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Chapter 36: Her Dream Weaver

She stopped the bike, then turned back with her big and small bags to find him. She tossed the skirts into his car, smoothing out the blush he had teased out of her, her charm delicate and lovely, yet with a hint of embarrassment she tried to conceal but couldn’t hide: “Do you always have some strange plays brewing in your mind?”

“The word ‘darling’ makes people think too badly.” 

Zhong Yu Bai wanted to laugh: “What play?”

Ji Zhen Tang shook her head quickly and said, “I don’t want to.”

“What don’t you want?” he asked.

“I don’t want to play dress-up for you,” she replied.

He simply said, “That’s not an option.”

She blinked in surprise.

The man smiled faintly and said, “Study well, see you later.”

So, where in the world does pie fall from the sky? Ji Zhen Tang cursed inwardly as she walked into the elevator of the teaching building. She only realized when she turned her head that several classmates from the same class were following behind her. Her heart tightened, and she quickly tucked the rose into her backpack.

However, they didn’t pay any attention to her at all.

For students coming in and out of the School of Arts, riding in luxury cars was not uncommon. Moreover, Zhong Yu Bai’s car today was relatively low-key, something her father could afford.

Thinking of this, she breathed a sigh of relief. But when she thought about taking out the flower again, she found that the rose had been broken, and she felt disappointed. She was distracted by the chatter of two girls in the elevator.

“I say, why can’t I open the forum? Is it related to Zhao Siqi?”

“Was he set up? I had a vague feeling before that his luck had run out.”

At these words, Ji Zhen Tang glanced over.

“What happened to Zhao Siqi?” she casually joined the gossip.

One of the girls said, “Don’t you know? He got arrested.”

“What?” Ji Zhen Tang asked, “Arrested? For what?”

“He was arrested,” the other girl said, “I heard the police went to his house, on the evening of the sixteenth day of the lunar new year.”

Ji Zhen Tang shook her head in confusion. “I had no idea. What crime did he commit?”

“I’m not sure,” the first girl said, “I heard it’s related to obscenity and pornography, maybe organizing something?”

The second girl said, “It serves him right. Always hanging around on Yunxiao Road. If I were him, I would have kept a low profile long ago. Living so ostentatiously, it’s only a matter of time before someone catches him.”

Ji Zhen Tang was stunned for a few seconds, about to ask more questions when the elevator doors opened.

She was absent-minded during the afternoon class.

She searched online for Zhao Siqi, but found little information. The forums had been cleaned up, but there were still some comments left by anonymous users and puzzle enthusiasts.

“ZSQ must have been set up, right?”

“If he wants to clear his name, no one can set him up. Dirty luck.”

“Does anyone know how long he’ll be sentenced?”

“If it involves minors, with multiple charges, at least ten years.”

“Ten years? Isn’t that too harsh? Was he reported by the public?”

“Their circle is chaotic. If nobody protects him, he would have been in there long ago, but he waited until today.”

“With the power of the Zhao family, they can suppress reports. If they can’t handle it, it means they’ve really offended someone big.”

“Who? I’m so curious.”

“He offended a big shot. I’ve been curious for so long.”

“What big shot did he offend? The company isn’t even listed yet, there’s no commercial competition, right? Is it necessary to be so ruthless? This move is quite big, feels like a long-planned scheme.”

There were three replies below this reasonable comment, but Ji Zhen Tang clicked to open them only to find that the comments had been deleted.

“…”

Zhong Yu Bai had said to meet her at the usual place after class, which was at the entrance of the Snow Garden residential building. The first time he brought her here, she felt it was the safest place. He had said back then that they would always meet here in the future.

Now was the time to fulfill those words.

When she returned to her dorm, Zhong Yu Bai was resting in the car. She didn’t know if he had been waiting here the whole time or if he had gone to deal with other matters. The latter seemed more likely; she guessed he had probably just come from the Ocean Science Institute.

Successful people wouldn’t waste an entire afternoon doing nothing. He didn’t seem like someone who idled away his time.

Ji Zhen Tang came down from the dormitory carrying a bag with a change of clothes inside. When she got into the car, she no longer had the same playful mood as before. Her expression became more cautious as she looked at him, until Zhong Yu Bai opened his eyes.

Her eyes trembled as she looked at him, then she looked away as if avoiding something.

Facing a rather harsh truth related to herself was quite difficult.

“Did you have anything to do with Zhao Siqi’s case?” Ji Zhen Tang finally asked after hesitating for a while.

Zhong Yu Bai looked at her without any change in expression. After a few seconds, he slightly raised the corner of his mouth. She sensed a trace of indifference in his slightly lowered eyes, as if conveying: the rumors had indeed spread.

