Toxic Pheromones of a Scumbag Alpha (GL) - Chapter 17
“You’ve suffered all these years,” Ji Yao said softly, gently brushing her fingers against Tan Zishu’s palm. Her heart softened. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“The test results will take around three hours,” the doctor suddenly interjected, cutting into their conversation. “If you’re in a hurry, we can send them to you the moment they’re ready.”
Ji Yao turned to Tan Zishu. “Should we wait?”
Tan Zishu replied, “I’ll go with whatever you decide.”
Ji Yao asked, “Aren’t you busy today?”
Tan Zishu said without hesitation, “Even if I were, I’d cancel everything.”
Ji Yao, once the model workaholic in her past life, was stunned by Tan Zishu’s outright audacity. But after a moment’s thought—yeah, this kind of thing did seem like something Tan Zishu would actually do.
Not entirely surprising.
“Well, since we’ll get the results anyway, let’s go take a walk. Enjoy the sunshine.”
The sun outside was warm and bright, and Ji Yao, in a rare good mood, took Tan Zishu along to the inpatient wing behind the hospital, where there was a large garden perfect for a stroll.
Tan Zishu quickly put on a mask, sunglasses, and other disguises, wrapping herself up so thoroughly that no one could recognize her.
Ji Yao, who’d just suggested they go sunbathing: “…”
…Alright then.
They hadn’t been walking long when they spotted Jiang Jiaran again in the distance.
Since they’d already seen her, Ji Yao casually asked, “Jiang Jiaran isn’t more famous than you, right?”
“No,” Tan Zishu replied flatly. “She’s not as popular as I am, and she’s not targeted as heavily by the media either. Just a very average little celebrity. She was even up for the same role as me recently—but didn’t get it.”
Ji Yao nodded. “Mm, mm. Who was the director for that one? Maybe I know them.”
“Director Huo Qi,” Tan Zishu said.
“…Huo Qi, huh.”
An old friend. If Huo Qi wanted Tan Zishu for a role, not even a celestial being could beat her out for it.
“You’re awfully full of yourself,” Ji Yao said with a teasing scold. “If she managed to upset you even a little, she can’t be some no-name actress. At worst, she’s probably in the tier just below yours.”
She hit the nail on the head.
But Tan Zishu had always genuinely looked down on Jiang Jiaran, so she never even regarded her as a rival.
Competition? That concept simply didn’t exist.
“I wasn’t upset by her,” Tan Zishu mumbled.
“Stubborn,” Ji Yao said with a smirk.
“By the way,” she added, “that girl seems to treat me a little differently. But I don’t remember who she is. I’ve been dead ten years—so many people and things I just can’t recall. Do we have any history?”
Tan Zishu thought, You forgot? Great, I’m not telling you.
What if Ji Yao remembered, felt guilty, and started being nice to Jiang Jiaran?
Ji Yao gave her a glance. “Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll find out myself.”
“Alright, alright~” Tan Zishu gave in quickly, clearly afraid of her. “Sister, she’s from the same place as me.”
The same hometown. The same orphanage.
Ji Yao froze. “Huh? I don’t remember that.”
“When you first came to visit us at the orphanage, holding all those cats and dogs, she was the first kid you picked up,” Tan Zishu said, her voice holding a tinge of bitterness. “Jiang Jiaran was always the best-behaved and the favorite of the staff. That’s why she was placed in the front row, right where you could see her.”
Ji Yao couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re jealous? You weren’t in the front row?”
“I wasn’t even allowed to come out and meet anyone,” Tan Zishu said with a helpless shrug. “I was locked in solitary at the time—how could I have seen you?”
Later, Ji Yao had done a headcount and noticed a few children were missing. That was the only reason little Tan Zishu had finally been let out.
Tan Zishu continued, “You were the first important person I’d ever seen who was that attentive. Everyone else who came just treated it like a performance. But you—Sister, you actually took the time to call each of us by name. You tried to remember every face.”
“Huh?” Ji Yao looked puzzled. “If I made such a good first impression, why were you always so standoffish with me?”
Tan Zishu didn’t reply. She just lowered her head and stared at the tips of her shoes.
“…Wait a minute.” A ridiculous thought popped into Ji Yao’s head. “Don’t tell me… you were already in your rebellious phase back then? You acted distant because you liked me? What—were you testing me, you little brat?”
She didn’t remember a lot, but Ji Yao definitely remembered that awkward, strained relationship—like when little Tan Zishu claimed to hate animals right in front of her, slapped her hand away, and always hid in the back corner avoiding her.
“Well, Jiang Jiaran was one of the first kids you remembered by name,” Tan Zishu said, trying to change the subject. “You really liked her. You even gave her a little gift.”
Ji Yao corrected her, “You were also one of the first kids I remembered.”
Tan Zishu shot back, “Yeah. On the blacklist.”
Ji Yao added calmly, “But in the end, your name was the clearest in my memory—the last one that stayed with me.”
Tan Zishu gave a nonchalant “Oh,” then added with a slightly bratty tone, “But I didn’t get a little gift.”
Ji Yao: “…”
Was it possible to just have a normal conversation? And if not… could she maybe slap her a little?
Tan Zishu leaned in affectionately, resting against Ji Yao’s exposed wrist, and said in a soft, teasing tone, “Sister, give me something sweet~ and I’ll forgive you~”
The phrase “give her an inch and she takes a mile” was on full display. Ji Yao felt the veins in her forehead start to throb.
She raised an eyebrow. “What kind of ‘sweet’ do you want?”
Either Tan Zishu didn’t hear the sharp tone in Ji Yao’s voice, or she was just playing dumb. She went ahead and said, “How about a kiss?”
Ji Yao gritted her teeth. “In broad daylight? What do you think?”
