Dead silence. Oppression.
Shen Hui’s back and shoulders were tense, the veins on the back of his hands bulging as if he were ready at any moment to leap up and snap someone’s neck. In the end, he only slightly turned his head to avoid Yan Jiu’s triumphant gaze.
His eyes were half-drooped, dark hair concealing most of his cheek, leaving Yan Jiu with a view of only half a profile that was excessively pale and delicate.
With a victorious smile, Yan Jiu said, “Sit a little further in.”
After a long silence, Shen Hui shifted inward to make space.
Yan Jiu took his seat smoothly. He had arrived full of burning fury, intent on interrogating Shen Hui about his concealment and deception. Yet now, seeing the fragile stubbornness that Shen Hui forced himself to maintain in defeat, an exhilarating sense of conquest surged from his anger.
He familiarly clicked Shen Hui’s seatbelt into place. The driver caught the cue and started the car, leaving Shen Hui with no choice but to be packed up and taken away.
Yan Jiu did not take Shen Hui back to his usual apartment in the city center, instead choosing a villa that occupied half a mountain slope in the suburbs. Access was tightly controlled, and within a forty-mile radius, even ride-sharing apps were out of reach.
Gazing at the somewhat aged Western-style architecture before him, Shen Hui suddenly remembered that this villa was an inheritance left to Yan Jiu by his parents, and also the very place where he had first met Yan Jiu.
In a momentary trance, it was as if he saw the sixteen-year-old Yan Jiu of years past, sitting on the steps with injuries, looking at him with cold wariness like a wounded, baring-teeth wolf cub.
Now, times had changed. The adult alpha naturally wrapped a strong arm around his waist, asking with a triumphant smile, “What are you thinking about?”
Shen Hui kept his silence.
Refusing to take no for an answer, Yan Jiu led him into the villa. “Let us go inside and talk.”
Yan Jiu did not frequently return to this place, so the entire villa felt as spacious and empty as a period museum. He rummaged through the fridge, microwaved a cup of milk, and placed it before Shen Hui.
Shen Hui did not move. He turned his head to look out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the blooming trumpet creepers. Fiery, blooming cascades of flowers crowded his vision, as passionate and intense as the scent of Yan Jiu’s pheromones.
Staring calmly at the trumpet creepers, he asked instead, “What do you want to talk about?”
Yan Jiu sat casually opposite him, his alarmingly long legs sprawled in an arrogant manner. “That is not quite right. What you should be saying is, ‘What have you lied to me about?'”
Shen Hui closed his eyes and offered no reply.
The trace of amusement in Yan Jiu’s heart was entirely obliterated by Shen Hui’s impervious attitude. Remembering Chen Shenzhi’s resolute, arrogant demeanor and definitive words, the possessiveness inherent to an alpha made him want to carve open the chest of the person before him and hold his entire heart in his own hands. Yet looking at his pale face, all those urges were forcefully suppressed.
Yan Jiu loathed his own lack of resolve, yet could not stop himself from asking, “Did you undergo a third gland catalysis surgery?”
Without a second thought, Shen Hui chose to conceal the truth. “No.”
Yan Jiu looked at him suspiciously.
The gland surgery was a transaction between Shen Hui and Chen Shenzhi, something Yan Jiu could not know about just yet. Therefore, he put some effort into covering it up. “I have my own people inside the hospital; the surgery was merely to throw people off the scent.”
Recalling how Shen Hui had nearly slipped through his encirclement, Yan Jiu tentatively chose to believe this explanation. Besides, he was far more concerned with another issue at the moment.
“Chen Shenzhi told me that saving and raising me back then was merely a transaction.”
Hearing this, Shen Hui calmly withdrew his gaze and looked at Yan Jiu, as if studying him carefully and earnestly for the very first time.
Yan Jiu was exceptionally striking even among alphas; his features were handsome yet aggressively sharp, with upturned brows and outer eye corners that radiated an intense sense of oppression.
If he were to release his pheromones at this very moment, most alphas and betas would curl up and tremble at his feet.
