The Moon over the Western Hills, the Scar in the Heart (Continued)

Mo Qingli's footsteps came to a halt.

She gazed at the towering Ferris wheel, her usually cool eyes flickering with disbelief for the first time.

"You..." She turned to Lu Chenyuan, her voice tinged with uncertainty.

"Lin Yuan arranged it in advance," Lu Chenyuan replied casually, as if he had merely booked a restaurant reservation.

"I thought this might be more fitting for a birthday celebration than a noisy banquet."

Mo Qingli said nothing, silently studying the Ferris wheel.

She had grown up in Jingzhou and had glimpsed this iconic landmark countless times from various corners of the city. It symbolized romance, leisure, and a life that had always felt out of reach for her.

Her world had been confined to studies, financial reports, board meetings, and an endless cycle of corporate battles.

Like a precision instrument, she had operated at high speed for over a decade without pause.

Once, she had entertained the fleeting thought of riding the Jingzhou Eye like any ordinary girl, making a small wish at the city's highest point with someone she cared for.

But that notion had been buried under an avalanche of work, forgotten almost as soon as it surfaced.

She never imagined that this long-buried wish would resurface tonight—fulfilled in the most unexpected way by a man she had only met a handful of times.

Lu Chenyuan didn’t rush her, standing quietly by her side.

Watching Mo Qingli’s profile, seeing her shed her usual guarded demeanor and gaze up at the Ferris wheel like an awestruck child, something within him softened—a part he had deliberately kept suppressed.

Before his transmigration, he had been an orphan, raised by the kindness of strangers, never experiencing the sentimentality of a birthday celebration.

After crossing over, birthdays in his new life had merely been another opportunity for networking and business.

He didn’t understand romance, nor did he care for it.

Tonight’s arrangement had been half-strategy, half-instinct—an impulse he hadn’t fully examined:

Perhaps he simply hadn’t wanted to see such a proud, formidable woman dimmed by petty schemers at her own birthday event.

He wanted to brush away the dust, to let her shine again.

"Let’s go," Mo Qingli finally said, her voice carrying a lightness she hadn’t noticed herself.

They approached the Ferris wheel, where staff members promptly ushered them into a private gondola.

As the cabin ascended, the nightscape of Jingzhou unfolded beneath them like a painted scroll.

A sea of golden lights, bustling streets weaving into radiant rivers, all flowing toward the distant horizon—magnificent and breathtaking.

"Are you afraid of heights?" Lu Chenyuan broke the silence with the simplest of questions.

"No," Mo Qingli answered, her eyes fixed on the view outside. "It’s beautiful."

"Mn." Lu Chenyuan followed her gaze.

"When I was a child in the countryside, I’d never seen so many lights. Back then, I thought the stars were the brightest things in the world."

He was speaking of his past life—a memory etched into his soul, leaving him with an outsider’s detachment toward the opulence before them.

Mo Qingli glanced at him, surprised.

She hadn’t expected Lu Chenyuan to mention his "childhood." Those few words bridged an invisible gap between them, stripping away his identity as the untouchable CEO of Lu Corporation, revealing a man with a past, with depth.

"What do you think this city looks like from up here?" she suddenly asked.

"Like a sprawling star chart laid across the earth," Lu Chenyuan answered without hesitation.

The reply caught Mo Qingli off guard.

Given his status and demeanor, she had assumed he’d liken it to a chessboard, a battlefield—something tied to power and control.

"I thought you’d say chessboard," she admitted.

Lu Chenyuan smiled faintly, the expression easing the habitual severity in his features.

"A chessboard only has black and white pieces—cold, oppositional. But look down there." He gestured toward the city below.

"Behind every light is a story, a family. They’re warm. Alive. That’s the true essence of this place."

His words upended everything Mo Qingli thought she knew about him.

To outsiders, Lu Chenyuan was the embodiment of capital, a ruthless strategist who wielded power without sentiment.

Yet here he was, speaking with quiet reverence about the ordinary lives below.

The contradiction intrigued her.

Just what kind of man was he?

The Ferris wheel reached its peak, pausing midair.

The world seemed to hold its breath, leaving only the silent, glittering galaxy beneath them.

"That note—it was from you, wasn’t it?" Mo Qingli finally voiced the question that had lingered in her mind.

Lu Chenyuan neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he countered, "Does it matter?"

"It does." She met his gaze squarely.

"That warning saved Mo Corporation from billions in losses and an irreparable reputation crisis. I owe you this debt, and I intend to repay it."

