After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Alpha, I Marked the Crazy Hotshot – Chapter 108
by Little PandaThe Matter of Being Pregnant 1
Why aren’t you kissing me yet?
In the spring, Cheng Jiqing took on a new drama.
It was called 《Adult-Fairytale》, a story about a separation due to a misunderstanding, and finally, a reunion like a broken mirror made whole again1.
Tong Yanxi had shown her the script and had been the one to connect her with the director.
Today, after meeting the director, Tong Yanxi happened to message her to ask about the script, so they arranged to meet at a nearby Japanese restaurant.
Cheng Jiqing was in a good mood. Tong Yanxi ordered a 3% alcohol peach cocktail for her, and it tasted quite good after a sip.
Only then did she remember to report her location to Bai Xin.
Bai Xin was still in a meeting, listening to a subordinate’s quarterly report. Her fingernails, painted with a powdery-white polish, tapped on the screen as she replied to Cheng Jiqing’s message.
【You’re not allowed to drink.】
Cheng Jiqing nearly choked. She suspected Bai Xin had installed a tracking device on her.
She took a picture and sent it: 【Just a little bit, it’s not strong at all.】
This amount was fine for her.
“Could you consider other people’s feelings for a second? Being so lovey-dovey even while having a meal.”
Cheng Jiqing looked up. “How did you know?”
Tong Yanxi propped up her chin. “If you’d just rein in that ‘fallen in love’ expression of yours for a moment, I wouldn’t be able to tell who you were chatting with.”
Cheng Jiqing pressed her smiling lips together, suppressing the natural curve of her mouth, and feigned a serious expression. “So, how are things with you and Doctor Tang?”
At these words, Tong Yanxi’s eyes flickered, and she lowered her gaze, taking two sips.
Sake. She couldn’t taste much of anything.
Drinking too much could sometimes make a person numb.
“Just so-so.”
“It’s been months. Doctor Tang isn’t cutting it, huh.”
Tong Yanxi nodded. “Right, she just can’t cut it.”
Cheng Jiqing was amused.
She wasn’t usually such a gossip, but she was genuinely curious about these two. The feeling Tong Yanxi and Tang Jia gave her was that of a pair of bickering lovers.
Before she and Bai Xin had broken up, these two had already been getting back in touch. For some reason, they were still stuck in a rut even now.
She kindly sent Tang Jia a message.
【Doctor Tang, you’re no good.】
Tang Jia: 【?】
“Don’t be fooled by how proper she usually seems. It’s all an act.”
Perhaps because she’d had a couple of drinks, Tong Yanxi’s floodgates opened.
Cheng Jiqing put down her phone. “For instance? She seems quite proper to me.”
Tong Yanxi: “Have you ever met a proper person who asks someone to pretend to be their girlfriend on their second meeting?”
Cheng Jiqing paused for a moment.
She hadn’t encountered that, but she had encountered someone who wanted to marry her after not even two meetings.
Tong Yanxi poured herself another full glass of sake, seemingly in the mood to reminisce. She huffed lightly, “Actually, from the time we got together to our divorce, it was all pretty much a joke.”
The alcohol slowly took effect in her body. Tong Yanxi scoffed.
She thought of her first meeting with Tang Jia, and it was as if, in a flash, she was back in that afternoon…
She was a sophomore then, during a winter of withered grass and trees.
She had just broken up with her first girlfriend and was at a low point.
And Tang Jia was the cool and aloof department beauty from the medical school next door.
She had seen her on the website during the campus beauty selection. She was indeed beautiful; that was her only impression of Tang Jia.
The heartbroken are inevitably drawn to more philosophical things. At the time, she was fascinated by Valla and Bruno and had signed up for a philosophy elective.
Tang Jia walked in, dressed in a long black dress, with short hair, looking beautiful and sharp. Her skin, illuminated by the light, was so fair it seemed to glow.
She sat down next to her amidst the envious gazes of the crowd.
She had never imagined that the person beside her would be so closely intertwined with her for so many years to come.
That was, in the truest sense, her first meeting with Tang Jia.
She had also asked Tang Jia why, with so many empty seats, she had chosen the one next to her.
Tang Jia had said, “I don’t know. I just saw you at a glance.”
The second meeting.
The snow was especially heavy that day, like torn cotton wadding.
