Chapter 8#
A Total Heartthrob#
Zhong Liyun didn’t agree outright—she only said Zhen Ye should wait, and they’d discuss the details in person that evening.
Three million.
That price was neither too high nor too low. In the past, Zhong Liyun would have definitely haggled, giving Zhen Ye a faceful of humiliation right to his face, letting him know he wasn’t worth that much.
But right now, the company needed emergency rescue, and Zhong Liyun had to grab hold of the Chen family’s lifeline no matter what—otherwise, if something happened to their household, her precious darling wouldn’t be able to marry the alpha of his dreams.
He Junhua turned from the mirror, a hint of shyness in his voice: “Mom, do you think I look good in this? When I meet Uncle Rong tonight, will he like it?”
Though the Rong family kept an iron-tight lid on all information, they’d still managed to glean a few of Rong Yu’s hobbies and preferences through Chen Kangshi’s connections.
He Junhua knew that Uncle Rong kept to himself, rarely appearing in public, but he had a particular fondness for the lotus root crisps at Yuelai Mountain Villa. Every month at around this time, he would personally make a trip there as a way to clear his mind.
This man was extremely restrained. Though he was a top-tier alpha, he was remarkably disciplined when it came to his desires—sexual desires and appetites alike.
He loved that particular delicacy, yet he wouldn’t allow himself to indulge. He only tasted it once a month, a light sampling and nothing more.
Completely unlike those crude alphas out there, with their insatiable appetites and unending greed.
What He Junhua adored was exactly this—his air of lofty detachment, his otherworldly, ethereal bearing.
He felt that he and Uncle Rong would surely have a great deal to talk about.
Zhong Liyun drew him over, smiling. “With looks as striking as our Junjun’s, how could anyone possibly not like you? Besides, your pheromones are the rare broad-spectrum type. With just one intimate encounter, 95% of alphas couldn’t resist you.”
A total heartthrob.
He Junhua looked worried. “But what if Uncle Rong happens to be in that 5%?”
“He won’t be.” Zhong Liyun tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Junhua, you remember this: all alphas are the same. When an omega is willing, is there any who wouldn’t open their mouth to eat?”
With that, she leaned in to whisper a few more instructions by her son’s ear, passing along some of her experience.
It made He Junhua’s face flush red, and he said bashfully, “Mom, don’t tease me. Uncle Rong and I won’t progress that fast.”
Zhong Liyun shook her head with a smile. Her son was perfect in every way, just too naive, too pure—like a blank sheet of paper untouched by color.
The sales assistant helped He Junhua out of his coat, then followed the usual routine of wrapping up the purchase and swiping the card.
Only, a small snag occurred during the transaction. The sales assistant tactfully reminded them, “Madam He, the mall’s network isn’t great today, and the bank is responding slowly—the payment won’t go through. Would you consider using an alternative payment method?”
Zhong Liyun’s expression shifted slightly, her red lips pressing together as she signaled her lifestyle secretary to produce another card.
Fortunately, this transaction went through smoothly, and Zhong Liyun’s brow relaxed once more.
By the time they left the mall, it was already dark. Zhong Liyun had been about to send the driver to pick up Zhen Ye. He Junhua, overhearing, suddenly spoke up on his own initiative:
“Why don’t I go pick up brother?”
He said with a smile, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Zhen Ye-ge. I wonder how he’s been.”
·
Zhen Ye’s phone nearly blew up with notifications.
He was originally supposed to go to his shift at the beverage shop in the afternoon, but it had been delayed because of Grandma’s situation. By the time he remembered, the cracked screen was dense with missed calls.
The screen wasn’t responding well, so Zhen Ye removed the notifications one by one, then called back.
Chen Jie, the senior staff member, picked up and immediately launched into a torrent of abuse.
“If you don’t want the job anymore, I’ll tell the store manager right now and have you fired!”
Zhen Ye took a deep breath. “Something came up at home. Can you tell the store manager I’m taking one day off?”
The voice on the other end got even more explosive: “How did you memorize the employee handbook? Leave requires three days’ notice—”
Zhen Ye hung up directly.
The shouting was making his heart race and his ears ache.
In the time it took to make the phone call, the rain grew heavier. The dark blue umbrella canopy buckled under the onslaught, its steel ribs snapping as the wind hammered it.
Zhen Ye looked up and forced the broken rib back into place. But then the canopy tore open, and rainwater streamed down along the frame, soaking his palm.
A strange, sharp pain.
Zhen Ye glanced at it by the blurry light of the bus-stop advertising board and saw that the wound on his palm from when the umbrella had cut him earlier was now inflamed.
