“…Is that how you curse your dad?” He Yunlang shot back, then said calmly, “In business, you can’t rush things. Get anxious, and mistakes happen.”
He Siheng didn’t get it. “Dad, speak human?”
Shu Qiu picked up a piece of white-cut chicken leg for He Siheng. “You still don’t know your dad’s ways? He’s clearly snatched a deal from the Tan Family.”
“Baby, your mindset’s too small.” He Yunlang waved it off. “This has nothing to do with business. Our son is always comparing himself to others—it’s tiring. Son’s happiness matters most, and so does father-son bonding.”
This remark drew a moment of silence.
He Siheng exchanged a glance with Shu Qiu. He understood and leaned close to He Yunlang, sniffing hard. “There’s no smell of alcohol,” he said strangely.
No sooner had he spoken than He Yunlang knocked him on the head with his chopsticks. “Go away, go away. Your old man is being serious here.”
“Alright, alright, no more beating around the bush. I’ll tell you the truth,” He Yunlang said, not hiding his schadenfreude. “I heard that old guy Tan Cong had a huge fight with his son.”
He Siheng was stunned. “Why did they fight?”
He Yunlang replied, “The blind date Tan Cong set up for Tan Jing last time fell through, right? This time he came back at it, but Tan Jing wasn’t willing and turned them all down. So the father and son argued. Tan Cong has been going to the company with a sour face these past couple of days. You can tell he’s pretty pissed.”
Shu Qiu found it odd. “A Jing just turned eighteen. Why is he in such a hurry to set him up?”
He Yunlang sneered. “It must be that Tan Cong wants to snag more business partnerships for himself, so he’s eager to arrange his son’s marriage. Look, every year on Tan Jing’s birthday, doesn’t he turn it into a networking cocktail party?”
Shu Qiu said, “But Wan Wan is in free love, and I haven’t seen him object to that.”
“Tan Jing is an S-Rank Alpha, after all. There’s only one in every ten thousand Alphas who Differentiate into that. And the kid’s not bad-looking either—just a tad behind our son. He’s definitely a hot commodity. How could Tan Cong not make good use of him?”
He Yunlang analyzed it thoroughly. Then he turned to He Siheng. “Speaking of which, Heng Heng, how come you haven’t Differentiated yet? Once you do, you’ll be a hot commodity too.”
Shu Qiu pinched his ear, her tone full of warning. “What are you up to? You want to scheme about our son too?”
His ear was more important than business, so He Yunlang immediately backpedaled. “Of course not. Our family stands for free love. Our son can date whoever he wants, as long as it’s legal, right, Heng Heng? Heng Heng?”
He Yunlang called out several times in a row before He Siheng snapped back to attention and absentmindedly agreed.
After dinner, He Siheng returned to the second floor. He clutched his phone and paced his room.
Tan Jing’s first blind date had been indirectly sabotaged by him. He remembered Tan Jing saying he wouldn’t go on any more after that. At the time, he hadn’t known Tan Jing liked him. Now that he did, he realized that statement was essentially Tan Jing’s promise to him.
So, Tan Jing’s unwillingness to go on blind dates and his fight with Tan Cong boiled down to him.
He Siheng glanced at his phone. Their WeChat chat was still stuck at the afternoon, where Tan Jing had sent the ranking screenshot, and he hadn’t replied.
He was debating whether to ask about the situation when, as if by telepathy, Tan Jing messaged: Still mad?
He Siheng paused.
Tan Jing: Actually, as long as you’re willing, no matter who of us takes first place, the top spot is yours.
“…”
He Siheng suddenly felt his earlier worry had been a waste of emotion.
He couldn’t help but fire back: You fought with your dad, and you still have the mood to say flirty stuff?
Tan Jing: Fight?
He Siheng: I already heard. You turned down all the blind dates your dad set up for you and had a big fight with him.
Outside the phone screen, Tan Jing narrowed his eyes, genuinely puzzled for once.
He had indeed rejected the blind dates his dad arranged, and he did have disagreements with his dad, but the two weren’t connected.
After he turned down the blind dates Tan Cong set up, Tan Cong heard from Jiang He that he already had someone he liked and was pursuing them.
Tan Cong thought he was moving too slowly and wanted to pry out who it was from him, to force the progress along. He’d refused.
That’s why Tan Cong was mad, showing up at the company with a sour face these past couple of days.
Tan Jing felt pretty helpless, but he understood his dad’s urgency—it was worry over his next Susceptible Period.
An adult’s first Susceptible Period would be fiercer than before, and it also meant stronger urges to claim an Omega. One slip, and he’d lose control and force a Permanent Mark. Even he couldn’t guarantee he’d have that kind of restraint.
So he couldn’t drag He Siheng into it.
But this misunderstanding about the fight was actually an opportunity.
Tan Jing: Yeah, we fought. We’re in a cold war now. I have to watch his mood every day.
Tan Jing admitted it so straightforwardly that He Siheng didn’t know what to say. A simple consolation felt too hollow, and he couldn’t very well tell him to cave and go on a fake date to smooth things over.
Knowing his feelings and still asking him to do that—wouldn’t that be insulting?
He Siheng was wracking his brain for the right thing to say when a Fan Support Group notification popped up at the top of his screen, announcing a message to all members.
His fingers moved fast, and he tapped in.
It was Little Strawberry uploading photos again.
He Siheng’s throat tightened.
This time, the photo was from when Tan Jing had his leg broken in middle school. He wore a vertically striped hospital gown, his right leg in a cast, his face pale.
On WeChat, Tan Jing’s message came: I’m fine. Just have fun over there.*
How could he be fine?
An inexplicable surge of anger rose in He Siheng.
Fueled by rage, impulse took over. He directly dialed the number.
The call connected. Without waiting for the other side to speak, He Siheng got straight to the point. “Do you want to come to my house for New Year’s?”
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