CH 25

Translator’s Note: So the website I was using for the raw ebook is down with a server error, which isn’t a problem since the book is available elsewhere, but the chapters are subdivided differently, e.g. some divide one chapter into 3 parts instead of 4. It really doesn’t matter since it’s all the same content, but if I continue translating from this other website (Qi Mao), we might be done in 41 parts instead of 53.

Anyway, I was going to try to finish this translation by the end of the year as I’d said in my last authoer’s note, but I’ve admitted to myself that it’s really impossible – I thought I could do more since there’s less overtime at work now, but I’m just too busy! I’ll still try my best to speed things up…I know it’s annoying to have to wait weeks for updates and not that fun to read a novel in little bits and pieces. I hope you enjoy this one, I feel bad for YS as usual (JJ really knows how to hit him where he’s most insecure!) and we find out even more about the past.

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Jiang Jun was on a leave of absence for more than half a month because of her illness. According to the doctor, she only needed to rest for two weeks and then she would be fine, but Yuan Shuai kept trying to brainwash her and to convince her to resign from her job. Jiang Jun’s annoyance finally peaked: “I’ve already told you, I don’t want to just hang around at home all day.

Yuan Shuai stood up. “Can’t you consider it for my sake?”

“Then what exactly do you want?” Jiang Jun asked him nicely, trying to tamp down on her temper.

Yuan Shuai’s tone and expression were both unyielding. “I want you to immediately resign, go home, and rest up for a while. As for everything else, we’ll talk about it after you get better.”

“I don’t feel like going over this with you again.” A new email alert sounded and Jiang Jun stopped paying attention to Yuan Shuai, walking into the study to deal with work matters.

Yuan Shuai followed her in and closed Jiang Jun’s laptop forcefully. “It’s totally useless to try talk to you properly, isn’t it?”

Jiang Jun glared at him. “Don’t go to far, we had an agreement back then.”

“The situation’s different now, your health isn’t good.”

“The doctor said it’s okay and also I’ll pay more attention to it in the future.”

Yuan Shuai sighed. “Can’t you just listen to me?”

“I’ll listen to what’s reasonable, but don’t force me to do what I don’t want to do.”

“What do you want to do? Be tired to death every day? Are you happy that you made yourself sick?”

“Yes of course I’m happy to make myself sick!” Jiang Jun was completely infuriated by his sarcastic tone.

“Zhong Jiang Jun, I’m doing this for your own good!”

Jiang Jun arched her neck in defiance. “No need!”

“You’re my fucking wife.”

“Wife?” Jiang Jun narrowed her eyes at Yuan Shuai coldly. “Am I?”

“You…jerk!” Yuan Shuai slammed the door furiously and left.

The loud sound made Jiang Jun distraught. She fumbled around for a cigarette and just as she lit it, the phone rang. Looking at the display that showed “Jay Yin,” she hung up in annoyance. But the guy kept calling again and again.

Jiang Jun reluctantly picked up, suppressed her anger, and asked, “What’s up?”

“I’m in Beijing, is it convenient for me to visit you?”

“No, it’s not.”

“I need to talk to you about the UST case.”

“If you have a problem, you can go directly to Du, or I can arrange for someone else to help you.”

“You… did something happen?”

“No!”

“Where are you now? I’ll go find you, OK?”

“I’m very tired and need to rest now.” Jiang Jun hung up the phone.

Yin Zhe still persisted in harassing her through text: I just want to see you, isn’t it OK for me to be concerned as a friend?

What a psycho. Jiang Jun deleted the text messages and ignored him.

After she calmed down and thought about it, she called Du with some apprehension. “You should find someone to keep an eye on UST for Jay, I’m afraid he’ll be too impulsive and will make a mistake.”

“Okay, understood. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah.”

“Your family must be very worried about you. I called you yesterday and your ‘uncle’ picked up again, his tone of voice was very bad. Do you have an uncle?”

Jiang Jun leaned against the glass door of the balcony, staring at the garden downstairs, and said weakly, “Du, I’m very tired now, and I don’t have the energy to talk to you. I’ve already arranged things at work, email me if you have a problem.”

“Do you know that all of your subordinates who resigned are now working at GT?”

This news shocked Jiang Jun.

“If you have some time, ask around about it, it’s not appropriate for me to get involved.” After stalling for a while, Du said slowly, “I really want to see you. I’ll be in Beijing the day after tomorrow, tell me your address.”

“Call me later.” Jiang Jun put down the phone and paced around the room in her slippers. Five senior business associates, enough to hold up a small department, what a big gift. She lit a cigarette, took a few deep breaths, and dialed a number from the phone book. “Sally, this is Juno.”

