Chapter 16: Am I Your White Moonlight (16)

Jiang Ning’s eyes darkened for a moment, then she smiled as if nothing had happened. Taking Lin Yiren’s hand, she walked inside, greeted Mother Lin, and turned to Xiao Yisheng with feigned surprise. “President Xiao, what brings you here?”

“Yisheng’s father and Yiren’s father are old friends. He was studying abroad, and by the time he came back, Yiren had gone overseas herself, so you two never crossed paths. Come now, get acquainted.” Mother Lin beamed at the sight of Lin Yiren and Jiang Ning returning, and after explaining, she meant to have the young people introduce themselves.

She had only heard rumors about the Xiao family boy before, but seeing him today, he was indeed handsome and presentable. If her daughter didn’t already have a girlfriend, she might have been tempted to play matchmaker.

Mother Lin’s impression of Jiang Ning was decent. She had been keeping an eye on Lin Yiren’s updates lately, and it was plain that Jiangtian Entertainment had been tilting resources toward her, handling PR swiftly each time and never letting her be bullied. She’d also heard Jiangtian was picking up steam, which showed Jiang Ning had real promise. Mother Lin wasn’t some money-grubbing old fossil, so even though Xiao Yisheng’s every word dripped with affection for Lin Yiren, she gave no reaction.

“A pleasure, President Jiang.” Xiao Yisheng rose to shake Jiang Ning’s hand. Both wore polite smiles, but neither grip was light.

Having made the introductions, Mother Lin excused herself to cook and retreated to the kitchen. In the living room, Xiao Yisheng sat on a separate sofa while Jiang Ning and Lin Yiren shared one. After a round of pleasantries, they got down to business.

“I wonder what brings President Xiao here today?” Determined to strangle Xiao Yisheng’s ambitions in the cradle, Jiang Ning never let go of Lin Yiren’s hand the whole time. Luckily it was still cool in April, so their joined palms wouldn’t sweat, and Lin Yiren’s hand was soft and tender, rather pleasant to hold.

Lin Yiren was hostile toward Xiao Yisheng too, and was more than happy to have Jiang Ning keep holding her hand, lest he fail to realize she was already taken. Hearing Jiang Ning’s question, she finally lifted her head to look at him. The two of them had only been discussing business earlier, which hadn’t interested her much.

After learning that Jiang Ning and Lin Yiren were together, Xiao Yisheng had assumed Jiang Ning was simply climbing the Lin family’s social ladder, that Jiangtian’s sudden revival was thanks to Lin family connections, with Father Lin pulling strings behind the scenes. The business talk just now had been meant to put her in her place, yet to his surprise, Jiang Ning had answered everything and even outmatched him. Though his opinion of her shifted somewhat, the thought of her relationship with Lin Yiren left him with no goodwill toward her.

Ever since that variety show ended, Xiao Yisheng had kept tabs on Lin Yiren. He had watched every episode of Twin Flowers, and his fascination only deepened. He had even tracked down stage plays she’d performed in abroad. His real reason for visiting Mother Lin today was to sound her out. If Lin Yiren could be single again, he would still have a chance.

But that was not a reason he intended to share with the person herself. He simply looked at Lin Yiren, his rigid expression softening at last. “I’m Miss Lin’s fan. I came hoping for an autograph.”

With that, he produced a poster of Lin Yiren. Thoroughly prepared, one had to admit. It wasn’t an unreasonable request, so Lin Yiren didn’t refuse and signed her name.

Xiao Yisheng had clearly done his homework. He chatted with Lin Yiren about topics that interested her, fully slipped into the fan persona, and even showed her the alt account he’d registered, already a member of her fan support club at a fairly high level. Armed with all these credentials, he then asked for her contact information.

Lin Yiren was lukewarm throughout the conversation, her attention fixed on Jiang Ning’s expression. When she realized Jiang Ning didn’t seem to care in the slightest, a pang of disappointment went through her, and she resorted to idle chitchat, silently willing Xiao Yisheng to leave sooner.

Yet by dinnertime he showed no intention of going. He accepted Mother Lin’s invitation to stay for the meal, and at the table, every dish he served with the public chopsticks happened to be something Lin Yiren liked. The atmosphere turned awkward for a spell, but everyone, nursing their own private thoughts, pretended not to notice.

Mother Lin studied the three of them. Xiao Yisheng watched Lin Yiren. Lin Yiren watched to see whether Jiang Ning was jealous. And Jiang Ning watched Mother Lin’s attitude while also gauging whether Lin Yiren’s opinion of Xiao Yisheng had shifted at all. By the end, no one was really tasting their food.

