Once lunch was over, Yu Siyuan voluntarily took over the task of clearing the table and doing the dishes.
His father, highly intrigued by the Alaskan Malamute tied up on the balcony, went over to interact with it through the glass door.
Xiao Shuqing tapped on the glass. The massive dog, weighing well over a hundred pounds, promptly propped both its front paws against the pane and let out a pitiful, whiny whimper.
Seeing this, the father gently tapped his index finger against the glass, right over the pad of the dog’s paw. “Oh dear, the poor thing looks so miserable out there on the balcony. Does he usually stay inside the house?”
Xiao Shuqing nodded. “Yes. Saisa is quite large, and I was afraid he might startle you, so I put him out on the balcony for now. But Siyuan already introduced himself to Saisa yesterday, and Saisa took a real liking to him.”
Squatting on the floor, the breathtakingly beautiful Omega father narrowed his exquisite, fox-like eyes. He looked up with a smile and said, “Dogs are incredibly intuitive creatures. Yuanyuan must be carrying your scent, which is why the dog accepted him so easily. Once the two of you become more intimate and he carries even more of your scent, Saisa will adore him even more, don’t you think?”
He was referring to a temporary or permanent mark.
As of right now, Xiao Shuqing had not been marked by Yu Siyuan; the gland on the back of his neck remained completely untouched and smooth.
Before long, it wouldn’t just be Yu Siyuan’s father who noticed—his own parents and friends would eventually figure out that his marriage to Yu Siyuan was entirely a marriage in name only.
The man had cleanly exposed the very issue that gave Xiao Shuqing the biggest headache.
However, the father possessed an impeccable sense of boundaries and seemed to realize he had put Xiao Shuqing on the spot. After a few seconds of silence, he smoothly changed the subject. Tapping the dog’s large front paw through the glass, he asked with arched brows, “Is the dog’s name Saisa? It’s very cute. Is there a story behind it, or did you just pick it on a whim?”
“His full name is Seligman,” Xiao Shuqing replied. “Saisa is just his nickname.”
Hearing the name, the father blinked in surprise, then burst into a sudden laugh. “Seligman? As in the guy who tortured dogs?”
“The very one.”
Seligman—the psychologist who famously placed dogs in cages to conduct electric shock experiments. Every time a dog attempted to escape the cage, it would receive a shock, continuing until the animal entirely lost the courage to flee. At that point, even if the cage door was left wide open, the dog would simply lie there, refusing to move.
It was a classic psychological experiment on learned helplessness.
When Xiao Shuqing originally named the dog Seligman, it wasn’t out of a desire to critique anything; it was purely his own dark, twisted sense of humor.
“Ah Qing—I can call you that, right? I must say, I find you incredibly fascinating,” the father remarked, his laughter finally subsiding into a sigh of appreciation. Then, his narrow fox eyes swept admiringly over Xiao Shuqing’s long hair and the obsidian stud piercing his ear, adding, “And you are exceptionally beautiful.”
And highly dangerous, Xiao Shuqing thought to himself.
Xiao Shuqing had studied philosophy for years and was well-versed in psychology. Most people who stood before him became an open book within minutes. Yet, the fox-like Omega father standing right in front of him was completely unreadable.
The man clearly knew this marriage was a sham. The only question was, exactly how much did he know?
Xiao Shuqing watched the older Omega tease the dog, his own mind racing at breakneck speed to analyze the possibilities:
1. Scenario A: The father originally didn’t know anything, but the fact that Yu Siyuan insisted on sleeping at his own home on the very night they got their marriage certificate aroused his suspicion.
2. Scenario B: He had known the moment Yu Siyuan pounded on his bedroom door in the middle of the night announcing the wedding. Thus, he had casually brought up the sweet and sour pork ribs to test him—a form of psychological priming. If the marriage was indeed a sham, Yu Siyuan, heavily influenced by the suggestion, would inevitably choose to run back home.
If the truth was Scenario B, then the man standing before him was far more dangerous than he looked.
“Oh my, it’s already one o’clock. I should head back,” the Omega suddenly announced, cutting right through Xiao Shuqing’s train of analysis.
Xiao Shuqing instinctively looked over, meeting a pair of curving, crescent-moon eyes. The father shot him a distinctly mischievous, knowing glance before walking over to the kitchen doorway.
“Yuanyuan, Dad is leaving now.”
The busy little Alpha emerged immediately, his hands still dripping with water. He hadn’t even bothered to dry them, merely wiping his palms carelessly against his apron a few times.
“You’re leaving already?” he asked hurriedly. “But it’s still so early.”
The older man smiled and nodded. “Yes, I’m going home to take a nap. You two newlyweds need your space; it’d be a nuisance if I stayed any longer.”
