It wasn’t until the dazed Ye Qingchang returned to her original seat—under the same parasol where Liu Xie sat—that she came back to herself.
Her hands still held that cup of iced slush, but her expression was blank and absent.
Liu Xie, still rubbing her head groggily, sat up and looked at the vacant Ye Qingchang beside her, scratching her own head.
“What are you doing? Thinking about life’s meaning again? You literary types sure love to overthink everything—you must think you’re the masters of your own fate, huh?”
Liu Xie felt her headache hadn’t eased after the nap. Instead, it had worsened, now accompanied by a dry mouth.
So, she snatched the iced slush from Ye Qingchang’s hands.
Now, she was suffering from two kinds of headache.
Ye Qingchang didn’t even glance back at Liu Xie’s grimacing face.
She just stared blankly at the ocean.
“I think I really messed up.”
Liu Xie forced her eyes open. “What did you mess up?”
“Love.”
“Serves you right.”
Liu Xie raised an eyebrow with satisfaction, as if she had been waiting a long time to say that to Ye Qingchang’s face.
Unlike Ye Qingchang, the blonde-haired girl didn’t seem to understand whether this was a case of “if you stand by the river long enough, you’ll get your feet wet” or “what goes around comes around.”
Maybe it was just poetic justice.
Liu Xie knew that no matter what punishment Ye Qingchang received, she was still her good friend.
“So, what happened? Your identity got exposed by your electronic pet?” Liu Xie shook her head, as if trying to shake away the pain pounding inside it.
Judging by her twisted expression, she clearly hadn’t succeeded.
“No, it wasn’t that. It’s just that my confession last night completely backfired. He’s ignoring me now.”
Ye Qingchang never expected this outcome.
She had seriously underestimated the weight her past self still held in Xiao Yian’s heart.
In short, her reckless confession last night—hoping to win her rightful place as the president of the Literature Club—was immediately shut down by the online white moonlight, Ye Qingchang herself.
Now that she thought about it, Xiao Yian’s hesitation during that half-minute when she confessed wasn’t about choosing between the Literature Club president and the white moonlight.
That guy had probably already started learning his lesson back then.
On second thought, the moment Xiao Yian realized she was truly confessing, he must have completely made up his mind and tossed the Literature Club president Ye Qingchang into the trash without hesitation.
At the time, she had been naively confident she could shake the position her former self had left behind.
Instead, she was kicked aside like a stray dog on the roadside, with no chance to resist.
For a moment, Ye Qingchang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Impressive.”
Liu Xie didn’t seem to fully understand but recognized that situations where Ye Qingchang was completely dominated were rare.
“For a moment, I even doubted myself,” Ye Qingchang said, running her fingers through her black hair.
“That’s actually a good thing, or rather, perfect,” Liu Xie said carelessly. “If he ignores you, you can just forget about him. That way, in reality, you’re no longer connected to him. So online, you can do whatever you want, right?”
After saying that, Liu Xie frowned, feeling like she’d crossed a line just by saying it.
But Ye Qingchang just waved her hand. “I was planning to do that anyway, but I’m still a little worried.”
Her head of golden hair was now dry from the sun, regaining its original shine and fluffiness.
Liu Xie scratched her long hair, feeling more and more that she shouldn’t be discussing matters of the heart with Ye Qingchang.
So she flipped Ye Qingchang two middle fingers, closed her eyes, and threw herself backward onto the beach mat.
Then she immediately passed out.
Ye Qingchang cupped her chin with both hands, elbows resting on her knees.
She never imagined she’d end up like this.
Looking up, there were two deep sand pits before her. Occasionally, handfuls of sand were thrown out from the bottom, piling up on nearby small sand mounds.
It seemed Gou Yu and Zhu Niao still hadn’t determined a winner.
The referee duo who were supposed to be diligent had run off to the waves to collect shells, leaving only the two competitors fiercely battling it out.
As if sensing something, Ye Qingchang turned her head, directly facing Xiao Yian’s direction.
She didn’t meet Xiao Yian’s gaze—at this point, it was impossible for them to share that tacit understanding like close friends.
Instead, looking back at her was Xiao Yian’s aunt, who had somehow returned from the small shop.
The middle-aged woman smiled faintly and nodded slightly, as if to express thanks.
Ye Qingchang only felt bitterness and returned a bitter smile—the kind of smile worse than crying.
She hadn’t accomplished anything that Xiao Yian’s aunt had asked her to.
She had not become someone who could lighten Xiao Yian’s heart; on the contrary, to make room for the white moonlight, she had been kicked out altogether.
And she still hadn’t uncovered the true nature of that so-called white moonlight.
Because if the enemy was known and understood, she shouldn’t have lost.
But she was kicked aside like a stray dog by that white moonlight.
So, that white moonlight was actually an unknown enemy.
Thinking this, Ye Qingchang’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
She felt ridiculous even drawing this conclusion herself.
Raising her head, a blanket of dark clouds seemed to drift in from afar, and even the salty sea breeze felt like the ominous calm before a storm.
Ye Qingchang squinted and watched for a while, feeling the clouds were moving faster than before.
Could it be about to rain?
She glanced again at the two sand pits still competing, and just as she was about to step forward and warn Zhu Niao and Gou Yu—
A scream rang out from Zhu Niao, followed by a sudden splash of water spraying from the right pit.
Looks like no warning was necessary.
Ye Qingchang picked up her book and glanced once more at the sun being gradually swallowed by dark clouds.
She decided to head back to the hotel first. If it rained, staying on the beach would be pure torture, and the parasol wouldn’t help much either—it would barely cover one person.
With the book tucked under her arm, Ye Qingchang walked alone down the street.
Zhu Niao had Gou Yu, Yang Shuli had Xu Nian. She couldn’t really tag along with either pair—it would just make her feel superfluous.
Suddenly, she paused.
She had forgotten about Liu Xie.
But that was probably fine—Liu Xie wasn’t the type to get caught in the rain without running home.
Her phone buzzed, signaling a message.
Ye Qingchang had just taken a step forward but stopped again.
It was that one special message—the one from her electronic pet.
【I want to see you.】
This cannot end well, thank for translating, hope to see more chapters
This about to get serious, I hope none of them take that “final step” (s**cide) since it’s been implied many times that both Ye Qingchang and Xiao Yi’an are both emotionally unstable an dependant on the other. If that connection was broken violently….
Wonder if she’ll start disguising herself and then act like a bitch so he gives up on his ‘white moonlight’