I Heard I’m the Scumbag Alpha of a Top-Tier Leading Actress? - Chapter 23

The heavy rain continued until after dinner. There were no streetlights in the mountains, and night fell early. Gu Xin stood on the slope with her hands on her hips, feet planted in the mud, staring down at the dark slope below as she contemplated life.

Ying Lu was a very perceptive director. This trait of hers was reflected not only in her films, but also in her everyday life.

An investor had once jokingly said: Never let Ying Lu catch hold of your weakness, or else you would not be able to get away without investing at least eight hundred thousand to a million.

Gu Xin had not invested. Mainly because she had no money. Unfortunately, however, Ying Lu had already caught hold of her weakness.

A passing doctoral student saw her standing there in a daze and asked, “Teacher Gu, aren’t you going to eat?”

Gu Xin came back to herself. “Wait. I don’t think I’ve ever asked your name. What was it again?”

The doctoral student froze for a moment, probably never expecting that after all these days, Gu Xin still did not know her name.

“My name is Ke Muxun. Teacher Gu can just call me Little Ke.”

Gu Xin’s CPU was already completely occupied by the three words “Yan Shuangshuang,” leaving no room to notice Little Ke’s disappointed expression. She nodded vaguely and said, “I’m eating. Where do we eat?”

Little Ke pointed her toward the building Yan Shuangshuang was staying in, then ran off to get bowls and chopsticks herself.

The house Yan Shuangshuang and the others lived in had three floors. Only two Omegas lived on the first floor, and there was also an enormous living room that was usually used for script discussions. As for the other empty rooms, they were all filled with the crew’s props and machines.

For the research team that had only arrived today, although the cars had been rescued, the repairman was still in town and would not arrive until tomorrow. If they wanted to go up the mountain now, they could only do it on foot.

After thinking briefly, Hua Ran asked the villagers to take them in for the night. The people in the team would each stay at local households, and work matters would be discussed tomorrow. But before they split up, everyone still had to make do and eat a big communal meal together. The location was the large living room.

When Gu Xin walked in, everyone was chatting noisily and enthusiastically. They had formed five or six tables, and the room was thick with the warmth of daily life, steam rising everywhere. No one paid any attention to Gu Xin, who entered quietly. Only Hua Ran looked at her once with an unreadable meaning, then turned away to speak to someone else.

Gu Xin casually sat down at an empty seat at one of the tables. The food on the table was full of rustic countryside flavor. None of the dishes looked particularly good in color, but each one carried a natural fragrance.

Gu Xin absentmindedly shoveled in two bites before someone beside her suddenly asked, “Does it not taste good?”

Gu Xin turned her head and discovered that the person sitting beside her was the tall Omega she had seen that morning.

He Xin’s looks fell somewhere between obedient little sister and rebellious girl, and she was also a cool girl. Usually, she was fine, but when she did not speak and simply stared at someone with her round, lively eyes, she gave off the feeling that this child seemed to be brewing some kind of bad idea.

Gu Xin was not someone who knew how to read other people’s expressions. She was too used to going her own way and only felt that He Xin was a little strange. “It tastes good.”

“I made it with the others.”

Gu Xin replied tentatively, “Thank you?”

Her answer clearly did not satisfy He Xin, but He Xin changed to another question. “Are you a scientist?”

“No.” Gu Xin denied it at once. She genuinely did not feel that she counted as a scientist. At present, her position in the institute could only be described as a general helper, though the miscellaneous work she did was somewhat higher-level.

She pointed toward Hua Ran. “That one is.”

A trace of disdain flashed through He Xin’s eyes. She muttered, “I really don’t know what she sees in you…”

The people around them were talking too loudly, so Gu Xin did not hear clearly. She subconsciously asked again, “What did you say?”

He Xin was just about to speak when someone suddenly cut in between them.

“Xinxin, so you were here. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Both of them could not help looking up. Zhao Censu stood there, covered in sweat, running so hard there was practically heat rising from him. The faint scent of perilla pheromones drifted around him.

