Chapter 16

On both sides of the road, purple wisteria blossoms stretched on end, their delicate branches posing gracefully like clouds and mist.

Ming Yufu paused for a second.

“Okay.”

She and the puppy could maintain a distance of “living in peace without interfering with each other,” but Meng Li was proactive in coordinating their relationship. It was as if she were certain that the person and the dog she loved would get along famously.

The two returned to the villa.

In the room, Meng Li laid down a soft carpet, installed a warm-white pet fence, and added toys, a bowl stand, and pee pads—meticulously arranging Nuomi’s new home.

Nuomi played with a new toy by herself for a while, but when she couldn’t find her smiling owner, she started following Ming Yufu’s wheelchair. No matter where Ming Yufu went, she frolicked right behind her.

“Sit,” Ming Yufu tried to issue a command.

Seeing the wheelchair stop, Nuomi braked and looked up at her.

“Woof woof!”

Ming Yufu didn’t expect her to understand the command and continued forward. Behind her came the “da-da-da” sound—Nuomi was still following.

It was a very familiar clinginess. Meng Li did it too.

But Meng Li’s clinginess was subtle: like looking forward to having dinner with her, like dreaming of them kissing, or like Meng Li taking advantage of her sleep to secretly touch and hold her hand.

Suddenly, a wave of scorching heat surged within her body, boring into the marrow of her bones and burning in her blood. Strands of a crisp, cool, and sweet pheromone scent began to emanate from the back of her neck, filling the room.

Ming Yufu’s face turned pink, her breathing grew erratic, and she curled up in her tombstone-cold wheelchair. The restless tide of passion swept over her like a mountain tsunami. It was as if an amplifying voice was screaming in her ear, craving the Alpha’s pheromones and marking.

“Woof!”

Nuomi let out an anxious bark and ran toward the sofa. A thud followed, as if she had bumped into something. She ran back, circling beneath Ming Yufu.

The sound reached Ming Yufu’s ears, blurred and distant. Her vision grew hazy. With trembling, weak hands, she tried several times to pick up her keys. She poked at the keyhole, a fine layer of sweat breaking out on her forehead; her palms were so slick the keys nearly fell to the floor.

Fortunately, on the final attempt, there was a click, and the lock cylinder turned. Pulling open the locked drawer, she took out a tube of pale blue suppressant.

Ordinary suppressor collars can block the release of a wearer’s pheromones, but during an Omega’s heat cycle, only a high-concentration, high-dose suppressant can effectively inhibit the continuous release.

Ming Yufu’s heat cycles had always been unstable. The 2025 Huaxia Annual Report showed that the average cycle for an Omega is 3 to 6 months; Ming Yufu personally contributed to shortening that statistic. Sometimes, just a day after her heat ended, it would come roaring back—extremely unstable, frequent, and irregular.

Unwilling to follow medical advice to seek an Alpha for a temporary marking, Ming Yufu repeatedly increased her dosage of suppressants, creating a vicious cycle of drug dependency. She knew clearly that once she breached the critical threshold of injections, the drawbacks would far outweigh the benefits.

The surging blood in her veins gradually subsided, returning to a state of calm.

The night was long. The empty suppressant tube was tossed into the wastebasket. Ming Yufu closed her eyes, a misty, seductive stolen content crimson welling at the corners of her lids. Biting the tip of her tongue, she exhaled a breath of cold air, regained her reason, and turned on the indoor air purification system.

The red indicator light flickered as the machine operated silently.

After drinking some water, Ming Yufu regained enough strength to pick up the shoulder bag that Nuomi had dragged onto the floor—the one Meng Li had carried out this morning.

The bag was unzipped, and the books inside had spilled out. Ming Yufu picked them up one by one, her gaze inevitably sweeping over a brand-new book.

The ABO History of Kissing.

This was a book about kissing?

A look of surprise appeared on Ming Yufu’s face, which then turned into scrutiny. The two had just finished practicing their kissing not long ago, both achieving a perfect score of one hundred. Ming Yufu had thought they both reached a peak that couldn’t be surpassed, but this book exposed the girl’s little secret—she was secretly working hard behind her back, aiming for extra credit.

When a peacock courts, it meticulously maintains its feathers, showing its most beautiful side to the peacock it desires. This book, with its vivid peach-blossom cover, was like Meng Li’s brilliant “plumage.”

Ming Yufu flipped the pages, her cold face shimmering like snow under the light.

[Kissing is a branch of knowledge.]

[…A subtle kiss requires an excuse. For example, biting into a piece of fruit and asking if the other wants a taste, thereby indirectly hinting at a craving for a kiss.]

After her shower, Meng Li found her long-unused tablet in the study. She logged onto Weibo and was immediately overwhelmed by likes and private messages.

Her last post with the drawing tag had gone viral. Many people were commenting and read the original at bailiantales.commessaging to ask for commissions. Someone even recognized that she had drawn the current head of the Ming family and asked if she was a “career fan” or a “visual fan” of President Ming.

Meng Li curved her lips and replied: [Life fan.]

She sincerely supported the woman’s life, hoping she would stay healthy and live to a hundred. After replying, she continued scrolling through the comments.

In her past life, Meng Li had registered her Weibo in high school and taken commissions. Because she had a distinct style, she had accumulated over a hundred thousand followers by her sophomore year. Painting was not just her hobby; it was her dream. If she didn’t have to consider outside factors, she would paint for a lifetime without ever getting bored.

Since netizens were so enthusiastic about commissions but she had been focusing her energy on school, she posted a giveaway. In one week, she would choose a lucky follower and draw a piece for them for free.

After finishing with the messages, Meng Li stretched, her eyes sparkling. She went downstairs to slice a bowl of apples. Holding the bowl, she took the elevator back up.

“Do you want some apple?”

Meng Li found the woman in the study. She looked around. “Huh? Where’s Nuomi?”

“Nuomi is in her room.” Nuomi didn’t sleep with them; she had an independent room in the guest bedroom next door.

“Oh, I’ll go check on her in a bit.” Meng Li nodded. She placed the bowl of sliced apples on the desk. She leaned down, her soft, fluffy tea-colored curls cascading over her shoulder to her chest.

Her sensitive nose caught a layered scent of grapefruit mixed into the sandalwood.

“Did you eat grapefruit?” she asked.

The scent of grapefruit is hard to mask. Although the aroma wasn’t bailiantales.com aggressive—being light, faint, and slightly bitter yet sweet—the scent of grapefruit is always distinct.

The air around her was heating up.

Ming Yufu gripped her pen, her knuckles turning white. She instinctively glanced at the air purifier that was still running. It claimed to purify all odor molecules in the air within one minute.

False advertising. I’m getting a new one tomorrow.

Ming Yufu’s dark eyes slid downward to her own knuckles, hiding a trace of guilt. She assumed the composed posture of a negotiator. “No, I didn’t.”

Meng Li had only asked casually. She ate a piece of apple and pushed the bowl toward Ming Yufu, her long lashes fluttering over her light eyes. “Try some? It’s fresh, no bruises, and the taste is crisp and sweet.”

Her uncolored lips were dampened by the sweet, clear apple juice. Meng Li wiped her lip with her thumb.

If she hadn’t seen that book, The ABO History of Kissing, Ming Yufu would have taken this as a literal invitation. But now, as she watched Meng Li standing before her, enveloped by the faint remnants of her own pheromones, her throat grew tight.

Sentences from The ABO History of Kissing flashed through her mind.

Regarding the hint and the craving for a kiss.