Creak—
Shen Shuyu looked up at Yu Mo’s room, watching her open the window.
The night breeze blew, lifting Yu Mo’s loose long hair, a few stray strands brushing past her fresh, bare face. With a hint of youthful spirit, she casually leaned on the opened window frame.
The twilight was faint, the lingering golden light of the sun that had set tracing lines on the horizon.
Long ago, just like Shen Shuyu today, Yu Mo had stood under the window of the Shen family’s slate-blue villa, gazing up at the silhouette cast upon that beautiful window.
Now, their positions were reversed.
Rarely puzzled, Yu Mo looked at Shen Shuyu and asked, “What are you doing here?”
Shen Shuyu’s gaze was calm as she answered softly, “Just wandered over.”
Yu Mo found Shen Shuyu’s excuse utterly ridiculous and questioned, “Your house is in Upper City District A. You ‘wandered’ all the way to Lower City District C?”
“Of course, I can,” Shen Shuyu replied, her voice not loud but resolute.
She had just differentiated into an Omega. Her body was at its weakest, the time when she most needed proper rest. Yet, it was also the moment she felt the most insecure. And her sense of security was named Yu Mo.
So, as long as she wanted to, no matter where Yu Mo was, she could “wander” there.
Yu Mo tilted her head and asked again, “And what did you wander here for? Just to throw things at my window?”
Shen Shuyu gently touched the chain of the small handbag slung across her body and asked, “Could you come down and wander around the Lower City with me?”
“Accompany you?” Yu Mo frowned slightly, intending to refuse.
“Just near your house, not far, okay?” Shen Shuyu pursed her lips slightly as she asked. She was nervous. A little rabbit filled with hope and anxiety was thumping wildly in her heart.
As the sun set further, shadows fell upon Shen Shuyu. The wind blew gently, stirring her loose hair and her skirt. The white dress on her was like a soft, fluffy flower, swaying in the night breeze.
Yu Mo felt a slight tug at her heart and asked, “Would you like to go to the Night Market?”
“I’ll go,” Shen Shuyu answered immediately, even though she had absolutely no idea what a “Night Market” was.
Yu Mo looked at Shen Shuyu, an amused smile appearing on her face: “Tell me, do you even know what a Night Market is?” She didn’t believe for a second that the Eldest Miss Shen, who didn’t even know how to take a bus, would know what a “Night Market” was.
Shen Shuyu shook her head, a rare hint of innocent bewilderment in her eyes.
Yu Mo sat on the windowsill, her smile deepening. She deliberately teased, “Then you agreed so readily. Aren’t you afraid I’ll take you to the Night Market and sell you off?”
“You wouldn’t.”
The streetlamp beside Shen Shuyu buzzed with electric current. The old lamp flickered twice before a dim yellow light shone steadily. Shen Shuyu tilted her chin up slightly, revealing a beautiful jawline. The silvery pools of her eyes shimmered with starlight. Her tone was certain, full of trust.
But why did she trust her so much?
Yu Mo looked into Shen Shuyu’s eyes, her own blinking unnaturally a couple of times. Then, averting her gaze, she climbed down from the windowsill and said to Shen Shuyu, “Wait here then, I’ll come down.”
Shen Shuyu nodded, answering the figure turning away from her: “Okay.”
Soon, the door of Yu Mo’s house opened. Yu Mo was still wearing the same clothes she had on when talking to Shen Shuyu upstairs, just randomly slipping on a pair of skate shoes as she walked out.
Shen Shuyu watched Yu Mo walk towards her. Now, without Shen Shuyu’s own personal oversight from the last life, Yu Mo had returned to her old ways of relying on her good looks and acting recklessly.
Yu Mo locked the house and courtyard gate, waving to Shen Shuyu, “Let’s go.”
Shen Shuyu snapped back to reality. “Mm,” she responded, hurrying to catch up. Forget it, why should she spoil the mood by nitpicking at Yu Mo’s clothing choices? As long as she was happy and comfortable.
