The middle-aged man turned around and instantly fell silent upon seeing the man standing before him. “B-Boss.”
Lu Qiwen didn’t spare him a single glance, instead curling a finger toward Song Yu. “Come here.”
Song Yu obediently followed behind him but couldn’t help pouting to the side, lowering his head to sneak a gleeful chuckle at the middle-aged man lying on the ground, groaning in pain.
The man clutched the spot where he had been kicked and struggled to his feet. As he watched the two head toward the elevator, though he felt a surge of resentment, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
After all, such a cushy job was hard to come by, you could break your head trying and still not get in.
Who would have thought this guy knew the boss?
And if he knew him, why keep such a low profile? Do rich people all have this quirk?
The man’s gaze toward Song Yu was filled with indignation.
“By the way.” Lu Qiwen suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Song Yu also halted immediately, looking at Lu Qiwen with confusion.
“Collect today’s wages and get lost.” Lu Qiwen turned slightly to glance at the middle-aged man frozen in place, his indifferent gaze tinged with a hint of malice.
Once inside the elevator, Song Yu stood with his back to Lu Qiwen, taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t be seen to quietly snicker.
Then, cautiously glancing back out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lu Qiwen leaning against the elevator railing, slightly bent over, his medium-length hair falling over his face, obscuring any expression.
“What’s that scent on you?”
“New body wash.” Song Yu reined in his amusement and was about to look away when he unexpectedly met Lu Qiwen’s raised eyes.
Before he could come up with an excuse, the elevator doors slid open. Song Yu’s gaze shifted unnaturally as he respectfully extended one hand outward, like a ceremonial model. “After you.”
Lu Qiwen stepped out of the elevator but gave Song Yu a meaningful look before leaving.
“Do you like this scent?”
“It’s… not bad.” Song Yu didn’t understand the implication behind the question but nodded sincerely.
However, upon hearing his response, the other man stiffened for a moment and quickly averted his gaze. “Weren’t you just talking tough in front of others earlier? What, you can’t do it here?”
“Letting others walk all over you.”
Song Yu forced a dry laugh. “Hahaha, no way, no way.”
“I’m just basking in Brother Lu’s glory.”
“Hmph.” Lu Qiwen looked Song Yu up and down, enunciating each word slowly:
“But I don’t recall ever becoming a… school bully.”
As the other man strode away, Song Yu raised his hand and slapped his mouth several times in frustration, muttering to himself, “You just had to run your mouth!”
“Run your mouth!”
“Now look what happened!”
Using someone else’s name to talk big and getting caught red-handed by the person himself, this was currently the most mortifying thing he had ever experienced, bar none.
Song Yu quietly took two steps back, hoping the school bully would be magnanimous.
Or at least not hit him in the face.
Seeing that the other man was almost out of sight, Song Yu hurried to catch up.
But he hadn’t expected Lu Qiwen to suddenly stop. Unable to brake in time, Song Yu crashed right into him.
“Ouch.” Song Yu covered his reddened nose, tears welling up involuntarily at the corners of his eyes. “Wh-Why did you stop so suddenly?”
Lu Qiwen swiftly entered a private room and slammed the door shut.
The loud noise startled Song Yu, leaving him stunned and bewildered.
What’s going on here?
Song Yu blinked, rubbed his nose, and gently knocked on the door. “Hey? Brother Lu.”
But there was no sound from inside the private room, as if no one was there at all.
Song Yu couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.
If he hadn’t just watched Lu Qiwen walk in, he would have thought he was seeing a ghost.
“Lu-”
Before he could finish, Lu Qiwen’s voice came from inside the room.
“It’s fine. Go back to school directly.”
Song Yu frowned. Why was this guy calling him up one moment and telling him to leave the next? Was he messing with him?
“Hurry up and go back!” Lu Qiwen practically shouted this sentence through gritted teeth.
The light in the private room fell on Lu Qiwen’s slightly pale face. He suddenly braced himself against the table, his knuckles turning white.
From outside the window came the mixed scents of other shops, yet they still couldn’t mask the gradually spiraling peach fragrance.
It was the scent of his own pheromones.
“Damn it.”
Lu Qiwen clenched his fists and slammed them hard on the table. A wave of heat surged from the gland at the back of his neck, spreading rapidly to his limbs and engulfing his entire body. His skin began to burn, every pore screaming for touch.
“Fuck.” How could Lu Qiwen not know what was happening?
The pheromone imbalance he had been suppressing had spiraled out of control, triggering a flare-up of his skin hunger.
Song Yu pressed his ear tightly against the door, hearing every movement Lu Qiwen made inside.
“Brother Lu, are you okay?”
Song Yu couldn’t just walk away after the guy had just helped him, leaving him alone inside without a care.
But after he asked, there was no response from inside, only silence so profound it made Song Yu uneasy.
“Brother Lu!”
“Brother Lu!!”
His voice grew louder each time, yet there was still no reply from inside.
Song Yu frowned, wanting to barge in, but then he remembered this was a main character in the plot, how could he possibly die?
He took a few steps away but couldn’t help glancing back at the private room, which remained utterly silent.
“System, do you think something might have happened to him?”
But the only reply was the system’s endless silence.
Since the original text provided too little information about Lu Qiwen, Song Yu could only roughly guess that this was Lu Qiwen’s own hidden ailment and the reason for his irritable temper.
But the guy had just helped him, given him so much food, and his dorm room was so comfortable.
At this thought, Song Yu stopped in his tracks, irritably raising a hand to ruffle his curly hair. “Shit!”
He definitely wasn’t worried about the guy dying, he just didn’t want to face retaliation later.
Right.
Song Yu took a deep breath and charged forward, slamming the door open.
Before he could step inside, a small mountain of used syringe tubes that had piled up inside rolled toward the doorway.
Song Yu’s gaze quickly locked onto Lu Qiwen, curled up in the corner with his head bowed, silent.
“Lu Qiwen!”
Only then did Lu Qiwen murmur in a low voice, “Get out…”
He practically forced the words out through gritted teeth. “Go downstairs. Find Jiang Yuanheng and seal off this area.”
Lu Qiwen’s chest heaved up and down. A scent very similar to his own pheromones, yet distinctly different, drifted into his nostrils. Every part of his body screamed to touch the source of the fragrance. It took all his remaining strength not to lunge forward.
Hearing no movement from Song Yu leaving, Lu Qiwen suddenly raised his head, his eyes already bloodshot. Where his hands clenched tightly, beads of blood even seeped out.
“Lu Qiwen! Are you okay!” Song Yu couldn’t think of anything else at that moment. Though his face had turned pale with fright, he still walked resolutely toward Lu Qiwen.
“I-I’ll call for an ambulance right now.”
The moment the other approached, the thread of reason in Lu Qiwen’s mind snapped.