The Film Empress is My Old Lover - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Past

Summer, 2017, Jianghai City.

The car gradually slowed. In the distance, one could see a corner of the Second High School’s entrance. A sign ahead indicated the car was passing a school and to slow down.

Jiang Yi took the opportunity to roll down her window and look outside.

“Quick, close the window. Don’t let anyone see you.” Beside her, Ji Yujie reached over and pressed the window button.

Jiang Yi pursed her lips and leaned her back against the seat again, her gaze still fixed on the window.

Ji Yujie leaned forward to look at the front seat. “Why is traffic so bad?” she said, then looked at her watch.

The driver said, “Maybe the students are having tutoring. They might have just finished school.”

Ji Yujie frowned. “Doesn’t Second High not have tutoring?”

Although it was called Second High School, it was actually an international academy with expensive tuition and a rich variety of extracurricular activities. The biggest difference between it and other schools was that it had frequent holidays and no tutoring.

Jiang Yi stared out the window.

Ji Yujie ruffled Jiang Yi’s head and said, “Yi Yi, when you see the teacher later, remember to be a little sweeter, okay?”

Jiang Yi’s head was pushed down slightly by the ruffling. She smiled and smoothed her hair, which her mother had messed up. She had a very beautiful head of hair.

It was black and silky like satin, held in place at the back of her head with a white hairpin, revealing a soft hairline and a full forehead.

Ji Yujie pinched Jiang Yi’s cheek. “So good.”

“Mom,” Jiang Yi said with a helpless smile, batting away Ji Yujie’s hand.

The car moved very slowly. After a brief conversation, Ji Yujie received a call asking about her schedule.

She had an event that night and couldn’t not attend.

Ji Yujie cleared her throat and said softly to the phone, “I’m with Yi Yi.”

The person on the other end said, “Can you make it over? The brand has already arrived. You still need to do your hair and makeup and change clothes. What time is it now, Yujie!—She’s a big girl now. Do you still need to take time off work to accompany her? You need to hurry. The styling will take several hours…”

“Tch.” Ji Yujie wanted to say something.

Jiang Yi said, “Mom, you can go. I’ll go find the teacher myself.”

Ji Yujie hadn’t said anything yet, but the voice on the other end of the phone spoke loudly. “Oh, Yi Yi, you’re there? Happy Birthday! Auntie almost forgot. You’re seventeen this year, right?”

Ji Yujie said in a huff, “It’s sixteen!”

Jiang Yi smiled and replied, “I’m eighteen, Auntie Chen.”

The other end of the phone went quiet for a moment. Ji Yujie, in the corner of her eye, also froze.

The driver glanced awkwardly at Jiang Yi in the rearview mirror, feeling a pang of pity for the child.

Jiang Yi seemed oblivious. “You should go, Mom.”

Half a minute later, the door of the Maybach, which was stuck in traffic, was opened. Jiang Yi, in a white dress, got out. She carefully shut the door and then waved to the inside through the one-finger-wide gap of the lowered window.

Jiang Yi’s eyes curved as she said, “I’m leaving, Mom.”

The girl’s white pleated skirt was swallowed by the crowd. Ji Yujie signaled the driver to make a U-turn and asked worriedly, “Yi Yi won’t blame me, right?”

The driver comforted her, “Madam is busy with work. Yi Yi will understand.”

“Mm,” Ji Yujie nodded. Thinking back to Jiang Yi’s smile as she left, she felt much more at ease. Then, she noticed the gift Jiang Yi had left on the seat and complained softly, “This child, so forgetful.”

Her phone vibrated. Jiang Yi walked through the crowded intersection. She tightened the strap of her backpack on her shoulder, took out her phone, and answered the call.

Seeing the caller ID, Jiang Yi’s lips curved slightly. “Mom? You’re not leaving…”

Ji Yujie’s voice came through the phone. “You forgot the gift, Yi Yi.”

—You’re not leaving?

Jiang Yi swallowed the words. Her lips softened. “I’ll just buy a new one, Mom. I’m crossing the street now. I’ll call you back later.”

