Scum A with a Sweet Black Lotus O – Chapter 97
by Little PandaAdding Scenes
【Cough cough cough!】
Even the System couldn’t hold back, 【So filial, so filial!】1
At the Fu residence.
In terms of appearance, the one most similar to Fu Chaoyun should be her older sister, Fu Lingfeng—though chronologically speaking, it should be said that she resembled Fu Lingfeng.
However, the color of their eyes was different. Fu Lingfeng took after their Omega dad, Gu Huaiyi, while Fu Chaoyun took after Madam Fu.
Mentioning it like this almost made it sound as if Madam Fu didn’t uphold Alpha virtue.
Madam Fu was inexplicably caught in the crossfire2 and had her reputation ruined3.
Pei Xuezhi also coughed lightly to smooth things over. Although their relationship wasn’t confirmed yet and she hadn’t met the parents, discussing elders like this was always inappropriate.
“Maybe I saw wrong.” Pei Xuezhi tried to steer the conversation back. “Actually, they’re not that similar…”
The Alpha had just turned her head when suddenly her phone rang. As she answered, Pei Xuezhi saw the caller ID showed “Dad Gu”.
“…”
How could it be such a coincidence?
Fu Chaoyun’s train of thought was peculiar4, always capable of saying shocking things, and her relationship with her mother didn’t seem too harmonious either. Pei Xuezhi quickly mouthed for her not to say anything reckless.
“Are you coming back for dinner today?” The phone was connected to the car’s speakerphone, and Gu Huaiyi’s gentle voice came through, audible to Pei Xuezhi as well.
At this moment, the cars ahead were slowly starting to move. Fu Chaoyun turned her head to glance at Pei Xuezhi. “Not coming back. No need to make my portion.”
“Alright.” On the other end, Gu Huaiyi’s voice was gentle with a hint of amusement. “With Xiao Pei again today?”
Xiao Pei was the way he referred to Pei Xuezhi. Since their relationship wasn’t settled yet, the elders couldn’t be too intimate with their address, otherwise it would seem disrespectful and wouldn’t be good for Pei Xuezhi’s reputation.
“Mhm.”
One could faintly hear a hint of laughter in Fu Chaoyun’s voice, and Gu Huaiyi chuckled as well.
“Eating at home or out?”
“At home.”
Father Gu smiled. “Good thing Ah Yun knows how to cook.”
Afterward, the two chatted idly about household matters for a few more sentences. Pei Xuezhi listened but never spoke up.
“Ah Yun, you should give your family the lowdown5. So, what stage have you two actually reached? When are you bringing Xiao Pei home for a meal, or maybe our two families’ parents could…”
“It’s still too early.” Fu Chaoyun, who had been listening quietly, suddenly interrupted.
Father Gu was taken aback for a moment and wanted to say more, but Fu Chaoyun cut him off directly, “Dad, I’m driving. We can talk later if there’s anything else.”
“…Actually, it’s nothing important. Sigh, just make sure you know what you’re doing.”
“Thanks, Dad. I know very well.”
Before hanging up, they could faintly hear Madam Fu’s voice from the other side, “Just don’t worry about her. Can’t even manage a relationship properly after all this time. Tsk, so useless!”
Fu Chaoyun: “…”
She recalled that Madam Fu’s own romantic path back then wasn’t exactly smooth either, she mused. Isn’t this just carrying on the family tradition!
It was gradually approaching the evening rush hour, and the roads were getting congested. Fu Chaoyun turned her head to look-look6 at Pei Xuezhi.
“Don’t take what my dad said just now to heart.”
Pei Xuezhi’s expression was indifferent: “Mhm.”
“That stuff about meeting the parents…”
“So Jiejie plans to keep me as her underground lover for life?”
Their voices abruptly overlapped.
Fu Chaoyun had been choosing her words carefully, but when she looked up, she saw that the color in Pei Xuezhi’s eyes seemed to have deepened somewhat.
She paused, realizing Pei Xuezhi had misunderstood something. But there were things Pei Xuezhi hadn’t mentioned, things the current Fu Chaoyun wasn’t supposed to know yet. She could only probe tentatively.
“Of course not. So… what are Zhizhi’s family members like?”
By now, Pei Xuezhi had also realized her reaction. She gave Fu Chaoyun another look but continued along the topic the other had started.
“I’m from a single-parent family, raised by my mother. My mother was also an Omega. She took very good care of me. Then, when I was in high school, she passed away unexpectedly.”
Pei Xuezhi’s mother died young; this was all written into the plot back then. It was precisely because of this solitary background that the scum Alpha of the past had found it so easy to take her by force and plunder7.
