After Marrying the Cold Omega in Secret (GL, ABO) - Chapter 13

When Chu Jin woke up the next morning, everything that had happened the night before still felt like a dream.

She couldn’t remember how long she had massaged Chi Ye’s leg before finally returning to her own bed. The only thing she clearly recalled was that the moment her head hit the pillow, she had fallen asleep instantly.

At exactly nine o’clock, the live stream resumed.

Chu Jin had already washed up and changed into fresh clothes. Seeing that Chi Ye was also ready, she removed the tablecloth that had been covering the camera.

Only then did she notice that Chi Ye was walking with a slight limp in her left leg.

“Does it still hurt?” she asked with concern.

Just at that moment, the live stream began, and her question was broadcast live.

Comments flooded in instantly:

What did she just say?

That question is way too suggestive…

Morning sugar from this low-key couple, love it!

A couple fights at night and makes up by morning, classic.

Where does it hurt? Did she get injured?

Chi Ye sat on the couch and gently rubbed her calf.

“A little,” she admitted.

“I’ll get a towel and do a warm compress for you,” Chu Jin offered, already turning toward the bathroom.

“No need,” Chi Ye stopped her. “It’s already much better.”

Chu Jin noticed Chi Ye’s eyes motioning subtly toward the camera. She realized then that the broadcast was live.

In the eyes of the audience, they had only known each other for one day.

Helping someone with a warm compress seemed too intimate and might fuel speculation from the fans who were eager to ship them. It was clear Chi Ye wanted to keep a careful balance and not make Yan Sisi feel worse.

So Chu Jin nodded and stopped in her tracks.

Her pause triggered another wave of debate in the live chat.

So it was just a leg cramp.

What were they doing to end up with cramps, huh?

Can we stop with the wild guesses?

Why didn’t she help Chi Ye with her leg? That’s not very caring.

They’re not dating. Why would she?

The production team provided breakfast and dinner, but participants could also cook for themselves if they wanted.

Last night’s cooking assignment only covered today’s lunch.

Since this was a full-day reality show, the cast had to stay inside the villa or follow the producers’ scheduled outings during filming days.

Most people came downstairs around nine.

Some were early risers.

When Chu Jin came down, she saw Zhou Meng entering through the front door, dressed in sportswear and sweating slightly.

They had moved past yesterday’s awkwardness, and Zhou Meng greeted her cheerfully.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning,” Chu Jin replied politely. “You went running?”

“Yeah, I got up at seven. The area around here is great. You can jog along the river,” Zhou Meng said, pointing in the direction of the water. “Not many people, and it feels really nice.”

Wen Zhixue, who was walking over from the kitchen, joined in.

“Maybe I’ll try running too sometime.”

“You should!” Zhou Meng grinned. “We could go together.”

“But I run really slowly. I might not be able to keep up,” Wen Zhixue said with a shy smile.

“That’s fine. I can wait for you.”

The two of them continued chatting happily.

Chu Jin had wanted to greet Wen Zhixue too, since they had exchanged messages last night, but there was no chance to jump into the conversation. She quietly walked into the kitchen instead.

She planned to make herself a cup of hand-ground coffee.

To avoid being in too many scenes with Chi Ye, she had come down a little later.

But when she entered the kitchen, she saw that Chi Ye was already there, chatting in hushed tones with Yan Sisi over coffee.

They had turned off their microphones again, stayed out of the main camera’s range, and positioned themselves away from the fixed kitchen camera, whispering as if nothing was going on.

Yan Sisi didn’t look good.

Chu Jin started to worry. Did she see the couple popularity rankings? Was she upset? Was Chi Ye trying to calm her down?

As soon as Chi Ye came into the kitchen, Yan Sisi had followed closely behind, giving her a look that signaled her to turn off the mic.

“I’m seriously over it,” Yan Sisi said, clearly frustrated.

“What’s wrong?” Chi Ye asked as she poured coffee beans into the hand grinder.

“That heart-fluttering message we were supposed to send last night? I sent mine to Bai Bai.”

“Hmm.” Chi Ye began grinding the beans without any change in expression.

“But I didn’t get one back,” Yan Sisi said, clearly struggling to hide her anger and disbelief. “Not a single message.”

“I’m the queen of the nightlife scene, but here? I don’t even get one text? Does that make any sense?”

Chi Ye didn’t respond. She just carefully poured the ground coffee into a filter.

“And that means she must’ve sent it to someone else. Who did she send it to? Am I really less attractive than whoever it was?”

Chi Ye finished brewing exactly two cups of coffee.

Just as Yan Sisi reached out to grab one, Chi Ye picked up both cups before she could take one.

Yan Sisi looked confused and gave her a questioning glance.

Chi Ye turned calmly and walked away, leaving behind a quiet remark.

“She sent it to me.”

Yan Sisi stood there in disbelief.

Why her?

Chu Jin had planned to walk away and avoid the situation, but she was caught off guard when Chi Ye called out to her.

“This is for you.”

Chu Jin looked at the cup of coffee being handed to her and didn’t know whether to accept it or not.

What was going on?

Weren’t they supposed to be keeping their distance?

But the camera had already caught the moment, and hesitating now wouldn’t change anything. Besides, she had genuinely wanted a cup of coffee.

So she reached out and took it.

Her fingers accidentally brushed against Chi Ye’s hand, and when she thanked her, her voice came out a little strange.

“Thank you.”

Someone in the audience, sharp-eyed as ever, immediately pointed it out in the chat.

There’s definitely something going on between these two.

Chu Jin looks like she’s torn between wanting to keep her distance and wanting to get closer.

There were also many sharp-eyed viewers who started raising questions.

