NOVEL NEXT Chapter 217-224
Chapter 217: The Only Person Who Never Forgot About Her (7)
Ji Yi looked down, over at the object in the housekeeper’s palm, and her eyes suddenly flew wide open.
It was a piece of nephrite jade so clear it looked like water; it was glossy and bright in quality, releasing a faint energy around it.
The jade must’ve been casually carried for many years. It was smooth and round, and it was thick and solid to the touch.
The jade was shaped like a crescent moon, and it was intricately carved into a lucky dragon. It was just as the housekeeper said – it really did look like an expensive piece of jade. The only flaw it had was a small chip in the corner, shaped like a crescent moon.
Ji Yi figured that perhaps the owner of the jade dropped it accidentally, causing it to chip when it hit the ground. Moreover, the shape of the missing piece looked a little familiar.
Seeing as Ji Yi stared at the jade in her hand without much of a response, the housekeeper prompted her with “Miss?”
Ji Yi snapped back to her senses and shot a few glances at the jade again before looking up at the housekeeper to politely reply, “It’s not mine, but it’s probably my friend’s. I’ll call him now to ask.”
“Alright, Miss.” The housekeeper looked like she was afraid to break the jade as she carefully set the jade down on the coffee table in front of Ji Yi. The housekeeper then turned around and walked back into the bathroom.
Ji Yi found her phone, took a photo of the jade, and sent it to “He Yuguang.” “Yuguang Ge, is this yours? It was in the hotel bathroom.”
After the photo was sent, Ji Yi glanced over at the time. “He Yuguang” should already be on the plane now, so she didn’t wait for a reply and threw her phone back onto the sofa. Then she carefully took a closer look at the jade on the table. The more she examined it, the more familiar the chipped part of the jade looked. She reached her hand out to pick it up. The instant her fingers touched the jade, she immediately felt a sense of familiarity. Ji Yi’s entire body shook as her face turned slightly pale.
Even though she didn’t really know much about jade, this piece seemed incredibly familiar… It felt so familiar, it was like…
Ji Yi’s heart jumped into her throat as she held her breath and stared at the jade in her hand for a moment. Then she got up and limped over to the bed and sat down. She reached over to her own bag, unzipped it, and pulled out her purse. As she opened the inner pocket, she pulled out a tiny red pouch.
She opened the pouch and pulled out a small hook-shaped piece of nephrite jade.
Under the sunlight, the large and small pieces of jade released the same glossy shine, looking like they were the same piece of jade.
Ji Yi hesitated for a moment before she took the small piece of jade from the pouch to try to piece it together with the larger piece the housekeeper found in the bathroom.
Although the chipped end of the jade was rubbed smooth, the outline of the crack still managed to join with the smaller piece impeccably.
Ji Yi stared at the conjoined pieces like her pressure points had been hit. She didn’t move an inch.
After the housekeeper finished cleaning the bathroom, she said a few words to Ji Yi before she stepped out. Seeing as Ji Yi was sitting frozen on the bed without any reaction, the housekeeper drew closer. Just as she reached Ji Yi, she saw the two pieces of jade in her hand and suddenly cried out, “I thought this piece of jade was missing a piece. I never imagined that it was broken off.”
With that, the housekeeper looked down and got a little closer to the jade. “This can be repaired. Miss, if you find a good jade specialist to fix it, you wouldn’t be able to see the crack unless you looked closely.”
Chapter 218: The Only Person Who Never Forgot About Her (8)
The housekeeper alarmed Ji Yi by coming in that close. Ji Yi slowly averted her gaze from the jade to the housekeeper and said with an evidently drifting demeanor, “You think they were originally one piece of jade?”
“For sure! Just by looking at the gloss, you can tell it was originally the same piece. There are probably only a few pieces of high-quality jade like this. Miss, if you’re unsure, find an expert to examine it then everything would be clear, wouldn’t it?”
Ji Yi didn’t reply but slightly curved the corners of her lips into a smile at the housekeeper.
Ji Yi waiting for the housekeeper to leave the hotel room before she took the two pieces of jade and kept them safe by storing them in the red pouch. She put the pouch pack into her purse then turned her head to stare out at the eye-piercingly bright sunshine in a daze.
