Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 152
by Little PandaEvery Medicine Has Its Poison
Liu Yinxi raised the water bottle and suddenly stopped mid-drink.
She glanced to the side and saw Yu Yan watching her. When she looked over, Yu Yan quickly smiled at her.
Liu Yinxi smiled back, screwed the cap on, and set the bottle down.
Yu Yan asked eagerly, “What’s wrong? If you’re thirsty, drink up. Fresh herbal soup is best drunk as early as possible.”
Liu Yinxi pointed at Huang Heshan, who stood nearby with a dark expression. “I feel like if I drink this, Huang-jie will chop me into pieces.”
Yu Yan frowned and turned around. “Heshan, stop scaring Yinxi.”
Huang Heshan paused for two seconds, then turned away with visible impatience.
Yu Yan softened her expression and said to Liu Yinxi, “Go on, try it. This is my new recipe—I added some sweetness to balance out the bitterness. I think the taste is decent. What do you think?”
“Of course it’s good—anything you brew has to be good.” Liu Yinxi twisted the cap back and forth a couple of times but didn’t drink.
Liu Yinxi chuckled, picked up the bottle, and walked over to Huang Heshan’s side. “Have you tried the new soup Xiao Yu-jie brewed?”
Huang Heshan shot her a cold glance. “Heh.”
That displeased look told Liu Yinxi everything—she clearly hadn’t tried it yet. Otherwise, with Huang Heshan’s competitive nature, she would’ve said so.
Liu Yinxi unscrewed the cap and held the bottle out to Huang Heshan. “For the sake of our many successful trades, I’m offering you the first taste of Xiao Yu-jie’s new herbal soup.”
Huang Heshan looked down at the bottle in Liu Yinxi’s hand, silent.
Liu Yinxi quickly pulled the bottle back. “Never mind if you don’t want to. I thought you’d already had some. Looks like Xiao Yu-jie trusts my taste buds and judgment more!”
Huang Heshan snatched the bottle from her hand. Just as she was about to drink, Yu Yan’s voice rang out sharply: “Huang Heshan! Put that down!”
Huang Heshan stopped and turned. Liu Yinxi turned to look too. Yu Yan had come up behind them, her cheeks flushed red from the force of her shout.
Liu Yinxi lowered her lashes and curved her lips. Yu Yan was nervous.
Yu Yan took the bottle from Huang Heshan, screwed the cap on, and handed it back to Liu Yinxi. “Yinxi, we agreed this is your apology gift. It’s yours. Keep it safe—don’t worry about Heshan.”
Liu Yinxi took the bottle and moved a bit farther from Huang Heshan. “Xiao Yu-jie, is it really okay? It looked like Huang-jie really wanted some.”
Yu Yan said, “It’s fine. She has her own. Yinxi, you still need to fetch water, right? We’ve got ours, so we’ll head off first—we have lunch to make. Did Teacher Nan not come with you?”
“No, she didn’t. You two go ahead and get busy. I need to hurry back with the water too.”
“Okay, bye.”
Liu Yinxi waved at Yu Yan and watched her and Huang Heshan walk away.
A moment later, Liu Yinxi looked at the shengjin soup1 in her hand. She raised an eyebrow, tossed the bottle up and caught it twice, then set her things down to fetch water.
Huang Heshan followed Yu Yan into the woods, then stopped and said, “This morning when you were brewing the soup, you wouldn’t let me drink it—and you actually made a special one for Liu Yinxi.”
After walking only a short while, Yu Yan’s face had turned pale. She leaned against a tree and sat down, her breathing unsteady. “When we get back tonight, I’ll brew you a restorative one. The bottle I gave her—I told you, it’s her apology gift. You stole her rabbits while she was smoking out the rabbit hole. We’re in the wrong, so we have to give something back.”
“…” Huang Heshan wasn’t convinced, but she wouldn’t go against Yu Yan’s decisions.
She turned away. Her shadow fell across the ground, sparse and lonely. “You care about her, so why… why treat me like this?”
Yu Yan paused, looking up. A faint glint of moisture flickered in her bright eyes. “The one I care about is you.”
Huang Heshan was silent for a moment, both fists clenched tight, as if trying to crush something invisible.
After a long while, she quietly walked back to Yu Yan’s side and gently helped her up. “Get on my back.”
