Stepmom Alpha’s Guide to Raising Kids - Chapter 13

Qi Zi hadn’t expected Lu Luozhu to bite her scent gland without warning.

“Mmm—”

Her pupils contracted sharply, her body instinctively trying to push Lu Luozhu away. But she was already seated on the alpha’s lap, with no room to escape.

Lu Luozhu’s hands rested properly on her waist, making no unnecessary movements, as if marking her was just the most trivial part of a canary’s job.

Yet it was precisely this restrained behavior that stirred a flicker of indignation in Qi Zi’s heart.

The omega let out an undignified whimper, while the alpha remained composed, not a single fold out of place in her clothes.

In the struggle, Qi Zi’s clothes had become disheveled, her once-neat long hair now cascading over her shoulders—

Tangled with Lu Luozhu’s.

“If you keep pushing, I’ll roll right out of the car. In half an hour, the headlines will read: ‘A-list actress caught disheveled, brawling in the streets with obscure Lu-family nobody—moral decay or human depravity?'”

Qi Zi really wanted to shut Lu Luozhu up.

Always spouting nonsense.

And so she did—covering Lu Luozhu’s mouth with her hand. But the alpha only looked at her in confusion, teeth still faintly carrying the sweet, delicate pear blossom scent from the omega’s gland.

In the darkness of the backseat, Qi Zi’s heartbeat quickened. The more she saw how impeccably put together Lu Luozhu was, the angrier she grew.

Lu Luozhu simply smiled at her. “Shall we continue?”

Qi Zi gave a sullen hum.

Fine, continue then.

The contract stated that Lu Luozhu was obligated to help her with any pheromone-related issues. It was rare for the alpha to be so cooperative—probably running low on funds again.

The way Lu Luozhu marked her was gentle. Too gentle. Her tongue lapped at the bitten gland, and Qi Zi gripped the fabric over the alpha’s shoulders tightly.

Hearing the ragged breathing beside her ear, Lu Luozhu considerately withdrew her tongue.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“Who told you to stop?! Just do your job properly.”

In the dark, Lu Luozhu caught the full force of a glare from those fox-like eyes. Suppressing her confusion, she resumed kissing Qi Zi’s gland.

Even though she’d already marked her, her patron seemed unsatisfied.

Was one mark not enough?

Lu Luozhu’s sharp little fangs teased the vulnerable gland until it had been thoroughly bullied—plump with glistening pheromones reduced to a deflated mess—before finally releasing it.

Qi Zi slumped weakly against her, the darkness hiding the flush on her face.

“Teacher Qi, you’re trembling. Are you cold?”

Lu Luozhu draped her coat over her. “The temperature outside isn’t low. Be careful not to catch a cold.”

Qi Zi: “.”

Was this woman doing it on purpose?

Once the service concluded, Qi Zi lay limp against Lu Luozhu, only mustering the strength to sit upright after a long while.

Lu Luozhu: “Was Teacher Qi satisfied with tonight’s service?”

Qi Zi, caught in that unbearable limbo between relief and frustration, rasped: “One star.”

Lu Luozhu: “.”

After escorting the coat-draped Qi Zi back to the film set, Lu Luozhu—now clad only in a silk robe—shivered slightly in the breeze.

Qi Zi stood still, clutching Lu Luozhu’s coat tighter. She wasn’t cold.

She was burning up—so much that a fine sheen of sweat coated her entire body.

The ever aloof and arrogant actress stood in the night, clutching an outer garment still faintly scented with alpha pheromones. The restless bergamot fragrance swirled and fermented in the darkness.

Heat radiated from her body, tormenting her rational mind. Beneath her long skirt, her knees rubbed together slightly.

Not enough.

The mark wasn’t enough.

She had forgotten to ask about her heart again.

Qi Zi pressed a handkerchief against her aching, feverish scent gland, lowering her gaze with the thought that Lu Luozhu must be faking it again—pretending to win her sympathy, scheming to ask for money at some unknown moment.

