After the Divorce, My Wife Is Impossible to Coax - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Lu Shen had prepared for the worst. She and Wei Qing had guessed that if Wei Ruicheng truly wanted to create an Enigma, it would inevitably involve gene editing—a technology that was currently illegal.

Once she confirmed that Wei Ruicheng had neither the “courage” nor the actual capability to pull that off, Lu Shen let Wei Qing go ahead with her original business plans. Lu Shen wasn’t skilled in corporate warfare; Wei Qing, having been immersed in the business world for years, understood it far better than she did. Many people around Wei Ruicheng had been gradually planted there by Wei Qing, including the Alpha assistant who had led Lu Shen into the company the day before.

If they couldn’t catch Wei Ruicheng in a direct illegal act, his end would simply be a total loss of power. Stripping away everything he had gained over the years by exploiting Lu Ming and He Tingbai would be painful enough for him. Besides, having illicitly taken that drug, living a long life was likely a pipe dream anyway.

Having cleared these hurdles, Lu Shen didn’t want any further entanglement with him and was content to wait for Wei Qing’s arrangements. However, while preparing a new research topic in the Wei lab, Lu Shen noticed that Lin Bin, who was working with her, was acting strangely.

Lu Shen wasn’t worried about the new inhibitor; she and Fu Xinglan were preparing to start a second research project: an oral drug for removing “markings.” They had brought the two new PhDs into this project to let them learn and eventually develop their own research ideas.

Currently, if an Omega wanted to wash away a permanent mark, surgery was the only method. It required cleaning out all the pheromones left by the Alpha. After the surgery, the glands took a long time to heal, and the process was excruciating—Lin Kezhi was the best example of this. Although the new inhibitor could almost entirely block an Alpha’s influence and spare an Omega from the pain of their heat, an Omega with another Alpha’s mark would still face discrimination; they would still be treated as the “property” of a specific Alpha.

“Lu Shen, you really are quite a visionary,” was Fu Xinglan’s evaluation of her.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Lately, spending so much time with Captain An, Lu Shen felt like she was catching a bit of her narcissism.

Since Lin Bin wanted to follow her mother’s original line of thought, Lu Shen agreed with him. However, whenever she saw the lab mice losing control due to Alpha pheromone disorders, she felt a slight pang of sympathy. The pheromone concentration was too high; the mice couldn’t endure it, twisting their bodies in agony on the lab bench. One could only imagine what would happen if it were applied to a human.

Regardless of the experimental results, the mice were destined to be euthanized. Lu Shen knew this was their only end. If they lived any longer, Wei Ruicheng’s next step would likely be human trials. She pinched the back of a mouse’s neck with her thumb and forefinger, pinned its tail with her pinky, and injected a sedative subcutaneously. But it was useless; the frenzied mouse showed signs of biting. Lu Shen had no choice but to use a scalpel to destroy its glands; only then did the mouse return to normal.

“It seems Dr. Lu is only so-so after all,” Lin Bin mocked. The test tube in his hand contained synthetically concentrated “super” pheromones.

Lu Shen ignored him, merely looking at the tube. A normal human gland could not withstand such a concentration. Using this to trick Wei Ruicheng was one thing, but Lin Bin had been in research forever; he should know better.

Because Lu Shen herself was “slacking” in this lab, she sensed that Lin Bin, like her, was being very perfunctory regarding the E-agent. Furthermore, Lin Bin frequently synthesized Omega pheromones, claiming it was only to test the marking strength of the E-agent.

Wei Ruicheng was impatient and had pressured them several times, but there was no progress. Lu Shen claimed they had hit a bottleneck—if becoming an Enigma were that easy, someone would have succeeded by now. Wei Ruicheng was a cautious man; he called them in for individual private talks.

When he suddenly summoned Lin Bin, Lu Shen, standing not far away, noticed Lin Bin’s guilt. He quickly stacked his research papers and closed his laptop. He was clearly guarding against her. Since he had successfully caught her attention, Lu Shen decided to see what he was up to.

On his lab bench sat a rack with three test tubes. Besides the high-concentration Alpha pheromones, the other two were Omega pheromones, clearly from two different mice—they were labeled with different electrophoresis bands. Lu Shen then grabbed his mouse cage; inside were all cultivated Omega mouse models, not a single Alpha.

