I Topped the Aloof Omega in a Scummy Alpha Novel - Chapter 34

“System, just electrocute me to death!”

The old woman had mostly white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and was missing a tooth when she smiled. She was short in stature.

Xuan Yuchi instinctively felt that this was the best person to be the village guardian (Shou Cun Ren). She jogged over, and the two of them stood under the damaged eaves of the house.

Grandma Mai held Xuan Yuchi’s hand. Her own hands were covered in age spots but were surprisingly soft: “Child, do you not have a place to stay?”

Xuan Yuchi nodded, her big eyes making her look very obedient.

“I still have a simple room at my place. If you don’t mind…”

Xuan Yuchi gave Grandma Mai a big hug, slipped the plastic bag of oranges onto her hand, and said gratefully, “I don’t mind! Grandma, you are so kind!”

“Just call me Grandma Mai,” Grandma Mai said with a smile as she pushed open the door. “Go and call your friends over.”

She saw the people standing in the distance and counted them. There were quite a few, but her house hadn’t been this lively in a long time. She turned and went inside, put the bag of oranges in the guest room, and poured a plate of melon seeds onto the small wooden table in the living room.

Four people came in. Grandma Mai asked, “Are those other people not staying here?”

A Fan knew she was referring to the production crew and shook her head, “Grandma, they have a place to stay.”

Grandma Mai: “That’s good.”

She withdrew her gaze from outside the door, closed and locked it, then went to the kitchen, got four cups, and poured four cups of water from the thermos flask.

Xuan Yuchi took a cup of water to the camerawoman, who politely declined. Xuan Yuchi then brought the cup to her mouth: “Sister Lin, just take a sip. You haven’t had a drop of water all afternoon.”

Sister Lin looked at A Fan. A Fan nodded, and Sister Lin took a sip. Her peripheral vision caught Yun Chen staring at A Fan. When A Fan looked back, Yun Chen shifted her gaze away.

Grandma Mai’s house didn’t have a sofa. Except for Sister Lin and A Fan, the others sat on small, well-worn wooden stools.

It was getting late, and they were already tired from a day of travel. However, since they were borrowing someone’s place to stay, it would be improper to go to sleep without chatting for a bit.

Bian Yunchen held her cup, her tone gentle: “Grandma Mai, do you live alone?”

Grandma Mai nodded, a little sadness in her eyes: “My husband passed away over ten years ago.”

“Then what about your children?” Xuan Yuchi asked.

Grandma Mai sighed, forcing a helpless smile: “I didn’t have children when I was young. Alas, if I had a child, I wouldn’t be so lonely and helpless now.”

Bullet Screen Comments (Danmu): [Is it just me, or did Film Empress Bian and her friend both go offline in terms of emotional intelligence?] [They’re bringing up exactly what shouldn’t be mentioned. Fans, don’t try to silence this.] [Are they not even going to apologize?]

Xuan Yuchi pressed Grandma Mai’s hand: “Then when the show is over, come live with me in the capital!”

Grandma Mai’s eyes, narrowed from age, widened slightly, then she smiled: “No need. I’m used to living in the countryside as an old woman.”

Xuan Yuchi said firmly: “I’m not just saying polite words to you. I’m serious. Look at this camera.”

Grandma Mai looked in the direction of Xuan Yuchi’s finger.

“Our show is live-streamed, and the whole country heard what I just said. I just feel that encountering such a warm-hearted person like you in a strange land late at night is a kind of destiny.”

Grandma Mai was moved by Xuan Yuchi’s words, and the smile on her lips did not fade.

Bullet Screen Comments (Danmu): [This is too… Xuan Yuchi is too enthusiastic.] [Daring to say something like this on the show, is Xuan Yuchi genuinely straightforward?] [It’s nice to be rich. If I were rich, I’d be this kind too.] [Does Xuan Yuchi have no guard up at all? No matter what, this is a stranger.]

Grandma Mai was smiling, but then she turned her back to wipe away a tear.

