ATLAS TRANSLATES

These words made Jiang Qi Huai’s heart soften, and he felt like laughing.

He grabbed her hand that was pinching his fingertips, kneading it like dough: “If I wash the dishes, what will you do?”

“I’ll accompany you while you wash,” Tao Zhi said seriously, “I’ll stand beside you and give you loving encouragement.”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

His silence wasn’t enough; Tao Zhi had to get his wholehearted agreement and approval: “How about it? Isn’t this a good deal?”

Jiang Qi Huai let out a laugh.

“Indeed, I’m the one who profited.”

Being able to trick her into his home.

No matter how he thought about it, he had gained an enormous advantage.

After dinner, Jiang Qi Huai chatted with Tao Xiu Ping in the living room. Tao Xiu Ping was very knowledgeable about this field, and the two of them discussed things like financing, ABCD stocks, and market sectors — none of which Tao Zhi could understand.

She sat beside them, playing with her phone out of boredom while the two men’s conversation passed over her head like an ancient scripture.

After finishing her mobile game’s daily tasks, she opened Weibo and started scrolling through cat photos posted by various cat houses she followed. Finally, she clicked into the profiles of several photographers she was close with to check their recent photos.

During a break from scrolling Weibo, Tao Zhi looked up at Tao Xiu Ping.

Men were strange creatures — regardless of age, as long as they had a common topic to discuss, their impression of each other would naturally improve by a level.

But it was really too boring.

As she was leaning back on the sofa holding a cushion and playing with her phone, suddenly someone reached under the cushion and gently squeezed her hand.

Tao Zhi paused, glanced at Jiang Qi Huai sitting beside her from the corner of her eye, and discreetly squeezed his hand back under the cushion. Then with a “click,” she locked her phone and casually went upstairs.

She bounced up the stairs and was standing at the second-floor landing, leaning on the railing to look down when someone suddenly spoke behind her: “What are you looking at?”

Tao Zhi jumped in fright and spun around.

Ji Fan was standing at his bedroom door holding a can of cola, looking like he had just come out.

“Watching how long these two will chat,” Tao Zhi pouted, “Financial workers’ topics are so boring.”

“Old Tao must be happy,” Ji Fan also came over, resting his arm on the railing and bending down to look, “Usually neither of us can talk to him about this stuff, we’re not interested and don’t understand it.”

He paused, then turned his head: “You must be pretty happy too.”

Tao Zhi nodded.

Of course she hoped that Old Tao would be willing to chat with Jiang Qi Huai. Although Tao Xiu Ping had changed a lot in recent years, he still barely accepted Jiang Qi Huai.

If Jiang Qi Huai could win his favor on his own, Tao Zhi would be grinning even in her dreams.

As she was lost in thought, she heard Ji Fan let out a cold laugh beside her.

Tao Zhi turned her head and looked at the cola in his hand: “Where did you get that? Didn’t see any in the fridge.”

Ji Fan pointed behind him: “My room.”

Without another word, Tao Zhi straightened up and pushed open the door.

Ji Fan: “Hey?”

When he followed her in, he saw Tao Zhi crouching in front of his mini-fridge, picking through the various bottles of soda and beer inside, finally selecting a peach-flavored soda and opening it.

After opening the soda and closing the mini-fridge door, Tao Zhi turned around, took a sip, and looked at him puzzled: “Why do you dislike Jiang Qi Huai so much?”

“Because I can’t beat him up,” Ji Fan said casually as he walked over and leaned beside her.

Tao Zhi: “…”

Tao Zhi stared at him with a deadpan expression and raised her hand as if to hit him.

Ji Fan laughed and dodged to the side. Tao Zhi rolled her eyes and lowered her hand.

Ji Fan’s smile faded slightly as he came back over.

He sat on the mini-fridge, took a sip of cola, and after a few seconds of silence said: “It’s not really that I’m targeting him or dislike him, it’s just that I promised Mom I would protect you.”

Tao Zhi was taken aback.

“I know you’ve always felt that Mom liked me more, just like I’ve always felt that Old Tao likes you more. But Mom’s last words before she left were asking me to protect you well,” Ji Fan said. “Some feelings, I think parents can’t control. It’s so difficult to guarantee completely equal treatment. I think loving one child more doesn’t mean not loving the other. On the contrary, she probably felt guilty towards you until the very end.”

