The Live-In Alpha Only Wants To Inherit The Young Lady's Estate - Chapter 2

As it turned out, Zhu Qingjia was not someone who could endure things easily.

For instance, right now at the dining table, under Gu Ruoling’s unblinking stare, she found it hard to swallow her food. No one likes eating while being watched so intently; it felt like being an animal on display.

“Eldest Young Lady, you should eat more. You’ve been staring at me so much that the food is going cold.”

“Are you mocking me?” No one in the house called her Eldest Young Lady. Everyone respectfully addressed her as Miss, except for Zhu Qingjia.

Zhu Qingjia looked up, bewildered. Mocking her? What could possibly be mocking about food getting cold?

“The way you address me is very impolite,” Gu Ruoling reminded her.

Because she had called her Eldest Young Lady, Gu Ruoling felt offended.

“Then what should I call you? Your name?” Zhu Qingjia thought about it, and goosebumps instantly broke out all over her arms.

Ruoling? Lingling? Ah-Ling? That felt even worse than just calling her Little Gu.

“You can call me Miss Gu.”

“No,” Zhu Qingjia shook her head, ladling herself a bowl of soup. She wasn’t a servant in this house. “Then I’ll just call you Ruoling.”

Her voice was very soft, the cadence tilting upward slightly at the end. The syllables rolling off her tongue sounded exceptionally pleasant.

Even Gu Ruoling froze for a moment. Many people had called her by her name before—some intimately, some distantly—but never in this specific tone.

It felt somewhat mushy.

When Gu Ruoling didn’t answer for a long time, Zhu Qingjia finished her soup and nodded. “Then I’ll take it that you’ve agreed.”

The girl before her was only eighteen, so it was normal for her to have a bit of a temper. Zhu Qingjia knew exactly how to deal with it; it was just a matter of coaxing her and going along with her whims a little.

Zhu Qingjia set her bowl down. The food was actually quite delicious, but she was starting to feel a bit of indigestion.

Gu Ruoling was even more exaggerated; she had barely touched her chopsticks. Zhu Qingjia seriously suspected she survived solely on morning dew.

After lunch, Gu Ruoling went up to the art studio on the third floor. A few paintings were laid out inside, while others hung on the walls. Some had a distinctly avant-garde feel, while others were richly colored abstract pieces—deformed sunflowers with twitching branches and leaves, looking as though they were bound by soundwaves, desperately struggling to escape their frames.

Zhu Qingjia had nothing to do, so she followed her inside. Gu Ruoling glanced at her, then continued mixing colors on her palette.

Calling it just an art studio wasn’t entirely accurate, because a white grand piano sat on the left side of the room.

Zhu Qingjia didn’t really know how to play the piano, though she had learned for a few days once. She had only learned the fingering for the right hand, abandoning it the moment it was time to learn the left hand. It couldn’t even be called quitting halfway; she had quit right at the entrance.

Locating the starting keys, she began to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” It was choppy and completely disconnected.

As the notes faded, Gu Ruoling’s voice drifted over, light and airy. “To play at this level and actually have the nerve to do it out loud—even kindergarteners are better than you.”

It was a blatant mockery.

But Zhu Qingjia didn’t get angry, nor did she feel ashamed. “I really don’t know how to play; I barely studied it.” Noticing a music score off to the side with obvious signs of being flipped through, she added, “You must know how to play, right? That means you’re really amazing.”

Gu Ruoling caught herself off guard. Seeing that Zhu Qingjia had truly just made a casual remark, she became exasperated from embarrassment. “None of your business!” She abruptly threw down her paintbrush and maneuvered her wheelchair out of the room.

What was it this time? She hadn’t even used that form of address. Could it be because she praised her, and she got shy?

How could someone express shyness by throwing a tantrum?

Gu Ruoling left so quickly that Zhu Qingjia didn’t catch a glimpse of her flushed earlobes and cheeks.

Zhu Qingjia wasn’t in a rush to leave. Instead, she looked at the canvas Gu Ruoling had been working on. It only had a chaotic, messy outline; it was impossible to tell what it was meant to be. The previous colors were dark grays and blacks, but the newly added color was a bright, vivid orange.

They say that artwork best reflects a person’s state of mind. Paint cannot speak, yet it uses brushstrokes to whisper softly.

What was Gu Ruoling thinking about just now?

Zhu Qingjia bent down to pick up the fallen paintbrush from the floor, placing it safely out of harm’s way, waiting for the next stroke of color to arrive.

For the entire afternoon, Gu Ruoling stayed in her room and didn’t come out. She didn’t come down for dinner either; it was brought up to her.

