Rules of Civility - Chapter 5

Shao Yiqing closed his eyes, wrapped in the pheromones of the Baileys Irish Cream, as if drunk on fine wine and unable to extricate himself. Hooking his fingertips onto Yang Qian’s face, Shao Yiqing gave a low command in the dim light: “Don’t play tricks.”

Like a lamb, Yang Qian burrowed into Shao Yiqing’s arms. The scent of paper and ink was suppressed by the Baileys. Without a marked bond between them, it was not easy to stir up the other person’s emotions.

Fortunately, Shao Yiqing was nearing his estrus period.

Shao Yiqing’s fingers pressed into Yang Qian’s hair, his expression dark and gloomy. Yang Qian satisfied his requirements in every aspect, with the sole exception that left a bit to be desired: the scent of his pheromones.

Shao Yiqing was extremely picky about pheromone scents. Those who had been with him were basically eliminated by force because their pheromones failed to meet his standards. He had no fixed preferences, and he did not even know what specific type of pheromone scent he liked. What he had figured out so far was that scents like paper, ink, sandalwood, and wood shavings did not cause him excessive repulsion. Other scents would make him weary within two minutes, as if a little person lived deep inside his soul, jumping out when both parties were feeling romantic to declare: “I don’t like this smell, get him away from me.”

It completely ruined Shao Yiqing’s mood.

Thus, he had no choice but to bow to instinct. Despite lacking nothing, he was forced to tolerate others when it came to pheromones, a fatal flaw that ruined countless cozy moments.

“Do you like it?” Yang Qian sank into Shao Yiqing’s pupils, looking like someone who wanted to push his luck yet had to remain cautious. “If you like it, I will give you more. If you aren’t satisfied, we can keep going. Uncle Shao, I am entirely at your disposal.”

The absolute submissiveness he projected was enough to ignite the passion of any Omega. Facing such a young and handsome face, no one would push him away at a moment like this and say no. But who was he playing with? Shao Yiqing. For someone like Shao Yiqing, so-called ploys and seductions were hardly sophisticated enough to be effective.

After all, he had played all those tricks to exhaustion decades ago.

Shao Yiqing’s entranced expression was accompanied by a certain degree of lucidity. His spine was already pressed tightly against the sofa, leaving him with no room to retreat. Every breath the other person took was deliberate; without even speaking, their eyes had already engaged in several silent rounds.

“I would love to keep going with you, but on the way back, I ran into another matter. It is imminent and cannot be delayed for even a second.” Shao Yiqing’s breath brushed against Yang Qian’s face. The vitality of the young man was alluring, and he could seemingly feel the pulse beating beneath the skin, crying out for something.

Yang Qian hugged Shao Yiqing’s waist, tugged at his tie, buried his face deep into Shao Yiqing’s neck, and mumbled, “I don’t care.”

Shao Yiqing said patiently, “That is a real nephew who can actually call me uncle. No matter what, I have to take care of him.”

“What is he going to do?”

“He’s coming to Xiangjiang to study.” Shao Yiqing tilted his neck back slightly, his face flushed, his turbid gaze fixed on the ceiling overhead. “As it happens, could you help me look into things?”

Yang Qian had no choice but to stop his movements.

He raised his head, staring at Shao Yiqing with unsatisfied desire.

He was merely Shao Yiqing’s bed partner. The closest he would ever get to him in this lifetime was likely the entanglement between the sheets; outside of that, Shao Yiqing did not involve him in much else. He was dying to do something to change that status quo. Now that the opportunity had arrived, no matter how much his blood was boiling, Yang Qian was not about to miss it.

“What can I do?”

He asked, having already let go of the man.

Shao Yiqing smiled and stood up from the sofa. He simply pulled off the tie that Yang Qian had messed up, tossed it aside, walked over to the door, and flipped the switch, instantly illuminating the room. An aesthetically sophisticated environment came into view. Stepping across the pristine floor, Shao Yiqing walked over to the wine cabinet and retrieved a bottle of aged Lafite.

“Find some decent local art schools. You need to inspect them in person, and the campus environment must be proper. He is majoring in directing; find me a few that meet all the requirements. This shouldn’t be too hard for you.” Shao Yiqing poured two glasses of wine, took a sip for himself, and set the other glass opposite him. Understanding the cue, Yang Qian walked over.

Placing a hand on the glass, Yang Qian asked, “What about other aspects?”

