So I Had No Choice But to Stop Being the White Moonlight – Chapter 4

Sharing a Bed with Shi Jinlan Until Death

Come here…

Can I not go over?

Shi Jinlan’s entire being carried an air of condescension. Though her face was pale and she had no more than her hands without an inch of steel¹, she radiated an aura that permitted no defiance.

The moment Shi Jinlan raised her hand to beckon, Chi Qian felt the sun outside the courtyard dim, and the lingering chill of early spring crept up her back.

Her steps heavy, she walked back into the sickroom and stood by Shi Jinlan’s bed. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing, I just have a question for you,” Shi Jinlan said coolly, yet she trailed off halfway through.

The black flames burned with a gentle silence. She watched Chi Qian approach, her gaze slowly traveling over Chi Qian’s body, observing—or rather, scrutinizing—her with a noble yet nonchalant air.

This person was trembling with fear, yet breathed a sigh of relief upon learning she could temporarily leave her side.

Is she… afraid of me?

What is she afraid of?

Could it be that she knows my identity?

She’s one of Shi Cheng’s people!

Unlikely.

She had been awake for so long, and she had yet to see a second person here.

Shi Cheng was not one to underestimate his enemies. Even if he wanted to lull her into a false sense of security, there should have been at least one other person in this sickroom to monitor her.

It was rather interesting, really. She was clearly the one who had been picked up, the one who should have been seeking shelter, yet she had somehow become the one holding all the power.

This person’s fear of her was inexplicable, yet she had audaciously concealed parts of the story of how she’d been rescued.

Over the years, Shi Jinlan had seen countless people fear her. There were those who submitted willingly, those who were secretly defiant, and even those who betrayed her.

But now, as Shi Jinlan looked at the person standing before her, she inexplicably felt that none of those categories fit.

Interesting.

The black flames flickered, and a faint smile suddenly crossed Shi Jinlan’s eyes.

The question of what happened last night was on the tip of her tongue, but Shi Jinlan changed her mind. “I still don’t know your name. I don’t know how to address you.”

Shi Jinlan just looked at Chi Qian, her gaze much softer than before, which made Chi Qian let out a huge sigh of relief upon hearing the question.

Right, how could she have forgotten that?

She had explained the story and the location, but she’d forgotten the characters’ names.

A serene smile, like that of someone who had just escaped death, appeared on Chi Qian’s face. She introduced herself to Shi Jinlan, “My name is Chi Qian. The Chi with the three-dot water radical, and the Qian with the three-dot water radical.”²

Shi Jinlan’s gaze paused for a moment as she mentally wrote out the name.

She was one to return a favor. After getting Chi Qian’s name, she gave her own in return. “My name is Shen Lan.”³

As if to match Chi Qian’s self-introduction, Shi Jinlan looked into her eyes and continued, “The Shen with the three-dot water radical, and the Lan with the three-dot water radical.”

Chi Qian was a little surprised. First, because Shi Jinlan had actually created a parallel response to her own introduction.

Second, she was different from others; she had approached Shi Jinlan with a purpose and already knew her name. The name Shen Lan was clearly one Shi Jinlan had fabricated to hide her identity.

But her mother’s surname isn’t Shen, so why make up a surname like that?

Could it really be just to create a neat parallel with my introduction?

My face⁴ must be huge.

Chi Qian raised an eyebrow, not forgetting to praise Shi Jinlan’s alias. “Shen Lan, huh? A very nice name. I’ll remember it.”

Shi Jinlan gave a slight nod, the high bridge of her nose dipping in Chi Qian’s line of sight.

No one spoke, and the surroundings fell quiet for a moment.

Chi Qian glanced cautiously at Shi Jinlan. Seeing that she didn’t seem to have anything else to say, she took the initiative to ask, “Miss Shen… is there anything else?”

“No.” Shi Jinlan shook her head slightly, her eyes on Chi Qian.

“Then I’ll go make you some congee?” Chi Qian hadn’t forgotten what she’d mentioned earlier. This was her life-saving straw⁵.

“Alright,” Shi Jinlan nodded.

“One moment.” Chi Qian immediately responded and turned to leave.

Thirteen had been squatting at the door, observing Chi Qian’s entire performance. After she came out, it lazily followed her.

