A Scummy Alpha Supporting Character Accidentally Marks the Heroine After Transmigrating into a Book (GL) - Chapter 30

The dizzying sensation of suffocation caused Bai Wan’s vision to blacken in waves.

Her world was a distorted blur, a kaleidoscope of fractured, bizarre spots of light. The features of the person before her grew increasingly indistinct.

In the next instant, that beautiful face suddenly magnified before her eyes.

Like the only splash of color in a dim world, with her scarlet lips and sharply defined eyes, she looked like a spirit submerged in the depths of the pool.

Their lips met underwater.

The surrounding current was icy and silent. Bai Wan could hear nothing. Time seemed to stretch for an eternity, yet it was likely only a few seconds before she realized what this scene represented.

—Yan Nanjue was kissing her.

Bai Wan was on the verge of losing consciousness, so Yan Nanjue had little trouble prying her lips apart. She clumsily hooked her tongue, passing the oxygen from her own mouth over.

Bai Wan seemed to regain a flicker of awareness, her arms coiling around Yan Nanjue’s neck. Yan Nanjue held her waist tightly; she felt so soft, as if she might dissolve into the water.

Suddenly, a sharp pain hit her lip. Her eyes snapped wide.

Bai Wan bit her!

Bai Wan actually bit her again!!!

And this was while she was saving her life yet again!

A stinging pain burned her lower lip. Yan Nanjue tasted iron between their pressed lips. She was both furious and anxious, but the person clinging to her was already drifting back into unconsciousness.

The priority was to get Bai Wan up.

Yan Nanjue hauled her to the surface. Seeing them, Ji Ziyi dived in without hesitation to help support the two exhausted women to the edge. Chen Wanjun grabbed them both and dragged them onto the deck.

Having stayed underwater for too long, Yan Nanjue was completely drained, her limbs shaking. Bai Wan lay on the ground beside her in a daze, coughing up water. She seemed to be out of immediate danger.

Amidst the sound of splashing water, Ji Ziyi climbed up right behind them.

Luo Shuqing came running over in a panic. She turned and hurriedly told the servants to fetch blankets, her voice trembling with tension: “Sister Nanjue, are you okay? Did you choke? Do you have any strength left? How do you feel?”

Chen Wanjun unfolded blankets and draped them over the three soaked women. Then she stood up, her gaze turning cold and sharp.

“Whoever was involved, step forward.”

The pheromones of a powerful Alpha enveloped the pool almost instantly. Chen Wanjun was rarely this genuinely angry. “My patience is limited. I won’t repeat myself.”

Three people from the crowd walked out, trembling.

Yan Nanjue stood up, wrapped in her blanket. As the wind blew, the water on her body turned bone-chillingly cold, the frost seeping through her skin into her marrow. Her wet black hair clung to her cheeks. Her lips were pale, but her eyes were dark and piercing. Her expression was so gloomy it looked like it could drip ink; she radiated a terrifying ferocity.

She cast her icy gaze on the three. One was Luo Shuqing’s lackey; the other two were faces she hadn’t seen much of before.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Yan Nanjue spoke: “Why did she fall in the water?”

“It… it was her own fault! She fell in by accident!”

“We were just chatting by the pool. She slipped and fell. It has nothing to do with us!”

The girl in the white skirt, Fu Zhilan, frowned and said indignantly, “Then why didn’t you save her? She clearly can’t swim.”

The lackey countered, “I can’t swim either! How can you blame me?”

“Liar!” Fu Zhilan snapped. “Some of you clearly can; I saw you playing in the pool this morning. Now you say you can’t? You just didn’t want to save her. Even throwing her a lifebuoy would have been better than standing there doing nothing.”

She was truly angry now, her gaze piercing the speaker. “If I hadn’t heard the splash and come to check, were you just going to let her drown?!”

“Fu Zhilan! Stop slandering us, I—”

“Stop.”

Yan Nanjue cut them off coldly. She looked at Bai Wan and repeated the question. “You tell me.”

“Tell me, how did you fall in?”

Bai Wan’s body swayed slightly, her face as pale as paper. Seeing this, Fu Zhilan quickly held her hand and helped tuck her blanket tighter.

Bai Wan looked up. Her gaze landed on Yan Nanjue’s chin, where a very obvious wound on her full lower lip was seeping blood.

That trace of blood made her lips look even more scarlet, like the poisonous apple from a fairy tale—the more beautiful the object, the more dangerous.

Bai Wan gripped the edge of her blanket so hard her fingernails turned white. Her voice rang out, weak but clear: “Someone pushed me.”

A roar of indignation erupted from the crowd. Fu Zhilan cried out, “I knew it! No wonder you were just standing there watching the show!”

Luo Shuqing suddenly realized something. She whipped her head around to look at her lackey, her eyes flashing with a hint of hidden malice.

