Chapter 222: Taking Advantage of Vulnerability, Confession
Jin Shi Yue leaned lazily against the seat, a smile of unknown meaning playing on his lips. “You choose me, or him?”
Lian Li shook her head.
Seeing this, Jin Shi Yue’s brow furrowed slightly, and he chided, “Where did you pick up that bad habit of shaking your head without speaking?”
“You’re not among my options,” Lian Li said.
Jin Shi Yue’s eyes sharpened. “You choose him?”
Lian Li still shook her head. “He’s not in the question.”
Jin Shi Yue frowned, his sharp black eyes fixed on her beautiful face, not missing the slightest expression.
Second Young Master Jin’s patience for his entire life seemed to be spent on her.
Before his patience ran out, Lian Li pushed up the brim of her baseball cap, revealing a pair of clear, bright almond-shaped eyes.
“Feelings aren’t multiple-choice questions, why would I have to choose?”
“Feelings should be essay questions, major ones. We are both the question and the answer. The answer is based on us, written by us. Adding others would be off-topic.”
She said clearly, “It’s like drawing a circle. Inside the circle, there are only the two of us. Everyone else is outside the circle.” Only with clear boundaries can the circle be stable.
Lian Li wasn’t foolish; she naturally understood what Jin Shi Yue was asking.
After years of being together day and night, Jin Yan Ting’s presence was everywhere in Lian Li’s life, and she couldn’t go back in time to erase those traces. Moreover, he had helped her, and Lian Li felt grateful to him. It was impossible for them to never see each other again.
In the past, present, and future, Lian Li would inevitably interact with Jin Yan Ting.
When studying in the United States, both Jin Yan Ting and Jin Shi Yue could provide her with convenience to a certain extent. Who should she choose between the two? This question was just the beginning.
Lian Li was not someone who couldn’t grasp the situation.
Even siblings needed boundaries, let alone the fact that she and Jin Yan Ting had no blood relation.
More importantly, Lian Li and Jin Yan Ting had been involved in a scandal of being kept, a relationship that was ambiguously unclear but undeniably existed.
Years of interaction + no blood relation + a scandal + having liked him… continuing to interact would lead to much speculation.
Now, Lian Li could understand his concerns from Jin Shi Yue’s perspective, just as he could look at her mother’s situation from her angle.
Lian Li’s meetings with Jin Yan Ting were unavoidable, but she could maintain boundaries and ensure that only she and Jin Shi Yue were within the circle.
Jin Shi Yue’s dark, deep eyes reflected Lian Li’s face, staring at her without blinking, saying nothing.
Lian Li took off her hat and reached into his suit jacket, her arm pressing against the expensive black shirt, and hugged his lean, strong waist.
She buried herself in the man’s arms, tilting her chin up from his chest, her forehead bumping against his firm jaw.
Jin Shi Yue’s expression remained unchanged as he looked down at her. “Are you drawing me a picture?”
“It’s a circle, the circle of a round shape, not a picture,” Lian Li corrected him.
Jin Shi Yue: “A picture can be round.”
Lian Li: “Some are square too.”
The man’s body was strong and powerful, with firm muscle lines, possessing a sense of strength, beauty, and touch. She hugged his waist tightly and continued, “The pancake my Senior Sister often eats is square.”
“Don’t change the subject,” Jin Shi Yue wasn’t buying it and insisted she make a choice. “Who do you choose?”
“I haven’t accepted any arrangements from Brother Yan Ting,” Lian Li explained. “That secretary graduated from Princeton. I was just asking her for advice on where to find good Chinese Food.”
Jin Shi Yue slowly curved his lips. “Choose me.”
…Fine.
It could be understood that way.
Thus, Lian Li inexplicably accepted Jin Shi Yue’s arrangement.
Back at Xi Shang Yuan.
They didn’t stay long before Jin Shi Yue was called away by a phone call.
At that time, Lian Li was leaning on the sofa watching a movie, with God of Wealth lying on the carpet beside her.
Hearing Jin Shi Yue say he had to go back to the Jin Family, she immediately sat up straight and turned to look at him, asking if something had happened.
“The Old Madam has a cold,” Jin Shi Yue said casually.
Lian Li asked, “Is it serious?”
Jin Shi Yue strode over, casually pulled a dark gray wool blanket over her, and leaned down, very close to her. “A mild cold.” He lowered his head and pressed his thin lips to her forehead. “Wait for me at home.”
Lian Li obediently hummed in response.
The affairs of the powerful Jin Family were far more complex than she could imagine. The reason no one had approached her all these years was entirely due to Jin Yan Ting’s arrangements.
Jin Shi Yue knew that Jin Yan Ting had kept Lian Li completely out of it, preventing others from targeting her.
However, Jin Shi Yue disdained the idea of deliberately distancing himself from her and disregarding her true feelings in order to protect her.
Lian Li sat on the sofa and watched Jin Shi Yue leave. After he was out of sight, she leaned forward and stroked the soft, well-groomed fur of God of Wealth.
“He doesn’t seem to have rested much,” she murmured to herself.
God of Wealth barked twice.
“I don’t understand.”
“Woof woof!”
“Still don’t understand.”
“Woof woof woof!”
Due to the species difference and language barrier, Lian Li no longer insisted on translating the Tibetan Mastiff’s barks.
On the glass coffee table sat the grape and grapefruit juice prepared by the maid. Lian Li picked it up, sipped it through the straw while watching the movie.
The 8k projector was playing a summer blockbuster, a suspenseful genre with a dark color palette, creating a sinister and eerie atmosphere.
As the movie ended, Lian Li stood up from the sofa, pressing her palm to the back of her neck and stretching her neck.
Just then, a maid led two guests in.
Lian Li followed the sound and recognized one of them as the tall and strong Ling Yu. The other was a tall woman in a white shirt and black trousers, exuding a capable aura.
Unfamiliar faces, not known.
“Miss Lian, allow me to introduce Li Shuangjie,” Ling Yu, being familiar with Lian Li, skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point. “She will be accompanying you to the United States.”
Lian Li was slightly taken aback.
Accompanying her to the United States?
Due to his status, Ling Yu couldn’t go abroad and could only operate domestically. Furthermore, as a man, it was easy to cause misunderstandings if he constantly followed a girl, so Li Shuangjie was arranged to come.
Listening to them, Lian Li understood that Li Shuangjie was sent by Jin Shi Yue, essentially her driver and bodyguard in the United States.
Lian Li’s gaze drifted down, casually glancing at Li Shuangjie’s hands, and she understood.
Skilled with a gun.
After a few brief words, Ling Yu left, leaving Lian Li and Li Shuangjie alone in the villa.
Li Shuangjie had a quiet personality, only speaking when necessary. When not speaking, she was as silent as a robot, somewhat like Tao Su, but not as cold.
It’s a job, so it’s normal to have a poker face at work.
Understood.
Lian Li had the gifts she bought in Taiwan delivered to Xue Shufan and then listlessly packed her belongings, preparing for her trip abroad.
Since Jin Shi Yue wasn’t returning for dinner, she ate alone in the vast, empty, luxurious villa, feeling quite bored. Coincidentally, Zhong Yang was organizing something in their WeChat group and tagged her.
The location was Rui Kong Ju Siheyuan.
Xue Shufan also messaged her privately, asking if she was going.
Lian Li pondered for a moment, feeling that there was nothing else to do and it might be fun to go.
The three male assistants with Wi-Fi signals were not there, so Li Shuangjie drove her.
Li Shuangjie sat in the driver’s seat and skillfully put on white gloves.
Seeing this, Lian Li suddenly thought that the gloves looked quite good on a girl.
