Why Did the Top Alpha Suddenly Stop Acting Out? - Chapter 67

Pushing open the front door, Yi Qian stepped into the living room and immediately spotted Ye Shuyi sitting on the sofa.

From the moment she entered, the person on the couch showed no reaction, completely absorbed in whatever she was doing.

Yi Qian walked over, wrapping her arms around Ye Shuyi from behind and resting her chin on her shoulder. “What are you looking at so intently?”

As she spoke, she glanced at the tablet screen in Ye Shuyi’s hands, it displayed someone’s resume.

Ye Shuyi placed a hand over Yi Qian’s and turned her head to plant a kiss on her cheek. “You’re back just in time. Manager Zhang sent over a few potential agent candidates for you. He wanted me to help pick someone who can actually keep you in check. Want to take a look yourself? See who you like?”

Yi Qian tilted her head and kissed Ye Shuyi’s cheek in return. “I like you.”

Ye Shuyi raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And who was it that unilaterally fired me without even discussing it first?”

Yi Qian released her, circled around the sofa, and sat down beside her. She wrapped her arms around Ye Shuyi’s waist, pulling her closer, and rested her head against her shoulder, gazing up at her. “As my agent, you had too many reservations about our relationship. So, I had to end that arrangement. After all, if you asked me whether I’d rather have an agent or a wife, I’d choose the wife every time.”

“Only an idiot would let you keep being my agent.”

Ye Shuyi turned to look at her. “You knew that all along, yet you kept pushing me to make our relationship public?”

“Well! I originally wanted to have my cake and eat it too. But you kept rejecting the idea more firmly each time, so to secure the cake, I had to give up the frosting. Besides, this was the only way to stop others from coveting you.” Yi Qian tightened her embrace, her tone tinged with complaint. “Just look at the comments, so many people saying I stole their wife! Some are even waiting for us to break up. Hmph. Even after going public, so many still have designs on you.”

Ye Shuyi patted her head. “What does it matter what they think? My heart remains steadfastly yours.”

“Mhm, mhm. In any case, you’re mine and only mine.” Like a petulant child, Yi Qian clung to her even tighter, even draping her legs over Ye Shuyi’s lap, clinging to her like a koala.

Ye Shuyi gently patted the hands wrapped around her waist and soothed, “I’m yours. Always have been.”

Delighted, Yi Qian planted a loud “mwah” on her cheek, the sound echoing through the quiet living room.

Ye Shuyi shook her head with a smile and swiped through the tablet screen to show her. “So, pick one you like?”

Yi Qian shook her head. “No need. You choose for me. I trust you.”

Ye Shuyi nodded understandingly and continued browsing the resumes.

Noticing the person clinging to her hadn’t moved an inch and was staring at her intently, she tilted her head slightly to meet Yi Qian’s earnest gaze, her lips curving. “What is it?”

Yi Qian shook her head. “Just want to take a good look at my treasure, finally returned to me.”

“We have plenty of time ahead of us.”

“No, I want to cherish the present.” Yi Qian rested her head back on Ye Shuyi’s shoulder.

Just as Ye Shuyi was about to respond, her phone rang, interrupting them. She picked it up from the table, it was a message from Song Kechi.

Song Kechi: [Image]

Song Kechi: [“Didn’t you say you two didn’t have a single couple photo when you were dating? I know about the riverside one, but what’s this sunset silhouette holding hands then?”]

Song Kechi: [“Just realized something. How did Yi Qian have that riverside photo?”]

It suddenly occurred to her that she’d meant to ask about this earlier.

But right after watching Yi Qian’s livestream, Manager Zhang had immediately called her. The urgency in his tone suggested the country couldn’t go a day without its ruler, and Yi Qian couldn’t go a day without a manager. Within about an hour, her inbox was flooded with potential manager candidates. Considering all the transitional work needed, she indeed required a manager and began carefully screening them which made her temporarily forget about this matter.

Her phone dinged again.

Song Kechi: [“Just genuinely curious about the story behind that sunset photo. The composition feels oddly familiar.”]

“The sunset hand-holding silhouette was taken by Fang Xin, who studied photography,” Yi Qian volunteered before Ye Shuyi could ask, having seen all the messages. “Funny story, she’d just returned from abroad that day and saw us waiting at a crosswalk. Thought the scene was beautiful and snapped it. Knowing I dislike photos, she never mentioned it until after our breakup. When she saw how devastated I was, she gave me the photo, telling me to either keep it as a memento or burn it to move on completely.”

“So you burned it?” Ye Shuyi looked at her.

When she first saw this photo, she’d actually searched the house for it but found nothing.

Yi Qian shook her head: “I hid it. Did you think you were the only one who could hide photos?”

“?”

Ye Shuyi wanted to ask when she’d hidden it, but before the words left her mouth, her memory supplied the answer, the night after their haunted house date when Yi Qian stayed over, the first thing she’d done upon waking was indeed hide that riverside photo.

“So,  you saw the photo but didn’t say anything?” Ye Shuyi sounded astonished.

“Mhm.” Yi Qian looked smug. “And who was it that carried you to bed that night?”

