The largest oceanarium in the city was near the sea, and Lin Xu straightforwardly had her family driver pick them up.
The modified rear seat of the Maybach had prepared exquisite snacks ready. Shu Rong’s satisfaction went without saying, but Shu Qingyou had little appetite.
Lin Xu’s own appetite was affected by Shu Qingyou’s coldness, leaving her with barely any. The atmosphere grew silent for a time, with only Shu Rong happily munching on snacks and sipping orange juice, one bite after another.
Shu Qingyou occasionally patted Shu Rong’s back. The eating seemed endless, and she frowned as she snatched a snack from Shu Rong’s little hand like wresting food from a tiger’s mouth, then shoved it toward Lin Xu’s lips.
“Don’t waste it. Eat it.”
The sticky scent of creamy chocolate rushed straight to her nose, with Shu Rong’s irregular bite marks still on it. Shu Rong looked at Lin Xu all aggrieved, letting out a burp.
“It’s not my fault. Your mom is making me eat it…”
Lin Xu took this as Shu Qingyou’s signal of breaking the ice with her. She opened her mouth and let Shu Qingyou feed her, bite after bite.
A few days earlier, Shu Rong had shared a bed with Shu Wan Ning, so Shu Qingyou had taken the initiative to sleep with Lin Xu.
Lin Xu’s surprise outweighed her joy. She lay down fully clothed. The mattress was soft; in her memories, she had never actually slept in Shu Qingyou’s bed—only occasionally done improper things there.
The bed was filled with Shu Qingyou’s pheromones everywhere, especially on the pillow. Feeling it wasn’t enough, she simply hugged the pillow, curled up, and burrowed into the covers.
There was no extra air inside the covers; the pheromone scent was so rich that it made her dizzy.
On any normal day, she would have fallen into a deep sleep long ago, but tonight was different. She tried her best to stay calm—what if Shu Qingyou had called her over to confront her about her mother’s company?
Otherwise, why keep her here for no reason? To play Landlord happily? There weren’t even enough people for that.
After washing up, Shu Qingyou saw that one pillow was missing and a tightly wrapped silkworm cocoon on the bed. She felt half suspicious, half worried.
“Lin Xu, are you… not suffocating?”
She reached out and lifted a corner of the blanket.
It was calling her. Lin Xu poked out her fluffy head, half her face buried in the pillow, only a pair of pitiful eyes meeting Shu Qingyou’s.
“It’s fine…”
She was just a bit short of oxygen, but Lin Xu wouldn’t allow herself to seem so weak.
Her uneasy voice filtered through the pillow filling. She hoped Shu Qingyou hadn’t heard it. Shu Qingyou had just showered, her hair tips still damp, her lace nightgown clinging to her full breasts.
Lin Xu’s gaze uncontrollably swept over them. With nothing blocking the view, her mind buzzed.
If she buried herself in there, it would definitely be ten thousand times better than the pillow.
She couldn’t break her composure… She pretended nothing was wrong, bent her legs, and put the pillow back in place. The fabric, ravaged by her, was wrinkled; she smoothed it out with her hand.
Only then did she dare turn her head fully, but now her eyes couldn’t shift away. The softness was just a few centimeters from her face, accompanied by that fragrance. Lin Xu’s throat suddenly felt parched.
“Qingyou, do you have something to talk to me about?”
Shu Qingyou tilted her head, her knee on the blanket as she slowly scooted closer. Lin Xu swallowed, forgetting all words.
Then, a weight settled on her legs.
Shu Qingyou’s arms wrapped around Lin Xu’s neck like a water snake, and she ruffled the messy hair at the back of Lin Xu’s head, feeling Lin Xu’s body stiffen motionless.
Shu Qingyou leaned down, her breath like orchids at Lin Xu’s ear. “Nothing. Can’t I just find you… to catch up?”
She drew out those three words slowly and softly, steam lingering around her rosy lips. Lin Xu wanted to tactically retreat but couldn’t.