…
In the six months since she woke from her coma, Ji Yi had been wondering who the owner of that small piece of jade was.
She didn’t personally pick up that piece of jade, but her parents passed it on to the nurse taking care of her during her coma to give to her.
When she first woke up, she was fully conscious but her speech wasn’t particularly adept. Also, having been immobile for such a long time, it took a lot of strength for her to move her limbs. Her parents were busy at work, so they couldn’t be with her every day. Back then, the nurse looking after her stayed with her, talked with her, and worked with her.
It was one afternoon, about a month after she had woken up, when she could make simple, short sentences sound as smooth as before. By then, she could take care of the basics by herself, and although she wasn’t very strong, she didn’t appear any different from how she was before the accident.
That afternoon, she performed over an hour’s worth of rehabilitation under the nurse’s supervision, so after having lunch, she took a long nap, completely exhausted. When she woke up, it was already dusk.
Through the red glow of the setting sun, she glanced over at the nurse who was crouched down in a daze, looking at something.
Ji Yi sat up, looked at her and said, “Miss Liang?”
When the nurse heard her, she bolted up, walked over to her bedside and handed Ji Yi the thing she was staring at.
It was a small piece of jade that she pulled out from a red pouch. At the time, she asked the nurse, stunned, “What is this?”
The nurse pulled a chair out, sat by the bedside and started to explain in detail.
Ji Yi gathered that aside from her parents, there was another man who visited during her three-year coma. The man came to see her on the eighteenth of every month.
At first, he didn’t come into the room but stood outside in the corridors, watching her through the window from afar.
The nurse said the man was handsome. She watched him turn up a few months in a row before realizing that he was harmless; he was probably someone who secretly liked her, so she asked him if he would like to come in to see her.
It seemed like the man didn’t like to talk. Faced with the nurse’s questions, he stared at Ji Yi on the hospital bed for some time as though he was hesitant and wrestling with himself over something. After some time, he just gave the nurse a gentle nod.
Every month after that, he came by as usual. Sometimes he’d come in, and other times he wouldn’t, watching her from afar as he did before. If he came into the room, he might stay for long periods of time, sometimes staring at Ji Yi for four to five hours without blinking. Sometimes he’d leave after staying for an hour.
The nurse said she’d seen many people coming and going in the hospital, so she knew how to read people.
Chapter 219: The Only Person Who Never Forgot About Her (9)
The nurse said that she’d seen many people coming and going in the hospital, so she knew how to read people.
She could tell that every time the man visited, he was in a bad mood, as he often watched her with infinitely sad eyes.
When he stood in the corridor without coming in, his hands always balled up tightly into fists which were so tight that the backs of his hands had veins protruding on them. There were even times when she saw him raise his foot towards the door but pulled it back in fear of coming close like he was afraid it would be unbearable for her.
The nurse also said that the man must really care about her because one time, she even secretly saw the man reach his hand through the window to touch her face. He was very gentle and infinitely caring; just before he left, he gently pecked her on the cheek.
The nurse didn’t talk about the history of the little piece of jade until the very end. The nurse said that soon after her afternoon nap, the man visited again with the same silent demeanor, but his mood seemed better than before.
The nurse said it was the first time she had seen the man smile in the past three years. When she smiled to greet him, he even looked her in the eye. Although he didn’t say a word, she didn’t feel like the man was very distant and he seemed more down-to-earth than usual.
From what Ji Yi gathered from the nurse, she assumed his mood was so good because she had woken up.
From what the nurse said, the man stayed in the hospital room for a long time that day. He stared at her quietly with an unspoken tenderness in his eyes while playing around with a piece of jade all that time. At four in the afternoon, his phone rang and since he was afraid to wake her, he went outside to take the call. When he returned, he stood by the bed and looked down at her without blinking for a long time as she slept. Then when he lowered his head and drew closer to her lips, the nurse suddenly came bustling in to check if she was up.
The man was probably surprised as his hand shook, causing the jade to crash to the ground. A crisp sound was heard.
Then he bent down to pick up a large piece of jade with a red string wrapped around it. Without saying a word, he darted past the nurse and headed out the door.
