Transmigrated as the Heroine’s Perfect Alpha - Chapter 2

It was clearly too late; everything seemed to be pushed forward by a giant hand.

Just like now, for the sake of feeling obligated and because of the promise she made yesterday, Xie Ling was standing in her grandmother’s kitchen wearing an apron, cooking braised pork ribs.

“Oh, Mom, do you really believe she knows how to cook? She has never even stepped foot in the kitchen at home.”

Xie Ling was just blanching the ribs when she unexpectedly heard He Rong’s voice. She poked her head out from behind the door. “Mom, your and Grandma’s culinary skills are both so amazing. You have to believe in the power of genetics.”

The old lady was stunned for a moment when she heard this, then laughed. “Yes, yes. She used to watch me cook ribs all the time and would always help me taste test. She is so smart, she must have learned just by watching.”

He Rong smiled and said nothing. Glancing back, she noticed the shopping bags next to the TV and changed the subject. “Mom, what did you buy this time?”

“Oh, I would have forgotten if you had not mentioned it.” The old lady pointed at the shopping bags, signaling for He Rong to go get them.

Having received the old lady’s validation, Xie Ling retreated back into the kitchen to continue her work. The blanched ribs had not been rinsed yet, and the glass bowl beside her was already filled with the sauce she would need shortly.

Before her rebirth, Xie Ling did not cook often, only two or three days a month. Those days were always at the beginning of the month when she received her royalties. To motivate herself for the month ahead and reward herself for the previous month’s hard work, she would muster the courage to step out of her rented apartment, go to the supermarket to buy some groceries, and return to practice her cooking skills and improve her diet.

Her cookware and ingredients were always quite kind to her; the dishes she made always turned out to have a good flavor.

Today, all she was showing off was this one dish: braised pork ribs. It just needed to be brought to a boil over high heat and then simmered on low for about an hour. After turning the heat down, Xie Ling took off her apron and returned to the living room.

He Rong and the old lady were untying the ribbons on the gift boxes. When Xie Ling walked up, she only heard a complaint. “Mom, you have to have a limit when it comes to spoiling her. You are coddling her now.”

“Anyone can say that, but not you. Did I not spoil you just like this when you were little? You have been a mother for so many years, yet you are still acting jealous of your own child?” The old lady pretended to be angry and tapped He Rong on the head with her index finger. Seeing Xie Ling come out, she quickly reached out and pulled her to her side.

“Quick, take a look. Grandma bought these for you.”

Xie Ling looked at the boxes, which she recognized but could not name, and put on a sycophantic smile to show her gratitude. “Thank you, Grandma! Grandma is the best to me!”

“Ah! This bag, I have wanted it for a long time. Mom, give it to me, please?” He Rong opened a box, and inside was the limited-edition bag she had been desperately searching for for half a month.

The old lady ignored her; her eyes were only on Xie Ling, and she kept stroking the back of Xie Ling’s hand, saying, “These were all bought specifically for you.”

“…” He Rong felt scornful inside. This was the very same mother who had just claimed to spoil her equally.

Xie Ling had just wanted to open her mouth to say she could give it to her mother when she saw He Rong, whose temperament had not changed in decades, pout. “Mom, if you are going to favor her like this, I am going to call your eldest grandson. It is Xiao Ling’s birthday soon, and your eldest grandson said he was coming back to help her celebrate.”

“What? You tell him that, and he will just act up and not come see me?” The old lady’s expression turned from joy to feigned anger as she glared at He Rong.

He Rong replied, “That will not happen, but to buy me this bag, he might just fly directly to Country F and not stay for more than a few days.”

Hearing this, the old lady squinted her eyes, which were already getting a bit blurry, and then opened her loose eyelids to look at Xie Ling. “Lingling, why do you not let your mother have this bag?”

“Whatever Grandma says.” Xie Ling quickly declared.

After getting the bag, He Rong beamed and said to Xie Ling, “Ling’er is so sensible! We will definitely throw you a big party for your birthday this year!”

Xie Ling: “…”

This mother of hers was too moody and expressive. No wonder the Xie Ling in her story had such volatile emotions. It turns out she took after her mother.

