A Scummy Divorcee Alpha: Ex-Wife’s Top-Tier Soothing Agent - Chapter 5

Du Wan’s tightly closed eyelids twitched.

“Stop faking. I know you’re awake.”

A cold female voice rang out from above.

Du Wan half-opened her eyes with a performative groan, acting as if her consciousness were still hazy and not fully recovered.

“Hypoglycemia, malnutrition…” Zuo Yijia squinted, sizing her up from head to toe with a sidelong glance. “I have no idea how you passed your pre-marital health check.”

Hearing this, Du Wan immediately widened her eyes to defend herself: “That’s just from being hungry. I’ll be fine after a couple of solid meals.”

Zuo Yijia silenced her incessantly ringing phone and gave her an indifferent look. Her red lips parted to let out a voice dripping with disdain: “Fragile.”

Du Wan: “…”

Du Wan: “There is a limit to what one can endure!”

She whipped off the covers to get out of bed, but her feet only made it halfway out before she flopped back down.

Zuo Yijia: “Go on then. Why did you stop?”

“Sorry, this IV bag isn’t finished yet.” Du Wan pointed at the infusion stand above her head, wearing a punchable expression that said ‘What are you gonna do about it?’ “Boss Zuo is a busy woman, so I won’t take up any more of your time. The patient needs to rest now. Please, leave.”

Zuo Yijia let out a scoff.

“And if I say no?” She sat sideways on the edge of the bed, knees pressed together. She bit her plump lower lip and gently brushed a lock of silver hair away from her temple. Her raised eyes looked like two shallow pools of spring water.

“Boss Zuo, Boss Zuo… calling me that makes us sound like strangers. You used to always call me by my name. You called me—” Zuo Yijia’s voice curved upward slightly at the end, “—Yijia.”

Du Wan actually dazed for a moment; such beauty was terrifying. Warning bells screamed in her mind. Something is wrong. Is this a ‘love brain’ flare-up, or is she digging another hole for me?

“Hahaha—”

Sure enough, the next second, Zuo Yijia burst into laughter.

She laughed so hard she trembled. The sapphire on her chest swayed with her movements, casting a halo of translucent blue light. “How was that? Was my acting convincing? You look quite disappointed.”

“Zuo Yijia, are you crazy?” Du Wan realized what happened. “You’re making a joke out of yourself!”

Zuo Yijia’s soft, seductive voice suddenly turned cold and hard, like a biting winter wind: “What business is it of yours!”

“I couldn’t care less about you!” Du Wan stopped looking at the IV bag. She ripped the needle out of the back of her hand, got out of bed, and stomped toward the door. Before she could reach it, she heard the heavy thud of something hitting the floor.

Du Wan cursed under her breath, stomped her foot, and hurried back to help her, only to be shoved away.

“I don’t need your help!” Zuo Yijia struggled to stand. Just as she straightened up, her knees buckled and she collapsed again. The legs beneath her long skirt transformed into a mermaid tail. An abnormal flush rose to her face, and her breath was scorching hot.

Du Wan recognized this—a mental power riot.

“Calling me fragile? You’re the fragile one!” Du Wan rolled up her sleeves, ignoring the other’s struggle as she tried to pick her up. She gave it a go but, perhaps due to the weakness from low blood sugar, she failed.

Du Wan awkwardly lowered her hands.

Even though Zuo Yijia was limp and powerless, she didn’t miss a beat to mock her: “Weakling.”

Du Wan’s temper flared: “Fine, stay on the floor then!”

“Stop right there!” Zuo Yijia shouted from behind. “Come back. I’ll be fine soon. I can get better…” Her chest heaved violently as she panted softly, grabbing Du Wan’s shoulder to sit up.

Their breaths mingled, and their heartbeats gradually synced. Du Wan suppressed the urge to itch; she felt that scratching her neck now would really ruin the atmosphere.

Zuo Yijia’s state seemed to stabilize. Her body stopped trembling, her tail stopped thrashing wildly, and she buried her head in the crook of Du Wan’s neck without a word.

This silence was unnerving. Du Wan let out a yawn, feeling her arm go numb. Since the fish wasn’t moving, she didn’t dare move either.

One yawn followed another, and before long, Du Wan fell asleep sitting up. When she woke, the fish in her arms was gone. Stretching her aching, numb arms, she surveyed the room.

She picked up an apple from the fruit bowl and walked out while taking a bite. Du Wan looked up and froze. The fish she was looking for was sitting in the outer room, on a video call with a subordinate.

Du Wan instinctively lightened her footsteps.

My next drama has me playing a CEO; might as well do some ‘on-the-job’ learning.

Finding a reasonable excuse for herself, she munched on her apple and stood to the side, observing openly.

Most of the time, Zuo Yijia just listened to the person in the video. Her exquisite, glamorous face gave her a distant, ethereal aura, but when she spoke, she possessed a magic that easily commanded attention.

“I want a perfect answer.” Zuo Yijia tapped her knuckles rhythmically on the table. Her brow was furrowed as if in deep thought, projecting an aura of natural authority.

So, she could communicate properly with people; she only showed her cranky, violent side to Du Wan. Du Wan took a thoughtful bite of her apple. It seemed she had never truly known her.

Forget it, why bother getting to know this fish?

Du Wan shook her head, trying to shake off the stray emotions.

Zuo Yijia ended the video call and looked at the person behind the table. The flush on her cheekbones hadn’t faded, and her lips curled upward slowly into a smile as charming and dangerous as a thorned rose.

“Keep staring and I’ll gouge your eyes out.” Zuo Yijia huffed and walked away with a sway of her hips.

