Why Did the Top Alpha Suddenly Stop Acting Out? - Chapter 52.1

The lock beeped twice, and the front door swung open.

Staring at the slowly opening door, Ye Shuyi froze momentarily. A sudden flash of lightning lit up the night sky, illuminating the entire darkness and the scene before her.

Ye Shuyi blinked, momentarily dazed, then closed and reopened her eyes.

The door was indeed open.

She stepped inside, walking along the garden path. The small flowers lining the way dampened her pants, but she paid no mind.

When she reached the main house’s entrance, her breath caught at the sight of the password lock glowing red. Her fingers trembled slightly as she input the code.

Beep, beep. The light turned green, and the lock clicked open again.

The door’s passcode… hadn’t changed.

Her phone chimed with a message from Song Chichi:
[Did the door open? Fang Xin says she knows the security guards in that neighborhood well. If it doesn’t work, she can call a locksmith for you.]

Ye Shuyi replied:
[I’m inside.]

After sending the message, she slipped her phone back into her pocket, placed her umbrella in the holder, and bent down to open the shoe cabinet. The first thing she saw was her favorite pair of slippers.

Entering the living room, she spotted Yi Qian’s plaster cast model resting in a corner of the sofa. Her gaze swept across the room before she walked to the TV cabinet, picked up a pen, and returned to the sofa. She wrote a line on the plaster model, just as her phone chimed again.

Song Chichi:
[Fang Xin says Yi Qian is probably taking a shower right now. Remind her not to get her wound wet. Though she’s wearing a sweater today, so she might not even have taken her clothes off yet.]

Another message quickly followed:
[So, what do you think? The future wife I found for you isn’t bad, huh? Even gives you remote guidance.]

Ye Shuyi had no intention of replying, but seeing this, she smirked and typed:
[She’d better be.]

She set her phone on the table, placed the plaster model back, and headed toward the bathroom.

Standing outside the bathroom door, she knocked and announced, “I’m coming in,” before pushing the door open without waiting for a response.

Just as Fang Xin had predicted, Yi Qian was biting her collar, trying to pull her left arm out of her sleeve first. But clearly, her efforts were futile her clothes remained stubbornly in place.

Her expression was one of utter shock.

Ye Shuyi closed the door behind her, walked over, and gently pulled the collar from Yi Qian’s teeth. Calmly, she said, “Let me help you take it off.”

Yi Qian seemed to snap out of it then. She brushed Ye Shuyi’s hand away and replied coldly, “No need. Get out.”

Ye Shuyi exhaled silently, her gaze unwavering as she met Yi Qian’s eyes. Slowly, she said, “If you tell me you don’t want to see me, I’ll leave right now.”

Silence filled the enclosed bathroom, the only sound the relentless patter of rain outside, proof that the air was still moving.

Yi Qian turned her back, her left hand clenching into a fist at her side. After a pause, she murmured, “I…”

“I really want to see you.” Before her words even faded, Ye Shuyi hurriedly spoke up, her gaze fixed intently on the woman’s back. Her eyes shimmered, gradually reddening at the rims. “For over three years now, there hasn’t been a single day I didn’t want to see you. Even when we were apart, I thought of you constantly. Yi Qian, even after all this… do you still want to drive me away?”

Her voice choked with emotion as she finished speaking, her gaze lowering.

“Drive you away? Heh, Ye Shuyi, think carefully, when have I ever driven you away? Even that day when you suddenly appeared as my new manager, I didn’t push you out. I was the one who left.” Yi Qian paused, closing her eyes briefly to steady her emotions. “Clearly… it’s always been you sending me away, hasn’t it?”

“First when you broke up with me, and now… again.”

The last word was spoken purely by reflex, because before she could finish, a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.

“Why… why are you suddenly like this again…” Yi Qian took a deep breath, her tone laced with helplessness.

“I’m sorry, Yi Qian. I’m truly sorry. I shouldn’t have broken up with you without considering your feelings. I should have told you everything.” Ye Shuyi pressed her face against Yi Qian’s back, a single tear slipping silently from the corner of her eye. It landed on Yi Qian’s sweater, clung for a moment, then finally dropped onto the back of her heel.

As if scalded by the tear, Yi Qian flinched slightly. She lowered her head, her cascading hair obscuring half her face, hiding her expression. Only her slow, measured words could be heard: “Why bring this up now? Didn’t I already say it? If you want to leave, you don’t need to tell me. You don’t need to say anything at all. Just submit your resignation to Manager Zhang and go.”

