The Cold Alpha's Black Lotus O Strategy Plan (GL) - Chapter 2

After the surgery, Lü Zhongcai spent three days drifting in and out of consciousness.

During that time, Jin Sique handled the aftermath of Lü Zhongcai’s car accident.

There was not much she actually needed to do. The Lü family had its own private legal counsel, so the family did not even need to personally appear to deal with matters related to the accident.

Even so, as a dutiful Omega wife, Jin Sique still did everything within her ability.

For example…

Dressed in a white cotton nightgown, with her long curls falling to her waist, Jin Sique stood before a simmering pot in the kitchen. Holding a long-handled ladle, she struggled to decipher the measurements listed in the recipe.

In the end, she picked up a small spoon and added what she considered suitable amounts of salt, sugar, and various seasonings.

A few minutes later, Jin Sique poured the finished soup into an insulated food container. She went upstairs to change, and when she came back down, the driver was already waiting outside the villa.

The driver put away his phone and said with a smile, “Sique, President Lü has already woken up.”

Jin Sique displayed precisely the right amount of delight. Leaning forward slightly, she asked as though seeking confirmation, “Really? Does Aunt Guo know?”

The driver looked at Jin Sique through the rearview mirror. A smile was spreading toward the upturned corners of her eyes.

“It’s true. Aunt Guo just called and told me to notify you immediately.”

Jin Sique nodded.

“How is Zhongcai doing?”

The driver indicated that he did not know yet, but the fact that she had awakened at least meant she was improving.

Jin Sique turned to look out the window. Once the smile faded from her face, her expression returned to its usual languid indifference.

Lü Zhongcai had awakened.

Was that good news or bad news?

For a moment, Jin Sique could not find a definite answer.

Whether it was good or bad did not seem to matter very much to her emotionally.

The car left Jingwan Villa behind. Clouds drifted across the sky, and Jin Sique watched them float farther and farther away until they gradually dispersed. The corners of her lips curved faintly.

—

“Sique made you soup.”

Aunt Guo handed the medical report to the pale woman sitting in the hospital bed.

“You must be hungry. You can eat something good when she arrives. While you’ve been hospitalized these past few days, she’s been the one taking care of everything at home.”

Lü Zhongcai paused as she accepted the report, then instinctively touched the gland at the back of her neck.

Aunt Guo asked, “What’s wrong?”

Lü Zhongcai shook her head slightly, her expression revealing neither warmth nor coldness.

Several soft knocks sounded from outside the room.

“Could that be Sique?”

Aunt Guo put down what she was holding and hurried over to open the door.

Jin Sique entered wearing a simple white T-shirt and long denim trousers. Her thick, black hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, swaying gently with her movements.

“Zhongcai, are you feeling better?”

Jin Sique crossed the room in a few steps, looking at Lü Zhongcai with worry and delight.

Lü Zhongcai wore a hospital gown. Her long, straight black hair lay smoothly across her shoulders. With a nurse’s help, she had just sat up and was pinching the bridge of her nose when she heard the door open. She turned her head slightly to look over.

A faint scent of gunpowder permeated the hospital room. It was acrid and scorching, making it uncomfortable to breathe.

Jin Sique discreetly furrowed her brows.

Lü Zhongcai’s fingertips trembled slightly.

She instinctively asked, “Why did you come?”

After finishing her work, the nurse left the room.

Jin Sique placed the insulated container on the nearby table. Her gaze remained fixed on Lü Zhongcai’s face from beginning to end.

She leaned down until their foreheads touched.

“You’re already in this condition. How could I not come and see you? Are you feeling any better?”

She was exactly the same as usual.

Lü Zhongcai did not answer immediately. When Jin Sique drew close, her brows tightened faintly, and she instinctively turned her face aside.

“Hmm?”

Jin Sique looked at her in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

At such a close distance, Lü Zhongcai detected the scent of fresh grass.

“Much better,” she answered calmly.

Jin Sique straightened and began placing the contents of the insulated container on the table one by one.

