A Scummy Divorcee Alpha: Ex-Wife’s Top-Tier Soothing Agent - Chapter 21

Du Wan walked some distance away, closed her eyes, and performed an impromptu moonwalk. Her foam soles nearly caused her to slip, but she stabilized herself against the wall, pumping a fist to cheer herself on.

The gloom that had accumulated the previous night was swept away; she was still secretly gloating when she got back into the car.

That mermaid got puffed up like a pufferfish again…

“How are you out so soon?” Assistant Chai woke from a nap, rubbing her eyes. She rested her hands on the steering wheel and asked, “Are we going straight back to the hotel?”

Du Wan curled her lips into a smile. “Wait a second. Take me somewhere first.”

A bookstore in City A.

Du Wan emerged swinging a bag of books.

She plopped into the passenger seat, and Chai Tingyan couldn’t help but peek over with curiosity. “What did you buy? Huh…? ‘Fifty Tidbits of Essential ABO Knowledge’?”

There was also ‘Teach You How to Know the Opposite Sex—The Universal ABO Encyclopedia’, ‘Confessions of an Omega: We Are Different’, and so on… Du Wan had practically cleared out all the best-selling physiological science books on the market.

“Du Wan, have you lost favor?”

Chai Tingyan’s eyes went wide. She held up a book with an exaggerated cartoon cover and cried out dramatically, “Is this your new method for securing your patron’s affection?”

“What kind of smutty trash is your head filled with?” Du Wan snatched the book back and flipped through a few pages. “I was just curious, so I bought them to take a look.”

Just moments ago, facing the chaotic instrument display, Du Wan had felt a desire to explore this alternate world for the first time. She was curious: what was a world made of three reproductive genders actually like?

In Hotel Room XX.

Two people sat around a table.

The assistant complained, “Why isn’t she here yet?”

Lou Xuehan toyed with her long, chestnut curls and checked her watch. She frowned, grabbed her bag, and walked out. “Go find her!”

“Wait, don’t be impulsive!” The assistant hurried after her.

Lou Xuehan reached that floor and ran straight into Du Wan, who happened to be returning.

“What do you mean by this?” Lou Xuehan questioned furiously. “Are you scared? Too afraid to show up?”

Du Wan’s motion of swiping her key card paused. “Lou Xuehan, has anyone ever told you that you sound like a cuckoo bird?”

“Also, you guessed right.” With a stack of thick books tucked under her arm, she used her toe to kick the door shut. Snap.

She was clearly brushing the woman off.

The assistant was somewhat angry, and the actress herself hadn’t quite reacted yet, her neck turning stiffly toward her assistant.

Just as the assistant wanted to persuade her not to be angry, the smile on Lou Xuehan’s face gradually widened. She pointed a finger behind her. “Did you see that? She’s afraid of me!”

Lou Xuehan was jubilant. “Du Wan, you finally have your day.”

Assistant: “???”

“She didn’t want to say a single word to me,” Lou Xuehan analyzed. “It’s clearly a guilty conscience! The behavior of someone with a secret!”

Assistant: “So what do you plan to do?”

“The best thing to do is to do nothing.” Lou Xuehan toyed with her curls, gloating. “As long as she hasn’t found a reasonable explanation, she won’t sleep well for a single day. Day and night, she will have to accept the interrogation of her soul and endure the torment of her heart!”

A rather sophisticated method of revenge. The assistant fought the urge to facepalm.

Du Wan indeed couldn’t sleep well. She felt restless, flipping over on the bed several times like a pancake on a griddle.

The physiological textbooks explained various ABO topics from the simple to the profound.

First, they described the location of glands. Alpha glands were distributed in different places; when bonding with an Omega, they needed to pierce the Omega’s nape with their teeth to inject glandular fluid.

Du Wan checked her canines in the mirror and touched them; the roots of her teeth instantly felt weak.

They don’t seem as sharp as a mermaid’s nails. Can they really bite through skin? They probably aren’t up to the task. Does this world have Alpha canine cosmetic services?

