So I Had No Choice But to Stop Being the White Moonlight – Chapter 67

I’m Not Going to Be the White Moonlight

Cannot Escape

Sunlight pierced the glass, flooding the room and igniting the restless possessiveness buried deep in her blood.

Chi Qian was enveloped in Shi Jinlan’s presence. The cool air traced the outline of every warm breath, which fell entirely upon her lips.

She’d fallen for it.

Shi Jinlan was kissing her again.

Compared to her own plundering kiss from moments before, this one was unhurried and deliberate.

The hand hanging at Shi Jinlan’s side wandered up Chi Qian’s arm, stroking past her elbow and wrist before pressing against her fingertips. It kneaded them wantonly in time with the kiss, a touch that seemed both casual and exceptionally focused.

Shi Jinlan’s movements were perfectly in sync with hers. The press of a tongue brought on a sunshower in a tropical rainforest.

A line of lightning streaked across the sky of Chi Qian’s world. The current struck in an instant, sending a paralyzing tingle down her spine.

In the quiet space, Chi Qian could once again hear the frantic pounding of her own heart.

She was forced to stand there, sliding into Shi Jinlan’s grasp. A cool breeze drifted through her hair, and in a daze, she felt as if she had been in this exact position with someone before, at some unknown time in the past.

The wind back then had been far more natural than the air here.

Then, too, a hand had clamped around her waist, leaving her with no room to advance or retreat. The air had been thick with the scent of nameless flowers, and her lips had been damp from being lingered upon again and again.

Knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly, a rap sounded on the door facing the desk.

Chi Qian’s body went rigid. Her first instinct was to shove Shi Jinlan away and flee, but her waist and fingers were held in a death grip. She couldn’t escape.

“Shi—”

Chi Qian’s hands were on Shi Jinlan’s shoulders. She had just started to speak when Ah Ning’s voice came from the doorway. “Miss, the board members have all arrived.”

The sun drew a human silhouette on the one-way frosted glass; that tall, straight shadow stood right against the door.

It didn’t seem like Ah Ning intended to push the door open, but Chi Qian couldn’t be sure. Her entire body tensed up.

Though Shi Jinlan often wanted to show Chi Qian off openly, at this moment, she had no desire to share the sight of her with anyone.

A thin layer of fabric clung to a slender back. One second, she was soft enough to melt in her palm; the next, she was a tightly wound spring.

Displeasure spread from between Shi Jinlan’s brows. She knew there was a meeting, of course, but she’d never felt time pass so quickly.

She couldn’t even have one satisfying kiss.

Shi Jinlan released Chi Qian, her expression returning to its usual cold, calm mask.

“You’re right, I don’t hear that sound anymore.” She still remembered the excuse she’d used to pull Chi Qian in for the kiss, her face a picture of earnestness. “I must have misheard.”

Completely fixated on the shadow at the door, Chi Qian didn’t notice Shi Jinlan’s performance at all. She just let out a sigh of relief and played along. “It could also be that the equipment here is too old, so it makes a buzzing sound.”

“Mm,” Shi Jinlan nodded.

She remained seated, looking up at Chi Qian and agreeing with her.

Her hand, now resting on Chi Qian’s waist, had lost its predatory edge. It now traced the line of her spine with a gentle, idle touch.

“Go back early. You said you would welcome me,” Shi Jinlan said.

Chi Qian had no idea how many things Shi Jinlan had to deal with every day, nor how large her brain’s capacity was.

It was just something she had agreed to during a video call the other day, yet Shi Jinlan still remembered it.

The kiss was over, but the distance between them hadn’t increased in the slightest.

Chi Qian’s legs were still held between Shi Jinlan’s. Even after exchanging a few words, their breathing hadn’t calmed down. The summer heat was slow to dissipate, and Shi Jinlan’s crisp fragrance filled her chest.

Chi Qian felt that if she didn’t pull away, she’d never be able to catch her breath. She gently poked the hand holding her. “First, could you let go of me?”

Shi Jinlan chuckled. She deliberately gave Chi Qian’s waist another squeeze and chided, “Little one with no conscience.”¹

Chi Qian seized the opportunity to finally put some space between them. “Do one line, love one line,”² she said slyly. “I’m actually very professional, Miss Shi.”

As she spoke, she stood up straight in front of Shi Jinlan, as if demonstrating her professional etiquette.

Hearing this, Shi Jinlan’s raised gaze shifted. “Professional?”

She singled out the word Chi Qian had just emphasized, chewing on it as she pressed with unclear meaning, “Are you always this professional?”

