So I Had No Choice But to Stop Being the White Moonlight – Chapter 8

Come Back and Hold Me

A sense of pressure never comes from how tall or how big someone is.

The courtyard was filled with bright sunlight, but the man felt an icy chill run through him.

Shi Jinlan lowered her gaze, her raven-feather lashes forming a single, thick black line. She was perfectly still, like a venomous snake lying in wait.

Shi Jinlan had the man’s wrist in her grip. It was just two slender fingers, yet they were pinching him with excruciating pain.

Forget about trying to harass her again—he didn’t even have the guts to resist her now.

“You… you let me go! Let go… It hurts!” the man begged, twisting his wrist to try and escape her grasp.

But he couldn’t escape.

Shi Jinlan was pressing an acupoint¹ on his wrist, applying force slowly and deliberately. Gradually, the man could no longer even hold his kneeling posture.

Pitch-black flames burned around Shi Jinlan’s body—fierce, intense, and terrifying, as if they were about to devour the man before her.

Chi Qian came out of the sick bay² with a basin of water and was immediately met with this oppressive scene.

Although Shi Jinlan seemed mercurial, with a gloomy air that carried the vibe of a crazy batch³, she wasn’t the kind of psycho who would attack someone without reason.

Chi Qian was almost certain the man had done something to displease her. He had probably tried to touch Shi Jinlan, not valuing his own life, and ended up getting caught.

Daring to provoke the future great villain… he really must find his life too long⁴.

Hmph, Chi Qian scoffed inwardly.

But watching Shi Jinlan grip him like that didn’t sit right with her either.

Such a beautiful hand, clamped around that man’s ugly, clumsy wrist. Chi Qian was genuinely indignant.

Why is he being rewarded!

With that thought, Chi Qian grabbed a broom from by the door and started whacking the man with it, shouting righteously, “You bastard, what are you doing! Let go of Miss Shen!”

One second, the man was being crushed by the terror emanating from Shi Jinlan; the next, he was being shoved to the ground by a sudden force from behind.

The terrifying, one-sided pressure of the situation instantly took a sharp turn, becoming somewhat…

Nonsensical?

Shi Jinlan watched Chi Qian mercilessly beat the man with the broom, the coldness in her eyes veiled by a cloud of confusion.

From her angle, she didn’t think Chi Qian could have misread the situation, so she didn’t understand what she was doing.

Did she have some old grudge against this man and was just using this as an excuse to act out?

Or was she doing this purely to vent anger on her behalf?

Vent anger for her?

Shi Jinlan sat there, her gaze inscrutable.

She had never been one to rely on others. Rather than waiting for someone to give her something, she had always taken it herself.

And she was the only one who could.

Under the sun, Chi Qian stood brandishing the broom, looking aggressive and full of righteous indignation.

Shi Jinlan stared at this crude display of heroism without a word, hearing Chi Qian say “Miss Shen” several times.

A breeze swept through the courtyard, causing the flames around Shi Jinlan to flicker and sway. For no apparent reason, her expression turned inexplicably cold. Amidst the soft whisper of the wind, a sneer escaped her lips. “Heh.”

Right. She wasn’t Miss Shen. A scene like this didn’t belong to her.

Shi Jinlan’s expression flickered as she watched Chi Qian, an unpleasant memory surfacing in her mind.

Then, she simply pushed her wheelchair and silently moved away from the center of the farce.

The farce didn’t last long. The woman who had just been screaming for Chi Qingyan to come save her son heard the commotion and came out of the sick bay.

From a distance, she saw Chi Qian hitting the man and hurried over to stop her. “Qianqian, ah, what’s going on? What did Xingjun do to you?”

“You ask him!” Chi Qian slammed the end of the broom on the ground and glared fiercely at the man. “He was getting handsy with our Miss Shen just now, and his mouth wasn’t clean either!”

Every family had its aches and pains, and the Chi family was the one family on the island you couldn’t afford to offend.

With another son lying in the sick bay, the woman slapped the man. “You should be inside watching your brother! Why are you out here bothering a young lady! You’re asking for a beating!”

