Marking ends.
Pei Siyue slowly lowers Ruan Shuyang.
The omega he was holding seemed unusually small, with his head only reaching his chest, needing his support to lean on his shoulder.
Ruan Shuyang had already fainted, the weak omega’s forehead covered in sweat, his head limp in his hand.
He helped him lie down on the sofa, feeling the wetness on Ruan Shuyang’s pants as he did so.
No amount of suppressants or willpower could overcome the body’s desires. During heat, an omega’s body instinctively prepares itself to be claimed and marked.
Omegas are naturally controlled by pheromones, possessing a fatal weakness that leaves them unable to control themselves, easily falling into the turmoil of heat.
That was why he had always kept his distance from omegas.
Pei Siyue stood up and looked down at Ruan Shuyang.
Ruan Shuyang’s face no longer bore the flush of passion from earlier; it had turned a pale pink, spreading across his fair cheeks. The youth kept his eyes closed, breathing steadily, his long eyelashes casting a small shadow on his lower eyelids.
After a moment, he walked out with a blank expression and calmly instructed Jiang Wu: “Contact Chi Heng’s secretary and have someone watch the door. Once he wakes up, send him away.”
He paused for a moment before adding, “Also, prepare a clean set of clothes for him, along with some omega blockers and suppressants.”
Jiang Wu, who was waiting outside, listened in surprise to Pei Siyue’s instructions. He decided not to argue and did not ask his boss for an explanation, simply following the orders.
**
Pei Siming stood by the window at the third-floor emergency exit, his hands hanging at his sides, trembling slightly without realizing it.
He felt inexplicably restless.
The male omega standing beside him, Jin Yan, seemed to notice his distraction and teased, “What’s wrong? Did you suddenly realize you don’t want to let him go?”
Pei Siming snapped back to reality and sneered, “How could that be? I wouldn’t feel sorry for an illegitimate child.”
Jin Nan looked at Pei Siming with interest and asked in a tone of disbelief, “Really?”
Pei Siming looked down at Jin Nan. Alphas naturally exert a strong sense of oppression over omegas, and under Pei Siming’s gaze, Jin Nan gradually lost his smile and his face turned pale.
Moments later, Pei Siming smiled softly, reached out to pat Jin Nan’s face, and spoke in a tone that sounded like a lover’s whisper, yet carried a chilling coldness: “Don’t try to pry into my affairs.”
However, as soon as the words left his mouth, they heard Sun Mi’s frantic voice from behind them: “Everyone, find him! He’s an omega; I don’t believe he can run far.”
“Hmph…”
Jin Nan felt a cold sweat break out on his back, but the corners of his lips curled into a mocking smile. He had thought he was so tough, but here he was, walking over to ask about the situation?
In the fourth-floor private room, Lu Zheng held a wine glass in his hand, the crimson wine swaying gently inside. His expression was calm, revealing little emotion. When he saw Pei Siming and Sun Mi walk in together, he asked in a drawn-out, indifferent tone, “Did the Second Young Master Pei forget to lock the door from the outside when he left?”
Pei Siming paused.
Had he forgotten to lock the door?
Impossible, he was certain he remembered…
But what did he remember?
Upon further reflection, there seemed to be no memory of closing the door—a gap in his recollection.
Pei Siming remained composed, walking gracefully to Lu Zheng’s side and sitting down. He apologized with a smile, “I’m sorry, Mr. Lu. It was my oversight.”
Lu Zheng looked at Pei Siming with a meaningful expression and asked, “You wouldn’t be reluctant, would you?”
Pei Siming immediately denied it: “Impossible. Why would I be reluctant to give up an illegitimate child?”
Ruan Shuyang was the Ruan family’s illegitimate child, an open secret in high society.
Although the Ruan family had acknowledged him and claimed he was adopted, everyone knew the truth.
Ruan Jianchuan had an affair with the once-brilliant and dazzling female omega jewelry designer Yu Xianyü during his marriage, and the child they conceived was Ruan Shuyang.
Lu Zheng did not press the matter further after hearing the apology. After all, he was the second young master of the Pei family. Although the eldest young master had returned from abroad a few months ago and swiftly taken control, the second young master had been deeply rooted in the Pei family for years. These two brothers are now at odds with each other, and it’s unclear who will emerge victorious. Pei Siming may still have a chance to regain his position. The best course of action now is to stay neutral and not offend either side.
