The Stand-In Alpha Goes Viral on a Dating Show - Chapter 30

Ruan Xiao knocked firmly on the door, unable to hold back her impatience.

“If you two don’t make a sound soon, I’m going to tell Mingyu you’re not coming to dinner. Honestly, you’re holding up my meal.”

It hadn’t been easy for her to snag the seat right beside Mingyu, okay?

She waited for about a minute. Silence. Just as she was about to turn and leave, there was a sharp click—the door that had been shut for so long suddenly swung open.

Su Yao stepped out, her face mottled with bruises, making no effort to hide them. Her gaze fell on the stunned Ruan Xiao, and in a flat, unreadable tone she asked:

“I heard Chi Wan gave you a lipstick?”

“That’s right. She even drew the lip line for me herself.”

Ruan Xiao had no idea why she was being questioned like this, but that didn’t stop her from showing off. She leaned closer, deliberately pointing to her lips.

“See? Doesn’t it look great?”

“Mm.” Su Yao gave a perfunctory response.

“What’s with you? Why so dismissive? If you ask me, Chi Wan’s makeup skills are amazing. Those promo photos of mine that broke a million likes? Every one of them was her handiwork.”

Ruan Xiao couldn’t help pulling out a mirror to admire herself, thinking the lipstick shade suited her perfectly.

“This was one of your reasons for dating Chi Wan in the first place, wasn’t it?” Su Yao suddenly said.

The question startled Ruan Xiao.

“What? Why would you bring that up all of a sudden?” A pang of unease struck her, as if there was something she didn’t know.

Su Yao muttered an apology and closed her eyes. She realized her mood had been thrown off by Lu Xin’s unreasonable antics.

“When exactly did you get the lipstick?” she asked again, once she’d calmed down. Something about this whole matter felt off.

“Oh, when I went to the restroom with Lu Xin. We bumped into Chi Wan there.”

Ruan Xiao, confused but honest, told the truth.

Just then, Lu Xin emerged as well—her face even more bruised and swollen than Su Yao’s.

Ruan Xiao clutched her chest, eyes wide. She felt as if she’d just witnessed a horror scene.

“What on earth happened to you two? Did you fall, or—”

Before she could finish, Lu Xin snapped irritably:

“We fought!”

Fought? Ruan Xiao froze. Her gaze darted back and forth between the two of them, the realization dawning. No wonder their faces looked like that.

But what startled her even more was when Su Yao fixed a cold gaze on Lu Xin and suddenly commanded, “Apologize!”

“Huh? To me? Why apologize to me?” Ruan Xiao blinked in confusion, thinking Su Yao meant Lu Xin should apologize to her. She quickly waved her hands. “I was just startled, that’s all. No need to apologize.”

“You misunderstood. I told her to apologize to me.” Su Yao’s glance at Ruan Xiao carried a chill that sent shivers down her spine.

“What? Why should I apologize to you?” Lu Xin shot back, refusing to yield. “Just because you asked Ruan Xiao the exact time, you think that clears you of suspicion?”

After all, she was the one who got beaten worse.

Sure, she was into extreme sports, but that still didn’t compare to Su Yao, who had paid serious money to train in combat. Earlier, she had nearly been pummeled into tears.

And now, with that humiliation fresh in her memory, why should she swallow her pride and apologize? Impossible.

Su Yao exhaled sharply.

“First of all, at that time, I was in a video conference with the department manager—I have a solid alibi. Second, I never set foot in that restroom. If you don’t believe me, check the villa surveillance footage. Third, you were set up, and yet instead of realizing it, you tried to drag me down with you, spouting a pile of nonsense. Now—will you admit that or not?”

Ruan Xiao, who had been muddle-headed up till now, finally pieced things together.

So Lu Xin had been tricked, which led to her falling out with Su Yao, and that was why they ended up fighting.

“Then who was it that set you up?” she asked. But Su Yao avoided the question, leaving Ruan Xiao still puzzled.

Lu Xin clenched her fists, and suddenly something struck her.

“Wait—Mingyu was there too! She came to the restroom at the same time!”

“You really are brainless,” Su Yao sneered.

“If the Su Yao you were talking to was fake, then why shouldn’t Mingyu be fake too?”

Lu Xin froze.

But Ruan Xiao panicked and pressed,

“Wait—what does Mingyu have to do with this?”

“Think carefully. When you pushed open that stall door, who did you actually see?”

Su Yao stepped forward, forcing Lu Xin back into the room.

“…It was Chi Wan. And An Ran.”

The moment she admitted it, Lu Xin felt as if all her strength had been drained away. She couldn’t understand why Chi Wan would do such a thing.

Worse still—why had Chi Wan, while pretending to be Su Yao, brought up Mingyu’s name?

“She must have figured something out,” Su Yao said, as if it was obvious.

“That’s impossible! How could she have?” Lu Xin clutched her hair in frustration.

