Chapter 36 Ji Yun

Chapter 36: Ji Yun

"Xiao Yun, I won't accept you failing such a simple test." Lin Bo gently set the paper onto the table. It landed with a soft *tap* and skidded a little way across the glass surface.

The woman crossed her legs, folding her arms across her chest.

Her face was one softened by time, yet her gaze was fierce.

Lin Bo's eyes held a passion for life, yet a coldness towards human relationships.

Ji Yun's shoulders trembled slightly. He looked down, clutching the hem of his trousers, on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, sister, I... I..."

Ji Sixin walked over, placing an arm around little Ji Yun's shoulders, his voice gentle. "Xiao Bo, he's only ten."

Lin Bo's gaze towards Ji Sixin held a touch more reverence, but her tone didn't soften. "When you were ten, you had already secured a patent. When I was ten, I was already doing high school physics." Lin Bo sighed. "Ji Yun is very intelligent. You entrusted him to me, and I also want him to be even better than us. This world isn't short of geniuses; what it lacks are child prodigies who can make it to the future. He *can* do well. He just didn't do well this time."

Ji Yun hung his head even lower, feeling thoroughly chastised. He had indeed been too busy playing and hadn't taken the math test seriously.

"I'm sorry, sister, I... I won't do it again..." Ji Yun looked up and saw a strand of hair that had been tucked behind Lin Bo's ear fall loose, partially obscuring the contour of her cheekbone.

Lin Bo tucked that strand back behind her ear again, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on her lips. "Xiao Yun, why are you staring at me? Are the answers written on my face?"

Ji Yun stared blankly for a moment, then glanced down at the high school math paper where he'd only managed a passing score. Ji Sixin patted his shoulder. "Your sister asked you a question."

"You're beautiful," Ji Yun answered honestly. "You're especially beautiful."

Lin Bo was taken aback for a second, then she laughed.

There was a tiny, barely noticeable mole at the corner of her right eye. With her smile, it seemed almost branded onto Ji Yun's heart.

You really are beautiful. Among all the people I've ever seen.

Ji Sixin was a great philanthropist, at least on the surface.

He had only one biological son, Ji Yun, but later adopted three more children.

These siblings all possessed exceptional genes—intelligent, obedient, beautiful. For example, the youngest, Ji Yue, was an Omega adopted by Ji Sixin five years ago during that biochemical war.

Beautiful and hardworking, he had already graduated with a master's degree by eighteen and went straight into the Pheromone Research Institute.

Like a pearl.

To better cultivate the children, or perhaps due to his many business connections, from the time Ji Yun could remember, aside from these beautiful younger siblings, he had met many striking adults.

Celebrities, aristocrats, doctors, professors, renowned figures...

Even the nannies in the Ji household were flawlessly beautiful. This was the perfection Ji Sixin pursued.

But no one could surpass Lin Bo.

She came to the Ji family when she was only nineteen. Two years later, she became the chief engineer of the Peace Dove Kinetic Engine. Ji Sixin held her in high regard.

For a long time, Ji Yun thought Lin Bo would become his stepmother.

Because his father truly treated her very well.

In the Ji family, Omegas were often subjects of discrimination and prejudice. In that era, they bore the functions of reproduction and continuation of superior genes, yet their abilities were rarely acknowledged. Because they were precious and rare, most Omegas were well-kept at home.

Few in number and with limited perceived social utility, in many people's minds, an Omega was just a beautiful vase.

But Lin Bo, in Ji Yun's briefly formed worldview, was the one who shattered the rules.

Ji Sixin completely abandoned the "straight Alpha cancer" attitude he displayed both at home and in the company. He supported her all the way to becoming chief engineer and even planned to gift her shares after she completed five years of work.

Other Omega tutors were timid and submissive. Only Lin Bo was different. She entered gracefully, casually pulling a hair tie to tie up her hair, dragging a chair across the floor with a screeching sound, and then sat down in front of Ji Yun.

She lifted her proud chin, her voice light but firm. "Starting today, I am your tutor. You can call me sister, but you cannot address me by my name directly."

Nine-year-old Ji Yun was still somewhat disdainful, engrossed in his game console.

Lin Bo gave a scornful laugh, then grabbed the child by the collar and lifted him off the sofa.

A slender, beautiful Omega, lifting a sturdy Alpha boy with her bare hands.

"If you don't respect me, I will hit you." Lin Bo dropped the stunned Ji Yun back onto the sofa and sat back on the stool. She raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't like disobedient children. Do you understand?"

Ji Yun, inexplicably frightened, nodded. "Y-yes, I understand."

That year, Ji Yun witnessed Lin Bo's unrestrained brilliance and flourishing, and also saw his father's preferential treatment and leniency towards her. She was fierce, but she also knew how to care for people.

