Dressed as the Scumbag Alpha Mom of the Tragic Female Lead (ABO, GL) - Chapter 42

Chapter 42

When Gu Lingjun arrived in the living room and saw only Mu Qing without Jiang Chuxie, she asked curiously, “Dad, where’s Senior Jiang?”

Mu Qing pointed toward the kitchen. “She’s making coffee.”

Gu Lingjun indeed heard some noises coming from the kitchen.

“Why did she decide to make coffee?” Gu Lingjun grew even more puzzled, but quickly realized, “How long were you and Mom eavesdropping?”

“Eavesdropping? That’s such an ugly word. You were lingering outside, so your mom and I just went to check on things, didn’t we?”

Gu Lingjun felt a headache coming on. She wasn’t incapable of understanding her parents’ concerns, but she still didn’t want them meddling too much in her affairs with Jiang Chuxie. For now, they were just friends, but even if things progressed further, given the caution Jiang Chuxie had shown, her parents’ interference might make her bolt immediately.

“I’m going to check the kitchen.”

Gu Lingjun sighed silently, knowing that no matter how unwilling she was, she couldn’t stop her parents’ actions at this point.

“Senior.”

When Gu Lingjun entered, Jiang Chuxie was just brewing coffee, tidying up the scale and hand grinder. She hurried to Jiang Chuxie’s side to help, but Jiang Chuxie stopped her.

“It’s fine, I’m almost done. It’s quick.”

Indeed, it was quick. Just from Jiang Chuxie’s movements, it was clear she was very skilled.

“Sorry, Senior, I didn’t know my parents would be here…”

Jiang Chuxie shook her head. “It’s okay. It’s normal for them to worry.”

If anything, Jiang Chuxie thought they were remarkably foresighted!

“They’re just looking out for you. After all, I’m pretty suspicious.”

The story didn’t detail how Jiang Chuxie and Gu Lingjun got together, but from an outsider’s perspective and bits of dialogue, it could be inferred that Jiang Chuxie had met Gu Lingjun through a staged hero-saving-the-damsel act.

Before gaining the approval of Gu Lingjun’s parents, that scumbag Alpha had disguised herself as gentle and considerate, making it impossible to see her true beastly nature.

From Gu Lian’s current wariness toward her, it was clear that in the original plot, the scumbag Alpha had also been guarded against like this. Yet, she still managed to win Gu Lingjun’s heart, showing just how much Gu Lingjun had liked that scumbag Alpha originally.

For some reason, thinking about this made Jiang Chuxie feel a bit sour inside.

“Senior, don’t say that.”

Jiang Chuxie watched the coffee brew while smiling. “It’s fine. As long as nothing happens to make them worry, they’ll eventually believe I don’t have bad intentions, right?”

To be honest, the scumbag Alpha’s early pretense probably wasn’t much different from her current behavior. But as long as she didn’t end up with Gu Lingjun like the scumbag did, and they remained just friends, her parents’ concerns would naturally dissolve.

“We’re just friends, so please tell your parents not to worry.”

Gu Lingjun’s brows furrowed slightly, and she silently watched the coffee simmering and gurgling, her heart gradually sinking.

What she feared had happened. The small crack that had finally appeared in Jiang Chuxie’s emotional walls was reinforced again under her parents’ interference.

“She seems like a good kid so far. I said I wanted to try her coffee, and she went to make it. I heard she can cook too. How many Alphas do that?” Mu Qing whispered to Gu Lian about what had happened.

Gu Lian huffed. “Her family’s poor, so it’s normal she can do these things. Now she’s trying to win us over. If you want a coffee, wouldn’t she make it for you? How she acts in front of us is one thing, but whether she’ll treat Lingjun well later is another.”

“Come on, stop going on about her background. You can’t choose where you’re born. Wasn’t my family less well-off than yours?” Mu Qing countered.

“You came from a decent family, not like her. You don’t know—she’s from some backwater, high-crime area. Her parents only cared about giving birth, not raising her. After she differentiated into an Alpha, they even tried to scam double Alpha subsidies from the government…”

“Then isn’t it remarkable that she got into university and started a business on her own? With parents like that, I’d say cutting ties would be best.”

