Chapter 22: The Married Beta is Pinned Against the Wall

Chapter 22: The Married Beta Pinned Against the Wall

The airport buzzed with activity. Secretary Zhou approached Bai Yu. "Mr. Bai Yu, the boss is looking for you."

Bai Yu glanced upstairs, but Situ Jing was no longer in sight. "Am I going on a business trip with him?"

"No, the boss just returned from a trip and is resting in the lounge. He's waiting for you in the car outside."

As Bai Yu settled into the car, a faint scent of figs drifted in.

Situ Jing was resting with his eyes closed, dressed in a white shirt and a diamond-patterned tie. His silver-gray jacket lay discarded.

His recent business trip had been to Country H, which had a five-hour time difference from Country C. He planned to adjust to the time difference upon his return. Coincidentally, it was also his rut period, so he picked up Bai Yu on the way.

"What were you two talking about earlier?"

Bai Yu hesitated. "Bai Li said she was reluctant to leave, so I comforted her."

Situ Jing smirked, unconvinced by Bai Yu's words.

At the airport, Bai Li's expressions and gestures during the latter part of their conversation had been noticeably different from the beginning. After they finished talking, Bai Yu's face had turned pale.

Situ Jing didn't bother to call him out. His pheromone levels were rising, and he couldn't be bothered with trivialities. "Let's go."

The car glided smoothly along the road. Bai Yu gazed out the window, the wind ruffling his bangs, making them flutter.

The man said, "Close the window."

"Oh." Bai Yu closed the window, glanced at Situ Jing, then put on his earphones to listen to music.

One earphone fell into the corner on Situ Jing's side. As Bai Yu bent to retrieve it, he accidentally brushed against Situ Jing's knee.

Situ Jing opened his eyes, finding Bai Yu kneeling before him, their gazes locking—Bai Yu's tea-brown, round eyes meeting his own.

"Sorry for disturbing your rest."

"Sit properly, or we'll find something else for you to do."

Secretary Zhou remained focused on driving, his eyes fixed on the road.

*

Inside the Yanting Villa, the marble floor reflected the ceiling lights. Custom-made wooden furniture exuded understated elegance, and beautiful ornamental plants adorned the space in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Bai Yu yearned to touch the plants, to discern if they were real or artificial, but they were likely real.

The two ascended the glass staircase. Situ Jing directed Bai Yu to the bedroom first, while he headed to the study.

The bedroom was spacious and comfortable. A light-colored pajama set lay on the large bed. Given Situ Jing always wore black pajamas, Bai Yu surmised these were for him.

So, Bai Yu placed his crossbody bag on the small sofa and took the light-colored pajamas into the bathroom.

Soon after, Situ Jing entered the bedroom and lowered half of the curtains, instantly dimming the room.

The frosted glass of the bathroom reflected a pale, delicate, undulating form within. The sound of running water intensified the glass's hazy effect.

Situ Jing's throat bobbed. He removed his Inhibitor Bracelet and tossed it onto the coffee table. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the black crossbody bag on the single sofa.

Normally, Situ Jing would have dismissed the cheap black canvas bag. But this time, the zipper wasn't fully closed, and a corner of white paper peeked out.

Last time, when Bai Yu searched for a suppressant patch in the car, so many random items had spilled from his crossbody bag, but no white paper.

Sometimes Situ Jing wondered if his mind was too tense, or if his intuition was simply too sharp.

There was something on that white paper.

Situ Jing picked up the canvas bag. It had some weight. He unzipped it, pulled out the papers, and flipped through them one by one, his expression darkening with each page.

The sound of water in the bathroom ceased. Bai Yu's hair, slightly wavy from towel-drying, clung damply to his cheeks. He tightened the belt of his pajamas, opened the bathroom door, and a cloud of humid steam wafted out.

Just as Bai Yu was about to reach for a hairdryer, he suddenly felt the oppressive atmosphere in the room. Situ Jing sat on the sofa, glaring at him darkly, several sheets of white paper in his hand, the black crossbody bag open and unzipped.

"What is it?"

Situ Jing tossed the crumpled papers in front of Bai Yu. "What is this?"

Bai Yu picked up the papers. A drop of water from his hair fell onto one, leaving a circular mark. The papers were a diagnosis report for Bai Li from another hospital, dated just two days prior.

"This is from my friend He Lele. He said he knows a medical school graduate student whose advisor is a leading leukemia specialist named Wang. He suggested I bring Bai Li to see that doctor."

Situ Jing walked up to Bai Yu, hands on his hips. "What, you still believe that bowl-cut guy can help you find a hospital for treatment?"

Bai Yu looked at Situ Jing, his eyes filled with confusion and a hint of fear. He stepped back slightly. "I just want to try every possible option to treat Bai Li's illness. Isn't that normal?"

"How long have you known him?"

"Who?"

"The bowl-cut guy."

Why did this scene feel so familiar to Bai Yu?

Last time, when he encountered Qin Shaoxin in Xingzhou, Situ Jing had been just as angry when he found out. But He Lele was a trusted friend. Situ Jing was overstepping.

"Longer than I've known you. Please don't slander my friend. He's just trying to help."

Situ Jing moved closer to Bai Yu. "Slander? Haven't you realized yet that I'm the one you should trust the most?"

Trapped in the man's shadow, Bai Yu retreated to the corner. The oppressive pheromones made him dizzy, his legs trembling. "I do trust you."

"Really? You ignore the advice of the professional doctors I arranged for you at the top-tier hospital and instead believe the words of an ordinary beta. Your foolishness and ignorance are enough to earn you a Guinness World Record!"

Situ Jing's voice rose sharply. Bai Yu retorted, "Is it really as serious as you say? I'm not blindly trusting anyone. I'm just exploring domestic treatment options. If we can treat her here, it'll save you money too!"

