Night descended desolately, plunging the entire Xiangjiang into a profound darkness. Several cars were parked in front of the police station located in the central district, all of them belonging to the family members of lawbreakers and criminals waiting at the entrance.
The glare of the Maybach’s headlights stabbed blindingly into people’s eyes. The car’s owner had done it on purpose, forcing the illuminated figure to raise a hand in defense, their expression practically oozing impatience.
Shao Peng had been detained for the entire day.
After enduring a whole day of reprimands inside, he had reached the absolute peak of irritability. At this point, even the slightest annoyance could set off his nerves. Standing now at the entrance of the police station, feeling the beam of that familiar black Maybach sweeping over his entire person, a profound sense of humiliation washed over him. With quite a few people still loitering outside the station and eyeing the figures at the door, Shao Peng hurried over to the Maybach.
He bypassed the blinding headlights and took refuge in the shadows.
“So you still know what shame feels like.” Shao Yiqing was leaning back against the car body, holding a cigarette between his fingers, looking as though he had been waiting for a long time.
Shao Peng snapped ungraciously, “Weren’t you not coming?”
Shao Yiqing lowered his gaze to play with the cigarette in his hand. “I wasn’t planning on it. But the banquet ended early, and when I happened to catch wind that you’d been detained, I figured I simply had to come and admire your miserable state.”
Shao Peng curled his lip. Uncle Xu, sitting inside the vehicle, poked his head out and chimed in, “We’ve got him. Let’s go, time to head home.”
“You head up first,” Shao Yiqing told Shao Peng.
“Where are you going?” Shao Peng asked, grabbing the car door.
Shao Yiqing stubbed out his cigarette and turned to meet the figure approaching from the direction they had just come. “Did you really think things were just going to end here?”
The figure was none other than the people’s police officer who had lectured Shao Peng all day long. He had followed them out as well.
Shao Peng pulled open the car door and slid into the passenger seat, the ambient light illuminating the figures of Shao Yiqing and the officer surnamed Wan.
Shao Peng had no energy to spare for anyone else. Noticing that Shao Yiqing was dressed in a rather alluring outfit, his brow furrowed and he asked, “Where is he off to now?”
Knowing full well what Shao Peng meant, Uncle Xu also looked up. Shao Yiqing was wearing a short-sleeved top and wide-legged trousers instead of his usual work attire. Realizing that Shao Peng’s mind was wandering down the wrong path again, Uncle Xu offered an explanation to smooth things over. “Oh, he’s attending a friend’s banquet. It’s completely normal. Your dad is a person of status, and all these connections have to be maintained.”
Shao Peng’s expression turned frosty, clearly rejecting Uncle Xu’s well-intentioned words. “A friend’s banquet? More like a fuck buddy’s. How many of the people he runs with are actually decent?”
“They are friends,” Uncle Xu said, gripping the steering wheel and offering a gentle reprimand. “Stop holding such deep grudges against your dad. It’s not easy for an Omega to carve out a place for himself in high society, and being born with such stunning looks isn’t his fault.”
Having served Shao Yiqing for a long time, Uncle Xu was the longest-tenured and most qualified person by his side to say such things. Shao Yiqing didn’t treat him like an outsider, and Uncle Xu didn’t treat Shao Yiqing like a mere superior. He was a veteran sent specifically from Beijing by Shao Yiqing’s father to look after him, an elderly servant who had tended to the Shao family for well over a decade. Over ten years had passed, and Uncle Xu could practically be said to have watched Shao Yiqing grow up.
He had been by his side even during Shao Yiqing’s prime, youthful years.
He played more of an uncle-and-father figure to him, and Shao Yiqing had never treated him as a subordinate.
