After Agreeing to Go on a Parenting Show With My Omega Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 73

She Already Had a Little Dog.

Yu Luo had always felt that she was a happy child.

Although she and her mother lived in a shabby rented room, the winters in the south were especially damp and cold. The biting wind howled outside the window, the paper on the window was torn and patched again and again, and her lips would sometimes turn purple from the cold.

Although they always cleaned diligently, there were always various insects in the house due to the poor surrounding conditions of the rental. And she was never able to build up the courage to coexist with them calmly, only able to panic by herself.

Although the lights at home were always kept dim to save electricity, suspended in the gloom, she was afraid of the dark.

But whenever she saw the homeless people stumbling along the roadside, she was grateful that she had a home to return to, grateful that her mother had never abandoned her—

Because many people said she was her mother’s oil-dragging bottle¹; if not for raising her alone, her mother would not have had such a hard life.

Yu Luo didn’t know if she had a father or another mother. Her mother had always concealed it like it was something profound², and she wasn’t curious.

“Hello, Auntie, I’d like to buy three pieces of bread.”

The shopkeeper looked up and saw a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl standing in front of her.

The little girl was excessively thin, with very fair skin. Her still-childish features were already exquisite and moving.

Her pair of large eyes were exceptionally beautiful, like gemstones, holding a warm smile.

The blue school uniform on her body was faded from washing and looked a bit ill-fitting, long and wide, making her appear even more slender.

“What a pretty little girl,” the shopkeeper praised, handing over the packaged bread.

“Thank you, Auntie.” Yu Luo took out the money; the bills and coins had been neatly arranged by her.

She had saved this money with great difficulty. Her mother liked to eat bread but was never willing to spend the money on it.

After returning home, Yu Luo quickly finished her homework and began to review her lessons.

At eight o’clock in the evening, Yu Yan³ returned from the factory, bringing back food from the canteen.

Looking at her mother’s tired and haggard face, Yu Luo’s hand tightened around her chopsticks. She said hesitantly, “Mom, tomorrow night…”

She found it hard to continue. Her mother worked so hard; she needed a good rest when she came home at night. How could she spare the energy to attend a parent-teacher conference?

—”The Zhongkao⁴ is coming up, and your mother has never shown any concern. She doesn’t attend parent-teacher conferences, and she always hangs up the phone in a hurry.” Teacher Lin had said that day. “Yu Luo, if you have any difficulties, you must tell your teacher.”

Yu Luo bit her lip at the time and said in a small voice, “I don’t have any difficulties… My mom loves me very much, she’s just too busy.”

She didn’t know why she lacked confidence when she said that.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Yan finished chewing the food in her mouth and looked up after a few seconds.

The moment she met the woman’s weary, clouded gaze, Yu Luo swallowed all her thoughts in one gulp.

She smiled as if nothing was wrong, no longer planning to mention the parent-teacher conference. Instead, she took out the bread, wanting to cheer her mother up. “I bought the bread you like, Mom, hurry and try it. You’ve lost so much weight recently…”

Yu Luo looked forward to her mother’s reaction with some anticipation.

If possible, could she praise me? It’s been so long since Mom smiled at me.

But Yu Yan immediately frowned. “Where did you get the money to buy so much bread?”

Watching her expression, Yu Luo’s heart skipped a beat. She felt she had done something wrong—perhaps she shouldn’t have spent money like that.

So she stammered when she spoke, “I s-saved it up…”

Yu Yan stared at her without speaking.

Just as Yu Luo was growing increasingly flustered, she heard Yu Yan say, “Yu Luo, you’re a big girl now, and you’re about to reach your differentiation period… The pre-test back then showed that you would be an Omega.”

“You should know that you’re very pretty.” Yu Yan’s tone was ambiguous. “Don’t be deceived, and don’t rely on your looks to go down the wrong path.”

At first, Yu Luo didn’t understand.

A few seconds later, she realized what Yu Yan meant.

Her chest suddenly tightened, and her heart began to tremble violently.

It felt as if a sincere heart, carefully held out, had been carelessly thrown to the ground and then crushed.

