Since Tao Fengche said he didn’t want to go, Sui Yuesheng began to feel a throbbing pain in his temples, and his vision started to blur, as if everything was covered with a black-and-white filter, gradually fading away.

In the room, he had been suppressing his discomfort, not letting Tao Fengche notice anything unusual. But once he stepped into the corridor, the dizziness hit him hard, and he could no longer hold on.

He stumbled abruptly, his legs suddenly feeling weak, nearly collapsing to the floor. In a critical moment, Sui Yuesheng quickly reached out to support himself against the wall, breathing heavily to steady himself.

With his eyes closed, maintaining a somewhat awkward posture, he waited for the sudden dizziness to pass before he finally straightened up.

His face was as pale as paper, a bead of cold sweat the size of a bean rolled down his forehead and “plopped” onto the floor. He wiped away the fine sweat on his forehead with his hand and sighed deeply.

…Low blood sugar again.

Fortunately, there were no servants on duty in the corridor on the second floor, so besides him, no one would know how awkward his condition had been.

He took a piece of candy from his pocket, quickly unwrapped it and put it in his mouth, crunching it. He then sent a message to Xu Song to bring some food to the study before he slowly walked upstairs.

It was hard to tell if it was due to missing a meal or being angered by Tao Fengche’s words, but even when he opened the study door, his vision was still somewhat dim. However, he could no longer afford to worry about that—there were more pressing matters at hand.

After verifying his iris, he opened his computer, accessed his email, and found a partially written draft. The recipient was his mentor from university.

…Tao Fengche was about to start applying to schools in the second half of the year. Sui Yuesheng had originally planned to ask his mentor to write a recommendation letter for him. However, he worried that the recommendation from a business professor might not hold much weight, so he was also considering asking his mentor to find colleagues in the biology and chemistry fields to help Tao Fengche.

Sui Yuesheng was never one to ask for favors, and he wouldn’t have approached his mentor if it weren’t for Tao Fengche’s future.

And it was indeed a difficult task.

Since the day he went on a business trip, this email had been written intermittently over four days. He had spent almost all his spare time on it, but he was still dissatisfied with the wording and had left it in the draft box.

He had planned to revise and send it after work today, but now it seemed unnecessary.

He quietly stared at the half-completed email and, in the end, placed his fingers on the keyboard and deleted it letter by letter.

“Young Master Sui.” Xu Song opened the heavy walnut door and placed the food from the tray in front of him. “You said not to have the chef prepare anything special, so I just picked out some food myself. Please see if it suits your taste.”

Turning around, Xu Song saw that Sui Yuesheng was still staring blankly at the empty email page and looked closely at the recipient’s name, curious: “Young Master Sui, are you… sending an email to your mentor?”

“That was the plan,” Sui Yuesheng came back to his senses, smiling wryly, “but it’s not needed anymore.”

Xu Song nodded, seeing his pale complexion, and didn’t dare to ask further. He left quietly with a reminder that if the food was unsatisfactory, he could call him.

Sui Yuesheng wasn’t picky about food, and Xu Song knew his preferences well. The food he brought was quickly devoured.

With his stomach finally feeling better, he wiped his mouth with a tissue and rubbed his throbbing temples. Just as he was about to shut down the computer and return to work, the phone rang suddenly.

Sui Yuesheng glanced at the screen, surprised, but still answered the call.

Before he could speak, a male voice on the other end, carrying the summer’s heat, said straightforwardly:

“Got time to go out for a drink?”

“Yu Hebai,” Sui Yuesheng was taken aback, “You’re calling me just to invite me for a drink?”

“What? Now that you’re a big boss, you can’t even go out for a drink?” Yu Hebai sounded lazily indifferent.

“…” Sui Yuesheng’s thoughts turned, and after a moment, he had a new guess, “Is it about Jiang Jingyun…”

“Don’t mention that bastard’s name!” Yu Hebai immediately exploded, cutting off Sui Yuesheng’s unfinished words and grinding his teeth angrily, making Sui Yuesheng wince just hearing it.

After a while, once Yu Hebai’s anger seemed to have subsided, his voice sounded a bit deflated: “Let’s discuss it in person. Are you free later?”

—Of course, he was not free; there were still many matters at Tao’s Corporation waiting for him to handle.

But when the refusal was on the tip of his tongue, Sui Yuesheng, almost by some strange compulsion, agreed: “Alright. I’m not familiar with Jingpu, so you decide the location. I’ll head out from Tao’s residence now.”

“Okay, I’ll send you the location later.” With his goal achieved, Yu Hebai said and quickly hung up.

Sui Yuesheng sent a message to Jiang Jingyun and went downstairs.

…

The familiar Karlmann King slowly drove away from the main residence. Tao Fengche stood by the window, watching for a long time until the car disappeared, then he returned to bed.

Tao Fengche was mentally prepared for Sui Yuesheng to explode in rage upon finding out he had failed the exam, and then give him a good beating. After all, it was just a bit of physical pain, and he didn’t think it was a big deal.

But he didn’t expect Sui Yuesheng to actually restrain himself from hitting him. He didn’t expect Sui Yuesheng to say those words, and he certainly didn’t expect him to look so hurt.

