The Cold Alpha's Black Lotus O Strategy Plan (GL) - Chapter 38

“Zhongcai?”

Jin Sique was slightly surprised to receive Lü Zhongcai’s call.

“Is something wrong?”

Standing in a corner, Jin Sique covered the phone’s microphone with one hand and nodded in greeting to the people moving up and down the stairs. She turned her back and listened carefully to the voice on the other end.

“Zhongcai?”

“When are you coming back?” Lü Zhongcai asked.

Jin Sique froze.

She even checked the caller ID before asking, “What happened?”

Lü Zhongcai’s voice turned cold.

“Come back immediately. Right now.”

Jin Sique: “…”

The busy tone sounded from the phone.

Jin Sique stared blankly at the screen for a while before Mazi called her back to the table.

“I’m sorry.”

She picked up her bag.

“I have to go back.”

“So urgently?”

Mazi glanced at Fang Zhiming before saying to Jin Sique, “Stay a little longer.”

Jin Sique gave an apologetic smile.

“I’m truly sorry.”

Fang Zhiming’s expression darkened.

He placed the teacup between his fingers back on the table.

“You won’t sing one piece?”

Jin Sique looked toward the square opera stage and smiled.

“No.”

Qiu Die also raised her teacup to her lips to conceal her smile.

“Then we won’t see you out.”

Jin Sique inclined her head and left Mingyuefeng.

She could roughly guess Fang Zhiming’s intentions.

He had probably become lonely after returning to the country and wanted someone to keep.

Since he loved opera, he would naturally prioritize someone who could sing.

Whether that arrangement included sharing his bed was another matter.

Some people patronized opera performers because they considered them elegant and untouchable, and would not demand anything else from them.

But Jin Sique could not yet see through Fang Zhiming.

Still, once she left, the opportunity would naturally fall to Qiu Die.

Perhaps Fang Zhiming would spend lavishly and build a stage specifically for her, paying hundreds of thousands for each performance and promoting her until she became famous beyond the opera circle and rose to the very top.

Jin Sique exhaled.

She could almost picture Qiu Die standing among the clouds, surrounded by adoring stars, looking down at her with an arrogant smile.

…

Jin Sique changed her shoes at the entrance.

Lü Zhongcai was reading the newspaper in the living room.

When they saw each other, their gazes met before immediately shifting away.

“You…”

“You’re back.”

They spoke at the same time.

Jin Sique pressed her lips together and smiled.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” Lü Zhongcai said. “The house was too quiet. I wasn’t accustomed to it.”

Jin Sique: “…”

“That was the only reason?”

Jin Sique tried to control the surprise in her voice.

She grasped one wrist with the opposite hand and rubbed it gently.

Lü Zhongcai gave a lazy sound of acknowledgment and turned another page of the newspaper, appearing to read it intently.

Her gaze did not seem to take Jin Sique into consideration at all.

Noticing that Jin Sique had not moved, Lü Zhongcai glanced sideways at her.

“What? Did I interrupt something?”

Jin Sique raised a smile, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“No. I’ll go upstairs first.”

Lü Zhongcai made a soft sound and flipped the newspaper again.

As though asking casually, she said, “Where did you go?”

Jin Sique froze.

Holding the stair railing, she turned around.

“The orphanage.”

“For that long?” Lü Zhongcai asked.

Jin Sique studied her.

Then she suddenly understood Lü Zhongcai’s true intention.

“I sat at Mingyuefeng for a while. Mr. Fang was there too.”

Lü Zhongcai nodded and said nothing more.

Jin Sique waited for several seconds.

When Lü Zhongcai did not continue, she went upstairs.

052 laughed loudly.

“Hahahaha! The black lotus is angry! Her anger makes me happy!”

Lü Zhongcai folded the newspaper.

“I did what you told me to do. Now it is your turn.”

052 made a thoughtful sound.

“Fang Zhiming is one of the black lotus’s benefactors. He’s obsessed with opera and returned to the country intending to spend money promoting traditional culture.”

