The White Moonlight is So Scheming - Chapter 43

It was supposed to be the perfect temperature; late spring, early summer.

Yet inside the car, it felt like the dead of winter, where every exhale could freeze in an instant.

The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly, sitting as if on pins and needles.

Her eyes remained fixed on the road ahead, not daring to glance around carelessly. Even the act of checking the side mirrors was swift and decisive.

Arms crossed over her chest, Shen Tinghan turned her head to gaze at the scenery outside the window. Though in reality, she was secretly observing the girl’s reflection in the glass.

Her lips were practically pouting to the sky.

She knew exactly why the little rabbit was upset, but she had no intention of comforting her.

“I’m getting married to your Aunt Lan next month.”

When these words were spoken, Dad had just returned home dressed in a suit, covered in dust and reeking of pungent perfume, wearing a pair of non-prescription fake glasses.

Shen Juexia took off her headphones and stared blankly at her father’s figure as he sprawled on the sofa and cracked open a beer.

Her first reaction was fear not fear of the unknown future ahead, but fear for Aunt Lan Qiuchi.

If a man past forty still didn’t have a proper job, there had to be something wrong with him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been deported last year and permanently banned from entering the UK.

In her childhood, Shen Juexia had heard her mother talk about the past. Back then, she thought it was romantic. Now, she understood just how much scheming her father had done to get that green card.

Shen Dingguo lounged on the sofa, sipping the foam from his beer as he scrolled through short videos, laughing and cursing at the same time.

“Don’t ruin this for me, and don’t go blabbing about anything, got it? Your Aunt Lan likes you a lot. She’s got money. Once we’re married, we can move to Sezan.”

Sezan Estates.

That was where Shen Tinghan lived. A typical affluent neighborhood where even the streetlights shone so brightly they made the night feel cold.

Shen Juexia didn’t respond. She was used to ignoring her father’s nonsensical ramblings, and he was used to her silence.

Looking around at the grayish walls, they had only lived here for three months, yet it felt like a century. On countless days spent nibbling on bread, she imagined this place as the Bastille, and herself as a resilient prisoner. A captive of life.

As the school days piled up, her desk grew messier, and whenever frustration set in, the tangled threads in her mind knotted into chaos.

Shen Juexia twisted open two lopsided pill bottles on the corner of her desk, dry-swallowing today’s dose before squeezing her eyes shut, willing the medication to take effect quickly.

These pills wouldn’t make her happy, but they would keep her from feeling sad.

Buzz, buzz! Her phone vibrated.

Only then did Shen Juexia realize she had forgotten to lock her phone earlier. It also dawned on her why she had been able to listen to music while doing homework.

Opening WeChat, a red notification bubble sat beside her chat with Yao Qingyan. This wasn’t unusual. Most of her limited online conversations were with her.

Shen Tinghan closed the last workbook.

It wasn’t even seven yet, and she had already finished all her homework for the day. Next, she would review her weak areas to fill in the gaps.

For her, the night as a student had only just begun.

Her aunt had returned to their hometown, so tonight, she had no excuse to go play the violin at the Wanda Plaza again; not for a few more days, at least.

Not that she’d run into Shen Juexia there anyway.

Everyone was busy after the start of the semester. Surely, Shen Juexia wouldn’t have time to wander around for leisure. Still, Shen Tinghan couldn’t help but wonder. Why had Shen Juexia happened to take the bus to Wanda Plaza that night in the first place? It remained a mystery to this day.

Shen Tinghan opened the drawer at her feet and took out a small safe, which held all her secrets.

She pulled out one banknote after another, counting them carefully, only to conclude: a drop in the bucket.

If she wanted to go to Manhattan, she would need a lot more money.

“Dinner’s ready!” Their house was large, with the living room far from the bedrooms, but her mother’s clear, loud voice still carried easily.

Her father was already waiting at the dining table, sitting in his chair, watching his wife bustle about, arranging plates and serving dishes.

Today’s menu was, as usual, abundant and nutritionally balanced: steamed perch, chilled bitter chrysanthemum greens, braised dried bamboo shoots, and mixed-grain rice.

The bitter chrysanthemum was a vibrant green, while the bamboo shoots and fish exuded a tempting aroma.

Shen Tinghan hated bitter chrysanthemum.

Or rather, she had once despised it intensely. Now she could force herself to eat it without flinching, numbing her tongue to the taste.

Xie Zelan untied her apron. “Bitter chrysanthemum helps reduce internal heat. Eat more! It’s been too dry lately.”

“Mhm,” Shen Yuan agreed.

The table was quiet, with only the sound of the evening news broadcast filling the space. The grand living room was bright and spacious, yet the area around the dining table felt oddly dim.

Shen Tinghan held her chopsticks in one hand and steadied her bowl with the other, taking only small bites and chewing each mouthful at least ten times.

As usual, no one spoke, and the sound of chewing was barely audible.

Shen Tinghan missed the school cafeteria, where the greasy meals made by the lunch ladies seemed like gourmet feasts. No matter the time, the lively chatter around her never ceased whether it was the groans after getting an answer wrong or the playful complaints following a bad joke, she loved it all.

Her younger brother, Taotao, took a big bite of the perch and smiled happily. Clearly, it suited his taste.

“Mom, today An’an made Wanzi cry, and the teacher scolded him.”

Xie Zelan frowned. “Don’t talk while eating, especially with food in your mouth. It’s very impolite. Understand?”

“Oh.” Taotao lowered his head and continued eating, loosening his grip on the spoon slightly.

“And don’t smack your lips! People will think you were raised like a laborer’s child.”

Taotao quickly closed his mouth.

