Her Rose – Chapter 94

Many years later, the world-renowned scientist Cheng Nian was asked in an interview, as the daughter of the head of Blueprint and a grand slam-winning actress, her birth must have been highly anticipated, right?

The young girl’s appearance inherited the excellent genes of her mothers. If one were to ignore her various world-shaking inventions, she seemed more suited to inherit Jiang Hanguang’s career.

She also had a pair of blue eyes, but compared to her mother’s sea-like light blue, they were closer to the deep blue of a night sky dotted with countless stars.

Hearing this question, she smiled gently. Her smile was like a spring breeze in March, causing the female reporter closest to her to feel quite captivated.

Everyone was expecting this favored child of heaven to share some legendary stories from her childhood. Instead, the girl’s red lips parted slightly, and she uttered a sentence that left everyone baffled, “My nickname is Accident.”

Cheng Nian’s birth was an accident.

Although during that dangerous game, Cheng Ying had been utterly charmed by the young Jiang Hanguang and had developed a slight desire for a child. But after the long separation and reunion that followed, Boss Cheng, immersed in the land of tenderness, unsurprisingly cast the matter to the back of her mind.

A child? What did she need a child for? She hadn’t had enough of their world for two with Jiang Hanguang yet! Jiang Hanguang could only have one baby, and that was her!

But life always enjoys playing jokes on people. Even if you take every possible precaution, an accident that’s meant to happen will slip into your life through a nearly invisible crack.

In the year Jiang Hanguang turned 36, she finally won the first Best Actress award of her life. Before she could even consolidate her achievement, she was whisked away by Cheng Ying to Blueprint’s newly built smart resort area under the pretext of celebrating.

This leisure resort, into which vast resources had been invested and which boasted a greening rate of up to ninety percent, was naturally beautiful. But if Jiang Hanguang were to reminisce, the first thing she would recall was that the bed there was very soft. The second was that the smart robots were truly skilled at cleaning. No matter where a spontaneous Cheng Ying had pulled her to wreak havoc, half an hour later, all the things that had been messed up would be restored to their original state.

The consequence of their indulgence was that after returning to Yunjing City, while the two were having a meal one day, Jiang Hanguang suddenly felt a wave of nausea.

An extremely nervous Cheng Ying rushed her to the hospital without delay. After a series of examinations, the attending physician announced a piece of “good news” with a smile.

“Congratulations to you both. Miss Jiang is already one month pregnant.”

According to Jiang Hanguang’s later recollection, it was the first time she had seen Cheng Ying stunned for a full three minutes, her expression shifting from nervous to blank, and then to disbelief.

“But, b-b-but I… I was sterilized, wasn’t I?” The Alpha, finally finding her tongue, asked haltingly like a broken clockwork robot.

The doctor gave the smile of a benevolent elder and patiently explained, “At this stage, we don’t have any methods of contraception that are one hundred percent effective. No matter how safe the measures are, there is still a very small probability of an accident.”

After speaking, he added gossipily, “It seems the two of you have a very harmonious sex life.”

This time, it was Jiang Hanguang’s turn to blush. She recalled that during the first few days at the resort, she hadn’t seen any scenery outside the bedroom.

It was indeed overly harmonious.

Regarding the question of whether to keep the child, the two had a slight, harmless disagreement.

Cheng Ying, out of consideration for Jiang Hanguang’s health, was not keen on having this child.

Jiang Hanguang, on the other hand, believed that since it had gone through so much trouble to arrive, they should let nature take its course.

She didn’t have any excessive obsession with having a child, but sometimes when she visited Meng Ziyan’s kindergarten and watched the children running and jumping all over the lawn, she would still feel a little envious.

It didn’t take much effort for Jiang Hanguang to persuade the already-not-so-firm Cheng Ying, and the two officially began their life with the pregnancy.

Her body, having been carefully looked after and consistently exercised for a long time, was in excellent condition, so those annoying pregnancy symptoms didn’t cause her much trouble.

Compared to those things, she was more worried about Cheng Ying’s mental state.

