After Little Sweet Omega Runs with the Ball - Chapter 44

On a small boat speeding across the ocean,

Ji Mingxue’s back wound had been simply bandaged, and the bleeding had stopped. Song Shuangtian was draped in a pink fuzzy blanket, leaning against Ji Mingxue with her eyes half-closed. After the night’s turmoil, both were utterly exhausted.

Ji Mingxue: “Close your eyes for a bit. It’ll be another two hours before we dock.”

As she spoke, Ji Mingxue reached out to cover Song Shuangtian’s eyes.

Song Shuangtian made a soft grumbling sound in her throat and leaned further into Ji Mingxue, carefully avoiding the wound on her back.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken you to the deck to see the moon.”

Who could have predicted that the Golden Queen would encounter sudden typhoon-sized waves? Weather is a fickle thing; not all natural disasters can be detected by instruments in time. Fortunately, it hadn’t resulted in a serious catastrophe—otherwise, as a future shareholder, Song Shuangtian would have started losing money from day one.

Song Shuangtian felt a mix of laughter and tears knowing that of everyone on the ship, Ji Mingxue was the only one injured. Under the cool palm of the Alpha, the Omega slowly drifted into a slumber. She was exhausted and had been wound tight with tension; she hadn’t dared to sleep, but in the presence of those familiar pheromones, her consciousness began to blur.

She curled her body gently into the Alpha’s embrace, as if returning to the safety of a mother’s womb.

Ji Mingxue moved her hand from Song Shuangtian’s eyes, her fingers slowly migrating to the gland at the back of her neck. The Omega was wearing a patch, and the gland beneath was slightly swollen; a gentle press revealed its supple elasticity. With a bit more pressure, a flush of red bloomed on the skin.

“Mmm…” Song Shuangtian murmured with a frown.

Ji Mingxue softened her touch. In the room, a charcoal heater crackled. The reflection of the bright moon on the water was shattered by the waves and seemed to wrap itself around the boat. Ji Mingxue caught the scent of orange blossoms and leaned in to nuzzle the back of Song Shuangtian’s neck.

“Mingxue…”

In her dream, Song Shuangtian tried to curl herself tighter, but Ji Mingxue held her by the waist like a fish that couldn’t escape.

Song Shuangtian opened her eyes blearily. “Is your wound hurting?”

Ji Mingxue smiled. “It stings a bit. Let me lean on you for a while, Tiantian.”

Song Shuangtian slowly closed her eyes and didn’t argue, which was a silent consent. Ji Mingxue’s lips curved; Song Shuangtian always had a remarkably good temper when she was half-asleep. She was quite adorable.

The Omega, habitually lacking a sense of security, tried to stay guarded, but under Ji Mingxue’s strength, she couldn’t quite ball herself up. She subconsciously released her pheromones, attempting to wrap herself in her own scent.

As Song Shuangtian sank into a deeper dream, she felt a soft moisture on the back of her neck, as if being licked by something slightly rough.

She wasn’t actually as indifferent to her mother’s past neglect as she appeared to be.

In the Song family estate, Song Shuangtian had her own separate small building—the one her mother and father had built when they married. But because her mother was rarely in the country, the building had gradually fallen into disrepair. The facilities failed, yet Song Shuangtian lived there alone, watching her father bring different Omegas home.

Little Song Shuangtian would lean her head out of the window frame, hoping for even a glimpse of her father’s attention. But she was always met with his indifferent gaze. At the time, she didn’t know what she had done wrong; she assumed she wasn’t sensible enough, wasn’t excellent enough.

She learned to be sensible. She became excellent. She studied everything her mother had known about gemstones. She had to apply to professional academies on her own and care for her sickly aunt. While her aunt provided academic help, a woman living in a sanatorium couldn’t care for her like a mother; Song Shuangtian had to become independent so her aunt wouldn’t worry.

When she was ten, her mother died. At the funeral, Song Shuangtian knelt in the mourning hall. She looked back and saw someone. Another child her age, wearing a black dress, standing under a black umbrella.

The dream deepened, and Song Shuangtian’s brows knit tightly together. Seeing her trapped in a nightmare, Ji Mingxue used her finger to gently smooth out the frown.

