The Cold Alpha's Black Lotus O Strategy Plan (GL) - Chapter 42

“A wonderful romance reunited after a long separation.”

052’s voice was sinister and icy.

“What an enormous green hat you’re wearing.”

Lü Zhongcai rubbed between her brows.

“She hasn’t done anything. And in the future, she may not necessarily do anything either.”

“You already know how it ends,” 052 replied. “You’re merely deceiving yourself.”

“Drive.”

Lü Zhongcai lowered her hand and rested it against the edge of the window.

The driver started the car.

He had clearly grown accustomed to Lü Zhongcai occasionally speaking to herself. People under tremendous pressure always had a few peculiar habits.

Moreover, she was an Alpha.

Her status as an Alpha somehow made abnormal behavior appear normal.

Lü Zhongcai did not return to the company or the villa.

She glanced at the time. At approximately nine o’clock, the car arrived at the orphanage.

The gates were already closed.

The streetlight at the intersection cast a dim yellow glow. From inside came children’s laughter, quarrels, and the adults calling out to stop them.

It was extremely lively, without the misery and hardship orphanages often possessed in television dramas.

Lü Zhongcai reached out and pressed the doorbell.

The security guard adjusted his cap and looked out from the booth.

“Oh. Hello. What can I do for you?”

Lü Zhongcai inclined her head.

“I would like to visit Director Lu. Is she available?”

The guard examined her from head to toe, nodded, and picked up the landline on the desk to make an internal call.

Several minutes later, Director Lu hurried over and opened the iron gate.

She looked surprised upon seeing Lü Zhongcai.

“President Lü, it’s already so late. Is something wrong?”

Lü Zhongcai shook her head and answered politely, “There are a few matters I would like to ask you about. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Oh…”

Director Lu glanced at the dark sky and hesitantly looked behind herself.

“There is a café across the street—” Lü Zhongcai immediately suggested.

“No.”

Director Lu smiled kindly.

“Come inside and sit, President Lü. The children are about to go to sleep, so it won’t cause any trouble.”

The orphanage gradually became quiet.

The wind rustled through the leaves, while the glass window reflected the two figures inside the office.

Director Lu placed a cup of tea before Lü Zhongcai and asked carefully, “Will drinking tea at night affect your sleep, President Lü?”

“It won’t.”

Director Lu sat behind her desk and smiled at Lü Zhongcai.

“That’s good. Thank you for everything you had delivered some time ago. The children were overjoyed.”

“If it weren’t already so late and past their bedtime, I would wake them so they could properly thank you.”

“It was only a small gesture.”

Lü Zhongcai put down the cup.

Director Lu nodded repeatedly, understanding that Lü Zhongcai wished to remain discreet.

Half a month earlier, Lü Zhongcai’s assistant had donated a batch of daily necessities for the children.

The donation had been anonymous, but Director Lu noticed the company stamp on one of the signed documents left inside a box.

One internet search immediately brought up information about LE Capital’s president.

“I came today to ask about Du Mengzhen,” Lü Zhongcai said, moving directly to the subject.

Director Lu froze.

“Mengzhen?”

“Mm. Sique asked me to inquire about Du Mengzhen. I thought I might ask you in case there are any clues.”

Director Lu recalled how familiar Jin Sique and Lü Zhongcai had appeared together in the courtyard two months earlier.

Her suspicions immediately disappeared.

She stood and bent down beside a knee-high row of bookshelves in the corner, searching through them.

“This…”

Director Lu handed an album to Lü Zhongcai.

“Before she turned fifteen, that child sent back one photograph every year. Then she suddenly stopped contacting us.”

“I asked someone to investigate… They said her adoptive parents had gone bankrupt…”

“She was a good child. I simply don’t know whether she later differentiated into an Omega or an Alpha. If she became…”

Director Lu sighed.

“I’m worried about her.”

“She was the first child I cared for after I began working at the orphanage. Honestly, I regarded her as my own daughter…”

Lü Zhongcai opened the album.

