Having calmed down, Lou Qingshuang sat on the windowsill, letting the cold wind blow over her. Lou Qingshuang wasn’t stupid, she could see through Liu Yu’s tactics now.
Liu Yu wanted to use subtle ways to get her accustomed to her presence, bit by bit, until she was eventually captured by her charm. Liu Yu knew all too well where her own advantages lay, just as she knew Lou Qingshuang’s personality inside out.
Lou Qingshuang rested her hand against her temple, leaning languidly against the window frame. She liked this spot, it was a place where she could relax and gather her thoughts.
Looking outside, she watched the fine rain falling in light, fluttering veils, rustling softly against the leaves. Lou Qingshuang sighed. She hadn’t even fully walked away from Shen Yue yet, and Liu Yu was already forcefully stepping into her life.
This ill-fated connection really is impossible to sever or untangle.
As Lou Qingshuang lay there thinking on the windowsill, she eventually drifted off to sleep.
Early the next morning, she ran into Liu Yu again upon waking up. Looking at Liu Yu, who was back in her usual refined attire. Lou Qingshuang felt a twinge of awkwardness inside, recalling the kiss they shared yesterday while she was fully conscious.
Liu Yu, on the other hand, appeared quite spirited. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” Lou Qingshuang nodded.
After the past few days, Lou Qingshuang had already grown accustomed to the four bodyguards standing like door gods in the elevator.
Driving behind Liu Yu’s car on the way to work, Lou Qingshuang thought to herself how unusually quiet Liu Yu was today. She had only spoken a single word and hadn’t opened her mouth since.
Inside her car, however, Liu Yu’s face was etched with fatigue the moment she sat down. Her heat period was approaching; every time before it arrived, she felt utterly exhausted, enduring both mental and physical torment.
“Chairman, do you need to take tomorrow off to rest?” Zhu Yan asked softly, noticing Liu Yu’s pale complexion.
“No need, it’s not time yet. Though it might come early this time… I’ll rest once the heat actually starts,” Liu Yu said, closing her eyes.
Liu Yu thought of Lou Qingshuang. Their pheromones were remarkably compatible, though she didn’t know what rank Lou Qingshuang’s pheromones were.
High-grade Alphas needed equally high-grade partners so their pheromones could match, providing enough relief to ease each other’s distress during these times.
This secondary differentiation was both a torment and a gift.
Half a month later, on a certain morning, Lou Qingshuang opened her door and was somewhat surprised not to see Liu Yu.
She checked around the doorway, waiting for a minute, but when Liu Yu didn’t show up, she had no choice but to leave. Looking at her phone, Lou Qingshuang felt an unfamiliar sensation, she wasn’t used to no one waiting to commute with her.
“Strange… is she not going to work today?” Lou Qingshuang stood in front of the elevator doors. After waiting a bit longer, Liu Yu still hadn’t come out.
Recalling their elevator ride yesterday, Lou Qingshuang didn’t remember Liu Yu mentioning any business trips. Previously, Liu Yu would always inform her whenever something came up, regardless of whether she cared or not.
With her hands tucked into the pockets of her trench coat, her long wavy hair cascading over her shoulders, and her lips painted with lipstick, Lou Qingshuang’s glamorous face carried a thoughtful look, though her complexion didn’t look very good.
Meanwhile, Zhu Rui, who had taken a massive stash of photos of Lou Qingshuang, suddenly had them published online.
Instantly, a storm erupted across the internet claiming Lou Qingshuang was being kept as a mistress. The posts specifically highlighted and compared her original car with Liu Yu’s vehicle, causing Wanshuang’s reputation to plummet overnight.
Groups of netizens began breaking down how Wanshuang was able to rise up and go toe-to-toe with Lan Dai.
Gossip hungry internet users woke up and eagerly devoured the drama.
Lou Qingshuang and Bai Wan trembled with rage as they read the news.
Even Shen Yue sent a message demanding an explanation.
[Were all those times you went out to entertain clients before because of her?]
Looking at the email from Shen Yue, Lou Qingshuang pressed her lips tightly together, her eyes rimmed with red. She fired back a furious response.
[Shen Yue, I am not as despicable as you.]
Lou Qingshuang had originally wanted to preserve a tiny shred of fond memories for that past relationship or at least not leave herself feeling utterly disgusted by it. She never expected such an incident to explode online right before they went to court.
The headlines she never wanted to make had ultimately been claimed anyway.
Yet what was even more unexpected was that the moment the trending topic reached the top, it was instantly wiped clean across the entire network. Nothing was left behind, leaving the internet completely spotless, as if the chaos from moments ago had merely been a collective hallucination. Netizens everywhere began asking:
[Was that just my imagination?]
“Boss Liu took action,” Bai Wan said excitedly.
Qin Nan, listening to the unfamiliar name mentioned by the two, asked out of curiosity, “Who is Boss Liu?”
“Unspeakable,” Bai Wan replied quickly, making an ‘X’ gesture over her lips.
This only stoked Qin Nan’s curiosity further. However, taking one look at the expressions on Bai Wan and Lou Qingshuang’s faces, she wisely refrained from probing any further. Since the matter had been settled, Qin Nan could now head back to attend to her own business.
Who would have thought a small cosmetics company could be put through such a brutal ordeal?
Qin Nan stroked her face, feeling as though she herself had aged from exhaustion during this period. “President Bai, President Lou, I’ll head back first then. If any other issues arise, we can discuss them further. Right now, the best approach is simply not to respond.”
Once Bai Wan saw Qin Nan out, she locked the office door. “Shuangshuang, it’s time for us to strike back. Lan Dai isn’t acting human, and Shen Yue wants to play the dog, so let’s beat these shameless creatures to death.”
