After an Alluring Alpha Provokes an Unhinged Omega 39

Chapter 39: Command

At dusk, the sky over Huai City was as dark as ink.

On the way to the hotel, Jiang Mi glanced at her phone. Zhao Jia said that Jiang Yuying was still in a very bad state. She got out of the car and turned into a restaurant on the corner, and in the steamy aroma of rice, she packed another bowl of wontons.

Opening the hotel room door, Jiang Mi saw Jiang Yuying’s back at a glance. The person seemed to be frozen in front of the balcony glass door.

She gently closed the door behind her. She saw Jiang Yuying’s shoulder blades tighten. Even the sound of the door closing could make Jiang Yuying flinch, but she never turned her head.

Jiang Mi and Zhao Jia exchanged a look. The fatigue in the other’s eyes said it all. In fact, Jiang Yuying had been like this since she woke up. She was also afraid of troubling her too much. She would eat and then throw up, then eat and throw up again.

She just hadn’t told Jiang Mi everything, afraid of disturbing her on set.

Jiang Mi bit her back teeth, handed the wontons to Zhao Jia, and the sound of her heels hitting the floor was swallowed by the carpet. She changed into disposable slippers, and only then did she approach the lonely figure, her words as light as if she were afraid of disturbing a thin mist:

“It’s me.”

Jiang Yuying’s back was as if frozen.

A few seconds later, the sad confinement suddenly shattered from the cracks in her bones. Her whole person collapsed a few inches like melting snow.

That pale neck finally turned. Jiang Yuying turned her head, and the lights in the hotel room illuminated her unfocused pupils… until they crashed into Jiang Mi’s gaze, and that pool of stagnant water slowly cracked.

A wave of sourness suddenly rose in Jiang Mi’s throat.

She looked at the dark shadow under the other’s eyelids and couldn’t help but choke, “We’re all here.”

She took a half step forward. “Don’t be afraid.”

This sentence was like a pebble falling into a deep pool of water. Jiang Yuying’s trembling spread from her fingertips to her whole body. Tears escaped her eyes and slowly condensed into transparent teardrops on her thin chin.

When her vision was completely swallowed by tears, she threw herself into Jiang Mi’s warm embrace and burst into tears, like a drowning person grabbing the last piece of driftwood.

Zhao Jia couldn’t help but be moved.

She and Jiang Mi had worked together for a long time, and it was natural to get to know apple. The first time she saw this girl, apple was still a member of that group.

She was beautiful, and her smile was as beautiful as a flower. She was young and energetic. The girl with pigtails turned to the beat of the stage, her eyes full of the light of dreams.

As a fellow dreamer climbing through the thorns at the same time, apple had done very well.

Those eyes were always sparkling, no matter who she was talking to, always full of hope. Like Jiang Mi, she also didn’t have a biological mother, but she also had a fiery heart.

But now, that face was so haggard, and there was no light in her eyes.

Jiang Mi’s fingertips wiped the wet marks on Jiang Yuying’s cheekbones. The paper towel was soaked with saltiness. She said, “There’s something I didn’t discuss with you and made a decision on my own, but I think you’ll agree.”

Jiang Yuying looked up slightly.

Jiang Mi said, “I’ve found a very good legal team. They’ll be able to help you terminate your contract with Chen Qiao soon. If possible, we have to pull Chen Qiao down hard. Because I’m afraid that if we drag it on any longer, Chen Qiao’s side will make a new move. So they might come to you tomorrow to understand the situation.”

Jiang Yuying’s throat moved slightly, and she squeezed out a word, “Okay.”

Her knuckles were deep in her flesh. “Mimi, am I useless?”

“No!” Jiang Mi’s voice suddenly became heavy:

“Whoever says you’re useless is stupid. If you were useless, who would be helping those children in the orphanage with so much food and clothing every month? If you were useless, who would be taking care of your adoptive mother? If you were useless, Chen Qiao would have gone bankrupt long ago.”

