Meng Yueyu’s question came too suddenly, catching her completely off guard. Wen Yan froze in place and slowly turned around. The Beta’s silhouette blocked part of the incoming light, casting her face in a soft shadow that obscured her expression, but the inquiry that reached Wen Yan’s ears carried no trace of amusement.
Wen Yan had no idea what kind of relationship existed between Meng Yueyu and Yu Sheng, but judging by her tone, it was highly unlikely to be a good one. Sensing a faint, lingering pressure in the air, the Omega unconsciously curled her fingertips and lowered her gaze, answering softly:
“We’ve met a few times.”
“Why so nervous? Am I that terrifying?” Meng Yueyu let out a soft chuckle, remaining exactly where she stood. “Do you know how to act cute and spoiled?”
“Huh?” Wen Yan was bewildered, but once she processed the question, she replied, “No, I don’t.”
Meng Yueyu stared at her, her gaze lingering over Wen Yan for an indeterminate length of time. The atmosphere grew stiflingly stagnant. The Omega repeatedly rubbed her fingers together, waiting for the other woman to continue.
It wasn’t until Meng Yueyu finally withdrew her gaze that she let out a gentle, teasing mock, saying:
“If you’re like this, how are you ever going to compete with Yu Sheng?”
Hearing this, the Omega looked up.
She frowned slightly. “What do you mean by that?”
“Your personality is so soft, and you’re the type to agree to absolutely anything, you’re far too easy to bully. Since you’ve met Yu Sheng, you should know by now that she is no kind Omega. If you’re going to marry Jiang Qiu, you’ll inevitably have to deal with Yu Sheng’s ill intentions.”
Meng Yueyu looked at her, making no effort to hide her intense distaste for Yu Sheng.
Wen Yan was stunned by her words, falling silent for a moment before she said, “I have no intention of competing for anything with Miss Yu.”
“You might want to stay out of the fray, but in reality, things may not go exactly as you wish.”
Unable to hold back, Wen Yan asked, “It sounds like you know Miss Yu very well?”
“Not really.” A smile hung on Meng Yueyu’s face, but the depths of her eyes turned dark and gloomy.
She was simply able to accurately predict what kind of schemes Yu Sheng would concoct.
Wen Yan said, “I don’t think Miss Yu is that bad.”
“Do you see everyone as a good person?” Meng Yueyu bantered.
Wen Yan met her gaze. “At the very least, Miss Yu has never done anything to harm me.”
At that, the curve of Meng Yueyu’s lips faded a fraction. She crossed her arms and added.
“You are too naive. Yu Sheng is pestering Jiang Qiu, you can probably guess that much, right? She will try every means possible to get back to Jiang Qiu’s side. To her, you are an obstacle. Just because she hasn’t harmed you now doesn’t mean she won’t in the future.”
“Why are you telling me all these negative things about Miss Yu?” Wen Yan took a deep breath, interrupting her.
“I am giving you a well-meaning warning. Don’t use your naive, worldly innocent outlook to defend a despicable Omega, or you might end up being used by someone.” Meng Yueyu spoke like someone who had seen it all, though her advice didn’t carry much sincere warmth. “Otherwise, if one day she wants you to leave Jiang Qiu, would you just agree to that too?”
Wen Yan remained silent for a long while.
She didn’t plan on telling Meng Yueyu that she had already prepared herself to step aside, but she thoroughly disagreed with Meng Yueyu’s worldview.
The Omega couldn’t deny that Meng Yueyu, as a businesswoman, possessed far more experience in reading people than she did. Perhaps the Beta had met many people in New York whom Wen Yan had never even conceived of, witnessing all sorts of human nature, which was why she had developed this habit of making such direct, cynical assumptions about others.
But Wen Yan only wanted to do what was right and good, and she wanted to look at others through a positive lens.
She had always navigated people in this clumsy, simple way.
