Chapter 30: Just Talking

Chapter 30: Just Talking

Although Ji Mingxiu had repeatedly said it was fine when parting with Shi Ling, he knew deep down that he wasn’t fine at all.

The issue was that he didn’t even understand where his inexplicable possessiveness towards Shi Ling came from.

However, after several days of non-stop busyness, he still hadn’t found the answer.

Mainly because Shi Ling, the person who could give him the answer, had also been exceptionally busy during this time.

Shi Ling’s two classmates, who would be majoring in coding in the future, had finally become useful after two months of intense learning. However, at this point, Mo Jin and Shao Qin were like newborn calves, full of naive innocence, and still a bit far from being able to handle things independently.

Shi Ling still needed to oversee various situations, and the formally assigned Mo Jin and Shao Qin were like curious babies at this stage, having countless questions to ask, which made Shi Ling even busier than before.

Ji Mingxiu hadn’t lost contact with Shi Ling because of this. In fact, due to not being able to meet in person and the previous events, their chat records on WeChat had grown significantly over this period.

For example, the current situation with Mo Jin and Shao Qin was something Ji Mingxiu learned from Shi Ling. Also, regarding the office building they had viewed together with Shi Ling, after discussions among Jiang Sijie and a few others, they finally selected one of the floors.

Jiang Sijie had already handled the lease contract for the building, signing for three years.

According to Jiang Sijie and Shi Ling’s thoughts, they couldn’t stay here forever.

In three years, their studio should have stabilized, at least having a steady output. By then, Shi Ling and the others would need to make another choice.

Shi Ling had already planned out her future and discussed the direction of the studio with Jiang Sijie. However, not everyone on the current team had to be bound to this project.

For instance, Fang Lingyun only participated out of curiosity at the beginning. Three years from now, with the Fang family as his support, no one knew what choice Fang Lingyun would make. He might choose to return to the Fang family.

As for Shao Qin and Mo Jin, if they have better opportunities by then, Jiang Sijie and Shi Ling couldn’t possibly hold them back.

However, they weren’t going to mention these things to the others for now.

Apart from discussing it with Jiang Sijie, Shi Ling had only talked about it with Ji Mingxiu.

In addition to talking about the studio’s plans, Ji Mingxiu had also tried to find various excuses, both overt and covert, to meet Shi Ling again, but she had turned him down with various reasons.

Shi Ling was still too tied up to meet, and she was even considering mentioning to the store manager about resigning early.

Ji Mingxiu: ...

Alright, they were both busy in their own ways, which could also be seen as a form of mutual pursuit.

Just as Ji Mingxiu was puzzled, Jiang Sicheng came uninvited.

As the heir of the Jiang family in the capital, Jiang Sicheng, like Ji Mingxiu, was usually extremely busy. Moreover, with Jiang Sijie’s recent episode of running away from home, according to what Ji Mingxiu knew, although Jiang Sicheng had found her relatively smoothly, persuading her to return home had been far from easy.

Ji Mingxiu couldn’t figure out why this person had come to him at this time.

Without any unnecessary words, after sitting down opposite Ji Mingxiu, Jiang Sicheng got straight to the point: “Ji Mingxiu, I heard you’re quite familiar with the project team organized by Sijie?”

Ah, he was here for Jiang Sijie.

Ji Mingxiu corrected him: “I’m only familiar with one person in the team.”

He was telling the truth. Among the entire team, Ji Mingxiu was indeed only familiar with Shi Ling.

As for the others besides Shi Ling, Ji Mingxiu could only say he “knew” them at most, including Jiang Sijie.

He had only remembered the names of Shi Ling’s two roommates who were learning programming because he had chatted with Shi Ling more frequently recently.

Jiang Sicheng scoffed, clearly not believing him: “Lying to who? You’re Sijie’s investor!”

He deliberately elongated the last three words.

Before coming, he had specifically checked that Jiang Sijie’s project was invested in by Ji Mingxiu, which had secretly angered him.

He was mad that when Jiang Sijie’s project needed money, she chose to look for an outsider instead of him.

Even though the DNA test results showed that Jiang Sijie wasn’t their biological child, no one had said they didn’t want her. She had inexplicably left, and he still didn’t know the reason.

At the same time, Jiang Sicheng’s heart was also unsettled.

Although their parents said not to worry, that Jiang Sijie was just throwing a tantrum, in Jiang Sicheng’s eyes, Jiang Sijie’s actions seemed too resolute, as if she had made up her mind to detach herself from the Jiang family.

It was only recently that Jiang Sicheng had found Jiang Sijie’s current WeChat account and re-added her.

However, even though Jiang Sijie had accepted his friend request, she hadn’t replied to any of his messages, leaving them unanswered.

Out of options, he had come to Ji Mingxiu.

At least Ji Mingxiu, being Jiang Sijie’s investor, should have some influence, right?

But even so, Jiang Sicheng’s gaze towards Ji Mingxiu carried some hostility.

Why was it that Jiang Sijie ignored him but responded to Ji Mingxiu?

