The Honest Man Was Targeted by His Ex-Boyfriend's Alpha Brother - Chapter 24

“What kind of canary is President Hua raising? It is spreading its wings like a giant hawk all day,” someone joked, clearly unafraid of death.

Ji Yanxing noticed that Hua Yunlian’s face had turned so dark it looked murderous, so he silently rose and headed to the bar. Sure enough, a second later, the people in the booth were overwhelmed by an uncontrolled surge of Damascus Rose pheromones. Bottles and jars crashed to the floor as they desperately clawed at their throats, struggling for air.

Amidst the painful wails, a pair of long legs stepped coldly over the wreckage. The handsome face of the man hidden in the shadows slowly broke into a smile.

“Fine, Chen Wang. You are finished.”

Chen Wang was still unaware that a privacy tracker had been installed on his phone, exposing his every move to Hua Yunlian. However, he knew that after owing the young master so much debt and suddenly vanishing, he would be hunted to the ends of the earth. Therefore, he did not buy a plane ticket, though he could not afford one anyway.

Chen Wang always planned things meticulously, but this time he was truly enraged. He made a snap decision to go home, transferring between old-fashioned trains and various long-distance buses. After two days of travel that left his bones feeling like they were falling apart, he finally returned to the slums.

As he stepped off the bus, the strong sunlight made him squint. He looked exhausted and had thinned out, but as long as he did not have to see that little bastard Hua Yunlian for a while, the exhaustion was worth it.

Throughout the year, the air in the slums carried a faint scent of burning firewood. Chen Wang dragged his relatively light suitcase, looking solitary. He looked around at the place that had held his suffering; it was hardly a warm sanctuary. Yet, he had nowhere else to go.

This young, handsome man was tall with a graceful waist, and his refined aura stood in stark contrast to the passersby. Even his skin was fair and delicate, creating a sharp comparison with the dark, yellowed, and rough complexions of the others. The residents of the slums did not hide their stares, looking him up and down with blunt curiosity.

Chen Wang walked with his head down, failing to notice several burly Alphas watching him with ill intent. Fortunately, he walked quickly and maintained a cold demeanor. In more crowded areas, no one dared to approach him. To save money, Chen Wang planned to walk the rest of the way home.

The shadows of people gradually thinned, and the dirt road became narrower and more rugged. Dried weeds grew thick along the roadside, appearing like claws ready to swallow him. Passing a poplar tree, he paused to look through a rusted iron gate. This was the zoo where he had worked part-time as a child. It was now completely abandoned.

His memories of this place were somewhat dim. Inside the gate, a white-haired old man was herding a few chickens and ducks. He had turned the former enclosure for fierce beasts into a poultry coop. He appeared to be a local resident who had boldly claimed the space for himself. Once a building is left uninhabited, it quickly loses its vitality and ages much faster than others.

Chen Wang still remembered every small animal he had cared for here, but the one that left the deepest impression was a small leopard. He had always wanted a cat, but his mother was afraid of them, and he was too busy studying as a child for that wish to come true. That was until the director ordered him to care for a leopard cub that refused to eat or drink.

At that time, the keepers there were not professionals; they were just people looking for a meal. The leopard cub was tiny, like a cat, with bright and beautiful fur. The fur on its four paws had not fully grown yet, revealing tender, pale pink skin and black paw pads. It was incredibly cute.

The first time Chen Wang saw the little creature, a part-time keeper was smiling and coaxing it with food laced with rat poison, wanting to see if it could kill a leopard. Perhaps the gap between fates is like a vast chasm. Some owners would go to any lengths to coax a sick pet with medicated food, feeling nothing but love and heartache. Yet others would try to poison an innocent life simply out of curiosity.

To this day, Chen Wang believed the little cub had smelled the poison and understood everything, yet it had still opened its mouth to eat it. The scrawny teenager had used all his strength to knock the keeper over. Ignoring the man’s terrified curses, he picked up the soft little leopard and left without looking back. That was the first time he had been so brave.

After getting into the elite high school, Chen Wang returned to the zoo before leaving, but he did not see the little creature he had cared for for three years. He heard it had been scouted by the central city zoo and taken away in a special vehicle. The boy had stood in the empty leopard enclosure and wept.

Chen Wang looked on with a sense of loss for a moment, then pulled his suitcase and walked away. The lines of his cold, thin face were sharp, and a flash of hidden pain crossed his eyes. He thought to himself that as long as it was living well, that was enough.

After walking for nearly another hour, the houses became denser. Most were low, self-built structures packed together without any planning. A stranger would likely get lost immediately. Chen Wang walked through the familiar alleys, turning left and right until he reached a small courtyard. From a distance, he could hear the sound of someone sweeping.

He walked in, immediately dropped his luggage, and snatched the large broom from a woman’s hands. “Mom, your health is not good. Stop doing this kind of work!”

Mother Chen was so surprised to see him that her eyes went wide. She coughed several times in her excitement. She was happy in her heart, but her face was full of reproach. “Your work is so busy! Why did you come back? Come inside, come inside!”

His mother hurried him into the house. Her thin, frail silhouette almost vanished in the dim interior. Chen Wang noticed her white hair and felt there was more of it than the last time they met. He was about to say something when he noticed a young woman sitting in a lounge chair with her legs crossed, playing games.

