Chapter 86
Shu Ci had just woken up in Lu Wanqing’s arms when the news broke that thousands of citizens were petitioning outside City Hall for a thorough investigation into Gu Yan and the disqualification of his candidacy.
He didn’t even know when they had gotten off the private jet. He was already sitting in a car. The driver was driving steadily, and when Shu Ci opened his eyes, a trace of swaying drowsiness still lingered.
“Are we there?”
He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. It was a vast expanse of white.
“Mm.” Lu Wanqing swiped away the news on his device, slightly flexing his arm which had gone numb, and lifted Shu Ci up. “Can you guess where this is?”
Shu Ci turned over and looked carefully.
Before they left, the Central District was in late autumn with falling leaves. But here, everything was wrapped in silver, and the heater inside the car was turned up high.
If there was one place in the entire territory that entered deep winter before anywhere else, it was the only Northern Territory.
The Far-flung Seventh District.
Shu Ci was stunned for a moment, his sleepiness dissipating. He looked back at him. “So, taking marriage leave is just an excuse to go back to your base for a honeymoon?”
He reached out and pinched Lu Wanqing’s chin.
“What are you and Marshal He plotting this time?”
He knew it. It was impossible for Lu Wanqing to suddenly turn into a love-struck fool after being suspended. The marriage leave and honeymoon were likely just covers.
Lu Wanqing tilted his head back, letting him pinch him without resistance. The peak of his lips quirked up right in front of Shu Ci, as if tempting him to take a taste.
His indigo eyes were filled with deep affection.
“…Don’t tease me.” Shu Ci raised his hand to cover the man’s eyes. “If you don’t explain clearly, don’t think about getting a kiss.”
Lu Wanqing’s eyelashes brushed against Shu Ci’s palm. Feeling the steady warmth from Shu Ci’s hand on his forehead, he laughed to himself.
His lips slowly opened and closed. “I really did want to bring you here.”
Now that their marriage was no longer a plastic union where they appeared united but were divided at heart, the thing he wanted to do most was to take Shu Ci along the path he had walked.
“But there are other matters to attend to as well, right?” Shu Ci leaned down and bit gently on his Adam’s apple.
Lu Wanqing trembled visibly; that spot was very sensitive.
“Yes. We are preparing to take back the mining areas that the Gu family forcibly seized in the Seventh District during the internal turmoil.” His voice was low as he endured the tingling sensation on his neck. “It is said that General Lu Wei’s remains are still inside, unrecovered.”
“Alright, say no more.” Shu Ci lowered his head.
This Alpha, with his many secret identities and powerful abilities, was already restricted by the plot just by living in this world. Even his important bonds had been silently severed.
Bringing him to the Seventh District was perhaps Lu Wanqing’s way of reconnecting his past with his present, making Shu Ci his tether.
He covered Lu Wanqing’s eyes and pressed his lips against his.
The tip of his nose brushed against his cheek as they shared a deep kiss.
…
The driver had lowered the partition long ago, but after arriving at the destination and seeing no one emerge for half an hour, he couldn’t help but tap lightly on the window.
“Hurry up.” Shu Ci punched Lu Wanqing’s shoulder and tried to prop himself up.
“…Can’t do it.” Lu Wanqing kept his eyes closed, relying on his rich imagination to satisfy his cravings, tightly gripping Shu Ci’s hand and pulling it downwards.
Shu Ci was paying attention to the knocking on the window and, caught off guard, felt the burning heat press against him again.
“Let me smell you, please.” The tip of his nose rubbed against Shu Ci’s neck, his teeth testingly grinding against the skin.
Shu Ci held his pheromones in tightly, not releasing a single bit.
“No. Get out of the car. We’re still outside!”
Lu Wanqing paused and gave him a deep look.
Ever since accompanying him through his susceptible period, Shu Ci had never released his pheromones to tease him as wantonly as he did on the ship. After that bold episode, he had suddenly become all bark and no bite.
“Not inside the house either.” Shu Ci looked away. “Wait until you finish your business.”
On the way, he had heard Lu Wanqing explain a bit. After Gu Lanzhu took over, the forces in the mining area were no longer as monolithic as before. With Gu Yan’s position currently shaky, now was the best time to strike.
