The Canary Omega I Kept Turned Out to Be My Fiancée - Chapter 4

Encounters with Lu Ningzhi

City Hospital

Walking from the opposite direction was a person in a white lab coat. With a quick dodge, she came up behind Pei Song, covered her eyes with both hands, and asked right beside her ear, “Guess who this young lady is?”

“Pei Yan.”

Pei Yan lowered her hands, crossed them over her chest, and shook her rose-colored handbag. “Does it look good?”

Pei Song let out a helpless sigh. “You really are abusing your power for personal gain. I bought this for Mom, but you ended up getting one for yourself.”

“No, I didn’t. I just happened to run into a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. The sales associate said it was the biggest discount of the entire year.” Pei Yan fabricated the story, only to be met with an expression from Pei Song that clearly said: How on earth can you make up such nonsense?

“Vain.”

“So what if I’m vain?” Pei Yan felt no shame and instead took pride in it. She spun around to show off her new bag. “Which 17-year-old minor is a sophomore in college and interning at a hospital? I’m entering the adult world. What were you all doing at 17? Still burying your heads in high school textbooks like little puppy-love brats.”

Pei Song: ……

Pei Yan said with absolute confidence, “Don’t worry, I’ve already taken care of things with Mom.”

“How did you take care of it?”

Pei Yan held up two fingers and said pitifully, “Sis, I’m out of living expenses.”

Alipay deposit of 20,000 RMB received.

Pei Yan immediately gave Pei Song a hug and chimed right in, “The rumors outside just mention a marriage alliance between the Pei family and the Lu family without specifying who. So I can marry into it instead; I don’t have as many demands as you do. I like mature, high-achieving academic women. As long as Lu Ningzhi is willing to wait for me, I’ll be of legal age next month.”

Suddenly, Pei Song felt a fierce gaze from behind making her feel as uncomfortable as if she were standing on pins and needles. When she turned around, she saw a woman wearing a face mask and carrying health tonics walking slowly past.

Pei Yan took a bottle of medicine out of a plastic bag, and Pei Song handed her the empty pill bottle from her own pocket. Pei Yan helped refill it for her and added a warning instruction: “This medication is said to help alleviate your symptoms. It’s among the first batch in the country. Since I don’t have an employee ID number, I used Dr. Gu’s ID to prescribe it. The drug regulatory computer system logs everything, and I’m afraid she’ll find out. I only dispensed two weeks’ worth of the imported medicine.”

“When I was resting yesterday, I specifically tried this imported medicine. The visual effects are extremely intense, and besides weakened hearing, it also gives you nightmares.”

Pei Song was momentarily at a loss for words.

You used Dr. Gu’s employee ID to swipe our mother’s health insurance card to dispense medicine for yourself, and in the end, you’re giving this medicine to me.

This is a regulatory violation.

Where did you get the nerve? The moment you arrived, you went and pulled a massive stunt on your supervising mentor, Dr. Gu.

“Ancestor, this is a violation. And return Mom’s health insurance card.”

“I’ll return it to Mom next month when it can’t be swiped anymore.” The perpetrator was completely unfazed and argued logically: “A violation? Senior Sister Gu is so busy every day she won’t even notice, unless a patient files a complaint, the hospital won’t investigate.”

A chill struck Pei Song’s heart. Why did she feel like this regulatory violation would one day end up implicating the Pei Corporation?

Inpatient Department

Pei Song stepped into the elevator while Pei Yan went back to change her clothes. When she arrived at the door of the hospital room, she knocked three times. The door was opened by Mrs. Pei. The mother and daughter stepped one after the other into the receiving lounge, which also had a small side door. While the doctor was inside examining the elderly master of the Pei family, the mother and daughter stood in the lounge, and Mrs. Pei said to Pei Song, “Songsong, don’t provoke your grandfather. Just humor him. Besides, Lu Ningzhi is coming over soon as well; you might as well cross paths with her.”

Humor him, that meant she absolutely had to marry into the Lu family.

As for Lu Ningzhi coming over, bumping into her was better avoided.

Pei Song sat on the sofa, crossed her arms, and let out a light laugh. “Should I just ask her directly, ‘Miss Lu, what is it that you like about me, and I’ll change all of it, okay?’ If she says she doesn’t like me not liking her, then I’ll say that an omega’s words belie their true intentions, which means she really likes me liking her, and then I’ll definitely change.”

Mrs. Pei glared at her and warned, “Pei Song, no matter what, you have no business using flippant remarks to toy with Lu Ningzhi. Mrs. Lu said that Lu Ningzhi likes you, has liked you for many years.”

