After Being Deceived, I Married Someone Else and Had Children Chapter 35

When he returned to the hotel—

Gu Heng held the mecha box in one arm, his black eyes still faintly luminous. But just as he reached the corridor leading to Zuo Shihuan’s room, he suddenly froze.

Passing hotel staff were chatting as they walked.

“There was a guest who checked out late at night,” one said. “Front desk woke me up to clean the room. I’m still half asleep.”

“Speaking of guests,” said another, “I just saw this Alpha—looked really refined, not someone from our lower city district. So handsome and cool, but surprisingly polite! He even helped me push a heavy cart of kitchenware back to the staff room. Could that be the same person you’re talking about?”

“Guests checking out this late are rare—it must be him.”

Gu Heng’s eyes dimmed. His hand slackened around the mecha box. He stood there, unable to take another step forward.

From the staff’s brief conversation— Not from the lower city district. A handsome Alpha. Refined in dress. Piece by piece, the description narrowed, until he knew exactly who that midnight guest must have been.

The corners of his lips twisted into a faint, self-mocking smile. Still—he wasn’t willing to give up without seeing Zuo Shihuan with his own eyes.

Even though he knew, rationally, that by the time he’d rushed back to the hotel, that person had likely already gone— A dull ache of resentment and bitter disappointment still surged in his chest.

His once-quick pace slowed. His solitary shadow stretched long across the dim hotel corridor.

With an S-class Alpha’s perfect memory, Gu Heng could have walked the route blindfolded. Before long, he stood before the door of the room he had booked.

And yet, the instant he stood there, he already knew the answer.

It was silent—utterly lifeless inside.

The hotel’s thin walls could not block the keen hearing of a top-tier Alpha.

Head lowered, clutching the mecha box, Gu Heng’s cold face finally showed a trace of exhaustion and loss he could no longer conceal.

He pushed open the door.

Empty.

The room was spotless. Even the white hotel bedding had been neatly folded. The slippers were set perfectly in place.

Aside from the subtle signs Gu Heng alone could detect— A faint shift in the carpet’s alignment, a slightly displaced ornament— No one else could tell someone had just left.

It looked like a freshly prepared, untouched room.

And yet, Gu Heng refused to let Zuo Shihuan’s compulsive neatness have the last word.

He ignored the chair.

Instead, he sat straight down on the bed— right into the perfectly folded white sheets Zuo Shihuan had left behind, crushing and wrinkling them on purpose.

The mecha box he had protected all the way from Baile Star— he tossed it carelessly onto the bed. It hit the wooden headboard with a loud clang! The fragile plastic casing dented immediately.

Gu Heng heard the sound— but didn’t even glance at it.

Lighting a cigarette, he sat in the middle of the bed, shoulders hunched, his expression bleak.

One cigarette after another. Ash fell, bit by bit— burning away in the quiet room, as if each one consumed another piece of the night’s bitterness.

He deliberately let the smoke—something Zuo Shihuan hated—soak into the room and the bedsheets.

He deliberately flicked the ashes so that they fell into the gaps of the carpet—places impossible to clean—knowing full well it would trigger Zuo Shihuan’s obsessive need for cleanliness.

Even though Gu Heng had no intention of making things difficult for the hotel’s cleaning staff, and would later pay a hefty cleaning fee, right now he just had to do it.

So childish—to hold a grudge and lash out like this at someone.

Precisely because he knew Zuo Shihuan wouldn’t see this scene, he acted all the more recklessly, as if that could count as revenge.

If Zuo Shihuan were here to see this mess of a hotel room, he’d definitely be furious— and that was exactly the point.

Who told him to leave without saying a word?

Gu Heng’s lips curled into a mean grin; even his naturally fine, aristocratic face couldn’t soften that arrogant, wicked smile—it was the grin of a villain savoring petty revenge.

But after a while, even that lost its appeal.

It was pointless from the start.

He stayed only to give the cleaning staff a generous tip later—as compensation for the mess he’d made.

Gu Heng assumed they’d come soon, but after sitting there for quite a while, no one appeared.

He clearly remembered hearing staff chatting in the corridor earlier. Why weren’t they coming now? Had they gone off to slack somewhere?

