Your Wife? Mine! - Chapter 4

The wound in my heart ached terribly under the intense emotional turmoil.

Shen Xi took some time to adjust her breathing before walking through the bustling crowd and returning to the noisy banquet hall.

Today is my grandmother’s birthday banquet. Almost all the elders living in Xia City have returned and are sitting around my grandmother, Shen Qiongfang, like stars surrounding the moon.

Shen Zhao was sitting with several Alpha cousins, and seeing Shen Xi, she motioned toward an empty seat she had saved.

Shen Xi hesitated, but before she could move, the old matriarch at the head of the table looked her way. The elderly woman’s clouded eyes sparked with an eager light. She patted the vacant chair beside her and spoke clearly: “Liuguang, come here. Sit by Mother.”

The name “Liuguang” fell like a heavy stone into a pond, causing the surrounding laughter and chatter to freeze for a split second.

Shen Shaohua, the twin Alpha sister of the late Shen Liuguang, sat directly next to the grandmother. She immediately spoke up in a tactful, corrective tone: “Mom, you’re mistaken. That isn’t Liuguang. That’s—”

As the youngest of her generation, Shen Xi had been pampered by almost everyone, with the sole exception of her sixth aunt, Shen Shaohua. The two of them had been like oil and water since the day Shen Xi was born. Without waiting for her aunt to finish, Shen Xi broke into a brilliant, joyful smile.

“Mom, I’m coming,” she said brightly.

Ignoring Shen Shaohua’s instantly darkening expression, Shen Xi sat down beside her grandmother with perfect composure. The old lady, satisfied, took her hand and tremblingly used her own chopsticks to place a piece of sweet and sour pork, Shen Xi’s childhood favorite—into her bowl, mumbling for her to eat more.

Beside them, Shen Shaohua’s face turned ashen. She hissed through gritted teeth: “…Completely lacking in manners. Simply unseemly!”

Shen Xi treated the words like wind in her ears, not even bothering to spare her a glance. She spent the meal patiently accompanying the old lady, telling witty stories and coaxing the elder into fits of giggles.

Yet, even as she doted on her grandmother, the Alpha’s peripheral vision acted like a high-precision probe. Time and again, her gaze bypassed the bobbing heads and flickering shadows to land silently on that moon-white figure nearby.

The Shen family tree was vast; Shen Xi had over twenty cousins sharing this same grandmother. Technically, Gu Hai was only the daughter of Shen Xi’s maternal aunt, a relatively distant relation who shouldn’t have been able to secure a spot in the inner circle of the banquet. However, while Shen Xi had been away, she’d heard that Gu Hai had become quite influential in the family corporation.

As the wife’s status rose, so did the husband’s or in this case, the spouse’s. Meng Xiyao’s social standing had clearly shifted; she was now chatting comfortably and as an equal with the eldest sister-in-law, who hailed from a prestigious political dynasty.

Watching Meng Xiyao lean in slightly to gracefully wipe a bit of food from her daughter’s lip, Shen Xi’s vision began to blur.

Her memories of Meng Xiyao began when she was eight years old.

Since the age of two, Shen Xi had suffered from a strange affliction. She was physically repulsed by the pheromones of almost every Omega. Proximity triggered violent allergic reactions, hives, restricted breathing, and agonizing discomfort. Worse yet, she was also allergic to conventional antihistamines. It wasn’t just physiological; it was rooted in deep-seated psychological scars.

Despite the Shen family hiring the finest doctors, the condition remained incurable. Because of this “illness,” her mother, Shen Liuguang, had been particularly protective, keeping Shen Xi by her side constantly until she was six. But then, Shen Liuguang died in a car accident, and Shen Xi was brought to the main family estate.

From then on, Shen Xi’s world was confined to the depths of the manor. She couldn’t attend school like a normal child and was tutored at home. Her sisters were all much older; even Gu Hai, the closest in age, was eight years her senior. The family tried bringing in children her own age, but they were either manipulative or overly fawning. High-society children of equal status, meanwhile, looked down on the “little mute” who couldn’t socialize.

After her mother’s death, Shen Xi lived in near-total isolation, playing with her own shadow in the massive garden until Meng Xiyao appeared.

Meng Xiyao was the child of a deceased comrade of Shen Shaohua’s. Following a family tragedy, she had been taken in by the sixth aunt.

Even years later, Shen Xi still remembered that afternoon. It was a brilliant, sunny day. The light spilled through the window, coating the carpet in gold. Little Shen Xi was lying on her stomach, staring intensely at a complex celestial jigsaw puzzle.

