After Getting Pregnant, I’m Divorcing My Alpha - Chapter 14

An Xiangdi returned to the backstage. As soon as his hand gripped the doorknob and twisted it open, a powerful force seized his wrist and yanked him inside.

The person kissed him with lingering tenderness, arms wrapped tightly around his waist as if trying to meld him into his very bones.

“Why so late?” After the heated kiss, Shen Xiao slowly pulled back, gently nuzzling his cheek with the tip of his nose.

An Xiangdi gasped for breath, inhaling the scent of brandy pheromones. His glands swelled, his legs weakened, and he simply leaned on Shen Xiao’s shoulders for support. “Why are you here?”

“To pick you up.” Shen Xiao turned on the light in the lounge.

Knock, knock. Two sharp raps sounded on the door An Xiangdi was leaning against. Both of them froze.

“Mr. An, are you okay? A colleague said you were pulled in earlier, so we were a bit worried.” It was a staff member from the program team.

Inside the lounge, neither Shen Xiao nor An Xiangdi made a sound.

Xiao Gu jogged over from the hallway. “Sorry about that, everything’s fine. Thanks for your concern.”

“Oh, as long as everything’s okay.” The staff member replied. Seeing the lounge door still tightly shut, they muttered, “Then why not open the door?” and walked away.

An Xiangdi picked up the belongings Xiao Gu had helped him pack earlier. “I’m staying at the program team’s hotel, just across the street.”

Shen Xiao followed him. “Not coming to my place?”

“No, I have another recording the day after tomorrow. I ” An Xiangdi was about to continue when he saw Shen Xiao silently canceling and rebooking a hotel room on his phone. He swallowed the rest of his words.

Xiao Gu waited for the two of them to emerge and whispered to An Xiangdi, “Mr. An, the director just informed me that there will be a special music promotion segment during the recording on the 3rd. You’ll need to pay extra attention then.”

“Huh?”

“He didn’t specify the details.” Xiao Gu scratched his head, equally puzzled.

“Got it.” An Xiangdi had a rough idea. Since it was a music program and the special segment was for promoting songs, it was likely an impromptu lyric-composing or adaptation task.

The hotel booked by the program team was just across the road. An Xiangdi had assumed Shen Xiao was hiding in the lounge to avoid being seen. Little did he know that once they stepped out of the backstage, Shen Xiao’s mere presence drew overwhelming attention.

As they walked out of the recording building and encountered fans waiting for An Xiangdi late into the night, Shen Xiao openly carried An Xiangdi’s belongings for him.

“Eh? Is Shen Xiao here today too?”

“Visiting the set?”

“No way? Why does it feel like they’ve been appearing together a lot lately?”

“Before, I could still pretend to be An An’s girlfriend fan, but now sigh.”
“I’m still a wife fan!”

“He’s glaring at you, he’s glaring at you!”

The fans fell silent. The one who called herself a “wife fan” received a particularly “caring” look from Shen Xiao.

“You have plenty of wife fans and girlfriend fans too,” An Xiangdi shot a sidelong glance at the man beside him, then waved to the fans who had waited for him so late into the night.

This time, Shen Xiao remained silent.

The next day, An Xiangdi had no schedule. He lounged in the hotel, not wanting to get up, and slept through the day until Shen Xiao dragged him out for a meal.

“We’re meeting at the Western restaurant on the corner tonight.”

An Xiangdi’s hand, holding the fork, paused. “Alright.”

He had wanted to ask more, but since they were meeting for dinner that evening, he figured he’d find out soon enough what kind of “demons and monsters” they were dealing with.

That evening, the two changed into clean clothes and headed out, walking from the deserted back alley to the agreed-upon Western restaurant.

The Western restaurant was completely empty except for the waitstaff, making it seem like business was quite poor. However, An Xiangdi distinctly remembered that at this same time yesterday, there had been a long queue outside.

“Are you Mr. Shen?” The restaurant manager approached with a smile.

“Yes.” Shen Xiao nodded.

“Please follow me.” The manager led the way.

After observing for a moment, An Xiangdi realized it wasn’t that there were no customers today the place had simply been reserved privately.

They were led to a private room on the second floor, where the manager opened the door for them. “Mr. Cheng, Mr. Shen and Mr. An have arrived.”

Shen Xiao took An Xiangdi’s hand and guided him inside.

“Long time no see, Shen.” Mr. Cheng stood up and exchanged a fist bump with Shen Xiao before leaning over to look at An Xiangdi. “Should I call you ‘sister-in-law’?”

An Xiangdi stared at “Mr. Cheng,” who sported a head of wild red hair and a row of ear piercings, giving off a distinctly old-school “shamate” vibe.

“Hello, I’m An Xiangdi.” An Xiangdi extended his hand.

“Hello, I’m Cheng Youyi.” Just as Cheng Youyi was about to shake his hand, Shen Xiao pulled An Xiangdi’s hand back. Cheng raised an eyebrow, releasing a hint of his unrestrained Alpha pheromones. “So possessive?”

“Today is just for you two to meet.” Shen Xiao guided An Xiangdi to sit across from Cheng Youyi.

Cheng Youyi glanced at his empty palm and chuckled, tucking his red hair behind his ear. “Shen, you really are a stingy one.”

The discomfort An Xiangdi had felt from the other’s pheromones had already faded, and he quietly observed.

Though Cheng Youyi’s words seemed frivolous, his every gesture revealed impeccable manners, starkly contrasting with his initial impression.

