Chapter 26: The Married Beta Clings to a Clay Sculpture

Chapter 26 The Married Beta Gluing the Pottery Figurine

The property management in this old, dilapidated complex was notoriously lax. Streetlights were dim, weeds grew rampant, and the road surfaces were cracked.

A red-haired Alpha on a modified motorcycle zoomed past Bai Yu. "Watch out!"

Bai Yu quickly stepped aside, his white shirt fluttering in the gust of wind. Fortunately, the bag he carried didn’t catch the rider’s attention.

Bai Yu pressed his arm against the black tote bag, feeling as if someone was following him. He turned left—the person turned left. He walked forward—the person followed, their footsteps echoing his.

Bai Yu stopped and looked back. A tall, muscular Alpha in a tank top emerged from the darkness—his landlord.

The landlord glanced at Bai Yu’s branded clothes and bag, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "Ah, finally caught you coming home."

"What’s the matter, Mr. Wu?"

Bai Yu paid his rent every six months, and it wasn’t due yet. He was also up to date on utilities. He wondered why the landlord hadn’t simply messaged him if there was an issue.

The landlord clasped his hands behind his back. "Well, I’m planning to renovate and sell the place. I couldn’t remember your screenname or phone number, so I waited here for you. Can you move out within the next day or two? I’ll refund the remaining rent later."

Bai Yu frowned. "Can’t we wait until my lease is up?"

Finding a two-bedroom apartment for just 1,500 yuan was incredibly difficult these days. Bai Yu had hoped to stay until his lease expired.

The landlord understood his hesitation but had his own agenda. "I originally planned to renovate next year, but business hasn’t been great this year, so I’ve decided to sell early. You’ve been a long-term tenant, so how about this: if you pay a bit more each month, I’ll let you stay until next year."

Bai Yu looked down at the clothes and bag he’d brought back from Situ Jing’s place. So the landlord was here to raise the rent. "No thanks then."

Now he truly had no choice but to look for a new place.

Bai Yu returned to his apartment to pack. The room didn’t seem to hold much, yet he’d already filled one large and one small box.

While picking up the Golden Scarab, he accidentally dropped it.

Thanks to the cushioning of a box, it only made a dull thud. The box fell open, and the scarab landed upside down.

Bai Yu hurriedly picked it up and noticed one of its legs had broken off.

"Where’s the leg?"

He searched the floor for a while, then used his phone’s flashlight to find the broken piece under the bed. He carefully glued it back on.

He hoped Situ Jing wouldn't remember this scarab until after their contract ended.

Two days later, Bai Yu found a place he liked on nearby Xinze Third Road. It was also in an old complex, a sixth-floor walk-up.

The owner had been abroad for a long time, so the place had been vacant and was covered in dust. The tenant had to clean it themselves, but the rent was cheap, and the neighborhood was slightly safer than his previous one.

He Lele came to help him clean. "If you're living alone now, why rent a whole apartment?"

Bai Yu said, "I usually practice the guitar, and I work part-time at night. I’m afraid I’ll disturb others. This expense is necessary—I can’t cut corners."

"True."

As Bai Yu went through his suitcase, the Golden Scarab pottery figurine inside his bag came into view.

"Hey, that’s pretty delicate." He Lele picked up the scarab for a closer look. "What happened to its leg? Did it break and get glued back?"

Bai Yu stared at the scarab’s leg. "Can you tell it was glued?"

"Of course, it’s pretty obvious."

"Then after I finish tidying up, I’ll re-glue the scarab."

He Lele stumbled over a basin on the floor and accidentally dropped the Golden Scarab. "Whoops!"

Bai Yu dropped his clothes and lunged forward in panic, catching the scarab just a palm’s width away from shattering. "That was close!"

He Lele laughed heartily. "Ha ha, look how nervous you are! Who gave it to you? Someone who likes you?"

Bai Yu shook his head. "There aren’t that many people who like me. It was just a gift from an employer. This thing can’t be dropped. He said not to let him find out if I broke it, but one leg’s already come off."

"He’s just an employer. Why are you so scared of him? It’s not like he’ll eat you."

Bai Yu carefully placed the scarab on the table. "No, he won’t eat me."

But his words are venomous.

He Lele stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Buddy, I’ve actually had a question on my mind for a while."

"What is it?" Bai Yu paused what he was doing, waiting for He Lele to continue.

