A Rich Family’s Matrilocal Alpha Married to a Vegetative Omega - Chapter 10

Ye Fan held the written bookmark in her hand and glanced at the girl who was focused on wrapping the flowers. “You’re really talented,” Ye Fan said. “I can’t believe you made them look this beautiful in just a few moves. My Omega is going to be so happy when I bring these home.”

The girl beamed and chatted along with her. Finally, she finished the bouquet with a ribbon and handed it over. Ye Fan reached out to take it, smoothly leaving the bookmark on the counter.

She took a breath of the bouquet’s scent, praising how fragrant it was, while surreptitiously watching the girl out of the corner of her eye.

She couldn’t tell if the girl was being professional or if she truly hadn’t noticed anything. After a moment of fruitless observation, Ye Fan gave up, paid, and left with the flowers.

On her way back, she stopped at a snack street to pick up some BBQ skewers and spicy hot pot. An Alpha carrying a bouquet of flowers while ordering street food was quite a sight; she certainly turned a lot of heads. Fortunately, Ye Fan was thick-skinned and didn’t notice the stares—she even ended up asking her bodyguards to help carry the food.

When she returned, Su Yu’s expression turned subtle as she stared at Ye Fan and the snacks. She stepped forward and reminded her solemnly, “Miss Ye Fan, you cannot eat too much junk food during this month of pregnancy preparation.”

Ye Fan blinked innocently. “Well, you didn’t give me a specific limit, did you? Let’s just start counting from next time~”

Su Yu tried to insist, but Ye Fan looked straight ahead, pretending not to hear as she carried the food and flowers upstairs.

Su Yu, left standing behind her, had no choice. She couldn’t use physical force to make Ye Fan drop the food. After Ye Fan’s previous tantrum, the results were clear: Qin Wan had privately instructed that as long as it didn’t involve fundamental principles, they should try to accommodate Ye Fan.

Su Yu wasn’t sure if this counted as a “fundamental principle,” so she decided to book a physical exam for Ye Fan. If any issues arose, she would contact the nutritionist to adjust the meal plan immediately.

With that thought, Su Yu left.

Hearing the footsteps recede downstairs, Ye Fan breathed a sigh of relief. She had been genuinely worried that Su Yu would charge up and throw her food away, just like when she was smashing things earlier. If Su Yu had actually done that, Ye Fan wasn’t sure what she would have done—it likely would have ended in a fight.

Fortunately, Su Yu didn’t have such thoughts. Or rather, compared to someone like Ye Fan, people in high society rarely resorted to such crude methods.

Oh, come to think of it, Qin Shujian should probably be the exception? Thinking of this, Ye Fan felt a strange sense of safety, like returning to a harbor.

She entered the room, put down the BBQ, and locked the door. Only then did she take the flowers to Qin Shujian’s bedside and whisper, “I’m back. Mission accomplished~”

Qin Shujian had heard her come in, but she cooperated and replied, “Welcome back.”

Coming from the cold-voiced Qin Shujian, the phrase sounded unexpectedly amusing. Ye Fan’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. “Guess what I brought for you? I bet you can’t guess—come on, take a sniff. Doesn’t it smell amazing?”

Qin Shujian seemed to pause, her tone hesitant. “It is very fragrant… You bought flowers? I think I smell… the scent of violets.”

“Violets?”

Ye Fan repeated, leaning in to look. She caught a glimpse of purple and realized it was one of the secondary flowers she had chosen.

It was magical. The moment Ye Fan saw the flower, she felt instinctively that Qin Shujian would like it, but she hadn’t expected her to identify the scent of violets immediately.

Interest piqued, Ye Fan praised her incessantly. “I have… about four other types of flowers in here!”

“Why don’t you try to guess them all? I can give you a tiny little hint~”

Qin Shujian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but she was happy to play along. She managed to identify the red roses—one of the primary flowers—right away. The forget-me-nots took a bit longer, but it was still impressive enough to leave Ye Fan in awe.

Upon hearing the answer, Ye Fan leaned in to sniff the bouquet herself, saying in wonder, “You can actually tell them apart? To me, it all just smells mixed together.”

“Once you’re used to it, you’ll realize that even when mixed, there are subtle differences.”

As Qin Shujian spoke, she guided Ye Fan’s nose. “For example, you’ll find that the red rose has the strongest scent, so the violet fragrance only acts as the ‘base note’ for the rose. As for the forget-me-nots, they are very gentle, but if you sniff closely, they have a slight sharpness…”

It was rare for Qin Shujian to talk this much, so Ye Fan happily followed her lead with compliments, saying how well she spoke and that the flowers were as beautiful as she was. Qin Shujian’s voice slowly took on a hint of amusement, causing Ye Fan to smile broadly.

