Her Pheromones Smell Like Sparkling Water (GL) - Chapter 22

Shang Ranzhu had locked the door to the prop room. The person outside had kicked it over ten times but still couldn’t break it open. The old, worn-out frame shook violently, sending wood chips and dust raining down. In the small, unventilated room, dust swirled through the air.

Shen Tingjun had only just recovered from her heat. Now, this violent noise triggered a fit of coughing that wracked her already weak body. Her small face flushed bright red from the effort, and she coughed so hard her whole body trembled. Her thin shoulders looked like they might fall apart at any moment.

The banging at the door continued relentlessly. Shang Ranzhu, who had planned to pretend the room was empty until the man left, finally lost her patience. She shouted at the door, furious, “Stop f**king kicking it! Are you insane?!”

“F**k you! And it’s a woman too.” A greasy, pot-bellied middle-aged man outside adjusted his oversized pants. The big ring of keys hanging from his belt jingled loudly. His mouth was filthy as he yelled, “What the hell are you doing in there? Damn, whose scent is this? This stuff’s strong! It smells like sparkling water, don’t you think? Come on, open the door. Let me in, and we can enjoy it together!”

Shang Ranzhu frowned in disgust. Even though the man didn’t know that the Omega inside was Shen Tingjun, she still felt like Tingjun had been insulted. Her wolf-like eyes burned with rage. “F**k off! “Who do you think you are, coming here to die?”

“Oh yeah? You think I won’t?” The man was enraged by her words. He kicked the door even harder, making it rattle on its hinges. Then, releasing his own pheromones in a show of intimidation, he roared, “Listen here, you little b*tch. I’m the brother-in-law of the investor in charge. No one on this set doesn’t know who Third Master is! Open this door now, and I’ll let you off easy!”

His pheromones were absolutely disgusting—like cheap, homemade wine. The alcohol stung the nose, bitter and sour like something spoiled. Even Shang Ranzhu, an Alpha, felt like vomiting—let alone Shen Tingjun, who had just endured a painful heat.

“Miss Shen, are you alright?” Shang Ranzhu looked at her with deep concern. Her brow, which had briefly relaxed, furrowed again.

The 16-series suppressant Shen Tingjun had taken earlier, just like last time, hadn’t worked at all. Instead of dulling her sensitivity, it had heightened it. The harsh scent made her squeeze her eyes shut. Her long lashes, thick but fragile, drooped against her pale cheeks. She bit down on her lip so hard she couldn’t speak a word.

Shang Ranzhu looked at Shen Tingjun, who was weak and struggling in her arms, then turned to the door that looked like it could give out at any second. Her hands clenched into fists.

“Miss Shen, I’ll be right back. Please wait for me.”

With that, she gently propped Shen Tingjun onto a sturdy-looking chair, rolled up her sleeves, and strode to the door. Just before the next kick landed, she yanked it open—and kicked the man squarely in the gut.

Shang Ranzhu was a young and fiery individual, prone to impulsive behavior. Seeing the woman she loved in such pain, there was only one answer in her mind: beat him until he runs.

The man hadn’t been prepared at all. Her kick landed straight into his groin. A mountain of fat stumbled to the ground. He let out a howl of pain, clutching himself as the flesh on his face quivered in fury. “Where the hell did you come from, you little b*tch?! You’ve got a death wish?!”

The sight of his greasy, lecherous face only stoked Shang Ranzhu’s rage. She fought back the urge to unleash her pheromones, but she was mindful of Shen Tingjun. Instead, she crouched down, grabbed him by the collar, and shouted in his face, “I think it’s you who has a death wish!”

The man had a thick neck and rolls of fat. His collar was barely holding together, and now it was choking him as she yanked him upward. His face turned an ugly red. He tried to pry her hand off with grimy, mud-covered fingers, digging his nails into her pale skin. Red welts appeared on the back of her hand.

Struggling for a bit, the man suddenly grinned—a filthy, perverse smile. He changed his grip to something more like a grope and leered, “You must be Shang Ranzhu, huh? Here for some fun? I didn’t know big stars were into this kind of thing. Come on, let me play too.”

Then, he shamelessly released his pheromones again. That cheap wine stench hit Shang Ranzhu’s nose like a punch. Her instincts screamed. With one hand, she grabbed his fingers and twisted hard. With the other, she clenched her fist—and punched him straight in the face. “I said—take your f*king pheromones back!”

She didn’t hold back. Her punch split his lip open. The man felt like the left side of his face had gone numb. He spat out a mouthful of bl00d—along with a broken tooth.

He was stunned. How could a woman hit this hard? Even for an Alpha, the impact was brutal. Holding his face in pain, he realized he couldn’t win. Still, he growled stubbornly, “You just wait. I’ll have you kicked out by tomorrow!”

“Why wait for tomorrow? If you’ve got the balls, kick me out today.” Shang Ranzhu let out a cold laugh and raised her hand again. The man flinched, thinking she was going to hit him.

But she just brushed some dust off her clothes.

“You just wait!” Realizing he’d been played, the man gritted his teeth so hard. Spitting out another empty threat, he stumbled off, using the wall for support.

Shang Ranzhu had half a mind to chase him down and give him a proper beating. But then she remembered—Shen Tingjun was still alone in that tiny, suffocating room. There was no way she could leave her like that.

Once she was sure the man was really gone, Shang Ranzhu rushed back inside.

She found Shen Tingjun collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Her small face was covered in dust and looked deathly pale. Shang Ranzhu didn’t know what kind of torment she had just endured, that she had passed out and bit her lip hard.

“Miss Shen, wake up… please wake up…”

Shang Ranzhu called her name again and again, but Shen Tingjun didn’t respond.

