After Becoming a Scummy Alpha, I Was Spoiled by a Sweet Omega - Chapter 96

What exactly had Sun Meiqing done back then?

Too much time had passed. She had almost forgotten it herself.

Under Yu Yazhi’s relentless interrogation, the memories began to resurface. It started with her brother’s gambling, he had racked up astronomical debts. Every cent she earned was funneled into that void, and it still wasn’t enough. She had to find another way.

That was when she set her sights on Yu Zhengcheng. He was high-born, immensely wealthy, handsome, and most importantly famously devoted to his late wife. Even five years after her passing, he had shown no intention of remarrying.

She targeted him, orchestrating “chance” encounters and playing the damsel in distress, finally using her pheromones to ensnare him. He gave her money, bought her villas and jewelry, and doted on her. But he never seemed to have any intention of marrying her.

She needed a plan.

Before she could act, her brother gambled again. This time, she swore she wouldn’t help, but the debt collectors came for her instead. She had thought about asking Yu Zhengcheng for help, but she was terrified he would see her family as a burden. She had carefully cultivated the image of a refined socialite; she couldn’t bear to drop her pride in front of the man she loved.

Trapped by her own weakness, she made an unforgivable mistake. The debt collector forced himself on her. Over and over again.

Then, she found out she was pregnant.

She didn’t know if the child belonged to Yu Zhengcheng or her rapist. She was terrified. But when Yu Zhengcheng found out, he was ecstatic and declared he would marry her.

This was her chance.

She hypnotized herself into believing it was Yu Zhengcheng’s child, but as her due date approached, the terror returned. What if it wasn’t? What if it was that monster’s? She couldn’t keep a child like that. Especially a girl. Yu Zhengcheng already had a daughter; he had mentioned wanting a son.

Driven by those two motives, she bribed a doctor to switch the babies. If the truth ever came out, she could simply blame it on a hospital error. Because of the frantic timeline, once she made the decision, she didn’t even check if the girl she gave birth to was actually Yu Zhengcheng’s daughter.

As for where that discarded child went.

“Speak! Are you still trying to figure out how to spin your story?”

Yu Yazhi’s impatient voice broke her reverie. Yazhi was barely restraining the urge to shove Sun Meiqing’s head into the freezing surf.

Sun Meiqing snapped back to reality, her voice dripping with feigned sincerity. “It really was a hospital error. If you don’t believe me, go investigate. Didn’t you almost find the doctor who delivered the baby? Once you find them, finding the child won’t be far off.”

Seeing her stubbornness, Yu Yazhi grabbed her hair and pushed her toward the water. Sun Meiqing let out a piercing shriek. “It’s the truth! I’m not lying! You can’t do this to me, Yu Yazhi this is a crime!”

Yu Yazhi had no intention of actually committing a crime. Seeing that the threat wasn’t working, she shifted her tactics. “You want to divorce my father now?”

Sun Meiqing nodded, her voice thick with self-pity. “Yes, he doesn’t believe me anymore, he doesn’t love me, he even struck me. Shouldn’t I leave?”

Yu Yazhi let out a cold laugh. “Do you even have a conscience? Was my father not good to you? Did he not spoil you? And yet you hurt him like this! A perfectly good man is now a shell of himself, drinking and smoking his life away, looking a decade older overnight! Sun Meiqing, do you realize how cruel you are? You destroyed him!”

“I didn’t! It wasn’t me!” Sun Meiqing wailed. “You say I have no conscience? What about yours? What is this? A forced confession?”

Yu Yazhi abruptly let go. “I don’t need to force a confession, and I have plenty of conscience. If you tell the truth, I’ll ensure you get the money you’re owed in the divorce settlement. I just saw my father; he’s given me full authority over the proceedings. If you’re smart, Sun Meiqing, you’ll tell me the truth.”

She used both the carrot and the stick, desperate to uncover the facts as quickly as possible. Sun Meiqing’s mental defenses were already brittle, and the mention of money piqued her interest. “How much are you planning to give me?”

