East Villa Golf Club was the largest golf course in Xiangjiang.
It was the premier choice for Sheng Tingzhou to exercise and relax his body.
He didn’t come very often, picking one day a week and playing for a few hours on that day, wrapping up his entertainment projects for the week.
Today’s golfing companions were Gao Yanqing, He Siyang, and Tan Lu, alongside a few other frequent acquaintances. His partners weren’t fixed; whoever had free time would accompany him on the course, but whenever Sheng Tingzhou came, the atmosphere would liven up considerably.
“You guys are so damn awful!” He Siyang said, dragging his golf club. “What is wrong with you? I thought you’d at least put some pressure on Boss Sheng’s aura, but you guys are even worse than me.”
Sheng Tingzhou’s golfing skills were peerless. It wasn’t that the people present wanted to show off and act smart in front of the new emperor, but rather that they simply couldn’t beat him. Gao Yanqing was considered a master in this sport, yet in front of Sheng Tingzhou, he didn’t even have the power to fight back.
Sheng Tingzhou played steadily and accurately, mastering both high and low shots with precise control. He Siyang and the others were simply no match for him.
“Especially you, Yanqing, what’s going on?” He Siyang turned his fire on Gao Yanqing. “Didn’t you play pretty well before? You had me and old Xiao’s scalps tingling with admiration, so why are you playing so timidly today? What’s on your mind?”
Gao Yanqing said innocently, “Damn it, I’m not playing dumb on purpose. Which of my shots was problematic, tell me? Boss Sheng is just too much of a freak; he certainly didn’t waste his time abroad.”
“I certainly didn’t waste my time, but you guys really are awful,” Sheng Tingzhou said uninterestingly. “If you’re going to play, bring out some actual skill. Next time, I won’t invite anyone who plays dumb.”
Gao Yanqing clarified, “I really wasn’t playing dumb. My touch is off today, and I haven’t played in a while. Once I polish my feel over the next couple of days, I’ll be fine.”
The only person present who could go toe-to-toe with Sheng Tingzhou was Tan Lu, a senior female Alpha from his inner circle. Tan Lu bluntly remarked, “Are you alright, President Gao? Should I practice with you next time?”
No matter what Gao Yanqing claimed in words, Sheng Tingzhou knew that these people didn’t dare to play for real with him. He could see right through things like intentionally letting him win. Although his technique was decent, it wasn’t to the point where no one could be his opponent; with everyone holding back and hiding their abilities, it was terribly boring.
Gao Yanqing’s skill was notoriously good, so whether today was due to a lack of touch or something on his mind, Sheng Tingzhou had a pretty good idea. Soon enough, that guy circled around to his side, probing around with his words: “Why doesn’t Jiayu come out to play?”
Sheng Tingzhou glanced at him sideways. “Miss him?”
Gao Yanqing rested on his club and said, “The weather is so nice today, yet he spends all day soaking in the lab. Doesn’t he find it stuffy?”
A solitary hanging sun hovered over the distant mountains, its vast horizon stretching endlessly. The crisp wind swayed the flags on the green. In front of Sheng Tingzhou was a water hazard area. He Siyang hit a ball within the boundary markers, and it drifted into the water. Everyone on the course shot him an exasperated look.
Instead, He Siyang threw down his club and walked over, grumbling, “Damn it, I must have offended the Tai Sui.”
Saying that, he glanced back at Gao Yanqing and unceremoniously exposed him: “How many years has it been, and you’re still pining after Jiayu?”
Gao Yanqing clicked his tongue. “Was I talking to you?”
He Siyang had a sharp tongue and could throw barbs at anyone. Knowing Gao Yanqing’s little thoughts, he hit the nail on the head: “Jiayu is a decent person, unlike you. He’s a pillar of society, contributing to the nation’s development. What are you? A social profiteer, and you’re still thinking about having a same-sex relationship with Jiayu? Why don’t you jump into the water and wash your face?”
He Siyang gestured toward the water hazard.
Gao Yanqing wasn’t about to lose; he raised his club as if to smash it over He Siyang’s head. At that moment, Sheng Tingzhou gently raised his club to block it, the two clubs colliding with a sharp clink.
