A Disguised Scum Alpha Marked Her Aloof Ex-Wife - Chapter 23

Her numbed senses had only just been awakened, and everything seemed to move in slow motion—

At some point, Bai Shuzhou’s pale blue eyes had become icy, narrow vertical pupils belonging to a top predator.

Her curled lashes trembled, casting faint silver-gray shadows. The cold light no longer scattered outward, instead quietly holding every subtle expression on Zhu Yu’s face.

This was the dragon race’s instinct when locking onto prey. Any small movement within focus would be magnified, carrying a slightly inhuman, icy sense of scrutiny.

The helpless movement of Zhu Yu’s fragile throat, the way she unconsciously bit her bleeding lower lip, even her abruptly quickened breathing from nervousness—all of it was exceptionally clear in Bai Shuzhou’s eyes.

And those vertical pupils followed Zhu Yu’s movements with faint shifts, their long, narrow arcs changing subtly. When Zhu Yu’s tears rolled down in a blink, they narrowed with them, almost imperceptibly.

This was the first time Zhu Yu had seen her vertical pupils so directly.

Beneath that indifferent blue flowed a lively light, as if there truly were one lone boat drifting through unpredictable azure waters, moving with the turning of her gaze.

The blush spreading from the corners of her eyes was like endless lotus petals blooming layer upon layer, covering this bewitching scene with a thin mist both otherworldly and fallen.

And Zhu Yu was like an ignorant, stubborn little fish, circling around the lotus leaf, stubbornly and recklessly blowing bubbles, seeking an answer.

Can you like me?

Please like me…!

The woman’s silver-white tail unconsciously rubbed against Zhu Yu’s waist, sending up a cool wave of tingling numbness.

The vines wrapped around them seemed to sense something. They were no longer taut. Instead, under the soaking warmth of the woody fragrance, they bloomed with roses so lovely and dewy that even their sharp thorns softened for no reason and drooped low.

Zhu Yu knew nothing of this.

She had never known, and no one had ever told her, what signs a dragon showed when moved by desire.

The Bai Shuzhou of before had always felt indifferent, like the wavering bright moon at the edge of the sky. One could see it by lifting one’s eyes, as though it were within reach, yet also as though it were ten thousand miles away, forever impossible to truly approach.

But now, all was silent. In this tiny space, it seemed only their intertwined breaths remained.

She could even clearly sense the pulse inside the woman’s wrist, beating steadily again and again, completely different from her own panicked heartbeat.

The soft flesh of the neck was already sensitive, and the gland was even more like a fragile, thin sheet of water. The woman’s icy fingertips lifted lightly, brushing against it unconsciously, extremely ambiguously.

A tingling, numbing ripple spread outward.

It seemed like an invitation, but very quickly, Bai Shuzhou drew back and took a deep, restrained breath. Her beautiful lips pressed tightly together, stained with a little damp shine.

They looked very kissable.

As if giving tacit permission, she closed her eyes. Her little finger, the last to withdraw, seemed to accidentally brush over the burning skin at the side of Zhu Yu’s neck.

Boom.

Zhu Yu’s mind buzzed blankly, as though some invisible seed had been planted, blooming into a garden of flowers across her itching skin.

But what did this… mean?

Zhu Yu stared at her without blinking, almost greedily. She could not help swallowing the difficult, surging emotions in her throat, along with suffocating nervousness.

And so when the dragon’s tail trembled and lifted its tip, Zhu Yu abruptly let go.

Gathering her courage, Zhu Yu said loudly, “Actually, I’m not the original Zhu Yu. But I’m also Zhu Yu. I’m sorry. I lied to you before.”

There was nothing after that. She was very carefully observing Bai Shuzhou’s expression.

Like a prisoner waiting for final judgment, she held her breath, using all her strength to capture any possible trace of disgust or shock on the other woman’s face.

She was terrified that at this very moment, this almost indulgent permission, this hard-won closeness…

Did not belong to “her” at all.