The air conditioner seemed to be malfunctioning. A sudden blast of cold air swept over Chi Qian’s ankles.

She didn’t know why, but she felt a change in Shi Jinlan’s eyes. Those pitch-black pupils stared right at her, like an abyss.

Chi Qian swallowed, her eyes filled with a nervous confusion.

She had no idea what she’d said wrong and didn’t dare make a move. She could only ask cautiously, “Is being professional not a good thing?”

“It’s very good,” Shi Jinlan said without hesitation, affirming her question. Then, she brushed past Chi Qian and rose from her chair.

The heat that she’d said wouldn’t be easily dispelled was now completely suppressed by the cold air.

The clean fragrance left with its owner. Shi Jinlan walked toward the door, tossing a final sentence over her shoulder. “Go back early.”

There was still a layer of warmth in her tone.

“And don’t be by yourself from now on. Remember to have the bodyguards with you.”

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The successive kisses and the parting instructions couldn’t erase everything else. As Chi Qian sat in the car on the way home, her mind was half-occupied with the electrical sound Shi Jinlan had heard and half with her final displeasure.

She could tell that Shi Jinlan’s last reminder was out of concern for her, a way of telling her not to dwell on what had just happened.

She didn’t want them to part on bad terms.

But the question remained.

Why would Shi Jinlan be unhappy about her being “professional”?

Wasn’t being professional a good thing?

She had just been professional enough to kiss her…

【Host, wuwuwuwuwu, Host—!!】

As Chi Qian’s brow furrowed, a wail even more miserable than her own thoughts echoed in her ears.

The car arrived home, and Thirteen had finally rolled back from the ends of the earth.

A small ball suddenly inflated, then deflated, panting and looking utterly pathetic.

【Host! I almost didn’t make it back!】 Thirteen cried.

【Huh? What happened to you?】 Chi Qian hadn’t known Thirteen had rolled away; she’d just been wondering why it was so quiet in her head.

【Well, I was trying to break through the barrier to warn you when I got punched by some unknown force and went rolling really far away!】 Thirteen poured out its grievances in Chi Qian’s mind, starting from how it was pushed far, far away to how it managed to get back, nearly crying as it recounted the tale.

“How pitiful,” Chi Qian murmured as she listened, closing her bedroom door.

【But how could that happen?】 Chi Qian found the story incredible. As she spoke, she pulled the standard maid’s uniform from her closet.

Since she had just upset Shi Jinlan, she wanted to do a better job of welcoming her home.

She felt she should be more formal for such an occasion, which was why she’d sought out this outfit.

【I don’t know either.】 Thirteen was just as baffled. 【I’m worried that Shi Jinlan might have become so powerful that she can’t be invaded by the system, and that she’s developed a corresponding barrier.】

【Possible,】 Chi Qian nodded.

She stood thoughtfully before the mirror, recalling that at the time Thirteen mentioned, she seemed to have heard Shi Jinlan say, “So noisy.”

【And it seems like Shi Jinlan can hear your electrical current,】 Chi Qian quickly shared this crucial piece of information with Thirteen.

【What!】 Thirteen shot up in shock.

【So don’t try to break through the barrier anymore.】 Hearing Thirteen’s tale of woe made Chi Qian feel a little sorry for it. 【I suspect you got sent flying because Shi Jinlan was in a bad mood and reacted aggressively to your current.】

【No way.】 Thirteen got goosebumps all over its spherical body. 【There’s never been a record of anything like that in the system.】

Chi Qian was unconvinced. 【Your system has also never had a person that no task-doer can interfere with,】 she retorted.

She still felt it was best to be cautious when communicating with Thirteen in the future. 【Anyway, if Shi Jinlan is around, you absolutely must not make a sound. Got it?】

Although Thirteen didn’t quite believe Shi Jinlan had such an ability, it had no desire to suffer like that a second time. It nodded furiously. 【I got it!】

Knock, knock, knock.

As they were talking, a familiar knock came from the bedroom door.

The Madam Housekeeper had received a message and came to find Chi Qian. “Miss Chi, we’ve received word from the Young Miss. Her car will be here soon.”

“Oh! I know!” Hearing this, Chi Qian quickened the pace of her buttoning and slipped into the standard-issue high heels with practiced speed.

But the black, hip-hugging pencil skirt restricted her legs, preventing her from striding out as she usually would.

Still, she had promised Shi Jinlan. She couldn’t go back on her word. So, Chi Qian had no choice but to walk out of the room, forced into elegance by her thin heels.

