“Clang.” The milk Wen Conghan had been holding spilled all over the floor.
However, Ji Mianyue had no mind to spare for the warm milk. She had noticed a warm liquid on her neck.
Someone was crying. Someone Ji Mianyue thought would never cry was weeping.
Wen Conghan’s crying was silent. She simply buried herself in Ji Mianyue’s embrace and trembled slightly.
In Ji Mianyue’s eyes, Wen Conghan had always possessed a maturity far beyond her peers. She never imagined that Wen Conghan would lean into her arms and cry so vulnerably.
While Ji Mianyue was surprised, she also felt a faint sense of familiarity. She did not understand why she felt so acquainted with this sensation.
Had she forgotten something?
“Mianyue, if I were very wicked, would you stop being my friend?”
Wen Conghan lowered her voice, speaking as softly as if she were afraid of startling a bird.
She held Ji Mianyue, using all her strength just to force those words out. She knew that saying this might push her relationship with Ji Mianyue to the edge of a precipice.
Wen Conghan instinctively wanted to call for help. She wanted to beg Ji Mianyue not to be afraid of her and not to push her away.
But her mouth felt suddenly empty, as if her tongue and throat had vanished. She could only hear the thumping of her own heart, the pleas in the depths of her soul, and the screams in her mind.
It was not until Ji Mianyue spoke again that Wen Conghan’s hidden heartbeat seemed to return.
“I will face it with you, Conghan. No matter what happens, I will face it with you.”
“Just as you have stood by me all this time, I will stay by your side too.”
The words were so warm that Wen Conghan could not control her tears. Ji Mianyue truly was the child of Mama Wen and Mother. She spoke the same words they once had.
“Wenwen, do not be afraid. Mama and Mother are here with you. No matter what happens, we will face it together, okay?”
Those same sincere and warm words repeated over and over in Wen Conghan’s ears.
“I am not good. Ji Mianyue, I am not a good person.”
Wen Conghan’s tone was so cautious that Ji Mianyue momentarily felt as if the girl were a piece of porcelain. A single stone could easily shatter her into a thousand pieces.
“Stay with me, Mianyue.”
Wen Conghan’s voice, usually so calm, was now bordering on a plea. She was like a lost and helpless lamb that had completely lost its direction on a vast prairie.
Wen Conghan never thought the day would come when she would beg for someone’s love and companionship in such a manner.
Ji Mianyue knew something was wrong, so she did not answer with words. Instead, she continued to hold Wen Conghan tightly.
The window in the room was not closed, allowing the moonlight to drift in. The cold moonlight watched the two figures inside as they huddled together for warmth.
Wen Conghan was truly in pain. In her childhood Chinese classes, she had heard the story of “carving a mark on a boat to find a dropped sword.” She had always thought it was a foolish act.
Until now, as she began to use pain to engrave a question into her own bones: Should she love Ji Mianyue?
The question was too difficult. Wen Conghan could ignore Shen Yuxin’s words, but the upbringing from Mama Wen and Mother acted like a restrictive command, tightening around her throat.
Could she love Ji Mianyue? Would she, as Shen Yuxin suggested, destroy Ji Mianyue by loving her to the extreme?
Wen Conghan admitted she was even more foolish than the man in the story. Pain was like a mountain pressing down on her. She could not move it; she could only gain a moment of breath by holding Ji Mianyue.
Ji Mianyue did not understand what Wen Conghan had endured, but she could read the sadness on her. The grief was so thick it was almost tangible, making Ji Mianyue’s own heart ache. She did not know how to comfort her, so she simply offered her embrace.
After a long time, Wen Conghan realized the person in her arms was so sleepy she could barely stand. She looked at Ji Mianyue with tenderness and gently carried her toward the purple and white bed.
Wen Conghan could not bear to let go of Ji Mianyue’s hand, yet she decided she should spend the night on the nearby sofa.
As she was about to leave, Ji Mianyue, who was so tired she could not open her eyes, grabbed Wen Conghan’s hand.
“Do not be sad.”
The words that followed were indistinguishable. Even in such a state of exhaustion, she was still trying to comfort Wen Conghan.
Greed instantly shattered Wen Conghan’s resolve. She stopped asking herself if she could give Ji Mianyue the best love in the world.
She would cut herself open and offer her heart to Ji Mianyue in its entirety.
Nothing else mattered. Wen Conghan followed the strength of Ji Mianyue’s pull and lay down. She reached out and gathered the girl into her arms.
A long-lasting warmth filled her. In this embrace, Wen Conghan felt as if she had obtained a warm sun. All the coldness and pain she had experienced in her life were dispelled by this hug.
“Ji Mianyue… I am sorry. You met an unkind person. I love you, Ji Mianyue.”
Wen Conghan held Ji Mianyue like a diver clinging to their last tank of oxygen at the bottom of the sea. She wanted to grip her only chance at survival and never let go. But in the end, she softened her strength, afraid of hurting Ji Mianyue.
The next morning, Ji Mianyue’s biological clock woke her at the first light of dawn.
She had a wonderful dream, feeling as if she were lying in a field of lavender. The sense of being enveloped in safety had cured her long-term insomnia.
In truth, Ji Mianyue suffered from severe insomnia. Unlike common cases, her insomnia did not affect her mood. However, she had once secretly researched it and discovered it was a latent gland problem—one that meant she might not live past thirty.
Since learning this, Ji Mianyue had always been a perfectly well-behaved daughter, treasuring every moment with her family.
Ji Mianyue opened her eyes and saw Wen Conghan’s face inches away. The closer she got to Wen Conghan, the more she realized she truly loved her.
If she were a healthy Omega, Ji Mianyue would certainly fight to be with Wen Conghan. But… but…
Ji Mianyue reached out and lightly traced Wen Conghan’s features, her movements incredibly soft for fear of waking her. When her hand reached the mole at the end of Wen Conghan’s left eyebrow, she lingered for a moment.
Before Wen Conghan appeared, Ji Mianyue never knew what kind of person she would like. She thought love should look like the way her two mothers interacted, but she never had a clear answer.
Until she met Wen Conghan. The answer emerged on its own. It turned out that when you truly love someone, you do not need to think so much. Once that person appears, they are the answer itself.
Ji Mianyue did not dwell on her thoughts for long before she noticed Shen Yuxin standing by the bed. Seeing her mother, Ji Mianyue immediately got up and followed her out of the room.
Once they were outside, Ji Mianyue looked at her mother’s back and knew she was absolutely furious.
“Come downstairs with me!” Shen Yuxin thought of the scene she had just witnessed, her heart feeling like a crumpled piece of newspaper.
Of these two children, one was facing a short life and the other was emotionally detached.
“Ji Mianyue, you cannot be with her.”
Shen Yuxin did not want to state the reason directly. She simply abandoned her usual gentle style and spoke with harsh finality.
Ji Mianyue was the most sensible child and surely would not oppose her decision. Shen Yuxin rubbed her temples and sighed. It was better to let Mianyue and Conghan blame her, their mother.
Ji Mianyue never expected such opposition. Before she could speak, a loud argument broke out on the second floor.
Wen Conghan and Ji Yanru were fighting. Ji Mianyue could not hear the words, but her heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, she felt as if she had been thrust into a bottomless abyss.
Ignoring her mother’s words, Ji Mianyue rushed toward the stairs in a panic.
With a loud thud, someone tumbled down the stairs.