After the Divorce, My Wife Is Impossible to Coax - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

If her sentence had been more complete—“So you’re the pilot who married Shenshen,” or, “You’re the pilot who had Shenshen’s baby”—An Zhaoyu wouldn’t have been so confused. But Lu Ming’s ambiguous phrasing created a strange intimacy, making it sound unexpectedly flirtatious.

“Yes,” An Zhaoyu responded nonetheless. She glanced at Lu Shen, but Lu Shen’s eyes avoided hers.

When Lu Shen first mentioned the marriage, Lu Ming had guessed it was An Zhaoyu immediately. There was no secret to it: the paper planes Lu Shen had brought home during high school were still kept in Lu Shen’s old room in the Lu residence. Lu Shen had never brought anyone else’s things home, nor had she ever mentioned a classmate to her mothers. An Zhaoyu was the sole exception.

“You are truly beautiful,” Lu Ming said, her smile unchanging. There was a touch of innocence in her gaze, almost like a child’s.

“Thank you, Auntie. You are too,” An Zhaoyu said, feeling a rare flush creep into her cheeks. It was strange; for someone as vain as her, a direct compliment usually meant nothing, yet this frank praise made her shy. Perhaps it was because Lu Ming looked so much like Lu Shen that it felt as if the compliment came from the doctor herself—though Doctor Lu would never call her beautiful.

“Is that yours and Shenshen’s baby? May I see?”

“Of course.” An Zhaoyu hesitated for a fraction of a second because Lu Ming was sitting so close to the window. It was so high up that if the baby slipped… but Lu Shen was sitting there too, even closer to the edge. An Zhaoyu carried the baby over.

“Xiao Zhou is asleep,” Lu Ming murmured, lightly touching the baby’s cheek. “She looks just like you.” After a pause, she added, “Shenshen looks like me. Children look like the ones who birthed them.”

Wait, Lu Shen was birthed by her? An Zhaoyu was stunned internally but kept her face neutral. She felt that any sudden emotional outburst might frighten Lu Ming. Aside from eye color and slight skeletal differences, Lu Shen did indeed look exactly like her.

But how do two Omegas have a child? Moreover, Lu Ming’s grade was likely higher than Jiang Nian’s—how could Jiang Nian have gotten a high-level Omega like Lu Ming pregnant?

Then she remembered Lu Shen’s unusual behavior that day. No wonder the doctor insisted on her getting a check-up. By that logic… could she actually get Lu Shen pregnant?

“It was because of the medicine,” Lu Shen explained briefly.

The medicine, of course, was Lu Ming’s creation. The “rumors” about her medical genius were true: she was a brilliant, mad scientist who ignored ethics in her pursuit of research. Because of this, her findings were banned from public disclosure.

An Zhaoyu nodded. Perhaps some residual effect of the medicine lived on in Lu Shen, or perhaps it was just sheer luck. Regardless, after the wedding, An Zhaoyu hadn’t given it much thought. A child between a Beta and an Omega wasn’t impossible, just statistically improbable.

It made sense; if two Omegas could conceive, it would directly challenge the core interests of Alphas. Such research would never be allowed to see the light of day.

“It wasn’t just ethics. Mother’s experiment wasn’t finished. The cost for Omegas to have a baby is heavy,” Lu Shen said, speaking more than usual. “Because of me, Mother’s other reproductive cells were all destroyed.”

“It’s too late now,” Lu Ming said, looking into the distance. “Niannian couldn’t wait that long.”

“Is that why you had me get checked that day?” An Zhaoyu asked.

“Yes.”

This was also why Lu Shen had refused to give the medicine to Wen Xuan. She didn’t know who Wen Xuan intended to use it on.

“Shenshen, I want an apple,” Lu Ming said, turning to her daughter.

An Zhaoyu looked around the vast, minimalist stone room. The stone table was empty. Where were there apples?

Lu Shen didn’t move immediately. She knew her mother didn’t necessarily want an apple; she wanted her to leave the room.

