After Rebirth, My Archrival Omega Looks at Me Differently - Chapter 36

The darkness of night didn’t bring silence to the world. Flames burst from rebellious grills, and the night market was alive with energy.

Yan Youqing seemed to have a special fondness for barbecue. Once again, she let Chi Yan take her to the same spot where they had eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

While Chi Yan was placing their order, she noticed Yan Youqing quietly looking around.

Chi Yan was a bit confused. It felt like Yan Youqing was hiding something from her.

“What’s wrong? Are you looking for something?” she asked.

Yan Youqing pulled her gaze back and shook her head casually, pretending it was nothing. “No, I was just trying to see where the drinks are.”

The waiter standing nearby, waiting for Chi Yan to finish ordering, caught on quickly and helpfully pointed it out.

“Right by the door to the back room. We’ve got Coke, Sprite, soda, and beer.”

Hearing this, Chi Yan seemed to understand something and gave Yan Youqing a serious warning.

“Yan Youqing, I’m telling you now, you’re still underage. Don’t even think about trying to drown your sorrows in front of me.”

“I won’t,” Yan Youqing said calmly.

Her gaze briefly flicked past the servers outside the shop. Then she looked at the menu in Chi Yan’s hand and said, “I didn’t really like the fertilized duck egg we ordered last time. Can we skip it this time?”

That dish had been suggested by Aqin during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Chi Yan actually didn’t like it much either. She always thought it was kind of creepy. So she nodded and said, “Alright, you’re the boss today. No fertilized eggs.”

“Thank you,” Yan Youqing replied, a small smile appearing in the shadows where the light couldn’t reach.

Smoke rose from the long barbecue grill, and the aroma of lamb filled the night air. The smell was enough to tempt the customers still waiting for their food.

The wait was a little boring, so Chi Yan rested her chin on her hand and started watching the old TV set by the door. A drama was playing.

But the show wasn’t any more exciting. The female lead had been reborn and couldn’t believe the male lead had also come back to life. Her dramatic inner thoughts played out over a noisy square.

“Seriously? He shows up every time something happens to her, and she still doesn’t think it’s weird?” Chi Yan said, chewing on a peanut and commenting without mercy.

“Yeah,” Yan Youqing said quietly, agreeing with her while sipping her drink with a blank expression.

Chi Yan was surprised by her sudden agreement, but also a little happy that they had found something to agree on.

Just as she was about to nod in approval, she saw three guys dressed like street punks walking toward them.

The one leading them was a large Alpha. The blonde one next to him pointed at Chi Yan and said, “Brother Bin, that’s her. That day, Aqin was with her. They were practically stuck together.”

The Alpha known as Brother Bin gave Chi Yan a scornful look.

“Well, well. A student from the affiliated high school? Already out here picking up Omegas?”

Chi Yan frowned.

She could tell they weren’t here with good intentions, but she wasn’t scared. She looked him straight in the eye.

“What are you staring at? Do you even know who he is?” the blonde barked.

Chi Yan found it amusing. She had eaten at this shop for seven or eight years in her past life and had never heard of this guy. Playing along, she asked, “Who is he?”

“You don’t even know Brother Bin?” the blue-haired guy said, raising his voice. “Ask around. Last year, he put the Alpha who was chasing after Aqin in the hospital.”

“Hey now, don’t scare the little kids,” Brother Bin said, waving his hand and pretending to be calm and superior. He looked at Chi Yan with a mocking smile.

“Little girl, taking a date to a cheap food stall like this? Are you that broke? Or are you the type who wants to have it all?”

Chi Yan immediately understood what he was implying. Her eyes, filled with contempt, lifted coldly to meet his.

Just as she was about to respond, another voice cut in first.

“Sir, you seem to come here for barbecue quite often, don’t you?”

It was Yan Youqing. Her voice was calm as always, and her elegant tone stood out even more in such a rough place.

It was the first time Brother Bin had seen such a graceful Omega. He looked thrilled and quickly nodded.

“That’s right, sweetheart. I know this area like the back of my hand. Why hang around with a poor student? Come to my table, I’ll treat you to a fertilized duck egg.”

But Yan Youqing didn’t budge.

She looked up at him and calmly asked, “Didn’t you just say coming to a place like this for a date is cheap?”

Brother Bin was at a loss for words. He rubbed his hands together awkwardly and said, “I didn’t mean it like that. Don’t take it so seriously…”

But Yan Youqing didn’t give him the chance to explain.

“We’re just students. We can’t afford fancy Western restaurants or five-star hotels. We spend what little allowance our parents give us to eat here. But someone like you, who comes here even more often than we do, what’s your excuse? Did your family cut off your spending money?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the smile on Brother Bin’s face froze. He raised his hand and shouted, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His fingers were thick and short, like an ugly carrot freshly pulled from the ground.

Yan Youqing glanced at them with disgust, then stood tall and said, “From a biological point of view, the attraction Alphas have for Omegas is about eighty percent driven by pheromones. The more time they spend together, the stronger the effect.”

“But that raises a question for me. You seem very close to Miss Aqin. So why is it that she was clearly more interested in Chi Yan, whom she had just met, and not in you, someone she’s known for a long time?”

Her tone was light, but her words burned like hot coals landing on Brother Bin’s face.

She spoke politely, but no one could miss the sharp sarcasm. All three of them looked increasingly embarrassed.

His pheromones couldn’t even make an Omega interested in him, and now he was being compared to a random high schooler.

Brother Bin couldn’t take the humiliation. His face twisted into a nasty grin.

“Where did this Omega come from? She looks sweet, but her mouth is full of poison. How about I teach you a lesson and show you what my pheromones can really do?”

