A Stand-in Alpha Awakens - Chapter 29

Hug?

What kind of hug?

Words describing an emoji were somehow harder to ignore than the image itself.

Jiang Lu’s breathing gradually steadied. She cupped her right hand around her watch face, reading the text over and over. In her mind, she imagined that Bai Yue might have sent the little character with the sticky-rice-ball head, or perhaps a picture of two cats cuddling. At the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder: Are we really close enough for this?

Is it too forward?

If someone saw this, would they misunderstand?

A flood of chaotic worries rushed in, making her throat go dry with nerves. Catching movement in her peripheral vision, she didn’t even have time to reply; she instantly clicked the screen off, forcing an air of “nothing happened.”

After crossing the finish line, Liang Shuang went straight to the mini-mart and bought two bottles of water. From a distance, she saw Jiang Lu standing in the sunlight, dazed by her watch. Liang Shuang didn’t even bother wiping the sweat from her own forehead before letting out a rare “Heh.”

“What are you looking at so intently? Sweat is about to drip into your eyes.”

“Oh, nothing.” Jiang Lu hurriedly wiped her sweat with the back of her hand, taking the water and wet wipe Liang Shuang handed her. “When did you go get water? You ran fast.”

Liang Shuang was exasperated. “I walked slower than Du Meng from our class. That round trip took at least five minutes. You think that’s fast?”

Jiang Lu: “…”

“Spill it. What were you doing behind my back? You’re acting sneaky.” Liang Shuang’s alertness never disappointed.

“Nothing, just… dazing out for a bit.” Jiang Lu turned her back to drink water, her gaze landing on Du Meng, who was sitting under the shade of a tree not far away.

Du Meng was someone with very little presence in Class 1. Because of her health issues, not many people hung out with her, and she didn’t even have a close friend to discuss problems with. However, she herself didn’t seem to care much. Noticing her holding a notebook and a pen, Jiang Lu asked Liang Shuang curiously, “Is she really that much of a ‘grinder’?”

Liang Shuang shook her head. “I don’t think so. Doesn’t look like she’s doing practice problems.”

“Drawing?” Jiang Lu guessed.

Liang Shuang: “Maybe. I heard she’s a great artist. Remember that chalkboard drawing that went viral on the school’s social media last year? Apparently, she collaborated on that with a senior who already graduated.”

“Oh—I remember. That was truly impressive.” Jiang Lu recalled the Mid-Autumn festival chalkboard competition from tenth grade; only the winning class got to design the main school display board. She immediately understood the level of Du Meng’s skill.

Liang Shuang nodded in agreement. And thanks to this distraction from Jiang Lu, the previous topic was completely dropped.

It had rained early in the morning, so the sunlight was now brilliant, and a breeze swept away most of the mugginess. Jiang Lu and Liang Shuang rested in the shade for a while. Seeing it was still early, they were about to get up for more activity when Lin Tingting and Chen Xueyao appeared, each clutching a pair of tennis rackets.

“We can’t beat you at badminton, but you might not beat us at tennis. Want to try?”

“Let’s try.” Liang Shuang took the rackets and handed one to Jiang Lu.

Jiang Lu swung the racket as she followed them toward the side court. Not far away, a freshman girl who had summoned the courage to run over stopped in her tracks. She watched blankly as Jiang Lu walked away, then turned to look at her companion hiding behind a tree. After a moment of hesitant foot-stomping, she turned and left.

Time accelerated amidst the rhythmic swinging of rackets. Jiang Lu was intentionally waiting for Bai Yue to arrive. When the assembly whistle blew, she stood by the court and took the rackets from the others. “I’ll return these. You guys go line up.”

Liang Shuang was about to say they should go together, but Jiang Lu preemptively refused. “It’s just two pairs of rackets, I can carry them.”

“Alright then. I’ll wait for you over there.” Liang Shuang put her hands on her hips and followed her roommates toward the sports representative.

The PE teacher was waiting by the equipment room. When Jiang Lu finished putting the things away and came out, she ran into two freshman juniors. Recognizing one of them as the girl who had offered her chocolate before, she promptly stepped aside and walked past.

Xie Panpan had recognized Jiang Lu long ago. Seeing the Alpha girl avoid her, her footsteps faltered, and her gaze followed Jiang Lu’s back for a long time, unwilling to look away. The girl next to her noticed the look in her eyes and let out a soft “Woah,” whispering, “Is she the Alpha senior you mentioned? She’s so pretty, and her figure is to die for! Alpha legs are seriously so long!”

Xie Panpan gave an extremely quiet “Mhm,” blinked her stinging eyes, and continued toward the equipment room clutching her badminton racket.

Jiang Lu wasn’t in a hurry to rejoin the line. Seeing Liang Shuang at the tail end of the formation looking back for her, she pulled up her watch and used punctuation to assemble an emoticon, just like Shao Shuyi would.

Bai Yue replied instantly. Jiang Lu was about to walk but stood still again. She found it strange—it was the same emoticon, so why did the one Bai Yue sent back look so much more vivid and lively than the one she sent?

Mhm… it didn’t seem to be just the emoticon.

The watch lit up again.

Bai Yue: Only one last stoplight to go!

The road in front of No. 1 High’s North Gate had a stoplight on both ends, and they weren’t far apart. Realizing that the “late” Bai Yue mentioned wasn’t the kind of “late” she had imagined, Jiang Lu hurried to catch up with Class 1. Amidst Liang Shuang’s questioning look, she grabbed her and sprinted toward the cafeteria.

Liang Shuang’s collar was pulled out of place. “Wait, the cafeteria doesn’t even open early. Why are you running so fast?”

“Class ends in two minutes,” Jiang Lu said, catching her breath.

