Always Chasing My White Moonlight Omega - Chapter 57

After listening, Xu Zhiyi was still in a daze when Ruan Yang had already disappeared from sight.

She had gone to the night market to look for her phone.

As Ruan Yang left, even the setting sun seemed to lose its brilliance. Xu Zhiyi leaned against the railing, watching the sunset stretch her shadow long across the ground.

Every second felt stretched several times longer. It seemed like an eternity had passed, though in reality, only about ten minutes had gone by when Ruan Yang finally returned. To Xu Zhiyi, it felt like a lifetime.

She saw Ruan Yang emerge from the direction of the night market and hurried to meet her.

“Did you find it?” she asked.

“Yeah, I found it,” Ruan Yang nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, waving it in front of Xu Zhiyi.

She could sense Xu Zhiyi’s worry and softened her tone as much as possible. “It’s okay, I found it. Don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t worried about your phone,” Xu Zhiyi said, releasing her tightly bitten lower lip.

I was worried about you.

Late at night, with her phone stolen, Ruan Yang had dared to confront the thief alone.

What if the thief had been carrying a knife?

Xu Zhiyi couldn’t bear to think about the possible consequences.

“How did you get it back? Are you hurt?”

Ruan Yang reached out, wanting to embrace Xu Zhiyi to calm her down. But since they were outside, she hesitated and withdrew her hand.

She shook her head. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Ruan Yang had always had a sharp memory since childhood. She had glanced at the people who bumped into her earlier and remembered their faces. As she retraced her steps, luck was on her side she spotted one of them loitering at the edge of the night market.

Instinct told her it was the thief.

Ruan Yang immediately grabbed the man by the shoulder. Recognizing her, his face paled, and he tried to bolt. With a swift motion, Ruan Yang swept her leg out and tripped him to the ground.

Seeing the fury in Ruan Yang’s eyes, the man grew frightened, realizing he had messed with the wrong person. He quickly pulled her phone from his bag and handed it back.

Once she had her phone, Ruan Yang was eager to return to Xu Zhiyi. She left the thief to the concerned onlookers, who escorted him to the nearby police station.

Only after hearing Ruan Yang’s explanation did Xu Zhiyi finally relax.

“As long as you’re not hurt but you can’t do this again next time. We should just call the police.”

“Okay, I promise.”

The promise didn’t seem to fully reassure Xu Zhiyi. She was about to say more when she noticed Ruan Yang lowering her head and carefully untying the charm from her phone.

Every movement was deliberate, as though handling a priceless treasure. Soon, she had removed the sunshine charm and tucked it into her pocket, one with a button, which she fastened meticulously.

The phone, on the other hand, was shoved carelessly into another pocket.

It dawned on Xu Zhiyi then Ruan Yang hadn’t chased after the phone. She had gone after the charm.

The sight of it reminded Xu Zhiyi that she had once given Ruan Yang a new charm.

But Ruan Yang had never used it, continuing instead to hang the old, slightly chipped one on her phone.

A pang of something bitter twisted in Xu Zhiyi’s chest, and her tone turned unintentionally sour.

“Who gave you that pendant? I’ve seen you wearing it for so long, treasuring it like a gem. Even in this state, you still can’t bear to replace it?”

Ruan Yang carefully tucked the pendant away, unable to suppress a sigh of relief. She took a few steps forward and leaned against the railing of the bridge.

The sunset had nearly disappeared, leaving only the faintest sliver on the horizon.

The lake was bathed in orange hues, and as the wind rustled through the trees by the shore, leaves drifted down onto the water’s surface like tiny boats.

Ruan Yang closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The soft sound of footsteps approached Xu Zhiyi had walked over as well.

Receiving no answer, she studied Ruan Yang’s profile for a moment before resting her elbows on the railing. “Can’t you tell me?” Her tone carried a strange note. “Could it have been a gift from some girlfriend?”

The question made Ruan Yang open her eyes. She turned her head, meeting Xu Zhiyi’s gaze.