Pinned from above and below, the pheromones assaulted her relentlessly. Lin Xu’s pupils shook—where had Shu Qingyou learned these seduction skills?!
She had missed so much these past years. Lin Xu’s shoulders slumped, sourness welling in her heart. Suddenly, she hugged Shu Qingyou tightly.
She finally tasted the face wash flavor as she wished.
Perhaps at night, emotions were more easily stirred. Lin Xu wanted to give some sincerity. “Alright, catch up. You can talk as long as you want. Tonight, I’m all yours.”
It would be fake if Shu Qingyou wasn’t moved, but she didn’t want to know much—just what she had to. “The business with my mother’s company—was it all contracts you signed with her?”
Lin Xu didn’t hesitate for a second. Regarding her mother’s company operations, she had only investigated after the incident.
“It was Lin Corporation, not much to do with me. At that time, I was just a vice president in name at the group.” Lin Xu paused, her gaze darkening. “My mother was the president.”
She hadn’t even asked about her mother, so Shu Qingyou was puzzled by Lin Xu’s sudden confession. In her impression, Lin Xu had no father or mother.
“Your… mother? Didn’t she pass away long ago…”
Lin Xu’s eyes instantly reddened, her nose stinging and swollen. She should have pushed Shu Qingyou away, but instead, she held her tighter, as if wanting to imprint her inside her body.
She thought she could let it go. Even if it wasn’t Shu Qingyou’s mother who had been instigated to do it, someone else would have.
Lin Xu’s mother was an Alpha; her other mother had died in difficult childbirth. Her mother hadn’t resented her birth; she pitied her for losing a mother and gave her the stars and moon if she asked.
In truth, even without Shu Qingyou’s mother, someone else would have crashed into them—just like the disaster Lin Xu had faced this time.
Shu Qingyou panted lowly, breathing labored. “Mm… Lin Xu, it hurts a bit.”
Lin Xu ground her back teeth, nearly snapping the slender waist in her arms.
“It hurts, huh…” Her strength eased, face buried in Shu Qingyou’s chest, she let out a muffled sneer. “Qingyou, what about now?”
For a good while, Lin Xu stayed silent. Shu Qingyou’s scalp tingled from the laugh; in movies and dramas, perverted killers laughed like that.
Shu Qingyou struggled to push her away, but how could an Omega resist an Alpha’s suppression?
“Why push me away?” Lin Xu lifted her chin. She clearly wasn’t hurting her anymore.
Innocently, she asked, “Shu Qingyou, I thought you’d investigated it. You didn’t know—my mother was the one your mother killed by crashing into her?”
Like a thunderbolt crashing through the sky, Shu Qingyou froze, staring straight into Lin Xu’s eyes, but hers were vacant, her body unable to stay steady.
Lin Xu didn’t let her fall, binding her tightly.
She tugged up the corner of her mouth, madly stroking Shu Qingyou’s long hair. “You just found out. You just found out!”
After a long time, Shu Qingyou’s lips quivered. “Mm…”
Her fingertips trembled as she wiped the wet streaks from Lin Xu’s cheeks.
Lin Xu’s eyes shimmered with teary light. Shu Qingyou’s fingers hovered in midair, then she leaned in, lips pursed.
Warm, soft lips pressed against Lin Xu’s skin, tongue tip tracing her eye corner, down to her lips, slick and salty.
“Qingyou, I…”
Lin Xu’s hand slipped under the nightgown, circling the gland outside her lips, hesitating whether to go further.
Suddenly, she couldn’t accept Shu Qingyou’s full devotion so casually.
“Not coming in?” Shu Qingyou leaned closer.
Lin Xu’s palm grew wet. “Actually, your company…”
She took a deep breath. Shu Qingyou’s current physical comfort for her was purely because she didn’t know whose company had bankrupted hers.
The longer she spent with Shu Qingyou, the harder it was to speak up.
Shu Qingyou said nothing, lowering her eyes to wait.
“No, it’s nothing. We’ll talk later.”
