The Cold And Straight Alpha Is Always Being Flirted With By The Goddess Aunt - Chapter 27

The direct effect of Yan Qing, an A-grade Alpha, being “reverse marked” by an S-grade Omega was dependency. An unprecedented level of dependency.

She wanted to be near her, the kind of proximity where they were pressed against each other. During the day, Yan Qing had gone to the company to see Xi Zhaowan but failed. That night, while meditating at home, although she felt the flow of her spiritual energy was much smoother, every pore on her body felt hollow. They were screaming with emptiness, desperately needing Xi Zhaowan’s white gardenia pheromones to fill the void.

Yan Qing wasn’t meditating in her own room. With a shy bashfulness, she had come to Xi Zhaowan’s bed. Since Xi Zhaowan wasn’t there, Yan Qing hoping to catch the lingering scent of her pheromones in the sheets, had tiptoed to this destination after the butler and servants had fallen asleep.

At first, she could sit upright. But after every few minutes of meditation, her marked gland would tingle with an itch. Embarrassed, she picked up Xi Zhaowan’s pillow and hugged her knees, resting her chin on the pillow and wrapping her arms around it. Flashes of Xi Zhaowan’s slender, supple waist crossed her mind feeling just like the white pillow she was holding.

Yan Qing thought with a flushed face that she was gradually developing into a “closet pervert.”

She had violated the first formula of the Heart-Cleansing Incantation right now, she was anything but heart-cleansed!

Resentfully, she attributed most of these uncontrollable factors to pheromone induction. Yet, a voice deep inside told her it wasn’t just that. Even without the pheromones, she still wanted to see her. Right now! Immediately!

But she had to wait. Fortunately, the wait wasn’t long; the monthly exams arrived as scheduled. Yan Qing looked at the exam paper in her hand. Scoring well was easy, the hardest part was knowing how to skillfully fail.

Pressing her pen to her temple, she decided to only do a small portion of the simple questions and leave the rest nearly blank. She controlled her scores for every subject to be below the passing line, placing her at the very bottom of the grade.

This happened to match the original owner’s academic level perfectly. No flaws there.

Even if she had shown signs of improvement before, it could be explained away as not paying attention in class lately and falling behind.

Step one: Fail the exam. Complete. Yan Qing checked it off on her paper.

Step two: Get the teacher to invite Xi Zhaowan to the parent-teacher meeting. Just sending a text herself wasn’t enough. She had to declare to the homeroom teacher how busy her mother was and that only “Sister Wan” could attend, prompting the teacher to personally invite Xi Zhaowan.

After the monthly exams, sure enough, she was last in the grade. Zhang Siyu stared at Yan Qing’s paper in disbelief. “Qinghe, you’ve really broken a record. This is the worst you’ve ever scored.”

“Your regression is too obvious. Last time the teacher said you were the most improved student in the whole grade.” Zhang Siyu was baffled. If question marks could be magnified, her head would be full of them. Even if someone took the test using their feet, they wouldn’t score this low.

“Don’t you think this is suspicious? Going from ‘most improved’ to ‘most regressed.'” The extreme contrast was too sharp; it was overkill.

“Is it? I think this level is actually quite alright.” Yan Qing curved her eyebrows. As someone with extremely high intelligence, this was her first time scoring so poorly whether in cultivation or in the academic world of ABO, it was her worst performance.

But her mood was exceptionally good.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice, you’re actually grinning!” Zhang Siyu looked like she had seen a ghost. She reached out to feel Yan Qing’s forehead. “Did you fail so hard that your brain broke?”

Yan Qing swatted away her hand and gave a light scoff.

“Qinghe, you’re just giving up on yourself!” Zhang Siyu shook her head with a look of “you’re beyond saving.” “The parent-teacher meeting is tomorrow!”

“Oh? That’s quite good.” Yan Qing hooked her lips, resting her chin on her hand as she stared out the window. Would she come despite being so busy?

If she didn’t come, all the hard work she put into getting those “Xs” and “Os” on her paper would be for nothing.

Seeing Yan Qing’s young face looking out the window with the aura of a calculating old soul, Zhang Siyu truly understood her less and less.

In the world of someone who could switch effortlessly between being a top student and a slacker, was everyone this fearless and reckless?

