A Disguised Scum Alpha Marked Her Aloof Ex-Wife - Chapter 26

The visit to see Bai Shuzhou was arranged for the dead of night.

Zhu Yu was highly conscious of her status as a “secret family member.” She spent the entire afternoon trying on endless outfits but remained unsatisfied; it turned out that within this massive walk-in closet, there wasn’t a single thing she felt comfortable wearing.

The original host’s wardrobe was practically Love Nikki but with a “Little Fish” theme; the options were dizzying, and the styles varied wildly.

Should I wear formal wear? Too serious. It didn’t look like she was going to see her family. She stared into the mirror over and over, unconsciously sitting straight as an arrow, imagining a reporter across from her pointing a camera at her. It felt incredibly distant and stiff.

Then she looked at the outfit displayed at the very front, which had been styled by the original host. At first glance, the floral shirt looked perfectly ordinary, but once worn, it turned out to have hidden tailoring lines that accentuated a broad chest and narrow waist. The shallow V-neck naturally exposed a small section of her collarbone and slender neck, instantly making her proportions look flawless.

The sensation was incredibly novel; a strange itch flared up behind her back, as if she were a peacock about to fan out its feathers.

Zhu Yu looked at the mirror, and the girl inside looked right back. She waved her hand, and the clear, reckless girl on the other side waved back too, her voice deliberately dropping into a magnetic, low baritone: “Long time no see, sister.”

So staged. So unfamiliar.

She laughed, freezing for a few seconds before pulling herself together. A sudden flare of vigilance hit her: The original host put together so many outfits in this specific style… could it be because Bai Shuzhou likes it?

The “bad woman” style.

This would be their first meeting since that night. Zhu Yu wanted to showcase her best side, wanting Bai Shuzhou to like her just a little bit more.

If she liked her a bit more, maybe she wouldn’t have vanished without saying goodbye—or at least, she would have dropped a tiny hint.

Yet she couldn’t help but feel that imitating someone else was a rather distasteful thing to do.

But then again, that “someone else” hadn’t patented the style. Wear it—she could wear it!

Besides, she had to play the role of the original host in front of outsiders anyway; this was actually safer, a mere concession to circumstances…! Zhu Yu buried her guilt by finding a convenient excuse.

Regrettably, the “social butterfly” look she had finally resolved to wear didn’t last very long. The Head Attendant’s gaze was a precise ruler. When she delivered dinner, her strict eyes swept over her and delivered an absolute verdict: “No.”

Her gland was exposed. Forbidden.

It felt exactly like a quality inspection at the nutrient factory—patrolling around, stamping a giant “REJECT” mark, and sending her back to the drawing board.

Although the Royal Academy of Sciences was under the control of the Feng family, scientific integrity demanded that reports not be falsified. Bai Shuzhou’s illness truly was related to abnormal spiritual power fluctuations, meaning Feng Jiyan’s words weren’t entirely baseless.

Zhu Yu could not clear her name; she was merely being protected.

Having spent a long time practicing her wink in front of the mirror, Zhu Yu suffered a crushing defeat. Unwilling to give up entirely, she threw a massive white shirt over the top, fastening every single button to the very top, making herself look exceptionally well-behaved.

The Head Attendant watched her cheerful demeanor, and for some reason, her right eyelid gave a sharp twitch.

A moment later, a Michelin-man-like figure, completely sealed in a hazmat suit, slipped into the Academy of Sciences through the small door of the utility room.

Zhu Yu completely understood the Head Attendant’s caution. After all, the two of them held special identities; public figures truly had to maintain a low profile. Changing into this outfit made it feel even more like a secret tryst.

So thrilling. She liked it. It made her—made them—feel incredibly special.

The Head Attendant’s name was Melno, who was also a noble, but her appended surname was far too long for Zhu Yu to remember. Calling her by her first name felt a bit impolite, so she steadfastly referred to her as “Sister.”

Her biological sister had taught her that being sweet-tongued when encountering people or situations would never do any harm.

Zhu Yu had already experienced the profound truth of this on the barren planet.

Regrettably, the iron-blooded Melno remained entirely expressionless, with utmost seriousness tightening Zhu Yu’s hazmat suit increasingly hard, until she barely resembled a human shape.

The siren seducing the master—absolutely forbidden.

It was already late at night, yet the Royal Academy of Sciences remained brightly lit. The corridors here seemed exceptionally long, a pure white canvas stretching far into the distance, filled with a cold, high-tech aura.

