Chapter 27 Part 3

Yeah, all the same to you—you just want to mooch off our house. Lin Xu fumed inwardly.

But Shu Qingyou didn’t defend her at all—deliberate, surely. Giving her a dressing-down in front of others, building the big sis image.

Harboring heavy worries, Lin Xu pondered how to turn the tables.

Halfway there, Lin Xu suddenly yelled to stop, ran to a convenience store, and returned in minutes.

She held fruit soft candies. Shu Qingyou’s gaze fell on her, but Lin Xu played coy, not telling. She chewed her newly bought candy and stretched her long arm back.

“Rongrong, have one.”

Shu Rong visibly brightened, grabbing two and stuffing them in her mouth.

Lin Xu’s favor with Shu Rong soared. Silence is golden. Such a grateful kid.

Watching their strong interaction, Shu Qingyou couldn’t help advising, “Don’t feed her too many sweets. It’s bad for her teeth and development.”

Lin Xu was clearly going against her, and she refused to back down. “She loves eating them, so I’ll give them to her. If you won’t dote on her, then I will.”

Where was she not doting on the child? Shu Qingyou felt helpless. Should she say that Lin Xu had improved, or that she had simply shifted her target for flattery?

Shu Qingyou turned to restrict her daughter instead.

“Rongrong, you’re only allowed two. There won’t be any little cakes until next week. You’ve been having a bit too much lately.”

The command came directly from Mom, so Shu Rong had no choice but to obey. The sweet fruit flavor suddenly lost its appeal, and though she didn’t understand the idiom “tasteless as chewing wax,” it fit perfectly.

But she really wanted to bawl. Maybe she could ask the big sister for help?

Lin Xu felt a pat on her back. She turned around to find Shu Rong staring at her with big, pleading eyes full of desperate hope for adult intervention. How clever.

“Sister Shu, isn’t the joy of childhood all about sweet candies? How can you restrict Rongrong like this? She’s so pitiful.”

Shu Qingyou agreed. “Exactly, so you’re not allowed to have any either.”

How had it come back to her? Lin Xu felt offended.

“What does this have to do with me?”

“You’re an adult. Your happiness shouldn’t come from sugar. But since you feel so bad for Shu Rong, it’s better to share the sweet and the bitter with her.”

Shu Qingyou’s reasoning was irrefutable, leaving Lin Xu speechless.

Fine, now they were in the same boat. She silently mouthed to Shu Rong: It’s all your fault.

The innocent Shu Rong, dragged into this: ???

The sushi restaurant was quite large, and Li Ci had already selected a private room. Ordering food was none of Lin Xu’s business anyway.

She wanted to sit closer to Shu Qingyou, but that was wishful thinking.

While Shu Qingyou placed the orders, she stopped Lin Xu’s repeated attempts to scoot nearer. “Weren’t you supposed to take care of Rongrong?”

“Oh, right, right,” Lin Xu scooped Shu Rong onto her lap. “Sister will feed you later.”

Realizing her slip in address, Li Ci looked up from the menu. “Aren’t you her little aunt?”

Lin Xu scoffed lightly and hugged Shu Rong even tighter, staking her claim like a declaration of ownership. She just got along great with Shu Rong, and even the kid’s mom trusted her with that.

Shu Qingyou didn’t mind and brushed it off with a single devastating sentence: “She’s had a head injury before, so she sometimes confuses priorities.”

“Oh, I see. Shushu, you must have it so tough.”

A disabled person too—Li Ci felt a strange pity for Lin Xu. This counted as a disability, right? She’d rather lose a hand or a foot than become stupid.

Lin Xu felt like she had swallowed bitter gourd, unable to speak up, and she even caught a sympathetic glance from her rival. Suddenly, she felt hot, her anger flaring even more.

It was tough, after all—two kids, and Lin Xu wasn’t much different from the little fool now. Her appetite had even grown. Shu Qingyou ordered quite a bit of sushi.

The servers, dressed in kimonos, brought out the dishes one by one. As the saying went, “eat without speaking, sleep without chattering,” but Shu Qingyou chatted happily with this A-university acquaintance. Lin Xu ground her teeth to the point of shattering.

