After Falling in Love with the Scum Alpha’s Beautiful Original Wife at First Sight - Chapter 14

Why had she married Shen Baiyi?

Xu Qingzhi’s movements paused, and for a brief moment, she sank into her memories.

A year ago, no one knew how helpless Xu Qingzhi had been.

There were twenty-four hours in a day, and she only ran between two places: the school and the hospital.

That was the grandmother who had depended on her and lived with her for more than twenty years. She was just over seventy, her hair at the temples slightly gray, her temper a little stubborn. She refused to live with Xu Qingzhi and insisted on guarding the old house in the countryside.

Xu Qingzhi had always thought that her grandmother’s health was still quite good. She had thought her grandmother would accompany her through marriage, accompany her when she had children, and even accompany her children as they grew up.

But that day, when a neighbor called and told Xu Qingzhi that her grandmother was not feeling well, Xu Qingzhi instantly panicked. She took leave and went back to bring her grandmother to the hospital. One examination after another was done, and one doctor after another was seen.

In the end, the doctor told Xu Qingzhi the name of an illness she had never heard of before.

Xu Qingzhi stood beneath the lights in the hospital corridor, but she felt a chill strike her head-on, blowing so hard that she could hardly remain standing.

This was the last family member she had in the world. Xu Qingzhi would nearly break down just thinking about a life without her grandmother.

Xu Qingzhi wanted to simply resign so she could stay by her grandmother’s side and care for her all the time.

But no matter what, her grandmother refused to agree to let Xu Qingzhi do that. Xu Qingzhi had no choice but to run back and forth between the school and the hospital, wishing she could split herself into two people.

During that time, she was truly about to collapse from exhaustion.

Her friends could only help in very limited ways. Xu Qingzhi could only rely on herself to hold on.

Until one day, a neighbor came to the hospital to visit her grandmother and chat with her.

After all, they were neighbors who had known each other for many years. And once people became ill, their psychological defenses would also become unusually fragile. Xu Qingzhi did not know what they had talked about. By the time Xu Qingzhi returned to the hospital after getting off work from school, the neighbor waved her over and called Xu Qingzhi outside the ward to talk.

The neighbor said, “Qingzhi, you’re already at the right age. It’s time to find an Alpha and settle down in marriage.”

Xu Qingzhi’s mind was full of her grandmother’s illness. How could she have the mental energy to think about this? She gave a perfunctory smile. “Grandma is this seriously ill right now. How could I have the mood to get married?”

Unexpectedly, after she entered the ward again, her grandmother also stubbornly demanded that she get married as soon as possible.

Only then did Xu Qingzhi realize what her grandmother was worried about. It was nothing more than the fear that her condition would worsen again, and from then on, Xu Qingzhi would truly be left alone in this world. Unable to out-stubborn her grandmother, Xu Qingzhi could only agree to meet the Alpha the neighbor introduced to her.

The person the neighbor introduced was none other than Shen Baiyi.

On the day she met Shen Baiyi, Xu Qingzhi was nearly half an hour late.

Because she had to care for her grandmother, once she got busy, she threw any thought of an Alpha to the back of her mind. When Xu Qingzhi hurriedly arrived at the agreed meeting place, she thought the other person would definitely be very unhappy.

Before she even clearly saw what this Alpha looked like, Xu Qingzhi first apologized with deep guilt. She was waiting for the other person to mock her coldly and then leave with a dark expression, but unexpectedly, she heard the other person laugh brightly and then say,

“You’re Xu Qingzhi, right? There was a really amazing street performer singing here just now. It’s a pity you didn’t get to hear it in person.”

Xu Qingzhi froze. Only then did she raise her head and look seriously at the Alpha in front of her.

Half-long hair, slightly taller than her, pupils faintly tinged with chestnut brown. When she smiled, there was no gloom at all on her face. She looked at Xu Qingzhi with complete sincerity.

