I Really Didn't Intend to Pick Up the Black Lotus Omega - Chapter 8

The stifling summer heat seemed to have been trapped inside the closet, creating an untimely midsummer.

The heat flowed down Yu Qing’s throat with each breath, making her feel as if Jiang Nianyu’s rabbit had burrowed into her arms. Her heart was about to burst.

They were too close.

So close that their breaths didn’t even have time to dissipate into the air before being swallowed by the other’s mouth.

Buzz.

The nightlight, which Yu Qing had been fiddling with for ages, finally flickered on, instantly illuminating the cramped space.

Yu Qing instinctively squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, Jiang Nianyu’s face loomed large in her flustered gaze.

Yu Qing blinked several times, never having seen Jiang Nianyu’s eyes this close before.

The pale blue irises radiated outward from the pupils in a delicate, intricate pattern, like a deep glacier melting in early spring. They held a cool purity, as clear and innocent as a baby’s eyes.

This explained why Jiang Nianyu’s request didn’t seem to carry any ulterior motives.

Besides…

Jiang Nianyu was an Omega with amnesia. It was perfectly normal for her to feel scared and want company in an unfamiliar environment.

Without needing Jiang Nianyu to explain, Yu Qing had already concocted a reasonable explanation for herself.

She surreptitiously pressed a hand against her chest, forcibly suppressing the stifling, ambiguous atmosphere. Only then could she manage to say “Okay” with a semblance of composure.

The cramped closet was barely large enough for one person to move in, let alone two. Yu Qing gestured for Jiang Nianyu to step out first. After calming herself for a long moment, waiting for her heart to stop racing, she slowly backed out of the closet.

Moonlight streamed across Yu Qing’s bed, casting a slender silhouette.

Jiang Nianyu had already changed into her pajamas and sat demurely on one side of the bed. When Yu Qing emerged, she slightly lifted the thin blanket, as if awaiting Yu Qing’s signal or perhaps inviting her in. “Sleep?”

Yu Qing froze, feeling like she should just dump the mental garbage cluttering her mind.

She swallowed awkwardly, trying to keep her voice steady. “Mm, sleep.”

Yu Qing had no idea if there were unspoken rules about sharing a bed with another girl. She’d never slept in the same bed with anyone before.

So, as she walked to the other side of the bed, she deliberately lay down close to the edge, pulling a corner of the blanket up to cover her navel.

Feeling she’d handled the situation perfectly, Yu Qing said, “Good night.”

The room fell silent, the central air conditioning humming softly as it circulated cool air.

Yu Qing closed her eyes, realizing that summer nights might not be so unbearable after all.

Two seconds after her words faded, Jiang Nianyu’s voice softly echoed, tinged with confusion: “What does ‘good night’ mean?”

It sounded as if she had never done such a thing before.

Yu Qing was puzzled. For her, it was a routine gesture. “Everyone says it when we finish chatting at night. It’s just… what you say.”

“But why do you have to do what everyone else does?” Jiang Nianyu pressed, her voice carrying genuine curiosity. “Is that what ‘good night’ means?”

The question came from behind Yu Qing, like a child earnestly questioning an adult’s dismissive explanation.

Yu Qing paused, suddenly realizing she had become the kind of dismissive adult she had always despised as a child.

The mattress rustled as Yu Qing turned around, giving Jiang Nianyu her full attention. “No, that’s not it.”

“Then what does it mean?” Jiang Nianyu asked, her gaze equally earnest.

“Let me think…” Yu Qing pondered, her expression thoughtful.

The silence stretched as Yu Qing considered her answer.

Jiang Nianyu wasn’t an impatient hunter. Her cheek pressed against the pillow, giving her face a soft, fleshy fullness.

She quietly watched Yu Qing’s face come back into focus in her eyes, a fleeting smile playing at the corner of her lips, unseen by anyone.

After a moment, Yu Qing’s eyes lit up as if she’d just remembered something.

“I remember back in school, there was this trend where people would take the pinyin for ‘wǎn’ān’—which means ‘good night’—and rearrange the sounds to make a new pronunciation that supposedly meant ‘I love you, love you.’”

Jiang Nianyu listened to her explanation and shook her head in confusion.
“I don’t get it.”

This was even more puzzling than Yu Qing’s earlier, deliberately playful question:
“What does ‘wǎn’ān’ mean?”

“Like this,” Yu Qing said without hesitation, taking Jiang Nianyu’s hand from beneath the blanket. As she spoke, she traced the words on Jiang Nianyu’s palm.

“‘Wǒ ài nǐ, ài nǐ’ — ‘I love you, love you’ — equals wan’an, which means ‘good night.’”

Her soft fingers sketched warm, ticklish strokes across Jiang Nianyu’s palm, leaving trails of heat in their wake.

The numbness Jiang Nianyu had felt moments before now surged back with double intensity. The ticklish sensation, sparked by Yu Qing’s fingertips and nails, spread along Jiang Nianyu’s lifeline, crossed the imaginary equals sign Yu Qing had drawn, and traveled through her arteries straight to her heart.

