In the living room, Ji Chaozhou poured another glass of water. When Cheng Liu remained quiet behind him, and the entire villa seemed to fall into absolute silence.

He lowered his eyes and looked at the glass in his hand. The ripples in the water have finally calmed down.

Ji Chaozhou looked at it for a moment longer then stretched out his hand to put the glass down.

The previously quiet person behind him suddenly said, “You are very similar to the lily-of-the-valley.”

‘Bang—‘

The cup slipped from suddenly nerveless fingers and fell to the floor, making a sharp, discordant sound as it crashed and broke into pieces.

Cheng Liu instinctively stood up, walked over quickly, and pulled Ji Chaozhou away from the debris. “I’m going to get the broom.” 

Ji Chaozhou paid no attention to the mess and looked directly at Cheng Liu, “Why did you say that?”

“What?” Cheng Liu was looking at the broken glass on the floor. Hearing Ji Chaozhou’s words, she raised her head and paused for a while before she understood what he was asking, “Oh, I just think that although the lily-of-the-valley always lowers its head, it can never hide its pure white and clean appearance.”

Just like Ji Chaozhou: he always wanted to hide himself, but the light on his body made it impossible for anyone to ignore him.

The most important thing was that the scent of lily-of-the-valley was also very fragrant!

But Young President Cheng could only dare to think about this in her heart.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Ji Chaozhou stared at Cheng Liu for a long time, then suddenly walked to one of the cabinets in the living room, opened the middle drawer, and took out a dark red velvet box.

He opened the box and took out a bottle of perfume inside.

The red perfume bottle was square and sealed with a gilt cap. It looked exquisite, luxurious and as gorgeous as flame.

Cheng Liu didn’t know what Ji Chaozhou was doing, so she simply stood there and watched him open the bottle cap, take out a fragrance test strip, and spritz it several times with the perfume from the red bottle.

Ji Chaozhou put the red perfume bottle back into its velvet box, put it back in the drawer and closed it.

That bottle of perfume was obviously special.

Cheng Liu glanced at all the cabinets in the living room. Except for that bottle of perfume just now, all the other perfumes were not packed in boxes and were just placed in the glass cabinets.

Soon Ji Chaozhou came towards her and handed her the fragrance test strip, an indistinguishable stubbornness deep in his eyes.

Cheng Liu instinctively took it; she lowered her head and smelled the test strip.

She didn’t understand perfume, but she could smell the strong aroma that hit her face. It continued to spread and dye the surroundings with the same smell. It lasted for a long time.

“It smells good,” Cheng Liu said seriously. The fragrance was strong but not pungent. As it dispersed in the air, the scent gradually expanded, and it was as if she was in a beautiful dream.

Cheng Liu looked at Ji Chaozhou and asked him, “What kind of fragrance is this?”

Ji Chaozhou didn’t answer. He took the fragrance test stick from her hand and shook it several times to let the perfume dissipate more.

After a while, Cheng Liu slowly frowned.

She somehow thought that the perfume smelled wrong.

She didn’t know when or how, but the strong aroma began to change, overwhelming her senses—it became bitter, like a flower that had bloomed to the extreme suddenly withered and rotted and finally exuded the cloying smell of death.

It smelled unpleasant, and it made people feel uncomfortable.

Ji Chaozhou held the incense test stick tightly, lowered his eyes and said in a cold voice, “If you add lily-of-the-valley, in the end, the strong aroma will eventually dissipate like this.” In its place, it would give off an air of death and decay.

Cheng Liu was stunned by this, but soon woke up from her daze. She reached out and pried open Ji Chaozhou’s clenched fingers; she took out the fragrance test strips and threw them into the trash can nearby.

“I don’t understand perfume, but the combination of different scents should produce different effects—this has nothing to do with the lily-of-the-valley itself.” She looked at Ji Chaozhou seriously, “The lily-of-the-valley in my heart is clean and pure.”

Cheng Liu’s black pupils were solely focused on him when she said this, and in the heated gaze full of sincerity, it seemed like she meant something more.

At that moment, these words have carved themselves in his heart with deep color.

Ji Chaozhou instinctively turned his face away, avoiding Cheng Liu’s gaze. He felt embarrassed and unbearable, but his chest was beating wildly, as if it was being pinched by someone’s hands, and even gave him a stinging pain of suffocation.

“Your trousers have gotten splashed by the water,” Cheng Liu suddenly spoke, breaking the ambiguity rising in the room.

She looked down at the broken glass on the floor and said, “You go change your clothes first, and I’ll clean this place.”

The beating in Ji Chaozhou’s chest gradually slowed down, he gathered his raging emotions, turned to the master bedroom, and walked into the bathroom.

He took off his shirt. He saw himself in the mirror.

The exposed skin was sickly white, with deep collarbones, straight shoulders, and narrow waist. The only flaw in that porcelain white skin were the several lines of scars on his left arm.

Ji Chaozhou put on his clothes and buttoned them halfway. Cheng Liu’s words echoed in his ears, and his fingertips suddenly stopped.

The slender, white hand with distinct joints slowly moved upwards, and finally landed on his chest, clearly feeling the thundering beat of his heart inside.

… …

Cheng Liu in the living room had already taken a broom and swept all the broken glass into the trash can. She also packed the trash bag and took it outside to throw away.

On the way back, she was still thinking how the smell of withered, decaying flowers earlier was so depressing that it could make people uncomfortable for a whole night.

Cheng Liu raised her wrist to her nose and smelled the same bitter coffee scent on herself as on Ji Chaozhou, and she managed to ease the discomfort in her heart.

When she returned to the living room, Ji Chaozhou hadn’t come out yet.

Cheng Liu sat on the sofa and waited for a while before Ji Chaozhou walked out of the master bedroom, but he did not go to the living room. He just stood in the corridor with his face looking cold and noble as usual, “I’m going to sleep.”

“Now?” Cheng Liu stood up. She looked at Ji Chaozhou and said, “Good night.”

Ji Chaozhou turned back to the master bedroom, walked to the door, and suddenly turned around and looked back at the passageway. It didn’t seem like Cheng Liu was ready to go back to the guest room to sleep.

He stood for a moment, opened the door, and finally entered the master bedroom.

… …

Cheng Liu was sitting on the armchair in the living room, staring at the laptop on the coffee table in a daze. She should have known better than to talk about lily-of-the-valley.

Was he angry?

It didn’t seem quite like that.

Young President Cheng was very worried. One moment she felt that Ji Chaozhou liked her a little, and the next moment she felt that he might be annoying him.

In the end, after careful reasoning, Cheng Liu firmly concluded that her love talk skills just now were definitely too poor, and she didn’t study well enough.

She definitely must read more love stories tonight!

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

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Chapter 45.2 — Day 16: He Smiled (3/7)
Chapter 46.1 — Day 16: I’ve Got A Sweetheart (3/13)