After the Divorce, My Wife Is Impossible to Coax - Chapter 35

Chapter 35

An Zhou played for a long time until she finally seemed tired and began looking for Lu Shen; usually, Lu Shen would be the one to coax her to sleep at this time.

Seeing her approach the phone about to call out “Ma,” An Zhaoyu put a finger to her lips to tell her not to disturb Mommy’s work, then reached out to pick her up.

“Is my baby sleepy?” An Zhaoyu asked softly.

An Zhou didn’t understand her words. She turned to look at Lu Shen on the phone screen and let out a string of gibberish, but she didn’t fuss anymore. An Zhaoyu successfully coaxed her to sleep.

To spend a little more time on the video call with Lu Shen, An Zhaoyu didn’t put the sleeping baby back in her room. Instead, she sat in front of the phone holding her, waiting for Lu Shen to finish her work.

By the time Lu Shen finished, it was very late. When she looked up, An Zhaoyu occupied most of the screen, with An Zhou looking tiny in her arms.

“Is Xiao Zhou asleep?” Lu Shen took off her glasses and brought the phone closer.

“Mm,” An Zhaoyu was also a bit sleepy, but as soon as Lu Shen spoke, she perked up again.

“Then, goodnight.”

“Goodnight…”

An Zhaoyu waited for Lu Shen to hang up. Silence returned to the house. Following Lu Shen’s old habit, she leaned down and kissed An Zhou’s forehead. It felt like she was kissing the baby on Lu Shen’s behalf.

An Zhaoyu didn’t put An Zhou in the crib; she brought her into the big bed. She hadn’t been able to fall asleep alone the night before. Mimicking Lu Shen, she rested one hand on the baby. The scent of Lu Shen still lingered on the bed. An Zhaoyu buried her head in Lu Shen’s pillow, feeling a long, lingering loneliness.

“Our Dr. Lu is finally liberated. You actually have time to come out for dinner with friends on the weekend,” Jiang Ling smiled as she poured her a glass of warm water. “Like I said, marriage is something you shouldn’t touch. It’s better to be divorced.”

Lu Shen said nothing.

“Are you certain about divorcing Xiao Yu, Shen-shen?” Wei Qing looked at her. Lu Shen didn’t look happy. Although she rarely expressed her emotions, her friends could tell she was quieter than usual, her eyes downcast.

“Yes.”

Jiang Ling and Wei Qing exchanged a glance. The words usually used to comfort someone through a divorce didn’t fit Lu Shen; she was a woman of strong character and decisive action. If she didn’t like An Zhaoyu, she wouldn’t need comfort. But because she still loved her, nothing anyone said would help.

Jiang Ling tried anyway. “It’s okay, Shen-shen. You forgot her once before. In the future, you’ll be fine again.”

Lu Shen remained silent. If she had truly forgotten, would she have marked An Zhaoyu that day? Would she have agreed to marry her? Would she have allowed An Zhaoyu to use her heat as an excuse to drag her into indulgence time and again?

She wouldn’t. She hated being threatened above all else.

“Stop talking about Shen-shen. Who’s the one about to step into the ‘grave of marriage’ next?” Wei Qing shifted the topic, knowing further persuasion was useless.

“You mean me?” Jiang Ling looked indifferent. “My situation is different. My fiancé is the SSS-level Alpha CEO sister of my ex-girlfriend.”

Back then, seventy to eighty percent of the conflict between Jiang Ling and Wen Su was because of Wen Su’s sister, Wen Xuan. In an Alpha’s eyes, a blood-related sister comes before a girlfriend, leading to repeated disappointments.

“Now it’s perfect,” Jiang Ling continued. “I’m marrying Wen Su’s most beloved sister. Wen Xuan has no demands; she just needs an Omega for social status now that she’s the rightful heir. Wen Su isn’t planning to fight her for power.”

“There hasn’t been any news of Wen Su since the accident,” Lu Shen finally spoke. “Do you know where she went?”

An Zhaoyu had been busy lately. Having won the championship and personally saved Wen Su’s life, every pilot in the Medical Center respected her. Since Wen Su was gone, her duties had fallen to An Zhaoyu. If Wen Su were around, she probably wouldn’t have agreed to this marriage.

