Brat

Speeding was exhilarating for a moment; toughing out a cold and fever afterward was his own damn fault.

Ye Qingpu looked at his deathly reflection in the mirror. Even his great-grandfather hadn't been this pale three days after dying.

He laughed. His great-grandfather must have been jealous to death.

Rubbing his throbbing temples, Ye Qingpu dragged his heavy body out of the bathroom and collapsed headfirst onto the bed.

The moment he closed his eyes, his assistant called.

Ye Qingpu grumbled in extreme displeasure, hugging the blanket as he rolled around twice in impotent fury.

Damn it, even a CEO didn't want to go to work.

Could he skip work?

Oh, no. He had to inspect a plot of land today.

Life was hard. The richest man had no choice but to accept his fate.

He grabbed some clothes and took a shower.

After washing up, he did not even have time for breakfast. He sat in the back of the black Maybach, intending to fall asleep immediately, only for the thick stack of documents his assistant handed him to make him even more irritated.

"Boss, these are project documents from companies that want to cooperate with us."

"Leave them. I'll look when I have time."

"Boss, this is an invitation from the owner of a real estate company. Apparently, his son is turning sixty, and he wants to invite you."

"Mm. Wish him a happy birthday."

"Boss, this is an invitation from Boss Fan, who has worked with us before. He says his daughter is one month old and wants you to name her."

"Mm. Call her Annoying."

"...Boss, here's your iced Americano."

Ye Qingpu paused, took it, and sipped it to moisten his somewhat chapped lips.

He placed the iced Americano in the cup holder, pulled out a men's lip balm from the inside pocket of his coat, and used his finger to dab some onto his bloodless lips.

"Boss, are you feeling unwell?"

"Shut up and focus on driving."

Ye Qingpu snapped impatiently, adjusting his posture and leaning back against the seat.

His mind was filled with what the doctor had said yesterday.

Cell concentration was 80% higher than usual... a sign of differentiation... What obscure wording, vaguely malicious. Ye Qingpu found it utterly baffling.

Even third-grade brats knew that everyone only differentiated twice in their lifetime, and the second differentiation at adulthood, when one turned eighteen, was definitive.

Ye Qingpu had tested as a recessive alpha after his first differentiation, and his genes were excellent. At the time, the entire family had guessed that his second differentiation would surely make him an S-rank alpha.

But when he was eighteen, he was kidnapped during his differentiation period. His body suffered irreversible damage. Perhaps it was his cells protecting his body, but he completed his second differentiation while lying in a pool of blood, barely alive—

A laughable beta.

Although he had survived, he had been frail and sickly ever since, losing his status as the family heir.

But Ye Qingpu had been proud since childhood. If they thought he was unqualified to inherit the family business, then he would work twice as hard and become more outstanding than every alpha in the family. If betas were said to be an insignificant, disadvantaged group, then he would climb above them all and look down upon them.

He was proud by nature, lofty in spirit. His efforts had been denied, dismissed with beta as an excuse. He refused to accept it.

He plotted to bring down the family business, seized its assets, and rose again from the ashes. His path had not been easy, and it had taken him a full ten years to climb to the position of Harbor City's richest man.

He had begun shedding his humility, swaggering through the circles of wealth and fame. Who did not bow and scrape upon seeing him? Who dared not respectfully call this beta "Mr. Ye"? How many omegas wanted to climb into his bed, and how many alphas stopped in their tracks before him?

For every self-proclaimed noble who mocked him behind his back for being a virgin, there was another sycophant offering him drinks in an attempt to get him drunk.

Harbor City had long been swept up in a trend of belittling him while wanting to possess him, but Ye Qingpu happened to be a lofty man who kept himself clean.

And yet, even so, he would never accept having been slept with by some inexplicable pervert.

"Boss, we're here. The manager of CR Real Estate is already waiting for you—the short, potbellied one. Their company's heir will also be joining you for the inspection today. I hear he came from headquarters specifically to follow you on-site and learn from your experience."

His assistant turned around and handed the documents to Ye Qingpu.

He could not be bothered to look through them. He opened the car door, stepped out, and straightened his clothes.

Since it was an on-site inspection and they needed to go up a mountain, he had paired a windbreaker with hiking boots.

"President Ye! Forgive me for not welcoming you sooner!"

The manager hurriedly extended his hand with a fawning smile.

"Mm, there was a bit of traffic."

