The two walked side by side in silence. The warm sun of the day had quietly dissipated, leaving the sky gloomy, a harbinger of the approaching storm. A night wind blew, snapping the fabric of their thin shirts, yet neither suggested returning to the warmth of the house or finding a sheltered spot to talk.
Ruan Shi’s opening line was abrupt.
“President Mu, Niannian is the young master of the Ruan family and my only younger brother.”
Silence lingered after he spoke. Mu Yan did not respond, instead steeling himself, preparing to face whatever Ruan Shi had to say next.
The night wind suddenly surged, tearing Ruan Shi’s voice into fragments in the biting gale, making it blurred and indistinct.
“That day, I wanted to.” Kill you.
Both of them stopped walking simultaneously.
Alpha pheromones instantly ran rampant, colliding silently amidst the whistling wind and shaking the fallen leaves to the ground.
The wind gradually subsided. It was unclear who had withdrawn their pressure first, but the courtyard returned to a state of calm, as if that frightening clash had just been an illusion.
Ruan Shi steadied his heart. Proud as he was, the following words were difficult to utter, yet they were an undeniable fact. Taking a slight breath, he continued.
“Mu Yan. Settling this matter is not difficult for you, even if the opponent is the Ruan family. You and I both know this.”
The Ruan family might be a dark horse leading the pack among emerging enterprises, but the Muyu Group had thrived for generations, its foundation unfathomably deep; how could it be easily shaken?
Ruan Shi was a business genius, but Mu Yan was even more so. The massive family enterprise ran smoothly under his hand, leading the Muyu Group to yet another peak since its founding.
He clearly had a foolproof strategy to make the accident vanish without a trace at minimal cost. The Bu Xing Hotel was, after all, Muyu Group property, and making the evidence disappear was easy for him. Or he could have used business means to threaten the Ruan family, pressuring Ruan Shi to concede. Mu Yan did not engage in unprofitable deals; that was the industry’s default rule. If what Ruan Nian said was true, that the marriage was Mu Yan’s proposal, then Ruan Shi could think of only one reason.
Using Ruan Nian’s mutated pheromones as a sedative, the best method was to make him his private property.
Thinking of this, Ruan Shi’s gaze turned icy.
Omegas were too easily pushed into passive roles in relationships. As a brother, Ruan Shi had to consider more for him in advance.
“I have my own considerations.” Mu Yan’s answer was vague. His face remained expressionless, giving Ruan Shi no chance to guess.
“Your so-called considerations should not cross the line.” Ruan Shi pressed step by step. When it involved Ruan Nian, he would not yield an inch.
The conversation hit a dead end, with both sides deadlocked, neither willing to take a step back.
Finally, after much deliberation, Mu Yan took the initiative to yield a step.
“Ruan Nian is an independent individual. He is free.”
“And so am I.”
The Alpha’s tone was no longer the indifference and heartlessness of the power struggles in the business world, but unexpectedly sincere and earnest.
In over twenty years, this was the only time he had not preset various possible endings.
He had never had an intimate relationship with anyone; his top-tier tequila pheromones naturally drew an insurmountable gap between him and others. To wear the crown, one must bear its weight; behind the praise and respect lay the unavoidable irritability and violence of top-tier pheromones. He had thought he would never bow his head, choosing to fight his physiological instincts until the end.
But the scent of sweet milk had been destructive and irresistible, making his proud rationality and restraint vanish without a trace.
With that said, Ruan Shi knew that this Alpha would not yield another step.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, his voice turning subtly hoarse, yet a flash of determination and madness crossed his eyes.
“Then, is it possible for it to not be Ruan Nian?”
If it hadn’t been Ruan Nian that day, but another Omega with compatible pheromones, would it have worked?
If a viable solution other than Ruan Nian could be found, would it work?
If using extreme means to create a perfect placebo to replace Ruan Nian, would that work?
If it is not Ruan Nian, is it possible?
No, it is not possible.
Even if it had started as a drive of physiological instinct, Mu Yan was now absolutely certain that the person could only be Ruan Nian.
Any other possibility, he did not wish to try.
Meeting was an accident, but the bait the Omega scattered was too tempting. The closer he got, the more he wanted to bite down harder.
He wanted to tear off his disguise and admire the brilliant starry sky in the youth’s eyes. He wanted to knock open his shell and taste the soft, flowing heart within the sticky rice.
Such thoughts had, unknowingly, already flooded in like a disaster. He handed the sickle of rationality to Ruan Nian, letting the vines of sensibility spread wildly.
The sound of a window being opened came from the distance.
Ruan Nian poked his head out from the room, waving in their direction as if urging them to come back quickly.
The warm yellow lights of the courtyard flickered slightly. The dark clouds above had dissipated, and the night of the capital planet quieted down again. A gust of wind blew, making the strangely shaped shrubs in the courtyard rustle.
Mu Yan finally recognized his own heart at this moment, becoming clear and calm again.
“You don’t need to rack your brains to be wary of me. I will not hurt him.”
“As for future matters, I cannot promise you anything.”
“I will hand over the initiative to him, letting him make his own choices.”
Mu Yan did not wait for Ruan Shi to react, turning around first and walking toward Ruan Nian.
The aura around his body completely subsided, his gaze deep, a trace of tenderness crossing his eyes.
Ruan Shi did not stay overnight at Mu Yan’s home. After returning from the courtyard, he drank a cup of hot tea and left in a hurry.
For some reason, Ruan Nian always felt his brother was troubled after returning from the courtyard, even forgetting to take the cookies Ruan Nian had baked.