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“I see.” Yuan Shuai lifted his head and glanced up high, “It’s okay, Sally, do it this way first.” He hung up the phone and continued to smoke while sitting on the stone bench. Jiang Jun stood behind the bushes and looked at him with complicated emotions. The garden was full of gloomy colors, dark and dreary.

Sally had said to her over the phone: “Which financial institution would be willing to use someone who had previously made a huge mistake and got kicked out of MH? Who would still trust them? Juno, if Zeus didn’t believe in you, how could he take us on? I know I shouldn’t have dragged in other people, but the world is so hard now, who can live without a job?”

Jiang Jun knew this was true, and that was why she had recommended Sally to Yuan Shuai, but why had he never mentioned it to her himself?

She watched Yuan Shuai smoke one cigarette after another and fiddle with his phone back and forth. What was he thinking? Could it really be that he was up to no good?

Back then, when Jiang Jun was injured, she had insisted on going to the U.S. to study. She had already passed the selection process to be an exchange student, but because of her relationship with Yin Zhe, the trip had never happened.

Her family did not approve of her going to the U.S. alone. Her grandfather even harshly stated that if she wanted to leave, she should change her surname and never come back again. She was in the midst of youthful rebellion and had long been fed up with the shackles of her family name, so she really submitted an application to the household registration office to change her surname. This completely offended the old man, and in a fit of rage, he expelled her from the family home and said in front of everyone in the family: “From now on, this old Zhong family will never again have this unworthy descendent Zhong Jiang Jun.”

Jiang Jun didn’t ask her grandma to secretly give her money, and even cut up the bank card that her parents had given her. Anyway, her year as an exchange student was tuition free, and she could rely on what she had earned by investing in stocks with Yuan Shuai. It was enough money to survive. During the day, Jiang Jun carried a schoolbag to go to class or to the library, and at night, she washed dishes and worked as a hostess in a restaurant. She laughed all day long until she fell into nightmares with exhaustion, and when she woke up crying, she continued to live with a smile. At that time, she really was extremely lonely. Fortunately, Yuan Shuai came to see her every month, carrying large and small bags. He would sit at her door and chat all night long to the unresponsive door panel.

But she didn’t want to see him, just as she didn’t want to see her own family.

At that time, Yuan Shuai always sat on the ground and leaned against the door, smoking cigarettes and telling her all kinds of news and jokes. Sometimes she would secretly look at him through the door peephole and listen to him talk. When it was close to dawn, Yuan Shuai would get up and clean up the cigarette butts, wrapping them up and taking them away. Apart from the bags of food and daily necessities, there was no trace of his visit.

How could Yuanyuan-gege harm himself? For so many years, he had been by her side, a family member and a lover. Jiang Jun thought about it this way, and her heart began to soften little by little. She believed in Yuan Shuai, she had to believe in him, and she could only believe in him.

Jiang Jun decided to resign and change jobs as Yuan Shuai wished. Any financial institution would do; whether it was MH or GT, it was all the same for her. It was fine if other people didn’t understand her, but Yuan Shuai had to. They were the same, weren’t they? Otherwise, why abandon the great future arranged by your family and choose instead to work on your own? She didn’t want to be a super strong and independent career woman, but she had no other way. She didn’t have friends, or a colorful life, or other skills. She wanted to stop but couldn’t stop. Leaving her work was like being a fish out of water, struggling desperately to survive but gradually drying up. It wasn’t that she couldn’t let go of everything now, but she wanted to be needed, to be affirmed, and to have a place where she could realize her own value.

Jiang Jun made a decision in her heart and walked over to pat Yuan Shuai on the shoulder. “Why are you sitting here?”

Yuan Shuai was startled and immediately jumped up, patting away the fiery sparks on his body.* (T/N: The author doesn’t say he sits back down but he does, or the rest won’t make sense)

Jiang Jun took the initiative to smooth things over. “Let’s go home, the food’s ready.”

Yuan Shuai turned his head away, not looking at her. “I have an date with someone.”

Jiang Jun walked over step by step and stood in front of him. She turned his face toward her and gave him a savage kiss. “Who’s your date?”

Yuan Shuai pulled her closer and rested his head on Jiang Jun’s lower abdomen. It was a long time before he finally said, “Is it okay if I ask my wife?”

Jiang Jun wanted to cry a little and she stroked Yuan Shuai’s hair. “Your wife is hungry and wants to eat steak.”

They at a candlelight dinner together, hand in hand, sticking to each other intimately and taking turns eating bites of steak. In the dark movie theater, while sitting in the last row, Jiang Jun said to Yuan Shuai, “I’ll resign.”

Yuan Shuai’s eyes shimmered in the dark. He said, “I just want to live a good life with you.”

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When Du arrived in Beijing, he met with Jiang Jun at a teahouse next to the hotel.

