I Heard I’m the Scumbag Alpha of a Top-Tier Leading Actress? - Chapter 30

When Yan Shuangshuang realized that Gu Xin had completely fainted, she knew something was wrong.

Aside from Gu Xin’s exceptional brain, her physical constitution was also very good. Ever since Yan Shuangshuang had known Gu Xin, she had never seen her get sick, not even a small cold.

When she talked about it with Gu Xin’s mother, she also said that Gu Xin had been easy to raise since childhood. No illness, no disasters, always jumping around full of life. She told Yan Shuangshuang to feel free to torment her boldly. Gu Xin could take it.

At the time, Yan Shuangshuang had answered with a smile. But when someone truly loved another person, how could they bear to torment her?

Later, however, Gu Xin turned heartless and acted up every day. During the period when Yan Shuangshuang’s head hurt the most, she truly wished Gu Xin’s physical constitution was not so good. Hurry up and get sick for two days. Rest a little. Stop making trouble.

But that wish had never come true. By the time it finally did, they were already divorced.

To Gu Xin, the hospital was an old friend both familiar and unfamiliar. Gu Xin’s older brother worked at the hospital, and every time she went there, it was to get medicine for Yan Shuangshuang, not to see a doctor herself.

It was only when Gu Xin drank until she needed her stomach pumped that Yan Shuangshuang suddenly realized that Gu Xin was also made of flesh and blood. She was not an iron person.

Ordinary medicine still worked on this stubborn rock.

And now, Gu Xin’s entire body was astonishingly hot. It seemed as if there was a fire inside her, blazing fiercely. If one came even slightly close, they would be burned.

In this kind of situation, Gu Xin had originally been soaked from head to toe, with countless patches of mud clinging to her clothes, looking utterly miserable. But now, it felt as if the high temperature was about to bake her entire body dry.

On top of that, Gu Xin’s left leg was fractured, and there were countless wounds of all sizes across her body. Her condition could be described with one word: tragic.

Yan Shuangshuang could not tell what exactly had caused her high fever. Her first reaction was to try to carry the unconscious Gu Xin on her back and climb up together, but the moment she pulled one of Gu Xin’s hands, the vine made a sound as if it could no longer bear the weight.

The weight of two people was still too much. Yan Shuangshuang had no choice but to put Gu Xin down again and start thinking of another method.

Perhaps because of extreme pain, even though the unconscious Gu Xin’s eyes were closed, her brows were tightly knitted, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Yan Shuangshuang tried patting her shoulder and calling, “Gu Xin. Gu Xin, wake up!”

But Gu Xin seemed trapped in a nightmare. Chaotic breaths and disordered murmurs alternated between the cracks of her dry lips. For a while, she called Shuangshuang. For a while, she called Mom. Later, what appeared most frequently was “Little Shuang” and “Shuangshuang,” alternating again and again.

In her dreams, she called the people she most wanted to be close to, yet she could not respond to the real call in reality.

Yan Shuangshuang’s voice could not call her mind back. Above them, the torrential rain smashed one peaceful night after another apart against the ground. And in this hidden little space, Yan Shuangshuang finally gave up calling. She held Gu Xin tightly, the two of them pressed close together.

She thought, when Gu Xin had appeared before her covered in injuries, at least for tonight, she could no longer let her go.

You were the one who came to find me.

Yan Shuangshuang blew the whistle again.

Again and again. Stubbornly, urgently, even if the sound was tiny, even if its effect was limited.

She wanted to be with her.

Gu Xin had never liked calling her Sister. She liked calling her Shuangshuang, or Little Shuang, saying that it could narrow the distance between them.

Yan Shuangshuang knew that Gu Xin had always brooded over the “high school student” Yan Shuangshuang had blurted out when they first met.

What Yan Shuangshuang had actually been too embarrassed to say was that her first reaction back then had been that Gu Xin looked like a middle school student, because Gu Xin had looked far too young. But afterward, after glancing again at Gu Xin’s height, she changed her words before speaking.

Gu Xin did indeed mature a little afterward, especially after her differentiation period ended when she was eighteen.

But she was immature in the way she pursued Yan Shuangshuang until the whole school knew. She was too ostentatious.

Yan Shuangshuang did not know how many romantic rivals Gu Xin had dealt with behind the scenes, but she had vaguely heard rumors saying Gu Xin was very good at fighting and had driven everyone away.

Because of her excessively fierce combat ability and glittering résumé, rumors in the jianghu claimed that the research institute at the neighboring school did not research knowledge, but Chinese kung fu. The best fighter among them was called Gu Xin. She had just differentiated into an Alpha, fallen in love with their school beauty at first sight, and despite repeated defeats, kept fighting on, pursuing her for a full two years.

