A Disguised Scum Alpha Marked Her Aloof Ex-Wife - Chapter 7

Zhu Yu felt that she was wicked beyond redemption, guilty of monstrous crimes!

She had actually let the princess go hungry with her. How was that any different from that scumbag original owner?

Oh.

The scumbag probably had never made Her Highness go hungry.

The sight of Bai Shuzhou’s reddened ear tips appeared in her mind again, and Zhu Yu’s face could not help heating up along with it. The intense guilt was even stronger than the time she had forgotten to feed a cat.

Her pockets were empty.

Her stomach was empty too.

What Zhu Yu feared most was owing other people things, but fate was chasing after her from behind, kicking her hard in the butt.

Forget it. Embarrassment was just embarrassment.

Feeding her wife came first!

All along the way, Zhu Yu practiced at the empty air. The more she spoke, the more confident she became. However, the moment she saw Helan, the courage she had puffed up deflated like a punctured ball.

She pinched her wrist and stammered, “Sister Helan.”

Helan raised a brow and looked Zhu Yu up and down.

Yesterday, she had been covered in dust and looked obviously weak from blood loss. Now, after a night’s rest, the clear brightness unique to a young person stood out.

Zhu Yu was actually a little taller than Helan. With two buttons undone, she revealed her collarbones just right. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, stray strands of hair falling loose beneath her high ponytail—there was a hint of carefree unruliness about her.

Yet her eyes were especially clear. She smiled at Helan with her eyes curved in embarrassment.

Helan had seen countless people. She immediately understood, but still asked leisurely, “What is it? It isn’t time for work yet. You’re too early.”

Zhu Yu gripped her wrist tighter. “Sister Helan, can I borrow a little money? Once I get paid after work, I’ll pay you back, along with the rent.”

They had only known each other for one day. Asking to borrow money now felt abrupt even to Zhu Yu herself, so she immediately added, very embarrassed, “Tonight, I can tutor Xiao Ming for free…”

Helan laughed. “College student, with that personality of yours, you’ll suffer once you enter society.”

“One thing is one thing. Don’t sell your labor too cheaply. If you lower your own value, other people will only think you’re cheap too.”

“Knowledge is precious.” Helan tapped her own head, then reached for her wallet. “How much do you want to borrow?”

Zhu Yu asked very cautiously, “May I ask how much one day’s wages usually are around here?”

Helan had saved them, provided them shelter, and even introduced her to work. This kindness had already surpassed that of even the darkest dissertation advisor.

“Depends on what you’re willing to do. Something easier pays a little over a hundred, settled daily.”

Zhu Yu immediately replied, “What about something more tiring? I’m very capable.”

With an Alpha’s physique, not working like an ox or horse would be an insult to this efficiency.

Helan opened her personal terminal and glanced through it.

“Nutrient-solution factory. One hundred eighty. Six-hour shifts. Rotating schedule. You can apply for overtime yourself. More work, more pay.”

“Animal and plant sorting. Two hundred seventy. Eight hours. In this district, the hourly pay is pretty high, but if you haven’t gotten the rabid-grass vaccine, I don’t recommend it. Getting bitten wouldn’t be worth it.”

It was Zhu Yu’s first time hearing that animals and plants even needed to be sorted. It sounded quite novel. Her eyes had just lit up when she heard that she might get bitten, and she immediately shrank back a little.

With an awkward smile, she said, “Then I’ll go with the nutrient-solution factory. I’d like to borrow fifty.”

Helan transferred fifty star coins to her and did not forget to remind her, “Meals at my place are considered expensive. Use that as your standard when buying things, so you don’t get scammed.”

“Got it. Thank you!”

On this planet, people from the Empire and the Federation lived mixed together. Policies and ideals had stagnated decades ago, and national hatred blurred at the chaotic border. There were also quite a few mixed-bloods like Zhu Yu.

A personal terminal was similar to a cellphone from ancient Earth and could also connect to the star network. Naturally, its functions could not compare with an advanced optical brain.

Zhu Yu vaguely remembered that personal terminals were relatively cheap, and that the government offered subsidies to promote them in underdeveloped regions. But when she asked about the price and heard that it still cost several thousand, she immediately retreated.

Probably because this backward planet did not even have a government.

They were beyond even underdeveloped regions.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

She was truly making herself laugh from poverty!

Zhu Yu deliberately tried to cheer herself up. She ran to a nearby breakfast shop and spent a massive sum of twenty to buy ten buns.

But only after getting them did she realize they were machine-made buns. They looked as if they had been cloned, every single one identical, stiff and cold. They were vastly different from the fragrant, hot handmade buns in her memory.

Besides, when she bit into one, there was barely any meat at all. They could not compare with Helan’s cooking.

Forget it.

Maybe this was just how food was in another world.

Zhu Yu gritted her teeth. After hesitating in front of the shop for a moment, she separately bought the most normal-looking cup of soy milk.

When she turned, she saw an advertisement for nutrient solution hanging from the tallest building. Even in daylight, the neon lights were very bright. The most eye-catching red letters read:

“Human Feed.”