Du Wan: “…”

Understood. The essence of a CEO is being temperamental.

Du Wan spat out the apple core, utterly speechless.

Puffed up with anger all day long… she’s not a mermaid, she’s a pufferfish!

In the middle of the night, Du Wan was sleeping soundly when she was suddenly awoken by a commotion outside. She threw on a robe and walked out to find the hallway packed with people. The moment they saw her, the crowd parted like the Red Sea.

Zuo Yijia’s eyes were wide open. Her body was stiffened in an extremely awkward posture. Her crystalline silver-blue tail slapped against the floor rhythmically—flap, flap—as she hopped toward Du Wan slowly but firmly.

Du Wan looked at the opposite side, then back at Sister Lan.

Du Wan was shocked: “She’s a zombie!?”

Sister Lan: “Don’t talk nonsense!”

“Is it sleepwalking?” Sister Lan nodded. Du Wan asked, puzzled, “Then why is everyone just standing here? Why don’t you take her back to her room?”

“The Miss is not conscious. We’re afraid that taking her by force might hurt her.”

Du Wan found it unbelievable, pointing a thumb behind her: “So you just let her follow the scent all the way here?”

Is she a bloodhound? Her nose is so sharp. Du Wan grumbled internally. Wait, then what am I? Am I a steaming hot meat bun?

Du Wan: “What do we do now? Is no one allowed to sleep?”

Sister Lan offered a solution: “Once the Miss catches you, she won’t go any further.”

Du Wan: “…”

Great idea. Except for the part where it costs me my sanity.

“Hey, which symptom is this?” Du Wan tried to raise her price on the spot. “Is this covered in the agreement?”

Sister Lan said airily: “Miss Du, 200,000 a month…”

“Ha! As if this is hard!” Du Wan tossed the jacket off her shoulders and walked over to Zuo Yijia.

Zuo Yijia seemed to look right through her, brushing past her only to circle back. She circled Du Wan a few times, her tail flicking in confusion before stopping mid-air. Her beautiful, unfocused eyes searched aimlessly.

Du Wan tested the waters, reaching out a hand bit by bit. The moment their fingertips touched, Zuo Yijia fell straight forward into her arms. The mermaid’s body was as stiff as a wooden board, with two slender, pale arms hooking around Du Wan’s neck. Du Wan felt like if she gave a little shove, she could swing the woman like a pendulum.

Du Wan took a deep breath, wrapped her arms around the slender waist, and hoisted the entire fish onto her shoulder.

“Help me out here!”

With one person lifting the tail and another supporting the waist, Zuo Yijia was carried like that and tossed onto the bed in Du Wan’s room.

Before leaving, Sister Lan didn’t forget to remind her: “200,000…”

Du Wan shook off the mermaid tail that was trying to coil around her and replied helplessly, “Fine, fine, I get it.”

High pay always comes with high risk.

Zuo Yijia’s sleeping face was serene and beautiful. Her red lips were slightly parted, and her ear fins twitched imperceptibly with her breath, emitting glimmers of rainbow light.

Du Wan carefully avoided those sharp claws, straightened the tail fin, covered her with a blanket, and curled herself up at the very edge of the bed to sleep.

Zuo Yijia rolled over, half of her soft body pressing onto Du Wan. Her lips moved, murmuring a faint, blurred: “Mama…”

Staring at the pitch-black ceiling, Du Wan couldn’t help but roll her eyes: “I’m not your mom.”

Unrecognizable syllables escaped Zuo Yijia’s mouth, sounding like some ancient language. She sang softly in the dark while her soft yet strong tail coiled around Du Wan’s calf under the covers.

They were pressed very close. Du Wan smelled the sweet fragrance radiating from her; after a while, it made her feel slightly tipsy. She held her hand in the air, then let it drop, gently patting the mermaid’s back.

“Good child, Mama’s right here. Go to sleep.”

Great. Single since birth and now I’ve been ‘promoted’ to mother.

“You—” Zuo Yijia’s eyes squinted slightly, as if she had regained a moment of clarity. “Who are you?”

“I’m your mom,” Du Wan said without blinking.

“You are Du Wan.” Zuo Yijia answered her own question. Her head hung low, silver hair covering half her face. Her expression was inscrutable in the dark. “No… you aren’t Du Wan.”

“What exactly is different?” As she finished, her voice grew lower and lower, almost like a sigh.

Du Wan was jolted by a shock of terror. Her heart hammered against her ribs, and cold sweat dripped from her temple. In a moment of panic, she closed her eyes and faked sleep. After a while, because the gaze on her was too burning, she couldn’t stand it and had to open her eyes.

“Boss Zuo, please sleep. Don’t play the staring game.”

Du Wan tried to persuade her earnestly, “I know your eyes are big, so stop glaring and let them rest a bit.”

Zuo Yijia stubbornly kept staring.

“There’s no phone here, no meetings. You can sleep peacefully. Sleep!” Seeing that nice words weren’t working, Du Wan audaciously reached up to close the mermaid’s eyelids.

Close, open.

Close, open again.

Du Wan tried several times and was on the verge of a breakdown: “I’m begging you, Boss Zuo, Young Mistress, please go to sleep.”

“You don’t know how terrifying you look with your eyes wide open,” Du Wan clutched her fragile little heart. “The Uncanny Valley effect is kicking in. I can’t sleep…”

Her complaints went unanswered. The room fell into total silence.

Steady breathing began to drift from the pillow.

In Du Wan’s sleep-deprived, muddled brain, a sudden flash of insight occurred.

Fish… they sleep with their eyes open, don’t they? And mermaids—

You could have said so sooner.

Du Wan let out a sigh of relief and fell asleep instantly.