A Stand-in Alpha Awakens - Chapter 33

The 605 dormitory was silent. Shao Shuyi didn’t dare barge in directly; she stood at the door and knocked softly three times.

Jiang Lu watched with confusion, prompting Shao Shuyi to whisper an explanation: “My roommates are all ‘Grind Kings.’ They basically don’t rest during break time. If I don’t knock, I’ll scare them.”

Jiang Lu nodded understandingly and followed a tiptoeing Shao Shuyi inside. Sure enough, three of the four desks were occupied. The focused intensity of the three girls was comparable to taking a real exam. One of them even let out a displeased “tsk” at the sudden noise, though the pen in her hand didn’t pause for a single second.

No wonder Shao Shuyi ran to 601 every chance she got. No wonder she usually just smiled and avoided talking about Room 605. Given Shuyi’s personality, living with three classmates who studied so tirelessly was indeed a challenge.

The prepared self-introduction wasn’t needed. Jiang Lu quietly placed the gifts she brought on Shao Shuyi’s desk. Noticing a few packs of taro cookies in light purple packaging in an open shopping bag, the image of the dress Bai Yue wore today flashed through her mind. She reached out and took a pack.

Thinking Jiang Lu liked them, Shao Shuyi’s hand darted forward and grabbed two more packs for her.

Only after leaving 605 did Shao Shuyi finally relax. She pouted and grumbled, “Jiang Lu, now you see why I’m always running to your room, right?”

Jiang Lu patted her shoulder in consolation. “A semester goes by fast. If you really don’t like it, talk to the homeroom teacher about a transfer.”

“It’s no use. There are only a handful of Alpha girls in Class 2. The ones in the other dorm are about the same; it wouldn’t make a difference. Sigh, I’ll just endure it.” Shao Shuyi shook her head helplessly, her melancholic face turning sunny again in a blink. “Like you said, it’ll be over fast.”

She knew where the problem lay. As the top student of Class 2 who didn’t like grinding problems, watched manga whenever she had time, and ate and drank her way through the day, her grades remained suspiciously stable. Others might not see it, but her roommates knew exactly how “leisurely” she was. It was a miracle they hadn’t reported her yet out of pure spite.

Surface-level peace was still peace.

Returning to the dorm with the cookies, Jiang Lu saw Liang Shuang giving her a meaningful look. She understood and reached for her phone on the bed. Her phone and watch used different SIM cards; while most things synced easily, text messages could not be shared.

Leaning against the bedframe to unlock the phone, she saw a red notification number on the icon. The expanded unknown number showed it was local. The message was short, and Jiang Lu knew the sender instantly.

So you’re an Alpha, huh! Real tough! You’re doing all this just to draw a line with me, aren’t you! I’m telling you! It’s not over! Not in this lifetime! Avoiding me? In your dreams!

Undoubtedly, only Su Mengrui could say such things to her in this world. Recalling the “Young Mistress” she had pinned to the ground—the one whose eyes also held fear—Jiang Lu casually added the number to her blacklist. She then went into the communication settings and restricted all incoming calls.

It didn’t really matter since she’d be handing the phone in before evening study anyway, but the thought of a missed call notification from her appearing on the screen disgusted her.

“Liang Shuang, do you have any more disinfectant wipes? Give me one.”

Liang Shuang was about to sort the new test papers when she turned and saw the look of utter loathing on Jiang Lu’s face. “Yeah. What for?”

“My phone got something ‘dirty’ on it. Need to wipe it down.” Jiang Lu seriously began scrubbing the phone case with the wipe.

Room 601 went silent. Liang Shuang could hardly believe her eyes or ears. “If you got ‘dirty’ stuff on it, shouldn’t you use an antivirus app? You’re scrubbing the case?”

Jiang Lu tilted the screen toward her. “I’m doing that, too.”

The stunned onlookers: “…”

At the school’s North Gate, Chu Zishan and Chu Ziyan—whose eyes were visibly red from crying—stepped out of a newly parked Bentley. Many students were coming and going, but few noticed them. Most families at No. 1 High were well-off and weren’t strangers to luxury cars, while the few who weren’t didn’t even recognize the brand.

Consequently, Chu Zishan’s attempt to show off fell flat. She grabbed her newly bought toiletries and walked quickly into the school. “Sis, I’m heading back.”

