extra ko-fi chapter (2/4) for szm 
sending lots of love（〜^∇^)〜❤️
Xu Ze struggled to swallow the food in his mouth, “I didn’t take photos of the fliers.”
“Just kidding,” Lu Heyang didn’t ask more as if it was really just a joke and said, “Eat some more.”
After managing to take a few more bites, Xu Ze put down his chopsticks and said, “I’m full.”
“Let’s get some sleep. Do you want to go back to your room or sleep here?”
Xu Ze didn’t know why he gave the choice to him. He discovered that he was more used to following Lu Heyang’s orders.
“Is it difficult to decide?” Lu Heyang asked when Xu Ze didn’t respond.
Xu Ze shook his head. He took a sip of water and said while avoiding Lu Heyang’s eyes, “Here.”
After washing his face in the bathroom, Xu Ze lay down on the bed. Lu Heyang closed the curtains with the remote control to dim the room. As Lu Heyang got on the bed, he noticed there was room for two more people between him and Xu Ze.
“What are you doing?” Lu Heyang’s voice sounded a little helpless.
Xu Ze scrambled to his side. Lu Heyang reached under the covers and slipped his hand into Xu Ze’s T-shirt. His palm naturally rested on Xu Ze’s warm belly. He just left it there without any further movement. Xu Ze held his breath and his body tensed. After a few seconds, he leaned over to Lu Heyang.
Just as he was about to kiss Lu Heyang, Lu Heyang asked unfazed, “What time does the afternoon seminar start?”
Xu Ze stopped and fell back onto his pillow. He didn’t look at him and replied, “Two o’clock, or maybe half past two, I don’t remember.”
Lu Heyang withdrew his hand and pulled down the hem of Xu Ze’s clothes, “You wouldn’t forget something like that. What time is it really?”
Caught in the lie, Xu Ze could only confess, “Half past one.”
Lu Heyang chuckled softly, covering Xu Ze’s eyes, “Sleep.”
Calluses seemed to have formed on his hands. Xu Ze felt a tingling sensation when he pressed his lower abdomen just now. He took Lu Heyang’s hand and rubbed between his thumb and index finger, “Have you been practicing shooting?”
“Mn, I’ve been practicing more these days. There might even be a smell of gunpowder. Give it a sniff.”
Xu Ze held Lu Heyang’s thumb with one hand and his index finger with the other. He separated his fingers and put his nose near the middle of the fingers. He sniffed and only caught a faint scent of pheromones. Xu Ze said, “There’s none.”
“What should we do then?” Lu Heyang asked.
The lighting was too dim, and even though they were close, Xu Ze couldn’t see Lu Heyang’s expression clearly. So he wasn’t sure if he was seriously asking this strange question.
“Not much to do,” he realized Lu Heyang was probably joking again. Xu Ze held his hand tightly under the blanket. They had slept in the same bed, but not slept in the same bed. Simply lying together like this was a bit unfamiliar to Xu Ze. He came up with a topic, “Why did you two come to the seminar?”
Both Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi were sure of their plans to apply to the military academy, so they did not need to attend.
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.
“We had a day off, so we came back to handle some formalities.”
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Lu Heyang knew that Xu Ze must be sleepy and exhausted. After working at the auto repair shop until 3 am, Xu Ze had to get up at 7 am to gather at the school gates and attend the seminar until noon.
The phone on the bedside table vibrated. Lu Heyang looked at Xu Ze for a few seconds, then slowly pulled out his hand. Xu Ze wasn’t holding tightly and felt Lu Heyang’s hand gradually slipping away. Though he tried to hold on to it gently, the realization that he couldn’t hold on made him release it the next second. He pulled his hand back and curled up, burying half his face in the covers.
Lu Heyang got out of bed while picking up his phone and walked out of the bedroom. He went to the living room to grab his backpack before leaving the suite.
–
In the evening, Lu Qingmo attended a municipal government meeting after getting off the plane. Afterward, the Wei family sent a car to pick her up for a family dinner.
“As an omega, you should put family first and put your career on hold for now. It’s time to have a child.”
“We discussed this with the Chairman last time. It’s better to prepare for a child while you’re young. The quality of the next generation will be higher.”
“You and Lingzhou certainly won’t have just one child so it’s important to have the first one early and recover as soon as possible to have younger siblings. It’s also for the sake of your health.”
Throughout the meal, the Wei family’s parents continued to feed these points to Lu Qingmo. She remained as composed as ever, showing no emotion and occasionally offering a routine smile to avoid appearing rude.
After the meal, the two elders left first, leaving only Lu Qingmo and Wei Lingzhou in the house. Wei Lingzhou held a drink and leaned back lazily in his chair, staring at Lu Qingmo with a smirk, “Didn’t you always leave after eating? Why are you willing to stay today?”
“Why did you send someone to beat him up?” Lu Qingmo asked in a dull tone.
“Who?” Wei Lingzhou looked like he was thinking, then suddenly let out a laugh, “Oh, the one surnamed Han.”
“You stayed just to ask about that.” He lit a cigarette, “I heard that he harassed you, so I gave him a warning.”
