“What? What?” Ren Yi had barely finished howling twice when his sharp ears picked up that he might have missed something fun. He hurried over. “What’s going on now? Another show to watch?”
“You’ll know in a few days.” Xie Wangyuan pulled out his phone, opened the photo album and flipped through a few images. “Help me pick one, which one looks better?”
Meng Chaozhi glanced twice and fell silent, his expression complicated. “Your sense of aesthetics is… something and besides, you don’t even have a car. What are you studying paint jobs for?”
“I’m practically about to sell my body already, can’t I at least get a car out of it?” Xie Wangyuan refused to accept defeat. He swiped again. “How about this one?”
Ren Yi pointed at the abstract doodle of a human figure on the screen. “I don’t really have much artistic talent, Yuan-ge. May I ask… what is this supposed to be?”
“Can’t tell?” Xie Wangyuan pointed proudly at himself. “I drew it.”
Ren Yi stared at the crooked, wobbling lines that formed a face and the pair of dark, beady eyes. His mouth twitched. “And you’re planning to put this thing on your car?”
“Of course. I’ll go with a flashy pink base, then throw on some colorful hearts and whatnot and once I slap this picture on top, won’t it look gorgeous?”
Meng Chaozhi, for once, was speechless. “I don’t even dare imagine the kind of attention that car will get.”
Ren Yi pictured it for a second and also found himself at a loss for words. “You’re using this car to pick up Yu Xile?”
“I’ll take your car to pick him up.” Xie Wangyuan tapped the image and smiled. “My precious ride, once it’s remodeled, deserves someone far more worthwhile.”
Ren Yi considered that for a moment, then his expression shifted dramatically. “Yuan-ge, don’t tell me you mean Qin Yu? This drawing is Qin Yu?? You’re planning to make Qin Yu sit in that car???”
Meng Chaozhi also knew what Xie Wangyuan was plotting. Even though he didn’t work at his old company anymore, he had met Qin Yu a few times.
He imagined the impeccably dressed, dignified, stern-faced Qin Yu sitting in that absurd car. He gave a thumbs-up. “Xie Wangyuan, you’re incredible.”
Someone actually capable of sabotaging himself so thoroughly, practically begging for the entire nation’s gossip-hungry crowd to curse him, was indeed no ordinary man.
Being praised only made Xie Wangyuan more cheerful. He locked his phone and tossed it lightly into the air twice. “Ah, I can’t wait to see Qin Yu’s face.”
Ren Yi and Meng Chaozhi: “…”
He was hopeless.
At 4:45 p.m., the room was dim, the curtains tightly drawn.
The alarm rang for the fifth time. A hand reached out from under the covers, fumbling blindly across the pillow, touching nothing but air.
Annoyed, Xie Wangyuan poked his head out from the blanket, cursed under his breath, shut off the alarm and lay flat for a moment to gather himself.
The day after the banquet, he had someone thoroughly clean the downtown apartment from top to bottom and he had only moved in a few days earlier.
His phone rang again. Xie Wangyuan forced himself upright, propped a pillow behind his back, raked a hand through his hair and answered. “Dad.”
“It’s almost five. Are you planning to let Lele-”
Still half-asleep, Xie Wangyuan’s ears buzzed. He turned his head, tossed the phone aside, threw back the covers and got out of bed to pull open the curtains.
Outside, it was overcast.
“Hello? Xie Wangyuan!”
“I’m listening, don’t rush me. I’m up.” Xie Wangyuan muttered something like “menopause,” not caring whether Xie Tiancheng heard it or not and hung up.
The phone buzzed again, a location pin from Xie Tiancheng for the filming site.
“Tch. Troublesome.” Accepting his fate, Xie Wangyuan entered the bathroom to shower. Afterward, he opened the wardrobe and began picking clothes. In the end, he chose a gray-green striped shirt and casual pants.
He strapped on his watch, grabbed Ren Yi’s car keys from the table and took the elevator to the parking garage.
At 5:15, he tapped the steering wheel twice, searched Qin Corporation Tower in the GPS and set off.
They were both in the central business district, so the distance wasn’t far but it was peak rush hour, so by the time he arrived, another half hour had passed.
Ignoring his constantly ringing phone, Xie Wangyuan headed straight to the front desk. He flashed a smile and winked at the two receptionists. “Already off work?”
“Our company finishes at six, sir.”
Xie Wangyuan took in the lobby layout and the elevators on each side and casually asked, “Does your President Qin also get off at that time?”
The receptionists exchanged a look. One of them hesitated and regarded him cautiously. “If you’d like to see President Qin, you need to make an appointment in advance.”
Xie Wangyuan glanced at his phone and lifted his head with a smile. “Got it. Next time.”
Back in the car, he didn’t start the engine immediately. Instead, he stared lazily at the building’s entrance while answering a call.
“X-Xie Second Young Master, Lele-ge just finished shooting. I sent you a pin, can we meet there? There are a lot of fans here right now…”
Just then, a familiar Maybach drove past him and slowly stopped at the entrance of the tower.
