Dressed as the Scumbag Alpha Mom of the Tragic Female Lead (ABO, GL) - Chapter 43

Chapter 43

“You guys are in charge for the next three days. Don’t contact me or Chuxie unless it’s something important, okay~”

Zhuang Qi had sorted out the office space in just a few days. The desks in the office building were ready-made, and Zhuang Qi brought computers from her family’s company. The classmates and juniors she recruited were either her close friends or loyal fans, and they signed contracts and started work at lightning speed.

The two could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Jiang Chuxie had also spent the past couple of days getting to know these employee-alumni.

“Senior, are you going to the hot spring resort in the northern suburbs? That sounds amazing. I want to soak in a hot spring too.”

Tomorrow was New Year’s Day, and before the trip, the two had to brief the staff on duty for the next few days. Hearing about their hot spring trip, everyone expressed envy.

“We’ve been working ourselves to death this past month. This is just a little reward for ourselves. Don’t be jealous—when winter break comes, I’ll take you all out for some fun,” Zhuang Qi promised.

“Zhuang Qi, you better keep your word!”

“Senior, we’re holding you to that promise!”

“Forget the trip. If things look good by the end of the year, I’ll give you all bonuses too!”

“Wooo!”

The few who had already signed short-term contracts, officially becoming company employees, were fired up by Zhuang Qi’s words.

Jiang Chuxie smiled quietly, shaking her head to herself. When it came to leadership charisma, she really couldn’t compete with Zhuang Qi.

Zhuang Qi could blend in with others without letting them walk all over her. Jiang Chuxie wasn’t sure if it was her natural charm or a skill honed by her background.

“Senior Jiang, have a great time! We’ll work hard!”

The Beta junior who had asked about their trip looked at Jiang Chuxie with a bright smile, promising earnestly. Jiang Chuxie nodded to the group, keeping it brief. “Then we’ll be counting on you these few days. Call me or Zhuang Qi if anything urgent comes up.”

Everyone present was a computer science student, ranging from freshmen to juniors, with an even split of Alphas and Betas. After a few days of getting to know them, Jiang Chuxie found them easy to talk to, with solid skills and attitudes.

For now, they were assigned to customer service. After some observation and stabilization, she and Zhuang Qi would make further arrangements.

After the two left, the office gradually quieted down, with occasional discussions and questions as everyone threw themselves into work.

Over the past month, Jiang Chuxie had already done most of the optimizations. The software was highly refined for current computers, and even where it fell short, she had provided solutions.

With more staff and fewer issues, their workload was lighter than what Jiang Chuxie and the others had faced before. Besides resolving user problems, their main task was logging feedback on bugs and user requests.

“Team leader, I’m going to the bathroom,” the junior who had asked about their trip said after working for a bit, notifying the team leader.

“Go ahead, it’s not busy. No need to report it.”

“Thanks, Senior!”

The Beta looked grateful, hurrying out of the office but not toward the bathroom. Instead, he pulled out his phone and headed to a quiet corner.

“Yeah, I found out. They’re definitely going to the hot spring resort in the northern suburbs.”

“They’re both cautious. It’ll take time to earn their trust.”

“…I know,” the Beta said, his expression tinged with seriousness. “Don’t worry.”

“Yeah, I won’t act unless absolutely necessary. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

The next morning, Jiang Chuxie and Zhuang Qi picked up Zhao Zi at the dorm, then went to Gu Lingjun’s place to get her. Zhuang Qi had gone home to get a car, not only arranging the trip perfectly but also taking on the role of driver.

Having a friend like her made both work and play so much easier.

In her past life, Jiang Chuxie was a bit of a homebody—not in the sense of staying home all the time or avoiding people; she had plenty of friends. But when hanging out, it was usually indoor activities like eating, chatting, playing games, or singing karaoke.

As for trips, only her best friend had dragged her out a few times, and each time left her exhausted.

