After the Divorce, I Ended Up with My Ex-Husband’s "White Moonlight" [Transmigration] - Chapter 41

Ning Qi allowed herself to be pulled into the bedroom, staring at Qin Shi in a silent daze. Does this woman just drop love confessions whenever she feels like it? She didn’t act like someone who had never been in a relationship before. At all.

“Ning Qi,” Qin Shi said, sitting down beside her.

“Could you please stop calling my name?” Ning Qi didn’t want to respond, but she knew that if she didn’t, Qin Shi would just keep calling her.

“What’s wrong?” Qin Shi noticed that Ning Qi didn’t look shy; she looked like she was quietly seething.

“Nothing.” Ning Qi’s eyelids drooped, her energy flagging. “I was just thinking… it wasn’t good of you to say those things in front of Xiao Yu’er.”

That was one part of it, but there was something else weighing on her mind.

Thinking about it, she and Qin Shi hadn’t actually met that many times. When she agreed to “give it a try” yesterday, she truly meant try. She knew her own worth, and she couldn’t quite believe that in just a few days, Qin Shi could overlook all the mysteries surrounding her and fall so deeply in love.

Ning Qi admitted she was attracted to Qin Shi, but “love”? That was a heavy word. To Ning Qi, it felt like something distant and unattainable, found only in books.

“You think I was just saying it casually?” Qin Shi read her thoughts instantly. She narrowed her eyes, her tone turning serious.

“That’s not what I meant…” Since she’d been caught, Ning Qi decided not to hide it. “I just think… we haven’t known each other long, and we’ve been ‘official’ for even less time. It’s normal not to have such deep feelings yet. Feelings grow over time. We can—”

She stopped mid-sentence and wisely shut her mouth. Qin Shi’s expression was grim—worse than when she’d questioned her about the magazine. Qin Shi was angry. Really, truly angry.

“So you think I’m just flippant? That I just toss ‘I love you’ around like it means nothing?”

Instinct told Ning Qi to stop digging this hole. She tried a different angle. “Look, let’s not talk about that for a second. I just don’t think we should say such things in front of the child. Xiao Yu’er is so young; we don’t want to lead her astray.”

“Lead her astray?” Qin Shi let out a cold laugh. “You think a girl dating another girl is going to ‘lead a child astray’?”

Wait, what? How did we get here? Ning Qi was stunned. That wasn’t what she meant at all!

“I—I meant that she’s a child! The concept of romantic love is—”

Qin Shi clearly had no interest in letting her finish. She cut her off sharply. “So, if your partner were a man, it would be fine? Then it would be ‘proper’ and ‘upstanding’ to say it in front of her, is that it?”

A giant hat of prejudice, served right up. Ning Qi was flabbergasted. She was merely talking about age-appropriateness, but Qin Shi had twisted it into a conflict between heterosexual and homosexual legitimacy.

In this world, same-sex relationships were legal, but the law was relatively new. It was still a point of social friction. Heterosexuality remained the “mainstream” expectation.

“Qin Shi,” Ning Qi said helplessly. “Can we be reasonable? That isn’t what I was trying to say—”

“So now I’m being unreasonable?”

“No, that’s not it either!” Another landmine. Ning Qi scrambled to backtrack. “You’re very reasonable. It’s my fault for not expressing myself clearly and causing a misunderstanding. I—”

“You expressed yourself just fine. That’s exactly what you meant!” Qin Shi said coldly.

Fine. Just fine. Ning Qi felt like giving up and just lying down to accept the blame. No matter what she said, she was only making it worse.

Seeing that Ning Qi wouldn’t even argue with her anymore, Qin Shi turned and walked straight out of the bedroom.

“Qin Shi!” Ning Qi jumped up and chased after her. “Slow down!”

The more she shouted, the faster Qin Shi walked. She shoved the front door open and vanished.

The door closed with a loud thud. Xiao Yu’er looked up, confused. “Sister Ning, what happened?” She hadn’t even seen Sister Qin leave.

“Nothing,” Ning Qi didn’t have time to explain. “Xiao Yu’er, play by yourself for a minute. Don’t open the door for anyone unless you hear me call, okay?”

“Okay,” the girl nodded. “I know, Mama says the same thing at home.”

Ning Qi was already out the door before the child finished. The elevator was heading down to the fifth floor; Qin Shi must be on it. Realizing she’d never make it by waiting for the elevator, Ning Qi sprinted for the stairs.

The Underground Confrontation

“Qin Shi!” Ning Qi burst into the underground garage just as Qin Shi opened her car door. Hearing the voice, Qin Shi’s hand paused on the handle.