“Okay—”

Beep beep beep.

Jiang Yi hung up and walked onto a long bridge. Right outside the Second High School was a long bridge, nearly a hundred meters long, connecting the south and north parts of the city.

The sun was hot and glaring, making the pedestrians’ eyes feel empty. They couldn’t help but stare at the person who was even whiter than the sunlight.

Jiang Yi stopped. She took a handkerchief from her bag and wiped the sweaty back of her neck. At the end of the bridge, there were many vendors selling things to passersby and students on their way home for vacation.

It was an inevitable connection point between the two ends. She squinted, watching a few people buy fruit from the side of the road and leave.

There was a fruit stand there.

Right outside the school gate.

Mei Shi finished taking the money, tugged at the collar of her shirt, and scurried back under the sun umbrella.

The umbrella wasn’t big. Most of it covered the fruit stand, leaving only a narrow patch of shade for Mei Shi to rest in.

“It’s so hot,” Mei Shi grumbled. She lay on the lounge chair and continued reading the book she hadn’t finished. There was a glass bowl next to her, filled with plump, juicy grapes that had been washed.

Each one was dotted with water droplets, refracting vibrant colors on their smooth skin.

It was close to noon. After the students left, the area quickly returned to the high-temperature summer heat, with only the sound of cicadas. No customers came for a long time.

Mei Shi was half-lying down, her eyes fixed on the book. Her other hand reached into the bowl, picking up a grape from time to time.

A meter away, an electric fan was clanking, sending a gentle breeze that ruffled the stray hairs on her neck.

“Hello, are these grapes good?”

Mei Shi got up, her head still down. The book seemed to be so interesting that her gaze was like a thread connected to it, slowly stretching, lagging behind her movements. It finally, reluctantly, moved away from the page.

She looked at Jiang Yi.

For a moment, she couldn’t tell if it was the summer wind or her heart fluttering.

In short… her heart, like the annoying weather, was filled with a heat that the whooshing sound of the fan couldn’t blow away.

That invisible thread snapped.

Suddenly, Mei Shi’s foot landed on the edge of the stone step. Her body swayed, and the book in her hand fell. The fruit bowl next to her toppled over, and the bright, plump grapes rolled all over the ground.

Jiang Yi was startled. She quickly walked down the curb. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Mei Shi said loudly. She stood firm and saw that Jiang Yi was helping her pick up the book from the ground.

“Give me my book back!” Mei Shi said without thinking, snatching the book from Jiang Yi. She pressed it hard against her chest.

Mei Shi’s sudden action startled Jiang Yi.

Mei Shi’s face was flushed. She explained, “Th-This is material for a perfect-score essay!”

Jiang Yi paused for two seconds, then her long eyelashes blinked, and she curved her lips into a smile. “I know. It’s wrapped in a book cover.”

Mei Shi: “…”

Mei Shi put the book back on the chair, pressed the cover flat, cleared her throat, and asked, “What do you want to buy?”

“Are the grapes good?” Jiang Yi stood in front of the fruit stand, repeating her question from earlier.

Mei Shi: “…”

Only then did Mei Shi notice that her grapes had spilled all over the ground and the glass bowl had shattered.

Jiang Yi bought a few pounds of grapes. Mei Shi was cleaning up the ground. Under the hot sun, she accidentally crushed two grapes. The pulp squeezed out of the skin and got covered in dust.

She swept them into the dustpan along with the broken glass. The sharp edges inevitably cut the grapes.

The glass was beautiful too, dazzling and eye-catching in the sun.

Mei Shi’s thoughts were a mess. She shook the dustpan, and the glass made a crisp sound as it clinked together.

Even the sound was nice.

She sat back down on the rattan chair, picked up her book again, shook it, and found the page she was just on. For some reason, she couldn’t get into it for a long time.

Mei Shi covered her face with the book, thinking back to what just happened. A blush spread to the tips of her ears. She suddenly sat up, ran into the room, and pulled a cardboard box from under her bed. She stuffed the book into it without a second thought.

