The next day, Qiao Yi came to visit Qiao Jiao.
“Big sister, I brought you some chicken soup made by the family’s housekeeper,” Qiao Yi said affectionately, holding up a thermos container.
Qiao Jiao’s gaze remained fixed on her mobile phone screen, completely ignoring Qiao Yi’s voice.
Qiao Yi’s smile stiffened slightly. “Big sister, what are you looking at? Is it work related?”
Qiao Jiao paused and said softly, “Come take a look.”
Startled, Qiao Yi eagerly leaned in, but the moment she saw the image on the screen, her expression turned as ugly as if she had swallowed feces.
On Qiao Jiao’s phone screen was a photo.
The background was the entrance of a certain company building. In it, Qiao Yi was holding arms with another tall girl, resting her head on the other’s shoulder as they walked forward intimately.
That girl was none other than her new girlfriend, Lin Xi.
Qiao Yi’s voice couldn’t help trembling. “Big sister, this is a photo of me and my friend. How did it end up on your phone?”
Qiao Jiao asked, “Xiao Yi, are you still trying to lie to me?”
The woman looked at her with those cold, clear eyes, causing cold sweat to break out down Qiao Yi’s back. Biting her lip, she finally caved: “After breaking up with Duan Jinwei, I found another girlfriend… The person in the photo is my new girlfriend.”
Looking at her, the disappointment in Qiao Jiao’s eyes deepened.
“The timestamp on this photo is March 17th. The last time I saw you at the hospital, you claimed you broke up right after Duan Jinwei forcibly marked you, which should have been just a few days prior to September 2nd.”
Qiao Jiao asked softly, “So, you actually got a new girlfriend before breaking up with her?”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but uttering those words carried an inexplicable sense of oppression.
Qiao Yi’s words got stuck in her throat, doing several loops.
Cold sweat slid down her spine.
Unable to hold out any longer, Qiao Yi confessed: “Because Duan Jinwei’s rank is too low and she could never mark me properly, I couldn’t stand it anymore and went looking for other alphas. Big sister, this really isn’t my fault.”
Never expecting Qiao Jiao to have people investigate the matter, Qiao Yi’s brain short-circuited, she had no idea what to say and just blurted out a chaotic, rambling explanation.
Qiao Jiao fell silent, then looked away.
Gazing out the window, she let out a sigh from the corner of her lips.
Qiao Yi’s heart plummeted to rock bottom.
When Jiang Na pushed the door open, she happened to catch Qiao Jiao lecturing her younger sister. The aura radiating all around was at sub-zero temperatures, scaring Jiang Na so much that she stuck out her tongue and backed right out again.
Too terrified to utter even half a word, Qiao Yi could only stand in place with her head bowed, her earlobes burning red.
Qiao皎 asked, “The things on the internet about her, did you have people spread them?”
When Cui Yi’an brought over the documents yesterday, Qiao Jiao had been quite taken aback.
Originally, she thought it was just Qiao Yi passing the buck, but things turned out far more complicated than she had imagined.
That young woman had been hit with false countercharges and verbally torn to shreds online.
With reddened eyes, Qiao Yi protested, “No, I really didn’t do that!”
Qiao Jiao instructed, “Clarify it.”
Stunned, Qiao Yi blinked. “Huh?”
Qiao Jiao slightly lifted her chin. Her finger, resting lightly upon the quilt, twitched toward Qiao Yi’s bag.
Qiao Yi tried to stall: “Big sister, it’s already been several days, and the forum administrators have already taken down that post…”
“Give it to me.”
Fighting back tears, Qiao Yi handed over her phone.
The operating room doors slowly pushed open, and Duan Jinwei, alongside Xia棠, wheeled out the gurney.
Duan Jinwei pushed the cart with one hand while holding the patient’s IV bag with the other. Wearing glasses, her eyes behind the lenses were slightly narrowed, framed by distinct, faint dark circles.
Working together, Duan Jinwei and Xia棠 maneuvered the patient onto the hospital bed, carefully adjusting the angle of the headrest.
Anxiously, the patient’s family member peppered them with questions: “Doctor, does this mean everything is completely fine now that the surgery is done?”
