After finishing breakfast, Lin Xun showed no intention of letting him leave.
Li You checked the time repeatedly. It was not until the absolute last moment before he would be late that he hesitated, opened his mouth, and asked Lin Xun, “Can I go to work?”
Lin Xun asked back, “Did I ever say I wouldn’t let you go?”
A surge of joy rose in Li You’s heart, but before the joy could fully take root, it was doused by cold water, would he have to go home after work? If he didn’t go back and Lin Zhaoning asked about it, what should he do? Would Lin Xun let him leave?
Right now, Li You could only pray that Lin Zhaoning was temporarily unable to return because he was taking care of Bai Yu, granting him a few days of breathing room to persuade Lin Xun and find a new place to move into.
“I gave up the lease on that apartment of mine, so unless something unexpected happens, I need to go home after work,” Li You said as he tried to read the subtle micro-expressions on the Alpha’s face. Seeing that Lin Xun showed no reaction from start to finish, he steeled himself and stammered to seek permission: “C-can I?”
Lin Xun asked, “Did he tell you to?”
Li You nodded, then shook his head.
His relationship with Lin Zhaoning was now at a complete dead end; being forced to return home to live yesterday had been a helpless act of desperation.
“What he says doesn’t count,” Lin Xun casually dismissed all of Lin Zhaoning’s domineering demands, holding his car keys and gesturing for Li You to follow.
Li You stood still, not moving from his spot.
Lin Xun thought Li You’s stubborn heart still hadn’t died and that he wanted to go home to maintain that broken, tattered marriage. At that possibility, the Alpha’s expression instantly darkened, and his tone plummeted to absolute freezing point as he questioned, “Or is it that you want to go back yourself?”
Li You hurriedly shook his head in denial. Only then did Lin Xun’s complexion soften slightly. He made Li You reach out his hand to register his fingerprint passcode for the door lock and instructed, “From now on, you live back here. Someone will pick you up and drop you off for work.”
Seeing this, Li You didn’t dare bring up any words related to Lin Zhaoning again. He had no choice but to obediently agree to Lin Xun’s demands and rush off to work.
It wasn’t until he got into the car that Li You realized the “someone picking you up and dropping you off” Lin Xun had mentioned actually referred to Lin Xun picking him up and dropping him off in person.
If it were a hired driver, Li You might have been able to force himself to adjust to it even if he couldn’t win the argument; but now that the driver was Lin Xun, Li You not only couldn’t adjust, but also felt entirely uncomfortable all over.
This discomfort stemmed from the sense of contradiction he felt toward Lin Xun himself, in name, he was his sister-in-law, and Lin Xun already had a fiancée. This kind of underground relationship was unsuitable to be brought out into the open; it not only violated morality, but was also deeply unfair to Miss Qin.
Li You stepped out of the car as if his mind were wandering elsewhere. Unconsciously, his mind played out how that intellectual and gracious Omega would feel heartbroken, crushed, and emotionally broken upon learning the truth. He didn’t know if it was because he himself had been hurt by his husband’s infidelity, but thinking that Qin Yuzheng might also experience Lin Xun’s betrayal in the future made a wave of sorrow and sympathy rise within his heart, and, of course, even more guilt.
“Brother Li, your complexion looks so much better today~ It seems you had a pretty good weekend?” Zhang Qian bumped into him at the elevator entrance and, after sizing him up back and forth, expressed her sincere observation. Li You was surprised at first, then cracked a bitter smile with the corners of his mouth.
This weekend had actually been utterly terrible. As for the “good complexion” Zhang Qian spoke of, to put it nicely, Li You preferred to think of it as his body’s self-regulation mechanism kicking in after reaching its absolute limit; to put it harshly, it was no different from the temporary surge of vigor before death.
After all, if he looked like neither human nor ghost like he had a few days ago, anyone who saw him walking out the door would report it to the police.
His workstation seemed to hold some unknown magic for Li You. The moment he sat down, he was like a turnip finding its designated hole, burying himself right in.
When lunch hour arrived, there weren’t many people in the company; plenty of people snuck down to eat ten or twenty minutes early. A male colleague Li You wasn’t very familiar with came over to invite him to lunch, striking just the right balance of politeness. If he didn’t go, it would seem bad for building rapport, so he could only nod and agree.
