Sui Yuesheng’s face felt incredibly smooth, like a piece of warm jade. As soon as Tao Fengche touched it, he found himself unwilling to pull away, and as if under a spell, he stroked it a few more times.

The moment Sui Yuesheng’s head hit the pillow, he fell asleep. But now, his brows slightly furrowed, and a soft hum escaped his lips, as if he was feeling uncomfortable.

The sound was so faint that it could easily be missed if not for the complete silence in the room. But to Tao Fengche, it was like a sudden clap of thunder, instantly snapping him out of his trance.

He quickly withdrew his hand as if electrocuted and anxiously observed for a while. Seeing that Sui Yuesheng showed no sign of waking up, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When Tao Fengche entered the room, he hadn’t turned on the lights, so the room was enveloped in deep darkness. He straightened up and, illuminated by the moonlight streaming in from the window, stared at his fingertips for a long time.

—It seemed as though the sensation of Sui Yuesheng’s cheek was still lingering there.

Without realizing it, Tao Fengche rubbed his fingers together and pursed his lips slightly.

What on earth was he doing just now? Tao Fengche couldn’t quite explain his actions.

Acting so casually with Sui Yuesheng—how was that any different from that rose-scented alpha in Jiang Jingyun’s car who made him feel disgusted?

Tao Fengche frowned in thought for a long while before coming to a sorrowful conclusion: There was a difference between them.

The difference was that the alpha had clearly received Sui Yuesheng’s consent, while he had sneakily touched him while he was asleep. By comparison, he was much worse than the other alpha.

He didn’t even know why, but after realizing this fact, the nameless anger in his heart only burned hotter.

He scrutinized Sui Yuesheng from head to toe, not even lingering on the jade ring on his right thumb. Instead, he seriously examined every inch of his exposed skin. After confirming that there were no traces of intimacy left behind, and that there were no bite marks on the gland at the back of Sui Yuesheng’s neck, a heavy weight in his heart finally lifted.

Who Sui Yuesheng slept with was his own business, and Tao Fengche had no right to interfere. But he would never allow anyone to take advantage of Sui Yuesheng while he was drunk. He quickly found a reason to justify his earlier unusual behavior.

…But did that alpha really touch Sui Yuesheng?

Tao Fengche frowned again.

A surge of impulse rose within him, wanting to wake Sui Yuesheng up and ask him clearly. But then he remembered how dazed and confused Sui Yuesheng was when drunk, unable to even recognize him. Even if someone had taken advantage of him, he probably wouldn’t know…

Anger inexplicably flared up again, and Tao Fengche was no longer willing to stay in the room. He stormed towards the door in a fit of rage.

As he stepped out of the room, he had intended to slam the door in frustration. But for some reason, the image of Sui Yuesheng’s peaceful sleeping face suddenly flashed in his mind, and his hand, which was about to cause a ruckus, paused mid-air.

In the end, he gently closed the door, even muffling his footsteps, afraid of disturbing Sui Yuesheng’s dreams.

Tao Fengche, you’re hopeless. Even now, you’re worried about not waking him up. He didn’t even think about leaving you a word before he went out drinking, nor did he send a message to keep the family from worrying.

Tao Fengche silently scolded himself for three seconds. When he looked up, he unexpectedly ran into Xu Song in the hallway.

“Young Master, I’ve already called back the people we sent to search,” Xu Song reported, not knowing how long he had been standing at the door. After reporting his work, he asked, “Has Young Master Sui fallen asleep?”

“He’s asleep,” Tao Fengche replied, rubbing his temples.

Xu Song’s words made Tao Fengche recall the chaotic events of the night, and then he thought of the real whereabouts of the person who started it all. He asked irritably, “Is the milk in the kitchen still warm?”

Xu Song nodded.

“Just throw it out,” Tao Fengche said.

After a previous incident, Tao Fengche had learned that milk spoils if it’s kept heated for too long.

Whenever Sui Yuesheng was at home, Tao Fengche would time it just right to go downstairs and heat the milk. But tonight, since he couldn’t get in touch with him, he had worried that Sui Yuesheng would drink melatonin again if there was no milk, so starting at 9 p.m., he’d gone downstairs every half hour to heat up a new pot of milk.

The pot in the kitchen was one he had just recently heated, but now it was completely useless.

“I wouldn’t dare touch something the young master worked so hard on,” Xu Song shook his head, then teasingly suggested, “Why not save it for tomorrow morning and serve it to Young Master Sui? It wouldn’t hurt him to drink it anyway.”

“Absolutely not!” Tao Fengche immediately refused. Realizing his reaction was a bit too intense, he paused mid-step as he was heading to his room. A moment later, he changed direction and headed towards the stairs, saying, “If you won’t, I’ll do it myself.”

Halfway down the stairs, he suddenly seemed to realize something, a suspicious expression crossing his face. “Uncle Xu, you didn’t tell him the milk was made by me, did you?”

“Of course not!” Xu Song replied with an air of righteousness. “You specifically instructed me not to, so how could I be loose-lipped?”

It was only when Young Master Sui asked that he casually mentioned it!

How could that be considered leaking secrets?!

Xu Song felt justified.

Tao Fengche nodded doubtfully but didn’t dwell on the matter further.

As soon as they entered the kitchen, a strong sour smell, mixed with a rich fruity aroma, greeted them.

Following the scent, Tao Fengche found a simmering pot beside the familiar milk pan, filled with various ingredients—plump green plums, translucent hawthorn cakes, fresh lotus seeds with the cores removed, slices of snow pear…

Just looking at it made one’s mouth water.

