After Getting Pregnant, I’m Divorcing My Alpha - Chapter 16

“Director Qiu, when will our drama start filming?” Halfway through the meal, the female lead had already linked arms with Qiu Cheng.

“Probably late May.” Qiu Cheng stroked his chin with feigned thoughtfulness, letting his hand brush against her as he lowered it.

The female lead cooed an agreement, resting her sharp chin on Qiu Cheng’s shoulder. If there weren’t others at the table, she would have certainly done more.

The male lead beside her wasn’t as uninhibited. Though he had mentally prepared for such situations, actually experiencing it left him stiff and uncomfortable.

The second male and female leads had been in the industry for a while but weren’t famous. They were accustomed to such scenes yet clearly disliked them, their distaste evident on their faces.

Only An Xiangdi remained, head bowed as he slowly chewed on a cherry tomato, his mind preoccupied with the script in Qiu Cheng’s hands.

The script was titled The Yellowed Season. Though an ordinary family ethics drama, it incorporated unique cultural elements and comedic flair, personally written by the renowned original screenwriter Teacher Kan Song.

An absolutely first-rate script, yet it had fallen into the hands of Qiu Cheng, who possessed no real talent truly a pity.

“Xiangdi, we’re going singing later. You’re a big singer care to join us?” Qiu Cheng suddenly interrupted An Xiangdi’s thoughts.

“Sure.”

An Xiangdi’s quick agreement left Qiu Cheng stunned for a moment, only snapping out of it when the female lead beside him exclaimed, “Great!”

The actors sitting next to An Xiangdi exchanged looks of shock and confusion. Having been in the industry so long, An Xiangdi couldn’t possibly misunderstand Qiu Cheng’s intentions.

They thought to themselves, So An Xiangdi is just like that.

Exiting through the restaurant’s back door, a club attendant led them to a lavishly decorated building.

The lobby blared with intense electronic music, a colorful disco ball spinning overhead, and a faint scent lingered in the air.

It looked no different from an ordinary karaoke bar, but when a female Beta server in a half revealing skirt walked out arm in arm with a male Alpha, kissing and groping along the way, the male lead’s face instantly paled.

“Director Qiu, I just remembered… my agent told me to return to the company after dinner. I’m afraid I can’t join you.” The male lead forced an awkward smile.

“What? That’s simple I’ll talk to your agent.” Qiu Cheng called the male lead’s agent and, with a few words, convinced them to send the actor over immediately.

The male lead stood by, his expression crestfallen, all traces of his earlier cheerfulness gone.

An Xiangdi subtly stepped back, pretending not to notice.

Once inside the private room, he sat directly on the sofa opposite Qiu Cheng, hands clasped over his knees, remaining silent.

Qiu Cheng glanced at him several times but didn’t dare approach recklessly. Instead, he first asked the manager to bring in a few fair-skinned youths.

Seven stood in a row. The one in the middle had pale skin and captivating peach-blossom eyes.

Qiu Cheng looked at An Xiangdi, then at the youth. “Keep this one!”

“You have excellent taste, sir. This one is Huanhuan, one of the few Omegas here quite beautiful.” The manager pushed Huanhuan toward Qiu Cheng, said nothing more, and led the others away.

The leading actress stared at Huanhuan, who was held in Qiu Cheng’s embrace, for a while, feeling that her eyes looked somewhat familiar. When she turned her head and caught sight of An Xiangdi, it suddenly dawned on her.

At first, Qiu Cheng was just holding Huanhuan and singing along. After a while, his hands began to wander, and he glanced at An Xiangdi, asking, “Huanhuan, do you know the person sitting over there?”

Huanhuan looked up at An Xiangdi and replied obediently, “Yes, I do. An Xiangdi, he’s very famous.”

“Your eyes look a lot like his.” Qiu Cheng whispered into Huanhuan’s ear, though his voice was anything but quiet.

An Xiangdi’s expression remained unchanged. “Director Qiu, please enjoy yourselves. I’m going to step out to the restroom.”

With that, An Xiangdi stood up and left the private room.

The restroom was empty. An Xiangdi splashed water on his face to suppress the anger boiling inside him, then removed the pen clipped to his chest pocket.

The pen actually contained a miniature camera. The footage he had recorded so far wasn’t enough to bring Qiu Cheng down he needed more evidence.

Suddenly, his phone rang. An Xiangdi paused for a moment before answering.

It was a call from Shen Xiao.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?”

“Huh?”

“I asked Cheng Youyi to pick you up.”

An Xiangdi glanced at the pen in his hand. “No, I’m not done yet.”

Shen Xiao was silent for a long moment before saying, “I’ll be back tomorrow. We’ll talk then.”

“Shen Xiao, I can handle this myself.” An Xiangdi stiffened, feeling a bit annoyed. They had already agreed to let him deal with it.

“I know. There’s something else I need to tell you.” Shen Xiao knew that if he pressed further about Qiu Cheng, it might lead to an argument. “Wait until I get back.”

“Fine.” An Xiangdi finally relented.

“Are you sure you don’t need Cheng Youyi to pick you up?”

“No.”

“Alright, let me know when you get home.”

Their call ended abruptly. After adjusting the pen’s position, An Xiangdi returned to the private room, only to find Qiu Cheng and the others in the middle of a heated argument.

