Substitute Lover [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 47

In the office, the white, elegant hand “whoosh” pulled up the milky white roller blind.

The floor-to-ceiling windows were transparent and clean.

In the afternoon, the sunlight outside was fierce, and the beams of light spilled over Ji Fan’s original wooden desk, the oak floor, and shone on the entire reindeer skin carpet in the center.

There were a few small plants on the desk.

Although Ji Fan had neglected to take care of them these days, her assistant had been diligent in watering them, and they were growing well.

The succulents and aloe vera were plump and full of life.

“You have a Intracerebral hemorrhage?”

Xu Qingzhu threw herself onto the soft sofa and said in surprise, “What kind of disease is that? Is it the same as a cerebral hemorrhage? It’s so scary.”

Ji Fan smiled lightly, her face lowered in her curly hair, and she didn’t look up: “It’s nothing, I’ve had this disease since I was a child.”

“Huh?”

She was a little surprised and paced back and forth in the office: “Why?”

“Bad luck.”

Ji Fan picked up her cup and took a sip of hot water, her words vague: “There was a little accident when I was born.”

That’s just how people are. The more important something is, the less we take it seriously. Perhaps some things, like air, are so accustomed to feeling that they have no presence, that once they are lost, we realize how important they are, and we can’t breathe without them.

Physical health is like that.

Some people are like that too.

Ji Fan quit coffee and switched to something milder.

There were a few goji berries floating in the white porcelain cup, and the freshly poured hot water was still scalding, steaming.

Xu Qingzhu glanced at her cup.

Started drinking goji berry tea?

Xu Qingzhu blinked: “Starting to take care of your health?”

Ji Fan didn’t say anything, her long eyelashes drooping.

“When are you going to have surgery?” she asked.

A faint smile appeared on Ji Fan’s lips, but it was faint.

“I don’t plan to have surgery for now.”

“Huh?”

Xu Qingzhu was a little surprised.

Ji Fan explained slowly: “I’ve looked into it, and if this disease isn’t serious, it can be treated with medication. Surgery is very troublesome and there is a high risk of complications.”

Xu Qingzhu frowned.

“But you can’t not have surgery. What’s the success rate of the surgery?”

“90% and above.”

“So high. Then what’s there to worry about.”

“There are many complications. Do you know what the most serious one is?”

Ji Fan raised her eyes, and her black and white eyes stared at the person quietly, with a sense of despair that was almost suffocating:

“Craniotomy, after the operation, you may lose consciousness and become a vegetable.”

“…”

“Deep coma, loss of consciousness, hemiplegia.”

“…”

Ji Fan shook her head with a smile: “If I can take medicine to get better, I’ll just take medicine. I won’t have surgery.”

She took a plastic bag of pills from the desk drawer, then got up to pour a glass of hot water, tilting her head back to swallow the pills.

Ji Fan had beautiful features, like a beauty in a painting. She sat quietly without saying a word, her eyes particularly captivating. She was still the same as before, sitting there with her back straight, her posture so upright it was almost stiff. Her long, curly hair was thick and black, making her skin appear as white as snow. If it weren’t for her rosy lips, she would have looked bloodless, cold and lifeless.

Her skin was very white, but it wasn’t the same kind of white as Jiang Cha’s. Jiang Cha’s was a warm, girlish pink, like peach petals, always slightly flushed and full of vitality. Ji Fan’s, however, was a cold white, like ice, and even on hot days, she didn’t sweat much, and her face had no color at all.

She pushed her curly hair out of her sight and said softly:

“I feel much better now.”

“Then, have you told Jiang Cha?”

Xu Qingzhu asked softly.

“No.”

Ji Fan thought for a moment and said, “Let her focus on filming. Knowing won’t help her.”

“That’s true.”

As Xu Qingzhu chatted with her, she felt a heavy, dead weight pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe.

Even though Ji Fan was always smiling lightly.

She stood up: “I have something to do, I’ll go first.”

As soon as the door closed, Ji Fan frowned tightly. Her usually straight back suddenly collapsed as if it had collapsed, and she could only support herself on the desk, weak and soft.

Her eyes were fixed.

For several long seconds, she couldn’t see anything again.

••••

“Xiao Ji asked a lot about your past.”

Jiang Cha stopped washing the dishes, startled, and looked up: “What did she ask?”