This kind of indifference, without covering up the truth.

“It’s about tying up loose ends,” he said.

She didn’t know what the beginning of this matter was, but the “end” in his words meant that this incident had truly come to an end.

Zhao Siqi was going to face imprisonment, with no chance of turning back, and his life could now be seen to be at an end.

This time, it was truly a finishline for him.

Ji Zhen Tang blinked continuously in astonishment, finding it difficult to calm her emotions. Zhong Yu Bai had already started the car, slowly merging into the traffic.

“Did you… did you follow him for a long time? I heard he’s very cunning, and many people helped him destroy evidence. There have been reports about him before, but they were all ineffective.”

“If he didn’t bring it upon himself, how could I take advantage of it?” Zhong Yu Bai said.

Ji Zhen Tang was stunned again.

Indeed, it was a good thing when criminals were brought to justice.

But this matter was too close to her. She didn’t know what emotions to use to deal with it. Zhong Yu Bai turned his head to look at her, raising his hand to gently stroke her forehead, and asked softly, “What do you want to eat?”

“It’s up to you to decide,” she said.

Zhong Yu Bai’s lips curved gently. “Then let’s go home.”

Ji Zhen Tang replied in agreement, her mind still in confusion, not even having time to react to what he meant by “home.”

“Why did you shut down the forum?” she asked hastily.

He answered straightforwardly, “I don’t like making a big fuss.”

Zhong Yu Bai was naturally tactful. If this matter escalated, if everyone kept digging, it wouldn’t be good for anyone except Zhao Siqi. Since the matter had come to an end, he didn’t want her to have any association with that person’s dirty name, as it would become fodder for gossip.

“You’ve considered it thoroughly.”

“When did you start keeping an eye on him?”

He pondered for a moment, then replied, “It’s been a while.”

“Probably, after the jewelry exhibition.”

“Indeed, it’s been a long time since we last played a game of chess.”

Ji Zhen Tang smiled stiffly. It turned out that day when Zhao Siqi cursed her, he still remembered. He had planted a long-term plan. His perseverance in waiting surprised her. “Why did you wait until now to make a move?”

Zhong Yu Bai pondered for a moment before saying, “It’s the last New Year, naturally, one should spend it well.”

As he spoke, there was a kind of profound and mysterious kindness in his tone. It was hard to say whether this kindness was genuine. The gentle tone he expressed both in words and between the lines seemed to genuinely wish others a happy New Year.

The last reunion festival.

“Xiao Gao.” He mentioned, then asked her, “Do you still remember?”

Ji Zhen Tang nodded, “Of course, Xiao Gao who brought me the dress.”

Recalling, she smiled lightly, “So he also was your eyes. Did you plant any spies around me?”

The car drove into the Lan Ting mansion. Zhong Yu Bai looked at her and replied with a smile, “Am I that evil?”

Ji Zhen Tang walked into the French-style mansion where she had visited once before. Without being reserved with him, she sat on the sofa. Zhong Yu Bai handed her a pair of fluffy new cotton slippers for her to slip her feet into.

He then went to pour two glasses of water and came back.

Ji Zhen Tang didn’t take the water but watched Zhong Yu Bai’s movements intently.

Watching him sit down.

“Boss.”

It had been a long time since she addressed him like this. It used to be a familiar term between them, but now it sounded awkward. Ji Zhen Tang stared at him tightly, her gaze a bit dull, as if covered with just-extinguished ashes, containing frustration and unease.

Zhong Yu Bai stretched out his arm, resting it on the back of the sofa, his elbow bending to cradle the back of her neck. He casually drank water, then lowered his eyes to look at her.

“I don’t understand you,” Ji Zhen Tang said, retracting her feet.

She wore white cotton socks and slipped them into one of Zhong Yu Bai’s slippers. He sat with crossed legs, only one foot touching the ground. Ji Zhen Tang slipped her foot into the same pair of slippers through the gap, lightly embracing his waist at the same time.

He wore black slippers without socks, revealing the contours of his arch and the sexy intertwining veins on his instep. She lightly rubbed his instep through the cotton socks, twice.

Ji Zhen Tang looked at Zhong Yu Bai, as if trying to see through his obscured eyes. She brought her full lips close to his cheek, adopting the most intimate posture, but repeated seemingly melancholic words, “I don’t understand you.”

Zhong Yu Bai lifted her chin, lifting her cheek, and asked lightly, “How should I make you understand?”

Ji Zhen Tang shook her head, neither affirming nor denying, then smiled slowly, “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t like to make my eyes too bright. Where the water is too clear, there are no fish.”