“Then why didn’t you ask why I kept it?” Ye Shuyi wondered.

Yi Qian sighed dramatically, gently pinching her cheek with affectionate exasperation: “Because someone’s too stubborn. Even if I asked, you’d have a hundred excuses ready. So I chose to wait it out.”

“If someone’s being so stubborn maybe she could soften up a little now?”

Before Ye Shuyi could react, Yi Qian cradled the back of her head and claimed her lips teasing at first with light nips, then deepening the kiss until their tongues tangled relentlessly.

After what felt like ages, Ye Shuyi pushed her away breathlessly: “Enough.”

Smoothing her hair, Yi Qian gazed at her tenderly, lips quirking: “Aiya, after all these kisses, my baby still hasn’t improved at all.”

Forehead resting against Yi Qian’s collarbone, Ye Shuyi thumped her chest lightly: “Don’t make fun of me.”

Yi Qian held her close, her voice laced with a soft chuckle. “I won’t tease you. We’ll practice more together, and I’ll teach you slowly.”

“Mmm.”

The response was barely audible, hiding the speaker’s shyness.

“If I’m teaching you how to kiss.” Yi Qian deliberately drew out her words, as if brewing some mischief, “shouldn’t there be some repayment?”

Ye Shuyi looked up at her, seemingly guessing what she wanted, and refused outright. “Not today. You had plenty yesterday.”

Yi Qian hugged her tighter, her tone indulgent. “I won’t pester you today. I just wanted to ask, could you teach me how to ride a motorcycle?”

Ye Shuyi frowned. “Why do you want to learn that?”

With a growing smile, Yi Qian replied, “You got a manager’s license for me. Why can’t I learn to ride for you?”

“But you already know how, don’t you?” Ye Shuyi asked, puzzled, clearly remembering Yi Qian in that dog costume on the track.

“Keeping the bike balanced and actually knowing how to ride are two different things.” Yi Qian clung to her, pleading. “Teach me, please? Pretty please?”

Ye Shuyi hesitated. “Are you serious?”

“As serious as my love for you!” Yi Qian’s gaze was unwavering.

“Alright! I’ll teach you.”

Yi Qian excitedly planted a loud kiss on her cheek. “Thank you, Teacher Ye.”

“Do you have to call me that?” Ye Shuyi’s expression twisted slightly. “It sounds weird.”

Yi Qian grinned mischievously. “Weirdly sweet, you mean?”

Ye Shuyi: “…”

“If you’re teaching me, then of course I should call you teacher.” Yi Qian leaned in, whispering playfully, “Yi Qian’s one and only, Teacher Ye.”

The next morning, under a clear, blazing sun, the two arrived at Xu Ying’s training ground.

Ye Shuyi was explaining the basics and techniques when a hand suddenly rested on her shoulder. She grabbed it, ready to flip the person over, but the voice that followed stopped her. “Shuyi, it’s me!”

Turning, she saw Song Kechi standing behind her, beaming.

Ye Shuyi raised a brow. “What’s got you so happy?”

Instead of answering, Song Kechi jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

◎

Ye Shuyi looked up to see Fang Xin strolling toward them until she suddenly spotted something and broke into a run.

As expected, she dashed straight to Yi Qian’s side.

Ye Shuyi removed the hand from her shoulder. “What brings you two here?”

Song Kechi leaned in, whispering, “We tricked her into coming.”

No sooner had she spoken than Yi Qian yanked Ye Shuyi away, glaring at her with unmistakable hostility.

Song Kechi sighed. “You’re public now. No need for such hostility, is there? Or are you really that insecure?”

Yi Qian ignored the jab, turning to Ye Shuyi instead. “Baby, I think I’ve got the basics down. How about a race to test my skills?”

Song Kechi smirked. Anyone could see the sudden challenge was just an excuse to pull Ye Shuyi away.

Ye Shuyi chuckled helplessly. “Alright.”

Standing in temporarily as a “race queen,” Song Kechi walked over with a flag between the two racers and said to Ye Shuyi, “You’re going to spoil her like this.”

Under the helmet, doe-like eyes curved into crescents as Ye Shuyi shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t mind.”

As her words fell, so did the flag.

The two race cars shot forward, charging into the blazing midday sun.

Crossing her arms, Song Kechi sidled up to Fang Xin and probed, “Seeing your best friend so happy in love, do you feel like dating too?”

Fang Xin gave her a strange look and shrugged slightly, “What’s the point of wanting to? You can’t just conjure up someone you like out of thin air.”

Dropping the flag, Song Kechi turned Fang Xin to face her and said earnestly, “Then, how about trying to like me?”

On the track, after navigating a sharp bend into a straightaway, Ye Shuyi deliberately slowed down. The car behind quickly caught up but didn’t overtake instead, it pulled alongside hers.

Ye Shuyi glanced sideways just as the other driver seemed to sense it and turned to meet her gaze.

Their eyes locked.

Seeing the smile in Yi Qian’s eyes, Ye Shuyi seemed to understand the unspoken message:

This time, we’ll definitely cross the finish line together.

And if she wasn’t mistaken, her answer would be:

We absolutely will.

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