Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 39

At the End of the Day, She’s Still Just an Alpha in Her Early Twenties

Nan Huaixu’s gaze on Liu Yinxi was perfectly calm.

But inside, her mind was racing.

            

Liu Yinxi’s susceptible period was here.

No wonder she had no energy and didn’t want to walk too far to find a place to build a new shelter.

The songs she was singing were either “If Love Forgets” or “Loving You Until My Heart Aches.”

            

At the end of the day, she was still just an alpha in her early twenties.

The changes in her pheromones must have been making her sentimental, nostalgic for a past love.

Nan Huaixu lowered her eyes slightly, a hint of understanding and sympathy softening her expression.

            

Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu held a strange, three-second staring contest before Liu Yinxi abruptly looked away. She walked to the edge of the sleeping platform and held out her hand. “Teacher Nan, I had it in my pocket. It must have fallen out when I was lying down.”

Nan Huaixu placed the medicine in her palm. Liu Yinxi quickly curled her fingers around the small foil packet and stuffed it into a pocket of her hardshell jacket.

Liu Yinxi sat by the fire and began to scale the fish, the blade scraping against the tiny scales with a soft, rustling sound.

            

Nan Huaixu leaned into the shelter but didn’t smell any alpha pheromones. Logically speaking, an alpha in their susceptible period who had been in a relatively enclosed space for so long should have left at least a faint scent.

Nan Huaixu sat up straight and started a conversation. “You’re actually a pretty good singer.”

Normally, Liu Yinxi would have been thrilled to hear such a compliment from Nan Huaixu. But for some reason, ever since Nan Huaixu had asked if she was “missing her ex,” she felt incredibly awkward talking about singing with her.

            

“Why did you stop?” Nan Huaixu asked.

Muddle-headed, Liu Yinxi gave a completely unrelated answer. “My song library is empty. I don’t know what to sing.”

She was like a machine that had been scaling fish at RT-Mart¹ for ten years. Scrape, scrape. Scritch, scritch.

            

Having rested, Nan Huaixu felt the soreness in her shoulders and calves recede. She got up, walked over to the fire, and took out her mess tin to boil some water for dinner.

One of them sat on the left of the fire, the other on the right.

Liu Yinxi scaled four fish. Two would be for soup, two for grilling.

            

She put the cleaned fish into the boiling water to remove the fishy smell when Nan Huaixu spoke up out of the blue. “Liu Yinxi, if you need anything these next couple of days, just tell me.”

Plop.

The piece of fish fell right into the boiling water, sending a spray of scalding droplets flying. Liu Yinxi flinched back as the hot water hit her.

            

She dodged away, looking at Nan Huaixu in a fluster. “Ah?”

Wh-what kind of needs am I supposed to tell Nan Huaixu about?

Seeing her fumbling, Nan Huaixu immediately realized she hadn’t been clear. “If you feel unwell or if it’s inconvenient for you, just let me know so I can give you space,” she explained. “Also, leave all the work to me for the next two days. I’ll go out to boil salt during the day. You can just rest in the shelter.”

            

Liu Yinxi understood.

Nan Huaixu had seen the alpha inhibitors and thought she had already entered her susceptible period, so she was showing her some humanitarian concern.

Thank you, Captain.

            

But she was just feeling irritable; she suspected it was coming soon, but it hadn’t arrived yet. There was no need to stay in the shelter and recuperate.

Even if it did come, it wouldn’t affect her survival activities. On the contrary, a large amount of exercise would help distract her and calm the restlessness in her body.

But how could she let the Captain’s thoughtful concern go to waste?

            

Liu Yinxi replied obediently, “Oh, I understand. Thank you for your concern, Teacher Nan. I’ll be careful not to disturb you. Other than being a little irritable, my physiological period has very little effect on me. I can work as usual.”

Generally, the stronger a person’s constitution, the less they were affected by their physiological period. Plus, with inhibitors, it wouldn’t be a major problem.

Although Nan Huaixu’s opinion of Liu Yinxi had changed drastically, it was a fact that Liu Yinxi had often been sick over the past three years. She herself had even picked up fever medicine for Liu Yinxi on her way to grab some documents once.

