My Ex’s White Moonlight Omega Has a Crush on Me - Chapter 25

In the end, Ji Tanyue did not agree to the request.

Just beyond the wall, the filming crew and post-production team were still working at a frantic pace.

Yet she lifted the girl’s smooth, jade-like chin and kissed her plump, rosy lips.

With careful, lingering pressure, the person in her arms soon had tears streaming down her face, pushing against Ji Tanyue in panic, her breathing growing erratic from the fear of being discovered.

Ji Tanyue tasted the candy-like sweetness of the lip gloss.

Of course, it was not even a fraction as sweet as the lychee scent in the air.

“Ji… Ji Laoshi…” As the embrace loosened slightly, Chao Wan stumbled back a few steps, escaping her restraint, her misty eyes wide with alarm.

Her voice, no longer as clear and bright as usual, carried a faint, soft tremor.

She clutched the broken hair accessory tightly in her hand, her eyes rimmed red, head bowed as if lost in thought.

From her restless, fidgeting fingers, it was clear she was afraid.

Ji Tanyue merely curved her lips slightly, pretending not to notice.

She stepped forward, took the item from Chao Wan’s hand, and spoke gently, “What were you looking for just now? Let me help you.”

As their fingertips brushed, a cool, unfamiliar warmth passed between them.

Chao Wan recoiled as if shocked, quickly pulling her hand back, her earlobes flushing crimson.

“Um… it’s the beads…”

The floor was scattered with tiny, glittering pieces that had fallen from the tasseled hair accessory.

Just moments ago, she had accidentally fumbled and lightly bumped it, causing the pearls and small pendants to scatter everywhere. Many had rolled into narrow crevices, leaving Chao Wan utterly flustered.

Ji Tanyue fiddled with the inexpensive prop in her hand, glancing at Chao Wan, who stood as if being punished. A faint, unnoticed smile flickered in her eyes.

“Damaging the company’s property means you’ll have to compensate for it,” she deliberately lowered her tone.

Chao Wan believed her, looking up in alarm and meeting the woman’s scrutinizing gaze. She pressed her lips together slightly, murmuring, “I… I will pay for it.”

Fidgeting with her skirt, her expression apologetic, she added softly, “Once I earn some money, I’ll definitely pay for it.”

Suddenly, Ji Tanyue felt a tender spot in her heart stir.

She adjusted the tasseled hair accessory slightly and carefully placed it back on Chao Wan’s head.

Though it had lost many of its eye-catching glittering ornaments, against the backdrop of that cool, elegant face, none of it mattered anymore.

It looked exactly like the person she had seen through the camera lens earlier.

Except… the lips were slightly swollen, her doing.

Ji Tanyue brushed aside the tassels, lowered her gaze, and pressed another kiss to Chao Wan’s cheek.

A light touch, intimate yet restrained, as if handling something fragile.

Chao Wan retreated again, her eyelashes fluttering, biting her lip as a blush bloomed across her cheeks.

Like a timid little bird trapped indoors, swiftly escaping its owner’s grasp.

Ji Tanyue’s heart softened unbearably. She closed the distance again and asked knowingly, “What’s wrong?”

Chao Wan shook her head in embarrassment.

Ji Tanyue didn’t press further, a slight smile playing on her lips as she bent down to pick up a few exquisitely shaped pearls from the floor and held them out to her.

“Were you looking for these just now?”

Chao Wan’s eyes visibly brightened before she cautiously averted her gaze and gave a soft “Mm.”

In a quiet voice, she replied, “It was my fault for breaking the hair accessory. I’m sorry, Ji Laoshi.”

She was so clumsy, always messing things up.

“I’ll pay…” Her self-reproachful words trailed off, stuck mid-sentence.

Chao Wan’s eyelashes trembled as she realized Ji Tanyue had suddenly taken her hand.

Ji Tanyue curled the pearls into her palm and spoke gently, “No one is asking you to pay.”

She picked up a pearl and held it against Chao Wan’s slender neck, smiling. “If you like these things, we can go to the shop together and personally select some seawater pearls to make a necklace.”

After speaking, Ji Tanyue lowered her gaze, letting her eyes sweep over Chao Wan section by section.

It wasn’t just the neck, her delicate, pale wrists and ankles would suit them just as well.

Chao Wan froze for a moment, this time catching the underlying meaning in the woman’s words. She shook her head slightly.

