A Heartless Omega Regrets It When I’m Dying - Chapter 4

Lin Wantang stared at the message for a long time in silence. It wasn’t until her fingers grew stiff and icy from exposure to the cold wind that she let out a soft breath and slipped the phone back into her coat pocket.

A message from Wen Zhiqing’s assistant almost always carried the weight of Wen Zhiqing’s own intent. Previously, Wen Zhiqing had rarely invited her to attend banquets, but seeing the message today, Lin Wantang didn’t feel the joy she once might have. Her emotions felt weightless, drifting without a place to land.

Qi Yishu had just returned to the country today; this gathering was likely her welcome dinner.

But Lin Wantang just wanted to go home, take a hot bath, and sleep without a single thought.

Whether it was Qi Yishu or the dinner, none of it mattered to her anymore—as long as Wen Zhiqing remembered to come home tonight.

Beyond that, she didn’t want to know anything. As long as she remained ignorant, she could keep inventing excuses for Wen Zhiqing in her heart and continue their marriage, like an ostrich burying its face in the sand.

Lin Wantang hurried into the car, sealing out the biting wind. After turning on the heater, she took out her phone, opened the chat, and began to type a reply to the assistant: [I’m sorry, I can’t make it.]

Before she could hit send, her phone rang. It was Song Shu—the woman who had provoked her on the day of her anniversary.

Seeing the name, Lin Wantang realized she had forgotten to block her. Yet, by some strange impulse, she didn’t reject the call. She pressed the answer button.

“Lin Wantang, Qi Yishu’s welcome banquet is set for the top-floor revolving restaurant of the Wujie Hotel. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Song Shu’s voice was somewhat muffled, competing with the sound of the wind and falling branches. Lin Wantang couldn’t quite gauge her tone, so she simply replied, “Yes, I know.”

“This is a welcome dinner for President Wen’s ‘White Moonlight,’ and Wen Zhiqing picked the location herself. You still have time to get there.”

Song Shu was heartbroken that she hadn’t been invited to the dinner, so she was currently standing in the gale outside the Wujie Hotel, determined to make everyone else just as miserable.

She was certain Qi Yishu had returned because she couldn’t forget Wen Zhiqing. Thus, she was desperate for Qi Yishu to see that Wen Zhiqing’s current wife was an Alpha who lacked both family background and capability. She wanted Wen Zhiqing to feel even more disgusted by the “scheming” Lin Wantang in front of her first love. She wanted Lin Wantang to see clearly that she was nothing more than a clown on someone else’s path to love.

Song Shu wanted all three of them to suffer. But if even one of them failed to show up, the play couldn’t begin.

“It’s just a welcome dinner.”

Lin Wantang’s voice remained calm, but through the rearview mirror, she saw her own soul-weary, bloodless face.

It was obvious Lin Wantang didn’t intend to go, which made Song Shu even more anxious. “Lin Wantang, you’re certainly confident. Aren’t you afraid something might actually happen between them if you stay home? Reminiscing about old times at a dinner… who knows what might happen in the dead of night when emotions become uncontrollable?”

“If you’re there, they might at least respect your status as the legal partner and think twice before doing anything reckless.”

Lin Wantang didn’t listen further and hung up.

In the rare silence following the call, she sat motionless for a moment. Then, she placed her phone on the mount, opened the navigation app, and typed in “Wujie Hotel.”

Song Shu’s words were a blatant provocation, yet she couldn’t help but take them to heart.

Lin Wantang gripped the steering wheel. As the distance on the GPS shortened, her heart rate quickened.

Finally, the navigation announced “15 meters.” Lin Wantang parked the car, turned off the heat, and stared blankly at the dashboard.

She didn’t actually want to get out, nor did she want to join the gathering. But because she loved Wen Zhiqing, she had already done too many things she never wanted to do.

As her hand reached for the door handle, a terrifying thought struck her.

She shouldn’t feel this way. Doing these things for Wen Zhiqing should be something she did willingly. Yet, a feeling she had barely noticed herself was starting to take root: resentment.

Lin Wantang opened the door, and the bitter wind instantly flooded the car. She pulled her coat tight and finally regained a semblance of calm as she stepped out.

“Junior, long time no see.”

The greeting came out of nowhere. The voice was crisp and clear—one she hadn’t heard in years but knew instantly. There was no scent of pheromones, only a very faint trace of tobacco.

Even without turning around, Lin Wantang knew who it was.

She froze for a second, her facial muscles so tense she could hardly manage an expression. She spent a few seconds adjusting before forcing a polite smile and turning around.

Qi Yishu was alone. Lin Wantang let out a quiet sigh of relief; Wen Zhiqing wasn’t with her.

Qi Yishu’s eyes were calm, her irises a light amber that made it almost impossible to read her thoughts. She still wore her natural black hair in a low, casual bun.

Seeing Lin Wantang, Qi Yishu extinguished a slim cigarette she had just lit. She naturally took out a tin of mints and popped one into her mouth. Her fingertips, which had just crushed the cigarette’s menthol bead, carried a faint minty scent mixed with tobacco as she held the tin out to Lin Wantang. “Long time no see. Junior, want a mint?”

