After Transmigrating Into a Scummy Alpha, I Have Unlimited Krypton Gold (GL) - Chapter 17

“This pure-hearted Alpha could be a bit traditional, always feeling that after an intimate bond was made, the relationship between two people had fundamentally changed.” 

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After learning about the Thousand Gold Pavilion, Xue Cheng spent some time researching it. Curing Liu Wuyuan had become a major goal for her since arriving in this world. It had nothing to do with winning over the female lead or changing her fate as the scummy cannon fodder Alpha.

She simply wanted Liu Wuyuan to live a healthy, safe, and happy life, without being forced by her health issues down the wrong path. In the original book, Liu Wuyuan was passed around by a string of male and female protagonists, and no one ever truly cherished her. Xue Cheng felt that such a beautiful, gentle, and soft person deserved better—she deserved the best partner in the world.

At the time, her rose-tinted glasses were a foot thick. In her mind, the quiet Liu Wuyuan was a sweet, pitiful soul, kind and considerate. All this, just because Liu Wuyuan cooked her three meals a day, proactively reminded her to not flash her money around, worried about her safety, and clung to her like a kitten when the illness became unbearable.

Xue Cheng didn’t know what was going on in her head, but after they had “bonded,” every single thing Liu Wuyuan did seemed to have a special meaning. When she thought about how much a silent, amnesiac beauty must have struggled just to learn how to cook so well, Xue Cheng felt so happy she wanted to cry with every meal.

One day, while fetching water from the well, she accidentally ripped her shirt under the arm. Liu Wuyuan saw it and quietly took the discarded clothes to wash and mend them. When Xue Cheng saw the shirt again, it had been washed, mended, and neatly folded, sitting on her bed.

She had never been in a relationship or lived with anyone before. And with Liu Wuyuan, her “wife,” doing so much for her, Xue Cheng couldn’t help but let her mind wander.

In reality, Liu Wuyuan simply felt that since Xue Cheng was taking such good care of her, she could only repay her in the small ways she was capable of.

But sometimes, a crush is like that. It will sprout on its own, and before you know it, it’s grown into a mighty tree. By the time you realize it’s there, it’s too late to do anything to change it.

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In order to prepare for the trip to Xijing, Xue Cheng realized that her current savings were a little tight. After all, they needed money to live in the capital, and the cost of having the Thousand Gold Pavilion treat Liu Wuyuan would be another enormous expense.

“Thousand Gold Pavilion”—the name was apt. A single request could easily cost a thousand gold pieces, and Xue Cheng only had a little over a thousand taels of silver saved up. Most of that was from the cashback the system had given her the last time she took Liu Wuyuan shopping. These days, Xue Cheng had been afraid to spend money so casually, which meant her system hadn’t been able to do anything. That cutesy system voice was constantly nagging her to try harder. After all, if Xue Cheng didn’t spend money, the system couldn’t meet its performance goals with cashback—it was struggling, too!

She would often sit on her doorstep, look up at the sky, and sigh deeply a few times. This made Liu Wuyuan feel a little guilty. Sensing that Xue Cheng was worried about money, she walked over and sat down beside her. The current Xue Cheng wasn’t the stingy jerk the original owner was; she allowed Liu Wuyuan to use paper and a brush, and when Liu Wuyuan wanted to read, Xue Cheng would go out and buy her many books.

Liu Wuyuan picked up a small branch and drew a few words on the ground. Xue Cheng leaned in to read them.

“It’s okay not to cure it.”

The message was brief and to the point. Liu Wuyuan was making it clear that she didn’t want Xue Cheng to be so burdened. She was more than content with their life now; after all, it was a world better than what she had just a little while ago.

But Xue Cheng wasn’t having it. She wanted Liu Wuyuan to be well. “We have to,” Xue Cheng said, her expression serious. “I just need to earn some money. I don’t really have any skills, but I’m thinking of starting a small business.”

Still, she wasn’t sure. Would the money she spent on a business count as spending on the female lead? And what kind of business should she open? How would she run it? She was completely in the dark. But she couldn’t think of any other way to justify spending a lot of money out in the open. She also couldn’t reveal the existence of the system to Liu Wuyuan. She felt foolish even trying to explain it, and she was afraid that just pulling out so much money would make Liu Wuyuan suspicious.

The clear-headed but naive college student, Xue, still thought she was hiding her identity well, unaware that she had practically thrown away her disguise and was running around for everyone to see.

She racked her brain for a solution, her gaze lingering on Liu Wuyuan. She knew she could just play the part of a wealthy merchant’s wife, and once they were in Xijing, she could spend lavishly without arousing too much suspicion. But in this small county where the original owner was born and raised, she had to be careful about everything she did.

Noticing that Xue Cheng had something to say, Liu Wuyuan simply adopted a quiet, listening posture. Xue Cheng was about to invent some elaborate lie about discovering a secret inheritance when a knock came at the door.

