Chapter 19: Am I Your White Moonlight (19)

Coaxed like this, Lin Yiren only cried harder, her sobs coming in broken gasps. “You… you don’t understand!”

Jiang Ning had no idea just how important she was to Lin Yiren. In Lin Yiren’s heart, she was the first person she wanted to share every beautiful thing she saw with, a persistence no fire could burn away, the star she longed to embrace even while her heart trembled with unease.

She was also what Lin Yiren had once believed she would never be lucky enough to find in this lifetime.

But Lin Yiren had never imagined that a star would truly fall from the heavens and land right in her arms. That instant of hot tears was worth more than all the bitterness of the past. A single person, yet like an army of thousands, strong enough to break through every mountain standing in the way.

The light she had only dared to dream of had truly fallen upon her. Lin Yiren would have been willing to sleep forever, as long as the person she loved was in her dreams. She was willing to live in an illusion, even if it meant chasing a reflection in the water.

But all that supposed closeness had rested on nothing more than a thin sheet of paper. Now, watching Jiang Ning stand beside Xiao Lin, realizing she had failed to protect her at all, it felt like a knife slicing through that gorgeous dream and exposing the ugly reality beneath, leaving her cold to the bone.

As far as Lin Yiren knew, she and Jiang Ning had known each other for over a year, yet Jiang Ning had never once said she liked her, and there had been no other intimate contact. Barely a month before signing with her, she had still had a boyfriend. So what was all this between them now? Would Jiang Ning agree to get back together with him? Was it true what the internet said, that she had sacrificed herself for Jiangtian Entertainment and still loved Xiao Lin?

She knew perfectly well, after all this time together, that Jiang Ning had treated her with genuine care. But too many poisonous suspicions had piled up, pushing Lin Yiren to the breaking point, until all she could think of was pulling Jiang Ning to her side.

“Don’t be with him…” Fear and a possessiveness she didn’t even recognize colored Lin Yiren’s voice.

Once the impulse passed, however, the worry crept back in. Would Jiang Ning think she was being unreasonable? Would she think she was violent and weepy, nothing but a walking disaster? At the thought, Lin Yiren didn’t dare look at the person in front of her. She turned her eyes away and cried even harder.

Perhaps the sorrow in Lin Yiren’s eyes was simply too heavy, because it left Jiang Ning’s heart feeling faintly torn. It didn’t hurt, but it made her chest tremble, a sour, aching tenderness spreading through her, dense and inescapable.

Jiang Ning hadn’t expected Lin Yiren to be even more insecure than she’d imagined. She didn’t say much. She simply leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Lin Yiren’s eyelashes. Watching her tremble faintly, Lin Yiren tilted her head up, met Jiang Ning’s gaze, and then, as if throwing all caution to the wind, kissed her squarely on the lips, kissing her with all the desperate courage of someone betting everything on a single throw.

Unlike her earlier little tantrum, it was a boldness Lin Yiren had never shown before.

Jiang Ning let out a soft sigh and didn’t pull away. Her right hand cradled the back of Lin Yiren’s head, fingers stroking slowly down through her hair, her expression so gentle it hardly seemed real. When Lin Yiren had finally calmed, she coaxed her lips open.

It wasn’t a sudden teasing whim, nor a careless kiss with an agenda. It was an utterly pure kiss, without a trace of desire, meant only to soothe the girl in her arms.

Until Lin Yiren was panting, too weak to resist.

By the time Lin Yiren came back to her senses, she was nestled in Jiang Ning’s arms and didn’t want to move. This time, it was out of embarrassment.

Ahhh! This was mortifying. What had she been doing??

All that echoed through Lin Yiren’s mind was Jiang Ning calling her silly, silly, silly, and then, without any warning at all, being kissed until her legs went weak. She felt utterly spineless, and yet she wanted to do it all over again.

Seeing that Lin Yiren’s emotions had settled considerably, Jiang Ning released her. Noticing that Xiao Lin showed signs of stirring, she stepped forward and chopped him unconscious again with a hand-knife strike, then turned back to Lin Yiren. “Let’s go. Home first.”

Lin Yiren stood in place, hemming and hawing for a long while before muttering something. Truly muttering, so quietly that Jiang Ning couldn’t catch it and asked her to repeat it.

“I said my legs are too weak to walk!” This time Lin Yiren practically shouted it. Meeting Jiang Ning’s half-smiling gaze, she felt like steam was about to shoot out of the top of her head.

