Chapter 8

Chapter 8

After leaving the Li residence, Ying Zhiyu returned home.

Having been surrounded by his family before his death, he awoke to find himself eleven years in the past.

Ying Zhiyu felt no estrangement from his family, who were simply a little younger.

He went home almost every week, with no fixed schedule. Typically, he would arrive the night before, help his parents at their baozi shop for the morning, and then leave after lunch.

In the capital, where every inch of land is precious, the Ying family rented an old two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment.

His parents occupied one room, his Omega sister, Ying Zhiyan, the other, while Ying Zhiyu mostly stayed in his dormitory, returning home once a week to sleep on the living room sofa.

When he arrived home that night, his parents were already asleep.

After quietly showering, Ying Zhiyu was just squeezing toothpaste onto his brush when a knock came from the bathroom door.

Toothbrush still in his mouth, he opened the door, poked his head out, and whispered, "Mom?"

"Did I wake you?"

Unlike other eateries, Ying Zhiyu's parents had to wake up at 2:30 a.m. to prepare dough, let it rise, chop fillings, and make baozi. This was clearly not their usual waking time.

His mother, standing outside the door, confirmed it was her son and shook her head, asking only, "Why are you back at this hour?"

Ying Zhiyu had already been home once that week. Busy with school, his weekly visits were mainly to check on his parents. It was rare for him to return multiple times in a week, let alone in the middle of the night.

Ying Zhiyu mumbled vaguely, "I was out late tonight."

His mother then asked if he was hungry or wanted anything to eat.

Ying Zhiyu quickly rinsed his mouth and gently guided his mother back to her room. "Don't you worry, Mom. Go back to sleep."

As Ying Zhiyu turned away from his parents' door, a soft sound came from the adjacent room.

Ying Zhiyan, in a white nightgown with her long hair flowing, drifted out of her room like a ghost.

Ying Zhiyu was speechless.

Watching his sister go to the kitchen for a glass of water, Ying Zhiyu asked, "Still awake this late?"

Ying Zhiyan wore a pair of glasses and was engrossed in her phone while drinking water. She didn't look like she had just woken up, but rather like she had been playing on her phone late into the night and gotten thirsty.

She glanced at her brother, mumbled guiltily, "Soon."

Ying Zhiyan had undergone liver surgery, and adequate sleep was crucial for her recovery.

If this were the Ying Zhiyu from his past life, he would have sternly reminded his sister about her sleep habits.

But now, knowing his sister had once suffered from severe psychological barriers to falling asleep—a condition he'd had experts diagnose in his past life—he understood her problem stemmed from placing too much importance on "falling asleep," leading to long-term anxiety and psychological burden.

So, this time, Ying Zhiyu simply asked, "What's got you so engrossed?"

Ying Zhiyan put down her water glass. "Just looking at a handsome guy."

Also due to her liver surgery, Ying Zhiyan had never been in a relationship or married.

Ying Zhiyu asked curiously, "What handsome guy?"

Ying Zhiyan: "Li Xi, the Omega deity. He’s incredibly handsome!"

Ying Zhiyu was silent.

Ying Zhiyan handed her phone to Ying Zhiyu. On Weibo, nine out of ten trending topics were dominated by keywords like "Li Xi," "Omega," "pacifier," and "horrific shooting."

The cause was the attack that had occurred near the university district in Eastern Capital that afternoon.

Since the target was the LI heir, who had been at the center of public attention for months, and the incident involved both a shooting and heightened Alpha-Omega social tensions, the discussion and public reaction were intense.

Ying Zhiyu carefully read through several reports. Whether by Li Xi’s instruction or not, his presence in the attack had been thoroughly erased.

No videos or photos featuring him had been leaked.

Ying Zhiyu stared at a candid screenshot of Li Xi, frowning as he looked back as if searching for something, surrounded by bodyguards.

"Is he really that handsome?"

Ying Zhiyan practically idolized Li Xi: "When an Omega is this handsome, Alphas don’t stand a chance! Your big sister is about to switch teams for him. What do you think?"

Ying Zhiyu didn’t know what to say. He only knew that, in his past life, Li Xi had never switched teams.

