After Transmigrating as the Abandoned Rich Wife O, I Turned the Scum A's Life into a Crematorium [Transmigration] - Chapter 26

Gu Bei hadn’t insisted on eating, but Shen Siying wore an “I’m not happy if you don’t eat” face, picking up her coat as if ready to head out and buy another one.

Hearing the commotion at the foyer, Su Xiaotang assumed Shen Siying was finally leaving. She hurriedly blurted out, “Has the plague finally gone?”

Immediately after, she met Shen Siying’s ice-cold gaze.

Su Xiaotang’s jaw nearly dropped. “I think the range hood in the kitchen is still on…”

Shen Siying looked back at Gu Bei, who was curled up in the sofa like a soft, squishy ball. “Aren’t you going to see me out?”

Gu Bei shot her a sidelong glance and turned her head away, refusing to look at her.

Shen Siying walked back, reaching out both hands toward Gu Bei. Just as Gu Bei tried to twist away, Shen Siying cupped her face with both hands. “You’re really not seeing me off?”

Gu Bei had a bit of “baby fat”; her face looked small, but it was full of soft, squishy flesh when pinched. Shen Siying found it hard to let go.

Gu Bei pried Shen Siying’s fingers away. “Don’t touch me!”

Shen Siying, rare in her interest, instead squeezed Gu Bei’s slender, delicate fingers into her own palm. “Are you not eating anymore?”

Gu Bei saw that Shen Siying’s brow was furrowed with focus. Not knowing why she was acting this way, Gu Bei pulled her hand back. “If you’re only putting on this display of hypocrisy because of Grandma, let me tell you—I’m not buying it.”

If it weren’t for Shen Siying using her pheromones on her earlier, Gu Bei wouldn’t have thought she was so detestable, nor would she have suddenly felt this much revulsion toward her.

When an Omega is not in heat, an Alpha is not allowed to use pheromones on them without consent. Furthermore, if an Alpha uses pheromones on an Omega, the Omega has no way to resist—especially one who has already been temporarily marked.

Although Xiao Ba was a somewhat incompetent transmigration sprite, it had educated Gu Bei on the AO laws of this book. Under these circumstances, Shen Siying’s actions were tantamount to forcing an Omega not in heat to engage in intimacy. As long as the Omega was willing, she could sue the Alpha. However, most forced Omegas end up temporarily or permanently marked; to protect themselves from being controlled by the concentrated breeding camps, they mostly choose silence.

And in such situations, these silent Omegas don’t necessarily live much better than those in the breeding camps. Most of their Alphas don’t truly love them, or act out of unspeakable reasons—reasons that are likely pathological, such as pheromone control disorders or irregular susceptibility periods. In those cases, the Alpha not killing the Omega is considered a light outcome.

Looking back at the Alpha before her, she possessed nearly everything. Therefore, Gu Bei only wanted to stay far away from her. Previously she wanted to leave to avoid the breeding camp; this time she wanted to leave purely to escape Shen Siying.

However, the more perfect something is, the more likely it is to have a fatal flaw. She had learned from Shen Siying’s grandmother that she had fallen into a deep coma for a period during her childhood, only recovering through various medical interventions. Whether she was fully cured—or if any internal organs were permanently damaged during the coma—remained unknown.

Just as Gu Bei fell into deep thought, the door was knocked upon. The series of knocks sounded like a melody played on the wood, revealing the knocker’s cheerful mood.

Su Xiaotang, having wiped her hands dry, emerged from the kitchen. Seeing the two people on the sofa had no intention of opening the door, she helplessly went to open it herself.

“I think I smell Bei Bei’s scent!” Jian Peiyun, holding her helmet, stood outside looking quite pleased.

Su Xiaotang rolled her eyes toward the sky and let out a light sigh. “Yeah, but your nose isn’t very sharp, is it? Can’t you smell that there’s someone else here?”

Hearing Jian Peiyun call her “Bei Bei,” the smile on Shen Siying’s face stiffened. Gu Bei noticed and silently pulled her quilt tighter. Although a top-tier Alpha in a rage makes iron-plated protective suits and firefighters useless, at this moment, the quilt was the only defensive tool within Gu Bei’s reach.

Su Xiaotang glanced at the small living room, partially visible from the foyer. “Shen is inside.”

Jian Peiyun looked unbothered, as if she already knew. “So what if she is? She can be wherever she likes.”

Su Xiaotang’s expression froze because Jian Peiyun simply put her helmet on the foyer cabinet, took off her shoes, and sat right down on the sofa.

The living room was small, containing only one three-seater sofa and a beanbag chair. To break the awkwardness, Su Xiaotang tried to ask Jian Peiyun to help her boil ginger cola tea in the kitchen.

However, Jian Peiyun didn’t budge.

Shen Siying looked past Gu Bei at Jian Peiyun, and Jian Peiyun looked past Gu Bei at Shen Siying. For a moment, the air seemed to have solidified; no matter how hard one inhaled, it wouldn’t move. Tiny Gu Bei, her face flushed red, was sandwiched between two Alphas with strange auras.

The living room was so quiet she could hear her own heartbeat.

“Maybe…” Gu Bei paused. She tried to go back to the bedroom while wrapped in her quilt, but was held back.

Su Xiaotang glanced at the battle through the kitchen glass door and thought to herself: It’s over. Because her somewhat big mouth had already told Jian Peiyun about Gu Bei co-renting with her. Jian Peiyun figured the opportunity had come and insisted on coming over to see.

Coincidentally, Shen Siying had beaten her to it. Jian Peiyun had a fire in her belly right now, and Shen Siying was such a massive igniter; she might as well use her.

