After Rebirth, I Became My Ex's "White Moonlight" - Chapter 39.2

“That was before.” Shen Moxu smacked her lips. “My goddess is different from those creeps who only wanted my body.”

“Fine.” Cheng Siyu said nothing more. Looking at Shen Moxu’s yearning expression, she felt like she was seeing her past self.

“What are you looking at? Did you fall in love with me? I know you’re lonely with Little Ji gone…”

Before she could finish, Shen Moxu was hit on the head.

“What are you thinking? If I were interested in you, wouldn’t I have pursued you long ago after being together this long?”

“Hmph. Maybe you only just discovered my charm and suddenly fell in love?” Shen Moxu held her head and continued to banter. Cheng Siyu just stared at her and said calmly, “Do you want to be hammered again?”

“No, no! I’m already not that smart. If you hit me again, I’ll get even stupider.”

“I’m joining the production crew next Monday. We won’t see each other for a while again.” Cheng Siyu hugged her knees and sighed.

Actually, she didn’t feel much reluctance toward Ji Yun; rather, she was worried about Shen Moxu. She was the only person who had treated her with kindness in her previous life.

“Oh, it’s fine. There will be plenty of chances later. Maybe one day you’ll even film with my goddess.” Shen Moxu squeezed her shoulder, then exclaimed, “Siyu, did you lose weight again? I’ve gained several pounds being ‘kept’ lately. My goddess said yesterday that my little belly is showing.”

“Pfft.” Cheng Siyu couldn’t help but laugh. However, she felt herself and realized she had indeed thinned out a bit. It was likely from the exercise during filming these past few days and having no appetite because of her heavy heart.

“Alright, Old Shen. It’s late; my dorm has a curfew.” Cheng Siyu took another sip of water, pointed at the time on her phone, and then urged, “Contact me anytime if anything happens.”

The tone Cheng Siyu used was just as firm as the one Shen Moxu had used in her previous life.

“Dammit, I’m not done catching up yet. Siyu, don’t you plan on moving out of the dorms?” Shen Moxu and Cheng Siyu stood up from the grass and patted the dust off themselves. Shen Moxu even helped pat Cheng Siyu’s back. “Your acting fee should have arrived, right?”

“It arrived. We’ll see. Why did you hit me?” Cheng Siyu put on a wronged face just like Ji Yun’s.

“I didn’t hit you! I was just helping you pat off the dust!” Shen Moxu explained. The two joked as they walked to the trash can, where Shen Moxu disposed of the trash.

“I’m going back.” At the school gate, Cheng Siyu waved goodbye.

Shen Moxu waved her tissue with a look of extreme reluctance, resembling a concubine in a period drama unwilling to see her lover leave.

On the way back to the dorm, Cheng Siyu opened her phone. Xi You had sent her a message at some point, but she hadn’t noticed while chatting with Shen Moxu.

“Are you free tomorrow night? Filming starts the day after. I want to treat you and Jiang Shizi to an opening banquet.”

Seeing that she hadn’t replied for a long time, Xi You followed up with a “Come out quickly” emoji.

“Sure, okay,” Cheng Siyu typed a brief reply.

Xi You sent her the location and time, then added: “Do you need me to pick you up?”

Cheng Siyu’s fingers hovered over the screen for a moment before she replied: “Yes.”

From that moment on, she felt she was beginning to fall into an abyss. But since she had started, she would see it through to the end.

The next day, Cheng Siyu woke up and found her roommates hadn’t left. She checked the schedule and realized there were no classes today.

“Siyu, you’re awake? Go to Weibo quickly, something big happened.” Roommate B waved her phone at her.

Following her advice, Cheng Siyu opened Weibo and found that the top trending topic was #StandInLiteratureBecomesReality.

Clicking in, she found a fan-edited video of her, Jiang Shizi, and Qi Yan.

The background music was a song titled “The Stand-In.” The footage consisted of behind-the-scenes clips of her and Jiang Shizi filming, but after every sweet interaction, there was a clip of Jiang Shizi and Qi Yan acting the same way in the past.

The lyrics sang: “I don’t understand the look in your eyes; are you searching for me, or finding her?” This was paired with clips of Jiang Shizi looking at Cheng Siyu repeatedly, only to lower her head and get lost in her own emotions a few seconds later.

The video portrayed Cheng Siyu as a pitiful little thing who didn’t realize she was a stand-in, while Qi Yan was edited as the heartbroken “White Moonlight.” The only villain in the video was Jiang Shizi.

This video was originally just something for CP fans to obsess over, but what truly pushed it to the hot searches was that Qi Yan had “liked” it.

Recalling the voice message Qi Yan had sent her yesterday, Cheng Siyu leaned back on her bed, unsure of how to react.

She was a stand-in, but not for Qi Yan via Jiang Shizi; she was Ji Yun’s stand-in for Ji Yan. She knew clearly that while Jiang Shizi seemed promiscuous, her heart only held Qi Yan.

“Siyu, are you really not close with Jiang Shizi? Why does it look so ship-worthy?”

“Not close” was a lie, but her not liking her was the truth.

“No, we’re not close. It’s probably just an issue with the editing,” Cheng Siyu replied, calming herself. She figured it was yesterday’s broadcast of The Little Ones that had reignited the passion of the long-dormant CP fans.

