Marking My Arch-Rival [Rebirth] - Chapter 20

Jiang Boyan’s ears tingled from the way Ji Shihuan deliberately lowered her voice.

She tried to move away. Just as she braced a hand against the table to push herself back, Ji Shihuan voluntarily leaned away instead, her sleeve brushing lightly across the back of Jiang Boyan’s hand.

Jiang Boyan lowered her eyes.

For some reason, the spot looked unnaturally flushed, almost like an allergic reaction. It itched just enough to throw her thoughts into disarray.

She resisted the urge to scratch it.

“So someone wants to take down both Huanji and Hong—”

“No.”

Before she could finish organizing her thoughts, Ji Shihuan cut her off coldly.

Looking at Jiang Boyan, she curled one corner of her lips into a half-smile.

“I said us.”

She pointed a finger at Jiang Boyan, then turned it back toward herself, pressing it lightly against her own chest.

“You and me,” Ji Shihuan repeated. “Not our companies.”

Jiang Boyan lowered her head.

For a long while, Ji Shihuan couldn’t even hear her breathing.

She found herself unable to stop paying attention to Jiang Boyan.

Her gaze remained fixed on her, catching even the faintest tremble of her eyelashes.

Soon, a strange emotion surfaced inside Ji Shihuan.

It came too suddenly for her to make sense of.

In her previous life, she had already known Jiang Boyan’s life within the Jiang family had been miserable. Surrounded by wolves and tigers, everyone had been waiting to strip her to the bone.

Ji Shihuan herself had only accounted for sixty or seventy percent of Jiang Boyan’s downfall in three short years.

The rest had been accomplished by Jiang Boyan’s own people tearing one another apart.

So from the moment she had invited Jiang Boyan out tonight, Ji Shihuan had been certain—

Jiang Boyan would believe her.

Jiang Boyan slowly looked up again.

Ji Shihuan caught a trace of something deep and unreadable in her eyes.

“Why so serious?”

She finally opened the wedding candy box that had been sitting untouched on the table.

Before Jiang Boyan could speak, Ji Shihuan broke the silence first.

“Candy. Let’s eat some candy first.”

Just like that, the heavy atmosphere dissipated.

Jiang Boyan blinked blankly before instinctively reaching for a piece.

The moment her fingers brushed the wrapper—

Ji Shihuan abruptly pulled it back.

Jiang Boyan: “…”

Her hand closed on empty air.

Oddly enough, she didn’t feel disappointed.

She smiled bitterly to herself.

She hated how much she’d let her guard down.

For one fleeting moment, she’d almost believed someone she barely knew.

Were those two encounters that never should have happened enough to drag even her soul off course?

Silently, Jiang Boyan withdrew her hand and began rebuilding the walls around herself.

But before she could gather her thoughts again, a faint milky sweetness drifted into her nose.

She looked up.

A plump white milk candy appeared before her eyes.

“Here.”

Ji Shihuan’s eyes sparkled, shimmering with moisture that inexplicably reminded Jiang Boyan of an expensive gemstone.

“What are you looking at me for?”

“Eat some candy~”

She held the candy right up to Jiang Boyan’s lips.

Though she never actually said the words, I’ll feed you was practically written all over her face.

Jiang Boyan froze.

She parted her lips to speak—

—but the instant she did, Ji Shihuan popped the candy into her mouth.

Every word was blocked in her throat.

All that remained of her senses was Ji Shihuan standing before her…

…and the growing sweetness melting across her tongue.

“Is it good?”

Ji Shihuan suddenly asked, staring at her lips.

Jiang Boyan pressed her lips together.

The solemn atmosphere had completely disappeared.

She found herself oddly unaccustomed to it.

Looking away, she stared at her slightly reddened fingertips.

“It’s… alright.”

Those two words clearly weren’t enough to satisfy Ji Shihuan.

Seeing that Jiang Boyan probably couldn’t come up with a better description, Ji Shihuan acted without thinking.