“Alright,” Lou Qingshuang agreed with a cold expression. She hadn’t wanted things to turn out like this, she had hoped to put a less tragic end to that past relationship. But in the end, it had still devolved into a complete mess.
Her good intentions had been fed to the dogs.
The moment Zhu Yan saw the trending topic, she immediately had it taken down while closely monitoring online sentiment.
As for the mastermind behind the leak, Zhu Yan had already assigned people to investigate.
Under no circumstances could they allow Liu Yu to be bothered, especially during this time when she wasn’t feeling well.
Dressed in a nightgown, Liu Yu lay at home as an overwhelming scent of rose pheromones swept through the entire room. Her brows were tightly knit, her body drenched in sweat, this heat cycle was proving to be far more agonizing than usual.
As an S-rank Alpha who had used far too many pheromone suppressants and blocking shots, Liu Yu’s glands had developed resistance to the medication.
Normally, someone her age would have had a partner or spouse by now, but Liu Yu was the sole exception.
This was because she refused to hand her emotions over to mere pheromones; she wanted to fall in love with someone while in full possession of her rationality.
Moreover, she didn’t trust people, especially those who deliberately appeared right before her eyes.
Liu Yu had fought her way through a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, the internal struggles within the Liu family and external power plays had stripped her of both trust and interest in humanity.
Lou Qingshuang was the sole person to appear recently who managed to spark a bit of interest in her. Though even Liu Yu herself didn’t know how long that interest would last.
“Liu Yu, how are you holding up? Do you need me to come over and check on you?” Liu Yu’s good friend called her.
“Huu… I’m fine. I just need to rest properly for a while,” Liu Yu said, leaning back on the sofa to reveal her exquisite neck, which was glistening with sweat.
“Didn’t you find a little Omega? Have her come over to help you,” Shang Qing suggested.
Liu Yu opened her eyes slightly, staring up at the ceiling. “How do you know about that?”
“You two were both on the trending searches today! The whole internet is guessing who this mysterious boss behind the scenes actually is. Luckily, whoever posted it had some restraint and didn’t display the license plate,” Shang Qing said in a clear, gentle voice, offering Liu Yu a subtle warning.
She was reminding Liu Yu to be mindful of someone pulling strings in the shadows.
“Looks like the search has been pulled down already, otherwise Zhu Yan would have called me back by now. I’m going to rest, let’s hang up,” Liu Yu said. No matter how agonizing the pain was, she maintained control over her sanity, refusing to let desire cloud her mind.
As for Shang Qing’s suggestion to ask Lou Qingshuang for help, it wasn’t that Liu Yu didn’t want to. It was just that her relationship with Lou Qingshuang hadn’t advanced to that stage yet. Making a rash request would surely result in rejection, which would be far too embarrassing. Liu Yu refused to let anyone witness her in a state of vulnerability.
Having prepared at the company to completely burn bridges with Shen Yue, Lou Qingshuang went the entire day without seeing anyone mention the trending story again.
It was as if all the major influencers on the internet had been collectively muted; no one was even bringing up the plagiarism scandal anymore.
Lou Qingshuang scrolled through the feeds one by one. She couldn’t publish the video of Shen Yue stealing the files just yet, doing so would draw everyone’s attention right back and make the situation even more complicated.
She and Bai Wan had already reported it to the police, formally opening a case under the charge of a commercial spy stealing the company’s core formula.
Dragging her exhausted body back home, Lou Qingshuang arrived at the elevator entrance only to realize Liu Yu wasn’t there this evening either.
Standing outside her front door, Lou Qingshuang hesitated before thinking, I should still go thank her.
Even though the trouble had originally stemmed from Liu Yu’s presence, Liu Yu was also the one who resolved it in the end.
At the very least, Lan Dai was currently as quiet as a mouse.
Inside, having just endured her first wave of heat, Liu Yu heard the doorbell ring. Swaying unsteadily, she stood up and walked toward the door, covered in sweat.
At this hour, the only person who would knock was Lou Qingshuang.
Liu Yu dragged her heavy body and pulled open the door. The moment Lou Qingshuang looked at her, she saw Liu Yu drenched in sweat, breathing heavily and rapidly, looking as though she was on the verge of collapsing. Having gone so long without experiencing a heat period herself, Lou Qingshuang didn’t realize right away that Liu Yu’s heat had arrived. She asked softly, “Are you sick?”
A dense, overpowering scent of roses rushed straight into Lou Qingshuang’s senses. She couldn’t help but complain internally: Why is this person wearing so much perfume when she’s sick?
The moment Liu Yu saw Lou Qingshuang, her keen senses immediately caught her scent. “Not sick… just can’t stand steadily.”
Liu Yu intentionally let her body sway. Coupled with the fact that she was already completely drained from resisting the heat wave, the sway looked entirely genuine, as if she were truly about to fall over. Lou Qingshuang quickly took two steps forward to support her, and Liu Yu seized the momentum to tumble straight into Lou Qingshuang’s embrace.
Holding her up with considerable effort, Lou Qingshuang asked anxiously, “Are you alright?!”
Liu Yu buried her face against Lou Qingshuang’s shoulder, holding her tightly while reaching back to shut the door behind them.
Hearing the loud thud of the door closing, Lou Qingshuang’s heart skipped a beat. She wanted to pull back slightly, but Liu Yu held her firmly.
“It hurts…” Liu Yu whimpered against Lou Qingshuang’s ear, her voice soft and delicate as she showed her vulnerability.
Lou Qingshuang froze in place, holding her. Breathing in the overwhelming surge of pheromones around them, no matter how oblivious she was, she finally realized what was happening.
“Is your heat period here?”