“Jian Chengfeng’s daughter?” Shen Siying narrowed her eyes into slits, calling out Jian Peiyun’s father’s name. “What are you doing grabbing my wife?”

“President Shen,” Jian Peiyun started. Even though Magna had told her countless times never to offend the sponsor—the “Golden Father”—she continued, “My hand is just helping her out from her heartless soon-to-be-ex-partner. There’s no problem with that, right?”

Hearing those words, Gu Bei whipped her head around as if she had heard something incredible. Jian Peiyun met Gu Bei’s gaze and gave a quick, smiling blink.

Shen Siying was silent for a moment before letting go. Normally, she would have been furious by now and launched into a sharp-tongued verbal assault on Jian Peiyun.

Just when everyone thought she was about to leave, Shen Siying put on her coat. “Gu Bei, come out with me for a moment.”

Gu Bei didn’t move, her eyes staring straight at her fingernails, specifically the small white lunula curves.

“Talk, then I’ll leave,” Shen Siying said. Even she didn’t know when she had become this detestable.

Gu Bei, wrapped in her quilt, followed Shen Siying out reluctantly. Outside, the wind whistled past; the rusted railings looked exceptionally cold after the wind blew through.

Shen Siying walked toward Gu Bei. “Why do you tell other people everything?”

Gu Bei had thought Jian Peiyun went a bit too far with her comeback to Shen Siying earlier, but at this moment, a trace of bitterness welled up in her heart too. “Sorry, it’s my mouth.”

“No, you’re misrepresenting the issue.” A trace of grievance flashed across Shen Siying’s face. “I’m not forbidding you from talking, I just mean don’t tell them everything. I have no intention of divorcing you.”

Gu Bei felt ten thousand levels of confusion. If not a divorce, what did that divorce agreement mean? She didn’t want to speak anymore; she just felt incredibly tired.

Shen Siying leaned in closer to Gu Bei. Noticing this, Gu Bei moved back and to the side toward the empty space. While moving, she lost her balance and was pulled into a bear hug by Shen Siying.

Gu Bei smelled the rose fragrance again and began to struggle desperately. “If you dare use your pheromones on me again, I’ll kill you!”

Shen Siying was halted by that sudden shout. The old Gu Bei would never have spoken like this; such defiance brought her no benefits. Previously, Shen Siying didn’t need to see Gu Bei to know Gu Bei’s heart was with her. But at this moment, even while holding her tight, she knew Gu Bei’s heart was no longer there.

The current Shen Siying was finally starting to realize what Gu Bei meant by “letting each other go.”

While Shen Siying was distracted for a moment, Gu Bei hiked up and rolled her quilt, escaping. She left Shen Siying with only a thin silhouette of her back.

Shen Siying stood in the cold wind, invaded by the chill. No matter how thick her coat was, it couldn’t warm her heart.

Su Xiaotang, holding the sliced ginger, tiptoed out of the kitchen. “Gone?”

Gu Bei nodded with a slight apology. “What were you going to boil? Let me do it.”

Su Xiaotang smiled with feigned disdain. “Do you know how?”

Gu Bei was honest: “No.”

Jian Peiyun, slumped on the sofa, let out a snort of laughter.

Gu Bei looked at Jian Peiyun, wanting to tell her not to speak to Shen Siying like that in the future, as she didn’t want Jian Peiyun to offend her on her account. But seeing Jian Peiyun’s relaxed face, she didn’t speak.

Jian Peiyun didn’t leave. She simply took off her outer clothes, took a shower in the en-suite in Su Xiaotang’s bedroom, and then flopped onto Su Xiaotang’s bed, refusing to get up. Su Xiaotang stood at the bedroom door grumbling for ages but couldn’t win her over; she ended up grabbing another quilt and sleeping on the sofa.

Two more comfortable days passed. Jian Peiyun still came to report every day, but due to Su Xiaotang’s strong opposition, she wasn’t allowed to stay overnight.

Gu Bei’s room didn’t have a bathroom, so in the middle of the night, she moved through the darkness to use the main bathroom. She tiptoed, terrified of waking Su Xiaotang in the next room.

Thud—

The night was silent; the slightest sound could make one’s imagination run wild. Moreover, the sound came from the door, making it feel even more eerie. Su Xiaotang’s door remained shut, and there was no movement inside; she probably hadn’t heard it.

Gu Bei must have been a cat in a past life; she was deeply drawn to the sound. If she felt fear, she felt curiosity even more. She listened quietly for a while but heard nothing more. Just as she was losing patience and thinking the wind had knocked something over, there was another sound.

This one was louder; Gu Bei was nearly deafened by the shock. Su Xiaotang still didn’t react.

Gu Bei walked carefully to the door, pressing her ear against the ice-cold wood to listen to the movement outside.

“Hiss—”

Gu Bei was startled by the human sound of pain, quickly moving her ear away. A few seconds later, she pressed it back and heard a soft flick-click sound, like a thumb striking a lighter.

The layout of this rental was quite interesting; there was a small window right by the door. For safety, the landlord had added a security grate outside and replaced the glass with frosted glass. Su Xiaotang had placed the foyer cabinet by the window, and the cabinet was piled high with shoeboxes, so one couldn’t see outside.

If she forced the window open, it would make quite a bit of noise. However, Gu Bei was now wide awake. She moved the pile of shoeboxes and gently pulled the window open, making a sound.

Perhaps the person outside was scared away by the noise, or perhaps there was no one there to begin with. Just as Gu Bei was about to pull the window shut and go back to her room, a gust of wind blew past, bringing in a scent of wine-soaked roses mixed with tobacco.