After the Scumbag Alpha Heard her Inner Thoughts (GL) - Chapter 13

Heroic Sacrifice?

Cheng Zhuo spoke with the tone of someone gossiping while eating melon seeds.

Su Wanqing shut her mouth and said nothing. After all, nothing had really happened between them. If anything did, it was Chu Muqing acting unilaterally.

Unilaterally bullying her.

Su Wanqing leaned back against the sofa and asked Cheng Zhuo, “What exactly is going on with her gland?”

The situation was obviously not normal. Combined with what Xu Chengke had said over the phone, she wanted to clear up the parts that hadn’t been detailed in the original story.

Cheng Zhuo glanced at Chu Muqing. Chu Muqing shot him a look—calm, without any hint—and Cheng Zhuo immediately fell silent.

Su Wanqing then looked at Xu Chengke, who hurriedly averted his gaze and looked elsewhere.

No one wanted to be the one to bring trouble upon themselves.

Out of the four people, everyone except Chu Muqing avoided her eyes. But Su Wanqing stared her down without the slightest fear and asked, “What is it? Use me and then toss me aside? Am I disposable? You’re just going to leave me once you’re done?”

Chu Muqing: “……”

Before she could eliminate the hidden threats to the Chu family, she didn’t want to waste time on surgery. Thinking it over, she realized she would indeed still need Su Wanqing’s help.

Chu Muqing didn’t want to admit it, so she kept a cold, expressionless face.

Cheng Zhuo half-truthfully explained, “It’s just that something unexpected happened during her differentiation. Her susceptibility period became disordered, so she needs an Omega with high pheromone compatibility to constantly… soothe her.”

Xu Chengke chimed in, “Yeah, that’s about it.”

After glancing at Chu Muqing, Xu Chengke added, “Boss doesn’t want this getting out, mainly because she’s worried it would impact the company.”

Su Wanqing thought for a moment. What they said didn’t differ much from the plot. Was it really that simple?

Then again, the novel’s plot hadn’t exactly been logical. It was just for entertainment. Maybe the author had simply created a random ‘bug’ for the main character.

“I see,” she said lightly.

She instinctively felt the three were still hiding something, but Su Wanqing wasn’t particularly interested. After all, she was utterly exhausted from the ordeal just now.

A wave of sleepiness hit her. Struggling to push herself up from the sofa, she said, “You guys go ahead and talk. I’m going to sleep.”

Like a walking corpse, Su Wanqing stumbled into her small room on the first floor, collapsed onto the bed, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

The three left in the living room exchanged looks.

“She believed it?” Xu Chengke asked in a low voice.

“Probably,” Cheng Zhuo said, peeking toward the hallway.

“Xu Chengke, any results from the investigation you were doing?” Chu Muqing asked.

Ever since her first susceptibility episode, Chu Muqing had sensed something was wrong. Besides the official checkups, she had flown abroad to secretly undergo two more evaluations.

The first diagnosis was susceptibility period disorder, unstable pheromones, and difficulty finding a compatible Omega. The second time, they hinted that her gland might have been transplanted.

As her episodes became more frequent, the issues with her gland grew more apparent, and her physical condition worsened. She also discovered that someone inside the company had been quietly making moves.

Chu Muqing had no memories from before the age of seven, and gland transplant surgeries could only be performed before that age.

She had instructed Xu Chengke to privately investigate her medical records from seven years ago, along with the backgrounds of several shareholders in the Chu family—particularly her third uncle and eldest uncle.

The Chu family only had one S-rank Alpha: her.

She needed to find out whether her grandfather had been aware of her gland transplant back then—and whether her S-rank designation only came after the transplant.

There were too many unanswered questions. Chu Muqing intended to uncover every single truth.

It had been over twenty years. The Northern City General Hospital had changed its address countless times. Trying to investigate what had happened back then was nearly impossible.

Xu Chengke shook his head. “No results.”

