Chapter 35: High and Mighty Alpha Young Master

Shen Yanzhi had slipped up for once, and Zhou Wu had bolted out.

Meanwhile, Su Bai had just returned home.

His original plan had been to stay at school for makeup lessons with his teacher, but he was so worried about Zhou Wu that he spent the entire afternoon restless and distracted.

In the end, he came back anyway.

To his surprise, the moment he walked in, he heard Young Master Shen from the second floor, seemingly berating Zhou Wu.

His heart lurched. He rushed up the stairs in a panic, only to have a familiar figure slam straight into his chest just around the corner.

It was Zhou Wu.

“Little Bai! Save me!”

Zhou Wu was fleeing blindly, his momentum sending Su Bai stumbling back several steps before they both tumbled to the ground.

Su Bai instinctively wrapped his arms around him. He froze for a few seconds, then realized 05 was completely naked. His face flushed crimson.

“05…?” He barely got the words out before looking up to see Shen Yanzhi standing behind Zhou Wu, his face dark and stormy, radiating an intimidating pressure.

Su Bai jumped in fright. Why did Young Master Shen look so furious?

Shen Yanzhi flung a bath towel over Zhou Wu.

Without sparing Su Bai a single glance, he clamped an iron grip around Zhou Wu’s arm and yanked him roughly out of Su Bai’s embrace.

“How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Don’t run away when you see me.”

Shen Yanzhi’s voice was terrifyingly low, each word edged with shards of ice. He strode forward on those long legs of his, dragging Zhou Wu right back into the bathroom.

What kind of omega ran around naked for everyone to gawk at?

Shen Yanzhi was so furious he let out a laugh.

He had actually felt bad about barging in earlier, but Zhou Wu clearly didn’t have a single sensible thought in his head.

“If you can’t control that lowly temper of yours, the least you can do is obey.”

The words made no sense to Zhou Wu, of course. He had run out to seek help from the best friend he had known since childhood.

The real intruder who had burst in to see him naked was Shen Yanzhi—and now the man wanted to hit him!

Even a clay statue has a breaking point. Zhou Wu was so angry he wanted to snatch the ruler and give him a taste of his own medicine.

Instead, Shen Yanzhi pinned him down and delivered a hard smack.

“Ugh!”

Zhou Wu’s eyes reddened instantly.

The two of them rolled across the floor for a couple of turns, on the verge of an all-out brawl, but Shen Yanzhi had the advantage of his weapon.

In the end, Zhou Wu wailed and burst into tears, finally conceding defeat.

He clung tightly to Shen Yanzhi and started kissing him again.

“What do you think you’re doing…?”

Shen Yanzhi paused in surprise. “Don’t think you can just gloss over this!”

Who would listen? Between a ruler to the backside or kissing someone, anyone with half a brain knew which to pick.

Unfortunately, Shen Yanzhi wasn’t playing along this time. Zhou Wu kissed him, and he still swung!

Zhou Wu balked and shoved him away to run again—only for Shen Yanzhi to pin him right back down.

The ruler rose, but it didn’t fall.

Shen Yanzhi watched as Zhou Wu curled up, clutching his head and shedding tears.

He hesitated.

Had he hit too hard? Omegas were supposed to be delicate, after all.

He set the ruler aside.

“Do you know what you did wrong now?”

Zhou Wu only wept silently. His eyelashes were drenched, tears streaming down the bridge of his nose to patter on the floor.

“…”

He couldn’t take it anymore.

Shen Yanzhi tossed the ruler away and released that sweet pheromone scent once more. He tilted Zhou Wu’s face up.

“Why did you take off the collar?”

Zhou Wu stayed quiet. He clutched at his neck, where the skin was still red and raw.

Shen Yanzhi didn’t look there, though. He noticed something off about Zhou Wu’s body instead.

Pressed so close like this, with the pheromones filling the air, it was starting to stir again.