In this life, her stamina was much better. She’d been a hard-working part-timer and, though now a bit of a tech nerd, wasn’t opposed to traveling.

Plus, this was a hot spring resort hotel, meant for relaxation, so it shouldn’t be too tiring.

Zhuang Qi drove, with Zhao Zi in the passenger seat and Gu Lingjun and Jiang Chuxie in the back. The four chatted casually, the atmosphere relaxed.

“Those oversized and undersized things you made are getting a lot of buzz,” Zhao Zi said.

“Oversized and undersized?”

Neither Jiang Chuxie nor Zhuang Qi knew what Zhao Zi was talking about.

Gu Lingjun covered her mouth, laughing. “The abbreviations for Xunsou and Xunlian are XS and XL. Somehow, people on Xueyou Network started calling them ‘undersized’ and ‘oversized.’ It’s been catching on these past couple of days.”

Jiang Chuxie and Zhuang Qi had been either at the dorm or the office, too busy to notice the nicknames gaining traction.

“That’s a fun way to call them. Are your classmates using them a lot?” Zhuang Qi asked.

Nicknames like that felt more approachable than formal names.

Computers were still a luxury, and not many university students owned them. Computer science students, due to their major, had a higher rate of ownership, so more used the software, but it wasn’t the same for other departments.

“Some seniors are using undersized to help with their theses, and a lot of people signed up for oversized accounts for the novelty. But not everyone has a computer, so regular users are few,” Gu Lingjun explained.

Both Gu Lingjun and Zhao Zi came from well-off families and had computers. Gu Lingjun even had one at home and one at school, with better specs than Jiang Chuxie’s.

Don’t ask—just rich and spoiled.

“That’s normal. Right now, the main users of Xunlian are people who use computers daily for work. In a couple of years, when computer prices drop and usage rises, more people will start using them,” Jiang Chuxie said.

Though the two products showed no signs of profit yet, both she and Zhuang Qi were confident in their potential.

“Computers are so expensive. When will the prices drop?” Zhao Zi turned to Zhuang Qi. “Miss Zhuang, do something, Miss Zhuang!”

“What can I do?” Zhuang Qi laughed. “Kuai Xun’s computer prices aren’t up to me. Even if they were, the current prices are already low. They’re expensive because of high costs. When technology improves, costs will naturally come down.”

“No way. I thought you guys were making huge profits. How could capitalists not milk every penny and lower prices themselves?” Zhao Zi teased.

Zhuang Qi rolled her eyes. The Zhao family wasn’t exactly ordinary, so why was she the only one being called a capitalist?

“High margins depend on having a big technological edge over competitors. We’re not the only player in the domestic market. Anyone can assemble a computer. We’re trying to promote our operating system, but our competitors have the upper hand there.”

The widely used WIN system was similar to the Windows system from Jiang Chuxie’s past life, roughly at the Win98 level based on DOS. When she first saw the name, she thought it was just short for Windows, but later learned it was the “Win” system—whatever, she couldn’t be bothered to nitpick.

Zhuang Qi’s family’s BOX system was more like a certain fruit company’s system, with about a 5% market share.

If Zhuang Qi’s “competitor” meant the WIN company, they indeed had no advantage right now.

That was the main reason Jiang Chuxie hadn’t agreed to Zhuang Jingyuan’s request. On the PC side, WIN was dominant, and she didn’t want to bet everything on one system.

As for believing BOX could become mainstream, part of it was to flatter Zhuang Jingyuan, but she also believed BOX would eventually shine like that fruit company in her world.

Still, knowing the Zhuang family didn’t appear in the original plot made her worry, so she sped up her own plans and started paying attention to the Zhuang family’s situation.

The Zhuang family was currently led by Zhuang Qi’s eldest uncle, a skilled businessman but not a tech expert. Zhuang Qi’s father was a tech genius but clashed with his brother’s philosophy, leading to conflicts. He was sent to the unimportant gaming division, while Zhuang Qi’s aunt left the company to become a professor at an information technology institute.