After a long silence, her voice low and her eyes dark with emotion, she asked, “You really don’t remember?” Her voice was slightly hoarse, and in the quiet of the twilight, something in Xu Zhiyi’s chest suddenly skipped a beat.

That look, it was the same one from years ago.

This familiar gaze forced its way into Xu Zhiyi’s vision, unyielding, dragging her back into memories of the past without giving her any chance to refuse.

“Four years ago, the summer I first came to the Xu household,” Ruan Yang began slowly, “you had your hair in a single braid, tied with a teru teru bozu hairband.”

That day had been scorching hot. Ruan Yang stood at the entrance of the Xu residence while Xu Zhiyi sat on the sofa, her braid swaying as the teru teru bozu charm on the hairband bounced along.

Just as dazzling as that summer.

That hairband seemed to be Xu Zhiyi’s favorite that year. At seventeen, every time Ruan Yang saw Xu Zhiyi tie up her hair, she used that same hairband.

Later, when autumn arrived and the weather cooled, Xu Zhiyi stopped wearing her hair up as often.

Ruan Yang hadn’t seen the hairband in a long time until she spotted it again, broken and casually discarded on the living room coffee table.

Returning home from school, she immediately noticed the hairband. Aunt Chen was cleaning, and Xu Zhiyi, flipping through a magazine, told her to throw it away later.

“Throw it away?” Back then, Ruan Yang hadn’t yet mastered her emotions as well as she did now. Unable to help herself, she took a few steps forward, stopping by the coffee table to stare at the hairband in dismay. “Why throw it away?” she asked, her voice tinged with reluctance.

She thought Xu Zhiyi looked beautiful wearing it.

Xu Zhiyi set down the magazine, eyeing the young high schooler with a cold smirk. “Why not throw it away?” Her words carried a pointed edge. “I’m not as kind as my father, tolerating any kind of trash in this house.”

Ruan Yang barely registered Xu Zhiyi’s words her mind was fixated on the fact that Xu Zhiyi was going to discard it.

Perhaps sensing Ruan Yang’s attachment to the hairband, Xu Zhiyi studied her with amusement before turning to Aunt Chen. “Aunt Chen, you don’t need to throw it away.”

“Huh? Why not?” Aunt Chen looked puzzled.

Xu Zhiyi’s red lips curved into a smile as she stood up, picked up the hairband from the table, and tossed it carelessly at Ruan Yang.

“Here, it’s yours.” Her smiling tone carried undisguised malice. “You can throw it away. Since you’ve been freeloading at my place, you ought to do something. When you toss it in the trash, take a good hard look at what you really are and how little difference there is between you and this hair tie.”

With that, Xu Zhiyi turned and walked upstairs.

The memory stopped there, and Xu Zhiyi’s eyes widened in realization.

Ruan Yang noticed Xu Zhiyi’s stunned expression and allowed a faint smile to curl her lips. Her voice was eerily calm. “Remember now? This pendant, you gave it to me.”

Xu Zhiyi had genuinely forgotten she’d ever done such a thing, said such words.

She had spoken so many cruel things to Ruan Yang in the past, too many for even herself to recall.

“So?” She tucked a wind-tousled strand of hair behind her ear. “You didn’t throw it away. You kept it?”

Ruan Yang’s gaze drifted back to the river, as if reliving that day.

“Mm.” She nodded. “After you went upstairs, Auntie Chen came to comfort me. She said you didn’t mean it, told me not to be angry with you. She even tried to take the hair tie to throw it away herself.”

But Ruan Yang hadn’t let her. She’d picked it up from the floor, insisting she’d dispose of it.

Instead, she took it back to her room. The broken hair tie was tied to her bedpost, snapping a few more times before it finally became unusable and had to be discarded.

The little teru teru bozu charm from the hair tie, however, she removed and fashioned into a pendant. Thanks to its delicate craftsmanship, the charm had stayed intact for years, only beginning to chip this year.

All this time, she’d carried it with her. Every time she looked at it, she remembered that summer, that afternoon when Xu Zhiyi had seemed to glow from within.

