A Disguised Scum Alpha Marked Her Aloof Ex-Wife - Chapter 30

The researchers looked down at the food boxes, then up at Zhu Yu and Bai Shuzhou, swallowing with difficulty both the food in their mouths and this sudden piece of gossip.

Even though the distance between them was not particularly close, they were still within clear sight of each other.

Zhu Yu had deliberately chosen that spot. It was not too conspicuous, but there was nothing blocking the view between them. Their gazes outlined a tiny galaxy, crossing over a small pot of swaying fluorescent baby’s breath.

If both of them were seated, Bai Shuzhou would be able to vaguely see Zhu Yu’s shadow through the baby’s breath, along with her high-tied hair.

This subtle little thought would not originally have been noticed.

But at this very moment, the researchers lifting their heads and thinking furiously looked just like the freshly baked stargazy pies Zhu Yu had made—warm and fresh, all turning toward Bai Shuzhou along with her instinctive movement.

The entire hall sank into a strange silence. Zhu Yu’s quiet heartbeat rang through the Academy just like that.

—Oh. So this was food Zhu Yu had made for the princess.

From shock to sudden realization, they had snatched food from a dragon’s mouth. The food on the table seemed even more fragrant now.

No wonder Zhu Yu had even plated such ordinary dishes. Although everything had shifted around inside the food boxes, scattering the patterns she had deliberately arranged, the carrot hearts she had carved were still there, only slightly misaligned.

Someone quick-eyed had taken a photo earlier, then under Zhu Yu’s gaze, divided it with knife and fork in an extremely ceremonial way, as precise as performing surgery, into uneven portions.

The researchers who had eaten from the fish now owed her: Oh no. We seem to have eaten something incredible.

Bai Shuzhou only glanced over, as though she truly did not care.

Zhu Yu was left standing there, swaying faintly together with the baby’s breath, bright and dim.

“Go on, Your Highness Zhu Yu,” someone beside her urged softly.

“The princess is waiting for you, Your Highness!”

One researcher pushed up her glasses. “Wasn’t this why you came?”

“That’s right. The princess never used to eat in public areas. And these past few days, only Your Highness Zhu Yu was eating outside…”

Everyone whispered openly, throwing little matches into the pile of wood that was awkwardly about to go out. With a soft boom, very faint, it lit again.

Zhu Yu maintained her proud standing posture from start to finish, raising her eyes and pressing her lips together slightly, forming a style all her own—unyielding youthful spirit.

After all, there were no holes in the Academy floor, and she was not a mole. She could not dig one on the spot in front of everyone.

Zhu Yu held that elegant pose for a while and took a deep breath.

The researchers at her table were very nervous, their hearts hanging in suspense.

Zhu Yu took another deep breath.

How strange. Clearly, that day when she had walked onto the speech stage on her own and faced countless reporters and flashing cameras, her heart had not been this unsettled. Oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar had all been knocked over, rolling through her blazing heart, only to cook into caramel.

Finally, Zhu Yu, with one hand in her pocket, moved.

She put on her signature sunny smile and walked to Bai Shuzhou’s side. The Snow Leopard Knights tactfully did not stop her.

In the distance of a dozen steps, she had already run through every possibility in her heart. How to start, how to find a topic, how to spread her tail like a peacock.

Although Zhu Yu had outwardly dismissed and sternly rejected the perfect strategies Feng Jiyan had provided, she had still silently and carefully read them once, taking the essence and discarding the dross!

Her confident appearance carried an imposing aura. Her Highness the princess remained steady as a mountain, and Zhu Yu approached her like the rising sun.

The moment to witness history had arrived!!

Everyone could not help holding their breath.

Hello, did you sleep well last night? Is lunch to your taste? If it’s not enough, I can make more for you. I’m already very skilled at making the things you like, and I even learned carving recently. The pheromones on me—the ones that belong to you—have faded a little… Wife… I miss you very much.

Thousands of words. Gentle coaxing, spoiled sweetness, or ambiguity. One had to advance gradually. The manuals had all given reminders on this. Tone and rhythm also needed attention.

The young woman’s voice was faintly hoarse, held even more beautifully than during the speech, and gathered into one sentence:

“Hello, wife.”

“…”

That was it?

