Chapter 133
Li Jie’s mission was to protect him until An Le’s situation was resolved and Gu Qian was no longer a threat. So, for now, Xiao Xiao didn’t have to worry about Li Jie abandoning him.
But regardless of the current situation, he looked down at the bedsheets, wrinkled his nose, and asked, “So, can we find another place to stay?”
The conditions here were just too awful; he couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn’t that he was being delicate—he could handle mess and clutter, but he couldn’t stand filth and bugs.
Li Jie asked, “Find another place?”
Xiao Xiao nodded. “Yeah. At least… at least somewhere without bugs.”
Li Jie burst out laughing. “I’d love to stay somewhere without bugs too, but given the circumstances, we can’t.”
“Why not?” Xiao Xiao asked.
Li Jie took a few drags from his cigarette before stubbing it out. “Your rabid dog of an alpha has people searching the entire city for you. When they can’t find your ID information, they start checking surveillance footage, using big data to capture your facial features and track you down.”
Xiao Xiao was confused. “So? Can’t I just wear a mask and a hat?” He didn’t really understand this stuff and looked at Li Jie timidly.
Li Jie knew he hadn’t understood and explained again, “He’s already checking surveillance and all sorts of information to find you, and he’s added facial recognition to the mix. That means it doesn’t matter whether you wear a mask or not.”
Gu Qian’s people were already waiting in other places. Even if Xiao Xiao wore a mask and hat, the moment he passed by one of the spots Gu Qian had staked out, he would be found. Besides, Gu Qian’s influence in his industry was significant, and the people he’d hired were beyond their imagination. So, to be safe, they couldn’t leave this room. Even their meals had to be delivered.
After hearing Li Jie’s explanation, Xiao Xiao fell silent. After a long while, he asked in a small voice, “Why won’t he just let me go?”
It wasn’t supposed to be like this between them. They could have been like any normal couple, and even if they later felt they weren’t compatible, they could have had an amicable breakup. Why did it have to turn out like this?
Gu Qian… he…
“Don’t you know Gu Qian is sick?” Li Jie cut in.
Xiao Xiao looked up. “What kind of sickness?” Was he really sick?
Li Jie nodded. He had nothing better to do, and it wasn’t safe to play on his phone right now. One cigarette wasn’t enough, so he quickly lit another. “He’s mentally ill,” he said, taking a drag. “I don’t know the specifics, but I know that everyone in the Gu family seems to have something a little off in the head.”
As he spoke, Li Jie blew out a puff of smoke and pointed to his own head. “It’s not just Gu Qian. His father, and his aunt—who is my boss, Lu Heng’s mother—they have problems too.”
“A hereditary illness?” Xiao Xiao asked.
“Yeah, probably,” Li Jie said. “Why do you think my boss is so gloomy? It’s because his mother is mentally unstable and didn’t treat him well. Luckily, my boss didn’t turn out crooked and didn’t inherit too much of that illness. He’s a relatively normal person, and generous too.”
A smile Li Jie couldn’t hide spread across his face when he mentioned Lu Heng’s generosity.
But the mention of mental illness made Xiao Xiao instantly think of his mother. She had been a normal person too, until… she was driven mad by her heat cycles. He had suffered a lot because of his mother’s illness, and he suddenly felt a sense of empathy for Lu Heng. People like that might seem unfriendly on the surface, but once they met someone they cared about, they would cherish them. An Le would probably be very happy.
But…
“So, Gu Qian…” Xiao Xiao started to ask.
“He’s ruthless and never considers the consequences. To put it bluntly, he’s a bit crazy.” Li Jie explained, “And pretty much everyone in their circle knows how ruthless he is, but no one dares to mess with him. Not just because he’s ruthless, but because he’s a Gu, and his father is a high-ranking official.”
Gu Chen was powerful enough to bend the rules, with a vast network of connections. Even if people were treated unfairly and wanted to sue the Gu family, no one ever succeeded.
How crazy was Gu Qian? At a banquet, if he said he was going to jump off a building, he would. If he said he was going to hit someone, he would. If he pointed at someone and said he was going to ruin them, he never went back on his word. Their family business would be snatched away by Gu Qian in the blink of an eye. Even if Gu Qian didn’t make a single cent and ended up losing a ton of money in the process, he wouldn’t let anyone else get a taste of success.
“Gu Qian is good-looking, considered handsome among alphas. I remember one time, an old man got drunk, didn’t recognize him, and said he wanted to take him to ‘have some fun.’ Gu Qian stripped his pants off on the spot, crushed his testicles, and dragged him to the hotel entrance, ignoring everyone who tried to stop him. When the old man sobered up, he nearly killed himself.”
“Another time, he got rear-ended. The other driver saw his luxury car and knew he couldn’t afford to pay, so he started making a scene, insisting it was Gu Qian’s fault. Without a word, Gu Qian got back in his car and smashed the other guy’s car to pieces. Then he ran over the guy’s leg, making him piss his pants in fear. But he got injured himself that time. When the police pulled him out of the car, his head was covered in blood, and he passed out.”
