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

After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Alpha, I Marked the Crazy Hotshot – Chapter 90

by Little Panda

Delicately Pitiful

After finishing their shopping at the small stores, the sky grew darker.

The dwindling snowflakes also stopped. For first-time visitors to Copenhagen, this night felt as if it had entered a new season.

The lights were bright, and many storefronts and restaurants were bathed in an orange glow.

A momentary glance created the illusion of a lingering sunset.

“Yufu, why didn’t you buy anything?”

Qin Yufu, walking behind, heard Zhou-jie’s question and replied, “I didn’t see anything I liked.”

As she spoke, her gaze paused for a moment on the figures of Cheng Jiqing and Bai Xin ahead.

This was a lie. Her thoughts had just been on a message on her phone. The person Cheng Jiqing had recommended to her… she had originally thought he was just a highly skilled technician.

But when she added him as a friend and saw the name ‘Yuan Sheng,’ she was stunned.

In the tech world today, who didn’t know the name of Lan Qi’s Yuan Sheng? A company that had been on the verge of bankruptcy, yet after receiving funding, it had grown rapidly in just half a year.

A month ago, it had successfully gone public on the stock exchange.

What shocked her even more was the first message Yuan Sheng sent her: 【Hello, Miss Qin. CEO Cheng has given her instructions. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.】

For Yuan Sheng, a company director, to treat her this way—when she had now left the Qin family and her studio was still in its startup phase—was, to say the least, flattering to the point of being overwhelming.

Moreover, his attitude toward Cheng Jiqing, both in his words and between the lines, was one of utmost respect…

This was no exaggeration, as was evident from their subsequent conversation.

Qin Yufu suddenly had a bold idea—back then, Cheng Jiqing selling 5% of the Cheng Corporation’s shares had also been a well-known affair in their circle. Calculating the time… it seemed to coincide with when Lan Qi received its investment.

Previously, everyone had thought Cheng Jiqing was a profligate heir, and she, too, had once thought the same.

But now, it seemed they were all just common folk, deceived by appearances.

If her guess was true, she couldn’t imagine how many people would be shocked. And what would those people think about that ridiculous ‘kept by a sugar daddy’ scandal from the last two days?

The weather was cool, but the air was fresh.

Cheng Jiqing had her hands thrust into her overcoat pockets, discreetly taking a few deep breaths. She glanced sideways. Bai Xin was carrying a light brown paper bag, inside which was the silk scarf they had just bought.

She suspected she was overthinking things, a habit that began the moment she held that scarf.

So, these few breaths of cold air were also an attempt to calm herself. Of course, with the culprit right beside her, the effect was negligible.

“How much longer?” Bai Xin suddenly asked, her words emerging with a puff of white breath.

Cheng Jiqing was thankful she had retracted her gaze a second before. “I don’t know,” she said.

Bai Xin said, “I’m a little tired.”

Hearing this, Cheng Jiqing nearly blurted out—I told you to exercise before, but you wouldn’t listen.

Cheng Jiqing said, “It hasn’t been that long, and you’re already tired.”

Bai Xin whined, “But I just am tired.”

“…”

Cheng Jiqing’s ears must have gone numb from the cold.

No matter how cold that voice was, once a frail and coquettish tone was added, it was like stunning camellias unexpectedly blooming on a steep mountain peak.

Her heart fluttered, both panicked and captivated.

Impossible for anyone to resist.

She really wanted to say: Just talk normally. Don’t pull this act on me.

After a long pause, Cheng Jiqing announced, “The director says it’s right up ahead. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

Bai Xin, walking beside Cheng Jiqing, was carrying the small paper bag. Finding it a bit troublesome, she took the scarf out and put it in her pocket. Her head was lowered, her attention focused on the scarf.

Suddenly, her arm was gripped tightly.

She was deftly pulled aside, bumping into the other person’s shoulder.

A clear voice sounded by her ear, lowered and carrying a sexy, deep tone: “Watch your step.”

A slight tingle went through the tip of Bai Xin’s ear. She looked down and saw an uneven patch of ground ahead.

Cheng Jiqing had already let go. Just like in the past, Bai Xin gave a sweet smile and said, “Thank you, Little CEO Cheng.”

Just as she finished, a laugh came from behind them.

Qi Xiaoran said, “You two roommates are so loving. You’ve only been assigned rooms for a few hours and you already have pet names. ‘Little CEO Cheng’ sounds quite nice.” As she spoke, she revealed a smile of feigned innocence.

Bai Xin coldly retracted her gaze, having no intention of responding, completely unconcerned that a camera was right beside them.

From behind, however, Qin Yufu could clearly tell that Bai Xin’s gaze just now was the same one she used when dealing with ‘clutter.’

If Qi Xiaoran kept this up, this would probably be her last variety show.

