The Cold Alpha's Black Lotus O Strategy Plan (GL) - Chapter 30

The fingers hanging at Jin Sique’s side trembled slightly, and her pupils contracted sharply.

“Why are you here?”

“I happened to have time, so I came to pick you up,” Lü Zhongcai said.

She raised her hand and turned the dial on her wristwatch.

“Let’s go.”

After speaking, she turned and walked toward the exit of the parking garage.

Jin Sique looked back.

At some point, Zhang Zui’s car had already driven away. Presumably, while he was making that phone call, he had learned that Lü Zhongcai was on her way and decided to give Jin Sique a “surprise.”

Jin Sique’s lips moved slightly.

For an instant, anger distorted her expression.

She hurried several steps to catch up with Lü Zhongcai and took the cane from her hand.

“I’ll support you.”

Lü Zhongcai quietly looked at her.

Jin Sique glanced at her quickly, then lowered her gaze.

“Where is the car?”

“Outside,” Lü Zhongcai replied.

Jin Sique gave a soft acknowledgment and supported Lü Zhongcai as they walked out.

Neither spoke.

052 roared wildly inside Lü Zhongcai’s mind.

“You caught her red-handed this time! And you still refused to believe me! How is this some innocent little white lotus? She’s a black lotus rotten to the core!”

“President Lü, let go of her! Hmm? You’re still holding her? Ahhh, let go! Let go—”

“Shut up,” Lü Zhongcai said.

The driver, who had just opened the car door, jolted in fright at her sudden outburst and froze.

“P-President Lü… I didn’t say anything…”

Lü Zhongcai pressed one finger against her temple, waved a hand, and got into the car.

Jin Sique followed, wearing a gentle smile as she sat beside her.

“Back to the university?” Lü Zhongcai asked.

“Mm.”

Jin Sique clasped her hands together. A thin layer of sweat had formed in her palms, yet her expression remained perfectly calm, as though what had just happened had merely been an illusion shared by them both.

Traffic flowed around them.

City A had excellent greenery, and the trees on both sides of the road rapidly receded.

In a daze, Jin Sique felt as though she had returned to several years earlier.

—

“Our household doesn’t have many rules, but Madam will be visiting after some time.”

Aunt Guo lowered her voice and whispered beside Jin Sique’s ear.

“She’s coming to see you.”

Jin Sique sneezed.

Flour scattered across her hair and face.

Aunt Guo froze, then hurriedly grabbed a tissue to wipe her clean.

“Oh dear, what happened?”

Jin Sique blinked in confusion.

Flour fluttered from her long eyelashes.

“President Lü’s mother is coming?”

“Mm. Both Madam and Master will be coming.”

Aunt Guo pressed the handkerchief into Jin Sique’s hand and said meaningfully, “Sique needs to learn how to become a virtuous, family-oriented Omega.”

Virtuous.

Family-oriented.

Jin Sique looked down at her hands.

Her palms were rough.

At Wangchun Pavilion, her work had consisted of serving tea and water to guests and handling miscellaneous chores.

Occasionally, someone would joke about the troupe employing child labor.

The troupe master would smile and explain that she was his adopted daughter, not an employee.

She belonged to the master’s household.

“The young mistress…”

The performers in the troupe called her that as well, covering their mouths with their water sleeves while their eyes curved in meaningful amusement.

“Young Mistress, pour me some tea.”

Jin Sique would pour tea and serve water for the performers, wash their faces, help them apply makeup, and serve the guests.

“I want to learn opera,” seven-year-old Jin Sique told the troupe master, envious of the dazzling performers onstage.

The troupe master glanced at her.

“You’re unsuitable.”

With a single sentence, he rejected her.

He never taught her vocal techniques or allowed her to practice the fundamentals.

When he eventually caught Jin Sique secretly following a qingyi actress to practice vocal exercises, he seized her and beat her severely.

“What opera are you trying to learn?”

“Your task is to grow up properly, care for me in my old age, and bury me when I die.”

“Once someone becomes a star performer, her heart grows wild. Would these old bones of mine still be able to keep you tied down?”

The troupe master coughed continuously as his cane struck Jin Sique’s body again and again.

Jin Sique stood there in a daze.

Only after Aunt Guo nudged her twice did she return to her senses.

“Wh-What is it?”

Aunt Guo looked at her suspiciously.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

Jin Sique obediently shook her head.

“No.”

After a moment, she asked, “What should I do?”

Aunt Guo smiled.

“We’ll dress you up properly. You can learn flower arrangement and art, just like Madam.”

“Would you like to return to school?”

Jin Sique looked at Aunt Guo.

Aunt Guo smiled.

“Cai Cai asked me to ask you. She’s too busy with work, but if there’s anything you’d like to do at home, you can tell me.”

Jin Sique lowered her eyes, light and shadow flickering within them.

“She isn’t coming back?”

Aunt Guo sighed.

“Cai Cai is too busy. She only returned to the country recently, and she’s currently taking over her position…”

During the first two months after their marriage, Jin Sique barely saw Lü Zhongcai.

—

At a café.