            

Nan Huaixu couldn’t help but add worriedly, “In any case, just be careful. You’re always telling me to watch my health and balance work with rest. The same goes for you. It’s fine if we move the shelter a little later. Don’t push yourself. Just tell me the direction of the big river and the markers along the way. I can go scout the path myself.”

Liu Yinxi nodded. She had also planned to take Nan Huaixu to familiarize herself with the area around the Toa River once she found a suitable location.

Her voice softened. “Teacher Nan, if yours comes, you have to tell me too, okay?”

            

Nan Huaixu froze for a second, then cleared her throat and replied with a serious expression, “I’m fine. I’ll let you know if anything happens.”

Liu Yinxi’s lips curved into a smile. “Okay.”

Regarding their physiological periods, Liu Yinxi had a plan.

            

With inhibitors, she barely felt her susceptible period and slept soundly. As long as Nan Huaixu didn’t mind, she could just hang a curtain of leaves down the middle of the sleeping platform, and it would be over in two or three days.

Omegas valued their privacy more than alphas during their physiological periods, so Liu Yinxi planned to go camping by herself when Nan Huaixu’s heat arrived.

If it happened before the move, Liu Yinxi could just spend the night by the Toa River, which would make it easier to scout for a new site and save her from running back and forth over such a long distance.

            

If it happened after the move, Liu Yinxi planned to build a larger, two-room shelter this time. Then they would both have their own private space, and privacy would no longer be an issue.

【Manman telling Liu she could tell her if she ‘needed anything’ scared the hell out of me!】

【Me too! My poor little heart is still pounding 0v0】

            

【The way Manman and Liu Yinxi talk about their periods… why do I feel like I’m watching a couple of elementary school lesbians²? (laughing)】

【It’s good that they’re open about it. Much better than being all hesitant and awkward. It’s a normal physiological phenomenon, people need to stop looking at it through colored glasses.】

【But Liu Yinxi didn’t take the medicine, did she? (scratching head) Did I miss something?】

            

【She didn’t. She probably just estimates that her susceptible period is coming soon, but it’s not here yet, so she’s carrying the medicine with her just in case.】

【Rational discussion³, are these inhibitor pills effective? I always get shots. My doctor suggested I find a girlfriend and stop relying on injections because they can damage the glands. Pills are supposed to be much less harmful, but I’ve tried them twice and they didn’t seem to do anything?】

【@QingzhiXiao, sis, you might have high pheromone sensitivity, so regular inhibitor pills are less effective. I recommend a high-concentration tablet. It works much better, it’s just more expensive.】

            

【Liu Yinxi’s singing is hilarious. As expected, a heartbroken alpha sings sad love songs with more feeling (crying-laughing emoji)】

【If love forgo…】 【STAHP!】

【So Liu Yinxi still can’t get over Ying Luoling? QuQ】

            

【Please no, Luo is over there making googly eyes with Xue Yunshao every day.】

【Sorry to break formation⁴, but Xixi, can you show me that bucket of coconut cream? Has the oil separated yet? Omg I need to see it!】

【Xixi, hurry up and find a good spot for the new shelter! I want to see the new little home. How about considering a toilet this time? Every time I see you and Teacher Nan squatting in the bushes, I get so worried a snake is gonna bite your butts.】

            

【Uhh… (speechless)】

Tonight’s dinner was grilled fish and shrimp with mullet and seaweed soup.

Nan Huaixu ate her cassava with the grilled fish, taking a sip of soup whenever her mouth felt dry.

            

She ate with such refinement, breaking off small pieces with her hands, unlike Liu Yinxi, who ended up with crumbs all over her face.

Nan Huaixu popped a piece of fish into her mouth and asked, “What about that thing you were making with the coconuts?”

Liu Yinxi wiped the cassava crumbs from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. “It’s not ready yet.”

            

“Does it take a long time?”

“My initial estimate is three or four days, but it depends on the situation. I can’t be sure.”