“Shanshan,” Chu Ziyan chased after her. “Lend me your phone—”

Chu Zishan didn’t give her a chance to finish. “Sis, you don’t want Mom and Dad to take my phone and watch too, do you? You heard what they said just now.”

Chu Ziyan: “…”

“Sis, monthly exams are coming up. Just do it for… for Sister Su. Can you stop thinking about those things for a while? You saw how angry Dad was. If they really give you a shielding agent, then you and her—”

Then it would truly be over. A shielding agent could block all the effects of pheromones. To put it bluntly, it was no different from a “Potion of Forgetfulness.” Blocking Su Mengrui’s influence on her physiologically might seem like a good thing in the short term, but in the long term… since the effects were irreversible, the future between them… Chu Ziyan didn’t even dare to imagine it.

Standing in the sun, she bit her lower lip sadly, her pale face contrasting sharply with the abnormal crimson in her eyes.

At the same time, the training grounds of B-University were filled with freshmen in camouflage uniforms. Su Mengrui stood there restlessly, her hands clenched. The phone in her pocket gave no response, yet her heart felt like it was being fried in a pan, sizzling with anxiety.

She still couldn’t reach Ziyan, but during the break just now, she had received a WeChat message from Ziyan’s mother. Two 60-second voice notes made her eyelids twitch. The keywords from the text transcription stabbed at her nerves. She didn’t even need to listen to the tone to imagine what had happened to Chu Ziyan.

This time, she was truly in the wrong. She never should have let Jiang Lu have the chance to “perform” in front of Ziyan. It was all Song Wushuang’s uselessness!

But it was too late to blame anyone. With her blood boiling, Su Mengrui gritted her teeth and pulled out her phone to find the number she had saved for a day and a night. But even now, the other party hadn’t given her a single response. Her anger was like a stone dropped into the ocean, failing to cause even a ripple.

University military training didn’t allow absences, and the leave process was too cumbersome. Before she left, her grandmother had dropped hints—trying to slip away at this time would be a bad move.

Five more days. Five days.

Su Mengrui’s gaze shifted under the sun as a bead of sweat, glistening in the light, rolled down from her brow. The sun behind her shifted rapidly to the west, its white light turning golden and intensifying as time passed.

In front of the No. 1 High dorm building, the members of 601 plus Shao Shuyi each carried a set of test papers toward the Xiuyuan Building before the dinner bell rang.

Shao Shuyi grumbled while holding her papers, “Why can’t we wait until after dinner to go back to the classroom together?”

Liang Shuang: “If you take these into the cafeteria, do you want to end up on the ‘Wall of Shame’?”

“On the wall?” Shao Shuyi giggled. “With you and Jiang Lu around, we aren’t afraid~”

Liang Shuang: “…”

Jiang Lu rolled up her papers and headed upstairs. “Just consider it getting your steps in to help digest your food.”

Lin Tingting and Chen Xueyao followed, nodding. They had spent the afternoon eating cake and snacks; if they didn’t move more before dinner, they were afraid they’d start growing sideways instead of taller.

After a quick dinner, the five of them spent the three periods of self-study grinding through the test papers in a silent, tacit agreement. During the ten-minute breaks, the deskmates corrected each other’s work, while those without a deskmate checked their own answers.

By Thursday, the set of papers Liang Shuang had picked was completely finished.

On Friday, Shao Shuyi sat in the examination room staring at the newly distributed test paper, her mind going numb for a long time before she could recover. Jiang Lu and Liang Shuang, however, looked incredibly steady. When they returned to the classroom for evening study to work on their practice booklets, they didn’t show a hint of exhaustion. Lin Tingting and Chen Xueyao were also in great spirits; they had a feeling that thanks to the papers Liang Shuang provided, their rankings would move up this time.

After the last exam on Friday morning, the remaining two periods were for self-study while the teachers graded the papers in their offices. The blackboards in each classroom were filled with holiday homework written by the subject representatives. Their break time was short—they had to be back at school by 8:00 AM Monday. To make the holiday relatively relaxed, everyone was currently buried in their homework.

When the bell rang, Liang Shuang asked Jiang Lu while packing her things, “Can I come over to your house to do homework together?”