As the nurse explained this, she said it a little apologetically while emphasizing that he had already left because it was so late. Only then did the nurse get to the point. Seeing as Ji Yi was still sleeping, she picked up some fruit, about to wash and prepare it for when Ji Yi woke up, but on the way to the bathroom, she accidentally stepped on something hard. She withdrew her foot, looked down, and saw a small piece of jade.
The nurse mentioned that Ji Yi happened to wake up just as she picked up the piece of jade.
The sunset was beautiful that day. As the nurse was busy cutting the fruit, she elaborated on the story with a gentle voice. Ji Yi leaned back against the headboard, holding the little piece of jade. Having woken up after a three-year coma, her peaceful heart jumped to life.
Ji Yi asked the nurse for the man’s name and what he looked like.
The nurse said the man had a charismatic air about him and he looked like he came from a rich family. She didn’t dare converse with him too much, so she didn’t know his name. As for the way he looked, aside from being “good-looking,” the nurse described him as being better-looking than celebrities on TV. She couldn’t find the proper words to describe him.
Chapter 220: The Only Person Who Never Forgot About Her (10)
But in the very end, the nurse said that the man visited on the eighteenth of every month for three years… If Ji Yi wanted to know who he was, it was simple. All she had to do was wait until the eighteenth.
For a month after that day, she counted each day that passed in anticipation. Finally, the eighteenth of the next month came around.
But what a shame. She longed to meet the man the nurse took a whole day to describe, but he never showed up…
With her hopes dashed, she felt downcast and glum.
The nurse could probably tell she truly wanted to discover the identity of the person who visited her every month without fail. Perhaps it was to comfort her, or perhaps the nurse wholeheartedly wanted to help her, but she told Ji Yi that the man showed up when she was unconscious, so he’d definitely show up by her side after she woke up. He probably just didn’t come this month because he was held up by some business, but as long as she kept this small piece of jade, she’d be able to find that man. After all, he had the missing, larger piece…
She felt like the nurse made a good point, so she really kept that small piece of jade safe wherever she went.
At the time, she was pretty much completely recovered, so she didn’t stick around for the eighteenth of the following month since she was discharged from the hospital.
Afterwards, she always wondered what kind of person the owner of the jade was. However, the world was so big and she knew nothing about him. With just a small piece of jade, there was no way of finding out who the owner was, so she just kept waiting.
Often, there were countless times when she held the piece of jade at night, thinking about how she might never meet the owner of the jade in her lifetime.
Every time, her heart filled with disappointment.
In this world, besides her biological parents, the owner of this jade was the only person who never forgot about her after she got into that accident. This was why she really wanted to know who the owner of the jade was.
But as time went by, she couldn’t find any clues about who the owner of the jade was. Just when she thought she’d never find out who the owner was, a piece of jade that fit perfectly with her piece appeared…
…
At that thought, Ji Yi blinked her sore eyes from staring at the light out the window softly. Then she looked down at the phone in her palms.
There were new message notifications from WeChat.
Ji Yi clicked on it to find two messages from “He Yuguang”:
“It’s mine.”
“It must’ve slipped my mind. I forgot about it.”
The piece of jade couldn’t have been left from previous guests since the housekeeper didn’t find the piece of jade in the bathroom the day before, and it was just her and “He Yuguang” staying in that hotel room. The jade wasn’t hers, so it could only be his – this was the undeniable truth. However, after Ji Yi saw “He Yuguang”‘s confirmation, her fingers instinctively clutched her phone tightly.
After some time, Ji Yi typed: “Yuguang Ge, have you landed?”
“He Yuguang” sent that message ten minutes ago, so he should be at the airport right now. Some time passed before Ji Yi received a reply: “Mhm, I’m already in the car.”
Chapter 221: The Person I Love Is Not My Lover (1)
Ji Yi knew “He Yuguang” meant he already caught a taxi from the airport. She first replied with a smiling emoji then quickly typed a reply: “Yuguang Ge, give me your address. I’ll mail you the jade.”
“He Yuguang” must’ve been on his phone as he replied swiftly: “You don’t have to go through all that trouble. Keep it with you for now, and let’s talk about when we see each other next.”
