After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Alpha, I Marked the Crazy Hotshot – Chapter 104

Cheng Jing X Tu Xiuxiu

Can’t hurt you

A lounge beside the theater’s backstage.
From the front of the house, the melodious tune of a Kunqu Opera, 《The Peony Pavilion》, could be heard.

The decor was antique and elegant. The slanting light of the setting sun streamed in through the carved window, and looking up, one could see modern skyscrapers outside.

There was a strange sense of detachment.

Cheng Jing sat on a lacquered wooden chair not far from the window. The lid of her teacup scraped slowly against the rim, making no sound, yet it seemed to grate on someone’s heart.

Beside her sat the theater owner, who chuckled obsequiously. “CEO Cheng, you’ve come so many times, yet this is the first time I’ve had the honor of meeting you. Next time you visit, please let me know in advance, and I’ll prepare the best seat for you.”

Although the owner lived in Copenhagen, he often heard news from back home. He had never met Cheng Jing, and upon hearing her name just now, he had frozen for a moment before it dawned on him—who didn’t know of a corporate giant like the Cheng Corporation from China?

And who didn’t know the name Cheng Jing?

Her impeccably ironed trousers creased slightly as she crossed her legs. She took a sip of tea and said, “The tea is good.”

A very perfunctory, polite remark.

The owner said, “Xiuxiu specifically instructed it. She said CEO Cheng only drinks this tea.”

Hearing this, Cheng Jing’s eyelids twitched.

The owner continued, “As for Madam Elaine’s daughter, I’ve already explained your identity to her. She’s always been quite spirited, but after learning who you are, she felt she shouldn’t have caused this misunderstanding. She’s given instructions to take good care of you, and all of today’s expenses will be on her tab.”

Elaine was the name of a local tycoon.

Only then did Cheng Jing’s gaze fall upon the owner. She said flatly, “You’re very good at handling people. I imagine Elaine will appreciate your gesture.”

What the owner said was certainly not what the red-haired woman meant. He simply didn’t want to offend the local tycoon, nor did he want to offend her, so he had no choice but to pay out of his own pocket to appease her and act as a peacemaker.

Hearing this, the owner’s heart skipped a beat. He mulled over Cheng Jing’s meaning, then thought for a moment and added, “Rest assured, CEO Cheng. Xiuxiu is a rare star performer for us, a talent you can’t just find anywhere. No matter what, we won’t let her be wronged in the future.”

Cheng Jing had only said Elaine would appreciate it; she never said that she would.

This attitude was clearly one of dissatisfaction, and there was no other reason for it besides Tu Xiuxiu.

This was her way of backing Tu Xiuxiu¹.

He was perceptive enough to see that.

Sure enough, after he said this, Cheng Jing finally closed the lid and set the teacup down.

Just then, a light knock came from the door.
Tu Xiuxiu, dressed in a creamy-white embroidered qipao, stood by the vermilion doorframe. With orchid fingers², she held the hem of her dress and took small steps inside, revealing calves as fair as white jade.

Cheng Jing’s gaze shifted upward, meeting a pair of eyes as gentle as water.

“I’m ready.”
Tu Xiuxiu entered but didn’t approach, simply waiting where she stood for Cheng Jing’s next words.

“Mm.”

Cheng Jing stood up, walked over to Tu Xiuxiu, and said, “Let’s go.”

Without looking at anyone else, she walked straight out.

As they passed each other, she smelled the sweet, faint, and alluring scent of white peach.

The owner followed behind them, offering to arrange a car and a series of other services, all of which were politely declined.

Soon, he watched the two beauties, one in black and one in white, leave the courtyard.

“Boss, is this Cheng Jing even more powerful than that real estate tycoon? You’re giving her so much face,” a staff member beside him asked.

The owner turned his head. “Locally speaking, of course the local snake³ is more powerful. But do you know what Cheng Jing is here for this time? To discuss an acquisition. This means the Cheng Corporation will soon have a foothold here too. I heard Elaine has also been wanting to partner with the Cheng Corporation…”

“But this is good, too. With such a big shot backing Tu Xiuxiu, I’ll have less to worry about in the future.”