Ye Shuyi released her at these words, realization dawning. She stepped in front of Yi Qian, cupping her face and meeting her eyes directly. “So that’s what you meant last time when you said ‘leave’? But who told you I was resigning? From the moment I decided to come back… I never once thought of leaving you again.”

What she had imagined was that if their problems truly couldn’t be resolved, and if Yi Qian saw no issue with it, then even if they couldn’t be lovers, they could at least remain friends.

At the very least, that would still be a form of companionship.

“No one told me you were leaving.” Yi Qian’s tears fell silently, streaming down her cheeks onto Ye Shuyi’s hands. “No one told me, but I just knew, you were going to leave me.”

Ye Shuyi wiped away her tears, speaking earnestly, “I’m not leaving.”

“You are.” Yi Qian’s emotions suddenly surged, her tears flowing more violently, like a child who could only repeat one phrase. “You are, you’re going to leave… mmm—”

Before she could finish, Ye Shuyi cradled her face and kissed her.

After a deep, tear-streaked kiss that tasted faintly of salt, Ye Shuyi pulled back slightly, resting her forehead against Yi Qian’s. Her hands still cupped Yi Qian’s face as she panted softly, “A-Qian, believe me. I truly don’t want to leave you.”

“Then why did you agree to let me collaborate with Rou Rou on stage?” Yi Qian’s tears surged again as she spoke, as if she had suffered the greatest injustice.

“Of course I was thinking of you,” Ye Shuyi explained in detail all the considerations she had made before agreeing to the collaboration.

Yi Qian’s tears gradually stopped, but her voice remained choked when she spoke, “Then why didn’t you tell me at the time?”

Ye Shuyi laughed in exasperation, lightly tapping her on the head. “Think back carefully, how did you treat me that day?”

As if suddenly remembering something, she tapped her head again as a reminder. “Also, you just said you never drove me away? Think harder.”

Yi Qian rubbed the spot where she had been tapped, lowering her eyes in thought.

It seemed… that day at Fang Xin’s place, she had indeed told Ye Shuyi to leave quickly.

Recalling this, Yi Qian’s expression turned awkward. She scratched her head, her tone still aggrieved. “I… thought you were going to leave me again, so… my heart was also… mmm.”

Before she could finish, her lips were sealed by Ye Shuyi once more. The other woman actively parted her lips, stealing her breath, but just as Yi Qian tried to deepen the kiss, Ye Shuyi quickly pulled back. Cupping Yi Qian’s face, her gaze wandered slightly dazed over her features before she spoke softly, “Can you tell me why you thought I was leaving? Hmm?”

Yi Qian stared longingly at her lips, swallowing before explaining, “Because… before you broke up with me last time, you taught me how to cook, saying I could make food for you in the future. But you were really just preparing me to take care of myself after you left…”

“This time, when you agreed to Xu Chang’s collaboration, I thought you were pushing me toward her, planning for your eventual departure.”

Ye Shuyi’s expression stiffened slightly at these words. She lowered her head, resting her forehead against Yi Qian’s shoulder, and apologized again, “I’m sorry, truly sorry.”

Scalding tears trailed down Yi Qian’s collarbone, seeping into her skin. Her body tensed momentarily, but her gaze soon softened as she looked at the woman leaning against her, gently stroking her back.

The bathroom fell silent again, and the rain outside had quieted at some point, as if the entire world had narrowed down to just the two of them their heartbeats pressed close together.

Once the woman in her arms had calmed, Yi Qian opened and closed her mouth several times, hesitating.

As if hearing her unspoken thoughts, Ye Shuyi lifted her head, pressing her cool lips briefly to Yi Qian’s before speaking calmly, “Whatever you want to know, just ask. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Why did you leave me back then?” Yi Qian buried her face in the crook of Ye Shuyi’s neck like an affectionate puppy, finally voicing the question that had haunted her for years, her tone thick with grievance. “What did I do wrong?”

Ye Shuyi nuzzled her cheek against Yi Qian’s head, fingers combing soothingly through her hair as if petting her, and answered slowly, “Do you remember the thing I kept telling you most often after graduation?”

Yi Qian paused in her nuzzling, thinking back for a moment before nodding. “You told me to go out and find a job, not to stay cooped up at home clinging to you.”

She slightly raised her head, gazing at Ye Shuyi’s profile, and repeated the words she’d said years ago: “But I also told you, if you’re worried about money, you don’t need to be. Even if neither of us worked, I could support you for a lifetime.”

“But I’ve also told you long ago, it’s not about money,” Ye Shuyi paused briefly. “Even if we had no money, we have hands and feet. With effort, money will come eventually. What worries me is that if you stay home without working, our values will drift further apart, our shared topics will dwindle. If this continues, our future life will only be filled with endless arguments.”

