Part 1
“Do you like it that much? Then I will give it to you as a souvenir.”
Sang Ningzhi had just called a Didi ride and parked by the roadside. On the early morning street, the breeze blew through the leaves, brushing against the hurried office workers. The bustling sounds of the city heralded the start of a brand-new day.
Suddenly, a resonant and full-spirited voice brought all these noises to a complete halt.
“Sang Ningzhi! I will work harder next time to satisfy you.”
Pedestrians on the street turned their heads to look. Sang Ningzhi, who had just pulled open the car door, reacted with a conditional reflex. She raised her head to look at the source of the voice. Their eyes met. Pei Song smiled with uninhibited arrogance. Sang Ningzhi narrowed her eyes as she looked up at Pei Song on the fifth floor.
She herself felt no awkwardness at all; the only ones feeling awkward were other people.
The spring sunlight plated the young alpha’s face, making her whole body seem to glow. She was arrogant to the extreme. Sang Ningzhi narrowed her eyes and suddenly chuckled. This was the Pei Song she liked.
Pei Song shook the ID card in her hand toward her and shouted loudly, “If you come back right now, I will return your ID card to you!”
“You like it that much? Then I will give it to you as a souvenir,” Sang Ningzhi dropped a light, breezy sentence. “You must preserve it properly.”
“Bang!”
She closed the car door, and the car merged into the traffic.
Her cell phone suddenly rang. The caller ID displayed “Mom.”
“Darling, you don’t need to come over today. Your Uncle Pei said that Pei Song is sick. We can talk about the wedding arrangements after a few days. This is actually fine too; it gives you more time to get to know each other.”
“Alright, Mom.”
Actually, Sang Ningzhi was Lu Ningzhi.
She had been adopted by the Lu family, which was why she possessed two ID cards: one from her past as Sang Ningzhi, representing her pure, newly-adult series, fresh as a water lily; and the other as her present self, Lu Ningzhi, the epitome of high-society nobility under the camera lenses, where even her hair radiated light like a bright and brilliant peony.
When she was adopted by the Lu family, she was probably just graduating from junior high school. At that time, her appearance was completely plain and unremarkable.
After entering an elite high school, she could not keep up with the study pace, so she naturally buried herself in hard work. Back then, her self-esteem was very strong. She only wanted to study well, with not a single thought of falling in love, so that she could properly repay the Lu family. She did not enjoy life like her younger sister, Lu Lingzhi, and her fashion sense was quite average.
However, Pei Song was that unexpected exception.
She, Pei Song, and Lu Lingzhi were in the same high school and the same grade. Pei Song and Lu Lingzhi were in Class 5, while she was in Class 8. As for Lu Ningzhi’s identity, the Lu family announced to the outside world that they had sent her to the countryside to pray for blessings, and now they were welcoming her back.
With the explosion of adolescent hormones, the Lu family soon got her teeth straightened, and her mother took her out to buy clothes every week. Aesthetics, temperament, and the like all required cultivation later in life.
Her mother had said, “Ningzhi, keep your head up and your chest out. You must be confident. Beauty is an investment, and it can also be changed. Your bone structure is very beautiful. Do you know the saying? ‘Naturally endowed with exquisite beauty, one cannot simply cast it aside.'”
Before going abroad to study, she had confessed to her mother that she liked Pei Song and wanted to marry Pei Song.
Now, returning from studying abroad, standing in the light, she was someone others would look up to.
In the reflection of the car window, she stroked the bitten scent gland. Pei Song’s lemon pheromone still burned on the wound, as refreshing as that person appeared, yet carrying an aggressive edge. She certainly had a good bite on her; just how infatuated could she possibly be with me?
Pei Song was clutching her old ID card, yet she failed to recognize that she was the fiancée she wanted nothing to do with. How interesting.
She took out her phone and sent a WeChat message to her younger sister, Lu Lingzhi:
Sang Ningzhi: Are you there?
Following that, she transferred 6,666 yuan over.
Money could solve most problems. For instance, Lu “Er” (Number Two) was the kind of person who relied on family relief, spent everyone else’s money without a pang of heartache, and pampered herself luxuriously.
The other party replied in a second:
Lu Lingzhi: What is the matter, my financial backer sister? You are much more generous than our mom.
Sang Ningzhi: Do not mention my appearance in front of Pei Song. You manage human resources at the group; for all of my information, do not change the name Sang Ningzhi to Lu Ningzhi for now.
Upon seeing her older sister’s reply, Lu Lingzhi understood instantly. This meant Pei Song hadn’t recognized her.
