NOVEL NEXT c28 - This Unfortunate Child
The Omega, having received the suppressant injection, was taken away by her assistant.
Left behind was the Alpha, filled with desire and nowhere to release it.
The faint scent of cold plum seemed to have seeped into her blood.
Even after Shen Han rushed to take another shower, she still felt the Omega’s pheromones lingering on her lips.
With each swallow, her tongue would brush against a hint of the plum’s fragrance.
……
The next morning.
As soon as it turned 6 AM, Shen Han eagerly sent a message to Gu Junwan.
[Good morning. Did you rest well last night? I wanted to message you, but I was worried it was too late and might disturb your sleep.]
Gu Junwan had just sat up in bed when she heard her phone vibrate on the nightstand.
She leaned gently against the headboard, her smooth long hair falling lazily, with her fair, delicate collarbone peeking through the black strands.
[I slept quite well. You don’t have training today, what are you planning to do?]
[I’m planning to go buy some winter clothes with Ma Haoyu. You know him, he only knows people in the guard team here.]
[Do you need me to have someone send you a map of the commercial districts in the area?]
[Yes, yes! If only you could come with me to choose!]
Just as her eyes scanned this message, Shen Han’s next message quickly came through.
[I’m just kidding. You obviously can’t just go out shopping casually. “Traveling incognito” doesn’t really work in the information age.]
Gu Junwan carefully savored those four words in quotation marks, then replied: [Actually, I’d quite like to “travel incognito” once. I don’t know what it feels like to go shopping with someone.]
Seeing this message, Shen Han almost jumped straight out of bed.
She typed rapidly: [Then, given the chance, shall I take you out to play secretly?]
At the same moment.
Two Beta maids came to the Empress’s bedroom as usual, ready to assist her in getting up and dressing.
As soon as they stepped into the room, they saw their Empress sitting at the head of the bed, smiling while holding a phone.
The Beta maids paused in their steps, almost thinking they had entered the wrong room.
Due to the appearance of the maids, who looked quite startled, Gu Junwan didn’t dare continue chatting via text.
Shen Han waited for a long time without receiving a reply, knowing that the Empress Omega must have started her busy day.
She secretly tucked this matter away in her heart, hoping that one day she could put it on the agenda.
Two days of rest passed, and the trainee guard team members began their training at the base again.
After the morning run.
Shen Han grabbed Ning Xi, who had been looking dejected all morning: “What happened to your face? Did you get into a fight again?”
Ning Xi carefully pulled out a small mirror from her pocket, examining the injury at the corner of her mouth while speaking: “Is it very serious? I won’t end up disfigured, will I?”
Shen Han stared at the unhealed bruise on her face, snatched the small mirror from her hand, and asked somewhat seriously: “Who hit you?”
“Oh, just an Omega.”
Hearing her casual tone, Shen Han was a bit stunned.
After a moment, she tentatively asked: “You’ve only been back from training for two days, and you’ve already gotten into some romantic trouble?”
Ning Xi forced a smile that looked worse than crying: “Am I that kind of person? No need to hide it from you all, it was my mom who hit me.”
At this point, Ma Haoyu also came over: “What for? You shouldn’t hit a child’s face, your mother’s hand is too heavy.”
“This is nothing. Last month, didn’t we save a student at the nightclub? My parents said I brought trouble to the family. These past two days at home have been non-stop.”
“Alright, alright, let’s not talk about it anymore. Instructor Liu is glaring at us again.”
At noon, when changing clothes, Shen Han deliberately went behind Ning Xi to pick something up.
Then she saw that the other’s back actually had several fresh whip marks.
Shen Han finally understood what the other meant by “this is nothing” that morning.
But it wasn’t her place to say much about her good friend’s family matters.
So, during the lunch break, she secretly messaged Gu Junwan about this.
[If I had known there would be so much trouble in their big family, I should have let her leave first. Now things have turned out like this, and I can’t help at all. It doesn’t feel good.]
She thought Gu Junwan would reply later.
Unexpectedly, not long after sending, the screen lit up.
Gu Junwan: [In that situation, she definitely wouldn’t have left. Don’t blame yourself. You guys aren’t the ones who did wrong.]
They chatted for quite a while, and although the problem wasn’t solved, after Gu’s consolation, Shen Han felt much better.
In the Empress’s office.
After finishing the chat with Shen Han, Gu Junwan pressed the intercom and called Xu Zhao to her side.
“Help me check the situation of the Ning Xin Group over the past month.”
Upon hearing “Ning Xin Group,” Xu Zhao immediately ran through all the top-ranking consortiums in the Free Federation in her mind.
But none of them matched.
Seeming to notice her confusion, Gu Junwan immediately provided a hint.
“The family behind one of the Alpha guards involved in last month’s Azure Blue Bar incident.”
With this information, Xu Zhao guessed most of the situation.
For her Empress to specially inquire about such an obscure small group, it must be because of Shen Han.
And investigating the situation of that Alpha’s family over the past month, it was probably because they had been retaliated against by the Guo family.
In less than half an hour.
Xu Zhao presented a simple report on the Empress’s desk.
She knew the Empress just wanted to confirm a certain guess, not to scrutinize the Ning Xin Group’s financial data.
