How Could a Scumbag Alpha Possibly Love His Wife? (GL, ABO) - Chapter 13
After Xu He said that, she stood up and left too. In the end, Cheng Wan was the only one left sitting at the dinner table.
The housekeeper came out carrying a bowl of soup, only to find the table empty. She paused, clearly confused.
Cheng Wan barely ate anything. When she returned to her room, she heard the sound of a car starting. The housekeeper explained that Cheng Jiajian had taken his wife and daughter out to eat. Cheng Wan didn’t react at all.
It was still early in the evening, but Cheng Wan felt completely exhausted. She lay in bed, hugging her blanket, thinking about how she had thrown up all the food Bai Juntang had kindly treated her to earlier.
Before she knew it, she drifted off to sleep.
She had a dream.
In the dream, she was very young—only about three or four years old. She had just been adopted by the Cheng family and was meeting her adoptive parents for the very first time.
Back then, Cheng Wan was a small, round-faced little girl. Though her body was thin and delicate, the baby fat on her cheeks made her look plump and adorable.
She had sat quietly on a chair, her feet not even reaching the floor, swinging her legs back and forth. She wasn’t nervous at all about meeting her new parents.
She vaguely remembered that Xu He had been young and beautiful then. Xu He had crouched down in front of her, meeting her gaze and smiling warmly, holding out a box of candy.
It was the kind of candy Cheng Wan had never seen in the orphanage. It looked sweet and delicious.
“Your name is Wanwan, right? From now on, Uncle Cheng and I will be your mom and dad. You’re our daughter now.”
At that time, Xu He didn’t have any children of her own, and she truly seemed to like Cheng Wan.
Even Cheng Jiajian, though he looked serious, had crouched beside his wife and handed little Cheng Wan a piece of candy.
Back then, Cheng Wan felt like she was the happiest child in the world. She finally had a home—a real family.
But things didn’t go the way she had hoped.
Not long after, Cheng Jiajian and Xu He left town to run a business. When they came back, Xu He was already pregnant.
Every day in the orphanage, Cheng Wan waited for them to return and take her home. She watched as other children were picked up by new families and thought her turn would come soon too.
But years passed, and no one came for her. Sometimes they sent things, but Cheng Wan never saw them in person.
She still remembered asking the orphanage staff, tilting her head and saying:
“When will my mommy and daddy come take me home?”
She couldn’t recall the teachers’ expressions when she asked that question.
All she knew was that she waited a long, long time. So long that she nearly forgot them—until one day, Xu He finally showed up and brought her home.
During her teenage years, Cheng Wan had thought about leaving. After all, she was just the adopted daughter. Cheng Qiaoqing, Xu He, and Cheng Jiajian were the real family.
Still, she often wondered: if she had been a little more obedient, a little more thoughtful, would they have stopped seeing her as just the adopted one?
Would they have loved her like they loved Cheng Qiaoqing?
She never wanted all of Cheng Qiaoqing’s affection—half would have been enough. And if that was too much, then even a tenth would have made her happy.
But the older she got, the more she realized—asking for even a tenth might have been too greedy.
Cheng Jiajian, Xu He, and Cheng Qiaoqing were a real family. She was just a burden they couldn’t throw away.
A responsibility they were forced to keep.
When Cheng Wan woke up, daylight had already filled the room. She hadn’t realized she had slept for so long. If she hadn’t forgotten to close the curtains the night before, she might have stayed asleep even longer.
Cheng Wan sat up in bed and rubbed her forehead.
She could still clearly remember the dream, which surprised her a little—it had been a long time since she’d thought about those memories.
Maybe it was because of what happened last night, watching Cheng Qiaoqing and her family go out to dinner without her, that made those old thoughts resurface.
But Cheng Wan was no longer a child. She didn’t hold onto those same childish hopes anymore.
That naïve belief—“If I’m just a little more obedient, maybe they’ll love me”—had long been pushed out of her mind.
Xu He didn’t dislike her because she wasn’t well-behaved. She disliked her because Cheng Wan wasn’t her biological daughter.
Cheng Qiaoqing was rude and spoiled by nature, but didn’t Xu He and Cheng Jiajian still love her with all their hearts?
Once she understood that, Cheng Wan realized it didn’t matter how sensible or considerate she was. If someone didn’t like you, they just didn’t. Nothing would change that.
Ding-ding—
Just then, her phone rang from the pillow beside her. She looked over and saw a message from Bai Juntang.
Bai Juntang: I’ve got things to take care of today. I won’t be able to pick you up or have meals with you for the next couple of days. Take care of yourself.
Cheng Wan stared at the message. It seemed considerate on the surface, but deep down, she knew that Bai Juntang only cared because of the child she was carrying.
The Cheng family wasn’t truly her family. And neither was Bai Juntang.
Cheng Wan placed a hand over her belly, her gaze dropping. The only one who truly belonged to her was the baby growing inside her.
She gently stroked her stomach, and suddenly a thought struck her: Maybe I shouldn’t give this child to Bai Juntang.
Bai Juntang didn’t seem like someone who would love a child. And if she handed over the baby to someone who didn’t care, wouldn’t that child suffer the same way she had?
Cheng Wan didn’t care about the promise of a hundred million yuan. That money would be snatched away by Cheng Jiajian and spent however he liked.