When it was close to bedtime, Auntie Li came up to deliver her medicine. Seeing this, Zhu Qingjia stepped forward and said, “I’ll take it in. I haven’t seen her all afternoon, so I’m a bit worried.”

Auntie Li hesitated slightly, but Zhu Qingjia took the medicine and water anyway.

Inside, Gu Ruoling was curled up on the sofa fiddling with a tablet. She was pulled into a small, tight ball with her knees hugged to her chest. An unfinished dinner sat half-eaten on the table.

“Time for your medicine,” Zhu Qingjia spoke up to remind her. Gu Ruoling acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing, utterly absorbed in her mini-game.

Zhu Qingjia simply brought the glass directly to her lips and said warmly, “Is it that you want me to feed you?”

Gu Ruoling frowned. “Leave it there. I can take it myself.”

Zhu Qingjia placed the items on the table. She didn’t urge her further, merely watching her quietly.

Before long, Gu Ruoling grew entirely unsettled by the intense gaze. She snatched up the pills, shoved them into her mouth, and swallowed them down with a few hasty gulps of water, nearly choking in the process.

“I’ve taken it. You can get out now.”

Since the order to leave had been issued, Zhu Qingjia naturally didn’t stay. Stepping out of the room, she found Auntie Li unexpectedly waiting outside.

Seeing her come out, Auntie Li reached out to take the half-empty water glass.

“You don’t need to wait out here specifically. I can take it downstairs myself.”

Auntie Li smiled. “Miss Zhu, you are the master here. How can we let the master do these things?”

Zhu Qingjia didn’t think too deeply on it and turned to head into the room next door. This was her bedroom, located very close to Gu Ruoling’s.

All things considered, today had gone quite smoothly. Aside from that little interlude in the morning, Gu Ruoling’s emotions had been fairly stable. However, she took quite a large variety of medications; Zhu Qingjia had no idea what they were meant to treat.

Before she moved in, the Gu family had given her promises. Aside from straightforward financial compensation, there were also subtle, implicit reminders—the gist of it being that Gu Ruoling didn’t have much time left. There was no need for them to publicize their relationship. Once Gu Ruoling passed away, Zhu Qingjia would return to being single, and the Gu family would not interfere with whatever she chose to do.

In the original plot of the web novel, the character Zhu Qingjia played had absolutely no redeeming qualities or character growth; she was a flat, one-dimensional villain. Furthermore, she was in love with Gu Ruoling’s younger sister, Gu Tinglan—who was the original female lead of the story. Because they couldn’t be together, she had swallowed her pride to marry into the family as a resident daughter-in-law for the elder sister, harboring deep resentment and finding every possible way to torment Gu Ruoling.

When Zhu Qingjia was reading the original novel, she kept thinking: Why does this character have to make so much trouble? Why can’t she just live peacefully and cultivate her mind?

Now that she was here herself, she could finally alter those headache-inducing plotlines with her own hands.

Classes were temporarily rescheduled for Sunday, a notice that had arrived just the night before. Zhu Qingjia rushed from the house to the university. By the time her classes finished, it was exactly ten o’clock. The moment she stepped out of the campus gates, the driver was already there waiting.

Upon returning home, before she even stepped through the front door, she heard a chaotic racket coming from inside.

It seemed Gu Ruoling was having another “episode.”

She didn’t even wait for the elevator, running straight up the stairs instead.

This time, she witnessed Gu Ruoling’s arms and legs being pinned down by several people. A circle of servants surrounded her, trapping her down.

All just to stop her from throwing a fit.

Zhu Qingjia knew full well how much physical strength Gu Ruoling possessed; there was absolutely no need to treat her with such brute force.

Gu Ruoling was crying continuously, her eyes entirely bloodshot, her chest heaving violently. Her chin was held high, as if refusing to submit.

“Let go! Let go of her!”

This time, it was Zhu Qingjia who demanded it.

It was also the very first time she felt a surge of genuine pity for Gu Ruoling.

Zhu Qingjia pushed the servants aside and pulled Gu Ruoling tightly into her embrace.

The servants all began talking at once, overlapping over each other.

“Miss Zhu, you can’t do this. When the Young Lady’s illness flares up, it’s incredibly severe.”

“Yes, we’re doing this for her own good, so she doesn’t end up hurting herself.”

Only then did Zhu Qingjia get a chance to look at her closely. Sure enough, Gu Ruoling’s face and jaw were covered in bloody scratches from her own fingernails, looking exceptionally piercing against her pale skin.

Gu Ruoling was still struggling fiercely, perhaps out of genuine physical agony. Zhu Qingjia’s heart softened, and her grip loosened slightly.

Slap! A crisp, resounding slap echoed through the room.

The entire space instantly fell dead silent.

