CH 14

Shen Dai devoted all his energy to preparing his speech. These past few days, his diet, sleep, and mental health weren’t very good. He was easily tired and didn’t have much appetite. In the beginning, he thought it was because he was too tired at work. But three days later, he became worried because these were the symptoms all adult omegas were familiar with —— they were like the premonitions of one’s heat.

The heat period of normal omegas is relatively regular, they’ll come every three or four months. Although the timing won’t be 100% precise, it won’t be off by too much. Their bodies will start to self-regulate in advance. For example, the loss of appetite is from emptying the womb in preparation for conception, while insomnia and mental anxiety are the manifestations of pheromone fluctuations. Shen Dai’s heat only occurs once or twice a year when the climate is warm. Unless induced by external stimulation such as alpha pheromones, almost no omega would go into heat when it’s very cold. This genetic embodiment is similar to animals —— cubs born in winter will not easily survive. However, they are just entering winter right now and it’s not very cold. It’s totally possible for him to go into heat at this time. 

Shen Dai was frightened by this possibility. Although he would also have these symptoms when he’s working under great pressure, he did not dare to take this risk. He went to the pharmacy and bought some medicine to suppress and delay his heat. This medicine acts directly on the glands, it’s bad to metabolize and hurts the health. It’s usually only taken in cases of emergencies.

Sure enough, after taking the medicine, those symptoms lifted quite a lot on the same day. In a few days however, his heat period would fight back again. Knowing this, Shen Dai asked for leave in advance and decided to go home right after his speech.

The night before the speech, he remembered that he hadn’t prepared his clothes yet. Fortunately, Uncle Heng ordered several suits for him last time. He held the three-piece suit wrapped in the dust bag and waited for the taxi at the door. The wind was strong today, which made his eyes dry.

As he rubbed his eyes, a car slowly stopped in front of him. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Qu Moyu’s car. 

Lao-Wu, the driver, got out of the car and opened the back door for him, “Mr. Shen, we are also on the way to the company right now. The young master told you to get in the car.”

“Oh, thank you.” After Shen Dai got in the car, he hung up the suit. “Thank you, President Qu. I should have taken my suit over in advance, I forgot.”

“It’s alright.” Qu Moyu was reading the briefing, “The solvent extraction method that your team broke through this year has a good separation effect on the lighter rare earths, but there’s no substantial progress for the heavier rare earths.”

“Yes, mainly because heavy rare earths are particularly difficult to control in the process of fractional precipitation and crystallization, which is also one of the main directions we will work towards in the future.”

“Shareholders will definitely ask questions in this regard, but you can avoid the market application of this technology, which involves profit return. At the same time, they are very interested in the South African mine newly invested by the company this year.”

“Understood, I have already prepared for this part. After laoshi went to South Africa, he also sent a lot of valuable information.”

“Professor Liu isn’t worried at all by leaving the laboratory to you? It seems that he values you most.”

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Qu Moyu glanced at Shen Dai with eyes that contained admiration, “It wasn’t easy for you to come this far. Let me remind you, first, Qu Chengchen will be attending this meeting on behalf of my uncle today, and second, most of the attendees today are alphas. You had better not let them see through your gender.”

Shen Dai sighed in his heart, “I understand.” Qu Moyu’s reminders are very realistic. Omegas have weak characteristics and low physical fitness, they easily get pregnant and have heat periods four times a year for seven days. Thus, they are at the bottom of the labor market. For large and medium-sized companies, the labor law has strict requirements on the employment rate of omegas, and they can help companies avoid taxes. As a result, there are quite a lot of omegas in Xingzhou, but very few have important positions. In short, since omegas are already struggling in the workplace, they are even rarer in the field of scientific research. Shen Dai was one who proved himself by relying on his achievements. Some alphas think highly of themselves and have prejudice and discrimination in their bones. They are likely to question his professionalism. He was already mentally prepared in this regard.

Qu Moyu’s car was parked in the exclusive parking space and he went directly to his office from the internal elevator. Shen Dai walked through half the parking lot and took the employee elevator. The entire way there, he kept looking left and right for fear of being seen.

When he arrived at the dormitory, he changed into his suit. He twisted around in front of the mirror to look at the back of his neck. Pheromone stickers are all skin colors, which could only be seen from a close distance. Recently, he didn’t have time to cut his hair. Therefore, the tips of his hair and collar conveniently covered it, which can be counted as having it concealed. He nodded to himself in the mirror, then took his laptop and the materials with him out the door. 

The meeting officially began at 9:30. Currently, there are five teams in the institute. Since he’s the third one presenting, he can still go through the PowerPoint several times.

Entering the conference hall, his juniors cheered in unison, “Holy, Shen-shixiong is so handsome today.”

“First time seeing Shen-shixiong in a suit, he’s so charismatic, he really doesn’t look like a dirt digger at all.”

They ridicule themselves as “dirt diggers” because they associate with various minerals and chemical reagents daily, it’s very common to get dirty. 

Cheng Zimei applauded exaggeratedly, “A-Dai, you look so good in a suit. This waist, these legs, tsk tsk.”

