Chapter 14

“And if I said yes, what would you do, President Li?”

Ying Zhiyu faced the morning mountain breeze and looked at Li Xi.

His intuition told him that Li Xi didn’t need to answer this question.

Because in the Alpha’s eyes, there was neither curiosity nor doubt.

So Li Xi stayed silent, letting Ying Zhiyu continue.

Ying Zhiyu looked at him for a moment and slowly smiled: “Just kidding. I can even sleep on the living room sofa at home; this place is much quieter.”

His joke referred to the idea that someone beside him would disturb his sleep—not to his IQ of 140+ and poor sleep habits.

But when Li Xi heard “living room,” he instinctively frowned.

He had full detailed information on Ying Zhiyu’s family. The Alpha’s two-bedroom apartment had no ensuite for the bedrooms, meaning anyone getting up at night would have to pass through the living room.

Even without sleep issues, no one could rest properly under those conditions.

Ying Zhiyu noticed it was strange.

After reincarnation, he had no intention of teasing Li Xi, yet he found himself increasingly enjoying seeing him frown.

Having stared long enough, Ying Zhiyu continued: “But I usually sleep in the dorm. My roommates don’t live at school, so I’m always alone.”

Besides, in his family’s situation, it was impossible for his sister, an Omega, to sleep in the living room.

They chatted on the terrace for a while; time flew and the day brightened.

In high society, etiquette mattered. There were still many things to attend to on the newlyweds’ second day. Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi didn’t consider going back to sleep.

The Li family had strict household rules.

This was one reason the younger generation—Li Qin, Li Lü, Li Xi—had been eager to move out of the family estate as soon as they reached adulthood.

Li Songqian’s routine was very disciplined: up at 6:30 a.m. for exercise, breakfast at 8:08 a.m. precisely.

To ensure they could have breakfast with the father-in-law on the second day of marriage, Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi went to the estate’s main dining hall before 8:00 a.m.

At the restaurant entrance, the butler, Zhou Shen, was already waiting inside.

Zhou Shen, a Beta, was the resident butler of the Li family’s central garden villa office.

Strictly speaking, Zhou Shen wasn’t just a “butler.”

He graduated from the École hôtelière de Lausanne, the world’s top-ranked hospitality school.

Since graduating at 23, he had worked for the Li family for over twenty years.

He now served as chief butler of the Li family’s office, overseeing all estate butlers, drivers, chefs, gardeners, and staff worldwide.

Because his direct supervisor was Li Songqian, his position in the family office was extremely special—almost equal to other department heads.

The capital was a permanent activity hub for the Lis, so the family had multiple large properties there with different resident butlers.

The butler at the half-mountain estate wasn’t normally Zhou Shen, but for the Omega third young master’s wedding, he had been temporarily assigned to manage the event personally.

It was still early. Li Xi introduced Ying Zhiyu to Zhou Shen.

Actually, Ying Zhiyu had already met Zhou Shen alone last night when the butler delivered his hangover snacks.

In his past life, Ying Zhiyu remembered Zhou Shen as a rigorously precise, almost robotic man. Li Xi already spoke little, but Zhou Shen could be chatty under certain circumstances—yet it always felt like talking to a machine.

After a brief introduction, the next Li family member to arrive was Li Lü.

When Li Lü entered the dining hall, his nostrils twitched slightly, and his lazy gaze instantly fixed meaningfully on the newlywed couple, Li Xi and Ying Zhiyu.

Ying Zhiyu knew what that look meant.

Zhou Shen was a Beta and couldn’t detect pheromones.

But Li Lü, as an Alpha, could not possibly miss them when passing nearby.

Since Ying Zhiyu had temporarily marked Li Xi last night, even a temporary Alpha mark lingered like territorial pheromones around the Omega.

Moreover, Li Xi had bitten him in a moment of passion.

Ying Zhiyu estimated his scent was unmistakable.

Li Lü had assumed his half-brother’s rushed marriage was just for smoothing the way into the board later that year.

Through his channels, he already knew an Alpha was involved before seeing Ying Zhiyu in the garden villa.

He assumed it would only be an arranged marriage.

The Omega was older, their age gap large, their backgrounds worlds apart. Li Lü didn’t think his high-minded, half-brother would choose such a green young Alpha.

And any young Alpha was naturally impulsive and energetic.

Not even informing their own parents about the wedding, Ying Zhiyu looked even less like someone who had willingly married into the family.

Yet…

Had they already completed a lifetime marking on their wedding night?

Li Lü’s gaze flicked back and forth between Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi as he slowly took a seat at the dining table. Just then, the Li family’s eldest daughter, Li Qin, accompanied by Li Songqian, also entered the dining hall.

Li Lü glanced across the table at his eldest sister.

Li Qin seemed oblivious, didn’t raise her eyes, and sat down directly.

