After Differentiation, My Arch-nemesis Thinks I’m Fragrant - Chapter 23

Inside her room, Shu Youzhan paced around several times, trying her best to shake off the guilt induced by Zhao Qinglan’s words.

Once she felt calm enough, she picked up her phone and replied with feigned nonchalance: “Is applying medicine that hard?”

“Besides, didn’t you tell me to bite you back?”

After putting the phone down this time, Shu Youzhan found it much harder to settle her mind. She gave the answers she had copied a cursory glance, noting they were all correct, before resting her chin on her hand. Her eyes kept darting back to the phone, waiting to see if Zhao Qinglan would reply.

Five minutes passed. Nothing happened.

Shu Youzhan felt a strange flare of irritation, as if she were being toyed with. She picked up her phone and wordlessly typed out a string of curses. She thought to herself that Zhao Qinglan had probably taken that photo while the bite mark was still fresh just to mess with her. To think she had actually been considering whether to bring some medicine from home tomorrow.

How could a powerful Alpha like her not have self-healing abilities?

Thinking of this, she noticed the stack of sticky notes she had accidentally stuffed into her pencil case. Memories of going to the Zhao house to use the pheromone simulator flooded back, along with her repeated, unintentional “confessions” to the owner of those pheromones…

She slowly curled herself into a ball in her chair.

Her face began to heat up.

Ah…

How embarrassing…

Zhao Qinglan must have been laughing at her in her heart when she heard all those “confessions,” right?

It was only now that Shu Youzhan—rather belatedly—felt her face flush. She hid in her room like a turtle for a long time. She reached out, wanting to throw the sticky notes away or even destroy the evidence, but the moment her fingertips touched them and she caught that familiar scent… she gripped them tightly for a long while before finally slapping them back down on the desk.

Ding, ding…

Her phone, set to ringtone mode, finally made a sound.

Shu Youzhan sat up straight immediately, wanting to see what Zhao Qinglan had replied. However, when she picked it up, she saw it was a message from Pei Yi. The other girl had sent a photo of a milk tea: “It’s a good thing you didn’t come. I queued for two hours and just got home! This child is starving!”

Shu Youzhan let out a small laugh and casually dialed a voice call.

“If you really want to drink it, I’ll have someone queue up for you in advance next time,” she said with a hint of a smile as the call connected.

Immediately, Pei Yi’s indignant voice erupted: “Sister Shu, promise me, next time there’s such a good deal, tell me in advance, okay?”

Amused, Shu Youzhan chatted with her for a bit. After discussing today’s homework, she thought back to the incident earlier and asked as if casually: “By the way, let me ask you something.”

“Go ahead…”

Shu Youzhan’s eyes shifted left and right. “Well… I have a friend. She’s had a rival since they were little. Since kindergarten, this person has liked to be one step ahead of her in everything.

“And they especially love to show off in front of her. Originally, my friend planned to beat the other person up after she differentiated into an Alpha, but she unexpectedly differentiated into an Omega instead.”

Pei Yi let out a huge sigh of relief on the other end: “Phew, if it wasn’t for that twist at the end about becoming an Omega, I would have thought this ‘friend’ was you.”

Shu Youzhan: “…”

She continued the narrative without any emotional inflection: “At this time, her rival is an Alpha. Logically, their relationship should still be like fire and water, but recently she’s discovered that this rival is acting a bit… off.”

Pei Yi cooperated perfectly: “How so?”

Shu Youzhan looked up at the ceiling, racking her brain for the right words. “Well, they suddenly became very… gentle toward the Omega? And started showing weakness? It’s a total shift in style; do you get it?”

Pei Yi began to hum thoughtfully: “I get it. It’s a conspiracy.”

Shu Youzhan’s eyes lit up. “Exactly! That’s the feeling! What kind of conspiracy do you think it is?”

Pei Yi paused for a moment. “You’re asking me? Why don’t you just ask that Alpha? How should I know?”

That was useless…

Shu Youzhan leaned back into her chair dejectedly. Her right fingers flipped the square stack of sticky notes back and forth like she was shuffling mahjong tiles. Once her fingertips were thoroughly stained with the scent of red spider lilies, she heard Wei Shuangchi’s voice outside. She quickly called back a response, said a hasty goodbye to Pei Yi, and prepared to run out.

Just as she pulled the door open, she guiltily lifted her hand to sniff her fingertips.

She then rubbed her hand vigorously against her clothes several times to wipe the scent away before turning the cold doorknob and heading toward the dining room.

Zhao Qinglan had been called to the study on short notice.

By the time she finished helping her mother handle matters, it was already past eleven o’clock. Zhao Xi asked her as an afterthought, “Have you eaten dinner?”

Zhao Qinglan kept her eyes down, saying casually, “It’s fine. I’ll go to the kitchen later and have someone make something.”

Zhao Xi remained seated in the dark-colored chair. Coupled with the pitch-black color of her military uniform, she looked as if she were enveloped in ink.

Only the light from a desk lamp illuminated her beautiful, cold features and those hawk-like eyes.

A pair of small, round glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, with a cold chain falling down the side of her face. They were gold, but the coldness radiating from her was a thousand times greater than Zhao Qinglan’s.

Hearing Zhao Qinglan’s words, she pursed her lips and gave a reminder: “Su Jin is my wife now, and she represents the face of the Zhao family’s mistress to the outside world. Regardless of whether you acknowledge it… do not make things too difficult for her.”

