Chapter 27

It wasn't until Chu Yue stood in front of Deng Jie that he realized what was happening. There was nothing he could do; the image of his eldest son holding a child was just too incongruous.

"Boss, congratulations!"

Chu Yue suddenly interrupted him with a fit of coughing, while simultaneously giving her assistant meaningful glances, and introduced, "This is Ji Mingfei from the marketing department; she's currently on maternity leave. We came back together!"

Upon receiving the instruction, Deng Jie quickly smiled and smoothed things over, saying, "Oh, Ms. Ji, hello. I'm Mr. Chu's assistant, my name is Deng Jie!"

Ji Mingfei: "..."

"Stop talking and get in the car! Look how bright the sun is, it's made our June's face red. We forgot to bring a parasol!" Chu Yue threw down her suitcase, covered June's head, and walked away in a panic.

The assistant nodded to Ji Mingfei, picked up her suitcase, and went to catch up with Chu Yue.

As soon as she got in the car, Chu Yue habitually touched June's diaper; it was dry. She then touched the baby's head; the temperature was normal.

Chu Yue turned to Ji Mingfei and asked, "You haven't peed yet, shouldn't you drink some water?"

"She hasn't eaten anything since boarding the plane, just the little bit of milk she drank before leaving." Ji Mingfei leaned back, supporting himself on the seat, and touched June's quiet little face. "Is this child airsick? I don't remember anyone in my family having this problem!"

Chu Yue, who has been prone to motion sickness since birth: "..."

Insider Deng Jie gripped the steering wheel tightly, deliberately drawing all the attention, saying, "I will try my best to drive the car steadily!"

Chu Yue continued, "Oh right! Drive slowly, there are children in the car, don't rush."

Ji Mingfei smiled apologetically at Deng Jie and said, "I'm so sorry to have troubled you!"

Deng Jie glanced guiltily at the rearview mirror. "My eldest son should be the one apologizing for passing on such terrible genes to his children!"

Chu Yue noticed the gaze from her assistant and secretly glared at him.

What are you looking at? He's my own child!

…

The day before they returned, the assistant had already arranged for a housekeeping company to clean the room and installed a guardrail on one side of the bed in the bedroom.

Ji Mingfei never imagined she would be able to enter Chu Yue's house again. She stood at the bedroom door, looking at the bed where she was six months pregnant, her feelings a mix of emotions.

"What's wrong?" Chu Yue walked over, followed her gaze, and explained, "You said the crib was inconvenient, so I just added a small crib with guardrails. If you don't like it, you can change to another one."

"It's fine as it is now!" Ji Mingfei smiled. "I just felt like I was causing you trouble when I thought about things from the past."

Chu Yue suddenly realized that she was thinking about the day they first met. If she hadn't insisted on going to A-Liuzi, they might be deeply in love right now!

Previously in the delivery room, Ji Mingfei did not allow the nurse to bring the baby out for the "family" to see. Although she misunderstood the doctor's question, it also showed that Ji Mingfei did not trust her.

The original plan to force her to admit her relationship with the child through the paternity test results was clearly not going to work. If it scared her so much that she had to wander the world with Xiao Liuyue, it would be a huge loss.

"You were already pregnant back then, no wonder you said you were in your safe period and wouldn't let me mark you!" Chu Yue meant to say that she didn't suspect that June was her child, but the words that came out sounded like she was accusing Ji Mingfei of being irresponsible.

Ji Mingfei was mortified. "...I'm sorry!"

Chu Yue was filled with regret and quickly tried to smooth things over, "I've already applied to be June's stepmother, how could I mind something like this... Why don't you reconsider!"

"..."

Seeing that she was wavering, Chu Yue earnestly analyzed the pros and cons for her, saying, "You can tell me what your concerns are. You don't want to never get married, do you? The hurt from the past is a fact. Are you going to use that as an excuse to reject all alphas? When June grows up, if she asks you why she only has one omega mother, what are you going to tell her? You've never been married, so you can't have a 'legal' child in people's eyes. Her childhood will be more difficult than you imagine."

Ji Mingfei lowered her head and remained silent. Chu Yue tried to pull her into her arms, and only after receiving no rejection did she boldly embrace her.

"I'm not trying to force you to make a decision with harsh realities. There are many single mothers in this world who live very fulfilling lives. They don't care about worldly opinions and can still provide the best life for their children. It's just—"

Chu Yue grabbed Ji Mingfei's shoulder, smiled at her, and introduced herself: "Since you took a liking to me in the elevator, it at least means that I'm to your liking. If you miss out on such an excellent stepmother as me, you won't find another one like me."

