Apex Predator - Chap 23
From Shen Dai’s heart came a sharp pain like being stabbed by an ice pick, and he wasn’t even in a position to show it. Acting as if nothing had happened, he finished helping Qu Moyu with his tie.
Qu Moyu looked into the mirror as he straightened his jacket: “Rest well this morning. After lunch get the driver to send you to the company.”
“Alright.”
He stroked Shen Dai’s hair, adding, “At the end of the year, I’ll take you somewhere to spend the holidays. Is there any place you’d like to go?”
Shen Dai shook his head: “The Professor was hoping that we could take a trip to South Africa to investigate the new mine when we were less busy. It could also be useful for my thesis.”
“With employees this hardworking, a boss like me should feel so gratified,” said Qu Moyu, bending his head down to place a light kiss on Shen Dai’s gland, drawing in from that fair and smooth nape the relaxing fragrance of the epiphyllum. “But what I want even more is for you to accompany me.”
“I…”
Qu Moyu laughed, “Let’s talk about it again at the end of the year.”
The moment Qu Moyu left, Shen Dai readied himself to go to work. His hips were so sore today, there was really no way he could ride his bicycle. He would have no choice but to call a taxi. Every time Qu Moyu did not restrain himself, it would be difficult to bear the following day.
While in the car, he received an unexpected friend request on WeChat from an account with You Baiyue’s profile picture. He had no idea what the psychology behind adding him could be, but not wanting to think any further about it, he immediately put it aside.
In the afternoon there came a call from an unfamiliar number.
Due to his recent search for apartments, he received a number of harassing phone calls from real estate agents. While he would ordinarily hang up on any unknown numbers, this number had relentlessly called him three times already. He had no choice but to pick up.
Barely had he opened his mouth when a clear and pleasant voice piped up:
“Hullo, dearest older brother, why haven’t you accepted my friend request? So unfriendly?
It was You Baiyue…
Shen Dai looked around at his colleagues who were hard at work in the laboratory before grabbing his phone and escaping to the stairwell.
“I thought it was a scammer who was using your profile picture.”
“Oh, don’t pretend, I already said who I was. You’re just doing this on purpose.”
“There have been a lot of scammers lately,” he replied, calmly.
“Wow, for an omega, you’re not even a little cute.”
“I’m sorry. Is there something important? I’m at work right now.”
“It’s my birthday today. I’m having a little soirée tonight. Come over and have some fun!”
“I have to work after hours a lot recently, so I won’t be able to squeeze in the time, but have a happy birthday.”
Shen Dai was amused by You Baiyue’s pettiness. Just a surveillance video which didn’t confirm anything had provoked such a huge reaction from him. Putting on a show of superiority online wasn’t enough, what else did he still want to show him to his face? Naturally he wasn’t going to go. Not least because he didn’t want to see Qu Moyu and You Baiyue wear each other’s matching birthday presents, but even more because he didn’t want to take part in You Baiyue’s little competition.
Cheng Zimei said that he just “wasn’t capable. Indeed, in this respect, he really “wasn’t capable”. His capability lay in beating out the majority of alphas in societal competition, not in capturing the attention of the majority of alphas.
He had witnessed firsthand how his own biological father, an omega from a good family, with an attractive appearance and good education, had given up on any kind of personal development, placing all his hopes onto loving someone and being loved. A good life ruined by scoundrels plundering sexual gain in the name of love one after the other. And finally, aside from him – the inconvenience who “should never have been born” – there was nothing left.
The path many Omegas chose to take or were forced to take was the one that he was determined to avoid.
As much as he liked Qu Moyu, he would not allow himself to slide into a pointless trap.
You Baiyue let out a small “humph”: “When I asked Yu-ge to bring you, he said no, when I personally invite you, you don’t want to come either. You must really dislike me right?”
“Not at all. We’re just not close, that’s all. I don’t believe you’ll lack me as a friend either.”
“But we aren’t friends, we’re brothers!” said You Baiyue with a sigh. “What the previous generation did is their business. As brothers we only have each other, shouldn’t we at least try to establish a good relationship?”
Shen Dai was a little taken aback. For a brief instant he felt his heart soften, but he quickly sobered up. If You Baiyue had really needed a brother like him, he would have thought of it much sooner. He had no hatred towards You Baiyue due to “What the previous generation did”, yet he didn’t like this “I don’t feel that there’s a need for that. We’ll be strangers to each other again very soon.” that would take place after this business transaction, either.
You Baiyue was silent for a time: “Accept my friend request first. Otherwise I’m just going to keep pestering you.”
Shen Dai had no choice but to say, “Fine.” It appeared that unless the Young Master You could flaunt it to him, he wouldn’t have a pleasant birthday.
Cheng Zimei spent half the day cursing at You Baiyue, yet she still kept checking his activity from time to time, curious about which famous influencers he had invited to his birthday party.
“Shit, the Marquis gave him a car. This boyfriend’s spending is pretty lavish.” She swiped to another screen with her finger. “Haha, a lot of people are bashing him and asking why he didn’t show off his own boyfriend’s present first.”
Shen Dai interrupted her, “Is the experiment on page 203 done yet?”
Cheng Zimei nodded her head smugly, “Of course it’s done. I’m just having some fun during my break.”
There was nothing Shen Dai could do about her: “One of our junior female colleagues said there might be an issue with the pressure filter just now. Why not go help her with it?”
She gave a “humph”, and with an air of frustration and disappointment she got up and walked off.