“This is a café outside the university. I was worried you might not be accustomed to the coffee.”

Jin Sique placed a cup before Lü Zhongcai, then carried another cup and sat directly across from her.

The driver waited outside.

“I’ll be fine,” Lü Zhongcai said.

She took a sip and immediately coughed in discomfort.

Jin Sique offered her a tissue.

“What happened? Would you like some sugar?”

Lü Zhongcai wiped the corner of her mouth and shook her head.

Then, with impeccable composure, she took another sip.

This time, her expression remained calm, as though proving that nothing was wrong with the coffee.

Jin Sique lowered her head and took a small sip as well.

Her fingertip rubbed the faint lipstick mark on the cup while she struggled to think of something to say.

After a moment, Lü Zhongcai spoke.

“I would like to know how you view our relationship.”

Jin Sique’s long eyelashes trembled and fluttered rapidly.

She lifted her coffee cup.

“Careful,” 052 said. “She’s hiding her expression. She’s thinking about how to brush you off.”

Lü Zhongcai studied Jin Sique and tapped one finger against the table.

It was an extremely oppressive gesture, forcing Jin Sique to put down her cup and meet Lü Zhongcai’s gaze.

“I…”

Jin Sique appeared troubled.

“For the next three years, we are legal spouses,” Lü Zhongcai said. “Between spouses—”

“What happens after three years?” Jin Sique suddenly interrupted, her breathing quickening.

“I think… I think our relationship is exactly as I said before.”

“Exactly as Fang Xiaohe described it.”

Lü Zhongcai fell silent.

“That was not what I meant.”

“Then why three years?” Jin Sique asked.

She shook her head and looked at Lü Zhongcai dejectedly.

“Aunt Guo told me before that if there was anything I wanted to do, I could ask you.”

Lü Zhongcai raised her eyes, slight confusion entering her calm expression.

“Tell me.”

“There’s a performance at the university before Youth Day. As for returning to the family home in Shandong, I would like…”

After speaking, Jin Sique took another sip of coffee.

Lü Zhongcai inclined her head.

“I’ll notify them.”

Jin Sique nodded.

Silence fell between them again.

Lü Zhongcai took another sip of coffee.

052 asked inside her mind, “Why are you nervous?”

“I respect your wishes, Sique,” Lü Zhongcai said.

“Apart from yourself, no one has the right to demean you.”

“Including me.”

Jin Sique smiled and replied gently, “I understand.”

Lü Zhongcai glanced at her watch.

Jin Sique immediately stood.

“I’ll walk you out.”

“Oh, right. Once the situation at the university is resolved, I’ll return to living in the dormitory long-term.”

The car door closed.

Xiao Wang bowed to Jin Sique, got into the vehicle, and started the engine.

The taillights flashed before disappearing down the long street.

Jin Sique slowed her breathing, paid the bill at the counter, pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, and wandered aimlessly along the street.

What happens after three years?

Jin Sique had asked Lü Zhongcai that before as well.

It had been before their marriage, when Lü Zhongcai brought in a lawyer to draft a detailed contract with her.

It included repayment of Jin Sique’s tens of millions in debt, definitions of private property, and the obligations both parties were required to fulfill during the marriage.

The contract was extremely long.

Lü Zhongcai’s lawyer was highly cautious and had used numerous clauses to restrict everything Jin Sique could obtain from the Lü family, as well as her status within it.

“Have you read the contract?” Jin Sique could not help asking Lü Zhongcai that day.

Lü Zhongcai was answering a call through a Bluetooth earpiece.

Hearing the question, she gestured toward the lawyer and stood to walk to the window.

The lawyer appeared to be over fifty.

She was an extremely serious and meticulous Alpha, though impeccably polite.

“Please don’t worry. I have served as the Lü family’s lawyer for many years.”

Jin Sique’s eyelashes fluttered.

She tugged awkwardly at the corner of her mouth and continued reading the contract.

When she reached the final section, her face grew hot.

“This… this…”

The elderly lawyer smiled kindly.

“Simply regard them as contractual clauses. There is no need to take them to heart.”

Jin Sique forced herself to finish reading the so-called clauses.

Her blush spread all the way to her ears before she finally signed her name on the document.

Lü Zhongcai ended the call and walked over.

Without even reading the clauses, she signed her own name and extended a hand toward Jin Sique.

Jin Sique froze, then reached out to take it.

Lü Zhongcai merely enclosed Jin Sique’s fingers in the formal grip of a business partner and shook them lightly twice.

The elderly lawyer collected the contract and smiled at them both.

“I wish you a happy marriage in advance.”

Jin Sique: “…”

Several days later, Lü Zhongcai made time amid her extremely busy schedule to register their marriage with Jin Sique.

That same day, the mountain of debt crushing Jin Sique vanished without a trace.

They ate dinner at the restaurant converted from Wangchun Pavilion.

There was no wedding and no master of ceremonies.

Lü Zhongcai asked the manager to open an expensive bottle of red wine.

Jin Sique became drunk.

Through her hazy eyes, she could not help asking:

“What happens after three years?”