“Mom! How can you be so unreasonable!” The man held out his wrist, which Shi Jinlan had pinched red. “She nearly broke my hand just now!”

The man had just retorted when Chi Qian immediately shot back, “She’d just grab your hand if you didn’t touch her first? Is your hand that good-looking?”

The man was still indignant after the beating from Chi Qian.

He was about to retort when he met Shi Jinlan’s gaze.

Under the sun, the woman’s pupils were pitch-black. Though it was a warm and breezy spring day, he felt as if winter was coming.

His hand was long free from Shi Jinlan’s grasp, yet it suddenly throbbed with a phantom pain—part illusion, but mostly fear.

Abashed, the man lowered his outstretched hand, even timidly hiding it behind his back.

“You really can’t go one day without causing trouble for me, can you.” The woman glared at her son, then followed his gaze toward Shi Jinlan.

The sunlight filled the courtyard, brightly illuminating Shi Jinlan. Her slender frame was striking at first glance—beautiful.

But why was such a perfectly fine person sitting in a wheelchair?

A broken flower always inspires pity. The woman was instantly convinced her son was at fault and walked over to apologize to Shi Jinlan. “Young lady, I’m so sorry. It was my son’s fault. This auntie apologizes to you.”

“It wasn’t auntie’s fault,” Shi Jinlan said calmly, her gaze fixed on the man standing opposite her.

The man hesitated.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to apologize; he was just terrified of Shi Jinlan.

Seeing him stand there, Chi Qian tightened her grip on the broom. “You want another beating?”

“No, no, no, my little great-aunt⁵.” The man waved his hands frantically.

He was really fed up with these two.

What was this, were they backing each other up?

“I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again,” the man said, bowing deeply to Shi Jinlan.

When he finished, Shi Jinlan didn’t respond.

She raised her gaze slightly, not at the man, but at Chi Qian next to him, who looked like a prison guard escorting a convict.

This person had been so cautious around her before, but now she was surprisingly full of bravado.

Actually, judging by her actions just now, she wasn’t a timid or weak person at all. On the contrary, she had a sense of justice rarely seen in her own world.

So why did she become like that around her, so anxious she barely dared to breathe?

Was she really that scary?

Shi Jinlan frowned, and the flames in Chi Qian’s line of sight flickered.

That flicker sent a chill down her spine.

Did she not vent enough of Shi Jinlan’s anger for her?

Or was Shi Jinlan still not over the man’s offense?

Bro, you’re finished. After Shi Jinlan returned to the Shi family, she settled the score with every single person who had ever offended her.

Completely oblivious to the fact that she herself was the cause of Shi Jinlan’s displeasure, Chi Qian mourned the man’s tragic future for a second in her heart.

“Aiyo! Mom—”

As if on cue, a miserable shriek shot out from the sick bay.

The woman’s heart immediately clenched, and she bolted toward the sick bay.

Halfway there, she turned and yelled at her other son, “What are you still standing there for? Come in with me and check on your brother!”

“Oh, oh, okay.” The man nodded repeatedly and hurried to catch up, following the woman into the sick bay.

The interlude came and went quickly. The moment the voices faded, only Shi Jinlan and Chi Qian were left in the courtyard.

Wind blew into the sick bay, clearing out the stagnant air.

The thick smell of blood wafted into the courtyard. Shi Jinlan wrinkled her nose and couldn’t help but ask, “What happened to the person in there?”

“He wasn’t careful while working and cut his finger off.” Chi Qian had been here for a month and was used to such scenes.

Transportation on the island was poor. It took half an hour to get to the nearest hospital on Dayu Island, and that was only if you could get a boat right away.

In a situation like this, you’d be dead before you even made it to the hospital. Although Chi Qingyan specialized in Traditional Chinese Medicine and the sick bay lacked a strictly sterile surgical environment, it was still the best the island had to offer.

“We’re all just weeds, growing wild on this island,” Chi Qian remarked with a sigh, holding her broom next to Shi Jinlan.

