Marking My Arch-Rival [Rebirth] - Chapter 21

Ji Shihuan smiled faintly and stepped forward with her long legs, blocking Jiang Boyan’s path.

She brushed a bit of dust from Jiang Boyan’s shoulder.

“I can give you a few clues.”

Standing so close, Jiang Boyan had no choice but to tilt her head up to meet her gaze.

The look made Ji Shihuan’s heart itch.

“But I can’t give them to you for free.”

Jiang Boyan believed in fair exchange.

She nodded once.

“What do you want?”

Ji Shihuan blinked at her.

Jiang Boyan’s heartbeat quickened. A bad feeling suddenly crept over her.

Sure enough, Ji Shihuan leaned close to her ear and, with obvious mischief, made her demand.

“Say something nice to me, President Jiang. Make me happy, and I’ll tell you.”

Jiang Boyan froze.

She stared at Ji Shihuan for a long time, trying to see through her true intentions.

It was an impossible task.

Before long, her thoughts drifted, and she found herself lost in Ji Shihuan’s deep eyes.

Ji Shihuan leaned closer.

“What?”

She asked, “Is the condition too difficult?”

Then she couldn’t help laughing.

“Or have you finally realized I’m actually very good to you, and can’t bear to make things difficult?”

Jiang Boyan took a deep breath.

But all that filled her lungs was the warm ocean scent that lingered around Ji Shihuan, heated by her body warmth.

“Miss Ji always says the most unexpected things.”

Ji Shihuan arched a brow.

“Unexpected? Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?”

Jiang Boyan turned her face slightly aside.

“This is business. Information should be exchanged for information. I hope Miss Ji won’t drag other—”

Before she could finish, Ji Shihuan’s expression suddenly turned cold.

One arm circled behind Jiang Boyan’s back and pulled her into her embrace.

Caught completely off guard, most of Jiang Boyan’s face landed against Ji Shihuan’s chest.

Another person’s warmth enveloped her.

Through the thin fabric of their spring clothes, she could hear Ji Shihuan’s steady heartbeat.

Thump.

Thump.

Each beat echoed clearly beside her ear.

“Don’t struggle. Don’t look up,” Ji Shihuan reminded softly.

Jiang Boyan finally came back to herself.

Only then did she realize she ought to react.

Blushing furiously, she shut her eyes, trying to digest the embarrassment that no one else had noticed.

“…What’s wrong?”

Ji Shihuan answered quickly.

“Someone was secretly taking pictures. I don’t know why.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she’d spotted someone behind them pointing a phone at the two of them. The person had been sharp enough to disappear into the crowd the moment they realized they’d been noticed.

Jiang Boyan let out a quiet “Mm.”

The unexpected cooperation surprised Ji Shihuan.

She lowered her head and discovered Jiang Boyan hadn’t even opened her eyes.

She was quietly nestled against Ji Shihuan’s chest, a blush spreading from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears, mostly hidden beneath her hair.

It was the first time Ji Shihuan noticed how exquisitely small and delicate her ears were—as though every inch of her had been favored by the Creator.

Two girls in high school uniforms happened to walk past.

Before they’d even gotten far, one could no longer suppress her squeal.

“Ahhh! That Alpha big sister is so gorgeous! Her girlfriend energy is off the charts!”

Her companion nodded so hard her head looked like a bobblehead.

“If I had someone like that, I’d want to cling to her twenty-four hours a day!”

Ji Shihuan wasn’t sure whether Jiang Boyan had heard the girls’ conversation.

But she could feel her breathing grow noticeably heavier.

Deliberately dragging things out, unwilling to break the intimacy, Ji Shihuan stayed exactly where she was.

Finally, Jiang Boyan couldn’t help asking,

“…Have they left yet?”

“I don’t know.”

Ji Shihuan lowered her head, her lips brushing lightly against Jiang Boyan’s hair.

“I don’t know how many of them there are.”

Jiang Boyan trembled.

“My car is across the street.”

“Okay.”

Ji Shihuan answered immediately.

Instead of letting go, however, she grabbed Jiang Boyan’s wrist and led her straight to her own car.

Jiang Boyan sat in the passenger seat without fastening her seat belt, looking at her in confusion.

“It wouldn’t be convenient for me to take you across the street.”

“And I don’t feel comfortable letting you go get your car alone.”

She sounded perfectly reasonable.

“I’ll take you home first.”

Jiang Boyan frowned thoughtfully.

Ji Shihuan simply leaned over.

Under Jiang Boyan’s widened eyes, she pulled the seat belt across her.

Click.

The buckle snapped into place.

“Sit tight. We’re moving.”

The car merged smoothly onto A City’s main avenue, joining the glittering stream of traffic like another star in the galaxy.

Picking up where they’d left off, Ji Shihuan asked,

“Have you ever investigated Jiang Chengchuan?”

“Chengchuan?”

Jiang Boyan looked at her.

“So that’s the clue you meant.”

Ji Shihuan nodded.

To her surprise, Jiang Boyan became suspicious.

“…You haven’t asked for anything in exchange yet.”

The scent of freesia still lingered faintly between Ji Shihuan’s arms.

She glanced sideways at the hopelessly unromantic woman beside her and muttered under her breath,

“So after I finally got you to sweet-talk me, you’re pretending it never happened…”

Jiang Boyan hadn’t heard clearly.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Keeping her eyes on the road, Ji Shihuan answered vaguely,

“We’ll talk about it later. Just… be careful around him.”

She didn’t know the exact situation within the Jiang family.

But in her previous life, after Jiang Boyan’s downfall, it really had been the younger Jiang Chengchuan who inherited her position and took control of Hongxin.

Jiang Boyan shook her head.

After thinking it over, she explained as much as she could without revealing internal company matters.

“Even if I stepped down, it still wouldn’t be Chengchuan’s turn.”

On the contrary, Jiang Chengchuan had only reached his current position because she had promoted him.

Ji Shihuan didn’t argue.

Instead, she asked,

“Our first time… I mean, that accident…”

“Did you ever find out who was behind it?”

Jiang Boyan’s hand tightened around the fabric of her skirt.

Prompted by Ji Shihuan’s question, she suddenly realized she’d overlooked many details.

Because she’d trusted Jiang Chengchuan, she’d only asked about it casually at the time and had never actually verified anything.

Seeing her deep in thought, Ji Shihuan wisely stayed quiet, unwilling to interrupt.

The rest of the drive passed in silence.

The car stopped once again outside Jiang Boyan’s residential complex.

The scene from several days ago seemed to replay itself.

Watching Jiang Boyan prepare to get out, a trace of amusement flickered in Ji Shihuan’s eyes.

This time, she smiled first.

“You’re not going to invite me upstairs again tonight?”

Jiang Boyan paused for only a fraction of a second.

Then she unfastened her seat belt, opened the door, stepped out, and shut it in one smooth sequence.

In the middle of it all, she slipped in a single sentence.

“I won’t take up Miss Ji’s time.”

“So heartless, President Jiang.”

Ji Shihuan sighed dramatically behind her.

“You throw me away after you’ve used me.”

Jiang Boyan acted as though she hadn’t heard.

Her departing figure remained perfectly straight.

Ji Shihuan watched until she disappeared behind the building’s entrance.

Only then did she withdraw her gaze and leisurely start the car.

She had assumed it was nothing more than a minor incident.

Two days later, however, the secretly taken photographs of her and Jiang Boyan landed on her desk.