A Stand-in Alpha Awakens - Chapter 21

Having lived and breathed in the same space as Song Wushuang for over three years, Jiang Lu possessed a basic understanding of her.

She knew Song Wushuang’s intelligence was average; in fact, she had known that for a very long time.

As for how Song Wushuang managed to get into No. 1 High, as Liang Shuang put it, Jiang Lu was the primary reason. Back then, given the way Jiang Lu spoon-fed her the material, it would have been absurd if Song Wushuang hadn’t gotten in.

But today, Jiang Lu realized her previous judgment hadn’t been accurate enough: Song Wushuang was far stupider than she had imagined.

She couldn’t understand how someone could shout like that—did she truly believe everyone else was as thick as she was?

When Song Wushuang’s resentful roar finally ceased, the surrounding students who were heading downstairs all stopped in their tracks.

The world seemed to hit the pause button at that moment. Except for the two people facing off at the top of the stairs, everyone else even suppressed the sound of their breathing.

Jiang Lu glared at Song Wushuang, whose chest was heaving irregularly. In her cold gaze, the flames of anger—fueled by a ruined mood—finally ignited.

She scanned the stunned, unfamiliar faces around them, then brought her gaze back to Song Wushuang’s face, which was a bruised mess of blue and purple. She couldn’t help but let out a short, mocking laugh: “That’s right, it was just a meal. Is it worth all this? What kind of meal is worth making such a scene? All I did was not attend a dinner you hosted. Why would you be beaten for that?”

Song Wushuang’s expression suddenly shifted.

Jiang Lu, however, gave her no chance to regret—and gave herself no chance to back down. She exposed the truth directly in front of everyone: “I’ve only seen it on the internet before—people serving up their own classmates, roommates, or friends as a dish on someone’s table. I didn’t expect you to be the ‘jackal to the tiger’ from those stories. And now you want to blame me for getting beaten? Why don’t you just go tell the teacher that I was the one who hit you?”

As her words fell, not only was Liang Shuang behind her shocked, but everyone in the vicinity was stunned.

However, the only person to react amidst the shock was Liang Shuang. She took a large stride past Jiang Lu, grabbed Song Wushuang by the collar of her uniform, and slammed her angrily against the wall: “Song Wushuang, you ungrateful wolf! You actually did something like that?! After how Jiang Lu treated you all these years, do you even have a heart?!”

Liang Shuang had harbored suspicions before, but since Jiang Lu hadn’t wanted to discuss it, she had tactfully refrained from asking.

She never expected the issue between them to be this severe. She had naively thought Song Wushuang had simply crossed a line Jiang Lu disliked…

The crowd still didn’t move, except for a familiar voice coming from the upper stairwell.

Jiang Lu recognized her roommates were about to descend. She increased her strength in pulling Liang Shuang back, advising her in a low voice: “It’s not worth going to the office for someone like this.”

No. 1 High was a school with an unimaginably strict code of conduct. Minor bickering was fine, but fighting was considered an extremely serious offense.

If it didn’t reach the teachers, all was well. But if it did, regardless of who was at fault, both parties would be sent home to reflect—the duration was determined by the severity of the incident. Upon returning to school, the party who initiated the trouble would be dealt with severely.

While the instigator would certainly pay a higher price, even the forced participant would, at minimum, be sent home to reflect for a day. Furthermore, since the teachers at No. 1 High never slowed down for students who missed class, it was a terrible trade-off for anyone who cared about their studies.

With so many people around, it would be hard to keep the teachers in the dark. Jiang Lu truly felt it wasn’t worth it.

The next second, Lin Tingting’s confused voice rang out from the stairs above the crowd: “Classmates, what’s happening down there? Why are you all just standing still?”

Jiang Lu pulled down Liang Shuang’s raised fist and grabbed her firmly, continuing down the stairs.

The congestion in the stairwell cleared. Song Wushuang leaned against the wall as if struck by lightning, feeling numb from her scalp to her soles. Her blood felt like water into which an effervescent tablet had been dropped—boiling and surging, unable to calm down for a long time.

Liang Shuang was equally unable to calm down.

On the way to morning exercises, the more she thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed. She grabbed Jiang Lu’s sleeve and moved from the back of the line to her side.

“What are you doing? Get back in line.” Jiang Lu gave her a tug and proactively stepped back two paces to fill the gap in the formation.

Liang Shuang looked back: “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” Jiang Lu nudged Liang Shuang, who was slowing down again. “Keep up, or the teacher on duty will see you.”

Liang Shuang met Jiang Lu’s eyes, opened her mouth to speak, but turned back without a word.

Having known Jiang Lu for so long, she understood how reserved she was. The fact that she had issued such an interrogation earlier was, quite simply, because she had been pushed to her limit by Song Wushuang.

If Jiang Lu could have been even a little more rational or calm, she never would have uttered those words.

Looking at the bright side, the best thing was that Jiang Lu hadn’t gone that night; everything else was secondary… forget it, no use thinking about it now.

Jiang Lu watched Liang Shuang shake her head in front of her. A smile touched the corners of her lips. She decided she could run a little faster during breakfast today to try and snag Liang Shuang’s favorite limited-edition rice ball.

The cafeteria at No. 1 High offered limited “star” meals every day. Rice balls were sold only on Friday and Saturday mornings. There were only one hundred portions, first come, first served.

But there were more than a hundred teachers in the school, and given they were all at an age of constant hunger and growth, heaven only knew how fast one had to run to snatch a portion from the countless “gluttons.”

After a personal experiment, Jiang Lu concluded the answer was a hundred meters in eleven seconds.

Three minutes after the morning study period ended, Jiang Lu was panting and drenched in sweat, carrying three portions of rice balls. Under the disdainful and resentful glares of those around her, and amidst scattered complaints, she left the window and headed toward the dining area.

