A Fishing-Type Omega Always Wants to Possess Me - Chapter 2

The moment those two words left her lips, everyone in the living room seemed to freeze.

The servants stood rigidly in place, even quieting their breathing.

Yu Shu’s face instantly turned deathly pale. She felt as though countless needles were pricking her back and nearly fainted on the spot.

She was just about to scold Yu Mianzhou in an attempt to salvage the situation when Gu Wanlan spoke first.

She had noticed the strange atmosphere as well, and she also found the barely perceptible smile at the corner of Yu Mianzhou’s lips somewhat unsettling. Such a beautiful face, yet when she smiled, it made one’s skin crawl.

Assuming Yu Mianzhou had only just returned and had yet to readjust, Gu Wanlan maintained her composure and said gently, “Then it’s settled. I’ll see you at the wedding, Little Sister Mianzhou.”

The way she called her “little sister” was truly grating.

Yu Mianzhou glanced at the servants around her, all of whom looked as though they were facing a formidable enemy. The curve of her lips remained unchanged.

They appeared not to be paying attention to her, but in truth, every one of them was watching her as though guarding against a thief.

She spoke softly.

“I’ll be there on time and offer Sister Jiang Zhi and Miss Gu my sincerest blessings.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the invisible pressure abruptly dissipated, and even the air began to flow again.

Yu Shu no longer felt faint.

Terrified that her daughter might say something else shocking, she hurriedly turned to Gu Wanlan.

“Wanlan, the engagement banquet must have exhausted you. You’ve been busy all morning, so hurry and take Xiao Zhi to rest.”

Gu Wanlan nodded. She walked over to the sofa and extended a hand toward Jiang Zhi.

“Come on, Zhizhi. We still have an appointment with the designer this afternoon to look at wedding dresses.”

Zhizhi was Jiang Zhi’s childhood nickname.

In front of her fiancée, Jiang Zhi appeared to have no temper whatsoever.

She stood and even gave Gu Wanlan a sweet smile.

There was nothing sharp or aggressive about it. The smile was faint and delicate, possessing a gentle beauty that made anyone who saw it want to pluck it for themselves.

As she passed Yu Mianzhou, the hem of her skirt stirred a faint breeze.

That breeze carried the scent Yu Mianzhou knew better than any other, mingling with the fragrance of the flower beds outside and winding around her until even her breathing slowed for half a beat.

At that exact second, Jiang Zhi’s steps seemed to pause for the briefest instant—so briefly that even Gu Wanlan failed to notice.

She still did not turn around.

Those eyes that had once looked at Yu Mianzhou countless times now reflected only her fiancée.

That dignified way of pretending she did not exist chilled Yu Mianzhou to the bone more than any humiliation ever could.

At her side, Yu Mianzhou’s fingers curled almost imperceptibly.

Only after Jiang Zhi left did the servants in the living room come back to life. They quickly dispersed and returned to their respective tasks.

Looking at the living room, which had emptied in moments, Yu Mianzhou lowered her eyes.

Three years was enough time for many memories to become mottled and fade.

She had almost forgotten.

Jiang Zhi smiled at other women that way too.

“Yu Mianzhou!”

Yu Shu could no longer suppress her anger. Her impeccably maintained features even twisted slightly.

“Who gave you permission to agree to attend Jiang Zhi’s wedding? Have you forgotten what you just promised your Aunt Jiang?! I already told you to behave yourself. You only just returned, and you’re already acting like this. Aren’t you afraid they’ll drive you away for another three—”

“Mom.”

Yu Mianzhou interrupted her in a flat voice.

This long-awaited reunion between mother and daughter had not even lasted an hour.

Her dark eyes lowered, like a bottomless frozen pool beneath the moonlight.

“I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

“All you know how to do is sleep! Now that you’ve grown up, you won’t even listen to your mother anymore. Do you think I would ever harm you?”

