Shi Jing lowered his gaze and glanced at their intertwined hands.
Wei Qinan was taller than him, and his palms were also a bit larger. Furthermore, because Wei Qinan had the habit of working out, the two of them even had a visible skin tone difference.
Shi Jing: “…”
Seeing him remain silent, Wei Qinan shook his arm slightly. “What is it? Unused to it?”
“A bit. Let’s just go with this.” Shi Jing withdrew his gaze, tolerating the strange feeling of holding hands rather awkwardly, and walked with Wei Qinan toward the building where Zhou Yongzhi’s family lived.
Entering the elevator, Shi Jing prepared to manually press the close-door button when he heard someone shouting loudly outside the door, “Wait! Wait for me!”
Shi Jing’s expression didn’t change as he pressed the open-door button instead.
The clicking sound of high heels battered like raindrops, and a tall figure squeezed into the elevator.
The newcomer carried at least five bags in each hand. Her red hair was tied into a high ponytail, flowing and sleek, and as she turned around, it almost made Shi Jing eat a mouthful of hair.
Fortunately, he possessed muscle memory and dodged at lightning speed, hiding directly behind Wei Qinan.
Gu Wan noticed Shi Jing, who was attempting to evade the ponytail attack, and said, “Shi Jing, what a coincidence. You actually came? This morning we were all saying you definitely wouldn’t show up.”
Shi Jing stepped back to the front, his tone indifferent: “Prejudice.”
His relationship with Zhou Yongzhi wasn’t bad enough to deny him even this bit of face.
Gu Wan was also part of their social circle. She was a female Alpha, a few years older than Shi Jing, and had an Omega partner. They had registered their marriage two years ago, and their relationship was very stable.
Seeing her alone, Shi Jing asked, “Where’s your wife?”
“She got allergic to crawfish the other day and is still lying in the hospital, so she asked me to attend on her behalf.”
To prove that she truly carried the wills of two people all by herself, Gu Wan laboriously lifted various gifts on both sides: “The left hand is what I bought, and the right hand is what my baby bought, hehe.”
Shi Jing: “…” He didn’t quite understand you married folks.
Gu Wan exchanged casual pleasantries with Shi Jing for a moment, her gaze drifting to Wei Qinan standing nearby, as well as their intertwined hands.
In an instant, her expression shifted from shock to the unique curiosity of a spectator eating melon seeds. She asked, “Is this… the partner you publicly announced?”
Shi Jing nodded: “Mm.”
“Sorry about that. I’ve never seen what you look like in person, so I only just realized,” Gu Wan said to Wei Qinan. “I’m Gu Wan. What’s your name?”
Wei Qinan smiled: “Hello, Wei Qinan.”
After exchanging names, Gu Wan noticed Wei Qinan’s height and asked with some hesitation, “Are you an… Omega?”
Goodness gracious, incredible, even taller than Shi Jing.
And athletic, too.
Wei Qinan didn’t rush to answer, instead turning back to look at Shi Jing as if seeking his input.
Shi Jing understood tacitly and took over the conversation: “Not quite. He’s an Enigma.”
“What!” Gu Wan suddenly raised her voice. Just when both of them thought she reacted that way because she couldn’t accept it, she leaned in front of Wei Qinan with starry eyes and asked, “Are you guys in an EA relationship?”
Wei Qinan: “Mm, yes.”
“This is my first time seeing a living Enigma in my life. Ah no, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, what’s the difference between you guys dating compared to an AO relationship?”
Shi Jing grew vigilant: “What are you planning to do?”
“There’s too little literature on Enigmas, and you guys are even in an EA relationship. Honestly speaking, bro, I want to write a paper on you two.”
Shi Jing: “I refuse.”
Gu Wan: “…”
Zhou Yongzhi’s biological mother was named Bai Mengqiu. Perhaps because she had been cold-shouldered in the Zhou family for a long time, her attire was relatively plain.
She wore only a plain white dress, her hair was pinned up, and hanging around her neck was the crystal necklace Zhou Yongzhi had given her. Aside from that, there was not a single other piece of jewelry on her entire body.
The woman spoke gently and kindly. Shi Jing and Wei Qinan chatted with Bai Mengqiu for a moment before casually finding a corner to sit down in her living room.
Although Shi Jing kept a low profile, people still continuously took the initiative to come over and chat with them.
Setting aside some boring business talk, it was inevitable that they would be asked questions regarding their romance.
