Shi Ning entered a high-end designer store. She didn’t allow the salesgirl to follow her around and instead wandered by herself, slowly looking through the shelves of bags.
Before long, she found herself standing in front of the men’s section, eyes lingering on a sleek leather wallet.
She picked it up and turned to Mu Tiantian.
“Tiantian, what do you think of this one?”
Mu Tiantian, who had been hesitating about whether to bring up the matter of Bai Yueguang (literally “white moonlight,” a Chinese metaphor for an unattainable, pure first love one never forgets), blinked when she heard the question.
“You’re buying it… for Qin the Great Devil?”
“Yeah.” Shi Ning’s voice was casual, but her expression softened. She thought it looked really good—elegant and understated, just right for Qin Heye.
In the three years of their marriage, she had never given Qin Heye a gift. Yet, even when he returned home late at night after a long business trip, he still brought her presents. Even that lipstick.
Mu Tiantian was still struggling internally about mentioning the Bai Yueguang matter. She coughed lightly and said instead, “You don’t need to ask me. If you’re buying a gift for your husband, then buy it. If he really likes you, even if you gave him just a blade of grass, he’d treat it like treasure.”
Shi Ning chuckled and set the wallet back down. “Then I’ll look around some more.”
Mu Tiantian trailed behind her. She watched as Shi Ning walked along, looking only at men’s bags, and sighed helplessly. When Shi Ning truly liked someone, that person always came first in her heart. She thought of him in everything.
Finally, she couldn’t help herself. In a low voice, she asked, “Do you… know that Qin the Great Demon King once had a secret crush?”
Shi Ning tilted her head, puzzled. “Huh?”
Mu Tiantian pressed her lips together. “A secret crush… on a Bai Yueguang. For ten years.”
Shi Ning’s eyes widened in surprise. “You know?”
But according to the [bullet screen spoilers], no one was supposed to know about Qin Heye’s secret crush. He was such a reserved man that he had kept it buried in his heart for years without ever letting it slip. So how did Tiantian know?
Mu Tiantian nodded with grave seriousness. “Bai Yueguang’s are incredibly lethal (meaning dangerously attractive, irresistible). He’s been secretly in love with her for ten years. If you and Qin the Great Devil were happily together and she suddenly came back, then Qin…”
Shi Ning interrupted lightly, “Oh, that’s me.”
“Huh??” Mu Tiantian’s pupils dilated in shock. She was completely thrown off. “You… what did you just say?”
Shi Ning looked straight at her and nodded calmly. “That lethal Bai Yueguang is me.”
Mu Tiantian: …
Shi Ning smiled faintly. “The person he’s secretly loved for ten years—it’s still me.”
Mu Tiantian pressed a hand to Shi Ning’s forehead, then to her own, muttering, “Neither of us has a fever, and our brains seem fine.”
Shi Ning looked at her, exasperated. “Is it really that hard to believe?”
Mu Tiantian shot back without hesitation, “Of course! Isn’t it?”
Shi Ning was silent for a long beat. “…Yes.”
She had been just as doubtful in the beginning. But as one thing after another confirmed it, she was convinced—it was true. Qin Heye did treat her differently.
Mu Tiantian took in Shi Ning’s angelic beauty and kind personality. Slowly, she found herself accepting it as truth. “So you’re really the Bai Yueguang Qin the Great Devil has secretly loved for ten years. Then how on earth did he tolerate you chasing after Shen Xizhou for three years?”
That was Qin Heye! His terrifying possessiveness was common knowledge. Anyone who knew even a little about him knew how fearsome he was.
How could a man like that tolerate watching his wife—the very woman he had cherished in secret—flirt and circle around another man? It was absurd. Unbelievable.
Shi Ning herself hadn’t understood it at first, but the [bullet screen spoilers] had explained Qin Heye’s mentality.
“He is just the eldest of the slavish dogs.”
“And then when he met me, his IQ dropped straight to 520 (Chinese internet slang: 520 sounds like ‘I love you,’ implying he became a fool for love). He turned into a complete love-brain (meaning someone irrational and obsessed in love).”
“He can do anything for love, no matter what. No bottom line.”
Each of Shi Ning’s words was like a thunderbolt, leaving Mu Tiantian fried both inside and out.