From the moment she found out about the pregnancy, Cheng Ying entered a state of high tension. She stopped throwing tantrums and acting spoiled, instead spending her days serving Jiang Hanguang in every way imaginable.

Jiang Hanguang felt as if she had returned to the year of her amnesia, where clothes were handed to her and food was brought to her mouth. A slight frown would make the person beside her immediately understand and present what she wanted.

She explained to the Alpha with some helplessness that being pregnant didn’t mean losing the ability to care for herself, only to receive a nonchalant eye-roll and a spoonful of cake delivered to her lips.

“I already feel terrible that I can’t give birth for you. This is the only thing I can do, so just accept it with peace of mind.”

Jiang Hanguang could only remain silent, but what Cheng Ying did was by no means the “little bit” she claimed.

To be precise, aside from the act of giving birth itself, the Alpha took care of everything. All Jiang Hanguang had to do each day was maintain a cheerful mood and wait for the child’s arrival.

Perhaps because her pregnancy took up too much of Cheng Ying’s energy, the number of times the Alpha was intimate with her visibly decreased. Most of the time, it was to balance her out-of-control pheromones during pregnancy, and when they did, Cheng Ying’s face would reveal a hint of caution.

On one hand, Jiang Hanguang found this version of Cheng Ying reliable; on the other, deep down, she felt a secret unease.

Cheng Ying had said she didn’t want the child, but she still diligently made all the preparations, acting as a qualified mother.

Perhaps the endocrine imbalance caused by pregnancy really did affect one’s emotions. Jiang Hanguang actually developed the illusion that the growing child in her belly had captured all of her lover’s attention.

She no longer looked at her with such fervor, no longer acted spoiled with her, no longer entangled with her in a near-loss of control.

Jiang Hanguang knew this was for her own good, and she knew that thinking this way was wrong, but she found it difficult to control her unusually sensitive thoughts.

This anxiety reached its peak one night when she was six months pregnant.

The result was that Cheng Ying, who was preparing to go to sleep on time, was pinned down on the bed by her lover.

The woman’s body had become even softer due to the pregnancy. Time had been exceptionally gentle with her, not only reluctant to take away any trace of her beauty but also partial to letting a richer, more mellow charm settle upon her.

Her six-month pregnant belly was already quite prominent, but it didn’t diminish her allure in the slightest. Coupled with the unique scent of a pregnant woman—a mix of pheromones and a milky fragrance—it instead made one want to… do something.

Cheng Ying’s throat instinctively tightened, but she panicked when she saw the reddened rims of her lover’s eyes.

She didn’t dare to struggle, yet she was genuinely worried. She could only cup the woman’s face with her hands while cautiously asking, “What’s wrong, what’s wrong, baby…”

“…”

The moment Jiang Hanguang pinned Cheng Ying down, she already regretted it. A person approaching forty, still throwing such a baseless tantrum—it was truly too willful.

But when she met those light blue eyes, full of care and worry, the grievances in her heart surged up layer by layer, not allowing her to retreat.

She stayed like that for a moment, then uttered a single word, “Do it.”

The Alpha before her froze for a moment, then wrinkled her nose, probably trying to discern if her pheromones were in disarray.

This action intensified Jiang Hanguang’s dissatisfaction. The woman leaned down and kissed the Alpha’s lips heavily, then glared at her. “It’s not good for the baby, but I want to do it. Can’t I?”

Cheng Ying was stunned for a moment. Her clever brain finally kicked in, and she figured out the crux of her lover’s tantrum. Then, very unscrupulously, she laughed.

Jiang Hanguang looked discontentedly at the Alpha who was shaking with laughter and murmured, “Are you going to…”

Before the words “do it or not” could leave her lips, she was interrupted by the Alpha flipping her over.

“Of course, we’re doing it,” the Alpha said with a brilliant smile, placing a kiss on her forehead. “My dear wife’s needs always come first. Besides…”

She gently placed a kiss on the woman’s belly, causing Jiang Hanguang to tremble involuntarily.

The Alpha’s low voice carried a hint of gritted teeth. “You have no idea how hard I’ve been holding back because of this annoying little brat.”