“The Young Miss’s car has already entered the gates. It will be here in ten minutes,” the Madam Housekeeper said as they walked out of the mansion together, stopping at the portico.

Chi Qian hadn’t expected it to take so long to get from the main gate to the house. She couldn’t help but grow curious. “Just how big is this estate?”

“Around twenty-six acres, I suppose,” the Madam Housekeeper explained. “This is an old garden from the 1920s or 30s. The Young Miss is very fond of this style, so she bought it for a great sum two years ago.”

Hearing the number, Chi Qian was stunned.

She gazed at the rolling green landscape around her, lost in thought. “Was the style back then all about being full of plants, with scenery at every turn?”

“That was the basic tone,” the Madam Housekeeper nodded. “But many of the plants here were transplanted later at the Young Miss’s request. They were brought from an island called Xiao Yu Island. If you walk east from here, there’s also an artificial lake, and the house in the middle of it was personally designed by the Young Miss.”

Chi Qian never thought she would hear a familiar name in a place like this.

Xiao Yu Island.

That was the place Shi Jinlan had fled to when she was being hunted by Shi Cheng.

It was also where she and… her… had gotten to know each other…

The words “and fallen in love” got stuck in Chi Qian’s mind, refusing to surface.

Every time she thought about it, her chest felt tight and uncomfortable.

Shi Jinlan had stubbornly moved the scenery of Xiao Yu Island into her world, commemorating the white moonlight³ who had died for her.

She was living here.

Living in a dream she had woven for herself, unwilling to wake up.

And me? What kind of role am I playing here?

“She’s here.”

The Madam Housekeeper’s calm words broke through Chi Qian’s spiraling thoughts.

On pure reflex, Chi Qian looked toward the distance.

The afternoon sun was sinking in the west, and the summer heat had subsided a little.

Rows of trees whose names Chi Qian didn’t know lined the road in front of the mansion, stretching far away. The deep green seemed to mirror her own anticipation, swaying with the wind, trying to catch a glimpse of Shi Jinlan’s car through the gaps parted by the breeze.

The Madam Housekeeper, her expression unreadable, glanced sideways at Chi Qian.

She saw that the anticipation in her eyes was real.

The Madam Housekeeper’s timing was perfect. The second hand on her watch made five full rotations, and Shi Jinlan’s car drove up.

A black Rolls-Royce, draped in the lovely shadow of the setting sun, stopped in Chi Qian’s line of sight. A bodyguard came to open the door, and a foot in a red-soled high heel stepped onto the grass.

Following that outstretched leg, a light, violet haze seemed to float across the lawn.

Sunlight fell on the smoky-violet skirt, rippling like water in Chi Qian’s eyes.

Shi Jinlan was back.

And for the sake of “coming home,” she had even changed her clothes.

Chi Qian’s heart thumped uncontrollably a few times. She immediately followed the etiquette she had learned from the Madam Housekeeper and said to the approaching Shi Jinlan, “Welcome home, Miss Shi.”

The sunset slowly spread across the distant horizon, its orange light reflecting in Chi Qian’s eyes.

Shi Jinlan watched her smile, walking toward her step by step. The narrow skirt kept her from taking large strides, but the expectation in her eyes couldn’t be faked.

No one knew how many years Shi Jinlan had longed for this scene.

She had dreamed of this kind of warm welcome since she was a child, but back then, she had no parents to welcome her home.

Then one day, she met a girl named Chi Qian. The girl was clumsy and dazed, and she wanted to take her away, to place her inside this picture.

But later…

Chi Qian died, too.

The partings and deaths of infancy did not leave such deep memories. It was only later that Shi Jinlan learned that death itself was not frightening.

What was frightening was the hopeless separation it brought to the living. No matter how many times she revisited old places or recreated scenes from the past, she could never be reunited with that person.

Shi Jinlan had never thought of herself as lonely.

Until this moment.

That immense loneliness, like the silent night, rode the setting sun and rushed toward her.

But in her line of sight, a sun was rising.

And she would not wait for the sun to come to her.

She would go and embrace the sun herself.

Chi Qian was still fighting a battle between her high heels and the soft grass, taking unsteady steps, when she was suddenly pulled into an embrace filled with the scent of flowers.

Shi Jinlan’s voice was a whisper against her ear. “Ah Qian, I’m home.”

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The author has something to say:

Pigeon⁴ cries: It was so sad writing this part. Hugs for Lanlan.

Lanlan (spreads hands): Then give me my Wifey back.

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Meanwhile, Qianqian is looking at a map: Why is this house built in the middle of a lake?

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