CH extra 5

After Xia Wennan answered his question, Ming Luchuan stopped talking entirely.

Their surroundings were very quiet. The people occupying a nearby table were chatting, but their voices were too soft to make out any words.

Xia Wennan was currently grappling with a pea with his chopsticks, only to fail after a couple of attempts. That was when Ming Luchuan abruptly moved his chopsticks, placing the pea into Xia Wennan’s bowl.

“Thanks,” said Xia Wennan.

“Could you perhaps tell me what it is about your current workplace that you find unsatisfactory?” Ming Luchuan inquired, his gaze fixed on Xia Wennan.

“Ah?” Xia Wennan’s gaze shifted from the pea inside his bowl to Ming Luchuan’s face. “Nothing’s unsatisfactory. I just want a change of scenery.” He didn’t think it was necessary to discuss his decision in detail with Ming Luchuan.

Ming Luchuan leaned back slightly. His suit was buttoned up, and his brow was laced with a stifling sombreness as he asked, “Is it because of the rumours surrounding the company?”

Xia Wennan was taken aback at first. “What?” In the next second, he realised that Ming Luchuan was most likely referring to the matter of the new laboratory. A light bulb went off in his head; he intended to act as if he wasn’t aware and conveniently stomp on Xu Zong before leaving, so he asked, “What rumours?”

Ming Luchuan said nothing.

Xia Wennan hadn’t intended on waiting for his response in the first place though, and soon after he continued, “I just don’t get along with Manager Xu.”

“Xu Zong?”

“Yeah,” said Xia Wennan. “To be honest, Xu Zong is incompetent, lacks vision, and has a hobby of deliberately making things difficult for others. If he remains in charge of the R&D department, I don’t believe it will make much progress. It’s best to jump ship as soon as possible.”

After Xia Wennan finished speaking, Ming Luchuan’s countenance oddly eased a little, and after some time passed, his only response was: “Really?”

Xia Wennan laughed. “Of course not! I’m just joking. How could Manager Xu be in the wrong? It’s naturally me, a beta, who has overestimated myself with my vain attempts to develop pheromone perfumes.”

“Pheromone perfumes?” Ming Luchuan’s eyes on him turned solemn.

Xia Wennan waved his hands dismissively. “Ignore that, I’m just babbling.” But it felt like he’d just aired all his grievances, and in the ensuing happy mood, he gave up on the last pea in his bowl, reached for a tissue, and wiped his mouth while saying, “Thank you, Manager Ming. The food here is quite tasty.”

After a moment of silence, Ming Luchuan replied, “You’re welcome.”

Ming Luchuan offered to drive Xia Wennan home after they stepped out of the restaurant, but Xia Wennan declined. He didn’t take a taxi either, instead taking advantage of the cool night air to walk to the subway station and take the subway home. Xia Wennan was in a pretty good mood on the journey home; his steps were subconsciously light and relaxed. When he arrives at work tomorrow morning, his first order of business will be locating Xu Zong and submitting his resignation.

The next day, however, Xia Wennan found no trace of Xu Zong in the labs. He learnt from a colleague that Xu Zong had gone to the headquarters for a meeting, and no one knew when he would return. The meeting apparently lasted all day, and when it was time to go home, Xia Wennan passed by Xu Zong’s office, only to find the door still locked tightly.

The next thing he knew, it was the weekend, and Xia Wennan could only wait until Monday.

When Xia Wennan awoke on Saturday after sleeping in, he took the intercity bus to his hometown, a small town about 40 kilometres away.

Xia Wennan would return to his hometown almost every weekend, as long as he didn’t have any mandatory overtime. His parents died when he was young, and he grew up by his grandfather’s side—his grandfather was his last living relative in the entire world.

Xia Wennan’s omega grandpa was a small man. He was a small old man now, but he always kept himself neat and clean. His grizzled hair was neatly combed back, and he always wore light-coloured shirts every summer that had the faint smell of laundry detergent.

Knowing that Xia Wennan would be home for the weekend, his grandpa went to the market first thing in the morning to buy Xia Wennan’s favourite dishes, after which he went home to prepare lunch.