She knew she was in a weak position. Yu Zhengcheng didn’t trust her, Yu Jiayan wasn’t his son, and he was likely already moving assets. A standard divorce wouldn’t end well for her. She had been hoping to use the “domestic violence” angle to secure a payout, but if Yu Yazhi was willing to pay.

Yu Yazhi saw the greed in her eyes and smirked mockingly. “How much do you want?”

“Five hundred million.”

To be honest, it wasn’t an outrageous sum. Given her father’s net worth, a normal divorce would have netted her at least a billion. But she had made a fatal error.

Yu Yazhi didn’t commit to the figure. “That depends on whether your truth is worth the price.”

Waves crashed against the shore. Ning Xuan, watching them stand in the water and worried about Yazhi catching a cold, called out: “Yazhi, come back! Don’t get sick!”

Yu Yazhi nodded toward Ning Xuan and began walking back to the car. As she walked, she asked, “Tell me. Did you know about the switch? Where is that child? Is she my father’s?”

“Yes.” Sun Meiqing’s tone was firm, so firm she almost believed it herself. But she knew Yazhi didn’t believe her, so she wove a web of half-truths. “She was a girl, just like you. I knew your father wanted a son, so I wanted to please him. In a moment of madness, I paid the doctor to swap the babies.”

“Where is she now?”

“Now that I’ve told you that, shouldn’t you transfer the money?”

“You think that scrap of information is worth five hundred million? Where is the child?”

“You have to give me the money before I say anything else!” Sun Meiqing wasn’t a complete fool; she wanted the money or at least half upfront. “Even pre-ordering an item requires a deposit. You have to pay me.”

“You really are blinded by greed! She’s your daughter, and you treat her like a ‘pre-ordered item’?” Yu Yazhi stopped and looked at her with pure disgust. “Does a person like you even deserve to be called a mother? You abandoned her the second she was born. And now that everything has come to light, you don’t have a single sincere thought about finding her or making amends.”

Yu Yazhi paused, a realization dawning on her face. She smiled. “It seems she isn’t my father’s child after all. If she were, you would have looked for her long ago. She would have been your last bargaining chip to save this marriage. What a pity. You’ve lost everything.”

Sun Meiqing realized she had been played. She had inadvertently shown her entire hand.

“No, that’s not it! She is your father’s daughter!” she shrieked, rushing forward like a madwoman to grab Yazhi’s arm. “It’s the truth! She’s your sister! I’m not lying!”

But she didn’t dare look for her. Not at all. If the girl wasn’t Yu Zhengcheng’s, her infidelity would be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, and all her ugly secrets might be dragged into the light. She couldn’t allow it! She would be ruined, cast out of high society forever!

“It’s you! You liar! Yu Yazhi, you’re a liar!” Twisted with rage, she raised her hand to strike.

Yu Yazhi caught her wrist and shoved her back violently. “So, you finally know how it feels to be deceived?”

Ning Xuan ran over, shielding Yazhi. “Sun Meiqing, you’re the liar here! You deceived the man who loved you for over twenty years! And even now, you don’t feel a shred of regret!”

Sun Meiqing was stunned into silence. She stumbled back a few steps and collapsed onto the sand. Ning Xuan moved to help her, thinking she had fainted from rage, but realized she had just tripped.

She pulled her hand back and scoffed, “You’re on sand; if you’re trying to fake an injury, you’ve picked the wrong spot.”

“Yu Yazhi, why don’t you just die?”

“I should have killed you.”

“Hahaha, everyone die! Kill them all!” Sun Meiqing lay on the ground, laughing maniacally like a lunatic.

Yu Yazhi watched her, her mind becoming sharper and clearer. That phrase—Kill them all—tugged at a thread of memory. It reminded her of someone distant: Sun Meiqing’s brother, Sun Chi.

The man had only appeared at the ancestral home once. He was short, gaunt, pale, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, wearing a black jacket and looking like a common thug. He had come to demand money. Yazhi had been very young then, but she remembered how panicked Sun Meiqing had been as she hurried him away.

Two weeks later, Sun Chi was dead. It was ruled a suicide. Before he died, he had taken a bottle of wine laced with poison to a meeting with a debt collector, taking the man down with him. At the time, her father had comforted Sun Meiqing, saying he hadn’t realized her brother was so desperate and blamed himself for being a poor brother-in-law.

