I Am the White Moonlight that the Former Movie Queen Secretly Loves - Chapter 2

Even after hanging up the phone, Shu Ran still hadn’t heard Qi Sijia say a single word about coming to pick her up.

At this moment, the dark clouds that had been gathering in the sky finally unleashed a torrential downpour. Standing outside the film and television city, Shu Ran didn’t even have time to open her umbrella before she was drenched.

The icy rainwater chilled her to the bone, washing away the last remnants of her sexual fantasies about Qi Sijia.

The other woman’s utter lack of concern, combined with yesterday’s rejection, suddenly made Shu Ran realize—had she been fooled by Qi Sijia’s alluring exterior?

“Tell me,” Shu Ran said with a dark expression, abruptly turning and tossing her bag to her assistant. “Could it be that she actually knew exactly who I was all along?”

“Of course, sis,” the assistant replied, hastily stepping back to avoid a shallow puddle. She hopped on one foot, careful not to splash dirty water onto Shu Ran’s shoes.

With one hand holding the umbrella high and the other clutching the designer bag Shu Ran had just thrown at her, the assistant cradled the expensive accessory protectively. The bag was a limited edition borrowed from a brand for promotional purposes—pricey and meant to be returned after use.

“The Priceless Little Wife blew up overnight. You’re way more popular than you think right now. Otherwise, Manager Lin wouldn’t have directly arranged for you to join that acting variety show with award-winning actress Meng Jiang as a mentor.”

The assistant’s flattery hit the mark, but it only deepened Shu Ran’s suspicions about Qi Sijia.

If she was this hot right now, what did it mean that Qi Sijia had shown zero interest in her career?

That b1tch probably knew exactly who she was from the start—that’s why she never asked.

Before, Shu Ran hadn’t connected the dots. But now, with the rose-tinted glasses shattered, the more she thought about it, the more her back prickled with unease.

As the assistant said, Shu Ran had been on an incredible streak of luck lately. Her lead role in the short drama The Priceless Little Wife had unexpectedly gone viral, catapulting her from an unknown stunt double to a rising star in the entertainment industry in just a month.

First, she signed with Huace Pictures and was assigned an assistant—a clear sign that the company saw potential in her and was ready to invest. As for Qi Sijia…

Her manager had been urging her to break up for a while now, but Shu Ran had kept dragging her feet.

Not because she was particularly devoted. The lesbian dating pool was small, and finding someone like Qi Sijia—a stunningly androgynous, long-haired, ice-queen type—was nearly impossible. Especially with those mesmerizingly elegant hands. Just imagining Qi Sijia looming over her in bed, red lips gripping gold-rimmed glasses, shirt half undone—it doubled the thrill.

Shu Ran had always played the field with ease, effortlessly charming women left and right. Yet with Qi Sijia, she hadn’t even managed to hold her hand.

So when her manager first suggested breaking up, Shu Ran’s immediate reaction was reluctance. At the very least, she wanted to see that untouchable ice queen panting beneath her.

And so she kept delaying—until yesterday.

But now, thinking it over carefully, she realized how twisted her mindset had been!

Love or career? Even an idiot would choose the latter.

She wasn’t some lovesick fool. How had she let Qi Sijia wrap her around her finger like this?

If not for yesterday’s rejection… Qi Sijia had been so frustratingly unattainable that Shu Ran finally resolved to end things.

The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

That woman wasn’t some paragon of restraint—she’d been playing hard to get, keeping Shu Ran hooked with calculated distance.

After nearly a month of dating, Shu Ran was the one who’d been led by the nose the entire time.

They’d met on a lesbian dating site. Qi Sijia’s photo had been pinned to the top of a post titled If We’re Talking About the Ultimate Long-Haired Ice Queen, She’s the One.

Coincidentally, Shu Ran had an innate weakness for aloof, untouchable types. Whenever she saw posts like that, she couldn’t resist clicking.

The photo was taken secretly in a supermarket. Qi Sijia wore gold-rimmed glasses, her long straight hair cascading down. A black mask was pulled down to her chin, seemingly paying with facial recognition. Her delicate, cool features paired with those gold-rimmed glasses exuded an icy elegance.

The camera zoomed in on her slender fingers, a tiny red mole on her fingertip contrasting against her pale skin—both restrained and tantalizingly sensual.

Shu Ran fell in love at first sight, utterly captivated. She even went out of her way to pull some strings, locating the supermarket from the photo and staking it out for days before finally catching sight of Qi Sijia.

At first, she thought such an aloof, high-class butch would be hard to chase. To her surprise, she succeeded easily—but after that, there was nothing.

Looking back, Shu Ran realized she knew nothing about Qi Sijia’s family background, social circle, or career plans.