A slavish dog? A love-brain? Those words could be used on many men. But on Qin Heye? The terrifying Great Demon King Qin? The very thought was absurd.
If this were ancient times, Qin Heye would have been a ruthless tyrant, a domineering warlord who crushed everything in his path. How could such a man possibly degrade himself into a love-brain?
Mu Tiantian shook her head firmly. “No, that’s impossible. You two are already married. How could Qin the Great Demon King possibly become a ‘mistress for love’?”
Shi Ning thought for a moment and then said seriously, “Maybe in his heart, anyone unloved is the mistress?”
Mu Tiantian: …
Her curiosity only grew stronger. “Then tell me—how did you find out you were his Bai Yueguang? Did you get moved when he confessed?”
She wanted to know, and so did the [bullet screen].
[Strange, how did the vicious supporting female know the main villain had secretly loved her for ten years?]
[The main villain hasn’t even confessed yet! In the original novel, she only found out after divorcing him and being locked away in the attic.]
[But now, they’re still married, and she already knows?]
[Wait—was she reborn? Did she get bound to a system? Or transmigrated into the book? Which lucky yellow-haired girl (slang for outsider girl) transmigrated? Come out so I can grab two episodes of screentime!]
Fortunately, the barrage of comments hadn’t realized they were spoiling the plot.
Shi Ning mumbled under her breath, “Anyway, I know. Just don’t tell anyone. Qin Heye doesn’t even know that I know.”
“Why not?” Mu Tiantian was baffled.
Shi Ning’s lips curved. “Because it makes me secretly happy.”
The whole world thought Qin Heye was cold and untouchable, but the truth was—she was the one he had cherished all along. No one else knew. Only her. And just thinking about that gave her a secret joy.
Mu Tiantian, privy to the secret, felt a rush of satisfaction herself. “If you don’t tell and I don’t tell, then no one else will ever know.” She finished and mimed zipping her mouth shut.
Just then, a sticky, mocking female voice sounded from behind them.
“Sis, you’ve been playing with ducks (slang for male prostitutes) too much and caught AIDS, Is that the secret your are keeping ?”
Mu Tiantian, who had just been basking in the sweetness of Shi Ning and Qin Heye’s story, instantly had her mood ruined. She turned and snapped coldly, “You look like the one with AIDS. Don’t come out here and humiliate yourself.”
The speaker of the previous comment was Mu Zhenrong. Mu Tiantian’s step sister.
She strode forward and immediately tugged Shi Ning to her side. “Sister Ning, stay away from Mu Tiantian. AIDS is awful—you can even catch it through saliva.”
Mu Zhenrong was Mu Tiantian’s half-sister, born the very same day as her. Even their names were proof of unfairness. The pretty name Zhenrong should have belonged to Mu Tiantian, but her father had given it to the mistress’s daughter instead. What she got was a perfunctory leftover name.
Mu Zhenrong and Shi Qingyin had always been close friends.
In the past, Shi Ning had treated Mu Zhenrong kindly for Shi Qingyin’s sake, even advising Mu Tiantian to be nicer to her. After all, they were sisters, and she had once thought Zhenrong was “innocent” in their parents’ mess.
But how could the daughter of a mistress ever be innocent?
It was already hard enough for Mu Tiantian not to cut ties with her.
Shi Ning pushed Mu Zhenrong’s hand away in disgust. “Do you know that the pig head of the twelve zodiac animals has returned?”
“Ah?” Mu Zhenrong blinked, confused. “What do you mean, Sister Ning? I don’t understand.”
Shi Ning waved to the salesgirl for disinfectant spray. She sprayed the arm Mu Zhenrong had touched, then aimed the spray directly at her. “You’re so uncultured you don’t even get higher-level insults. Fine, I’ll be more direct. I’m saying you’re the leader of the pigs. Your very presence is the return of the pig head.”
“Sister Ning…”
Shi Ning cut her off mercilessly. “Stay away from me. Your mouth stinks worse than shit, more poisonous than any virus. I’m afraid of being poisoned to death just by standing near you.”
With the uneducated, there was no point in elegant insults. Direct, brutal words were enough to shatter their defenses.
Mu Zhenrong’s face twisted with anger. “Shi Ning, don’t be so arrogant! Do you still think you’re Madam Qin? You’re about to get divorced!”
“Without the title of Madam Qin, you’re nothing!”