Shen Yuan finished first, placing his chopsticks neatly on his bowl. He slumped onto the sofa and switched the TV to the science channel. Taotao glanced back at the rocket scientist explaining blueprints on screen, uninterested, then scrunched his face and returned to his meal.

“Didn’t the procurement department buy a batch of built-in network transformers last week? They were all fakes! The tests failed completely. I have to go to Changsha tomorrow and won’t be back until next week.” Shen Yuan was a senior electronics engineer at a Fortune 500 multinational company. Well-paid but always working, either putting in overtime or on his way to do so.

Xie Zelan hummed in acknowledgment. “Go ahead. My Ph.D. student is at a conference in Japan. I can handle the kids.”

Shen Tinghan finished her meal as well, her bowl just as clean. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and used it to pick up the stray grains of rice that had fallen beside her bowl.

Something had been weighing on her for a long time, but seeing Shen Yuan’s furrowed brow, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

Finally, Xie Zelan finished eating too, reminding Taotao to hurry up and not dawdle.

“Our class recorded a physics open lesson today.”

“How did it go? Did you perform well?”

“It was fine.”

“Mhm.”

Shen Tinghan had been thinking about the person who moved the desks. While doing homework, while eating. If she didn’t say it soon, she’d burst.

“The homeroom teacher asked all the boys to move the desks, while the girls didn’t have to and could rest in the hallway.”

“That’s great. That’s exactly what a homeroom teacher should do,” Xie Zelan stacked the empty plates together.

“Many boys in our class aren’t as strong as I am. It’s not fair to them.”

Xie Zelan replied absentmindedly, “Girls need to learn to appear weak so boys will protect them. It’ll be the same when you enter society later.”

“Why?” Shen Tinghan didn’t understand the logic of the entire statement and wasn’t even sure which part she was questioning.

“Girls are naturally less physically strong than boys. You can’t argue with that.”

“My long jump results are better than most of the boys in our class. Only five of them can outdo me.”

Xie Zelan was losing patience. “Then can you score first in physics?”

“Didn’t you say girls lack stamina and struggle with science subjects?” Shen Tinghan found the contradictions increasingly frustrating.

“That’s exactly why you need to work harder. Can you stop talking back?” Xie Zelan patted Taotao’s head. “Taotao will have no problem with science in the future, right? You’ll be an engineer, won’t you?”

But when she saw that line of gray text, Shen Juexia’s mind went blank.

[Hey, want to date?]

Huh?

That single word and punctuation mark were all that filled her thoughts.

Clicking into the message, the content inside shocked her even more. Enough to last five hundred years, if she could borrow that much time from the heavens.

[I’ve liked you for a long time.]

She didn’t dare read the rest.

Receiving two confessions in one week, Shen Juexia didn’t know if the world had gone mad or if she had.

The little voices in her head started arguing again. Shen Juexia wanted to type a reply, but her fingers felt weak, and even if they weren’t, she had no idea what to say.

Was it a mix-up between friendship and romance?

Did they mistake her for a boy?

Or was it just a joke, a reaction to Du Yuting’s love letter?

Shen Juexia racked her brain but couldn’t make sense of it. She didn’t trust her typing skills either, so she’d rather pretend she hadn’t seen it and close the chat, planning to address it in person tomorrow.

As luck would have it, the homeroom teacher sent a group notice in the “Class 3, Grade 10” chat:

[Li Guifang: [Notice on Organizing the 2024 Citywide Physical Fitness Sampling Test for High School Students] According to the requirements of the Education Evaluation Institute, the arrangements for the physical fitness test for the 2016 cohort of high school students are as follows:

The test will be conducted on March 18th. The third and fourth classes in the afternoon are canceled, and all students are to assemble at the gymnasium. Those who fail the test will participate in school training and retake the test in April.

Boys’ events: Pull-ups, standing long jump, 1000-meter run
Girls’ events: Sit-ups, standing long jump, 800-meter run

Please confirm receipt!!!!!
@everyone]

The five exclamation marks emphasized the notice’s importance. Shen Juexia forced her lazy fingers to reply with a simple “Received” at least those two words didn’t require any brainpower.

“Clean up the table. Do you just leave it after eating?” Shen Dingguo’s grumbling voice came from outside.

Shen Juexia walked out of her room, her limbs feeling heavier than ever. Suppressing her irritation and exhaustion, she washed the bowls and chopsticks from her instant noodles. In the blink of an eye, Shen Dingguo was already snoring on the sofa, the smell of half a can of beer making her frown.

So annoying. Everything was so annoying.

Back in her room, Shen Juexia stared at the impossible Chinese homework before her. The classical literary function words seemed like little evil imps, mocking her and tearing apart the pride she once had.

Rip—

She tore up the workbook.

She didn’t want to continue praising her as expected, spouting insincere words like “great minds think alike, sis.”

Hearing the “familiar dog bark” from behind, a sudden inspiration struck, and Shen Juexia’s lips curled into a smirk.

Instantly switching to battle mode.

Turning her head, Shen Juexia rolled her eyes at Shen Congjun. “Why do you care why I came back? Anyway, I didn’t come back to treat you.”

Though Shen Juexia had always been disrespectful to her elders, she had never been this brazen before.

Standing frozen for a long moment, Shen Congjun turned to glance at Jiang Hui, who stood awkwardly beside him. A flush of shame and anger crept from his neck to the top of his head. “How dare you talk to me like that? I’m your father!”

“Oh really my father? Haven’t you always thought otherwise?” Crossing her arms, Shen Juexia shot him a challenging look.

His face turned from red to green, his expression shifting repeatedly. Shen Congjun gritted his teeth in fury. “There’s a guest here today. I won’t stoop to your level.”

With a lazy glance at the unfamiliar man beside Shen Congjun, Shen Juexia poured more fuel on the fire. “Oh, then hurry up and shut it.”