Fu Chaoyun knew this already, but hearing Pei Xuezhi recall it now, she still felt something catch in her throat, even in her heart.
“…Sorry.”
“It’s nothing.” Pei Xuezhi said lightly. “It was a long time ago.”
It really was nothing.
In her memory, although Pei Xuezhi was raised by that mother, even though they supported each other, due to personality reasons, their mother-daughter bond wasn’t very deep. Coupled with the fact of her rebirth, all the past events had faded significantly. Recalling them now always felt like another lifetime, even giving rise to the absurd illusion that it was “just a character setting”.
Fu Chaoyun secretly glanced at Pei Xuezhi’s expression. “Then… what about the other people left in Zhizhi’s family?”
“Back then, my mother insisted on being with that person. By the time she gave birth to me, she had already cut ties with her family.”
“All these years, neither that person nor my mother’s side of the family has ever looked for me… I suppose I’m not needed by either of them anymore.”
The current Pei Xuezhi was truly and utterly alone. When she spoke of these things, Pei Xuezhi’s gaze was faint, as if she truly didn’t care anymore, but Fu Chaoyun still unconsciously reached out to hold her hand.
“You are needed.” Her throat moved, and the earnest words tumbled out, “I need Zhizhi.”
Pei Xuezhi looked over at her too, and smiled slightly.
Her cool and elegant face instantly became as radiant as peach and plum blossoms.
Compared to her, Fu Chaoyun had family, friends… everything could be described as happy and fulfilled. Adding a lover would certainly make things better, but even without one, everything she already possessed wouldn’t leave her excessively lonely.
“Jiejie~” Pei Xuezhi called out.
She had misspoken.
—It wasn’t Fu Chaoyun who needed Pei Xuezhi; it was Pei Xuezhi who needed Fu Chaoyun.
Wanting to go from being all alone to entering the other’s rich and colorful world, becoming a part of it, and also the most, most important member.
Fu Chaoyun had no way of knowing these thoughts at the moment. The Alpha merely looked over, carefully and perplexed.
Pei Xuezhi placed her hand over the back of Fu Chaoyun’s, squeezing it gently. “I’m saying this to tell Jiejie that I can make my own decisions completely on my side.”
Boom.
It was as if Fu Chaoyun’s head exploded in that instant, but Pei Xuezhi had already let go and turned back, no longer continuing the previous topic.
“The road’s clearing up. Drive.”
“Oh.”
Fu Chaoyun responded almost woodenly, like a robot, completely following the other’s command, one action per instruction.
However, the road hadn’t completely cleared; it was still stop-and-go. During a pause, she couldn’t help but look at Pei Xuezhi’s beautiful face again.
“Focus. I don’t want to get into an accident here.”
Fu Chaoyun was just about to refocus.
“As for when I get promoted to official status…”8
Pei Xuezhi said this while glancing sideways towards her, the corners of her eyes lifting slightly. Her originally cool face suddenly took on an indescribable9, alluring quality.
“That will depend on Jiejie’s performance.”
Fu Chaoyun’s mind short-circuited10. “Performance during the susceptible period?”11
“…”
The moment the words left her mouth, her own cheeks flushed red first, while Pei Xuezhi maintained a calm posture, glanced over again, hooked a finger lightly, her voice becoming ambiguous.
“That can be considered one of the assessment criteria, I suppose.”
Today, they went to Fu Chaoyun’s place.
During this period, Fu Chaoyun had mostly been the one going over to Pei Xuezhi’s rental apartment. This was only the third time Pei Xuezhi had come to Fu Chaoyun’s separate residence.
Bringing her back today was done under the guise of12 not playing favorites with the children; Da Bao and Er Bao also needed to cultivate their relationship.
Pei Xuezhi slanted a glance at a certain someone, not exposing her.
—How exactly were a cat and fish, creatures in a food chain relationship, supposed to cultivate feelings for each other?!
Even though it was just a temporary resting spot visited occasionally, Fu Chaoyun’s place here was a spacious split-level apartment, covering an area of over two hundred square meters [over 2150 sq ft]. Normally, an hourly cleaner had to be hired for cleaning. Even though the furnishings in Pei Xuezhi’s small rental had been changed again and again, it still couldn’t compare to this place.
The original decor here leaned towards a minimalist, leisurely style favored by young people. Now, with a huge cat villa and cat tree placed there, along with a large fish tank nearby, it no longer seemed so cold and detached, having gained a bit more of a homely atmosphere13.
The fish tank, with its running water and miniature landscape, was excessively luxurious. Those twelve little goldfish really seemed unable to fully enjoy such extravagance.
Looking from afar, the aquatic plants were bigger than the fish; one couldn’t even clearly see what exactly was being raised inside.
