Mad Dog

Chapter 89: Brother — In the face of beauty, a bad temper is nothing.

When Zhi Qi finally got the location of Zhi Yu’s blind date, it was after much coaxing and pleading.

During this time, Ji Liang kept her head down, eating her dessert elegantly and gracefully, her expression calm and unreadable.

“Uh, Sister Ji Liang.”

Zhi Qi, holding her phone, muttered awkwardly, “My brother, my brother he…”

“I heard it all, it’s a blind date, right? It’s fine.”

Ji Liang smiled and shrugged helplessly. “It seems like there’s no fate between us.”

“Don’t say that.”

Zhi Qi’s eyebrows twitched as she quickly tried to explain, “My brother went to the blind date reluctantly. He… he’s just doing it to appease my mom.”

By the end, the girl couldn’t help but feel a bit sad.

Now it seemed the ‘cooked duck’ had flown away.*

“No matter what, I can’t just disturb him during a blind date, can I? What I meant was, the plan to meet him today fell through.”

Ji Liang reached out and pinched Zhi Qi’s delicate, soft cheek.

“As for the future, well, we’ll see.”

It truly was bad timing, as Ji Liang was set to join a new production in two days and would be away for a while.

She had originally thought of meeting Zhi Yu before leaving, but who could have known…

Oh well, fate has its way.

Ji Liang shook her head, pushing away any thoughts of regret.

In reality, even if she had gone, nothing would likely have come of it.

When she added Zhi Yu on WeChat, she had clearly written her name in the notes, but he had completely ignored it. Wasn’t that a clear rejection?

They were both almost thirty. There were certain ‘unspoken rules’ that adults should understand.

This was just a man’s way of showing he wasn’t interested in a woman.

Ji Liang understood and knew she should take the hint.

But, so what? What are men anyway?

Miss one, and the next will be even better.

–

Working behind the scenes with the production crew is generally the hardest. Almost every actor needs guidance at some point, but not all their scenes are scheduled together, with shoots happening in the early mornings or late at night.

As a result, the crew usually stays on set from morning till night, and Ji Liang was no exception.

Under the high-intensity workload, time passed in a blur, with her mind constantly in a state of tense focus.

In this situation, Ji Liang certainly had no time to think about romantic matters, and forgetting about Zhi Yu happened naturally.

What she didn’t expect was that the person she should have forgotten actually sought her out after half a month.

One day, while Ji Liang was on set helping a young actor adjust their hand movements, she heard a staff member say, “A gentleman surnamed Zhi is waiting outside, saying he’s here to see you.” She almost thought she had misheard.

It was already late autumn, and the secluded set was starting to feel chilly.

Wrapped in a long, thin coat, Ji Liang walked out of the tent. Only when she saw the tall figure leaning against a BMW did she realize she hadn’t heard wrong.

Zhi Yu had indeed come to find her.

What Ji Liang couldn’t understand was why Zhi Yu was looking for her—he hadn’t even added her on WeChat, and yet here he was. What kind of logic was this?

As these thoughts swirled in her mind, Ji Liang walked over, her face calm, revealing just the right amount of surprise. “Mr. Zhi, you’re looking for me?”

“Mm.”

Zhi Yu responded faintly and, seeing her outfit, turned to open the car door. “Get in the car first.”

Once they were inside, he handed her a bottle of mineral water and offered a brief explanation, “There’s only water in the car.”

“Oh, that’s fine.”

Ji Liang politely took the bottle, twisted off the cap, and took a sip.

An inexplicable, faint awkwardness lingered in the cramped car.

Compared to their first sharp-tongued meeting, this was their third encounter, yet now they were being overly polite.

Ji Liang couldn’t help but find it amusing. She leaned her head against the window, staring forward, but the corners of her lips curved up slightly.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy lately, so I didn’t accept your WeChat request…”

Zhi Yu’s voice paused as he glanced sideways at her.

In the dim light of the car, the woman’s pale profile seemed to glow—sharp yet delicate, her skin smooth as jade. Sensing Zhi Yu’s gaze, Ji Liang tilted her head in confusion and looked over at him.

After a moment of thought, he continued, “Later, I met with Qi Qi, and then I came to find you.”

As for why he came and what Zhi Qi said to prompt him, the answer was obvious.

That girl clearly wanted to play matchmaker between him and her friend.

Ji Liang’s slender fingers subconsciously tapped the handle below the car window, and she chuckled softly. “So, you came to find me because you want to date me? How did your blind date go?”

She didn’t expect her question to be so blunt, and even Zhi Yu, who was used to being straightforward and hated pretense, was momentarily taken aback.

“Not really,” he replied honestly. “I just thought it was necessary to explain things to you in person.”

“Mm?”

Ji Liang raised an eyebrow. “Why? Silence is a form of rejection.”

“No, that would be impolite.”

It would’ve been fine if he had simply not added Ji Liang on WeChat, but since Zhi Qi knew about it, it was clear the girl hadn’t hidden her feelings for him. Being too aloof would inevitably hurt someone.

