A Love Letter Written to You - Chapter 41

Chapter 41

 

“Not yet,” Ren Meng glanced at the livestreaming equipment and didn’t explain further. Half-joking, half-serious, she said, “If I don’t come to the next shoot, will you miss me?”

 

Ji Youqin gave her a strange look. “It’s the modern age—do you think we wouldn’t be able to reach you? If you don’t come to the show, we can just go find you.”

 

Ren Meng: “…Sometimes I really envy you.”

 

Ji Youqin: “? Are you mocking me?”

 

Luo Qing: “I don’t think Teacher Ren means it that way…”

 

From the sidelines, Ji Yu watched and said to Leng Ying, “They’re bickering again.”

 

Leng Ying looked at her and asked softly, “Missing home?”

 

Ji Yu smiled. “Next time my cousin comes back to China, I’ll introduce her to you. She’s really fun to tease.”

 

“Mm, you’ve mentioned her before,” Leng Ying nodded. She knew of He Ruofu—Ji Yu had brought her up before. She was quite famous.

 

After watching the sunrise, the group gathered to go back down the mountain, returned to their village houses to pack up, and then brought their luggage to the village entrance for the final goodbye shoot.

 

It was time for the final friendship card vote of the week.

 

The first half of the show’s recording had officially ended.

 

They finally got their phones back from the production team. Sitting on the tour bus felt surreal—seven whole days without a phone!

 

Once they turned them on, their notifications were already overloaded.

 

Ji Yu’s phone was blowing up. So was Leng Ying’s.

 

They both naturally began sorting through the backlog. Ji Yu was mostly replying to family. Her appearance on the livestream had already been widely broadcast in the family group chat by He Ruofu. Everyone had been watching her this past week.

 

There were also work-related matters, and Ji Yu responded to those one by one. Once she put down her phone, she noticed Leng Ying’s expression had turned cold again—strange, because things had been good before they left the village.

 

The culprit could only be something in Leng Ying’s messages.

 

Ji Yu cleared her throat lightly to remind Leng Ying of her presence. She leaned closer and casually asked, “What’s wrong, jiejie?”

 

Leng Ying suddenly felt a surprising weight of responsibility. She blinked. There were no cameras on the bus. She said, “Leng Xingming is being annoying.”

 

Ji Yu frowned. “She’s asking about the show? I can ask Tianliang and Chupo…”

 

“You can’t.” Leng Ying touched her head. “I appreciate the thought. It’s unnecessary.”

 

“Okay then.” Ji Yu looked a little disappointed.

 

Leng Ying smiled. “I’m not bothered by her.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Mm,” Leng Ying said. “Parental ties—some people are just not fated to have them. Accepting that is no big deal.”

 

Ji Yu hugged her. “I’ll share mine with you.”

 

Leng Ying chuckled. “Since when do friends share parents?”

 

“Why not?” Ji Yu’s heart was pounding, but she kept a calm face. “I say we do. Godmother, godfather… not that uncommon.”

 

Leng Ying gave a soft hum. “Our Ji laoshi is so generous.”

 

“Only to you.” Ji Yu said seriously. “So don’t waste your energy on people who don’t deserve it.”

 

“I know.” Shifting her thoughts away from Leng Xingming, Leng Ying asked, “Do you have to go to the company during the break?”

 

“…Yes,” Ji Yu collapsed dramatically onto Leng Ying, sighing. “But I don’t want to—”

 

Leng Ying teased her, “You’re the boss and you still don’t want to go?”

 

“I just want to be with you.” Ji Yu grumbled. “I’m going to get withdrawal symptoms.”

 

Leng Ying smiled again. “I can’t go to work with you, can I?”

 

Ji Yu’s eyes lit up. “Actually, why not!”

 

She immediately perked up, clinging to Leng Ying and whining, “Come on, come on, pleeease come with me.”

 

Leng Ying caught her flailing hand. “Mmhm.”

 

“Pretty please, jiejie.” Ji Yu said sweetly. “Come to work with me~”

 

“Yingying Has More Than Enough” was trending, and according to the latest Weibo stats, Leng Ying had gained a ton of followers. Honestly, Ji Yu was a bit worried. It might be best if Leng Ying came with her to the office—it was better for them to be together than for Leng Ying to be home alone.

 

With that thought, Ji Yu kept nudging her… Oh! Her fingers were caught again by Leng Ying. Ji Yu wiggled her fingers, pleading, “Come with me? I want you to see my workplace, to see me at work~”

 

“…Fine.” After some internal struggle, Leng Ying finally agreed.

 

YES!

 

Ji Yu joyfully unwrapped a lemon candy and popped it into Leng Ying’s mouth. “We’re flying soon—have a candy to calm your nerves.”

 

Seven days—it wasn’t short, but it wasn’t long either. While in the village, weekdays felt like a blur, time flew by. But back in Haicheng, the weekday grind hit hard. For office workers, knowing what day it is was the ultimate daily torture. Time dragged endlessly.

 

But for Ji Yu, any day was good—as long as Leng Ying was with her.

 

On Leng Ying’s first day at Youli Group, Ji Yu introduced her to He Ruixiang, who warmly greeted her—he’d already heard about Ji Yu’s clear romantic intentions toward Leng Ying.

 

Leng Ying found him overly enthusiastic. Ji Yu reassured her, “He’s always like that,” so she didn’t dwell on it.