“The black lotus went to Mingyuefeng, and Fang Zhiming was also there. I suspect your phone call may have caused her to miss an opportunity.”

“However, as I already told you, she will contact Fang Zhiming herself.”

—

After washing, Jin Sique stood before the bathroom mirror and looked down at a string of numbers she had entered into her phone.

“Sique.”

Someone knocked on the bathroom door.

Jin Sique exited the screen and turned her head.

“Mm?”

Through the door, Lü Zhongcai’s voice sounded slightly distorted.

“Don’t contact Fang Zhiming.”

Jin Sique froze.

“I stained his clothes.”

“I already handled it,” Lü Zhongcai said.

Jin Sique pulled open the bathroom door.

Warm steam surged outward, carrying the faint grassy scent of pheromones.

Her face was damp and flushed as she looked at Lü Zhongcai.

“Does Fang Zhiming know about our relationship?”

The moment the words left her mouth, Jin Sique also realized that her reaction was strange.

She pressed her lips together and explained, “I want to handle it myself. I can do it.”

Lü Zhongcai silently looked at her.

“Do you like opera?”

Jin Sique’s tone became stiff.

“No. But it’s the only thing I know how to do.”

“Since you don’t like it, why do you go to Mingyuefeng?” Lü Zhongcai asked. “If you dislike it, why didn’t you tell me before?”

The questioning came too suddenly.

Jin Sique was caught unprepared.

“Why… Why are you asking?”

Lü Zhongcai looked deeply at her.

“Why?”

Jin Sique exhaled softly.

Her slender fingers combed through the wet hair hanging in front of her.

“Disliking something does not mean I can abandon it.”

Lü Zhongcai suddenly remembered something Jin Sique had once said.

She was the last remaining dignity of Wangchun Pavilion.

“Don’t contact Fang Zhiming.”

Lü Zhongcai turned away.

“Whatever you want, I can give you as well.”

“I…”

“Mm.”

Lü Zhongcai nodded.

“Tell me what you want.”

Jin Sique: “…”

She walked around Lü Zhongcai and went to the bar in the sitting room, where she poured herself a glass of water.

She tilted her head back and finished it.

When she turned around again, her expression had already become calm.

“I can do it myself.”

Lü Zhongcai: “…”

“I promise I won’t contact Fang Zhiming,” Jin Sique said.

“It’s obvious she’s lying,” 052 said.

Lü Zhongcai nodded.

“All right.”

“You actually believe her?!” 052 howled toward the heavens. “You are beyond saving!”

Jin Sique smiled faintly.

This time, she had returned to the smile Lü Zhongcai was familiar with—shy and gentle, with clear and innocent eyes.

—

The May Day holiday passed quickly.

During that period, Miss Bai returned to New York.

Fang Zhiming occasionally visited Mingyuefeng. After each performance, Qiu Die would come out and speak with him for a while.

Jin Sique encountered him once and merely smiled and nodded.

As an apology, she purchased a box of tea and gave it to Fang Zhiming.

He refused to accept it, apparently believing that Jin Sique did not know what was good for her and no longer wishing to pay attention to her.

City A officially entered May.

The temperature rose, and the residents of Dorm 602 threw themselves into their busy end-of-term studies.

They left early and returned late every day.

They had to prepare for examinations in required courses, while their major classes also demanded rehearsals for stage plays.

In the blink of an eye, Jin Sique had not returned to Jingwan Villa for more than a month.

“Thank you, Aunt Guo!”

Jin Sique ran out of the university gates and accepted the insulated food container from Aunt Guo.

“It’s too hot. You didn’t need to make this trip.”

Aunt Guo held a sun umbrella and shifted it over Jin Sique’s head.

“Why are you sweating so much?”

Jin Sique smiled and lifted her wrist to smell it.

“Is there a scent?”

Aunt Guo laughed.

“I’m a Beta. I can’t smell anything on you.”

Jin Sique nodded.

“I used a suppressant, so there shouldn’t be a problem. You should go back.”

“Once I finish this busy end-of-term period, I’ll return.”

