thefictionvixens Chapter 1799 Thank you...
Chapter 1799 Thank you...
The other woman's face instantly darkened.
She glared at Xu Zhi's door with some unease.
He silently cursed to himself, "So young, and already worse off than his father..."
Just as they were about to retort, they heard footsteps coming from the other end of the corridor. The two immediately shut up and quickly walked away in different directions.
After Jiang Cheng finished talking to Chen Xueer, he put down his phone.
On Xu Zhigang's side, the net has been tightened, and the fish are struggling. He just needs to wait for the right moment to lift the rod; there's no need to rush.
Seeing Jiang Cheng stand up, Xia Li asked as usual, "Young Master Jiang, have you finished eating?"
Looking up at her, I saw her quietly tidying up the tea set on the table, her movements as precise and efficient as ever, making almost no extra noise.
His back was straight, and he exuded a cold aura that kept strangers at bay.
It seemed somewhat out of place in this luxurious yet cozy apartment environment, yet it blended into his life with remarkable harmony.
Jiang Cheng paused, his gaze falling on her.
Then he recalled that fleeting, subtle, unusual reaction from Shirley.
This female bodyguard and personal assistant, whose loyalty is as high as 120% but whose personality is as frozen as a lake, seems to have experienced emotional fluctuations that she herself has not been aware of.
Thinking of this, Jiang Cheng uttered a soft "hmm?" and silently summoned the system.
Name: Xia Li
【Age: 24】
【Height: 178】
[Appearance: 90]
[Stature: 93]
【Privacy: 0】
[Friendliness value: 88]
Loyalty: 120% (Locked)
[Personal Profile: Chinese-Thai mixed heritage, birthday...]
Jiang Cheng was slightly taken aback when he saw the date in the birthday column.
What a coincidence! Shirley's birthday is today!
You know what I mean, when fate comes, there's no stopping it.
Someone like her, who was raised as a special individual from childhood and grew up in brutal training and life-or-death missions,
For her, her birthday is probably no longer a day worth commemorating; it may just be a symbol on some document.
And yet, of all times I haven't looked at it, I happened to open it today and see it. What else could this be but fate?
Thinking it over, Jiang Cheng didn't leave immediately, but instead went to his room.
Hearing his footsteps leave the living room, Shirley continued what she was doing, though her eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly.
She had grown accustomed to Jiang Cheng's free comings and goings, to appearing when he needed her and disappearing into the background when he didn't.
A few minutes later, Jiang Cheng came out.
He was holding a dark blue square gift box tied with a silver ribbon.
The box wasn't big, but the packaging was exquisite.
Seeing Xia Li looking at him, Jiang Cheng reached out and handed her the box: "Here you go."
Upon seeing this, Xia Li stopped arranging the new teacups.
She turned to face Jiang Cheng, her gaze falling on the gift box. She reached out and steadily took the gift box, glancing at it.
She looked up at Jiang Cheng again and asked in a steady voice, "Young Master Jiang, do you need me to pass this on to someone? Or... do you need me to do something?"
Seeing that this was what she was thinking, Jiang Cheng felt somewhat helpless.
No. It's for you.
These words caused Shirley's fingers, which were gripping the gift box, to tighten almost imperceptibly for a moment.
The wrapping paper made a very slight "rustling" sound, which she quickly brought under control.
Her expression went blank for a moment.
Those eyes, always calm and sharp, constantly observing everything around them, were now fixed on Jiang Cheng, before slowly moving towards the gift box in their hands.
My brain seemed to freeze at that moment, unable to immediately process the meaning behind that simple statement.
Was it given to her?
why?
Last night, the person with the ability to remember everything she saw immediately searched her mind to see what special day it was.
Anniversary of the contract signing?
No, neither.
Her memory searched as quickly as the most sophisticated instrument, ruling out all possible "work-related connections."
Then, a number that she had almost forgotten about, which only existed in the corner of her identity document, suddenly popped up.
Is it her birthday?
This realization is like a small pebble thrown into a deep pool.
