Chapter 11: The Beta Who Hates Alphas

“What underwear?” a voice called out.

Both of them turned to look. It was Lu Jinxia and He Baiyan emerging from another elevator.

It was Lu Jinxia who had spoken. As he eyed them up and down, his gaze landed on the item in Jiang Nianxing’s hand. “You…”

“These are cookies I made,” Jiang Nianxing explained, his face darkening.

Yu Sui hadn’t expected the others to show up.

He had no idea how much they’d overheard. This was mortifying!

“Jiang Nianxing, whatever you want to talk about, let’s go somewhere else,” he said. He was too flustered now to question what exactly Jiang Nianxing was carrying. He just wanted to escape this awkward spot.

At those words, Jiang Nianxing remembered the real reason he’d sought him out. He cleared his throat lightly. “Let’s go.”

Yu Sui hurried into the elevator.

Jiang Nianxing followed right behind him.

Lu Jinxia arched an eyebrow slightly but didn’t follow.

He Baiyan merely glanced at the guilty-looking Yu Sui before looking away.

They had all come looking for Yu Sui. Unexpectedly bumping into each other, with no one willing to back down, they had ridden the elevator up together. They hadn’t anticipated overhearing the two men’s conversation right outside the doors—and such content, no less…

“So, what exactly was it?” Lu Jinxia frowned, completely baffled.

He Baiyan fiddled with his phone without responding and turned to step into the elevator.

“Where are we headed?” Jiang Nianxing asked once they were inside.

“Is that really cookies you’re carrying?” Yu Sui stared at him suspiciously, inwardly surprised that he’d actually tagged along.

Jiang Nianxing opened the package. “I already baked them.”

“For me?” Yu Sui asked again.

“Mm.” Jiang Nianxing pressed his lips together. Recalling Yu Sui’s earlier words, he frowned. “Um, what did you mean by that? How could you…”

Even ignoring how wrong it was to steal in the first place, the stolen item was underwear—worn underwear, no less. So filthy…

“Didn’t you get any message about it?” Yu Sui cut him off. He really didn’t want to dwell on this embarrassment.

Jiang Nianxing shook his head.

Yu Sui thought of the other two and shot him a sympathetic glance. Someone else had stolen his plotline.

Jiang Nianxing couldn’t make sense of his expression, so he stopped trying to guess. “If you’re in some kind of trouble, I can help.”

He had plenty of money to cover a pair of underwear, at least.

“Stop.” Yu Sui’s eyelid twitched. Was this guy never going to drop it?

“Fine.” Jiang Nianxing thought to himself that Alphas were such prideful creatures. How could he possibly accept someone else’s help?

He’d just have to deliver it secretly.

The elevator dinged as it reached the first floor. They stepped out together.

“Want to come check out my apartment?” Jiang Nianxing offered, noticing how aimless he seemed.

Yu Sui figured things over there wouldn’t wrap up anytime soon anyway, so he nodded. The apartment was a key location; he might as well scout it out ahead of time.

Jiang Nianxing led him away from the company.

The apartment was very close by—a ten-minute walk.

“It’s been ages since I took a stroll like this,” Jiang Nianxing said, tilting his head back to gaze at the starry sky.

Yu Sui blinked in surprise. “Really?”

He almost hated to burst the guy’s bubble.

“Mm.” Jiang Nianxing had plenty he wanted to say, but in the end, he kept it to himself.

The apartment was a five-person shared space spread across two floors, and Jiang Nianxing’s room was upstairs.

Yu Sui started taking in his surroundings the moment they stepped inside, quietly gathering clues.

Up on the second floor.

Entering the young man’s room, Yu Sui felt a twinge of surprise. Jiang Nianxing came off so cool and stylish, yet his tastes ran to cute little cake decorations.

Gesturing for Yu Sui to have a seat, Jiang Nianxing unpacked the cookies. “Try one.”

