After Differentiation, My Arch-nemesis Thinks I’m Fragrant - Chapter 7

The sky, which had been bright with a touch of morning sun, pulled a long face by the time school let out. Gray clouds layered themselves over the top of No. 1 Middle School, scraping down strands of fine, drizzling rain.

The surfaces of tree leaves and spring flowers were lightly moistened, their colors becoming a bit fresher. Most students ignored this misty rain, chasing each other with schoolbags on their backs as they happily dashed out of the school gates.

Shu Youzhan stopped near the spacious lobby on the first floor, staring at the damp concrete surface a step away with a heavy expression.

Pei Yi was telling her about a large bookstore she had visited recently, emphasizing how the novels inside were wonderfully “taboo” and exciting. Seeing Shu Youzhan stop, she couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

She glanced outside at the sky and remembered Shu Youzhan’s habit of hating the rain. “I brought an umbrella. Let’s go; this rain isn’t heavy.”

Shu Youzhan let out a sigh. “You go ahead. I’m taking the family car back today.”

Pei Yi: “Ah…”

Shu Youzhan glanced back and caught sight of Zhao Qinglan slowly coming down the stairs not far away. Sun Yue and Sun Jue were surrounding her, instinctively looking in this direction as they spoke.

Sun Yue’s eyes were filled with displeasure.

Seeing her, Zhao Qinglan waved a hand to the people beside her. Sun Jue, chewing on a spicy strip, pulled her sister in another direction—

From a distance, Sun Yue’s loud voice could be heard: “You with the surname Shu, be polite to our Boss! Do you hear me?!”

Sun Jue rolled her eyes, stuffed a spicy strip into the person beside her mouth, and then gave Shu Youzhan an apologetic smile. She pointed to Sun Yue’s head (implying she was crazy) and then said in a normal voice to them, “I hope you guys have fun.”

Pei Yi reacted belatedly: “Zhao Qinglan is going to your house? Why?”

Shu Youzhan’s eyes lost their luster, looking like a salted fish without a soul. “I also want to know what my mom was thinking, inviting her over for dinner. She even said she’d cook personally. I’ve only had one meal she made myself this month, and that was when I—”

Pei Yi: “What?”

Shu Youzhan snapped her mouth shut. She waved her hand listlessly. “Nothing. Anyway, you go first.”

Pei Yi left…

Sun Yue and the others also disappeared outside the school gates.

Zhao Qinglan walked over to her side, seemingly the only one showing a positive attitude toward the situation, even taking the initiative to show goodwill: “Waiting for me?”

As soon as Shu Youzhan saw her, she was shrouded in a low-pressure mood. She only let out a hum from her nose and said coldly, “Are you an umbrella?”

Suddenly snapped at like this, Zhao Qinglan wasn’t annoyed. She knew Shu Youzhan had a serious mother complex; hearing that Auntie Chi was cooking because she was hosting her, Shu Youzhan had probably stabbed a voodoo doll of her many times in her heart today.

Immediately, she strode out with her long legs directly toward the school gate. The fine rain was like light smoke, blurring the distant scenery, and Zhao Qinglan’s tall figure in her silver-white school uniform merged into the damp frame.

Seeing her walk away so casually, Shu Youzhan bit her lower lip. She thought, Fine, just go. The Shu family driver would come to pick her up anyway.

Zhao Qinglan was currently working a side job (as a driver/assistant); she’d have to wait at the Shu family gates later regardless.

She stood gloomily staring at the floor tiles for a while, fuming.

Not long after…

A pair of gold-patterned sneakers and a section of silver-white long school pants leaped into her vision. A slightly raspy voice sounded in front of her, carrying a teasing smile: “Can we go now, Eldest Miss Shu?”

Shu Youzhan looked up and found her holding a translucent white umbrella with her lily-white fingertips, extending it toward her.

Clearly, she was under the eaves, while Zhao Qinglan stood in the light rain.

Shu Youzhan hesitated about whether to reach out and take it. She felt that by doing so, she would be accepting the other’s goodwill, and if she wanted to give her the cold shoulder later, it would seem like “crossing the bridge and then tearing it down.”

Seeing her not moving for a long time, Zhao Qinglan raised an eyebrow. “What? Are you so precious now that you won’t even walk? Do I need to call for a palanquin to carry you to the car?”

Shu Youzhan: “…”

She snatched the umbrella from Zhao Qinglan’s hand and took three steps in two to rush toward the school gates, thinking indignantly in her heart:

Why couldn’t this rain just strike Zhao Qinglan dumb?

Zhao Qinglan was taller than her. She followed behind with a leisurely pace, walking in the wind imbued with moisture. Staring at the edge of the umbrella in front of her where not even a trace of a water curtain had gathered for a long time, she clicked her tongue in her heart:

Dainty…

After Shu Youzhan retracted the umbrella and sat in the car, because she didn’t want to talk to Zhao Qinglan, she simply pulled out a bag of plum-flavored sunflower seeds and began cracking them.

However, after cracking just one and holding the few slender shards of the shell, she looked left and right—she couldn’t find a tissue or an eco-friendly trash bag.

Shu Youzhan stared at the newly opened package and fell into deep thought.

Zhao Qinglan, sitting a distance away after getting into the car, had pulled out her homework. She spread out the notebook, pulled out a pen, and ignored the occasional jolts of the car, mentalizing the problems and casually writing down answers on the notebook on her lap.

After hearing the sound of seed-cracking beside her become cautious and slow, she glanced sideways. She noticed Shu Youzhan was using her left hand to hold the shells, which quickly gathered into a small mountain in her palm.

The car stopped at a red light.