Zhuang Qi had told her all this, and Jiang Chuxie sensed some red flags.

“Zhuang Qi, are you close with your eldest uncle?”

Zhuang Qi sighed. “He’s pretty good to me, but my dad doesn’t like me being around him. I’m close with my cousin, though. I’ll introduce you to her sometime.”

Jiang Chuxie often heard about Zhuang Qi’s cousin, who was adopted and didn’t work at the company, now a surgeon.

To Jiang Chuxie, she was irrelevant, so she wasn’t interested.

“Let’s talk about your cousin later. I just want to know what you think about Kuai Xun.”

“What’s there to think? My uncle’s a typical businessman. The past couple of years’ profits look good, but if he keeps going like this, the company will lose its core competitiveness soon. Promoting the system is the right direction, but he’s an outsider calling the shots, driving away tech talent. My dad’s so fed up he won’t talk to him, and only my aunt still secretly helps out.”

“Since you see the problem, hasn’t anyone tried talking to your uncle?”

“Ha, he’s stubborn. If he listened, it wouldn’t have dragged on this long. He’s great at business, with shiny financial reports every year, so the shareholders follow him blindly. How could we get a say?”

Jiang Chuxie frowned slightly. “I’ve used the BOX system. It’s decent. Things shouldn’t be that bad yet, right?”

“Not yet. A lean camel is still bigger than a horse. Our family’s been refining this system for years. My dad’s an old coder with barely any hair left, and my aunt’s a genius. They and the tech team poured years of effort into competing with WIN, so it still holds up.” She sighed. “But we’re just coasting on past work. Look at WIN—they innovate every year. I’m no tech expert, but I’ve got an eye for this. If things continue, we’ll be stuck assembling computers to scrape by in a few years.”

“Don’t you also produce chips and components?”

“Don’t get me started. My uncle thinks the profit’s too low and wants to cut the production line. Thankfully, the board didn’t go along with it this time.”

Is this guy an inside saboteur or what?

Jiang Chuxie was stunned. Zhuang Qi shook her head. “Forget it, let’s not talk about this. We’re going out to have fun—why bring up boring stuff? I can’t change it anyway. I’ll just stick with you, sister, and we’ll build our own empire.”

Zhuang Qi acted carefree, but Jiang Chuxie cared. She didn’t want the Zhuang family to collapse, paving the way for some Gao family Alpha to dominate the domestic market.

But as Zhuang Qi said, now wasn’t the time to discuss this. Gu Lingjun and Zhao Zi, listening in confusion, were probably bored.

“Let’s talk about it when we’re back… How long until we get to the resort?”

“About an hour. What, need the bathroom?” Zhuang Qi teased.

Jiang Chuxie’s face darkened. “I was just asking…”

“Zhuang Qi, move a bit to the left,” Zhao Zi, who had been quiet, suddenly said, staring at the rearview mirror. “Why do I see a car following us?”

“Huh?” Zhuang Qi instinctively shifted left as Zhao Zi suggested, asking, “Who’s following us? Why?”

Jiang Chuxie looked back, but on the highway with only one route and plenty of cars, she hadn’t paid attention to the vehicles earlier and couldn’t tell which one was supposedly following them.

“That one, the black car…”

“Oh…” Gu Lingjun let out a small gasp. Zhao Zi and Jiang Chuxie looked at her, and she covered her face in embarrassment. “Sorry, that’s my family’s car. It’s probably Uncle Wu…”

“…”

“…”

The other two were speechless, but seeing Gu Lingjun’s embarrassed and uneasy expression, Jiang Chuxie took pity and said, “Since it’s Uncle Wu, there’s no problem. It’s normal for your family to worry when you’re out with Alphas. If having Uncle Wu along puts your parents at ease, that’s fine.”

Zhao Zi didn’t agree.