Tong Yanxi, a backpack on her shoulders and an umbrella from the bank in her hand, stood by the roadside trying to light a cigarette, but the wind and snow extinguished it several times.
The umbrella rested crookedly on her shoulder. The cigarette wouldn’t light, but the umbrella was nearly blown away by the wind.
She was very annoyed.
A fair hand reached out from under her umbrella, helping her hold it steady.
Tang Jia naturally took the umbrella and held it over her head. Only then did she realize this Alpha department beauty2 was very tall.
Tang Jia glanced at the cigarette in her hand and asked, “Need help lighting that?”
The question was unexpected.
At least 95% of people would have started with, “Smoking is bad for your health.”
While holding the umbrella, Tang Jia deftly pulled a lighter from her own pocket, then lowered the umbrella and leaned toward her.
The wind and snow gusted, and a clear, cold scent drifted over.
Carrying a spark of fire in the snow, she drew near.
That day, Tang Jia walked her home.
And that day, standing by the creaking iron gate of her house, blown by the wind, Tang Jia asked, “Perhaps this might sound a bit abrupt, but could you do me a favor?”
“What?”
“I need a girlfriend… This isn’t harassment, I just wanted to, if possible, ask you. If this makes you uncomfortable, then just pretend I never said it.”
Tang Jia’s explanation in between was that there were too many people around her.
She wanted her campus life to be a little quieter.
Tong Yanxi asked again, why her?
Tang Jia said, “I don’t know. I just had a feeling I could discuss it with you.”
Tong Yanxi: “…”
Hearing this, Cheng Jiqing’s eyes widened slightly. “Doctor Tang actually did something so scummy in the past?”
Tong Yanxi raised an eyebrow. “So your current impression of her is a misunderstanding. That person is no proper lady.”
“Truly, a person can’t be judged by their appearance.”
Cheng Jiqing passed her glass over to clink with Tong Yanxi’s.
Tong Yanxi took a sip of her drink and continued, “So she deserves to be scolded.”
At the time, she had refused directly.
She even cursed, “Are you sick in the head?”
But because of this incident, she got to know Tang Jia.
They weren’t in the same department, yet they always managed to run into each other in different places: the cafeteria, the sports field, the philosophy class.
As they met more often, they gradually became familiar.
Only then did she learn that Tang Jia’s words weren’t entirely baseless. Tang Jia was a medical genius, quite famous throughout the entire college.
Tang Jia fit the bill for what most people sought in sapiosexuality3.
There was no shortage of girls around her; even her advisor wanted to introduce his own daughter to this prized student.
By the second year, their relationship had become very close.
One morning before the school term began.
Tang Jia, in the early morning hours from abroad, called her. She didn’t know how it came up, but then she very suddenly asked her—How about you be my girlfriend and help me out?
It was early in the morning, and her mind was still foggy.
Her first reaction wasn’t to refuse, but to ask, “Oh, what’s in it for me?”
Tang Jia replied, “Anything. Whatever you want, as long as I have it, I’ll give it to you.”
Over the phone, the wind whistled softly.
There was the sound of rain on the other end.
And Tang Jia’s low, soft call: “Tong Yanxi?”
After that name was called.
She became Tang Jia’s girlfriend.
Tong Yanxi said, “Thinking back, it was all a joke from the very beginning. Including our marriage later on…”
Before graduation, she and Tang Jia were walking on the university’s sports field, circling the red track twice without either of them speaking.
On the third lap.
Tang Jia stopped and asked her, “Should we get married?”
If dating Tang Jia was impulsive, then Tang Jia proposing marriage, and her accepting, was absurd.
So their eventual divorce became a foregone conclusion.
After listening, Cheng Jiqing was silent for a few seconds.
“Were you unhappy after getting married?”
“Though we were married, it was more like we were just partners sharing a life.” Tong Yanxi waved over a waiter and ordered another bottle of sake.
Cheng Jiqing advised her not to drink too much, but Tong Yanxi waved her hand. “It’s not like you don’t know my tolerance.”
Bai Xin had also said back then that in their partnership marriage, it was Tang Jia who fell in love first. But later they discovered that, in fact, both of them had feelings.
Looking at it now, the divorce seemed to be more a matter of misunderstanding, didn’t it?
She didn’t ask.
Tong Yanxi said, “That person is inherently boring, holed up in her research lab all day. She’s only home three or four days a week, comes back late, and we don’t have much to talk about.”
