When Yun Chuji turned and saw Tang Jianxi, the tears she had been holding back finally broke free. She sniffled, her voice trembling. “The original Yun Chuji’s parents are looking for her.”
Tang Jianxi paused for a moment before leading her into the study. She first handed her a tissue to wipe her tears, then began to analyze the situation calmly. “It’s alright. You can pretend to be the original Yun Chuji and put her parents at ease for now. In our time, it’s quite common for adult children not to return home for years, communicating only through their terminals. After a few years like that, you won’t have to pretend anymore. People change quickly; they won’t notice anything.”
“But, Miss Tang,” Yun Chuji said, her eyes blurry with tears. To her, that wasn’t the most important part. The fear of being discovered was overshadowed by the fear of hurting a pair of parents. “Their child is gone. For me to hide it from them would be unjust.”
“But I have no way of returning their child to them. And I’m still using their child’s body.”
“If I were to tell them, that would also be unjust. Miss Tang, I don’t know what to do.”
Tang Jianxi didn’t know what to feel at that moment. It was a sour, numbing sensation, tinged with a sense of swelling fullness.
Tang Jianshen always mocked her for being overly emotional, for worrying about others when her own affairs were a mess. But it seemed the person before her was the same, perhaps even more so.
In that instant, Tang Jianxi forgot her decision to keep her distance from this alpha. She took a step forward and pulled the other woman into her arms. The fabric on her shoulder quickly grew damp. Tang Jianxi gently stroked her hair and said softly, “It’s okay. Say whatever you feel you need to say. It’s not your fault. If we must assign blame, my part in it is probably greater.”
Hearing this, Yun Chuji immediately poked her head out from Tang Jianxi’s embrace. She was a head taller than Tang Jianxi, and the posture made her look like an ostrich pulling its head from the sand—clumsy and comical.
“Miss Tang is not at fault at all. The original Yun Chuji brought this upon herself.”
“Oh?” Tang Jianxi looked at her. The original Yun Chuji was already a few years younger than her. Tang Jianxi didn’t yet know when women in ancient times typically married, but she figured that since women, unlike omegas, weren’t constrained by heat cycles, it was probably later. She didn’t know how old this Yun Chuji was, but judging by her eyes, combined with this already youthful body, she thought she couldn’t be very old.
“If I’m not at fault, then you’re not at fault either.”
“But the original Yun Chuji’s parents aren’t at fault either.” Yun Chuji started crying again, clearly stumped by this problem. “They don’t know anything, and they haven’t done anything. I don’t know how to face them.”
Moreover, Yun Chuji couldn’t help but think of her own parents. She barely saw her father more than a few times a year, but her mother had been with her as she grew up. These past few days, she hadn’t dared to dwell on how her mother would react upon learning of her death.
Her only comfort was that her death had been chaste and dignified. Her mother, amidst her grief, hopefully wouldn’t have to endure too much additional pressure.
But the original Yun Chuji’s was not.
Her death was not dignified. If she were to tell the whole truth, she would have to reveal how she had tried to use devious means to bind an innocent omega for life. How cruel would that be?
Not only would she have to tell those parents they had lost their child, but she would also have to tell them that their child was a bad person.
Yun Chuji explained all this through sobs, leaving Tang Jianxi feeling both heartbroken and helpless. Weren’t ancient times supposed to be harsh and dangerous? How did they raise such a gentle child?
She took a handkerchief, tilted her head up, and gently wiped Yun Chuji’s face clean. “Then go see them first,” she said softly. “After you meet them, you’ll know what to do.”
“Miss Yun, you have to believe that a kind person like you won’t hurt anyone.”
“I believe you will handle it well.”
Yun Chuji stopped her tears, asking blankly, “Really?”
Tang Jianxi nodded with a smile.
Yun Chuji lowered her head, looking a little awkward but also eager. “Miss Tang, can I hug you again?”
Tang Jianxi opened her arms and embraced her.
This isn’t an alpha, she thought. This is just a child who needs comfort.
While comforting the child, Tang Jianxi couldn’t help but ask, “How old are you? I mean your real age.”
Yun Chuji nuzzled her shoulder, her voice nasal. “It has been one year since my hairpin ceremony.”
“Hmm?”
Realizing Miss Tang wasn’t from her era, Yun Chuji quickly added, “Sixteen years old.”
The hand Tang Jianxi was using to stroke Yun Chuji’s back froze. The expression on her face froze. Her body, held like a doll by Yun Chuji, also froze.
Only—sixteen.
Tang Jianxi recalled everything that had happened between them, and an immense sense of guilt washed over her. What have I done?
She’s still a child!
I actually signed that kind of contract with her. In this era, she wouldn’t have even differentiated yet!
And also, that… Ugh, really! Doesn’t the physical loophole abide by child protection laws?!
Yun Chuji sensed the shift in Tang Jianxi’s mood. She was no longer the naive simpleton she once was. She knew that her age was considered young in this era, which meant that Miss Tang, being a good person, would likely feel uneasy about it.