Zhou Wu realized what he was staring at and flushed beet red, trying to squirm away.

Shen Yanzhi understood in an instant.

So that was it—because of him.

A lowly omega, reacting like this after a little contact with a superior alpha. One kiss, and he couldn’t hold back. Hiding away to take care of it in secret…

The corners of Shen Yanzhi’s mouth curved upward.

What a pain.

Honestly, if Zhou Wu had come at him boldly, like all those other omegas who wouldn’t leave him alone, clumsily trying to seduce him, he might have just told him to buzz off.

But this—humiliated, panicked, desperately trying to hide it from him, not wanting him to see…

Shen Yanzhi found it intriguing.

Right then, Su Bai tracked them down. He pounded on the door, frantic with worry.

He had no idea what was going on, but 05 had been naked and begging for rescue.

He thought he heard Zhou Wu crying the moment he approached, and his face drained of color.

Still, he came right up and knocked insistently.

“Young Master Shen, whatever Zhou Wu did wrong, I beg you—don’t punish him.

05 doesn’t know any better. If there’s a problem, punish me instead. I’ll make sure he behaves.”

Zhou Wu’s head snapped toward the sound of Su Bai’s voice, his eyes lighting up as if he longed to dash out that instant. A surge of displeasure hit Shen Yanzhi. He seized Zhou Wu’s face.

“Look at me!”

Zhou Wu: “…?”

As if Su Bai knew the first thing about disciplining Zhou Wu.

Shen Yanzhi scowled inwardly. All Su Bai had taught him was to strip and throw himself at people? Pathetic.

This fool was his to shape now. Until Zhou Wu learned to turn to him—no one else—first and foremost, no matter what happened or what he craved.

“Were you hiding from me earlier so you could touch yourself in secret?”

Shen Yanzhi asked on purpose.

The fool who couldn’t handle basic math apparently knew all about this?

Zhou Wu just stared at him in bewilderment.

He looked clueless, but Shen Yanzhi didn’t let up.

Because… those ears had turned bright red.

Shen Yanzhi didn’t notice his own flushed cheeks as he pressed in closer, pressing the issue.

“Did it get like this after I kissed you?”

Zhou Wu: “…” No, it was the collar.

But Shen Yanzhi was lost in his own conclusions by now.

“Then you should have begged me… not run.”

“Look at me.”

He wrenched Zhou Wu’s face toward his, their noses nearly brushing. That steady, commanding woody agarwood scent poured out in waves.

Su Bai lingered outside, growing more anxious with no answer.

One of the butlers blocking his path went rigid.

He had caught a whiff of intensely rich pheromones.

There was a hint of fruit, but it was overwhelmingly his young master’s alpha pheromones—brimming with the headstrong possessiveness of youth. It billowed domineeringly from the bathroom, wordlessly repelling everyone in range.

Truth be told, the butler was shocked, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow.

He had no clue what the young master was up to, but one thing was clear: it could not be interrupted!

With a firmer hand, he ushered Su Bai away.

“??”

Zhou Wu’s eyes went wide, sweat beading on his forehead. He never saw that coming.

But alphas really were beasts that fell hard for a scent.

Shen Yanzhi pinned him down, insisting on helping him out. The more Zhou Wu resisted, the more fired up Shen Yanzhi got. Zhou Wu tried playing along, pretending to be utterly smitten as he hugged and kissed him.

Then Shen Yanzhi really got into it.

“…”

Zhou Wu knew there was no escaping it, so he rushed to finish—and ended up getting some on Shen Yanzhi’s face.

Shen Yanzhi stared at him in disbelief, scrubbing at his mouth furiously until his expression finally darkened.

“You…!”

Zhou Wu put on his most innocent face.

“You stinking moron. Filthy omega!”

It was Shen Yanzhi who’d started things out of nowhere, but somehow it had all become Zhou Wu’s fault.

“Wear your damn collar from now on!”