Ji Yi replied with an “Alright.” She stared at her phone screen and gently bit her bottom lip. After thinking about it for a few seconds, she nonchalantly replied with a few words: “Yuguang Ge, is the jade missing a piece?”
“He Yuguang” replied quickly as usual, with a simple: “Mhm.”
Ji Yi was just about to ask “He Yuguang” what happened to it when another new message popped up on her phone: “Accidentally dropped it.”
Accidentally dropped it… It’s exactly as the nurse described…
Ji Yi’s breaths suddenly caught in her chest. After about a good half minute, she forced herself to steady her trembling fingers. She continued to casually ask him: “You never got someone to fix it? I hear that people in the trade are really skilled; they could make it so that you can’t even see the crack!”
“He Yuguang” replied: “At the time, I couldn’t find the corner that broke off.”
At the time…
The nurse said that the guy picked up the big piece of jade and left in a hurry. Wasn’t that when he dropped it and broke off that small piece?
Is it possible that the owner of the jade is Yuguang Ge?
Ji Yi thought about it before she flipped through the photos on her phone and found a photo of “He Yuguang” and sent it to the nurse. She also added a comment: “Liang Jie1, was this the person who came to see me every month while I was in a coma?”
After she was discharged from the hospital, Ji Yi hadn’t really kept in contact with the nurse, so she was afraid she would’ve forgotten her by now. After texts were successfully sent out, she thought about it for a moment then called the nurse directly.
The nurse probably got her messages, so she immediately picked up to say, “Xiao Yi, it’s him! That’s him!”
Before Ji Yi could say hello, the reserved confidence in her voice became stunned.
The nurse was even more excited than she was as she chattered non-stop over the phone. “I definitely didn’t remember wrong. Even though I see many people at the hospital, it’s rare to see someone with such striking features, so I know I’m right. Xiao Yi, how did you find him?”
Seeing as Ji Yi didn’t reply, she raised her voice and said, “Xiao Yi? Xiao Yi?”
Ji Yi snapped back to her senses a little, but still sounded a little absent-minded as she said, “En?”
“How did you find him?”
“Me?” Ji Yi’s mind went blank for a moment before she realized what the nurse asked. She sounded dazed as she said, “I, I… He is an old friend…”
“Then he definitely has a crush on you, Xiao Yi. You don’t often see this type of person. To actually be able to meet… Ah, you must treasure this…”
The nurse was talkative as usual – Ji Yi knew that if she didn’t stop her, the nurse would talk for ten whole minutes. After the nurse spoke for a while, Ji Yi found an appropriate time to cut her off: “Liang Jie, sorry to have disturbed you. I still have some things to deal with, so I’ve got to go.”
As soon as the call ended, Ji Yi’s fingers relaxed and the phone crashed to the ground.
She didn’t bother to pick it up as she hugged the cushion firmly and sat back on the sofa.
- [Honorific] Older sister, non-blood related
Chapter 222: The Person I Love Is Not My Lover (2)
She stared emptily at the TV in front of her for an awfully long time before she came back to her senses.
So, after I woke from my coma, the person I kept looking for was actually Yuguang Ge?
That’s about right… Right now, besides her parents, the person who treated her the best was Yuguang Ge. The owner of the jade must’ve missed her dearly to visit her every month. Besides Yuguang Ge, who would go as far as to travel overnight to see her just because she sprained her ankle?
What’s more, how could she forget that after she and Yuguang Ge got into their fake marriage, Yuguang Ge always went to Beijing on the eighteenth of every month…
With that thought, more and more ideas came flooding into Ji Yi’s mind. Her heart started to race.
So in the three years she was in a coma, Yuguang Ge never forgot about her.
So the person she was looking for was Yuguang Ge. It was indeed Yuguang Ge…
An inexplicable feeling instantly overcame Ji Yi’s chest. The feeling flailed erratically as it entered her heart; the sensation made her unsettled.
She always thought she kept a good distance between her and Yuguang Ge; she went to the extent of not allowing them to take an irreversible step.
But now, she realized she underestimated how well Yuguang Ge treated her.
