The marking ended.
Pei Siyue gently lowered Ruan Shuyang.
The omega he held seemed particularly slender, his head reaching only to Pei Siyue's chest, needing support to lean against his shoulder.
Ruan Shuyang had long since fainted, his frail forehead slick with sweat, his head lolling weakly against Pei Siyue's hand.
Pei Siyue helped him onto the sofa, and as he did, his hand brushed Ruan Shuyang's pants—they were slick with moisture.
No amount of suppressants or willpower could override the body's primal urges. During heat, an omega's body instinctively prepares itself—to be claimed, to be marked.
Omegas are inherently controlled by pheromones, a fatal vulnerability. They can never fully control themselves and easily succumb to the turmoil of their cycles.
That's why he had always kept his distance from omegas.
Pei Siyue stood up, looking down at Ruan Shuyang.
The flush of heat had faded from Ruan Shuyang's face, replaced by a soft pink blush across his pale cheeks. The young man's eyes were closed, his breathing even, and his long eyelashes cast a faint shadow beneath his lower lids.
A moment later, he walked out, his expression impassive, and calmly instructed Jiang Wu: "Contact Chi Hang's secretary. Have someone stand guard at the door and send him away once he wakes up."
He paused briefly before adding, "Also, prepare a set of clean clothes, some omega blocking patches, and suppressants for him."
Jiang Wu, standing outside, listened to Pei Siyue's instructions with surprise. He decided to comply obediently without questioning or contradicting his boss.
**
Pei Siming stood by the window of the third-floor emergency exit, his hands hanging at his sides, trembling faintly and unconsciously.
He felt an inexplicable restlessness.
The male omega standing beside him, Jin Nan, seemed to notice his distraction and teased, "What's wrong? Did you suddenly regret having him sent over after all?"
Pei Siming snapped out of his thoughts and sneered, "How could I? Why would I regret handing over an illegitimate child?"
Jin Nan looked at Pei Siming with amused interest, asking in a disbelieving tone, "Really?"
Pei Siming looked down at Jin Nan. Alphas naturally exuded an oppressive presence over omegas, and under Pei Siming's gaze, Jin Nan's smile gradually faded, his face turning pale.
After a moment, Pei Siming chuckled softly, reached out, and patted Jin Nan's cheek. His tone was like a lover's murmur, yet carried a chilling coldness: "Don't try to pry into my affairs."
But no sooner had these words been spoken than Secretary Sun's frantic voice came from behind them: "Search everywhere! He's just an omega—I refuse to believe he could've gone far."
Immediately, Jin Nan watched as Pei Siming, who had just been declaring "Don't try to pry into my affairs," turned and walked over to Secretary Sun to ask what was happening.
"Heh…"
Cold sweat broke out on Jin Nan's back, yet a mocking smile tugged at his lips. And here he thought Pei Siming had some backbone—yet he went over to ask about the situation just like that?
In a private room on the fourth floor, Lu Zheng held a wine glass, swirling the crimson liquid slowly. His face was unreadable, showing little emotion. When he saw Pei Siming enter with Secretary Sun, he drawled coldly, "Did Second Young Master Pei forget to lock the door from the outside when he left?"
Pei Siming was momentarily stunned.
Had he forgotten to lock the door?
Impossible, he clearly remembered—
But remembered what?
When he tried to recall, there seemed to be no memory of closing the door—a gap in his recollection.
Pei Siming's expression remained unchanged as he gracefully walked over and took a seat beside Lu Zheng. Apologizing with a smile, he said, "My apologies, President Lu. It was an oversight on my part."
Lu Zheng looked at him with implication and asked, "You weren't reluctant to let him go, were you?"
Pei Siming immediately denied it: "Impossible. Why would I be reluctant to hand over an illegitimate child?"
Ruan Shuyang was Ruan Jianchuan's illegitimate child—an open secret in high society.
Although the Ruan family had acknowledged him and publicly claimed he was adopted, everyone knew the truth.
Ruan Jianchuan had an affair during his marriage with Yu Xianyu, the once brilliant and dazzling female omega jewelry designer, and Ruan Shuyang was their child.
After hearing the apology, Lu Zheng didn't press the issue. After all, this was the Second Young Master of the Pei family. Although the Young Master had returned from abroad months ago and swiftly assumed control, the Second Young Master had been building his influence in the Pei family for years, with deep roots. The two brothers were now locked in a fierce struggle, and it was unclear who would come out on top. It wasn't impossible for Pei Siming to reclaim his position. The best course of action now was to watch from the sidelines and avoid offending either side.
He was just an omega—if he ran, he ran. They had plenty to spare.
Yet when Secretary Sun reported that they hadn't found him, Lu Zheng was so angry he threw his wine glass to the floor. A weak, small omega—and a group of alphas and betas couldn't find him?!