Yang Qian was a college student nearing graduation and had spent many years in Xiangjiang. Although his connections could not compare to someone in the business world like Shao Yiqing, his status as a college student made it convenient for him to investigate many things. He knew Shao Yiqing could have these things done with a wave of his hand, but entrusting this task to him showed a measure of trust. Yang Qian was dying for Shao Yiqing to invest more than just primal instinct into him; perhaps this was a breakthrough. Thinking this way, he couldn’t help but take the matter seriously.

A nephew, quite a close relationship. If he handled it well, Shao Yiqing would undoubtedly reward him.

“He has a wild personality. When I ask you to inspect in person, I want you to go into the schools and check the campus vibe. Forget about those with lax management; you don’t even need to consider the unbalanced systems where Alphas run rampant or Omegas reign supreme. There are more than twenty art schools alone, big and small, swimming in murky waters. Find a public school where all aspects are relatively balanced.”

“Schools are quite balanced these days. Those old unbalanced systems have all been revised. Modern society advocates equality between A’s and O’s; no one is more noble or inferior to anyone else. You can rest assured on that front.”

“Is that so?” Shao Yiqing swirled his wine glass. “As long as a sense of superiority in rank hasn’t disappeared, true equality will never exist. The instances of rolling out the green carpet for top-tier ranks are countless. That second-tier Alpha competing with you for the advanced study quota in your department, how did he lose to you?”

Yang Qian’s eyebrows twitched, catching a sharp glint in Shao Yiqing’s half-smiling eyes. Yang Qian chuckled wryly: “So Uncle Shao wasn’t completely indifferent to me after all.”

“Of course I care about you.” Shao Yiqing took a sip of wine, put the glass back in its place, and sat down opposite Yang Qian across a marble table. “Have you chosen yet? Which country, which institution do you want to go to? Let me know once you’ve decided, and Uncle will arrange it for you.”

“No need. Everything is arranged by the university, and I don’t need to spend a penny,” Yang Qian looked at Shao Yiqing. “Nor will I let President Shao spend a dime.”

That deep, affectionate gaze awaited a response. Beneath such bright lights, Shao Yiqing was so bewitching that not a single flaw could be found. Yang Qian desperately wanted to know how that face was even made, how could it be so perfect? A man in his thirties? No matter how one looked at it, he didn’t look like it at all.

Was that the appearance of a man in his thirties? That was a charm young people could never learn.

It wasn’t that all Omegas were striking and beautiful; rather, Shao Yiqing deepened that impression. Meeting him made one yearn desperately for the Omega demographic, yet turning around, you would realize you were dreaming, a beautiful dream woven by Shao Yiqing himself. He made you believe that Omegas were sacred beyond compare.

Shao Yiqing’s appearance was astonishingly divine. There were plenty of striking faces, and Yang Qian wasn’t exactly someone who hadn’t seen the world. As someone holding the title of campus hunk, which of the Omegas around him wasn’t top-tier? Yet compared to Shao Yiqing, those people were mere lower-grade goods, completely unworthy of standing by his side.

Yang Qian had lived with a sense of superiority for half his life, never expecting that one day he would be the one blinded by infatuation and driven by carnal desire. He had cast aside his lofty ideals of achieving academic success; every single nerve in his body right now belonged to Shao Yiqing, to his eyes, his voice, his temperature.

It was the vulgar desire and greed to entangle with him until death do them part.

“It’s easy to just talk about it. Given our relationship, you have every right to extort such a favor from me.” Though Shao Yiqing spoke of extortion, his actions lacked any hint of seriousness. He half-slouched over the marble table, resting one side of his face in his palm.

A new notification popped up on his phone. It was from Xu Mingfu.

The new prey awaiting rescue was anxious. As soon as he got back, he had asked Shao Yiqing what he should do tomorrow. Shao Yiqing had only replied with three words: Wait for word.

Unwilling to be left out in the cold, Yang Qian pressed further: “Is the new prey really more handsome than me?”

Even a science top scorer had his moments of superficiality. Shao Yiqing raised his face, while Yang Qian waited earnestly for an answer. This demeanor of his truly bore no resemblance to an academic star. The thought of him holding the title of a STEM genius while bickering in jealousy here over someone he had never even met was somewhat comical, no matter how one looked at it.

Shao Yiqing said, “No, you’re still more handsome.”

Yang Qian pressed relentlessly: “Really? Then why did Uncle Shao take a fancy to him?”

“A sense of novelty,” Shao Yiqing said. “A novelty different from you.”

