The Cold And Straight Alpha Is Always Being Flirted With By The Goddess Aunt - Chapter 16

“Are you and Wei Weizhi really just friends?”

Location: The Yan Residence, Yan Qinghe’s original bedroom. Time: 7:30 PM

Yan Qing was accustomed to starting her meditation after bathing. She attempted to raise her spiritual energy from her Dantian and circulate it through the Sea of Qi.

It had been nearly two months since she arrived in this new world. Yan Qing felt a flicker of frustration whenever she thought about the unresolved conflict between pheromones and spiritual energy. To restore even the most basic level of her cultivation, she needed to be able to circulate spiritual energy freely down to her Root Chakra. Currently, she could barely maintain its flow through the outer layers of her meridians, she couldn’t penetrate deep into the energy channels, let alone reach the bindu points like the Root or Navel Chakras.

If she couldn’t even recover the first stage the Golden Light Stage then her original fifth-stage cultivation, the Will Light Stage, would remain a distant dream, and the possibility of returning to the Light Spirit Continent would be extinguished.

Yan Qing frowned. Regardless of the obstacles, she had to return. Her heart was set on immortality and the realization of the Great Dao. She formed a hand seal, began to withdraw her energy, and ended her meditation. As her fingers moved through the complex mudras, the bell on her red string let out a crisp chime.

“If you’re scared next time, just shake this bell, and I’ll come to stay with you, alright?”

Xi Zhaowan’s words still echoed in her ears. Yan Qing opened her eyes and checked the time. it was 8:00 PM. She remembered that their housekeeper, Aunt Zhou, had made one of Xi Zhaowan’s favorite dishes tonight. Should she call her?

They didn’t usually contact each other much during the day; most of their interaction happened at home. Yan Qing wondered if a sudden call would disturb her. However, amidst her cultivation frustrations, she felt a stronger desire than usual to see Xi Zhaowan. Even if they did nothing just cooking together or chatting casually, she simply liked talking to her.

Since the nightmare incident, the awkwardness Yan Qing felt after that erotic dream had faded, replaced by an inexplicable rapport and warmth. Sometimes Yan Qing thought that if Xi Zhaowan were someone she had known in the Light Spirit Continent, she would treat her like her Senior Brother regarding her as a Senior Sister and sharing every heavenly treasure with her first.

To Yan Qing, this was the highest form of gratitude and goodwill she could conceive.

Missing her and worrying that she might be too busy with work to eat, Yan Qing dialed the number. The phone rang for a long time. Just as Yan Qing was about to hang up, it was answered but by an unfamiliar woman’s voice.

“Who is this?”

“I’m her family. Where is she?” Amidst the noise of traffic, Yan Qing could faintly hear Xi Zhaowan’s drunken murmurs in the background.

“She’s with me.” Wei Weizhi glanced at the woman in the backseat, who was nearly unconscious. “She’s having a fever. She needs an inhibitor.”

“Where are you now?” The girl’s voice on the phone, usually as cool as water, suddenly rippled with urgency.

After getting the location, Yan Qing immediately called for the driver and rushed over.

“No… no inhibitors,” Xi Zhaowan managed to say, clinging to the last shreds of her consciousness. This felt like a fever, but not quite; an inhibitor might have the opposite effect.

Wei Weizhi insisted that without a marking, an inhibitor was the only choice, but seeing Xi Zhaowan’s professional hesitation, she began to waver.

“Should I take you to the hospital then?” Wei Weizhi’s tone was unusually serious. Even she was surprised by her own restraint and respect for Xi Zhaowan’s wishes tonight.

Xi Zhaowan nodded slightly, her face flushed like peach blossoms. As Wei Weizhi helped her out of the car, a slender, ethereal young figure blocked their path.

The scent of a fellow Alpha triggered a hint of hostility in Wei Weizhi. Surprisingly, she couldn’t sense the girl’s Alpha rank. She subtly released some of her own pheromones, S-rank pheromones usually exerted absolute pressure on lower ranks.

However, Yan Qing merely gave her a casual glance, completely unaffected.

“I’m the ‘family member’ who just called.” Yan Qing naturally took the slumped Xi Zhaowan into her arms and gave a faint “thank you.”

Wei Weizhi felt her arms go empty. The semi-conscious Xi Zhaowan leaned into the girl with extreme docility. Seeing that she could barely stand, Yan Qing lifted Xi Zhaowan into a princess carry, carefully placed her in the back of her own car, and drove away.

Their movements were incredibly natural. Wei Weizhi narrowed her eyes. Family? A beautiful seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl?

“Xiao Zhang, look into Xi Zhaowan’s private life,” she ordered her assistant. “Especially her family situation.”

At H-City’s largest hospital, the doctors were puzzled. Xi Zhaowan had symptoms of a fever, but blood tests showed she wasn’t in heat, nor was she affected by other Alpha pheromones. After some basic treatment, she regained basic consciousness.

By the hospital bed, Yan Qing stayed by her side, handing her a glass of warm water. Xi Zhaowan was surprised by Yan Qing’s arrival, but seeing the girl’s genuine concern, a wave of warmth flooded her heart.

“Sister Wan, try to remember, did you drink anything at the banquet?” Yan Qing asked.

Xi Zhaowan shook her head. Suspecting the Zhao family, she hadn’t touched a drop of water, only some wine.

