Kill The Marriage Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Chaos
As a virtuous wife with secrets, keeping everything in the house perfectly organized is the most basic requirement.
However, even someone as outstanding as Zhang Qingyuan had his days of stumbling.
He felt extremely frustrated and began to resent his own gender.
A heat cycle has limited harm to the Alpha themselves; it poses more of a danger to innocent Omega and Beta bystanders.
The susceptible period, however, is different.
Alphas in their susceptible period exhibit varying degrees of “regression”—reverting to a primal, childish psychological state and behavioral pattern. They become prone to overthinking, anxiety, and insecurity. When it acts up, it hurts both themselves and others; it’s a case of “the harder they cry, the harder their fists swing.”
And just like that, Zhang Qingyuan entered his susceptible period without any warning.
It was like getting a menstrual period: some people experience heavy bleeding, fainting, and pain as if an excavator is digging around in their stomach; meanwhile, others can eat whatever cold, hot, sour, or sweet foods they want, living as comfortably as the female celebrities in sanitary pad commercials.
Under normal circumstances, the susceptible period didn’t have much of an impact on Zhang Qingyuan.
Calm and self-possessed as he was, he wouldn’t exhibit obvious “regressive” behaviors, and could even work and live normally after applying a pheromone blocker patch.
This was the self-control of a top-tier Alpha, and Zhang Qingyuan harbored a strong sense of superiority about it.
However…
“Zhang Qingyuan… are you doing alright?” Ren Zhong hesitated to speak.
“Thank you for your concern, Captain. I am perfectly fine.”
At this moment, Zhang Qingyuan was setting up breakfast for him in a bizarre posture, with his back facing Ren Zhong.
Contorting his flexible upper limbs in a move that challenged the limits of human flexibility, he steadily placed a bowl of perfunctory frozen mini wontons in front of Ren Zhong, maintaining his beautiful back profile the entire time.
He unhurriedly walked to the opposite side of the dining table, then spun around and sat down with the speed of lightning. On his face was a proper and elegant smile, along with a tiny, deliberate trace of forced relaxation.
Ren Zhong clearly sensed that something was off.
His trained nose caught a faint, almost imperceptible whiff of chamomile—the scent of pheromones.
Therefore, Ren Zhong “accidentally” knocked his soup spoon off the table.
“You don’t need to move, I’ll pick it up myself.” He lowered his head and reached under the table.
Zhang Qingyuan shot up with a swoosh. “I’ll get it for you.”
“It’s fine, I already got it.” Ren Zhong straightened up and sat securely in his wheelchair.
Seeing the other man sit up, Zhang Qingyuan immediately scrambled to sit back down, looking as frantic as if his butt was on fire and he desperately needed to dunk it in a basin of water.
Being this uncharacteristic… it would be weird if there wasn’t something fishy going on.
Ren Zhong lowered his head, let out an imperceptible chuckle, and abruptly leaned under the table.
Unexpectedly, this was a feint. Catching the exact moment Zhang Qingyuan had just stood up and hadn’t yet had the time to sit back down, he instantly raised his head, locking his gaze on the thing the other man was trying to hide against the edge of the table.
A towering flag was pitched high and proud.
Other people had a susceptible period; Zhang Qingyuan had a flagpole.
Ren Zhong: “…”
Zhang Qingyuan: “…”
That’s right, all of Zhang Qingyuan’s dignity was built upon the premise that his lower half remained unseen.
This ultimate form of being a “decent human” on the top half and a “horny dog” on the bottom half was, after all, just a superficial front. It could fool people through a video conference, but it couldn’t fool his legal spouse sitting right in front of him.
Zhang Qingyuan decided to just smash the cracked pot and give up. Tugging at his apron, which was stretched out of shape, he slumped dejectedly into his chair.
Even though his blood was clearly boiling, his eyes were as devoid of life as the freshly neutered cat at Shang Liwei’s house next door.
“…Alphas, you know. There are always those few days every quarter.” He seemed to have lost his soul.
Ren Zhong’s expression remained unchanged, revealing no hint of mockery or disdain.
He nonchalantly expressed his understanding. “Yeah, Uncle Flo always comes visiting.”