“I want an apple,” Lu Ming insisted, tugging at Lu Shen’s sleeve like a child.

“Behave then,” Lu Shen said, patting her head. “I’ll go down and get one.”

The way they interacted made An Zhaoyu wonder who was actually the parent.

Once Lu Shen left and Lu Ming watched her walk away from the window, she turned to An Zhaoyu with a sly, cunning expression. “She’s gone. If you have questions, ask them now.”

An Zhaoyu realized then that the “apple” was a ruse.

“Shenshen doesn’t talk much. Does she make you unhappy often?” Seeing An Zhaoyu’s restraint, Lu Ming broke the ice.

Unhappy? A little, An Zhaoyu admitted. It was so hard to get Lu Shen to open up. “Yes.”

“I thought you would politely say no,” Lu Ming laughed.

She seemed so normal. Why did she live here, isolated from the world? An Zhaoyu couldn’t help herself: “Auntie, is the Lu family keeping you here?”

“Of course not. I don’t want to leave,” Lu Ming said, leaning back against the stone chair. “Niannian and I saw the most beautiful places in the world together. There is nothing left out there that interests me, as long as Shenshen is okay.”

Without modern devices, not even a phone, she lived in a primitive stone castle. If anyone else said this, they would sound like a fool. But this was the world’s greatest gland scientist. When she said it, An Zhaoyu believed her. It wasn’t the tower locking her in; she had locked the world out.

An Zhaoyu, who usually couldn’t live without her phone, felt time stand still, as if she had stepped into Lu Ming’s peaceful world.

“But sometimes I go mad,” Lu Ming broke the silence with that same sly look, tugging at her clothes. “These are mental hospital pajamas. Are you scared?”

An Zhaoyu stiffened. She was indeed startled. But since Lu Shen allowed her to be alone with her, she trusted that Lu Ming wouldn’t hurt her or the baby. Then she realized that Lu Shen’s personality wasn’t like Lu Ming’s at all—that sly expression would never appear on Lu Shen’s face. Lu Shen was far too stable.

The movement woke An Zhou, who began to fuss.

“Oh no, I scared Xiao Zhou awake,” Lu Ming whispered, looking like a child who had made a mistake.

“She was going to wake up anyway,” An Zhaoyu soothed the baby and comforted her, waving An Zhou’s little hand. “Don’t cry, baby. Look, this is Grandma.”

“Bad Grandma,” Lu Ming chimed in, leaning closer.

She truly was nothing like Lu Shen. The baby, unable to recognize faces yet, stared at her with watery eyes and made tiny nursing noises. An Zhaoyu had a sudden thought: if Jiang Nian were here, the baby might recognize her. Lu Shen’s temperament probably favored Jiang Nian.

“Would you like to hold her?” An Zhaoyu saw how much she liked the child.

“No,” Lu Ming refused, only gently tapping An Zhou’s forehead. “I’m on medication. I might lose control of myself.”

An Zhaoyu nodded. Close up, she noticed how frail Lu Ming was. Her skin was so pale the veins were visible, and she smelled faintly of bitter herbal medicine.

“Ah, Shenshen is coming back!”

Lu Shen was walking back along the river. She looked up briefly before fixing her gaze ahead. That tiny gesture made An Zhaoyu’s heart settle. Lu Ming was too unpredictable; one had to be on edge around her. But Lu Shen… Lu Shen gave off a profound sense of security.

“She won’t let me talk to you for too long,” Lu Ming complained like a tattle-tale. “You still have so many questions.”

“There will be other chances, Auntie.” An Zhaoyu didn’t find her boring. Perhaps because Lu Ming was interesting, or perhaps because she was Lu Shen’s mother.

As Lu Shen entered the building, Lu Ming suddenly grabbed An Zhaoyu’s sleeve and said urgently, “Don’t let them bully Shenshen.”

Before An Zhaoyu could process the cryptic warning, Lu Shen appeared. She held a glass bowl of sliced apples with two silver forks.