Shao Peng knew just how much attention Shao Yiqing naturally commanded, and he didn’t pin all the blame squarely on him. Those alphas were culpable too. Yet if Shao Yiqing had wanted to, he could easily have kept his distance from them. Instead, his lifestyle was dissolute and utterly devoid of shame, a matter of fairness that Shao Peng had long since stopped caring about. In his eyes, Shao Yiqing’s promiscuity had reached a monstrous, utterly inexcusable level.
He spared no one, whether they were married or single, unattached or spoken for, mingling with all sorts of people. Just recently, rumors had spread about a married man whose family had been torn apart because of Shao Yiqing. Shao Peng had thought he was already immune to this sort of thing, but Shao Yiqing managed to redefine his lower limits and rewrite his worldview time and time again.
He decided to fish for details: “What’s the deal with that guy named Han Dai? Word about him has even reached my school.”
Uncle Xu glanced sideways at him, surprised that the gossip had traveled so far. Without pressing to find out who Shao Peng had heard it from, Uncle Xu said with a mocking tone, “Stupid is as stupid plays. He tried to show off at the gambling table and walked right into a trap. Serves him right.”
“Everyone says his family was torn apart and ruined because of Shao Yiqing.”
“Your dad merely tossed a casual remark his way across the gambling table. It was Han Dai’s own choice to puff out his chest and pretend to be a big shot because he couldn’t take the hit to his ego. He wanted to show off his prowess in front of your dad, but his luck ran dry and he got slaughtered, losing big and gambling away his entire family fortune.”
Unable to picture such a scene, Shao Peng pressed on, “Then what about his family falling apart?”
A look of utter disdain flashed across Uncle Xu’s eyes. He rolled down the car window, craned his neck to glance forward, and then settled back into his seat. “Han Dai was head over heels for your dad, deeply infatuated to a ridiculous degree. To prove his loyalty, he went and kicked up a messy divorce with his Omega wife, refused to acknowledge his own children, and drove his father to the hospital with a heart attack. Pure brainless, heartless, swine-like behavior.”
Shao Peng couldn’t tell whether Uncle Xu was simply running interference for Shao Yiqing. He only knew that Uncle Xu was fiercely loyal to Shao Yiqing, adored him dearly as an elder, and invariably took his side whenever arguments broke out between father and son. When it came to Uncle Xu, Shao Peng couldn’t afford to throw too many tantrums. The man was an elder, a senior figure holding substantial authority and influence, and someone close to his grandfather. He didn’t dare act too presumptuously in front of him.
Yet Uncle Xu doted on Shao Yiqing so much that his words often lacked objectivity, reeking of blind shielding. Driven by suspicion, Shao Peng countered, “Then why is everyone outside saying Shao Yiqing ruined his family? Surely it’s not all baseless rumors?”
With a tone of earnest wisdom, Uncle Xu asked, “Just how little do you actually understand your dad?”
Shao Peng scraped the toe of his shoe against the car frame. “I don’t need to understand him.”
Uncle Xu saw right through the friction between father and son, though he had no desire to intervene. Shao Peng had heard more than enough lectures. Having lived through those years himself, Uncle Xu knew that someone at Shao Peng’s age would never take advice to heart. There was no point in wasting breath.
Uncle Xu simply stated, “First of all, at the gambling table, your dad merely threw out a remark asking if Han Dai could afford to play. Everything that followed was Han Dai’s own doing. No one held a knife to his throat forcing him to commit such inhumane acts. Far too many people lose their minds and go to absurd lengths over your dad. What makes Han Dai so special? Do you really think your dad cared about him?”
Shao Peng fell into deep thought. No one was more persuasive when recounting Shao Yiqing’s past than Uncle Xu.