"..."

Ji Mingfei stared intently at the excessively striking face. To be honest, she'd never considered this face to be her type. It wasn't that she disliked it; she simply never imagined she could have a future with a woman like this! A working-class person never falls for a rich, handsome, or beautiful woman; someone who eats soy milk and fried dough sticks wouldn't dream of a mansion with a swimming pool.

Chu Yue's sweet words are even less reliable than any of the previous alphas!

"What do you want to eat tonight? I'll cook!" Ji Mingfei evaded the question again.

The bugle call in Chu Yue's heart suddenly changed tune, transforming into "A Spray of Plum Blossoms".

"I'm not eating... I'll go have a glass of red wine instead." Chu Yue walked dejectedly into her makeshift little nest, the study's floor mat.

Ji Mingfei peered through the door at the shabby "doghouse" and asked anxiously, "Isn't there another bed in the house?"

Chu Yue sat on the floor hugging her knees, looking pitiful, and said, "I live alone and didn't prepare any extra guest rooms. The sofa is too soft, and my back hurts after sleeping on it. Luckily, it's summer now, so it's cool to sleep on the floor."

Hearing her say that, Ji Mingfei felt even more guilty. She hesitated for a while before saying, "Why don't you come and sleep here too? I think that bed is quite big. It won't take up much space in June if you sleep on the small bed, but it might disturb you at night."

Chu Yue's nose tingled, and she tilted her head back to ask, "Is it really possible?"

"This is your home, you can't be asked to sleep on the floor."

After receiving Ji Mingfei's approval, Chu Yue quickly rolled up her bedding and haphazardly stuffed it into the closet, then ran off to the bedroom to inspect her territory with an air of self-righteousness.

Chu Yue drew a line in the middle of the bed and pointed to the side near the door, saying, "I'll sleep here."

Ji Mingfei thought so too, since she had to take care of June at night and couldn't possibly put Chu Yue between her and the child.

Chu Yue finally got to sleep in bed and excitedly prepared to go out to buy groceries, completely forgetting that she wasn't going to eat dinner that night.

Ji Mingfei looked at the closed door, feeling that something was wrong.

Could I have fallen for her trick?

…

Chu Yue had already taken an extra month of personal leave for paternity leave, so she really couldn't afford not to go to work.

Having had a sleepless night due to the noise, Chu Yue walked into the company with dark circles under her eyes. The first thing she did after being reinstated was to pay her respects to the chairman. She knocked on Shen Qing'an's office door, waited two seconds, and then pushed the door open and went in.

"The project director from Anxin Group has returned and is reporting for duty. Mr. Shen, what are your instructions?"

Shen Qing'an looked down at the contract and ignored her.

Chu Yue turned and went to the sofa, sitting down as if she knew exactly what to do to boil water and make tea. As soon as the kettle started boiling, Shen Qing'an frowned and looked up. Seeing that Chu Yue finally had time to pay attention to her, she smiled and walked over, sitting directly on her desk.

"What are you looking at? If it's confidential, then don't say anything." Chu Yue answered the question directly, without bothering anyone else.

Shen Qing'an leaned back. "I heard you also transferred Ji Mingfei back, and he even joined the marketing department."

"She originally came from the marketing department, is there a problem?" Chu Yue asked knowingly.

"I never thought you'd be using your position for personal gain."

“The marketing department is short-staffed, so I transferred back a capable employee. This isn’t considered using connections, is it? She’s doing an administrative job at Shantou University, which is a waste of her talent. Any college graduate could do it.”

"She was transferred to an administrative position because she was on maternity leave. Since the marketing department was short-staffed, they should have assigned someone who could start immediately. Why didn't she report for duty and instead went to have her postpartum confinement?"

"She hadn't even given birth when we notified her! Who could have predicted this? She was premature."

"You know quite a lot!"

Chu Yue sighed, deciding not to hide anything from Shen Qing'an. "Qing'an, now that things have come to this, I'll tell you the truth. Her child is mine. Although she refuses to acknowledge it, I can't turn a blind eye."

Shen Qing'an should have expected this outcome. From the day Chu Yue drove back to Shanhe on New Year's Eve, she knew she was out of the running. She never imagined they'd even have a child now; she had absolutely no chance left.

When did this happen?

"She was at my house the very night I agreed to break up with you."

"No wonder you replied so readily, so you've found someone new. I understand. Well then, I wish you happiness!" Shen Qing'an opened the contract on the table. "If there's nothing else, you can go now... I still have work to do."

This time, Chu Yue didn't intend to comfort her. Even though she knew she would cry, she still turned and left.

