Drunk On The Night Breeze - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Self-Respect

For Ruan Lingfeng, this was undoubtedly an utterly chaotic morning.

He had expected this day to be like countless other workdays—busy but orderly. However, the moment he began his first task of the day, everything fell apart.

At first, Ruan Lingfeng was standing before the projection screen in the conference room, explaining a proposal to the client sitting across the long table. The client had his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face. Only a third of the way through, the client—the current top-tier idol singer, Tao Zhi—suddenly kicked his chair back and stood up.

Wearing a face full of impatience, Tao Zhi strode toward Ruan Lingfeng.

By all accounts, Ruan Lingfeng should have maintained his professional “corporate slave” smile without missing a beat and asked if there were any issues. Instead, he instinctively took a step back. Not knowing where to look, his eyes dropped to the floor. He tried to speak, but the words died in his throat; he simply stood there like a wooden post, gripping his presentation clicker tightly.

It wasn’t a lack of professionalism. Having been an event planner for years, what kind of eccentric clients hadn’t he seen? In fact, there were hardly any “normal” clients in this industry.

The truth was that in that fleeting moment, for the first time in his life, Ruan Lingfeng felt the aura of an Alpha. It was like a suffocating net, wrapping around him from every angle with no blind spots.

It was the pungent scent of strong liquor.

Ruan Lingfeng’s brain turned into a wine glass, the liquid sloshing around inside—he lost the ability to think.

Suppressed by this aura, Ruan Lingfeng became dazed. When he looked up, the other man glanced at him, knitting his already furrowed brows even tighter.

To make matters worse, Tao Zhi leaned in.

Closer and closer.

Ruan Lingfeng felt his entire body flush with heat, and the clicker slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor.

Tao Zhi leaned into his ear and said in a voice only the two of them could hear: “Have some self-respect.”

The voice was quiet, but the gritting of teeth was unmistakable.

Ruan Lingfeng: “…” How was he not being respectful? No, wait—who’s the one being disrespectful here, recklessly leaking pheromones everywhere?

Fortunately, the Alpha—who had gone rogue for unknown reasons—quickly brushed past him and headed for the door. He left behind a door-slamming sound loud enough to cause heart palpitations.

BANG—

It felt like a heavy hammer striking Ruan Lingfeng’s heart.

The sound made the conference room feel exceptionally quiet. Ruan Lingfeng, standing by the screen, traded glances with Tao Zhi’s manager and the other staff. After a period of silence, the manager spoke up apologetically: “Teacher Ruan, I’m so sorry. Tao Zhi… he’s like this occasionally. Maybe something urgent came up suddenly…”

Ruan Lingfeng slowly recovered from the suppression of that liquor-scented Alpha pheromone, though his head was still spinning. Internally, he cursed Tao Zhi as a monumental idiot, but on the surface, he maintained a smile as gentle as a spring breeze: “It’s fine, I understand.”

The manager returned the smile, stepped to the door to make a call, and then came back. “Actually, for things like concert proposals, the artist doesn’t really need to be involved from the start. Tao Zhi just came along for the fun of it… Please continue, don’t mind him.”

Ruan Lingfeng proceeded to finish the presentation as if nothing had happened, even though he knew this collaboration was likely dead in the water.

There were only two representatives from the client’s side today: Tao Zhi and his manager. As soon as the manager was sent off, the team members and subordinates—who had witnessed the whole exit—pulled Ruan Lingfeng back into the room and gathered around him.

Someone said, “I knew he was arrogant, but I didn’t expect him to be this arrogant toward a partner.”

“What’s he so smug about? Didn’t he just get famous by buying trending searches?”

That wasn’t entirely wrong.

Tao Zhi had indeed risen to fame recently. He was very young, just nineteen. Like other top idols, he frequently bought trending spots. When a reporter asked him how he felt about constantly dominating the charts, he looked at the reporter like they were an idiot: “I’m a newcomer. If I don’t buy trending spots, who’s going to hear my songs?”

The reporter, likely never having met someone so blunt, began to stammer: “T-then… do you think your songs are good? I mean, do you think people will like them after they hear them…?”

Tao Zhi: “You should go interview the fans. How would I know if they’ll like them or not?”

Whether it was because he was so eccentric or because his music was actually good, Tao Zhi had indeed become a star.

The colleagues were indignant. Some offered comfort, saying this project wasn’t worth the trouble; others called Tao Zhi “sick.” Ruan Lingfeng nodded along like a chicken pecking at grain in his mind, but his mouth said, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Turning to an intern, Ruan Lingfeng said, “Xiao Yue, could you please open the window for me?”

The intern was confused. “The AC is on, though?”

“I want some ventilation,” Ruan Lingfeng asked. “Don’t you guys feel it?”

“Feel what?”

Ruan Lingfeng had intended to take a deep breath to settle his emotions, but the air still carried the scent of alcohol—likely the lingering pheromones Tao Zhi had left behind. With a slight sniff, he felt a wave of tipsiness.

Ruan Lingfeng asked tentatively, “The scent of… pheromones? Is there an Omega here?”

The Omegas present shook their heads. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Even if there were, Brother Feng wouldn’t be able to smell it, right? Aren’t you a Beta?”

Ruan Lingfeng felt a mix of complicated emotions. Was it really a hallucination? When he felt that suspected Alpha aura earlier, he had wondered why he could suddenly smell an Alpha. Seeing that everyone else in the room looked normal, his doubts grew deeper.

If work wasn’t going well, his love life was even more of a mess.

Though the morning’s work was unsatisfying, it was over. Ruan Lingfeng habitually checked his private messages.

