['Have you ever loved her?']
The two of them faced each other in silence. Many times, Ni Bingyan had wanted to ask this question on behalf of the original owner.
But in the end, she didn't say a word.
After all, in anyone else's eyes, she and the original owner were not two different people. If she asked this question, to Jiang Sheng, it would sound like she was pressuring him.
Pressuring him to return the same love, or even pressuring him to marry her.
As if that had been her ultimate goal for moving out in the first place.
Besides, the question was rather melodramatic. It was one thing to say such lines while filming a movie, but saying it in real life was just awkward.
"I heard you accepted two minor supporting roles?"
The unwelcome guest stubbornly refused to leave, and she couldn't afford to offend him. Ni Bingyan didn't want to engage with him, but he was staring at her without even blinking.
"Mhm."
She had no choice but to respond.
Jiang Sheng had wanted to ask if money was tight after buying the house, forcing her to take any role she could get. But just as he was about to speak, he realized it was an inappropriate question.
So he changed the subject to her work instead.
He thought, 'Knowing her personality, giving her money directly isn't a good idea. But getting her some resources should be fine, right?'
That way, she would earn the money herself, and it wouldn't hurt her pride to spend it.
He never expected that she wouldn't understand his intentions at all.
'The breakup must have been painful for her, too,' he mused.
'Even after half a month, the moment she sees me, she's so overcome with sadness that she forgets about practical matters.'
'Any shrewd woman, hearing something like this, would realize I still have lingering feelings and seize the opportunity to demand benefits, right?'
'But she's different. She has no ambition, no idea how to seize an opportunity!'
He was the one who'd been dumped, yet even he felt angry for her!
But then again, if she were like those other women who cared more about money than about him, she wouldn't have been the one to initiate the breakup. And he wouldn't be so generous, considering her well-being at every turn, worried that she might not fare well after leaving him.
He was a businessman, after all. Shrewdness had been ingrained in him since childhood. He wasn't some landlord's idiot son to be sweet-talked by women. If he wasn't willing, no one could pry a single cent from him.
'How come I never realized before how hard it is to protect someone's pride?'
Jiang Sheng sighed inwardly and spoke more plainly. "Is someone giving you a hard time? Do you want me to make a call for you?"
Given her status, she should have been long past the point of competing with minor actors for roles, unless it was to help a friend or for a resource exchange.
In the past, whenever she ran into trouble, he would take care of it for her. Sometimes he'd let her know, but most of the time he wouldn't even mention it. This was the first time he'd ever asked for her opinion.
Facing Ni Bingyan today, he didn't dare be as domineering as he used to be.
It was like holding a piece of porcelain that was about to shatter; anyone would be careful.
Their relationship was already on the verge of breaking. Deep down, he still wanted to salvage it, but he was unwilling to admit it.
Having been dumped, his good upbringing prevented him from flying into a rage or pestering her endlessly. But his male pride left him feeling unreconciled to the situation.
Ni Bingyan lowered her head, slowly finished the rest of her mint water, and then looked up at him again.
'I have to admit,' she thought, 'aside from being stingy with his emotions, this man was incredibly generous to the original owner when it came to money.'
'As a patron, he was more than qualified.'
'But all the original owner ever wanted was his love.'
'He knew that perfectly well, yet he deliberately played dumb and strung her along.'
'How many three years does a girl have in her youth?'
'From that perspective, he was an absolute scoundrel!'
Jiang Sheng was well-connected. A single word from him could get her much better resources, but she didn't want them.
Since she had already decided to make a clean break, how could she enjoy the benefits he provided?
"No, everyone's been great. Recently, I was even offered roles in two films, as the female lead and second female lead. If things go smoothly, I'll probably be filming until the Lunar New Year."
With offers for lead and second lead roles in movies, it would be a blatant lie to claim that someone was bullying her.
Even if they were just a small-budget art film and a popcorn commercial romance.
As for why she took the minor supporting roles, could she just say she was used to it?
She had climbed her way up from the bottom. To get ahead, she seized every opportunity. A brilliant supporting role like that was a great job opportunity for her.
The original owner might have seen it as scraps not even worth picking up off the floor, but she wasn't afraid of hard work or losing face.
But she couldn't say that. After all, if she mentioned anything about transmigration, people would just think she was joking.
"Then..."
Jiang Sheng was still trying to find an excuse, but Ni Bingyan couldn't stand it anymore and cut him off.
"The things you bought me before, and the house you gave me—I accepted them all, precisely because I was worried you'd feel bad. I've rented out the house for 54,000 a month, so even if I don't work, my life won't be difficult. Besides, I'm going to keep working hard."
She looked at him, her gaze firm. "So, you don't have to worry about me anymore. You've already done more than enough, you haven't wronged me in any way. You don't need to rack your brain trying to give me a severance payment."
