Xie Qing had no intention of lingering. Dragging Xie Wang, whose legs were still weak from the pheromone suppression, he walked over to Chen Yunfeng. “Thank you.”
Actually, Chen Yunfeng hadn’t wanted that much in the first place. Arguably, he hadn’t wanted anything at all.
He had simply calculated that if he didn’t intervene to stall, the young master was going to get beaten to a pulp.
As it turned out, if he hadn’t stepped in, the one doing the beating probably would have been Xie Wang’s own older brother, rather than those three punks.
Yet Xie Qing’s tone was genuinely stiff; the two words thank you sounded as if he were saying, “There, I said thank you, happy now? Don’t even think about a reward.”
Hearing that made Chen Yunfeng’s teeth itch.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to give him a hard time, a smartphone suddenly appeared right in front of his face.
“Twenty thousand. I’ll scan you.”
Chen Yunfeng froze. This wasn’t going the way he had imagined at all.
And the amount was doubled right off the bat. Was making money really this easy?
Maybe he should just kidnap the young master on some other day?
“Bro, ten thousand.” Xie Wang weakly tugged at his brother’s sleeve, his voice barely audible yet unusually firm.
“Twenty thousand. I’m deducting it from your card so you learn your lesson.” Xie Qing opened the QR code scanner and urged impatiently, “Please hurry up. Thank you.”
Chen Yunfeng drew in a breath, put on a smile, and pulled up his receiving QR code.
He didn’t even care that he was wearing a face mask, meaning the guy couldn’t see his expression at all.
Who turns their nose up at money, especially a windfall this large? It was practically what he made in an entire year.
“Risk warning?” Xie Qing frowned. “What’s going on with your WeChat?”
Chen Yunfeng glanced at Xie Qing’s screen. Sure enough, it was a risk warning with only a return option available.
“Then add me instead?” Chen Yunfeng pulled up his contact QR code. “Friend transfers shouldn’t have any limits.”
Only then did Xie Qing take a careful look at the person in front of him.
The guy was lowering his head to adjust his phone screen’s brightness. His hair looked like it had been dyed, taking on a greenish tint under the sunlight.
The layers were a complete mess, styled in the currently trendy mullet, and half-tied up because of the sweltering weather.
The mask covered most of his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.
He was dressed entirely in white, with a small decorative chain of a cat drinking water pinned to his chest, and shorts that barely covered his knees.
Seeing that Xie Qing hadn’t reacted, Chen Yunfeng had no choice but to look up and prompt him with his eyes.
Their gazes collided.
Chen Yunfeng blinked playfully. “What? Your Omega doesn’t let you add other people?”
Xie Qing withdrew his gaze and scanned the code to add him as a contact.
(Inner monologue: What a clumsy fishing expedition for information.)
Chen Yunfeng accepted the friend request, then paused for a second at the nickname field, realizing he had no idea what the guy in front of him was called.
He typed out a direct remark: Unexpected windfall courtesy of the young master’s older brother.
“Xie Qing.”
The cold voice exploded from right above him. Chen Yunfeng gave an involuntary start and tapped confirm.
“What?” Without lifting his head, he focused intently on waiting for the transfer.
Xie Qing humored him with an answer: “Change the remark. Xie Qing, the qing from a vast expanse of autumn waves.”
“Sneaking a peek at me?” Without changing his posture, Chen Yunfeng opened the remarks field and typed as the young master requested.
“Accidental.” Xie Qing pulled back his gaze and initiated the transfer. “My apologies.”
Watching the transfer of 200,000 yuan with a pitiful expression, Xie Wang failed to catch his breath in time, slid down against his brother’s leg, and slumped to the ground.
“Chen Yunfeng. The yun and feng from ‘different lands under the same mountains and rivers, sharing the same winds and moon’.”
“How’s that? I just made it up on the spot. Don’t you think it matches your name pretty well?”
Chen Yunfeng calmly accepted the transfer, put away his phone, and kept chatting, showing zero intention of letting them leave.
“I don’t think so. Thanks, but I’ll be leaving if there’s nothing else.”
With that, Xie Qing scooped up Xie Wang, turned around, and walked toward the alley entrance. Chen Yunfeng waved a hand without speaking.
Once the two of them got into the car, he turned his head and unleashed a torrent of abuse on the three punks.
“What the fuck were you guys doing? Playing games with the young master?
Making such a godawful scene, and you even tried to suppress me with your pheromones just now. You’re absolute morons.”
He had actually been in a pretty good mood, but since he’d been given the cold shoulder by a handsome guy, Chen Yunfeng felt a strong urge to vent.
