After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It - Chapter 37

Chapter 37: I’m The Person in The Entire Federation Who Wants Them to Get Married The Most.

When Wen Yue woke up, people asked her why she had suddenly crashed. She only answered that her stomach had been bothering her. She was distracted and hadn’t used a mech in a long time, so she was rusty and accidentally reversed the control panel.

After checking the communication channel logs, there were no anomalies. In the end, they could only take Wen Yue at her word.

However, the public opinion on the star-net was not so easy to appease.

Because Wen Lirong had happened to be at the scene, some high-level rivals hired internet trolls to directly reveal that Wen Lirong and Wen Yue were father and daughter. They spun the narrative to say Wen Lirong was a poor parent, fabricated rumors that Wen Yue’s admission to the school was due to Wen Lirong using his private connections, and spread gossip that he had a wife who had been so badly injured from domestic abuse that she was sent to another planet for treatment but had actually died…

Wen Lirong was overwhelmed trying to handle all of this. The Federal government was forced to suspend him from his duties and launch an investigation.

Fortunately, in the end, nothing was found. The rumors about Wen Yue’s fraudulent admission and domestic abuse were proven false. Instead, the person who started the rumors was sued.

However, after enduring a round of public criticism, the Wen family urgently needed some good publicity to restore their reputation.

Wen Lirong once again put the engagement on the agenda.

But Zhu Shengxi was not so willing to commit to an engagement that was still up in the air. She was a businesswoman at her core. With her future in-laws embroiled in a public scandal, she needed to assess whether to cut her losses in time or invest more and become completely entangled with the Wen family.

An engagement, a donation, or a joint public appearance… there were many ways to help Wen Lirong out of his predicament. Zhu Shengxi chose to wait and see. She also used her connections in the media and spent some money to help restore the Wen family’s reputation. She had no intention of canceling the engagement for now, but she also did not want to announce it while the Wen family’s reputation was at rock bottom.

Wen Lirong was dissatisfied with her approach but had no choice. After all, the Zhu family hadn’t done nothing; they had helped him to some extent.

After her negotiations with Wen Lirong ended, Zhu Shengxi returned home and called out to Zhu Yunqi unexpectedly.

Zhu Yunqi was going up the stairs at the time. She turned her eyes calmly and looked down at her mother.

Zhu Shengxi asked, “You didn’t intentionally hurt Wen Yue, did you?”

Over the past few days, Zhu Shengxi had watched some of the on-site analyses. Relevant professionals concluded that Wen Yue’s operating skills were subpar, while Zhu Yunqi’s were clearly on a different level. Zhu Shengxi couldn’t help but wonder if Zhu Yunqi had taken advantage of Wen Yue’s poor skills to deliberately make her crash, all to postpone the engagement.

Zhu Yunqi’s desire to avoid the marriage had been obvious from the start.

Wen Yue, on the other hand, was the opposite, often chatting with Shen Qinghe.

Zhu Shengxi felt that Zhu Yunqi was the more likely culprit. Whoever didn’t want to get married would find a way to sabotage the engagement.

The simplest and most effective way to sabotage an engagement was to make one of the parties disappear.

After hearing her mother’s suspicions, Zhu Yunqi was not annoyed. She even gave Zhu Shengxi a polite smile. “Mother, you can go and ask Wen Yue yourself. Major General Wen would love for you to pay them a personal visit.”

She didn’t feel wronged in the slightest and couldn’t be bothered to explain. She had learned to ignore opinions that weren’t worth her energy.

…

Shi Li arranged to meet Zhu Yunqi at the café where they first met.

Shi Li had put on makeup and a beautiful dress, her lips coated in an elegant blue-toned lipstick. She looked like a lovely and melancholic doll in the café.

Her eyes held a suppressed and chaotic sadness.

Zhu Yunqi ordered two large pistachio lattes with extra sugar.

She could tell that Shi Li was in a bad mood. Shi Li rarely initiated a meeting with her, and a formal meeting like this was even rarer. Zhu Yunqi knew Shi Li had something to say.

“Sweet.” Zhu Yunqi said. “Do you remember what our contract says? Don’t hold things in. Not tears, not worries.”

Shi Li said with difficulty, “Zhu Yunqi, I don’t think I can do this anymore. I… I feel like what happened to Wen Yue was my fault. I never wanted her to die.”

Wen Yue had called her after she woke up. Wen Yue said that she had intentionally caused the accident to get hurt so she wouldn’t have to marry Zhu Yunqi. She even brought up marrying Shi Li.

Wen Yue’s exact words were, “Baby, everything I’m doing is to be with you. I almost gave up my life for you, so you have to stay by my side.”

Shi Li couldn’t remember how she had responded.

But she remembered that after the call, her clothes were soaked in cold sweat.

It was as if she had incited Wen Yue to commit suicide.

After that phone call, Shi Li couldn’t stop herself from falling into deep self-blame, and at the same time, she felt a vague sense of panic. Wen Yue seemed to be using her life to threaten her.

Shi Li was afraid to accept that kind of affection.

For the past few days, she had been waking up from nightmares. In her dreams, Wen Yue was relentlessly pursuing her, and she was running for her life. It felt like if Wen Yue caught her, she would be dragged into a bottomless abyss. When she woke up, she would sit on her bed, gasping for air, her heart feeling like it would leap out of her chest. Even the pheromones from her scent gland, which had been stable for a while, showed signs of disorder.