Yi Qian’s nuzzling against her head paused as she pursed her lips to kiss the blue vein on Ye Shuyi’s neck, her voice tinged with confusion: “Why would you think that way?”

It wasn’t about why she thought that way, she had grown up in precisely such an environment.

Ironically enough, her parents’ love story bore striking similarities to theirs. They too had started dating after college entrance exams, attended the same university for different majors, and moved in together after graduation.

Coming from poverty, Ye Shuyi’s father had been exceptionally diligent and ambitious in high school qualities that initially attracted her mother. But these very traits gradually faded after graduation.

He attempted entrepreneurship twice after college, failing both times. Fortunately, the debts weren’t substantial, and after taking a regular job, he repaid them quickly.

Yet after clearing the debts, without consulting his wife, he quit his job to “recharge” at home, waiting for another entrepreneurial opportunity.

Ye Shuyi’s mother, highly capable, could easily support the family alone. At first she didn’t mind, but as their daughter grew and expenses mounted, her father remained unemployed, idling at home.

Arguments became inevitable. After each fight, her father would pour all his energy into appeasing her mother. Temporarily placated, she’d overlook his unemployment until the next explosive argument, each more intense than the last. Yet they always reconciled.

Their prolonged pattern of inexplicable reconciliations led Ye Shuyi to mistakenly blame their eventual divorce on one incident, when her father took her to an amusement park where she nearly got kidnapped by traffickers.

Afterwards, though her father continued elaborate attempts to appease her mother, she remained cold, sometimes even sarcastic. Eventually he snapped, culminating in a final, irreparable fight.

What should have been an amicable divorce turned into a bitter courtroom battle over custody of Ye Shuyi.

During that period, Ye Shuyi recalled, it was probably when she felt the most paternal love. According to the law, when parents divorce, if their child is already ten years old, the custody rights entirely depend on the child’s own choice.

Seeing her father desperately trying to win her favor, even her usually reticent mother became uncharacteristically attentive during that time. Despite being exhausted from work, she would still wake up early to make breakfast for her.

Truth be told, even if her mother hadn’t done all this, Ye Shuyi had already decided in her heart to choose her mother. Compared to her lazy and unambitious father, staying with her hardworking and driven mother would undoubtedly offer her a more secure future.

But who could have predicted that the future Ye Mama would eventually become the past Ye Papa?

“There’s one more crucial point,” Ye Shuyi cupped Yi Qian’s face, her gaze firm and expression serious. “You’ve answered my mother’s calls before, so you should know what position I hold in my family now. We can argue and even divorce, but I don’t want our future child to become the next Ye Shuyi.”

Silence spread after her words.

Yi Qian stared at her blankly, her brows gradually furrowing, lost in thought.

After a moment of quiet, she lowered her head, resting her forehead against Ye Shuyi’s, and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Before Ye Shuyi could react, Yi Qian leaned in and kissed her lips. This time, she didn’t part them, each kiss was incredibly gentle, tenderly pressing against her lips one after another.

It didn’t feel like a kiss; it felt more like comfort.

“I’m sorry.”

Yi Qian apologized again.

Ye Shuyi raised her hand to stop the next kiss and asked softly, “What are you sorry for?”

Yi Qian tilted her head slightly, pressing her forehead against Ye Shuyi’s neck again, her voice trembling. “I’m sorry for making you worry and fear about our future. I’m sorry for not asking why you nagged at me. I’m sorry for not being there for you during those days we were apart.”

Ye Shuyi stiffened slightly, her gaze softening as she placed a hand on Yi Qian’s head. “Silly, how could any of that be your fault?”

The air fell silent again, as if by mutual agreement, both of them paused, giving each other time to gather their thoughts.

Outside, the rain had completely stopped. Only the occasional drip from the eaves broke the quiet, yet it couldn’t disturb the peaceful atmosphere that belonged solely to them.

“If you were worried about all this, then why did you come back?” Yi Qian broke the silence, asking the question that had haunted her for months.

Ye Shuyi fell silent, the conversation had finally reached the question she feared most.

Yi Qian lifted her head to meet her eyes, her tone gentle. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Shuyi looked back at her, brows slightly furrowed, lips pressed together. “Because for the past year and a half, I’ve seen news about you online every day. I thought… you had become ambitious, would work hard, and were different from before…”

“You thought?” Yi Qian caught the key word, her brows quickly knitting together. “You’ve been by my side for months now. Don’t you know my attitude toward work? Why do you still say ‘thought’?”

Ye Shuyi’s gaze flickered, lingering on her face, and she reminded her, “Do you remember what you said to me on my first day at work?”

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