And so, those three ended up serving as Chen Yunfeng’s punching bags. Only after he felt thoroughly satisfied did he dust off his hands and stroll out.
Xie Qing’s car was still parked at the alley entrance, waiting for the police to arrive.
Chen Yunfeng’s single-handed beatdown just moments ago had been witnessed clearly by Xie Qing through the windshield.
One of Chen Yunfeng’s shorts-clad legs had probably taken a kick from someone; there was a prominent red bruise there, quite a large patch.
Without hiding it at all, Chen Yunfeng cast a jaunty, sniper-like hand gesture toward Xie Qing’s direction before turning away.
Xie Wang had already regained consciousness. Staring at Chen Yunfeng, he couldn’t decide whether to thank him or burst into tears.
Especially with that rakish, devil-may-care attitude of his. Xie Wang was terrified his brother might lose his temper and step on the gas to run the guy over.
Not daring to move his head, Xie Wang could only swivel his eyeballs to glance sideways at his brother.
To his surprise, he noticed that Xie Qing had been staring intently at that departing figure the entire time.
“Bro, even though he looks pretty good, he’s just a Beta. Out of the 50 Omegas Mom and Dad arranged for you to meet this month, how many have you actually given the time of day? That peach-scented older girl from last time, I thought she wasn’t half bad.”
“Say another word and get out of the car!” Xie Qing cut him off.
Xie Wang swore that inside the car right at that moment, there was no need to turn on the air conditioning at all.
Buzz.
In the quiet, suffocating space, a phone vibrated.
Xie Wang hurriedly pulled out his phone and switched it to silent mode, with a proficiency that was heartbreaking.
However, the message wasn’t for him.
Xie Qing opened WeChat. An anime profile picture that bore an uncanny resemblance to Chen Yunfeng was pinned right at the top.
Dressed just like he was a moment ago, the avatar displayed only a pair of eyes that looked deep enough to drown in, even when looking at a dog.
Xie Qing cast a glance at the restless Xie Wang sitting beside him.
Ah, right. Eyes that looked at Xie Wang with that same deep affection.
Chen Yunfeng: Assuming the big boss can keep me out of the fallout, I’ll take my leave first. See you next week.
Xie Qing typed a quick reply: There is no next week.
Chen Yunfeng: My fortune-telling is actually quite accurate. See you next Monday.
Xie Qing tapped out a few words in the chat box, deleted them, and put his phone away.
Chen Yunfeng was rather strange. He could smell the scent of pheromones, yet he remained completely unaffected by them.
On top of that, he seemed to be quite fond of fortune-telling.
Too bad Xie Qing only believed in science and had zero faith in metaphysics.
Xie Wang: I want to take a peek at who it is.
Xie Wang’s Bank Card: No, you do not.
True to Chen Yunfeng’s expectations, Xie Qing handled the aftermath so cleanly that nobody ever mentioned Chen Yunfeng’s appearance.
Those three punks were familiar with the area and knew that the security cameras had been broken and under maintenance for the past two days, which was why they had deliberately led Xie Wang there.
One look from Xie Qing had been enough for them to understand what they should and shouldn’t say.
Throughout the record-taking process, Chen Yunfeng was as good as nonexistent.
Because he had trusted people too easily, Xie Wang was grounded at home by Xie Qing for a full week.
A full week!
He had never longed for the outside world so desperately before.
At that moment, Xie Wang’s yearning for college life reached its absolute peak.
He was determined to live on campus, grow roots on campus. In life he would be a man of the university, and in death a ghost of the university.
He couldn’t spend even one more day living under Xie Qing’s roof.
“Bro, I’m heading off to school!” Radiating enthusiasm, Xie Wang dragged his suitcase along and gave a fierce hug to the Alaskan Malamute his brother kept.
The scent of freedom!
Even the dog got to go out for walks every day. He was the only one who didn’t.
“Together.” Xie Qing walked down the stairs, zipping up his jacket as he moved.
“Ah.” Xie Wang’s face instantly scrunched up into a ball. “I swear I won’t run around with anyone else this time, you can trust me!”
Xie Qing strode over and said coolly, “I have to go to school, too.”
“Oh, right, I totally forgot. You haven’t graduated yet.” Xie Wang’s eyes widened. “Holy crap, you’re my senior.”
Xie Qing looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Say another curse word and I’ll sew your mouth shut.”
“Hurry up, stop dawdling.”
Xie Wang: The fact that my older brother, who happens to be a company CEO, is actually my senior?
OMG, doesn’t that mean I’m going to run into him at school every single day?
Xie Wang was truly in despair. Who could possibly understand his pain!