Shen Shuyu followed Yu Mo down the road they had once walked side-by-side before. The night breeze was gentle, the scent of Yu Mo carried by it into Shen Shuyu’s nostrils. Perhaps because she had just differentiated and was especially sensitive to scents, even though Yu Mo wasn’t emitting the scent of Sea Salt Caramel pheromones, it still filled the small void in Shen Shuyu’s heart that had been empty since her differentiation.
Quietly, she drew a little closer to Yu Mo, subtly sniffing the scent on her. The greed in her scent carried an equal measure of inappropriate obsession.
“What are you smelling?” Yu Mo belatedly noticed Shen Shuyu beside her, whose nostrils were twitching slightly, and asked strangely.
Shen Shuyu froze for a moment, reining in her previous transgression. “Nothing… cough cough…” She cleared her throat, pretending to sniff something. “Just, didn’t you smell that? The scent of the Night Market.”
Yu Mo gazed towards the area of the Night Market, of which only a red canopy was visible in the distance, and laughed: “Night Market? It’s still far. Why are you like an Omega, with such a sharp nose?”
A flicker of guilt passed through Shen Shuyu’s eyes. She probed hesitantly, “What if I were an Omega, would you not take me?”
Yu Mo shrugged. “If you were an Omega, I wouldn’t hang out with you. I’m someone who’s going to differentiate into an Alpha. There’s a distinction between Alphas and Omegas; propriety must be maintained.”
In an instant, a chill spread from Shen Shuyu’s heart to her fingertips. Indeed, if Yu Mo found out she had differentiated into an Omega, she would have even more reasons to distance herself from her. The fragile threads of connection she had finally managed to weave with her couldn’t be ruined by her differentiation.
Unobtrusively, Shen Shuyu raised her hand to brush her hair, covering the Suppressant Patch on her gland, and reminded her, “And don’t forget, I’m also going to differentiate into an Alpha.”
This topic of discussion was one thing, but talking about it made Yu Mo remember that Shen Shuyu was supposed to differentiate into an Omega this very summer. Out of goodwill, Yu Mo half-jokingly suggested, “I say, Academic Rep, even if genetic testing is very reliable these days, even if there’s a 99% chance you’ll differentiate into an Alpha, there’s still that 1% chance of differentiating into an Omega. You should still keep both types of suppressants at home.”
“Alright, thank you,” Shen Shuyu nodded lightly. But beneath that cool expression was a heart full of warmth. A warmth rippled through Shen Shuyu’s heart. So Yu Mo still remembered that she would differentiate into an Omega this summer. She had just used her own way to subtly remind her, this “unknowing” Shen Shuyu of the future.
Under the night sky, the newly built high-rises of the Lower City flashed their large screens; both the heavens and the earth were a sea of stars. It was just as bustling as the Upper City here, but even more lively.
As the two gradually approached the Night Market, the sounds of hawking and conversation intertwined, entering Shen Shuyu’s ears. Gradually, a large square appeared before her, filled with stalls under canopies of various colors, arranged in an organized chaos.
Shen Shuyu followed Yu Mo into that “Night Market” Yu Mo spoke of. The market had just started at this hour; each stall was just heating up its oil and setting up its grills. The originally fresh night breeze was now thick with the smell of grease. It hit Shen Shuyu’s sensitive nose. Having just undergone differentiation, her body was weak. The smell made her dizzy and lightheaded.
Her legs suddenly gave way, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.
“Are you okay?” Yu Mo was genuinely startled by Shen Shuyu’s stumble and quickly reached out to support her, conveniently pulling over a small stool from a nearby stall for Shen Shuyu to sit on. Her fingers rested on Shen Shuyu’s wrist, finding her pulse beating fast and heavy—somewhat alarming.
Shen Shuyu noticed Yu Mo’s furrowed brow and her hand gripping her wrist. She wondered if this sudden incident had aroused Yu Mo’s suspicion. She pulled her wrist back from Yu Mo’s grasp, pretending to fix her hair while feeling the back of her neck. The Suppressant Patch was securely in place, not a trace of pheromones leaking. Shen Shuyu sighed in relief, forcing herself to be strong, waving her hand: “I’m fine.”
