After Breaking Up, I Married A Top Alpha Movie Star And Fell In Love - Chapter 8

Hearing Qiu Ye’s answer, Lu Mingchuan raised his chin slightly, the corners of his lips curving up uncontrollably.

The smile on the female colleague’s face froze, her eyes filled with blatant embarrassment as she stammered, “I’m sorry.”

“Secretary Qiu, I didn’t know…”

Although Qiu Ye didn’t look at Lu Mingchuan, he could sense a scorching gaze, falling upon him with an unmistakable intensity that was impossible to ignore.

“Are… are you two newly married?”

Those gray eyes lifted slowly, responding unhurriedly, “Yes, we just got married.”

“Happy wedding!”

After saying this, the female colleague stole a glance at the man, who was bundled up exceptionally tight.

“No one in the company knows yet. Can you help keep it a secret for now?”

The female colleague nodded somewhat dazed, feeling a bit flattered. “No one else knows yet?”

Qiu Ye nodded. “I’m counting on you.”

As if to prove the fact of his marriage, Qiu Ye took the initiative to reach out and hook his arm through Lu Mingchuan’s.

“We’ll be going now.”

Lu Mingchuan’s eyes brightened instantly. He heard Qiu Ye say “we”—not the polite, distant “Mr. Lu,” nor the mere label of “Lu Mingchuan.”

He savored the word “we,” his heart trembling slightly.

Only after Lu Mingchuan watched Qiu Ye’s colleague leave did he ask with a half-smile, “You just told her like that? Aren’t you afraid it will get out?”

“Weren’t you the one who didn’t want others to know?”

Qiu Ye released Lu Mingchuan’s arm, his tone very calm. “The moment I agreed to marry you, I was prepared to be completely exposed.”

“I just didn’t expect to run into an acquaintance so soon.”

Beside him, Lu Mingchuan tilted his head to look at him, his narrow gray eyes curving slightly, as if his gaze were filled with cold moonlight.

“Since you were so worried, why did you agree to marry me in the first place?”

“This matter isn’t solely your responsibility.”

Qiu Ye looked at the masked Lu Mingchuan and suddenly thought of that smiley-face mask. He spoke up: “Also, thank you for helping me on the cruise ship.”

Even if he really had been just watching the spectacle, he was the only one who respected Qiu Ye’s feelings.

Half an hour later, the car drove into a high-end luxury apartment complex with strict security.

Qiu Ye felt that this day had been exceptionally long.

He took off his ring, placed it on the nightstand, and sank into the excessively soft bed of the guest bedroom, quickly captured by a heavy wave of drowsiness.

On the other side, Lu Mingchuan had no desire to sleep after showering. He casually turned on a movie and adjusted the home audio system.

The old movie on the screen had only been playing for five or six minutes, and the protagonist had yet to make a formal appearance, when a video call from overseas popped up.

As if he had long expected someone to come looking for him, he showed no displeasure at being interrupted and pressed the pause button on the movie.

The phone screen stayed lit, the video call request interface jumping with the name “Rachel.”

The moment the call connected, a stunningly beautiful face came into view.

In the frame, Rachel reached out to brush back her thick black curly hair, her deep gray eyes flickering.

Western bone structure and Eastern facial beauty were integrated to the fullest in this legendary beauty.

International media had frequently used titles like “National Treasure Beauty” to describe Rachel; she was also the first generation of supermodels to break out overseas.

The mixed-race beauty leaned elegantly against a single-seater sofa chair, but when she spoke, it was in fluent Chinese.

“Baby, I saw the news.”

“Aren’t you going to give Mom an explanation?”

Lu Mingchuan was very relaxed in front of Rachel. He spread his hands and answered plainly, “It’s exactly what you saw.”

Rachel didn’t believe her child was the type to impulsively marry over a tabloid scandal. She lowered her head and thought for a moment.

“Eh, what’s that on the back of your neck?”

Was she seeing things?

How could there be a bite mark on an Alpha’s gland?

Lu Mingchuan leaned there and turned his body slightly, revealing a faint pink mark that was about to disappear.

“He bit it. I like it very much.”

Rachel stared at him for two seconds, let out an ambiguous laugh, and suddenly asked with a flash of intuition: “Is it him?”

Lu Mingchuan did not hide it, recalling, “Yes, he was also on the Firenze.”

Rachel opened her wardrobe and took out a shoulder-baring evening gown adorned with feathers. While holding it up to herself and moving the camera back, she asked, “How about Mom wearing this to your wedding?”

Lu Mingchuan glanced at it—burgundy feathers and light gauze paired with red gems, a strong retro-modern style. He evaluated, “It looks great.”

“But we probably won’t be holding a wedding for the time being.”

Rachel didn’t return to the country often. After winning runner-up for Miss Universe years ago, she divorced Lu Mingchuan’s father and had been developing her modeling career abroad ever since.

She found it a bit difficult to understand and asked, “Why? Is the domestic entertainment environment already that strict?”

“He doesn’t like me yet. He thinks this is just a temporary cooperative relationship.”

Rachel realized the situation, understanding that Lu Mingchuan still had to work hard to “steal the spotlight” (pry the wall), and gave him a “fighting” hand gesture.

“So he doesn’t know anything?”

Lu Mingchuan gave a low “Mhm.”

Rachel frowned and asked, “Why don’t you tell him? Maybe he’d be so moved he’d promise himself to you.”

Lu Mingchuan looked up at his mother, his expression turning somewhat serious as he shook his head.

“I don’t want his pity, and I certainly don’t want his guilt. I only want him to love me without any burden.”

