When the clock’s hands pointed between the numbers “2” and “3,” the large conference room on the top floor of the Tao Corporation office building finally opened its doors.

Hungry executives streamed out, their faces etched with exhaustion. That day’s regular meeting had gone exceptionally long, lasting from 9 AM until now, nearly six hours of intense focus while fielding sharp questions from Sui Yuesheng. They had only taken a few sips of water during the whole meeting, and even the toughest of people couldn’t handle it anymore.

The executives were so tired they could hardly speak and dispersed to find something to eat.

Assistant Zhou hurried out of the tea room, holding a cup of brewed tea in his left hand and a mobile phone in his right, making his way directly into the conference room, cutting through the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea.

Sui Yuesheng, with his eyes closed, was quietly leaning against the end of the long table in the boss’s chair. His face looked a bit pale, and combined with his delicate features, he unexpectedly appeared somewhat fragile, evoking a bit of sympathy.

Even Assistant Zhou, who had been with him for a long time and knew his true nature, couldn’t help but momentarily lose focus.

…His boss’ face was truly deceptive.

He muttered to himself, placing the tea cup on the table and clearing his throat. “Boss, the tea is here.”

“Mm.” Sui Yuesheng slowly opened his eyes, and the moisture in his gaze quickly vanished.

He picked up the cup and drank the strong tea in one gulp. When he spoke again, his eyes were sharp once more, and his voice was clearer, as if that brief moment of rest allowed him to once again don his tireless facade.

“Speak. What’s the matter?”

Assistant Zhou respectfully finished reporting the work matters, and at the end, cautiously added, “Young Master Tao’s school sent a message.”

“Hmm?” Sui Yuesheng took the phone from him and looked at it—

【Dear Parent of Tao Fengche, Greetings! Tao Fengche’s end-of-term exam results for the second semester of sophomore year are as follows: Chinese 68 points, Math 36 points, English 43 points, Comprehensive Science 77 points (Physics 27 points, Chemistry 29 points, Biology 21 points), totaling 224 points, ranked 240th in the school, a drop of 239 places compared to the June monthly exam. With summer vacation here, please ensure your child completes their summer homework on time and receives proper safety education. Thank you!】

He stared blankly for a moment, and then began to doubt his own eyes.

He must be too busy and even misread numbers. When he gets a chance, he should probably ask Jing Ning if it’s some side effect of medication or something…

Sui Yuesheng smiled self-deprecatingly, closed his eyes to rest for a moment, and reopened them, but the unyielding “224 points” and “240th place” on the screen seemed to mock his naivety.

But how could this be? How could Tao Fengche have such results? Sui Yuesheng couldn’t understand.

If he didn’t know that the school notification wouldn’t lie, he would almost suspect it was a cruel April Fool’s joke.

He maintained his posture, sitting quietly in the chair for a while, his expression shifting unpredictably. Assistant Zhou, bewildered, glanced at the screen with his peripheral vision, his breathing suddenly becoming heavier.

— Tao Fengche’s grade had eight classes in total, each with 30 students. Tao Fengche was the last one in his grade.

This young master of the Tao family had always had good grades, so what was happening this time? Was he just bored and messing around?

Assistant Zhou couldn’t make sense of it, and cautiously glanced at Sui Yuesheng’s face, immediately falling silent, trying to minimize his presence.

Sui Yuesheng sat for a while longer, and as if suddenly recalling something, his expression changed drastically. He immediately stood up from the chair, picked up his suit jacket, and instructed, “Prepare the car. I need to go to the Tao family residence.”

“Ah?” Assistant Zhou was taken aback. “Boss, I ordered lunch for you. How about eating a bit before you go?”

Sui Yuesheng had slightly wobbled when he stood up, though he quickly steadied himself. Assistant Zhou was still alarmed—Sui Yuesheng had a mild stomach condition, and the doctor had advised him to avoid medication for now but to take good care of himself. Yet, it was almost 3 PM, and he hadn’t had lunch…

If he were to collapse suddenly, it wouldn’t be a joke.

“Not needed.” Sui Yuesheng pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t have time to eat. I’ll go back and come right back.”

Seeing Sui Yuesheng’s insistence, Assistant Zhou could only nod, calling the driver to bring the car to the door and heading to the break room to bring Sui Yuesheng’s lunch.

Fortunately, the back seat of the Karlmann King was spacious. Although Sui Yuesheng said he wasn’t eating, he didn’t refuse when Assistant Zhou handed him the food. As he spread out the meal, he quickly ate a couple of bites, finally filling his stomach and starting to handle the accumulated paperwork from the morning.

The Tao family residence was a bit of a distance from the Tao Corporation. After finishing the paperwork, Sui Yuesheng even had time for a brief nap. He slept lightly, and as soon as the car stopped at the Tao family residence, he woke up before Assistant Zhou had a chance to call him.

Sui Yuesheng frowned slightly, not waiting for the driver to open the door and instead pushing it open himself. After changing into slippers at the door, he quickly ran upstairs.

Facing Tao Fengche’s terrible final exam results, Sui Yuesheng thought for a while and could only come up with one reason—Tao Fengche must have been unwell those days.

