Why Did the Top Alpha Suddenly Stop Acting Out? - Chapter 41

Before Ye Shuyi could react, the dog mascot wrapped its paws around her waist and pushed her through the door, backing her against the wall. The large dog head nuzzled vigorously against her neck.

Ye Shuyi raised a hand to block it, her voice stern yet trembling slightly: “Stop.”

The dog obediently paused, but the hands on her waist didn’t let go.

Ye Shuyi tried to pry them off, but the grip only tightened, pressing half her face against the “dog’s” cheek.

She patted the mascot’s shoulder. “Let go.”

The dog complied, loosening its hold slightly but the hands remained firmly on her waist.

Ye Shuyi resigned herself to being held, as long as the nuzzling stopped, and frowned. “Weren’t you supposed to change clothes? Why are you still in this?”

The moment she asked, a thought flashed through her mind: What if it’s not Yi Qian inside?

The dog mascot stayed silent but leaned in again.

The lack of response deepened Ye Shuyi’s suspicion. She dodged, then sharply chopped the mascot’s arm, taking advantage of the momentary numbness to wrench the hands off her waist. In one fluid motion, she hooked an arm over the mascot’s shoulder and flipped it cleanly over her back.

The dog landed hard on its rear, the cheerful expression on its face unchanged but a muffled grunt came from inside.

Ye Shuyi stepped forward, lifting a foot to stomp down, when a familiar voice yelped: “Wait, it’s me!”

Her leg froze mid-air. Slowly, she lowered it but didn’t move to help, standing aside instead with cold eyes, her chest heaving and face pale.

Like someone who’d narrowly escaped disaster.

Yi Qian rubbed her shoulder as she sat up, pouting as she reached out toward Ye Shuyi. When ignored, she adjusted the crooked mascot head and finally got a clear look at Ye Shuyi’s expression. Seeing how shaken she was, Yi Qian quickly pulled off the headpiece and rushed to embrace her, gently stroking her back. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Shuyi remained stiff, unmoving, focusing only on steadying her breathing.

Yi Qian held her the entire time, softly patting her back, asking nothing more just staying quiet by her side.

Time passed with each soothing motion. Eventually, the heartbeat against Yi Qian’s chest calmed, and Ye Shuyi lightly tapped her back. “Let go. I’m fine now.”

Yi Qian released her, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, voice tender. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Ye Shuyi lifted her gaze her deer-like eyes clear and bright, like a lake washed by rain, rippling with faint sorrow.

–

Yi Qian couldn’t resist lowering her head to kiss those eyelids, resting her forehead against Ye Shuyi’s, patient and gentle. “Tell me, please?”

“It’s already in the past,” Ye Shuyi said quietly.

“So today, it resurfaced because of me, didn’t it?” Yi Qian murmured earnestly. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll never forgive myself.”

Perhaps Ye Shuyi had hidden it too well in the past, so much so that she had never once seen her in such a panicked and helpless state before. Thinking back now, whether it was work-related or family matters, it seemed Ye Shuyi had never once complained or uttered a single word of grievance to her.

She suddenly felt a pang of guilt wasn’t this also a failure on her part as a girlfriend?

At this thought, Yi Qian’s pupils dilated slightly as she realized something, but Ye Shuyi abruptly spoke up, cutting off her train of thought.

“Actually, it’s nothing much. You could say it was my own recklessness that led to that outcome…”

The incident happened when she was in the fourth grade.

She had happily brought home a perfect test score to show her father, but he only gave her a dismissive response, completely forgetting what he had promised her.

Little Ye Shuyi was heartbroken, but she refused to give up. She slammed the test paper onto the table and snatched her father’s phone from his hands. “Dad, you promised to take me to the amusement park if I got a hundred!”

Her father immediately snatched his phone back, unapologetic. “Rewards are just lies to trick kids. I only said that to motivate you to do well on the test and keep you from getting scolded by your mom. You should be thanking me, understand? That perfect score is all thanks to me. Just wait till your mom gets home from work and sees this, she’ll be overjoyed.”

Her mother was indeed happy. That night, she cooked all of Ye Shuyi’s favorite dishes, but the little girl felt no joy at all, her mood visibly low.

After repeated questioning from her mother, little Ye Shuyi burst into tears, pouring out her grievances about her father’s broken promise.

In the end, her father was scolded by her mother, and he promised to take her to the amusement park that weekend.

At the amusement park, little Ye Shuyi was overjoyed the entire day. She rode her favorite carousel and ate the sweetest cotton candy.

As evening approached and they prepared to leave, her father suddenly crouched down in front of her, his face full of remorse. “Yibao, Dad wants to apologize for what I said the other day. To make it up to you, I have a surprise for you. Can you wait here for me like a good girl?”

“Okay,” little Ye Shuyi replied sweetly. After her father left, she stood in place, playing with a small toy in her hands.

A short while later, a pink fox suddenly bounded up to her and gave a gentlemanly bow.

Thrilled to see her favorite plushie come to life, little Ye Shuyi rushed forward and hugged it, jumping up and down. “Dad, is that you? Is this the surprise? Shushu loves it! Dad, I love you!”