“That’s good. You must be hungry, right? I made you some congee. I specifically asked the doctor about it. You shouldn’t eat anything strongly flavored, but you still need proper nutrition, so I followed a recipe and made fish fillet congee.”

She held up four fingers, looking playful and obedient.

“I promise, promise, promise, promise that there isn’t even the slightest fishy smell!”

Aunt Guo smiled with relief.

Without saying anything, she moved toward the door, gathering the unnecessary items from the sofa as she went. She gently closed the door behind her, leaving the room to the beautiful couple.

The fish congee was savory and appetizing. After several mouthfuls, Lü Zhongcai unexpectedly felt a little comforted.

“You didn’t go to school?” she asked.

Jin Sique tucked a loose strand of hair behind her temple and smiled.

“No. I was a little too worried about you.”

“Have you been staying at school or at home these past few days?”

“At Jingwan.”

Lü Zhongcai finished the fish congee.

She could not help wondering whether the person in her dream was truly the Jin Sique sitting before her now.

Jin Sique’s gaze was clear and pure. Even after two years of marriage, the way she looked at Lü Zhongcai still carried the same melancholic shyness as before.

She was like a sunflower, forever raising her head to gaze at and follow her sun.

And Lü Zhongcai was Jin Sique’s sun.

But if the dream was real, did that book titled The Canary truly predict the tragic ending awaiting Lü Zhongcai as a supporting character?

“My gland…”

Lü Zhongcai put down the bowl.

“Hmm?”

Jin Sique tilted her head slightly.

“What’s wrong with your gland?”

“It feels a little uncomfortable,” Lü Zhongcai said slowly.

Jin Sique put down what she was holding. She hooked a finger beneath Lü Zhongcai’s collar and pulled it down, exposing her long, swanlike neck and a section of silver-edged necklace hidden beneath the fabric.

The smell of gunpowder in the room seemed to intensify.

The highly aggressive Alpha pheromones continuously emanating from Lü Zhongcai’s gland instantly flooded Jin Sique’s nose.

Jin Sique’s movements stiffened.

Lü Zhongcai turned her head slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

A faint blush spread across Jin Sique’s face. She quickly pulled Lü Zhongcai’s collar back into place and said softly, “Your pheromones…”

“Sorry.”

Lü Zhongcai carefully studied Jin Sique’s expression.

“My control seems to have weakened considerably after the surgery.”

Jin Sique turned her back to her, leaving only her crimson earlobes visible to Lü Zhongcai.

She looked like a young girl who had been teased until she no longer knew what to do.

In truth, Jin Sique was only twenty this year. Compared with the twenty-five-year-old Lü Zhongcai, she really was still an inexperienced young woman.

Innocent, naïve, ignorant of the world, and unable to endure even the slightest teasing.

Her skin was very fair. The blood vessels beneath the skin behind her ears were clearly visible, like delicate veins encased within transparent crystal—fragile and beautiful.

Her hair was tied in a ponytail, the ends sweeping back and forth between her shoulder blades. Her slender, graceful neck appeared and disappeared behind it.

Jin Sique lowered her head and searched through her bag. She found a scent-blocking patch and tore open the packaging.

“Why didn’t you put one on? The whole room smells like you…”

“The doctor said it would be better not to use one for now. The pheromones secreted by my gland can help my body recover.”

“Oh, I see.”

Jin Sique froze, then touched the tip of her nose like a child who had made a mistake.

She placed the scent-blocking patch on the back of her own neck and smiled brightly.

“Then I’ll use it instead.”

“The marks on your body…”

Lü Zhongcai’s tone softened.

“Have they healed?”

Jin Sique immediately blushed.

She gripped the hem of her shirt and tugged it downward helplessly. Her gaze hurriedly darted toward the door. When she saw that no one was there, she looked back and released a quiet breath of relief.

“No.”

The image of Jin Sique pouring a glass of red wine over her head flashed through Lü Zhongcai’s mind.

Lü Zhongcai glanced sideways and quietly examined her.

She could not help repeating the question in her heart.