“Mom, are you thinking—” Her eyes instantly filled with a watery light. In disbelief, she suddenly felt that the woman before her was a stranger.

Classmates at school gossiped about her like this, but she didn’t care. As long as she knew her mother loved her, she could overcome many hardships.

But how could her own mother speculate about her daughter in such a way?

Yu Luo felt a certain conviction in her heart begin to crumble.

Yu Yan’s gaze met the pitiful tears shimmering in her daughter’s eyes, and she looked down, unable to bear it.

She hesitated, wanting to say something, but in the end, she only whispered, “I’m just afraid you’ll follow my old path.”

But her voice was too soft, and the trembling, sobbing girl across from her couldn’t hear it.

…

Yu Luo walked out with the bread.

It was cold outside, and the bread had frozen hard. Her ten fingers were red as she squatted by the roadside, gnawing on a piece from the bag.

It should have been sweet, but in her mouth, it tasted like chewing wax. When she swallowed, her throat felt raw and sore.

Not far away, two homeless children slowly approached.

Yu Luo paused.

She forced down the irresolvable bitterness in her heart, wanting to share some of her bread with them so they wouldn’t have to endure hunger on such a cold night.

So, as the two got closer, her lips parted, and she was about to speak—but she saw the two children suddenly quicken their pace and dash past her.

Her hands were suddenly empty—the bread had been forcefully snatched away.

All that was left for Yu Luo were the crumbs caught between the thumb and forefinger of her left hand. Her fair skin was stained with dirty fingerprints, and a lingering pain remained.

She stared blankly, turning her head to see the two homeless children looking back and making a face⁵ at her as they ran, gloating over their prize.

Once again, a sincere heart offered was trampled upon.

Yu Luo blinked slowly, looking up at the gloomy, dark sky of late winter. A clear tear slid down her cheek, quickly chilled by the bone-piercing wind.

“…It’s okay,” she finally said to herself.

“It’s just, it’s just that I feel a little lonely…” A fierce wind blew, tearing the girl’s whisper to shreds, along with the whimper that had accidentally escaped at the end.

Through her blurry vision, Yu Luo saw someone in the distance walking a small dog. The little dog wagged its fluffy tail, happily rubbing against its owner’s leg.

Loyal and enthusiastic, loving the other without reservation.

She stared in that direction, lost in thought.

---

Yu Luo felt that her classmates had been looking at her strangely recently.

Rumors like “it seems her father doesn’t dote, mother doesn’t love⁶” and “she’s so pretty, I heard she fools around outside” had once hit her in waves, but now everyone was tired of saying them.

Yu Luo guessed there were probably new rumors, but she didn’t much care.

Studying was the most important thing. She wanted to get into a good high school and university, to earn a lot of money to support her mother and herself.

After quickly finishing a difficult math problem, Yu Luo lightly tapped her chin with her pen, wondering if there were other solutions.

In her concentration, her ears inadvertently caught some blurry words: “Yu Luo’s father.”

Yu Luo’s eyelashes trembled, and she turned her head to look in that direction.

Those people had perhaps said it loudly on purpose, just waiting to see her reaction. Seeing that her expression didn’t change, that she was as composed and calm as ever, they couldn’t help but sneer:

“Truly shameless. The father is scum⁷, the daughter is probably no better.”

Yu Luo’s hand, holding the pen, instantly tightened.

Father? Scum?

A sense of flustered bewilderment rose in her heart. Her mother had never mentioned him to her; she knew nothing about it.

The unknown is the most unsettling. Amidst the meaningful stares and the pointing and laughing, Yu Luo’s lips gradually turned pale.

…

For over a decade, the word “father” had barely existed in Yu Luo’s life, but recently it was being brought up frequently.

Hands pointed at her back, saying things like “her father committed wickedness and violated the law,” “committed domestic violence against his wife, beat her so badly she was hospitalized,” and “seems to have harmed quite a few Omegas.”

It seemed many people around her held a grudge against her because of this.

On the day the Zhongkao ended, Yu Luo quickly left the classroom. Even as everyone was enthusiastically discussing answers, their chatter still carried words related to her and her father.

