The Amnesiac Omega Who Reels Me In Every Day – Chapter 116

Some Sweetness

Extra: Having the Baby

If both of them are crying, who gets comforted first?

The days passed one by one. Past month seven of the pregnancy, Jiang Youwan stopped going in to work and handled most everything from home.

            

Jiang Jinyi stayed home with her all day, and the two of them were glued together morning to night.

It was never boring — there was plenty they could do together.

Watching movies together, playing games together, picking out clothes and toys together for the baby about to arrive.

            

Not trusting Jiang Jinyi to cook alone, Jiang Youwan usually taught her hands-on, guiding her through every step, rewarding her for each bit of progress — and sometimes even turning strict.

She really did feel like a teacher — the exceptionally good-at-encouraging-her-students kind.

Though her way of encouraging was very different from other teachers’.

            

Other teachers praised you out loud and, at most, bought little snacks or trinkets as prizes. Jiang Youwan gave verbal praise too, but she also offered up her own body as the reward — feeding her pupil in person.

Even at seven months, with marking off the table, Jiang Youwan still had ten thousand ways to leave Jiang Jinyi helpless to stop wanting her.

A teacher this beautiful — no student could possibly stay immune. Jiang Jinyi’s soul had been hooked long ago; she trailed after her everywhere, stealing a kiss whenever the mood struck and leaving a hickey behind to stake her claim.

            

In truth, many omegas grow sensitive and anxious in late pregnancy, once marking is no longer possible — even fully marked ones still fear their alpha will go find another omega, and they ask for reassurance over and over. Some alphas, short on patience, end up driving their omega into depression.

But nothing of the sort could ever happen to Jiang Youwan.

If she missed a single kiss, depression was out of the question — but a tantrum was absolutely guaranteed.

            

Truly adorable.

Jiang Jinyi’s love was expressed through action.

She had become a considerate pampered young lady, a gentle pampered young lady, a pampered young lady always sniffling into tears because she thought her jiejie had it too hard.

            

A pampered young lady who, after accidentally skipping one whole night of rubbing ointment and massaging her jiejie’s belly, felt so guilty and remorseful she couldn’t eat.

For all the grueling months of this pregnancy, Jiang Youwan knew only happiness.

As the due date drew near, Jiang Youwan was admitted to the hospital — and the moment she set foot inside, Jiang Jinyi turned tense, vigilant, even volatile. That volatility was aimed only at outsiders: she began to regard everyone who wasn’t Jiang Youwan with hostility.

            

It was an alpha instinct too — she knew her omega was about to give birth, knew she’d be at her most vulnerable in labor, and she had to stay alert to every unknown danger.

Hostile toward any outsider who might hurt Jiang Youwan.

She grew fierce, baring her fangs at strangers at the slightest provocation.

            

Once, a doctor forgot to knock before coming in — and the door opened gently enough that Jiang Youwan, the one actually about to deliver, barely reacted. It was Jiang Jinyi who was startled.

She instinctively shielded Jiang Youwan with her arm, dropping into a defensive stance, and only after a beat did her brow knot.

“Who allowed you to just walk in?” She was bristling¹.

            

“Don’t you know you’re supposed to knock? Didn’t I warn you already? You never learn!”

Jiang Jinyi spared no courtesy when she scolded, imperious to the bone. “Bad memory and sloppy work — this Miss is switching doctors. You’re fired!”

Her words frightened the doctor into a flurry of apologies, but she stayed angry. The doctor cast a pleading look at Jiang Youwan, who tilted her lips up in mild resignation, took Jiang Jinyi’s hand, and coaxed her in a soft murmur, smoothing down her fur². “There, there, Xiao Jin, don’t be angry. The doctor didn’t do it on purpose. Forgive her just this once, okay?”

            

Cooed at like this, sweet bubble after sweet bubble rose in Jiang Jinyi’s heart. She pursed her lips, gave the doctor a cold warning hum, and only then stepped aside to let her examine Jiang Youwan.

Through the entire examination she stared, unblinking, at the doctor’s every move, brow locked tight. It was a checkup, yes — but Jiang Jinyi loathed every single motion from the bottom of her heart.

Loathed it enough that several times she nearly threw the woman out.

