Hot search? What hot search?

The change of leadership in the Tao family certainly attracted attention. However, the Tao Corporation wasn’t publicly listed, and the Tao family was actively suppressing this news. Media outlets across the region that dared to report on it were few. The incident of Tao Zhixing’s death in a car accident was thoroughly covered up, with the official statement being that he died from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage on the night of May 24th, despite rescue efforts.

As the new head of the Tao family and chairman of the Tao Corporation, Sui Yuesheng’s news should be on the Kyushu financial channels, not trending on social media.

Tao Fengche was puzzled, unable to make sense of the situation. Zhao Jiayang, however, was the first to show a stern face, scolding, “Is it your place to speak now? Show some respect!”

Despite Zhao Jiayang’s usual playboy demeanor, he was still the second-in-command who had braved many dangers. Seeing his clear signs of anger, Jie Yushu, realizing his mistake, quickly lowered his head, trembling and not daring to retort.

“What exactly is going on?” Tao Fengche asked.

He wasn’t acting out of sympathy. Jie Yushu was Zhao Jiayang’s omega, and it was up to Zhao how he dealt with him; it had nothing to do with him. But he was genuinely curious about the matter.

Jie Yushu, anxious after his previous slip, cautiously glanced at Zhao Jiayang. Seeing Zhao’s silent permission, he composed himself and began to explain, “Young Master Tao, do you know Jiang Jingyun?”

Tao Fengche nodded. Not only in Jingpu, but throughout the entire Nine Provinces, the name was well-known.

The Nine Provinces was a representative democracy, with a five-year term for representatives who needed to run for re-election at the end of each term. Last year was an election year, and Jingpu had just elected a new mayor and city council members.

Typically, legislators were at least thirty-five years old, often in their forties or fifties. However, last year saw the rise of a dark horse—Jiang Jingyun, a twenty-eight-year-old alpha, returned from overseas studies, from a prominent political family, and with looks fit for the entertainment industry.

With high education, high intelligence, and campaign speeches focused on middle to low-income groups, taking a populist approach, he garnered significant support. He won by a landslide, becoming the youngest legislator since the reform in Nine Provinces.

He was indeed a rising star.

But Tao Fengche had little interaction with him. Although Jiang Jingyun’s political party had a good relationship with the Tao family, it wasn’t Jiang’s faction that was close to them.

Nevertheless, Jiang Jingyun had attended Tao Zhixing’s funeral a few days ago. He was a perfect representation of oriental elegance, looking extremely refined in his standard black suit, standing tall like a bamboo shoot.

A true example of the Jiang family’s distinguished lineage.

Jie Yushu continued, “Young Master Tao, you might not know, but Jiang Jingyun is extremely popular among betas and omegas.”

Tao Fengche: “…”

No, he was actually aware of this.

The class monitor in Tao Fengche’s class, a female omega, had an intense crush on Jiang Jingyun. She had changed her social media ID to include both their initials and set her profile background to Jiang Jingyun’s photo. One evening, Tao Fengche accidentally clicked on her profile and momentarily thought she was engaged to Jiang Jingyun.

After all, it was trendy to put your lover’s photo in your social media background to claim them.

However, Tao Fengche had no intention of sharing this mix-up with Jie Yushu and still couldn’t see the connection between Jiang Jingyun and Sui Yuesheng. He signaled Jie to continue with a nod.

“Yesterday, someone saw him on a date with a beta, first having dinner, then shopping together, appearing quite intimate. The person who spotted them, an omega, secretly took some photos and posted them on social media.”

“Given Jiang Jingyun’s popularity, the photos quickly caused a stir, breaking many beta and omega hearts and pushing the post to the top of the hot search. Since I work in the entertainment industry, I keep an eye on such things. I saw the post and clicked on it.”

“When I checked the post, someone in the comments had revealed the beta’s name—‘Sui Yuesheng,’ but the comment was quickly deleted. I saw it by chance and don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not.”

The name “Sui Yuesheng” was uncommon, making it unlikely but not impossible that it was someone else. Tao Fengche wondered, having never heard of any connection between Sui Yuesheng and Jiang Jingyun.

With recent events being turbulent, Tao Fengche was more cautious. He didn’t fully trust Jie Yushu’s words and skeptically asked, “Can you show me the post?”

