When Jiang Jiang woke up the next morning, the sofa was already empty.
The blanket was folded neatly in the corner of the sofa. Ji Xu'an did not know when she had left; she had not made a single sound.
Only after getting up did Jiang Jiang notice that Ji Xu'an had left her a small note on the coffee table—
[I went out to make breakfast first, baby]
A faint smile could not help appearing at the corner of Jiang Jiang's lips.
She held the note and spaced out for a while. After coming back to herself, she had intended to throw it away. She had already walked to the trash can, yet Jiang Jiang suddenly changed her mind.
She turned around, walked to the desk, and slipped the note into a book she had been reading recently.
After washing up and coming to the living room, Ji Xu'an happened to walk out of the kitchen with breakfast in her hands. Seeing Jiang Jiang, Ji Xu'an pressed her lips into a small smile. "You're awake, wife."
That form of address made Jiang Jiang pause almost imperceptibly. Before she could respond, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from not far away.
"Ew~"
Jiang Jiang turned her head and saw Ji Heyuan sitting on the carpet beside the sofa, holding a cat teaser stick in her hand, looking at them with a complicated expression.
A few steps away from Ji Heyuan, Little Bread was sitting in place licking her paw. After seeing Jiang Jiang, she stood up and trotted over, rubbing her head repeatedly against Jiang Jiang's calf.
Jiang Jiang bent down naturally and picked Little Bread up. Seeing this, the expression on Ji Heyuan's face instantly became even more dejected.
What kind of sin had she committed!
Early in the morning, not only was she forced to eat dog food (single people ("single dogs") witnessing, and being forced to endure, public displays of affection from couples), even the kitten ignored her.
Ji Heyuan tossed the cat teaser aside, relaxed her body, and leaned her back against the edge of the sofa, striking a pose as if contemplating life.
"Little Yuan, when did you come?" Jiang Jiang gently asked while stroking Little Bread's head.
There was still military training this morning. Ji Heyuan should have been at school. If she came over at this time, something must have happened.
Sure enough, as soon as Jiang Jiang finished speaking, Ji Heyuan painfully wiped her face.
"Isn't it because of your good cousin!" Ji Heyuan turned her head and looked at Jiang Jiang resentfully. "She talks way too much. I don't know where she gets so many words from!"
Since adding each other as friends yesterday, Xie Wanwan had been constantly sending Ji Heyuan messages. If Ji Heyuan did not reply for more than ten minutes, Xie Wanwan would start acting pitiful and complaining, either openly or subtly.
"I originally didn't want to pay attention to her." When Ji Heyuan said this, her expression became somewhat subtle.
She was not interested in Xie Wanwan at all. If it were not for the fact that Xie Wanwan repeatedly mentioned Jiang Jiang, Ji Heyuan would not have responded to her.
That slight change in expression did not escape Jiang Jiang's eyes. Jiang Jiang calmly hummed in acknowledgment. "What did she say to you?"
Ji Heyuan irritably ruffled her hair. "Nothing much. I just treat it as her going crazy."
Ji Heyuan truly felt that something was mentally wrong with Xie Wanwan, because she had actually told Ji Heyuan that she suspected Jiang Jiang was not Xie Xiao herself.
When Ji Heyuan first heard this, her face had been full of question marks. If she had to describe it, it was probably the expression of an old man on the subway staring at his phone.
How could Jiang Jiang not be Xie Xiao?
Ji Heyuan had almost been amused to death by Xie Wanwan's stupidity. If Jiang Jiang were really not Xie Xiao, could her sister fail to find out?
How could Ji Xu'an allow a woman of unknown origin to become her fiancée?
Moreover, although she did not understand as thoroughly as Ji Xu'an did, Ji Heyuan had also looked at Jiang Jiang's information before. This face clearly looked exactly like Xie Xiao!
How could there be such a coincidence—two people in this world who looked exactly the same, and just happened to be encountered by them?