The Young Lady had slapped Miss Zhu.

Right in front of so many people.

“Everyone out,” Zhu Qingjia raised her voice, her tone sharpening.

Even after the door clicked shut, Gu Ruoling continued to thrash wildly in her arms, even forcefully slamming her forehead against Zhu Qingjia’s shoulder.

Zhu Qingjia pinned both of Gu Ruoling’s wrists down with one hand and used her own legs to clamp the girl’s legs together, restricting her movements to the smallest possible space. Fortunately, her own physical stamina was quite good, allowing her to keep her restrained.

Yet Gu Ruoling kept trying to thrash her head around, her breathing entirely erratic. Strands of hair clung messily to her face, tears and blood mixing together and seeping into her scratches, causing a sharp, stinging pain.

Zhu Qingjia let out a sigh. Why did I try to act like a hero here, only to end up taking a hard slap for nothing?

Both episodes had occurred in the morning, while she seemed perfectly fine during the rest of the day. Yet the Gu family had only told her that Gu Ruoling had a weak constitution and nothing more.

After a long while, Gu Ruoling ran out of energy, slumping weakly in her embrace. She rested there for a considerable time before her consciousness finally cleared.

Peering through her tangled hair, she could only see a shirt collar and a prominent collarbone. A strange, clean fragrance drifted into her nose. The patch of fabric where her head rested had been wrinkled into a messy heap.

Gu Ruoling lifted her chin and caught sight of that face. “Let go of me.”

She struggled weakly, shifting her legs a bit; her nightdress had also been rumpled from being pressed down.

Zhu Qingjia didn’t let go immediately. Instead, she asked, “Clear-headed now?”

“Yes.”

Her wrists had been squeezed a bright red and felt somewhat sore, but Gu Ruoling didn’t care. She casually brushed the hair away from her face, only to discover that Zhu Qingjia’s left cheek was severely swollen.

She lifted her own right hand. Her palm was burning with a stinging ache; if her own hand hurt this much, one could only imagine how much force she had used.

“I… I did that?” Gu Ruoling asked, her voice trembling. She couldn’t believe she could lose control to such a terrifying extent.

She was utterly terrified of losing control over herself, yet the more she feared it, the more it happened. She would rather just die outright than become a madwoman stripped of all dignity. She didn’t even remember the moment she had struck her.

“It doesn’t count,” Zhu Qingjia bit the inside of her cheek. “You were reacting defensively at the time; it was just a stress response. Besides, it doesn’t really hurt.”

Gu Ruoling sat in her lap, completely speechless. Her face was swollen to that extent, yet she actually claimed it didn’t hurt much.

“Are you an idiot?” Gu Ruoling struggled out of her lap and dropped to the floor, pacing back and forth barefoot as if searching for something.

“What are you looking for?” Terrified that she might wander toward the window, Zhu Qingjia immediately stood up to follow her.

“My phone. Where is my phone?” Gu Ruoling sounded highly agitated. Spotting the phone on the pillow, Zhu Qingjia picked it up and handed it to her.

Gu Ruoling snatched it away fiercely, her fingers flying across the screen to open an app. At the same time, she unconsciously bit down hard on her lower lip, only letting go when the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

“Your card number,” Gu Ruoling shouted at her.

“What card number?”

“Your bank card number. Any card will do.”

Meeting Zhu Qingjia’s bewildered gaze, Gu Ruoling let out a harsh, mocking laugh. “Didn’t you marry into my family and take care of me just for money? I don’t need them to give it to you—I can give it to you myself. Take the money and get as far away from me as possible! Don’t ever let me see your face again!”

Zhu Qingjia found herself understanding her less and less; in fact, she had never understood her at all. The things this girl said and did defied all normal logic, and her reactions were completely unpredictable.

Just because she had accidentally slapped her today, she was trying to kick her out.

How incredibly unreasonable.

“Is one million enough? I bet you’ve never seen that much money in your life. I’ll transfer it to you right now.”

Zhu Qingjia made no response, but the tight set of her lips betrayed her emotions. She was angry.

She was indeed poor and desperately needed money, but Gu Ruoling’s method was too extreme, far removed from the polite, gentle manner of the rest of the Gu family. Gu Ruoling had stomped right on her sore spot, and even then, she wasn’t satisfied—she wanted to grind her heel into it.

Seeing that she remained silent without giving a card number, Gu Ruoling turned her screen around to show her the bank balance. The string of digits was incredibly long, a length Zhu Qingjia had never seen before.

And this was merely one of the many savings accounts under Gu Ruoling’s name.

To her, a million was nothing more than dropping a stray digit at the end.

She was doing it completely on purpose, intentionally using this method to humiliate her.