Shen Yanzhi vented his temper, wiping his face raw and red before storming out of the bathroom in a fury.

A blast of cold air hit him, finally cooling his fevered mind.

What the hell had he been doing?

Why on earth had he…

Shen Yanzhi washed up again, intending to return to his research papers, but he couldn’t focus for the rest of the night.

No—his hair reeked of Zhou Wu’s scent now!

Shen Yanzhi muttered a curse, his face burning crimson.

Why hadn’t he just punched the guy?

Meanwhile, once Shen Yanzhi had watched him dress in the bathroom and finally left, Zhou Wu slipped away to find Su Bai.

Su Bai was pacing his room in a state of utter anxiety.

The instant Zhou Wu appeared in the doorway, Su Bai lunged forward, yanked him inside, and slammed the door shut behind them.

“05!” His voice was strained, his hands clamping onto Zhou Wu’s shoulders as he scanned him from head to toe.

“…What did he do to you?”

His face was etched with worry and fear.

“What I taught you about, right? Did he do anything he wasn’t supposed to?”

Zhou Wu hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

But Su Bai couldn’t let it go. He stubbornly demanded to check. Zhou Wu tried to squirm away, only for Su Bai to hold him even tighter.

“Let me see.”

He glimpsed the boy’s lean back and slender legs, marked by smooth skin—now marred with stark red welts, as if from a whipping. The gashes were vivid and shocking.

Su Bai’s breath caught in his throat. His heart clenched like it was trapped in an icy fist.

He’d known it. Young Master Shen wouldn’t lavish this much attention on Zhou Wu without a reason.

It had to be because 05 was so good-looking. He’d taken a fancy to him.

That nonsense about Zhou Wu seeming like an omega? Probably just an excuse for his own twisted motives.

And the guy was a total creep.

Unforgivable.

Su Bai bowed his head, seething at his own helplessness.

“05, maybe you should head back to the orphanage for now.”

“I swear I’ll bust my ass, graduate ASAP, and come get you!”

The word “orphanage” made Zhou Wu shake his head at once. “No way.”

“Why not?” Su Bai’s voice rose in frustration and anger. “After what he did to you! This place…”

He broke off mid-sentence. His gaze fell lower, past the fresh welts to the faded scars crisscrossing Zhou Wu’s skin beneath them.

Zhou Wu’s voice came soft and low. “The orphanage… has bad people too.”

The kind who shoved all the hard labor onto him, beat and berated him over nothing, and shorted his meals.

At least here, the food was good, the clothes warm, and the lodging comfortable.

“And Little Bai’s here too.”

“…”

Right. How had he forgotten that?

Every word of persuasion died in Su Bai’s throat.

A crushing wave of powerlessness engulfed him.

That night as they lay down to sleep, Zhou Wu cracked his eyes open.

Su Bai held him close, weeping without a sound.

“…”

05 pursed his lips, a touch bewildered. He had no idea how to comfort him.

The protagonist shou’s favorability toward the protagonist gong had plunged straight into the negatives. Smooth sailing, really.

…

That same night, Shen Yanzhi had a dream.

He dreamed of the bathroom, of Zhou Wu, of that fruit fragrance.

He didn’t hate it. In fact, later on, somehow he’d been the one pinned down…

It had felt incredible.

He woke to a sticky mess below and his room thick with pheromone scent.

The butler lingered outside, not daring to enter.

Mortified, Shen Yanzhi squeezed his eyes shut and headed for a shower. Most of the dream had already slipped from his memory.

Still, on reflection, he couldn’t shake the feeling.

Something about that dream just wasn’t right.

The next morning on the way to school, Su Bai clutched Zhou Wu’s hand in a death grip, eyes darting warily.

Luckily, Shen Yanzhi had already left early, with no sign of him seeking out Zhou Wu.

Su Bai exhaled in faint relief.

But once they reached the academy, he realized attitudes had shifted.