“I heard a new dumpling place opened downstairs, and the food is pretty good. Want to go try it?”
“Anything works for me.”
As the two took the elevator downstairs, the male colleague asked with interest, “You’re from the south, right? How did you end up coming all the way here?”
He saw that Li You had a fair, clean, and delicate appearance, and spoke softly and gently, fitting his standard stereotype of a southerner. Furthermore, he had noticed this Beta very early on; although Li You didn’t socialize much in the company, that face was simply too eye-catching, to say his presence was low was actually quite unrealistic.
Li You had no desire to chat, but out of the principle of getting along amicably with colleagues and keeping the peace, he hesitated for a moment before saying, “My husband is a local here.”
The male colleague stopped talking.
Li You looked over in confusion. Before he could observe the male colleague’s expression, he instead caught sight of Lin Xun first at the office building exit not far away.
The Alpha licked his lips, the corners of his mouth pulled down, and his lips pressed into a tight line. His eyes were filled with unhidden aggressiveness as he swept his gaze straight toward the male colleague standing beside him.
Standing at the entrance, he reached his hand out toward Li You and said in a commanding tone, “Come here.”
Li You walked over obediently. The male colleague felt awkward and tried to gloss it over with a laugh: “No problem, I’ll treat you to lunch next time, hahaha…”
Lin Xun grabbed Li You’s wrist and asked in a low voice, “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
That male colleague was quick-witted, taking the initiative to speak up first: “No need for an introduction, I know who you are, Li You’s partner, ” As he spoke, he sized up the Alpha before him who clearly looked like someone not to be messed with. He felt as though he had seen him somewhere before, and teased in a casual, conversational tone: “Look at that, speak of the devil and he appears…”
Upon hearing the first half of the sentence, Lin Xun had already released Li You’s hand, and his face was no longer as terrifying as before; it seemed he intended to engage with the man for a moment. But then, out of nowhere, he heard the second half of the sentence, and all his good humor was instantly extinguished. On the spot, he grabbed Li You by the arm and dragged him away.
Li You’s arm was pulled so hard it hurt, but in order not to make the Alpha angry, he carefully explained, “We were just going to have lunch together… Don’t be angry.”
Lin Xun furiously hauled him into the car, locked the doors, and threw a bulging, exquisitely packed bag at Li You, ordering, “Eat. I’m going to watch you eat.”
This private dining restaurant didn’t do takeout. Because of its good reputation, it was often packed with customers, and later switched to a membership system. Li You had only saved up money during his college days to squeeze in once with Lin Zhaoning, and had never set foot in it again since.
“It’s too much, I can’t eat it all.”
Li You ate a third of it, then looked up to check Lin Xun’s expression, only to see the Alpha say with a calm demeanor, “Keep going.”
In the end, Li You left half of it, and, as expected, suffered a severe food coma from the carb crash. He knew Lin Xun carried him out of the car, but he didn’t know where he had been brought to.
It was very soft, the space was large, and it seemed the air conditioning was on, neither cold nor hot, just right for sleeping.
He hadn’t forgotten that he had less than an hour left before he had to go back to work. Before slipping into a deep slumber, he dizzily tugged at Lin Xun’s sleeve and muttered incoherently, “Must wake me up… being late deducts my pay…”
Lin Xun remained silent, feeling the thumbnail-sized foil blister pack in his pocket; three-quarters of the pills inside were still left. He found a chair, sat down by the side of the bed, and quietly appreciated the sight of Li You sleeping without moving an inch.
This mouth was truly annoying.
It was still much more pleasing when he was quiet.
Despite Li You’s repeated warnings and the half-day’s wage he fretted over even in his sleep, it still went down the drain. It wasn’t because of Lin Xun; when he woke up, the timing was just right, and Lin Xun was absent. As he was leaving the door, the hotel staff handed him a card and informed him that from now on, he was required to come over on time every day at noon to rest, and lunch would be delivered as well.
This was Lin Xun’s requirement. Even though the Alpha knew Li You would not defy him, just to be safe, he had the staff intentionally or unintentionally disclose that if they failed to see a trace of Li You for even a single day, their performance bonus for the month would be instantly wiped out.
As a fellow worker, Li You understood how cruel that was.