A sense of discomfort rose from the bottom of Zhu Yu’s heart.

Although they were indeed oxen and horses, food was still the people’s heaven. You could not just directly label it as feed, right?

But attracted by the dazzling colored lights, she still could not help looking at the small lines of text below.

All kinds of products were clearly priced. Three minutes, a few mouthfuls, and you could be full. The cheapest was only five yuan!

Five yuan and enough to fill the stomach.

It really was quite tempting.

The discomfort in her heart had not faded, so Zhu Yu did not keep looking. She stuffed the buns into her arms and quickly ran back.

She would eat after Bai Shuzhou finished. The leftovers could also be her lunch.

When she got home.

Bai Shuzhou picked up one, took a bite, and paused slightly. Her beautiful brows furrowed, but her excellent upbringing still made her swallow it with difficulty.

The outer skin was hard as plastic, while the meat filling inside was definitely not pure meat. It was mixed with the flavor of some low-quality artificial essence.

Had Zhu Yu specially found something this awful to humiliate her?

She drank a mouthful of soy milk, then continued by taking a second bite.

The strange texture grew even stronger. The inferior artificial flavoring seemed deliberately used to cover up some other smell.

Frozen.

Unnatural.

Industrial.

So disgusting.

Bai Shuzhou thought of the huge chimneys in the countryside. She had seen them from afar while inspecting the border, belching black smoke.

Zhu Yu sat on the chair, both hands propped on the table, staring at her with sparkling eyes.

Watching a beauty eat was truly a feast for the eyes.

Bai Shuzhou’s manners were very elegant. Somehow, she made eating buns look like dining on French cuisine.

For the first time, Zhu Yu personally understood what it meant for beauty to be enough to eat with. Just watching Bai Shuzhou’s lips and teeth meet, her cheeks puffing slightly as she chewed carefully, made Zhu Yu feel happy.

Bai Shuzhou stopped.

Zhu Yu thought she was being polite to her, so she quickly looked away and waved her hand generously. “Go on, eat. There’s still plenty.”

“Eat more. You need to be full to recover from your injuries. I’m also trying to learn how to use my mental power. Once I calculate the cycle properly, I’ll be able to treat you regularly.”

As she spoke, there was even a tiny, almost imperceptible pride in her voice.

Under Zhu Yu’s increasingly strange and burning gaze, Bai Shuzhou fell silent and slowly took a third bite.

Of course she knew she had to eat enough in order to recover.

But…

“What’s wrong? Is it not to your taste?” Zhu Yu noticed something off about her and asked gently.

Making a dignified imperial princess eat buns was indeed a little shabby. Unfortunately, their current conditions were poor. A meal at Helan’s place cost about seventy per person, and that was only for two dishes.

Zhu Yu rubbed her hands together a little embarrassedly and secretly swore that she would work hard, strive hard, and stabilize their lives with four dishes and one soup!

Bai Shuzhou’s hand, holding the bun, paused in midair.

Zhu Yu had said this to her more than once before.

In the palace, whenever her appetite was poor, Zhu Yu would wrap her arms around her from behind and lean close in the gentlest tone.

“Is it not to your taste?”

“Do you know how many people in the entire Empire, how many of your subjects, still don’t have enough to eat?”

“The meal you throw away might be worth dozens of lives, Your Highness.”

“Are you going to throw it away? What a waste. Why not eat it? It’s as simple as taking medicine.”

Her fingers had brushed along the side of Bai Shuzhou’s neck, lightly tapping her throat before gripping it, her voice coaxing in a way that would not allow refusal.

“Swallow it, Princess.”

Bai Shuzhou’s stomach churned violently.

She almost vomited.

She swallowed mechanically, but it stuck. Her strict upbringing did not allow her to spit anything out. Covering her lips, her chest rose and fell violently as she began coughing.

Zhu Yu quickly stood and patted her back until the small lump of dough she had choked on was coughed into her palm. By then, tears had already seeped into the corners of the woman’s eyes.

She closed her eyes in humiliation. Tears dampened her lashes and trembled as they slid down.

Zhu Yu wanted to say something light to make her less sad. Those pale blue eyes were filled with layers of melancholy Zhu Yu could not understand. She was almost drowning in it.

Zhu Yu lifted the bun and squeezed it in front of Bai Shuzhou, speaking in the playful tone one would use to coax a child.

“Bold bun, how dare you attack the princess.”

“I won’t eat it!”

The woman swept it aside with one wave of her hand.

Caught off guard, Zhu Yu lost her grip on the plastic bag. It flew out of her hand and rolled onto the floor.

The clean white bun skin was stained with dust.

The atmosphere suddenly stiffened, heavy and muffled as it entered the lungs.

The woman’s icy eyes were filled with hatred. Zhu Yu froze slightly, not expecting her to be so angry.

“It’s okay. If you don’t want to eat it, then don’t.”

The young woman crouched down and picked up the buns that had rolled onto the floor one by one.