Lu Shen paused. She picked up Lin Bin’s stack of papers. On top were normal Enigma materials, but underneath, they changed into research on how the pheromones of two Omega mice could fuse to produce offspring. This paper was old and had never been published; the first author listed was Lu Ming.

Perhaps it was time to have a talk with Wen Xuan.

Before that, she asked Jiang Ling out for a meeting. Jiang Ling appeared before her looking radiant, with a new manicure and a new hair color; it was obvious she had been living well lately.

“Why didn’t you bring our Xiao Zhou out?” Jiang Ling sat across from Lu Shen, dissatisfied.

“She went to the studio to shoot photos for a children’s clothing brand,” Lu Shen handed her the menu.

Lately, while Lu Shen was busy, An Zhaoyu had received word from Sister Ren that a famous children’s brand was looking for a little model. They hadn’t been satisfied with any of the children they tested, so they asked the well-qualified An Zhou to try. An Zhaoyu had taken the baby there over the weekend.

“That’s impressive,” Jiang Ling laughed, quickly marking a few items on the menu. “I won’t be unable to see a little star in the future, will I?”

“Don’t exaggerate,” Lu Shen pushed the sanitized utensils toward her. “I just let her try to see if she’s interested.”

“I think Xiao Zhou is very suited for a debut. I was watching TV a few days ago, and the kids on those parenting variety shows aren’t nearly as cute as her,” Jiang Ling handed the menu to the waiter. “But I can’t imagine you participating in a show like that. It would have to be An Zhaoyu.” Then, remembering they had less than half of their cooling-off period left, she added, “Am I allowed to say that?”

Lu Shen glanced at her, expressionless.

“Hahaha, stop being so stubborn. I don’t know who it was the other day who took a suit jacket and draped it over a certain Omega,” Jiang Ling covered her mouth with her manicured hand. “I don’t think this divorce is going to happen.”

“Why were you watching parenting shows at home?” Usually, when Jiang Ling was tired from work, her favorite thing to do was read novels on a certain “green” website.

“That’s… well, that’s a good question,” Jiang Ling thought for a moment. “Every time I go home, President Wen is watching them in the living room. I thought it was interesting, so I watched with her.”

“You watch TV with President Wen?” Lu Shen felt something wasn’t right.

“Oh,” Jiang Ling picked at her nails. “President Wen is actually quite nice. She often passes by the law firm and brings me food, and even orders milk tea for my colleagues. When she asks me to watch TV with her, it’s hard to refuse such a small request.”

“Do you know where Wen Su went?” Lu Shen found it hard to comment on their relationship.

“Abroad. President Wen said she has psychological trauma after falling from the plane, and her legs aren’t great, so she’s recuperating overseas,” Jiang Ling sighed. Wen Su hadn’t even attended their wedding.

“Do you still like Wen Su?”

“Probably not,” Jiang Ling smiled. “We’ve both let each other go. Besides, I’m married to her sister now.”

“And President Wen?”

“She’s better than Wen Su, but we’re just a contract. Shen-shen, what’s with you? Since when did you become such a gossip?”

Lu Shen didn’t know if she should speak up. If they were truly “just a contract,” why was Wen Xuan so devoted?

“Jiang Ling, do you recognize this person?” She pulled out a public photo of Lin Bin.

“Eh, he looks familiar,” Jiang Ling took the photo and looked closely. “I think I’ve seen him somewhere.”

“Was it at the Wen house?”

“Now that you mention it, yes. It was probably a few days ago,” Jiang Ling recalled.

The fact that Wen Xuan was an Omega was on the tip of Lu Shen’s tongue. But out of a doctor’s duty of confidentiality, she hesitated. If Jiang Ling weren’t her best friend, she definitely wouldn’t say anything. However, she couldn’t stand by and watch her friend walk into a trap.

“Jiang Ling, if you develop other feelings for President Wen, remember to tell me,” was all Lu Shen could finally say. She wasn’t against OO relationships, but only if Jiang Ling knew the truth.

“What nonsense are you talking about? President Wen and I have a very pure partnership,” Jiang Ling glared at her.