Pei Song crossed her arms, completely unfazed. “Do I have to accept her feelings just because she likes me? Is she a Renminbi or a bar of gold?”

“Pei Song!” Mrs. Pei disciplined her once more. “Don’t you dare say there isn’t even a tiny fraction of Lu Ningzhi in your heart.”

“Mom, did she not bring this debt of a personal favor upon herself by meddling?”

Lu Ningzhi.

In her eyes, she was simply uninteresting, as dull and devoid of color as the black-framed glasses she wore.

How could she ever compare to Sang Ningzhi, who was so witty, dazzling, and capable of stirring the strings of her heart? She was simply the model omega of the new era.

She wanted so badly, so desperately to hide her away, to make her exclusively her own. As long as she could quietly look at Sang Ningzhi, all of her negative emotions would vanish.

“If you hadn’t provoked her, would she have owed you a personal favor?” Mrs. Pei used reverse psychology to spur Pei Song on. “You don’t care, and you didn’t tame her, you said you liked forceful types, so you taught her how to kiss and took her first kiss. The fortune-teller was right after all.”

“Just because I like something, am I supposed to like it for a lifetime?” When Pei Song heard about the fortune-teller, she recalled, “The fortune-teller’s exact words were that I would meet three lights in my lifetime: one is Pei Yan, and the other two are destined omega romantic ties, one in high school, and one this year.”

Pei Song walked into the hospital room, where Grandfather Pei was reviewing documents. Hearing footsteps, he raised his head to look at her. Pei Song came to Grandfather Pei’s side and said, “Grandpa, how are you feeling?”

Grandfather Pei ignored her and kept his eyes on the financial report in his hands. Pei Song knew that her grandfather was waiting for her to state her position, to say a word about marrying Lu Ningzhi, and only then would he speak to her. But she simply couldn’t utter those words, nor could she make such a promise.

Pei Song patiently peeled an apple for her grandfather.

She just couldn’t understand why these elderly people were so fond of playing matchmaker with arbitrary pairings. They were especially enthusiastic about urging their juniors to get married and have children, as if someone had assigned them a task. They would host banquets and the like, watching their expressions switch between momentary joy and underlying disdain. Yet the moment a junior defied their wishes, they would resort to moral blackmail.

If the juniors married according to their wishes, and unhappiness arose after marriage, they would simply brush it off with a casual line: Everyone goes through it that way; which family doesn’t have messy troubles? Just endure it, and a lifetime passes by in the blink of an eye.

They would brush it aside with a light touch.

Because no one was happy, unhappiness became the status quo.

And the immoral problems that sprouted from this afterward were tied to many factors, making marriage a metaphysical mystery. But she knew that this marriage between herself and Lu Ningzhi would lead to no good result.

Grandfather Pei stared at Pei Song’s sophisticated face, his gaze dropping to the apple she was holding out, and asked coldly, “Pei Song, is that still your final word? You refuse to marry Lu Ningzhi?”

Pei Song said with forceful conviction, “In my eyes, being good-looking… means it can actually be used as a meal ticket. Being good-looking surpasses everything else.”

“Thud, clatter!”

With a deafening crash accompanied by shattering glass, Pei Song fell to her knees. A gash was torn into her forehead, and a sharp, piercing ringing sound echoed in her ear. Stunned into seeing stars from the sudden blow, a plastic medicine bottle fell out of her pocket and went rolling across the smooth floor.

Fresh blood followed the contours of her face and dripped into her eyes. She blinked, unable to care about the injury on her head. “Drip, drop.” Fresh blood trickled down her jawline onto the polished floor.

She lowered her head, searching for the medicine bottle.

Where is the medicine bottle? Exactly where is it?

The tap-tap-tap sound of footsteps approached from close range, and the medicine bottle was intercepted by the tip of a shoe.

Her field of vision gained a pair of high heels, and moments later, the toe of the shoe gently kicked the bottle back toward her. Pei Song immediately clutched the medicine tightly in her palm and stuffed it back into her pocket, her heart finally landing safely in her chest. Afterward, swaying unsteadily, she pushed herself up from the floor.

Her vision was blurred by blood, allowing her to discern only the woman’s slender figure and the pair of eyes hidden behind a face mask, eyes incomparably sharp, as if they wanted to carve her to pieces.

Is that Lu Ningzhi?

