Chapter 02: Xu Family’s Compensation

“Chanchan… Chanchan, open the door…” A woman’s voice, thick with tears, came from outside. “Chanchan, open the door. Mother has something to say to you. How could Xu Lihan do such a thing…”

Shi Chan left the window and opened the door.

The moment the door opened, a woman dressed in the latest designer outfit from a luxury brand, her eyes red, entered the room. She reached out to embrace Shi Chan. “Chanchan, don’t be sad. Your father will surely handle this…”

The visitor was Shi Chan’s mother in this world, Li Manman, who was also an omega.

In this world, people had an average lifespan of over two hundred years. Though Li Manman was already in her forties, she still looked as if she were Shi Chan’s age. Shi Chan wasn’t used to being so close to women, even if it was his own mother, so he dodged the hug.

His movement was unintentional, and Li Manman, her mind focused elsewhere, didn’t notice. She naturally dropped her hands, though her expression remained full of concern.

“Chanchan, don’t be too upset.” Li Manman tried to console her son as they both sat on the sofa.

“I’m fine,” Shi Chan replied truthfully.

But Li Manman thought Shi Chan was just pretending to be okay, which made her feel even worse for him. Her tears began to fall, “Chanchan, your father just found out about this, and he’s furious. He’s in contact with the Xu family right now. Don’t worry, Xu Lihan must be out of his mind. Maybe that omega seduced him, which is why he broke off the engagement like this…”

“Hmm.” Shi Chan had adjusted well to his omega status. Since Li Manman was convinced he was heartbroken, he didn’t bother to explain further. He merely responded nonchalantly, letting Li Manman continue, “Everyone knew about your engagement with Xu Lihan. Now that the Xu family has broken the engagement, it’s clearly their fault. No matter what, we won’t let you be wronged. We’ll make sure the Xu family gives us a proper explanation…”

Shi Chan glanced at Li Manman, whose eyes were full of worry and concern, but his heart remained calm.

Omegas are naturally sensitive and fragile creatures, and Li Manman’s comfort and care for Shi Chan were genuine and sincere, as she truly wanted justice for her child. However, Shi Chan knew all too well that this sincerity couldn’t compare to her love for her husband.

Even though Li Manman would pour her heart out to Shi Chan in one moment, the moment Shi Wen hinted at anything else, Li Manman would immediately “stab Shi Chan in the back” for him.

Of course, Li Manman wouldn’t physically harm Shi Chan. Shi Wen wouldn’t damage his precious omega son’s body either. What they did was use Shi Chan throughout his life to gain countless benefits, with Li Manman never uttering a word to stop it. The most she did was hold Shi Chan afterward, crying in guilt and worry.

In Shi Chan’s previous life, he had no parents, so when he discovered that he had a complete family in this life, he was initially very excited.

But Shi Chan quickly realized that when Shi Wen looked at him, there was no warmth in his eyes, only a sense of use and satisfaction. Li Manman’s feelings for Shi Chan were indeed sincere, but those feelings were purely for show and never stopped her from helping Shi Wen exploit her omega son, whom she supposedly cared about.

At first, Shi Chan was moved by the affection in his mother’s eyes. However, after Li Manman betrayed him time and again without hesitation for Shi Wen, Shi Chan’s heart slowly grew cold.

Now, when he saw the genuine emotion in Li Manman’s eyes, Shi Chan’s heart remained calm.

After a while, Shi Chan’s nominal father, Shi Wen, also entered the room, his face showing guilt, but his eyes betraying satisfaction.

As soon as he spoke, Shi Wen laid out his plans for Shi Chan: “Chanchan, regarding what happened between you and Major General Xu, the Xu family is also very apologetic. But Major General Xu has a stubborn nature and has fixated on that omega he met halfway, even marking him. So, the engagement between our two families has to be called off…”

Shi Wen gazed at Shi Chan, who was growing more beautiful and refined, a flash of satisfaction passing through his eyes as his tone softened. “However, the Xu family has given us compensation and promised to help find another excellent alpha for you during the delay period.”

After saying these nice things, Shi Wen also applied a little bit of reproach, a method of balancing rewards and punishments he had always favored. “Chanchan, it’s not that your father is blaming you, but alphas and omegas need to spend more time together. Think about it—how many times have you met with Xu Lihan since your engagement? Even if he’s busy with military duties, you could have taken the initiative to visit him. In this case, it can’t all be blamed on Lihan; what kind of omega is as cold and indifferent as you…”

Li Manman, listening to Shi Wen’s words, shifted her expression from worry to the same reproachful look, but upon seeing her son, who had “forced himself to bear the sadness,” her worry returned.

“Since you and Major General Xu are not destined to be, we’ll just find another excellent alpha. There’s still a year left on the delay, so there’s no need to rush.” As Shi Chan had anticipated, with Shi Wen present, Li Manman seemed to have completely forgotten her earlier insistence that they couldn’t let Shi Chan be wronged.