"I make money easier than breathing. Do I need you to save me money? If there were a treatment available in the country, it wouldn't be up to you to find it!"

Situ Jing looked as if he wanted to crush him to pieces. Was this really necessary?

Bai Yu held the diagnosis report between them, trying to create some distance. "I don't understand why this makes you so angry. It's such a small matter."

Situ Jing laughed bitterly. After all this, the other person still didn't understand what he was truly angry about. How utterly infuriating!

"Do you have any sense of contractual obligation, Bai Yu?"

"Of course I do!"

Situ Jing grabbed Bai Yu's shoulders and shoved him against the wall, the forceful movement causing water from Bai Yu's hair to drip onto his pajamas. "I promised to treat your sister, but how are you treating me? Pretending to cooperate on the surface while secretly looking for alternatives behind my back. Do you know what this kind of behavior is called?"

"I didn't—"

"It's called looking for better options while sticking with the current one! You have no respect for the person you made an agreement with. If I encountered someone like you in business, I'd make sure you learned a lesson you'd never forget!"

Bai Yu was startled by this accusation—he had merely sought out a few other hospitals in Yun-Jing. Was that truly so bad?

"I've already agreed to let my sister go abroad for treatment, haven't I? I haven't gone against your wishes!"

"No, I'm talking about you going to hospitals with that bowl-cut guy. That's disrespectful to me!"

"But I..." Bai Yu's eyes reddened slightly as he clutched Situ Jing's arm. "Could you please not be so harsh?"

A fleeting, almost imperceptible shadow crossed Situ Jing's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by anger. "You did something wrong, and now you're blaming me for being harsh?"

Bai Yu asked, "Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, a biological younger brother." Situ Jing emphasized the last few words.

"Then why don't you understand? We're siblings! We grew up together—of course I want what's best for her. Everything I've done has been for her. Whether it's looking for hospitals with He Lele or sending her abroad for treatment, it's all for her! I'm grateful to you, and I'm grateful to He Lele too—is that wrong?"

Situ Jing sneered, "Why should I empathize with your foolish, self-sacrificing, codependent version of family love?"

Bai Yu repeated blankly, "Codependent?"

Situ Jing gripped Bai Yu's thin shoulders and said, word by word, "I was raised from childhood to be an heir, while my omega younger brother lived elsewhere. He could learn or play whatever he wanted because his destiny was to marry into another wealthy family. Our lives have nothing in common except being born into the same family."

"I can't understand your clingy, overly sentimental sibling bond—and you're half-siblings! You sacrifice so much for her, but how much can she ever repay you? When you're old, will she even bury you?!"

Tears welled in Bai Yu's eyes. "Bai Li is the only family I have left in this world. Maybe in your eyes, such affection is pathetic and foolish, completely self-depriving, but sacrificing and giving up things to save a loved one is nothing out of the ordinary in the world of people at the bottom. It's also fulfilling my mother's dying wish!"

Situ Jing coldly retorted, "Is that so? Then if I hadn't stopped you, would you really have gone abroad with her?"

Bai Yu paused. "I... I don't know."

Situ Jing looked at Bai Yu indifferently, as if he had expected that answer. "If you give up your studies so easily, you're destined to rot at the bottom for the rest of your life, just one of millions of mediocre, incapable betas. You'll be a miserable, overworked drudge in some small company with no hope of promotion, then at a certain age, marry another mediocre beta, take out a loan for a house, have a bunch of little penniless kids, and continue passing on the fate of the lower class to the next generation!"

Bai Yu reeled from Situ Jing's harsh scolding, the piercing words ringing in his ears.

What he said wasn't without reason, so Bai Yu didn't argue back.

Tears just streamed down, blurring his vision.

Suddenly, the weight on Bai Yu's shoulders lifted—Situ Jing released him and turned to pick up his phone from the coffee table.

Bai Yu took a breath and wiped the tear stains from his face.

"I can call right now and have her return to the country, to the hospital you want her to go to. Okay?"

"No! Bai Li is already abroad. Bringing her back for treatment would only be a huge hassle for her—even if she recovered, the ordeal would make her worse."

"Didn't you want her to stay in the country for treatment? As you wished."

Bai Yu rushed up to Situ Jing, crying, "I'm sorry!"

Situ Jing pushed Bai Yu away. "Aren't you more trusting of your friend?"

Bai Yu shook his head. "I'm sorry, I know I was wrong. What you said has some truth to it—I shouldn't have acted in a way that showed distrust toward you. Please don't make her come back!"

"A little sense?" Situ Jing's anger remained undiminished as he opened his recent calls.

"I know you're right. I wasn't respectful enough toward you in this matter. I'm sorry!"

Bai Yu's tears fell in large drops, his sobs making his nose flutter, lips trembling as he gently grasped Situ Jing's sleeve.

Situ Jing shook off Bai Yu's hand. "Give me your phone. I'm afraid you wouldn't even know if you were being tricked one day!"

"He's not... He was just trying to help me. He meant no harm."

"Hand it over!"

The more Bai Yu resisted, the more Situ Jing wanted to know what they had talked about. He wouldn't be able to let this go until he figured it out completely today.

Bai Yu slowly walked back to the bathroom, took his phone from his pants pocket, and handed it to Situ Jing.

In truth, Bai Yu felt wronged—He Lele was only doing him a favor, so why did he have to apologize, and why did Situ Jing still need to go through his chats?

It felt as if he had no privacy at all, as though who he talked to and where he went had to be monitored. This wasn't part of their agreement.

But right now, Bai Yu had to go along with Situ Jing's demands because he was afraid he might actually force Bai Li to return.