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These are all just worldly labels!

I’ve been naturally gifted in painting since I was a child. Even after transferring to an elite high school filled with top students, my grades never dropped below the top ten in the school.

But because I’m a beta, to gain recognition, I had to put in ten or even a hundred times more effort than an omega.

Never mind, I’ve long since accepted my fate.

Seeing me silent, Wei Heng asked again, “Your dad is an omega?”

I glanced at him.

“Haven’t you already investigated the whole mess with the Lin family? With your level of authority, what can’t you find out?”

Wei Heng grinned. “That’s a different matter. I want to hear it directly from you.”

My dad is an omega, and my grandpa is a beta.

My grandpa was originally the village chief of Shanzui Village. He fell in love with a noble omega woman and they had my dad together. After my grandpa passed away, my dad took over as village chief. He noticed that the villagers’ houses were falling apart and the roads were in disrepair, so he wanted to work with a tourism company to renovate the village.

But it turned out to be a trap, and he ended up signing a land sale agreement instead.

The villagers’ houses faced demolition, and in their fury, they came to our house to demand an explanation. The tourism company even counter-sued my dad for breach of contract, demanding three hundred million in compensation.

My dad ran around trying to resolve the issue, selling off our assets, and managed to gather tens of millions, but he fell ill from exhaustion. Later, Lin Dong stepped in and negotiated with the other party for a long time.

That’s when I was taken back to the Lin family.

Lin Dong helped lower the breach of contract fee to one hundred million. To pay off my dad’s debt, I signed a servitude contract and went to the Wei family to take care of Wei Heng.

The village was saved, but the villagers suffered for years, and I had to pay the price on behalf of my dad.

I also need to fulfill my dad’s wish to renovate the village houses, roads, and the reservoir.

Most of the money that Ge Yun gave me has already been spent on this.

I explained all of this simply to Wei Heng and emphasized repeatedly:

“My whole life from now on will be dedicated to protecting Shanzui Village. Once you’re done playing around, go back. We belong to different worlds.”

Wei Heng casually said, “It’s not like this village is a military stronghold. What kind of protection does it need?”

“How about I help you apply to classify this place as a protected village? Then no one would dare mess with it.”

That’s the kind of thinking from someone in power—solutions I, someone who’s lived at the bottom for so long, could never have thought of.

But why would Wei Heng help me for free?

I forced myself to say, “I don’t want to owe you any favors. I’ll find a way myself!”

The next day, I put on my straw hat, prepared my toolbox, set up the easel, and got to work.

Just painting the walls white was a massive project.

All of this physical labor, which required no skill, was taken over by Wei Heng.

He wasn’t afraid of getting sunburned, didn’t take any precautions, and just went at it shirtless, rolling paint onto the walls.

I quickly got into the groove and found my rhythm in painting again.

Being in the place where I grew up made me feel relaxed.

As I mixed colors, I hummed a little tune. After a few brushstrokes, I noticed Wei Heng staring at me intently.

I was startled. “What is it?”

He said, “What was that song you were just singing?”

I hadn’t realized. “It’s a folk song, The Fisher Girl…”

Halfway through, I suddenly fell silent.

Oh right, this was the song I used to sing often when I was taking care of Wei Heng.

Last time Lin Yueyuan asked me about it, I pretended not to know.

I didn’t dare look directly at Wei Heng.

Fortunately, he didn’t ask any more questions.

By noon, it was time for lunch.

We took a break and went to the village chief’s house to eat.

The chief’s wife, a kind-hearted auntie, gave us big bowls of rice and kept encouraging us to eat more.

While we were eating, a few villagers came in noisily.

An elderly man in the lead didn’t wait for the village chief to speak before he started complaining:

“Chief, when are you going to get someone to seal off that ‘Devil’s Horn Cave’? It’s almost June!”

Other villagers chimed in:

“Yeah! Seal it off quickly, or we won’t dare go out!”

“The pier near there is deserted! What are you waiting for to seal it?”

The village chief patiently tried to calm them down. “We’ve already applied to the town government. We need to wait for the approval process. Once the documents come through, we’ll seal it off.”

The villagers were dissatisfied and insisted that the chief take action right away. The chief was overwhelmed by their demands.

I quietly asked the chief’s wife, “Auntie, what happened with the Devil’s Horn Cave?”

The cave got its name from its shape, resembling devil horns. When I was a child, I often played there with my friends.

The auntie replied, worried, “Three years ago, in June, a father and son disappeared in that cave, and to this day, not even their remains have been found.

“After that, for two consecutive years, someone has gone missing every June. Now it’s already May, and people are scared someone else will disappear…”

“Wasn’t it reported to the police?”

“It was, but you know how things are here…” Auntie sighed, “Losing two or three people a year doesn’t attract much attention. They just say it’s probably people getting swept away by the waves…”

I felt there was something suspicious about it and asked, “Were there any connections between the missing people?”

“None at all. Some were men, some were women, mostly young people and children. No old people have disappeared, though.”

The chief finally managed to calm down the villagers. I asked him if he needed help, but he waved me off, saying, “This is a tough situation. It’s best if the villagers just stay away from that area. Hopefully, the documents get approved soon…”

In the afternoon, Wei Heng and I went back to painting the wall murals.

After a whole day of looking up and holding my arms up, I collapsed on the sofa when we got home.

Wei Heng came over and started massaging my neck and shoulders.

I lay there, looking up at him from below.

It felt surreal. Just a month ago, I was the one giving him massages while he was unconscious. Now the roles had reversed.

Wei Heng’s face truly holds up—he looks impossibly handsome even from this awkward angle.

The strong jawline, the high nose, those deep, intense eyes…

How can someone look this good? I was lost in thought.

Suddenly, Wei Heng leaned down and kissed me on the forehead.

I froze, holding my breath.

He rubbed his new stubble against me, whispering intimately…

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