He reached out, gently pinching away a stray droplet of water clinging to the tip of his son’s hair. “Look at you, you’re a whole Alpha with your own Omega now, and you’re still clinging to your dad?”
With that, he took Yu Siyuan’s hand and pulled him over to stand directly in front of Xiao Shuqing. “Shuqing is your Omega now. No matter how mature and grounded an Omega appears on the surface, they still want their Alpha to be dependable—someone who can step up and carry the weight of the household. Yuanyuan, you need to be an Alpha he can rely on, so Shuqing can feel safe giving himself to you completely, understand?”
The boy’s eyelashes fluttered nervously, and he snuck a quiet, tentative glance in Xiao Shuqing’s direction.
He nodded. “Yes, I understand, Dad.”
Amused by his son’s stiff demeanor, the father gave his hand another gentle tug forward. “Well, aren’t you going to hold Shuqing’s hand? He was the one who led you by the hand when we walked in earlier. You can’t always expect your Omega to take the initiative.”
Yu Siyuan’s hands were fair and well-proportioned. Because he had just been scrubbing pots and wiping down the stove, his fingertips were flushed a beautiful, healthy pink, and his rounded nails looked bright and clean.
And now, his hand was pulled directly into Xiao Shuqing’s space.
Xiao Shuqing looked down, his eyes briefly sweeping past the boy’s slightly parted lips before he slowly raised his own hand.
In the next heartbeat, a warm palm pressed against the back of his hand. The boy’s palm was slightly damp with nervous sweat, but it felt incredibly soft.
Yu Siyuan kept his eyes strictly averted, the fierce blush on his face spreading all the way to the tips of his ears.
He really flushes far too easily, Xiao Shuqing mused. Especially for someone who supposedly doesn’t even like Omegas.
Maybe he just has a naturally reactive complexion or something.
The days of living together turned out to be incredibly mundane. It felt exactly like having a roommate—and a remarkably quiet, well-behaved one with a very low profile at that.
Sometimes, when Xiao Shuqing woke up groggy in the morning and caught sight of the small figure brushing his teeth outside the bathroom, his brain would require a few seconds of buffering just to adjust to the reality of his new living situation.
On Saturday, April 8th.
Xiao Shuqing ordered breakfast delivery, and the two sat across from each other at the dining table.
Today, he had an appointment with his lawyer at the firm to hash out the specific clauses of the prenuptial agreement. However, Yu Siyuan had a class reunion scheduled for this week. Since the times clashed perfectly, they decided on a simple compromise: Xiao Shuqing would head to the law firm alone to hammer out the details with the attorney, while Yu Siyuan went to his reunion.
“Go ahead and enjoy your reunion; you don’t need to stress over the agreement. Attorney Nie said the draft clauses will be ready today, so we can pick any evening that works for you later on to go over and sign it. Once the draft is out, I’ll have Attorney Nie CC a copy to your email. If there’s anything you want to modify, we can discuss it then.”
“Okay, sounds good,” the Alpha replied slowly.
After a brief pause, he pressed his lips together, looking up at Xiao Shuqing with clear hesitation. “Um. I’m sorry.”
Xiao Shuqing was genuinely caught off guard for a moment before it clicked: Yu Siyuan was apologizing for leaving him to handle the prenuptial agreement alone.
A faint smile touched his lips. “It’s fine. The reunion was planned long before this, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” the boy nodded.
“So, technically, I’m the one who booked over your schedule. You have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.”
“Okay.”
The two conversed in soft, quiet tones.
The morning sunlight poured through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of the balcony, illuminating half of the living room. They were seated slightly further inward where the sun couldn’t quite reach, yet a single, stray beam of light managed to land perfectly on a stubborn tuft of hair sticking straight up on the boy’s head.
It was a picture-perfect moment of domestic tranquility.
Complete with a heavy dose of pure adorableness.
Except for one minor detail.
A sharp chime rang out as a green message notification flashed across the young Alpha’s phone screen:
From Fu Bao: Didn’t you say before that you weren’t going to the reunion? Why are you suddenly—
The rest of the text remained unread, instantly smothered out of sight by the agile, panicked swipe of the little Alpha’s hand.
Xiao Shuqing instantly arched an eyebrow. Oh? Well, well, well.
In the end, Xiao Shuqing didn’t press him about the message. He merely watched in silent amusement as the kid tried to act entirely nonchalant while typing out a reply, before promptly flipping his phone face down on the table for the rest of the meal.
In fact, right up until Xiao Shuqing stepped out the door, Yu Siyuan didn’t dare pull out his phone again under his watchful eye.
Tsk. Guilty conscience.
He’s definitely up to something.
After breakfast, Xiao Shuqing headed straight to the law firm.
