CH 24

‘Is there really such a fool?’

Bai Huaiyu looked at Ying Yao, whose heart was filled with sincerity. A small patch of redness appeared on her fair forehead, and her moist eyes, shining with shyness, stared at him. With a red nose from crying, she didn’t look like an Alpha at all. Instead, she resembled an innocent little deer hit by a snowball.

Whoever heard of such a stupid and crybaby Alpha in this world? It was simply a disgrace to Alphas.

Ying Yao’s eyes brightened, and she exclaimed with an excited tone, “Teacher Bai, you smiled! Are you not as angry anymore?”

Smile?

Bai Huaiyu instinctively turned his head to look at himself in the dressing mirror. There was still a faint trace of a smile lingering on his gloomy and indifferent face. That relaxed and cheerful expression seemed like a crack in the dark clouds, allowing warm and gentle light to penetrate through, bewildering someone who had long been trapped in darkness and cold.

‘How could I smile like this?!’

Towards a foolish Alpha like Ying Yao, he should have sneered at her fiercely instead of revealing such a ‘strange’ smile…

Bai Huaiyu immediately put on a stern face and coldly said, “I didn’t smile. You saw it wrong.”

Since Teacher Bai himself denied smiling, Ying Yao vigorously nodded and said, “Hmm, you didn’t smile!”

Bai Huaiyu felt suffocated. If he didn’t know that this woman, an Alpha, was truly foolish and naive, he would have suspected her of mocking him.

Bai Huaiyu arrogantly threatened, “If you have nothing else, leave. But remember, nobody is allowed to talk about what happened in the lounge today. Understood?”

Ying Yao nodded hastily, smiling sweetly and said, “Understood, understood! So, will Teacher Bai accept my apology? I put in a lot of effort to make it myself.”

Only then did Bai Huaiyu notice the small green box tied with a satin bow. He raised an eyebrow indifferently and nonchalantly opened it.

With Ying Yao’s simple taste as a wealthy second-generation, it must be some tacky and expensive gift. As for her claim of making it herself, Bai Huaiyu sneered, he didn’t believe Alphas could casually make such claims.

However, upon opening the gift, he found a beautifully clean food container holding six plump and green dumplings, exuding a warm, refreshing, and slightly bitter taste of grass seeds into the air.

Bai Huaiyu stiffly grasped the food container, his veins faintly visible as the normally icy and sharp eyes contracted abruptly, as if they had been breached.

“What… is this?”

Ying Yao’s eyes lit up as she replied, “Wild Grass Dumplings!”

Of course, Bai Huaiyu knew what they were, but why would they appear here!

Ying Yao continued cheerfully, “Teacher Bai, do you remember the interview when you first debuted? They asked you about your favorite food, and you said it was a kind of sticky rice dumpling made from wild grass. Even though you mentioned a different food in a later interview, I felt that the look in your eyes during that first interview genuinely yearned for the taste of wild grass dumplings. So, I went out of my way to learn how to make them. I even personally went to the western outskirts to pick edible wild grass.”

Bai Huaiyu felt a resonating buzz in his ears, drowning out the sounds of the outside world, leaving him only with the joyful and innocent voice of Ying Yao. It was like the cheerful chirping of a carefree little sparrow.

Did Ying Yao know the significance behind those wild grass dumplings?

How could she, as a second-generation rich kid, understand? For her, wild grass dumplings were merely a novel food to try during leisure time. But for him…

They were the most longed food of his humiliating and impoverished childhood. He would run to a small patch of woods in the western outskirts, bending over with his mother to gather the edible wild grass. Occasionally, finding mushrooms or wild fruits would brighten their entire day.

No longer needing to consume the cheapest and most unappetizing nutritional supplements, he would return to their humble shack, where his mother would gently speak to him in a soft voice while kneading dough to make those wild grass dumplings. The freshly baked dumplings would be piping hot, emitting white steam, and in an instant, the bitter taste of the wild grass dumplings, which couldn’t be erased, surged into his heart.

But as a child, he still savored them with great delight. The bitterness of the wild grass carried a hint of fragrance, and as he chewed on the sticky rice that clung to his teeth, a special sweetness emerged.

Bai Huaiyu gazed at the wild grass dumplings, which he now dismissed, with an unclear and complex expression in his eyes.

However, he was no longer the child who could be satisfied with just a wild grass dumpling.

Ying Yao cautiously stole a glance, feeling anxious as she saw the unexplained gloom on Teacher Bai’s face. Did he not like this gift? Or did he find her cooking unsanitary?

Summoning her courage, Ying Yao said, “Teacher Bai, don’t worry. I consulted professional chefs, and they confirmed that the type of wild grass I used is edible. I wore gloves while making them, ensuring cleanliness and hygiene!”

“You can leave now.”

“Huh?”

Bai Huaiyu looked deeply at Ying Yao and said, “I forgive you.”

Ying Yao should have been happy, but seeing Bai Huaiyu’s instant cold and rejecting attitude, her heart inexplicably felt a pang of bitterness. Unable to control her curiosity, she asked, “Teacher Bai, are you okay?”

Bai Huaiyu replied, “I’m fine, better than ever.”

Only after Ying Yao left did Bai Yuji, the manager who had been keeping watch, ask, “What did Ying Yao give you?”

Bai Huaiyu smiled coldly, pointing at the six worthless wild grass dumplings on the table and said, “Just these.”

The agent, Bai Yuji, glanced briefly and lost interest. His eyes showed a hint of fear as he looked at his cousin and asked, “What do you think about that matter? We are both in the same boat. If we offend the Bai family and Duke Basalom, it won’t be easy to resolve. It’s better to lay low and leave this crew.”