So the relevant information was easy to find, and Xu Zhao didn’t even need to use the intelligence system.
Gu Junwan quickly scanned through the report, thought for a moment, and then issued instructions.
“Handle this matter personally. I was indeed somewhat negligent before. Now that we know these things, we can’t continue to ignore the current situation of a meritorious official’s family.”
Xu Zhao nodded, then tentatively asked in a low voice: “Your Majesty, do you want to make this matter more ‘visible’ or keep it more discreet?”
The former would let people know it was the Empress’s favor.
Xu Zhao could use this to promote and gain some public goodwill for the Empress.
The latter would mainly involve covert operations, like doing good deeds anonymously.
In the past, Xu Zhao would definitely have chosen the first option.
But now she was a bit unsure.
Because this matter also had to consider the factor of Shen Han.
Did the Empress want the other to know she had helped her friend’s entire family?
If so, to what extent?
Gu Junwan didn’t hesitate much and directly replied: “No need for grand publicity. The assistance should also be moderate. Just let people know that the Federation government won’t ignore meritorious officials.”
“The bar incident had significant special circumstances and a luck factor. It can happen once but not again. We can’t let some opportunists take this as an example to follow. Otherwise, social order would face uncontrollable imbalances.”
……
The trainee guard team had firearms training in the afternoon.
This was the newest indoor shooting range built on the base.
After all, once the official guard team members were selected, they would spend most of their time executing tasks near the Empress. Such firearms training facilities were indispensable.
In the Imperial Palace of the Second Northern District capital city of the Federation, there was an even more comprehensive firearms training system.
After entering the training ground.
The instructor led everyone to familiarize themselves with the latest combat equipment developed by various countries.
Shen Han suddenly remembered something and quietly asked her two teammates beside her: “By the way, have your salary cards experienced any unexplained deductions?”
Ma Haoyu shook his head repeatedly.
Ning Xi showed a surprised expression: “Boss! You didn’t click on some strange link while browsing certain websites and leak your account information, did you?”
“Don’t talk nonsense! Am I that stupid? I got the highest score on the anti-fraud course exam, okay?”
After refuting, Shen Han directly asked about the biggest possibility she could think of: “We went to consume at the bar last month, right? Could it be deductions for the private room fee, drinks, and such?”
Ning Xi immediately negated: “How is that possible? Azure Blue Bar was found to be selling illegal drugs and illegally detaining and abusing underage Omegas. The owner was handcuffed and taken away!”
“Hey, wait! Boss, when did this deduction happen?”
“A few days ago, when we just returned to the base.”
“Is it a large amount?”
“Not particularly large, around 8,000 plus. It’s just that this matter is a bit strange. I won’t feel at ease until I figure it out.”
“Hiss~ This doesn’t seem like a situation of illegal deduction by criminals either. Why don’t you think carefully if you bought something? Or you could check the information of the deducting party.”
After discussing with her two companions, Shen Han felt it would be most prudent to ask Xu Zhao.
And this opportunity came quickly.
Although Xu Zhao was the Empress’s special assistant, she couldn’t possibly be with her 24 hours a day.
The next day at noon, Shen Han “caught” this busy person outside the administrative office building.
“Special Assistant Xu.”
Suddenly hearing Shen Han’s voice, Xu Zhao’s eyes flashed with confusion.
She paused her steps, raised her hand to push her glasses, looked at the tall girl walking towards her, and wanted to ask: What are you doing here? Don’t you have training today?
But due to Assistant Dong being nearby, she spoke in a very normal tone: “Is there something?”
Assistant Dong was originally secretly playing with her phone on the side.
Hearing the newcomer’s voice sounding somewhat familiar, she also looked up at the person who had already walked in front of Xu Zhao.
It was a tall, slender woman with a neat ponytail at the back of her head. Her black sweater and gray-white casual pants divided her figure into a perfect golden ratio, making her look very upright and handsome.
Although she wasn’t wearing makeup, her skin was very delicate and rosy. With her clear eyes and elegant features, she looked like an excellent and approachable university student.
Assistant Dong’s eyes were almost fixed.
Shen Han didn’t know Assistant Dong, so she politely nodded to her before turning her attention to Xu Zhao.
One moment the girl was radiating youthful energy, the next her face showed obvious sadness.
“Special Assistant Xu, I think my salary card might have been fraudulently charged. Can you help me check? If not, we can apply for a new one. I-”
Before she could finish, Xu Zhao hurriedly pulled her aside.
She thought to herself: This unfortunate child, actually coming to find me for this matter.
Xu Zhao found it somewhat amusing but didn’t want to show a schadenfreude expression.
She lowered her voice: “Your card wasn’t fraudulently charged. That deduction was Her Majesty’s intention.”
“Huh?” Shen Han blinked her eyes, also learning to lower her voice so only the two of them could hear, “Why?”
Xu Zhao held back her laughter, pondered her words for a moment, and then enlightened the Alpha before her.
“Last month in the bar’s private room, didn’t you call several Omegas for company? Didn’t you have them sing too? They worked hard serving for half a day, how could they work for nothing? Don’t you think that’s reasonable?”