“You two are Alphas, but I’m an Omega! I called Aunt Gu to vouch for us, but we didn’t say you two were coming along.”

“You didn’t tell them?”

Jiang Chuxie was shocked!

“If we did, would Lingjun have been allowed to come?”

That… made so much sense!

Gu Lian was already worried that Jiang Chuxie had ulterior motives toward Gu Lingjun. The fact that she let Gu Lingjun go out with them was suspicious no matter how you looked at it. Why was Jiang Chuxie only realizing this now?

In her past life, it wasn’t a big deal for close friends—two guys and two girls—to go out together. But this was an ABO world. Even if it wasn’t a lone Alpha and Omega, whenever an Omega and Alpha were together, people’s gazes would turn subtle.

Zhao Zi and Zhuang Qi were a couple, so that was fine, but she and Gu Lingjun… Why had she brought her past-life mindset into this world again?

“Senior, I’m sorry.”

Gu Lingjun apologized to both Zhao Zi and Jiang Chuxie.

Seeing her guilt, Zhao Zi’s irritation vanished instantly. “I’m not mad at you… or at Aunt and Uncle. It’s just, if they were worried, they could’ve said something. Following us secretly just causes misunderstandings and tension.”

Was it just a misunderstanding and tension? With her and Zhuang Qi showing up together, Gu Lian would be the one having a misunderstanding and getting tense!

No wonder they hadn’t let the two go upstairs when picking up Gu Lingjun. They were afraid of getting caught…

“Wait, Zhuang Qi, did you know about this?”

“Uh…” Zhuang Qi stared intently at the road ahead, too guilty to respond to Jiang Chuxie. “I-I need to focus on driving. Don’t talk to me.”

“Hmph, it was Zhuang Qi’s idea, wasn’t it? I thought you knew,” Zhao Zi said.

“Senior, don’t blame Senior Zhuang. I wanted to come out with you guys,” Gu Lingjun added.

“Exactly, Jiang Chuxie, don’t stress. As long as you don’t have any bad intentions, you’ve got nothing to fear. Besides, I’m here, so you won’t take advantage of Lingjun. We’ll all sleep in our own rooms at night—what’s there to worry about?” Zhuang Qi said.

“Senior…”

Sure, that’s what they said, but with all this ambiguity, and Gu Lingjun sneaking out without telling Gu Lian, getting caught would be impossible to explain away.

Seeing Jiang Chuxie’s expression shift rapidly, Gu Lingjun said softly, “I’ll tell Uncle Wu to go back after we get off the highway.”

Jiang Chuxie hesitated. “Maybe you should tell your mom. Hiding it from them doesn’t feel right.”

Gu Lingjun thought for a moment, then took out her phone and called Gu Lian. Jiang Chuxie felt a bit nervous, already preparing to head back.

“Hi, Mom, tell Uncle Wu to stop following us.”

“…Yes, I’m an adult. I know what I’m doing.”

“Okay, good.” Jiang Chuxie couldn’t hear the other end of the call, only observing Gu Lingjun’s expression and words. But Gu Lingjun didn’t say much before hanging up. “Bye.”

“What’d they say? What’d they say?” Zhao Zi asked eagerly.

“Nothing much. I cleared things up with them.”

Jiang Chuxie was skeptical. How could a few sentences clear things up?

“So they agreed?”

Gu Lingjun shook her head. “Nope. They said they’re coming to catch us themselves.”

“What?”

Gu Lingjun gave a sly smile. “But they’re overseas right now. Even if they want to catch us, it’ll take days. Let’s have fun first.”

Jiang Chuxie hadn’t expected this playful side of Gu Lingjun and was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Hahaha, nice! You’ve got my old spirit!” Zhuang Qi, admiring Gu Lingjun’s boldness, floored the accelerator. “Watch me shake him off!”

The car suddenly sped up, overtaking several vehicles. Thankfully, they were all wearing seatbelts, so no one got hurt.