Xu Qingzhi could not describe what kind of feeling she had at that moment. Perhaps it was a little bit of relief.

Relief that the person who came to meet her was Shen Baiyi.

Later on, Shen Baiyi naturally confirmed a relationship with Xu Qingzhi, but it stopped there.

Xu Qingzhi never agreed to marriage for a long time.

Because marriage and dating were different. After marriage, an Omega would be marked by an Alpha, covered with another person’s pheromones, truly establishing, on a biological level, a strange bond related to genes and instinct.

Xu Qingzhi was inexplicably afraid. This meant that from then on, a person would have an extraordinary influence over her. She could not help being cautious again and again.

What truly moved Xu Qingzhi was something else.

Later, one night, Xu Qingzhi stayed in the hospital ward to care for her grandmother and slept there with her. Perhaps because Xu Qingzhi had to both work and care for her grandmother, she was simply too exhausted and slept extremely deeply. When she woke up, the lights in the ward were blazing. The nurse on duty had rushed in. Her grandmother lay unconscious on the hospital bed, while Shen Baiyi stood beside Xu Qingzhi, gripping her hand tightly, her face full of fatigue.

After Xu Qingzhi understood what exactly had happened, she almost fainted.

It turned out that while she was asleep, her grandmother’s condition had suddenly worsened. If Shen Baiyi had not come to the hospital in the middle of the night and discovered that something was wrong, her grandmother might have…

Fortunately, after emergency treatment, her grandmother’s vital signs stabilized again.

Xu Qingzhi sat dazedly on a chair in the hospital corridor, covered in cold sweat.

Only after she recovered a little did she remember to ask Shen Baiyi why she had suddenly thought to come to the hospital in the middle of the night.

Shen Baiyi did not speak. She raised her hand and touched the back of Xu Qingzhi’s head, while her other arm wrapped around Xu Qingzhi’s back and pressed her into her embrace.

Xu Qingzhi remained silent and let her move.

Only after a long while did she hear Shen Baiyi’s voice coming from above her head.

“Because my heart ached for you.”

—

By the end of the meal, Cui Can still could not help asking Xu Qingzhi, “Do you think you love Shen Baiyi?”

Xu Qingzhi blinked slowly.

She did like Shen Baiyi, right?

She liked the pure and sincere smile Shen Baiyi had shown her when they first met. She liked the hug Shen Baiyi had given her at the hospital.

She also liked that Shen Baiyi had told her she would personally make her a handwoven turquoise knot exactly like the old one.

It could only be said that life after marriage was far too different from what she had imagined.

People said that love gradually turned into family affection through living together. Xu Qingzhi felt that her feelings toward Shen Baiyi were somewhere between liking and familial affection.

Cui Can seemed thoughtful.

“Qingzhi, I’m going to say something you might not like hearing. I think your upbringing has affected your understanding of a normal marriage and AO relationship. You grew up depending on your grandmother. Although your grandmother treated you very well, you actually never saw what a happy, complete family life looked like. Precisely because you don’t know, your marriage with Shen Baiyi looks to me more like an experiment you threw yourself into. You’re simulating the married life you imagined and acting out a script you wrote yourself. That’s why no matter how excessive Shen Baiyi’s behavior is, you can tolerate it. It’s as if you’re playing a game, and Shen Baiyi is an NPC in the game. Would you get angry at an NPC?”

Xu Qingzhi froze.

Before she could say anything, Cui Can quickly continued, “In short, you need to think it through clearly. The foundation of a normal marriage and AO relationship should be love. Love does not mean you blindly giving to Shen Baiyi. And if Shen Baiyi loves you, she wouldn’t ignore your feelings, disregard your efforts, and treat you like a pet—coaxing you when she’s happy and ignoring you when she’s not.”

She reached out and held Xu Qingzhi’s hand on the table, looking into Xu Qingzhi’s eyes.

“Qingzhi, don’t only look with your eyes and listen with your ears. What your marriage is really like has to be felt with your own heart.”