“Tiantian?”

The person in her arms let out a series of short, sharp breaths.

That day, it had been raining heavily. Little Song Shuangtian’s knees ached; she had been kneeling for a very long time. Her father didn’t want to be in the mourning hall; he had no sadness on his face, laughing as he invited friends and relatives, treating her mother’s funeral like a social event.

Across the crowd, Song Shuangtian saw a girl being protected like a little princess. The girl was beautiful, only ten years old, already showing the grace of a future beauty. The people standing around her looked like foreigners.

“Did you know my mother?” little Song Shuangtian had asked dryly.

“I did.”

The exchange between the two girls ended there. Then, the girl under the black umbrella took off her coat and draped it over Song Shuangtian’s shoulders. She knelt beside her in the dark hall and bowed her head in respect.

In the depths of the dream, Song Shuangtian couldn’t see the girl’s face clearly, only remembering she was pretty, slightly taller than her, and carried the scent of the heavy rain. And… she was wearing a bracelet.

Ji Mingxue frowned, constantly wiping away the tears at the corners of Song Shuangtian’s eyes. What’s wrong with this child, crying in her sleep? And so bitterly. Usually she acted so tough; how did she turn into such a little crybaby?

A medical staff member knocked and entered. Seeing Ji Mingxue’s solemn face, she assumed the wound was thumping.

“Please bear with it; we’ll be ashore in about an hour.”

“Alright.”

The medic checked the IV bag, replaced the empty one, and closed the door. She cast a curious glance back at the serious Alpha. I should probably prescribe more painkillers. Look at her, she’s sweating from the pain.

Ji Mingxue stroked Song Shuangtian’s shoulder, her voice soft and gentle. “You’ve already done so well.”

She heard Song Shuangtian whispering for “Mommy.”

Song Shuangtian’s lips were pressed tight, seemingly not hearing the comfort.

“Immersing yourself in the past is like ‘marking the boat to find the sword’—it’s futile. You’ve achieved so much more now. If she were here…” Ji Mingxue closed her eyes, remembering the gentle smile that woman had once given her. Perhaps that woman had treated her as her own daughter, and in doing so, missed her true daughter.

Ji Mingxue said softly, “If she were here, she would be proud, yet she wouldn’t be able to surpass you.”

“Ji Mingxue.”

Song Shuangtian opened her eyes. There was no sleepiness in them. She had just woken from a nightmare, her body cold as she clutched the pink blanket Ji Mingxue had given her.

“Was it you?”

“What?”

Song Shuangtian forcefully yanked Ji Mingxue’s sleeve and kissed her lips with a desperate ferocity. She caught the Alpha off guard, nearly sending her crashing into the hard wall.

“The year I was ten, did you attend my mother’s funeral? Tell me, was it you?”

Ji Mingxue was startled. “I went.” She hadn’t seen the woman one last time; she couldn’t miss the funeral too. Her memories of that time were a bit blurry, but she remembered seeing the ten-year-old Song Shuangtian. She had been a cute little girl who cried like a rabbit. It made one want to hold her and see if her face was as soft as a rabbit’s.

Song Shuangtian kissed her with great force, her teeth nipping Ji Mingxue’s lip. Their tongues intertwined with the sound of messy, wet friction. She pulled Ji Mingxue by the waist, forcing their bodies together. The pink blanket fell to the floor.

Song Shuangtian pinned Ji Mingxue’s hand—the one with the IV—preventing her from moving while she relentlessly occupied her mouth. Ji Mingxue was subjected to a sudden, overwhelming storm of kisses.

Of course, Ji Mingxue wasn’t one to be bullied. She gripped Song Shuangtian’s waist. “Tiantian.”

She wiped the moisture from Song Shuangtian’s lips. “I’ve been looking for you all these years. But your aunt protected you too well; I couldn’t find a single trace of you in any public or private records.”

Ji Mingxue’s breathing was ragged. The needle in her wrist was already starting to show backflow of blood. Song Shuangtian, startled, quickly pressed her hand down until the blood cleared.

