The Alpha’s Hidden Marriage, Public Obsession - Chapter 25

This time, Jiang Xue was finally certain she wasn’t hearing things.

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Following the source of the voice, she turned her head and saw Lin Yulan sitting in a luxury Mercedes-Benz, her arm resting on the car window as she leaned halfway out to look at her.

Jiang Xue was so stunned that she stood frozen, locking eyes with Lin Yulan for a long moment before finally snapping out of it. “What are you doing here? Who told you I live here?”

Even Ming Zelan didn’t know her address. Unless Lin Yulan had gone out of her way to investigate, no one aside from her former teachers would have any idea where she lived.

“Did you have someone look into me?”

Lin Yulan wanted to explain, but she couldn’t deny that she had indeed dug into Jiang Xue’s personal information. Trying to justify it would only sound like an excuse, so after stammering for a while, she simply admitted it. “Yes, I did have someone find your address, but there’s a reason for it, it’s not what you think!”

“Not what I think? So even Young Miss Lin knows what kind of person she is?” Jiang Xue almost laughed. “Everyone says they have their reasons, their justifications, but I don’t want to hear them because they’re all just excuses. Besides, I made myself perfectly clear this morning unless you have hearing problems?”

Lin Yulan hated this kind of talk. She was someone who spoke her mind directly beating around the bush wasn’t her style. While she had been in the wrong before, the only reason she had asked Xia Ran to look up Jiang Xue’s address was out of genuine concern.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone out of her way just to get scolded.

“You! ” Lin Yulan unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car, striding right up to Jiang Xue. “Do you just shut out everyone’s explanations the moment you get angry? Fine, what I said this morning was out of line. I shouldn’t have been so hypocritical, I should’ve just been honest from the start. That’s on me, and I’m sorry.”

Jiang Xue couldn’t help but laugh. “So, Young Miss Lin went through the trouble of investigating my home address just to apologize? Do I look that stupid to you? Or do you think I’m so dumb that even after finding out you still have a white moonlight first love, I should’ve known to stay the hell away instead of making a fool of myself and throwing myself at you?”

Lin Yulan was left speechless. She knew that no matter how she explained herself now, Jiang Xue wouldn’t believe her. The frustration of being misunderstood, of having to swallow her words Lin Yulan finally understood a fraction of what Jiang Xue must have felt all this time.

It was truly suffocating.

“Fine. If you don’t believe me, then there’s nothing more to say. But I’m not as terrible as you think.” Lin Yulan exhaled. “I was actually going to your school to find you, but then I ran into your colleague. She told me you weren’t there, so I figured you must’ve gone home. That’s why I… asked a friend to look up your address.”

Jiang Xue had mostly been venting earlier. Deep down, she knew Lin Yulan wasn’t the type to go to such lengths for no reason. Besides, Lin Yulan had never pried into her personal life before why would she suddenly go through all this trouble just to track her down?

She simply didn’t want to hold any more expectations for Lin Yulan, because without expectations, there would be no disappointment, and thus no pain.

“What exactly do you want from me? If there’s nothing, you can leave.”

Afraid Jiang Xue might turn and walk away, Lin Yulan quickly reached out to stop her.

She couldn’t help but recall Xia Yin’s threatening demeanor, thinking that female Alpha was truly terrifying clearly a violent maniac!

Just as she was about to ask Jiang Xue something, she saw a middle-aged Omega with graceful charm and opulent attire walking toward them.

Then Lin Yulan heard Jiang Xue call out, “Mom.”

Mom?

This was Jiang Xue’s mother?

Her future mother-in-law… no, wait, her current mother-in-law.

The middle-aged Omega glanced at Lin Yulan standing beside Jiang Xue, scrutinizing her from head to toe. Seeing the female Alpha dressed in what could only be described as shabby attire, she scoffed, “What, your new girlfriend? I thought your standards were higher than this. Rejecting all the Alphas I picked for you, only to bring home such an eyesore?”

…Eyesore?

She was called an eyesore?

They actually called her an eyesore?!

She, who was once voted the department’s beauty queen, was being called an eyesore? Was this old hag blind?!

Though Lin Yulan wanted to respect her future mother-in-law, she absolutely couldn’t tolerate anyone insulting her looks, not even her prospective mother-in-law!

Without even looking, Jiang Xue could imagine the expression on the Alpha’s face right now, it must be priceless. But she wasn’t in the mood to dwell on it. Hearing Zhang Rong’s words, Jiang Xue retorted sharply, “If she’s an eyesore, then the ones you introduced must all be toads. Everyone says your eyesight is failing, you should take better care of them. Overusing them might leave you blind, and that wouldn’t be good.”

