So I Had No Choice But to Stop Being the White Moonlight – Chapter 15

“Not Coming In?”

The noon sunlight sprinkled dazzlingly into the courtyard, the ever-deepening sense of spring dispelling the winter’s chill.

Shi Jinlan looked at the words on the card, then quietly raised her eyes to Chi Qian. “Couples?”

Her pitch-black pupils were shrouded in sunlight, bright yet dark, her calm expression holding a smile laden with hidden meaning.

Chi Qian felt that Shi Jinlan was scary when she was expressionless, scary when the flames danced, and even scarier when she smiled faintly like this.

She was the moon in the sky that allowed no offense¹.

Chi Qian squeezed the card in her hand, feeling it was a kind of blasphemy.

“I think he must have taken the wrong card.” Chi Qian denied it with righteous words². “Don’t worry, I’ll go find him. He probably hasn’t gone far.”

Saying that, Chi Qian stuffed the card into her pocket and prepared to go out and chase after Zhou Xingjun.

But she didn’t expect to take more than two steps before running right into Chi Qingyan, who was returning from his free clinic.

“Grandpa.” Chi Qian stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the man walk into the courtyard.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Chi Qingyan asked Chi Qian with a smile, unhurriedly pulling her back.

“Just now, Auntie Zhou’s son delivered a hot spring card, but he gave us the wrong one. I’m going to find him to exchange it,” Chi Qian said, about to dash outside again.

But Chi Qingyan kept hold of her. “It’s not wrong. I was the one who had him give it to you.”

“Grandpa, he gave us a couples’ VIP card.” Chi Qian, thinking Chi Qingyan didn’t know what kind of card it was, quickly pulled it out of her pocket.

“I know. At this time of year, the hot springs in the couples’ rooms at Auntie Zhou’s place are the best.” Chi Qingyan slowly glanced at the card in Chi Qian’s hand. “Besides, it’s just a name. Why do you care so much?”

Chi Qingyan had words within his words³.

He was helping his patient find a method of treatment, but that didn’t mean he approved of Chi Qian’s maiden’s heart being secretly given⁴.

By directly bringing these two ambiguous words out into the open to be denied, he was also reminding Chi Qian not to overthink things——the couples’ room wasn’t real, and neither were she and Miss Shen.

Chi Qian understood. Squeezing the card in her hand, she also understood the aftertaste.

That’s right, she and Shi Jinlan will never be real, so what am I so nervous about?

“Miss Shen has too much cold qi⁵ in her body. Soaking in a hot spring will be very good for her. And it’s also beneficial for your asthma to stay in a warm, humid place for a while,” Chi Qingyan said.

If Chi Qingyan hadn’t mentioned it, Chi Qian would have almost forgotten she had this debuff⁶.

The original owner of this body was not Chi Qingyan’s biological granddaughter.

Back then, because the original owner had severe asthma, she was abandoned by her family on the island. It was Chi Qingyan who adopted and meticulously cared for her, allowing her to survive.

Although Chi Qian had been here for nearly two months and hadn’t had an attack yet, and Thirteen had said she wouldn’t die before she and Shi Jinlan achieved “mutual affection and admiration⁷,” this body still needed to be properly maintained.

Besides.

Chi Qingyan’s medicine was too bitter.

Chi Qian couldn’t handle bitterness, and it seemed her body couldn’t either. The very thought of taking the medicine made her shiver.

With a fawning smile on her face, she said to Shi Jinlan, “Then I’m basking in Miss Shen’s light⁸.”

“It doesn’t count,” Shi Jinlan said in a faint voice.

She had also just learned that this person actually had asthma.

And even so, she still dared to go into the water to save me that night.

Shi Jinlan subconsciously pressed her lips together.

The sunlight fell upon her lips, scattering freely, blanketing them in warmth.

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Since Chi Qingyan had planned the hot spring soak as part of Shi Jinlan’s treatment, Chi Qian didn’t delay.

She packed a few simple things, and the next day, she took Shi Jinlan to Auntie Zhou’s hot spring B&B.

Most of the island’s hot springs were on the mountain, so the hot spring B&B was also located towards the back of the island, built around the springs.

But in recent years, the island had vigorously developed its tourism culture, so the road to the B&B was much better than the one leading from the Chi family home.

Waves lapped against the narrow beach beneath the steep cliffs, the sound of the surf unrestrained as it carried along the road from the back of the mountain.

The tall trees, fed by the spring sun, grew ever more lush. Green shade was cast down, and a cool wind blew, bringing a rustling sound.

