Chapter 152: Blue Blue

Chapter 152: Lan Lan

The injury on his hand wasn’t bad, so Shi Lv ignored it. He grabbed his clothes and headed for the shower. The hot water made the marks flare up, causing them to swell into a bright red ring.

At the same time, in the bathroom on the 29th floor of Zhenhai Hotel, Liang Xu pushed aside the hair behind his ear—his scent gland was swollen too.

Shi Lv was way too inexperienced—painfully green. It was obvious he had no prior practice, and his marking was a mess, more like chewing than biting. Liang Xu touched it lightly with his fingers and winced from the pain.

Zhang Ping remarked, "This Shi Lv, really… What kind of alpha does that? Any Omega stuck with him is screwed… Boss, do you want some ointment?"

He fetched some anti-swelling ointment, and Liang Xu applied it in slow circles over his gland, hissing in pain several times.

Only after the walnut-sized gland had finally reduced in swelling did he put his glasses back on.

Zhang Ping stood nearby, holding a suit jacket. "We’ve mostly wrapped up Shi Lv’s background check. I’ve placed the file on your desk—would you like to review it?"

The stakes were high. If Old Man Ye got wind of this, Liang Xu’s years of planning would be ruined. If not for his rut hitting soon and his body’s inability to hold out any longer, Liang Xu would never have gone after Shi Lv blind.

Now that it was done, the necessary checks had to be completed.

Liang Xu said, "Leave it on the desk. I’ll look at it later."

Zhang Ping set the documents down. "There’s another issue—what position should we assign him?"

Interns were usually allocated to departments based on demand, with core departments picking first and the leftovers going to the rest. Given Shi Lv’s resume, he shouldn’t have even made it into New Leaf Group—he was destined for the worst department.

Liang Xu tied the belt of his pajamas. "His skills aren’t outstanding, and his projects aren’t impressive, but he’s diligent. Put him in Strategic Investments."

Strategic Investments—the crown jewel of New Leaf Group.

—Going to town on the gland to ensure enough pheromones were transferred? That certainly counted as diligence.

He walked out. "I have a meeting tomorrow. Ask Shi Lv if he’s available—if he is, get him to take notes."

With the temporary mark binding them, such a significant leverage now in Shi Lv’s hands, he had no choice but to become Liang Xu’s right-hand man. And Liang Xu had always believed in the power of benefits—to maintain his relationship with Shi Lv, he had to offer enough incentives.

—

Meanwhile, Shi Lv, who had just finished showering, gaped at Zhang Ping’s text, brain short-circuiting.

Zhang Ping: *You did well tonight. I secured a spot for you in Strategic Investments and even got you the role of note-taker for tomorrow’s shareholders’ meeting. Show your face in front of the old guard—once you’re familiar with them, you’ll be set for life.*

Shi Lv: "…"

Of course, he knew the prestige of New Leaf’s Strategic Investments. If passing the resume screening made one an elite, then Strategic Investments was the cream of the crop. With that kind of background, even if he switched jobs later, his resume would shine. But…

But Shi Lv genuinely wasn’t qualified.

Sending someone who hadn’t even grasped the basics of economics into Strategic Investments was no different from tossing a golden retriever into a wolf den.

*Dead meat!*

Shi Lv silently stared at the screen, typing, backspacing, typing again.

*"Mr. Zhang, I’m way out of my depth here…"*

Deleted.

*"Mr. Zhang, I’d just slow them down."* Deleted.

"Mr. Zhang, to be honest, I'm just a deadbeat who wants to weasel my way into your company to pay off my credit cards. Once that's done, I'll be out of here."

Delete.

Finally, he silently typed out the first workplace mantra of a young professional: "Understood, noted."

Zhang Ping quickly replied with a thumbs-up emoji.

He put down his phone: "Shi Lv agreed. I noticed his status kept showing 'typing'—he’s probably thrilled."

For 90% of the economics students at C University, New Leaf’s venture capital arm was a dream offer.

Liang Xu nodded: "Mm."

After discussing a few more company matters with his assistant, Zhang Ping got up and left.

Thus, the sprawling hotel suite was left to Liang Xu alone.

He filled the bathtub with water, grabbed a bottle of chilled red wine, and sipped it leisurely against the backdrop of the city's neon lights.

—If Qiao Si and Elder Ye were to witness this scene, their jaws would drop.

The ancestral manor banned alcohol, and even bathing had to follow strict etiquette and time limits. The sight of Liang Xu lounging naked in the bathtub with the curtains wide open would never be tolerated there.

At the mansion, Liang Xu had always been compliant, like a puppet to be manipulated—otherwise, the old man wouldn’t have dared to hand the company over to him. But Liang Xu knew himself well: he was neither the timid figure from the mansion nor the mild, detached facade from the office.

Liang Xu loved material comforts, indulged in pleasures, and harbored ambition. He adored money and power, despised drudgery and answering to others. This—lying atop Zhenhai Tower’s penthouse, taking in the city’s glittering lights—was the life he truly desired.

The crimson wine poured into the glass. By the time he grew buzzed, warmth spread through his body, and the hot water washed away his fatigue. Liang Xu leaned back, half-closing his eyes, when his gaze suddenly caught on something.

A young, ridiculously handsome face.

Shi Lv’s photo sat quietly in the corner of his resume. The young man in the picture was almost unfairly good-looking—his nose bridge high and refined, every contour of his bone structure elegantly defined. More importantly, his gaze was clear, carrying the innocence of someone untouched by the world.

The photo was captivating, much like his pheromones—the scent of a rain-soaked forest, absolutely intoxicating.

After being injected with Ye Xuan’s pheromones for a month, Liang Xu had felt as if his body carried the reek of damp rot. But now, this new scent was like a luxury hotel scent. Even without the influence of rut, he didn’t dislike it—in fact, he rather liked it.