Like a moth to a flame, must one fly into the heart of the fire to call it an end? She could hover, maintain a safe distance, indulge in endless fantasies about the light, and always feel this perfectly warm embrace across a certain distance.

One must hold illusions about others, maintain a distance, for the relationship to be safe.

Keeping a distance, one won’t be burnt.

A mirage, this phrase popped into her mind.

She changed the subject playfully, “I don’t need to see everything clearly, to see it distinctly. So, you can be a good person around me for a long time.”

There was a hint of bitterness in Zhong Yu Bai’s smile, as if the person who didn’t understand had become him this time.

She lightly tapped his nose with her finger, “Ding, the good person card.”

There was still half a sentence left unexplained: If one day, the fire is going to burn her. She would leave decisively.

Ji Zhen Tang reminded him again, “Of course, you shouldn’t see me too clearly either. In the end, if you discover that I’m actually full of flaws, far from as beautiful as I look, you might be scared away.”

“Never.” He asserted firmly.

Then he grabbed the finger that was still lightly touching his nose, lightly kissed the tip of her finger.

Kissing her hand, looking at her, such a gesture, no matter who did it, would reveal a hint of precious affection.

Zhong Yu Bai was no exception, the indulgence in his eyes almost scalded her. Not painful, just warm, it burned her eyes for a moment.

Ji Zhen Tang withdrew her foot, opened her phone, “By the way, before school started, my dad took me to Disneyland and gave me a huge red envelope. He made a small investment last year and now it’s paid off. He was especially happy and said he would take me to celebrate my victory over the illness.”

Ji Zhen Tang flipped through photos and videos on her phone to show him.

“This is Belle, I queued for a long time to take a picture with her, she’s super sweet. And this is Boo, she’s so enthusiastic, I kept asking her if I could shake her hand, and she actually turned around and held my hand. Wow, at that moment I felt like I was the happiest person in the world.

“We also watched the fireworks together, they were really beautiful, like a fairy tale world.”

Zhong Yu Bai looked at the videos in her hand, a faint warmth spreading across his lips.

Slowly, the smile was tinged with an imperceptible sense of relief.

Ji Zhen Tang flipped through the photos and spoke earnestly.

He watched attentively.

“Did you have fun?” he asked.

She nodded vigorously.

Ji Zhen Tang thought again, “It’s been a long time since I went out to play alone with my dad, just the two of us. Every time, it’s always with Aunt Xu and my little brother, but when I’m with them, I always feel like I’m on the sidelines. The last time I remember was when I was in elementary school. He helped me finish the parent-teacher meeting, and I asked him if the school had issued tickets to the aquarium, and if we could go together. That afternoon, we went to the aquarium together.

“Such a trivial matter, and I wrote essays about it for several years. Isn’t it funny?”

She said, showing a self-deprecating smile.

“It’s quite strange. He suddenly cared about me during the New Year. He said I’ve been sick for so long and he hasn’t taken care of me properly. Since I’m better now, he took me to Disneyland.”

Ji Zhen Tang spoke, lowering her head and tapping her toe, as if savoring that kind of happiness. “But, you know, my dad treats me well every day, and I don’t ask why anymore. It’s the first time I’ve been to Disneyland at this age. It’s quite a coincidence because my birthday wish last year was to go with my dad.

“It’s so magical. I always feel like there are invisible dream weavers in this world, constantly helping us fulfill our dreams. Do you ever feel that? When things aren’t going well, this invisible person appears for a moment, helping you brush away your troubles, making you feel better, and ready to move forward again.”

Zhong Yu Bai lazily propped his forehead, carefully capturing the joy on her face.

At these words, he lightly smiled, noncommittal, saying, “As long as you’re happy.”

To avoid the boredom of idle chatter, a movie was playing in the living room. When she quieted down, only the voices of the actors reciting lines echoed in the room.

What Ji Zhen Tang didn’t know was that Zhong Yu Bai had met Ji Huan once, just before the Chinese New Year.

It was Ji Huan who had approached him, for one thing: repayment.

Zhong Yu Bai had no business dealings with Ji Huan, and the debt issue arose in the middle of last year.

Ji Huan’s export business had been smooth sailing, but he wasn’t satisfied. Greedy for more, he wanted to enter into larger business ventures and intended to invest in some new tea enterprises.

At that time, Ji Huan was buying houses and cars, and his liquid assets were not enough.

Ji Huan had approached Chen Ke about borrowing money, and naturally, Zhong Yu Bai couldn’t involve others. Kindness was not a matter of course; it had to be carefully considered. A stranger’s goodwill shouldn’t be treated as an endless pit to be drawn from.