A hush money payment given to her.
Lu Lingzhi (confused): Do you want to play the role of a poor person?
Sang Ningzhi: Mmh, how does the “poor international student returning home” script sound?
Lu Lingzhi (kindly offering): I will get you a simple apartment, the kind with a monthly rent of 3,000 yuan in an urban village, how does that sound? Shall we add a persona of someone running into walls everywhere? Arrange a coffee shop job for you? Should I throw in a little bit of a dominant alpha saving an omega?
Sang Ningzhi: Scratch the last one. You think you are acting in an idol drama.
In her heart, Lu Lingzhi thought: refusing to live in the family’s large villa and instead insisting on living in an urban village, would she even be used to living like that? In her social circle, there was no shortage of rich second-generation kids playing poor to look for true love. Her older sister was literally acting as a substitute for herself.
Acting as a substitute for herself.
What if the two of you end up cohabiting? Pei Song might say something like, “Sang Ningzhi, you are prettier than my fiancée Lu Ningzhi,” or, “Sang Ningzhi, you are prettier than Lu Ningzhi, but Lu Ningzhi is more talented than you.”
She really wanted to see what kind of expression would appear on her sister’s pretty face. Should she be happy, or should she get angry? Most likely, this sister would look happy on the outside while being secretly furious.
This was simply mental illness, pure self-inflicted torture. If Pei Song actually fell in love with Sang Ningzhi, what would you do then? Wouldn’t it be fine if you just told her you are Lu Ningzhi?
Seeing that the chat box kept showing “the other party is typing…”, Lu Lingzhi understood in a second. Her older sister really was quite proud and coy. Why act so restrained in front of Pei Song? Didn’t she just want to ask if the other party had any exes?
Lu Lingzhi (replying very considerately): She truly does not have any exes. She is usually very obedient. In terms of public reputation in Yuncheng, no one has a better one than her. She never comes home past 11:00 PM. She has never had a “white moonlight” or a “red cinnabar mole” her entire life.
She supported Lu Ningzhi, but in Pei Song’s eyes, her own appearance as the Second Young Miss Lu was only so-so. If Lu Ningzhi/Sang Ningzhi’s looks were a hundred points, Lu Lingzhi’s looks would be ninety. If Pei Song didn’t already have someone, she would have gone over to scold her.
Ah, Pei Song, Pei Song, you have been targeted by my scheming, sweet-on-the-outside-black-on-the-inside older sister.
Sigh, May the heavens bless you.
Lu Lingzhi: Do you want to start working at my coffee shop today? I noticed Madam Pei’s complexion looked exceptionally bad after hanging up the phone with Pei Song. Pei Song will need to coax her, and she might come buy coffee. You have a very high chance of seeing Pei Song.
Sang Ningzhi (knowing full well Madam Pei was angry): Let’s have a chance encounter in the afternoon. You let me build some presence, letting her know where to come find me? Master plan. She won’t pester me today anyway; she has to coax her mother.
Speak of the devil and the devil arrives.
A WeChat notification popped up.
Pei Song: If your parents want you to set up a meeting between me and your sister recently, I am refusing. Here is your hush money.
A WeChat transfer of 6666 arrived.
“One is desperately hiding, the other is secretly pursuing. And you both use hush money of 6666,” Lu Lingzhi laughed, crossing her legs and sipping Starbucks coffee, “A truly perfect match.”
Part 2
This was the first time Pei Song had ever developed an interest in an omega. She took a comfortable bath and sent Sang Ningzhi’s ID card to her secretary, asking her to thoroughly investigate who on earth this sacred person was.
She languidly put on her clothes, holding Sang Ningzhi’s ID card, intending to place it together with her own. Because the other person had said she wanted her to preserve it properly.
Since she said so, she would preserve it properly, along with the 1,000 yuan in cash she had rewarded her with.
Pei Song took out her long wallet. She remembered putting 1,000 yuan in cash in there, why was it gone?
At this moment, Pei Song realized that this 1,000 yuan originally belonged to herself anyway. What? Did I just financially support myself?
Well played, Sang Ningzhi, playing a wolf-for-sheep empty-handed trick on me.
I am looking forward to our next meeting more and more. It’s rare to encounter such an interesting omega.
She looked at the photo on the ID card: pretty, cold, smart, crafty, and possessing an interesting soul. Wasn’t this much more interesting than her fiancée, Lu Ningzhi? She really should have treated the other person to breakfast just now.