He was just an omega. If he ran away, they had plenty more.
However, when he heard Sun Mi say they hadn’t found him, he was so angry that he threw the wine glass in his hand on the ground. How could a group of alphas and betas not find a weak and short omega?
He asked, “How did you lose him? Didn’t you say he ran away through the emergency exit?”
“After he escaped, he ran up the emergency exit. We chased him all the way to the fifth floor, but we didn’t see any trace of him.”
Lu Zheng asked with a dark expression, “Could he be in one of the rooms on the fifth floor?”
“That’s unlikely,” Sun Mi hurriedly replied. “The fifth floor is all the offices of the eldest son of the Chi family. When he’s not using them, they’re locked, and no one else can get in. We saw the eldest son of the Chi family leave the club half an hour ago to handle some business, so he’s not here now. That omega couldn’t have sneaked in unnoticed and opened the office door on his own.”
“Plus, the fifth floor is the young master of the Chi family’s territory, so we dare not search too thoroughly.”
In an unnoticed corner, wine spilled out, leaving a blood-like stain on the wool carpet.
It was as if the omega had never left any blood here.
**
At night, the interplay of light and shadow created a vibrant neon-lit tapestry, rushing past the window.
Inside the stretched Lincoln, Jiang Wu began to nag Pei Siyue like an old woman.
“Young Master, you shouldn’t have impulsively gone to help that omega whose identity you didn’t know. What if that omega was carrying a weapon? It would be dangerous.”
Pei Siyue gave Jiang Wu a cold glance. Though he showed no expression, Jiang Wu felt rejected, as if his intelligence were in question.
And when facing Enigma, the omega was clearly the one who couldn’t use weapons.
After a few minutes, Jiang Wu heard Pei Siyue say, “I know who he is.”
Jiang Wu was very surprised: “Young Master, who is he?”
Pei Siyue looked out the window at the neon lights flashing by and said indifferently, “Pei Siming’s fiancée, Ruan Shuyang.”
Jiang Wu: ???
He sucked in a breath. If he wasn’t mistaken, Pei Siyue had just given Ruan Shuyang a temporary mark in the room.
Ruan Shuyang is now Pei Simin’s fiancée, and she was marked by Pei Simin’s older brother, Pei Siyue. Doesn’t that mean Pei Simin is wearing a green hat?
Years ago, Pei Siyue’s father, Pei Yan, had an affair with Zhou Wei while married. Zhou Wei quickly became pregnant and gave birth to a child, who was Pei Siming.
Zhou Wei held Pei Siming and knelt at the Pei family’s doorstep, forcing Pei Siyue’s mother to accept his and the child, effectively taking the husband away from Pei Siyue’s mother.
Was the young master now planning to take his fiancée away from Pei Siming as revenge?
Jiang Wu immediately praised, “The eldest young master is truly formidable, thinking things through carefully. If you take that omega away and make him completely devoted to you, it would be like putting a green hat on Pei Siming that everyone knows about, more humiliating than being slapped in public.”
Pei Siyue: “…”
“Stop watching so many soap operas.”
After he finished speaking, he waited a few minutes before instructing, “Contact Chi Heng’s secretary and obtain tonight’s surveillance footage from the club to see how Ruan Shuyang entered the emergency exit.”
“Also… find out what he was doing at the club tonight.”
However, after answering, Jiang Wu regained his composure and professionalism as a secretary and quietly asked Pei Siyue, “Young Master, could that Ruan Shuyang be someone sent by Pei Siming’s side?”
**
The morning sunlight dyed the dark brown curtains a translucent amber color, and a few rays of morning light shone through the curtains into the room, with a golden line falling precisely on Ruan Shuyang’s face.
Ruan Shuyang’s eyelashes trembled slightly as he reluctantly opened his eyes.
He saw the off-white ceiling above him, his gaze unfocused.
Last night’s memories were fragmented and blurry, but he still remembered that he seemed to have been marked by an alpha.
But the problem was that last night’s passion had been too intense, and he hadn’t gotten a clear look at the person’s face or remembered the scent of their pheromones.
He only felt as though a gentle tide had surrounded him, and then…
He had fainted pathetically.
Thinking of this, he suddenly sat up, but the sudden movement caused his head to spin. After the dizziness subsided, he looked down at his clothes.
