After the System Called Me Mom, My Arch-Nemesis Omega Fell for Me - Chapter 11

The door opened. Standing inside wasn’t Jiang Mingyue, but her brother, Jiang Mingzhao.

A high-achieving student returned from studying abroad, he carried the public persona of a “doting elder brother.”

“Little Sister Lu,” Jiang Mingzhao said, swirling a glass of whiskey. The golden liquid shimmered brilliantly. “My sister, Mingyue, is re-preparing a gift for you. You are an honored guest, so I’ve come to fulfill the duties of a host.”

Lu Lingzhi’s sixth sense told her the man was a hypocritical fraud.

“Little Sister Lu, here is the oat milk you like. Mingyue specifically told me to give it to you.” Jiang Mingzhao snapped his fingers, and a waiter approached with a glass of milk.

“What do you want with me, Brother Mingzhao?” Lu Lingzhi took the glass but didn’t drink.

She listened as Jiang Mingzhao spoke beside her. “Mingyue speaks very highly of you, saying you’re just like her. You love your sister, and she loves her brother. She says you’re the most magnanimous person she’s ever met. There’s something she felt too embarrassed to bring up with you.”

“What is it?” Lu Lingzhi felt the air growing hot and stuffy, even though she hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. She took a few sips of the milk.

Jiang Mingzhao spoke with an air of deep apology. “I really liked that ‘pigeon egg’ diamond, so Mingyue gave it to me. My apologies.”

Her favorite treasure had been snatched away. Lu Lingzhi’s eyes darkened as if splashed with ink. She gripped the glass tightly, yet her expression remained mild. “Then I won’t disturb you two any longer. I’m leaving.”

“I know you’re angry.” Jiang Mingzhao grabbed her wrist, his Alpha strength showing. “I have plenty of good things here. I’ll trade them with you; just don’t hold a grudge against Mingyue.”

“How could I blame Mingyue?” Lu Lingzhi suppressed her resentment. Her philosophy was simple: if you can’t out-fight or out-curse them, run…it’s not embarrassing. “It’s late, and my sister is downstairs.”

Damn, my head is spinning.

The Eldest Young Master Jiang actually drugged the milk.

“Then let’s wait for Mingyue together. You’ll give me that much face, won’t you?”

Lu Lingzhi flashed a sweet smile and pulled out her phone. “Then I’ll let my sister know.”

Jiang Mingzhao snatched the phone away. “I see your step is unsteady. I’ll support you.”

Lu Lingzhi lifted her gaze, a flicker of darkness passing through them.

A gentleman in a suit on the outside, a beast in clothing on the inside.

“Get down!”

Jiang Mingzhao: “…”

“I want you to carry me on your back. If you can’t do what your sister can, then clearly your apology isn’t sincere.” Lu Lingzhi leaned against the wall, her lips curling in a mocking sneer.

Jiang Mingzhao grabbed her wrist. A metal cross bracelet was revealed on her slender arm, its cold glint causing him to lose focus for a moment. Lu Lingzhi used her free hand to slap him across the face. “Did you not hear me? I said get down!”

“Are you trying to stab my gland?” Jiang Mingzhao pinned her shoulder. Lu Lingzhi retorted, “You have a persecution complex, you mad dog.”

Jiang Mingzhao used his other hand to pinch her face.

In response, Lu Lingzhi bit down hard on the webbing of his hand between the thumb and forefinger, drawing blood instantly.

“…Tsk.” Jiang Mingzhao let go. “Vicious mutt.”

Her face was flawless.

From a distance, she looked like a “Tsundere Tea”; up close, she was the reincarnation of a devil child.

“After you, Little Sister Lu.”

A beautiful vicious mutt and a sophisticated mad dog.

Jiang Mingyue looked up. Her gaze was as clear as ever, but now it seemed veiled in a thin mist of moisture as she looked at Lu Lingzhi. “Since I was a child, anything I liked, anything I cared about, he would find a way to snatch it away…” Including you.

Lu Lingzhi listened to her.

Jiang Mingzhao was her biological brother, the heir to the Jiang family. Why would he treat Jiang Mingyue like that? She wasn’t an obstacle to him.

What do other people’s family dramas have to do with me?

I’m the victim here. Why is Jiang Mingyue acting like the victim?

She had arrived that day full of joy, only to be met with Jiang Mingyue’s deception and Jiang Mingzhao’s humiliation.

Her eyes suddenly reddened.

She had been pathetic. Truly pathetic for the first time.

How could Jiang Mingyue team up with her brother to bully her?

No matter how much time passed, it still hurt.

She wanted to cry. She wanted someone to hold while she cried.

Later, when Jiang Mingyue finally showed up, she didn’t help her, she even pushed her and defended her brother.

Drip. A traitorous tear fell onto the back of her hand, creating a tiny splash.

Her gland felt stuffy and itchy. Her thoughts drifted, she really wanted to scratch it.

Realizing her hand was wet, she fished a bottle of eye drops out of her pocket and dripped them into her eyes.

To the outside world, she would always be the lofty Second Miss Lu.