The moment the words burst out of her in a fit of flustered anger, she instantly regretted it. God, so embarrassing.

Yet all the lingering fear and mortification from hitting someone vanished in an instant when Jiang Ning crouched down in front of her. Her face burning red, she climbed onto Jiang Ning’s back, and when her arms closed around Jiang Ning’s neck and found it a bit cold, she unwound her own scarf and wrapped it around the both of them. Jiang Ning noticed what she was doing. Though it was a little uncomfortable, she said nothing, only slowed her steps.

Basking in Jiang Ning’s indulgence, Lin Yiren’s hands worked faster, and then she buried her face against Jiang Ning’s neck and breathed in deeply.

Embarrassing or not, it was worth it.

At the door, though, Jiang Ning’s hands were full and she had to set Lin Yiren down, only to fumble with the tangled scarf for ages without making any headway.

Lin Yiren had discovered that if you embarrassed yourself enough times, you stopped blushing. In truth, she had been blushing so continuously that she could no longer even tell.

So when the lights came on and Jiang Ning saw Lin Yiren’s face flushed scarlet, she was a little surprised. She switched on the water dispenser to heat up, then went to the kitchen for a cup.

“Earth to Lin Yiren.” Jiang Ning deliberately pressed her hand to Lin Yiren’s cheek. The girl flinched at the chill, her eyes still hazy, as if she’d been lost in some thought and hadn’t come back yet.

Then she said, dazed, “We’re home already?”

Jiang Ning suspected Lin Yiren had been frozen silly. Why did she look like not a single brain cell was firing? Watching her dazed expression, Jiang Ning almost couldn’t hold back a laugh. But the next second, the smile died on her face.

【Your Sugar Patron, long unseen, has arrived at your home. Are you terribly excited? Tremendously delighted?】

【If you are indeed excited and delighted, then bring out every trick you have to please your Honored Sugar Patron and make her happily shop till she drops for you today!】

Jiang Ning was too tired to even mock this two-bit System anymore. She knew that even if she didn’t fit the required emotional state, the mission still had to be done. Adjusting her mindset, she poured Lin Yiren a cup of hot water.

“Careful, it’s hot.”

Lin Yiren composed herself, her eyes unusually serious as she studied Jiang Ning, probing. “Sister Jiang, how do you plan to handle everything online?”

“As long as the Chen Family falls, none of it is a problem.” Through Bai Keke, Jiang Ning had already dug up some new leads. If nothing unexpected had happened, the reason the Chen Family had let public opinion fester for so long without making a move was because they had yet to hold their successful “banquet.”

The things involved in that so-called “banquet” were something she could exploit as well. Not wanting to worry Lin Yiren too much, she gave her only a brief outline of the plan, then pinched her cheek and put on a deliberately fierce tone. “What? You don’t believe I can handle it?”

Lin Yiren shook her head. Seeing the confidence in Jiang Ning’s eyes steadied her considerably, but a trace of disappointment lingered. Remembering how indulgent Jiang Ning had been tonight, she caught her hand. “I have an idea too.”

“Hm?”

“What if I go on the interview the day after tomorrow and announce our relationship? Would that work?”

Who didn’t know how to work the PR game? If they announced that she and Jiang Ning were dating, and played it right, the whole story about Lin Zhiyuan keeping a sugar baby would become complete nonsense. Besides, it was the truth to begin with. But on deeper thought, saying it publicly would tie Jiang Ning entirely to her, and she had no idea whether she would be willing.

Jiang Ning considered it. The plan could actually work, though the outcome wasn’t guaranteed. Redirecting the flames of scandal onto Lin Yiren was something Jiang Ning didn’t want, but since Lin Yiren had raised it herself, she wouldn’t object.

“Then I’ll find a way to get Xiao Lin onto the same interview as you, on the same day.” Jiang Ning doubted that “ex-boyfriend” knew the Original Host’s preferences very well. As long as the trap was set properly, the audience’s eyes weren’t just for decoration.

Lin Yiren was clever too. The moment she understood Jiang Ning’s idea, her eyes lit up, and she scooted closer, about to say more before Jiang Ning tapped her on the forehead.

“Go shower first. Anything else can wait.”

Jiang Ning still remembered there was an unfinished mission, after all. If she dawdled any longer, it would be tomorrow.