Just as she was about to “reward” her with a little slap, her hand halfway raised, the damned system chimed in out of nowhere:
System: [Task #5 – Kiss Tan Zishu. Duration: Five minutes.]
Ji Yao: “…”
Tan Zishu looked at her with a cheerful smile. “What’s wrong?”
Even more infuriating. Ji Yao had every reason to believe this so-called “system” was not on her side—it was clearly siding with this little gremlin.
Fortunately, the task lasted five minutes, not five seconds. Ji Yao decided she had some dignity to protect. No way was she doing this out in the open. She figured she’d find some quiet corner to take care of it. If Jiang Jiaran happened to catch them in the act, she’d never live it down.
Now that she knew Jiang Jiaran’s true identity, Ji Yao had started to feel a bit more cautious—she couldn’t just blurt out nonsense like she had in the elevator.
Forget it. First things first: get Tan Zishu to a place with fewer people.
On the way, Ji Yao deliberately took a roundabout path to avoid Jiang Jiaran. She kept chatting with Tan Zishu as they walked. “But back then, I treated every child the same. Why would Jiang Jiaran have such… special feelings toward me?”
Ji Yao didn’t know what kind of feelings they were exactly—only that it all seemed absurd.
“Oh, she probably picked up some nonsense from somewhere,” Tan Zishu said with a shrug. “She believed you might take a few kids with you to the big city someday, so she tried extra hard to get close to you. She wanted out. Very ambitious. But I just couldn’t stand her.”
Ji Yao sighed. “I never had any such plan.”
Tan Zishu replied, “Me? I never dreamed about something so far-fetched. I just wanted to get out of there on my own. I wasn’t waiting for anyone to save me.”
Ji Yao asked, “Did you ever think about how you’d survive after escaping? You know you can’t hire child labor, right?”
“I’m not very good at stealing or robbing, and I don’t have any particular talents… If I had to pick a way to make a living,” Tan Zishu said seriously after thinking it over, “I’d probably go work for some place without a proper business license—just to get by.”
Ji Yao could feel her bl00d pressure rising again.
She was lumping theft and robbery in with “ways to make a living”? And talking about it so casually, like she was evaluating a career skill set?
Tan Zishu noticed Ji Yao’s expression and thought she was just worried about her safety, so she quickly tried to reassure her. “Sister, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m not the kind of person who’d get scammed. Even if the place doesn’t have a license, I’d make sure I get paid.”
“I’m more afraid of you being a danger to society,” Ji Yao said, taking a deep breath. “Thank goodness your escape didn’t work. That would’ve been a disaster.”
“Well actually…” Tan Zishu looked a little sheepish. “There was one time I almost made it.”
Ji Yao’s brow twitched. She turned to look at her. “What?”
“It was one night when you were staying over at our place. All the security guards and caretakers were called in for a meeting to ensure your safety, so they were all gathered around your area,” Tan Zishu said with a shy smile. “I took the chance to try and sneak out.”
Great. Her bl00d pressure shot up again.
Ji Yao managed to keep her composure. “…And why didn’t you succeed?”
“Fate, I guess,” Tan Zishu said, her gaze drifting toward the artificial lake. Her smile faded. “I had just climbed up to the top of the wall when I saw you, crouched down alone in the courtyard, holding your stomach.”
Ji Yao started to remember. That night, she’d gotten her period at the worst possible time and was in so much pain she had to call her assistant in the middle of the night to bring her painkillers. Who would’ve thought little Tan Zishu had been watching from the wall the whole time?
“I thought someone from the orphanage had poisoned you,” Tan Zishu said. “I panicked. Got all fired up about justice and, well… I started a fire to create a distraction. A big one. Called the police and everything.”
Ji Yao: “…”
So that mysterious fire in the back hills was her doing. No wonder her entire team had spent the night in chaos—putting out flames, calling the cops, thinking some crazed stalker had come to harm her. Her agent, who wasn’t even on-site, called dozens of times in the middle of the night to make sure she was still alive.
Ji Yao felt like she needed an oxygen tank.
Tan Zishu truly had a gift for causing trouble. It was infuriating.
Tan Zishu muttered weakly, “I just wanted to protect you…”
“How incredibly kind of you. Thank you so much,” Ji Yao said through gritted teeth, barely keeping her rage in check. “So I ended up ruining your grand escape?”
Tan Zishu’s voice got quieter and quieter, clearly feeling a bit guilty now. “No, not ruined. It’s fine. Of course I forgive you.”
Ji Yao glanced around. They’d finally reached a secluded area. She quickly calculated how much time had passed and decided the moment had come—to raise her hand and give this little brat a much-needed smack.
A carrot after the stick.
The “sweet reward” could wait until the final few seconds.
First, she needed to treat the high bl00d pressure this girl had just given her.
Right on cue, the system chimed in:
[15, 14, 13, 12…]
Tan Zishu got smacked until she was swaying like a willow tree in a storm, her sunglasses nearly flying off.
[9, 8, 7…]
Ji Yao, exhausted from all the hitting, leaned against an artificial rock, gasping for breath.
[5, 4…]
Tan Zishu, sensing the storm had passed, edged closer and snuggled up beside her.
“Sister? What are you two doing here?”
As if on cue, Jiang Jiaran showed up in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.
Ji Yao froze as her name was called. “…”
System: [Final countdown: 3 seconds! Please complete the kiss task immediately!] 3, 2…
Ji Yao grabbed Tan Zishu. “Come here!”
Tan Zishu stumbled, catching herself with one hand on the rock.
Under Jiang Jiaran’s stunned gaze, Ji Yao reached out, wrapped her arm around Tan Zishu, one hand on the back of her neck, and pulled her in close.
She arched her back—and kissed her.