Liang Shuang reached out to cover Jiang Lu’s exposed shoulder. “Two minutes. You can reach the cafeteria even if you walk.”

Jiang Lu looked through the corridor at the cafeteria doors, which were two-thirds obscured, and let go of Liang Shuang’s hand. “You’re right. You walk slowly, I’m going ahead.”

Liang Shuang: “…” What is with this girl?

Jiang Lu ran ahead. Not seeing the familiar figure at the cafeteria entrance, she circled around the flowerbed and sat in the shade to wait. The bell rang, and the quiet teaching buildings suddenly became noisy.

Seeing Liang Shuang at the front of the crowd, Jiang Lu waved to signal her to go inside first, then turned her head back toward the small path leading to the North Gate.

Liang Shuang found it bizarre. She walked up the steps, then turned back in confusion and stopped in front of Jiang Lu. “No, seriously, what is the deal? You were in a rush to get here, and now the doors are open and you won’t go in? You even kicked me in first. What, did you take a job as the cafeteria bouncer?”

“…” Jiang Lu was amused by her serious nonsense. “No, I’m meeting someone. I’m waiting here a bit. You go in first.”

“Meeting someone? Who?” Liang Shuang fired off a string of questions. “When did this happen? You didn’t say anything. Do I know them?”

Jiang Lu remembered the strange look in Liang Shuang’s eyes after seeing Bai Yue before. The name “Bai Yue” reached her lips but she swallowed it back. “Let’s not talk about that for now. I want to ask you a favor.”

“When you go in, keep a close eye on Chu Zishan for me. It’s best if you don’t let her come out before I go in.”

“Chu Zishan? She’s inside?” Liang Shuang hadn’t noticed. Hearing this, she looked back toward the cafeteria’s glass doors in confusion.

“Yeah. She was the first one in.”

As Jiang Lu finished her sentence, Liang Shuang, having received her new mission, turned and left.

In a few minutes, the path—which had been full of people—cleared out. Bai Yue, wearing a pinkish-purple outfit, appeared at the other end of the path. Jiang Lu’s gaze softened unconsciously.

Today, Bai Yue was wearing a milky-white baseball cap, and her white shoes sparkled in the sun. She looked different from every other time they’d met—not just gentle, but more youthful. For a fleeting second, she looked exactly like a high school girl arriving late for class.

Jiang Lu noticed she was carrying things in both hands and stood up to meet her. “Let me take those.”

Bai Yue wasn’t ceremonious, handing over everything she had brought. “These are all specialties from A-City. When I went to see Teacher Bai last time, she said you mentioned wanting to apply to A-University back in tenth grade. Since I’m there right now, I thought I’d introduce you to the food there ahead of time. Try them later; tell me what you prefer, and I’ll bring more next time.”

Jiang Lu carried the heavy bags, her left ear burning hot. “Thank you.”

“Don’t be so polite, I’ll be bothering you in a moment,” Bai Yue said, pulling a sticky note from her pocket and peeling off the top page covered in writing. “I haven’t been back in a week; there’s a lot I want to eat.”

Jiang Lu shifted the bags to one hand and scanned the note. She found that four out of the six dishes were popular items; going in now meant waiting in line for a while. Bai Yue gave an embarrassed smile.

“It’s okay.” Jiang Lu was dazzled by her smile. She tucked the note away, then took the multi-layered lunch box from her hand. “Do you want to wait outside, or come in with me?”

Bai Yue didn’t hesitate. “I won’t go in. I’m an alumna after all; it’s not good to be seen by too many people.”

Jiang Lu nodded and led her back to the spot where she had been sitting. Before leaving, she fished a mosquito repellent patch out of her uniform pocket. “Here. The mosquitoes at school are wild.”

Bai Yue was wearing shorts that didn’t even cover her thighs; sitting by a flowerbed was practically begging to feed the mosquitoes. However, she always carried a repellent roller with her. Seeing the cartoon sticker Jiang Lu handed her, her heart stirred slightly, and a flash of surprise overflowed from her shimmering eyes.

This Alpha girl not only has incredible eyes but is also much kinder than imagined.

Kind and meticulous.

If she’s this considerate at such a young age, what will she be like when she grows up?

No wonder an unseeing person like Su Mengrui is chasing her relentlessly.

“Thank you,” Bai Yue said, mimicking Jiang Lu’s earlier tone as she tore open the sticker’s packaging.

Jiang Lu had just turned around, and her steps were almost thrown off by that lovely voice behind her. With a flush on her face, she hurried up the steps and into the cafeteria.

Liang Shuang was currently watching Chu Zishan eat a double portion of beef rice noodles. Seeing Jiang Lu enter from afar, carrying something that looked like an insulated bucket, the noodle she was biting snapped.

Well then. No wonder she said she was meeting someone and wanted me out of the way. The Senior is here again.

And to think she really believed Jiang Lu was up to some major business. Liang Shuang shook her head in disappointment, then realized that Jiang Lu’s effort to “coax” her was all to see Bai Yue, and she felt relieved.

—As an Alpha, wanting to create an opportunity to be alone with an Omega… how could that not be major business? Her “good sister” had grown up.

The more Liang Shuang thought about it, the more sentimental she became, and even her gaze toward Chu Zishan became much gentler. Unfortunately, Chu Zishan, sitting across from her, wasn’t appreciative at all. Noticing the change in Liang Shuang’s expression, Chu Zishan shifted further away toward an empty spot with disgust and wariness.

Liang Shuang put down her chopsticks and stared at her. “What are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to… dammit, I should be asking you that!” Chu Zishan straightened her back and glared at the grumpy-faced Alpha. “Liang Shuang, I’m warning you: I have no interest in Alphas. If you dare make a move on me, I’ll ruin you, believe me!”