Chapter 9
Shu Ci hadn’t learned how to control his pheromones after three days of studying with Shen Ti.
Shen Ti comforted him, saying that not all Omegas could control their pheromones freely; it depended on talent and teacher. There were pheromone-blocking devices, but they were harmful to vulnerable Omegas, so relatively few people wore them.
Shu Ci suspected this was the reason for the common early marriage among Omegas. Omegas without talent or top-tier educational resources lacked the ability to protect themselves; the weaker they were, the easier they were to be controlled by Alphas.
Who knew that what he hadn’t learned in three days, Lu Wanqing could teach him in a single moment!
Shu Ci’s eyes brightened. The moment Lu Wanqing touched him, his pheromones quickly retracted, tightly concentrated at the spot Lu Wanqing’s finger had touched.
“Thank you! I’ll definitely pay attention in the future.” He was filled with gratitude, looking down at Lu Wanqing’s arm. “Are you coming in?”
If he could hold Lu Wanqing’s arm to declare his sovereignty, wouldn’t Gu Lan Zhu be furious?
Before Lu Wanqing could respond, a phone rang abruptly.
Shu Ci saw his eyes darken, and his relaxed expression turned serious again.
“Go in first, I’ll take the Marshal’s call.” He said as he walked away.
“Oh.” Shu Ci nodded and turned to walk into the house.
He strode through the grand front yard of the Shu family mansion, but suddenly stumbled twice.
Wait, what Marshal? What did he hear?
The various family alliances competed for seats in the parliament, and the army marshal was only responsible to the elected ruler. He knew his cheap husband had a powerful background, but he didn’t expect him to be someone who could contact the Marshal directly?
“Haven’t seen you in a long time, can’t even walk straight anymore?” A sarcastic voice sounded.
Shu Ci stopped and saw a man standing on the steps, arms crossed.
His intuition told him that this should be the good brother who secretly framed him and signed him up, supposedly his uncle’s child, but—
“Shu… what’s your name again?” he asked.
Shu Cui’s face turned livid with anger. “Good heavens, you moved out of the house and think you’re better than everyone else, you don’t even put me in your eyes!”
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” Shu Ci responded to the anger without any burden.
There were countless small and large cannon fodder in the story who were constantly creating obstacles for him. They were all assistants to the original owner and Gu Lan Zhu; it was a wonder he could even remember them.
Back when he was studying directing, memorizing lines for palace dramas was the peak of his memory, remembering if the hem of the little eunuch’s robe was aligned with the previous scene.
Time doesn’t spare anyone.
“So, what’s your name?”
“…. I’m your cousin, Shu Cui! Remember that!”
“Okay.” Shu Ci responded perfunctorily. “Don’t block me. If you make Gu Lan Zhu wait too long, he’ll go crazy, and no one can bear that.”
He didn’t know how long Lu Wanqing’s call with the Marshal would last. If he was urgently called back, leaving him alone to fight would be troublesome.
These words were blatant boasting in Shu Cui’s eyes.
He gritted his teeth in anger, but thinking of Mr. Gu’s death threat earlier, he reluctantly gave way.
“Thank you. By the way, your brooch today is really nice; it suits you.”
Shu Ci quickly walked into the house, casually complimenting him.
Shu Ci wasn’t a kind person, but if his relationship with someone was tense, he would subconsciously try to smooth things over.
This was a habit he developed from being a director. Many big-name stars and actors came and went in the film crew; he had given strict instructions to many, but few people said he had a bad temper.
“…”
Shu Cui was stunned in place, motionless for a long time.
He had been wearing the brooch he personally designed for several days, and neither his sister nor father had looked at it. Shu Ci was the first to praise it?!
Shu Changhai was sitting in the living room. When he saw Shu Ci come in, he jumped up like he had seen a savior and quickly ran to Shu Ci.
Stopping, he suddenly remembered to maintain his father’s authority, and he put on a serious face and said sternly, “You haven’t been home for so long, I thought you’d forgotten about this family!”
“How could I forget? Don’t worry, I will definitely come home often from now on,” Shu Ci smiled. “When you return the shares I should inherit, I’ll consider not forgetting this family. How can someone cut ties with my father and covet his property at the same time?”
