After the System Called Me Mom, My Arch-Nemesis Omega Fell for Me - Chapter 18

Yuanshan Apartments

After returning to the Yuanshan Apartments, Lu Lingzhi checked the time and realized it was almost time to scramble for elective courses. She looked at Jiang Mingyue, who was washing fruit, and asked, “Can I borrow your computer for a second? I need to register for electives. Is there a password?”

“Go ahead, there’s no password,” Jiang Mingyue’s voice drifted over, mingled with the sound of running water.

Upon opening the laptop, a Baidu Net disk interface popped up. Lu Lingzhi closed the main window, leaving only a small floating icon in the top right corner.

She logged into the university’s official portal.

She selected The History of Coffee Tasting. She planned to have her family invest in a trendy boutique cafe for her after graduation, where she could sit back and wait for corporate dividends.

Just then, an agile orange and white shadow streaked onto the sofa. Soft paw pads landed precisely on Lu Lingzhi’s lap with a dainty “Meow.”

It was Suisui.

The calico kitten she had rescued from a corner of the school back in high school. Lu Lingzhi had a majestic Maine Coon named Niannian at home, raised by her sister and as they say, one mountain cannot hold two tigers.

Back then, Suisui had been terrified by Niannian, so she had to be temporarily fostered at school. Later, Suisui suddenly disappeared for a while, and Lu Lingzhi had worried for ages. It turned out Jiang Mingyue had “secretly adopted” her.

“Suisui!” Lu Lingzhi delightedly set the laptop aside and pulled the fluffy creature into her arms, nuzzling the soft top of its head. “Long time no see! Did you miss me?” Suisui let out a contented purr, stretching out a pink paw to affectionately touch Lu Lingzhi’s chin.

Lu Lingzhi’s heart melted. She couldn’t resist squeezing Suisui’s pink toe beans. The kitten seemed a bit ticklish, its little paws kicked lightly against her legs, and in a moment of distraction.

Click! Clack-clack-clack!

The kitten’s paws landed on the keyboard in a series of chaotic yet rapid “meow-meow punches”!

The screen display switched instantly.

The school’s course registration system vanished without a trace.

In its place, the Baidu Netdisk window sprang open.

Inside a newly created folder, the video titles were enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.

• [OO Love, High-H Documentary]
• [Japanese OO Love Anime]
• [Pure OO Love: That Heart Pounding Moment When Your Beloved Omega Senior Sneak Kisses You!]

The next second, Suisui’s stray paw clicked “play” on the sneak kiss video.

On the screen, two beautiful girls with gentle temperaments, wearing matching academic style knit sweaters, were leaning close to each other reading a book. One girl turned her head and softly kissed the other’s cheek. The girl being kissed froze for a moment, then a shy blush crept over her face, though her eyes remained bright with an irrepressible, sweet smile.

The camera zoomed in, freezing on that shy, sugary expression.

Lu Lingzhi felt her scalp go numb! Blood rushed to her head with a whoosh and then drained away just as fast, leaving her fingertips icy. Her mind went blank, save for that video title and the imagery looping in her brain!

Jiang Mingyue… is watching OO (Omega x Omega) videos?!

Is this the smoking gun?!

She really does like Omegas.

“Does it look good?” A lazy, slightly amused voice whispered like a ghost right against Lu Lingzhi’s ear.

Lu Lingzhi jolted violently and whipped her head around.

Sometime during the chaos, Jiang Mingyue had walked up silently behind her. She was leaning over slightly, peering over Lu Lingzhi’s shoulder at the screen where the sweet scene was still playing.

There wasn’t a hint of embarrassment or panic at having her privacy invaded. Instead, she tilted her head, her eyes sparkling with unmasked mischief.

She held a cherry between two fingers and brought it to Lu Lingzhi’s lips, a gesture both flirtatious and intimate.

“Taste it? It’s sweet.” Lu Lingzhi was still dazed; she instinctively parted her lips. The translucent, plump cherry was gently pushed into her mouth, and her teeth instinctively bit through the thin skin.

Sweet juice exploded across her palate, followed by a rich fruity aroma. Surprisingly, it was infused with her pheromones.

Lu Lingzhi: “!!!”

Good, my foot! You pervert!

“These are pitless cherries.”

Lu Lingzhi swallowed the cherry mixed with tulip pheromones, as if gulping down the anger that had just flared up. However, she was far too shocked, her voice cracked as she spoke: “Jiang Mingyue! You… you… what on earth are you watching?!” She pointed at the computer, her fingertips trembling.

Jiang Mingyue noticed the lingering cool sensation on her fingertips and savored the memory of the soft contact with the other’s lips. She arched an eyebrow, her playfulness deepening as she asked innocently, “Doesn’t this count as you spying on my privacy?”

Damn it!

The villain files the suit first.

Lu Lingzhi was on the verge of a breakdown. “Me? Spying on your privacy?! You… you…”

She was so angry she became incoherent. Looking at Jiang Mingyue’s face so close, and written all over with “What are you going to do about it?” she held it in for a long time. Finally, she scrambled from one side of the sofa to the other, her face flushed red. “Stay away from me! You… you…” The word “pervert” rolled around on the tip of her tongue a few times, but she didn’t quite dare to spit it out.

As a well-behaved child of the compulsory education system, the Second Miss’s vocabulary of insults was severely lacking.

