Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 133
by Little PandaDo Not Use This Medicine After Drinking Alcohol
Had it not been for the alcohol’s fragrance giving it away, the clear liquid in the mess tin would have been indistinguishable from water.
Nan Huaixu leaned in to sniff. A wisp of white mist curled up, and Liu Yinxi quickly pulled her back. “Hot.”
Nan Huaixu smoothed her hem and sat up straight, rubbing her nose. Even her voice had gone nasal. She whispered to Liu Yinxi, “To drive out the chill? You shouldn’t drink with a cold. And this… you’re watering it down to make fake.liquor.”
Liu Yinxi set down the stirring spoon and looked at her, amused. “Those brandy milk teas add water and sugar too, don’t they?”
“What they sell is milk tea. The brandy is just a flavoring.”
“I’m not selling anything. It’s mainly hot water. Rainy nights get cold, and a tiny bit of alcohol warms you up. But you’re right — you shouldn’t drink. I’ll have it.”
Nan Huaixu hurriedly said, “I’m just sneezing. I don’t have a cold. I can have a little.”
Liu Yinxi took in her craving expression and couldn’t hold back a laugh. “What if it gets worse?”
Nan Huaixu cleared her throat. “I’m fine. You’ve diluted it with so much water and heated it to evaporate — how much alcohol could possibly be left? It’s weaker than those brandy milk teas.”
“Alright, alright, I got it.” Liu Yinxi urged her to drink the medicine. “After you drink it, sit by the fire pit a while longer and sweat it out.”
Nan Huaixu held the bottle and drank the herbal decoction — brewed from a prescription Yu Yan had prepared. She pinched her nose and downed it in one gulp, then stuck out her tongue in distress. “So bitter.”
Liu Yinxi handed her a plate of peeled mango slices. “Good medicine tastes bitter. Have something sweet to wash it down. But don’t eat too much — sugar produces phlegm.”
Nan Huaixu didn’t want her illness to cause trouble either. She ate two slices of mango to get rid of the bitterness in her mouth and stopped there.
She took out the wooden comb Liu Yinxi had made and smoothed out her damp hair.
“Don’t we need to prepare for the rain this time?” The night was dark, and Nan Huaixu could faintly smell the moisture in the air.
Liu Yinxi moved the mess tin away from the fire pit. “Our shelter is built solidly. Drainage ditches are dug all around, and we’re not short on food or firewood.”
She asked Nan Huaixu, “What else do you think we need? Still thinking about catching fish?”
“Not really.” Nan Huaixu gathered up her hair and lay back on the wooden planks, letting it spread out. “Maybe the last rainstorm that collapsed our shelter left me with a shadow. I always feel like we haven’t prepared enough.”
“Don’t worry. I guarantee this shelter won’t collapse.”
Past eight o’clock that evening, a few raindrops fell first, then the rain came pouring down in sheets.
Liu Yinxi sat on the first floor of the shelter, looking out by firelight. The heavy curtain of rain blocked the view.
Wind blew rain into the shelter. Liu Yinxi lowered the blinds made of banana leaves and bamboo strips one by one, blocking most of the driving rain.
Nan Huaixu, worried about her chills worsening, stayed by the fire pit and didn’t move until Liu Yinxi finished lowering the blinds and sat back down.
She picked up the spoon on the small wooden table. “Can I drink this now?”
Liu Yinxi glanced at the warmed alcohol-water in the mess tin. “It’s been ready for a while. Scoop up a spoonful and taste it. Don’t drink too much.”
Yuan Fang’s shaodaozi1 was quite strong. Sometimes when the fish smelled too fishy, Liu Yinxi would use a little to marinate the meat.
Nan Huaixu nodded and scooped up a little with the wooden spoon to drink. “It smells fragrant, but it barely has any taste. Liu Yinxi, did you add too much water?”
Liu Yinxi laughed. “I only added a little for flavor. It smelled strong before because the bottle was just opened.”
Nan Huaixu was a little disappointed. “Oh.”