“One photograph was taken every year,” Director Lu continued. “From the year she was abandoned until she turned fifteen, not a single year was missed.”

The album seemed to contain the condensed life of a child.

From infancy to adolescence, she grew one step at a time, slowly transforming.

Lü Zhongcai turned the pages unhurriedly until she reached the final one.

At the center was a youthful face that already revealed what she would look like as an adult.

So this was Du Mengzhen.

Lü Zhongcai took out her phone and silently gestured toward the photograph.

Director Lu paused, then nodded.

“All right, you can photograph it. Thank you for going through so much trouble, President Lü.”

Lü Zhongcai took a picture, closed the album, and handed it back.

“Does every child at the orphanage have one of these albums?”

Director Lu nodded.

“Is there one for Jin Sique?” Lü Zhongcai asked.

Director Lu froze.

Without changing her expression, Lü Zhongcai said, “I’m pursuing her.”

…

Jingwan Villa was brightly illuminated.

A slender figure stood outside the entrance, lazily leaning against one of the pillars.

Her porcelain-white cheek rested against the equally pale tile, while her empty, distant gaze stared into the darkness.

Two beams of light suddenly appeared, approaching from far away like glowing swords cutting through the night.

Jin Sique straightened and hurried down the steps toward the villa gates.

The driver stopped the car, walked from the driver’s seat to the rear, and opened the door for Lü Zhongcai.

“President Lü, we’ve arrived.”

“Zhongcai.”

Lü Zhongcai emerged from the car and rested one hand on the wrist Jin Sique extended toward her.

These same hands had rejected her only two hours earlier.

Lü Zhongcai looked at Jin Sique with complicated eyes.

Jin Sique smiled with perfect naturalness and accepted Lü Zhongcai’s cane.

“Let’s go inside first.”

“If it were me, I’d slap her hand away and send her sprawling onto the ground,” 052 said.

For an instant, Lü Zhongcai was tempted.

Jin Sique looked back.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why were you crying at the restaurant?” Lü Zhongcai asked.

Jin Sique lowered her head without answering.

She bent down and took Lü Zhongcai’s house shoes from the cabinet.

Kneeling on one knee, she supported Lü Zhongcai’s foot with one hand.

Her humble posture made her resemble a small, obedient pet.

Suddenly, Jin Sique felt her chin tighten.

Someone forcibly raised her face.

Lü Zhongcai crouched halfway down.

With her head slightly tilted, she looked down at Jin Sique through cold eyes, examining her from above.

“Why?” Lü Zhongcai repeated.

The innate pressure of an Alpha descended upon her.

Jin Sique held her breath, her lips trembling slightly.

“Because of her?”

Lü Zhongcai raised her phone and held a photograph in front of Jin Sique’s eyes.

“Hmm?”

Jin Sique froze.

Her right knee weakened, leaving her kneeling on both knees before Lü Zhongcai.

“Zhongcai…”

“Do you like her?”

Lü Zhongcai’s brows tightened.

It was the clearest sign that she was displeased.

“No,” Jin Sique answered.

Lü Zhongcai looked deeply at her.

Then she stood, pulled Jin Sique up from the floor, and brushed several times over her knees.

“If you say you don’t, then I believe you.”

Jin Sique supported herself against the shoe cabinet with both hands.

The weakness following the violent fluctuations in her emotions gradually subsided.

She turned toward Lü Zhongcai, who was pouring water at the table.

“You believe me? Truly?”

Lü Zhongcai looked back, her expression undisturbed.

“Mm. I’ll help you find her.”

Jin Sique’s eyes flickered.

Confusion, emptiness, uncertainty, and suspicion alternated within them.

Then she revealed a smile that was half joyful and half anxious.

“Mm.”

“She actually thanked you!”

052 was so furious she nearly snorted smoke.

“Can’t you understand this? She waited for you all this time and probably prepared another way to muddy the water and slip through.”

“But you handed the excuse directly to her mouth, terrified she might not accept it!”

