Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Upon returning home, Lan Yexing switched on the lights.

To his relief, the water and food left in the living room had been consumed. Though still timid, the furball had emerged from its carrier and burrowed under the soft sofa blanket, revealing only a pair of quiet, watchful blue eyes.

Even this small change made the villa feel warmer to Lan Yexing.

He smiled at it, "You've taken good care of yourself; you're amazing. Keep it up." After a couple of days of rest, he could take it for vaccinations.

With that thought, he quietly cleaned the litter box, changed the water, and refilled the food.

Afterward, he took a hot shower and then comfortably drifted off to sleep on the soft bed.

...

The next day, news of the fire ignited public outrage. In a university, a place for young people to learn and grow, someone had set a fire to kill a classmate over a mere seat. What's more, they then used their family's influence to obstruct the police investigation.

Campus bullying, public safety, educational fairness, and the privileges of powerful chaebols—this incident touched upon nearly every sensitive issue that would provoke ordinary people. It quickly sparked serious and widespread discussion, with media outlets scrambling to report. The Yuan family was thrust into the spotlight, and people, out of anger, even began to spontaneously boycott the Yuan family's biological inhibitors.

Under immense public pressure, many public hospitals and offline pharmacies switched from the Yuan family's inhibitors to cooperate with the Jian family.

Yuan Ye's face appeared across all social media platforms, and his reputation instantly plummeted.

The Yuan family's PR strategy was ruthless and precise. They completely disavowed Yuan Ye, the previously acknowledged, highly regarded, and beloved illegitimate son who had even been given a portion of their industries. They declared reports of the Yuan family's interference in the investigation to be false, stating they were completely unaware of Yuan Ye's actions and felt deeply pained and disappointed by the incident. Yuan Ye, they announced, would face legal sanctions and public scrutiny.

The Yuan family pledged to compensate and offer condolences to all affected students and to increase their charitable contributions to the education and medical sectors.

Following this, there was an overwhelming flood of Yuan family charity press releases and the sudden revelation of a top celebrity scandal.

However, even then, the losses incurred by the Yuan family could not be recovered.

In addition, a few scattered reporters also reported that, besides the mastermind and instigator Yuan Ye, an illegitimate son of the Li family was the direct arsonist. Some conspiracy theorists believed that the Jian family and the Li family had an in-law relationship, and the direct beneficiary of this incident was actually the Jian family, suggesting the Jian family might have been involved behind the scenes.

...

In the business school's cafeteria, Li Long frowned slightly as he read the newspaper.

Students at the table behind him were discussing the social incident:

"Yuan Ye was photographed by reporters when he was taken away. I've never seen him cry so hysterically, completely losing his mind, constantly yelling at reporters that he really didn't mean to set a fire, only wanting to teach that beta a harsh lesson. But he's bullied many people before, and he's done worse things. I think it's just because this time it blew up, and he's lying to play the victim."

"Oh, and that Li Xin, he also kept arguing that he never intended to set a fire, that his mental power just went out of control—tsk, who believes that? He used to show off every day that he was a Li family member, that he not only possessed mental power but also controlled it very well."

"It's not impossible, is it? The Jian family's mental power and the Yuan family's mental power are similar; both are controlled by pheromones. Yuan Ye's pheromone control can at most affect an omega entering estrus, but I heard that powerful pheromone control can even affect people with mental power, causing them to lose control."

"Isn't that Jian family kid also studying at our school? I heard he had a conflict with Yuan Ye just a couple of days ago. This kind of operation not only brings benefits to his family but also effectively cripples Yuan Ye."

"That's right, the sole and direct beneficiary of this incident is the Jian family. How could it possibly have nothing to do with them? After all, the competition among those giant corporations runs very deep."

"And it also helped his cousin get rid of an illegitimate son. Li Xin and Li Long don't get along, do they!"

...

"What are you thinking about?"

A sweet voice rang out as Jian Si sat down opposite Li Long with two breakfasts, pushing one towards him.

