Always Chasing My White Moonlight Omega - Chapter 18

The awards ceremony quickly came to an end, and the organizers invited all the guests to attend the upcoming celebration banquet.

Xu Zhiyi had just risen to leave when her hand was pressed down by the person beside her.

“Can I talk to you for a while, Zhiyi?”

Xu Zhiyi didn’t refuse. The staff had already begun cleaning up the venue, so she followed Zheng Tang out to a secluded corner.

There were no surveillance cameras around. Xu Zhiyi remained silent, watching as Zheng Tang’s expression shifted several times before finally lowering her head.

“I’m sorry, Zhiyi.” Zheng Tang’s voice was soft, her tone full of shame. “I had no idea about what happened before. I never expected my ex-girlfriend to suddenly post something like that online, nor did I think it would blow up so much and cause such damage to your reputation. I know I was wrong can you forgive me?”

“Didn’t expect it, had no idea, forgive you?” Xu Zhiyi scoffed. Slowly, she raised her hand, her fingertips brushing against Zheng Tang’s cheek.

Zheng Tang was startled by the gesture, but she soon realized Xu Zhiyi wasn’t about to hit her and didn’t pull away.

“Zheng Tang,” Xu Zhiyi said, her gaze fixed on her own fingers touching Zheng Tang’s face, her tone turning serious. “If it were you, and someone was about to slap a person who hates you, would you step in to take the hit for them?”

Zheng Tang’s mind raced, trying to decipher whether Xu Zhiyi was hinting at something. But after thinking hard, she still couldn’t make sense of it.

She decided to answer honestly. “I… I wouldn’t.”

If the other person already hated her, why would she step in to take a slap for them?

Xu Zhiyi’s eyes brightened slightly. She lowered her hand, her gaze moist. “You wouldn’t, and neither would I.”

But Ruan Yang would.

She curved her lips into a faint smile. “How strange.”

Zheng Tang grew even more bewildered. The rumors online were spiraling out of control, and she had little patience left for Xu Zhiyi’s cryptic words.

In her hand, she clutched the award she had just won, its golden surface glinting sharply as she fidgeted anxiously, nearly blinding to the eyes.

“Zhiyi, I really know I was wrong. Can you please tell your people to stop buying those trending hashtags? And that surveillance footage from that night, I can’t believe you had cameras in your own room. Zhiyi, I’m begging you, can’t you just release a statement saying we were rehearsing a scene that night? Do you have any idea how much damage that video has done? My company is on the verge of dropping me because of it.”

Zheng Tang’s voice grew increasingly frantic. By the end, she grabbed Xu Zhiyi’s wrist. “Zhiyi, please, help me out, okay? I’ll remember your kindness for the rest of my life.”

Xu Zhiyi lowered her gaze to the award that should have rightfully been hers and listened quietly until Zheng Tang finished speaking.

Only then did she finally look up.

In a way, Zheng Tang was born to be an actress. Even if her apology lacked sincerity, the earnestness in her eyes was enough to move anyone who saw it.

“Is this the look you use to deceive so many girls?” Xu Zhiyi asked.

Zheng Tang’s grip on Xu Zhiyi’s wrist stiffened.

Xu Zhiyi reached out and slowly, inch by inch, pulled the trophy from Zheng Tang’s grasp. As she examined it, she spoke nonchalantly, “Since the company is about to give up on you, why would they still buy this award for you?”

It was unclear which word had struck a nerve, but Zheng Tang’s body trembled again, her gaze flickering away. “You… you already know.”

“Zheng Tang,” Xu Zhiyi’s fingers traced the engraved letters on the trophy, “I don’t know what the company promised you, or which big shot you’ve latched onto. But I just want to tell you, no one can take anything from me, even if it’s something I don’t particularly want.”

“There’s nothing to forgive. You’re not even worth my anger.” She let out a soft laugh. “But since this drama started with you, it won’t end with me. Your acceptance speech just now was decent, but did you really think a few words could salvage your reputation?”

Zheng Tang understood now Xu Zhiyi wasn’t planning to let this go.

After groveling for so long, she hadn’t managed to sway Xu Zhiyi in the slightest. These words were the final straw. Zheng Tang’s expression darkened as she wiped all emotion from her eyes.

“Xu Zhiyi, don’t push your luck! You still have half a year left on your contract. For those six months, you’re still tied to the company. Acting like this won’t do you any good. Why not listen to me? Issue that statement, and maybe I can even put in a word for you to terminate your contract early.”

“And who the hell do you think you are?”

Xu Zhiyi, who had been about to leave, turned back sharply, cutting Zheng Tang off.

It was the first time Zheng Tang had heard Xu Zhiyi speak in such a tone. Stunned, she froze, forgetting what she had meant to say.

“Just because the company’s been propping you up, and you’ve gained a little fame, you’ve already forgotten your place?”

In the dim stairwell, the motion-sensor light flickered on inexplicably. A warm yellow glow seeped through the door crack, illuminating Xu Zhiyi’s face.

