The Scumbag Alpha is Courting Death Again - Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Cappuccino: Waiting for the Favor, But No One Cares…

After a quick glance, Ming Xi closely followed Zhen Wenjing out of the coffee shop. The afternoon sun was scorching, and the streets were noisy and bustling, but her heart was shrouded in fear, as if she had fallen into a frozen abyss.

A low-key black sedan was parked in the shade of a tree, unremarkable among the many private cars. Spotting the two of them, the man in the driver’s seat rolled down the window and waved. Ming Xi recognized the person; it was a subordinate from Zhen Wenjing’s team, whom she had dealt with before on the set of Illusory Sea.

The moment he received the message, Wu Xiaxian drove the car over and naturally noticed the shadowy figure lurking in the corner of the coffee shop. After greeting the people, he quickly locked the car and pressed the accelerator.

As the distance widened, Ming Xi broke out in a sweat, feeling uneasy: “Why was he following us?”

“To be precise, he was following you,” Zhen Wenjing, in the passenger seat, pointed in her direction. “If I were being followed, I would definitely feel it.”

At these words, the car fell silent. Ming Xi sat in the shadows, her palms numb from clenching them for a long time. Realizing this, she slowly relaxed her grip and glanced back at the coffee shop.

“I’d say it’s not surprising. Everyone in the industry knows you and Xia Jinzhao are married. Even if the Xia family tries to suppress the news, there will always be people who can’t resist the lure of money.”

“The problem is, where did they get the information?”

“We weren’t careful with our conversation in the shop just now,” Ming Xi sighed. She rarely avoided speaking openly in public. After all, with Xia Jinzhao’s fame, even if people heard her call her “my wife,” passersby would just assume she was an overly enthusiastic fan.

“Your luck is terrible. You keep running into these kinds of incidents, like being retaliated against by a stalker last time,” Zhen Wenjing pouted.

The car drove away from the city center, speeding along the highway. The scenery outside the window transitioned from a bustling metropolis to a vast coast. Just as Ming Xi was relaxing, a single sentence from Wu Xiaxian made her anxious again.

“Sister Jing, someone’s following us.”

A dilapidated van deliberately maintained a short but noticeable distance, closely following them multiple times at the toll booth exits. This inexplicable persistence made it hard not to link the driver to paparazzi.

Zhen Wenjing glanced in the rearview mirror, sneering: “He’s trying to follow us with that driving skill? Speed up and lose him at the next intersection.”

Wu Xiaxian warned the people in the back seat, then slammed the accelerator to the floor. Before Ming Xi could react, a massive force pressed her into the seat, and her internal organs felt painfully displaced. The centrifugal force made her nauseous. She had to lie down on the seat, listening to the buzzing sound of the wheels crushing the road. Coupled with the car’s mediocre shock absorption, she couldn’t stand it for more than a few minutes.

Zhen Wenjing was severely startled and yelled: “Are you crazy? Speed up any more and we’ll crash! Slow down!”

“Didn’t you tell me to lose him…” Wu Xiaxian pouted, casually glancing backward. That one look made him curse in fright. The car swayed, nearly colliding with the SUV behind them.

The two cars scraped past each other with a crackling sound, sparks flying, as if a towering fire would ignite in the next second.

“Holy sh1t!” He desperately steered the wheel, hearing the curses of the SUV driver gradually fading away. If Zhen Wenjing hadn’t seen him driving, she would have slapped him long ago.

“Are you so sick you can’t even drive?” She was still shaken by what happened: “Don’t forget there are two people in the car! If you want to die, don’t drag us along!”

“No, Sis! Look behind, behind!” Wu Xiaxian was on the verge of tears.

This rebuttal brought Zhen Wenjing back to her senses. She leaned forward, momentarily speechless. Seeing the two in distress, Ming Xi forced herself up and followed their gaze.

The old van that had been relentlessly chasing them was now overturned and stuck against the guardrail. Its four wheels were still spinning. The shattered windshield looked like a spiderweb, and through it, one could vaguely see the deployed airbags.

Passing vehicles swerved around it. She froze, too shocked to speak, until the scene became a mere dot in her field of vision.

Her feet touched the ground, and she felt a sense of reality again. Ming Xi’s legs were weak. She felt like she had been dreaming in the back seat. Remembering the high-speed chase made her shiver. If they hadn’t been unable to stop, she definitely would have gone down, not out of curiosity.

Seeing her lost in thought, Zhen Wenjing waved her hand in front of Ming Xi: “Still thinking about it?”

Ming Xi nodded, her mood heavy: “Do you think he’s dead?”

“Crashed like that, if he’s not dead, he’s half-paralyzed,” Wu Xiaxian leaned his elbow on the window frame. “Don’t think about it. He brought it on himself. Nothing would have happened if he hadn’t followed us.”

Zhen Wenjing agreed: “Served him right. He doesn’t deserve sympathy.”

After a brief comfort session, the two dropped Ming Xi off at a nearby subway entrance. The setting sun spread across the street. Even the thickest clouds couldn’t hide the magnificent sunset. Warmth enveloped her, but her eyes were unfocused, like a lost person.

Recent events had been chaotic. There was a clear thread in her mind, but she couldn’t grasp it, as if she were in a disordered chess game, at the mercy of someone moving the pieces.

The sudden appearance of the NPC was enough to throw Ming Xi off balance.

A ringtone brought her thoughts back. She felt her pocket. It was a call from Wen Can.

“Xi Xi, why didn’t you come to work today? I called you several times, and you didn’t answer. Sister Lu and I were worried!” Wen Can sounded energetic, so the hangover didn’t seem to have affected her much.

