After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: When There Was Light, She Couldn’t Even Look at Shi Li For a Moment Longer.

Time quickly came to Saturday, the day of Yuna Isadora’s Federation tour stop in Z3291.

Wen Yue’s injuries had healed, but Wen Lirong had her confined to the house, so she naturally couldn’t go to the concert.

Lan Yang was exceptionally happy about this and kept urging Shi Li to come.

Shi Li felt guilty about Wen Yue’s injury. She couldn’t bring herself to go to a concert with others just a week after Wen Yue’s accident. Besides, she had a training session on Saturday, and after it ended, there was less than an hour until the concert began. It would be too rushed. She might as well stay home, which also made it easier for Wen Yue to check up on her.

Wen Yue was now contacting Shi Li almost every half hour, asking where she was and what she was doing.

Shi Li patiently answered each time, but the dread in her heart grew larger and larger.

As for the two expensive front-row tickets, Shi Li didn’t want to waste them. She gave them to Lan Yang, telling her she could sell them or invite someone else to go. She had introduced Lan Yang to an Omega named Lu Miao, so Lan Yang could invite her to go. The other ticket could be for Zhu Yunqi.

Lan Yang shamelessly didn’t mention that the tickets were originally from Zhu Yunqi. She sent Shi Li a message:

Lan Yang: Lu Miao and I are over. She said she doesn’t like that I get my nails done.

Shi Li: …

Lan Yang: Don’t Alphas have the freedom to get their nails done anymore? How about you ask Tang Yingchi to come? I looked at her community page and saw she also listens to Isadora’s songs often.

Shi Li: I’ll ask her.

She then contacted Tang Yingchi. Upon hearing that there were free tickets, Tang Yingchi was naturally overjoyed. But in a couple of seconds, she hesitated. “But my nose starts bleeding every time I see her.”

Two seconds later, she said excitedly, “It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll bring some nosebleed medicine. Can you tell Lan Yang I’m coming?”

A thought flashed through Shi Li’s mind. “Wait, when did you and Lan Yang become friends?” Lan Yang had just said she saw Tang Yingchi’s community page, which you can only do if you’re friends.

“Just that day… when that grey-eyed beauty sent you back to Xing Shang. Oh, that’s not important. Li Bao, will you come with me? Let Wen Yue stay home with her limp. It’s not like you’re the one who made her limp.”

Shi Li said, “I’ll just stay at home obediently.”

As soon as she said that, a message from Wen Yue came in.

Wen Yue: Baby, I can’t go to the concert with you. You go by yourself and have fun. Remember to take pictures for me.

To be honest, Shi Li was a little surprised that Wen Yue was proactively letting her go. Wen Yue had just said she didn’t want Shi Li to go to crowded places alone, afraid she would attract a bunch of admirers again, just like in college.

Shi Li replied: I’m not going. I have so many things to do on Saturday.

Wen Yue: You should go. Yuna Isadora only has a tour once every few years. If you don’t go, you’ll blame it on me later.

Shi Li felt a little uncomfortable reading that. It sounded a bit passive-aggressive.

Shi Li: It’s not because of you. It’s because I’m tired and want to rest.

Wen Yue: Would you go if I were free to move around? You would. I don’t want you to have any regrets. Since your friend worked so hard to get those tickets, just go. Don’t worry about me.

Shi Li: I told you it’s not because of you.

Wen Yue: Baby, why are you being so sensitive? I didn’t say anything. And wasn’t I right? We’re going to be together forever. I don’t want a concert to be a reason for us to fight and bring up old grudges in the future.

Wen Yue: Baby, do you think I’m too controlling? That’s exactly why I’m telling you to go to the concert and not worry about me.

Wen Yue: Are you mad at me?

Wen Yue: Baby, where are you right now? What are you doing?

Shi Li didn’t want to argue with Wen Yue anymore. After reading Wen Yue’s messages, her temples throbbed, and she felt a deep sense of helplessness.

Shi Li: I’m not mad. I’ll go to the concert with Tang Yingchi. I’m at work right now, in the design department, conference room 2302 on the 23rd floor.