He seemed to be in an office, but it was empty, with only a desk with nothing on it, an ergonomic chair behind the desk, and a bookshelf with no books on it.
At that moment, he was the only one in the office, as if everything from last night had been a dream.
His Omega instincts made him acutely aware that he had been temporarily marked by an Alpha.
The Omega pheromones within him were no longer in a restless state; they had been soothed and calmed by the unfamiliar Alpha pheromones. For the first time, he felt that the beast within him—one that had been forcibly suppressed by cheap suppressants and might break free at any moment—no longer resided there.
He had still been marked by a stranger Alpha.
He sat on the sofa, feeling helpless and worried for a long time, but then he realized that worrying about this was pointless.
The alpha had already left, and there was no trace of alpha pheromones in the air. The other party had clearly marked him and then left, probably not wanting to have anything to do with him.
Rather than worrying about the alpha, he should worry about what to do next.
He sat on the sofa for a moment longer, then took a deep breath, as if making up his mind, and pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the missed calls and messages.
But surprisingly, there were only a few messages from his classmates’ group chat, and no messages from the Ruan family or Pei Siming.
Ruan Shuyang couldn’t believe it. He had fled recklessly last night, yet no one was holding him accountable?
But it seemed to be true; he hadn’t received any messages demanding accountability.
He sat on the sofa for a while longer, but couldn’t stay still, so he tried to open the wooden door.
Beyond the walnut door was a large office with a dark color scheme, a dark gray wool carpet on the floor, and a female beta sitting on the sofa in the distance.
The female beta saw him emerge from the suite and looked at him with a gentle expression. “My name is Su Yan. I’m Mr. Chi’s secretary. Mr. Chi asked me to wait here and give you these items.”
Ruan Shuyang froze. Mr. Chi?
Was the person who marked him last night the club’s owner, Mr. Chi?
Confused, he took the bag Su Yan handed him. Inside was a brand-new set of clothes, from outerwear to underwear, all neatly packed. Additionally, there was a small box.
He opened the box to find several unopened vials of injectable omega suppressants, a bottle of suppressant pills, and about ten new barrier patches.
Holding the items, he tried to ask Su Yan, “Last night… was the person who stayed here Mr. Chi?”
In truth, Su Yan didn’t know what had happened either. She had simply received an assignment from his superior, Chi Heng, to wait in the small suite of the club’s office for an omega to wake up, hand over the items to them, and then escort them out.
However, she did know that Chi Heng had been here last night, so she nodded and said, “Mr. Chi was here last night.”
Seeing that Ruan Shuyang wanted to ask more questions, Su Yan immediately said, “I don’t know anything else. The instructions I received were to hand over the items to you and then send you away.”
As she spoke, she suggested, “You can go inside and change your clothes first.”
Upon hearing Su Yan say this, Ruan Shuyang didn’t feel comfortable asking any further questions.
He only looked at the items in the bag and asked softly, “How much are these?”
The items were all things he urgently needed, but they looked expensive, and he had no idea how much they cost in total. The problem was, he didn’t have much money.
Su Yan paused, surprised that the other party would ask about money. To be honest, she had helped Chi Heng handle such personal matters several times before, but this was the first time someone had asked about money.
In truth, she hadn’t even checked the price. After all, it was all charged to the boss’s card, and the boss would cover the bill. Plus, based on his understanding of Chi Heng, he would definitely insist on paying himself and wouldn’t care about such a small amount.
So she said, “Mr. Chi is giving this to you. Don’t worry about the money.”
“But…”
Ruan Shuyang was about to say something else, but Su Yan cut his off: “You should hurry up and change your clothes. I’ll arrange a car to take you back.”
Ruan Shuyang clutched the bag in his hand, murmured a quiet “thank you,” then turned and walked into the small suite to close the door and change his clothes.
His clothes were wrinkled and sticky, indeed unsuitable to wear again, so he changed into the clothes in the bag.
It was really expensive. All the pocket money he had saved over the years didn’t even add up to five figures. He wondered when he would be able to repay Mr. Chi if he asked him for the money.
But at that moment, he had no better option, so he could only leave wearing this outfit, which was entirely Gloaming from head to toe.
**
In fact, Chi Heng didn’t give it to him. The next morning, when he went to see Pei Siyue, he brought the credit card statement to have it reimbursed.
Such a good opportunity to extort Pei Siyue and hear gossip—how could he possibly give it up?
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