That night, the two of them rarely stayed up late. Cheng Ying demonstrated with her actions that she had indeed been holding back with great difficulty. And Jiang Hanguang, after her pleas for mercy were fruitless, began to sincerely regret her self-destructive act of poking the bear.

Fortunately, both adults were reliable adults. They only fooled around like that once. Cheng Nian’s birth was not affected by that little bit of harmless fun during the pregnancy and went unusually smoothly.

The thick book of childbirth precautions that Cheng Ying had written was of no use at all. Not long after Jiang Hanguang was wheeled into the operating room, the doctor came out beaming, holding a small swaddled bundle.

“Congratulations, Boss Cheng. It’s a girl.”

Cheng Ying glanced hastily at the wrinkled, red-faced baby whose eyes weren’t even open, thanked the doctor, and then hurried to the ward with Jiang Hanguang, who was being wheeled out.

Cheng Nian’s status in the family was thus established—they were true love, and she was just an accident.

And so, she began her arduous struggle—to defeat her mother and win back her mama.

Having inherited Cheng Ying’s genes, from the time she was three months old and could only kick her legs on the floor, she had already identified the woman who looked at her with unfriendly eyes as her lifelong rival.

So even when she was full, she would rather keep the milk in her mouth than give that person a single chance!

Cheng Ying sat puffing her cheeks on the soft living room floor, watching Jiang Hanguang coax the little thing in her arms to sleep.

Having left the state of pregnancy, the woman quickly became unable to put down the beautiful and cute child, doting on her immensely.

And Boss Cheng, who had thought she could finally feast to her heart’s content, could only sit to the side and watch her own child occupy her own wife.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she could always read a hint of smugness in the baby’s seemingly innocent and harmless eyes.

So she protested discontentedly, “She’s full. Just put her down and let her play by herself. She’ll fall asleep when she’s tired.”

Jiang Hanguang glanced at her sulking lover, then at the child who was tightly gripping her clothes and refusing to let go. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, “You go to bed first. I’ll coax her a little longer.”

How unreasonable! Don’t you know how to coax me?

Cheng Ying turned and went back to the room, pretending to be aloof and cool.

I’ll wait for you for ten minutes. If you don’t come in ten minutes, I’ll… I’ll… go and hurry you along.

Fortunately, although Cheng Nian was surprisingly scheming for her young age, she was, after all, just a baby. She couldn’t last more than five minutes under her mama’s gentle caress and unwillingly fell asleep.

Jiang Hanguang placed her in the crib, tucked her in, gently pinched her soft cheek, and returned to the bedroom.

The Alpha, who had just been sitting on the bed staring eagerly at the bedroom door, instantly dove under the covers the moment she opened the door, pretending to be asleep.

Unfortunately, her movements were too big. The corner of the quilt she had pulled was still dangling and swaying by the side of the bed, making her feigned anger very unconvincing.

Jiang Hanguang shook her head with a helpless smile and unbuttoned her clothes.

When the woman’s soft body pressed against her, Cheng Ying shivered but still managed to restrain the instinct to turn around immediately. She said sullenly, “What are you doing?”

The woman’s warm lips landed on her earlobe, her gentle voice laced with a honey-sweet smile.

“The little one has been coaxed. Now it’s time to coax the big one.”

Cheng Nian was just a baby, after all, so she didn’t understand that her protest served no purpose other than creating a food supply crisis for herself.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Jiang Hanguang was about to check on how Cheng Nian was sleeping when she found the space beside her in bed empty.

In the nursery, the tall Alpha was leaning over the crib, gently rocking the small bed, letting the baby’s little hands grasp her long, hanging hair.

In her eyes was a calm and warm love.

Cheng Ying was certain she hadn’t learned any skills for doting on children from Cheng Mo.

But magically, when the child whose face resembled both her and Jiang Hanguang opened her eyes and smiled at her, her heart inexplicably softened.

A shadow fell over her. Cheng Ying looked up and saw her lover’s eyes, saw in them a river of love long enough to melt a person.

She smiled silently, pulled Jiang Hanguang to sit down, and coaxed the troublesome little thing to hurry up and go to sleep.

