Forced to Pretend to Be an A and Marry the Best Actress Omega - Chapter 8

Before entering, the scent of her own kind heightened her hearing in an instant. Jiang Lingyu heard it—Xie Xingqi’s spoiled, delicate whimper.

Xie Xingqi was saying no.

No to what? When Jiang Lingyu saw the scene in the living room, she wondered why she had even bothered rushing over in the first place.

She gripped her phone but didn’t leave, standing silently as she watched the farce unfold. The light from the entryway cast a shadow behind her.

The scent clinging to Xu Mifei wasn’t just one—where she had come from, where she had brought Xie Xingqi back from, the answer was obvious.

Not to mention, this woman looked so much like her.

Jiang Lingyu knew of this newcomer—rumored to be backed by a powerful patron. Today, she learned that patron was Xu Mifei.

Absurd.

Though their agreement stated they wouldn’t interfere in each other’s affairs, was Xu Mifei really so desperate she’d sink this low?

“Xu Mifei.” Jiang Lingyu’s expression was indifferent, her tone icy and devoid of inflection.

Her gaze swept over a stiff Xu Mifei, cold as moonlight. “Are you a dog? Biting anyone you see.”

“It’s not what you think!” Xu Mifei frowned, dragging Xie Xingqi—deep in the throes of her heat—upstairs. She snatched a brand-new throw blanket from the sofa, wrapping Xie Xingqi in it before moving to leave. She had to send Xie Xingqi back where she came from.

“Mark me, Xu Mifei… You’ll suffer during your susceptible period…” Xie Xingqi sobbed, her words irrational. “Jiang Lingyu, if you won’t let Xu Mifei touch you, what right do you have to stand here? You’ve already been marked by her—why pretend now?”

“What right?” Jiang Lingyu stood in the backlit shadows, yet amidst the chaos, Xu Mifei caught the faint scent of bergamot. Her agitation instantly eased, as if soothed.

Damn it. Why did Jiang Lingyu’s pheromones make her feel this way? She wasn’t even an alpha.

Xu Mifei nearly lost her grip on Xie Xingqi, her body instinctively leaning toward Jiang Lingyu.

A faint smile curled at Jiang Lingyu’s lips. “The right is that your ‘A-Fei’ is just an alpha who can’t resist anyone.”

Her words were like a blunt knife, grating against Xu Mifei.

In that instant, Xu Mifei snapped back to clarity. Jiang Lingyu had deliberately released her pheromones to test her…

Of course. In Jiang Lingyu’s eyes, Xu Mifei was nothing more than a dog that bit anyone in sight.

Would proving her wrong really be so hard?

The night had already left her exhausted, but Jiang Lingyu changed her shoes and stepped forward, blocking Xu Mifei’s path. “Do you want the headlines for the next week to be about us? A female celebrity sent out of your villa in this state.”

Xu Mifei pressed her lips together, not sparing Xie Xingqi a single glance. Jiang Lingyu took out her phone, made a call, and then administered a suppressant injection to Xie Xingqi.

Song Nian, whom she had summoned, arrived quickly with a medical team. Her complicated gaze lingered on Xu Mifei and Jiang Lingyu, but in the end, she didn’t dare ask what had happened.

“Tomorrow’s dinner meeting…”

“I’ll be there.” Jiang Lingyu answered succinctly. Only then did Song Nian nod and take Xie Xingqi away.

After everyone had left, Xu Mifei staggered back a couple of steps, her fingertips pressing against the table edge until they turned white from the force. She exhaled softly, closing her eyes wearily. “I didn’t call them here, I swear. I always keep myself clean.”

Jiang Lingyu sneered, “Those are the four words least suited to describe you.”

“Just smell yourself. How many lovers do you actually have?” Jiang Lingyu found it utterly ironic. Even reckless indulgence should have limits, and Xu Mifei was clearly someone who recognized none.

“I have boundaries and principles. That woman just now was Xie Xingqi—you saw her too. Her pheromones don’t affect me at all! Everything I told you is true, all of it.” Xu Mifei took an urgent step forward, but Jiang Lingyu retreated instead.

“What principles are you even talking about?”

Standing face to face, Xu Mifei couldn’t think of any way to win back this woman who radiated nothing but disappointment toward her.

After a long silence, Xu Mifei thought despairingly—there really was no way out.

All the sins of her past had come back to haunt her now, and she was utterly powerless against them.

Jiang Lingyu noticed Xu Mifei’s hand slowly clenching into a fist, her head bowing as her expression disappeared into shadow, shrouded in gloom.

Was she about to throw a punch?

Those same fists that had swung at Xu Wanzhi just two hours ago to protect them both—were they now about to turn on her?

“I don’t have any lovers, and I don’t just bite anyone I meet.” But Xu Mifei only muttered this in response, pulling out a pair of cute slippers from the shoe cabinet. She tore off the packaging and tossed it into the trash before neatly placing the slippers at Jiang Lingyu’s feet.

Since apologies were useless now, she could only use her actions to make her stance clear.

“The slippers are clean.” Xu Mifei crouched down. “My hands are clean, the slippers are too. You don’t have to be disgusted by them.”

Watching Xu Mifei’s flawlessly sincere expression, Jiang Lingyu felt a massive question mark rise in her mind.

Xu Mifei really wasn’t the same as before. The speed of her change left Jiang Lingyu unsettled, and no matter how much she scrutinized, she couldn’t figure it out.

The wound on her face throbbed faintly, and Jiang Lingyu momentarily lost focus—just as Xu Mifei was about to help her into the house slippers.

“Don’t touch me.” Jiang Lingyu stubbornly kept her feet planted on the smooth floor. Xu Mifei silently stared at the top of her foot, where faint scars stood out starkly under the light.

“Where did you get hurt?”

Xu Mifei looked up and only then noticed that Jiang Lingyu’s cheek seemed… different from how it had looked during the banquet earlier.

She had reapplied her makeup, and the suppressant patch on the back of her neck had been replaced with a fresh one.

Realizing something, Xu Mifei frowned and stood up. Even knowing how much Jiang Lingyu resisted her approach, she leaned in slightly. Unsure what she intended, Jiang Lingyu instinctively raised a leg to block her.

Her foot pressed against Xu Mifei’s chest, and Xu Mifei seized the opportunity to grasp Jiang Lingyu’s ankle, displaying rare assertiveness as she leaned in further. Jiang Lingyu’s slender leg buckled under the force, unable to resist, bringing the two closer together.

“Xu Mifei, what are you doing?!”

It wasn’t until Jiang Lingyu’s irritated voice rang out that Xu Mifei realized her fingers had already reached the edge of the barrier patch. The gland beneath it was slightly raised, pulsing faintly yet vibrantly under her touch, as if in sync with the rhythm of her heartbeat.

“Biting anyone you meet—are you a dog?”

Jiang Lingyu’s earlier mocking words resurfaced in Xu Mifei’s mind.

Just five minutes ago, she had still deluded herself into thinking she could prove to Jiang Lingyu that she wasn’t.

Five minutes later, as she stared at Jiang Lingyu’s leg pressing down on her, the smooth, fair lines clearly visible in her vision, the sheer shimmering stockings clinging to her flawless skin shifted slightly, like light flowing ambiguously.

Xu Mifei thought to herself—in this moment, she couldn’t prove a thing.