After the Corporate Slave Beta and the Top Alpha Married - Chapter 32

The gala was still in full swing, but the two most important attendees had already departed from the manor.

Shang Yuanzhou had originally planned to take Ji Yu to the pavilion at the top of the mountain after the banquet to watch the night view. Fireworks were prepared somewhere on the estate, waiting to be lit the moment they reached the summit. The mountaintop pavilion would have provided the ultimate vantage point.

He had imagined fireworks reflected in Ji Yu’s eyes, sparkling and bright. Perhaps Ji Yu would have asked who was setting them off. He would have feigned ignorance, saying they were likely prepared by the resort staff.

Near the pavilion was a hot spring; they would have stayed the night at the manor. His excuse would have been that they couldn’t possibly sleep in separate rooms while staying out, allowing him to sleep while holding his fragrant, soft wife after a soak.

But now…

Shang Yuanzhou brought home a Ji Yu who had remained silent since the incident. The driver, sensing the heavy atmosphere between the two, didn’t dare make a sound. The air in the car was stagnant, pressing down on their hearts with a leaden weight.

Before Ji Yu could enter the house, Shang Yuanzhou stopped him: “Would you like to sit in the courtyard for a while?”

Uncle Yu, the butler, spoke up with great discernment: “Since there was a gala today, I thought President Shang and Mr. Ji might have had some alcohol. I had some apple cider vinegar and snacks prepared; they’re set out in the courtyard.”

He gestured to the staff behind him, silently moving the refreshments to the new location.

Ji Yu didn’t speak. He was exhausted and didn’t want to “act,” yet he slowly made his way to the courtyard.

Under the moonlight, the dandelions in the yard looked like glowing little fluff-balls fuzzy, light, and soft. Vast patches of them swayed gently in the night breeze. Such a scene does indeed help one relax; Ji Yu’s internal resistance gradually faded.

He picked up a dandelion seed that had landed in his exquisite cup, pinching the fine down, and brought it to his lips. He puffed out his cheeks and blew hard. The gesture carried a touch of childish charm; for a moment, he didn’t look like a twenty-three-year-old adult, but a child.

The seed drifted away unsteadily, and he watched it until it touched the ground.

Shang Yuanzhou watched him without speaking. The man who was decisive and absolute in the business world found himself, for the first time, not knowing what to say.

Ji Yu took a sip of the apple cider vinegar sweet and tart and spoke suddenly: “Have you investigated me, President Shang?”

Otherwise, how could he know his mother died when he was ten? How could he know his brothers had ignored him for over twenty years?

He gave a slight smile. “What is this? A pre-employment background check before signing the labor contract? Do you need me to tell you my family background in full detail, President Shang?”

For the first time, he spoke to Shang Yuanzhou with a hint of sarcasm. The sharp edge hidden beneath his usual tepid, ordinary demeanor revealed a glimpse of the iceberg below.

Shang Yuanzhou fell silent. After a brief pause, he chose to be truthful: “I was worried about you.”

“At the wedding, someone overheard your two brothers saying they had ways to manipulate you, so I looked into it. We had already registered our marriage by then it wasn’t a background check, Ji Yu.”

He couldn’t speak of his dark, private, and pathologically obsessive thoughts, so his “honesty” was destined to be incomplete.

Ji Yu froze, holding the cup of cider in a daze. His expression was adorably helpless like a newly revealed sharp corner being wrapped in soft marshmallow, instantly softening.

“How much do you know?” His tone was still stiff, but it was miles better than the previous sarcasm.

Shang Yuanzhou shook his head: “Not much. Your father’s infidelity; you were born after his affair. Your family treated you poorly. Your mother passed when you were ten, likely related to your father.”

Ji Yu let out a breath. “Quite a lot, then. My family… they weren’t exactly ‘bad’ to me; they simply ignored me completely. I wasn’t like a person to them, but an inconspicuous decoration in the house. Even if I stood right in front of them, they didn’t see me. But they gave me food and clothes, and they paid for my schooling.”