Li Songqian, however, paused as he entered, scanning his third son and his new son-in-law—the young Alpha—with a complicated expression.

When the Li family’s youngest daughter, Li Yue, was the last to arrive, it was exactly 8:08 a.m.—breakfast started promptly.

In reality, the so-called “lifetime marking” was a misunderstanding.

On the second day of the honeymoon, the reason Ying Zhiyu still carried Li Xi’s pheromones was simply because during their private time on the sofa the night before, Li Xi had bitten him.

Of course, this was not something that could be explained openly.

Li Xi seemed completely unaware of the subtle tension in the breakfast hall. As Ying Zhiyu reached for a croissant from the bread basket, Li Xi casually adjusted his shirt cuff.

“Change Mr. Ying’s coffee to milk.”

When a servant was about to serve Ying Zhiyu his coffee, Li Xi suddenly spoke.

Ying Zhiyu, still chewing half a croissant, looked up instinctively to stop him.

“Coffee is fine.” At this point, table manners were the last thing on his mind. He swallowed the croissant and whispered, “Coffee keeps me awake.”

After all, they hadn’t slept even an hour combined last night.

Speaking, he leaned close to Li Xi’s ear; a gentle rush of air brushed across the Alpha’s ear, making Li Xi’s ear twitch uncontrollably. He quickly turned his head to avoid it.

Ying Zhiyu paid no mind, finishing his explanation and reaching for the coffee.

Li Xi, still awkward, kept his head turned away from Ying Zhiyu but still blocked him: “If you’re tired, sleep. Weren’t you on leave today?”

Ying Zhiyu: “….”

The poor doctoral student had only gotten two days off from his advisor, since he hadn’t publicly announced his marriage in his academic circle. One day had already been used for the wedding ceremony yesterday, leaving only today as his final day of leave.

And after just one night, there was still a huge stack of post-wedding matters to handle. Li Xi was telling him to sleep because he was tired?

Li Lü, sitting across the table, watched the newlyweds’ completely unreserved interactions with growing disbelief.

He increasingly suspected that something had gone wrong with his information channels.

The young Alpha’s cheeks puffed out as he struggled to swallow the food in his mouth, then leaned over to whisper into the third brother’s ear. Wasn’t this basically him babying his newly-wed Omega?

The third brother’s ears flushed red all the way to the tips.

Calling their marriage a forced transaction or a contractual deal—who would be blind enough to believe that?

When the servant came forward again to replace the fresh milk for Ying Zhiyu, Li Lü suddenly let out a laugh. “Didn’t expect to see the day when Third Brother fusses over his own Alpha like this. Even what his brother-in-law drinks in the morning has to be managed, huh?”

The sentence was phrased like praise, but the tone was pure mockery.

Li Xi pretended not to hear.

Ying Zhiyu accepted the milk from the servant, thanked him, took a sip, and before setting the cup down, smiled and added, “Don’t tease me, Second Brother. I’m still growing.”

At twenty-one, there were indeed a few Alphas whose growth plates closed late—they had a chance of getting a bit taller.

But for someone who already stood at 6’2″ (188 cm) to say that in front of Li Lü, who was eight years older…

Li Xi’s birth mother had been an international supermodel before marrying Li Songqian—top-tier looks and figure. As an Omega, Li Xi reaching 6’1″ (185 cm) came straight from that excellent genetic lottery.

Meanwhile Li Lü was only 6’0″ (183 cm)—shorter than his Omega younger brother.

So Ying Zhiyu saying he was “still growing” was basically hitting Li Lü right where it hurt.

Sure enough, Li Lü’s face stiffened.

He was about to snap back when Li Qin, seated beside him, put her fork down and gave him a cold glance. “Where exactly did your manners go?”

Li Qin, the eldest daughter of the Li family, was fifteen years older than Li Xi and seven years older than Li Lü.

Li Songqian had always been busy with work, and for a long period the family had no Omega matriarch. As the eldest sister, she had taken on that role. Li Lü was actually rather afraid of this Alpha sister.

So the moment she spoke, no matter how unwilling he felt, he shut his mouth.

For breakfast, Li Qin’s Omega spouse and their three children were also present.

Li Qin was forty-three. Her eldest son and second daughter were already adults, studying abroad, and still hadn’t differentiated—almost certainly Betas at this point.

Her youngest daughter was sixteen and also undifferentiated, highly likely another Beta.

Whether or not they were hoping to try again for an Alpha or Omega baby, Ying Zhiyu couldn’t help noticing Li Qin’s Omega spouse had a clearly rounded belly—already far along.

Male Omegas rarely had many masculine features.

Probably because, genetically, Omegas tended to love looking good, and on that front, female Omegas naturally had a big advantage.

Ying Zhiyu glanced across the table at the pregnant male Omega who already struggled just sitting down.

He suddenly found it hard to imagine—

If Li Xi were pregnant, what would he look like with a big belly?