Ji Mingxue took Song Shuangtian’s earlobe into her mouth, nuzzling her while her hand wandered over her gland.

“ST should have vanished into the dustbin of history long ago.”

Song Shuangtian stared intensely at Ji Mingxue. “It was you who blocked other brands from acquiring it. It was you who didn’t strictly prosecute ST when you knew my father was ordering them to plagiarize M Group. That’s the only reason that broken brand was able to linger on.”

Ji Mingxue didn’t deny it. She had given the woman’s legacy many chances, but the Chairman at the time hadn’t cherished the brand’s image. Failing to protect its reputation, it eventually fell to a state where everyone despised it. Of course, Ji Mingxue didn’t want to see that woman’s life’s work become a “rat crossing the street” that everyone would hit.

Song Shuangtian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The mess of the previous generation should have been swept into the trash long ago. It was only in the last few years that she realized Ji Mingxue had been searching for the legitimate heir to ST Group—her. For her sake, she hadn’t rushed to swallow it whole.

Song Shuangtian muttered a curse under her breath. This is so damn convoluted.

The Alpha’s lip was bitten and bleeding, looking utterly innocent. “It hurts.”

Ji Mingxue’s words broke Song Shuangtian’s spiraling thoughts. “Tiantian, it hurts.”

Song Shuangtian glared at her, her heart a mess of complicated feelings toward Ji Mingxue’s past generosity and tenderness.

After that intensely entangled kiss, the wound on Ji Mingxue’s back had opened. She literally “split open.”

Song Shuangtian: “…”

“I’m calling the doctor.”

Ji Mingxue pulled her back. “We dock in half an hour.”

Song Shuangtian gritted her teeth, her face cold and grumpy. “What exactly do you want?”

Ji Mingxue: “Let me mark you. Just one bite.”

Seeing Song Shuangtian’s grumpy face, Ji Mingxue thought she would refuse. To her surprise, the woman sat obediently in front of her, brushed her hair aside, and neatly tore off the gland patch.

“Bite then.”

Consider it a reward for Ji Mingxue getting injured to protect her. In this world, the people who would block danger for Song Shuangtian were very, very few. You could count them on one hand and still have fingers to spare.

Ji Mingxue didn’t bite immediately. Instead, she rubbed her lips against the gland until the skin was hot and red.

“Are you going to bite or not!”

Ji Mingxue chuckled softly. She used her sharp teeth to pierce the soft skin of the gland. Song Shuangtian’s pupils contracted sharply; she gripped the blanket as her body trembled involuntarily.

The Alpha’s cool, crisp pheromones instantly bloomed within her. Song Shuangtian let out a low gasp, overwhelmed by the sudden high concentration. Her legs rubbed together; her body felt strange. She really wanted to do something, more intimate.

“Aie aie aie! Hurry and find where the child is!”

Sabrina was spinning in circles, frantically mixing French and Chinese. “I told you to watch the child, and you lost her!”

Ji Man’s head was spinning with rage. “If you lose my baby, I will divorce you immediately! Go check the surveillance cameras now!”

Ever since Sabrina and Ji Man returned to the country, the butler had suddenly become incredibly busy. Guanguan was especially fond of her two grandmothers; one smile from her was a “sweetness critical hit” that no one could resist. What wrong could Guanguan possibly do? Guanguan just liked playing hide-and-seek.

Sabrina was breaking out in a cold sweat. This was Ji Mingxue’s only child, and Song Shuangtian’s only child as well. Sabrina was very fond of Song Shuangtian and felt a deep sense of debt toward her.

As Sabrina scrolled through the surveillance footage on her phone, a leaf suddenly drifted down from above her head. She looked up. Another leaf fell, landing right on top of her blonde hair.

Ji Man pointed and screamed, “She’s in the tree!”

The tree was a recently transplanted spruce—not exactly towering, but certainly not short either. “Is Axue’s child a monkey?” Ji Man looked up and nearly fainted from the fright.

Sabrina had initially thought her wife was overreacting, but now that she looked up, she instinctively reached for her heart-relief pills. The Chairperson of M Group, who always prided herself on her good health, suddenly felt her heart skipping beats.

