After coming back to life, Ji Shileng gradually discovered that silence was better for everyone. Simple social interactions were enough. Sometimes, being quietly alone was good too.
There was no one beside him, but no one was missing either.
He no longer possessed the warmth and sincerity of his younger days. He had given his heart away, only to receive it back in pieces.
Only after painstakingly fitting it together again had he realized how elusive and insubstantial love could be.
Ji Shileng wanted Qin Si to recognize the difficulty and retreat.
Qin Si did not interrupt. After a long while, he said, “Sometimes, different ways of thinking can offer different experiences, if we find common ground while respecting our differences”
“Mr. Qin, I’m no match for your games”
Ji Shileng thought they were both intelligent people. They might as well speak plainly.
“This morning at the conference, you kept me onstage so Shang Jianli would see, didn’t you?”
By convention, selecting the host nation should never have fallen to him. He was merely a minor new partner, after all.
There was something Ji Shileng did not quite understand.
“If you’d already guessed the truth, why use me to test Shang Jianli?”
From the moment they saw him, most people in the influential circles of the interstellar nations had suspected that the Ji family’s third child was the general’s “former spouse.”
During Qin Si’s probing in the garden the previous evening, Ji Shileng had sensed that he already knew his suspicions were correct. Yet he had insisted on testing them again.
It was rather laughable.
Confronted so bluntly by the person involved, Qin Si did not defend himself.
“I’m sorry. I just…”
Ji Shileng did not look at him, narrowing his eyes slightly as he watched the sunset.
Just what?
“I just lost my head”
Qin Si took a while to find a suitable description.
After all, Shang Jianli could be considered Ji Shileng’s once-idealized love.
It was a thoroughly uninteresting answer. Fortunately, Ji Shileng did not pursue it.
He did not care whether the answer was true.
A lie or an honest confession—it made no difference.
Either was fine.
It had nothing to do with him. He did not care.
“Mm”
A few minutes later, Ji Shileng felt that a single acknowledgment might have been too dismissive, and hurried to add, “It’s all right”
Qin Si watched him, searching that indifferent, uninterested face for anger, confusion, or any other emotion.
Unfortunately, there was nothing.
The sun disappeared behind the tall buildings, its remaining light swallowed by dark gray shadows. Ji Shileng pushed himself off the ledge and stood.
Brushing off his trousers, he lifted his face and offered Qin Si a courteous smile.
“I’ll be going, Mr. Qin. As for the meal we mentioned earlier, unfortunately, I won’t have an opportunity anytime soon”
Qin Si frowned slightly, trying to salvage the situation.
“I can adjust my schedule to yours”
“No need. That sounds like too much trouble for you”
To avoid further discussion, Ji Shileng added, “If you ever come to the Federation on business, feel free to message me. I’ll be happy to host a dinner for you”
Before Qin Si could respond, Ji Shileng waved and walked into the darkness.
He could not wait for his brother any longer. He intended to escape first.
Aboard the starship returning to the Federation, Ji Shileng seemed utterly exhausted.
Not long after sitting down, he fell asleep against the arm of the sofa.
Several hours later, he finally stirred awake, his eyes still heavy with sleep.
Ji Shifeng sat on the opposite sofa, an open book resting across his knees. He turned the pages one by one, occasionally exchanging a few words with the technical consultant.
On the floor nearby, Su Ke clutched his phone, practically jumping around as he was beaten in the arena.
In that gentle atmosphere, much of the exhaustion of dealing with Shang Jianli and Qin Si instantly melted away.
“Awake?”
Sensing his gaze, Ji Shifeng asked casually.
Ji Shileng shifted to lie on his stomach and nodded vaguely several times.
Ji Shifeng’s expression remained unchanged. His question sounded as ordinary as any other.
“What did you and Qin Si talk about afterward?”
Su Ke and the technical consultant immediately pricked up their ears.
Having just woken, Ji Shileng was still a little slow.
He rubbed his temples and answered honestly, “Nothing much, really?”
Shaking his hair out, he added, “Just that people whose values and outlooks don’t align probably shouldn’t be together”
Ji Shifeng turned a page and gave two quiet laughs, his sarcasm unmistakable.
“And yet you stayed with that Shang fellow for so long”
Looking back now at everything that had happened, Ji Shileng himself found it extraordinary.
“That’s why I won’t make the same mistake again”
Fundamentally, Qin Si and Shang Jianli were the same kind of person.
Qin Si merely wore a gentle exterior. Inside, he was still cold.
Shang Jianli needed no explanation. He was cold inside and out.
Though during their recent encounters, he had inexplicably “lost his mind” and become remarkably attentive.
Su Ke let out a breath and swiftly swiped away the game screen displaying a large “Defeat.”
“Good. Qin Si looks like a schemer too”
Ji Shileng glanced at his phone screen with undisguised disdain.
“You played two matches and lost both. I imagine everyone looks like a schemer to you”
He really could not understand it. It was their own game, and Su Ke was a paying player.
How did he manage to lose every single arena match?
Putting away his phone, Su Ke protested stubbornly.
“It’s all that opponent’s username! Something like JianliShiFangLeng”
“The username threw me off! You can’t blame my skills for being terrible”
Ji Shileng and the technical consultant fell silent.
Ji Shifeng spoke first, his tone airy.
“What goes on in that little head of yours all day? It’s just a username. If you were good enough, how could it affect you?”
Su Ke was indignant but dared not argue. He really was bad at the game.
Ji Shileng gave it little thought, assuming the username was probably a coincidence.
“Shang Jianli doesn’t play games. Don’t worry”
In his memory, Shang Jianli had been an outstanding student in every respect—apart from letting Ji Shileng lure him into dating before adulthood.
He had never seen Shang Jianli play a game, let alone choose a username like that.
Su Ke belatedly realized, “That’s true. Besides, I’m in the Dugu bracket now. The other player must have decent equipment. He’s so busy being a general, he probably doesn’t have time to play”
In Path to Stardom, assembling a character’s equipment was not something that could be done overnight.
Even paying players had to invest time and effort.
“Exactly”
Ji Shileng seized on a different point.
“When did you sneak into Dugu without telling me?”
Path to Stardom’s arena mode had ten ranks, from Bronze at the bottom to Peerless at the top.
With Su Ke’s abysmal technique, even reaching the eighth rank, Unrivaled, would have required extraordinary luck and opponents even worse than he was.
Su Ke stammered, unwilling to elaborate.
Reclining on the sofa with his book, Ji Shifeng’s lips quietly curved.
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