Married To My Childhood Friend: An Alpha Business Contract - Chapter 6

Lu Shiyuan’s party didn’t wind down until midnight.

Lu Siyan pressed a pillow over his head, his nerves frayed by the noise, tossing and turning in fitful sleep. He had finally summoned the courage to delete Xiao Yanxiu’s WeChat, making his already sparse friend list even colder and more deserted. His heart felt hollow.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he was haunted by the lingering, cold scent of camellia and cedar…

It wasn’t until the sky turned pale that he managed a few seconds of light sleep, only to be startled awake in a daze. Remembering he had an early class today, Lu Siyan struggled out of bed, washed up quickly, and hurried downstairs with his backpack.

Unexpectedly, he ran into his parents and Lu Shiyuan. The “family of three” sat together perfectly at the dining table, speaking in soft tones and sharing a warm breakfast.

The Omega’s footsteps stopped abruptly. He froze on the stairs like a clumsy intruder, out of place and unsure whether to advance or retreat.

“Shiyuan has really worked hard lately.”

“The Xiao family has influence that reaches the heavens. For that Huayun project, we originally couldn’t even get our materials through the door.”

“It’s only thanks to your hard work and networking over the past two days that we finally received good news.”

Lu Shiyuan smiled as he took the bowl of porridge offered by his Alpha father. He looked up, his gaze landing right on the motionless Lu Siyan.

Lu’s father had his back turned and didn’t see him. Having been burnt out lately trying to make ends meet, he finally had a problem solved and naturally had much to say.

“It’s just that Siyan is dull and clumsy, not good at socializing—he can’t compare to you.”

“He’s offended people and can’t handle these big social occasions. In the future, you’ll have to put in more effort to help out with the family business.”

The Omega father looked at Lu Shiyuan with a face full of affection while serving food to the father and son. His gaze accidentally brushed past Lu Siyan on the stairs, and his expression changed instantly, immediately stopping the hurtful words.

“Always talking about nonsense…”

“Yan… Yanyan, when did you get up?”

“This child, standing there without a word. How long have you been there? Quick, come down and eat.”

Lu Siyan gripped his backpack straps tight. “I’m going to be late for class.”

He wanted to say something polite to ease the atmosphere, to be like Lu Shiyuan—sharing his parents’ burdens and making everyone like him. But in this moment of blank helplessness, other than fleeing this suffocating space immediately, he truly couldn’t think of anything else to please his elders.

Despite running fast, before he cleared the door, he still heard his Alpha father speak with disappointment:

“He’s never been a child who understands the big picture.”

“Living in that foster home for fourteen years made him timid. Does he have even a hint of a prestigious family’s heir about him?”

“Locking himself up all day and night, not interacting with anyone. He doesn’t even know a single person among the second-generation socialites.”

The road, freshly covered in snow, was slippery. A bone-chilling wind poked through every gap in his clothes, making him shiver. The warmth he brought from his room dissipated, but thankfully, the stinging soreness in his eyes eased slightly in the cold.

The Omega sprinted all the way, skidding to a halt at the bus stop and squeezing into the crowded bus with all his might.

His parents were proud of Lu Shiyuan for fitting perfectly into the elite circles, yet they had forgotten that they hadn’t sent Lu Siyan his living allowance in nearly two months. Lu Siyan shrank into a corner, checked his nearly empty bank balance on his phone, and sighed.

Meanwhile, his good friend and fellow Omega, Mu Yi, was bombardment him with texts, saying he had saved the best seats in the lecture hall.

Lu Siyan hurried and arrived just on time. The moment he sat down, he was fed various snacks.

“I heard that today’s guest lecturer is ‘Yin Wu,’ the top suspense novelist!”

“She started writing at fourteen. Every book gets published, every one gets adapted for the screen. Her current copyright fees are at forty million!”

“Heavens, when will I ever make that much money?”

Mu Yi came from an ordinary background but was optimistic and cheerful. From their first meeting, he had chased after Lu Siyan, insisting they be friends. Lu Siyan, being introverted, solitary, and sensitive, needed someone like this “little sun” around him to provide energy.