Lu Qingmo looked at him, “When did he harass me?”
“How could you even forget this? The last time you gave a speech at the Foreign Affairs University, wasn’t it the one surnamed Han who came to pester you after the speech was over? I can’t imagine Mrs. Wei striking up a conversation with a beta on her own, so of course I had someone teach him a lesson.”
She had not forgotten it because it was the only conversation the two of them had had in several years aside from their chance encounter at the hotel. Lu Qingmo remembered it well. She and Han Jian stood face to face a little over a meter apart and exchanged less than ten sentences.
“He didn’t harass me. We had a normal conversation,” Lu Qingmo said, “I hope you won’t interfere in such matters in the future.”
Lu Qingmo could slap countless pictures of Wei Lingzhou messing around with other omegas on his face if necessary. However, she wouldn’t do that because she didn’t love Wei Lingzhou and therefore didn’t care about his personal life. Alphas, on the other hand, were different, even without feelings, they were inclined to dominate the other person into submission and make them their exclusive possession.
“How can that be done?” Wei Lingzhou sat up and leaned slightly in Lu Qingmo’s direction, “This kind of person needs a good beating. He almost lost a leg and still dares bother you. He’s lucky I didn’t cripple him this time, he won’t be so lucky next time.”
Lu Qingmo frowned and turned her head to avoid the smell of cigarettes and alcohol, then stood up. Wei Lingzhou kept the cigarette in his mouth and smiled as he looked at her.
The lighting in the dining room was bright. Lu Qingmo raised her hand decisively and slapped Wei Lingzhou’s face.
The resounding “slap” echoed through the room. Wei Lingzhou was hit so hard that his head tilted to the side. The cigarette in his mouth flew into his drink and hissed out. The ringing in his ears filled his brain, and his cheek turned red and swollen. After some time, Wei Lingzhou turned in disbelief, his red eyes glaring at Lu Qingmo.
Lu Qingmo looked straight at him calmly and slapped him again with the back of her hand.
Caught off guard twice in a row by the sudden slaps, Wei Lingzhou dared not make any rash moves. The omega in front of him was not only Mrs. Wei but also the Chairman’s eldest daughter. That year, he made the decision single-handedly to arrange a car accident targeting Han Jian without consulting Lu Chengyu. It was only with the idea of forcing Lu Qingmo to compromise that Lu Chengyu gave his approval. However, this didn’t mean that Lu Chengyu would continue to give him face now.
No amount of wealth could withstand even the finger of the person in power. It would be easy for Lu Chengyu to ruin the Wei family. If the usually cooperative Lu Qingmo was truly provoked and caused something unexpected in this arranged marriage, the Wei family would undoubtedly be the first to suffer.
“You can try,” Lu Qingmo’s voice was calm. She took a paper towel to wipe her hands, then picked up her bag and left the dining room.
–
Until the end of the evening seminar, Xu Ze regretted why he had fallen asleep so quickly at noon. He hadn’t even noticed that Lu Heyang had left. Normally, even when tired, he would mull over things for some time before falling asleep.
I have to go. The room will be checked out tomorrow, so sleep here tonight. If He Wei wants you to hang out with him, just ignore him and rest well—Xu Ze read the message that Lu Heyang had sent him several times and regretted it even more. If he hadn’t fallen asleep, he could have heard Lu Heyang explain these things in person.
As expected, He Wei, who had slept enough during the day, was full of energy at night and invited Xu Ze to go to a bar. Remembering Lu Heyang’s instructions, Xu Ze declined and returned to the suite.
After showering and finishing a test paper, Xu Ze washed his face and went to bed. The bed was large but Xu Ze only lay on the right side—where Lu Heyang had slept at noon. Xu Ze brought his nose close to the pillow and sniffed meticulously like an animal, until finally catching the barely noticeable scent of Lu Heyang’s pheromones.
His phone beeped and he immediately picked it up. It was a text message from an unknown number. However, the unknown number could also be Lu Heyang’s because it appeared that Lu Heyang had many domestic and international numbers. Every time a new one appeared, Xu Ze saved it in his contacts. They were numbered starting from 1, and now there were already more than a dozen, although many of them might never be used again.
If Xu Ze didn’t know about Lu Heyang’s family background, he would have thought he was peddling SIM cards.
Xu Ze opened the message. It contained several pictures. As he clicked on the first one and realized what it was, he suddenly sat up and held his breath.
It was part of a file and materials related to a case from ten years ago.
Xu Ze had never doubted Xu Ming’s death. His mother, Qiao Yuan, had once believed in the lies of others, which had led to her being cheated out of their savings and benefits, and eventually to her slitting her wrists. Even his grandmother was affected by this. Despite all this, Xu Ze had no resentment or grudge because he knew that his father had died in the line of duty.
Thus, despite learning from the file that Xu Ming had died in a drug-related incident, his opinions remained unchanged—that is, until he saw a familiar face on a screenshot of a surveillance video.