【?】
【I don’t get it.】
【What’s going on with those two?】
Don’t know2! Ever since the last airdrop, Yu Yan’s health has been getting worse and worse. She’s not as lively as before, talks less and less with Huang-jie, and whenever Huang-jie asks her something she barely responds. Feels like she’s hiding something. Yu Yan also keeps asking Huang-jie if she’s run into Liu Yinxi, asking about Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu’s movements, making Huang-jie sulky (sighing)】
【Why is Yu Yan acting like this?】
【Because she doesn’t feel well! When you’ve got a bad cold, do you have the energy to smile and chat with people?】
【Then why does she care so much about Liu Yinxi? Aren’t Yu Yan and Huang-jie really close? Don’t let them BE3 huhu QAQ】
【So the shengjin soup Yu Yan brewed this morning is Liu Yinxi’s apology gift? That’s a bit much. This is a survival competition—you don’t need to be this reasonable. People steal each other’s shelters all the time. No need to worry about taking someone’s hunting catch.】
Agreed4, I also think Yu Yan’s behavior doesn’t make sense.
【More than doesn’t make sense—it’s downright suspicious.】
【Liu Yinxi didn’t drink the shengjin soup. I feel like she noticed something fishy about it.】
【Yeah yeah yeah, Liu Yinxi didn’t drink it, and when she handed the soup to Huang Heshan, Yu Yan suddenly yelled at her to put it down—it’s obvious she didn’t want Huang Heshan drinking it.】
【Why can Liu drink it but Huang can’t?】
【Sis, you just hit the nail on the head (doge)】
【Oh my god, Yu Yan isn’t actually trying to harm our Xixi, is she?!! (terrified)】
【No way, Yuyu is a little angel ToT】
【Exactly because she seemed so kind and gentle earlier on, she’s better at tricking people later.】
【As everyone knows, the white ones are black on the inside when you cut them open (doge)】
【My read on Yu Yan: she’s about to drop out. Before she goes, she’s going to self-destruct and take someone down with her, so Huang Heshan can win. They’re on the same team anyway—if one wins, they both win.】
【Xixi, whatever you do, don’t drink that soup!】
【Liu Yinxi bringing the soup back to camp and sharing it with Nan Huaixu would be an absolute killer move.】
【Isn’t that against the rules?】
【What rules? This is all netizen speculation at this point. It’s just water boiled from plant leaves—even if it gives someone an upset stomach, the competition committee can’t do anything about it (allow me to grieve)】
【Tomorrow is the airdrop…】
【Please don’t speculate about contestants at random. Just enjoy watching the competition livestream.】
Water dripped steadily from the bottom edge of the bucket.
Liu Yinxi gripped the bucket with both hands and set it on the bank, wiping the sweat from her face. This full bucket would be enough for lunch.
She carried the bucket back to the campsite not far away. Nan Huaixu was flipping the roast rabbit to its other side.
“Classmate Xiao Liu, you took a while fetching water today.” Nan Huaixu smiled at her and patted the grass cushion beside her. “Eat first. We still have enough water to drink. The fresh batch can be boiled later.”
Liu Yinxi set down the bucket, picked up her own mess tin, and waited for Nan Huaixu to portion out the rabbit meat.
She took a deep breath. The air was full of the aroma of lemongrass-roasted rabbit—utterly mouthwatering.
“Here, your big rabbit leg.” Nan Huaixu used her knife to slide the leg into Liu Yinxi’s mess tin.
She noticed the small bottle of light brown liquid resting against the bucket. “What’s that little bottle of water?”
Liu Yinxi blew on the roast rabbit, folded a pandan leaf into a little cone to hold the rabbit leg, and took a bite. “I ran into Huang Heshan and Yu Yan while fetching water. That bottle is the shengjin soup Yu Yan gave me.”
Nan Huaixu sat back in her spot, sliced off a piece of rabbit meat, and chewed slowly. “Shengjin soup? Why did Yu Yan give you shengjin soup?”
Liu Yinxi said, “Yu Yan said Huang Heshan stole my rabbits and wouldn’t apologize, so she’s giving me this as a peace offering.”
Nan Huaixu swallowed her bite of meat and spoke with measured deliberation. “If this were the Yu Yan from early in the competition, I’d believe it. But the Yu Yan after the pearl vending machine incident—especially now in the finals stage—I don’t think she’d be this generous.”