Two years was enough for a genius who originally had eyes only for herself to truly place a person in her heart.

Gu Xin became better and better at pleasing people, and she appeared in Yan Shuangshuang’s life more and more frequently.

During those two years, it would be a lie to say Yan Shuangshuang had not been moved.

But the gap between people was sometimes as vast as the gap between a person and a paramecium.

What was the world of a genius like?

Could she only be acting on a whim?

Would someone as clever as her one day grow tired of Yan Shuangshuang’s mediocrity?

Yan Shuangshuang was not insecure. She even had her own pride. But when anyone with even a little pride faced Gu Xin, that pride was not worth mentioning.

Gu Xin was so dazzling. She was like someone born destined to enter the history of science and textbooks.

What exactly did a person like that like about her?

When Yan Shuangshuang was in her senior year, her class organized a farewell dinner at a hotel. In that winter, everyone poured out their hearts and raised their glasses.

Yan Shuangshuang also drank quite a bit, but she had a good tolerance and did not flush. She was only slightly tipsy.

But as they drank, the female classmate beside her suddenly said, “Look outside. Is the person sitting by the flower bed Gu Xin?”

The moment Gu Xin’s name came out, Yan Shuangshuang jolted, and quite a bit of her drunkenness cleared.

“Yeah, she does look a little like her. What is she doing here?” someone asked drowsily.

The table fell silent for an instant, then the men and women immediately burst into laughter. “Hahaha, what do you think she’s doing? Look who’s sitting here. Have you drunk yourself stupid?”

People always had infinite tolerance toward those in an ambiguous stage. Some would offer advice, some were happy to become “assistants,” as if everyone carried a deep filter toward the idea that “lovers should finally become a couple.”

At this moment, the teasing at the dinner table was not because everyone truly held goodwill toward Gu Xin or Yan Shuangshuang. Most of them were actually projecting their own fantasies of beautiful love onto the two of them.

If the protagonists today had been changed to another pair, the reaction they received might have been the same.

However, at that time, from the moment Yan Shuangshuang heard Gu Xin’s name, her heart had already become a mess. She had no time to think about these principles she could usually understand with the slightest turn of her mind. She only felt that the entire world was adding fuel to the waves and telling her—

Gu Xin was serious. Gu Xin really liked her.

Someone at the table saw Yan Shuangshuang’s unprecedented blush and immediately shouted to draw attention. The teasing instantly grew louder.

“Sister Shuang! What’s going on? Did you drink too much too?”

“What are you saying! Our Sister Shuang has always been able to drink like the sea! She never flushes either! Are you looking down on our Sister Shuang by saying that?”

“Yo, yo, yo. Then our Sister Shuang… why is your face red?”

“Guess?”

“I can’t guess. After all, I don’t have a younger sister chasing me here~”

“Then ask her.”

“Sister Shuang, are you blushing because of the alcohol, or because of the younger sister?”

Seeing the usually cool and distant Yan Shuangshuang blocked speechless for the first time, her beautiful face filled with a shy flush, everyone became excited and started howling strangely. The scene fell into complete chaos.

Amid the teasing, someone secretly sent messages to others, excitedly eating melon—so the younger sister was not one-sidedly lovesick after all. Their academy flower was interested too.

“Hahahahahahaha.”

Amid the laughter and noise, a bold girl said, “How can we let younger sister freeze outside? I’ll pull her in so she can sit at our table, eat something, drink a little, and warm herself up. How does that sound?”

“That’s a good idea!”

“You go, hurry up. Don’t let her run away later.”

“Speed, speed!”

Yan Shuangshuang’s weak protest was drowned out by the crowd’s clamor. A hand suddenly wrapped around Yan Shuangshuang’s shoulder. She turned and saw her usually close roommate winking at her and saying quietly, “Try it. Right? Today is such a good day. Just give her a chance. Think of it as giving yourself a chance too.”

That was true.

What a good day.

They were about to leave the ivory tower and head toward the sea of society, and she was also about to leave campus and go somewhere Gu Xin could not see.

They were like fish stranded on the beach. Once the time came, whether主动 or passive, they all had to struggle and swim forward, swimming toward a deep and distant place.

From then on, in life, only she could support herself, and only she could excavate herself.

So should she try?

When leaving Eden, should she pluck that tempting apple?

Could she afford both gaining and losing?

In her daze, the socially fearless girl had already pulled Gu Xin inside.

