A few seconds later, Chu Kai lowered his gaze, walked slowly over to the coffee table on the side, picked up the signature pen next to the document folder, bowed slightly, and signed the contract.
Taken aback by this sudden reversal in Chu Kai’s attitude, Lian Wuchang failed to react in time, while Yan Chi was so startled that he straightened his back, causing the two people in his arms to stumble apart.
Placing the contract and pen back on the coffee table, Chu Kai stared straight at Yan Chi in the inner seat and asked, “As an assistant, am I not allowed to go back to that variety show anymore?”
Without giving anyone room to answer, he continued, “I’ll find another job during those days, trading time for money. One million and five hundred thousand a year means over four thousand a day, I.”
“Who said you don’t have to go?” A low, murmuring question drew closer accompanied by steady, powerful footsteps.
With his hands shoved deep into his pockets, Yan Chi wore a V-neck silk shirt with the chest slightly unbuttoned and two retro ribbons at the collar fluttering and falling in rhythm. His lower half was fitted with asymmetrical lapel suit trousers with crisp creases, radiating a lazy yet unapproachable aristocrat’s arrogance.
“How long has it been since you came out of Luoshan Village? Haven’t you learned the rules of modern society yet?” A head of fluffy purplish-gray wolf-cut hair and a broad, sturdy frame completely blocked the light from Chu Kai’s eyes.
Darkness fell over Chu Kai’s vision, yet his heartbeat surged violently, climbing rapidly past his throat and pounding against his head as a wave of dizziness rushed over him.
Noticing the clear tremor in Chu Kai’s shoulders, a hard-to-read flash of complexity flickered deep within Yan Chi’s eyes.
Striding forward with his long, straight legs, Yan Chi sat down on the middle sofa, raised a hand, and called out, “Didn’t you say plenty of people wanted to come into our private room to hang out? Let them in, no need to call the waiter.”
He shifted the direction of his finger, tracing a half-arc in the air before finally locking onto Chu Kai. “You’ll serve them.”
Chu Kai snapped his head up, his gaze crashing into Yan Chi’s mocking yet triumphant smile.
Before he could offer a single word of rebuttal, Dong Ruifan had already pushed open the door and stepped out, while the man and woman in the inner seats quickly exited through another door.
“Damn it!” Dong Ruifan held his breath as he closed the door, bracing his hands against the wall and cursing under his breath.
Things were far more serious than he had imagined; Yan Chi had actually released Alpha pheromones out in the open.
No wonder he insisted on having an Alpha accompany him. If an Omega had been here, they would likely have gone into heat on the spot.
The people outside had already been cleared away after Chu Kai entered, leaving the hallway deserted. Dong Ruifan clutched his chest as he sank to the floor, his back soaked through with sweat, his expression a tangled mess of bewildered confusion and agonizing pain.
With trembling hands, he first messaged Lian Wuchang to light the pheromone-neutralizing aromatherapy in the private room, and instructed the Omegas waiting in other rooms to take suppressants and the Alphas to take pheromone-repelling relief capsules before coming over.
Then, pulling out a cigarette case, his thumb slipped twice against the lighter lid due to his violent shaking, failing to strike a flame.
Pressing his fingertips against the embossed metal casing, he tilted his head back for a deep breath, pushed the lid up again, and finally managed to light it.
Humiliated by the ordeal, Dong Ruifan vented his frustration: “Is Yan Chi out of his mind? Betas can’t even smell it.”
Only a top-tier Alpha like Yan Chi could make fruit-scented pheromones diffuse a potency rivaling musk.
Suppressing his pheromones to scare people normally was one thing, but the pheromones unconsciously released during his rutting period were actually this terrifying.
To an Omega’s nasal passages, Yan Chi’s pheromones smelled like the seductive, mouth-watering Goose Pear Tent Incense; to an Alpha’s nostrils, they smelled like a nauseating, fermented rotten-pear and iron-rust stench; but to a Beta, neither could be smelled at all.
Regaining his composure, Dong Ruifan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, stood up, straightened his clothes, and pushed the door open with a cigarette pinched between his fingers.
A cool breeze brought a refreshing chill. Lian Wuchang had already lit the aromatherapy and was standing nearby teaching Chu Kai how to use the karaoke machine.
As if nursing a stifled ball of anger, Yan Chi sat with his legs crossed, his hands loosely clasped together, his gaze locked firmly onto the two of them, his eyes occasionally drifting to follow Chu Kai’s uneasy movements.