If Wen Yue wants her to go to the concert, then she’ll go.

Tang Yingchi was naturally very happy that Shi Li was going.

After confirming her attendance, Shi Li checked the price of the front-row seats on the star-net. She was shocked. One ticket was almost 100,000 star coins.

Even if Lu Miao and Lan Yang worked out, she felt that her matchmaking wasn’t worth the price of two tickets. She transferred 200,000 star coins from the card Zhu Yunqi gave her to Lan Yang and arranged to meet Tang Yingchi at gate A of the venue at 7:30 PM.

To save time, Shi Li bought a sandwich and a bag of nutrient paste from a convenience store and ate it on her way there.

She arrived just in time at 7:30. Tang Yingchi had been waiting for her for a while, and her expression was a little strange.

Shi Li ran over, grabbed her friend’s hand, and asked breathlessly, “Yingchi, what’s wrong?”

Tang Yingchi frowned. “Hmph, Li Bao, you don’t know…”

Before she could finish, a robot came to urge them to enter. The concert started at 7:40, leaving them with less than ten minutes. Fortunately, they had a special SVIP passage and didn’t have to walk far to get to the front row.

Lan Yang was holding a light-up fan sign of Yuna Isadora, waving it excitedly at them.

There were three empty seats next to her. The two of them scurried over. Tang Yingchi plopped down in the seat furthest from Lan Yang. Shi Li sat next to her, with one empty seat between her and Lan Yang.

Shi Li then noticed that Lan Yang wasn’t wearing anything sexy like before. Instead, she was wearing a proper short-sleeved shirt and an A-line skirt that hung down to her calves.

Lan Yang greeted them with a grin. “Come on, come on. To keep Tang Yingchi’s nose from bleeding, I specifically went and bought new clothes.”

Tang Yingchi hugged her arms, giving her a sidelong glance. “What’s the use of dressing modestly? You say you only like Omegas, but you’re still touching Betas’ faces all over the place?”

Shi Li’s eyes widened. “Yingchi, what did you see?”

Lan Yang was inexplicably scolded and had a head full of question marks. “What are you talking about? Whose face did I touch?”

Tang Yingchi was annoyed. She scrolled through a few pages on the star-net and showed them to Shi Li and Lan Yang. “I have proof! Look!”

The two of them leaned in to look. There were several photos taken in a nightclub. The blue and purple lights were dim. A sexy and beautiful Alpha was leaning on the bar, her fingers lifting the face of a male Beta bartender, who looked shy and helpless.

The title: A-class Alphas can do whatever they want.

Lan Yang immediately remembered the story behind the photos. She was furious. She had clearly saved someone from a sticky situation, yet she was repeatedly being accused of making a move on a poor bartender.

“Those are rumors!”

She patiently explained everything again.

Tang Yingchi was half-convinced. “How do I know if that’s true or if you’re making it up?”

“Just go ask the bartender directly.” Lan Yang scrolled through the comments section under the photo. “Look, he’s already clarified it, hasn’t he?”

Under a few hot comments, a user with a cocktail glass avatar indeed claimed to be the person in the photo and clarified the content. His story was pretty much the same as what Lan Yang had just said.

As the two of them argued, Shi Li couldn’t get a word in. She quietly leaned back, giving them more room to debate.

Tang Yingchi didn’t believe her, and Lan Yang felt wronged. Shi Li was stuck in the middle. One was a friend of many years, and the other was Zhu Yunqi’s friend and her benefactor. It was difficult to side with either one.

She pointed to the remaining empty seat and changed the subject. “Is someone else coming?”

Lan Yang waved her Yuna Isadora light stick. The color-changing lights lit up her face in various shades.

“Yeah, Team Leader Zhu is coming right away.”

“Zhu Yunqi is coming too?” Shi Li repeated.

“Yeah, did I forget to tell you?” Lan Yang patted the empty seat. “Team Leader Zhu will sit here in a bit.”

