Quietly, Sui Yuesheng entered.

Perhaps due to exhaustion, or perhaps because the person who came in was too familiar, Tao Fengche, who was usually very alert, surprisingly did not wake up this time.

Compared to the lit corridor, the room was much darker. Tao Fengche’s room was large, and even during the day, the new servants in the Tao household had gotten lost a few times. But Sui Yuesheng was very familiar with this place.

Under the tranquil moonlight, with just one glance, he found the lump on the bed.

Sui Yuesheng walked quietly to the bedside and quietly lowered his head to look at the underage alpha lying on the bed.

It had been a long time since he had seen Tao Fengche from such a close distance. Moreover, the latter was completely defenseless this time. Sui Yuesheng could freely observe him from head to toe with his gaze.

Tao Fengche was oblivious to all of this. He lay on his side, facing Sui Yuesheng’s direction, his body curled slightly like a fetus in the womb, but there were obvious signs of redness around his eyes.

“Tsk.” Sui Yuesheng furrowed his brow slightly. Afraid of waking Tao Fengche up, he didn’t dare touch his skin. Instead, he bent down and lightly touched the pillow beside his face.

As expected, the texture of the pillow was damp, as if it had just been washed with water.

He sighed imperceptibly and, with his hand hanging in the air over Tao Fengche’s head for a while, as if wanting to touch his head, he ultimately just mimicked the motion and withdrew his hand.

Then, just like when he arrived, he quietly walked out of the room.

“Did he cry again?” Closing the door gently, he turned to ask Xu Song, who was standing nearby.

“The young master closed the door, so I’m not sure, but…” Xu Song smiled, his expression tinged with affection, the kind that elders had for juniors.

Tao Fengche was too sensitive. Xu Song didn’t follow Sui Yuesheng inside, but even with his eyes closed, he could imagine the scene: “Is the pillow wet?”

Sui Yuesheng nodded.

Xu Song smiled, showing a “everyone knows” expression. “Let’s not talk about that. If the young master finds out, he’ll be angry again.”

Sui Yuesheng also smiled, a somewhat helpless expression. “It’s just like when he was a child, getting angry and crying.”

After saying this, he fell silent again, his gaze somewhat distant, his eyes slightly narrowed, as if immersed in distant memories. Xu Song stayed silent with him for a while and finally couldn’t help but speak again: “Actually, he has changed a bit.”

“Hmm?” Sui Yuesheng was puzzled.

“Now he cries less, and he’s learned to cry behind people’s backs.”

Yes, if it were in the past… After Tao Fengche cried out of anger, he would probably come running over to him for comfort, Sui Yuesheng thought.

His expression became somewhat complex, seeming like he wanted to laugh but also felt a bit sorrowful. After a while, he abruptly changed the subject, telling Xu Song that he was going to freshen up.

Sui Yuesheng had hurried here, taking a quick bath on the plane and changing into clean clothes, but the conditions onboard were relatively simple. He had endured until now, but the places where blood and dust had stuck to his body were starting to itch.

“I’ll have the staff downstairs prepare it right away.” Xu Song nodded and then asked, “Young Master Sui, are you going to have breakfast at home tomorrow morning?”

“Together with the Young Master,” he added thoughtfully.

Sui Yuesheng hesitated for a moment, his expression struggling, but after a moment, he shook his head. “No, the driver will come to pick me up at 5:30 tomorrow morning, and I still need to wrap things up over there.”

Xu Song seemed to have something to say but hesitated. After thinking about it, Sui Yuesheng continued, “But it won’t be long. Once I’m done there, I’ll move back.”

“That’s good.” Xu Song nodded and repeated, “That’s good.”

Perhaps it was because he was getting older, but seeing Tao Fengche living alone in such a large mansion, Xu Song always felt a twinge of pity. It would be best if the young master Sui could move back soon.

If he were here, at least he could keep the young master company. It was different from the other servants. Xu Song thought so.

Early the next morning, Tao Fengche felt uneasy sitting at the dining table drinking congee.

Since waking up in the morning, this strange feeling had lingered, as if he had been enveloped by a very familiar aura last night. Although his emotions before falling asleep had been extremely complicated, he woke up feeling unusually at ease.

Tao Fengche felt unusually light-hearted for no apparent reason.

It was really unusual, almost like… when Sui Yuesheng was still at home.

But at this time, the other party should still be on a date with Congressman Jiang Jingyun, right? Congressman Jiang had just gone to inspect the suburbs of Jingpu yesterday. If Sui Yuesheng wanted to climb up that high branch, he should have been with him the whole time.

Although Tao Fengche thought so in his heart, his actions were very honest. He inadvertently looked around, but he couldn’t find any traces of Sui Yuesheng having returned.

