Feng You settled Lu Yubai with Qin Youjiang and crouched in front of him, giving him a long list of instructions.
He repeated countless times that the child had to stay with Grandpa the entire time and not take a single step away until Mommy came back.
“Little Treasure, pinky promise with Mommy, okay? Promise Mommy you will wait nicely. Mommy is going out to level up and fight monsters, so wait for Mommy’s good news.”
Lu Yubai nodded obediently, extending his small hand to make a pinky promise with Feng You.
Feng You hooked his finger around the child’s, shaking their hands while reciting the rhyme:
“Pinky swear, hang by a thread, for a hundred years, no changes allowed.”
After also entrusting Qin Youjiang to look after him, Feng You set off alone for the high-end restaurant where he had been invited.
The dazzling and luxurious place made him feel as though just standing at the entrance and breathing the air would automatically incur a fine.
Everyone around him was dressed in sharp suits, making Feng You stand out even more. Dressed in simple clothes, consisting of a pair of sneakers, jeans, and a long-sleeve shirt, he stood right at the entrance of the restaurant.
“Brother Feng You!”
A familiar voice made Feng You turn around.
Mu Jingyi had arrived as well. The sixteen-year-old Alpha teenager had not yet lost his boyish innocence, but dressed in a well-ironed suit, he already carried the aura of a budding business elite.
“Let’s go, we’ll go in together.”
“Young Master Mu, why are you here?”
Feng You asked in surprise.
“Even if it is just for the sake of my old man, President Lu will still show me a veneer of politeness.”
“We are business mortal enemies, yet also business partners.”
Mu Jingyi did not act with the aloofness of a wealthy family background; his manners were polite and proper, yet filled with the approachable warmth of his age.
“Let’s go, I will lead you to the private dining room.”
Feng You clenched his fists, secretly cheering himself up.
He was terrified out of his mind. Even though he looked like a tall and burly tough guy when he put on a straight face, he was actually just a nineteen-year-old Omega teenager.
He had never had the chance to witness this kind of scene and was far from as calm as Mu Jingyi.
The only encouragement left in his heart was little Lu Yubai; this was the sole purpose he had come here for.
As soon as they stepped inside, Lu Zhengming, Lu Yubai’s father, sat at the head of the table with a blank expression, the deep wrinkles on his face already bearing the look of a middle-aged man.
He had recently been blessed with a son some time ago, and the media scrambled to report that the older president had fathered a child late in life, finally giving the Lu Group an heir.
Standing tightly on both sides of Lu Zhengming were several burly, muscular Beta bodyguards wearing specialized dark sunglasses, dropping the atmosphere to freezing point.
With his hands behind his back and teeth gritted tight, Feng You managed to suppress his inner tension.
He felt the atmosphere was bizarre to the extreme; it did not feel like they were here for a meal and a chat, but rather to pick a fight.
Who on earth invites people out for a meal and brings a whole row of bodyguards?
“Sit.”
The male Alpha sitting at the head of the table spoke.
Mu Jingyi walked over to greet Father Lu and quietly patted Feng You’s back, offering him a bit of encouragement.
“Since this is a family banquet for private matters, would you two please place your phones here?”
Father Lu raised a hand to have a bodyguard bring over a basket, watching closely as they put their phones down.
He could not allow any risk of his scandals being exposed, nor would he give them a chance to record the conversation.
The two placed their phones down and sat diagonally across from each other.
Mu Jingyi smiled awkwardly, touched his ear, and forcefully tried to liven up the atmosphere.
“Uncle Lu really is being a stranger.”
“Just in case.”
Father Lu said expressionlessly.
Feng You glanced at Father Lu, his annoyance soaring straight to the peak.
He could not stand Lu Zhengming treating Lu Yubai like a stain on his life when the little kid was clearly this man’s biological son as well.
Father Lu, the Omega father who gave birth to Lu Yubai, and the Omega in a political marriage with Father Lu, anyone among this group was at fault, and only Lu Yubai was innocent.
“Let’s cut straight to the point. I came to ask about what happened to Yubai before he turned two.”
Without even the slightest interest in touching his chopsticks, Feng You went straight to the point.
Father Lu, on the other hand, picked up his chopsticks and leisurely picked at the already meager portions of food.
“Try some. You might not ever get another chance in your lifetime to eat at a restaurant like this.”
Ignoring him, Feng You pressed on: “Please tell me what happened to Yubai before he was two years old.”