The owner said, “Be more perceptive from now on. Also, give Wang Rou⁴ a heads-up. Tell her not to covet what she shouldn’t. She can’t afford to provoke someone like Tu Xiuxiu.”

“Understood.”

After replying, the staff member thought to himself.

Wang Rou and Tu Xiuxiu are partners in several scenes, and her feelings for Tu Xiuxiu aren’t a recent development. It’ll be hard to persuade her.

In the back seat of a black Maybach.

Cheng Jing on the left, Tu Xiuxiu on the right.

Silence spread through the car, as if everything that had just happened at the theater never occurred.

Suddenly, a phone vibrated.

A few seconds later, fluent English filled the car.

From the first sentence, Tu Xiuxiu knew it was Elaine on the other end, calling about the incident at the theater. It was a very calm conversation between businesspeople.

At that moment, Tu Xiuxiu suddenly felt a contrived sense of melancholy.

For her, it was someone standing up for her. For Cheng Jing, it wasn’t a big deal to begin with—something that could be handled with a single sentence.

“Of course it won’t affect our partnership. Your esteemed daughter making a move was a misunderstanding, and my person making a move was also a misunderstanding.”

Tu Xiuxiu glanced sideways. Cheng Jing’s profile always carried a chill; she rarely smiled, and almost never when on the phone.

Only when facing Cheng Jiqing was she different.

But occasionally, Cheng Jing would make her feel that she, too, was different.

Take that sentence, for example.

My person.

Listen to that. Such moving words, such unsettling words.

Yet, Tu Xiuxiu’s heart felt a little desolate. Even after so much time had passed, her emotions and feelings were still conspicuously passive.

The call had already ended.

“Why did you come?” Tu Xiuxiu finally asked.

From the phone call, she could tell Cheng Jing was in Copenhagen on business. So why come to the theater?

She still wanted an answer.

But what kind of answer did she hope for? She feigned ignorance.

Cheng Jing said, “I saw the poster.”

An unexpected answer.

“You were on it.”

An even more unexpected answer.

Cheng Jing turned her head, their gazes meeting. “Wasn’t it?”

Tu Xiuxiu was silent for a moment, then her lips curved. “Can I take that to mean that CEO Cheng came because you saw it was me on the poster?”

Cheng Jing didn’t deny it. She had recognized the silhouette and waist on the poster as Tu Xiuxiu’s, which sparked the idea of going to the opera.

“Cheng Jing.”

Tu Xiuxiu called her name, then suddenly smiled before turning her head away.

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

She was inexplicably angry, and just as inexplicably, she lost all her strength.

Cheng Jing looked over. Tu Xiuxiu’s face was turned toward the window. Outside, the sky was gradually darkening, allowing the glass to reflect a hint of her expression.

But it couldn’t be seen clearly.

For just a fleeting moment, her fingertips twitched.

And so, she reached out and pinched that chin, as smooth as milky skin. It seemed forceful, yet the motion was gentle as she turned the other woman’s face toward her.

She saw the thin mist in those beautiful eyes.

It wasn’t the first time she had seen those tearful eyes; they appeared quite often at certain times.

Strangely, this time, her heart felt something different.

Like having had a little to drink, slightly tipsy.

Or like being drunk, numb.

Cheng Jing asked, “Why are you crying?”

Tu Xiuxiu didn’t resist. Gazing at Cheng Jing’s furrowed brow, she said, “You shouldn’t have come.”

Cheng Jing seemed to be assessing something in those eyes, then released her hand and passed over a tissue.

“There’s no need to cry over it.”

Her voice was light, carrying a trace of indulgence she herself didn’t notice.

She looked as if she knew why Tu Xiuxiu’s eyes had reddened.

Tu Xiuxiu didn’t take it, her perfunctory attitude gone.

