Apex Predator - Chap 4
The speed at which things happened next caught Shen Dai off guard.
The first person to come knocking was You Xinghai’s lawyer, who needed him to sign a few contracts and add his name to the You household register. He had no intention of changing his surname, not that it mattered much to You Xinghai if he did. At any rate, they were now father and son in the eyes of the law.
He thought back to the time his Omega father was abandoned by You Xinghai. Having been brought to the You residence, they were shown the door for a paltry one million. Who would have thought that one day You Xinghai would need him to voluntarily return to the fold? Although the whole matter was still rather nauseating to him, he had no choice but to comply due to the money.
Once the formalities were dealt with, he received his compensation. Truth be told, looking at the long string of zeros on the cheque felt a lot more encouraging than producing a set of high-quality experimental data.
He gave it a good thought. The first thing to do was return the money they owed. While the remaining two million was not enough to purchase a house, it could still cover the cost of the down payment. With his grandmother’s insurance and pension added to his salary, managing medical bills, day-to-day expenses and the home loan would not be a problem.
Having that weight lifted off his shoulders, he suddenly felt an incredible sense of lightness – the path ahead had been cleared. But, he still needed to find a way to explain to his grandmother how he had come into such a large amount of money. As for the whole business of marriage, he decided to keep it a secret for as long as possible.
The day after, he had no choice but to take yet another half day of leave. The morning was spent with Qu Moyu at the marriage registry office – taking photographs, registering the marriage, reviewing documents and signing papers. It was obvious to him that Qu Moyu found the whole process tiresome.
To avoid being photographed by the media, they arrived at the venue before the time that everybody else would be going to work.
What a pity, no matter how rich Qu Moyu was, he still had to show up for his own wedding.
Once it was finished, he also left in a hurry.
Shen Dai stared at the red marriage booklet in his hand, as well as the photo of the two of them. He was momentarily dazed. Never ever had he imagined himself getting married to someone like this.
During the years that he was in debt, he had never wanted to be a burden on somebody else, which is why he stopped himself from the idea of developing any romantic feelings.
His fantasies about Qu Moyu were like a piece of candy kept stashed in a pocket. He was content with the occasional taste, the sporadic savouring of the sweetness – everyone needs their small consolations.
He contemplated the two people in the photograph. One was reserved, the other doing the minimum to get by. Neither of them wore a smile. If it wasn’t for the red backdrop, and the fact that it was pasted on the red marriage certificate, no one would have believed that this was a wedding photograph.
But the image of Qu Moyu’s face was flashing brightly in his mind. Whatever piece of candy, whatever form of consolation, just paled in comparison to that.
This person was to him a beacon – that had guided him from the pits of darkness towards the warmth and light: twice.
The first being the time he was sabotaged and went into heat. While all other Alphas around him were losing control, only Qu Moyu, using his powerful resistance to pheromones was able to soothe him, sparing him from unthinkable consequences.
The second time was when Qu Moyu had even more precipitously fallen from the heavens, pulling him out from the bottomless pit of debt.
He was a scientist, but at this moment, he could not help but believe in destiny. Was it possible that he and Qu Moyu were somehow tied together by fate?
His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of Lawyer Chen’s voice. In the next instant, someone had taken the marriage booklet from his hand.
Slipping the red booklet into his briefcase, Lawyer Chen said, “Let me hold on to these for safekeeping. You needn’t concern yourself with it. A car is waiting outside to take you to the residence of President Qu.”
“Right now?” Shen Dai looked at his watch. “I only took half the day off.”
Lawyer Chen laughed, “You’re already the wife of President Qu. Asking for the rest of the day off shouldn’t be a problem. Come, let me accompany you.”
The wife of President Qu: This designation still felt really unnatural to him. That surreal feeling which permeated the entire matter since the beginning had yet to dissipate.
Once they boarded the car, it headed south of the city.
Shen Dai was watching the scenery outside the window in silence when the car entered an estate of villas. Opening up the map on his phone, he checked the distance between his current location and the company. It turned out to be a little far, and there also didn’t seem to be a subway station nearby.
Lawyer Chen caught a glance at his phone screen. “There’s no need to worry about that. From now on this car will be allocated to you and will be responsible for picking you up.”
Shen Dai looked at Lawyer Chen with some surprise. “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate? If I were to take a car like this to work, I would never be able to explain it to my colleagues. That wouldn’t be ideal for keeping this matter confidential, either.”
“For that, you can talk to the housekeeper of the Qu household to negotiate a better arrangement.”
“Alright, then.”
The car entered the basement. A Beta man with a head of hair like silver frost was already waiting for them at the door.
“Good afternoon, Mr Shen. I’m the housekeeper here. You may call me Uncle Heng. Welcome to the residence.”
“Good afternoon.”
Shen Dai regarded the reserved man in front of him, sensing quite clearly that he was not really welcome at all.
After Lawyer Chen left, Uncle Heng took Shen Dai upstairs to give him a tour of the various amenities of the villa. Somehow it felt like being at a property viewing.
Uncle Heng kept explaining as he walked. In essence, he was making sure that Shen Dai understood clearly the inner workings of the household he was to move into.
These were details such as:
“Yours is the room furthest to the south on the second floor.”,
“The entire third floor is occupied by the young master’s personal living quarters. Kindly do not go up there without permission.”,
“You may choose to take your meals either in the dining room or your own bedroom. On the occasions where the young master does not wish to be disturbed, I will suggest you dine in your bedroom.”