Xu Ze quickly recalled that it was an alpha named Shao Ping who had a close relationship with Tang Feiyi. Shao Ping had also been a trusted subordinate of Tang Feiyi’s father, and the materials clearly pointed to Shao Ping as the main culprit in the drug case. He had shot and killed three police officers while fleeing.
However, Xu Ze remembered that Shao Ping was the owner of the underground casino and had often appeared with Tang Feiyi at the club. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have any impression of him.
When he swiped to the last page, there was no mention of Shao Ping in the list of criminals who were killed on the scene or arrested and sentenced, indicating that he had managed to escape at that time and was still very much alive and working with Tang Feiyi.
More importantly, there was no mention in the document of any officer losing his footing and falling down the mountain. Only the three police officers who were shot were mentioned.
After reviewing all the pictures again and sorting out the information in his mind, Xu Ze began to think about who sent this. He dialed the number, but it appeared to be a temporary number, so he didn’t get through.
It couldn’t be Lu Heyang. Xu Ze thought that Lu Heyang wouldn’t have the time to investigate such matters, and even if he did, he wouldn’t send it to him without any other explanation.
The second person who came to mind was Tang Feiyi, but Xu Ze couldn’t understand his motive for doing it.
It was already late. Xu Ze saved the photos, turned off his phone, and lay down under the covers.
He had thought he could control his emotions, until he found himself unable to fall asleep, despite closing his eyes for more than an hour.
What was the probability that the contents of the materials were fabricated? It was low. The documents were stamped by the Capital Bureau and case records were comprehensive. Furthermore, the events occurred in the same city on the same day as his father lost his life ten years ago. It was all too coincidental. The only inconsistency was that Xu Ming was not a narcotics officer but an ordinary detective, although it didn’t rule out the possibility of him being assigned a support mission.
If all this was true, it proved that the wanted criminal who killed the police officer was still making money free and unfettered, while the officer’s family had been gradually going toward ruin over the past ten years—it also meant that Xu Ze had brushed shoulders with his father’s killer multiple times at the club without realizing it.
Xu Ze still remembered his last meeting with his father. That day, Xu Ming and Qiao Yuan took him to school. Xu Ze didn’t cry or make a fuss. The teacher at the school gates patted his head and told him to go inside. Xu Ze took a few steps while carrying his backpack, then turned around to see Xu Ming and Qiao Yuan standing by the roadside under a sycamore tree in the morning light, waving to him through the crowd.
Those two faces had become blurry in his memory, but the morning sun and the green sycamore leaves were still as clear as if it had been yesterday.
At that time, there was no one to warn young Xu Ze that he was about to lose everything.
The next day when the seminar ended in the evening, Xu Ze went to the auto repair shop without eating dinner. At 10 pm, Xu Ze emerged from under the car, washed his hands, and secretly ate the now-cold meal in the tool room—he was afraid that the bodyguard would see him and order him another meal.
While eating, Xu Ze dialed the strange number from last night for the eleventh time. The temporary number had expired and kept showing that the number was out of service.
With food stuffed in his mouth, Xu Ze’s eyes were unfocused on the ground. He rarely had such an urgent desire to investigate something. At the same time, he was at a loss. He didn’t know what to do or how to solve it. The text message was too bizarre and direct, pointing all the arrows at a specific person as if openly tempting him to find out the truth.
No matter who sent the message and for what purpose, Xu Ze couldn’t help but want to seek confirmation. The question that had tormented Qiao Yuan many years ago: How exactly did Xu Ming die?—This question fell on him unexpectedly, and he couldn’t ignore it.
His phone rang. Xu Ze was snapped out of his thoughts. Another unknown number appeared on the screen. For some reason, he hesitated a few seconds before answering.
It wasn’t a stranger; it was Lu Heyang.
“Are you at the auto repair shop?”
“Mn.”
“What’s wrong?”
Xu Ze didn’t understand how Lu Heyang was so perceptive that he noticed something amiss just by hearing the “Mn” response. He paused and replied, “Nothing.”
“Okay, then I’ll hang up.”
Xu Ze nodded and once again said “Mn.” His thoughts were too chaotic at the moment, and he didn’t dare to say too much for fear of revealing more than he should.
After exiting the training room, Lu Heyang handed the phone back to Gu Yunchi. Gu Yunchi wiped his sweat with a towel. He noticed that Lu Heyang’s expression was a little cold and asked, “What’s up?”
Nothing, but even through the phone, he could feel Xu Ze’s distraction and caution as if he was afraid that something bad would happen if he said one more word. Xu Ze didn’t notice anything strange in the less than 15-second call and didn’t even ask “Is something wrong?” This wasn’t like Xu Ze at all.
“Nothing.” Lu Heyang frowned as he contemplated what lay ahead, and said incoherently, “Too difficult to teach.”
He insisted on handling everything himself and was never willing to open up unless you carried him by the scruff of his neck or stepped on his tail. He was really difficult to teach.
Author’s note:
Lu Heyang: This wife is difficult to handle
But he is still your cute little wife~~
damn that slap was satisfying… but not nearly enough
i knew there was something sus about his dad dying by falling off a mountain. it’s never so simple