【You’re so timid, Host.】 Thirteen drawled its complaint in her mind.

【You’re so brave, you go keep her company then,】 Chi Qian retorted. 【Don’t they say little animals are the best at capturing people’s hearts? Why don’t you help out your useless host, hm?】

【Animals are not permitted in the sickroom.】 Thirteen recited, straight-faced, from the sign Chi Qingyan had specifically put up for it at the door.

Chi Qian let out a derisive “Hmph.” 【Admit it, you’re scared of Shi Jinlan too.】

【Systems do not have emotions,】 Thirteen replied.

Chi Qian glanced at Thirteen before stepping into the kitchen.

Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if Thirteen just disliked being close to people or if it was genuinely afraid of Shi Jinlan.

She’d have to find a day to test it out.

Chi Qian secretly planted the idea in her mind as she went to the kitchen to boil water and wash rice, deftly starting the congee.

Steam soon rose from the pot as the white rice grains crowded together, gradually turning thick and sticky.

Chi Qian stirred slowly with a wooden spoon, calling out to Thirteen through the billowing steam as if lost in thought. “Thirteen.”

“Meow~” Thirteen, who had been engrossed in licking its fur, meowed in response.

【Hypothetically—and I’m just saying hypothetically, this isn’t fact, nor does it represent my true thoughts.】 Chi Qian first built up a thick wall of disclaimers. 【Hypothetically, if I fail to conquer Shi Jinlan after a long time, will Shi Jinlan and I just stay on this island forever? And the world will just… come to a standstill?】

【No,】 Thirteen denied. 【The Host is currently unable to influence the world’s development.】

Chi Qian was instantly relieved. 【Oh, good.】

Thirteen glanced at the relieved Chi Qian and hopped gracefully from the floor to the stovetop. 【The Host will either be sent back to the beginning of the story to restart, or be destroyed by the main system. It all depends on the Host’s contribution level.】

“!” Chi Qian was shocked. What kind of terrifying cycle was this?

Thirteen sat down unhurriedly and continued its reminder: 【Therefore, the Host should not think about avoiding Shi Jinlan and dragging things out until the plot ends.】

Chi Qian pressed her lips together. I’ve been seen through.

But she still wanted to struggle a bit. While ladling the cooked congee into a bowl, she complained to Thirteen, 【But I’m under so much pressure when I have to face Shi Jinlan, you know?】

【Please overcome the pressure and continue to work hard, Host.】 Thirteen’s cold, merciless voice once again appeared in Chi Qian’s mind.

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A cool breeze blew through the courtyard, making the dried fish hanging there sway.

By the time Chi Qian returned to the sickroom with the congee, she saw that the door she had closed upon leaving was now open. An old man’s ramrod-straight back blocked the view of the innermost sickbed.

Chi Qingyan was back and was taking Shi Jinlan’s pulse and treating her.

His aged hands were covered in the traces of time, yet they remained steady, not dulled by the years.

Chi Qingyan pinched a silver needle and slowly but firmly inserted it into Shi Jinlan’s leg.

Her well-proportioned legs were covered in wounds of all sizes. The scabs were even more unsettling than the open sores, their reddish-brown color clinging to her fair skin, grotesque and terrifying, obscuring the smooth, delicate texture that should have been there.

Just looking from a distance made Chi Qian’s heart ache, and she was reminded of the original novel’s setup.

Shi Jinlan was betrayed by someone close to her, poisoned, and paralyzed, spending a long time in a wheelchair. After recovering enough to stand, her left leg was still impaired, requiring a cane for support.

Everyone said that ever since Shi Jinlan returned to the Shi family, her temperament had grown more vicious and gloomy, her methods more ruthless, her paranoia more severe. She was completely unpredictable.

But no one ever considered why she had become that way.

They only said she had everything now, that sweetness comes after the bitterness ends⁶, and that no matter how bad her past experiences were, they were nothing.

How could that be nothing?

Standing at the door, Chi Qian inexplicably felt that the black flames enveloping Shi Jinlan were burning even more fiercely.

Chi Qingyan unhurriedly removed the silver needles from Shi Jinlan’s leg. He had seen last night that her injuries were more than just external. He opened his mouth and said, “This poison is hidden quite deep. It’s clearly meant to kill without a trace.”

