After My Fiancée Failed to Pretend to Be an Alpha - Chapter 15

When Lu Xinxue returned home, the house was dark. Only after opening the door and catching the faint scent of basil did she know Tang Cheng was there.

Though her heat had been eased, her mind was still muddled. She collapsed onto the sofa, chest aching.

By the window, the green plant Tang Cheng had brought swayed gently in the evening breeze.

That afternoon, she had gone to see her grandmother. The words spoken there had pierced deeper than Jenny’s.

Her grandmother, Lu Fei, was the founder of the Lu family. Years ago, she had built the Lu Corporation from nothing, marrying into a wealthy family in secret. Her wife had died young from complications in childbirth, leaving Lu Fei to raise her daughter, Lu Nian, alone. Lu Nian later fell in love freely at twenty, giving birth to Lu Xinxue, and spent her life wandering with her partner, rarely returning home.

So, from the earliest memories, it was only her grandmother who remained by her side.

Lu Xinxue both revered and feared her. As a girl, she had shown talent in finance, proud and unwilling to bow her head. Her grandmother had carefully shielded her, smoothing over relationships, cleaning up every mess she made.

When she entered the house, she saw her grandmother seated in a wheelchair, holding a bouquet of flowers, not even glancing up at her arrival.

“Grandmother.” Lu Xinxue approached, her usually expressionless face softened with caution.

“You’re here.” Her grandmother handed her the flowers, then pushed the wheelchair forward. Lu Xinxue quickly took over, guiding it herself so the old woman wouldn’t strain. “Why didn’t I see you in the second half of the banquet yesterday?”

A question asked with the answer already known.

“I was with Tang Cheng,” Lu Xinxue replied.

Her grandmother fell silent.

“Grandmother, actually she—”

“I don’t care who your partner is. But if she’s your weakness, you should cut her off sooner rather than later.”

“I’ve already secured Jenny’s business. I can handle what comes next.”

Her grandmother’s voice was sharp. “The last time you were so certain, I still had to clean up after you.”

Lu Xinxue stiffened, the wheelchair halting. Sunlight glinted off her grandmother’s silver hair, deep lines carved into her stern face. She spoke without mercy: “You’re a businesswoman. You should know what matters most.”

“What do you mean, Grandmother?”

“Jenny is interested, and you’re planning to dissolve the engagement. Isn’t that the best of both worlds? Why refuse?”

“What best of both worlds? Where is the benefit in that?” Lu Xinxue’s voice was cold, rejecting the conclusion outright.

“You still cling to her? What good is she—useless, nothing but trouble. What could possibly make her worth it?”

“Grandmother, Tang Cheng is my lover. I hope you’ll respect her.”

“I can respect her—if she proves herself. Respect isn’t begged for, it’s earned.”

Lu Xinxue opened her mouth but faltered. Six years ago, faced with the same question, she had been able to answer firmly: She is the youngest mechanic in A City. She has rare talent and unmatched perseverance.

But six years had changed too much. A wave of helplessness rose. “Grandmother, I thought you understood me. I never intended to abandon Tang Cheng. I am Lu Xinxue first, heir to the Lu Corporation second. The partner I choose is not a mistake.”

She remembered how she had answered Jenny the night before: My private life is not for others to dictate. You were never in my choices, and you never will be.

Despite the argument, Lu Xinxue stayed to share dinner with her grandmother, though the food tasted like ash.

Suddenly, her grandmother turned. “Your pheromones—did Tang Cheng mark you?”

From the moment she entered, she had noticed the thyme scent was subdued, her whole presence calmer.

Her grandmother had only Lu Xinxue left to care for, and was acutely sensitive to her body.

“I marked her yesterday,” Lu Xinxue admitted.

Her grandmother froze, spoon halfway to her lips. Wrinkles deepened as her eyes widened. “You marked her?”

Lu Xinxue nodded. Her grandmother sipped her soup slowly, then said, “That’s not a long-term solution, Axin. I only want someone who can truly help you.”

“Tang Cheng can.”

“If she can’t even provide the most basic companionship, how can I entrust your future to her?”

“Would anyone else be better?”

“I know what you’re trying to do. Do you want to repeat past mistakes?”

“Because you’re afraid, you won’t act?”

“You could have better choices. Why not take them?”

“Did you and Grandmother marry for profit too?”

Silence.

“Grandmother, I’m twenty-six now. I can take responsibility for myself. I’m past the age where I need your permission to marry.”

Lu Xinxue set down her chopsticks. The quarrel left grandmother and granddaughter estranged.

Lu Fei’s impression of Tang Cheng was of a frail, quiet illegitimate daughter of the Tang family. As a child, she had followed Lu Xinxue everywhere. Busy with the Lu Corporation, the quiet Lu Xinxue rarely had friends she liked, so Tang Cheng remained by her side.