Shang Yuanzhou’s gaze darkened. “That is being bad to you, Ji Yu. Don’t make excuses for them.”

“You are such a strange person,” Ji Yu said, feeling perhaps he really had drunk too much at the gala. He took another sip of the cider and began to tell Shang Yuanzhou things he had never told anyone: “But you’re right about one thing. My mother’s death was related to my father. And it was related to me.”

He tilted his head and smiled again the same clear, shallow smile Shang Yuanzhou had seen back in high school. Even if it was ill-timed, Shang Yuanzhou’s heart hammered violently.

“I said I didn’t hate Alphas and Omegas, that I just didn’t want to be them. I was wrong. I don’t just ‘not hate’ them; I loathe them with every fiber of my being.”

Shang Yuanzhou looked at him: “Do you loathe me too?”

Ji Yu shook his head: “I don’t loathe you, but I loathe that you are an Alpha.”

From Ji Yu, Shang Yuanzhou heard the full story of the family including the parts that had to be hidden and never revealed to outsiders.

Ji Yu’s father cheated. His mother was an Omega, raised like a princess. After marriage, her relationship with Ji Yu’s father was harmonious, making her incredibly proud. When she learned of the affair, she cursed his father frantically and made the scandal public, making him feel he had lost all face.

The Omega demanded her husband kneel and beg for forgiveness, but she was the first to fall to her knees. Because her monthly heat had arrived.

Ji Yu’s father was a complete scumbag. He no longer loved his wife, and he resented her for the public humiliation that had cost the company a project. He did not soothe his Omega; instead, while she was incoherent during her heat, he humiliated her in every way possible.

It was during that time that Ji Yu’s mother became pregnant with him.

While the status of Alpha and Omega enjoys prestige in society, it also carries invisible shackles. In a society with low birth rates, Omegas are not allowed to have abortions. Alphas also face constraints such as all childcare expenses and high taxes; even after a divorce, the Alpha must pay monthly alimony to the Omega.

However, there is an innate inequality between them. The former can mark many Omegas, while the latter can only be marked by one person.

Ji Yu was born, but whenever his mother looked at him, she thought of everything that happened during that heat. She was only incoherent at the time, but once the fever broke, she remembered every detail with agonizing clarity. She remembered how she had begged an unfaithful husband to do those things.

Whenever she saw Ji Yu, she thought of those moments devoid of dignity, humiliating, and disgusting.

This led to a rift with her first two children as well. A mother’s attitude influences her children, especially since after the youngest was born, she didn’t seem to love them as much anymore. Thus, from the moment he was born, Ji Yu was loathed by his mother and ignored by his father and brothers.

Divorce. Ji Yu’s mother thought only of divorce and washing away the permanent mark, but she was ruined by a psychiatric diagnosis provided by that scumbag. He got it from somewhere a stamped diagnosis stating she was a patient who required family supervision.

As a child, Ji Yu accidentally saw his mother going through a heat once, and it became an indelible childhood nightmare.

“My mother’s health was damaged when she had me, and seeing me made her irritable and manic. These things drained her life force,” Ji Yu tried to force a smile but failed. “So, my brother is right. I did kill her. You haven’t seen my father, have you? He’s in an asylum. My brothers… I suspect they secretly drugged him. My mother was trapped by a diagnosis, on the verge of collapse, denied comfort or suppressants during her heats. It wore her down. So, they sent that man to an asylum for real.”

Ji Hexuan was only eight years older than him; Ji Bohan was the oldest, only ten when he was born. One was ten, one was eight, and one was a newborn.

“They also feel I killed Mom. They believe my birth made her start to dislike them as well.”

Ji Yu also felt his birth was an injury to her. Because of Grandma Li, Ji Yu hadn’t developed a mental illness in that environment. Although he understood why his brothers ignored him…

“They have their reasons, but I cannot forgive them. I loathe this place, and these people.”

