For Tang Jianxi, this wasn’t a decision she made from the start, but one that slowly took root as she spent time with Yun Chuji.
Tang Jianxi had become aware of her own happiness—a rare, effortless joy that seemed to require no thought at all. It was like rain falling directly on her head.
It was an extraordinary gift.
And a heart-pounding escape.
She was escaping the suffering that had been her constant companion, day and night. At any other time, Tang Jianxi might have allowed herself to indulge in it a little longer, perhaps even for a good while.
But she had just seen that omega, had just witnessed a concrete example of suffering. To indulge now would feel more hypocritical than ever.
Tang Jianxi wouldn’t allow herself that.
Especially when the very person who brought her this joy was so diligently trying to change herself based on her needs. Tang Jianxi knew this would undoubtedly bind them even tighter, past their contractual relationship, past the sisterly bond she used to deceive herself, and straight into a dangerous situation.
Tang Jianxi didn’t dare.
She wasn’t that brave yet.
To discern true feelings from instinct—and the true feelings of two people at that—was too monumental a task. She wasn’t the kind of omega whose life consisted solely of contemplating such things. So, she chose to run.
As Yun Chuji completed a perfect mid-air rotation, Tang Jianxi clapped for her while mentally drafting the words she would use to order her subordinates to take Winona away.
Let it end here, Tang Jianxi thought.
Time passed quickly, and the car drove quickly.
They arrived in front of Yun Chuji’s home.
Tang Jianxi still carried the scent of Yun Chuji’s orchids. Her suppressants were gone, and she hadn’t brought any other masking agents. For the first time, the scent clung to her so brazenly outside the confines of a room, overpowering her own faint, almost nonexistent pheromones and creating an illusion of extreme intimacy.
Yun Chuji’s hand hovered over the door button. She waited for five seconds, but Tang Jianxi said nothing. She didn’t even ask why she wasn’t leaving yet.
A tacit understanding, was it?
But this was a level of tacit understanding she truly didn’t want to have.
In the end, Yun Chuji got out of the car without a word.
It wasn’t until the car drove away that she began to feel regret.
It seemed she’d been a bit petulant. She should have at least said goodbye.
But being petulant wasn’t very alpha-like, was it? she thought.
—Then it wasn’t so bad.
When Yun Chuji returned home, she found that all traces of the omega had been cleaned up. Even the papers she had painstakingly taped up last night had been thrown away somewhere. Yun Chuji comforted herself: It’s fine, they were meant to be thrown out anyway, as long as that young lady saw them.
Still, a sense of frustration lingered in her heart.
So she began to read.
Her original plan was to read a Comprehensive Mirror written by a great historian of a later era. But thinking of what Tang Jianxi had said, she set the book aside and picked up another from a more recent period. After this one, she would move on to even more modern works. The books Teacher Chu had given her were mostly about the politics and economy of the Great Liang Dynasty, or the marriage customs of its women. As a formerly betrothed young lady, Yun Chuji knew far more about the latter than the books detailed, yet she couldn’t find any connection to chastity. Weren’t these just customs passed down from the ancestors?
She opened The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State on her optical computer. Yun Chuji had expected it to be filled with the kind of political stratagems and schemes Miss Tang had mentioned. And yes, it did contain those things, but what shocked her more was that, just like Miss Tang, it pointed out the chains that bound women.
Although she still didn’t fully understand, the book was undoubtedly more thorough than Miss Tang’s few conclusive, fragmented statements. Of course, if it weren’t for the motivation Miss Tang had sparked in her, she would have previously dismissed such a book as heretical and depraved, tearing it to shreds after reading less than ten pages.
Whether it was degrading the union of two families into a man’s one-time purchase of a lifelong housekeeper and a permanent prostitute, or openly discussing promiscuous relationships and deeming them nobler than marriage, it was all unbelievable to Yun Chuji. It struck a heavy blow to her mind, long steeped in the precepts for women, and to her self-esteem along with it.
But were these the chains Miss Tang spoke of?
And would Miss Tang be right this time, too?
Yun Chuji didn’t know. All she could do was keep reading.
She found a huge number of books about women on her optical computer, ranging from how to train women to please men and how women should choose men, to how women could break free from men.
Yun Chuji methodically worked her way through them.
For days, she did nothing but sit on the sofa. When she was tired, she slept on the sofa. When she was hungry, she drank a tube of nutrient solution from the table. She bathed when she estimated it was time.
Honestly, Yun Chuji wasn’t sure how much of this feverish reading was still driven by Tang Jianxi. She just kept reading instinctively, desperately trying to uncover the true nature of that faint, elusive chain.
Until the day of the third alpha training class arrived.
Yun Chuji put down The Second Sex, washed her face, and took a hot shower.
She didn’t drive the car Tang Jianxi had given her. Instead, she took public transport to the class.