Zhang Rong had never liked this daughter. She disliked her as a child and despised her even more as an adult. If not for the money Jiang Xue brought in, she would have married her off long ago. “Jiang Xue, is that any way to speak to your mother? Now that you’re grown, you think you can curse me? If not for our money putting you through school, you’d still be floundering in the gutter! After all these years raising you, is it too much to ask you to pay for this apartment and your sister’s tuition? Shouldn’t you be contributing?”

So this luxury apartment was bought with Jiang Xue’s money?!

Lin Yulan stared at her in disbelief. Even without checking the exact price, a rough estimate would put it at several million, at least.

“Mom, your eyesight’s bad, and now your memory’s failing too?” Jiang Xue gritted her teeth. “You and Dad always say that without your money, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere. But aside from elementary, middle, and high school, which year of college did you pay for? Every cent was earned by me. Don’t you feel any shame saying that?”

“Yes, you raised me, so after I finished my graduate studies and PhD, the first money I earned was all given to you. This luxury apartment, I even scrimped and saved for years, reluctant to spend on myself, just to afford it. Whatever debt I owed you, it’s long been repaid!”

Zhang Rong immediately flared up at this. “What do you mean by that? Are you settling accounts with me now? Calling you an ungrateful wretch is absolutely right! Did we demand this apartment from you? We only mentioned wanting a new house, but we had no idea it would be this expensive! If you’d told us you couldn’t afford it, your father and I wouldn’t have forced you. But now, you’re blaming us for your own problems? You… you ungrateful wretch! Ugh, you’re going to be the death of me!”

Lin Yulan was stunned by the sheer shamelessness of this old woman. After leeching off her own daughter for so long, she still had the nerve to act like the victim!

It was utterly despicable, utterly brazen!

Unable to hold back, Lin Yulan sneered, “Auntie, have you ever noticed how your face is about as thick as that wall over there?”

Zhang Rong already disliked Jiang Xue, and by extension, she despised Lin Yulan too especially now that the latter dared to speak to her like this. Her fury boiled over. “Who do you think you are, talking to me in that tone? Birds of a feather flock together, ungrateful wretches attract other ungrateful wretches! I must’ve committed some sin in my past life to have given birth to such a thankless child. I should’ve never had you!”

“Are you out of your mind, Auntie? If anything, she’s the one who must’ve sinned in her past life to end up with a mother like you!”

Lin Yulan couldn’t bear to look at Jiang Xue’s face right now. She knew how deeply such words could cut, especially coming from one’s own parents like an invisible knife, wounding without drawing blood. “And you talk about ‘birds of a feather’? The things you say, do they even sound human?”

“You! How dare you! Now you’re teaming up with outsiders against your own mother, is that it?!” Zhang Rong was so enraged she could barely speak, her face turning an ugly shade of livid green.

Jiang Xue hadn’t expected Lin Yulan to stand up for her either. She stared blankly for a few seconds before finally snapping out of it. “I didn’t come here to argue with you today. I just want to make one thing clear, Xiaoxi is grown now, already eighteen. I won’t be supporting her anymore. If she wants to continue studying abroad, she’ll have to find a way to earn the money herself. I can’t be responsible for her life forever.”

“What did you say? You’re cutting off Xiaoxi’s study abroad funds?!” Zhang Rong had been holding back earlier, since she still needed Jiang Xue’s money and couldn’t afford to burn bridges at this point. But now that Jiang Xue had said this, Zhang Rong panicked completely and dropped all pretense. “She’s your own sister! How could you abandon her? Jiang Xue, I’m warning you, if you dare cut off Xiaoxi’s funds, I’ll take a rope straight to your school! I’ll make sure everyone knows you drove your own parents to their deaths!”

“Now I get it. You brought your girlfriend here today just to tell me you’re saving that money for her, didn’t you? Jiang Xue, you’d rather spend money on some outsider than your own family! I should’ve strangled you at birth then none of this would be happening!”

The more Zhang Rong spoke, the more hysterical she became, her voice screeching like a loudspeaker. “Ungrateful wretch! Traitorous little.!”

Mid-rant, Zhang Rong suddenly raised her hand to slap Jiang Xue across the face.

It happened too fast. Jiang Xue barely had time to react, instinctively squeezing her eyes shut.

But the expected sting never came. When she cautiously opened her eyes, she saw Lin Yulan had intercepted Zhang Rong’s wrist just in time.

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