But even a friend this wonderful was dismissed by the Lu parents simply because he lacked a wealthy background: “That is a ‘fox-and-dog’ friend who will be of no help to your future.”

“Four million… just four million and I’d retire and become a salted fish immediately,” Mu Yi prayed sincerely with his hands clasped. Seeing Lu Siyan looking distracted, he nudged his arm.

“By the way, Yanyan, didn’t you say you wanted to apply for on-campus housing? I even cleaned the bed next to mine. Why haven’t you talked to the counselor yet?”

In all these years living at the Lu house, Lu Siyan had never felt at ease. He thought he’d be free after getting into university, but unexpectedly, Lu Shiyuan—whose commute was over two hours—insisted on going home every day. Since Lu Siyan’s bus ride was only twenty minutes, it felt wrong to bring it up.

Lu Siyan stammered, unsure how to explain. Fortunately, Yin Wu entered the classroom right on time to start the lecture, saving him from the awkwardness.

The female Beta had conquered the web novel world for over ten years, yet she was only twenty-four—still in her prime. Her appearance was the complete opposite of her eerie, thrilling writing style; she was petite and delicate, causing a stir of surprise in the room.

Lu Siyan listened intently, filling two pages with dense notes.

The two-hour guest lecture flew by. Before finishing, Yin Wu cracked a few jokes and revealed that she had a new script collaborating with a top-tier star, with filming starting soon. They were using an early-style model of writing while filming based on audience reactions. The pressure on the crew was high, so they urgently needed to reorganize the editorial team and recruit two interns.

Lu Siyan wasn’t interested at first, but when Yin Wu mentioned that besides the learning opportunity, they provided meals, transportation subsidies, and a “hardship allowance” of two thousand yuan a month, he perked up.

Mu Yi saw his interest. “You want to go?”

Although two thousand yuan was a bit low and it would be exhausting… “If you want to go, I’ll definitely go with you.”

The two hit it off and decided to grab the application forms for the studio internship right then. They didn’t expect that over a hundred people would be fighting for the chance to work like galley slaves for the studio.

Mu Yi said, “I just checked the records. A lot of them aren’t even from our college; they don’t need this internship experience at all. Everyone is swarming here just to chase stars.”

“With Yin Wu’s fame, a hit IP plus a top-tier star… it comes with its own heat.”

Lu Siyan didn’t think too much about it. Driven by the determination to earn those two thousand yuan, he worked with Mu Yi to tackle the test Yin Wu had set. They worked for three consecutive days, forgetting to eat or sleep, surviving on iced Americanos. They ground through the work until two lights in the library burned out, finally standing out from the crowd.

“We did it!”

Mu Yi, with dark circles under his eyes, hugged Lu Siyan and screamed with joy in front of the acceptance list.

On their first day with the crew, they received an “opening day” red envelope—a grand sum of two hundred yuan. But Lu Siyan’s smile soon faded.

He pointed at the cast list provided by the crew, specifically at the lead Omega column. “This Jiang Shuyao is…”

Mu Yi snatched the paper from his hand. “You don’t know Jiang Shuyao?”

“The famous ‘visual ceiling’ of the entertainment industry. The top trending topic creator on Weibo, a natural-born actor with the ‘traffic code,’ a rising star, a dark horse…”

Lu Siyan interrupted him. “That’s not what I’m asking.”

Those descriptions could be found on Baidu Encyclopedia, and he had never been interested in celebrities. What he found strange was that he clearly didn’t know the person, yet the name felt oddly familiar.

Mu Yi leaned in. “Do you know him?”

Lu Siyan shook his head.

His friend suddenly realized something and snapped his fingers. “I know! This guy has a super powerful ‘gold master’ backing him.”

Lu Siyan asked, “Who?”

Mu Yi: “Xiao Yanxiu. Have you heard of him?”

The Omega’s heart tightened. “Xiao… Xiao Yanxiu?”

