The Cannon Fodder Ex-Wife Changes to Take the Black Moonlight Script - Chapter 45

The night in East City was ablaze with lights.

Xie Mei walked into an upscale Western restaurant and was led by the waiter to a specific table.

Yin Zaishui, who had been waiting there, stood up and greeted her, “Miss Xie, nice to meet you.”

Xie Mei forced a smile and shook her hand, responding in English as well.

After the greeting, she said, “I hope Miss Yin didn’t invite me here tonight to test my English.”

Yin Zaishui’s red lips parted, revealing a bright and bold smile. “Miss Xie, you’re quite humorous.”

After taking her seat, Xie Mei glanced around and lowered her voice. “Aren’t you afraid of being discovered by Zhou Ran Group if you bring me here to discuss business?”

“Relax. They’ll just think I’m doing my best to drive up the acquisition price for them.”

Xie Mei was speechless.

If Wei Yixian hadn’t told her there were issues with Zhou Ran Group’s acquisition and asked her to secretly cooperate with Yin Zaishui’s investigation, she wouldn’t be wasting her time here.

Xie Mei said, “I hope you’re really here to talk business.”

Yin Zaishui smiled with effortless confidence. “Of course I am. But I’m also concerned about Wei’s health. After all, she’s the one leading the acquisition. Her condition affects our future collaboration, so it’s only reasonable for me to ask you about her, isn’t it?”

Xie Mei: “…”

She couldn’t help but wonder, how had Wei Yixian ever ended up with Yin Zaishui back then?

Yin Zaishui was cunning, slick, and deeply calculating.

Not that it was a bad thingnaïve people couldn’t survive in the financial district, let alone stand out among countless financial geniuses to become the widely recognized “White Knight,” but Xie Mei had always thought Wei Yixian preferred simpler people.

Like…

Shang Shiyu, who received special treatment from Wei Yixian, suddenly popped into Xie Mei’s mind.

She shuddered and quickly shook her head to banish the terrifying thought.

Yin Zaishui, however, mistook her reaction as a denial of her words. “Do you have any insights, Miss Xie?”

Snapping back to reality, Xie Mei replied, “Director Wei is fine. She just has a cold.”

Yin Zaishui said, “I know her. She wouldn’t choose to work from home over a minor cold.”

“The flu is also a cold.” Xie Mei paused, then added a cutting remark, “And you really don’t need to worry about her. She’s being well taken care of at home.”

A flicker of something unreadable passed through Yin Zaishui’s eyes as she teased, “Wei’s little girlfriend is looking after her? They’re living together?”

Xie Mei wasn’t the least bit surprised that Yin Zaishui referred to Shang Shiyu as Wei Yixian’s “little girlfriend.” After all, the wealthy circles of East City all believed Wei Yixian’s “Caged Canary” was studying at East City University.

One was a career woman approaching her thirties, the other a fresh-faced college student barely in her twenties.

To outsiders, Shang Shiyu was practically Wei Yixian’s little girlfriend!

Xie Mei’s silence gave Yin Zaishui the clearest answer.

Yin Zaishui took a sip of wine and didn’t press the topic further.

After dinner, Yin Zaishui asked with a smile, “Mind giving me a ride?”

Xie Mei remembered Yin Zaishui had been drinking and couldn’t drive.

She shrugged. “Let’s go.”

As they walked to the parking lot, Yin Zaishui had just opened the passenger door when she spotted a stack of documents on the seat.

Xie Mei squeezed past her, leaning into the car. “Hold on, let me clean this up.”

She placed all the documents in the back seat.

While moving the files, Yin Zaishui caught a glimpse of one sandwiched among the pile, its header seemingly printed with words like “Forensic Appraisal Report from a Certain Institute.”

–

Wei Yixian’s throat ached for three full days.

After losing her voice on the first day, she experienced what people call a “hoarse voice” for the next two.

Given how awful she sounded, she chose to remain silent to rest her throat, letting her tablet speak for her instead.

By the third day, she started coughing.

The coughing phase was no better than the sore throat, if anything, worse. Even while resting, she’d wake up every half hour from coughing fits.

In this state, she sent Shang Shiqian back to her own room.

Shang Shiqian had never been particular about beds and would fall asleep promptly when her internal clock dictated.

Yet after spending three nights in Wei Yixian’s room, returning to her own bed felt oddly unfamiliar.

She tossed and turned several times before exhaustion finally pulled her under.

In the middle of the night, Shang Shiqian inexplicably woke up.

The digital clock emitted a faint blue glow at her touch.

[00:35]

Shang Shiqian stared at the ceiling.

