After the Top Idol Omega and I Started Living Together - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The plate, not yet steadied, slipped from suddenly clenched fingers, making a faint clattering sound.

Lu Zhao heard Chenchen’s question and instinctively froze for a moment, as if she didn’t understand, repeating, “What?”

Feeling her earlier words weren’t specific enough, Chenchen rephrased carefully, “I mean, has your feeling toward Miss Sheng changed in any way?”

She just saw Lu Zhao and Sheng Jingyu together again, and her thoughts wandered inevitably, “You two have been together day and night, and Miss Sheng isn’t as cold and distant as she was at first. Don’t you feel even a little…”

Chenchen’s words were probing, but before she could finish, Lu Zhao’s actions interrupted her.

The person standing in her line of sight squatted down, slowly placing the plate into the dishwasher, her voice scattered by the soft clink of porcelain, “Chenchen, what kind of person do you think Miss Sheng is?”

Lu Zhao’s question came suddenly, without context.

But Chenchen, hearing the question, actually thought about it. After pausing for a few seconds, she described with not much confidence, “Miss Sheng, well, she’s elegant, refined… like a flower on a high peak? Keeping people at a distance? … It feels like no one can truly understand her?”

“Exactly.”

Chenchen’s description started with certainty but gradually turned uncertain with a hint of doubt, ending in some confusion.

But Lu Zhao affirmed all her descriptions.

She paused her hands’ movement briefly, looked up at Chenchen, “So, you and I both know nothing about Teacher.”

The wind blew gently through the open window, carrying the coolness of evening.

Though Chenchen seemed carefree on usual days, she had moments of sharp perception, like now. She noticed the shift in Lu Zhao’s emotions and silently squatted beside her.

One by one, Lu Zhao placed the bowls rhythmically into the dishwasher. She seemed to answer Chenchen’s earlier question or continue her own statement, “Teacher is like an unlit map. We can only see the version of her she shows us at our current position.”

As Lu Zhao spoke, her memories rewound accordingly.

Her understanding of Sheng Jingyu always seemed passively peeled back. She asked her twice: once she didn’t answer, and once it led to the present situation.

Was it a delayed realization?

Only when Chenchen raised the question did Lu Zhao’s mind acknowledge it, or perhaps only then did she dare face it.

Sheng Jingyu was her teacher, yet she was overstepping boundaries.

She placed the world’s most stable non-bl00d relationship on a precarious tightrope.

In the small hall, in the backstage storage room.

Sheng Jingyu’s hand always carried a touch of coolness, resting on her waist, falling on her neck, entirely different from the summer’s heat, yet slowly surpassing it.

Lu Zhao admitted she had an irresistible desire for Sheng Jingyu’s pheromones.

She should have succumbed, yet she remained清醒ly, excessively清醒.

Grapes covered the trellis fully, but she still couldn’t grasp something solid.

Reason reminded her she didn’t fully understand this Omega she kissed indulgently, even temporarily marked.

She didn’t know if Sheng Jingyu revealed too many flaws or if she herself was too sensitive.

As she just told Chenchen, what she saw now was only the Sheng Jingyu that Sheng Jingyu chose to show her.

This was the relationship Lu Zhao feared most.

A nightmare-like relationship.

If it was just indulgence in desire, that would be fine.

But if it wasn’t just indulgence in desire…

“But I think Miss Sheng isn’t the type to hide herself because of shame,” Chenchen’s voice said firmly, cutting off Lu Zhao’s thoughts.

The night gradually crept up, moonlight falling through the window onto Lu Zhao’s face, gentle, melancholic.

Having been with Lu Zhao for so many years, Chenchen was the one who truly knew her.

Hearing Lu Zhao’s words, she sensed she was recalling those unpleasant past events. Sometimes Chenchen really wanted to go to Lu Xu’s company, grab her by the collar, and demand answers.

Why, as a mother, couldn’t she guide her child properly?

Not being a guide was bad enough, but she also had to be a dark cloud, interfering with a traveler lost in the forest, making her unable to find the North Star.

Chenchen fumed inwardly, tearing apart the nearly mistaken overlap of Sheng Jingyu and Lu Xu in Lu Zhao’s mind, “She knows Miss Chen from Vinyl Music. You become like those you’re close to. Miss Chen is a good person, so Miss Sheng can’t be bad either!”

“And Miss Sheng’s piano playing is purer than anyone’s. Someone like that can’t have bad intentions!”

Chenchen spoke with firm tone. Lu Zhao, squatting nearby, propped up her head.

She seemed in a better mood, her eyes carrying a teasing smile, “Chenchen, how good is Miss Chen?”

Though she used the example to comfort her, the topic shifted to herself.

Chenchen didn’t expect Lu Zhao to catch her hidden intentions. Her ears heated, and her explanatory tone lacked the earlier confidence, “You said Miss Sheng is like a puzzle, so I just…”

“So you also want to solve the puzzle.”

No longer teasing Chenchen, Lu Zhao didn’t press her to explain further and interrupted her.

Her voice was soft yet firm.

Chenchen suddenly looked at Lu Zhao, seeing Lu Zhao gaze back at her, her curved eyes hiding some resolved determination.

Lu Zhao brought the topic back to Chenchen’s initial question, “When I have an answer, I’ll tell you.”

The restaurant was quiet, the dishwasher’s rhythmic hum buzzing steadily.