Right now, all she could think about was this baby. Her baby shouldn’t be born into a family like this.
She needed to leave—with her child.
Sitting there on the bed, Cheng Wan gently cradled her belly, her head bowed low, her whole body shrouded in quiet despair—like a soul that had lost its way.
When Bai Juntang received Cheng Wan’s reply, she was slightly surprised. It wasn’t even six o’clock yet. She had sent a text instead of calling because she assumed Cheng Wan would still be asleep—but she hadn’t expected such a quick response.
Reading the simple word “Got it”, Bai Juntang suddenly felt like she was talking to a subordinate.
At the same time, Li Chen let out a huge yawn, which made Bai Juntang yawn as well.
“President Bai,” Li Chen asked while rubbing his stomach, “when is Madam’s flight landing? We’ve been waiting for over twenty minutes.”
He hesitated, then added, “Should I go get some breakfast? Madam probably hasn’t eaten either.”
Bai Juntang rubbed her sleepy eyes. She had gotten a call from Bai Weilan yesterday and had come to the airport with Li Chen before dawn. Now, it was past 5 a.m. and the plane still hadn’t landed.
“Go get something,” she said, leaning tiredly against the car seat. “And bring me a coffee. I’m exhausted.”
Li Chen was tired too. He got out of the car, went to buy breakfast, and returned with two steaming cups of coffee. The two of them stood by the car, trying to shake off the sleepiness.
Around 7 a.m., Bai Weilan finally arrived—slow and unhurried.
Bai Juntang’s expression darkened. She looked at her mother and said with clear annoyance, “Mom, why did you pick such an early flight? And then it got delayed?”
Bai Weilan took off her sunglasses and replied, “Perfect for adjusting to the time difference.”
Bai Juntang didn’t say anything more. The two of them got in the back seat while Li Chen drove them home.
On the way, Bai Weilan glanced at her daughter and eventually asked, “Hey, where’s my daughter-in-law? I finally came back from abroad, and she didn’t even bother to come see me?”
Bai Juntang leaned back against the seat with her eyes closed, resting. “You only called me yesterday. She was probably already asleep by then, so I didn’t wake her.”
“I had just woken up too,” Bai Weilan said, a little dissatisfied. “Besides, I’ve only seen her in photos. She looks fair and gentle—seems like a nice girl.”
“She has work today,” Bai Juntang replied calmly. “We can arrange for you two to meet this weekend.”
“That’s fine,” Bai Weilan said. “It’ll be a good time to visit your mother too. She should meet the girl as well.”
Bai Juntang didn’t respond to that.
Her mother had passed away when she was a teenager. Because her mother had always been in poor health, Bai Weilan spent most of her time traveling around the country with her to seek treatment. As a result, Bai Juntang was mostly raised by a nanny.
After her mother died, it was as if Bai Weilan suddenly remembered she had a daughter. But by then, it was too late to build the kind of closeness that might have been possible earlier.
Since then, their relationship had always been distant and a bit strained. A few years later, Bai Juntang left home for school, and they naturally grew further apart. To this day, their relationship remained complicated.
“I’ve seen Cheng Wan’s file,” Bai Weilan said. “That project the Cheng family wants—they won’t get it easily. Once the baby is born, there’s no need for you to keep being cautious around them.”
“I’m not being cautious,” Bai Juntang replied with her eyes still closed. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Good,” Bai Weilan said as she looked out the window at the city slowly coming into view. “Even if Cheng Wan isn’t their biological daughter, she’s still part of the Cheng family. If you can’t handle her, the cleanest solution is to keep the child and let the mother go.”
The Cheng family was a black hole of problems. They didn’t owe them anything.
Bai Juntang didn’t respond. That phrase—“keep the child and let the mother go”—lingered in her mind, and she suddenly fell silent.
Maybe once the baby was born, whatever connection she had with Cheng Wan would come to an end.
A few days later, on Sunday, the weather was clear and sunny. Bai Weilan asked Bai Juntang to bring Cheng Wan along to visit the cemetery.
Since returning, Bai Weilan hadn’t stayed at the family home. Instead, she chose to stay in a hotel. She often visited the cemetery alone, spending quiet time with her late wife.
When Cheng Wan was told she would be meeting Bai Juntang’s mother on Sunday, she hesitated for a moment but didn’t resist. It wasn’t something she could say no to.
Cheng Jiajian and Xu He were both very pleased when they heard the news. As far as they were concerned, if Bai Weilan approved of Cheng Wan, then her marrying into a wealthy family would only be a matter of time.
“I heard Bai Weilan has a very unpredictable temper,” Xu He said during dinner, discussing it with her husband. “They say she’s hard to read and moody. Have you ever met her before?”
Cheng Jiajian shook his head. “No, I haven’t. But judging from Bai Juntang’s personality—how cold and short-tempered she is—her mother probably isn’t easy to deal with either. I’d expect someone picky and harsh.”
Xu He turned to Cheng Wan, her tone serious. “Wanwan, make sure you do your best to please her. If she doesn’t like you, all the investments we’ve made will be for nothing.”
Cheng Wan didn’t have much of an appetite. She took a couple of sips of porridge, then lowered her eyes and nodded quietly. “Alright. I understand.”