Chapter 66 Online Romance with a Bad Beta 19: Being Held in Someone's Arms
"When have I been avoiding you... No, these past few days, who told you I've been avoiding you?"
Tan Yicheng found it very strange that she would have such a thought.
Xi Congshuang noticed the suspicious pause, her eyes flickered slightly, and she downed the last drop of champagne in her glass.
As soon as she raised her hand, a passing waiter came over with a tray. Xi Congshuang placed the empty wine glass on it and then casually picked up another glass.
The look in the other person's eyes made Tan Yicheng feel inexplicably uncomfortable, so she changed the subject and said, "You seem to be in a good mood tonight, you've had quite a bit to drink."
Xi Congshuang shook her head: "Not much, just three cups."
Tan Yicheng: "I don't know how much you can drink. Remember to have someone pick you up after the banquet."
A hint of a smile appeared in Xi Congshuang's deep eyes: "Don't worry, I can hold my liquor pretty well."
After saying that, there seemed to be nothing more to say. Tan Yicheng felt that she should find some reason to leave, but hesitated for a long time and remained standing in the same place without moving.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dance floor in the center of the bustling scene, where people were dancing and laughing.
In the hazy atmosphere of a ball, on the dance floor, it's easy to develop feelings for someone else. Tan Yicheng only glanced at him before hearing Xi Congshuang's voice.
"You want to go dancing too?"
"……"In no mood.
Just as Tan Yicheng was about to refute the question, someone interrupted her first.
"Mr. Xi, what a coincidence to run into you here. It's a pleasure to meet you."
A voice came from beside them. The person came from Xi Congshuang's right side, but she couldn't hear it. She was focused on Tan Yicheng, waiting for her answer.
Hearing this, Tan Yicheng turned her head to look, and she realized what was happening and turned her head a beat later.
A woman carrying a wine glass walked towards them. Xi Congshuang didn't hear her first words, but she could tell from the woman's eyes that she was coming for her.
As Dr. Fan was right, all sorts of people will appear at the banquet, and the best way is to get what you want and leave quickly.
But it's too late for Xi Congshuang now.
Xi Congshuang watched silently as the other person quickly approached, her face beaming with smiles: "I didn't expect to run into you here. You must be attending the banquet as an honorary alumnus."
Xi Congshuang: "..."
No, she was brought here by the school doctor as a school doctor's assistant to freeload a meal.
Also, you interrupted my task's chat.
This was a difficult question to answer, so she could only smile knowingly and remain silent. The other person was just trying to start a conversation and didn't really want any answers from Xi Congshuang.
The other party thought he had guessed correctly, and became even more enthusiastic, feeling as if they had known each other for a long time and wishing they could drink and chat together under the moon.
Xi Congshuang didn't want to think that, given the current situation, sitting down would be tantamount to agreeing to a long talk.
To be honest, this wasn't the first time Tan Yicheng had seen Xi Congshuang switch to a social mode and chat with people on the spot.
When Xi Congshuang gets serious, she is actually quite worthy of the title of the future head of the pharmaceutical company. Her words are gentle, but her attitude is firm. It seems like she has agreed to something, but in fact she has not agreed to anything in a direct way.
She could even see that there was no enthusiasm in the other person's eyes; they were just responding casually.
However, given Xi Congshuang's status, she didn't lower herself to the level of enthusiasm.
The woman's voice wasn't quiet; many people heard it, and surprised or curious glances turned towards her.
Tan Yicheng has excellent hearing; he can hear the faint sounds of conversation coming from all directions from the same spot.
"How could it be her?"
"I felt like she looked familiar, but she was dressed so casually, could I have mistaken her for someone else?"
"No way, President Tian is a well-known person on Central Star. She wouldn't mistake someone for someone else. It's probably her."
"Then we've missed out?"
People are like this: they respect clothes before they respect people. If someone is dressed plainly and looks similar, they will be denied that it is her.