The crowd slowly parted like a flower bud blooming, revealing the stamen and showing Yan Shuangshuang sitting on the chair behind them, still dazed.

Gu Xin was dressed very youthfully today. On her upper body, she wore a fluffy white bread-like down jacket, and on her lower body, black skinny jeans. After entering the room, she took off the down jacket, revealing a soft, pale-yellow fleece jacket inside.

The moment she came in, her gaze locked onto her target, and she walked toward Yan Shuangshuang with firm steps.

The crowd let out knowing ohs.

Gu Xin turned a deaf ear and walked to the seat beside Yan Shuangshuang. She asked her roommate whether she could go sit in another empty seat because Gu Xin wanted to sit here.

Yan Shuangshuang’s face instantly turned explosively red.

Such straightforward and naked affection. Such a firm choice. It was as if all mortals were air, and in her eyes, only Yan Shuangshuang was the most special existence.

The surrounding crowd, who enjoyed watching the fun and did not mind making things bigger, erupted into intense ghostly howls once more because of Gu Xin’s action.

Only then did Gu Xin seem to realize the scene was far too lively. She paused and asked, “Do you mind if I sit beside you?”

“She doesn’t mind!” The roommate was quick-eyed and quick-handed. She grabbed Gu Xin, stood herself, and perfectly switched places with her.

Yan Shuangshuang opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but her roommate lifted a finger in front of her lips, made a shh gesture, and mouthed to her: Try it.

Try it, Yan Shuangshuang. You don’t need to hesitate, and you don’t need to feel inferior. There is no right or wrong choice. Just enjoy the present.

From the moment Gu Xin sat down, her eyes never left Yan Shuangshuang.

She paid attention to Yan Shuangshuang’s every movement. After discovering that Yan Shuangshuang was still somewhat uncomfortable, she took the initiative to say, “It’s okay. Talk with them. Don’t mind me. I’m very quiet.”

Hearing this, Yan Shuangshuang thought, did this person even know how strong her presence was? Gu Xin was a natural focal point. Even if she sat there without saying a word, she would still involuntarily draw people’s gazes.

“Little junior, I heard you’re an Alpha?”

Not long after Gu Xin sat down, the first social butterfly launched a direct attack.

Many of them had heard Gu Xin’s name more or less, because Gu Xin’s very existence destined her to be unable to keep a low profile. During the two years she pursued Yan Shuangshuang, Gu Xin had many famous scenes, almost enough to compile into a book. Several that were too classic had even become campus爽文 passed down from one generation to another.

The most widely spread one was that she had come to sit in on a class for Yan Shuangshuang’s sake, only to argue with the professor that a certain knowledge point was wrong. In the end, she simply went up to the stage herself and rewrote it on the blackboard. After deriving everything to the end, Gu Xin was indeed right. The professor admitted his mistake on the spot and even consulted Gu Xin. Gu Xin showed off spectacularly, and the only ones hurt in the end were the students in that class, because they had not understood a single word.

Originally, it counted as a fine story, but afterward, the teachers of other classes all remembered this thorn. Not every teacher was willing to have their classroom disturbed. The moment they saw Gu Xin, they would tell this person who was not from their university to get out.

Later, only the teachers of music-related classes warmly welcomed her, because Gu Xin was naturally tone-deaf. She was extremely quiet during class and would only pretend to make sound when she opened her mouth.

These rumors were partly true and partly false, but most people indeed could only understand Gu Xin through rumors. Those who could truly come into contact with Gu Xin could be counted on one hand.

But now, the ready-made Gu Xin was sitting here obediently, with the person she liked right beside her. What a beautiful picture of a jade maiden paired with a jade maiden. If they did not interrogate her fiercely together, how could they be worthy of themselves as melon-eating spectators?

Still unaware that she had become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in other people’s eyes, Gu Xin did not feel offended when she heard this question. She nodded and answered, “Yes. My differentiation finished two weeks ago.”

A girl who was also an Alpha made an eh sound. “But why can’t I smell your pheromones?”

Actually, newly differentiated Alphas were, to the whole world, a group of the rudest people around, because their instincts would make them release strong pheromones to drive away their own kind and attract the opposite sex.

But in modern society, the population had exploded. Everyone was no longer a primitive person eating raw meat and drinking blood like before. If someone randomly blasted pheromones everywhere, it could very easily cause bloody incidents. Therefore, restraining the beastlike nature in one’s instincts became a required course for many people after differentiation.

Alphas who had just finished differentiating would be sent to training camps for emergency pheromone-control training. The shortest time was one or two weeks, while the longest could be an entire quarter.

