32: Let’s See How You Keep Acting Arrogant Once You Lose That S-Class Gland!
Equity swaps usually happened during acquisitions or mergers between listed companies. But the irreconcilable Shengfang and HS clearly didn’t meet the conditions for a swap.
On the other end, Chen Pinming was still chattering incessantly when Sheng Shaoyou, already impatient, hung up coldly.
But it wasn’t long before the diligent Secretary Chen called again.
Sheng Shaoyou was sitting with Hua Yong, watching a documentary about penguins returning home. Expressionless, he muted his phone.
When the unanswered call disconnected and the screen dimmed, it soon lit up again with a text from Chen Pinming, “HS’s terms are excellent, President Sheng. Please think twice.”
To be fair, Chen Pinming had been personally recruited into Shengfang Biotech the year it was founded — a loyal veteran who had weathered storms alongside the company for over a decade.
When Sheng Shaoyou chose him as a close confidant, it was precisely for his outstanding competence, loyalty, and sense of duty.
But today, that loyalty had crossed a line and angered the young decision-maker.
After the documentary, Hua Yong looked tired. Sheng Shaoyou accompanied him to the bedroom for a nap. They slept until around five in the evening.
When he woke, Hua Yong was still asleep in his arms, his brow faintly furrowed and face drawn with fatigue. Not wanting to disturb him, Sheng Shaoyou quietly slipped out, taking his phone to the study.
Seventeen missed calls.
Twenty-two unread messages.
Even a rare weekend offered no peace.
Apart from Chen Pinming’s calls, Sheng Shaoyou patiently returned each one, reading through the messages. The last call was from Zheng Yushan.
Zheng Yushan ran several high-end clubs, known for his hearty character and loyalty. With Shengfang in crisis, he’d done a lot to help, connecting Sheng Shaoyou with useful contacts.
As the saying goes, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down — plenty of people kicked him while he was down, but those who offered help were few.
Sheng Shaoyou was someone who remembered kindness and understood that only in low moments did you see who around you were people and who were ghosts.
So he couldn’t ignore Zheng Yushan’s call.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Yushan too had been sent by Shen Wenlang as a mediator.
Clearly unaware of the full story about Hua Yong, he assumed the rift between Sheng Shaoyou and Shen Wenlang was just a misunderstanding and warmly urged:
“Shaoyou, it’s better to resolve enmity than to keep it. Shen just wants to have dinner — why not agree? As a favor to me?”
“Yushan,” Sheng Shaoyou sighed.
“Don’t waste your breath. Shen and I simply can’t get along. Seeing him, I can’t even swallow a single bite — all I can think about is killing him. Honestly, if murder weren’t illegal, he’d already have been eating his last meal months ago. His grave would have grass growing on it by now — with a bit of luck, maybe he’d already have been reincarnated and drinking milk somewhere.”
Zheng Yushan gasped.
“That serious?”
“Mm.”
“Well then. I’m sorry, brother — I didn’t know. Shen’s been calling me all day, asking me to talk to you. He said it wouldn’t hurt you or Shengfang. I thought, hey, just one meal — maybe you could clear things up, since we’re all in the same circle…”
“There’s nothing to clear up,” Sheng Shaoyou said coldly.
“If he wants me to eat with him, fine — but it’ll have to wait till he’s dead. Then I’ll definitely attend his funeral, bring 2,001 yuan as a condolence gift, and eat at his wake for three straight days.”
That made Zheng Yushan burst out laughing, and after a few more meaningless words, he hung up.
But Sheng Shaoyou hadn’t been joking — every word came from his heart.
Just thinking of Shen Wenlang made his chest ache, and memories he’d struggled to suppress resurfaced vividly.
When he recalled the wounds on Hua Yong’s body, those hollow, agonized eyes, he felt an almost uncontrollable urge to have Shen Wenlang killed right now.
No sooner had he hung up than his phone rang again.
It was Chen Pinming.
Annoyed beyond measure, Sheng Shaoyou declined the call several times, but Chen kept calling. The flashing screen made him anxious, so he finally picked up.
“President Sheng — the hospital just notified us. The chairman is critical!”
Although Shengfang Biotech had long since changed chairs, to old veterans like Chen, Shengfang senior would always be the chairman.
Just as to Sheng Shaoyou — no matter how despicable, unfaithful, and irresponsible the man had been to him and his mother — he still imbued the word “father” with the most complicated and profound human meaning.
Whenever he heard of his father’s critical condition, no matter how much he told himself the man was scum who betrayed his family and deserved to die, his heart still instinctively tightened, like fruit pulp being crushed in a juicer — squeezed of all its hidden pain and fear.
He’d already lost his mother — how could he bear to lose his father too?