Even without the block, the swing wouldn’t have actually landed, but Sheng Tingzhou still symbolically intervened.
“Won’t your mouth get poisoned when you lick your own lips?” Gao Yanqing shot a glare like a knife at He Siyang. “I’m not a decent person, but you fucking are? A beta turning into an Omega, such a spineless thing is only something you could pull off.”
Sheng Tingzhou looked at He Siyang, not quite catching Gao Yanqing’s meaning.
He Siyang shoved his hands into his pockets and said, “Don’t bring that up.”
Gao Yanqing wouldn’t let him off: “Oh, so you know your own twisted tastes are a problem, huh? A perfectly fine beta getting messed up by you into something neither fish nor fowl.”
Whether a beta could be surgically modified into an Omega, or whether an Omega could be transformed into an alpha or beta, this illegal project had never truly stopped. As far back as years ago, the black market possessed such technology, but due to extremely low success rates and numerous resulting deaths, the project was completely classified as illegal trade by the government.
Sheng Tingzhou had also caught wind of it abroad and had even witnessed it firsthand. Several foreign countries permitted it entirely; while the technology was mature, it still couldn’t guarantee a one hundred percent successful surgery. Therefore, patients were required to sign a liability disclaimer themselves before the procedure, mentally preparing themselves beforehand, and successes or failures could not be blamed on the hospital.
The human body was born with its own structure; arbitrarily installing glands that didn’t belong to a beta into their body, or excising and transferring existing glands, would cause irreversible damage to the body. Regardless of whether this technology could ever see the light of day, it could never be entirely non-destructive to the human body.
Sheng Tingzhou had heard of and even seen people who had undergone this surgery, but those were all matters of personal will, provided they could bear the consequences and harm. No one had the qualification to point fingers at someone else’s choices, but He Siyang’s situation was different.
Sheng Tingzhou’s tone carried unmasked disdain: “Are you sick in the head?”
Hearing that, He Siyang pinched his nose, looking embarrassed as he said, “That was all from when I was ignorant and messing around. At the time, I just wanted to see if it could succeed. I don’t mess with that anymore.”
Gao Yanqing won back a round and chimed in with sarcasm: “Yeah, ignorant, meaning sometime last year, right? And now you’re all mature, Young Master He?”
“Can you fucking shut your mouth?” He Siyang grew somewhat irritated. In truth, within their high-society circle, similar things weren’t uncommon. To satisfy the twisted tastes of the wealthy, what services wouldn’t they try to provide underneath? Under normal circumstances, He Siyang wouldn’t have thought much of it, but facing Sheng Tingzhou, he didn’t want to lose too much face.
Sheng Tingzhou couldn’t be bothered to manage other people’s affairs. Seeing He Siyang’s awkwardness, he stopped pressing the issue. Before long, someone approached his side, his personal assistant, who whispered, “President Sheng, Young Master Han has chased us down here.”
Hearing that, Gao Yanqing asked, “Han Dai?”
Sheng Tingzhou said, “He’s been wanting to see me for the longest time. Whatever little bit of friendship we had with his family was settled long ago, he really has the guts to come look for me.”
“He’s been having a pretty wild time lately, practically wrecking his entire family,” Gao Yanqing wiped his golf club. “Don’t tell me he’s looking for you to save his skin?”
Sheng Tingzhou had a good idea of what was going on and instructed his assistant in turn: “Tell him I’m not here.”
The assistant replied, “He knows you’re here; he saw our cars.”
Sheng Tingzhou hadn’t decided about the water hazard area yet when He Siyang chimed in with great dissatisfaction: “Tell him to get lost.”
The assistant looked awkward.
Gao Yanqing looked over, not quite understanding what grievance existed between Han Dai and He Siyang. Since Sheng Tingzhou remained silent, he grew indignant instead.
Last time, Sheng Tingzhou had obtained news from Xiao Songhe, knowing that He Siyang and Han Dai had collided over the same target. Unwittingly, a slender white neck and a rose flashed through his mind. With a dark and gloomy expression, and driven by unknown considerations, Sheng Tingzhou gave a low command: “Invite him in.”
Receiving the order, the assistant departed.