This made Zhang Qingyuan feel even more thoroughly ashamed. He buried his head on the dining table, his words dragging out with a long trailing tone. “The susceptible period is a tick-ing time bomb. It’s too unstable. So annoying…”
Ren Zhong fished out a mini wonton with his chopsticks and didn’t reply.
Usually, Zhang Qingyuan’s evaluation of things almost never included any emotional vocabulary. The fact that he used the word “annoying” to describe his mood and state meant this susceptible period was hitting him fiercely.
“Isn’t there a ‘subdermal implant’ technology for Alphas?” Zhang Qingyuan asked, refusing to give up. “Not even in the military?”
Unfortunately, Ren Zhong couldn’t give him the answer he wanted.
“No.” Ren Zhong wasn’t lying to him; this wasn’t classified military information, so he could talk about it. “In non-mission situations, you self-isolate in a military safe house for two to three days. During missions, you inject high-concentration suppressants.”
Zhang Qingyuan rested his chin on his crossed arms, grumbling in frustration, “Why do Omegas have so many auxiliary medications to control their body cycles, but Alphas don’t?”
“Probably because the responsibility and cost of contraception have always been borne by Omegas and Betas.” Ren Zhong lowered his head, looking at his own body. “After all, in the event that contraception fails, an Alpha never has to worry about getting pregnant.”
Therefore, intrauterine devices in the reproductive cavity, oral contraceptives, suppressants… the side effects produced by these medications and the financial cost of purchasing them were all shouldered by Omegas and Betas.
“Perhaps this is the price of discrimination and ‘privilege’,” Ren Zhong murmured to himself.
Looking at the depressed Alpha in front of him, he felt a twinge of lamentation. “Even though an Alpha’s rut strips away a person’s dignity and self-control, science should still provide various auxiliary means for you to maintain your dignity. But reality isn’t like that.”
“Who says it isn’t?” Zhang Qingyuan felt a dull ache in his body and shifted slightly to ease it. “People always say Alphas are hunters who can’t control themselves, forever unable to resist their beastly instincts… I’ve never felt that this kind of excuse is a good thing.”
Ren Zhong’s words even carried a hint of pity. “In order to maintain your status as the upper class, you have no choice but to live like dogs.”
Falling into Zhang Qingyuan’s ears, such piercing words made him, currently in his susceptible period, exceptionally sad.
“Captain, it’s true what you’re saying is a fact. But I seriously suspect you are taking revenge on me!” Zhang Qingyuan said with grievance.
If it weren’t for the fact that their previous discussion about “value” made Ren Zhong feel like he had been “lectured” by Zhang Qingyuan, would he be speaking like this? He definitely harbored intentions of returning the favor to Zhang Qingyuan.
Ren Zhong asked back with an innocent face, “How am I taking revenge on you?”
To this, Zhang Qingyuan simply let out a “hmph” and went silent.
After finishing breakfast, Ren Zhong didn’t wait for Zhang Qingyuan to help clean up like before. He loaded his used dishes and chopsticks into the dishwasher himself. Then, he drove his little electric wheelchair out the door to go to physical therapy.
“Be careful on the road, send me a message when you arrive.” The virtuous wife remained sprawled on the table, failing to get up and see Ren Zhong to the door for the very first time.
Ren Zhong let out an “En,” and closed the front door.
The empty house was left with only the virtuous wife Zhang, trapped by his susceptible period. He was still sprawled on the dining table, unwilling to move a muscle.
A phone rang with a “ding” in the distance. Zhang Qingyuan rose to grab it, but accidentally jabbed his flagpole into the corner of the table.
Zhang Qingyuan, hit the floor, dead.
While curled up into a ball, in so much pain that his vision went black, he was still thinking: It’s a good thing I didn’t make a fool of myself in front of Ren Zhong.
Zhang Qingyuan blinked at the ceiling, letting his eyelids evenly spread the welling tears across his corneas. He gasped for breath several times before struggling to crawl up and glance at his phone.
The message was from a lawyer he collaborated with, stating that she was already on the way to his address. A few days ago, he had mentioned wanting to discuss some important matters with her in person, but he had actually forgotten that the appointment was for today.