The researchers, who had been itching to cheer her on, nearly spat everything out. After holding back for half the day, it was just one sentence? Wasn’t she quite good at talking on television?

Zhu Yu was too nervous. Her stomach was full of longing, so she took one sentence from the beginning and one from the end, turning it into a crude condensed version.

The difference was no less dramatic than the gap between her carrot hearts and this entire table full of mountain and sea delicacies before her.

She lowered her head.

She was still holding a pair of chopsticks.

Bai Shuzhou said nothing and did not know how to respond.

Hello. Wife…?

Despairing, Zhu Yu simply let the broken jar smash. Her voice no longer tried to act refined. Rubbing her hands, she asked shyly, “Can I eat with you?”

If Feng Jiyan were watching the surveillance right now, she would probably faint from anger.

She had gone to great lengths to arrange people around Bai Shuzhou, spreading Zhu Yu’s outstanding deeds and the romantic encounters between the two of them. Although how much was true and how much was false was temporarily unknown, at least it was a perfectly positive heroine image. Who would not like a bright, spirited young person?

And Zhu Yu effortlessly destroyed that fixed impression with two sentences.

But it was also like a crack opening in that perfect, somewhat false heroine statue, with tender green shoots emerging from within.

Bai Shuzhou narrowed her eyes. The corners of her long, narrow eyes lifted slightly. She neither agreed nor refused.

White Bird secretly glanced at Bai Shuzhou, then immediately carried her plate and obediently moved aside a little, happily patting the seat toward Zhu Yu. The invitation was very clear.

Zhu Yu successfully sat down, and the atmosphere sank into a subtle awkwardness again, though it seemed limited only to her and Bai Shuzhou.

White Bird truly achieved the state of burying her head and eating. Her otherworldly aura was about to transcend the three realms. No matter what it was, as long as someone put it into her bowl, she would eat it.

Bai Shuzhou put meat into her bowl. She ate it.

Zhu Yu tentatively picked up some vegetables for the child. She ate those too.

Zhu Yu did not know whether all white-haired people were naturally more aloof, but at this huge table—no, more accurately, in this whole circle around them—she was the only one speaking.

Zhu Yu racked her brain and talked about some beautiful memories from before. Bai Shuzhou looked unmoved. Her slender fingers brushed her scattered hair behind her ear, revealing a beautiful, pale ear.

Her eating speed slowed a little. She ate less herself and gave more food to White Bird.

She picked up food, and Zhu Yu also picked up food. Although Zhu Yu was also here to mooch a meal, a balanced diet was never a bad thing.

Poor White Bird looked like a child caught between parents in a cold war. A little mountain piled up in her rice bowl. In the end, when she really had no other choice, she lifted her face, expressionless. Unable to burp, she gently spat out a small fireball.

“Ah, are you full? If you’re full, don’t eat anymore. Don’t hurt your stomach.”

Zhu Yu poured her a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice to moisten her throat.

Bai Shuzhou’s indifferent brows softened a little. Her lashes lowered lightly, and she also nobly uttered one syllable:

“Mm.”

And before White Bird, there was already a glass of milk Bai Shuzhou had pushed over, along with a small cup of bird’s nest and cordyceps soup.

White Bird seemed to jam in place and stopped moving.

The person in charge at the table beside them finally could not bear it anymore. Braving the inexplicable low pressure between the two, she came forward, stuffed over a board of digestion tablets, and quickly carried the bird away.

Once White Bird left, only Zhu Yu and Bai Shuzhou remained. The atmosphere grew even colder.

Only at this moment did Zhu Yu realize that Bai Shuzhou’s cold elegance was something seeped into her bones. It was as if she naturally carried a chill around her. Even though they were already sitting very close, she did not have the arrogance of ordinary nobles, yet still seemed to reject others from a thousand miles away.

An indifferent, vast sky, containing all things and caring about none.

Back then, perhaps Zhu Yu had only stumbled into it by accident. In that unfamiliar environment, Bai Shuzhou had no choice but to rely on her, and that was why…

She did not want to think about it anymore.

Bai Shuzhou while dining was as beautiful as a jade statue. The faint air of illness was a misty white veil, lightly covering her, yet still unable to hide the nobility in every gesture.