Xuan Yuchi placed her hand on Grandma Mai’s shoulder: “Grandma Mai, there aren’t many people in my family either. Both my paternal grandmother and maternal grandma are gone, and my mother’s parents don’t live with us. If you come to my house, you can sleep in my paternal grandmother’s room.”

Bian Yunchen almost choked on her water.

She vaguely remembered Xuan Yuchi’s paternal grandmother, an old woman who was somewhat sharp-tongued and very picky about people. If she heard Xuan Yuchi’s words, she would probably be angered back to life.

The bullet screen was full of comments praising Xuan Yuchi as a filial granddaughter.

“Child, I appreciate your kindness, but my husband is buried here, and I can’t abandon him,” Grandma Mai got up and refilled water for Xuan Yuchi and Bian Yunchen.

Bian Yunchen had been silently observing the old woman. Her words didn’t seem performative, but Bian Yunchen still felt a subtle sense of something not being quite right.

Since high school, Huo Tian had been the same way. On the surface, she looked the same as always, but only Bian Yunchen sensed that hidden beneath her gentle smile was a troubled heart.

This was something even Xuan Yuchi had failed to notice.

And this Grandma Mai gave her the same feeling.

The three, or rather, the two of them, chatted warmly until eleven o’clock at night. Yun Chen rarely spoke, only adding a sentence when Xuan Yuchi brought her up.

Xuan Yuchi’s premonition was correct. In her imagination of the deep mountain gully, the village guardian belonged to the kind of place where poor mountains bred uncivilized people.

The villagers were extremely conservative. In a small village with only about a hundred people, their favorite pastimes were forming cliques, seizing others’ land, and forced borrowing of money, which were considered minor issues here.

Several lives had been lost over the decades. It was said that an unfortunate outsider mistakenly entered the village, and the next day, they were found with their glands excavated, their corpse exposed in the wilderness.

No one called the police, and naturally, no one intervened. It was a complete lawless zone.

A Fan, listening behind the camera, broke out in a cold sweat. Although she had only been in this line of work for a short time, she knew that this kind of negative information probably shouldn’t be broadcast.

So, when Grandma Mai talked about the murder case, she told Sister Lin to turn off the camera. The official account explained it as a network problem.

Xuan Yuchi started yawning as she listened. Grandma Mai taught them how to turn on the hot water to wash up, watched Bian Yunchen and Xuan Yuchi wash their feet, and then went to pour the foot wash water onto the hillside behind the back door, just like she would for her own granddaughters.

A Fan and Sister Lin had to return to the production crew’s tent near the village entrance. Grandma Mai saw them off before coming back.

The two people in the house had already turned off the lights. The melon seed shells and water cups on the table had been tidied up, the shells in the trash can, and the cups stacked in the kitchen. The bag of oranges was in the kitchen, and a note had been left.

“Thank you!”

The note was signed with the names Xuan Yuchi and Bian Yunchen.

The night was cool and breezy. The window in the guest room couldn’t be opened, and after a while, it got a bit stuffy. The two were originally sharing a quilt, but Xuan Yuchi casually threw it off, and the side that belonged to her fell onto Yun Chen.

Yun Chen woke up feeling hot and accurately identified the culprit: a certain Xuan, spread-eagled and sleeping soundly.

She got up, folded the quilt, and placed it at the foot of the bed, but she forgot one thing.

Half an hour later, without the barrier of the quilt, Yun Chen first got a slap on the chest, followed by a kick to the thigh. Just as Xuan Yuchi’s hand was about to hit her face, Bian Yunchen quickly grabbed her wrist.

Xuan Yuchi groggily opened her eyes, looked at her, and then rolled over and went back to sleep, completely oblivious to her own misdeeds.

She was quiet for a dozen minutes before she started touching Yun Chen again. The bed was too small, and Yun Chen had nowhere to hide.

“Wake up.” She sat on the bed, looking tired.

Sure enough, just calling her name wasn’t enough to wake her up.