“How would I know?” Jiang Ling shook her head. They had broken up long ago. Besides, everyone in S-City knew about the upcoming wedding; Wen Su couldn’t be unaware, yet she hadn’t reached out.

“Be careful, then,” Lu Shen said, still wary of the Wen family.

“Careful of what? Wen Xuan said she won’t permanently mark me and will let me go in three years. I get a huge sum of money out of it. Once I have that cash, I’m going to play with beautiful Alpha women every day. Anyway, Shen-shen’s inhibitors are almost ready,” Jiang Ling said cheerfully. “The Jiang family never gave me that much; they’re stingy as hell.”

Since she chose law over her family’s arranged path, the Jiangs hadn’t given her a cent. Blood ties? To them, if you don’t obey, you’re out.

Lu Shen felt slightly relieved. Wen Xuan couldn’t mark her, and Jiang Ling was strictly interested in Alphas. Though she joked around with Lu Shen and Wei Qing, they knew she wasn’t serious. Perhaps Wen Xuan just wanted an Omega to help hide her gender identity?

“By the way, Shen-shen, that man is making moves again,” Wei Qing told her. “An SSS-level Alpha is no longer enough for him. He’s looking for people to research a gender called Enigma.”

Lu Shen frowned. “Enigma?”

“They say it can mark any gender, including Alphas,” Wei Qing showed her the gathered data. An Enigma was supposedly stronger than an Alpha, capable of permanently marking Alphas or even Betas.

“Honestly, haven’t you two read any novels?” Jiang Ling laughed until she cried. “This is a common setting nowadays. It’s for people who want to see two Alphas together—it turns the Alpha into an Omega.”

“…”

“I don’t know about that,” Wei Qing said helplessly, “but it’s true that he wants to mark everything.”

Lu Shen nodded. Wei Ruicheng was exactly that type; he sought to conquer everything with pheromones. While they worked to bridge the gap between genders and free individuals from biological shackles, others sought to become world dominators without effort.

To men like Lu Congwen and Wei Ruicheng, biological gender was the only standard for ruling the world. Others were merely subordinates to be controlled by their pheromones. This obsession and fear were bone-deep. Jiang Nian and Lu Ming, Lu Shen’s Omega mothers, had been sacrifices on their path to absolute power.

Thinking of Lu Congwen’s loving smile toward Alpha heirs and his disgust for Omegas made Lu Shen feel nauseous. Watching these sickening displays while enduring the pain of losing her mother had made her world turn gray.

The only thing that made her feel better was An Zhaoyu’s bright smile—that spirited, upright figure in a flight suit. An Zhaoyu never shrunk back for being an Omega; she pursued her dreams with candid confidence. Others saw only her radiance, but Lu Shen knew she had crawled back up from every fall. She faced unfairness but only showed the sunshine, making her success look easy.

She had failed, been sad, and wanted to give up. Lu Shen had seen it all. She was arrogant, rebellious, and untamable. But in Lu Shen’s world, she was the only vibrant color.

Lu Shen didn’t want that color to vanish. An Zhaoyu was like a proud bird; she would never be happy in a cage. Marriage was a cage, so Lu Shen decided to let her go.

“Shen-shen, be careful lately. He definitely knows about the divorce and might harass you,” Wei Qing warned. An Zhaoyu had been Lu Shen’s umbrella; even though the Wei family was flourishing, Wei Ruicheng didn’t dare touch the An family directly while they were married.

“We all need to be careful,” Jiang Ling sighed. Wei Ruicheng harassed Lu Shen with Lu Congwen’s tacit approval. He was also Wei Qing’s father, and Wei Qing had never had an easy life. Now she was being used as a target for Wei Jinlin, the future heir. Without their grandmother He Linghan watching over them, Wei Qing and Jiang Ling would have been sold off as marriage tools to some scum Alpha.

“I hope we can all escape this control soon,” Wei Qing raised her glass.

“Cheers!”

It was late when she got home. As expected, there was a message from An Zhaoyu saying the baby missed her. Lu Shen immediately initiated a video call.

An Zhaoyu was watching TV with the baby. They were sitting neatly in the living room as if waiting for her call. The phone was clearly on a stand.

“You’re back,” An Zhaoyu said, sitting cross-legged behind An Zhou.

An Zhou, mimicking her mother’s posture, saw Lu Shen and her eyes lit up. “Ma!”

