Transmigrated as the Imperial Princess's Scumbag Alpha Ex-Wife - Chapter 12

The girl pressed her lips together, refusing to speak. She leaned against the door and slowly slid down, her eyes fixed on Nangong with wary suspicion.

She looked like a frightened little animal, huddled at the entrance of its burrow.

Nangong was delighted, half-expecting her to transform if she curled up any further. Imperials were like fascinating blind boxes—some gentle beauties would suddenly morph into giant ravens, while sturdy girls might unexpectedly turn into tiny snakes.

Zhu Yu’s aura was too mixed to discern her true species.

Nangong grinned mischievously, about to take advantage of her drunken state to pet her more, when she noticed tears welling up in Zhu Yu’s eyes, slowly gathering into glistening droplets.

She looked utterly pitiful.

“…”

Nangong gasped. “I didn’t do anything to you, did I?”

“Why are you crying? This is just a scam!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you. Happy now?”

“Are you crying because of a stomachache or something? Should I take you to the hospital?”

The girl clutched her stomach, stubbornly lifting her tear-streaked face. “My family didn’t abandon me!” she sobbed.

“Alright, alright,” Nangong said, too tired to argue. She turned the key with one hand and raised the other to knock, unwilling to leave the drunken mess unattended.

Click. This time, the key turned smoothly, and the lock clicked open. Assuming Zhu Yu was too drunk to resist, Nangong leaned down to help her up.

But the moment the door opened, the girl frantically wiped her face with her sleeve and scrambled to her feet with astonishing speed.

This has to be a scam! Nangong thought.

Zhu Yu first grinned foolishly, then abruptly straightened her face, feigning a mature, melancholic air despite her youth. She took a deep breath at the doorway. Nangong glanced at her, his patience wearing thin. “What’s wrong now?”

“She doesn’t like my smiles,” Zhu Yu said. “She thinks they’re too frivolous.”

Tears still wet on her cheeks, she continued, “I need to be more mature, someone she can rely on.”

Nangong stared at her, speechless.

I don’t see it.

Inside the room, a small nightlight illuminated the scattered equipment on the floor—silver-white, reflecting faintly in the darkness. A hand-drawn blueprint lay spread out on the workbench against the wall.

Nangong feigned nonchalance, squinting as she glanced over. “You must be the new repair technician?”

Zhu Yu licked her lips and strode forward, pulling the white gauze curtain in front of the bed closed. She secured it with a rabbit-shaped clip, making it completely opaque, vigilantly concealing her precious treasure.

That annoying Nangong loves to flirt with everyone! I absolutely can’t let her see Bai Shuzhou!

But Nangong was determined to see what Zhu Yu was hiding. Almost the instant Zhu Yu lifted her leg to move, Nangong’s gaze had already drifted toward her target.

The white gauze curtain, the gem-like eyes, cold and icy, glowed faintly in the darkness.

Nangong’s smile froze for a moment. She instinctively reached for her waist, her strong sense of danger urging her to flee as if some colossal beast lurked in the shadows.

But the moment passed. The intensely oppressive gaze vanished, the white gauze swayed gently, and the pink rabbit clip bounced into place.

Zhu Yu finished securing the curtain and resumed her goofy grin.

Nangong: “…Can’t you see it?”

Zhu Yu: “What?”

Her composure was unnervingly calm. Nangong muttered a curse under her breath, and Zhu Yu immediately hissed, “Shh! Keep your voice down! Someone’s sleeping.”

Nangong approached, carefully surveying the dilapidated surroundings. Her gaze lingered on the white gauze curtain before she scoffed, “What’s this? Trying to keep a secret lover hidden away? At least get a golden cage, not this trash.”

The girl, who had been curled up like a shrimp moments ago, straightened up, glaring like a cornered animal. “Don’t talk nonsense!”

For some reason, this usually mild-mannered girl suddenly displayed an iron will. She poured herself a glass of cold water and swallowed her medicine with a gulp.

Nangong crossed her arms, watching Zhu Yu retrieve the pills and swallow them with mechanical efficiency. Even the way she drank her water was subdued, as if she were a thief in her own home.

