Running a Food Stall to Support My Deceptive Omega - Chapter 1

The muddy ground of the courtyard was covered in layers of green leaves with slightly yellowed, curled edges, looking like pastries that had been casually set aside and then forgotten.

The lush green emitted a sweet and palatable scent, but the indelible yellow added a hint of decay to the “pastries.”

On the square table lay a layer of grayish-white dust. Inside the overturned, round-bellied teapot, the water had long since dried up.

The bright morning light pierced through the gaps in the sky, separating the small courtyard like a wall. On the side illuminated by the light, even the dancing dust motes seemed to move with a joyful rhythm.

On the other side, however, a cold and damp stench of blood was slowly spreading. It clung to the skin and bone marrow like insects, biting with a sharp, stinging pain.

A faint sound broke the silence. The body lying on the fallen leaves twitched, making the withered branches and rotten leaves beneath groan and crack under the weight.

She was trembling. Her eyelids began to struggle, her eyelashes fluttering like butterflies about to take flight. The two red moles beneath her left eye swayed unsteadily, resembling the most crimson fruits nestled among pure white petals.

Pain was the first sensation to arrive.

There wasn’t a single spot on her body that didn’t hurt. She opened eyes of extreme innocence and ignorance, tears falling from them as she looked at the person pressing down on her.

She was utterly terrified.

She did not remember where she was; she only remembered that the last time she woke up, this person had beaten her.

It hurt very much.

Her breathing grew ragged, her facial expression tightened, and the fear in her eyes could not be suppressed. Her head kept tilting back, trying to get further away from this person.

Unfortunately, she was lying on the ground, pinned down. How could she escape?

Instinctively, she thrust both hands toward the person’s neck.

She squeezed.

She squeezed with all her might.

The bones on the back of her hands protruded, and faint bluish-purple veins appeared through her pale skin. Her fingers were as white and clean as scallion roots, with rounded, pinkish nails—they looked fragile and pitiful. She did not look like someone capable of strangling another.

The person being strangled did not react at first.

However, after a breath or two, the person suddenly shuddered and snapped open eyes bloodshot with red streaks, glaring at the one choking them!

Mu Jinyu never imagined that in broad daylight, in a world of law and order, someone would dare to commit such a violent act against her! She considered herself mild-tempered and friendly; it was impossible for her to have a conflict with anyone to the point of attempted murder.

What was going on?

She saw that the person choking her looked even more terrified than she did, trembling even harder, yet the strength in those hands did not diminish at all—they only squeezed tighter!

As the air in her lungs dwindled, Mu Jinyu’s face turned red at a visible rate. She immediately arched her body, creating distance between herself and the person beneath her, and grabbed the other’s wrists with both hands.

She wanted to pull those hands away from her neck.

“Let… let go… quickly… let go of me!”

The voice sounded like it was being crushed by stones, desperately squeezed through the cracks—hoarse and blurred.

The person beneath her looked so beautiful and pitiable, yet she turned out to be a scorpion-hearted woman.

Mu Jinyu pulled and tugged at the hands on her neck with all her might. The once-rounded pink nails now acted like blades, digging into her neck and leaving stinging red marks.

The opponent was intent on killing. When Mu Jinyu failed to break free immediately, she knew she couldn’t let this continue. Her vision was darkening, her body was weakening, her throat was burning, and her lungs felt as if they were about to explode from lack of oxygen.

She was going to die…

Tears fell from Mu Jinyu’s bloodshot eyes, which were filled with resentment and despair. Large droplets splashed onto the fair, delicate face of the person beneath her.

Unable to break the grip, she tried another way. Using every last ounce of her strength, she slammed her head down hard against the other person’s!

Thud!

A dull sound echoed as two hard bones collided!

…

…

Mu Jinyu felt as if she had died for a few seconds before her five senses began to slowly return. Light began to seep back into her vision.

The hands on her neck lost their strength and dropped away. Air rushed into her chest, and she gasped for breath with her mouth wide open, the harsh sound in her throat resembling a wooden frame on the verge of collapsing.

Hiss— wheeze—

Mu Jinyu’s body uncontrollably flopped to the side, crushing countless withered leaves. While gasping for air, she watched the person beside her warily, terrified they would strike again.

But after staring at the motionless, eyes-closed figure for a while, her sluggish brain finally realized the other person seemed to have fainted.