In a daze, she saw a few people looking around at the school gate. And those people happened to notice her. Their fierce gazes locked onto her in an instant, and they started moving toward her.

Yu Luo’s heart suddenly accelerated. An intense sense of crisis enveloped her, and she turned and ran.

Luckily, she ran into her homeroom teacher.

She hurriedly grabbed Teacher Lin’s arm, her eyes glistening with tears, and asked, panting, “Teacher Lin, are you in a hurry? I-I’m not feeling well.”

The homeroom teacher looked at the slender girl’s frightened, deer-like eyes and paused.

She walked Yu Luo home.

Looking at the dilapidated old building, Teacher Lin said, “Would it be convenient for me to make a home visit? I’d like to have a word with your guardian.”

Yu Luo looked at her, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Teacher Lin sensitively perceived the girl’s thoughts. In the end, she just stroked her hair and left on her bike.

At half-past eight in the evening, Yu Yan got home from work.

Ever since the incident with the bread, the relationship between mother and daughter had been a bit stiff. But Yu Luo tried hard to act as if nothing was wrong, to mend the only relationship she had.

Therefore, she never dared to ask, afraid that the word “father” would shatter the already fragile peace between them.

She could only look at her mother with sorrow—was Mom really a victim of domestic violence? The thought made Yu Luo’s heart ache.

Yu Yan looked over, showing rare concern. “You look pale. Is something wrong?”

Yu Luo’s movements as she ate paused.

Normally, she might have brushed it off, saying everything was fine.

But the fierce gazes of those people at the school gate tonight had frightened her. Thinking back on it now, her heart couldn’t help but tremble.

She was truly, truly scared.

So Yu Luo finally said cautiously, “Mom, when school let out tonight, there seemed to be a few people waiting for me at the school gate…”

Yu Yan’s brow furrowed.

She looked at her daughter, silent. The girl’s eyes were clear and pitiful, filled with boundless reliance.

Even though she had gradually become cold, irritable, and neglectful over the years, Yu Luo had never shown any grievance, only timidly shrinking her own psychological needs.

As if afraid that asking for one bit more would make her mother abandon her.

“…” Yu Yan’s lips parted and closed. Finally, she said, “Mom can’t look after you. You have to protect yourself.”

She saw the light in the girl’s eyes dim, bit by bit.

—This is just a fourteen-year-old child trapped in fear. Telling her not to rely on her mother, to protect herself in the face of unknown danger, how cruel, how irresponsible.

But Yu Luo quickly replied, “Okay. You too, Mom.”

Yu Yan couldn’t bear to look at her daughter’s forced smile any longer. Her breathing grew heavy, and in the end, she said nothing.

As if she had already come to terms with it, Yu Luo soon stopped talking about herself and turned to caring for Yu Yan. “Mom, why do you seem to be getting thinner and thinner, and you look so pale… Are you too tired, or not eating enough?”

As she spoke, she pushed the dishes on the table toward Yu Yan. “I’m full, you eat more.”

Yu Yan’s lips trembled. Her gaze quickly swept over Yu Luo’s slender hands and arms. After a long moment, she squeezed out a few words from her throat, “I’m full. Maybe I just haven’t been resting well. You should eat more.”

While Yu Yan was showering, Yu Luo tidied up the house as usual, then tied up the garbage bag.

As she moved, a black insect crawled out from the side, making her jump in fright, her heart pounding like a drum. She held her breath, standing rigid until the insect crawled back into a corner, then quickly grabbed the garbage bag and fled.

She went out, downstairs, and toward the garbage station.

She happened to look up and caught a glimpse of the same people who had been waiting for her at the school gate after school, now loitering over here.

Yu Luo’s pupils contracted.

Intense panic instantly surged through her. Her hands lost their strength, and the garbage bag fell to the ground.

She turned and ran—

“She’s over there!” The group spotted her and gave chase.

Yu Luo fled desperately, subconsciously crying out “Mom.” But then she remembered what Yu Yan had just said about protecting herself, and the word in her mouth changed with difficulty to “Help.”

In that instant, her heart was filled with an unprecedented sense of terror and loneliness.

