Transmigrated as the Vampire Alpha of the Omega Heroine - Chapter 28

“Finished your classes for today?” Jiang Nian’s face popped up in the corner of the video call, her cheeks smeared with multicolored paint. She seemed to have propped her phone in place, directly facing her painting station, and had answered Gu Li’s call immediately upon hearing it.

“Mhm.” Gu Li walked back to her room and secured her phone on the desk, ensuring the camera captured her entire face. The winter camp assigned single bedrooms to each student to guarantee proper rest and privacy.

Sitting down, Gu Li pulled over a textbook and flipped it open. “How’s the art assignment going?”

As early-admission art candidates, Jiang Nian and Mu Lan had their interviews scheduled during the first two months of their second semester, unlike other art examinees who took specialized exams. This meant their winter break was also dedicated to intensive training under their mentors.

Jiang Nian adjusted her camera to show her easel, surrounded by numerous practice sketches and an unfinished painting that bore witness to her efforts.

“Chasing after your math scores, running side by side,” Jiang Nian quipped as she carefully rinsed her paintbrush in a water jar. On the other end, Gu Li had already begun solving a newly opened problem.

This routine of studying together via video call had lasted nearly half a month. After their initial exchange, they naturally fell into their respective tasks, Jiang Nian occasionally glancing up to watch Gu Li solve equations, Gu Li pausing between answers to observe Jiang Nian refining her artwork.

Solitary effort could be exhausting, but running together meant momentary fatigue would be overcome by the inspiration drawn from the other’s perseverance.

The winter camp gathered top students from various schools for intensive training, so late-night problem-solving sessions were common. When Gu Li was midway through an equation, her door knocked.

“Come in.”

“Sorry to bother you, but I need help with this problem.”

A female classmate who’d grown somewhat familiar with Gu Li during the camp entered apologetically, question sheet in hand. Circling the bed, she approached Gu Li’s desk and immediately noticed the ongoing video call and Jiang Nian, whose painting had also been interrupted.

Having long grown accustomed to tutoring, Gu Li smoothly took the notebook and scanned the highlighted question. Recognizing it as one she’d recently solved, she quickly outlined the solution on scratch paper. Handing it over, she answered the classmate’s teasing inquiry about the video call with complete ease: “My future girlfriend.”

She was first in line to claim the official title the moment her little kitten entered university.

The alpha showed no hesitation, even tapping her phone screen to display the customized contact name”Future Girl friend”for all to see.

“Little kitten?” The female classmate blushed at the extremely suggestive nickname.

On the other end, Jiang Nian was momentarily stunned by Gu Li’s straightforwardness, but couldn’t suppress the sweetness bubbling up inside. Who would have thought this previously clueless, unresponsive block of wood would become like this once things were made clear between them.

It really made her feel secure except for certain areas where he was still lacking.

Jiang Nian unconsciously touched the back of her neck, recalling that incident from before, then glanced at the notebook Mu Lan had given her, currently buried beneath her winter break homework.

Gu Li had already resolved the female classmate’s confusion and escorted her out. Returning to the video call, he found his “little kitten” still lost in thought, staring blankly at something off-screen.

“Nian Nian?” Gu Li called several times without response.

Suddenly she lifted her phone, pressing her face close to the camera: “Little kitten? Is there something more interesting than me besides your homework?”

Gu Li looked genuinely aggrieved. His crimson eyes, already striking now glistened with a thin layer of moisture, instantly capturing Jiang Nian’s full attention when she finally noticed.

“No homework… nothing’s as interesting as you,” she stammered, her soft voice transmitting through the microphone.

Before Gu Li could protest being equated with homework, excited shouts came from outside: “It’s snowing! Snow!”

Snow was rare in the south this being the first snowfall of the year. Goose feather flakes drifted slowly from the sky, carefully blanketing the night-shrouded landscape in white, intending to surprise morning risers but betrayed by premature discovery.

Gu Li stood, drawing back the curtains and opening the window. Under the room’s light, the snowflakes illuminated against the darkness appeared almost gray. He reached out, catching several flakes midair. Onscreen, Jiang Nian also leaned out her window her winter camp location being some distance from City B, which hadn’t yet received its first snow.

“I want to see the first snow too… with you,” Jiang Nian withdrew, pouting pitifully at Gu Li.

The camera abruptly shifted direction. By the combined glow of room lights and streetlamps below, Jiang Nian watched the intensifying snowfall. An artist’s sensitivity to nature’s beauty rendered her silent, absorbing the scene through the pixelated transmission.

Inspiration struck instantly and decisively. She darted off-camera to seize her brush, returning to her centered seat to begin creation on the blank canvas.

Gu Li’s phone-holding arm grew weary. Even snowscapes lose charm with prolonged viewing. Below, figures began playing under the streetlights. He turned the camera back, observing Jiang Nian, long immersed in painting her profile brightly illuminated by both the overhead light and her desk lamp.

Gu Li seemed able to see through the camera the fine down on her face and her long lashes. She had the urge to count them, then laughed at her own behavior. When Jiang Nian painted, she would slightly narrow her eyes, and her right pinky would rhythmically tap against her thigh whenever she reached her favorite parts.

These were all details she thought she could only read about in books, yet now she was witnessing them firsthand.

The call ended abruptly when Jiang Nian’s phone died, but Gu Li still hadn’t had her fill. An alpha who would grow tired of snowscapes found herself unable to get enough of watching Jiang Nian paint. She straightened up from the windowsill and glanced down at the small figures happily having a snowball fight below.

Jiang Nian’s plaintive words still echoed in her ears:

“I want to see the first snow too, with you.”

She squeezed her slightly chilled phone, then walked to the bedside to pick up the scarf and gloves she had taken off when she came in. She deftly put them on and hurried out the door.

Only when she stepped outside did she truly appreciate the snow’s enchanting beauty up close. Gu Li tucked her neck in against the biting wind and approached a car blanketed in snow. She scooped up a handful of pristine white snow, its icy chill seeping through her woolen gloves tingly, like a kitten’s playful scratch. She took the gloves off and, like a child playing with dough, molded the snow into a ball. Each time it rounded out, she added more, eventually shaping two spheres one large, one small.

The method was clumsy. Not only did it leave her hands red and numb, but the little snowballs had also turned translucent. Yet she was utterly delighted, thoroughly pleased with her creation.

A kitten should have kitten ears, pretty eyes, a cute little mouth, a rosy nose, and tiny paws always begging for hugs. After stacking the smaller ball atop the larger one, she rummaged through her pockets for materials.

She tore a clean sheet of draft paper into ear shapes, outlining the inner curves with a pen. Then she drew eyes on paper, twisted off a piece of red eraser for the nose, and used two pens as little arms. For the mouth, she dabbed her fingertip with her own lipstick and carefully applied it.

This “Jiang Nian Snow Cat” was carefully carried back to her room and placed on the windowsill. This first snowfall was meant to be shared between them.

Jiang Nian only snapped out of her artistic trance after finishing the draft. A cold breeze slipped through the slightly open window, carrying a tiny snowflake that landed on the back of her hand. Delighted, she reached for her phone to tell Gu Li the good news, only to find it had long since died on its stand.

The basin left outside her apartment had unknowingly filled with snow. In the pitch-black night, she grabbed handfuls of the icy flakes and shaped two lively little snowmen.

Their chat screen lit up, each sending the other a photo of their snowman, along with the exact same unplanned message:

“With you, watching the first snow.”

Whether crafted with skill or with heart, both snowmen wore joyful smiles.

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