Before the two elders could call for professional rescue personnel, they watched as Guanguan nimbly scrambled down from the tree.

“Grandma!” Guanguan stood with her hands on her hips, clearly waiting for praise.

Sabrina swallowed her fast-acting heart pill. “You are a very impressive little monkey, but promise me: no climbing trees next time.” She took out a handkerchief to brush the dirt off Guanguan’s clothes.

Watching Guanguan climb, Ji Man had a moment of daze. “Come look at this.” She sat cross-legged on the sofa and flipped through her phone’s photo album, finding an old picture.

In a coniferous forest, a young black-haired girl sat cross-legged on a branch, holding a book and reading in her secret garden. Every child dreams of having a treehouse; Axue didn’t have one, but she had the trees themselves. A squirrel had stopped in front of her, and Axue was pulling pine nuts and peanuts from her pocket. The squirrel and the little girl read together. There was no fear on the girl’s face; she looked like an elf born of nature, possessing a natural affinity for the wild.

Sabrina looked at the photo, then at Guanguan. “Truly Axue’s child. She hasn’t inherited a single bit of Song Shuangtian’s ‘good girl’ nature.”

Guanguan blinked her purple-grape eyes. “So Guanguan doesn’t get a ‘good job’?”

Sabrina sighed helplessly. “What if you fall?”

Guanguan tilted her head. “My skills are good! The kindergarten teacher says I’m very capable.”

Sabrina thought to herself that this child really couldn’t tell the difference between a compliment and a warning, she was exactly like Axue, who insisted on climbing trees and never learned her lesson.

Ji Man took a black velvet bag from her purse and tossed it to Guanguan. “Here, marbles.”

Guanguan opened the bag to find it filled with seawater pearls the size of a knuckle. “Wow!” Only in this family would pearls and gemstones be treated as marbles.

The old butler was pulling his hair out. “Mesdames, should we have that tree moved?”

Sabrina was about to say ‘move it immediately’ when the words reached her lips: “Forget it. The child likes it; let her be.”

“But…” the butler stammered. “The young miss has already gotten many scratches from climbing.”

Ji Man thought back to the stubborn little Axue. “Place some soft mats under the tree and treat the wounds if they happen. If we don’t let her climb trees now, she’ll be climbing skyscrapers later.”

Sabrina and Ji Man were in agreement: they didn’t need an absolutely obedient child. Childhood only happens once; if you miss it, you can never get it back. They didn’t need Guanguan to make millions or uphold the family’s “glory” in the future. Whether it was M Group or Reborn, those were the lifeblood of people who loved those brands. That burden of passion should not be forced upon another person.

“Wait, that is the reason Guanguan won’t come down from the tree?”

Ji Mingxue looked up at the treehouse that had appeared out of nowhere, watching her “jar’s” legs swinging in the air, casting long shadows in the sunlight. She downed a bottle of “Calming Oral Liquid.” “A strong wind could blow the child away.”

Right on cue, a gust of wind whistled past, and the branches began to shake violently. Guanguan hugged the trunk with both hands, looking like she was about to cry. Ji Mingxue began massaging her own pressure points to stay conscious. The wound on her back wasn’t healed yet; she couldn’t make any big movements without risk of tearing the stitches.

“Where are my mother and Mommy? I’m going to find them.”

The old butler, who was rapidly developing a “Mediterranean” bald spot from stress, replied, “The two ladies have already returned to France.”

Ji Mingxue: “.”

“So there isn’t a single person in this entire villa who can control Guanguan?”

“In fact,” the butler noted, “the two ladies didn’t control her when they were here either.”

Ji Mingxue felt her vision go dark. Her relationship with Song Shuangtian had just started to see real progress. If anything happened to Guanguan now… she didn’t even dare finish the thought.

She turned a cold face toward the tree. “I am going to count to three. Get down here right now! Three, two—”

Guanguan, who had been genuinely spooked by the wind, scrambled down and stood obediently before Ji Mingxue to admit her mistake. Mommy, please come back soon, Guanguan can’t pretend to be a ‘good girl’ much longer QAQ.

