After A Crazy Omega Took Me In - Chapter 1

It rained often in Nancheng at this time of year. Fine, unbroken drizzle trickled from the eaves at the mouth of the alley and sank into the dust-covered earth, washing the blood clean from the shards of broken glass scattered nearby.

Beside the jagged fragments lay a long, pale finger with glass embedded in it. Beneath the moonlight, it looked like shattered jade.

The girl in the blue-and-white school uniform struggled to lift her ink-dark eyes. Her gaze fell upon the woman standing some distance away, watching her from beneath an umbrella.

Her entire body trembled faintly from the pain, and every breath was thick with the metallic scent of blood.

It hurt.

Her whole body hurt. Every bone in her body hurt.

She did not think she could get up.

So she simply leaned against the alley wall, catching her breath while wondering whether Shi Lian would come over and help her.

After all, Shi Lian had taken her in.

No matter how much Shi Lian hated her, surely she would at least want her to stay alive.

Unfortunately, that slender figure merely lingered there for a moment before turning and retreating beneath the mottled streetlamp behind her.

Jin Xu closed her eyes.

Just like on countless nights she had spent alone, she waited for her body to grow accustomed to the pain. She waited until she could slowly stand and walk home by herself.

As she rested, Jin Xu pressed one hand over her wound and unconsciously drifted into thought.

Shi Lian had been acting strangely lately.

She knew Jin Xu would be beaten, so she came to pick her up with an umbrella, yet she only stood at a distance that was neither near nor far, as though she merely wanted to see how miserable Jin Xu looked.

She was like a pampered cat that poked its head in every day to check whether Jin Xu was dead, only leaving in peace after confirming that she was not.

It was a little cute.

Jin Xu truly wondered what expression the woman would wear if she really was beaten to death one day.

She thought it would be nice if the person Shi Lian hated so much were not her.

When she finally managed to stand and limped past a fried-rice-noodle stall, she was still in a good enough mood to buy Shi Lian a bowl to take home.

After walking a few steps, she turned back and bought another bowl for herself.

The stall owner had seen her injured plenty of times. He merely glanced at her and did not ask any questions, afraid of inviting trouble upon himself.

Jin Xu was usually talkative, but she knew she was being targeted. At a time like this, it was already generous of the owner to sell her food, so she sat there obediently and did not try to strike up a conversation.

The two servings of fried rice noodles were still hot when she carried them home.

Jin Xu wrapped them inside her faded, overwashed school uniform, letting herself be soaked through by the rain instead.

The moment she stepped through the door, comfortable golden light enveloped her. She narrowed her eyes in contentment, relaxing like some large canine returning to the safety of its den.

The woman had already showered and was dressed in a silk robe, lounging lazily against the sofa.

She lifted a pair of damp-looking eyes toward Jin Xu, but when her gaze touched upon the two bowls of fried rice noodles she took out from inside her uniform, it shifted away unnaturally.

Shi Lian had been preparing for a concert recently, and her manager had told her to watch her figure.

Unfortunately, Jin Xu had once caught her eating nothing but vegetable leaves for dinner.

From that day onward, Jin Xu had started bringing her something every night, bought with money she had earned from some unknown part-time job.

Sometimes it was a steamed bun, held in the hands of someone filthy from head to toe while the bag itself remained perfectly clean.

Sometimes it was a piece of bread, its plastic wrapper looking cloyingly sweet and cheap.

This was the first time she had brought home an entire bowl of fried rice noodles.

Two bowls, no less.

It looked as though she intended to eat with her.

Yet only moments ago, she had been staring at Shi Lian from the alley as though she were on the verge of death.

How could Jin Xu still have an appetite?

She obediently went to wash her hands, rinsing away some of the blood on the surface.

Pei Zhao dragged a stool over and sat at the coffee table in front of the sofa. She opened one serving of fried rice noodles and placed it before Shi Lian, then divided the other serving in half, saving one portion for tomorrow before taking a large bite from what remained.