“I’m not saying it’s not impressive, but she’s not suitable for Lingjun. I admit she’s優秀 and capable, but she’s also ruthless and ambitious. Someone like that acting all upright and gentle to get close to Lingjun—I don’t believe she has no ulterior motives!”

“Why can’t you see the good in people?” Mu Qing argued.

“And why were you won over by a single cup of coffee?” Gu Lian shot back.

As the two argued in hushed tones, Gu Lingjun cleared her throat, looking at her parents huddled together.

“Mom, Dad, what do you want in your coffee?”

Both Gu Lian and Mu Qing jumped, turning to see their daughter standing at the boundary between the living room and dining area, looking at them with a cool expression.

“I don’t want any,” Gu Lian said.

“Two sugar cubes, a third of milk,” Mu Qing replied.

Gu Lian couldn’t drink bitter coffee, while Mu Qing preferred it black. Gu Lingjun glanced at her mother and muttered in a voice loud enough for both to hear, “Pretty demanding, huh?”

Gu Lian nearly leapt off the sofa in irritation, but Gu Lingjun had already turned back to the kitchen.

“Qingqing, look at that! When has Lingjun ever been so rebellious?” Gu Lian fumed.

Mu Qing grabbed her trembling hand to calm her. “Alright, calm down. Jiang Chuxie’s still here.”

Gu Lian clutched her chest. “It’s definitely Jiang Chuxie corrupting her.”

“Don’t overthink it.”

Soon, Jiang Chuxie emerged from the kitchen with two cups of coffee, serving them to Gu Lian and Mu Qing with a professional demeanor. Gu Lingjun followed behind, holding her own cup and already sipping.

Noticing Jiang Chuxie hadn’t prepared a cup for herself, Mu Qing asked, “Chuxie, aren’t you drinking?”

“I don’t drink coffee at night. It keeps me up,” Jiang Chuxie said, showing no intention of sitting down to chat further. “I’ve cleaned up the kitchen equipment. It’s getting late, so I should go.”

“So soon? Stay a bit longer. We invited you as a guest, and all you did was make coffee. I feel bad,” Mu Qing said.

“It’s nothing. I used to be a barista, so I just got the itch to show off. You rarely get to visit Gu Lingjun, so you must have a lot to talk about. I won’t intrude.” She looked at Gu Lingjun. “See you at school.”

Hearing “see you at school,” Gu Lingjun’s previously gloomy expression brightened slightly.

“Okay, I’ll walk you to the door.”

Was her daughter afraid they’d eat her crush if she stayed longer? Could they really stop Jiang Chuxie from leaving?

Mu Qing quickly added, “Be careful on your way.”

Jiang Chuxie nodded, and Gu Lingjun set down her cup to see her out.

Gu Lian huffed, took a sip of the coffee… and it was surprisingly good.

“You’re something else. You’re usually good at pretending, so why the sour face tonight? Now you’ve scared her off. How am I supposed to test her?” Mu Qing complained.

“Test what? I’m very dissatisfied with her,” Gu Lian replied.

Mu Qing, seeing her stubbornness, snapped, “Then tell me, who do you have in mind as a good match?”

Gu Lian thought for a moment. “I think the Lin family’s second son is nice.”

“Lin’s second son? He’s a mama’s boy with no opinions of his own!”

“But his mother’s reasonable and likes our Lingjun. Lingjun wouldn’t suffer marrying him.”

“Oh, Gu Lian, how do you know his mother’s reasonable and likes Lingjun? Mrs. Lin’s a widow who keeps to herself. How do you know this?” Mu Qing pressed.

“What are you implying? We’re together all the time, even for work. What could I do?” Gu Lian’s head ached. “Besides, we’re talking about Lingjun now, so don’t bring up irrelevant stuff. Lin’s second son has liked Lingjun since they were kids, though I’m hesitant because his father passed early. Actually, the Xu family’s youngest son isn’t bad either…”

“You keep picking these clueless types. The Xu kid’s so straightforward he can’t hide anything and has made a fool of himself how many times?”