Liang Xu reached out, picked up Shi Lv’s resume, and flipped through it with interest.

Shi Lv’s kissing skills were amateurish, and so was his resume—barebones, underwhelming, with no standout projects to speak of.

But for Liang Xu, that was even better.

Easier to lure with benefits, easier to corrupt with money, easier to lock him into the role Liang Xu had arranged for him.

But as he turned to the next page, his eye twitched.

The first page was his professional resume. The second? His personal life.

Shi Lv was drowning in eighteen maxed-out cards.

A quick scan revealed a seemingly endless list of defaults.

The total sum was chump change to Liang Xu, hardly worth noting. But when he turned to the next page, his brows rose even higher.

Shi Lv had registered on a dating app called *BuleBule*.

Though ABO dynamics weren’t bound by gender in their world, hetero pairings were still more common—a genetic predisposition. Some, however, exclusively preferred one gender. For instance, some female Alphas chose only male Omegas, rejecting females, while some male Alphas only pursued female Omegas. The opposite preference held true too—those who only sought partners of one sex.

This Blueblue is a men-seeking-men dating app with a real-world hookup vibe.

This somewhat shattered his impression of Shi Lv—that alpha who was terrible at kissing, whose marking felt more like biting, totally inexperienced—had actually registered on such a platform?

Those who sign up for Blueblue aren’t naive sweethearts but adrenaline junkies looking for fun.

Was Shi Lv just that good at acting, or had Liang Xu misjudged him?

Liang Xu took out his phone and registered on Blueblue.

Using the info from his file, he searched for Shi Lv’s account. The username was a single character, "Shi," and the profile picture was a black-and-white photo showing off abs without revealing the face—the ripped abs were hard to ignore, and Liang Xu couldn’t help but linger on them.

He hadn’t expected the young body hidden beneath that suit to be so toned.

Liang Xu tried clicking into Shi Lv’s profile, but it was friends-only.

On impulse, Liang Xu tapped the greeting button and sent a default invitation.

"Hi~ Shi, I’m your X. I’m 15 km away from you, right in your city~ Come meet me soon!"

What he didn’t know was that in the dorm, Shi Lv’s face was stone-cold as he browsed the school forum, searching for New Leaf Group’s strategic investment division.

"The pay is really high, and you learn a lot, but everyone there is grindset types."

"It’s all about your numbers—a department where year-end bonuses depend on performance."

"I was lucky enough to snag an intern spot, but I couldn’t hack it. After half a year, I transferred to another department and bailed."

"That ridiculously hot Omega exec from the group who gave a speech the other day—his baby is the strategic investment division. He’s pretty chill with interns; you can ask him anything, and he’ll explain patiently."

Shi Lv: "..."

The keywords seemed to be: hustle, metrics, bail.

Shi Lv was ready to nope out.

Just then, his phone dinged with a new notification.

"Hi~ Shi, I’m your X, right in your city~ I’m 15 km away, come meet me soon!"

Shi Lv, already on edge while scrutinizing the forum and making what felt like the toughest decision of his life, glanced at his phone and frowned. "What kind of nonsense is this, asking to meet right away? Screams psycho."

Deadpan, he clicked "Reject" and closed the chat.

At the same time, Liang Xu received the notification.

After all these years as a boss, this was the first time he’d been rejected so decisively.

...Why the rejection? Was it because of the default profile picture?

Liang Xu set the wine aside, paused, then searched with interest: "How to pimp out a Blueblue profile to get more friend approvals?"

Just then, Xu Fan returned to the dorm.

When Shi Lv entered, he glanced at the name list—Xu Fan, judging by his designer threads, came from a well-off family, was a total social butterfly, and popular on campus.

Seeing Shi Lv, Xu Fan put down his headphones. "Hey, Shi Lv, just in time. That part-time job you asked me about—I flashed the boss your pic, and she liked you. You can start this weekend, just go directly."

Shi Lv quirked an eyebrow.

The original host had so much debt and must have tried looking for part-time work, probably turning to Xu Fan for help. Xu Fan, ever the dependable friend, pulled some strings to set him up.

At least now, even if he gets fired from New Leaf Group, he won’t starve.

The only problem was, Shi Lu didn’t know what kind of part-time work it was.

Shi Lu hedged, “I forgot the address—could you send it to me again?”

Xu Fan replied, “Sure thing.”

Soon, a message popped up on Shi Lu’s phone. Checking the address, it was a café in the city center, only two kilometers from New Leaf Group’s HQ—easy walking distance.

He noted the address. “Thanks.”

“We’re roommates—don’t mention it.” Xu Fan brushed it off, his gaze lingering on Shi Lu. “Damn, all dressed up—job interview? …Hey, what’s with the marks on your sleeve?”

The red finger marks stood out starkly against Shi Lu’s pale skin.

He tugged his sleeve down to hide them, replying awkwardly, “Oh, someone grabbed me.”

Xu Fan frowned and sniffed the air. “Weird… You’ve got this mix of bamboo and ink scent on you… Is it some Omega’s pheromones?”

Shi Lu: “…”

He pinched his fingertips nervously.

Xu Fan patted his shoulder, grinning knowingly. “Hey, college flings are normal. Smells nice, though—fits you. Come on, tell me, what’s the Omega like? Boy or girl? Pretty?”

—To be honest, it was an Omega with photosensitive epilepsy and mental disorders.

Shi Lu pushed him away. “…A boy.”

He recalled the stifled gasps from last night and felt oddly unsettled.

Zhang Ping, the sharp young assistant, had a younger cousin—probably a… boy, right?

Just then, Shi Lu’s phone dinged again.