After Lu Chengyu and Lu Qingmo got off the plane, they went to a restaurant to have dinner with the Wei family. When Lu Heyang returned home from a lecture at the Military Academy of Engineering, Lu Chengyu’s assistant was delivering his luggage and documents.
In general, Lu Chengyu rarely attended private gatherings. The occasions the Chairman attended were always related to politics or diplomacy, so Lu Heyang could guess that the Wei family had a specific purpose tonight.
It was likely related to the Westside project. Wei Lingzhou still wanted to fight for it. The fact that Lu Chengyu accepted the invitation might imply that the winner of the project had not yet been decided and there was room for negotiation.
Around 10 pm, Lu Heyang finished his shower and went downstairs to get some fruit. He spotted a faint light in the living room on the second floor. As he approached, he saw Lu Qingmo lounging on the sofa with only a floor lamp on and a bottle of red wine on the coffee table in front of her.
When Lu Qingmo heard footsteps, she turned around while holding the wine glass. She smiled and said, “Not sleeping yet?”
She hadn’t taken off her makeup or changed out of her work clothes yet. Despite the discomfort, it appeared Lu Qingmo couldn’t delay any longer and needed to release tension immediately like this.
“I was reading,” Lu Heyang replied as he sat on the other sofa, “Did Dad go to Luanshan?”
“I think so, not sure.” Lu Qingmo leaned back and took a sip of wine.
Lu Heyang sat quietly without saying a word. After a while, Lu Qingmo raised her head and looked at the unlit chandelier, “They told me to start preparing for pregnancy.”
“Career, marriage, womb,” Lu Qingmo listed them one by one, “None of them belong to me.”
Raindrops lightly pattered on the windowpane outside as it started to rain.
“I dislike rain the most,” Lu Qingmo said in a daze.
She couldn’t remember exactly when it was, but it was after she learned that she was going to be engaged to Wei Lingzhou. It was also a night when the rain kept pouring down harder and harder. She drove fast with Han Jian in the passenger seat.
Later, the car was forced to come to a halt. A dozen blinding headlights pierced through the rain, shining from all directions and surrounding them. Lu Qingmo’s hand trembled as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She said to Han Jian, “Don’t get out of the car.”
Han Jian held out his hand to wipe the tears from her face and said, “Okay.”
The bodyguard came over to hold an umbrella for Lu Qingmo and led her to stand in front of Lu Chengyu and Wei Lingzhou. Just a few seconds later, there was a deafening crash from behind her. Lu Qingmo turned around in panic and saw the deformed car that had flipped over the guardrail and crashed into the field next to the suburban road.
She opened her mouth wordlessly, and by the time she regained consciousness, her legs had stumbled forward. The passenger seat was filled with shattered glass, blood was flowing from Han Jian’s forehead, and his leg seemed to be pinned by something. His faint, painful moans were soon drowned out in the rain.
Blood flowed out along the car frame and merged with the muddy ground. Lu Qingmo reached out but didn’t dare touch him. The raindrops felt like heavy footsteps trampling on her body. Lu Qingmo had forgotten what exactly she had been thinking about in that half minute, perhaps nothing at all. She turned around and stumbled over to kneel before Lu Chengyu. She finally managed to make a small sound out of her throat, “Dad…”
“I was wrong, I was wrong…” She didn’t know what she had done wrong. Lu Qingmo went from pleading to crying, “I was wrong, please save him. I’ll listen to you from now on. Please save him…”
The rain drenched her to the point where she couldn’t even open her eyes. She felt that her father was too high, like an immovable mountain. In the end, Wei Lingzhou helped the mud-covered Lu Qingmo up and said considerately, “Alright, get in the car. I’ll have someone get him out.”
Lu Qingmo sat in the car and tried to look out the car windows, but everything was blurry because of the rain. She spent a long time trying to wipe the window, but it was futile. It dawned on her that the rain outside the glass could not be wiped away from the inside.
