Seeing Lu Mingjin come out holding Bai Ruonian, Chen Zhenghe was full of worry.
“Little Bai—” The two words were barely out of his mouth before he was coldly glanced at. The overwhelming aura of an SS-Rank Alpha made him forcibly swallow the rest of his sentence.
Lu Mingjin glanced at Chen Zhenghe. So, this was the punk Old Cao had mentioned.
He looked down at the crying Bai Ruonian in his arms, who was about to fall asleep, tightened his hold, and walked straight past, eyes fixed forward.
Hah, punk.
Chen Zhenghe felt Major General Lu’s gaze was a bit chilly. He opened his mouth but could only see a cold, stern back. He wanted to chase after him but was grabbed by Lu Mingjin’s smiling Adjutant.
That guy had a genial smile, but his grip was anything but loose.
“Young Master Chen.” Zhang Huaijin beamed and produced a card. “This is from Major General Lu, to thank you for choosing the flowers for him.”
To an Alpha, this was almost a declaration of sovereignty.
“How do you know my name?” Chen Zhenghe was instantly alert. Wait, no.
How did he know he’d chosen the flowers for Bai Ruonian?
An icy chill rushed from his head to his feet.
“You… were monitoring… him…”
Zhang Huaijin said nothing, still smiling brightly. “That’s a rather serious accusation to be throwing around.”
By the time Zhang Huaijin followed and caught up, Lu Mingjin was still holding Bai Ruonian and not letting go. “Did you pay him?”
Zhang Huaijin nodded. Not just a bouquet of flowers; that amount could buy ten shops.
Lu Mingjin gave a flat “Mm,” and looked down at Bai Ruonian in his arms. The latter had cried himself to sleep, nestled against his chest, breathing evenly.
What a little fool. He had clearly deposited money in the account, yet Bai Ruonian still didn’t know how to use it.
What kind of life had he been living at the Bai Family Residence before?
Zhang Huaijin watched from the side, couldn’t stand it any longer, and actively rolled up the car window himself.
When they got home, He Zhao was already waiting at the door with his people. Hearing there had been trouble, his face was full of tension, but he couldn’t make a scene, feeling absolutely wretched.
Everyone knew Omega bodies were delicate, and a 99% matched Omega was even more so.
“What happened? Little Bai, he…”
He Zhao saw the Omega in Lu Mingjin’s arms wasn’t moving at all and grew even more nervous, his words becoming a little thoughtless. “You’re blocking me, how can I see anything!”
For once, Lu Mingjin didn’t retort. He wanted to put Bai Ruonian on the bed, but the latter was clutching his collar and wouldn’t let go. Lu Mingjin frowned, his expression saying, “You see this?”
He Zhao had no choice but to lean in. The beautiful Omega was buried deep in the Alpha’s embrace, revealing only a sharp, delicate chin. His chest was rising and falling rhythmically. Asleep.
If he could sleep, it meant the problem wasn’t serious. He Zhao let out a sigh of relief. Last time someone shot Lu Mingjin in the chest, he hadn’t made this kind of fuss. He’d thought this time, it would be at least a Level 3 disability.
Taking a closer look, he saw a small cut on the arm.
Tsk, any longer and it would heal without treatment.
He Zhao thought, how is this supposed to be treated?
He glanced cautiously at Lu Mingjin, who was watching from the side. He had no choice but to feign making a record, cough once, make a show of things, and stick on a band-aid. Then, with a rather serious and troubled expression, he said, “Major General Lu, I’m a Combat Medic for the 10th Division. I mostly deal with trauma and debridement. Young Madam’s external injury is nothing, but I heard a Genetic Serum appeared at the scene. I think it’s best to have someone from the Military Medical General Hospital take a look and do an examination.”
Lu Mingjin nodded. “Alright.”
He Zhao let out a breath. He’d passed this hurdle. Looking at Lu Mingjin again, the latter was staring at Bai Ruonian, his pupils pitch-black, unreadable.
He turned and left, not forgetting to drag away all the people he’d brought with him.
What were they all doing here, being third wheels?
Everyone, disperse, now!
Only Lu Mingjin and Bai Ruonian were left in the room.
Even in his sleep, the beautiful Omega wasn’t peaceful. He wrinkled his nose, about to roll towards Lu Mingjin, but Lu Mingjin pressed him down.
“Sleep properly. Stop fidgeting.”
Surrounded by the familiar scent, Bai Ruonian subconsciously stretched. When he woke up again, he found everything around him was a snowy white and sat bolt upright in fright.
There was movement beside him. His Master was reading a book nearby.