Cheng Jiqing smiled. “Teacher Qi, the way you say that, people might think you’re implying that your relationship with Zhou-jie isn’t good.”

In reality, that last sentence had another layer of insinuation: that she and Bai Xin were putting on an act.

Qi Xiaoran’s expression stiffened slightly. She reached out to take Zhou-jie’s arm and said, “Of course not. We get along great.”

But the next second, Zhou-jie pulled her arm free. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and she made no attempt to clarify.

Qi Xiaoran’s face darkened, but catching sight of the camera in her periphery, she lowered her eyelids, putting on a hurt expression.

She said nothing more.

Seeing this, Cheng Jiqing basically had Qi Xiaoran figured out. This trip probably wouldn’t be as peaceful as the previous seasons.

With time running short, the group headed to the restaurant. It wasn’t particularly far, so they all chose to walk, continuing their sightseeing along the way.

As people who rarely had the chance to go shopping, they naturally cherished every minute of freedom.

Cheng Jiqing had never been to Denmark in her original world.

Although the world in the book was fictional, this country was likely similar to the descriptions in her world.

The restaurant was quite famous locally. There were no other customers today; the venue had been exclusively reserved to welcome them. A long table stood in the center. Before the appetizers, there was even a short, traditional local welcome ceremony.

Everyone seemed very happy.

Soon, a wide variety of dishes were served.

Most of it was seafood.

There was an especially large amount in front of Cheng Jiqing. In front of so many people and the cameras, it wasn’t appropriate to keep reaching far across the table to get other dishes.

A hand entered her view. Bai Xin picked up the oyster from in front of her and swapped it with the roasted ribs by her own side.

Then a second dish.

It would be a lie for Cheng Jiqing to say she felt nothing.

But with Bai Xin acting like this, when the show aired, unknowing netizens would surely criticize her.

The camera was right across from them. Cheng Jiqing subtly nudged Bai Xin with her elbow. Bai Xin turned her head. She had reapplied her lip gloss before leaving, and now her red lips were bewitching as they parted and closed. “This is delicious. You try it.”

Cheng Jiqing smiled slightly. “It’s fine, I can reach it. Just leave it over there.”

Hearing this, Bai Xin nodded. “Okay.”

The main reason was that she had tried the other dishes, and they weren’t to Cheng Jiqing’s taste.

Cheng Jiqing lowered her head and took a bite of the roasted ribs. The meat was savory and fresh. It wasn’t heavily seasoned, yet it maximized the gastronomic pleasure.

But her thoughts weren’t on the food.

Her lips curled slightly. With just those few words and actions, Bai Xin had actually given her the feeling of being cherished.

After dinner, the people at the table chatted for a while.

The group had indeed become much more familiar with each other than when they first arrived.

By the time they finished and boarded the bus, it was already past eight. Having just arrived today, they hadn’t fully adjusted to the time difference yet.

Everyone was still tired.

The seating on the ride back was according to the second group assignment.

Cheng Jiqing leaned against the window. Outside, many shops were already starting to close, their hours shorter than those back home.

A layer of mist had formed on the glass, thickening and thinning with each breath.

She was leaning toward the window, so she could vaguely see the reflection of the person beside her on the glass—Bai Xin was also turned, facing her.

A very strange state of mind.

She closed her eyes to rest for a moment when her phone buzzed.

It was a call from Song Ling.

It was inconvenient to talk on the bus, so Cheng Jiqing hung up and switched to WeChat.

【In the middle of filming. What’s up?】

Song Ling: 【What’s up? Don’t you check Weibo? Do you know you’re getting flamed again?】

Song Ling: 【I can’t believe this. What the hell is with this Qi Xiaoran? Did you know her before? Did she spread the previous news?】

Song Ling: 【Hurry up and deal with it! I’m so sick of seeing you get flamed every day. I can’t f#cking stand it!】

The string of messages left Cheng Jiqing baffled.

She was filming a show; how could she possibly be keeping an eye on Weibo all the time?

Bai Xin lowered her head. A message had come from her assistant, Lily, back in the country half an hour ago: 【CEO Bai, someone filmed a video of you at the airport. The content is not very favorable to Miss Cheng, and it’s currently number one on the hot search. I’ve already instructed the PR department to take it down.】

Bai Xin frowned and opened Weibo.

#ChengJiqingSuspectedOfHumiliatingQiXiaoranOnShow#

#QiXiaoranShedsTearsAtAirport#

#VideoOfQiXiaoranWipingTears#

Bai Xin’s expression was grim.

The last hashtag… the video was from that morning when they were leaving the airport. At that time, the previous “Cheng Jiqing is being kept” scandal had just broken, and Qi Xiaoran had asked her about it right in front of the camera.

Then, Cheng Jiqing had replied.