He had experienced something similar himself.

After just having received a secret injection, his pheromones had been unstable, leading to frequent fevers. Fortunately, he had stayed in the research institute at the Tao family residence at the time, so nothing went wrong.

But he happened to be receiving one-on-one tutoring from a private tutor then. On several occasions during after-class tests, he would start to have a fever, his vision would blur, and he couldn’t even hold the pen properly. Naturally, the results were terrible.

When chatting with Jing Ning once, Jing Ning once mentioned casually that the pheromone levels of an alpha approaching adulthood fluctuate greatly, and a small number of alphas might even become ill because of this.

During the last two days of Tao Fengche’s final exams, Sui Yuesheng happened to be on a business trip and only returned on Sunday night, perfectly missing the exam period.

He came back too late last night, and Tao Fengche was already asleep. This morning, Tao Fengche left early for school, and now, thinking back, it had actually been several days since they had seen each other.

The thought of Tao Fengche being alone and sick at home while he was away made Sui Yuesheng’s heart ache.

How could I not have noticed?!

He was filled with self-reproach and, in a hurry, ran upstairs, not even bothering to knock, and pushed open the door: “Xiao Che!”

In the scorching summer heat, the air conditioner in Tao Fengche’s room was several degrees cooler than outside. As soon as Sui Yuesheng pushed open the door, he was shivered by the cold.

He quickly walked across the study and reached Tao Fengche’s bedroom. Tao Fengche, who was lying on the bed playing on his phone, looked up in confusion when he heard the noise.

“Ge?” he put his phone aside, looking somewhat anxious, “Why are you back so early today?”

“Just came to see you.”

Sui Yuesheng walked to the bed, bent down, and touched Tao Fengche’s forehead. Seeing that his temperature was normal, he finally let out a long sigh: “Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling unwell?”

“Huh?” Tao Fengche looked puzzled, “What do you mean, feeling unwell?”

Sui Yuesheng: “……?”

Sui Yuesheng, now flustered, belatedly realized something was wrong.

On Tao Fengche’s nightstand was a plate of cut fruit, next to it a glass of iced cola, bubbling away. His phone, which he had carelessly left to the side, was still on the game interface, and he didn’t look sick at all.

Sui Yuesheng stood there dazed for a moment, when suddenly a loud voice came from the phone.

“Damn it! Tao Ge, what are you doing? Why did you go offline?! This was a smooth game, and now it’s turned into a disaster! The enemy has stolen the dragon and is coming to destroy the base!” Wang Yuan was furious, “The jungler went offline, and it’s impossible to play now!”

“……”

Tao Fengche, a bit embarrassed, picked up his phone, turned the volume down to the lowest, and then directly closed the game, abandoning Wang Yuan completely.

Playing games during the holidays wasn’t a big deal, and Sui Yuesheng usually didn’t interfere, so why did he suddenly feel so guilty today… Tao Fengche thought to himself.

Sui Yuesheng, seemingly realizing something, sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose with force: “So, you haven’t been sick recently?”

Tao Fengche was bewildered: “No.”

Sui Yuesheng nodded, then unlocked his phone, opened the school message interface, and showed it to Tao Fengche.

“Explain this.”

Sui Yuesheng looked utterly exhausted, his whole body appearing a bit unsteady. Tao Fengche, frightened, tried to defend himself softly: “I could have passed the exam, I didn’t fail because I couldn’t.”

He added quietly in his mind that he wrote all the correct homework himself and didn’t cheat on previous exams, he wasn’t lying.

“Then why?”

Tao Fengche didn’t think this was a big deal or that it had anything to do with Sui Yuesheng, but looking at Sui Yuesheng’s expression now, he suddenly felt anxious.

He cautiously said, “This summer camp is compulsory based on grades, and I didn’t want to go, so…”

“So you deliberately scored low?” Sui Yuesheng’s expression was unreadable.

Tao Fengche cautiously nodded.

Sui Yuesheng closed his eyes tightly, his chest heaving violently, and his whole body seemed to shiver with anger.

Just because he didn’t want to attend the summer camp, he intentionally scored low in his finals?!

Next semester, applications for schools would begin, and high school exam results would be needed. Sui Yuesheng believed Tao Fengche knew this, but he still chose to achieve such poor results.

Tao Fengche was playing with his future!

He was an almost adult alpha, yet he still seemed so indifferent to his own life?!

With Tao Fengche’s attitude of treating life lightly, how could Sui Yuesheng trust him with the Tao family business?

Sui Yuesheng was both angry and shocked, and the string of rationality in his mind was on the verge of breaking.

He raised his hand high, wanting to press Tao Fengche to the ground and give him a good beating to make him remember, but at the last moment, the parenting books he had read recently suddenly came to mind.

Violence wasn’t a good method of educating children, but facing such a Tao Fengche, he really didn’t know what to do.

After a long silence, he finally slowly withdrew his hand, clenched his fist little by little, with such force that his nails almost dug into his palm.

“Tao Fengche.”

He pronounced his name slowly and deliberately.

“You’ve truly disappointed me.”

He gave Tao Fengche a deep look, then turned and left.