An old-fashioned timer sat on the table. Zhu Yu tapped it and then slumped face-down on the surface.

Soft and squishy, Nangong thought, wondering if she was some kind of aquatic creature, like a salted fish… Oh, wait, that’s food.

“You really can hold your liquor,” Nangong remarked sincerely. “Is this how you get all your sales? Trading your life for money? Just admit you were wrong—it wouldn’t kill you.”

Seeing Zhu Yu’s silence, Nangong completely disregarded any sense of propriety, strolling over to the blueprints and studying them for a moment before crouching down to examine the half-repaired circuit board.

“Not bad craftsmanship. Where did you learn this?”

“You’re not from around here, are you? How did you end up in a place like this? Tell me about it. Maybe I can help.”

“With skills like these, why waste your time serving drinks? You don’t even know how to make money properly. This job isn’t for you.”

You’re the one serving drinks, you…!

Remembering the hardships Nangong had also endured here, Zhu Yu’s hand, pressed against her abdomen, paled as she swallowed her anger. “I’m not serving drinks, I’m a waitress who happens to sell alcohol. You’re the one who’s not suited for this—you almost got taken away by those thugs.”

Nangong shrugged, crossed her legs, and sat down, her gaze lingering on the nonsensical handwritten label on the medicine packaging. She raised an eyebrow. “Are you really that short on cash?”

“Yeah. I can’t let my family starve. My mom’s sick and needs a lot of money. And I need to get her home.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Her leg. She’s injured and in a lot of pain.”

She looked remarkably docile now, her dark hair falling softly around her shoulders, a stark contrast to her boisterous demeanor at the bar.

“I could introduce you to some business, if you can handle it,” Nangong said, resting her chin in her hand. “Can you repair engines?”

“Yes.”

“Large machinery too? I’m not talking about household appliances like electric kettles.”

“Bear.”

Nangong: “?”

Zhu Yu rubbed her fingers together. “If the price is right, I can do even more than just ‘yes’.”

“Alright, I’ll bring something over tomorrow. If you can fix it, I’ll pay you this much,” Nangong said, holding up her hand in a gesture specific to nightclub deals—one Zhu Yu had seen before but didn’t understand the value of.

Everyone negotiating deals at the bar used this gesture, and Zhu Yu instinctively knew it wasn’t a small sum. At least… five hundred?

She cautiously remained silent.

If Nangong knew this was Zhu Yu’s initial estimate, she’d probably laugh in her sleep.

Nangong had long heard about a skilled and affordable repair technician in town. When the news spread, many assumed Zhu Yu was waiting to land a big client, never suspecting the newcomer simply didn’t know the market rates.

“Work hard. This line of work has far more potential than bartending. If you’re not desperate for money, quit while you’re ahead. Once you start losing your dignity, there’s no turning back.”

Before leaving, Nangong patted Zhu Yu’s shoulder. “Don’t push yourself to the point of a perforated ulcer or alcohol poisoning. What you earn in a night won’t even cover your medical bills, and overusing painkillers will ruin you.”

Zhu Yu realized Nangong had a point. She seemed to have developed a tolerance to antipyretics, analgesics, anti-inflammatories, and sleeping pills.

They were useless.

The pain was unbearable.

Her stomach clenched in waves, like an organ trapped in a plastic bag on a sweltering summer day. Each breath made the thin film cling to her flesh, sticky and suffocating.

She slumped over the table, her mind drifting back to the disassembled parts. The silver wrench turned a few more times, and her consciousness began to unravel.

The vines silently coiled around, boiled a bottle of water, mixed it with half a cup of cold water, and nudged the lukewarm mixture toward the girl.

Zhu Yu blinked, faintly catching that warm, rose-like fragrance again. The pressure of something tightly wrapped around her waist jolted her back to awareness, as if she were being held in someone’s arms.

A hand gripped her throat.

Her chin was lifted, and the warm water was poured down her throat—gentle, forceful, and impossible to resist.

“Zhu Yu, where have you been?”

The woman’s icy voice contrasted sharply with the warm water. As both trickled down her parched throat, a few drops spilled onto her lips, slid down her slender neck, and disappeared into the deep green vines coiled around it.