Shi Chan had reached the last year of his marriage eligibility. The day after tomorrow, he would begin matching with other alphas. Citizens who were dissatisfied with the matching results could apply for a delay, and the system would approve a one-year extension to allow citizens to find other marriage partners. If they remained unmarried after that year, they would be forced to marry their match.

Li Manman and Shi Wen were focused on this extra year. The quality of alphas in the system matching was usually not high, and Shi Wen was hoping to use Shi Chan for an alliance to strengthen the family, so he wouldn’t let Shi Chan casually match with just anyone.

Of course, in Shi Wen’s mind, this was for Shi Chan’s own good—marrying into a powerful and influential family to enjoy life would be far better than marrying a poor alpha and waiting for them to succeed before spending the rest of their lives together. That was the kind of wishful thinking only commoner omegas, who had no access to elite families, would indulge in.

Shi Chan was already used to their behavior. Because he had no expectations, he no longer felt hurt.

After all, the Shi family had at least raised him safely to adulthood. As long as they didn’t go too far, Shi Chan didn’t mind their little schemes—marriage might be a big deal for other omegas in this world, but Shi Chan didn’t care much about it.

He still had cultivation techniques in his mind and a certain level of power in his body. This world wasn’t as dangerous as his previous one. Even though his aptitude was a bit worse, slowly cultivating would still allow him to outlive most people. For him, marriage was just an optional part of life.

Shi Chan had already made plans. If he and his marriage partner got along, he would stay with them. If their relationship didn’t work out, he would find a way to fake his death, go into seclusion for a few decades, and wait for people to forget about him before reappearing under a new identity in a new place.

Li Manman, seeing her son’s cold and despondent expression, suddenly remembered the birthday banquet tomorrow and instinctively looked toward Shi Wen. “Brother Wen, since Major General Xu broke off the engagement, we’ll need to adjust Chanchan’s birthday banquet arrangements for tomorrow. Do you think we’ll still have time?”

“The birthday banquet…” Shi Wen frowned, clearly having forgotten about it.

Shi Wen had originally planned for Shi Chan’s 20th birthday banquet to coincide with his marriage to Major General Xu. The Xu family had also agreed to have Xu Lihan return for the occasion. Who could have predicted that Xu Lihan would secretly marry another omega?

Invitations had already been sent out, and everyone had assumed that the banquet would be when Xu Lihan and Shi Chan tied the knot.

Now, the banquet had suddenly become awkward.

“Why don’t we just celebrate Chanchan’s birthday with family? After what happened with Major General Xu, my terminal has been flooded with inquiries and mocking messages. If we still let them come tomorrow, I’m afraid Chanchan won’t be in a good mood…” Li Manman had heard a lot of backhanded remarks today about how the Shi family had tried to latch onto the Xu family, only to be snubbed. Her heart was still heavy, and she expected many people would come tomorrow just to watch the spectacle.

Shi Wen thought about it for a moment but rejected the idea. He intended to use the birthday banquet to announce the compensation from the Xu family and let the other families know that, even though Shi Chan didn’t marry the Xu family’s young master, the ties between the two families remained strong.

As for the feelings of the two omegas at home, Shi Wen didn’t understand why omegas would let others’ words upset them so much. He dismissively said, “Just pretend you didn’t hear anything. Don’t take it to heart.”

“The birthday banquet still needs to be held. Go check the venue and remove any decorations that are inappropriate. It’s fine if the event is shorter and simpler, just let them freely mingle at the end.” Although they received compensation from the Xu family, Shi Wen still felt embarrassed about Xu Lihan canceling the engagement at the last minute, so he emphasized, “Be thorough and clear out anything related to Xu Lihan.”

Li Manman, unable to refute Shi Wen’s orders, looked at Shi Chan with some guilt before nodding in agreement. “…Alright.”

Shi Chan wasn’t really listening. After all, it was only nominally his birthday party, but in reality, it was Shi Wen’s social gathering. His role was just to make a brief appearance at the beginning and then find a corner to relax in.

With Li Manman meticulously overseeing the preparations, the banquet venue was stripped of inappropriate elements overnight. By the next day, some new decorations were added to fill the gaps. Around six or seven in the evening, guests started arriving one after another.

As Shi Chan expected, the birthday banquet proceeded with him making a brief appearance on stage, receiving a wave of admiring gasps from the crowd below. The rest of the event was filled with Shi Wen boasting about his family’s close relationship with the Xu family.

Shi Chan wasn’t interested in Shi Wen’s performance, nor did he want to be bothered by others, so he found a quiet corner and cast a small spell called the Invisibility Charm, which made others instinctively overlook him.

Seeing guests who had initially approached him circle around a few times before wandering away in confusion, Shi Chan smiled in satisfaction, picking up a small cake and taking a bite, his eyes narrowing in contentment.

At the same time, in the Xi family’s villa district, a man who had been sitting at his desk writing something suddenly had a moment of distraction. It took him a while to regain his composure.

Noticing the strategic command notes he had been writing, the man’s gaze grew cold and violent. He raised his hand and tore apart the precious experience he had spent nearly two years compiling.

For a long while, the silent room echoed with a cold laugh.

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