Chapter 47: The White Moonlight’s Substitute (13)

 

 

“No need to thank me,” Yao Rong said, her gaze naturally falling on Bo Shan’s face. 

 

Without any intention to hide the truth, she stated directly, “You look a lot like my daughter.”

 

Bo Shan instinctively recalled the girl she had bumped into earlier and responded with surprise, “I think I might’ve run into your daughter today.”

 

“She mentioned it to me,” Yao Rong nodded.

 

“No wonder you looked somewhat familiar.” Bo Shan couldn’t help but take a few more glances at Yao Rong.

 

Since the other exchange students were still standing nearby, Yao Rong didn’t linger. She turned and continued toward the east gate.

 

“Madam.” From a distance, the driver spotted Yao Rong and immediately stepped out of the car to open the back door. 

 

Settling into her seat, Yao Rong rolled down the window and gazed at the bustling traffic, reflecting on what had just happened.

 

When she first noticed Bo Shan and the others, Yao Rong had stood nearby, quietly observing. 

 

With her keen eye, she could tell that when Su Xining’s fiancé approached Bo Shan, Bo Shan instinctively took a few steps back, creating distance between them. Her avoidance was obvious—almost as if she feared being tainted by something dirty.

 

So… was Bo Shan’s sudden return as an exchange student just an attempt to escape the entanglement with Su Xining and her fiancé?

 

The sound of a car door opening pulled her from her thoughts. Yao Shiyun slid into the seat beside her. “Mom.”

 

Yao Rong pushed aside her musings. “Finished with class?”

 

Yao Shiyun placed her backpack on her lap. “All done. The professor assigned us a design project—we have to create an original piece of clothing.”

 

“Have you decided what you want to design?” Yao Rong asked, following her daughter’s train of thought.

 

“I’m still thinking about the theme.”

 

“Your professor didn’t assign one?”

 

“No. But since we’re only sophomores, he gave us two months to complete it. Our entire grade for the course depends on this assignment.”

 

It was a crucial major course. If it were an ordinary assignment, it wouldn’t matter, but now that the assignment was tied to the final grade, they had to put in extra effort.

 

As the car merged into traffic, Yao Rong rolled up the window and told Yao Shiyun about her encounter with Bo Shan.

 

“What a coincidence.” 

 

Yao Shiyun was somewhat amazed

 

Her mother had faced a scumbag husband, she herself had dealt with a jerk ex-boyfriend, and now, even this Bo Shan seemed to be entangled with a scumbag.  

 

Could it be that people who looked like them were somehow prone to attracting jerks?

 

Back home after dinner, Yao Rong and Yao Shiyun took a stroll along a tree-lined path. After about half an hour, sensing her heart rate increasing, Yao Rong decided not to push herself and they headed back.

 

After showering, Yao Rong leaned against her bed and checked A University’s forum. 

 

She approved of how decisively Yao Shiyun had posted the chat screenshots. 

 

Perhaps to avoid provoking her further, neither Lu Xinghua nor the anonymous poster had responded again, no matter how much the online crowd mocked them.

 

At this point, public opinion was overwhelmingly in Yao Shiyun’s favor.

 

Beyond those threads, there were also posts about the exchange students arriving on campus. They would gradually move into the dorms starting tomorrow and officially begin classes the following week.

 

As she read, Yao Rong couldn’t help but wonder—would Lu Xinghua still dare to approach Bo Shan openly? 

 

It was getting late, and after a long day out, Yao Rong was beginning to feel tired.

 

She slipped on her shoes and got up to wash up when a knock came at the door. 

 

Opening it, she found Yao Shiyun holding two cups of warm milk. She handed one to her mother. “Mom, have this before bed.”

 

Yao Rong smiled softly. “Thank you.”

 

“Goodnight.”

 

“Goodnight. You should rest too.”

 

While mother and daughter were exchanging their goodnights, Lu Xinghua was pacing around his dorm room, refreshing the forum anxiously. 