She felt very stuffy in her heart. It was a lie to say that she didn’t feel a sense of ‘hating iron for not becoming steel’, but she also felt very sorry for her. apple, who had once been such a confident and cheerful person, had been worn down to this state. Jiang Mi looked at the person in front of her. The current apple was like a willow tree uprooted in a typhoon, already fragile.

“apple, the useless person is not you, it’s Chen Qiao. The person who was wrong from the beginning to the end is not you. If you have to find a fault, it’s that you saw the wrong person.”

apple held back her tears. “I won’t in the future. Mimi, I really won’t.”

From their first meeting to being together, she and Chen Qiao had quietly crossed a decade.

Her every day, from ordinary food, clothing, housing, and transportation to every fluctuation of her emotions, was filled with Chen Qiao’s figure. She was her most natural sharer, carrying most of her joys and sorrows.

In such a long time, she was almost certain that on this road they walked side by side, Chen Qiao must be the only destination. She had never thought that everything would eventually become a complete void.

All the warmth and love she had once believed to be real were actually illusory bubbles.

It turned out that in Chen Qiao’s eyes, she was just a sad joke.

Ten years.

How many such decades did she have left in her life?

Every time this thought came up, her tears would surge like a broken dam.

Jiang Yuying didn’t want to cry. She repeatedly told herself that she had to be strong, but that heart-wrenching pain, the moment she thought of it, her tears were completely out of control.

“Mimi,” she said to Jiang Mi, more like whispering to herself, “I’ll get through this. Really, I’ll definitely get better.”

She could only promise again and again.

It was as if this could make herself, and the friends who were anxious and worried for her, feel a little better.

Jiang Mi first wiped the wetness from the corners of her own eyes, then took a paper towel and gently wiped the tear marks from Jiang Yuying’s face. Her eyes were exceptionally firm, and her voice was steady, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve never been alone. We’ll be with you.”

“Don’t let Shanshan and Jiang Hu know.” Jiang Yuying’s voice was slightly hoarse. “I don’t want them to worry.”

“Of course, especially with Jiang Hu’s temper.” Jiang Mi deliberately made an exaggerated expression. “If she knew, she’d probably rush over and smash Chen Qiao’s face!”

Smashing her face was nothing. The fear was that the situation would be difficult to clean up, involving more risks of complications. At this time, it was best to avoid it if possible.

“Zhao Jia said you haven’t eaten much.” Jiang Mi’s tone was insistent. She said, “I bought wontons. You have to eat a little!”

She looked at Jiang Yuying and continued, “Cry. If you want to cry, just cry it all out. Let out all the things you’ve given, all the hurt you’ve endured in the past ten years. But apple,” she emphasized, “you have to tell yourself, just this once. This is the only time!”

Just this once, the last time!

For the rest of your life, you will never be affected by that scumbag again! And you will never shed another tear for that scumbag.

Zhao Jia added softly from the side, each word carrying weight, “Don’t look back, and don’t be soft-hearted.”

“I won’t.” This time, Jiang Yuying’s voice was soft, but firm.

**

After settling down the slightly calmer Jiang Yuying, the night was already deep when Jiang Mi walked out of the hotel.

Most of her personal belongings, including several scripts to be read, were still at the hotel where the crew was staying. Zhao Jia saw her concern and took the initiative to stay behind, taking care of apple in the guest room.

Back in the car parked on the roadside, Jiang Mi leaned back in her seat and took out her phone. Her fingertips slid over the names in her contacts. After a moment’s hesitation, they stopped precisely on a special entry.

A text message was sent:

[Teacher Yan, are you resting?]

She stared at the screen and waited for a moment. No response.

The car window was lowered, and a cool night wind rushed in, blurring her eyes.

Once the tense strings of her heart were loosened, a wave of fatigue washed over her. She struggled to keep her constantly drooping eyelids open, but her mind seemed to be pulled by an invisible thread, firmly tied to the screen that had not yet lit up.

