Wu Jiangyuan: [Engagement? What engagement? Wasn't last night's engagement banquet canceled?]
Jia Xin'an replied with a smiling emoji: [Silly boy, last night was just your Uncle Pei's birthday banquet. We were only going to announce the engagement while we were at it. The date is still being discussed.]
Wu Jiangyuan: [...]
No wonder Old Master Pei had agreed so readily when he said he wouldn't be showing up.
Fine, fine, fine. So that was how they wanted to play it.
Wu Jiangyuan: [What about Pei Jinghe?]
Jia Xin'an: [Of course Jinghe will be coming too, but he'll be a little late. Cancel any engagements you have tonight, do you hear me?]
Wu Jiangyuan stopped replying.
Expressionless, he switched off his screen and looked at He Qu. "Something came up. I need to go home today. Cancel my work for me."
He Qu said, "Don't worry. You won't have any work for the next several days."
Wu Jiangyuan wasn't surprised. "Then I'll get going. Thanks for the hard work."
He paused at the door. "Oh, right. Remember to treat everyone to a meal later. Put it on my tab."
He didn't want these incidents cropping up all the time either, but the scandals always came out of nowhere. Sometimes, even inexplicable candid shots got him dragged online.
#Wu Jiangyuan acts like a diva#
#Wu Jiangyuan gives assistant the cold shoulder and makes them kneel to clean his shoes#
#Wu Jiangyuan rolls his eyes at a senior at a press conference#
And so on.
He was used to it all by now, anyway.
He reached the parking lot and got into his Mercedes G-Class.
Once inside, he didn't start the engine right away. Instead, he opened his phone and began searching his contacts.
He wanted to message Pei Jinghe and ask what was going on tonight.
But he scrolled all the way to the bottom without finding Pei Jinghe.
That was strange. He'd added Pei Jinghe on WeChat before. How had he suddenly disappeared?
Then he remembered.
Apparently, he'd deleted Pei Jinghe himself, though he could no longer remember why... All he remembered was that whatever had happened had made him furious.
After thinking for a while, he decided to stake out the place and stop Pei Jinghe before he entered the Wu residence.
Halfway there, his lower abdomen suddenly began to feel uncomfortable, hot as though something were burning inside.
Wu Jiangyuan recalled what Pei Jinghe had said before leaving that morning.
[Forgot to tell you. If you only drank a little, a suppressant injection will take care of it.]
Blood?
Wu Jiangyuan's face instantly darkened.
He'd nearly forgotten that he'd swallowed some Enigma blood that morning.
And he hadn't taken a suppressant yet.
He sped all the way back to his apartment and gave himself a suppressant injection. Only then did the strange sensations in his body settle down.
After another hasty shower, he crawled under the covers to catch up on sleep.
Night fell, and his ringtone woke him.
Without checking who was calling, he answered, his voice lazy and tired. "Talk."
There was a moment of silence before Jia Xin'an's voice came through. "Jiangyuan, where are you?"
Wu Jiangyuan instantly snapped awake, bolted upright, and checked the time.
-7:03 p.m.
Shit. I'd slept so soundly I overslept.
He cleared the sleep from his voice before replying, "On my way. Mom, are Uncle Pei and the others there yet?"
Jia Xin'an said, "They're here. We're just waiting for you and Jinghe."
Wu Jiangyuan said, "...Pei Jinghe isn't there either?"
Jia Xin'an urged him, "Jinghe probably needs a little longer to get back from the office. Hurry up, Jiangyuan."
Wu Jiangyuan immediately scrambled out of bed. "Don't worry, Mom. Give me an hour. I'll be right there."
When Wu Jiangyuan reached the family residence, he specifically called his mother to confirm that Pei Jinghe hadn't arrived before settling in to wait.
When Pei Jinghe's car arrived, he was leaning against his car door, smoking.
Nearly twenty minutes of waiting had left him thoroughly irritated. Only smoking could ease his mood.
