Her Rose – Chapter 65

Jiang Hanguang and Cheng Ying came out much faster than Xiao Xiao had anticipated. She had been prepared to chat with the makeup artist, Miss Cen, about everything under the sun, from life’s ideals to its philosophies. But they had barely started their conversation when the door to the rest area opened.

Jiang Hanguang had already changed out of the nightgown and back into her simple, ankle-length dress. The two women at the door couldn’t help but sigh in unison, regretting that they hadn’t taken a longer look earlier.

Xiao Xiao sensed a change in the atmosphere between the two.

Jiang Hanguang seemed mostly unchanged, maintaining her usual gentle yet distant demeanor, though her face was a little flushed.

Cheng Ying, however, looked like a completely different person. Not long ago, she had been listless, like a cabbage that hadn’t been watered for days.

But now, she was radiant, gazing at Jiang Hanguang with a beaming smile. Her eyes were so full of love they seemed ready to overflow.

She was placated just like that?

Xiao Xiao looked at Jiang Hanguang with reverence, feeling that her first impression had been correct after all.

Miss Jiang, she truly has a way with Alphas.

The three of them left the studio. A staff member had already driven Cheng Ying’s car to the front. Just as they were about to get in, a voice abruptly called out to them.

“Sister, you’re really filming here?”

It was the time when the crew was getting off work, and the area in front of the studio was quite crowded. Cheng Ying initially thought the voice was addressing someone else, but then she saw Jiang Hanguang stop beside her, looking toward a spot not far away with a hesitant expression.

She followed Jiang Hanguang’s gaze and immediately confirmed that the person was indeed speaking to them.

The reason was simple. The tall Alpha girl across from them, dressed in designer brands with an arrogant look, bore a thirty-percent resemblance to Jiang Hanguang around the eyes and brows—the kind of similarity that made their blood relation obvious at a glance.

Despite this, she couldn’t be called pretty, barely falling into the “passable” category.

A person’s appearance is a mysterious thing. A slight downward turn of the eyes could transform a once affectionate gaze into a menacing one, and a face once beautiful enough to make everyone jealous could become utterly unremarkable.

Cheng Ying made a rather impolite mental assessment—this younger sister had managed to take every one of her older sister’s handful of flaws and display them on her own face, each magnified at least tenfold.

At this point, she naturally knew that this was Jiang Hanguang’s younger sister, Jiang Xinyue.

She had no favorable impression of Jiang Hanguang’s family. If any of those three had possessed a conscience or a backbone, they wouldn’t have forced Jiang Hanguang to marry Feng Nan to such an extent.

But the girl was already walking toward them. With so many people coming and going, it wouldn’t be right for her to pull Jiang Hanguang into the car and speed off. With so many eyes and ears around, tomorrow’s entertainment headline might become: “Jiang Hanguang’s Family Visits Set, Cheng Ying Coldly Drives Away.”

Jiang Xinyue hadn’t come alone. She was accompanied by two Omegas of a similar age. Judging by their makeup and attire, they were likely Jiang Xinyue’s university classmates.

Both girls looked at Jiang Hanguang with adoration. Jiang Xinyue wore a particularly smug smile, pointing at Jiang Hanguang and saying nonchalantly, “See? Isn’t that your idol? I told you you’d get to see her if you came with me. Go on, have her sign an autograph for you.”

She said it as if Jiang Hanguang were a clown performing in a circus. Cheng Ying raised an eyebrow. This family of three was a truly toxic bunch: one was obstinate, one was cowardly and ignorant, and this one was just asking for a beating.

The two girls, however, were not as haughty as Jiang Xinyue. They approached timidly, holding out their autograph boards. “Hello, Miss Jiang, we’re your fans…”

Before they could finish, Jiang Xinyue let out a smug hum and looked at Jiang Hanguang. “My sister is a big star now. I even have to use your name to get people to hang out with me.”

The words sounded like a compliment, but the disdain and arrogance in her tone were audible even to Xiao Xiao.

Jiang Hanguang was probably used to it. She just smiled helplessly, took the pens they offered, wrote her name on the autograph boards, and handed them back with both hands. She nodded at them with a smile, “Thank you for your support.”

A blush instantly bloomed on the two girls’ cheeks. One even covered her mouth, letting out a half-stifled squeal.

Cheng Ying, however, was out of patience. This was hardly the place for a fan meet-and-greet. The group of them standing there had already attracted a lot of attention.

She smiled at Jiang Xinyue. “The autographs are signed. Why don’t you all go have fun on your own?”

But Jiang Xinyue seemed to lack any social awareness. She put on a hurt expression and said loudly, “Sister-in-law, that’s such a distant thing to say. Unauthorized vehicles aren’t allowed in here, we walked a long way to get here. Are you kicking us out already?”

What else? Should I give you a hug, a kiss, and lift you up high?

Cheng Ying was so annoyed she almost laughed, but she couldn’t lose her temper in front of the crew members. So, she could only force a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Then what else do you need?”

Jiang Xinyue patted her shoulder and said in a wheedling tone, “We’re planning to go to the new haunted house in the new district. How about you give us a ride, Sister-in-law?”