Rachel curved her eyes, leaned forward, and asked somewhat cruelly, “My baby, what if he just doesn’t love you? What will you do then?”

Lu Mingchuan fell silent for a long time—so long that Rachel thought the signal had cut out.

“I think… I would have no way to deal with him.”

Rachel pursed her lips and spoke up, “I must remind you, your main purpose for returning to the country was for your acting career.”

“Emotions are important, but they shouldn’t occupy a person’s everything.”

Lu Mingchuan nodded silently.

During his years of acting overseas, things hadn’t gone as he wished. His tall stature and his more Eastern handsome face were both constraints for him.

The scripts handed to him were always stereotypical characters without any depth—not the roles he truly wanted to play.

Domestic films were flourishing, currently in a golden age of rapid development. Looking at the global film industry, one house would not dominate forever.

Another report was ruthlessly thrown back at the Huanhe CEO’s office. This young lion of the film and television industry had been in a foul mood lately.

“Mixing full-width and half-width characters… are you expecting me to pick out the mistakes for you one by one?” He Yuchen rubbed his brow, his voice thick with blatant impatience.

“If you can’t even draft a document properly, get out of here as soon as possible.”

The assistant bent over to pick up the documents from the floor and ran into Xu Zilang just as he walked out the door.

“Hello, Manager Xu.”

Xu Zilang was a shareholder of Huanhe. Everyone followed Qiu Ye’s lead in calling him Manager Xu. He reached out and patted the assistant’s shoulder, comforting him, “There’s just been a lot going on lately.”

Assistant Xiao Zhao turned around and muttered dejectedly, “Why hasn’t Secretary Qiu come back yet?”

Xu Zilang pushed the door open and saw He Yuchen standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. The transparent glass reflected the Alpha’s sharp profile.

The windows weren’t open, and the scent of narcissus pheromones was somewhat thick in the room.

“When Qiu Ye was here, how many of their messes did he clean up for them? A bunch of idiots wasting my time!”

Xu Zilang’s gaze swept over the phone in He Yuchen’s hand. “Has Qiu Ye still not contacted you? Is this leave of his never going to end?”

He Yuchen’s expression turned somewhat ugly.

“He won’t.”

Xu Zilang pursed his lips and said softly, “In the past, no matter what happened, Qiu Ye would always stand by your side. How about you go coax him this time?”

He Yuchen lowered his eyes, appearing as if he hadn’t heard, staring motionlessly at his phone screen.

He looked through his chat records with Qiu Ye. Most of the time, it was the other person talking, while he occasionally replied with a “Mhm” or “I know.”

Their topics revolved more around work, rarely touching upon romantic things.

Just as Xu Zilang said, it wasn’t that they hadn’t had arguments before, but Qiu Ye was always the one to bow his head first.

He Yuchen took it for granted that this time would be the same.

He opened that specific WeChat Moment he had posted; many people were in the comments section offering him suggestions.

In truth, what he cared about wasn’t the Norfolk Island pine, but the person who had bought it for him.

But Qiu Ye acted as if he hadn’t seen it—or rather, he deliberately ignored the olive branch He Yuchen had extended.

“Actually, two days ago, I called Qiu Ye.” Xu Zilang spoke slowly while observing He Yuchen’s expression.

“He didn’t pick up. Perhaps he’s still angry.”

“If you miss him, occasionally softening your stance…”

He Yuchen’s brow furrowed slightly. He suddenly looked up and interrupted in a deep voice, “I miss him? He isn’t that important.”

Xu Zilang faintly sensed that the other’s state wasn’t quite right. “I beg you to rein in your pheromones, they’re about to choke me to death.”

“Then it should at least be fine for you to ask him when he’s coming back.”

The first contact after a breakup was like a silent game of chess; whoever moved first lost the upper hand.

He Yuchen was unwilling to be the first to bow his head.

“No need.” He pressed the phone screen, killing the faint light, his face expressionless.

Qiu Ye had joined Huanhe immediately after graduation. He hadn’t started as an all-powerful secretary; he had become the person standing beside He Yuchen step by step.

He didn’t touch even a fraction of the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry, yet there were always countless matters waiting for him to handle.

Qiu Ye had grown accustomed to a life precisely segmented by a schedule. Suddenly relaxing left him somewhat at a loss.

Without the constant meeting reminders and pending emails, the empty leisure in his heart made him feel uncomfortable instead.

He casually took an English novel from the bookshelf and sat on the sofa to read.

“Qiu Ye, have you been comfortable living here these past few days?” Lu Mingchuan sat down next to him.

During these few days of living together, Lu Mingchuan wasn’t home every day, but he would occasionally have dinner with Qiu Ye.

“It’s fine. I’m treating it like a hotel vacation.”

A few steps downstairs and there was a private beach—wasn’t that just like staying in a five-star hotel on a sea island?

Qiu Ye was determined to rest well this time, cutting off everything related to work. He had even set an out-of-office automatic reply for several colleagues in the CEO’s office.

Just as he was about to continue reading, a push notification hijacked his screen—Huanhe’s Grade-A invested historical drama project collapses.

Qiu Ye clicked in to look. It was exactly the project He Yuchen had put a lot of heart into earlier. According to the report, it seemed to have encountered a commercial leak.

The TV series had been highly publicized during its early stages and could be said to be a hit before even airing, but its copyright had been registered by someone else first. Now, it faced multiple allegations, including theft of ideas and unfair competition.

As Qiu Ye lowered his head in thought, Lu Mingchuan held a butter cookie to his lips.

“Huanhe’s business is on the trending searches.” Lu Mingchuan’s voice was calm, but his eyes remained fixed on Qiu Ye.