30: Wenlang, envy alone is useless – you’d better learn
Thinking of that “ugly bastard” with such overwhelming power, Sheng Shaoyou couldn’t help but straighten up, thinking: whether they could work together was still uncertain. But these kinds of people — unwilling to show their face — were usually extremely petty. Best to set himself a modest goal for now. Not exactly trying to please him, but at least not to offend him either.
What surprised Sheng Shaoyou was that, though the scene outside the door was incredibly grand, the room X Holdings used for the salon wasn’t large at all.
Rather than a salon, it was more like a business negotiation.
As soon as he entered, he saw an eight-person conference table stretching across the room. Behind it was a wooden screen, and faint laughter could be heard from behind the screen.
Chang Yu stepped around the screen, and the laughter stopped.
“Mr. Sheng from Shengfang has arrived,” Chang Yu said respectfully.
Sheng Shaoyou had never seen that cold Alpha secretary so deferential. He immediately guessed the man behind the screen must be that ugly bastard with more pomp than a president.
All the other seven seats at the table were already occupied, leaving only the nearest one empty. But none of the X Holdings representatives in suits even stood to greet him.
Sheng Shaoyou felt his face drop and cursed inwardly, but his expression didn’t show it. He handed his documents to Chen Pinming behind him, then casually sat himself down in the empty chair.
“Secretary Chen, looks like there’s no seat for you — just stand.”
But a cold voice came from behind the screen.
“Ah Yu, bring a chair for Mr. Sheng’s man.”
The voice wasn’t loud, but it was pleasant to the ear — oddly familiar somehow.
Just from the sound, it was impossible to imagine what kind of hideous creature was lurking back there.
Chang Yu immediately walked out and had someone fetch a chair.
“Secretary Chen, please sit.”
Without Sheng Shaoyou’s permission, Chen Pinming didn’t dare move.
Only when his boss raised his chin and nodded did he finally sit down behind him.
There wasn’t even a place for Chang Yu at the table, but he didn’t seem embarrassed at all — he simply stood in front of the projection screen, switched it on, and handed the remote to Chen Pinming.
Chen Pinming, glancing at Sheng Shaoyou for approval, took the remote, stood, and distributed his own business cards — not Sheng Shaoyou’s — to everyone present.
The X Holdings representatives, clearly used to playing sycophants around their emperor in P Country, didn’t even bother with the basic courtesy of exchanging cards or introducing themselves.
Sheng Shaoyou was a proud man. Even when forced to swallow his pride, he couldn’t bow too low.
Seeing them trying to intimidate him the moment he walked in, he simply fired back with his own kind of arrogance.
Now, the young master of Shengfang sat there nonchalantly, legs crossed, letting his secretary finish the twenty-minute presentation that should’ve been his own.
He hadn’t suffered much in life. Though he’d picked up the art of false pleasantries in business, he sought profit — not humiliation.
They hadn’t even signed anything yet, and here was X Holdings treating him with such disdain. Unacceptable.
Respect, after all, was mutual.
He had flown all the way from Jianghu to P Country. If this bunch of idiots didn’t appreciate that, then he saw no reason to show them his best face either.
He lounged in the chair, arms folded, watching Chen Pinming finish the presentation, while thinking about how to deal with the “ugly bastard” behind the screen.
But just as he was deep in thought, he suddenly caught a whiff of a sharp, cold floral scent.
Orchid? Hua Yong?!
Sheng Shaoyou froze. But then realized he’d been mistaken.
Though it was also orchid, Hua Yong’s scent was much softer than this.
This powerful scent came from an Alpha — and a very high-level one at that — probably S-class!
Even with his suppressant patch on, the strong scent made Sheng Shaoyou uncomfortable. His glands tingled and itched slightly.
But when he looked around, nobody else seemed to notice anything strange.
That confused him even more.
If Chang Yu weren’t just an A-class Alpha, Sheng Shaoyou would have suspected him of deliberately targeting him with oppressive pheromones out of spite.
The orchid scent wasn’t obvious, but its effect was strong.
Within seconds, Sheng Shaoyou broke out in a sweat. His shirt clung damply to his back.
There were still three minutes left in the presentation, but he couldn’t sit still. His skin was crawling, his cheeks flushed, his head felt heavy, and his carefully rehearsed remarks for the ugly bastard had nearly vanished from his mind.
