Chapter 34

Chapter 34

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—Is there really any difference between the two? Although the wording and order are slightly different, they can essentially be considered the same sentence.

When Ye Chengxing heard Li Jia say this, her face only grew redder.

Whether it was from frustration, embarrassment, or perhaps both, she wasn't sure.

Ye Chengxing looked at Li Jia, who showed no intention of letting go, and after parting her lips, she ultimately had no choice but to change her reasoning in a rather helpless manner: "Hugging like this, neither of us will be able to sleep..."

Yes, logical and reasonable. Saying this should make Li Jia release her, right?

As Ye Chengxing spoke, she couldn't help but wonder, with some hesitation, if Li Jia was doing this on purpose. After all, this position was far too intimate and close, almost crossing a line.

Upon hearing this, Li Jia didn't let go; instead, she opened her mouth in confusion. "Then how should we hug to be able to sleep?"

If Ye Chengxing were thinking clearly and rationally at this moment, she would have immediately realized that Li Jia didn't ask "how can I sleep," but rather "how should we hug to be able to sleep." The difference in just a few characters carried vastly different meanings.

But at this instant, at least for this second, Ye Chengxing was far from calm and rational. She was caught off guard by Li Jia's embrace and the surrounding pheromones, feeling dizzy and disoriented. It took her a couple of seconds to process what Li Jia said, and in the end, she understood one thing: Li Jia wasn't doing this on purpose; she simply didn't know how to hug properly.

How could Li Jia do this on purpose?

Just then, she heard Li Jia's voice in her ear again: "I don't know how. Can you teach me, Sister?"

Ye Chengxing responded, thinking this was simple enough: "Then let go of me first."

"Alright... But if I let go, Sister won't immediately get out of bed and run away, right?" Li Jia whispered. After saying this, she answered herself, "But I don't think Sister is that kind of person. You've already agreed to sleep together, so you definitely wouldn't do something like that."

Ye Chengxing was about to deny it when she heard Li Jia's following words, causing her denial to turn into an approving nod: "Of course, I'll keep my promises to you."

The room was too dim, but after adjusting for a while, things weren't as unclear as they were when the lights were turned off. She could vaguely see shapes now.

Li Jia curved her lips, her smile bright and radiant. Slowly, as if enunciating each word carefully, she said, "Sister, please don't lie to me. I'm going to remember these words."

The Omega's tone carried a hint of playful teasing, yet Ye Chengxing sensed something dangerous in it.

She dismissed this feeling, continuing to agree while wondering why she kept getting these strange, incongruous feelings about Li Jia.

After agreeing once more, Ye Chengxing felt Li Jia release her.

She blinked, thinking, as expected, Li Jia wasn't doing this on purpose.

Li Jia simply didn't know how to hug.

See, now that they communicated, she let go and didn't hug anymore.

Ye Chengxing couldn't help but recall Li Jia's words from earlier. She hadn't expected to leave such an impression on Li Jia, one where she was seen as someone who kept her promises.

Unconsciously, Ye Chengxing's thoughts had shifted from "this is too intimate, isn't it?" to "I must sleep hugging Li Jia, I can't let her think I'm untrustworthy."

Yet, she barely noticed this shift.

However...

At this thought, Ye Chengxing suddenly realized a problem.

She wasn't entirely sure how to sleep while hugging.

Last time, they hadn't hugged to sleep; the distance between them before falling asleep was quite far. They only ended up hugging by chance during their sleep, realizing it upon waking.

Ye Chengxing came up with an excuse on the spot: "Right, I forgot whether I asked Xiao Bai to tidy up the table. Let me go check."

After hearing this, Li Jia fell silent for two seconds.

Although her eyes had adjusted enough to see rough outlines, specific expressions were still unclear.

Before Li Jia could speak, Ye Chengxing quickly assured her: "I'm not lying to you. I'll definitely come back."

Pausing for a moment, she heard the sound of the Omega's voice. Li Jia seemed to smile. "Of course I believe Sister. I'll wait for you to return."

Ye Chengxing nodded, subtly picking up her phone and leaving the room.

