Chen’s mother sounded like a thief caught by a ghost, and An Xun felt a secret thrill but dared not show it on his face. He sniffled, his voice muffled, “No… my husband isn’t here…”

Bo Xiangzhou’s brow twitched slightly, sensing that this was an excuse to bully him in his absence.

Chen’s mother was not fooled, “Don’t try to fool me. Do you remember what day is next week?”

An Xun thought bitterly to himself, ‘Your death anniversary.’

Chen Xiang continued, “Next Saturday is your brother’s birthday. Your father and I hope you can come. After all, we are family. Let the past be the past, let’s clear up any misunderstandings together, and don’t always be biased against your mom and dad. We all love you the same, even though you’re not my biological child. People shouldn’t forget their roots. Remember, your marriage into the Bo family was partly our doing.”

An Xun, unable to contain his emotions, his shoulders trembling slightly, covered his chest and sobbed, “Wah, wah, I’m so moved…”

Chen Xiang was exasperated by his clearly insincere sobbing, “That’s all I have to say. Consider it well. Burning bridges helps no one. You know Bo Xiangzhou’s choice of spouse isn’t really you. Must have been tough pretending all month, huh? Do you really want to let all his kindness towards you go? Can you afford to lose everything you now have? Just behave, and we’ll keep playing along. We can act the villains to make you look good, but remember, you have to follow our plan.”

Listening to An Xun’s fake sobs gave her a headache, “I can’t be bothered to talk more. Remember, next Saturday. If possible, bring Bo Xiangzhou.”

“I know, wah…” An Xun glanced at Bo Xiangzhou for just half a second before quickly looking away. While the other party had not yet hung up, An Xun feigned innocence and turned to Bo Xiangzhou, saying, “Don’t take it personally, we weren’t talking about you.”

His face was a textbook case of protesting too much.

Chen Xiang was livid, realizing her words were misplaced as she didn’t know how An Xun would portray her, nor could she guess if Bo Xiangzhou might step closer and overhear her threatening words. With a cold huff, she quickly ended the call.

An Xun wiped the tears from his face, his eyes reddened from the rubbing, making him look as fragile as a dandelion, a flower so delicate that a slight breeze might knock it over, untouched by love. He pouted and moved closer to Bo Xiangzhou.

“Did you hear what we were talking about just now?” he asked.

Bo Xiangzhou’s dark pupils made him falter.

His head dropped, and his pleasing smile faded, he muttered quietly, “Good, you didn’t hear…”

Bo Xiangzhou sighed.

An Xun nearly lost his composure, reading into Bo Xiangzhou’s sigh that he was nothing more than a crybaby idiot.

Resigned to his fate, An Xun accepted this. If he was a fool, at least he was a fool with a solid persona.

“Hubby, are you angry?” His voice was slightly hoarse from crying.

“No, what did she say to you?”

An Xun fiddled with the hem of Bo Xiangzhou’s shirt, “She said my brother has a birthday party next week and wants me to come.”

“Do you want to go?”

Bo Xiangzhou’s gaze lingered on his hand, the fingers slender and bony, the wrist encircled with a blue bead bracelet gifted by the Old Madam, the pale skin revealing a network of blue veins, tempting someone to squeeze it gently.

An Xun’s response brought Bo Xiangzhou back from his wandering thoughts, “…I don’t want to.”

Giving face to An Xin would mean inviting someone as prestigious as Bo Xiangzhou to his birthday wasn’t warranted.

Bo Xiangzhou was surprised; he had thought An Xun’s submissive nature would make him comply with the An family’s demands.

The grip on his sleeve tightened, “But if I don’t go, wouldn’t that be bad? He is my brother after all…”

Internally, An Xun cursed, vomit—Who the hell is his brother, not unlucky enough?

Bo Xiangzhou didn’t answer directly, “Did you talk about me?”

“No.” An Xun let go of the sleeve, fidgeting with the back of his own hand instead.