Bai Ruonian opened his mouth instinctively, “Mas… Lu Mingjin… Hubby…”
This time he couldn’t stop himself in time. The moment it came out, Bai Ruonian regretted it.
The book in Lu Mingjin’s hand fell to the floor, but he didn’t pick it up. He hung up the phone and just raised an eyebrow. “What did you call me?”
Now Bai Ruonian fell silent. Lu Mingjin thought he was shy, but instead, he flipped over and got out of bed, throwing himself directly into Lu Mingjin’s arms. “What do you want me to call you?” he whispered, raising a smiling face, his blue eyes bright. “You saved me. I’ll call you whatever you want.”
His voice lilted up at the end, exactly like a clingy little cat. Lu Mingjin clearly hadn’t expected Bai Ruonian to be so bold.
“From now on, when you call me Hubby, you don’t need to add my full name in front of it.”
It sounded odd.
“Get up first.” Lu Mingjin grabbed the back of Bai Ruonian’s neck.
Bai Ruonian felt a little dejected. His Master had come to save him; he’d thought they could go back to how things were before. He didn’t expect his Master still didn’t like him being clingy.
Just then, the door suddenly opened. A young nurse came in carrying a cup of Goat Milk and saw this exact scene. The cup almost slipped from her hand.
They’d heard the Major General and Young Madam had a good relationship. She hadn’t believed it before, but she’d witnessed it today.
Young Madam was beautiful and alluring. No one could resist him.
“Major General… the Goat Milk you wanted.”
Lu Mingjin had gotten used to raising a little cat before. Cats couldn’t drink cow’s milk, only goat milk. Preparing it for Bai Ruonian, he had subconsciously ordered goat milk. His expression didn’t change as he gave an “Mm,” his hands being full holding Bai Ruonian. He just tilted his chin. “Put it there.”
The nurse nodded, put the goat milk down, and practically fled. Bai Ruonian sniffed. He hadn’t quite heard what the nurse said earlier, but he smelled the rich scent of goat milk. He wriggled off Lu Mingjin’s lap and trotted towards the cup.
Thus, he abandoned Lu Mingjin just like that.
Who cared about Hubby or Master? None of it compared to a cup of goat milk.
“Why did you go back to the Bai Family Residence today?” Lu Mingjin asked.
Bai Ruonian held the steaming cup, sniffed it, and then sipped it little by little. He didn’t hear the question, just raised his eyes a fraction. His gaze, through the hazy mist rising from the cup, was blank and lost, like a little cat.
Lu Mingjin stood up, took the cup from his hand, leaned closer, and bent down to speak by Bai Ruonian’s ear. “Why did you go back to the Bai Family Residence today?”
This time Bai Ruonian heard him, heard him clearly. A sense of grievance rose up out of nowhere. “They said Mom was sick.”
“But they lied to me.”
“Tricked me into coming.”
Lu Mingjin continued asking in an even tone, “Why didn’t you call me?”
“Afraid you’d be busy.”
Bai Ruonian said softly, “I was afraid you’d be busy.”
The Omega’s fresh, clean scent lingered like the foggy steam. Lu Mingjin’s gaze was profound, but his face was expressionless. “I’m not afraid of trouble.”
Seeing Bai Ruonian looking utterly dazed, Lu Mingjin breathed a puff of air by his ear, his tone brooking no dissent. “Did you hear me?”
Bai Ruonian trembled. His limpid blue eyes blinked, his lashes long, looking utterly wronged. “I heard…”
“Don’t use other people’s money,” Lu Mingjin said.
“Mm…”
Lu Mingjin now clearly understood the ins and outs of the matter. He leaned close to Bai Ruonian’s ear and asked his final question.
“Why did you refuse to sell me out?”
Bai Ruonian heard this very clearly. He blinked. What a strange question.
Wasn’t it obvious?
He turned his head, looking into Lu Mingjin’s eyes, his own curved in a smile, as if they held crushed starlight.
“Because I’m your cat… Omega.”
He’d almost instinctively said he was Lu Mingjin’s kitty again, but luckily stopped himself just in time.
Looking at Bai Ruonian’s innocent, angelic face, Lu Mingjin narrowed his eyes.
That answer seemed reasonable on the surface, but it was actually very strange.
An Omega refusing his own family’s demands for an Alpha he’d met by chance? No one would believe that.
He was not satisfied with this ambiguous answer.
“Is that so?” Lu Mingjin was noncommittal.
Silent but heated breaths fell on Bai Ruonian’s neck. The latter’s fair skin flushed slightly, and he trembled a little from the sensation. Bai Ruonian rubbed the back of his neck, puzzled, then suddenly remembered something and lifted his face. “I have a question too.”
