Transmigrated as the Black-Bellied Film Empress's Live-in Alpha (GL) - Chapter 2

The shadows were cast long by the streetlights, and the muggy, humid air seemed to be brewing an imminent downpour. Bai Nian walked out of the Intercontinental Hotel and returned to the underpass, letting out a long sigh.

Was she truly going to be homeless tonight?

She repeatedly counted the sum on her bank card, her heart heavy. So much money, visible but unusable, just meaningless numbers.

Switching apps, she thought about sending a message to Chen Qingying to say hello, but realized it was past three in the morning. Exhaustion, like water soaking into a sponge, seeped into every pore of her body.

Disturbing her at this hour was indeed inappropriate.

Putting aside the idea of asking for shelter, Bai Nian looked at the just over one hundred yuan balance in her WeChat, her chest tightening.

Starting in hell mode, she had temporarily escaped being resented by the female lead and sent to prison, but she never expected to be trapped and dying on the streets so soon.

She opened her phone’s navigation, typed in “hotel,” and walked towards the nearest one.

It was less a hotel and more a guesthouse. After checking in, Bai Nian entered the room.

The cramped space only had a hard bed placed against the wall. A corner of the brightly colored curtains faintly showed a few mold spots, and the tile grout in the bathroom had yellowish stains that hadn’t been cleaned yet.

She suppressed her disgust, turned on the air conditioning, quickly showered in the bathroom, then swiftly dressed and lay on the bed.

The air conditioner’s fan was intermittent, like an old, dilapidated machine. With a place to stay, Bai Nian was wide awake. She opened her phone, wanting to learn more about this world.

It was no different from her previous background; the only changes were gender and identity.

Alphas and Omegas were more popular and respected in this world, while Betas were analogous to ordinary people in her previous world.

The ID card she received indicated she was a live-in Alpha recruited by Chen Qingying.

Thinking this, Bai Nian was exasperated. If she ended up homeless and died on the street tonight, her face would be on tomorrow’s morning paper.

She had never seen such a frustrated and useless live-in Alpha, who couldn’t grasp immense wealth and was easily framed.

She couldn’t let Chen Qingying continue to misunderstand her, otherwise the original character’s fate would sooner or later befall her.

Bai Nian shivered and opened her chat history with Chen Qingying.

The original character had placed great importance on this patron; she was the only one starred and pinned. Scrolling through the messages, almost all of them were initiated by her, with the other party only replying with a sparse “mm,” “oh,” “okay.”

The pathetic display was unbearable to read.

Bai Nian: [Ms. Chen, are you still coming back for dinner tonight? I’ve made the meal.]

Chen Qingying: [No.]

Bai Nian: [Not eating on time is bad for your health. As your wife, I have an obligation to remind and care for you.]

And then, there was no further reply.

Scrolling up, it was almost all similar content: insignificant concerns and cold transfers of money.

Bai Nian grew impatient and directly clicked into the date to browse the chat content from when they first added each other. Logically, Chen Qingying didn’t have an in-depth understanding of the original character, so as long as she didn’t act too out of character, the other party wouldn’t notice anything amiss.

Recalling her quick mouth earlier, blurt out the transmigration, and then getting a look from the other person as if she were insane, Bai Nian’s face flushed.

Fortunately, Chen Qingying didn’t take it seriously, otherwise, before she could even eat prison food, she’d be sent to a mental hospital.

Continuing to scroll up, a uniform series of green chat bubbles, suddenly a large block of white chat bubbles appeared. Bai Nian’s hand paused, and she went back to read it carefully.

Chen Qingying: [It’s agreed, you’re responsible for helping me bear the family pressure. For the monthly money, I’ll give you 200,000 first, more if it’s not enough.]

Bai Nian: [Received, Ms. Chen. Wishing us a pleasant cooperation [fist bump]]

The time displayed was one year ago.

Compared to now, the two were clearly more familiar, but it was all superficial pleasantries. No progress in a year, no wonder the original character was so desperate that she resorted to underhanded methods.

The latest messages were all about the original character mentioning the agency for Chen’s subsidiary. Chen Qingying would initially give a few perfunctory replies, but later simply stopped replying.

