After Becoming a Scummy Alpha, I Refuse to Get Divorced - Chapter 36

With only a week left until Du Shiyu’s university anniversary celebration, Zhu Qingran had spent three consecutive days working overtime.

She was personally overseeing every detail of the spicy strip factory project, driving its progress forward with relentless hands-on dedication. Meanwhile, market feedback for their newly launched product, the IO Premier Couple Emotion Tuner, had been streaming in continuously.

Initially, everything seemed to be going smoothly. Then, out of nowhere, a wave of negative and neutral reviews blindsided them.

Several buyers claimed that using the Emotion Tuner had managed to land them straight in the hospital. As a result, a few unreasonable customers had stormed the company demanding compensation.

The legal department’s workload had spiked exponentially over the last few days. They had nearly commandeered the lounge right next to Zhu Qingran’s office just to stack the incoming mountains of dispute materials.

“President Zhu, would you like some coffee to freshen up?”

Liang Jing forced herself to stay alert, finally locating her CEO buried behind a massive pile of documents. But just as she was about to brew a fresh cup of ground coffee, Zhu Qingran held up a hand to stop her.

Lately, the CEO had developed a penchant for tea.

“No, I’ll stick to tea. If I keep pulling these all-nighters, I feel like my pheromone gland is going to completely dry up. Ugh, I miss my wife so much.”

With a heavy sigh, Zhu Qingran turned her gaze back to the touchscreen before her. The display showed a curated list of representative complaints and feedback selected by the legal department. Looking at the dense blocks of text, Zhu Qingran chose to selectively abandon all struggle.

The contents of these complaints were truly hilarious—so ridiculous that even Zhu Qingran couldn’t help but sigh at life, wondering if she really was the villain here.

“President Zhu of IO Group is my absolute idol! I copy everything she does, I love her so much I’d breathe the same air she breathes! Since she uses the Enhanced Version, I bought it too! But the Flagship Enhanced Version shouldn’t be an excuse to give me electroshock therapy! My hair is practically singed from the adjuster’s punishments!”

“Another day of turning myself into human barbecue! Little Sister Zhu is the biggest player in the sea, and I only copied a fraction of her style by keeping a few guys on the hook. Why am I the one getting hurt?”

“Be honest, is Zhu Qingran’s tuner even plugged in? Why am I constantly getting shocked?”

“The tuner hasn’t stopped buzzing since I put it on a week ago. Now I don’t just have tinnitus, I have a concussion! A concussion caused by something the size of an earring!”

Zhu Qingran took a slow, thoughtful sip of hot tea from her heirloom enamel mug, looking thoroughly helpless.

“Where else are they going to find a young person with such a positive image, who works hard, isn’t a picky eater, and loves her family? Why can’t they learn from my actual virtues? Like my secondary gender awakening and upgrade, my knack for making money to support the kid, or my deep devotion to my wife.”

Even Zhu Qingran couldn’t keep a straight face through her own boasting. She suddenly felt a wave of speechlessness.

These claims for compensation were never going to hold up anyway. She had printed the warnings clearly on the product packaging, even highlighting them in bold. Why couldn’t these people just read carefully?

The Flagship Enhanced Version wasn’t meant for just anyone to wear. Zhu Qingran wore it willingly because she knew she had the mental fortitude to withstand the trials.

Speaking of which, the tuuner on Zhu Qingran’s own ear hadn’t reacted in a long time. Did that mean her relationship with her sweet wife had completely stabilized? Or was it just because they had both been so incredibly busy lately that they lacked the energy to overthink things?

“Wooo, I miss my wife so much! No amount of lucrative business projects can comfort this longing! I’m going home, I want to see my wife!”

Zhu Qingran was a woman of action, never one to dawdle.

However, before she could even make it past her office door, her junior assistant, Zhou Ranran, marched in cradling a fresh stack of sorted documents waiting for signatures and stamps.

“President Zhu, look, why don’t you take a breather and give me fifteen minutes? I promise if you give me fifteen minutes, I’ll turn it into a mountain of cash for you!”

Left with no choice, Zhu Qingran slumped back into her swivel chair, pulling out her electronic pen to sign, stamp, and fingerprint the documents. She felt as though her fingers were about to catch fire, yet she still couldn’t finish them within the promised fifteen minutes.