“Qianqian’s here! Who’s this?”

“This is my classmate. She got tired of walking and is playing with the wheelchair.”

“The ways you kids have fun are really something else. If your grandpa found out, he’d surely scold you.”

“Then please don’t tell my grandpa.”

“I know, I know.”

…

Thanks to Chi Qingyan’s blessing⁹, almost everyone on the island knew Chi Qian.

On the way to Auntie Zhou’s hot spring inn while pushing Shi Jinlan, many people greeted her, and it was unavoidable that their gazes would fall on Shi Jinlan, and on her legs.

The pitch-black flames were like the shadows cast by the green shade on Shi Jinlan’s body. As the light and shadows shifted, it too was jumping.

Actually, even without the flames’ reminder, Chi Qian could sense Shi Jinlan’s displeasure at facing these curious, appraising gazes.

Especially with someone like herself, who was known by the entire island, by her side. This trip was practically a double-stacked buff¹⁰.

Thinking about the inevitable pleasantries during check-in at the inn, and how the conversation would surely turn to Shi Jinlan, Chi Qian simply said to her, “Do you want me to take you around the back first? We have the card anyway, I can go find Auntie Zhou to do the check-in procedures later.”

“No need,” Shi Jinlan refused.

She sat upright in the wheelchair, leaving Chi Qian with the sight of a straight and distant back. “You go check in. I can get to the room by myself.”

As she said this, the hand resting on her lap moved to the wheel.

The wheelchair moved forward silently and at a steady pace, gradually leaving Chi Qian’s hands.

The wind, filtered through the green leaves, carried a hint of coolness as it suddenly passed through Chi Qian’s palm.

She inexplicably paused in place for a step, then clenched her now-empty hand and said to Shi Jinlan, “Then watch your step.”

“Mm,” Shi Jinlan nodded.

A gust of wind blew past, and the tree shadows on their bodies suddenly fell into disarray.

After these few days of recuperation, the scabs on Shi Jinlan’s fingers had already fallen off. A few lines of tender new flesh crossed her fair skin, a faint pink, like a frail new life.

Chi Qian stared blankly at that back for a long time, and a sentence suddenly popped into her head.

【She will gradually recover.
They will also, sooner or later, part ways.】

The thought came without a beginning or an end¹¹. Chi Qian frowned, a rare sight.

Her heart felt inexplicably stuffy. She threw two punches at the air, telling herself not to pay any mind to this sudden appearance of squeamish literature¹².

The strategy guide¹³ isn’t even finished yet, what’s all this talk about parting ways.

With that thought, Chi Qian returned to her usual heartless and lungless¹⁴ self.

Chi Qingyan had told them to stay for four or five days, so Chi Qian booked a room for five days.

After checking in, the young lady at the front desk even gave her a fruit platter.

“Miss Shen, sorry to keep you waiting.” Finding the room number, Chi Qian pushed the door open.

The room was quiet; no one answered her greeting.

Chi Qian put down the fruit platter she was carrying. Seeing no one in the living room, she couldn’t resist secretly popping a holy maiden fruit¹⁵ into her mouth, thinking: It’s just one tiny fruit, Shi Jinlan probably won’t even notice.

The fruit’s juice burst in Chi Qian’s mouth, so sour it made her squint.

She continued to eat while looking around for Shi Jinlan. “Miss Shen?”

She passed through the living room, the bedroom, and even checked the bathroom, but still couldn’t find Shi Jinlan.

Suspicion rose in her heart as she stood before the last door——this one led to the private hot spring that came with the suite.

The mist curled upwards. The moment she opened the door, a white vapor rushed towards her.

A figure was held within the stone-piled pool. Long, black hair fanned out in the water, and the dense vapor circled around a touch of cold-white shoulders and neck.

Shi Jinlan was sitting upright in the hot spring pool.

Her thin dress was hanging on the wheelchair; only a bath towel accompanied her.

Layer after layer of hot steam pressed in, baking one’s face red.

Chi Qian stood frozen on the spot, her eyes flickering. The opened door had already betrayed the fact that she had entered. Now, she could neither advance nor retreat.

The water rippled. Hearing the sound, Shi Jinlan turned around, neither hurried nor slow.

Her clear and cold eyes and brows were hidden in the warm mist, and her voice was also tinged with its temperature. “Not coming in?”

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The author has something to say:

Hehehe~ Bring A-ma¹⁶ along, okay?~

PS: Made a small revision to the previous chapters. In Chapter 12, when Qianqian went out in the morning, it was to buy a phone for Lanlan.

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