Drip.

A drop of water fell from the soaked silk and hit the floor.

Dead silence.

Only their staggered, equally unsteady breaths remained in the confinement room.

Bai Shuzhou opened her eyes and laughed in anger.

“Zhu Yu.”

She took a soft breath.

Those two words were bitten out with a particular charm, as if rising together with her heated breath, damp and magnetic.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

She pinched the fragile soft flesh at the back of Zhu Yu’s neck.

……Eh?

Zhu Yu froze, then blinked. From that soft laugh, she read pleasure.

But, but…

“You knew long ago?”

Her heart slammed against her chest.

This was Zhu Yu’s greatest secret, and it had been so easily dismantled, scattering into a clear, ringing laugh.

Bai Shuzhou only smiled without speaking.

For some reason, beneath that faint smile that seemed to see through everything, Zhu Yu flushed all the way from the roots of her ears to her neck. Shame and a strange, exposed throbbing intertwined.

“Come here,” Bai Shuzhou said, her vertical pupils tightening. “Prove it to me.”

“Ah, h-how do I prove that?”

Zhu Yu’s face grew even redder. She stammered, completely flustered, like a poor student shoved into an exam room without any preparation.

In her panic, she began introducing herself, even though this ambiguous atmosphere was not suitable for checking household registration.

From her unremarkable school history to her hobbies and interests, she spoke so fast she seemed to wish she could pack her entire eighteen years of life and stuff it all over to Bai Shuzhou for review.

She was unusually practiced, as if she had prepared for this introduction a long time ago.

Finally, she added haltingly, “I’m sorry. This is my first time, so I’m not very skilled.”

Too rushed.

Her first time pursuing someone, her first confession, her first…

All of it was clumsy and without method.

Bai Shuzhou let out a light “heh,” meaning: she could tell.

If Zhu Yu had not introduced herself quickly enough, Bai Shuzhou would definitely have kicked her out.

Zhu Yu sensed her impatience and hooked her fingers awkwardly.

“I originally wanted to buy flowers…”

In her barren but romantic imagination, there had been a very complete process. When to hold hands, when to confess, how a confession should include flowers, candles, music, and then…

Then brilliant roses suddenly wound up the side of her neck without warning and pulled her down.

Too much nonsense.

One rose.

One kiss.

A kiss carrying a plundering aura. The woman’s beautiful eyes enlarged and drew closer in Zhu Yu’s vision, countless dangerous undercurrents hidden within that clear, faint ice-blue.

Zhu Yu fell into them defenselessly, sinking downward in shallow waves that seemed gentle, yet were actually impossible to resist.

A light flick of Bai Shuzhou’s fingertip made the young woman tremble all over. Tingling itch spread through her body, yet her body involuntarily relaxed and opened bit by bit under the other’s seemingly gentle, unquestionable guidance.

The most private gate to her sea of consciousness opened just like that.

The sensitive period made people highly sensitive, and it was also the moment when mental power was most active. Many people used this time to form deep connections.

But Bai Shuzhou knew it was far more than that.

Mental power could invade.

She wrapped her arms around Zhu Yu’s neck and deepened the kiss. In the gap where the young woman’s lashes trembled from excessive nervousness, Bai Shuzhou’s mental power silently slipped into this undefended domain.

Language could be adorned.

Sincerity could be faked.

But memories could not deceive.

When one flipped through the scroll of a life, the more important memories occupied larger shards of mental power. When one looked back, dusty memories would drift down like snowflakes, rustling as they fell, close enough to touch.

Bai Shuzhou stepped into a pure, clean emptiness that was just as she had expected.

Zhu Yu’s sea of consciousness was so empty it was nearly lonely. Fragments of plain, peaceful daily life glittered faintly like tiny ice crystals. There were no deeply engraved memories. Even the falling snowflakes seemed small and broken.

Bai Shuzhou caught one of them, only to see a heavy snowfall.