If it weren't for the first bold person who called out to Xi Congshuang, she would have gotten away with it tonight and continued chatting with Tan Yicheng about mundane topics like "Are you hiding from me?" or "How much alcohol do you drink?"
Instead of all sorts of veiled social niceties, or topics that could influence the company's future development with just a few casual remarks.
The two individuals were fundamentally worlds apart in terms of their social status.
On one side, the young alpha who had been forcibly dragged there asked in confusion, "What are you saying, Mom? She's our school's medical assistant."
"I think you're talking nonsense. Why would she condescend to be a school doctor's assistant?"
The young woman who had been scolded hesitated, then opened her mouth, turning to look at the familiar, cold, beautiful face: "But it is her! She was helping out with the school doctor during the mock class a few days ago..."
She even boasted that her stomach had split open to reveal six-pack abs... If that were true, we'd be in big trouble!
If her mother found out about flirting with the future head of a pharmaceutical company, she would definitely be cut into six pieces by her own mother!
The alpha, finally realizing what was happening, felt as if the sky had fallen and the earth had cracked.
She spotted someone standing out of the corner of her eye and quickly asked for help: "Hey classmate, do you think that Assistant Xi is the school doctor's assistant?"
Tan Yicheng looked at the person surrounded by a group of high-ranking and powerful people, remained silent for a moment, and then turned and left.
Young alpha: "???"
You're not a classmate, don't just stand by and watch someone die!
The alpha with six-pack abs couldn't escape his mother's iron grip in the end. He was grabbed by the back of the neck and dragged over to greet Xi Congshuang. Fortunately, Xi Congshuang didn't remember his existence at all, and just glanced at him and nodded casually.
The alpha, who had escaped unscathed, breathed a sigh of relief.
Actually, she didn't know that Tan Yicheng wasn't ignoring her; she just hadn't heard her classmate's voice.
In the end, she left, walking alone out of the banquet hall and into the depths of the night.
She didn't want to go back to her dorm or go anywhere else for the time being. Her daily routine of going between three points left Tan Yicheng with nowhere in particular she wanted to go. She wandered aimlessly, stopping and starting, until she finally sat down on a wooden bench in front of a flower bed.
Leaning against the hard back of the chair, Tan Yicheng raised his chin and stared blankly at the night sky.
Before she turned eighteen, she never dared to imagine that she could study and live in this place, nor did she ever think that she would appear in a glamorous banquet.
Many people assume that Tan Yicheng, being an A-level alpha, must be the pride of her family, raised with great care and nurtured by a privileged environment and a loving atmosphere, which has shaped her calm and composed temperament.
In fact, quite the opposite is true. Her past and present are two extremes. It has nothing to do with composure; it's more like numbness.
She's just recovering from her memories and is pretending to be quiet and composed.
Lately, I don't know why, but I keep thinking about things from the past, about my childhood.
At that time, she was still living in a cramped slum, struggling to make ends meet, with her mother by her side at home.
Tan Yicheng's mother is just an ordinary white-collar worker who occasionally works part-time as a handicraft worker in a small workshop to earn more money.
In the interstellar age, much mechanized labor has been replaced by real machines, resulting in high output and speed. Even in an era dominated by high intelligence, there are still overlooked details, as small as dust, unnoticed by anyone.
This neglected place is, in fact, a means of survival for some.
From childhood, the window on one side of her room could not be opened. She lived on the second floor, and if she opened the window, it would face the garbage dump downstairs.
The place reeked of garbage, and there were only two outdated robots constantly cleaning and transporting it.
The robot works day and night, but the amount of garbage never decreases. It seems to have been like this since she was very young, doing useless work every day.
This is the only thing my deceased mother left behind: a dilapidated house that leaks when it rains and lets in drafts when it's windy.
Fortunately, a minor child doesn't have to wander around without a fixed place to live.
Even if the neighbors wanted to help, they couldn't get away from such a terrible place themselves, so there was very little they could do to help.