She would turn on the bedside lamp, and in the warm, dim light, the little plant on the bald puppy’s head would be about three inches tall, like the puppy’s long hair. Shi Li had to hug her blanket and hold the bald puppy in her hand, comforting herself for a long time before she could go back to sleep.

Zhu Yunqi didn’t know what Wen Yue had said to Shi Li. She thought Shi Li was overthinking because she hadn’t seen Wen Yue for a few days, and unable to find a reason for her discomfort, she was blaming herself.

She comforted Shi Li. “I saw Wen Yue’s father a few times at the hospital. In my opinion, he has more issues. Besides, Wen Yue’s emotions were already unstable even before her father arrived. Lan Yang and I had warned her at the beginning, but she didn’t listen. It has nothing to do with you.”

Shi Li picked up the iced coffee. She brought it to her lips, wanting to take a sip, but lost interest midway and put it down.

She used to love pistachio coffee the most, but today she had no desire for it.

“Zhu Yunqi, I’m a little scared.”

Each word Shi Li spoke was difficult. She knew it was shameless to say this. Since she had agreed to Zhu Yunqi’s contract and taken her money, she should have fulfilled her end of the deal instead of thinking of backing out at the first sign of trouble.

Zhu Yunqi had been so good to her, and she had even saved her life…

Torn between her fear of Wen Yue and her desire not to let Zhu Yunqi down, Shi Li felt a conflict like never before.

I bet Zhu Yunqi hates people who are so indecisive.

Maybe Zhu Yunqi regrets finding someone like her to get things done.

The past few days had been agonizing. She was distracted at work, and the image of Wen Yue falling in the mech would flash before her eyes. She had been suffering for a long time, wanting to confide in someone, but there was no one she could talk to. Finally, she realized, in her confusion, that the only person she could turn to was Zhu Yunqi.

Zhu Yunqi looked at the Omega across from her, seemingly wanting to read all of her worries from her doll-like face.

Shi Li said she was scared.

This was the first time Zhu Yunqi had seen Shi Li express such a clear emotion.

Zhu Yunqi belatedly realized that it was normal for Shi Li to be scared. She had grown up in the peaceful Upper Star Domain. The only time she had been in a dangerous situation was probably when she was kidnapped by space pirates. Now she had just witnessed a mech crash with her girlfriend of seven years inside. She must have been scared half to death.

Zhu Yunqi, who had seen such things countless times, subconsciously thought everyone was like her and that this was just a minor accident.

I was still careless. Zhu Yunqi felt a little annoyed with herself.

She tried to explain to Shi Li that these things were normal. “In daily training and even in classes at school, people often make mistakes. Like Lan Yang, she’s always distracted. One time, she broke all her limbs in a crash. It’s the same as when you’re manufacturing robots and you get a defective product. Mech operation is the same—mistakes happen.”

“Besides, Wen Yue is fine. You don’t need to worry about it.”

Even though Zhu Yunqi’s reassurance didn’t address Shi Li’s real fear, the fact that someone was willing to listen to her and comfort her gently helped Shi Li’s emotions stabilize a little.

She composed herself. “Zhu Yunqi, I’m worried about what will happen if Wen Yue continues to act like this and something goes wrong. She wants to marry me now. Should I marry her?”

Hearing this, Zhu Yunqi’s breath hitched.

Marry? Wen Yue wants to marry Shi Li so soon?

Her fingers involuntarily tightened around the coffee cup. The coolness of the ice cubes seeped through the glass into her palm.

“How are you going to get married?”

Shi Li gave a bitter smile. “Actually, Wen Yue was probably just joking. She said she wanted to go and get our marriage license in secret and make it a done deal. The Federation has a special 180-day cooling-off period for marriages where one party is an Omega. Except for cases of domestic violence, they can’t get a divorce during that time. Wen Yue thinks that after getting married to me, even if you want to marry her, the law won’t allow it.”

Zhu Yunqi immediately sat up straight. Her hand trembled a little, and a few drops of coffee spilled onto her hand.

She didn’t even notice the spilled coffee. Her voice was tight with urgency. “Did you agree?”

Shi Li shook her head.

She took out a wet wipe and placed it on Zhu Yunqi’s hand. “Wipe it off. It’s sticky.”

Thank goodness she didn’t agree. Zhu Yunqi let out a sigh of relief.

A question Hai Yao had asked her not long ago flashed in her mind.

It was shortly after Wen Yue’s accident. Hai Yao had asked her, “Even though I’m not clear on the love triangle between you, Wen Yue, and Shi Li, and I’m not sure why you like Shi Li but refuse to admit it—maybe you’re not even clear about your own heart, Team Leader Zhu—I’m going to ask you one question: if Shi Li and Wen Yue get married, will you happily give them your blessing? And remember, a good business partner should applaud their partner’s marriage.”

At the time, her reply to Hai Yao had been firm and unequivocal. “Yes.”

She had even added, as if to cover her tracks, “I’m the person in the entire Federation who wants them to get married the most.”

She had lied.

She seemed to remember a psychologist’s analysis she had seen on the star-net: if a person gives a 100% certain answer to a question, there are only two possibilities. First, they are absolutely certain about the matter. Second, they have already locked in the opposite answer in their heart and are afraid of being found out, so they give a firm answer that is contrary to their inner thoughts to cover their tracks.

She was the second kind.

She regretted it.

“Shi Li, don’t marry Wen Yue.”

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