The torrential rain that night hadn’t stopped for several years and was constantly pouring down on her body and face. Sometimes, Lu Qingmo felt that she shouldn’t hold on to her grievances so tightly, given the immense effort she had already exerted. It was only later that she didn’t dare anymore. But why did the regret never cease?
Lu Heyang knew what had happened. The scene of that day was captured by the cameras installed on the bodyguard’s car. At what seemed like a very coincidental opportunity, he saw that video—but in reality, it wasn’t a coincidence. Someone intentionally showed him that video as a warning.
Don’t seek freedom. Don’t resist. Submit and accept it.
Smooth out your edges and become a polished pawn.
Then they would gradually adapt and integrate into this hierarchy, eventually becoming the next chess player.
“I’m not wrong.” Lu Qingmo closed her eyes like a wronged person stubbornly trying to retract her confession. She repeated, “I’m not wrong.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Lu Heyang had planned to read for half an hour after eating fruit, but he just sat at his desk for a while until eventually closing the book. He picked up his phone and sent a message to Xu Ze: Busy?
He quickly received a reply from Xu Ze: No.
Lu Heyang called him, and as soon as he picked up, he heard a pen dropping on the floor at Xu Ze’s end.
“Studying?” Lu Heyang asked.
“I’m working on an exam,” Xu Ze replied, “I happen to have some free time now.”
After a few seconds, Lu Heyang didn’t speak. Xu Ze hesitated and asked, “Are you in a bad mood?”
Lu Heyang chuckled, “Why do you ask that?”
“…” Xu Ze said, “Just a feeling.”
“Feel anything else?” Lu Heyang leaned back in his chair.
“No,” Xu Ze replied honestly. His voice had a hint of uncertainty that came from not knowing whether to ask, “Why are you in a bad mood?”
Lu Heyang asked in return, “It’s not like it’s a happy thing, why do you want to know?”
“I just….” Xu Ze seemed to be struggling to find the right words. In the end, he said, “I want to share some of the burden with you.”
He was already carrying a heavy burden on his own, so heavy that he couldn’t straighten his back and lift his shoulders, yet he still thought of helping Lu Heyang share some of his burden.
Lu Heyang’s finger resting on his knee moved slightly. He raised his hand and pressed between his brows. After a pause, he said, “I’m not in a bad mood, I just wanted to give you a call.”
Xu Ze wanted to ask “Really?”—not in the sense of “Did you really want to call me?” but more like “Are you really not in a bad mood?” However, he only hummed in response to indicate he believed it.
“Even when you’re in a bad mood, you can call me,” Xu Ze spoke slowly, sounding both serious and cautious.
“Okay.” Lu Heyang looked at the desk, “I won’t bother you anymore. Do your exam.”
“You didn’t bother me,” Xu Ze whispered before Lu Heyang hung up the phone.
–
Lin Yumian came out of the shower and saw that his phone on the bed was lit up. He picked it up and saw messages from the housekeeper. The first one was from a minute ago: Sir, the Chairman is here.
The second message was sent three seconds ago: He’s almost in your room.
Lin Yumian tossed the phone back on the bed and took out a small pill bottle from the drawer of the bedside table. He unscrewed the lid to take out a blue pill and put it in his mouth.
Before he could get a glass of water, the door was opened.
Lu Chengyu took some time to look him up and down. Soon after he walked closer and raised his hand, spreading his palm on Lin Yumian’s chin, “Spit it out.”
Lin Yumian remained silent, pushing the pill with his tongue to try to swallow it. Lu Chengyu directly grabbed his jaw and forced him to open his mouth with one hand. He put two fingers of his other hand into Lin Yumian’s mouth and took out the pill. When he withdrew his hand, his fingertips stirred ambiguously in Lin Yumian’s mouth.
Lin Yumian watched Lu Chengyu crumble the pill between his fingers while his lower jaw was painfully clenched. He smelled the faint scent of alcohol on him. They didn’t meet often, and Lu Chengyu rarely came over sober—the Chairman spent all his sober hours on official duties, and it was only after drinking that he would briefly escape the world of fame and power to spend a few hours in Luanshan.
