Captive Moon: Redeemed the Wrong Temptress (GL) - Chapter 1

Jiang Yunong had never imagined Luo Yunjian would be the one to break up with her.

They had known each other for four years and been together for two. They had finally made it through graduation, and Luo Yunjian had even found a job that allowed her to stay in Port City. The last major obstacle they faced being separated after graduation had been eliminated.

Jiang Yunong remembered the night Luo Yunjian officially started her new job. She had bought a celebration cake and brought a gift she’d saved up for six months to knock on Luo Yunjian’s door. She waited in the cold wind for a full fifteen minutes before finally hearing a belated, “I’m coming.”

Jiang Yunong would probably never forget the look of utter surprise in Luo Yunjian’s eyes when she saw her. It wasn’t the joyful kind of surprise. It carried a hint of disgust, which Jiang Yunong was only now realizing, and a flicker of panic whose cause Jiang Yunong had selectively avoided considering at the time. Over everything else, there was a stark air of perfunctory courtesy.

Then, Luo Yunjian forced a smile that made Jiang Yunong extremely uncomfortable. “Jiang-Jiang, you’re here.” Her voice was weaker than usual, too.

The moment Jiang Yunong realized Luo Yunjian wasn’t happy to see her, she heard the loud rock music from her room and saw the people dancing behind her. It was as if they were the ones belonging to the same world, and she was completely shut out by Luo Yunjian’s closed door.

The cake Jiang Yunong was holding slipped from her hands and dropped onto the floor. Her supposed loving girlfriend was having a party to celebrate successfully starting a job at a tech company, and she hadn’t even invited her.

“What happened next?” Back in the present, the bartender in front of Jiang Yunong gently swirled a stemmed glass.

A green base was topped with the glimmer of champagne, and a creamy, deep blue layer was poured over the very top. The bartender seemed dissatisfied with her creation, pushing it all aside to start over—stirring the mysteriously flavored liquid with a delicate glass rod. Finally, she added a dark layer of purple, crafting the cocktail into two beautiful strata. She finished it with a small cube of ice and set it before Jiang Yunong.

“I heard you’re the best bartender here,” Jiang Yunong said, picking up the drink and inspecting it closely. She held the glass toward the window, and the colorful neon lights outside cast brilliant streaks across the liquor.

Port City’s rainy nights were cold. But this was the Joy Bar, a place where the night never truly settled in; coldness had no place here. The clamor of voices and the energetic atmosphere ignited the entire dark, flashing space, making the air feel intensely hot.

“Perhaps,” the bartender replied, wiping a newly washed glass with a thin cloth. “Do you want to continue telling me about your ex-girlfriend?”

“…Or maybe you should try the drink first,” she suggested, changing the subject when Jiang Yunong showed no signs of moving.

Jiang Yunong took the cue the bartender offered and quickly took a gulp, draining half the glass.

An intensely fiery flavor traced its path down Jiang Yunong’s throat, searing her body. It was like sweet chili, immediately followed by a deep bitterness and a sourness that was hard to pin down. Jiang Yunong couldn’t honestly say it was a good drink.

Here is the translated excerpt, focusing on natural flow, humanized language, and connecting the context:

But it perfectly matched her current state of mind, freshly cheated on and dumped by her ex, a massive error in a company project, and her colleagues trying to make her the scapegoat…

It felt like her life had hit a dead end.

If things weren’t this desperate, why else would Jiang Yunong have randomly picked a bar to drown her sorrows, and then so casually pour out her deepest, most painful grief to a bartender she had known for less than five minutes?

“Actually, there’s not much left to tell,” Jiang Yunong said, managing a self-mocking smile. “It’s just the same old tired story. My ex had already hooked up with someone else months ago.”

Swallowing one shot of liquor after another, Jiang Yunong began to feel hazy. The fiery sting of the alcohol in her mouth was intense, yet she found herself strangely addicted to the sensation. She was even addicted to the release she felt from confessing. It was like finally dumping a sack of corrosive garbage except that the contents were pieces of flesh she had carved from her own body.

“She never made any promise with me about staying in Port City. She was supposed to go back to Nanjing; her mother had found her a job there.”

“The real reason she tried so hard to stay in Port City was her arrangement with that person.”

Jiang Yunong finished the glass, feeling dizzy as she looked up at the bartender in front of her. This woman always seemed serene, always bright, like a lighthouse in the bar. Anyone could come to her to unburden their deepest wounds. Even those secrets they were usually too ashamed to share would ultimately be illuminated by the woman’s gaze.

“And her job, I heard that person helped her get it. That party the other day? Of course, it was my ex and that person’s main event.”

Jiang Yunong looked at her own wretched reflection in the bartender’s eyes and let out a scoff.

“I didn’t even get a chance to clearly see that person’s face before my ex ‘escorted’ me out. She took the gift I brought, but she had stopped wanting me a long time ago.”

“She truly is a woman who is cold enough and bad enough,” the bartender said after hearing the story, offering her assessment.

Jiang Yunong simply laughed. She laughed enough, got tired of it, and finally couldn’t even manage a smile anymore.

She placed the glass on the bar. “Another one, please. Make it stronger.”

The bartender offered no words of comfort, only took the empty glass and replaced it with a fresh one.

Amidst the noise and merriment of the crowd, Jiang Yunong strained to distinguish the pitter-patter of rain outside. As she listened, the bitterness that had gripped her heart all day was finally washed away by the scorching alcohol in the silence. She quietly watched the bartender work, finding a brief moment of peace in the small, clear space the woman had demarcated for her.