He elegantly and skillfully spread a napkin on his lap, arranged his knife and fork, and said faintly, "The illegitimate son who made your mother unhappy is gone. Aren't you happy?"

Li Long was silent for a moment, looking at him. "You're not happy."

He looked straight at him. "We all know that your abilities can indeed manipulate mental power to go out of control, but you haven't done such a thing."

Jian Si paused, looking down at the unfinished breakfast on his plate. After a moment of silence, he said faintly, "Do you think he'll believe I did it too?"

Then he shook his head: "Never mind, I won't think about it." He looked at Li Long, his voice still sweet, but devoid of emotion: "You need to continue gathering information on Qiao You in the business school; I absolutely must make him fall in love with me."

Li Long: "...Okay." With that, he stared blankly in one direction, momentarily stunned.

Noticing his unusual behavior, Jian Si looked up: "What's wrong?"

Li Long looked at the boy choosing pastries in the corner. "It's your friend."

Jian Si's hand gripping the knife and fork tightened, but he still turned to look. Lan Yexing was taking tiramisu from the pastry section.

There were a total of three pieces of tiramisu on the dessert tray, and Lan Yexing took all of them for himself.

He seemed a little embarrassed about taking all of them; even though his expression was calm, the boy's earlobes were red. After taking them, he quickly walked to the least conspicuous corner and sat down.

Jian Si couldn't help but chuckle, his azure pupils filled with pure laughter. He seemed to be talking to himself, "He likes sweets so much..." His tone carried an unconscious lightness and tenderness.

Then, thinking of something else, a shadow fell over his azure eyes.

...

Lan Yexing was oblivious to this. He sat at the round table, somewhat troubled, staring at the tiramisu before him. After a long moment, he resignedly picked up the silver spoon—since he had taken it, he had to finish it, even if he didn't like chocolate products.

The morning news did not bring him the Yuan family's retaliation. Perhaps Yuan Ye was too insignificant to the Yuan family, or perhaps because Qiao You, who also had a deep background, was involved, the other party had reservations and could not retaliate, only wanting to quell public opinion as quickly as possible.

And he and Jiang Xiaozhou, as parties to the incident, were spared from public scrutiny, with not a single piece of their personal information leaked. This was something only privilege could achieve—most likely because Qiao You was involved.

This was annoying, but it was indeed because of Qiao You that he could come to school normally this morning and even come to the business school cafeteria to complete his mission. The system said that Qiao You liked the tiramisu at the business school cafeteria, and an alpha who also liked this tiramisu would intentionally come here in the morning, and then intentionally pick the same piece of tiramisu as Qiao You, creating a chance encounter, and then proceed to win Qiao You over by starting from their shared hobby.

That's why he had no choice but to take all the remaining tiramisu in advance—fortunately, the desserts supplied by this restaurant were freshly made daily, so once they were gone, they were gone.

Lan Yexing really wanted to complain: what kind of bizarre thought process could come up with such a strategy? Would anyone really become a sweet couple just by picking the same piece of tiramisu?

Thinking this, Lan Yexing took a bite of the cake, then choked violently and almost spat it out. Why was a dessert made with dark chocolate so sweet? He was going to be suffocated by the sweetness...

Lan Yexing took a large gulp of black coffee before his mouth felt normal again. Just then, faint voices came from the direction of the restaurant entrance. He paused and looked over—Qiao You had arrived.

He was accompanied by an alpha of similar height and build, who appeared to be his friend. That alpha was genuinely cheerful and outgoing, chatting and laughing as they walked. As they entered, he even helped an omega who almost spilled coffee on Qiao You.

Qiao You paid no attention, mercilessly leaving his friend to deal with and comfort the timid omega, while he went directly to get his breakfast.

He paused when he saw the empty tiramisu dessert plate. The tiramisu here was always made too sweet, so even though only three servings were offered daily, only he would take one.

Today, however, it was completely empty.