Xia Wennan retired to his room after lunch, where he lounged on his bed and played with his phone. Meanwhile, his grandfather had a habit of watching TV on the sofa, often falling sleep midway, only to be awakened by the sound of the TV after a while and continue watching as if nothing had happened.

Xia Wennan lay flat on his back with his legs bent and feet on the bed. He held his phone upside down, the position blocking his immediate line of sight. He’d gotten up late that morning and didn’t feel like napping at this point, so he just closed his eyes and pondered what he’d do after quitting. He had already sent his resumes to several companies, but had received no responses. He knew that quitting his current job was a bad idea, but he genuinely couldn’t stay at Ming Yan any longer. However, he didn’t want to work for He Yufeng’s company either.

While he let his imagination run wild, the phone in front of his eyes suddenly rang. He righted it in a hurry and saw an unknown phone number.

“Hello?” Xia Wennan answered the phone, ready to hang up at a moment’s notice.

“Xia Wennan?” The voice on the other end sounded a little familiar.

Xia Wennan frowned. “Who’s speaking?”

“This is Ming Luchuan. I’m in front of your home.”

“What?” Xia Wennan bolted upwards. “In front of which home?”

“The one in your hometown.” Ming Luchuan then rattled off an address—which happened to be Xia Wennan’s exact building.

Xia Wennan scrambled off the bed and put on his slippers in a fluster. He headed outside as he said to the phone, “How do you know where I live?”

“It’s written in your company profile,” Ming Luchuan said in a nonchalant tone.

“What’s going on?” His grandpa, who was dozing off on the sofa, woke up with a start.

Rather than responding, Xia Wennan approached the windows and peered downstairs. He noticed a black off-road vehicle parked downstairs, as well as Ming Luchuan, who was dressed casually in a light-blue short-sleeved shirt and trousers and leaning against the side of the car with his head raised toward Xia Wennan’s window.

Ming Luchuan raised his hand and waved when he saw Xia Wennan appear by the window.

“Wait there!” Xia Wennan could barely conceal his astonishment. “I’ll be down in a sec.”

Grandpa Xia rose to his feet in curiosity. “Who is it?”

Xia Wennan walked towards the door and said, “My company’s vice president… A strange alpha.”

He jogged down the stairs but slowed down once he reached the ground floor. He slowly approached Ming Luchuan with a face full of suspicion, and inquired, “Manager Ming, what are you doing here?”

Seeing him in casual attire gave Xia Wennan the impression that he was meeting Ming Luchuan for the first time. As Xia Wennan approached, the other man, who had been leaning against the car, stood up straight and responded in a serious manner, “I read your proposal on pheromone perfumes. I wanted to talk to you.”

Xia Wennan felt both surprised and unsurprised. As he stared at Ming Luchuan, he gradually realised what was going on, and he instinctively wanted to smile—but now wasn’t the right time for that, so he tried to keep the smile off his face in an effort to make himself seem more serious and curt. “What do you want to talk about?” he said, with a lilt in his voice.

Ming Luchuan was very direct. “About whether you’re willing to keep working for Ming Yan, and the possibility of developing pheromone perfumes.”

This time, Xia Wennan couldn’t hold back a smile. “Manager Ming, I’m a beta. Do you believe that I’m capable of developing pheromone perfumes?”

Ming Luchuan fixed his gaze on him. “That’s why we need to talk.”

All of a sudden, Xia Wennan pressed close to Ming Luchuan. As the tip of his nose grazed the side of Ming Luchuan’s neck, he mysteriously spouted, “The delicate woody fragrance of a temple on a mountain forest.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the initially faint scent of Ming Luchuan’s pheromones abruptly condensed, brimming with an alpha’s aggression.

Although pheromones had no effect on Xia Wennan, he couldn’t help but take a step back and cast a wary glance at Ming Luchuan. “What are you doing.” After he said that, Xia Wennan’s arm was suddenly grabbed by Ming Luchuan. He was tugged forwards, and his forehead collided with Ming Luchuan’s shoulder without warning.

Ming Luchuan lowered his head, leaned into Xia Wennan’s nape, and inhaled deeply.

Startled by the overly intimate act, Xia Wennan immediately wrenched his arm away and took two steps back.

Ming Luchuan released his grip and looked at him with a frown. “You’re not an omega.”

His tone was a mix of doubt and certainty.