The Ying family no longer had close relatives in their hometown.
Ying Zhiyu’s mother had few remaining family ties, mainly concerned about whether her daughters who married out—especially Omegas—sent money home.
On his father’s side, Ying Zhiyu’s grandparents were largely gone. His grandfather, afflicted with dementia in later years, had passed many years ago, and his grandmother died last year.
So this year, the Ying family stayed in the capital for the New Year.
Because his parents ran a breakfast business, their routines naturally involved going to bed early, making the Ying family’s New Year’s Eve meal different from most—it was more like a “New Year’s lunch.”
On New Year’s Eve, Ying Zhiyu brought Li Xi home for lunch.
They had agreed in advance to keep Li Xi’s pregnancy a secret for the moment. After all, they had only recently announced their marriage, and now announcing a pregnancy so soon could make the family suspect they had “jumped the gun.”
After finishing lunch at the Ying residence, Li Xi then led Ying Zhiyu to the Li family to attend the real New Year’s Eve dinner.
This year, the Li family held their New Year’s Eve feast at their mid-mountain estate in the capital.
The dinner was lavish, and naturally, fine wine was in no short supply.
At the dinner table, the first toast naturally came from the family patriarch, Li Songqian.
All the Li family heirs and their descendants—Li Qin, Li Lu, Li Yue, and Li Qin’s three children—stood to raise their glasses, except for the youngest son still in his cradle. Even the sixteen-year-old youngest daughter, Li Zhiyin, lifted her glass.
Yet in this setting, Li Xi and his Alpha, Ying Zhiyu, chose to substitute juice for wine.
Li Lv raised an eyebrow. “Third Brother, why are you drinking juice?”
Thanks to Li Xi’s consistent “protective Alpha” image, Ying Zhiyu’s inability to hold his liquor had already been widely recognized since their wedding banquet and even at the last LI Group annual meeting.
So at this point, Li Lu didn’t even bother asking further—he simply let it go.
Li Xi remained expressionless. “We’re preparing for pregnancy.”
The matter of the third young master and his little Alpha preparing for a child wasn’t a secret; Li Xi’s explanation was reasonable.
Still, Li Lu persisted. “It’s New Year’s Eve tonight. Just one drink at a family dinner, the alcohol’s pretty light. Third Brother, you can handle it, right?”
Li Xi didn’t respond, simply lifting his glass of juice for the first toast of the evening.
Li Songqian glanced at his second son, then set his cup down and subtly observed his third.
He wasn’t concerned whether the younger generation drank this pre-meal toast or not.
But Li Lu’s insistence made him suspicious. Could it be that the third son…?
Li Xi noticed his father’s almost imperceptible glances across the table but remained composed. He ate and drank normally, drinking juice without hesitation.
Li Yue sat to Li Xi’s left.
After the second toast led by the Li family’s eldest daughter, Li Qin, Li Yue leaned toward her brother and asked, “Bro, aren’t you having even a little? Tonight’s Petrus is really good.”
The accompanying wine for tonight’s Li family feast was a 2000 Petrus, handled throughout by a professional sommelier team and carefully decanted—a shame not to taste it.
Li Xi glanced at his sister.
Li Yue casually urged, “Just one glass. It’s rare to have such good wine.”
Li Xi still said nothing.
The young Alpha to his right, Ying Zhiyu, shrugged and raised his own glass. “Such good wine makes me crave a taste. Why not try?”
Li Xi, unable to resist his Alpha’s persistent coaxing, finally raised his glass.
Throughout the process, both maintained a natural demeanor, showing no sign of discomfort.
It seemed flawless.
Once Li Xi and Ying Zhiyu drank, the attention of the room shifted elsewhere, and the dinner continued.
No one noticed the barely perceptible glance Li Yue exchanged with her brother after he “drank.”
In truth, this had been prearranged between Li Xi and Li Yue.
In such a setting, if Li Xi refused the wine, any reason given would likely spark suspicion of pregnancy.
Better to “drink” for show.
Before the meal, Li Yue had arranged with the butler, Zhou Shen, to prepare a convincingly realistic non-alcoholic cocktail for her brother.