Yan Nanjue’s gaze returned to the three. She half-lidded her eyes, her tone glacial. “Who did it?”

The shortest of the three turned deathly pale. “I… I didn’t push her… I didn’t even touch her! I didn’t mean to push her in! We just wanted to warn… I mean, talk to her, let her know her place. It was her… no, the poolside was too slippery, she just… just fell in by accident!”

Bai Wan watched the excuses coldly, letting out a couple of coughs from the wind.

Yan Nanjue looked down at them. Her gaze wasn’t overtly fierce—it could even be called calm—yet it made the target feel a spontaneous surge of panic and dread.

“Call the lifeguards over,” she said flatly.

The butler looked hesitantly at Luo Shuqing, whose face contorted for a fleeting moment. Chen Wanjun looked at the butler and commanded: “Go. Now.”

Luo Shuqing closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her collarbone hollowing deeply.

Ruined. Everything was ruined by these impulsive fools. Who gave them permission to lay a hand on Bai Wan… those idiots…

Luo Shuqing opened her eyes, exerting every ounce of strength to maintain her expression. She said calmly, “My hand hurts, and I’m tired. Sister Nanjue, I’m going up. Whatever happens here has nothing to do with me.”

With that, she turned and left, ignoring the pleas and wails behind her.

The lifeguards were quickly found. Yan Nanjue scanned the pool water. “Throw them in.”

Cries and screams rang out instantly, but no one dared to argue. In A-City, the Yan family was the one you absolutely could not cross. Beneath them, the Chen, Ji, and Luo families held a balance of power, a stalemate that hadn’t been broken for years.

And now, the only person who might have spoken up to stop it had left.

“I didn’t mean to do anything! I just wanted to teach her a lesson! I was going to save her once she’d swallowed enough water! President Yan—Xiao Sister Qing! Xiao Sister Qing!”

Splash after splash followed.

Yan Nanjue scanned the scene with indifference. “Handle the rest,” she told Chen Wanjun, who nodded. Yan Nanjue turned and left the villa immediately. Fu Zhilan hurriedly helped Bai Wan follow, getting her into the car.

Just as they were about to drown, Chen Wanjun signaled the lifeguards to dive in and fish them out. She glanced at the one who had pushed Bai Wan, who was now trembling and weeping.

Ji Ziyi was speechless. “I warned you guys—don’t provoke A-Yan, and don’t take matters into your own hands. Deng Siyuan was the warning. Bai Wan is A-Yan’s wife, the legitimate Mrs. Yan. Are you all insane?”

Chen Wanjun added flatly, “Shuqing won’t be able to help you this time either.” She pronounced the final sentence: “Expect A-Yan’s retaliation.”

Back at the villa, the first thing Yan Nanjue did was rush to her room to peel off the soaked clothes. They had been clinging to her so coldly she had almost lost control and started shaking on the way back.

Bai Wan was a few steps behind, spotted by the butler in the living room. “Heavens, Madam! What happened? You’re soaked through! In this weather, you’ll get sick. I’ll have someone prepare cold medicine right away!”

“I accidentally fell in the water,” Bai Wan said.

The butler gasped. “Miss fell in too?!”

Bai Wan’s gaze flickered. After a pause, she gave a soft “Mm.”

“Go to your room and take a hot bath,” the butler urged with concern. “Change out of those wet clothes; it must be miserable. Go, quickly.”

Bai Wan returned to her room. She closed the door. With a soft click, the lock engaged, shutting out the light and voices from outside. It was so quiet it felt like returning to that underwater world.

The water had stopped dripping from her clothes, but the soaked fabric clung tightly to her body—clammy, damp, and cold. Droplets slid down her skin, causing a faint itch. Her hand remained on the door as she stood there, lost in thought.

Yan Nanjue had saved her. And for the second time. That lunatic… what on earth was she thinking?

Bai Wan squeezed her eyes shut, but the glimpse she caught underwater seemed seared into her retinas, making her cold body start to flush with warmth.

Upstairs, Yan Nanjue soaked herself in hot water, leaving only her face above the surface. She hugged her knees and let out a soft breath. “So warm.”

【System: Have you thought about how to explain to the heroine why you jumped in to save her?】

“Don’t bring up stressful topics while I’m relaxing!” Yan Nanjue grumbled. She took a deep breath and submerged her face too.

【Get up and breathe, don’t drown yourself.】

“Don’t bother me, I’m thinking!” she bubbled underwater.

Would Bai Wan start to suspect her? The situation had been too critical for Yan Nanjue to think of anything else. Her mission only continued if the heroine lived. Her mind had been entirely filled with the thought that nothing could happen to Bai Wan; she had dived in without a second thought for how it would look.

She didn’t care about others’ opinions, but Bai Wan was different. What would she think? Her enemy of so long suddenly risking everything to save her? Any explanation seemed bizarre!