“Cheng Youyi just returned from abroad recently; he was studying overseas before,” Shen Xiao briefly introduced.

An Xiangdi was puzzled Shen Xiao didn’t seem like the type to associate with someone with such a “shamate” style.

“Shen and I share a life-and-death bond,” Cheng Youyi recounted vividly. “Back in the day, when I was young and naive studying abroad, I nearly fell into grave danger. If Shen hadn’t stepped in to help, I’d have been long gone.”

“You were just drunk and harassing an Omega who had a partner, and got beaten up by a group of Alphas.”

“Shen descended like a deity, saving me from dire straits.”

“I just happened to call the police.”

“Not a single bystander helped me.”

“That’s because you were clinging to me and wouldn’t let me leave.”

Cheng Youyi couldn’t continue. “Shen, could you save me some face?”

Shen Xiao didn’t say more and placed a plate of sliced steak in front of An Xiangdi. “Eat this.”

An Xiangdi was amused by their banter, which felt like a comedy routine. “I never knew you had this side to you.”

Shen Xiao paused, his grip on the knife and fork tightening slightly. “There are many sides of me you don’t know yet. You’ll learn them all in time.”

“You two don’t have to flirt right in front of me. Save the affection for after I’m gone.” As a perennial singleton, Cheng Youyi felt a bit stung.

“You can call your ‘pets’ over now.”

“Pets?” An Xiangdi raised an eyebrow. Did he mean what An Xiangdi thought he meant?

“Shen, I’ll shut up, okay? Don’t expose my secrets.” Cheng Youyi mimed zipping his lips.

His reluctance to discuss it made An Xiangdi fairly certain his guess was correct. “Do you usually take Shen Xiao along?”

“Huh?” Cheng Youyi didn’t immediately grasp what An Xiangdi was implying.

“You know, those prince-and-princess themed cafes don’t they usually offer special services?” After asking, An Xiangdi glanced at Shen Xiao’s flawlessly sculpted profile.

“Saozi, I’m not that kind of person! What Shen-ge meant was the cats and dogs at my place!” Cheng Youyi protested indignantly.

“He has two Corgis, two Samoyeds, two British Shorthairs, and two Ragdolls.”

A true winner in the pet department that was Cheng Youyi.

Now it was An Xiangdi’s turn to freeze. After a moment, he coughed lightly, utterly embarrassed. So he’d been overthinking it.

“Saozi, you seem quite knowledgeable about these things? Does Shen-ge know?” Cheng Youyi seized the opportunity to counterattack.

“That’s how they portray it in dramas,” An Xiangdi replied, impenetrable as a fortress.

Under Shen Xiao’s murderous gaze, Cheng Youyi chose surrender, lowering his head to eat quietly.

As the meal neared its end, An Xiangdi excused himself to the restroom, leaving only Shen Xiao and Cheng Youyi in the private room.

“Shen-ge, about the studio matter should we give Saozi a heads-up?”

“Not for now.” Shen Xiao finished the last of his soup.

“Alright then.” Cheng Youyi rubbed his chin, unable to decipher Shen Xiao’s thoughts. “We’ll talk later, I guess.”

“This person.” Shen Xiao pulled a photograph from his pocket. “Find out their connection to Royal Entertainment.”

Cheng Youyi took the photo and whistled. “Wow, fair-skinned and delicate an Omega?”

Shen Xiao, accustomed to his frivolous demeanor, didn’t respond.

Finding no amusement in the silence, Cheng Youyi relented: “I’ll look into it. Three days max, wait for my update.”

“Mm.” Only then did Shen Xiao offer a faint acknowledgment.

Meanwhile, An Xiangdi, having reached the restroom, received a call from Xiao Gu.

“Hello.” Drying his hands, An Xiangdi answered.

“Teacher An! Something terrible has happened!” Having worked with him for a while, Xiao Gu was rarely this panicked.

“What is it?” An Xiangdi’s brows furrowed attractively.

“Your fans are clashing with the agency on trending searches!” Xiao Gu’s voice climbed higher with urgency.

“What has my wonderful company done now?” An Xiangdi didn’t doubt his fans; such situations usually arose from Royal Pictures’ underhanded tactics.

He switched from the call to open Weibo, entering through the trending topic to see fans had created uniform red-background, white-text rights protection graphics, stark and eye-catching. Royal Pictures’ official Weibo reposts and comments were completely flooded the online war had reached a boiling point.

“It’s about the billing order for the new drama.” Xiao Gu, afraid his voice might betray him if Li Guan overheard him snitching, hurried into a dim stairwell. “Brother Li agreed on your behalf to join Director Qiu’s new project without consulting you and it’s fifth billing, with leads who are all newcomers.”

Though An Xiangdi had only been in the film industry a few years, his exceptional acting skills had always secured him at least third billing.

It wasn’t that he opposed lower positions he’d gladly make a cameo for a good script but this was Director Qiu’s project, the same man who’d tried to leverage power for inappropriate favors.

Royal Pictures and his “excellent” agent were truly testing his limits, again and again.

“I see.” An Xiangdi’s hand gradually clenched, veins faintly visible beneath his pale skin.

“Teacher An, Director Qiu has already announced the casting news on Weibo. I don’t know if it was intentional, but do you want to turn it down?” Xiao Gu sounded quite worried.

“No need. Since they’re so eager to have me act, I’ll act.” An Xiangdi let out a cold laugh. “But if they think they can make me uncomfortable, they shouldn’t expect me to let them have an easy time either.”