How had Sun Meiqing responded? She had cried, saying she didn’t want to be a burden. After that, her father had been consumed by guilt and spoiled her even more.

Was it possible, that Sun Chi’s death wasn’t a suicide at all?

“What’s with that look in your eyes?” Sun Meiqing stood up and brushed the sand off her clothes, her composure returning as if nothing had happened.

This woman’s emotions were unstable; her psyche was fragile, yet she possessed a certain warped tenacity.

It was contradictory.

Fragmented.

Analyzing her state of mind, Yu Yazhi suppressed her lingering doubts and said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you back.”

For now, it was best not to startle the snake.

The three of them returned to the city. Along the way, Yu Yazhi asked, “Are you going to visit Yu Jiayan? The doctor mentioned that the company of relatives could help.”

Sun Meiqing cut her off, her voice dropping to a cold, mocking tone. “Are you still expecting me to play the devoted mother at a time like this?”

She was done pretending. That goddamned idiot had destroyed everything she had painstakingly built. Truly, he was a fool.

She never reflected on her own faults; had Yu Jiayan’s stupidity not been the direct result of her years of “killing with praise”? To seize control of the Yu Corporation, she needed a son who was incompetent. If he had been too capable and truly won the inheritance, where would her chance to rule from behind the curtain have gone?

Sun Meiqing now placed the entire burden of blame on Yu Jiayan’s shoulders.

Seeing this, Yu Yazhi felt the last of her sympathy vanish. Sun Meiqing had been stripped of the last vestiges of her humanity. What was a woman who could abandon her own biological daughter not capable of?

After dropping her off in the city center, Yu Yazhi had Ning Xuan turn the car back toward the ancestral home, intending to question her father about the details of Sun Chi’s death.

With the eyesore of a woman gone, she moved to the passenger seat. It was only then that she noticed a patch of dried blood on the back of Ning Xuan’s neck. Hidden beneath her hair, it had gone completely unnoticed until now.

“You’re hurt?”

Surprised, she reached out to examine it. It was a small wound just below the hairline, about the size of a fingernail. Though not large, it was deep and appeared to be still seeping blood.

“When did this happen? Does it hurt? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Yu Yazhi had been so preoccupied lately, her attention pulled in a dozen different directions, that she had completely missed it. A wave of intense self-reproach washed over her.

Seeing her guilt, Ning Xuan quickly offered a smile. “It’s nothing. It doesn’t even hurt. I think a shard must have grazed me when your father smashed that ashtray.”

“How could you not say anything? It’s been so long and it hasn’t been treated. What if it gets infected.”

Yu Yazhi was sick with worry. “Are you trying to make me feel bad on purpose?”

Seeing that Yazhi looked ready to cry, Ning Xuan hurried to soothe her. “Hey, how could I ever want to make you feel bad? Honestly, it doesn’t hurt. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve forgotten all about it. I really did.”

“Stop lying to me. How could it not hurt? You’re bleeding.”

Yu Yazhi felt her hands weren’t clean enough to touch the wound, leaving her feeling both pained and helpless. “I’m so sorry. I neglected you so much that you got hurt right beside me and I didn’t even know.”

Ning Xuan didn’t want her to spiral into guilt any further. “Don’t say that. It’s my fault. I’m the one who didn’t protect myself well. I promise to be extra careful from now on, okay?”

Feeling she was being a bit too dramatic, she changed the subject. “Why are we going back to the old house so suddenly? Are you worried about your father?”

Judging by Sun Meiqing’s current state, she likely didn’t have the face to return to the ancestral home just yet, so she wouldn’t be there to provoke him.

Yu Yazhi paused, then changed her mind. “We’re not going to the old house. Let’s go home.”

Ning Xuan was surprised. “Huh? Why the change of heart?”

What was bothering this woman now? Wait. “It’s not because of this tiny scratch, is it?”

“It’s not just that.”

Yu Yazhi looked at her tenderly, her eyes full of deep affection. “Home. Let’s go home. I don’t want to think about anything else right now. I only want to think about you. I just want to be alone with you.”