Mistakenly Marked – Chapter 1
by Little PandaBeta
Yet spring fervor runs rampant.
“Our Teacher Xu is absolutely godlike!”
The comment section was ablaze, new messages scrolling past in a blur.
“The new album is unreal…”
“As though hearing celestial music, my ears briefly enlightened1 — I’mma have this single on repeat all day.”
“Leaving this comment as witness: this humble devotee2 shall forever follow the Living Siren.”
“Report! The lead track has already cracked the chart top three!”
“Haha, the Nanfeng production crew dropped this lead track that came with built-in buzz — they must be dying of regret now, right?”
“Hmph, it’s all because someone with a wicked heart deliberately interfered!”
“What’s the gossip?”
“Replying to the one asking for gossip above: the album’s lead track 《Crossing the Border》 was originally written as the opening theme for Nanfeng, but because a certain surnamed-Bo female megastar — who was merely a guest cameo — threw a fit with the production team and refused to let them collaborate with our Teacher Xu, the song was dropped at the last minute.”
“Even if she’s popular, having a mere guest cameo dictate the soundtrack too? Isn’t that utterly absurd?!”
“It really isn’t absurd. The head of Fuguang Entertainment — the biggest investor in 《Nanfeng》 — is surnamed Bo. Don’t tell me nobody knew that…”
“Let me bury some unripe gossip here: one of the main cast in the Nanfeng production has a massive scandal bomb. If it blows, the whole drama gets buried — no need to even air it.”
…
Same moment.
Binxi City.
The Riverside Villa Area, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.
A night heron startled into flight, skimming past the estate blazing with lights, plunging into the dense, damp cloak of night.
A mountain storm was brewing.
Yet spring fervor ran rampant.
In the lavishly appointed villa hall, a hand slick with sweat clutched at the curtains before trembling and sliding limply away.
The windows stood wide open, wind pouring in fiercely, yet it couldn’t disperse the pheromone scent coiled through the villa — still radiating, unceasing.
And not pheromones in their normal state, either.
These were the extra, runaway pheromones of Alphas and Omegas plunged into heat.
Multiple sources of pheromones mingled together, intensifying with every moment. The cloying sweetness exceeded every threshold, transmuting into a terrifying catalyst capable of driving anyone mad.
The butler’s anxious voice cut through: “Our guests’ pheromones are far too unstable. The situation will only worsen — this can’t go on…”
The pheromone meter in his hand had long since blown past normal readings.
When pheromones ran out of control, Alphas and Omegas would be forced into heat — and if left unappeased for too long, not only would the agony be unbearable, it could even damage their gland functions.
“Still can’t find any suppressants?!”
“Can’t find them…”
A maid shook her head, explaining, “This is Third Miss’s place. Third Miss… she never needed to keep suppressants on hand at all.”
The butler glanced at the servants who, being Betas, still had their wits about them.
“It’ll take too long to have suppressants delivered from the Old Residence… We can’t wait. Everyone, head out now — check if any nearby pharmacies are still open and bring back suppressants!”
He added in a low voice: “Be careful. Don’t let the paparazzi tail you, and no running your mouths once you’re out there!”
“Understood!”
The servants turned and bolted out the door. Outside, the sound of raindrops hammering down rang through.
On the mountain road under a sky of pitch-black, rain poured in sheets.
Cars sped past one after another, like streaks of meteor across the mountain night.
Then, a single streak of starlight surged against the current.
“Hm?” A servant in the passenger seat glanced at the rearview mirror, puzzled. “Whose car was that just now?”
“I think… that was Third Miss’s!”
Rain curtaining from sky to earth, a black Bentley pulled up at the villa entrance.
The driver’s door swung open. A pale, slender hand emerged, pressing down at the wrist to unfurl a black umbrella.
She stepped out of the car.
In stark contrast to the ostentatious luxury car, beneath the umbrella was a loose silver-grey tracksuit. Long, straight black hair was gathered high at the back of her head, gliding like silk through the dark.
Sneakers tread on rain-slicked ground as long legs carried her toward the chaotic villa hall.
