A Stand-in Alpha Awakens - Chapter 6

In the latter half of the novel, Bai Yue of the Su family was a presence that couldn’t be ignored.

The Su family’s estate was vast, and the wielder of power had remained unchanged for nearly thirty years: the Old Matron of the Su family—grandmother to both Su Mengrui and Bai Yue.

The Old Matron was getting on in years and no longer had the stamina to manage the household. Unfortunately, the sons and daughters she raised were largely incompetent. Until a satisfactory heir appeared, she had no choice but to hold the fort.

Among the grandchildren, only Bai Yue and Su Mengrui had caught her eye, but both were still students and far too young; for now, they were in an observation period. This meant they had long since become rivals.

However, in the eyes of Jiang Lu—an onlooker who had read the “script of life” from a God’s-eye view—Bai Yue and Su Mengrui weren’t truly competitors.

Subjectively, Bai Yue, as the elder sister, had never taken Su Mengrui seriously and never intended to fight her for anything. Objectively, whether in terms of personal ability or character, Su Mengrui couldn’t hold a candle to Bai Yue. They were simply on different levels.

If Su Mengrui had any advantage at all, it was only that her surname gave her a slight edge. Bai Yue insisted on not changing her surname.

Sadly, a fool like Su Mengrui couldn’t see this—or perhaps she saw it but didn’t believe it. In her eyes, a surname was something that could be changed with a few pieces of paperwork; she didn’t dare gamble on it. Thus, Su Mengrui had long believed that Bai Yue might snatch away everything that was “rightfully” hers at any moment, and she loathed her cousin intensely. Over years of comparison, that dislike had fermented into hatred.

Just because of comparisons, Su Mengrui hates a sister who never showed her hostility? To the point of wanting her dead?

Jiang Lu felt that Su Mengrui was truly mentally ill. Having a cousin like that, Bai Yue was quite unlucky herself. In a way, they could be considered “fellow sufferers at the ends of the earth.”

Jiang Lu sighed silently, carrying her meal tray to sit beside Liang Shuang, opposite a Shao Shuyi whose spot was already crowded with food. The vast, quiet cafeteria began to buzz as more people trickled in.

Jiang Lu quickly finished her green pepper and pork over rice and leaned toward Liang Shuang, who was sipping soup. “That Senior Bai Yue you mentioned… what’s her background?”

Shao Shuyi, currently gnawing on a braised chicken leg, heard Jiang Lu speak and hurriedly gulped some water to clear her throat. “Yeah, yeah! What’s her deal? She got into the cafeteria early! Is she the daughter of a school board member or the ‘Lord of the Cafeteria’?”

“She’s a Su family heiress,” Liang Shuang put down her soup bowl and wiped her mouth with a tissue, her expressionless face looking grumpy again.

Shao Shuyi, her mind full of food, blurted out instinctively: “Su family? Like Su-style mooncakes? Is her dad the CEO of Yuanyuan Foods?”

“…” Liang Shuang looked at the various dishes on Shuyi’s tray with speechless exasperation, then turned slightly toward Jiang Lu to explain. “The Su Group. They specialize in home appliances and started researching new energy vehicles last year.”

“Oh~!” Shao Shuyi had an epiphany. She picked up a salt-baked chicken wing and then put it down again. “It’s that Su family, the ones who value Omegas over Alphas! Su Baiyue… wait, Bai Yue. I didn’t expect you to be so familiar with her.”

In her impression, if Liang Shuang used a first name without a surname, they were either very close or she had a very good impression of the person.

“We’re not familiar. And there’s no ‘Su’; her surname is Bai, her given name is Yue.” Liang Shuang’s slender, cool eyes darted back; this time she was truly wearing a sour face.

Mentioning the Su family reminded her of the Omega she saw in the classroom that morning, and some other things surfaced. During the summer break, she and her mother, Nan Ke, had attended a Su family banquet and seen her from a distance. She heard people say the girl was the only daughter of the second Su brother… was her name Su Mengrui?

They said she also went to No. 1 High and had just graduated. Which meant when they were freshmen, Su Mengrui was a senior. Separated by the Xiuyuan Building (the sophomore building) and having different study pressures, it was normal not to have met. The strange thing was: why did she know Jiang Lu?

Liang Shuang’s mind wandered.

Shao Shuyi didn’t notice Liang Shuang’s distraction and asked in surprise, “Surname Bai? There are people named Bai in this area?”

“It’s not common,” Jiang Lu replied. Internally, she was amazed. So Chu Zishan’s unforgettable first glimpse of Bai Yue happened right here at No. 1 High.

Earlier, she hadn’t understood why Chu Ziyan was running toward the school gate during class hours. After seeing Su Mengrui, she thought it was for her, but now it all clicked together.