Seeing that Wen Yan wasn’t speaking, Meng Yueyu smiled and said, “It’s not a bad thing to maintain vigilance and wariness toward others, Little Wen. I suggest you harbor a bit more suspicion toward Yu Sheng.”
Wen Yan hesitated for a brief second. Though she disagreed in her heart, she still said, “Thank you for the warning.”
“I have my own motives too.” Meng Yueyu withdrew her gaze. Her expression remained entirely unchanged, her tone perfectly even and devoid of ripples. “I hope the one who marries Jiang Qiu is you, and the sooner the better.”
Wen Yan hadn’t expected Meng Yueyu to be anxious about their marriage as well.
But this didn’t seem to yield any particular benefit for Meng Yueyu, whether it happened early or late shouldn’t make any difference to her.
The Omega asked, “Why?”
Meng Yueyu stated frankly, “First, if it were Yu Sheng marrying Jiang Qiu, I would oppose it with both hands. Second, turning a fiancée into a wife early means you won’t have to worry about a certain Omega intercepting her along the way.”
Wen Yan opened her mouth slightly. She could already feel the extreme rejection Meng Yueyu harbored toward Yu Sheng. “Do you have a massive prejudice against her?”
“I am simply trying to push away someone who shouldn’t be approaching my cousin again.” Meng Yueyu shrugged. “I am also doing this for Dominion’s sake, weighing options for the family.”
For some reason, the Dominion Vineyard had suddenly been brought into this. Just as Wen Yan wanted to ask further, she heard Jiang Qiu closing the front door outside and walking toward the bedroom.
As Jiang Qiu approached, she caught sight of Meng Yueyu standing by the doorway and asked in confusion, “What are you doing standing here?”
“Just chatting with Little Wen,” Meng Yueyu replied casually.
Jiang Qiu didn’t think much of it. She walked into the room to help Wen Yan pack her luggage while asking, “How long are you staying in Lihua City this time?”
“I don’t know,” Meng Yueyu said.
“How can you not know?” Jiang Qiu was surprised. She looked at Meng Yueyu. “What you’re doing in Lihua City and roughly how long it will take should have been decided in advance, shouldn’t it?”
“That’s the conglomerate’s arrangement. I didn’t come here solely for company business.”
“What else do you have to do?”
Meng Yueyu flashed her a smile, winking with one eye as she said half-seriously, “I came to see if I could find an Omega partner here so I can get married early too.”
Jiang Qiu found it hard to believe. “Aren’t you entirely devoted to genetic research, completely uninterested in people and relationships?”
Meng Yueyu replied with a beaming smile, “Who knows, maybe I suddenly saw the light.”
Meeting Jiang Qiu’s gaze, the smile in Meng Yueyu’s eyes deepened, but the Alpha could never quite see through the Beta’s expression. Beneath those eyes, there seemed to be something else, unfathomably deep.
Wen Yan lifted her suitcase, breaking the sudden silence that had settled over the room. “I’m all packed.”
“Let’s go then,” Jiang Qiu said to Wen Yan, brushing aside the slight anomaly she had just detected.
Meng Yueyu saw them to the door. “You two better build up your chemistry well~”
While riding the elevator downstairs, Wen Yan glanced at Jiang Qiu a few times. Unable to suppress her curiosity, she asked, “Your cousin… what kind of person is she?”
Jiang Qiu found it a bit difficult to describe.
She and Meng Yueyu weren’t exceptionally close relatives, they were just around the same age, had things to talk about, and usually joked around with polite courtesy. They hadn’t reached the level of truly understanding each other deeply. Furthermore, the Alpha had lived in Lihua City during her earlier years and only began interacting with Meng Yueyu after reaching adulthood. It was during their time in New York that their back and forth interactions became more frequent.
From her perspective, Meng Yueyu had always treated her well. Even though the atmosphere between their respective parents was rather discordant, it hadn’t affected the relationship between the two of them.