At the long distance between seats at the Li family table, no one would know Li Xi’s cup contained juice rather than wine.
The first toast without alcohol was planned to signal “preparing for pregnancy,” preventing questions about drinking in the future.
The second toast, where Li Yue encouraged him to drink, was meant to dispel suspicion.
Li Xi’s pregnancy was less than a month along, with no early symptoms, making it easy for him to eat and drink normally without acting.
After dinner, the Li family dispersed for various activities.
Ying Zhiyu joined Li Zhiyin, the youngest daughter of Li Qin, in playing games. This time, to avoid ignoring the Omega, Li Xi also participated.
Li Lv stood on the third-floor staircase railing, enthusiastically asking, “Guess if Third Brother is pregnant or not? He’s been visiting the hospital a lot lately.”
Li Qin, looking out the corridor window instead of at the gaming trio below, said only seven words: “Don’t lay a hand on the kids.”
Though calm in tone, the warning was clear.
Li Lv raised his shoulders innocently. “I’m not laying a hand on them. Just caring for my brother, that’s all.”
Li Qin ignored this insincere remark.
After a pause, she asked, “What about that underground garage incident—was that related to you?”
Li Lv hesitated for half a second before asking back, “What underground garage?”
Li Qin turned to him, eyes calm.
Li Lv: “….”
After a while, he reluctantly answered, “Not me.”
He wouldn’t lie to Li Qin, but the delay in his answer was telling.
Li Qin furrowed her brows, suddenly realizing a possibility: “It’s…”
Li Lv smirked slightly. “Someone always values your inheritance more than you do.”
Although all heirs of the Li family, Li Qin and Li Lu’s situation differed from that of Li Xi and Li Yue.
Li Qin and Li Lu’s Omega mother, Wen Xinrui, had divorced Li Songqian, but the Wen family still resided in the capital. Their clan would naturally have vested interests in ensuring Li Qin and Li Lu inherited LI Group.
After speaking, Li Lu looked down at the gaming group in the living room on the first floor.
He chuckled ambiguously. “This Alpha underestimated him. Didn’t scare him at all, huh?”
After pregnancy, an Omega’s need for Alpha pheromones surges.
At night, Li Xi began engaging in nesting behaviors, and the central “food” of this nest naturally came from his Alpha source—Comrade Ying Zhiyu.
Since it wasn’t convenient to engage in any bedtime activities, they could only talk under the covers.
Having already been honest about their feelings for each other, Ying Zhiyu didn’t hide his suspicions about the previous underground garage attack.
Coincidentally, their school laboratory’s current AO differentiation research hadn’t yet reached the level Ying Zhiyu had attained before his previous death.
So he had no concerns about sharing it with Li Xi; it wasn’t a matter of leaking secrets.
Ying Zhiyu said, “Suppose in this world there were initially only two sexes, Alpha and Omega, and AO pairings only ever produced AO offspring. The existence of Betas would then actually be an accident caused by a lack of pheromones during gestation.”
The origin of the ABO world has always been a mystery.
Biological research confirms that producing AO offspring requires AO parents. If either parent is Beta, the child will inevitably be Beta.
Based on this premise, Ying Zhiyu continued, “As time passed, the accidental emergence of pheromone-less Betas grew in number, and the original ‘AO’ world eventually evolved into the ABO world.”
The idea of ABO origins had been proposed before, but earlier theories were vague about why Betas appeared, attributing it only to genetic mutation.
Yet in Ying Zhiyu’s explanation, he clearly stated that Betas arise from “a lack of pheromones during gestation.”
Li Xi acknowledged this but added, “Even when pheromones are sufficient, it’s still possible for AO parents to conceive a Beta child.”
Ying Zhiyu nodded and explained, “My preliminary hypothesis is that Betas result from underdeveloped reproductive glands caused by insufficient pheromone supply in the maternal reproductive tract.
“And the amount of pheromones the fetus receives isn’t simply how much the mother absorbs; there’s a conversion rate involved.”
Delving further would lead into Ying Zhiyu’s current research on maternal reproductive tract “sense of security,” but since this was still unproven, he didn’t elaborate, steering the conversation back to the formation of ABO society.