Nan Huaixu had noticed a new, short wooden rack behind the shelter, with a plastic bucket sitting on top of it.

            

“Is it that thing behind the shelter?” she asked.

Liu Yinxi snapped her fingers. “Yup~”

Nan Huaixu hummed in acknowledgement, then said jokingly, “When you’re asleep, I’ll go take a secret peek.”

            

Liu Yinxi: “?”

“Nan Huaixu, you can’t! It can’t be opened. It’ll be ruined if air gets in.”

Fermenting things absolutely could not be exposed to air.

            

Nan Huaixu let out a soft laugh and quietly began to peel a grilled shrimp.

Liu Yinxi watched her, her eyes narrowing slightly. “You’re teasing me again.”

Nan Huaixu gave her a so-what-if-I-am look—a rare flash of cockiness that didn’t fit her elegant goddess persona.

            

Liu Yinxi put on a wronged expression. “I still haven’t settled the score with you for tricking me about the snake fruit being sweet.”

Nan Huaixu said leisurely, “The competition is long. Take your time thinking about how you want to settle it.”

After nightfall, Liu Yinxi lay in her small corner of the sleeping platform, glancing over in Nan Huaixu’s direction three or four times.

            

With her gaze so intensely fixed on her from such a close distance, it was hard for Nan Huaixu not to notice.

She rolled over and called out to her. “Go to sleep. I was really just joking with you. I won’t touch your mysterious little bucket.”

Liu Yinxi let out a sigh of relief and turned to face the wall of the shelter. “Good night.”

            

Nan Huaixu folded her hands over her waist and closed her smiling eyes.

“Good night.”

Ten minutes later.

            

The sound of rustling clothes came from the dark shelter.

“Liu Yinxi, are you asleep?” Nan Huaixu had turned onto her side. A faint glimmer of firelight occasionally filtered through the leaf curtain, landing on her face.

“I’m asleep,” came a small voice from the other side.

            

Nan Huaixu rested her hand against her cheek, her lips curving up. “Then who was that just talking to me?”

“The sleep-talking elf.”

“Then can the sleep-talking elf sing me a song? I can’t seem to fall asleep.”

            

“Why can’t you sleep?”

“I don’t know. Maybe mine is coming soon, too.”

A bad mood from an impending physiological period could explain a lot of things.

            

“…Captain, please choose a song.” It was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

Nan Huaixu thought for a moment. “Sing your best one.”

She added, “I don’t want to hear any sad love songs.”

            

“Liu Yinxi, I like sweet songs. The kind about mutual love, about being perfectly in tune with each other.”

Liu Yinxi cracked an eye open, vaguely seeing the glow of the campfire. “Your tongue likes sweet things, and your ears like sweet things too, huh?”

She had been on the verge of sleep when the soul-summoning voice had called out, dragging her consciousness back to reality.

            

Being woken up was awful, but the voice that had hooked her was just too beautiful. She had no choice but to swallow her frustration.

Nan Huaixu’s voice wasn’t loud, but it echoed clearly in the small space of the shelter. “My whole person likes sweet things.”

Liu Yinxi considered her own singing voice to be mediocre at best. She could carry a tune, but her rhythm was terrible. She didn’t understand why Nan Huaixu wanted to hear her sing.

            

Liu Yinxi searched her brain for a song that met Nan Huaixu’s requirements and softly began to sing:

Sweet as honey, you smile so sweetly?⁵

Nan Huaixu: “…”

Liu Yinxi took her silence as a sign that she was enjoying it, listening with rapt attention, and so she let her voice soar:

            

In my dreams, in my dreams I have seen you,
Your smile is so sweet…

Nan Huaixu rolled over, turning her back to her. “Okay, stop singing. I’m going to sleep. Not another sound.”

Liu Yinxi: “?”

            

Wasn’t Nan Huaixu the one who said she couldn’t sleep and wanted to hear a song? Why the sudden change? And from her tone, did she find her annoying?

“Okay. Sweet dreams.” Though Liu Yinxi didn’t understand, she was exhausted and quickly drifted off to sleep.