Divorcing and Returning Home with My Child to Inherit a Billion-Dollar Fortune - Chapter 1

On the first day after the wedding in Hong Kong, Lu Ming woke up early. He was not quite adjusted to his new life yet, nor to the spouse who had suddenly appeared in it.

After all, he was only twenty years old. Although he had reached the legal age for marriage, entering into it at this age still felt far too green and immature.

From the first floor bathroom, a faint sound of retching drifted out. Lu Ming’s heart leaped into his throat. He stood frozen in place, hesitating over whether he should go in and ask if his spouse needed help.

His spouse was twelve weeks pregnant and currently suffering through morning sickness. Lu Ming had absolutely zero experience with this.

“Young Master, you are up. Would you like breakfast now?”

“Thank you.”

“You are very welcome.” The newly hired live-in nanny smiled warmly and turned back toward the kitchen.

Lu Ming sat uneasily on the living room sofa, fingers interlaced. The wait for his spouse to emerge from the bathroom felt exceptionally long and agonizing.

Finally, the bathroom door was pushed open. Qi Ji stepped out, dressed in a sharp, tailored suit, his face as cold as ice. He did not even grant Lu Ming a direct look, walking straight to the foyer to change his shoes and prepare to leave.

Lu Ming mustered his courage and stood up to call out to him: “Um, hey, who?”

Because they were such strangers and he was so nervous, he actually forgot the man’s name for a moment. He raised his hand like a primary school student waiting to ask a question, looking redundant and ridiculous as he stood there.

Qi Ji could not hide the disgust and psychological rejection in his eyes. He spoke with utter impatience: “If you have something to say, just say it.”

“Right,” Lu Ming said. Seeing the other man’s clear attitude, he did not intend to play the martyr in this relationship either. “It is nothing. I just thought if you are not feeling well, you do not have to go to work.”

Qi Ji let out a mocking laugh. “Who do you think you are? A low-rate little streamer thinks he can manage me?”

“Sorry, I was meddling,” Lu Ming apologized first, feeling a pang of bitterness but not wanting to start a fight over such a small matter.

After all, he was the one who had gotten the man pregnant and permanently marked him. Whether he was in the right or not, the man was currently carrying his child and enduring both physiological and psychological torture.

Qi Ji did not even spare him a glance, slamming the door shut as he left their so-called “new home.”

Only then did Lu Ming dare to breathe. It felt as if a curse weighing on him had been lifted, and his mind and body relaxed instantly.

“Young Master, breakfast is ready.” Seeing his poor expression and not understanding the situation between them, the nanny offered a word of comfort: “When an Omega is pregnant, their body is uncomfortable. Influenced by hormones, they are bound to be a bit more irritable than usual.”

Lu Ming gave a soft hum in response and ate his breakfast in silence, thinking about his future plans.

He was a travel streamer and also worked as a hotel mystery shopper. In truth, this trip to Hong Kong had not been in his original schedule, but the brand had invited him multiple times. Since he had just finished one itinerary and had a few days of gap time, he had come.

To this day, he still did not understand why Qi Ji, an Omega in the middle of a heat, had burst into his room that night.

Who gave him the room card? Why was everything so coincidental?

It just so happened that he was livestreaming at that time. It just so happened that the man used a card to swipe open his door. And it just so happened that he was on the first day of his rut, his heat induced by the Omega’s pheromones.

Halfway through his meal, Lu Ming’s face turned bright red. He clutched his head with both hands, nearly burying his face in the table.

He had over six million followers. There were four hundred thousand people watching live: four hundred thousand!

Although the stream was shut down quickly due to adult content and he was banned for three months, now everyone knew. Everyone knew that he had slept with an Omega that night.

He did not even dare go online now. He was terrified that seeing a single uncomfortable word would make him want to leave the planet out of shame and anger.

What exactly had fate done to him, a boy who had just turned twenty? Because he was honest and dutiful, he was rewarded with a pregnant wife and a family?

Thinking about it made him want to cry.

“Young Master, is the breakfast that bad?”

Lu Ming covered his eyes with his hands, his voice muffled. “No, it is quite good.”

After breakfast, Lu Ming rinsed his mouth and went to his room to change into a white cotton leisure outfit. He grabbed his backpack and headed to a nearby bookstore.

Since it was a weekday morning, the bookstore was empty. Lu Ming took his time in the pregnancy and parenting section, carefully selecting several books.

At the checkout, the owner stared at his face while scanning the codes. “You are a handsome lad. I feel like I have seen you somewhere before! You look really familiar.”

Lu Ming gave an awkward smile. “I have a common face.”

The owner packed the books, looking serious. “If you have a common face, then what are the rest of us? You have a celebrity face; you could be on TV or in movies! Speaking of TV, you look a lot like that Alpha in the Huayue Hotel video!”

Feeling guilty, Lu Ming hurried out of the bookstore, found a secluded corner, and silently pulled a mask out of his backpack.

He had already decided: either he would go back to his island in Northern Europe, or he would not leave the house for the next six months. He thought back to how he used to meet fans on the street and take photos with them; now, he was incredibly withdrawn.

To deal with the gossip and maintain Qi Ji’s public image, they had not only married but also arranged for a detached villa as their new home. The community was very convenient; staying inside for half a year would not be a problem.

Returning home, Lu Ming picked up a copy of The Omega Pregnancy Care Guide and began reading it seriously. He hoped it would be of some help and lessen the man’s suffering during the pregnancy.