After Ying Zhiyan went back to her room to sleep, Ying Zhiyu took out his phone and saw Li Xi’s message on WeChat, telling him to set the date to get their marriage license.

After replying, he dozed off on the sofa for two hours.

When his parents got up for the baozi shop, Ying Zhiyu followed them, yawning.

They were busy until almost 10 a.m. before they had a chance to rest. Just then, his phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

But after a quick glance, he found it familiar.

Ying Zhiyu answered, "Hello?"

"Mr. Ying, hello. I am..."

The moment he heard the voice, Ying Zhiyu remembered why the number was familiar.

It was the lawyer’s contact number attached to the "prenuptial agreement" document in his email.

Ying Zhiyu had an excellent memory—modestly speaking, almost photographic. He just hadn’t connected the number to the agreement before answering the call.

Over the phone, the lawyer continued methodically stating the purpose of the call:

"First, Mr. Li Xi voluntarily waives all rights to Mr. Ying Zhiyu’s pre-marital and post-marital patent-related earnings, including their future natural appreciation. All derivative income from licensing, transfers, equity, dividends, etc., shall permanently belong to you alone."

"Second, Mr. Li Xi contacted us this morning to amend certain clauses under the 'trust assets' section of the original prenuptial agreement."

The lawyer said, "The trust income from Mr. Li Xi’s personal assets has been changed from non-separable to separable."

-

After exam week, Biomedical University entered summer break.

Undergraduates eagerly dragged their luggage off campus, but Ying Zhiyu, who would become a prospective Ph.D. candidate next semester, had no time to relax.

Ying Zhiyu’s advisor, Xia Xianru, was the vice dean of the School of Biology at Biomedical University.

Before the summer vacation began, he had assigned Ying Zhiyu a task: the School of Biology was to facilitate a premium student internship program with Qiansheng Biopharmaceutical Group.

This internship program was initiated by Ying Zhiyu's roommate, Xu Kuo.

Qiansheng Biopharmaceutical Group is a subsidiary of Xu's Pharmaceutical, which is the family business of Xu Kuo's family.

Although Xu Kuo is not from the direct lineage of the Xu family, they still had to give face to Young Master Xu, so the cooperation plan progressed steadily.

As Xia Xianru's star student and an outstanding student representative of Biomedical University, Ying Zhiyu had been working tirelessly behind the scenes for this cooperation during this period.

On the evening when the internship cooperation plan was finally finalized, Qiansheng Biopharmaceutical Group warmly invited them to dinner to celebrate.

It was at this time that Li Yue's message arrived on Li Xi's phone.

"Sis: [Picture]"

"Sis: Is your Alpha also working part-time as an escort?"

Li Xi saw Li Yue's message an hour later, after his work meeting ended.

He first opened the picture and frowned.

In the photo sent by Li Yue, Ying Zhiyu was walking arm in arm with someone, surrounded by a group of men and women, aged 30-40, all clearly well-dressed professionals.

Li Xi replied: "Where?"

There was no response from Li Yue. After waiting a few seconds, Li Xi directly called her.

After a while, Li Yue answered: "Brother."

"Where?" Li Xi was concise.

Li Yue asked: "Are you asking where I am, or where your little Alpha is?"

Li Xi paused: "Where is he?"

Li Yue laughed: "My brother is keeping such a close watch? I even saw your bodyguards, how could you not know where your little Alpha is?"

Li Xi had indeed assigned two bodyguards to follow Ying Zhiyu, but his purpose was to protect him, not to monitor him. If he didn't ask, the bodyguards didn't need to proactively report Ying Zhiyu's daily whereabouts to him.

Li Xi didn't speak.

Li Yue also stopped beating around the bush with her brother: "The photo was sent to me by Xu Suxiao. He said he ran into a cousin at the Peninsula Hotel and went to say hello."

Xu Suxiao is the eldest direct descendant of the latest generation of Xu's Pharmaceutical.

Alpha, thirty-five years old, unmarried, has been pursuing Li Yue for two years.

He was probably reporting his itinerary to Li Yue, taking a photo as proof, but accidentally captured Ying Zhiyu, who was being hugged shoulder-to-shoulder by Xu Kuo.

Li Xi had been standing at the conference room door looking down at his phone for a long time.

