The Fallen Film Queen’s Possessive Alpha - Chapter 62

Song Haoyin was acting strange.

This wasn’t just Qu Yuanzhi’s imagination, Song Haoyin genuinely gave off a very odd vibe.

This subtle feeling didn’t stem from the faint pheromones she was emitting. Considering how affectionate she and Zhou Qiwei had looked at the hotel, it wasn’t surprising if they had deeply bonded.

Nor did it come from Zhou Qiwei’s recovery. It had already been two weeks since Zhou Qiwei’s discharge was made public, and Song Haoyin wouldn’t still be this excited about it.

And it certainly wasn’t because Qu Yuanzhi was wearing an off-shoulder outfit. She had enough self-awareness to know that changing her clothes wouldn’t warrant such a dramatic shift in Song Haoyin’s behavior.

“What’s up with you today?” Qu Yuanzhi finally couldn’t contain her curiosity and blurted out the question, fully aware of the “sin” she was committing.

Song Haoyin extended her hand, her slender fingers adorned with a ring on the fourth finger. Qu Yuanzhi immediately understood its significance and gaped at it. “Is that?”

“How did you know Qiwei designed this herself? Look, it has my birth flower the rose engraving is gorgeous, isn’t it? The diamond is from my first award trophy. It’s a perfect match!”

As if she had been waiting for someone to ask, Song Haoyin launched into an effusive praise of Zhou Qiwei’s taste, elevating her fiancée to the status of Luocheng’s most unattainable flower now officially taken.

Wait… they had quietly gotten engaged?!

Hold on, who asked about Zhou Qiwei’s 108 virtues?!

Much later, while drinking with Xuan Tinglu, Qu Yuanzhi learned that the council chair had also endured an unbearable auditory assault of “How did you know Haoyin designed this herself?!”

So while Zhou Qiwei and Song Haoyin were happily tying the knot, their friends were left as lonely singles on the sidewalk, inexplicably kicked while down.

Qu Yuanzhi widened her eyes, listening in a daze as Song Haoyin praised Zhou Qiwei to the heavens, as if the doctor were the one and only genius in existence. Sure, her old friend was brilliant, but this was excessive.

Wake up, Haoyin! You’re acting like you want to enshrine Zhou Qiwei do you realize that?!

You’re OOC-ing yourself!

In her mind, Qu Yuanzhi violently shook Song Haoyin’s shoulders, trying to snap her out of it. But in reality, she patiently endured the couple’s spiritual assault, suffering as the lone single in the room.

Finally seizing a pause, Qu Yuanzhi quickly interjected, “By the way, hasn’t Qiwei been at the research institute lately? I heard the news about a major breakthrough in Rubik’s project.” Seeing Song Haoyin about to speak again, she hurriedly continued, “Did you know Ji Xubai took leave? Who’s handling legal affairs for the Ferris wheel now? Our film’s releasing in the second half of the year, and we’ll need legal support.”

At the mention of Ji Xubai, Song Haoyin’s expression flickered briefly before she smiled. “Can’t Lawyer Ji take a break? Qiwei mentioned she went abroad, but she’ll be back next week.”

Qu Yuanzhi believed her.

Song Haoyin felt a little guilty, but some things about Ji Xubai’s privacy weren’t hers to disclose.

After Qi Wei proposed to her and they completed their deep bonding, Zhou Qiwei began sharing some of the Zhou family’s secrets with Song Haoyin. Since she’d inevitably interact with them in the future, Song needed to be aware of certain matters. The conversation started with Ji Xubai’s illness.

“That baby was biologically Ji Xubai’s, and of course also Zhou Zhao’s daughter. Zhou Zhao sustained injuries during military service that made pregnancy dangerous. But at the time she needed marriage, preferably with a child, so Ji Xubai took on everything.”

“Female Alphas can get pregnant, but it requires massive hormonal changes to alter their physiology. During the process, to avoid pheromone confusion causing hormonal imbalance, she couldn’t receive her partner’s pheromones like a normal Omega would. She endured tremendous suffering, but the child was born with congenital disorders.”

