The Alpha’s Hidden Marriage, Public Obsession - Chapter 44

Jiang Xue had originally planned to find an excuse to get the two of them to leave quickly. But upon further thought, Lin Yulan had already followed her all the way here. If she and Xia Yin went straight back to school, Xia Yin would inevitably run into Lin Yulan, and her relationship with Lin Yulan would definitely be exposed. In the end, she could only apologize silently in her heart and make up an excuse to send Xia Yin back first.

It wasn’t until Xia Yin had been gone for quite some time and even the waiter seemed too embarrassed to ask when she planned to leave that Jiang Xue finally got up, drove back to school alone.

Of course, Jiang Xue pretended not to know that Lin Yulan was following her. She walked out of the themed restaurant as if nothing had happened and returned to school just as casually.

Lin Yulan, however, clearly knew that Jiang Xue had long since noticed her trailing behind. What’s more, even though Jiang Xue was aware she was waiting outside the restaurant, she still chose to engage in physical contact with Xia Yin.

Jiang Xue hated her. And this was her revenge.

Lin Yulan had never felt as tormented as she did at this moment. She didn’t want to recall the way Xia Yin had held Jiang Xue’s hand, her eyes brimming with affection. That was her wife!

But the harder she tried not to think about it, the more vividly the scene played out in her mind like a flood, impossible to ignore.

“Fuck!”

Lin Yulan cursed furiously under her breath. She really wanted to march right up to Xia Yin and tell that female Alpha, “The Omega you’re trying to woo is my wife. What you’re doing is straight-up third-wheeling even if you used to be her girlfriend.” But if she did that, Jiang Xue would only hate her even more. She might even resign from her job here out of sheer spite and vanish from her life entirely.

If it came to that, Jiang Xue would have completely severed ties with her. Even if they were bound by a marriage contract, Jiang Xue would find a way to force her into a divorce.

Especially since Jiang Xue was still an unmarked Omega.

Lin Yulan didn’t dare dwell on it. She was terrified Jiang Xue might take drastic measures. Though she was certain Jiang Xue hadn’t completely given up on her otherwise, her reaction back at the Lin family home wouldn’t have been so intense that was precisely why she hadn’t confronted her directly just now.

If Jiang Xue didn’t want others to know about their relationship, then she would do her best to stay out of sight. But giving up? Absolutely not an option.

Lin Yulan didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she kept watch outside the school for the entire afternoon until Ming Zhelan called her. There was a new collaborative project at the company, and the other party had sent over a representative. But neither Ming Zhelan nor Lin He had time to meet with them, and the project manager was temporarily away. To show sincerity, they had no choice but to send Lin Yulan, the future heir, to handle the meeting.

As torn as she was between her wife and company duties especially when her wife was practically being wooed away Lin Yulan felt the timing of this project was downright infuriating. She had a sneaking suspicion it was deliberately orchestrated to keep her from winning her wife back.

But since it was company business something she’d have to deal with sooner or later Lin Yulan had no choice but to call the assistant Ming Zhelan had assigned her. If she couldn’t keep an eye on her wife’s movements herself, she could at least send someone to do it for her!

In short, if that female Alpha dared to do anything to Jiang Xue behind her back, she would definitely not let her off!

After finishing the call with her assistant, Lin Yulan drove straight to the company.

By the time she arrived, the secretary Ming Zelan had assigned to assist had already arranged for the meeting to take place in the reception room. Lin Yulan followed the secretary there, but an inexplicable sense of unease lingered in her heart. Unable to resist, she asked along the way, “Oh, by the way, is this project my parents are collaborating on really that important? Important enough to show respect by having me come in their place to meet with them?”

The secretary replied, “Reporting to Young President Lin, this time, Chairman Lin’s collaborator is the Zhao Corporation. The person sent by the Zhao Corporation is said to be an overseas designer who just returned from abroad and is also the person in charge of their group’s project.”

Just returned from abroad? And a designer?

“So, this designer must be quite a big deal?”

Otherwise, no matter how talented they were, it wouldn’t make sense for the Zhao Corporation to entrust them with such an important project right after their return.

Although Lin Yulan didn’t know much about the Zhao Corporation, the Zhao family’s strength was on par with the Lin family’s, and they were never short of capable people. For such a crucial project, it was absolutely impossible for them to hand it over to a designer they barely knew right off the bat.

The secretary pondered for a moment before answering, “That designer isn’t really a big deal. Before the other party arrived, Chairman Lin had us investigate her background privately. She’s actually just a somewhat talented designer with not much fame. The reason Chairman Lin and Vice Chairman Ming asked you to come, Young President Lin, is purely because the collaborator this time is the Zhao Corporation, and they wanted to show sincerity.”

