After My Fiancée Failed to Pretend to Be an Alpha - Chapter 7

By the time Tang Cheng arrived home, the sky was already pitch black.

She showered, climbed into bed, and hurriedly replied to a few messages. Tomorrow, she had another part-time job lined up—the pay was generous, and she had no reason to refuse.

Besides, her grip was still weak; she urgently needed hands-on practice.

Days blurred into nights, and time passed quickly. The once withered plant in her room gradually regained vitality.

For the past month, Tang Cheng had spent her days taking on part-time work whenever she could. The money she earned went straight into purchasing the latest equipment. In the evenings, she trained at home, and before bed she always reported her daily schedule and reflections to Lu Xinxue.

Summer nights rang with the crisp song of cicadas. The early summer heat was stifling. She shed her complicated layers of clothing, slipped into a thin gauze shirt, finished her last set of weightlifting, drank some water, and replied to messages.

Today marked the start of recruitment at the Lu Corporation. After painstakingly revising her résumé, Tang Cheng finally sent it to their company email. She had originally planned to submit her resignation to her current employer at the same time, but was suddenly informed she would need to inspect a major project tomorrow. Normally, she would never have been assigned to such a task, but one of the veteran mechanics had an emergency, and she was asked to step in.

The pay was substantial, and the last chip she had her eye on still required a hefty sum. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to finish this job before discussing her resignation.

For the past month, she had immersed herself in study, overturning her day and night routine to make up for six years of lost practice. The technology itself wasn’t groundbreaking—the entire industry had reached a bottleneck, recycling old ideas in new packaging. Yet Tang Cheng could still deduce operating methods directly from first principles.

Every company was locked in fierce competition, striving to reignite the era of scientific breakthroughs, but all had failed.

She sent her daily report to Lu Xinxue. Though Lu never replied, Tang Cheng knew she was reading them.

Setting her phone aside, Tang Cheng picked up a mechanical arm she had built for herself. As a left-hander, most commercial designs were inconvenient, reducing her efficiency. So, she had begun researching brainwave conversion. Just days ago, while repairing equipment outside the company, she encountered the WF734—a machine upgraded to 3D construction—which gave her fresh inspiration.

Her goal was to transmit brainwaves into code, turning the mechanical arm into a true third hand.

Once she started tinkering, she couldn’t stop. She worked until dawn, removed her lenses, washed up, skimmed a few research papers, and prepared to rest.

Unexpectedly, her phone lit up with a message from Lu Xinxue:

“There’s a banquet the day after tomorrow, at eight in the evening. Uncle Sun will pick you up.”

A banquet?

She was actually being asked to attend.

The fact that Lu Xinxue sought her out meant her efforts had not been in vain.

Barefoot, she ran to her wardrobe. The gaudy, revealing clothes had long been cleared out. She pulled out the shirt she had borrowed from Lu Xinxue last time and studied herself in the mirror.

The woman reflected back had bold brows and sharp eyes. After replying to Lu Xinxue, joy lingered at the corners of her gaze.

The anticipation kept her awake all night, and the next morning she woke with dark circles under her eyes.

Grabbing her newly customized tools, she rushed out. Today’s assignment was to repair a central control computer in A City’s United Tower. The tower had summoned nearly every renowned mechanic in the city. Tang Cheng’s company had two veteran specialists in circuit connections, but with one absent, the higher-ups decided to send Tang Cheng instead, under the title of apprentice, but with veteran-level pay.

Only a fool would turn down such money.

She arrived first. Moments later, the company’s senior mechanic showed up, ignored her, and walked straight into the building.

Mechanics were among the rarest professions in society, and arrogance came with the territory. To someone like Tang Cheng, a newcomer, they paid little attention. She followed quietly, unfazed.

United Tower was a landmark of A City, located in the prime central district. It housed securities, finance, banking, trade, and software manufacturing. Covering 9,300 square meters, standing 188 meters tall, with a total floor area of 73,000 square meters, it was a 5A-grade intelligent office complex.

Lu Corporation had a foreign trade branch here—Tang Cheng had heard of it before.

The inspection would take time. No wonder they had called in so many well-known mechanics. The central control system managed all internal communications, and every mechanic present had to sign a confidentiality agreement.

As soon as Tang Cheng entered the conference hall, she felt a scorching gaze fixed on her.

It wasn’t friendly. She looked up and immediately recognized the source.

The man smiled and walked toward her. His movement drew everyone’s attention in the quiet hall.

Tang Cheng frowned, instantly recalling who he was.

At eighteen, after her differentiation, she had entered A University’s mechanical engineering program under the guidance of the esteemed Professor Yang Kai. Yet she was never valued. Despite her family background, everyone knew she was merely a pawn in the arranged marriage with the Lu family.

