MORIC - Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Who's Saying One Thing and Meaning Another
When it came to dressing up, Chi Yueshan was simply not in the same league as Xi Zhoumeng.
If the event's organizer hadn't been Xi Yang, she might have bluntly criticized every single one of Chi Yueshan's designers.
It was a last-minute substitution, after all. Even though Xi Zhoumeng had repeatedly told her it didn't matter if she messed up, Chi Yueshan was still a bit panicked.
If it were just an exam, she wouldn't have been nervous at all.
After all, the content would be something she had studied, merely an opportunity to test herself.
But walking the runway was completely outside her area of study, not to mention that many of the others on stage were famous models from various star systems across the galaxy.
Even though Chi Yueshan didn't usually pay much attention to her clothes, she did watch some interstellar news, so she could at least recognize a few faces.
Chi Yueshan remained silent all the way until she got out of the car.
The excitement of sharing a car with Wen Xinghuo had long been eclipsed by the fear of, "Holy shit, I have to go on stage."
Seeing her deathly pale face, Xi Li asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Xi Zhoumeng, whose skirt was being held up by Wen Xinghuo, a hint of blame in his look.
It was her first time, after all. They shouldn't have overdone it.
Xi Zhoumeng knew what he was thinking. She scoffed as she passed him. "Brother, I'm still a delicate Omega."
Wen Xinghuo, who was standing to one side showing the invitation to a doorman, nearly stumbled.
The corner of Xi Li's mouth twitched as he thought, What's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to tell me you were very restrained last night?
Hong Sa was about to lose her mind. Her hands were shaking when she gave the injection!
Meanwhile, the other party involved was completely out of it, standing there listlessly like a wilted little flower.
Xi Zhoumeng reached out, hesitating for a moment on whether to take Chi Yueshan's hand. In the end, she compromised, picking up the trailing silk ribbon bow at the hem of Chi Yueshan's blouse.
"Scared already?"
She was always so good at poking Chi Yueshan's sore spots.
Chi Yueshan subconsciously retorted, "Wh-who's scared?"
Xi Zhoumeng: "Whoever's talking."
Chi Yueshan huffed. A male servant led them through a floral corridor. On the lawns to either side, guests who had arrived early mingled, many of them holding glasses of wine and bantering.
Everyone was dressed to the nines. Only then did Chi Yueshan suddenly realize that Wen Xinghuo, too, looked more dressed up than usual.
Xi Li and Wen Xinghuo were still looking at the invitation. "You should go ask, but it's probably not a mistake. I'll go find Xi Yang... There are so many people..."
Wen Xinghuo said, "It's alright, Big Brother. I'll go ask myself."
The four of them walked in a loose line. At a fork in the path, a sign indicated the preparation rooms to the left and the guest area to the right. The male servant extended a hand, gesturing for Xi Zhoumeng to go right.
"I'm going this way," Xi Zhoumeng said, indicating the other direction.
The male servant glanced at her attire, then at Chi Yueshan, who was clutching an ID tag.
"Let's go," Xi Zhoumeng said.
She carried herself with the superior air of a master. The silk ribbon she held was the highlight of Chi Yueshan's blouse, and the very reason Xi Zhoumeng had chosen to buy it.
She had a fondness for velvet, especially red velvet, and at this moment, the ribbon from the blouse's hem seemed to have become a leash.
With Xi Zhoumeng walking ahead, Chi Yueshan felt like a dog being taken for a walk.
Unwilling to be outdone, she tugged on the ribbon. "What are you doing here?"
Xi Zhoumeng stared straight ahead, her long skirt naturally held up by someone following behind her. It was a male servant's duty to attend to the beautiful young lady.
"I'm here to see if anyone deserts at the last minute."
Her words always carried a hint of coldness. Chi Yueshan hadn't noticed it before, because the girl's reputation was always linked with the term "dream Omega."
Upon seeing that term, everyone subconsciously equated it with gentleness, poise, and beauty.
But Xi Zhoumeng was only beautiful.
In the eyes of others, her gentleness was a limited-time performance reserved for her speeches as the student representative—nothing more than an exquisite candy wrapper.
Her poise was a filter applied by everyone else; her etiquette was whatever she pleased. Even on occasions that required a straight posture, she would still slump limply against the back of her chair.
Many Omegas tried to emulate her, only to discover with disappointment that etiquette was merely an accessory when faced with absolute charisma and beauty.
For Xi Zhoumeng, it wasn't even icing on the cake; after all, she was the most magnificent brocade and the most precious flower.
For other Omegas, etiquette was a necessity, an integral part of their being.
Xi Zhoumeng was just Xi Zhoumeng.
Chi Yueshan didn't let go. One end of the long, red silk ribbon, tied like a butterfly, was clutched in her hand, while the other was held by Xi Zhoumeng. It was like a red string of fate, suddenly binding them together in a way that couldn't be defied.
