A Billion Stars Can’t Amount to You

After clicking send, Ji Yi thought about it and added a few words: ”What about you? Have you had dinner?”

”Mhm, I ate.” He Jichen probably wasn’t busy as he replied as fast as before.

As Ji Yi was about to start eating, she saw He Jichen’s reply. She shoved the spoon into her mouth then started to type on the keyboard again. ”I was on Weibo today and saw the reactions of people online. With the scandal cleared up a few days ago, loads of people ran to my Weibo to apologize. I also went onto Qian Ge’s Weibo and saw that everyone was hating on her so badly...”

Out of habit, Ji Yi unloaded to He Jichen everything she had on her mind when she was browsing Weibo before she fell asleep.

She sent a really long message, so He Jichen was probably reading every single word carefully. After some time, she received his message. ”She deserved it.”

Ji Yi knew He Jichen’s reply was meant for Qian Ge, so she couldn’t help but smile a little with food still in her mouth.

She put down her spoon and chewed on her food as she continued to message He Jichen.

She didn’t linger on what was happening on Weibo for too long and changed the topic right away. ”What are you doing right now?”

”Looking at the night sky.”

”Does it look nice?”

After clicking ”send,” the words ”message read” appeared on the screen. Then an incoming video call from He Jichen came through.

Ji Yi instinctively looked into the mirror in front of the dining table. She fixed her messy bedhead then took the call.

Ji Yi knew He Jichen couldn’t have known she had to fix herself up in the mirror before the call. However, after He Jichen’s handsome good looks appeared on the screen, she still felt self-conscious and tried to cover up for herself by saying, ”I went to heat up some soup just now.”

Oh god! I wasn’t like this before. Could it be that women in love have all kinds of weird thoughts?

In contrast to Ji Yi’s racing mind, He Jichen was a little sluggish to take the call. He didn’t mind at all and let out a gentle ”Mhm” then turned the phone camera.

All of a sudden, his view of the night sky with a million lights appeared on Ji Yi’s phone screen.

She’d stayed in his house before. When she couldn’t sleep before, she walked to his balcony to get some air, so she knew He Jichen was on the bedroom balcony of his apartment.

The night sky really was beautiful.

Multicolored neon lights brightly illuminated the night.

Opposite He Jichen’s apartment was an office building. Apart from the lights from the company’s advertisements, a lot of windows were dark.

The floor of the office building at the same level as He Jichen’s apartment was a wedding events company. The slogan on the ad sounded particularly touching: ”A billion stars can’t amount to you.”

Ji Yi stared at those words for a while and couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle.

”What’s up?” asked He Jichen when he caught her laughing.

”I’m laughing at the slogan on the ad opposite your balcony: ’A billion stars can’t amount to you’ (Yi Wan Xing Chen Bu Ji Ni). Don’t you think our names are in this phrase?” Ji Yi further explained to He Jichen, ”The ’Yi’ in ’Yi Wan’ sounds the same as the ’Yi’ in ’Ji Yi,’ and the ’Chen’ in ’Xing Chen’ sounds like Ji Chen. Don’t you think it’s a coincidence?”

On the other side, He Jichen didn’t say anything for a long time.

Ji Yi couldn’t help but speak up again. ”He Jichen? Are you listening to what I’m saying?”

”Mhm, yeah.” He Jichen’s voice came clearly out of the phone. ”It’s a coincidence.”