Reborn as the Heartless Alpha - Chapter 27

Noodles?

Zhou Zhou was stunned for a long moment before she realized why Miss You had made such a request. That morning, she had been in a hurry to leave and had left two bowls of noodles on the table. Miss You had asked if she could eat them.

Perhaps Miss You hadn’t had breakfast yet when she came over in the morning, which was why she’d asked.

Zhou Zhou was well aware of her own cooking skills, they were definitely not as good as those of a professional chef. Miss You’s request was probably just to make her feel more at ease staying here these past few days.

Thinking about how she had accepted help from both Miss Song and Miss You, and even made them worry about her, Zhou Zhou felt a pang of guilt. The best way to reassure them was to accept their kindness.

“If Miss You doesn’t mind,” Zhou Zhou murmured, lowering her head.

You Xuechu smiled. “I don’t mind. It’s strange, those two bowls of noodles weren’t particularly delicious, but I finished them anyway.”

“Especially that fried egg. It had a very unique shape.”

Zhou Zhou’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with shock.

Miss You had eaten both bowls? And she’d noticed the shape of the fried egg?

She remembered hiding the naturally heart-shaped fried egg at the bottom of the bowl. The more she thought about it, the more it felt like a futile attempt to conceal it.

“I… Miss You, I didn’t!” Zhou Zhou stumbled over her words, her mind in complete disarray.

Standing beside her, You Xuechu listened patiently, like an older sister, to her incoherent explanation, her expression tinged with helplessness.

“No need to explain,” You Xuechu interrupted just as Zhou Zhou felt utterly defeated.

“I won’t say anything to Song Yi.”

Zhou Zhou slowly exhaled in relief. Though Miss You hadn’t cleared up the misunderstanding, at least she had promised not to tell Miss Song.

“But, Zhou Zhou,” You Xuechu’s expression turned serious again as she asked, “do you really like Song Yi?”

Zhou Zhou instinctively shook her head.

She couldn’t like Miss Song. She just thought Miss Song was very kind. Miss Song had appeared when she needed help the most and had helped her. She just wanted to do something for Miss Song in return.

You Xuechu nodded in surprise, studying Zhou Zhou thoughtfully. Zhou Zhou avoided her gaze, but You Xuechu didn’t press further, simply saying, “It’s for the best if you don’t like Song Yi.”

“Get some rest. Goodnight.” You Xuechu closed the door for Zhou Zhou and returned to her own room.

She still couldn’t figure it out: Zhou Zhou’s denial was understandable after all, the class gap between them was undeniable, and recklessly throwing herself into the fire would be foolish. But what about Song Yi? Song Yi had always been bold and unapologetic, playing freely and walking away once she’d had her fill, never looking back no matter how the other person felt. So why couldn’t she even admit to having feelings for Zhou Zhou?

People say everyone wears many faces, but You Xuechu felt that Song Yi alone might have a thousand. No one should ever try to see through her.

Late at night, the Song family villa remained brightly lit. Song Yi, the woman rumored to have a thousand faces, was still sitting at the dining table, staring at her phone, waiting for Zhou Zhou’s reply.

Even though You Xuechu was reliable, Song Yi wasn’t entirely at ease especially now that she suspected You Xuechu might have feelings for Zhou Zhou.

Being friends with Zhou Zhou is fine, but falling in love is out of the question. After all, in the novel This Scumbag Alpha Always Plays and Abandons, Zhou Zhou has her own official love interest, though this person appears relatively late in the story. After being toyed with and discarded by the original scumbag Alpha, Zhou Zhou endured the darkest period of her life. Yet, she didn’t give up on herself. Instead, she fought against her Omega instincts, forcibly breaking her admiration and absolute submission to Alphas. This defiance even reignited the scumbag Alpha’s desire to conquer her, leading to attempts to reclaim her. The climax of the novel comes when Zhou Zhou’s parents finally find her. She transforms into the heiress of a powerful family returning from abroad, with a high-profile fiancée who had been betrothed to her since childhood. The two join forces, not only kicking the scumbag Alpha to the curb but also bringing down the entire Song family. In the end, the scumbag Alpha meets a deranged and tragic death, a fitting retribution for his past misdeeds.

Though Song Yi herself is perpetually single, she adores the kind of one-on-one, mutually devoted romance depicted in novels. After reading This Scumbag Alpha Always Plays and Abandons, aside from finding the original scumbag Alpha excessively cruel and Zhou Zhou heartbreakingly resilient, she also felt that Zhou Zhou’s biological parents and fiancée had no flaws except for showing up far too late.

While the novel didn’t dedicate much space to describing Zhou Zhou’s high-profile fiancée, the subtle nuances in the text made it clear how deeply the fiancée loved Zhou Zhou, heartbroken over her past and committed to caring for her future. She was Zhou Zhou’s perfect match.

