Chapter 137: Ch 137: Behind the Trunk

When Jingxue murmured the nickname, PD Xu Cui turned toward him and raised both eyebrows.

"How do you know her nickname?" The confusion was plain on his face and voice.

The question pulled Jingxue out of his distant memories. He turned, eyes still wide with residual shock, and stepped closer. The intensity of his gaze made PD Xu Cui take an instinctive half-step backward. There was nothing aggressive in the movement—only a raw, unguarded urgency.

"Is... Is that her nickname?" Jingxue asked. There was a fervent, almost desperate edge to the words, as though the answer mattered more than anything else in the world. His voice had lost the earlier polished coldness. What remained was thinner, tighter, and far more human.

"Ye-yeah," PD Xu Cui managed, unsettled by the sudden intensity. He had dealt with difficult guests, furious executives, and entire production crises, yet the way Jingxue waited for confirmation made the air feel narrower.

Jingxue’s breath caught. He looked back toward the two women beneath the trees, eyes glistening.

"I see...."

The two soft syllables left him as carefully as if speaking them too loudly might cause the image—or the hope—to disappear. His shoulders, which were held with such precise control earlier, had lowered a fraction.

For a moment he looked less like the distant man who had walked the village paths and more like someone standing at the edge of something he had not allowed himself to approach in years.

PD Xu Cui studied the man’s expression. The nostalgic warmth softening those usually cold features was so different from the indifferent mask Jingxue had worn and shown that an absurd idea flickered through the PD’s mind.

Don’t tell me this is one of those "I’m your father" plot twists from the melodramas.... He chuckled at the thought and gave a small, private shake of the head.

Yeah. No way, he thought, glancing at the man beside him then at Mo Xingxue.

He had already investigated Mo Xingxue’s background thoroughly after the incident at the zoo. At the time the investigation had not been driven purely by ratings. Mo Xingxue was his personal favorite among the guests he had invited.

After all, he had gone through considerable trouble just to secure her participation, and he had worked with her before. He knew her talent and the quiet effort she poured into every role. The last thing he had wanted was for baseless allegations to drive her away from the show.

That protective instinct was exactly why he had dug so deeply. The methods had not been entirely morally white, but the results had given him a clear picture. Mo Xingxue had lived her entire life inside the Mo residence. She was the legitimate eldest daughter of Mo Jin and Li Kangyue. The classic "secret father" storyline simply did not fit.

The same investigation, however, had also revealed years of quiet suffering—isolation by family and clan for the simple fact of being an omega, along with emotional and physical mistreatment handed out for unfair reasons.

When he first began looking into her, PD Xu Cui had expected to find a pampered heiress who entered the industry on a whim and a jealous younger sister. What he found instead still left a heavy weight in his chest whenever he thought about it.

The image of the woman currently asleep in Su Wanyan’s lap—tear tracks still visible, one hand locked around fabric as if even unconsciousness could not fully release the fear—only pressed that weight deeper.

He pressed his lips together and shook his head, deliberately pushing the darker memories aside. Both hands came up to lightly pat his own cheeks.

Get your shit together, he thought.

With practiced ease he settled his usual easygoing expression back into place, then glanced at Jingxue, who still had not looked away from Mo Xingxue. The man’s attention remained fixed, almost reverent, as though any sudden movement from either of them might shatter whatever fragile recognition had just taken root.

"I’ll call out to them whenever you’re ready," PD Xu Cui said quietly.

Jingxue’s breath hitched again. He released a long, shaky exhale, as though something tightly held inside his chest was struggling to stay contained. One hand flexed once at his side before stilling. When he finally answered, the words came softer than anything he had said since they left the village.

"Thank you." he answered, the words trembling slightly.

PD Xu Cui only nodded. When he looked once more at the two women beneath the trees, the smile that curved his mouth was entirely genuine.

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A moment later Jingxue released another shaky breath and finally tore his gaze away from Mo Xingxue. He looked at PD Xu Cui and gave a single, deliberate nod—permission to call for their attention. The motion was small, but the effort behind it was visible in the way his shoulders braced afterward, as though he had just committed to something he could not take back.

PD Xu Cui returned the nod.

"Su Wanyan!"