“Argh!” Yan Nanjue surfaced, shouting internally with a headache. “How am I supposed to explain this?!”

“I can’t tell her I saved her because she’s ‘Mrs. Yan.’ I’ve used that excuse so many times. She isn’t stupid, and the original host never cared about her title. I can’t let her know about the ‘substitute’ secret either. System, what do I do?”

The System offered a terrible idea: 【If she doesn’t ask, you don’t say. If she asks, play dumb.】

Yan Nanjue: “…”

She decided to review the original plot. She managed to find a barely suitable excuse: even if it’s something she no longer wants, she won’t allow others to lay a finger on her property. Classic CEO line! No… wait, it’s still too forced! Would she believe it? What if she doesn’t?

Yan Nanjue leaned her head back against the edge of the tub. Unable to come up with a decent excuse, she soaked for a while longer before stepping out.

Her slender ankles stepped onto the dark rug, tinted a light pink from the heat. Steam filled the bathroom. She wrapped herself in a towel and stood before the mirror. Touching the small cut on her lip, she felt a slight sting—so faint she’d almost forgotten it. The faint metallic taste of blood was gone, replaced by a lingering fragrance.

The scent of jasmine.

Yan Nanjue’s slow brain suddenly realized something even more important than the rescue.

She had kissed Bai Wan underwater.

“…”

Was it a kiss? Does it count? The heroine won’t blacken because of this, will she? I was just trying to save her! She was almost drowning—and yet she still had the strength to bite me!!

She frantically checked the Blackening Value, refreshing it several times. Seeing the number as steady as a rock, she finally relaxed. The fundamental reason for the heroine’s blackening in the original book was the forced marking, which proved how much she loathed the host’s touch.

“The heroine bit me again!” Yan Nanjue complained softly.

【System: Huh?】

“I saved her and she bit me! That’s the second time!”

【System: Your train of thought jumps quite fast.】

Yan Nanjue was both annoyed and upset. “It really hurts when she bites!” She traced the fading bite mark on her neck, the memory of the pain still fresh.

【System: Then find a chance to bite her back?】

Yan Nanjue wimped out immediately, shaking her head. “No.” She didn’t want to risk biting her into a blackening.

A soft knock came at her door. “Miss, the kitchen made ginger soup. The Madam said you caught a chill too. Come down and have some.”

Yan Nanjue stared blankly. She didn’t want ginger soup. She had a sweet tooth and avoided ginger at all costs. Last time she’d been forced to drink a bowl, she’d almost gagged on the first sip, but had to finish it to stay in character.

“The cook also made snow pear and loquat sweet soup,” the butler added. “If you’re hungry, you can have some of that too.”

Yan Nanjue’s eyes lit up, but then she realized if she went down for the sweet soup, she’d have to drink the ginger soup too. The trade-off was too high. She’d just sneak a meal when the heroine wasn’t around.

“I won’t be having any,” she called out coldly.

Her phone buzzed with messages from Chen Wanjun.

[Chen Wanjun: I heard from Miss Fu that you jumped right into the pool to save her?]

[Chen Wanjun: Your emotions have been off all afternoon. You lost your temper in the kitchen and by the pool. Was it because Shuqing mentioned that person?]

[Chen Wanjun: Or was it because of Bai Wan?]

Yan Nanjue paused.

[Yan Nanjue: I know the difference.]

[Chen Wanjun: I know. I just feel, A-Yan, that you’re a bit different than before.]

[Chen Wanjun: I can’t say if the change is good or bad. Perhaps you’re better now, but between you and Bai Wan…]

[Yan Nanjue: Choices are made between equal options. Bai Wan doesn’t deserve to be the other side of an option.]

[Yan Nanjue: Ever.]

Chen Wanjun went silent for a while, realizing Yan Nanjue didn’t want to talk about it.

[Chen Wanjun: I’ve handled things here. I’ll send you the names and files. I’ll try to talk to Shuqing.]

Yan Nanjue tossed her phone aside. She’d managed to fool Chen Wanjun. But the comment about her “changing” was expected. She couldn’t be too obvious, but she had to subtly change people’s impressions of her—especially the heroine’s. At least now, everyone knew Bai Wan was no longer a target for bullying.

The knock came again. “Is the butler bringing the soup up?” Yan Nanjue sat up.

【System: Probably.】

Perfect! If it was in her room, she could dump the ginger soup and only drink the sweet soup!

She opened the door with a sparkle in her eye. But there was no sweet soup, and the person wasn’t the butler.

Bai Wan stood quietly at the door, the warm light of the hallway casting her shadow into the room. Her long lashes fluttered as she looked up slowly, her amber eyes deep and silent, like a quiet sea.

Yan Nanjue’s body went completely rigid.