“Young Master, you’re going to be late.” Xu Song glanced at the clock on the wall and reminded him quietly.

“Oh, right,” Tao Fengche nodded, finished the congee in his bowl in one gulp, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and quickly walked out of the dining room—the driver had been waiting at the door for some time.

He searched everywhere, but Xu Song didn’t say anything, as expected… it must be his own illusion.

Tao Fengche closed his eyes.

But what he didn’t expect was that Xu Song really didn’t say anything this time.

Firstly, he didn’t think it was particularly surprising for Sui Yuesheng to come back to visit Tao Fengche, something worth specifically mentioning to him. Secondly, since Tao Fengche was about thirteen or fourteen, he had become more reserved; if he found out others knew about his crying secretly last night…

To protect the fragile pride of this underaged alpha, the old butler kept silent thoughtfully.

···

Cai Hong had already been taken home by his parents to recuperate. After yesterday’s show of strength, even if some students were dissatisfied with Tao Fengche, no one dared to show it openly on the surface. After all, no one wanted to be the next Cai Hong.

Tao Fengche was pleased with this outcome. He attended school regularly, did his homework, and deliberately copied the answers for biology. Life returned to normal, as if everything had returned to square one.

But the calm school life didn’t last long.

Early Friday morning, just as Tao Fengche arrived at school, Wang Yuan plopped down on the chair in front of him, leaned in mysteriously, and winked at him. “Hey, Tao ge, have you heard?”

After handing in his homework, Tao Fengche was puzzled. “Heard what?”

He stared at Wang Yuan’s face, unable to hide his excitement, and tried to guess. “Could it be… they canceled the monthly exams in June?”

“Are you dreaming? Jingpu wouldn’t cancel exams even if the sky fell!” Wang Yuan rolled his eyes, then rallied, “Something big happened last night at the omega dorm.”

Their high school had both boarding and day students. The dormitories were divided by gender into three buildings, each with independent bathrooms and two-person rooms. Students could choose whether to live in the dorms. Like Wang Yuan, who lived far away, quite a few students moved into the dorms because they couldn’t get up early in the morning, and the cost of staying in the dorms was negligible for them.

“What happened? Another omega came of age?” Tao Fengche didn’t understand why this monthly occurrence would be so surprising.

Wang Yuan vigorously nodded, his face full of gossip. “It’s a senior in the third year, quite good-looking. The school doctor was prepared, but his pheromones… “

Tao Fengche, unlike most alphas, wasn’t particularly interested in omega affairs. But as a matter of politeness, he asked, “What happened?”

“Have you ever smelled durian-flavored pheromones? It’s fragrant for miles around. We didn’t smell anything here, but they said someone at the omega dormitory smelled it and vomited on the spot.” Wang Yuan’s face was full of pity. “What’s he going to do in the future?”

“There will always be alphas who like durian.”

Tao Fengche replied indifferently, preparing to dismiss Wang Yuan. But just as he was about to speak, a thought that had been troubling him for a long time suddenly came to mind.

He was indeed not very interested in omega matters, and naturally didn’t understand much. But Wang Yuan was well-informed about every detail of Omega, having won awards in information olympiads. Who knows, he might really know?

Driven by this thought, he inexplicably blurted out, “Do you think there are omegas without pheromones?”

“Are you saying… there’s no pheromone?” Wang Yuan paused.

After all, they were still in class, and when discussing such private matters, he instinctively lowered his voice: “By taking suppressants before the heat period, wouldn’t there be no pheromones? Your family deals in this business, and you’re asking me? What’s this, Tao Ge, are you testing my knowledge on physiology?”

It was no wonder Wang Yuan asked this.

They had discussed this in elementary school physiology class: omega pheromones were divided into two types. The pheromone produced after adulthood was O1, which only occurred during heat and could trigger an alpha’s heat; the special pheromone was O2.

Adult omegas generally have heat once a year. Except during the pregnancy period, most omegas inject or take suppressants when their heat arrives to prevent the formation of O2. The Taos relied on producing suppressants to make a name for themselves. Even now, this still brought considerable income to the Tao family.

Tao Fengche did not pay attention to his friend’s teasing and shook his head seriously: “No, really, there are no pheromones.”

He seemed to have the ability to read minds, and quickly interrupted what Wang Yuan was about to say: “I am sure this is an adult omega, but he… doesn’t have any scent at all. What I mean is, there’s neither O1 nor O2, just like a very ordinary beta.”

He concealed the fact that he had once smelled the other person’s pheromones; otherwise, Wang Yuan would easily guess the person’s identity. But he believed that Wang Yuan absolutely understood what he was talking about.

Sure enough, Wang Yuan suddenly realized, but his expression was different from what Tao Fengche had expected.

Wang Yuan teased, “Tao Ge, I never thought that even you…”

Tao Fengche: “?”