As usual, Ruan Nian had baked some of Ruan Shi’s favorite caramel cookies before dinner, along with many other flavors. At home, Ruan Nian would divide the different flavored cookies into snack bags, carefully packaging them so Ruan Shi could take them to the office to share with the staff of the President’s Office.
But after taking the cookies out of the oven, Ruan Nian realized a problem.
Mu Yan’s house did not have snack bags.
Ruan Nian instinctively opened his optical computer and ordered new snack bags from a store he often frequented. He planned to put the baked cookies in a sealed container for now and divide them into bags to send to the Ruan family after the bags arrived tomorrow.
His fair, delicate fingers pressed the edges of the sealed container tightly. Just as Ruan Nian was about to put the box in the cabinet for now, his gaze swept over the unwashed whisk.
Come to think of it, he had used all the ingredients in the kitchen to make the snacks today. He had made so many cookies, but he was giving them all to his brother.
That seemed very impolite.
Ruan Nian hesitated for a while, finally sighed in resignation, put the box down, and returned to the refrigerator to select ingredients. The sweet scent began to permeate the house once again.
The next day, Ruan Nian got up early for a change.
He had painted for too long yesterday and baked many cookies in the evening, so today Ruan Nian felt as if his arms weren’t his own, feeling waves of soreness whenever he moved.
He decided to give himself a holiday today, stay home to read, and research the layout and design of the glass flower room.
He was rubbing his wrists as he walked to the top of the stairs, still feeling groggy and dazed, when he bumped into Mu Yan, who was preparing to go downstairs for breakfast.
The Alpha was wearing a black suit today, his matching tie knotted perfectly, silver cufflinks and tie clip reflecting a low-key light.
Mu Yan frowned when he saw him. “Is your hand still hurting?” He walked toward Ruan Nian as he said this, as if intending to grab his wrist and examine it himself.
The distance between them shortened rapidly, and the scent belonging to the Alpha rushed over. Ruan Nian, who hadn’t fully woken up, sobered up instantly, instinctively taking a small step back. “It is fine! I am not planning to paint today, I will be fine after resting for a day.”
Seeing the Omega’s instinctive reaction, Mu Yan paused. He did not approach him further, turning sideways and walking downstairs first.
“Come downstairs for breakfast.”
The Alpha’s voice was neither warm nor cold, yet Ruan Nian inexplicably felt Mu Yan was somewhat unhappy.
Hmm, are the moods of all CEOs this hard to fathom? Ruan Nian was a little puzzled. But Ruan Shi was also a CEO, and his moods were very easy to guess.
Breakfast today was Western-style toast and bacon. The toast was toasted fragrant and soft, paired with slightly charred fried eggs, which were very tempting. However, Mu Yan found the food tasteless.
The lack of the scent of sweet milk at the dining table made the Alpha feel the restlessness of his pheromones after a long absence. He suppressed his emotions and ate his breakfast quietly, although at a much faster pace than the previous two days.
When Ruan Shi came yesterday, he had brought Ruan Nian a bottle of pheromone isolation spray newly formulated by Tan Qiyu. Ruan Nian had tried it out this morning when he got up, and it seemed to be working well. His pheromones had been well-behaved while eating breakfast, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
After finishing breakfast, it was a little earlier than usual. Mu Yan had rested at home yesterday and had not gone to the company, so he was heading in early today to handle the documents that had piled up yesterday. He was just about to head out when Uncle Rong stopped him.
“Xiao Yan, don’t leave in a hurry. Come over and help pack the cookies.”
Cookies? Mu Yan was stunned for a moment before remembering that Ruan Nian had indeed baked a lot of cookies yesterday, clearly more than he could eat himself. Perhaps they were for Ruan Shi, Mu Yan thought without overthinking.
The transparent snack bags had been delivered early in the morning and were signed for by Uncle Rong, who had woken up early; they were now neatly placed on the table. Ruan Nian took two large sealed containers out of the cabinet, filled with cookies of different colors and various shapes.
Mu Yan began to doubt his own thinking. This quantity was simply too much. Did Ruan Shi eat that many by himself?
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, his eyes lighting up slightly, only to be quickly suppressed. He washed his hands casually and went to the dining table to help pack them.
Ruan Nian sorted the cookies by color and shape, then skillfully began to pick them out. Different colors represented different flavors; he took one of each color, tried to choose different shapes for each bag, and then ripped off the self-sealing adhesive strip, completing a cookie bag. He matched the colors perfectly, making the whole bag look exquisite and cute.
Compared to Ruan Nian, Mu Yan’s movements were much slower. He had never done anything like this before and appeared a bit clumsy at first. But he was very good at observing and learning, mimicking Ruan Nian’s movements, and his speed gradually picked up. With Uncle Rong, the three of them finished packing them all in no time.
There were still many empty snack bags left. Uncle Rong put the remaining bags back into the cabinet. Mu Yan turned to wash his hands by the sink and turned back to find the Omega putting the packed snack bags into a paper box, clearly intending to send them by express delivery.
Even though he had guessed it long ago, Mu Yan felt inexplicably dejected. He did not show it on his face, folding down his rolled-up sleeves while walking toward the entryway.
“Wait a moment!” the Omega called out to him suddenly.
Mu Yan turned around to find that Ruan Nian had pulled out a large paper bag from somewhere. There was about half of the packed cookies left on the table, which Ruan Nian put into the paper bag one by one.
Not wanting to delay Mu Yan’s time to go to work, Ruan Nian walked quickly toward him with the bag after finishing packing.
“I made a lot yesterday. If you don’t mind, you can take them to the company and share them with the others.”
The Omega looked up at him with a slight tilt of his head, his eyes curved like crescents.