The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

Just like that, Ji Feifei was charged with multiple crimes. Most of the crimes, despite her not doing them personally, she hired the people to do it, so she was still held responsible for them. However, Ji Feifei refused to admit her crimes, and the pieces of evidence were not enough to prove her guilty. Thus the court decided to hold a hearing session again in the coming month. Meanwhile, she was detained in the jail

Ji Xiehan, Xia Luna, and Li Lanni were determined to use this time to find more evidence -- and they believed they could do it as long as they worked hard.

Ji Xiehan had discussed with his parents and, because they knew that their daughter was in the wrong too, they did not meddle.

~~ "It’s for her own good." Ji Huifen embraced his sobbing wife and coaxed. "If we keep giving in to her, she will never learn a lesson. Eventually, she will suffer worse consequences if she does worse things."~~

Although Madam Ji was sad, she couldn’t deny that her husband was right. Her son had been right too. She had just been too stubborn to listen to him.

Now she couldn’t help feeling even more guilty. She loved her daughter very much - it was only reasonable for a mother to love her daughter - but because of her maternal love, she had become blinded and couldn’t see her daughter’s mistakes.

She had blindly believed that her daughter had been wronged and even blamed and cursed at Li Lanni for bullying her daughter, without knowing that she was blaming the victim.

Her eyes watered in guilt and embarrassment. Thinking of how the girl she had offended was the girl that her son loved so much, she felt even worse.

___

On Monday.

It had been two days ever since Ji Feifei’s matter blew up. It was now all over the news.

Most of Madam Ji’s ’closest friends’ had been mocking her for having such a daughter.

She laughed bitterly when she thought she about her so-called true friends. Those were the people that would usually suck up to her in every way.

The minute she was down, everyone started throwing stones on her.

Only one of the people who she didn’t even consider to be close to her all this while was her true friend. That was Madam Jiang. Even though their sons were best friends, she had always thought that Madam Jiang was a pretentious woman who acted too modest and never behaved like a woman of her class.

This incident was an eye-opener for her and she realized just how wrong she had been about her.

When all her friends were avoiding her, only she came to her house to meet her. That day both of them had a heart-to-heart conversation. When Madam Jiang heard how Madam Ji had opposed Li Lanni and cursed at her, she fumed at her friend, and she gave her almost a whole hour’s worth of scolding.

"Are you kidding me? Your daughter wronged that girl so many times, and you have nothing to say?"

Madam Ji lamented. "What can I say? That girl must hate me. I was so rude to her."

"Then apologize." Madam Jiang berated. Wasn’t that what anyone should do if they made a mistake?

"I cannot see her let alone speak to her. She will not give me even a minute." It wasn’t that she had not tried to talk to Li Lanni the day before but failed even to get to see her.

Madam Jiang thought about it and smiled. "Don’t worry. I know what to do. You just make sure you don’t say something mean because if you do, you would rather not apologize at all."

"I’m not that shallow."

Hence they made their way to Star Art International.

Li Lanni was done with her class early, but she had a pending assignment to do, so she stayed back to complete it. Cheng Yu had nothing to do at home, so she stayed back to keep her company and, while doing so she started reviewing her classwork. At that time, the two of them were the only ones left in the studio.

While the girls went on with their comics, a middle-aged woman walked in.

Li Lanni looked up at her and smiled when she recognized this woman. "Madam Jiang." She stood out of politeness to greet her, and so did Cheng Yu.

Madam Jiang’s smile deepened even more. These girls were so polite. "You don’t need to be so formal. I’m just walking around."

"Oh..." Li Lanni wondered how one could be casual towards Madam Jiang.

This was the big boss’s mother, after all.

She was still rambling mentally when Madam Jiang spoke up. "Lanni, do you have a minute?"

Li Lanni wondered why Madam Jiang would want to speak to her. Had she done something against the company policy? Was it about how she had told on one of her classmates? But that was long ago. If they wanted to punish her or terminate her classes, they should have done so long ago, right?

Despite her nervousness, she kept a neutral expression and followed Madam Jiang.

But Madam Jiang could still perceive her anxiousness and smiled "You don’t need to be so uneasy. I just called you for a casual chat."

Li Lanni smiled in response and eased a bit.

Madam Jiang brought her to the employee’s cafeteria, where Madam Ji was waiting.

Outside the door, she took Li Lanni’s hand and pleaded. "My friend may not be one of the people you want to see. But could you please hear her out?"

Li Lanni was embarrassed that such a prominent woman was so gentle with her, so she nodded.

But as soon as they walked in, her face froze. Madam Ji, out of all people?

"Go on." Madam Jiang urged.

Li Lanni wanted nothing more than to turn back and walk right out. But thinking about it again, she decided that running away wouldn’t do her any good. It was better to hear what she had to say. If this were about Ji Xiehan again, she would drag him here by the ear and let his mother tell him to stay away from her.

"Nice to meet you again, Madam Ji." Li Lanni politely greeted, but her eyes were cold.

Madam Ji also sensed her mood, but she didn’t get upset. It was her fault, to begin with.

"Nice to see you again too. Please sit."

Afraid that the girl would get angry and simply walk away, she went straight to the point. "I came here to apologize on behalf of Feifei."

"Oh." Was all Li Lanni uttered. Apology? Li Lanni didn’t feel the need for that. What would it change? Besides, "I suggest you apologize to all those girls whose lives were ruined by her. But then again, they don’t need it. An apology will not make them happier, nor will compensation return what they lost. One of those girls even lost her ability to walk. Can an apology cover that? If you are here to convince me to cancel the suit against your daughter, you better try the others. But I bet they don’t even want to see you."

At the side, Madam Jiang was impressed. This girl was so sharp-tongued, but it was not overboard. Everything she said made sense. For some things, it was too late to apologize.

Madam Ji knew this too. That was why she didn’t insist on it. "I know Feifei cannot be pardoned so easily.

Aside from this, I also came to apologize for myself."

This surprised Li Lanni.

"I was too shallow-minded and said mean things to you. I didn’t know what Feifei had done to you, and I thought you were a bad girl." She tore off all her pride and continued. "Henceforth, I will no longer judge people until I know them well enough. Can you please forgive me?"

Li Lanni looked at the woman before her in shock. Was Madam Ji seriously asking for her forgiveness?

She had long known that Madam Ji was a proud woman. Besides, she was a senior. She hadn’t expected that she would swallow her pride and apologize to a little girl like her.

But looking at her now, she looked like just any other remorseful person.

If she dwelt on the matter for too long, it would be unreasonable on her part. So Li Lanni blankly said, "I forgive you.

However, I do have a question that I wanted to ask you since we met the first time."

Madam Ji was elated that Li Lanni was willing to forgive her, so she urged her," Go on."

"I wanted to know why you hate my mother and me so much; may I know where your prejudice was coming from? "

She had thought that she had pushed her luck too far, and Madam Ji would definitely scold her and walk off, considering the amount of hatred she had for them. But to her shock, she answered. "I don’t actually hate you. I was just upset."