“But he’s not like typical Alphas who care about face, and he likes our Lingjun too.”

Mu Qing saw through her. “So you just want someone easy for Lingjun to control, don’t you?”

“What’s wrong with that? Ideally, they’d marry into our family and live with us. Neither of them is a family heir, so I think it’s good.”

“Good, my foot! You think you can control them, but what happens when you’re gone?”

“I’m hoping Lingjun can stand on her own by then and manage them herself. Even if she can’t, it’s fine. By the time I’m gone, Lingjun’s kids should be grown…”

Mu Qing stared at her wife in disbelief, speechless for a moment.

“Gu Lian, how did I not know you were like this before we married?”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You always wanted Lingjun to be independent, to express her own ideas and stand on her own, didn’t you?”

“That’s not contradictory! Listen to me…”

“Listen to your nonsense!”

Exhausted from her parents’ arguing, Gu Lingjun returned to her room.

She had no mood to drink the coffee, even if Jiang Chuxie had made it. She couldn’t stomach it amid their bickering.

She understood why Gu Lian thought this way—Gu Lingjun had been too weak and indecisive before. But she was different now, and it was Jiang Chuxie who had changed her.

Her mother still couldn’t believe in her transformation, thinking it was just an impulsive reaction to falling in love. No matter what Gu Lingjun said, her mother wouldn’t see it as a rational conclusion.

She didn’t want to blame Gu Lian. After all, having watched her grow up, even Gu Lingjun herself couldn’t believe she’d changed so much in such a short time, let alone her mother.

The problem was, if her parents’ overprotective reactions affected Jiang Chuxie, Gu Lingjun would be the one to bear the consequences.

Before, her struggles, hesitations, and confusion stemmed from her inability to express herself, as if she couldn’t control her own body. On the bright side, now that she was troubled by love, it was a kind of progress, wasn’t it?

Gu Lian and Mu Qing stayed for two days, finding excuses to meet Jiang Chuxie a few more times, but they didn’t reach any conclusions from their arguments.

Before leaving, Gu Lian repeatedly warned Gu Lingjun to keep her distance from Jiang Chuxie, or she’d take drastic measures.

Gu Lingjun was worn out by her mother’s lectures. Even if she was more proactive now, she wasn’t that desperate, was she?

The only comfort was that Gu Lian hadn’t resorted to overly aggressive or forceful tactics to interfere with her friendship with Jiang Chuxie.

After the whirlwind of Gu Lingjun’s parents, Jiang Chuxie’s life returned to calm. She had expected Gu Lian to take a more forceful stance to keep her away from Gu Lingjun, but it turned out to be more thunder than rain.

From this perspective, it made sense that the scumbag Alpha had managed to win Gu Lingjun over and climb the Gu family tree.

Of course, none of this mattered to the current Jiang Chuxie. Instead of focusing on romance, her priority should be her career.

After realizing Zhao Zi’s connection to Zhao Xian, Jiang Chuxie felt a greater sense of urgency. Coupled with the stimulation from Gu Lingjun’s parents—though she wasn’t that scumbag Alpha anymore—she didn’t like being looked down on or suspected of having ulterior motives.

Relying on others was less dependable than relying on herself. Her top priority was to “grow and develop” quickly so she’d have enough strength to face the original characters when the plot reached a point of no return.

After a major update and the campaign for Zhao Zi, Xueyou Network entered a rapid growth phase, with a noticeable increase in activity across various communities. Jiang Chuxie was no longer taking it easy and launched her two most important trump cards at once.

One was a full-web search engine, and the other was an instant messaging software.

Xueyou Network already had a search function, but it was limited to in-site information. As for the search engine, she had been optimizing it for a long time.

Although Zhuang Qi always seemed unserious about school and her academic performance was average, her business acumen was sharp. When she saw the two products Jiang Chuxie developed, she was astounded.