The wilderness was truly starved of flavor. There was the sweetness of wild fruit and the saltiness of sea salt, and occasionally she could find wild pepper and such seasonings, but compared to industrially produced goods, the difference was enormous. So even the taste of alcohol, which she normally didn’t care for much, was something Nan Huaixu now craved.
Liu Yinxi feared that Nan Huaixu would be like she was with sweets — once that addict.ion kicked in, she couldn’t stop — so she hurriedly finished off the rest of the warmed alcohol-water.
Nan Huaixu saw her move and frowned. “First time I’ve seen you guard your food like that.”
Liu Yinxi had drunk herself full and patted her belly. “This isn’t guarding food. It’s preventing gluttony.”
Nan Huaixu raised an eyebrow. “Gluttony? It’s just you and me here. So you’re guarding against me?”
“Heh heh.” Liu Yinxi smiled but didn’t answer. Obviously, she wasn’t going to say something that would offend.
【What are they eating?】
【So stingy. What’s wrong with sharing more with Manman? Won’t even let her drink water.】
【Looks like some kind of plant drink Xixi made. They’re whispering, so we can’t hear either.】
【Probably some herbal medicine. Didn’t Xixi say it’s for driving out the chill?】
【It’s really raining now.】
【Rain in the rainforest is normal. The competition period is already during Jinzhou Island’s drier months.】
【Such a pity. If only Manman had caught fish successfully yesterday. Their food reserves would be plentiful (power)】
【Having lizard is pretty good too~】
【And there’ll be a batch of compensation food after the rain. I’m so curious what that wild woman — even darker than Huang Heshan — will give Xixi and the others 0v0】
【Huang Heshan: ?】
【My Huang-jie catches a stray even lying in her shelter (laugh-cry)】
【By the way, is that sex.y wild woman an alpha?】
【Looks like it hahahaha!】
【Yu Yan is sick, Nan Huaixu ran into danger, and only Ying Luoling has nothing happening to her. She can really lay low.】
【Ying Luoling still hasn’t been eliminated. That I did not expect.】
【Xue Yunshao is truly miserable (allow me to grieve)】
【I saw the announcement — starting from the next airdrop, eliminated guests return to the livestream as guest commentators.】
【Ahhhh they’re finally bringing it back. I thought they weren’t doing this event anymore.】
【I want to see Yuan Fang’s sharp commentary on Liu Yinxi (doge face)】
【I want Yunshao back QAQ】
【Looks like the competition will wrap up next month.】
【I can’t wait anymore. Xixi, you’ve got this!】
【Gogogo~ Huai-Liu, go go go!】
The heavy rain fell densely for over an hour, and the surrounding temperature dropped sharply.
Though the first floor had the fire pit for warmth, there were no walls on the sides — only the blinds. The wind made it colder. The second floor was more enclosed, so they still had to sleep upstairs at night.
Liu Yinxi held out her hand. “Teacher Nan, let me see the back of your hand.”
Nan Huaixu extended her hand. “What is it?”
Liu Yinxi lightly touched the back of her hand and quickly pulled back. “You’re warm. Let’s go upstairs and rest. The wind down here is getting stronger.”
“Okay.”
Nan Huaixu walked to the stairs between the first and second floors and asked Liu Yinxi, “Where are you going?”
Liu Yinxi stepped on the wooden planks laid over the mud and walked into the side shed outside the shelter. “I’m going to put a few more stones under the storage rack, in case the drainage isn’t good and the crates get damp. Teacher Nan, you go up first. I’ll be right there.”
Nan Huaixu said, “Then hurry up.”
Before going upstairs, Nan Huaixu looked around the first floor, slung on her backpack, and brought it up to the second floor with her. Every night before sleeping, they checked that their most important supplies were on them — the medical kit, satellite phone, and emergency food like protein bars and beef jerky.
Rainy days brought more mosquitoes. Nan Huaixu lit a bundle of mosquito-repelling dried grass and hung it in the small loft on the second floor. She turned on the bracelet’s small light, carefully checked inside the mosquito net for insects, cleaned it out, and only then crawled in. She applied herbal ointment to her skin and lay down.