“Don’t act all high and mighty when you’re no better than a whore. Do you think you’re as big a star as An Xiangdi?” Qiu Cheng, completely unaware that An Xiangdi had walked in, was pointing at the male lead and cursing loudly.

The leading actress’s eyes welled up with tears, too afraid to intervene.

The male lead cowered in the corner as Qiu Cheng kicked him hard. “If it weren’t for your agent, I wouldn’t have given you this role! You have no acting skills, no looks you’re ruining my script!”

“I can replace you anytime I want. Do you think you’re irreplaceable as the male lead…?” Qiu Cheng waved his arms, spittle flying everywhere, when he suddenly caught sight of An Xiangdi standing by the door with his arms crossed.

An Xiangdi wore a faint smile, but with his back to the light, the expression was inscrutable. “Director Qiu, have you ever considered that it’s your direction that’s ruining the script?”

Without another word, he turned and left the upscale club.

Standing by the roadside, An Xiangdi tucked the pen into his pocket and was considering whether to ask Xiao Gu to pick him up when a silver Bentley pulled up in front of him.

“Sis, get in.” Cheng Youyi leaned out of the car window.

“Did Shen Xiao send you?”

“Ha, of course not! I was just grabbing some barbecue at the food stall up ahead and happened to see you on the way.” Cheng Youyi casually made up an excuse.

An Xiangdi didn’t believe him at all. After getting into the car and closing the door, he immediately made a video call to Shen Xiao.

Unexpectedly, Shen Xiao didn’t answer.

Cheng Youyi stole a glance at An Xiangdi and said, “Sister-in-law, Brother Shen is probably on a plane.”

Huh?

“Seems like he had some business to come back for.” Cheng Youyi gave a vague answer.

An Xiangdi thought of the phone call in the restroom earlier so Shen Xiao’s “see you tomorrow” was real.

“Sister-in-law, I’ll take you home first.” Cheng Youyi said, turning on the turn signal.

An Xiangdi raised an eyebrow. “How do you know where I live?”

“Brother Shen just sent it to me.” Cheng Youyi blurted it out without thinking, and when he realized his mistake, he awkwardly covered his face and pretended to be clueless.

An Xiangdi scoffed inwardly: Kid, still trying to pull tricks on me.

When the Bentley reached the entrance of the residential complex, An Xiangdi leaned out to greet the security guard, who then allowed them to enter.

“The security in your complex is pretty good.” Cheng Youyi sounded a bit envious.

“Because there are a lot of artists living here.” In the complex where An Xiangdi lived, there were over a dozen popular artists, with Wei Yi from the next building being a prime example.

Cheng Youyi parked the car and watched as An Xiangdi got out. “Sister-in-law, get some rest early. Maybe by the time you wake up, you’ll see Brother Shen.”

An Xiangdi shook his head. “Thanks.”

After making sure An Xiangdi entered the building, Cheng Youyi sent a message to Shen Xiao to report that the task was complete, then took his leave.

After all the commotion that night, An Xiangdi had been worried that he hadn’t captured what he needed and would have to personally step in to lure Qiu Cheng. He never expected Qiu Cheng to get into an argument with someone on his own truly, success came without any effort.

After carefully reviewing the footage he had recorded and confirming that the visuals were clear and the audio was perfectly audible, An Xiangdi slept soundly and peacefully.

Warm sunlight spilled across his face, and his nostrils twitched slightly as he caught a pleasant aroma it smelled like shrimp.

Slowly waking from his dreams, An Xiangdi shuffled in his slippers to the living room and saw Shen Xiao wearing an apron, stir-frying noodles.

“You’re back ” Yawning, An Xiangdi walked over.

“Mm, come here.” Shen Xiao beckoned to him.

As soon as An Xiangdi reached him, Shen Xiao pulled him into an embrace and kissed him thoroughly.

“The noodles are burning.” An Xiangdi weakly pushed him away.

Shen Xiao’s hands never stopped moving. “They won’t burn.”

The two of them finished cooking the noodles in a cozy, intimate manner and sat facing each other at the dining table.

“Haven’t you slept yet?” An Xiangdi asked while eating the salted egg yolk shrimp noodles.

“Slept for half an hour. I’m not too tired.”

“Go to sleep later.” An Xiangdi commanded.

Shen Xiao curled his lips into a smile. “You come with me.”

Poking at a shrimp, An Xiangdi coughed lightly. “Fine.”

After washing the dishes, the two leaned against the headboard and chatted about the previous night’s events.

“You said last night you had something to tell me.”

“There’s something I wanted to ask you.” Shen Xiao recalled Cheng Youyi’s message about the new song.

“What is it?”

“When you were recording your new song, was there someone else there?” Shen Xiao remembered An Xiangdi mentioning it once before.

“Yeah, a pesky admirer.”

Shen Xiao was momentarily stunned, recalling the “pesky admirer” Zhao Zeyun. “I see.”

“What’s wrong?” An Xiangdi always felt there was something odd about him. “Did he go around saying my new song isn’t good? And you heard about it?”

“No, I don’t know any of them.” Shen Xiao steered the conversation away. “Speaking of which, is the script for ‘The Yellowed Season’ by Teacher Kansong?”

“Yes.”

“That’s perfect. We can change the director then.” Shen Xiao spoke with certainty.

An Xiangdi was still puzzled when a sudden wave of nausea surged in his stomach. He quickly scrambled out of bed and rushed headlong into the bathroom.