Those lovely puppy-like eyes immediately lit up with satisfaction once again, as though she had just tasted something incredibly delicious.

As though everything was fine as long as she had eaten her fill, even while her finger was still bleeding and the wound on her fingertip had been soaked pale by the rain.

Shi Lian turned her head away, her voice cold as if it had been frozen beneath the moonlight.

“Go eat outside.”

The child, who had been about to take another bite, paused.

Then she lowered her eyes and obediently carried her stool over to the balcony.

She did not turn on the light.

Relying only on the moonlight to see the small amount of food in her bowl, she stuffed her cheeks full one bite at a time, then chewed each mouthful with great seriousness.

Shi Lian did not touch the fried rice noodles on the table.

On countless previous nights, she had thrown away every piece of food Jin Xu brought home, acting as though she could not see the trace of embarrassment hidden beneath the girl’s smile.

The things wrapped inside that blue school uniform had gradually changed from plain steamed buns to stuffed buns, then bread, and now fried rice noodles.

The price had risen little by little.

In truth, it was not about the price.

Shi Lian simply could not eat any of it if she wanted to maintain her figure.

But she would never explain that to Jin Xu.

There was no reason to.

No need.

It was not important.

In any case, the next day, the starving child would pick the food out of the trash, wipe it clean, and take it to school to eat.

Judging by how little Jin Xu earned from her part-time jobs, the things Shi Lian had rejected and discarded were probably the only food she had to fill her stomach the following day.

Shi Lian’s gaze drifted away from the fashion magazine in her hands and once again fell uncontrollably upon the child eating so quietly in the corridor.

It settled upon the old school uniform casually draped over her damp short-sleeved shirt.

She remembered the day she had picked Jin Xu up from the cemetery.

The half-grown girl’s face had been gray and bloodless. She had said nothing, as though all the youthful spirit someone her age should have possessed had been crushed to pieces in a single instant.

She had still been wearing the uniform she had rushed over in from school.

It was brand-new and freshly washed, with a little rabbit sleeping in a pile of radishes drawn on one cuff.

She had clearly been raised with great care.

At that thought, Shi Lian suddenly let out a derisive laugh.

A trace of mockery flashed through her amber eyes, which had only moments ago held something resembling pity.

For someone as selfish, self-serving, and utterly hypocritical as Jin Mu, perhaps this child who looked so much like her was the only person she had ever treated sincerely.

Then, if Shi Lian took this child away—the child Jin Mu had hidden and protected so carefully, the child who had only appeared after her death—and watched her be tormented to the brink of death under the pressure of survival, would that keep Jin Mu from ever resting peacefully, even in death?

Yet contrary to Shi Lian’s expectations, Jin Xu was sad for less than a day.

By the second day, the girl who had previously trembled whenever she spoke was already smiling and calling her “Sister.”

She worried about the faint ache in Shi Lian’s stomach whenever she could not eat, and even traveled a long distance to buy porridge from a shop in the north of the city.

“It’s really good,” she had said.

“My mom used to eat porridge from this place whenever her stomach hurt too.”

Over all these years, Shi Lian had only ever paid Jin Xu’s tuition.

She never asked about the costs of books, school fees, miscellaneous expenses, or daily living.

The girl seemed to understand what Shi Lian intended and had never once asked her for money.

Whenever hunger struck, sleeping was the best solution.

Shi Lian stood and casually picked up the plate containing the remaining half of her cucumber and greens.

Just as she was about to throw it into the trash, an injured hand lightly stopped her.

Shi Lian raised her eyes and met a pair of sparkling puppy-like eyes.

“Sister, can I have it?”

Pity, pleading, and countless other emotions churned together in Jin Xu’s gaze, yet somehow they did not make her appear pathetic.

Young people always seemed to know how to soften someone’s heart.

Her lips curved as she looked at Shi Lian with apparent dependence, her clear voice carrying a faint softness.