A drop of rain pattered down, slowly sliding down the windowpane.

The dreamlike twilight, like an old photograph, had a vague, lingering sense of antiquity. The yellowish light filtered through the window glass, bit by bit swallowing up the darkness of the house.

She was wearing a pure white cotton nightgown, her long hair like silk, thick and soft, hanging straight down to her waist. Being in the midst of her career, she was particularly energetic. Jiang Cha’s red lips curved slightly, her eyes bright, always with a smile.

These days, Jiang Cha had been filming in the crew and had gradually gotten into the state, making great progress every day. Everything was going well.

Except for one thing.

She still remembered Ji Fan’s inexplicable order that day for her to finish reading those books.

It’s as if everything after the divorce was meticulously planned, even a bit too detailed. It doesn’t seem like she’s planning a divorce, but more like…

Jiang Cha was startled.

But this thought only flashed through her mind for a moment.

Her mother, Jiang Yuanwen, smiled, while carefully washing the cabbages in the basket, she chattered: “She asked what you were like when you were a child. So I showed her the photos I saved on my phone.”

Jiang Cha blinked.

“Which photos?”

When Jiang Cha was young, her parents made her cut her hair short like a boy’s, saying it was strong and easy to take care of. So she had a very short, shaggy haircut for a long time. That was the lowest point of her appearance. She was probably about four or five years old at the time, playing outside all day, and her skin was a bit tanned. It could be said to be the ugliest period of her life.

Jiang Cha curled her white fingers and thought, “Could it be those photos?”

Jiang Yuanwen wiped the water off her hands with a towel and took out her phone from her pocket to hand it to Jiang Cha: “Here. You look through it yourself. You were so cute when you were a child, chubby and doll-like.”

Jiang Yuanwen glanced at her, somewhat dissatisfied, and then complained with a smile:

“You’ve gotten thinner and thinner as you’ve grown up.”

Jiang Cha flipped through it, and immediately felt a little hot-faced.

Photos from a long time ago.

In the cradle, taking her first steps, chubby like a glutinous rice ball.

As she continued to flip through, she actually found the photos from that time!

Slightly dark, like a little boy, and there was more than one.

This is called “cute”?

Jiang Cha felt her vision go dark, her cheeks slightly hot, she blurted out: “Mom, you couldn’t have picked a better-looking one!”

“You’re so picky,” Jiang Yuanwen laughed. “You’ve been together for so long, you’re an old married couple, and you still care about these things–“

Jiang Cha said nothing.

There was no way to explain.

Her mother knew she had been with Ji Fan for a long time, but she didn’t know the whole story.

Jiang Cha washed another bowl and asked as she rinsed it:

“What else did she ask?”

Jiang Yuanwen said leisurely:

“She also asked when you came out of the closet. How did you discover that you liked girls.”

Jiang Cha’s heart skipped a beat.

She had a bad feeling.

Jiang Yuanwen turned her head and smiled slightly: “I said, you used to like a little girl who grew up with you, and you even wrote a diary for her, which was discovered by your father and me.”

Jiang Cha bit her lip, covered her face, and was completely flustered.

Back then, there was a kind of diary with faintly printed patterns on the pages, and Jiang Cha had also collected some, secretly writing some sentimental words on them, most of which were about Bai Yihan. After writing, she would hide it in the gap of the bookcase, but her actions were too careless and were discovered by her mother.

It was discovered, so it was discovered.

It was all in the past.

But how could she tell Ji Fan about those things?

Jiang Cha suddenly became anxious, her snow-white cheeks flushed, her red lips trembled, half angry and half embarrassed: “How could you tell her that?”

“Why not?”

Jiang Yuanwen washed the vegetables and said softly: “You young people, don’t always hide things. Why can’t you just talk about it openly?”

“……”

“She’s a good person.”

Jiang Yuanwen smiled softly and said, “After your father and I go back, you two should get along well.”

Ji Fan should know that the little girl her mother was talking about was Bai Yihan.

But so what if she knew?

Jiang Cha thought to herself, Ji Fan would probably just laugh it off if she knew, after all, she didn’t have any other feelings for her and didn’t care at all.

The fine rain outside began to fall again, and the sunlight shone, warm and humid.

Jiang Cha raised her eyes and stared at the rain curtain, lost in thought.