Although he felt that this incident had nothing to do with Sui Yuesheng, when Sui Yuesheng gave him that look before leaving, Tao Fengche’s heart sank deeply.

He wanted to run out and explain everything to Sui Yuesheng, to lay everything out clearly, but his feet felt like they were rooted to the spot, and he sat motionless on the bed, unable to regain his composure.

The moment passed quickly. By the time he dashed out and pushed open the door, Sui Yuesheng had already disappeared.

He had always thought of himself as fearless. When Tao Zhixing was around, many people were intimidated by him, not daring to look him in the eye when speaking. Yet, he would confront Tao Zhixing and shout at him. After Tao Zhixing left, if someone dared to speak ill of his family in front of him, he would beat them to a pulp. Even when surrounded in an alley, he remained calm.

But now, he realized that he was actually afraid.

He was afraid that Sui Yuesheng would be disappointed in him.

When Sui Yuesheng said those words, it felt like his heart was being cut with a knife, and he didn’t even know how to face him.

Tao Fengche had hesitated in the room for a long time, during which he missed three calls from Wang Yuan, but he still didn’t go upstairs to find Sui Yuesheng. Instead, he stood silently by the window, staring at the tail lights of Sui Yuesheng’s car as it drove away.

… His brother must be both angry and sad right now. He should calm down a bit and I’ll explain things to him when he gets back.

Tao Fengche made up his mind, completely unaware that his current state of mind resembled that of an ostrich trying to escape reality by burying its head in the sand.

Afraid of missing Sui Yuesheng’s return, he moved a stool to the bedside and, in a distracted manner, looked at his phone, checking the screen every three minutes.

As the sun set and the evening glow painted the sky in varying shades of red, the sky gradually darkened, and the street lamps in the yard lit up one by one, with the night shift security guards taking their posts…

But Sui Yuesheng still hadn’t returned.

It was almost one o’clock. Tao Fengche looked up at the wall clock with some anxiety.

He had spent this short period in a daze, hurriedly eating a few bites of dinner without tasting it, while the person he was waiting for still hadn’t come home.

Didn’t Sui Yuesheng say just last night that he wouldn’t have any business trips this week and could rest for a while? Where could he have gone?

Tao Fengche was inexplicably uneasy, and then he suddenly had a disturbing thought.

He wasn’t superstitious, but the last time he was so restless was two months ago, when he woke up to the news of Tao Zhixing’s car accident.

He took out his phone and called Sui Yuesheng, but it was met with a “The number you have dialed is not available” message.

“…?!”

Tao Fengche couldn’t sit still any longer. He was like an ant on a hot pan, pacing around the room several times before finally yanking open the door and, after confirming with the bodyguard at the door that Sui Yuesheng had not returned, called the Tao corporation.

“Young Master?” The bodyguard stationed at the Tao corporation office was surprised, “Why are you calling at this time? If you have any instructions, please let me know.”

Tao Fengche went straight to the point: “Is my brother still working overtime?”

“You’re asking about Boss Sui? He left the company this afternoon and hasn’t returned.” The bodyguard was extremely surprised, “Please wait a minute, I’ll contact his assistant.”

The minute felt like a year. When the phone was finally answered, the bodyguard said solemnly, “Assistant Zhou said that the Boss returned to the Tao family briefly, said he had something to do, and left alone.”

“?!” Tao Fengche shut his eyes tightly, “So, no one knows where my brother is right now?”

The bodyguard looked a bit troubled: “Theoretically… yes.”

“Then go find him!” Tao Fengche opened his eyes. “Do I have to teach you how to do your job?!”

The guard, terrified, accepted the order and left.

… Where could Sui Yuesheng have gone? It’s so late and he’s still out alone, wouldn’t something happen?

Tao Fengche knew logically that with Sui Yuesheng’s fighting skills, the likelihood of something happening was very low, but he couldn’t control his emotions.

… What if, what if he really…

Tao Fengche almost wanted to go out personally to search, but he was afraid of missing Sui Yuesheng’s return, so he anxiously stood by the window, making several calls, and sent out all available personnel while maintaining the security of the main residence.

After a little past two, the Tao family was in chaos. Tao Fengche himself didn’t know how long he had been standing by the window. Just as he was about to lose hope, he saw a car light appear in the distance.

It wasn’t Sui Yuesheng’s car, but Tao Fengche’s heart still started pounding. He rushed down the stairs in three steps at a time, almost twisting his ankle.

When he reached the door like a whirlwind and saw Sui Yuesheng’s figure, his heart finally settled back into his chest. But the next moment, when he saw the full picture, his heart felt like it was on a roller coaster again, immediately leaping up—

Sui Yuesheng was completely drunk, being half-supported and half-carried out of the back seat by Jiang Jingyun. The air was filled with an unfamiliar rose scent, mixed with Jiang Jingyun’s cedar pheromone, which actually smelled quite nice.

But Tao Fengche only felt nauseated by the smell.

Where did this alpha scent come from?!

Before he could process it, the owner of the rose pheromones spoke up.

“Baby, don’t go, let’s keep drinking—!”