The Scumbag Alpha is Courting Death Again - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Egg Yolk Pastry: After Exploding Myself into the Hospital

The atmosphere was tense. Seeing the silent standoff between the two across the table, Song Yu chuckled: “Being able to make Jinzhao happy makes this trip worthwhile.”

Listen! With such a tolerant and doting tone, Xia Jinzhao, are you really not going to respond?

Ming Xi chimed in: “Exactly! Jinzhao never laughs normally. She’s very aloof—”

The last word was drawn out and distorted as she received a sudden jolt. Her face was panicked, and she desperately clutched the cutlery in her hand.

The offending leg under the table had climbed onto her thigh, writhing like a snake, sticky, damp, and impossible to shake off.

Ming Xi stared at Xia Jinzhao in shock, only to see the woman tilt her head, the long hair near her forehead falling to lightly brush her collarbone.

She saw the mischievousness in the woman’s eyes, and Xia Jinzhao deliberately said ambiguously: “Don’t you know when I’m passionate?”

As the words fell, Xia Jinzhao pressed down with her toe, grinding it against Ming Xi’s instep. The pain, mixed with the strange satisfaction of a muscle twitching and the electric current from skin friction, simultaneously struck Ming Xi’s last shred of shame.

Ming Xi wanted to bite her tongue off. She hastily looked at the stunned Song Yu, terrified of being misunderstood.

Everything she was doing was not meant for the other person to be a part of their wifey-play!

Fortunately, Song Yu was well-mannered and quickly masked her complex emotions, saying something ambiguous. “Your relationship is truly good.”

Ming Xi: … There’s truly no way to spin this now.

She glared fiercely at Xia Jinzhao, as if reprimanding her with her eyes: Look at the trouble you’ve caused.

She happened to meet Xia Jinzhao’s cold, dark eyes. The folds of her double eyelids gradually disappeared as she lowered her gaze, seemingly agreeing with Song Yu’s remark.

Under the table, the two people’s legs were intertwined, a silent competition playing out. Ming Xi forced a smile: “Jinzhao works every day. How could she have time for intimacy?”

“Otherwise, why would we still not…”

Before she could finish, Xia Jinzhao snorted, looking at Song Yu: “Miss Song is so curious about our affairs. Don’t you have a s3x life?”

At the explicit remark, Ming Xi blushed crimson. Disregarding her usual timidness toward Xia Jinzhao, she reached down and pinched the other person’s arm.

I really don’t have time to play games with you!

Unexpectedly, her hand was caught and held. Xia Jinzhao’s nails were trimmed neatly, scratching her palm like the barb of a vine.

Meanwhile, the person being questioned didn’t look embarrassed but laughed. Song Yu curved her lips with interest. The flickering light in her eyes was like starlight buried in the deep night sky. “My apologies. I was out of line. Since this topic is unpleasant, how about we change it?”

Ming Xi gave her a thumbs-up in her heart. Yes, yes, exactly!

She used all her strength to pull away her restricted hand and stood up with a grin: “The soup is still warm in the kitchen. You two chat, you two chat…”

With that, she fled the smoke-filled battlefield without a second glance at the two odd looks behind her.

The semi-enclosed kitchen connected to the island counter. The bright light and the dimness of the living room merged at the doorway. Ming Xi leaned against the refrigerator, her palm still retaining the warmth of another person’s body. She strained her ears to hear the commotion outside. The situation’s development was unexpected. Song Yu was as considerate of Xia Jinzhao as she had imagined, but the latter was completely unappreciative. Based on her intuition, she even felt that Xia Jinzhao was hostile toward Song Yu.

Where did things go wrong!

The feeling of the plot escaping the book’s control was terrible. Ming Xi numbly turned on the stove, pondering her next move. She stood on her tiptoes and opened the hanging cabinet. Xia Jinzhao didn’t like her private domain being excessively encroached upon, so she mostly hired a housekeeper. The daily-replaced fruits and vegetables were fresh enough. Ming Xi reached past the flour for an onion, realizing her miserable fate. She was like a rat in a bellows, getting the wind blown on her from both sides!

She squeezed the onion hard, as if venting all her fury, or perhaps treating the onion as Xia Jinzhao herself. Let you talk nonsense! See who you’ll cry to when your wife runs away! What lovey-dovey, passionate fire… I’ll show you—

“Hiss!”

Her thumb picked at the onion skin. Juice splattered into her eyes. Ming Xi gasped in cold air, painfully covering her eyes. Just as she blindly bumped into the cabinet, something fell from above her head. Immediately after, her breath was instantly choked by fine, condensed powder, followed by a sharp, explosive shock.

Bang!

Buzz—

The sound became distant and empty, accompanied by a vibrating hum. The exposed skin was stained with a burning heat, as if she had been rolled in hot oil. Her last plea for help couldn’t even form a syllable.