Bian Yunchen patted Xuan Yuchi. Xuan Yuchi was dreaming, thinking she was only three years old and her mother was comforting her. She cooed “Mama” comfortably and, for some reason, held onto Bian Yunchen’s hand.

Bian Yunchen heard Xuan Yuchi’s sleep-talking clearly this time, her expression somewhat complicated. She used a little force to wake Xuan Yuchi up.

People who wake up from a deep sleep are often still groggy. Perhaps because she dreamt of her mother, Xuan Yuchi was very vulnerable now. She squinted, hugged Yun Chen’s waist, buried herself in her arms, and dependently inhaled the scent of her pheromones.

She didn’t say anything, her silence making her seem pitiful.

Bian Yunchen stroked her head, like petting a little lamb. She held a warm body in her arms but didn’t feel annoyed by the heat.

She recalled what happened in the forest. The warmth that had just arisen completely disappeared. She calmly told Xuan Yuchi her analysis: “Before you broke off the engagement with me, you were possessed by a mysterious force, making you do many things against your will, and you seem to have no memory of some of the things you did to yourself.”

“This mysterious force can provide you with some help, and it is also preventing you from telling the truth. Also, you seem to be helping it complete some things…?”

Xuan Yuchi backed out of her arms, feeling a sense of finally being vindicated. She nodded repeatedly.

System: [Host, you have violated the…]

Xuan Yuchi: [No! She figured all of this out herself! And even if Yun Chen knows this, it will only help our mission, won’t it?]

Xuan Yuchi: [The cheat code you gave is too overpowered. Someone was bound to notice something was off. Yun Chen isn’t the only smart person in the world. Just electrocute me to death!]

She was sick of this damn System and this damn contract!

The System was silent for a moment.

System: [I need to consult headquarters for their opinion.]

Reporting her, was it? Xuan Yuchi had a nothing-to-lose mindset; she wasn’t afraid of anything anymore.

She jabbered everything she knew to Yun Chen.

And this time, her words were not blocked by the System.

System: [Congratulations, headquarters has acquiesced to your actions.]

Bian Yunchen had some suspicions, but when she heard Xuan Yuchi reveal everything, a look of surprise still crossed her face.

The one controlling Xuan Yuchi now was not a ghost or god, but a System, something akin to a highly advanced extraterrestrial being?

The sudden change in Bai Fu’s personality was because her consciousness was taken over by another person, and that person was called a “Transmigrator”?

So they were living in a novel?

Bian Yunchen had a momentary urge to take Xuan Yuchi for a brain scan.

But as Xuan Yuchi said, Bian Yunchen had indeed had that feeling of being possessed. When Bai Fu wanted to change their relationship, Bian Yunchen did things that were out of her control several times.

At first, she thought she had developed a third personality, but the psychological counselor was doubtful.

The fact that her and Xuan Yuchi’s reports showed the same results wasn’t just because they had both been possessed?

Bian Yunchen looked at Xuan Yuchi, seeing the feeling of relief she had, and couldn’t speak for a long time.

“You… still don’t believe me?” Xuan Yuchi asked.

Yun Chen couldn’t fully accept it immediately, and Xuan Yuchi could understand, as what she was saying was somewhat incredible.

Yun Chen smiled, her thumb stroking Xuan Yuchi’s face, and then she swiftly kissed her, a light peck on the corner of her lips.

Xuan Yuchi blushed slightly.

Yun Chen then hugged her again, holding her close, and said that Xuan Yuchi had suffered a lot of grievances before, carrying many burdens alone, and that she would not let her face so much alone anymore.

Xuan Yuchi felt dazed, as if she were dreaming.

In the middle of the night, in the woods below the hillside, a few wild chickens flapped their wings and flew down. A person walked over with a flashlight, and the light shone on a solitary figure.

Bian Yunchen’s face in the nighttime woods was like a stand-in for Chang’e, bathed in moonlight, ready to fly back to the heavens at any moment.

A Fan met Xuan Yuchi in Yuebei. She didn’t quite understand the situation regarding Xuan Yuchi apparently having a fling with Bian Yunchen.

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