Once outside, she still wasn't completely at ease, so she walked downstairs before quietly taking out her phone and opening the search engine. In the search bar, she typed:

"How to fall asleep while hugging?"

Upon confirming the search, various answers appeared on the screen.

The most prominent answer was the first one: "A Guide to the Correct Positions for Hugging Your Girlfriend While Sleeping."

Ye Chengxing stared at this answer for two seconds, wanting to click on it but hesitating.

Perhaps she should look at other options.

Scrolling down, however, she found results like "How to Soothe a Newborn to Sleep" and "How to Hold a Newborn While Sleeping."

These were hardly related, if at all.

Ye Chengxing hesitated again and again before finally clicking on the first answer.

After clicking, she still felt uneasy, her heart rate even accelerating.

This was too strange.

She had to silently remind herself that, although she clicked to view it, this didn't mean she and Li Jia were in that kind of relationship.

After thinking this, Ye Chengxing didn't feel her heartbeat slow down; it continued to race as if a rabbit were leaping within her chest.

But if she didn't reassure herself this way...

She couldn't describe the feeling she had at this moment—perhaps there was still some residual effect from the dream she had just had—but Ye Chengxing only knew that if she didn't tell herself this, her chaotic thoughts would be even harder to conceal.

She thought she still wasn't quite used to the gender distinctions in the ABO world. Like this night, Li Jia was waiting for her on the bed upstairs to sleep together, while she was downstairs browsing the correct way to hold a girlfriend while sleeping on her phone.

Suddenly, she found it hard to determine whether all of this was as normal and ordinary a sisterly relationship as she thought, or if it had already crossed the line into an AO relationship.

But no matter how she thought about it, Li Jia should only see her as an older sister.

Perhaps a bit intimate, but more dependent. If someone else had been there instead of her, and if the person who helped her hadn't been her, then perhaps there wouldn't have been anything for her now.

Just like now, Li Jia needed her, clung to her, simply because she lacked security, and because she was the only one by her side. But according to the background of this world, Li Jia would eventually fall in love with another Alpha, then they would fall in love and live together. There would be more and more people around her, as Chengxing had first wished for her, her future would get better and better, because she was such an excellent person. When Li Jia took off the filter she had developed for her due to their complicated encounters, she would realize that Ye Chengxing was nothing special.

So she just had to be a good older sister to her, and when she no longer needed her, she could leave... that would be enough.

Ye Chengxing patted her face, thinking that late nights really did make one think too much.

She looked at the answer again.

Her heartbeat had actually calmed down, but she began to feel inexplicably irritable again.

Ye Chengxing suppressed those messy thoughts in her heart, turned off her phone, and went upstairs while thinking about how she would hold and soothe Li Jia to sleep next.

******

When she returned to the room, Li Jia was indeed still awake, waiting for her.

"Did Xiao Bai finish cleaning up?"

Ye Chengxing got into bed, her tone slightly apologetic for being back so late: "Finished."

She reached out to half-embrace Li Jia.

But Li Jia took the initiative to press closer to her: "Good."

Ye Chengxing didn't say anything else.

They were quiet for a while, in the darkness, Li Jia squinted, her tone purely curious: "Did something happen? I feel like Sister isn't very happy."

The Alpha's mood did seem somewhat low.

Ye Chengxing was taken aback at Li Jia's words, not expecting Li Jia to notice.

But how could she explain this? Should she say it was because of you? Or should she say it was because she had thought too much and made herself unhappy?

No matter how she said it, it felt strange.

Ye Chengxing didn't want to bring negative emotions to Li Jia. She smiled, then remembered it was too dark for Li Jia to see, so she explained: "It's nothing, I'm just a little sleepy. Let's go to sleep."

After saying this, she gently patted Li Jia, her tone sounding as if nothing was wrong, the previous depression seemed like just Li Jia's illusion: "Goodnight, Little Li."

Ye Chengxing didn't know if Li Jia believed her. After saying this, she closed her eyes and pretended she was getting ready to sleep.

Li Jia looked at her for a while, after a long time, she replied: "Goodnight, Sister."

