The sound of Tang Jianxi entering the room pulled Yun Chuji from her concentration. She looked up and gave Tang Jianxi a smile.
Tang Jianxi immediately felt more at ease.
She walked over to the desk and looked at Yun Chuji’s nearly finished manuscript. After a closer look, she saw that it described the ideal married life constructed by an A-Virtue alpha and an omega. An omega reading it would easily feel a sense of longing, but as for alphas, they probably wouldn’t even read this far.
This was a book that would very likely be buried, as omegas couldn’t learn A-Virtue anyway.
Moreover, even for omegas, in this day and age, audiovisual media had replaced the written word as the dominant force in popular culture. Aside from students with academic requirements, very few people had the habit of reading books.
However, it would eventually have an effect. After the incident with Glory, the Empire’s omegas would no longer be as numb and ignorant of their own rights as before. At the very least, judging from mate selection and the future education of their offspring, the alphas of the next generation would be better than the current ones. One day, they would have the patience to open this book.
But Yun Chuji clearly didn’t think so. In her educational framework, the proposal of a moral theory didn’t end with the writing of a book or a thesis. In Yun Chuji’s memories of her Chinese past, founding a school of thought and setting up a lectern to teach was the proper way. Throughout history, sages and great philosophers had used this method to pass their ideas down to later generations.
Yun Chuji felt she was still about half a sage away from being a sage or great philosopher herself, but their path was certainly worth emulating.
If a “True Alpha Training Camp” designed to please omegas and increase courtship success could attract so many followers, why couldn’t her A-Virtue Academy?
The ones who sneered at omegas, afraid that certain outstanding omegas would steal their privileges, were the upper-class alphas. What did that have to do with the numerous middle and lower-class alphas who just wanted to find a wife?
Although these people were cursing her enthusiastically now, Yun Chuji knew it was an unconscious choice made under the pressure of the alpha persona. In the Empire’s education system, alphas were supposed to be natural leaders, responsible for protecting all the weak.
Thus, omegas and betas were summarily classified as weak. To prove the value of alphas, they had to be weak, which was why a powerful omega like Tang Jianxi had attracted such a torrent of malice.
As for the other one, even though he also appeared as an omega rights leader, the Sixth Prince’s gentle smile was clearly much more likable than the vengeful Tang Jianxi.
But there was a lid for every pot. At a time when alphas were terrified of the increasingly assertive omegas around them, cultivating more approachable A-Virtue alphas would naturally become a highly competitive market strategy.
After all, under the ABO physiological system, courtship wasn’t just about reproduction. For an alpha, a rut without an omega’s comfort was hell. In that case, although many people would furiously insult her, a certain portion would accept the guidance of the A-Virtue system.
Her position as a target would be firmly established.
So, the problem of the future had a temporary solution. The current focus was on the trouble from the past.
The smile on Yun Chuji’s face didn’t fade. With that same smile, she turned her head to look at Tang Jianxi, who thought she had escaped unscathed. “Jianxi, if I hadn’t found out, how long were you planning to hide the matter with Lin Lu from me?”
Tang Jianxi’s fingers, which were flipping through the pages, froze.
Wait, did falling in love really have some kind of mysterious magic?!
She used to be such a soft little dumpling!
How did she become… a little intimidating now!
Tang Jianxi forced a smile, her voice laced with guilt. “Um, I was going to tell you after you got back from A-District.”
Yun Chuji didn’t speak, just kept looking at Tang Jianxi until Tang Jianxi reached out and covered her eyes. She bent down and placed a light kiss on those two soft, pink lips.
At a distance where she could feel her breath, she complained in a small voice, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m scared.”
Tang Jianxi could clearly feel Yun Chuji take a sharp breath. She reached up, pulled Tang Jianxi’s hand down, and held it tightly in her own. Lifting her gaze, she said seriously, “I know Jianxi has her own career, and your career is very valuable. It can bring happiness to many people.”
“But I don’t want you to put yourself in harm’s way again. You promised to marry me, so no matter how many people you want to bring happiness to, my happiness, at least, is tied only to you.”
“Although I know that chastity is just a deception aimed at women, I was ultimately raised as a woman of the Great Liang. If anything were to happen to you, I could never easily accept it.”
Tang Jianxi’s hand grew even stiffer. With the development of more and more inhibitors, omegas had largely escaped the fate of marrying as soon as they presented. Falling in love became commonplace, and marriage was mostly a matter of high compatibility rates and reaching a certain age.
In Tang Jianxi’s view, love was a beautiful and dangerous thing. It was so joyful that it could make one lose their reason, but it had little to do with seriousness. In the end, it was all a collision of hormones and a burst of temporary passion.
Even in the process of establishing her relationship with Yun Chuji, she admitted there was a soul-deep attraction, but the inherent seriousness of love itself hadn’t increased. There was no such thing as not being able to live without someone.
But that was how Yun Chuji thought.
She considered Tang Jianxi a part of her life’s meaning.
