After Dumping the Female Lead, It's My Turn to Cry - Chapter 6

“Why do you look so listless?” In the water bar, Bibiba stirred her milk tea and casually patted the Beta slumped opposite her like a limp fish cake. “Have you picked your classes for the new semester yet?”

Ruan Yubai jolted upright as if startled from her deathbed: “Oh my god, when did class selection start?”

She had completely forgotten that the new semester was approaching.

Lately, Ruan Yubai had been utterly overwhelmed not just by that melodramatic novel that had derailed her life, but also by the increasingly peculiar female lead, Qing Ling.

“A hospital check-up?” A few days earlier, at the breakfast table, Ruan Yubai was drowsily spreading butter on her bread when she heard this terrifying news.

She shook her head frantically, her bedhead dancing like golden miracles in the morning sunlight. “Why do I need a check-up? I’m perfectly healthy I eat, sleep, and have no issues like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high cholesterol. I refuse this proposal.”

Check-ups were pure agony: not only did you have to wait in long lines, but you also had to endure the cold, medicinal smell lingering in the corridors.

The worst part? Getting blood drawn.

Ruan Yubai was squeamish about blood. She was just a lazy bum, why challenge her physiological limits? She didn’t want her blood drawn!

Unfortunately, her father was merciless: “Request denied.”

“And you have the nerve to complain? You’ve been practically rotting away this break, either in bed or at the dining table. Your mother once joked about an ancient tale of a man so lazy his daily life was confined to his bed. Before his family went on a trip, they hung two pancakes around his neck so he wouldn’t starve. I never believed it was true until I had you.”

Her father sighed in disappointment. “Your mother and I aren’t lazy at all. How did we end up with someone like you?”

The insult was too weak to faze the lazy Ruan Yubai. Chewing on her bread crust, she muttered under her breath, “I don’t like pancakes; they’re too greasy.”

Her father: …

Soon after, Ruan Yubai was unceremoniously kicked out of the house by her own father with two medical forms in hand.

Yes, two.

Staring at the tall, aloof girl beside her, Ruan Yubai swallowed hard as if choking on bran. “Miss Qing, are you heading out to buy milk?”

A slender hand took the two forms from her grasp. Qing Ling’s smile was especially bright and refreshing in the sunlight. “I’ll go with you.”

Ruan Yubai’s last shred of hope shattered, and she slumped into full lazy-fish mode.

What else could she do?

In the car, Ruan Yubai gazed melancholically out the window at the clear sky. The warm, gentle sunlight cast soft ripples across her face, while the scorching ground seemed coated in a blinding layer of white gold. Staring too long, her sweet almond eyes nearly welled up with clear, shimmering tears, revealing an exquisitely fragile beauty.

Beside her, the quietly seated Qing Ling frowned slightly, a rare expression and was about to speak when the previously pitiful-looking girl suddenly rolled over and exclaimed angrily, “Who put the idea of a check-up into my dad’s head?”

Having drifted through life in such a lazy state for so long, Ruan Yubai’s idleness wasn’t just due to her own nature, it was also thanks to her parents’ indulgence. Usually, if she bit her cheek and shed a few worthless tears, her father would be the first to relent, saying, “Alright, alright, our Yubai is just a child. What illness could she possibly have? If she doesn’t want a check-up, then forget it.”

Never before had she been so ruthless and unyielding. Ruan Yubai was practically rolling into a ball right in front of her, yet the other remained completely unmoved, this was absolutely not normal!

The more she thought about it, the more outrageous it seemed. Ruan Yubai suddenly shook her head violently, glaring furiously at the calm and elegant girl beside her. If glares could be measured in voltage, hers would have already reached a hundred thousand volts.

By then, Qing Ling had already sat back down, her expression serene, with no trace of the earlier furrowed brow. “It was my suggestion,” she said.

She turned her head slightly, her smile so perfect that even the most critical etiquette instructor couldn’t find a single flaw exquisitely polite and gentle. “Is there a problem, Miss Ruan?”

Miss Ruan had no problem; she thought Qing Ling was the one with the problem.

And a big one at that!

However, before she could bare her claws and grab the female lead by the collar, the smoothly moving car came to an abrupt halt. The driver’s voice followed, barely concealing a muffled laugh despite his efforts: “Young ladies, we’ve arrived.”

Qing Ling had seen many people: those who, after betraying their families and having their legs broken, were dragged before her still putting on a defiant front; those who pointed neutral particle cannons at her menacingly only to end up so frightened they wet their pants; and those who, in the dead of night, thought they could overpower her with their pheromones, only to end up staining her bedsheets with the blood from their necks.

The speed at which these people’s expressions changed was enough to make one marvel at the art of Sichuan opera face-changing. Yet, even if all of them were combined, they couldn’t match the speed at which Ruan Yubai’s expression shifted.

The girl who had been as frantic as a mad rabbit just moments ago was now as still as a dead fish, her hands neatly folded on her knees, the shadows of her eyelashes falling delicately on her eyelids. Ruan Yubai slowly raised her head, her pink lips slightly pursed in a pitiful pout, and said in an exceptionally docile and fragile tone, “Can we not go?”

Her voice was as soft and sweet as honey, the trembling tail end of her words almost pulling out delicate strands of sugar, making anyone who heard it feel an overwhelming urge to protect her and agree to all her demands.

So Qing Ling replied plainly, “No.”