Zhao Qinglan replied placidly, “I know. I will give her the respect she deserves.”

After a pause, she added, “For your sake.”

Zhao Xi raised a hand to lightly rub her forehead. She opened her mouth to speak but didn’t know how to start, so she simply tilted her chin. “Go tend to your own business.”

Zhao Qinglan withdrew in silence. Just as she opened the study door, she saw the uneasy Omega standing outside. The woman stopped pacing and mustered the courage to smile at her, hesitating as if she wanted to say something.

Zhao Qinglan had no intention of waiting. She gave a slight nod and walked straight past her. Her superior sense of smell told her this person was wearing a perfume designed to enhance the seductive power of pheromones—she was like a walking hormone.

Zhao Qinglan frowned.

Ultimately, she said nothing. She didn’t even look back at the study. Instead, she walked through the long, cold corridor, her thoughts flying far away to a stubborn, “heartless” Omega she knew who was desperately trying to hide her scent. A hint of a smile crept into her eyes.

Realizing she hadn’t seen a reply to her message yet, she took out her phone and stared at the content and timestamp for a long time, letting out a soft sigh.

The Next Day…

As soon as Zhao Qinglan entered the school, she felt that the atmosphere in the class was off. People were constantly glancing toward the corner, their eyes scanning the seat next to her that was still empty.

She tilted her head slightly.

Ping Hui, who was rarely early, was in the front row playing games. Sensing the dangerous aura emanating from Zhao Qinglan, he looked around and couldn’t help but turn back to say: “It wasn’t me who spread it. When I got to school this morning, everyone already knew.”

Zhao Qinglan gave him a glance and offered a faint “Mhm.”

Confirming that she wouldn’t settle scores with him, Ping Hui went back to his game, muttering to himself.

Meanwhile…

Shu Youzhan hadn’t slept well. Her eyelids felt like they were twitching. She spotted Shu Mi halfway there.

She simply told the driver to stop the car and got out to walk to school with her sister, bringing up yesterday’s “story” because she was still brooding over it.

“I have a friend.”

Shu Mi: “?”

Shu Youzhan pretended not to notice her skeptical look and continued expressionlessly: “She has a rival.”

Shu Mi: “Are you talking about you and Zhao Qinglan?”

Shu Youzhan: “…”

She couldn’t go on.

Shu Mi took a step back first: “Fine, fine. Your ‘friend’ and her rival. Then what?”

Shu Youzhan hesitated but couldn’t help recounting the rest of the events. After she finished, she found there was total silence beside her.

Thinking she had said something wrong, she reached up to scratch her hair and tried to change the subject: “I’m just venting. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I just feel like she has a conspiracy—”

“Sister…” Shu Mi looked at her sincerely, her gaze so serious it made Shu Youzhan feel a bit uneasy.

Shu Youzhan replied tentatively: “Yeah?”

Shu Mi took a deep breath. “She likes you.”

Now it was Shu Youzhan’s turn to be silent.

Even though summer was approaching and the cold spring air had mostly dissipated, at this moment, she felt as if a bleak north wind had just blown over her.

This joke was too cold.

After standing frozen on the spot for a long time, she finally seemed to “reboot” and started waving her hands: “Impossible. You’re overthinking it. I’ll give you another chance to give me a more plausible answer, thanks.”

Shu Mi followed her lead and changed her answer according to her sister’s wishes: “Then she’s interested in you.”

“Is there any difference between those two sentences?”

“No difference. Just humoring you.”

“Then why did you…”

The two sisters bickered all the way to the gate. As the crowd of students grew, Shu Youzhan wanted to make a weak defense, but she noticed many gazes falling on her. Unlike usual, these looks seemed to carry a hint of pity and mockery.

The smile on her face gradually faded.

When she entered the classroom, she saw a figure standing by the corner in the back row from a distance. The voice sounded familiar: “Classmate Zhao, long time no see. I heard you don’t really like sweets. Would you like to try this dark chocolate?”

The gossipy eyes of the entire class were fixed on them.

Shu Youzhan subconsciously slowed her pace.

Pei Yi looked over with a worried expression.

Shu Youzhan belatedly remembered who this person was. Oh, the “aloof” senior, Wen Bai—the one who had once pursued Zhao Qinglan, then switched to pursuing her when he found out Zhao Qinglan had no pheromones, and now that he found out she was an Omega, was returning to his old ways.

Coldness flared in her eyes.

Walking up to the two of them, she notified them emotionlessly: “Excuse me, let me through, thanks.”

Wen Bai turned around and looked a bit awkward for a second when he saw her, though he quickly masked it.

Zhao Qinglan, however, let a smile curl onto her lips. She watched Shu Youzhan take her seat next to her, not even glancing at the chocolate. She simply replied unhurriedly: “Is that so?”

“Senior might have heard wrong.”

Resting her chin on one hand, she watched the girl sitting beside her. Recalling the faint, nutty milky scent that had lingered when she marked her—blending with the rich scent of the water lily—a ripple appeared in Zhao Qinglan’s dark eyes.

Even her voice was warm when she spoke: “I not only like sweets, but the more fragrant, the sweeter, and the milkier they are…”

She said, “The more I like them.”

Shu Youzhan, who was about to hand in her homework, paused mid-motion.