Tang Jianxi’s heart pounded violently. Because it now carried a weight heavier than she had anticipated, its beating made her feel short of breath.
“Am I that important to you?”
Yun Chuji nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Tang Jianxi felt the weight on her heart grow even heavier. She couldn’t help but move forward and sit in Yun Chuji’s lap. Tilting her head up slightly, she said softly, “But you’ve never said you love me.”
The fair face before her slowly turned red. Yun Chuji pressed her lips together and looked away. “That would be too frivolous.”
Only the profligate sons in her family would casually declare their love and affection. For a sheltered young lady like her, tossing a handkerchief to someone was as good as a private betrothal.
But worried that Tang Jianxi would be unhappy, the sheltered young lady hastily and haltingly tried to prove herself. “I… I wrote… love poems.”
“But you didn’t say you loved me in your poems either.”
Yun Chuji felt the situation had changed drastically. She was supposed to be admonishing Tang Jianxi, so how did it seem like Tang Jianxi was now admonishing her?
The alpha’s voice was strained. “Only libertines are so blatant in their poetry. One must be subtle. That’s… that’s how you show respect.”
A laugh escaped Tang Jianxi’s lips. She leaned closer and whispered into Yun Chuji’s ear, “Since I’m your future wife, you can certainly be a little more of a libertine with me.”
Yun Chuji’s breath caught, and her face flushed an even deeper red. The tips of Tang Jianxi’s ears also began to turn red. She felt as if she were seducing her, but could something done with such sincerity be called seduction?
She truly wanted to hear Yun Chuji say she loved her, even if Yun Chuji’s shyness and reactions in the process brought her immense pleasure.
But that wasn’t the point. Right, not the point.
Yun Chuji thought of the romance movies she had watched. The lovers in them seemed to confess their feelings with great honesty and openness. This was the custom of this era.
The little antique from the Great Liang tried hard to prepare herself mentally. To let Tang Jianxi know how important her safety was, she ought to express her feelings more clearly and directly.
She wasn’t saying these things to just anyone; she was saying them because it was Jianxi. Therefore, it wasn’t profligate, and it definitely wasn’t libertine.
Yun Chuji’s lips moved slightly, but Tang Jianxi spoke first.
“Still shy, huh?” Tang Jianxi kissed her ear and said with a smile, “It’s okay. I’ll say it.”
“I love you.”
Yun Chuji’s head snapped around. This wasn’t Tang Jianxi’s first confession. People in the Empire seemed to have a naturally lower threshold for embarrassment in this regard, and Tang Jianxi often said things like “like” or “love” in their daily lives.
Before they confirmed their relationship, Yun Chuji would usually blush and pretend she hadn’t heard.
After they confirmed their relationship, Yun Chuji would blush, her heart pounding, and kiss her.
Just like now.
The alpha and omega’s lips and tongues intertwined in a delicate, intricate dance. Ever since Tang Jianxi had made a request regarding her future wife’s kissing skills, Yun Chuji had forced herself to overcome her shyness and secretly study some theoretical materials. Coupled with ample practical training, she could now be considered passably skilled.
Tang Jianxi’s hands clutched tightly at Yun Chuji’s clothes, the corners of her eyes turning red. A faint trace of her pheromones quietly escaped from the edges of her inhibitor patch.
Yun Chuji released her, slowly using her lips and tongue to clean up the aftermath on her lover’s face. Finally, she kissed Tang Jianxi’s forehead. Her breathing was still ragged as she lowered her eyes to meet hers. “I love you too.”
Her voice was very soft, very shy.
But—
Tang Jianxi wrapped her arms around Yun Chuji’s neck and, before she had even caught her breath, kissed her again.
So I’m the one being played with, Tang Jianxi realized with perfect clarity at that moment.
Ah, this was fatal.
The fiancées, who had been separated for several days, kissed as if they couldn’t bear to part. In the end, it was Yun Chuji’s superhuman willpower—the rule of no further intimacy before marriage—that separated them.
Yun Chuji looked at Tang Jianxi’s obviously swollen lips, averted her eyes guiltily, and mercilessly berated herself.
Her bottom line.
Her principles.
There was really only a tiny bit left!
Tang Jianxi was much calmer than Yun Chuji. After all, both of their inhibitor patches were on quite securely this time. Without pheromones, it wasn’t difficult for Tang Jianxi to control herself.
She lay lazily in Yun Chuji’s arms, playing with her hair. Her eyes curved as she watched the person whose face was flushed crimson, thinking with great interest that it was precisely people with so many points of shame who were especially easy to tease.
After a while, Yun Chuji finally calmed down.
The matter with Lin Lu was considered resolved. They had just reached a silent understanding. Tang Jianxi probably wouldn’t be so reckless in the future. So, to prevent danger from seeking them out, she should also do something.
Yun Chuji told Tang Jianxi the plan she had just formulated.
Tang Jianxi languidly raised her eyes, her crimson lips uttering a single word: “No.”
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