Jiang Lu’s hand paused slightly as she packed her tests, a smile spreading across her lips. “Sure. When are you coming?”

“Tomorrow. I have to go home tonight. I’ll text you before I head over.” Liang Shuang quickly packed and went to the front of the classroom to find her and Jiang Lu’s phones in the collection basket.

The last time they had made such an agreement was at the start of ninth grade. Back then, “doing homework” was actually doing homework, before it turned into Jiang Lu “spoon-feeding” Song Wushuang, which Liang Shuang found so irritating she stopped coming.

Returning to the dorm to gather their things, Jiang Lu and Liang Shuang each took out the backpacks and empty suitcases they had brought at the start of term. It wasn’t that they had much to take home, but since the temperature would drop starting next week, they needed to bring back some warmer clothes.

Jiang Wen was busy, and Jiang Lu didn’t want to trouble her. Liang Shuang’s parents were relatively free, but her Alpha mother, Nan Ke, traveled often and always took her Omega mother, Liang Qingqing, with her. Liang Shuang wanted to give them something to do, but their schedules rarely aligned, so she ended up doing it herself.

The two carried their empty suitcases downstairs. The moment they stepped out of the school gate, they found the aunties (drivers/helpers) who had come to pick them up. There were too many cars at the gate; if you didn’t arrive early or get lucky, you had to circle the school to leave, and the two aunties happened to be parked in opposite directions.

Jiang Lu and Liang Shuang said their goodbyes at the roadside. Not long after getting into the car, Jiang Lu spotted Shao Shuyi walking with her backpack. Shuyi’s parents ran a business, so whether they picked her up depended on how busy they were; seeing her walking briskly, she likely had to go back on her own.

Jiang Lu thought for a moment and had Auntie Liu slow down and pull over. “Shuyi? Your parents didn’t come?”

“Nope. They probably couldn’t get away. I’m heading to the bus stop up ahead.” Shao Shuyi pointed toward the stop past the intersection.

In tenth grade, Jiang Lu had once taken the bus on a break day; it was so crowded she couldn’t even squeeze in. She didn’t hesitate to wave Shuyi over. “Get in. I’ll give you a lift.”

“Is that okay?” Shao Shuyi stood outside the car door, looking a bit embarrassed.

Jiang Lu: “Stop talking nonsense and get in.”

Shao Shuyi’s home was out of the way from the Jiang house. After dropping her off and returning home, Jiang Lu found her mother, Jiang Wen, had just woken from a nap.

“Mom, I’m back.” Jiang Lu changed into her slippers, greeted her, and took her suitcase straight upstairs.

Jiang Wen leaned against a sofa cushion. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Let me think. I’ll give you an answer when I come down.” Upstairs, Jiang Lu put the suitcase on the balcony and threw her backpack onto the carpet in front of the floor-to-ceiling window before changing out of her school uniform.

In those few minutes, two plates of sliced fruit and a glass of fresh juice appeared on the coffee table in the living room.

“Speak.” Jiang Wen set aside her silenced phone and propped up her head to look at her daughter, who looked as if she were about to go out again.

Jiang Lu ate a piece of peach but didn’t touch the juice. “If possible, I’d like a plate of butterflied shrimp.”

Jiang Wen nodded. “Of course.”

Jiang Lu: “Before that, I hope you can take me to the hospital for a full check-up.”

“To the hospital? What’s wrong?” Jiang Wen asked, then realized what her daughter meant. She sat bolt upright. “Lulu, are you feeling something? When did it start?”

Jiang Lu licked her dry lips. “I started having a reaction two weeks ago.”

Jiang Wen immediately went to her room to change and pack. She called her assistant while putting on her shoes and hurried Jiang Lu out the door.

It was the final day of military training at B-University. The morning featured a drill exercise, and the afternoon would conclude officially with a parade review.

Su Mengrui, whose cheeks were flushed from the sun, learned that the monthly exams at No. 1 High had ended and that everyone except the seniors had gone home for the holiday. She was incredibly anxious. Just as she was about to fake an illness to ask the instructor for leave, the phone in her camouflage pants pocket vibrated. She pulled it out; a friend request from an account with no avatar or nickname appeared on the screen.

Su Mengrui turned her back to the light and hit accept. The moment the “Added” notification appeared, a picture popped into the chat window.

Followed by a location pin for a hospital.