I Turned Out To Be The Paranoid Villain’s White Moonlight - Chapter 23

After Xu Yingxi said that, Zhan Yao remained silent for quite some time.

Xu Yingxi looked up at her and instinctively assumed she was hurt. After all, what could be more painful than learning that the person you loved had a white moonlight? Naturally, it was the day that white moonlight suddenly reappeared.

Ever since learning that Zhan Yao and Yu Wanqiao were together, Xu Yingxi had made inquiries both openly and in secret. After digging around, she discovered that Yu Wanqiao had supposedly loved someone else before Zhan Yao.

She did not know whether they had ever registered their marriage, what the woman looked like, or even her name, but Yu Wanqiao must have loved her deeply. Rumor had it that after this white moonlight left, Yu Wanqiao developed a mental illness and became increasingly unstable.

Some things were simply like that. Once the first clue appeared, it was only a matter of time before the entire story was unraveled.

Xu Yingxi continued investigating along that trail and traced it back to the first time Yu Wanqiao had been hospitalized because of an episode. Looking further into the period before that, she discovered that someone who shared an extraordinary relationship with Yu Wanqiao had happened to leave the country only a few days earlier.

That person’s surname was Jiang. Her name was Jiang Anran, and she was the most pampered youngest daughter of the Jiang family. The Jiang and Yu families had arranged a childhood engagement for her while she was still in school.

However, the person she had been engaged to was not Yu Wanqiao, but the illegitimate son, Yu Ziming.

It had long been rumored that Old Master Yu greatly favored this illegitimate son. Xu Yingxi had not expected him to consider Yu Ziming first even when arranging a marriage.

Zhan Yao had happened to hear a little about what occurred afterward from Yu Wanqiao yesterday. Yu Wanqiao had threatened Old Master Yu to seize power and ordered her stepmother and half-brother to leave the country. However, Xu Yingxi now told her something that Yu Wanqiao had not mentioned.

She had claimed Jiang Anran for herself.

The outcome was supposedly obvious. Jiang Anran felt she had suffered unbearable humiliation and left the country in anger, while Yu Wanqiao was driven insane by grief and longing, becoming increasingly eccentric and violent.

For once, Zhan Yao remained quiet and listened as Xu Yingxi finished telling her this entire mess of nonsense.

Then she gave a soft scoff and asked, “Who told you all of that?”

“Does anyone need to tell me?” Xu Yingxi replied. “Once you piece everything together, the truth is obvious.”

See? This was exactly how rumors were created.

Zhan Yao shook her head. Although she had not known Yu Wanqiao for very long, she firmly believed Yu Wanqiao would never do something like that. Xu Yingxi was the only kind of person capable of forcing her love on someone.

Even if she took ten thousand steps back and assumed the matter of the white moonlight was real, what did it have to do with her? She and Yu Wanqiao were only in a contract marriage, each getting what she needed.

That was what she told herself.

Still, Zhan Yao had to admit that hearing this supposed white moonlight had returned to the country stirred something within her.

“Come back to me, Yaoyao.” Xu Yingxi looked at her with deep affection. “I’m the only person who truly loves you.”

Zhan Yao sighed and stopped paying her any attention. She opened the car door and climbed inside.

Before starting the engine, she lowered the window on Xu Yingxi’s side and raised her middle finger at her without the slightest hesitation.

“Get lost.”

Because that piece of trash had pestered her for a while, Zhan Yao naturally returned later than usual today.

Dinner should already have been prepared. She opened the car door and stepped out, but before she even entered the house, she caught a familiar fragrance—

It was the black tea she had recently acquired, a variety that could not be purchased anywhere in the country. Its aroma was distinctive, and with Zhan Yao’s keen nose, she recognized it immediately.

“?”

Who dared touch Young Miss Zhan’s belongings?

Her expression darkened as she entered the main hall. When she looked up, she unexpectedly saw a stranger sitting on the sofa.

It was a woman around her age, dressed from head to toe in luxury brands. Although anyone could tell she was wearing the newest pieces from major labels and that they had cost a fortune, they somehow looked excessively vulgar on her.

Vulgar. That was Zhan Yao’s first impression.

Her second was that the woman had absolutely no manners.

Zhan Yao lowered her eyes toward the table and, sure enough, found a cup of black tea there. One whiff was enough to tell her it was the variety she had only recently purchased.

“Xiao Yue,” Zhan Yao called. “Come here.”

“Yes, Miss Zhan.” Xiao Yue hurried over.

“Did you brew that tea?” Zhan Yao asked, her voice frighteningly cold.

“No.” Xiao Yue shook her head miserably and glanced awkwardly toward the woman on the sofa. “S-She helped herself.”

“This afternoon, we were carrying out the thorough cleaning you arranged, Miss Zhan,” Xiao Yue explained. “Then this young lady suddenly barged in. She claimed to be an old acquaintance of President Yu and even produced an old photograph of them together as proof.”