Yet Shen Hui was a beta. Even standing at the eye of the storm, he remained completely unfazed. Meeting his gaze with calm composure, he finally spoke after a long silence. “Yes.”
The air fell dead silent in an instant. If Shen Hui were an alpha or an omega, he would now smell the scorching scent of molten magma, thick enough to make the air boiling hot and suffocating. Being a beta, however, he only felt a slight rise in temperature.
The alpha was hovering on the verge of explosive fury.
Seeming completely unaware, Shen Hui laid his cards on the table. “Six years ago, when I planned to leave the Chen family, Elder Chen said that as long as I raised you into a member of the Chen family, I would be allowed to leave. That transaction was a fair bargain.”
Yan Jiu stared at him fixedly, trying to unearth any sign of deception in his expression, given how often Shen Hui had lied to him in the past. Yet the more familiar he was with him, the more he knew Shen Hui was not lying.
“You wanted to leave the Chen family because of Chen Shenzhi?”
A prolonged silence was Yan Jiu’s only response.
Chen Shenzhi had once been the only person Shen Hui cared about.
At the age of six, Shen Hui, who grew up in an orphanage, had once desperately yearned for a singular connection, a single friend, someone who cared only about him. Yet the orphanage teachers never showed favoritism, and his peers there would abandon him over a single biscuit.
Only Chen Shenzhi was different. He looked only at him, cared only about him, and even insisted on taking him along when his wealthy parents came to find him.
Back then, a ten-year-old Chen Shenzhi had extended a hand to him, saying, “Come with me, and I will be your only family.”
For sixteen years, he had poured virtually everything into that single sentence, only to receive a single word in return from Chen Shenzhi: “Defective.”
He wanted to drag Chen Shenzhi down with him in mutual destruction, yet lacked the heart to do so. He wanted to walk away then and there, yet felt too resentful, nearly consumed by his own internal struggle and hesitation.
It was precisely at that juncture that Yan Jiu walked into his field of vision.
Believing that he and Chen Shenzhi had suffered a falling out after years of navigating the turbulent business world, Chen Shang sought to squeeze out his final drop of value, offering to let him leave on the condition that he forge a new blade for the Chen family.
Shen Hui agreed. He would forge a blade for them, a sharp weapon meant for self-execution.
That designated subject was Yan Jiu, whose parents had passed away in an accident, leaving his custody in the hands of Chen Shang. Though the Yan and Chen families were long-standing acquaintances, Chen Shang sought to exploit his old friend’s death to swallow up the Yan family entirely through Yan Jiu.
Their initial encounter had been nothing short of a power struggle and transaction built entirely on mutual interests.
Shen Hui openly admitted, “Yes.”
The temperature in the living room spiked abruptly, making even someone with poor circulation like Shen Hui feel hot, his palms slick with sweat.
Veins bulged on the back of Yan Jiu’s clenched fists as he gritted his back teeth to ask the question he most wanted answered.
“Do you love him?”
Shen Hui had never cared for Yan Jiu’s stubborn tenacity of digging until he got to the bottom of things. Fortunately, over the past six years, he had figured out how to handle it. Instead of answering the question, he countered, “How is Elder Chen?”
Clearly, this tactic failed to work against the now fully fledged alpha. Yan Jiu’s eyes burned with fury, his entire body rigid with tension, ready to leap forward and tear him apart at any second.
Silence meant assent.
Yet Shen Hui simply looked at him quietly, exuding a calm, mountain-like strength that managed to cool the rage of the alpha on the brink of fury.
Yan Jiu took a deep breath, a mocking smile crossing his face at the mention of Chen Shang. “To let the old man just die like that would let him off too easily. Keeping him hanging on by a thread is still useful.” His expression darkened immediately. “But that thing was taken by Chen Shenzhi.”
Just as he had anticipated, Chen Shenzhi must have used his surgery to lure Yan Jiu away.
Truly squeezing out every last drop of utility, Shen Hui sneered inwardly. Moreover, Chen Shang’s reaction was also off; when it came to deep-laid scheming, even Chen Shenzhi, Yan Jiu, and himself combined would hardly match him.