“What are you talking about?” Shu Changhai’s voice rose, his face unfriendly.
He didn’t understand when his gentle younger brother had become so prickly.
“Who are you shouting at?” A cold voice startled Shu Changhai, who slowly turned his head to see Gu Lan Zhu standing behind him.
His gaze went past Shu Changhai’s shoulder and landed on the Omega whose face was flushed. A hint of excitement flashed in his blood-red eyes.
Shu Changhai moved his lips, and seeing Gu Lan Zhu’s eyes, he instantly knew what to do.
This wasn’t the time to argue with Shu Ci about petty family matters. If they could rely on Shu Ci to hitch a ride with the Gu family and restore the Shu family’s status, what did his younger brother’s insignificant property matter?
“I’m talking about this kid!” Shu Changhai immediately changed his face and pulled Shu Ci to his side. “You say, how dare you keep Mr. Gu waiting for so long! Go quickly and apologize to Mr. Gu!”
Shu Changhai seamlessly switched from anger to flattery, Shu Ci was dumbfounded. This acting skill, this micro-expression, could totally compete for Best Actor!
Perhaps his professional illness was too deeply ingrained. He found it hard to separate himself from his identity as “Director Shu,” always observing every character with a critical attitude.
Just like now, he looked at Gu Lan Zhu as if he were participating in an audition.
“Apologize?” He chuckled lightly. “Assistant Zhao clearly said that Mr. Gu should apologize to me, otherwise, I wouldn’t come.”
“Ah?” Shu Changhai trembled.
“…” Zhao Qian, behind Gu Lan Zhu, immediately turned black.
Gu Lan Zhu looked at him with interest, as if looking at a little cat waving its paws at him. There was a faint scent of his pheromones in the air, faintly captivating.
He had never met someone with 100% compatibility.
It was such a wonderful feeling—
Every cell was clamoring, eager to move, like a beached whale longing for the sea, like the scorching sun trying to drain the last drop of water from the desert. It seemed that only by making him completely his own could he restrain the violent trembling of his soul.
Gu Lan Zhu turned his neck and smiled at him. “You’re right, I should apologize.”
Shu Ci raised his eyebrows; did this law-abiding person change his mind? He even knew he had to apologize?
Gu Lan Zhu took out the camellia necklace from his pocket and walked to Shu Ci.
Those slightly raised red lips made one want to lower their head and bite them. Gu Lan Zhu restrained himself, using the tip of his tongue to press against his gums, handing him the necklace.
“Sorry, returning it to its rightful owner.”
Shu Ci looked at the necklace, his eyes wary of Gu Lan Zhu.
Perhaps these few days were enough for him to figure out the function of the necklace; he might know about his disorder earlier than in the original plot.
A bit troublesome.
“I don’t need this thing.” He frowned. “Anything else?”
“Anything else?”
Rarely did people use this kind of rhetorical question to speak to him. Gu Lan Zhu rarely showed a hint of a smile. He was happy to patiently coax him; his 100% destined mate.
Shu Ci looked at his light smile and couldn’t help but take a step back.
“Just this? Isn’t there anything else you need to apologize for?”
Not seeing the expected reaction, Gu Lan Zhu was momentarily stunned.
Even without such a high degree of compatibility, those Omegas’ gazes and bodies couldn’t wait to stick to him. Why was Shu Ci trying to distance himself from him? Was he serious?
Heh, a coy Omega; he must be shy, embarrassed to show it in front of his parents.
—Gu Lan Zhu quickly figured it out.
Shu Ci frowned, carefully observing his expression. He saw bewilderment, incomprehension, and contemplation in turn, until finally, he saw Gu Lan Zhu’s self-assured smile. How could he not know what the other was thinking?
Good heavens, he hadn’t filmed this kind of greasy, mysteriously confident domineering CEO in centuries.
This time, he really saw a live one, huh!
His mouth twitched, and he slowly smoothed his brow.
Forget it; he shouldn’t have had high hopes for this law-abiding person.
“You—”
Gu Lan Zhu had just opened his mouth when he was interrupted by Shu Ci.