"Ah." He Lele scratched his head. "It’s just—I noticed the sponsor arranged VIP treatment for Bai Li, sent her abroad, and the clothes you’ve been wearing lately give off a different vibe than before. I just…"

Bai Yu’s hands froze as he held the cookware. "Just what?"

He Lele hesitated before asking, "I kinda wonder… did some rich Omega sugar mama take up with you?"

Bai Yu relaxed, his voice soft. "The sponsor isn’t doing this for free. I’ll be working for him in the future, and maybe Bai Li will too. As for these clothes… they were gifts from the employer who gave me the scarab."

He didn’t have many friends, especially since moving to Yunjing. He was afraid He Lele would look down on him if he knew the truth, but he couldn’t come up with a good excuse on the spot.

Surprisingly, He Lele didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he seemed wistful.

"Ah, it’s so hard to make it on your own. I’m thinking of finding a sugar parent too. I wonder how those people manage it."

Bai Yu placed the cookware in the kitchen, then came back out to wipe the table. "Those people don’t necessarily have it easy either."

He Lele swept dust from under the table. "With money, no need to be exploited like a regular worker, with butlers, maids, and chefs waiting on you hand and foot—why wouldn’t it be easy?"

Bai Yu glanced at He Lele. "Could you tolerate not being respected, being treated as a tool for pleasure or a pet?"

"Of course. What use is pride? It doesn’t put food on the table. As long as they’re not too ugly or pathetic, I’d accept it."

Bai Yu opened his mouth but didn’t respond. He sat down to study how to reattach the scarab’s broken leg so it wouldn’t show any damage.

He Lele went into the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. "But this face doesn’t really look like it belongs to a kept boy. Oh well."

Just then, Bai Yu’s phone buzzed. He picked it up and saw a friend request.

The person claimed to be Mu Qingkong, the class monitor of Composition Class One.

After Bai Yu accepted the request, the other person sent him a link and added him to the class group chat.

Mu Qingkong: [Welcome, new classmate Bai Yu! Please check the group announcement for details about the start of the semester and other matters.]

Bai Yu replied: [Received.]

Bai Li’s illness was cured, and he was about to return to school soon. His time with Situ Jing would become less and less frequent. Finally, everything was returning to normal.

*

On the first day of the new semester, all the students had gathered in the classroom, but the counselor was still nowhere to be seen.

Bai Yu sat in the back row, trying to chat and get to know his new classmates.

Half the students in the class were omegas, a quarter were alphas, and the remaining quarter were betas. After a summer apart, everyone was catching up, sharing gossip and joking around.

The classroom chatter was interrupted by a boy who walked in through the front door.

He had slightly curly hair, wore a purple hoodie and casual pants, and was carrying a stack of books. Several other students followed behind him, also carrying books. As he walked, he spoke to them, "Just put them here."

Someone called out to him, "Class Monitor, why hasn't Teacher Bai arrived yet?"

"Teacher Bai is stuck in traffic; she'll be here soon."

The boy briefly scanned the classroom, his gaze settling on Bai Yu before he walked over.

"You're Bai Yu, right? I'm Mu Qingkong, the class monitor who contacted you."

Bai Yu stood up. "Hello."

Mu Qingkong was a child star who had found fame at a young age. At seven, he had collaborated with his uncle to sing a widely popular song. At sixteen, he recorded his first studio album and, in the same year, presented as a top-tier omega.

At Yunjing University, he was the highest-achieving and most popular student in their year. The campus confession board was often filled with love letters addressed to him.

Mu Qingkong didn't feel any sense of threat from this beta student who had taken a year off before returning to school. After all, Bai Yu was just a good-looking, impoverished student who had barely met the admission requirements.

"Did you check the group announcements?"

"Yes."

Mu Qingkong pointed to one announcement. "Our class will have a staged arrangement test in the first week of school. Good luck!"

Bai Yu nodded and accepted the new textbooks being passed forward from the front.

Just as the textbooks were being distributed, Teacher Bai rushed into the classroom, breathlessly. "Sorry, everyone, I was held up on the way. Now, let me go over the daily notices for this semester…"

Bai Yu took note of the key test and course selection period. After the class meeting, he headed to the dorm.

Although he didn't often stay in the dorm, it was more convenient for cramming for assignments or when taking elective courses.

His three new roommates were all alphas. After making his bed, Bai Yu cut up two large mangoes and shared them.

