Putting together Shang Jianli’s recent, almost unhinged behavior, the Imperial delegates silently arrived at the same conclusion.
The Ji family’s third child and the general’s former spouse were the same person.
When Ji Shileng’s cool eyes swept lightly over them, their hearts tightened.
Yet he seemed like an entirely different person.
Half a step behind, Chu Wan watched Shang Jianli with concern.
As she searched her mind for a solution, she realized just how impossible the situation was.
Ji Shileng’s status meant he had no reason to fear forceful measures from Shang Jianli.
After all, if the Empire’s Shang family confronted the Federation’s Ji family head-on, they might well come away severely battered.
How could Shang Jianli use his power to force him?
He simply could not.
As for a gentler approach, Ji Shileng’s heart had turned impossibly cold. He treated Shang Jianli as though he were thin air.
Shang Jianli paid no attention to the tangled thoughts of those behind him. After leading his delegation to their seats, he forced his personal troubles to the very bottom of his mind.
Right now, he was an Imperial general and chairman of the interstellar military competition’s organizing committee.
He had to deal with the work first. Only then could he use his own time to miss Ji Shileng.
Seeing the familiar workaholic return, Chu Wan finally breathed a little easier.
This was the general she knew. Compared with his career, romantic entanglements were hardly worth mentioning.
Ji Shileng paid no attention to the room. He was absorbed in discussing game content with the technical consultant and did not spare the Imperial seats opposite them a single glance.
Ji Shifeng, however, looked over at Shang Jianli while turning a page. His radar for a fellow workaholic immediately went off.
It seemed that after his brother’s scolding at noon, Shang Jianli had temporarily set aside his obsession with him.
As far as Ji Shifeng was concerned, Shang Jianli and his own carefree youngest brother belonged to completely different worlds.
When Ji Shileng had first succeeded in winning Shang Jianli over, he had found it unbelievable for a long time.
By rights, someone raised from childhood with an aristocratic elite education should have had little interest in romance.
More absurdly still, their father, Ji Jie, had fabricated an identity for Ji Shileng as an orphan from the slums, intending to make him experience hardship.
Yet against all expectations, Shang Jianli had actually accepted Ji Shileng’s confession.
Later, Ji Shifeng had thought it over. His brother’s face really was exceptional. Even without affection, even with mismatched backgrounds and family circumstances, perhaps that face alone had made rejection difficult.
After all, it was only a casual relationship. If marriage was not involved, what did it matter whom one dated?
Only after Ji Shileng graduated from university did the Ji family finally learn that he had married.
By then, it was too late to stop him. Ji Shileng had waited until they had registered their marriage and everything was settled before telling his family.
Their mother, Wen Qin, had scolded their father, Ji Jie, for nearly half a month. She blamed him for making Ji Shileng’s false identity so flawless that they had not even received timely news of something as important as his marriage.
Looking back down at his documents, Ji Shifeng gave a quiet snort, the contempt in his eyes lingering.
The Shang family was hardly worth the Ji family’s attention.
Shang Jianli would do well to extinguish his feelings for Ji Shileng before the Ji family stepped in.
He had done wrong and now wanted to come back.
The Ji family was not that forgiving.
The technical consultant happened to look up and catch sight of the Empire’s placard opposite them.
He and Ji Shileng had been friends for years. They might not be as close as Ji Shileng and Su Ke, but they were still very good friends.
With that in mind, he decided to ask outright.
Nudging Ji Shileng with his elbow, he whispered, “Boss, honestly, how did a rigid workaholic like that ever catch your eye?”
Ji Shileng lazily glanced around the room, his expression barely changing.
“How should I put it…”
His voice was light, as though he were reminiscing—or perhaps struggling to find the right description.
In the end, he smiled, uncapped his pen, and wrote a word on the blank paper.
“Complementary.”
“You mean you and Shang Jianli complemented each other?”
The consultant drew out the question in disbelief.
He had never seen any evidence of that.
He had already been twenty-eight when Ji Shileng took over Joker Studio. His memory was perfectly good.
“I suppose”
In truth, Ji Shileng was not certain of the answer himself.
There were far too many questions in the world that had no definite answers.
The consultant stole another look at Shang Jianli, then shook his head.
“Don’t give me ‘I suppose.’ You didn’t complement each other at all”
Complementing each other required mutual understanding and compromise. But between Ji Shileng and Shang Jianli, it had always been the former giving in unconditionally to the latter.
That was not compatibility. That was being blinded by love.
“I just remembered a line that’s really popular on the star network”
“Hmm? Which one?”
“You were never heading the same way. You just wanted so badly to walk beside him”
Ji Shileng’s hand paused. He gave a low chuckle, still finding time to tease the consultant.
“Studying literature lately? I’m impressed you remembered it so clearly”
The consultant rolled his eyes at his boss. The melancholy mood he had created vanished without a trace.
“Working on code every day is torture. I need a little literature and art to balance things out”
He touched the top of his head, sounding rather proud.
“That’s the secret to why I still have this much hair”
Ji Shileng laughed so hard his side nearly hurt. Shang Jianli was completely forgotten.
His eyes were exceptionally clear. Beneath the warm ceiling lights, their faint golden tint resembled amber—translucent, relaxed, and gentle, the color of sunrise.
From a distance, that strange sense of endless depth only expanded, filling the viewer’s vision as though it could draw them in entirely.
Like a painting, he attracted everyone’s gaze without their realizing it. Shang Jianli was no exception.
The slender, fair hand resting on the consultant’s shoulder—
He had once held that hand.
Wave after wave of sour emotion rose inside Shang Jianli, steadily eating away at his heart.
Qin Si had not even left the picture, and now there was a technical consultant too.
Jealousy made him lower his eyes.
If he kept watching, he would not be able to bear it.
Qin Si’s arrival prompted most people to draw their attention away from Ji Shileng.
The reporters were the exception.
After all, their job was to capture hot topics, create headlines, and generate traffic, was it not?
Taking a few more flattering photographs of Ji Shileng and sharing in Third Young Master Ji’s popularity was hardly a bad choice.
People gathered around Qin Si and Shang Jianli, discussing something in a cordial atmosphere.
As the new partner for this year’s interstellar military competition, Ji Shileng was unlike previous partners, who had eagerly socialized and mingled with guests from every nation.
To him, there was simply no need.
Still, when representing the Ji family abroad—especially at an interstellar gathering like this—they could hardly leave people with the impression that they were arrogant and dismissive.
The burden of socializing fell to Ji Shifeng.
And the people approaching him under the pretext of discussing military weapons were all, in fact, hoping to play matchmaker.
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