The intensity of that stare sent chills down Lian Wuchang’s back. He hadn’t expected Chu Kai to accept his assistant status so quickly, nor had he expected him to completely ignore Yan Chi, walking straight over to him and timidly asking for help on how to operate the machine.
Dong Ruifan, who had also noticed the stare, walked over with a cigarette dangling from his lips and sat down beside Yan Chi.
Propping his head with one hand, he looked at Yan Chi with the assessing gaze of a stranger. “Young Master Yan, aren’t you in a bit too high of a mood today?”
Yan Chi didn’t even spare him a glance, instead raising his left index and middle fingers. “Smoke.”
“Smoke your head!” Dong Ruifan snapped upright, turning his head to gauge Yan Chi’s expression while deliberately lowering his voice to a level only the two of them could hear. “Yan, you’re making seductive eyes at a blind man. Can he even smell it?”
Shooting him a cold glare, Yan Chi reached out, pulled open the drawer, extracted a cigarette from the case, pinched it between his fingers, and said unhurriedly, “I don’t have a light, help me spark it.”
“Spark your head!” Dong Ruifan’s nostrils flared with rage. Not only did he refuse to light it, but he also aggressively stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette in his own hand.
“My head is your dad.” Yan Chi pulled the lighter out of Dong Ruifan’s breast pocket, his long finger joints executing an habitual push. With a click, the flame coaxed out the scent of nicotine.
“I. You know my dad is your head.”
Just as Dong Ruifan prepared to escalate the banter, the influx of people and the sudden clamor at the doorway caught his attention.
Putting away his irritated expression, he flashed a toothy grin. “You rarely come out to play, so I’ll let this pass.”
“Babe~” Dong Ruifan opened his arms wide, and a male Omega dressed in a tight crop top lunged straight into his embrace.
The people following behind also scrambled to find seats.
In an instant, the private room grew boisterously lively.
All sorts of hairstyles and hair colors, edgy outfits revealing daring patches of skin, and the flashing, uninhibited club lights made Chu Kai let out an involuntary sigh.
Though the seating was relatively spacious, a rough count revealed at least thirty people; he had only ever served that many back when he worked as a restaurant waiter.
By the end of a single meal, his entire body would feel like falling apart, let alone now when there was no telling how long they intended to party.
“Where’s the mic! Queue up some songs~”
“Pour the drinks!”
“Waiter, why is the fruit platter empty again?”
Barely half an hour had passed, and Chu Kai had already repeated the routine of queuing songs, opening and decanting wine, pouring drinks, cutting fruit, and clearing trash countless times, his head buzzing from the overlapping shouts.
“Coming.” Chu Kai temporarily used the bar counter as a prep station, finished cutting the fruit, carried the tray over, and served it. “Please enjoy.”
When he straightened up, a stabbing ache shot through his slightly bent lower back.
“Clatter. Clatter.” The dropped microphone rolled a few times before stopping near the edge of the sofa close to the floor.
“Waiter, pick it up.” Yan Chi’s voice was cold and merciless.
The microphone lay right by the feet of Yan Chi and the man beside him, well within reach for either of them to pick up.
Chu Kai looked toward the man sitting next to Yan Chi and asked politely, “Sir, could I trouble you to stand up for a moment?”
It was a trivial matter, so the man had no reason to make things difficult for Chu Kai.
Yet the moment he stood up, a sudden, deliberate kick shoved the microphone completely underneath the sofa right by Yan Chi’s feet, leaving only a tiny sliver of the handle visible at the base.
Dong Ruifan shook his head as he ate a cherry fed to him by an Omega, silently cursing in his heart, “Such a beast.”
“Mr. Dong.”
Cued unexpectedly while spectator-mode, Dong Ruifan blinked. “What is it?”
Chu Kai replied flatly, “You must have seen who kicked the microphone in. You can ask him to pay for it.”
Amidst the mutual flattery and sweet-talking filling the private room, Chu Kai had already caught Dong Ruifan’s name and deduced he was the owner of this establishment.
“Huh?” Dong Ruifan snapped his gaze toward Yan Chi, spat out a fruit pit, and forced a smile. “Small matter, no need to pay.”
“I told you to pick it up!” Yan Chi’s expression turned gloomy, plunging the private room into an instant, dead silence.
Every eye in the room turned toward them. Clenching his jaw tight, Chu Kai turned sideways, half-crouched down in front of the spot where the man had just been standing, and reached his hand into the gap beneath the sofa to fish for the microphone.