Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The Lu Family Villa.

After everyone had eaten their fill and chatted a bit, Lu Xingwen and Su Xingze were ready to head home.

Lu Yeqing said worriedly, "If Xiao Xing gives you any trouble, don't just take it."

Su Xingze nodded. "Don't worry, Auntie."

Even though he'd presented as an Omega, he hadn't forgotten his old fight moves.

Su Xingze let out a little burp.

Aunt Zheng and Aunt Zhang really were a powerhouse duo—the food they cooked was so good he couldn't stop himself from going back for bite after bite, and now he was feeling a little lightheaded.

So as soon as he got in the car, he didn't do anything else—just found a comfy spot and started dozing off from the carb coma.

Seeing he was fast asleep, Lu Xingwen asked Aunt Zhang, who was sitting up front: "Is everything set up at the house?"

Aunt Zhang said quietly, "Don't worry, Mr. Lu. Everything in the house is stocked in twos, and I also picked up a bunch of furniture to make the place feel more homey. Xiaoze's room is right next to yours, decorated just the way he likes it."

Lu Xingwen gave a nod. As they got close to home, he suddenly asked, "Aunt Zhang, if he finds out I've been deceiving him, do you think he'll just up and leave, never wanting to talk to me again?"

How could she even begin to explain the feelings between them? Aunt Zhang said, "Mr. Lu, I'm helping you, but I'll absolutely respect whatever Xiaoze decides."

Lu Xingwen looked at Su Xingze. The latter was out cold, his head lolled against the headrest. He seemed uncomfortable, squirming and searching for a better spot for a while, his brows all scrunched up.

Lu Xingwen let him rest his head on his shoulder so he could sleep soundly.

It was already late by the time they got home. Su Xingze found his room and crashed immediately. When he woke up, Lu Xingwen had already headed out to a meeting at the company.

He had no money in his phone right now. Sure, Aunt Lu had given him a card, but that was for emergencies—he couldn't use it yet.

His old bank cards and bankbook weren't in the room. He'd have to make a trip back to the Su house to get his mom's memorial tablet, bank cards, and motorcycle.

Besides that, he needed to figure out a way to earn some money and have some financial security.

Su Xingze took a shower and went downstairs to eat. Lu Xingwen had picked a great place for them to live—great location, not too far out, but not in the middle of all the city noise either. Step outside and you're in a villa neighborhood.

But just past the villa area, there were big malls and a food market, so daily life was super convenient.

There was just one thing he couldn't ignore: everything in this villa was brand new, including the toothbrush and towel, and even the bed he slept on, sheets and all.

"Aunt Zhang." Su Xingze looked at the spoon and bowl in his hands, curious. "Were all these bought recently?"

Aunt Zhang lowered her head. "...Sigh, they were bought a little while ago."

"The stuff in my room looks really new too."

Aunt Zhang silently repeated "what a sin" over and over in her head. She admitted, "Because you don't come back much, Xiaoze."

"So what do I usually do then?" Su Xingze had her sit across from him, wanting to ask about what happened over the past five years.

"Xiaoze, Aunt Zhang doesn't want to lie to you. Over these five years, you really did do a lot."

"When you were eighteen, to chase after Ying Ying, you lent him all the money your mom left you. You even talked back to your dad for him, saying you wanted out of the Su family."

"When you were nineteen, for Ying Ying, you married Lu Xingwen, acting as his mole in the Lu family, helping him steal secrets and raise funds."

"When you were twenty, you said that if you liked someone, you couldn't have contact with anyone else, so you cut everyone off, saying you wanted to chase Ying Ying with a clean slate."

"When you were twenty-one, you gave him the jade pendant your mom left you, saying he was the one you'd chosen as your true love, and you'd marry no one but him."

"A few days before you lost your memory, at school, to make Ying Ying happy, you had both Mr. Lu and Ying Ying come over. There were many people there at the time. You confessed your feelings to Ying Ying right in front of Mr. Lu. Ying Ying rejected you, and afterward you walked over to Mr. Lu and asked him, 'Are you happy now?' and said you did it on purpose."

What Aunt Zhang said wasn't made up—it really happened. And she'd even sugarcoated it; the reality was even more absurd.

"I... was I really that much of a mess?" Su Xingze couldn't remember, but every single thing was twisted to a whole other level, like something only a psycho would do.

Aunt Zhang still liked the current Xiaoze better. She comforted him, "You never did anything truly bad—you were just a little lovesick."

Aunt Zhang called that "a little"? Su Xingze wanted to dig his own brain out to see if it was literally heart-shaped.

Looking at it that way, the fact that Xiaolu could still forgive him was practically saintly!

But the two of them were just life partners—maybe Xiaolu could stay so chill about it because he didn't actually like him.

That was fine too. His Xiaolu should always stay happy-go-lucky Xiaolu, not weighed down by worldly feelings.

*

Xingze Group, CEO's Office.

Lu Xingwen had just wrapped up a meeting and was watching the security feed.

The Omega was seriously studying up on professional stuff, but it wasn't really sticking. He scratched his head in frustration and moved on to other things.