Zhao Jiayang, who had been silently observing, suddenly intervened, “If it’s really about him and Jiang Jingyun, that post should be deleted by now. Jie, did you manage to get a screenshot?”

Jie Yushu felt a surge of apprehension. Being Zhao Jiayang’s kept omega meant he was Zhao’s possession. Omegas, though fewer in number, were never a rarity in the upper echelons. Zhao Jiayang could have many omegas besides him, but if he dared to keep photos of another alpha on his phone, it would be courting disaster. Yet, without the photos, it would seem like he was making baseless accusations.

Jie Yushu wasn’t dumb, just somewhat naive.

His mind raced, and he suddenly had an idea. He opened his social media app, scrolled through a chat window, and then handed his phone to Tao Fengche. “I didn’t save it, but my beta assistant likes him and mentioned it in our work group chat. Here, have a look, Young Master Tao.”

Tao Fengche took the phone and looked closely.

Gray hair, gray-blue eyes, and a distinctly non-oriental face… who else could it be but his ethereal brother, Sui Yuesheng?!

Instantly, Tao Fengche recalled his schedule from the previous day: morning boxing practice, afternoon shooting range, evening confirmation from Xu Song that Sui Yuesheng hadn’t returned, followed by three frustrating losses in a row in a ranked game, leading him to angrily go to bed.

So, Sui Yuesheng had been dining and shopping with the promising young alpha during that time?

Tao Fengche fell into silence.

After ten years of no contact, Sui Yuesheng reappeared, taking over Tao Zhixing’s authority yet ignoring Tao Fengche. Feeling neglected, Tao Fengche initially doubted Sui Yuesheng’s care for their friendship. Sui Yuesheng hadn’t returned to the Tao household in days, and Tao Fengche’s feelings of neglect turned into frustration, though deep down, he kept making excuses for Sui Yuesheng, thinking he might be busy with business matters…

As a result, the other party, being the new head of the Tao family and his newly appointed guardian, neither returned home nor went to the company. Instead, he went on a date with Jiang Jingyun!

Countless omegas dream of marrying into a wealthy family after getting close to Jiang Jingyun. No matter how big the Tao family’s business is, it can’t compare to a politician.

A faint voice appeared in Tao Fengche’s heart, saying that Sui Yuesheng would never be such a person. But previously, he always thought that Sui Yuesheng would never ignore him.

But Sui Yuesheng did exactly that.

After ten years without seeing each other, as time passed, Tao Fengche reluctantly accepted the fact at this moment—he didn’t understand Sui Yuesheng as well as he thought he did, the “first friend of his life.”

Now that the Tao family was without a leader, if Sui Yuesheng wanted to use the Tao family’s business, or the Tao family’s secret dealings, as a bargaining chip to join the Jiang family, now was the best time.

Tao Fengche had seen many such omegas who used their beauty or inherited wealth as a bargaining chip in marriage. They were natural morning glories, only able to survive by clinging to and parasitizing other plants.

Although the faint voice in Tao Fengche’s heart kept saying that Sui Yuesheng was different from other omegas, that he was special and would never do such a thing, but…

Even though he was unwilling, he had to admit the fact that: Tao Zhixing’s sudden death, the Red Gang eyeing them covetously, and the different agendas of the people below, all pointed to the decline of the once flourishing Tao family.

If a wedding could throw away all these messy things and make his life easier, and the marriage partner was a top-quality alpha… Tao Fengche thought from Sui Yuesheng’s perspective, he might do the same.

But although he could understand rationally, emotionally, he couldn’t and didn’t want to accept it.

He gripped the poor phone tightly, as if he wanted to crush it into a pile of broken parts with his bare hands. After a moment, he slowly relaxed his grip, placed it on the tea table, picked up the tea cup, and drank the cold tea in one gulp.

“Probably some business dealings, right? I actually only met Sui Yuesheng a few times, who knows what he’s thinking.” Tao Fengche pursed his lips.

Jie Yushu observed carefully and noticed that this pampered young master of the Tao family seemed uninterested in this topic, even somewhat repulsed, so he quickly changed the subject.

The afternoon passed quickly in idle chat. After having dinner with Tao Fengche, Zhao Jiayang and Jie Yushu took their leave. Tao Fengche sat alone at the dining table for a long time, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, and suddenly spoke.

“Uncle Xu, tomorrow is Tuesday, right?”

“Yes, young master.”

“Let the school know, I’ll start attending classes again tomorrow.”