There were similar products on the market, but in terms of technology, design, and product completion, they were incomparable, as if they weren’t even from the same era.

Zhuang Qi immediately dragged Jiang Chuxie to register trademarks and apply for patents. With her family’s connections and their experience with Xueyou Network, the two smoothly completed the entire process.

The search engine was named Xunsou, and the messaging software was called Xunlian. Using Xueyou Network as a platform, they quickly became popular among students.

A few months ago, Jiang Chuxie hadn’t planned to involve Zhuang Qi, but the events of the past few months changed her mind.

On one hand, she now considered Zhuang Qi a good friend, no longer just a roommate or business partner, so she was willing to share the products she’d poured the most effort into. On the other hand, Zhuang Qi was genuinely talented in operations and marketing, making her a much better collaborator than going it alone.

Moreover, the Zhuang family had little connection to the original plot, making them an ideal partner.

“Chuxie, Chuxie, good news!”

“Spit it out, I’m busy!”

Jiang Chuxie’s computer screen was filled with multiple chat windows, all flooded with user complaints, inquiries, and bug reports.

While Xunsou had a wide user base, it hadn’t caused them much trouble. But Xunlian, with just over 50,000 downloads and 30,000 registered accounts, had turned Jiang Chuxie into a customer service rep for half a month, driving her nearly insane.

“I rented a place right next to the school! And the classmates and juniors I contacted all agreed. We’re free!”

Zhuang Qi wasn’t faring much better. Even Zhao Zi and Gu Lingjun had been roped in to help, but things hadn’t improved much.

Jiang Chuxie made a snap decision, telling Zhuang Qi to rent a venue, buy computers, and hire staff. Zhuang Qi didn’t disappoint, sorting everything out in just a few days.

“Really?”

Jiang Chuxie couldn’t hide her excitement, nearly jumping for joy. Following her routine of early to bed and early to rise, avoiding coffee at night, she’d lost count of how many late nights she’d pulled, how much coffee she’d drunk, how many bugs she’d fixed, and how many complaints she’d endured.

It was worse than being a corporate slave in her past life!

“Of course it’s real. You can trust me! The classmates I found are all top-notch in their field, and the juniors are serious and reliable. Plus, their family backgrounds aren’t great, so they’re eager to work part-time. Once I’ve arranged everything, you can meet them. A company can’t just be the two of us—that’s no company. Even a genius like you can’t do the work of ten people. It’s time to recruit and expand.”

Jiang Chuxie knew Zhuang Qi’s “recruit and expand” didn’t just mean hiring employees but finding trustworthy partners to join in future development.

“You’re right.” Though it was earlier than Jiang Chuxie had planned, circumstances didn’t wait. Since they’d taken the first step, she couldn’t stall anymore. “Do we have enough funds?”

“Plenty, plenty, plenty. I had no idea you had so much money. It’ll last us a while.”

Servers, venues, labor, and marketing all required money. Jiang Chuxie had taken out all the funds she could from the stock market and handed them to Zhuang Qi to manage.

“That’s the money Gu Lingjun’s mom gave me.”

Zhuang Qi knew about her saving Gu Lingjun and sighed. “The Gu family is so generous. You’d think our Zhuang family is rich, but when it comes to liquid assets, we can’t compare to the Gu family, who practically own a gold mine.”

Even Zhuang Qi, from a capitalist family, envied the Gu family’s wealth. No wonder the six domineering Alpha CEOs in the original story, including Jiang Chuxie, took so long to bring her down.

But by then, the Gu family had been bled dry by Jiang Chuxie, their “mines” exhausted by the plot, and they were torn apart, left with nothing.

“You haven’t forgotten what I told you that night, right?”

That night, Jiang Chuxie had told Zhuang Qi about meeting Gu Lingjun’s parents, which made Zhuang Qi fume for a long time.

“Nope, haven’t forgotten. I’m not counting on the Gu family for help either. But that money was your reward for saving Gu Lingjun, so it’s yours, nothing to do with them. We’re doing great now. If we run out of money, I’ll just borrow from my dad. Hmph, in a few years when we’re big, let’s see if Gu Lian still dares to look down on you!”