Yes, Shengfang senior was a man who had betrayed love and family.
But as long as he was there, Sheng Shaoyou still had a home, a place to return to.
If his father died, he would instantly become a rich, unmoored orphan.
He didn’t want to be an orphan.
But life rarely granted one’s wishes.
With a glandular carcinoma — a cancer of the pheromone glands with an incidence rate of 0.03% — and no effective treatment, his father’s hospitalization was just a matter of buying time.
Outside the ICU stood a row of siblings, all looking vibrant and well-groomed, but each wearing an exaggerated mask of grief.
Hands in his pockets, expression indifferent, Sheng Shaoyou strode over.
He was the tallest, most imposing of them all — the atmosphere shifted as soon as he arrived.
His half-brother, Sheng Shaoqing, two years younger, wailed and lunged at him, clawing at his face like a mad dog:
“Sheng Shaoyou! You still dare show your face?! You’ve ruined the company — I lost everything I invested in stocks! How dare you come see Dad?!”
Chen Pinming hurried to block the hysterical Sheng Shaoqing, politely but awkwardly saying,
“Master Shaoqing, please —”
“What?! He destroyed the company and I can’t even speak?! Sheng Shaoyou, if anything happens to Dad today, it’s all your fault! Dad gave you all the shares, and you drove him to his grave! You beast — you don’t deserve to see him! Get out!”
“Why don’t I deserve it?”
Usually, Sheng Shaoyou never bothered to argue with these illegitimate offspring, but today he was already furious. He coldly fixed his half-brother with a chilling stare:
“Sheng Shaoqing — without me, do you really think you and your mother would be living the good life now? Without me, with your idiotic, money-losing brain, you’d both be scraping by on whatever your mother earned on the streets.”
“What did you say?! How dare you insult my mother?!”
Sheng Shaoqing roared and lunged.
Sheng Shaoyou just stood there, hands still in his pockets, glaring coolly as a powerful, angry wave of S-class pheromones rolled off him like a steamroller, instantly crushing Sheng Shaoqing.
Before such overwhelming strength, all resistance was meaningless.
The raging Sheng Shaoqing immediately crumpled, his cries turning to groans of pain as he collapsed, gasping hoarsely.
Sheng Shaoyou stopped releasing pheromones, used the tip of his shoe to lift Sheng Shaoqing’s chin, forcing him to look up at him like a worm before the sun.
“A parasite should know its place. Don’t ever try to provoke me again — it won’t end well for you.”
Sheng Shaoqing had never seen him like this.
In his mind, his noble, legitimate elder brother was the stupidest, softest fool — a paper tiger who, no matter what, would never harm his “family.”
In a way, their father had succeeded. Under his guidance, Sheng Shaoyou had grown into everything he wanted — smart, ambitious, capable, ruthless, but also soft-hearted toward his own blood.
In other words, as long as Sheng Shaoyou was around, Shengfang’s other family members would always be cared for after their father’s death.
But now, as a mere B-class Alpha, Sheng Shaoqing experienced for the first time what it felt like to be crushed by an S-class Alpha’s pheromones at close range.
Clutching his chest, eyes wide, he stared up at his brother — so lofty, powerful, and godlike.
So this is the gap between S-class and B-class?
This is the legendary king atop humanity’s evolutionary chain?
S-class… utterly unbeatable…
Tears of humiliation and unwillingness streamed down his cheeks.
He felt as though his insides were crushed, shame coursing through his veins.
He had always thought highly of himself, unwilling to truly work hard, secretly hoping he was unpolished jade — but never daring to test it, lest he learn he was merely a stone.
Yet… was the gap between them really this vast?
Why?
Why?!
They shared the same father.
Only two years apart.
So why was Sheng Shaoyou born destined to inherit everything, while he had to scrape and beg like a parasite?
I won’t accept it! I refuse!
But today, he finally realized… the gap was real.
No wonder Sheng Shaoyou never bothered to treat him as a rival — he wasn’t worthy.
He didn’t even qualify to be a rival.
Compared to Sheng Shaoyou — who could crush others effortlessly with just a trickle of pheromones — Sheng Shaoqing was simply nothing.
Looking up at his brother, as if gazing from dirt to the sun, he finally understood:
S-class and B-class — truly worlds apart…
There’s no competing. We can’t compete…
What do I do? What now?
Curled up on the floor, eyes red, Sheng Shaoqing bit his finger, anxious.
Ah — that’s it!
If I can’t become the sun, then I’ll drag the sun down into the mud!
If I can’t rise, then let him fall!
Lose that S-class gland, and let’s see how you keep acting arrogant!
Come on — join me. Rot in the muck with me!