Facing this question, Gu Xin’s expression was very calm. She said, “Mm. My graduation score from training camp was 99.”

The implication was that it was very normal that they could not smell her pheromones, because she could almost perfectly restrain them.

“…How many points?”

“99.” The exaggerated number, spoken in Gu Xin’s calm tone, sounded as simple as if she had casually gone to a milk tea shop and bought a cup of milk tea, and only people with a score of 99 could buy that milk tea.

“Fake, right?!” Everyone sucked in a cold breath.

One had to know that the passing score for training camp was 60, and the highest record in each session across various places was at most 75. Yet this person said she had scored 99?!

Looking at everyone’s shocked expressions, Yan Shuangshuang felt an inexplicable urge to laugh.

When Gu Xin told her this on WeChat that day, she had also looked at her phone in incomprehension, wondering whether she had seen it wrong, or whether Gu Xin had typed 66 as 99.

But after confirming it again and again, Gu Xin directly took a photo of her graduation certificate and sent it to her.

A real 99.

And she had only taken five days.

“Is this the world of bigshots…”

“So terrifying. Truly terrifying.”

The female Alpha rolled the menu into a microphone, passed it over, and sincerely asked, “May I ask, are you still human?”

“Probably not,” Gu Xin also answered sincerely.

The female Alpha choked for a moment, then discovered that this person could actually joke too!

When the only unfamiliar person had no airs and directly blended in, what followed became uncontrollable.

Everyone was simply dying of curiosity about Gu Xin. They asked every strange and bizarre question they could think of.

Gu Xin accepted all comers and answered every question. As for whether the answers were real or jokes, only Gu Xin and the heavens knew.

But Gu Xin was already sitting beside Yan Shuangshuang. With such an obvious reminder, if they did not ask something about the two of them, they would simply be letting down everyone’s gossip-loving hearts.

Everyone wanted to eat melon, and everyone also wanted to be an assist. So the first warrior appeared.

“Little junior, among everyone here, is there someone you like?”

“Yes.” Gu Xin did not hesitate at all. Under the table, Yan Shuangshuang’s hand tightened beyond her control.

“Whoa—” Cheers resounded through the entire hall.

“Cough, cough. Quiet! Quiet!” The questioner raised both hands high, controlling the noisy scene, her face carrying an uncontrollable auntie smile. “I’ll ask again. Little junior, does the person you like like you back?”

Everyone was waiting for her answer. Even Yan Shuangshuang could not help shifting her gaze over.

Gu Xin did not look at Yan Shuangshuang. She stared at the questioner and suddenly revealed a faint smile.

With this smile, her eyes curved, and even her gaze carried a sparkling tenderness like ripples on water. This was a very un-“Gu Xin” expression.

She said, “Before today, I really wanted to know the answer to this question too. But now, I might have already guessed it.”

The questioner covered her mouth and desperately held back the corners of her lips from rising in excitement.

She knew Gu Xin’s smile was not for her.

And everyone present also knew exactly who this gentle and sweet expression belonged to.

No one asked any more questions. Everyone considerately stopped there.

Kind screams, teasing, and blessings all drowned the two of them in that instant.

Although Yan Shuangshuang had not said a single word, the degree to which her face had turned red already explained everything.

That night, Yan Shuangshuang’s eyes were just as sparkling, and the corners of her lips always carried a faint smile she could not suppress.

When everyone had enjoyed themselves fully and dispersed, Yan Shuangshuang was deliberately left behind to support the somewhat drunk Gu Xin out the door.

Gu Xin, who had finished differentiating at eighteen, was already an adult, and she had boldly drunk a few cups without hesitation.

At first, seeing how calm she looked, Yan Shuangshuang thought Gu Xin knew her own alcohol tolerance. Unexpectedly, after three cups, she was still awake, but with the fourth cup, she collapsed.

After Gu Xin’s weakness of being tone-deaf, she received a new label—down after three cups.

The young people walked out together, talking and laughing at the restaurant entrance, scattering the final embers of their youth.

After the conversation ran its course, the crowd gathered, then scattered, like clouds in the sky. Everyone parted in different directions.

Yan Shuangshuang supported Gu Xin with one hand and took out her phone to call a car with the other.

Gu Xin was dizzy. Her hands and feet were weak, and she leaned all her weight onto Yan Shuangshuang’s shoulder.

The cool night wind blew against their faces. Gu Xin half-squinted, staring at Yan Shuangshuang’s side profile.

The streetlight was a warm yellow, falling on Yan Shuangshuang’s hair, the bridge of her nose, and also… her lips.