When she heard the sound of running water from the bathroom and was sure Lin Yiren wouldn’t be coming back out, she quickly opened Baidu and searched how to please a sugar patron. One skim through the results and she felt her browser had been stained, her eyes gravely wounded, as if she had tumbled into a den of filth and been gifted a thousand pop-up ads on top of it.

– Click me! Satisfaction guaranteed!

– One night, seven rounds with my sugar patron, all thanks to this!

– My sugar patron said I was too shy, and then I…

The System watched this and desperately wanted to laugh. Who would have thought the day would come when Jiang Ning got wrecked to this extent? It felt deeply sorry for her.

【Let me give you two more minutes, to freeze your memories into ice, to freeze the tears you cried deep in the night~】

Jiang Ning: Sing one more line and get out.

When Lin Yiren came out of the shower, she found Jiang Ning staring at her phone with a dark expression. Assuming Xiao Lin had woken up and was causing trouble, she didn’t even bother drying her hair before hurrying over to see if she could help.

The instant Lin Yiren approached, Jiang Ning’s first reflex was to cover the screen, worried she’d corrupt the girl. But an action like that was extremely easy to misread. At least in Lin Yiren’s eyes, it looked exactly like distrust and guardedness aimed at her. The joy of having stepped into Jiang Ning’s private world quickly faded, replaced once more by the urge to beat that trash, scumbag, ex-boyfriend Xiao Lin into the ground.

“Um… has Xiao Lin ever come to your place on his own before?” He hadn’t gone upstairs earlier, but who knew whether he’d gotten the passcode to Jiang Ning’s front door before that? The more Lin Yiren thought about it, the more sour bubbles fizzed up in her chest.

“He has.” Jiang Ning didn’t lie to her, but before the kitten could extend its claws, she continued, “However, I’ve already changed the passcode.”

For about two seconds, Lin Yiren was pleased. Then it hit her: she didn’t know the passcode either. Wasn’t she in exactly the same position as Xiao Lin? But outright asking for it would be so rude. So Lin Yiren began weighing whether she should buy Jiang Ning a mountain of things, so that a pleased Jiang Ning might tell her the code?

While Lin Yiren towel-dried her hair and mulled this over, inspiration struck Jiang Ning like lightning. She took the towel from her and helped dry her hair, found it still too wet to air-dry anytime soon, and frowned. “Better not wash your hair at night from now on. You’ll get headaches.”

With that she went to the bedroom and came back with a hair dryer. “It’s too late tonight, so I’ll blow-dry it for you.”

Blow-dryers damaged hair, but once or twice wouldn’t matter much. Besides, Lin Yiren’s hair was glossy black and lovely to the touch, clearly meticulously maintained. Afraid Lin Yiren might mind the dryer, Jiang Ning explained herself in advance.

Lin Yiren had only washed it because she’d sat in a car for so long today and worried about the smell. Scolded as she was, she didn’t offer any explanation. She was secretly delighted that Jiang Ning cared enough to lecture her, and she nodded happily. But when she heard Jiang Ning say she’d take her in tomorrow to register her fingerprints so she could get in easily next time, her face stayed perfectly calm while fireworks began going off inside.

Stay calm, Lin Yiren. Stay calm. Hold it together. Deep breaths.

“Okay…” Lin Yiren ran a Psychological Suggestion through her heart a dozen times, but the tail end of the word still curled upward, soft and sweet as a proud little Kitten.

Realizing Jiang Ning hadn’t showered yet, Lin Yiren took the hair dryer from her and shooed her off to wash up. The moment Jiang Ning went in, she shut off the dryer and swiftly swept her gaze around, sizing up Jiang Ning’s home.

Then, one hand mechanically toweling her hair, the other hand began placing orders, rapid-fire.

Disposable slippers had none of a home’s warmth. Couple’s slippers, buy.

If she was going to be staying over long-term, how could she not have pajamas? Couple’s pajamas, buy.

Toothbrushes, blankets, pillows, none of these could be skipped. Buy.

What if there was no time to make breakfast in the morning? Annual milk subscription, sign up.

Lin Yiren’s fingers flew, updating Jiang Ning’s share along with her own. In an instant, a dozen or more items had joined the pending-shipment queue. Jiang Ning, who had still been racking her brain over how to please Lin Yiren into shopping for her, suddenly heard the mission-complete chime, followed by a whole string of purchases Lin Yiren had made for herself. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She’d almost forgotten that the Eldest Young Miss out there wasn’t an Eldest Young Miss at all, just a Little Kitten easily satisfied by the smallest kindness.