Conquering The Love Rival Alpha - Chapter 2

If she had been buried, then fine. But if she had become a vegetable… then she might as well have been buried directly.

“Let’s go, Yu. Grandma is calling you.” Xia Lu stood by the open car door and turned back to call her.

Hearing that, Feng Qingyu answered at once, got up, and stepped out of the car. The moment she straightened, a pain shot through her back. She pressed her lips together and endured it as she looked toward the old lady standing not far away beneath the magnificent building.

She did not look like Grandma, but the aura she gave off was somewhat similar. From a distance, that figure overlapped with the one in Feng Qingyu’s memory, making her fall into a daze despite herself.

“Grandma!” Sunlight shone on that bright smiling face, and even her exposed teeth and the corners of her eyes seemed to flash together.

Fortunately, aside from Feng Qingyu herself, no one else noticed anything strange about her.

The Feng family’s villa was built like a castle, with so many steps they were almost impossible to count. After Feng Qingyu climbed the stairs and helped the old lady through the door, the old lady still could not bear to let go of her precious granddaughter’s large hand. Holding it, she asked, “What kind of class did your mother sign you up for? On such a hot day, you still have to run outside for lessons? Can’t she hire a tutor to come teach you at home?”

Xia Lu’s hearing was shockingly sharp. Her hand, which had been reaching out to take a glass of water, paused. She turned her head and looked at the grandmother and granddaughter quietly whispering about her from behind her back. “Are you saying bad things about me? I heard everything, you know.”

Feng Qingyu looked in surprise at Xia Lu, who was at least ten meters away by visual estimate, and inwardly sighed at how good her hearing was. Then she heard the old lady laugh heartily. “I said it for you to hear. Don’t go to that tutoring class anymore. My granddaughter’s grades are already excellent. She doesn’t need tutoring at all. If she really has to be tutored, just invite a teacher to the house. I’ll reimburse however much it costs, won’t I?”

Xia Lu drank a mouthful of water, then waved her hand helplessly, both amused and exasperated. “Mom, this isn’t about money.”

“Exactly.” Feng Chongan, who came out of the kitchen wearing an apron, happened to hear his mother’s bold declaration and picked up the topic. “Mom, this really isn’t about money. You can count the top teachers on your fingers, and every family wants them. The reason teachers open classes is precisely so they don’t offend anyone. It wouldn’t be right for our family to act that overbearing.”

“That’s true too.” Hearing this, the old lady turned back and glanced at the old man sitting not far away.

The old man had not spoken a word since they arrived. Receiving his wife’s look, he knew that her plan had fallen through, so he raised a hand and waved it. “Forget it. Xiaoyu’s studies are important. If she needs tutoring, then let her have tutoring.”

The old lady pursed her lips and fell silent.

Before coming over, the elderly couple had discussed it. If the class could be changed to at-home tutoring, then they would make the decision and bring both Xiaoyu and the teacher to the estate. Now that it could not be negotiated, her hopes had completely fallen through. This summer—no! To be precise, before the Mid-Autumn Festival, she would have no chance to spend day and night with her granddaughter again.

Sigh. At their age, they were supposed to be able to let go of most things. Only when it came to children were they unwilling to give up easily. But in their hearts, they also understood that children had lives of their own.

Fine, then. They would not interfere with the child’s life.

Feng Qingyu did not dare speak recklessly. She quietly stood at the side and listened. Seeing Xia Lu give her a confirming look that meant she had passed, she followed the old lady to sit down in front of the sofa.

There was still some time before the meal, so the old lady seized every second to show concern for her granddaughter. First, she asked about the tutoring class. After learning that it was not as exhausting as she had imagined, she began worrying about Feng Qingyu’s health.

“Did you lose weight?” After saying that, the old lady turned and asked the old man beside her, “Hey, look. Hasn’t Xiaoyu gotten thinner? I didn’t see wrong, did I?”

After receiving confirmation, she lifted her head and looked at Xia Lu, who had personally brought over some fruit. “Xiaoyu is at the age when she’s still developing. I don’t care if you two husband and wife want to be disciplined and maintain good figures, but you can’t make things difficult for the child, all right?”

Feng Qingyu had stayed in the hospital for ten days, so a fluctuation in weight was normal. If they really compared, she was actually two jin heavier now than before being hospitalized. But Xia Lu could not withstand her guilty conscience. She lowered her eyes and did not dare look at the old lady. “Of course we wouldn’t.”

Compared to that, the old man did not care much about this issue. He glanced at his granddaughter and daughter-in-law, then circled the topic back around. “Just now, you said Xiaoyu signed up for whose class this year?”

Xia Lu froze, then repeated, “Teacher Zhong’s. The one who teaches graduating classes every year.”

Feng Chongan had come out to call them for the meal. Hearing his wife’s words, his eyelids jumped hard twice. He was just about to speak when he met his father’s eyes. His throat suddenly tightened, and he lost his voice.