She had heard it all; what more was there to say? Now that her wretched, disheveled state was being witnessed by her, let it be the consequence of her own remarks just now. Out of sight, out of mind, she would just treat her like a complete stranger.

She pressed the call button, closed her eyes, and quietly waited for the doctor to arrive.

Sang Ningzhi went to the supermarket and bought some bird’s nest, ginseng, and other items. Thinking she might run into Pei Song, she put on a black face mask. Just as she entered the inpatient department, she saw someone embracing Pei Song.

She immediately took a picture and sent it to Lu Lingzhi via WeChat with a message.

Sang Ningzhi: This is what you called Pei Song having zero romantic involvements? She’s transferring 20k to a doctor and even hugging and cuddling with them.

She originally wanted to leave, but on second thought, since she was already here, she sat outside for a while, waiting for Lu Lingzhi’s reply. She watched the endless stream of people and cars coming and going, yet Lu Lingzhi still didn’t reply.

So, carrying her gifts, she headed up to the inpatient department. Walking right up to the door of the VIP hospital room, she stepped into the receiving lounge. After asking a doctor who walked out, the doctor replied that he was awake.

Sang Ningzhi was just about to place her hand on the doorknob when, through the partially ajar crack in the door, she heard Pei Song’s flippant declaration pierce straight into her eardrums:

In my eyes, being good-looking means it can actually be used as a meal ticket. Being good-looking surpasses everything else.

Her expression darkened into an abyss of bottomless depth. Her face mask slightly puffed out, concealing her emotions, while her fingertips dug ruthlessly into her palms.

Just last night, with the most passionate words, she had held her in a tight embrace, panting softly against her neck, whispering over and over again right beside her ear: “You look so pretty, I really, really like you, I’ll take responsibility for you. I’ll treat you so gently.”

Her opening line had literally been: You look so pretty.

So the image of Sang Ningzhi that she was upholding was nothing more than a joke.

She only liked Sang Ningzhi’s beauty. If one day her looks faded with age, or if someone even prettier than Sang Ningzhi were to appear, she would discard Sang Ningzhi without a shred of mercy and turn instead to whoever was more attractive.

And right on cue, a thunderous crash rang out as a blood-stained glass cup shattered into four pieces, mirroring how her own fury found a sudden outlet. Pei Song had been knocked to the floor by Grandfather Pei with a glass cup, and blood streamed down her forehead. At that exact moment, she felt an unprecedented sense of elation.

A vitamin A pill bottle rolled all the way to her feet. The tip of her shoe hovered directly above the bottle, and with just the slightest press, she could crush Pei Song’s ridiculous aesthetic values to dust.

Yet in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to step on it. She gently kicked the bottle so it rolled back to where it came from, treating it like charity.

She thought: If I take off my face mask and let her see clearly who I really am, wouldn’t that be the ultimate slap in the face?

Then I would tell her, “Hello, President Pei, my name is Lu Ningzhi. I’m also Sang Ningzhi, and I’m your fiancée.”

She genuinely looked forward to such a dramatic plot twist.

Pei Song desperately clutched the medicine bottle, hastily stuffing it into her pocket. A bottle of vitamin A somehow gave her the illusion that she had grasped her final straw of salvation.

Yet reality was so laughable. When Pei Song stood up, she closed her eyes without a shred of mercy, as though looking at her even for another second would dirty her own eyes. Sang Ningzhi’s hand, frozen halfway toward removing her mask, hovered in mid-air, her knuckles turning white as if she had just been dealt a fierce, stinging slap across the face.

Does she hate me that much? Does she hate my ugliness that much?

Moments later, the doctor led Pei Song away, and Grandfather Pei noticed her standing there. “Who are you?”

“Hello, Grandpa Pei, I’m Lu Ningzhi. My face has been having an allergic reaction lately.” Sang Ningzhi casually made up an excuse for why she wasn’t removing her mask. Grandfather Pei didn’t look particularly surprised; he gave her a couple of looks and asked, “Miss Lu, do you still intend to go through with this?”

You already heard Pei Song’s attitude.

Sang Ningzhi nodded and replied understandingly, “Grandpa, I’ve just returned from abroad. Pei Song doesn’t understand me yet and has a sense of defensive resistance. It takes time for us to grind away our differences, but I believe she’ll come to like me.”

By the time she left, her WeChat chimed once more.

Lu Lingzhi: That was Pei Song’s younger sister, Pei Yan, an unruly and arrogant second child, 17 years old, a college sophomore currently interning at the city hospital. Pei Song is a total sister-complex.