The white gauze curtain had been drawn back unnoticed. The dim yellow light couldn’t fully illuminate her beauty, leaving her silvery-white hair to float in the darkness.

Forced to lift her chin, the girl’s eyes met those pale blue irises, as if in a dream.

“Paradis, I went to work… and had a little to drink,” she confessed, her voice tinged with guilt.

“A little?”

“Just a little… maybe a few bottles…”

“Liar.” The woman’s melodious voice grew colder, dissolving like shattered ice into frigid droplets.

Rough vines pressed against her glands, their rose thorns scraping against her skin. Zhu Yu’s fingers curled involuntarily, her body trembling violently. “I was wrong! It was two cases, maybe a dozen bottles… I really, really know I messed up, please…”

The vines crushed her most vulnerable glands. Even in this desperate situation, the girl showed no resistance, only shrinking further in a futile attempt to disappear.

But the vines tightened relentlessly, binding her completely. Even her rapidly contracting abdomen was restrained, leaving her no escape but to beg for mercy.

She was nothing like an Alpha.

Nothing like Zhu Yu.

No one would tolerate such brutal violation of their glands, least of all Zhu Yu—the vengeful Zhu Yu, the silver-tongued Zhu Yu… A woman who possessed such extreme violence yet cowered so pathetically.

A dull ache pulsed through the back of Zhu Yu’s neck, intensifying into a tingling numbness under the influence of the rose’s fragrance. The slender, resilient vines, far from loosening at her pleas, instead pressed down with malicious intent, grinding repeatedly against her flesh.

Pop.

A vibrant rose bloomed at the vine’s joint.

Zhu Yu’s pheromones began to release uncontrollably—clear, cool, like a summer night’s rain. Crystalline dew dampened the vines, casting a faint golden glow between their entwined embrace, which quickly spread evenly across her skin.

Bai Shuzhou frowned slightly, a strange expression flickering across her usually cold face. “Who exactly are you?”

Zhu Yu could no longer speak.

Bai Shuzhou continued to slowly compress her glands, then smeared the dew condensed from her Mental Power across Zhu Yu’s undulating abdomen.

The familiar scar remained, but Zhu Yu’s eyes had lost their sharp edge. She lay there, wet and vulnerable, utterly at Bai Shuzhou’s mercy.

Truly… disgusting.

Bai Shuzhou averted her gaze, yet the vines slowed, patting Zhu Yu’s trembling skin with a soothing rhythm.

The golden dew enveloped the girl’s lower abdomen, tracing every curve with crystalline clarity. The initial coolness gradually warmed, and the cramping pain began to subside.

Through Zhu Yu’s blurred vision, only that porcelain-white face remained.

From the depths of an icy pool, ripples stirred. Her red lips pressed into a thin line, and long lashes drooped, casting a delicate shadow over her ice-blue eyes.

With each breath she took and every slight turn of her eyes, her eyelashes brushed gently, like tiny brushes, brush, brush, brush…

Sweeping away the ache at the tip of her heart.

Imprisonment was an embrace, punishment a reward.

Her entire being began to feel lighter. Zhu Yu couldn’t help but laugh.

A cluster of roses, blushing with embarrassment, shielded her face, a ring dangling from one of its thorny branches.

“Take it and sell it.”

“Quit your job. I’m tired of your pathetic, poverty-stricken melodrama.”

The vines withdrew coldly, and the priceless bl00d crystal ring clattered into the girl’s palm.

The chaotic aura surrounding Zhu Yu was completely masked by the roses. The faint, damp liquid clinging to her skin now smelled like rose dew, its own scent only detectable at close range amidst the overwhelming floral fragrance.

Yet this wisp of Zhu Yu’s scent lingered in her hair, burning brighter and brighter at Bai Shuzhou’s fingertips.

The rose garden had bloomed overnight, all for a mysterious rain. The vines had vanished, leaving behind a subtle, ambiguous fusion of their mingled scents.

Bai Shuzhou frowned, pulled out a tissue, and scrubbed her fingertips vigorously, one by one, until her snow-white skin flushed crimson.

It wouldn’t come off.

It was never meant to.