The White Moonlight I Chased, the Divorce I Never Expected (GL) - Chapter 11

It had been more than half a month since that sensational piece of news broke out.
From the outside, Wen Corporation still appeared to be running smoothly, while the other protagonist of the story had seemingly vanished from Beihang City.

At headquarters, Wen Junze was getting accustomed to the work environment.
His office was situated directly opposite Wen Ranqing’s.
Unfamiliar with much of the business, he relied on Cheng Yuan to help guide him through it all.

“…The remaining projects have been receiving positive feedback. That’s the general situation,” Cheng Yuan concluded.

Leaning back in his chair, Wen Junze rubbed his temples and instinctively looked across the hallway.

The night he had mustered the courage to give his sister some heartfelt advice, Wen Ranqing had offered no response.
She hadn’t shown any noticeable emotion since either.
Every document that passed through Wen Junze’s hands still needed her personal review.
She worked as if nothing had happened — tirelessly, relentlessly.

Except now, there was something different: a vacant, distracted look appeared on her face more often.

Catching her gaze, Wen Junze saw her offer him a faint smile — a rare, genuine softness flickering in her eyes — before she lowered her head to continue reading something.

Wen Junze still wasn’t used to seeing this side of his sister.
It didn’t match the Wen Ranqing he had heard about all his life.
Yet from the way she treated him, he could tell: this was who she truly was.

Lowering his head deep in thought, Wen Junze tried to piece things together.
It made sense that Chi Yi might have liked Wen Ranqing — enough to marry her.
But why had she later chosen to leave?
If two people truly liked each other, how did they end up like this?

In his short life, Wen Junze had never experienced love or heartbreak.
He couldn’t fully understand it — but he still felt a deep, genuine sadness for Wen Ranqing.

And for what could have been.

Cheng Yuan had been explaining things alone for a long while.
Noticing Wen Junze’s furrowed brow, he wisely chose not to overstep.

Wen Junze’s gaze lingered on a preliminary Phase III project design draft nearby.
The list of geological survey teams was printed right on it.

Meanwhile—

The company car rumbled along a dirt road, bumping over stones and mud.
When it could go no further, everyone had to walk the rest of the way on foot.
From the nearest town to the survey site, it took at least three full hours.

Chi Yi had already been interning here for several days, and she had become familiar with both the work schedule and her tasks.

Each night, she would draft routes and prepare for the next day’s work.
At eight o’clock every morning, they would set off into the wild, sketching maps, drafting geological cross-sections, and setting up drilling points.
Lunch was either back at base or more often resolved with carried dry rations.
By seven in the evening, outdoor work ended.
They would return to the temporary camp to organize data and complete indoor calculations.
Sleeping past midnight was routine.

Being deep in the mountains, water was scarce.
All food supplies had to be transported from hundreds of kilometers away, and the camp cook’s job was simply to make the food edible.

That day, as usual, Chi Yi partnered up with Tan Jin for fieldwork.
Before they left, Team Captain Bai Qing reminded them to return early — a representative from the client side was scheduled to visit that evening.

Around four in the afternoon, an order to return came through the walkie-talkie.
Their tasks were nearly finished anyway, so the two of them followed the marked route back without hesitation.

Even from a distance, Chi Yi could smell the stew cooking.

Fresh vegetables were hard to preserve out here, so most meals consisted of meat.

There were no real paths in the mountains.
Before she came here, Chi Yi had never imagined she’d be the type to walk so much.
Now, she ended every day exhausted, barely caring what she ate.
Grabbing a boxed meal and some utensils, she found a large stone, plopped down with Tan Jin, and they chatted idly as they ate.

Inside one of the makeshift portable housing units, after some polite greetings, the technical team leader began the formal meeting with the client’s representatives.

During the journey up, Wen Ranqing had gotten carsick — a rare occurrence — and had stepped out to get some fresh air.

A few lamps were strung between the rows of prefab buildings.
Inside, the heat was stifling with no cooling equipment.
Some of the survey team members were still outside, eating on the open ground with their gear piled beside them.

The mountain stream nearby was icy and clear.
Fireflies flitted out from the bushes, their soft glows reflected in the moving water, like little floating stars.

The air here was so pure.
Wen Ranqing couldn’t help but recall Wen Junze’s awkward, stammering figure standing in front of her — and found herself quietly amused and touched.

Yet no matter how fresh the mountain air was, it couldn’t truly cleanse the deep accumulation of emotions in her chest.
It could only offer a temporary reprieve.

Wen Ranqing exhaled lightly, her gaze following a firefly across the gurgling stream, deeper into the forest beyond.

And in that moment, she thought of Chi Yi’s eyes.

Chi Yi’s eyes had always shone brightly —
When she was little, following Wen Ranqing around, calling her “sister.”
When they got married.
Every time they locked eyes during their marriage — they had always shone just like this.

No matter what Chi Yi’s true intentions were, Wen Ranqing had always found herself helplessly drawn in.
She didn’t dare look for too long.

It had been almost a month since their divorce.
Wen Ranqing had been numbing herself with relentless work.
She hadn’t expected that, the moment she relaxed even slightly, all the buried emotions would come rushing out uncontrollably.

The visit was originally scheduled to last three days, but Wen Ranqing knew there was no real need to stay that long.
If not for the difficulty of navigating the mountain roads at night, she could have departed tonight.

She turned to head back — and then froze.

A pair of sparkling eyes had caught her off guard.

Standing there, covered in dust, Chi Yi had her windbreaker tied around her waist.
Her camouflage T-shirt and pale arms were smudged with dirt.
Her slender face and sharply defined waistline showed that she had lost even more weight since Wen Ranqing had last seen her.