How could a frail and slender girl outrun tall, able-bodied men?

The fabric of her clothes was grabbed from behind with an irresistible force. Yu Luo felt her heart being seized along with it. She shuddered all over. By the time she reacted, her head had been slammed heavily against the mottled wall, the side of her head scraping against it with a fiery pain.

Her collar was brutally pulled open a little, and her hair was pulled so hard it hurt. Yu Luo couldn’t help but let out a low groan.

A sharp pain followed on the skin of her nape as a cold liquid was injected into her body. The intense discomfort left her momentarily speechless.

Am I going to die?

In the bone-deep chill, Yu Luo found that the only thing that appeared in her mind was the frolicking puppy she had seen a few days ago.

I think, in my next life, I’ll get a little dog.

To be treated with such enthusiasm and devotion, the mere thought of it is a little blissful…

As her consciousness blurred, Yu Luo heard the people behind her saying things like “just a little prank,” “wait for her to differentiate and we’ll see a good show,” “serves her right for having such a scum father.”

Finally, she was thrown heavily into a corner. Her head hit the ground, making her dizzy for a moment, and her ears rang.

Her hair was a mess, the corners of her eyes were red, like a broken, discarded doll.

One of them looked at the fainted girl and mocked, “Our high and mighty classmate Yu, I can’t wait to see the look on your face on your differentiation day, when you discover just how ‘delicious’ your pheromones are.”

Someone next to him muttered, “Is this Pheromone Fragrance-Inducing Factor⁸ really going to work?”

“If this stuff didn’t have some effect, would it be banned?” that person retorted, annoyed. “Besides, my family owns a medical tech company…”

…

Yu Luo returned home very late.

Yu Yan seemed to be on the phone with someone, hanging up rather hastily when she saw her come back.

“Get some rest,” Yu Yan said.

Whether it was because she had something on her mind, or because she truly didn’t care—

Yu Yan didn’t even ask why she came back so late, why the collar and hair on the back of her neck were so disheveled, why she looked dazed, why the corners of her eyes were red, or why she was trembling all over.

Yu Luo looked at her mother’s back and suddenly felt a coldness in her heart, so cold she could barely breathe.

The substance that had been injected into her was still coursing through her body, and sharp pains still burned her.

In the end, Yu Luo quietly took a shower and went to bed.

She didn’t know what she had been injected with… maybe she was going to die soon.

Touching the still-aching spot on the back of her neck, enduring the torment of her wounds, Yu Luo looked out into the pitch-black night and suddenly wasn’t so afraid of the dark.

She realized that perhaps she had been afraid before because she cared—and now, she didn’t really want to love this world anymore.

---

Yu Luo went to the police by herself.

While giving her statement, the officer kept complimenting her, “What a pretty little girl.”

When he asked where she had been injected, he even tried to touch the back of her neck, but Yu Luo dodged him.

“When you had your pre-test, what did it show you would differentiate into?” the officer asked with a straight face.

Yu Luo hesitated for a moment, thinking it was related to the statement, and answered honestly, “Omega.”

“Not bad. Uncle here is an Alpha.” The officer gave her a meaningful smile, and another person next to him chuckled suggestively.

Yu Luo clutched the paper in her hand tightly. From that day on, she never went to the police station again.

If before she had faced solitude with a simple mindset of self-fulfillment and happiness, now she had truly become withdrawn.

She didn’t dare to trust others and gradually forgot the naive feeling of “being happy.”

It seemed someone had once praised her for being a warm little sun, but now when Yu Luo passed a mirror and saw her own exceptionally cold expression, she felt a sense of disorientation.

Before long, the parents of that group of people were sentenced to death for smuggling. The kids themselves also dropped out of school. It was said their lives became terrible, and they jumped off a building together.

She saw the report on the news and learned about the substance she had been injected with—Pheromone Fragrance-Inducing Factor.

People used it to change the scent of their pheromones to another. But because this substance seemed to be harmful to the human body, and current medical technology couldn’t yet fully understand it, the country had listed it as a prohibited item.

“Pheromone scent…” Yu Luo stared blankly at the explanation in the news.