Ji Fan finished the last of his cola and turned his head: “So it’s not really that I dislike him that much, maybe I just instinctively feel a bit unhappy seeing him trying to take over my job.”

Tao Zhi tilted her head and couldn’t help but laugh.

Seeing her laugh, Ji Fan asked puzzled: “Hey, I’m being serious for once, why are you laughing?”

Tao Zhi: “Because you’re especially funny when you’re being serious.”

“…”

Ji Fan sighed.

Neither of them spoke again. The ice-cold peach soda was sweet and tart in her mouth, stimulating her taste buds and throat. As Tao Zhi held the glass bottle and took a few sips, she heard Ji Fan suddenly call out: “Sis.”

He very rarely called her that — the last time was when Ji Jin passed away.

Tao Zhi paused.

Ji Fan put his empty cola can on the table. His ears were a bit red and he seemed uncomfortable, but he said very seriously: “Even though my job was taken, I’m still happy that there’s someone who can take my place in protecting you.”

Tao Zhi looked at those dark eyes so similar to her own and was quiet for a moment.

Twins were really amazing.

They could generally guess each other’s thoughts without saying anything, and in very rare cases, when one of them was experiencing strong emotions, the other would also feel unsettled.

They were like a soul that was meant to be one but was split into two by God’s mischief.

She and Ji Fan actually looked very similar when they were young — in photos from when they were one or two years old they were almost completely identical. As they gradually grew up, they started looking less and less alike.

Now, only the outline of their eyes and brows retained some similarity.

The cold glass bottle of soda transmitted its chill to her fingertips. Tao Zhi lowered her eyelashes and smiled.

“Big sister is also very happy to see our A-Fan growing up.”

When Jiang Qi Huai went upstairs to look for her, Tao Zhi wasn’t in her room.

She had gotten bored sitting downstairs, and Jiang Qi Huai thought she had gone back to her room to do her own thing, but when he pushed open the door, the bedroom was quiet and the lights weren’t even on.

He turned on the lights, walked to the bathroom door, and knocked with his knuckles.

No sound.

Jiang Qi Huai walked to her desk, pulled out the chair and sat down, took out his phone and opened WeChat.

After typing out the message but before sending it, he turned in the chair, resting his elbow on the edge of the desk to send it.

After waiting a while, Tao Zhi didn’t reply — who knew where she had run off to.

This person could disappear without a trace even in her own home.

Jiang Qi Huai put his phone on the desk and casually pulled out one of her photography books to read.

She had very few books on her desk, almost all of them neatly standing upright along the edge. Probably because she didn’t often stay here long enough to read them, there was a thin layer of dust on top of the books.

Jiang Qi Huai flipped through the photography book in his hands a couple times, his gaze sweeping across the spines of the row of books in front of him.

With one book missing from the tight row, the others had become loose, two books tilting crookedly, revealing a thin book that had been squeezed all the way in the back.

Jiang Qi Huai’s gaze stopped on it. His fingers paused, and he put down the book in his hand to pull that one out.

It was an English essay collection with a yellowed cover. The edges of the pages were also worn and frayed, with a crease at the bottom corner that had been folded up — who knew how many times it had been opened.

He lowered his eyes and opened the softened cover.

Then he saw the title page inside.

Jiang Qi Huai’s fingers gripping the page gradually tightened, becoming as rigid as frozen branches buried in a winter night’s snow.

Almost instantly, the image of the young girl bending her head to write her name on it one stroke at a time flashed into his mind. He could even clearly remember how the soft fuzz of her black hair caught the afternoon sunlight that day, and the specks of light that fell on her lowered long eyelashes.

But the writing on it was now completely different from what he remembered.

Several oval-shaped water stains on the title page had left darker marks on the yellowed paper, making that section of the page slightly wrinkled.

And there, she had stubbornly and persistently written what she had once accepted did not belong to her, each stroke cutting to the bone, each character etched in her heart.

When Tao Zhi returned to the room, Jiang Qi Huai was sitting on the sofa. He was lying back with his eyes closed, his hand resting over his brow, silent as if asleep.