Seeing her flustered yet cowardly reaction, the smile in Jiang Mingyue’s eyes deepened with a touch of wicked delight. She stopped teasing her and picked up her bag. “I have some things to handle at school; I need to head back.”

Hearing that she was leaving, Lu Lingzhi’s tense nerves relaxed by half. She blurted out almost impatiently, “Then have a safe trip, I won’t see you out.” Her tone of “good riddance” was incredibly obvious.

“Sigh, Second Miss, I’ve waited on you hand and foot, and this is how you treat me?” Jiang Mingyue walked to the foyer to change her shoes, intentionally drawing out a long, theatrical sigh. “Running to the hospital to register for you… even if there’s no glory, there’s the hard work.”

Lu Lingzhi regained some confidence. “You did that voluntarily. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll just leave then. Anyway, you have zero credibility with me.”

Jiang Mingyue shook her head, feigning heartbreak. “You really are heartless.”

Lu Lingzhi stood far behind her, clutching Suisui and maintaining a safe distance, wishing only for this “plague god” to vanish.

Just as Jiang Mingyue pulled open the door, she suddenly stopped and leaned against the frame, turning sideways.

The evening glow from the hallway window slanted in, casting a warm golden halo around her, but the interplay of light and shadow made her expression hard to read.

“Lu Lingzhi.”

Lu Lingzhi reacted instinctively: “Don’t call my name.”

Jiang Mingyue’s voice pierced the quiet of the living room. “You seem very concerned about my orientation?”

Lu Lingzhi’s heart leapt into her throat. She stiffened her neck and blustered, “You like Omegas, and I happen to be an Omega. Isn’t it natural for me to be afraid? Who knows what you might…?”

“Is that so?” Jiang Mingyue seemed to let out a low chuckle, short and emotionless. “Have you ever considered that you made me this way?”

Lu Lingzhi denied it without thinking, though her heart was a chaotic mess. “You’re talking nonsense.”

She instinctively avoided Jiang Mingyue’s gaze, her frantic eyes sweeping the room until they accidentally landed back on that cursed laptop screen.

The video had paused on a scene of two girls kissing on a lush green lawn.

That smile, that setting…

The evening sun, the quiet school grass.

Jiang Mingyue’s sudden kiss, and her own mind going blank afterward…

The screen and reality, memory and the present, overlapped instantly.

Leaning against the doorframe, Jiang Mingyue’s eyes drifted over Lu Lingzhi’s face. With a touch of reminiscence, half-serious and half-joking, she said, “When I kissed you on the school lawn back in eleventh grade…” She paused deliberately, satisfied to see Lu Lingzhi’s pupils contract at the keyword. “That was when I knew I liked Omegas… Otherwise, why would I have let you have the ‘School Beauty’ title? Why would I care so much about your business? Why would I give you gifts so often?”

“Aaaah!!! Shut up! Don’t say it!” Lu Lingzhi instantly covered her ears, turning away in a fit of pique. She hid her burning cheeks and bright red ears, leaving Jiang Mingyue with nothing but the back of a head that screamed “Refusal to Communicate.”

Suisui was startled by the sudden movement and gave a small “Meow.”

“Don’t be nervous,” Jiang Mingyue’s voice softened even more as she laughed. “I actually like Alphas. I was just teasing you.”

“…”

Lu Lingzhi’s back stiffened; the hands covering her ears loosened slightly.

“Did you think I liked you?”

Lu Lingzhi, humiliated and angry, snapped: “You’re toxic! One minute you like Alphas, the next you like Omegas, are you bisexual? Is there a single word of truth in your mouth? You liar.”

Jiang Mingyue rolled her eyes. “Only the Second Miss is allowed to be disgusted by this and that? I’m not allowed to strike back? You’re so worked up and defensive, it turns out you actually have no guard against me. Deep down, you know I won’t hurt you.”

Lu Lingzhi: “…”

“I really, truly only like Alphas. I’m not lying.”

I tell the truth and you don’t believe me; I tell a lie and you buy it instantly.

Lu Lingzhi: “…”

She had entered a state of self-imposed silence again.

“I’ll come back tomorrow night to take you back to the dorm,” Jiang Mingyue stopped teasing. “I promised you a Sam’s Club shopping trip. There’s an iPad on the table, go ahead and order whatever you like.”

Lu Lingzhi still didn’t move.

“The payment password is your birthday, 020822. There’s eight thousand in the account, try to be a bit thrifty.”

Lu Lingzhi whipped her head up, looking toward the door in disbelief.

In the light, Jiang Mingyue’s silhouette was sharp. She spoke as if mentioning a trivial errand: “I just changed the password. I’m going to be very busy with experiments later and won’t be able to check the app constantly, not to mention you’ve blacklisted my WeChat and phone number.”

“As for meals,” she continued to instruct, as if arranging a mundane schedule, “the iPad has our family’s app, the ordering system. Pick whatever you want to eat and someone will deliver it. Lastly, remember to take your medicine and apply the ointment. I’ll go to the hospital with you on Monday.”

With that, she didn’t linger. She opened the door and disappeared into the shadows of the hallway.

Click.

The door closed softly, shutting out the world.

In the living room, Lu Lingzhi stood alone, frozen. Her mind was a tangled mess of yarn played with by a cat. Jiang Mingyue’s words echoed in her head like a haunting melody: “I like Alphas.”

Was Jiang Mingyue’s subtext… that until you turn into an Alpha, I won’t do anything to you?