I Heard I’m a Scummy Alpha? [Transmigration] - Chapter 72

The program’s Eggplant River task was double dutch: one person turns the rope while two jump together. The team who jumped the most in the time limit wins.

Qiao Haiyue said, “Yan Zui is my friend — I’ll pair up with her.”

Peng Xueyu glanced at Qi Yunwei; when he saw her frown he immediately tugged Qiao Haiyue close and said, “You’d better stick with my team.”

The producers had already handed out pairings in the script — they’d been assigned together. If Qiao Haiyue insisted on teaming with someone else, wasn’t she just asking for trouble with the crew?

Qiao Haiyue was about to argue, but Peng Xueyu leaned to whisper something in her ear and suddenly she stopped causing a scene about teaming with Yan Zui.

[“Gentle male star and his scheming little wife”]

[I’m shipping Haiyue & Xueyu — both Qiao Haiyue and Peng Xueyu are totally complicit!]

[They forced us to ship them; then they’re shoving sugar into our mouths!]

Yan Zui picked up the jump rope, tried a couple of swings to get a feel for it, then walked around to Qi Yunwei’s side and handed the rope to her.

Qi Yunwei didn’t take it. She looked at the rope and said, “You go ahead.”

Yan Zui narrowed her eyes, circled Qi Yunwei once. Qi Yunwei felt awkward. “What are you doing?”

Yan Zui smiled lightly; the cold expression was gone — her face bloomed like spring flowers, beautiful and disarming. “You’re not telling me you can’t jump rope?”

“I”

Yan Zui cut her off. “You can?”

Qi Yunwei: “…” No, I couldn’t.

In the interstellar world, jump rope simply wasn’t a thing.

Yan Zui said, “So there are things you don’t know.”

Qi Yunwei’s cheeks warmed slightly. Yan Zui, as if seeing something rare, leaned in to look closely — those pretty dark eyes were alarmingly near. Qi Yunwei couldn’t help taking a step back and turned her head. “You’re an Omega. Be a little modest — why are you getting so close?”

Yan Zui noticed her face was redder than before and teased, “If I’m not modest, why are you blushing? An Alpha getting shy — that’s surprising.”

Qi Yunwei turned away and fanned her cheek. “Shy? I’m just a bit hot. The sun’s too strong today.”

[Hahaha Qi Yunwei is done for — when you meet someone who hits you straight on you just give up. Let’s see if you still dare to argue with our big beauty Yan Zui.]

[Remember how annoying Qi Yunwei was at the start? Is this shy Alpha really the same person? Maybe someone else slipped into her body.]

[Heehee I admit I’m twisted — O×A makes me so excited.]

The producers gave both teams five minutes of practice, then the official match began.

Qiao Haiyue and Peng Xueyu went first. Qiao Haiyue felt a sour bubble in her chest — being crammed next to an Alpha while jumping rope was already irritating, and she had to watch Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui later — the jealousy was making her eyes sting.

“One minute on the clock — go!” The staff said.

Peng Xueyu swung the rope and they started fast. In one minute they jumped over forty times — more than one jump per second on average.

[Ahhhhh Haihai is amazing! Xueyu is amazing! Are they even— like, for real? Really! What!]

Qi Yunwei was surprised by how well the pretend CP team synced — she and Yan Zui shared a bed every day and were real partners; they should be able to do even better right?

When it was Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui’s turn, Qiao Haiyue noticed Yan Zui holding the rope and couldn’t help asking, “Shouldn’t the Alpha be turning the rope?”

Qi Yunwei shot her a glance. “Are you saying you’re not an Alpha?”

Qiao Haiyue: “…” Slipped up — and Qi Yunwei let it slide!

Peng Xueyu patted Qiao Haiyue’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. Yunwei takes care of people — even if they lose, Yunwei won’t let Yan Zui struggle.”

Yan Zui knew Qi Yunwei couldn’t jump, so she paced the rope at a moderate speed. They bumbled through the minute and managed only thirty jumps.

Staff announced: “Qiao Haiyue and Peng Xueyu’s team wins. They can stay and rest; once Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui bring back the ingredients, they should cook lunch.”

[Lol the producers are ruthless — winning or losing both get you nothing. Sure, you “get to rest at home,” but if Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui come back late then Qiao Haiyue and Peng Xueyu will be starving.]

[Oh no, the four are splitting up. I only have two eyes — I don’t want to miss either team.]

Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui picked up the wicker baskets the crew provided and started to leave. Qiao Haiyue looked genuinely worried. “Want me to go instead?”

Yan Zui: “No.”

Qi Yunwei smirked. “Xueyu, take care of your teammate. We’re leaving.”

[Hahaha Qi Yunwei understands! Was she going to say “your Qiao Haiyue” earlier? Teehee, is Qi Yunwei a CPF too?]

[Maybe she’s just watched the dramas — don’t assume everyone’s shipping.]

[Are you okay? Our CPs spend money and boost popularity — why are you dissing them? If Haihai stands up and says she’s fake, I’ll stop shipping. Don’t blame us for following our leaders!]

Solo-fans and shippers each had their reasons and both thought they were right; the comments section turned into a battlefield. Many viewers tired of the chaos and switched to the live feed following Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui.

You can’t have fans fighting over a regular person, after all.

Sure enough, most people just watched quietly. The director, monitoring backstage, noticed that viewers watching Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui had matched the other team’s numbers, and their comments were far calmer — more immersive, less toxic.

More viewers, driven away from the noise, flocked to their stream. Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui’s viewers quickly overtook the other team’s and the gap kept growing.