All she knew was her name—Qi Sijia, a freelancer, usually a homebody, reserved to the point of seeming cold. Since they started dating, they’d only met twice. Their interactions were mostly online, and if Shu Ran didn’t initiate, Qi Sijia could go three days without replying.

All the flirty banter came from Shu Ran; Qi Sijia would just send a sticker in response.

At first, Shu Ran didn’t think much of it. Aloof, high-class butches were like that—it was just their personality, no big deal.

But they were supposed to be dating!

The realization hit Shu Ran like a mouthful of flies. Over the past month, Qi Sijia hadn’t been acting like a girlfriend—more like she was ticking off a checklist, stringing Shu Ran along, keeping her hooked and sinking deeper.

The more she thought about it, the more unsettling it became.

It was like dangling a piece of meat in front of her but never letting her take a bite—not even a taste. Of course, Shu Ran couldn’t let go. That’s why she had taken the initiative yesterday, hinting at one last fling for a clean breakup.

But Qi Sijia probably wasn’t even into women. That’s why she couldn’t keep up the act anymore, disgusted to the point of refusing even to hold hands.

Connecting the dots, Shu Ran’s eyelids twitched. She was somewhat famous now—what did Qi Sijia gain by stringing her along?

Was she a straight girl pretending to be gay? Or worse—was she securing the girlfriend title just to set Shu Ran up for a blackmail scam later?

“Fvck!” Shu Ran narrowed her eyes and abruptly turned, startling her assistant behind her.

“Get me a car,” she said darkly, then added after a pause, “Something that matches the prestige of Huaqing Garden.”

–

Meanwhile, Shu Ran’s agent, Sister Lin, was at the set of Star-Making New Era, treating the production team to a meal.

But then actress Meng Jiang made an appearance, and Sister Lin found herself jostled in the crowd.

When Shu Ran’s call came through, it took her a while to steady herself.

“What?”

“…I want to borrow your G-Class.”

Meng Jiang’s arrival had caused a stir in the studio, and Sister Lin only caught the second half of the sentence.

“G-Class?” She glanced past the sea of heads in front of her, annoyed. Typical rookie behavior—not even famous yet and already eyeing things beyond their reach.

Her gaze drifted to the radiant woman walking ahead, glowing even in motion. “You know Meng Jiang? If you were half as famous as her, I’d get you not just a G-Class, but a super G.”

As she spoke, Sister Lin couldn’t help but glance enviously at Chen Cheng, Meng Jiang’s top-tier agent.

Lucky bastard, she thought. Landing a star like that—five years and already the undisputed top agent in the industry.

Compared to that, her own situation was downright depressing.

Just as Sister Lin was wallowing in regret, the crowd parted, and the director of Lantai TV personally came forward to greet Meng Jiang.

The stunning woman in the crowd curved her lips into a faint smile. Though the warmth didn’t reach her eyes, the sheer allure of her charm was undeniable.

The screams in the studio grew even louder. The station director stepped forward to shake hands, the corners of his eyes crinkling like chrysanthemums. It was no wonder the staff’s enthusiasm bordered on losing control.

This was Meng Jiang’s first time at Lan Tai.

Everyone in the industry knew that since her debut, Meng Jiang had an unwritten rule: she never accepted events in Ning City. Even for new movie promotions, she would deliberately avoid it. Over the years, she had appeared on Apple TV, CCTV, even Hollywood, and even went to Korea to promote her new drama.

But she had never set foot in Ning City.

Even though Meng Jiang had attended Ning University, making the city somewhat like a second hometown, no one knew why she avoided it. It was as if the city had somehow offended her, or perhaps she was deliberately avoiding someone. In any case, her flights never landed in Ning City.

So her appearance at Lan Tai now was nothing short of epic.

From the station’s top executives to the behind-the-scenes staff, everyone’s expressions were filled with excitement and disbelief.

Security personnel formed a human wall around the elegant woman, shielding her tightly. Sister Lin tried to push through but couldn’t get close. On top of that, Shu Ran kept calling incessantly, so she turned and walked into the restroom. “What do you need the car for?” she asked.

“I mentioned this to you before…”

Newcomers weren’t allowed to hide their relationships. Sister Lin had some impression of Shu Ran’s current girlfriend. “That civilian—Qi Sijia?”

Shu Ran gave an obedient hum. “Yes, her.”

Sister Lin frowned. “Didn’t I tell you to break up as soon as possible? What does that have to do with borrowing a car?”

Shu Ran choked up. “Sis, it’s not that I don’t want to.”

“It’s her…”

“What about her?”

Shu Ran wasn’t stupid. Given her current status, the company’s allocation of a luxury car was already a stretch. If she pushed too hard, she might even earn a reputation for being arrogant before she’d even made it big.

“Sis, I… she… she has ulterior motives. She won’t let me break up easily.” Shu Ran had climbed her way up and wasn’t some naive fool. Her words left plenty of room for imagination, framing Qi Sijia as the scheming villain without explicitly saying so.