Lu Shen didn’t reply.

“Pheromones at this concentration can’t even pass animal testing, let alone human trials. If you want the experiment to pass and show some results, you can actually adjust my mother’s previous drugs to stimulate the glands to produce more ligands. The multiplier doesn’t need to be high—just slightly above normal,” Lu Shen said, seemingly in passing, before leaving the lab. “However, President Wei might not be able to handle it. He already has a high concentration of pheromones in his body. Even a little more could cause an accident. It’s quite tricky.”

Lu Ming’s experimental style was aggressive, and her methods for increasing pheromone levels were blunt. Wei Ruicheng’s own rut periods had become unbearable precisely because his concentration was too high. If Lu Shen lowered the effective concentration of the drug, the danger would decrease, and innocent subjects wouldn’t suffer like him.

Lu Shen wasn’t a “good” person; she admitted that. If Wen Xuan wanted to take down Wei Ruicheng, Lu Shen would hand her the knife. She knew Wei Ruicheng would experiment on normal people, but he forgot one thing: he hadn’t been a normal person for a long time.

He wouldn’t follow the principle of controlled variables; he wouldn’t give the subjects her mother’s drug first to reach his state, fearing they would become as strong as him. When he heard from Lin Bin that this drug only raised the rank a tiny bit and saw the results in the subjects, he was secretly delighted. To him, a “tiny bit” was his chance to break through the SSS-rank barrier.

Lin Bin and Lu Shen both deemed the drug useless, and just like Lu Ming years ago, they “casually” tossed it into the yellow medical waste bin.

Scavenging in the trash—Wei Ruicheng even chose an auspicious day for it.

While Wei Ruicheng was being tortured by high-concentration pheromones and losing his mind, Lu Shen was sitting in her bedroom at her computer, in a video conference with Wen Xuan.

Why was she in the bedroom? Because when Wen Xuan had originally planned to send a car for her, An Zhaoyu had stopped her. Lately, Lu Shen’s mood had been low, and An Zhaoyu was worried; she refused to let Lu Shen go to Wen Xuan’s alone. Allowing Lu Shen into the Wei lab was her limit, and that was only after Wei Qing repeatedly guaranteed her safety.

Essentially, as soon as Lu Shen exited the Wei building, she would see Captain An waiting by her car.

“At most I won’t listen, but you can’t go with her,” An Zhaoyu’s attitude was firm. Otherwise, she would insist on going to the Wen house as well. Wen Xuan made a few sarcastic remarks, but it was useless. Lu Shen seemed to have no way of dealing with her either.

“Is Captain An there?” On the other end, Wen Xuan was wearing a Bluetooth headset, looking uneasy.

“In the kitchen,” Lu Shen said, holding An Zhou. She wasn’t wearing headphones. “Don’t worry, she’s not interested.”

An Zhaoyu was only interested in her.

“Then I’ll get straight to the point. Lu Shen, what did Wen Su say?” Wen Xuan leaned back slightly, her hands folded.

“How is Wen Su?” Even facing Wen Xuan’s pressure, Lu Shen remained calm. The baby holding her hand made her feel secure.

“I sent her abroad. She’s fine, but she can’t appear until Jiang Ling falls in love with me,” Wen Xuan narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t plan on sending her away, but she was too bold, playing tricks under my nose.”

“The day she fell from the plane?”

“I arranged for people to save her, though perhaps not as quickly as Captain An.”

“Are you so sure Jiang Ling will fall in love with you?” Lu Shen said flatly.

Wen Xuan looked at her, silent, her gaze sharp.

“Or do you think that because you have a child, Jiang Ling won’t leave you?”

Lu Shen had seen through it. Wen Xuan let out a soft laugh and tilted her chin toward An Zhou in Lu Shen’s arms. “Do I even need to ‘think’ it? If Captain An can keep you by her side using a child, why can’t I? Besides, I need a child.”

“It’s not the same,” Lu Shen said, holding the well-behaved baby. Xiao Zhou was an accident, not the result of her hiding things from An Zhaoyu or An Zhaoyu deceiving her.