“Sigh, I guess. I hate that you’re like a block of wood,” the roommate lamented. She felt that the current Cheng Siyu was like a high monk who didn’t touch earthly desires.

Cheng Siyu scrolled through the comments. The continuous hot searches over the past few days had caused her Weibo follower count to skyrocket.

Unexpectedly, just as she was about to turn off her phone, she accidentally hit the “like” button. Within ten seconds, her brain was caught in a storm.

While she was panic-stricken about what to do, the hot search tags had already changed to  Qi Yan Likes and Cheng Siyu Likes.

Cheng Siyu struggled to recall how celebrities usually handled this. She could only unlike the post and then go to the posting page to type two words: “Slipped hand.”

But the explanation seemed only to make things more confusing. People in the comments were already calling for Jiang Shizi, wondering why she was hiding when the other two had already come forward.

Cheng Siyu felt her head throb. While she was worrying about how things would develop, Zhao Xixi called.

“Siyu! If you’re going to browse gossip, just browse! Why did you ‘like’ it?!”

As soon as the call connected, Zhao Xixi gave her a piece of her mind. Cheng Siyu froze and apologized in a small voice: “I’m sorry.”

“Sigh, let the PR department come up with a strategy. But for now, the best solution is to play dead,” Zhao Xixi replied. She wasn’t truly angry with Cheng Siyu.

“I’m sorry, Sister Xixi.”

“No need to apologize. You’re joining the crew tomorrow. This can also give the new movie some heat. Though, it’s impressive that Jiang Shizi and Qi Yan’s CP fans are still so active after three years.” Zhao Xixi’s tone carried a hint of nostalgia; she too had once shipped them before they broke up so suddenly.

Cheng Siyu didn’t know what to say and could only agree: “Yeah.”

“But really, there’s nothing between you and Jiang Shizi, right?” Perhaps because the edit looked too real, Zhao Xixi’s tone wavered.

“Sister Xixi, you…” Cheng Siyu sighed. “If there was really something between us, wouldn’t the person Li Yexing saw in my room be her instead of Ji Yun?”

“True,” Zhao Xixi replied. “Get some good rest today; you’ll be busy starting tomorrow.”

“Okay, thank you, Sister Xixi.”

After the call ended, Cheng Siyu checked the hot searches again. The heat had died down and was replaced by promotional posts for several new dramas.

In the afternoon, Cheng Siyu changed her clothes and put on makeup to meet at the school gate. In the past, to attract Ji Yun, she always wore dresses in the same style as Ji Yan.

Today, she specifically changed into a casual outfit she had always liked and put on the bracelet Xi You had given her.

She didn’t like those dresses, and she liked being a stand-in even less.

Before long, Xi You’s car arrived. Today, she wasn’t driving that flashy rose-red supercar, but had switched to a low-key, luxurious black car.

“Why aren’t you driving the supercar?”

“I was afraid of you being misunderstood. If you like it, I’ll drive it next time.”

After getting in, Cheng Siyu found that Jiang Shizi was sitting in the back again, just like last time. Her expression was dazed, and her face was as pale as a sheet of paper.

“What’s wrong with her?” Cheng Siyu asked Xi You, who looked radiant.

“What else? Qi Yan sent her a voice message on Weibo and gave her a earful.”

As the car drove toward the restaurant, Cheng Siyu didn’t know what to say, so she simply stayed silent.

“No, don’t listen to her nonsense,” Jiang Shizi denied from the back seat. Her voice was much hoarser, like a dry riverbed.

“Oh, really? So no one got drunk last night and cried to me about how things used to be with Qi Yan, and then talked to me about her mother?”

As she spoke, Xi You also yawned and turned to Cheng Siyu. “She dragged me along to talk all night and only stopped this morning.”

“Sigh.” Cheng Siyu sighed helplessly. “I’ve been dragged onto the hot searches by you guys several times. If I didn’t know you don’t like me, I’d suspect you had a crush on me too.”

“Then why don’t we give it a try?” Jiang Shizi’s tone returned to a calm, business-like manner.

Cheng Siyu declined: “No thanks. I have a girlfriend now. Even before we were together, Qi Yan already saw me as an eyesore. If we actually got together, I’d still like to keep a career in the entertainment industry.”

“True. That Ji Yun isn’t easy to deal with either.” Jiang Shizi laughed, as if laughing at Cheng Siyu, or perhaps at herself.

“Siyu, I’m still pursuing you,” Xi You chimed in. She then glanced at the bracelet on Cheng Siyu’s wrist, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly.

“Mm, I’m still being pursued by you,” Cheng Siyu replied, looking at Xi You. The woman seemed like a completely different person from when they first met.

Seeing the two like this, Jiang Shizi spoke up again: “Aren’t you afraid your Little Ji will get jealous?”

At the mention of Ji Yun, Cheng Siyu’s eyes dimmed. She replied: “It’s fine.”

“She’s just a little kid who hasn’t been weaned,” Xi You said. Her only interaction with Ji Yun was the WeChat message she sent before that banquet, and she didn’t take her seriously at all.

At the same time, she also realized that Cheng Siyu didn’t truly love Ji Yun. The way Cheng Siyu looked at Ji Yun didn’t look like the way one looks at a lover; rather, it held a certain sense of detachment.