Panicked, she scooped Shen Tingjun into her arms. As she did, she stepped on a cylindrical injector that had been left lying on the floor. She fell to her knees, tearing her skin. The floral pattern on her skirt was soon soaked with bl00d.

Only then did Shang Ranzhu notice the label on the suppressant.

In an instant, Shang Ranzhu’s eyes widened. Reflected in her pupils was a single word: “Sixteen.”

She remembered clearly—it was in the emergency stairwell at the hospital when she had first heard about this “16-series” suppressant with Shen Tingjun.

The young nurse had said it plainly: this suppressant was still under development, not fully tested, and had severe side effects on many Omegas. In serious cases, it could even be fatal.

A chill rushed through Shang Ranzhu’s body like falling into an icy pit.

She was the one… She had handed that suppressant to Shen Tingjun just moments ago—with her own hands—and injected it.

She might become the reason Shen Tingjun will die.

“Miss Shen, please… please wake up.” For the first time in her life, Shang Ranzhu felt the true weight of the word “death.” She looked at Shen Tingjun’s ghostly pale face, doing everything she could to wake her.

But there was no response.

*****

Shang Ranzhu sat beside Shen Tingjun’s bed, with her head down and saying nothing. Her hands, which were bandaged and dotted with adhesive strips, were holding a cup of water. The water had turned cold again and again, and Chen Ming quietly kept replacing it with fresh, hot water. Steam would rise for a moment, only to be swallowed by the chill in the air.

Shang Ranzhu’s eyes were red. No one could tell whether it was from the rising steam or something else.

Andy returned, placing another pot of hot water gently on the nightstand. She looked at Shang Ranzhu’s back. It was rigid and motionless, and he felt a bitter ache rise in his chest, mixed with an odd sense of relief.

If Shang Ranzhu hadn’t been there today, it wouldn’t just be Shen Tingjun’s Omega identity that got exposed—her life might have ended, right there in that crumbling prop room.

“You did everything you could,” Andy said softly, placing a comforting hand on Shang Ranzhu’s shoulder.

“No… If I had known this suppressant could kill her, I would’ve rather had her beat me up afterward for marking her without permission. I would’ve marked her right there on the spot.” Shang Ranzhu’s voice brimmed with emotion, as she struggled to suppress the tears forming in her eyes.

“Didn’t Dr. Li say it earlier? Miss Shen’s condition isn’t too bad. She’ll wake up tonight,” Chen Ming added gently, trying to reassure her.

Shang Ranzhu finally calmed herself a little. She looked at Andy and asked the question she had gone over in her mind a hundred times: “Why did Miss Shen use a 16-series suppressant? Are the regular ones no longer effective on her?”

Andy lowered his head and looked down at the paper cup in his hands. He nodded slightly. “They stopped working a long time ago. Your Miss Shen has been using suppressants for eleven years. Plus, she’s often exposed to intense Alpha pheromones while filming—sometimes from emotional outbursts on set. She uses suppressants far more frequently than a regular Omega. Her body built up resistance much faster than most.”

Shang Ranzhu inhaled deeply, but it felt like something was stuck in her chest—neither going up nor down. She stared at Shen Tingjun lying in bed, as if peacefully asleep, and couldn’t begin to imagine how she had endured these past eleven years.

Tears pooled in her eyes. When no one was looking, she quickly wiped them away.

“Does Miss Shen hate being an Omega?” She asked softly, her head still lowered.

“I don’t know for sure,” Andy replied. “But I do know—when Lady Gu passed away, it was the same year Shen Tingjun was presented. Lady Gu’s death hit the entire Gu family hard.”

*****

Shen Tingjun felt like she’d been asleep for a very long time.

She heard a woman’s voice, gently calling her: “Xiao Jun…”

She slowly opened her eyes and found herself in total darkness. Only in the far distance was a soft light, and standing in it, smiling, was her mother, Gu Hualan, who had long since gone from this world. She was calling Shen Tingjun’s name.

Tears burst from Shen Tingjun’s eyes, one after another, falling soundlessly into the dark beneath her feet.

It had been so, so long since she last saw her mother.

She wept uncontrollably, her nose and eyes turning red. She quickly wiped her tears away and looked up at Gu Hualan again. Her mother looked exactly like she had eleven years ago, still wearing that unforgettable off-white linen dress.

In this endless black space, Shen Tingjun ran toward her mother with all her strength, desperate for one more embrace.

Just as she was about to reach her, a bright light suddenly flashed—and it stopped her.

Her mother was lying in a hospital bed; a breathing tube was in her nose. She was frail and skeletal. The white roses that Shen Li had planted outside the window were blooming in full—clusters of them, dew-kissed, alive, and vibrant. 

Shen Tingjun’s voice trembled. She knew what would come next—the sharp, piercing tone of the heart monitor and the flat line that would replace the peaks and valleys until all movement was gone.

With the last of her strength, Gu Hualan raised a hand toward Shen Tingjun’s face.

Shen Tingjun immediately lowered her head, trying to meet her mother’s hand with her cheek. But just like before, just like in real life—when their fingers were about to touch, the memory refused to change. Her mother’s hand fell, missing her completely.

Even in a dream, Shen Tingjun couldn’t feel her mother’s final caress.

A crushing loneliness surged through her, gnawing at her from the inside. She had no strength left to resist it. The one and only white rose in her sight, in this frozen space, began to break apart—petal by petal falling away, disappearing from her world just like her mother had.

“Mom!” Shen Tingjun jolted awake from the nightmare. Blinding light seared into her eyes. Shen Tingjun’s chest violently rose and fell while catching her breath.

And then—she felt herself pulled into a warm, solid embrace.

“Miss Shen, I’m here.”