Pei Yujang hesitated for a moment and then straightened her posture. "I'm perfectly fine, not sick at all!"
When Yu Zhiwan let out a soft laugh, Pei Yujang realized that she was being teased. Ever since she had recognized her strange feelings for Yu Zhiwan, even their usual interactions felt a bit off, making her subconsciously avoid certain things.
Pei Yujang also noticed that Yu Zhiwan had started addressing her as "Little Pei President" instead of "Yujang," a nickname that Yu Zhiwan herself had come up with.
The airport was too crowded for a proper conversation, so they got into the car they were familiar with. Yu Zhiwan sat in the passenger seat and got straight to the point:
"How did your meeting with Mayor Xiang go?"
Usually, Yu Zhiwan would talk about personal matters before work, unless it was an urgent situation. This shift in behavior, along with the change in how she addressed her, left Pei Yujang feeling a bit deflated.
However, she quickly adjusted her mood, especially when it came to important matters. She pushed aside her personal feelings and succinctly described her meeting with Mayor Xiang.
Even now, when she recalled Mayor Xiang's expressions, Pei Yujang couldn't shake off her doubts. The more she thought about it, the more certain she became that Mayor Xiang knew something.
"When I mentioned the water plant, her expression changed. I've heard that Mayor Xiang and her wife, Mrs. Chen, are very close. When Mrs. Chen left the karaoke session to meet a friend alone, I thought she was cheating, but…"
Yu Zhiwan finished her thought for her:
"But what if Mayor Xiang is so indulgent of her wife that she's willing to forgive anything?"
Recently, Mayor Xiang had been busy with urban planning, wanting to repurpose an old park for a welfare school for migrant children. Mrs. Chen had been with them that day but rushed home after getting a call from her wife. It didn't seem like Mayor Xiang was checking up on her; Mrs. Chen casually grabbed a quick meal and went back.
That day, Mayor Xiang had told Pei Yujang that she only had two hours for their meeting because she had plans with her wife. They had been married for about two years, still in the honeymoon phase, enjoying their time together.
In other words, they were still very much in love. What if Mrs. Chen did something wrong during this time, and Mayor Xiang chose to protect her out of love?
Pei Yujang hadn't confronted Mrs. Chen directly, but what if she had exposed her in front of Mayor Xiang? What would have happened then?
The more she thought about it, the more alarmed Pei Yujang became.
After the spring rain, the mid-spring season brought a thaw, and all of Yicheng was cleansed by the gentle spring breeze and rain. Cold air gradually retreated north, but nighttime temperatures still hovered around ten degrees Celsius. As the car exited the underground parking lot, Pei Yujang began to feel warm, even sweating a little.
Back in Xiangcheng, as soon as Pei Yujang left, Mayor Xiang's aide approached her, strongly opposing her plan to investigate Yicheng.
Even though Mayor Xiang, whose full name was Liu Yifang, held more power and connections than Yicheng's city leaders, they were still on parallel levels. Acting solely on Pei Yujang's word to accuse Yicheng's officials would be risky.
Furthermore, if these officials had truly done something wrong, it should be investigated from higher up. If they tried to act as whistleblowers and were overruled by someone higher up, their careers would be in jeopardy.
Liu Yifang had been in office in Xiangcheng for about three years. Although her tenure wasn't long, she had earned the respect and loyalty of most people there.
Her aide had been with her for several years, transferred from elsewhere. Liu Yifang wasn't new to leadership, and her current mission was to manage Xiangcheng effectively. Upon learning that Liu Yifang wanted to get involved in another city's affairs, even her most upright aide thought it unnecessary.
If everything Pei Yujang said was true, it would involve hundreds of people, none of whom were small players. Handling such a situation wasn't their job, and the aide felt Pei Yujang was just using them to protect her company.
Frustrated, the aide vented, "I think she's just trying to save her company while pretending to be righteous. If her company wasn't in trouble, she'd probably be hiding somewhere."
"That's enough," Liu Yifang interrupted, waving her hand to stop the discussion. She had already made up her mind, and her aide, though displeased, knew better than to argue. Despite Liu Yifang's usually mild-mannered leadership style, she was firm once she made a decision.
Standing in her office, Liu Yifang watched her angry aide leave, feeling a lingering tightness in her chest.
When Pei Yujang had mentioned the water plant, Liu Yifang's mind had gone blank, overwhelmed by panic. She was relieved that the situation hadn't reached a critical point yet and that there was still time to intervene.
Liu Yifang had recently had a disturbingly vivid dream.
In the dream, a seemingly insignificant water plant in Xiangcheng's industrial park became the source of a disaster. Someone was conducting biological experiments there, trying to create zombies to use as weapons.
The water plant had gone unnoticed because Liu Yifang was preoccupied with other matters. But this small oversight led to catastrophic consequences.
