After Becoming a Scummy Alpha, I Became a Slave to My Beloved Wife - Chapter 43

“What happened to Wenyu?”
Nothing terrified Jiang Nian more than something happening to Qiao Wenyu. Big or small—she couldn’t accept anything going wrong. The moment she heard there’d been an accident, her heart clenched painfully tight.

The agent’s voice was trembling, on the verge of tears.
“President Jiang, today Miss Qiao was rehearsing a fight scene with a co-star, and… she got hurt. She fell into a pool during the take. Her injuries were already serious, but she also inhaled water. The fluid’s in her lungs now, and… the situation isn’t looking good.”

“What did you say?”

The sound of glass shattering rang through the office—Jiang Nian had dropped her cup, and shards scattered across the floor.

Lu Renbing rushed forward to clean up the broken glass, his face pale as he glanced nervously at Jiang Nian.

The agent took a shaky breath, trying to calm herself before continuing. “The doctors say there’s fluid buildup in her lungs. They’re checking how much. If it’s too much… I can’t even imagine. President Jiang, please come quickly. While she was unconscious… she called your name twice.”

Jiang Nian’s hands trembled so badly she almost dropped her phone. Her breath caught in her throat.

Seeing his boss’s face turn deathly pale, Lu Renbing panicked. He jumped up to catch her before she could fall. “President Jiang, what is it? Please don’t scare me like this!”

“Wenyu…” Jiang Nian choked on her words, tears instantly welling in her eyes. She covered her face with her hand and clutched the desk for balance as she stumbled toward the door. “I have to go to her. I need to be with her. She can’t—she can’t be hurt.”

Lu didn’t know the full details, but judging by her expression, he could guess enough. He followed close behind, immediately beginning to arrange the fastest possible travel plans out of province.

Fortunately, Jiang Nian had connections. Even on such short notice, they were able to clear the way for her to travel overnight.

Still, it wasn’t until the next morning—just as the sky began to lighten—that she arrived at the hospital where Qiao Wenyu was being treated.

The moment Jiang Nian stepped off the plane, she called the agent.

“How is she?” she asked, skipping any greeting.

“President Jiang, Miss Qiao is in the intensive care unit. There’s a significant amount of fluid in her lungs. If it isn’t drained in time, it could lead to a serious infection, or worse… it could become life-threatening.”
The agent’s voice cracked. “But I believe she’ll pull through. She has to.”

“Take care of her for me. I’m almost there.”

Jiang Nian broke into a sprint as she left the plane. Even after climbing into the car, her heart was still pounding like thunder.

You can’t be hurt, Sister.
Please… please be okay.

When the car stopped in front of the hospital, Jiang Nian jumped out and ran toward the ward, following the room number the agent had sent her. On the way, she bumped into several people without even pausing to apologize.

Her mind was in chaos—there was no room left for anything but fear.

At the hospital room door, she paused just long enough to swallow the lump in her throat. Then she stepped inside.

Qiao Wenyu lay quietly in bed, her face pale, lips drained of color. The sight of her hit Jiang Nian like a knife to the chest.

“Wenyu… Sister…” Jiang Nian dropped to her knees at the bedside. She gently took Qiao Wenyu’s cold hand and pressed it to her cheek.
“Wife… I missed you so much. How could you let something happen to you? How am I supposed to handle this?”

Qiao Wenyu didn’t respond. She lay still, her eyes closed, motionless.

“She hasn’t woken up yet,” the agent said quietly from behind. “The doctors have removed some of the fluid, but there’s still more left. They’re keeping her under close observation.”

She hesitated, then added, “President Jiang… I think you should know. That accident on set yesterday… it wasn’t an accident. Her scene partner—did it on purpose.”

“What?” Jiang Nian’s eyes shot open, and fury surged in her chest. “You’re telling me this wasn’t an accident?”

If someone had intentionally hurt Qiao Wenyu, then Jiang Nian would never, never let it slide.