 

Tensions between him and Ling Bai had simmered since their earlier argument over the post—they hadn’t spoken all day. But right now, Lu Xinghua couldn’t be bothered to smooth things over. His main concern was the increasingly unfavorable public opinion.

 

In fact, he had known for some time that Bo Shan would arrive at A University today. 

 

He had even planned to take her out for a welcome dinner.

 

But there was no way he could approach her openly now.  

 

While the forum’s gossip enthusiasts weren’t as tenacious as professional paparazzi, they were still observant. If anyone spotted him with Bo Shan on campus and uploaded a photo, people would undoubtedly compare their appearances and realize how much Bo Shan resembled Yao Shiyun.

 

And never underestimate the investigative skills of netizens.

 

After some hesitation, Lu Xinghua decided to proceed cautiously. 

 

If he couldn’t meet her openly, he could at least start by adding her on social media. 

 

So, he reached out to Chen Zeping and obtained Bo Shan’s current contact information.

 

*

 

The next day, Yao Rong returned to A University. 

 

Since the chairs in the library’s reading room were too stiff for her comfort, she had Yao Shiyun check out the books she wanted. While Yao Shiyun headed to class, Yao Rong made her way to a nearby café. She ordered a coffee and settled into the softest sofa, choosing a spot with the best lighting to read.

 

She flipped through the pages very quickly, so fast that it always made people feel she was searching for something rather than reading.

 

Meanwhile, Bo Shan, who had a daily habit of drinking coffee in the morning, decided to visit the café after settling her luggage in the dormitory nearby. 

 

By this time, the café was already bustling with studying students.

 

After placing her order, Bo Shan stood aside to wait. Her gaze drifted across the room and was first drawn to the speed of Yao Rong’s page-turning. That’s when she recognized her face.

 

“Hi, I’ll take my coffee here—and can you add two slices of tiramisu?” she told the barista.

 

When her order was ready, Bo Shan carried the tray over to Yao Rong’s table and greeted her politely. “Hello.”

 

Hearing the familiar voice, Yao Rong looked up. “Hello.”

 

“I got you some tiramisu as a thank-you for helping me out of that situation yesterday. I hope you won’t refuse,” Bo Shan said, gently sliding a slice toward her.

 

“Thank you. My surname is Yao—you can call me Ms. Yao.” Yao Rong introduced herself, noting how Bo Shan had been addressing her formally^[1]In the original Chinese text, Bo Shan uses the formal/polite second-person pronoun “您” (nín) when speaking to Yao Rong, indicating respect and formality in their relationship..

 

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Yao. I’m Bo Shan,” she replied with a smile.

 

“Have a seat,” Yao Rong gestured to the sofa across from her. 

 

Bo Shan thanked her and sat down. 

 

After taking a sip of her coffee, Bo Shan’s eyes drifted to the book in Yao Rong’s hand. Curious, she asked, “Are these books for your daughter?”

 

Yao Rong explained, “No, she’s a fashion design major. I’m just personally interested in these topics.”

 

Closing the book, she set it aside and picked up the tiramisu Bo Shan had brought her.

 

Bo Shan lowered her head, taking small sips of coffee as she lost herself in thought.

 

While the two women sat in silence, outside the café window, an angry Su Xining stormed by. 

 

Spotting both Bo Shan and the woman who had intervened yesterday, old and new grudges converged. Without hesitation, she charged into the café.

 

In a few swift steps, Su Xining reached their table and grabbed Yao Rong’s coffee cup, aiming to splash it on Bo Shan—

 

But someone moved even faster. 

 

Once again, Su Xining’s wrist was caught.

 

The cup tilted, and the coffee poured directly onto the tabletop, then slid off the smooth surface to the floor, finally splashing and staining the hem of Bao Shan’s skirt.

 

Bo Shan came back to her senses, stood up, and took a step back, putting a safe distance between herself and Su Xining. “Why are you here?”

 

“Of course someone told me you came to buy coffee.” Su Xining smiled coldly, then glared at Yao Rong, struggling against her grip. “Let go of me! Who are you? This is between me and Bo Shan. Don’t interfere!”