He had a gut feeling that something was amiss, but he simply no longer wished to meddle.
“You have done well.” Shen Hui looked at Yan Jiu calmly, a trace of gratification flashing in his eyes.
Over the past six years, Yan Jiu had grown to absolute perfection, reclaiming the Yan family enterprise and defeating Chen Shenzhi. For both of them, this could be considered a perfect outcome.
Yan Jiu snapped his head up to look at him. In the past six years, Shen Hui had never once affirmed him. Whether it was scoring full marks on exams, getting accepted into a top global university, presenting as an alpha, or step by step encroaching upon the Chen family, Shen Hui had only ever quietly watched him come to claim credit, telling him he could always do better.
That phrase had served as a distant lighthouse deep in the ocean of night, an untouchable redemption that fueled his competitive drive and burned deep into his bones.
He had never imagined that the final affirmation would be uttered by Shen Hui in such a flat tone. Far from feeling satisfied and gladdened by validation, his heart felt as though a chunk of flesh had been hollowed out, leaving it empty and desolate.
Shen Hui stood up, looking down at his former student, and suddenly offered a relieved smile. “You have always done well. There is nothing left for me to teach you; you can walk the road ahead on your own.”
With just a few words, Shen Hui had placated the enraged wolf cub. Confirming that he would not fly into a frenzy, Shen Hui turned to leave.
Yan Jiu watched his retreating figure, his eyes filled with a complex, fierce impulse. “Then, Shen Hui, in your eyes, what exactly am I?”
Shen Hui turned back, pondered earnestly for a moment, and delivered his answer. “My most perfect masterpiece.”
Yan Jiu’s heart trembled violently, burning blood rushing through his limbs to the point that even his fingertips shook slightly.
He had acknowledged him as unique, but not the kind of unique he desired.
Seeing Yan Jiu’s expression, Shen Hui knew the alpha would likely back down, or at least, leaving now meant the alpha would not violently pin him to the floor and rough him up.
With a complicated expression, Yan Jiu stared at him, letting out a long, resigned breath.
“Then where do you want to go?”
The tightly strung cord in Shen Hui’s heart eased just a fraction. “I do not know. Probably just wander around.”
Yan Jiu fetched a bottle of red wine from the cabinet, poured himself a glass, and picked up the still-warm cup of milk, walking over to hand it to Shen Hui.
“A parting drink.” Yan Jiu seemed to have come to terms with it. “Remember to come back and visit when you have time.”
Shen Hui did not take it. His eyes carried an evaluative, scrutinizing gaze. Given his understanding of Yan Jiu, even if he reluctantly let him go, he would inevitably harbor lingering resentment; such sudden magnanimity meant trouble was likely afoot.
His gaze dropped to the cup of milk.
Yan Jiu’s hand holding the milk glass was steady and strong. Catching Shen Hui’s hesitation, he offered a frank smile. “If I truly wanted to keep you here, do you think you would be able to walk out?”
“Or have you changed your mind and decided to stay?”
Shen Hui immediately reached out, took the milk, drank it down in one go, and shoved the empty cup right back at him.
“I am leaving.”
Watching Shen Hui’s back, Yan Jiu took a sip of his wine, failing to quench the dryness in his throat.
Tricking a cunning fox was indeed no easy task. He was cold and cautious, yet in the end, he still lost.
Crash! Red wine spilled everywhere.
Hearing the sound, Shen Hui turned back to meet Yan Jiu’s gaze, feeling a sudden sense of foreboding. He bolted for the front door, but after taking barely two steps, his knees turned to jelly, and he collapsed halfway to the floor.
Step by step, Yan Jiu closed in, towering over him with a condescending gaze.
“What makes you think an alpha would ever let go of a prey he has coveted for so long?” Yan Jiu bent down slightly, using an index finger to hook Shen Hui’s chin and force him to look up, his expression a mix of pleasant amusement and cruelty. “This round, you lose.”
Shen Hui felt his strength rapidly draining away, his body turning too limp to support his weight, leaving even his anger powerless.
“What did you give me to drink?”
“The thing that brings you joy.”