She already had growing suspicions about Jiang Fenyun. And now, if this was truly deliberate…

She would investigate to the end. She would not—could not—give Jiang Fenyun or anyone else another chance to hurt the woman she cherished.

How many times now had Wenyu been the one to take the fall?

This woman—this gentle, soft, quietly strong woman—was the one Jiang Nian couldn’t even bear to hold too tightly. The one she touched so carefully, kissed so gently.

She didn’t deserve this.

The agent motioned for them to step outside. They exited the room and walked to a secluded hallway.

The agent recounted every detail of what had happened that day—clear, complete, and without skipping a beat.

“That man was a stunt double. Normally, doubles are supposed to pull their punches when rehearsing action scenes with the lead. But I saw it with my own eyes—he wasn’t holding back at all. Every move he made was targeting Wenyu’s weak spots. And at the end… he tripped her on purpose. That’s how she fell into the river.”

“What kind of person would do that?” Jiang Nian’s voice dropped several degrees. Just listening to the account, she could already imagine how badly Wenyu had been hurt.

“Did you catch him?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

The agent shook her head regretfully, then grabbed Jiang Nian’s arm, pleading,
“President Jiang, you have to find him. Please—find out who he is.”

“I’ll do more than that,” Jiang Nian said through gritted teeth. “I won’t just find him—I’ll tear out the entire foundation behind him.”

Her fists clenched. After the agent returned to the room, Jiang Nian threw a punch against the wall in frustration.

The sharp pain in her knuckles didn’t even register—it was nothing compared to the agony in her chest. If Wenyu’s body hurt, Jiang Nian’s heart was breaking a thousand times over.

In the dim hospital corridor, she slowly lifted her head. Her phoenix eyes burned with a fire that had turned from anguish to fury.

Only one name echoed in her mind—a name that once stood for trust, closeness, friendship.

Jiang Fenyun.

Once she’d steadied herself in that emergency stairwell, Jiang Nian immediately contacted her team to investigate everything that had happened on set that day.

By the time she returned to the hospital room, she arrived just in time.

Qiao Wenyu had woken up.

“Sister!” Jiang Nian rushed to her bedside, gripping her hand tightly, unwilling to let go.

A faint smile spread across Qiao Wenyu’s face. Her voice was weak, barely more than a whisper.
“I’m awake… Why aren’t you calling me wife anymore?”

“You still have the strength to joke?” Jiang Nian choked out a laugh through her tears. She reached out to gently brush her hand across Qiao Wenyu’s smooth, pale forehead.
“Wife… how do you feel? Are you in pain?”

“I’m fine. It only looks bad, that’s all. I just…” Qiao Wenyu trailed off, giving Jiang Nian a look that hinted she wanted to speak privately.

Catching the signal, Jiang Nian turned to the others in the room and said,
“Can you all step outside for a moment? We need to have a… wife-to-wife chat.”

Everyone filed out quickly and tactfully, leaving the room quiet once again.

Only when they were alone did Qiao Wenyu try to sit up in bed, bracing herself on the rails.

“What are you doing? Stay down!” Jiang Nian rushed forward to support her.

Qiao Wenyu shook her head softly. “I’m okay, Xiao Nian. Really.”

“How are you okay? You almost—”
Jiang Nian’s voice cracked. She turned her face away, blinking back the burn behind her eyes.

“It’s alright,” Qiao Wenyu said gently, holding Jiang Nian’s hand like one might calm a child. “I’m not as bad as the doctors made it sound. Actually… I had them exaggerate it a little.”

Jiang Nian froze, completely caught off guard. “What do you mean?”

“I actually…”
Qiao Wenyu knew Jiang Nian wouldn’t understand easily, so she took a deep breath and explained everything—clearly, honestly, from the very beginning.

Ever since she joined the filming crew, Qiao Wenyu had sensed that someone was targeting her behind the scenes. It started small, but each time she rehearsed action scenes, she ended up taking heavier and more deliberate hits.

She quickly realized that the stunt double had been intentionally placed there—to make her suffer.