Zheng Tang’s heart raced inexplicably, her palms growing clammy. It suddenly struck her, she had never truly understood what kind of person Xu Zhiyi was.

Xu Zhiyi was too beautiful. So beautiful that people often noticed only her looks, overlooking the steel beneath.

“You think you’re in any position to threaten me?” Xu Zhiyi’s voice was icy.

“Tricking your ex-girlfriend into removing her gland, forcing her to go from an Omega to a Beta, and then letting her get torn apart online, Zheng Tang, tell me, which is worse? Me struggling to terminate my contract, or you facing the consequences when these crimes against imperial law come to light?”

A loud rumble echoed outside thunder, perhaps.

The motion-sensor light flickered on again. The wooden door a few steps away swayed in the wind, and this time, the light fell on Zheng Tang’s face.

Her eyes widened, her complexion draining of all color.

How had Xu Zhiyi uncovered all this?

For days, ever since her ex-girlfriend’s post went viral, Zheng Tang had been basking in the thrill of stepping over Xu Zhiyi to climb higher, certain that stardom was within her grasp.

She was an Alpha, and society’s tolerance for Alphas was far higher than the public imagined. She had built her image on the “pure and naive Alpha” persona. All she needed to do was issue an apology and a statement saying she was young and foolish back then, that she had long since broken up with her ex-girlfriend, and her die-hard fans would forgive her. In fact, this incident might even earn her a wave of new admirers who’d become devoted “girlfriend fans.”

She had thought her past would remain buried forever. How had things spiraled into this?

Zheng Tang suddenly felt a surge of fear.

There were plenty of people in the company more famous than her, why had she insisted on dragging Xu Zhiyi into this?

A wave of regret crashed over her, spreading wildly through her heart. But by the time Zheng Tang snapped out of it and tried to beg Xu Zhiyi again not to expose everything, she looked up only to find that Xu Zhiyi had already vanished.

The trophy had fallen to the ground at some point, rolling once before coming to rest at her feet.

Xu Zhiyi didn’t want it anymore.

–

After leaving, Xu Zhiyi returned to her dressing room to change out of her gown.

Jiang Jiang had gone to pick up her manager, so Xu Zhiyi had no choice but to wait alone by the side entrance of the venue for the event organizer’s driver to arrive.

For some reason, the driver was taking forever. The air had turned chilly, the sky dark and heavy, with occasional rumbles of thunder.

Xu Zhiyi shivered slightly and was about to take out her phone to hurry the driver along when a figure slowly appeared in her peripheral vision.

She looked up, staring at the approaching figure for a long moment before finally confirming she wasn’t mistaken. “Ruan Yang?”

“What are you doing here?”

Ruan Yang was holding an umbrella and a shawl. Without a word, she walked over and draped the shawl over Xu Zhiyi’s shoulders.

“I happened to have a classmate vacationing on this island, and they were having a gathering at the hotel where your after-party was held. I saw your assistant, she asked me to come.”

Jiang Jiang had always been worried about her being alone, so Xu Zhiyi didn’t question it. “The same classmates you mentioned going on a trip with before?”

Ruan Yang pressed her lips together. “Mm.”

As her voice trailed off, an unspoken silence settled between them.

After another long wait with no sign of the car, Xu Zhiyi perhaps unable to bear the awkwardness or simply wanting someone to talk to suddenly spoke up. “I didn’t win the award tonight.”

She had thought she didn’t care about that award.

But earlier, as she held the trophy and examined it, it suddenly struck her that award had been voted for, one ballot at a time, by her fans.

It was something she had earned through every role she’d played.

How could she not care?

It should have been hers.

Ruan Yang glanced at her.

Xu Zhiyi looked far more exhausted than she ever did on camera.

Once again, Ruan Yang recalled the glimmer of tears she had spotted in Xu Zhiyi’s eyes during the live broadcast.

Just because of that one fleeting moment, she had gone mad, booking a flight on impulse, her mind racing with thoughts of what she could say to comfort Xu Zhiyi when they met.

But now, face to face, Ruan Yang found herself suddenly at a loss for words.

So she simply inched a little closer to Xu Zhiyi, as if trying to share her warmth.

“You’ll win a better award,” she said after a pause, lifting her gaze to the overcast sky with utmost sincerity.

She had always believed Xu Zhiyi would.

Xu Zhiyi only felt that Ruan Yang was acting very strange today. She glanced at Ruan Yang, and suddenly Zheng Tang’s words, “I won’t,” flashed through her mind.

No matter what, Ruan Yang’s words had still lifted Xu Zhiyi’s mood considerably.

Noticing that Ruan Yang seemed to be staring intently at something, she followed their gaze.

In the pitch-black night sky, a bolt of lightning streaked across, like a giant outstretched hand.

“What are you looking at?” Xu Zhiyi asked.

“Looking,” Ruan Yang swayed the umbrella handle lightly in their hand.

“For when it’ll rain.”

I want to hold the umbrella for you.

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