Chapter 19: The Married Beta Has a Red Mark on Her Waist

Chapter 19: The Red Mark on the Mated Beta's Waist

The meeting was nearing its end when Situ Jing pushed the door open and entered. His seat was directly opposite Situ Jian—the chairman of the company, who hadn’t shown up for a long time—his father.

Situ Jian, also an S-class Alpha, possessed gentle, serene, dove-like features. Fine lines at the corners of his eyes lent him a melancholic and profound air at first glance. In his youth, he had been a fencing champion.

As the family successor, Situ Jian had neither achieved great merits nor made drastic mistakes during his tenure, prudently maintaining the family business. Situ Jing, however, had a completely different approach and style.

For years, the relationship between father and son had been strained. This time, when they met, neither showed the other a friendly face.

Situ Jing sat down calmly, placing his hands on the table. “Let’s hear the results of the discussion.”

One of the executives present spoke up first. “Our suggestion is…”

After the meeting, Situ Jing left first and went to his office.

Soon after, his father, suppressing his anger, arrived at Situ Jing’s office. As soon as he closed the door, he began his tirade.

“I haven’t been to the company in a long time, and the moment I show up, you deliberately arrive so late to disrespect me?”

Situ Jing sat sideways in his chair, looking up at him. “Please don’t get so emotional in the company.”

“Your staff say you’re never late for meetings. The moment I come here, you’re two hours late, and the meeting is already over. Isn’t that disrespecting me? Or is this some special privilege reserved for me? People outside are already saying the Situ father and son don’t get along, that they haven’t been seen together in years—”

“I’ve already provided an explanation, and the content of the meeting has been finalized, hasn’t it? If you want to maintain appearances for outsiders, you can always notify me in advance. I’ll have my secretary adjust my schedule.”

His father paced back and forth in the office, looking helpless. “How long are you going to keep this up with me?”

“Am I?”

Situ Jing had no intention of changing his attitude. He picked up the seven-spotted ladybug pottery he had brought back and played with it, accidentally noticing that not only did the ladybug’s eyes seem to gleam with intelligence, but its left and right sides were asymmetrical, and it even had seven legs.

In his anger, his father’s attention was drawn to the red ladybug pottery. “Quite unique. Since when did you develop an interest in these things?”

“Dr. Jiang said this could help with my pheromone imbalance.”

Situ Jing’s tone was indifferent as he recalled what had happened two hours earlier—Bai Yu unfastening his shirt and belt buckle in the car. He had handed Bai Yu a light blue square wrapper and asked him to put it on.

Bai Yu tried several times but was unsuccessful, his face flushed with embarrassment.

*So clumsy.*

His father had no idea what his son was thinking and sighed softly. “Find some time to see a therapist. I heard you haven’t been in a long time.”

Situ Jing didn’t respond. Instead, he touched his chin and said, “I’m curious—what exactly is it about her that attracts you?”

“Regardless, I have the right to start over, Jing.”

“I’m not restricting your freedom to start over, but I just don’t get what’s so great about that scheming woman. She’s not an S-class Omega, her family background is ordinary, and she’s not even pretty—just a very average yoga instructor.”

His father walked up to Situ Jing’s desk. “I won’t allow you to speak about her like that!”

Situ Jing smirked. “Then you should also remind Hui—he said even worse things than I did.”

*Rome wasn’t built in a day, and repairing their relationship would take time.* His father repeated this to himself before speaking again, his tone softer. “Come over for dinner next Saturday. Hui said he’s finished filming and is coming back.”

“Is that scheming woman going too?”

Before his father could respond, Situ Jing could tell from his expression what the answer was. He began dismissing him. “We’ll see. If there’s nothing else, please return to your office, Chairman. I have work to do.”

At that moment, his father said, “She reminds me of your mother.”

“Who did you say she’s like?”

“Your mother.”