It was only for a few hours, but Lin Yumian found it hard to endure.
“What’s the point of taking this?” Lu Chengyu casually patted Lin Yumian’s cheek with his hand and asked.
Lin Yumian turned his face away, “If it’s useless, why don’t you let me take it?”
Mark-blocking pills, an extremely expensive miracle drug, were used between AOs that had been fully marked. Alphas were adept at using pheromones to make the omega they had marked submit or lose control, obtaining psychological and physiological pleasure out of it.
“Because this is a banned drug,” Lu Chengyu slowly unbuttoned his cufflinks and said.
“It’s only banned because you want it to be.”
A few years ago, due to Lu Chengyu’s decision, mark-blocking pills were classified as banned by the Union and were no longer produced or sold. Lin Yumian never thought that Lu Chengyu had banned it solely because he was taking it. He believed that Lu Chengyu was acting in the interest of the upper-class alphas.
“But you still managed to buy it.” Lu Chengyu relaxed his long legs on the carpet as he sat on the edge of the bed. He loosened his tie and looked up at Lin Yumian, “You had Jiang Wen help Heyang.”
It was a statement, not a question, implying that he already knew it very well.
Lin Yumian said, “You don’t know everything.”
“Then do you know that Tang Feiyi is targeting him?” Lu Chengyu casually threw the tie to the foot of the bed, “Jiang Wen and Tang Feiyi have an old grudge, you should know that too.”
“Jiang Wen has limits.” The alpha pheromones in the air gradually intensified, and Lin Yumian could barely breathe steadily, “Heyang is already an adult. He’ll handle it on his own.”
“Yes, he’s an adult now.” Lu Chengyu stared at Lin Yumian, his calm tone carrying a hint of indescribable frivolity, “By the time I was eighteen, I had already knocked up my future sister-in-law.”
This sentence caught Lin Yumian off guard, and he was unable to react for a moment. By the time his brain processed every word, he had already been yanked over by his wrists and pushed down on the bed. Lu Chengyu pinned Lin Yumian’s face to the side and bit the exposed, delicate glands on the omega’s nape.
–
“I heard that the S-level early admission schools have been announced.” Chi Jiahan asked while eating, “Which ones are you planning to apply to?”
“Universities in the capital or somewhere nearby.”
“Aren’t there a lot of options? You’ll have to choose a few.”
“I’m still looking,” Xu Ze said.
He was looking at the tuition fees, financial aid, and scholarships—compared to others, Xu Ze’s focus was not just on the major or the school.
“Are you sleeping enough these days?” Chi Jiahan knew that this question was unnecessary as Xu Ze clearly didn’t look well-rested.
“I’m okay,” Xu Ze answered.
Chi Jiahan had no intention of mentioning borrowing money again. Even if he did, it would be in vain. Despite Ye Yunhua’s increased monthly medical expenses, Xu Ze wasn’t in dire straits. The true crisis arose after Ye Yunhua’s surgery over half a year ago, prompting Xu Ze to exchange an emergency loan from Tang Feiyi on the condition that he fight at the boxing club.
“Has Tang Feiyi come to see you recently…”
Before this sentence could be finished, Chi Jiahan saw Xu Ze abruptly frown and then hastily cover his mouth. Xu Ze tilted his head to the side and retched as if he was about to vomit.
“Upset stomach?” Chi Jiahan stopped his chopsticks.
Xu Ze took a few breaths and shook his head.
“If it’s not an upset stomach, what is it?”
“I don’t know.” Xu Ze put his hand down, “It has been like this the past few days when I eat.”
“Go to the infirmary later, it’s probably a digestion problem.” Suddenly, something crossed Chi Jiahan’s mind and he blurted out, “It couldn’t possibly be pregnancy.”
He was just making a joke, but to his surprise, Xu Ze paused for a few seconds before quietly responding, “How could an alpha get pregnant.”