The pink fox patted her head, then pulled out a phone from somewhere, showing her a pre-written message:

To keep the pink fox’s perfect image for Shushu, Dad won’t ruin it with his rough voice. How about I carry you home in this outfit and make all the other kids jealous?

Little Ye Shuyi nodded eagerly. As the pink fox picked her up, she wrapped her arms affectionately around its neck, and the two of them walked forward together.

Her attention was entirely on the pink fox, so she didn’t notice where the person carrying her was heading.

“Shushu!”

Hearing her mother’s sudden call, little Ye Shuyi was about to turn around to greet her when the pink fox suddenly bolted forward.

Terrified, Ye Shuyi immediately clung to the pink fox’s neck to keep from falling, shouting, “Daddy, why are you running? It’s Mommy!”

As she watched her mother chasing desperately behind while the person holding her showed no intention of stopping, Ye Shuyi gradually realized something was wrong. Fear quickly overwhelmed her, tears streaming uncontrollably as she looked back, sobbing, “Mommy, Mommy…”

Mrs. Ye chased after them, pleading with passersby for help, her voice hoarse with desperation, “That man is a kidnapper! He’s trying to take my daughter! Please, someone stop him!”

Despite her frantic cries, no one stepped forward to help only watching curiously.

“Waaah… Mommy…”

“Shushu! Don’t be scared, Mommy’s coming to save you… Hey, you in the black shirt with the buzz cut, please stop that man!”

The man, who had been about to pull out his phone to record, froze at being directly addressed. Instead, he threw his phone to the ground and lunged at the kidnapper like a wolf. Seeing this, more and more bystanders rushed to help. Soon, the kidnapper, disguised in a fox fur, was subdued by the crowd. The buzz-cut man in black pulled little Ye Shuyi from the kidnapper’s grasp and handed her to Mrs. Ye, who had finally caught up.

Ye Shuyi threw herself into her mother’s arms, crying hysterically, still shaken by the ordeal.

Mrs. Ye held her daughter close, gently patting her back to soothe her while repeatedly thanking the helpful strangers.

Back home, Ye Shuyi hadn’t yet recovered from the shock, her expression still dazed. Mrs. Ye took a clothes hanger and spanked her, saying it was to reinforce the lesson to make sure she never went off with strangers again. Meanwhile, Ye Shuyi’s father, who hadn’t been present during the incident, stood silently by, not daring to utter a word.

That night, Mrs. Ye ignored her husband’s apologies, refusing to even look at him, let alone speak to him.

But Ye Shuyi remembered, when she woke from a nightmare in the middle of the night, her parents were in the middle of a fierce argument.

“I think that was the day the atmosphere at home started to change,” Ye Shuyi recalled. “They fought constantly small arguments every couple of days, big blowouts every few. Their relationship was patched together haphazardly until they finally divorced when I was in middle school.”

“For years, I thought my kidnapping was the reason they split up. I hated myself for it,” Ye Shuyi murmured, her gaze lowering. “It wasn’t until I graduated high school that my mom finally told me the real reason they divorced.”

“So what was the reason?” Yi Qian asked softly, tilting her head to meet Ye Shuyi’s eyes, her voice tender.

Ye Shuyi seemed to snap out of her thoughts, lifting her gaze. A faint light flickered in her eyes as the shadows gradually cleared. She smiled lightly. “That’s unrelated to this, so I won’t go into it.”

Yi Qian reached up to stroke her hair, her tone affectionate. “Alright, you don’t have to say it if you don’t want to.”

Ye Shuyi blinked, her clear, spring-like eyes fixed on Yi Qian, staring intently without speaking.

The atmosphere between them grew thick in an instant. They were so close their noses almost touched, their warm breaths mingling, the heat between them rising.

Yi Qian swallowed silently, her gaze fixed on the other’s enticing red lips so close at hand. Her thumb gently brushed over them, her voice slightly hoarse: “Staring at me like this, what do you want to say?”

Ye Shuyi parted her lips, the tip of her tongue lightly touching the finger resting on her mouth, her tone as alluring as silk: “Why didn’t you say anything earlier? You waited until I had to beat you up before speaking.”

“I was waiting for you to praise me,” Yi Qian murmured, pressing her nose against the other’s with a soft nuzzle, her tone pitiful. “You didn’t even call me cute. Instead, you used the self-defense moves I taught you to beat me up.”

No sooner had she spoken than Ye Shuyi’s soft lips pressed against hers, the tip of her tongue tracing the seam of Yi Qian’s lips before quickly retreating. Her words dripped like intoxicating poison: “Then… is this kind of reward and comfort enough?”

Yi Qian was momentarily stunned by her boldness, her voice trembling slightly: “Baby, you’re the one who started this.”

Without waiting for a response, Yi Qian captured those lips she had longed for, savoring their sweetness. Her tongue slipped past the parted defenses, entwining with the soft warmth within.

The first snowflakes drifted down, trembling against the stems of the tea plum blossoms.

“Baby is this okay?”

“You’re already and still asking me!”

The snow fell in silence, and the tea plum blossoms bloomed.

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