Unexpected favors, once accepted, would have to be repaid.

“But didn’t you like them just now? You were so flustered when you lost them and went searching.” Ji Tanyue smiled faintly. “The planner told me you chose option two.”

Like a little bird that loves hoarding jewels.

“No, I don’t like them…” Chao Wan, afraid that her preferences might be used against her as leverage, could only cover up her feelings with a guilty lie.

The woman smiled without speaking.

This time, she didn’t press further.

The pearls in her palm had grown damp with sweat. Chao Wan carefully placed them back in the box and subtly increased the distance between herself and Ji Tanyue.

She had no idea Ji Tanyue would come here to watch her take the contract photos.

Lately, every time Chao Wan woke up, the space beside her was empty. The woman seemed to have a packed schedule, yet today she had time to come and watch her make a fool of herself.

Annoyed, she pressed her lips together.

“Ms. Ji, and Miss Chao?” A head poked in through the doorway, it was the planner. “You can come and select the photos now.”

“Go ahead.” Ji Tanyue met Chao Wan’s gaze and gave a slight nod.

Chao Wan lifted the hem of her dress as if fleeing, lowered her head, brushed past the woman, and followed the planner out.

Before leaving the room, she pressed down on the freshly applied inhibitor patch on the back of her neck, as if trying to suppress the heat Ji Tanyue had stirred up moments earlier.

“Are you sure you don’t want to look more carefully?” The planner sat in front of the computer, pulling up the few photos Chao Wan had pointed out earlier, feeling a pang of regret over the discarded ones. “These are all quite good.”

“Thank you for your hard work. This will do.” Chao Wan nodded hastily and tentatively asked, “May I leave now?”

“Of course, feel free.” The planner nodded.

Chao Wan bid him a polite farewell, gathered her belongings, and quickly left with Xiao Sui.

The planner hissed softly, continuing to review the photos, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Chao Wan’s behavior had been a bit odd.

It was almost as if… she was avoiding something?

In fact, when he had gone to fetch Chao Wan and Ji Tanyue earlier, he had noticed the tension between them. It seemed like they were at odds, faces flushed and tempers high.

Weren’t there rumors from gossip accounts that Chao Wan and Ms. Ji had an unusual relationship? Perhaps that wasn’t the case after all.

He came up with a bold speculation.

One was an OO relationship, the other an Alpha, could they be rivals in love, both interested in the same Omega?

What a daring conjecture.

But the more unlikely it seemed, the more likely it was to be true. In this industry, anything was possible, and the planner was used to it.

So, that dinner they were spotted at together must have been to settle a score, right?

And Ms. Ji signing Chao Wan into Sijin was to humiliate her. Yes, that had to be it.

The planner’s mind buzzed with a melodramatic narrative spanning thousands of words as he distractedly edited the photos, unaware that someone had quietly approached from behind.

“Xiao Xu.” A USB drive was handed to him from behind.

Startled, he turned around to find Ji Tanyue looking as composed as ever. She instructed, “Copy all the photos onto this.”

His wild, dramatic theories instantly shattered.

The planner agreed and carried out the task dutifully.

When he handed the USB drive back to Ji Tanyue, he inadvertently caught a fleeting soft glow in the woman’s eyes.

The planner was stunned.

If things were like this, she definitely wasn’t a rival in love.

So… could she be a lover instead?

Chao Wan asked Xiao Sui to help her call a taxi. After dropping the girl off at her home, she gave the driver her uncle’s address.

Although there had been some unpleasantness over the contract dispute earlier, she still had to go back. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to explain signing with Sijin.

And then there was Fu Xi. Since that night after the extra scene when she was dragged off to socialize with drinks, they hadn’t properly been in touch.

Chao Wan pursed her lips lightly, recalling the events of those past few days, none of them seemed pleasant.

The woman’s face surfaced in her mind again.

She sent a message to Y, explaining why she had left without saying goodbye.

[Ms. Ji, Sister Yu said I could go home after the shoot, so I left the set first.]

Ten minutes later, Ji Tanyue’s reply appeared in the chatbox.

[Got it.]

[Also, just call her my secretary.]

At first, Chao Wan didn’t understand the last message. After thinking for a moment, she realized Ji Tanyue was referring to Yu Yunjia, the woman in the black suit dress.

[Oh…] she typed.