Hollow.

Pale.

Endless cold and silence.

Why is your past blank?

Bai Shuzhou frowned, somewhat unable to understand. It was like an ancient film reel had been washed completely clean, and when played, all that remained was long, dull silence, turning with a click, click, click.

Until—

Their eyes met.

At the first moment their gazes met, piercing roses suddenly surged through the young woman’s blank world, red as blood.

You’re so… beautiful.

Bai Shuzhou saw herself in Zhu Yu’s eyes and only then knew this had not been a deliberately flattering love phrase.

In the depths of the snowstorm, every detail of their time together filled the world.

Zhu Yu often stole glances at her, far more than Bai Shuzhou had known.

The young woman’s gaze was too scorching to hide. Even if she covered it with her hands in a futile attempt at self-deception, it would still run out from her mouth.

On many nights, Zhu Yu guarded her dreams. At the slightest sound of wind or movement outside the door, she would climb up alertly to check, then confirm whether Bai Shuzhou was sleeping peacefully, whether she was having nightmares, whether she needed a warm hug.

She secretly counted Bai Shuzhou’s eyelashes and never tired of it, though she would grow sleepy midway through and still had no idea how many there were.

When Zhu Yu got stuck on a game level, the woman took the console from her and leaned in very close, patiently playing through it once. Her slender fingers moved like flowing clouds and water. The best strategy was simple enough for even children to learn.

Zhu Yu did not learn it.

She was looking at Bai Shuzhou.

Looking at the beautiful curve of her lips, slightly pressed together when she was focused.

Looking at the silver strands of hair falling by her neck, trembling lightly with her cool words like flowing moonlight.

So beautiful.

The serious Bai Shuzhou.

The impatient, frowning Bai Shuzhou.

The Bai Shuzhou who occasionally revealed vulnerability.

The Bai Shuzhou who was always dazzling.

All of her was so beautiful, enough to make one’s heart race.

Scenes of memory flashed past one by one. There was no sound, only the clear beating of a heart.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

They silently wove into a deafening sentence:

I like you so much.

The young woman’s feelings were too scorching, almost burning Bai Shuzhou.

And yet they were too open, visible at a glance.

The secrets on Zhu Yu’s body remained unsolved. Instead, they deepened, as if every profound and happy memory she had was connected only to Bai Shuzhou.

How could someone…

Be this foolish?

The warm woody scent on Zhu Yu now seemed to carry the freshness after rain and the vitality of earth, becoming exceptionally rich and clean.

Bai Shuzhou’s mental-power vines gradually shed their aggression and became almost transparent in their softness. The swaying roses unconsciously leaned closer to Zhu Yu’s pheromones, closer and closer…

For the first time, Bai Shuzhou’s always-low body temperature was ignited and brought to a boil.

A strange, surging desire and affection turned into warm, pure golden light, flowing continuously from the young woman’s closely pressed fingertips.

Cleaner and more vigorous than ever before, it greedily swept over pale skin. Wherever it passed, it stirred up a difficult-to-bear tremor.

“Mm, ah…”

Their noses brushed lightly, restrained and damp. The rising emotions were so abundant. They exchanged a kiss.

No longer a purposeful test.

No longer rough plunder.

The softest parts of their hearts gently touched.

Zhu Yu often dealt with metal, so there were thin calluses on her hands, especially along the sides of her fingertips. The faintly rough texture could easily catch on silk, rubbing out a vivid flush.

If it were only to soothe uncontrolled mental power, there was no need to go this far.

But the woman’s cold, slender fingers curled tightly. Tense, they touched the back of Zhu Yu’s hand, and still removed the ring.

It was not a very wise choice. Under the urging of pheromones, perhaps she had also gone mad.

Blood crystal was a high-concentration energy-storage ore. If used properly, it could absorb and suppress.

She still could not fully trust Zhu Yu, but she still loosened this chain. No longer tightly clutched in her palm, she allowed Zhu Yu to gallop freely.

