After sending the fee structure to Cen Xiangyang, Ji Fanyin stretched lazily on her newly-bought ergonomic chair.
It won't do for me to just wait for Song Shiyu to introduce new clients to me. I've to think of a way to expand my client base myself.
Song Shiyu wasn't working as hard as she expected him to. So far, he had only introduced Bai Zhou to her.
He should have already introduced the fourth one to me by now according to the 'future'. Haaa, men really can't be counted on.
While shaking her head, Ji Fanyin shut the laptop and settled down on the comfortable sofa to enjoy another movie. She penned down her review and posted it online before heading off to sleep.
The money she had earned thus far was already enough for her not to worry about her income anymore.
While raking in more money would indeed contribute to the progress of the 'Temptation of Home' app, over the past few weeks, she noticed that the key earner was still Emotion Points.
Be it strangers or acquaintances, anyone who felt a sliver of emotion toward Ji Fanyin would be taken into account by the app.
She had built up a fair presence in the social media thus far, resulting in a constant stream of Emotion Points coming in from places she knew not of.
Other than that, she also occasionally received Emotion Points from her clients even outside of service hours. They were simply too self-conscious about their relationship to not have her on their minds.
Ji Fanyin tapped into the 'Temptation of Home' app's logs and scrolled down. It didn't take her too long to spot Cen Xiangyang's name.
There was a fair sum of Emotion Points coming in from him, though it was still nowhere on par with Song Shiyu.
Just looking at the logs relating to Song Shiyu was enough for her to imagine the intense melodrama going on in his mind. To be honest, she didn't expect that he would be so shaken by her clearly expressing her lack of feelings toward him.
She was even kind enough to make it a gradual process for him.
Ji Fanyin looked through her day's income before checking the progress bar.
So far, she had accumulated 200 million of the 10 billion goal. It was already possible to see a slight bit of green on the long progress bar, a representation of hope.
My efforts are paying off. It looks like 10 billion isn't that far away anymore.
Ji Fanyin put down her phone, intending to head off to sleep, but she suddenly received a call from Ji Xinxin.
To be frank, Ji Fanyin was having difficulties trying to understand Ji Xinxin's insistence on calling her once every three days. It was almost as if Ji Xinxin had jotted it down on her calendar schedule. She had never forgotten about it, not even once.
There were times when Ji Fanyin didn't pick up, and Ji Xinxin didn't show any particular reaction to it either. The latter would simply send a couple of messages instead and call her again three days later.
Just what could her motive be?
Ji Fanyin accepted the call with a slide of her finger. "Yes?"
"Big sis." Ji Xinxin's voice sounded from the other side. "I'm standing on top of the Eiffel Tower. The scenery here is gorgeous! I want to show it to you too!"
Ji Fanyin let out a yawn and said, "Post it on your Moments page. I'll check it when I wake up tomorrow morning and give you a like."
"How have you been doing?" Ji Xinxin dropped her usual question. "I heard from mum that you have gotten a job. What kind of job is it?"
"Relationship counselor."
Ji Xinxin was stunned by the unexpected answer. "Ah... Is it something you're interested in?"
"So-so. The clients are hard to deal with, but that's just how work is like. At least I don't have to deal with them outside of working hours."
Ji Fanyin honestly didn't think that it was anything much.
She didn't think that she would be stuck with her clients for too long. Who knows? Perhaps she might be able to wring them dry soon.
Ji Xinxin continued asking a few casual questions while sharing what she had been up to the last few days, reminiscent of old friends catching up with one another. At some point, she casually asked, "Big sis, did you meet Shiyu recently? I feel like he hasn't been in a good mood recently, but after all that has happened... I don't think that it'll be appropriate for me to ask him directly either."
Her voice sounded a little awkward.
"Yeah, I met him," replied Ji Fanyin leisurely. "Isn't it normal for someone of his age to have his own secrets?"
"I'm worried about him..." Ji Xinxin sighed softly. "It's just that I'm too far away at the moment. That's why I wanted to ask you to see if you know anything."
Ji Fanyin let out an "Ah" as she wondered if she should let Ji Xinxin in about her 'severance of feelings' for Song Shiyu.
Lest she keep talking about Song Shiyu before me. It's annoying.
Every single wage slave shared a common dream: Please don't let me hear anything related to work outside of working hours.
And to Ji Fanyin, 'Song Shiyu' was work.
"I'm no longer interested in Song Shiyu," said Ji Fanyin. "I have no idea how he's doing."
Ji Xinxin was quiet for a very long while. The whistling of wind and French mumbles could be heard from her side.
"You're no longer interested in him?" Ji Xinxin finally spoke up. "Is it because of me? Is it because Song Shiyu confessed to me, that's why you feel that..."
"You're wrong." Ji Fanyin sharply interjected to refute her deduction. "Feelings of attraction come and go at a whim. I liked Song Shiyu before, but that doesn't mean that my feelings for him will remain forever."
"Then..." asked Ji Xinxin, "Who are you interested in now?"
"Right now, I just want to focus on my work and earn money." Ji Fanyin couldn't be bothered to analyze Ji Xinxin's words to figure out her intention. It was too troublesome. "I'll think about it after my career kicks off."
I should at least fulfill my little goal of 10 billion before thinking about dating anyone. After that... I guess I'll see how I can return to my original world before making further plans.
"I see," remarked Ji Xinxin with a chuckle. "I'm relieved to hear that you aren't upset about it. Did you make new friends recently? I'm curious to know what you've been doing."
