The Cold Alpha's Black Lotus O Strategy Plan (GL) - Chapter 33

“I’m trying to get to know you,” Lü Zhongcai answered.

Jin Sique froze, then raised her head and looked at her in confusion.

“What?”

“To get to know you,” Lü Zhongcai repeated.

The car was parked by the roadside, and the driver had been waiting respectfully. When he saw Jin Sique, surprise appeared on his face.

“Miss Jin.”

Still stunned, Jin Sique nodded vaguely in greeting and got into the car with Lü Zhongcai.

The vehicle began moving. The jolt as they crossed a speed bump pulled her back to her senses.

“Get to know me…” Jin Sique asked hesitantly. “Why?”

Lü Zhongcai leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. A trace of exhaustion showed between her brows.

“Because you rarely tell me about your past.”

Jin Sique pressed her lips together and clenched both hands tightly.

“My… my past isn’t worth learning about. Besides, you already investigated me.”

Lü Zhongcai opened her eyes.

“Twenty years of life are difficult to compress into a few thin pages.”

Jin Sique turned toward the window and gently bit the inside of her lip.

“There’s nothing worth knowing about my past. Don’t do this again.”

Lü Zhongcai tilted her head slightly, seemingly surprised.

After a long moment, she nodded.

Jin Sique quickly forced out a smile, then lowered her gaze to her hands. The strands of hair falling around her face concealed the dejection in her eyes.

“Of course someone with an inferiority complex dislikes talking about her past,” 052 said gloomily. “The reason you’re investigating is precisely because her past is too humiliating to discuss. She wishes she could bury those memories deep underground.”

Lü Zhongcai frowned.

“I’m sorry.”

Jin Sique’s shoulders stiffened.

She turned her head slightly toward Lü Zhongcai.

“I overstepped,” Lü Zhongcai said. “If I made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”

“It’s fine…”

Jin Sique drew a soft breath.

“I’m tired. I’ll rest for a while.”

The driver raised the window, leaving only a narrow gap. The night breeze became gentle.

With her eyes closed, Jin Sique traveled all the way back to Jingwan Villa.

It was already very late, but Lü Zhongcai still needed to handle work.

When Jin Sique emerged from the shower and saw the empty bed, an inexplicable sense of loneliness surged through her.

Her heart was in turmoil…

The feeling of having her emotions pulled beyond her control frightened her. She desperately wanted to break free, yet could not resist being drawn closer.

Every heartbeat and every breath seemed to depend upon another person.

No self.

No self.

No self.

Jin Sique pulled up the blanket, turned onto her side, and hid beneath it.

The blanket was warm and substantial.

She was the empty one.

What use was there in understanding her past?

Hidden beneath the covers, Jin Sique could not help laughing.

It was a past that someone like Lü Zhongcai would never understand in her entire life.

Her pride and the self-respect she had struggled so hard to rebuild—how could she allow them to be exposed so easily?

—

Lü Zhongcai opened her computer and checked her email.

Her fingertip moved to the message she had sent one week earlier, and she hesitated over whether to delete it.

052 cried in alarm, “No, no, no! President, are you truly going to delete it? Aren’t you curious anymore?”

“You—you still trust me even now?”

Lü Zhongcai ignored her.

She forwarded the email, added a new note, and resent it, canceling the continued investigation into Du Mengzhen.

The only reason was that Jin Sique did not appear to want Lü Zhongcai investigating her past.

052 said, “…Fine. Then wait for Du Mengzhen to return, divorce the black lotus, and join forces with her to kill you.”

“My fate will not be controlled by anyone else,” Lü Zhongcai said.

052 sneered twice.

“President, you’re extremely attractive when you’re confident.”

Lü Zhongcai: “…”

—

Two days later.

News that Fang Xiaohe and Chen Gang had been expelled had already spread.

The former dean of student affairs gave Jin Sique an extremely sincere apology.

When the university’s official Weibo account published the results of its investigation and disciplinary actions, it immediately caused another enormous uproar online.

Only after several days did the attention gradually begin to subside.

Jin Sique’s life slowly returned to normal.

Everything belonging to Fang Xiaohe had been completely removed from the dormitory. She had apparently returned while everyone was in class, though no one knew precisely when.

Chen Gang’s sentence had also been issued.

He had been awarded two years in prison.

“Only two years? That’s far too lenient. Is that truly all someone gets for spreading malicious rumors?”

Zhu Wanqing scrolled through her phone, then asked the person beside her, “Are you ready?”

Jin Sique smiled and nodded.

She placed the donation receipt and the charity organization’s letter of appreciation into her shoulder bag.

Zhu Wanqing sighed.

“This dragged on for nearly a month and made us furious, and the compensation was already so small. Yet you donated all of it…”

Jin Sique zipped up her bag, pinched Zhu Wanqing’s cheek, and smiled.

“What use would I have for that money? Spending it would only make me uncomfortable. Let’s go.”

Zhu Wanqing shrugged, caught up with Jin Sique in several steps, and linked arms with her.

“Sique, you’re truly, truly, truly too kind!”

Jin Sique laughed softly.

Her phone vibrated.

She froze and immediately took it out.

Little Sparrow, have you finished dealing with the situation at the university?

Jin Sique’s smile faded.

She tossed the phone lightly in her palm, then turned toward Zhu Wanqing.

“Hot pot tonight? My treat.”

“Sure!” Zhu Wanqing cheered. “We can celebrate finally getting rid of that enormous idiot!”

“Invite Xiaobai too.”

“No problem!”

—

“If I’d known the line would be this long, I wouldn’t have come,” Zhu Wanqing complained.

Jin Sique looked down at her phone, repeatedly folding and rubbing the number ticket in one hand.

The chat window displayed a message from Mazi.