Later, Lu Fei had thought—if Xinxue differentiated as an Alpha and Tang Cheng as an Omega, it might work. But at seventeen, fate shifted. Xinxue became an Omega, and Lu Fei’s dissatisfaction with Tang Cheng grew.

She forced Xinxue into finance, preparing her to inherit the corporation. As for Tang Cheng, she hoped the two would part ways naturally.

An Alpha’s instinct to dominate and control an Omega, combined with the Tang family’s scandals, made Lu Fei wish for Xinxue to find a clean, ambitionless Alpha instead.

So, grandmother and granddaughter signed a wager: if Xinxue could expand the Lu Corporation by half, she would be allowed to marry Tang Cheng. If not, she would obey her grandmother’s arrangements.

Everything went smoothly. Xinxue threw herself into the company, days and nights reversed, even compressing the time she might have spent with Tang Cheng. At twenty, two years ahead of schedule, she begged Lu Fei for an engagement banquet with Tang Cheng.

Lu Fei was reluctantly satisfied. After three years of observation, Tang Cheng had seemed promising—spending her days in the lab, free of messy social entanglements, disciplined in her studies. In cutting-edge fields, Lu Fei had often taken note of her work, finding it refreshing.

But after the engagement, everything changed. Arrogance, falsified research, expulsion from the academy, chaotic private life, ruined character. The performance had been convincing, but Lu Fei had been furious, disappointed.

What worried her most was Xinxue’s collapse. During that time, she had locked herself away, refusing food or drink.

Just as Tang Cheng had changed suddenly, Xinxue had thrown herself into the company with manic devotion. The Lu Corporation grew stronger by the day. She never spoke of Tang Cheng, never mentioned the engagement. Lu Fei assumed she was unwilling to face it, and stopped bringing it up.

For six years, Lu Fei chose to forget the granddaughter-in-law who had once been promised.

But now, with Xinxue openly discussing dissolving the engagement, and Jenny pressing her the night before, Lu Fei’s hopes had rekindled only to be dashed again by her granddaughter’s stubbornness.

Xinxue left the old estate quickly. Returning home, she found silence.

She switched on the living room light. On the coffee table lay Tang Cheng’s notebook. Of course, she recognized it, it was the same one Tang Cheng had carried since first studying mechanics.

Years ago, she had even written notes in its margins. She hadn’t expected Tang Cheng to keep it.

Opening it, she found childish doodles—Q-version figures sketched in charcoal, steady lines capturing the innocence of her earliest designs. Years had passed, but the drawings remained unchanged. If only the world itself could be so stable.

A faint smile softened her rigid face.

Further in were pages of research notes. This wasn’t the first time she had read Tang Cheng’s work. She knew those early studies by heart—many of them had been completed together. Later, Tang Cheng’s handwriting grew sparse as she pursued her own research at the academy.

There was no doubt: Tang Cheng was a genius. Her early work still had relevance today. The newest notes described breaking free from networked supercomputers, using chips to process brainwave signals directly to control terminals.

On the table, the mechanical arm remained unfinished. Nearby, a box of neatly arranged equipment held one of the most advanced chips available.

Tang Cheng had never abandoned her craft. Even without Xinxue, she could live well on her own. She had never depended on her, not even in the hardest times.

Xinxue closed the notebook. The basil scent thickened in the air, easing her discomfort, stirring an unexpected surge of possessiveness.

Where was Tang Cheng?

Jenny had been right—Xinxue didn’t need a docile ornament, nor a passive guardian. What she needed was an independent, resilient partner who would support her unconditionally.

She climbed the stairs. The light was dim. At the bedroom door, someone lay collapsed.

Tang Cheng.

She should have remembered—an Alpha marked by an Omega was left even more fragile. And she had let Tang Cheng return alone.

Panic jolted her. Xinxue rushed forward, gathering her from the floor. Her skin burned to the touch. Tang Cheng was feverish.

The summer night was hot, but the dampness of the floor seeped quickly into her body. Freshly marked, she was vulnerable.

Xinxue felt a pang of regret. Beyond holding her, she didn’t know what else to do. After so many years apart, she realized she had forgotten how to love properly.

The stifling air dried her lips. She pressed them to Tang Cheng’s forehead, unable to lift her Alpha’s weight, whispering her name again and again.

“Tang Cheng.”

Her voice called tirelessly at her ear. In the haze, Tang Cheng’s consciousness found its way back. Before opening her eyes, she recognized Xinxue’s scent.

Not a dream. Xinxue was holding her. They were together.

She had returned. She was living in Xinxue’s home. She had just been marked by her.

Tang Cheng woke fully. At noon, her glands had tormented her endlessly. When she rose, instinct had driven her to seek thyme. But climbing the stairs, she had collapsed.

She hadn’t expected to be so weak. The pain of being marked was far harsher than she had imagined.

But Xinxue was here.

Tang Cheng lay against her, thyme spilling sharp and strong from her body. Her lips trembled. Instinctively, she reached up, cupped Xinxue’s face, and with all her strength, pressed her lips to hers.