After Falling in Love with the Scum Alpha’s Beautiful Original Wife at First Sight - Chapter 1

The New Year holidays had only just ended a few days ago, but the guidance desk in the main lobby of Huaikang City First People’s Hospital was already swarmed with people.

Xu Qingzhi was momentarily taken aback by the sight as she stepped inside.

Most of the crowd consisted of elderly people, and those capable of speaking and understanding were all using dialects from the counties surrounding Huaikang. The two young doctors stationed at the desk looked exhausted and parched, though they had been on shift for less than an hour.

It’s truly not easy, Xu Qingzhi sighed inwardly.

She didn’t linger. People were constantly streaming in and out of the lobby, and since she had managed a rare day off from work today, she needed to make the most of her time to see a doctor.

The department Xu Qingzhi needed was on the sixth floor. Five or six people were waiting for the elevator with her, including an elderly grandmother.

The woman carried a sickly-looking child on her back and held a woven plastic bag stuffed to the brim.

When the elevator doors opened, seeing the grandmother struggling with the weight of the child, Xu Qingzhi took the initiative to help, dragging the heavy bag into the elevator for her.

The grandmother thanked her repeatedly in dialect. Xu Qingzhi replied in a raspy, gravelly voice that it was no trouble, then asked which floor she was heading to.

Upon hearing Xu Qingzhi’s voice—which sounded as if it had been scraped by sandpaper—the grandmother paused, startled, before hesitantly telling her she was going to the inpatient department.

The inpatient department started above the tenth floor. Deciding to see the favor through, Xu Qingzhi accompanied her all the way to the tenth floor and helped carry the bag into a ward.

As she stepped out of the room, a middle-aged woman in a hospital gown happened to be returning. Upon seeing the grandmother and the child, a smile instantly bloomed across her sallow face.

Xu Qingzhi silently closed the door and left; she still had to head down to the sixth floor for her own appointment.

However, when she returned to the elevators, she found they had already ascended to a higher floor. For some reason, the elevator remained stuck up there, refusing to move.

Xu Qingzhi frowned and looked around. The layout of the inpatient floors was rectangular; there should be another elevator at the corner symmetrical to where she was standing.

She walked toward the other end. At the end of the corridor, a small window stood half-open, letting in a path of golden sunlight.

Only one young girl was there, leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for the elevator as well.

The girl appeared exceptionally sleepy. Even though she could barely keep her eyes open, she would force her eyelids up every few seconds to glance at the floor indicator. Seeing that the elevator hadn’t reached her floor yet, she would close her eyes again and resume her nap.

Just as Xu Qingzhi approached, the phone in her handbag began to ring.

Because of her job, she always kept her ringtone at the lowest volume, but in the quiet corridor, the faint ringing sounded exceptionally clear.

The drowsy girl was startled into a bolt-upright position, staring blankly at Xu Qingzhi.

Xu Qingzhi returned an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Without waiting for a reply, she quickly pulled open the heavy door to the emergency stairwell and slipped inside.

The call was from her college roommate, Cui Can. Seeing the caller ID, Xu Qingzhi felt a flicker of surprise.

She answered the phone, her hoarse voice echoing through the empty stairwell.

“Hello.”

“Qingzhi? Why does your voice sound like that?” Cui Can was clearly stunned, shouting through the phone.

“I have a cold.”

“A cold can do that to you?” Cui Can didn’t buy it.

A breeze drifted up from somewhere in the stairwell. Xu Qingzhi smoothed down her restless skirt and answered nonchalantly, “I’ve had the cold for about a week. It was actually almost better, but the school had mock exams these past two days. I was assigned to proctor in the laboratory building, and my throat ended up like this.”

Cui Can recalled that the lab building at Xu Qingzhi’s school was newly built—no air conditioning, no heating. In this February weather, that building was likely as cold as an ice cellar. It would be a miracle if Xu Qingzhi hadn’t caught a cold.

She grumbled advice: “You’re this sick—don’t let it drag on, no matter how busy school is. Get to a hospital and get checked out.”

Xu Qingzhi gave a soft un: “I’m at the hospital right now. I don’t have classes today, so I took leave.”

“That’s good.” Cui Can finally felt a bit relieved, though she felt she was worrying like a nagging mother.

The thought reminded her of the original purpose of her call. She asked tentatively, “So, uh… what about the one at your house? She didn’t go to the hospital with you?”

“Her?” Xu Qingzhi blanked for a moment before realizing who Cui Can was referring to. “Shen Baiyi went on a business trip two weeks ago.”

“A business trip two weeks ago?” This surprised Cui Can. She pressed, “When is she coming back?”

Xu Qingzhi replied casually, “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”

She didn’t mention it and she didn’t tell me—these were two very different things.

Cui Can thought of the silhouette she had seen outside a bar last night—one that looked exactly like Shen Baiyi—and grew uncertain. She suddenly regretted making this call so hastily.

She swallowed the words she had intended to say and changed the subject.

“You and Shen Baiyi… how did your life turn out like this? I’ve never seen a couple like you. You haven’t been married that long, yet you have no idea where she is, what she’s doing, or who she’s with.”

The tiled wall opposite reflected Xu Qingzhi’s features. Her eyes were very beautiful, though someone had once commented that they were so dark they gave off an aura of keeping everyone at a thousand miles’ distance.

Cui Can continued her rambling: “…Qingzhi, you were the first in our dorm to get married. Honestly, back then, we thought you’d be the last one to settle for anything less than perfect. Who knew you’d be the first to step into a cage after graduation…”

She said painfully, “Since you got married, tell me, have you truly been happy even once?”

“Qingzhi,” Cui Can said, “a marriage without affection cannot last. What I mean is, you don’t have to wait for the other party to commit a ‘principled’ mistake—like cheating—before you choose to end it. When there’s no feeling left, isn’t it painful just living under the same roof, looking at each other’s faces—”

Xu Qingzhi interrupted her: “Cui Can, did you find something out? Is that why you called?”

—I saw Shen Baiyi at a bar entrance, tangled up and hugging someone else.

Stop!

She couldn’t say it. Not yet.

Cui Can metaphorically slapped her own mouth. She choked for a second and gave a hollow laugh. “That… no, of course not.”

In reality, while heading home after overtime last night, Cui Can had been waiting at a red light when she caught sight of a familiar figure outside a bar.

That person was embracing someone else in an exceptionally intimate posture.

Exhausted and wanting only to get home, Cui Can had glanced away quickly, failing to immediately connect the silhouette to someone she knew.

It wasn’t until she got home that it clicked: that woman looked a lot like Xu Qingzhi’s Alpha.

But by then, she was already home, and the chance to confirm the person’s identity in person was gone.

All night, Cui Can had been torn between “Was that really Shen Baiyi?” and “I must have been mistaken.”

She couldn’t hold it in this morning and called, only to hear Xu Qingzhi say Shen Baiyi was away on business.

Without concrete evidence, Cui Can could advise Xu Qingzhi to end the marriage based on a lack of love, but she couldn’t groundlessly claim Shen Baiyi was out carousing.

So, Cui Can said dejectedly, “It’s nothing, Qingzhi. I just suddenly felt like calling. Go see the doctor soon and take care of yourself, or your grandmother will surely worry.”