Always Chasing My White Moonlight Omega - Chapter 7

“Yangyang!” Ruan Qingyu rushed straight toward Ruan Yang, her fingers gently brushing Ruan Yang’s cheek with concern. “Are you okay, Yangyang?”

Ruan Yang seemed dazed by the slap. Her gaze was vacant for a long moment before she finally snapped back to reality.

Her first instinct was to look at Xu Rongjiang’s face. Xu Rongjiang, realizing he had hit the wrong person, was equally stunned. A flicker of embarrassment flashed through his eyes.

The atmosphere in the living room grew awkward in an instant. Ruan Yang felt someone grasp her wrist, pulling her back with firm pressure.

She turned and immediately met Xu Zhiyi’s tightly furrowed brows.

“What were you thinking?” Xu Zhiyi asked sharply, her voice laced with something suppressed, her grip on Ruan Yang’s wrist trembling. “I didn’t need your help.”

Her shoulders tensed as if she wanted to reach out, but in the end, she only lifted a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I have things to do,” Xu Zhiyi said before turning to grab her mask and hat. “I’m leaving.”

Watching that familiar figure practically flee the scene, Ruan Yang finally raised a hand to touch her own face.

How much longer would this go on?

How much longer would she have to watch Xu Zhiyi walk away alone?

“Yangyang! Don’t scare me did that slap knock you stupid?” Ruan Qingyu had half a mind to curse Xu Zhiyi for her heartlessness Ruan Yang had taken a hit for her, and yet she just left like that.

But since Xu Zhiyi was already gone, and Ruan Qingyu didn’t dare berate Xu Rongjiang’s daughter in front of him, she could only vent her frustration at Ruan Yang: “What on earth were you thinking, Ruan Yang? That slap wasn’t meant for you, why did you jump in like that?! How did I end up with such a foolish daughter?”

“My classmates are waiting for me. I’m leaving too.” As if she hadn’t heard a word, Ruan Yang lowered her hand, her expression calm as she went to grab her suitcase.

She didn’t look at Ruan Qingyu. She didn’t look at Xu Rongjiang, either.

Amid her mother’s scolding, she walked out of that house.

Once outside the villa complex, Ruan Yang headed down the road to hail a taxi. But she hadn’t gone far when a red sports car roared to a stop beside her with an ostentatious growl of its engine.

It carried with it a gust of wind, tinged with the scent of roses.

A scent Ruan Yang knew all too well. She stopped in her tracks and turned her head just as Xu Zhiyi rolled down the window, removing her sunglasses to fix her with a look.

Xu Zhiyi’s gaze was more complicated than Ruan Yang had ever seen. She was usually smiling, her fox-like eyes always gleaming with mischief, making it impossible for anyone to guess what she was thinking.

But this time was different.

Ruan Yang could tell at a glance, Xu Zhiyi was in a terrible mood.

The sun was blazing, and beads of sweat had already formed on Ruan Yang’s nose. The sunlight illuminated her face, making the red mark from the slap even more pronounced.

“What’s there to stare at?” A scorching breeze swept between them. Xu Zhiyi studied Ruan Yang’s face for a moment before finally speaking, as if granting a rare mercy. “Get in.”

Ruan Yang smoothed the wind-tousled strands of her hair, then tightened her grip on her suitcase and wordlessly climbed into the car.

She had intended to sit in the back, but Xu Zhiyi’s soft scoff stopped her. “You think I’m your chauffeur?”

Ruan Yang’s lashes fluttered faintly. After stowing her luggage, she reached forward and pulled open the passenger door instead.

After getting into the car, Xu Zhiyi pulled out an ice pack from somewhere and tossed it onto Ruan Yang’s lap.

“Put it on.” With that, Xu Zhiyi started the car, and the bright red sports car sped off toward the bustling city center.

Ruan Yang sat quietly, one hand holding the ice pack against her face while the other fiddled with the charm on her phone.

During a red light, Xu Zhiyi glanced at Ruan Yang, her gaze drifting downward to the charm.

It was an old one, a sun-yellowed doll whose paint had begun to chip away.

Xu Zhiyi vaguely felt that the charm looked familiar, but she didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she asked, “Where do you need to go? I can drop you off.”

Ruan Yang instinctively wanted to say she was heading to the film studio, but when she caught Xu Zhiyi’s still-unpleasant expression in the rearview mirror, she hesitated.

Xu Zhiyi hated this family hated her father, hated her mother, and, by extension, hated her too.

She despised everyone in this household equally.

Ruan Yang let out an almost imperceptible sigh and decided not to mention her plans to study under Director Wu Jun just yet. Softly, she said, “Just drop me off at any hotel near the airport.”

The airport was close to the film studio. Once Xu Zhiyi left, she could easily make her way to the set.

Hearing this, Xu Zhiyi glanced through the rearview mirror at the suitcase Ruan Yang had placed in the back seat.

An inexplicable wave of irritation rose in her chest.

“Going on a trip with friends?” she asked, her tone deceptively calm. Earlier, at the Xu family home, she’d overheard something about Ruan Yang planning to travel with classmates over the summer.

“No,” Ruan Yang replied, tucking her phone and the charm away. She looked out the window. “It’s something else.”

Xu Zhiyi took this as a sign that Ruan Yang didn’t want to elaborate, so she didn’t press further.

The car drove all the way to the airport, stopping in front of the largest hotel nearby.

“We’re here.”

“Thank you…” Ruan Yang opened the door and stepped out, pulling her suitcase behind her. After a pause, she added quietly, “Thank you.”

Xu Zhiyi had parked by the roadside. At the sound of Ruan Yang’s gratitude, she rested her head against the window, sunlight filtering through the glass and casting her in an ethereal glow, like a delicate porcelain doll.

“Aren’t you curious at all?” she murmured, her voice carrying an unreadable weight. “Not even a little bit curious about my scandal?”

There seemed to be something more beneath those words. Ruan Yang’s fingers tightened imperceptibly. She looked at Xu Zhiyi, her heartbeat quickening in some hidden corner of her chest.

Curious?

How could she not be?

She was practically burning with curiosity, thinking about it the entire ride.

But after searching Xu Zhiyi’s eyes for a long moment, she still couldn’t find the emotion she was hoping to see.

It wasn’t the right time yet.

Ruan Yang let out a self-deprecating laugh and whispered, “Then… do you want me to be curious?”

It was as if an invisible blade stood behind each of them, their edges not yet clashing, neither willing to yield.

The question was tossed back. Xu Zhiyi’s lips curled slightly. “Good.”

Her gaze skimmed over Ruan Yang’s now much-improved cheek. With a faint pink fingertip, she tapped the steering wheel twice. “You’d better never, never be curious about it. Understand?”

With that, Xu Zhiyi rolled up the car window, adjusted her sunglasses, and drove away without a trace of hesitation.

It was already around four or five in the afternoon, but Ruan Yang stood by the roadside, her palms drenched in sweat.

The blade hanging over her had finally fallen.

There was no point in denying it.

In this game against Xu Zhiyi, she would always be the loser.

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