Curious, Tao Fengche asked, “What is this…?”

“It’s a hangover soup prepared for Young Master Sui,” the night-duty chef quickly responded.

As soon as Sui Yuesheng was helped through the door by Tao Fengche, the kitchen received word that he was drunk, and they immediately started cooking a pot of hangover soup to be served as soon as he woke up.

Tao Fengche nodded, poured out the milk from the pan, and was about to leave when he suddenly paused and asked a seemingly unrelated question, “Are the proportions of ingredients in this hangover soup strictly measured, or…?”

Although puzzled by the young master’s question, the chef answered truthfully, “There’s no strict measurement, but the current ratio is one we’ve specially researched to offer the best flavor.”

Tao Fengche confirmed again, “So, the proportion of ingredients only affects the taste and not the effectiveness of the hangover cure?”

The chef nodded.

Tao Fengche pondered for a moment, then asked, “Are there any more green plums in the kitchen?”

The chef nodded, and another quick-thinking assistant opened the pantry and handed Tao Fengche a jar of preserved green plums.

Tao Fengche opened the jar, grabbed a handful of plums, rinsed them quickly, and tossed them into the pot.

Then, he clapped his hands and left without looking back.

“Uh… what just happened?” The chef who had been talking to Tao Fengche was dumbfounded.

“How are we supposed to serve this?” The chefs exchanged confused glances, then cautiously asked Xu Song, “Is Young Master Sui still awake? Should we cook another pot?”

Xu Song shook his head, chuckling. “Leave it as it is. If you don’t, Young Master Tao will get angry. Once the soup is done, refrigerate it, and when you serve it, make sure to add some sugar.”

···

Due to his drunkenness, Sui Yuesheng uncharacteristically slept in.

It wasn’t until after 9 AM that he slowly woke up, his head throbbing. He sat in bed for a long time, trying to clear his mind.

Yu Hebai was the type who would drink recklessly once he raised a glass, always dominating social occasions. Last night, he was intentionally drinking to drown his sorrows, and under Yu Hebai’s influence, they ended up drinking far too much… Sui Yuesheng rubbed his head and let out a heavy sigh.

Under the influence of alcohol, his memories of last night had become very blurry. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was Jiang Jingyun coming to the bar to pick him up…

Looking around at the familiar surroundings, Sui Yuesheng realized that Jiang Jingyun had successfully completed his task.

The shirt he was wearing was wrinkled like fermented dried vegetables, emitting a strange smell of alcohol. He frowned in disgust, got up, grabbed some clean clothes, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

His phone was already dead, so after showering, he brought it to the dining room and handed it to Xu Song to charge. Xu Song served a bowl of hangover soup. Sui Yuesheng, while watching the morning news, brought the ceramic bowl to his lips and took a sip, immediately wincing from the sourness.

His facial features scrunched up uncontrollably, his expression twisting as he reflexively wanted to spit out the hangover soup. However, finding it too disgusting to spit out, he forced it down with great difficulty.

Xu Song timely served a plate of preserved fruits, which Sui Yuesheng grabbed a small handful of and popped into his mouth, finally starting to feel better after a while.

He was just about to ask Xu Song what was going on when a thought suddenly struck him, and he asked confidently, “Did Xiao Che make this?”

“Yes.” Xu Song nodded meaningfully and added, “The young master was very worried about you last night. He couldn’t find you anywhere, couldn’t reach you by phone, and sent a lot of people to look for you, but still couldn’t find you.”

“Fortunately, congressman Jiang brought you back, or else the young master would have likely turned Jingpu upside down.”

“My phone died and shut off automatically.” Upon hearing this, Sui Yuesheng sighed.

His feelings were mixed.

He didn’t expect Tao Fengche to be so worried about him.

Although he was still angry at Tao Fengche for joking about his future, and he didn’t understand why he had done it, perhaps, as Yu Hebai said yesterday, Tao Fengche really had some unspeakable difficulties…

A thought occurred to him, “Where is Xiao Che? Is he still asleep?”

Xu Song took away the hangover soup beside him and replied, “The young master got up a little after seven and went to the research institute. If you need to find him, why not call Director Jing?”

…Oh right, the research institute had already been reorganized, and since Tao Fengche was on summer vacation, it made sense for him to go there to study.

How could he have forgotten this? Sui Yuesheng sighed inwardly and shook his head, “Forget it, I’ll talk to him when he gets back.”

Having made up his mind, Sui Yuesheng lowered his head and started eating breakfast, but it seemed that fate was determined not to let him eat in peace.

After his phone was charged and automatically turned on, Assistant Zhou called right away, practically crying with joy, “Boss! You finally answered your phone!”

“I’m eating. If it’s nothing urgent, we’ll talk when I get back to the company.” Sui Yuesheng interrupted.

“There actually is something.” Assistant Zhou dropped the exaggerated tone and said seriously, “There’s been an issue with the production line in the Western Continent.”

“Someone tampered with the raw materials, and the most recent batches of drugs are all unusable.”

“!” Sui Yuesheng squeezed his eyes shut tightly. “I see. I’ll send you my location in a moment. Have the driver bring the car back to the Tao family, and then go wait for me at the airport.”

He hung up the phone, hastily shoved a few more bites of food into his mouth, and by the time he was ready to leave, the Tao family’s driver was already parked at the door.

“Young Master Sui, the flight plan has been approved.” Xu Song said from the hallway.

Sui Yuesheng nodded, tucked a handgun into the back of his waistband, and looked out the window at the sky.

The sky was a clear, bright blue, even brighter than the color of his eyes, but he suddenly sighed softly, “A storm is coming…”