The Stand-In Alpha Goes Viral on a Dating Show - Chapter 72

Chi Feng had never felt so happy in her life. Just a simple phone call with the woman she loved was enough to make her giddy with joy.

She sat quietly, listening to her lover’s voice, and couldn’t help but smile.

“Don’t be nervous.”

She spoke with a gentle laugh, repeating with firm certainty: “Old Master Ming’s biological granddaughter is an Omega.”

On the other end, the woman’s breathing gradually evened out, as though her heart had finally calmed.

“You…” Chi Feng’s pulse began to race with what she was about to say. Her throat tightened as she whispered, “I… I want to see you. Just once. Is that alright?”

The moment the words left her mouth, she shut her eyes as though awaiting a sentence of doom.

But her unsteady, heavy breathing betrayed the storm inside her.

The line fell into silence.

After what felt like forever, a soft, sorrowful sigh drifted through the receiver, laden with infinite melancholy.

“Still…” the woman finally spoke, making Chi Feng hold her breath in tense anticipation.

“Forget it…” The words that followed pierced her heart. “It’s been too long. The distance between us… better we don’t meet.”

“But I’m almost dying…” The words burst out before Chi Feng could stop herself. In truth, at the moment she was refused, the pain she felt was enough to kill her.

“What? Impossible!” Panic erupted on the other end, followed by a fit of coughing.

Regret struck Chi Feng. She hadn’t wanted to make the woman she loved worry like this. Yet at the same time, she knew—without such desperation, her beloved would never agree to see her again.

So she hardened her heart and pressed on with the lie. “I’m terminally ill. That’s why the family had to choose an heir from the collateral line. But now that Wan’er has appeared, everything I built… will belong to her.”

“No!” The woman grew frantic. “Your mother—”

She stopped, voice faltering. Finally, with unusual steel, she said, “Don’t tell your mother. About me, about Chi Wan—anything. If you do, you’ll never see me again.”

“You…” A sharp pain shot through Chi Feng’s chest. She hadn’t expected her lover to use her life as a threat. Yet even then, she couldn’t bring herself to blame her.

“I’m not lying either. I’m sick too. Not as gravely as you, perhaps, but it’s not light.”

The moment her daughter Chi Wan was mentioned, the woman’s tone turned unyielding. Chi Feng was forced to retreat. She hadn’t realized the rift between her beloved and her own mother ran this deep—so deep that even twenty years hadn’t healed it.

But Chi Feng knew her lover. She had always been gentle. For her to be so hardened, Mother must have done something unforgivable.

She wanted to ask, but knew this wasn’t the time. And besides, her lover might not even be willing to tell her the truth.

So she compromised. “Alright. I promise. Then… will you see me now?”

For a moment, only the woman’s soft breathing came through. Then a long sigh. “Alright. Come find me.”

Relief washed over Chi Feng, joy blooming so intensely it nearly choked her. “Your address…”

The woman began to say it, but paused, as though remembering something. “You really didn’t tell your mother? She truly has no idea?”

“She doesn’t know,” Chi Feng answered firmly.

After some hesitation, the woman finally gave her the name of a nearby city—but not the exact street or house. She knew too well how terrifying Chi Feng’s mother could be.

Chi Feng wrote the address down, staring at it for a long while as though etching the words into her heart. She thought of Chi Wan. Originally, she had planned to announce at the banquet that she’d found her daughter. But since her lover insisted on secrecy, she had to respect that.

Just the thought of her daughter made Chi Feng’s heart soften to water.

“How’s your health now?” Concern edged the woman’s voice, the affection she tried to suppress slipping through. No matter how much time had passed, she couldn’t stop caring.

“Just waiting for death, really.”

Chi Feng forced a bitter smile. She couldn’t tell the truth, not yet. But when she heard her lover’s sudden sharp breathing, her heart clenched with pain. “Don’t be upset. I’m not suffering much, I promise.”

“How could this happen?” A muffled sob bled through the receiver. “Didn’t you get treated in time?”

“By the time it was found, it was already late-stage.” Chi Feng lowered her voice as though afraid to disturb something fragile. “Don’t cry.”

Her lover’s tears left her flustered, yet secretly elated—because it meant she still held a place in her heart.

Knock, knock.

The sound of someone rapping at her door broke the fragile moment. Chi Feng’s brow furrowed in irritation.

“Do you need to go? I’ll hang up.” Her lover’s tearful voice came hurriedly, and before Chi Feng could protest, the line went dead.

Chi Feng stared at the phone, wishing she could dial again. But her secretary’s voice came from outside:

“Master, the banquet is about to begin. The guests are all here.”

In other words: only you are missing.

Banquet, my ass, Chi Feng thought bitterly. Talking to my lover is far more important.

But she quickly reconsidered. She had always been punctual. If she didn’t appear soon, her mother would surely grow suspicious. Reluctantly, she set down the phone and opened the door, descending the stairs with no small measure of resentment.

________________________________________

Elsewhere, President Ming was locked in a heated quarrel with Mingyu’s birth mother.