Marriage was not the fairytale one imagined.
Only then did she realize that she and Tang Jia had skipped too much of the adjustment period.
Just like in university, the time they truly spent together, if you calculated it carefully, wasn’t much.
The attraction between them was merely due to that little bit of specialness in the other person.
Therefore, when unforeseen cracks appeared, they intensified, turning their lives into a mess of chicken feathers4.
Cheng Jiqing: “So you didn’t divorce because your feelings fell apart.”
A trace of self-mockery appeared on Tong Yanxi’s carefree face.
She drank another glass.
“It should probably still count as falling apart,” Tong Yanxi said faintly. “For us, in our sensitive state at the time, feelings were something that existed if you said they did, and if you said they didn’t, they were gone.”
This was the first time Cheng Jiqing had seen this side of Tong Yanxi.
Within those eyes, there seemed to be the world’s purest, and also most complex, emotions.
Cheng Jiqing noted a word in her sentence—at the time.
Did that mean the misunderstanding in their hearts had been resolved, and they still hadn’t reconciled only for certain reasons?
There was definitely more to the story, but Cheng Jiqing didn’t press further.
The topic gradually shifted.
As they were about to finish, Tong Yanxi poured the last pot of sake into her glass.
“Don’t drink too much,” Cheng Jiqing reminded her.
“Relax, I won’t make you carry me even if I get drunk.” Tong Yanxi said with a ‘cheh’ sound. “Those hands of yours have a name, and it’s Bai. That one’s a killer.”
Cheng Jiqing: “…My wife isn’t that petty, nor is she that fierce, okay?”
“Doesn’t your conscience bother you when you say that?”
“She’s already being very magnanimous by letting me drink with you.”
“…”
Tong Yanxi looked at Cheng Jiqing’s 3% alcohol drink with an expression of disbelief. “You call that alcohol?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Cheng Jiqing took a sweet-tasting sip. She insisted, “My wife has a very good temper now.”
The low-alcohol peach wine wouldn’t make one drunk, but the taste of alcohol spread across her taste buds, creating a pleasant, numbing sensation.
It was comfortable.
“Do you know the biggest difference between your wife who’s too frail to care for herself and Lin Daiyu5?”
Cheng Jiqing: “?”
Tong Yanxi: “Lin Daiyu buries flowers; your wife chops down trees.”
Cheng Jiqing: “…”
Just as Cheng Jiqing was about to argue that her Miss Bai didn’t have the stamina to chop down trees, the door to their private room was pushed open from the outside.
Cheng Jiqing turned her head, a pleasant surprise in her eyes. She said warmly, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be done until eight?”
“It ended early.”
Bai Xin walked to Cheng Jiqing’s side, her hand naturally resting on her shoulder, her fingers unabashedly pinching Cheng Jiqing’s ear.
She then glanced at the drinks on the table. “Finished eating?”
Across from them, Tong Yanxi’s eyes were about to roll into the back of her head.
Cheng Jiqing nodded, holding Bai Xin’s hand. She smiled, “Mhm, are you hungry? The sushi here is pretty good, want to try some?”
Bai Xin: “Don’t want to eat. I’m tired. Go home?”
Tong Yanxi knocked on the table. “Oh my god, you two, just go already. I can’t take it anymore.”
The moment she heard ‘I’m tired,’ Cheng Jiqing was already on her feet.
She wrapped an arm around Bai Xin’s shoulder and said to Tong Yanxi, “Come with us, we’ll give you a ride.”
“Do I look like I have no tact?”
“She has a ride,” Bai Xin said.
Cheng Jiqing and Tong Yanxi both paused.
There was another soft sound from outside the door. Tong Yanxi turned her head to see Tang Jia entering, looking like she had just rushed over.
In the parking lot, two cars were parked one behind the other.
Cheng Jiqing opened the passenger door and waved goodbye to the pair in the car ahead.
Once in the car, she took off her hat and mask, then checked Bai Xin’s expression.
She reached out and touched Bai Xin’s forehead. “Very tired? Otherwise, let’s not drive. We can call a designated driver6.”
Bai Xin shook her head.
It was too much trouble. It was only a twenty-minute drive, and after a long day of work, all she wanted was to go home and have some tender moments with Cheng Jiqing.
Cheng Jiqing’s heart ached a little; she felt that Bai Xin hadn’t been looking well these past two days. “We should still go to the hospital tomorrow to get it checked, just to be safe.”
