The Scumbag’s Redemption: Kept by Her - Chapter 71.1

This was the second day after Ling Jiao had married into the Ling family.

“This card is from Madam,” the butler said as he placed it in her palm, his tone laced with meaning. “From now on, your monthly allowance will be deposited here.”

“You can spend the money, but if you want more, you’ll have to figure out how to earn it yourself.”

“But…”

The butler added, “Madam tends to appreciate people who are practical and down-to-earth.”

Ling Jiao remained silent.

Practical and down-to-earth?

That was not at all what she saw last night. Madam clearly enjoyed clever little games and subtle schemes. Ling Jiao glanced at the butler and said calmly, “Where is Madam now?”

Her indifference didn’t anger the butler. He simply smiled politely. “Madam is having morning tea.”

“Morning tea?”

Ling Jiao brushed past him and headed straight for the third floor. Her boldness made the butler’s scalp tingle. He thought, if the old relatives showed up now and she barged in like this, wouldn’t that cause a scene?

The butler didn’t think highly of this so-called husband Madam had brought home. A pretty face with no real abilities. It felt like their treasured cabbage had been eaten by a pig. He was deeply worried that Ling Jiao might ruin things for Madam, so he quickly followed after her.

Ling Jiao pressed the elevator button. Just as the doors were about to close, the butler rushed forward and slid his hand between them, squeezing through the opening to get inside.

“What are you doing?” Ling Jiao asked, confused.

The butler forced a polite smile. “Madam is receiving guests on the third floor. Now is not the best time to go up.”

Ling Jiao didn’t think it was inappropriate at all. She was actually curious to know who these uncles and aunts were. They hadn’t visited while she was alive, and now, years after her death, they were suddenly showing up. It was impossible not to suspect they had their own hidden agendas.

She ignored the butler entirely.

Before reaching the third floor, Ling Jiao could already hear the sounds of an argument.

“Your cousin just had his second gender differentiation. He’s in a very fragile state. The school had agreed to let him join the alpha physical training program, but now they’ve gone back on their word. As his elder, you manage a huge company. Would it really be so hard to give him a simple position?”

“Just look at the people you surround yourself with. You trust and keep that useless beta around, but when it comes to your own blood, your real relatives, you refuse to help. Who else are you supposed to help if not us?”

“If your cousin manages to make something of himself, wouldn’t he owe it all to you? Wouldn’t he be grateful to his elder?”

“You know how hard it is for omegas nowadays. He used to be an alpha before his second differentiation. This isn’t something we wanted either.”

“We were hoping he could grow up and be of use to you, and now we’re just trying a different way to help. That’s still helping, isn’t it? Better than you marrying someone with no background, who’s clearly after the Ling family fortune.”

“Shen Yuwei! Are you even listening when your elders speak?”

At the door, Ling Jiao’s eyelid twitched.

Even when she was alone with Shen Yuwei, she never called her by name like that. These people were unbelievably rude.

She took a deep breath and was just about to push the door open when Shen Yuwei’s calm and steady voice came through.

“I truly regret that my cousin’s second differentiation failed,” Shen Yuwei said, her voice a little softer from being inside the room, but every word was firm and decisive. “The school isn’t expelling him. They just want to transfer him to a department more suitable for his current condition. As for entering the company, our hiring process is handled by Human Resources. If he qualifies, he will be accepted.”

“And besides, we do not hire minors.”

Six years had passed. The status of omegas had improved. As long as they were not actively releasing pheromones during heat, they could work in public safely, protected by the Union.

Some companies did take advantage of family ties to give delicate omegas easy, non-demanding jobs like clerical work. But the Union had clear regulations. Omegas could only work after turning eighteen or after graduating from school. Any earlier employment required a legal guardian’s formal guarantee for their safety.

If they could enter good companies early, it added prestige to their résumé and even improved their future prospects in choosing a partner.

Times had changed. Technology had advanced. Second-differentiation omegas, or even those who had always been omegas, were no longer as rare as they once were. In developed cities, omegas now enjoyed greater freedom.

Ling Jiao did not push the door open right away.

She noticed that after Shen Yuwei spoke, the room fell into an awkward silence.