Chi Jiahan found Xu Ze’s reaction a little strange and couldn’t quite describe it. He took a bite of food and casually said, “That’s not necessarily true. Haven’t you studied physiology? Although the probability is super low, some alpha wombs have a low degree of degeneration, which makes it possible to get pregnant. But it can’t accommodate the growth of the fetus. So early detection and abortion are necessary.”
After waiting a good ten seconds with no response from Xu Ze, Chi Jiahan placed his chopsticks on the table and stared at him, “Is this a possibility for you?”
When there was still no answer, everything became clear. Chi Jiahan’s mood was too complex to put into words. Lu Heyang had come to school so infrequently this semester that you could count the times on one hand. Xu Ze was practically like a fool, deceived of his body and heart by an elusive scumbag alpha. It was possible that even after working at the auto repair shop until 2 am, he still had to accompany Lu Heyang to bed.
The gap between the two of them was so big, and the possibility of a future was so small—Xu Ze knew it, Lu Heyang knew it, and Chi Jiahan knew it too. So he didn’t understand why Lu Heyang would get so close to Xu Ze. Aside from just playing, Chi Jiahan couldn’t think of any other reason, even though Lu Heyang wasn’t the type to play around.
But whether he played seriously or casually, the result for Xu Ze wouldn’t be much different.
“Come to the hospital with me after school,” Chi Jiahan said coldly.
“I can’t today,” Xu Ze showed no expression on his face, no panic or uneasiness, and simply said, “I’m going to the Westside tonight.”
The manager had called him last night and mentioned the damages for breaching the contract. However, Xu Ze felt a sense of relief. This matter would have to be resolved one way or another, and it would be useless to avoid or ignore it.
After school in the evening, Xu Ze rode his bike to the subway station and later transferred to a bus. Upon arriving at the Westside, Xu Ze stopped at a roadside pharmacy before going to the club.
The store was small and old, and the clerk in a dusty white lab coat sat perfunctorily behind the counter, playing with his phone without looking up when someone entered.
“Hello, may I ask if you have…,” Xu Ze paused for a moment before continuing, “pregnancy tests?”
The clerk, still focused on the phone, nonchalantly reached for a corner shelf behind him and tossed a box of pregnancy tests onto the counter, “30.”
Xu Ze picked it up and saw what was printed on it: Omega-exclusive pregnancy test.
He had no knowledge about this, and this was the first time he learned that pregnancy tests were divided by gender. Xu Ze pushed the box back a little and asked, “Do you have any alpha ones?”
The clerk finally looked up at him. He put down his phone, stood up to take an alpha pregnancy test from a different section of the shelf, and placed it on the counter, “45.”
“Thank you.” Xu Ze took out his phone to pay.
The clerk took out a black plastic bag and put the pregnancy test inside. He opened a drawer and pulled out a small card, which he put into the plastic bag as well before tying a knot.
The card flashed past Xu Ze’s line of sight, but the title on it was conspicuous with the prominent words “Painless Abortion” in dark red.
Xu Ze silently took the bag and stuffed it into his backpack, then walked out of the pharmacy and headed toward the club.
Author’s note:
Lu Heyang: ? When did I make Xu Ze go to bed with me after he got off work at the auto repair shop at 2 am?
(There won’t be any plot involving pregnancy, abortion, or childbirth, so don’t worry. It’s just me lacking morality, there’s no other meaning.)
Ddang! The pregnancy got me scared 💀
The Lu parents seem messy 🤣
Gosh I thought Lu chengyu was an as**ole at first turned out that he’s worse than a sc*m 🤬
Pls i do really hope my boi xiao ze dont get pregnant our bois’ road has been hard enough already 🥹
lu father is a f**king scumbag bag and deserves a severe beating or maybe he deserves everything he cared for to destroyed like his career and reputation and wealth, and specially deserves to be beaten by lu dadu añd lu sister plus her ex…..hope he gets what he deserves…and maybe something even worse
Anyways thank you for the chapter ☺️
Oops I went a little overboard there and so many typos….
can this goddamn bstrd that call himself a father please go end himself? it’s been a long time since i’ve been this disgusted with a character, most of the time i’m just annoyed but here it’s going way too far for me lol