Chapter 20: Crow’s Mouth

Chapter 20: Crow's Mouth

After Shi Ling left, the three people didn’t chase after him, but their appearance still left Shi Ling in a somewhat unpleasant mood.

With a troubled heart, Shi Ling wandered around the school, only to discover that the school cafeteria was closed!

Perhaps because of the holiday, most of the students had already gone home, and although there were some who stayed, they were indeed few.

Under these circumstances, the cafeteria, which usually had all its windows open for service, only operated one window during the holidays.

Unfortunately, Shi Ling had left late and was delayed by Zhou Su and his trio, causing him to arrive at the cafeteria after 1 p.m. The single open window "swished" shut right in front of him.

Shi Ling, who had missed the last chance: ……

Cursing.jpg

Although his outing hadn’t gone smoothly and it was indeed past lunchtime, Shi Ling wasn’t left without options for food; he just needed to walk a bit farther.

Shi Ling sighed and walked out of the school gate.

After finishing his meal, Shi Ling’s previous frustration had mostly dissipated. Since he was already out, he thought he might as well take a stroll.

However, he wasn’t really interested in shopping, and after walking around for a while, he ended up at the pastry shop where he usually worked part-time.

It wasn’t his working hours, and he wasn’t needed for the National Day holiday, so he entered as a customer this time.

The first to notice Shi Ling was the shop owner standing at the front counter: “Oh, Xiao Shi, why are you here at this time?”

Shi Ling felt a little embarrassed: “There’s not much to do. I was just bored in the dorm, so I decided to come out for a walk.”

He looked around: “There are quite a lot of people here. Do you need any help?”

The shop owner waved her hand: “No need, it’s normal.”

“This place is near Jing University, and Jing University does have a certain aura. Even though most of the students have gone home for the holiday, there are still quite a few visitors who come to observe the university out of admiration. So, even during the holidays, we get a fair number of customers.”

After finishing her explanation, the shop owner looked at Shi Ling: “Since you’re already here, would you like to order something?”

Shi Ling hesitated: “I just had lunch.”

But since he was already there, he felt it was a bit awkward to leave empty-handed.

He naturally took a menu from the stack at the front counter.

However, since he had just finished lunch, he wasn’t really interested in the more filling cakes. After looking for a while, he finally said: “How about a glass of lemon water for me!”

The shop owner nodded and swiftly prepared a glass of lemon water, handing it to him: “Don’t worry about it, this one’s on the house.”

Just as Shi Ling was about to scan the code to pay, he thought: “I should have ordered something more expensive.”

Probably noticing that Shi Ling was indeed idle, the shop owner thought for a moment and took out two tickets from the drawer: “Since you’re so free, how about watching a movie for me?”

Shi Ling: ?

“Watch a movie for you?”

He really couldn’t understand. Was it even possible to watch a movie on someone else’s behalf?

To his surprise, the shop owner nodded seriously and handed him the two tickets: “Nowadays, the shelf life of celebrities isn’t very long. My daughter used to be a fan of this one celebrity, but he recently had a scandal, so she doesn’t want the tickets she bought in advance anymore.”

“She doesn’t want to go, and I’m not particularly interested either, so these tickets have been sitting here. If you’re really free, how about watching the movie for us mother and daughter?” The shop owner waved the tickets, “It would be a shame to waste them.”

Shi Ling: ……

The shop owner placed the two movie tickets in Shi Ling’s hand: “You can even bring a friend along.”

After saying that, she waved at Shi Ling: “Young people shouldn’t push themselves too hard. When it’s time to relax, you should relax.”

And so, when Shi Ling left, he had not only a glass of lemon water but also two unexpected movie tickets in his hand.

Shi Ling checked the location of the cinema, which was inside a large mall nearby.

But the problem was that he was alone, and the shop owner had given him two tickets.

He couldn’t possibly call Fang Lingyun at this time, could he?

Fang Lingyun had just returned home after a month away, and he probably had a lot to talk about with his family. If he called him now and disrupted his family reunion, wouldn’t that make him terribly inconsiderate?

As Shi Ling hesitated, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, and a familiar voice reached his ears: “Shi Ling? What are you doing standing here? Playing door god?”

Shi Ling looked up and saw a familiar face: “Mr. Ji, why are you here?”

Ji Mingxiu pushed open the glass door of the pastry shop as he answered: “My niece is on holiday and is craving the cakes from this shop again, so I’m here to buy her a couple of portions.”

Shi Ling nodded.

During the summer vacation, Ji Mingxiu had come for the same reason.

Shi Ling looked at Ji Mingxiu, then at the movie tickets in his hand, and suddenly, on a whim, asked: “Mr. Ji, would you like to watch a movie?”

