Chapter 4

Wen Sixu didn’t seem to have given her the option of refusing.

“Important plot point detected. Host, please proceed to the mission location immediately.”

Qu Xiao: ???

An important plot point?

She slipped the business card into her pocket and sighed. “Even if you hadn’t said anything, I would’ve gone.”

She glanced at the overly conspicuous Class B training uniform she was wearing, then at the outfit she’d just changed out of after her initial stage performance. Her eyes darkened.

The other trainees were currently having lunch or taking their afternoon breaks. Wouldn’t it attract too much attention if she left the production venue wearing this uniform and went to the nearby hotel to meet Wen Sixu?

A scene immediately appeared in Qu Xiao’s mind: the moment she stepped through the entrance, a fansite photographer’s camera would be trained on her retreating figure. The next second, the topic “Dream Star Search Trainee Qu Xiao Secretly Leaves Filming Venue During Competition” would be trending.

She bit her lip. Perhaps Wen Sixu was hoping she’d get photographed on her way to meet her. That way, Actress Wen wouldn’t even have to lift a finger, and Qu Xiao would be forced to withdraw from the competition.

Her gaze swept around the dance practice room before suddenly stopping at a soft mat in the corner. Several identical black T-shirts worn by the production staff were piled there, each with the show’s logo printed on the back.

Qu Xiao quickly folded her clothes and stuffed them into her bag, changed into a fresh black T-shirt, and Read on BaiLianTales grabbed a black cap to put on her head. She walked to the large mirror on the wall, pulled the brim of her cap lower, and straightened her collar.

The person reflected in the mirror was now dressed in the standard staff uniform. Even if she walked out of the production venue right under everyone’s noses, nobody would recognize her as a trainee.

She checked the time. Only half an hour remained before her appointment with Wen Sixu.

Qu Xiao hurried off, taking a longer route to leave the production venue.

Meanwhile, at the hotel, Wen Sixu had just returned to her top-floor suite.

“Miss Wen, a staff member came looking for you earlier to record an interview. I turned them down on the grounds that you weren’t feeling well. It’ll be the same if Miss Gu records this segment, and we can make up for it this afternoon. Your health isn’t what it used to be, so we really need to settle on a marking specialist as soon as possible.”

As Zhou Xuan spoke, she handed over a collection of résumés, more than a dozen pages thick.

“Your mother found these marking specialists through the best companionship center. She specifically instructed you to choose one this time. You can’t keep putting it off.”

At the mention of her mother, Wen Sixu’s cool expression softened slightly.

She opened her phone. Her conversation with Wen Xue still ended with a message from three days ago.

“Sixu, I’ve been telling you to come home and recuperate, to stop accepting acting roles and joining film productions, but you never listen. I’m not going to stand in the way of your career anymore. I just hope you’ll listen to the doctors. I’ve already consulted several department heads. With your condition, having an Alpha marking specialist by your side would help alleviate your symptoms considerably.”

She hadn’t replied at the time.

A pheromone disorder was indeed extremely painful.

But she had no desire to find some so-called Alpha marking specialist.

Who would have thought that just two days after receiving that message, a clumsy Alpha would suddenly stumble into her world, gently bringing a touch of color back to a place that had long been injured and pale?

Wen Sixu set the résumés aside without opening them. Instead, she picked up a tie lying nearby and gently pressed it against her lips.

She inhaled deeply through her nose and could still detect a trace of iris fragrance.

Very faint, very subtle.

It was almost impossible to smell anymore.

After a moment, she lowered the tie and met Zhou Xuan’s gaze.

“I’m testing a new perfume.” She coughed lightly, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m hungry. Bring my food in.”

Zhou Xuan nodded, took out a lunch box, and opened it. Inside was a low-fat meal that looked reasonably appetizing.

Wen Sixu glanced at the time.

Qu Xiao hadn’t arrived yet.

She began eating, finishing the colorful rice balls in the first compartment before moving on to the kale and Arctic shrimp in the second…

“Miss Wen, the ten marking specialists have arrived. They’re waiting outside.”

Wen Sixu lowered her lashes and put down her chopsticks, having lost her appetite.

No wonder this pheromone companionship company had such glowing reviews online. Its service really was attentive.

For example, it arranged for ten marking specialists to come for interviews, allowing clients to leisurely select their preferred choice, as though they were choosing perfume.

Unfortunately, she didn’t appreciate this kind of attentiveness.

“Let them come in and wait.”