The Lu Luozhu from childhood wasn’t like this. Now, she had grown into someone unrecognizable.

Lu Luozhu yawned as she stepped out of the car, standing at the entrance of the guesthouse to catch the night breeze.

From the shadowy stone path emerged the blurred silhouette of a woman.

“Leaving the child alone in the room in the middle of the night—is this how you act as a stepmother?”

The voice arrived before the figure came into view.

An Song passed by her with a faint, indifferent hum, carrying a small garment that smelled of detergent. It seemed she had just finished hand-washing clothes for the younger sister.

Lu Luozhu wore a strappy top, the fabric creased noticeably. Alpha pheromones quietly permeated the night air, and An Song immediately took half a step back, wary.

“Rein in your pheromones. What shady business have you been up to?”

“I was working.”

Lu Luozhu yawned again, the night wind chilling her. “The child in the room is being looked after. No need for your concern.”

An Song clearly didn’t believe her. “What work do you have besides filming variety shows? I just saw a black sedan pick you up.”

Lu Luozhu glanced at her with a smile. The late hour made her drowsy, and the sleepier she was, the more outrageous her words became. “A black sedan? You must’ve seen wrong. The only thing I saw was the Phoenix Chariot of Favor.”

An Song: “…”

Do you even hear yourself?

When Qian Qianqian saw Lu Luozhu return, she tiptoed away from the sleeping child, pausing to gently pull the blanket over the little one before leaving.

Qian Qianqian: “Already done?”

Lu Luozhu: “Yeah. Teacher Qi gave me a bad review. I went to see her all cleansed and perfumed, only to be dismissed with a flippant critique. They say in our line of work, falling for a client is the biggest taboo—and I’ve gone and broken it.”

Qian Qianqian: “?”

Her lips twitched. Lu Luozhu was truly out of her damn mind.

That mouth of hers might as well be dipped in poison.

The next day, during filming, Ningning boarded a paddleboat with her little frog plushie in tow. The boatwoman sang a folk song in dialect while Lu Luozhu held an oar.

For a moment, she couldn’t tell if she was the boatwoman or if the one singing was.

Three small boats drifted along the waterway. An Song handled the oar with far more precision than Lu Luozhu, as if she had some side gig beyond being a singer.

Bai Rui, though inexperienced, quickly grasped the technique.

This round of the competition was a boat race—paddling from one end of the canal to the finish line would take about ten minutes.

Beads of sweat formed on Lu Luozhu’s forehead. As an alpha, her stamina had always surpassed that of betas and omegas, but today, the sun overhead felt like a swaying lamp, dizzying her.

Ningning hugged her frog plushie tightly, murmuring, “Froggy hot pot, yum yum.”

The boatwoman sang a little tune, though Lu Luozhu couldn’t understand the lyrics, she guessed it was probably a love song.

The oar had a semicircular groove that fit perfectly onto a bracket on the boat as a pivot point. Only after getting her hands on it did Lu Luozhu realize that rowing required skills akin to getting a driver’s license. With her heart condition, she rarely even drove cars, let alone rowed boats.

In the blink of an eye, Lu Luozhu’s boat was overtaken by An Song and Bai Rui, leaving her far behind.

An Song taunted, “At your speed, you might as well swim there.”

A fine layer of sweat broke out on Lu Luozhu’s forehead, and even the singing boatwoman had a sheen of perspiration on her face. Yet Lu Luozhu only felt an unsettling chill throughout her body.

Had she caught a cold last night?

A dull ache in her chest brought back memories of some unpleasant days before her time-travel.

She was probably running a fever.

Cold sweat dripped from Lu Luozhu’s eyelashes as she couldn’t suppress the slight trembling of her muscles.

Struggling to steady herself, Lu Luozhu felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Opening it, she saw a message from Qi Zi: “Come get your clothes tonight.”

Attached was a photo of a neatly folded, freshly washed jacket.