The Fallen Film Queen’s Possessive Alpha - Chapter 24

Xuan Tinglu hurried into Du Xin’s office to deliver a report: “This is the surveillance report on Zuo Xingyu. The guy has been holed up at Cloud Peak Villa recently. He used to drag Wei Yu along, but lately, he’s been there alone. Our undercover agent posing as room service caught whiffs of mixed synthetic pheromones inside, though the room wasn’t crowded.”

“There’s more. Our people ran into Zhou Zhao’s team at Cloud Peak.”

Seated on the sofa, Du Xin arched a delicate brow. “Zhou Zhao’s people? How do you know it was them? Did they announce themselves?” Zhou Zhao’s operatives were supposed to be highly trained amateur mistakes were beneath them.

“Our guy got caught.”

Xuan Tinglu was equally frustrated. The best she could recruit for surveillance were ex-military true professionals were hard to come by. Meanwhile, Zhou Zhao’s department specialized in this; their expertise was unmatched. She continued, “After the arrest, Zhou Zhao called me. She offered to overlook the tailing if our person helped gather intel on Zuo Xingyu’s room.”

Zhou Zhao was investigating Zuo Xingyu.

This surprised Du Xin. To her knowledge, since retiring from active duty, Zhou Zhao had worked exclusively in intelligence ordinary cases never involved her division. Zuo Xingyu, synthetic pheromones, Zhou Qiwei’s hints about possible underground parties, Du Xin connected the dots. Was Zuo Xingyu illegally using synthetic pheromones? Worse, was he smuggling or even manufacturing them?

If so, as the largest producer of synthetic pheromones, Rubik’s Cube would inevitably face fallout.

“Zuo Xingyu might be tangled in something major. We need to prepare audit the lab’s raw material inventories ASAP while I track product distribution. Once sold, we can’t control how our products are used, but if synthetic pheromones become a scandal, we’ll need airtight PR. As for Zhou Zhao No, I’ll approach her myself. If she wants to use our resources, she’ll need to show more goodwill.”

As they strategized damage control, Xuan Tinglu sidled up to Du Xin, hesitantly pledging loyalty: “Let me handle her. There’s something you might not know Airden didn’t return alone this time. She brought Ji Xubai back.”

Du Xin sucked in a sharp breath. “Does Qiwei know?” The moment she asked, she felt foolish of course Zhou Qiwei knew.

Ji Xubai wasn’t just Airden’s lover; she was Zhou Zhao’s hopelessly entangled ex-wife. Du Xin and Xuan Tinglu had attended their wedding with Zhou Qiwei in tow. Worse, Ji Xubai had been Zhou Qiwei’s classmate at officer training this family’s dynamics were a minefield. Rubbing her temples, Du Xin muttered, “What a mess.”

“Did Qiwei plan this?”

Xuan Tinglu suspected that Zhou Qiwei was deliberately making trouble for Zhou Zhao, but Du Xin didn’t think so: “Zhou Zhao is investigating Zuo Xingyu. Since Top Benefit is still negotiating business with Jiuzhou, she’ll soon realize Top Benefit has problems and trace it back to Elden. Ji Xuibai isn’t hiding either, so she’ll definitely know he’s returned. Whether Qiwei intentionally brought Ji Xuibai back or if Leliana brought him herself doesn’t matter.”

“What matters is, what does Zhou Zhao think?”

No wonder Du Xin had a headache. Between official and personal matters, Jiuzhou and Magic Cube, Zhou Qiwei and the Zhou family, Top Benefit Group and Panyan Culture just the Zhou family affairs alone were tangled enough to form a ball of yarn.

Xuan Tinglu naturally knew about Zhou Qiwei’s estranged relationship with the Zhou family. She knew Qiwei had been raised by her grandmother, and after the old lady passed away, she had lived at boarding school for years. Xuan Tinglu remembered clearly Zhou Qiwei never left school for Christmas or New Year’s, only celebrating when Du Xin visited.

As the only daughter in her family who lost her father early with a military mother rarely home, Xuan Tinglu also felt lonely during holidays. Later, as the three grew closer, she brought both friends home. Only when the three celebrated together did they finally experience what real festivity felt like.

