A Scumbag Alpha Gets the Simp’s Script - Chapter 4

Seeing the doubtful look on Pei Daowan’s face, Yu Jinzhao hurriedly raised her hands as if making a vow. “Rest assured, I am absolutely not lying to you. You can do whatever you want, and I will compensate you as much as possible.”

Pei Daowan let out a cold laugh but didn’t respond. The System, finally developing a bit of situational awareness, didn’t wait for Pei Daowan to speak before diving back into Yu Jinzhao’s brain.

“There’s one more thing I didn’t tell you. Your marriage is a political alliance between families. There are many deep entanglements behind it; you can’t just divorce easily.”

Yu Jinzhao felt even more mortified after hearing this, wishing she could find a crack in the floor to crawl into. She gripped the blanket as if trying to hide, her voice stuttering.

“Um… sorry. Let’s… let’s hold off on the divorce for now. That is…”

She “um-ed” for a long while without being able to explain why, leaving only an awkward expression on her face as she repeatedly promised she would never act like the “original” again.

Pei Daowan, of course, was perfectly aware of every word exchanged between Yu Jinzhao and the System. At this moment, she felt a slight urge to tease her.

Lowering her long eyelashes, her aura inexplicably softened, looking a bit fragile. “Is it because you feel I have no power to choose, so I don’t even have the right to mention divorce?”

“I—”

Yu Jinzhao hated her own clumsy tongue. She wasn’t usually someone who lacked eloquence; on the contrary, she was normally capable of talking and laughing with anyone while maintaining perfect decorum.

But for some reason, in front of Pei Daowan, she didn’t know what to say, as if her language center had malfunctioned.

“I am so sorry. My selfishness has caused you such trouble. Of course you have every right; divorce is your basic right. Just… give me a little time, okay? Not a divorce right this second. Everything I said before is true. I won’t lie to you.”

Yu Jinzhao spoke with total sincerity, without a hint of faking. Even while wearing a face Pei Daowan loathed, it was becoming hard for Pei Daowan to truly hate her.

The two were simply too different. The old “Yu Jinzhao” never looked people in the eye, would never say such things, and certainly wouldn’t respect her.

This Yu Jinzhao might truly be a “good person,” but what did that have to do with her? She didn’t need salvation; she needed revenge.

At that thought, Pei Daowan suddenly lost interest in teasing. Everything felt so dull and pointless. The result of doing this all over again would simply be her sending everyone to prison once more. This time, she could just be faster and more heartless.

Yu Jinzhao was very sensitive to emotions. In that instant, she sensed that Pei Daowan’s feelings had vanished, replaced by an indecipherable emotional black hole. She couldn’t even tell if it was good or bad.

Her intuition told her she should do something, but she found herself helpless because she didn’t know what to do. She could only stare at Pei Daowan with a direct, somewhat dazed look.

Pei Daowan didn’t feel offended. She was just thinking that while this Yu Jinzhao was a good person, she wasn’t particularly bright.

“System! System! Are you there? I have something to ask you.”

The System instinctively looked at Pei Daowan. Only after Pei Daowan signaled with her eyes that it could respond did the System speak up.

“What is it? Why are you calling me?”

“You’ll help the Female Lead, right?”

Yu Jinzhao asked cleverly. She didn’t ask if it would help her.

“Of course. Our entire existence is to serve the Female Lead.”

“I want to know everything about this body—her social circle, hobbies, fixed assets… basically, tell me everything you know.”

“Coming right up!”

As soon as the System agreed, Yu Jinzhao felt a massive influx of information hit her brain. She spent a long time digesting it. When she finally looked back up at Pei Daowan, the guilt in her eyes was almost impossible to hide.

To say the original soul wasn’t human was an understatement. Violent, vicious, a bully, arrogant…

Pei Daowan was so innocent, yet she had been forcibly taken just because she was beautiful. Most importantly, many of the original’s friends actually felt Pei Daowan was “climbing the social ladder” by marrying her. They were all birds of a feather.

Still dizzy, Yu Jinzhao hurriedly got out of bed and began rummaging through the room. This was the original’s bedroom; the bank cards had to be here.