“She really thinks people are fools,” Bai Nian muttered as she read the messages. Any normal young lady wouldn’t be so love-struck as to hand over family assets.

Now she’s extending her hand to the subsidiary, it’s possible she intends to take everything later.

However, this makes things much more difficult. Chen Qingying has become wary of her. The events of last night, where she let her go, weren’t out of kindness; she might be planning to call the police tomorrow.

A cold sweat broke out on Bai Nian’s back, her knuckles gripping her phone turning white from the force.

No, with the Chen family’s methods, dealing with a weak Alpha like herself, who can’t even tie a chicken, would definitely mean she’d rot in prison.

She deleted and re-typed many words in the chat box, her brow furrowed enough to kill a fly.

It wouldn’t be clear over the screen; she had to communicate in person to show her sincerity and determination to turn over a new leaf.

So she simply put down her phone, looked at the peeling paint on the damp wall, and planned to find Chen Qingying tomorrow.

In this foreign world, Bai Nian’s sleep quality wasn’t good. She woke up startled at 8 AM, surveyed the unfamiliar surroundings, and as rationality surged, remembering the daunting task ahead, she slowly got out of bed.

Pulling back the curtains that let in faint light, the dark wall next door was covered in slimy, dark moss. She quickly washed up, stuffed her things into her pockets, and hurried out.

Actually, she didn’t have much luggage to carry, just a phone and her ID card tucked behind it.

The city was waking up, a layer of shattered gold shimmering on the rippling lake. Every few steps on the overpass, there were breakfast food trucks. Leaves rustled, creating varying sizes of light spots on the ground through their gaps.

Bai Nian, with an empty stomach, followed the remembered route and entered Chen Qingying’s villa area by facial recognition. The security guard at the gate even greeted her.

She returned an awkward smile. A few minutes later, she stood at the iron gate, touching the keycode lock, her face grim.

She pressed the doorbell several times, but no one answered inside. Chen Qingying must not be home.

Just as she was about to leave, a woman’s voice came from behind her.

“Oh, isn’t that Xiao Bai? Going out to buy breakfast for Miss Chen again?”

Bai Nian turned around and saw the woman leading a snow-white Samoyed. Her slightly plump face smiled, squeezing her eyes into slits.

Encountering an acquaintance of the original character, she stood awkwardly in place. The woman, being friendly and talkative, noticed her empty hands and realized she had guessed wrong.

“Oh, cooking for yourself today? Miss Chen just left for her morning run a little while ago. Why don’t you wait here?” As a neighbor, the slightly plump woman also wondered why Bai Nian didn’t know the gate code, but she couldn’t pry into others’ affairs. After exchanging a few more greetings, she left with the excuse of walking her dog.

It wasn’t a total loss; at least Chen Qingying would be back soon. Bai Nian had originally planned to come back tonight.

She found a patch of shade and sat down. The sun at nearly 9 AM was scorching, rising golden from the east, like a dripping duck egg yolk.

While idly waiting, her phone in her shirt pocket rang abruptly.

Seeing “He Kun” in her contacts, Bai Nian felt the name was familiar.

As soon as she answered, a teasing voice came from the other end.

“Oh, my dear Sister Bai, why did it take you so long to answer? You didn’t reply to my texts a few days ago either.” The man’s voice sounded like it had been deliberately lowered and then ground on sandpaper, making her ears ache.

Bai Nian didn’t recognize this person. To avoid exposure, she made a casual excuse: “Oh, I’ve been too busy these past few days, didn’t have time to get back to you…”

“You really are a busy person. By the way, has the matter been settled?” Before her words finished, He Kun interrupted, his tone mocking.

“What matter?” Bai Nian’s heart sank.

Was it another sudden framing?

She was penniless now, and her exploration of the characters in the book was like a headless fly crashing around; she had no idea what the other person was talking about.

Even when she looked at her phone yesterday, she hadn’t seen this person. Perhaps too many people had chatted, pushing his messages down.

She had a gut feeling it wasn’t good news, and He Kun’s opening words confirmed her suspicion.

