Pei Xingzhi was caught outside the school, in a small alley where no one passed by. Knowing he couldn’t outfight the Alphas, he didn’t struggle much, he just protected his head and secretly tapped his wristband to send a distress signal.
The group of Alphas didn’t hit him too hard, but Pei Xingzhi was, after all, a Beta, and what the Alphas considered restrained force didn’t apply to him. After a few punches, Pei Xingzhi was in agony, and when he breathed, he could even taste a metallic sweetness rising from his throat.
Pei Xingzhi bit his lip to suppress the groans threatening to escape, curling up tightly to stay as quiet as possible.
He lay motionless on the ground. An Alpha in a green short-sleeved shirt stepped forward and kicked his stomach, but Pei Xingzhi endured the pain and still gave no reaction.
The Alphas clearly had little experience with fighting. Seeing him like this, they immediately panicked. A few of the more timid ones turned to look at the tallest Alpha and spoke with trembling voices.
“Brother Gu, what do we do? Did he pass out?”
“Didn’t I tell you to hold back? How did you manage to knock him out?”
Gu Xiang, chewing on a toothpick, had been lounging at the back like a big shot, but when he heard the Beta had fainted, he spat out the toothpick. His earlier arrogance vanished, and with a grimace, he rushed over to Pei Xingzhi.
The Beta’s eyes were tightly shut, his normally rosy lips pale from pain. Fine beads of sweat on his forehead and the scrapes from hitting the ground all signaled that the Beta wasn’t in good shape.
Gu Xiang swallowed hard and turned back in panic to look at his newly recruited underlings.
“Wh… what do we do?”
Gu Xiang’s family was a scholarly household, and his parents had disciplined him with all sorts of rules his whole life. The most outrageous thing he’d ever done was spend money to buy himself a wife, who took the money and ran right after the wedding. He’d struggled to track him down, and before he could even ask why he’d fled, this Beta had snatched him away.
He’d only wanted to teach this Beta a lesson, never expecting these guys to knock him out cold.
“How did you knock him out? Didn’t I tell you to hold back?” He’d assumed his underlings had experience, so he’d just waved them off and handed the whole task to them, only to end up with a mess on his hands.
“Didn’t you tell us to teach him a lesson, Brother Gu? We did hold back.”
Facing Gu Xiang’s accusation, the “underlings” all looked innocent.
It was their first time playing “underlings,” so how were they supposed to know how much force to use when roughing someone up? They’d figured Gu Xiang would have their backs, so they hadn’t worried too much about it. Who knew their “boss” was such a pushover that he’d come asking them what to do when things went wrong?
“Let’s take him to the hospital first, before something happens.”
“Right, right, right, take him to the hospital!”
“No, no, we can’t take him to the hospital. What if he calls the cops?”
“Right, right, right, no hospital!”
The Alphas’ chattering gave Pei Xingzhi a headache. Seeing that enough time had passed, he stopped pretending to be unconscious. He sat up abruptly and threw a punch at Gu Xiang, whose right cheek instantly swelled up.
The asymmetry on both sides was deeply unsettling to Pei Xingzhi, so while Gu Xiang was still reeling, he threw another punch at the left side to keep his face symmetrical.
Gu Xiang, suddenly struck twice, stood frozen in place clutching his swollen cheeks, watching helplessly as the Beta who had just hit him lay back down with a delicate, frail air.
The moment Pei Xingzhi’s head touched the ground, a squad of patrol officers in guard uniforms rushed over and pinned the Alphas down.
In recent years, under pressure from various social opinions, the government had specially established a patrol squad, mainly to protect Omegas attacked by Alphas. The government equipped every Omega in need with a special wristband, as soon as a distress signal was sent, the patrol squad would immediately respond.
Betas were also eligible for the wristbands, though few Betas actively applied for them. After all, incidents of Alphas harassing Betas weren’t worth wasting such significant police resources, and the wristbands were single-use, a band costing tens of thousands would become useless after one activation. Given the frequency at which Betas were typically suppressed, they’d basically spend over a hundred thousand a week. The high price was the bigger deterrent.
Pei Xingzhi’s wristband had been applied for by his parents on a whim, and he usually just used it to check the time. He never expected it would actually come in handy.
The patrol squad escorted the Alphas into the police car, and Pei Xingzhi also “regained consciousness” slowly under the doctor’s “treatment.”
The patrol squad captain stepped forward to offer Pei Xingzhi “warm” greetings, and Pei Xingzhi responded cooperatively. When the captain asked if he wanted to go to the processing station to give his statement alongside Gu Xiang, he shrank back at just the right moment.
The patrol squad’s operations were recorded from start to finish, so today’s incident would likely be all over the internet before long. Even if the Gu family had money, suppressing this kind of news would take them a while.
By the time Pei Xingzhi arrived at the processing station with the officers, Gu Xiang was being held down in a corner, squatting. All traces of the young master’s air had vanished, he now looked like a small-time thug caught and thrown into a holding cell.
On the way to the processing station, the officers had already told Pei Xingzhi about Gu Xiang’s identity. They went back and forth, and in the end, they were practically hinting that Pei Xingzhi should just let it go, blowing this up wouldn’t do anyone any good.
Pei Xingzhi pursed his lips noncommittally. Even if he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, Gu Xiang probably wouldn’t let him off so easily.
The spot where he’d been hit still throbbed with pain. Pei Xingzhi clutched his stomach and slowly shuffled over to Gu Xiang’s side.