It seemed those relatives had been stunned, unable to find a quick rebuttal. But soon, one of them picked up again, speaking with false confidence.

“Your other cousin is already attending the Union Military Academy this year. It won’t be long before he becomes a real man.”

“He’s brave, capable, resourceful, and handsome. His teachers are full of praise for him. Sooner or later, he’ll earn a military rank. By then, our family will be recognized as a military household. That carries prestige and admiration. I believe that will only benefit your company in future business negotiations.”

“And compared to that sickly husband of yours, he’s a hundred or even a thousand times more competent.”

They just couldn’t stop taking jabs at Ling Jiao, their so-called useless son-in-law.

Ling Jiao’s face darkened as she pushed the door open.

“I just got here, and you’re already trying to dig up my roots?”

Shen Yuwei looked surprised to see her.

Ling Jiao glanced at the middle-aged couple sitting at the breakfast table with Shen Yuwei. Her anger surged.

“I’m mild-tempered and easy to talk to. I wouldn’t even mind if Madam wanted to take a second partner. I was just thinking, if I’m the primary spouse and he’s the secondary, that could work too.”

Shen Yuwei looked at her with a curious smile.

“But now I’m wondering, will this Ling family still be called Ling in the future, or will it take another name?”

“Of course, if Madam prefers to take his name instead, I wouldn’t stop her either.”

Smack.

The middle-aged woman sitting by the window slammed the table with her palm. Her fingers trembled with fury.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“The Ling family will obviously keep the name Ling. How could we ever take the woman’s surname?”

Ling Jiao blinked.
“So what you’re saying is, if your cousin were to come in as a second husband, he would also have to change his last name?”
She turned to Shen Yuwei.
“Madam, what was your cousin’s name again?”

Before Shen Yuwei could answer, the middle-aged woman burst out in fury.
“Change his name? Never. Our ancestors never had such a tradition. The sons of our He family can only carry the He surname!”

Ling Jiao sighed with exaggerated regret.
“A son-in-law marrying into the family? Of course I’ve heard of the rule where the third generation must return to the ancestral name. If we have a son in the future, of course he’ll take Madam’s surname. After three generations, if he’s capable, he can change it back. But if he’s not… well, the family line ends there.”

Her words were sharp as knives.

The woman turned several shades of red with anger. Her husband beside her clenched his fists, his expression fierce as if ready to strike.
But Ling Jiao continued, unfazed.

“I’m willing to take Madam’s surname. Whether she brings in a second partner later or not, I’ll always be the first.”

She was ready to unleash more verbal strikes, but Shen Yuwei stood and gently intervened with a smile.

“Aunt, Uncle, let’s leave the matter of my cousin for now. He’s still young and should be focusing on his studies.”

“My husband only entered the household last night. He hasn’t yet learned the proper etiquette. If he offended you in any way, I ask for your understanding.”

She didn’t mention any plans to reprimand Ling Jiao. Instead, she smiled casually.
“Let’s not keep Uncle and Aunt for lunch. Butler, please see them out.”

When the butler arrived, the couple left, faces dark with suppressed anger.

Ling Jiao frowned.
“Where did those relatives come from? Acting like having a son in the army makes them superior to everyone else.”

She had certainly made a scene today on the third floor.

Shen Yuwei raised a hand in invitation. Ling Jiao sat across from her without hesitation, pushing aside the leftover dishes from the earlier visitors.

“This relative,” Shen Yuwei explained softly, her tone calm as though discussing something completely trivial, “was related to my late wife’s mother. Back then, my mother-in-law and her family didn’t interact much, so this uncle and aunt never visited either. The only time they came was on the day of my mother-in-law’s funeral.”

“Later, when they saw I was living alone for many years, they thought they might take advantage of the situation and suggested letting their son stay in the Ling household. Their real goal was to trap me into something irreversible.”

Such vulgar intentions, yet when spoken from Shen Yuwei’s lips, her composed tone made them strangely poetic.

Ling Jiao’s brows furrowed, heart tightening.

“And then?” she asked urgently.

Shen Yuwei slowly poured herself a cup of tea, not rushing to answer. Instead, she asked,
“You’ve met my younger son, haven’t you?”