“Hmph, what else could it be?” He Kun’s tone twisted back and forth, as slippery as glue on a finger. There seemed to be jeering voices beside him. “Didn’t you say that once you became a director of the Chen family, each of us would get to be a general manager?”

So it was about this.

Bai Nian’s face suddenly turned cold. She thought she had found true friends in her desperate situation, but it turned out to be a group of shady companions.

This original character was truly capable, even having a criminal gang.

She was in no position to protect herself right now, much less deal with these people.

“We’ll talk about this later. I’m hanging up. Don’t contact me recently.”

The cicadas perched on the gnarled branches buzzed loudly, and the open space made for poor sound reception. She turned off the speakerphone, hung up after saying that.

Her hand paused on the block button, unsure.

Maybe she could extract information later. Forget it, she’d keep it.

Having made up her mind, Bai Nian was giving herself a thumbs-up for her cleverness when she stood up and turned around to see Chen Qingying standing behind her.

The zipper of her loose tracksuit was slightly open, revealing a white crop top underneath. Sweat had given her skin a honeyed glow. The woman’s cheeks were flushed from exercise, and her breath was short and hot.

This level of fright was no less than turning a corner and bumping into a ghost.

Bai Nian didn’t know when Chen Qingying had arrived, or how much of the conversation she had heard.

Seeing Chen Qingying’s expressionless face, she couldn’t gauge her mood. It was the height of summer, and this area of thriving, rough trees was silent and desolate, the shade they cast chillingly cold.

Only the buzzing of cicadas filled the air.

Their eyes met for a long time. Seeing Chen Qingying remain silent, Bai Nian swallowed hard and tentatively brought up the recent events.

“Morning jogging in such hot weather…”

She gave an awkward laugh. Chen Qingying lowered her eyelashes, seemingly ignoring her as if she were thin air, and walked past her.

Having said something pointless, Bai Nian wanted to bite off her tongue. She quickly followed behind the other person. A fresh, sweet perfume mixed with a hint of bitterness, the familiar scent she had smelled last night.

After a night’s sleep, perhaps Chen Qingying was in a calmer state of mind. She remained silent throughout, and this silence gave Bai Nian a growing sense of impending storm.

That’s how all beautiful women are, very aloof.

Convincing herself a thousand times not to be afraid, Bai Nian seized the opportunity as Chen Qingying walked through the main gate, quickly gripping the gate bars with her hand to prevent her from closing it.

“Something wrong?” The Omega raised an eyebrow, finally deigning to look at her directly.

“Indeed, something very important.” Remembering the purpose of her visit, Bai Nian gave a fawning smile.

She needed to be sincere enough to make the other person understand her determination to turn over a new leaf.

She silently recited the short essay she had looked up online, but then heard Chen Qingying scoff.

“Important matter? Your scheme failed, and you want to try again?”

A few minutes ago, Bai Nian had been relieved that she hadn’t heard her conversation with He Kun.

Now, with her fantasy bubble popped, she wished she could strangle her past self from a few minutes ago.

“Bai Nian, we agreed to keep our distance, a purely business relationship. Now you’ve crossed the line, and you still expect me to forgive you?”

The words were sharp, but those many words conveyed a message.

Willing to negotiate, there’s a chance!

“No, I don’t know that person…” Bai Nian began to lie through her teeth, but Chen Qingying had no time to waste on her and coldly rebuked her.

“Get out!”

“I really do have something important! I’m here to get my things. If you don’t let me in, I’ll just wait outside forever!” She blurted out in desperation.

“Suit yourself.” The woman’s cold, beautiful face showed no pity. She glanced at the hand gripping the door frame and slammed the door shut.

“I’m not leaving.” Bai Nian’s shameless nature fully revealed itself. Seeing the swaying iron gate about to close, she didn’t withdraw her hand, closing her eyes tightly, hoping to play the victim card.

But anyone who had been drugged and nearly successfully manipulated wouldn’t give the other person a good look.

Her knuckles were already touching the cold metal, when suddenly, a hand quickly wrapped around the railing.

Chen Qingying’s pale hand was so tightly clenched that veins bulged, she seemed surprised that Bai Nian truly intended to stay there.

Perhaps suffering from a headache, she snorted, then let go and turned her back on Bai Nian.