During dinner, Tao Xiu Ping had made him drink a small glass of baijiu. Thinking the alcohol might be affecting him, Tao Zhi quietly walked over and bent down to look at him.

Just as she leaned in, Jiang Qi Huai lifted his wrist and opened his eyes.

His gaze was somewhat unfocused, looking at her blankly for a few seconds with slightly reddened eyes.

Tao Zhi paused and sat beside him, touching his face – it was cool, not hot at all.

“Are you feeling unwell?” she asked, leaning in.

Jiang Qi Huai slowly came back to his senses.

He turned his eyes toward her, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he called out in a low, hoarse voice: “Zhi Zhi.”

Tao Zhi responded.

He didn’t move, but called her again: “Zhi Zhi.”

His pronunciation was low and slow.

“I’m here, I’m here,” Tao Zhi didn’t understand what was wrong with him, just assuming he couldn’t handle baijiu. She patted his back, “Put on your clothes first, I’ll let my dad know, and we’ll head home, okay?”

Jiang Qi Huai closed his eyes briefly, then stood up: “I’ll go down with you.”

He left the bedroom first, and Tao Zhi followed him downstairs to say goodbye to Tao Xiu Ping. By this time, he appeared clear-headed again with a calm tone, showing no signs of being drunk.

After they left, Tao Zhi took out her car keys to drive, turning her head suspiciously: “Are you really okay?”

Jiang Qi Huai stared somewhat absently at the light from the door lamp, and only responded with an “mm” after several seconds.

Tao Zhi: “…”

He didn’t look very smart at the moment.

Since Jiang Qi Huai had been drinking and couldn’t drive, Tao Zhi had initially planned to call him a Didi ride and send him home while she went her own way, but thinking it over, she wasn’t quite at ease with that plan, so she drove directly to his place to drop him off.

It was past nine when they got home. Tao Zhi pulled Jiang Qi Huai into the elevator, and as soon as they entered, she put her hands on her hips and commanded: “Take off your coat.”

Jiang Qi Huai took off his coat and casually threw it aside.

See, just a bit of alcohol and he started throwing clothes around randomly.

Tao Zhi pointed toward the living room sofa: “Go sit down, I’ll make you some honey water to drink.”

Jiang Qi Huai looked at her: “I’m not drunk.”

“Sure, sure,” Tao Zhi said very perfunctorily.

As she spoke, she walked to the kitchen and started opening all the cabinet doors one by one: “Where do you keep the honey?”

Jiang Qi Huai sighed, walked over to open the refrigerator door, and took out a small jar of honey to hand to her.

Tao Zhi took it, filled the electric kettle with water, and set it on its base to heat.

She leaned against the counter, frowning as she lectured him: “Why didn’t you say earlier that you can’t handle baijiu? I’ve seen you drinking beer and sake one glass after another before, so I thought you could hold your liquor well.”

Jiang Qi Huai didn’t respond. Instead, he walked over with downturned lips and raised his arms to embrace her.

Burying his head in her neck, he repeated in a muffled voice with steady breathing: “I’m not drunk.”

His mood was noticeably low, seeming somewhat unhappy.

But Tao Zhi couldn’t figure out why he had suddenly become unhappy.

Being held by him like this, his black hair brushed against her ear, making it tickle.

She tilted her head slightly, shifting uncomfortably a couple times, and was about to speak when she suddenly froze.

Jiang Qi Huai was gently biting the soft skin of her neck, trailing kisses along the faint blue line of her artery.

“Zhi Zhi,” he called softly by her ear.

Tao Zhi shivered.

He traced her ear one inch at a time, moving to the corner of her lips, then bit her tongue tip.

Tao Zhi’s whole body went soft. She raised her arms to hook around his neck, and Jiang Qi Huai took the opportunity to grip her waist and lift her slightly, setting her on the kitchen island.

The water in the kettle came to a boil, its subtle but sharp bubbling sound filling the entire kitchen as bubbles gurgled up and steam puffed steadily from the spout.

Tao Zhi’s long dress was messily hiked up, her slender legs wrapped around Jiang Qi Huai’s waist. She held his tongue tip between her teeth for a gentle bite, then pulled back slightly, her beautiful black eyes seeming covered by a layer of hazy mist.

