Reborn as an Alpha and Still Wanting to Engage in Lesbian Relationships - Chapter 23

The focused little one, under Jiang Man’s enthusiastic invitation, was lifted by the horse trainer and securely seated on the small saddle.

The two children sat one in front of the other, their positions just right.

The previously pitifully adorable little one, once nestled in Jiang Man’s embrace, revealed a sweet smile.

How could Manzai’s exclusive fan photographer miss such an adorable scene!

Liu Ying raised her camera and snapped a series of photos of the two little ones riding together on the small pony.

A moment later, the memory card issued a warning of low storage. Liu Ying sheepishly put her camera away but still felt unsatisfied.

Coincidentally, Xu Nuo was feeling a bit tired from standing. She handed her camera to Liu Ying, rubbed her eyes, and asked the staff at the horse ranch for directions to the rest area before taking a seat.

As soon as she sat down, the attendants of the estate’s horse ranch gathered around, thoughtfully asking if Xu Nuo needed services like a massage to relieve fatigue.

Xu Nuo was merely a bit tired from standing and not exhausted to that extent, so she politely declined their offer.

Still, she couldn’t help but marvel inwardly: Liu Ying’s family really knows how to enjoy life.

The recliner beneath her was comfortable. Xu Nuo closed her eyes and pondered how to “acquire” one for free from her rival Liu Ying’s household.

Lost in thought, she was interrupted by a soft knock on the restroom door.

“Madam, your lemon water is here.”

The manager of the horse ranch entered with a slightly chilled glass of lemon water, placing it by Xu Nuo’s side without so much as a glance elsewhere.

Hearing the voice, Xu Nuo opened her eyes and took in the manager’s appearance.

“Liu Xu?” Xu Nuo looked at the familiar-looking horse ranch manager and hesitantly called out a name.

Upon hearing the name, the manager’s departing figure froze, and she stiffly turned around to see Xu Nuo’s face.

Xu Nuo had stood up at some point and walked over to Liu Xu, examining her closely.

Compared to their high school days, Liu Xu had grown much taller, and her arms and thighs had thickened, exuding strength nothing like the scrawny, bullied weakling she had been after failing her differentiation in high school.

Xu Nuo’s eyes lit up with surprise as she looked at her delightedly. “What are you doing working here?”

Seeing an old friend, the usually stern and serious manager’s icy demeanor melted slightly, and her posture relaxed considerably. “Director Jiang offers high wages, after all. One always strives for better opportunities.”

Xu Nuo wasn’t the only one happy to see an old friend.

Since graduating from high school and diving headfirst into the entertainment industry with Liu Ying, their days had been packed with endless schedules, squeezing their time so tightly that they hardly had any rest.

Later, after gaining fame, they had to be mindful of their words and actions everywhere they went, as eyes were always on them. Over time, Xu Nuo had rarely attended high school class reunions or similar gatherings.

At this sudden reunion, Xu Nuo couldn’t resist opening the floodgates of conversation.

Pulling Liu Xu to sit down, Xu Nuo had a bellyful of gossip about their high school classmates that she wanted to verify.

Unfortunately, Liu Xu spread her hands and shook her head. “You know my relationship with that group. After I failed my differentiation, you were the only friend I had left. I never paid any attention to those people.”

“Asking me for gossip, you’ve really come to the wrong person.”

Liu Xu shrugged helplessly, leaving Xu Nuo’s curiosity unsatisfied and her spirits deflated.

But seeing Xu Nuo’s casual attire, Liu Xu grew curious and pressed further, “Speaking of which, so you’re the guest that Director Jiang’s assistant notified us would be coming to the estate for the shoot?”

“Isn’t this supposed to be a reality show about observing young children? Where are your kid and partner?”

Xu Nuo nodded. “Chairman Jiang and Liu Ying, along with their baby Manzai, are also guests. You really are still completely out of the loop, aren’t you?”

“You didn’t even attend Manzai’s full moon celebration, did you?”

Liu Xu was quite frank, admitting openly, “Back then, it was because of exams. Now, it’s work. If it doesn’t involve a raise, I don’t really care.”