Yet despite the estrangement from the Zhou family, Xuan Tinglu had never seen Zhou Qiwei speak to Zhou Zhao, how strange. At Ji and Zhou’s wedding years ago, Zhou Qiwei only attended out of respect for Ji Xuibai, having zero interaction with Zhou Zhao throughout, like complete strangers.

“Why exactly did she and Zhou Zhao fall out?”

Du Xin looked at her girlfriend in surprise before understanding they’d all been young then, and with Zhou Qiwei’s tight lips, if she refused to talk, no one would know. Mentioning that incident left Du Xin with mixed feelings too; things had developed this way through so many unexpected twists.

It happened when Zhou Qiwei was eleven. Du Xin’s aunt, Zhou Qiwei’s grandmother Teacher Du developed cancer and could no longer care for her. Back then, Qiwei’s relationship with the Zhou family was merely somewhat distant. Though Zhou Qiwei disliked it, out of Teacher Du’s request, she had weekly meals with the Zhous and occasionally stayed over.

So under those circumstances, Zhou Qiwei naturally returned to live with her two mothers and two sisters. The original family of four became five, and everyone needed adjustment. The adults assumed they’d gradually adapt, but conflicts arose between Zhou Zhao and Zhou Qiwei.

Zhou Zhao, the eldest daughter, had been doted on by both mothers since childhood. As the senior among her peers with the Zhou family’s status, she’d always been the leader. Her two-years-younger sister Zhou Mu was obedient, reinforcing Zhou Zhao’s identity as eldest daughter and sister.

But this suddenly returned little sister was gloomy, distant from the family, and most importantly never listened to Zhou Zhao. That “eldest sister” authority meant nothing to Zhou Qiwei, who might respond when pleased or ignore Zhou Zhao entirely when not.

Zhou Zhao had been preparing for university then, extremely busy every day. Normally such minor sibling friction would fade with time, but fate had other plans.

Du Xin learned the general details of the incident afterward. Qiwei had gotten into a fight at home with a child from one of the Zhou family’s collateral branches because the child didn’t recognize her, calling her an impostor who wasn’t really part of the Zhou family. Furious, Qiwei had struck hard, leaving the other child bleeding from the head. Zhou Qing and Du Ning were both away from Luocheng at the time, leaving the eldest sister Zhou Zhao to handle the matter.

Zhao decided to confine Qiwei and make her apologize to the injured child, but Qiwei refused. The two sisters, six years apart in age, had a huge argument at home. Zhao angrily accused Qiwei of having a violent temper, being nothing but trouble, and bringing shame to the family. Qiwei, in turn, mocked Zhao for being nothing more than a goody-two-shoes who, despite being nearly an adult, still talked like a child.

“Miss Zhou, you’re 17, not 7!”

“Make me apologize to him? He should get up and apologize to me first! An impostor? Not a Zhou? Am I some bastard your family spawned?”

Zhao completely failed to grasp the depth of Qiwei’s anger. She believed that while the other child was also at fault, Qiwei could have calmly explained the situation or sought help from her or Zhou Mu. After all, this was the Zhou family, and Qiwei was one of its young masters there was no need for such a bloody confrontation. But Qiwei’s words were truly vile. How could she act like such a wild child when their grandmother was a university professor?

An 11-year-old versus a 17-year-old the weaker couldn’t prevail against the stronger. Qiwei was dragged by Zhao into the study and locked inside.

Had things stopped there, it would have been just a conflict born from misunderstanding, one that could still be resolved. However, after confining Qiwei, Zhao angrily apologized on her behalf, went to school to prepare her college application materials, reported the incident to Zhou Mu, and updated both mothers on how she’d handled it.

By the time Zhao remembered Qiwei again, it was already midnight. When she asked, she was horrified to learn that no one had let the young miss out. At first, there had been sounds from inside, but later, silence. No one had even brought the child food or water.

Panicked, Zhao rushed to open the study only to nearly faint at what she saw. Qiwei lay unconscious on the cold floor.