So that was it.

But this was what Lin Yulan didn’t understand, why would the Zhao Corporation place so much importance on a relatively unknown designer?

Lin Yulan still felt something was off.

However, if she asked the secretary, the secretary probably wouldn’t know either. But since she was already here, she couldn’t very well call Ming Zelang and Lin He to ask what was going on now.

She would just have to meet the person and play it by ear.

Yet, the moment the door opened, Lin Yulan didn’t need anyone to give her an answer she immediately understood what was going on.

Because the person sent by the Zhao Corporation was none other than, Qu Mengxin!

“Young President Lin, this is the person in charge of the Zhao Corporation’s current project, Ms. Asa.”

Lin Yulan stood rooted to the spot. She took a deep breath and said to the secretary, “No need for introductions. I know Ms. Asa. Isn’t that right, Ms. Qu Mengxin?”

The secretary was surprised, but with Qu Mengxin present, she couldn’t ask further. She simply noted down the name and said, “Ms. Asa, do you really know our Young President Lin?”

The Omega before them turned around, gently brushing aside the long hair that nearly covered her eyes. With elegant grace, she tucked the strand behind her ear and smiled faintly. “Naturally. Not only were we high school classmates, but we also attended university together. Though I went abroad after freshman year, so we only shared one year as university classmates.”

For some reason, when Qu Mengxin said this, Lin Yulan felt a wave of relief. She even silently thanked Qu Mengxin for saying those words in front of her.

Sure enough, after all these years, Qu Mengxin was still exactly as she had been in her memories.

The only thing that had changed was Qu Mengxin’s appearance.

She had become even more beautiful than before, more alluring and captivating, exuding a charm that no Alpha could resist.

But as for Lin Yulan now, she no longer knew how to appreciate that charm.

“Xiao Chen, you can leave first.”

The secretary hesitated, as the people Qu Mengxin had brought were still in the reception room. “Young Miss Lin…?”

Qu Mengxin understood Lin Yulan’s intention and also turned to the two subordinates who had accompanied her. “You two can step out as well.”

Soon, only the two of them remained in the reception room.

Lin Yulan sat down across from her. Facing the person she had once loved, the one she had waited for so desperately, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

Qu Mengxin seemed to see through her thoughts and spoke first. “Long time no see, Yulan.”

“Long time no see.”

Lin Yulan couldn’t help but add a compliment. “You’ve become even more beautiful.”

Qu Mengxin smiled. “Thank you.”

After that, Lin Yulan fell silent again.

Qu Mengxin, likely unable to bear the awkwardness, tried to keep the conversation going. “Don’t you have anything you want to ask me? I’m right here, you can ask me anything.”

Lin Yulan stared straight at her, her expression devoid of any warmth. “If I ask, will you actually answer?”

Back when Qu Mengxin had decided to leave her and study abroad, she had asked countless questions, “Why are you so determined to leave me?” “Can’t you take me with you?” “We’re already together, why go this far?”, but no matter what she asked, Qu Mengxin had never given her an answer.

Lin Yulan had always felt that none of her questions were particularly difficult. If Qu Mengxin had just explained the reason, everything else could have been resolved.

But Qu Mengxin had never told her why.

Or perhaps, no matter what she asked, Qu Mengxin would never have answered.

“I wouldn’t have back then, but I can now.” Qu Mengxin took a sip of the tea the secretary had prepared for her, then set the cup down. “You can ask me anything now. As long as I can answer, I will.”

Lin Yulan clearly didn’t believe her. “Is that so?”

“I know you’ve resented me all these years for leaving without a word, but I had my reasons.”

“Oh? What reasons?”

Qu Mengxin’s expression was sincere. “Yulan, you know my parents never approved of us being together. They did everything they could to force me to break up with you…”

Before she could finish, Lin Yulan interrupted her. “Mengxin, I know your parents didn’t approve. There’s no need to repeat that. What I want to know is, we were together for a year your parents must have known.”

People like Qu Mengxin’s parents, who needed to know their daughter’s whereabouts 24/7, would have easily uncovered their relationship with just a little investigation.

“When we were together, your parents must have known, right?”

“Yulan, I…”

Lin Yulan raised his hand to signal her not to interrupt just yet and continued, “We’ve been together for almost a year. Since your parents knew about us but never reacted, it means they didn’t oppose our relationship. Yet suddenly, after you went abroad, they started objecting. Mengxin, I’ve never been able to figure this out. Now that you’re back and sitting here representing Zhao Corporation can I finally know the reason behind what happened back then?”

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