Fortunately.
At that moment, everyone was still in shock, so Lu Ningshuang’s voice didn’t seem too abrupt. It blended into the chorus of exclamations and was quickly drowned out.
“Is this gossip ripe?”
“Yeah, you can’t just say things without evidence—you have to take responsibility.”
“Stop teasing us! You’ve got our appetites all whetted. Hurry up and slice up that melon for everyone to taste the freshness and quench our thirst!”
As a gossip enthusiast, the last thing Tian Li could stand was having her melon questioned.
She felt the same.
“What I said is absolutely true!”
She was practically thumping her chest to vouch for it. She took another sip of water to moisten her throat. “Don’t rush—just yesterday…”
Everyone listened as she recounted the tale at length.
Among them was the actual party involved, the prestigious family live-in Alpha Lu Ningshuang, hiding in the crowd of melon-eaters.
Soon, she learned that Tian Li, who seemed so unassuming—like her, commuting by electric scooter and even pooling orders for milk tea discounts to hit the minimum for deals—turned out to be a rich second-generation heir?!
Lu Ningshuang fell into thought.
The people around her seemed oblivious on the surface, but they all appeared to be quite wealthy?
…Except for her 🙂
Tian Li’s family wasn’t just ordinarily well-off. Her relatives had attended Old Master Huo’s seventieth birthday banquet the night before.
Though they were minor figures on the sidelines, they had eyes and ears. They’d noticed Qin Yushu frequently visiting the company where their daughter worked. The couple had simply sent their child out to get a job so she wouldn’t laze at home mooching off them like a good-for-nothing. That salary meant nothing to them.
When she got home, they’d given her a heads-up: Be careful not to accidentally offend that person in the future.
It was meant as parental concern, something kept within the family. But Tian Li couldn’t wait and sliced the melon open for everyone first thing Monday morning!
Lu Ningshuang thought to herself that Tian Li must have been holding it in all morning!
Yang Haoqi usually got along well with Tian Li. Young people spoke without filters, so he chimed in first.
“With President Qin’s looks and background, she’s the dream Omega in so many hearts. Who would’ve thought she was already married? She seems only twenty-five or twenty-six— this is totally early marriage for someone so accomplished!”
“But the marriage only coming to light now… that must count as a secret marriage, right? President Qin is so low-key and capable; she never hypes up any ‘wife’ persona online or goes the influencer route. Logically, announcing a marriage wouldn’t hurt. Doing it this way… maybe there’s something off with her spouse?”
Suddenly under scrutiny, Lu Ningshuang: ???
Wang Jie immediately shot it down. “You said it yourself—she doesn’t do the influencer thing. Does she have to tell you ordinary netizens whom she marries or even if she does? Enjoy the gossip without taking it too seriously. Maybe she just doesn’t like airing family matters publicly. Low-key, that’s all.”
Lu Ningshuang’s eyes lit up.
Wang Jie, the only “big sis” in her department!
With Wang Jie putting it that way, Yang Haoqi realized his wording was off and awkwardly rubbed his nose. “I was just thinking along the lines of what those people online say~”
“Stop arguing!”
Seeing the attention shift away from her as the melon-slicer, Tian Li hurriedly said, “Actually, President Qin didn’t mean to hide it. From what my parents said, this marriage is recent—she’s still a newlywed!”
“Whoa~!”
Tian Li continued spilling. “The family those two attended the banquet with has a son who’s an Alpha. Word was, they wanted to arrange a marriage with President Qin.”
“The families are evenly matched with prior ties. The two kids are Alpha and Omega—perfectly compatible. Lots of people thought it was a done deal and were waiting for the wedding wine. But at the engagement banquet, President Qin straight-up revealed she was married, completely blocking that alliance!”
Hiss—!
Exclamations erupted all around.
One of the actual attendees, Lu Ningshuang, thought: Artistic embellishment is inevitable in gossip transmission ╮(╯▽╰)╭
From Tian Li’s telling, it sounded like the engagement was about to be announced when Qin Yushu dragged her onstage, flashed the marriage certificate, and slapped the Huo Family in the face. But in reality… everyone still cared about face and had always used softer tactics.