Without waiting for Cheng Ying’s reply, she got into the car first and called to the two girls from inside, “What are you standing there for? Get in!”

Her entitled attitude made it seem as if Cheng Ying were her hired driver.

Cheng Ying felt that this lawless brat should be grateful for the crew members watching nearby. Otherwise, she would have, at the very least, let the eager Xiao Xiao drag this ill-mannered girl out and toss her by the roadside.

A hand gently squeezed hers. Cheng Ying turned to meet Jiang Hanguang’s apologetic gaze.

“I’m sorry. I’ll have them get out as soon as we leave the film studio.” Jiang Hanguang was also constrained by the current environment. She knew her sister’s personality better than Cheng Ying did. If they didn’t go along with her now, she was capable of screaming insults loud enough to be heard for miles right there in front of the studio, which would ultimately be a headache for Cheng Ying.

She was used to Jiang Xinyue’s offenses and even bullying, but she couldn’t accept her treating Cheng Ying this way. She had already made up her mind to make her sister get out of the car, no matter how much of a tantrum she threw or how many insults she hurled.

Cheng Ying looked at Jiang Hanguang’s profile, her heart once again welling up with endless sympathy.

With that kind of family, that kind of sister, heaven knew how much mistreatment Jiang Hanguang had endured during the years she was alone, mistreatment Cheng Ying knew nothing about.

And even so, her first thought was still of her.

Sometimes, she really wished Jiang Hanguang wasn’t so good. Such a good person suffering so much only made her feel more distressed.

“What’s there to be sorry about,” the Alpha said, smiling as she poked Jiang Hanguang’s forehead. “I just think you have it tough. Don’t worry about it in a bit. I’ll handle it.”

Before Jiang Hanguang could say anything more, Cheng Ying had already walked around to the driver’s side and gotten into the car.

The Omega rubbed her forehead, and finally, amid her exhaustion, her lover managed to make her smile. She followed and got into the car.

Considering she had to bring Xiao Xiao along and that other unexpected situations might arise, Cheng Ying hadn’t driven her usual four-seater sports car. Instead, she drove a business van that was sturdy on the outside and quite spacious on the inside.

Jiang Xinyue had commandeered the front passenger seat. She had ordered the two Omegas into the second row, while Jiang Hanguang and Xiao Xiao sat in the last row.

As the car started, Cheng Ying felt like she had a monkey sitting next to her. The girl was fidgeting like she had ADHD, touching this and fiddling with that, before finally offering a dissatisfied critique. “Sister-in-law, this car of yours is pretty average. How much did it cost? The one my brother-in-law used to drive, now that was a luxury car!”

The moment she said it, the expression of everyone in the car, except for Cheng Ying, changed.

To talk about her sister’s ex-husband in front of her current partner—how little emotional intelligence must one have to do something like that.

The two girls who had come with Jiang Xinyue shrank in their seats, both feeling they had made a mistake coming on this trip.

Although they had met their idol and gotten her autograph, they had come with such a person. Jiang Hanguang might end up disliking them because of it.

Xiao Xiao’s face turned red with anger, but this was her boss’s sister, after all. As a subordinate, she couldn’t say much.

Moreover, Cheng Ying, the direct target of the attack, still wore a smiling expression. “You’re joking, little sister. How could I compare to Young Master Feng?”

“That’s true. If you were like my brother-in-law, how could you possibly be interested in my sister?” Jiang Xinyue, completely unaware of how obnoxious she was being, continued her shameless tirade. “My dad said it himself, it doesn’t matter for an Alpha, but a divorced Omega is like leftovers, even a dog…”

Before she could say the words “wouldn’t eat,” the car came to a sudden halt. Normally, in a top-tier business van like this, the safety features were excellent. Even in a sudden stop, the intelligent seatbelts and seats would hold the passengers firmly in place to prevent injury.

Five of the six people in the car were fine, but Jiang Xinyue’s seatbelt seemed to malfunction, suddenly slackening. The inertia from the car’s forward tilt threw her forward, and her head slammed into the thick dashboard cabinet.

“Thump!”

“Ah!”

Judging from the dull thud and Jiang Xinyue’s shriek, the impact had been quite severe.

“Eh, why did the self-driving system suddenly brake like that?” Cheng Ying nonchalantly checked the screen, then turned her head with a bright smile to Jiang Xinyue, who was dizzy from the impact and grimacing in pain from having bitten her tongue. “Are you okay, little sister? This car of mine isn’t as good as Young Master Feng’s. I haven’t driven it in a while, not sure what went wrong.”

Jiang Xinyue looked up, ready to start cursing, but she met the Alpha’s eyes.

Those smiling, light-blue eyes, which seemed incapable of malice, were filled with false concern.

But for some reason, Jiang Xinyue felt a chill run down her spine.

She swallowed the curses on the tip of her tongue, slowly sat back in her seat, and replied with great reluctance, “I’m fine.”

“That’s good.” The Alpha beside her, who was half a head taller, gave a command, and the car slowly started moving again. Her tone was still friendly. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get you there.”

A hint of coldness flashed in Cheng Ying’s eyes as she stared straight ahead. “I haven’t been to a haunted house in a long time. I wonder if it will be very scary?”