It was the susceptible period acting up. If the other party hadn’t reminded him, he truly wouldn’t have remembered this at all.
Right at that moment, the doorbell rang.
Crap. The lawyer had arrived faster than Zhang Qingyuan expected. He hadn’t prepared anything yet.
Scrambling and stumbling, he turned the air conditioning down to the lowest temperature and wrapped himself in a long, blanket-like puffer jacket before running to open the door. To his surprise, he saw his sloppy, hardcore shut-in of a younger sister standing outside.
“Zhang Junyi?! Why are you here?” His head was full of question marks, feeling as if he had opened the wrong blind box.
His sister also found it strange. “Didn’t you tell me to come?”
Zhang Qingyuan belatedly slapped his forehead, finally remembering that he did indeed send a message last night asking her to come over.
Seeing his confused state and penguin-like outfit, his sister instantly realized. “You’re not in your susceptible period, are you?”
Zhang Qingyuan’s mind was a chaotic mess, so he could only frown and nod, letting his sister inside.
“How did you handle Shang Liwei’s matter?” he asked, rubbing his dizzy head.
His sister said bluntly, “You don’t know yet? Shang Liwei got fired by her institute, and all her research data has been locked up and archived.”
Great, now Zhang Qingyuan’s head was spinning even more, almost to the point of seeing stars.
“What did you say?” He leaned against the wall for support. “Shang Liwei abides by the law and doesn’t cause trouble, she has solid research achievements, and her supervisor is someone with influence in the academy… The research institute has no reason to fire her!”
His sister also thought it was strange. “I’m not the director of the research institute, how would I know? But before they locked the archives, I made a copy of all her research data and sent it back to her, so it shouldn’t affect her continuing her research.”
Zhang Qingyuan wasn’t dizzy anymore; now he just had a headache.
“Zhang Junyi, why were you in such a rush? We could have used that data to negotiate terms with her and sent it to her in batches later. Since you gave it all to her at once, what do we have left to…”
At this moment, the doorbell rang again.
Zhang Qingyuan let out a long sigh. “Forget it, forget it. You’ve already botched it anyway, we’ll talk about it later. I have some important matters to discuss with my collaborating lawyer. Go grab some fruits and snacks from the coffee table for now.”
“Wait!!!” His sister violently grabbed her brother. “Hero, please hold your steps! Could you elaborate a bit—is this collaborating lawyer outside Lawyer Mai or Lawyer Chen?”
Zhang Qingyuan was utterly confused. “What does that have to do with you?”
“It has everything to do with me! A sky-high amount of relevance!” His sister revealed an awkward but polite smile, nervously fiddling with the over-ear headphones hanging around her neck. “Um… you know about the male Omega married to Lawyer Mai ‘cheating’, right?”
Under the compulsory matching marriage system, cheating wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence.
Lacking any interest, Zhang Qingyuan said bluntly, “No. Why would I need to know someone else’s private life so clearly?”
“Well, now you know.” His sister solemnly cleared her throat. “To keep a long story short… I slept with the little Omega boy she married…”
Zhang Qingyuan: “…”
The doorbell ringing once more was like a death knell, pounding directly onto the skulls of the two people inside the house.
He made a prompt decision. “Go upstairs and hide in my room.”
“You got it. Thanks, bro.” His sister had just taken a few steps up the stairs when she glanced at the fruit platter on the coffee table. Stepping back down, she said, “Bro, I haven’t eaten yet, can I bring the snacks…”
“Get your ass upstairs!”
Translator’s Note:
- Uncle Flo (大姨夫 – Dà yí fū): A comedic play on “Aunt Flo” (大姨妈 – Dà yí mā) which is a common Chinese euphemism for menstruation. Since Zhang Qingyuan is male, Ren Zhong teasingly refers to his susceptible period as “Uncle Flo.”
- Smash the cracked pot (破罐子破摔 – Pò guàn zi pò shuāi): A Chinese idiom meaning to write oneself off as hopeless and act recklessly, or to simply give up fixing a bad situation and let it be.
- Blind box (盲盒 – Máng hé): Refers to mystery box toys. Opening the door felt like pulling a random surprise!