Lying in bed with Song Haoyin nestled against her, Zhou Qiwei heard her whisper: “Was it related to the hormones?”

“Sigh, that’s the medical mystery. Anyone hearing this would assume it’s hormone-related. But data shows no correlation .there are healthy children born this way too. Just bad luck, I suppose.”

Qiwei’s mood darkened discussing this: “The Zhous exhausted every clinic and specialist available. I tried helping too, but with congenital gland defects, pheromone deficiencies, plus cardiopulmonary issues… the child still passed away.”

“Afterwards, Ji Xubai fell seriously ill, developing glandular dysfunction. Considering the massive hormones she’d taken for pregnancy… now she relies on medication to stabilize her pheromones. This condition differs from typical pheromone disorders it’s nearly incurable.”

“Does Zhou Zhao know?” Song asked softly.

Qiwei scoffed: “She claims ignorance. Ji Xubai refused to tell, so Zhou comfortably remains unaware. Ji keeps self-destructing, unable to let go, just dragging out her illness.” Her tone dripped with frustrated contempt.

Song stroked her hair consolingly: “With a child involved, it’s hard to move on. Help her, but don’t internalize the anger.”

“I know.”

Qiwei nuzzled into Song’s hand, pressing closer to her fiancée: “If people could easily move on, I’d have returned home long ago, calling Madam Zhou ‘Mommy’ daily, with Jiuzhou already in my hands.” Logic understood, yet anger remained.

Snapping back to the present, Song quickly changed topics. best not dwell on poor Ji Xubai, who deserved peaceful recovery.

“Did you hear? Among the suspects in that illegal pheromone trafficking case is Li You’s father.”

“Holy shit,” Qu Yuanzhi blurted, stunned. “That’s Zhou Mu’s ex-fiancée’s dad!”

Song nodded grimly. According to leaks, Li’s father began his illegal activities during their engagement leveraging professional knowledge and connections for pheromone abuse, even leaving compromising footage in sensitive locations.

Consequently, Jiuzhou’s board formally impeached Zhou Mu, demanding her removal as general manager and explanations regarding potential involvement during the engagement period.

“This is a bit unreasonable,” Qu Yuanzhi chimed in with gossipy enthusiasm, offering her own perspective. “Who could possibly control their fiancée’s parents? That kind of demand is utterly unreasonable.”

Qu Yuanzhi wasn’t wrong it was indeed unreasonable. Song Haoyin explained that while the Zhou family dominated Jiuzhou internally, factions still existed. Moreover, such matters were embarrassing to discuss openly, leaving the Zhou family somewhat disgraced.

Had Qu Yuanzhi not been so busy lately, she would have noticed financial news frequently linking Zhou Mu to that scandal.

While it might not benefit everyone, many considered the Zhou family’s humiliation a victory in itself.

Reshoots, dubbing, editing Qu Yuanzhi never imagined that just two months of being swamped could make the world feel so unfamiliar. Hearing familiar names paired with unfamiliar gossip, she let out an astonished exclamation for the nth time:

Good heavens!

Song Ange stole another glance.

Her senior’s finger bore a strikingly familiar ring. one whose design she had once seen on her sister’s computer.

So, when news broke of the “alleged engagement between Zhou and Song,” Song Ange felt neither anger nor surprise, only a serene, world-weary acceptance: Hah, I was the first person in the world to know my sister planned to propose.

“Alleged”? Please. Her senior oh, now her freshly minted future sister-in-law had already extended her finger, letting that D-color teardrop diamond glitter brilliantly in the sunlight.

By the way, her senior was standing on the lawn in front of the research institute building, completely indifferent to the stares of passersby.

“Alleged”?

Let’s be real. Dr. Zhou Qiwei had zero intention of hiding that she was taken. She was flaunting it.

Not that Song Ange could blame her. (Ahem, no need for modesty if someone got engaged to her sister, a little showing off was perfectly understandable.)

But Song Ange’s personal feelings didn’t change her reality as a research grunt.

Once her senior had indulged in enough preening to soothe the misery of two days without her fiancée, Dr. Zhou resumed her imperious ways.