Having inherited Cheng Ying’s intelligence, Cheng Nian showed extraordinary talent from a young age, yet her personality was exceptionally kind and humble.

The teachers were all very surprised. Children born into such families were often unavoidably a bit arrogant, conceited, and disobedient. Such a well-behaved, sensible, and kind child was truly rare.

This was entirely to Jiang Hanguang’s credit. From a young age, Cheng Nian adored her mama, took her as a role model in everything, and naturally learned Jiang Hanguang’s virtue of being considerate of others.

To put it another way, all of her mischievous competitiveness was directed at dealing with Cheng Ying.

For some reason, since she was little, she had held a drive within her, determined to achieve something that surpassed her mother.

Unfortunately, even though she was undoubtedly a crane standing among chickens compared to her peers, she still fell short when compared to her mother, who had undergone strict genetic screening and rigorous experiments.

No matter how hard she tried, no matter how many inventions she made that left her teachers dumbfounded, she would ultimately discover that her mom, at her age, had already surpassed her by a long, long way.

Except for occasional victories in the battle with Cheng Ying for Jiang Hanguang’s affection, all other battles ended in failure without exception.

Finally, after once again presenting a meticulously crafted invention only to have Cheng Ying see through its secrets at a glance, Cheng Nian angrily threw the thing to the ground, turned, and ran out of the room.

Leaving only a furious and exasperated, “I’m running away from home!”

This was, of course, said in anger. Cheng Nian couldn’t bear to make her mama worry. She just found a small corner in the garden, sat on the swing there, and swayed back and forth.

This swing was also made by Cheng Ying. When she was little, her mama often held her and played on it.

Just as Cheng Nian was feeling increasingly uneasy and wanted to go back to apologize to Jiang Hanguang, Cheng Ying’s figure appeared in her line of sight.

Cheng Nian immediately turned her head away, pretending not to see her.

“Alright, stop pretending. Tears are already welling up in your eyes. Where does a little brat like you get such a competitive spirit?” Her mother, completely unsympathetic to her girlish feelings, sat down on the swing beside her.

Cheng Nian angrily turned her head to reprimand her, but almost bumped into the ice cream Cheng Ying was holding out in front of her.

“Want some?” The face, which bore some resemblance to her own, wore a smug smile, looking like a strange auntie trying to lure a child.

Cheng Nian huffed, snatched the ice cream, and took a fierce bite, shivering from the cold.

Her mom laughed even more happily. “Do you want to beat me that badly?”

Cheng Nian huffed, her little face puffed up. “What, can’t I?”

“Sigh…” Cheng Ying sighed softly and rubbed her head vigorously. “You little brat, don’t be ungrateful for your blessings. Haven’t you already beaten me long ago?”

Cheng Nian usually hated it when Cheng Ying teased her in this child-coaxing tone, but at this moment, she couldn’t be bothered.

She looked at her mother, who didn’t seem to be joking, and asked in confusion, “Where have I beaten you?”

An unwilling expression appeared on Cheng Ying’s face. Clearly, admitting defeat to her own daughter also made this somewhat childish adult a little uncomfortable.

But looking at the tears in her daughter’s eyes and her chubby little face, she finally sighed and compromised. “When I was your age, I spent every day in a lab. The people I interacted with daily were all thinking about how to cut me open for research.”

This was the first time Cheng Nian had heard Cheng Ying talk about her own childhood. She imagined the scene, and all the anger in her belly suddenly vanished without a trace.

She looked at her mother, whose eyes were downcast, and wanted to hug her, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“My mother, Cheng Mo, was a scoundrel. My other mother was always delirious and couldn’t even finish a complete sentence with me.” Cheng Ying was no longer angry or pained, just looking at her daughter with gentle calmness. “But you have so much love. You’ve already surpassed me a million times over.”

The tears that had been welling in Cheng Nian’s eyes suddenly fell. She sobbed, “I’m not angry at you. I just wanted… to make you proud of me.”

The child’s soft confession melted into the summer night’s breeze. “I love you too, Mom. You have lots and lots of love now, too.”

“Xiao Ying, Niannian.” A woman’s gentle voice came from behind them.