Chen Wang snapped the internet cable. “You brat, why are you not helping Mom with the chores?”

Chen Yuxi jumped up. “What are you doing? I was about to take the tower!”

His mother hurried over to mediate. “Do not blame your sister. She wanted to help, but I did not let her. I just cannot sit still!” Mother Chen smiled, her wrinkles deepening. “With my health, I cannot do much else anyway.”

His mother suffered from severe asthma and other underlying conditions. In the competitive slums, she could not find a job and could only do extremely low-paying manual labor to supplement the family income. She had raised two children in a home where the father was practically invisible.

However, Chen Wang could hear the protectiveness in her voice toward his sister. His sister was a strikingly beautiful Alpha, while he, despite being good-looking, was ultimately just an ordinary Beta. Consequently, he had to work much harder to be recognized. Not only had his parents been strict with him since childhood, but over time, he also became unable to accept failure or setbacks.

Hua Yunlian was his greatest setback. He had brutally taken his first time and destroyed his fantasy of a respectful relationship. Now, he had willfully caused Chen Wang to lose his job.

Chen Wang was so frustrated he had no outlet. He opened his mouth to say something, but his mother spoke first. “How is your work lately? How many years until you get a promotion?”

His face stiffened slightly. “Uh.”

“You must work hard, do you hear me? Go to the hospital early, give the leaders a good impression, get along with your colleagues, and endure. Whatever you do, do not cause trouble.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“All my hope is on you. You do not know, but you are the only successful child from our slums! When you have time, go and say hello to everyone!”

A wave of suffocation washed over him. Chen Wang took several deep breaths before agreeing. He felt very helpless. In all these years, he had never sought help from anyone. Yet, with just a few words, Hua Yunlian had ruined two hard-won jobs. He felt wronged and miserable. He wanted someone to complain to and someone to lean on.

But at that moment, Chen Wang swallowed all his pain again. It felt as if someone was firmly covering his mouth after a night of drinking, refusing to let him vomit. His reddened eyelids gradually returned to normal. Ultimately, he did not tell his mother about his unemployment.

After a short chat, Mother Chen began to lose her energy. Chen Wang said he would prepare dinner and helped her to rest. When he returned, he saw Chen Yuxi playing games again. He suddenly remembered his sister following Qiao Yuan that day and felt something was wrong. He asked, “Who have you been hanging out with lately?”

Chen Yuxi was about the same height as him, with her long legs crossed casually. She paused for a second before answering normally, “That is none of your business.”

“If it is the eldest daughter of the Qiao Group, I advise you to drop that idea as soon as possible,” Chen Wang said bluntly. “We are of different classes and different environments. We are not the same kind of people at our core. You will not be happy together.” He warned, “Do not take a temporary marking seriously. I can remove it with just a little effort.”

More importantly, Qiao Yuan was Hua Yunlian’s fiancée. According to the wishes of both families, they were eventually to marry. Chen Wang had never forgotten that.

Chen Yuxi immediately became agitated. “Do not negate everyone just because your own love life is a failure!”

Chen Wang was choked for words, his face turning red with anger. He had almost forgotten that when he rescued the brat at the KTV, Hua Yunlian had been indiscreet about his romantic history, and she had heard it all.

“Why are you comparing me to that?” He was half-dead with rage, suddenly feeling that everyone younger than him was an idiot. Hua Yunlian was, and so was his sister!

Chen Wang ignored her, his face grim, as he took out his phone to transfer this month’s medical expenses to his mother. Chen Yuxi saw this and pressed her hand over his phone screen, saying coldly, “I already transferred money to Mom. Keep yours for yourself.”

His sister had not graduated yet, but she frequented various nightspots to DJ or perform. The old-fashioned Chen Wang had always opposed her doing such improper things and strictly forbade her from giving money to the family before graduating. He knit his brows, ready to criticize her, but Chen Yuxi interrupted him. “Are you familiar with Hua Yunlian?”

Chen Wang’s heart sank. He and Hua Yunlian had been intimate in the car that day; did the brat hear it? Or see it? He tried to remain calm. “I am not familiar with him.”

Chen Yuxi let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I have heard plenty of rumors about him lately. He is a beast!”

Chen Wang was stunned. “You know too?” How many people had Hua Yunlian shown his leopard form to?

Chen Yuxi slapped her thigh. “Yes! The rumor is that the young Master Hua is still a virgin at twenty-four. Every little Omega who wanted a night with him was scared away! Do you know why?”

Chen Wang believed the Omegas were scared away. But thinking of how he had been intimate until his legs were weak and he fainted, he did not believe the first part at all. He looked at her with disdain. “Why?”

Chen Yuxi grew excited. She glanced toward the door as if fearing retaliation, and after confirming no one was there, she lowered her voice.

“Legend has it that his thing is massive, strangely shaped, and even retractable! And the most perverse part is, it has freaking barbs! They say before it even gets halfway in, the Omegas are stabbed to death on the spot. There are mountains of corpses. It is terrifying!”

Chen Yuxi’s face turned white with fear. Chen Wang was speechless.