After asking about the feeding frequency, Pei Xuezhi added a little bit of feed into the feeding trough. When she tapped her fingertip on the glass wall, a little goldfish actually chased over to bite it.
Naturally, it bit nothing.
“Are you planning to raise them until they’re big?” Pei Xuezhi smiled and asked.
“Let’s try.” Fu Chaoyun said, her voice surprisingly coming from right beside her, accompanied by a “Meow.”
Pei Xuezhi was momentarily startled.
Turning her head, she saw Fu Chaoyun holding Nao Nao, extending the cat’s paw into the fish tank, saying in an enlightened tone, “Nao Nao, come, say hello to your big brothers and sisters. You have to get along well in the future, okay?”
“Meow-wu~!”
Pei Xuezhi: “…”
Pei Xuezhi quickly scooped the kitty out. Relying on Fu Chaoyun to educate children was clearly not feasible. Although Nao Nao had already been taught to get along with the little goldfish, and they had even watched countless episodes of Animal World, putting them together physically still required Pei Xuezhi to repeatedly instruct14 Nao Nao not to open its mouth and eat its big brothers and sisters, turning them into a real family unit.
The cute kitty finally had its paws wiped clean and was placed on the cat tree to play. Pei Xuezhi and Fu Chaoyun then had dinner together.
The traffic jam on the way had lasted quite a while. Dinner was made by the auntie15, and it tasted pretty good.
After finishing the meal.
Fu Chaoyun started clamoring again about giving Nao Nao a bath. “It ran around outside today, its pawsies16 got dirty.”
“Wiping them is enough.”
“But… it was so hot outside, it sweated! It must be washed!!”
Only then did Pei Xuezhi look up.
All small animals with abundant fur dislike baths, and Nao Nao was the same. Fu Chaoyun’s repeated insistence at this moment gave off the distinct impression of using public office for private revenge17.
Was it just because Nao Nao had been held by someone else during the day?
Unable to dissuade the stubborn Alpha, Nao Nao was still caught and taken to the bathroom. Pei Xuezhi, worried, followed along.
As a result, while rinsing, Fu Chaoyun “accidentally” splashed water onto Pei Xuezhi’s clothes, soaking them too.
“Sorry, sorry. Then Zhizhi should take a bath too?”
“…”
If Pei Xuezhi couldn’t tell by now that Fu Chaoyun was doing this intentionally, then her title as the Gaokao top scorer would be utterly undeserved!
Nao Nao was held by that person, and then she held Nao Nao, so now even she had to be washed clean together.
This time, Fu Chaoyun unexpectedly showed a degree of possessiveness.
It was what Pei Xuezhi desired, yet when the other person was immersed in this emotion, she seemed… somewhat unlike herself.
Pei Xuezhi gazed deeply at her, watching until Fu Chaoyun felt a little unnerved, finally pulling the smug Alpha closer.
Her voice was intimate and bewitching.
“Is Jiejie trying to play the wet look seduction18 game?”
The part of Pei Xuezhi that got wet was precisely the front bodice. Now, the thin fabric clung to her body, instantly revealing her curves, faintly showing the fairness underneath, whiter than frost and snow19. Fu Chaoyun glanced over and immediately pushed Nao Nao’s head down.
Little kitties shouldn’t see such things!
Meeting Pei Xuezhi’s eyes, which seemed both enticing and provocative20, the Alpha pondered briefly, then tossed all her scruples21 to the wind after a moment22.
“Mm… that’s not entirely out of the question?”
…
When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer23.
The little kitty meowed weakly, ultimately forced by the two despicable adults to finish its bath. After its fur was blow-dried, it was sent into the huge cat villa.
Simple, unadorned, and dull24.
Pei Xuezhi was also forced to take a bath. When she came out, she had changed into new clothes—this was only her third time here at Fu Chaoyun’s, so she didn’t have spare clothes; she was wearing Fu Chaoyun’s.
The two were similar in build.
This was a form-fitting dress in a tender green color, making the Omega’s complexion appear even fairer. Her waist was cinched finely, and below, her legs were straight. She looked so pure and tender it seemed like water could be squeezed from her skin.
Yet, her beautiful white neck and even her collarbones were exposed. Her dark hair was pushed back, revealing the small mole on her collarbone.
It couldn’t be hidden.
Because she already knew what intense, deep color it would turn if repeatedly tormented.
Fu Chaoyun had also bathed. The two carried the same fresh scent of shower gel. Their limbs brushed slightly, creating a somewhat flirtatious ambiguity, yet both maintained their composure, currently sitting on the sofa enjoying the large TV opposite them.
