Married the Abandoned Puppy Alpha - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Doxxed

This wasn’t the first time the two of them had kissed.

During the differentiation period two years ago, the Alpha, having lost his mind, had directly sealed all of He Xinglou’s gasps and cries with his lips. He had even, with an untaught instinct, explored inside with his tongue, teasing the Omega in his arms until he couldn’t even stand up after just a few moments.

But this kiss was different. Both were sober, and under the watchful eyes of the public, Shi Qingze only lightly brushed his lips against his before quickly pulling away, leaving He Xinglou without even a moment to react.

Just now… what did that mean? Does a contract marriage have to go this far?

The people nearby were still jeering and cheering, only to be laughingly scolded and driven away by the photographer who was ready to start work. Soon, the intensive photo shoot began; as things got busy, He Xinglou naturally had no time to ask about the matter.

The entire day went incredibly smoothly. Every part of the process was completed in one go, ending at four in the afternoon. Consequently, Shi Qingze treated everyone to a private afternoon tea session, and every staff member was happy.

“What are you looking at?” Shi Qingze sat down next to He Xinglou, carrying two cups of coffee.

Xinglou was browsing a webpage on a virtual screen, his expression serious: “Looking at job postings.”

Shi Qingze chuckled: “Brother, you don’t need to be in such a hurry.”

Of course I’m in a hurry. He couldn’t just keep being a “freeloader” in someone else’s house. Now that he didn’t have to worry about inspectors, if he didn’t hurry to become self-reliant, what would happen after a year?

He Xinglou continued to scroll down the page, shrugging noncommittally.

Two seconds later, a notification pinged on his communicator.

Shi Qingze raised an eyebrow in surprise: “You received an interview invitation that fast?”

He Xinglou tapped the message: “No, it’s from Song Xiao.”

The staff Shi Qingze arranged were professional and efficient. Not long after the shoot ended, they had sent the finished photos to the two of them. The photos were indeed very beautiful; the two of them, wearing matching outfits under the Ferris wheel, were smiling brightly, as if they truly felt the happiness of newlyweds.

After much hesitation, He Xinglou decided to forward the photo to their three-person group chat. On one hand, he had grown accustomed over the past two years to reporting his status to his close friends to avoid being caught in difficult situations alone; on the other hand, he truly thought the photo looked quite good.

But after sending it, he felt a bit of regret. After all, he and Shi Qingze weren’t truly married; sharing wedding photos with friends seemed like the “fake act” was becoming too real.

So conflicted.

He Xinglou felt uneasy in his heart and decided to click back onto the recruitment website to distract himself. Now, Song Xiao had replied with a message first a “beat-up” emoji, followed by a numb sentence:

Congratulations to you, consider yourself congratulated by me.

He Xinglou couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Hearing him laugh, Shi Qingze’s movement of picking up his coffee cup slowed for a split second: “Brother has always had a very good relationship with Song Xiao. Are you still chatting with her today?”

He Xinglou replied quickly to the other side, answering casually: “Mhm, she and Shuyan have both helped me a lot these past two years.”

Shi Qingze went silent.

He watched quietly as He Xinglou typed rapidly, the smile on his lips never disappearing. Suddenly, he moved and sat closer to He Xinglou’s side.

“But today is the day Brother and I got married.” Shi Qingze leaned in, trying to catch a glimpse of the chat interface. “We still have many upcoming items to discuss, like the wedding a month from now.”

Xinglou realized that Shi Qingze had handled everything today while he hadn’t put in much effort. After the registration, there would certainly be the wedding process to go through.

He had already seen the wedding plans; they were quite tedious. He couldn’t continue being a hands-off manager.

“Sorry.” He moved to close the screen. “I should finish the proper business first. I shouldn’t let you do all the hard work alone.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Shi Qingze sighed, unable to defend himself.

His Brother had always been dull when it came to emotions and had a very vague concept of gender. If he didn’t ask clearly and explicitly, He Xinglou probably wouldn’t even know what he was bothered by.

He felt unwilling to let it go. After enduring it, he finally asked: “What is Brother chatting about with Song Xiao? I really want to know.”

“You’re bothered by this?” Xinglou looked at him in surprise.

Shi Qingze was slightly stunned: “Brother noticed I was bothered?”

He Xinglou shook his head helplessly: “How could I not notice? Your emotions are actually very easy to understand. It’s just that if you don’t explicitly tell me the point that’s making you angry, I won’t be able to guess it, and I’ll be a bit troubled.”

“Shi Qingze,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “Since we have to live together for another year, I hope you can communicate with me more openly. Tell me what makes you happy or unhappy, and what parts you are dissatisfied with. I hope you can tell me everything.”

He Xinglou spread his palms and smiled: “If both people refuse to open their mouths, it’s very hard for a partnership to continue.”

Shi Qingze remained silent for a moment, then knelt on one knee directly in front of him, looking into his eyes with total seriousness.

“Since Brother has said so, then I will properly convey all my thoughts to Brother.”

He took a deep breath and asked: “Brother was very close with Song Xiao and Lin Shuyan during school. They know everything about Brother, but I know very little. It’s been like that since three years.”

Especially during their reunion, he had seen Song Xiao standing next to He Xinglou with protective air, and in the secret room, the two were also very close.

Song Xiao is an Alpha. Speaking of which, she had known He Xinglou even longer than he had.