Ji Mingxue massaged her temples. “No, I need to find a tutor. You, come here.” She beckoned to the butler. “Since she likes climbing so much, find a coach and arrange rock climbing lessons.”

Perfect. With the child busy, she could focus on dating the child’s mother.

Guanguan let out a violent sneeze in the wind. “Do I have a cold?”

Song Shuangtian was flipping through documents in her office. Reborn had been doing well lately, receiving invitations from several royal families. She didn’t accept every commission; she chose the most prestigious clients that would best serve the brand’s reputation.

A knock came at the door. “Come in.”

Yuan Yin walked in holding her Maltese, followed by a secretary ready to report. Yuan Yin plopped down on the sofa, her little white dog sitting obediently on her lap.

“President Song,” the secretary started, “that person has returned to the country.”

Song Shuangtian didn’t look up from her emails. “Which person?” She then looked at the new secretary, who had been transferred from her aunt’s side and was highly experienced.

The secretary hesitated. “It’s your father.”

Song Shuangtian’s hand on the mouse twitched, accidentally clicking the ‘X’ in the corner. The email page vanished. A shadow crossed her eyes. “What is Song Chuang doing back in the country?”

Song Chuang had been driven out of the country by Ji Mingxue after squandering a perfectly good family business. Ji Mingxue had long since found him eyesore. If little Song Shuangtian had once wished to win her father’s favor, the adult version had absolutely no expectations of him. He was a piece of trash that couldn’t be propped up.

Song Shuangtian felt like having a cigarette. She wasn’t addicted, so she just took a strawberry lollipop from her drawer and tucked it in the corner of her mouth.

Yuan Yin picked up where the secretary left off. “He sees Reborn doing well and wants a piece of the pie, obviously. But the more important reason is…”

Song Shuangtian shot her a look. “Spit it out.”

Yuan Yin wondered when her “Little Tiantian” had become so fierce. “I’ve found that your father’s account received a massive transfer from a European jewelry company. They likely want to dig up dirt on M Group.”

“Does Ji Mingxue know about this?”

“Unclear,” Yuan Yin replied, “but Ji Mingxue has been ‘dating’ a lot of pretty young girls lately.”

Song Shuangtian paused. “?”

“Really. I have photos.”

Song Shuangtian didn’t believe it and didn’t want to see them. She gave a half-smile. “What ‘dirt’?”

The Maltese ran over to lick Song Shuangtian’s fingers. She patted the dog’s head.

The secretary opened a folder. On the first page was a photo of a bloated man. Whatever he had endured abroad had left a scar across his face, making his already unkind expression look even more thuggish. He didn’t look like a jeweler at all; he looked like a bandit.

“Your father told the media that President Ji used underhanded methods to acquire ST Group, seizing your mother’s life’s work. He claims M Group started plotting over twenty years ago, holding your mother captive and forcing her to work for them in private which is why the jewelry from both companies is so strikingly similar.”

Song Shuangtian laughed out of sheer anger. Reversing black and white. Her mother had stayed with Ji Mingxue’s family voluntarily; they were all close friends. Now, in her father’s mouth, it was “captivity.” It was her father who had plagiarized their designs, yet now he claimed M Group was the copycat.

Yuan Yin was baffled by Song Chuang’s stupidity. “Does your bastard father not know that the ownership of the ‘Shuang’ series is in your hands?”

Song Shuangtian bit through the lollipop. “Stupid and wicked.”

She wanted to see exactly what kind of trouble her biological father was trying to stir up this time. Also, what was this business about Ji Mingxue dating “young girls” outside?

The office phone rang. “President Song, there is a man downstairs claiming to be your father. He wants to see you. Shall I let him up?”

“Does he have an appointment?”

“No.”

“There is a path through the back kitchen downstairs that bypasses security to the second floor,” Song Shuangtian said coolly. “Tell him he’s welcome to climb from the second floor to the 47th if he wants to find me.”

The receptionist repeated the words to Song Chuang. “President Song, he cursed and then left.”

Song Shuangtian held the little dog, thinking to herself: since there is no family affection left, she would solve this the way things are solved in the business world.

Would Ji Mingxue think she was being heartless? The great beauty fell into deep thought.

Support