If that were the case, there was no point waiting. With a cold expression, Gu Heng decided to toss some cash on the bedside table and leave.

Just then, he heard slow, belated footsteps approach.

The door hadn’t been fully closed; a light push would open it.

The footsteps outside paused—hesitant.

Annoyed, Gu Heng frowned. How long were they planning to stall? His tone was indifferent as he said, “You can come in directly. The tip’s on the bed.”

Strangely, the supposed cleaning staff didn’t reply.

Gu Heng bit the cigarette between his lips, clicked his tongue impatiently, and crushed the butt into the ashtray on the nightstand, muttering his dissatisfaction with the hotel’s service as he stood up to leave.

But before he could reach the door, it opened from the outside.

A pale, slender hand appeared in his line of sight—clean and elegant, nails neatly trimmed. It wasn’t the hand of a hotel worker, but neither did it belong to a pampered aristocrat.

The faintly worn fingerprints, the calluses on the palm and knuckles—signs of long years of labor— and yet, the sight of that hand made Gu Heng’s heart skip a beat in recognition.

“Gu Heng? What are you doing here?”

The one who stepped through the doorway was the last person he expected—Zuo Shihuan.

Those clear, light brown eyes looked at him with focused curiosity, framed by a calm, straight posture and composed grace—refined, restrained, almost ascetic.

Gu Heng froze.

“What’s wrong? Did you forget something?”

Zuo Shihuan’s tone was mild with concern, though inwardly he was puzzled. He remembered double-checking before leaving—nothing personal had been left behind.

When Gu Heng didn’t answer, Zuo Shihuan frowned slightly and stepped further into the room— only for his expression to shift the moment he saw the state of it.

Had he… walked into the wrong room?

That couldn’t be.

It was the same room number, and the furnishings were just as they’d been before—except…

The pristine white bedspread he’d so carefully arranged earlier was now a wrinkled mess. Yet even through the chaos, he could tell this was indeed his room. The blue corner tag on the sheet still faced the lower left corner of the bed—just as he’d placed it.

But how, in the short time he’d been down at the front desk to extend his stay, had the spotless room turned into this?

And was that… cigarette smoke?

Gu Heng’s pupils contracted sharply. Before he could feel relief that Zuo Shihuan hadn’t actually left, all his attention was diverted by the man’s confused gaze as he surveyed the room.

Cr*p.

Seeing Zuo Shihuan’s line of sight drop toward the floor, Gu Heng’s heart lurched.

He jumped down from the bed, pressing his foot over the ashes on the carpet, grinding them into fine dust to hide the evidence— then took two quick steps forward, blocking the spot behind him.

Feigning calm, he said, with a quiet edge of grievance, “I thought you’d left. I overheard the hotel staff say a guest had checked out. I came back and couldn’t find you—so I assumed you were gone.”

Zuo Shihuan explained calmly, “I didn’t leave. Something came up.”

He recalled how, when he went to the front desk to extend his stay, a young couple had caused a scene—arguing, breaking things, refusing to pay. The commotion had angered the staff, forcing them to clean the damaged room immediately and demand compensation.

Zuo Shihuan had been stuck there, listening to their ridiculous fight, unable to leave until it was resolved.

Coming from the slums, he’d long been used to dealing with unreasonable customers while working part-time jobs—endless trouble, extra shifts, even pay deductions.

Because he had endured so much hardship, he’d grown more considerate toward service workers, always trying to avoid causing them extra trouble.

Even after joining the Zuo family and living in comfort, he kept those habits—never relying on others to serve him.

Zuo Shihuan’s gaze fell again on the wrinkled sheets. He visibly fought back the urge to straighten them and said instead,

“I was planning to leave at first, but then I realized I hadn’t given you my contact information. So I went to extend the room for another month and leave a note for you. But there was a delay—the couple in front of me were arguing. I heard they trashed their room and broke a lot of the hotel’s property…”

Zuo Shihuan frowned slightly, clearly disapproving of behavior that caused trouble for others.

Beside him, Gu Heng’s throat moved as he swallowed; his guilty gaze darted aside as he said weakly, “Yeah, that’s really not right.”