The original owner wasn't with him for the money in the first place. It was one thing to accept what was rightfully hers, but she couldn't possibly take anything more.
'You get paid for the work you do. That's how it works everywhere.'
'Accepting rewards without merit never sits right.'
Jiang Sheng fell silent.
So it wasn't that she didn't understand his intentions. She just felt that he had already been good enough and didn't need to compensate her for anything.
Why was that so... touching?
After a breakup, your ex moves on quietly, no drama, no accusations, no fights, not even accepting a severance payment. Logically, this was the kind of thing a man should wake up laughing from a dream about, but he just felt... unhappy.
He couldn't quite put his finger on why.
'There must be something wrong with my brain,' he thought.
In the end, he didn't even know how he was seen out.
A jar of pickled ginger in his left hand, a jar of pickled cucumbers in his right, Jiang Sheng stood in front of his luxury car, feeling like he was in a dream.
'How could the world be so bizarre?'
"It's getting dark, and it's a long way from here to your home, so I won't keep you."
She stood at the door, smiling and waving goodbye. She was covered in dirt, yet showed no sign of feeling inferior. She was calm and composed, as if seeing off an old friend.
Then, without waiting for him to get far, she went back inside to direct the workers.
'Call her heartless? But she was so considerate. Call her affectionate? But she maintained a perfect distance, never crossing any lines.'
'Forget it. She's busy today. I'll come back another time.'
'There's no animosity between us. Even if we can't be lovers, we can still be friends, right?'
'As a friend, it's not too much to come see her once in a while.'
Jiang Sheng carefully put the jars away and drove off.
Hearing the car leave, Ni Bingyan felt nothing.
'I hope he never comes back.'
'A good ex should act as if they're dead. She was very self-aware about it; she just hoped Jiang Sheng wouldn't be so clueless.'
"Miss Ni, the fruit trees are all planted. Could you come and see if there's anything out of place? Also, this timed irrigation system requires an app. You'll be able to control it remotely then."
The foreman stood on the stone path, waving her over.
Ni Bingyan hurried over to take a look.
After fiddling with it for a while, she learned how to water the plants remotely. She also listened to the horticulturist explain the main care points for each type of fruit tree and accepted the technical manual he gave her before finally settling the bill and seeing them off.
Looking at her transformed yard, Ni Bingyan eagerly anticipated the day the trees would bear fruit. She casually snapped a photo and posted it on Weibo.
Unlike other young people, the original owner rarely used her phone for anything other than maintaining necessary social contacts.
She never posted on her Moments, never browsed Weibo. Her days were spent reading, practicing calligraphy, gardening, cooking, doing beauty treatments, and practicing yoga—as tedious as an old lady's life.
If her company hadn't set up an official Weibo account for her, posting her beautiful photos for occasional fan service, she probably wouldn't even have this group of "face fans."
Ni Bingyan's hobbies were quite different, but to other young people, they were just as boring.
She liked cycling, working out, reading, and watching movies. If she could steal half a day of leisure, she also liked to go fishing in wild rivers, hiding in the shade for the better part of the day.
She didn't like posting on Moments either, but she did enjoy secretly documenting her life on Weibo.
Without revealing any personal information, it was quite fun to post photos and vent a little.
In her previous life, as a busy single woman, she'd had to find ways to relieve the stress from her hectic job.
Big data is just that magical these days. Even if you only have someone's phone number, as long as you both use the same app, the system will recommend them to you.
After posting the photo, just as she was about to exit, she saw an account with her dad's face as the profile picture.
She clicked on it. Her dad was livestreaming himself pounding fish paste for fish balls. Viewers: 3.8 million.
"This tomato and fish ball soup is perfect for summer! It's sweet and sour, not greasy, delicious, and nutritious. I'm not just bragging—when my daughter eats this, she can polish off three bowls of rice!"
Ever since she integrated the original owner's memories, looking at this lean, cheerful man in his chef's coat, she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of longing well up inside her.
She always felt like she had stolen someone else's father, so she had been too embarrassed to contact him. She followed his account and was about to secretly leave a comment calling him "Dad," when she saw the livestream chat flooding with the word "Dad."
Then, her dad laughed while cooking and scolded, "I've told you all before! You ugly people aren't allowed to call me Dad! My daughter is as beautiful as a fairy!"
The chat was then flooded with "..." and comments like, "Is she? I don't believe you, not unless you let me video chat with her."
Ni Bingyan silently added her own "..." to the chat.
She hadn't been in touch for a long time, and now her own father had suddenly become a huge internet celebrity.
He had tens of millions of fans, spent his days teaching people how to cook online, making countless mouths water. He was always saying things like, "When my daughter eats this, she can polish off three bowls of rice," which made countless people want to be his daughter. And by constantly bragging that "my daughter is as beautiful as a fairy," he had a whole group of people calling him "Father-in-law."
Talk about a surprise, right?