After thinking for a moment, she pulled a real perfect-score essay book from a pile of dusty books, took it back to the fruit stand, and sat down to read it.

She read it for a while.

—This is so ugly, Mei Shi thought.

The customer just now was very beautiful. Elegant, pretty, and she seemed so quiet. Was she an omega?

…

In the evening, a car from the villa came to pick up Jiang Yi. She stood in front of a residential building and bowed slightly. “You don’t need to walk me out, Teacher.”

An old-looking middle-aged person walked out of the building, holding the grapes Jiang Yi had brought. She put them back in Jiang Yi’s hands. “Then I won’t walk you out. These grapes are too high in sugar. I have high bl00d sugar, so you should take them and eat them yourself.”

Jiang Yi took them, bowed deeply again, and said goodbye.

Outside the apartment complex, the driver opened the car door. Jiang Yi got in, placed the grapes she had bought to the side, and asked, “Is Dad coming back today?”

The driver shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know.

Jiang Yi hummed in response, as if talking to herself. “Anyway, Mom isn’t coming back.”

After returning to the Jiang family house, as soon as the car stopped, the housekeeper, Aunt Li, hurried to the entrance. “Yi Yi.”

“Auntie,” Jiang Yi said with a smile. She asked, “Is Dad back?”

Aunt Li: “That’s what I was going to tell you. Mr. Jiang had someone send you a cake, Yi Yi, you…”

Jiang Yi’s steps faltered. She then nodded understandingly and handed the grapes to Aunt Li, smiling. “You can share the cake with everyone.”

Aunt Li: “Yi Yi, aren’t you going to blow out the candles and make a wish?”

Jiang Yi seemed not to have heard. She quickly went into the house and upstairs. She returned to her room, took off her backpack, tossed it onto the sofa in the sitting room, and buried her face in the soft cushions.

After a while, a knock came at the door.

Jiang Yi turned her head, sat up, and tidied her clothes and hair. “Come in.”

Aunt Li walked in, carrying a tray with a bowl of washed grapes and a slice of cake. “Yi Yi, I made your favorite for dinner. Rest for a bit, then come down to eat, okay?”

Jiang Yi smiled and nodded.

The door closed with a soft click. Jiang Yi’s smile faded. She took the hairpin from her hair and placed it on the coffee table, her gaze falling on the plate of grapes.

She couldn’t help but think of Mei Shi.

She had gone to the fruit stand and looked around, finding Mei Shi. The girl was half-reclining on a rattan chair, all sweaty, concentrating on the book in her hand.

Her fingertips were wet with water from the glass bowl. Jiang Yi didn’t know what the girl was reading. She called out to the vendor twice, but the girl didn’t notice her.

Mei Shi was staring intently at the book. She slowly picked up a grape and put it in her mouth. She didn’t bite it right away. Instead, she played with it like it was a toy in her mouth.

She brushed it against her teeth and tongue, teasing it with the tip of her pink tongue, repeatedly wetting it.

What was she reading? What was she thinking? How could she have that kind of intriguing expression?

Jiang Yi called out to Mei Shi, and the girl knocked over her book and bowl. She stepped down the curb, picked up the book that had made her so curious. She got a quick glimpse before it was snatched back.

But it was definitely not some perfect-score essay material.

The girl’s lie was clumsy and forced. Jiang Yi saw right through it.

Her face was so red, so flushed. Jiang Yi didn’t know if it was from the sun. Her eyes were bright and round, like the plump purple grapes in front of her. She looked so well-behaved; she must be an omega.

Jiang Yi guessed, picking a grape from the bowl and putting it in her mouth. She imitated Mei Shi’s movement, moving the whole grape from left to right in her small mouth—she only felt her mouth was too full.

She accidentally bit through it.

The first taste was bitter. The second taste, as her lips, tongue, and teeth squeezed the fruit, was a full sweetness. The third taste, near the pit, was sour.

The sourness stimulated the back of her tongue, causing her to salivate. Jiang Yi reached up and pressed the back of her neck. She swallowed hard.

She had just bitten into it twice and swallowed it whole, skin and all.