Shen Dai became shy from their praises, “Thanks for the flatter, everyone. When I go up later, you guys must also clap this hard for me.” As expected, people need to rely on clothes. This suit was expensive and tailor-made, of course it looks good. He thought about when he’ll be giving the speech, everyone’s eyes will fall on him, including Qu Moyu, who rarely looks at him. Qu Moyu might be looking at him for a long time, longer than all the time in the past added together. Would he also think he looks good too?

“Shen-shixiong, sit here.” His alpha shidi, Zhou Lan, got up and gave him the middle position.

“No need, I’ll sit on the side, it’ll be easier to go out later.” After Shen Dai took his seat, he opened his laptop. 

Zhou Lan unscrewed the bottle of water and next to Shen Dai’s hand, “Shixiong, drink some water. Have you had breakfast? Should I buy some for you?”

“I ate, how about you guys?” Shen Dai asked casually.

“We ate, the canteen came up with a new ham mooncake, it’s so good.”

Shen Dai nodded, but his eyes remained on the screen, “Okay, I’ll try it another day.” 

It’s not the first day Zhou Lan has been so eagerly attentive. As an engineering man, the way he makes advances is somewhat clumsy, but Shen Dai could still see his intention and felt a bit of a headache. In the past, he didn’t accept those who had dropped hints at him because he owed so much money that there was no way for him to date. Now, it’s even more impossible. Unfortunately, this shidi was too young to understand his silent refusal.

He might as well wait a few days later to let Cheng Zimei help him deal with this.

Other scientific research groups, leaders, and shareholders arrived one after another. Soon, the huge conference hall was full of people.

Shen Dai saw many senior executives of the company, but his eyes had been following Qu Moyu since the start. Qu Moyu was wearing a three-piece suit and a black windbreaker that brought wind as he walked. The entire time, Qu Moyu talked with the shareholders around him and did not look over. 

Qu Chengchen also arrived. He was also dressed in a suit and was carrying a gray briefcase. He was still talking on the phone as he walked. It was completely different from the cynical look when they met last time. This time, he looked very serious and respectable.

“Wow, it’s rare for both the Crown Prince and the Royal Prince to appear at the same time.” Cheng Zimei’s gossip soul possessed her once again. She bumped Shen Dai with her elbow. “We should get to know some colleagues from the chemical department so that we can hear about the Royal Prince’s gossip. He is much more interesting than our Crown Prince.”

“Don’t bother me. I have to go over the script one more time.” Shen Dai said as he stared at the computer screen.

“Don’t be nervous, okay? Laoshi said that this meeting will not affect our budget. Just talk about it casually.” 

“How can things be done ‘casually’.”

“You’re really… Wow!” Cheng Zimei grabbed Shen Dai’s arm excitedly, and Shen Dai was pinched to the point of pain.

There was a small commotion in the conference hall, and everyone’s eyes turned towards the door. An extremely handsome alpha walked in, and many high-level leaders who had already taken their seats got up to greet him.

“It’s Yan Mingxiu!” A shimei said excitedly, “Why is he here?” 

“Longke Heavy Industry is a strategic partner of our company, he probably also has some shares.”

Shen Dai was also curious and stretched his neck to see Yan Mingxiu’s elegant appearance. Yan Mingxiu is the successor of Longke Heavy Industry, which isn’t unusual. What’s unusual is that he suddenly entered the entertainment industry in his early twenties. His acting skills are average, but he became popular for a bit relying on his god-like visuals and his superior genes as an S-class alpha. Then he suddenly disappeared from the public eye after two to three years. It was obvious that it was the case of a young, frivolous, and pampered son of a wealthy family who went to play around in the pompous Vanity Fair and had to eventually go back to inherit the family.

Yan Mingxiu is the representative of having top-tier visuals among top-tier alphas. Seeing the real person is more shocking than from the big screen.

“The alpha concentration here is too high.” Cheng Zimei shrugged. “Fortunately, I can’t smell it. I’ll be fine with just looking at handsome guys. A-Dai, will you feel unwell?” 

Betas have the largest population base and create the most social value, it’s indeed the most stable and convenient gender. Although they also cannot bear the suppression of alpha pheromones, they also cannot smell pheromones and are rarely affected in daily situations. For example, at this moment, when three S-level alphas and a pile of other alphas appear together in an indoor space at the same time, with their pheromones flying around the entire room, it’s very oppressive for omegas.

Of course Shen Dai was uncomfortable. He felt that the air was air, tightness in his chest, and shortness of breath. Even his eyes were smoked dry. However, it’s a bit much to say there are substantive harms, it’s just really uncomfortable. The omega gender is too pathetic, no wonder it’s hard to get a job. He nodded and said, “I’ll go out for a bit, let me know when it’s my turn.”

Not long after the first group started, he sneaked out with his laptop under the excuse of going to the bathroom. He breathed some fresh air in the coffee break area and continued to look through his PowerPoint.

It was not until Cheng Zimei called him on the phone that he returned to the conference hall. He got himself ready and stepped onto the stage.