This type of treatment was silent – incredibly attentive yet stifling, like one of the world’s incurable poisons. It gradually seeped into her skin and entered her body, coursing through her organs and veins, making her feel helpless in defending herself from it.
Ji Yi didn’t know just how long she could withstand this kind of poison and save herself from it.
But she knew clearly that in this very moment, her senses were still there. She had to grit her teeth and be reasonable.
Because between her and Yuguang, there was still He Jichen…
–
After Ji Yi’s foot fully recovered, she followed her original plan of going to Erhai.
She received “He Yuguang”‘s messages every day and she replied to them, but she never had the courage to let “He Yuguang” take it any further. This was why she never asked him if he was the one who came to visit her every month while she was in a coma for three years. Of course, she didn’t let “He Yuguang” know that she actually had the small lost half of his jade in her hands.
Her holiday flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the tenth of January in the lunar calendar, so there was still one week before school started. Ji Yi took a plane back to Beijing.
At home, she ate and slept comfortably for three days, then on the fourteenth of January, which was also February eighteenth in the Gregorian calendar, “He Yuguang” came to Beijing.
Ji Yi and “He Yuguang” had dinner together. Since Ji Yi needed to go back to university the next day, she didn’t go back to “He Yuguang”‘s apartment but headed straight back home.
“He Yuguang” drove her back. Just before she got out of the car, Ji Yi returned his jade to him.
It was better that she didn’t look at the jade because as soon as she did, Ji Yi’s mind wandered to how well “He Yuguang” treated her. Even though she tried hard to control herself, when she handed the jade to “He Yuguang,” her fingers started to tremble gently.
After she returned home, Ji Yi laid in bed and summoned her strength to force the riveting emotions she felt for “He Yuguang” to settle down.
The next afternoon, Ji Yi ate lunch and returned to the school.
Chapter 223: The Person I Love Is Not My Lover (3)
Bo He and Tang Huahua arrived in the early afternoon. The two of them unpacked all their belongings then laid in bed to get some rest.
Delighted to see Ji Yi had arrived, the three women excitedly hugged each other and chatted for some time before Ji Yi started to change her bedsheets.
After Ji Yi finished getting her bed ready and wiped down her desk and chair, the three women went downstairs together to register at the admin office and to buy textbooks for the new semester.
Ji Yi assumed many of her coursemates would judge her and talk about what Lin Ya posted on Moments on the evening of new year’s upon her return to school. However, as she lined up at the admin office, she bumped into so many familiar faces, yet not only was everyone as normal as ever, there were even people who shot her “sympathetic” looks.
Tang Huahua, who she was close with, felt like something was off. She even whispered into Ji Yi’s ear: “Xiao Yi, they obviously know about what Lin Ya posted on her Moments, but not only did they not judge you, they’re actually acting all friendly. Don’t you think something’s not right here?
Ji Yi nodded in agreement, not quite sure what was going on.
Since there were many students registering, the three of them waited half an hour before finally seeing hope.
In front of them was the school committee member who was very familiar with the class advisor. As soon as they saw each other, they struck up a casual conversation.
Standing behind the school committee member, Ji Yi didn’t really pay attention to their conversation until the school committee member asked the class advisor, “Yang Jie, I heard Lin Ya was expelled?” Ji Yi furrowed her brows and focused all her attention to listen in on their conversation.
The class advisor spoke quietly, so Ji Yi came a little closer. Even though she couldn’t hear clearly, she heard most of the conversation. “Yeah, I only caught wind of this today. No matter if she dropped out or if she was expelled by the administration office, it happened because of personal misconduct. Someone reported her to the Education Bureau for working an inappropriate job in a nightclub outside of school. The school leaders were called in to make a judgement. This situation just tarnishes our school’s reputation. The administration office said they’ll be taking this matter seriously – in a school assembly, they’ll probably call out names related to this case…”
Having also heard the school committee member say this, Tang Huahua sneakily pinched Ji Yi’s waist.
Ji Yi got the hint and looked back to shoot Tang Huahua a glance. Then the school committee member hugged her books and said her goodbyes to the class advisor before she left. It was time for Ji Yi to sign up and collect her textbooks.
