Chapter 50 Part 2

Ming Siyu pinched her chin, her lazy, sexy voice brushing her ear. “What does Little Wolf want to do? Hm?”

Liu Ran’s heart pounded wildly, her breaths coming in desperate gasps like a fish out of water.

As if drawn by some mysterious force, she reached out to touch the base of Ming Siyu’s thigh.

Ming Siyu’s gaze sharpened, her pupils dilating suddenly. Yet she didn’t stop Liu Ran’s presumption.

“President Ming…” Her throat tightened.

Ming Siyu’s fingertips dug in, leaving a crescent-shaped mark on Liu Ran’s chin.

“Keep going.”

“President Ming, do you need me… to help you?”

Her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the woman beneath her, searching those dark pupils for any sign of softening.

Ming Siyu slightly bent one leg, her knee nudging Liu Ran’s thigh.

“Little Wolf, I am the master. To a master, you should say ‘please.'”

Liu Ran slowly lowered her head.

Until her face buried in the crook of Ming Siyu’s neck.

She had never imagined a day when she would be the one asking Ming Siyu for zero-distance contact.

“Master, please give me the chance… to help you.”

…

With Ming Siyu’s indulgence and the atmosphere already so charged, everything that followed happened naturally.

Except for the beginning, which matched her dream, the rest was the opposite.

She didn’t end up on top, becoming the master. Instead, Ming Siyu criticized her technique multiple times. Curled between Ming Siyu’s legs, she tried desperately to make Ming Siyu tremble for her. Her two wolf ears were gripped by Ming Siyu, who toyed with them like control sticks, twisting to signal deeper, lighter, or harder.

Liu Ran caught the scent of Ming Siyu’s snow-grass Alpha Pheromone. Clear, sharp, faintly bitter, blending with her bitter orange Pheromone—the moment they mingled, her soul quivered.

Liu Ran removed Ming Siyu’s glasses. It was like stripping away the last layer of disguise, facing her raw emotions head-on.

“Liu Ran, you—”

Ming Siyu parted her lips, her pupils losing focus for an instant. Words of reprimand spilled out, only to cut off abruptly after a few syllables.

Liu Ran’s teeth lingered on the small mole between the collarbones before sliding toward the nape of the neck, driven by instinct. She lightly kissed the red, swollen, feverish skin there. “Can I?”

She pleaded softly. “Can I mark you?”

Ming Siyu nearly agreed.

However, the next moment, she recalled the news she’d heard: an Alpha who couldn’t endure the torment of pheromones after their Omega died unexpectedly ended up swallowing a bullet in suicide.

After marking, their pheromones would bind them together like invisible threads. Thorny threads.

She lifted her limp legs and kicked at Liu Ran.

They were right by the edge of the bed. With one kick, Liu Ran tumbled to the floor with a thud. Her eyes, clouded with lust, regained a sliver of clarity. She gazed up in confusion and hurt at the woman with disheveled hair on the bed.

“You can’t mark me,” Ming Siyu’s voice turned cold. “Go put on the bite inhibitor.”

In an instant, the blood around Liu Ran cooled and solidified.

Yes, she couldn’t mark Ming Siyu. Ming Siyu had said it more than once—she wasn’t worthy.

She truly wasn’t worthy. Being rejected by Ming Siyu was only natural.

Ming Siyu put her glasses back on. Once again, Liu Ran couldn’t read her expression.

“Go to your own room, put on the bite inhibitor properly, then come back. I’ll give you some more pheromones.” It was a gentle yet irrefutable command.

Liu Ran climbed up from the floor. “No need. I’ll calm down on my own in a bit. Sorry about wanting to mark you—it was just physiological instinct earlier…”

“You’re young, and it’s your first time experiencing something like this. It’s normal. I won’t blame you. But your pheromones are so thick they’re practically dripping from your fangs. Do you really not need an Omega’s pheromones to soothe you?”

Liu Ran was certain she didn’t have the courage to enter Ming Siyu’s room a second time that night. She shook her head again.

Ming Siyu didn’t press. “Then endure it yourself.”

With that, she tossed the pearl necklace she’d torn from Liu Ran’s tail onto the stool at the foot of the bed. “Take your things.”

Liu Ran silently picked up the necklace, clutched it to her chest along with her clothes, and tiptoed out of Ming Siyu’s room.

Lying in bed under the dim nightlight, Liu Ran tried to force herself to calm down, but the scorching instinct from skin-to-skin contact with an Omega kept her pheromones agitated beyond control. In the end, she resorted to a suppressant.

She bit her finger in conflicted frustration.

To her, Ming Siyu had become an indistinct fog in the dark of night.

***

The weather gradually turned colder. The day clothes switched from thin trench coats to heavy overcoats, snow fell in A City.

Ming Siyu, who usually turned into a lazy cat at home, took an interest in the snowflakes. She went out to the open-air garden off the balcony and reached out to catch some snow.

Her pale hand froze bloodless, like a mannequin’s fake hand in a clothing store. The snow that landed in her palm didn’t melt for quite a while.

This was A City’s first snow of the year—and the last winter with snow in her lifetime. With that thought, Ming Siyu decided she should at least experience it.