Cheng Ying quickly covered Cheng Nian’s face and said in a low voice, “Don’t cry, baby. If you really love me, hurry up and apologize to your mom now, or I’ll have to sleep in the living room tonight.”

Cheng Nian: “…”

What a sinister adult.

Although in her heart she really wanted to make her mother sleep in the living room for a day, when Cheng Nian turned her head and saw her mama holding the invention she had thrown and bent, carefully observing her, she still pounced without hesitation.

“I tried to fix it, but it seems it can’t be restored.” Jiang Hanguang crouched down, gently wiped the tears from the child’s face, and coaxed, “You’re still young. Take your time. Don’t be angry anymore, okay?”

Cheng Nian looked at her mama’s concerned eyes, pouted, and threw herself into her mama’s arms. “I’m sorry for making you worry. I shouldn’t have thrown a tantrum. I won’t do it again.”

From behind came Cheng Ying’s angry condemnation, “Apologize if you must, but don’t take advantage of my wife!”

“None of your business! This is my mom!”

Today, the Huashan Villa was as lively as ever.

When Cheng Nian was eighteen, she won the first significant science and technology award of her life.

To reward her, Cheng Ying arranged a trip. Qin Guanyu and Zhang Zeyun also happened to be planning to go out and relax, so the group of six went to a private island that Cheng Ying had purchased.

Cheng Nian was already used to her mothers’ constant public displays of affection. She consciously refrained from joining their seaside frolicking and instead built sand sculptures on the beach with Qin Guanyu and Zhang Zeyun’s daughter, Qin Shu.

Qin Shu was two years older than her but was especially shy. A single glance from her would make Qin Shu lower her head and draw in the sand for a long time.

Cheng Nian found this particularly interesting and would stare at her, feeling like she was teasing a sensitive plant.

“Hey, you over there! Stop bullying the little girl. President Qin is too useless, you come and take her place!” Cheng Ying’s call came from a distance.

Cheng Nian clapped the sand off her hands and looked up to see that the water-fighting team composed of Qin Guanyu and Cheng Ying was already retreating in defeat under the attack of Jiang Hanguang and Zhang Zeyun. The usually impeccably dressed President Qin had already fallen into the water, looking innocent and pitifully at her own wife, who was holding a basin, preparing to douse her.

This was not surprising. When Cheng Nian was seven, she already knew that President Qin, who was decisive and authoritative outside, was a bona fide henpecked wife. This was because she had once overheard Auntie Zhang teaching her mama the “Way of Taming Alphas,” the content of which was very rich and colorful.

As for her mother, who was fierce in appearance but timid in heart, hehe, look at how enthusiastically she was shouting now, yet she still didn’t dare to fight back.

Cheng Nian knew that if she went, she would just get splashed too. If she dared to make a move, the scene would immediately turn into a four-on-one. Those two shameless ones wouldn’t care if she lived or died.

But she still stood up, winked at Qin Shu who had looked up at her, and after successfully making the other girl blush and lower her head again, she walked towards the beach with a smile.

They are true love, I am an accident.

But fortunately, I am also their most beloved accident.

When Cheng Nian was twelve, her language teacher asked them to write an essay on the topic of their family.

This is what she wrote—

My mother is a towering mountain. I always hope that one day I can surpass her, to prove to her that not only have I not disgraced her name, but I have also surpassed the master.

My mama is a warm sea. The world is not perfect, but because she is in it, I will forever love this world.

My nickname is Accident, but I know they both love me very much, although perhaps just a little less than they love each other.

But I have no complaints about this, because I know what they mean to each other.

They have experienced trials and tribulations I cannot imagine; they have experienced a long loneliness I cannot comprehend.

They deserve to love each other, and no one can ever take their place.

No matter how great our achievements, they will eventually scatter with the passage of time, becoming mere words in a book.

And the world is so vast, everyone is like a lonely star, struggling forward on their own trajectory.

Fortunately, there will always be someone who loves you, who is willing to break free from their own trajectory, to burn their own body, just for the sake of embracing you.

Fortunately, people can still love one another.

A love long and lasting can warm the rest of one’s life.

The End