Such a facility would normally require registration and approval for any changes in operations. Liu Yifang hadn't seen any paperwork regarding the plant's new activities, and no one had reported it to her. Overwhelmed by daily responsibilities, she had overlooked the plant in the industrial park.
In the dream, the horrific scene of infected individuals in the orphanage—reduced to mindless zombies—was captured by a drone. Panicking, Liu Yifang had tried to mobilize a response, but it was too late.
The industrial park had no military presence, and any reinforcements would take time to arrive. By then, the zombies would have decimated the area, leaving a trail of death. Workers were forced to take up arms, but these creatures felt no pain and could only be stopped by a fatal blow. Once bitten, a person would inevitably be turned into one of them.
The death toll was staggering, and the situation spiraled out of control, leaving Liu Yifang devastated.
As Xiangcheng fell into chaos, she realized that the situation outside was just as dire. The experiments had been hidden underground, waiting for the right moment to unleash their horrors.
It was only then that Liu Yifang finally found a chance to return home. The power was out, and to conserve energy for the public, she had restricted electricity use in her home, including hot water for bathing.
With most power plants under siege, the remaining workers were risking their lives to provide water and electricity to the public. But even with their efforts, basic utilities were on the brink of collapse. On the night Liu Yifang returned home, her wife, Yanyang, tearfully confessed to letting the water plant officials in, saying she hadn't known the full extent of their plans.
Liu Yifang was stunned and immediately questioned her, learning that her wife had been involved in the plant's activities.
Yanyang had always enjoyed luxury goods, so Liu Yifang had tried to save her salary to indulge her wife's desires. But she hadn't realized that Yanyang had been making shady deals behind her back, even involving land sales.
Yanyang hadn't dared to engage in anything that might jeopardize Liu Yifang's career, believing that such actions would endanger her position.
"It was just a water plant on the outskirts," Yanyang had sobbed, clinging to her. "I thought it wasn't important to you or Xiangcheng. So, I sold it, and they gave me a lot of money. They just needed the space for their business…"
She had broken down, confessing that she had been unaware of the true nature of their activities until it was too late.
For the first time, Liu Yifang had lost control and slapped Yanyang across the face.
As an Alpha, Liu Yifang's strength was much greater than that of a typical woman. The slap had left Yanyang's face swollen and red, and she had stared at Liu Yifang in shock, feeling both ashamed and wronged.
After years of marriage, Liu Yifang had never even raised her voice at her wife, let alone resorted to violence. The realization that she had spoiled her wife too much hit her hard, but the damage had already been done. She couldn't bear to leave her beloved wife to be torn apart by zombies or face the wrath of the public.
Using her authority, Liu Yifang had arranged for her wife to be sent away, staying behind to fight the zombies to the bitter end. Even her mother had chosen to stay behind to care for the survivors.
In that terrifyingly real dream, Liu Yifang had died in a rebellion.
When she woke up, Yanyang was sleeping peacefully beside her, a faint smile on her lips.
At first, Liu Yifang had dismissed the dream as just a nightmare, albeit an unusually vivid one that had left her unsettled for days.
But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a premonition. She had finally asked Yanyang about the water plant, but her wife had been evasive, raising Liu Yifang's suspicions.
Then, Pei Yujang had come to see her, describing a scene eerily similar to the one in her dream. It was only then that Liu Yifang realized this wasn't just an ordinary dream.
Whether it was a premonition or something else, Liu Yifang was convinced that these events were going to happen. Her wife might have already sold the water plant to those people, and she couldn't afford to act rashly. But inside, she was seething with anger.
Yanyang called her again, as she often did. Normally, Yanyang's calls brought her comfort, but now Liu Yifang felt no warmth at all.
She ended the call with a sharp click.
"So, if Mayor Xiang already knew about this but chose to protect her wife, she can't be trusted," Yu Zhiwan said from the passenger seat, rolling down the window slightly to let in the cool air.
The thought of this possibility made Pei Yujang's good mood vanish.
She had thought finding Mayor Xiang would mean securing a highly reliable ally. But if things were like this, it didn't matter what reasons Mayor Xiang had for staying behind and fighting in her past life. The fact that she was covering for her wife now meant Pei Yujang couldn't fully trust her.
"Love can really be blinding," Pei Yujang muttered, shaking her head.
Although she had recently realized she had some ambiguous feelings for Yu Zhiwan, she definitely wasn't the type to let love cloud her judgment, especially not to the point of betraying an entire city.
As the car turned onto Xiangcheng's brightly lit streets, neon lights trailing behind them, Pei Yujang couldn't help but feel a bit out of sorts.
She had noticed that Yu Zhiwan had been treating her differently lately, and while she couldn't pinpoint anything she had done wrong, she felt a bit hurt.
As the car passed another traffic light, getting closer to home, Pei Yujang inhaled the cool air rushing in through the window. She couldn't hold back any longer and finally turned to Yu Zhiwan, her voice tinged with a hint of hurt she hadn't realized was there.