She had to maintain her quiet persona, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

The raw fish sushi and rice layers were the perfect opportunity. She pulled out the ultra-spicy wasabi she’d bought at the convenience store.

The dishes weren’t all served at once, so she volunteered and slid open the tatami door. “Why is it taking so long? I’ll go urge them.”

“No need, no need. The rest will be out soon.”

Li Ci found it odd but felt obligated to warn her anyway—Lin Xu was a bit slow, after all, and she didn’t want her causing trouble outside.

Shu Qingyou, curious what Lin Xu was up to next, said calmly, “It’s fine. Let her go.”

Lin Xu bumped into a server carrying a plate of sushi on her way out. She smiled and took it. “I’ll handle it, miss. Thanks for the hard work.”

Lin Xu’s face wasn’t the sharp, heroic type to begin with; when she smiled, she looked like a sweet campus beauty queen. The server had only seen such a pretty female Alpha on TV. Blushing, she said thanks.

The beautifully plated sushi tempted her. Lin Xu picked the piece with the largest slice of fish and squeezed wasabi onto the rice like toothpaste, filling it to the brim with the green sludge.

One more for good measure.

Mission accomplished, she returned to the room with a beaming smile.

“This place is pretty good. The sushi looks great.”

Lin Xu was unusually enthusiastic, a far cry from her earlier sulky mood. Shu Qingyou saw right through her—she was definitely up to no good.

As expected, Lin Xu used the serving chopsticks to pick up a piece of sushi. “Sister Li Ci, you’re the guest. You first.”

Li Ci felt a bit awkward. She remembered this was the sushi set Shu Qingyou had specially ordered for her cousin.

Shu Qingyou set down her chopsticks, puzzled. “Weren’t you whining about being hungry in the car? This whole plate is yours.”

It had just been casual complaining—why had Shu Qingyou taken it to heart and remembered that specifically?

Under three pairs of eyes, her scalp tingled. She shoved the sushi into her mouth and swallowed it in two gulps.

She suddenly shot to her feet. “I’m going to the bathroom!”

Her volume startled Shu Rong, who flinched and hurriedly scooted away from Lin Xu.

“Cough cough cough—I’m dying, cough!”

The first bite had already choked her, and it was super spicy. She stumbled to the sink, coughing violently while rinsing her mouth. She bent over so far she was practically draped over the basin.

Coughing for so long gave her the urge to hack up her heart, liver, spleen, and lungs.

Worried, Shu Qingyou followed her to the bathroom and walked in on Lin Xu’s red-faced, neck-strained spectacle of self-inflicted misery.

A flicker of unconscious compromise passed through her eyes. She stepped forward, gently rubbed Lin Xu’s back, and pulled out some wet wipes.

Lin Xu turned around, tears streaming uncontrollably. Seeing Shu Qingyou only made them flow harder, her face a mess of pear-blossom tears.

She feared Shu Qingyou would scold her for bringing it on herself—even if it was true, she didn’t want the second blow.

Lin Xu’s eyes were threaded with red veins, and she trembled without daring to meet Shu Qingyou’s gaze. Shu Qingyou pressed her lips together, cupped her chin, and focused on wiping the tears from her face.

They looked at each other in silence. Lin Xu swore she’d develop a lifelong trauma to sushi and wasabi.

“Better now?”

Shu Qingyou’s voice was like wind through bamboo, clear and lingering in Lin Xu’s ear.

The discomfort seemed to fade. Lin Xu sniffled and nodded, pretending to be sensible. “You should go back. Don’t keep everyone waiting too long.”

How could Shu Qingyou not see through her? Her fingertips twisted the plain tissue to dry the water droplets.

“You’re really that concerned about my classmate?”

“Yeah, your clay still depends on her.”

“Who said that?” Shu Qingyou playfully pinched her reddened nose tip with mock reproach. “Am I that useless in your eyes? This is a special case. Next time, we can buy online.”

The words worked wonders. A spark of hope lit in Lin Xu, though she worried online purchases might not meet standards.