After jotting down the address of a storefront on a piece of paper, he got sleepy and dozed off again. His sleeping face looked soft and puffy, lying spread-eagled on the bed, head tilted to the side, his small face mostly hidden, slightly messy hair falling across his forehead.

A moment later, he rubbed his face and messed with his hair. Like a lazy cat in a dream, he curled up, got comfy, and went back to sleep.

Now that Chen Chen wasn't around, Lu Xingwen didn't have to hide what he was doing and could be a bit bolder. His hand started to wander down, but before he could get going, the office door was pushed open.

Lu Xingwen pulled his hand back, nearly losing the mood completely.

Lu Hean came in, grabbed a Coke from the fridge, cracked it open, and took a big swig. He set two bottles of meds on his brother's desk.

"Think you could knock next time?" Lu Xingwen's mouth twitched. Even with Chen Chen's sleeping face on the screen, he'd lost the mood.

Lu Hean sat on the edge of the desk. "We're brothers—do we really need all those formalities?"

Lu Xingwen gritted his teeth. "Yeah, we do."

Lu Hean shot back, "What if it had been Su Xingze who walked in just now?"

Lu Xingwen said without missing a beat, "Then no."

So biased! Totally biased!

Lu Hean didn't dare to say anything. He slid the two bottles of medicine closer to Lu Xingwen and said, "Take one every three days. Meds are poison in three parts, so don't take more than that. As long as you keep taking these, you won't need the heavy-duty suppressants anymore, and it'll be less damaging to your gland."

Lu Xingwen was still skeptical. After all, sometimes even the strong suppressants didn't seem to do much.

"Don't worry, these meds aren't something I prescribed on my own—they're the result of our research institute's joint discussion. I never gave out your specific info, just said I had a friend." Lu Hean remarked, "If it weren't for you repeating a year to stay with Su Xingze, you'd have graduated a year ago too."

Lu Hean and Lu Xingwen were only a month apart and took the college entrance exam the same year. But Lu Xingwen chose to give up the information energy major to repeat a year and study economics, just so he could stay with Su Xingze.

So Lu Hean had graduated last year, gotten into grad school, and was now working at the research institute under his advisor.

"Don't bring that up in front of him," Lu Xingwen reminded.

"I know." Lu Hean said regretfully, "Is giving up your favorite major really worth it?"

The past is painful to look back on, and how many things in this world can truly go the way you want. Just like Lu Xingwen back then, who stubbornly followed the fake Su Xingze around, trying to snap his Chen Chen out of it. But if given the choice again, he'd still make the same call.

Lu Xingwen replied, "When you have more money than me, then you can question me."

Lu Hean was a little deflated. He grabbed his cola and walked off without looking back.

He had another meeting coming up, and after that, he'd head home to make Chen Chen's favorite wonton soup.

The room had brand-new textbooks that looked like they'd never been opened, and his grades in his major courses were probably a total disaster.

Su Xingze studied all afternoon, practicing acting in front of the mirror until he felt dead inside, then completely gave up.

He found a cheap storefront and planned to open a bakery.

His mother used to run a bakery, but after she passed away, no one took care of it and it closed down. But he still had the WeChat contacts of the old pastry chefs and the suppliers. As long as he got his money back from the Su family, he could reopen the shop.

It was almost dinner time. Lu Xingwen would be home soon, so he went downstairs to the kitchen to help Aunt Zhang with the cooking.

Lu Xingwen's favorite dish was pork belly shrimp rolls, which were extremely complicated to make and would fail with the slightest timing mistake. Su Xingze couldn't make it, so all he could do was peel shrimp and wash vegetables.

Since Aunt Zhang started working for the Lu family, she'd never heard that Mr. Lu liked this dish, so she could only follow Su Xingze's description to make it. Luckily, Aunt Zhang was a great cook, and she actually managed to recreate it.

Aunt Zhang also simmered a pot of chicken soup. Su Xingze asked, "What is this soup for?"

"For your chicken soup wontons." Lu Xingwen's voice came from behind him.

He was wearing a white shirt, his tie already loosened, his jacket in hand. He rolled up his sleeves, put on an apron, and walked into the kitchen to start mincing the filling.

Su Xingze was amazed by his energy: "You've been tired all day, don't bother."

Lu Xingwen's knife skills were exquisite: "I'm not tired."

But who on earth goes into the kitchen in a white shirt and suit pants? With an apron on top, it looked totally ridiculous.

Especially Lu Xingwen's hair, which was immaculate, as if styled with hair gel, perfect to the extreme.

Su Xingze recalled the mark Lu Xingwen had given him yesterday.

After the bite, Su Xingze immediately turned around, his eyes still carrying the lingering drowsiness.

At that moment, Lu Xingwen was backlit, casting a shadow over him. The Alpha rolled up his sleeves, revealing a strong forearm just like now, one hand supporting his weight while the other wrapped around him.

The glow of light fell on the Alpha's hair, turning every strand warm, making his outstanding features even more captivating. Everything was so beautiful it seemed unreal.

Su Xingze's breath caught. He completely forgot to chew Lu Xingwen out for waking him up. He stared at that handsome face for a long time, engraving the picturesque scene firmly in his mind.

His heart was racing, faster than it had ever been.