She glanced at their résumés. All ten Alphas were S-rank.

Wen Sixu sat on the sofa in the inner room. Through the partially open door, she watched Zhou Xuan lead the ten S-rank Alphas inside. They immediately began releasing their pheromones, displaying themselves like peacocks spreading their tails.

The atmosphere outside was as though an entire glass display case filled with perfume had suddenly shattered across the floor. The fragrances were so overpowering that they made it difficult to breathe.

Far from experiencing even the slightest relief in her gland, Wen Sixu suddenly felt a surge of irritation.

She closed her eyes, and the scent of another person surfaced uncontrollably in her mind.

Fresh, clean, pure…

She picked up the tie again and pressed it over her nose and mouth, breathing in its fragrance.

Suddenly, amid those irritating scents, an exceptionally fresh fragrance appeared.

Blue iris.

It was much richer than the lingering scent on the tie in her hands.

Wen Sixu opened her eyes, put down the tie, and rose to her feet.

She walked out and stood beside the doorway, her eyes narrowing slightly as her gaze slowly swept over the ten Alphas in the living room who were desperately releasing their pheromones.

Was this really the best pheromone companionship company in the country? If these ten people were contestants on a survival show, she wouldn’t even want to give them an F. The only impressive thing about them was the pheromone rank written on their résumés. She had no idea how they’d managed to become top-tier marking specialists.

Oh, and she didn’t like the smell of their pheromones either.

What a mess of awful scents. None of them complemented her white camellia fragrance in the slightest.

The next moment, her eyes met those of Qu Xiao, who stood helplessly by the entrance.

Having just entered the room, Qu Xiao guiltily swallowed.

Apart from herself, there were ten high-ranking Alphas in the room.

The air was filled with pheromones so concentrated they were almost pungent. Didn’t these people know how rude it was to behave this way in front of an Omega?

Even she, a mere B-rank Alpha, knew that.

And another thing. What exactly was Wen Sixu planning?

Had she summoned these ten high-ranking Alphas to beat her up?

While she was letting her imagination run wild, another door slowly opened, and Wen Sixu emerged from behind it.

She had already changed out of the pink mermaid dress she’d worn at the judges’ table that morning. Now, she wore a pale purple long dress, its soft fabric clinging gently to her body and outlining her beautiful curves.

Her long, pinkish-brown hair had clearly just been washed and wasn’t completely dry. Droplets of [stolen content]water rolled down the strands and slipped into the hollow of her snow-white collarbone.

Wen Sixu approached slowly and sat down in the chair at the center of the room.

At that moment, five high-ranking Alphas stood to Wen Sixu’s left, another five stood to her right, and directly opposite her… stood Qu Xiao, looking adorably clueless.

Qu Xiao was wondering what she could say to ease the awkward situation when the familiar electronic voice suddenly rang through her mind.

“Host has arrived at the mission location. Mission updated: Dry Wen Sixu’s long hair and tie it up neatly. Time limit: Two minutes. Penalty for failure: Gland damage.”

Qu Xiao: Me?

You mean you want me to tie Wen Sixu’s hair in front of these ten high-ranking Alphas, even though she hates me to the bone?

Isn’t there a risk I’ll get beaten to death?

Wen Sixu was currently reclining against the soft backrest of her chair, her eyes narrowed like those of a lazy Persian cat. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Even those ten high-ranking Alphas didn’t dare do something like that, yet the system expected her to lay hands on Wen Sixu?

“Host, only one minute and forty-five seconds remain. I suggest you act quickly.”

Trembling with apprehension, Qu Xiao took her first step.

Just pretend you’re grooming a cat…

Summoning her courage, she picked up a towel from the nearby table.

Wen Sixu raised her beautiful eyes. The ten high-ranking Alphas beside her also turned to examine Qu Xiao, curious about what she intended to do.

As Qu Xiao lifted the towel, the electronic voice rang out in her mind again.

“Countdown: One minute and thirty seconds.”

Qu Xiao hurried over to Wen Sixu and gently lifted the long hair that was still dripping water into the hollow of her neck.

Wen Sixu froze. Her eyes shimmered with moisture as her gaze traveled slowly upward from the ends of her hair to the hand holding those strands.

The Alpha had beautiful hands.

They would have looked even better if she were wearing that silver bracelet instead of the light blue one.

Qu Xiao paused for two seconds.

Seeing that Wen Sixu showed no resistance, she [Read on BaiLianTales]gently wrapped the pinkish-brown strands in the towel she held in her other hand.

