A Disguised Scum Alpha Marked Her Aloof Ex-Wife - Chapter 10

The sensation of Zhu Yu’s palms was curious.

Her hands were on the larger side, easily able to encircle Bai Shuzhou’s slender ankles. Her fingers were nimble and strong; when she pressed down, the pressure was distributed evenly across every inch of skin.

There were callouses on her knuckles, and if one looked closely, there were extremely faint scars, smoothed over by time.

Yet, her palms remained remarkably soft, like a fool who exerted all her strength into her fingers just to avoid putting too much weight on what she carried.

Even knowing that Bai Shuzhou’s legs were numb and devoid of sensation, Zhu Yu still worried about hurting her. She would rest one hand on the woman’s long calf through the blanket, while the other hand pressed against her own arm, testing the force several times before finally committing both hands to the massage.

Bai Shuzhou’s gaze slowly moved from Zhu Yu’s hands to her face.

Stripped of those flamboyant, almost exaggerated expressions, Zhu Yu looked clean and focused. Her eyes were fixed entirely on Bai Shuzhou’s legs; her serious expression was identical to the one she wore when repairing appliances.

Warm light flowed from her fingertips like a hot spring, rising from below to gradually immerse the sensitive muscle and bone. At the points where there was a hint of aching or swelling, she increased the pressure slightly.

A subtle current climbed upward. The woman’s indifferent expression tightened as she bit her lip to suppress a low moan.

“Zhu Yu.”

She didn’t call her “Bai Yu” this time. The cold syllables trailed off with a hint of imperceptible anger.

When spiritual power condensed, it possessed a natural penetrative quality. Those numb senses began to revive under her touch, turning into something strange and unsettling.

“Get out.” She used an unusually harsh word—unfitting for royal upbringing, but for Zhu Yu, it was just right.

The girl’s hands had just moved past the knees when she paused. She replied softly, “I can’t do that.”

The answer was gentle, but she showed no intention of letting go.

When she worked seriously, the forced smile vanished from her face. At a glance, she looked almost fierce—like the tide receding to reveal the hard, wet jagged rocks of the shore.

“If you don’t move for a long time, you’ll get sores. It’s also bad for your later recovery training.”

“You shouldn’t hide your illness from the doctor. Though I’m not a doctor, this ability of mine should be quite effective, right?”

She remembered Bai Shuzhou’s shock when the ability first manifested. It was a chaotic blur like a dream, yet that kiss remained strikingly vivid.

Zhu Yu’s face flushed. She coughed a few times and said loudly, “Spiritual power is a lot like physical strength. I can roughly feel the dosage now. I can give you a massage treatment every day; you’ll get better eventually.”

Bai Shuzhou’s spiritual power was at the 3S level, and her control was masterful; she could even condense physical vines. Zhu Yu couldn’t do that; she had to use physical contact to transmit the energy.

While Bai Shuzhou loathed Zhu Yu’s proximity, the treatment benefited her. Moreover…

Seeing the joy at the corner of the girl’s lips, she allowed a cold sneer to touch her own.

That night, Bai Shuzhou managed a rare, good night’s sleep.

By the time she woke the next day, Zhu Yu had already left. The extra pots and bowls on the table had vanished, and the repaired appliances were neatly organized and stacked in the corner.

On the meticulously cleaned table by the bed sat a lamp and a few scattered books.

The woman bit her lip, making no move to touch the flower-shaped lamp that looked far too childish. Instead, a deep green vine silently reached toward the switch on the wall. Click. The light came on.

A while later, the sound of a key turning came from the door. Bai Shuzhou alertly reached for the knife under her pillow.

“Sister Xiao Zhou, you’re awake! Good morning!” He Ming poked her head in, carrying a backpack. She ran to the table and thudded the heavy bag down. “Xiao Yu talked it over with my mom. She asked if you could watch me do my homework, and she’ll check it for me tonight.”

The girl balled her fists; she was here with a glorious mission! Zhu Yu had secretly asked her to look after Bai Shuzhou; leaving a patient home alone was never quite safe.

The reward was a game console—cleaned up, but not yet repaired. Of course, this agreement was kept from Helan.

What neither of them expected was that He Ming’s learning efficiency here was incredibly high.

Previously, she would procrastinate on a few days’ worth of homework for a week. Helan had tried coaxing and scolding, but the child held onto her procrastination with the spirit of a martyr. At a playful age, a single pen or eraser could keep her occupied for an entire morning. Occasionally, when Helan was too busy to watch her, she’d disappear and run from the east end of town to the west in the blink of an eye, making her mother’s teeth itch with rage.

