Wang Luan felt like she was one of those figures from the ancient stories of her hometown—the Weaving Maiden… or the Cowherd—meeting her partner only once in a long while, and then parting again almost as soon as they met, with who knows how many Milky Ways stretching between each reunion.
In the morning, Yan Qiongyu was still teaching her to play the lunzhi qin, and she hadn’t even learned a single segment yet when, in the afternoon, he said he had matters to attend to, neatly arranged everything, and bade her farewell.
Wang Luan went back to the Little Wu District to rest for a day. The next day, she went to work as usual, was invited to assist with the repair of a large spacecraft, and when it was over, ran into Captain Shanma, whom she hadn’t seen for some time.
Captain Shanma had found a job in commercial security, because the large trading company she was currently working for was about to hold several sales events and needed to add quite a few security personnel. She thought of giving her former teammates a leg up and introducing them to jobs.
This group gathered to eat near the Little Wu District, and when they saw Wang Luan, they pulled her over without a word.
Everyone else was drinking, boasting, and chatting nonsense. Wang Luan sat at the table but was very quiet. Captain Shanma came over with a drink and sat beside her. “What’s wrong? You don’t look very spirited. Did something bad happen recently?”
“No.” Wang Luan didn’t drink. She held a pair of tongs, turning over the food on the grill. “Something good happened. I just got married.”
“Pff! When did that happen?! Why didn’t you treat us?!” Captain Shanma stared wide-eyed.
Wang Luan’s tone was low. “The wedding was a wedding with only the two of us… Was it too simple? The gift I prepared, he seems not to like it very much either…”
Captain Shanma, who had originally wanted to reproach her, saw her listless look and instead asked warmly, “Tell me what happened?”
Wang Luan briefly told her about what she had prepared—the music box, the device bouquet, and the ring hidden inside the bouquet.
“Still too tacky, right?” Wang Luan sighed.
“I think it’s pretty good. There’s nothing wrong with the gift. Is there some other problem?” Captain Shanma stroked her chin. “Like an unharmonious nightlife? You had no experience and got disliked?”
She comforted her. “The first time between an alpha and an omega really is a bit difficult. Plus the marking—being not very smooth is normal. You’ll be fine after more time to adjust.”
“No.” Wang Luan divided the grilled food onto plates and handed them to those drunken fellows.
They didn’t do a glandular marking. There was only one instance of bodily contact; it could basically be said to be just a brief taste.
That wasn’t a pleasant experience for her, and it probably wasn’t for Yan Qiongyu either. From beginning to end, he was calmly enduring pain.
Because she said that if she didn’t get married there would be regrets, he agreed. Because she felt that marriage should have a ring, he accepted it, even though he didn’t like it, deliberately putting on a very moved expression. And because she felt that after getting married, it was as if they had to prove something by being together, even though he didn’t have that intention at first, he still followed her wishes and went all the way to the final step with her.
Yan Qiongyu treated her too gently. It was to put her at ease, to comfort her. The purpose of that intimate contact wasn’t for his own desire, but rather the hope of helping her completely overcome her psychological resistance.
That night, they were like interlocking gears leaning against each other. He kept telling her not to reject her own body, that it wasn’t a tool for hurting others, not to be afraid. At the very least, she hadn’t hurt him, and he wouldn’t despise her because of it. They were the same.
“I thought I no longer rejected those things at all. I thought I had already defeated the shadows of the past and was braver than before. But he saw through my hesitation and fear more clearly than I did myself. In the end, I still needed him to comfort me.” Wang Luan couldn’t restrain her dejection.
“I feel like I didn’t do well enough, and what I did for him also wasn’t enough.”
Captain Shanma put down her wine cup. “I know this symptom. It’s thinking that your partner is so outstanding, and you’re not good enough to her, worrying that one day she’ll take a liking to someone else and stop being good with you.”
Captain Shanma was speechless. “Other people only get this before marriage. How did you only get it after marriage?”