Gu Xiang shot him a glare, then, under the guard’s watchful eye, turned his head away in frustration. Pei Xingzhi played along, lowering his eyes and biting his lip as he edged behind the guard.
A man who dared to snatch an Omega in broad daylight might very well beat him up right here too.
He didn’t want to get hit again.
It hurt like hell.
But as it turned out, he’d given Gu Xiang too much credit. Gu Xiang had a fierce look, but his brain ran on a single straight nerve, the guard barely had to question him before Gu Xiang spilled the whole story of why he’d beaten Pei Xingzhi.
After hearing it, Pei Xingzhi exchanged a glance with the guard, and both saw the same shock and speechlessness in each other’s eyes.
He spent nine hundred thousand to buy himself a “wife,” and after getting the money, the “wife” turned his back and ran off without a word. He studied hard for the last half of his senior year and, with his family’s hefty financial backing, managed to get into the “wife’s” school. He finally found the “wife,” only for the “wife” to be whisked away by a Beta.
Pei Xingzhi’s mouth twitched. If he understood correctly, the “wife” Gu Xiang was talking about should be Zhuang Xiaoyue.
Zhuang Xiaoyue?
A “wife” bought with money?
How on earth did those two phrases even come together?
“Officer, buying and selling Omegas is illegal too, right?” The situation was too convoluted, and Pei Xingzhi didn’t know what else to say for a moment.
The officer glanced at him, unsure how to express what he was feeling at that moment.
When he’d heard over the radio earlier that this Young Master Gu was a bit dim, it hadn’t quite sunk in. Now he truly understood.
If beating up a Beta only meant a few days in detention, then buying and selling an Omega was enough to land him a solid stint in prison. This Young Master Gu had casually talked his way straight into a cell.
“Student Pei, do you want to press charges?”
The officer looked at Pei Xingzhi. Judging from what this Beta had just said, he probably wouldn’t let Gu Xiang off so easily. They could arrest the Gu family, but the aftermath would inevitably bring a pile of trouble.
Better to avoid trouble altogether. If the young man would let it go, things would be much easier for them too.
The threat in the officer’s tone didn’t require Pei Xingzhi to read between the lines, it was plain as day. If he kept pushing, he’d definitely get dragged into it himself.
He didn’t care much about himself, but this involved Zhuang Xiaoyue, and Pei Xingzhi hesitated, unsure what to do. If an investigation went deeper and somehow implicated him, that would be a real headache.
Pei Xingzhi voluntarily dropped the matter, and Gu Xiang and his crew were given a lecture before being released.
After that incident, Gu Xiang seemed to have learned his lesson. Though he still showed up in front of them occasionally, he never threw a punch again, he just warned Pei Xingzhi not to have any shady intentions toward Zhuang Xiaoyue.
He didn’t hit anyone, but being hounded constantly was still annoying. Every time they caught him, it was at least two hours of nagging, so Pei Xingzhi made a habit of avoiding them.
Pei Xingzhi had always wanted to find Zhuang Xiaoyue and ask him about the whole situation, but he never knew how to bring it up. As time passed, he deliberately let it slide.
He was the one who spent everyday with Zhuang Xiaoyue, and he didn’t believe Zhuang Xiaoyue was the type to take the money and run. Even if he were, there had to be some reason, otherwise, he wouldn’t be living so frugally now.
After that, Xie Nanyi started pestering Pei Xingzhi. Pei Xingzhi could barely handle his own problems, let alone spare any energy for Zhuang Xiaoyue’s affairs.
It was class time now, so there weren’t many people passing by outside, but carrying Pei Xingzhi downstairs would still be seen by quite a few. Xie Nanyi didn’t care about that himself, but Pei Xingzhi was very concerned about appearances. Xie Nanyi hesitated for a moment, then carried him into the dorm’s common lounge.
The dorm was fully equipped, and few people came here at this hour. Pei Xingzhi wouldn’t be seen by anyone here.
Xie Nanyi set Pei Xingzhi down on the sofa. The lingering effects of the pheromones were still there, and Pei Xingzhi’s body was still trembling slightly. Xie Nanyi tried to soothe him with his pheromones, but it had little effect.
“Thank you…” Pei Xingzhi crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive posture, murmuring his thanks to Xie Nanyi in a low voice.
“Do you need me to call a medic?”
“No.” Pei Xingzhi shook his head, his lowered brows and eyes concealing his current emotions. “Can you not tell anyone about what happened today?”
“Alright.” Xie Nanyi agreed readily. Since Pei Xingzhi didn’t want to pursue the matter, there was no need for him, an outsider, to stir up trouble and make himself unwelcome.
“Can you leave me alone for a bit?”
Xie Nanyi remained seated beside him, showing no sign of wanting to leave. Pei Xingzhi was clearly upset right now, but he didn’t want to reveal his vulnerable side in front of Xie Nanyi.
“I’ll go get you something to eat.” Xie Nanyi took the hint and rose to leave with an excuse.
Only Pei Xingzhi remained in the tea lounge. He stood up and walked to the window, where the stifling heat rushed at his face, quickly evaporating the tears on his cheeks.
Was it really so surprising that things had developed this way between him and Zhuang Xiaoyue?
Maybe not.
It was just that he had never been willing to believe that Zhuang Xiaoyue, whom he had always seen as the weaker party, would treat him like this.
He had thought they were good friends, but it turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking on his part.