The Beta Wife Claimed by Competing Alphas - Chapter 34

Mu Yan felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty.

The one-year term was like a lifeline pulling him out of endless torment. It was only a year; after a year, he could return to his original routine of a simple, stable life as if nothing had happened.

During this year, he no longer had to worry that Shang Qiyue might kick him out at any moment. Even the money Shang Qiyue gave him would not only solve his worries about his mother’s dialysis but also save enough for a down payment on a decent house. Then, he could slowly pay off the mortgage. Even if it took several years, he would finally have a home of his own in City A.

“So happy?” Shang Qiyue gently ruffled his hair.

“Mm,” Mu Yan gave an embarrassed smile. “Are you hungry, Sir? Do you want a late-night snack? There was a lot of beef you sent over. I’ve braised some and have some broth left; I can boil some tea eggs for you.”

He tried to rise from Shang Qiyue’s lap, but the man pressed him back down.

“Aren’t you tired?” Shang Qiyue’s arms encircled him tightly.

“I’m alright, Sir.”

“I only stopped because I thought you were out of strength. If you still have energy, we can go for another round,” Shang Qiyue whispered against his ear, his warm breath lightly brushing against Mu Yan’s earlobe.

Sitting on his lap, Mu Yan could feel that Shang Qiyue’s threat was far from empty.

“No, no more,” Mu Yan lowered his head, hiding half his face under the duvet, leaving only a pair of round, puppy-like eyes visible.

Shang Qiyue couldn’t resist turning him back for another kiss. This time he kissed fiercely, leaving Mu Yan breathless. By the time he was released, Mu Yan was still gasping for air in the man’s arms.

Shang Qiyue held him like a large plush toy. He had just discovered that Mu Yan had shallow dimples on his lower back; his hand moved over them, squeezing gently. Mu Yan instinctively let out a muffled, low gasp. He tried to move away, but it looked as if he were shrinking further into Shang Qiyue’s embrace.

Shang Qiyue squeezed again.

“Sir… it tickles,” Mu Yan pleaded softly, having no other choice.

His voice trailed off, sounding almost like he was acting spoiled. Shang Qiyue enjoyed this and immediately stopped.

“Are you the one who’s hungry and wants tea eggs? Tell me how to do it, and I’ll make them for you.”

“I’m not hungry. No need, Sir.”

Shang Qiyue was acting on a whim; Mu Yan didn’t dare actually order him to boil tea eggs. But since Mu Yan declined, Shang Qiyue’s interest only grew.

“Tea eggs boiled in beef broth… I remember an auntie at home used to make them like that when I was a kid. After she went back to her hometown, I never had them again. I suddenly have a craving for them.”

He climbed out of bed. Seeing that he was serious, Mu Yan also sat up. Shang Qiyue wrapped him in a loungewear set and even knelt to put socks on his feet.

Mu Yan hadn’t expected him to do this. His first instinct was to refuse, but Shang Qiyue gripped his ankle with an unquestionable firmness. Shang Qiyue looked up at him. Even looking up from below, his gaze was intensely predatory. For a moment, Mu Yan almost thought he was going to hold him down for another round.

But Shang Qiyue just whispered, “Don’t move,” and pulled the socks on.

The beef broth had already been seasoned with spices and salt by Mu Yan earlier. Tea eggs were not hard to make: boil the eggs first, crack the shells, then simmer them in the beef broth. As he gave the instructions, Mu Yan kept a close eye on Shang Qiyue’s expression. If the man showed even a hint of displeasure, Mu Yan would immediately take over the task.

However, Shang Qiyue seemed to find it quite interesting and was busying himself happily.

“Just put them in and boil?” Shang Qiyue asked.

“Yes, President Shang is so impressive; you’ve learned it already.”

Shang Qiyue pulled out a chair beside him and sat down. “You’re quite good at flattery. I bet you knew how to boil these when you were five or six.”

Mu Yan shook his head. “I learned in high school.”

When he was five or six, Mu Juanhua hadn’t come to their family yet. Let alone such a luxury as tea eggs boiled in beef broth, he had to pray that Lin Guojun wouldn’t forget to put rice in the bin just to have a full meal.

“Is it cold here? Should I turn up the heat?” Mu Yan was only wearing loungewear over his pajamas. Although Shang Qiyue himself wasn’t even wearing a jacket, the body of a top-tier Alpha was different from an ordinary person’s.

“It’s not cold, Sir. Your place is very warm. Even the floor in the room felt warm just now.”

Shang Qiyue had bought this house on a whim because of the location and hadn’t managed the renovation, but he had insisted on installing underfloor heating. Although City A was in the south, the winters were damp and piercingly cold—impossible to bear without it.

“I’m glad you find it warm.”

The beef broth boiled, releasing a rich aroma. Shang Qiyue had never cooked before and was surprised to find that the process of food becoming cooked actually felt somewhat heartwarming.

Mu Yan’s pajama collar was low, slipping down to reveal his collarbones and the ambiguous hickeys on his chest. He clearly had a very obedient and pure appearance, yet these marks appearing on him felt exceptionally suggestive.

I just finished a shower… Shang Qiyue warned himself not to keep staring. He shifted his gaze to the eggs in the pot. “How long do they need?”

“Almost ready. Just a moment,” Mu Yan replied with a smile.

Shang Qiyue didn’t seem in a hurry. Mu Yan knew he was just asking casually, so he sat quietly in his chair, smelling the overflowing fragrance of the boiling beef broth. His body was exhausted and felt heavy, but there was a sense of peace—as if he had finally landed firmly on the ground without the fear of a sudden fall.