Being a step too slow could lead to a new round of disputes.
Lu Wanqing, however, denied his earlier statement. “The honeymoon is the business.”
“You can shut up now.”
After coaxing the General—who was acting like a clingy, oversized dog—out of the car, Shu Ci stepped unsteadily onto the road covered in a thin layer of ice. The moment the cold wind hit him, Lu Wanqing wrapped him in a thick coat.
“Lu Wanqing, I’m really not some delicate little Omega.” Shu Ci looked up speechlessly. “When I was filming back in the day, I lived in mountains, dived in oceans. Ice and snow, scorching heat—what haven’t I experienced? It’s not that serious.”
Lu Wanqing squatted down and helped him zip up the coat.
He could feel Shu Ci’s gaze resting on the top of his head.
“What you want to do and what I want to do don’t conflict.” Lu Wanqing stood up. “Let them move the luggage in first. Shall we go eat?”
“What are the local specialties in the Seventh District?”
Lu Wanqing fell silent.
His past life had been very dull. Coming to the Seventh District was almost entirely spent watching the sun rise and set from the base; he had never come out to play.
This question caught him somewhat off guard.
“I’ll ask.”
“…?”
Half an hour later, the trending topics on the local Seventh District forum became—
#General Lu visits [xx] small shop# #Councilman Song’s son, Shu Ci, appears in District Seven# #General Lu asks for food recommendations on the street# #Public opinion power couple roasts sweet potatoes on the street#
“Damn it, I want roasted sweet potatoes too.”
Shen Ti put down the documents in his hand for Shen Lin to approve, rubbing his sore eyes and secretly fighting back sleepiness.
Shen Lin glanced at him. “I’ll have the cafeteria arrange it.”
!!! Shen Ti was overjoyed, his whole demeanor brightening considerably.
“Thanks, brother!”
Shen Lin laughed involuntarily. “Go on, the sooner you finish reporting, the sooner you can go eat.”
“The accounts in the Seventh District have very low weight, so the heat isn’t picking up. I’m preparing to find some high-traffic accounts to push the topic to the home page and national trending lists.”
“Mainly because the Gu family keeps pushing various new topics, trying to lower the heat on the shipwreck and the bribery scandal to salvage public opinion.”
“He’s dreaming,” Shen Ti concluded.
The special investigation team had been established at light speed and immediately began their work. Shen Ti had already arranged all the media; Gu Yan and Chen Gui wouldn’t be allowed out of the public eye for even a second during the process.
Once the shipwreck case was successfully overturned, the wrongful imprisonment of Shen Lin’s father could also be washed clean.
More than slandering Gu Yan, his focus right now was entirely on the final leg of Shen Lin’s campaign. His respected cousin was truly the people’s choice.
“We will coordinate with the team’s rhythm. Five days, at most no more than a week. Before the final voting begins, Gu Yan won’t be able to turn things around.”
Perhaps because his emotions were running high, Shen Ti felt a wave of dizziness as he said the last sentence, stumbling slightly and grabbing the table for support.
“Pass the work down. Go home and sleep for a while,” Shen Lin frowned.
This child, who had been underestimated by the branch family, possessed an underappreciated ability and perseverance, much like Shu Ci. Since joining the team, Shen Lin had hardly seen him take a break; work had become his entire motivation.
“Everyone in the other groups takes shifts. No one will say you’re slacking off just because you’re my brother. People have eyes; they see what you’ve done.”
Shen Ti shook his head. “I’m not tired.”
Actually, he was tired. He just didn’t want to go home.
In the past, he had worried endlessly about Shu Ci, thinking that life for the 1% wouldn’t be easy. But now, after those two dropped their pheromones, they had become totally compatible. On the contrary, his own perfectly fine arranged marriage had been made terrible by his willfulness.
“Is the Cui family coming to see you again?” Shen Lin signed the document and put down the pen.
Shen Ti was a bit surprised, but then thought, it wasn’t hard for Shen Lin to know things. He nodded.
The marriage with the Cui family was originally because they saw potential in Shen Lin’s political career.
