After Differentiation, My Arch-nemesis Thinks I’m Fragrant - Chapter 2

Zhao Qinglan’s single flamboyant remark caused the surrounding students’ jaws to nearly hit the floor.

What was going on?

The two big school overlords of No. 1 High School, after competing for so long, were actually taking the “love-hate rivals” route in the end?

Hearing her flamboyant and mocking tone, Shu Youzhan showed no sign of weakness, looking directly into the other’s ink-colored eyes and sneering back: “Did the failure to differentiate cause such a big blow to you? You’re considering using your appearance so soon—”

“Ring ring ring!”

Old Fang leisurely stepped into the classroom at the sound of the bell. His clay-red stainless steel thermos accidentally bumped against the doorframe, making a slight sound that drew the attention of the Class 1 students who were watching the drama.

He chuckled like a Maitreya Buddha: “I seem to have come to class early today… If anyone needs to go to the restroom or get water during the break, now is the chance. Go and come back quickly.”

He paused deliberately, and seeing that no one moved, he placed his cup satisfyingly at the front of the podium. Setting his lesson plans down from under his arm, his gaze swept across the classroom, likewise noticing the scene in the corner.

“Oh, the new student is already here. You two are… bonding?”

The tense atmosphere melted away the moment he entered the classroom. Toward this amiable veteran teacher who had taught at No. 1 High School for many years and sent countless talents to the Imperial University, both of them upheld the basic principle of respecting teachers.

Shu Youzhan was the first to withdraw her hand. When she turned to face the podium, she had regained her polite smile. As her fingertips inadvertently traced a circle on the edge of the other’s desk, she replied calmly, “Yes, I was just asking the new classmate if there was anything she wasn’t adjusted to.”

Some students looked back with complex expressions: The thing she’s least adjusted to is you, isn’t it?

Zhao Qinglan kept her eyes down and remained silent, but her gaze lingered on the spot where Shu Youzhan’s fingertips had just circled her desk—a wooden desk that was clearly spotless.

Yet, it was as if some unique mark had been left there; after watching it for a while, a hint of softness flickered in her eyes.

Old Fang clapped his hands: “Alright, since there are no problems, let’s move on to today’s lesson. Flip open your history textbooks; today we are still talking about the modern history of the Empire.”

Shu Youzhan returned to her seat, pulling her chair further to the other side to create a clear boundary. Temporarily suppressing the frustration in her heart, she opened her history book.

Greeting her eyes were two side-by-side portrait photos.

The one on the left was one Shu Youzhan had flipped through in her family’s photo albums; it was an ancestor of the Shu family…

And the person on the right wore a ring over a white glove, with a gold thread pulling out a thin arc chain connecting to a wrist bracelet. An iris pattern was faintly visible on the ring, identical to the pattern on the hair accessory of the person beside her.

“As everyone knows, starting from a hundred years ago, the Empire entered an era of rapid expansion…

As the star sector closest to the Ancestor Star and the most habitable, the Fourth Star Sector was fiercely contested by domestic forces at the time. Ultimately, the ones who obtained the development rights for the Fourth Star Sector were Commanders Shu and Zhao of the Fourth and Sixth Military Departments.”

“Today, we will mainly talk about the history of how the Shu and Zhao families competed with each other over these hundred years, while simultaneously promoting the development of the Fourth Star Sector…”

Bored, Shu Youzhan closed the history book and pulled her phone out of her bag with her back turned—

She had heard the history of the Fourth Star Sector as bedtime stories since she was a child; she truly couldn’t muster any interest.

Several unread messages popped up on the silent phone screen, coming from her well-related little cousin of the Shu family.

Sweetie: “Sis, I heard Zhao Qinglan went to your class today?”

Sweetie: “Have you guys started fighting yet?”

The last message was from half a minute ago: “Did you win?”

From the corner of her eye, Shu Youzhan saw the gold chain on that hair accessory flickering with a faint light in her field of vision.

Then, moving her gaze down, she saw that Zhao Qinglan wasn’t listening to the history lesson either. Instead, she was holding a green-covered book titled “Military Reform…” Shu Youzhan gave a light scoff.