“Wait a minute!” Ning Qi panted.

Qin Shi sat inside but didn’t start the engine. Once Ning Qi was close enough, she said, “I’m not waiting for you. I just realized Xiao Yu’er is still at your place.”

“So glad you remembered her!” Ning Qi leaned against the car, relieved she had at least stopped. She let out a dry laugh. “Aren’t you worried? You just had a fight with me and then left her there. What if I mistreat her?”

“Do what you want.” Qin Shi didn’t look worried at all. Instead, she started the engine and drove away.

Ning Qi trudged back up the stairs and let herself into the apartment.

“Sister Ning,” Xiao Yu’er looked around. “Where’s Sister Qin? Did she have to leave suddenly?”

“Suddenly…” Ning Qi repeated with a wry smile. “You could say that.”

Suddenly driven away by my own stupidity, she thought. First, she’d doubted Qin Shi’s sincerity, and then she’d accidentally made it sound like she was ashamed of their relationship.

The first was a blunder; the second was a total catastrophe. She didn’t feel that way at all!

“Xiao Yu’er,” Ning Qi knelt down, looking at the girl with desperate intensity.

“Sister Ning? Is something wrong?”

“I… I want to ask,” Ning Qi said solemnly. “Does anyone ever make your Sister Qin angry? And if they do, what do they do to make it up to her?”

“Sister Qin never gets angry,” Xiao Yu’er answered quickly. “I’ve never seen her mad.”

“That can’t be right,” Ning Qi doubted. She’d just seen it with her own eyes. “Think hard. Are you sure?”

Xiao Yu’er went into deep thought. Ning Qi tried to prompt her, but she couldn’t think of anything. Aside from the magazine incident—which was more of a playful tiff—Qin Shi always seemed so composed. Was today really a “capital crime” level of anger?

“Sister Ning, if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Sister Qin?” the girl asked.

“Oh?” Ning Qi leaned in. “What did you do that she can’t know about? I promise, I won’t say a word. I just need to know how to coax her back.”

“You made Sister Qin so mad she left?” Xiao Yu’er’s voice went up an octave, her eyes dancing with excitement.

Ning Qi didn’t know why the kid was so thrilled, but a secret for a secret seemed fair. “Yes. So, can you tell me now?”

“Okay. But we have to pinky-swear.”

After the ritual, Xiao Yu’er spilled the beans. Apparently, the vase in Qin Shi’s study wasn’t broken by a bird—it was her. The coffee spilled on the important business proposal wasn’t the cat’s fault—it was her. And then there was…

“That’s about it,” the girl finished, looking like she’d realized she shouldn’t have said so much. She tried to slink away, but Ning Qi caught her.

“That’s… it?” Ning Qi repeated through gritted teeth.

“Sister Ning…” Xiao Yu’er saw the look on her face and immediately surrendered. “I’m sorry!”

“What was Qin Shi’s reaction to all that?”

“Sister Qin?” The girl thought for a moment. “She didn’t really say anything.”

“She didn’t say anything?” Ning Qi was incredulous.

“Really.” Xiao Yu’er poked her fingers together. “She just didn’t let me back into the study.”

Well, obviously! Ning Qi wouldn’t let her back in either.

“Sister Ning, have you figured out how to coax her yet?”

How to coax her… That was a question for the heavens. “Xiao Yu’er, play for a bit longer. Then, we start piano lessons.”

“Sister Ning…” The toys suddenly lost their luster. “I think we could—”

“Sweetie,” Ning Qi said with a bright, terrifying smile. “Think about it. If you don’t learn anything, your Mama won’t send you here next time. Do you want to play just this once, or learn a little so you can come back and play many times?”

“I want to come back many times,” the girl sighed.

“That’s a good girl. For the sake of future playdates, we have to learn a little.”

As Xiao Yu’er dejectedly lowered her head, Ning Qi’s smile faded. She started to wonder if Qin Shi had sent the girl here as a punishment for both of them.

Ugh, how do I fix this?

“Sister Ning,” Xiao Yu’er looked up again. “Are you still stuck on how to fix it?”

“Yeah,” Ning Qi sighed.

“I don’t think Sister Qin is really mad at you. Grandma Wu always says Sister Qin is going to be mad at me for being naughty, but she never is. Besides…” Xiao Yu’er brandished a toy and said in her high, innocent voice, “Sister Qin likes you so much. She definitely won’t stay mad at you.”

Is that right? Ning Qi smiled bitterly. If even a child could see how much Qin Shi liked her, and she knew she liked Qin Shi back, why were they fighting like this?

They’d been “official” for less than 48 hours and they were already having a blowout. They really were “talented” at this.