After Falling in Love with the Scum Alpha’s Beautiful Original Wife at First Sight - Chapter 10

When Xu Qingzhi returned home from work, the rooms were empty and silent, like a black monster opening its abyssal mouth toward her.

The clock on the wall had only just pointed to seven. Today, she had to finish grading the history quizzes for four classes. When she left, she had been the only person left in the office. Her return home today already counted as quite late.

But Shen Baiyi still had not come back.

Xu Qingzhi turned on the living room light. She took off her coat and went straight into the kitchen.

The porridge she had cooked that morning had probably only been eaten by Shen Baiyi in one or two mouthfuls. A full bowl was still left, simply sitting in the kitchen sink. One beef pan-fried bun had been eaten, and a little less than half a plate of shrimp dumplings was gone. The eggs, milk, and toast showed no signs of having been touched.

Xu Qingzhi looked at the scene and thought, Shouldn’t I be very angry?

She had gotten up very early that morning to prepare breakfast for Shen Baiyi. Afraid that Shen Baiyi’s stomach would feel uncomfortable after drinking the night before, she had specially prepared some lighter food. The porridge had been kept warm in the pot, and the shrimp dumplings and pan-fried buns had also been placed in the steamer, all because she feared Shen Baiyi would wake up too late and the food would get cold.

In the end, Shen Baiyi had not eaten much of the food at all. The bowls and chopsticks were casually piled in the sink, naturally left for Xu Qingzhi to clean up.

But Xu Qingzhi could not get angry.

She seemed like a gas canister that had already leaked all its gas. Even when it came to something like getting angry and losing her temper, she had the desire but not the strength.

Was it because, deep in her heart, she actually had no expectations of Shen Baiyi at all? Xu Qingzhi rolled up her sleeves and thought this while washing the dishes.

Perhaps Shen Baiyi simply did not like tidying things up and did not like washing dishes.

Some people were clean freaks in the sense that they could not help cleaning whenever they saw something dirty, while others were clean freaks in the sense that they disliked touching filthy things.

Perhaps Shen Baiyi was the latter.

After Xu Qingzhi finished cleaning the kitchen, she opened the fridge and stared at the ingredients inside, thinking about what dishes she should make for dinner.

Meatball and glass noodle soup, dry-fried cabbage, and sweet-and-sour eggplant stuffed meat rolls. These three dishes should be about enough.

She had just taken the ingredients she needed out of the fridge when two messages suddenly popped up on the phone placed beside her.

Shen Baiyi: I have to work overtime again tonight. I’ll probably come home very late.

Shen Baiyi: Don’t wait for me.

Xu Qingzhi stared blankly at those two messages for about a minute.

Then she put the ingredients she had just taken out back where they belonged.

That was fine. Since Shen Baiyi would not be coming back for dinner, there was no need for Xu Qingzhi to go to so much trouble when eating alone. She could just cook herself some noodles and make do.

A relaxed smile appeared on her face. The water in the small pot gradually began to boil, and steam rose in wisps, brushing against Xu Qingzhi’s face.

Xu Qingzhi tossed a handful of noodles into the water. When she turned around, she unintentionally saw her face reflected in the window.

There was no smile on her face at all. Her eyes were cold and dark, as unpleasant-looking as could be.

—

It was nowhere.

Xu Qingzhi had almost turned the entire house upside down. She had moved nearly every piece of furniture in the house and searched carefully, but she still could not find the turquoise knot that had been hanging on her handbag.

In the end, she simply sat on the floor, hugged her head with both hands, and tried hard to recall where she might possibly have lost the turquoise knot.

In the past few days, she had not taken that handbag to school. The last time she had carried it out was the day she went to the hospital.

Xu Qingzhi abruptly opened her eyes. Had she lost it at the hospital?

Not necessarily. It was also possible that she had lost it on the road.

If it had been lost in some corner of the house, that would still be all right. Even if she could not find it for now, Xu Qingzhi would not be so anxious. Perhaps one day, when doing a thorough cleaning, she would be able to find it again.

But if it had been lost outside, the hope of finding it again was almost nonexistent.

Xu Qingzhi bent her legs and hugged herself blankly.

That handwoven turquoise knot was a relic of Xu Qingzhi’s mother. It carried the few memories Xu Qingzhi had of her mother.

Xu Qingzhi had been raised by her grandmother. When she was very young, both her parents were already gone. She had never met her biological Alpha parent, and as for her mother, she only remembered an extremely vague fragment.

At that time, Xu Qingzhi seemed to have only just learned how to walk. Her grandmother cared for her at home, while her mother went out to work. She remembered that she had originally been sitting in her grandmother’s arms, eating steamed egg custard spoonful by spoonful as her grandmother fed her.