“Back so soon—”
The butler’s words died halfway when he turned and saw who stood before him.
The newcomer folded her umbrella. Lashes, dense with damp, lifted slowly to reveal a pair of mist-dark eyes.
“What’s going on here?”
The female voice, falling soft amid a chorus of rain and ragged breathing, was instantly arresting.
Its trailing note was lazily light, its tone detached.
Like a brush dusted with snow, its bristles soft yet piercingly cold, tracing one swift stroke across the very tip of one’s heart.
The butler froze for a second before recovering. “T-Third Miss, you’re back…”
“Who told you to come here?”
The butler stammered: “Uh… it was…”
Xu Jialuo turned her head, scanning the hall where several people were slumped every which way, and found her target without effort.
She crossed in a few strides, grabbed the collar, and hauled the person up.
The Xu family’s Second Daughter, Xu Shangning, was dragged upright.
Xu Shangning had barely opened her eyes when the overhead light rippled, spilling across the features of the person before her.
Like an ink painting, languid and evocative, set upon raw xuan paper — stark in its contrasts of black and white, a few understated strokes, yet everything around it, every painstakingly gilded luxury, dimmed in comparison.
But it was not the delicate, soft-pretty sort.
The features ran deep, carrying a touch of handsomeness. Long, dense lashes, black as crow feathers, drooped along slightly downturned outer eyes.
Distinct lines — gentle yet piercingly cool.
Below, the track jacket’s zipper was pulled all the way up, cinching a long, pale-cool neck, ruthlessly concealing every trace of tender spring allure.
Xu Shangning hadn’t fully sobered yet, still hazily appreciating the beauty before her.
Until the warm-red lips parted, and Xu Jialuo asked softly: “Jie, having fun?”
“…!”
The drunkenness dropped by more than half in an instant. Even her pheromones, which had flared under enticement, settled for a moment.
Xu Shangning’s eyes went wide. The Great Director Alpha who had, not long ago, been delivering a composed acceptance speech on an awards stage, now cried out as if she had seen a ghost:
“Luo… Luoluo… why are you back?! Didn’t Zou Wan… go to the gym to block you off and drag you to a gathering?”
“Mm.”
Xu Jialuo replied. One hand braced against the wall above Xu Shangning’s head as she leaned in slowly.
Her eyes curved slightly — a smile that didn’t reach them.
“If I hadn’t come back to check, how would I know what Great Director Xu was up to in my house?”
Xu Shangning: “…”
The moment she smiled, the repelling cold on that face vanished instantly.
A hint of sharp canine showed at the corner of her lips. Her features melted warm — rakish and unself-conscious, devastatingly alluring without trying.
But Xu Shangning was sober now, and not foolish enough to mistake it for genuine delight.
She glanced upward.
The hand braced against the wall above her — the same hand that commanded all manner of instruments, the hand fans called divinely crafted — had its slender joints drawn taut, tendons stark and defined.
Xu Shangning tucked her chin, narrowing her fox eyes into a forced grin. “Haha… this place is close to the awards venue, so after the ceremony, I figured I would bring everyone over for a drink…”
“Miss Jialuo, this time it really wasn’t Miss Shangning deliberately causing trouble!”
The butler hurried over, helping explain:
“A guest unexpectedly entered heat, and their pheromones just exploded… Most of the guests had been drinking and were in poor condition. Influenced by that guest, the pheromones cascaded out of control one after another — which is how it ended up like this…”
“Phew…”
An Alpha guest who had been pinned down by Xu Shangning lost his restraint and surged to his feet.
It was the rising new actor from a currently hot film, the same one who had been bowing and scraping before Director Xu Shangning not long ago.
Now he was a completely different person — eyes unfocused, breathing ragged.
An Alpha in pheromone rampage differed from an Omega craving appeasement.
Alphas typically turned volatile and aggressive, easily driven to extreme acts.
Tearing at his collar, the new actor’s eyes turned bloodshot. Like a beast scenting prey, he pivoted toward an Omega actress on the sofa and lunged.
“Hey!”
