Chapter 136: Betrayal

Chapter 136: Betrayal

The Alpha's head buzzed, his mind reeling—what did Pei Huai mean by this?

"My wife was here but left"?

Hadn't it just been Song Yuqing who showed up after all his waiting?

Damn it!

Could Pei Huai's wife be Song Yuqing? If so, everything seemed to fall into place. Some time ago, when Song Yuqing's pregnancy was announced, wasn't that precisely when rumors circulated about Pei Huai training for half a year and his wife being three months pregnant?

"Are you the other man?"

"Did you cuckold Qi Zhengqing?"

Pei Huai slowly lifted his eyes, his gaze sharp, his tone unapologetic. "And if I am?"

The Alpha was dumbfounded. How could Pei Huai speak of being the other man so matter-of-factly?

But he quickly dismissed the thought, realizing instead that the contact information he had was Song Yuqing's.

The Alpha immediately blurted out, "Brother Pei, I didn’t know before and thought you were two-timing, so I said some things I shouldn’t have to Mr. Song. I’ll go explain right now."

Pei Huai: "..."

Great, his so-called brother had to stab him in the back even when things were fine. No wonder Song Yuqing came to confront him.

The Alpha didn’t give Pei Huai a chance to stop him.

If Pei Huai could do it, why couldn’t he?

Well-meaning guy: [Sorry, sister-in-law, I didn’t know the whole story before, but now I do.]

Well-meaning guy: [Sister-in-law, Pei Huai really isn’t good enough. How about me? I’m a virgin.]

After sending that, he was immediately blocked.

Pei Huai, clutching his wound, happened to chase out and saw the block. He sneered, "You really are my brother-in-arms, who’s been through life and death with me."

Ye Siling lay in bed, staring at Song Yuqing's profile.

Song Yuqing had just blocked Pei Huai's comrade. Noticing Ye Siling's gaze, he cracked an eye open. "Go to sleep."

Ye Siling still found it somewhat surreal. He had asked Song Yuqing to stay and keep him company without really expecting it—he never thought Song Yuqing would actually stay.

Now, another far-fetched hope emerged in his mind.

"Qingqing, you’re very beautiful, deft with your hands, and a genius at robot design. There’s no one in the robotics industry better than you," Ye Siling said slowly.

Song Yuqing frowned slightly. "Are you being sarcastic?"

Ye Siling: "..."

Once you accepted that Ye Siling was someone who loved to trash-talk others for no reason, even his compliments made people suspect he was being sarcastic.

Ye Siling choked up, feeling wronged. "I’m not."

Song Yuqing: "Are you bored?"

Ye Siling pondered. If he said he was bored, Song Yuqing might talk to him a bit more. So he admitted hesitantly, "A little."

Song Yuqing: "I’ll send you a few contacts. Go curse them out—be vicious, preferably enough to piss them off to death."

Ye Siling: "..."

Ye Siling happily acquired a new career in toxic trash-talking. That very day, Tan Hongzhen was so enraged he called his family doctor. Several others Song Yuqing disliked were also infuriated, engaging in a full afternoon of back-and-forth insults with Ye Siling.

...: [Do you see? Song Yuqing doesn’t love you at all. He got angry for Pei Huai—did he ever get angry for you?]

Ye Siling, now conditioned to retort, fired back immediately.

ysl: [If he doesn’t love me, does he love you? He didn’t get angry because of me, but did he because of you? You’re nothing but a sewer rat, unable to even show yourself openly beside Song Yuqing. You’re just jealous—jealous that Qingqing is with me, jealous that I work with Qingqing. As for you, even if you died, Song Yuqing wouldn’t know a damn creep like you existed.]

ysl: [You’re not even a speck of dust in Song Yuqing’s vast, bright life.]

In the depths of the mine shaft,

Su Quan read Ye Siling’s reply and tightened his grip on the model robot in his hand.

*Crack!*

He crushed the nearly finished mechanical arm of the model robot with his bare hand. In an instant, the alloy frame twisted and deformed, precision joints shattered and flew apart, the carefully polished shell dented and cracked. Expensive parts scattered across the floor with a harsh clatter.

Was Ye Siling insane?

How could he not be a speck of dust in Song Yuqing’s life?

Song Yuqing had even personally killed him once—had Song Yuqing ever personally killed a waste like Ye Siling?

There was no way Song Yuqing didn’t remember him.

Xiao Lin watched from the side and rolled his eyes. Su Quan was a damn lunatic. Even stuck here, he still found ways to dig up information on Song Yuqing, persistently sending defection messages every day.

Yet he hadn’t managed to get a single photo of Song Yuqing from Ye Siling.

And now, he’d been trashed by Ye Siling until he cracked.

Xiao Lin: "Stop fucking losing it. Did your brain freeze in the ice-cold water back then?"

Mentioning the past, Su Quan was reminded again of falling into the sea, the suffocating feeling of salty, icy seawater flooding his lungs.

In that situation, even if he hadn’t been shot dead by Song Yuqing, he should have frozen to death in the sea.

But he had clung to life by thinking of seeking revenge on Song Yuqing, by remembering the look in Song Yuqing’s eyes when he last saw him.