She stuck out her tongue and licked the inside of the square candy wrapper.

The flash of soft pink lasted only an instant—

—but it made Jiang Boyan’s pupils contract.

After all, the wedding candies were expensive.

The candy itself hadn’t melted at all, so naturally there was no flavor left on the wrapper.

Completely unaware of the impact her little action had made, Ji Shihuan regretfully tossed the wrapper onto the table.

Lowering her head, she rummaged through the box for another candy while muttering to herself,

“Why is there only one of each flavor? Wedding candy should come in pairs. Isn’t that supposed to be good luck?”

The candy rested against Jiang Boyan’s palate.

She absentmindedly nudged it with her tongue.

Unable to find another matching candy, Ji Shihuan casually tossed one into her own mouth before asking,

“Full yet?”

She suggested,

“It’s so stuffy in here. Let’s talk outside.”

Jiang Boyan naturally had no objections.

She had been sitting closer to the exit.

Ji Shihuan waited for two seconds.

When it became clear Jiang Boyan had no intention of walking first, she simply draped her jacket over one arm and headed out herself.

After leaving the restaurant, she turned around.

Jiang Boyan stood three or four paces behind her, hands tucked into her coat pockets.

Ji Shihuan frowned.

“Standing that far away? Planning to let passing strangers join in on our conspiracy?”

Jiang Boyan looked up at her.

She stepped one pace closer.

Paused.

Then took another.

Ji Shihuan couldn’t help laughing.

She held out the sleeve of her jacket.

“Then hold onto this.”

“How about we use it to measure the proper distance between us?”

Jiang Boyan gave her a cool glance.

Her silence expressed complete disdain for Ji Shihuan’s childish behavior.

Completely lacking any self-awareness, Ji Shihuan sighed regretfully after lowering her sleeve.

“Why not?”

“Doesn’t this feel just like a romance drama?”

Unable to hold back anymore, Jiang Boyan finally replied,

“…Are we filming a romance drama?”

Night had fallen.

Streetlights flickered to life one after another.

Standing between moonlight and neon glow, Jiang Boyan frowned slightly, a faint blush of embarrassment coloring her cheeks.

Ji Shihuan couldn’t remember any romance drama heroine who looked half as beautiful.

“Then…”

“A corporate drama?”

Jiang Boyan: “…”

“But even corporate dramas have romantic scenes!”

Ji Shihuan protested as though she’d suffered a great injustice.

“It was me compromising for your sake. President Jiang is really impossible to please.”

The night breeze drifted gently through the broad streets.

Walking beneath it, Jiang Boyan’s thoughts gradually cleared.

She let out a slow breath.

Just as she raised a hand to smooth back her windblown hair, she realized Ji Shihuan had already stepped forward—

—perfectly blocking the wind coming her way.

Staring at Ji Shihuan’s shoulder, Jiang Boyan forced herself back to the real issue.

“You’ve already realized someone is trying to take both of us down.”

“You must have found quite a few leads.”

Without turning around, Ji Shihuan hummed softly.

“Mhm.”

“So?”

“Tell me.”

Hearing that, Ji Shihuan finally looked back.

She still had wedding candy in her mouth.

Her voice lacked its usual brightness, carrying instead a faint stickiness that was difficult to describe.

“What do you mean?”

“You expect me to tell you everything?”

Jiang Boyan stepped onto Ji Shihuan’s shadow.

“If I remember correctly…”

“…weren’t you the one who invited me out tonight, Miss Ji?”

“I did.”

Ji Shihuan was used to being shameless.

Besides, teasing Jiang Boyan had become one of her favorite pastimes.

“Some things you’ll have to investigate yourself.”

“Otherwise, even if I laid all the evidence in front of you, you still might not believe it.”

Jiang Boyan was very clever.

“So all you’ve obtained are little more than rumors and fragments.”

She raised her wrist to check the time.

“If that’s the case…”

“…please don’t waste my time.”