In an instant, the surging mental power completely broke free of its shackles. Golden light condensed into droplets, dripping down along the grain of the vines.

With tender strokes, it slid over the pale pink scars on the woman’s body.

“Mm…”

The pheromones grew stronger. Every step Zhu Yu took was outside expectations.

Bai Shuzhou rebuked softly, “Don’t do unnecessary things.”

The young woman was very stubborn. She looped both hands around the inescapable space between Bai Shuzhou’s knees, trying at this moment to completely heal her legs.

“Zhu Yu, stop. It’s already enough. You—mm…!”

Mental power penetrated skin, attacking from front and back like tiny currents. Bai Shuzhou suppressed her gasps and frowned, wanting to stop her. But this time, the young woman gave her no chance to speak.

The young woman who had always been restrained and guided by her began to lose control.

Not too much, not too little.

Each time, just a tiny bit beyond the line.

It could be endured.

Yet it was too hard to bear.

An endless stream of mental power sank into the darkness. Even ancient, unchanging ice would melt, only very slowly, appearing exceptionally small before this iceberg.

Melting.

Water droplets fell.

A jade bowstring pulled taut.

Zhu Yu asked hoarsely, “Sister, does it hurt?”

Her own wounds were healing rapidly, as if time were reversing. But Bai Shuzhou’s shattered-jade cracks were difficult to repair.

Trembling, the lifted line of her neck also gathered crystalline sweat. Her fingers tightly twisted the silk, and the woman could only release broken syllables.

Yet Zhu Yu was unhurried. She leaned in to kiss her, practically as if deliberately forcing the question, humid heat brushing against Bai Shuzhou’s ear.

“Sister, do you like me?”

“Sister, don’t leave me, okay…”

Drip.

There was no answer, only increasingly hurried breaths.

The more uneasy she was, the harder it became to obtain an answer.

Finally, Zhu Yu lowered her head. Her nose was damp, and her voice sank together with her pitch-black eyes.

“Say that you… need me.”

Her voice was very soft, a coquettish murmur, yet it caused a whimper to emerge from somewhere else.

“Need.”

She held out her left hand.

“Like.”

This was the right hand.

She held them both out together.

She insisted on receiving an answer.

Zhu. Yu…!

The woman’s pupils abruptly shrank. She gripped Zhu Yu’s shoulders tightly, no longer able to endure, and wrapped her arms around her, biting down.

Omega physiology was special, always maintaining extreme clarity. Even if her eyes were hazy, Bai Shuzhou knew very clearly what was happening.

Those greedy, almost out-of-control, mingled mental powers undoubtedly held a fatal temptation for her.

The cold poison that had always been suppressed inside her body showed signs of loosening for the first time.

Zhu Yu was both her antidote and her catalyst. Too many unspeakable throbs were buried deeply between lips and teeth. It seemed she had waited a very long time for this instant, yet was unwilling to swallow it in one bite.

At last, struggling, she managed to speak in the blank space between breaths.

“Zhu Yu, the consumption is too great. Control it.”

At the end was a gasp she had not managed to suppress, spilling down from the cold crescent moon.

“You’re worried about me.”

The young woman’s tender brows and eyes curved, catching this handful of moonlight. Warmly, she said:

“I’m willing.”

I am willing.

For you.

Only because I am willing.

Willing to do anything.

If mental power was the dizzy, surging emotion inside her mind, then it surged because of Bai Shuzhou.

For a moment, everything froze.

Bai Shuzhou bit her lip and turned her gaze away, unwilling to look directly into those overly scorching eyes.

“What you want, I cannot give.”

Her cool voice was hoarse and rough, the ending short and damp.

Zhu Yu said, “But I haven’t said what I want yet.”

In this prosperous yet lonely universe, fame and profit, power and influence surrounded them.

But what she asked for was only a sincere heart.