Bai Xin had a delicate constitution and was naturally in poor health. She had also been working overtime frequently recently. Who knew where all those blood-enriching supplements she drank had gone.
“Your heart aches for me?”
“Who else would my heart ache for? If you’d said you could finish early, I would have come to pick you up today.”
Bai Xin leaned back in her seat, turned her head, and her cool voice was a little soft. “It was a last-minute change. I was thinking about you drinking, and I couldn’t even focus in the meeting…”
“Miss Bai, you can’t blame me for what happens in your meeting.”
“Why can’t I?”
Bai Xin said, “After you sent me that picture, my mind was filled with images of you being drunk.”
Cheng Jiqing had only had one drink, and her cheeks were already a little red. After Bai Xin’s words, they grew even hotter.
Others might not know what that meant, but she understood it better than anyone.
She said, “Don’t go flirting recklessly in the car.”
“What if I do?”
Bai Xin leaned over. Her fair, captivating features, illuminated by the dim yellow light, exuded a vintage charm.
Bai Xin’s gaze landed squarely on Cheng Jiqing’s lips, a nakedly seductive look. Once Miss Bai had an idea in her head, all that remained was bold action.
“Why aren’t you kissing me yet?”
Bai Xin’s lips curved slightly. The upward tilt of her eyes made her look less like a cat and more like a fox at that moment.
Her lips parted deliberately, waiting for Cheng Jiqing to come to her.
The alcohol had plunged Cheng Jiqing’s mind into a state of comfort, her temples throbbed faintly. Without a shred of restraint, her hand reached around the back of Bai Xin’s neck—
Then, she slyly moved past Bai Xin’s lips, landing on the gland on her neck.
Having had a drink, even a low-alcohol one, made Cheng Jiqing’s lips feel feverish. As her lips neared the soft, delicate skin, Cheng Jiqing’s teeth ground slightly, causing Bai Xin to tremble lightly.
In this setting, she ultimately didn’t get too carried away.
Cheng Jiqing lifted her head and whispered in her ear, “You said you were tired just now, but now you have the energy to provoke me?”
The breath tickled Bai Xin, stirring a restless heat within her. Her palm cupped Cheng Jiqing’s cheek. “When I see you, how could I possibly feel tired—still, let’s call a designated driver.”
She hadn’t felt it on the way here, but the moment Cheng Jiqing held her, she felt lazy.
She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on driving.
In the end, they called a designated driver.
On the way, Cheng Jiqing held Bai Xin. The person who had been so energetic just a moment ago was now resting quietly on her shoulder.
They chatted about Tang Jia and Tong Yanxi, unanimously agreeing that their reconciliation was only a matter of time, depending only on when they could resolve the knots in their hearts.
Bai Xin had always been a poor sleeper, but after a few sentences, she actually fell asleep.
When they arrived downstairs, she woke her up. Bai Xin’s morning grumpiness flared up a little. She frowned and stretched her hands toward Cheng Jiqing. “You carry me.”
She was in a half-asleep state.
Her voice was raspy.
Cheng Jiqing leaned down and kissed Bai Xin’s forehead, then lifted her up. “Did you eat dinner? Is it low blood sugar? Are you dizzy?”
Bai Xin mumbled, “Can’t eat.”
Cheng Jiqing carried her up. Once upstairs, perhaps not sensing a fever, she still took her temperature, which was normal.
Bai Xin’s sleepiness took over, and even her bath was handled by Cheng Jiqing.
When she got this clingy, Cheng Jiqing was helpless.
All she could do was spoil her.
After the bath, she carried Bai Xin and slipped into the covers.
The spring night wasn’t particularly warm. Because they had just bathed, their bodies were still warm, and getting into the slightly cool quilt brought a hint of chill.
And the fragrance of the post-bath body wash.
Bai Xin’s drowsiness eased a little.
She wrapped her arms around Cheng Jiqing’s neck, her nose rubbing incessantly. It was the smell of alcohol. “What kind of wine?”
“Peach cocktail,” Cheng Jiqing said, lowering her head. “Want a taste?”
Her fingertips hooked the person’s chin, and she fed it to her with her mouth.
It was just a light taste; she could feel Bai Xin’s fatigue.
Cheng Jiqing pulled the person into her arms. “Time to sleep.”