By the time half an hour had ticked by, the pile had finally dwindled down to the last few pages.

Zhu Qingran let out a long breath and was about to get up when her secretary, Liang Jing, walked in.

“President Zhu, considering how busy you’ve been lately, the management at the spicy strip factory has decided to hold the ribbon-cutting ceremony online. Please tidy up a bit, our livestream is about to begin!”

Liang Jing pushed a backdrop board right behind Zhu Qingran and laid out the corporate lanyard ID badge that the CEO rarely wore.

Having just been at her wits’ end signing papers, Little Zhu adapted to the new scenario instantly. With the help of an off-camera hair dryer providing a gentle breeze for dramatic effect, she smoothly participated in the virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The ribbon-cutting was immediately followed by a poker-faced interview and a photo session.

By the time Zhu Qingran finished dealing with all of this chaos, the company cafeteria was already serving dinner. She still hadn’t managed to sneak away to see her sweet wife.

IO Group’s cafeteria was rumored to have hired a head chef from a local five-star hotel, so the meals were always a masterpiece of color, aroma, and taste. Yet, compared to the other employees who were eating happily, Zhu Qingran had zero appetite.

Resting her chin in her hand, she looked so exhausted that she risked planting her face directly into her food tray if her hand slipped.

“Sigh, the misery of lovesickness. It’s draining me so much I don’t even have any pheromones left. Sigh.”

Zhu Qingran lamented helplessly, her eyes filled with longing. If only her sweet wife were here; even if she were eating plain steamed buns, she’d happily ask the cafeteria lady for another one.

“It has been forty-three hours, fifty-seven minutes, and twenty-three seconds since I parted from my wife. Miss her, miss her, miss her!”

Just as Zhu Qingran was about to scoop up a mouthful of rice, a hand reached across the table and firmly pressed down on her utensils.

“Sigh, Secretary Liang, the ceremony is over. Is there something else? Haven’t we already signed all the contracts and authorization letters? Why don’t you have the PR department persuade those young people demanding compensation?

If they need to break up, just break up. A player shouldn’t drag down their partner’s happiness!”

Zhu Qingran didn’t even lift her head, clearly overwhelmed by the mountain of work. She had barely touched her food, yet her problems seemed to outnumber the grains of rice in her bowl.

Thus, while she was still endlessly rattling off the next set of tasks, the spoon was smoothly taken right out of her hand. The person opposite her scooped up a generous portion of rice and brought it directly to Zhu Qingran’s lips.

“I heard President Zhu was missing me, so I came to disturb you. I wonder if President Zhu has time to have dinner with me?”

That voice.

It was her sweet wife!

“Wife!”

Zhu Qingran blurts out happily, instantly turning into a spoiled partner as her wife lovingly fed her dinner.

The scene of the CEO and her wife flaunting their affection was so genuine and intense that it was impossible to ignore. At this moment, who wouldn’t want a sweet wife like that?

As for those buyers who tried to play the field like Zhu Qingran only to ruin their own relationships and demand refunds, the company staff felt re-energized and firmly turned them away.

Of course, Du Shiyu hadn’t come solely to visit Zhu Qingran; she also had a task to fulfill.

The university department responsible for drafting speeches had specifically asked Du Shiyu to hand over the schedule and speech transcript for Zhu Qingran’s appearance on the anniversary day.

Du Shiyu had come bearing official duties. However, she wasn’t in a rush. She waited patiently for Zhu Qingran to finish her work and give her a response.

But this wait lasted a full three hours. It wasn’t until around eight in the evening that Zhu Qingran finally broke free from her official duties.

“Wife, I’ll arrange for someone to drive you back.”

“Has President Zhu not prepared a place for me to sleep?” her sweet wife countered, having no intention of leaving.

Hearing this, a surge of excitement rushed through Zhu Qingran’s heart. Was she really going to spend the night with her darling wife right here at the company? In the office, that sounded rather thrilling.

“Of course, naturally I have. President Zhu’s lounge features a king-sized bed, fully stocked bedding, aromatherapy essential oils, and every other necessity. Most importantly, the soundproofing is exceptional.”