The Bentley's door opened. A long leg emerged first, followed by that cold, heartless face that looked as if it belonged to a corpse.
Wu Jiangyuan sneered. Who was that long face for, day in, day out? He looked like someone owed him millions.
Pei Jinghe wasn't surprised to see him. He merely offered a mild reminder. "Smoking is bad for you."
Wu Jiangyuan's hand paused. He straightened and walked toward him.
He took a drag right in front of Pei Jinghe, leaned close, and blew all the smoke into his face, a smile curling his lips.
"None of your business."
Behind the thin haze, Pei Jinghe's lips pressed into a straight line. His gaze swept down Wu Jiangyuan's body as he said pointedly, "You've recovered well."
Wu Jiangyuan: Why does this feel like sexual harassment?
One look at this guy brought back what had happened last night.
His anger flared. "Aren't you going to explain?"
Pei Jinghe said, "Explain what?"
"Playing dumb?" Wu Jiangyuan tugged down his collar, exposing the marks still lingering on his neck from the night before. "Need me to crack your skull open to jog your memory?"
Pei Jinghe's gaze settled on those marks, his voice level. "You were the one who barged in."
Wu Jiangyuan: "..."
Fuck you. I'd only gone there to watch the show.
"As you saw, I was drugged and went into rut. Unfortunately, you barged in."
Pei Jinghe explained calmly, as though casually reciting a written report.
Wu Jiangyuan opened and closed his mouth, unable to squeeze out a single word for a long while.
Pei Jinghe was far too composed. By comparison, Wu Jiangyuan's demands for an explanation made him look like an abandoned, shrewish husband.
Pressing further would be a little embarrassing. After all, he'd brought it on himself by insisting on provoking an Enigma in rut.
Wu Jiangyuan took a drag and changed the subject. "Let's set that aside for now. My parents are discussing the engagement with Uncle Pei and the others tonight. How much do you know?"
Pei Jinghe said, "Not much."
"Forget it. Asking you is a waste of breath." Wu Jiangyuan tossed away his cigarette butt and raked a hand through his hair in irritation. "Can you get Old Master Pei to call off the marriage alliance?"
Pei Jinghe was silent for a moment before calling his name. "Wu Jiangyuan."
Wu Jiangyuan looked up into those dark eyes and heard him ask in return.
"Why don't you ask Uncle Wu to call it off?"
Wu Jiangyuan answered stiffly, "If I could call it off, would I be coming to you?"
"I could say the same to you," Pei Jinghe said. "This so-called marriage alliance is nothing more than a business tool for our fathers. Who we marry is something they decide with a few words."
"Unfortunately, we have no right to refuse."
"This isn't a question of whether I want to. You should know how much the Wu and Pei families stand to gain from this marriage, shouldn't you?"
Wu Jiangyuan's expression grew complicated. "But I'm an Alpha! If you marry me, won't your family line die out?"
"..." Pei Jinghe looked as though he wanted to say something but held back.
Enigmas had the ability to alter an Alpha's physical structure and could also make them pregnant.
Forget it. Better not say it. Wu Jiangyuan would definitely blow up if I did.
He changed the subject. "Didn't you already agree?"
Wu Jiangyuan said, "Agree to what?"
Pei Jinghe said, "The engagement."
Wu Jiangyuan rolled his eyes. "My father pressured me into agreeing offhandedly. More importantly, I knew you hated me and would definitely refuse."
Pei Jinghe: "..."
His expression was difficult to describe. Wu Jiangyuan's temples throbbed. "Don't tell me you were thinking the same thing?"
Pei Jinghe said, "Yes."
It was a bolt from the blue.
Wu Jiangyuan was about to turn to stone on the spot. If only I'd held out a little longer with Wu Qi back then. Why had I agreed so carelessly?
Now there was no way to back out.
He reached into his pocket for a cigarette, but ultimately resisted.
"Forget it!"
Wu Jiangyuan threw caution to the wind. "Then let's get married."
Before you continue