“Do you have some kind of mysterious power?” After finishing the third drink, Jiang Yunong felt quite drunk. Her words were losing their logic, making it difficult for even her to understand herself.

“What do you mean?” The bartender was idly spinning a glass.

“A kind of magic that makes people want to get close to you.” Jiang Yunong finally managed a proper expression again. However, her eyes were glazed over with confusion, and the bartender couldn’t quite discern her mood. “A lot of people say that.”

Jiang Yunong crooked a finger at the bartender. “Let me tell you a secret.”

The bartender was as compliant as a newborn lamb, blinking her expressive, foxy eyes and leaning in close to Jiang Yunong.

Jiang Yunong gazed at the woman’s flawless face, the smooth, adorable downy fuzz outlining the perfect curve of her oval shape. She watched her winged eyelashes flutter and suddenly reached out and poked her cheek.

“You’re very cute.” Jiang Yunong only touched her for a second.

She watched the bartender’s cheek blush a faint pink. “Thank you…”

“And beautiful, too.” Jiang Yunong was definitely quite drunk. Why else would she be saying such flirtatious things to a stranger?

Fortunately, the other woman didn’t seem repulsed, instead casually pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“You’re quite the smooth talker. You’ll have to tell me exactly what part of me you find beautiful.”

Jiang Yunong looked the bartender up and down. She noticed how the bartender wore the uniform with a distinct flair. It was clearly a serious, suit-style work uniform, the tie tied into a unique bowtie. Yet, on the bartender, it looked like a playful, charming young miss, rebelling and running away from her castle, secretly coming to a bar, wearing adult clothes, and feigning seriousness while performing such a complicated job.

But then again, while the woman was innocent, from certain angles, Jiang Yunong sensed an indescribable allure about her. A subtle, purely feminine charm that spilled out unconsciously, rooted deep within her bones. Like a thorny rose, or a wild cat with sharp claws.

“Just… very cute,” Jiang Yunong said, having thought all that but only managing one simple phrase. She rested her head on her hand, her eyes unfocused. “Extremely cute. Like my little rice ball, Tangyuan.”

The bartender presumed Tangyuan was Jiang Yunong’s pet and replied with an even sweeter smile. “Like this?”

Jiang Yunong’s face broke into a wide smile. “I like you so much.” She looked at the bartender’s flushed cheeks and instantly wanted to kiss her.

The bartender didn’t take her seriously, handing the fourth drink to Jiang Yunong. “Well, thank you then. You’re super cute too.”

“Then do you like me?” Jiang Yunong tapped the rim of the glass.

“Of course, I like you. You’re so adorable, who wouldn’t like you?” The bartender only had this one customer tonight. She served Jiang Yunong attentively, and the way she looked at her truly carried a hint of fascination, though she was clearly more sober than Jiang Yunong. Inwardly, she likely never took their conversation seriously.

“Can you have a drink?” Jiang Yunong seemed quite satisfied with the bartender’s answer.

“I’m afraid I can’t. I’m here to pay off a debt. If I drink a customer’s liquor, they’ll deduct it from my pay.” The bartender gave Jiang Yunong a slightly regretful look.

“Ah, that’s too bad… I wanted to drink a wedding cup with you.” Jiang Yunong didn’t dwell on it, taking the glass and starting to drink.

“Do you even know what a ‘wedding cup’ is?” The bartender couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s…” Jiang Yunong thought very seriously for a moment.

“It’s a drink you have when you like someone.”

The bartender pondered this for a moment, then picked up Jiang Yunong’s glass. “Is that so? Well, I can’t drink, but I can serve you.”

She brought the glass right up to Jiang Yunong’s face. She then carefully helped Jiang Yunong take a full sip, feeding it to her little by little.

At this point, her alcohol intake had reached its limit, and her capacity for coherent thought was gone. She only felt how beautiful the woman in front of her was like the lover from her dream and yet, how pathetic, unable to even have a single drink.

She liked this woman so much. She absolutely had to help her.

After finishing that sip, Jiang Yunong pinched the bartender’s finger and kissed it.

“I like you so much. Do you want to come away with me?”

The bartender looked at Jiang Yunong’s expression and was unexpectedly struck by a hint of seriousness. But she had heard things like this at least five times before. Who would pay off the debt of a bartender they’d only known for a few hours?

“You should think carefully, you know. I owe quite a bit of money,” the bartender said, her fingertip curling slightly as it brushed against Jiang Yunong’s cheek.

“Mhm… you’re so cute, you definitely have to come with me…” Jiang Yunong nodded haphazardly and pressed her cheek against the bartender’s palm again.

*******

The Port City rain was naturally very cold. The bartender couldn’t really hear much of the surrounding noise; for the past few hours, all she had heard was Jiang Yunong’s distant yet intimate outpouring and the incessant patter of rain outside the window.

And now, Jiang Yunong’s face was pressed against her cold hand, slowly transferring warmth from that small spot right to her heart.

“I would be very willing to go with you,” the bartender said, her heart trembling slightly before she suppressed the sudden rush of emotion. She only gave Jiang Yunong an answer, never actually expecting her to take any real action.

Therefore, when the bar owner came up to the bartender more than an hour later and told her that her debt was paid and she didn’t have to work there anymore, she thought she must have misheard.

“Bailan, if you ever want to come back, you’re welcome to keep working here. But regardless, you don’t need to stay any longer.” The boss gave Jiang Yunong a slight push toward Bailan. “Here, meet your benefactor. She said she wants to take you away. Go with her.”

Before Bailan could even react, Jiang Yunong suddenly leaned into her and hugged her softly. “Pretty Big Sister, come home with me.”

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