Liang Jing stepped forward to deliver the final daily summary, confidently explaining the amenities to Du Shiyu.

Zhu Qingran was well aware that the lounge had great soundproofing and a king-sized bed. But aromatherapy essential oils? Every necessity fully stocked? She suddenly felt like she had been sleeping in a fake lounge during her recent overtime nights.

Just as she was about to give Liang Jing an inquiring look, the secretary dropped off the documents, turned on her heel, and left.

Did she, the CEO, just get completely ignored by her own secretary?

Oh well. With her sweet wife right here, the secretary could go wherever she pleased.

Zhu Qingran turned a beaming smile toward her wife, only to be gently pushed toward the bathroom to freshen up before getting into bed. And then—

And then, a new wave of work began.

The young couple sat on the bed of romance, practicing the university anniversary program and rehearsing a solo song.

“Secretary Liang Jing didn’t lie to me. Your lounge really has incredible soundproofing, Ah Ran. Your singing is so terrible I’m about to cry, yet no one outside has knocked on the wall to warn us. This soundproofing is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)!”

Meanwhile, after clocking out, Liang Jing stepped into the elevator only to be instantly surrounded by her colleagues.

“Secretary Liang, I’ve actually had a question for a while. Didn’t President Zhu use to cultivate a ‘player’ persona?”

“Yeah, exactly! Why hasn’t President Zhu’s Emotion Tuner shown any abnormal reactions?”

“Right? Why did President Zhu suddenly transform into such a well-behaved, doting Alpha hubby overnight?”

The colleagues flooded her with questions, finding it hard to believe that their boss’s reign as the ultimate player had ended in the blink of an eye. Had they missed some monumental turning point?

“Ahem, everyone,” Liang Jing cleared her throat. “Do you think there’s a possibility that President Zhu’s so-called ‘player’ antics were just a clumsy attempt to tease her sweet wife, only to accidentally trap herself in a textbook ‘wife-chasing inferno’?”

Just as Liang Jing finished her sentence, the elevator dinged and the doors opened to her floor.

The crowd filed out in a rush, leaving behind a collective gasp of realization ringing through the corridor.

“Holy crap! A dog-blood, melodramatic CEO romance story? Count me in! I am totally down for that!”

The moment those words left her mouth, the entire elevator pool erupted into excitement.

Some colleagues even made the connection to the CEO’s younger cousin, He Yimo, noting that her acting skills must have skyrocketed after participating firsthand in Zhu Qingran’s “torment-the-wife, chase-the-wife” real-life drama.

If that was the case, shouldn’t the company’s entertainment and film subsidiary consider inviting Zhu Qingran to be a guest lecturer?

She was a true, living embodiment of the phrase: “Knowledge comes from practice—the CEO Lecturer, Zhu Qingran.”

Meanwhile, the “A-list actress” herself was still trapped in bed, being forced by her sweet wife to keep singing.

It wasn’t until Zhu Qingran’s tongue practically twisted into a knot over the lyrics that her sweet wife finally gave up and lay flat on the bed in resignation.

“Ah Ran, your singing is literally lingering in my ears like a curse. I can’t sleep at all now. How about you tell me a bedtime story instead?”

Staring up at the ceiling chandelier with bloodshot eyes, her sweet wife helplessly asked for a story just to divert Zhu Qingran’s catastrophic musical focus.

Zhu Qingran cleared her raspy throat a few times, her own eyes no less bloodshot.

“Once upon a time, there was a mountain. On the mountain, there was a temple. A little player wandered into the temple and asked the grandmaster how to turn up the heat in her relationship instantly. The grandmaster replied: ‘Through angst! Everyone longs for a happy ending born from a tragic romance story. Once they finish cursing the cheap melodrama, they’ll be crying tears of joy!'”

As Zhu Qingran spoke, she suddenly felt a delicate hand gently wrap around the literal throat of her destiny.

“And then?” her sweet wife asked, her tone perfectly calm and collected, yet enough to make the former player tremble with fear. “Did the Great King of the Sea embark on her fishing voyage, never to return? And what might this grandmaster’s name be? I feel it is highly necessary for me to pay them a visit.”

Inside, Zhu Qingran wailed in deep regret: Trashy melodramatic CEO novels, you have ruined my youth!