IMGH Chapter 51.2

You Like Me (2)

The moment Jiang Yi heard that, he knew there was hope. This girl and her senior martial brother definitely had ways to get in touch. He quickly changed his tune and said with a fawning smile, “Yuhe, I only got a little worked up in the heat of the moment! Please don’t take it to heart. I sincerely apologize. A person of your character certainly wouldn’t lower themselves to squabble with a rough guy like me!”

They say flattery never wears out its welcome, and sure enough, the look on Chen Yuhe’s face softened.

Jiang Yi bowed and scraped with all the eager servility of a sycophant. “Miss Chen, please do reach out to your senior martial brother soon and get him to break Chairman Qiu’s Soul-Trapping Formation as quickly as possible!”

Isn’t Jiang Yi a bit too enthusiastic about this?

Chen Yuhe studied him with suspicion. “I have to say — why is it that the emperor isn’t anxious but the eunuch is? Chairman Qiu himself hasn’t even said anything yet, so what are you getting so worked up about?”

Jiang Yi scratched his head and gave a sheepish laugh. “This whole thing started because of me — I have to take responsibility for it.”

Chen Yuhe rubbed her chin and squinted at Jiang Yi, sensing there was more to this than met the eye.

Jiang Yi looked to Qiu Rui for backup. Qiu Rui raised an eyebrow at him — the look said: Weren’t you doing so well? What do you need me for now?

Jiang Yi jutted his lips and widened his eyes at Qiu Rui: Don’t you want your body back? Hurry up and win this girl over.

The two of them exchanged a series of pointed looks and silent jabs. After a few back-and-forth volleys, Qiu Rui thought with exasperation — he must really be bored to be trading glares with someone like this.

But since the matter concerned whether he could return to his body, Qiu Rui thought it over and finally spoke. “Miss Chen, we are greatly in need of your help right now. I trust you completely, Miss Chen — please feel free to share everything, and then weigh the situation for yourself to decide whether you are willing to help me.”

Chen Yuhe stole a few glances at Qiu Rui and, seeing the sincerity in his expression and that his words carried no coercion — leaving the choice entirely to her — she gradually relaxed and was no longer as tense as before.

Seeing Chen Yuhe’s expression ease, Qiu Rui slowly began.

“The reason my spirit came to be trapped likely has everything to do with my cousin — Qiu Chen, who is about to take over as chairman of Shengqiu International. He has always seen me as a thorn in his side and has been looking to get rid of me. This is a family matter and not something I would ordinarily share with Miss Chen, but this has now gone beyond just my personal situation — it concerns the entire company’s operation and the livelihoods of thousands of employees. You have probably heard the rumors, Miss Chen. Once Qiu Chen takes over, he will purge the entire company internally. His actions will inevitably leave many employees without work and change the lives of many families. Shengqiu International may not be a large company, but its benefits and salaries are stable. With Qiu Chen stirring things up like this, a great many employees will find themselves living in uncertainty.”

Qiu Rui’s voice was quiet yet heavy with concern. He paused for a moment before continuing. “Miss Chen, even if not for my sake, please consider these employees. You work for our company as well — you can surely understand what it means to lose a job.”

Jiang Yi was secretly cheering. Qiu Rui has gone straight for the heart — a masterstroke.

Whatever Chen Yuhe’s allegiances were, she had no real reason to refuse helping Qiu Rui.

Sure enough, Chen Yuhe was moved. Though she had never had any direct dealings with Qiu Rui, the young chairman had a very good reputation. Qiu Rui’s words that day had stirred something deep within Chen Yuhe. A leader so devoted to his company and his employees commanded her genuine admiration. And just as Qiu Rui had said, his fate was tied to the company’s, and the company’s operation was tied to the fates of thousands of employees.

After a moment’s deliberation, Chen Yuhe said, “Chairman Qiu, I’ll go contact my senior martial brother right now.”

With that, she reached into her handbag and pulled out paper and a pen. Chen Yuhe spread the white paper flat and began to write.

What era is this — still communicating by letter? That’s a bit behind the times, isn’t it?

Jiang Yi was still mulling this over when Chen Yuhe had already set down her pen. She folded the paper into the shape of a crane. She held it in her palm, raised it to eye level, and with her rosy lips slightly pursed, blew a gentle breath.

The paper crane, perfectly still before, began to tremble faintly and beat its wings. The breath Chen Yuhe had blown into it seemed to breathe life into it. It spread its wings and lifted off from her palm, drifting lightly out through the window.

The feat Chen Yuhe had just displayed left both Jiang Yi and Qiu Rui gaping in astonishment. The two of them looked at each other and saw the shock mirrored in the other’s eyes.