“Alright, I’m not particularly interested in the dark secrets of wealthy families. Knowing too much might just get me silenced,” Cheng Zhuo said, placing the medicine on the coffee table. “These medicines are to be taken once a day. I’m exhausted—I’m heading back first.”

Xu Chengke walked Cheng Zhuo out.

“As for the Lu family matter,” Chu Muqing instructed, “if they fail once, they’ll probably try again. Until Lu Qinghe publicly announces their gender, keep a close watch.”

“Got it.”

“I have a feeling my eldest uncle is involved in this. Since the events from back then are too difficult to trace, we might as well focus on what he’s planning now.”

“Understood, Boss.”

“Thanks for your hard work. You can take half a day off tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, Boss!”

After Xu Chengke left, Chu Muqing packed away the medicine, then stood quietly at Su Wanqing’s door. She pushed it open just a crack.

Su Wanqing was sleeping soundly, tucked under the blanket up to her neck. She lay quietly on the bed, and beside her pillow sat a white plush toy—something that looked like a rabbit, but not quite.

Its long ears spread out across the empty space next to her pillow.

Chu Muqing’s mind involuntarily recalled the scene from earlier in the study—the sight of Su Wanqing, flushed pink, breathing heavily, and begging softly.

Chu Muqing shook her head, trying to rid herself of those messy thoughts, and gently closed the door.

Whether it was the effect of the temporary mark or something else, Su Wanqing slept deeply through the entire night.

When she woke up, her whole body felt refreshed, like a fully charged robot. Humming to herself, Su Wanqing wandered off to the bathroom to wash up.

After freshening up, she still hadn’t seen Chu Muqing around—likely she had already gone to work.

Su Wanqing timed her arrival perfectly for the start of the workday and headed to the company. The atmosphere at Huafeng was quite good.

Their team leader, Xia Lin, was highly capable, beautiful, and, most importantly, easy to get along with.

That morning, Xia Lin held a meeting with Group A. Su Wanqing reported her research findings, and Xia Lin was very satisfied, immediately assigning the project to her.

“This afternoon, go meet with the person in charge at Yi Ren to see where they stand.”

“Got it, Sister Xia.”

Group B was following up on another project.

Near the end of the workday, Su Wanqing received two WeChat messages from Su Ningxuan.

【Sis, want to grab lunch together?】

【I’m near your office.】

Su Wanqing hadn’t yet decided whether to let Su Ningxuan enter Chu Group. She wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but the Chu Group’s recent losses all seemed somehow tied to him.

Thinking it over, Su Wanqing decided to meet him and gauge his attitude.

【Let’s meet at Shaping. 】

Shaping was a food street with a few pretty good restaurants. When Su Wanqing worked overtime, she often went there to search for something to eat.

【Let’s go to Kang Wenfu Claypot then. 】

Seeing the time, Su Wanqing shut down her computer and clocked out.

It was peak dinner time, and Shaping Street was bustling with people coming and going. Su Wanqing weaved around two stalls selling takoyaki and arrived at Kang Wenfu Claypot.

Pushing open the door, she saw Su Ningxuan waving at her from a corner. “Sis, over here!”

In private, Su Ningxuan was a completely different person—enthusiastic, talkative, calling her “Sis” with every sentence, as bright and warm as a little sun.

Before Su Wanqing even reached the table, Su Ningxuan stood up and pulled out a chair for her. “Sis.”

Su Wanqing sat down and hung her bag on the back of the chair. “Is your internship all wrapped up?”

“I just finished the final project. The internship certificate has been signed; now I’m just waiting for the school to issue my diploma.”

“You… really want to join the Chu Group?” Su Wanqing asked.

Su Ningxuan shook his head. “The Chu Group is great, especially in the information sector—they’re among the best. If I could get in, I’d definitely learn a lot. But honestly, I don’t think I’m qualified yet. My mom doesn’t know, but you probably do: they usually start hiring at the Stanford master’s level.”

“And if I got in by pulling strings through you and Sister Chu, even if I joined, it wouldn’t be easy for me there.”