Bo Xiangzhou was silent for a few seconds before making a very audacious decision—he parted An Xun’s hands, and under An Xun’s stunned gaze, asked, “Did she want me to go with you?”

“Yes.”

Bo Xiangzhou wasn’t naive. A seasoned businessman, he was aware of the power dynamics within the family. The An family’s status did not match their actual strength; the only way to shut people up was to prove his strength.

There was no way to improve economically that quickly, so the plan hinged on Bo Xiangzhou making an appearance to lend credibility.

Bo Xiangzhou didn’t state his position immediately but asked, “Do you want me to go?”

An Xun nodded, then shook his head, torn between two answers.

After a moment of struggle, he said, “I don’t want to.”

“I can choose not to go, but you must,” Bo Xiangzhou stated. “Since they’ve mentioned it, this birthday party will surely be a grand affair. If you, as An Xin’s brother, do not attend, and they harbor resentment, they could use this topic to spin stories against you, creating a negative image. How will you explain it? Any explanation would seem weak unless you were bedridden in a hospital. That might not only free you from public scrutiny but also turn the situation around.”

An Xun swallowed hard. Was it really that serious? Maybe he was being too sensitive.

Bo Xiangzhou looked at him as if he were the naive son of a wealthy family. “Imagine being slandered for nothing, do you want to bear that burden?”

Stunned, An Xun replied, “…But aren’t you there?”

Bo Xiangzhou was at a loss for words, “As long as he’s determined, no amount of money I throw at this will shut everyone up. Even if I know his next move, if he spreads misleading information, no matter how I try to stop it, the image is already planted in people’s minds. Even if I pursue it later, with An Zhi Cheng’s cunning nature, he could deny everything.”

“I just want to tell you, having money and power isn’t always enough, there are still things beyond our control,” Bo Xiangzhou explained. “But don’t worry, I’ll do everything I can to manage everything for you.”

The way he spoke sounded like a promise made on his deathbed…

It wasn’t that serious, An Xun was used to defamation and slander.

Still, An Xun agreed, following Bo Xiangzhou’s lead, “Okay, I’ll go. What if I don’t do well?”

Bo Xiangzhou spoke gently, his words full of trust, “You handled yourself well at the wedding reception with guests from all walks of life, didn’t you?”

An Xun breathed more slowly, surprised that he wasn’t just a pretty but useless thing in Bo Xiangzhou’s eyes after all his efforts.

“Trust yourself, okay?” Bo Xiangzhou’s gaze was gentle, like a lake shimmering with moonlight, sacred and powerful.

A sour emotion surged, striking his heart scarred by the An family. Over the years, he had stumbled through life without the support and protection that An Xin had from the family.

Tao Nian had his own life plans and aspirations. Their ambitions were different. During their school days, with Tao Nian by his side, An Xun’s loneliness wasn’t so apparent. But after graduation, nearly everything he did was alone, his sense of isolation growing. Only occasionally, when they were both free, they’d meet at a bar to drink and talk, using humor as consolation.

But now, a sense of satisfaction he hadn’t felt in a long time seemed to stitch up the missing pieces in his heart with tender threads.

Startled by this unprecedented emotion and the fear and palpitations it brought, An Xun whispered, “Okay.”

That night, Bo Xiangzhou gently wiped the corner of An Xun’s reddened eye where a small tear still lingered, as if freshly cried or yet to be finished.

He realized this alpha especially liked to stroke his head. After every long lecture, he would soothingly pat it.

He wasn’t a child.

His hair was getting messed up.

·

Outside, it was just beginning to get light. Bo Xiangzhou, an early riser, went to the gym to work out. Sweating it out before coming back to shower and dress was part of his morning routine. He turned off the dim light, and the omega sharing his bed was still lost in sleep, undisturbed by the slight noise he made.

An Xun’s words couldn’t be entirely trusted, just like his claim of sleeping soundly.