The silent footsteps of the two women echoed down the long hall.

Before entering, Zhu Yu had caught a glimpse of the staff moving around through the windows, lamenting that they worked so hard, failing to get off work even at this hour.

But once inside, they didn’t encounter a single soul along the way.

The repeating white pathways felt very much like being trapped in a ghostly maze.

If one wanted to escape from here… it would probably be very difficult.

The further Zhu Yu walked, the more anxious she became, her fingertips turning numb unconsciously. For some reason, she felt a trace of fear toward this place.

Through her visor, she could still catch the faint scent of disinfectant and chemicals. Perhaps because her mother was a doctor, she had always been highly sensitive to this smell.

Shifting from stiff strides to silently tiptoeing forward, Melno keenly perceived Zhu Yu’s anomaly. She slowed her pace, moving from her position ahead to stand right beside her, grabbing her arm and accelerating their pace.

At the very end of the corridor, Melno whispered: “When you see Her Highness, do not say what shouldn’t be said. Do you understand?”

She didn’t, but Zhu Yu nodded anyway. She discovered that everyone in the palace seemed to love speaking in riddles.

The massive doors slid open, and a yellow-haired researcher lifted her head from a stack of data, locking eyes perfectly with the white hazmat-suited Zhu Yu. Both of them seemed incredibly tense.

Zhu Yu stood straight as a rod, though nothing could be seen from the outside anyway, and the researcher immediately rose to her feet as well.

However, upon seeing Melno at Zhu Yu’s side, she asked nothing, merely bowing toward the woman and greeting her with absolute respect.

It appeared Melno held a very high status; Zhu Yu couldn’t help but steal a sideways glance at her.

“Take her inside to draw blood,” Melno said.

Zhu Yu turned wary: “I still have to draw blood?”

Melno didn’t even lift her eyelids, merely asking: “Do you still want to see Her Highness?”

“…”

Fine. Zhu Yu warily followed the researcher inside to draw blood.

After peeling off layer after layer of her heavy outer gear, Zhu Yu finally exposed her arm, asking politely: “Can you draw a bit less?”

The yellow-haired researcher was very young and seemed to have never encountered such a request. She answered equally politely: “I’m sorry, I cannot. But I can try to be as gentle as possible, alright?”

“Oh, okay, that works,” in the midst of this subtle and awkward stand-off, Zhu Yu added, “Thank you.”

This hazmat-clad person had only exposed her arm, not her face, but the researcher lifted her needle and suddenly asked: “Are you Zhu Yu?”

How on earth could she tell from just this?! Zhu Yu was terrified of causing trouble for Bai Shuzhou, so she said nothing.

Silence was taken as consent.

The researcher’s movements instantly became slow and methodical. “Then you had better go in a bit later. The Emperor is inside.”

It was common knowledge that Bai Qianze detested Zhu Yu.

But thinking about it, it made sense. The Imperial Rose, raised by her own hand, encountering a poor girl who crawled out of the slums—it was a complete mismatch in social status. Zhu Yu fully understood.

If she put herself in her shoes, and their future daughter met a trashy punk, Zhu Yu would absolutely never feel safe letting them be together either!

A narrow escape from danger. No wonder she had felt a chill over her entire body the moment she walked in.

“Thank you. It’s all thanks to you.”

“No need for thanks,” the researcher paused, then continued, “I watched the live broadcast that day too. Everyone respects you immensely.”

“Respect” was truly a very high evaluation; Zhu Yu felt a bit overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. For the first time, she felt that someone’s scorching, pure gaze was reflected entirely upon her.

Not as a shadow of the original host.

After drawing the blood, the researcher warmly shook hands with Zhu Yu, even deliberately pulling up the surveillance screen for a particular corridor, preparing to let Zhu Yu out only after the Emperor’s retinue had departed.

Their capabilities were limited, yet they still did what they could within their power.

However, it was already very late. Zhu Yu remembered that Bai Shuzhou had to lie down and sleep punctually before midnight every night, and right now, less than half an hour remained before her rest time.

She stood up, waving her hands repeatedly before the researcher could bring out some high-grade nutrient blocks, indicating there was no need to be so polite.

Right at that moment, an array of figures flashed onto the large screen. Zhu Yu lifted her head, her eyes lighting up, but she quickly discovered that the silver-haired figure appearing wasn’t Bai Shuzhou, but Bai Qianze.

As biological sisters, the two undoubtedly looked very similar—both possessing long silver hair and blue eyes—but there was a massive difference in their auras.