Afterward, Qi Xiaoran lowered her head, and Lu Xi patted her shoulder comfortingly.

Then, as everyone else was walking ahead, the video showed Qi Xiaoran wiping her eyes at the very end.

From the video’s perspective, it was easy to mistake it as Qi Xiaoran crying.

Bai Xin scanned the comments below.

‘This woman is so disgusting. Can Cheng Jiqing just f#ck off?’

‘What kind of backing does Cheng Jiqing actually have? Can someone dig it up? I’m getting curious.’

‘Don’t know the full story, so no comment, but Qi Xiaoran isn’t clean herself…’

Bai Xin’s gaze, stark and grim, was fixed on the first comment.

She sent a message to her assistant: 【It’s been half an hour. Do you need me to come back and take it down myself?】

Lily immediately explained that besides Weibo, there were also forums, short video platforms, and some influencer accounts. According to Bai Xin’s previous instructions, anything involving Cheng Jiqing was supposed to be nuked.

And the hashtags were to be locked.

The others were already down, but this was the second time a hashtag had trended on Weibo.

Lily: 【My apologies. The other party is also paying to keep it up. I will definitely have it taken down within half an hour.】

Before Bai Xin could ask, Lily added: 【I’ve finished looking into Qi Xiaoran’s background. I was just about to report to you. The first hot search was not directly related to her, but we can confirm that she orchestrated this one, because the person paying to boost it is her sugar daddy—a married, second-generation heir of a mid-sized enterprise.】

A mid-sized enterprise, with a considerable net worth, but compared to XM and the Cheng Corporation, it wasn’t even in the same league.

Lily: 【The PR department’s opinion is that now might not be the best time to release this information…】

They thought it would be more impactful to strike at Qi Xiaoran after Cheng Jiqing’s negative hot search had been mostly dealt with and public opinion had turned.

Bai Xin could still see that comment cursing Cheng Jiqing in her mind’s eye.

Murderous intent churned in her eyes: 【We don’t need to strike her. Make her disappear.】

…

All the way back, Cheng Jiqing’s phone didn’t stop buzzing with messages.

As she got off the bus, she even received a call from Cheng Jing.

She figured it was about the hot search. She had originally thought this show would be fine, like the previous two seasons—a chance to travel and work relaxingly. Who knew it would be one damn thing after another.

After getting off the bus, she didn’t go inside with the others, taking the call at the doorway.

She talked for a while.

“Let me handle it.”

It was quiet on Cheng Jing’s end; she could hear the rustling of documents, so she was probably in her office. Her voice was chillingly cold, suffused with a dark, murderous feeling that was vaguely terrifying. “Chengcheng, leave it to me, okay?”

Cheng Jiqing thought for a moment. “Okay.”

In the entertainment industry, there was basically zero tolerance for celebrities with confirmed cases of being a “mistress” or a “homewrecker.”

From their very first encounter at Beicheng Film and Television City, Qi Xiaoran had held a strange hostility toward her. She didn’t know how she had offended her so deeply that Qi Xiaoran would try to sabotage her time and again.

Cheng Jiqing sorted through her thoughts. Besides simply disliking her, Qi Xiaoran probably also saw her as an easy target and was using her to generate buzz. The first time hadn’t been obvious, but this time, it was clear she was stepping on her to climb higher.

However, she knew how ruthless Cheng Jing could be.

Qi Xiaoran’s acting career would be over, but she didn’t want to push the woman to a dead end. Cheng Jiqing was just about to say something.

Suddenly, someone ran over and called out to her, “Teacher Cheng… there’s a fight over there, you should go have a look!”

Cheng Jiqing’s words caught in her throat. Thinking she had misheard, she lowered her phone and asked, “Who’s fighting who?”

“Bai Xin and Qi Xiaoran.”

“…”

Cheng Jiqing’s expression changed slightly. She hastily hung up and ran inside.

Her mind was racing: With Bai Xin’s soft and delicate body, how could she possibly hold her own in a fight?!

Ten minutes earlier.

Everyone except Cheng Jiqing had entered the villa to rest.

They all returned to their rooms. After the camera crew got the necessary footage of them entering their rooms, they all went downstairs.

Bai Xin sat in her room for two minutes, her expression still grim because of the comment she’d read. She just wanted Cheng Jiqing to come in quickly and soothe the anger in her heart.

But after a few minutes, Bai Xin felt that Cheng Jiqing was taking too long on her call.

Consequently, her patience began to wear thin.

She glanced down and saw a black stain on the hem of her white sweater. Covering the camera in the room, she took it off, her aura heavy and oppressive.

The laundry room was at the end of the second-floor hall.

At this time, everyone was either resting in their rooms or taking a shower.

Bai Xin walked to the door of the laundry room with the dirty sweater. Before she even entered, she heard a low voice.