Since the engagement, Zhou Qiwei had grown even more comfortable bossing her fiancée’s little sister around:

“Ange, handle the lab paperwork. Draft three versions of the experiment report one for the Pheromone Research Committee, one for public release, and one for investors. Pay attention to emphasis and phrasing. The public version shouldn’t be too technical, and the investor version shouldn’t be too academic.”

Once again, the young, single Song Ange on the institute’s sidewalk had been metaphorically kicked.

Zhou Qiwei had been busy lately with the institute’s new project, contributing to curing pheromone-related illnesses, which she was happy to do. But dealing with Jiuzhou affairs? That was another story. Still, reluctance didn’t change necessity.

During her hospitalization, Zhou Mu had eyed Mofang’s operations with greedy ambition. Was Zhou Qiwei supposed to just swallow her pride and pretend everything was fine?

So Song Haoyin comforted her in every possible way:

“You’ve worked the hardest.”

“Qiwei is so capable.”

“My fiancée is the smartest in the world.”

“Once this is all over, my new film will be out, and the promo cycle will be done. Let’s pick a nice place for a vacation.”

Zhou Qiwei finally smiled, eagerly booking her fiancée’s time for the second half of the year. She even employed various tactics to persuade Song Haoyin to agree to a longer vacation period, promising they’d reserve more time for each other in the future.

Yet despite her sweet words, whether she could actually free up time later this year remained uncertain.

How frustrating.

Why couldn’t the world just settle down for once?

The dejected Dr. Zhou sent a selfie with her ring to Song Haoyin before throwing herself back into endless experiments, occasionally meeting with Du Xin to discuss Zhou Mu’s personal business ventures.

The second Miss Zhou had a penchant for investing her private wealth. Though her strategies appeared conservative, they weren’t without vulnerabilities.

Zhou Qiwei wanted to pull the rug out from under Zhou Mu, dealing her such a crushing defeat that she’d avoid her at all costs in the future. However, to her surprise, Madam Zhou, who typically turned a blind eye to their squabbles acted faster this time.

Jiuzhou Enterprises announced an organizational reshuffle: Director Zhou Mu was relieved of her general manager position and would soon be dispatched to Latin America to expand Jiuzhou’s territory.

This left Zhou Qiwei utterly stunned after all these years, this was the quickest Madam Zhou had ever moved.

The sun must be rising from the north today.

Not just Zhou Qiwei, even Song Haoyin was taken aback. But compared to her partner who was embroiled in the situation, she better understood Madam Zhou’s reasoning:

Zhou Mu had already been ousted once of course she could be removed a second time. Moreover, with the family now viewing Qiwei as an important successor, Zhou Mu, who kept getting entangled in troubles without delivering outstanding results, was naturally the one to be discarded.

No matter how warm and affectionate the facade, Madam Zhou wouldn’t hesitate when it came to decisive action.

“What’s your mother’s bottom line?”

With Song Haoyin’s new film recently wrapped and Zhou Qiwei’s project in review, the couple found themselves at home, chatting in the garden amidst blooming flowers. The conversation inevitably turned to recent Zhou family affairs. “Is it Jiuzhou?” Song Haoyin asked curiously. “If all three of you children conflicted with Jiuzhou, would she force you to take over or restructure the professional management team?”

“She’d still prefer family succession,” Zhou Qiwei replied, having observed the Zhou family dynamics for years. “You don’t know her. she actually places great importance on family legacy deep down. But she’s not so deranged as to sacrifice all three of us for Jiuzhou’s future.”

“There’s still a romantic side to her. otherwise she wouldn’t have married Madam Du. People are complex it depends on circumstances. For them, the bottom line is… flexible.”

Gazing at her fiancée’s elegant profile, Song Haoyin suddenly asked, “When we first met, I asked you a question. Can you answer it now?”

Back then, Song Haoyin had asked Zhou Qiwei whether, in a businessperson’s eyes, everything in the world was negotiable.

As they nestled among the flowers, after a long silence, Song Haoyin’s murmur overlapped with Zhou Qiwei’s voice:

“No

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