Ji Mingxiu’s hand paused on the door.

He looked at Shi Ling and confirmed: “Watch a movie?”

Shi Ling: ……

Actually, the moment he asked, he regretted it.

Why on earth did he bring this up with Ji Mingxiu?

Without mentioning anything else, Ji Mingxiu was definitely a much busier person than him. How could he possibly have the spare time to sit in a movie theater for two or three hours just to watch a film that might have no substance, or worse, not hit any of his emotional triggers?

He quietly put away the movie tickets: “It’s nothing important. Consider it that I never asked, Mr. Ji.”

However, to his surprise, Ji Mingxiu, seeing his reaction, smiled and replied, “A movie? Well, I don’t have anything else going on either. Wait here for a moment.”

Shi Ling watched Ji Mingxiu walk into the shop and blinked in confusion.

Was Ji Mingxiu actually planning to watch the movie with him?

Ji Mingxiu didn’t keep him waiting long. After a short while, he came out of the shop.

In his left hand, he carried a bag from a dessert shop, which likely contained the cake his niece wanted. In his other hand, he held a lemonade, the same as Shi Ling’s.

Seeing that Shi Ling was still waiting, Ji Mingxiu waved to him, “Let’s go. Weren’t we going to watch a movie?”

Shi Ling thought for a moment and followed.

After all, he had brought it up himself. Now that Mr. Ji had agreed, it would feel ungrateful if he refused again.

It was just a movie, after all.

Moreover, Shi Ling felt that Ji Mingxiu agreeing to watch a movie with him meant there was something he wanted to discuss.

Perhaps it was related to the project, or maybe it had to do with Senior Jiang.

He still remembered that Jiang Sijie, like him, had a complicated family situation.

Shi Ling pierced the thin film on the surface of the lemonade with the straw and took a sip.

Ji Mingxiu, noticing Shi Ling’s action in the rearview mirror, felt oddly in a good mood.

He started the engine, “Not working a part-time job today?”

Shi Ling nodded, “Yeah, no part-time job. It’s National Day holiday. The store manager wouldn’t want to give up the triple pay during this time.”

Therefore, during these statutory holidays, there usually weren’t any part-time shifts. After all, the shops around Jing University mainly catered to students and professors from Jing University and the surrounding university district. In fact, the foot traffic during statutory holidays was generally lower than usual.

The store manager had already explained this to him at the beginning.

Shi Ling looked at Ji Mingxiu in the driver’s seat, “Mr. Ji? You’re not working today either?”

Ji Mingxiu smiled, “I’m on National Day holiday too.”

Shi Ling was momentarily stunned by Ji Mingxiu’s response before taking a big gulp of lemonade.

In this day and age, there were actually company bosses who took holidays, and it was even someone from the Ji family’s large corporation!

In his previous life, when he had just arrived in the capital, he was always working overtime. He couldn’t even dream of having weekends off, let alone National Day holidays.

Comparing the two, it really made him feel uncomfortable!

Ji Mingxiu, seeing Shi Ling’s reaction in the rearview mirror, found it rather amusing, “What? Do you think I should be working right now?”

Shi Ling glanced at him discreetly, “Shouldn’t you be? I specifically looked it up before. The Ji family’s company is already quite large. According to Ling Yun, you’ve started taking charge. How can you be so free?”

Shouldn’t it be like his previous life, working overtime every day?

Ji Mingxiu laughed, “As you said, my family’s company is large enough that each department can manage its own tasks. I just need to oversee the big picture. It’s not like we’re a small company that’s just starting out.”

Just starting out… having only secured an investment, without even a studio or the first batch of funding… Shi Ling: ……

He felt deeply stabbed.

Shi Ling didn’t want to continue this topic. The more they talked, the more it felt like he was being stabbed, “Mr. Ji, did you agree to watch a movie with me because there’s something you wanted to tell me?”

Ji Mingxiu glanced back briefly before quickly returning his gaze forward, “You figured it out?”

Shi Ling nodded, “Well, if a random stranger on the street asked you to watch a movie, no normal person would agree, right?”

Ji Mingxiu: “But we’re not exactly strangers, are we?”

Shi Ling blinked, “Are we investor and investee then? It’s not that different.”

Ji Mingxiu: ……

That was still quite different.

Ji Mingxiu parked the car in the mall’s underground parking lot and took the elevator with Shi Ling to the top floor’s cinema.

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, Shi Ling was momentarily stunned by the scene before him.

He looked confusedly at the corridor leading to the cinema, where a face he disliked was prominently featured on a poster.

Zhou Su.

