Chapter 48

The sound was like a bolt from the blue, forcefully cleaving through the chaos. Chi Huan managed to grasp a sliver of clarity in her confusion.

Psychology, at this level, was merely suggestion, intended to make a person subconsciously speak according to the manipulator’s requirements through a coordinated series of verbal tricks and tone. It couldn’t achieve the mind-control effect seen on television.

With outside interference, it was easily broken.

Mu Yi held her teacup, cleared her throat, and continued to coax gently: “It won’t have any lasting effect. Don’t worry.”

Chi Huan said coldly: “I won’t be affected, but you’re going to get your head blown off by me.”

“You broke free so quickly,” Mu Yi blinked, regretting: “Half-baked psychology is unreliable indeed. I should have studied harder when I took that elective.”

Chi Huan flared up: “Nonsense! It’s clearly because my willpower is astonishing and my mind is firm!”

Mu Yi raised an eyebrow: “Oh, do you want to try again?”

Chi Huan was choked.

【Host, don’t be afraid. I will always be here.】

Its tone was gentle. Chi Huan’s initial anger had already subsided. A twinge of guilt surfaced. After all, she was the one who went back on her word first and messed up the mission so badly.

Ultimately, she wasn’t a qualified mission-taker.

The System was unlucky to be stuck with her.

Feeling reassured, Chi Huan directly retorted with haughty confidence: “Bring it on! Am I afraid of you?”

But inwardly, she was extremely fawning: “Brother System is back! I haven’t seen you in two days. I missed you so much!“

【I was sent back to the factory for a Main System upgrade for the past two days. I just returned.】

“Oh, oh. What new features did the upgrade add?” Chi Huan humored it. “It’s fine if there aren’t any. Since we might die at any moment, being happy is the most important thing.”

【It’s good that you remember you might die. I returned to the factory…】 The System paused subtly. 【…to find a way to save you.】

Chi Huan’s breathing lightened: “Did you find one?”

【I found one.】

While she communicated with the System, Mu Yi subtly observed Chi Huan’s expression.

She was puzzled: “She only broke free from an unsuccessful hypnosis attempt. Why is this person’s expression so… smug, yet despicable?”

She cleared her throat: “I don’t have time to play games with you. Whether you want to talk or not, it’s up to you. This matter involves you. Don’t blame me if I expose you…”

Chi Huan suddenly slammed the table: “Deal!”

Mu Yi: “?”

Chi Huan looked at her with shining eyes: “I’m in a good mood. This round is on me!”

Mu Yi: “???”

“Is that so?”

Mu Yi calmly pressed the small bronze bell on the table. A moment later, the graceful, lovely Omega attendant walked in.

“How may I help you, customer?”

Mu Yi flipped through the menu: “Bring me three pots of the most expensive item. This tea set is quite nice; please wrap it up for me. Oh, and also, have your boss personally drive to the city to buy me a case of Minute Maid first. $1,000 per bottle. She’s paying.”

Chi Huan, high on excitement: “?!”

The mountain scenery was beautiful, the birdsong was clear, and the spring water flowed past the pavilion, tinkling against the rocks.

President Chi, who was instantly plunged into poverty, squatted on the stool, black aura visibly rushing toward the sky from the top of her head.

Mu Yi leisurely sipped her tea: “Long-lasting aroma, pleasant aftertaste. Good tea!”

Chi Huan said expressionlessly: “Drink it. Don’t leave until you finish it.”

Mu Yi shook her head and sighed: “Ignorant person. How can you gulp down something as elegant as tasting tea? I’ll only drink one cup to taste it. You’ve already paid for it anyway.”

“How about this,” Mu Yi clasped her hands, adopting a calm, grandmotherly demeanor. “Let’s complete the purpose of our outing today.”

Ignoring Chi Huan’s darkened face, she said without batting an eye:

“After all, the money is spent and won’t come back. We shouldn’t waste the round-trip fare, should we? Even if we don’t care about the fare, we should at least honor ourselves for waking up at seven in the morning, wouldn’t you say?”

Chi Huan: “Does your partner know how shameless you are?”

Mu Yi was unfazed. She even thought the description “your partner” sounded quite nice.

Chi Huan: “Do you know that your cold, aloof persona is completely shattered?”

Mu Yi was indifferent. What good is a persona?

Chi Huan: “No wonder ‘Chi Huan’ didn’t end up with you in two lifetimes. Who could stand you?”

Mu Yi’s relaxed expression faded. Her clear, glass-like eyes swept over Chi Huan. Her face showed no emotion.

“You really do know many things.”

Chi Huan knew she had slipped up, but she didn’t care. The System hadn’t warned her, anyway.

“So what if I know? I. Won’t. Tell. You!”

Mu Yi watched her make a face. Her eyebrows were still: “Childish.”

Then, she looked somewhat lost, whispering: “Just as childish as her.”

Chi Huan froze, knowing she was referring to Mu Wan.

Mu Yi looked closely at the face that had been ingrained in her heart for the first time: “Is this why the person behind you chose you?”

Chi Huan had already been tricked twice by her. Seeing her vague, dazed look, she became alert.

Women are liars. Female Alphas are especially good at lying. She absolutely wouldn’t fall for it a third time!

There was silence between them for a while. Mu Yi spoke: “We couldn’t be together in two lifetimes? So this is the third life?”

