As soon as Ji Chaozhou walked out of the villa’s gate, he saw Cheng Liu, who seemed to have just returned from a morning run. 

He already transferred the money last night, so there was no need for the two of them to interact again.

And so, Ji Chaozhou only glanced at Cheng Liu in passing and then looked away. She also obviously understood his intent behind his action last night and responded in kind.

The two passed each other, and neither said a word.

Ji Chaozhou lowered his eyelashes and walked forward in silence.

The thick foliage of the camphor trees that lined the road cast large shadows on the ground. He walked in the shade, his steps slow, as if walking into a dark abyss.

Ji Chaozhou had only taken a half a step into the shadows when he was suddenly pulled out of it.

“Wait a minute.”

Cheng Liu—who was already a stranger to him—ran over again for some reason.

Ji Chaozhou turned around and looked at Cheng Liu in front of him. Her face was very clean, and there were no signs of sweat. The blue sportswear she was wearing was one she bought in the supermarket last night. The smell of the laundry detergent she used had also changed—it was the most ordinary lavender, also bought last night.

The only thing that remained unchanged was that Cheng Liu gave him a strong sense of invasion.

As long as she appeared in front of him, the presence of everything else around her would decrease—it made Ji Chaozhou feel uncomfortable.

He tried to free his arm but was instantly held down.

“Don’t move.” Cheng Liu frowned and directly took Ji Chaozhou’s right hand and looked down at it.

She could see that his nails were neatly trimmed, but the fingertips were all injured, and the already short nail on his ring finger was even cracked.

It was as if he had used all his strength to grab on to something.

He probably didn’t do any treatment for it, and the wound on the tip of one finger had already turned white.

Cheng Liu didn’t ask Ji Chaozhou how he injured himself and just said, “If you don’t apply medicine to your injured fingers, it would affect the efficiency of making perfume.” 

Ji Chaozhou’s eyes were cold, not wanting the other person to interfere in his own affairs. But Cheng Liu looked directly into his beautiful amber eyes that were like colored glass. 

The moment when Ji Chaozhou began pulling his hand away, she used the momentum to instead pull him to a nearby drugstore, speaking incessant words the entire time to distract him.

“Helping each other is an essential virtue between neighbors. Besides, President Ji is my friend and you are his son. I should take care of you more. You don’t need to thank me.” 

Cheng Liu, who had still been worrying and thinking about the difference in their seniority yesterday, took the initiative to attach herself to Ji Mushan’s generation today.

Cheng Liu said sternly, “Chaozhou, as an elder, I have to talk to you about this. If you ignore a small injury, it will inevitably turn into a big injury.”

She readily changed her identity and proclaimed herself Ji Chaozhou’s elder.

The drugstore was at the first corner down the road from the villa. They were near the intersection in the first place and within a few words spouted by Cheng Liu, they had already arrived.

“We are buying medicine for his injured fingers.” Cheng Liu took Ji Chaozhou’s hand and showed it to the pharmacist.

It was still quite early in the morning, and the pharmacist had just gone to work. He was still drowsy at first, but when he saw the faces of the two people who had come into the drugstore in a hurry, he suddenly woke up.

The pharmacist looked down at Ji Chaozhou’s fingers and suddenly let out a pained sound, “Hss! How did it happen like this?”

The pharmacist quickly turned around and brought out iodine, gauze, and anti-infection medicine. “Apply some medicine to your boyfriend first, and then bandage it after a while.”

Cheng Liu nodded quickly, “Okay.”

Ji Chaozhou had never seen anyone with audacity like Cheng Liu. He closed his eyes and reminded her, “You have a fiancé.”

He was unwilling to explore why this person, who seemed to be preparing a wedding room, for reasons he didn’t understand, was still close to him.

Cheng Liu was applying medicine to Ji Chaozhou’s fingertips when she heard the words and was very surprised. “Who? Me?”

Almost out of survival instinct, she immediately raised her head and explained to him, “Wang Hongyang and I broke up the day before yesterday, and now I am a perfectly single girl!” 

The pharmacist was still standing next to them. He turned into an invisible man and silently listened to the big gossip.

Ji Chaozhou met Cheng Liu’s gaze. She had clear eyes and her every action was both swift and clean, but nothing she did was not strange.

Before Ji Chaozhou could withdraw his hand, she seemed to have guessed his next step and spoke first, “It’s not easy for you to bandage yourself. I’ll help you do it before you go to work.” 

Cheng Liu moved quickly, and the gauze was wrapped very thinly over each of his fingers, in a way that would not affect the movement of his five fingers.

“Okay, then.” Cheng Liu let go of Ji Chaozhou’s hand.

Now that it was done, after she forcefully helped people get treated, she began to feel guilty, and then finally remembered the ‘neither near and nor distant’ plan that she had somehow completely forgotten upon seeing Ji Chaozhou’s injuries.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late.

Cheng Liu straightened her back and began to act as if they were strangers. She formally said to Ji Chaozhou, “Goodbye.”

This single word was voiced loud and firm.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

The pharmacist next to them was confused. Why did it suddenly fast forward to goodbye?

The customer—that is, Cheng Liu—took out a hundred-yuan bill from her pocket, pressed it on the counter, then hurried out of the pharmacy without even looking at her boyfriend again.

“Eh!” the pharmacist shouted from behind her, “I haven’t given you the change yet!”

The pharmacist had no choice but to give the change to Ji Chaozhou.

… …

Ji Chaozhou walked out of the drugstore, frowning. She… has become a little strange.

Before, when she was Number 6, she was clearly normal and could be called stable.

Maybe it was because she bumped into her boyfriend playing around with another girl that she had become so weird.

Ji Chaozhou’s long eyelashes covered up the cold indifference in his eyes, and he walked silently towards Ranshan Building.

… …

Something didn’t feel right.

After Cheng Liu returned to the villa, she thought about it and decided that it was good that she kept her distance.

But there seemed to be some problem…

To confirm, she looked up the meaning of ‘neither close nor distant’ and felt that she had done nothing wrong.

Young President Cheng went over in her head what had just happened. She first approached Ji Chaozhou and bandaged him—which was being close; and then said goodbye indifferently— which was being distant.

There should be no problem then, she managed to remain close and distant perfectly.

So next, she just needs to wait for Ji Chaozhou to take the bait!

Young President Cheng has always been full of confidence and brimming with hope for the future, and now her very own love path has a bright future!

If It’s Wrong, Then It’s Wrong translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: This comes from a pursuer seeking advice from someone who has always been pursued. Cheng Liu should have known to read the fine print, tsk, tsk.

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