“Useless! Useless! Completely useless!”

—

After returning to the bedroom, Jin Sique sat on the edge of the bed in a daze.

She lowered her head and looked at her interlaced fingers, then raised her face and gave Lü Zhongcai an obedient smile.

“Are you going to sleep?”

Lü Zhongcai acknowledged her and allowed Jin Sique to help remove her clothes and accessories one by one.

“It seems that you only become exceptionally attentive toward me when you’ve done something wrong.”

Lü Zhongcai turned her face slightly and looked at Jin Sique.

Meeting her profile, Jin Sique’s upturned eyes immediately lowered.

“I shouldn’t have gone to meet Mr. Fang after promising you I wouldn’t. I’m sorry…”

“Is that the main issue?” 052 asked.

“She’s obviously changing the subject. Shouldn’t the main issue be why she cannot forget another Alpha?”

Lü Zhongcai pulled off her tie.

The movement caused the first button of her shirt to pop open.

Jin Sique cautiously raised her eyes toward her.

Lü Zhongcai unfastened both cuffs and handed the cuff links to Jin Sique.

Jin Sique placed everything inside a drawer.

When she looked up again, her expression contained precisely the right amount of innocence. Her clear eyes showed no trace of impurity.

“I’ll prepare the bathwater,” Jin Sique said.

“Sique.”

Lü Zhongcai stopped her.

“I hope our relationship…”

“Don’t worry.”

With her back toward Lü Zhongcai, Jin Sique clenched both hands into fists before herself.

“I’m your wife. I would never do anything to betray you.”

Lü Zhongcai turned her face.

Half of her exquisite features disappeared into the shadows cast by the light.

“What I mean is that if you’re dissatisfied with this relationship and wish to end it early, I have no objection.”

Jin Sique froze and spun around to look at her.

Lü Zhongcai met her gaze.

“If you’re dissatisfied, we can end it at any time.”

Even 052 sounded surprised.

“Huh?”

Jin Sique’s smile stiffened.

“Zhongcai, is there some misunderstanding?”

Lü Zhongcai took out her nightclothes and walked toward the bathroom.

“Consider it carefully. Give me your answer in a few days.”

As they passed each other, Jin Sique grabbed Lü Zhongcai’s wrist.

“There’s nothing to consider!”

Lü Zhongcai glanced sideways.

Her long eyelashes cast a shadow that concealed her unreadable gaze.

“Think about it.”

Jin Sique’s hand suddenly became empty.

She returned to her senses as though shocked by electricity.

Her lips parted, and her watery eyes flickered continuously, yet she could not say a word.

She remained frozen until Lü Zhongcai left the room.

“I’ll sleep in the guest room,” Lü Zhongcai said.

Jin Sique sat blankly on the edge of the bed.

Her body trembled at the sound of the door closing firmly.

She smiled bitterly, raised a hand to cover her eyes, and fell backward into the bedding.

…

Lü Zhongcai straightened her collar and put her necklace, tie, and cuff links back on one by one.

At last, she bent down and pulled Jin Sique out from where she had hidden beneath the covers.

She pressed a kiss to her forehead and said quietly, “Have Aunt Guo clean the room.”

Jin Sique’s entire face was scarlet.

She pulled the blanket over herself, wrapping her body tightly into a ball of fur.

“Do we… Do we count as… that now?”

Her voice sounded muffled through the blanket.

Lü Zhongcai looked at the bulge in confusion.

“What?”

“The three-year… thing…”

Jin Sique’s voice gradually faded.

Lü Zhongcai thought for a moment before understanding what she meant.

“The term is three years. I won’t regret it.”

—

In the guest room, Lü Zhongcai leaned against the headboard.

Two buttons of her loose nightclothes had come undone.

A pen spun skillfully between her long fingers while her gaze remained fixed on the iPad in her hand.

Outside the door, Jin Sique stood holding a pillow.

Her smooth, long hair fell over both shoulders as she raised a hand and knocked.