Without waiting for Shu Qingyou’s reaction, she pecked her lips. She didn’t mark Shu Qingyou, and over the next few days, whenever Shu Qingyou initiated intimacy, she found excuses to dodge.
Lin Xu swallowed the last bite of dessert, and the light in Shu Rong’s eyes dimmed with it.
“Delicious,” she squinted her eyes. “I want you to feed me more…”
Shu Qingyou gave a skin-deep smile, handed her a bottle of water, and shot her a glance. “Feed you my gland?”
“Cough cough cough!”
Lin Xu’s eyes widened. She was certain Shu Qingyou had learned to be naughty—could you casually say something like that to an Alpha?!
She glanced at Shu Qingyou again; the other woman’s expression was as usual, waiting for her response. Lin Xu lowered the car partition and asked the driver, “How much longer to the oceanarium?”
Seeing the young miss speak, the driver hunched a bit more, stammering subserviently, “Young Miss, Old Lady Lin instructed us to go to the Old Mansion first…”
Another massive blow. Lin Xu’s volume spiked. “When? Why didn’t I know!”
The driver shuddered behind the wheel. “It was right when you contacted me…”
She should have called her assistant instead. She should have known these lackeys only listened to Old Lady Lin.
Lin Xu’s temples throbbed, gripping the water bottle tightly, veins bulging on the back of her hand as she suppressed her anger.
“Fine, pull over!”
An Alpha’s presence wasn’t to be trifled with. If she got rough, three or five Betas couldn’t hold her back.
The driver nearly cried, terrified of a beating from the young miss. “Young Miss, please spare me. We’re just following orders.”
Her demand failed, and besides, she didn’t need to check—the car’s glass had special bulletproof modifications. She couldn’t escape even if she wanted to.
She twisted her neck worriedly. “Qingyou, you go first. You can’t see her. What if she does something to you…”
Shu Qingyou gazed lingeringly at her. There was actually someone Lin Xu feared—this contrast was rather amusing.
She stroked the top of Lin Xu’s head, palm propping her chin, eyes curving. “Really? You’re that scared of Grandma?”
Lin Xu’s heart jumped hard. Under Shu Qingyou’s touch, her skin temperature rose. Why was she suddenly petting her again?
“Baby… I don’t want anything to happen to you and Rongrong.”
The driver silently ate the drama. Working for a wealthy family was great—all the gossip you could want.
The fiancée not yet married, finding a woman with a child—young miss had good taste. Wait, this kid looked a bit like the young miss. Could it be… She sneaked a peek in the rearview mirror.
“What are you looking at!”
Lin Xu barked at her. “If you’re enjoying the view, send them back first!”
The driver started equivocating again. “Um, Young Miss, Old Lady Lin’s exact words were, ‘Bring all three of them back.'”
Lin Xu: “……”
As expected, Old Lady Lin’s connections were ironclad. Nothing she wanted to know escaped her.
Lin Xu raised the partition in despair, pulled Shu Rong aside, and flung herself into Shu Qingyou’s arms, broken jar broken fall.
“Sister Shu, if they bully you later, I’ll fight back for you.”
Shu Rong, watching herself being pried from her mom’s arms: “???”
That was her spot…
Shu Qingyou was actually pinned to the seat by Lin Xu, like a hundred-plus-jin sandbag pressing down. She panted lightly. “Worry about yourself first. I can cut ties with you.”
Lin Xu’s face twitched. Great, the child’s mom was ditching her.
“Young Miss, we’ve arrived.”
As soon as they stepped through the gate, servants swarmed, bowing to change their shoes and take their coats. Lin Xu was used to these routine services.
Shu Qingyou remained composed, shoving Shu Rong into Lin Xu’s arms. Lin Xu caught her steadily. “Rongrong, this will be your home from now on too. You have to remember…”
She looked around, and suddenly, her gaze locked in one direction. The other party was already dumbfounded, shifting uncomfortably with cold sweat beading.
Lin Xu’s lips curved in a barely noticeable arc.
No wonder it was today. Lin Hai and his family were there too.