In theory, Ji Huan shouldn’t have borrowed money from them.

But things had come to this point, and since the amount wasn’t large, Zhong Yu Bai didn’t hesitate to lend the money.

He had been keeping an eye on Ji Huan, but hadn’t delved deeply into investigation. He roughly estimated that his company’s quarterly revenue exceeded eight figures. With such a family background, as long as he showed a little more concern for his daughter, she could bear the title of a wealthy young lady.

At the dinner arranged by Ji Huan, Zhong Yu Bai met her father.

Ji Huan was quite young, only about ten years older than Zhong Yu Bai. Calculating from Ji Zhen Tang’s birthdate, she was indeed born at an age when people were prone to making mistakes.

Coincidence, misfortune, and passionate love led to a situation where, decades later, a child had nowhere to settle in this world.

Zhong Yu Bai had crossed swords with much more cunning clients, so having a meal with Ji Huan didn’t require much caution or tension.

He mentioned Ji Zhen Tang, asking, “How is Ji Zhen Tang’s health recently?”

Ji Huan thought for a moment and gave a vague reply, “I haven’t heard her mention being ill for a long time, so she should be fine.”

Zhong Yu Bai didn’t respond, just looked at him through a haze of smoke, with neither party able to see through the other.

Ji Huan tentatively asked, “Do you know my daughter?”

Zhong Yu Bai thought for a moment and simply replied, “Friends.”

Ji Huan took the initiative to continue the conversation, “How did you two meet? Was it at the celebration for the elder Mrs. Zhong’s birthday last year?”

Zhong Yu Bai remained silent.

After a while, he found it difficult to endure this emotionally charged maneuvering. Instead, he steered the conversation back, regardless of whether it seemed intrusive or how suspicious the other party might be. He wanted Ji Huan to know, “She has internal injuries. They may seem healed on the surface, but it’s only superficial.”

Ji Huan said, “It’s not a big problem. I see her quite lively.”

Zhong Yu Bai furrowed his brow, somewhat irritated, and shook his head slowly. “The human heart is fragile, easily broken and wounded. While the law entrusts you with the duty to support her, beyond duty, you should also preserve her dignity as a child and as a woman.”

It was hard for him to give too much advice to a man ten years his senior. Zhong Yu Bai had restrained his deepest thoughts as much as possible, yet even so, he had never felt such an intense emotional outburst before.

Ji Huan was stunned for a long time, asking why he said that.

Zhong Yu Bai thought that there weren’t many things that could render him powerless. In business and socializing, he had many techniques to control the situation, always remaining calm and composed even in the face of adversity. But now, all of these seemed ineffective, leaving him at a loss.

No matter how capable a person is, they cannot control emotions.

Whether his daughter’s illness was cured or not, he didn’t inquire. What he cared about most was her relationship with a man.

A few days later, Zhong Yu Bai had someone deliver two Disneyland tickets to Ji Huan, along with the small amount of interest he had insisted on paying.

Fortunately, it served its purpose in the end. Ji Huan still had some conscience and didn’t waste his sincere efforts.

After Ji Zhen Tang showed him the photos from Disneyland, she leaned against him and watched the movie for a while, talking about how she used to visit the aquarium with her dad when she was a child. Unexpectedly, she fell asleep with her head tilted like that.

She didn’t even show him the pretty dress she had picked out, just succumbed to the movie’s hypnotic effect.

By his side, she seemed to be able to fall asleep anytime, anywhere.

It was so warm, so comfortable. In his tea room, in his home, in his embrace.

Zhong Yu Bai remembered when Ji Zhen Tang once said in this house that she felt like a parasite.

He had been shocked by her description at the time.

Naturally, no matter how many times he thought back on it afterward, he would still find the words shocking.

Holding her, Zhong Yu Bai closed his eyes slowly, his brows furrowing slightly, concealing a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Soon, he heard a faint sound.

Scritch, scritch, scritch.

Zhong Yu Bai opened his eyes and looked at her for a long time.

He found her grinding her teeth.

After a while, Ji Zhen Tang was awakened by her own teeth grinding and said in surprise, “Oh my, I slept so soundly…”

She lifted her gaze to the man holding her and asked weakly, “Was my teeth grinding very noisy?”

Upon waking up, she felt guilty, realizing she was being stared at. Her first reaction was to apologize, sheepishly lowering her head. “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you, not only do I grind my teeth, but I also talk in my sleep.”

Zhong Yu Bai shook his head. “It’s okay.”

He chuckled lightly, his gaze deeply fixed on her as he gently caressed her cheek. “I’m getting to know your characteristics,” he said softly.

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