Bai Xin bit her collarbone. “Kissing and not taking responsibility?”
Cheng Jiqing let out a muffled grunt. Bai Xin was wearing a slip dress, her leg pressed against hers, her whole body soft and boneless. It was hard for her not to feel anything.
“You’re very tired today, let’s not do it…”
Bai Xin had originally wanted to tease her a bit more, but Cheng Jiqing saw through her. She held the person tightly. “Be good, wifey.”
She had made some congee earlier, but Bai Xin hadn’t even had two bites. She really couldn’t bear to tire her out.
Bai Xin actually quieted down.
She was indeed a bit tired, both mentally and physically. She didn’t know why, she just felt exhausted.
The next day.
Cheng Jiqing got up early, re-cooked the seafood soup Bai Xin liked, and boiled some white fungus soup.
Bai Xin still had no appetite. She would feel sick to her stomach and nauseous after just a few bites.
Cheng Jiqing didn’t dare to delay for a second and pulled her straight to the hospital.
Early morning, the peak of rush hour.
There was a light, drizzling rain, and the roads were heavily congested.
Bai Xin looked at the gridlocked traffic ahead. “I don’t have some incurable disease, do I?”
Cheng Jiqing: “…What nonsense are you spouting?”
The sky was gloomy, and Bai Xin didn’t notice Cheng Jiqing’s slightly pale face.
“What if?”
Cheng Jiqing took a deep breath, her mood suddenly souring, but fearing Bai Xin would overthink it, she said patiently, “There is no ‘what if.’ It’s impossible.”
“Is anything in this world ever certain?” Bai Xin wasn’t in good spirits, and her discomfort, which worsened in the morning, made her thoughts more sensitive. “Will you find another woman then?”
Having just made a smooth turn, Cheng Jiqing slammed on the gas and pulled into a temporary parking spot a short distance ahead.
The car stopped abruptly.
Bai Xin looked over in surprise, only to have her mouth tapped, not too lightly and not too heavily. There was no pain at all.
But the person who tapped her was frowning, which made her whole demeanor seem very displeased.
“You just try saying that nonsense again.”
Bai Xin was stunned. She could still feel the touch of the palm on her lips. She pursed her lips and fell silent.
In the past, she would never have thought about these things. Life and death were not that important to her.
But after having Cheng Jiqing, she had a weakness, a fear.
She was afraid that this frail body would drag her down, preventing her from spending a long life with Cheng Jiqing.
She was afraid that one day she would leave early, and Cheng Jiqing’s kindness would be transferred to another woman.
The mere thought of this was already unbearable.
“Nothing will happen.”
A clean and certain voice pierced the air, landing in Bai Xin’s heart.
Cheng Jiqing cupped Bai Xin’s face, her thumb rubbing the soft cheek. “And there won’t be any other woman. You’re not allowed to let your imagination run wild anymore. You’re just too tired recently and haven’t rested well.”
She stroked Bai Xin’s hair again. “We’ll go to the hospital and see how to get you back in shape.”
Bai Xin stared at Cheng Jiqing.
Cheng Jiqing said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
Bai Xin nodded.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the hospital.
After a round of tests, Tang Jia held the report, looked at the couple’s somewhat grave expressions, and was speechless for a moment.
“…Besides getting sick, have you two ever considered the matter of being pregnant?”
The author has something to say:
20 red envelopes.
Thank you for the tips, comments, and nutrient solution.
Chengcheng: Let me think, when did this happen?
Bai-jie: I don’t know when it happened either, but in any case, you did it.
Footnotes
- 破镜重圆 | pò jìng chóng yuán | A chengyu, literally “a broken mirror made whole again.” It describes the reunion of a couple after a separation or breakup.
- The term used is alpha系花 (xìhuā). 系花 is slang for “department beauty/belle,” the most attractive girl in a school department.
- 智性恋 | zhìxìngliàn | The Chinese term for sapiosexuality, an attraction to intelligence.
- 一地鸡毛 | yī dì jī máo | A popular modern idiom literally meaning “a floor full of chicken feathers.” It describes a life filled with trivial, messy, and annoying troubles.
- 林黛玉 | Lín Dàiyù | The famously beautiful, intelligent, but chronically ill and melancholic female protagonist of the classic Chinese novel ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’.
- 代驾 | dàijià | A popular service in China where a sober driver comes to your location to drive you home in your own car.
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