This body was indeed very strong. The injuries from Winona had mostly healed by the second day, and they hadn’t bothered her at all while skiing, which was why she could perform such bold maneuvers without restraint.
Of course, she was still a body of flesh and blood. Those big movements had inevitably torn the wound a little. Yun Chuji only noticed when she happened to glance down and see her own blood while reading. By the time she found it, the wound had already scabbed over again.
Now, the bandages could be removed.
But none of that mattered. Even whether the wound would scar wasn’t that important. What was important was that Tang Jianxi still hadn’t contacted her.
She hadn’t even shown the slightest concern for her.
Yun Chuji was deeply frustrated. She had thought her relationship with Tang Jianxi was quite good.
To her, Tang Jianxi was the closest person she had in this world. She felt a fledgling’s instinct to be near her.
But Tang Jianxi wasn’t like that. She was always distant one moment and close the next, according to her mood, making Yun Chuji feel as if she were important, but at other times, not so important at all.
Lost in thought, she arrived at the classroom. Most of the alphas were already there. Feng Ling waved at her from the spot where they had sat last time, a remote place in the northwest corner of the room.
Clutching the hem of her clothes, Yun Chuji walked over to Feng Ling, her voice a mixture of panic and determination. “Brother Feng, let’s switch seats this time.”
Feng Ling looked around. “Sis, there’s no spot more remote than this.”
Yun Chuji pressed her lips together and mustered her courage. “Today, I’m going to sit in the middle.”
Feng Ling was overjoyed to hear this. She was finally done hiding. He was about to give her a friendly alpha fist bump, but considering his sis’s slender frame, he changed it to a high-five. Yet, Yun Chuji still dodged it.
And she demanded, “Brother Feng, why did you attack me?”
Feng Ling felt terribly wronged. “Isn’t this just how we alphas greet each other?”
Oh? So this was one of the behavioral habits of alphas.
Yun Chuji straightened up and said seriously, “From now on, I will not greet people this way.”
“Then how will you?” Feng Ling was a little confused.
Yun Chuji thought for a moment, then asked, “Do alphas like to greet people a lot?”
“I guess so?”
“Oh. Then I won’t greet people from now on.”
And just like that, Yun Chuji was satisfied with her first rule of conduct.
That’s right, Yun Chuji had decided. She would observe these alphas to see what they habitually did, and then she would do none of those things.
Absolutely! Definitely! She could not give Miss Tang any opportunity to dislike her.
Yun Chuji had a gut feeling that although Miss Tang had cut off contact, she didn’t dislike her. She might be afraid of her, or to think more positively, she might want to protect her, but it wouldn’t have reached the point of dislike.
But if she truly became just like all the other alphas, given Miss Tang’s usual aversion to them, she would certainly distance herself from her completely.
Filled with determination, Yun Chuji sat down in the center of the alphas, while a bewildered Feng Ling sat beside her.
Watching his sis closely observing the surrounding alphas before class, Feng Ling’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Yun Chuji found out about that group of alphas asking him to get her rich omega wife’s contact information?
No wonder she was acting so strangely just now!
He’d be angry too if he were her!
Feng Ling leaned closer to Yun Chuji, just close enough that she wouldn’t pull away, and whispered his defense, “Sis, I was just being polite. I absolutely had no intention of actually getting your wife’s contact info for that bunch of alphas!”
Hearing this, Yun Chuji immediately stopped her observations and narrowed her eyes at Feng Ling. “They’re coveting Miss Tang?”
Feng Ling sighed with a “tsk, tsk.” He thought Yun Chuji would have some awareness of her wife’s charms. “Ha, are you kidding me? Your wife is so beautiful and rich, any normal alpha would covet her. No offense, but if I didn’t see you as my sis, even I’d be tempted to make a move.”
“But, you just said, that’s my… my wife.”
“What does that matter? There are so few omegas these days, who cares about that!”
“No, that’s immoral.”
“Sis, you’re too honest. Let me tell you something from the heart. These alphas nowadays are cunning as hell. They’re even willing to attend training classes just to find a decent omega. You think they care about morality? As long as it’s not illegal, anything goes.”
Yun Chuji sneered. “I understand.”
Feng Ling felt a sense of relief, thinking this young alpha had finally seen the light.
But then he heard her continue, “No wonder Miss Tang despises alphas so much. You lot are completely devoid of ethics and morality, daring to covet another’s wife. It’s no surprise you’re capable of any evil deed.”
Feng Ling… Feng Ling was dumbfounded.
The last lingering thought he had about the rich omega wife vanished.
Being a kept lover might seem glamorous, but an alpha should earn money with his own two hands and marry an omega through his own abilities.
Otherwise, just look at this sis here. Living off a woman had driven her mad, to the point where she was even cursing herself.
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