Things were different now. When her “bad-influence” friends came to ask her out, He Ming would simply wave them away with a proud, steady hand: “I have serious business to attend to.”

The little shack was so humble it could inspire ancient poetry, but the moment Bai Shuzhou sat there, her aloof temperament quieted the very air. When she lowered her eyes, she looked like a deity in an oil painting.

She spoke very little, and her silence intimidated He Ming slightly. Every time the girl thought of slacking off, those pale blue eyes would drift over, making He Ming’s hair stand on end. She had no choice but to bury her head and write furiously, hoping for a single word of praise from the woman once she finished.

The highest award!

If short phrases weren’t so hard to preserve, He Ming would have wanted to pin them to her chest like medals and parade them around.

Zhu Yu watched the girl’s smug little face and wasn’t envious at all. She was an adult now; why care about such fleeting things? She was a professional, already in the workforce, and she intended to be a shrewd, cool-headed pragmatist!

He Ming reported her progress: “I finished four test papers, ten pages of the workbook, and memorized fifty words!”

Zhu Yu reported back: “The supervisor at the nutrient factory praised my efficiency, and I got three requests for my evening tutoring sessions. There’ll be a nice bonus at the end of the month!”

Zhu Yu, worried that Bai Shuzhou was bored at home, loved to ramble to her about interesting things from work.

So, He Ming chattered during the day, and Zhu Yu chattered at night. Bai Shuzhou remained expressionless, treating them with perfect fairness by ignoring both, keeping her cold gaze fixed on her books.

Zhu Yu talked to herself regardless. Her colleagues at the factory were mostly her age and shared tips on high-value shops. Zhu Yu took the opportunity to sneak in plenty of advertisements for Helan’s restaurant.

Xiao Shan’s beast form was a long-tailed tit. During lunch breaks, she would turn into a tiny bird and curl up in a fuzzy hat for a nap. Her dream was to join a band and perform at the largest underground bar on the Imperial Star.

The “cat colleagues” were often criticized for shedding. Initially, seeing Zhu Yu’s agility, they mistakenly thought she was a cat too. They approached her with small fish snacks to ask what she’d been eating lately to have such a great coat that didn’t shed.

Not losing hair was indeed a small point of pride for Zhu Yu.

She recommended the vitamins Xiao Shan had suggested to them, and as her income grew, she added fish oil and calcium tablets to the mix. Unfortunately, no matter how she fed her, Bai Shuzhou didn’t seem to gain any weight. She felt both guilty and troubled.

A cat colleague suggested: “Then you should buy your ‘sister’ some specialized ‘jowl-fattening’ kibble!”

Jowl-fattening…?

Do dragons need big jowls too?

Wait. Zhu Yu finally, belatedly, realized something was wrong.

Cat colleague: “Shocking! Don’t you go by ‘Xiao Yu’ (Little Fish) because you love eating fish?”

Zhu Yu: “No! My name ‘Yu’ comes from the phrase ‘Nian Nian You Yu’ (May there be surplus every year)!”

The illiterate cat colleague: “‘Nian Nian You Yu’ literally means ‘Every year there is fish,’ so you are a little fish!”

That evening, Zhu Yu told the story to Bai Shuzhou and He Ming while cooking a hotpot. He Ming was delighted: “I think Sister Xiao Zhou really is like a cat! Beautiful, elegant, a noble calico! Are you sure she isn’t?”

A certain dragon “cat” let out a cold snort, clearly displeased.

Because of the major illness in her childhood, her wings were injured and the “cold poison” in her body recurred. She hadn’t been able to transform into her beast form for a very, very long time. It was a royal secret.

And… Zhu Yu had truly been getting stranger lately.

Bai Shuzhou remembered the girl’s self-introduction when they first met.

The girl had stood in the sunlight, smiling brightly: “I am Zhu Yu. ‘Yu’ as in ‘redundant’ (Duo Yu). I am a redundant person in this world.”

Xiao Yu, Redundant Yu, Surplus Yu.

They all pointed to the same Zhu Yu.

Bai Shuzhou’s gaze darkened, filled with increased scrutiny.

Zhu Yu still frequently put on flamboyant performances, exaggerating things and pretending to be happy—acts that could be seen through at a glance. She repaired small appliances for the neighbors, collecting five or ten coins—change she once would have looked down upon. Occasionally, she’d spend hours on a difficult problem for almost no meaningful return. Toiling all day just to earn the price of a single meal.

Because her second-hand appliances were high quality and low cost, she quickly built a customer base. She even did house calls for repairs, earning a great reputation.