He wore a bright and cheerful smile, but his movements were very forceful as he braced his arm toward He Xin. “Why are you here alone? Where’s Shuangshuang?”

Gu Xin’s hand holding her chopsticks tightened involuntarily.

He Xin pinched her nose and leaned back, disgust written plainly across her face. “Sister Shuang went to rest. The smell on you is so strong. Can you rein it in a little?”

Zhao Censu smiled as if begging for mercy and made an apologetic gesture. “I just finished moving machines. I didn’t do it on purpose. Has Shuangshuang eaten? If she hasn’t, I’ll go call her.”

“She ate already.”

“Then I’ll go in and check on her.”

“Ah? That’s not very convenient, is it?”

“Are you going to let people eat or not?” Gu Xin put down her chopsticks with a smack.

Only then did Zhao Censu seem to belatedly notice Gu Xin. He deliberately looked at Gu Xin in confusion, then looked at He Xin. “Xinxin, who is she? Your Beta friend?”

The moment the word “Beta” came out, Gu Xin finally looked directly at him.

Gu Xin herself had no opinion about Betas. In her heart, sex did not matter at all, because she did not care. But this person’s tone was truly too annoying, too full of an Alpha’s sense of superiority. Gu Xin had no idea what he was so proud of. Mixed with pheromones that made their presence strongly known, it was practically provocation to the extreme.

Calmly, she said, “Want to talk outside?”

“Why would I talk to you alone?” Zhao Censu refused as if nothing had happened, then continued staring at He Xin. From his chest pocket, he took out a box of painkillers. “I heard Shuangshuang was injured. I bought this in town this afternoon. Xinxin, help me give it to her.”

“No need. We have a first-aid kit.”

“Aiya, it’s just a bit of my sincerity. I carried bricks all afternoon before I could buy it.”

“There’s really no need…”

Gu Xin stood up and directly faced Zhao Censu. In the end, she was a female Alpha and was half a head shorter than Zhao Censu, but when her deep brown pupils fixed on him, he actually felt a chill crawl over him.

Her voice was very light. “Do you not understand Chinese, or is your hearing impaired?”

Zhao Censu’s face also cooled. “What do you mean?”

“Looks like there’s something wrong with your brain. You can’t understand such an obvious rejection?” Her tone held genuine confusion, pushing the mockery to the limit.

Zhao Censu’s mouth pressed into a straight line. His handsome face radiated coldness, and the scent of perilla abruptly grew stronger, carrying a faint sense of bursting pressure. This was the precursor to an Alpha’s anger, and also a method of pressuring one of the same kind.

At some point, the living room had gone quiet. Several people already could not bear the aggressiveness of an Alpha’s pheromones and quietly left. But Gu Xin seemed completely unaffected. She looked at Zhao Censu coldly.

Hua Ran finally noticed the commotion on this side. Her tone carried warning. “Gu Xin.”

Gu Xin acted as if she had not heard. Expressionlessly, she said to Zhao Censu, “Don’t act like some inferior male dog, throwing tantrums and pissing everywhere. If you can’t control your stink, then go inject an inhibitor yourself. Do you think everyone here is your parent?”

Zhao Censu looked at Gu Xin for a long while, then laughed, his tone dark and chilling. “Your mouth is pretty sharp. Fine, let’s go. We’ll talk outside. Don’t tell me only your mouth is impressive.”

“Oh.” Gu Xin took off her coat, handed it to He Xin, turned, and walked away.

Zhao Censu followed behind her and still had the leisure to smile at everyone present. “Just a little private matter. Something between Alphas. Everyone, don’t mind us. Eat and drink well.”

Only after the two of them had both gone out did He Xin, who had been covering her mouth and nose the whole time, suddenly let herself go and gasp for air.

“Fuck…” He Xin hugged Gu Xin’s coat, feeling as if she had picked up a scalding hot potato. She froze for a while before her brain finally turned the corner. Immediately, she stood and rushed into the room.

“Sister Shuang! The two of them started fighting over you!!!”