She was a weed now, too, Shi Jinlan thought.

With so many weeds, “Can they all be saved?”

The smell of blood continued to drift out from the ward. Shi Jinlan looked toward the sick bay, her face impassive, and casually posed the last question.

“Reattaching the finger is definitely impossible. It fell into a pile of wood shavings and was completely shredded.” Chi Qian didn’t catch Shi Jinlan’s underlying meaning and just assumed she was asking about the man inside. “Grandpa is in there treating his severed finger. His life isn’t in danger.”

Hearing this answer, Shi Jinlan shot Chi Qian a sidelong glance.

The person inside had nothing to do with her. Her mood had been soured, and now she was quibbling over things she would normally ignore.

The smell of blood drifted everywhere, crashing through the courtyard, and the constant wails from the sick bay were starting to grate on Shi Jinlan’s nerves.

“Aiya, oh…”

Another wail.

The man’s sobbing was like sticky mud, making one frown just to hear it.

Shi Jinlan glanced up at the sun, decided there was no need to stay out any longer, and turned her wheelchair to head back to her room. “Excuse me.”

Each time a wail sounded from the sick bay, the black flames around Shi Jinlan would flicker. Chi Qian, observing from the side, thought Shi Jinlan was afraid and wanted to get away. She put down the broom and offered to take her back to her room. “Wait for me.”

It was nearly noon, and the sun beat down, its glare blinding.

Shi Jinlan squinted slightly, and then a shadow fell over her, blocking the light.

She looked up at Chi Qian, who had followed her of her own accord, and thought to herself: Isn’t she afraid of me?

Shi Jinlan stared at Chi Qian for a long second, then spoke slowly, a faint smile in her eyes. “You’re coming to keep me company?”

In all the days they’d spent together, Chi Qian had never seen Shi Jinlan smile.

After sitting in the sun for a while, some color had returned to her face, making it rosy and fair. Her raven-feather lashes lifted with the corners of her eyes, like the tail of a fish.

Chi Qian froze for a moment, feeling as if the world had suddenly brightened.

Was she scared by the bloody scene and needed some company?

But she remembered Shi Jinlan handling so many major scenes in the book. Would she really be scared by a few screams?

Chi Qian mulled it over, her doubts immediately swept away by the thought that it was better to not fear the ten thousand, but to fear the one in ten thousand⁶.

If Shi Jinlan was really scared, she had to stay with her. This was a golden opportunity!

Better to make a mistake than to miss out!

“If you’re willing,” Chi Qian said, clasping her hands in front of her and flashing a professional wage earner’s⁷ smile.

Interesting.

Shi Jinlan took in Chi Qian’s entire reaction, a subtle smile playing on her lips.

This person is afraid of me, yet she still wants to keep me company. I’d like to see what she’s planning.

Shi Jinlan deftly turned the wheels of her chair, changing direction on a whim. “Let’s go for a walk outside, then.”

“Okay,” Chi Qian agreed readily.

There were no screams outside, only the feeling of spring everywhere. Going out would be relaxing, help clear away the gloom, and they could improve their relationship at the same time. It was one move, two gains⁸.

But as soon as they left the house, Chi Qian and Shi Jinlan ran into their first problem.

The island was a mountain, and every house was built on its slopes. The Chi family’s home was in a relatively remote and steep location. The path out was a staircase flanked by two ramps, impossible for a wheelchair to navigate.

This is what it means to die before winning the first battle⁹, huh.

Chi Qian blinked at the long flight of stairs leading down the slope, then turned to Shi Jinlan. “So… are we still going?”

“Why not?” Shi Jinlan asked coolly.

Chi Qian put her little brain-melon¹⁰ to work and came up with a convenient, if slightly boundary-crossing, idea. “How about I carry you down first, then come back for the wheelchair?”

Shi Jinlan watched her for a moment, then said nonchalantly, “You could also take the wheelchair down first, and then come back and hold me.”

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The author has something to say:

Chi Bajie¹¹ carrying her wife (not).

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