He asked sharply, "How did you lose him? Weren't you just saying he ran off through the emergency exit?"
"He fled upward through the emergency exit. We chased him all the way to the fifth floor but didn't see any trace of him."
Lu Zheng asked grimly, "Could he be in one of the rooms on the fifth floor?"
"Probably not," Secretary Sun hurriedly replied. "The fifth floor is all Young Master Chi Hang's offices. They're usually locked when he's not using them—no one else can get in. We saw Young Master Chi Hang leave the club half an hour ago to take care of business. He's not here right now. There's no way that omega could've slipped in unnoticed."
"Besides, the fifth floor is Young Master Chi Hang's territory. We didn't dare search too intrusively."
That was true.
Lu Zheng didn't bring up the fifth floor again. It was impossible to demand a search of Chi Hang's office over one omega—that would be a foolish way to earn Chi Hang's lasting enmity.
In an unnoticed corner, the spilled wine soaked into the wool carpet, leaving a stain like blood.
Like the blood that omega might have left behind.
**
At night, light and shadow intertwined into a dazzling neon tapestry flashing past the window.
Inside the stretched Lincoln, Jiang Wu began nagging Pei Siyue like a worried mother.
"Young Master, you shouldn't have impulsively assisted that omega of unknown identity earlier. What if he had been carrying a weapon? It could've been dangerous."
Pei Siyue cast a cold glance at Jiang Wu. Though his expression was neutral, Jiang Wu felt as if he were being looked down on for his lack of intelligence.
After a moment, he realized: even if the omega had a weapon, it depended on whether he knew how to use it. If he had a weapon but didn't know how to wield it, he'd just be handing it over to the enemy along with some experience.
And when facing an Enigma, an omega was clearly not the party who knew how to use a weapon.
A few minutes later, Jiang Wu heard Pei Siyue say, "I know who he is."
Jiang Wu was astonished. "Young Master, who is he?"
Pei Siyue gazed out at the neon-lit nightscape rushing past the window and said indifferently, "Pei Siming's fiancé, Ruan Shuyang."
Jiang Wu: ???
He gasped. If he wasn't mistaken, Pei Siyue had probably given that Ruan Shuyang a temporary mark back in the room.
Ruan Shuyang is now Pei Siming's fiancé, but was Marked by Pei Siming's older brother Pei Siyue. Doesn't that mean Pei Siming is *wearing a green hat*?
Jiang Wu instantly imagined a juicy drama.
Back then, Pei Siyue's father Pei Yan had an affair with Zhou Wei while married. Zhou Wei quickly became pregnant and gave birth to Pei Siming.
Zhou Wei held Pei Siming and knelt at the Pei family's doorstep, forcing Pei Siyue's mother to accept her and the child, essentially stealing the husband away from Pei Siyue's mother.
Could it be that the Young Master is now planning to get revenge by stealing Pei Siming's fiancé?
What a perfect way to retaliate, what a brilliant, huge slap in the face. If this succeeds, it would be even more satisfying than slapping Pei Siming in public.
Jiang Wu immediately praised, "The Young Master is truly impressive, thinking so strategically. If you can win over that omega and make him devoted to you, it would be like making Pei Siming wear a green hat everyone knows about—even more humiliating than a public slap."
Pei Siyue: "..."
"Lay off the soap operas."
A few minutes later, he added, "Contact Chi Hang's secretary and get the surveillance footage from the club last night. I want to see how Ruan Shuyang entered the emergency exit."
"And also... find out why he came to the club last night."
Jiang Wu didn't immediately realize who Ruan Shuyang was, but then it clicked that that must be the name of the omega engaged to Pei Siming. He promptly replied, "Understood, Young Master."
However, after responding, Jiang Wu regained his professional composure and quietly asked Pei Siyue, "Young Master, could that Ruan Shuyang have been sent by Pei Siming's side?"
Pei Siyue didn't answer directly, only saying, "Set up another meeting with Chi Hang at Ruiji Technology tomorrow morning."
**
The morning sun tinted the dark brown curtains a translucent amber hue. A few beams of morning light slipped through the gaps in the curtains, casting a strip of golden light that landed precisely on Ruan Shuyang's face.
Ruan Shuyang's eyelashes fluttered lightly as he reluctantly opened his eyes.
He saw the cream-colored ceiling above him, his gaze dazed.
Last night's memories were fragmented and blurry, but he still remembered being Marked by an alpha.
The trouble was, his heat had come on so strong that he hadn't gotten a clear look at the person's face, nor could he recall the scent of their pheromones.
All he remembered was feeling enveloped by a gentle tide, and after that...
He had passed out in embarrassment.
At this thought, he abruptly sat up. The sudden movement made him dizzy for a moment. Once the dizziness passed, he looked down at the clothes he was wearing.