Soon, she pulled out several cards and urgently handed them to Pei Daowan.

“I am truly sorry for everything. You can use the money on these cards however you like, and there’s no tracking on them.”

Pei Daowan didn’t take them. Her voice remained flat. “Is this compensation?”

“No, no, no! This isn’t compensation. This is what you deserve. It’s…”

Yu Jinzhao didn’t view it as compensation because the damage done couldn’t be fixed with money. She felt a heavy sense of guilt from empathizing with Pei Daowan; doing this made her feel slightly better.

Yu Jinzhao racked her brain for a reason to convince her to take the cards. Finally, a phrase came to mind.

“Joint marital property!”

Yes, that was it. Joint property.

“Joint marital property?”

Pei Daowan found it a bit funny. Yu Jinzhao had looked so troubled, only to come up with that phrase after all that thinking.

“This is all my liquid and untraceable capital. You have full discretion over it without needing to go through anyone. This is my sincerity.”

Yu Jinzhao finally regained a bit of the feeling she had during business negotiations. Unlike before, she was now backed by absolute sincerity.

Without waiting for an answer, she placed the cards on the table beside Pei Daowan. “The password for all of them is ******.”

Before Pei Daowan could respond, a knock at the door interrupted them.

“Miss!”

It was the butler’s voice.

Yu Jinzhao paused and instinctively looked to Pei Daowan for permission. “Can I let him in?”

“It’s your house. Do as you wish.”

Yu Jinzhao scratched her head awkwardly. She was actually grateful to the butler for breaking the deadlock; if Pei Daowan had kept refusing the cards, she wouldn’t have known what to do.

“Come in.”

“Miss, it’s almost mealtime. What would you like to eat?”

Yu Jinzhao didn’t feel like eating. She still felt light-headed and had no appetite, so she turned to the FL.

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

“No.”

Pei Daowan’s expression was somewhat cold. She didn’t seem moved by Yu Jinzhao’s two attempts at goodwill.

Yu Jinzhao wasn’t discouraged. She turned back to the butler. “Don’t bother with my meal. Just make whatever she usually eats.”

The butler looked embarrassed. He didn’t know what Pei Daowan usually ate. In the past, they always made whatever Yu Jinzhao wanted and never asked for Pei Daowan’s opinion.

With Yu Jinzhao’s intelligence, she immediately realized the problem. Her expression became stern. “She is also one of the masters of this house. From now on, her word is my word. You don’t need to ask for my opinion; everything revolves around her.”

The butler looked disgruntled. Before this, he was the one who called the shots in this house after Yu Jinzhao. Even though they had been married for a while, everyone in the Yu family knew how “awkward” Pei Daowan’s status was.

If the master didn’t respect her, the servants were even quicker to look down on her, never treating her as the other owner of the house.

The butler, relying on the fact that he was hand-picked by Yu Xincheng and had taken care of the original for years, acted with a bit of arrogance.

“There is no need for that, Miss. She’s just an Omega. You don’t need to concern yourself with her opinion.”

“You don’t need to come in to work starting tomorrow.”

Yu Jinzhao’s head was still throbbing, and she didn’t want to waste words. This butler usually coddled and instigated the original; he had zero positive influence. This was a perfect excuse to get rid of him.

The butler’s shock was written all over his face. He was the one the Old Master personally chose and had served for years. Now, because of a newly-married Omega, he was being dismissed with a single sentence?

Yu Jinzhao was losing her patience. She was a goal-oriented person. Since she had decided to help the FL and work toward going home, any character harmful to the FL had to be cleared away.

“What, was I not clear enough? You can leave right now.”

“Miss, are you really firing me over an Omega?”

The butler found it hard to accept. He was a veteran of the household. Being told to leave just like that was a massive blow to his pride.

“Miss, I am the Old Master’s man. You can’t do this.”

Yu Jinzhao suddenly laughed out loud. “Then go find your ‘Old Master’ and let him back you up.”

The butler was silenced. He knew the difference in weight between a biological daughter and an outsider. But he still tried one last time.

“Miss…”

A sharp look appeared in Yu Jinzhao’s eyes, and her voice rose several notches. “Now. Immediately. Get out of my house.”