The hotel was right across from the company, just a five-minute walk away, so it wasn’t much of a hassle.
Li You was perplexed. He didn’t know what Lin Xun intended by this, it wasn’t a punishment, there was no blame; it was just an ordinary matter, yet meticulously considered in every detail, even to the point of being flawless.
Pulling up the chat interface, the two of them had exchanged only a few brief words since swapping contact information, radiating a sense of distance across the entire screen. After thinking it over, Li You still sent a message to Lin Xun, telling him thank you.
Just after sending the message, Father Lin’s phone call came through.
At two in the afternoon, the blazing sun hung directly overhead, and pedestrians on the street were sparse. The traffic light at the pedestrian crossing turned from red to green, but Li You froze on the spot, listening to Father Lin’s roaring voice in complete helplessness.
A few passersby bumped into him from behind; the impact on his shoulder jarred him out of his daze. Only then did Li You realize that his entire arm holding the phone was trembling. His fingers uncontrollably pressed the lock button to turn off the screen, then pressed it again to light it back up.
Lin Zhaoning had met with an accident and gotten into a car crash last night; he had a mild concussion and a fractured right arm. Yet even so, from the time he was admitted for medical treatment last night until now, he remained in a comatose state.
Li You’s mind was a complete mess, and his heart was panicking. Without even having time to ask for leave, he flagged down a taxi from the roadside and rushed frantically to the hospital.
At the hospital, Bai Yu sat on a chair outside the corridor, nearly crying to the point of fainting. Worried about the safety of the child in his stomach, Father Lin had his assistant take him home to rest and recuperate properly, while Yang Guan stood beside them in silence.
Lin Zhaoning hadn’t woken up. Every test that could be done had been performed, yet they still couldn’t find the cause. The doctor asked delicately whether the patient had been in a severe car accident before; it was possible that the patient’s subconscious was escaping the trauma and refusing to wake up. This type of situation was rather tricky, as patients who woke up might actively choose to forget parts of their memories or even undergo a drastic personality change just to protect themselves.
Psychological issues were often far harder to resolve than physical ones.
“I see the patient’s marital status is listed as married? If his Omega could stay by his side and release soothing pheromones, the condition might improve. After all, it’s his own Omega; memories etched into the olfactory nerves don’t lie.”
The doctor naturally assumed this Alpha’s partner was an Omega. However, the moment those words landed, he noticed the middle-aged man’s face in front of him turn even worse.
Father Lin composed his emotions and saw the doctor off, then called back Bai Yu, who was halfway out the door.
When Li You arrived at the hospital, before he could even enter the ward, he was struck right outside the door by Father Lin. The slap left his cheek swollen high, and he was immediately subjected to a harsh, scathing tirade.
He was stunned by the blow. Father Lin had never liked the sight of him. In the past, it was fine when Lin Zhaoning protected him, but now Lin Zhaoning was lying in bed in a coma, and no one knew when he would wake up.
All the dissatisfaction accumulated over the years was vented in one fell swoop, from cursing Li You’s humble and, in his eyes, somewhat filthy family background, to criticizing him for living a spoiled life where everything was done for him during the years after marriage. But what he cursed most was that car accident years ago.
“Zhaoning defied me for your sake, and broke a leg for your sake, almost becoming a useless person! So what if you’ve been together for twelve years? What have you ever sacrificed for him?!” Father Lin was enraged beyond measure, grabbing Li You by the collar and practically slamming him against the glass window of the ward. “Looking at him now, don’t you feel guilty?! When the accident happened last night, if I hadn’t notified you, would you even have known if he died?!”
“Li You, do you even have a heart?!”
Li You didn’t struggle, nor did he resist. Like a marionette, a masterless doll, he was shoved hard against the wall by Father Lin, causing a prominent, large bump to swell on the back of his head.
“Get out right now! As soon as Zhaoning wakes up, get a divorce immediately!” “You’re just a Beta, what use are you?!”
Just then, that doctor was inside explaining precautions to Bai Yu, since the Omega was, after all, pregnant. Stepping out, he inadvertently overheard this argument, and a storm of shock surged in his heart as he looked toward Li You in astonishment.
That was a Beta, yet he was even prettier than an Omega. The first reaction upon