Yu Shu was both furious and resentful. Overcome with self-pity, she stumbled two steps and braced herself against the back of the sofa, clearly unwilling to answer.

Yu Mianzhou did not press her.

She simply turned and left.

She called over a maid, who carried her luggage and led her upstairs.

When they passed the second floor, the maid did not slow down. Yu Mianzhou glanced toward the end of the second-floor corridor before continuing after her.

Upon reaching the third floor, the maid stopped outside a room. Her tone was mechanical, devoid of any unnecessary emotion.

“Second Young Miss, your room has been moved here.”

When Yu Mianzhou had first been brought into the Jiang family, her room had been on the second floor, directly opposite Jiang Zhi’s.

Now she lived alone on the third floor.

There were only two rooms on this level. Opposite hers was Jiang Zhi’s music room.

After the maid left, Yu Mianzhou pushed open her bedroom door.

The location had changed, yet everything inside had been arranged exactly as it had been when she hurriedly left three years ago.

The desk, the lamp, the bed—even the clothes inside the wardrobe still hung in neat rows. They were merely covered in a thin layer of dust and carried the stale scent of age.

It was as though she had not been driven out of the country at all, but had merely gone on a long trip.

Everything had been deliberately preserved like a reminder—

A reminder of the place she had once occupied.

She was too exhausted to examine it more deeply. She collapsed onto the bed and quickly fell asleep, using slumber to fend off the overwhelming effects of jet lag.

She did not know how long she had slept before someone knocked gently on the door.

“Second Young Miss, dinner is ready.”

Yu Mianzhou opened her eyes.

Outside the window, night had completely fallen.

When she went downstairs, Gu Wanlan had unexpectedly returned.

She was sitting with Jiang Yingqiu on the living room sofa, discussing something.

“Zhizhi didn’t like that designer’s work, so we’re planning to visit one of the bridal boutiques owned by the Jiang Corporation tomorrow,” Gu Wanlan said in her warm, gentle voice.

Holding a teacup, Jiang Yingqiu replied mildly, “There’s only a little over a month until the wedding. These matters need to be settled as soon as possible.”

As she spoke, her gaze shifted toward Jiang Zhi, who was sitting nearby flipping through a magazine. A trace of reproach entered her voice.

“And you—why were you constantly away on business trips recently? Couldn’t you have taken leave from the orchestra? Now everything is being rushed. This wedding represents the reputation of both our families. Not the slightest mistake can be allowed.”

Jiang Zhi seemed not to hear her at all. Her fingertips slid across the glossy pages.

Gu Wanlan looked distressed on her behalf and hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, Aunt Jiang. I’ll prepare everything. Let Zhizhi rest for a while.”

After speaking, she turned and saw Yu Mianzhou descending the stairs. She immediately smiled and waved.

“Little Sister Mianzhou, come eat.”

Jiang Yingqiu’s gaze swept over as well, neither warm nor cold.

She had clearly already learned that Gu Wanlan had invited Yu Mianzhou to the wedding. However, since one of the brides herself had extended the invitation, Jiang Yingqiu could hardly embarrass her by objecting.

It also gave her another opportunity to observe Yu Mianzhou’s attitude more closely.

At the dining table, Gu Wanlan and Jiang Yingqiu did nearly all the talking. Their conversation ranged from the details of the wedding preparations to the guest list. The atmosphere was not particularly lively, but neither did it fall into awkward silence.

Yu Mianzhou ate quietly, her presence barely noticeable.

After dinner, Jiang Yingqiu took Gu Wanlan and Jiang Zhi upstairs.

Yu Mianzhou had just started to rise when Yu Shu grabbed her.

“Mianzhou, come with Mommy.”

Yu Shu pressed her down onto the living room sofa. The moment they sat, she caught an extremely faint scent in the air.

Her eyes immediately lit up with intense excitement.

“Mianzhou, did you undergo a secondary differentiation?!”

