Sui Yuesheng’s eyes widened quickly, filled with disbelief. However, Tao Fengche seemed to have anticipated his reaction. After he spoke, he swiftly retreated a few steps, standing once again at a safe distance, though the provocative expression on his face remained unchanged.

Sui Yuesheng clenched his teeth tightly, his chest heaving violently. He held back again and again but ultimately couldn’t contain himself and backhanded Tao Fengche across the face.

“Smack!”

The sound was crisp, delivered with full force, leaving no room for mercy.

His strength was so great that it hardly seemed like an omega’s. As the slap landed, the left side of Tao Fengche’s face instantly reddened and began to swell rapidly, visible to the naked eye.

The force was mutual; while Tao Fengche’s face swelled, Sui Yuesheng’s left hand went numb, and his palm ached faintly. He brought his hand behind his back, squinted his eyes slightly, and examined the result of his slap.

He had struck hard, expecting Tao Fengche to realize his mistake, or at least shut up. But Tao Fengche did neither.

Tao Fengche slowly used his tongue to push against his cheek, looking especially defiant. It was as if his nervous system had failed, feeling no pain at all. He mouthed to Sui Yuesheng: “Jiang Jingyun… did he make you feel good?”

They both understood lip reading, and both were well aware of what was being said.

Sui Yuesheng’s face turned pale instantly. Seeing his face turn as white as a sheet, Tao Fengche suddenly felt a surge of genuine pleasure.

Ever since their recent reunion at the memorial hall, Sui Yuesheng had worn a mask, even when being provoked by Elder Sun at the memorial hall. He had maintained an indifferent expression, as if everything in the world was fleeting and unworthy of his attention.

But at this moment, Tao Fengche had finally torn off that calm facade, and Sui Yuesheng was visibly enraged by his words. Tao Fengche felt an immense sense of satisfaction.

If you don’t want people to know, don’t do it. Did I say something wrong?

You’re walking around with Jiang Jingyun’s pheromones all over you, making it obvious, so why do you still want to act like a superior and lecture me?

I know all your secrets.

He once again pushed his cheek with his tongue, anticipating Sui Yuesheng’s reaction, even idly wondering if the other would get angry again and slap him.

This time, it should be the right cheek, right? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be symmetrical.

Because of this thought, Tao Fengche suddenly felt like laughing, but for some reason, his mouth didn’t curl up.

Sui Yuesheng, however, just stood there dazed, as if suddenly hit by some spell, his soul momentarily leaving his body.

Words turned into sharp blades, piercing him until he bled profusely. His heart felt like it had a big hole in it, with a fierce wind howling through. Despite the hot June weather, he was the first to feel cold.

He had anticipated that Tao Fengche might speak harshly and had prepared himself mentally, reminding himself repeatedly not to get angry with a kid. But that was all based on the premise that “Tao Fengche had forgotten him.”

Sui Yuesheng never expected that Tao Fengche would remember everything from the past so clearly, even remembering that he was an omega, and still say such things.

It was as if two little people appeared in his mind: one constantly pouring cold water on the erupting volcano, telling him to calm down and not argue with a rebellious teenager; the other fanning the flames, saying that the disrespectful brat needed a lesson, a good beating to remember.

The balance in Sui Yuesheng’s heart wavered. The more Tao Fengche’s face looked like it deserved a beating, the more it urged him to follow the latter’s suggestion. Years of training reflexes had already made him mentally prepare a whole plan of action.

In a flash, countless thoughts ran through his mind. He was even confident he could teach this overgrown child a lesson before the police arrived. After all, as Tao Fengche’s legal guardian, disciplining him was a family matter, and even the police had no right to interfere.

But in the end, he did nothing.

He stood there silently for half a minute, gave Tao Fengche a steady look, then turned and left, getting into the Karlmann King, leaving only a trail of exhaust for Tao Fengche.

If he had stayed a second longer, he feared he really couldn’t restrain himself and would have executed Tao Fengche on the spot.

Sui Yuesheng had brought his own driver, who prioritized his boss above all else. Since Sui Yuesheng showed no intention of waiting for Tao Fengche, the driver dared to leave this only heir of the Tao family standing alone at the police station entrance.

Tao Fengche wasn’t surprised that Sui Yuesheng didn’t wait for him, but he truly hadn’t expected that Sui Yuesheng didn’t act and had held back his anger.

He was first stunned, then suddenly burst into loud laughter. Eventually, he slowly squatted down to the ground, laughing so hard that he could barely catch his breath.