Coming out of the admin office, Tang Huahua immediately started chatting with Ji Yi: “Xiao Yi, did you hear what Yang Jie said? Lin Ya was expelled! Our school… Oh.. Wait.. every school has students who commit misconduct, but how many schools actually deal with it? Lin Ya was obviously set up, but who did she offend to receive this fate?”
Just as Tang Huahua said “Lin Ya,” they heard someone also say “Lin Ya” from behind a nearby tree.
Ji Yi and the other two instinctively stopped walking and looked over in that direction.
They were some girls from the same dorm floor chatting enthusiastically together. Some had books in their hands while another was empty-handed, probably preparing to pick up her textbook.
“I never imagined that Lin Ya was so shameless! She’s capable of anything!”
Chapter 224: The Person I Love Is Not My Lover (4)
“Yeah, I never imagined that her jealousy could actually be so intense. After she found out that Ji Yi got a role in “The Palace,” she actually locked Ji Yi in some abandoned school building just to stop her from making it to the set.”
“If Xiaoyang didn’t see it with her own eyes, I wouldn’t believe her. This is clearly the type of drama that only happens in TV shows! I never imagined it’d really happen in real life! What’s more, according to what Xiaoyang said, He Jichen from the directing course forced Lin Ya to tell him where Ji Yi was and almost threw Lin Ya out the window. While this happened, the door of their dorm was wide open, so loads of people saw the look on Lin Ya’s face. In her heart, she must’ve hated Ji Yi to death!”
“What’s more, Ji Yi already decided to take on the supporting female role in “Three Thousand Lunatics,” so it was normal for her to have dinner with those people. Lin Ya hated Ji Yi so much that there was no way what she said on Moments was credible. Who’s to say that Lin Ya didn’t purposely try to make Ji Yi look bad?”
“…”
Several of them continued chatting away, all huddled together.
After Ji Yi listened up to this point, she turned her head and locked eyes with Tang Huahua. The two of them had the same flash of confusion in their eyes.
It was no wonder that when she returned to school, nobody judged her for Lin Ya’s photos that caused such an uproar on new year’s eve. So as it turned out, the situation already took a different turn without her even knowing it… It was obvious that someone secretly helped her clean up this mess.
As this thought flashed across Ji Yi’s mind, Tang Huahua said, “Xiao Yi, it’s obvious that someone is helping you. What’s more, that person must’ve had something to do with Lin Ya’s expulsion!”
Bo He immediately tagged along with Tang Huahua and added, “It’s not just a theory! Someone’s helping Xiao Yi for sure! By expelling Lin Ya, they probably wanted to kick her out of Xiao Yi’s life completely. This person obviously made matters so resolute to cut the weeds, eliminate the roots and prevent any problems that might come up in the future.”
The circumstances were obvious. Even if Tang Huahua and Bo He didn’t say it, Ji Yi guessed this too.
But this person… who is it?
It definitely isn’t Yuguang Ge, because I didn’t even tell him about what happened with Lin Ya…
“Say… who do you think this person could be?” Bo He pondered out loud and the three of them were silent for a moment.
Tang Huahua let slip, “I got it!”
Tang Huahua picked up her phone and started typing while completely ignoring Bo He’s incessant questioning.
A moment later, Tang Huahua’s phone rang, “Ding! Ding!” She raised her phone in front of Ji Yi. “I was right! It really was him!”
“Who is it? Who is it?” Bo He came over to Ji Yi’s side and read what was on Tang Huahua’s phone with her.
Tang Huahua had a simple conversation with Xiaoyang on WeChat.
Huahua: “Did someone entrust you to spread news about how Lin Ya trapped Xiao Yi in the abandoned school building?”
Xiaoyang: “How did you know?”
Huahua: “Don’t worry about how I know. Let me ask you, was it He Jichen?”
Xiaoyang: “You know about even this?!”
Xiaoyang: “What the hell? God! Tang Huahua, were you born in the year of the celestial?”
After reading all the WeChat messages, Bo He turned to look at Ji Yi. “So, Xiao Yi. The person who helped you was He Xuezhang?”
Ji Yi looked calm and still as she stared at the phone screen. She didn’t reveal too much on her face, but her fingers silently gripped her textbooks tightly.