            

But she was sensible enough to know what mattered: her jiejie’s health mattered most.

Suppressing her instincts, she instructed the doctor to examine Jiang Youwan with the utmost thoroughness.

Everything went smoothly — Jiang Youwan had been wonderfully cared for under Jiang Jinyi’s devoted attention.

            

The moment Jiang Youwan entered the delivery room, Jiang Jinyi’s heart began to panic — her hands shook, her legs went soft, she braced on her knees to keep from folding, the rims of her eyes gone red all the way around. She could barely breathe, turning her head aside every so often to cough violently.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought she was the one with a terminal illness, teetering on the edge of collapse.

“It’s all right, baby. The doctor said her condition is excellent — nothing will go wrong. She’ll come through safe and sound. Stop crying, okay?”

            

“Goodness, you really do look so wronged.”

Jiang Ningshu stayed at her side offering comfort, but none of it reached Jiang Jinyi.

Her nerves truly did come from fear of complications — but the crying was entirely, one hundred percent heartache for Jiang Youwan.

            

How painful, how brutal was the process of giving birth? It amounted to a round trip through the Gates of Hell³.

The moment the words “Gates of Hell” crossed her mind, Jiang Jinyi nearly went down.

Sobbing without stop.

            

Heartache, guilt, regret…

“Wu… it’s all… it’s all because of me that jiejie has to hurt this much… I’m a bastard…”

“Never again. Never again will jiejie get pregnant, never again will she set foot in a hospital…”

            

“No more babies, ever, wuwuwu…”

“It’s all my fault, I’m a bastard, I made her hurt like that, put her through so much…”

Leaning against Jiang Ningshu, Jiang Jinyi choked out incoherent sentences, crying until she couldn’t draw breath — and going on talking anyway even as she gasped. Jiang Ningshu hurriedly patted her back, terrified she’d faint the very next second.

            

An entire pack of tissues was used up, and the tears still kept falling.

Faced with a daughter like this, Jiang Ningshu felt helpless — and gratified.

Helpless because Jiang Jinyi was crying far, far too dramatically; gratified because she knew: for Jinyi to be like this now, she must be living a very happy life.

            

She adored her jiejie utterly, and she basked just as fully in her jiejie’s unreserved love in return.

“There now, Xiao Jin, stop crying. If you cry yourself out of strength, how are you going to take care of your jiejie once she’s delivered?”

Coaxing really is all about technique. Put that way, Jiang Jinyi forced herself to choke off her sobs, clapping a hand over her mouth and eyes, refusing to let sound or tears spill out — though her shoulders kept on trembling, all the way until the delivery was over.

            

When it ended, Jiang Jinyi had attention for no one. She didn’t so much as glance at the baby in the nurse’s arms — she made a beeline straight for Jiang Youwan and dropped to her knees at the bedside. Looking at that ashen, terribly weak face, her already wet, swollen eyes flooded over in an instant, sobbing too hard for any sound to come…

“I’m sorry, Jiejie. I’m sorry…” Her fingers trembled as she stroked Jiang Youwan’s sweat-drenched face. She truly could not bear to see her suffer like this — truly wished she were the one bearing it.

“Jiejie… wu, Jiejie…”

            

Jiang Youwan was still conscious. She curved her lips weakly, found Jinyi’s hand and held it, stroking it gently, and teased: “Xiao Kubao~”

Jinyi squeezed her hand back — firmly, but not daring to squeeze too hard. “Did it hurt that much? Never again. We’re never doing this again, never letting jiejie go through this again, never…”

She gave Jiang Youwan her word: never again would she let her suffer like this.

            

Smiling, Jiang Youwan had her lean down, pressed a kiss to her cheek, and said softly: “It truly wasn’t bitter, Xiao Jin. I’m so glad…”

“As long as you keep staying with me like this, nothing will ever be bitter for me again…”

The two of them stayed wrapped up in each other a good long while before Jiang Youwan was moved to the ward, the baby brought along too. Only at Jiang Youwan’s prompting did Jinyi remember the baby existed. She walked to the cradle, reached in to lift her out, then drew her hand back and turned to Jiang Youwan, utterly at a loss.

            

She had never held a baby before.