Hanging up, Xie Wangyuan put an unlit cigarette between his lips and stepped out of the car. Leaning against the door with one hand tucked in his pocket, he waited for that familiar figure. When the man appeared, he let out a sharp, loud whistle. “Third Young Master Qin, what a coincidence.”
He Rui had just opened the backseat door when Qin Yu, halfway bent, froze. He straightened and looked over.
Xie Wangyuan walked up in a few quick steps. He took the cigarette from his mouth and waved it. “Got a lighter?”
Qin Yu’s gaze deepened as he studied him. After a moment, he replied, “No.”
“What an unfortunate coincidence, then.” Having successfully clocked in for the day, Xie Wangyuan mischievously shoved the cigarette into Qin Yu’s suit pocket, pressing it twice for good measure. “I’ll gift you a lighter next time. I’m off.”
The icy-blue Porsche roared away. He Rui finally snapped out of it, staring at the half-exposed cigarette still sticking out of Qin Yu’s pristine suit jacket, stammering, “P-President Qin, th-that…”
Qin Yu retracted his gaze, lowered his head and took the cigarette out. He held it in his hand for a moment. His fingers tightened, the smell of tobacco spreading between them. “To the sanatorium.”
Forty minutes later, Xie Wangyuan reached his destination.
Tall buildings towered overhead, their signs littered with English names he didn’t recognize. He drove into the underground parking garage, injected two doses of suppressant and reapplied the inhibitor patch.
His nicotine addiction was heavy, more than that, he relied on the smell of smoke to mute his overly sensitive sense of smell. With the window rolled all the way down, he stretched out his arm and flicked off a piece of ash, leisurely.
For someone who died over twenty years ago, Xie Tiancheng could remain fixated all this time on an Omega who merely bore a slight resemblance to her. To Xie Wangyuan, it always felt like madness but perhaps in Xie Tiancheng’s eyes, he was the unreasonable one.
A mother who gave her life to give him his; an Omega with an extremely high compatibility with him; someone whose pheromones could stabilize his disorder, by every logical measure, Xie Wangyuan should have been a grateful, obedient, sensible son.
And yet, father and son, from the moment he was young, shared a bond more like enemies from a past life but on some things, they truly were father and son.
Just as Xie Tiancheng had obsessed over Yu Xile for so many years without ever giving up, Xie Wangyuan had walked his own path of defiance just as far, perhaps farther.
This building seemed filled with all kinds of studios. Xie Wangyuan didn’t understand the costumes or makeup for these shoots; all he saw was Yu Xile constantly changing outfits, sunglasses and masks, all unnecessarily complicated in his opinion.
He lit another cigarette and coolly watched as Yu Xile cautiously stepped out of the nanny van, opening the back door to place a fruit basket and a bouquet inside, then slipping into the passenger seat again.
Yu Xile nervously twisted his fingers, unsure of what to do. This should be their third meeting, if the previous two encounters even counted.
Without looking at him, Xie Wangyuan exhaled faintly. “What’s the point? By tomorrow night, the whole internet will know anyway.”
“It’s not that, I just can’t really handle the smell of smoke.” Yu Xile took off his sunglasses, looking hesitant and timid. “Can you… maybe not smoke for now, Wangyuan…”
The pain of that forced differentiation in the past was still carved vividly into his nerves, the itch and sting at the back of his neck, the lingering fear in his heart. Xie Wangyuan didn’t say anything. In the end, he took one last drag, put out the cigarette and raised the car window, leaving only a thin crack for air.
Yu Xile let out a quiet breath of relief and only then did he remove his mask. His face was small, his bone structure delicate, the kind of look that effortlessly stirred a person’s instinct to protect.
Inside the car, only the voice of the GPS filled the silence. That made Yu Xile even more uneasy. He turned slightly, staring at the sharp, cold lines of the Alpha’s profile. Gathering his courage, he finally spoke. “Wangyuan, last time Uncle Xie said… your disorder…”
He didn’t get to finish.
The moment they exited the underground garage, Xie Wangyuan jerked the wheel sharply and began weaving through the heavy traffic at high speed.
Yu Xile had never ridden in a car like this. He clutched the seat beneath him with both hands. Even with the seatbelt fastened, his body still swayed violently left and right with the inertia.
He sensed the Alpha was in a bad mood, probably because of what he had just said. Xie Wangyuan clearly had no intention of responding to him either. Yu Xile had no choice but to swallow the rest of his words.
He held it in for a while but his discomfort only grew. Eventually, in a trembling whisper, he said, “Wangyuan… I feel a little sick…”
Xie Wangyuan glanced sideways. Seeing how pale he looked, he tossed a bottle of mineral water over. “Don’t throw up in the car.”
Yu Xile was used to assistants tending to him yet he didn’t dare open his mouth to ask for help now. He had no choice but to pitifully pick up the bottle and twist at the cap several times before finally getting it open.
Once they were out of the city, the traffic thinned but Yu Xile remained sitting bolt upright. His knuckles were white from gripping the bottle. Only when he saw the distant rows of villas did he finally release the breath he’d been holding from sheer nerves.
