Chapter 31.3

Rong Jing still wanted to persuade Xie Ling, “Big Brother…” It wasn’t really good to give him a hundred million.

Xie Ling snapped, “Get out. You’re just making me mad.”

A hundred million was indeed not a small amount of money. He had never forgotten that when he started working, he lost tens of millions of dollars on a certain project, and so he blamed himself, missing sleep for several nights. Later, his grandfather told him: The whole Xie family is enough for you to get up again. So get up and do what you must.

Enough for you to get up again. He also said this sentence to Rong Jing. Your own family will always have your back.

Of course, Xie Ling wasn’t giving this without a reason. Every time he remembers the result of the lab test, it gives him a disturbing feeling. 

Before this brother of his reconciled with the Xie family, he had been sleeping in some kind of shed outside. He probably lived there for a while, and refused to go back to his home. Just how much did he hate this family to do all those?

Xie Ling felt his heart ache and blamed himself once more. For him, these things were a dreadful dereliction of duty from his part. No matter how bad their relationship was, he shouldn’t have turned a blind eye to it.

Acting may be the only hobby that his brother has now, but the entertainment industry has been really difficult these days, not to mention Rong Jing’s status now was no good still. Xie Ling said to him, “Hobbies are hobbies, but that can’t feed you, can it? You’re not good at it. Accept it.”

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Ssdt Kkdt zssjle yv Dkl Nkdt yde eked’v oydv vs ryu yvvldvksd vs bkx. Tl sclekldvzu vssj vbl esnwxldvp yde oyp tlvvkdt alyeu vs zlyhl. Kwpv yp bl oyp ycswv vs srld vbl essa, bl zssjle yaswde yde pyo bkp qzyozlpp casvbla, pvkzz yp rlaqlnv yp lhla. Tl pvsse vblal qsa y obkzl wdvkz bl alzlyple bkp byde qasx vbl essa jdsc yde oyzjle vsoyaep vbl vyczl.

“Jasvbla.”

“Od?”

“Twt.” Ssdt Kkdt pyke yp bl blze swv bkp yaxp vs bkx.

Dkl Nkdt oyp wvvlazu pvwddle cu vbkp osae. Pke R aykpl yd Gzrby sa yd Xxlty? Tl oydvle vs bwt? Tl’p dsv ypjkdt xl vs qktbv, kp bl?

Jwv obld bl pyo vbl zssj kd Ssdt Kkdt’p lulp, Dkl Nkdt pllxle vs wdelapvyde psxlvbkdt. Tl pweeldzu vwadle pkeloyup, bke vbl vlyap qasx vbl nsadla sq bkp lulp, yde oyp iwklv qsa y qlo plnsdep.

Dkl Nkdt nyxl vs Ssdt Kkdt yde bwttle bkp casvbla, obs oyp yp vyzz yp bkp sod. Mblu olald’v czsse alzyvle cwv qyxkzu oyp xsal vbyd czsse. Gqvla clkdt yryav qsa vld ulyap, vbl vos casvblap qkdyzzu bwttle qsa vbl qkapv vkxl.

Rv oyp y csakdt yqvladssd. Mbkdtp olal rlynlqwz. Mbl bwt oyp hlau saekdyau.

Rong Jing leaned on Xie Ling’s shoulder and said, “Brother, I’m still here.”

Just because he was acting okay, did not mean that Xie Ling forgot about what Xie Jisheng did, or that he was okay with the poisoning. It’s just that he cared too much that he could only pretend to keep the peaceful facade.

He was Xie Ling, the heir of the Xie family. The whole Xie family couldn’t rely on the unreliable Xie Zhanhong. They must rely on him to keep things operating normally. He didn’t want to allow himself to be weak for outsiders to see. All of his wounds are hidden underneath his hard shell.

The corner of Xie Ling’s mouth raised a bit, his face showing a smile that looked worse than crying, “I know.”

His stiffened back finally eased up and he finally let himself relax.

You’re the only brother I have.

When Rong Jing left the office, he just stood there for a while. Xie Ling’s state had always made Rong Jing think of the protagonist. Although the two had no resemblance, had different personalities, environment, and lives, they both like to keep up a peaceful facade around themselves and put up a wall to protect them from all the attacks which may already be riddled with holes.

Just then, he received a text message from Xie Ling: What are you doing there staring at nothing? Get going.

Rong Jing glanced at the documents in his hand that might as well be worth 100 million yuan, and suddenly found it heavy. His big brother was still the same old demon that he was. There was no way he was going to suddenly act kind. Gotta stop overthinking then.

Rong Jing wanted to go now and study the companies on the documents first so as to prevent making a bad decision. He asked Zhou Xiang how he could get to the information department. He wanted to find a computer specialist. 

Zhou Xiang wanted to take him there in person but Rong Jing thought that this habit of relying on him was bad. He treated him like a child, like Xie Ling did but they all know that he was already a grown up.

“Just tell me where to go.”

In fact, Zhou Xiang still has a lot of things to do. As the secretary of the vice president, he was indeed as busy as Xie Ling. Still, he wouldn’t be able to relax if he let his young master go on his own. This person was his boss’ precious little cherished one. So he arranged a female Beta secretary to guide Rong Jing.

