Afraid of Alphas, but Pregnant with an Alpha’s Child - Chapter 16

On the other side of the world, the stylish and beautiful grandma was scrolling through short videos, a grin plastered so wide on her face you couldn’t scrape it off with a shovel.

Her husband, looking a bit more plain, leaned over to peek. On the screen were two chubby, healthy-looking babies, and their voices leaked through her bone-conduction headphones: “Grandma is great, Grandma is dear, Grandma is pretty and warm. I love Grandma best. When New Year comes, I’ll tell Daddy to take me to see Grandma~”

Mother Lu beamed. “Oh my, yes, yes! Grandma’s little darling! A big kiss for you!”

The old man pulled back and muttered softly, “Isn’t that just AR?”

“You think I don’t know that? Do you have to talk so much? You think you’re the only expert?” Lu Junting rolled her eyes at him. “People call that AI.”

“Oh,” Liang Siyan continued to grumble under his breath. “If you love it so much, tell your son to go have one for you.”

“He’s an Alpha how is he supposed to give birth?” Lu Junting looked at her husband speechlessly, wondering if he was finally going senile.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed with a WeChat message from her precious son. She tapped it open, and to her surprise, it was a voice message—a rare occurrence. The couple pressed their ears to the speaker together, only to hear a sticky, milky little voice: “Grandma, you’re so pret—”

It seemed the person on the other end hadn’t pressed the button properly; the voice cut off mid-sentence.

Liang Siyan: “Did your son travel through time?” “Shut up. Your son is the one who traveled through time.” “Then his phone was stolen.” “That’s possible.”

The couple went through every possibility, but never once did it occur to them that there would be a real child next to Lu Mingshen.

“Telecommunications fraud is so sophisticated these days. Could it be…” They shared a look, reached an instant agreement, and immediately placed a video call.

Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng was playing Match-3. He didn’t know many characters yet; when he used to play on Jiang Qiu’s phone, he’d download all sorts of random things. Eventually, he was restricted to only Match-3, once a day, for no more than twenty minutes.

Jiang Cheng was a good boy. He always asked his father to set a timer and would return the phone as soon as it went off. Sending that voice message had already cost him over a minute; he had to hurry and get back to his game.

Suddenly, just as he exited WeChat, the video call pop-up appeared. Jiang Cheng remembered his father’s warning: Never click on boxes you don’t recognize.

But when he saw his own face in the small preview box, he hesitated. I can’t click a stranger’s box, but I can surely click my own face, right? To be safe, he clicked the green button, which looked more secure.

The fact that their son who usually never answered video calls picked up within ten seconds only confirmed the couple’s “scam” theory. But when the screen flickered to life, they froze.

A clean, fair little “glutinous rice ball” was pressing his whole face against the screen. He was so close that he didn’t even fit in the frame, but even across the ocean, they could almost smell the sweet, milky scent of the child.

Lu Junting was shaken. “AI technology really is getting advanced…” It looked exactly like a real person, and it was incredibly cute.

The “advanced AI” then spoke up in a crisp voice: “Pretty Grandma!”

Lu Junting’s heart melted at the word “Grandma.” A “darling grandchild” was about to slip out of her mouth when a pair of well-defined hands appeared on the screen. A strange, gentle, and clear voice sounded: “What are you looking at, baby? Where is Grandma?”

The camera wobbled, and a fair, clean face came into view. The man’s smile hadn’t faded yet, and his eyes were dark and bright—a perfect, enlarged version of the baby from a moment ago.

The baby cried out, “Grandma is gone!”

Then, a voice they knew all too well spoke: “What’s happening?”

The screen went black for a split second, and the video call was abruptly cut off. Immediately after, Lu Mingshen sent a text: The software glitched. Don’t mind it.

Luting and Liang Siyan: “…………”

Something is definitely wrong with this boy!!

They called him back immediately. Lu Mingshen’s voice sounded perfectly composed: “Mom, Dad, what is it?”

Lu Junting repeated what had just happened. After a moment of thought, her son replied, “It was probably a scam call. Ignore it.” He hung up before they could ask anything else.

A second ago he said it was a software glitch! The two made an instant decision: they were rebooking their flights home immediately.

Back at the villa, Jiang Qiu looked at the frowning Lu Mingshen, then poked Jiang Cheng, signaling: What did you do?

Jiang Cheng blinked: Baby doesn’t know either.

“Mr. Lu, did something happen?” Jiang Qiu asked.

“Nothing,” Lu Mingshen said calmly. “I probably just touched a video call by accident.”

Jiang Qiu relaxed, then remembered something. “Are you leaving for your business trip the day after tomorrow?”

“Yes. The driver will be here. Why?”

“Where is Uncle going? Baby wants to go too~” Jiang Cheng wiggled over, having completely forgotten about the incident with the phone.

Lu Mingshen scooped him up and decided to be honest about the trip. He didn’t want the boy’s high expectations for the event to be crushed at the last minute. But as expected, once the little guy heard the news, his face crumpled. “But we pinky-swore.”

“I’ll try my best to get back in time,” Lu Mingshen said.

Jiang Cheng’s lip wobbled. “You promised me.”

“Chengcheng, don’t be unreasonable,” Jiang Qiu frowned, stepping in. “Uncle has work to do. Isn’t it the same if Daddy goes with you?”