It seemed Chen Yuhe really did have some remarkable ability.

Chen Yuhe looked up to find one man and one ghost staring at her in stunned disbelief. Knowing they had been shaken by the extraordinary sight, she explained, “My senior martial brother is old-fashioned and set in his ways — he doesn’t like modern smart devices. This is how we usually keep in touch. I’ve laid out the whole situation in the letter. I believe he’ll write back once he reads it.”

“Roughly how long before your senior martial brother replies?” Jiang Yi asked urgently. “Qiu Rui has been in spirit form this whole time — his body is like a living corpse. This can’t go on forever.”

Chen Yuhe’s expression turned solemn, and she gave a slight nod. “There’s nothing to be done for now. Breaking the formation is beyond me — everything will have to wait until my senior martial brother arrives before anything can be decided.”

“This can’t be rushed. Since it’s come to this, we’ll wait for good news.” Qiu Rui said with a sincere smile. “We’ll have to trouble Miss Chen greatly with this matter. Please notify us as soon as there is any news.”

Chen Yuhe waved her hands in a flustered protest. “Chairman Qiu, don’t mention it! Now that I’ve stumbled into this, I’ll do everything I can.”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then Chen Yuhe said her goodbyes and left.

Jiang Yi stood up to see her out. Standing in the entryway, Chen Yuhe hesitated, as though she had something to say but couldn’t bring herself to say it, fidgeting as she looked at Jiang Yi.

Qiu Rui understood perfectly well that Chen Yuhe had something private to say to Jiang Yi, but that having him present made it awkward to speak freely. He tactfully withdrew to an out-of-the-way spot.

With no third person around, Chen Yuhe seemed to find a little more courage. After a great deal of hesitation, she finally lowered her voice and said, “Jiang Yi, I was out of line just now. I misjudged you, and I’m sorry.”

Jiang Yi scratched his head and laughed good-naturedly. “It’s fine, it’s fine! You can’t be blamed for what you didn’t know.”

Chen Yuhe let out a relieved sigh, then tilted her head up and looked at Jiang Yi with bright, shining eyes full of intent. “Jiang Yi, have you thought about what I said yesterday?”

Jiang Yi looked blank. “What thing?”

Chen Yuhe shot him a defeated glare. “How can you forget so quickly! It was… it was that thing!”

Jiang Yi scratched his ears and head in a panic. “Yuhe, which thing?”

Whether it was Jiang Yi’s obliviousness that frustrated her, or whether what she was trying to say was simply too hard to put into words, Chen Yuhe’s fair cheeks flushed red — like a tender rosy apple with a luminous, inviting glow.

Qiu Rui stood not far behind the two of them and glanced over. The young man stared blankly at the bashful, beautiful woman before him. This was probably the look of two people young in love and new to romance. It was a warm, sweet picture — yet looking at it, Qiu Rui felt, for no reason he could quite explain, a suffocating tightness in his chest.

He looked only for a moment before swiftly turning away.

His heart was a mess — like a tangled ball of thread with countless knotted ends threading out in all directions, winding and coiling into a tangle of emotions he couldn’t name. They were driving him to distraction.

His instinct was to flee, but he found he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Jiang Yi’s side. The realization sparked a formless, sourceless flame in the depths of Qiu Rui’s chest.

It burned hotter and hotter, blazing until he lost all reason for an instant. Qiu Rui strode forward abruptly.

A burst of red light flared, its beam shooting straight upward. Both Jiang Yi and Chen Yuhe, who had been lost in thought, turned to look.

Qiu Rui shrugged and blinked with an air of innocence. “I’m sorry — I crossed the boundary.”

Chen Yuhe flushed crimson with embarrassment. Before she had known Qiu Rui’s identity, she hadn’t felt nearly this awkward. But now, with her own boss witnessing her love life, Chen Yuhe couldn’t bear to stay a moment longer no matter how thick-skinned she was.

“Jiang Yi, I’m heading out! I’ll be in touch!” Chen Yuhe said hastily, then looked long and deep at Jiang Yi before finally tearing herself away with evident reluctance.

Watching Chen Yuhe’s slender figure disappear from view, Jiang Yi let out a long, relieved breath.

He was no fool — of course he understood what Chen Yuhe had been trying to say. But it was a case of the flower having feelings while the stream had none. Some things simply couldn’t be forced — and feelings, as it happened, were one of them.

“You really were playing dumb.” Qiu Rui crossed his arms and looked at Jiang Yi with a not-quite-smile. “Sometimes it’s better to be practical.”