“As for why rumors are flying everywhere that your dad destroyed his family, you’ll understand when you’re older. People simply aren’t that interested in the truth. Your father has a notorious reputation, so whenever anything happens, it gets pinned on him without anyone ever questioning its authenticity. As long as it involves your dad, people find a way to make it fit their narrative. The worse Shao Yiqing’s reputation gets, the easier it is for those alphas who got humiliated by him to whitewash their own pig-headed stupidity by claiming your dad was simply too demonic.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You’ll understand when you grow up,” Uncle Xu said. “You’re still young, so saying all this to you now is pointless. You hold deep grievances against your dad, and since it’s a private matter, I won’t interfere. But Pengpeng, don’t let yourself be led around by the nose. You should consider yourself lucky that Shao Yiqing is your father, because otherwise, you wouldn’t have this privilege.”
Uncle Xu let out a chuckle. “Would you have inherited a face like that?”
Shao Peng turned his head away, refusing to admit it.
He loathed admitting that he shared such an intimate bond with Shao Yiqing, yet he couldn’t deny the truth. Shao Yiqing’s genetic endowment was simply too superior. Without it, he could never possess a face like this, a face that commanded instant attention wherever he went in school.
“Have you kept in touch with the Lin family?” Uncle Xu suddenly inquired.
A wave of resentment washed over Shao Peng at the mention. “Shao Yiqing cut off all my ways of contacting him. Where am I supposed to find my dad?”
His tone was brimming with grievance.
Uncle Xu sighed. “Ah, well, President Shao was indeed heavy-handed on that front. But who told you to keep sneaking off over there? Though I didn’t hear it with my own ears, I imagine you must have told the Lin family member something like wanting them to take you away.”
During his younger years, Shao Peng hadn’t bothered trying to hide his escapes. In his desperate bids to find his biological father, he would often sneak out of the villa late at night. Uncle Xu had lost count of how many times he’d had to pick him up from the police station. A child could never make it out of the city limits, let alone know where to look for his father, so he was frequently dropped off at a station by kind strangers. The police would contact Shao Yiqing, who in turn would dispatch Uncle Xu to retrieve him.
There was only one occasion when Shao Peng actually succeeded in meeting his alpha father. Just as Uncle Xu had guessed, he had begged his father to take him away. But that man hadn’t done it. Without a moment’s hesitation, his father had apologized, held him tight while weeping, and confessed that he lacked the capability to take him away.
Shao Peng had blamed his father back then. Knowing how miserable he was living under Shao Yiqing’s roof, why hadn’t he been willing to rescue him? His father had clearly loved him the most, had been the one who spent the most time by his side. How could he bear to let him suffer under Shao Yiqing? Shao Peng had resented him, even hated him, but now that he was older, he understood. His father simply lacked the power, because Shao Yiqing’s influence was far too immense.
Whose son was Shao Yiqing, and who was his grandfather? Even if ties with the Beijing side weren’t as close anymore, a mere stamp of a foot in the capital could crush his father to dust. What weapons did his father have to fight against Shao Yiqing?
Shao Peng had never truly abandoned the hope of returning to his father’s side. That stubborn obsession persisted all the way until the summer vacation two years ago, when it finally broke. After pulling strings and exhausting every resource, he finally managed to make contact with Lin Mufeng, the only father he truly acknowledged. Filled with eager anticipation, he ran off to meet him, expecting his father to be overjoyed. Instead, he discovered someone else already standing by his father’s side.
An Omega with a protruding pregnant belly stood next to his father, the two of them walking hand in hand to admire flowers beneath a crabapple tree.
Shao Peng had stood far away. He hadn’t stepped forward to disturb them. Instead, he silently turned around, retraced his steps back to Shao Yiqing’s side, and cried in secret for days.
Back then, the household was constantly visited by young, handsome alphas, something Shao Peng loathed with a passion. He had only ever wanted Shao Yiqing and his father to reconcile and get back together. He knew that if Shao Yiqing truly wanted to make it happen, he could have. Yet Shao Yiqing chose not to, and Shao Peng couldn’t fathom why. Watching Shao Yiqing laugh and chat effortlessly with those alphas filled Shao Peng with bitter resentment. He couldn’t see a single redeeming quality in any of them compared to his father.
