CH extra 7

Once Ming Luchuan left, Xia Wennan’s grandpa inquired, “What’s your relationship with that alpha colleague of yours?”

Laying on the sofa, Xia Wennan dully drawled, “He’s just a coworker.”

Grandpa Xia put on his reading glasses and sat down next to Xia Wennan, sorting vegetables as he watched TV. “He came here looking for you yesterday and came again today. Does he have any… intentions towards you?”

Xia Wennan’s gaze shifted from his phone screen to his grandpa. The old man’s glasses hung loosely on the tip of his nose, as if they were about to fall off at any moment. “I’m a beta. What kind of ‘intentions’ could he have towards me?” Thinking of work, Xia Wennan felt slightly annoyed.

Grandpa Xia gave him a look through his glasses, then laughed wordlessly.

Unsatisfied, Xia Wennan added, “I’m going to get a girlfriend. It’s best if she’s a beta.”

He spent a week at home resting, and as expected, in that one week, not one soul asked him why he wasn’t coming to work.

Xia Wennan had already come to accept things. If worst comes to worst, he could just quit—his resignation letter was still safely tucked inside his drawer anyway.

On the day Xia Wennan returned to the lab, he saw no sign of Xu Zong. At the same time, he received a call from the human resources department informing him that the company’s higher-ups had passed a decision to appoint Xia Wennan as the manager of the first R&D department, and that his presence at HQ was expected to deal with the formalities.

Xia Wennan was completely taken aback, surprised at the fact that Ming Luchuan would act so quickly. He turned to look at his coworkers as he stood next to his desk, but no one was paying attention to him—evidently no one was aware of his promotion.

The news of Xia Wennan’s promotion didn’t spread throughout the company until he rushed to the headquarters to complete the formalities.

The floor where the human resources department was located had a large open terrace that served as a lounge, with a variety of green plants and sofas strewn about. During working hours, the area was usually deserted, but it was there that Xia Wennan ran into Wang Zheng.

Wang Zheng appeared overjoyed. He strode towards Xia Wennan, clasped his hands, and said, “Congratulations!”

Xia Wennan simply smiled and said, “Thank you,” unable to formulate an appropriate response.

“Why didn’t you spill a word about your promotion when I last saw you?” Wang Zheng continued. “We meet again—and suddenly you’re Manager Xia now!”

“You can still call me Xia Wennan,” said Xia Wennan.

A hesitant look crossed Wang Zheng’s face then, and after a moment, he lowered his voice and asked, “Is it true that Xu Zong applied for a position in Ming Siyan’s new lab?”

The information was an instant shock as Xia Wennan had heard nothing of the sort. Suddenly feeling complicated, he wondered if the reason Ming Luchuan was so firm in offering to promote him to department manager was solely because he was already aware of Xu Zong’s transfer.

“The first R&D department is also struggling now… and the company, with its future business focus, will definitely invest its efforts and capital into the new lab,” Wang Zheng continued. “Making you department manager looks like a promotion on the surface, but aren’t they actually just having you take over that nightmarish mess? Why don’t you follow in Xu Zong’s footsteps and try to get transferred to Ming Siyan’s side?”

Xia Wennan remained silent, but his ears pricked up at the distant sound of footsteps, and when he looked up, he was greeted by the sight of Ming Luchuan walking towards where he and Wang Zheng were standing.

Wang Zheng was either dissatisfied or something else, as he expressed particular delight at Xia Wennan’s promotion; it was clear that he had more to say.

Xia Wennan clapped Wang Zheng’s shoulder, cutting him off, and shouted, “President Ming!”

As Wang Zheng looked over his shoulder, his mouth snapped shut.

Ming Luchuan’s eyes were trained on Xia Wennan alone. “There’s a dinner party tonight,” he said. “You’ll be coming with me.”

“All right,” said Xia Wennan.

Ming Luchuan then said, “Let’s go to my office.”

Xia Wennan waved at Wang Zheng before leaving with Ming Luchuan.

As they walked down the deserted corridor, Ming Luchuan’s face was visibly dissatisfied as he asked, “What were you two talking about?”

Xia Wennan remembered Xu Zong’s transfer and felt compelled to tell Ming Luchuan that he was a bit of a dog, but when he looked at the side of Ming Luchuan’s face, for a split second, he suddenly felt a little sorry for the guy who was no one’s favourite. “Nothing,” he said, shaking his head.

The two men entered the elevator one after the other.

Xia Wennan reached out to press the button for the floor and couldn’t hold back a sigh. Why was he even sympathising with capitalists? Something must be wrong with his brain.

Ming Luchuan never mentioned what kind of dinner they’d be attending that day, and Xia Wennan didn’t learn the names on the somewhat complicated guest list until much, much later.

Ming Siyan was the one who’d arranged this dinner, with the purpose of receiving Ming Yan’s newly hired, nationally renowned makeup artist—Xi Wenlu.

Xia Wennan sat by Ming Luchuan’s side, and Xu Zong sat across from him. Ming Siyan sat on Ming Luchuan’s other side, with an empty seat between them reserved for Xi Wenlu.

Aside from them, the table was made up of the company’s middle management. The majority were alphas, with one or two betas among them.

Xia Wennan was here as the ‘new guy’, and the guests congratulated Xia Wennan on his promotion upon arrival.

Later on, Xi Wenlu finally made his long-awaited appearance.

Xi Wenlu was a male omega. He was supposedly in his thirties, but he appeared much younger. He was mixed-race, with a pale complexion and wavy light brown hair tucked behind an ear, revealing a shiny metal earbud. Despite this, he was not dressed extravagantly and exuded more of a student-like casualness than anything else, but he donned an assortment of fine accessories and wore light makeup. He’d also sprayed perfume on himself to mask the scent of his pheromones.

Since no one paid any more attention to Xia Wennan after Xi Wenlu showed up, he quietly began to eat, drinking wine every now and then. Ming Luchuan was the one who’d brought him here, and as long as Ming Luchuan didn’t ask anything of him, others would naturally follow suit.

Ming Luchuan wasn’t speaking up all that much, but he had an incredibly calm demeanour. When he faced Ming Siyan or Xu Zong, he didn’t at all appear like he bore any grudges and occasionally exchanged a few jokes with them. It was just that the man didn’t smile much even when joking, his face remaining cold and unfriendly throughout.

Halfway through the meal, Xia Wennan incidentally looked down and discovered something that made all his muscles stiffen with shock: Xi Wenlu was feeling up Ming Luchuan’s thigh under the table.

Xia Wennan appeared to be the only one who’d discovered the fact. The other dinner guests were completely unaware. Xi Wenlu had his head tilted towards Ming Siyan as the two talked, and his face exuded a kind of naivete and purity that belied his age.

Xia Wennan also noticed the way Xu Zhong gazed at Xi Wenlu with a single-minded focus. The impure thoughts of an alpha who’d been roused was written all over his face.

Unbeknownst to anyone, this nationally-renowned makeup artist, this outstanding omega with a brilliant life, was currently seducing an alpha under the table.

Despite this, said alpha appeared unmoved, or at least—Xia Wennan didn’t detect any positive signals from his body language. Ming Luchuan didn’t even raise a hand to take Xi Wenlu’s hand, let alone move it. He sat there, calm as ever, not even flinching in the least.

As time passed, Xi Wenlu became dissatisfied with Ming Luchuan’s lack of reaction, so he simply dropped his act and ended his work-related conversation with Ming Siyan, lifted his glass of wine, and began to pour wine for Ming Luchuan.

☆ ☆ ☆

Thank you to Luthien and remiss for the kofi!

Sorry for the slow updates! I’ve been very busy irl.