He clicked in and finally understood—he was the villainous omega.
Scrolling down, he saw the trending topic had thousands of comments, almost all of them insults from Nuo Feng’s fans directed at Shen Que. After reading over a dozen in a row, Shen Que felt his heart pounding with anxiety.
He quickly opened the video app to watch the latest episode of A Beautiful Life.
It had been updated just last night at ten o’clock, yet there were already tens of thousands of bullet comments.
At first, the netizens’ comments about Shen Que were relatively normal, but as soon as the discussion turned to who they chose as the cashier, the tone shifted drastically.
Bullet comments:
【Is he implying that Nuo Feng can’t even do basic math?】
【Just trying to ride on the older brother’s popularity! Why does he have to contradict the older brother’s mousse idea~】
【This Shen Que even tried to flirt with Wen Rou! So scheming, Nuo Feng must be exhausted working with him~】
【Shen Que is so awful! He actually bullied the younger brother and knocked over the mousse sauce he worked so hard to make!】
【Don’t cry, Nuo Nuo! Nuo Nuo is so pitiful! Shen Que is despicable!】
【Someone save me, I suggest A Beautiful Life ban Shen Que from now on! Nuo Feng even begged him so humbly, and he still made it look so ugly! He must have done it on purpose to embarrass the younger brother!】
【He even stole money! Just to make the younger brother lose! He! Stole! Money!】
【I think instead of Shen Que, we should just call him “Mr. Shameless.”】
As for the other comments, they were even more vicious and unreasonable, even though the facts were nothing like that.
For the first time, Shen Que felt the weight of public opinion.
He called Dong Xiangyu back and spent a long time explaining that he hadn’t done any of those things—it was all a scheme orchestrated by Nuo Feng himself.
Dong Xiangyu asked calmly, “Are you going to explain it like that to Nuo Feng’s fans?”
Shen Que opened his mouth but said nothing. He knew exactly what kind of people a traffic star’s fans were. Once they decided their idol was innocent, no amount of explanation would change their minds.
“I knew this day would come when I found out Nuo Feng was a regular,” Dong Xiangyu said, sounding completely unfazed. “Besides, I was the one who arranged for you to be in the same group as Nuo Feng.”
“What?!”
“I told you, even negative publicity is still publicity. Your name is trending in several hot searches—that means we’ve achieved our goal.”
Shen Que was speechless, but he couldn’t accept having things he never did twisted and distorted by others.
Dong Xiangyu chuckled. “Don’t worry. If you want to do something about it, you could chat with Mr. Xuan during this time and mention this matter.”
Ask Mr. Xuan for help?
His manager wasn’t willing to clear his name. If he wanted to turn the tide, he could only rely on Mr. Xuan.
But would Mr. Xuan help?
Shen Que carried a cup of tea and knocked on the study door. Mr. Xuan was on a video call on his computer, speaking in German—a language Shen Que couldn’t understand at all.
Shen Que placed the tea on the edge of the desk. The moment he leaned closer to Mr. Xuan, he caught a faint but distinct scent of rich wine.
It was familiar.
Was it Nuo Feng’s pheromone?
Shen Que stiffened. Had Mr. Xuan gone to see Nuo Feng?
At that thought, the words he had planned to ask for help instantly died in his throat. Before Mr. Xuan even ended the call, Shen Que retreated from the study.
He ran into the butler, who was looking for him. “Mr. Shen, Dreamer is barking excitedly in the backyard. He probably misses you.”
Shen Que nodded absently. As the butler walked away, he hurried after him and asked in a low voice, “Did Mr. Xuan go out last night?”
As he asked, he didn’t know what answer he was hoping for from the butler.
The butler didn’t speak, only offered an apologetic smile before walking away.
The glaringly obvious answer was right in front of him.
After exhausting Shen Que to the point of unconsciousness, Mr. Xuan went to find Nuo Feng.
It was already past eleven, and even after five or six hours, the scent of pheromones on him remained so strong—it could only mean that the omega’s gland was in its most active state.
For example…
During a mating heat.
The thought that his alpha, who should have belonged to him last night, was now carrying the scent of another omega—even deeper and more intense than his own—made the omega tremble all over, tears welling up in his eyes.
This had nothing to do with emotions; it was purely a physiological possessiveness running wild.
Shen Que buried his head, hugged Little Potato tightly, and locked himself in the bedroom.
Sheng Xuanzhu didn’t stay with Nuo Feng for too long. Whether it was exhaustion or something else, the moment he caught the scent of Nuo Feng’s wine-like pheromones, his head began to ache unbearably. So, he only drew a vial of Nuo Feng’s pheromones before leaving.
As soon as he stepped through the door, Dreamer, in its usual excitable manner, rushed into his arms, snatched the vial of Nuo Feng’s pheromones from his pocket, and threw it to the ground.
Seeing the vial shatter, Dreamer seemed to have completed its mission, tiptoed back to its bed on its long legs, and resumed its nap.
Covered in pheromones, the alpha had no time to scold Dreamer before the overwhelming scent of wine made him gag—something that had never happened before.
He spent a long time in the shower, washing himself four times before finally cleansing away the unpleasant pheromones. With his senses cleared, he suddenly found himself longing for the floral scent from the previous night.
To distract himself, Sheng Xuanzhu skipped breakfast and locked himself in the study to work. After seeing the trending topics sent by Dong Xiangyu, he lost all interest in listening to the German executive drone on about dry data. Instead, he kept waiting for Shen Que to come find him.
But the wait dragged on until almost afternoon. Apart from silently bringing him tea when he entered the room, Shen Que never showed up again.
Realizing his thoughts had once again been hijacked by Shen Que, Sheng Xuanzhu cursed in frustration:
“Troublemaker.”
On the other end of the call, the German executive called out in confusion, “Mr. Xuan?”
Sheng Xuanzhu swiftly issued instructions in fluent German, hung up the call immediately, and went out to find Shen Que.
What a troublemaker indeed.