Minor bruises and scrapes were common in physical roles, but this wasn’t that. He was exploiting the excuse of “stunt coordination” to deliberately harm her. And if she had gone to the director with her suspicions, she would’ve been labeled a troublesome newcomer—weak, difficult, dramatic.

So Qiao Wenyu came up with her own plan.

If she wanted to draw out whoever was behind this, she needed to escalate the situation. And the only way for it to become serious enough was for her to be hospitalized.

She had her team reach out to the only nearby hospital in advance, pulling strings with the director and staff. Once she was admitted, she told the medical staff to report everything in the most alarming way possible—regardless of her actual condition.

That way, the production team would have no choice but to take it seriously. The stunt double, panicked by the scale of the incident, would likely slip up—and from there, it would be easier to trace everything back to the true mastermind.

And to make it look more convincing?
She had deliberately let herself fall.
She let that stunt double trip her during the scene, letting herself plunge into the water—even though she had a lifelong fear of drowning.

As Jiang Nian listened, her frown deepened with every word.

“Xiao Nian?” Qiao Wenyu’s voice softened. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Jiang Nian’s shoulders were trembling.

When Qiao Wenyu reached out and gently lifted her chin, she was stunned to find her face covered in tears.

“Sister… how could you do this to yourself?” Jiang Nian’s voice was shaking, her eyes full of devastation. “I know who’s most likely behind this. I know. Did you think I’d go easy on her just because she used to be my friend?”

Her voice cracked as she gripped Qiao Wenyu’s shoulders tightly, breaking down completely.

“How could you think that? How could you think I’d hesitate to defend you? That I wouldn’t fight for you?”

She was crying uncontrollably now.

The body she was so careful not to bruise, not to even press too hard when holding—Qiao Wenyu had gone and thrown it into danger herself.

“Xiao Nian…” Qiao Wenyu reached for her.

But Jiang Nian stepped back, still wiping tears from her cheeks. “Then tell me—how badly are you actually hurt? Is it serious, or not?”

“I…” Qiao Wenyu hesitated. She had just regained consciousness and hadn’t yet asked the doctors about the real severity of her condition. If it was worse than she expected… then there would be no way to downplay it anymore.

“I know how careful you’ve always been, how calculating you had to be just to survive,” Jiang Nian said, stepping even farther away. “But you have me now.”

“You didn’t tell me anything in advance. You didn’t even consider that I might want to protect you too. Sister… this hurts so much. You’re my omega. If you’re injured, then I’m the one bleeding.”

Qiao Wenyu’s heart clenched. She gripped the edge of the blanket tightly, trembling.

Every word Jiang Nian said—she was right.

She had never let Jiang Nian in. Never shared the plan. Never thought to include her in the fight.

She had, once again, taken everything on alone—facing the knives and fire by herself.

But… was it because she didn’t love Jiang Nian enough?

No.

No.

It was because she loved her too much.

She loved her so deeply, so fiercely, that she couldn’t bear to let Jiang Nian step into the chaos.

Whether it was Yan Zhong or Jiang Fenyun—those people only wanted revenge against her.

Not Jiang Nian. Never Jiang Nian.

After a long silence, Jiang Nian finally wiped her eyes, stood up, and looked at Qiao Wenyu one last time.

That look—deep, long, and heartbreakingly quiet—was like a blade slicing straight through Qiao Wenyu’s chest.

And then Jiang Nian turned and walked out of the room.

She didn’t look back.

That one glance had said everything.
It wasn’t just sorrow—it was anguish, disappointment, and grief all in one.

Xiao Nian… you’re surrounded by danger only because of me.
How could I bear to let you walk into the flames with me?

Qiao Wenyu covered her face with both hands, sobbing softly into her arms.

At the same time, Jiang Nian had already reached the nurse’s station.

She watched the flurry of nurses coming and going, her mind made up. Then she stepped forward and stopped one of them.

“Who’s your hospital director?” she asked.

She needed the truth about Qiao Wenyu’s condition— Not some carefully orchestrated lie designed to “protect” her.

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