“Oh, that’s quite good.” The old man stared at his son and nodded. He was the first to stand and ask him, “You’re here to call us to eat?”

Feng Chongan could not stand his father’s scrutinizing gaze. He lowered his eyes and answered, “Mm.”

“Then good. Let’s go eat.”

After the family of five finished lunch, Feng Chongan’s tense nerves relaxed slightly under the comfort of food. Unfortunately, that state did not last long before a wrinkled but powerful hand pressed down on his shoulder.

The old man looked down at him from above and said, “Finished eating? If you’re done, come sit with me in the study for a while.”

Feng Chongan: “…”

Xia Lu: “?”

Not giving the couple any chance to exchange information through their eyes, the old man called another name first. “And Xiaoyu, you come too.”

Feng Qingyu, who was completely outside the situation, did not understand what was going on, but it did not stop her from obediently standing up. “Okay, Grandpa.”

With this, the old lady finally sensed that something was wrong too. “What is it, old man?” Before they came, he had not mentioned that there would be this part.

“Nothing. You and Xia Lu sit for a while. I’ll be out soon.” As the old man spoke, he turned and walked toward the study behind the staircase on the first floor.

Feng Qingyu could only follow Feng Chongan and catch up.

The study door closed. Feng Qingyu looked at the father and son, both of whom were basically strangers to her, and quietly pulled herself back to what she considered a safe distance before standing with her head lowered.

During the days she had been hospitalized, Feng Chongan had gone to visit her a few times. Unfortunately, every time he finished handling work and went over, he happened to catch her while she was sleeping. As a result, today was the first time this father and daughter had met.

It just so happened to be the same as with the old man.

Fortunately, this first meeting allowed her to see clearly who the boss of this family was.

Sitting in the sofa chair placed in the main position, the old man glared seriously at Feng Chongan and asked, “Still not telling the truth?”

The explanation Feng Chongan had prepared was jammed in his throat by the anger in that question, making his face flush red.

Seeing him like this, the old man shifted his gaze to his granddaughter. “Xiaoyu, since your dad refuses to speak, come, you tell me.”

Feng Qingyu, who had just thought this had nothing to do with her, lifted her head, only to find a straight back suddenly appear before her.

Feng Chongan shielded his daughter behind him and said, “Dad, Xiaoyu is only a child… Fine, I lied. This year, we didn’t sign up for Teacher Zhong’s class.”

“Hmph, I knew it. Old Zhong didn’t open a class at all this year. What exactly is going on with you people?”

Feng Chongan was silent for a few seconds. With a complicated expression, he glanced at the daughter behind him. Then, gritting his teeth and stomping his foot, he braced himself and started making things up. “Actually, it’s like this. I hid it from Xia Lu and found Qingyu an intensive class. It’s run by a few young teachers. I was afraid Xia Lu would have objections, so I didn’t tell the truth.”

As soon as these words came out, both the person in front of him and the person behind him looked at him with the same expression.

The difference was that Feng Qingyu was thinking: What even is this? Is it really necessary to use this kind of lie to cover it up? What would happen if they admitted she had been hospitalized? Would they lose a piece of flesh?

What the old man was thinking, however, was: “Have you gone mad, you brat? What kind of messy nonsense are you getting involved in outside? And young teachers? It’s already reached the point where you have to hide it from Xia Lu? I’m putting my words here today! Although you are my biological son, if you dare wrong Xia Lu, I’ll personally beat you to death!”

Feng Chongan hurried over to pat the old man’s back and help him breathe more smoothly. “No, no, no, Dad, don’t start imagining things that don’t exist. I am very devoted to Xia Lu! There is only her in my heart. In life, I belong to her; in death, I’ll be her ghost!”

Feng Qingyu: “…”

For the nth time, she regretted not reading the original text back then. She was now extremely curious about what sort of setting this family had.

But to be fair, she could tell that they were very loving.

At the same time, it also reminded her of her own terrible original family.

They existed almost like a comparison group: a cheating father, a mother who was a delicate wife obsessed with pleasing men, a pitiful grandmother, and a physically weak grandfather… Thinking about it like this, this place was practically heaven.

After using an extremely awful excuse to muddle through with the two elders and seeing them off, Feng Qingyu, who needed to rest properly, finally got her wish and lay down in a room with only herself inside.

After sweeping her gaze over the bookcase and solid wood desk that were exactly like the ones in her past dreams, she stared at the chandelier above her and lost focus.

She had to admit that her ex really did understand her preferences very well. She also understood Feng Qingyu’s family very well.

As for Feng Qingyu herself, she had paid too little attention to her. She had not even properly read her works. Now, even after racking her brains to remember, she could only recall a few scattered fragments of “rambling.”