“Getting what you want — isn’t that being practical?” Jiang Yi tilted his head and looked back at Qiu Rui, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t like Chen Yuhe, just like you don’t like me. If feelings are something you can compromise on, then would you do me a favor and just be with me instead?”

Jiang Yi had been fairly well-behaved these past few days, enough that Qiu Rui had nearly forgotten this glib-tongued habit of his. You gave this man an inch and he took a mile — there was no point showing him any kindness at all.

Qiu Rui silently regretted having softened his attitude toward him again today.

He arranged his features into an expression of cold displeasure and said icily, “Jiang Yi, watch your words.”

Though Qiu Rui’s face was set in hard, cold lines, there was not a trace of the dangerous edge he’d carried before.

Jiang Yi wasn’t the least bit afraid. He grinned — an insufferably smug grin. “Come on, Qiu Rui, drop the act. We’re allies in the same trench now — can’t you stop giving me the cold shoulder? Show a little warmth once in a while, and I’ll work even harder to pay you back. If you were willing to use a little charm, I’d let you put me through the wringer and come out the other side grateful for it.”

Qiu Rui arched an eyebrow and looked at Jiang Yi with a wicked glint. “Don’t worry — I’ll make sure you come out the other side without a piece left of you.”

Jiang Yi sauntered closer, sidling up to Qiu Rui, and blinked. “Alright then — how about a little taste of that now?”

With that, he abruptly leaned forward and pressed his lips to Qiu Rui’s.

Qiu Rui had not expected Jiang Yi to suddenly make such a shameless move. He recoiled in shock, jerking sharply backward — but Jiang Yi had already stopped, drawing back and turning his head to look at Qiu Rui’s stormy expression with a wide, wicked grin.

“Chairman Qiu, I was only joking — no need to be so tense.”

“You…” Qiu Rui choked with fury, but the rogue had already strolled back to the living room with his hands in his pockets.

He had been made a fool of by a scoundrel.

Qiu Rui ground his teeth in rage, wishing he could tear that certain someone apart and swallow the pieces.

“Qiu Rui, do you think Chen Yuhe can be trusted?” Jiang Yi leaned against the sofa and looked over, his expression serious and grave.

All of Qiu Rui’s pent-up fury was suddenly stopped up by that one look — with nowhere left to go. Clearly, Jiang Yi had already moved past the teasing and turned the page. If he himself made a fuss over it now, it would only make him look petty.

Qiu Rui knew perfectly well that Jiang Yi was only after a fleeting verbal advantage. He’d let him be smug for a few more days. Once he got his body back, there would be plenty of opportunities to get even.

Thinking it over that way, Qiu Rui felt considerably less irritated. He drifted over toward Jiang Yi, eyes half-narrowed as he studied him. “What do you think, Jiang Yi?”

Jiang Yi hesitated slightly, not entirely sure what Qiu Rui meant, but understanding came to him quickly. “Qiu Rui, are you suspicious of me?”

Up until a few days ago, Qiu Rui honestly hadn’t suspected Jiang Yi at all. The two of them had had no connection before this — Jiang Yi had no motive to harm him. Qiu Rui had also had Han Yuancheng look into Jiang Yi afterward, and his background was clean.

Qiu Rui had come to trust Jiang Yi completely because of that — otherwise he would never have made him his ally and had him reach out to Han Yuancheng on his behalf.

But ever since Chen Yuhe appeared, things had started to feel different. This woman who had seemingly come out of nowhere possessed a rare ability. Not only was she a company employee with close ties to Jiang Yi’s cousin, she had now, by some staggering coincidence, turned out to be Jiang Yi’s blind date.

The tangle of relationships felt suspicious. The coincidences were piling up enough to make Qiu Rui start to wonder.

Was all of this somehow connected to Jiang Yi?

He even entertained the thought that perhaps Jiang Yi was the mastermind behind it all — with Qiu Chen as nothing more than a pawn.

Yet Qiu Rui felt he was letting his imagination run away with him. What could Jiang Yi possibly gain from any of this?

No one liked to work at a loss, and for Jiang Yi to plot so carefully — maneuvering step by step to keep him trapped here — what would even be the purpose?

No one who commits a crime for gain goes and keeps the victim’s spirit hovering nearby afterward. Wasn’t he afraid of nightmares?

Unless Jiang Yi had truly lost his mind over love — and if he couldn’t have the man, he settled for the soul.

No matter how Qiu Rui turned it over in his mind, none of it felt plausible. His own charm surely hadn’t reached the level where someone would do something so utterly unhinged for him.

He couldn’t come up with a satisfying answer in the span of a moment.

Seeing no response, Jiang Yi understood that Qiu Rui was indeed suspicious of him.