Ling Jiao looked puzzled.

“What does this have to do with Ling Zhen?”

“What did you think of him?” Shen Yuwei asked.

Ling Jiao thought back to the cool and aloof young man she had met the night before.

“He’s very handsome, carries himself well. I imagine a lot of girls would be drawn to him.”

Shen Yuwei raised an eyebrow, a subtle smile playing at her lips.
“Girls?”

Ling Jiao was confused.
“Well, dream boy of both girls and boys?”

Shen Yuwei chuckled.

It was a genuine laugh, deep and full, resonating from her chest like it had truly delighted her.

“You don’t like him?”

Ling Jiao instantly defended herself.
“Please. I don’t go after younger ones.”

Then she caught herself.
“Wait, wait. That’s not what I meant. I’m not that old, okay?”

Even though Ling Zhen was already a grown man, to her, he was still the boy who used to stutter when he spoke, sensitive and dependent. She had practically raised him like a son.

“You really don’t like him?” Shen Yuwei said with a soft sigh.

“It’s fine if you don’t. Back when that cousin tried to force his way into the Ling household, it was Zhen who took leave from the military to come back and try to drive him out.”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Unfortunately, he was one day too late.”

“By the time he returned, I had already taken care of it.”

Ling Jiao blinked.
“Took care of it?”

“Why else do you think that uncle and aunt keep pestering me?”

Shen Yuwei’s tone turned icy and precise.
“They believe that their son, who stayed here for only a few days, went back to school and suddenly differentiated into an omega… because of something I did.”

For some reason, the morning no longer felt warm. The hairs on Ling Jiao’s arms stood on end.

She couldn’t help but wonder.

Could Shen Yuwei really have the ability to push someone on track to be an alpha into becoming an omega instead?

If she truly did…

Ling Jiao relaxed a little, exhaling slowly.

Then perhaps in the years she had been gone, Shen Yuwei hadn’t been bullied or mistreated as she feared. Many of the regrets and guilt Ling Jiao had held onto began to ease.

Back before she differentiated into an omega, Shen Yuwei had already been a powerful and unstoppable force. These petty troubles were nothing to someone like her.

It seemed Ling Jiao had worried too much, blinded by her own feelings.

“Why are you telling me all this?” Ling Jiao asked.

“Are you trying to scare me? Intimidate me?”

“Is this supposed to be a warning?”

Shen Yuwei never looked away from her.

From the moment Ling Jiao entered the room, tense and alert, to the few seconds it took for her shoulders to drop and body to relax, Shen Yuwei watched her every reaction.

A normal alpha, someone brought in as a husband, who by all accounts was living off her, should have been more shaken by these confessions. But Ling Jiao had only been guarded for a few seconds.

“No,” Shen Yuwei said gently. She lifted the now-cold cup of tea and took a sip, her smile graceful and composed.

“I just thought you should get to know this other side of me sooner rather than later.”

Years of experience had shaped her into a true leader. Her tone was calm, her movements deliberate. Everything about her spoke of control and quiet power. She didn’t need to raise her voice. The authority was simply there.

Ling Jiao could feel it, a rare kind of pressure that made her skin tingle. This was nothing like the bluster she used to fake with the Ling family name. This was real, unshakable strength.

She lowered her gaze and drew a quiet breath.

To think that such a powerful and composed woman had still chosen to bring in a husband under the name of “recruiting” someone. What hardship could possibly require her to bring in an obedient alpha?

Even if Ling Jiao hadn’t walked up to the third floor today, she was sure Shen Yuwei could have easily sent those relatives away.

As Ling Jiao sat in thought, her gaze inadvertently landed on Shen Yuwei’s arm, just below the sleeve of her loose morning robe. There was a pale bluish mark on her skin.

Back when they first met face to face at the Western restaurant, Ling Jiao had been too overwhelmed to notice. Last night, it had been too dark. But today, in broad daylight, with only the table between them…

Ling Jiao could see it clearly.

A bruise.

And beneath it, barely visible to the naked eye, a pinprick.

She was just about to ask directly when she suddenly froze.

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