Chapter 47 : Pain (2/2)

She’s doing this on purpose, isn’t she?

Song Ye raised his hand and rubbed her hair, trying to stay calm.

“Next time, I didn’t prepare anything.”

Tonight was unexpected.

He hadn’t intended for anything to happen.

And now, he was not in a rational state.

If they really did it, he was afraid he’d be too focused on releasing his own emotions.

He wanted to give her the best experience.

Jiang Nanshu opened her mouth but didn’t speak.

She didn’t have experience either,

and completely forgot about the condom.

“Don’t worry.”

She didn’t quite get it.

“Don’t worry about what?”

The man looked down at her and suddenly smiled.

In a low voice, he said, “Your boyfriend’s pretty reliable.”

“……”

Jiang Nanshu’s face turned red instantly.

She pounced on his neck and bit him lightly.

“Who’s worried about that! I… I just didn’t want you to feel bad, so…”

“So you were trying to help me release some emotions?”

Song Ye looked at her with a faint smile.

His eyes no longer held any clear emotion.

Jiang Nanshu thought she had built up a pretty thick skin over the years,

But this man was even bolder when it came to dirty talk and teasing.

She grew flustered and angry, rolled off him, and turned her back.

“You better just hold it in.”

Song Ye looked at the back of her fluffy head, then rolled over and hugged her.

He kissed the top of her head and whispered, “Sleep.”

Jiang Nanshu drifted off in a daze, but in the middle of the night, she had a dream.

She dreamt of the day her father had the car accident,

and suddenly woke up in shock.

Instinctively, she reached to the side.

It was empty.

The blanket was cold, too.

She froze for a moment, then groggily got out of bed.

She opened the slightly ajar door and heard the soft “click” of a lighter.

She paused her steps for a second before walking out.

On the balcony, Song Ye was standing with his back to her in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, smoking.

Smoke drifted in the air, and it was unclear how long he had been standing there.

She walked over barefoot, making barely any sound,

but Song Ye seemed to sense her and turned to look.

The two of them stared at each other in silence.

“Why are you awake?” he asked. “Did I wake you?”

Jiang Nanshu shook her head and walked up to hug him from behind.

The man looked back and asked softly,

“So close, doesn’t the smoke bother you?”

“No,” she shook her head.

“Barefoot like that, aren’t you cold?”

Song Ye looked down at her pale, delicate feet.

Her nails were painted a faint cherry blossom pink: exquisite and beautiful.

He put out the cigarette and tossed it in the trash.

Then he turned and leaned against the window, scooping her up by the waist.

The way he so casually lifted her up made Jiang Nanshu think, her boyfriend really was quite strong.

Song Ye had no idea she was off in her thoughts.

He carried her toward the master bedroom and said,

“I didn’t smoke for years. I quit six months after finishing Echoes of Time.

Stayed clean since.

Lately I’ve been stressed… so I broke the streak.”

“It’s okay. You can smoke if you need to.”

Song Ye looked down at her, saw how hard she was trying to comfort him,

and took a deep breath.

Then he said, “Jiang Nanshu, I minored in psychology.”

“Huh?” She looked up and blinked.

“This whole thing… yeah, it sucks.”

Song Ye looked at her and said in a low voice,

“Give me a bit of time. I’ll get through it.”

“Okay…”

Jiang Nanshu nodded and pointed toward the sofa.

“I need my phone.”

She had left it on the couch, and she had work tomorrow.

So she needed to set an alarm.

Song Ye carried her over to grab the phone.

Jiang Nanshu lit up the screen and saw that it was almost 5 a.m.

Then she noticed a message from an unfamiliar number,

though both of them recognized the number instantly.

[Sorry.]

Jiang Nanshu instinctively looked up at Song Ye.

He set her back down on the bed and stood beside it, looking down at her.

“Block him,” he said.

“Okay.”

Jiang Nanshu blocked Chen Qingyue.

Then she looked up and saw that Song Ye was still standing beside the bed, his face cold.

She couldn’t help but ask,

“What are you thinking about?”

“Reciting laws and regulations,” Song Ye said with a cold face.

“Thinking about how to kill someone without breaking the law.”

“……”

Seeing the nervous look on her face, he sighed helplessly.

“I’m joking.”

Jiang Nanshu felt… he didn’t sound like he was joking.

—

The next morning, Jiang Nanshu forced herself to get up.

Song Ye was no longer in bed.

She walked out of the room and saw he had already changed clothes and was standing at the open kitchen, making eggs.

Hearing footsteps, the man turned to look at her and smiled slightly.

“Awake? Go wash up and come have breakfast. We’ll go to the company together after.”

“Okay…” Jiang Nanshu nodded, still a bit dazed.

Seeing her unmoving, Song Ye raised an eyebrow.

“Black coffee or latte?”

He had a coffee machine in the corner.

“Black coffee.”