“Mom, I’m finished. I’m going to feed Black Knight, then take him around the yard for a bit.” Lin Yiren set down her chopsticks. A few dishes still sat in her bowl, all of them served by Xiao Yisheng. To spare him too much embarrassment, she had added a token handful of greens as cover.

That flimsy little cover-up actually made Jiang Ning laugh. Setting down her own bowl and chopsticks, she announced she would go check on Black Knight as well.

Lin Yiren picked out all the meat into her bowl, offered up a silent apology for the sin of wasting food, and dumped the greens.

Feeling Jiang Ning’s eyes on her the whole time, Lin Yiren’s face grew hot, and she rushed to defend herself. “I never used to leave food behind.”

Jiang Ning nodded and patted Black Knight’s head. When she’d first discovered that Black Knight was a husky, she’d been a little surprised, expecting something more like a Samoyed. She hadn’t imagined Lin Yiren would bring home the king of household demolition. No wonder Lin Yiren had once mentioned that he liked scratching at doors.

She had even asked Lin Yiren how one raised a husky, but Lin Yiren had hemmed and hawed, seemingly too embarrassed to say, so Jiang Ning had let it go. Now, watching Black Knight’s dopey face, she rather understood. He looked silly enough to melt the stress right out of you.

Once Lin Yiren finished feeding Black Knight, Jiang Ning joined her on the walk, and they strolled outside for quite a while. Xiao Yisheng was, after all, the president of a major company with precious little free time, so he had left the Lin house right after dinner.

Seeing him finally gone, Jiang Ning stopped and pulled Lin Yiren back, swiping open her phone to show her the screen.

#YirensWives#

Level 9, Admin, “Supreme”

#AcrossTheWaterFanSupportClub#

Level 9, Admin

Once she was certain Lin Yiren had finished reading, Jiang Ning stroked Black Knight’s fur and said, as casually as she could manage, “I’m your fan too. An admin in the ship group, actually.”

A brief pause, then she added, “Higher level than his.”

Catching the little sulky note in Jiang Ning’s voice, Lin Yiren froze for a beat. Then, the moment Jiang Ning stood up, she threw her arms around her. All the hurt from earlier vanished, and she buried her face in Jiang Ning’s arms and laughed out loud.

Could she take this as jealousy?

At the thought, it was as if someone had poured sugar into Lin Yiren’s heart, so sweet she could hardly stand it. She felt their relationship had just taken another step forward. Holding Jiang Ning’s hand, she mustered her courage and pressed a kiss to her lips. Jiang Ning didn’t refuse. Since her hands had just been petting Black Knight, she didn’t hug back, only lowered her head to return the kiss.

When Lin Yiren began to feel short of breath, she drew back, then rose up on her tiptoes and whispered beside Jiang Ning’s ear, “Sister Jiang, I really, really like you.”

What Jiang Ning didn’t know was that Lin Yiren was actually the group owner of Jiang Ning’s fan support club. Two groups, in fact. The first had been created back when Jiang Ning’s dance video went viral on Weibo. Later, as her follower count grew and plenty of fans weren’t there purely to watch her dance, Lin Yiren had founded a second group, also at a very high level.

Though everything Lin Yiren did for Jiang Ning spelled out her feelings, this was the first time she had spoken her love so directly, hoping for a response in return.

Lin Yiren’s feelings were intense, yet she kept them carefully measured, never once making Jiang Ning uncomfortable, and the two of them got along naturally. Jiang Ning didn’t want, and was afraid of, any further development. Back when she ran missions, lies had poured out of her without end, and sweet nothings could roll off her tongue on demand. In her eyes, those had been no different from reciting lines from a textbook. But now, watching Lin Yiren express her love with such tender caution left Jiang Ning feeling utterly at sea.

In the stretch of silence, Lin Yiren smiled, bent down to ruffle the dog’s fur, and led Black Knight forward. A few steps in, without turning around, she said with a laugh:

“Just realized how hard the wind’s blowing. Let’s head back.”

【The Female Lead is in tears. Sadness level: two stars. Analysis: disappointment laced with sorrow. 40 Points deducted. Host 0368, take remedial measures immediately.】

Lin Yiren’s tone hadn’t changed one bit. Had Jiang Ning not received the system alert, she would never have known that she was secretly shedding tears.

Watching Lin Yiren quicken her pace, Jiang Ning hurried after her, only to be shut out of the room on the pretext of feeling unwell. She sighed in silence and didn’t knock again, simply going back to her own room to wash her hands. The system was crackling and fizzing, probably cooking up some new stunt.