“Speak.”
“They all say it only counts as being your Omega if I’m Marked… but I don’t think I’ve been Marked. Does it count or not?”
…
Knowing he wouldn’t get anything out of him today, Lu Mingjin went along with the conversation. But he didn’t want to explain Marking to Bai Ruonian. He deliberated for a moment, deciding to just brush it off.
“You could say that.”
“I think so too. And I live with you, and I can spend your money.” Bai Ruonian didn’t feel brushed off at all; he thought it made perfect sense and nodded repeatedly. Then he suddenly thought of something. “So what is Marking?”
As expected, the question finally came out at the end.
Bai Ruonian blinked innocently, speaking the most enticing words with the purest expression, completely unaware.
Was he really unaware?
Lu Mingjin’s eyes instantly darkened. “Marking ah… Marking means you’ll have to endure more than you did today.”
Marking represented a deeper connection, and more vulnerabilities to exploit. Even if Bai Ruonian wasn’t a planted mole, Lu Mingjin had no such plans for now.
He once had a cat. Everyone knew he liked that cat. Then the cat died.
You had to eliminate the roots to have time to think about anything else.
But the cat-like youth just blinked his sparkling eyes, looking at Lu Mingjin expectantly. “What did you say?”
Clearly, he hadn’t heard again.
Lu Mingjin paused. He just felt restless and put some distance between himself and the cat-like youth in his arms. He felt it was very necessary to get Bai Ruonian an external hearing aid. This distance…
Really was troublesome.
Bai Ruonian was full of confusion.
He’d only asked what Marking was, and his Master’s expression had turned strange.
When Ji Shiyu arrived with his people, he met Lu Mingjin coming out with an unfathomable expression, looking like he had pent-up anger with nowhere to vent. He was on the phone. “Halt all Bai Family projects.”
The person on the other end asked, “Should we capture them and interrogate them properly?”
Lu Mingjin’s voice was low. “No. They won’t spill anything now. Don’t alert the snake.”
Seeing Lu Mingjin hang up, Ji Shiyu walked over. He was rather annoyed. He’d been in a meeting, then Lu Mingjin had yanked him over with a Communication Stream. He’d been scolded harshly by the Marshal, and all for a check-up on his Omega who had only scraped his skin.
He’d been furious at the time, but Lu Mingjin had countered him without a second thought.
Those lunatics were waving Black Market drugs around for ages. What if it had punctured the skin?
Especially since Bai Ruonian was a delicate Omega who bruised with a touch—he needed an examination even more.
Logically, it held up. Emotionally, it was hard to accept.
“Why did you come out? Judging by your expression, did your Omega wake up and not recognize you?” He couldn’t help but mock him.
Lu Mingjin answered seriously, “How could that be? He woke up and immediately called my name.”
He was even calling it in his sleep.
Ji Shiyu said flatly, “Then why aren’t you staying with him? Why are you out here? A lone Alpha and Omega together in a room, a gorgeous Omega saying your name… don’t tell me you couldn’t handle it.”
Lu Mingjin’s face darkened.
To be honest, he really couldn’t handle it. He was afraid he’d lose control and bite him.
He changed the subject expressionlessly. “No. He can’t hear well. I’m asking you to make an external hearing aid.”
“What?” Ji Shiyu’s eyes widened, his face full of disbelief and irrational anger. “A scraped skin, you call me. Fitting a Hearing Aid, you call me. I, Ji Shiyu, Director of the Military Medical and Scientific Technology Research Center, fitting an external hearing aid for a highly suspicious Spy right under our noses. You can’t just order me around like this.” Ji Shiyu paused, ran his tongue over his palate. “What’s in it for me?”
Lu Mingjin shrugged, a toothy grin spreading on his face. “I can share a piece of intelligence with you.”
Ji Shiyu instantly had an ominous feeling.
Lu Mingjin stared at him. His ambiguous smile was extremely unsettling.
“Something quite funny happened. The Neural Blocker developed by the Medical Research Department using my genes appeared at the Bai Family Residence and was almost used on my Omega. I had Zhang Huaijin collect the Serum fragments. If this is reported to Headquarters, who do you think will be held responsible?”
“I can’t say for sure if Bai Ruonian is a Spy, but there is definitely a mole near you.” Lu Mingjin bared his white teeth in a wolfish grin. “In light of this, I could even halt your project at any time. So stop calling him a Spy all the time; it sounds like you’re reminding me to do something.” Ji Shiyu was so angry he ground his teeth. “Lu Mingjin, you’re a real piece of work.”