Just because he was the investor?

Ji Mingxiu ignored his sarcasm: “Get to the point, or don’t hang around me.”

He pressed his nose: “I already have to see you because of the project. Now that the project is settled, I don’t want to see your face and feel disgusted.”

Jiang Sicheng glared: “Do you think I want to see you? Just send a message to Sijie for me and ask when she’s coming home. I’ll leave as soon as I get an answer!”

Finishing, he muttered somewhat aggrievedly: “She didn’t even go home during the National Day.”

Ji Mingxiu chuckled: “From what I know, National Day was the busiest time for Jiang Sijie. You haven’t even figured out the reason she ran away from home. How could she possibly return to the Jiang family at this critical moment? That would make the past few months of her running away seem like a joke.”

“Also, don’t expect me to mix personal matters with business. I’m not close enough with Jiang Sijie to ask such questions.”

The moment Ji Mingxiu finished speaking, he was the first to be stunned.

He was telling the truth, but…

It seemed like he had asked Shi Ling a lot of personal questions lately, and also about Shi Ling's relationship with the Zhou family.

Similarly, Shi Ling and Jiang Sijie were both project leaders of the projects he had invested in, but compared to Shi Ling, he lacked concern for Jiang Sijie, or rather, he didn’t care about Jiang Sijie’s situation at all.

Even more so, Jiang Sijie had the connection with Jiang Sicheng. He knew that as long as Jiang Sijie continued to ignore Jiang Sicheng, Jiang Sicheng would eventually come looking for him.

Ji Mingxiu asked himself, “I guess I’m being a bit hypocritical.”

Logically, given the cooperation between the Ji and Jiang families, he should pay more attention to Jiang Sijie, but in reality, he did care more about Shi Ling.

Jiang Sicheng was confused by Ji Mingxiu’s sudden remark, “Hypocritical about what?”

Hearing Jiang Sicheng’s question, Ji Mingxiu suddenly looked at him.

He sized Jiang Sicheng up and down, realizing he probably wouldn’t be able to figure out the issue, so he decided to tell Jiang Sicheng about the things that had been puzzling him lately.

Jiang Sicheng, always eager to hear some gossip from Ji Mingxiu, thought that if he could help Ji Mingxiu resolve his issue, he could use it to blackmail Ji Mingxiu into persuading Jiang Sijie.

However, the more he listened, the more his expression changed, and he couldn’t stop making snarky comments.

Starting from a very serious analysis, “This kind of exclusive possessiveness doesn’t seem like something that would happen between partners. Besides being partners, you and Shi Ling should have another kind of relationship,” to the almost definitive conclusion, “Is Sijie also part of your little lovers’ roleplay?” Jiang Sicheng's expression went through several rounds of transformations.

According to what Ji Mingxiu had said, this person was almost not the same Ji Mingxiu he knew.

It had to be said, this was indeed the “hypocritical” behavior Ji Mingxiu had labeled himself with.

If the person in question wasn’t Shi Ling, Ji Mingxiu wouldn’t have shown this level of “concern.”

Ji Mingxiu was also taken aback and reviewed Jiang Sicheng’s words for a long time before finally confirming, “A couple?”

Jiang Sicheng raised his eyebrows, “What else could it be? A good little brother? I see you’re not even willing to get involved with Ji Linze liking Zhou Su, and you don’t care who he partners with either. If Ji Linze were to partner with someone else, you might even be happier.”

After all, Ji Linze had been idle lately, only revolving around Zhou Su, and every time he came to Ji Mingxiu, it was because Zhou Su had gotten into some trouble, which was quite annoying.

If Ji Linze had something to do, Ji Mingxiu might even be willing to give him more money.

Seeing that Ji Mingxiu still didn’t seem to fully understand, Jiang Sicheng gave another example, “Think of it this way, a partnership and a relationship are two different things. If you don’t want Shi Ling to partner with others, can he still find a partner?”

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had a point, “Look, Shi Ling is said to be quite good-looking. Otherwise, the old man of the Zhou family wouldn’t have immediately arranged a marriage alliance when he returned, right? There should be quite a few people pursuing him? Right now, he’s busy with the project and leading his team, so he can’t focus on that, but who knows when he might find someone he likes?”

“For example, my Sijie, isn’t she good-looking? She and Shi Ling have been working on the same project for a long time, and they’re partners. If the project goes well, they’ll continue to the next one. Thinking this way, it’s not impossible for feelings to develop over time…”

Before Jiang Sicheng could finish, Ji Mingxiu interrupted him with a cold face, “Jiang Sicheng, shut up!”

Jiang Sicheng looked at Ji Mingxiu and quietly closed his mouth.

Honestly, Ji Mingxiu’s expression was really unpleasant.

Even when they had fought fiercely over their respective interests during previous negotiations between the two families, Ji Mingxiu had always been calm, as if everything was under control. He had never had such an ugly expression before.

But after a moment of silence, Jiang Sicheng couldn’t help being cheeky again, “I was just saying whatever, how come you’re getting jealous!”