Father Lu put down his chopsticks, a look of displeasure crossing his face.
Pointing at Feng You’s golden retriever ears, he spoke in a calm and steady voice: “You are of the canine family, so do you know how humans train dogs?”
Feng You frowned slightly, staring straight at him.
“Dogs have no intelligence. The smartest Border Collie has the mental age of only a six-year-old child.”
“How do humans train a dog? If it makes a fuss and barks, you beat and scold it. Even without intelligence, it will instinctively develop a fear of shouting.”
Resting his chin on one hand, Father Lu flashed a faint smile.
“Feng You, do you like quiet dogs?”
Businessmen liked to speak in winding, obscure circles as if telling an irrelevant story, yet invisibly conveying the exact meaning behind the words.
Feng You immediately understood. Faced with a child who only operated on physiological instincts, the method Lu Zhengming used was pure violence.
He had bound fear to the instinct of speaking.
Qin Xiaotang had also mentioned that back then, Lu Yubai would cry at first, and later became overly quiet.
Watching Father Lu’s unconcerned, arrogant attitude, Feng You slammed his hand down and stood right up.
“Lu Zhengming! He is your biological son!”
Several bodyguards stepped forward to block Lu Zhengming, shielding him tightly.
“Don’t get excited. Young people just have hot tempers; drink a cup of chrysanthemum tea to cool down.”
Father Lu had someone pour a cup of tea for Feng You, holding the teacup in one hand with an icy gaze.
“I wish to heaven he were dead. An illegitimate child is like a sword hanging right above my head, ready to drop on me at any time.”
“That bitch did not take the contraceptives prepared by the housekeeper like everyone else did, and actually went behind my back to give birth to this child.”
“If it were not for my kind-hearted love rambling on about a conscience or believing in some nonsense ghost-baby, there would not even be a person named Lu Yubai left in this world.”
“You! You are utterly unreasonable!”
Feng You rebuked loudly.
“This is a society ruled by law! No matter how young he is, once he is born, he is protected!”
“What you did is murder!”
“As someone who came out of an Omega Fusion Factory, how is it that you believe in those four words?”
The private room plunged into a dead silence.
Feng You did not want to stay with Father Lu for even another second; sharing the same air with this man was making him unbearably sick.
He had already gotten his answers. Once he reported them to Dr. Du Shiwei, they could properly plan a more targeted treatment.
“Give me my phone. I am leaving.”
“Not staying for a bite to eat before you go?”
Lu Zhengming smiled easily.
Feng You picked up his phone and glared at him.
“Talking to you makes me sick.”
“As long as you do not interfere with our lives, that sword hanging over my head will not fall. But if you dare to do anything to him, I will do anything.”
“Is that so? How intriguing.”
Unfazed, Lu Zhengming blew away the foam on his teacup and said with a smile.
Looking right at him, Feng You said word by word:
“Whether it is doubting a Golden Retriever’s capability or doubting Mommy’s determination to protect her child, neither is a wise choice.”
As if he had just heard a colossal joke, Lu Zhengming burst into laughter.
“What? Are you his mother now?”
“I am now. Got a problem with that?”
He had been all along.
Feng You did not smile. His unwavering gaze met Lu Zhengming’s sarcasm head-on, staring the man down until his smile faltered and he gave an awkward, soft cough.
The other party had not expected a hot-blooded young man to keep his cool like this. Even though his pockets were practically empty, his words were neither humble nor overbearing.
Instead of gaining the upper hand over Feng You through his wealth, he had lost his momentum, exposed to someone staring right through his dark malice.
At that moment, Lu Zhengming felt as though Feng You was looking down on him with the contempt one reserves for a rat in a sewer, and no one had ever dared to treat him that way before.
Lu Zhengming wanted to fly into a rage from embarrassment, but he lacked any excuse to retort.
Seeing that Father Lu had lost, his evasive and erratic gaze darting around as he awkwardly forced himself to drink tea to cover up his disarray, Feng You could not be bothered to waste any more words with him. He picked up his phone and left.
The door was slammed shut heavily by Feng You, causing the floor to shake.
A bodyguard stepped forward first, bowing slightly and saying respectfully:
“Are we just going to let him walk away like that?”
With his anger still unassuaged, Lu Zhengming toyed with a small bottle of medicine on the table and said through gritted teeth:
“He will be back soon. Why don’t you count down from ten?”