In the chatbox, a sticker of a little bird nodding appeared with the text.

Chao Wan hesitated for a moment before tapping on the cute sticker.

[Y: Good girl.]

After that message, she received no further replies.

By the time the magazine shoot wrapped up, it was already late afternoon, nearing evening.

The taxi stopped. Chao Wan scanned the code to pay, then walked to her uncle’s house and knocked lightly on the familiar door.

Chao Yan quickly answered, still wearing an apron. Seeing Chao Wan back, a smile instantly spread across his eyes. “Finally decided to come back, huh? Come in, dinner’s almost ready.”

Jing Shuran was sitting on the living room sofa, snacking on melon seeds while binge-watching a drama. Hearing the noise, she glanced toward the entrance, her expression stiffening slightly.

The family ate dinner in silence.

For once, the usually noisy middle-aged woman refrained from making sarcastic remarks, forcing a strained and deliberate smile.

After the meal, she pulled Chao Wan aside and deliberately asked, “Chao Wan, why didn’t you say so earlier? If I’d known you were signing with Sijin, why would I have meddled…”

Chao Wan didn’t respond, quietly listening as she subtly freed her hand from Jing Shuran’s grasp.

In the past, she would have given her aunt a way to save face.

But having lived through it once, it seemed compromise and weakness solved nothing.

Being dragged off by her agent to socialize with drinks, humiliated and unable to protect herself, trapped in a cold villa… Jing Shuran hadn’t asked about any of those incidents from those days.

All she cared about was profit.

Feeling down, after helping Chao Yan clean up the dishes, Chao Wan returned to her room and locked the door.

After replying to a few comforting messages from Fu Xi, a Weibo notification suddenly popped up at the top of her screen.

It was her own name, #Chao Wan#.

Her heart raced uncontrollably as she tapped to see.

Sijin moved quickly. They had just taken the contract photos today, and by evening, they had already made the official announcement.

There were six photos in a luxurious, cool-toned style, accompanied by a caption tagging the new Weibo account the company had created for her. The announcement was playful and cute, praising her so much that her cheeks flushed.

The likes quickly surpassed ten thousand, and the comments section was filled with harmonious praise, with some exclaiming that the average standard of looks in the domestic entertainment industry was finally saved.

The top comment was a repost.

[//@Ji Tanyue: Welcome.]

Chao Wan slightly parted her lips and clicked in a daze.

This repost had several times more likes than the company’s official announcement.

Someone commented below:

[Ji Tanyue’s Weibo is always about endorsements, with almost no personal content. So, the newcomer must have a really close relationship with Ji Tanyue, right?]

The comment had a high number of likes and was among the top hot comments.

Unconsciously, Chao Wan bit her lip.

They were right.

But when she refreshed and looked again, the comment had already been deleted.

Sijin’s PR department was controlling the comments.

She should have realized it earlier, the relationship between her and Ji Tanyue was, after all, one that couldn’t see the light of day.

For some reason, she felt a little down.

Chao Wan couldn’t fall asleep until late at night.

After some thought, she reached for her earphones, plugged them in, and as usual, typed in the name of that fingerstyle VLOG blogger.

Qing Wu.

The latest video was no longer “Sea of Flowers.” An hour ago, Qing Wu had posted a new fingerstyle video.

Curious, Chao Wan first scrolled through the comments section.

[It’s such a sweet song! Overflowing with sugar!]

[Mom, I want to fall in love QAQ]

[Oh no, I think Wu Wu might be in a relationship. She’s even playing along with the meme this time!]

Chao Wan scrolled back and took a look.

[@Qing Wu: Today’s “Orange Soda,” the tune was played by Wang Wang.]

She clicked on the video. The first scene showed a gentle and adorable golden retriever nuzzling the camera.

A few seconds later, Qing Wu’s delicate, finely-boned hands appeared on screen, gently patting Wang Wang’s head. The cuffs of her sleeves were neatly folded.

She moved the affectionate, clingy, and happily wagging golden retriever to the side and picked up her guitar.

Her fingertips brushed the strings, and a playful, lively melody began.

Different from her usual technical style, it lifted Chao Wan’s mood more than just a little.

Before falling asleep, the comments from earlier resurfaced in her mind.

“Is Wuwu in a relationship? So sweet.”

She drifted into a deep sleep.

Chao Wan didn’t see that Qing Wu had liked that comment.