What was stirred was not a surging wave, but a kind of extremely unfamiliar, even somewhat bewildered, subtle ripple that quietly spread from the deepest part of her frozen heart.
No one ever remembers, and no one would ever "send" her anything for this.
But... Jiang Cheng actually remembered.
Did he not only remember, but also prepare a gift?
An extremely complex emotion suddenly seized her.
A strange, slight throbbing sensation came from my heart, like being lightly scratched by the tip of a feather—a little itchy, a little numb, but mostly an incredulous bewilderment.
She looked at Jiang Cheng, her eyes losing their usual sharpness and distance, replaced by a rare look of bewilderment and tenderness.
But she quickly realized her "loss of composure".
She tried hard to tighten the lines of her face again.
Xia Li's reaction was within Jiang Cheng's expectations.
If you were given a surprise gift on your birthday, most girls would either be overjoyed or moved to tears.
There are probably very few people like her who can restrain themselves so much and pretend that nothing has happened.
However, the more restrained a girl appears on the surface, the more likely she is to cry her heart out while clutching the gifts when she gets back to her room.
"Take it apart and take a look."
Shirley seemed to be jolted awake from her chaotic thoughts by this sudden instruction.
Her fingertips twitched slightly, subconsciously obeying the command, but then she paused when she touched the ribbon.
She had never received a pure "gift" so formally outside of a "task" or "work".
Dismantling it signifies a crossing of certain private boundaries.
But Jiang Cheng's gaze remained calmly fixed on her, waiting for her.
Having habitually accepted tasks, she pursed her lips and deftly untied the silver ribbon, then lifted the dark blue box lid.
A necklace lay quietly on the soft inner lining.
A necklace with a rather exquisite design, one could even say it's dazzling.
The delicate platinum chain features a uniquely designed fan-shaped pendant with finely set diamonds along its edges.
It shimmers with a cool yet dazzling luster under the indoor lighting.
The box's lining is printed with the highly recognizable "BVLGARI" logo.
This is a necklace from Bulgari's Divas' Dream collection.
Even Xia Li, who doesn't know much about luxury goods, could tell from its unique design and brand logo that it was quite valuable.
She has also carried out missions that did not protect important assets and has come into contact with all sorts of priceless items.
But those were irrelevant to her; they were merely "targets" or "scenarios."
At this moment, this expensive, beautiful necklace, which was clearly a woman's accessory, was indeed a gift from Jiang Cheng.
"Young Master Jiang." Xia Li raised her head, her eyes regaining most of their composure.
He handed the opened gift box forward slightly.
“This… is too expensive. My status is not suitable for wearing such jewelry, nor is it… worth you spending so much money.”
Looking into her eyes, which were trying to mask her helplessness with professional composure, Jiang Cheng didn't take the box.
Instead, he took two steps forward, shortening the distance between them.
"What do you mean by 'not worth it'? Shirley, things are inanimate, but people are alive."
Jiang Cheng's voice wasn't loud, but it had a peculiar penetrating power.
This made Shirley's fingers pause.
Although he didn't open his eyes with deep affection, Jiang Cheng spoke earnestly.
“Things are things, and I never think that the value of any thing can exceed the value of the object it is given to.”
These words were like a key, unexpectedly unlocking Xia Li's heart, which had been sealed for many years.
Her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
For more than 20 years, her birthday has always been just a cold symbol.
It is a punctuation mark used by training camp instructors to calculate age and divide training stages.
It was a string of insignificant numbers in the corner of the identity document.
She had long been accustomed to the days spent in black combat uniforms, accompanied by daggers and pistols, and had become accustomed to living her life as a sharp blade.
I never dared to hope for such an exquisite and dazzling gift.
These exquisite ornaments, to her, were something that belonged to another world.
A sophisticated world belonging to "ordinary girls" that she had never set foot in and thought she would never need.
Those deliberately suppressed emotions, those grievances and loneliness that no one had ever cared about, surged out at this moment.
She bit her lip, trying hard not to let the tears fall, but her shoulders trembled slightly uncontrollably.
A thousand words stuck in my throat, finally escaping only to a hoarse, choked voice: "Thank you..."