“She speaks bluntly, but she doesn’t mean any harm. She can be a bit domineering in her usual dealings with people, which is just a habit of hers. After all, she manages a lot of subordinates, so she tends to subconsciously take a firmer stance in every aspect.” Jiang Qiu offered a few words of appraisal; at least, this was how Meng Yueyu appeared in her eyes.
Wen Yan nodded thoughtfully, lost in her own calculations.
The interior design of Jiang Qiu’s home featured cold color tones, maintaining a minimalist style at first glance. Aside from the essential furniture, there wasn’t much superfluous decor, leaving only a tall, large wine cabinet behind the dining table as a striking highlight.
The Alpha helped Wen Yan put away her luggage. The sheets and duvet covers in the guest bedroom were all brand new, a potted plant sat on the windowsill, and the room was kept immaculately clean.
Jiang Qiu brought in two cups of warm water. The Omega sat on the edge of the bed, suddenly recalling a certain sentence Meng Yueyu had uttered. In the very next second, before she could even think it through, the words slipped out.
“Do you prefer Omegas who know how to act cute and spoiled?”
Jiang Qiu choked on a mouthful of warm water, coughing repeatedly.
On the day of the Annual Enterprise Awards Ceremony, Lihua City happened to welcome a continuous downfall of rain that had lasted for several days. The air was thick with moisture, and the temperature plummeted lower and lower.
Wen Yan had likely caught a chill from the wind on her way over, as she let out several consecutive sneezes. Fortunately, the awards ceremony was held indoors, so the Alpha brought Wen Yan to an empty room upstairs to take some medicine.
The Omega rubbed her slightly itchy nose and said to Jiang Qiu, “Go on downstairs first. I’ll head down to find you as soon as I’ve taken the medicine. You don’t need to stay and keep me company the whole time.”
“It’s fine, I’ll wait until you’re feeling a bit better,” Jiang Qiu said, shaking her head.
Wen Yan nudged her hand gently. “You can’t do that. You are the primary representative for Zhaoming Biotech. If you don’t show your face for half the event, people will think it’s rude. I won’t collapse from a little cold wind, and I don’t have a fever either. Don’t worry.”
Wen Yan made a soft gesture indicating for her to go downstairs. Unable to win the argument, the Alpha had no choice but to get up and leave. The Omega cupped the glass containing the medicine, frowned, and downed it in one gulp.
The moment Jiang Qiu went downstairs, she was surrounded by a crowd. They were all enterprise representatives she didn’t know, looking to cozy up to Zhaoming Biotech. The sheer volume of people was a bit overwhelming to handle, and it wasn’t until Meng Yueyu’s arrival that the Alpha finally caught her breath.
Watching Meng Yueyu get swarmed by people in turn, Jiang Qiu turned around and walked over to her designated seat. Someone arrived at the empty seat next to her shortly after. Jiang Qiu turned her head slightly, accidentally locking eyes with Yu Sheng.
The Omega stared intently at her, but Jiang Qiu had already retracted her gaze.
“President Jiang.” Yu Sheng’s expression wasn’t as calm as usual. She spoke in a low voice, “Did Miss Wen not come?”
The Omega had originally been thrilled that she would be attending as Jiang Qiu’s partner, only to receive a single person invitation letter the day before the ceremony, completely dousing all her joy.
Jiang Qiu’s tone was detached: “She’ll be here shortly.”
Disappointed, Yu Sheng fell silent and didn’t speak again.
A moment later, Meng Yueyu finally broke free from the massive crowd and arrived at the seat directly across from Jiang Qiu at the same table. Her gaze lingered on the Alpha for only a split second before quickly shifting over to Yu Sheng.
Those eyes seemed to darken slightly, yet her expression remained unchanged, maintaining her usual aloof, smileless indifference toward outsiders. Her assistant pulled out the chair for her, but Meng Yueyu didn’t sit down right away. The corners of her lips curled up imperceptibly as she spoke.
“Miss Yu, it’s been a long time. Do you still remember me?”