“You just promised! Now you’re taking it back! You broke your word!” Jiang Cheng began to struggle violently in Lu Mingshen’s arms, shouting “I won’t!” repeatedly.

Lu Mingshen was the first to surrender, thinking he’d have to finish the meetings early no matter what. But Jiang Qiu remained stern, letting Jiang Cheng thrash about on the safety mats. After a while, when Daddy showed no intention of coaxing him, Jiang Cheng ran out of energy. He sat up gloomily, biting his lip, his eyes red and his pale face flushed pink.

Jiang Qiu sighed and knelt down to explain. “Since Uncle promised you, he definitely wants to go to the preschool activity with you. But he has business first. The best way is to do both, so he said he’d try to get back as fast as he can. But think about it Uncle is going far away. Planes, cars, and hotels can all be delayed. Planes are the most likely to be late. If he didn’t tell you in advance and couldn’t make it back, wouldn’t you be even angrier?”

“Besides, you have Daddy. I’ve already taken leave from my teachers. If Uncle makes it back, we’ll all go together. If he doesn’t, Daddy will go with you. Then, when Uncle returns, you can think of a way to punish him. Make him take you to the amusement park or get a big meal. How about that?”

Jiang Cheng was completely swayed. He looked at his father with wide eyes, though he really only heard “amusement park” and “big meal.”

Lu Mingshen watched the two of them, wondering if a child could really understand all that. But Jiang Cheng stopped crying immediately, sat up straight, and raised his arms: “Amusement park! Yes!”

Lu Mingshen: “…”

“Let’s read a storybook, okay?” Jiang Qiu pulled a fairy tale book from the shelf and opened it. The easily-coaxed boy immediately flopped into Jiang Qiu’s lap, scratching his father’s chin. “I want Daddy to read it.”

“Of course. Long, long ago…”

Seeing that Chengcheng was no longer angry, Lu Mingshen relaxed. However, he hadn’t forgotten the fact that his son had called his parents. He opened his phone, and miraculously, there were no unread messages.

A bad feeling crept into his heart. He tried calling his parents.

Busy tone. No answer.

He immediately asked Assistant Xu for his parents’ flight information, and upon learning they weren’t scheduled to return for another week, he let out a sigh of relief. Liang Siyan was a bit of a traditionalist and hadn’t fully mastered smartphones yet; all his travel was handled by assistants. As for Lu Junting, she was a disciplined lady who only allowed herself an hour of screen time a day. She likely didn’t know how to book her own flights.

He was entirely unaware that his parents were already in the lounge of Auckland International Airport, waiting to board their flight.

Unaware of the danger, Lu Mingshen went to his room. The butler had already packed his bags two large suitcases stood neatly in the corner. He sighed and messaged the butler; he was only going away for a week, he didn’t need this much. He thought about unpacking a bit, as he could always buy what he needed there.

Just as he was considering this, there was a knock on the door. Jiang Qiu’s head popped in. “Are you packing?”

“Yes. Where’s the boy?”

“Asleep,” Jiang Qiu laughed helplessly. “He fell asleep before the prince and princess even met.”

“He didn’t take a nap at school today; he must be exhausted.”

They chatted briefly about Jiang Cheng’s performance at school. Lu Mingshen casually mentioned the “faking a stomachache” incident. Jiang Qiu immediately said, “I should leave a backup number with the teacher so they can call me instead. I don’t want to keep troubling you.”

“Troubling?”

Realizing his choice of words was poor, Jiang Qiu corrected himself: “I mean, I’m afraid to disturb your work.”

“It’s no disturbance. You’re at school without a car; it’s not convenient for you,” Lu Mingshen said. He looked at Jiang Qiu thoughtfully but said nothing more.

After deciding who the teacher should contact, Jiang Qiu mentioned he still needed to talk more with Chengcheng. After a few more words, Lu Mingshen felt a gaze still lingering on him. He turned to find Jiang Qiu still half-in and half-out of the room, looking incredibly stiff.

“Do you need help packing?”

Lu Mingshen was surprised. “No need.”

…Fine.

Just as Jiang Qiu was about to close the door and leave, he heard Lu Mingshen ask, “Are you still feeling uncomfortable?”

He didn’t understand what Lu meant until the man continued: “Being with me.”

“It’s not that…” Jiang Qiu said. “I just feel…”

“Yes?”

“…I’m living off you and using your things. I feel a bit embarrassed, even though I’ll pay you back later…”

Lu Mingshen was too tired to argue about the “paying back” part again. He simply offered comfort: “You’ve already done a lot.”

“I haven’t done.”

Before he could finish, a surge of Alpha pheromones hit him. In an instant, Lu Mingshen had gripped his wrist and pinned him against the wall. Their scents clashed and tangled in the air, testing, touching, and eventually blending.

For a moment, he heard many sounds, but the loudest was the thundering heartbeat he couldn’t tell whose it was.

He waited for Lu Mingshen to speak, but the man let him go first. Lu Mingshen looked at him calmly, a hint of a smile in his eyes.

“It seems the desensitization therapy is showing remarkable results.”

Jiang Qiu: “?”

“You don’t seem to be that afraid of me anymore.”

Support