She didn't know why she hadn't let go. In that instant, she even seemed to understand the deeper meaning behind Xi Zhoumeng's words.
It's like Xi Zhoumeng is afraid I'll be scared.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking things.
Chi Yueshan flicked the ribbon. Only when she entered the dressing room and was surrounded by designers, stylists, and makeup artists did the other end of the red "rope" finally let go.
Chi Yueshan changed into the blouse Xi Zhoumeng had given her, the skirt from Xi Zhoumeng, and the underwear from Xi Zhoumeng.
She touched the marks on the hidden parts of her body. From outside the changing room, which was mirrored on all four sides, she could hear footsteps.
She changed her clothes in silence, yet she felt as if Xi Zhoumeng's presence was still everywhere.
How strange.
It feels like I've been claimed, but I'm an Omega. How could I be claimed by another Omega?
And yet... I don't hate it...
Perhaps because Xi Zhoumeng was present, the group of picky designers no longer spoke so loudly.
The noble young lady sitting on the sofa was merely looking down at a magazine, yet she gave off an aura that suggested disturbing her would be a fatal mistake.
Xi Zhoumeng closed her eyes and found she could still clearly perceive Chi Yueshan's presence.
Including Chi Yueshan's faint, almost imperceptible emotions.
This girl is still so nervous.
Xi Zhoumeng frowned, not understanding why this was happening.
Even an Alpha-Omega bond wouldn't create such an intimate emotional connection, would it?
Is it one-sided, or mutual?
For Xi Zhoumeng, who disliked intimate relationships, this sensation was irritating.
She subconsciously touched the back of her neck. The new pheromone patch, a gift from Hong Sa, had a kapok flower pattern and even carried its scent.
This family doctor was getting on in years, and she looked at the Xi family children as if they were still very young.
She had always been very concerned about Xi Zhoumeng's health, including during the period after Xi Zhoumeng's differentiation when she couldn't accept the "extra part" she had grown. Hong Sa had been the one to take care of her.
Xi Li still had lingering fears from the pandemonium of those years. Back then, Xi Zhoumeng's birth mother, Chu Jing, hadn't yet developed the habit of escaping to a sanatorium to avoid aristocratic gatherings, and she had worried herself sick over Xi Zhoumeng's temperament.
Only Xi Li, Hong Sa, and Chu Jing knew this secret.
After all, Xi Zhoumeng's medical report still listed her as an Omega. That organ of hers, the kind an Alpha should have, was treated as a defect.
Hong Sa had brought up the family's genetic predisposition back then, but the Zerg Tide had just struck, and Xi Mingguang was completely unable to return, so the matter was dropped.
Hong Sa's hair was white now, and she no longer lived at the Xi estate. After being asked to return by Xi Li, she had a long talk with Xi Zhoumeng early that morning.
Having been up all night, Xi Zhoumeng was a little tired, but her spirits were high.
Perhaps it was due to her innate S-rank spiritual power, but she stared at her freshly manicured nails, glanced listlessly at a test strip, and said to Hong Sa, who was wearing reading glasses, "It'll definitely be the same as before."
An Omega.
An Omega who had grown an organ that didn't belong to Omegas, yet experienced no Omega heat cycles.
The beautiful girl, wrapped in a fleece cape, sipped her coffee in the morning light. Her certainty made Hong Sa chuckle. To Xi Zhoumeng, Hong Sa was more of an elder than anyone else.
Her Alpha mother, Xi Mingguang, was rarely home. Her Omega mother, Chu Jing, was not in good health, had an eccentric temper, and disliked staying at home.
Xi Li was just a golden retriever-husky mix—a total waste.
The white-haired, retired Alpha military doctor said, "That wasn't a heat period. It was a susceptible period."
Hong Sa had served Xi Zhoumeng's maternal grandmother, after all, but her own health had been poor in recent years. The hospital had even declared her critically ill last year, so Xi Li felt bad about constantly troubling her.
Xi Zhoumeng didn't even raise her eyelids. "But I slept with her, and I got better."
Then she added, "I didn't go in."
Xi Zhoumeng's addition felt clumsy, and she found it strange herself, so she said more bluntly, "She doesn't know I have... that."
Hong Sa wasn't surprised. She still remembered how Xi Zhoumeng had acted during her differentiation, as if she were about to castrate herself.
She had never seen anyone who loathed a part of their own body so intensely.
"Do you still hate it so much?"
Hong Sa wore her reading glasses as she took notes on her consultation with Xi Zhoumeng.
The prevalence of light-brains hadn't made the older generation of Alphas accustomed to digital notes; they still preferred the old ways.
Xi Zhoumeng hummed in affirmation.
Her expression was the same as it had been right after her differentiation. "I can't accept it psychologically."