“It’s been years, Senior hasn’t changed much.”

Lin Wantang hurriedly thanked her and took a mint, feeling her smile was incredibly forced. She didn’t even dare let her gaze linger on Qi Yishu for too long, lowering her head to pretend to check her phone.

“Is that so? But you’ve changed a lot, Junior.”

Qi Yishu casually stepped toward her, glancing at Lin Wantang’s hands tucked deep into her coat pockets. She started to reach out, hesitated, and then naturally pulled her hand back. “What surprised me most was that while I was abroad these past few years, you and Zhiqing got married.”

It sounded almost like an interrogation.

Lin Wantang didn’t know how to respond, so she hid behind a rushed smile. “Time does fly.”

Qi Yishu didn’t seem inclined to drop the subject. She tilted her head toward Lin, her voice growing colder. “I heard your marriage to Zhiqing took quite a bit of effort?”

“Quite a bit of effort” was a polite euphemism. The true meaning was likely a reference to the scandal in the tasting room three years ago, implying Lin Wantang had orchestrated it.

Lin Wantang was slightly taller than Qi Yishu, so she easily caught the sharp flash in those amber eyes. She felt the palms in her pockets break into a thin sweat. When she spoke again, her voice was raspy. “That’s all in the past. Senior, please don’t tease me anymore.”

Qi Yishu stared at her for a few seconds, then gave a light scoff. “You really have changed.”

In the past, Lin Wantang would answer her seriously no matter what she asked.

After that, Qi Yishu didn’t say another word.

Lin Wantang felt relieved. Being around Qi Yishu was agonizingly awkward, so she pretended to reply to a message and slowly fell behind.

Qi Yishu, of course, didn’t stop to wait for her. Lin Wantang could guess that, aside from Wen Zhiqing, Qi Yishu had nothing she wanted to discuss with her. Even back in university, they had rarely interacted, and only when Wen Zhiqing was present.

Lin Wantang deliberately slowed her pace. When she finally entered the lobby of the Wujie Hotel with her head down, she heard two familiar voices intertwining—harmonious as a flute and a zither.

She looked up and saw two figures nearly overlapping not far away.

Both were leaning slightly toward each other, their hair almost touching. It was an incredibly intimate posture.

Lin Wantang thought dully: They really are a perfect match. The scene before her was more touching than any reunion she had ever seen.

Since their marriage, had there ever been a time when she and Wen Zhiqing had stood so close in public?

Lin Wantang thought about it over and over, analyzing it more meticulously than a math problem on a college entrance exam, but the answer remained a blank.

She stood there frozen and helpless, unsure whether to walk over and join the conversation or simply run away.

Both options seemed clumsy. Lin Wantang stood in the brightly lit lobby like a lifeless statue.

After what felt like forever, the figures of Wen Zhiqing and Qi Yishu finally pulled apart slightly. Only then did others step forward to speak. “Yishu, President Wen came down five minutes early to wait for you the moment she heard you were almost here.”

“Yishu-jie must feel the same way. I heard she rushed straight here from the airport.”

“I’m telling you, President Wen and Director Qi are still so well-matched. They grew up together as childhood sweethearts, after all.”

“Exactly. It’s pathetic when someone insists on forcing their way into a relationship where they don’t belong.”

Lin Wantang finally resolved to walk over, arriving just in time to hear the mention of “childhood sweethearts.” She silently shrunk into the shadows at the very edge of the crowd.

She felt like her presence here was utterly superfluous.

She couldn’t even count how many times she had felt this heartbreak. It was as if her heart were covered in tiny cracks, constantly scabbing over and being torn open again over the years.

Was loving someone always this painful?

Lin Wantang didn’t have the answer. She stood quietly, waiting for the flattery to end.

Fortunately, the wait wasn’t long. Everyone knew Wen Zhiqing was married, so they didn’t push the topic too far.

Lin Wantang let out a soft sigh, but her gland began to throb again. She instinctively touched it, and a trace of sour, bitter citrus pheromones escaped uncontrollably.

Wen Zhiqing seemed to sense her scent. She frowned slightly and glanced in Lin’s direction, then immediately turned back to say something to Qi Yishu with a smile.

The smile was faint—like a frozen lake suddenly thawing, sending out ripples meant for only one person.

Amidst the continuous pain, Lin Wantang had only one thought: So, Wen Zhiqing still knows how to smile at people. She smiled so beautifully; it was just a shame that smile would never be for her.

The lobby was brilliantly lit. Lin Wantang was trembling with pain, but she could clearly see Qi Yishu gently taking Wen Zhiqing’s hand. The two naturally walked toward the elevator together.

The lights cast a soft glow over them, draping them in what looked like a golden wedding veil.

It turned out she had been an outsider from the very beginning.

The others followed behind Wen Zhiqing and Qi Yishu into the elevator hall. Until the doors closed, not a single person seemed to notice Lin Wantang, who was pale and trembling in agony.