 

“I didn’t want to get involved, but I happened to witness it, and it’s no trouble for me, I might as well.”

 

Yao Rong restrained Su Xining with one hand while raising the other to snatch the coffee cup from her grasp, lest Su Xining smash it in a fit of rage.

 

Quite a few students studying in the café stopped what they were doing and looked over.

 

“Let go of me!” Su Xining shouted again.

 

“This cup of coffee costs 19 yuan. Please pay for it,” Yao Rong said calmly, setting the cup down.

 

Su Xining glared. “19 yuan!? Forget 19, let go of me. I can give you 190!”

 

“I only accept cash.”

 

“You!” Su Xining gritted her teeth. She had only brought her phone when she stormed out, not thinking to bring any cash. This woman was clearly making things difficult for her on purpose.

 

Yao Rong glanced at Bo Shan, signaling her to find the server and get a rag to clean up the mess. She then turned back to Su Xining, “If you can’t pay in cash, that’s fine. But you made this mess, so you need to clean it up.”

 

Su Xining weighed the difference in strength between herself and Yao Rong. Knowing she couldn’t handle Bo Shan with Yao Rong present, she relented through gritted teeth, “Fine, I’ll go order you a new cup of coffee.”

 

Yao Rong released her grip. 

 

Su Xining had originally wanted to leave directly, but after rushing a few steps towards the door, she turned and walked to the counter. “Give her another one of whatever she ordered earlier. Bring it to her table when it’s done,” she snapped at the barista.

 

Hastily paying with her phone, Su Xining left.

 

When Bo Shan returned with the server carrying a rag and mop, Su Xining was already gone.

 

After the server finished cleaning up, Bo Shan sat back down. “Thank you. You helped me out of a difficult situation again.”

 

Yao Rong handed Bo Shan a tissue. “Do you want to wipe it off?”

 

Bo Shan took it, glanced at the coffee stains on her shoes and skirt, and used the tissue to dab at her shoes. 

 

Taking a sip of the freshly delivered coffee, Yao Rong suddenly said, “Would you mind talking with me about that?”

 

Bo Shan looked up in surprise. 

 

Yao Rong set down her cup. “If it makes you uncomfortable, never mind.”

 

From Bo Shan and Su Xining’s conversation, Yao Rong had basically pieced together the general story. But if Bo Shan was willing to talk to her, she wouldn’t mind learning more details—

 

She wanted to understand what kind of person Bo Shan was and what attitude Bo Shan held towards Lu Xinghua.  

 

She wouldn’t let anyone who hurt Xiao Yun go unpunished. If Bo Shan had intentionally gotten involved in matters between Lu Xinghua and Xiao Yun, she would make sure Bo Shan paid the price. But if Bo Shan was completely unaware of what Lu Xinghua had done, not only would Yao Rong not act against her, she would consider cooperating with Bo Shan.

 

Bo Shan relaxed her posture a bit. “Actually, it’s not that I’m uncomfortable. I just don’t know if you’re willing to waste your time listening.”

 

“Feel free to tell me,” Yao Rong encouraged.

 

Bo Shan didn’t go into excessive detail, but from her account, Yao Rong could understand the whole story.

 

In D City, there was a large timber company. When it reached a certain scale, the company liked to engage in charity work to enhance its public image. The company’s boss set up a scholarship program specifically to support academically excellent students from poor families to study abroad.  

 

Bo Shan happened to perfectly fit this criteria, so she successfully applied for the scholarship to study in the UK.

 

While abroad, students tended to form their own circles. Bo Shan joined a group for students from her hometown and attended several gatherings. At one of them, she met a senior named Cai Zhouyu.

 

Cai Zhouyu was from a wealthy family. By then, he had already graduated with a master’s degree and was working directly at the company’s UK branch.

 

Since that company matched Bo Shan’s major, she wanted to secure an internship opportunity there. So she befriended Cai Zhouyu to learn more about the situation from him.