Wang Luan wanted to wave her hand and say it wasn’t that, but didn’t know how to describe her feelings.
Maybe it was too rushed. That day, she had been worried because she hadn’t contacted Yan Qiongyu on time, so she wanted to go find him, but unexpectedly ran into him at that spaceport. In a moment of impulse, she brought him there.
Perhaps she should have prepared for a while longer—at least prepared some things Yan Qiongyu liked more, at least waited until he… until his body was a bit better.
Yan Qiongyu probably thought that if he covered his eyes she wouldn’t see, but she actually did.
On his arms, his neck, and his glands, there were all bruises from being pricked by needles countless times—those layered marks that lingered for a long time—yet on the morning of the second day, they had been hidden away on his body.
He hid his injuries, did not show his pain, did not speak of his reluctance, only presenting a beautiful appearance, so that on that morning she would feel that everything was fine.
He completed every step of the wedding, created a warm and beautiful morning as the perfect ending to the ceremony, and only after finishing everything he felt he ought to do did Yan Qiongyu hurriedly bid her farewell and leave.
His hasty departure made Wang Luan suspect again whether this sudden wedding of hers had disrupted some important plan of his. Was he going to pay some price for indulging her?
Perhaps it was because the change in their relationship inevitably gave rise to doubts.
“All right, stop being so negative here. If there really is some problem, just go back and talk it through clearly with your partner.”
“He hasn’t been home recently. It’ll probably be a long time before we can meet again.”
Captain Shanma forcefully patted Wang Luan on the shoulder. “Come on, cheer up! Since you’re on your own, why not come with us to the trading company to join in the fun—so you don’t stay home alone overthinking. We alphas are supposed to do more and think less, got it! Making more money to support the family is never wrong!”
Wang Luan: “You couldn’t recruit enough people, so you’re using me to make up the numbers.”
Captain Shanma wasn’t embarrassed at all after being exposed and laughed loudly. “That’s because I trust your ability!”
So Wang Luan followed Captain Shanma and took on a temporary job, becoming a temporary worker at the Redstone Grand Trading Company, responsible for maintaining security at the sales event. In fact, the work was very simple—just wear a uniform, stand there with a cold, stern face, and prevent anyone from sneaking in to cause trouble.
Wang Luan had never been to this kind of private sale open only to the wealthy. Besides guarding the venue, she would occasionally help watch over various precious goods delivered from the warehouse. On the final day, after finishing work, Captain Shanma even took her to watch an auction.
Captain Shanma was an old hand, standing with Wang Luan in the staff area to watch the excitement, occasionally chatting about the items being auctioned on stage.
“This one’s impressive—the finale item this time, the Redstone Trading Company boss’s private collection, a top-grade ruby… Is this boss about to go bankrupt, putting even his prized possession up for auction?”
Wang Luan glanced at the red gemstone whose details were magnified and extravagantly praised by the host, but felt nothing much; it wasn’t as appealing as a same-scale block of energy.
The enthusiasts below shouted prices more outrageous than the last, and in the end it was bought at a sky-high price by a beautiful madam.
Captain Shanma craned her neck to take a look and said enviously, “That’s a formidable omega—Madam Qi Xin of the Qi family. I hear she has a blue crystal mine in her hands, with extremely high purity, bringing her a large income every year.”
Wang Luan glanced at the elegant madam in the VIP seats and found her somewhat familiar. She remembered seeing Madam Qi Xin when she helped Qi Liao modify his mecha; she was Qi Liao’s aunt.
Madam Qi Xin responded to all kinds of gazes with a smile. After obtaining the most precious lot of the event, she withdrew gracefully. Only after leaving the public eye did a faint trace of worry show on her face.
“I wonder how things are at the CON base. Ying Zheng, has there still been no news from the godson?” Madam Qi Xin asked.
The person at her side, holding the secure case containing the gemstone, replied, “Not yet. We’ve only heard that people from Yan Lan’s side have already arrived.”
