I Transmigrated into a Scummy Alpha and Stole the Heroine from Her Tragic Romance - Chapter 36

A long time ago, when Xu Xiaoqi was still a rising young idol with a promising future, she released the first album that truly elevated her career. At the time, many people tried to get close to her, hoping to benefit once she became successful.

That album had been made with the help and advice of the original Yu Peirong. Naturally, Xu Xiaoqi shared a good relationship with her.

Compared to others, Xu Xiaoqi trusted her the most. So when Yu Peirong invited her out for a drink, she didn’t hesitate at all.

But after drinking that cup, she completely lost consciousness.

Yu Peirong could more or less guess what had happened afterward.

When an Omega passes out at a party surrounded by opportunistic wolves, something is bound to go wrong. When Xu Xiaoqi woke up, she found herself lying on a strange bed, with a dangerous-looking Alpha beside her. He was holding her in his arms, caressing her gland.

The pheromonal stimulation left her powerless. For an Omega, an Alpha’s pheromones are not just attractive, they are commanding and dominating.

Xu Xiaoqi was not a fragile or submissive Omega. She had a strong personality. Her first reaction upon waking was not to run but to fight back. Once she realized she had been deeply marked and that the imprint could not easily be erased, she decided to go down fighting.

She pretended to be obedient, curling into the Alpha’s arms and sobbing softly, but all the while she was searching for something sharp in the room.

She eventually found a pair of scissors. Just as she was about to strike while the Alpha let down his guard, her hesitation gave her away. The Alpha noticed and became furious. He called in other Alphas. Despite already being marked, she was forcibly invaded again with overwhelming pheromonal suppression.

When she finally left that place, Xu Xiaoqi was in a daze. Even when she later appeared on variety shows and interviews, her speech was disjointed and confused. On top of that, someone leaked photos of her in bed. Marketing accounts were paid off to spread gossip and slander. Before long, the public narrative was that Xu Xiaoqi had used her body to rise to fame.

In this day and age, online rumors spread like wildfire. Even if they aren’t true, enough repetition makes them real in the public eye. And for Omegas, who are already a vulnerable group in society, being accused of using their looks or body could completely destroy their reputation. The internet is filled with people who secretly desire Omegas while publicly condemning and shaming them.

Xu Xiaoqi wasn’t emotionally weak, but under the weight of so many attacks, she eventually broke and was admitted to a psychiatric facility.

Those responsible for what happened to her still walked free. Worst of all, Xu Xiaoqi, due to the trauma, could no longer remember exactly who had violated her.

The only person she remembered was Yu Peirong, the original. That was because they had been close. Not quite best friends, but close enough for Xu Xiaoqi to fully trust her.

Being betrayed by someone you trusted was a nightmare she would never forget. In her heart, she resented the original Peirong even more than the Alphas who actually hurt her.

Yu Peirong’s delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. While listening to Xu Xiaoqi’s hysterical accusations, she felt something was off.

She already suspected that the person behind the incident was Yu Shang. So why did Xu Xiaoqi believe it was the original her?

It was not that she thought Xu Xiaoqi was mistaken. Rather, something had clearly caused a misunderstanding. The original Yu Peirong had started turning darker later in the story. Before that, although she had done a few questionable things and kept company with shady people, she had never crossed the line so far.

In short, before she had forcefully marked Qi Xiyao, the original Yu Peirong was, at worst, a spoiled heiress who liked to play recklessly. She had not yet become truly wicked.

And that flashy, arrogant behavior of hers always felt like it was aimed at attracting someone’s attention.

Meanwhile, Xu Xiaoqi continued cursing wildly, completely losing her composure. There was no sign of the once-radiant idol who had lit up the stage.

Yu Peirong recalled a friend from her previous world who had been in a girl group. That group had reached the peak of popularity within three years of debut. She didn’t know much about music or dance, but she had seen how magical those idols looked on stage. When the music played, it was as if all the light in the world gathered onto that platform. It was unforgettable.

So seeing Xu Xiaoqi in such a broken and miserable state made Yu Peirong feel deeply saddened.

But she knew this was not the right time to act. At least, not yet.

The psychiatric hospital was a top-tier facility, with beautiful surroundings and full amenities. But as Yu Peirong left the premises, she still felt a heavy mental pressure weighing on her.

It wasn’t until she drove a good distance away that the tension finally lifted. Still, when she recalled the terrible condition Xu Xiaoqi had been in, her heart ached.

No matter how you looked at it, the original Yu Peirong was involved in what happened to Xu Xiaoqi. Whether she wanted to clear her name or was simply moved by sympathy, Yu Peirong could not turn her back on this.