“When she still liked us, her feelings blinded her judgment. But now she’s seen clearly. Don’t you understand what that means?”

Su Yao pulled out the bottle of stomach medicine Chi Wan had given her, her eyes complicated.

“You’re saying Chi Wan doesn’t like us anymore? That she has erased all her feelings for us? No way! No one knows better than us how much she invested in those relationships. How could she just walk away, just forget?”

Lu Xin refused to believe it.

“Besides, she gave me lip balm, gave you medicine, gave Ruan Xiao lipstick—that only proves she still cares. If she truly felt nothing, she’d have ignored us completely.”

“Exactly!” Ruan Xiao chimed in, finally grasping the situation. She felt Lu Xin’s argument made sense.

“If Chi Wan mentioned Mingyu’s name, it must be out of jealousy. We’ve all made our fondness for Mingyu pretty obvious. It’s not strange that Chi Wan noticed. But I don’t think she knows Mingyu is our so-called ‘white moonlight.’ At most, she might suspect it.”

“Right! Otherwise, with Chi Wan’s personality now, she would’ve already caused trouble for Mingyu—or confronted us directly.” Lu Xin nodded firmly.

Su Yao hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she agreed with them. Emotionally, she too couldn’t bring herself to believe that the girl who once gave everything for them could now simply erase that past.

And so, none of them considered the possibility that Chi Wan might actually be retaliating.

“Anyway, it’s late. Let’s go eat before someone else comes knocking again.” Ruan Xiao urged.

“It’s dinnertime, yes—but not for you.”

Without warning, Su Yao shoved Lu Xin back into the room with a hard kick, slammed the door shut, and locked it from the outside.

When Lu Xin tried to kick the door open, Su Yao shoved her hands in her pockets and said coolly:

“I suggest you stay quiet. If others come and see the wrecked furniture inside, it won’t be easy to explain.”

“Su Yao! And how do you plan to explain your face full of bruises?!” Lu Xin shouted furiously from within.

“That’s none of your concern. I have concealer.”

With that merciless remark, Su Yao left with Ruan Xiao.

At the stairwell, she borrowed Ruan Xiao’s mirror and carefully dabbed concealer over her bruises until they were barely noticeable. Only then did she step into the living room.

By then, the bright ceiling lights were off. The atmosphere was lit only by ambient strips along the walls and a few tall candles burning on the long dining table.

A candlelight dinner.

The setting was beautiful, but more importantly, the dim lighting made Su Yao quietly sigh in relief.

As she sat down, her gaze instinctively flicked toward Chi Wan. The girl, seemingly carefree, was fussing over An Ran, diligently serving her food. The sight pricked at Su Yao’s chest like a thorn.

She looked away. Out of sight, out of mind.

But when her eyes landed on An Ran, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Lu Xin had said that when she came out of the stall, she saw Chi Wan and An Ran together. Then when exactly had An Ran arrived in the restroom? And how much had she overheard of Chi Wan’s conversation with Lu Xin?

Back then, when they realized Chi Wan had been pretending as Su Yao, and even mentioned Mingyu, Ruan Xiao had nervously asked Lu Xin:

“Did you say anything you shouldn’t have?”

Lu Xin had frowned in thought before answering,

“No. The moment Mingyu’s name came up, I was so nervous I couldn’t think straight.”

After all, who would want their white moonlight to discover them using the toilet—let alone needing another Omega to fetch toilet paper?

Her answer had been sincere, and with that, both Su Yao and Lu Xin had finally breathed easier.

Candlelight dinner should have been a pleasant affair, but every guest knew what followed: the “heartbeat messages.”

According to the rules, mutual messages meant an automatic pairing. If only one person sent one, then tomorrow morning’s activity would decide the pairing by lottery.

In other words, this dinner was the final chance to win someone over before the messages were sent.

No wonder Gu Lin and Tang Qian were vying for Mo Wei’s attention. They chatted endlessly with her, while Mo Wei treated them more like amusing pets—indulging when she felt like it, clamming up when she didn’t, sometimes tossing out random questions just to make them chase after her words.

“An Ran, will you send your message to me?” Chi Wan couldn’t help herself; she wanted to push her luck a little further.

“I…” As Chi Wan leaned closer, An Ran instinctively edged away. “I only promised to give you a chance.”

The meaning was clear: Don’t pry further.

Chi Wan understood. She glanced at An Ran with disappointment, then traced a small gesture with her finger.

“Not even a little hint?”

“No.” An Ran already knew Chi Wan was trying to act pitiful. She silently repeated a mantra in her heart to steel herself.

“Don’t be like that.” Chi Wan still wouldn’t give up. Her eyes glimmered mischievously as she slumped against An Ran’s shoulder, feigning tipsy weakness. The faint scent of wine mixed with her warm breath brushed across An Ran’s ear.

“An Ran, I think I’m drunk. If I can’t control myself and do something… you’d better push me away.”