Yet Shao Yiqing seemed to relish it. He kept company with them, and their gatherings were always packed with laughter and merriment. Eventually, Shao Peng understood. It was likely because Shao Yiqing was simply too fickle and promiscuous. Unwilling to remain content within his marriage to his father, he was always looking to step outside bounds. Naturally, his father couldn’t take it anymore and chose to leave.
He had learned to sympathize with his father’s choice, casting all the blame onto the wayward Shao Yiqing. He refused to accept having such an unseemly parent. Occasionally, Shao Peng wondered if he was being unfair, if he shouldn’t blame Shao Yiqing entirely, and if perhaps their marriage had collapsed due to other hidden grievances. Yet within that marriage, his father was the vulnerable one. He was cautious, never stepping out of line, gentle as water, soft-hearted, and infinitely more approachable than Shao Yiqing. Out of deep trust and reverence for his father, Shao Peng had naturally placed all the consequences squarely on Shao Yiqing’s shoulders.
Shao Yiqing was the pampered pearl of high society, the only one afforded the luxury of making mistakes. His father didn’t have that privilege. In a mismatch of backgrounds like theirs, his father was perpetually the underdog, the victim.
He couldn’t join the chorus of people bullying his vulnerable father the way others did. But Shao Yiqing was different. Bathed in indulgence and possessing everything, he didn’t lack Shao Peng’s reverence, nor did he even need Shao Peng around. Yet he had still mercilessly stripped away his father’s only remaining solace, utilizing ruthless tactics in court to frame his father, fabricating evidence of infidelity, and forcibly snatching Shao Peng away.
Yet Shao Peng had always known the truth. The only one capable of infidelity was Shao Yiqing.
That promiscuous, outrageously sinful, unscrupulous darling of the Shao family.
At that realization, whatever microscopic fairness Shao Peng had held toward Shao Yiqing completely evaporated. He had to stand firm in his convictions. He could never side with Shao Yiqing in bullying his fragile alpha father.
Lost in his thoughts for a moment, Shao Peng’s gaze turned significantly colder. Shaking his head, Uncle Xu sighed and said, “Iqing’s Omega father died from dystocia when giving birth to him. The old master was devastated by the tragedy and doted on Iqing to an extraordinary degree, calling him the apple of his eye would hardly be an exaggeration.”
Uncle Xu paused for a beat before continuing, “Yet your dad’s constitution was uncooperative. He inherited not only his Omega father’s looks, but also his physical frailty. His body wasn’t suited for pregnancy. But when he found out he was carrying you, he didn’t hesitate for a single second, putting his life on the line just to bring you into the world. He suffered immensely during the pregnancy, tortured until he was truly unrecognizable. He was so young back then, completely clueless, conceiving before his body had even finished developing. When his delivery time arrived, he had already left his final words with Lin Mufeng. He genuinely walked through the gates of hell.”
Shao Peng remained silent.
Visions of Shao Yiqing’s various trials during pregnancy flashed through Uncle Xu’s mind, his eyes brimming with pity. “The old master tried to stop him, ordering him to abort the child. Although the old master was never fond of Lin Mufeng, that decision was made purely out of the desire to keep your dad alive. But your dad is a stubborn mule. When he ran away from Beijing to Xiangjiang back then, a dozen bodyguards couldn’t stop him, let alone prevent him from keeping you. He insisted on giving birth, and nobody could control him. Back then, your dad threw himself headfirst into Lin Mufeng’s embrace, completely consumed by a deep-rooted, unstoppable affection. Those nine months of pregnancy tortured him past human recognition. Just watching it terrified me, making me wonder if he could possibly survive.”
