Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Hello, little sister. I’m done investigating that woman’s a decade or so past. The result is…”
Qiao Jingyun, who had casually answered the call, became anxious when she heard this.
She hastily composed herself and urgently inquired, “What’s the result? Is she… that girl from back then?!”
The man on the other end was apparently stunned by her reaction as he muttered in exasperation, “Whoa. It’s my first time hearing you speak like this.”
“Stop speaking nonsense. What’s the result?”
The woman also realized that she had lost her cool, so she narrowed her eyes and tried to regain some more of her composure.
She had always been calm when it came to Pei Ge.
Only upon hearing that her second brother was done investigating that woman did she realize that she still held some fear and trepidation inside.
Beijing was huge. If that woman was truly the girl who had saved Ji Ziming before, then the thread of fate connecting the two was truly formidable.
“I can’t really give you conclusive proof. No matter how much I investigated, I could only learn that she was hospitalized because of a car accident and it happened on the same day Ji Ziming got kidnapped and you were hospitalized for your injuries,” shared the man to her.
This made her frown.
The same day Ji Ziming got kidnapped…
Is there really such a coincidence?
Slowly, the faces of that woman and the little girl, who had consoled her and promised to bring her out, overlapped.
They clearly looked different, yet the two faces somehow overlapped.
“Although her car accident surprisingly coincided with the kidnapping incident, it can’t prove that she’s the little girl from back then. After all, the capital is huge and quite a few people get into a car accident each day.”
Her brother’s reassurance had no effect on her, alas.
“Where did she get into a car accident?”
She pursed her lips together and tightened her grip on her phone so much so that her knuckles had unknowingly turned white.
“I didn’t manage to find out where exactly—it’s been years, after all; I only learned that it’s in a remote place. There’s a row of balsam trees along the road, apparently.”
Her breath halted upon hearing this; her dark irises then contracted.
“Balsam trees…” Her face showed shock, and after a long while, she spoke again. “Second brother, are you sure that it’s a row of balsam trees and not something else?”
In that moment, she did not want it to be confirmed that Pei Ge was that girl.
No matter how confident she acted, she was merely a woman in her twenties.
No matter how scheming and ruthless she was, having it confirmed that Pei Ge was the girl from back then was still a huge blow to her.
“Er… It should be balsam trees. I talked to many people until I found the nurse on duty back then. She did say that it’s a row of balsam trees.”
The man’s affirmative words surprisingly brought back her composure.
“It’s really her, huh…”
She coldly smirked as her eyes were dyed with craze.
“What? Little sister, that woman’s really the girl who saved Ji Ziming that year? Are you sure?! That’s too coincidental! This city is so big, yet they still met each other again; they’re clearly fate—”
He realized his slip of the tongue and halted mid-speech, but it was too late at this point.
“You wanted to say that they’re fated, right?”
She gave a gentle chuckle, but her words made one shiver in fear.
“Hur hur hur…” Before the man could answer, she spoke again. “I think so, too… I already cut their string of fate, yet after a decade or so, they still managed to reunite. Plus…”
Her gentle expression instantly turned into sharp.
They even managed to get together and are about to start a family.
They are truly fated.
“Second brother, destroy all the information you managed to collect.”
She took a deep breath and left the swivel chair to stand before the huge floor-to-ceiling window and gaze at the bustling street outside.
“I say, little sister, it’s not that I don’t want to help you destroy this information, but it’s truly not easy to destroy all. As long as the Ji family wants to investigate, how can they possibly not find out? In any case, you can’t hide fire with paper. I think that what we should do now is properly milk the Ji family before they learn the truth instead of picking a fight with that Pei Ge!”
Rather than acceding to her request, the man gave another suggestion.
“You want me to give up Ji Ziming? Impossible!” She rejected the idea without a second’s thought. “Second brother, don’t forget; that old Ji couple hates me and the entire Qiao family. Ji Ziming is a vengeful man, too. If he knows that I fooled him, do you think our family will have a good ending?”
The more she spoke, the lighter she felt. Her earlier helplessness did not return as well.
“After living a young master’s life for years, I don’t think you want to return to poverty.”
“…”
The man over the phone fell into an eerie silence the moment she finished speaking.
“The choice is now yours, second brother. It’s either rise another step and follow the Ji family into the high society or… return to being that destitute pauper who can’t even afford to a two-yuan takeout. What’s your choice then?”
She chuckled softly while looking at the busy street outside. As she regarded the people on the street as if they were working ants, her eyes revealed an understanding smile.
Isn’t the answer clear? The ending that I want will always come true. Isn’t it so?
Even if their fate is defined by the heavens, so what? I believe, above all, that humans are the masters of their fate!