“How long until the anesthesia wears off? What if the pain gets really bad later? Is a fever tonight something to worry about?”
“The surgery went smoothly and the patient’s condition is stable. You don’t need to keep asking repeatedly, just stay here and keep a calm watch. The nurses will notify you right away if anything comes up, alright?”
Xia棠 kept her eyes on the monitor, paying no mind to the family. The man was running around in anxious circles, constantly rubbing his hands together.
“When they wake up, can they drink water…”
Having just completed five consecutive hours of surgery, Xia棠 had reached the absolute limit of exhaustion. Her brows furrowed in growing irritation.
“If anything comes up, the nurses will call you with instructions later.” Xia棠 grabbed her supplies and walked out.
“Then…”
The man shifted his gaze to Duan Jinwei.
The young doctor was standing by the bed, leaning forward slightly. Pinching the catheter between her thumb and forefinger, she slowly repositioned it, gently smoothing out the tubing wrapped behind the patient’s ear.
“Doctor…”
Straightening up, Duan Jinwei said softly, “The anesthesia should wear off in about an hour and a half. There are monitoring devices set up by the bed, look here.”
She demonstrated: “If the pain becomes unbearable, you can press this button yourself to increase the medication dose. You must strictly avoid eating or drinking anything for the first six hours after surgery. I’ll write down a list of precautions for you shortly.”
“It’ll be fine, uncle. It’ll be fine. The surgery went smoothly.”
With a pleasant, soft, and gentle voice coupled with an unthreatening appearance, she quickly managed to calm the man down.
Stepping out of the ward and detaching from the state of high tension, that inexplicable wave of restlessness surged back. Frowning, Duan Jinwei raised a hand to rub her aching marking teeth.
“Weiwei.”
“Weiwei?”
Duan Jinwei snapped out of it. “What’s wrong?”
Xia棠 unpinned her hair, which was completely soaked and uncomfortably sticky with sweat.
“What are you thinking about? I’ve called you several times.”
Startled, Duan Jinwei offered an apologetic smile. “…Sorry, is something the matter?”
Two days had already flown by since that day.
For the past forty-eight hours, Duan Jinwei had been living on pins and needles, constantly worrying whether Qiao Jiao would seek revenge.
Winking playfully, Xia棠 announced with great delight, “You know what? Yesterday, Qiao Yi posted a clarification on the forum.”
Duan Jinwei blinked in surprise. “Clarify what?”
Xia棠 replied, “Roughly speaking, she stated that all those rumors about you cheating on the forum were completely groundless fabrications.”
Xia棠 handed her phone over for Duan Jinwei to read.
User 189djbnri:
[Hello everyone, I am Qiao Yi. I am posting this clarification here.]
[First: Duan Jinwei has never engaged in cheating, infidelity, or any similar behaviors. All screenshots and unfounded speculations circulating online are completely false fabrications with zero factual basis.]
[Second: The end of our relationship was solely caused by clashing values and emotional friction during our time together. All baseless smearing and malicious slander have severely damaged Duan Jinwei’s personal reputation.]
[Third: Online speech should have boundaries, we refuse rumors, rumor-spreading, and malicious cyberbullying.]
[I have preserved all evidence of the rumors. If any accounts continue to deliberately spread rumors for traffic or launch malicious personal attacks, legal action will be pursued to the fullest extent without leniency.]
[Final apology: Unfounded rumors have collateralized innocent parties, for which I express my deepest apologies. I hope everyone will respect the facts and cease groundless discussions.]
Following this uproar, public sentiment online completely flipped. The previous overwhelming torrent of abuse vanished entirely, replaced by a screen full of sympathy.
1L: [Is Qiao Yi sick in the head? Why didn’t she speak up ages ago? Waiting until after DJW got dragged through the mud for so long before jumping in?]
2L: [? Suddenly feeling kind of sorry for the big shot.]
3L: [My heart hurts so much! The poor girl was just quietly studying and earning scholarships, only to unjustly carry the stigma of a cheater.]
4L: [I can feel the grievance right through the screen. Do honest people deserve to be bullied?]
Paying no attention to the shifting tides of the comment section, Duan Jinwei simply stared at that statement of clarification for a long time, sensing something inherently odd about it.