Li Jie finished his stories and added, “But he doesn’t just go crazy for no reason. After all, there’s a price to pay for going crazy.”
God only knows how much trouble Gu Chen had to go through to clean up those messes. But no matter how difficult those situations were, they couldn’t compare to Xiao Xiao’s.
After hearing all this, Xiao Xiao subconsciously thought of the time he had accompanied Gu Qian to work and met that young master Chen. Chen had laid a hand on him, and Gu Qian had crippled both of Chen’s hands in a brutal way, leaving him with no way out.
“He’s… he’s really like that.” Xiao Xiao murmured. “So all his modesty, gentleness, and understanding over the past two years… it was all a lie?” Was it all an act?
“Yes, it was a lie,” Li Jie said. “And everyone in their circle knows about you, more or less. They all know that two years ago, Gu Qian suddenly started working day and night at a subsidiary company, stopped going out for drinks, and stopped attending parties. Later, everyone found out it was because a beta had captured his heart. And that beta… was you.”
Xiao Xiao didn’t say anything else. No wonder Lu Heng had told An Le that Gu Qian was not a good person and to stay away from him. But Lu Heng couldn’t bear to tell An Le the horrifying details, so he never explained just how bad of a person Gu Qian really was. And so, he had no idea what kind of person Gu Qian truly was. He could only blame Gu Qian for being too good at pretending, and himself for being too careless.
Seeing Xiao Xiao suddenly become so dejected, Li Jie irritably stubbed out his cigarette. “You don’t need to be sad now. Since you’ve escaped, I’m confident he won’t be able to find you. You don’t have to worry about being threatened by him anymore.”
Xiao Xiao still didn’t speak.
Li Jie wasn’t very good at handling these kinds of situations. He scratched his head helplessly. “Hey, don’t tell me you were scared by what I said?” Were betas really that timid?
Li Jie was at a loss. He was getting more and more frustrated, feeling the urge to curse and light up another cigarette. He’d already had two. If he smoked another, the room would be filled with smoke, and the little beta would definitely be uncomfortable.
Just then, he saw tears welling up in Xiao Xiao’s eyes.
Li Jie was even more flustered. He stood in front of Xiao Xiao, wringing his hands. “Hey, hey, don’t cry. What I said is true. I’m really confident he won’t find you, but we need to stay in this crappy place for another two days. I can guarantee your safety, really.”
“It’s not that.” Xiao Xiao couldn’t hold back anymore. He sniffled, tears streaming down his face. “It’s not your fault. It’s me… I just don’t know if I can really get away.”
He wanted to leave too. He was hoping Li Jie would protect him, that Gu Qian would never find him again. But there were still so many things tying him to Gu Qian, and he didn’t know if those ties were real. If they were, could he break them?
Li Jie didn’t know what had happened between him and Gu Qian. He asked, confused, “What do you mean, you don’t know if you can get away? Are you doubting my abilities?”
Xiao Xiao shook his head again. “No, it’s just… I… I’ve already been marked by him. Permanently.”
With that, he pulled back his long hair, which had grown out recently, revealing his fully developed gland to Li Jie. Only then did Li Jie see it. It had developed to be exactly like an omega’s, with no difference at all. The gland was covered in dense teeth marks, a clear sign of what it had been through. And the moment the hair was pulled back, Li Jie thought he could faintly smell an alpha’s pheromones.
He quickly leaned in, resting a hand on Xiao Xiao’s shoulder, and sniffed. “It really is Gu Qian’s pheromones. What’s going on? Aren’t you a beta? Why is your gland like this?”
It took all of Xiao Xiao’s strength to keep from breaking down completely. “He… he injected me with a gland re-development serum made from his pheromones. My gland… I’ve been marked by him. And he said… I’ll have heat cycles like an omega now, and… and only he can relieve them. I… I don’t know if it’s true. I’m scared it’s true. I…”
Although he wasn’t sure if what Gu Qian had said was true, what Gu Qian had done to him was, indeed, the complete process of marking an omega. Not a single step was missed.
He was terrified. The more he spoke, the more he broke down, his sobs growing louder.
Seeing this, Li Jie quickly pulled him into an embrace, patting his back comfortingly. “Okay, I know. I’ll find someone to take a look at you. But don’t cry. You can’t cry. It’ll be trouble if someone else hears you.”
At that, Xiao Xiao immediately stopped crying, but his head was buzzing, and he was growing more and more dizzy. He felt anxious and scared. He bit his lip and buried his face in Li Jie’s chest, subconsciously ignoring the sense of pressure Li Jie gave off. In his hazy state, he mistook him for Gu Qian.
He instinctively grabbed onto “Gu Qian’s” clothes and cried out softly, “Husband, I’m scared. Hold me, hold me tight…”
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