At the time, Lu Xinxue was preparing to inherit the company, and they rarely met. Rumors spread that Tang Cheng had gone from pawn to discard—pitiful indeed.

Inevitably, her peers distanced themselves, isolating her further. She didn’t mind; those dull-witted classmates weren’t worth befriending. Still, their actions had caused her trouble.

And now, standing before her, was the perennial runner-up with decent talent: Zhou Yidong.

“Tang Cheng! Long time no see. What have you been up to—back to the old trade?”

His voice wasn’t loud, yet it carried clearly across the room. Curious eyes turned toward them. Zhou Yidong had done well these past two years—skills that Tang Cheng considered half-baked had still managed to earn him the position of deputy director in his company. Sending him here was, admittedly, a shrewd decision.

While reviewing papers and reports from the past two years, Tang Cheng had occasionally come across his name. Among the younger generation, he had become a rather dazzling presence.

The Zhou family had built its fortune on overseas equipment. Once his mechanical talent was discovered, they paved his way into A University. Talent combined with privilege had fostered his arrogant personality. His résumé was stacked with impressive titles, though none of them surpassed the achievements Tang Cheng had created in just two years at university.

“Hello,” Tang Cheng said flatly.

She had no desire to engage. The older mechanics here weren’t interested in gossip and wouldn’t connect her to the heiress of the Lu Corporation. Still, she had a sinking feeling Zhou Yidong would bring her trouble.

He grinned broadly. “See? Important people forget easily. Everyone, you may not know—Tang Cheng was my fellow student. Back then, our teacher admired her most.”

Tang Cheng could already guess what he was about to say. She shot him a glare, but it had no effect.

“Too bad she got engaged to President Lu,” Zhou continued, “and thought herself above the rest of us.”

“President Lu?” someone murmured in surprise.

“Yes,” Zhou confirmed, “Lu Corporation’s President Lu Xinxue.”

Silence. A strange, heavy silence.

As the industry’s leader, none present were unfamiliar with Lu Xinxue’s name. She was revered like a deity. And her fiancée? A disgraced outcast. No one wanted their goddess tainted by such filth. The attitude toward Tang Cheng shifted instantly, tinged with disdain.

She discreetly brushed Zhou’s hand off her shoulder. The strong Alpha scent made her uncomfortable.

“Shut up,” Tang Cheng snapped.

“See? Our future Mrs. Lu is so approachable,” Zhou sneered, his words dripping with malice.

The mechanic who had come with her looked conflicted, unsure whether to stand by her side.

“What exactly are you trying to do?” Tang Cheng demanded.

Zhou leaned closer, lowering his voice. “Tang Cheng, after all these years, you still don’t get it. This field isn’t for you. Why come back?”

His eyes flicked to the advanced equipment slung over her shoulder. He reached for it, but she dodged, glaring coldly. “I came back to teach you a lesson, to show you what a real mechanic is.”

Even after all this time, she still remembered being locked in the equipment room, missing the most important presentation of her life.

Zhou’s expression shifted. He stepped back. “You know, I’ve always envied you—your talent, your creativity. But you shouldn’t have returned now. The outcome won’t change.”

Tang Cheng’s lips curved. “We’ll see about that.”

She sidestepped him, meeting the gaze of another young Alpha who had been watching her closely. He was under thirty, his face still youthful, though his smile was insincere. He nodded at her, flanked by two companions whispering among themselves.

The arrival of United Tower’s general manager finally broke the tension. Everyone turned their focus to the task at hand.

The building operated under full automation: heating and cooling systems, fan coil units, lighting, power distribution, and more. Manual inspection required delicate machines to enter the systems, perform repairs, alternate code, and construct firewalls—highly complex work.

And so, when Tang Cheng and Zhou Yidong were assigned to inspect the fan coil system, her sense of foreboding grew stronger.

Among their group was the female Alpha who had been scrutinizing her earlier.

Tang Cheng didn’t approach them for conversation. The ten or so mechanics—including the veteran from her own company—naturally clustered around Zhou Yidong, the rising star of the younger generation.

The Zhou family controlled overseas procurement; most imported materials in A City came through them. He was a true young master, now gaining experience in the family’s company. Opportunities to build connections around him were not to be missed.

The fan coil system was the most complex of all, linking every room in the tower. Circuits intertwined in dense networks—one misstep could shut down the entire building’s power. Signals were gathered and processed through networked thermostats installed in each room, transmitted to the monitoring center for analysis and accumulation, enabling remote control of the system’s operation.

Both circuit inspection and code inspection were required. The procedures were intricate, demanding a large team.

Tang Cheng was assigned to work with her company’s mechanic on the circuit inspection. One glance at the complicated wiring diagram in her hands told her she wouldn’t be leaving before afternoon—there was no escape from this task.