All of Xie Ling’s secretaries were Betas. He believed that work efficiency would increase without the pheromones interference.

The Xie company is one of the few companies that doesn’t judge people by their genders, especially now that Xie Jisheng’s position in the original book has been erased.

The female Beta called Li Si found that Rong Jing was different from the cold and ruthless Xie Ling, and that there wasn’t an ounce of arrogance from being a son of a wealthy family that could be seen from him. She simply saw a face that could pierce the hearts of all Betas. Her attitude immediately changed as she led Rong Jing into the elevator, the others watching them with envious eyes.

When the elevator reached the next floor, two middle-aged men walked in. They didn’t pay attention to them and continued talking.

“His contract is about to expire. Didn’t they all fight over him before? Everything seems to have calmed down now, why is that? He’s such a big catch. A literal cash cow.”

“The second young master mentioned buying the Shengteng Entertainment before and that whoever planned to do the same will have to expect a lawsuit. Well, yeah, that one’s quite popular, but to be honest, it’s quite expensive as well. Now, everyone’s watching and waiting.”

The two executives spoke vaguely, not even mentioning who the person they were talking about. Xie Jisheng was basically one of the owners of the company, so even if they thought that he was too arrogant, they couldn’t say anything bad to him.

“That Shengteng sure is something else. Have you heard about the contract?”

“Yeah, there isn’t any news yet from the outside, but who else in the industry doesn’t know? Bullying someone with family trouble, young but contracted with debts. ‘Course the young one wouldn’t have any choice but to sign up for ten years. Ten years, I’m telling you, ten years. Tsk tsk.”

When they arrived on their floor, they were stopped by the man behind them just as they were about to leave the elevator.

“When does his contract expire?”

**

When Gu Xi got up in the morning, he immediately checked out of the hotel. The price of staying a night in Xie Li’er was too expensive. Staying occasionally to experience luxury was okay, but staying for a long time was going to give him a heart attack later.

Gu Xi had blocked his agent’s phone number after they had fallen out. He wanted to rest for now so he was getting ready to go home. He planned to check the password of his house so his agent wouldn’t be able to barge in.

When he got out of the elevator, he saw a huge gift box at his doorstep. The gift wrap was blue with the words Tiffany. He could already guess that what was inside was of great value.

Of course, a gift that I’d receive from time to time.

Gu Xi opened it, almost feeling nothing. Inside was a humanoid doll made of precious stones, a ¼ human scale doll. The doll looked very much like him, so lifelike.

There was a rose beside it with a note attached to its stem. The words were type-written: For the perfect you.

A chill swept over Gu XI and goosebumps sprang over his arms.

It should have been delivered at the same time as the roses back at the audition venue. The sender probably thought that if he didn’t go to the audition, he would definitely go back home.

This gift’s destination would be the same as the other gifts. It will be donated as well.

Actually this person didn’t act like this at first. They weren’t this rude to force him to receive all these gifts, in fact, they patiently considered his interests, and sometimes gave very thoughtful gifts.

However,  Gu Xi had no time to entertain these things. He simply wanted to reach the day when his contract expires, earn money to support his siblings, and buy himself a new home that he could call his own.

All of the gifts that he received were either returned or donated, but these actions completely angered the other person. The gifts that were sent later on became terrifying, probably revealing the true nature of the giver or perhaps begging Gu Xi to stop the usual refusal. Gu Xi could feel that the giver had run out of patience.

Gu Xi smiled bitterly. If they’d run out of patience then so be it. If worse comes to worst, then I’ll just live a poor life.

Gu Xi sat down, and saw a flash of white in the afterglow of the sunset. He slowly lifted the hand that had been carefully bandaged. It was really just a minor injury and there was no need to bandage it but he didn’t stop him.

I didn’t want to let go, I didn’t want to refuse either.

Gu Xi’s index finger pulled the little ear on the bow. He smiled, and as he felt the warmth of the wind, he slowly closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.

But then, he suddenly felt pain because of his heat.

He stood up shakily, pulled out the keys from his pocket and opened the door. Fortunately, his agent was not inside. He didn’t want his bad situation to be seen.

He remembered Guan Hongyi telling him to patch himself up with pheromones, to look for an Alpha that would match him to help him for a while. He had always put up with his heat because he didn’t want to deal with an ‘accident’ or else he’d never be able to get rid of that accident’s burden.

However, the sudden arrival of this current heat almost led him to a disaster. Even if he didn’t want to do the matchmaking, he still needed to give it a try.

His body was cold as if he was inside a freezer. His heat would always make him feel either hot or cold. Without the inhibitors, a dreading pain would always come over his body. A normal Omega wouldn’t suffer as much as him. He got sick a lot of times when he was young, and he suffered a lot.

All of his heat had one thing in common, though. Every time it would arrive, every cell in his body would feel a desperate need to be marked by an Alpha, to be touched by an Alpha.

Gu Xi huddled under the blanket, shivering. He took out his phone and called the pheromone matching center.

“I’d like to make an appointment for a pheromone match.”