To be fair, Yu Jinzhao wasn’t ugly. Her features were bright and vivid—a very striking beauty. And as an Alpha, she was quite tall.

Pei Daowan had never looked closely at Yu Jinzhao’s appearance before. This was the first time she had scrutinized her features. Unexpectedly, she’s actually kind of good-looking. It seemed a change in soul really did make a difference.

The butler muttered for a bit but eventually said nothing. He knew Yu Jinzhao’s temper; the pride of an Alpha wouldn’t allow for defiance. He turned and left dejectedly.

This was actually a misunderstanding of Yu Jinzhao, as she had nothing to do with the original’s temper, but it didn’t matter. She had no obligation to explain anything to him.

With the butler gone, the atmosphere between the two turned into a subtle, awkward silence. Especially since Pei Daowan hadn’t offered any opinion or shown any emotion during the entire process, Yu Jinzhao found it hard to judge how to face her.

Yu Jinzhao had always had high emotional intelligence, which was why she had many friends and could navigate business settings with ease.

But only when facing Pei Daowan did she feel this delicate “touch-me-not” sensation. On one hand, she knew Pei Daowan was the key to her going home. On the other, she was a person with her own feelings; she found it hard to completely detach herself. She felt a complex sense of guilt, not just because of the original soul, but because she was “using” her.

She had to be good to her to go home. There was a sense of moral condemnation, a bit of a “savior complex” pity that a healthy person feels for someone in a broken state, which made her feel guilty.

Neither the System nor Pei Daowan knew the turmoil in Yu Jinzhao’s mind. Pei Daowan believed she didn’t need anyone’s pity; in her previous life, she had succeeded in her revenge even without Yu Jinzhao.

As for the System, it had simply filtered for a kind person whose appearance matched the original, and thus chose Yu Jinzhao.

Finally, Yu Jinzhao broke the silence. “Um, if you have time, why don’t you go to a domestic agency and hire a new butler? I don’t mean for you to do the work yourself, but if I hire someone, you probably won’t trust them. So, I’ll leave it to you.”

Pei Daowan nodded in agreement. Yu Jinzhao was right; even if she didn’t care about these chores, it was safest to have things in her own hands. Plus, as a socialite, Yu Jinzhao would have no shortage of social gatherings. She had no interest in managing those for her, so finding a butler they both agreed on was best.

“Actually, you can replace everyone in this villa. You don’t need my permission. You can make all the decisions.”

“Okay.”

For the first time, Pei Daowan smiled at her. It wasn’t a sneer, nor the fake smile she used for Yu Xincheng. It was a very faint smile, but Yu Jinzhao could feel that her mood was decent.

Yu Jinzhao relaxed as well. These past two days had been exhausting. She was human, not a god. Anyone would find it hard to accept such a sudden change, and she was no exception.

She had hidden her insecurity and fear of the unknown deep in her heart, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Now that her mind had relaxed, the exhaustion immediately showed on her face—something even Pei Daowan could easily see.

“Sorry, I’m a bit tired and want to rest for a while. If there’s anything, you can call me. If you want to go out, feel free; the car keys are in the hallway.”

The System had told her that in the month they had been married, the original owner had never let her go out except for mandatory social events. She had been kept like a canary in a giant, beautiful cage.

At that thought, Yu Jinzhao felt a bit dejected. In a way, she was also trapped in a giant cage, facing a future filled with haze and the unknown.

“Alright, I understand.”

Pei Daowan noticed Yu Jinzhao’s strange mood, but she had no interest in investigating it. Since she was allowed to go out, she needed to start her layout early. In her previous life, she had succeeded but at a great cost. This time, she wanted to win without shedding her own blood.

The door closed, leaving Yu Jinzhao alone. She curled up in the blanket, feeling a bit down. Her career back home had taken a huge hit, and she had no idea what to do, which was why she had been working overtime every day.

This accident had brought her here, and for a moment she couldn’t tell if it was a blessing or a curse. Perhaps after helping Pei Daowan and returning, things would take a turn for the better.

With her mind full of worries, Yu Jinzhao drifted back to sleep.