Mu Yi nodded. “Yeah, the crown prince of the Xiao family in the capital, Xiao Yanxiu.” He flicked the name on the paper with his finger disdainfully. “Otherwise, why do you think he can grab such good resources when the competition among Alphas and Omegas is so cutthroat?”

Lu Siyan: “Didn’t you just say he was a visual ceiling and a natural actor…”

Mu Yi: “That’s what the marketing accounts and fans say. What does that have to do with me? He’s not my ‘bias’.”

Lu Siyan didn’t understand the fan lingo, but he remembered the matching bracelet that fans had dug up. Thinking about how he had finally met a “crush” only for it to die before it even began, he sighed.

“Don’t talk nonsense about gold masters. Maybe they’re just a legitimate AO couple.”

Mu Yi had been in fan circles for years and was an expert at distinguishing true rumors from fake ones. “I’m really not just being jealous. But this scandal has been brewing for months, and besides some ‘matching items,’ there’s no real proof. And I think that Xiao Yanxiu is a total playboy.”

“A crown prince like him… dating is just for fun. If he really gets married, he’ll definitely pick a match from a prestigious family for a political alliance. How could he marry a minor celebrity?”

The words hit home. Even if there were a line, Jiang Shuyao wouldn’t rank for a wealthy marriage—and Lu Siyan felt he deserved it even less.

“But we can keep an eye out in the crew. If something is really going on, Xiao Yanxiu will definitely make time to visit the set.”

Then I hope he never comes, Lu Siyan prayed to every deity he knew.

Working with the crew meant days and nights were reversed. After the first episode aired to great reviews, the pressure on the scriptwriting team surged. They had to please the audience while accommodating the actors; every plot point and line had to be perfect.

One night, everyone was exhausted. For some reason, Mu Yi had a conflict with the lead Omega, Jiang Shuyao, and came back crying at his desk.

Lu Siyan, working quietly, comforted his friend and then rewrote a version of the lines based on the actor’s mood so the filming could proceed smoothly. He thought the matter would end there.

But unexpectedly, Jiang Shuyao held a grudge. Every time a script was sent over, he would find flaws, forcing the lines to be rewritten over and over again. Mu Yi was so angry he wanted to quit several times, but Lu Siyan held him back.

“I’m so sorry, Yanyan. If I hadn’t lost my patience, you wouldn’t be suffering with me. That Jiang Shuyao is a beast in human clothing.”

“Just wait, I’m going to DM Xiao Yanxiu right now. Let him see how his ‘pure little white flower’ bullies people behind his back. Even interns making two thousand yuan have to work on their knees! It’s heartless!”

Lu Siyan, having pulled two consecutive all-nighters, was about to pass out. He yawned and asked, “Would Xiao Yanxiu even read his DMs?”

Mu Yi’s finger paused. “Who cares! I’m sending it anyway!”

As interns, they were only responsible for a tiny, unimportant part of the script. Being targeted was common knowledge in the crew, but no one dared to speak up.

Lu Siyan typed the last punctuation mark. He had to deliver the script to the two leads before filming started today.

“Xiao Yi, you rest. I’ll handle Jiang Shuyao.”

The Omega hurried off. Suddenly, he slammed into a tall figure, and his documents scattered all over the floor. He clutched his nose, apologizing while kneeling to pick them up. The page numbers he had just organized were a mess again, and he couldn’t help but feel a surge of frustration.

“Sorry, sorry!”

His fair, clean little hands flailed helplessly for a moment before he patiently began wiping and gathering the pages. It wasn’t until the man in front of him also crouched down to help—their hands overlapping as they reached for the same piece of paper—that Lu Siyan suddenly looked up.

He had imagined meeting again… but he never imagined it would be like this.

The Omega’s reflexes kicked in; he almost jumped up to run.

Taking advantage of his height, Xiao Yanxiu casually reached out and grabbed the back of the boy’s neck, reeling him back in. The man’s voice was low, carrying a hint of a smile as he leaned in close:

“Where are you going?”