“To tell you the truth, back then he really was no different from a dying person. I didn’t dare report the true condition back to Beijing. Otherwise, once the old master found out, regardless of whether your dad wanted it or not, there was zero chance you would have survived,” Uncle Xu let out a long sigh. “Affection is a strange thing. It can save a person, but it can also ruin them completely. Iqing was dazzling and glorious in his teens, yet he threw caution to the wind to commit unfilial acts purely for the sake of Lin Mufeng. The old master doted on him his whole life, only to end up being cut off. To protect you and Lin Mufeng, he pulled every dirty trick in the book. Looking back, he probably regrets it now.”
Both Uncle Xu and Shao Peng gazed at the figure in the distance. Shao Yiqing was smiling, his profile looking unreal. He looked less like a living human and more like an exquisite, handcrafted piece of art, a masterpiece born from an artisan’s painstaking effort and time. Was that even a real person? It was far too fake. Shao Yiqing’s beauty was so surreal that it was impossible to blame anyone for losing their minds over him so easily.
Even as his son, Shao Peng couldn’t help thinking that after all these years, every time he faced that face, he still found Shao Yiqing’s looks almost unbelievable and absurd.
Others praised him for his looks, but the moment they found out his father was Shao Yiqing, they would invariably offer a regretful, “Ah, well, you still fall a bit short then.”
“I’m telling you all this simply to make you understand, Pengpeng,” Uncle Xu said earnestly. “You can blame and suspect him for other things, but you should know how much your dad sacrificed for you, what he lost, and what inhuman torture he endured. Just for that alone, you shouldn’t show him such disrespect. He’s not meant for the operating table. The only reason he’s standing here right now is out of sheer divine mercy. He left half his life on that operating table and never fully recovered. When the weather turns cold, his body aches, and he can’t tolerate pungent smells either. Did you know any of that?”
Shao Peng faced the opposite window, hiding his expression from Uncle Xu. The night deepened a fraction further, and the two figures conferring ahead seemed to be wrapping up their business.
Shao Yiqing walked back over. He approached the passenger side, bent down, and tapped on the window with a misleading smile. Shao Peng rolled the window down without a word, his expression softening considerably, though wrapped in the cloak of night, it remained obscured and indistinct.
“The car’s impounded, won’t be out for half a month,” Shao Yiqing leaned against the car window and told Shao Peng. “This is the third car of mine you’ve managed to get impounded, damn it. Officer Wan is already cracking under the pressure. If you pull another stunt like this, even Deng Su’s driver’s license won’t be safe.”
Shao Peng curled his lip, uncharacteristically holding his tongue.
Shao Yiqing sensed something was off and looked up toward Uncle Xu. “What’s wrong?”
Shao Peng tapped on the car window. “Get in already.”
“In a rush to get home?” Shao Yiqing pulled open the door, climbed into the back seat, and began chatting with Uncle Xu about the vehicle. With that, the trio set off on the road.
Once they were moving, Shao Yiqing suddenly spoke to Shao Peng. “We can’t keep you locked up at home. Studies are important, so head back to school tomorrow. I’ve already spoken with little Deng.”
Shao Peng still remained silent. Assuming he had objections, Shao Yiqing continued with a slightly sharper tone, “If you want to leave today, fine, buy your own ticket and go. Nobody’s going to drive you out in the middle of the night.”
Leaning back against the seat, Shao Peng finally broke a prolonged silence. “Tomorrow’s fine.”
“As you like,” Shao Yiqing said, closing his eyes.
“As you like,” those were the words Shao Yiqing said to him more than anything else. It sounded as though he didn’t know what else to say, or perhaps as though he didn’t want to deal with him at all, leaving its true meaning frustratingly unclear.
That night, Shao Peng didn’t act out.
After dropping everyone off, Uncle Xu went straight home to sleep.
Shao Yiqing stayed at home instead of heading out. Late into the night, the bedroom light remained on as he reviewed contracts for a new project.
“Signed, signed. Take a look at page four. I’ve already reviewed this contract, there are no issues.”
A voice message played from the phone, echoing through the quiet room.