Passersby didn’t recognize this reclusive young master from the Tao family and only felt that the high school student squatting at the police station entrance seemed crazy. No one paid him any attention, and people even deliberately walked around him, afraid to get involved in trouble, creating a vacuum space around him. At a glance, it seemed as if a highly contagious disease carrier had hit the streets.

However, the police did recognize Tao Fengche. Even if they didn’t know his exact identity, they knew he was the student who had been brought in that day for fighting with hooligans and apparently had a powerful background.

A young alpha police officer soon walked out of the hall and approached Tao Fengche.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Tao Fengche looked up at him, wiped away the tears from laughing, and asked, “What’s the matter?”

He seemed impatient, but the young officer didn’t take it to heart.

Having just graduated from the police academy, the young officer hadn’t had a chance to fulfill his ambitions of tracking down criminals. Instead, he was assigned to the city bureau’s hall, dealing with trivial domestic issues every day. He had seen and persuaded many alphas like Tao Fengche who clashed with their parents.

At this moment, he resumed his usual routine, gently advising, “Did you have a conflict with your parents?”

“Hmm,” Tao Fengche responded vaguely, unwilling to say more.

The young officer’s eyes lit up.

A response was good! It meant communication was still possible. He was most afraid of those who were completely immersed in their own world and ignored everyone else. Given that Tao Fengche had laughed so hard, he feared the student might later try to jump off a building.

If that happened, the reporters, always ready to sensationalize, would accuse the police of rough handling.

But these parents too, the young officer thought, young and seemingly inexperienced in raising children. How could they beat the child and leave him here alone? However, for a prominent family like theirs, having an alpha caught by the police was indeed shameful.

It was time for him, a public servant, to step in!

Unaware of his misunderstanding, the young officer continued with the usual procedure.

Initially, Tao Fengche patiently listened to him. But as the officer kept saying, “Although the methods were a bit extreme, the parents are actually doing it for your own good,” and “Sometimes decisions made in the heat of the moment aren’t always correct,” along with “Parents love you, communicate well with them,” he felt like he had stumbled into a parent-child program.

Tao Fengche, growing increasingly impatient, finally interrupted the overly enthusiastic officer, “I understand. Can I borrow a phone?”

“Huh?”

The young officer was momentarily taken aback by the interruption.

“My phone is dead. Can I borrow yours to make a call? I need to notify my family to come pick me up.”

“Oh, okay.”

Tao Fengche opened the dialing interface, pondered for a moment, and dialed Xu Song’s number.

The old butler, well-informed, already knew about Tao Fengche’s fight and subsequent arrest, as well as Sui Yuesheng’s going to get him. Although puzzled about why Tao Fengche was now calling him, he didn’t show it. After agreeing to arrange a car immediately, he thoughtfully asked if he should come along.

“No need, Uncle Xu, just send the driver,” Tao Fengche promptly declined.

The Tao family’s old mansion was far away, and it wasn’t practical to keep standing at the police station entrance. Tao Fengche returned to the familiar conference room to sit down. After confirming that he didn’t need further company and was clear-headed enough to not do anything foolish, the young officer reluctantly walked away, soon returning with a tablet for him to use.

But Tao Fengche had no mood for it.

When the driver arrived, he closed his eyes and replayed all the events of the day in his mind for the third time, scrutinizing every detail, including Sui Yuesheng’s micro-expressions.

The confusion, anger, and sadness on his face at the time didn’t seem fake.

For some reason, the young officer’s words, “Decisions made in the heat of the moment aren’t always correct,” kept echoing in his mind.

Looking back, he realized he had indeed been blinded by anger, consumed with thoughts of using the most hurtful words to wound Sui Yuesheng. And he had succeeded.

But… could he have misunderstood?

As he pondered deeply, his mind felt like a tangled ball of yarn unraveled by a cat, with no clear thread in sight. As the car approached the foot of the Tao family mountain, he was preparing to make up his mind, cutting through the confusion. When he saw Sui Yuesheng, he would first apologize for his impulsive words, then carefully ask about the pheromone issue to clarify things.

But then, he suddenly saw a low-key white car driving down from the mountain.

At first, he thought it was Zhao Jiayang, but the color and style of the car didn’t match his taste, and the license plate was unfamiliar.

“Who is that?”

The Tao family driver, who had a keen eye for the license plates of high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen in Jingpu City, squinted and said, “Isn’t that congressman Jiang Jingyun’s car?”

The Tao family had no connection with the Jiang family… Could he be here to see Young Master Sui?

Before the driver could figure it out, a cold snort came from the back seat. Glancing at the rearview mirror, he saw Tao Fengche’s gloomy face as he raised his hand to press the button, and the partition between the front and back seats rose again.

Well, the young master was in a bad mood again, the driver wisely kept silent.