It could not be that Jiang Jiang deliberately underwent plastic surgery to look like Xie Xiao, right??
Besides, if Jiang Jiang was not Xie Xiao, then where had the real Xie Xiao gone?
It simply made no sense!
Thinking of this, Ji Heyuan could not help sighing. "She might really be a little mentally unstable."
She then recounted the matter as if it were a joke, adding her own analysis as she spoke, her tone extremely certain.
"Even if she wants to sow discord, she shouldn't use such an outrageous reason."
Perhaps because she trusted Jiang Jiang too much, Ji Heyuan did not carefully observe Jiang Jiang's expression. Therefore, she missed the moment when Jiang Jiang slightly furrowed her brows and exchanged a look with Ji Xu'an.
Jiang Jiang did not speak. After Ji Heyuan finished, it was Ji Xu'an who calmly picked up the conversation. "Why would she say these things to you?"
"I have no idea." Ji Heyuan shrugged.
To be honest, she felt that Jiang Jiang's cousin was rather strange.
Anyone with eyes could see that their relationship was not very good, yet she insisted on acting as though she understood Jiang Jiang very well.
No, it should not be Jiang Jiang.
After all, Xie Wanwan firmly believed that Jiang Jiang was not Xie Xiao. The one she thought she understood should be the real Xie Xiao.
"You haven't seen her for many years. Where would she have gotten her understanding of you?"
At this point, Ji Heyuan wanted to complain again.
Xie Wanwan must have read too many novels. She even said something like "body-snatching rebirth."
For various reasons, whether it was Jiang Jiang or Ji Xu'an, even including Qu Jingran, they had deliberately concealed the truth of Zheng Zhouzhou's rebirth from Ji Heyuan.
So until now, Ji Heyuan only knew that there was something rather strange about Zheng Zhouzhou. She seemed to know certain "truths."
But then again, who knew whether those words were true, or whether Zheng Zhouzhou had deliberately fabricated them to drive a wedge between them?
In any case, Ji Heyuan did not quite believe it.
Mainly because what Zheng Zhouzhou said was simply too frightening!
Whenever Ji Heyuan thought of that morning, of how Ji Xu'an had asked her with a solemn face whether she would choose to be with Jiang Jiang, she could not help shivering again.
It had to be fake!
If she really dared to have that thought, her sister and her grandmother would never spare her!
And Ji Heyuan was quite self-aware. How could Xie Jiangjiang choose her instead of choosing her sister?
Thinking of this, Ji Heyuan rubbed her arms. Afraid that Ji Xu'an would also recall this matter, she hurriedly changed the topic guiltily. "By the way, I haven't eaten breakfast yet. Sis, what did you make? It smells pretty good."
Ji Xu'an's expression remained normal. "There's no portion for you."
Ji Heyuan immediately pushed herself up and stood, speaking while walking toward the dining table. "I don't eat much. Just one biiite!"
Behind her, Jiang Jiang held the cat and turned to meet Ji Xu'an's gaze once again. Both of them saw a trace of contemplation in the other's eyes.
Jiang Jiang was still thinking about what Ji Heyuan had just said.
When she had previously met Xie Wanwan, the way the other woman looked at her did not seem as though she knew anything.
In such a short period of time, what exactly had happened that made Xie Wanwan believe she was not Xie Xiao?
At present, not many people knew about this matter.
Ji Xu'an would certainly not reveal it. Jiang Zhenyun probably would not tell others either. As for Zheng Zhouzhou, who had guessed some of the truth, she had long since been controlled…
So either someone above had deliberately leaked the matter to test her; or… Arkle, whose whereabouts were still unknown, was stirring trouble behind the scenes?
Or perhaps it was that unseen hand hidden in the shadows, causing mischief.
As Jiang Jiang thought, her gaze slowly fell upon Ji Heyuan.
Ji Heyuan suddenly felt a chill down her back. A strange, familiar sense of impending doom surged in her heart.
Damn it, who is plotting against her again?!
—
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