The next second, a sudden, harsh brake slammed him back into the seat. He hadn’t been prepared at all, his vision spun from the impact.
Leisurely, Xie Wangyuan lit another cigarette. “No one’s around here. You can get out and throw up.”
Yu Xile’s limbs were soft and shaky. He stumbled out of the car, coughing until his eyes turned red, crouched helplessly at the roadside, looking utterly miserable as he gazed up at Xie Wangyuan.
“I forgot to tell you, I only came to pick you up because my card got frozen. There’s nothing else to it.” Xie Wangyuan’s tone was indifferent. “And another thing: I’m not my father. That act doesn’t work on me.”
Yu Xile’s expression froze.
“First you stir up a scandal, then I come along and slap it down.” Xie Wangyuan tilted his head slightly. “I’m curious, if this keeps happening, how many more times can you keep pretending like this?”
________
The Author Has Something to Say
A Certain Someone: Little Xie, you will pay for your actions today.
Little Xie: I’m going to hit a wall? Ha! *snorts, lights a cigarette*
✦ ✧ ✦
Vynellia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
If you enjoyed their work, a little coffee is always appreciated.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · A Beta who looks particularly attractiveChapter 2 · Illegitimate child? BetaChapter 3 · Am I going to kick a hornet’s nest?Chapter 4 · A banquet that only Betas can attendChapter 5 · The young man’s heart was wastedChapter 6 · What’s so fun about Beta?Chapter 7 · Your dad has too many loversChapter 8 · Date with a ‘beautyChapter 9 · Long Time no see…Chapter 10 · He’ll definitely be the dominant oneChapter 11 · Seeing Qin Yu was like a dog seeing a bone.Chapter 12 · Young Master Qin, what a coincidenceChapter 13 · I don’t like things that other people have touched.Chapter 14 · Just call him “little brother”Chapter 15 · Are you going to pursue Xiao Mei O?Chapter 16 · The dead are deadChapter 17 · Qin Yu, aren’t you going to take responsibility?Chapter 18 · Xie Wangyuan and his dog are not allowed insideChapter 19 · Got into his carChapter 20 · He really gave me a hard timeChapter 21 · You actually Like that beta?Chapter 22 · Like an Alpha catching his wife cheatingChapter 23 · How do you want me to repay you?Chapter 24 · An Alpha without pheromonesChapter 25 · I’m determined to get my hands on Qin YuChapter 26 · Whatever service you needChapter 27 · Honey, shall I put it on for you?Chapter 28 · Mr. Qin has a rather unique aesthetic senseChapter 29 · Who says Qin Yu is hard to deal with?Chapter 30 · Please teach me, Teacher QinChapter 31 · These are all he can lose.Chapter 32 · I’m looking for someone who has “disappeared”.Chapter 33 · A new meaning in his lifeChapter 34 · Your birthday is in a few days, right?Chapter 35 · Just the two of us.Chapter 36 · It was like Qin Yu’s O-selection banquetChapter 37 · He saw himself clearly in his eyesChapter 38 · Do those Betas really make you this comfortable?Chapter 39 · Qin Yu, you just wait.Chapter 40 · I’m to blame for stealing tonight’s main characterChapter 41 · If you have only one piece of clothing left, you winChapter 42 · I admit defeatChapter 43 · He is my lover!Chapter 44 · What kind of cult is Yuyuan?Chapter 45 · There are no other BetasChapter 46 · Go to bedChapter 47 · Susceptible periodChapter 48 · Qin Yu, are you a damn dog?!Chapter 49 · It would be best to lock us up completelyChapter 50 · I’ll give you five million, leave my sonChapter 51 · Other Alphas smell awfulChapter 52 · He can’t possibly be like those stupid Alpha dogsChapter 53 · Only youChapter 54 · Go ahead and say what you just said again if you dareChapter 55 · I thought you were going to meet someone at night.Chapter 56 · Swallow it.Chapter 57 · Service fee for the second young masterChapter 58 · He touched it himself and showed it to meChapter 59 · To make an Alpha no longer need an OmegaChapter 60 · They’re kindly taking me in?Chapter 61 · Qin Yu is different.Chapter 62 · HelpChapter 63 · At times like this and that with Qin Yu.Chapter 64 · We will never abandon themChapter 65 · My wife’s surname is QinChapter 66 · Two numbersChapter 67 · Qin Yu and dogs are not allowed insideChapter 68 · Eat a lotChapter 69 · It’s a must-eatChapter 70 · Batian misses youChapter 71 · Earn money to support your wife.Chapter 72 · I hug you like a crossChapter 73 · Use these to exchange for a wish.Chapter 74 · Extra 1Chapter 75 · Extra 2Chapter 76 · Extra 3Chapter 77 · Extra 4Chapter 78 · Extra 5Chapter 79 · Extra 6Chapter 80 · Extra 7Chapter 81 · Extra 8Chapter 82 · Extra 9Chapter 83 · Extra 10Chapter 84 · Extra 11Chapter 85 · Extra 12