Or were they dead?

In an instant, cold sweat covered Mu Jinyu’s body, and more violent tears fell from her eyes. She hurriedly crawled to the side of the woman in white, her trembling fingers reaching out to check for breath.

After an unknown amount of time, just as Mu Jinyu’s eyes were becoming hollow and her face turning gray with dread…

A warm, moist breath brushed against her fingertips.

She was still breathing!

Her heart, which had been hanging by a thread, suddenly dropped back into her chest. A sensation of surviving a disaster washed over her.

It is often said that large eyes lack spirit, but Mu Jinyu’s round eyes were full of emotion: lingering fear, relief, anger, and distaste. She did not like this person who had tried to kill her, but at this moment, she was incredibly relieved the woman was alive. Conflicting emotions clashed in her heart, leaving her deeply conflicted.

What exactly was happening?

Why was the other person wearing her hair up and dressed in ancient white robes? Where was this?

Mu Jinyu feebly covered her aching neck, her large eyes darting around the surroundings. She couldn’t understand why she was in an ancient-style courtyard. Yet, at the same time, she felt a strange sense of familiarity with the place, as if she had lived here for decades.

As soon as that thought appeared, Mu Jinyu couldn’t help but cry out in pain. She covered her head with both hands as a piercing headache struck. A flood of information forced its way into her mind.

The pain made her gasp for air, and she collapsed to the ground once more!

She curled up on the dusty ground. Even though the soft morning sunlight softened her tense, pained expression, it couldn’t truly make her feel better.

It hurt too much.

Her mind was filled with a chaotic jumble of memories. There were fragments of life in this courtyard, but also the plot of a novel she had recently read.

It was then that Mu Jinyu suddenly remembered: she had been studying late at night to prepare for the final exams of her sophomore year. Unable to resist, she had clicked on a very popular novel because it featured a supporting character with the same name as her.

Who would have thought that when she woke up again, she would have “transmigrated” into the book!

In the book, her character—the original owner of this body—did not have a good ending!

By a stroke of luck, the original owner had picked up the cold-hearted leader of the Rong family, the Regent of the Great Rong Kingdom and the female lead of the book—Rong Heng.

Rong Heng had lost her memory and remembered nothing. The original owner, while thanking the heavens for sending her a “wife,” planned to force a marriage. During the “marking” process, Rong Heng resisted to the death and was tortured until her wounds reopened, leaving her bleeding profusely.

Mu Jinyu hadn’t finished the novel, but she had seen countless promotional posts about it. Everyone was cursing the Mu Jinyu in the book as a beast and a pervert! Seeing her eventually hacked into pieces and fed to dogs by the female lead was supposedly extremely satisfying!

Mu Jinyu: “…”

Haha.

She used to find it satisfying too, but she didn’t think so anymore. That was the original owner’s doing, not hers! It shouldn’t be taken out on her, right?

Mu Jinyu broke free from the messy memories, her eyes filled with a mix of pity and dread. She scrambled backward from a sitting position, crawling desperately to get away from the unconscious Rong Heng on the ground.

Should she run away now?

She scrambled toward the courtyard gate, but when her hand touched the wooden door, she froze.

No, no. Aside from the fact that this courtyard was her home, once Rong Heng recovered her memory, she could use the courtyard as a clue to find out who had harmed her. More importantly, the original owner had already attempted to force herself on Rong Heng. If she ran now, wouldn’t that be an admission of guilt?

If she were caught by Rong Heng later, she would definitely still be hacked to pieces and fed to dogs!

What should she do? How could she save her life?

Did she have to change Rong Heng’s mind? Make Rong Heng forget the harm done to her, let go of past grievances, and only remember her kindness? That way, even when Rong Heng regained her memories, she wouldn’t do anything to her?

Right?

Yes! That was it! She had to make Rong Heng forget everything the original owner had done!

A glimmer of hope appeared on Mu Jinyu’s face. Fortunately, the original owner had not succeeded in marking Rong Heng; otherwise, she wouldn’t survive even if she had ten lives!

The thought of “marking” made Mu Jinyu’s head throb even more.

Buzzing.

This world actually had six genders! Qianyuan, Zhongyong, and Kunze.

Qianyuan were Alphas, Zhongyong were Betas, and Kunze were Omegas. It was said that Qianyuan and Kunze emitted special scents that attracted and complemented each other.