Du Xin, who had been raised by her aunt due to her parents’ work commitments, was a college freshman at the time and often stayed at the hospital to care for her aunt during breaks. Upon hearing the news, she didn’t dare alarm the elderly woman and went straight to the emergency room downstairs. Zhou Zhao and Zhou Mu were outside; Mu was quietly crying while Zhao looked at Du Xin in despair. “The doctor said Qiwei’s heart stopped,” she whispered.

Qiwei had developed acute appendicitis an illness any child could suffer. She might have already been feeling unwell during the fight, and the confinement delayed treatment. By the time she reached the hospital, she had a mild infection and a perforated appendix, causing her heart to stop for a full minute and a half in the ER.

Xuan Tinglu sighed deeply at the tragic twist of fate. But then she asked Du Xin, “Is it because Zhou Zhao refused to apologize that Qiwei won’t speak to her?”

Du Xin shook her head. If only it were that simple. The situation had escalated so severely that Zhou Qing and Du Ning rushed back to the country. At the hospital, they made Zhao apologize to her sister, which she was willing to do. But then Qiwei asked her mothers one question:

“If I had died, how would you have handled this?”

“…”

Xuan Tinglu’s heart sank halfway. She understood exactly what Zhou Qiwei was concerned about and what the answer would be. A distantly raised youngest daughter who wasn’t brought up by their own hands even if she died, would they really make their beloved eldest daughter, raised before their very eyes, pay with her life?

Another child might have been fooled, but Zhou Qiwei was too sharp lying would never get past her.

Initially, Zhou Qiwei hadn’t just refused to speak to Zhou Zhao; she refused to talk to anyone in the Zhou family. Even on her deathbed, the old matriarch had been deeply uneasy, ultimately following Zhou Qiwei’s own wishes and letting her board at school. She also asked Du Xin to look after Zhou Qiwei, at least ensuring the child wouldn’t be completely alone.

At first, everyone, including Du Xin, thought Zhou Qiwei was just throwing a tantrum. A tantrum was normal everyone understood. No one had the face to expect Zhou Qiwei to accept the situation without complaint. Besides, she wasn’t causing trouble; she just wasn’t speaking to them, that was all.

But as time passed, Zhou Qiwei’s stubbornness reached a level that made onlookers’ scalps prickle.

One month, two months, half a year, a year, two years, three years

Zhou Qiwei’s nonviolent resistance seemed capable of lasting until the end of time. Zhou Qing and Du Ning even tried accompanying her around the clock, only for Zhou Qiwei to treat them as if they were invisible. If they blocked the door, she wouldn’t leave, wouldn’t eat, just sat motionless in place, making it clear that “death wouldn’t be such a big deal.”

Later, their relationship thawed slightly only because Zhou Qiwei underwent differentiation. Minors undergoing differentiation required notification of immediate family to handle potential emergencies. Zhou Qing and Du Ning stayed with their youngest daughter for a few days. After differentiation, for reasons unknown, Zhou Qiwei seemed to have some realization, and her complete silence turned into limited, necessary communication.

This state persisted to this day, with no signs of further improvement.

Just listening to it exhausted Xuan Tinglu for Zhou Qiwei’s sake and for Du Xin’s. But then it struck her: tonight’s auction. It seemed the entire Zhou family would be attending. Since Panyan Culture was Li You’s first major project, Zhou Mu wanted to show support for his fiancée. And auctions were the kind of event the Zhou elders enjoyed. The only question was whether Zhou Zhao would be there.

Wait!

Xuan Tinglu abruptly sat up from Du Xin’s embrace, staring at her girlfriend in horror. “Tonight’s auction Ji Xubai and Leiliana are supposed to be there too. If Zhou Zhao also goes, then”

Then it would become a tangled web of love and hate, ex-wife vs. ex-wife vs. ex-wife’s lover, an absolute battlefield.

Du Xin soothed her girlfriend, pulling her back into her arms, offering the wisdom of an elder: It would indeed be a battlefield, and a dangerous one at that. So it was best to pretend they knew nothing.

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