The ancestral hall had been so thick with incense during the day that she had not noticed it then.

Now, however, a faint mint fragrance permeated the air. It was so light that it nearly dissolved into the atmosphere, yet it possessed a presence impossible to ignore.

Cool and clear, it resembled mint leaves parted by the breeze in the morning mist, threaded through with the plant’s natural bitterness as it spread through the air strand by strand.

As she spoke, Yu Shu raised a hand in delight, intending to inspect the back of Yu Mianzhou’s neck—

Were Mianzhou truly to have undergone a secondary differentiation into an Alpha or Omega, her value to the Jiang family would be incomparable to what it had been before!

The overwhelming majority of the Empire’s population were Betas. Alphas and Omegas combined accounted for only thirty percent of the total population!

Even if Mianzhou had merely differentiated into an Omega, she could still become an enormous asset to the Jiang family. And if she were even luckier and had differentiated into the much rarer Alpha…

The skin at the back of Yu Mianzhou’s neck instinctively tightened.

The trace of mint in the air abruptly became sharp and dangerous, like an icy blade concealed inside its sheath.

She did not evade Yu Shu’s hand. She merely said mildly, “I didn’t undergo a secondary differentiation. I’m just wearing a little perfume.”

Yu Shu’s hand quickly froze in midair.

She raised her eyes and studied her daughter’s expression.

Yu Mianzhou was always like this—her expression cold and unreadable. Even when she looked at her own mother, a trace of chill would occasionally show in her eyes.

Yet it was precisely that extremely detached demeanor that made others instinctively believe whatever she said.

The light in Yu Shu’s eyes dimmed again at an astonishing speed. She seemed unwilling to accept it.

“Is—is that so?”

She had spent three years without managing to secure the position of Madam Jiang. She possessed neither talents nor useful abilities, so naturally, she desperately hoped her daughter would differentiate into one of the rare Alphas or Omegas.

That scent was so vivid and alive, carrying the faint warmth unique to a living creature.

What sort of perfume could possibly imitate it so perfectly?

Disappointed, Yu Shu picked up a stack of documents from the coffee table and spread them out in front of Yu Mianzhou.

They were all photographs and personal information belonging to young women.

“Take a look. Mommy chose all of these for you. They come from respectable families, and they’re all Betas just like you.”

Yu Shu did not lower her voice, and her tone was urgent.

“You’re already old enough. Don’t be too picky or overestimate yourself. Hurry and choose one, and Mommy will arrange a blind date for you.”

Those few thin sheets of paper were like a net wrapping around Yu Mianzhou until she could barely breathe.

She had known long ago that the moment she returned, she would face the Jiang family’s endless scrutiny and probing.

She also knew that Jiang Yingqiu, who had gone upstairs earlier, had not returned to her room.

At this very moment, she was standing in the second-floor corridor, looking down at them from above.

Yu Shu had deliberately chosen not to discuss this inside a bedroom. Instead, she had brought it up in the wide-open living room so the Jiang family could see everything clearly.

Even after Yu Mianzhou had sworn such a vicious oath, these people still did not trust her.

Countless gazes swept over her. Some belonged to the servants, while others might have belonged to members of the Jiang family.

She could no longer distinguish one from another.

“Mianzhou, why are you just sitting there? Hurry and choose!”

Seeing that she was not moving, Yu Shu directly shoved the documents into her hands.

Choose?

Yu Mianzhou thought bitterly.

Did she truly have the right to choose?

The gaze behind her was filled with scrutiny.

“There’s no need.”

Yu Mianzhou finally spoke, even her breathing heavy with suppressed tension.

She pushed the stack of documents aside.

Under the oppressive force of the gaze behind her, which seemed on the verge of piercing straight through her, she spoke slowly and clearly, enunciating every word.

“I already have a girlfriend abroad.”

“Her flight is tonight. She’ll arrive tomorrow.”