“Who is it?” she called out, standing up and heading for the gate. She glanced back at Liu Wuyuan, gesturing for her to hide in the house, but Liu Wuyuan didn’t seem to care. If it were a bad person, the person standing there now—this strange spirit pretending to be Xue Cheng—couldn’t stop them, so where could she possibly hide?

Seeing the look of trust in Liu Wuyuan’s eyes, Xue Cheng puffed out her chest and confidently opened the door.

A young woman, a Qianyuan she didn’t recognize, stood outside. She looked to be only sixteen or seventeen. Xue Cheng hesitated, “You…” She instinctively wanted to ask who she was but stopped herself, worried the person might be someone the original owner knew, which would immediately expose her.

Xue Bai Guang, the person at the door, was used to her older cousin’s strange behavior. Though she was a little reluctant, she dutifully bowed and greeted her.

“Sister, Grandmother requests your presence.” Seeing Liu Wuyuan half-hiding behind Xue Cheng, she looked a little more pleasant and nodded. “Sister-in-law, Grandmother says you should come, too.”

Xue Cheng was completely lost. She had no idea who was who, or who this “Grandmother” was. It was Liu Wuyuan who, knowing that she wasn’t the original Xue Cheng, subtly revealed the girl’s identity. Where Xue Bai Guang couldn’t see, she traced two words on Xue Cheng’s back with her fingertip, making Xue Cheng jump.

“Bai Guang.”

Xue Cheng actually had some memory of this person. She was a minor character in the original book, a backdrop used to highlight how terrible and useless the original owner was. This girl was the eldest daughter of Xue Cheng’s second uncle. But since Xue Cheng was the eldest child of her generation and the daughter of the main branch of the family, she had direct inheritance rights to the Xue family’s property. No matter how outstanding Xue Bai Guang was, she would always be second to Xue Cheng.

Xue Cheng vaguely remembered that the original book had mentioned that Xue Bai Guang had a hand in the original owner’s eventual miserable fate. Instinctively, Xue Cheng was wary of the young woman in front of her. But the original owner had always looked down on the other branches of the family, so Xue Bai Guang was accustomed to her cold attitude and didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

So, the “Grandmother” Xue Bai Guang mentioned was likely the matriarch of the Xue clan, a sixty-five-year-old woman who held all the power in the family and was the only person the original owner feared. After all, if it weren’t for the matriarch’s doting, Xue Cheng wouldn’t have lived such a comfortable life.

Most of the Xue family didn’t agree with the idea of Xue Cheng becoming the clan leader and inheriting the family’s property. A few believed that by the rules, these things should belong to the legitimate eldest grandchild, and people from the other branches, no matter how capable, should simply assist Xue Cheng. Xue Bai Guang naturally despised her useless cousin, who did nothing but eat and wait to die.

But she kept up appearances, politely explaining, “We have the ancestral ceremony in a few days. As the legitimate eldest grandchild, Grandmother has some instructions for you.”

Xue Bai Guang was relaying the matriarch’s words, but in her heart, she was already looking down on her cousin. The ceremony required the legitimate eldest grandchild to hold a jade scepter and lead the grandchildren in worship. If it were anyone else leading, the matriarch wouldn’t need to give them special instructions. The fact that she had Xue Bai Guang come and get Xue Cheng was a clear sign that she was worried this useless cousin would mess up the whole ceremony. Seeing the blank look on Xue Cheng’s face, Xue Bai Guang felt the matriarch’s worries were not unfounded. Her useless cousin probably didn’t even remember the ceremony existed.

Xue Cheng truly didn’t know about it. She usually skimmed over unimportant parts of the books she read, so she didn’t remember if the ceremony had ever been mentioned. From the perspective of the original book, the story revolved entirely around the female lead, Liu Wuyuan; the affairs of the Xue family were hardly important.

But at the moment, Xue Cheng didn’t have time to think about it. She simply nodded. “Then let’s go.” She could feel Xue Bai Guang’s hostility and contempt, but she didn’t care. It was all directed at the original owner, and she wasn’t going to take the blame for it. She also wasn’t foolish enough to try to win everyone over.

Xue Cheng had only one goal in this world: to win over the female lead and reduce her hatred. If she could completely melt the female lead’s heart with love so she wouldn’t be chopped into pieces and fed to the dogs, that would be wonderful. In her heart, she secretly added a little amendment to her wish: it would be even better if she could have a more intimate relationship with the female lead. She didn’t expect Liu Wuyuan to fall in love with her or anything, but she felt that since they had already bonded, being a respectable and mutually supportive couple would be quite nice.

This pure-hearted Alpha could be a bit traditional, always feeling that once an intimate bond was made, the relationship between two people had fundamentally changed.