“Now Betas are the largest gender group in our society, and their proportion continues to rise rapidly.”
Yet the largest group is suppressed across industries by Alphas and Omegas, many viewing this as a form of “genetic oppression.”
After laying the groundwork, Ying Zhiyu finally shared his speculation:
“If an extreme Beta group learned of AO differentiation research, would their first thought be about their own and their descendants’ future?”
AO differentiation research doesn’t only target AO pairings.
For society’s gender ratio to stabilize ideally, it wouldn’t just allow AO pairs to produce AO children; in the future, AB, BO, or even BB pairings should also have a chance of producing AO.
The outside world wouldn’t know these details—they’d simply think:
“If AO differentiation rates increase, will current Betas be genetically suppressed for generations to come?”
Li Xi immediately understood, frowning at the young Alpha.
“You suspect someone deliberately leaked this research to provoke extreme Beta sensitivities?”
Ying Zhiyu’s thought process was exactly that, though he stated it cautiously:
“It’s a possibility that can’t be ruled out.”
Li Xi paused, then said, “Actually, the LI laboratory’s new drug development direction is artificial pheromones.”
His hesitation to announce the pregnancy now was also related to this project.
He wanted to continue advancing the research. If he revealed his pregnancy, the project could be handed over to someone else—or, in the worst case, halted entirely.
Once halted, restarting would almost mean starting from scratch.
Ying Zhiyu froze for a moment. “…”
Artificial pheromones—this was exactly the project he had withdrawn from at the National Institute of Biological Sciences in his previous life.
Li Xi continued, “Artificial pheromones aren’t just for Alphas and Omegas; the goal is to develop pheromones that even glandless Betas can perceive and use.”
In his previous life, when Ying Zhiyu had worked on increasing AO differentiation rates and tackled the question of whether Betas could give birth to AOs, he had considered this possibility.
But back then, the technology wasn’t advanced enough to support it.
Could it be that they had been walking the same path all along—even tracing back to his previous life?
Ying Zhiyu couldn’t help but smile downwards. “Really impressive work, Director Li.”
Since many of these ideas were still in their conceptual stages, the discussion stemming from speculating about extreme Beta attacks naturally came to a pause.
It was getting late. Ying Zhiyu touched his pregnant husband’s belly. “Get some rest. We’ll think about it tomorrow.”
About ten minutes later…
While Ying Zhiyu’s mind was still spinning with countless new concepts like “reproductive tract sense of security” and “Beta artificial pheromones,” a sudden sharp breath sounded by his ear.
Before he could react, a figure lunged and pinned him down.
Li Xi’s breathing was uneven. Surrounded by the bedding filled with Alpha pheromones, he gritted his teeth and glared at the slightly stunned Alpha.
“Ying… Zhiyu, are you trying to get me riled up?”
Ying Zhiyu: “…”
Since becoming pregnant, Li Xi had avoided any strenuous activity for the baby’s safety.
Yet during pregnancy, an Omega craves Alpha pheromones.
And highly compatible Alpha pheromones, to some extent, acted like a stimulant for the Omega’s body.
Ying Zhiyu had momentarily drifted, and his hand had unconsciously wandered slowly across Li Xi’s abdomen—essentially…
He blinked innocently.
Uh, maybe he just wanted to feel the abs?
After all, certain genes couldn’t produce eight-pack abs in this life, and Li Xi’s beautifully defined abdomen was going to disappear for a while due to pregnancy—so it was a little bittersweet.
He reluctantly withdrew his “sinful hand.”
After a pause, Ying Zhiyu carefully soothed Li Xi’s tense back. “Even temporary marking could overstimulate you, and then it might be even harder…”
Before he could finish the last word, Li Xi didn’t say anything—he just bit down on Ying Zhiyu’s collarbone.
For a moment, Ying Zhiyu was speechless.
He could feel, with absolute clarity, Li Xi’s arousal.
Li Xi had reacted while Ying Zhiyu was simply trying to soothe his back…
Conclusion: never, ever casually touch the pregnant husband again, QAQ.