Seeing that her friend was still the same as she remembered, Xu Nuo couldn’t help but laugh.

The lounge was empty except for the two of them. They chatted about everything under the sun, and somehow, even though they had started by catching up on each other’s lives, the topic suddenly shifted to Wen Yu.

Liu Xu winked mischievously at Xu Nuo and asked, “May I ask is your current partner still that transfer student, Wen Yu?”

Xu Nuo chuckled. “If it’s not her, who else could it be?”

Seeing the overwhelming happiness on Xu Nuo’s face, Liu Xu clicked her tongue a few times. “Only someone as lovesick as you could be so inseparable with someone like her.”

At this, Xu Nuo immediately jumped to her wife’s defense. “What do you mean, ‘someone like her’?”

“Wen Yu is just a little inarticulate, a bit insecure, and has some inexplicable inferiority complex around me. Other than that, she’s really, really wonderful!”

Liu Xu couldn’t hold back a snort.

Was the Wen Yu Xu Nuo was describing really the same Wen Yu she knew?

Liu Xu began to doubt herself.

“You’re saying that Wen Yu, the one who used to follow you around with a terrifying glare, staring down everyone who was close to you, the one with such severe possessiveness that she’d cover you in her pheromones is the same person you’re describing?”

Liu Xu sounded genuinely uncertain.

But Xu Nuo pouted, insisting that people just didn’t understand Wen Yu. “She’s really great, not as scary as you all make her out to be.”

Recalling the things Wen Yu had done back in school including but not limited to injuring herself to play the fragile victim in front of Xu Nuo, tearing up her own things to act innocent, and privately intimidating or coercing anyone who tried to confess to Xu Nuo, Liu Xu gave an awkward laugh. She figured there was no saving a lovesick fool like Xu Nuo, as long as she was happy.

Realizing that Xu Nuo viewed Wen Yu through rose-tinted glasses ten kilometers thick, and being a corporate drone herself, Liu Xu didn’t want to risk her job over someone else’s marital life. So, she smoothly changed the subject.

“By the way,” Liu Xu remembered someone. “Do you still remember that beta junior who confessed to you?”

Xu Nuo, who had been confessed to by many people, thought for a moment and nodded.

Seeing that she remembered, Liu Xu continued, “When she confessed to you, she had just failed her first differentiation. After she came of age, she underwent a second differentiation and became an omega.”

“But I’m a bit curious,” Liu Xu propped her chin on her hand and asked, “If Wen Yu hadn’t been around, would you have gotten together with that junior back then?”

“Hmm…”

Xu Nuo hesitated, unsure how to answer.

After thinking for a long time, she finally frowned and replied uncertainly, “Probably, yes.”

To avoid disturbing the guests, the hallway outside the lounge was carpeted with thick, sound-absorbing material.

Wen Yu, who had been working late for several days and had just returned from a business trip in another province, stopped in her tracks upon hearing her wife’s words from outside the lounge door.

Inside the lounge, completely unaware of the newcomer outside, Xu Nuo looked at her old friend and said, “After all, back then, my sexual orientation was strictly ‘beta-loving’.”

The restless heart in his chest gradually cooled upon hearing his wife’s words.

Wen Yu’s perpetually snow-capped mountain-like rigid body seemed to lose all strength as he staggered several steps uncontrollably.

The heart that had blossomed for his wife now felt immersed in sulfuric acid.

A sour, wrenching, excruciating pain.

Fresh blood trickled from the collapsing heart, while his perpetually anxious and sensitive pheromones began stirring violently.

Without disturbing his wife’s conversation, Wen Yu clutched his agonizing chest, suppressed his mournfully screaming pheromones, and stumbled away with a pallid face.

The corridor stood silent and empty.

Apart from the accidentally left pheromones on the doorknob, it was as if no one had ever been there.

Unaware of what had transpired, the person inside continued: “But I never expected there’d be an alpha like Wen Yu in this world – pitiful, insecure, shy, and introverted! He completely bewitched me, even though I was once adamant about only being attracted to betas.”

After hearing Xu Nuo’s words, Liu Xu furrowed her brows, her expression resembling someone who had just heard a horror story.