The simplest thing.

And also the most expensive.

Only this could not be promised or given.

What use was sincerity?

Aside from hurting and losing control, it had no use at all.

Zhu Yu watched as Bai Shuzhou closed her eyes, tears still hanging from her long lashes, fragile and indifferent.

“I will sign a contract with you. You will heal me, and we will each take what we need.”

Words rational to the point of coldness, as if she truly could handle this as official business, driven only by profit to seek stable peace of mind.

Zhu Yu was silent for a moment, then sighed softly.

“But Sister…”

Why are you biting me?

From her fingertips to a shallow inch, Zhu Yu had not moved.

Contrary to her cold tone, roses bloomed passionately, happily rubbing against her tail.

Bai Shuzhou seemed to realize the problem belatedly as well. Her face flushed completely, and she bit her lip in shame.

She still reasoned very logically that Zhu Yu’s mental power and ability benefited her. She had no reason to refuse.

And so, once again, she supported her wavering voice and emphasized with the authority of an imperial princess:

“Mm… No permanent marking.”

From “no marking” to “no permanent marking.”

In truth, at the very beginning, Zhu Yu had only wanted a kiss.

She slowly blinked.

A mark meant leaving a part of oneself deep in a partner’s sea of consciousness.

She had always understood the joy of being content with little, yet in this subtle, wordless indulgence, she learned without a teacher how to take an inch and reach for a foot outside the bounds of order.

“Can I really, Sister?”

Her breath buried downward, very lightly. Again and again, she touched Bai Shuzhou’s fragile sincerity.

Bai Shuzhou refused to speak, so those shattered, difficult-to-endure syllables that occasionally slipped out became even more winding and alluring.

Before the old wounds faded, new flushes were added.

Zhu Yu kept “feeding” her—not only the mental power spilling over. Golden droplets rolled over a crimson tongue, sweet and soft. In several dazed moments, Bai Shuzhou thought of the forbidden fruit in Eden.

With a slight sway, she could even feel Zhu Yu’s mental power moving awkwardly.

It would take a great deal of time to digest these overly dense energies.

Each drop seemed to be saying: I like you, I like you!!

Although Bai Shuzhou had studied mental power since childhood, she had never known that deep connection could be so…

Noisy.

She could no longer eat, yet Zhu Yu’s mental power seemed endless, spilling from the corners of Bai Shuzhou’s lips and making her cough softly.

They should not have indulged themselves like this.

Yet they sank while fully awake. Tears could not block the hazy view, but she had already lost her voice.

The world was dancing.

Bai Shuzhou held her hand.

Zhu Yu’s clumsy, inexperienced efforts also received responses. All her recklessness and mistakes were corrected one by one. They held hands and danced in a world that belonged only to each other.

Bai Shuzhou’s long legs curled slightly, bracing against Zhu Yu, still unable to move nimbly. Zhu Yu held her ankle and slowly massaged it for her.

The woman’s naturally low body temperature was also warmed, cold jade dyed pale red.

……

After extreme pleasure, only an aching, swelling aftertaste remained. Bai Shuzhou could no longer speak, nor did she want to. Her entire body was wrapped in the young woman’s warm woody fragrance, carrying damp moisture after rain. She only wanted to sleep properly.

Zhu Yu lowered her eyes and looked at the woman’s eternally indifferent pale blue eyes, now stained with a faint mist of water. Satisfied tears hung from her curled lashes, and they drooped heavily.

So beautiful it startled the heart.

Zhu Yu pinched her wrist hard.

Hiss.

It hurt…

And was also a little sore.

The confinement room’s bed was narrow and small. Bai Shuzhou had no choice but to lean against her side. With Zhu Yu’s tiny movement, she gave a low hum, her cool voice hoarse beyond recognition.

“Don’t move.”

In the past, Zhu Yu would not have dared dream a dream like this.

Yet all of it had truly happened.