"Yu Zhiwan," she began, gathering the courage to speak, "are you mad at me? Are you upset that I called you 'wife' during your heat?"
"Or are you upset that I carried you to the bath? Upset that I held you in my lap?"
"But… but you called me 'wife' first, and you hugged me. It's not fair to think I took advantage of you just because you're an Omega. I'm not an Alpha; I can't mark you. I only touched your gland because you were in a bad state and needed it. I let go afterward, and I didn't cling to you or try to touch your gland again. Please don't be mad at me, okay?"
"Zhiwan, please talk to me~"
Her last sentence came out in a playful, teasing tone. She had never spoken so softly to Yu Zhiwan before, and although she wasn't sure how the Omega would react, she was relieved to see Yu Zhiwan's lips curve into a small smile.
Yu Zhiwan cleared her throat, looking a bit helpless.
"You didn't give me a chance to respond just now," she pointed out.
Before Pei Yujang could reply, Yu Zhiwan continued, "Actually, I don't remember any of the things you just mentioned."
Pei Yujang suddenly started coughing, and Yu Zhiwan quickly rolled down her window. The driver closed all the car windows, but her cheeks and ears were already burning.
Yu Zhiwan quickly changed the subject.
As they neared home, Yu Zhiwan mentioned that she was hungry. They found a parking spot near a small food street and decided to stop for a bite.
It was late, but since they were close to the neighborhood, there were plenty of street vendors still open. However, many of the stalls weren't particularly clean, so they opted for their usual beef noodle shop.
During the day, the shop was run by a married couple. In the evenings, their daughter took over. The young woman, about their age, recognized them and immediately served two steaming bowls of beef noodles.
Pei Yujang's stomach growled at the sight and smell of the delicious noodles. The young woman smiled warmly at them.
"Come on, don't be shy. You two just got back from a trip, didn't you? Haven't eaten yet? These two bowls of beef noodles are on the house. There are drinks over there, too—help yourselves. Just let us know if it's good!"
The beef noodles were rich and flavorful, with a broth made from bone marrow and milk powder, giving it a creamy, satisfying taste. Pei Yujang took a sip of the soup, her eyes closing in contentment.
She had really found the right place to live, not only comfortable but also full of friendly people.
After finishing the beef noodles, Pei Yujang felt too guilty not to pay. She knew she might not have time to come back for a while, so she quietly slipped a 100-yuan bill under the bowl.
Pretending to sip her soup, she waited for Yu Zhiwan to finish eating. Yu Zhiwan ate slowly, savoring each bite, and Pei Yujang never rushed her or distracted herself with her phone.
When Yu Zhiwan was nearly done, Pei Yujang, as usual, reached for a napkin and handed it to her. But as she did, a drop of soup dripped from the corner of Yu Zhiwan's mouth.
Instinctively, Pei Yujang pressed the napkin to Yu Zhiwan's lips, gently wiping away the soup. The napkin quickly absorbed the stain, and Pei Yujang neatly folded it, dabbed at Yu Zhiwan's lips again, then crumpled the napkin and tossed it into the trash.
The noodle shop was quiet at this hour, and Pei Yujang hadn't noticed that the young woman running the shop had been watching them with a mischievous yet kind smile.
Her eyes were full of envy as she teased them, "Did you two get married and move here? I've never seen you before, but you two seem really close."
"We…"
"We're not married," Yu Zhiwan interrupted, clarifying first for the first time. "She's my boss, and I'm her subordinate. We just live next door to each other."
The young woman seemed shocked, her mouth forming an "O" of surprise. She watched them leave the noodle shop, only to discover the money Pei Yujang had left under the bowl too late to stop them.
They parked the car nearby and walked home together, enjoying the peaceful neighborhood. The silence between them was only broken by the soft hum of Yu Zhiwan's wheelchair on the pavement.
As they approached their homes, the quietness around them became more pronounced. The usual warmth between them was replaced by a lingering awkwardness.
When they reached the point where they usually parted ways, Pei Yujang didn't walk her all the way home. For the first time, she wordlessly turned to head back to her place.
"Yujang."
But then she heard a familiar voice calling her. Pei Yujang instinctively turned around, seeing Yu Zhiwan under the streetlights and moonlight. The Omega's face was as soft and delicate as a ripe peach, her skin glowing in the light. Her almond-shaped eyes crinkled in a smile.
"Love can make people blind and impulsive sometimes, but don't worry—I won't be that way."
Pei Yujang didn't know how to respond.
Her heart felt heavy, emotions churning inside her. As she watched Yu Zhiwan turn away, all her tangled thoughts and feelings surged to the surface. In that moment, she couldn't hold back and practically shouted, louder than she'd ever spoken to Yu Zhiwan before:
"Then what if I pursue you? Wouldn't you be?"