Her mother had finished getting ready and picked up her handbag to leave. When Xu Qingzhi saw this, she struggled out of her grandmother’s arms, cried, ran over, and hugged her mother’s leg.

Her mother seemed to smile. She bent down and touched the back of Xu Qingzhi’s head. The turquoise knot on her handbag dangled down, and the icy little stone brushed against Xu Qingzhi’s cheek.

This scene became the only relatively clear memory she had of her mother.

Feeling low, Xu Qingzhi took out her phone and sent Cui Can a message.

Xu Qingzhi: What should I do? I lost my turquoise knot. I don’t even remember where I lost it.

Cui Can was probably slacking off at work, because she replied instantly.

Cui Can: Ah!

Cui Can: How did it get lost?

Cui Can: Can you call the police?

Xu Qingzhi: There’s probably no way to call the police. That turquoise isn’t worth much money.

The other side was silent for about a minute before sending another message.

Cui Can: I remember there seems to be a kind of lost-item-finding service on Taobao. My coworker’s cat got lost once last year. She searched everywhere for a long time but couldn’t find it. Later, she found a shop on Taobao that could help locate lost pets and asked the shop owner to calculate it for her. In the end, she really found her cat in the direction the shop owner told her.

After reading Cui Can’s message word by word, Xu Qingzhi’s heart stirred. Holding the attitude of giving it a try, she found a shop that helped search for lost items. According to the other party’s requirements, she told them the approximate time it was lost, the place where she had last seen the turquoise knot, and other information.

The shop owner asked her to provide three numbers under thirty. Xu Qingzhi glanced at the time on her phone and simply gave that time to the other party.

Xu Qingzhi waited for about ten minutes before the shop owner sent her one sentence.

Slightly auspicious. Belongs to water. It should be in a water-attribute position. Most likely, it isn’t lost, but it should be outdoors. Look toward the north. The chances of a woman helping you find it are higher.

Seeing the words “most likely, it isn’t lost,” Xu Qingzhi finally let out a sigh of relief. Her mood became slightly lighter. Just as she was thinking about how to use this information to find the knot, a WeChat call suddenly popped up.

It was from her grandmother.

Xu Qingzhi answered the call, and her grandmother’s voice came through the receiver.

“Qingqing, have you eaten?”

Xu Qingzhi suddenly felt her nose sting. She gave a soft hum and replied quietly, “I have.”

“Have you been busy at school recently? Are the students obedient? There aren’t any especially naughty troublemakers, are there?”

Xu Qingzhi had already been working for nearly three years, but her grandmother always seemed to feel that she had only just graduated not long ago, as if she were an inexperienced trainee teacher who could not keep students under control.

Xu Qingzhi patiently answered her questions. Her grandmother said “that’s good” several times, then suddenly asked her, “Qingqing, why does your voice sound a little off? Did something happen recently?”

Xu Qingzhi froze for a moment. “No, nothing. I’m doing fine.”

“It’s probably because I caught a cold a few days ago, and my throat hasn’t fully recovered yet. So I sound a little strange when I talk.”

Her grandmother did not seem to believe this explanation very much. She nagged her for a few sentences, telling her she absolutely had to take care of herself. At the end, she suddenly changed the subject. “Where’s Xiao Shen? How has Xiao Shen been recently?”

“Her?” Xu Qingzhi said vaguely. “She’s doing pretty well. She’s just much busier at work than I am. Recently, she usually comes home very late at night.”

Her grandmother was a little surprised. “Is that so? Then when will you two be able to have a child?”

Xu Qingzhi had not expected her grandmother to suddenly start urging her to have a child. She got stuck for a moment, and the hand hanging by her side instinctively tightened around the hem of her skirt.

In fact, Xu Qingzhi had never told her grandmother that although she and Shen Baiyi had been married for a year, Shen Baiyi had never marked her.

From the moment they got married, the two of them had always slept in separate rooms. Xu Qingzhi slept in the master bedroom, while Shen Baiyi slept in the guest bedroom.

She said as if nothing were wrong, “Neither of us wants to consider having children right now. None of the teachers at our school have children this early either, and in the second half of the year, I might be teaching senior year. Baiyi is busy too. We both think it would be better to wait another couple of years before planning this.”

Her grandmother let out a heavy sigh. “All right, all right. Do as you like.”

The grandmother and granddaughter chatted about a few other things. Just before hanging up, her grandmother solemnly gave Xu Qingzhi one final instruction.

“Qingqing, you and Xiao Shen need to be well together. If you have something to say, then say it. Don’t quarrel.”

Only then did Xu Qingzhi realize that her grandmother still felt she was hiding something unhappy in her heart, and most likely thought she and Shen Baiyi had argued.

She said softly, “Okay. I know, Grandma.”