Yet after a long pause, she still offered insincere blessings.

The two chatted idly in the lounge a while longer before Liu Xu rose to leave.

After all, unlike Xu Nuo, she was an employee here. Though holding a high position, she still had work to attend to.

Xu Nuo stood to see her out.

At the doorway, Xu Nuo noticed Liu Xu wrinkling her nose as if detecting some unacceptable odor.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Nuo sniffed the air around them but detected nothing.

It took Liu Xu a long moment to recover from the impact of those sharp, frantic pheromones.

She took out a pheromone neutralizer and sprayed the doorknob. “It’s nothing, someone’s pheromones got on here. Judging by the scent, their owner doesn’t seem to be in a good mental state.”

Xu Nuo acknowledged without giving it much thought.

With her friend gone, Xu Nuo soon grew bored alone in the empty lounge. She sprang up from the recliner, stretched, and decided to find Liu Ying and the others.

After chatting with Liu Xu for hours, the cubs who had been riding ponies earlier had long since returned to the manor villa to rest.

Thanking the riding instructor, Xu Nuo picked flowers along the way, planning to give her wife a bouquet during their video call that evening.

Strolling leisurely back with an armful of blossoms, Xu Nuo returned to the villa.

Having played little emperor on ponyback all afternoon, Manzai remained excited long after returning. Fang Jin and Mu Qian had also fed the small animals. The four cubs gathered on the carpet, babbling about their experiences in baby talk adults couldn’t understand.

When their limited vocabulary failed them, they compensated with gestures and expressions, each face animated with excitement.

Except for Wen Qing.

Watching her daughter staying close to Manzai, her gaze constantly fixed on him, Xu Nuo felt concerned.

She felt uncertain whether indulging Wen Qing’s attachment to Manzai was wise. Yet Wen Qing’s refusal to interact with anyone else worried Xu Nuo even more.

After watching the vivacious, energetic Manzai for a long time, Xu Nuo couldn’t help sighing.

Well, they’re just cubs after all.

How many childhood playmates actually stay together till the end? Even she and Liu Ying had now “become enemies.”

When they grow older and find their own partners, such childhood bonds naturally fade.

At this thought, a smile finally returned to Xu Nuo’s lips.

After placing the freshly picked flowers into a vase, Xu Nuo magically produced four small flower crowns from behind her back and leaned in, asking, “Does any little darling want a sweet and pretty flower crown?”

The young ones adored brightly colored things and Xu Nuo had a keen eye even when various flowers were mixed together, they didn’t clash.

As soon as the flower crowns appeared, they captured the children’s full attention.

Seeing the three little ones staring at her with wide, eager eyes, Xu Nuo couldn’t resist reaching out to gently pinch their cheeks before placing the flower crowns carefully on their heads.

Jiang Man, wearing her own little flower crown, turned and saw Aunt Xu Nuo helping her younger sister put one on.

The beautiful flower crown sat perfectly on Wen Qing’s head, not looking out of place at all. Instead, it seemed to enhance her beauty, making her stand out even more!

Gazing at Wen Qing, who now looked like a little flower fairy, Jiang Man cupped her own cheeks, her eyes crinkling into happy crescents as she exclaimed, “Sister, pretty!”

With that, Jiang Man took the flower crown from her own head and, holding Aunt Xu Nuo’s hand, placed it on Xu Nuo’s head with her help.

The noticeably smaller flower crown perched on Xu Nuo’s head left her momentarily bewildered.

Before she could figure out what the child meant, she saw the little one lean in, gently blowing on the finger Xu Nuo had accidentally pricked while picking flowers. Then, lifting her small face with a sincere smile, she said, “Auntie, pretty!”

Her compliment was loud and clear, catching the attention of the busy parents nearby, who couldn’t help but glance over.

Xu Nuo’s heart melted at Manzai’s sweet gesture, and she leaned in to kiss her, but before she could get close, Wen Qing coldly reached out a hand to block her.

Looking at her possessive daughter, Xu Nuo couldn’t help but laugh.

Returning the flower crown to Manzai, she revealed the four little ones, all adorned with their pretty flower crowns.