“Something came up, and I had to deal with it,” Ming Xi didn’t want to make a big deal out of it and made up a random excuse. “Can you tell Sister Lu for me?”

“You’re taking the day off, right? How many days?”

“Just this afternoon.”

Ming Xi forced a smile, grateful that Lu Litong didn’t care about such things. The dizziness from the car chase hadn’t subsided yet. She decided to go home and rest.

“By the way, Miss Lin came to the live stream this afternoon and asked about you.” A second before hanging up, Wen Can casually mentioned a situation in the live stream.

Her finger hovered over the screen. Facing the financial backer, Miss Lin, Ming Xi was still willing to ask for more details: “What did she say?”

“She just asked why you weren’t there, and then she left,” Wen Can replied.

Remembering Miss Lin’s extravagant spending yesterday, Ming Xi felt a pang of guilt for her absence: “Explain for me. I promise I’ll see her tomorrow.”

“You should tell her yourself. I think Miss Lin only cares about you.”

The other person teased her cheerfully. Ming Xi thought she had a point and said, “Alright.”

She ended the call and took the subway home. The unfamiliar route led to the new residence. Still shaken, Ming Xi was contemplating how to open the door, but just as she stepped onto the stairs, the sound of facial recognition unlocking successfully came through.

?

Xia Jinzhao was still very thoughtful in certain details. Ming Xi hadn’t even noticed when her information was entered.

Pushing the door open, the empty living room was filled with a fresh, cold scent. Winter coats hung on the hanger, retaining Xia Jinzhao’s pheromone scent. The cozy feeling of home was reassuring, and the chilling feeling of being followed gradually subsided.

Finally finding her haven, Ming Xi sank into the sofa, her limbs weak and boneless. She stared at the ceiling, unable to calm her mind.

Why was she being followed? Was it impulsive, or…?

A clue seemed to flash by, then quickly disappeared into her consciousness. Unable to figure it out, she simply logged into the live streaming platform. Sure enough, in the background private messages, Miss Lin had sent a brief question mark. She replied.

Chang Guan Studio: “Sorry, Wife, I wasn’t feeling well today, so I couldn’t stream [Praying Hand]”

The other person’s profile picture remained gray. Seeing that no one was coming online, she put down her phone and slowly drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up again, her nose felt tingly and itchy. Suppressing the urge to sneeze, Ming Xi opened her eyes and suddenly saw an enlarged beautiful face. Her eyebrows and eyes were like a freehand landscape painting, with a hint of coldness in the gentle tenderness.

The woman supported herself on the sofa armrests, having maintained this head-down position for an unknown amount of time. Her drooping hair swept across Ming Xi’s cheek, and the fresh scent of shampoo wafted over.

Her heart leaped up and down like a rollercoaster. Before she could gasp, realizing the person in front of her was Xia Jinzhao, all emotions came to an abrupt halt.

Xia Jinzhao simply gazed at her intently, her breath close to her eyelashes, making her afraid to breathe. It felt as if, in the next moment, a light kiss would land on the corner of her lips.

The seductive dream from last night inexplicably popped into her mind: the woman cupping her face and passionately kissing her, demanding to know the source of the lingering scent on her body, and aggressively marking her neck with a hickey, full of possessiveness.

Ming Xi felt ashamed of her wandering thoughts. She curled her toes, secretly cursing herself for being indecent.

“You’re awake?” Xia Jinzhao stood up, not feeling at all invasive about staring at someone while they slept.

“What do you want to do!” Escaping the oppressive presence, Ming Xi scrambled and crawled into the corner, even using a pillow to cover her chest, trying to regain a sense of security.

“If you’re not feeling well, go lie in bed.”

The end of her sentence was gentle, accentuated by the dim environment. The soft, yellow glow of the floor lamp was inviting. Only then did Ming Xi realize the main lights weren’t on, likely to accommodate her while she slept.

She rubbed her eyes and argued: “I’ve been sober for a while. I didn’t want to lie in bed because I haven’t showered.”

“Where did you go this afternoon?” Xia Jinzhao turned her back, taking off her heavy trench coat.

Assuming she was just asking about her daily schedule, Ming Xi obediently replied: “I had dinner with a friend.”

“You skipped work for dinner?” Xia Jinzhao raised her tone, surprised by the answer. “Aren’t you busy?”

“Something came up, I mean,” Ming Xi played with her fingers, not daring to look into the other person’s eyes. “I just went to pick up some goods…”

She wasn’t good at lying in front of Xia Jinzhao and didn’t want the dubious guesswork to disrupt both their lives, so she chose to change the subject.

“I’m going to take a shower. You go on with your business.” She quickly got up and walked to the bathroom without looking back.

What must come cannot be avoided. Last night, she managed to muddle through with an excuse. Tonight, they absolutely had to share a bed. Although she had faced this dilemma at the Xia family’s house, it was in front of the elders then, and she assumed Xia Jinzhao wouldn’t dare to act out.

It’s different now! This was Xia Jinzhao’s territory. She could do whatever she wanted to her!

Ming Xi lay in the bathtub, pondering life, rubbing her smooth arms. All sorts of seductive scenes of entanglement with Xia Jinzhao flashed before her eyes, which, coincidentally, helped to disperse a lot of the fear that came with the unexpected encounter this afternoon.

Numbly wrapping herself in a bath towel and wiping the water from her skin, she felt like a fish on a cutting board, just waiting for Xia Jinzhao’s knife to fall and pronounce the death sentence.

The abundant warm air blew over her. She lay in bed, tightly pressing her legs together, silently counting sheep.

Waiting for the favor.

However, she waited for a long time, and the door remained closed.