She looked at him and licked her lips, her voice soft and alluring: “Shall we?”

Jiang Qi Huai smiled.

“Do what?” he asked in a low voice.

The heat spreading throughout Tao Zhi’s body made her ear tips feel like they were burning. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything more provocative, and glared at him for a few seconds – whether from embarrassment or anger wasn’t clear – before lowering her head in frustration to gently suck on his Adam’s apple.

Jiang Qi Huai tilted his head back, his smile swallowed up as an uncontrollable deep moan escaped his throat.

As if having gotten her revenge, Tao Zhi raised her head again. Before Jiang Qi Huai could speak, her hand had already moved downward.

Jiang Qi Huai’s abdominal muscles instantly tensed.

He looked down at the young woman with her snow-white skin and red lips, deep black eyes narrowed in satisfaction as she smiled at him, the corners of her eyes tinged with a rosy flush.

“Isn’t this quite obedient, Your Highness?” she said meaningfully.

Jiang Qi Huai heard the last nerve in his brain snap.

He closed his eyes, his voice already hoarse. “Zhizhi.”

Tao Zhi softly hummed in response.

“I wasn’t prepared.”

Tao Zhi blinked in surprise and raised her head. “What?”

“A jacket.” [T/N: condom]

“…”

Tao Zhi took ten seconds to process this.

A grown man, who has a girlfriend and appears to have no hardware issues, didn’t have this critical piece of “equipment” in his home.

In that moment, Tao Zhi was genuinely tempted to ask him, in all seriousness: Jiang Qihuai, are you really not capable?

She looked at him blankly, genuinely curious. “Do you not want to sleep with me?”

Jiang Qihuai seemed a little helpless. “No man wouldn’t want to.”

“Then why…” Tao Zhi struggled to find the right words. “…weren’t you prepared?”

“I didn’t plan for it to happen now.” Jiang Qihuai lifted a hand, his fingertip gently grazing the corner of her eye where a faint red mark lingered, his movements slow and careful. “I was afraid I’d scare you off.”

Because she had come back into his life. Because he carried guilt in his heart. Every step he took was cautious and deliberate.

He was afraid she wouldn’t like it. Afraid she wouldn’t be willing. Afraid that after so many years of separation, her unfamiliarity with him would make her uncomfortable.

Jiang Qihuai had planned to take things slowly, step by step, gradually getting closer to her again.

Tao Zhi understood.

Her mind, previously clouded by desire, cleared a bit. She nodded. “So, you wanted to get my consent before making any preparations.”

Jiang Qihuai didn’t say anything.

Tao Zhi took his silence as agreement. She looked away and lightly traced her fingers along his arm, speaking slowly. “Well, I consent.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the room fell silent.

Jiang Qihuai stared at her in silence for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, he pulled back, turned around, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving her sitting alone on the kitchen island.

Tao Zhi: “…”

Tao Zhi: ????

She watched as he walked into the living room, picked up the jacket he had casually tossed aside earlier, and took out his phone from his pocket. He fiddled with it for a moment.

After he was done, he stuffed the phone back into his pants pocket and walked back to her.

“What were you doing?” Tao Zhi asked, completely bewildered.

Jiang Qihuai walked up to her and, as if she were a child, picked her up vertically. As he carried her out, he said, “Ordering delivery for a jacket. It’ll take thirty minutes.”

“…Wait,” Tao Zhi was still in a daze. “I actually think we could just do this another day.”

“Hmm,” Jiang Qihuai replied as he carried her out of the kitchen, through the living room, and into the bedroom. “No more delays.”

Tao Zhi swung her legs, bracing her hands on his shoulders and leaning back slightly. She stared at him with wide, confused eyes. “Then what are you going to do for the next thirty minutes?”

As soon as she finished speaking, she was tossed onto the bed.

Her entire body sank into the soft down comforter, the clean and refreshing scent of the bedding enveloping her.

The next second, the owner of that scent leaned down, his heated fingers tugging at the zipper of her long dress, sliding it down inch by inch.

The faint chill in the air sent a shiver through her.

Jiang Qihuai lowered his neck, tilting his head to gently suck on her soft earlobe. His voice was low and raspy as he murmured, “These thirty minutes, I’ll spend serving you.”