Zhao Zi grabbed the handle and complained, “Don’t go crazy! We told Aunt Gu where we’re going. What’s the point of shaking him off now?”

“Ah, why are you guys so honest?” Zhuang Qi deflated instantly.

“We weren’t trying to lie to them. We just left out some details. You think we’re as dishonest as you?” Zhao Zi shot back.

Zhuang Qi huffed, indignant. “How am I dishonest? I’m the most honest, okay? I was just thinking of you guys.”

“Zhuang, Zhuang Qi, slow down… I’m getting carsick,” Jiang Chuxie said.

Not only was Jiang Chuxie afraid of heights, but she also couldn’t handle bumpy rides. Zhuang Qi’s driving was making her nauseous.

“Senior, are you okay?” Gu Lingjun asked.

Jiang Chuxie leaned back in her seat, eyes closed, lips pursed, unwilling to speak. Seeing her miserable expression, Gu Lingjun felt a pang of affection and gently placed her hand on Jiang Chuxie’s.

“Close your eyes and rest for a bit.”

After Jiang Chuxie suffered through the ride, the four finally reached the resort. Perhaps because he’d been spotted, Uncle Wu stopped hiding and parked openly beside them, even helping with their luggage.

“Madam said she upgraded you to a deluxe suite. Just check in at the front desk.”

Though Zhuang Qi was a rich kid, she was in the early stages of starting a business and was consciously frugal. She’d gotten free vouchers from her cousin, so their original accommodations were modest.

Unable to come herself, Gu Lian had upgraded them to a deluxe suite to ensure her daughter’s safety—a truly generous move.

Gu Lingjun looked helpless but knew it was impossible for Gu Lian to do nothing. She was just grateful no bodyguards had swooped in to drag her back.

Jiang Chuxie seemed to have expected this, calmly saying to Uncle Wu, “Thank Aunt Gu and Uncle Mu for us.”

Even Uncle Wu was a bit embarrassed by her thanks, saying, “No, no, it’s nothing.”

Zhuang Qi, ever carefree, said excitedly, “The deluxe suites here are pricey. We hit the jackpot!”

Only Zhao Zi kept circling Uncle Wu’s car, inspecting it closely.

“Zhao Zi, what’s up? Never seen a luxury car before?” Zhuang Qi teased her girlfriend.

Zhao Zi ignored her, puzzled. “That’s weird. The car I saw on the road wasn’t this one.”

“Miss Zhao, I’ve been driving this car the whole time. You’re amazing for spotting me—I thought I was pretty discreet,” Uncle Wu said.

Zhao Zi looked again, still shaking her head. “No, it really wasn’t this car. Uncle Wu, when did you start following us? From the school?”

“No way. I started from the apartment complex.”

“That’s strange…” Zhao Zi muttered.

“What’s so strange?” Zhuang Qi grabbed Zhao Zi’s hand, urging her to drop it. “You probably just saw wrong and got lucky. Come on, let’s drop off our luggage and eat lunch. I’m starving.”

Zhao Zi glanced around the parking lot, not seeing any familiar cars, and finally shook her head, letting it go for now.

None of them noticed a black sedan at the other end of the parking lot, where the driver was watching them while talking on the phone.

“Yes, they’ve checked in.”

“I’ll act when the time is right. Just have the money ready.”

Xu Wen hung up, laughing smugly to himself.

He’d been having Jiang Chuxie followed for a while, looking for an opportunity to strike. But Jiang Chuxie and Zhuang Qi were inseparable, sticking to a routine of cafeteria, dorm, and classroom. When they had free time, they stayed in the dorm all day, giving him no chance to act.

If possible, he didn’t want the incident to happen at school.

After waiting so long, he’d finally found his chance. His money hadn’t been spent in vain.

These naive kids thought things would just blow over, that he’d let it go so easily?

Hmph, he’d make them see what happens when they defy him—complete ruin.