It was the same outfit from last night, now wrinkled from a night's sleep, but clearly untouched.
He breathed a sigh of relief and glanced around.
He seemed to be in an office, but it was empty, with just a bare desk, an ergonomic chair behind the desk, and a bookshelf with no books on it.
It seemed like a newly renovated but unused office. He was lying on the only sofa in the room.
Now, he was alone in the office, as if everything from last night had been a dream.
He instinctively reached for the gland on the back of his neck. It tingled slightly when he touched it. Enduring the pain, he felt around but found no teeth marks or scars. Perhaps the bite hadn't been deep, and it had already healed.
His omega nature told him clearly that he had been temporarily Marked by an alpha.
The omega pheromones within him were no longer restless. They had been soothed and calmed by a stranger's alpha pheromones. For the first time, he felt that his body no longer housed a beast forcibly suppressed by cheap inhibitors, one that could break free at any moment.
He had still been Marked by a stranger.
Even if it was only a temporary Mark, would he, as his mother had said, involuntarily obey that alpha and let them have their way?
He sat on the sofa anxiously for a long time, but then realized worrying was pointless.
That alpha had long since left. There wasn't a hint of alpha pheromones in the air. Clearly, they had Marked him and left, probably not wanting anything to do with him.
Rather than worrying about that alpha, he should worry about what to do next.
He sat on the sofa a while longer, then took a deep breath, as if gathering his courage, and pulled out his phone to check the missed calls and messages.
Surprisingly, there were only a few messages in the class group chat—nothing from the Ruan family or Pei Siming.
Ruan Shuyang couldn't believe it. He had run away recklessly last night, yet no one was holding him accountable?
But that seemed to be the case—he hadn't received a single message demanding an explanation.
He sat on the sofa a bit longer, feeling too antsy to sit still, and tried opening the wooden door.
Outside the walnut-wood door was a massive office with dark-toned décor and a charcoal-gray wool carpet underfoot. A female beta was sitting on a sofa not far away.
The female beta saw him emerge from the inner room and said gently, "I'm Su Yan, Mr. Chi's secretary. Mr. Chi asked me to wait here and give these to you."
Ruan Shuyang was stunned. Mr. Chi?
Was the person who Marked him last night the club's owner, Mr. Chi?
Confused, he took the bag Su Yan handed him. Inside was a set of brand-new clothes, complete from outerwear to underwear, along with a small box.
He opened the small box to find several unopened injectable omega inhibitors, a bottle of suppressant pills, and a dozen new Blocking Patches.
Holding the items, he hesitantly asked Su Yan, "Was it Mr. Chi who... stayed here last night?"
Su Yan didn't know exactly what had happened either. She had simply been tasked by her superior, Chi Hang, to wait in the club office for an omega in the inner room to wake up, hand over the items, and then see them out.
But she did know that Chi Hang had been here last night, so she nodded. "Mr. Chi was here last night."
Seeing that Ruan Shuyang wanted to ask more, Su Yan quickly added, "I don't know anything else. My instructions were to give you these things and then escort you out."
As she spoke, she suggested, "You can go inside and change first."
Hearing this, Ruan Shuyang didn't ask more.
He just looked at the items in the bag and asked softly, "How much... do these cost?"
These were things he urgently needed, but they looked expensive, and he wasn't sure of the total. The problem was, he didn't have much money.
Su Yan was surprised by the question. Frankly, she had handled a few such private matters for Chi Hang before, but this was the first time someone had asked about the cost.
She hadn't really checked the price—after all, it was all charged to the boss's card, and the boss was footing the bill. Based on her understanding of Chi Hang, if he had given the order, he was paying for it and wouldn't care about such a small amount.
So she said, "Mr. Chi is covering it. Don't worry about the cost."
"But..."
Ruan Shuyang wanted to say more, but Su Yan cut him off. "You should hurry and change. I'll arrange a car to take you back."
Ruan Shuyang tightened his grip on the bag, murmured a soft "Thank you," turned around, went back into the inner room, closed the door, and changed.
The clothes he was wearing were crumpled and had a sticky feel, so they really weren't fit to wear, so he changed into the outfit from the bag.
The clothes still had their tags attached, and he noticed the brand was Gloaming, a famous luxury label under the Pei Group, where even a single shirt costs five figures—he had only ever seen Pei Siming wear such items.
It was incredibly expensive; all the pocket money he had saved over the years didn't even add up to five figures. He wondered how he'd ever pay it back if that Mr. Chi asked for the money.
But for now, he had no better option and had to leave wearing this Gloaming outfit from head to toe.
**
Actually, Chi Hang hadn't paid for it—the next morning, he took the credit card receipt to Pei Siyue to get reimbursed.
No way he'd pass up such a perfect chance to both extort Pei Siyue and hear some gossip.