Unfortunately, Shi Lian had already been deceived by a pair of eyes like that once before.

A careless smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

She overturned the plate and dumped every last piece into the trash.

“Doesn’t eating someone else’s leftovers disgust you?”

“Ah…”

The girl’s beautiful almond-shaped eyes drooped aggrievedly.

“So stingy,” she muttered.

“Sister only ate a few bites. When you came back from your tour last month, you still had some flesh on your face, but now your cheeks are all sunken. And you keep throwing away the food I bring home.”

Shi Lian narrowed her eyes.

The elongated corners of her eyes carried a faint, oppressive force. Her lips parted slightly, their color red and moist, as though something had just brushed over them.

“Are you blaming me?”

“I’m worried about you.”

Those few scattered words pressed down upon Shi Lian’s heart, rolling over it once and leaving behind a fine, aching softness like a light drizzle.

Worried about her?

Since when did she need the concern of a child who could barely protect herself?

She had brought Jin Xu home precisely because she wanted to see the orphaned daughter of her enemy have every bone in her body broken and be forced to kneel and beg.

How much could a child endure?

How long could a child with no one to rely on possibly last?

Yet, against all expectations, Jin Xu had survived.

Under everyone’s indifference, she had somehow raised herself well enough to appear perfectly fine.

It was as though she could not feel pain.

She never made a sound when she was injured.

Even when it snowed, she still wore that thin short-sleeved shirt.

When someone insulted her, she would pause for a moment, then quickly laugh, her eyes curving brightly and beautifully.

How could she not feel pain?

She had only been sixteen when Shi Lian first brought her home.

At that age, even Shi Lian would still act spoiled in her mother’s arms and ask for a particular gift.

She would cry over a tiny cut on her finger from a sheet of paper.

Jin Xu was strange.

She did not seem like a child.

Shi Lian refused to think too deeply about any of these abnormalities.

Frantic and evasive, she attributed the child’s endurance to the fact that she had inherited the same personality as her mother.

Equally hypocritical.

Equally skilled at pretending to be pitiful so others would soften toward her, only to exploit everything her lover had and climb upward.

Dangerous and cunning.

Willing to do anything necessary.

Jin Xu was still smiling.

The cold fried rice noodles on the table gave off a greasy smell. Shi Lian’s stomach, which had not eaten a proper meal in a long time, churned with nausea.

Her departing footsteps did not pause.

They were hurried and fast.

Behind her, the scent of rain drifted over in thin strands, almost tangible as it hooked around her waist.

It lingered there soothingly, then tightened slightly.

Shi Lian looked back.

A misty haze rose in her beautiful peach-blossom eyes. She lightly bit her lower lip, her breathing growing faintly heavier.

“Can’t you control your pheromones?”

Ever since Jin Xu had presented, every day at the time Shi Lian was about to leave—whether she was returning to her room or heading out on tour—the child’s pheromones would unconsciously drift over and curl around her waist.

Like a small animal trying to make her stay.

What it refused to say aloud, it expressed by hooking its tail around her.

As long as it still liked its owner, then no matter how many thousands of times it was rejected, it would still try again the next time, fighting for even a few brief moments together.

In Shi Lian’s line of sight, the bewildered girl paused and blinked.

Apart from apology and embarrassment, there was also a trace of yearning in her eyes that even she herself had not noticed.

As though she were asking whether Shi Lian could spend a little more time with her.

Shi Lian’s lips curved.

Beneath the intimate golden light of the living room, her smile was calm and alluring.

But so what?

Was Shi Lian supposed to take responsibility for the dependence a desperate young person had developed toward an older woman?

Expecting her mother’s enemy to care about her feelings was unreasonable to begin with.

And so Shi Lian turned away.

The instant the door closed, every strand of pheromones that had overstepped its bounds withdrew from her waist.

Gentle and restrained.

Perfectly aware of its limits.