*** “Has the video been completely scrubbed from the internet?” Qi Ji signed the documents on his desk and glanced up at his assistant.

The assistant’s body was tense. “Yes, President Qi. It has been completely scrubbed.”

“I see. What about the cloud drives?”

“Huh?”

“The cloud drives need to be scrubbed too. I do not care how much it costs. There are only a few major cloud services on the market. If you cannot even handle this, what use are you to me?”

“I will get on it immediately.”

“Wait.”

The assistant had just turned around when Qi Ji called him back. He trembled like a mouse caught by a cat.

“Distribute these files.”

The assistant let out a quiet sigh of relief, took the signed documents, and hurried out of the CEO’s office.

Qi Ji’s brow had not unfurled for a long time. The atmosphere around him was incredibly heavy. He picked up his phone and continued to dial He Zhaolin’s number; the other end remained unanswered.

Opening WeChat and looking at the screen full of messages he had left, Qi Ji’s eyes reddened with heartache.

“He Zhaolin, pick up the phone!”

By seven o’clock, Qi Ji still had not returned home. The nanny had come to prompt Lu Ming several times: “Young Master, why do you not eat first? At this hour, President Qi might have already eaten out.”

Lu Ming put down his book and stood up to stretch. “Alright.”

Halfway through dinner, Qi Ji pushed the door open. His expression was even more grim than before, radiating a low pressure that seemed to warn Lu Ming not to approach him.

Lu Ming’s eating motions froze for a few seconds. He waited until Qi Ji had walked up the stairs without looking back before quickly finishing a few bites and sitting dazed at the table for a few minutes.

As the nanny cleared the table, she whispered a small comfort: “President Qi must be too tired. He did not mean to give you the cold shoulder.”

“Auntie, you can make some silver ear and pear soup tonight. I saw in the recipes that he can eat it.”

The nanny sighed inwardly. Although this Alpha was young, he had a good temper and knew how to care for people.

Lu Ming did not care about Qi Ji’s attitude. After all, their beginning was absurd, and the ending had already been set by a signed agreement. But he was the one at fault: by permanently marking an Omega who had lost consciousness and getting him pregnant, he had caused irreparable trauma.

Most importantly, he was livestreaming at the time. Given Qi Ji’s status as an entrepreneur, it would have been hard to recover their personal and corporate images without a marriage. Although it was not intentional, the inequality caused by biology meant his conscience could not pretend it did not happen.

So, regardless of how Qi Ji treated him this year, be it rudely or as a target for his anger, he could accept it. After all, after one year, they would return to being strangers and never meet again. Thinking this way, Lu Ming felt that if he could minimize the trauma and ensure that Qi Ji did not remember this time with only disgust and misery, that would be enough.

Lu Ming’s room was at the end of the hallway, while Qi Ji’s was the first door on the left. They were not far apart, but they rarely saw each other.

Qi Ji seemed possessed. As soon as his phone was charged, he began frantically calling He Zhaolin again. Perhaps the other side was simply fed up, because the call finally connected.

The moment the call went through, Qi Ji felt as if he had escaped a narrow cage. His whole body felt at ease, and his tone softened. “Zhaolin, I thought you would never pick up my calls again.”

“It is the middle of the night here, Qi Ji. Do not be like this.” The voice from the receiver carried the laziness and fatigue of someone who had just woken up.

“I have explained everything to you. Why will you not believe me? Did you look at the agreement I sent you? It is only for a year! After a year, I will have nothing to do with him, and I will not keep the child. Cannot we just act like it never happened?”

“You know I love you, but no Alpha could accept this, Qi Ji. I think I need time. Let us both just calm down, okay?”

“How much time do you need to calm down?”

“Let us leave it at that. Goodbye.”

For the first time, He Zhaolin hung up on him without permission. The feeling of everything slipping from his grasp was driving him mad: he truly was on the verge of a breakdown.

He threw his phone and smashed every breakable object in the room.

Lu Ming, having just finished his shower, heard the commotion coming from Qi Ji’s room. His heart tightened. He hurried to the bedroom door and knocked urgently.

The nanny, startled by the noise, also came over and whispered, “What is happening in there?”

“It is fine, Auntie. You go back to your room and sleep.”

“Alright.” The nanny was frightened enough to hurry back to her room. It was better not to get involved in such situations.

The room suddenly went silent. This only made Lu Ming more panicked. He pounded on the door several times: “Mr. Qi! Open the door! If you do not open up, I am breaking it down!”

Lu Ming waited ten seconds. When Qi Ji did not come to open the door, he forced it open and stepped into the Omega’s bedroom.

The main lights were on, illuminating the wreckage of the room. The Omega was sitting on the floor by the bed, his head tilted back. He was surrounded by glass shards, and blood was flowing uncontrollably from his right hand, staining a large patch of the carpet red.

Lu Ming’s breath hitched. He rushed forward in a panic and grabbed the man’s hand to check the wound: “You are bleeding! You are bleeding!”

Because Qi Ji had previously taken a medication to regulate his pheromones, his blood clotting was impaired. He needed to stop the medication for half a year to recover slowly, which was also why the pregnancy could not be terminated.

Qi Ji closed his eyes in annoyance. He felt numb now, as if life and death no longer mattered. The pain of being swept away by fate gave him a sense of loathing: a desire for everyone to just stop living.

Lu Ming immediately found clean gauze to wrap the wound, intending to help him up and go to the hospital. But the moment his hand touched him, Qi Ji shoved him away, his eyes full of disgust.

“Don’t touch me!”

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