Captive Moon: Redeemed the Wrong Temptress (GL) - Chapter 3

The night rain in Hong Kong felt like a thousand tiny needles pricking her skin. The needle piercing her skin was painful, but the agony of it entering her bone marrow made her tremble violently.

Could the warmth of a kiss truly banish this bone-chilling cold?

Bai Lan didn’t know. She simply responded gently to Jiang Yunong’s kiss, hoping it would calm her down.

Yet the kiss’s heat made her blood surge.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have leaned in, and Jiang Yunong shouldn’t have closed her eyes. Before this kiss, they were strangers, like a therapist and her patient. Afterward, they were master and servant, their roles clearly defined.

Bai Lan had become a docile, obedient canary, while Jiang Yunong, the woman who had initiated the kiss, had become her mistress.

The wind, carrying the scent of rain and sea, whistled through the car door’s crack. It billowed her skirt, seeped into her rain-soaked clothes, and stole away another patch of body heat.

At the boundary between this relentless cold and her inner warmth, Bai Lan tasted the sweetness of alcohol. It was the cocktail she had personally mixed tonight, now returned to her as a flavor after being absorbed by another. The sweetness was complex, the spiciness intense. But the most prominent note was the aroma of brandy.

Dizzy from the intricate taste, Bai Lan’s trembling fingertips brushed Jiang Yunong’s waist.

“Sister…” Jiang Yunong seemed to be getting emotional.

She couldn’t see the relentless rain battering against the window, or Bai Lan’s clothes soaked dark by the rain. All she could see was a beautiful woman moving in sync with her.

“Come with me… home…”

Jiang Yunong cupped Bai Lan’s face, deepening the kiss with focused intensity. Little by little, she drew out the last vestiges of warmth from Bai Lan’s body.

“What’s the address?” Remarkably, Bai Lan still remembered her mission, resisting complete surrender to the fleeting joy of the sweet kiss.

“It’s…” Jiang Yunong actually gave her a string of numbers.

With that, she nipped at Bai Lan’s lip, a playful bite that stirred the car’s sensual atmosphere into a swirling vortex.

Bai Lan’s body gradually warmed, her eyelashes fluttering lightly as she indulged Jiang Yunong. She said nothing, her movements minimal.

How much genuine affection lay beneath this obedient compliance? Jiang Yunong couldn’t tell. She wanted to pry open the woman’s honeyed lips, to explore the reasons behind those tightly sealed teeth.

But in the blink of an eye, all she saw was Bai Lan’s amber-brown eyes.

Jiang Yunong had fallen into a deep slumber in Bai Lan’s arms.

Bai Lan breathed a sigh of relief. At least Jiang Yunong wasn’t a terrible drunk.

She took the car keys from Jiang Yunong’s hand, returned to the driver’s seat, and started the car. The address Jiang Yunong had blurted out unconsciously was likely her home.

Bai Lan couldn’t deny the anxiety churning within her. If she had a choice, she’d rather be back in her rented room. But she also didn’t want to work for Boss Huang for the rest of her life.

Bai Lan turned on the windshield wipers, took a deep breath, and banished her lingering thoughts. Driving her current master’s car, she headed toward her master’s home.

Upon arrival, the underground garage recognized the license plate and automatically opened the gate. She hadn’t taken the wrong turn. Bai Lan exhaled in relief and parked in a random spot.

Opening the back door, she saw Jiang Yunong was awake, sitting upright with her head nodding slightly.

“Miss Rain?” Bai Lan called out tentatively.

Hearing her voice, Jiang Yunong turned to look at Bai Lan. Her eyes still held the hazy blur of intoxication.

“Sister,” Jiang Yunong reached out to Bai Lan. “Did you come to pick me up?”

Bai Lan paused for a moment before sighing softly. “Yes.”

Poor, infatuated girl.

She half-carried Jiang Yunong out of the car, remembering to shield her head from the rain that was sliding down the roof.

“This is so nice,” Jiang Yunong murmured, still a little awkward. She wanted to hug Bai Lan but hesitated.

Bai Lan pressed her close and locked the car door.

“Where do you live?” she asked, catching the faint scent of cedarwood on the girl’s skin.

“Eighteenth floor, apartment six. You’ve been there before, haven’t you? You… you’ve forgotten?” Jiang Yunong’s voice sounded utterly forlorn.

Bai Lan didn’t want to lie, nor did she want to explain her true identity to someone so drunk. She remained silent.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve forgotten,” Jiang Yunong said, resting her head gently on Bai Lan’s shoulder. “Just that you’re here… that’s enough.” She then brushed her cheek against Bai Lan’s. “I’m so happy.”

Bai Lan tilted her head back, trying to ignore the soft, furry sensation against her neck. I wonder what happened in Jiang Yunong’s previous relationship? she thought. What made her so timid, yet so passionate? My mistress is truly a pitiful woman.