That was when Grandma walked in, leading Meng Xiyao by the hand. “Xiao Xi, look. This is your Sister Xiyao. From now on, she’ll play with you, okay?”

Shen Xi looked up, her gaze crashing into a pair of clear, slightly nervous eyes. A twelve-year-old girl, just beginning her growth spurt, slender and tall. She looked exactly like the tender green willow branches swaying by the estate’s lake in spring. Despite her unease, she carried herself with a budding sense of pride. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with skin as pale as jade and features as delicate as a painting.

Eight-year-old Shen Xi had held a puzzle piece and stared for so long she forgot to breathe. When Meng Xiyao’s cheeks finally flushed under the scrutiny, Shen Xi snapped out of it and silently handed over the most important piece of the puzzle.

The child who hated to speak had used a silent gesture to issue the first and only invitation of her life.

That day, neither of them said a word. They simply sat on the rug and worked on the puzzle all afternoon. To this day, that puzzle remained framed and hanging in Shen Xi’s bedroom.

“Wife…”

A familiar voice rang out, abruptly severing Shen Xi’s immersion in the past. She looked up to see Gu Hai leaning over Meng Xiyao, whispering in her ear.

The dining hall was too loud, so Shen Xi strained her hearing. She managed to catch that Gu Hai had a project to discuss and needed to step away, leaving Meng Xiyao to look after the child.

Meng Xiyao nodded submissively. “Mhm. Go ahead.”

At that, Gu Hai naturally leaned down and pressed a kiss onto Meng Xiyao’s cheek. A round of good-natured teasing and laughter erupted from the surrounding guests. Meng Xiyao lowered her lashes, her expression neutral, neither happy nor sad.

That casual display of affection was like a red-hot needle driven into Shen Xi’s eyes. Her hand clenched beneath the table, nails digging into her palm until they left crescent-shaped welts.

Damn it!

I knew her first! I was there first!

That should be my wife! My Omega!

A fire fueled by jealousy and rage threatened to incinerate her logic. She glared with reddened eyes as Gu Hai walked away with a group of Alphas, laughing and heading toward the back garden.

Shortly after they left, the anti-allergy medication Shen Xi had taken earlier began to trigger a violent rebound effect. A suffocating sensation gripped her throat; her chest felt as if a boulder were crushing it. She clawed at her restrictive shirt collar, looking somewhat disheveled.

Fighting the discomfort, she whispered to Grandma, “Mom, I’m feeling a bit stifled. I’m going out for some air.”

With a nod from the old lady, she practically stumbled out of the hall, fleeing the suffocating noise for the quiet of the garden. The cool night breeze hit her, but it couldn’t disperse the heat in her blood.

As she walked toward the garden’s rest area, she reached up to remove her hearing aid to find some peace. But just before her fingers touched the device, a snide laugh drifted on the wind.

The sound came from a gazebo deep within the garden.

“Hey, Gu Hai, you and Meng Xiyao looked pretty lovey-dovey back there. So what’s the deal with that little starlet you’ve been seeing? Those photos from last time were pretty incriminating.” A light, frivolous male voice spoke.

Shen Xi froze in her tracks. Then, she heard Gu Hai’s response, a scoff filled with equal parts disdain and cold indifference.

“Tch. The old lady is sitting right there; I have to give her some face. It’s just an act.” She paused, her voice dripping with boredom. “To be honest, I’ve been sick of her for a long time.”

A wave of knowing laughter echoed in the gazebo. Another voice, likely an Alpha cousin, teased: “Sick of her already? Meng Xiyao is top-tier. Half the cousins were eyeing her back then, but the sixth aunt kept her locked away like a treasure. It’s been less than five years since you got her, and you’re already bored?”

The blood in Shen Xi’s body roared, rushing to her head. Her knuckles turned white as she clenched her fists. The rage in her chest, hot as magma, drove her forward. Step by step, she approached the gazebo with a terrifying aura.

Gu Hai, oblivious, continued her nauseating critique: “You have no idea. Ever since she had that kid, her body has gone to ruin… her waist, her skin… it’s honestly a turn-off.”

Before she could finish, a roar of pure fury exploded through the air: “GU HAI!”

Gu Hai’s filth was cut short. She spun around in shock to find Shen Xi—eyes bloodshot, veins bulging at her temples, charging at her like a maddened lion.

Before Gu Hai could even process the sight, Shen Xi lunged, grabbed her by the collar, and delivered a punch that carried the sound of a whistling gale directly into her face.

“I’ll kill you, you animal!”

Why bother? You beat up someone’s wife first, then came here (after all, they were a couple).

On a whim, I wondered if I should change the book title to:

Your Wife? Mine!

Support Your Wife? Mine!