Her fingers hanging by her side subconsciously curled, then clenched into a fist, her palm aching from the pressure of her nails.

She was about to turn fifteen. She was about to differentiate.

Yu Luo had been indifferent to it before. But from this day on, she became afraid.

---

At the age of fifteen, parents would take their children to the Pheromone Administration Bureau early to let them differentiate—

In the past, people differentiated naturally. But such unpredictable, sudden differentiation often brought danger, and if there were no pre-prepared medicines and supplies nearby, there was a chance of glandular damage.

With the development of medical technology, people had already developed scientific and healthy methods of differentiation, and it was provided free for all citizens.

Yu Luo was accepted into the city’s best high school and spent the summer working to earn her tuition.

That night, after returning from the shop, she heard Yu Yan say, “Are you fifteen already?”

Yu Luo’s heart skipped a beat. She was silent for a few seconds before humming in agreement.

“You should go differentiate,” Yu Yan said. “Ask for a day off from your boss tomorrow and go differentiate. I’ll go with you.”

“…Okay.”

Yu Luo thought of the burning pain, like a tongue of fire licking every inch of her body, after the forced injection that day. Her heart couldn’t help but clench, and it didn’t relax all the way to the Pheromone Administration Bureau.

So much so that she forgot to wonder why Yu Yan was, for once, accompanying her.

After a physical examination, Yu Luo was pushed into the differentiation room. Under the effect of machines and drugs, she felt the back of her neck gradually start to heat up. This heat soon spread throughout her body, making her itch and feel numb all over.

Something was being released from the right side of her nape—it was pheromones.

She could feel the concentration, but she couldn’t smell her own scent.

The differentiation was completed quickly. A doctor walked in holding a clipboard, saying, “Strange, the system can’t identify and analyze your pheromones…”

Her words stopped short.

As a Beta, she wasn’t sensitive to pheromones, but her sense of smell was no different from other secondary genders.

As the girl differentiated, her glands uncontrollably released a large amount of pheromones, filling the room, so she got a noseful.

Yu Luo clearly saw the doctor’s expression suddenly become awkward the moment she entered, and the way she looked at her became strange.

As if not wanting to stay a moment longer, she stood at the door, quickly explained the necessary matters, and then left with an odd expression.

Yu Luo stared at the closed door, her body slightly curled, her sweaty hands wrinkling the bedsheet.

She couldn’t stop trembling.

Every detail of the doctor’s expression was seared into her mind, repeatedly hammering at her self-esteem. Yu Luo’s lips turned white as she whispered hoarsely, “What… what does it smell like?”

A while later, Yu Yan came in.

Just like the doctor, her expression changed instantly.

She sat down by the bed and said nonchalantly, “How are you feeling?”

Tears welled up in Yu Luo’s eyes as she stared at her without blinking. “Mom, what do my pheromones smell like?”

Yu Yan said vaguely, “Isn’t it just the same scents you usually smell on me, on other adults?”

It’s not.

Yu Luo knew it wasn’t.

She saw everything in her mother’s pitying gaze.

A person’s pheromone scent accompanies them for life. On normal days, the pheromone concentration is generally maintained at 3%, a kind of lingering body fragrance. Therefore, even with inhibitors, it would cling to her.

After differentiating, she returned to the shop where she worked her summer job. When she entered, the boss was still congratulating her on completing her differentiation, but a few days later, he fired her.

“Your work ethic is really outstanding,” the boss said with difficulty. “But I have to consider the customers’ feedback…”

When taking the bus or walking in other public places, in all those unavoidable moments of close contact with people, those next to her would invariably show a strange look, then subtly move away.

“Such a beautiful little girl, how could she…” someone would say, shaking their head and sighing.

This was not a single, violent blow that caused immediate and intense pain.

But those meaningful glances, those small yet clear movements of avoidance as if she were a snake or a scorpion, fermented over time, deep and lingering, impossible to shake off. They silently entwined themselves in every detail of her life, and so the pain was deeply engraved into Yu Luo’s bones and blood.