“Mm, be a good girl,” Lu Shen smiled.

An Zhaoyu then took out a tablet and gave a serious report on what they played and the baby’s mood. It was the first time Lu Shen had seen the rebellious Captain An act so “obedient.”

“The pediatrician from the community hospital called today,” An Zhaoyu said. “They wanted to register the height, weight, head circumference, and dental development for a one-year-old.”

She stopped there because she hadn’t known any of those details. She recounted how the doctors on the other end had whispered about not calling Alphas because they never knew anything about development. An Zhaoyu had felt slighted and told them she’d call back.

As expected, Lu Shen provided all the measurements and developmental details instantly without needing to check. An Zhaoyu noted them down silently.

These video calls were the highlight of An Zhaoyu’s day. Looking at Lu Shen, she felt an irresistible urge to be close to her. She envied the love Lu Shen showed the baby. She wanted to win Lu Shen back, but she was afraid Lu Shen wouldn’t like it.

For the first time, the fearless Captain An was hesitant. If Lu Shen hated her, approaching would only be a nuisance. Love hadn’t just made her brave; it had made her timid. She cared too much about what Lu Shen thought.

Hearing about the divorce, Ye Jinhua called An Zhaoyu and asked her to bring the baby to the countryside. An Zhaoyu expected a scolding, but her grandmother simply chatted with her on long benches outside the house.

An Zhou, restless, crawled down to play with two local puppies and some ducklings in the yard, getting covered in dust. An Zhaoyu watched her, feeling a familiar nervousness.

“Xiao Yu, do you like Shen-shen?”

“Yes,” An Zhaoyu admitted candidly.

“Then why get a divorce?”

Ye Jinhua had her own reasons. She knew Lu Congwen; once Lu Shen was single, he would find ways to push someone else onto her. She wanted An Zhaoyu to stay by Lu Shen’s side.

“She doesn’t like me.”

“Who told you that?” Ye Jinhua was surprised. She thought it was a personality clash.

“I can feel it,” An Zhaoyu looked at her hands, her voice low. “If it weren’t for the baby, she wouldn’t have married me. She would have done the same for anyone…”

“Have you considered that she wouldn’t have had a child with just anyone?” Ye Jinhua smiled. She had pushed Lu Shen to go on many blind dates, and Lu Shen had rejected every single one. Why was An Zhaoyu the only “accident”? “Shen-shen is more cold-hearted than you think.”

It was true; Lu Shen could go abroad or get a divorce without looking back. Hearing this, a spark of hope lit up in An Zhaoyu, but it quickly flickered. She had been so terrible during their marriage; she was too ashamed to even tell her grandmother.

“I… I performed terribly.”

“Everyone makes mistakes. You didn’t do anything unforgivable,” Ye Jinhua said gently. She liked An Zhaoyu’s frankness. “If you made her angry, go coax her.”

This was the third person telling her to “coax” Lu Shen—and this time it was Lu Shen’s own grandmother.

“Don’t be fooled by her wanting to do everything herself,” Ye Jinhua whispered in her ear. “I’ll tell you a little secret. If you are good to her and she doesn’t refuse, that is her ‘liking’ you.”

The next morning, as Lu Shen drove her car out of the courtyard, she ran into An Zhaoyu’s car.

“Good morning,” An Zhaoyu lowered her window and smiled.

“…Good morning,” Lu Shen was momentarily dazed by the smile. It had been a long time since An Zhaoyu smiled at her like that.

It was only 7:30 AM. Usually, An Zhaoyu slept until then. Why was she out so early?

“I went out to buy breakfast. A new bakery opened nearby. It’s delicious but hard to get,” An Zhaoyu explained.

Lu Shen nodded. That sounded like something she would do.

“Want some? I bought it for you,” An Zhaoyu handed a bag of bread and a bottle of milk through the window. She knew Lu Shen often skipped breakfast.

“For me?” Lu Shen was even more confused.

“Yes,” An Zhaoyu admitted boldly.

Even though they were headed for divorce, Lu Shen felt she shouldn’t take it… yet An Zhaoyu hadn’t bought her breakfast since high school.

“Thank you,” Lu Shen accepted it.

At least for now, An Zhaoyu wasn’t helping someone else pursue her.

Support