Chà Chà Novel

In a helpful blogger’s reply, he had “excitedly” shared some wonderful news with everyone.

“Congratulations, everyone! General Shang’s mother has finally met VEKAL’s minimum purchasing requirements! Once again, let’s give her a round of congratulations!”

Working out the timing, Ji Shileng rested his cheek on one hand and could not help finding it funny.

He slowly typed a one-handed reply to the original poster.

“Has anyone considered that Mother Shang might have taken the card General Shang gave jsl?”

VEKAL’s minimum requirements included substantial spending within a short period. Ji Shileng suspected that the day after she took the supplementary card, Shang Jianli’s mother had gone to an auction to “show what she could do.”

There was little point dwelling on it. Ji Shileng shook his head and said nothing.

Shang Jianli, however, pressed his lips together and made a promise Ji Shileng no longer needed.

“I’ll investigate this properly and give you an answer”

Ji Shileng was getting tired. He could not be bothered to argue anymore.

“Do as you like”

A promise past its time should no longer be called a promise.

Perhaps he had needed it once. Unfortunately, he did not need it now.

Chu Wan studied the general’s expression, failed to make sense of it, and gave up.

Even she, the person who had dealt with Ji Shileng most often over the years, had known nothing about this.

Who would have imagined that the lady of the Shang household would go out of her way to torment her own son’s spouse?

It was laughable.

Why compete for a man’s favor here? Ji Shileng was not even a woman.

The term “female competition” referred here to women competing for the approval of patriarchal and male authority while judging and making demands of other women from that same perspective.

It was beyond absurd.

“I’ll ask my brother to transfer you the money for the shirt. Since you’re colleagues, you should have each other’s contact details”

“We’ll be colleagues too, in the future”

Ji Shileng had never realized Shang Jianli could be so stubborn.

“Calling me your colleague is giving me too much credit. Besides, I don’t want to be your colleague”

Since their reunion, Ji Shileng had become increasingly direct.

After all, he no longer had anything to hold him back. As the young master of a leading family, he should have been free to live as he pleased all along.

“We’re leaving”

This time, Ji Shileng really did leave, without even giving Shang Jianli a chance to respond.

Before following him, Su Ke shot the pair several fierce looks and drew a hand across his throat.

“Next time, stay out of our way”

Shang Jianli paid no attention to the near warning. He continued watching Ji Shileng’s retreating figure with hungry eyes.

Ji Shileng had been far too detached. Their conversation had made it clear that he no longer cared about the past.

He knew exactly which words would hurt most, and he had deliberately laid bare the unfair treatment he had suffered for Shang Jianli to see.

His indifference was genuine. But Ji Shileng had never been particularly sweet-tempered. He disliked Shang Jianli’s mother and wanted to cause her a little trouble.

Really, he was simply bored.

He was making a wager.

Shang Jianli himself had claimed to like him. If that was true, Ji Shileng might get to enjoy a free show as a rift opened between mother and son.

Still, he held out little hope.

Someone like Shang Jianli was unsuited to loving anyone—or even liking them.

He weighed costs and benefits far too carefully. He would never throw his household into turmoil for an “outsider.”

“He seems to have gone back to the way he was when he first transferred to our high school”

Shang Jianli finally looked away, staring blankly at the empty floor.

“I never knew any of this”

It was impossible to say how many times this year Shang Jianli had shown such vulnerability.

As his adjutant, and the person who had communicated with Ji Shileng most often, Chu Wan chose not to echo his words.

Long ago, when news of Shang Jianli and Ji Shileng’s relationship first spread, her improving opinion of Ji Shileng had plunged straight back down.

She had assumed he was just like all those scheming people, interested only in everything the Shang family could offer.

So she had watched their relationship with cold detachment. From dating to marriage, her negative impression of Ji Shileng had never become positive.

Even as the intermediary between them, she had never taken him particularly seriously.

Only after “Ji Shileng” died had the truths buried beneath the dust gradually come to light.

Ji Shileng had liked Shang Jianli and loved him for one simple reason: because he was Shang Jianli.

At the end of that story, it had taken Ji Shileng’s death to make Shang Jianli understand.

Now, as the Ji family’s third child, he had the resources and ability to hurt Shang Jianli, to make him experience loss, to leave him loving someone he could not have.

Looking at Shang Jianli’s cold face, Chu Wan sighed inwardly.

But now, even she did not know whether Ji Shileng would ever reconcile with him.

Perhaps he truly intended to give up this man, this relationship, and his entire past.

Shang Jianli came back to himself and swiftly composed his emotions.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing”

Chu Wan took a small notebook from her pocket.

“There’s a military competition organizing committee meeting this afternoon. We should get something to eat while we have time”

“Mm. I can see him again this afternoon”

Chu Wan fell silent.

Only the two of them remained in the spacious VIP passage.

After a while, as though she had reached a decision, she finally spoke.

“I’m sorry, General”

She paused noticeably.

“I used to judge him through my own prejudices. Often, I did nothing more than pass on a message”

Shang Jianli had once told her that if Ji Shileng asked specific questions, she should answer them. There was no need to hide anything.

But because of her bias, she had kept their conversations as brief as possible.

Sometimes, she had even responded to his questions with outright indifference.

The man in the black suit still stood with his back perfectly straight. His face was cold and pale, his eyes dark and bleak. He remained motionless for a long time, like a statue.

Then Shang Jianli suddenly replied, “It’s all right. It was my fault”

In the end, he was the one who had failed to care about Ji Shileng.

He could blame no one else.

Only after meeting his second brother, Ji Shifeng, at their agreed location did Ji Shileng fully return to himself.

Ji Shifeng knew him far too well. One look at his distracted expression had been enough to guess what had happened.

He asked Su Ke, “You ran into that Shang fellow?”

It was a question, but his tone was certain.

Su Ke scratched his curls and stole a couple of glances at Ji Shileng, afraid to speak carelessly.

Ji Shifeng could see right through him. The more he said, the more mistakes he would make. Better to pretend he had heard nothing.

“Yes. We talked briefly”

Ji Shileng answered for him.

“He gave you the shirt?”

Su Ke stared at Ji Shifeng in astonishment.

“Wait, how do you even know that?”

“All of Ji Shileng’s clothes have been custom-made lately. His name is embroidered inside the collar in silver thread”

To avoid being mistaken for some obsessive control freak, Ji Shifeng added an explanation.

“The collar on this shirt is completely plain”