“Eat, Mother,” Lu Shen fed her a piece.

“Sweet,” Lu Ming said happily. She motioned to An Zhaoyu. “Xiao Zhao, eat too.”

“She’s too small, she can’t eat apples,” Lu Ming continued, her voice muffled by the food. Lu Shen heard it as the baby’s name (Xiao Zhou).

An Zhaoyu, however, heard correctly. She took a fork and ate a piece.

“Not Xiao Zhou, it’s Xiao Zhao,” Lu Ming corrected.

“Mm,” Lu Shen noted that An Zhaoyu seemed to be smiling.

Once the apples were gone, Lu Ming waved them away. “I’m tired. I want to sleep. Go now.”

An Zhaoyu felt like only ten minutes had passed, but the sun was already dipping below the trees. Time here was a thief.

“We’re going down then, Mother. I’ll cut your nails next time,” Lu Shen checked her hands carefully and covered her with a thin blanket.

“Mhm,” Lu Ming replied drowsily.

As they left, Lu Shen took the glass bowl and forks. An Zhaoyu realized there were no sharp objects left in the room. But it was a stone castle with a giant open window…

Strange Lu Ming.

Back at the main Lu residence, An Zhaoyu realized just how many people were in the family. In the hall, Lu Congwen sat on a high chair at the far end of a long table that stretched from the window to the door. He sat alone at the head.

The rest of the Lu family—about twenty or thirty of them—sat along the sides. Their status was immediately apparent by their proximity to the head.

“Grandmother doesn’t live here,” Lu Shen whispered, sensing her search for Ye Jinhuan. “She lives alone in the countryside.”

Lu Congwen had Lu Yi on his right. On his left were two empty seats for Lu Shen and An Zhaoyu. As they entered, every eye fell on An Zhaoyu and the baby. The stares were not friendly. An Zhaoyu wasn’t afraid, but she noticed that Lu Shen, usually so polite, didn’t bother introducing her to anyone.

“Oh, look at that. Go abroad to study and you don’t even recognize your second cousin once removed? I told you, foreign devils shouldn’t be allowed in the Lu door. Look at what they produce.”

A male Omega sitting near the door spoke with a poisonous sneer. He was clever; his voice was loud enough for Lu Shen to hear, but too quiet for Lu Congwen at the far end.

“Don’t bother insulting the foreigners. Her slutty Omega mother was marked by who knows how many Alphas. Only a madwoman like Lu Ming would bring her home like a prize. Good thing she’s dead, or the Lu family would have lost all its dignity.”

This was the first time An Zhaoyu felt a drop in the “atmospheric pressure” around Lu Shen. She had thought Lu Shen never got angry.

“She’s just like her mother. Who knows what charms she used to seduce so many Alphas.”

They seemed a bit wary of An Zhaoyu, pausing as she walked by, but the Captain’s elite hearing caught every word. She finally understood what Lu Ming meant by “don’t let them bully Shenshen.”

“I bet she’s a bastard. Who knows if Jiang Nian had a secret Alpha on the side? My high school classmate was the forensic doctor who did her autopsy—he said Jiang Nian didn’t even have a uterus.”

“Really? Lu Ming didn’t know? If the old man didn’t favor her, what right would a Beta have to act so high and mighty?”

“She did inherit Lu Ming’s skills, though.”

“She still looks like Lu Ming. Temper’s just as weird.”

“Maybe Jiang Nian intentionally made her look like Lu Ming to raise someone else’s kid.”

Lu Congwen called this a family dinner? An Zhaoyu thought “public execution” was a more accurate term. But the topic soon shifted to her. A twelve-year-old boy, not yet differentiated and lacking fear, repeated what he’d heard his parents whispering.

“This An family Omega is a real sucker too. Who knows what tricks Lu Shen used to get her pregnant.”

Smack!

A crisp sound rang out as An Zhaoyu delivered a sharp slap to the boy’s head.

“I think you’re the real sucker here!”

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