Jiang Ning had long since figured out its playbook, so to preempt whatever shameless task might be coming, she struck first:

“I know the Female Lead is sad and needs comforting, but I have my own methods. Keep your suggestions to yourself.”

The Conquest System, cut off mid-sentence, scrambled in momentary disarray, then turned to check its task list and found that the original task, 【The Female Lead has just confessed her love to you. Don’t you want to respond? If so, go scrub yourself squeaky clean and give yourself to the Female Lead~】, was stuck spinning in a loading loop with a laggy connection. The Conquest System had chickened out.

If it actually pushed that task through, Jiang Ning would undoubtedly resort to extreme measures and destroy it outright. At the thought, the system’s very core went cold. It coiled up its data cable and hugged itself tight.

So what exactly was Jiang Ning’s way of comforting someone? Nothing, really. She simply hauled a mountain of jigsaw pieces into Lin Yiren’s room and spent the entire afternoon assembling the puzzle alongside her, the reward being this: finish it, and learn whether Jiang Ning liked Lin Yiren or not.

For the sake of that answer, Lin Yiren had no mind for anything else, spending every spare minute shut in her room with the puzzle. There were nearly ten thousand pieces, bought by Jiang Ning in System Space. At Lin Yiren’s pace, it would not be finished anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ning “helped” with the puzzle, though at times she did nothing but make trouble, infuriating Lin Yiren until her temper frayed. Soon, the sight of Jiang Ning had her instinctively hiding the pieces, and all her sadness and hurt were forgotten completely.

Jiang Ning’s method was anything but romantic, but it genuinely worked.

In the end, the puzzle never got finished, because Jiang Ning found a suitable script: a Female-Centric Drama, brilliantly conceived, with a talented director attached. With proper promotion, it was bound to be a smash hit. Lin Yiren looked down at the script in her hands feeling rather wronged, and she sulked at Jiang Ning right up until the day she left for the set.

This time, no matter how Jiang Ning teased her, Lin Yiren refused to respond. Emboldened by Jiang Ning’s indulgence, she grew ever more demanding, ordering her to fetch the remote, hand over towels, twist off bottle caps. Sometimes, working up her nerve, she even tried seduction as a counterattack, but Jiang Ning remained utterly unmoved, which made Lin Yiren begin to doubt her own charms, which only made her angrier still.

“Finished throwing your tantrum?” Departure day had arrived. Jiang Ning finished packing and looked at Lin Yiren, still sprawled on the sofa munching snacks and sipping yogurt, her tone helpless. How could she act like such a child?

Seeing that Lin Yiren was clearly tracking her every move while pretending not to hear, she simply took away the snack bag in her hand, the one she was holding but no longer eating from.

“You… don’t you dare push it!” Lin Yiren shot her a glare, her tone outrageously imperious, though it was all bark and no bite.

Jiang Ning glanced at her watch, plucked the yogurt right out of Lin Yiren’s hand, and raised an eyebrow. “Keep it up, and I’ll take away your baby bottle.”

“Lin Li’s almost here. Get ready.”

With that, she took a sip, screwed the cap back on, and dropped the bottle straight into the trash. Lin Yiren froze in place, then pounced, pinning Jiang Ning down onto the sofa. After holding it in for ages, she finally sputtered, “I hadn’t even licked the lid yet! You are the worst!!!”

Jiang Ning, dizzy from the jolt, looked into Lin Yiren’s eyes and ran her tongue along the smear of yogurt at the corner of her lips. “I licked it. What are you going to do about it?”

Too furious to hit her, too outmatched to out-argue her, Lin Yiren pressed her lips together, then bit down hard on Jiang Ning’s lip.

How about this, then? Milk Debt Paid in Blood!

They tussled for a while, and once Lin Yiren had accidentally, genuinely bitten Jiang Ning’s lip until it broke, her guilty conscience kicked in and she dared not act up again. She behaved herself, quiet as a mouse, while they gathered their things and headed to the set. She’d assumed the matter was closed, since she had only been pretending to sulk. What she truly liked was that feeling of Jiang Ning being helpless yet indulgent with her.

But the very next afternoon, Lin Yiren received a delivery: a three-piece set of baby bottle, pacifier, and formula. Lin Li, standing beside her, gave her a look that was decidedly off. Lin Yiren seethed inwardly.

Back when Jiang Ning had threatened to take away her baby bottle, she hadn’t understood what it meant. Now she understood perfectly. Jiang Ning was calling her childish, in every way short of saying it outright!

Vile!