She doesn't consider her childhood to be tragic, as she had her mother by her side. Even after her mother passed away from illness, she only felt lonely.
Tan Yicheng's mother had been ill for many years. Few people could stay healthy living in such an environment for a long time. She always got sicker and sicker because she didn't have money, and eventually she was overwhelmed. Her death from her illness was a relief for her, as she no longer had to suffer from the pain.
However, when she was critically ill, her mother, who was lying in bed, would always reach out and touch Tan Yicheng's face. She was so ill that she could not see clearly and could only touch with her hands.
The girl by the bed remained silent, bending her thin back and placing her face in her mother's bony palm, listening to her say apologetically once again, "I shouldn't have given birth to you. I've dragged you down. I'm sorry."
Tan Yicheng didn't know what to say, so he remained silent, washed her body, changed her clothes, and then continued studying at the table not far from the hospital bed.
It's not easy for a child in their early teens to take care of themselves, let alone take care of a bedridden adult.
My mother is very ill. Most of the savings she has worked so hard to accumulate over the years have been spent on her treatment. Even before she realized that her savings were running out, she insisted on being discharged from the hospital to recuperate at home.
The doctor did not stop her. Reeking of disinfectant, the doctor patted Tan Yicheng on the shoulder and said, "Let her do what she likes."
The precocious Tan Yicheng understood the doctor's unfinished words.
One night, Tan Yicheng was awakened by a falling cup. She hurriedly turned around, calling for an ambulance while asking her where she felt unwell.
She didn't know that the woman in the hospital bed was nearing the end of her life, nor did she know how someone about to die could have such strength, gripping her wrist so tightly it hurt.
While comforting her mother in bed, Tan Yicheng, who was in pain, explained the address to the hospital. When she turned around, she saw a pair of wide-open eyes filled with tears.
Even if the other person is emaciated due to illness, you can still see her former self.
She was a beautiful woman, and a gentle one at that. She gave birth to Tan Yicheng because she loved children, but she still felt that she was the one who had dragged the child down.
Tan Yicheng asked in a trembling voice, "Mom, what do you want to say?"
"Go away, go far away, and never come back." These were the words the mother uttered with trembling hands, as if she were speaking her last breath.
Tan Yicheng didn't react for a moment, then her wrist was grabbed and she was asked, "Did you hear that?"
"I heard it, I heard it." Tan Yicheng nodded quickly, but before she could say another word, the person on the bed had already closed her eyes, unable to see her child a second time.
The mother passed away before the ambulance arrived, leaving deep scratches on Tan Yicheng's wrists that took several days to fade.
Tan Yicheng was twelve years old that year.
The person is gone, but those who survive must continue to live.
After a long time, the depressed Tan Yicheng sorted through her belongings with the help of her neighbor.
She had been busy studying and taking care of her mother. The unconscious moans of a critically ill patient could fill the whole house. Only now did she realize how empty the house was, with so many things she had never paid attention to.
While tidying up, she found a business card that her mother had kept perfectly. It was very inconspicuous, the name was unremarkable, and the company on the card had already gone bankrupt, yet it had been preserved so well.
Unaware of what was going on, Tan Yicheng took the business card to her neighbor's mother. The neighbor got angry as soon as she saw the business card and told her to throw away the unlucky thing immediately.
After being angry for a while, the neighbor's mother finally told Tan Yicheng the truth.
The neighbor's mother said that was her alpha father's name.
Her parents' past wasn't complicated. Actually, her biological father was an alpha rich second-generation. He was sent by his family to inspect the branch company because of some things. However, he concealed his identity, changed his name, and started dating Tan Yicheng's mother under the guise of a transferred employee.
He claimed that both his parents were deceased, and pretended to be poor to find some genuine affection. His similar family situation touched Tan Yicheng's mother, who thought they were kindred spirits who had come together to help each other.