One of the roommates, Wang Tao, accepted a piece of mango and suddenly remembered something. "I heard that two years ago, someone won first place in the Arrangement Competition, but when the principal went on stage to present the award, the host realized the winner wasn't even there. Was that you?"

"Uh, yeah. I had something else important to take care of, so I left early." Bai Yu smiled awkwardly.

That day, Bai Li had a high fever, and Bai Yu had quietly left after receiving a notice from the hospital. He never expected his piece to win first place—Lu Chuo had accepted the award on his behalf.

To be fair, that arrangement piece wasn't complete. Maybe the competition was weak that year, or maybe his work just fit the theme better, earning him first place.

The theme that year was "Butterfly Wings Fluttering in the Heart Chamber," with the tags love, fate, and bond.

While gathering inspiration, Bai Yu had come across a popular science article about biology—how actin and myosin form the mechanism behind the expansion and contraction of insect wings, and how these same two proteins are also the origin of the human heartbeat.

Inspired, Bai Yu composed a piece. The lyrics told a fantastical love story about a butterfly transforming into human form, falling in love with a human, and disappearing at the end of the rainy season. He incorporated many of his own field recordings.

Bai Yu remembered one particularly strict judge, Professor Song Huaiqian, who commented: "From a professional perspective, the lyrics have a certain disjointed beauty, and the musical form lacks technique, relying solely on imagination and an unusual combination of instrumental sounds. But when interpreted emotionally, it reveals the hysteria of emotional turbulence, reminiscent of the humid, scorching summers in the south, butterflies fluttering through the rainy sky—both illusory and beautiful."

"Strictly speaking, it is not a song that celebrates love. I hope that if the creator ever experiences romance, they will revise this piece. It could become a great song."

Reading that comment, Bai Yu felt that Song Huaiqian had truly heard many details in his music. The piece indeed lacked the emotion of love—after all, one cannot depict what they have never experienced.

However, Bai Yu never tried falling in love, nor did he ever retrieve that composition to revise it. He didn't even listen to it again.

Wang Tao found a pack of chili powder in his cabinet, poured some onto a tissue, and dipped a piece of Bai Yu's mango into it before popping it into his mouth.

"Mu Qingkong is planning to participate in this year's Arrangement Competition. You know he's really talented, right? Like that song 'Today and Now'—he sang it when he was seven, and he even got to record an album in a professional recording studio."

"No wonder his name sounded familiar. That explains it."

Mu Qingkong's fluffy curly hair was memorable, and his style was eye-catching. He was very popular, and from Bai Yu's initial impression, he seemed quite friendly.

Wang Tao pointed at Bai Yu. "With you joining, our class might take two awards this year. I wonder which one of you will get first place."

"He'll probably take first. I've been out of school for a year—I can't keep up with the coursework, so I most likely won't participate."

As soon as Bai Yu finished speaking, Wang Tao and the other two roommates simultaneously turned to look at him. "Why did you take a year off?"

Usually, when people hear about someone taking time off, they assume it's because of trouble at school or family issues like bankruptcy. Though curious, no one had dared to ask during the class meeting.

Bai Yu understood their curiosity. "My younger sister was sick and needed care. She doesn't need me now."

"What was wrong with her?"

"Leukemia."

"Oh, that's serious. Is she better now?"

"She's recovered." Bai Yu placed the remaining mango on Wang Tao's desk. "You can have the rest. I need to return some borrowed specialized course notes to a former classmate."

Seeing Bai Yu put on his backpack, Wang Tao followed him a couple of steps. "You're not staying in the dorm?"

"I have to work sometimes. I'm afraid I'll disturb you if I come back late, so I'll only stay occasionally for elective classes." Bai Yu gently closed the door and left.

Wang Tao speared another piece of mango and put it in his mouth, then asked the other two, "Do you guys think Bai Yu has a faint alpha pheromone scent on him?"

The eldest roommate, lying on bed number one, glanced at Wang Tao. "He's a beta—how could he have an alpha's pheromone scent?"

The roommate from bed number two pulled out his chair. "Maybe it's the scent of his shower gel or laundry detergent? When he gave me the mango earlier, I thought he smelled pretty nice—like a mix of a fresh, green plant scent with a milky fragrance… Fig!"

Wang Tao scratched his head. "Really? It didn't smell like fig to me, but I'm not sure."