Because Pei Xuezhi was going to act in a crime suspense drama, the movie playing opposite them was also of the same genre.
Pei Xuezhi once again asked about the script revisions.
“What?” Fu Chaoyun suddenly turned her head, her fingertip tilting Pei Xuezhi’s chin up. Her eyes swept over her, but her tone shifted completely.
“…Not satisfied with your current screen time, huh.” [LP: Specifically, the roleplay s%x]
For a moment, Pei Xuezhi didn’t respond.
Not far away in the living room, the twelve little goldfish were still swimming carefree, creating ripples of light on the water, while the little cat Nao Nao played with a roly-poly toy in its villa, its fluffy fur trembling.
The only big cat here, however, moved closer to Pei Xuezhi. Her amber eyes narrowed, revealing a hint of ambiguous, sly danger. Finally, those red lips drew near, pressing close to the Omega’s ear.
“If you want to add scenes…”
Her fingertips traced the small mole on Pei Xuezhi’s collarbone, her eyes darkening in silent seduction and suggestion.
The kind most common in the entertainment circle.
“Miss Pei, you know what to do.”
The author has something to say:
Mmm, without the pressure of word count updates, I seem to write more smoothly… Everyone, good night, see you tomorrow =3=
Footnotes
- 太孝了 | tài xiào le | Lit. “too filial”; Often used ironically or sarcastically online to comment on actions towards parents/elders.
- 躺枪 | tǎng qiāng | Lit. “lying down shot”; Slang meaning to be implicated or blamed for something unrelated.
- 名誉扫地 | míng yù sǎo dì | Lit. “reputation swept onto the floor”; Meaning completely discredited or ruined.
- 脑回路清奇 | nǎo huí lù qīng qí | Lit. “brain circuit strange and unusual”; Slang describing someone who thinks in unconventional or unexpected ways.
- 透个底 | tòu ge dǐ | Lit. “reveal the bottom”; To tell the truth, give the full details, or let someone know the real situation.
- 看看 | kànkan | Look-look; Repetition softens the tone or indicates a casual action.
- 强取豪夺 | qiáng qǔ háo duó | Lit. “forcefully seize and violently plunder”.
- 转正 | zhuǎnzhèng | Lit. “turn regular/official”; Often used for probationers becoming full employees. Here used metaphorically for a relationship becoming official/serious.
- 说不清道不明 | shuō bu qīng dào bu míng | Lit. “cannot speak clearly, cannot explain clearly”; Indescribable, hard to articulate.
- 脑袋一抽 | nǎodai yī chōu | Lit. “brain twitched/jerked”; Slang for having a sudden, impulsive, or nonsensical thought; a brain fart.
- 易感期 | yìgǎnqī | Lit. “susceptible period”; In ABO settings, often refers to an Alpha’s period of heightened instincts/pheromones, similar to a rut.
- 美其名曰 | měi qí míng yuē | Lit. “beautify its name saying”; To give something an attractive-sounding name or justification, often deceptively.
- 烟火气 | yānhuǒqì | Lit. “smoke and fire aura”; The feeling of everyday life, warmth, domesticity, a lived-in atmosphere.
- 耳提面命 | ěr tí miàn mìng | Lit. “pull ears and instruct face-to-face”; To earnestly and repeatedly instruct or admonish.
- 阿姨 | āyí | Auntie; Can refer to a relative, an older woman, or commonly, a domestic helper/nanny.
- 爪爪 | zhuǎzhua | Paw-paw; Cute way of saying paws.
- 公报私仇 | gōng bào sī chóu | Lit. “use public duty to avenge private enmity”; To exploit one’s position or a public pretext to settle a personal score.
- 湿身诱惑 | shī shēn yòu huò | Lit. “wet body seduction”; Refers to the alluring appearance of someone in wet clothes.
- 欺霜赛雪 | qī shuāng sài xuě | Lit. “surpasses frost and rivals snow”.
- 勾人撩情 | gōu rén liáo qíng | Lit. “hooking people, stirring feelings”.
- 节操 | jiécāo | Moral integrity, principles, scruples; Often used humorously online to mean ‘sense of shame’ or ‘limits’.
- 须臾 | xūyú | A moment, an instant (classical term).
- 城门失火，殃及池鱼 | chéng mén shī huǒ, yāng jí chí yú | Lit. “city gate catches fire, calamity affects pond fish”; An idiom meaning innocent bystanders get caught up in trouble. Here humorously adapted to 池喵 (chí miāo – pond kitty).
- 朴实无华且枯燥 | pǔshí wúhuá qiě kūzào | Simple, unadorned, and dull/dry; Became an internet meme, often used ironically to describe a luxurious or enviable life as mundane.
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