In reality, Shi Jing couldn’t bring himself to answer “yes” to whatever people asked, but his expression was always cold. After getting annoyed by several identical questions in a row, he simply tilted his head and told Wei Qinan, “You answer them later.”
Wei Qinan pointed at himself: “Me?”
“Mm.” Shi Jing leaned back on the sofa, a trace of impatience revealing itself between his brows.
One after the other, instead of caring about how to make more money, they all came to gossip about his private life.
“What if they ask about details of our past romance?”
Shi Jing looked up at the ceiling and said, “I don’t know, just make something up on the spot.”
The two of them hadn’t even known each other for a full week; where were they supposed to recall romantic details from?
Wei Qinan smiled and said okay, naturally taking over the job of continuing to fabricate the story.
His logic was very rigorous, and after a few questions, he could still self-justify everything. Not only did he satisfy those people’s curiosity, but he also made it sound completely authentic, leaving Shi Jing quite satisfied.
Until Zhou Dad’s other minor mistresses and lovers arrived one after another, the atmosphere of the entire house uncontrollably sank.
Bai Mengqiu still maintained a polite smile, having long grown accustomed to this situation.
Seeing a group of lovers who clearly came to crash the party, yet failing to see Zhou Dad himself, Bai Mengqiu understood the situation in her heart and said nothing.
Shi Jing had no good impression of them, and facing the greetings from these mistresses, he only responded coldly.
The vast majority of this group were Omegas, and among them were even two Betas. As they walked, they released their pheromones faintly, and Shi Jing felt violated. Fortunately, Wei Qinan stood up and quietly opened the window behind him.
With fresh air coming in, Shi Jing felt comfortable.
The two of them sat in the corner looking at their phones until an Alpha around Shi Jing’s age stood at the front.
Shi Jing felt a slight sense of familiarity with this person’s appearance, but couldn’t remember where he had seen him.
The other party spoke first: “Young Master Shi? Pleased to meet you. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Shi Jing: “You are?”
“Young Master Shi’s memory is truly great, not even remembering this,” the other party said. “Jiang Qi. We met at a dinner party a few years ago.”
Shi Jing: “?” Bro, you only met once a few years ago, how could he possibly remember?
Instinctively sensing the other party was harboring malicious intent, Shi Jing asked, “Do you need something?”
“Just bumped into an acquaintance and came over to say hello.” Jiang Qi tilted his head to look at Wei Qinan. “I didn’t expect you to be dating Shi Jing. Xiao Wei, long time no see. How are you getting along nowadays?”
Without waiting for Wei Qinan to speak, Jiang Qi added, “You’ve really managed to latch onto a powerful backer. Young Master Shi is quite wealthy; your life must be much better than when you were writing code at my dad’s company, right?”
Unjustly attacked, Wei Qinan didn’t loosen his grip on Shi Jing’s hand, instead asking back airily, “Are you jealous?”
Shi Jing had originally thought the two had a score to settle, but now he could see that this person was simply picking a fight. The disdain in his eyes increased a fraction more.
He nudged Wei Qinan with his elbow: “Ignore him.” Speaking even one more word to this kind of person was a waste of time.
Jiang Qi’s expression shifted slightly, but mindful of Shi Jing’s identity, he didn’t dare retort: “You!” Wait, let’s replace that em-dash: “You!” becomes “You…” or “You!” Let’s use an exclamation mark or period: “You!”
Zhou Yongzhi hadn’t stopped moving since noon. Even when friends arrived, he only gave a brief greeting before diving right back into the kitchen.
Noticing something wrong over on Shi Jing’s side, he didn’t even have time to put down the kitchen knife as he rushed over furiously, opening with: “What the fuck, who are you?”
Jiang Qi was frightened by the kitchen knife still stained with fish scales and took a step back: “Brother Zhou. I came with my cousin.”
Zhou Yongzhi widened his eyes, his reaction extremely fast as he immediately realized the cousin Jiang Qi mentioned was one of his father’s mistresses.
Today was his mother’s 47th birthday, and that damned old man of his had said birthdays required everyone to be gathered together, insisting on calling his lovers over and allowing this group to covertly stab his mother in the back.
Zhou Yongzhi was already full of pent-up anger. Coming was one thing, but they even dared to provoke his friend? That completely overwhelmed his temper, so he snatched up the kitchen knife and pointed it right between Jiang Qi’s eyebrows: “Did I invite you? Who gave you permission to come to my house?”
Jiang Qi: “No, what do you mean, cousin! Zhou Yongzhi, he…”
Zhou Yongzhi let out a shout and threw a kick: “Today I am your dad! Get the hell out of here!”