Yu Mo looked at Shen Shuyu’s bloodless face; perhaps it was the lighting, but even her lips seemed somewhat pale. “Your face seems a little pale.”
Yu Mo’s expression wasn’t etched with anxiety like in their past life, but Shen Shuyu knew she was indeed concerned. Even if it was just a faint trace.
“I’m just a bit hungry. Could you buy me something to eat, just to tide me over?” As Shen Shuyu spoke, she looked up, her eyes holding a hint of pitiful vulnerability that seemed unintentional due to her physical discomfort, gazing at Yu Mo quietly and obediently.
Yu Mo swallowed, an image flashing in her mind from her earlier dream: Shen Shuyu like a little kitten, nestled against her. Her moist tongue-tip lightly licked her dry upper lip. She nodded: “Okay.”
Immediately, Yu Mo walked to a nearby stall. Shen Shuyu watched her quickly pick out a dozen or so skewers, a mix of meat and vegetables. She handed them to the vendor and then pulled out her phone to scan and pay. All her movements were practiced, clearly a regular at Night Market food.
The smell of grease was gradually overpowered by the aromas of delicious food drifting by. The night breeze, which had earlier nauseated Shen Shuyu, now carried the scents of various foods towards her, worsening the weakness in her body that had just endured a differentiation.
She pressed lightly on her empty stomach, watching Yu Mo standing in front of the fried skewers stall. Night had deepened; the stalls were lit with aggressively bright yellow lights. The lighting was harsh on people but favored beauties.
Yu Mo stood under the bright light, her red lips expressive, her white teeth bright within her fresh mouth. A feast for the eyes, nothing less. Because she had left in a hurry, Yu Mo had only grabbed a hair tie to loosely knot her hair behind her head, revealing half of her long, slender neck.
Under the simple short-sleeved T-shirt, a section of fair, slender forearm was visible. She was chatting familiarly with the vendor, who wasn’t too busy yet, gesturing about something. No matter what Yu Mo was chatting about, a smile always lingered on her clean, youthful face. Brilliant, like a little sun, illuminating the field of white daisies blooming in Shen Shuyu’s heart.
Soon, the fried skewers Yu Mo ordered were ready. She walked back through Shen Shuyu’s line of sight carrying a bag of fragrant food. Then, she deliberately took out a bag of some blackened things coated unevenly with breadcrumbs and handed it to Shen Shuyu: “Got this specially for you.”
Shen Shuyu looked at the unidentified object approaching her and recoiled slightly: “What is it?”
“Fried pork liver, it’s good for the blood,” Yu Mo said, placing the bag of liver into the hands of Shen Shuyu, whose face was written with resistance. “You’re lucky today; this was just freshly stocked at their stall, really fresh.”
“Is that so,” Shen Shuyu’s eyelid twitched at the word “pork liver.” Long ago, Old Madam Shen had tricked little Shen Shuyu into eating some braised pork liver she had made on a whim. The skin was hard, the inside hadn’t absorbed the braising liquid, and one bite was salty at first, then bitter at the back, impossible to swallow. The more little Shen Shuyu couldn’t swallow, the more the liver stuck to her mouth, pasty and bitter. Little Shen Shuyu’s soft, delicate face had scrunched up in utter misery. Although Old Madam Shen later compensated little Shen Shuyu with a whole row of AD Calcium Milk, Shen Shuyu never ate pork liver again after that.
Shen Shuyu looked at the bag of fried pork liver in her hand, then at Yu Mo, who had sat down beside her. She saw anticipation in Yu Mo’s eyes. Shen Shuyu swallowed with difficulty. It seemed this pork liver was unavoidable. Looking closer, it wasn’t as terrifying as it had first seemed. The golden breadcrumbs coating it even made it look a bit like chicken strips. It seemed different from the liver Grandmother had braised back then. Perhaps this time, it would be… not bad.