The room was pitch black, rendering everything invisible.

Yet she faintly heard Wei Yixian coughing from upstairs.

Leaving her room, Shang Shiqian quietly ascended the stairs under the dim glow of the step lights.

The coughing grew clearer.

She had assumed Wei Yixian would be inside, but the sound unmistakably came from the balcony.

Passing through the balcony door, she saw Wei Yixian sitting alone on a wicker chair, sipping under the moonlight.

The balcony light stretched her shadow, which crept up Wei Yixian’s calf as she approached.

Wei Yixian turned to look at her, surprise flickering in her eyes.

Just as she was about to speak, a violent cough overtook her.

Shang Shiqian rushed to her side in three quick strides, snatching the glass from her hand.

An unnamed fury burned through her reason as she snapped, “You’re coughing like this and still drinking?!”

Rarely seeing her lose her temper, Wei Yixian pinched the bridge of her nose and laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

Wei Yixian said, “It’s water.”

Her voice had mostly recovered, sounding close to its usual tone now.

Puzzled, Shang Shiqian brought the glass to her nose and sniffed.

It really was water!

Wei Yixian coughed into a handkerchief before explaining, “The medicine I’m taking contains cephalosporin. I know better than to drink under these circumstances, I wouldn’t gamble with my life.”

Realizing her blunder, Shang Shiqian awkwardly asked, “Then why use a wine glass instead of a regular cup?”

“For the ambiance.”

Shang Shiqian: Huh?

Wei Yixian gestured for her to look up at the moon.

It was the sixteenth day of the fifth lunar month when the moon is at its fullest each month.

Coincidentally, the skies had cleared tonight, devoid of clouds.

Without obstruction, the radiant full moon became the sole light source in the heavens.

Silver light cascaded down, blanketing the spacious balcony in a frost-like glow.

Wei Yixian seemed lost in reminiscence, but the itch in her throat soon interrupted.

Shang Shiqian poured her a fresh glass of warm water.

After soothing her throat, Wei Yixian said, “The moonlight was just this bright on our wedding day too.”

Shang Shiqian froze, meeting Wei Yixian’s gaze.

Wei Yixian asked, “Didn’t you want to know about these things?”

“Yeah.” Shang Shiqian nodded.

She wanted to understand their arranged marriage from Wei Yixian’s perspective.

It just never occurred to her that Wei Yixian would speak up under such circumstances.

So sudden.

But she didn’t want to interrupt.

Shang Shiqian sat down nervously and expectantly on the rattan chair beside Wei Yixian.

While listening intently, she spared a sliver of her thoughts to recall, murmuring, “Ah, wasn’t that day the eighth?”

For her, they had just celebrated their wedding anniversary not long ago, so she remembered clearly that they had gotten married on the eighth.

Was the moon that bright on the eighth?

Only after speaking did she realize she had voiced her thoughts aloud.

She hurriedly backtracked, “Your wedding date isn’t exactly a secret.”

Wei Yixian shot her a glance, her expression somewhere between amusement and mockery.

“The wedding ceremony was indeed on the eighth, but we got our marriage license on the thirteenth of the previous lunar month. The moon that night wasn’t as full as tonight’s, but it was a clear sky, so it was still very bright.”

“Oh…” Shang Shiqian was about to nod when she suddenly remembered that the date they had registered their marriage hadn’t been publicly announced, so she swallowed her words.

Wei Yixian withdrew her gaze but didn’t continue the topic of their arranged marriage.

Instead, between intermittent coughs, she brought up the subject most discussed about her in the elite circles of Dongcheng:

“You asked me if I resented my arranged marriage partner, Shang Shiqian, because I was forced to break up with my first love? Actually, Yin Zaishui, the so-called ‘first love and white moonlight of Wei Yixian’ in the rumors…” Wei Yixian gave Shang Shiqian a meaningful look.

Shang Shiqian found Wei Yixian’s gaze strange, as if she was hinting at something.

But she had never mentioned “first love and white moonlight” in front of Wei Yixian before!

At most, she had brought up the “first love” last time.

Oh, she remembered now, the day after Wei Yixian and Yin Zaishui were spotted on a yacht together, the newspaper headlines had used the phrase “first love and white moonlight.”

That had nothing to do with her!

Wei Yixian continued, “We officially broke up half a year before I decided to enter an arranged marriage with Shang Shiqian.”

“Officially?”

Wei Yixian nodded.

Her breakup with Yin Zaishui hadn’t been a decision made overnight.

After all, Yin Zaishui had been someone she had genuinely loved. During those youthful campus days, they had even written each other into their future life plans.