Even the way she lightly touched the corner of her lips with a handkerchief, the little red mole on her wrist swaying, was so beautiful that Zhu Yu’s heart suddenly missed several beats.

The Snow Leopard Knights guarding nearby gathered around and handed them a gorgeous, translucent hand-washing basin and hot towels in turn.

Too exaggerated.

Zhu Yu sat there without moving. She suddenly remembered a joke she had seen when she was little, about a poor person going to a noble banquet and drinking the water meant for rinsing hands before a meal.

Fortunately, times had developed. This spatial pool used for handwashing was large, so it would not be mistaken for a cup, but it was also not especially large. Otherwise, this awkward little fish might have jumped in right now and bathed in incense.

Bai Shuzhou raised her eyes lightly and glanced at her. Then, casually, she slowed her movements. Jade-like fingers played with the clear water and slowly sank in, a little beautiful pink blooming at the joints.

Zhu Yu’s heartbeat quickened again.

Perhaps she also needed to register for an appointment and check whether she had arrhythmia.

This was very dangerous.

Only after that bright moon left did the researchers gather around. Geniuses from all fields enthusiastically helped Zhu Yu analyze the situation.

From psychologists to criminal profilers, someone had even produced a notebook from somewhere and recorded the changes in the two people’s expressions in real time using coordinates, marking detailed data differences for Zhu Yu’s reference and decision-making.

Zhu Yu’s ears reddened. She was very moved, but refused.

You might as well stop calling yourselves the Academy and call yourselves the Gossip Institute!

But these think tanks were not entirely useless. Led by the yellow-haired researcher who had drawn Zhu Yu’s blood that day, they forcefully uncovered an important clue: White Bird and Bai Shuzhou should have known each other long ago, in the Academy.

Although that batch of materials and experimental data from those years had all been sealed and destroyed, it was impossible to erase every trace.

Serial numbers, dates, inventory consumption—all kinds of data gathered together. As long as they had a little more time, they would be able to infer more useful information.

The young researchers praised their own discovery endlessly, looking even happier than Zhu Yu. Right away, they created a new discussion group.

Someone looked around and belatedly hesitated. “This doesn’t follow regulations, does it?”

The yellow-haired researcher answered cautiously, “Then don’t get discovered.”

They usually did not cooperate much. Scholars looked down on one another, and to some degree, they all despised each other.

But Zhu Yu’s appearance made up for this very well. Although her brain turned a little slowly, she had experience with group projects, a big enough reputation, and could sincerely praise people. Her coordination ability was very strong.

Zhu Yu thought about it and changed the group chat name from its original cold investigation code to “One Loving Planet Family.”

“This way, it won’t be easy to suspect.”

Researchers: “…”

It felt as if some attribute had decreased.

Zhu Yu was too embarrassed to let them help for nothing, but she also did not have anything presentable on her.

She did not know the original body’s payment password and did not want to touch the gems Bai Shuzhou had left her. So she had no choice but to shyly draw a big pie, shaking hands with everyone one by one, promising great thanks once the matter was done!

Competition in the Academy was fierce. One either rose or left. Most of the researchers gathered here were ordinary commoners, very young and without real power.

The yellow-haired lady waved her hand with great vision. “No need for thanks. You’re too polite. We’re all one planet family now.”

“Work hard to fight for grassroots rights!”

That burden was far too heavy. Perhaps they should still be polite after all.

Zhu Yu, who had nearly breathed a sigh of relief, grew nervous again and shook hands with them even harder.

Before they parted, someone silently stuffed a bottle of reagent into Zhu Yu’s hand. It was said that after drinking it, it could induce pheromone release. In a partner’s eyes, she would become fragrant.

Highly compatible pheromones attracted each other. But everyone knew Zhu Yu’s pheromones were very faint. Even now, what clung to her body was mostly the princess’s rose scent.

To actually let an Omega leave such a rich scent on her body—Zhu Yu was probably the first Alpha like this.

That person reluctantly told Zhu Yu that they had originally wanted to use the two of them as research subjects to analyze the influence of comprehensive mental-power rank on abnormal pheromone changes. Zhu Yu got a headache just listening to the thesis title. Fortunately, because it involved a member of the imperial family, this sensitive topic had been vetoed.

After being influenced by high-IQ people for an afternoon, she was still a little dizzy.