He crossed his hands behind his head, lay back, and stared at the ceiling. He spoke slowly. “I know you suspect me. The whole thing is too coincidental and too strange. If I were you, I’d probably have suspicions too.”

Jiang Yi’s openness about it actually made Qiu Rui feel a little sheepish, and his suspicions began to waver.

Qiu Rui tested the waters cautiously. “You have no grievance with me — why would any of this be your doing? Chen Yuhe may genuinely be a coincidence.”

Seeing that Jiang Yi didn’t respond, Qiu Rui paused, then said thoughtfully, “I’ll trust her for now and see whether she can break the Soul-Trapping Formation. Qiu Chen went to such lengths to trap my spirit here — he wouldn’t be foolish enough to then send someone with supernatural abilities to make a scene for no reason. There would be absolutely no point in that.”

Jiang Yi still said nothing — neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

The position Jiang Yi was in right now was peculiar. He offered no defense of himself, wearing an air of aloof indifference in the way of someone whose conscience is clear.

Qiu Rui felt an inexplicable irritation at his attitude.

The truth was that Qiu Rui was conflicted. He suspected Jiang Yi, but deep down he didn’t want to put Jiang Yi on his list of suspects. He wanted Jiang Yi to explain himself.

If Jiang Yi just opened his mouth and said this had nothing to do with him, Qiu Rui would trust him completely.

But Jiang Yi held his tongue, and the silence left Qiu Rui feeling quietly unsettled. The steadiness and composure he usually carried were long gone.

This was a situation he had never faced before, and it was increasingly making him feel out of control.

Qiu Rui was plainly no longer able to sit still. “Jiang Yi, why aren’t you saying anything?”

There was a note of exasperation in his voice.

Yet the certain someone seemed entirely oblivious to his distress and tilted his head to say with perfectly guileless simplicity, “What do you want me to say?”

Qiu Rui completely lost his composure. His voice pitched upward slightly. “What to say? Are you not going to clear your own name?”

Could Jiang Yi and Chen Yuhe really be working together? Could all of this really be Jiang Yi’s doing?

Qiu Rui didn’t dare follow that thought any further — and he couldn’t even say why he didn’t dare.

All he knew was that he desperately needed to hear Jiang Yi deny it.

He wanted Jiang Yi to tell him loudly that this had nothing to do with him.

But Qiu Rui waited a long time, and Jiang Yi still said nothing. He simply looked at him, calm and steady, his dark eyes still and deep as a hidden spring within a deep pool — with no ripple of emotion to be seen.

Qiu Rui’s heart slowly sank. It was on the verge of falling into a bottomless abyss when Jiang Yi finally spoke. His voice was light, yet full of certainty. “Qiu Rui, you’re worried about me. You like me.”

Jiang Yi’s words were delivered with firm conviction, each syllable falling like a stone — landing one by one against Qiu Rui’s heart.

Each one struck a deep hollow — every hollow etched with astonishment and disbelief.

Qiu Rui’s eyes went wide. He stared at Jiang Yi with a look of bewilderment and helplessness — as if he hadn’t quite understood what Jiang Yi meant, or perhaps as if he understood perfectly but refused to admit it. But in an instant, all of those expressions were swiftly shuttered away. Qiu Rui reverted to his usual coldness, a contemptuous smile resting at the corner of his lips. “Ridiculous.”

Jiang Yi’s expression remained the same as before, only his gaze slowly grew deeper — like a dark vortex at the farthest reaches of the night sky.

“Qiu Rui, no matter how much you run from it, you can’t deceive your own heart. Your heart is already in turmoil — and I know very clearly that I’m the reason for it.”

Jiang Yi suddenly curved his lips into a smile — a smile unlike any Qiu Rui had ever seen from him. It carried a bewitching kind of magnetism, as though it could enchant the soul.

Qiu Rui’s heart gave a sudden lurch, and he felt a flash of nervousness and disorientation — so much so that he forgot entirely to refute the man’s words.

That brief moment of lost composure sent a surge of fury through Qiu Rui. He fixed Jiang Yi with a scornful, piercing look and said, “These past few days I thought you had grown somewhat, but you’re still just as self-righteous as ever, with not a shred of self-awareness.”

Jiang Yi only smiled — no refutation, no defense — calm in a way that was unsettling in its certainty.

“There are some things in this world that cannot be hidden.” Jiang Yi extended his hand, his fingertip pointing toward Qiu Rui’s heart. In a tone both serene and unwavering, he said, “Qiu Rui, it doesn’t matter that you’re not willing to admit it. The answer lies right here, and it will be the most truthful one. One day you will know that I am right — and that day will come very soon.”