The person most deserving of hatred was already truly mad in the asylum. Ji Yu was, after all, just an ordinary person; he couldn’t hate the remaining ones thoroughly enough, yet he couldn’t forgive them. In his long struggle, his only thought was to leave and never come back.

Ji Yu was exhausted; he just wanted to be far away from them. He knew clearly that he couldn’t rot in this family.

“It’s just… I also feel that perhaps I shouldn’t have been born. To the person who gave me life, I caused immense pain.”

A hand reached over, wiping away the tear tracks on Ji Yu’s face. Only then did Ji Yu realize he had been crying.

Shang Yuanzhou held his face, his voice firm and steady, like an anchor for a drifting ship. “You are not allowed to forgive them. You were just a baby when you were born; you owe no one an apology. No one chooses their birth. Xiao Yu has done so well didn’t you test into a school far away in high school? You are saving yourself.”

Ji Yu looked at him blankly, a single tear rolling down as his long lashes blinked.

The night was quiet and the breeze was cool. Ji Yu, exhausted from crying, was taken back by Shang Yuanzhou to sleep. With so much emotional turmoil, he had completely forgotten the plan to sleep separately. He curled up in Shang Yuanzhou’s arms and slowly drifted off, tears still at the corners of his eyes.

Shang Yuanzhou leaned against the headboard, stroking the fair face in his arms and gently brushing away the tears. Regardless of the reason, Ji Hexuan and Ji Bohan’s treatment of Ji Yu was pure displacement of anger the damage they caused was indelible.

His wife had suffered for so many years because of a displaced grudge; he had to make those two pay. The plan he’d formed after investigating was put into motion early now that the wound had been ripped open.

While holding Ji Yu with one arm, he used his other hand to fire off various commands on his phone.

At 12:30 AM, after only thirty minutes of sleep, Ji Yu was patted awake. He was still groggy, his eyes red, looking blankly at the phone being handed to him.

Shang Yuanzhou: “I think you should hear this. This is Dr. Gong, a very prestigious doctor. He’s not from A City. Don’t worry, he doesn’t know who you are, nor will he know who your mother was.”

He was protecting Ji Yu, ensuring his pain wouldn’t be exposed to the world. Ji Yu didn’t know what Shang Yuanzhou was doing, but he took the call: “Hello?”

The doctor on the other end repeated what he had just sent in a message: “Obstetric methods are far more advanced than you think, especially since Omegas are naturally predisposed for easy pregnancy and childbirth. After giving birth, there is absolutely no situation where health is so severely damaged as to cause early death. Generally speaking, an Omega’s constitution recovers to its pre-pregnancy state within a year. If you don’t believe me, you can check the literature; these are authoritative statistics. Based on your description, I believe this mother suffered from chronic depression and illness due to the lack of proper comfort and extreme pain during her monthly heats. It has nothing to do with the physical toll of childbirth. The ten-year period you mentioned after the birth further proves my point.”

The call ended. Ji Yu gripped the phone. From silence, he slowly began to emit small, broken sobs.

Shang Yuanzhou pulled him into his arms, patting his back as if comforting a child. “Your mother’s death was never your fault. Your brothers are the ones who are sick, trying to drag you down to make you suffer with them.”

Now it’s my turn to make those two suffer.

Ji Yu’s crying was restrained and silent; he bit his lip hard, only letting out a few uncontrollable whimpers. Tears fell in large droplets, and Shang Yuanzhou’s heart ached terribly. He wanted to kiss away the tears, but he could only restrain himself and wipe them with his hand. Once Ji Yu had calmed down, he started to coax him.

“It’s almost 1:00 AM. Does the fact that I woke Dr. Gong up just to give you this call feel like those plots in CEO dramas where they wake up their long-suffering doctor friend in the middle of the night?”

Ji Yu blinked, his lashes still wet, but he bit his lip and offered a small smile the first genuine smile since Ji Hexuan appeared.