Ye Qingpu shook his hand briefly and released it at once. The man's sweaty palm was irritating.

He would never admit that it was because he had lingered in bed this morning.

"The inspection route has already been planned. Do you have any further instructions?"

The manager smiled obsequiously and stood respectfully to one side.

Ye Qingpu looked over the route map in his hand. Damn it, it was quite far... He hated hiking most of all, especially with a bad cold.

He wanted a little ice cream, wanted to watch the anime he had saved up, wanted to fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. His desire to skip work had reached its peak.

"President Ye, this is our company's Young Master Pei."

As the manager spoke, Ye Qingpu gave a quiet acknowledgment without even raising his head.

"I am Pei Jiaqian of CR Group, platinum member of the International Institute of Biological Research and deputy chief instructor. Good morning to you."

At the amused voice and familiar name, Ye Qingpu's grip on the paper tightened. He glanced over, and his gaze instantly sharpened.

Pei Jiaqian wore casual clothes. He had a languid air and a tall, straight figure. His raised collar partly covered his neck, and the playful curve of his lips made him look both sexy and flamboyant.

He extended his long, strong hand, quietly observing the subtle expressions on Ye Qingpu's face like a hunter who had captured his prey.

Sensing that something was off, the manager and assistant exchanged glances and broke into a cold sweat.

What the hell? Tragic background, my ass. Construction-site worker, my ass... Annoying! So damn annoying!

Ye Qingpu gritted his teeth and took the slightly cold hand.

The man smelled like a spring breeze in March, carrying the damp scent of earth and a fresh spring gushing from a snow-covered mountain, mixed with a faint trace of tobacco... It had nothing to do with pheromones, merely the hormonal scent of an adult man.

For some reason, Ye Qingpu thought of the water shield flowers blooming across Lugu Lake in June, and the dawn redwood grove he loved visiting in summer.

"Brother, aren't you going to let go?"

Pei Jiaqian smiled softly, his fingers lightly brushing the hand that seemed less to be holding his than pinching his fingertips.

Ye Qingpu released him reflexively, losing control of his expression in public for one of the rare times in his life.

Pei Jiaqian chuckled. He had the distinct feeling that Ye Qingpu's eyes were cursing rather foully; by now, he had probably cursed his way all the way to some ancestral grave of Pei Jiaqian's.

That was indeed the case. Ye Qingpu had always preferred cursing people rather than their mothers—otherwise the insult felt like scratching an itch—but his good upbringing meant he rarely lost composure in public.

"Um... shall we get going, gentlemen?"

The manager spoke tentatively from the side.

Ye Qingpu nodded, deliberately taking two steps around him and putting distance between himself and the pervert without raising his eyes.

What a brat. Pei Jiaqian was not offended and followed behind at an unhurried pace.

"Brother, you didn't expect it to be me, did you?"

Pei Jiaqian quickened his pace by two steps, hands in his pockets as he turned back.

Ye Qingpu pretended not to hear him, only noticing the wound on his forehead, hidden beneath his hair, where a blunt object had struck him.

He regretted it.

He should have hit him harder when he struck him with that hammer.

The man's sideburns had been trimmed neatly, making him look much fresher—like a proper young male college student.

He was a college student, right? Oh, no. He was the deputy chief instructor at the International Institute of Biological Research, whose assessment Ye Qingpu had been trying to pass all along.

Put simply, every assessment report he submitted passed through this man's hands...

Yesterday afternoon, he had conducted Pavlov's Dog Experiment on him.

Last night, after speeding around, he had submitted his biological research company's cooperation application report to the chief instructor's email...

Ye Qingpu felt as though his suspended heart had suddenly been hanged.

Especially after realizing that the man had been tortured yesterday, yet had gone to get a haircut today and somehow looked even more energized, Ye Qingpu's teeth itched with fury.

Everything the man did made Ye Qingpu feel like a clown making a spectacle of himself.

"It's all right, Brother. I won't use my position to settle a personal score."

Pei Jiaqian seemed to see through his thoughts and smiled reassuringly.

"...Please get lost."

Ye Qingpu smiled politely. Having reached the end of his patience, he silently, without hesitation, and with perfect precision stepped on the other man's brand-new shoe.

"Ha."

Pei Jiaqian was helpless. Pei Jiaqian was pleased. Pei Jiaqian found this brat more and more interesting.