“Housekeeper Yang called President Yu, but she was probably busy and didn’t answer. We had no choice but to invite her inside temporarily. Who knew she would be so impolite? Not only did she eat the fruit prepared for you, but she also took your black tea without asking.”

In summary, the woman might as well have had the word arrogant written across her face.

“I understand.” Zhan Yao nodded, then looked back at the woman. After a moment, she gave a derisive smile. “An acquaintance? When did Wanqiao join the Beggars’ Sect without telling me?”

“Where did you come from?” she asked, sitting opposite the woman. “A guest is still a guest. Since you’ve already made yourself comfortable, I can’t let you leave empty-handed.”

“Go to the kitchen and prepare several bags of rice and flour for this young lady. It’s truly tragic for someone so young to have fallen into such desperate circumstances.” Zhan Yao sighed softly. “And pack up the sofa and teacup for her as well. I break out in allergies whenever I see something another person has used. Since you like them so much, I might as well give them all to you. It would be a shame to throw them away.”

“…”

How vicious.

The woman had heard Zhan Yao enter but had not taken her seriously, assuming she was merely an ignorant university student. She had never imagined that Zhan Yao’s tongue would be so poisonous.

“You’re far too rude.” The woman could no longer remain seated. “Do you know who I am?”

Zhan Yao was speechless. Every brainless supporting character who appeared had to ask whether she knew who they were. Did they think she was conducting a household census?

Fortunately, this one introduced herself before Zhan Yao could answer.

“My name is Jiang Anran. I’m an old acquaintance of President Yu.”

“Originally, I should have been her wife.”

Oh. So you were that Miss Jiang.

Zhan Yao studied the woman before her with interest. No matter how questionable Yu Wanqiao’s taste might be, it could not possibly be this bad. If this woman truly was the legendary white moonlight, Zhan Yao would immediately call Cheng Yu and ask her to teach her how to do a handstand.

“And then?” she asked lazily.

She could treat this as entertainment. She was curious to hear what this so-called old acquaintance had to say.

“What do you mean, ‘and then’?” Jiang Anran froze.

“Your evidence that you should have been her wife.” Zhan Yao stood and slowly walked over to her, examining her up close as though she were some rare animal. “I’ve looked carefully, but I can’t see anything particularly special about you, Miss Jiang.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?!” Jiang Anran grew angry beneath her teasing gaze. “How am I supposed to prove that to you?”

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask Uncle Yu,” she said forcefully. “He’ll tell you that the Jiang and Yu families arranged my marriage long ago.”

“Oh.” Zhan Yao nodded. “You mean the illegitimate son.”

“?”

How did she know so much?

“Don’t mention that man!” Jiang Anran snapped.

She was filled with resentment over the matter. When the Jiang family had been at the height of its prosperity, they had arranged a childhood engagement with the Yu family. At the time, Yu Wanqiao had already lost her father’s favor, and the entire family was controlled by her stepmother, Madam Liu, and her half-brother, Yu Ziming. Judging by how much Old Master Yu doted on Yu Ziming, all of Chuansheng’s businesses would undoubtedly belong to him in the future.

Although Yu Ziming was only an illegitimate son, the person who controlled the power was the true winner. By marrying him, Jiang Anran would eventually become the mistress of Chuansheng Group.

That was how things should have gone—until Yu Wanqiao suddenly made her move. Not only did she seize most of the family’s businesses, but she also forced Yu Ziming out of the country.

Jiang Anran was no fool. She would never follow Yu Ziming and suffer with him. Her engagement had been made with the Yu family, after all. Even if Yu Ziming was gone, Yu Wanqiao remained. As long as Jiang Anran could be with her, she would still be the ultimate winner.

But Yu Wanqiao was an unmeltable glacier. No matter how hard Jiang Anran tried, Yu Wanqiao never once spared her a glance.

“I have absolutely nothing to do with Yu Ziming,” Jiang Anran continued denying it. She glared at Zhan Yao with resentment and fury, regarding her as a thorn in her flesh. “My engagement was arranged with the Yu family. Logically speaking, Wanqiao and I should be—”

Before she could finish, a light ding suddenly sounded beside her, as though something had fallen to the floor.

Zhan Yao paused, lowered her eyes, and picked it up before placing it back on her ring finger.

It was the wedding ring Yu Wanqiao had personally put on her not long ago.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Please continue. I’m listening.”

“It’s all Wanqiao’s fault for giving me such a heavy ring. Why did she choose such a large diamond?” she complained, though every word was clearly a provocation. “I can never keep it on properly. It falls off whenever I’m not careful.”

She smiled at Jiang Anran’s expression, which shifted constantly between anger and envy.

“Honestly, I’ll have to ask her to replace it with a smaller one later.”

The room fell silent for several seconds.

Jiang Anran was probably stunned by her shameless display of wealth and could not speak for quite some time. Zhan Yao sighed, lamenting that none of these people could put up a decent fight.

“Keep going. What did you say you were again?”

Jiang Anran snapped furiously, “I’m not a thing!”

“Mm.” Zhan Yao nodded in agreement. “I can see that.”