After the Corporate Slave Beta and the Top Alpha Married - Chapter 15

With his temporary leave approved and no work to handle, the pace of Ji Yu’s life suddenly slowed down.

After a moment’s thought, he decided not to head back to Shang Yuanzhou’s place immediately. Instead, he asked the driver to turn around and head to his own rented apartment.

As he got out and pulled out his phone to pay, Ji Yu glanced at the time: 9:50 AM. Still early.

He had brought his keys when he left this morning. When he opened the door and stepped inside, he felt a strange sense of displacementas if he were returning from a long trip to a place both familiar and foreign.

But his heart was relaxed.

Ji Yu watered his plants and did a quick cleaning of the apartment, which had gathered a layer of dust after two weeks of vacancy. Since he only had one usable hand, everything was a bit inconvenient; his cleaning wasn’t thorough, as he only gave the floor a rough mop and used disposable wet wipes for the tabletops.

While he was cleaning, his phone rang. An ethereal female voice hummed English lyrics, and the screen displayed the name Shang Yuanzhou.

“A-Zhou?”

The voice on the other end was steady as ever. “You’re not back yet?”

“Did you run into trouble with your leave?”

Ji Yu blinked, quickly realizing the situation. “I’ll be back soon. Did you forget something, A-Zhou? I can bring it to your office.”

“No,” Shang Yuanzhou said, his brow furrowing as he looked at the empty living room via the security camera. “I had breakfast delivered to you. The person called me saying no one answered the door.”

He had timed the delivery based on when Ji Yu should have finished at the office and returned home. In reality, the delivery person hadn’t actually arrived yet; Shang Yuanzhou had simply checked the cameras, saw no one there, and called ahead to check on Ji Yu’s situation.

Shang Yuanzhou didn’t spend all day staring at the monitors he wasn’t that idle so he couldn’t be sure if Ji Yu was simply in his bedroom. He had installed cameras in the living room and hallway, but not in Ji Yu’s room.

Perhaps Shang Yuanzhou knew that if he put a camera in the bedroom, things would cross a line into something far darker. He was sick, driven by excessive possessiveness and a need for control, but he wasn’t a total deviant. Though the thought was tempting, he suppressed it.

“I went back to my rented apartment,” Ji Yu explained, feeling a bit surprised. “My Swiss cheese plant hadn’t been watered in days, so I came back to check on it. A-Zhou, can you just have the person leave the food at the door?”

“I’ll have him head to your apartment instead,” Shang Yuanzhou said. “And have him bring the plant back to the house while he’s at it.”

Ji Yu pursed his lips. His tone was gentle, but his refusal was clear. “No need. Let’s just leave it here.”

Shang Yuanzhou was silent for a moment. “Wouldn’t it be better to move it over? It saves you from having to go back constantly to water it.”

“It’s not far,” Ji Yu reasoned. “Moving it back and forth is a hassle, and I don’t feel like there’s enough room in the living room for it anyway.”

Shang Yuanzhou, who had intentionally chosen a smaller apartment: “…”

He didn’t press the matter. He knew Ji Yu was unwilling perhaps even resistant and that the “lack of space” was merely a polite excuse. On the surface, it was just a plant; in reality, it meant Ji Yu didn’t view their shared residence as a personal home, but as a temporary, mandatory dwelling with a stranger.

To keep pestering him about the plant would be inappropriate for a mere “collaborator.”

Shang Yuanzhou gave a calm “Alright” and didn’t say anything more. He didn’t even remind Ji Yu to head back before the food got cold; he just hung up.

He wasn’t angry. He simply realized he had done too much, too fast. He had to carefully retreat to avoid startling the sparrow resting by the window.

Shortly after Ji Yu hung up, a text message with a picture arrived.

“Hello Mr. Ji, I am the manager of Lixiang Garden. Mr. Li pre-ordered a month of meals with us, and this is the breakfast for the first day. I’ve left it at your door. Also, if you have any dietary preferences or allergies, please let us know so we can adjust the menu.”

“You guys decide. I have no allergies. Also, who is Mr. Li?” Ji Yu replied.

“Understood, Mr. Ji. Mr. Li is President Shang’s assistant; he came by today to inform us. President Shang is very concerned about you, but he is quite busy, so please rest assured. I won’t disturb you further. I hope your arm recovers quickly.”

Ji Yu didn’t see any issue with the assistant handling the orders; in fact, it would have been weirder if Shang Yuanzhou had done it himself. That Shang Yuanzhou even remembered his hand injury made it difficult to cook and had an assistant arrange meals was already beyond Ji Yu’s expectations.

Shang Yuanzhou really is a good person, he thought. I suppose it’s that thoughtfulness and long-term vision that allowed him to go from an unwanted illegitimate son to the head of the family.

With that in mind, Ji Yu didn’t linger. He went into his bedroom.

It was exactly as he had left it. In the middle of the small room sat a bed, and on the nightstand was a small night-light and a picture frame. The photo showed a vast wilderness with a goofy-looking, round-eared pika frozen in a running pose in the bottom right corner.

The image looked as if the little pika was running toward the horizon.

Ji Yu had taken that photo himself; the tiny creature had darted into the frame just as he pressed the shutter. When he had left his studio in a hurry, he hadn’t taken much, but he had taken this photo.

He picked up the frame, looked at it, then set it back down. He grabbed a few more clothes from the wardrobe and some daily necessities he’d missed last time, then left.

Since the food had already been delivered, Ji Yu didn’t care to let it go cold. Instead of wasting time waiting for an app-hailed car, he flagged down a taxi.