Thinking of this, Xie Ling’s heart skipped a beat. What kind of wild thoughts were these?

The personality of Xie Ling was clearly created by her own hand; she was the culprit, the biological mother!

And this biological mother of hers had spent the whole night trapped in a dead end, only just now having figured out the embarrassing brain-holes she had long since buried in time.

In her story, the female lead, Ji Xue, was nearing graduation when she suddenly received an invitation to a birthday banquet from Xie, the wealthiest student in the class. As everyone knew, student Xie Ling had never had any contact with her; in fact, there were rumors on campus that Xie Ling detested her.

Ji Xue, who came from a poor family but had an unconventional background, wanted to prove that those rumors were not true. She decisively took the invitation to attend the banquet and brought the most expensive watch she could afford as a birthday gift for Xie Ling.

However, what she had not expected was that the wealthy student Xie was richer than she could ever imagine. The young heiress, who had no impression of her at all, humiliated her in public upon seeing the cheap gift she had brought.

Then, the female lead’s fated partner appeared immediately, resolving all her embarrassment and panic, and took her away from that luxurious, almost unreal, banquet.

Recalling this scene, Xie Ling felt exhausted. Everything bad stemmed from the birthday banquet that He Rong insisted on holding.

To escape that terrible, tragic ending, Xie Ling felt she might be able to try strangling the evil in its cradle.

She thought for a moment and said, “Mom, would that not be a bit wasteful? Why do we not just have a simple reunion dinner at home?”

After Xie Ling spoke, the old lady looked at her with even more affection. However, He Rong, sitting beside them, slowly wiped away her smile. She set down the limited-edition bag and said seriously, “Xiao Ling, how can you say that?”

“Huh?” Xie Ling opened her mouth blankly, clearly not understanding what she had said wrong.

He Rong continued, “You are about to graduate from college, and after the holiday, you are going to intern at the family company. If we do not use this birthday banquet to help you meet people, how will you handle your work in the future?”

“Oh…” Xie Ling blankly closed her mouth, thinking to herself that this was why she wanted to throw a big party.

If that were the case, did He Rong’s desire to throw a big birthday party seem reasonable?

But that could not happen! She was now a supporting character stuck under the female lead halo. What if something went wrong?

Xie Ling did not dare imagine it and wanted to struggle a little more. “How about this, Mom, can we streamline the guest list? Invite fewer people, keep it low-key. After all, it is just a normal birthday.”

He Rong had been listening patiently, but upon hearing the last sentence, she stood up from the sofa with a start. “What nonsense! Your birthday is also my suffering day. I gave birth to three children, and you were the most difficult to bring into the world. A normal birthday? I cannot believe you would say that. Fine, forget about me. Let us talk about you. Last year, when there were just a few less fireworks than previous years, do you remember what you said?”

This was the first time Xie Ling had heard He Rong speak to her so loudly since her rebirth, and she was a bit startled, standing there blankly at a loss.

She had originally wanted to say that turning twenty-three was not a particularly significant age. She did not expect to be misunderstood.

The old lady felt sorry for her granddaughter, who was hanging her head, and stood up to block the space between her daughter and her granddaughter, persuading them patiently. “Alright, alright, let the past be the past. Now that Lingling says she does not want to invite too many people, Rongrong, you can just refine the invitation list. You both need to take a step back. Every time you come to see me, you end up arguing a few times. Are you saying that you think I have lived too long and am an eyesore, trying to anger me into an early grave?”

He Rong stopped mid-sentence and looked helplessly at her mother, who was saying more and more outrageous things, before sitting back down.

Xie Ling thought Madam He had calmed down, so she helped the old lady sit back down as well.

Unexpectedly, He Rong thought about it and grew even angrier, glaring at Xie Ling twice. After a while, she lowered her head to soothe the old lady. “Mom, it is Chinese New Year, and you are talking nonsense again. You will definitely live to be a hundred. You still have to watch your granddaughter get married, start her career, and give you great-grandchildren. You must not say such inauspicious things.”

“Yes, yes, Grandma, you still have to watch me become a grandmother myself.” After receiving an eye-roll from her wealthy mother, Xie Ling quickly held the old lady’s hand and coaxed her with a thick skin.