Actually, when it came down to it, it was not really that she was jealous of White Bird. How could she care about these, these, these things? It was only that Bai Shuzhou’s cold face had smiled only at White Bird, and she had uniquely picked up food for her, and she had seriously warned the person in charge to take good care of White Bird, and Bai Shuzhou had kept watching White Bird leave before withdrawing her gaze…

Eh. They were friends. Childhood friends. They had passed through long days of illness together. This was very normal. Zhu Yu did not care about any of this at all!

When Zhu Yu was little and sick in the hospital, her older sister came to take care of her, and she also felt they would be number one best in the world forever.

She only cared a little that, to Bai Shuzhou, she did not seem to be the one and only anymore.

Zhu Yu had never been afraid of walking alone slowly. But after briefly walking side by side, the lonely journey would be stretched endlessly long.

She only feared that if she walked one path to the end and only then discovered no one was waiting under the light, it would hurt very much.

She was afraid of competition, terrified of conflict, and habitually fled before things began. In truth, she was only afraid of having something and then losing it. The gap would be too great.

Zhu Yu held that bottle of reagent until it warmed in her hand. In the end, she still did not open it.

That night, she entered Bai Shuzhou’s room. Her Sleeping Beauty still maintained a quiet, elegant posture, with flowing time falling lightly onto her shallow breaths.

Zhu Yu knew Bai Shuzhou was not asleep, just as the slowly tightening hand beneath the thin quilt was also waiting for something.

Time passed minute by minute, second by second.

Zhu Yu thought that if Bai Shuzhou’s tail were still there, it would give a subtle signal of permission. Then she would bravely charge ahead like a hero or a rascal, pestering her shamelessly.

But that little tail that liked her had disappeared. Only cold Bai Shuzhou remained.

In just a few short days, making the amnesiac Bai Shuzhou change her mind—no matter how one looked at it, it was an impossible task, right? It was like asking someone to melt a block of hard ice in winter.

No wonder Bai Qianze was too lazy to make things difficult for her anymore. Zhu Yu’s future seemed to have only one dead end.

If Bai Shuzhou did not like her, she might as well start thinking about how to run away early. It did not matter if she fled in a miserable state. At the very least, she had to live safely.

Without her, Bai Shuzhou would still have a bright and dazzling future, although Zhu Yu did not know how she was supposed to reach it. Perhaps this had nothing to do with her to begin with.

Being with Zhu Yu did not seem to bring Bai Shuzhou any happiness either.

Only extra risks and sudden accidents.

Zhu Yu was best at escaping. Since childhood, she had never had much ambition. When everyone else was imagining becoming astronauts, great writers, and scientists, only Zhu Yu was thinking: Ah, I want to be a lifestyle expert!

The kind of person who specialized in studying how to live more comfortably. In common words, a lazy person.

She had beaten the retreat drum eight hundred times. Zhu Yu quietly looked at Bai Shuzhou’s sleeping face. The cold air faded, and her silk-like silver hair fell against her neck like a flawless white swan.

Zhu Yu could imagine how beautiful she would be when dancing, like the soft snow of deep winter.

She had just happened to stretch out her hand and caught one flake of it, only for it to melt in an instant.

Perhaps, during these few days, she should quietly use her ability to heal Bai Shuzhou’s legs, then leave?

But suddenly, under the warm quilt, there was a very small movement.

Like some delayed signal.

On the vast snowfield, that deep blue lake suddenly arrived, hanging beside the bright moon.

Zhu Yu was caught off guard as she watched it pour down from the sky, the Milky Way spilling straight onto her.

Ah…

Just being watched so intently by those pale blue eyes felt like soaking in a tingling lake, ring after ring, the waterline still rising.

In the darkness, senses were always especially sharp. The young woman’s flickering, evasive feelings melted into that faint woody fragrance and quietly squeezed into someone’s lungs.

Compared with the rich rose fragrance, it was very faint. Yet for some reason, it lingered in the heart.

Very bitter.

Not tasty.

It was a plastic bun.

The filling was empty, and the heart was empty too.

This was only the third day.

The woman on the bed turned her back, pulling the quilt with her. The rippling water swayed along with her, and her thin voice suddenly said:

“Get out.”