At the same time, he pressed his foot harder over the ashes on the carpet—had Zuo Shihuan not been standing there, he would’ve erased all traces completely.

Zuo Shihuan, however, knit his brows and took a cautious step forward. “Do you smell something? The smoke seems stronger.”

Gu Heng’s pupils contracted. He put on a cold, casual air and said, “Ah, sorry. I couldn’t see you just now, got in a bad mood, and… started smoking.”

It was the truth, but even so, guilt prickled in his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the ashtray on the nightstand overflowing with cigarette butts—some still faintly glowing red.

There was no hiding that he’d smoked, but if he could conceal a little, he would.

Zuo Shihuan, hearing Gu Heng’s blunt admission, was caught off guard. Yet instead of feeling repulsed, he was oddly moved. His gentle brown eyes curved as he smiled at Gu Heng. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d come back. But I’m really glad to see you again.”

Gu Heng felt a flicker of happiness as well. Maintaining his cold, proud expression, the tips of his ears reddened. “Is that so? Then I didn’t wait for nothing.”

Zuo Shihuan didn’t correct him—didn’t say that after Gu Heng left, he was the one who’d sat there for hours, waiting in silence.

Even knowing he’d already made up his mind to give up, he’d kept replaying everything in his head—analyzing it rationally on one side, sitting motionless and dazed on the other.

If he hadn’t had at least a shred of self-control left, he probably would’ve stayed sitting until dawn.

He’d thought that kind of empty waiting was meaningless—a waste of time— but unexpectedly, it had brought Gu Heng back to him.

Letting go was only a matter of time.

This much was enough.

Zuo Shihuan looked deeply at Gu Heng, hiding the vivid spark in his eyes, and said calmly, “Since you’re back, I thought about it. You don’t need to go to Baile Star anymore. That thing isn’t worth the trouble—”

“But I already got it for you,” Gu Heng cut in.

“That’s impossible. You don’t have to lie just to save face,” Zuo Shihuan said, not believing him for a second.

How could he possibly believe that Gu Heng, after only a few hours away, had traveled all the way to distant Baile Star and returned with what he wanted?

But Gu Heng merely raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You’ll believe me—because I brought it back.”

The bright confidence in Gu Heng’s eyes startled Zuo Shihuan. In that moment, he thought—no matter what Gu Heng handed him, he’d probably just nod and say yes.

“Then let me see it,” Zuo Shihuan said, relaxing his posture. Folding his arms, his soft brown eyes looked at Gu Heng with tolerant amusement, a dimple appearing in his cheek as he smiled.

Gu Heng answered with a smug, cocky grin—arrogant and dazzling in a way that was both noble and dangerously charming, the kind of youthful pride that dared to shine too bright.

Lively and brazen.

To those who had once been tormented by the young imperial prince’s willfulness, seeing that face again would’ve made their teeth ache with anger.

But in Zuo Shihuan’s eyes, the young Beta a few years his junior was nothing but vivid and radiant—someone he couldn’t help but indulge, fondness welling up from deep inside.

“Wait here, I left it over there.”

Gu Heng turned to retrieve the mecha model case he’d tossed on the bed earlier. Seeing the dented plastic shell, he frowned in regret.

He quickly tried to press the box back into shape, his back to Zuo Shihuan as he checked whether the model inside was damaged.

They were old toys from years ago—he wasn’t even sure which parts had already been broken.

But as he focused on the box, he failed to notice that the ashes under his foot didn’t move with him.

Zuo Shihuan’s gaze had been resting gently on him, but when Gu Heng stepped aside, the lingering smoke in the air made him wrinkle his nose in discomfort. Instinctively, he glanced toward the source of the smell—

—and saw it.

On the clean carpet, a gray-black patch of ash. And wherever Gu Heng walked, his shoes left behind faint, dusty footprints— like black claw marks marring a field of snow.

Even if Zuo Shihuan wanted to fool himself into believing this mess wasn’t Gu Heng’s doing, he couldn’t.

The culprit was still walking around, leaving evidence everywhere.

For a moment, Zuo Shihuan’s heart sank.