However, Shen Lin personally didn’t want to marry, and the branch family needed the Cui family’s endorsement for market competition at the time, so they adopted Shen Ti under the name of the late head of the family. This marriage was mutually beneficial for everyone.
Originally, they just felt that Shen Ti wasn’t staying home to accompany Cui You properly, insisting on going out to start some company. They wanted to teach Shen Ti a lesson, but they didn’t expect the conflict between the two generations to reach the point of divorce.
And right at this critical juncture, Shen Ti joined the campaign support team, becoming Shen Lin’s right-hand man.
Now that Shen Lin had taken off, not only had he not used the Cui family’s connections during the entire campaign, but the several major blows to Gu Yan had come from Shu Ci and Lu Wanqing. This made the Cui family start to feel nervous and fearful.
Marriage alliances rely on a balance of power. If things continued to develop like this, the Cui family would sooner or later be completely dominated by the Shen family.
So recently, they had been rushing to see him, trying to coax him back.
“They are an old-school family with titles; it’s normal for them not to want to lower themselves to apologize. You don’t have to accommodate them for my sake.”
Shen Lin didn’t want his brother to live life looking at other people’s expressions.
“As family, I don’t want your relationship with the rest of the Cui family to affect your small family with Cui You.”
“But most marriages are like this—not as free and willful as Shu Ci’s, focusing only on their own moods and feelings. You and Cui You, between you two, it is destined to be a friction between two households, even two clans.”
“If you are unhappy and want a complete divorce, I will support you. Don’t worry.”
Shen Ti responded listlessly, but said, “Many voters look at reputation. I represent the Shen family now. Before you successfully take that seat, I won’t file suit.”
With that, he didn’t disturb Shen Lin’s work anymore. He went back to the team to explain some details, packed his things, and left the office.
Walking to the Parliament’s underground garage, just as he was about to start his car, he saw a man in uniform jump down from an SUV nearby.
The golden license plate shone even in the dim light.
Since leaving the Cui residence, he hadn’t seen him for a long time.
“Off work?” Cui You saw him and instinctively adjusted his bow tie.
The tug Shen Ti gave it before leaving last time still lingered in his mind.
“Mm.” Shen Ti was too exhausted, so he simply dropped the facade in front of him, nodded perfunctorily, and prepared to get in the car.
Cui You strode over. “Wait, I’m going up to hand in some materials and send…”
Send you back.
Before he could finish his sentence, his Omega wife, whom he hadn’t seen for days, fainted straight in front of him.
Cui You mechanically extended his arms to catch him.
In that moment, his heart stopped beating, and fear flooded over him.
…
Sunset came early in the Far-flung Seventh District. The afterglow was still on the horizon when snowflakes began to drift down gracefully.
Shu Ci and Lu Wanqing ate, walked around the main city, and returned home before the snow got heavy.
Shu Ci disliked the cold, so he ducked into the bathroom to take a hot bath.
Lying in the bathtub, he finally turned on his phone.
It had been off all day, and countless messages popped out. The group chat with Yi Xingshui and Li Yi was at the top.
Li Yi: [Preliminary analysis of Mr. Shu Changze’s research suggests his death might be due to the compatibility research, not the disorder.]
Shu Ci stood up from the water with a jolt.
He replied: [Can you elaborate?]
Li Yi: [My junior sister and I need to verify it again. We will contact you via video call within a week at the earliest.]
In the living room, the fireplace was burning brightly. Lu Wanqing was dozing in a rattan chair. He didn’t know how long he had been lying there when Shu Ci’s voice drifted over.
“Did Cui You contact you? Ah Ti sent me a weird sticker and asked me to transfer him some money.”
Shu Ci walked out wearing warm pajamas, complaining as he walked.
How could Shen Ti be short of money? It made no sense for him to borrow money.
“Can you ask if something went wrong on Cui You’s end, and if he needs my indirect help?”
Lu Wanqing opened Cui You’s chat interface, looked closely, and saw the message Cui You had just sent. His mind went blank in an instant.
[Old Lu, what do I do? My wife is pregnant!!!]
[I don’t want a divorce! What if he wants to keep the child but leave the father?]
[Can I rely on the child to rise in status?]
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