Wei Yixian had even refused the arranged marriage partner her family had chosen for her because of it.

It wasn’t the Shang family.

As early as when Wei Yixian was eighteen, she had already become, in the eyes of some in the Wei family, an object to be traded for more resources.

Not just the Wei family almost every elite family in Dongcheng secretly abided by this transactional rule.

Many children of wealthy families were assigned a price the moment they were born childhood betrothals were the most direct manifestation.

For top-tier families like the Weis, to maximize benefits, they often waited until their children came of age before making deals.

Thus, most of the Wei children began scouting for arranged marriage partners at eighteen.

If a match was settled, they would get engaged first, then marry once the families’ interests were firmly intertwined.

The Wei family didn’t directly arrange an engagement for Wei Yixian. Instead, they wanted to use her coming-of-age celebration to introduce her to other second- and third-generation heirs, letting her choose one to date first.

She refused.

The consequence was that she became the only Wei child who never had a coming-of-age celebration.

Everyone learned of her stance toward Yin Zaishui and the Wei family’s stance toward her.

But ironically, the twist came from Yin Zaishui herself.

Yin Zaishui is going abroad.

Shang Shiqian munched on cyber sunflower seeds: [Wow, this plot is so cliché! Going abroad is one thing, but it’s not like she’s attending a funeral.]

The System: [Well, the original author’s writing skills are limited, so this was the best they could come up with. Besides, you only find it cliché because you’ve read too many novels with this trope. But statistically, long-distance relationships do have a high breakup rate!]

Shang Shiqian didn’t understand: [Then why force the abroad plotline?]

[Because it’s convenient.]

Wei Yixian: “…”

If not for the unbearable itch in her throat that made her cough, the sound of her gritting her teeth would have been impossible to hide.

“Are you even listening?” Wei Yixian asked.

Shang Shiqian straightened her expression: “I am listening!”

“Hmph, you were spacing out.”

Shang Shiqian: “…”

Shouldn’t you be lost in bittersweet memories of your first love right now? How do you still have the bandwidth to notice whether I’m paying attention?

Seeing Wei Yixian cough incessantly, Shang Shiqian lost all interest in gossip and said sympathetically, “It’s getting late. You should rest early. We can finish this when you’re feeling better.”

Just as she was about to stand up, Wei Yixian suddenly sat on her lap rising, sitting, then pressing her hands against Shang Shiqian’s shoulders to pin her firmly against the chairback, rendering her completely immobile. The entire sequence was executed with seamless fluidity.

Wei Yixian said, “Let me finish speaking. Next time, I might not feel like saying it.”

Yin Zaishui attended the same international school as Wei Yixian, so studying abroad after graduation wasn’t unusual.

But Yin Zaishui’s situation was different from simply studying abroad.

Her entire family was emigrating.

During the nearly year-long process of handling immigration paperwork, she hadn’t told Wei Yixian due to her family’s insistence on secrecy.

Perhaps she had considered it, but in the end, she never came clean.

Only when Wei Yixian noticed something was off did Yin Zaishui vaguely mention she was going abroad.

Though they argued fiercely, Wei Yixian once even decided to study abroad herself.

Then, Old Mr. Wei fell seriously ill.

Wei Yongkun, who had learned through certain channels that the Yin family was liquidating their domestic assets to emigrate, revealed the truth to Wei Yixian.

Only then did Wei Yixian realize she had been deceived by Yin Zaishui.

Yin Zaishui was full of remorse and helplessness torn between family and lover, what was wrong with wanting the best of both worlds?

But her repeated lies gradually chilled Wei Yixian’s heart.

Wei Yixian abandoned her plans to study abroad, and Yin Zaishui ultimately chose her family.

After Yin Zaishui left the country, Wei Yixian agreed to an arranged marriage set up by her family.

Half a month later, Yin Zaishui called from the other hemisphere, confronting her about it.

Wei Yixian said, “I thought we had at least some unspoken understanding… Your leaving was your silent agreement to break up.”

Yin Zaishui said nothing, but two months later, she flew back from the Southern Hemisphere.

They laid everything out and officially broke up.

Not long after, Wei Yongkun suddenly excitedly told Wei Yixian, “Go get ready. Tomorrow, we’re visiting Shang Yu Feng at the Shang family.”

Shang Shiqian: Why drink from a wine glass instead of a water glass?

Wei Yixian: Because strong.

System: Host, that means ‘trying too hard to look cool.’

Shang Shiqian: I know, no need to explain.

Wei Yixian: Mock all you want, leave you with nothing left to mock.

Shang Si: ……

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