Before going out, Jiang Jun told Yuan Shuai, “I’ll show my hand today.”

Yuan Shuai looked at her as if he wanted to say something but was hesitant to speak.

“Let me tell you, even if I don’t find another home for a while, you still have to pay me a monthly salary that’s based on my current annual salary. Don’t complain that it’s too expensive, I’m worth this much and not a single bit less.”

Yuan Shuai was unable to hold back his laughter. “All right, I can just give my paychecks to you directly and be done with it. I just wanted to tell you not to force it.”

“You know how good I am to you, right?” Jiang Jun proudly raised her chin, “I’m going.”

She arrived a little early on purpose, sat down with her back to the door, and took the time to clear her mind and sort out her thoughts. Just as she lit her cigarette, the door opened.

“Jiang Jun.” It was Yin Zhe’s voice.

Jiang Jun stood up with a start, knocking her knee against the coffee table, and almost fell down from the numbness and pain.

“I haven’t seen you for a few days, what’s with the big curtsy?” Yin Zhe smiled and helped her up. “Everything okay?”

She pushed Yin Zhe’s arm away. “What are you doing here?”

“Du was held up by someone, so I came to see you first. Why are you still so awkward, always getting bruised blue all over?” Yin Zhe asked someone to bring ice and he wrapped it in a towel to put it on her knee for her.

Jiang Jun dodged him and moved her body away. “It’s okay, I’m fine. What do you want to see me about?”

“I just want to see you.”

“Yin Zhe. I don’t have time to talk to you, is Du still in the office? I need to see him.” She got up and walked out.

Yin Zhe was one step faster and quickly blocked the door. “You’re not going to quit and go with Yuan Shuai, are you? Don’t be stupid.”

“Does it have anything to do with you?”

“Jiang Jun, do you know how much business he’s been stealing from us lately? Sally and the others are under him, and those pictures of you last time are being dug up again for articles. If you also go to GT, what will my brother do?”

“I know about Sally, it has nothing to do with Yuan Shuai. As for business, it’s always been based on merit and one’s own ability.”

“You’ve lost your mind.” Yin Zhe glowered at Jiang Jun.

Jiang Jun found it ridiculous. “I’m still your boss right now, please watch your tone and attitude.”

Yin Zhe frowned and said very seriously, “Jiang Jun, stay far away from Yuan Shuai, he’s more ruthless than anyone else.”

“Have you met him?” Jiang Jun suddenly came to a realization. No wonder Yuan Shuai had pestered her again and again, insisting that she absolutely had to leave MH.

“He’s engaged in a conspiracy, you have to believe me.”

“Why on earth should I believe you? Can you be a little self-aware?”

Jiang Jun couldn’t bear to hear other people say bad things about Yuan Shuai, so she immediately became angry. “I’m warning you, don’t mess with Yuan Shuai, or otherwise I won’t even give your brother some face.”

Fortunately, Du arrived just in time to suppress Jiang Jun’s anger.

He sat down, calmly poured himself a cup of tea and told Yin Zhe, “Go back to the office first and help me deal with those people above, I have something to discuss with Juno.”

“Oh.” Yin Zhe left reluctantly, shaking his head at Jiang Jun before going out the door, imploring her not to act rashly. Jiang Jun totally ignored him. Who did he think he was? When she was entering MH, this hotheaded young man was probably still chasing after Qiao Na and wagging his tail.

Du had a cut cigar in his hand and before it even touched his mouth, Jiang Jun raised her hand and snatched it away, picking up the match on the table and lighting it.

“You’ve just recovered, you shouldn’t smoke.” Du smiled and took the cigar away, holding it in his mouth.

“If I shouldn’t smoke then nobody should be smoking.” Jiang Jun angrily yanked it away from Du and pressed it right into his tea cup. “If you have something on your mind, then say it. You know that I’m a patient and you still made me wait so long.”

Du laughed and said, “You don’t seem to have gained any weight, but your temper is getting bigger and bigger, although your complexion has improved a lot.”

“I’m on a one-month vacation, don’t even think about it.” Jiang Jun became wary.

“Am I so unreasonable? Besides, if you’re tired and sick, I’ll be the saddest one.” Du exaggeratedly rubbed his chest, “You don’t know how hard it’s been for me to be without you.”

“Knock it off, you.” Jiang Jun laughed out loud. But thinking of the purpose of today’s visit, her mood became grave again. She hesitantly opened her mouth and said, “I want to take a good rest for a while.”

“You should.”

“I mean, I want to resign.”

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T/N: Whew, this felt like a really long section for some reason, but a lot happened! Thank you for all the comments and encouragement, I’m very glad that so many people see the charm of the novel even though it’s different in so many ways from the drama.