Competitors felt she was ruining the industry and came to her door in a rage. Zhu Yu didn’t get angry; she just stood there with a smile while being cursed out, even proactively asking for advice on things she couldn’t fix. Her constant “Master this” and “Master that” flattered them into submission.

Even when called a “half-breed,” she didn’t react much. Gradually, everyone started saying this “little fish” with the tragic background was a bit simple-minded, and they felt too embarrassed to keep bullying her.

Only Bai Shuzhou felt that those people were as good as dead.

Zhu Yu must be biding her time, waiting for the day she could deliver a fatal strike.

Zhu Yu cared deeply about her birth. Once, a noble classmate had mocked her for being an abandoned orphan. Zhu Yu had become friends with that person, only to beat them half-to-death under the guise of “private practice” before the Mecha Pilot selection. The classmate suffered multiple comminuted fractures and missed the selection entirely.

And Zhu Yu had hypocritically visited that classmate, ultimately escaping without even a disciplinary record.

Yet as the days passed, those who had insulted Zhu Yu here were all still alive and well.

In the past, the girl always sold her sob stories to gain advantages. Now, she was scraping for “scraps of sugar,” reporting only good news and hiding the bad. The grievances that leaked out from the tiny details of her life actually became clearer and more vivid in Bai Shuzhou’s mind.

What is she acting out now?

Zhu Yu rarely mentioned the details of her night shift, merely passing it off as tutoring. She made it sound like a paradise: a generous boss, friendly colleagues, respectful guests, high pay, and little work—with occasional holidays.

Every word sounded like the exact opposite of the truth.

When she returned in the early morning, she would often sit at the table in a daze for a long time, counting the money in her piggy bank over and over. She carefully hid the bank in a corner under the bed, wrapped in a plastic bag. She told Bai Shuzhou the password; all the money from her two jobs and her repair gigs was stored there.

It went from a hollow echo to a substantial, heavy weight.

The meat dishes on the dinner table increased, but Zhu Yu’s smiles decreased. She often kept a stiff face, pretending to be mature. She was always stealing glances at Bai Shuzhou from behind—her eyes would turn, but her body wouldn’t, looking exactly like a dog on standby to wreck the house. She looked a bit guilty, but not much, her ears drooping as she feigned calmness while swaying about.

Occasionally, Bai Shuzhou could see her silly grin in the mirror, but the moment she turned around, Zhu Yu would stop.

A hidden anxiety took root in Bai Shuzhou’s heart, manifesting as an unidentifiable irritability. She should be happy to see Zhu Yu unhappy, yet she knew nothing of what Zhu Yu did at night. Why was Zhu Yu hiding it from her? What right did she have to keep her in the dark?

Late that night.

The sky was just beginning to turn grey. Zhu Yu hurried back, not even playing with her beloved game console. After washing up, she fell onto her mat and was out cold.

The woman on the bed opened her eyes. After a pause, a deep green vine silently bypassed the sleeping girl and pulled the clothes draped over the chair toward her.

The pristine fabric showed no obvious issues, but what kind of person finishes a night shift with their clothes in such perfect condition?

Bai Shuzhou’s slender brows furrowed slightly. She hesitantly took the clothes and sniffed the collar.

A dragon’s sense of smell was also sensitive, and she quickly discovered something wrong.

The outside of the clothes had been sprayed with perfume and meticulously ironed until there wasn’t a single wrinkle. Only on the inner lining did a trace of alcohol linger, along with… various kinds of pheromones.

In the moment Bai Shuzhou concentrated, her nose itched. Frowning, she reached into a corner of the fabric and pulled out several strands of fine animal fur… and they weren’t even from the same animal.

Shameless!

Bai Shuzhou had a growing suspicion about this so-called “paradise.” With a cold sneer, she thought that Zhu Yu truly was a “dedicated teacher.” No wonder she didn’t even play with her game console after work.

But what Zhu Yu did—what did it have to do with her? They should have dissolved their marriage long ago, instead of wearing this fake “sisters” label.

Wasn’t this Zhu Yu’s goal from the start?

She deserved to die.

The girl being cursed on the floor seemed to sense something. She let out a small sneeze and shrank back, curling herself into a white “rice ball.”

She looked… utterly, utterly detestable!

After staring with an icy gaze for a moment, Bai Shuzhou’s fingertips flicked away the jacket in disgust. The coat traced an arc in the air.

The “rice ball” gained a piece of “seaweed”—the jacket landed squarely over the girl’s slightly heaving stomach.