Yesterday’s cafeteria spectacle had spread like wildfire across campus.

Strangers nodded at them along the path, their gazes curious and ingratiating. Some even called out with over-the-top cheer, thrusting gifts into their hands.

The most ridiculous part, to Su Bai?

Inhibitor collars were relics of outdated oppression. In this age of equality, almost no one wore them openly.

But tie one to Shen Yanzhi—the unchallenged king of the academy—and suddenly they were all the rage again. Sales had exploded.

Even without new purchases, glancing around the classroom revealed several students—alphas and omegas both—sporting neck accessories of varying degrees.

Su Bai: “…”

During break, Su Bai stepped out to ask the teacher about a problem. When he returned, he found that blond omega from yesterday draped over Zhou Wu’s desk, babbling nonstop.

Qiu Ye had spent the previous night kicking himself for listening to Young Master Hua and picking on Zhou Wu.

Young Master Shen had bought him a collar and taken him to dinner—the inhibitor patch from before had to be legit too.

How had he dared rip it off?

Qiu Ye wanted to hack off his own wretched hand.

He’d barely slept from the regret. Today, he’d come to apologize unprompted.

He walked in to find Zhou Wu dozing at his desk.

So he crouched beside it.

“Sorry…”

“?” The blond wasn’t anyone important. Zhou Wu cracked an eye, glanced over, then shut it again without a word.

Qiu Ye’s heart fluttered.

No matter how you sliced it… the guy was still handsome as hell.

Yesterday he’d insisted Zhou Wu was an alpha, but no one bought it. The collar made it even harder to tell now. He couldn’t afford to obsess.

“It was all that Hua Jing’s fault…” Qiu Ye wracked his brain for apologies, terrified Young Master Shen might hold him accountable.

Zhou Wu listened for ages before piecing it together.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t say it was your fault.”

Qiu Ye’s eyes widened in an instant, and Zhou Wu’s image grew even more glorious and imposing in his mind.

This was a man among men! An alpha among… uh, alphas.

He leaned in a little closer, his eyes full of eager anticipation.

“You’re actually… an alpha, right…?”

The pheromones from yesterday had only lasted an instant, but he was an omega. Omega pheromones wouldn’t have triggered any reaction in him.

Something that made his heart pound like that… it had to be…?

Just then, Su Bai strode back over and caught the tail end of the conversation.

Another one? What is this, a vegetable stand?

Su Bai stared at the noble students in speechless exasperation.

“He’s a beta!”

“If there’s nothing else, could you step aside?”

…

Meanwhile, in the private classroom, Young Master Shen finally got the call from his father, just as he’d been hoping.

Father Shen clearly knew all about yesterday’s cafeteria fiasco but had held his tongue—until the business of his mother leaving him alone with that slum omega in the bathroom for so long, heaven only knows what had gone on.

That had finally crossed the invisible line, shattering his silence.

“Yanzhi.”

Father’s tone started out striving for the steady poise and decorum expected of a family patriarch, his words measured and careful. But the barely contained anxiety bled through every syllable.

He began with roundabout allusions to reputation and propriety, followed by a heartfelt breakdown of the risks and benefits, before nearly erupting into outright curses.

“What is your status? Your bloodline? What if pheromones cloud your judgment and you do something irreversible like marking that idiotic, lowborn omega…?”

He took a deep breath.

An idiotic spouse. An heir bearing Shen Family blood, yet potentially saddled with that fool’s stupidity. It would turn the entire clan into a laughingstock and stain the Shen Family legacy with an indelible mark of shame.

“In any case, if you pity him, we can help him out. But this kind of intimacy has to stop right now!”

Shen Yanzhi lounged back leisurely in his chair, listening to his father fume on the other end of the line. Instead of annoyance, an amused smile tugged at his lips.

“Father, I didn’t do anything.”

Still, he had to admit—an unexpected pregnancy would be a surefire way to crack his stuffy parents’ defenses.