 

Then Ji Yu brought her to her own studio.

 

The designers were all young, trendy, and very up-to-date on internet culture.

 

“President Ji!”

 

“Teacher Ji!”

 

“Teacher Leng Ying—can I have your autograph!”

 

Ji Yu stood protectively in front of Leng Ying, amused but stern. “Did you finish redrawing the design drafts?”

 

“…No.”

 

“Go now.” Ji Yu ordered. “We have a meeting this afternoon.”

 

Cue a chorus of groans.

 

One clever designer in the corner had a sudden idea. “President Ji! I ship Yingying Has More Than Enough—can I report in later?”

 

Leng Ying couldn’t hold back her laughter.

 

Ji Yu glared at the designer. “No, Xiao Ning.”

 

“Aww, even my OTP can’t get me an exception—”

 

“But you can get a dual signature,” Ji Yu offered.

 

“!” Xiao Ning immediately pulled out a prepped dual-fan card and pen and rushed over.

 

Ji Yu: “…You came prepared.”

 

“I’m a true fan!” Xiao Ning exclaimed. “We all are, everyone in the studio ships you two.”

 

“Really?” Ji Yu said. “Good. Then I’ll be doing extra checks later.”

 

Xiao Ning: “…”

 

Other colleagues: “…”

 

Leng Ying gave Xiao Ning a sympathetic look and followed Ji Yu into her office.

 

Once inside, Ji Yu’s frosty demeanor vanished. On the sofa were a blanket and pillow, along with snacks, sweets, and drinks—all prepared for Leng Ying.

 

Anything else could be fetched by her assistant.

 

And just like that, Leng Ying accompanied Ji Yu at work for four whole days.

 

On the fourth day, after work, the two took the elevator to the parking garage. Leng Ying came up with the perfect phrase: “I feel like I’m soaked in office-ness.”

 

“What’s ‘office-ness’ smell like?” Ji Yu hadn’t started the car yet. She leaned in to sniff and said, “Smells good to me.”

 

Leng Ying: “It’s a metaphor.”

 

“Oh…” Ji Yu looked thoughtful. She drove out of the garage. “The fridge at home is empty. Let’s hit the store.”

 

Leng Ying opened her phone—it had today’s grocery list. She read each item aloud so they could update it together.

 

Since Ji Yu worked late, they’d perfectly missed rush hour.

 

But Leng Ying, checking the rearview mirror, frowned and stayed silent.

 

Ji Yu parked and handed her a mask, putting one on herself too—after being on a reality show, both stars of Yingying Has More Than Enough were now recognizable.

 

Crossing off items on a checklist made shopping quick and efficient. They went straight to what they needed, no meandering, no price comparisons. In and out.

 

While queueing at the register, Leng Ying finally confirmed her suspicion. “We’re being followed,” she told Ji Yu.

 

Ji Yu’s hand shook as she scanned the last item. She tensed up instantly—she looked even more nervous than Leng Ying.

 

Leng Ying watched her and suddenly felt completely at ease.

 

When someone else is more worried about you than you are for yourself—that in itself is deeply reassuring. She patted Ji Yu’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Let’s go about our business.”

 

The world had changed. The crazed paparazzi from years past were rare now. Even if they existed, she was a capable adult now—not the same girl she once was.

 

In that moment—seeing Ji Yu anxious for her—

 

Leng Ying finally, completely, let go of the past.

 

She had someone now. Someone who worried, who cared, and who could shield her—but more importantly, she had grown enough to protect others too.

 

The terrifying machine guns from her past?

 

Nothing more than background noise now.

 

In a strange, sudden, yet inevitable moment—Leng Ying made peace with and said goodbye to her past self.

 

As she held Ji Yu’s hand and left the store for the parking lot, she even joked, “I used to be so stupid.”

 

“Don’t say that about yourself,” Ji Yu said firmly for once. “We met, didn’t we?”

 

“…True,” Leng Ying smiled. “Two parallel lines crossed paths.”

 

Ji Yu paused, then replied, “I hope the crossing lasts longer.”

 

Leng Ying looked at her.

 

Ji Yu looked back, unflinching.

 

Leng Ying said nothing.

 

Ji Yu nudged her along. They got in the car, the tinted windows shielding them from prying eyes.

 

“They’re probably still out there,” Ji Yu muttered. “When we get back to your place, it’ll be our official love nest.”

 

Leng Ying chuckled. “We weren’t trying to hide.”

 

Ji Yu gasped. “But I didn’t want to ruin your reputation.”

 

The moment she said it, Ji Yu regretted it.

 

She shouldn’t have said that.

 

But Leng Ying didn’t seem to notice. She patiently explained, “I told you—I don’t plan to get married.”

 

People of the ordinary world… are not worth talking about.

 

Ji Yu stammered a few filler sounds—“mm,” “ah”—but failed to say anything coherent.

 

The air in the car grew subtly strange.

 

…Then the ringtone mercifully rang.

 

It was Leng Ying’s phone.

 

She answered, her expression unreadable. After hanging up, she told Ji Yu, “The power’s out at home.”

 

Ji Yu: “Huh?”

 

“It’ll take time to fix. And there are reporters camped outside the complex. Sister Qun told us to stay somewhere else.”

 

Just as Leng Ying was about to book a hotel, Ji Yu quickly said, “Stay at my place.”