Red and swollen around the edges.
He pressed on it, and along with the stinging pain, he inexplicably thought of that man from yesterday.
The one who’d brought out a first-aid kit, wanting to treat his wound.
What a shame…
He really should have asked for his number.
A faint curve tugged at the corner of Zhen Ye’s lips—whether self-mockery, or just a trace of regret over a brief encounter and something that never had the chance to happen.
There probably wouldn’t be another chance now.
But then again, you never knew.
Zhen Ye thought, with a somewhat devil-may-care attitude—he was going to have to marry a paralyzed old man anyway, so what was to stop him from sneaking around?
He had two reproductive cavities. He might as well fill one of them.
The next time he ran into that alpha, he’d just push his wheelchair away. Kidnap the guy, lock the door, tie up both his hands, put on a condom, and ride him for a good time.
Anyway, he probably wouldn’t be able to afford a sex doll in the future. A shriveled-up old man still looking for young omegas at that age must be seriously twisted mentally—he definitely wouldn’t allow Zhen Ye to satisfy himself out in the open.
So he’d just find an alpha to use as a replacement for Owen the doll. Blindfold him during the act, and once he’d had his fun, pull up his pants and run. If the guy called the cops on him, he’d turn himself in and not cause any trouble for society.
The idea was absurd and utterly ridiculous.
Whether he’d actually go through with it was another matter, but Zhen Ye lit a cigarette and stood by the roadside, slowly fleshing out his “criminal details.” The intense self-loathing of selling his body for money seemed to fade a little.
He needed to occupy his mind with random nonsense to distract himself.
Otherwise—
Zhen Ye calmly glanced at his fingers, which were shaking abnormally even as they held the cigarette.
His anxiety and depression were about to flare up again.
…
The sky grew darker, and pedestrians on the road gradually thinned out. Zhen Ye waited by the roadside for the driver for a while, but in the end, it was his younger brother He Junhua who showed up.
He Junhua was driving that pure-white Porsche 911. He lowered the window, invited him in, and called out sweetly:
“Zhen Ye-ge.”
Zhen Ye didn’t stand on ceremony and got straight into the passenger seat.
He’d been chilled to the bone standing in the cold wind, but now, sitting inside with the seat heating function, his frozen back gradually began to warm up.
Zhen Ye felt a bit better and closed his eyes, intending to doze off.
What he didn’t know was that as He Junhua started the car, he was stealing glances at him through the rearview mirror.
He Junhua had deliberately come to pick up his brother, indeed wanting to see how he was doing. But of course, the most important thing was to search for traces of a breakdown.
He still harbored resentment over Zhen Ye’s endless excuses and refusals to marry, which had landed their father in the hospital. But he wouldn’t say it directly, because he was actually a little afraid of his brother, and a little envious.
He envied that Zhen Ye was taller than him.
Taller in stature, higher in nose bridge, and even higher in grades.
Growing up in a family of that class, it was hard for He Junhua not to treat his brother as an imaginary rival. Even back when Zhen Ye hadn’t yet returned from abroad and He Junhua had just started liking Rong Yu, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts run wild.
He’d heard that the social atmosphere abroad was very loose and wild, and he was terrified that Zhen Ye would come back one day and steal his Uncle Rong away.
Just like in the TV dramas—a vicious omega second male lead, using underhanded methods to get close to her boyfriend. The poor, wronged boyfriend couldn’t defend himself and made his destined omega cry.
Many nights, He Junhua fell asleep in tears, trembling with fear like that.
Later, Zhen Ye really did come back. He was still adjusting to the jet lag and would often wander around the villa in the middle of the night.
Zhen Ye had mentioned something about his back hurting, which was why he was up and walking around, but He Junhua didn’t quite believe it. Because he could see his brother could run and jump just fine, and he thought it was just a story Zhen Ye had made up to win their father’s sympathy.
Once, He Junhua had gotten up from a nightmare to go to the bathroom, and he actually found Zhen Ye standing in the hallway at 3 AM, staring at his bedroom door without moving a muscle.
He Junhua had immediately screamed, utterly terrified.
In an instant, his mind flashed back to being taken to the hospital as a child, to the time he met Zhen Ye’s sick mother, when fourteen-year-old Zhen Ye had viciously beaten him up.
—That was the trauma and shadow of his entire life.
So He Junhua burst into tears, knocked on the door of the master bedroom, and threw himself onto his parents’ bed. His mother, of course, protected him fiercely. Thinking he’d been wronged, she angrily pushed his father and told him to deal with it.
