Chapter 2: Pretending Must Be So Exhausting

Gu Huaiye shot up from his seat with a whoosh, fished a credit card out of his wallet, and tossed it onto the table.

“I’m going back to the company. You drink by yourself.”

Chen Zirui could see that Gu Huaiye’s expression was off, so he didn’t dare let him go back alone.

“Wait a sec, I’ll go with you.” Chen Zirui grabbed his jacket from the sofa and hurriedly put it on. “If we run into that damn homewrecker, I can help you beat him up.”

Gu Huaiye’s eyes went ice-cold. “It hasn’t been confirmed yet. Don’t spout nonsense.”

Chen Zirui quickly slapped his own mouth. “Right, right, right, maybe we misunderstood. My mouth really deserves a beating.”

Both of them had been drinking, so they couldn’t drive.

Chen Zirui called a designated driver, who dropped them off downstairs at the Gu Group building.

“You go back on your own.” Gu Huaiye blocked the car door as he got out.

“Ah? Why? Let me accompany you.”

Chen Zirui tried to stick his head out, but Gu Huaiye pushed him back in.

“I’ll handle this myself.”

Dropping that sentence, Gu Huaiye slammed the car door shut and left, leaving a bewildered and aggrieved Chen Zirui behind.

Gu Huaiye rarely came to the Gu Group, so most of the employees didn’t recognize him. Along the way, not a single person greeted him.

It was hardly surprising; the one sitting in the CEO’s seat now was Xie Miaohan.

Many employees even unanimously believed that Xie Miaohan was the true person in power at the Gu Group.

Close friends had reminded him to make Xie Miaohan recognize his own status, lest he climb onto Gu Huaiye’s head one day.

Gu Huaiye didn’t care. What was his was Xie Miaohan’s anyway; there was no need for a married couple to keep score.

Especially after Father Gu fell ill, Gu Huaiye had completely let himself go, ignoring the company entirely.

Disregarding the shareholders’ opposition, he had handed everything over to Xie Miaohan to manage.

Having a wife to manage the company and make money for him—Gu Huaiye couldn’t have asked for more.

He believed that since Xie Miaohan was willing to undergo gland surgery for him, he must love him enough and would never betray him.

Just like with this photo—he believed it was just a misunderstanding.

It must be that male vixen seducing Xie Miaohan.

Gu Huaiye stormed into Xie Miaohan’s office in a rage.

Xie Miaohan was holding a fountain pen, signing documents. Hearing the sound of the door opening, he frowned slightly.

“Remember to knock next time you come in,” Xie Miaohan said. “If I were in a meeting with a client, you barging in like this would look very bad.”

Gu Huaiye walked over and sat right on the office desk, face-to-face with Xie Miaohan.

“Where did you go this morning?”

“Where else could I go but the company?”

Dissatisfied with the answer, Gu Huaiye reached out and grabbed his chin.

“Who did you see?”

Xie Miaohan disliked doing this sort of thing in the company. He shook off Gu Huaiye’s hand and leaned back, deliberately putting distance between them.

“What exactly do you want to ask?”

Perhaps because Xie Miaohan always treated him with a cold attitude, Gu Huaiye didn’t take it to heart, nor did he feel aggrieved.

He took out his phone, sent a message to Chen Zirui asking him to forward the photo.

After receiving the photo, he tapped it open, zoomed in, and turned the screen toward Xie Miaohan.

“Why were you sharing an umbrella with him? When did you get back in touch? Who contacted whom? Did he come to seduce you?”

Gu Huaiye fired off a string of questions. Xie Miaohan didn’t answer a single one, his eyes extremely cold.

“You had someone follow me?”

Gu Huaiye hadn’t expected him to turn the tables and accuse him. He laughed out of sheer anger.

“I’m not that bored. Chen Zirui’s friend saw you, that’s where this photo came from.”

Xie Miaohan still didn’t answer his questions; his focus was elsewhere.

“You went drinking with Chen Zirui again?”

Gu Huaiye wasn’t someone with a good temper to begin with. He had often fought and caused trouble during his school days; only after getting together with Xie Miaohan had he restrained himself a little.