Du Wan shook off her stray thoughts and flipped to the next chapter. Her expression changed drastically, and she slammed the book shut.

Holy crap, am I even allowed to look at this? This… this position… is it necessary to draw it so lifelike?

Du Wan was embarrassed but couldn’t help sneaking another look. By the time she finished, her face was hot enough to boil a kettle of water. She lay on the bed with a crimson face, forcing herself to sleep. The red rash on her inner arm began to itch, but she was too lazy to scratch it.

In a daze, she seemed to smell a cloyingly sweet fragrance. A shimmering mermaid tail emerged from the surface of a rippling lake… Du Wan suddenly jolted awake. Panting with lingering fear, she touched the back of her neck; it was covered in sweat.

I can’t sleep anymore. It’s impossible. Let’s go for a night run.

Near the studio base, there were usually many hotels. The breeze rustled through the treetops. Du Wan ran blindly through several tree-lined paths. The sweat on her forehead turned cold, and she calmed down.

Just as she was about to finish her last lap, through the swaying shadows of the trees, she vaguely saw someone walking toward a pond. Without thinking, Du Wan rushed down.

Du Wan grabbed the girl around the waist, lifting her right off the ground with uncontrolled strength. “Hey, sister! Why are you so despairing that you want to die? Talk to me about what’s bothering you!”

“You… let go of me first.” The girl had tanned skin and a beautiful pair of cat-like eyes—looking exactly like a human version of a Siamese cat. She didn’t seem to exert much effort, but she broke free from Du Wan in the blink of an eye.

“I… I wanted to go down and catch a fish!”

Du Wan glanced down. A large, fat carp leaped from the water, its tail reflecting a hint of silver in the night. Splash—it fell back into the water.

“You’ve got guts. Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?” Du Wan gestured toward the pond. “You can’t catch fish with brute force. You need a rod, bait the fish likes, and then wait patiently for them to bite. The moment they do—fast, ruthless, and precise—”

Du Wan mimicked the motion of reeling in a rod. “Pity, carp meat is old and tough. It’s not good. You’d be better off buying one at the market.”

The “dark-skinned cat-eyes” girl stopped stuttering. “You said so much, you sound like a pro at fishing.”

Du Wan said modestly, “I’m so-so. I fished a few times in the past. I have some experience.”

“I’m not catching it to eat,” “Cat-eyes” said slowly. “It’s a gift.”

Du Wan was surprised. “Catching a fish as a gift?”

“Koi. They’re ornamental. So beautiful.”

What a weirdo. I feel bad for the person receiving the gift.

Du Wan felt the need to advise her: “Koi are hard to keep alive. If you want to give a pet, a cat or dog is fine. Is it necessary to risk breaking the law by coming here to catch a fish?”

The girl dazed for a moment, and her eyes lit up at a certain word. She grabbed Du Wan’s hand and shook it hard. “Th-thank you! You’re a good person!”

With that, she turned and disappeared into the night, her movements as light as a cat’s.

Du Wan treated it as just a small interlude on her night run and finished the rest of her distance.

Thus, she spent several days learning from the textbooks—getting fired up and unable to sleep—and getting up for night runs. She became “well-versed in knowledge” but also collapsed from a cold and fever.

“It won’t work, Dr. Wang.” With a cooling patch on her forehead, Du Wan held her phone between her shoulder and ear. “It’s not that I don’t want to go. Who dares to go without Boss Zuo’s command? What? You say Boss Zuo is unwilling to be discharged?”

“How should I know why? Will my presence definitely be useful?” She held a nasal inhaler and sniffed hard while flipping the script on her knees. “Need me to cooperate with treatment? I can’t go. I have a cold, the flu. You wouldn’t want Boss Zuo to get infected, right?”

“Fine, fine. Let’s leave it at that. I’m busy here. We’ll talk when Boss Zuo specifically asks for me.” Du Wan hung up.