The wind stirred the beauty’s hair, and it also stirred the heartstrings of another young woman inside that scene.

The reason Gu Xin was so proud of hovered at a subtle edge.

She could still restrain herself, but in this moment, she did not want to.

Gu Xin suddenly said, “Little Shuang.”

Yan Shuangshuang’s reaction was half a beat slow. Only then did she realize that this “Little Shuang” had come from the person beside her and was calling her.

Yan Shuangshuang said, “Why are you so impolite? Call me Sister.”

Gu Xin said, “I won’t.”

Yan Shuangshuang could not help pinching Gu Xin’s face.

There was still soft flesh on Gu Xin’s face, which gave her a sense of childishness that had not fully faded. The instant Yan Shuangshuang pinched it, it felt extremely good.

Usually, Gu Xin’s eyes always carried unruliness and sharpness. Her not-to-be-messed-with aura neutralized her overly gentle and youthful appearance.

But at this moment, her gaze was so soft it seemed as if water could drip from it.

She simply let Yan Shuangshuang pinch her, like a bad-tempered cat taking the initiative to show its paw pads and belly, displaying her cute and soft parts. Her every movement was expressing that no matter what Yan Shuangshuang did to her, she would accept all of it.

Yan Shuangshuang quickly withdrew her hand as if burned.

Trying to cover it up, she coughed and said, “Why isn’t the car here yet? It’s so slow.”

She attempted to divert attention this way.

Gu Xin smiled and gently called again, “Shuangshuang.”

Yan Shuangshuang ignored her.

“Little Shuang.”

“Little Shuang Shuangshuang!”

“Shuangshuang Shuangshuang!”

The two nicknames were repeatedly arranged and combined in her mouth, her speaking speed growing faster and faster, smoother and smoother.

It sounded like a boring game played by a child, but only Gu Xin knew that if she did not say them a few more times, she would be unable to restrain herself from kissing the owner of this name.

A little slower. A little slower. Do not scare her away.

“Shuang” and “shuang” shared the same sound, but when Gu Xin said the two characters, they felt different.

Yan Shuangshuang did not know how she managed to do it. In the end, amid the chirping calls, she could only helplessly answer, “Mm. I heard you.”

When you call my name, it is always different from everyone else.

I heard you.

The rain was still falling. The trees swayed in the wind and rain, their shadows falling like claws and teeth bared.

In the previous second, Gu Xin had still been acting spoiled in her memory. In this moment, she was curled up in Yan Shuangshuang’s arms, trembling all over.

She was even whimpering. Tears slid down and dripped into the mud. When the pain was at its worst, she called Yan Shuangshuang’s name unclearly from her throat. This time, it was for the sake of using her as an antidote.

Yan Shuangshuang stroked her head and lifted her face to look at the only vine that hung down and could let them escape.

There were no flowers in this patch of land. Even if there had been flowers, they would have been mercilessly beaten down by the storm and lost all vitality.

Yet a floral fragrance gradually spread through the air, faint, yet violent.

It seized every corner of this space without mercy, as if frantically venting something. But it still carefully avoided Yan Shuangshuang from beginning to end, afraid of attacking her.

Yan Shuangshuang felt no discomfort. She smelled it and felt it.

She even fell into a momentary daze, because it had been far, far too long since she had last come into contact with Gu Xin’s pheromones.

So it turned out that this was its scent. So it turned out that it still smelled so good.

This was Gu Xin in her susceptible period.

Each Alpha’s symptoms during the susceptible period differed slightly. When it fell on Gu Xin, it manifested as senses far beyond those of ordinary people, and pain far beyond that of ordinary people.

Yan Shuangshuang was indeed the antidote. She had once been the only person in the world qualified to help Gu Xin through her susceptible period.

As long as she wanted, she could release pheromones at any time to ease Gu Xin’s pressure.

But Yan Shuangshuang remembered the heart-rending pain during her own differentiation period. She had asked Gu Xin and begged Gu Xin. She had called Gu Xin’s name, but Gu Xin had remained unmoved, as if she could not hear.

Yan Shuangshuang’s eyes darkened in an instant.

She leaned close to Gu Xin’s ear and softly called her. “Xin Xin, who are you calling?”

Gu Xin opened her blank eyes. She stared at Yan Shuangshuang in confusion. Her outstanding brain could not distinguish the meaning of this sentence. She could only mechanically repeat, “Little Shuang.”

Yan Shuangshuang lowered her head, moving to the side of Gu Xin’s neck, and blew out a breath.

She said, “Every time you called, I heard it. But as punishment for when you couldn’t hear me…”

—“Xin Xin, beg me.”