Shi Qingze lowered his eyes to hide his expression and said softly: “I’ve actually been thinking… if I hadn’t found Brother, perhaps Brother would have married one of them.”

“How is that possible!” Xinglou raised his voice and immediately interrupted him, drawing the gazes of the staff.

He hurried to pull Shi Qingze up to prevent others from thinking the newlyweds were already starting a fight.

But thinking of Shi Qingze’s theory just now, He Xinglou was almost laughed at by the absurdity of it.

“This is absolute nonsense! They both have partners!”

“They both… have partners?” Shi Qingze’s expression shifted slightly, and he tried hard not to let the corners of his mouth curl upward.

He Xinglou had no way to deal with him and tapped the screen to show him: “I was sending them the photos. Because neither of them has married their own partner yet, they’re both bickering with me right now.”

As soon as Shi Qingze cast his gaze over, he saw the photo in the chat interface—it was a photo of him and He Xinglou together.

This time, he couldn’t hold back the smile on his face at all.

“You have the nerve to laugh.” He Xinglou looked at him with exasperated anger, reaching out a hand to gently push Shi Qingze’s face away.

“I was just a little jealous. After all, I’m the one who is Brother’s Alpha,” Shi Qingze laughed, begging for mercy softly. “Brother, don’t be mad at me.”

But these words made He Xinglou suddenly sober up. He slowly turned his head and looked at the other person with a calm expression.

“Shi Qingze, do you still remember that we are getting a divorce a year from now?”

Shi Qingze’s eyes widened suddenly, and the corners of his mouth slowly drooped again.

He didn’t reply, which made He Xinglou feel even more uncertain, so he emphasized again: “You still remember, right? We have a contract marriage. The contract has already gone through the process with the legal department.”

“I remember,” Shi Qingze replied in a low voice.

Xinglou pursed his lips tightly and didn’t speak for a while.

Perhaps because today’s atmosphere was too joyful and lively, he had actually indulged in it a bit, including that kiss just now. But, what is fake is ultimately fake. If one insists on treating it as real, the final ending will be disastrous.

Just like three years ago, when he had clearly taken Shi Qingze home with the intent to use him, yet insisted on playing the role of a brother depending on him for survival leading to such an embarrassing separation later on.

He Xinglou’s mood sank.

But just as he was about to recall that snowy amusement park again, Shi Qingze suddenly reached out his hand and gripped his tightly.

“But the photos are still very beautiful, aren’t they?” Shi Qingze said in a soothing tone.

Xinglou instinctively looked at the photos in the chat interface. The warm-toned photos made his heart relax quite a bit.

“…Mhm, that’s why I sent them to Song Xiao and Shuyan to see.”

“And I haven’t taken a photo with my Brother for so long.” Shi Qingze’s eyes crinkled. “I like these photos very much, too.”

“So Brother, don’t think about things a year from now. Isn’t that the lesson you taught me? Rather than uselessly speculating about the future, it’s better to enjoy every happy moment in the present. The contract is real, but it’s also real that Brother and I are both very happy today.”

Those words were from a long time ago, used by He Xinglou to comfort Shi Qingze.

At that time in the slums, Shi Qingze’s subsidy wasn’t enough to cover all their expenses, so He Xinglou still had to desperately look for part-time jobs, often returning home only in the early morning.

Shi Qingze felt bad for him and volunteered to go out for odd jobs. But he was still a minor and of unknown origin; he spent the whole day secretly searching, but no shop was willing to take him.

He even got lost. It was cold at night, and he could only squat shivering under a streetlight and call He Xinglou.

As soon as he saw He Xinglou’s face on the other side of the screen, the youth’s mental state completely broke down, and he couldn’t stop crying:

“Brother, I’m sorry… I’m so useless, I can’t earn any money…”

In the end, He Xinglou had to ask a colleague to cover his shift and ran to the edge of the suburban border to find Shi Qingze.

Shi Qingze was dying of guilt, feeling that he was a burden to his brother. His face was so covered in tears that they froze into thin frost. So, He Xinglou used those words to comfort him.

“Xiao Ze, as long as I have you with me, I feel happy right now. So don’t think about it so much. Since we can’t see the future anyway, let’s just look at the present.”

Back then, he had held the youth tightly in his arms, completely unaware that outside the slums, the entire Capital Star was spending countless amounts of money and manpower searching for the missing child of the Shi family.

He Xinglou returned to his senses and let out a long sigh.

“You’re right. I was overthinking.”

After saying it, he felt it wasn’t quite right. What was I nervous about? Worried that the divorce won’t happen? Or worried that I will…

Two more notification pings came, drawing both their attention to He Xinglou’s communicator.

He thought it was his friends still messaging, but after tapping them open, he saw they were messages sent from several unknown accounts.

Excuse me, are you Mr. He Xinglou? I heard you got married to the Shi family’s heir candidate today?

Mr. He, may I ask if you have married Mr. Shi Qingze? Does Mr. Shi Qingze knows you are an undocumented person?

Mr. He, I heard you come from the slums and have done many low-level jobs in the past?

Xinglou’s face turned white instantly.

“Someone leaked the news to reporters.” Shi Qingze, his face tense, pulled him up to leave, placing a reassuring light kiss on the top of his head.

“Don’t worry, Brother. Let’s leave first.”