Aunt Guo blinked and looked at Jin Sique as though wanting to say something.

“Sique, you… haven’t been home for more than a month, and Cai Cai hasn’t been returning often either.”

“She came back once two days ago. I keep feeling that she’s in a bad mood.”

Jin Sique had been opening the insulated container to see what was inside.

Hearing this, she put the lid back on.

After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Hasn’t she used suppressants?”

Aunt Guo cleared her throat.

“H-How could I possibly ask her that?”

Jin Sique pressed her lips together.

Aunt Guo did not know about the contractual nature of Jin Sique and Lü Zhongcai’s relationship.

In her eyes, they were married for life.

Yet their romantic relationship always seemed lukewarm, which caused her concern.

“I understand. I’ll go back.”

Jin Sique waved and turned toward the rehearsal room.

Xiaobai and Zhu Wanqing were already sprawled exhausted on the floor.

The moment they saw the insulated food container in Jin Sique’s hands, they sprang upright.

“I’m hungry, hungry, hungry,” Zhu Wanqing said.

“Food, food, food,” Xiaobai added.

Jin Sique smiled.

She sat cross-legged on the floor, removed the layers of the container one by one, and arranged them on a bench, inviting the other two to eat.

“Did your Sister have someone deliver this again?” Zhu Wanqing asked.

Jin Sique gave a soft acknowledgment.

With her chopsticks between her lips, she took out her phone and hesitated over whether to send Lü Zhongcai a message.

Between the two of them, Jin Sique had always been the one who took the initiative more often.

Yet after discovering that Lü Zhongcai had begun asking about her, trying to understand her, and even caring about her, Jin Sique had instead become timid.

Zhu Wanqing leaned closer and tried to peek at her phone.

“Oh? What are you two talking about?”

Xiaobai clicked her tongue and kicked Zhu Wanqing.

“Look at your expression. Your intentions are written all over your face.”

Jin Sique glanced sideways at Zhu Wanqing.

A blush covered Zhu Wanqing’s face as she angrily began wrestling with Xiaobai.

“She…”

Jin Sique hesitated.

“She has a wife.”

The two wrestling women immediately stopped.

They turned toward Jin Sique in disbelief.

“What?”

“Really?”

Jin Sique’s gaze flickered.

She lowered her head and stirred the braised pork ribs in her bowl with her chopsticks, blinking rapidly.

“Mm.”

Zhu Wanqing: “…”

“Ahhhhh!”

Zhu Wanqing roared in fury and stabbed her disposable chopsticks into the carpet beneath her.

Jin Sique: “…”

“Hahahahaha!”

Xiaobai laughed wildly and wrapped an arm around Jin Sique’s shoulders.

“Long live being single.”

Zhu Wanqing covered her face.

“Boohoo…”

Jin Sique paused.

“…Long live being single.”

—

That night, after Jin Sique finished showering, Xiaobai and Zhu Wanqing had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Jin Sique moved quietly, took a small stool, and sat on the balcony to dry her hair.

Her phone vibrated.

She closed the balcony’s floor-to-ceiling door and answered in a gentle voice.

“Xiaoyue.”

“Sique, I think… I think there’s news about Mengzhen,” Chen Xiaoyue said excitedly. “Listen, I—”

In that instant, Jin Sique seemed to freeze in place.

Her mind went completely blank.

The phone slipped from her palm and struck the floor with a loud bang.

“Sique?”

Zhu Wanqing sat up, rubbing her eyes as she curiously looked toward the balcony.

Xiaobai also climbed up.

“What was that sound?”

Jin Sique immediately picked up the phone.

The call had disconnected.

Her gaze flickered.

She clutched the phone tightly against her chest and answered in a drifting voice she did not even notice herself using.

“N-Nothing. Sorry for waking you.”

“As long as everything’s fine.”

Xiaobai yawned, mumbled something, and lay back down.

Zhu Wanqing rubbed her eyes.

In the faint moonlight, she noticed that Jin Sique seemed to be staring continuously at her phone.