Since his requirements had been communicated well in advance, the specific document was already prepared by the time he arrived. He merely suggested a few minor tweaks, which the attorney updated on the spot, and that was essentially it.
Consequently, he was entirely done before noon.
He found a casual spot to grab a bite to eat, then took Saisa to a nearby dog park camp to play for the entire afternoon. By the time they returned, the massive dog collapsed onto the floor in sheer exhaustion, refusing to budge an inch.
At eight in the evening, while Xiao Shuqing was reading a book in his study, his phone began to vibrate.
An incoming call. The screen displayed an unfamiliar number.
“Hello?”
The moment he answered, a hushed, incredibly stealthy voice whispered through the receiver. “Um, hello? Is this Professor Xiao? I’m one of Yu Siyuan’s classmates. My name is Ruan Fu, I’m the matchmaker who set you two up. I used to communicate with your father before.”
“Hello. Ah, my apologies, I haven’t actually notified my father about my marriage to Yu Siyuan yet. I will speak with him later.”
The person on the other end went completely still.
“Ah, I already know about your marriage. Oh crap, your father hasn’t contacted me lately, so I assumed he already knew and didn’t bother checking in. Wait, no, that’s not why I’m calling you! It’s because, Yuanyuan, well, he drank a bit too much. We’re currently in the middle of a script-killing murder mystery game, and I was wondering if it wouldn’t be too much trouble for you to come over and pick him up?”
Xiao Shuqing checked the time and nodded. “I can do that.”
“Great, great! I’ll text you the address right away.”
“Alright.”
Shortly after hanging up, a text notification chimed:
From Ruan Fu: Reset Script-Killing Mystery Lounge. Address: Wanda Plaza Tower C, X Avenue, H City.
It was a commercial district very close to his apartment, only a few minutes’ drive away.
Xiao Shuqing threw on a coat and headed down to the underground garage.
By 8:10 PM, he had already arrived at the venue. The employee working the front desk looked utterly dumbfounded the moment he walked in. “Professor Xiao? What are you doing here?”
As it turned out, the student running the shop was actually from one of his university classes, working a weekend part-time job.
“I’m here to pick someone up.”
“Oh, oh! Which room? Let me help you find them!” The student scrambled to his feet, suddenly walking with stiff, robotic steps as he led the way down the corridor. “Um, did the person you’re picking up mention a specific room number?”
“Or you could describe them to me—what they look like, whether they’re an Alpha or an Omega, who they came with, how many people are in their party. I definitely remember everyone who came in today.”
“Or maybe you could send a quick text to ask.”
As the student asked his questions with the utmost reverence, Xiao Shuqing reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. Just then, the muffled sound of a heated argument echoed from one of the rooms nearby.
“He’s an Alpha, what’s the big deal about him grabbing some snacks for us? Is he seriously throwing a tantrum over that?”
“Is it just grabbing a few things? Do you have any idea how many times Yuanyuan has gone downstairs already? Delivery drivers aren’t allowed up to this floor, so he has to walk all the way down to the first floor every single time. If you ordered it yourself, pick it up yourself. What is so hard about that?”
“Heh, he’s just being lazy because I’m a Beta. Who doesn’t know he’s been simping for Ah Jing since high school? He should take a good look at himself in the mirror. He’s barely five-foot-eight, even shorter than Ah Jing. Like anyone like that would ever catch Ah Jing’s eye? Dumbass.”
“Who are you calling a dumbass?”
One of the voices was unfamiliar, but Xiao Shuqing instantly recognized the other—it belonged to Ruan Fu, the classmate who had called him just moments ago.
The two seemed to be locked in a fierce dispute over who should go downstairs to fetch the food deliveries.
As Xiao Shuqing started walking toward the room, a cold, aloof voice cut through the noise, declaring, “Alright, have you all said enough? Yu Siyuan, Xin-ge ordered delivery. Go downstairs and get it. I want some too.”
This, presumably, was the “A Jing” whom Yu Siyuan had allegedly been “simping” for since high school.
Tsk. No wonder Ruan Fu had practically begged him to come pick the boy up over the phone. He wasn’t just here to give the kid a ride; he was here to provide backup.
“Professor?”
The student guiding him noticed his silence and called out tentatively.
Instead of answering, the older man fished a custom-made diamond ring out of his wallet. Under the student’s widening gaze, he slipped it smoothly onto his left ring finger and stepped directly into the open doorway of the room.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he stood tall, his commanding, critical gaze sweeping over the group of people inside.
“No need to keep looking, this is the room,” he said to the student. “You can head back to work. I just came to see exactly who my Alpha has been simping for.”
With that, his eyes narrowed, his gaze landing with deliberate intent squarely on the Omega sitting at the center of the room.
“And to see if they’re anywhere near as beautiful as his legally wedded wife.”
The student: ???!!!