Just as he was engrossed in preparing some data, he caught a glimpse of a shadow out from the corner of his eye. He raised his head to look: It was Zhou Lan.
“Shen-Shixiong,” Zhou Lan said with a smile, “I’m done with the work you assigned me. Just waiting for you to check it.”
“Alright, thank you. I’ll get to it later, I’m putting together some data first.” Judging that Zhou Lan didn’t walk away after he had finished saying this, Shen Dai had a premonition that something else was coming.
“Shen-Shixiong,” said Zhou Lan, a little nervous and ill-at-ease, “Did you know that the Ministry of Aerospace is collaborating with the University of Geosciences to hold an exhibition soon? Not only will there be all sorts of minerals that we’ve never seen before but also meteorites. A friend of mine has VIP tickets. We can go in advance and avoid the crowds. I thought it would definitely be something Shen-Shixiong would be interested in.”
Pausing for a moment, Shen Dai asked, “Is it happening soon? I’m so sorry, I guess you also know that I’m stuck on my thesis. I probably won’t have the time.”
“If you’re stuck, maybe looking at rocks could give some inspiration?” Zhou Lan’s bright eyes shone with unconcealed expectation. I have quite a number of tickets. I really want to invite Shen-Shixiong and Cheng-Shijie to go with me, as well as Xiaoyang and the others. Is this Saturday alright?”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Shen Dai replied, “Alright then. It sounds good. You can arrange it. After the event we can pick somewhere close by to eat. It’s been a while since our team had a meal together.” The Professor had entrusted the laboratory to him, but he was not the best at managing people. He often forgot about fostering positive relationships within the team, which wasn’t very good.
Returning home that evening, he saw that as expected, You Baiyue had already posted several updates. You Baiyue turned twenty-four today, therefore this year was also the year of his Chinese horoscope. The whole affair had been extremely grandiose. The group photographs contained a good number of recognisable famous faces, with the presents piled so high they formed a small mountain.
One photograph showed You Baiyue standing between Qu Moyu and Qu Chengchen. His arms were linked with theirs, and when he smiled he was as lovely as a flower. The two top Alphas looked even more dazzlingly handsome. This photograph would no doubt be able to stir up sufficient excitement. Truly, You Baiyue understood how to use his resources to the greatest advantage.
Moreover both the Qu brothers had agreed to cooperate with him. How could the average person obtain this kind of affection?
Shen Dai swiped his finger upwards, looking through the contents of You Baiyue’s Moments page. It featured nothing but a carefree princess whose life consisted only of luxury and enjoyment, whereas his own Moments page only had industry or academic related articles that he had shared – not much worth mentioning.
For Qu Moyu to like You Baiyue was not the least bit strange. Love was mutual attraction, marriage was the exchange of value. And You Baiyue had it all, conforming to all the requirements that Qu Moyu had for a wife.
He tossed his mobile phone aside, an inexplicable feeling in his heart.
At that moment, he heard the sound of the car. It was Qu Moyu who had just returned home, that is to say, returned home from attending You Baiyue’s birthday dinner. And without a doubt, he would still be wearing that tie around his neck.
He was all too familiar with the sound of that Phantom Sedan. Strange to think that someone like him – who had never cared about cars before – was now able to tell a car apart by the sound of its engine, if only from hearing it too many times. It really was like Pavlov’s bell. Once the sound hit his eardrum, he would drop whatever he was doing at the moment, rush to the windowsill, tear open a narrow gap between the curtains, and steal a glance.
He sat up in bed at once, yet this time he did not walk towards the window by reflex. Instead, he decisively switched off the lights.
That was the first time he hadn’t wanted to see Qu Moyu.
Saturday arrived, and the entire laboratory group trooped over to the Planetary Geology exhibition. In fact there were not many visitors. Only people like them could find in these dirty rocks an indescribable charm.
At that point, Zhou Lan’s fondness for Shen Dai had become obvious to everyone. But due to Shen Dai’s position, nobody dared to joke about it.
Chen Zimei also seemed to be pleased about it. She deliberately got everyone else out of the way, doing what she could to give the both of them some alone time.
Shen Dai had been gazing at something intently, but as soon as he turned around, he noticed that he and Zhou Lan were the only ones left.
“Shixiong, have something to drink. Are you tired? Would you like to stop for a break?” asked Zhou Lan, uncapping a bottle of mineral water and handing it to him.
Shen Dai realised then that it was no longer possible to rely on Cheng Zimei to help fend him off. Looking at the healthy overgrown boy before his eyes, he felt a bit of anxiety.
“I’m not tired. Do you know where the others are?” he answered.
“Not sure. Maybe they’ve gone to the bathroom.” Zhou Lan appeared to be in high spirits, adding, ”Shixiong, check this out. This description sounds so awkward. Could it be directly translated from English? Isn’t that so sloppy?”
Shen Dai moved closer to take a look at the description. The font was a little small so their heads were almost bumping.
Just as the tips of their hair started to touch, Shen Dai caught the scent of Zhou Lan’s pheromones. For a while he could not decipher what this scent was, only that it was warm and smelled pleasant, but suddenly, he took a step back. Zhou Lan, too, had been startled, yet his eyes betrayed a bit of happiness.
“What is the scent of Shen-Shixiong’s pheromones? It’s light, but has such a lovely smell,” asked Zhou Lan, shyly,
With a blank expression, Shen Dai replied, “I’m going to the bathroom.”