Zhang Jingrui finished organizing the meeting minutes and left the office, then turned back to peek down the conference room hallway.

Boss Li was still standing in the same spot, not moving an inch.

Zhang Jingrui hesitated for a moment with his briefcase, then decided to tell his boss he was off work.

However, just as he approached, before he could speak, Li Xi looked up: "Do you have plans tonight?"

Zhang Jingrui was stunned: "Huh?"

Forty-five minutes later, Zhang Jingrui followed his superior across half of the southern district and appeared at the door of a private room in the Peninsula Hotel.

Watching his expressionless boss have the server knock on the door, before Zhang Jingrui's confusion could even arise, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a young, handsome face as the door slowly opened, and he had his answer.

As the private room door was pushed open, the clinking of glasses and lively conversation inside came to an abrupt halt.

Dozens of eyes in the room turned to look at the door.

Zhang Jingrui quickly scanned the people inside the private room, his quick-thinking brain rapidly processing, and spoke up instead of the silent boss from the hallway: "Boss Li just finished business nearby. He heard President Xu is also here and came to say hello."

In the entire private room, the person with the highest status and position who could be somewhat connected to Li Xi was only Xu Suxiao from Xu's Pharmaceutical.

Although Xu's Pharmaceutical is far inferior to LI, Xu Suxiao has after all pursued Li Xi's biological sister, the fourth daughter of the Li family, for several years, so having some acquaintance with Li Xi is somewhat reasonable.

Xu Suxiao really didn't expect to run into Li Xi here.

And Li Xi specially came to say hello to him?

Could it be that his relentless efforts over the past two years have moved Li Yue? Is Li Xi giving face to his younger sister by specially coming to see him?

Xu Suxiao's delight was evident.

He quickly walked to the private room door: "Third Young Master is also dining here?"

Everyone in the private room were colleagues from their group's human resources department and some business supervisors, not nearly high-ranking enough to engage in conversation with Li Xi.

Xu Suxiao had no intention of introducing Li Xi to the people in the room behind him. As he spoke, he prepared to step out, as if planning to talk with Li Xi outside.

However, as he tried to exit, Li Xi stood blocking the doorway without moving.

Xu Suxiao: ?

Li Xi's attitude towards Xu Suxiao was very cold, not at all like he had "specially" come to say hello.

Instead, his gaze, from the moment the door opened, had remained fixed on the area behind Xu Suxiao.

Xu Suxiao, after all, has been immersed in the business world for a long time, and quickly realized that this "saying hello" was probably just an excuse.

Following Li Xi's line of sight, he turned to look behind himself—

In the corner of the private room, a young, handsome Alpha was wearing a black shirt, a slim black tie, matching casual suit pants on the lower body, and black Oxford shoes.

Compared to the T-shirts and casual pants Ying Zhiyu usually wore, the shirt and suit pants made the six-foot-two Alpha appear exceptionally long-limbed, with exceptional proportions.

Perhaps because the occasion was formal tonight.

Ying Zhiyu not only wore a tie but also seemed to have sprayed hair gel on his black short hair, momentarily shedding his student vibe and beginning to show hints of an elite feel.

With such an obvious gaze falling on him, Ying Zhiyu certainly couldn't fail to notice.

He left behind Xu Kuo, who was frantically tugging his sleeve under the table, and stood up, moving instinctively towards the door.

As he stood up, several intense gazes followed him closely.

When he reached the door, Xu Suxiao tactfully moved aside.

But his eyes were also fixed on him, both probing and peculiar.

"Mr. Li," Ying Zhiyu greeted him.

Li Xi looked at Ying Zhiyu for a long moment. "Been drinking?"

Ying Zhiyu nodded and answered honestly, "Just two glasses."

It was unclear how well the Alpha could hold his liquor, but at that moment, Ying Zhiyu carried a faint scent of alcohol mixed with cigarette smoke. Under the bright lights of the private room, his handsome face glowed with a slight rosy hue.

Li Xi frowned as he looked at Ying Zhiyu.

He had said he told Ying Zhiyu to contact him to get their marriage license once he had free time.

But now, the Alpha's summer break had already started, and he had time to drink and socialize here, but still hadn't found time to contact him?