Jiang Hanguang’s insomnia wasn’t because she couldn’t sleep in an unfamiliar bed. Her childhood experiences living on a farm with her grandmother had given her a great adaptability to beds of any quality.
She couldn’t sleep precisely because the room was too perfect for sleeping.
A bed with just the right amount of softness, an environment without a single sliver of light—it was truly ideal for a deep, satisfying sleep.
But it was too quiet, so quiet it seemed to have isolated her from all the sounds of the world.
You couldn’t hear anything but your own breathing.
The Feng family’s villa naturally had excellent soundproofing, but in the early morning, you could still occasionally hear the chirping of birds in the mountain forest. It was nothing like this room, where not a single trace of the thunderous noise from outside could penetrate.
Jiang Hanguang kept her eyes closed for a long time, but still felt no sleepiness.
She felt as if she were sleeping in a massive coffin.
Was Cheng Ying’s room like this too? Didn’t she ever feel scared?
Jiang Hanguang thought of the furnishings in the living room.
She had assumed Cheng Ying’s home, if not decadent, would at least be magnificent and splendid. Who would have thought it would look like this?
What was even more miraculous was that she didn’t find it out of place at all.
Jiang Hanguang inexplicably felt that this home and the outside world were perhaps like two sides of Cheng Ying.
One side always wore a careless smile, indulgent and playing at life, while the other was dangerous and mysterious, hidden in a dense fog that made it difficult to see the full picture.
After stubbornly lying with her eyes closed until midnight, not only was Miss Jiang not asleep, but she was also thirsty.
Just as she was finally getting a little sleepy, Jiang Hanguang originally didn’t want to get up, but some things become more prominent the more you try to ignore them.
Finally, unable to bear the thirst any longer, Jiang Hanguang reluctantly turned on the light, intending to pour herself a glass of water.
But she tragically discovered that the direct-drinking water dispenser in the room was still sealed. Even if she started it now, the machine’s cleaning cycle would take half an hour.
Jiang Hanguang remembered there was also a water dispenser in the living room.
So, the door opened, and she came face-to-face with Boss Cheng, who was holding a wine glass.
The tall Alpha was dressed in a set of black silk pajamas, sprawled on the sofa, holding a full glass of wine and just about to bring it to her lips.
The Alpha’s medium-length black hair was messily scattered across her face, and the top two buttons of her pajamas were undone, revealing a fair, beautiful collarbone.
She must have just finished a glass, and drunk it quickly.
Jiang Hanguang’s excellent vision clearly saw two glistening streams of wine on either side of Cheng Ying’s mouth, flowing along the woman’s well-defined chin to her distinct collarbone, and then downward, escaping into the half-concealed view within.
Jiang Hanguang: “…”
In that instant, an image from an old-fashioned idol drama she had watched at her grandmother’s house as a child flashed through Jiang Hanguang’s mind.
An Omega, through a series of incredible coincidences, encounters an extremely indecently dressed Alpha.
The next part of the plot should be her screaming, Cheng Ying rushing over to explain, and then they would kiss through another incredible coincidence.
Jiang Hanguang unhesitatingly prepared to shut the door immediately to cut off this plotline.
But Cheng Ying looked over at that moment. Their eyes met, and Jiang Hanguang’s movement paused.
The living room was dark. Past two in the morning, even the new district had quieted down. Scattered colorful lights from outside shone in, casting an illusory glow on Cheng Ying’s pajamas. The Alpha’s light blue eyes, more than half-hidden by her hair, glinted quietly in the partial darkness. The smile that seemed permanently fixed at the corners of her mouth was now gone. The Alpha put down her wine and just stared at her, expressionless.
Dangerous.
The part of Jiang Hanguang’s instinct that governed self-preservation sounded a piercing alarm, ordering her to shut the door immediately and not to look at this creature who had crawled out of some layer of hell for another second.
But another part of her consciousness nailed her to the spot, unable to move an inch.
That consciousness was composed of keen emotional perception and compassion. It told Jiang Hanguang:
Don’t go, because Cheng Ying… she looks… very pitiful.
This Alpha, who from any angle seemed completely unrelated to loneliness and pity, was getting up in the middle of the night despite her injuries to down strong liquor. Was it really just for pleasure?
Jiang Hanguang looked again into those cold blue eyes. This time, she saw something deeper.
When she was a child, after being hit and forced to kneel, she probably had the same look in her eyes.
Pain, fear, grievance, even hatred.
But such emotions are ultimately temporary. If you remain trapped in them, you will go mad.
What had Cheng Ying experienced? For such emotions to still cling to her, impossible to shake off?
And in the way Cheng Ying looked at her at this moment, Jiang Hanguang sensed a hint of reluctance to be alone.
Anyone will do, I just don’t want to be alone right now.
She simply couldn’t turn a blind eye to a Cheng Ying like this, so she could only walk over and stroke the Alpha’s forehead, just like her grandmother used to comfort her as a child when she was startled awake by farm machinery and threw a tantrum.
“You can’t sleep either? Is it bothering you?”
The Omega’s hand was soft, smooth, and warm. Cheng Ying was dazed for a moment, then instinctively nodded. She sized up the very properly and modestly dressed Jiang Hanguang. “You too?”
The woman seemed a bit embarrassed and nodded lightly. “I wanted to get a glass of water.”
Cheng Ying tossed aside the wine bottle, took Jiang Hanguang’s mug with a little cat pattern on it, and walked to the dispenser to pour her a cup of hot milk.
“Here.”
Cheng Ying made room, shrinking into a corner. Jiang Hanguang sat down on the other corner of the sofa, sipping the milk in small mouthfuls. Cheng Ying didn’t feel like talking for the moment, one hand resting on the back of the sofa, her fingertips tapping intermittently.