Besides, Ji Liang was Zhi Qi’s friend. When Zhi Yu learned that Ji Liang was interested in him, he reflected on the WeChat request she had sent and realized that his cold attitude might have been excessive.

“So, you came here to reject me in person? To make it more formal?”

That was unnecessary!

Once Ji Liang understood what Zhi Yu meant, only four words remained in her mind, along with a sense of amusement—she knew Zhi Yu’s temperament was odd, but she hadn’t expected it to be *this* odd!

“Anyway, I just wanted to explain that I didn’t intentionally ignore you.”

He stopped short, as if that summed everything up—these past two weeks had truly been too busy, with work piling up. Plus, he’d only just spoken to Zhi Qi… Zhi Yu ended his explanation without further elaboration.

“Mr. Zhi, thank you for the explanation, but there’s no need to dwell on it.”

Ji Liang reached out and lightly patted Zhi Yu’s shoulder, pretending to be relaxed. “I’ve already forgotten about it.”

Although she smiled, there was no real joy in her eyes—unless you saw a ghost, who could genuinely be happy in such a situation?

But Ji Liang had always been strong-willed and knew how to maintain her dignity in awkward situations.

Even so, a few sharp glances crept into her gaze—enough that even someone as clueless as Zhi Yu could sense it. He hesitated before asking, “Are you angry?”

What business is that of yours?

That sharp retort swirled around Ji Liang’s tongue before she swallowed it back down. After a moment of silence, she merely said, “You haven’t answered the second half of my question.”

About how the blind date went.

Zhi Yu paused, his long fingers absently stroking the steering wheel. “I just went through the motions. There’s no follow-up.”

Tsk, no surprise there.

Ji Liang couldn’t help recalling Zhi Qi’s previous grumble: “My brother’s temperament might just doom him to be alone forever.” She found herself blurting out, “So, are you planning to die alone?”

Her words came out of nowhere, packed with unexpected force, enough that Zhi Yu even asked, “What?”

“Die alone.”

Ji Liang glanced at him with a confident smirk. “You’re not interested in me, your blind date didn’t work out… are you waiting for a fairy?”

…

In fact, Mei Ran had made similar remarks before, but hearing them from this woman—whom Zhi Yu barely knew—delivered with such a sharp, mocking tone, felt strangely different.

Zhi Yu couldn’t resist snapping back, saying the very thing Ji Liang had bitten back moments ago: “What does that have to do with you?”

“Nothing at all.”

Seeing Zhi Yu get irritated made Ji Liang laugh. “I was just curious.”

Now she wasn’t curious anymore.

The woman shrugged and decisively stepped out of the car.

But as she walked away, her mocking smile and carefree demeanor stirred something in Zhi Yu, prompting him to impulsively get out of the car and stop her. “Wait.”

Ji Liang raised an eyebrow, taking a cautious step back. “What now?”

“You said before that you were interested in me…”

Zhi Yu felt like he might be losing his mind, but those mocking, bright fox-like eyes of hers had stirred up a challenge within him.

Without pausing to consider whether he might regret this later, Zhi Yu looked at her and firmly asked, “Does that still count?”

Ji Liang blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I suddenly feel the same.”

Zhi Yu stated plainly, a rare trace of a smile ghosting his lips. “Maybe we should give it a try.”

…

It was the first time Ji Liang had ever seen him smile, and for a moment, she was completely stunned.

Could it be that men are just naturally drawn to a challenge?

Given that they were now two people mutually interested in each other, there was almost no reason to refuse.

Ji Liang and Zhi Yu’s relationship seemed odd yet perfectly logical. But even after she finished filming with the crew and returned to Lin Lan a month later, she still didn’t quite feel like she had a boyfriend.

It sounded cruel, but she had practically forgotten about Zhi Yu.

It wasn’t until the man, who had been just as stoic, sent her a text asking her out to dinner that Ji Liang finally remembered she had a boyfriend.

“Damn, I totally forgot.”

Ji Liang slapped her forehead, hurriedly turned down her best friend’s dinner invite, and replied to Zhi Yu with a simple “Okay.”

After all, he was her *nominal* boyfriend. Ji Liang thought of Zhi Yu’s handsome, model-like face, long legs, and broad shoulders, and convinced herself she had to go to this dinner.

In the face of good looks, who cares about a bad temper?

Ji Liang’s life motto was to enjoy the moment.

She couldn’t deny that half of her initial attraction to Zhi Yu stemmed from how he cared for his sister, stirring something in her heart. The other half… was definitely because of his looks. Every suggestion of a relationship without prior understanding comes from being attracted to someone’s appearance.

The agreed time was six o’clock, but as with all girls getting ready, Ji Liang didn’t finish dressing until the very last minute.

By 5:58, Zhi Yu was already downstairs waiting at the location Ji Liang had sent. Only then did she finish her so-called ‘barely-there makeup’ and step out of the elevator, her layered vintage-style dress trailing behind her.

—

“Cooked duck flying away” is a metaphorical expression meaning to lose something or miss an opportunity just as it seems within reach.