With Jiang Youwan’s encouragement, she gathered the little one up with the utmost care. What a wondrous, scarcely believable feeling.

This was really, truly her and Jiang Youwan’s child.

            

She and Jiang Youwan actually had a child…

Truly miraculous…

A girl — already asleep, eyes shut. Even brand-new you could see her features were exquisite. She was certain to grow into a great beauty, a little princess who had won at the starting line⁴ simply by being born.

            

Holding the baby, she sat down at Jiang Youwan’s side so that Youwan could get a good look at her.

Jiang Youwan’s gaze wandered back and forth between mother and daughter before she rendered her verdict. “Look, Xiao Jin — her dimples are just like yours.”

“Really?” Jinyi’s voice still carried the residue of tears. She looked down and couldn’t quite tell.

            

The little kiddo hadn’t smiled yet.

“Really. And her nose takes after Xiao Jin too. They say whoever the nose takes after, the temperament takes after too — does that mean she’s going to be a crybaby like Xiao Jin?”

“I…” Jinyi began to protest that she was not a crybaby — and swallowed it the moment the words left her mouth.

            

She blinked her tear-dampened lashes, a little sheepish.

Jiang Youwan’s smile deepened, and she kept teasing on purpose. “If she really is a little crybaby, then someday, when the two of you are both in tears — who is jiejie supposed to comfort first?”

Jinyi froze right where she sat, as if seriously working through the question.

            

If, someday, she and the little kiddo were both crying — who would Jiang Youwan comfort first?

Once again, Jinyi felt her position come under threat.

With a baby, she was no longer Jiang Youwan’s one and only…

            

Would Jiang Youwan’s love split in two — half for her, half for their daughter?

Would the halves be even? Which one would get the bigger share?

Her mood sank a long way down. She lowered her eyes and pouted, just faintly.

            

Looking at the little one’s sleeping face, she felt wronged — but said nothing.

Said nothing — but feelings like that refuse to stay hidden.

On her daughter’s very first day of life, she was already jealous of her.

            

Jiang Youwan tilted her face up to look at her and couldn’t help a soft laugh. “Wronged?”

“…”

Jinyi said nothing.

            

She asked again: “So tell me — who should jiejie comfort first?”

The choice had landed in her hands. Jinyi’s long lashes trembled; her lips moved, and she mumbled, “…Whoever you want to comfort…”

The princess syndrome was gone, but the air of it lingered — mouth pushed out, as though the entire world owed her something.

            

“Xiao Jin~ honey~” Jiang Youwan suddenly called to her, twice, warm and intimate, lips pressed in a smile, her eyes brimming with fondness as she gazed at Jinyi.

She must have cried for a long while outside the delivery room, then cried a long while again at the sight of her — and now she couldn’t bear to leave her glum for even a second.

“Jiejie comforts Xiao Jin first, of course.”

            

At those words Jinyi’s eyes flew up, shining bright as she stared at Jiang Youwan, the dejection gone without a trace — a hope, still half afraid to be certain, lit by that single sentence.

“Really?”

“Isn’t jiejie comforting you right this very second?” Jiang Youwan coaxed. “Put the baby down first. Come here — the two of us, a proper hug.”

            

That last sentence, for reasons she couldn’t name, went straight through Jinyi. She laid the sleeping baby, with the utmost care, into the little crib, and the moment Jiang Youwan pushed herself upright, she settled at her side — and Jiang Youwan gathered her into her arms.

“Do you know why jiejie comforts Xiao Jin first?” Jiang Youwan asked.

“No…”

            

“Because jiejie can’t stand to see Xiao Jin wronged. The little kiddo can’t be spoiled too much — but Xiao Jin can.”

The child couldn’t be spoiled, but she could? The answer left Jinyi half disbelieving. Weren’t mothers supposed to spoil their children? How had it flipped around with Jiang Youwan?

“Then why can I be spoiled?”

            

“Because the little kiddo will grow up sooner or later — sooner or later she’ll leave home and face a life of her own. Spoil her too much, and it isn’t actually good for her.”

“But Xiao Jin is different. Xiao Jin is staying right beside jiejie for the rest of her life — so what could it possibly matter how spoiled she gets?”

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