Xu Mingfu and Yang Qian belonged to the same generation, perhaps even the same age. He heard that Xu Mingfu had also just finished his studies when his family suffered such a massive upheaval. If they weren’t competitors, Yang Qian might have pitied him a fraction. But an Alpha’s pride had been provoked, leaving room only for a contest of victory and defeat. Lacking a definitive answer, Yang Qian refused to let up: “Then in your eyes, Uncle, which of us is more novel?”

“Does it matter?”

“It matters a lot.”

Shao Yiqing stopped his movements. He didn’t care for this type of verbal game chasing victory and defeat; to him, those were all superficial things. Still, he wasn’t old at heart and could understand a young man’s petty mentality. Playing along evasively, he replied, “I’ve known you for a month, and I’ve been sparring with him for two months. To me, neither of you counts as a fresh face anymore.”

Yang Qian made no effort to hide his disappointment.

Straightening up, Shao Yiqing slipped his phone back into his pocket. With no time to entertain Yang Qian’s emotions, he headed upstairs. “I am getting old and can’t handle staying up late. I’m going to sleep. Turn off the lights when you leave. Your car has an issue with its night headlights, so drive slowly on the way back.”

Yang Qian watched as Shao Yiqing disappeared from view.

Though initially reluctant, he was coaxed into peace of mind by those few brief words.

Finishing the wine on the table in a single gulp, Yang Qian set the glass down heavily, walked to the door to switch off the lights, and gently pulled the door shut before leaving.

The next day, Deng Su finished compiling the gathered intelligence and sent it all to Shao Yiqing without any filtering. Major items included the Sheng family’s development plans, down to minor details like personnel placement within the Sheng enterprise.

Lying in bed, Shao Yiqing perused the text and image files sent by Deng Su. There were two documents: one concerning the Sheng family, who were looking to acquire Ruirui, and another concerning the Sheng family’s new president.

Sheng Hang had two sons, one studying, the other gaining experience abroad. The younger one had just returned this year, and his very first major undertaking upon taking over was to crush Ruirui. Xu Mingfu’s father and Sheng Hang were competitors. If the Xu family was a tiger, then the Sheng family was a dragon. The two sides seemed unrelated on the surface, but beneath the table, they fought and vied with each other, both wanting to be the one to sever the other’s arteries first.

An octagonal cage could not contain two beasts; one of them had to fall for the gunpowder smoke to temporarily pause. Yet in such a battlefield, underestimating the enemy was the ultimate taboo. A single moment of laxity could ruin all previous efforts. Bouncing back to reverse a defeat didn’t happen easily, but it wasn’t completely impossible either. Hence, after Ruirui’s collapse, the Sheng family pressed relentlessly, eager to bite this beast to death precisely to prevent a comeback.

Though Shao Yiqing believed Ruirui’s chances of a counterattack were virtually zero.

Sitting up, Shao Yiqing pulled up the other document containing all available information on Sheng Tingzhou, the eldest young master of the Sheng family.

Naturally, this was limited to information exposed externally, things like height, weight, education, secondary gender, etc., accompanied by an undated photo hanging in the top right corner, resembling a finely crafted resume.

Shao Yiqing first noticed the photograph, and only then the text information. He clicked on the photo for a closer look, his brows knitting slightly.

The impeccably striking facial contours turned out to be the least noteworthy asset of this face. Because the distance between the peak of his brow and the tip of his forehead was short, the depression at the bridge of his nose was slightly deeper, which made his eyes look fierce and sharp. The fullness on both sides of his nose wings was moderate, and the arc from his high brow ridge to the bridge of his nose was near-perfect, belonging to a distinctly mixed-race look. With a slight upward tilt of perspective, such a face looked like that of a beast or an eagle. Given the inherent aggressiveness of his slender eyes, beneath such a high brow ridge, they carried an even heavier oppressive weight.

In the photo, the man was slightly lowering his head, perfectly striking the most menacing angle. His eyes were not looking directly at the camera, but rather casting a downward glance. It probably wasn’t taken during work hours; he wore a black overcoat, projecting a gloomy yet feral aura like an unfledged falcon.

Shao Yiqing rarely praised people, nor was he easily captivated. Most of the people he interacted with were those who appreciated him. Yet this eldest son of Sheng Hang managed to stir up a sliver of interest in Shao Yiqing with nothing more than a single photograph.

He had to admit that this face possessed immense charm. Coupled with the aura bestowed upon him by the outside world, it gave Shao Yiqing a slight jolt of surprise.