As she was almost home, she received a call from Qi Xiyao. The woman sounded tired, but it was clear she had come out of her heat cycle safely.

“What do you want to eat? I can bring something home for you.”

Yu Peirong spoke with the same gentle, coaxing tone as before, her voice soft and warm.

But there was a long pause on the other end of the line. Then Qi Xiyao replied haltingly.

“I’m heading home, Sister Peirong. I’ll buy a new set of sheets to replace the ones I used. Next time, I’ll treat you to dinner.”

She took a deep breath.

She had spent her entire heat period at Yu Peirong’s house. Even if her parents had not been worried, she herself felt embarrassed after realizing everything she had done during that time.

She remembered that it was Yu Peirong who gave her the suppressant injections. There had also been an Alpha pheromone vial in the house. It smelled like gardenias, her favorite scent.

Qi Xiyao had wanted to buy one herself, but she couldn’t find the brand and didn’t want to ask. So she gave up.

Though her memory was a bit foggy, she knew she must have caused trouble for Yu Peirong during those days.

“Didn’t you already end your lease?” Yu Peirong asked, then realized something. “Are you staying at your parents’ house?”

Qi Xiyao gave a soft yes.

“Then let me help you rent a new place. You can’t stay with your parents forever.”

Yu Peirong offered this without thinking too much. But when her system gave her a warning, she remembered how close she was to completely breaking character.

So she quickly added with a straight face,

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just worried Yu Shang might come looking for you again.”

According to her original role, she was supposed to be a concerned older sister. But now she was taking care of Qi Xiyao almost like a partner. From Yu Shang’s perspective, this was nothing short of “stealing his girlfriend.”

After falling out with her, Yu Shang had been spreading rumors at home. Earlier that day, Yu Peirong had even received several calls from unknown numbers. She could already guess it was her father.

But she had been too busy talking to Xu Xiaoqi to deal with him.

Lu Zhiyao remained a persistent threat. In the original plot, he was difficult and controlling. To prevent future trouble, Yu Peirong knew she had to resolve the situation with the Yu family. Besides, she still needed to investigate how the original her had changed so drastically, so cutting ties now wasn’t an option.

Qi Xiyao only said she would look for a place herself. Yu Peirong didn’t push the matter. But after getting home, she still couldn’t relax.

In the novel, Yu Shang was ruthless. He would do anything to get what he wanted. In that way, he was no different from Lu Zhiyao.

Yu Peirong worried that Qi Xiyao’s rental or housing information might fall into Yu Shang’s hands. After all, this was a novel world where absurd tricks often slipped past legal oversight.

After thinking it over, she sent a message to her new assistant, asking him to look for suitable housing in a slightly remote but still convenient neighborhood.

Qi Xiyao was scheduled to return to filming in a few days. The main characters would also be coming back from another location, and the cast planned a get-together before resuming work.

Before that, she carefully chose a new place to live. The rent was reasonable, the area was clean and quiet, and there weren’t many young people, so she didn’t have to worry about being recognized. It was a good temporary home.

The income from this new drama was enough to support her daily life, but her family debts still loomed. More troubling were the strange passersby she kept noticing near her home, stirring up memories of past fear and paranoia.

Nothing happened for a few days, but Qi Xiyao stayed cautious. She even gave up her nightly runs.

That night, she was called to the police station to finish paperwork for a past case. Zhao Siyan had confessed to the kidnapping and was sentenced to five years in prison. That gave her some peace of mind.

But when she returned to her neighborhood, she spotted a suspicious figure lurking in the shadows.

Sensing danger, she immediately started running. But she was no match for the tall, strong man behind her. She could hear his heavy breathing closing in, almost at her neck.

Suddenly, she caught sight of a familiar figure. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed Yu Peirong’s hand.

“Call security!” she shouted.

But just as the words left her mouth, the Alpha behind her released a powerful wave of pheromones, pressing down like a crashing tide.

Alpha pheromones could force Omegas to submit. But Qi Xiyao was no ordinary Omega. She wasn’t going to give in so easily.

She quickly moved in front of Yu Peirong to shield her, trying to fight off the effects with willpower alone. But her legs were already starting to give out.

The man chasing them was clearly not a low-level Alpha. Seeing the two women close together, he smiled wickedly.

He didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt them, just to show off his dominance.

He wanted to watch them tremble under his pheromones. But Yu Peirong had no intention of giving him that satisfaction.

She had learned martial arts. Her skills weren’t top-tier, but with Alpha strength, she could still hold her own.

Yu Peirong stepped aside, lifted her leg, and landed a sharp kick right into the man’s stomach, knocking him to the ground.

The Alpha cried out in pain.

Before he could recover, Yu Peirong pressed the tip of her umbrella against the back of his neck, right where his gland was. One push, and she could destroy it.