The terrifying dream had once again receded, and her chaotic, fearful consciousness slowly returned.
The milky aroma and the rose-scented pheromones that didn’t belong to her filled the air, clearly telling Cheng Ying that she was not alone.
Cheng Ying glanced out of the corner of her eye at Jiang Hanguang, who was sitting bolt upright at the other end of the sofa, slowly drinking her milk. For the first time in a situation like this, she felt a sense of security.
At least there was another living person beside her, and that person was still willing to see her as a human being.
Jiang Hanguang finished her milk. Seeing that Cheng Ying still had no intention of returning to her room, she knew that she probably still didn’t want to be alone.
When she couldn’t sleep as a child, how did her grandmother lull her to sleep?
Jiang Hanguang recalled for a moment, then turned to the listless Alpha. “Do you want to hear a story?”
Cheng Ying: “Huh?”
She was stunned for a moment, then saw Jiang Hanguang run back to her room and return shortly after, holding something in both hands.
A strange sense of anticipation rose in Cheng Ying’s heart, and she couldn’t help but lean closer to see what was in Jiang Hanguang’s hands.
Jiang Hanguang placed the two small things on the coffee table in front of the sofa. They were two palm-sized dolls: one was a big gray wolf with thick fur and a fierce expression, and the other was a cute, soft little rabbit.
The dolls were well-made; both animals had vivid and lifelike expressions.
“You lie down, I’ll tell you a story.” Jiang Hanguang handed over a blanket and a pillow. Cheng Ying, torn between laughter and tears, accepted them. She finally felt like talking. “Is Hanguang going to lull me to sleep?”
Jiang Hanguang probably also felt this gesture was a bit childish. Being teased like this, her face flushed a little, but she still insisted, “It’s better than you just sitting there like that.”
Cheng Ying knew she definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep today, but she really didn’t want to be alone. Since Jiang Hanguang was willing to keep her company, she naturally went along with anything. She obediently lay down, her light blue eyes looking at Jiang Hanguang with a beaming smile. “Go ahead and tell it. I’m listening.”
Being watched like that, Jiang Hanguang became even more embarrassed. The woman’s small, fair ears turned completely red. She could only lower her head and fiddle with the two little toys.
“This wolf is called Big Gray, and this rabbit is called Little White. They are good friends…”
Cheng Ying raised her hand. “Is this ‘good friend’ a food-chain kind of good friend?”
Jiang Hanguang looked up at her. For some reason, Cheng Ying read a hint of reproach in her gaze, so she made a zipping motion over her own lips with her hand, signaling Jiang Hanguang to continue.
“Big Gray was originally going to eat Little White, but at that time, he had just been abandoned by his pack. The other wolves hated him, and he didn’t like them either.” Jiang Hanguang wiggled the wolf, which looked majestic but was actually very unpopular with other wolves. “It was at this moment that he found Little White.”
“Little White had run away from her own warren because she was very small and was always bullied by the other rabbits. She really couldn’t take it anymore, thinking that even being eaten by a wolf was better than living like this.”
“When she met Big Gray, she thought she was doomed, but this wolf didn’t eat her in the end.”
“It was the first time Big Gray had encountered a rabbit that came to offer itself up for death. He found it very interesting, and he wasn’t hungry at the time, so he just carried Little White back to his den to sleep.”
…
It was a very cliché story. One outcast meets another outcast. Spiritual loneliness suppressed the carnivorous instinct, so they defied the principle of natural enemies and depended on each other.
Big Gray often wondered why he couldn’t be like other wolves, and Little White often wished she could grow a little bigger.
But that was actually useless.
They were destined to be rejected, to be hurt, and only then could they hold each other tightly on a stormy night.
Jiang Hanguang’s deliberately softened voice was full of a soft texture, very suitable for lulling someone to sleep.
Unfortunately, it was like playing a lute to a cow; she was trying to lull the wrong person to sleep.
Cheng Ying watched the woman’s eyelids droop and then force themselves open again as she fought to stay awake and continue the story, looking as if she wouldn’t rest until she had lulled her to sleep.
For once, she felt a pang of conscience. She sat up with a smile, patted the sofa, and gestured for Jiang Hanguang to lie there. “You’ve been talking for a long time. Let me take over.”
“Mmm,” Jiang Hanguang was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open, but she still tried to shake her head. “No need…”
Before she could finish, the Alpha, who was half a head taller than her, easily lifted her up and gently placed her on the sofa.
Cheng Ying covered her with the blanket, sat beside Jiang Hanguang, and continued the story of Big Gray and Little White from where she had left off. Her voice was a completely different deep and magnetic tone; the only similarity was that it was also very hypnotic.
Jiang Hanguang didn’t even last three minutes before falling into a deep sleep.
Cheng Ying sensed her breathing becoming steady, stopped the story, and called out softly, “Hanguang?”
The sleeping woman frowned slightly but gave no other reaction.
Cheng Ying smiled silently. She picked up the little white rabbit from the table and gently touched the woman’s cheek with it. Her cheek, softer than she had imagined, immediately formed a cute dimple where the rabbit pressed against it.
Cheng Ying’s smile widened. She placed the rabbit by Jiang Hanguang’s pillow and brushed the hair away from her face.
Jiang Hanguang’s hair was fine and soft, like a kitten’s fluff, completely different from her own hair, and very nice to touch.
Abusing her position for personal gain, Cheng Ying stroked it a couple more times before retracting her hand with satisfaction, shamelessly commenting:
“A little rabbit with so little vigilance is very easy to get eaten, you know.”
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