He’d worked so hard to tidy this room—the white quilt carefully smoothed, the corners perfectly aligned, even the bedside lamp angled just right, all so the next guest would step into a warm, spotless space.

When he’d finished cleaning, he’d felt deeply satisfied— as if he could already see sunlight streaming over the soft white bed the next morning.

If it hadn’t been so late, he’d even wanted to go out and buy a bouquet of sunflowers to brighten the room, adding a touch of nature.

Maybe twenty days later, when Gu Heng came back to find him, the sunflowers would’ve long since withered and dried.

But he would’ve left a note beside the vase— and the fallen orange petals, even scorched by the sun, would’ve kept their bright color.

He hadn’t needed to wait that long, though.

Gu Heng had already returned—and turned the room into a complete mess.

Zuo Shihuan, who’d thought he could forgive anything just for one more meeting, suddenly realized there were limits he couldn’t cross.

The more he looked, the more his chest tightened. Pressing his lips together, he forced out through gritted teeth, “Did you find it yet?”

“Almost,” Gu Heng muttered, frustrated with himself for tossing it carelessly earlier.

Thankfully, the mecha model inside was fine—but the plastic casing was beyond repair. Hopefully Zuo Shihuan wouldn’t get mad.

He turned around— and froze when he saw the unmistakable cold, angry expression on Zuo Shihuan’s face.

Then, suddenly, Gu Heng remembered. And stood stiffly where he was.

Zuo Shihuan tilted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes as he ground out through clenched teeth, “What is it? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Gu Heng thought — how could he dare speak now?

He was terrified that the sharp, perfectionist gleam in Zuo Shihuan’s eyes would see him as something filthy that needed to be scrubbed away.

He’d meant to annoy Zuo Shihuan — and he’d succeeded.

But now, Gu Heng wished he could go back to the moment he first entered this room. Or better yet, that he’d never walked in at all.

The imperial crown prince who had never known fear in his life truly realized his mistake this time.

His dark eyes tense, Gu Heng swallowed hard and said, “Are you angry? I was wrong — I shouldn’t have messed up the room you just cleaned. I’ll have someone take care of it right away, Zuo Shihuan, please don’t be mad.”

Zuo Shihuan kept smiling. “Angry? Me? No, not at all. It’s just a little messy, isn’t it? The bed got rumpled, there’s cigarette ash all over the carpet, and…”

With a cold smile, he picked up the banknote from the nightstand and stepped closer, one deliberate step after another, until the sweating Gu Heng was backed against the wall.

With a sharp thud, Zuo Shihuan’s hand landed beside his head — a perfect wall slam. Meeting Gu Heng’s wide, trembling dark eyes, he smiled slightly and said in a slow, deliberate tone,

“Oh right — weren’t you just trying to tip me a minute ago? Thought I was hotel staff and wanted to shoo me away with a banknote?”

Cornered, Gu Heng could only stare at Zuo Shihuan’s lips — the red curve of them opening and closing, his breath so close, his clear brown eyes blazing with anger. For that brief instant, Zuo Shihuan’s beauty flared—sharp, fierce, and alive.

“Hmm?”

Zuo Shihuan narrowed his eyes. “Why aren’t you speaking? What are you, a child? I leave for a little while and you turn the room into a kennel.”

He was clearly furious.

But to Gu Heng, even this angry Alpha from the Federation was so beautiful that his heart pounded in his ears.

“I know I was wrong,” Gu Heng said, raising both hands in surrender.

Zuo Shihuan bit his lip in frustration, his gaze sweeping the messy room. His voice turned low and restless as he muttered to himself, “…The bed I can refold. But the carpet covered in ash — what do I do about that? Regular cleaning won’t get it out. And at this hour, I can’t call hotel staff in.”

The more he thought about it — all caused by Gu Heng — the more his anger simmered. Finally, he couldn’t hold back and shot Gu Heng a fierce glare.

Gu Heng, however, found this tidy, cleanliness-obsessed Alpha adorable — even his angry eye-roll was cute.

He couldn’t help but grin.

Meanwhile, Zuo Shihuan kept lecturing, explaining in exasperated detail how difficult hotel cleaning was, his cold brows furrowed as he scolded Gu Heng — like an irritated little housekeeper.