The call cut through the quiet clearing. Su Wanyan’s head lifted at once. Through blurred vision she saw the PD approaching with a familiar smile. Seeing him, something in her chest tightened. The protective distance she had kept around Mo Xingxue for the past hour suddenly felt thinner under the arrival of someone whom she trusted.

She bit down on her trembling lip and glanced away, only to catch sight of Mo Xingxue’s tear-streaked face still resting in her lap. The sight undid her all over again. Fresh tears spilled freely. Then, she looked at the nearing PD again.

"PD...." The title left her in a broken whisper. Her nose ran, as the tears fell without pause.

PD Xu Cui stopped short, expression caught between defeat and awkwardness as he took in the full, messy force of her crying. He had seen her composed, sharp, and even quietly furious. This open, snot-streaked version of Su Wanyan was new enough to short-circuit him.

"Stop that," he said after a beat, voice resigned. He started walking again, shaking his head with a wry smile. "What would your admirers think if they saw you looking like this?"

Su Wanyan only hiccupped in reply and scrubbed at her face with her sleeves, wiping away both tears and snot in one inelegant motion. The fabric came away damp and unflattering. However, she made no attempt to hide it.

PD Xu Cui blinked. "Are you a fucking kid?" he asked, his tone filled with nothing but disbelief.

Despite the tears, a laugh escaped her. "I don’t have any tissue," she whined, the words thick and nasal.

He shook his head again. Then he remembered the man who should have been right behind him.

"Oh, by the way—he’s here because—" The sentence died when he glanced over his shoulder and found empty air. "Huh. Where is he?"

"He?" Su Wanyan echoed, squinting through still-blurry eyes and finding no one else in the clearing. The space behind the PD remained empty of any second figure.

PD Xu Cui blinked once more, then shrugged. "Never mind." He set the question aside for later. Whatever had pulled Jingxue back into the trees could wait; the woman in front of him still looked one wrong word away from another collapse.

Turning back to her, he studied the cleaner but still puffy face and grinned. "There. You finally look like a normal frog instead of a slimy one." he said, softly settling down in front of the two women.

Su Wanyan shot him a watery side-eye. In response, PD Xu Cui laughed, then sobered. The shift was deliberate. The teasing had done its work; now the real conversation needed space.

"Oh right, let’s have a talk later," he said, the playful edge replaced by quiet seriousness.

Su Wanyan blinked, then nodded. "Okay." Her gaze dropped again to the woman in her lap. Showing that the priority remained exactly where it had been since the moment she pulled Mo Xingxue into her arms.

PD Xu Cui followed her eyes. Up close, Mo Xingxue’s sleeping face looked even more fragile. The residual tension in her brow, the way her fingers still refused to fully release Su Wanyan’s clothing, the faint tracks that had not yet dried—another wave of pity moved through him. Almost without thinking he reached out and gently ruffled her hair.

Mo Xingxue’s brows drew together at the contact—not in fear or disgust, but in clear annoyance, as though some part of her recognized exactly whose hand it was.

"She’ll wake up if you keep doing that," Su Wanyan reminded him, still sounding congested.

PD Xu Cui chuckled and withdrew his hand. "Sorry, sorry."

He watched the faint crease between Mo Xingxue’s brows smooth out the moment she heard Su Wanyan’s voice. A soft snort left him.

Simp, he thought, laughing inwardly. The observation carried no real mockery—only the recognition of a loyalty so complete it operated even through sleep.

The three of them remained beneath the shade of the old trees—two alphas quietly flanking the vulnerable omega between them. The earlier violence, the forced pairings, the careful plans made in the alcove—all of it felt distant from the small, exhausted circle that had formed here.

Unseen behind the broad trunk where PD Xu Cui and Jingxue had stood only minutes earlier, a figure leaned heavily against the bark. Jingxue’s hands were pressed tightly over his mouth. His shoulders shook with silent, uncontrolled tremors as he slowly slid down until he sat on the soft grass. The composure that had carried him through the village, the alcove, and the long walk under the trees had finally given way.

"I’m sorry, Xuexue...."

The words were barely more than a breath, fragile and breaking. They carried none of the earlier cold precision—only the raw, unfiltered weight of someone who had recognized a face and, with it, a lifetime of absence he could not yet explain.

"I’m sorry."

He remained hidden there, unable to stop the shaking, and.. yet again.. unable to step forward into the light.

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Made his background story so painfully obvious LMAOO!