Kill The Marriage Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Honeymoon

Not only did Zhang Qingyuan fail to look cool, but the exact moment he failed was documented in the marketing accounts’ press releases.

The sound of the AI text-to-speech voice echoed endlessly: “Newlywed husband aggressively protects his wife, snatching the paparazzi’s camera…”

“Hahahahaha!” Shang Liwei nearly laughed her head off.

Every time the video played, Zhang Qingyuan suffered another public execution. Yet he still hadn’t built an immunity to the sheer embarrassment, sitting rigidly as if on pins and needles, a lump in his throat, and thorns in his back.

Outside the window lay the beautiful scenery of sunshine, beaches, waves, and cacti, but Zhang Qingyuan’s absolute misery made it a massive waste.

To escape the paparazzi harassing them at home, they decided to take a trip to relax. Coincidentally, Mi Li was on summer vacation. Four adults and one child shook off the tailing cars in the dead of night and took a flight to this coastal city.

They beautifully dubbed it a “honeymoon.”

Originally, Zhang Qingyuan wanted to relax abroad. But with Ren Zhong’s military rank and Shang Liwei’s status as a former senior researcher, both faced heavy travel restrictions and required layers of approval to leave the country. Left with no choice, they settled for domestic travel.

“I actually think the narrative direction of this event is completely wrong.” Frowning deeply, Lawyer Mai joined the meeting via video call. “It’s clearly about a disabled military officer performing a heroic act, and a serious social issue like human trafficking. Yet what are they marketing?”

The overall trend on the internet was promoting the “sweetness” of matched marriages, using entertainment to divert the public’s attention.

On the first day the security footage leaked, the “Wheelchair Hero” was hailed as a civilian hero. By the second day, the public viewed him as the contrasting, delicate wife protected by an “Alpha CEO.” Every post about Ren Zhong was peppered with keywords like “newlywed,” “husband,” and “passionate romance.”

As for the tragically fated trafficked woman, she had vanished from the public eye early on. Only a small fraction of people still cared whether she lived or died, advocating for her rights.

Meanwhile, another group was busy cursing their relationship.

Zhang Qingyuan merely pushed a wheelchair and held an umbrella, yet was lauded as a peerlessly good man.

Conversely, just because Ren Zhong wore sunglasses and his expression couldn’t be seen, a portion of netizens blasted him for “giving his husband attitude” and “being ungrateful.”

Some bloggers and marketing accounts trying to farm negative engagement were even more vile. They posted videos and articles claiming that an Omega being too domineering would lead to a broken marriage, stating Omegas needed to act like Omegas and absolutely shouldn’t behave like Ren Zhong.

They even predicted that if Ren Zhong didn’t learn to behave, a cripple like him would sooner or later be dumped by his high-quality Alpha.

“And even that isn’t enough for them,” Shang Liwei shared a link in the group chat. “Some trash-tier Alpha men have started attacking Little Zhang. They say serving a lowly Omega like a grandson is a disgrace to Alphas everywhere and will ruin their own wives.”

The twisted logic of those Alphas was truly something to behold. They genuinely believed that if their wives watched this content, they would start treating their husbands like Ren Zhong treated Zhang Qingyuan, trying to ride on their heads. They couldn’t let that happen!

Zhang Qingyuan casually scrolled through before putting his screen down, preferring out of sight, out of mind. “The user demographic of this website is heavily skewed toward Alpha and Beta men, with almost no Omega or female users. No wonder the narrative looks like this.”

While the KFM internal meeting was steeped in gloom, Ren Zhong wasn’t having a great time on the other side either.

To rush back for the meeting—and to anchor him in place—Mi Tong had deliberately left behind the one magical creature capable of subduing him: Mi Li.

With the human cub asking “Uncle Ren, let’s build a sandcastle!” one minute and “Uncle Ren, let’s catch crabs!” the next, it was like a tightening crown and a binding rope wrapped into one, keeping Uncle Ren firmly secured.

By the time Zhang Qingyuan and the others finished their meeting and hurried over to get them, they were met with the sight of “an empty wheelchair, the Captain buried in the sand.”

Poor Ren Zhong only had his head sticking out; everything below his shoulders was buried in sand and sculpted into the shape of a mermaid. Mi Li was even circling him, taking pictures from various angles to admire her masterpiece.

Once the kid had taken enough photos, Shang Liwei and Zhang Qingyuan performed a “four-hand frantic dig,” unearthing the Captain from the sand.