The warm colors of the neon lights fell on the window glass, reflected diffusely by the dense layer of water droplets outside. This softened the silhouette of the person by the window, whose cautious seriousness as she counted the seeds for fear of having nowhere to put the shells was entirely different from her usual hot-tempered self.

It only made one feel she was cute.

Zhao Qinglan watched her for a moment, then lowered her head to continue her homework. Her thoughts inexplicably sped up a bit; before they even reached the Shu house, she had already finished today’s math homework.

It just so happened that the shells in Shu Youzhan’s hand were too many to hold—

She handed the finished notebook over.

Shu Youzhan: “?”

She asked Zhao Qinglan in confusion: “I’m not copying…”

Zhao Qinglan’s gaze toward her became subtle.

Shu Youzhan felt offended by her gaze for a few seconds before belatedly realizing this person was handing her the notebook to temporarily hold the sunflower seed shells.

But…

“You… what bad thing are you plotting again?”

Shu Youzhan narrowed her eyes, studying her for a long while before realizing: “Oh! I know! We’re almost home; you want to make my mom think I’m bullying you again, don’t you?”

Zhao Qinglan: “…”

She pulled back her notebook expressionlessly and answered through gritted teeth: “That’s right…”

“You really are smart to death.”

“Mom! I’m back!”

Shu Youzhan handed her schoolbag to the butler at the door and, smelling the fragrance, bounced toward the kitchen in high spirits.

Just as she reached the door, she saw a tall, wheat-skinned figure in camouflage fatigues leaning one elbow against the kitchen doorframe. Her reckless pace immediately became restrained.

Shu Youzhan called out in a small voice: “Mother… you’re back.”

Shu Yu had been looking at the person in the kitchen tenderly, but upon hearing the voice, her somewhat sharp phoenix eyes swept over. “You’re the one who made your mom give up halfway through her beauty treatment yesterday to go to the hospital to pick someone up?”

Shu Youzhan had a bad premonition. She took a trembling half-step back and tentatively let out an: “Ah?”

Zhao Qinglan walked over at that moment and politely bowed to the two elders. “Auntie Shu, Auntie Chi, sorry for the intrusion.”

Wei Shuangchi was wearing an apron, busy in the kitchen. Because the range hood was loud, she couldn’t hear the commotion outside very clearly; she only smiled toward them.

“Youyou is back? Take Qinglan to sit outside for a bit. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”

Shu Yu took a moment to glance at the newcomer and spoke perfunctorily: “Little Zhao is here too…”

The moment the words left her mouth…

Her nose twitching visibly, as if she had caught a scent, her light brown eyes immediately lit up as if filled with golden light.

The woman in the military uniform, whose sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, now lowered her hand that had been blocking the kitchen door like a tiger in the way. She stood straight and walked toward Zhao Qinglan. “The Zhao family kept this news quite well-hidden, but since you’ve delivered yourself to my door… let’s go, accompany me for some pre-dinner activity.”

A flash of surprise crossed Zhao Qinglan’s eyes, but thinking of the powerful strength of this Legion Commander of the Shu family, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of eagerness.

Shu Yu hooked her arm around Zhao Qinglan’s neck and led her toward the training ground in the basement. After two steps, she thought of something and turned back to grin at her daughter, revealing a row of neat white teeth: “Shu Youzhan…”

“Yes, Mother?”

“If you cause trouble for your mom again—”

Shu Yu used her free hand to make a slicing motion across her neck. “Take care of yourself…”

Shu Youzhan: “…” I get it, you two are true love, I’m just an accident.

She stood at the kitchen door for a while to digest her trepidation before taking the initiative to head inside, wanting to help Wei Shuangchi.

“Where’s Ayu?” Wei Shuangchi casually pointed her to a vegetable-washing task and looked outside.

Shu Youzhan answered honestly: “Dragged Zhao Qinglan to the underground training ground…”

Speaking of which…

She suddenly realized that Zhao Qinglan was famous in school for being at the bottom of Alpha strength. Her mother was usually only interested in powerful opponents; someone as weak as Zhao Qinglan… on what basis?

Wei Shuangchi was also startled. A large shrimp that hadn’t been coated in breadcrumbs yet suddenly fell into the oil pan. She quickly fished it out to save it, then turned around in confusion: “Isn’t the rumor about Qinglan…”

Thinking of what followed, she couldn’t say it directly, but only changed her tone and sighed: “You mother and daughter really are of the same mold, targeting the Zhao family to bully all day long.”

Shu Youzhan felt greatly wronged: “No way! It’s clearly Zhao Qinglan who bullies me every day!”

“You have no idea how many bad ideas she has! She’s thinking of how to plot against me every day!”

Wei Shuangchi recalled their interactions, shook her head, and responded helplessly, “Yes, yes, our Youyou has been so wronged.”

Shu Youzhan’s ears turned a bit red from being pampered, feeling strangely like she had won an unfair victory by tattling.

In the spacious basement.

Zhao Qinglan stood a short distance away and said politely, “Auntie Shu, my pheromones are actually a bit different, and I’m not very good at controlling the intensity yet—”

“Don’t be so hypocritical.”

Shu Yu slowly took off her camouflage jacket, revealing a tank top. Her lean, wheat-colored shoulder blades shimmered slightly in the bright room.

Her light brown phoenix eyes stared at the person opposite her. Thinking of the scene at the kitchen door where she was interrupted while threatening her daughter, her powerful pheromones immediately broke through the effect of the suppressant spray, overwhelming the opponent.

Shu Yu curled her lips, smiling wantonly—

“You dare to set your sights on our family.”

“Speak less and get hit more, understand?”