The moonlight filtered through the tree branches, casting shadows across her sharp, elegant face. Her high nose bridge and cold features looked especially fierce as she stared down at the defeated Alpha.

The man didn’t dare move. That kick had left his stomach bruised and aching.

“What’s wrong? Yu Shang still hasn’t given up? Is he hoping to join Zhao Siyan in prison?”

Yu Peirong sneered.

Just then, the Alpha’s expression flickered with confusion. Qi Xiyao gently tugged Yu Peirong’s sleeve. Her voice was quiet and cold like mist drifting through autumn forests.

“I already paid off this month’s debt. If you try anything again, I’ll press charges.”

Yu Peirong quickly judged from the man’s tone and expression that he wasn’t someone sent by Yu Shang to follow Qi Xiyao. He was one of the people pressuring her to repay debts.

People like him rarely dared to take things too far. At most, they would throw around some threats, maybe get a little handsy, hoping to scare the target and walk away with some kind of benefit. From the way he looked earlier, he probably just wanted to take advantage of Qi Xiyao before leaving. After all, she was a rare beauty, an Omega far out of his league.

“Press charges? How long do you think someone like me would get?”

His mocking tone was bitter. In cases like this, the law might issue a warning or slap on the wrist. At worst, he would be detained for a few days. Jail time? Unlikely.

Repeat offenders like him had long criminal records, but they often got away with it. The system never punished them harshly, and each escape only made them more brazen.

Suddenly, Yu Peirong pressed her foot down hard on the man’s back. Her umbrella jabbed into the gland at the back of his neck, making the Alpha cry out in pain.

“If I ever see you harass my girlfriend again, I’ll break one of your fingers. Second time, I’ll break two. And it’ll keep going.”

Her voice was cold and low, laced with threat. The umbrella slowly circled against the sensitive skin of his gland, making the pain spread with growing intensity.

“There are plenty of people out there who aren’t afraid to die. And whatever you dare to do, I dare to do worse. If anything happens to her…”

She left the sentence hanging, giving him plenty of room to imagine what she might do.

The man broke out into a cold sweat. The moment Yu Peirong stepped back, he scrambled to his feet and ran.

“Pathetic scum,” she muttered.

But when she turned back to look at Qi Xiyao, she saw the woman’s face was pale and shaken.

Qi Xiyao had intended to walk away, but after a moment’s hesitation, she turned and pulled Yu Peirong toward her apartment.

Her home was small but very tidy. The windows were spotless, everything was neatly arranged. Though compact, the space was warm and inviting.

Qi Xiyao didn’t ask why Yu Peirong had shown up. She simply went to the kitchen and made her a cup of hot tea, just like before.

“I asked Xiao Mo for your address. I was planning to come check on your place tonight,” Yu Peirong explained, her tone softer now. The forceful energy she had used against the thug faded away, and she no longer spoke in that cold, haughty way. “The security in this area seems a little weak.”

Qi Xiyao had chosen this complex for multiple reasons. It wasn’t luxurious, but it wasn’t rundown either. Most of the residents were older people or families with children. A young woman living alone here wouldn’t attract too much attention or be easily recognized.

In the original novel, Qi Xiyao’s family background had been described as difficult, but the details were vague. From what Yu Peirong could tell, the debts were large, and frugal living made sense.

She had considered helping her rent a better place but realized that too much support might raise suspicions or make Qi Xiyao uncomfortable.

Yu Peirong’s main concern was that a place like this lacked proper security. A beautiful, independent Omega living alone was vulnerable to unwanted attention. Just like tonight, the man who showed up had clearly intended to harass her.

After hearing Yu Peirong’s explanation, Qi Xiyao’s expression eased a little. She sat down on the far end of the couch, clutching a stuffed toy tightly in her arms.

She rested her chin on its head, as if that small object was her only anchor in a world filled with pressure. After a long moment, her closed eyes opened, and tears shimmered in them like morning mist in a forest, quietly swelling and overflowing.

Outside the window, thunder rumbled. A flash of lightning lit the sky, and then rain poured down in thick sheets. The gray curtain of water blurred everything outside.

“I almost took out a loan from a loan shark,” she said softly.

In this world, high-interest lending existed in a legal gray area. While “naked loans” were strictly banned, other exploitative loans were not as tightly regulated. So when people were desperate enough and had a formal contract, they often used them as a last resort.

These loans were like snowballs rolling downhill, growing with greed until they became impossible to stop.

Qi Xiyao’s family owed a significant amount. There was a time when she couldn’t see any way to pay it off. Yu Shang had been closing in on her, trying to possess her completely. She even considered leaving the company altogether.