“As for the gym and swimming pool on the ground floor, as long as they are not in use by the young master, you are welcome to use them”
Hearing all this gave him the impression of visiting a hotel room. After all, he would never be able to afford a house like this. Not to mention that he was only a temporary guest here.
Finally, Uncle Heng brought him up to his room. Though it was only a guest room, it was already larger than many small dwellings. It had its own bathroom and walk-in wardrobe, and any convenience that was needed was readily available.
This room was not just in a condition to “move in”. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that one simply needed to walk in. And after that one would have no reason to leave the room at all, which was exactly what Shen Dai wanted.
“Not knowing what your day-to-day preferences were, I took the liberty of preparing a few things,” Uncle Heng explained. “If you find later on that your bed linen isn’t comfortable enough, or that you prefer other brands of toiletries, or that the coffee isn’t to your liking – or anything else at all, do not hesitate to let me know.”
“Thanks, I’m good for now.”
“The young master informed us that you’d still be heading into work every day. What do you think about the car-”
“That won’t be necessary. It’s a little awkward for me to take that kind of car. Anyway, I spend most of my time at the company dormitory. Usually, it’s just fine if I call a taxi.”
“Alright then. Do you have any other requests? In regards to diet or routines or anything else?”
”None at all. Anything’s fine.” Shen Dai added, “In any case, if there’s nothing else to do here, I’m going to head back to the office.”
Uncle Heng stared at Shen Dai before repeating his question, “You really have no requests whatsoever?”
“Eh, for the moment, none at all. But I’ll let you know if something comes to mind.”
“Alright, let me show you outside.”
As the two men descended the stairs, they encountered Qu Moyu coming in from the front door.
The minute Qu Moyu saw Shen Dai he was visibly stunned, as if he could not fathom why this person would materialise in his home. But he quickly regained his composure.
“Oh, how come the young master is back so soon?”
“I got up too early, so I thought I might come back to get a bit of rest. It just happened that I was nearby”, replied Qu Moyu, removing his jacket and entrusting it to Uncle Heng.
“I’ve already had lunch”.
As he pulled off his tie, he cast a probing gaze on Shen Dai.
“President Qu,” Shen Dai greeted him, nodding his head slightly and lowering his eyes.
The way that Qu Moyu tugged at his tie made his heart race – Damn, it could really be the death of him.
”How are you getting used to your new surroundings?” inquired Qu Moyu, without much of a thought.
“Very well.”
“If there’s anything you need, do let Uncle Heng know.”
“Alright. Thank you very much.”, Shen Dai answered.
“I’ll head back to the office first. I’ll be staying at the company dormitory for the most part. I won’t be a bother.”
Qu Moyu looked at Shen Dai. “You want to stay at the company dormitory?”
“Yes. I -”
“Now that we’re married, you have to stay at the house.”
Handing his tie over to Uncle Heng, he walked over to the sofa. “Tea.”
Shen Dai hesitated for a while before he slowly approached Qu Moyu’s side. He felt like he was taking the stand at an employment tribunal – well, in fact, he was indeed, an employee of Qu Moyu.
Uncle Heng brought in the tea and placed it on the coffee table, before retreating to one side.
Qu Moyu took a slow sip of tea, then relaxed his entire upper body and leaned back into the leather sofa. He took out his mobile phone, and while scrolling through it, said, “Even though this is only a partnership, there are still some appearances that need to be kept up. You may not be able to understand, but you can do as you’re told, right?”
Inexplicably, Shen Dai felt a kind of immense pressure, although Qu Moyu did not even give him so much as a glance.
He replied, “Yes”
”Are you unsatisfied with the place? Or are you experiencing any mental barriers?”
“No, the place is fine. I’m only afraid that I’d bother you, that’s all.”
”It’s a big house. And I believe that you are someone with a sense of propriety. You won’t bother me.”
Qu Moyu stopped typing all of a sudden. Raising his head, he looked at Shen Dai.
“Unless of course, you’re afraid that I’ll ask you to perform some of the ‘duties’ of a wife?”
Shen Dai felt his face becoming a little hot. He stole a glance at Uncle Heng. The man bowed his head in deference, and did not betray the slightest reaction.
He lowered his head as well, not knowing at all how to respond.
“Don’t worry. I won’t require anything from you beyond the scope of the contract. You may stay here at ease.”
All this was said without a trace of rudeness, yet every word was like a slap to Shen Dai’s face. This was an instruction, a wake-up call, a warning – he recalled the stipulation within the contract: You will not be permitted to conceive President Qu’s child without authorisation.
An Alpha as extraordinary as Qu Moyu would have countless people falling over themselves trying to win his favour. So much so that it reached a point where no less than three people were dismissed the year that Qu Moyu joined the business, which put a halt to any more unwarranted attention within the company.
So, to say he was anxious that Qu Moyu might have designs on him was quite simply a joke.
xOn the contrary, it was Qu Moyu who was worried that he might be scheming against him.
This was the reason Qu Moyu had expressly included that stipulation within the contract: To prevent him, an Omega with an unremarkable background and mediocre grade pheromones, from ever conceiving a child of the Qu family.
He wasn’t a fool. From the very beginning, he knew that Qu Moyu would never lay a finger on him. But these words were like a dagger cloaked under a veil of politeness. And for them to come from the mouth of the person he admired, he was already too ashamed.
1. Red marriage booklet (结婚证) | An official document that legally recognises a couple’s marriage and is issued by the local civil affairs bureau. The equivalent of a marriage certificate.