But I just saw a shot where Chi Ye and Yan Sisi were in the same frame.

Yes, I saw it too!

I still think Chi Ye and Chu Jin are romantic rivals.

Come on, both of them are alphas. What kind of relationship could they have? It’s probably just healthy competition.

As a result, the popularity of Chi Ye and Yan Sisi’s pairing on the CP (couple) rankings began to rise again.

On top of that, someone even created a new CP tag for Chu Jin and Yan Sisi.

Chu Jin carried her coffee over to the dining table and sat down. She picked a few items from the breakfast that the production team had prepared and placed them on her plate.

As she ate, she glanced at her phone and noticed the popularity of the “Reserved” couple (her and Chi Ye) had dropped slightly. That finally gave her a sense of relief.

She couldn’t help but feel that her tasks today were rather contradictory. She had to help Chi Ye win over Yan Sisi, yet also worry about the audience shipping her with Chi Ye. In the end, she might end up ruining things despite having good intentions.

But thinking it over again, Chu Jin realized she couldn’t control Chi Ye’s actions, just like she couldn’t control the audience’s perceptions. If she kept stressing over it, she would only exhaust herself. Besides, Chi Ye probably already knew about the CP rankings. Since she hadn’t expressed any concern about it, Chu Jin figured she might as well go with the flow.

Of course, the main rule was still to follow Chi Ye’s lead.

After all, Chi Ye wasn’t just a powerful figure behind the scenes of this variety show—she was also Chu Jin’s sponsor in real life.

Chu Jin mentally counted the days. There weren’t many left before the next two million yuan installment was due.

She couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across her face.

By now, everyone had come downstairs and gathered around the table for breakfast. Thinking ahead to lunch, which they would need to cook themselves, Chu Jin took the chance to ask, “What do you all feel like eating today?”

Wen Zhixue was the first to respond. She cupped her face with both hands and smiled sweetly at Chu Jin. “I’m good with anything. I don’t know how to cook, so I’ll love whatever you make.”

Zhou Meng had just come downstairs after her shower. As she reached the table and heard the conversation, she suggested, “Why don’t we make Chinese food?”

Chu Jin immediately began planning. Maybe she could just head out and buy prepped ingredients. Besides Bai Xuqing, the rest of the group didn’t seem particularly skilled in the kitchen. She might even be the best cook among them.

Before she could respond, Chi Ye, who was seated nearby, nodded in agreement. “Sounds good.”

Wen Zhixue’s eyes lit up with excitement. Her soft, doe-like gaze turned to Chi Ye as she said in a gentle, coaxing voice, “I love candied sweet potatoes. Could we make that?”

Anyone else might have melted in the face of that kind of sweetness, but unfortunately for her, she was talking to Chi Ye.

Chi Ye glanced at her coolly and replied with just three blunt words. “I don’t know how.”

Wen Zhixue looked a bit embarrassed, her smile stiffening.

Just then, Bai Xuqing finally spoke. “I can make it. We can pick up the ingredients later.”

She looked around at the group. “Anyone else want to request a dish?”

No one said anything for a moment. Then Xin Ning, seated to Chu Jin’s left, spoke up.

“Just make whatever. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.”

Chu Jin finally noticed that Xin Ning’s mood was much lower today, completely different from her energy yesterday.

When the camera wasn’t focused on them, Chu Jin leaned in and asked softly, “You seem a little down.”

Xin Ning gave her a wry smile. “Is it that obvious?”

After thinking for a second, Chu Jin asked directly, “Did you send your heart-fluttering message to her last night?”

Xin Ning’s eyes dimmed as sorrow filled her expression. She nodded.

It looked like she hadn’t received a message from Chen Mo in return.

“Don’t be discouraged. It’s only the second day. There’s still time to create more chances to spend time together,” Chu Jin said, noticing that Xin Ning still looked disheartened. She added firmly, “Are you really going to give up on her over one text?”

Something seemed to shift in Xin Ning’s gaze. A trace of determination appeared.

“You’re right.”

Then she looked at Chu Jin and asked, “Sister, did you get a message from anyone last night?”

The use of “sister” again, combined with the sudden question, made Chu Jin feel uneasy.

It seemed more likely than ever that the message she received last night had come from Chi Ye.

This woman really had a way of catching her off guard.

Chu Jin didn’t even dare imagine how much more popular the “Reserved” CP would become once the senders of the messages were publicly revealed.

After breakfast, the four of them had to go to the supermarket to buy groceries. The rest of the cast stayed in the villa, entertaining themselves with a game of cards.

The main camera stayed behind to film the villa.

That meant their outing wouldn’t be part of the live broadcast.

Everyone breathed a little easier. They didn’t need to stay so tense.

Although the trip wasn’t live-streamed, there were still recording devices inside the vehicles. The footage would later be edited and released as bonus clips.

To help foster bonding, they had to split into pairs, with each pair sharing a car.

Bai Xuqing was the first to climb into one of the cars. Chu Jin was about to follow when Yan Sisi quickly cut in and took the seat next to her.

Chu Jin glanced back at Chi Ye.

Chi Ye stood beside the other car and spoke calmly.

“Come here.”

Since filming had begun, Chu Jin had noticed that Yan Sisi always seemed to cling to Bai Xuqing. Whether it was mealtime, cooking assignments, or now choosing cars, she stayed close to her.

“Is Yan Sisi doing this on purpose? Trying to make you jealous?” Chu Jin asked, puzzled.

Chi Ye nodded. “Which is why I need to get back at her.”

What?

Chu Jin was caught off guard.

A moment later, she felt an arm wrap around her waist.

Chi Ye’s arm circled her firmly, guiding her gently into the car.