Zhang Siyu carefully clutched her own hard earned points.

Sure enough, Xi Zhaowan came.

Initially, she didn’t intend to. But Yan Qing’s homeroom teacher was vague yet urgent, making it sound like if a guardian didn’t show up, Qinghe was doomed and had no hope for the university entrance exams.

She had looked for Yan Manxing, but Yan Manxing simply took off her gold-rimmed glasses and asked innocently what one does at a parent-teacher meeting, claiming she had never attended one.

Xi Zhaowan sighed. In the past, Yan Qing’s meetings were often missed, but the teacher insisted that this was the most “special” one and that she must attend as the guardian representative.

She wasn’t Yan Qing’s actual parent, but Yan Manxing was a hands-off person by habit. After seventeen years, old habits were hard to change, and Chairman Yan knew nothing about school affairs, she hadn’t even stepped foot inside a school gate.

Thinking that only parents would be present and she wouldn’t run into Yan Qing, she felt a bit more at ease. With a complicated, indescribable feeling, she attended the meeting as the guardian.

She knew Yan Qing’s student number was 27. When the teacher handed out the papers for number 27 to her, other parents also received their children’s results.

Xi Zhaowan stared at the sheets covered in red crosses. Every subject was a stack of red marks. She instantly understood why the teacher insisted she come.

She looked at the scores, some in the single digits with disbelief. Seven subjects combined didn’t even total 100 points. Her mood became even more complex.

Could Yan Qing’s studies have been affected by me? she wondered. On stage, the teacher earnestly pointed out that number 27 had gone from most improved to most regressed, noting she had been distracted in class lately and seemed to have a lot on her mind.

Xi Zhaowan bit her lower lip softly, her long lashes veiling the unease in her beautiful eyes.

In the midst of her thoughts, a familiar scent of snowy, cold pine drifted toward her. Xi Zhaowan’s heart tightened as Yan Qing entered through the back door and sat down beside her.

The young girl’s eyes were filled with a smile. Even though she had failed miserably, she seemed to be in quite a good mood.

At the front, the teacher was speaking eloquently about the importance and methods of studying. In the middle rows, parents were taking notes, looking up and down as they listened. Only beside Xi Zhaowan did this “bottom-tier student” have the audacity to sit right next to her “guardian.”

Xi Zhaowan sat perfectly upright, her elegant temperament standing out like a crane among a flock of chickens. She didn’t look like Yan Qing’s parent, she looked more like an older sister. Fortunately, they were in the back, so they didn’t attract much attention though several Alphas and male Betas still cast admiring glances her way from time to time.

Upon noticing this, Yan Qing’s smile turned cold. She stared back with icy eyes until those people looked away.

Seeing that Xi Zhaowan was acting as if she hadn’t noticed her arrival not even turning her swan-like neck an inch Yan Qing, unwilling to be ignored, pinched the corner of Xi Zhaowan’s clothes under the desk.

Xi Zhaowan didn’t respond, remaining as still as a statue of a Greek goddess of thought, focusing on the teacher’s voice.

Yan Qing exerted the thickest skin she had ever had in her life. Her fingertips moved from the hem of the clothes to lightly tickle the spot on Xi Zhaowan’s waist that was prone to itching.

“Stop it,” Xi Zhaowan whispered with a faint glare. Yan Qing was being too bold. If it were any other time, she would have questioned such a terrible score, but now as a “senior,” she lacked the confidence to speak up.

“I was afraid if I didn’t come over now, I wouldn’t see you again once this ends,” Yan Qing said in a low voice. “Just like last time when you said you were in a meeting.”

Yan Qing’s words were pointed, her voice buzzing with an aggrieved tone.

Xi Zhaowan guessed that Yan Qing had likely seen her going to the dinner with Wei Weizhi. It seemed her attempt to intentionally give her the cold shoulder had been discovered by the little rascal.

“Qing’er, were the papers too difficult? That’s why…” Why you failed so badly. Xi Zhaowan was forced to change the subject, adopting the tone of an elder.

“They weren’t hard.” Yan Qing shook her head. She struggled to suppress the urge to lean her body against the source of the white gardenia pheromones.