Suddenly, the sound of a special communication rang out. Madam Qi Xin hurriedly had Ying Zheng open it and let out a long breath. “The godson is there. As long as he’s there, the situation can be stabilized. I hope he can keep it stable—otherwise… send the gemstone over.”
At the CON base, after two days of chaos, the situation finally settled down.
A few days earlier, the captain of the base’s defense corps, Guan Shunan, had led a small team of confidants of Godmother Yan Mu on a secret mission. They left the base and never returned.
Before that, the godson Yan Qiongyu had gone to the B13 experimental zone. A group of omegas in Area A of the CON base suddenly halted their experiments. Unwilling to become test subjects, they seized this rare lapse in the base’s defenses and launched a surprise attack within the base.
Multiple experimental zones were blown up; even the experimental building where Yan Mu was located was nearly breached. The remaining members of the defense corps fought desperately to delay until the arrival of the Yanlan Star Bandit Group, finally quelling the chaos.
Yan Qiongyu returned to the base at precisely such a time.
“Is Mother all right?” Yan Qiongyu’s tone was full of concern, which made Yan Yan, the leader of the Yanlan Star Bandit Group, show disgust.
She toyed with the gun in her hand and asked in an unfriendly tone, “With such a huge incident happening at the base, why did the godson come back so late?”
“When I’m in the laboratory, I never contact the outside, and I also didn’t expect that with Captain Guan of the defense corps there, such chaos would still occur in the base…” Yan Qiongyu looked at those blown-up experimental zones, his expression impeccable. “What a pity.”
“You’d better not let me find out you’re up to something.” Yan Yan’s gloomy gaze scraped across his face.
“I want to go see Mother’s condition,” Yan Qiongyu said.
“No need. The godmother said she needs to rest. Godson, go back to your own laboratory,” Deputy Captain Yan Lan said as she walked out of Yan Mu’s building, the look in her eyes toward him also carrying suspicion.
Yan Qiongyu ignored their hostility, still smiling politely and with composure. “In that case, I’ll trouble you both to take good care of Mother.”
He returned to his own laboratory and, as usual, took the data report from his assistant.
“Godson, it succeeded,” the assistant said softly.
Yan Qiongyu glanced through the window toward Yan Mu’s residence in the distance, the smile on his face completely severed from the coldness in his eyes. “Well done.”
ততততততততততত
Wang Luan returned to the Little Wu District and suddenly received a package.
An ordinary box. Inside the box was a bouquet of blue flowers—a bouquet made of sapphires.
Each petal was a teardrop-shaped sapphire, the refracted light stabbing her eyes with pain. When she touched the flowers, a ring extended out from the bouquet.
Wang Luan: “…………” The box, the bouquet, the ring—such a familiar method, a complete replica.
She picked up the ring and took a look. Compared to the ring she had prepared, the design was flamboyant, and it was also set with an enormous ruby.
Wang Luan: “…………” Such a familiar ruby—wasn’t it a little too similar to the ruby that had sold for a sky-high price at the auction a few days ago?
“Miss Wang Luan doesn’t like this ring?”
The voice that suddenly sounded behind her startled Wang Luan out of her shock. She abruptly turned around and saw Yan Qiongyu standing at the doorway, even his hair shining brilliantly.
Seeing Wang Luan staring at him without much reaction, Yan Qiongyu untied his scarf and walked over. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you angry that I left in a hurry that day? Sorry, I really did have something to deal with then. I rushed back as soon as I was done.”
Seeing him appear so suddenly stirred Wang Luan’s emotions somewhat. She glanced at the ring in her hand and thought of what Captain Shanma had said—that if there were any problems between husband and wife, they should be communicated in time.
She took a breath and raised her head, saying, “I’m not angry with you. I’m reflecting on myself…” She hesitantly spoke of some of her recent thoughts and feelings.
She thought Yan Qiongyu would burst out laughing midway at her ridiculous psychological meanderings, but he didn’t. He quietly listened until she finished the very last word, then reached out and cupped her head.