During Ji Yun's first rut, she sat by his bedside all night. Those slightly cool hands resting on Ji Yun's forehead made him forget the pain. The pleasant scent of jasmine emanating from her invaded his senses, effortlessly pulling him back from the brink of collapse.

That was... that was a mother.

When Lin Bo wasn't being a tutor, her sharpness faded completely, leaving behind only that hazy quality Ji Yun wished to grasp for a lifetime.

Like the mist rising from a hot spring—billowing, warm, dreamlike, and illusory.

"If only you would marry my father," Ji Yun murmured against her palm, voicing a hope that was also a regret.

Lin Bo chuckled.

She liked to give short, impatient, somewhat cool snorts of laughter.

"Your father isn't worthy of marrying me."

Ji Yun felt wronged, his eyes reddening. "Why? He's handsome, rich, and talented. After my mother passed, he hasn't looked for another Omega..."

He clumsily listed Ji Sixin's virtues. A first-rut Alpha, awkwardly using language and actions he himself found strange, trying to retain the Omega he desired, expressing his sudden possessiveness.

But Lin Bo said Ji Sixin wasn't worthy.

Then Ji Yun himself was even less worthy. He wasn't even grown up yet.

The sternness vanished from Lin Bo's eyes, leaving only a clear spring. She gazed at Ji Yun, a smile touching the corners of her mouth. "Is it your father who likes me? Or is it you who likes me?"

Ji Yun's heart skipped a beat. Guiltily, he averted his eyes.

"Little brat." Lin Bo smiled. "What do you know about liking someone? The first time you saw me, you hated me."

Ji Yun opened his mouth, unsure how to refute. "I..."

"But I have someone I liked immensely the very first time I met." Lin Bo covered his teary eyes. "Sleep, little brat. In the future, you can find a gentle, obedient Omega to manage you. Don't think about clinging to me. I'll hit you."

Ji Yun soon fell into a deep sleep, faintly hearing Ji Sixin's sigh in his ears.

"Not every Alpha is as fortunate as him, passing their first rut without any pain."

Then Lin Bo's voice followed. "I treat him as my own child."

For years to come, Ji Yun would often find himself pondering a question.

What kind of person was it that Lin Bo fell for at first sight? He imagined it, conceptualized it, even tried to create and discover it.

This person must have impeccable looks, a noble character, and outstanding talent.

But Ji Yun also knew that an Omega like Lin Bo would not be bound by conventional standards.

He would never know just what kind of special person had captured Lin Bo's heart at first sight.

Ji Yun spent his first night at the base sleeping poorly.

He had been in many relationships, all of them gentle and obedient without exception, as if it were a fixed type. These people were worlds apart from Lin Bo, yet Lin Bo had said they were good for him.

The bed was hard, the surroundings unfamiliar.

Ji Yun got up and stepped into the corridor for a smoke.

When he turned sixteen, Ji Sixin gave him a photo album filled with pictures of Lin Bo.

“I know you liked her very much.” Six years later, Ji Sixin's face, though not heavily aged, bore the weariness of time. “But she has been dead for many years.”

Ji Yun took it. Inside were photos of a beautiful Lin Bo. Her beauty was unique, yet it was frozen in time.

“You didn't like her?”

Ji Sixin was taken aback, then patted his shoulder. “Xiao Yun, there are many emotions in this world that go beyond simple liking or love. Lin Bo was someone who shattered these conventions. In a sense, she was also a teacher in my life.”

Ji Yun hadn’t expected his father to say such things. He lowered his head, running his fingers over Lin Bo's cheek in the photograph.

“If you put it that way, perhaps what I felt wasn't simple fondness either,” Ji Yun murmured.

Ji Sixin sighed. “It’s a pity I couldn’t avenge her, nor could I find her child. Ji Yun, you’ve grown up. This matter, I leave to you from now on.” The man stood up, leaning on a peachwood cane as he walked. Two years ago, he'd injured his knee during a high-altitude test of the new Peace Dove Scooter, leaving him with a chronic condition. “Let her be your goal, your hope, a new world—perhaps even a mother. These hold more power than mere fondness.”

Ji Yun nodded. “I understand, Father.”

The memory abruptly ended. In the blink of an eye, another sixteen years had passed.

He glanced toward Room 204. In the pitch black of night, it stood empty.

Jing Miao was the only Omega on this floor. He lived with his Alpha in a room fully protected by the Isolation Barrier.

Ji Yun blew a cloud of smoke into the vast, silent night.

“But I have someone I fell in love with at first sight.”

The words echoed in Ji Yun’s mind, and he mocked his own persistence.

If it were Xi Siyan, it seemed quite reasonable.

Regardless of this person’s status, position, or outward appearance, when he looked at Jing Miao, it was with tolerance and focus, as if Jing Miao were the only one breathing in this world.

Even though Jing Miao was not Lin Bo.

Lin Bo had long been dead, for twenty-two years.