Nan Huaixu listened to the patter of rain on the roof for a while. Her palms and back felt a little hot. A faint sweat was breaking out, and her whole body was warm.
She loved this kind of warmth. She narrowed her eyes and stretched. She had wiped herself down and washed her hair that evening — clean and refreshed and comfortable.
Though she had faced danger during the day, being able to sleep warmly and comfortably in the heavy rain at night was a kind of healing.
Nan Huaixu closed her eyes in a pretense of sleep. The moment she relaxed, her mind began racing with jumbled thoughts about the day’s events.
She wasn’t deliberately thinking about it — more like many images jumped unbidden before her eyes.
Like the moment in the lake, when Fei Tuoma looked at Liu Yinxi and asked her: Your alpha?
Like when Liu Yinxi found her and said loudly: Teacher Nan is a very important person.
Did she and Liu Yinxi look like they had that kind of relationship?
If not, why would Fei Tuoma ask it that way? Why not say “friends”?
If so, would it seem to onlookers that Liu Yinxi had feelings for her?
Thinking about it, Nan Huaixu’s lips curved upward. She pulled up the hood of her windbreaker and buried her face in it.
She wondered what the livestream viewers thought. She suddenly had a strong urge to go online and see how the comments and bullet-screen posts evaluated her and Liu Yinxi.
Thud. Clang. Thud.
Vibrations from the stairs came from below the bed platform.
Nan Huaixu opened her eyes and rolled over to look at the second-floor entrance. The wooden board creaked open, and Liu Yinxi poked her head up and climbed in. She brought the smell of rain with her on the wind.
“Teacher Nan? I thought you were asleep.” Liu Yinxi crawled into the mosquito net, zipped it shut, and took off her jacket to cover herself. “How is it? Is it cold here? If it is, I can make a small torch.”
Nan Huaixu lay back down and continued listening to the rain patter on the roof. “Not cold. Better not start a fire up here. It’s not safe.”
“Okay.”
With another person’s body heat, the cramped loft immediately grew warmer.
“Haaah…” Liu Yinxi yawned. “So sleepy. Good night, Teacher Nan.”
“Good night.”
Nan Huaixu closed her eyes. She could clearly sense a new scent in the air.
A faint, calming, delicate fragrance.
Few alphas had this kind of light, gentle scent. Most carried a certain aggressiveness.
Liu Yinxi’s pheromones were different. It was the most pleasant scent Nan Huaixu had ever encountered.
Very soothing…
Late at night, the quiet rainforest was enveloped in heavy rain.
A night without starlight. Everything was pitch-black.
Nan Huaixu woke from a humid dream drenched in sweat, frowning and panting. The mosquito net was filled with a sweet locust flower2 scent.
So annoying. It was always when she was sleeping.
Nan Huaixu bit down on the knuckle of her index finger and exhaled a few hot breaths. She reached into her backpack and fumbled around. Because the rainy night was so dark, it took her a while to find the small, square paper box. She took it out carefully.
When she retrieved the pill, the metal foil made a faint rustling sound. Nan Huaixu instinctively looked at Liu Yinxi beside her — her breathing was even, fast asleep.
Nan Huaixu breathed a small sigh of relief and placed the pill in her mouth.
The moment her tongue touched the pill and the bitterness spread, she suddenly thought of something. Troubled, she turned on the bracelet’s small light and illuminated the label on the medicine box.
Contraindication: Do not use this medicine after drinking alcohol. Otherwise, severe adverse reactions may occur, causing severe gland3 pain.
“…”
Nan Huaixu spat out the suppression medication and clenched it in her fist.
Footnotes
- Shaodaozi is a type of high-proof Chinese distilled liquor, historically associated with northern China. The name literally means 'knife-burning,' referring to its fiery, throat-scorching potency.
- Locust flower (huaihua) is the blossom of the Chinese scholar tree (Sophora japonica), known for its delicate, honey-like fragrance. The character 'huai' (槐) also appears in Nan Huaixu's given name.
- In the Omegaverse genre, glands are biological structures on the neck that produce pheromones.
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