Ming Xi tilted her neck and passed out.

Her consciousness drifted in a vast, white wilderness. A wandering soul with nowhere to rest.

Did she… die?

The stinging pain pulled her back to reality. Feeling the tension throughout her body, Ming Xi suddenly opened her eyes. The sight that met her was a pure white ceiling. The hospital’s exclusive disinfectant smell filled her nostrils, subtly mixed with the scent of burgeoning, tender buds. Ming Xi had the fortune to receive a bottle of this perfume as a gift from a client; it was the Nile Garden from a certain brand. Although she could afford it, she hadn’t yet reached the point of luxury-item freedom.

Had she been born into a wealthy family?

Thinking this, a look of relief appeared on Ming Xi’s face. Just as she debated whether to cry a little symbolically to behave like a normal baby, the sound of the door opening reached her ears.

A cold, bitter scent swept in, penetrating the chaos and clearing her thoughts considerably.

Dazedly, she opened her eyes. A tall, slender woman walked directly toward her. “Awake?” The voice was familiar, laced with a lazy indifference.

Well, she hadn’t been reborn.

Accepting reality, Ming Xi prepared to respond, but found her throat dry and itchy, as if thousands of ants were gnawing at it. She couldn’t even produce a basic syllable. She abruptly sat up, only to see herself wrapped like a mummy. The slightest significant movement would cause her internal organs to ache.

Perhaps her displayed terror was too intense. Xia Jinzhao placed the package she was holding on the bedside table. “Ming Xi, you truly surprise me.”

At this, Ming Xi could be sure she was fine. She was all too familiar with this passive-aggressive tone, which started at zero frames.

“How did I… end up like this?” She struggled to speak, her voice hoarse and unpleasant, like an unrosined string.

“Did you lose your memory?” Xia Jinzhao frowned. Confirming her surprise wasn’t feigned, she said plainly, “You blew up the kitchen.”

A clap of thunder from a clear sky. Ming Xi was completely stunned, petrified on the spot. Wait, wait, wait. Let her sort this out. Ming Xi tried to gather the fragments of memory before she fainted. First, she was blinded by the onion and couldn’t see where she was going. She accidentally bumped into the flour, and then…

Xia Jinzhao pulled up a chair and sat down. Seeing that Ming Xi’s mental state was good, her rigid posture relaxed a bit. “Flour met open flame, and it exploded.” Her tone was as light as if she were talking about the weather.

Although there was no blame, Ming Xi was still crestfallen. She fiddled with her fingers and mumbled defensively. “I didn’t do it on purpose.” Besides, she was the victim, wasn’t she! Thinking of this, her confidence grew slightly. She quietly looked up, observing Xia Jinzhao seated gracefully in the chair. The woman’s hair was slightly messy, and her usually neat clothes were wrinkled. Her dark, hazy eyes, however, contained a rare sparkle. It seemed she hadn’t been implicated.

Ming Xi breathed a long sigh of relief in her heart. Remembering the other person involved, she grew uneasy again. “Um,” she cleared her throat heavily. “How is Sister Song Yu?”

The moment she asked, the quiet, peaceful atmosphere was disrupted by a subtle change. Xia Jinzhao’s eyes dimmed, carrying a chilling coldness, and she suddenly smiled. “You ask about her?” The last word was deliberately emphasized, as if Ming Xi should have been concerned about someone else upon waking up.

Instinct told Ming Xi that asking further might be unwise. So, her quick mind steered the conversation elsewhere. “How long was I unconscious?”

No answer.

Okay, next question.

“Were you injured?”

The surrounding temperature plummeted. Ming Xi felt she had hit an unspeakable nerve and swallowed the rest of her words with a stiff resolve.

Until a long “grumble” broke the silence. Ming Xi awkwardly rubbed her stomach, only now feeling hungry. It seemed she had been unconscious for quite some time, surviving on IV drips for days.

Her gaze fell on the lunch box on the bedside table, the one Xia Jinzhao had just brought in. The packaging was exquisite and intact. It must have been bought outside and brought to the hospital by the other party. Ming Xi swallowed, reaching out her claw-like hand to grab it, but a slender, delicate hand pressed it down.

“What are you doing?” she blinked, confused.

“Is this yours?” Xia Jinzhao countered smugly.

“No, there are clearly two portions. Is there a third person in this room?”

“I bought two portions. Can’t I eat one and look at the other?”

“Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“Who started it?”

“Fine, don’t give it to me!”

Is she serious? She’s the patient! What kind of family member is this unreasonable?

Relying on her injuries, Ming Xi, for the first time, showed a determined will to oppose someone.

“Are you really not going to give it to me?”

Xia Jinzhao raised an eyebrow.

Seeing this, Ming Xi sneered and commanded imperiously: “Fine, I’m-not-eating!”