There were many unread notifications. The first one made him regret opening his phone. It was a friend request; his ex-boyfriend was pleading in the verification message: “Can you please just talk to me?” Ruan Lingfeng replied with a “Get lost” and promptly blocked him.

Rubbing his temples, Ruan Lingfeng looked at the next few messages from his younger sister.

She asked if Tao Zhi was handsome in person, if he had taken any photos, and if he could get a few autographs.

Objectively speaking, Tao Zhi was handsome.

Ruan Lingfeng had only seen him in photos and videos before, and he had already found him eye-catching then. Seeing him in person made him realize the man was an impossible-to-ignore presence: with his dyed red hair—a color few could pull off—and his expressionless face as he leaned back with his arms crossed, his mere presence felt like a sun suddenly rising in a dull world. He was scorching and brilliant, yet intimidating to look at.

But remembering their brief interaction, Ruan Lingfeng’s anger flared up again. He replied: His personality is trash, he’s ugly in person, the photos are all photoshopped. Don’t be a fan.

The phone vibrated again, but it wasn’t a reply from his sister.

It was that persistent ex-boyfriend again. He had switched to a different number and messaged directly: Xiao Feng, I’m at your company now.

Lately, Ruan Lingfeng had been so busy with Tao Zhi’s tour proposal that he had almost forgotten he even had an ex-boyfriend. He hadn’t expected to be hit by a “nuisance ex” right after the blow at work.

Ruan Lingfeng had no desire to perform a scene of lingering affection, and he was genuinely afraid the madman would come upstairs and cause a public scene. He signaled to his colleagues and walked out to the empty pantry to make a call.

The other man picked up almost instantly, his voice crackling with joy through the receiver: “You’re finally willing to talk to me…”

Ruan Lingfeng cut him off. “Where are you?”

“I’m in the underground garage.”

Ruan Lingfeng took the elevator down. After a quick search, he saw his ex, Xu Mao, leaning against a car and smoking in silence. Seeing Ruan Lingfeng, Xu Mao extinguished his cigarette.

Before Xu Mao could speak, Ruan Lingfeng snapped coldly, “Do you realize this behavior is harassment?”

Xu Mao already looked haggard, and seeing Ruan Lingfeng’s reaction, his expression darkened further. He put on an act of wanting to say something but hesitating.

At first glance, it looked as if Ruan Lingfeng had dumped Xu Mao. The reality was different. Ruan Lingfeng had been working non-stop. A while back, he had finally finished a project early and went home, only to find the boyfriend he’d been with for years kissing a stranger—an Omega—with reckless passion.

Ruan Lingfeng had immediately thrown Xu Mao’s things out and kicked him out, but the “please forgive me” messages never stopped. At first, Xu Mao kept saying “I was wrong.” When Ruan Lingfeng ignored him, Xu Mao changed his tune: “You have a defect and can’t release pheromones; I never cared about that. But as a healthy Alpha, I’ve gone years without being comforted by pheromones. Losing my mind when I smelled another Omega really wasn’t my intention. Can’t you forgive me just this once?”

After seeing that message, Ruan Lingfeng had blocked Xu Mao everywhere.

As Xu Mao said, Ruan Lingfeng was a “defective” Omega. He suffered from both Pheromone Deficiency and Perception Dysfunction. He couldn’t release pheromones like other Omegas, nor did he have heat cycles. Most people couldn’t find any Omega traits on him and assumed he was a Beta. But unlike a Beta, he truly possessed the biological functions of an Omega.

Originally, he hadn’t cared about this defect. He believed that people didn’t have to rely on pheromones to be attracted to one another; the collision of souls could create a love deeper than any scent.

But things rarely go as planned.

Xu Mao reached out to grab Ruan Lingfeng. Ruan Lingfeng shook him off, but Xu Mao was relentless, eventually forcing him into a hug. Honestly, it was difficult for an Omega to break free from an Alpha’s full-strength embrace.

He felt discouraged and humiliated. Just as he was calculating whether to ungracefully kick Xu Mao in his vitals, the weight on him suddenly vanished. He felt his captor being torn away.

He felt it again—that liquor-like Alpha aura. Because of his condition, he rarely smelled Alphas, yet he had encountered it repeatedly today.

Ruan Lingfeng looked up and saw the young Alpha with red hair delivering that kick for him.

Tao Zhi was wearing heavy-soled Martin boots. His boot ground directly into Xu Mao’s groin. Then, he leaned over and picked up the cigarette Xu Mao had dropped, seemingly intending to press the still-lit ember into Xu Mao’s face.

The Alpha’s aura was becoming increasingly terrifying; Ruan Lingfeng felt dazed.

Ruan Lingfeng stood frozen, unable to move. Xu Mao began to scream incoherently. The manager following Tao Zhi rushed over to pull him back: “My ancestor! Do you want to get on the trending searches for free this time?”

Only then did Tao Zhi move his foot. He glanced at Ruan Lingfeng, then at Xu Mao on the ground, and said with utter disgust: “I’m doing a good deed. Rescuing an Omega from being molested—what’s wrong with that being on the trending searches?”

“An Omega? Where is there an Omega…?” The manager looked at Ruan Lingfeng. “Ah, Teacher Ruan.”

Ruan Lingfeng’s consciousness slowly returned. He was shocked that Tao Zhi had recognized him as an Omega at a glance… though at this moment, the more important thing was to thank him, despite their earlier friction.

Before he could speak, Tao Zhi beat him to it: “I’ll ask you one more time. Are you just that lonely? Or do you just not know how to spell ‘self-respect’?”

The smile Ruan Lingfeng had prepared froze on his face.