Tan Yicheng's mother lost both parents at a young age. She has always longed for a family and doesn't care about the other person's poverty. She is willing to build a small family together and work hard together.
However, after Tan Yicheng's mother became pregnant, the other party returned home with a transfer letter, looking worried, and said that the company wanted him to go back.
But he reassured Tan Yicheng's mother that he would handle things properly, bring her over, get married, and then never return.
So-called feelings and love are nothing but a deceptive game from beginning to end.
Unable to contact her lover, Tan Yicheng's mother decided to give birth to the child. She didn't want to lose her only family member again; the child in her womb would be her family forever, allowing her to no longer live alone.
Even now, Tan Yicheng doesn't know where he got the courage and determination back then to find the Alpha who had disappeared for many years and was located three star systems away, using the few remaining clues, and to determine the Alpha's current address.
A twelve-year-old girl set off with a tattered backpack on her back, having bought round-trip tickets and stuffed the backpack full of extremely unpalatable nutritional drinks.
The result, however, disappointed Tan Yicheng.
That person died three days before she arrived; she couldn't even bring herself to punch that alpha in the face.
His legal wife held his funeral, and it was clear that her life was not much better than Tan Yicheng's. She was dressed simply, but kept apologizing to the people who caused trouble at her husband's funeral.
As a teenager, Tan Yicheng stood at the door, clutching her backpack straps, silently watching the sorrowful woman embrace a child a few years younger than herself, lamenting what her future would hold.
From the surrounding chatter, Tan Yicheng pieced together what had happened to the alpha who had vanished without a trace after leaving behind a lie.
This alpha was indeed a rich second-generation, but that was a long time ago. His family has fallen on hard times and there are hardly any people left in the family.
After going bankrupt, Alpha was unwilling to accept his fate. It was hard to go from luxury to frugality, so he had the idea of investing again to recoup his losses. If the investment failed, he would borrow again.
As a former rich kid, it wasn't difficult for him to borrow money. Once he got the money, the alpha would invest it. Losing everything time and time again couldn't stop his dream of making a comeback. All that awaited him was ever-increasing debt.
He couldn't take it anymore. He used the borrowed money to buy a bottle of good wine, and in his drunken state, he wrote a suicide note, apologizing to his wife and children with tears streaming down his face. Then he jumped off a building and committed suicide.
He jumped cleanly and died peacefully, leaving behind his frail omega wife and children weeping for a hopeless future.
"Alphas are all like this, arrogant and ruthless, sigh."
"How are we going to repay these debts, we're an orphan and a widow?"
"How about we call it a day? Respect for the dead is paramount..."
never mind.
This was also Tan Yicheng's first reaction.
So she returned to her small, cramped house and studied desperately. On her seventeenth birthday, she received an acceptance letter from the First Academy.
She managed to go far away and never return, carrying her mother's ashes further and further away.
Her heart seemed to remain forever in the same place, locked away in the dilapidated house along with the scratched desk. She gradually merged with her mother and even began to crave someone's company.
She should learn from past mistakes, be wary, and not succumb to them.
"So you were here! I've been looking for you for so long, I almost couldn't find you."
The familiar voice brought Tan Yicheng's wandering thoughts to a standstill. She didn't want to meet anyone at this time, so she lowered her head and turned her face to observe her surroundings.
Across the flower bed, Xi Congshuang stood on the other side of the low flower bushes, meeting her gaze.
"..."
After staring at each other for a while, Tan Yicheng realized that his posture was not very elegant, so he sat up straight and cleared his throat with a low cough as if nothing had just happened: "What do you want with me?"
Xi Congshuang replied irrelevantly, "The banquet was very boring."
Tan Yicheng was still immersed in the past, and her attitude was somewhat indifferent: "I'm also very bored."
What goes around comes around, and there will come a day when Tan Yicheng will try every means to persuade someone to quit.
Thinking back to the alternate account I used to have, it's both funny and absurd.