Speak of the devil. As soon as Lan Yang finished, Shi Li glanced toward the stage entrance and saw a familiar figure walking toward them. Zhu Yunqi was slightly lowering her head. The stage lights made her clothes look dark blue. As Shi Li sat, her legs were at the same level as Zhu Yunqi’s. Looking at those long legs made her feel dizzy.

In a flash, Zhu Yunqi was close. She said to Shi Li, “Good evening.”

Then she sat down in the empty seat.

As she sat down, her hand instinctively rested on the armrest on her side, right on top of Shi Li’s hand.

The moment their palms and the backs of their hands touched, Shi Li withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted.

Zhu Yunqi’s eyes darkened.

Shi Li held the hand that had just been touched by Zhu Yunqi with her other hand. It was only for an instant, but Zhu Yunqi seemed to have set her hand on fire in that brief tenth of a second. The back of her hand felt scorching hot, and the heat spread to her entire arm.

Looking at Zhu Yunqi, she was sitting up straight and proper. Even on the comfortable SVIP seat, she wasn’t lounging like everyone else.

Her expression was as usual, even a bit more serious.

Shi Li fanned her face with her hand. “Good evening. It’s so hot.”

Lan Yang also chimed in, “Yeah, it’s so hot. I’m going to die wearing all these clothes.”

Tang Yingchi scoffed. “If you’re hot, take them off. You love being a show-off anyway.”

“You’re so heartless. Who do you think I dressed like this for?” Lan Yang shook her head wildly.

“I didn’t ask you to dress like this. I’m not going to this concert you’re paying for. I’m transferring you the money now.”

The two of them were about to start arguing again. Shi Li and Zhu Yunqi, caught in the middle, silently exchanged glances.

Lan Yang said, “I don’t want the money from someone who just slanders people without thinking. Besides, Shi Li already paid me.”

Zhu Yunqi turned her head, raising an eyebrow. “You took money from Shi Li?”

Lan Yang: “…”

Shi Li quickly tried to mediate again. “The concert starts in less than two minutes. Let’s talk after it’s over.”

Zhu Yunqi said coolly, “Lan Yang, I’m the one who gave you the tickets.”

Lan Yang immediately stopped her one-sided argument with Tang Yingchi and laughed awkwardly. “I know, but Shi Li insisted on giving me money, so I figured I’d hold onto it for you. I’ll transfer it to you now.”

She quickly operated her terminal and transferred the money back to Zhu Yunqi without taking a cent.

Shi Li did the math in her head: She had transferred the money Zhu Yunqi gave her to Lan Yang, and then Lan Yang transferred it back to Zhu Yunqi. After all that, Zhu Yunqi’s money ended up back in Zhu Yunqi’s pocket.

At that moment, all the lights went out. The entire stadium was enveloped in darkness. A one-minute countdown appeared on the stage.

In the darkness, Zhu Yunqi turned her head slightly to the left and spoke to Shi Li in a voice only they could hear. “Lan Yang didn’t tell me you were coming.”

Shi Li also turned her head a little and whispered, “I didn’t know you were coming either. I wasn’t going to come, but I decided at the last minute. I forgot to tell you beforehand.”

“Why are they arguing?”

“Yingchi saw photos of Lan Yang touching a bartender’s chin at a bar on the star-net… There are ten seconds left. I’ll tell you after the concert.”

“Okay.”

Before the lights came on, Zhu Yunqi’s lips were constantly curving upward, but her eyes were filled with bitterness.

Getting close to Shi Li in the darkness, with their hearts so close, and speaking in hushed tones as if they were sharing a secret only they knew, gave her the illusion of a relationship.

However, all of this only existed in the dark. She couldn’t stop herself from liking Shi Li. She could only secretly fantasize in the dark to give her restless, aching heart a tiny bit of comfort.

And she couldn’t blame anyone. It was all her own choice, and the consequences could only be borne by her alone.

The lights came on.

Zhu Yunqi’s gaze slowly moved away from Shi Li.

When there was light, she couldn’t even look at Shi Li for a moment longer.

Support After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It