“Did you smell anything strange?”

Xi Zhaowan’s pupils contracted. She remembered a flower girl dropping a large bouquet, she had helped pick it up, smelled a strange fragrance, and her finger had been pricked by a thorn on the stem.

After hearing the theory, Yan Qing was confused. “A blood test should have detected that.”

“It’s possible they just wanted to daze you briefly, but you were taken away by your friend,” Yan Qing mused.

“Friend?” Yan Qing was referring to Wei Weizhi. Xi Zhaowan’s first impression of her hadn’t been great, though her later actions had indirectly helped.

“Yes, that Alpha woman.” Yan Qing felt a bit uneasy and refilled the half-empty water glass. That woman had been very tense about Xi Zhaowan, holding her so intimately. “Are you and Wei Weizhi… really just friends?” Yan Qing asked, her fingers tightening around the porcelain handle.

“Wei Weizhi? She’s not even a friend yet,” Xi Zhaowan explained patiently. “We only met tonight.”

Yan Qing felt an odd sense of relief. When the doctor walked in, he saw a teenage girl looking at the patient with a smile. Who smiles like that when their family is sick? he wondered, but said professionally: “Stay for observation tonight. If there are no symptoms, you can leave tomorrow.”

Since Xi Zhaowan hadn’t eaten at the banquet, Yan Qing sent the driver back to have Aunt Zhou prepare some light porridge.

“Shall I feed you?” Yan Qing had no experience taking care of people. In the cultivation world, she was the one being served. But she assumed patients were supposed to be weak.

Xi Zhaowan gave her a playful look and pinched Yan Qing’s fair cheek. “Qing’er is so thoughtful, but I can do it myself.”

“Oh…” Yan Qing felt awkward again. Having held a high position for so long, only Xi Zhaowan dared to treat her like a junior.

For an Alpha, Qing’er’s skin is unexpectedly smooth, Xi Zhaowan thought.

The next day, they returned home. Life resumed its normal pace school for one, work for the other. They thought the “pseudo heat” incident was over.

But that night, while Yan Qing was meditating, her keen senses picked up an intensifying scent of White Gardenia coming from Xi Zhaowan’s room. She rushed in to find Xi Zhaowan flushed and semiconscious.

“So cold…” Her brows were knitted in pain. Yan Qing hurriedly covered her with a quilt.

“What’s wrong?”

The next second, Xi Zhaowan threw the quilt off. “But… so hot.”

“You’re having a fever,” Yan Qing began, then shook her head. No, this was the same as yesterday, a “pseudo-heat” with an unknown cause.

“It’s not… a fever,” Xi Zhaowan managed to whisper, struggling to maintain her composure.

“I’ll take you to the hospital.” Yan Qing lifted her in a princess carry.

“It’s… useless.” Xi Zhaowan hooked her arms around Yan Qing’s neck. “I’m so cold, Qing’er. Take me to the bathroom, please. I need hot water.”

Yan Qing ran a bath. Can Sister Wan undress herself? Apparently not. She was completely drained of strength. Yan Qing’s first thought was to just drop her in the tub fully clothed, but she realized that was too blunt and inconsiderate.

She hesitated, then closed her eyes to undress Xi Zhaowan and help her into the warm water. She turned to leave, but then paused. We are both women, why should I mind? She told herself she was just being respectful to her elder, but deep down, the shyness she felt had already crossed the boundary of “junior and elder.”

“Qing’er… don’t go,” Xi Zhaowan murmured, her voice soft and pleading like a lover’s whisper.

Yan Qing couldn’t bear to leave. She remembered how Xi Zhaowan stayed with her through her nightmare. She convinced herself she was staying only because Xi Zhaowan was too weak.

“Sister Wan, this isn’t a normal heat.”

Even if it were, Yan Qing believed it would be “outrageous and rebellious” to mark her original body’s aunt. She decided to try a different way: using her spiritual energy to suppress whatever toxin was in Xi Zhaowan’s system.

She sat on the edge of the tub, took a deep breath, and keeping her eyes mostly closed to avoid seeing too much found Xi Zhaowan’s hand in the water. She tried to channel energy through the finger that had been pricked by the thorn, but it failed. Is it because she’s an Omega? Or because of the toxin?

There was only one way left. Yan Qing sighed, struggling with herself for several minutes. The Dao of Awakening involves compassion for all living beings, she thought. If she is an elder who has been kind to me, I cannot abandon her.

The seventeen-year-old girl, her face crimson in the steam, slowly unbuttoned her own shirt. Like a cicada shedding its skin, she stepped into the large bathtub. She placed her palms against Xi Zhaowan’s delicate back, just below the shoulder blades.

As the hot water flowed between their skin, Yan Qing began to funnel her spiritual energy into the nearly unconscious woman. Eventually, Yan Qing felt her own energy draining. She pressed her palms firmer against the jade-like skin, her face flushing even deeper.

Unbeknownst to them, as the energy entered Xi Zhaowan’s Sea of Qi, it triggered a “foundation building” effect that cycled the energy back into Yan Qing with even more vigor. Yan Qing’s parched Sea of Consciousness was suddenly flooded with a clear, life-giving force. She greedily absorbed the circulating energy, falling into a state of profound stability.

One healing, the other unknowingly cultivating, they remained in the warm water palm to back throughout the night.