“What’s the difference? Lu Shen, you won’t give me the drug; are you going to forbid me from letting others research it? You’re being a bit too selfish.”

“This drug has side effects,” Lu Shen’s tone became cold. “If you plan on having a child, do you want Jiang Ling to bear it for you?”

“Lin Bin is already finding ways to reduce the side effects,” a flash of hesitation crossed Wen Xuan’s eyes, but only for an instant. “To the outside world, I am an Alpha. This matter… I can only trouble her.”

“Then do you plan on telling her your true identity?”

“After the child is born.”

Lu Shen took a breath. An Zhou seemed to sense her shifting emotions and touched her face with a small hand, calling out affectionately, “Mama.”

“…If I tell her in advance, it will be hard for us to have a future,” Wen Xuan felt some guilt, but she had to do this. She knew Jiang Ling always liked Alphas. “When the dust settles, even if she hates me, I must do this. You can’t understand, Lu Shen. You don’t get it—I’ve loved her for over a decade. I must have her, regardless of the cost. An Zhaoyu is the same type of person; she won’t give up on you either. You should know that. Don’t you like her too? She’s just like me…”

The person on the screen was becoming incoherent, her words contradictory. This was the first time Lu Shen had seen Wen Xuan lose control.

“She’s not like you, Wen Xuan.”

“That’s because she doesn’t need to hide her identity like I do. Lu Shen, you should know that not everyone is as lucky as she is.”

Lu Shen could understand her hiding her gender to compete for the Wen family inheritance. Everyone has their reasons for hiding their gender—her mother did too. In this country, OO and AA couples couldn’t marry; her mother had to change her gender just to marry her mom and get her on the household register.

“But what does that have to do with Jiang Ling? You want her to like you, you want her to have your child, yet you won’t even tell her your gender. You’re going too far.” Jiang Ling wasn’t someone who talked loosely; if Wen Xuan were honest with her, she would never leak the secret—though she might not fall in love with her. But Wen Xuan couldn’t have it both ways.

“If Jiang Ling falls in love with you, I will tell her.”

“You can’t!” Wen Xuan’s eyes were slightly red as she stared at Lu Shen. “Don’t forget, your mother is also an Omega. Lu Shen, if this comes out, it won’t benefit anyone.”

“Choose for yourself whether to tell Jiang Ling personally,” Lu Shen said, ignoring the threat. She saw Wen Xuan slump in her chair.

“Lu Shen, dinner’s ready!” Not long after, An Zhaoyu’s voice rang out from outside. Lu Shen hung up the video.

“Dinner!” An Zhou cheered, raising her hands.

Lu Shen kissed her small face. When she went out and saw Captain An setting the table, she felt the woman looked quite pleasant.

“Xiao Zhou’s posters are out,” An Zhaoyu handed her her phone. “Take a look.”

She truly didn’t mention a word about Wen Xuan, acting just as usual. Lu Shen opened the phone. Sister Ren had sent several finished photos. An Zhou, with her wide eyes, was posing perfectly. She looked adorable in a fashionable jumpsuit, one outfit having wings on the back, and another being a red-trimmed camisole with a little pink pig on the pocket.

“These two are nice,” Lu Shen evaluated.

An Zhaoyu suddenly laughed. She walked to the sofa, picked up a colorful paper bag, and shook two sets of clothes like she was showing them off. “Lu Shen, our tastes are identical.”

“…”

“Xiao Zhou was very cooperative today. The brand is very satisfied. Sister Ren said when she’s a bit older, she wants to recommend her for a parenting variety show. What do you think?”

“We’ll see when the time comes,” Lu Shen recalled Jiang Ling’s words with a bit of helplessness.

While they were eating, a call from the Lu family came through. “Dr. Lu, could you come and check on President Wei? He’s in a lot of pain,” the assistant’s voice on the other end was trembling.

Through the phone, Lu Shen could hear Wei Ruicheng rolling on the floor in pain, cursing non-stop and smashing things. It was easy to imagine how bad the situation was; the intense pheromones almost seemed to burst through the screen.

“Today, I’m afraid I can’t. I’m busy,” Lu Shen said tonelessly, but offered a kind tip: “If you don’t want to suffer too much, remember to stay far away from President Wei.”

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