Gu Heng nodded along with an amused smile, pretending to listen earnestly, though the words went in one ear and out the other.

He really didn’t understand why cleaning had to be such a complicated thing — why carpets needed special detergents. Weren’t all cleaners the same?

And if it was that hard to clean, why not just throw it away?

Having grown up in the imperial palace, the pampered crown prince had never needed to concern himself with such trivial matters — there had always been attendants and overseers to handle them.

Even after coming to the Federation, stripped of his retinue, Gu Heng had only learned enough to get by. Life was simpler — not refined like before.

To him, even compensating for an entire hotel was nothing. What was one small room?

But because he cared about Zuo Shihuan’s feelings, he was willing to yield — to humor this man’s strange attachment to neatness, finding even those quirks endearingly cute.

Still, the lecture was dragging on. Gu Heng’s attention drifted — to Zuo Shihuan’s moving lips, the soft red curve opening and closing.

He suddenly had the urge to silence them.

Before he knew it, his body had moved on its own —

He leaned in and kissed him.

The startled light-brown eyes were right before his own, and the brief press of lips was warm, soft, faintly sweet.

A light touch — and then silence.

Gu Heng still had that faint trace of a smile in his eyes when he realized what he’d just done. His breath caught — he froze, staring at Zuo Shihuan in shock. For five long seconds, neither of them moved.

When he finally pulled back, his heart was racing. He wanted to say something — anything — to ease the tension, but no words came.

His dark eyes stayed locked on Zuo Shihuan’s face, full of nervous apology.

Zuo Shihuan’s mind went blank for two seconds — then his eyes turned red. He grabbed Gu Heng by the collar, slamming him against the wall. His flushed, tear-bright eyes blazed as he shouted,

“Do you just kiss anyone you please? If you can’t afford the consequences, don’t come to provoke me!”

Gu Heng froze. Seeing the hurt in Zuo Shihuan’s reddened eyes, realization hit him — he’d gone too far.

He hadn’t been thinking at all just now.

But when he came back to himself, he was kissing Zuo Shihuan — and the calm, quiet pleasure in his heart told him there had been no resistance. No excuse to hide behind.

Lowering his head, guilt clouded his dark eyes. He finally understood that his impulsive, selfish recklessness was what truly wounded Zuo Shihuan.

The proud imperial prince, always untamed and defiant, bowed his noble head.

His brows furrowed deeply; his gaze turned heavy and solemn. Holding the mecha model he’d worked so hard to recover, he presented it carefully in both hands, his voice hoarse as he said,

“I’m sorry. I… won’t offend you again. This is yours. I’m returning it to you.”

He handed it over quietly.

Before Zuo Shihuan could react, Gu Heng turned away — as though cutting every tie in that instant.

His pale face and unsteady steps made him look like a soldier fleeing the battlefield in defeat.

Zuo Shihuan stared blankly at the mecha model in his hand — something that absolutely should not exist there.

It was impossible.

How could something separated by several star systems suddenly appear right before his eyes?

Every rational thought screamed that the model he was holding must be a fake — it couldn’t possibly have come from that cold, selfish woman.

And yet, the moment Zuo Shihuan laid eyes on it, he recognized it instantly.

It was the real one.

Why?

Why bring it back now of all times — and why did it have to be Gu Heng who brought it to him?

He had already resolved to throw all this meaningless junk away — to cast off every trace of the past so he could walk his bright, destined path and become the rightful heir of the Zuo family, basking in glory and wealth.

Hadn’t he already decided that?

It was her who had refused him first — she was the one who cut him off!

Zuo Shihuan’s eyes flushed red, the corners trembling with barely contained tears, his heart aching like shattered glass ground into his chest.

The wound that had once stabbed deep into him — now, another b*stard had come to rip it open again. 

How could that possibly end well?

It couldn’t. It would only make the pain worse, more unbearable, more maddening.

His expression turned frighteningly cold. His arm trembled as he gripped the mecha model — the thing he had once obsessed over — so tightly that pieces of its cracked plastic shell began to fall away.

A sharp, icy laugh escaped his lips.

“Gu Heng, you’re really driving me insane.”