Someone quickly spotted the hole. “So President Qin flash-married to dodge the arranged marriage?”
It was like tossing a stone into a calm lake—
“I knew it! I knew those haters were wrong. President Qin always projected a single image publicly, no boyfriends or girlfriends around. How did a married bombshell drop out of nowhere? Freaked me out!”
“President Qin’s so trendy—flash marriage to a prestigious family heir, all the ‘married first, love later’ tropes checked off!”
“So who’s the one married to President Qin? Friend turned lover? Old classmate? Or my favorite, enemies to lovers? Gotta have some childhood sweetheart vibes since they dug it up so fast.”
“So bold! I bet this flash-married Alpha has even bigger backing than that family—big enough to scare them off!”
Lu Ningshuang silently shook her head in regret.
Nope.
You guys got it all wrong—not a single guess right. She was just an utterly ordinary prestigious family live-in Alpha.
The identity of “Qin Yushu” was glory enough; she was the lion, the tiger, commanding awe just by standing there. No need to borrow another tiger’s skin.
Someone else noticed.
“Tsk tsk, so how disappointing must that Alpha at the banquet have been for even a whisper of it to send President Qin rushing to the Civil Affairs Bureau with a train in tow?”
That last jab made even Lu Ningshuang chuckle, imagining Qin Yushu with her stunning face shouldering a train and sprinting…
Sorry.
She laughed very immorally.
Though the transmigrator Huo Yunyi really was that underwhelming.
With everyone’s focus on the matter and Tian Li, no one paid her any mind. Lu Ningshuang quietly pulled out her phone and typed into the chat with the contact named “Q.”
[Sister]
Just typing it out in text made her ears ring as if hearing the voice, her brain tingling like an electric shock.
The sensation was indescribable, known only to her.
[Did Sister ever run in a sports day race back in school?]
Qin Yushu might be eating or busy at that hour, so no immediate reply.
Lu Ningshuang didn’t mind. She flipped her phone over and continued eavesdropping on the gossip—er, her own gossip.
Hearing the “story” from another angle was surprisingly entertaining!
Tian Li’s melon had reached its latter half. For the crowd’s many questions, she shook her head. “No idea.”
“Lots of people were there, but no one recognized which family that one was from.”
Yang Haoqi: “Whoa! Could President Qin have just randomly picked up an Alpha on the street to be her live-in son-in-law? Cao Wenjun’s gotta be dying of jealousy!”
Sometimes, the thick-skinned hit the nail on the head.
Lu Ningshuang silently shot him an approving look: Congrats, you nailed it.
But only she and Yang Haoqi were clear-headed(?) there. He often let his mouth run wild, so no one took him seriously.
Their reactions made Lu Ningshuang shake her head in pity.
You ate so much melon but missed the truest, sweetest, most thrilling slice!!!
As everyone veered further off-track, the melon master herself amid the melon sea couldn’t hold back her itching heart and spoke up cautiously.
“Maybe… maybe President Qin just thought she was pretty?”
All eyes turned to Lu Ningshuang in an instant.
“Plus, Alpha-Omega pairings are natural and right. Pheromone attraction doesn’t need much reason.”
President Qin did… have needs, after all.
A brief, deathly silence followed, then the room exploded in laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
“Little Lu just graduated; she hasn’t fully entered society yet. She’s still a kid with naive ideas.”
“AO ‘no reason’… Pfft, feels like I’m back in health class. Sigh, those were the days of my lost youth.”
“Anyone but her—President Qin, who’s seen every handsome, excellent Alpha. How could she suddenly lose her mind? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!”
Yang Haoqi: “Dude, I was joking. You actually buy it? Bro code!”
Even Wang Jie smiled at her. “You’re still young.”
In the end, only he remained…
Lu, twenty-two years old, still young, innocent and worldly-naive Ningshuang nodded obediently as if enlightened. “Oh.”
She smacked her lips inwardly.
Fine then.
She’d personally delivered the biggest melon right to their mouths, but they wouldn’t eat it.
╮(╯▽╰)╭
So if the truth ever came out one day, she couldn’t be blamed for hiding it! She’d said it outright!