After who knows how long, just as she was about to fall asleep, a short and clear vibration suddenly came from her palm.

Like being hit by a faint electric current, Jiang Mi’s mind suddenly cleared. She immediately lit up the screen.

[No.]

So cold.

Disappointed? It seemed there was a little. Jiang Mi thought for a moment, sat up slightly, and replied: [Can you thank President Tan for me? If it weren’t for her…]

She had typed halfway, but she felt that it was better to say this to Yan Wei in person tomorrow. At the hotel, apple had also had the same idea. They probably couldn’t invite someone of Tan Zhaoxin’s level, but if they could, they still wanted to thank her in person.

Jiang Mi deleted it and re-typed: [What are you doing?]

Jiang Mi held her phone, feeling as if she were holding a cake, with an inexplicable nervousness and anticipation.

She had already thought of what to say next.

Unfortunately, after waiting for another two minutes.

On the screen, only a concise question popped up: [What’s wrong?]

Jiang Mi stared at these three words, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the edge of the screen.

If it weren’t for being held up in the break room for so long during the day, and the oppressive feeling of that person being so close was still burning in her mind, she would have suspected that the person on the other end was not Yan Wei herself.

She had been kneeling all day. She had to be allowed to stand up…

Jiang Mi: [No.]

She tentatively became bold and sent a message in Yan Wei’s tone.

This time, the other party’s silence was long enough to last until she reached the hotel.

Until she got out of the car, the phone screen had not lit up again.

Jiang Mi took a deep breath, as if to press all the churning emotions in her chest back down. Then, with a barely noticeable force, she stuffed the phone into her handbag.

Returning to the hotel room, Jiang Mi casually left her handbag and coat by the side cabinet at the entrance. She sank into the single sofa by the window and sat in the silence of the room for a moment before getting up and walking to the bathroom.

The hot water washed away the fatigue of the day. She stepped out of the steamy water, wrapped in a towel-like bathrobe. After a few steps, she remembered something, turned back to the entrance, and her fingers fumbled deep into her handbag.

The screen lit up, indicating a new message.

Her fingertip swiped it open, and what came into view was a text message from Yan Wei.

[Headache.]

Her breath involuntarily hitched. Jiang Mi immediately replied: [Did you catch a cold?]

The response was still like a stone sinking into the deep sea. Time was stretched in the silence of the electronic screen, every second clearly perceptible.

In just two or three minutes of blankness, the quietly accumulated, indescribable emotion broke through her heart.

She didn’t think any more and dialed the number.

The “beep” repeated a few times.

The other end finally picked up.

The silence only lasted for a moment. Jiang Mi asked in a gentle voice:

“Are you okay?”

From the receiver, the first thing that came was a heavy and unsteady breath. A few seconds later, a hoarse, worn-out syllable was squeezed out with difficulty, “Mmm.”

Jiang Mi pressed on, “Have you taken any medicine?”

“No.”

The voice was short, cold.

“In the hotel room… are there any spare ones?”

“No.”

The other party’s state was clearly terrible. She wasn’t even willing to be perfunctory. Jiang Mi asked again, “Have you taken your temperature? Do you have a fever?”

This time, the response was not a direct answer.

First, there was a heavily suppressed, slightly distorted gasp, as if fighting against a rolling wave of heat inside her.

Then, a low, hoarse voice, with a rasp on the verge of breaking, slowly said her name, “Jiang Mi.”

That voice also seemed to have a hook.

Jiang Mi’s heart skipped a beat. “…I’m here.”

The other end of the line was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, only the familiar, eardrum-piercing pressure remained.

“Where are you?”

“At the hotel.” The hesitation in Jiang Mi’s heart instantly extinguished. “Are you very uncomfortable? I’ll go get you—”

Before she could finish, Yan Wei interrupted her. Her voice was wrapped in an unquestionable, almost commanding tone:

“Come up.”