The breakfast at the door was packed in an exquisite thermal bag. Ji Yu carried it inside. The food wasn’t in plastic containers but in a beautiful, three-tiered crimson lacquer lunch box painted with flowers he couldn’t name.

The first tier held delicate, translucent crystal shrimp dumplings. The second tier featured adorable buns with mystery fillings. The third tier was the deepest, containing a small bowl of rich, savory… bone soup.

Is this the legendary ‘eat what you want to heal’ philosophy?

Ji Yu took a sip; the flavor was complex and delicious. He set it aside for a moment. Even without knowing Lixiang Garden, he could tell from this breakfast that it wasn’t cheap. To order this for a full month… the price was unimaginable.

What is this? The boss’s ‘workplace injury’ compensation benefit?

He tried a shrimp dumpling. Beyond the shrimp, there were bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, creating a wonderful texture fresh, crisp, and tender.

As a corporate slave who had been squeezed by countless heartless bosses, Ji Yu sniffed and wiped away a non-existent tear. If he weren’t afraid of losing face, he would have shouted “Long live President Shang!”

Actually, there’s no one in the living room, so shouting would be embarrassing anyway.

After finishing his leisurely breakfast, Ji Yu solemnly turned on the TV and searched for a drama called Pure White You.

“…A CEO is attracted to a kind, naive, and pure workplace newcomer… overcoming all obstacles… a story of mutual protection and love.”

“This is the one,” Ji Yu whispered, pressing play.

Having accepted high pay and excellent benefits, he had to do his job well. A qualified corporate slave must have a sense of contract. To improve his acting and master the essence of the role, he would start by observing television dramas.

When the doorbell rang later, Ji Yu thought Shang Yuanzhou had forgotten his keys. He paused the TV and trotted to open the door.

A stranger stood there holding a familiar thermal bag. “You must be Mr. Ji?”

Ji Yu tried to remember if the text had mentioned a name. “Manager?”

The middle-aged man replied quickly, “You can just call me Xiao Chen.”

You don’t look ‘Xiao’ (little) at all.

Ji Yu’s expression was complicated. A twenty-something “Little Carp” like him couldn’t bring himself to call a man at least forty years old “Little Chen.”

“Manager Chen,” he corrected.

“I’m here with today’s lunch. We have a ‘Hundred-Flavor Pigeon Soup’…”

Ji Yu waited anxiously for him to finish listing the dishes before he could sit back in front of the TV to eat and watch. The plot was currently at the part where the female lead was being bullied. Ji Yu watched closely, wanting to learn the correct reaction so he could put it to use when he eventually had to deal with the troublemakers in the Shang family.

Shang Yuanzhou didn’t return at noon, so Ji Yu watched all day.

The dinner Manager Chen brought was a double portion. After confirming with Shang Yuanzhou that he would be coming home, Ji Yu set the food aside and continued with his “studies.”

When Shang Yuanzhou finally walked in, he saw Ji Yu staring intently at the TV, holding a notebook and scribbling things down from time to time.

This was exactly what Shang Yuanzhou had seen every time he checked the cameras today. He rubbed his temples and asked, “What are you watching?”

Ji Yu turned around, his face solemn and serious. “I’m learning how to act like a ‘CEO’s Wife’ who is deeply in love.”

“Wife?” Shang Yuanzhou repeated with interest.

Ji Yu thought for a moment and stood up, looking resilient and stubborn. “Do you think being rich makes you special? Can money just buy someone’s heart? I love Shang Yuanzhou simply because he is Shang Yuanzhou.”

The next second, he bit his lip, his voice dropping to a low, trembling tone. “I don’t know what I did wrong… why he would frame me like this. But I really didn’t splash him.”

The movements and tone were spot on, but his expression was a bit stiff—not quite fragile enough.

“What was that first line again?” Shang Yuanzhou asked.

“Huh?” Ji Yu blinked. “Do you think being rich makes you special?”

“The whole sentence.”

Ji Yu repeated it like a recorder: “Do you think being rich makes you special? Can money just buy someone’s heart? I love Shang Yuanzhou simply because he is Shang Yuanzhou.”

Shang Yuanzhou figured out what he was doing and suppressed a smile to avoid discouraging him. “Acting so seriously… are you planning to enter the entertainment industry?”

“Eh?” Ji Yu looked hopeful. “Does President Shang think I’m doing well?”

Shang Yuanzhou began laying out the dinner. “That’s a ‘President Shang’ minus one point.”

Ji Yu corrected himself smoothly. “Does A-Zhou think I’m acting well? I studied all day.”

Shang Yuanzhou wanted to rub his temples again. “Just be yourself. You don’t need to act out these tropes.”

Ji Yu was earnest, practically itching to try. “Since I signed the contract, this is my job. I can do it well.”

Besides, he had used a similar routine when rejecting Sun Caicheng today. Although it gave Ji Yu goosebumps, the tactic worked it provided a rejection without causing an awkward scene. For the socially awkward Ji Yu, he felt he had opened the door to a whole new world.

The news of their marriage hadn’t spread yet, but similar situations would only increase in the future. “I just don’t know if that bit, I just did can actually be used.”

Shang Yuanzhou mentally scrolled through a list of idiots he could use as scapegoats to “bully” Ji Yu. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re acting perfectly.”

It wasn’t necessary before, but from this moment on, it will be.

“Also, I’m just a Beta, and a very ordinary one,” Ji Yu added. “If I don’t appear to have some outstanding character trait to attract you, how can I make others believe you love me so much that you’d lose your sense of judgment? That you’d rather offend marriage-alliance families and defy the old man’s will just to be with me?”

Shang Yuanzhou’s hand, holding a spoon, paused. He didn’t answer directly, but offered a small smile.

“Let’s eat.”