Chu Ziyan and Chu Zishan were a year apart. The sisters had attended the same schools since childhood, but Chu Zishan had underperformed on her middle school entrance exams and failed to get into No. 1 High. She had just transferred in as a sophomore after passing a test. The Chu Ziyan they ran into earlier was going to the gate to pick her up.

It was also on this day that Chu Zishan accidentally caught sight of Bai Yue, looking like a celestial being in her fluttering long dress, and fell hopelessly in love. Later, upon learning that the “fairy” of her dreams was Bai Yue of the Su family—the cousin of her sister’s fiancé—she began to do everything in her power to obstruct the union between Chu Ziyan and Su Mengrui.

Because the Chu family only allowed one daughter to marry into the Su family…

A phrase suddenly popped into Jiang Lu’s head: The enemy of my enemy might actually be a “friend.”

She hoped Chu Zishan wouldn’t “underperform” this time.

Once Shao Shuyi had cleared two trays like a whirlwind, the three went to the shop in front of the dorms and bought a few things they might need. Song Wushuang wasn’t in the dorm, and none of the three mentioned her.

When lunch break ended, Jiang Lu saw her in the classroom but treated her as if she were air.

There were two exams in the afternoon. The three periods of evening self-study were left free for the subject teachers to grade papers, with the remaining exams scheduled for the next day.

The results came out quickly. During the last self-study period on the night the exams finished, the ranking list was already posted on each class’s blackboard.

As announced before school started, there were a total of 1,000 sophomores, 50 per class. There were eight “key” classes; the top 400 were assigned based on their rank, while the remaining 600 were shuffled randomly. There would be another placement test at the start of the next semester.

Unsurprisingly, both Jiang Lu and Liang Shuang were in Class 1. Shao Shuyi tied for 48th place with three others, but because her total score in the three core subjects was lower, she slid into Class 2 next door.

After switching classrooms that night, morning study was canceled the following day, and all sophomores began clearing out dorms for the incoming freshmen.

The new dorm was still a quad. Jiang Lu and Liang Shuang were still together. When they finished packing and entered, their new roommates were already there, waiting to divide the beds. With the same layout, the two new roommates clearly knew each other, so it was easy; both sides picked a side and settled in.

To Jiang Lu’s surprise, Chu Zishan really had made it into Class 1, and her dorm was right next door. It seemed she really had underperformed on her previous entrance exams. Shao Shuyi was a bit further away, three dorms down.

During breakfast, Shao Shuyi looked at her milk and beef buns and sighed, her appetite halved. “Sisters, wait for me! I’ll come find you next semester!”

Jiang Lu withdrew her gaze from the table behind them and nodded with a smile. “Okay, we’ll wait for you.”

Liang Shuang didn’t comment, lowering her head to drink soy milk. In her eyes, coming and going was normal; as long as she was still with Jiang Lu, she wouldn’t ask for much else. Of course, it would be best if Song Wushuang never appeared near Jiang Lu again.

Unfortunately, some people simply didn’t know the meaning of the word “discreet.”

Liang Shuang rolled her eyes in annoyance, put down her empty carton, and turned to block a thick-skinned Song Wushuang who was approaching them again.

“Liang Shuang, I have business with Jiang Lu. Please move.” Song Wushuang’s voice was just loud enough to cut through the ambient noise for the people at the table to hear.

Liang Shuang, however, acted as if she were deaf. Song Wushuang waited helplessly for a moment, then compromised by leaning down to repeat herself.

Only when Liang Shuang saw her face turn flush did she unhurriedly let out an “Oh” and glance at Song Wushuang’s empty hands. “You’re looking for Jiang Lu? For what? To return her things?”

Jiang Lu, shielded on the inside by Liang Shuang, heard everything clearly. But remembering how Song Wushuang had glared at Liang Shuang and cursed at her in the classroom two days ago, she calmly lowered her head to eat her bacon roll. When she had held Liang Shuang back then, it was to prevent her from being impulsive, but she had zero intention of letting Liang Shuang be the one to suffer in silence.

The cafeteria was bustling, with people sitting in every direction. If Liang Shuang wasn’t allowed to vent her frustration, her “hearing” wasn’t going to come online today.

Finishing her last sip of yogurt, Jiang Lu finally rose amidst Shao Shuyi’s frequent glances. She reached out toward a now-crimson Song Wushuang across Liang Shuang.

“Jiang Lu, can we talk alone…” Song Wushuang’s words were choked off by Jiang Lu’s gesture.

Time seemed to freeze—or perhaps accelerate infinitely. Song Wushuang felt her entire body go numb under the weight of the surrounding stares. Like a short-circuited machine, she couldn’t react.

Jiang Lu was even colder than before: “Give it here.”