Bai Qianze’s eye color was deeper, as if it could swallow everything whole.

Unlike Bai Shuzhou, whose eyes were a pale blue like the open sky, gently reflecting a brilliant, sapphire-like glow whenever light hit them.

This legendary Emperor, rumored to be as cold as frost and who only ever showed a pleasant face to her younger sister, was currently enveloping the woman in her arms with her cloak, shielding her tightly. Under the surveillance camera, only a section of a white, jade-like ankle could be seen exposed by chance, suspended in mid-air and swaying gently like a wind chime.

Slender and fragile.

The staff lining both sides of the path kept their heads pressed very low, not daring to look directly upon the Imperial countenance.

In a place hidden from scrutiny, Bai Qianze’s deep, sea-like eyes revealed a near-maniacal tenderness, causing the researcher’s heart to skip a beat as she instinctively turned her head to look at Zhu Yu.

Zhu Yu frowned as well.

From that massive screen, she precisely captured Bai Shuzhou’s silhouette, murmuring: “Why isn’t she wearing socks? She’s already sick, and the air conditioning here is turned down so low.”

The researcher: Is that the focus here?!

“You…”

Before the researcher could finish, Zhu Yu had already gathered her clothes mysteriously, impatient to dash outside.

The exact moment the Emperor’s retinue departed, the white hazmat-suited figure bypassed the staff, poking her head out stealthily outside Bai Shuzhou’s room.

She had memorized the route while watching the surveillance and walked even faster than Melno. Unfortunately, the room Bai Shuzhou occupied seemed to be a luxury suite; from the doorway, only the foyer and main hall could be seen, where a fluffy white tail sat guarding the space.

A Snow Leopard Knight.

Zhu Yu started in horror, turning to run, but Melno behind her calmly scanned her iris verification, pushing Zhu Yu straight inside.

“You step out first,” Melno said to the Snow Leopard Knight.

“Yes.”

The Snow Leopard Knight swept a glance over Zhu Yu without any expression of surprise, departing quietly.

Could it be that the Emperor tacitly permitted her to see Bai Shuzhou? Zhu Yu couldn’t help but feel a secret surge of joy in her heart.

The furnishings of the inner chamber were completely different from the outside; transitioning from the freezing white to the magnificent royal splendor required only a single wall.

For a moment, Zhu Yu felt as if she had traveled from the Academy of Sciences straight back to the imperial palace—and a far more luxurious version than her own bedchamber at that; even many of the medical instruments were glittering.

This was Bai Shuzhou’s exclusive room.

From childhood to adulthood, the time she spent receiving treatment here was perhaps far longer than the time spent in the palace.

Zhu Yu felt a bizarre sense of familiarity toward this place, a word popping up abruptly in her mind: canary.

Pah, she wasn’t a canary; she was a dragon! In the future, she would be a very powerful dragon!

The temperature within the room seemed even lower; Zhu Yu could feel waves of chill even while wearing her hazmat suit.

Amidst a low-profile, luxurious halo, the woman on the bed was the sole thing as white as the first snow of a winter night, her eyes tightly shut. The clock happened to light up—exactly twelve midnight.

Zhu Yu felt as if she could hear a clock chiming.

The dim, warm light reflected onto Bai Shuzhou’s profile, illuminating her skin into a near-transparent porcelain white. Faint blue veins surfaced slightly along her neck, fragile and breakable.

Zhu Yu’s nose turned sour, and she gently touched the tip of her finger.

An immense weariness hung heavily upon the woman’s curled eyelashes. She didn’t open her eyes, no longer possessing the strength to do so, her fingertip merely curling in a very minor movement.

Zhu Yu watched her thin lips part. She clearly made no sound, yet there seemed to be an exceptionally gentle, raspy low call.

“Zhu Yu.”

Within this freezing room, they perceived each other’s existence, sharing a mutual telepathy, gently touching like a snail extending its tentacles.

Zhu Yu removed her visor, leaning down to kiss her, a soft light quietly coalescing within her palm, only for Bai Shuzhou to grip her wrist tightly in the next second.

The woman opened her eyes, those pale blue depths appearing exceptionally wet and cold tonight.

She held her hand, giving it a tug.

This gentle kiss had nowhere to run, falling like a heavy snowfall across the entire sky, settling upon each other’s hair and between their brows.

With one knee resting against the edge of the bed, Zhu Yu naturally held her freezing hand in return, cradling it within her warm palm.