After My Contract Marriage with the Aloof Omega (GL , ABO) - Chapter 4
It took Lu Qingzhuo a good while to fully grasp the meaning behind Fu Yumian’s words.
She spoke slowly, “Didn’t you also not want to see me?”
“We’re in a cooperative relationship, not a superior-subordinate one. Why are you so afraid of me?”
Fu Yumian voiced the question in her heart. Meeting Lu Qingzhuo’s dark peach-blossom eyes, she pressed her lips together and said seriously, “The reason I came back this time is to tell you that I’ll be living with you for the next three months or so.”
The moment these words fell, the smile on Lu Qingzhuo’s lips froze instantly. She swallowed hard, trying to maintain her composure. “But President Fu, don’t you have mysophobia? Won’t you find it uncomfortable living with me?”
Fu Yumian raised an eyebrow at this, her expression seeming to suggest Lu Qingzhuo had overestimated herself.
“I’ll take the master bedroom. You can choose any other room.”
Lu Qingzhuo: “…”
Fine. She should’ve known.
“The master bedroom has always been reserved for you,” Lu Qingzhuo replied with a perfectly polite smile. “Then I’ll go to my room to rest now. Please make yourself at home, President Fu.”
Thankfully, she hadn’t chosen the master bedroom from the start otherwise, she’d be packing up and moving out in disgrace right now.
“Wait.”
Fu Yumian crossed her legs elegantly, removed her glasses, and gently pressed her fingertips to the corners of her eyes. Without any change in expression, she said, “As I mentioned earlier, we’re merely in a cooperative relationship. On the surface, you’re my loving wife, but privately, you must remember your place. You’re an actress, I shouldn’t need to teach you how to play your role.”
Lu Qingzhuo: “…”
“Thank you for the honor, President Fu,” she said, smoothing a loose strand of hair behind her ear with a composed smile. “You must be exhausted after such a long journey. You should get some proper rest.”
With that, she turned and left. The moment her back faced Fu Yumian, she closed her eyes and exhaled softly before walking briskly out of the living room.
Fu Yumian didn’t bother pointing out that she was barefoot. She put her glasses back on, picked up the remote from the table, and turned on the projector to check if there were any other pressing matters to attend to from the past two weeks.
After nearly two minutes of scrolling, Fu Yumian removed her glasses again, pinching the bridge of her nose before handing them to Han Tian. A faint weariness settled between her brows.
Good. Aside from Lu Qingzhuo, there were no other major headaches to deal with.
Han Tian stood behind Fu Yumian, carefully wiping the lenses of her glasses. Softly, she said, “That beta girl earlier was Madam’s assistant. I checked her phone, there was nothing but a few photos of her painting her nails.”
“Hmm,” Fu Yumian murmured, leaning back into the plush sofa. She tapped the leather armrest with her slender fingers. “Have someone replace all the carpets. Cover every room.”
“Understood.”
“What do I do, what do I do…”
The moment Lu Qingzhuo slipped into her room, she immediately locked the door from the inside. Pressing her back against the cool, smooth surface, she clutched her pounding heart, her lips pursed in distress.
Since when did Fu Yumian start breaking the script?!
Weren’t they supposed to follow the agreement? The clause about “not interfering in each other’s lives” suddenly didn’t apply anymore?
Lu Qingzhuo had never experienced living under the same roof with someone else. The icy CEO Fu always felt like an abrupt roommate to her, there was no escaping those watchful eyes that observed her every word and action.
Even before their cohabitation began, Lu Qingzhuo was already dreading the nerve-wracking month ahead.
What had Assistant Han told her before? Fu Yumian was a clean freak, disliked outsiders getting too close, especially alphas.
Her reputation in the industry was far from stellar. As a scandal-prone celebrity who kept paparazzi and media outlets well-fed, Lu Qingzhuo had several widely circulated rumored flings outside the industry, each taking turns in the spotlight.
Only she knew how those unscrupulous media outlets had painted her as a promiscuous alpha who would stop at nothing to latch onto famous actresses, socialites, and tycoons, all for sensational headlines.
In reality, she hadn’t even filmed a single kissing scene since her debut. But these wild fabrications were happily devoured by clueless onlookers who loved the drama.
Take this year’s Triple Crown-winning actress Ye Ran, for example. Paparazzi had once photographed the two of them entering a five-star hotel together, sparking rumors of a secret affair.
In truth, she had only been delivering asthma medication to her stepsister that day and happened to run into Ye Ran, who was rushing to an event. They exchanged a few words, but the cameras caught it, leading to baseless media frenzy.
However, after marrying Fu Yumian, Lu Qingzhuo gained protection. The Fu Corporation would safeguard her personal safety and, more importantly, create more opportunities and exposure for her, after all, many top entertainment companies were under the Fu Group’s umbrella, including her own agency, Jiahe Media.
Lu Qingzhuo flopped onto the bed like a corpse, pumped herself up, and clenched her fists.
So what if she had to live with Fu Yumian for a month? It wasn’t like the woman would eat her alive. Besides, Fu Yumian had the master bedroom, separated by several walls. Even if Lu Qingzhuo threw a party in her own room, the other woman probably wouldn’t hear a thing.
With that thought, her anxiety finally eased. She let out a slow exhale and opened her laptop to review Lu Qingzhuo’s personal profile.