Seeing everything was mostly tidied, Lu Zhao stood up briskly, “Alright, it’s getting late. Go home and rest. You’ve had a long day. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Okay,” Chenchen, understanding, nodded and prepared to leave.

She knew what kind of person Lu Zhao was. She would share what she wanted to, and no one could force her to speak otherwise.

But she couldn’t help worrying about Lu Zhao. Anything tied to her past trajectory was a disaster that cost her immense effort to barely maintain a semblance of normalcy.

Chenchen could see Sheng Jingyu’s weight in Lu Zhao’s heart.

If she had to experience it firsthand, she might not even retain that semblance of normalcy.

But on second thought.

Chenchen felt Miss Sheng, aloof and noble, was a person of high integrity. She treated their Ah Zhao so well, taking her to a private island, giving her expensive earphones, and teaching her without asking for payment. She couldn’t be a heartless Omega.

No way.

Miss Sheng definitely wouldn’t disappoint Ah Zhao.

The dishwasher hummed in the quiet restaurant, water surging and foaming layer upon layer.

Lu Zhao squatted silently in front, her unfocused gaze following the foam’s rise and fall.

Though the earlier topic ended, it lingered in Lu Zhao’s mind.

What exactly were her thoughts about Sheng Jingyu now?

A respected teacher,

Or a casual fling?

But a mere fling didn’t seem satisfying enough.

Respect carried love too.

So people could fearlessly overstep boundaries countless times.

Lu Zhao admitted she was somewhat reckless this time.

Hearing Sheng Jingyu mention her gland issue, she feared another Alpha claiming her, so she acted first.

Having lost too much, she developed a carefree facade, acting as if she didn’t care about many things.

But precisely because of this, she had an unprecedented possessiveness over the rare things she held.

Lu Zhao清醒ly recognized this in herself but couldn’t turn back.

She feared losing what she cherished too much.

Even though she didn’t fully understand Sheng Jingyu.

Even though…

Perhaps the rolling foam dazzled her eyes. Lu Zhao tightly closed her eyes.

Then, following the wind’s direction, she walked from the restaurant to the hall leading to the backyard. Moonlight outlined the tree shadows outside the corridor, swaying across her face, casting a jagged shadow on her head.

Despite losing all along this path.

The joy of victory didn’t overly delight Lu Zhao. For a moment, she even thought that Si Liaoliao was indeed outdone by her, but that person would never end things there.

Unless she thoroughly defeated and suppressed her, that kind of person wouldn’t stop.

What other filthy things she hadn’t seen awaited her in the future?

The corridor’s breeze blew, messing up Lu Zhao’s loose hair.

She sat on the corridor, silently dismissing her thoughts as overthinking, letting her mind wander.

Then a cool scent drifted against the wind, rustling like a small rain under the eaves.

This wasn’t the scent of pheromones. Lu Zhao looked at the real water droplets on her hand, focusing her gaze.

Then a shadow fell over her head. Sheng Jingyu, holding a portable bottle of floral water, sat beside her, reminding her, “You have a stage performance in a few days.”

Lu Zhao, however, was unconcerned.

Her mood wasn’t exactly high. She replied casually, “I’ll cover it, and it’s far enough that others won’t notice.”

Sheng Jingyu disagreed, her faint gaze landing on her neck, “What if it’s on your neck?”

Hearing this, Lu Zhao laughed silently.

She rested her head in her arms, turning to look at Sheng Jingyu, “Then I’ll just admit Teacher did it.”

Her eyes sparkled boldly, filled with fearless confidence.

Sheng Jingyu scolded her lightly, tapping her phone, “Silly girl.”

Upstairs earlier, Sheng Jingyu saw the corridor light up. She watched Lu Zhao sit there for as long as she stayed upstairs.

The sea breeze wasn’t calm, and the lychee swayed monotonously.

Sheng Jingyu looked at Lu Zhao beside her, then tapped again, “Again thinking nonsense?”

Since her debut, Sheng Jingyu mostly settled in the north. Even speaking Mandarin, no one could detect her accent.

But for some reason, she loved speaking Cantonese to Lu Zhao, the words she recited at home as a child.

She knew she understood.

Because she taught her those words herself.

Hearing this question, Lu Zhao’s gaze dimmed slightly.

She lifted her head a bit, resting her chin in her hand, “Has Teacher heard the story of the knight, the princess, and the dragon?”

It was a simple, clichéd story. In short, every kingdom had a dragon that kidnapped the princess, and a righteous knight always came to save her, winning her heart.

By traditional versions, it shouldn’t be a knight but a prince.

But in Lu Zhao’s story, there was no prince.

The prince, always present but useless in fairy tales, was discarded by Lu Zhao.

So was Sheng Jingyu.

She nodded to Lu Zhao, making no extra corrections.

Receiving Sheng Jingyu’s nod, Lu Zhao’s expression softened a bit.

As if carrying some unrealistic, naive thoughts, she asked, “If one day the dragon tries to kidnap me again, will you save me?”

But Sheng Jingyu countered, “How do you want me to save you?”

Not a shake of the head, nor a nod.

Sheng Jingyu was asking Lu Zhao for a solution.

The wind blew silently. Something aligned, and Lu Zhao looked up at Sheng Jingyu.

Sheng Jingyu’s gaze stayed on Lu Zhao’s eyes.

The shadow leaning before Lu Zhao drew closer bit by bit.

Wordlessly, Sheng Jingyu leaned forward and kissed her.

Didn’t sleep well last night, update tomorrow around noon!