Jiang Nanshu watched him take out a mug and start making it,

Then turned to go wash up.

Breakfast was bacon, fried eggs, toast, and a cup of black coffee.

Jiang Nanshu sat at the dining table and couldn’t help but look up at Song Ye.

Aside from a hint of weariness between his brows, everything else about him seemed normal.

Jiang Nanshu didn’t ask more.

Some things just take time to process.

The operations team began handing over work to the publishing department.

For the large-scale beta test at the end of next month,

the publishing side would also run advertisements to recruit a batch of players.

Jiang Nanshu was worried that the recruited user group wouldn’t be a good match,

which could affect the test data.

She made a few suggestions, like recruiting directly through communities for better user alignment,

But it was rejected.

Lu Xiaowei: [Before you joined the company, I was in charge of this project’s operations.

I’ve been the lead on Project A for over a year,

Don’t you think I understand it better than you?

Jiang Nanshu calmly typed: I’m giving normal feedback and suggestions.

I’m not trying to pick a fight.

Lu Xiaowei: The publishing department has its way of doing things.

Just focus on being the operations lead.]

Saying don’t overstep.

Mind your own business.

Jiang Nanshu: Fine.

But if the test data ends up poor, will your publishing department take responsibility?

The other side didn’t reply anymore.

Jiang Nanshu rolled her eyes.

The moment responsibility was mentioned, silence.

A while later

Lu Xiaowei: You do your recruiting, and we’ll do ours.

It won’t affect each other.

Jiang Nanshu told Song Ye about this over WeChat.

Song Ye replied: [Let them recruit. Their department applied for a promotional budget.

If they can’t recruit enough players,

they’ll have a hard time explaining what the money was used for.

Jiang Nanshu thought about it and decided not to insist anymore.

She replied to Lu Xiaowei: [Okay.]

S: [Are you going back by yourself tonight?

I’ll be pretty busy for a while.]

The Spring Festival had passed, and there was only a month left before the next version freeze.

It was inevitable that Song Ye would be busy.

Jiang Nanshu had no doubt and replied: [Alright, I’ll go home and wait for you.]

S: [If it gets too late, don’t wait. Just go to sleep first.]

S: [I’ll pick you up in the morning for work.]

Jiang Nanshu paused, then replied: [Okay.]

For several days in a row, aside from the brief time they shared in the morning, the only time Jiang Nanshu and Song Ye saw each other face-to-face was during meetings at work.

The man seemed calm, like nothing was wrong.

But Jiang Nanshu felt a vague sense of unease.

In the afternoon, she was calling Jiang Yu from the emergency stairwell when she overheard Gao Xiaokun and the others talking about Song Ye in the smoking room.

Chen Yang said, “Did any of you piss off the boss recently?

I feel like he’s been scary lately.”

Gao Xiaokun, as clueless as ever, replied, “Really? He hasn’t lost his temper or anything. He hasn’t yelled at anyone recently either, has he?”

Chen Yang said, “That’s exactly what’s scary—he’s not yelling. It’s like he’s holding it all in. Who knows when he’s gonna explode and rip us a new one. Just thinking about it gives me chills.” Then he shivered.

To be fair, Song Ye didn’t have the best temper, especially when yelling at people at work.

He never held back.

But he was someone who kept work and personal life separate.

After work, he was pretty easy to get along with, so most people only feared him during office hours.

Jiang Nanshu zoned out while listening to their conversation.

Jiang Yu said over the phone, “I’ll drop your luggage off tonight and bring you something to eat. What time do you get off work?”

“No need to bring it.” Jiang Nanshu snapped out of it. “I’m going to visit Jiajia at the hospital tonight. I’ll swing by and pick it up afterward.”

Cheng Jiajia had been hospitalized for a week and was being discharged tomorrow.

Jiang Nanshu got off work a little earlier that evening and bought some food to bring to her so they could eat together.

When she reached the door of the hospital room, she heard Cheng Jiajia angrily shout, “Li Yi, get him out of here!”

Li Yi: “…”

After a brief silence, Li Yi said, “Your relationship issues aren’t my problem. I’m not a mediator.”

Jiang Nanshu: “…”

She had forgotten; today seemed to be the day when Li Yi was being interviewed in the hospital by Cheng Jiajia.

Inside the room, Cheng Jiajia was struggling to get off the bed,

standing on one foot while looking around for something.

Standing by the door was Qi Hongyu,

holding a bouquet in one hand and some of her favorite snacks in the other.

He smiled bitterly and said, “Jiajia, don’t do this. I’m just here to check on you.”

Li Yi was sitting nearby, not moving, and asked curiously, “What are you looking for?”

“Tools to get rid of him.”

“…”

Li Yi hesitated for a moment, then handed her the cane.

Cheng Jiajia took it and was about to hop over to chase the person out,

but Li Yi sighed and pressed her back onto the bed.

“Forget it. I’ll do it.”