…

It was still dark after get off work when Shen Qing'an drove around the streets. She saw a bar that was about to open for business, so she parked her car on the side of the road and went inside.

The proprietress was busy organizing the liquor cabinet when she saw a customer arrive and immediately greeted him, "What would you like to drink?"

"Whatever." Shen Qing'an sat at the bar as if she had lost her soul.

The proprietress didn't ask any more questions. She took a bottle of wine from the cabinet behind her, made a simple sweet wine that wouldn't give her a headache, and pushed it in front of the customer.

"If you're in a bad mood, be careful not to get drunk," the proprietress kindly reminded her before going off to get busy.

Shen Qing'an picked up the glass and drank it all in one gulp, then slammed the glass down on the bar, urging the bartender who had just started work to pour him a drink.

The bartender, unaware of the situation, only noticed the customer's bad mood and quickly served her a whiskey on the rocks.

Shen Qing'an rarely drinks strong liquor. After one glass, she started to feel dizzy. She drank several more glasses in a row and soon fell asleep on the table.

After greeting the other customers, the proprietress passed by the bar and saw that Shen Qing'an was still there. She patted her on the shoulder and said, "Beautiful lady, would you like to ask your friend to come and pick you up?"

Still half asleep, Shen Qing'an grabbed her phone. "Are we closing up shop? I'm leaving now..."

"It's still early before closing time! I saw you were drunk, so I called your friend to pick you up while it was still early. It's not safe to go out too late."

“Call… Okay, let me see.” Shen Qing’an scrolled through her phone’s contacts; the first name she saw was Chu Yue’s. But she didn’t dare call, because Chu Yue had said last time that she wasn’t allowed to come to the bar alone.

Further down, Deng Jie's name appeared. This little alpha is quite interesting; he can't even make a mark, and he cries if you tease him.

Shen Qing'an smiled and nodded, "You're the one."

The phone rang several times before being answered. Shen Qing'an complained, "Come to Boxing Road... what's the name of your bar again?"

The bartender smiled and said, "Lingling Bar."

"Oh... pick me up from Lingling Bar, or I'll fire you tomorrow!" Shen Qing'an hung up after saying that. She held on for a minute, her head spinning, before collapsing back onto the bar.

Half an hour later, a young woman dressed in black casual clothes walked into the store. She looked around and saw only a lone woman slumped over the bar.

She made a phone call and saw Shen Qing'an look up and search for her phone. She hung up and walked over.

Shen Qing'an had just picked up her phone when the call ended. She was about to call back and yell at the person when a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder and said, "You're Shen Qing'an? Let's go."

Shen Qing'an looked up, not recognizing the unfamiliar woman, and impatiently shook off her hand. "Who are you! Why should I go with you?"

The woman leaned closer and whispered with a sly smile in her ear, "I'm the alpha you've never met before!"

Shen Qing'an pushed her away and tried to leave, but the woman didn't stop her. She just followed her out at a distance before "inviting" her to her car.

Shen Qing'an was so frightened that she sobered up completely. Pressing against the car window, she asked, trembling all over, "What do you want?... Money?"

"Besides money, what else do you have?" the woman asked calmly, leaning back in her seat.

Shen Qing'an tried desperately to pull the lock on the car door, but the door was locked from the inside and she couldn't open it. She cried and said, "I can only give you money, don't even think about anything else!"

The woman hissed and scratched her forehead. "I asked you to make a phone call. Who do you want to send the money?"

"Chu Yue!" Shen Qing'an blurted out.

The woman raised her hand, gesturing for her to hit her.

Shen Qing'an wiped away her tears and, with trembling fingers, dialed Chu Yue's number. *Beep beep*

"What's wrong? Let me make this clear, I won't come over even if I'm drunk," Chu Yue said bluntly.

"Chu Yue... I've been kidnapped! Please come and save me!"

The woman took Shen Qing'an's phone, turned on the speakerphone, looked at the tearful omega, and said with a smile, "Director Chu, I picked up a drunk omega at a bar. How much are you planning to pay to redeem him?"

"..." Chu Yue frowned and glanced at the phone number again, then snorted, "Since you picked it up from a bar, you can deal with it as you see fit! I told you, she's not allowed to go to bars again. Consider this a lesson learned!"

"Chu Yue! Are you crazy!" Shen Qing'an suddenly shouted into the phone, but the call was ruthlessly disconnected.

The woman gave Shen Qing'an a disappointed look, tossed her phone onto the back seat, and asked with a mischievous grin, "Do you prefer to stay in the car or go to a hotel?"