Perhaps because the situation was so rare, the lively pastry chef joyfully emerged from the back kitchen, proudly and excitedly telling Qiao You that there was finally one more customer who understood his taste today. He pointed in one direction, "Look, he's a very cute little guy, isn't he?"

Qiao You followed the direction indicated, raised an eyebrow, grabbed something else casually, and walked towards that spot.

Soon after, another tall, red-haired Alpha entered the restaurant and headed towards the dessert section. He wasn't wearing a school uniform and didn't look like a student. He had an extremely refined and rational demeanor, and wore metal-rimmed glasses. He paused briefly as he passed Jian Si.

Jian Si, who had been looking at Qiao You walking towards Lan Yexing with a normal expression, suddenly darkened. Thinking of something, a few strands of coldness surfaced in his azure pupils. Li Long's body tensed, and his expression for the first time showed a terrifying aggressiveness.

The red-haired Alpha didn't say anything, just paused for a moment and then continued walking.

...

"Clink," the golden-haired youth placed a cup of black coffee and a plate of finger sandwiches on the table, then pulled out a chair and elegantly sat down. "Do you mind sharing a table, junior?"

Lan Yexing finished the last bite of his cake and smiled slightly at him. "Please do." With that, he took another gulp of bitter coffee.

A rare, almost imperceptible curiosity flickered in Qiao You's green eyes. He looked at the boy's subtly twitching forehead and chocolate-smeared lips, which were rather cute due to the overly sweet cake, and asked with a smile, "If you don't like it, why did you take it?"

Lan Yexing pushed the empty plate away, placed the second plate in front of him, and said faintly, "Let's just say I have a masochistic hobby."

Qiao You: "That's a very unique hobby."

Lan Yexing continued his "masochism" and ignored him, thinking to himself, "Is your hobby of eating such perversely sweet things normal?"

Qiao You casually and elegantly ate his sandwich, as if he could read minds, saying, "Junior, you're not talking bad about me in your head, are you?"

Lan Yexing: "!"

He smiled and denied: "Not at all."

He didn't really want to spend time with Qiao You outside of a mission. He was about to suggest that Qiao You find his friend to eat with—his sunny Alpha friend hadn't found him, and he didn't care, simply sitting somewhere else.

Just then, clear footsteps sounded, and the red-haired Alpha with glasses stood by their table. He wore a golden cobra emblem on his chest, with sharp fangs exposed from the snake's mouth piercing into a red moon.

He glanced at the last tiramisu on the table and said meaningfully, "It seems I'm not the only one with the same taste as you, Qiao You. There are others who, like us, really enjoy the tiramisu here."

"It's just a shame that my carefully planned dessert exchange scenario was ruined."

Lan Yexing glanced at his watch, which hadn't lit up, indicating that this wasn't a mission event, so he continued to eat his cake with his head down.

Qiao You also didn't stop his movements, eating his breakfast with downcast eyes, a cold, arrogant disgust and impatience flashing in his green eyes.

The Alpha wasn't angry, he just continued, "I've always been fascinated by the theory that shared hobbies are a bridge to friendship, Qiao You. We would be very compatible, just as I suggested to you a month ago when I met you here, are you really not considering joining the Paradise Club I founded?"

Qiao You took a sip of black coffee, not even glancing at the other person—as if the other person was some unsightly trash: "Ah, absolutely not considering it."

The Alpha still wasn't angry. He gave the golden-haired youth a meaningful look, then turned to Lan Yexing and smiled, "So, little student, would you like to join?"

Qiao You's motion of rubbing his coffee cup subtly paused.

"Let me introduce myself," the Alpha placed a business card beside Lan Yexing's hand: "My name is Yuan Ping, and I'm a researcher at the medical school. Yuan Ye is my younger brother."

Lan Yexing's eyes turned cold.

Yuan Ping, however, smiled at the boy—he was clearly smiling, but his gaze on the boy was like a venomous snake: "Don't worry, Lan, I've always detested that bastard brother of mine, who has half low-born blood, is stupid and useless, and still dreams of entering the inner circle."