“Not bad at all,” Shao Yiqing murmured. The photo returned to its original size. Scrolling the mouse, the laptop pulled up new data regarding Sheng Tingzhou’s growth trajectory: going abroad at a young age, participating in various high-end academic competitions and placing well, graduating from ETH Zurich, gaining practical experience at the Russian energy company Rosneft, and making his way into senior leadership. Shao Yiqing did not read the detailed report closely because media reports could be fabricated; he only needed a rough overview to form a basic cognitive understanding of the person.

Ruirui was the Sheng family’s biggest competitor. A centipede dies but never truly falls apart; a moment of carelessness could easily lead to burning oneself. Since Sheng Hang had entrusted such a massive undertaking as Ruirui to his eldest son, his capabilities undoubtedly could not be underestimated.

It seemed Ruirui was bound to die after all. After finishing Sheng Tingzhou’s profile, Shao Yiqing realized he had been somewhat rash in accepting this hot potato.

After a moment of contemplation, Shao Yiqing dialed Deng Su’s number.

“President Shao, the data has been sent to your email,” Deng Su said immediately upon answering. He hadn’t expected Shao Yiqing to be awake already and reaching out so promptly; it seemed he was truly set on taking up this burden.

“Mhm, I saw it. Hard work.” Shao Yiqing tossed aside his laptop and got out of bed. The clean floor reflected his lazy posture.

“Are you certain you still want to meddle in Ruirui’s life or death?” Deng Su abruptly brought it up over the phone. “The Sheng family’s movements are massive; they are entirely gunning to kill Ruirui off. According to internal leaks, the new contract has already started drafting, and they say the official signing will take place on the 6th. Once the signing ceremony goes through, it’s set in stone, and Ruirui can’t be saved.”

Shao Yiqing glanced at his phone. “The 6th? Time is a bit tight.”

“There are only two days left! Nothing can possibly change in two days. We’ve never had any intersections with the Sheng family, nor do we know their upper-level leadership, so let’s just drop this messy situation.”

“Don’t we just need to get to know them if we don’t?” Shao Yiqing put the phone on speaker, tossed it onto the bed, and stood before the wardrobe to pick out clothes. “Two days is plenty of time to get to know someone.”

“President Shao, did you hear me?” Investigating the Sheng family, how could Deng Su not know how thorny the opponent was? Though he sought wealth and peace under Shao Yiqing’s wing, if Shao Yiqing fell, his own peace went out the window. Thus, he was more anxious than his boss, hesitating once a point seemed clear. “This isn’t getting to know some stray cat or dog; this is meeting the leadership of the Sheng family, the kind with decision-making power. Where are you supposed to run into them by chance on such short notice?”

“That’s a matter of playing the network,” Shao Yiqing didn’t let Deng Su’s worries phase him at all, his fingertips lingering over a batch of garments. “We may not be as majestic as Sheng and Ruirui, but small workshops have elite troops too.”

“But they’re about to sign.”

“They won’t be signing,” Shao Yiqing buttoned up his shirt, picked up the phone, turned off speaker mode, and pressed the device to his ear. “Drive over now. If you aren’t at Cuihu Court before four o’clock, I’ll take a knife to you.”

Shao Yiqing hung up.

Standing before the mirror, looking at his stern and formal attire in the reflection, the image of that photograph unconsciously resurfaced in his mind. After a moment of hesitation, he walked back to the wardrobe and retrieved a battle outfit from a dust-proof bag that hadn’t been favored in a long time.

Calling it a party battle outfit wasn’t an exaggeration, seeing as it was far too flamboyant for Shao Yiqing’s age.

There is a time and place for everything. In the past, Shao Yiqing refused to submit to that notion, but gradually, as his own age increased, he came to understand the wisdom condensed within it. Was he still going to flirt and vie for attention with a bunch of brats at party balls by showing off?

When you lack something, you flaunt it. That only fool’s frogs at the bottom of a well. At this age, the capital worth boasting about was network resources and capability.

He discarded the flashy clothes, keeping only a blue-and-white square scarf from the top, and draped it over his neck.

Tying it gracefully around his slender neck.

Sheng Tingzhou, a fine age approaching thirty without quite hitting it, possessing seasoned experience and soaring heroic vigor. Returning with a menacing momentum, carrying an unyielding foreign-born arrogance and bone structure, he looked like anything but a simple adversary.

Shao Yiqing, who had enjoyed peace for so long without a war, now only hoped that the words written on that glittering resume were all true.

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