It didn’t sound like anything Qiao Yi would ever say.
The tone actually reminded her of someone else.
But how could that be? Duan Jinwei shook her head violently, her face turning pale.
She’d been so traumatized by Qiao Jiao lately that her mind kept drifting toward her.
Her phone buzzed. In the trio chat group with her roommates, Gu Tian sent a message:
Gu Tian: [? What’s going on with Qiao Yi? Since when does she have such a kind heart?]
Xia棠: [Maybe a guilty conscience.]
Gu Tian: [If she had a conscience, pigs could fly!]
After replying to Gu Tian, Xia棠 asked, “By the way, Weiwei, aren’t you rotating into the Gland Department next week?”
“Mm.”
“Is your supervising instructor Jiang Na? I heard she’s an absolute beauty. Being able to have her supervise you is the blessing of eight lifetimes.”
“Mm, she’s also my graduate advisor,” Duan Jinwei replied.
Xia棠: “…”
Overflowing with envy, Xia棠 muttered, “Almost forgot. Weiwei, the fact that you actually managed to get into Jiang Na’s graduate program… she’s a titan in the industry.”
“Tangtang,” Duan Jinwei suddenly called out.
“Hmm? What is it?”
Duan Jinwei asked, “If an alpha marker marks an omega without the patient’s consent, what happens?”
“If it’s an emergency situation where treatment requires it, it’s permissible.”
“What if it hadn’t reached a point where a mark was strictly necessary?”
Yesterday’s scene had been so chaotic that she could no longer recall whether it had truly reached the threshold of absolute necessity. Afterwards, she could only continuously replay those moments in her head, guessing blindly.
She couldn’t remember a single physiological sign related to the heat period, all that stuck in her mind was the woman’s overly soft skin and fragrance.
Thinking back to that day, Duan Jinwei’s earlobes began to heat up again.
What if I was influenced by the other party’s pheromones, lost control and marked her? Or what if I misdiagnosed the situation, marking her when there was no need?
Xia棠 answered, “Then the consequences are severe. Omegas possess the legal right to legitimate self-defense against alphas who forcibly mark them, and the involved alpha can be sentenced to life imprisonment. Plus, since she’s a certified marker, her practicing license would be directly revoked alongside hefty fines, bidding a permanent farewell to the industry.”
Duan Jinwei: “…”
“Of course, if the alpha has great skills, the omega might agree to settle things privately.”
“?”
Xia棠 added, “By putting a collar on the alpha so she can serve the omega in bed for the rest of her life.”
“…”
That night.
Qiao Jiao lay in bed, turning over with a sense of discomfort.
Exhaustion.
Ever since being marked, her body seemed prone to fatigue much more easily.
“I am an alpha marker, and I will be serving you now.”
“Big sister, it’s okay, it’s okay, it doesn’t hurt at all.” The girl had alternated between licking her nape and suckling, offering gentle comfort.
Late at night when all was quiet, Qiao Jiao could still sense the other’s pheromones lingering around her neck, warm and cozy, bringing a sense of tranquil serenity.
It was a very special scent, carrying a trace of crisp, dry warmth, a very sweet fruity aroma with a subtle hint of sourness, so faint it was almost imperceptible.
Qiao Jiao couldn’t sleep.
The moment she closed her eyes, the alpha’s gentle reassurances from that private dining room echoed beside her ear.
That unaggressive voice, laced with patience, as the alpha wrapped an arm around her waist and gently patted her back.
In the dead of night, Qiao Jiao woke from a dream, her fair face flushed, her breathing still uneven.
Between her thighs felt slightly damp, a certain place throbbing.
Expressionless, Qiao Jiao stared at the ceiling, the corners of her eyes stained with a faint flush, her dual gaze brimming with moist, liquid allure.
Then she clenched her legs tightly around the blanket, her fingertips unconsciously digging into the fabric as she slowly bunched it up in her grip. Arching her slender neck, a barely audible low gasp slipped past her throat before she collapsed limply back into the bedding.
Her cool face was already tainted with a trace of seductive charm. Biting her damp, red lower lip, she closed her eyes.