“Sixteen isn’t young. My mother gave birth to my elder brother when she was sixteen.”
“My cousin married at fifteen.”
“Where I’m from, you’re considered an adult at fifteen.”
After all she said, Tang Jianxi only replied with one phrase: “I’m sorry.”
Tang Jianxi had often been angered by the fate of many omegas forced into marriage and childbirth after turning eighteen. But she had never imagined that someone would have to walk that path at sixteen. And that such a person, after escaping that environment and arriving in this era, should have been able to enjoy freedom and the life that had been cut short, but instead, had met her.
“I’m sorry. I was too awful to you before,” she said.
Yun Chuji looked up at Tang Jianxi. Her face was etched with a lamentable guilt and regret. She looked at Yun Chuji as if she had committed some unforgivable crime.
But she had only done what she had to do.
A strange, warm current flowed through Yun Chuji’s heart—a sour, swelling feeling, but one she wanted to hold on to.
“Miss Tang, you are the best person I have ever met,” she said with absolute certainty, as if reciting a prayer to a deity.
Tang Jianxi now felt the same indecisiveness that Yun Chuji had felt earlier. She knew she couldn’t just magnanimously set Yun Chuji free to assuage her own guilt; the permanent mark trapped her. And that was precisely why she felt she had wronged Yun Chuji.
It seemed she could only continue to wrong her until the year was over.
“I will compensate you.”
Yun Chuji’s still-swollen eyes curved into a smile. Surrounded by this warmth, she emerged from her previous state of sorrow.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind. But, Miss Tang, can I hug you a little longer?”
Although she hadn’t let go yet, Yun Chuji was already beginning to worry about the warmth ending.
“You can. You can hug me for as long as you want.”
And so, the hug lasted until mealtime.
After the meal, it continued for a while longer.
The next day, Yun Chuji returned to her old apartment. The Yun parents were waiting for her there.
She had turned off the rut mode on her terminal the previous night. She admitted that, at first, she had done it to avoid the situation, but circumstances no longer allowed her to escape.
After turning off the mode and seeing the dense wall of messages and missed calls, Yun Chuji felt the profound pressure of another person’s life.
Thankfully, Miss Tang had been by her side the whole time, helping her sort things out bit by bit and contacting the Yun parents for her.
Miss Tang really was a very good person.
Standing before the door, Yun Chuji couldn’t help but turn her head to look at the wall behind her, as if trying to see through it to the person waiting for her downstairs.
Just then, the door opened.
A woman stood before her.
A very familiar woman.
“Mother?” Yun Chuji cried out, stunned.
The woman rushed forward and embraced her, crying nonstop. Behind her stood a man who, by his appearance, was… Father?
The blurry memories of the original owner’s family sharpened in her mind. It was a harmonious, ordinary family.
It was completely different from her family in her own era. There weren’t so many people, no concubines, no half-siblings.
It was just her mother and father, living a simple life.
The only thing that made her realize this family wasn’t her own was that there was no elder brother, but a younger sister.
A well-behaved, adorable sister, who genetic testing said was an omega.
Yun Chuji slowly raised her hand. All the confessions she had rehearsed on the way here vanished. This woman looked exactly like her mother, making it impossible for her to be cruel enough to say any of it.
Besides, she really missed her mother.
“I’m back,” Yun Chuji said.
Afterward, the family of three sat on the sofa. Qin Wan didn’t let go of Yun Chuji, her hand gripping her daughter’s tightly, as if afraid she would blow away with the wind. Yun Chuji felt both uncomfortable and content with this.
Her own mother had never been this close to her.
Yun Cheng spoke up. “What happened to you during this time?”
Qin Wan shot him a reproachful glance, then patted the back of Yun Chuji’s hand. “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. It’s good that you’re back.”
Yun Chuji looked at Yun Cheng. He was just like the father in her memories, his expression rarely changing. But what was different was that his eyes weren’t murky and cold like her father’s; they were clear, and she could see concern for her within them.
Was this her father? Yun Chuji didn’t know. She still didn’t understand what had happened.
However, if some truths could not be spoken…
Then others could not be hidden.
“I permanently marked an omega. I’ve been with her this whole time.”
Seeing their shocked yet slightly pleased expressions, Yun Chuji remembered that she was an alpha now, not a sheltered young lady from a noble family. Having a physical relationship with someone wasn’t a shameful thing that would bring dishonor to the family.
So she added, “It was an accident. She can’t have the mark removed for a year, so we’ll be together for this year.”
Considering the original owner’s extreme alpha-supremacist views, Yun Chuji worried her parents might also see omegas as mere breeding tools, so she added, “It was all my fault.”
Qin Wan let go of her hand. Yun Chuji looked at her in surprise, only to hear this omega say in the soft voice the original owner had heard many times, “It is indeed your fault.”
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