 

During the internship, Bo Shan’s performance was quite outstanding. Her supervisor even said that after graduating, she could come work for them directly.  

 

But just as the internship was ending, something went wrong. 

 

The issue was that Cai Zhouyu confessed his feelings for her.

 

Cai Zhouyu was handsome and very gentlemanly in his interactions. Although Bo Shan didn’t accept his confession, she didn’t mind continuing to interact with him.

 

But not long after, at a hometown gathering, Su Xining appeared.

 

She introduced herself as Cai Zhouyu’s fiancée. 

 

“When we heard Su Xining’s self-introduction, we were all very surprised.” Learning that Cai Zhouyu had a fiancée but still confessed to her, Bo Shan felt extremely uncomfortable. Suppressing the urge to throw her drink in his face, she left the gathering with her roommate right after the meal.

 

Cai Zhouyu immediately chased after her and explained that his engagement to Su Xining was completely decided by their parents. It was a business marriage, and Bo Shan was the one he truly liked. If she could accept him, he was willing to break off the engagement for her sake.

 

Bo Shan’s thought at the time was: Do you think I’m a three-year-old child? 

 

If he really liked her, why did he lie about being single? Why didn’t he end the engagement before pursuing her?

 

After returning to the dorm, Bo Shan blocked all of Cai Zhouyu’s contact information. 

 

However, because Cai Zhouyu had publicly abandoned Su Xining to chase after Bo Shan, Su Xining realized something was wrong.

 

Upon learning that Cai Zhouyu had pursued Bo Shan, Su Xining began to relentlessly harass her.

 

What was even more dramatic was that the boss of the timber company was Su Xining’s uncle.  

 

Because of this matter, every time Su Xining saw Bo Shan, she not only accused her of seducing Cai Zhouyu but also called her ungrateful.

 

Bo Shan was utterly fed up with it all. Moreover, not knowing what Su Xining had said, the timber company not only revoked her scholarship but also demanded that she sign an agreement to work for them for the next ten years.

 

Of course, Bo Shan couldn’t possibly agree to such an unreasonable indentured contract. 

 

The timber company then took a step back, saying they wanted Bo Shan to repay all the scholarship money within two years.

 

Bo Shan finally agreed to those terms.

 

At that time, Bo Shan’s university and A University were conducting an exchange program to jointly cultivate exchange students. With her peaceful university life thrown into chaos by Su Xining, Bo Shan registered and strived to secure one of the slots. 

 

“I originally thought that with A City and D City separated by thousands of kilometers, and even farther from the UK, I could finally have some peace. But who knew…” Bo Shan looked frustrated. “Who knew Cai Zhouyu would actually be transferred to A City by the company.”

 

There was nothing worse than this.

 

She had come to A University precisely to stay far away from those two, but ended up running into them here.

 

Su Xining, who had been quite restrained before, immediately exploded. She angrily rushed to A University to confront Bo Shan, while Cai Zhouyu had followed Su Xining there.

 

“That’s pretty much the whole situation,” Bo Shan said.

 

As Bo Shan spoke, Yao Rong had been observing her. 

 

When mentioning Cai Zhouyu and Su Xining, Bo Shan was clearly very irritated. This kind of genuine irritation couldn’t be faked.

 

So it could basically be confirmed that Bo Shan was telling the truth. 

 

Regarding this matter, she could indeed be said to have suffered an undeserved disaster.

 

Yao Rong asked, “So how do you plan to resolve this issue?”

 

Bo Shan lowered her eyes. “I plan to contact the Su family. When I agreed to repay the scholarship within two years, they promised that as long as I had no contact with Cai Zhouyu, they would keep Su Xining in check and stop her from bothering me.”

 

It wasn’t a great solution, but apparently Bo Shan had no better way to resolve it.

 

Yao Rong asked again, “Do many people know about your return to China?”

 

Although not knowing why Yao Rong asked this, Bo Shan still answered, “After confirming that I would be an exchange student, I informed a few friends in the UK.”

 

Yao Rong nodded in understanding. 