She tilted her head back, massaging the gland at the nape of her neck with both hands.

“…I know, you really hate me…” Jiang Mingyue saw Lu Lingzhi’s small movements. She really was becoming more and more resistant to her.

In the past, no matter what she said, Lingzhi would listen intently, listening to everything. She would even try to make her happy. Now, she wasn’t even willing to listen to a few extra sentences.

Lu Lingzhi looked completely impatient, even turning her back.

Jiang Mingyue lowered her eyelashes, hiding the disappointment in her eyes. “I’ll change my emergency contact. Thank you for making the trip today and listening to my rambling. I’m sorry.”

“To show my apology, how about I treat you to dinner tomorrow?”

The discomfort in Lu Lingzhi’s gland eased slightly. Looking at Jiang Mingyue’s clear eyes, eyes that screamed, “I’m serious, please believe me just this once” her heart felt like it had been nudged by something.

She quickly turned her gaze back to the ground. Jiang Mingyue’s eyes always managed to make her heart soften.

Was Jiang Mingyue being truthful or lying?

She couldn’t tell, or perhaps she was too lazy to distinguish. She only knew that Jiang Mingyue had once cruelly deceived and hurt her.

But…

The pain in her voice when she spoke about her brother stealing her things didn’t seem faked.

The look in her eyes when she said she envied her for having a sister carried a genuine loneliness.

She just wanted things to be simple, she truly hated these convoluted schemes.

“Hey, Lu Er…”

A weak call of “Lu Er.” Lu Lingzhi looked over just as Jiang Mingyue was about to faint. Jiang Mingyue reached out to grab her, the scent of tulips rushed over her, and the piercing pain deep within her gland miraculously eased.

She tightened her arms, pulling the woman into her embrace. Her lips pressed against the other’s watery eyes; the butterfly-wing eyelids flickered, her lips felt damp, and silken long hair brushed against her cheek.

Like lovers reunited after a long separation, they embraced instinctively.

Jiang Er, Jiang Er, who told you to give me a nickname like Lu Er? Now we’re even.

Jiang Er, you still have me. I’m your cutest little deer. Whoever bullies you, I’ll protect you. Let’s be best friends for life, okay?

Jiang Mingyue’s hands were looped around Lu Lingzhi’s neck. She turned her face away, not daring to look at the face that had appeared in her dreams countless times. Her lips had touched her eye that counted as a proper kiss, didn’t it?

Lu Lingzhi waited for Jiang Mingyue to let go, but the other woman just kept clinging. She coughed. “Let go.”

Jiang Mingyue looked a bit sad.

Seeing her sadness and remembering she was a patient, Lu Lingzhi explained, “Jiang Mingyue, you’re pressing on my gland. Didn’t you tell me to be careful with it yesterday?”

So that was it.

Jiang Mingyue obediently let go, and they both sat back on the sofa.

Lu Lingzhi glared at her, feeling quite annoyed.

Jiang Mingyue had warned her about potential lesions in her gland last night, yet today she was pressing right against it.

Jiang Mingyue saw Lu Lingzhi’s angry little expression.

“I’m sorry.” A warm breath brushed past Lu Lingzhi’s ear. “How about every weekend from now on, I treat you to lunch and dinner? You pick the place. Then I’ll take you to Sam’s Club and we can fill up the cart, okay? We can go to Universal Studios or Disney, wherever you want.”

Lu Lingzhi was a little tempted.

Since Jiang Mingyue was willing to “drop gold” to support her, why not?

It wasn’t like she was useful anyway.

She couldn’t rely on the old, and she couldn’t rely on the young.

Lu Lingzhi felt a wave of heat instantly spread from her earlobes to her neck, her fair skin flushing a tempting shade of red. She jerked her head away, trying to hide her sudden shyness, but the tips of her bright red ears gave her away completely.

The anger on her face dissipated like a popped balloon.

Though she wanted to maintain a shred of dignity, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes were already uncontrollably twinkling with countless little stars.

[The System, huffing with its hands on its hips: Mama, if you want to talk bad about Auntie and the two Grandmas, leave me out of it. It’s clearly because you don’t work hard to level up, yet you dream that I’ll suddenly transform into the Greek God of Time overnight to help you make money. (>_<)]

[Lu Lingzhi, not spoiling it at all: Tongtong, your mechanics are no good, only adding 60 points. Is it wrong for me to hope my ‘daughter’ becomes a phoenix? I want you to be the No. 1 among all systems. It’s a traditional virtue to raise children to provide for old age. Letting you support me for a few days is just a transition. Once I get home, I’ll take you to eat and drink the best. As the old saying goes, ‘suffering is a blessing’ bitter first, sweet later. I won’t treat you poorly.]

[The System’s CPU begins to smoke: Mama, we need to have some pride, we can’t just live off others. Don’t you have 100k?]

[Lu Lingzhi: It’s not a million. It doesn’t hurt as much to spend someone else’s money. I’ll give you ten minutes to consider whether you’re going to support me or not.]

While Lu Lingzhi waited for the system’s reply, she continued chatting with Jiang Mingyue.