Was that person truly you?

—

After leaving the hospital, Jin Sique politely declined the driver’s offer to take her home.

She walked for more than ten minutes. The melancholic smile on her face gradually faded until her pale, delicate features became expressionless.

The brightness in her eyes dimmed as well, replaced by languid carelessness.

When she reached the intersection, she pulled the obedient-girl hair tie from her head.

Her black hair spilled freely around her shoulders.

She casually ran her fingers through it several times before moving across the street with the crowd.

Lu Baimei rubbed her eyes with the hand resting against her car window.

She carefully searched the crowd again, looking from side to side, but could no longer find the figure she had glimpsed.

That woman just now…

That was Jin Sique, wasn’t it?

—

“Did your wife just visit?”

Lu Baimei asked the moment she pushed open the hospital room door.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she saw Lü Zhongcai’s miserable condition and burst out laughing.

Lü Zhongcai pushed the glasses higher on the bridge of her nose and pointed toward the insulated container beside her.

“She came to bring me food.”

Lu Baimei clicked her tongue and appreciatively examined Lü Zhongcai’s cast-covered leg suspended in the air.

She then picked up the insulated container, lifted the lid, and sniffed it.

A fresh, savory aroma greeted her.

She clicked her tongue again in confusion.

“Did I mistake someone else for her?”

“Did you bring the documents?” Lü Zhongcai asked.

Lu Baimei was the chief financial officer of the China branch of LE Capital, where Lü Zhongcai worked.

“My dear president.”

Lu Baimei pulled the documents from beneath her arm and slapped them down in front of Lü Zhongcai.

“Can’t you rest when you’re sick?”

Lü Zhongcai lifted her chin slightly, revealing her exquisite jawline. Leaning back, she accepted the papers.

“I was unconscious for three days. The company—”

“Yes, three days,” Lu Baimei interrupted. “The accumulated meetings and documents are already enough to keep you suffering for quite a while. Someone at headquarters has even been asking about your physical condition. They’re discussing whether to send a vice president over to take charge of your work in China.”

Lü Zhongcai nodded and immediately began reading the documents.

Her phone vibrated.

She glanced sideways.

It was a call from her boss in the United States.

It was a little after noon here, which meant it was eight in the evening in Los Angeles. Unless she had calculated incorrectly, her boss should currently be eating his after-dinner dessert—cheese and crackers.

Lü Zhongcai: “…”

Lu Baimei was holding her phone. When Lü Zhongcai glared at her, she immediately shrugged.

“Everyone knows you’re awake. They originally wanted to come here as a group to check in, but I stopped them. Is it really so unreasonable for me to send them one photo proving I visited?”

Lü Zhongcai silently stared at Lu Baimei.

She swiped across her phone screen and answered the call coldly.

—

“Where did you go today?”

An arm curled around Jin Sique. A hand reached up and peeled the scent-blocking patches from the back of her neck.

“Why are you wearing two again? Doesn’t it feel suffocating?”

Jin Sique closed her laptop and turned around with a helpless smile.

“It doesn’t.”

Zhu Wanqing planted both hands on the desk and vaulted onto it. Sitting there, she lowered her head and studied Jin Sique.

“Sique, what exactly are you hiding from us?”

Jin Sique froze.

“What do you mean?”

“You still don’t know? People in the department group chat are saying…”

Zhu Wanqing looked troubled.

“They’re saying you’re being kept by someone. That rumor has been circulating for two years. It had finally started dying down, but then you disappeared for three days in a row, so people started talking again…”

“What exactly happened to you?”

Zhu Wanqing continued, “Whatever it is, tell us. We can all solve it together.”

Jin Sique smiled softly and brushed one hand over her hair.

Her delicate face looked pitifully beautiful. A faint grassy fragrance emanated from her body. With the scent-blocking patches removed, the back of her neck was exposed—slender yet supple.

She lowered her head like a delicate willow branch bent beneath some invisible weight.

A few dark marks were faintly concealed beneath her collar.

“Mm. I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”