“Old He, do something! What if he hits our son again?”
He Yusheng had been in a bad mood that night anyway. He grabbed a stick and went out to discipline Zhen Ye. He Junhua hid, panicking, under the soft down comforter, hearing something—or maybe hearing nothing at all.
Anyway, the next day, Zhen Ye moved out before dawn.
He Junhua didn’t know where his brother had gone, but ever since that day, he stopped having nightmares.
His mother had held him, rubbing his head, and said to his father with lingering fear:
“Good thing that wild son of yours left, or he would have driven our Junjun crazy too. Zhen Ye has a mental illness—he was diagnosed abroad. A ticking time bomb like that absolutely cannot stay in this house.”
Today was the first time He Junhua had seen Zhen Ye in all that time.
He still had some small reservations and grievances, but thinking that his brother was about to marry Grandpa Chen, he felt an inexplicable sense of relief, and his mood brightened considerably.
It was as if the stone that had been pressing down on his head for so long was about to be removed.
But He Junhua still cared about his brother—afraid that Zhen Ye would be wronged in marriage, he even asked specifically:
“Ge, do you have an alpha you like?”
Zhen Ye kept his eyes closed. “No.”
Good. If there was no one, then it didn’t matter who his brother married.
He Junhua suddenly thought of something and, face flushing slightly, clarified, “Oh, well, I’m different. I have someone I like.”
Zhen Ye opened his eyes, finding it inexplicable. Who He Junhua liked was none of his damn business.
They were waiting at a red light, and at that moment, brilliant white headlights blazed in the lane to their right—a Rolls-Royce Phantom swept through the torrential rain, emerging from the hazy mist.
He Junhua recognized the car instantly. His heart thumped wildly, and in his fluster, his hands slipped, wrenching the steering wheel—nearly sending them headfirst into a road barrier.
“Oh my god, speak of the devil…”
…Devil?
Zhen Ye looked out through the transparent window. The car opposite had privacy film, a sheet of impenetrable darkness.
He didn’t know that inside that invisible window, a pair of eyes with pitch-black corneas were contracting with inhuman ruby-red pupils, their gaze nailed to his pale, haggard face.
The two of them exchanged a look across the distance.
Zhen Ye couldn’t see the other party, so he turned his head back, resting it against the headrest again, closing his heavy eyelids.
The air conditioning seemed to be turned up too high; it was blowing on him with an unusual, prickling heat.
Inside the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the man’s gaze dropped. When he raised his eyes again, the murky black and red had completely faded, reverting to human-like whites of the eyes.
Rong Yu tapped his walking cane twice, then suddenly ordered in a low voice: “Follow that car beside us. Keep pace with it.”
As the head steward who could become the master of the Rong household, he naturally possessed exceptional driving skill. Rain flew diagonally, traffic surged, and the night-black vehicle kept steady formation with the Porsche the entire way.
Steward Du Rui kept his eyes lowered, minding his own business.
No one but him knew that Rong Yu had been gazing almost greedily at the young man’s sleeping face the whole way there.
·
The car drove for half an hour, winding upward with the mountain terrain. The sign for Yuelai Mountain Villa flashed past among the trees, and beyond it lay the villa’s private grounds—no entry without an advance reservation.
The Porsche, light on its feet, passed through the guard post first and pulled into the reserved courtyard.
The reason they’d chosen this place for Zhen Ye to meet the Chen family was precisely because it was sufficiently private.
Streams and small bridges complemented each other in a picturesque arrangement, and the night rain was punctuated by a few crisp bird calls. Looking up, however, one saw they weren’t mountain birds, but caged birds kept under the eaves.
A server led them over, and from a distance, they could see Zhong Liyun chatting and laughing with a middle-aged man.
As they drew near, He Junhua obediently called out, “Hello, Uncle.” Chen Kangshi smiled in acknowledgment first, then slowly let his gaze fall onto the omega beside him.
“So you’re Zhen Ye?”
“Yes.”
Zhen Ye. Chen Kangshi repeated the name in his mind. He sized up the omega—what a cold temperament. His features were striking and beautiful, but that nose bridge was a bit too high and straight, giving him a stubborn, arrogant air. Standing there, he carried a kind of solitary thorniness.
The kind that made a man like Chen Kangshi, seasoned through years of business battles, want to take a file to him, to smooth him down, to level him out.
“Zhen Ye, I’ll get straight to the point.”
Chen Kangshi gestured for him to sit, then slid a contract directly in front of him:
“These are the terms. Once you sign your name, one million will be transferred to your account immediately.”