Her fingertips tapped idly on the screen, “Won…”

The person on the other side sent three rows of little figures waving glow sticks and cheering.

Soon after, two cute speech bubbles popped up impatiently: “I’m going to go brag to those twins right now. Hmph, won’t the Sun family hurry up and switch to a bright master?

What future is there following an Alpha without pheromones? Smart people have already learned to bet on the Shu family; only fools are still waiting for Zhao Qinglan to return to normal.”

“I heard that when she came to class today, she was already wearing the Iris family emblem? Does the Zhao family already recognize her as the next head of the house? What are they thinking?”

Shu Youzhan narrowed her eyes. Her fingertips danced randomly in the air for a moment, but in the end, she didn’t reply.

Then, thinking of something, she turned back and fished a report card out of her bag, using her fingertip to push it bit by bit to the boundary between the two desks.

She counted in her heart: Three, two, one.

Zhao Qinglan focused on her extracurricular book without glancing aside.

Shu Youzhan thought about how this person, during a primary school summer break, had dragged a large suitcase to her house as a guest and laid out trophies and certificates in the living room like an exhibition—an act of being incredibly pretentious without saying a word. Old and new grudges welled up in her heart. She extended her index finger again and slowly, firmly pushed her final grades from last semester halfway onto the other’s desk.

Zhao Qinglan finally noticed the movement on her side.

Amidst the sound of Old Fang’s passionate lecture, her pale fingertips pressed down on the edge of the report card. She didn’t look toward Shu Youzhan but looked at it for a while on her own. Then, she fished a 2B pencil for bubbling test sheets out of her desk drawer and scribbled something down.

Shu Youzhan pulled the report card back to look.

She saw a bolded line of flamboyant writing: “Keep up the good work…”

The rhythm of her breathing changed. Her lips moved, and using the textbook to block herself, she whispered to the person beside her: “Get lost…”

Zhao Qinglan kept her eyes on the book, not letting her see the smile blooming in her eyes like shimmering ripples.

Shu Youzhan didn’t notice this. She just indignantly pulled out her phone and typed a line in the dialogue box: “Because everyone surnamed Zhao is blind!”

The next period was Physical Education.

As soon as Old Fang called out “Class dismissed” at the sound of the bell, the boys in the class were like released wild ducks, running and jumping out. The Alpha in the front row, Ping Hui, also walked out clutching a basketball.

Because his seatmate on the outside moved too slowly, he directly pulled the person’s chair back heavily and stepped out with his long legs.

The chair made a huge noise as it hit Zhao Qinglan’s desk. Zhao Qinglan was originally packing her books when the desk suddenly slammed into her abdomen. She looked up calmly…

Ping Hui grinned at her. He had clearly already sprayed pheromone suppressants.

But that Alpha pheromone still swept over the two in the back row with an overwhelming pressure.

Shu Youzhan hadn’t differentiated yet and couldn’t smell it for the time being, but she also felt a sense of threat pouring out.

Zhao Qinglan was the one being “specially looked after.” Ping Hui sized her up from above, discovering that this future successor of the Zhao family really didn’t have any pheromones at all. She looked like she could be crushed by any random Alpha, and the bit of awe he had for authority diminished slightly.

Instead, an indescribable excitement welled up: “Oh, I bumped into you. It wasn’t on purpose.”

Zhao Qinglan smelled that pungent oak scent and turned her gaze away in quite a bit of disgust, yet she didn’t say a word, as if she had accepted his insincere apology.

Shu Youzhan frowned.

“Little Sister Shu!”

Pei Yi stood up from her seat and pointed toward the classroom exit. She wanted to come over and pull her directly out, but she was a bit afraid of Zhao Qinglan next to her, so she only looked at her longingly.

Meeting her expectant eyes, Shu Youzhan took two steps outward. Pei Yi immediately came over happily to take her arm, taking the opportunity to ask about some points from the lesson and hear the gossip from her mouth.