For example: “Ahhh, I’m being so cruel to her! I made her get hit by a car and made her drown too. Wuwuwuwu, through fire and water…”

What about after that? What did she say after that?

Car crash, drowning, fire? And water too?

Thinking about it this way, it seemed her ex had long been dissatisfied with her.

Then was it possible that writing her into the book and even arranging for her to be an infatuated second female lead whose love could never be returned was revenge?

Feng Qingyu suddenly realized that perhaps she had not been abruptly broken up with at all. Instead, she had simply been far too slow and had completely failed to sense the other person’s forbearance.

All right. She felt a little relieved.

The stone weighing on her heart grew a bit lighter. Unable to sleep, she got up and stood in front of the bookcase for a while. She pulled out the textbooks from the compartment on the far side, flipped through a few pages, and discovered they were different from what she had studied before. She pulled out the chair in front of the long desk and sat down, preparing to take a closer look.

The book landed on the desk with a soft sound. Her scalp abruptly went numb as she realized what the words “car crash” meant.

She had just been discharged after getting into a car crash!

Was this car crash that car crash?

If it was, then when would the drowning happen?

Damn it, she was most afraid of deep water!

Clutching her wildly pounding chest, Feng Qingyu stared in terror at the book in front of her. Beside her ear, a familiar clanging suddenly rang out.

Feng Qingyu: “Hm?”

Was it the system? Was it coming? Was it about to issue her a task?

One minute passed. Two minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Six hours passed. The sky had gone completely dark, and still there was nothing.

It only rang once? Was the system malfunctioning? What kind of unreliable system was this?!

In novels and short dramas, weren’t systems supposed to be golden fingers, cheats?

This kind of cheat? Are you sure it wasn’t a virus?

Lying on a soft, comfortable bed like a cloud, Feng Qingyu suddenly felt that this place was full of danger.

For the next half month, even when she washed up in the bathroom, she was extremely cautious, afraid that one moment of carelessness would cause her to be drowned by water.

Fortunately, the thing she worried about did not happen. It also made her understand one thing after thinking about it day and night: since her accident had happened during the process of chasing love, it had to be related to the female lead.

Before the female lead appeared, no accident would happen to her.

Very good. Now there was a new problem—who was the female lead?

Who was the one she was supposed to “delusionally pine after”?

Carrying this question and failing to brew any sleepiness, Feng Qingyu found the answer in her new phone, which had successfully synced with the old data.

Looking at the only contact in the special group, she tapped the profile picture and entered that person’s social feed. Then, from the member remarks in a group chat, she obtained the name Ding Xueyao.

Ding Xueyao. Just from the name alone, she seemed like a very gentle girl. Gentle plus gentle really did seem like it would not have many highlights.

Putting down her phone, Feng Qingyu closed her sore eyes, exhausted from scrolling through her phone, and thought seriously for a while.

Perhaps because she now had a keyword, the lonely boat that had been drifting through the sea of her memories these past days seemed to find its direction. In just a few short seconds, it really helped her link to a certain memory.

In a blurry scene, her ex was sitting cross-legged in front of the computer desk while holding a thick dictionary. She muttered to herself, “Choosing a name, choosing a name, open! Hm? Snow? Very good, the female lead will be called Ding Xueyao! Again, again… open! Good, the official pairing is Xun Zhou. Then the second female lead… right, I’ll use your name for the second female lead and change one character. Yu as in language will become yu as in rain. Feng Qingyu. Hahaha, I’m so smart.”

Feng Qingyu: “You really are careless.”

The phone lying on her chest vibrated. Feng Qingyu opened her eyes and picked it up. After seeing the message on it and the two similar names, she stared expressionlessly as the three-person group chat window kept refreshing. Her mind automatically gave their text a voice.

This had to be that tall, fit deskmate of hers and her deskmate’s twin sister.

…Why did even their text messages feel so noisy?

As she was thinking this, the lit-up screen buzzed and vibrated. Two video call invitations appeared almost at the same time.

“…”

Feng Qingyu, utterly convinced, could only hang them up one by one, then take the initiative to start a group voice call.

Three black frames hovered in the middle of the screen. Two voices with similar tones but completely different ways of speaking came from the phone together. “Qingyu, Qingyu, are you home tomorrow? We’re coming over to play!”

Before she could answer, one of the two voices sounded again. “Oh, right, it’s not just us. There are a few other classmates too. The ones you invited during the break.”

The other voice picked up the thread. “They don’t know you were hurt. The two of us didn’t dare tell them.”

“Then why are they coming?” Feng Qingyu was baffled.

The two voices overlapped again. “To swim at your house! You invited them, don’t you remember? Oh—you haven’t recovered yet?”

She probably had no way of recovering. Feng Qingyu quietly sighed. After sighing, she noticed the appearance of a sensitive word and immediately held her breath as she asked, “Who’s coming?”

Heaven bless her.

Please, absolutely do not let Ding Xueyao be among them!