Pei Song returned to the company and entered her CEO’s office. Enjoying a pleasant moment, she took a sheet of facial mask from her drawer and applied it to her face. Feeling the icy-cool sensation, she obediently closed her eyes.
This was her daily routine: work, grooming, occasionally a bar, and going home to sleep.
Pei Song, the Second Young Miss of the Pei family, was also the young CEO of the Pei Group. She was a precious, proud alpha, and she was a visual chaser (someone who cares deeply about looks). However, no one could ever say she was lustful or fickle.
Her obsession with looks applied not only to her requirements for others, but even more so to herself. She had never messed around under the guise of looking for high-attractiveness omegas. She believed that good-looking people wouldn’t have terrible luck. She believed even more in predestined fate and love at first sight.
Her mind was filled entirely with last night’s scenes. Last night was her first time, and everyone has moments of losing control during their first time. That faint, clean scent of roses felt like a pair of magical hands, making her reluctant to let go, leaving her wanting more and driving her to want to truly possess it.
Two intertwined figures: she held down Sang Ningzhi’s waist, applying enough force to make her cry, to make her frown, to make her voice shatter, until she begged for mercy. She still felt it wasn’t enough, and insisted on biting the other person’s scent gland several times.
She only stopped bullying the person once she had made her cry.
She had taken her over and over again until even she felt she was acting a bit perverted. She had even wickedly said to her, “The more you cry, the more I want to bully you. If you don’t cry, I want to bully you until you do.”
She opened her eyes, washed her face, and applied expensive skincare products to her face, eyes, and elsewhere. She admired herself in the mirror for a bit, and finally selected a light fragrance from her row of perfumes.
The light fragrance was captivating.
She shot a wink at the mirror, once again, she was that charming, glowing CEO Pei.
She narcissistically spoke to herself in the smart mirror: “Magic mirror, magic mirror, tell me quickly, who is the prettiest alpha in this city of Yuncheng?”
The smart mirror replied in a cold, aloof omega imperial-sister voice: “Of course it is our Young CEO Pei. No one is worthy of Young CEO Pei; you make me want to fall in love with yourself.”
An image of Pei Song appeared on the mirror, one the mirror had fetched from the internet.
Her mind was full of Sang Ningzhi, so she hurriedly changed the smart mirror’s programmed response.
She asked again, “Will Sang Ningzhi fall in love with me and date me?”
An eight-character mantra appeared in the center of the smart mirror:
Yes, Young CEO Pei is amazing!
She narcissistically asked the reflection in the smart mirror: “Magic mirror, magic mirror, then who is Young CEO Pei best matched with, and who is she least matched with?”
The smart mirror couldn’t find photos related to Sang Ningzhi and Lu Ningzhi, so it displayed on the mirror surface:
Young CEO Pei and Sang Ningzhi. Followed by a string of floating heart bubbles.
Young CEO Pei and Miss Lu. Followed by several sarcastic exclamation points, along with a photo of Pei Song crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.
Technology really had advanced indeed.
Even the magic mirror from fairy tales could be replicated, programmed to say whatever you wanted and picking only what you loved to hear. Just like those videos where netizens edited their favorite shipping couples.
She opened her phone and placed orders for several more types of facial masks: black and white bandages, the Guerlain set. She thought of the tomato-red lipstick shade Sang Ningzhi had worn, so she bought a few tubes of tomato-red lipstick and stockpiled some perfume as well.
Shopping truly made one’s mood pleasant.
Especially when buying things for a pretty omega.
She put down her phone, thinking that her mother would probably come over shortly and definitely ask her which omega she had been fooling around with last night.
Who knows, in the future Sang Ningzhi might even get to witness a melodramatic high-society drama script like “Take my money and leave my daughter.” Based on her preliminary understanding of Sang Ningzhi, Sang Ningzhi wouldn’t let herself suffer any losses.
Step one in placating her mother was gifting a handbag, because handbags could cure all ailments. Step two was soothing her stomach. Step three, should she also install a smart mirror for her mother, letting the magic mirror tell her every day that she was the prettiest omega in Yuncheng?
Being narcissistic at home wasn’t illegal.
Five minutes later, the decisive and efficient Madam Pei, dressed in fur and stepping on ten-centimeter high heels, appeared in her office. She shouted out loud: “Pei Song, !”
The office: ……
A gust of wind blew past. Aside from the swaying office door, the only thing left behind in the office was a brand-new handbag. Holding this handbag, Madam Pei rolled her eyes at the office. Forget it, she would spare Pei Song this once.
Songsong: Mom, I went and bought you coffee.