The garden door opened again. Liu Ran arrived with a scarf in one hand and a long, thick overcoat draped over her arm. She bundled Ming Siyu up, then took her cold hands with her own warm ones and pressed them to her face.

“President Ming, it’s too cold out here. If you want to watch the snow, do it from the floor-to-ceiling windows. What if you catch a cold?”

“I want to watch it here.” Ming Siyu nudged the thin layer of snow on the ground with her toe. “And I want to build a snowman.”

Liu Ran truly feared she’d make herself sick. Ming Siyu was somewhat frail—she’d catch a cold from getting rained on or develop a fever from a bit too much wind. Each illness left her even thinner, her face often pallid in a scary way. In Liu Ran’s mind, only the gravely ill looked like that: like a paper figure that would crumple at a breath.

But Ming Siyu insisted she wasn’t sick, and so did everyone else. Liu Ran figured it must be something she was born with.

“I’ll build it for you. What do you want?”

Ming Siyu flashed a wicked grin. “I want a little dog.”

“Okay.”

Sensing Ming Siyu’s hands had warmed a little, Liu Ran slipped them into the pocket of her overcoat, where she’d stashed hand warmers ahead of time. There was only a thin layer of snow on the ground, so Liu Ran scraped together every bit she could from the garden and balcony to form a snow dog for Ming Siyu.

As Liu Ran bustled about, Ming Siyu watched from the side. Their relationship had shifted subtly once more during this time. Ming Siyu could clearly sense Liu Ran’s indulgence and care toward her.

Ming Siyu had a bad temper—she’d lash out everywhere when irritated. Lately, Liu Ran never argued back and even seemed to spoil her a bit. It left Ming Siyu second-guessing herself after her outbursts, wondering if she shouldn’t treat Liu Ran that way. After all, she was nearly ten years older.

In those moments, Ming Siyu thought she should make it up to Liu Ran in other ways: jewelry, clothes, a car—something to ease the twinge of regret. Liu Ran never showed much reaction to those gifts, but what else could she give? She knew Liu Ran had been genuinely thrilled about going back to school last time, but that was a one-time gift. She couldn’t keep enrolling her every time guilt crept in—there weren’t that many semesters to go around.

She was Liu Ran’s master, her boss, her bed partner—and more than that. The overlapping roles formed a relationship that defied easy definition.

Liu Ran plucked three fertilizer pellets from a flowerpot and used them for the snow dog’s eyes and nose. “Leave it out here for a bit to catch more snow, and it’ll get all fluffy.”

“It’s almost year-end—lots going on. Both the Ming Group and the company have galas coming up. The Group’s planning to go abroad. For the company side, have you and Secretary Lin decided? Remember to poll everyone and get the other executives’ approval.”

“It’s pretty much set: right here in the country. A City’s cold now, so everyone wants somewhere warmer. We picked Cloud City—average temps over twenty degrees. We’re collecting program ideas, and everyone’s enthusiastic. President Ming, if the Group’s gala is abroad, will you go?”

Ming Siyu shook her head. It wasn’t just the gala; it was a paid vacation perk for mid- and upper-level staff—a week or more away. If Liu Ran came along, she’d manage to sleep, but Liu Ran had said ahead of time that the dates clashed with finals, and their project had permits pending approval. They wanted to wrap those up before the government offices shut down for holiday.

Forget abroad—she couldn’t even make it to Cloud City.

Ming Siyu decided to go to Cloud City. The Ming Group was a family enterprise; if she skipped it, her aunt would be there, along with Ming Family folks among the executives and invited shareholders. But the real estate company was hers alone—no one could stand in for her there. Plus, Cloud City was domestic; a quick one- or two-day round trip.

Liu Ran said, “Then I’ll book your hotel. Will you have insomnia sleeping there? What if you can’t sleep?”

“One night won’t hurt.”

The first snow had fallen for less than a day before it quietly stopped in the early hours of the next morning. By midday, Liu Ran’s snow dog had melted into a puddle under the sun. Part of the fertilizer dissolved, turning the meltwater dirty.

It evaporated and dried up, leaving three misshapen fertilizer pellets behind.

Ming Siyu squinted at the gray sun overhead. “We’ll wait for the next snow. Next time, we’ll stick it in the freezer after building.”

On the day they departed for Cloud City, Liu Ran had packed Ming Siyu’s luggage ahead of time. After handing both Ming Siyu and the bags off to Secretary Lin, Liu Ran rushed to school for her exams.

Today covered three subjects: calculus, college English, and principles of management.

The last was an open-book exam, all short answers. When Liu Ran finished and turned it in, her hand felt like it might fall off. She wandered aimlessly around campus after leaving the lecture hall, first texting Ming Siyu to ask if she was nearing the gala site. Then she pulled out her backup phone to call Bai Yu.

She’d bought the backup secretly last month. Ming Siyu wasn’t checking her call logs anymore, but if she wanted to, it would be easy.

Liu Ran still hadn’t decided whether to tell Ming Siyu about Bai Yu. Several times, she’d nearly confessed, only to swallow the words.