Becoming a Scum A in an Old-School Melodramatic Novel - Chapter 28

Lin Qinghan and the others had all left. She turned on the exhaust fan in the lounge and pursed her lips as she silently stared at Shen Xian, whose face was deathly pale. Fine beads of sweat covered Shen Xian’s forehead, and her hands, resting at her sides, trembled slightly from exhaustion.

Lin Qinghan sighed. After hesitating for a moment, she walked over to Shen Xian’s bedside and sat down next to her. She swept her long hair to one side and slowly peeled off the pheromone suppressant patch from the back of her neck. A faint scent of osmanthus and Longjing tea drifted into the air.

Lin Qinghan gently released some of her pheromones, carefully controlling them to softly envelop Shen Xian.

Shen Xian had her eyes closed. Her body was completely drained of strength and aching with a burning pain, but all of a sudden, she seemed to fall into a cloud of softness. Her body instantly felt much lighter, and even the pain eased somewhat. The scent of osmanthus and Longjing slowly entered her nose, causing her tightly furrowed brows to relax slightly. Her body instinctively moved toward the source of the scent, but the pain all over her body was too intense. Using all her strength, she managed only to shift her head next to Lin Qinghan’s thigh.

Seeing Shen Xian in such agony made Lin Qinghan feel terrible herself. The steel pipes striking Shen Xian’s body again and again — just thinking about it still terrified her. What disturbed her most was what Shen Xian had just said, “How could I possibly not care about you?” It was such a simple sentence, yet it completely disrupted Lin Qinghan’s heart. She couldn’t bring herself to wait for Shen Xian to recover slowly through the IV drip and regenerate her pheromones. Not only did Shen Xian say those words — she had truly acted on them.

The reactions people make subconsciously are often the most genuine. Just now, when Shen Xian had shielded her from that blow, she was so fast that Lin Qinghan didn’t even have time to react before being pulled into Shen Xian’s arms. Afterward, Shen Xian had tightly protected her, taking every strike of those steel pipes herself so that not one hit landed on Lin Qinghan.

She used to wish so badly that Shen Xian could be someone who would say and do such things — someone who would rush to protect her in times of danger. But the Shen Xian of the past only brought lies, always asking her for money, never caring about her or Tian Tian’s life or death.

Lin Qinghan stared blankly at Shen Xian’s pale face and let out a soft sigh. No matter how excessive or inhuman Shen Xian had been in the past, this time she had truly gotten hurt for her — and Lin Qinghan didn’t even know whether any bones had been injured.

She pulled out a few tissues from the box beside her and gently wiped the sweat from Shen Xian’s cheeks. Even through the tissue, she could feel the coldness of Shen Xian’s skin. Lin Qinghan slightly increased the concentration of her pheromones and guided them toward the area near Shen Xian’s glands. Comforted by the Omega pheromones, Shen Xian’s breathing gradually steadied. The cold sweat on her forehead subsided, and her depleted glands began to function again, slowly secreting new pheromones.

Soon, the room began to fill with the faint scent of Shen Xian’s sweet orange pheromones. The fragrance was very light and gradually blended with the osmanthus and Longjing scent of Lin Qinghan’s pheromones, creating a unique aroma. Lin Qinghan’s glands were still releasing pheromones, and naturally, she also sensitively detected Shen Xian’s pheromones. Although the scent of sweet orange was still faint, a soft blush had already crept up Lin Qinghan’s cheeks.

She hadn’t washed away the mark, and she had to admit, Shen Xian’s pheromones still had a strong effect on her.

Shen Xian had recovered a bit mentally, but when she opened her eyes, her mind was still a little foggy. She looked at the person beside her and asked, “What’s that smell? It’s so nice.”

Lin Qinghan’s blush deepened, even her ears turning bright red at Shen Xian’s words. She lowered her gaze and gave Shen Xian a slight glare — but didn’t realize that in her current state, the glare had no intimidating effect at all.