The atmosphere in the office suddenly grew tense. Situ Jing stood up. “You were diagnosed with face blindness five years ago—have you gone completely blind now? If you’re sick, go get treated! Take a good, long look before you come back here and talk to me about seeing my mother in her! If you say that thick-browed, sausage-lipped, tanned, visually offensive scheming woman resembles my mother one more time, I’ll have you locked up in a mental institution!”

The office door hadn’t been fully closed, and their voices leaked out. Secretary Zhou quickly shut the door.

A few minutes later, the office door opened.

Situ Jian walked out, looking somewhat helpless, frustrated, and wronged. He turned to Secretary Zhou and said, “Xiao Zhang, prepare me a cup of Longjing tea.”

Secretary Zhou glanced at Assistant Zhang, who had accompanied the chairman.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Assistant Zhang said, “Chairman, I’m here. I’ll make your tea right away!”

*

Bai Yu returned home, took a shower, and changed his clothes. He went to the kitchen, squeezed some detergent onto the oil stains on his clothes, scrubbed them off, and tossed the clothes into the washing machine.

Back in his room, Bai Yu dried his hair with a towel, draped the towel over his shoulder, and carefully examined the golden scarab pottery on the table.

When the two of them were choosing which insect to make, the shop owner had shown them a catalog. Situ Jing picked the scarab, and Bai Yu pointed out, “That’s a dung beetle—the one that pushes dung balls.”

Situ Jing said, “Then do you know that in ancient Egyptian mythology, it pushes the sun, symbolizing the eternal cycle of life?”

The shop owner confirmed what Situ Jing said, complimenting his erudition and asking curiously, “Are you a professor at some university? Or…”

Situ Jing replied succinctly, “No.”

He was simply using his knowledge to crush Bai Yu’s whimsical, digressive thinking.

When they started coiling clay to make the pottery, Situ Jing worked with extreme focus, following the instructions while shaping the clay. Not only was he fast and precise, but even the tiny spines on the beetle’s legs were realistically crafted, with no imperfections detectable even up close.

Bai Yu ran his index finger over the smooth back of the golden scarab and gently placed it in the cabinet.

That night, a light rain was falling, and the wet streets reflected the colorful neon lights.

Bai Yu had half his hair tied up in a small bun, a lollipop in his mouth. He wore a plain short-sleeved shirt with a little salted fish pattern and blue jeans, holding a transparent umbrella and a bag of fruit as he stepped off the bus.

The bus stop was across from the hospital. Bai Yu opened his transparent umbrella and waited for the crosswalk signal. Distractedly, he thought he saw a man in a black hoodie under the trees outside the hospital.

His hand jerked involuntarily. When he looked more closely, the figure was gone.

The light turned green. Bai Yu crossed the street, pretending to casually look around. Only when he didn’t see the figure again did he relax and walk into the hospital building.

Under the inpatient building, the fallen petals of the redbud tree covered the ground. Water pooled by the bike racks rippled as petals fell into them.

Entering the VIP ward, Bai Li was watching a variety show with exaggerated sound effects, accompanied by her laughter.

Noticing Bai Yu come in, she turned and called out, “Brother, you’re back so late from your part-time work?”

“It’s fine. Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

“I slept too much during the day. I’m not tired now.”

Bai Yu walked to the window and closed it a little to keep the rain out. As his shirt lifted, a red mark on his lower back was exposed.

“Brother, are you hurt?”

"Injured?" Bai Yu tugged at his clothes, looking for anything suspicious. "Where?"

Bai Li pointed at Bai Yu's lower back. "There's a red mark on your back."

Bai Yu lifted his shirt a bit and realized it was finger marks from where someone had gripped his waist. "Must be a mosquito bite. Didn’t notice it."

"That mosquito is quite sneaky, targeting your waist like that. You should buy some bug spray."

"Yeah, I’ll buy some tomorrow." For a moment, Bai Yu felt there was something implied in Bai Li’s words, but Bai Li was only thirteen and hadn’t presented yet—surely she wouldn’t be that perceptive.

"Want an apple? I’ll peel one for you."

Bai Li nodded. "Yeah."

Bai Yu took an apple off the cabinet, washed and peeled it, then handed it to his sister. "Did you have any nightmares today?"