“Someone snatched a hunt catch, that’s all. What’s there to make amends for?”
“Yep, Teacher Nan’s analysis is spot on.”
Nan Huaixu looked at Liu Yinxi. “You didn’t drink it, did you?”
Liu Yinxi smiled and shook her head. “Anything she wouldn’t let Huang Heshan drink, I definitely wouldn’t dare drink.”
They kept their voices very low, careful not to let the Robot Dog pick it up, so as to avoid any negative impact from something that hadn’t happened yet.
“You suspected the shengjin soup had something wrong with it? Then why did you accept it and bring it back?”
“I wanted them to think we both drank it.”
Nan Huaixu looked surprised. “Not bad—our Classmate Xiao Liu is ready to graduate.”
Liu Yinxi tilted her head with a touch of pride. “I’ve done Teacher Nan proud, haven’t I? But graduating is far from enough.”
Nan Huaixu patted her ponytail. “Alright, eat your meat.”
Liu Yinxi glanced at the bottle of shengjin soup leaning against the bucket, then lowered her head and focused on eating her roast rabbit.
In the Transmigration System, the original novel contained a chapter in which an alpha contestant—who, due to Liu Yinxi’s participation, did not compete this time—behaved flirtatiously and offended Yu Yan. It happened to be the day before an airdrop. Yu Yan used a small amount of castor beans to brew a batch of mildly toxic shengjin soup, feigned friendliness toward that alpha, and got her to drink it. That night, the alpha suffered nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and fever. Though she gradually recovered over two days, she missed the airdrop and was eliminated soon after.
Every medicine carries a measure of poison5.
So too are people.
Those skilled in healing also know poison.
In the original novel, Yu Yan had no strong teammate to rely on. To protect herself, she could only strike back with poison—and that flirtatious alpha got what she deserved.
What Liu Yinxi hadn’t expected was that Yu Yan would use this same tactic against her.
Liu Yinxi asked herself: she had never done anything to harm Yu Yan, had never wronged her in any way. Every trade between them had been mutually agreed upon. Why would Yu Yan go this far?
After thinking it over, Liu Yinxi could arrive at only one answer.
—Standing in the way of Huang Heshan’s victory made her a thorn in Yu Yan’s eye.
Regardless of whether it would invite resentment, regardless of whether she’d be punished, Yu Yan was determined to make Huang Heshan win.
This thorn.
Had to be pulled.
What a pity, though…
Liu Yinxi unscrewed the bottle and poured the shengjin soup out.
Sorry, Xiao Yu-jie. I’m going to have to disappoint you.
Just like you want Huang Heshan to win, I have to win with Nan Huaixu—successfully survive one hundred days.
I need the money.
And I need Nan Huaixu’s wish about love, made to the Ancient Banyan Tree King.
“Liu Yinxi, you poured it all out?” Nan Huaixu came over after putting the water on to boil.
Liu Yinxi tucked the empty bottle into the trash bag. “Yeah. I have a feeling Yu Yan is about to withdraw from the competition.”
Nan Huaixu nodded. “Yes. I get the sense she hesitated for a long time before doing this. If she weren’t at her wits’ end, she wouldn’t be so aggressive about paving the way for Huang Heshan.”
“It’s almost an honor. She sees me as a serious rival—and she’s terrified of me, which means she thinks I’m stronger than Huang Heshan.”
“Because Huang Heshan is impulsive and easy for you to outmaneuver.”
Liu Yinxi looked up. “Teacher Nan, I want to ask you for a favor.”
Nan Huaixu’s face went blank. “Hmm?”
Liu Yinxi leaned in close, cupping a hand over her lips, and slowly brought her mouth to Nan Huaixu’s ear. “This afternoon…”
Before she could finish, Liu Yinxi noticed that the smooth, round earlobe before her had turned a lovely shade of pink.
Footnotes
- A traditional Chinese herbal decoction designed to generate body fluids and relieve thirst or internal heat.
- Chinese internet slang; a homophone of 'bu zhi dao' (I don't know).
- Fandom slang derived from English 'Bad Ending,' used to describe a pairing's relationship ending badly.
- Chinese internet slang meaning 'I agree' or '+1,' originally from 'queuing up' to show solidarity with a previous commenter.
- Chinese proverb meaning all medicines carry some degree of toxicity; even beneficial remedies have side effects.
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