“You what? You don’t know what to apologize for, right? Come on, answer me—
“How did I get to the Central Hotel? I was confined to a room and my freedom was restricted; what would have happened to me if I hadn’t escaped? By the way, I have the results of the drug test that night. Were those legal acts here?”
Shen Ti’s family doctor had kept the evidence for him. It was said that the drug wasn’t something ordinary people could get.
Shu Changhai’s pupils shrank as he looked at Gu Lan Zhu. Mr. Gu’s determination was even stronger than he had imagined!
“Don’t bother explaining. Even if you didn’t do it yourself, or you want to deny that it has nothing to do with your Gu family, the incident happened in your hotel after all. As the eldest son, shouldn’t you apologize on behalf of the Gu family?”
The photo of the original owner in his phone, smiling meekly and humbly, kept flashing in Shu Ci’s mind.
He had indeed avoided the original plot, but the original owner hadn’t. The original owner was the one who had been truly hurt, suffering ten years of mental and physical torment!
“What are you talking about!” Shu Changhai shouted at him. “How dare you talk to Mr. Gu like that!”
A wave of Alpha pheromones rushed towards him, as if trying to make him submit, to make him kneel before the two Alphas.
This oppressive feeling further ignited Shu Ci’s anger.
“What do you care how I speak? In your eyes, whether Shu Ci has a family or not doesn’t matter, whether he did it willingly doesn’t matter. As long as he’s noticed by Gu Lan Zhu, it’s an honor bestowed by the ancestors, right?”
The more Shu Ci thought about it, the angrier he became. The sullenness from staying up all night reading novels burst forth, and his previously well-contained pheromones momentarily relaxed, escaping in wisps.
Gu Lan Zhu instantly caught this change and immediately released his pheromones, like a hunting beast, the sandalwood-scented fangs rushing towards the faint floral fragrance, biting and wrapping every wisp.
The impulse of 100% physiological compatibility was irrepressible. He didn’t even need to move a hand; the soft Omega would unconsciously approach him, walk towards him, depend on him, and never want to leave him again.
Shu Ci’s pupils constricted, his whole body trembling. He stumbled, his eyes hazy, his body seemingly out of his control.
He was like a puppet, being pulled towards Gu Lan Zhu by invisible threads.
His consciousness seemed completely separated from his physiological instincts; one was desperately resisting, the other was trying to comply. The terrifying experience gave him goosebumps.
Gu Lan Zhu only needed to spend a little more effort to drown out his remaining resistance.
“Boom——”
A muffled thunderclap fell, and the annoying rain poured down again.
The dark clouds were pierced by lightning, revealing a patch of sky.
Shu Ci looked out the window; a figure stood motionless outside the Shu family’s mansion in the rain.
Was he finished with his call? Was he leaving? Why didn’t he come in?
Shu Ci endured the pain of his soul being torn apart by two states, desperately and anxiously peeling away a wisp of weak consciousness, ignoring Gu Lan Zhu’s determined gaze, and rushed out of the door.
He plunged into the heavy rain, a sense of suffocation surging in his chest.
The rain wet his hair. He couldn’t see the road, and he couldn’t detect Lu Wanqing’s pheromones at all, but he ran non-stop to him.
Lu Wanqing stood there in a daze, looking at the trembling person in his arms. He had charged towards him like a young calf, his hot forehead pressed against his, and the astonishment in his eyes hadn’t faded.
He was still on the phone and couldn’t free his hands to hang up.
Shu Ci was no longer able to think.
When his well-controlled pheromones were forcefully pulled out by Gu Lan Zhu, when his whole body was out of control, when anxiety and fear enveloped him, it seemed that only Lu Wanqing’s side was safe.
Just like that night when he had first arrived.
“I… I want to go home,” his consciousness scattered, desperately clutching Lu Wanqing’s sleeve.
No one here knew where his real home was.
“Shh—Don’t speak.”
Lu Wanqing listened to the gossipy superior on the other end of the phone’s teasing tone and calmly looked back.
His gaze pierced through the branches and leaves and the walls, meeting Gu Lan Zhu’s furious face in the room.
The sandalwood-scented pheromones surged from there.
He released his pheromones to envelop the person in his arms, ignoring all the murderous intent rushing towards him, lifted Shu Ci horizontally, and turned to leave.