“During the exam, my mind kept jumping back to certain things that happened recently,” Yan Qing said meaningfully. “For some reason, my gland always feels a faint itch…”

Uncontrollable. Always craving the fill of another pheromone exactly the kind right next to her at this moment.

Xi Zhaowan’s refined, statue-like face finally caught a trace of earthly crimson. Now, she couldn’t summon any more reprimands or “elderly” authority.

It seemed she really had affected Yan Qing. Xi Zhaowan pressed a hand to her forehead, a sense of guilt followed her like a shadow, gnawing at her heart.

She remembered Yan Qing was still a month away from turning eighteen. Thinking of this, she felt even more “unforgivable.”

Good. Sister Wan looks very beautiful when she’s flustered and guilty.

Yan Qing hid a sliver of a smile in her heart. She continued her performance of embarrassed murmuring: “I remember you used to have excellent grades.”

Xi Zhaowan didn’t just have “good” grades; she was a legendary top student on the Hangyu High rankings, holding a total score record that no one had broken yet.

“So, could you help tutor me?” Yan Qing said with a straight face. “The teacher said my foundation is too poor and I can’t keep up with the class’s pace anymore.”

“I really want to be able to go to university.”

“To be like Sister Wan graduating from a prestigious school and starting a career.”

Yan Qing continued to lie with a righteous expression, speaking so convincingly she almost started to believe herself.

She thought that ever since coming to the ABO world and meeting Xi Zhaowan, her skin had naturally grown several layers thicker.

Inwardly, her “old face” still blushed. Please, let me get through this period of pheromone dependency. Please, let Xi Zhaowan stop ignoring me.

Ever since the three times they had cultivated together which allowed Yan Qing’s cultivation to break through to the Golden Light stage, her feelings had shifted from gratitude to the realization that Xi Zhaowan likely liked her.

Yan Qing had felt conflicted and lost. But now, Xi Zhaowan’s avoidance made her feel miserable. Regardless of whether she would eventually return to her original world, she wanted to sit down and talk calmly with Xi Zhaowan to figure out what was happening between them.

She also needed to sort out her own heart. She wasn’t sure if her feelings for Xi Zhaowan were based more on gratitude for her help or the joy of pheromone dependency.

If it were either of those, she shouldn’t give the other person baseless hope especially since she would eventually leave this world.

Perhaps Yan Qing’s exam results were too disastrous.

After the meeting, the teacher pulled Xi Zhaowan aside for a private talk, repeatedly urging her to take the child’s studies seriously. The teacher claimed her foundation was too weak, that she needed extra help privately, and that only through “home-school cooperation” could the child have a bright future.

The teacher added that since her guardian, Xi Zhaowan, was a former top student, the child should receive a high-quality education and be influenced by her example.

It wasn’t until Xi Zhaowan promised to personally tutor Yan Qing after class to build her foundation that the teacher finally sighed in relief and let her go.

First of all, since there was tutoring, there had to be rules.

Yan Qing strictly outlined them on a piece of paper, tutoring every day from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM. If Xi Zhaowan was busy, Yan Qing would go to her office to do homework and ask questions.

Xi Zhaowan suggested hiring a private tutor instead.

Yan Qing shook her head dejectedly: “I’ve had tutors before, but my foundation was so bad they didn’t understand, and the teachers got annoyed. Sister Wan, you won’t get annoyed with me too, will you?”

Since it was from 8:00 to 11:00, Sister Wan would have to minimize outside dinners.

The girl blinked.

She didn’t mention the dinner with Wei Weizhi, but that was the core purpose behind this “fake slacker” setting a strict three hour nightly study window.

“From today on, everything must be strictly enforced.”

Yan Qing said seriously, “I’ve resolved to fix my bad habit of not listening in class. I’m determined to study hard. Sister Wan, please be sure to supervise me.”

Looking at Yan Qing’s “repentant student” act, Xi Zhaowan began to doubt was that cold, ethereal, and incredibly perceptive Yan Qing she saw before just a fake version wearing Yan Qing’s skin?

Xi Zhaowan bit her lip, finding herself agreeing step by step to all of Yan Qing’s tutoring rules and requests.

Why did she have a faint feeling she was being played? Was it just her imagination?