Hong Sa smiled and shook her head. "What if you truly differentiate into an Alpha? Will you continue to reject it? Soothing between Omegas, even with suppressants, usually requires a supplement of Alpha pheromones."
She paused. "But with you two, it happened with nothing at all."
The Omega girl beside her lowered her eyes. The line of her red lips was dark, the color of a healing wound.
When it came to the Xi family's youngest, Hong Sa had always felt the child's sense of self was full of contradictions.
In Hong Sa's eyes, her resistance wasn't about the organ at all.
It was more like a resistance to the sexual act that the organ entailed.
"And your susceptible period even subsided," Hong Sa said to Xi Zhoumeng.
Xi Zhoumeng stirred her coffee with a spoon. Her nails were tipped with another color, like the tail of a meteor streaking through a pitch-black night.
An orange-red that seemed to burn the sky.
Xi Zhoumeng hummed. "I bit her."
She closed her eyes, Chi Yueshan's pained yet sweet voice echoing in her ears.
Once something like this began, it was easy to lose oneself.
But Xi Zhoumeng wouldn't. Her past relationships had always been rational; even intimacy had been a routine procedure.
Unfortunately, none of them had been right. She couldn't truly let her body go, and the tenderness she received was less comforting than her own solitude.
But even though she was used to being alone, she inevitably had a type she liked, a fleeting hope that something might develop.
It was like trying to pull a ripcord to save herself after falling countless times.
But she was also the one who had set the rope on fire.
She felt she was long past saving. After all, her very birth was a sin.
Intimacy between two people of the same sex didn't matter. There would be no pregnancy, no sin.
But things were different now. This world was different. The intimacy she wanted was unattainable.
Setting aside the fact that Chi Yueshan still thought she was an Omega, even if she were a true Alpha, Xi Zhoumeng had considered committing suicide after Wen Xinghuo and Sheng Yangkui reached their happy ending.
A body like this... it was just so pointless.
Alphas got Omegas pregnant. That was a rule of this world, not something that would disappear just because you didn't want it.
Xi Zhoumeng loathed the process.
She didn't like children, and she was even more terrified of that kind of connection.
She and the mother who had given birth to her shared just such an inescapable blood tie.
They hated each other. Every meeting was torture.
The moment she bit down, Xi Zhoumeng sobered instantly.
She stared at the bite mark on the back of Chi Yueshan's neck for a long time, only snapping out of it when a flushed Chi Yueshan came to nuzzle her hand.
The taste of rust seemed to have entered her own body.
Even now, her coffee tasted of rust.
Sigh, this doesn't taste very good.
Hong Sa nodded. "You weren't able to mark her, correct?"
Xi Zhoumeng nodded.
Hong Sa said, "You already have an Alpha's instincts."
She sighed, her gaze full of affection. "Zhoumeng, don't be afraid of responsibility."
As if struck a sore spot, Xi Zhoumeng looked out the window. "How could I possibly be afraid?"
Hong Sa nodded. "That's for the best. I'm very happy that you've found someone you like."
The Alpha who had once been pursued by many Omegas was now exceptionally benevolent. People tend to get sentimental in their old age, and enjoy playing matchmaker.
"I don't like her," Xi Zhoumeng said.
Hong Sa said, "A one-hundred-percent match is different from any other compatibility rating."
"Thank you for coming. I'll have..." Xi Zhoumeng started.
The old woman was still smiling. "That's only because the scale stops at one hundred percent."
Xi Zhoumeng didn't want to hear it at all. She looked uncharacteristically agitated, just as she had back when she first differentiated.
Hong Sa took Xi Zhoumeng's hand, her touch filled with an elder's pure concern. "Child, you deserve to be loved."
Xi Zhoumeng gave a perfunctory nod. "Because I'm divinely beautiful."
Xi Zhoumeng waited until Chi Yueshan's first rehearsal was over.
Only after seeing that she was no longer nervous did she go to the banquet hall to find Xi Li.
Xi Li was holding a glass of wine and chatting with a lady. When he saw Xi Zhoumeng, he trotted over gleefully. "You'll never guess," he said to his little sister. "Wen Xinghuo's seat is the best one in the house."
"She's sandwiched right between the two princesses. What luck."
Xi Li was getting a huge kick out of the drama. "She tried to get Xi Yang to switch with her, but it looks like she was turned down."
Xi Li tilted his chin. "How come one of the triplets is so tiny?"
Xi Zhoumeng looked up just in time to see Wen Xinghuo leaning down to speak with Sheng Yangkui.
Xi Li watched, wide-eyed, as Xi Zhoumeng took out a miniature instant camera and snapped a photo with a click.
"What are you doing? I don't think you're allowed to take pictures."
"Am I the type to follow rules?" Xi Zhoumeng said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
She added with a wicked smile, "I'm taking it for Chi Yueshan to see."
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