Transmigrated as an Alpha, the Fox Spirit Lives on Pheromone - Chapter 6

Jiang Li naturally couldn’t comprehend the teasing in Qin Nian’s words. She was simply frustrated with herself for impulsively calling Bai Muqin “Master” in front of outsiders, despite having promised not to do so. Was Master angry? Was that why she left so quickly? Jiang Li looked as dejected as an abandoned puppy.

“Stop staring, your master’s gone,” Qin Nian said with amusement, taking in Jiang Li’s crestfallen expression. Seeing her gaze fixed blankly down the hallway, Qin Nian sighed and tugged her arm. “Come on, you’ll stay here for a few days. Your master will come back for you.”

Knowing Bai Muqin wouldn’t lie to her, Jiang Li obediently followed Qin Nian into the VIP ward. She kept Bai Muqin’s trench coat draped over her shoulders, inhaling the faint scent of passionfruit lingering on the fabric with a blissful, lovesick grin.

Though Jiang Li had agreed to stay at the hospital, when the nurses tried to insert an IV for her nutrient drip, she sensed danger and reacted fiercely—hissing like a bristling cat, her low growls frightening away several nurses.

Qin Nian promptly recorded a video and sent it to Bai Muqin with a voice message: “Look at your little pet—she’s scaring off all the nurses. We can’t stay like this.” She had never been keen on babysitting duties in the first place. If Jiang Li refused to cooperate, they might as well leave, sparing her the trouble.

Soon after, Bai Muqin’s voice message arrived, “Ah Li, are you misbehaving? Don’t be so aggressive—you’ll frighten people.” Her cool tone carried a hint of displeasure, yet an inexplicable softness lingered beneath.

Hearing the voice, Jiang Li instantly calmed, resembling a wild beast tamed by its trainer. She searched frantically for the source of the sound before zeroing in on Qin Nian’s phone.

Qin Nian hid the phone behind her back and negotiated, “If you stop scaring the nurses and let them give you the IV, I’ll let you hear my sister’s voice again.”

Gritting her teeth, Jiang Li squeezed her eyes shut and extended her arm, brows furrowed tightly as if bracing for torture. Her earlier resistance stemmed from the original host’s memories of injections—recalling them as unbearably painful.

The sting lasted only a moment. Once the nurse left, Jiang Li opened her eyes in surprise. It hadn’t hurt nearly as much as she’d imagined—not even as bad as a bee sting. Suspicion flickered briefly before she eagerly reached for Qin Nian’s phone. “I want to hear Master’s voice again.” After their brief time together, she no longer considered Qin Nian an outsider—which meant she could freely call Bai Muqin “Master” in front of her.

Qin Nian replayed Bai Muqin’s message once, then again and again at Jiang Li’s insistence, until she grew tired of tapping the screen and tossed the phone to her. “Do you know how to use this? Play it yourself if you want.”

Jiang Li handled the phone with surprising familiarity, as if muscle memory guided her fingers. She recorded a voice message: “Master, I behaved. Can you visit me when you’re free?”

Qin Nian shot her a startled look. “You know how to use a phone? Fine, entertain yourself—just don’t mess with anything.” With that, she grabbed the TV remote, flipping channels aimlessly before settling on a rerun of The Legend of the White Snake.

Jiang Li responded with an “okay,” then stared eagerly at her phone screen, waiting for Bai Muqin to reply. But no matter how long she waited, there was no response. She nudged Qin Nian’s arm and asked, puzzled, “Is your phone broken?”

How could a perfectly good phone just break? Qin Nian glanced at Jiang Li, who was fixated on the phone as if she wanted to crawl inside it, and couldn’t help but laugh. “You only sent the message a few minutes ago. Are you really this impatient? My sister’s probably in a meeting right now—she doesn’t have time to reply to you.”

Jiang Li nodded vaguely, half her attention on the currently playing Legend of the White Snake, while the other half remained focused on her phone. She kept turning the screen on and off, checking if Bai Muqin had replied.

“What a clingy little imp,” Qin Nian thought to herself, amused at the idea of her usually aloof sister dealing with such a whiny, needy creature.

The show happened to be at the part where Lady White accidentally drank realgar wine, revealing her true form and scaring Xu Xian to death.

Qin Nian had watched this drama at least three times and was still thoroughly enjoying it, marveling at how classic the old series was. Meanwhile, Jiang Li clutched her phone tightly, watching with bated breath, thinking, What if I accidentally reveal my true form and scare my master to death? What would I do then?

She nervously peeked at Qin Nian and stammered, “Q-Qin Nian, if you were Xu Xian, would you be scared of Bai Suzhen?”

“Me? I’d love to have a considerate demon sister,” Qin Nian answered without hesitation. Seeing Jiang Li’s serious expression, she added, “Though if I were Xu Xian, I’d probably be scared too—just not to death. If Bai Suzhen had dropped more hints beforehand to prepare him, it might’ve gone better. In the end, Xu Xian accepted that his wife was a white snake, so I’d probably get used to it too. Maybe fear fades with familiarity.”