She peeled off the cooling patch and scratched her arm through her sleeve. “Director, I’m about ready. We can start.”

The director behind the monitor shouted, “Get a makeup artist over here to touch up her makeup.”

“No need, we’re filming a water scene soon.” Du Wan rubbed her numb face. “The moment I hit the water, the makeup will be ruined anyway.”

The director looked at her, seemingly wanting to laugh but holding back. “Everything follows my arrangement.”

The makeup artist approached. Smelling of pepper pheromones mixed with a strong leather-scented perfume, Du Wan was overwhelmed by the strange scent and let out a resounding sneeze.

She didn’t know what was going on today; though her nose was stuffed from the cold, her sense of smell was much sharper than usual. The chaotic mix of pheromone scents on the set was becoming unbearable.

Dizzy and muddled, Du Wan finished her rehearsal with Lou Xuehan and sat in a corner in a daze.

The next scene was difficult. After Ouyang Chang is pushed into the water by Gu Yuan’s “White Moonlight,” she goes from shock and anger to giving up her struggle and willingly falling into the water—several emotional shifts in just a few seconds.

Du Wan was afraid she wouldn’t nail it, but the director patted her shoulder and comforted her in a low voice: “It’s fine if the effect isn’t perfect. Just act naturally. I have post-production.”

Du Wan: “…” Post-production again. The all-powerful post-production.

“I’ve set up several cameras for a 360-degree shoot. Get ready.” When no one was looking, the director whispered, “Don’t thank me. Just put in a few good words for me in front of Producer Lin later.”

Du Wan: “…Fine.” Actually, we aren’t that close.

Du Wan had assumed this scene would be filmed underwater, but instead, the director placed fans all around.

“We’ll have post-production do the keying later. It saves money.” The director aimed the fans at Du Wan in the center, turning them to the maximum setting to create the floating sensation of blowing hair and fluttering clothes as if in water.

Du Wan already had a stuffed nose and a heavy head. Being blasted by the wind for half an hour made her feel like she was falling apart.

She forced herself to finish the segment. Just as she was about to step down, a commotion suddenly erupted in a corner of the set. An unfamiliar, dense pheromone scent rushed toward her, and Du Wan nearly lost her footing.

This time, she didn’t just smell the scent; she could even sense the gender. Du Wan’s connection to this alternate world was becoming tighter; she could hardly find any trace of her past self in her own body.

Following that was a massive physiological reaction.

The rash on her arm grew itchier, and combined with her partially healed throat, Du Wan felt as if a mysterious force was strangling her, making it painfully hard to breathe. There was also an unnamable desire deep within her body.

How strange.

A series of illustrations from the textbooks flashed through her mind, finally freezing on a dim indoor pool. A large, shimmering mermaid tail, iridescent scales, hot tears turning into pearls in a palm, and a panting mermaid pressing down…

Holy crap! Where’s the rest of the scene!?

Du Wan was dying of curiosity. As the thought flashed through her mind, she collapsed with a thud.

Zuo Yijia’s hand suddenly slipped, and the water from her cup splashed out, soaking a dark circle into her collar.

She used a tissue to rub the mark on her neck, her fingertips tapping impatiently on the table. Tap, tap, tap. Her brow was tightly furrowed as if she were pondering some world-class puzzle.

After a long while, Zuo Yijia finally looked up and said: “Then, by my command, tell her to get over here!”

The assistant had just received a message: “President Zuo, she has already arrived.”

“What?” A flash of astonishment crossed the mermaid’s eyes. She quickly reacted, haughtily straightening her collar. “Tell her I don’t want to see her for now. Let her wait outside the door.”

Zuo Yijia had indeed promised they were even, but Du Wan had made her wait for so long. This was just a minor, insignificant punishment.

Zuo Yijia lifted her cup again and took an elegant sip.

“She arrived at the hospital,” the assistant said with a long face, unsure how to explain. “But… not to see you.”