Shen Xian’s mind still wasn’t fully clear, and she just thought Lin Qinghan looked incredibly beautiful like this. Her gaze lingered on Lin Qinghan’s face.

Lin Qinghan, of course, noticed this. Enduring the discomfort caused by being affected by Shen Xian’s pheromones, she reached out and pinched a soft patch of flesh at Shen Xian’s waist.

Shen Xian let out a loud “Ow!” and immediately sobered up. She was already in pain, and now with Lin Qinghan pinching her, it hurt even more. Her eyes turned slightly red at the corners as she looked at Lin Qinghan pitifully and said, “Qinghan, be gentler, you’re hurting me.” Because of her weakened condition, her voice came out soft and sweet — completely different from the usual Shen Xian.

Outside, the two young nurses on duty blushed furiously at what they heard.

“Wow, I didn’t expect Dr. Lin and her Alpha to play like that in private…”

“Shhh, let’s just leave. This isn’t suitable for kids. Let’s go back to the office.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The two nurses quickly reached a consensus and slipped away. Matters between couples were best left alone.

Lin Qinghan, however, was even more embarrassed by what Shen Xian had just said. She didn’t know whether Shen Xian meant it literally or… something else. Seeing that Shen Xian was clearly in pain from the pinch, Lin Qinghan let go of her hand.

Still, she didn’t want to think too much about Shen Xian’s intentions. The two of them had no future together. She was only taking care of Shen Xian today because Shen Xian had helped her.

Now that Shen Xian was awake, Lin Qinghan stopped releasing pheromones. She tore open a new pheromone patch and applied it to the back of her neck. Soon, the scent of osmanthus Longjing in the air began to fade, leaving only the sweet orange aroma behind.

Only then did Shen Xian fully regain her awareness and realize that the scent she’d been so attached to earlier was Lin Qinghan’s pheromones. No wonder Lin Qinghan had pinched her — Shen Xian now felt so regretful, she wanted to pinch herself.

Shen Xian understood this was an ABO world, and pheromones were a common element here. Still, she felt that pheromones should only be used between people who mutually liked each other, or else it felt like harassment. Lin Qinghan had released her pheromones to help her, and she had ended up saying it smelled good — even Shen Xian felt like she had just committed some kind of sexual harassment.

Shen Xian had originally wanted to prop herself up and apologize to Lin Qinghan, but as soon as her hands touched the bed, a sharp pain shot through her, making it impossible to support her own weight. She collapsed back onto the bed.

Startled by her movement, Lin Qinghan quickly helped her up and let her lean against her body. “Don’t move around. We still don’t know if you have any bone injuries. Rest for a few more minutes, and then we’ll get some scans done.”

Left with no choice, Shen Xian nervously rested in Lin Qinghan’s arms. Then, as if suddenly remembering something important, she quickly said, “Qinghan, give me a pheromone patch too. I’m afraid I’ll affect you.”

Lin Qinghan looked at her steadily and replied, “It’s fine as long as you don’t deliberately release your pheromones near me. You used up a lot of your pheromones just now, so removing your patch will help you recover faster. I’ll be okay.”

Still worried, Shen Xian reminded her, “If you start feeling unwell, you have to tell me.”

“I will,” Lin Qinghan nodded.

Just then, the mechanical voice of the system echoed in Shen Xian’s mind,
“Hello, Host. Based on the earlier attacks, if you had taken all of them head-on, you would have died instantly. Therefore, the system activated the overdraft function and blocked 32 severe attacks, converting them into surface wounds. The injuries may look scary, but they’ll heal in two or three days. Each blocked attack costs ‘1,000 yuan’, so the total is ‘32,000 yuan’.”

Shen Xian almost wanted to applaud the system — what a genius at making money. It even had an overdraft feature now. But it had indeed saved her life. She didn’t have much money left at the moment, so she’d have to wait until the end of the month to pay the system once she got her compensation.