Chi Huan selectively replied: “Yes. In the first life, she fell in love with someone else. In the second life, you fell in love with someone else. You weren’t firm enough. Whose fault is that?”

“No one’s fault,” Mu Yi said. “I’m not even surprised that I would change my mind.”

Chi Huan: “? You’re this upfront about being a scumbag??”

Mu Yi smiled, though it was hard to tell what it meant.

She was different from Rong Qing. Both were strong career women. Rong Qing preferred qipao and all decorations that emphasized female beauty, while Mu Yi preferred clean, decisive attire.

Clean, just like her eyes.

So when she pulled out a box of delicately packaged ladies’ cigarettes from her bag, Chi Huan was startled: “You smoke?”

“Yes. Is that strange?” She asked perfunctorily: “Do you mind?”

Chi Huan shook her head.

The slender ladies’ cigarettes, wrapped in exquisite paper, were lit, and blue smoke curled upward, dispersing through the surrounding trees.

The small pavilion was surrounded by running water and mountains, so the heat was not intense. On the contrary, there was an elegant tranquility that air conditioning couldn’t provide.

“Did the information you receive include details about Chi Huan and me when we were young?” Mu Yi suddenly recalled something. “Oh, right, I haven’t even asked your name yet. Calling you ‘Chi Huan’ feels awkward.”

“Chi Huan.”

Mu Yi raised her thick eyelashes. Blurred by the smoke, her clear face gained a hint of charm. She savored the two words on her tongue and slowly smiled.

“What a coincidence.”

“Chi Huan and I met very young. We could be called childhood sweethearts,” she began.

Chi Huan held up the teapot with an aching jaw, pouring herself a cup of the astronomical tea, listening to her tell the story she already knew but lacked the details of.

The Chi and Mu families were old friends and had agreed to become in-laws. However, both children born in the Mu family’s generation were Omegas.

Fortunately, both Omegas were exceptionally bright, no less capable than any Alpha.

Mu Zi was young and too flighty. After discussion, Mu Yi was chosen as the object of the marriage alliance.

Mu Yi became sensible very early. She knew her destiny as an Omega from childhood, but she wasn’t opposed to her family’s arrangements.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

The family raised her and gave her a superior life. She should repay the family. Besides, she didn’t dislike Chi Huan.

She was just annoyed.

Chi Huan was an Alpha, the heir to the Chi family, her future partner, and the person who would walk through life with her.

She should have been mature, decisive, and strong.

However, the reality was the opposite. She was playful, naive, and childish, like a child who would never grow up.

As an Omega, and the eldest Omega daughter of a prominent family without Alpha siblings, Read on BaiLianTalesthe pressure Mu Yi faced was unimaginable to Chi Huan.

The gossip from relatives, the external family’s coveting of the Mu family’s wealth, the future of the family, and her parents’ lack of reliance in their old age… Mu Yi had to bear all of this alone.

She was capable enough, but occasionally, she also wanted someone to rely on.

Especially later, Mu Zi, the second child who was supposed to carry the responsibility of family lineage, whimsically chose to study medicine.

This meant Mu Yi had to take on the Chi family’s responsibilities while also shouldering the heavy burdens of her own family.

Perhaps her struggles were too obvious. In the year of her college entrance examination, Rong Qing sought her out.

Rong Qing told her she was sorry for raising Chi Huan this way. If Mu Yi couldn’t accept Chi Huan as a partner, the engagement could be broken, and the Mu family’s conditions would still be met.

To be honest, Mu Yi hesitated.

After repeated consideration, she replied to Rong Qing:

“I’m sorry, Auntie. I don’t want to gamble my entire life, and the future of my entire family, on an unreliable person.”

“I can give her three years. After three years, if she is the person I need her to be, then I will be the Chi wife you want.”

Rong Qing told her that things in the world are unpredictable. Her choice to step aside was equivalent to giving up Chi Huan’s place.

An empty seat would naturally be filled by someone new.

Mu Yi was not afraid: “If she can’t even endure three years, I certainly cannot entrust myself to her.”

Chi Huan was engrossed in the story, filling her stomach with tea, and let out a small, fragrant burp.

Mu Yi instinctively showed a look of disgust, then paused slightly, looking lost in thought.

Chi Huan teased her about her persona breaking, but it wasn’t entirely broken.

This was the familiar way she interacted with Chi Huan in the past. In front of this familiar face, she often found it difficult to restrain her emotions.

Subconsciously, she shed her cold pretense and displayed her true self.

Chi Huan was heartless and even felt a little gloating.

“Look at you leaving. ‘Chi Huan’ cheating is one thing, but aren’t you worse off? You directly went from Omega to Alpha. If ‘Chi Huan’ hadn’t undergone this rebirth, wouldn’t you two have been over? What do you call that? Love is not something you can buy; you can’t just buy it. You walked away elegantly then, and now you want to chase her back…”

The cigarette burned to the end. Mu Yi stubbed it out in the teacup and smiled: “If she hadn’t become an Omega, I would have broken off the engagement upon returning.”

Chi Huan’s smile froze: “What? Are you joking?”

Mu Yi looked at the tiny ashes floating in the tea, her pupils slightly unfocused, as if in a daze. But her tone was calm and firm.

“The Mu family needs an heir.”