“What’s the meaning of this? Why did you suddenly change your mind and refuse to appear at the banquet?”

His eyes bore into her, sharp and suspicious.

It was this very woman who had sworn up and down that Mingyu was Chi Feng’s daughter. Because of her, even after Mingyu’s origins had been exposed, he continued to shower her with favor—more than ever, in fact.

All for tonight, the grand reveal, where Mingyu would acknowledge her father, join the Chi family, and bring immense benefit to the Mings.

But now, at the most critical moment, this woman was backing out—her words laced with fear.

Could it be that she had been lying all along?

The thought alone made President Ming’s blood boil. If that was true, then he had been used, played like a fool by this woman.

He, who had ruled the business world for decades—outmaneuvered by a woman?

His breath came ragged, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles whitened. If not for his restraint, he might have strangled her on the spot.

The woman saw his fury, but she truly couldn’t attend the banquet. Because Mingyu’s father was not Chi Feng at all—

But merely an illegitimate son of the Chi family’s main line.

A man utterly unworthy of the stage.

Chi Feng and her mother’s hatred toward the illegitimate children of the main bloodline was something everyone in the business world knew well.

Back then, she had lied to President Ming in order to get close to him. She had hoped to rise to the position of mistress, but the moment he learned she was the woman of the Chi family head, he refused to give her the slightest chance to approach. No matter how she tried, she could never succeed.

She had assumed all men were competitive by nature. Bearing the identity of the Chi family head’s woman, she believed President Ming would surely want to possess her—perhaps even force her to compare the two men.

But President Ming did nothing of the sort. He only regarded her with an indescribable look from time to time.

That gaze carried no desire, only the cold scrutiny one gave to merchandise.

When she first heard about the Chi family banquet, she hadn’t wanted to attend. But after thinking it through, she decided this was the perfect opportunity to provoke President Ming. Fortune favors the bold—so she came.

After all, the idea of Mingyu calling both of them “Mom and Dad” at the same time was far too tempting!

Yes—from beginning to end, the woman’s true goal was to become the wife of the Ming family head.

Never to let Mingyu recognize her biological father—an illegitimate son of the direct line.

Yet her final desperate gamble still fell through.

Now all she wanted was to escape, but President Ming had already blocked her path with bodyguards.

“Tell me the truth! Is Mingyu really Chi Feng’s daughter or not?”

President Ming’s voice was vicious, his glare so fierce it was as though he would devour her whole.

“I…” Under that terrifying gaze, the woman instinctively shrank back.

“Stop stammering! Speak!”

His roar shook the air.

“Dad, what’s going on between you and Mom?” Hearing the commotion, Mingyu dropped the finishing touches of her makeup, clutched up the hem of her evening gown, and rushed out in a panic.

But the father who had always been gentle with her now turned a face full of fury upon her. He glared, his tone sharp with mockery: “Why don’t you ask your good mother? She promised me this long ago—so why is she backing out now?”

“Backing out?” Mingyu tilted her head, utterly bewildered.

“I…” The woman found it even harder to speak under her daughter’s eyes.

Seeing her mother struggle, Mingyu’s heart twisted with pity. She couldn’t help but plead softly, “Dad, maybe Mom’s just too tired. She probably just needs a little rest.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

President Ming’s voice was calm, but the mockery in it did not fade.

“Are you really only resting a little? Or are you trying to escape this banquet altogether?”

He moved behind the woman, placing a hand on her shoulder in what looked like a gentle gesture, but his grip was anything but soft. She winced in pain, her brows knotting tightly.

“Escape?” Mingyu jumped in fright, stomping her foot anxiously. “Why, Mom? Why would you do that?”

“Wasn’t this already decided long ago? Why change your mind now? Don’t you know how long Dad and I have been preparing for this day?”

This time, even Mingyu could not hide the disappointment in her eyes as she looked at her mother.

“Yes—why? Why now?” President Ming raised his head, letting out a baffled sigh, then suddenly turned, his gaze harsh as it landed on Mingyu. “Or is it because your background isn’t what she claimed? Because your true identity is something else, and she’s afraid to face the truth?”

His words struck Mingyu like a thunderclap.

In that instant, her world blurred. She had always believed without question in her identity. But if… if it was all a lie—if she wasn’t the Ming family’s daughter…

Then who was she?

Neither Ming family’s daughter, nor Chi family’s daughter…

Who was she really?

A joke?

Yes, maybe she had lived as nothing more than a cruel joke. Maybe she herself was a joke.

“Yu’er, don’t be like this!”

The sight of her daughter’s devastated expression made the woman’s heart ache unbearably.

But she didn’t realize—her words, at that moment, were like a drowning person’s last hope. Mingyu seized them desperately, clutching her mother’s hand with all her strength.

“Mom, please, just tell me! Tell me the truth about my past. I am the Chi family head’s daughter, aren’t I?”

Looking into the fragile glow in her daughter’s eyes, the woman felt her resolve crumble. She knew, with a sinking certainty, that if she told her “no,” her daughter might not live on.