’s brows drew together slightly. A few seconds later, she said, “I can give you my contact information.”
Even though she had successfully gotten the Omega to compromise, Du Qingyue felt a bitter ache in her heart.
Ji Qiulin’s mother had been right. Ji Qiulin had always liked her.
She liked her so much that a single self-deprecating remark from Du Qingyue was enough to make her change her mind.
After they scanned each other’s codes and added each other on WeChat, Ji Qiulin answered a phone call and then left.
Du Qingyue remained seated at the table, watching Ji Qiulin leave. Then she pinched herself again.
She really had been reborn.
She didn’t know why heaven had given her another chance, but since she had been allowed to start over, and since she could be certain that the person before her really was Ji Qiulin, she couldn’t let the tragedy of her previous life repeat itself.
In her previous life, it wasn’t only Ji Qiulin who had been afraid to express her love. Du Qingyue herself had rarely expressed hers either. This time, she wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
She wanted to spend the rest of her life happily with Ji Qiulin.
Having set her goal, Du Qingyue took several deep breaths and finally regained her composure. She opened her phone and began by looking through her contacts and scrolling through the news.
She really couldn’t remember much about what had happened four years ago.
After spending roughly half an hour on her phone, she received a WeChat call.
It was Sister Zhang, her manager.
Du Qingyue answered. “Sister Zhang.”
“Where are you?” Sister Zhang’s voice was full of anger. “You have a shoot for Ruijie Magazine today! They had to call me before I even found out you hadn’t shown up!”
Ruijie. Du Qingyue searched her memory for information about it.
Ruijie was a fashion magazine that had always struggled to gain much popularity. As far as she remembered, this particular shoot had been no different. It hadn’t done anything to boost her fame.
But once she had accepted a job, she had to show up. Du Qingyue quickly headed toward the bedroom. “I’m sorry, Sister Zhang. I got drunk yesterday and overslept.”
“Where are you?” Sister Zhang asked, suppressing her temper. “I’ll send someone to pick you up right now.”
Du Qingyue replied, “It’ll take time for you to drive here. I’ll get there faster if I ride over myself.”
She remembered that in her previous life, Ji Qiulin had driven her there. They had indeed gotten stuck in traffic along the way, nearly causing her to lose her appearance fee.
“Fine. Just hurry up.” Sister Zhang hung up.
Du Qingyue quickly changed her clothes and went to the bathroom to relieve herself. When she came out and began combing her hair in front of the mirror, she suddenly realized something.
When she had been facing Ji Qiulin earlier, she hadn’t combed her hair or washed her face, and her clothes had been in disarray the entire time.
Her mind went blank with a buzz, and Du Qingyue belatedly flushed with embarrassment.
Fortunately, her hair was naturally smooth and her complexion was fair. Even without combing her hair or washing her face, she still looked clean and presentable rather than sloppy.
She hoped Ji Qiulin wouldn’t mind and wouldn’t secretly deduct points from her impression of Du Qingyue.
*
After leaving the hotel, Du Qingyue scanned a shared electric scooter to unlock it. She then took a picture of the scooter and sent it to Ji Qiulin to report her whereabouts. Only then did she switch on the navigation and set off toward her destination.
At present, her popularity in the entertainment industry placed her among third-tier celebrities. It wasn’t that nobody recognized her. She had quite a large number of fans, but reality was different from the internet. Once several million fans were scattered among the general population, they didn’t amount to that many people.
Besides, she was wearing a wide-brimmed sun hat, and her clothes were loose-fitting. From a distance, hardly anyone could be certain it was her.
She arrived at her destination without incident. Just as Du Qingyue was about to check what Ji Qiulin had replied, before she could even open WeChat, her assistant Xiao Jia grabbed her clothes.
“Sister Du, the shoot is over here.”
As Xiao Jia hurriedly pulled her along, she whispered, “Sister Zhang is apologizing to the magazine people right now. She scolded me so fiercely earlier. I’m guessing you’ll get an earful when you go in too, so just bear with it.”
Du Qingyue nodded. “I know how Sister Zhang is.”
Sister Zhang was her first manager and had been representing her for three years now. So far, the two of them had enjoyed a fairly pleasant working relationship.
Sister Zhang was highly career-driven, impatient, and quick to lose her temper. However, she had never forced any of the artists under her management to do disgusting things like accompany people to drinking parties. In the entertainment industry, that alone made her a remarkably good manager.
But in her previous life, Sister Zhang hadn’t remained her manager forever. One year after Du Qingyue got married, Ji Qiulin introduced her to another manager.
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