“Your hair is still wet, and it’s sticking to the back of your neck… That’ll make your gland uncomfortable.”

After speaking, Qu Xiao took a deep breath and began moving the towel.

She dried Wen Sixu’s hair with great care, gradually absorbing the moisture from each strand. Working from the ends toward the middle, her movements were clumsy but meticulous, as though she were polishing a precious piece of jade.

Every breath was filled with the fragrance of Wen Sixu’s hair. Beneath the scented shampoo lingered a faint white camellia fragrance—Wen Sixu’s own pheromones.

Wen Sixu’s breathing grew uneven.

That slender, well-defined hand moved beside her cheek, gripping the towel and gently rubbing her hair up and down.

Wet hair sticking to the back of her neck would make her gland uncomfortable.

That’s right. Such a simple thing. Why had no one ever cared for her with such thoughtful attention before?

She raised her eyes and took in Qu Xiao’s serious expression.

Those eyes were dark and brilliantly clear. A few blue sequins left over from her initial stage makeup still clung to her eyelashes, glimmering faintly beneath the lights. The Alpha herself seemed completely unaware of them, her gaze fixed intently on Wen Sixu’s hair as she carefully dried every tiny droplet of water.

Wen Sixu shifted into a more comfortable position against the chair.

Qu Xiao felt the weight resting against her hand grow slightly heavier. Looking more closely, she realized that Wen Sixu had pressed her cheek against the back of her hand.

She said nothing and continued carefully drying the ends of Wen Sixu’s hair until not a trace of moisture remained.

Behind them, several high-ranking Alphas exchanged glances and began whispering quietly enough that only those nearby could hear.

“Where did this person come from?”

“Could she be a marking specialist sent by a rival company?”

“Surely not? Her pheromone rank seems pretty low.”

“Then is she crazy? How dare she treat Actress Wen like that?”

Finally, one of them, who seemed to possess a little more common sense, examined the Alpha wearing a black staff T-shirt. Her cap was pulled so low that her face was difficult to make out.

The woman spoke impatiently. “Will you all shut up? She’s a staff member. Probably an assistant.”

Qu Xiao didn’t hear any of this.

She took another fresh towel and gently wiped the droplets of water from the stolen content smooth, translucent skin around Wen Sixu’s collarbone.

Wen Sixu watched the hand holding the towel move across her collarbone without crossing any boundaries. The Alpha was entirely focused on removing those tiny, cool droplets of water.

She closed her eyes, as though the two of them were the only people in the room.

Once she had finished drying the remaining droplets, Qu Xiao picked up a hair dryer. After testing the temperature against her hand, she spent a couple of minutes gently blow-drying Wen Sixu’s beautiful pinkish-brown hair.

Then she removed a hair tie from her right wrist and gathered Wen Sixu’s hair into a bun, deliberately leaving some space around the gland on the back of her pale neck.

“Congratulations, Host! Mission completed. You’ve earned three points and five points in basic dance skills!”

“All done.”

Qu Xiao turned and stepped back a few paces.

Sensing the departure of that hand, Wen Sixu opened her eyes.

There was a trace of tenderness in the gaze she directed toward Qu Xiao. The Alpha was still holding the towel, water droplets clinging to her fingers, yet she seemed completely unaware of them.

Finally, Wen Sixu withdrew her gaze and turned toward the ten Alphas who had been left standing to the side ever since entering the room.

Her voice was cool and emotionless.

“Thank you for coming. You may leave now. Each of you will receive one thousand yuan for travel expenses.”

What kind of travel expenses could possibly cost a thousand yuan?

The women exchanged glances, all understanding what she meant.

Wen Sixu hadn’t taken a liking to any of them and was offering a little compensation to preserve their dignity.

From the moment they’d stepped through the door, they’d done everything they could to release their pheromones, displaying themselves like peacocks spreading their tails. Yet they hadn’t managed to earn so much as a proper glance from Wen Sixu.

Although disappointed, they still thanked her in unison before turning to leave one after another.

The door closed softly behind the final Alpha, and the room finally fell silent.

At last, the air was free of those chaotic pheromone scents. Only the fresh fragrance of blue iris remained.

Wen Sixu lightly rubbed the ends of her freshly dried hair between her fingertips. A trace of warmth still lingered there.

She looked at Qu Xiao, who stood frozen in place, and crooked her finger.

“Come here.”