The time soon passed, and Shang Qiyue fished the tea eggs out of the pot.

The tea eggs were indeed fragrant, tasting just as good as the ones made by the auntie who had returned to her hometown. Shang Qiyue turned to look at Mu Yan, who had already finished two eggs and was peeling the third.

He noticed that Mu Yan actually had a large appetite. He could eat quite a bit, but when he encountered something he didn’t like, he would rather go hungry. When he liked something, he ate a lot.

Shang Qiyue had a business partner like this—someone who grew up poor, eating sweet potatoes every day. Once he could afford food, he became extremely picky. During negotiations, he wouldn’t drink anything unless it was a twenty-year-old wine, and the fish had to be Songhua River Mandarin fish flown in the same afternoon it was caught. His requirements were much higher than those of a young master like Shang Qiyue, who grew up in luxury.

But people like that were easy to handle—much better than the kind of partners who only thought about sex, hounding company employees even after Omegas from a club had been provided for them.

Shang Qiyue wiped his hands with a tissue, then used a fresh one to wipe away a bit of egg yolk stuck to the corner of Mu Yan’s mouth. The gesture was very intimate, but because of the tissue, it didn’t feel entirely sexual. Instead, it felt like something his mother or brother might do for him.

Mu Yan looked up and asked, “Has President Shang had enough?”

“I had two; they were quite good. How did you think of making tea eggs this way? Do you really like eggs?”

“They taste good probably because the beef you bought is high quality; I felt it while boiling the soup. I do like eggs. But when I was little, there wasn’t much else to eat. The best and most nutritious thing I could get was an egg. The happiest thing back then was my mom secretly boiling an egg for me.”

Mu Yan felt a wave of regret shortly after saying this. How could there be true empathy between people? Talking about this with President Shang… would he think Mu Yan was acting pathetic to ask for money?

“Sir, I… I’m not trying to sell you a sob story. Sorry for telling you this,” Mu Yan tried to make his voice sound as sincere as possible. But no matter how sincere the words, within the context of their transactional relationship, it was hard to be convincing. “Thank you for boiling tea eggs for me today.”

“I know,” Shang Qiyue said. “I won’t think of you that way. You can tell me these things in the future too.”

“I like hearing you talk—about things before you met me, or anything at all.”

Mu Yan was momentarily stunned and looked up into Shang Qiyue’s eyes. Shang Qiyue had a face with sharp lines and an aggressive beauty, but for some reason, Mu Yan sometimes felt he wasn’t that fierce. President Shang was, at times, quite unexpected.

Even if he just found it interesting—like Granny Liu from Dream of the Red Chamber finding the luxury of the Jia estate novel, while the Jia family found her wild vegetables amusing.

“I… I’ll go wash the dishes.”

Shang Qiyue stood up and caught his wrist, pulling him back. “Just let them soak. Someone will come to wash them tomorrow.”

“I should wash them. You go to sleep first. A pot used for beef broth will be very hard to clean if left until tomorrow.”

Shang Qiyue had never washed a dish in his life and was indeed an idiot in that regard, so he didn’t insist. While Mu Yan washed the dishes, Shang Qiyue stood to the side, his long limbs seeming to have nowhere to go, looking a bit awkward.

“Why are you standing here? There are only a few dishes; you don’t need to help.”

“I can’t just sit and watch you work. That would be impolite.”

Mu Yan smiled softly. He wanted to say, I’m someone you paid for; you don’t need to care about that. But in the end, he wasn’t used to saying such self-deprecating things, so he said nothing.

Shang Qiyue reached out and hugged him from behind. Mu Yan hesitated, wondering if he should turn around and kiss him.

“It would be great if you had a better father,” Shang Qiyue suddenly said. “If it weren’t for the fact that I couldn’t explain it to my family, you’re so obedient and virtuous, I’d really want to marry you as my wife.”

Mu Yan froze at these words, then laughed naturally. “What are you talking about? I’m a Beta; no matter what, it’s impossible between us.”

Shang Qiyue fell silent. He held Mu Yan from behind, quietly watching him finish cleaning the pot, then led him back to the bedroom.

Just as Mu Yan turned off the light and curled back into bed, Shang Qiyue reached out and pulled him into his arms.

“Sir?” Mu Yan asked cautiously, not knowing why he was doing this. In this position, he was resting on Shang Qiyue’s arm. No matter how strong an Alpha’s arm was, it would eventually go numb under his weight.

“It’s nothing,” Shang Qiyue said. “Just let me hold you for a bit.”

They had seen each other’s naked bodies, yet embracing through their clothes in the dark made Mu Yan’s face flush. Fortunately, Shang Qiyue couldn’t see.

“Tell me more about before… about your childhood,” Shang Qiyue said.

“Childhood?” Mu Yan thought of the words he had accidentally let slip before going to wash the dishes. He realized President Shang was giving him a graceful way out, letting him know he didn’t think Mu Yan was selling a sob story or asking for money.

If only President Shang were a worse person. Being pathetic in front of a villain is better than being pathetic in front of a kind person.

“Are you curious about life in the countryside?” Mu Yan smiled. His childhood was poor and dull, hardly worth mentioning, and he wasn’t strong enough to talk about it with a laugh. “When we have time, I can take you to the neighboring village. They were recently named one of the ‘Most Beautiful Villages’.”

“The village is full of pretty small townhouses, places for square dancing and exercise. There are lots of fruits and vegetables in the yards, and in spring, there are magnolias along the road. It’s very beautiful.”

“I’m not interested, and I don’t want to go,” Shang Qiyue said. “I just want to understand you a bit more.”

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