Yu Sui washed his hands first, then sat down to sample it.

Jiang Nianxing’s baking skills were impressive. Yu Sui nodded approvingly. “Not bad.”

“I wanted to talk about some live stream interactions,” Jiang Nianxing said. Seeing that he approved, he visibly relaxed.

He pulled out his phone and brought up some examples.

“Take a look—which ones should we go with?”

Yu Sui munched on a cookie, tilting his head toward the screen.

The sight of two men facing each other, biting into a cookie from opposite ends, made him gape in shock. The cookie nearly tumbled from his mouth, but Jiang Nianxing swiftly caught it.

“This… this is…” Yu Sui shook his head vigorously. No way.

“I think it’s a little…” Jiang Nianxing’s cheeks flushed pink. He clutched the half-eaten cookie, his gaze lingering on the bite mark.

Yu Sui didn’t notice. He snatched the phone and scrolled further.

Each clip was even more intimate than the last. Some of them were straight-up kisses.

He felt like his eyes were burning.

Oblivious to how tense Yu Sui was, Jiang Nianxing hated to waste food. He popped the cookie into his own mouth.

Somehow, this piece tasted even sweeter.

He chewed slowly, almost delicately, as if afraid to disturb anyone.

Once he’d swallowed, he turned to Yu Sui. “Any picks?”

“None of them.” Yu Sui shook his head. “They’re all way too intimate.”

“But it’s what the company wants…” Jiang Nianxing trailed off. “If we don’t hit performance targets, we get docked pay.”

“What performance?” Yu Sui asked blankly.

Jiang Nianxing nearly choked. “You didn’t read the contract?”

Yu Sui shook his head.

“You…” Jiang Nianxing stared at him, at a loss for words. “We have monthly evaluations: overall internal company scores, inter-team assessments, intra-team assessments.”

“Live streams, variety shows, concerts—they all have their own benchmarks.”

“Metrics like popularity shifts, trending heat, topic buzz, fan count changes, voting ratios from fans, and so on.”

Yu Sui’s eyes widened. “That’s insanely complicated.”

Jiang Nianxing watched his dazed, wide-eyed expression— so innocent and endearing. He figured Yu Sui must have been duped into signing with the company.

“For this live stream, there are targets for personal fan growth and heat keywords.”

“You’re both rookies, though. The company won’t be too strict.”

“Even so, this is asking too much,” Yu Sui protested.

“Then how about we start with the basics?” Jiang Nianxing said, turning serious. He pulled up a video. “This is from one of our company’s streams. Check out this clip.”

In the footage, one man gently wiped the face of another. The edited snippet had rocketed up several Hot Searches, with topic heat surging wildly.

“Something like this okay?”

“Wiping faces? Yeah, that’s tolerable.” After the earlier examples, Yu Sui’s tolerance had shot up.

“Then…” Jiang Nianxing reached out, his fingers lightly brushing against Yu Sui’s. “Holding hands?”

“What are you doing?” Yu Sui jerked his hand back. “Way too much!”

“Ahem, don’t get the wrong idea.” Noticing the wariness, Jiang Nianxing hurriedly explained. “We’ll stick to stuff without physical contact, then.”

Yu Sui nodded.

Little things like helping wash fruit or passing a tissue—gestures too small to count as intimacy but perfect for showing team spirit. Yu Sui could live with those.

Jiang Nianxing sketched out a quick table on his phone and jotted them down.

Watching him treat it so formally made Yu Sui’s mouth twitch. “You don’t have to go this far.”

“I don’t want to lose pay,” Jiang Nianxing replied earnestly.

“How much do you even make?” Yu Sui asked, curious.

Jiang Nianxing quoted a number.

“That little?” Yu Sui was stunned.

“It’s all bought with our dignity,” Jiang Nianxing said, his face twisting in humiliated resignation.

Yu Sui was at a loss for words.

Dignity could fetch that much cash? He might just have to get on his knees for it.