Hearing this, Jiang Li’s tense heart relaxed slightly. She let go of her phone and wiped the sweat from her palms with a tissue. From Qin Nian’s words, she extracted the key point: Give more hints so the other person is prepared—that way, they won’t be scared to death. After some thought, she couldn’t resist asking, “What about M-Miss Bai?”

Qin Nian raised an eyebrow at the difference in address—You call me by my full name, but my sister is either ‘Master’ or ‘Miss Bai’? That’s quite the gap! Feigning displeasure, she grumbled, “How should I know? You’ll have to ask your master yourself. Honestly, after all the care I’ve given you, isn’t it a bit heartless to call me so formally? You little ingrate.”

Jiang Li seemed to understand—or maybe not. She straightened her face and declared, “I won’t call you Master,” looking as if she’d rather die than yield.

Qin Nian suddenly felt like she was pressuring an innocent into wrongdoing and couldn’t quite follow Jiang Li’s logic. Rubbing her temples, she sighed, “I don’t even want you to. Your private games with my sister are none of my business—I just wanted you to change how you address me. Is that so hard to understand?”

Only then did Jiang Li react, nodding as she said, “Understood.” But what should she call her master’s sister? Jiang Li searched her mind for a long time but couldn’t find an answer. This didn’t seem like common knowledge.

“Wait a minute, this ‘master’ title—did my sister ask you to call her that, or did you come up with it yourself?” Qin Nian voiced her doubt. She suspected it was Bai Muqin’s mischievous idea and saw this as a chance to confirm. She thought she could tease her sister about it later if Bai Muqin ever acted too serious again.

Jiang Li froze for a moment, then pointed at herself.

This answer surprised Qin Nian. She stared curiously at Jiang Li, unable to imagine how such a silly person could come up with such an embarrassing title—and that her sister seemed to have accepted it. She immediately waved her hand dismissively, looking disgusted. “Forget it, forget it. Just call me Qin Nian. Don’t come up with any weird titles—my skin’s too thin to handle it.”

Jiang Li didn’t understand why Qin Nian’s mood changed so quickly, but at least she didn’t have to think about titles anymore, saving her the trouble. Still, she couldn’t shake off her earlier question. She wanted to send a voice message to ask for an answer, but for some reason, her mind grew increasingly muddled, making it impossible to form words.

“What’s wrong? Too scared to send a voice message?” Qin Nian teased again, but seeing Jiang Li repeatedly open her mouth without speaking, looking pitiful, her heart softened. Mimicking Bai Muqin’s habit, she patted Jiang Li’s head and said, “After we get home, I’ll replay that scene for you. You can ask her in person then.” After a pause, she added, “But my sister’s terrified of snakes—seeing a snake spirit would probably scare her to death.”

“W-what about Fox spirits?” Jiang Li’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she asked pitifully.

Qin Nian gave her another look as if she were an idiot. “You really think you’re a Fox spirit?”

Though her mind was growing foggier, Jiang Li still remembered the conclusion she had reached. Without thinking, she answered honestly, “I-I am.” But for some reason, after saying this, everything before her eyes blurred, and soon, she lost consciousness.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?!” Qin Nian was startled by Jiang Li’s sudden collapse and quickly called for Dr. Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang performed a quick checkup and found that the IV nutrients didn’t seem to be replenishing Jiang Li’s strength—instead, her body had grown weaker, as if she had fainted from hunger.

She glanced at the glass of milk on the bedside table—it had gone cold. For some reason, a suspicion formed in her mind. She turned to Qin Nian and asked, “Why didn’t she drink the milk?”

“What? Is it related to her fainting?” Qin Nian countered.

Zhou Yang smiled helplessly. “She passed out from hunger.”

Qin Nian pressed her lips together, suddenly a little afraid. What if this little one starved to death? What would her sister do? After hesitating, she finally said, “She skipped breakfast this morning, saying she was already full. When the nurse brought milk, she just sniffed at it—looked like she didn’t like it, so I didn’t force her to drink.”

“Her perception must be impaired, possibly a sensory disorder, otherwise she wouldn’t be unable to distinguish between hunger and fullness.” Zhou Yang pretended to analyze, seeing that Qin Nian showed no suspicion, she continued, “Perhaps she didn’t like any of the food offered before.”

“Could you please go to the supermarket? Try to buy as many different foods as possible—we might find something she’s interested in.” Zhou Yang requested.

Qin Nian didn’t doubt her and took back her phone from Jiang Li’s hand. “I’ll go right now.”

Watching Qin Nian leave, Zhou Yang smiled imperceptibly. She then covered Jiang Li’s nose and mouth with the prepared, orange-scented pheromones.

The instrument showed the pheromones had only decreased slightly before stopping entirely. Jiang Li seemed to be rejecting this scent now, holding her breath until her little face turned red.

Zhou Yang tried another scent, but without exception, Jiang Li rejected them all.

“It seems things aren’t quite as I imagined,” Zhou Yang murmured to herself. She took out a small vial of passionfruit-scented pheromones extracted from Bai Muqin and, as before, covered Jiang Li’s nose and mouth with it.

Within seconds, the pheromones were completely absorbed. Jiang Li suddenly opened her eyes and cried out joyfully, “Master!”