The new actor bared his teeth, about to sink them into the Omega’s nape gland. Xu Shangning cried out in alarm, but she was in no shape to intervene — too drained to stop him.
Xu Jialuo straightened up. A step ahead of the butler, she reached toward the rampaging Alpha.
“Careful!” Xu Shangning warned quickly. “An Alpha in rampage is violent, he’ll fight bac—”
Before “fight back” could leave her mouth, Xu Jialuo’s hand fell without an instant’s hesitation — her wrist, smooth as cold jade, struck the Alpha’s nape in a flash.
The Alpha went rigid and crumpled.
Out cold on the spot.
“…”
Xu Jialuo withdrew her hand, pulled a wet wipe, and expressionlessly cleaned her wrist before glancing back at Xu Shangning with cool indifference.
Xu Shangning shut her mouth and silently shrank her neck again.
Xu Jialuo saw it. She pretended she hadn’t.
She knew Xu Shangning far too well. This was how she had been since childhood — every time she pulled some outrageous stunt, she would put on that cringing, scared look.
When in truth, she was already itching to do it again next time.
“Mmm…”
The Omega guest on the sofa who had narrowly escaped rolled off the edge and onto the floor, reaching out to wrap her arms around Xu Shangning’s waist.
Drunk and driven by pheromones, she tipped her head back, nuzzling her face against the gland on Xu Shangning’s nape.
Xu Shangning: “Hiss—!”
The butler rushed forward and steadied the guest, giving Xu Shangning the chance to scramble away.
The Omega pouted in displeasure, then caught sight of Xu Jialuo standing nearby. Her eyes lit up. Layer upon layer of clinging pheromones surged toward Xu Jialuo, draping over her.
But before long, the Omega’s gaze dimmed: “What the hell? Someone this alluring-looking, and she turns out to be a useless—”
“What nonsense!”
Not caring about getting entangled, Xu Shangning lunged over and clamped a hand over the Omega’s mouth, shooting Xu Jialuo a nervous look.
As if she hadn’t heard a thing, Xu Jialuo unhurriedly bent down, picked up the slipped sofa cushion, and hauled the unconscious Alpha back onto the couch.
Long lashes cast a small shadow across her pale face, framing a speck of ink-dark beauty mark at the corner of her eye. Those dark pupils betrayed not the slightest emotion.
The Omega was still struggling when a car pulled up at the villa entrance. Several servants came running out with bags: “Got the suppressants!”
To prevent the guests from congregating and worsening the chaos, the butler had earlier ushered some of them into separate rooms for quarantine.
The servants fanned out in a rush to deliver suppressants to the guests in their rooms.
A maid sprinting upstairs was in too much of a hurry and missed a step.
A hand braced against her lower back, steadying the maid who had nearly fallen. The hand withdrew as soon as she found her footing.
The maid looked back, grateful. “Th-thank you, Miss Jialuo.”
Xu Jialuo replied with an “Mm” and said, “Give me a few suppressants. Where else do they need to go?”
The maid handed over several vials, even more grateful. “If you would, please — there are still some guests in the rooms on the third floor. Three Alphas in the three rooms on the west side, and two Omegas in the two rooms on the east.”
“Mm.”
Xu Jialuo took the vials. Her long legs took the stairs two at a time as she passed the maid and headed for the third floor.
The air was saturated with pheromones, growing denser the closer she got to the third floor.
A scent, piercing as frost yet beguilingly sweet — ice-chilled cherry — kept spilling from the room at the end of the third-floor hall.
The pheromones of an S-class top-tier Omega, carrying near-tyrannical authority, smothered every other Omega’s — even every Alpha’s — scent on the floor, sweeping through the entire corridor like a gale.
Footnotes
- 如听仙乐耳暂明 | rú tīng xiān yuè ěr zàn míng | A line from the Tang-era poem 'Song of the Pipa' by Bai Juyi, humorously parodied by a fan to convey enraptured delight.
- 信女 | xìnǚ | A Buddhist term for a female lay devotee, humorously repurposed here by a fan to express fervent, almost religious devotion to her idol.
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