Tian Li summed up her take. “That Alpha seemed to know the banquet organizer a bit and even dissed some troublesome relative from President Qin’s family before leaving.”
“In summary, I vote childhood sweetheart with big backing!”
“Too bad no photos leaked… Damn! I wanna stan a power couple crushing career goals, abusing scum—wife-wife CP all the way!”
Lu Ningshuang: “…”
Sorry to disappoint, but I’m really just a useless live-in Alpha.
The gossip about Qin Yushu ended there. After all, she stood too high, floating in the clouds. They could only glean bits from snippets; no one actually interacted with her.
Gossip over, it was back to their own lives… or rather, work.
Lu Ningshuang, Tian Li, Yang Haoqi, and Wang Li Min (Wang Jie)—their desks were close by.
Not exactly a clique, but they chatted more, knew each other better, and spoke more freely.
“You know—”
Work hadn’t started for the afternoon yet when Yang Haoqi suddenly said, “What would Cao Wenjun think if he heard this?”
“What else? Envy, jealousy, hate. Blame God or fate—why wasn’t he the one married to President Qin?”
Yang Haoqi: “Makes sense.”
Tian Li: “He should look in the mirror. Even if President Qin went slumming for charity, she’d never pick him. What a dreamer.”
Yang Haoqi: “Totally clueless.”
“But Tian Li, now your rich kid status is out—will he start clinging to you?”
Tian Li: “Like I’d give him the time of day?”
Lu Ningshuang listened to their back-and-forth as Wang Jie, unusually, chimed in.
“He won’t go after Little Tian.”
The three looked up in unison.
Wang Jie: “He knows how Little Tian feels about him deep down. He’s already sunk the early investment; now it’s sunk cost. Even with President Qin’s marriage, he probably won’t quit.”
“He’ll console himself: If someone else can, why not me? How am I worse? No, I’m not!”
Lu Ningshuang was floored listening to this.
Talk about another Huo Yunyi transmigrator vibe—except this one was homegrown, no system additives.
Yang Haoqi blurted it out faster than her, equally stunned. “That’s some god-tier mentality. What else could he think? No different from being a homewrecker!”
“No difference.” Tian Li said. “But even more brazen. Heh, knowing it’s wrong and doing it anyway!”
Yang Haoqi: “Then what—”
Tian Li: “Alphas like him who chase married people? If the spouse catches him and beats him up, no one’s surprised. Post the video online, and it’s all cheers.”
A clean, pleasant voice rang out. “Can you really just beat them up like that?”
It was Lu Ningshuang!
Six eyes from three pairs locked onto her. Lu Ningshuang blinked innocently, suppressing her restless heart, and said in a “frail” “kind” tone.
“I mean, just beating people up willy-nilly isn’t great, right~? It’s a civilized society now. Even if Brother Cao’s motives aren’t exactly moral, love can’t be helped. Rule of law still respects human rights.”
Tian Li: “He dares make a scene?”
Yang Haoqi said, “No matter whether it’s President Qin or that Alpha, neither of them is a pushover! They might not beat him to death, but sending him to the hospital for a couple of days is no problem at all—using the charge of harassing an Omega!”
Wang Jie agreed, “Little Yang is right.”
“……Oh.” Lu Ningshuang nodded obediently as if she had just learned something profound, which delighted the three elders immensely.
But inwardly, the young son-in-law Alpha thought:
Ah!
It’s been so long since she last hit someone. It should still hurt a lot when she beats someone up… right?
Wang Jie teased, “Little Lu, are you thinking about your future family setup now that you’ve seen other Omegas and Alphas getting married? You’re an Alpha too, after all.”
“Yeah, Little Lu, what kind of partner do you want in the future?” Yang Haoqi chimed in. “You’re an Alpha, so you should be looking for an Omega, right?”
Tian Li added, “Not necessarily. With her personality, she might end up with a Beta.”
“It should still be an Omega,” Lu Ningshuang declared firmly.
“Oh~~~”
The three of them dragged out their tones playfully. Teasing the new young intern was entertaining in itself, and they weren’t about to stop anytime soon.