She turned back to the window, seemingly having lost interest in talking, but still added one more sentence.

“Don’t come anymore in the future, okay?”

A few seconds of stalemate.

Cheng Jing said, “Okay.”

In just twenty minutes, the warm, orange-yellow light of the city had been reclaimed by the horizon. The colors muddled together, soon to merge into a stretch of gray.

The streetlights came on.

The car stopped on a quiet roadside.

The back door opened. Tu Xiuxiu got out of the car and, without a moment’s hesitation, walked straight ahead.

Her back was ramrod straight.

She knew Cheng Jing was watching her.

Cheng Jing watched through the front windshield. The spring evening breeze was slightly cool, lifting the hem of the woman’s qipao.

Even just her silhouette was stunningly beautiful.

But what Cheng Jing was thinking of were those reddened, misty eyes from just now.

A sudden restlessness.

A sudden feeling that she had agreed far too readily.

She rolled down the window, lit a cigarette, and rested her elbow on the frame, her fingertips tapping lightly.

The streetlights in that area must have been broken. It was pitch-black, which made the white figure paradoxically clearer for a moment, before it quickly blurred.

The figure was about to disappear from view.

Cheng Jing took a deep drag of her cigarette, then opened the door.

Tu Xiuxiu later asked Cheng Jing: if the streetlight hadn’t been broken that day, if the wind hadn’t been so cold, would she still have gotten out of the car?

Tu Xiuxiu would also ask herself: if that second-generation rich hadn’t been such a scoundrel that day, would she and Cheng Jing have had a ‘later’?

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After getting out of the car, the distance to her home wasn’t far.

It was just that the road was under construction recently, making it impassable for vehicles, so everyone usually took this alley.

There were surveillance cameras and ample lighting; it was usually very safe.

But today, the streetlight was broken.

When Tu Xiuxiu walked into the alley, she didn’t notice anything at first. Only after entering did she use the distant light to vaguely make out several figures, some squatting, some standing.

The light from a phone shone in her face.

Tu Xiuxiu shielded her eyes, understanding what the people opposite her were saying.

She hadn’t expected that second-generation rich to find people to take out his anger.

Nor had she expected Cheng Jing to appear again, to appear behind her…

Cheng Jing still had a cigarette pinched in her fingers. She pulled Tu Xiuxiu back with one hand, then tossed the cigarette butt to the ground. The crimson ember bounced on the pavement.

The next instant, it was crushed under a black high heel.

The men in front were already approaching. Unhurried, Cheng Jing took off her trench coat and handed it to Tu Xiuxiu. “Put this on.”

Tu Xiuxiu snapped back to her senses from behind her. Cheng Jing’s bodyguards weren’t there.

Her hands were very cold, which made the heat of Cheng Jing’s palm gripping her wrist feel startling.

Tu Xiuxiu: “Where are your people?”

“Scared?”

Cheng Jing heard the unease in her voice and pulled her back another step. “Don’t be scared. They can’t hurt you.”

Tu Xiuxiu had never seen Cheng Jing fight. To be precise, for someone with Cheng Jing’s background, she never needed to handle such matters herself.

Whatever needed to be done, whoever needed to be dealt with, could be resolved with a simple order.

Therefore, she was exceptionally shocked when she saw Cheng Jing raise her leg to kick and slap those men hard across the face.

The woman’s movements were clean and efficient, her figure superior, her posture beautiful.

The violent pheromones of an alpha aggressively suppressed those opposite her.

Because Tu Xiuxiu had been marked by Cheng Jing before, this familiar pheromone made her heart beat faster.

Her legs felt a little weak, yet her nerves were taut.

She was anxious, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, constantly afraid that one of those damn thugs’ next punches would land on Cheng Jing.

The light was dim, but after her eyes adjusted, she could see the scene in front of her clearly.
She didn’t call for help. The moment Cheng Jing made her move, the outcome was already decided.

The people on the ground were wailing in pain.