Ruan Yubai: …

The hospital corridor was bustling with people, noisy and chaotic. Amid the clamor, Ruan Yubai patted her heaving chest, reminding herself to hold fast to her glorious dream of being a wicked villain: “Don’t get angry, don’t get angry. Getting upset over the female lead, what’s the point now? If the male lead gets angry, I won’t. If I fall ill from anger, no one will take my place. If I die from rage, the novel ends, and all that blood-spitting and mental exhaustion will be for nothing.”

“This is just like casting pearls before swine, playing the zither for a deaf man. Ahhh, damn female lead! What kind of female lead is this?! This is clearly a villain’s script!”

Watching the girl ahead charging forward with her head down, her bangs practically blown back by the wind, Qing Ling couldn’t help but shake her head and chuckle. She reached out from behind, grabbing the other’s arm and pulling her back. “We’re here.”

Ruan Yubai was a perfectly qualified slacker her body was soft and plump, perhaps from eating too many sweets. Despite being a Beta with no pheromones, she always seemed to emit a faint, sweet fruity scent, as if wild berries had been juiced or a large pot of hawthorn jam had been simmered and delicately drizzled over a pristine expanse of white snow.

The girl curled up on the testing device, her face paling several shades as she grumbled in frustration, “It’s shown Beta every time I’ve been tested. Why do we still have to check my gender every single time?”

“Ah, you poor thing,” the doctor, who was practically an acquaintance by now, laughed heartily as he lifted the device’s display and explained, “Lately, many young people have been undergoing sudden secondary differentiations. It’s not so bad if they turn out Beta, but if they differentiate into Alphas or Omegas and happen to hit their sensitive period right after, it could be a huge mess. We’re just being cautious.” The precision instrument under the doctor’s hands beeped, and he casually asked, ‘Besides, wouldn’t you want to become an Omega?” If you did, surely more handsome and dashing Alphas would be drawn to you.”

Earlier, when the doctor had just stepped out to adjust some scans, a curious young Alpha had poked his head in and inquired, “The one inside is an Omega, right? Can I get their contact info?”

“There are two people in there. You must be talking about the taller one.”

As the novel’s female lead, Qing Ling was undeniably beautiful, a kind of cool, lofty elegance, pure and clear like a mountain stream at the break of dawn, appearing pristine and untouchable, yet icy to the touch.

If someone were to ask Ruan Yubai about this, she’d likely pout and pull out a whole paragraph of dramatic appearance descriptions from some cheesy novel.

[Qing Ling’s features were exquisitely refined, with slightly upturned eyes meticulously detailed like fine brushwork, as if nothing in the world could trouble her, which only fueled others’ desire to challenge her. Her posture was as graceful as the night-blooming cereus under the moonlight, and her cool, understated aura naturally drew attention even when she stood quietly, exuding the presence of a noble young lady without uttering a word.]

However, the Alpha lingering at the door shook his head, admitting he was a bit intimidated by ice-cold beauties, and instead gestured with his lips, “I meant the one lying down. She looks unmarked and pretty cute.”

The doctor was taken aback, glanced at the “lazy fish” rolling around on the device, and couldn’t help but chuckle, “Ruan Yubai? She’s a Beta, not an Omega.”

The Alpha didn’t believe it, gaping for a moment before scratching his head, “Could her gender be mistaken? She looks just like an O, even my pregnant sister-in-law doesn’t radiate that much Omega vibe.”

Omegas were rare, and not only did their heat periods stir up commotion, but even during pregnancy, it wasn’t uncommon for them to be targeted and assaulted by out-of-control Alphas on the streets, a frequent crime headline.

If Qing Ling provoked a desire to conquer after being challenged, Ruan Yubai only evoked a urge to destroy.

She was just too soft not in a bony, angular way, but with a charming plumpness. Her exposed skin was snow-white and delicate, so tender that even a slight bump against a metal bar would leave a faint pink mark. Yet, she carried a naive innocence that only intensified chaotic emotions.

It was akin to wanting to properly protect a cherished collection, keeping it as one’s exclusive possession, never allowing any outsider to lay eyes on her, and crowning her with all the pearls and jewels. Yet at the same time, there was a desire to slowly pry her open, tear her apart, leaving behind more and brighter red marks, to crush her into a sweet, unrecognizable pulp.

To chew, swallow, and devour her, yet also to be unwilling to regurgitate and reshape her into a beautiful doll that could only weep and cry.

This was, of course, a very twisted sentiment.

According to this Alpha’s words, Qing Ling truly couldn’t be considered an Omega in the conventional sense. Even from such a distance from the door, she could clearly hear every word of the conversation. She withdrew her hand from her pocket, took a few steps forward, ignored the Alpha who instinctively shrank back, and asked calmly, “Doctor, may we begin the examination now?”

Then she closed the door tightly, shutting out all prying eyes from the outside.

Thus, no matter how pathological the desire to destroy might be, it remained just that, an emotion and could never translate into real action.

Lying on the examination table, Ruan Yubai was utterly bored, completely unaware of the earlier commotion, and said with naive innocence, “But I think being a Beta is quite nice.”

Qing Ling reached out to brush away a stray piece of lint caught in the hair by her ear and replied evenly, “It truly is quite nice.”

At the water bar, her friend Bi Bi Ba nearly laughed herself silly listening to Ruan Yubai’s account: “Just one physical exam, is it really that big of a deal?”

Ruan Yubai frowned, looking as if she were on the verge of losing her mind: “The problem is, I didn’t just go to one hospital for a check-up!”

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