Shi Jinlan listened silently to Chi Qingyan’s assessment, her expression grave.

She had sensed she’d been poisoned even before she jumped off the cliff. If she hadn’t been lucky enough to be saved by Chi Qian, and if this old gentleman hadn’t been here, she would now be a corpse sunk at the bottom of the sea.

At this thought, Shi Jinlan’s hands clenched a little tighter.

“Who harmed you?” Chi Qingyan asked, his expression serious.

Shi Jinlan’s lips were sealed tight; she said nothing in response to his question.

Ordinary people couldn’t get close to her. The only ones who could have poisoned her were those by her side.

The setting sun hung on the tips of newly budded branches, burning the world crimson.

She had been forced to the cliff’s edge, watching as Shi Cheng led his people to surround her so tightly that not even water could leak through⁷. She never would have imagined that her personal housekeeper, the auntie⁸ who had raised her, would be standing by Shi Cheng’s side, watching coldly as she went to her death.

In that instant, rage, hatred, and even a heart-chilling coldness that felt like the slice of a knife were all swept up, surging toward Shi Jinlan from all directions.

She would always rather break than bend⁹. She gazed at the faces, both familiar and strange, and in the face of Shi Cheng’s offer of surrender, she gave a cold laugh and, turning, leaped.

【What complex flames.】

Chi Qian watched from afar. The black flames, which had been calm and gentle just moments ago, were now swirling and burning around Shi Jinlan after Chi Qingyan’s question.

They leaped and swayed, now thick, now thin, like a great inferno.

It raged violently, threatening to burn everything around it to ashes, devouring even Shi Jinlan herself as a sacrifice.

【She’s thinking about what happened before,】 Thirteen said.

【So she must be sad, too,】 Chi Qian’s gaze was deep, an inexplicable empathy stirring in her heart.

Chi Qian didn’t see Shi Jinlan as the great villain everyone in the book feared, but only as an ordinary person enveloped by her emotions.

She looked at the slender shoulders leaning against the pillow, the fair skin that had been so well cared for now covered in wounds, pale and withered, not a single spot intact. It felt cruel.

【Perhaps,】 Thirteen agreed.

This was one of the rare times it shared Chi Qian’s viewpoint, though for different reasons. 【Which is why she needs you very much, Host.】

【Can you not remind me about the mission at a time like this?】 Chi Qian gave the mission-reminding Thirteen a speechless look.

But Thirteen looked up at the unmoved Chi Qian and let out a high-pitched “Meow” into the sickroom.

The sound was so delicate and exceptionally clear in the silence that it instantly sold out Chi Qian, who had been eavesdropping at the door.

Shi Jinlan’s downcast eyes shot up.

The sea breeze swept Chi Qian’s long hair across her face. In a flash of lightning and spark of flint¹⁰, a gaze sharp enough to kill shot toward her forehead.

In the past, Chi Qian thought the most terrifying thing in the world was a program she had confidently written running into a bug.

Now, she realized how naive she’d been. Something a hundred times more terrifying had appeared in her world—Shi Jinlan.

Her dark pupils were nailed to Chi Qian’s face, sinister and cold, her gloominess tinged with displeasure and hostility. This completely subconscious reaction was enough to make anyone tremble.

Help…

Chi Qingyan, at her side, was also startled by Shi Jinlan’s sharp gaze, which only further confirmed his belief that this child was no ordinary person.

He composed himself slightly and, under Shi Jinlan’s locked gaze, came to Chi Qian’s rescue. “What are you doing standing in the doorway, you child? Hurry up and come in.”

“Oh, oh.” Rescued from Shi Jinlan’s death stare by Chi Qingyan, Chi Qian carried the congee into the sickroom, mentally cursing Thirteen one hundred and eighty times over.

After she was done cursing, Chi Qian placed the bowl on the table. “I remembered that patients can’t eat inflammatory foods¹¹, so I only made plain white congee.”

She was speaking to Shi Jinlan, but she didn’t dare look at her, only at Chi Qingyan.

Chi Qingyan nodded in gratification. “You’ve finally shown some improvement.”