She thought about how Ye Chengxing had gone out with her phone earlier, but she could be sure that Ye Chengxing was definitely not checking if Xiao Bai had cleaned the table.

Clearly, Ye Chengxing's mood hadn't been like this before she went out.

Was it someone who sent her a message? Was it because of someone that she suddenly became depressed?

At the thought of this unknown entity, Li Jia's fingertips tightened slightly.

She leaned closer to Ye Chengxing.

Although Ye Chengxing had closed her eyes, she knew she wasn't asleep yet, and the Alpha beside her was in a mess over someone she didn't know.

They lay together, but Ye Chengxing's attention was divided by someone else.

Li Jia felt increasingly irritable at this thought.

Even though she was already intimately embraced with Ye Chengxing, it still wasn't enough.

And considering the time... her heat period was almost here.

Li Jia savored Ye Chengxing's scent, reluctant to close her eyes.

Although Ye Chengxing had agreed to her request, she didn't know if it was because of the sudden coldness a few days ago or something else, but she felt that this intimacy was rare.

Like now, even though they were very close, she still had the feeling that Ye Chengxing would leave her at any moment.

In her breaths, the scent of oolong tea on the Alpha was faint but distinct, and Li Jia felt a stirring in her heart, perhaps it was the deep night that made her hidden desires uncontrollable.

"Sister can't sleep?" She tugged at Ye Chengxing's clothes, her tone seemingly innocent concern.

Ye Chengxing had wanted to pretend to be asleep, but thinking about it, she felt it was too obvious, so she opened her eyes again and answered: "Maybe... a little."

Li Jia blinked: "Then let me get you a soothing pouch, I often sleep with it."

Ye Chengxing hummed at this: "Wouldn't that be too much trouble?"

"No," Li Jia chuckled softly, "I'll go get it for you, Sister."

With these words, the Omega got up quickly.

Ye Chengxing had felt that they had already lain down, and now because she couldn't sleep, Li Jia was going to get up again, which was a bit of a hassle for Li Jia, but seeing how excited Li Jia was, she didn't know if she was mistaken, but since this was the case, she shouldn't disappoint Li Jia's kindness.

She waited in bed for a while, feeling really guilty, so she finally got up as well.

But just as she reached the door, she ran into Li Jia coming back.

Li Jia held a small, exquisitely wrapped bag, and Ye Chengxing subconsciously took it.

The weight of the tranquilizing pouch was much heavier than she had imagined.

Feeling this, she subconsciously asked about it.

Li Jia answered without hesitation, "I added a lot of things inside, so the effect should be very good."

Ye Chengxing nodded, still somewhat embarrassed: "It's alright... let's go back to bed and sleep, you've been put through too much trouble."

Li Jia curved her lips into a smile, which grew more pronounced when she saw Ye Chengxing take the pouch. Her lips were a deep, lustrous red as she spoke in an innocent tone: "What are you saying, sis Chengxing is the closest person to me."

The two returned to bed.

Whether it was due to the tranquilizing pouch or because her mind had calmed down, Ye Chengxing genuinely felt a bit drowsy.

She placed the tranquilizing pouch beside her pillow and, as her consciousness blurred, caught a hint of sweet white peach fragrance emanating from it.

Ye Chengxing didn't open her eyes, feeling even more at ease.

Indeed, the tranquilizing pouch had been used by Li Jia, carrying a faint scent of the Omega's pheromones.

Free from the previous clutter of thoughts, Ye Chengxing soon fell into a deep sleep. She didn't know that after Li Jia sensed she was asleep, she waited a while longer before deftly opening the tranquilizing pouch Ye Chengxing had placed beside her pillow—the one she had prepared for her. From inside, she retrieved a small, pale pink, round comfort toy.

In just this short while, it had already picked up a trace of Alpha pheromone scent.

Li Jia ran her fingertips over it, confirming that the method worked, then carefully placed the toy back inside and concealed it.

The heavy night.

The Omega lay back down beside Ye Chengxing in a very intimate position, content.

In a sense, this was indeed her tranquilizing pouch.

Especially after this night.

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