“……”

No wonder, when she asked if Su Ningxuan had a chance through normal channels, Chu Muqing had responded the way she did.

“Don’t you want to keep studying?” Su Wanqing asked.

At his age, going abroad for a doctorate and returning as a highly sought-after talent would be easy.

“I do want to,” Su Ningxuan shrugged, “but my mom won’t let me go abroad. And in China, I haven’t found a university I’m truly passionate about.”

“I’ll think of something for you,” Su Wanqing said.

“Really?” Su Ningxuan poured them both a glass of water just as the two claypot meals were served. “Thanks, Sis.”

“Sis, how’s your new job going?”

“Pretty smoothly. I’m meeting with a client this afternoon to discuss my first project,” Su Wanqing said.

“Best of luck with work!” Su Ningxuan smiled.

The two chatted while eating, spending nearly an hour together. Afterward, Su Ningxuan returned to campus to prepare his things, while Su Wanqing headed to meet the person in charge at Yi Ren.

That morning, she had already set up the meeting, scheduled for 3 p.m. at Yun Jian Café.

Su Wanqing arrived early. She glanced around but didn’t see anyone from Yi Ren yet. Since they were the client, it was normal for them to be a little late.

By 3:30 p.m., her coffee had gone cold, and Su Wanqing began to feel that something was off.

She pulled out her phone to call the contact person, but just then, a call from Xia Lin came through.

“Hello, Sister Xia? What’s wrong?” Su Wanqing asked, keeping her voice low.

“Come back,” Xia Lin said. “Yi Ren has signed with someone else.”

Su Wanqing’s mind went blank. “So soon? With who?”

Today’s meeting was only supposed to be an initial discussion about potential collaboration and for her to show them some of her design work.

Even if they were to sign, they would still need to finalize the designer, confirm the drafts, negotiate commissions—there was a lot of preliminary work. That’s why Sister Xia had trusted her, a newcomer, to handle it.

How could they have already signed?

“With the Gu family,” Xia Lin said, running her hand through her hair in frustration. “Never mind, it’s not important. Just come back.”

“Understood.”

When Su Wanqing joined Huafeng, she thought she was finally steering clear of the power struggles of the elite families—but somehow, she still ended up entangled in them.

A project succeeds or fails—Xia Lin didn’t say much and simply gave Group A a day off.

Su Wanqing was still feeling a bit down after work. It had been her first project at the company, and it had ended before it even started.

She wandered slowly, walking toward the subway station. Just as she reached the entrance, a car pulled up in front of her.

Xu Chengke rolled down the window. “Madam, please get in.”

Su Wanqing glanced behind him—Chu Muqing wasn’t there—and relaxed a little. “Assistant Xu, where are you headed?”

“Picking up Boss for a social engagement,” Xu Chengke replied. “Want to come?”

“If it’s a social event, I think I’ll pass,” Su Wanqing politely declined.

“I’ll take you home first,” Xu Chengke said quickly before she could respond. “Parking isn’t allowed here for long.”

Su Wanqing opened the door and ducked into the car, which smelled faintly of citrus.

“If you take me home first, will you still make it in time to pick her up?” she asked.

“I’ll make it,” Xu Chengke assured her.

They drove for a while in silence. Xu Chengke glanced into the rearview mirror and asked, “Madam, are you upset?”

“No,” Su Wanqing replied.

Telling Xu Chengke about work troubles wouldn’t help, especially since this involved the Gu family. Besides, she wasn’t exactly upset—just a little uncomfortable.

The car’s Bluetooth system rang. Xu Chengke pressed the button to answer. “Boss.”

Hearing that, Su Wanqing immediately sat up straighter.

“Understood,” Xu Chengke said into the phone, then asked, “Madam is with me. Should I take her home first?”

A brief pause.

“Understood, Boss.”

Xu Chengke turned and said, “Madam, Boss wants you to come along.”

Su Wanqing: “……”