Everyone in the sickroom was family, so Chi Qingyan didn’t try to be discreet, continuing the previous topic with Shi Jinlan. “Go ahead and have the congee first. As for the things I asked you, if you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to. Just stay here and rest easy, heal your leg, and clear out the poison. When you have money someday, remember to come back and pay for the medicine.”

His words were meant to conclude the matter, which took Shi Jinlan by surprise.

She could tell that this old gentleman was much shrewder than Chi Qian.

She was surrounded by danger, and the poison in her body was not easy to treat. A normal person wouldn’t go looking for trouble, yet the people in this house, one old and one young, had brought a troublemaker like her home.

Shi Jinlan couldn’t understand such behavior.

But she needed a place like this to recuperate and heal, to bide her time for the future.

So she nodded her head, a newfound respect for Chi Qingyan in her gesture. “Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t thank me, thank her.” Chi Qingyan looked helplessly at Chi Qian. “She’s the one who rescued you in the middle of a storm. Ever since she was little, whatever this brat picks up, she insists I have to heal it. If I didn’t let you stay, I don’t even know what kind of fuss she’d kick up.”

A fuss?

She’s so afraid of me, yet she’d kick up a fuss to keep me here?

Am I, in such a wretched state and without any value, worth saving?

Shi Jinlan’s expression was unreadable as she glanced discreetly at Chi Qian.

The frosted glass on the door filtered and refracted a beam of light, which flickered like a golden flame and leaped into Chi Qian’s eyes. Her brownish pupils were tinted gold, a fire burning within them, clean and limpid, without a trace of impurity.

For someone accustomed to seeing unfathomable schemes through people’s eyes, such purity was, paradoxically, what made Shi Jinlan unable to see through her.

And this person had proven with her actions last night that she was, to some extent, worth it.

Worth it.

The flames around Shi Jinlan suddenly flickered. The inky fire turned as gentle as spilled ink, merging with the surrounding sunlight, showing none of its previous terrifying ferocity.

Chi Qian’s gaze froze for a moment.

She wondered if she had seen wrong.

But the flames maintained this state for a full two seconds before returning to their original form.

Chi Qian was certain this couldn’t be a hallucination brought on by her extreme fear.

Was it because of what Grandpa just said?

Did my grandpa just help me score points with Shi Jinlan?

Chi Qian stood to the side, the corners of her eyes revealing a hint of unconcealable glee.

After this long day, there was finally something that made her happy.

Good people get good rewards, good people get good rewards!

“Alright.” Chi Qingyan glanced at his watch, cutting the chatter short. “Since we’ve gotten this far, go and clean up that dog kennel of yours. It’s not convenient for a young lady to stay in the sickroom. From now on, she’ll live with you.”

“Why?!” One second Chi Qian was basking in the joy of her grandfather’s assist, the next he had given her another “big assist.”

Her room was the size of a palm, with a large bed taking up most of the space, leaving no room for a second one.

If Shi Jinlan moved in, they could only share a bed and pillow.

Just the thought of sleeping in the same bed as Shi Jinlan made Chi Qian feel immense pressure.

No, I have to find an excu—

“Miss Shen still has residual poison in her body, and I’m worried it might act up. If you two live together, Qianqian can discover any problems right away, so no time is wasted,” Chi Qingyan explained to Shi Jinlan, shattering Chi Qian’s plan to find an excuse to separate them.

Shi Jinlan sat listening and expressed her agreement with Chi Qingyan’s arrangement. “Your consideration is very thorough.”

Living in the same room as Chi Qian was not what she had wanted, but it was within her expectations.

This place was managed entirely by the old gentleman. The conditions couldn’t compare to her home, and there would be no professional caregivers.

Since you have come, you should make yourself at home¹². She had no choice.

Chi Qian thought so too.

But she was clearly not accepting it as quickly as Shi Jinlan.

In the original novel, Shi Jinlan’s poison wasn’t fully cleared until just before the island story arc ended.

This meant she would be sharing a bed with Shi Jinlan until death.

And she meant “death” in the most physical sense of the word.

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The author has something to say:

Ah Qian¹³ now: Wuwuwu, so scary QAQ, nooooo…….

Ah Qian later: Wifey~ when are we going to sleepy-sleep~

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