Sheng Tingzhou carried his club and walked toward He Siyang, who was currently fishing his ball out of the water, asking a question while knowing the answer full well: “You don’t get along with him?”
Unaware that his thoughts had long since been exposed, He Siyang said, “I just find him annoying, a playboy with zero decency.”
Gao Yanqing smoothed things over: “No matter how bad he was, he used to be a friend. Don’t hit a man when he’s down, it makes us look heartless.”
“He’s no friend of mine,” He Siyang fished up a handful of water, still falling short of the ball by a distance. Shaking his hands, he stood up. “I don’t have friends who swing both ways like that.”
Gao Yanqing was left completely in the dark, but Sheng Tingzhou understood his indignation. He walked over to the water area, picked up his club, reached out toward the ball, and scooped it up. Stooping down, Sheng Tingzhou pinched the wet ball and tossed it to He Siyang: “Then you can just choose not to see him.”
And He Siyang indeed chose not to see him.
When Han Dai walked in, He Siyang stood far away, at a distance where he couldn’t possibly hear what was being said, out of sight, out of mind. He continued playing golf with the others, while Sheng Tingzhou and Gao Yanqing retreated back to the resting area.
Han Dai walked over timidly. First, he caught sight of He Siyang in the distance, then lowered his head as he arrived by Sheng Tingzhou’s side, unable to properly gauge his footing. This was his first time meeting Sheng Tingzhou since the latter returned to China, and hesitating over how to address him, he finally opted to pull closer by calling out: “Tingzhou.”
Sheng Tingzhou raised his head to look at him, flashed a friendly smile, pointed to the chair in front of him, and said, “Long time no see, sit.”
Han Dai shook his head, glanced at Gao Yanqing, and said, “I’ll just stand.”
Their statuses were different now. Sheng Tingzhou had originally stood a head above these people, to say nothing of his influence after Lingrui’s collapse. Although Han Dai’s father and Sheng Tingzhou’s father had maintained a cooperative relationship, they had backstabbed Sheng Hang in the early years and mingled with Lingrui for several years. Even though they had recently allied with the Sheng family again due to conflicting interests, the two families could never be as close as before because of that incident.
“What’s standing like that supposed to look like? Are you being interrogated?” Gao Yanqing shot a glance at him. “Sit down, Young Master Han. Anyone not knowing better would think we’re ganging up to bully you.”
“No, no…” Han Dai grew much more restrained. “Then I’ll sit.”
Sheng Tingzhou handed him a cigar.
Han Dai hurriedly accepted it with both hands, flustered to the extreme: “Thank you, thank you.”
Sheng Tingzhou and Gao Yanqing exchanged a glance; the latter cracked an ambiguous smile and turned his head away.
“How is Uncle Han’s health?” Sheng Tingzhou asked with concern. “Is he feeling better?”
Han Dai nodded and said, “He’s fine now. The doctor said he can be discharged in a couple of days.”
It looked as though he couldn’t raise his eyes, keeping his head lowered the entire time and speaking while eyeing Sheng Tingzhou’s shoes.
Shao Yiqing didn’t mind either, saying, “I should go visit him, but I was afraid of disturbing him. Since he’s alright now, I’ll drop by to see him these couple of days.”
Han Dai said, “Then my dad will definitely be very happy. He also knows you’re back and keeps talking about wanting to see you.”
Gao Yanqing couldn’t be bothered to listen to their exchange of polite pleasantries, and knowing it was inappropriate, he still asked out of gossip: “Han Dai, what’s wrong between you and Siyang? You didn’t even bother greeting each other.”
Han Dai looked in the direction of He Siyang, embarrassed to bring it up, and struggled awkwardly: “No, just a little misunderstanding.”
How was he supposed to embellish the story of falling in love at first sight with an Omega He Siyang had his eyes on, only to end up being humiliated and treated as beneath contempt?
He couldn’t say it out of any mouth.
He brushed it off hastily, assuming the topic could stop there, but unexpectedly, Sheng Tingzhou grew interested.
“Well, it still needs to be cleared up,” Sheng Tingzhou twirled his cigar, his gaze unfathomable as he looked at Han Dai. “No matter how big or small the issue is, whoever was in the wrong still owes an apology, don’t they?”