[I can’t stand those canned fan scripts — I was originally here for Qiao Haiyue but I got shoved over. Of course I stayed because the beauty is real.]

[This is the vibe “Living With You” should have — a gentle, peaceful feeling.]

Following the producer’s signposts, Qi Yunwei and Yan Zui took the winding path up the mountain.

The slope was rough. Qi Yunwei took two steps then turned to see Yan Zui a distance behind. She reached out. “You’re walking too slowly. Come on — I’ll pull you up.”

Yan Zui lifted her cool dark eyes. “Now you’re not saying ‘AO no contact’?”

Qi Yunwei reached down and grabbed her hand, tugging her along. “You weren’t shy when we held hands for so long before. I guess.”

“Guess what?” Yan Zui asked.

“I guess you’re not really an Omega.” Qi Yunwei replied.

[Hahaha I can feel Yan Zui’s exasperation through the screen. Qi Yunwei really looks like that typical confident Alpha — despite being pretty and rich, ugh, the more I say it the more they suit each other. Somebody slap me awake!]

[There are lots of rich good-looking Alphas — why would it fall to Qi Yunwei?]

[No way — Yan Zui is my girlfriend, back off.]

[What girlfriend? She’s my wife!]

[To be honest, the people arguing in the comment section are the blind confident Alphas here.]

Qi Yunwei led Yan Zui to a small vegetable patch on the mountainside. A crew member explained, “Take the vegetables you harvest down the mountain and sell them by weight. One jin equals one yuan; for every ten yuan you can exchange at the little kitchen for a kitchen utensil or an ingredient. If you reach one hundred jin, the little kitchen will be permanently opened and you won’t need to exchange for ingredients anymore.”

“I can carry one hundred jin down,” Qi Yunwei said. “But are you sure there are a hundred jin of vegetables here?”

“I’m sure. Half an acre beside this is all potatoes.”

“All right then.”

“If we weigh potatoes, then we just need to dig them up. Carrying about twenty jin each trip should be fine — five trips and we’ll have a hundred jin.”

Yan Zui: “I can carry potatoes down too.”

[Producers are heartless — what kind of task is this?]

[Nooo, my big beauty didn’t come here to suffer. Qi Yunwei, stop Yan Zui!]

Qi Yunwei said, “You dig. It’s not easy either; if we divide the work we’ll save time.”

Yan Zui opened her mouth to protest but Qi Yunwei said, “We lost the jump rope because I can’t jump. Think of this as penance.”

[Qi Yunwei is such a pure Alpha — anyone would want an Alpha who takes responsibility like that.]

[Stop praising her — she lost on purpose, she should be the one carrying potatoes.]

They tried digging and found it fairly easy; with the tools they filled half a basket quickly. Qi Yunwei lifted it and felt she could add more.

Yan Zui frowned slightly. “That’s enough. That’ll be about twenty-two jin. If you pile more into that basket the load will spill.”

Qi Yunwei carried the potatoes down. The cameraman knew Yan Zui had the more notable background and stayed to film her digging rather than following Qi Yunwei down.

While Qi Yunwei was on her way down, Yan Zui kept glancing anxiously to see if she’d returned.

[Yan Zui looks like she’s waiting for her Alpha to come home — so cute!]

[I think she’s annoyed Qi Yunwei is slow. There’s no shade up there; it’s scorching. Maybe Qi Yunwei slacked off when no one was filming.]

[Ignore the person above — they’re always argumentative. A chronic contrarian sees darkness everywhere.]

It took them ten minutes to climb up; Qi Yunwei took twenty-three minutes because she went down with a heavy load and came back up — the lazy accusations fell flat.

Qi Yunwei came up carrying an empty basket and saw Yan Zui had dug potatoes all over the plot. Wiping sweat from her brow, her dark eyes shining, she smiled. “I knew you were strong, Yan Zui. Stop — we have enough. No need to go back.”

Yan Zui blinked. “How much was half a basket earlier?”

“Twenty-two jin. But half a basket didn’t feel like much work. We can add more this time.”

“This time I’ll go down with you,” Yan Zui said.

[I told you — I’m not just being contrarian. Don’t flatter Yan Zui — normal Omegas know they’re weak and avoid causing trouble. Isn’t this making trouble? If she got hurt in the middle of it, Qi Yunwei would have to carry her down. Then we’d lose money and a worker — not worth it. Am I wrong?]

Qi Yunwei heard that and immediately turned away from the camera to give Yan Zui a look.

Yan Zui’s public persona was the fragile Omega; if she acted like she could carry twenty jin (Qi Yunwei thought she could carry forty), it would be out of character.

Yan Zui realized she’d been careless.

Her cool brow furrowed slightly. “Okay, actually I can’t carry that much. I won’t trouble you.”

[Contrarians, eat your words?]

[If a contrarian admits being wrong, they’re not a contrarian anymore.]

[If I hadn’t pointed it out, you all would’ve been overpraising. I just said the obvious and saved you from it.]

On the second trip Qi Yunwei judged the weight and added another ten jin. Carrying thirty-plus jin was noticeably harder than twenty.

Seeing sweat about to slide into Qi Yunwei’s eyes, Yan Zui quickly reached out and wiped it away.

Qi Yunwei froze. Yan Zui said, “We already held hands — wiping your sweat shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Qi Yunwei lowered her gaze. Something flickered in her expression and her face warmed. “It’s fine.”

[Oh my, look! This Alpha showed weakness! She’s yielding under Yan Zui’s care!]

“Wiping is okay — but no other Alphas.” Qi Yunwei suddenly said.