Love?

What is love?

Through Yu Qing’s falling strands of hair, Jiang Nianyu caught that clean, fresh scent again.

Struggling to resist the urge to press closer against the restless throbbing of her glands, she fixed her gaze on Yu Qing’s neck. The veins pulsing beneath that soft skin carried the freshest scent of life—so intoxicating that she nearly forgot why she had asked about “wǎn’ān” in the first place.

But Yu Qing remembered.

After demonstrating the gesture in Jiang Nianyu’s palm, Yu Qing chuckled softly. “Doesn’t it seem a bit strange?”

“But back then, because of this meaning, I especially loved the word,” Yu Qing shared her memories with Jiang Nianyu. “I think when people first came up with it, they probably just wanted the other person to sleep peacefully at night.”

“Especially you—you can sleep peacefully because of my blessing,” Yu Qing added, her eyes deep with thought.

“I see,” Jiang Nianyu nodded, her expression unreadable.

Yet when she had first asked about the word, she had understood perfectly well.

That night, some Omegas were restless, their hands clenching tightly as they realized they had fallen into someone else’s trap.

Some Betas’ eyelids began to droop, as if they wanted to say something, but their words slurred into sleep.

Even breaths filled the quiet room, with no turning away, no pretense of polite boundaries.

Jiang Nianyu lay facing Yu Qing, silently watching her sleep.

She gazed at Yu Qing’s unguarded slumber, her nose twitching slightly as she inhaled her scent.

The night was dark, and a layer of low-hanging clouds obscured the tall floor-to-ceiling windows.

Just before sleep claimed her, Jiang Nianyu’s lips parted slightly, and she murmured the newly learned word to the sleeping figure: “Good night.”

That night, Yu Qing dreamed.

In her dream, unaware that she was dreaming, she dragged her weary steps back home.

The electronic lock clicked open as she entered the correct password. As soon as she pulled the door open, the entryway light flickered on.

Just as she wondered why the light was working so reliably today, a flurry of rapid footsteps echoed from ahead. A small, white-and-platinum-colored dog, wagging its tail vigorously, leaped onto her.

“Lianlian?!” Yu Qing exclaimed in surprise.

The dog responded enthusiastically, barking loudly several times: “Woof! Woof woof!”

Yu Qing could scarcely believe her eyes, yet she instinctively accepted this impossible reality.

She had missed her dog so terribly that she didn’t even bother to take off her shoes before squatting down to hug her. “Lianlian, Mommy missed you so much! Let me hold you and see if you’ve lost weight.”

Even when Lianlian was alive, she had understood Yu Qing’s words. Now, she immediately placed her paws on Yu Qing’s shoulders.

Yu Qing braced herself in a solid horse stance and effortlessly lifted Lianlian from the floor.

“You haven’t lost any weight, and you haven’t gained any either—perfect, Lianlian!” Yu Qing vigorously ruffled the little dog’s head, not stopping until her fur was completely disheveled.

Yu Qing hadn’t felt this happy in ages.

As she gazed at Lianlian, the corners of her eyes and mouth couldn’t help but curve upward.

She had so much she wanted to give her little dog. Striding to the storage cabinet on the balcony, she scooped out armfuls of snacks and toys.

Lianlian’s tail wagged furiously as she darted back and forth across the room, running for what seemed like forever.

Finally, she settled into the dog bed Yu Qing had prepared for her, overwhelmed by the dazzling array of treats and unsure which to choose.

Yu Qing leaned into the bed beside Lianlian and offered her the beef jerky she’d chewed on the most. “Eat up, sweetie. Mommy has plenty more. Now that Mommy’s earning so much, our Lianlian will never have to envy other dogs again.”

“Woof woof!” Lianlian’s tail wagged instantly as she eagerly devoured the beef jerky from Yu Qing’s hand.

Watching her little dog finally enjoy her favorite treat, tears welled up in Yu Qing’s eyes.

She hugged Lianlian’s head tightly, burying her face in the soft fur.

“Lianlian…”

“Lianlian…”

Yu Qing murmured her dog’s name repeatedly, her slender fingers threading through the fine strands of fur.

But as she continued to stroke, the texture felt wrong.

Her dog’s fur shouldn’t be this smooth and silky.

Nor this long.

!

Yu Qing snapped awake.

Sunlight streamed across her face. As she opened her eyes, she saw Jiang Nianyu nestled tightly in her arms, her hair disheveled.

Yu Qing’s heart froze.

Shock crashed into her wistful, sorrowful emotions.

At first, Yu Qing tried to act as if nothing had happened, quietly withdrawing her hand and rolling to the edge of the bed to feign sleep.

But the moment she twitched her arm, the head buried in her embrace lifted.

In the morning light, those baby-blue eyes gazed at her with a cold, innocent stare.

Yu Qing felt a sense of dread.

Then Jiang Nianyu spoke, her voice clear and sharp: “Who is Lianlian?”