But Mu Jinyu wasn’t from this world. She only knew she was a Qianyuan and Rong Heng was a Kunze. As for what others were, how was she supposed to tell?

Haha, I can’t even tell genders apart. I’m really something.

A bitter smile appeared on Mu Jinyu’s face as she mentally gave herself a thumbs-up.

Forget it, now wasn’t the time for that. Maybe after staying in this world for a few days, she would figure it out.

Her full, oval face still had dried tear tracks, but her bright, round eyes were welling up again. Compared to struggling for survival in this world, she really just wanted to go back to her old world and take her final exams.

Kneeling on the ground and enduring the pain in her neck, Mu Jinyu propped Rong Heng up and painstakingly began to drag her toward the house.

She and Rong Heng were of similar height. Although Rong Heng was lighter than her, an unconscious person is notoriously difficult to move. She struggled significantly.

After only a few steps, Mu Jinyu felt a sticky sensation on her neck. Her hair was damp and clumped together, sticking to her skin. She thought she was just sweating profusely, but when she touched it, her fingertips came away red.

It turned out the wound on her neck from being strangled hadn’t stopped bleeding. The continuous exertion was causing the blood to flow freely, staining her hair and clothes red.

Seeing this, she didn’t dare use any more force. She brought a long bench from the courtyard and leaned Rong Heng against it.

The original owner’s family were ordinary merchants in Louxu County. The long street outside the house was the county’s night market street. The families living on both sides of the street were like the original owner’s; they opened their shops at night to do small business. During the day, they either slept or prepared the goods needed for the evening.

The sun had just risen, and it was still early. The entire street was quiet, without a sound. It wasn’t like other parts of the county where people were already bustling about.

However, ever since the original owner’s two mothers were killed by bandits while traveling to restock goods, the original owner had fallen into a slump, living off the meager savings they left behind. She lived one day at a time, just drifting along.

Yesterday, the original owner had intended to go to the capital, Bianjing, to buy some food she had been craving. Unexpectedly, halfway there, she saw Rong Heng lying among the withered branches and leaves in the roadside forest—fair, elegant, and refined like a water lily.

A momentary lapse into compassion made her abandon the trip to Bianjing. She hurriedly dragged Rong Heng back home. Fortunately, she lived on the night market street, and because people rarely moved about during the day, no one saw her bring Rong Heng into the courtyard. Otherwise, she would have faced a lot of trouble later.

Then came the original owner’s attempt to forcibly mark Rong Heng. The awakened Rong Heng resisted to the death, grabbed a stone during the struggle, and smashed the original owner into the afterlife.

And then she arrived.

No wonder her head hurt so much. She thought it was from receiving memories, but it was likely from the head injury.

After resting against the bench for a few moments, Mu Jinyu dragged her aching body to the center of the courtyard and picked up the stone Rong Heng had used to hit her. The stone had sharp, jagged edges and was stained with dried, blackened blood. It looked sinister.

Mu Jinyu initially wanted to throw the stone far away, not wanting Rong Heng to have anything to harm her with. But as she raised her arm to throw it, she remembered that in the book, Rong Heng was a ruthless person. No one who offended her ever met a good end.

What if…

Mu Jinyu stumbled back to Rong Heng’s side with the stone, aiming a sharp corner at Rong Heng’s head. She gestured back and forth, measuring the distance.

What if…

The sun rose higher, bathing the small courtyard in warmth. A gentle breeze blew, making the withered branches creak and the fallen leaves rustle. Mu Jinyu, bathed in sunlight, should have felt warm, but she shivered for no apparent reason.

How could she actually go through with it?

She was just an ordinary student who had never experienced any great turmoil, raised on principles of integrity, kindness, and harmony. Even if the other person wasn’t a “good sort,” she couldn’t bring herself to kill.

We’ll see… we’ll see…

Mu Jinyu comforted herself. Even if the other person wanted to harm her in the future, that was a problem for the future. She would deal with it then.

She pursed her lips and was just about to lower her hand when the unconscious woman slowly opened her eyes.

She stared with pitch-black pupils at the raised hand, poised to strike!

Mu Jinyu: “…”

Coincidence… what a coincidence, haha.

Rong Heng: ?

Mu Jinyu (dropping the stone): It’s not what it looks like! I didn’t!