She still remembered Bai Shuzhou calling her name again and again, her tone subtly different from usual.

Zhu Yu wanted to cry again.

So happy.

The woman in her arms moved lightly. Zhu Yu immediately pricked up her ears with anticipation, blushing as she leaned closer.

Bai Shuzhou did not even lift her eyelids. Relying on the overly hot temperature, she accurately sensed Zhu Yu and pinched her cheek, biting out the hoarse words very faintly:

“Your secret. Don’t let anyone else know.”

That light phrase, “anyone else,” very naturally divided the two of them into one side in this vast world, like a small passage deliberately marked in red in a scroll of ten thousand words, framing them together.

The corners of Zhu Yu’s lips rose faster than her thoughts. She was about to wag her tail.

The woman before her seemed to sense it and added a more objective personal evaluation beyond reason:

“And your kissing technique is terrible.”

Kissing technique.

Terrible.

These words were placed among indifferent speech, and with a whoosh, they stabbed into Zhu Yu’s heart. As if pressing some pause button, Zhu Yu really did stop.

Was it bad?

Was it really bad?

Zhu Yu blinked and looked at the woman’s swollen red lips.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’ll keep working hard…!”

Was this person an idiot?

The tips of Bai Shuzhou’s ears began to heat again. Unable to endure, she lifted her head and bit Zhu Yu’s lip, carrying a bit of revenge as she said coldly and mercilessly:

“Shut up. Sleep.”

“Oh.”

One kiss, and Zhu Yu no longer wanted to cry.

She was very easy to coax.

Her mouth closed, but her eyes opened again. Little stars blinked around her moon.

She was holding her breath and secretly looking. Both of them knew it very clearly.

Bai Shuzhou smiled, but did not open her eyes again.

She said, “Close your eyes too.”

“Oh!”

Zhu Yu answered very softly.

The tail found a comfortable place between them and softly curled over.

During this long final night, they slept well. Their breathing blended evenly, stirring their messy hair.

The next day.

Zhu Yu slowly woke in a bedchamber filled with the cool fragrance of roses. A gilded ceiling entered her vision.

Beside her, there seemed to still be the touch and warmth of that person’s skin. She instinctively curved her lips, her fingertips lingeringly rubbing the empty velvet sheets beside her.

Eh.

Empty…?

Where’s my wife?

Where did my big fragrant soft wife go?!

Zhu Yu instantly fell from the clouds back to reality and abruptly pushed herself up.

Clink.

Her fingertips touched a box of cold, sharp things, placed exactly at the edge where she could reach. Trembling, she lifted the quilt—

A dazzling array of jewels glittered brilliantly. Deep blue and pale blue piled together, looking exactly like her beloved’s eyes, flowing with light.

Heavens…

Why were they here?

Although she had already witnessed Bai Shuzhou’s money power last time, this time was different. She was not catching them in a miserable state. Instead, while she had been asleep, they had quietly filled the empty space beside her.

The bed was too soft. Zhu Yu only moved a little, and all four sides sank downward. The jewels rolled with clinks and clatters, their cold edges pressing against her warm thigh.

The impact was too great.

And some of them dug in a bit.

This was not a dream.

The young woman, surrounded by cold wealth, sat there dazedly, falling briefly into confusion.

Unconsciously, she picked up one of them. It still carried a little leftover body warmth.

She murmured, “Ah, wife…”

What money was this?

What was this money for?

Knock, knock, knock.

She racked her brain but had not figured it out when someone knocked unhurriedly at the door. The rhythm made her panic.

—It was not Bai Shuzhou’s scent.

Zhu Yu’s nose twitched. She immediately rolled herself up in the quilt, carefully and quickly hiding herself together with the jewels.

Author’s Note:

Zhu Yu: What money is this!! [Pitiful]

Bai Shuzhou: What money could it be? Light glance*

The silver dragon’s treasure. Covers with quilt.

Dangerous action. Please do not imitate~ [Patting head]