But that meant paying a hefty breach-of-contract fee. Desperate, she considered taking on high-interest debt.

Yu Peirong suddenly remembered that the original version of herself had once conspired with Zhao Siyan to offer Qi Xiyao a loan. Thankfully, she had stopped it just in time.

Her mother’s illness had been a devastating blow. Her father had vowed to save her at all costs, even if it meant losing everything. They had turned to loan sharks out of desperation.

Her father worked part-time after his day job, doing everything he could to save money. Back then, Qi Xiyao was still a child, and her mother could no longer work. All the pressure fell onto her father’s shoulders.

Eventually, her father became ill too, and their already fragile life fell apart completely.

But what truly broke her happened one day when she came home and smelled blood.

Young as she was, Qi Xiyao had sharp instincts. She picked up a brick and crept forward, but nearly got stabbed when she moved too quickly.

She saw a strong Alpha pressing her weak mother into the couch, biting into her gland and forcefully marking her.

The room was filled with smoke and blood. The flickering light of a cigarette and the sound of her mother’s screams painted the beginning of a lifelong nightmare.

In that moment, her mind went blank. Her entire body felt numb.

She could not remember how she had fought him off. Even the man guarding the door couldn’t stop a determined little girl.

After injecting his pheromones, the Alpha left with a satisfied smile, completely ignoring the lifelong damage he had caused.

Her mother sat there, knees on the floor, unable to lift her head for a long time.

That scene haunted Qi Xiyao’s entire childhood.

For years afterward, she hated Alphas and stayed away from them. Only after growing up did she begin to let down her guard.

But the past never truly left her. Under Yu Shang’s control, she was continually harassed. The debts were overwhelming, and the people involved always seemed to find her, lingering just on the edge of the law.

If her circumstances hadn’t improved recently, she might have broken down entirely.

Even now, the pressure was unbearable.

Yu Shang wasn’t the only one eyeing her. There were others too, like those men from the bar. Somehow, they had gotten her information and used her past loans to pressure her.

She couldn’t cut ties with them, but she refused to beg or grovel. That’s why the man tonight had been so bold, mocking her as if she were selling herself.

There were countless times when people like him had insulted her. Her past had been surrounded by malice.

Even with caring parents, their love couldn’t stop the spiral.

When she was about to collapse, it had been Yu Peirong who pulled her back.

Still, seeing Yu Peirong tonight had stirred up those memories. The seed of doubt quietly returned.

After Qi Xiyao finished telling her story, Yu Peirong understood. In her position, she wouldn’t easily trust someone’s sudden kindness either.

“So, what’s your situation now?”

Yu Peirong asked gently, afraid of causing more pain.

Qi Xiyao didn’t mind. She straightforwardly admitted that she still hadn’t paid off her debt. For a third-tier actress, it was a huge burden.

For someone like Yu Peirong, the money wouldn’t be difficult to repay. But she knew Qi Xiyao wouldn’t accept that kind of help easily. And more importantly, she couldn’t break character.

Yu Peirong looked at her thoughtfully.

Qi Xiyao had been particularly sensitive to her earlier, likely because Xu Xiaoqi’s experience reminded her so much of her mother’s.

If that issue wasn’t resolved, it would remain a thorn in her heart.

And Yu Shang still had power over her. He had control of certain resources. It seemed he might even be connected to her mother’s medical treatment. That’s why she was so trapped.

Yu Peirong sighed.

Seeing that Qi Xiyao looked exhausted and overwhelmed, she gently pulled her into her arms. After going through her heat cycle together, they were much closer now. Hugging felt natural.

Qi Xiyao leaned into her, clutching her sleeve tightly like someone who had finally found a safe harbor and didn’t want to let go.

Ever since Yu Peirong had changed, Qi Xiyao had been afraid it might all be a lie. But time and again, she found no trace of deception.

And besides…

With her face buried in Yu Peirong’s collarbone, she breathed in a soft, pleasant scent.

She remembered that Yu Peirong never used to wear this kind of fragrance. Though she was always beautiful, she used to prefer heavy makeup, which dulled her natural elegance.

Now, this fresh and clean scent only enhanced her charm. Her shoulder felt safe and warm. She no longer spoke with cruelty or mockery but instead treated her with tender kindness, even putting on a gentle act of aloofness.

Underneath those cool words, however, her flushed ears and subtle reactions betrayed her true feelings.

It was kind of cute.

“Peirong jie…”

Qi Xiyao’s voice was soft and muffled, since she was curled up in her embrace. She twirled her fingers around the edge of Yu Peirong’s sleeve, her tone tinged with a hint of spoiled sweetness.

“After what happened tonight, I’m really scared. Can you stay with me for a while and pretend to be my girlfriend?”

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