More than three seconds had passed, but less than three minutes. Rinse them off and they could still be eaten.

“How about we eat from last night’s place instead? Did you like that one? It’s handmade, and the vegetables are very fresh.”

Bai Shuzhou leaned against the pillow and closed her eyes. Her long lashes cast a shadow. She had not slept the entire night, and now exhaustion and hunger surged up together.

Her frost-cold aura seemed to form a barrier keeping all strangers away, protecting herself within a safe range.

Zhu Yu rubbed her hair, unsure how to pass safely through that barrier. If she barged in rashly, she would definitely hurt them both. But she also could not just leave Bai Shuzhou alone like this.

Loneliness was very dangerous.

And besides, she was still hungry!

Zhu Yu even felt as if Bai Shuzhou’s silver hair was beginning to lose its shine. Just looking at her made Zhu Yu’s heart ache. She wanted so badly to buy an entire table of dishes, jump up, and shout, Eat whatever you want, please don’t wrong yourself!

Stupid awful buns, you almost bullied the princess into tears!

She fiddled with the spare change in her pocket. Unfortunately, reality did not allow her to act like an overbearing CEO. Right now, she had less money than she usually did at the end of a university month.

Back when she had a little spare money, she would give some to beggars if she saw them. Now she was so poor that she only wanted to shout at a beggar: Senior, please teach me your ways!

“Are you still hungry?”

Bai Shuzhou closed her eyes, not wanting to speak to her. She seemed determined to starve herself to death.

But her stomach was still embarrassingly rumbling. She really was starving. Her face was white as porcelain, while a shameful blush rose at the roots of her ears.

As an imperial princess, how could she, how could she be so…!

She would rather starve to death than wag her tail and beg Zhu Yu for a single mouthful of food!

“Eat something. Maybe something else?”

Zhu Yu crouched patiently by the bed and kept asking, suddenly remembering the time she had helped a friend feed a very aloof cat. Even after opening a can of food, she still had to coax it before it would eat.

Bai Shuzhou faced inward. The silver hair at the top of her head swayed faintly with her breathing. Seeing it made Zhu Yu’s heart soften into a complete mess, and even her clear voice grew sweeter.

“Pspsps” almost slipped out of her mouth.

There was no helping it.

When facing a great beauty, she had no temper at all.

What was more, this great beauty was her wife. No matter how cold her face was, it was still like throwing meat buns at a dog—this part was spoken super softly—she could only secretly think it in her heart. Her temporary legal wife, in the present perfect tense.

She had not even thrown the buns at her!

She was already very kind.

The woman’s cold figure paused. As if in disbelief, she turned her face sideways, the tips of her ears growing even redder with shame and anger.

Only then did Zhu Yu realize that she seemed to have reflexively said it out loud, though very quietly…

She had said “pspsps” to a dignified imperial princess, the beloved younger sister of the current emperor, a noble SSS-rank dragon.

For one dazed instant, Zhu Yu seemed to see the way she would die. On top of the tragic torture from the original novel, there would probably be another line added.

Pspsps—death by branding iron.

Pspsps—one on the left, one on the right.

Zhu Yu suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She spread out her left and right hands one after another and brought them in front of Bai Shuzhou, saying gently, “Hungry. Not hungry.”

The woman hesitated, maintaining a certain distance. Her feather-like lashes trembled, and her gaze fell to the left.

Hungry.

She seemed to be thinking about why Zhu Yu was doing something so strange. It was almost like a clever orca watching a human perform, and for a moment, she even forgot to be angry.

“Can we eat from last night’s place? Yes. No.”

Yes.

“Do you want meat or vegetables?” Zhu Yu spread her hands again.

Meat!

This time, her gaze became much firmer. Her thin lips gently pressed into a line.

It was said that most people with thin lips were heartless…

Which made them suitable for eating more meat to nourish the body.

Zhu Yu continued asking, “Braised beef noodles, or steamed egg custard with braised pork rice?”

Before Zhu Yu even finished speaking, Bai Shuzhou’s gaze had already turned to the left.

Braised beef noodles.

“Great! Good taste. I love that too. It has to be a milky white bone broth simmered out slowly, thick knife-cut noodles, a small handful of bright green chopped scallions, steaming-hot braised sauce poured over it, and a spoonful of beef…”

Zhu Yu clearly saw Bai Shuzhou bite her lip. Her pale blue eyes brightened faintly, and her throat trembled ever so slightly. The dried moonlight suddenly became vivid, falling into Zhu Yu’s palm.

Zhu Yu brought her palms together, withdrawing the left hand that had been firmly chosen.

She held that tiny expectation in her grasp.

Thick noodles.

And lots and lots of extra beef!

Author’s Note:

When dealing with an avoidant type, unexpectedly, communicating the way you would with a small animal works very well. When she is angry, what lightly falls on you is her gaze. When she is happy, what falls is her hand, slowly held until your fingers interlace.

Zhu Yu: Do you like me?

Like me? Left hand.

Really, really like me? Right hand.