So much so that Song Yi couldn’t help but see anyone who might develop feelings for Zhou Zhou as a potential third party, even if the fiancée hadn’t appeared yet.

Song Yi knew she was being a bit obsessive, but she chalked it up to her strong moral compass, completely unaware that there might be other emotions she was overlooking.

Unconsciously, Song Yi had been sitting at the dining table for over two hours. She watched her phone battery drain from green to red without moving a muscle. It wasn’t until hunger pangs struck that she finally got up. That afternoon, she and Zhou Zhou had cooked noodles at Ding Chen’s place, but they hadn’t made much, worried that Ding Chen would have nothing left for the next meal.

Leaving her phone on the table, she walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Inside, she found a fresh stock of fruits and vegetables, neatly organized in transparent containers everything arranged with meticulous care.

It had to be Zhou Zhou’s doing. On her very first day at work, her employer had an unexpected crisis, yet Zhou Zhou, as the housekeeper, hadn’t let it affect her duties.

A faint smile tugged at Song Yi’s lips, but it faded just as quickly when she remembered Zhou Zhou hadn’t replied to her messages.

Had she been too tired and fallen asleep already?

But it was already past midnight sleeping was perfectly normal.

Song Yi reached into the fridge, rummaging through the fresh produce, when her hand suddenly froze.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. There, in the fridge, was a box of fresh cherries.

Zhou Zhou remembered she liked cherries!

The sight of them inevitably brought back that awkward memory herself happily munching on cherries in front of Zhou Zhou, even offering her some, only for Zhou Zhou to visibly fluster.

Song Yi wanted to slap her past self for that moment. Yet, Zhou Zhou had gone out of her way to prepare cherries for her.

Just like that, the frustration over Zhou Zhou’s lack of reply dissipated.

Song Yi took the cherries out of the fridge, washed them, and brought them back to the dining table to eat as her meal.

One cherry after another entered her mouth, the mildly sweet juice bursting open in her mouth, her taste buds thoroughly enjoying it, her tongue tip practically dancing.

But something still felt missing.

Still, it was much better than eating rice.

Song Yi took a photo of the quickly half-eaten cherries and posted it on her social media with the caption: Cherries are delicious.

Within less than a minute of posting, a comment appeared.

You Xuechu: Didn’t you used to not eat cherries?

Song Yi froze for a few seconds. She didn’t recall the novel mentioning this. If the original scumbag Alpha didn’t like cherries, why would she have been attracted to Zhou Zhou, whose pheromones smelled like cherries?

Was it simply because Zhou Zhou was good-looking?

That reason seemed sufficient enough. In Song Yi’s mind, liking Zhou Zhou was perfectly normal.

Especially for someone like the original scumbag Alpha seeing anything pure and untainted would probably make her unable to resist tainting it. That was what made her especially detestable.

Song Yi didn’t reply, so You Xuechu commented again with a question mark and a cat emoji.

Song Yi tapped into her chat with You Xuechu, surprised that You Xuechu hadn’t deleted the original scumbag Alpha.

Was it because she still cherished their childhood friendship?

With mixed feelings, Song Yi thought: Maybe in the future, she could be a little friendlier to You Xuechu.

Starting with replying to her message.

[Cherries are delicious. I just didn’t know better before.]

When You Xuechu saw the private message from Song Yi, she felt like Song Yi had been possessed to say something that carried even the slightest hint of self-deprecation admitting she “didn’t know better before.”

[Are you okay? Did me taking Zhou Zhou away shock you?]

Mentioning Zhou Zhou was like twisting a knife in Song Yi’s heart.

[How is Zhou Zhou doing now?]

As expected, Song Yi still cared about Zhou Zhou.

You Xuechu stared at Song Yi’s profile picture, a selfie of her side profile against a sunset, the fiery red clouds like passionate roses. “Song Yi” tilted her head slightly upward, eyes closed, her long, thick lashes casting delicate shadows under the glow of the sunset. Her nose was high-bridged, with a small black mole on the wing utterly bewitching.

There was a saying that women with moles on their nose wings were fickle and prone to romantic entanglements. You Xuechu had always dismissed it as superstition without scientific basis, but now, seeing it on Song Yi, it seemed somewhat accurate.

[???] Song Yi sent three more question marks.

You Xuechu snapped out of it, exiting Song Yi’s profile picture to continue replying.

[Zhou Zhou is already resting.]

You Xuechu watched as the “typing” indicator appeared and disappeared, wondering what Song Yi was hesitating about.

[Zhou Zhou left her phone in your car. I’ll come get it tomorrow.]

After a long pause, Song Yi finally replied.

[Okay.]

So Zhou Zhou hadn’t replied to her messages because she didn’t have her phone!

Song Yi got up and walked into the yard where her car was parked. She opened the door and saw Zhou Zhou’s phone lying on the passenger seat. She bent down to pick it up, closed the car door, and hummed a tune as she went back upstairs.