Shi Ling pressed his temples in frustration, “Is this person haunting me?”

He had just seen Zhou Su at his dormitory entrance, and now he had to see Zhou Su’s face again at the cinema.

“When did he film a movie?”

Ji Mingxiu looked at Shi Ling, “You really don’t know?”

Shi Ling was confused, “What should I know?”

Ji Mingxiu felt a bit embarrassed, “I heard that Zhou Su and his parents—well, actually, your biological parents—are holding a private screening at this cinema. When you mentioned coming to this cinema, I thought maybe you…”

Although he believed that given Shi Ling’s attitude toward the Zhou family, he wouldn’t be too entangled with them, Ji Mingxiu still thought that since the Zhou Chuanbai couple were Shi Ling’s biological parents, there might be some connection.

"What if?"

Ji Mingxiu cleared his throat lightly and explained to him, "Zhou Su's movie was filmed during the summer vacation. He was admitted to the Capital Media University. The Zhong family, with some reputation in the entertainment industry, introduced Zhou Su to the crew after they got to know each other. But it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and the main roles had already been decided long before, so he only got a small part."

"Now, the results are out."

Shi Ling had nothing to say about it and only felt exhausted. "How can something so absurd happen? I came here just because the store manager gave me a movie ticket for this cinema..."

Suddenly, he remembered something and took out the movie ticket from his pocket. "Don't tell me this movie stars Zhou Su."

If that were the case, he would leave immediately.

Losing money on the movie ticket was fine; after all, it wasn't his money to begin with.

Ji Mingxiu analyzed, "It probably isn't. The movie Zhou Su acted in has been fully booked by the Zhou Chuanbai couple for the past two days. If it's still open for screening here, it shouldn't be the movie he's in."

He comforted Shi Ling, "Don't worry, there are plenty of movies during the National Day period. It won't be such a coincidence that you run into Zhou Su."

Shi Ling checked the name of the movie on his ticket and confirmed that it was indeed different from the name on Zhou Su's poster. He finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thing."

Ji Mingxiu looked at Shi Ling and suddenly asked, "Do you hate Zhou Su that much?"

Shi Ling was taken aback by Ji Mingxiu's question and reminisced for a moment. "Actually, I don't particularly hate Zhou Su. He hasn't really offended me."

"But," he continued, "he now represents the Zhou family, and the Zhou family is just... super annoying!"

Even now, thinking about it, Shi Ling found it unbelievable. "Director Ji, why can't the Zhou family just leave me alone? Why is he always coming to find me? I don't owe them any money."

Sighing, he complained to Ji Mingxiu, "Just at noon today, I met Zhou Su. He brought his two boyfriends, and all he talked about was the Zhou family. It was a total turn-off."

Ji Mingxiu was drinking lemon water and nearly choked when he heard Shi Ling say "two boyfriends." "Boyfriends? Two?"

Shi Ling nodded. "Yes, Jiang Yulin and Zhong Shao. If you convert their relationships, they should both be considered Zhou Su's boyfriends."

Ji Mingxiu hesitated for a moment. "You can't really say that. One is a childhood friend, and the other is a new suitor. But the fact that they can coexist peacefully is surprising."

As far as he remembered, both of them were Zhou Su's suitors.

Shi Ling shrugged. "At least when I ran into them at noon, there were no signs of them being at each other's throats. They were quite harmonious."

They were even on the same side.

Shi Ling grimaced and didn't want to think about it anymore. "Where's the hall we're supposed to go to?"

Ji Mingxiu stood next to Shi Ling and checked the hall location indicated on the movie ticket. "In such a hurry? There's still half an hour to go!"

Shi Ling looked up and pointed to Zhou Su's poster on the corridor. "Of course, I'm in a hurry. There are Zhou Su's posters everywhere here. Isn't this because the Zhou family booked the place?"

Ji Mingxiu nodded. "That's for sure."

The Zhou family had booked so many screenings, and the money had genuinely gone into the cinema's pockets. For that, putting up a few posters of Zhou Su was nothing.

After all, they were the cinema's big customers recently, and such requests could be accommodated.

Besides, the posters were quite well-shot, given that it was a movie production.

Shi Ling took a deep breath. "But what if the Zhou family, besides booking the place, also wants to show up in person? I really don't want to run into them..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a seemingly enthusiastic voice called out.

"Shi Ling, are you here to watch my newly released movie too?"

It was the same voice he had heard at noon today, when the other party was trying to persuade him to return to the Zhou family.

And now...

Shi Ling turned his head stiffly.

Sure enough, at the other corner, he saw the Zhou family of five, including the Shi family couple, being all affectionate.

His cursed mouth!