“Hubby, you’re the one who pampers me the most. You have no idea how bullied I was! If someone kind hadn’t filmed it, you wouldn’t have believed me. Cheng Jiqing is the worst, acting all high and mighty just because she has some money behind her… of course, you’re much more powerful, Hubby. Don’t worry, the rumors online about her powerful sugar daddy aren’t necessarily true, they’re just old rumors.”

“I bet it’s just someone with a little money, nothing compared to you. Besides, no one helped her take down the last hot search, so what are you afraid of this time? She only managed to get it taken down once. Hubby, can you just help me hold on a little longer?”

Bai Xin leaned against the doorway, her eyes slightly lowered, and she let out a silent smile.

All emotion had vanished from her eyes.

Inside the laundry room, Qi Xiaoran had no idea someone was outside. Of course, making this call was risky, but she had to coax the man on the other end. Otherwise, how could she get him to spend money on her?

Qi Xiaoran sniffled, putting on a tearful voice. “Today when we were out, it was the same. Cheng Jiqing and that Bai Xin were targeting me at every turn…”

“And Cheng Jiqing is so pretentious, with that holier-than-thou attitude. Didn’t she just sleep her way to the top?” The person on the other end said something, and Qi Xiaoran whined coquettishly, “Stop it, of course we’re in love for real…”

The door was pushed open from the outside.

Qi Xiaoran heard the noise and turned around, covering her phone. Seeing it was Bai Xin who had entered, her gaze was flat.

She turned back and said into the phone, “Hold on, someone’s here… Ah!”

Before she could finish, her entire body was yanked backward by the hair by Bai Xin.

Bai Xin may have been physically weak, but the explosive force of that initial yank on her scalp was more than most people could bear.

Qi Xiaoran’s scream echoed through the laundry room.

Bai Xin held on tightly, her eyes dark and vicious. “You think you’re worthy of scheming against her?”

After several seconds, Qi Xiaoran, tears streaming down her face, finally reacted and violently fought back. A Beta’s strength was less than an Alpha’s, but generally greater than an Omega’s.

Due to her constitution, Bai Xin was even weaker. After her initial all-out attack, defending herself wasn’t so easy.

A fiery pain shot through her neck—Qi Xiaoran’s nails had scratched her.

Just then, footsteps were heard outside the door.

Lu Xi was the first to enter. At that moment, Bai Xin still hadn’t let go, and Qi Xiaoran was still trying to lunge forward, only to be held back by Lu Xi.

One after another, people who heard the commotion came in.

Qi Xiaoran cried and shrieked hysterically, determined to blow the situation up. “She charged in and attacked me! I don’t know what I did to make her treat me like this! She’s had it in for me since the moment we met! Wuwuwu…”

Qin Yufu spoke up. “Just because you say she hit you, does that make it true? We can’t just listen to your side of the story.”

“Bai Xin, what on earth happened?” Director Yuwei asked.

Lu Xi hesitated. “Yeah, Bai Xin, tell us. Did you really attack her?”

Before Bai Xin could speak, Qi Xiaoran pointed at her and cried, “So you don’t dare to admit what you did?! I have no grudge against you, what gives you the right to treat me this way?! Bai Xin, I may be easy to bully, but this isn’t over!”

Bai Xin, who had been rubbing her wrist, paused and lifted her gaze.

That single glance was like a small pebble suddenly landing on a snowy peak just as a blizzard hit; everyone sensed an avalanche was imminent.

For some reason, everyone present felt a sense of danger. Even Director Yuwei was slightly suppressed by this aura.

Bai Xin’s face was all but written with the words—So what if I did?

Bai Xin’s lips parted slightly.

Just then, she abruptly heard familiar footsteps behind her, followed by Cheng Jiqing’s slightly urgent voice.

“What’s wrong?”

Cheng Jiqing entered and immediately looked toward Bai Xin. Her breathing was still unsteady, but she walked over to Bai Xin’s side without a moment’s hesitation.

Seeing the way Qi Xiaoran was crying, the battle must have been fierce. Was Bai Xin hurt?

The next second, she saw Bai Xin turn around.

The tip of her nose was red. She said nothing, yet she looked even more delicately pitiful than the one who was openly weeping.

The people around them saw this and felt something was strange—wasn’t Bai Xin’s expression completely different just a moment ago?

Cheng Jiqing’s brow furrowed. Her gaze shifted downward and immediately spotted the red scratch on Bai Xin’s neck. A flare of anger rose uncontrollably. “What happened?”

Bai Xin took a step closer to Cheng Jiqing and accused in a soft voice, “She hit me.”

The author has something to say:

Before her wife arrived.

Bai-jiejie, sharpening her knives: Scheme against my wife? I’ll end you.

After her wife arrived.

Bai-jiejie’s delicate body goes limp: Wuwuwu, wifey, she hit me.