She added, “A beauty like you would look especially wonderful if you smiled. Even prettier than the flowers~”

The flattery was getting a bit excessive. Qin Shujian gave a soft mental laugh and shifted the topic, asking what food Ye Fan had bought.

“Oh, right!”

Ye Fan remembered and quickly unwrapped the bags on the table, whispering to Qin Shujian, “I was so hungry! I went a long way out of my way to buy these, lucky I had enough time.”

“Wow, this milk tea! Okay, I actually already had a cup before I came back, but I’m still in love with this ordinary pearl milk tea~”

She then opened the BBQ bags—squid, fried skewers, lamb skewers, chicken wings, drumsticks, and enoki mushrooms. The mix of meat and vegetables had that unique, delicious BBQ aroma. Ye Fan took a bite of a juicy skewer, her eyes narrowing in pure satisfaction.

Listening to her eat with such gusto, Qin Shujian was somewhat shocked. She laughed helplessly. “Is it really that good? I’ve never seen you this satisfied with the food at home.”

At the mention of the home-cooked food, Ye Fan felt a bit aggrieved. She pouted. “It’s not like I want to be picky! But the taste of ‘delicacy’ requires heavy oil, salt, and lots of dopamine. Anything else… is just called ‘surviving’!”

Ye Fan rambled on, then turned to look at Qin Shujian, her eyes lighting up.

“Actually, you haven’t tasted these in a long time, have you? Do you want to try? The flavor is really excellent~”

Ye Fan recommended it enthusiastically, but Qin Shujian gave a reserved refusal. She didn’t want to spoil Ye Fan’s mood, so she simply said, “No, thank you. I didn’t really eat these things before the accident; I don’t like them.”

“Huh?” Ye Fan’s tone was filled with disappointment. “How can you not like something this delicious…”

Then she realized something. Her eyes darted around suspiciously. “Wait a minute. With Mother Qin being so strict, you probably couldn’t eat this so-called junk food at all, right? Trying to fool me… Just take a tiny sip. Don’t worry, I’ll be very careful!”

Ye Fan pushed the recommendation again. Having her thoughts seen through, Qin Shujian felt a bit helpless but admitted the truth: she had rarely ever had milk tea. Eventually, unable to resist the coaxing, Qin Shujian relented.

Ye Fan’s eyes sparkled as she dabbed some milk tea onto Qin Shujian’s lips to let her taste it. Qin Shujian cooperated and offered a few words of praise.

“…Even though it’s my first time, the taste is indeed quite good.”

Her words were faint, but even those few light words were enough to make Ye Fan happy. She started chattering away.

“Of course! That’s the joy of desserts. Even if we need a balanced diet for our health, you shouldn’t ban everything completely. Sometimes you just have to indulge a little. Next time I’ll bring you something else. Let me think, what else is there—”

Ye Fan could talk to herself about anything. Even when Qin Shujian didn’t respond, her tone was always upbeat, like a little sun that was permanently bright and radiant, ready to hum a tune at any moment…

As if infected by the happiness in her words, Qin Shujian couldn’t help but murmur, asking her directly for the first time:

“Why do you seem so easily happy? Is it just because the food is good? It doesn’t feel like that. I haven’t seen you, but I imagine you must be even happier in your regular life than you are now, right?”

Qin Shujian’s voice turned gentle, filled with both curiosity and a sense of longing. Ye Fan almost thought she had misheard—the Great Miss Qin was longing for her?

Even though she didn’t quite understand why someone would long for her happiness, Ye Fan laughed as she gave a straightforward answer: “Not really!”

“My mom is also a vegetable. I can’t communicate with her, but I know she’s worried about me. So, I have to be happy every day! If I let my mom feel that happiness, she can rest easy without having to worry about me even while she’s asleep…”

The topic started to feel a bit heavy, so Ye Fan stopped herself. Her tone rose again as she continued her rambling: “Oh, why am I telling you all this? Don’t overthink it. What you need to do now is make yourself happy every day so you can wake up sooner~”

Lying there, Qin Shujian couldn’t see Ye Fan’s expression, she could only hear her voice. She was momentarily stunned, wondering why Ye Fan’s tone had shifted so quickly, but she was soon drawn back in by her words.

She let out a soft sigh, filled with regret and an unnamable sorrow, and asked softly: “Can I really still wake up? It’s already been so long…”

Qin Shujian herself was almost ready to give up.