Her current popularity hovered just above third-tier, an awkward position.
Combined with her notoriety, her fame sometimes exploded unpredictably. But without any standout works to her name, she couldn’t compare to the first and second-tier stars who had solid achievements to back them up.
When she had transmigrated here, the original Lu Qingzhuo had already drowned to death, found in a secluded swimming pool.
The cleaner who came to maintain the pool discovered a body lying in the water, crimson bl00d slowly spreading beneath her like a hauntingly beautiful spider lily blooming in the water.
Even now, the back of Lu Qingzhuo’s head throbbed faintly. She had suffered a minor concussion and hadn’t made any public appearances for a long time.
The Fu Corporation’s PR team handled everything flawlessly, garnering sympathy from some fans and even reporting the incident to the police to track down the culprit.
When Lu Qingzhuo curiously asked why they had involved the police, Han Tian simply smiled and said, “We report accidents, we’re not the police.”
This was nothing like the domineering CEO novels she’d read!
Those stories were all lies!
After interacting more frequently with Han Tian, Lu Qingzhuo realized this person wasn’t entirely inflexible. The assistant’s most common refrains were “President Fu said,” “President Fu instructed,” and “President Fu’s meaning.” Each time after briefing her, Han would leave pretending to be relaxed.
The original host had acted in many dramas, though mostly in supporting roles with few lead parts.
Lu Qingzhuo reviewed her filmography, only one youth idol drama adapted from a campus novel, where she’d played a stuttering character who couldn’t speak clearly.
It was after that drama that Lu Qingzhuo started wearing bangs, but audiences weren’t impressed, especially original book fans who tore her performance to shreds.
“The Lulu in the novel was clearly an innocent girl, Lu Qingzhuo’s too seductive, completely wrong!” “Lulu should gaze at the male lead timidly, but Lu looks like she wants to murder him with her eyes.” “…”
After reading the comments, Lu finally understood why the original host never achieved stardom despite numerous roles, she simply wasn’t cut out for pure, harmless ingénue characters.
In contrast, her only breakout performance was a supporting role in a crime drama. Lu had found her niche, she was born to play unhinged psychopaths or wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing characters.
“Frigid Winter,” adapted from a popular IP, gave her limited screen time as a plot-driving antagonist. Outwardly innocent in blue-and-white school uniforms blending with cheerful students, her character actually led school bullying campaigns against the female lead.
That drama launched Jiang Yanwei’s career, making many artists green with envy yet powerless to intervene.
No wonder so many school bully scripts came her way. Studying the original host’s acting, Lu had to admit she had genuine talent just terrible script selection instincts.
Apart from those two projects, everything else was trash. Randomly selecting one, Lu lasted mere minutes before recoiling at the writer’s and director’s bizarre creative choices.
Though an actress herself, Lu had never done TV series in her world, she’d been an award-winning muse for renowned filmmakers.
This truly felt like starting from scratch, and Lu couldn’t help sighing at the regression.
She missed film acting desperately. Early in her career, Lu had devoted herself entirely to cinema, putting romance and marriage on hold.
Deciding to act, Lu opened her chat with Han Tian, hesitating before typing:
[Do you have President Fu’s WeChat? Could you share it?]
The reply came instantly.
Assistant Han: [One moment.]
Two seconds later, Han sent Fu Yumian’s contact card.
Lu stared at the profile picture, a cute golden-eyed cat stretching lazily, its wide yawn resembling a cheeky serpent. The username was simply a stylish uppercase “F.”
Assistant Han: [Anything else?]
Lu Qingzhuo: [No, thank you.]
Lu Qingzhuo opened Fu Yumian’s WeChat profile, feeling almost incredulous that she’d obtained the other woman’s contact so effortlessly.
She tapped “Add to Contacts,” then stared gloomily at the friend request message box, biting her lower lip as her mind went blank.
Who should I say I am?
Your wife?
If she wrote that, would Fu Yumian phase through the wall just to beat her up?
After some deliberation, Lu Qingzhuo decided to keep it simple.
[This is Lu Qingzhuo [smile][smile]]
With immense solemnity, she closed her eyes and hit send, exhaling in relief afterward.
Two minutes passed, no response. Lu Qingzhuo lay on her bed, wide-eyed, enduring the agonizing wait.
Five more minutes. Still no notification. She distractedly turned on the projector and binge-watched six episodes of Tom and Jerry, but her phone remained silent beside her, WeChat undisturbed.
Just as she switched off the projector and began drifting off, the notification chime jolted her heart into a frantic rhythm.
[F has accepted your friend request]
Lu Qingzhuo stared at her phone for a long moment, repeatedly opening and closing Fu Yumian’s chat window. She typed a few words, deleted them, rewrote, and deleted again, still unable to compose a coherent message.
Meanwhile, Fu Yumian, freshly showered and lounging lazily in her bedroom, watched the chat screen with mild amusement as “typing…” appeared and disappeared over and over.
After agonizing for over ten minutes, Lu Qingzhuo scrolled desperately through her 500+ sticker collection for something cute or coquettish. Unfortunately, her arsenal consisted solely of sarcastic quips and absurd memes nothing remotely suitable for Fu Yumian.
Lu Qingzhuo: [Are you asleep?]
Only after sending it did she realize wasn’t this phrasing way too intimate?