SWNOVELXO c126 - Pleasing Sister
When Shen Han first returned to the villa to wait, she was still well-behaved.
Until she saw Gu Junwan lifting her skirt appear in the garage on the phone surveillance screen.
Her appearance in that white dress, pure and elegant, was like an unworldly goddess from the moon palace.
Just looking through the screen, Shen Han couldn’t help but feel a bit parched.
She wanted to peel away the layers of ‘moonlight’ surrounding the goddess.
She wanted to tinge that coolness with her own heat, wanted to pull her down together into the passionate mortal realm.
An Omega who has been marked by their Alpha becomes even more sensitive to their scent.
Gu Junwan’s highly strung heart hadn’t settled when she was so directly teased.
Tension and relaxation simultaneously dominated her senses, causing her to unconsciously let out a faint moan.
The sound was very soft.
But in this space filled with ambiguity, it was as obvious as a guiding light in the dark night.
In that instant, Shen Han felt the blood in her glands rapidly boiling.
The scorching scent of snow cedar surged forth, somewhat urgently seeking to find its exclusive cold plum blossom.
“Sister, you haven’t answered my question from earlier.”
The Alpha’s breath lingered by her ear, burrowing into the Omega’s body like spring insects.
Numb and tingling electricity ran wild, filling her limbs and bones, bringing an unbearably itchy feeling.
Gu Junwan bit the palm still lightly covering her lips, turned around, and wrapped her arms around Shen Han’s neck.
The Omega tilted her head back slightly, her breath like orchids: “Where’s my birthday gift?”
In the dimness, Shen Han’s clear eyes gradually became profound.
She kissed the high, straight nose of the person in her arms: “Can I give myself to you as a gift?”
Gu Junwan’s beautiful eyes blinked, a hint of craftiness flashing through her long phoenix eyes: “That depends on whether you can please sister.”
As she spoke, she raised her hand to lift Shen Han’s military cap, stood on tiptoes, and bit her lip.
With the cap removed, the long hair no longer constrained immediately fell down.
The Alpha’s black hair was fine and soft, brushing against Gu Junwan’s hand like silk.
Shen Han carefully lifted her partner, enjoying the Omega’s passion while slowly carrying her towards the bathroom.
Gu Junwan’s long legs straddled Shen Han’s waist, completely unworried about falling or bumping into anything.
She cupped Shen Han’s jaw with both hands, drawing her favorite taste from her lips.
She loved Shen Han’s obedient, accommodating appearance.
That feeling of taking the lead in intimacy gave her the joy of having her possessiveness fully satisfied.
It wasn’t until they had moved at an extremely slow pace from the living room to the bathroom that she realized, when it came to lovemaking, the Omega’s bit of possessiveness was nothing compared to the Alpha’s.
The white gown and dark military uniform were scattered on the thick carpet.
In the pocket of the military jacket, a fountain pen forgotten by its owner lay lonely in its gift box.
In the bathroom, mist swirled and subtle fragrances drifted.
Ambiguous water sounds mixed with Gu Junwan’s soft pleas and calls, weaving into a room full of enchanting spring scenery.
……
The next day, Gu Junwan took a half-day off for herself, only having the driver and Xu Zhao come pick her up in the afternoon to drive to the administrative office building.
As soon as she entered the office, Gu Junwan immediately immersed herself in work.
There were still many things that required her attention, with the most troublesome at this stage being the increasingly uncontrollable financial groups.
The military and political officials had just undergone a round of reshuffling, and many processes still needed time and patience to smooth out.
Just like after removing a chronic illness or tumor, there needs to be a recovery period; it’s impossible to immediately become vigorous and energetic.
As the Empress’s Special Assistant, Xu Zhao’s burden was not light either.
In just two short hours, she had already entered and exited the Empress’s office over a hundred times.
Now that she could finally catch her breath, Special Assistant Xu immediately noticed something unusual.
The Empress had a fountain pen she had never seen before, and she seemed excessively fond of it, truly embodying the phrase ‘can’t bear to part with it’!
To be fair, the fountain pen didn’t seem particularly special.
From Xu Zhao’s angle, she could see it was all black, with dark patterns engraved on the cap and body, and a gold nib that was very close to the color of the Empress’s eyes.
Noticing her assistant’s gaze repeatedly sweeping towards her, Gu Junwan looked up and asked curiously, “What is it?”
Xu Zhao pushed up her glasses and asked honestly, “Your Majesty, where did this fountain pen come from? I’ve never seen it before.”
Gu Junwan lowered her eyes, staring at the perfectly fitting fountain pen in her hand, and unconsciously smiled, “Shen Han gave it to me.”
After a pause, she added, “She made it herself.”
Xu Zhao’s eyelids twitched behind her lenses, showing a look of sudden realization.
In her heart, she thought: Xu Zhao, you’re so stupid, you couldn’t even guess such an obvious answer. Besides being a gift from Shen the dog, how else could the Empress be so fond of an office supply?
“How’s the investigation into the Zhou K Group going?”
Hearing Gu Junwan’s question, Xu Zhao quickly refocused and began to answer, “The current chairman of Zhou K Group has thoughts of retiring, with real power in the hands of two Vice-Chairmen.”
“According to intelligence, the two Vice-Chairmen have conflicting management philosophies, leading to severe internal strife within the group.”
