The Moon in the Water

[Jiangnan Beauty x Capital Circle Heir / Powerful Man Lowers His Head / Seven-Year Age Gap]

Meng Shuai first saw Jiang Lingyue backstage, in the dim light.

That night, the theater was putting on a play called The Performer. His mother and Miss Cheng liked it, but he had no interest.

Before the show began, he left the box and found an empty corner to smoke. A flint wheel scraped, and the lights slowly brightened.

Jiang Lingyue danced beneath the spotlight in a plain white blouse. Her water sleeves swept through the air like a lonely breeze beneath a fading moon; tears dampened her dress as they streaked her lotus-petal face.

He watched from above, leaning on the railing, looking down. In the murky, mottled light, her tearful eyes happened to glance his way. All she saw was the crimson glow at his fingertips and the pale smoke before his face.

When the dance ended, she returned to wait at the side of the stage. Meng Shuai went back to his box, cool and composed, and watched a play that had nothing to do with him.

-

Later, Jiang Lingyue often danced for Meng Shuai at midnight. Her slender, supple waist was like a willow branch, soft in his hands.

Three parts desire and seven parts money: that was all Meng Shuai ever gave her. She should have understood that long ago.

In this fleeting encounter amid the mortal world, each took what they needed. They came together when fate brought them together, and parted when it ran its course.

The day she left, Meng Shuai's assistant drove her to the airport. Meng Shuai called along the way, but she did not answer.

She asked the assistant to pass on a message: "The road ahead is smooth, so Mr. Meng doesn't need to lead me by the hand anymore."

The assistant relayed her words exactly. Meng Shuai gave a mocking laugh. "Actors have no heart."

But that night, Meng Shuai did not sleep a wink.

-

Meng Shuai prided himself on being clearheaded. The night they first met, he had stood above the stage as a spectator, convinced that the joys and sorrows of those below had nothing to do with him.

Not until the lights went out and the play was over did he realize that though his heart had been a spectator's, he had become part of the story.

He watched the moon in the water: from afar, it amused him; up close, it made him lovesick.

Later, someone told him that the moon had been in the sky all along. He was the one who had to look up.

>>> Newlywed Bonus Scene

At a banquet one evening, Meng Shuai happened to hear someone gossiping behind him: "I really want to know what Jiang Lingyue did to marry into the Meng family, and get them all to treat her so well."

Before the person beside them could reply, Meng Shuai stepped around the screen and said, "Why not ask me what I did to marry her?"

| Inspired by the song The Performer by Xu Liang

| In ancient times, the term performer referred to people skilled in music and the performing arts, usually men, and carried a derogatory meaning. Later, it came to refer to theatrical performers of any gender.

| The heroine is a stage performer who acts in both spoken dramas and dance theater. She works in the arts and is not part of the entertainment industry.

| The leads are in a genuine romantic relationship, with no transactional arrangement. The blurb contains a misunderstanding.

| The first version of this blurb was written on October 9, 2023. A screenshot has been saved.

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