Xiaobai sighed and suddenly rested her head dejectedly on Zhu Wanqing’s shoulder.

“What happened?” Zhu Wanqing asked.

“The tutoring center where I work part-time.”

Xiaobai handed her phone to Zhu Wanqing.

“They’re reducing my wages again!”

“Then we’ll simply find another one,” Zhu Wanqing said indifferently.

A strained smile appeared on Xiaobai’s lips.

“We’ll be third-year students next semester. What are we going to do after graduation?”

Zhu Wanqing nearly jumped up.

“Are you serious? We’re only in our second year!”

Xiaobai chuckled and brushed the subject aside.

Jin Sique glanced at her, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.

She stood and handed the number ticket to Zhu Wanqing.

“I’m going to the restroom.”

“All right.”

The hot-pot restaurant was located outside the university.

The entire area consisted of open-air snack stalls and hot-pot restaurants, crowded and noisy.

The public restroom was several steps away, on the back street.

Jin Sique reached a quiet spot and stood beneath a streetlight, considering whether she should return Mazi’s call.

Suddenly, angry curses came from the alley.

A figure stumbled and was kicked into the wall.

Jin Sique turned to look.

She put away her phone and prepared to leave, but then the voice caught her attention.

It sounded familiar.

“What are you doing? Who the hell are you?” Chen Gang shouted.

Jin Sique froze.

She moved two steps beneath the streetlight, concealing half her body as she quietly looked over.

“Chen Gang, you’re famous now,” said the Alpha who had kicked him. “Why is a major internet celebrity like you hiding here?”

Chen Gang curled up on the ground, groaning in pain.

“Fuck—”

Before he could finish, he was kicked squarely in the chest again.

“You’re pretending to be ill, aren’t you? Everyone online says you’re in the hospital. Why didn’t you announce it after waking up?”

Another person said, “Because then he’d be taken away to prison. Hold on. Let me take a photograph first. Prepare to be exposed again, brat!”

Chen Gang spat out a mouthful of blood and tried to speak.

The Alpha crouched, grabbed him by the hair, and slammed his head against the wall.

Someone wants you taught a lesson,” she whispered. “I suggest you report to the police station yourself now that you’re awake. Otherwise, we’ll deal with your parents instead.”

Chen Gang howled in pain, his entire body nearly curled into a ball.

“Should we kick him a few more times?” one person asked.

“There’s no need,” the other replied. “Three broken ribs and a concussion package should keep him in bed for several days. If he dares pretend to be sick, I’ll make him genuinely sick. Let’s go.”

The two Alphas disappeared in the direction of the restroom.

From her position, Jin Sique raised her head and scanned the surroundings.

She could not find any surveillance cameras.

Her phone vibrated.

Jin Sique lowered her eyes.

It was Zhu Wanqing.

After thinking for two seconds, she returned to the hot-pot restaurant.

“Why were you gone so long?”

Their number had already been called, and Zhu Wanqing was waiting at the entrance.

The moment she saw Jin Sique, she pulled her toward the table.

“I saw Chen Gang’s roommates. I nearly died of fright…”

Jin Sique raised her brows slightly and smiled without speaking.

She began cooking tripe in the broth.

Only after eating did she ask, “Where are they?”

“They left.”

Xiaobai slurped down a piece of duck intestine.

“Five minutes ago, a whole group hurried out of a private room. I don’t know what happened. Wanqing became frightened and immediately called you.”

“The people in their dormitory are all awful,” Zhu Wanqing said. “After Chen Gang was condemned online, the others had their entire histories exposed too. I was worried they might retaliate.”

Jin Sique smiled and coyly leaned against Zhu Wanqing’s shoulder.

“I’m fine. Thank you, Student Zhu.”

Xiaobai shook her shoulders and rubbed the goose bumps on her arms.

“Seriously, why were they in such a hurry? Were they rushing to be reincarnated?”

Jin Sique shook her head and gestured with her chopsticks.

“Eat the meat.”

—

Late that night at Jingwan Villa, Lü Zhongcai returned home.

The living room was brightly lit, and her slippers had been placed at the entrance.

Lü Zhongcai bent down to change her shoes.

Glancing sideways, she saw a set of keys with a four-leaf-clover keychain hanging from a hook on the shoe cabinet.

“Why has the black lotus returned?” 052 exclaimed.

“Zhongcai.”

Lü Zhongcai turned her head.

She and Jin Sique had not seen each other for more than a week.

“You’re back?”

“Mm.”

Jin Sique nodded and handed her a warm towel to wipe her hands.

Leaning on her cane, Lü Zhongcai asked, “Have you eaten?”

Jin Sique made a soft sound.

She looked at Lü Zhongcai with a complicated expression.

“I had hot pot.”

Lü Zhongcai inclined her head and walked into the living room, where she poured herself a glass of water.

“I encountered Chen Gang,” Jin Sique said.

Lü Zhongcai’s expression did not change.

After thinking briefly, she asked, “He wasn’t taken to the detention center?”

Jin Sique looked at her suspiciously.

She took Lü Zhongcai’s coat and accompanied her upstairs, then began filling the bathtub.

“His family will find a way to get him out,” Jin Sique said.

She pulled the shower curtain aside, indicating that the temperature was suitable and Lü Zhongcai could enter.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with him,” Lü Zhongcai said.

“Did you send someone to beat Chen Gang?” Jin Sique suddenly asked.

With her back to Jin Sique, Lü Zhongcai did not answer.

She removed her shirt and trousers, then stepped into the water, the curves of her bare body unfolding before Jin Sique’s eyes.

Jin Sique’s breathing became unsteady.

“Go to sleep,” Lü Zhongcai said.

Jin Sique pressed a hand against the back of her neck, closed the bathroom door, and hurried back to the bedroom.