As he spoke, he reached out to grab Yan Youqing. The stench of his cheap cologne mixed with the scent of grilled lamb and moved toward her.

But neither his hand nor his scent ever touched her.

A sharp, powerful wave of tequila-scented pheromones flooded the air and pressed down hard on Brother Bin, forcing his head to lower under the pressure.

Chi Yan was furious. The casual tone she had used earlier was gone, replaced by cold anger. Her voice was sharp and commanding.

“Touch her, and see what happens.”

Brother Bin tried to resist, struggling to lift his head, but was met with even stronger suppression.

His pheromones were completely overwhelmed by the scent of tequila. It poured through his limbs like an invading force, crushing his heart with a pressure he couldn’t fight.

An S-class Alpha possessed a level of control over their pheromones that other Alphas could never match. Chi Yan had long since mastered that control.

The blonde and the blue-haired guy standing nearby had no idea what was happening. They saw their leader suddenly freeze in place and immediately stepped forward, ready to defend him and teach Chi Yan a lesson.

But as soon as they took a single step, they too were crushed by Chi Yan’s pheromones.

The pressure was suffocating, forcing their knees to weaken and almost give out beneath them.

“What the hell is with this guy’s pheromones?” the blue-haired one growled, barely able to force the words through gritted teeth.

Something about the scene must have caught someone’s attention. The lively area suddenly grew much quieter.

The melodramatic drama continued to play on the old TV, while a delivery truck packed with goods stopped at the edge of the barbecue plaza.

Aqin, who had gone with the boss to restock, jumped down from the truck. The moment she saw what was happening, she immediately understood and shouted in anger, “Ouyang Dabin, haven’t you had enough? You’re still bullying kids out here? What kind of Alpha do you think you are?”

Ouyang Dabin, the one being called Brother Bin, instantly panicked.

He genuinely seemed to care what Aqin thought. With Chi Yan’s pheromones still pressing him down, he stammered nervously, “Aqin, I…”

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the strength left to explain anything. Chi Yan’s pheromones pinned his head down, leaving him hanging it low like a featherless quail.

“I’ll say it one more time. I don’t like you. Stop bothering me or I swear I’ll…”

Aqin was furiously yelling at Ouyang Dabin when the sound of a police siren rose in the distance.

The flashing red and blue lights came closer and finally stopped behind the delivery truck. Two officers in uniform stepped out of the car, their presence cutting through the night like a blade.

“Who called the police?” one of them asked.

The nearby men, mostly regulars from the street, all kept their heads down. None of them dared to make eye contact with the police.

Chi Yan and Aqin were caught off guard. Chi Yan had been suppressing the three men, and Aqin had been scolding Ouyang Dabin. Neither of them had time to call the authorities.

Only Yan Youqing stood straight and calm. She took her phone from her pocket and said clearly, “I did.”

“They were harassing me and my friend. One of them even released pheromones in violation of the law.” Her explanation was concise. “My lawyer is on the way and will fully cooperate with the police in handling the matter.”

The white lights illuminated the area brightly. The officer looked slightly surprised and impressed after hearing her calm report.

It was obvious at a glance that Yan Youqing was not someone to be messed with. The officer raised his hand toward Ouyang Dabin and the two others.

“So, are you coming quietly, or do we need the cuffs?”

Yan Youqing’s lawyer arrived quickly. Dressed in a sharp suit, he made his way down the passage. Ouyang Dabin and his lackeys glared at him with resentment but avoided eye contact like ostriches burying their heads.

Since both Yan Youqing and Chi Yan were still students and the whole incident had been unprovoked, the officers allowed them to leave after they gave their statements. The lawyer stayed behind to handle the rest.

The autumn sunset had come and gone decisively. Though it wasn’t late, the sky had already turned completely dark.

Chi Yan was worried that Yan Youqing might get lost or run into trouble riding an unfamiliar route, so she walked her bike alongside her on the way home.

Luckily, though the road was unfamiliar, the police station wasn’t far from the villa district. It felt more like an evening stroll than a trip.

The passing cars drew streaks of light along the road, connecting the streetlamps in a blur that tugged memories backward.

Chi Yan glanced at the uneaten barbecue still hanging from her handlebars. Yan Youqing’s shadow followed at her side, moving in sync beneath her gaze.

Up ahead, the traffic light was flashing its green countdown. The street was quieter now, with fewer cars passing through.

Chi Yan wasn’t the type to bottle things up. As the red light appeared in the distance, she stopped suddenly, turned to Yan Youqing, and looked her in the eyes.

Her gaze was serious, with traces of lingering fear.

“What were you thinking, being that reckless? This isn’t school. Did you think those Alphas were just like Xu Minxue, all bark and no bite? Those guys were real thugs, releasing pheromones without hesitation.”

“What if their pheromones triggered a rejection reaction in you? Were you not scared at all? Or is it because I was there that you acted so fearless?”

Chi Yan had been turning these thoughts over in her head the entire way. Maybe she had been holding them in too long, because they came out all at once, fast and forceful.

The lingering scent of tequila wrapped with lime’s tartness was still in the air, sharp and heavy in the wind.

With no cars passing by, the street was eerily quiet.

After finishing her outburst, Chi Yan noticed Yan Youqing looking up at her, eyes locked and unblinking.

She couldn’t tell if it was the wind or something else, but the corners of Yan Youqing’s eyes were tinged red, like soft amber on the verge of breaking.

Suddenly, Chi Yan felt that what she said might have been too harsh for an Omega.

“I didn’t mean it like that…”

But before she could finish explaining, Yan Youqing stepped forward suddenly.

Like a startled deer, she ran straight into Chi Yan’s arms.

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