As she gradually regained her strength, Shen Xian noticed that the virtual number above Lin Qinghan’s head had changed from [‘-40′] to [“–20″]. Even though the system had given her a warning ahead of time, when she shielded Lin Qinghan earlier, it had been a genuine, instinctive reaction. At the time, she didn’t know the system had minimized the damage. In other words, even if she had known she’d suffer severe injuries, Shen Xian still would’ve protected Lin Qinghan without hesitation. Thinking of that, she was almost touched by her own imagined sisterly affection.

With her pheromone levels slowly rising, Shen Xian felt much better. Most of her injuries were on her upper body, back, and arms, so her legs were still uninjured.

“Qinghan, I’m feeling a bit stronger now. Let’s go home, okay? I’m really not that badly hurt — you don’t need to worry so much,” Shen Xian said, partly to reassure Lin Qinghan. If she appeared seriously hurt, Lin Qinghan would only feel distressed for longer.

“We’ll go home after the scans.”

From Lin Qinghan’s tone, it was clear there was no room for negotiation, so Shen Xian could only nod. “Okay, let’s do the scans.”

Knowing they were about to go out, Shen Xian suppressed her pheromones. With the ventilation fans running in the room, the scent in the air quickly faded.

Lin Qinghan helped her up, opened the door to the break room, made a call to Director Zhao, and then took Shen Xian to the imaging room. Shen Xian stood obediently in front of the machine while Lin Qinghan, on the other side of the glass, adjusted the equipment and took a series of scans of her spine, arms, and more. Once she confirmed there were no bone injuries, Lin Qinghan finally let out a breath of relief. The scans weren’t printed; she just viewed them on the monitor, so there was no fee involved.

After they finished the scans, Director Zhao and two police officers arrived.

“Qinghan, how is she? Is she okay?” Director Zhao asked.

Lin Qinghan shook her head. “No bone damage, just external injuries.”

“Good, good. As long as she’s okay,” Director Zhao said with relief.

Meanwhile, two young nurses glanced between Lin Qinghan and Shen Xian, then exchanged knowing smiles.

Noticing them looking at her, Shen Xian turned toward them with a confused expression.

“Ladies, we may need to take up a bit more of your time — we need to take a statement,” one of the officers said.

“Alright,” Lin Qinghan replied, then turned to Shen Xian. “Go lie down and rest. Once we’re done, we’ll go home.”

Shen Xian nodded obediently, still feeling weak, and returned to the break room to rest.

While Lin Qinghan gave her statement to the two officers, time passed. By the time she and Shen Xian finally returned home, it was already past 11 p.m.

Only then did Lin Qinghan remember her daughter. “Shen Xian, where’s Tian Tian?”

Shen Xian was already sprawled out on her bed. She turned her head and said, “With Mom. She should’ve been asleep for a while by now.” As she thought of her little one, a soft smile formed at the corners of her lips, and even her tone became lighter and more cheerful.

At this point, Lin Qinghan felt somewhat reassured about Shen Xian. At the very least, she no longer believed Shen Xian would do something like sell the child. So upon hearing the expected answer, she didn’t press further.

She stood up, soaked a towel in warm water, and grabbed the medicinal wine she had just bought at the hospital. But as she stood at Shen Xian’s bedroom door, Lin Qinghan hesitated. This was the first time she had entered Shen Xian’s room while sober. The previous two times — once Tian Tian had dragged her in, and the other time, she had woken up there after getting drunk.

Even though this was a house she rented, entering Shen Xian’s room of her own accord — especially while Tian Tian wasn’t home — made her feel oddly awkward. She stood outside the door for over ten seconds before clearing her throat strategically and finally mustering the courage to step inside.

Shen Xian’s body was still burning with pain, especially her back. She didn’t want to move, so she lay there on her stomach. When she heard someone come in, she turned her head and saw Lin Qinghan.

“Qinghan? What are you doing?” she asked, puzzled.

Lin Qinghan glanced at her and replied stiffly, “Applying medicine.”