When they reached the house, Bai Lan tried each of the keys on the ring next to the car key.

As soon as the door opened, Jiang Yunong seemed to sense something. Her voice lifted as she took in the interior.

“Yunjian, you finally came to my house!”

“…I’m not her,” Bai Lan finally blurted out, unable to hold back any longer.

After confirming that no one else was in the house, she relaxed slightly.

Still in Bai Lan’s arms, Jiang Yunong leaned closer, scrutinizing her face.

“You are! Stop pretending.”

Bai Lan blinked a few times but didn’t reply. She laid the drunk woman on the sofa and went to the kitchen to boil water for a hangover soup.

“Sister, don’t leave me!” Jiang Yunong grabbed Bai Lan’s sleeve.

She didn’t seem to notice her wet hand, only that she was cold. “I’m so cold…”

Bai Lan draped the blanket from the sofa over Jiang Yunong.

“Sister, I want a hug.” Even drunk, she knew how to be clingy.

Bai Lan held her close, tucking the blanket snugly around her back.

Jiang Yunong nestled quietly in the sweet, wine-scented embrace for a moment before suddenly saying, “You’re definitely not Yunjian.”

Bai Lan didn’t reply.

“She wasn’t this kind…”

Bai Lan shook her head, sighing inwardly.

“I’m the canary you just bought,” she finally said, not wanting Jiang Yunong to cry herself into a mess again.

“Mango transformed into a person?!” Jiang Yunong heard “canary” and immediately thought of a bird. She nearly sobered up in shock, grabbing Bai Lan’s hair and scrutinizing her face.

“…I’m human. That was a metaphor,” Bai Lan said, a hint of exasperation in her voice. “In short, you can do whatever you want with me.” She doubted Jiang Yunong even understood the words.

Jiang Yunong nodded vaguely. “Then… can I kiss you?”

She remembered the warmth from earlier.

“If that’s what you want,” Bai Lan said, leaning in again.

The rain hadn’t entered the room, only the dampness clinging to their bodies.

Jiang Yunong kissed Bai Lan without hesitation, holding her tightly. She let the intimacy creep back into their bodies.

This wasn’t Luo Yunjian. Even in her drunken haze, Jiang Yunong knew that. The woman before her was prettier than Luo Yunjian, and as obedient as a doll.

Yet Jiang Yunong couldn’t stop thinking: What if she were Luo Yunjian?

As the kiss deepened, Jiang Yunong pushed Bai Lan down onto the sofa. Bai Lan’s hairpin clattered to the floor. Her loosely tied hair spilled across the cushions, strands curling around still-damp raindrops.

Jiang Yunong picked up a strand, then let it fall. She gazed at Bai Lan’s reddened eyes, her heaving chest, and the thin fabric of her inner robe. Her head swam.

Then she collapsed into Bai Lan’s arms.

“Can I… pretend you’re Yunjian?” she murmured, her words slurring.

Before Bai Lan could answer, Jiang Yunong closed her eyes.

Bai Lan steadied her breathing. She had thought they would…

Exhausted, Jiang Yunong fell into a deep sleep.

Bai Lan, having recovered her composure, gently lifted Jiang Yunong off her. The sofa was soaked and unusable for sleeping.

Bai Lan carried Jiang Yunong to the bed, tucked her in, and then found a clean spot on the bedroom floor to lie down.

Unable to sleep, Bai Lan glanced at her phone. Coincidentally, her landlord had sent a reminder about the rent. It was already the first of the month.

Uncertain about her next move, Bai Lan turned off her phone, pretending not to have seen the message.

Jiang Yunong finally opened her eyes at noon the next day. The hangover headache nearly made her pass out again. Just when she’d barely gotten used to the throbbing pain, a flood of bizarre memories surged into her mind.

Jiang Yunong shook her head, immediately blocking out the recollections. Last night, she’d poured out her troubles at the bar and gotten completely drunk. Then… how had she gotten home?

Pressing her temples, Jiang Yunong got out of bed. She brushed her teeth and washed her face as usual, adding a hot shower and a change of clothes to her routine.

After finishing, she went to the balcony to greet her pets.

“Tangyuan, you haven’t finished your food again. Are you really trying to starve yourself?” Jiang Yunong refilled her chinchilla’s food bowl.

The chinchilla, round as a perfect jade plate, stared blankly at her.

“Mango~ It rained last night. How are you doing?” Jiang Yunong stood up and opened the birdcage hanging high above.

“Woman, woman,” Mango, the parrot, flapped his wings and perched on Jiang Yunong’s shoulder.

“Luo Yunjian, woman,” Mango preened his feathers while chattering to Jiang Yunong.

“What…?” Following Mango’s words, Jiang Yunong turned to look at the bedroom. She saw a woman who looked familiar, but definitely wasn’t Luo Yunjian.

“Ah—!” Jiang Yunong let out her first scream of the day.

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