If the instructor knew that she used her innate talent for tracking to beat up her father from afar and hunt down her enemies, he would be furious.
However, there were also things that made the instructor feel gratified. She had not achieved either of the above two things. Her father was lying in an urn, and all she could do was punch and get covered in ashes. Her enemy was still alive, and a few days ago he even changed her depression patch.
Xi Congshuang's eyes lit up, and she sat down next to her: "That's perfect, two bored people together can kill boredom."
What kind of twisted logic is this?
Tan Yicheng raised an eyebrow, as if to say that he had never heard of such a thing.
She leaned back and looked at the person in front of her, a thought popping into her mind: was Xi Congshuang, whose personality had changed drastically, still considered an enemy in her heart?
No, she already said we're even.
"You hate me?" Xi Congshuang asked at this moment.
Tan Yicheng shook his head: "No."
She wasn't lying. Ignoring her aloof personality, no one could dislike Xi Congshuang just because of her face.
To be fair, this face does fit Tan Yicheng's aesthetic preferences.
After living for twenty years, I've realized that I'm also a pathetic person who judges people by their appearance.
What does it matter?
With so many glands and so many A grades, how dare he set his sights on Xi Congshuang?
Xi Congshuang sat upright, her hands habitually placed on her lap, always displaying a refined and elegant demeanor.
There's a stark contrast when she speaks in a low voice, which always makes people feel sorry for her and can't help but grant her any request.
Xi Congshuang: "I thought that my constant appearances in front of you were bothering you. Just now, a lot of people were pulling me aside to talk, and I wanted you to help me get away, but when I saw that you were gone, I thought I would come over to talk to you."
Tan Yicheng: "..."
If Xi Congshuang is an alpha or omega, then her pheromones should smell like Longjing tea.
It has a strong tea flavor.
Tan Yicheng suddenly asked, "What were you like when you were a child?"
"You want to understand me?" Xi Congshuang often asked, lacking common sense about interstellar space yet possessing keen insight.
Tan Yicheng wanted to give up, to clear her head, to warn herself that someone from the slums couldn't outmaneuver a rich second-generation, and also feared that she would become a scumbag like her father, who was reduced to ashes.
She nodded: "It's okay to say something, it'll help pass the time."
Tan Yicheng has investigated everything he could regarding Xi Congshuang. She has both parents, is very wealthy, and had a happy childhood.
They are worlds apart from me...
Suddenly, the person sitting next to her reached out, put his arm around Tan Yicheng's shoulder, and pulled her into his arms.
Caught off guard, the person being embraced didn't think to resist for a long time. When she finally remembered and tried to move her body slightly, she was pressed down on the back of her neck and buried deeper into Xi Congshuang's arms.
The faint champagne scent became stronger, mixed with her usual perfume, which wasn't unpleasant but rather addictive.
Tan Yicheng: "Xi..."
"Shh-"
Tan Yicheng quieted down and caught the sound of conversation not far away.
Someone is coming.
"I didn't expect that President Xi would be at the banquet tonight, but unfortunately I didn't run into him."
"I was also wondering why she came over and was talking to a student."
"What student?"
"I couldn't see clearly, it looked like..."
The conversation of the group faded into the distance, and the words gradually became indistinct.
Tan Yicheng could no longer hear clearly; all she could hear was Xi Congshuang's heartbeat beside her ear. She gradually realized what position she was in while being held in someone's arms.
Noticing the struggle of the person in her arms, Xi Congshuang adjusted her position, lifting up the flushed face, her eyes as calm as water.
Xi Congshuang's voice whispered in her ear, "When I was little, I loved it when my nanny held me like this. She would read me storybooks, and it made me feel safe."
Even though there was no one around and she could speak freely, she insisted on speaking in this posture.
"Then……"
Xi Congshuang breathed softly and continued to whisper in her ear.
Tan Yicheng was drawn in by her words and couldn't help but ask, "And then?"
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And I want to tell you that this hugging position is very comfortable.
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