“……Get lost, you jerk!” Ji Yueni kicked him without mercy, cursing, “You’re the cute one, your whole family is cute! I’m a tough guy, what’s cute about that!”
“Enough, enough!”
“I’m seriously starting to suspect you’re gay! Daring to call me cute? I’ve lived this long, and this is the first time someone’s ever described me that way!”
“Jiang, let me warn you! We’re just pure friends, nothing more! If you want to play at some kind of secret love, forget it!”
“First, I’m a real man! Second, I like girls! Third, there’s no way I’d abandon my identity and my family just to keep acting as your ‘Qingchan’!”
At her words, the boy’s blue eyes darkened, but then lit up again. His gaze fell on her chest, which was heaving in anger and embarrassment, and he couldn’t help licking his dry lips, “What if… what if I just simply want to sleep with you?”
“Wow, you’ve really grown some guts!” Ji Yueni gritted her teeth, her eyes blazing with fury. “Didn’t expect our great school heartthrob Jiang to say something so sleazy. You want to sleep with me for free? Go on, one day without a beating and you forget what it means to be a real school bully.”
With that, she waved her small fists and lunged at the boy.
Seeing this, he bolted away on long legs.
The two of them chased and played along the riverbank, laughing and causing a ruckus.
But a girl’s stamina was no match for a boy’s. After a while, Ji Yueni ran out of breath, her cheeks flushed red, panting hard.
At that moment, Jiang Chi came over and handed her a bottle of water. She took it, glaring at him with annoyance.
Jiang Chi shrugged, looking helpless.
Ji Yueni finished the mineral water in one go, then shoved the empty bottle back into Jiang Chi’s hand and threw her arm over his, “So, tell me, where are we going next?”
Jiang Chi just smiled, took her hand, and led her off in a certain direction.
Wanquan Yongxing School, a famous dating spot. Tonight, the moon was bright and the stars sparse. Silvery moonlight spilled gently over the earth.
The trees stood lush and tall, the grass thick and fragrant like a soft carpet. Dim streetlights gave off a gentle glow, casting blurred patches of light and shadow across the ground.
On a bench sat a young couple—he, tall and upright; she, pure and delicate—perfectly matched.
Not far away, a small lake shimmered with moonlight, ripples fanning out across its surface. An artificial bridge arched across the water, with couples strolling over it.
“So, what’s your real purpose bringing me here? Don’t tell me it’s for some lame, cliché confession, right? Let me warn you, if you dare confess, I’ll make sure ‘School Heartthrob Gets Rejected and Beaten by His Girlfriend’ hits the top of the campus gossip forum tonight.”
The girl crossed her legs, her tone annoyed.
According to her plan, they should’ve changed back into their clothes after noon and gone their separate ways.
But Jiang Chi had dragged her off to this dating spot—who knew what he was up to.
Jiang Chi didn’t care about her displeasure. He reached out and gently squeezed her hand, lifted his head to the moon, and said softly, “Qingchan, sit and watch the moon with me for a while.”
With such a small request, Ji Yueni naturally agreed.
And as for Jiang Chi’s habit of sometimes calling her “Qingchan” and other times “Ji Yueni,” switching at random like he was nuts, she was long used to it.
Moonlight poured down, stars twinkled, the night as black as ink. Amidst the boundless darkness, it felt both lonely and beautiful.
Ji Yueni narrowed her eyes, quietly enjoying this rare peaceful moment.
A long time passed in silence.
“Jiang Chi.”
Ji Yueni suddenly broke it, turning slightly to look at the blue-eyed boy beside her. “Why do you always refuse to admit that I’m ‘Ji Qingchan’? She’s me, she’s the perfect girlfriend I imagined in my heart.”
“Why do you insist on separating me from ‘her’? Sometimes I’m Ji Yueni, sometimes I’m ‘Ji Qingchan’. Don’t you think you’re just lying to yourself?”
She voiced the biggest question in her heart.
She was “Ji Qingchan,” and yet all this time, Jiang Chi had insisted on separating her and “Ji Qingchan” using the gold and silver bells: with the gold bell, she was Ji Yueni; with the silver bell, she was “Ji Qingchan.”
It was as if he was using this sacred ritual to keep her split, hinting at her to divide herself, making her live as two sides of the same coin.
Jiang Chi fell silent, for a long, long time. At last, he turned to look at her, at Ji Yueni, his deep blue eyes reflecting her face as he said,
“I don’t want to admit it, and I don’t dare to. If you are ‘Ji Qingchan’, my little girlfriend, the angel who pulled me out of the mud back then…”
“I like Qingchan, I love Qingchan, I want to pursue Qingchan. But if you’re her, then… should I like you, love you, chase after you too, Ji Yueni?”
So, should I like you, love you, and chase after you, Ji Yueni?
His heavy voice lingered in her ears. Ji Yueni quickly waved her hand, refusing, “No, no, let’s not.”
“Let’s keep things split: Ji Yueni is Ji Yueni, ‘Ji Qingchan’ is ‘Ji Qingchan’. Two sides of the same coin, it’s actually kind of fun—just a bit of roleplay.”
“Hahaha, you’d better not fall for me. No, you’d better not fall for Ji Yueni.”
Just imagining Jiang Chi liking her, loving her, or pursuing her gave Ji Yueni goosebumps all over.
Damn, that’s so disgusting!
“Hahaha, um… The night’s really nice tonight.” Ji Yueni laughed awkwardly, pointing to the artificial bridge by the lake and faking surprise, “Look, look, there are a couple kissing over there! So intense!”
But Jiang Chi still just stared at her, not moving or speaking, his gaze fixed.
Her scalp prickled from his stare. She forced another laugh and said, “Jiang Chi, don’t look at me like that. There’s nothing wrong with keeping things split. If you want, I can spend more time playing ‘Ji Qingchan’ for you, to help ease your lovesickness.”
Jiang Chi sighed softly, slowly stood up from the bench, and walked toward her. Ji Yueni instinctively backed away, only stopping when her back hit the railing—nowhere left to retreat.
“Ji Yueni, why aren’t you two different people? Why don’t you have a sister named ‘Ji Qingchan’ or ‘Ji Qingchan’? Why aren’t you twins?” Jiang Chi asked in a low voice.
“Huh?”
“If you were two people, how great would that be? If you had a sister, how great would that be? If you were twins, how great would that be? Then I wouldn’t have to make this damned choice. Even if I had to beg Aunt Huang, I’d want both of you. So what if the country only allows one wife—at worst, we’ll just move abroad.”
“What?”
Listening to his nonsense, Ji Yueni looked utterly bewildered. Had Jiang Chi lost his mind? Two people, sisters, wanting them both—what the hell kind of fantasy was that?
How much of that stuff did he have to take to dream up something like this?
Having finally said all these things he’d buried deep inside, Jiang Chi’s calm face now showed a hint of mania and wildness. With a sigh full of longing, he looked at her. Ji Yueni, feeling a little nervous, shrank back her neck.
“Sleep with me tonight, whether you’re Ji Qingchan or Ji Yueni,” he said.
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