When it was over, Cheng Jing simply straightened her messy sleeves and hem.

She walked back to Tu Xiuxiu, her voice breathy from the exertion. “Where do you live?”

The alley wind carried Cheng Jing’s warm breath to her.

Tu Xiuxiu paused. “Are you hurt?”

“Hardly. Where?” Cheng Jing’s voice wasn’t exactly patient; she was suppressing her anger. She found these people filthy.

And also because they had been targeting Tu Xiuxiu.

How could Tu Xiuxiu not hear the displeasure? She pointed the way.

Cheng Jing’s bodyguards were present, just back at the car. Because it was only a short walk, Cheng Jing hadn’t had them follow.

She made a call now, leaving them to handle the aftermath.

Downstairs at the apartment complex.

The lights were white and bright. Tu Xiuxiu, draped in Cheng Jing’s black trench coat, followed closely by her side.

A bluestone path.

The crisp sound of high heels echoed. The air held the scent of new plant shoots—the scent of spring, the scent of the beginning of the seasons.

“After leaving Beicheng, you seem to have gotten into even more trouble,” Cheng Jing said.

Tu Xiuxiu: “And yet, you still bother to manage it.”

Hearing that deliberate formal ‘you,’ Cheng Jing glanced at Tu Xiuxiu. It was the same tone as in the car earlier. The tone from before her eyes reddened, when she asked why she had come to the opera house.

It was like a question, a grievance, a sign of confusion, and also a rebuke.

Cheng Jing asked, “Who were they?”

Tu Xiuxiu didn’t dwell on that useless question and explained the identity and intentions of those people.

After listening, Cheng Jing’s expression darkened. She replied, “It seems this Elaine doesn’t do a very good job of disciplining her children.”

“She can control her for a moment, but not for a lifetime.”

Tu Xiuxiu said this faintly and stopped walking.

Cheng Jing stopped too.

They were right in front of a streetlight.

The light pressed down, making their gazes and expressions clear.

Cheng Jing’s emotions were unclear. She said, “But you can’t just not manage it at all.”

Tu Xiuxiu’s nose instantly tingled. With great fortitude, she held it back. She had thought she was already used to a life without Cheng Jing.

She had thought so.

“I never realized you were so delicate before.”

Cheng Jing still noticed the glimmer in her eyes. In her memory, Tu Xiuxiu didn’t cry this much.

She was also introspecting—she had never experienced this kind of almost flustered, heavy emotion before.

She thought about it and attributed it to Tu Xiuxiu’s tears. Once would have been fine, but this was the second time tonight. She hadn’t actually cried, but her reddened eyes were hard to ignore.

She kept her voice calm. “If seeing me truly makes you this upset…”

Before she could finish, Tu Xiuxiu grabbed the back of her hand.

“Didn’t you say you weren’t hurt?”

Hearing this, Cheng Jing looked down. Unbeknownst to her, a cut had appeared on the back of her hand, with a trace of blood on it.

It wasn’t serious.

But Tu Xiuxiu’s worried and slightly urgent tone made her heart falter slightly, an indescribable feeling.

It was like seeing a single, gently swaying, fragile yet verdant blade of grass in an already desolate wilderness.

“It’s nothing.”

She said.

Then, a force that was neither light nor heavy on her wrist pulled her toward the building’s entrance.

Her first reaction was to freeze for a moment, then to let it happen.

She heard Tu Xiuxiu say, “Upstairs. I’ll put medicine on it for you.”

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The author has something to say:

20 red envelopes!

Thank you for the donations, comments, and nutrient solution! I thought I could finish the Jing-Xiu extra today, but I miscalculated. It should be finished in the next chapter.

Cheng Jing: That qipao must be very cold. (In her heart): It’s beautiful.

Xiuxiu: I’ll take you upstairs to apply medicine. (In her heart): Take me. [LP: This is a pun. The phrase for “apply medicine” (上药, shàng yào) sounds very similar to “get on top of me/take me” (上我, shàng wǒ).]

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