Ruan Yang had long suspected Xu Zhiyi had forgotten about the hair tie after all, she’d seen it countless times before without so much as a flicker of recognition.

But now that Xu Zhiyi knew, Ruan Yang felt an inexplicable tension.

She stole a glance at Xu Zhiyi, who wore a pensive expression, lost in thought.

After what felt like an eternity, Xu Zhiyi finally parted her lips to speak.

Ruan Yang’s heart pounded. Just as she braced for reproach, Xu Zhiyi suddenly laughed light, as if unburdened.

“You little brat!” She sighed, turning her gaze to the lake.

The last remnants of sunset spilled into her crescent-moon eyes. Her voice was a mix of playful chiding and indulgence.

“You’ve had ulterior motives for me all along, huh?”

And here she’d thought Ruan Yang only started seeing her differently this year.

Heat rushed to Ruan Yang’s cheeks.

Xu Zhiyi leaned contentedly against the railing, propping her chin on her hand.

Though they’d missed the sunset today, it had been beautiful all the same.

Neither spoke again until the last light faded, and the lampposts along the lakeside path flickered to life. Only then did Xu Zhiyi lower her hand.

She turned. “Let’s go. We’ll buy Fangxuan some sweet soup, then head back.”

Her steps were noticeably lighter than when they’d arrived.

Ruan Yang’s hand slipped back into her pocket, fingers brushing the pendant, now warmed by her touch.

“Coming.”

She curled her palm around the tiny teru teru bozu and followed, falling into step beside Xu Zhiyi.

She walked side by side with her.

The two of them went to the night market again to buy a serving of sweet soup, which Xu Zhiyi carried back to the hotel.

When they reached the hotel entrance, Jiang Jiang was waiting for them at the door.

Seeing Jiang Jiang, Xu Zhiyi handed over the sweet soup she was holding: “Fangxuan-jie loves sweet soup. Could you help me deliver this to her later?”

Jiang Jiang took the sweet soup, her expression somewhat complicated: “Fangxuan-jie right now might not be in the mood for sweet soup.”

“What do you mean?” Ruan Yang asked.

“Haven’t you checked Weibo?” Jiang Jiang said. “Fangxuan-jie was photographed by paparazzi on a date with a man.”

Since entering the industry, Shi Fangxuan had never been involved in any scandals and had publicly declared herself a staunch advocate of singlehood.

Given this background, the current scandal surrounding Shi Fangxuan had attracted a swarm of onlookers, all eager to see if she would be proven wrong.

Xu Zhiyi and Ruan Yang almost simultaneously pulled out their phones.

A trending topic about Shi Fangxuan was high on the hot search list. Xu Zhiyi clicked into it, and the first post on the page was a video released by the paparazzi showing Shi Fangxuan dining with a man at a restaurant.

In the video, Shi Fangxuan sat upright, while the man across from her, dressed in a tailored suit, exuded an air of distinction. Yet, he willingly reached out to serve her food.

The angle captured by the paparazzi was tricky, making it hard to see Shi Fangxuan’s full expression, and the man’s face was pixelated. From the perspective of the onlookers, it appeared exactly as the headline suggested, a sweet date between the two.

As soon as Ruan Yang saw the video, she couldn’t help but glance at Xu Zhiyi.

Xu Zhiyi was staring down at her phone, gripping it so tightly her fingertips turned white.

“No one knows who this man is,” Jiang Jiang couldn’t help but muse. “The comments are all speculating about his identity. What kind of extraordinary man could catch Fangxuan-jie’s eye.”

Xu Zhiyi suddenly let out a cold laugh, cutting Jiang Jiang off.

“Zhiyi!” Ruan Yang reached out to take Xu Zhiyi’s hand.

“Yeah,” Xu Zhiyi said expressionlessly, as if she, too, was just another curious onlooker.

But her words came out through gritted teeth.

“Who is this guy?”

Even with the pixelation, she would recognize him even if he were reduced to ashes.

This man was none other than her father, Xu Rongjiang!

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