“Unfortunately, although the special team has sent out many undercover agents, they haven’t been able to truly access the core circle. They’ve collected quite a bit of sporadic evidence, but it’s far from enough to topple the big tree that is the Zhou financial group-”
After reporting, Xu Zhao also raised her own question, “Your Majesty, the old guard and the new faction in Zhou K Group are tearing at each other right now. Why don’t we just sit back and watch them fight?”
Gu Junwan capped her pen and clicked on a LCD screen beside her desk, gesturing for Xu Zhao to come closer.
“Vice Chairman Zhou Boxin is ruthless and aggressive. The underground forces he controls are suspected of intentional homicide, illegal organ trafficking, drug dealing, smuggling, and other heinous crimes. He’s known as the underground emperor of the Second District.”
“Vice Chairman Zhou Ming is quick-witted and good at reading situations. He expressed intentions to legitimize his business years ago. The rise of the new guard among the Zhou family’s younger generation is his handiwork. He’s a potential breakthrough point for the special team.”
“Watching from the sidelines is indeed a strategy of waiting for an opportunity without exhausting ourselves. However, if ultimate power ends up concentrated in Zhou Boxin’s hands, it will become exponentially more difficult for us to move against the Zhou family.”
At this point, Gu Junwan pulled up a chart of Zhou K Group’s industrial structure within the Federation.
“It’s impossible to completely cleanse all financial groups in the short term, and excessive pressure will only lead to extreme reactions.”
“Zhou Boxin and his forces feed on human blood, trampling on life and law. They must be severely punished.”
“I want to win over Zhou Ming, then use the restructured Zhou K Group as a model to influence and create breakthrough points for other financial groups.”
With Gu Junwan’s explanation, Xu Zhao immediately understood her sovereign’s intention.
The underground forces of groups in the Second District were much deeper than those in the Fourth District.
The method the Empress used to deal with the Guo family wouldn’t work in the imperial capital.
The internal rift in Zhou K Group was the best way to tear open their defenses.
By recruiting one and striking down the other, the Empress could maximize control of the conflict within the group’s internal scope.
It was an unwritten rule that other financial groups couldn’t interfere in a family’s internal strife.
If the Empress were to directly move against a major group in the Second District as she did with the Guo family, it would surely face joint resistance from all financial groups.
The business operations of these financial groups covered almost every aspect of social life in the Federation.
Once a large-scale upheaval occurs, it would ultimately be the common people who suffer.
National governance requires dynamic balance.
In dealing with many issues, a one-size-fits-all approach is never advisable.
While the Empress and her assistant were discussing work in the office.
In the guard team’s exclusive rest area, Jiang Xinyue was in a state of extreme anxiety and unease.
Her grandmother was frail and sick, and being advanced in age, the diagnosis results after being transferred from the Fourth District to the better medical facilities in the imperial capital were all similar.
The old lady had at most three months to live.
Jiang Xinyue couldn’t attend the Empress’s birthday banquet because her grandmother’s condition was poor, and she had stayed at the hospital all night.
Jiang Xinyue feared Alphas and men, so she had never been in a relationship.
This was not only an incurable ‘heart disease’ for the whole family but also her grandmother’s greatest regret before passing.
On her way back to the Palace of Peace from the hospital, Jiang Xinyue had been thinking that she couldn’t let her grandmother leave with regrets.
She thought of a solution: find a colleague to pretend to be her partner.
This benevolent deception might allow her grandmother to pass more peacefully in her final journey of life.
She had already chosen someone and thought of how to ask her colleague for help.
But when actually facing her Alpha colleague, she became hesitant again.
In the rest area besides Jiang Xinyue, there was also the ‘iron triangle’ of Shen Han, Ning Xi, and Ma Haoyu.
Because the fountain pen gift had been very successful, Shen Han wanted to treat the other two contributors to a big meal.
The three hadn’t yet discussed where to go when they were affected by Jiang Xinyue’s melancholic mood and had to stop their conversation.
As the team leader, Shen Han took the initiative to ask, “Jiang Xinyue, what’s wrong? Why do you look so unwell?”
Jiang Xinyue shook her head slightly, then fixed her gaze on Ma Haoyu.
He was a C-level Alpha, not too intimidating, and well-behaved. He was the best choice Jiang Xinyue had thought of in the car.
Meeting Miss Jiang’s gaze, Ma Haoyu’s heart immediately skipped a beat.
He shrank his neck and said softly, “What… what is it? I returned the money I borrowed from you first thing the next morning.”
Hearing this, Ning Xi immediately looked askance at the short guy: “Don’t you have your own money? Why do you need to borrow from others?”
Ma Haoyu justified himself righteously: “At that time I wanted to buy something, and my phone had just run out of battery so I couldn’t pay. What’s wrong with asking Jiang Xinyue for help? Really, colleagues should help each other out.”
Perhaps it was the little guy’s talk of ‘mutual help’ that gave Jiang Xinyue a lot of courage.
She took a deep breath, then moved to the side of the three Alphas and said to Ma Haoyu in a pleading tone: “I have an urgent matter I want to ask for your help with. Can we talk privately?”
Ma Haoyu let out an “Oh,” stood up from the bench, and followed her to a corner of the rest area.