“It’s all my fault. When Heavenly Price Little Wife first aired, I started dating her.” The lie rolled off her tongue effortlessly. Shu Ran emphasized, “She pursued me.”

“You know my orientation—it’s hard to find partners, so I agreed.”

“We dated for a month, and I gave her so many gifts.” Game skins, WeChat stickers—of course, Shu Ran wouldn’t mention how she’d been rejected after acting shamelessly. That would make her seem desperate and cheap.

Anyway, Sister Lin wouldn’t actually verify the details. As long as Qi Sijia was painted as a gold-digging schemer, Sister Lin wouldn’t just stand by.

The lies came easily: “But then, for my birthday a few days ago, she only bought me a 100-yuan game skin. And today, she wants to meet at Huaqing Garden for tea to break up.”

“After dating for so long, she wouldn’t even let me hold her hand.”

“I’ve got some fame now,” Shu Ran sniffled. “What if Qi Sijia is just pretending to be into women, waiting for me to get big so she can blackmail me with all this…”

Before Sister Lin could analyze just what kind of scheming green tea b1tch Shu Ran’s girlfriend was, a soft laugh suddenly came from the doorway.

Turning around, Sister Lin nearly dropped her phone.

Meng Jiang had somehow appeared in the restroom. She was leaning against the sink farthest from the door, touching up her makeup, a champagne-colored trench coat draped over her wrist. Through the mirror, her phoenix eyes curved in amusement as she met Sister Lin’s gaze.

Not the slightest bit embarrassed about being caught eavesdropping.

Meng Jiang curled her lips, a rare glimmer of amusement lighting up her eyes, complementing her striking and flamboyant features like stars falling into a pool of radiance. She raised a hand to point toward the restroom, reminding Sister Lin, “This is a public area. It’s better not to use speakerphone.”

Sister Lin froze awkwardly in place, instinctively covering the receiver in a flustered attempt to turn off the speaker—only to realize it hadn’t been on in the first place.

It was just that Shuran’s voice was too loud, grating on others’ ears.

“Sorry,” Sister Lin muttered, bowing her head, feeling for the first time the urge to vanish into the ground.

Fortunately, Meng Jiang didn’t press the issue, merely nodding with a quiet “Mm,” before pulling out a lipstick and applying it to her sensuous lips while checking her reflection in the mirror.

On the other end of the call, Shuran, of course, had no idea that Sister Lin was currently experiencing a mortifying moment in front of her idol.

In fact, as if afraid the other party couldn’t hear her distress, her sobs escalated from sniffles to outright weeping: “Qi Sijia’s intentions are so obvious. I’m afraid she won’t agree to an amicable breakup. What should I do now?”

Sister Lin stole a glance at Goddess Meng, who showed no intention of leaving but also didn’t spare her another glance, seemingly entirely uninterested in the content of the call—her only concern being that it didn’t disturb her.

“Can’t you keep your voice down?” Sister Lin hissed under her breath. Then, clutching the phone, she worried about lurking reporters outside and awkwardly retreated to the innermost stall, hoping to muffle the noise a little.

–

Lantai TV had money. The public restrooms in the building were decked out to rival five-star hotels, with reflective glass mirrors on all sides. Meng Jiang’s peripheral vision easily caught the tightly closed stall at the far right, and she raised an imperceptible eyebrow.

Her manager, Chen Cheng’s voice drifted in from outside: “They’re gone.”

“Jiang Jiang.”

“Jiang Jiang?” Chen Cheng called twice.

“Got it,” Meng Jiang replied offhandedly, yet made no move to leave.

Slowly, she pulled out her phone from her handbag and deftly navigated to a certain sapphic romance website.

The moment she logged in, a site-wide banner announcement rolled out to mark the arrival of a top-tier, big-spending reader: Author Ji Liu’s unrivaled tycoon reader, Rich and Radiant, is online.

Meng Jiang’s reader profile was filled with bookmarks of Ji Liu’s works. With practiced ease, she clicked into the latest serialized novel, Downfall, and tossed a “depth charge” (a high-value virtual gift) into the comments section, following her usual routine of demanding updates: When’s the next chapter?

Diamond-tier reader comments triggered a notification for the author.

Ji Liu happened to be online and replied swiftly: Don’t wait up, sweetheart. Have a date with my girlfriend tonight. Taking the day off.

Meng Jiang’s manicured nail hovered over the words “girlfriend,” tracing them lightly as the amusement in her eyes flickered like a dying ember: Made up that fast? Bought the house already?

Ji Liu was clearly in high spirits, replying with unusual speed and verbosity: Yep! Thanks for the advice yesterday on how to smooth things over. We’re almost back together. No wedding candy for you, but here’s a red envelope instead.

Meng Jiang laughed in exasperation: …