“But what if the online one doesn’t measure up?”

“It won’t be a dud. I have a reliable online shop—perfect for regular orders.”

Lin Xu relaxed a bit and sniffled for confirmation. “Really?”

Shu Qingyou chuckled lightly. “If I were lying, would I secretly spike your food with wasabi?”

Busted mercilessly. Her face burned, heart racing, but this mouth of hers was the toughest part of her body.

She huffed dramatically in threat. “I would! I’d get revenge hard.”

Whatever. As long as she was happy.

Looking at Lin Xu, Shu Qingyou felt conflicted. She denied being a white lotus, but admitted the withdrawal symptoms lingered.

Living too long with one person bred fear of loss, anxiety that gnawed day and night, as if the sky had fallen.

Returning to life with Lin Xu eased the withdrawal.

At first, she’d resisted, distrustful, constantly reminding herself: This is a scumbag Alpha. She hurt you on purpose, brought all this suffering.

She’d washed off the mark, yet couldn’t resist Lin Xu’s pheromones.

Another voice argued: She’s a fool now. Tell her to go east, and she won’t crash into a wall. Keeping her is harmless—treat it as training a nanny for later childcare.

The thoughts startled Shu Qingyou. Was she about to make a decision against her heart?

The contradiction was too much; she couldn’t decide yet.

For now, she treated Lin Xu like another child like Shu Rong and patted her head. “Then I’ll try not to lie to you.”

She sneakily added a caveat: white lies didn’t count.

Even if Shu Qingyou’s words made it clear there was nothing with that Alpha—just classmate friendship—Lin Xu couldn’t interfere more. She had to believe it.

She was out of moves against her rival. Suddenly, she remembered Gu Huaiyuan. Hadn’t she said something about adding WeChat?

Back home, Shu Rong watched Animal Planet. Shu Qingyou refused Lin Xu’s offer to help tidy the backyard studio.

Lin Xu curled up on the sofa and pulled out her phone. The glaring red dot on an avatar-like profile pic stood out. Tapping it revealed several friend requests from Gu Huaiyuan.

From a single “Add” at first, to last night’s “Are you a caveman who just rejoined society?”

Insulted, Lin Xu finally tapped to add Gu Huaiyuan.

The avatar showed blue skies and seas, a cruise ship where a sunglass-wearing female Omega in a long skirt braved the wind carefree and stylish.

Lin Xu: [Your avatar is so badass.]

[Typing…]

No reply after so long. Lin Xu poked her.

Gu Huaiyuan quickly sent a document—proof of asset transfer. Lin Xu couldn’t parse the legal jargon in black and white.

Only her name was on it, boldly signed at the bottom with an official red seal.

What the hell?

She typed a message but hesitated before sending. Another similar avatar appeared in the chat, but with Lin Xu’s face this time.

[The cruise ship you gave me, our couple photo, yay~ Magic kitten waves wand.gif]

Silence. Lin Xu’s heart ached. She was that rich? Gifting a luxury cruise to a friend?

No way—what was with the couple avatar?!

Terrifying. The more she looked, the chillier it got. She absolutely couldn’t let Sister Shu see this.

Couple pics were obviously for outsiders. She didn’t like Gu Huaiyuan and would get scolded for it.

Lin Xu didn’t bother thinking further and cut straight to the chase.

[Got a question. I have a friend who’s an A. She likes an O who’s hot-and-cold with her, but sometimes super gentle, the kind that drowns you in sweetness. Pheromones smell amazing too. In your opinion, how should this A break the barrier between them?]

On the other end, Gu Huaiyuan rolled her eyes at the screen. How clichéd—another friend? She wasn’t even bothered to call out the lame excuse.

How to see it? With her eyes, duh.

Plenty dog-blooded: falling for your enemy’s daughter. Art really imitated life.

Might as well amp up the drama. She replied.

[When she’s nice to you, go with the flow and be gentle. If she’s unhappy, get a bit dominant. You know us Omegas love bossy Alphas.]

Then she locked her screen and told the driver, “Change route. Head to A University.”