The only time Bo Xiangzhou hadn’t seen An Xun kick off the covers was when he woke up thirsty at two in the morning.

He tucked in the corner of the blanket, thinking, ‘This must be the quirk of a good child.’

But the information pheromones that were twice as strong as usual were pressuring him. After a struggle, Bo Xiangzhou didn’t wake An Xun; he decided to have a detailed chat when he got back from work.

Bo Xiangzhou hadn’t been gone long when An Xun was awakened by a strong internal heat, pheromones leaking out as if they cost nothing, the desire tearing at his nerves. In just a moment, the light alpha pheromones in the bedroom were completely covered by the sweet scent of lychee.

An Xun lazed in bed for a while, his face unusually flushed. He put on slippers and searched the drawer for inhibitors.

Groggy in the morning, he held the syringe in one hand and tore open the inhibitor packet with his teeth. Hastily injecting the inhibitor into his body, he didn’t even check the expiration date before lying back down to wait for the drug to take effect.

Tao Nian had sent him a voice message ranting about his boss at dawn, which he hadn’t seen because he had gone to bed early.

[Gulu Gulu]: Your boss must be in his fifties, right? For the sake of his menopause, just bear with it.

He complained for a bit and then got to the point.

[Gulu Gulu]: Dear Nian Nian, I have some unfortunate news. I might have to ditch you today, it depends on how things go. I feel like Bo Xiangzhou’s been making me sleep early, leading a more regular life, and my temper’s improved a lot, haven’t been cursing people out. You’d think I’d have built up some good karma by now.

[Gulu Gulu]: Not sure if I’ll have a fever, just injected myself. Let’s talk about meeting up in a few hours.

This early departure was entirely due to his heat. Normally, he could sleep until eight or nine.

Tao Nian woke up a bit later, and seeing his reply about the boss, his anger almost flared up again, but fortunately, he saw An Xun’s subsequent message.

[Nian Nian]: Rescheduling again, huh? You really are starting to act like a boss.

[Nian Nian]: Just lie down for the next few days, we can talk about meeting up later.

[Nian Nian]: But I have a question, why don’t you let Bo Xiangzhou bite you?

An Xun, drowsy and affected by the drug, felt the heat inside him subside somewhat, though his body was still limp.

He lifted his arm, squinting as he typed a message.

[Gulu Gulu]: You don’t know how early Bo Xiangzhou wakes up for work. Every time I get up, he’s already gone, the other half of the bed cold to the touch.

After making sure there were no typos, he sent the message and turned his head to close his eyes.

·

The spacious room was filled with the omega’s pheromones, so rich it was almost dizzying.

All these pheromones originated from the sleeping omega on the bed, who was covered in a thin layer of sweat, his brow furrowed, his cheeks flushed and his lips pale, breathing faintly like a fish washed ashore by the tide, struggling to survive. Sweat had soaked his hair at the temples, clearly in distress.

Bo Xiangzhou received the third call from Uncle Lin. The previous two calls had been alarming, but this time Bo Xiangzhou thought it was nothing serious and only allowed his assistant to bring him back after a meeting.

The estate’s servants were all betas, and even if pheromones leaked through the door, no one would detect them.

When he opened the door, omega pheromones assaulted him, catching him off guard. He regained his composure, suppressing the desire stirred by the lychee scent, slammed the door, and flung back An Xun’s blanket.

His entire body was like a drowned rat, his cotton pajamas clinging to his body, outlining his slender curves.

Bo Xiangzhou tried calling his name several times, but there was no response, only a hand groping blindly beside him, his nostrils humming with slight pain.

An Xun heard someone calling his name by his ear, but his eyelids felt as heavy as if they were weighted down, using up the last bit of his strength, he only managed to open a small slit.

He saw Bo Xiangzhou half-turned, making a phone call, his expression unusually anxious, dressed in a dark suit, clearly having come straight from the office.

Then, out of strength, he closed his eyes again.