She hated her glands, hated her pheromones, and by extension, began to hate the ABO world. She couldn’t help but hate her entire self with the same avoidant, disgusted eyes that others used.

Countless nights, she would wake from nightmares, trembling, muffling her sobs in her pillow.

Just before the start of school, Yu Luo experienced her first heat after differentiation.

Feeling her pheromones being released uncontrollably, that scent that made people avoid her filling the room, Yu Luo’s self-loathing also surged. Her body trembled, and she couldn’t stop herself from pressing hard on her fragile glands, wanting them to stop releasing pheromones.

The force of it made her ache so much that she couldn’t recover for a long time.

Like a dying fish, gasping for breath, her gaze unfocused.

After an unknown amount of time, Yu Luo finally rolled out of bed and stumbled to the drawer to get an inhibitor shot.

The intense calm it brought fascinated her, and the feeling of her pheromone concentration dropping also subtly eased her self-loathing.

Yu Luo became addicted against her will, dazedly injecting three shots.

Then she passed out.

When she woke up again, she felt sore all over and couldn’t muster any strength. Beside her, Yu Yan was watching her with a deep gaze.

Yu Luo had completely forgotten what happened. When she inadvertently saw the three used inhibitor shots on the table, she was dazed for a moment.

Yu Yan stared at her daughter’s haggard face, her dry lips, and her eyes that had grown dim and had not been bright for a long time.

She stared at the numerous bloody scratches on Yu Luo’s neck, clawed out of self-loathing during the haze of her heat.

For the first time, she shed tears in front of Yu Luo.

“I’m sorry.” Yu Yan raised a hand to cover her face, moisture seeping through her trembling fingers. “I’m sorry… Mom has failed you.”

---

Yu Luo sat in the luxurious car, her posture a little restrained.

Her hand habitually went to the glands on the back of her neck.

Ever since she had accidentally injected a severe overdose of inhibitor, her pheromone concentration had remained at a level of almost only 0.1%.

She guessed that at this concentration, people wouldn’t be able to smell it. Because when she had gone out the past two days, she hadn’t seen those strange looks that were familiar to her down to her bones.

So, would it be okay as long as she overdosed on inhibitors during every heat?

This realization brought a faint, long-lost joy to Yu Luo’s heart.

As if she had grasped a life-saving straw, she was no longer so afraid of the unfamiliar situation that was to come—

Yu Yan had said she was taking her to S City to see her grandmother.

It was said that her grandmother was very rich and could let her live in a house with no insects, bright lights, and no more cold, and enroll her in S City’s best international middle school.

“Did Grandma find us?” Yu Luo asked.

Yu Yan mumbled for a moment. She looked into Yu Luo’s eyes, knowing that some things couldn’t be solved by deception.

Just like the scent of her pheromones. Even if she told Yu Luo, “yours is no different from anyone else’s,” Yu Luo would perceive the truth in every detail of her life. And that would only be crueler.

So this time, Yu Yan chose to be honest. “No… she needs you.”

“Your father passed away a year ago. You are his only child,” Yu Yan said. “She approached me back then… but I refused her.”

Yu Yan didn’t say why she had refused then, nor why she was suddenly willing to accept now.

“…Oh.” In the end, Yu Luo just responded with a low voice, complying with Yu Yan’s every decision.

The next second, realizing something, she suddenly became nervous.

She looked up, staring intently at Yu Yan. “Then, Mom will be with me in S City, right?”

Those eyes, which had been dull for so long, showed a rare glimmer of light. It was anticipation, even a humble and clumsy plea.

Yu Yan didn’t dare to look.

She stiffly turned her head to look out the window. “Don’t you understand yet?”

“…You belong to your grandmother now.”

She said with difficulty, “I am no longer your guardian, and I don’t want to live in S City. She gave me a lot of money. I’m going to enjoy my own life.”

A long silence fell beside her.

Amidst the pain of her heart being repeatedly battered, Yu Yan finally heard the girl’s trembling, tearful voice:

“Mom… are you getting rid of me because you hate my pheromones?”

Yu Yan’s throat was so sore and painful she couldn’t make a sound.

Her withered hand clenched. She wanted to say no.