"No."

"That’s good."

Bai Yu looked at his phone and saw a message from Secretary Zhou: [The boss said you should get a complete physical. The fee has been paid; just go to the hospital to pick up the barcode.]

Bai Yu: [Rabbit giving OK sign.gif]

The lab had staff working, and since he had nothing else to do, Bai Yu went downstairs for the checkup once his sister was asleep.

All his results were normal.

Bai Yu snapped a picture of the report and sent it to Situ Jing: [Everything’s fine.]

Heading back to the inpatient building, Bai Yu received a reply: [Did all the food you eat disappear into a black hole?]

Was Situ Jing still awake this late?

Bai Yu glanced at the weight part of his report. [I’m only 175 cm tall, so it’s about right. Betas are usually lighter.]

Immediately, Situ Jing sent another message: [Where are you?]

Bai Yu got a bad feeling and didn’t reply right away, turning his phone off instead.

Back in the hospital room, Bai Li was still sound asleep. Bai Yu lay on the visitor's bed and scrolled through his phone when Situ Jing sent a second message.

Situ Jing: [Stop pretending to be asleep. Are you at the hospital or that crummy apartment in the Third Ring? Answer me now.]

Bai Yu checked the time—it was already midnight. Why was he acting so crazy at this hour?

Ignoring him, he decided to reply tomorrow morning.

A while later, Situ Jing sent another message: [I’m coming to find you.]

Bai Yu bolted upright in bed, his face twisting as he typed quickly: [Sorry, I didn't see your message earlier. I’m at the hospital. What’s up?]

[It’s too late now. How about I come by tomorrow?]

After sending the two messages, Bai Yu waited but didn't get a reply from Situ Jing. He didn’t know if Situ Jing was really coming or had fallen asleep.

Bai Li, a light sleeper who woke easily, opened her eyes and saw Bai Yu just staring at his phone screen in the dark. "Bro, who are you chatting with?"

Bai Yu quickly turned off the screen. "Who else? Just messages from the side job chat."

Bai Li pouted. "I don’t believe you."

"Don’t stress about other stuff. The most important thing is for you to recover as soon as possible."

"Turn on the light. Since neither of us is sleeping, being on your phone in the dark is bad for your eyes."

"...Alright." Bai Yu turned on the light.

Bai Li picked up her water cup and took a sip. "By the way, when I was on the eighth floor before, there was another patient's brother who would often bring me snacks. Do you remember?"

Bai Yu thought carefully. "Vaguely. A tall alpha with black-rimmed glasses, right? I heard he goes to Tech University. He even asked me to play badminton once, but I didn’t go. Why?"

"This afternoon, that brother came to see me. I thought he wanted me to spend time with his cousin, but guess what he said?"

"What did he say?" Bai Yu took a few sips of water from the bottle on the table, waiting for Bai Li to continue.

"He asked if you were dating anyone and wanted your number. I didn’t give it to him yet."

Bai Yu: "Pfft!"

Bai Li laughed. "Bro, are you going to give it to him or not?"

"Cough! No way! Alphas aren’t my ideal type." Bai Yu choked, tearing up.

"Of course. Mom said she hopes you’ll end up with a beta and live a stable life. Betas are happiest with other betas. Do you like any betas?" Bai Li asked.

"What are you talking about? What makes you say that? I’m not planning on dating right now."

Bai Li absentmindedly said, "Oh."

After chatting for a while, Bai Yu turned on the projector on the table and selected an animated movie to watch.

Somehow, Bai Yu couldn’t focus on the movie and found himself thinking again about the shadowy figure he’d seen while crossing the street.

Bai Li shook her water cup. "Bro, there’s no water left."

The room was equipped with a water dispenser, but when Bai Yu went to refill the cup, he found the bottled water was empty. The water card indicated that a new bottle wouldn’t be delivered until the next morning.

There was a water dispenser in the hallway to the right. Bai Yu said, "I’ll go get water from the dispenser outside."

Bai Li, absorbed in the movie, replied, "Go ahead."