Ye Siling listened to the frantic responses, as if hearing the sound of the other side cracking, and sneered. Good—this simp was even worse off than him, yet he had the nerve to message every day saying Song Yuqing didn’t love him.

As expected, the simp was just jealous of him.

He’d been fooled for so long.

Ye Siling shifted his gaze from the screen, staring intently at Song Yuqing.

Song Yuqing was in a meeting, eyelids slightly lowered, his profile elegantly aloof and beautiful, deeply focused. Occasionally, a faint, almost imperceptible hint of exhaustion flashed in his refined eyes.

Song Yuqing was currently overseeing work related to Ye Siling’s lab. With Ye Siling hospitalized, most tasks landed on his shoulders.

This was also why Song Yuqing had agreed to stay with Ye Siling—any issues could be discussed directly with him.

Ye Siling stared at Song Yuqing for a while longer. He shouldn’t have been so impulsive, shouldn’t have kept asking whether Song Yuqing loved him. Clearly, Song Yuqing had so much to handle, yet he still had to add to his burdens.

Ye Siling got out of bed, his tall figure blocking the camera and also blocking Song Yuqing from the prying eyes of those in the online meeting.

"Enough work for now. Rest. I’ll go back to work tomorrow."

Ye Siling then addressed everyone in the meeting room, saying, "That’s all for today’s meeting," bringing the session to an end.

Song Yuqing tilted his head slightly, looking at Ye Siling. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Ye Siling replied, "Yes, it doesn’t hurt."

Song Yuqing’s fingers rested on Ye Siling’s shoulder, gently touching the wound through layers of gauze. "Really, no pain?"

Song Yuqing’s eyelashes lowered slightly, his movements slow and deliberate, his gaze focused intently on the Alpha’s wound.

The light pressure brought a faint, subtle pain that made Ye Siling’s mind clearer, yet Song Yuqing’s touch also made him want more.

Ye Siling savored Song Yuqing’s touch at that moment, his throat moving slightly. "Mhm."

Song Yuqing lifted his head, moving closer, his soft, thin lips seemingly brushing against Ye Siling’s cheek. With just a slight turn of his head, Ye Siling could lean in and be kissed by Song Yuqing.

Not only that, but Song Yuqing’s fingers remained on his shoulder, leaving Ye Siling caught between pain and desire.

"Will you betray me?"

Song Yuqing’s voice was soft.

Yet, those words instantly jolted Ye Siling from the moment he felt with Song Yuqing. For a moment, his spine went rigid.

It was as if all the earlier intimacy was just a trap set by Song Yuqing, merely to test the relationship between him and that "..."

It was as if Song Yuqing knew everything—how "..." poisoned his thoughts daily, and his own doubts.

Ye Siling met Song Yuqing’s gaze, his lips parting. "I won’t—"

Song Yuqing stared at Ye Siling, waiting for him to finish what he hadn’t said.

"—hurt you."

Song Yuqing suddenly gave a soft, sharp laugh, pressing harder with his fingertips. "Ye Siling, it seems you’ve thought about betraying me."

"Who is it? What did they offer you?" The cold, relentless questions followed.

Song Yuqing hadn’t failed to notice Ye Siling’s state—distracted and distant. Always staring at him, zoning out. In any case, Ye Siling couldn’t possibly be thinking about robot designs in his head, so it had to be someone feeding him lies.

Since I haven’t punished you, Ye Siling thinks he’s untouchable.

"Do you think you can take revenge on me lightly, just like Tan Shu?"

The two were so close that Ye Siling felt as though, with just a move, he could embrace Song Yuqing and pull him into his arms.

Yet, despite their proximity, Song Yuqing’s questioning created an immense distance between them.

Ye Siling felt like he couldn’t breathe. "No, I just—I just want you."

Pushing down his reckless thoughts, Ye Siling spoke as rationally as he could. "I haven’t done anything. I would never let them hurt you."

Pointing to the wound on his shoulder, he said, "Even if I were torn apart, even if I were killed, I would never let you get hurt."

At that moment, the wound on his shoulder became proof that he would neither harm Song Yuqing nor allow anyone else to harm him.

Song Yuqing said, "Are you naive or just stupid?"

Suddenly being scolded again, Ye Siling: "..."

Song Yuqing continued, "Who was it?"

Unable to bear Song Yuqing’s grilling or the way he was looking at him, Ye Siling finally closed his eyes and muttered a name: "Zhou Yongnian."

"Zhou Yongnian has been texting me again and again, implying you don’t care about me."

"He asked me to hand over the lab’s confidential information to him."

"He said that if things succeeded, he could give you to me, wipe away your past, so that from then on, there would be no Song Yuqing in this world—just my wife."

How could he not be tempted? Any Alpha who admired Song Yuqing would be tempted by an offer like that.

"I didn’t agree to it."

Ye Siling looked down at Song Yuqing, still calm. "I admit I was tempted, and I know I shouldn’t have been."

But Song Yuqing’s gaze held a skeptical look, not full trust.

Ye Siling handed his phone to Song Yuqing. "Check it. Every word is true, and I haven’t responded to Zhou Yongnian."

"Even though he offered me such a tempting reward, I didn’t agree."

Song Yuqing knocked Ye Siling’s hand aside. "I’m not some prize for any of you. Don’t let this happen again."