Jiang Chuxie shook her head. “I’m not doing this because Gu Lian looks down on me.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve got big dreams and a big heart, okay?”

Jiang Chuxie typed while half-listening to her. “Enough chatter, come help.”

Zhuang Qi grumbled as she sat back at her computer. “Hmph, just a few more days. We’re company founders, you on tech, me on operations. How can we be stuck with these petty tasks every day?”

“Everything starts with the small stuff. Stop complaining and answer people’s questions.”

“Fine, fine, Customer Service Agent 002 at your service!”

Jiang Chuxie shook her head, took a big gulp of coffee, and focused on multitasking.

Zhuang Qi wasn’t doing much better, cursing under her breath several times.

“There’s a clear newbie tutorial, and these people just skip, skip, skip, then come to customer service with questions!”

“I’ve got it ready. Just send her the link.”

“It’s all free, so why are we working so hard and groveling like this?”

“Free stuff is the most expensive. Don’t tell me you don’t get that?”

Zhuang Qi huffed noncommittally, then suddenly got excited. “Let’s go out for New Year’s! A romantic three-day, two-night group date for four.”

“You’re already thinking about fun?”

“We’ve been working our butts off, okay? Work hard, play hard. We need to relax. Look at your dark circles—they’re worse than smoky makeup.”

“Will they be able to work normally by then?”

“Of course, I checked their schedules. We can arrange shifts, no problem.”

In her past life, Jiang Chuxie had died from overwork. If she could relax, who wouldn’t want to?

She was a bit tempted by Zhuang Qi’s suggestion.

“Who are the four you’re talking about?”

Zhuang Qi glanced at her with a sly smile. “Come on, Chuxie, who else? You, me, Zhao Zi, and Gu Lingjun! Sure, Gu Lian’s wary of you, but Gu Lingjun’s solid. They’ve helped us a ton lately, so treating them is only fair.”

Jiang Chuxie didn’t deny Zhuang Qi’s words, but calling it a date… felt a bit off.

“It’s just hanging out together. Don’t call it a date.”

“Ugh, you’re too serious. Call it whatever you want. I got some hot spring hotel tickets from my cousin. We can go relax.”

Jiang Chuxie had never been to a hot spring in this life and wondered what this world’s hot spring hotels were like.

“Hm… Gu Lingjun might be going home, right?”

“It’s just a short holiday. She might not go back. Besides, if you invite her, she might skip going home.”

“Uh…”

“Ugh, you’re such a hassle. I’ll handle it.”

Seeing Jiang Chuxie’s hesitation, Zhuang Qi sent messages to Zhao Zi and Gu Lingjun herself. Soon, Jiang Chuxie got a Xunlian message from Gu Lingjun.

“Senior, are you going on the hot spring trip too?”

Why did the words “hot spring trip” feel a little… suggestive?

Though she thought that, Jiang Chuxie replied with a simple “Yes.”

“I’m looking forward to the trip.”

Gu Lingjun sent a smiley face, and Jiang Chuxie’s heart skipped a few beats.

No, no, no, she wasn’t overthinking! Zhuang Qi and Zhao Zi’s thing was a date, but she and Gu Lingjun were just hanging out.

Chen Yue had properly handled the aftermath of the previous welcome event, causing no major issues. As the Life Sciences Academy’s student council president, Zhao Zi led several reforms, and Xu Wen stayed silent, seemingly uninterested in interfering with student affairs anymore.

Busy with studies and work, Jiang Chuxie was stretched thin. Gu Lian and Mu Qing hadn’t taken further action against her, and the opposition hadn’t approached her again either.

Everything seemed to have calmed down. Away from the turmoil, her interactions with Gu Lingjun felt more and more like those of regular friends. They contacted each other daily, sharing the day’s events. Gu Lingjun helped with her workload and sought her advice on issues.

They were like close friends with an unspoken understanding that didn’t need words.

It was almost 2000, and none of the things she worried about had happened. That was something to be happy about.