“Good grief, what class is she from? So thick-skinned, she actually had the nerve to buy three portions at once! Can she even finish them!”

“She’s obviously getting them for friends. Tsk tsk, if I had a friend like that, I’d even call her ‘Mom’!”

“Then go call her! Ask her to give you one.”

“Do you dare, looking at that cold face of hers? If you’re so tough, you go—and get one for me while you’re at it…”

“Shh—do you really not know? That’s Jiang Lu from the sophomore year. The one who was on the Confession Wall twice in a row lately. Careful what you say; if her ‘visual fans’ hear you, they’ll tear you apart!”

“Shh? Visual fans? I admit she looks okay, but she’s not a celebrity. ‘Tear us apart’? Don’t be so dramatic.”

Liang Shuang chased into the cafeteria. As she rushed near the queue at the window, she happened to catch those last two sentences.

She tilted her head toward the two Alpha boys speaking and asked the one who had just finished with a sour face: “Did you just insult Jiang Lu?”

Liang Shuang’s cold face was of a different nature than Jiang Lu’s. Although the underlying emotion was similar, Jiang Lu’s coldness simply made people afraid to approach; Liang Shuang’s made people afraid to approach while simultaneously triggering a desperate urge to flee.

Her looks and aura were the perfect image of a “super villain” from a TV drama.

—Simply looking at her felt ominous.

The Alpha boy being stared at was a pragmatist. Meeting her gaze, he decisively and tactfully changed his tune: “No, no, it’s a misunderstanding! All a misunderstanding. We were just commenting on how fast she runs.”

Seeing him back down so smoothly, Liang Shuang didn’t want to waste more time. She turned, exhaled to suppress her heaving chest, and went to find Jiang Lu, who was sitting at a table wiping away sweat.

“Impressive, you snagged three rice balls!”

Jiang Lu tossed away her sweat-soaked tissue and looked up at the equally breathless Liang Shuang: “Mhm. One is for Shuyi.”

Liang Shuang used a wet wipe to dab the sweat from her nose: “She’ll be here soon. I just saw her.”

“She’s already here.” Jiang Lu tilted her chin slightly.

In front of a nearby vending machine, Shao Shuyi ducked down to grab a yogurt that had just dropped. She turned to scan the room, and seeing them, she came sprinting over with a smile.

“Thanks, Lu-jie!”

Liang Shuang arched an eyebrow at the hot soy milk Shao Shuyi set down: “How did you know Jiang Lu caught the rice balls?”

“She told me as she sprinted out of Class 1 and past the door of Class 2,” Shao Shuyi said, unscrewing her fresh milk. “Hey, I just heard a bit of gossip about you guys. What did you do this morning?”

Jiang Lu handed over a hot rice ball: “Eat first. It’s better while it’s hot.”

“Oh, right!” Shao Shuyi’s curiosity always easily lost out to good food.

Liang Shuang saw that Jiang Lu didn’t want to elaborate, and she didn’t want to discuss it in front of her either. So, she proactively left the table to buy two more things Shao Shuyi liked, praying that the delicious food would wash her curiosity further away.

Whether it worked was hard to say, but by the time the two of them finished eating and stood up, Shao Shuyi showed no sign of stopping.

“We’re leaving now. Take your time eating.”

Shao Shuyi waved: “Okay, okay. Let’s eat together again when we have time.”

Liang Shuang patted her shoulder, took the trash bag from Jiang Lu’s hand, and went to dispose of it.

Jiang Lu didn’t intentionally stand there waiting. Instead, she walked slowly out of the cafeteria.

Chu Ziyan, who was having breakfast with Chu Zishan, saw her figure from afar. She immediately stood up and chased after her: “Jiang Lu, wait.”

The cafeteria was quite noisy. Jiang Lu didn’t hear the first call. By the time she recognized Chu Ziyan’s voice, she was almost at the glass doors.

“Senior, you called me?”

“Yes. I’d like you to accompany me to meet someone in a bit, if that’s okay?” Chu Ziyan said, looking at Liang Shuang, who had stepped up beside Jiang Lu. “Just you with me.”

The implication was she didn’t want Liang Shuang following.

Jiang Lu looked at Liang Shuang, thought for a moment, and asked: “Meet who? And where?”

“The school’s North Gate. A friend of mine—the one you mentioned before. I think there are some misunderstandings we need to clear up in person. She’s coming to find me now, and I think we can talk things out face-to-face,” Chu Ziyan said.

Jiang Lu thought to herself: As expected. Seeing that Liang Shuang also understood, she put on an awkward expression and hesitated for three full seconds: “Actually, I don’t feel like there’s much to say between her and me. But if you think it’s necessary, Senior, I can cooperate.”

Hearing Jiang Lu’s reluctance, Liang Shuang said expressionlessly to Chu Ziyan: “Jiang Lu, don’t force yourself if you don’t want to go.”

“…” Chu Ziyan felt a bit embarrassed. She lowered her head guiltily, her eyes wavering. What appeared in her mind was the image of Jiang Lu standing on stage as the outstanding student representative.

Confident, sunny, firm… completely different from herself.

Thinking of this, Chu Ziyan felt her unease grow stronger. She opened her mouth, her voice much lower than before: “Jiang Lu, if you really…”

“It’s fine.” Jiang Lu grabbed Liang Shuang’s arm and gave her a secret look. “I’ll go. It won’t take much time anyway. Just consider it a post-meal walk.”

Liang Shuang: “…” That tiny bit of food needs a ‘digestive walk’?

Seeing Chu Ziyan’s low mood start to recover, Jiang Lu proactively took two steps forward and asked: “Is it okay if she waits further off?”

“Of course!” Chu Ziyan nodded readily.