"It's not as if I've fallen out of love, so why would I need the comfort of friends?" Ji Fanyin took a glance at the time. "I need to sleep soon."
"Alright. Goodnight, big sis." There was a slight pause before Ji Xinxin continued on, "I'll be coming back in two months' time. My term break starts around Christmas, and I'll be staying for a fortnight over the New Years. Is there anything you want? I'll lug it back for you."
"Nah, there isn't anything much I want now. Just make sure you have fun in France." And if possible, add a few new fishes to your fishery too. Who knows? I might just need them.
"Alright!"
Before hanging up, Ji Xinxin remarked, "I feel like you have changed a lot ever since I left the country. I really want to come back as soon as possible to catch up with you."
Ji Fanyin replied with a perfunctory "Mmm." before hanging up. She placed her phone on the wireless charger on her bedside table, put on her steam eye mask, and drifted off into a sweet sleep.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the world, Ji Xinxin fiddled with her phone with a contemplative look on her face.
She was feeling a little flustered. Ji Fanyin had suddenly changed so much that her leading words didn't seem to work on her anymore.
On top of that, ever since she left for France, she felt that she was gradually losing control over many things.
The number of contacts she had, had increased by twofold within a short period of time. The effort required to keep up with so many connections was really no joke. Even a skilled time manager like her was having trouble coping.
Not to mention, problems kept cropping up one after another.
For one, Bai Zhou was suddenly unwilling to play games with her anymore.
Ji Xinxin wondered if his change of attitude came from him discovering that she had been bringing a spare tyre with her on their 'online dates'. There was no doubt that she was making a risky maneuver here, but she had been careful to ensure that she wouldn't be exposed.
Her explanation to her French spare tyre was that Bai Zhou was her younger brother, and that she wanted to play together with him.
She would be seated alongside the French spare tyre whenever they played, so there was no need for the latter to use the voice chat. On top of that, she had changed her voice chat settings to 'push-to-talk' so that Bai Zhou wouldn't hear her conversation with the French spare tyre.
It just so happened that the very day Bai Zhou's attitude toward her changed, Ji Xinxin received a message from Cen Xiangyang informing her of a scandal relating to the Bai Family. This led her to deduce that Bai Zhou's anomalous behavior was caused by a conflict he had with his family.
So, she had been devoting great effort to console Bai Zhou over the last few days lest she lost one of the biggest fishes in her fishery due to a moment of carelessness.
Putting all things aside, she was actually quite fond of Bai Zhou.
Bai Zhou's appearance checked off her boxes, though she thought that it would be wonderful if she could swap his personality with Song Shiyu's.
Ah, of course she was referring to Song Shiyu's superficial personality.
And speaking of Song Shiyu, he was the one who had changed the most during this period of time.
She rejected Song Shiyu shortly before going abroad, so it was understandable that he would be down in the dumps. Ji Xinxin also consciously gave him the cold shoulders for a prolonged period of time in case he attempted anything extreme.
But as she dragged things out, she couldn't help noticing that Song Shiyu's attention was moving on from her to something else. His mind seemed to be all around the place during their recent voice calls, such that he wasn't able to respond to her as quickly as before.
Yet, whenever she tried to sound him out, he would always shrug off the question and change the topic.
It was not as if Ji Xinxin was a fool. She immediately realized that something had happened, just that Song Shiyu adamantly refused to tell her what it was.
Last of all was Ji Fanyin's abrupt and massive change in personality.
It wasn't just once or twice that Mother Ji called Ji Xinxin to grumble about Ji Fanyin's rebellious descent into depravity. While consoling Mother Ji that everything was fine, she also agreed that this was completely unlike the meek and cowardly Ji Fanyin she knew of.
Ji Xinxin's insistence on calling Ji Fanyin once every three days was a habit she had inculcated over the years, but at the same time, it served the purpose of keeping tabs on the latter.
The unexpected changes in these three people convinced Ji Xinxin to make a trip back to the country as soon as possible.
She was concerned about what had happened, and she knew that she had to see what was going on with her own eyes in order to come up with a countermeasure.
"I pray that it's not the worst-case scenario," murmured Ji Xinxin as she booked her plane ticket and marked the day of her departure on her calendar.
She took a look at the time and decided to send a message to Song Shiyu.
[Shiyu, are you asleep? The brand you like has recently announced the release of a new accessory, and it'll be hitting its flagship store in France first. Shall I get it for you and send it over?]
...
Song Shiyu was lying on his bed, struggling to fall asleep when he suddenly heard his ringtone.
He subconsciously grabbed his phone to take a look. It was a notification that he had received a message from Ji Xinxin.
He exhaled deeply, surprised at his own lack of enthusiasm.
He tapped into the notification to check the message before falling silent. He didn't respond right away like he usually would.
The brand that Ji Xinxin mentioned was indeed one which he deeply fancied. He would receive a message from their marketing staff whenever they released anything new.
The damaged bracelet that had vanished from his cupboard also came from the same brand.
Due to that, whenever he heard the brand name, he would be immediately reminded of the words Ji Fanyin said that day—"Anyone I like? Hmm... No one at the moment."—and inexplicable anger and frustration would gush out from his heart.
Ji Xinxin: [This newly-released bracelet has a casual business look. I think it'll look good on your wrist, and it's not expensive either. Why don't I buy one for you? Think of it as my apology gift to you.]
Song Shiyu sat up from his bed. With a hand clutching his forehead in frustration, he typed out a message and edited it over and over again before finally sending it.
[Don't bother. I'm not into any wrist accessories other than watches at the moment.]
For the first time, he turned down Ji Xinxin's suggestion.