The only price to pay was to swallow one’s pride and call different men “Master.”
That was why quite a few senior and junior sisters would choose to wear masks while working. Some customers minded, since they weren’t spending all this money just to eat a piece of cake and drink a cup of coffee.
Ji Yuannian didn’t mind, though. She just thought of it as caring for her junior and senior sisters—um… occasionally, there were even some junior and senior brothers.
“Wrong, Master nya~” To Ji Yuannian’s surprise, Daji actually shook her head with complete seriousness.
“It’s true that some sisters are like that, but I’m different.”
“Has Master ever heard the saying, ‘Attitude is the mask of the heart’?”
“In a person’s life, there are many different masks. Some are for the boss, some are for family, and some are for parents…”
“At school, I’m a good student, always working hard and improving every day; in front of my classmates, I’m a diligent, industrious peer, the king of the grind; in front of my dad, I’m a silent, reserved, never-smiling little b—girl.”
“But here, it’s different. I wear a mask, but I don’t wear a ‘mask.’ I’m not anyone else. I’m just myself, my truest self.”
“Master, you understand what I mean, nya~~” Daji playfully waved her paw, just like a real house cat.
Ji Yuannian looked at her and suddenly understood.
She wore a mask, yet she wore no mask.
Worldly ties, parents’ expectations, the gazes of classmates—all these made up most of the life of this girl called “Daji.” Only here could she show her truest self.
She wore a fox mask, but she didn’t wear any ‘mask’ at all.
After a long while, Ji Yuannian nodded lightly. “I understand.”
But then, she raised her head again and looked at the girl wearing the fox mask in front of her, her expression a bit strange. “You’re telling me all this—don’t tell me you actually know me in real life?”
“Master~ You guessed it right, nya~~” The little maid smiled and nuzzled her palm.
“Heh….” Ji Yuannian gave an awkward laugh and hurriedly pulled her hand back. “Are you from the sports department? Or from my class? Or maybe a girl I know?”
“Does Master really want to know the truth?” Daji placed her hand over her mask, as if she were about to lift it.
“No, no, that’s enough.” Ji Yuannian quickly interrupted her. If she really lifted the mask, things would be so awkward the next time they met.
It was like trash-talking online while cross-dressing—if it were among people you knew, who would dare? Wouldn’t you be afraid of social death in real life?
“What if I insist on lifting it?” Blocked by Ji Yuannian, Daji’s little temper seemed to flare. She gave a soft snort, feigning anger.
Ji Yuannian gritted her teeth. “If you really lift it, then I’ll…”
“Look, a flying saucer!”
Pointing off at random, Ji Yuannian didn’t care if the other party looked or not, slapped down a few red bills, and whoosh—ran off without a trace.
Watching the fleeing figure—boy, no, girl—in panic, the corners of a certain girl’s lips curled ever so slightly beneath the fox mask in the shop.
Who would’ve thought Old Ji had such a cute side?
*****
Jogging all the way back to Secret Base No. 2, the rented little apartment, Ji Yuannian sprawled on the sofa, staring at the cobwebbed ceiling, then glanced at the strip of white cloth in her hand that carried a faint scent of mint and milk.
Mask, mask….
Attitude is the mask of the heart.
Thinking back on her conversation with Daji, Ji Yuannian was lost in thought before she knew it.
In a person’s life, there are many different masks. To the younger brothers, she was the benevolent, righteous big boss; to her family, though not entirely reliable, she could tell right from wrong as the second son; to her fellow rich heirs, she was an unremarkable young master, neither here nor there; to those gangsters, she was a demon who chewed people up and spat out the bones.
In everyone’s eyes, Ji Yuannian was a different “Ji Yuannian.”
But what about in Jiang Chi’s eyes?
In that moment, the question suddenly surfaced in Ji Yuannian’s mind.
A heartless betrayer, a mortal enemy? A woman in bed who loved all sorts of games, but stubbornly insisted she was a macho man? A seemingly upright, but secretly soaking-wet, Ji the Great Minister?
If she stripped away all those masks, what was the truest Ji Yuannian?
No shackles of the mundane world, no expectant gaze from her family, no brothers’ watchful eyes—just the purest Ji Yuannian, untainted, utterly real.
And what did the purest Ji Yuannian want most?
Like peeling an onion, Ji Yuannian dug deep, layer by layer, exploring her own true nature, gazing down upon her most genuine, unadorned self.
She liked fame, she chased after pride, but she desired… desire.
A yearning carved into her genes by a certain man—that intoxicating euphoria, that sense of soaring through the clouds, that soul-consuming ecstasy, that frenzy that made every cell in her body scream!!!
Her pink tongue licked her dry lips, a flicker of longing and hunger flashing in her beautiful eyes, her legs unconsciously clamping together.
She wanted… Jiang Chi.
It wasn’t like, nor love, nor infatuation—it was pure want. Like a child yearning for a toy car or gun, like an adult craving a BMW, an Audi, a fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged girlfriend.
This was desire. This was yearning.
In that moment, emotion and reason found unity in contradiction—Ji Yuannian neither yielded to her desire nor abandoned herself.
She wanted Jiang Chi. That was her truest heart, her deepest desire!
*****
“Saturday, I’ll come to your place. Get ready.”
At the Jiang house, in the bedroom.
Staring at the message sent via WeChat from “Ji Qingchan,” the man sitting at the desk paused his typing, then suddenly burst into deafening laughter that echoed throughout the room.
Success. He had succeeded. He’d done it.
To conquer, one must first let go.
He’d set Ji Yuannian free, given her the right to choose her own fate, and stepped away for now—but Ji Yuannian had willingly leapt into his palm.
Ji Yuannian had walked into the ‘feminine descent’ he’d tailored just for her, of her own accord!!
“Ah Chi, what’s going on? Why are you laughing so loud?”
Outside the bedroom, his mother’s concerned voice sounded.
“It’s nothing, Mom.” Jiang Chi wiped the tears of laughter from the corner of his eyes, clutching his stomach. “I’m just watching a comedy.”
“Yeah, a really funny comedy.”
“Oh, right, Mom—on Saturday, I’ll be going out for a department event.”
*****
On Saturday, Ji Yuannian arrived at Unit 22, then took the elevator up to room 304. The door was half open, just like in those risqué films where a client waits in a hotel room for the lady to bite the bait.
Such a thought flashed through Ji Yuannian’s mind, and her pretty face flushed red.
Damn, ptooey, ptooey! What lady!
It was clearly Jiang Chi who invited her! She was the guest here! She was the guest, after all!