The parents reacted in perfect sync, immediately pulling out their light tablets and cameras to snap an endless series of photos of the children.

As for Xu Nuo, the stylist of the day, she simply patted her clothes and stood up, leaving without seeking any credit.

The four sets of parents were all easygoing by nature, and living together felt like one big family.

After photographing the children, they gathered to discuss dinner plans.

Just then, someone hurried in and handed Xu Nuo her private light tablet.

No one knew what the person on the other end said, but everyone saw Xu Nuo’s face turn pale almost instantly after answering the call.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing Xu Nuo’s sudden pallor, Liu Ying and the others quickly stepped forward to support her.

Xu Nuo was visibly shaken. Whatever the butler on the other end of the call had told her had left her deeply unsettled.

She reached out, gripping the arm of Liu Ying, who was closest to her, her voice trembling as she said, “Wen Yu, something’s happened to Wen Yu. I have to go back. Xiao Qing will be fine with Manzai here, she’ll behave. Please take care of her for me.”

Without waiting for Liu Ying’s response, Xu Nuo grabbed her light tablet and hurried away.

Watching Aunt Xu Nuo’s frantic departure, Jiang Man turned worriedly to look at Wen Qing.

But the little girl in question seemed completely unfazed, as if unaware of what had happened. Noticing Jiang Man’s gaze, she snuggled closer, nuzzling against her.

“What’s going on?”

Outside the nursery door that evening, the door was slightly ajar, and the voices of the mothers drifted in intermittently.

“Xu Nuo is a beta, she can’t provide Wen Yu with pheromone comfort. Everything was fine before, but I heard that after Wen Yu returned from outside this time, her pheromones went into turmoil.”

Looking at his wife’s worried face, Jiang Feng reached out and pulled her into his arms to comfort her. “Don’t worry, medical technology is so advanced now. Besides, Wen Yu’s family specializes in pheromone research. Nothing will happen to her.”

Sitting by the small bed’s railing, Jiang Man tilted her head in confusion as she listened to her mother and mother’s conversation.

“Although true love can overcome all difficulties, this is the downside of an AB pairing.”

“A beta with degenerated glands can’t receive their lover’s pheromones, can’t sense the emotional state in their lover’s scent, and can’t comfort their partner.”

“It’s only a matter of time before their partner’s pheromones go haywire.”

Jiang Feng’s warm hand gently stroked Liu Ying’s back. “It seems this is Wen Yu’s first time experiencing this situation, which is why Xu Nuo is so anxious. I heard Xu Nuo called in everyone from Wen Corporation’s research institute they’re all top experts in pheromone research. They won’t let anything happen to Wen Yu.”

Seeing his wife still anxious, Jiang Feng released his pine-scented pheromones, gently enveloping his wife. A large dog quietly appeared beside Liu Ying.

Jiang Feng kissed his beloved’s cheek and patiently guided her back to their bedroom, soothing her with gentle words throughout the night.

The next morning, Xu Nuo hadn’t returned. On the third day, and then the fourth, Xu Nuo still hadn’t appeared.

Watching Fang Jin acting spoiled with her mother, Jiang Man looked worriedly at the beautiful little child who was focused on playing with building blocks.

Wen Qing noticed her concerned gaze but didn’t respond. Instead, she carefully placed the final block on her little castle before looking up to meet Jiang Man’s eyes. “Manman no worry, mother no like me.”

The beautiful child’s voice was just loud enough for only Jiang Man across from her to hear.

Hearing her words, Jiang Man couldn’t help but show a stunned expression.

What must a small child have experienced to be able to so calmly tell someone that her own mother didn’t like her?

Seeing the tears welling up in Jiang Man’s eyes, Wen Qing crawled over and gently touched her eyelids.

“Manman no cry,” Wen Qing whispered beside her. “Mother no like me, hate me, but I have Manman.”

“I have Manman, that enough.”

Looking at the beautiful, well-behaved child, Jiang Man’s heart ached with sorrow.

Remembering her own past life and the children in the institution, Jiang Man reached out and held Wen Qing tightly.

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