"Then keep it in mind." His tone remained light.

"Perhaps one day, I’ll need CEO Mo’s assistance."

Once again, he effortlessly framed an enormous favor as nothing more than a future "business investment."

Mo Qingli laughed then—a rare, unguarded sound, like ice thawing under spring sunlight, breathtaking in its sudden warmth.

"Lu Chenyuan," she said, addressing him by his full name for the first time, "you’re truly fascinating."

She stopped probing for motives or explanations.

In this moment, she trusted her instincts.

The man before her was far more complex, far more layered than rumors suggested—and far more dependable than she had imagined.

Leaning back, she began discussing trivial matters with him—the best restaurants in Jingzhou, a recently released sci-fi film, an obscure philosophy book.

They didn’t speak of family pressures, the isolation of their positions, or future corporate strategies.

For once, they were simply two people sharing their perspectives on the world.

To Mo Qingli, the experience was novel and strangely liberating.

She realized, for the first time, how refreshing it felt to converse without agendas or calculations.

Her gaze drifted between the view outside and the man beside her.

He spoke sparingly, yet every word carried weight.

Aloof on the surface, yet governed by an inner warmth and order.

The maturity and vision he displayed, far beyond his years, along with the genuine respect he showed for her as an independent individual, made her feel an unprecedented sense of ease.

That night, the icy armor encasing her heart quietly cracked open, just a little.

Moonlight and starlight seeped through that tiny fissure.

Meanwhile, Lu Chenyuan was also wrestling with his own emotions.

He had strictly adhered to his self-imposed rule—"Don’t provoke Mo Qingli"—and every time, he tried to steer their conversation back to the safe territory of business.

But when he saw Mo Qingli let her guard down and flash a sincere smile;

when he heard her offer unique and profound insights on a subject;

when he sensed the rare flicker of exhaustion behind her sharp intellect and resilience…

He realized his so-called "bottom line" was utterly fragile.

He had to admit—he admired this woman.

He admired her wisdom, her decisiveness, her pride, and even the hidden vulnerability she revealed in these fleeting moments.

She wasn’t just some symbolic character from the original plot, a pawn in a marriage alliance who would later turn bitter with love.

She was a living, radiant force—a formidable ally who commanded respect from anyone.

No… perhaps she was more than just an ally.

This unnamed sentiment—somewhere between admiration and resonance—quietly grew and spread under the tranquil moonlight, inside the slowly revolving Ferris wheel.

The Ferris wheel descended, returning to its starting point.

That brief, isolated dream had come to an end.

Lu Chenyuan drove to the entrance of Mo Qingli’s residence, a high-security luxury apartment.

Neither of them moved to step out.

"Thank you, Lu Chenyuan," Mo Qingli unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to face him, her voice earnest.

"This was… the most special birthday I’ve ever had."

"Happy birthday, Mo Qingli," Lu Chenyuan replied, his deep gaze almost magnetic.

Their eyes locked, the air between them thick with an indescribable tension.

In the end, Mo Qingli was the first to look away. She pushed the car door open, stepped out, and stood by the curb, waving at him.

"Drive safely."

"Will do."

Lu Chenyuan started the engine, and the Bentley Mulsanne glided away without a sound.

Mo Qingli remained where she was, watching the taillights disappear into the distance, unmoving for a long while.

The night breeze tousled her hair, and as she brushed a strand away, her fingertips still carried the lingering warmth from the Ferris wheel cabin.

On the other side, Lu Chenyuan drove down the empty streets.

He rolled down the window, letting the cold wind rush in, trying to dispel the restless heat in his chest.

Tonight, he had shattered his own rules.

Not only had he provoked Mo Qingli, but he had also crafted a one-of-a-kind "romantic" moment for her.

This completely deviated from his original intentions of "pure utility" and "keeping his distance."

Yet, when he recalled the relieved smile on Mo Qingli’s face inside the Ferris wheel, he found not a single trace of regret within himself.

Perhaps some encounters were destined to spiral beyond control from the very beginning.

Lu Chenyuan’s grip on the steering wheel tightened unconsciously.

The pieces on the chessboard seemed to have developed a will of their own, and for the first time, the self-assumed player felt a flicker of uncertainty about his next move.

His relationship with Mo Qingli had shifted from parallel lines to intersecting ones.

And that point of intersection—was the moonlit night at West Mountain.

From here on, where their paths would lead was anyone’s guess.