 

She glanced at the greenery outside the window. “Since you shared this with me, let me tell you something too.”

 

Facing such a young person, she had no need to conceal anything or play tricks, nor did she want to.

 

So Yao Rong stated very directly, “Bo Shan, actually, even before you returned to China, I already knew your name.”

 

Bo Shan was puzzled. “I don’t quite understand.”

 

“My daughter’s name is Yao Shiyun. You may not have heard of her, but you must know her ex-boyfriend.”

 

Bo Shan slowly felt unease rising in her heart. 

 

Ex-boyfriend… whom she also knew… 

 

Was it someone from A University?

 

But she didn’t know anyone here.

 

Thinking of the friend request she had rejected last night, Bo Shan slightly frowned. “May I ask the name of that ex-boyfriend?”

 

“Lu Xinghua.”

 

Although she had already guessed, when her suspicion was confirmed, Bo Shan still felt shocked. “He…”

 

Countless thoughts raced through her mind. It took Bo Shan a while to find her voice. “Lu Xinghua, he’s also my ex-boyfriend… Do you suspect…”

 

Yao Rong opened the Weibo screenshot and handed it to Bo Shan. “You can take a look.”

 

Bo Shan read the Weibo post, her brows knitting tighter with each sentence. By the end, she said, “Chen Zeping is my high school classmate. He’s currently studying at another university in the UK. I did tell him I was coming to A University. But as for finding Lu Xinghua, that’s completely unfounded. We haven’t been in contact for four years.”

 

Yao Rong nodded, her tone serious. “I believe you.”

 

Bo Shan’s brows relaxed a bit. A crucial question came to mind. “Um… Ms. Yao, may I ask when Lu Xinghua broke up with your daughter?”

 

“A year ago, he said he fell in love with my daughter at first sight. But a month and a half ago, he suddenly started distancing himself from her for no reason. If I’m not mistaken, you confirmed that you would be an exchange student around that time, right?”

 

Bo Shan was so disgusted she was at a loss for words. “…Right.”

 

So what was this? 

 

A real-life version of those “white moonlight’s substitute” stories?

 

As the supposed “white moonlight” in this situation, she felt incredibly revolted.  

 

Was she dead, crippled, or had disappeared, prompting Lu Xinghua to specifically find a stand-in?

 

This was disrespectful to Yao Shiyun and disrespectful to her.

 

Moreover, hadn’t they broken up at Lu Xinghua’s initiative back then? Two days before the college entrance exam, he had asked to talk in the corridor. Without any explanation, he directly said, “Let’s break up.” The shock had negatively impacted her exam performance. While she was working hard to get a scholarship to study in the UK, he came back saying he had just been muddled at the time, that the exam stress made him break up with her, but he still loved her in his heart. Now that the exam was over, he hoped they could get back together.

 

Bo Shan scoffed inwardly. Her first love had gone to the dogs.

 

Since then, Bo Shan had PTSD towards any man who approached her. She had finally begun to let go of her inner demons and feel she could trust in love again, only to encounter that scumbag Cai Zhouyu.  

 

Immersed in past anger, it took Bo Shan a while to come back to the present. She took a few deep breaths and looked at Yao Rong. “Can I ask one more question?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“Yesterday and today, when you helped me, it was all coincidental, right?” Yesterday and today were both sudden situations. Bo Shan felt there was a high possibility they were coincidences, but she still wanted to confirm.

 

“They were indeed coincidences,” Yao Rong affirmed, looking at Bo Shan directly. “I’m not so low as to use such methods to gain your trust.”

 

Being watched by such sincere eyes, Bo Shan believed it would be very difficult for anyone to doubt Yao Rong’s words.

 

She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help but make a joke to lighten the mood. “Then what method would you use to gain my trust?”

 

“After hearing me talk about my daughter’s situation, do you still believe I mean you no harm?” Yao Rong asked in return.

 

Bo Shan blinked. “I believe you.”

 

Yao Rong smiled slightly. “So I should have gained your trust now.”