But in the end, after a thousand twists and turns of emotion, she actually, actually let out a low “yes.”

---

Yu Luo stood in the snow in the backyard.

Two years had passed. The girl had shot up in height and was now slender.

Her overly frail body had become healthy under the care of a nutritionist, and her skin, which had always been pale and bloodless, was now fair with a rosy undertone.

Her face had lost some of its childishness, blossoming into the beauty of a banished immortal⁹.

But her face was expressionless, her temperament as cold as the unattainable moon in the sky, her eyes deep and lightless.

Under the guidance of an etiquette teacher, she seemed like a young lady from a wealthy family who had been pampered since childhood. Even standing perfectly still, her composed and noble posture made it hard to tell that she was actually being punished.

Snow fell on her eyelashes, and Yu Luo blinked. From standing for too long, her limbs were stiff and cold, and her body trembled from time to time.

She heard what sounded like a puppy barking in the distance.

She imagined that the dog might have fluffy white fur, lively and cute, nudging against its owner’s legs.

All things are cold and silent. In her heart, it seems only a little dog remains a warm presence.

This was probably just a wishful, idealistic projection that held her last shred of innocence, as she had never actually been close to a puppy.

And today, she had cautiously asked the housekeeper the question that had been on her mind for two years—whether it was possible for the family to have a small animal.

Her grandmother quickly found out and ordered her to stand here as punishment.

It doesn’t matter, Yu Luo thought. After all, no puppy would probably want to get close to me. A living, warm creature would not yearn for a place of cold silence.

She came back to her senses and looked up at the solemn building before her.

The paint on the outer walls was white, but in her eyes, it always looked gloomy and dark.

Her gaze and thoughts were gradually being covered by the falling snow. So much so that when that pretty little sister appeared out of nowhere, Yu Luo couldn’t help but shiver, causing some fine snow to fall from her.

The girl was wearing the winter uniform of S City International Middle School—the same school as her, but she seemed to be in the junior high division¹⁰. Her bright eyes, like fallen stars, were curiously sizing her up.

Qi Song looked at the big sister standing in the snow like a statue of an immortal fairy, seeing the delicate tip of her nose red from the cold.

She paid no mind to Yu Luo’s cold and distant aura, nor her emotionless eyes.

The smile at the corners of her lips bloomed like a vivid flower in the snow, and her voice was clear and pleasant when she spoke, “You must be Yu-jiejie?”

Yu Luo’s dry lips moved slightly, but she didn’t speak.

As if sensing her unapproachable attitude, the girl didn’t say more.

She just took off her own fleece-lined school uniform jacket and carefully draped it over Yu Luo’s shoulders.

“It’s clean,” she emphasized in a small voice.

After putting the jacket on her, the girl didn’t seem to mind the cold. She just squatted by the wall not far away, resting her chin in her hands and looking at her.

“Can I just look at you like this?” she asked softly.

Yu Luo was slightly taken aback, not having expected such a situation. She pressed her lips together, feeling awkward, but surprisingly, not disliking it.

This big sister remained silent, but she didn’t seem to be annoyed.

Qi Song was at a bit of a loss. Finally, she said, “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as a yes.”

Her eyes were always bright, and when she looked over, she seemed very focused, not blinking for a moment.

As if feeling that staring so directly was impolite, she would occasionally shift her gaze to the somewhat gloomy sky due to the falling snow, but she couldn’t help but let it fall back onto Yu Luo soon after.

Under the lingering warmth of the girl’s body on the school jacket, Yu Luo’s stiff and cold body gradually warmed up.

She finally spoke softly, “…Thank you.”

Qi Song, who had just deliberately shifted her gaze back to the sky, instantly brought her eyes back. She seemed a little happy that she had finally spoken. “Y-You’re welcome.”

The air fell silent again.

Under the girl’s clear gaze, Yu Luo would sometimes look over and meet her eyes.

At times like these, Qi Song’s gaze would dart away, flustered and light like a fawn’s.

Yu Luo suddenly found it a little amusing.

At that time, Yu Luo didn’t know—

She already had a little dog.

---

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