Worried that the fine grains of sand might mess with the electric wheelchair’s motor, Shang Liwei had a stroke of genius. She dragged Ren Zhong into waist-deep water. Hooking her arms under his armpits, she lifted him in the ocean and spun him around several times, rinsing the sand right off his body.

Safe on the shore, Mi Li was incredibly excited, jumping up and down while shouting, “Washing machine spin cycle ultimate move!” Both the delicate wife Mi and the virtuous wife Zhang were laughing uproariously.

Mindful of the kid present, Ren Zhong didn’t dare curse out loud, settling for cursing them as politely as possible underwater.

The joy belonged to them; it certainly didn’t belong to Ren Zhong.

Unable to walk properly, Ren Zhong could only let them do as they pleased. He was bundled up like a caterpillar in a towel by Zhang Qingyuan and plopped back into his wheelchair.

Other people came on honeymoon trips; he came to suffer.

…

Night.

Ren Zhong wasn’t feeling very sleepy. Since his injury, his physical activity had significantly decreased, dragging down his sleep quality.

After lying in bed for twenty minutes without falling asleep, he decided to get up and do something else.

Since he was awake, he might as well do a light workout. He remembered that this rented coastal villa had a gym.

When his wheelchair rolled up to the gym door, Ren Zhong faintly heard the thud-thud sound of someone hitting a punching bag inside.

It seemed someone was already working out. It was probably either Shang Liwei or Zhang Qingyuan.

In the past, he wouldn’t have minded sharing gym equipment with someone else; after all, even if it turned into a competition, his physical abilities thoroughly crushed ordinary people across the board.

But now, he didn’t dare.

He was afraid he would get jealous, afraid he would get anxious, and afraid he wouldn’t be able to resist increasing his training load, completely ruining his rehab schedule.

Ren Zhong turned his wheelchair to head back, but the hallway here was somewhat narrow, making “backing up” slightly difficult. He had to adjust multiple times before he finally managed to turn around.

In that brief moment, the person in the gym finished their workout and pushed open the soundproof door.

Zhang Qingyuan’s face was flushed and dripping with sweat. He was using a towel around his neck to wipe the sweat trailing from his jaw down to his collarbone. A sports headband held his hair back, making him look like a college student fresh out of the stadium. A sleeveless athletic tank top revealed the beautiful muscle definition of his arms.

When the door opened abruptly, Ren Zhong’s heart raced out of pure instinctual alertness.

He clearly knew this was the suspension bridge effect.

The racing heartbeat caused by being startled could easily be mistaken for attraction, and the thick, post-workout scent of chamomile pheromones only amplified that sensation.

Coupled with that beautiful, enviable, youthful body.

The sudden appearance of someone at the door startled Zhang Qingyuan as well. Blinking, he wore an uneasy, awkward expression, looking exactly like a kid caught doing something bad.

He quickly pulled the gym door shut and threw on a jacket before stepping out.

“I recently sprained my shoulders, right? So I haven’t been working on my upper body. I’ve slacked off, I’ve really slacked off, you can’t even see the muscles anymore,” Zhang Qingyuan seemed to be making excuses for himself, while also comforting himself. “I’ll get it back soon.”

His eyes covertly swept over Ren Zhong’s upper body, tracing the inverted triangle silhouette with a hint of envy.

Ren Zhong understood.

This was probably just the childish competitiveness of male creatures.

“Where are the others?” Ren Zhong changed the subject.

Zhang Qingyuan was naturally happy to take the out. “Shang Liwei took Mi Tong and Mi Li to the night market. They’re eating seafood at the stalls, playing ring toss, target shooting, and throwing balls into buckets. Did you not check the group chat?”

He pulled out his phone, reporting the latest news. “Mi Li just said she’s dragging Uncle Ren to the shooting gallery tomorrow and making you win the entire balloon stall.”

“Running a business isn’t easy; leave the boss a way out,” Ren Zhong smiled helplessly.

A moment of silence passed between them, leaving only the quiet night.

Outside of “official business,” neither of them knew what to talk about. Two people who were practically strangers had their money, health, destinies, and futures bundled together as “husband and wife.”

How absurd, yet how real.

“Captain, would you like to go for a walk outside? The sea breeze isn’t too strong tonight; it’s quite comfortable.”

Zhang Qingyuan extended an invitation.

Translator’s Note:

• Washing machine spin cycle ultimate move (滾筒洗衣機大絕招): A funny way for a kid to describe being spun around in the water.
• Suspension Bridge Effect (吊橋效應): A psychological phenomenon where people misattribute the arousal from fear or adrenaline to romantic attraction.