The next morning, Song Yi woke up at seven. She got out of bed, washed up, and sat in the living room, eating the few remaining cherries from last night while waiting for You Xuechu to come pick up Zhou Zhou’s phone.

After finishing the last cherry, Song Yi grew a little bored from waiting.

A thought popped into her head: Why wait for You Xuechu to come over? She could just deliver the phone to Zhou Zhou herself. That way, she could also check if Zhou Zhou was settling in well at You Xuechu’s place see if she was happy.

So, Song Yi went upstairs again to grab a few things, took Zhou Zhou’s phone, and headed out. Her home was less than five hundred meters away from You Xuechu’s place, yet she managed to drag her feet for a full fifteen minutes. By the time she arrived, it was still before eight in the morning.

Standing in front of You Xuechu’s villa, she suddenly realized she might have come a bit too early.

Were they even awake yet?

Song Yi stood outside the deep black iron gate, flanked by walls somewhere between orange and light brick-red, entwined with green vines. Pale orange flower buds, yet to bloom, dotted the vines she couldn’t tell what kind of flowers they were. Tilting her head up, she noticed the curtains in one of the second-floor rooms had been drawn open.

For some reason, Song Yi felt certain that was Zhou Zhou’s room. She knew Zhou Zhou was an early riser.

Should she ring the doorbell now?

Song Yi thought it would be too disruptive this early in the morning and decided to wait a little longer at least until eight.

You Xuechu woke up at eight, lured out of sleep by a tantalizing aroma. She hadn’t expected Zhou Zhou to be up so early making breakfast. Quickly getting out of bed, she pulled open the curtains and stood by the window. Out of habit, she gazed into the distance to relax her eyes, when she inadvertently spotted a faint figure near the villa gate. The person stood by the entrance, most of their body obscured by the wall, revealing only a sliver of shoulder and arm.

Could it be some shady character?

The “shady character,” Song Yi, checked the time and decided it was about right. Glancing back, she noticed the curtains in another second-floor room had also been opened, the lights inside now on. No doubt, You Xuechu was up as well.

Song Yi took a hundred steps back, then leisurely strolled forward again. Just as she reached the villa gate, You Xuechu beat her to it, swinging open the iron door and peering around outside. When she spotted Song Yi, she froze in obvious surprise.

“What are you doing here?”

You Xuechu couldn’t hide her astonishment, calling out from a distance. Song Yi was the type to laze in bed until afternoon if she had nothing to do was this some unexpected side effect of her early-onset estrus?

Song Yi raised her hand, and Zhou Zhou’s phone glinted in the eight o’clock sunlight, momentarily blinding You Xuechu, who lifted a hand to shield her eyes.

“Sorry,” Song Yi apologized, stopping in front of You Xuechu. “You were probably about to come over to get Zhou Zhou’s phone, right? I saved you the trip, here it is.”

“Yeah.” You Xuechu blinked a few times before her eyes adjusted. “Since you’re already here, don’t you want to come in and see Zhou Zhou?” she asked thoughtfully. Surely Song Yi had come all this way because she wanted to see her.

Song Yi nodded and was about to step inside when You Xuechu suddenly held out an arm to stop her.

Confused, Song Yi asked, “Changed your mind?”

“No.” You Xuechu chuckled, then scanned the area outside again. “Earlier, when I was in my room, I saw someone lurking by the gate. Did you notice anyone suspicious on your way here?”

Earlier by the gate, Song Yi thought for a moment. Wasn’t that just her?

Song Yi shook her head vigorously. “Nope, must’ve been your imagination.”

With that, she swiftly slipped past You Xuechu into the villa. A delicate fragrance wafted through the air it smelled exactly like Zhou Zhou’s cooking.

You Xuechu remained rooted in place, doubting her own eyes. She was slightly nearsighted maybe she really had imagined it. This gated community had strict security; random strangers couldn’t just wander in.

Snapping out of it, she watched as Song Yi hurried forward, taking the steps three at a time. You Xuechu was stunned, she’d never seen Song Yi move like this before.

Is it because he hasn’t completely gotten what he wants that he’s feeling restless, or is it also due to the effects of the susceptible period?

You Xuechu was worried about Song Yi, who was still in his susceptible period, being alone with Zhou Zhou, so she quickly followed them inside.

Once inside, she realized Song Yi wasn’t bothering Zhou Zhou at all. Zhou Zhou was serving the noodles, while Song Yi stood outside the kitchen, watching.

You Xuechu walked over, her footsteps clearly audible without any attempt to soften them.

Zhou Zhou suddenly turned around. “Miss You, the noodles are ready.”

“Ready to eat.” The second half of the sentence was directed at Song Yi.

You Xuechu saw the delight in Zhou Zhou’s eyes and the smile on her lips, this was the first time Zhou Zhou had smiled since arriving at her house.

Because of Song Yi.

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