Chen Pinming’s voice began to waver, the screen blurred, the projected light flickered — to Sheng Shaoyou, the whole world felt like an illusion shimmering inside a soap bubble, ready to pop at the slightest touch.
Finally, the clear, orderly speech stopped.
A jumble of shouts and noise rang in his ears.
He sat there dazed, unable to move, his brain stuck like rusty gears.
“Mr. Sheng!”
What was Chen Pinming panicking about? How many times had he told him — even if the sky falls outside, you hold it up and stay calm!
But before he could scold him, everything went black.
Chaos.
The S-class Alpha’s out-of-control pheromones sent everyone fleeing.
The seven arrogant executives who moments earlier had looked down on him were now clutching their necks, tripping and rolling on the ground in pain.
Even A-class Chang Yu’s face had gone gray.
He slapped on a suppressant patch, donned a mask, steadied himself, then unholstered a gun.
Guns were banned in Jianghu but not in P Country.
Here, releasing such intense pheromones was tantamount to flipping the negotiation table in the emperor’s own home.
Chen Pinming, holding up Sheng Shaoyou, knew how bad this looked.
“Secretary Chang, it’s a misunderstanding!” he protested. “Our boss has been unwell lately — his pheromones…”
Chang Yu cut him off, coldly leveling the gun at him.
“Let go of that precious S-class Alpha. Hands on your head. Turn around.”
Chen Pinming reluctantly complied, pressed to the wall, and was even blindfolded.
He thought bitterly: Shit, do they really mean to silence us over this?!
Then the bitter orange and rum scent in the air began to fade, replaced by a cool, calming orchid scent — a high-level Alpha’s soothing pheromones.
The screams subsided.
Even Chen Pinming’s own fear slowly eased under its influence.
He heard Chang Yu quickly clear the room.
Click, click, click.
Footsteps approached and stopped.
“Passed out?” asked a cold, faintly amused voice — the emperor himself behind the screen.
Chen Pinming held his breath, daring to say,
“Sir, please believe me — our Mr. Sheng didn’t do it on purpose. He—”
“Does it matter if it was on purpose or not?” the voice interrupted — flat and cool, with a chilling undertone.
Chen Pinming fell silent, the gun against his head forcing him quiet.
Inside, a tall, slender young man lifted the unconscious Sheng Shaoyou in his arms, turned to Chang Yu and said,
“Is the room ready? The doctor?”
Chang Yu nodded.
“All ready.”
Two guards opened the door. The young man carried his “prey” out effortlessly.
Two hours later, at an X Holdings hotel.
“So Sheng Shaoyou doesn’t have pheromone disorder?” Shen Wenlang pressed his aching temples and cursed. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me earlier?! If I’d known he was going to go crazy, I wouldn’t have gone behind the screen to watch the show! Do you have any idea how much it hurt when his pheromones hit me?!”
“No idea,” replied the beautiful young man calmly, eyes still fixed on the surveillance feed on his phone. “Didn’t hurt me.”
On the screen, his beloved Alpha had just been given an injection and lay asleep, with Chen Pinming watching over him.
His long, pale fingers brushed lightly over the image.
Poor thing.
As an Alpha, yet forced to endure a heat like an Omega’s — he must have felt so helpless. That’s why he’d panicked and lost control.
Shen Wenlang leaned back on the sofa. He felt a flicker of sympathy for the wretched S-class Alpha — but then remembered how that “mad dog” always tried to bite him and his sympathy cooled.
“Using targeted inducement pheromones in public? To trigger an S-class Alpha’s heat? You really are shameless.”
Inducement pheromones were a rare ability of only the most elite S-class Alphas.
They could trigger a desired Omega’s heat — and in even rarer cases, an Alpha’s.
It was an extremely private act, like discussing bedroom affairs in public.
Any Alpha with a shred of decency would never use it openly.
But this handsome young man clearly didn’t care.
“Whether Omega or Alpha, if I want them, they’re mine,” he said, chin resting lazily in his palm as he admired the screen. “If you want to touch the best — the most precious — you’ve got to plan carefully.”
He looked so innocent yet spoke like a sovereign king, utterly shameless.
“How precious? What, is it encrusted with diamonds?” Shen Wenlang sneered.
The young man lifted his gaze, cold and imperious.
“Wenlang, envy alone is useless — you’d better learn.”
Learn my ass!
Shen Wenlang grumbled inwardly: I’m not some pervert like you — easily smitten and then going straight for the most hellishly difficult relationship imaginable.