Shao Yiqing had a light robe draped over his shoulders, its belt tied loosely around his waist. Flipping to page four, he indeed found the signature at the bottom.
The group chat had received no response from Shao Yiqing for a while, and too timid to sleep, someone finally dared to tag him with the message: President Shao, did you see this?
Shao Yiqing was still reading documents and hadn’t replied immediately. By the time he noticed it, quite a bit of time had passed. He replied that he had seen it and told everyone else to go to sleep, prompting the chat to quiet down without further ado.
Chen Shuo had sent a website link to his email inbox. Shao Yiqing didn’t bother clicking on it. Matters had to be handled one by one, and Chen Shuo’s affairs were the least urgent.
Knock, knock.
A rapping sound echoed at the door.
Without lifting his head, Shao Yiqing said, “Come in.”
To his surprise, it was Shao Peng standing at the threshold.
Pushing the door open, Shao Peng saw Shao Yiqing sitting by the window still reading documents under the lamplight. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Shao Peng asked, “I’m leaving tomorrow?”
Shao Yiqing listened to his somewhat conciliatory tone, harboring a wave of doubt as he raised his head to look at the figure by the door with a ghost of an expression. “I know.”
Shao Peng shifted his hands inside his pockets. He rarely entered Shao Yiqing’s bedroom, but he had to admit that Shao Yiqing’s aesthetic taste was spot-on. The trailing jasmine and Rieger begonias kept in the room competed in beauty under the moonlight, with Shao Yiqing sitting right among them, the moonlight draped over his shoulders like a motionless, exquisite figurine. A night lamp flickered on the desk, though its light wasn’t suited for reading.
“When is my cousin coming?” Shao Peng asked.
Completely baffled, Shao Yiqing stared at him for a long moment, unable to figure out what he was up to. Abandoning the attempt, he dove back into his paperwork. “This Thursday. Are you waiting for him?”
“Can’t wait that long,” Shao Peng said. “I’ll see him next time I’m back.”
“As you like.”
Throughout the exchange, Shao Yiqing maintained an aura of intense focus, seemingly uninterested in entertaining Shao Peng’s provocation.
Shao Peng patted his pockets, looking as though he had more to say. Hesitating for a beat, he ultimately kept quiet, turned around, and left.
Shao Yiqing didn’t dwell on the interlude.
No sooner had Shao Peng left than his phone rang.
A call from the owner of the Fog Song Club.
Sun Rong passed along a message to Shao Yiqing: “Got a moment? Can you head out right now?”
“State your business first,” Shao Yiqing replied.
The sound of rushing wind came from Sun Rong’s end as he sighed helplessly. “Your little lover beat up the official from Rui Ling.”
Shao Yiqing was momentarily dumbfounded.
Realization dawned quickly, however. At present, his universally acknowledged lover was no one else. Propping the phone against his ear, Shao Yiqing said, “Speak clearly.”
“You’d better come,” Sun Rong summarized the gravity of the situation in a single sentence. “Otherwise, you can just sit back and watch Xu Mingfu get buried by the Sheng family’s lawsuits.”
The Sheng family again.
For Xu Mingfu to still have the guts to provoke the Sheng family, Shao Yiqing had assumed he had already left the city.
“Not going to intervene?” Sun Rong’s voice turned breathy as if catching sight of someone, his tone laced with awe. “It looks like an extraordinary big shot just arrived on the Sheng family’s side.”
Shao Yiqing didn’t give a definitive answer.
Silence settled over him, his mind completely occupied by the pink roses from earlier that evening. By now, he had already finished his bath, and his scent patch had been peeled off. He had no intention of heading back out.
The sound of chatter drifted through the phone, suggesting a bustling scene on the other end.
Hearing Sun Rong surrender and preemptively clear his own name in fear of the fallout, the voice came through the line: “Let’s get this straight first, I have no intention of making an enemy of the Sheng family.”
“I can’t handle Sheng Tingzhou either.”