Bai Huaiyu suddenly shouted in a harsh voice, “Why should I leave the crew?”

Annoyed, Bai Yuji, the agent, retorted, “Do you really think you can handle Pei Zhaozhou? He’s an S-level Alpha. Can your pheromone control an Alpha of that level?”

Bai Huaiyu’s eyes turned fierce, “Who said it’s impossible?”

Bai Yuji, the agent, paused for a moment, hesitating, “Do you have another plan?”

Bai Huaiyu smirked omniously, “Isn’t it just seducing an Alpha? Pei Zhaozhou is also an Alpha. Why can’t I seduce him?”

“Prepare some estrus inducers for Omegas for me. The concentration of pheromones during the heat period will be dozens of times stronger. Even an S-level Alpha would find it hard to resist. Once he becomes addicted to my pheromones, he won’t be able to escape.”

Bai Yuji, the agent, felt a chill running through his body as he looked fearfully at his dark and twisted cousin, who had become a venomous snake consumed by madness.

It should be noted that the estrus period induced by such banned drugs causes significant harm to the body. Once the heat period begins, an Omega must receive the Alpha’s mark to end it.

There are countless cases reported in the daily news about Omegas being forcibly marked by Alphas during their heat period. Afterwards, the victim Omega has to go to the hospital to remove the Alpha’s pheromones. The pheromone removal surgery is extremely painful for Omegas, and even a slight mistake could render them sterile. The difficulty index of fully marking an Omega through surgery is exponentially higher.

Bai Yujie panicked and said, “Bai Huaiyu, are you crazy? If you get marked, the Bai family won’t spare me.”

Bai Huaiyu sneered, “The Bai family? They won’t care about me. Don’t worry, I won’t be successfully marked.”

Bai Yuji, the agent, was truly afraid of Bai Huaiyu. How could a naturally delicate Omega resist a raging Alpha during the heat period?

“No, the Bai family ordered me to supervise you. Bai Huaiyu, you can’t go crazy and act recklessly, ruining the Bai family’s plan.”

“Plan? Isn’t this what the Bai family wants me to do?”

“But… but it’s too dangerous!”

Bai Huaiyu’s dark, gleaming eyes were filled with malice, as if he could drag anyone into the abyss at any moment. “Don’t worry, the Bai family won’t let me get marked. My body has been surgically modified long ago, making it impossible for an Alpha to fully mark me. Otherwise, do you think my pheromones could be concealed?”

Bai Yuji, the agent, was filled with an indescribable dread. Hearing this news made cold sweat break out on his back. He would rather remain ignorant, as he was just following the orders of the Bai family. As for the despicable and dark methods of the family, he didn’t have the courage to know.

Bai Yuji’s trembling lips shivered as he asked, “How could this happen? Aren’t you the young master of the Bai family? How could they perform such a surgery on you…”

Bai Huaiyu’s eyes flickered with a cold light, offering no explanation.

After a long silence in the lounge, Bai Yuji seemed to have resigned himself and sighed, “I just hope nothing unexpected happens. I’ll stay with the crew then. Pei Zhaozhou might be here to show support for his friend from Star Entertainment, so I might not encounter him again… Don’t dwell on it too much. Let the family’s orders take their course…”

“Oh, by the way, should I throw away this wild grass dumpling for you?”

Bai Huaiyu glanced at the cold dumpling on the table, then remembered the silly female Alpha and replied indifferently, “No need. Just leave it there.”

Bai Yuji furrowed his brow in confusion, “You don’t usually eat things like this, so when do you plan to get rid of it?”

Bai Huaiyu crushed the wild grass dumpling with his finger, turning the round green dumpling into green paste. His sickly white nails were stained with blackish-green color as he smirked, “Until it rots, becomes moldy, and stinks.”

Bai Yuji muttered under his breath, “Something’s wrong with you.”

Due to the unexpected injury of the lead actor Bai Huaiyu, the filming came to a standstill. Director Lin decided to shoot the scenes of the remaining characters first.

Si Huaixi’s afternoon scenes were moved up and went smoothly, allowing him to leave a few hours later.

Before leaving, Director Lin asked him to practice the game ‘Star River Battlefield’ since it would be used in the upcoming scenes. Learning that Si Huaixi didn’t have a virtual storage for games at home, Director Lin generously lent him one from the production’s stock. After all, it didn’t cost the production any money, it was provided by the investors.

Si Huaixi carried away the game virtual storage, which weighed nearly a ton, as if he were holding a pound of eggs. The crew members were astonished at the sight.

“Is the strength of a Beta that powerful?”

“I don’t know, but I have a distant cousin who’s an Imperial soldier. I heard that high-level Alphas can indeed lift it, and an A-ranked Alpha trained rigorously by the military can lift an 800-pound dumbbell.”

Si Huaixi was unaware of the discussions among the crew after he left. When he returned home and saw that his phone hadn’t received any calls all day, he furrowed his brows in discontent and took the initiative to call the contracting party.

Pei Zhaozhou was driving to the hospital when his phone suddenly rang. Glancing at the caller’s name, his heart skipped a beat, remembering that he had forgotten to call Si Huaixi today.

Pei Zhaozhou answered the call with a guilty tone, “Hello.”

Si Huaixi smiled and said, “Brother Pei, where are you? I’ve made a spare key. Are you coming to my place tonight?”

Pei Zhaozhou frowned, wondering how he should respond. Should he say he was on his way to the obstetrics and gynecology department for prenatal checkups?

He could only put on the facade of a cold and ruthless CEO, clearing his throat with his ears burning, and replied to the overly enthusiastic and dominant canary, “Hmm, I’ll come to your place tonight.”

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