The aroma of braised pork ribs drifted out from the kitchen. Xie Ling felt as if she had grabbed a life-saving straw. After apologizing repeatedly, she used it as an excuse to leave the living room. She went into the kitchen to check on the ribs in the pot, stirring them with a wooden spatula for a long time before putting the lid back on.

With the lid back on, the scent of the ribs was much fainter than before. Instead, a rich perfume scent wafted out from outside the kitchen.

It was called perfume, but it did not quite seem like it. It was more like the scent of some kind of flower. Xie Ling sniffed, feeling that she had smelled it somewhere before; it was very familiar, yet she could not quite pinpoint it.

She stood at the kitchen door and sniffed again; the scent became clearer. She took two more steps forward, the scent seeming to get clearer as she walked, until she stood at the intersection of the living room and dining room. There, she saw Madam He pressing on her own neck repeatedly. When she lifted her hand, one could see the transparent, peeling edge of a pheromone-suppressant patch on her neck.

Snap. It was as if lightning had flashed.

Xie Ling froze in place. How could she have forgotten? That scent was He Rong’s pheromones! The smell of gardenias!

So, had her unintentional words just now really angered He Rong to this extent?

Xie Ling took a deep breath, feeling some guilt in her heart. Although He Rong was not her biological mother, when she created this character, she had based her on her own aunt; the appearance was different, but the personality was similar.

Thinking of this, she pulled a cartoon-patterned suppressant patch from her pocket and walked over in silence. It was a modest way to express her apology.

He Rong put on the new patch, but her uplifted face still carried a clear threat. “The birthday banquet must be held, or I am deducting half a year of your allowance.”

“Alright, Mom.” Xie Ling looked at that slightly arrogant face and mentally calculated the sum of six months’ worth of allowance. She felt that the birthday banquet did not seem so scary anymore, so she started to rethink the conflict points, trying to find other ways to prevent the tragedy.

Her tentative suggestion just now had been a whim. She did not feel much after being rejected, but after a while, when she thought about that luxurious birthday banquet again, she still felt an inexplicable pressure.

“Mom, since it is for paving my future, can we not invite classmates?”

Madam He had not expected her daughter to say this, but after a brief hesitation, she softened her tone. “I will discuss it with your father.”

“Thank you, Mom.” Xie Ling let out a soft sigh of relief.

But strangely, she still felt something was not quite right.

Logically speaking, based on her eight years of writing and ten years of reading, transmigrating into a book usually came with a system, yet she had been here for so long without discovering any system binding.

In other words, without a system to guide or supervise her, failing to maintain the character setting should not matter, right?

Thinking of this, Xie Ling had a sudden flash of inspiration.

If that was the case, then even if she could not avoid the birthday banquet and Ji Xue, could she not just proactively keep a distance when the time came, or be more enthusiastic and kinder to Ji Xue? Would that not have the same effect?

He Rong looked at her youngest daughter sitting obediently on the side, her anger having completely vanished. She started hugging her limited-edition bag and stroking it again.

The old lady knew that when her granddaughter felt aggrieved, she would space out to calm her mood. Feeling sorry for her, she patted Xie Ling’s hand, pulled her into the kitchen, and as soon as she closed the sliding door, she took a card out of her pocket and handed it to her.

Xie Ling stared blankly at the bank card in front of her and, realizing what was happening, waved her hands to refuse. “No, no, I do not lack money. Grandma, you do not need to give me a card.”

“Take it. This is pocket money from Grandma. I am old and never learned how to do bank transfers. You keep it and buy something you like. There is nothing that pleases the mood more than spending money,” the old lady said in the tone of someone who had been there before.

Xie Ling: “…”

Old lady: “Grandma wants you to be happy.”

In her previous life, her grandmother had passed away early. Seeing the old lady like this, she could not help but recall her own grandmother from her past life. The figures of the two old ladies overlapped in her vision. Xie Ling’s nose instantly tingled with a sour sensation. She did not refuse again; after taking the card, she turned around to wipe the corners of her eyes and turned off the stove to plate the ribs.

A maid poked her head out from the opposite kitchen, saw that they were starting to plate the food, and followed suit by turning off her stove, getting ready to serve the dishes.