Song Wushuang stared blankly at that face—a face she had seen countless times and still found beautiful, yet one that now gave her goosebumps. It was a feeling worse than being slapped.

“Jiang Lu…” In this moment, she was like a fish dying of thirst, her lips moving to produce a sound so low she couldn’t even hear it herself.

Jiang Lu recognized her mouthing her name and withdrew her hand. “Weren’t you here to return my things? Then what exactly is the point of you looking for me?”

Song Wushuang’s lower lip bled. She blinked her moist eyes and asked, “Jiang Lu, do you have to speak this way?”

It was said so pitifully, but Jiang Lu ignored it completely. She turned to Shao Shuyi, who hadn’t finished eating, and offered an apologetic smile. “Shuyi, I have to go.”

“Okay,” Shao Shuyi nodded blankly.

Song Wushuang tried to follow, but Liang Shuang blocked her. She stood there in a panic, calling out. Liang Shuang was utterly fed up with her. Before leaving, she suppressed the urge to hit her and whispered a warning: “Clinging to someone like this makes you look cheap, regardless of the relationship.”

Song Wushuang’s flushed face suddenly went pale. Those were the exact words she herself had said after they had watched a movie together shortly after the middle school exams.

Leaving the cafeteria, there were less than fifteen minutes until class. Jiang Lu headed toward the Xiuyuan Building.

The new classroom was the first room on the east side of the fifth floor. After Liang Shuang’s footsteps appeared, the two looked at each other in silence for three full seconds. Jiang Lu’s lips curled up, and she suddenly bolted.

Liang Shuang chased her with a dark face. By the time they reached the fourth floor, smack—both of them reached out with their left hands to grab the staircase railing and stopped. Two low laughs echoed in the empty stairwell.

“Aren’t you bored?!” Liang Shuang’s voice was slightly out of breath.

Jiang Lu wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Bored? Wasn’t this your favorite game in the sixth grade?”

“Sixth grade,” Liang Shuang huffed. She took two steps up the railing to stand level with her. When she spoke again, her breath was steady. “Hey, let me ask you something.”

Jiang Lu: “Hm?”

Liang Shuang asked: “Song Wushuang… the items are one thing, but that 4,600 yuan—it’s not a huge amount, but it’s not small either. Given her… what if she never pays you back?”

Jiang Lu looked at her calmly. “She will.”

Liang Shuang: “That certain?”

Jiang Lu nodded. “If she won’t give it, I’ll go ask her parents. Escaping a debt isn’t an option.”

Both of Song Wushuang’s parents were people who cared deeply about appearances. Regardless of the reality of their home life, losing face in public was worse to them than dying. Jiang Lu wasn’t worried at all.

“Fine, as long as you’ve got it figured out.” Seeing Jiang Lu’s certainty, Liang Shuang wanted to ask about Su Mengrui, but the words “I don’t know you” came back to her. After hesitating for two seconds, she took a deep breath and walked toward the classroom at the end of the fifth-floor corridor.

Of the eight key classes in the sophomore year, at least six were full of “Involution Kings” (obsessive over-achievers), but Class 1 was the worst. Today was the first day of official classes; she had an intuition that that person would affect Jiang Lu’s state of mind. She decided to wait until tomorrow. For luck.

It was still early, but Class 1 was almost full. Liang Shuang’s rank usually fluctuated within the top twenty of the grade. Entering the room, she saw Tang Feifei—who had been competing with her since middle school—clutching a Chinese textbook and reciting something with abandon. Feeling her fighting spirit rise, Liang Shuang returned to her seat and pulled out her English book.

Jiang Lu, following behind, let out a laugh. She stopped at the front door and scanned her new classmates in a good mood. Finding no face that resembled Chu Ziyan, she withdrew her gaze with a trace of regret, ready to return to her seat.

However, just as she was about to step forward, a familiar voice came from behind her: “So you’re Jiang Lu? That legendary ‘Scholarly God’ who seeks defeat but finds none?”

Huh? Is it Chu Ziyan?

Jiang Lu turned back in confusion and met a smiling face that was thirty percent familiar. She had her answer. This Alpha—whose voice was similar to Chu Ziyan’s and whose smile was carved from the same mold—was Chu Zishan.

“Hello, I’m Jiang Lu. I’m no legendary ‘Scholarly God’.” Jiang Lu smiled and nodded.

“Hello, I’m Chu Zishan,” Chu Zishan’s thin eyebrows arched gracefully, her expression arrogant. “Hm, as humble as the rumors say. But I don’t like you like this.”

Jiang Lu: “What?”

“It makes things boring. Winning against you wouldn’t be any fun,” Chu Zishan sighed with feigned distress.

Jiang Lu: “…” It seems the enemy of my enemy won’t necessarily become a “friend” either.