Seeing Xie Miaohan refusing to answer for so long, he grew more uneasy, beginning to suspect that Xie Miaohan really had hooked up with that slut.

He grabbed Xie Miaohan by the tie, forcibly closing the distance between them.

Staring into those beautiful, captivating eyes, he gritted his teeth and said, “What the hell is going on between you and him? Have you already gone to bed?”

Xie Miaohan’s brow was cold and severe. He pressed down on Gu Huaiye’s shoulder and shoved him down.

Gu Huaiye hadn’t expected him to do that. His head accidentally knocked against the desk, the pain making his vision go black for a moment.

“It’s not as dirty as you think,” Xie Miaohan said, his tone mocking. “Even if I did have something with him, it’s not your place to criticize. You were the one who forced me to marry you back then; you should have expected consequences like this long ago.”

Gu Huaiye’s eyes went wide with disbelief.

Usually, Xie Miaohan was cold to him, never initiated anything, and was reluctant in bed.

But he had never said words like this.

Could it be that now that he had a mistress, he was completely done pretending?

“Cao, you’ve finally shown your true colors. Xie Miaohan, you’ve really worked hard at pretending for these ten years.”

Gu Huaiye was already in a fit of rage, speaking recklessly without a care.

“Is it because Laozi didn’t f*ck you enough, leaving you with the energy to look for someone else? I’m really curious, what exactly does that guy see in you? You’re not a top-tier Alpha anymore, you’re not even comparable to an Omega, and your pheromones are cheap as hell…”

Xie Miaohan suddenly strangled him, forcing the rest of his words back down his throat.

Gu Huaiye couldn’t breathe, his cheeks flushing an unnatural red.

Just as he thought he was going to suffocate to death, Xie Miaohan let go and sat back down in his chair.

Gu Huaiye gasped for air. Once he recovered, he looked up and glared at Xie Miaohan.

“You want me dead?”

Xie Miaohan pinched the bridge of his nose wearily. “You aren’t dead, are you?”

That flippant remark caused Gu Huaiye to completely lose his reason. He actually began to release his pheromones right there in the office.

Xie Miaohan’s expression changed slightly, and he scolded coldly, “Gu Huaiye, this isn’t our home. Put your pheromones away.”

Finally gaining the upper hand, Gu Huaiye felt incredibly satisfied.

Leaning against the desk, his eyes full of malice, he watched helplessly as Xie Miaohan was affected by his pheromones. Xie Miaohan’s body gradually went soft, collapsing weakly into the chair as he released a low-quality, cloying pheromone scent.

It was Wisteria.

A scent Gu Huaiye had concocted on a whim, but in reality, he didn’t particularly like it.

Before the surgery, the doctor had given him a form to fill out for the desired pheromone.

At that time, the face of his long-deceased mother had flashed through his mind.

When his mother was still alive, wisteria grew in the courtyard; it was her favorite flower.

But after she passed, Father Gu, not wanting to be reminded of his grief, had cleared all the wisteria away.

Gu Huaiye was very young then and didn’t have a deep memory of wisteria flowers, so he assumed he would like it.

But after the surgery, when Gu Huaiye smelled Xie Miaohan’s artificial pheromones, it was so ordinary that he was somewhat disappointed.

Of course, he hid these feelings in his heart and never mentioned them to anyone.

Gu Huaiye patted Xie Miaohan’s cheek. “Cut ties with him, or I’ll do you right here and let every employee know just how loose the CEO of Gu Group is.”

Xie Miaohan endured the strange sensations in his body, gritting his teeth as he said word by word, “Can’t. Cut. It. Off.”

Gu Huaiye’s face darkened, and he violently tore open Xie Miaohan’s collar.

Just as he was about to proceed, there was a knock on the office door. “Xie Zong, are you alright?”

Gu Huaiye felt the voice was somewhat familiar, and an uneasy guess surfaced in his mind.

Sure enough, the door opened. The person standing in the doorway was none other than the Omega who had shared the umbrella with Xie Miaohan—Wen Xuyue.

When Wen Xuyue saw Gu Huaiye’s face, he revealed a look of astonishment.

“Gu Xuezhang, why are you here!”

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