Shu Youzhan responded to her absentmindedly, while a terrifyingly inappropriate thought popped into her head: What if I don’t differentiate into an A…

Pei Yi pulled Shu Youzhan to choose a swimming class. As the two had just reached the path to the locker room, they saw Shu Mi, with her school uniform jacket draped over her shoulders and her two slender white thighs loosely exposed, laughing and joking with friends as she came toward them.

When she saw Shu Youzhan, she first waved a greeting, her pale pink lips curving up: “Sis! I shared something good with you. Why didn’t you reply to me just now?”

Shu Youzhan said with a delayed reaction: “Wasn’t I in class just now? I was listening to the lecture. I’ll look in a bit.”

Pei Yi’s curiosity was piqued by their conversation. She urged Shu Youzhan to share it. Being pestered with no choice, the girl fished her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, and handed it over.

Pei Yi clicked on their chat history, muttering “Let me see.” Not long after she finished speaking, she stood frozen in place, staring at the phone as if she wanted to laugh, but her ears were bright red.

Shu Youzhan had walked a few steps forward. Facing the sunlight, she turned her head back and raised her hand to block her eyes. Her light brown eyes narrowed, and her long, thick eyelashes curled up at the corners. Her milky-white skin was plated with a layer of pale gold in the sunlight. Two buttons on her school shirt collar were undone, revealing a shallow shadow of a collarbone, giving off a lazy, roguish temptation.

“What is it?”

Pei Yi’s face turned a bit red as she watched. After a long while, she shook the phone: “This… they… this is too much.”

Shu Youzhan: “?”

Without asking further, she walked back and took the phone herself, finding that the page had jumped to the school’s Tieba forum. The poster’s title was “The Special Her”—at first glance, there was nothing unusual.

Floor 1 text: Even an Alpha without pheromones can take someone’s life when moved by passion. That night, in the soft bed, Zhao Qinglan pressed down on that Omega, her voice burning with scorching heat: “Let me take a bite, and I’ll give you my life, okay?”

Shu Youzhan: “Pfft—”

Her eyes widened. She held the phone and locked eyes with Pei Yi, nearly choking on her own saliva. Her gaze was full of disbelief, and the frequency of her blinking was filled with confusion.

By then, Pei Yi had recovered slightly and stepped closer. “It’s really too much, right? But I heard this story was written by one of her admirers to show everyone that an Alpha without pheromones can actually be very normal.”

Shu Youzhan: “This…” A fan so deep they’ve become a hater?

Looking at her incredulous gaze, Pei Yi stroked her chin thoughtfully: “I wonder if anyone has printed this out. I hope it doesn’t get flaunted in front of that Zhao person.

After all, I heard an Alpha without pheromones can’t even perform a temporary mark. From a certain perspective, this level is equivalent to being impotent. If she saw this story, she would probably be greatly stimulated.”

Shu Youzhan pursed her lips and nodded in deep agreement. Then, she suddenly thought of herself.

She patted Pei Yi’s shoulder.

Pei Yi understood instantly and comforted her: “Don’t worry, no one dares to write about you yet. But I estimate that after you differentiate into an A, those little O’s who admire you will fantasize a bit in their own chat groups. This can’t be avoided—”

“It’s fine…” Shu Youzhan waved her hand generously: “After all, I am an open-minded member of the Shu family.”

Then, she smiled and shook the phone at Pei Yi: “This—help me find a printed version.”

“Huh?”

Shu Youzhan read as she walked toward the locker room: “I want to keep it in my hand as a trump card. If she provokes me again another day, I’ll use this to mentally humiliate her.”

Between the lines…

As Shu Youzhan scrolled down, she saw an unspeakable description: The Alpha’s body was fiery, like a burning flame, even down there it was so hot it felt like it could set one’s soul on fire.

She suddenly projected Zhao Qinglan into it for a moment, and for some reason… under the sunlight, she suddenly felt a surge of heat, and her face seemed to be scorched red by the words.

Shu Youzhan rubbed her neck, never knowing she would reach the point of blushing out of “jealousy” for Zhao Qinglan.