Chi Yi was chatting animatedly with Tan Jin — maybe about the summer cicadas, maybe about something interesting they’d encountered on the trail.
She was laughing, bright and unrestrained, balancing a lunchbox in one hand while gesturing vividly with the other.

Whatever it was they were talking about, Wen Ranqing thought — it suited Chi Yi perfectly.

Chi Yi was always meant to be alive, vivid, and free like this.

A painful sense of guilt grew heavier in Wen Ranqing’s chest.

After all, it had been she who had taken advantage of Chi Yi’s pure affection back when they were young.
This debt weighed on her like a massive stone, and the longer the contract had been in effect, the heavier it became — until she could barely breathe.

Chi Yi was like an unpolished jade, pure and transparent.
Wen Ranqing feared that even touching her would sully her with her own dark, selfish desires.

Maybe… if she stayed away, Chi Yi would be happier without her.

But twenty days apart had only made Wen Ranqing’s longing fester.
And at the very instant she saw Chi Yi again, that longing roared to life.

She realized she couldn’t leave her.

“Jie (Sis).”
Wen Junze, bored from wading through endless, tedious data, had come out for some fresh air — and to see whether his little plan had worked.

Sure enough, Wen Ranqing had spotted Chi Yi.

Just as she was about to turn away, Wen Junze deliberately positioned himself beside her, pretending to ask curiously,
“Isn’t that my brother-in-law?”

The hand clutching Wen Ranqing’s purse tightened involuntarily.
A wave of heat rushed to her ears.
She opened her mouth, about to stop Wen Junze — but it was already too late.

Chi Yi turned at the sound.
In a single glance, she recognized the figure standing against the light: Wen Ranqing.

At that moment, Bai Qing, along with several technicians from Wen Corporation’s technical department, walked out of the housing units.
Seeing the distance between Wen Ranqing and Chi Yi, Bai Qing hesitated, then waved at Chi Yi from across the space, signaling for the team to gather.

Bai Qing had been an old colleague of Chi Yi’s father, Chi Zhong, back in the days when both worked for the provincial geological survey bureau.
He had always had a fond impression of Chi Yi — even before meeting her in person, and liked her even more after.

He also recognized Wen Ting, Wen Ranqing’s father, though they had not been close.
As for Wen Ranqing herself, he only had a faint impression — but he’d heard some things about the complicated relationship between the two young women.

Still, he hadn’t expected that today’s visiting representative from the client side would be Wen Ranqing herself.
It wouldn’t be appropriate to embarrass her in front of everyone.

Chi Yi nodded quietly.
She packed her and Tan Jin’s used disposable cutlery into a trash bag and quickly followed after Tan Jin, stepping lightly over the stones laid across the small stream.

“Uncle Bai,” she greeted as she approached, her dust-covered but still radiant face framed by shoulder-length hair swaying with her movements.

At that moment, an almost imperceptible smile tugged at Wen Ranqing’s lips — so fleeting that no one noticed it.

No one — except Chi Yi.

“Good,” Bai Qing said once everyone had gathered. “Let me introduce you.
This is President Wen of Wen Corporation, here to inspect our project.
Please cooperate and assist her.”

The plastic trash bag crinkled noisily in Chi Yi’s hand.
Tan Jin cast a worried glance at her, but Chi Yi simply waved it off and shifted her position, hiding herself behind the crowd.

The coincidence felt almost absurd.

But she couldn’t let herself jump to conclusions or assume others’ intentions based on mere feelings.
Maybe it really was just a coincidence.

Still, Chi Yi couldn’t help feeling a little foolish, and kicked a small stone on the ground in frustration.

In that moment, she suddenly realized — Song Yan had been right after all.

Maybe she was truly trying to escape.
Escape from Wen Ranqing, from everything related to her, in order to forget the emotions she once had.

Chi Yi believed she was not wrong.
After loving someone for so many years, how could she simply let go?

After thinking it through, she quietly shifted her gaze toward Wen Ranqing, who was speaking formally to the others.
Silently, she prayed that Wen Ranqing would leave as soon as possible.

The sudden surge of emotion in her heart made Chi Yi realize that if things continued like this, all her efforts would be in vain.

Later that night, a knock sounded at her door.

When Chi Yi opened it, the fragile calmness she had been maintaining instantly dissolved into irritation.

“Brother-in-law,” Wen Junze greeted her.

Standing at the doorway, Wen Junze looked bright and cheerful, his face full of youthful innocence, like a boy who only knew how to study and was clueless about the world.

“It is very late, Young Master Wen. What do you need?” Chi Yi asked coldly, intentionally using the formal title to create distance between them.

Wen Junze quickly placed a white handkerchief into her hand.
“My sister asked me to give this to my brother-in-law,” he said.

“I am not your brother-in-law. It is late. Please return to your room, Young Master Wen,” Chi Yi replied without hesitation.

Without even looking at the item in her hand, she made her refusal clear, speaking without any unnecessary courtesy.

As she tried to close the door, Wen Junze reached out and stopped her.

“This is something very important to my sister. Please keep it safe,” he said earnestly.

Chi Yi’s patience wore thinner. She could not help but ask sharply,
“Why is she here?”

The moment the words escaped her lips, Chi Yi realized that there was an unmistakable hint of concern hidden within her tone.

She took a deep breath to suppress her frustration and used Tan Jin as an excuse.
“It is nothing. Young Master Wen, please leave. I have a Beta roommate here. If anyone sees you at this hour, it would not look good.”

Wen Junze did not hesitate. His expression became serious.

“My sister misses you,” he said.