The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Five Minutes Passed, and Wen Zhiyi Was Still Chewing…

“Little Wen, did Lawyer Gu say anything to you?”

Shi Xuening tapped on the glass partition of Wen Zhiyi’s workstation.

Little Wen, thus questioned, tilted his head slightly in thought and answered very honestly: “No.”

Excluding the unnecessary chitchat, Gu Yansheng really hadn’t said anything substantial to him.

He lowered his gaze to the document on the screen, continuing to tap the keyboard letter by letter, subtly expressing his refusal to continue the topic.

A few excited whispers came from the office next door. It turned out that the “big leader” (CEO Wei Yuzhi, though Wen Zhiyi doesn’t know this detail) sympathized with their hard work and treated the nearby offices to Qingbuliang (a chilled sweet soup). A few Alphas very consciously became the laborers, carrying boxes of food containers full of the treat up from downstairs.

“They look quite high-end? All wooden boxes, actually.” One of the trio who spoke with Shi Xuening before the lunch break picked up one and weighed it. “Will Qingbuliang from a big restaurant be much different from a milk tea shop’s?”

The Alpha whose workstation was next to his, who had a handsome and charming face, scoffed and casually opened a wooden container with complex, delicate patterns. He glanced at the colorful ingredients inside and gave a thoughtful look toward Wen Zhiyi: “You should be secretly rejoicing that you get to eat takeout from Jinfengxuan. I wonder whose blessing this is. Why didn’t Lawyer Gu remember our hard work a few days ago?”

Su Xian silently shut up. How could he know what the big leader was thinking? Although they were both Betas, he wasn’t a worm in Gu Yansheng’s stomach, and the lawyers in the office usually didn’t discuss Gu Yansheng’s gossip.

Wen Zhiyi certainly didn’t hear this little interlude. He smiled and thanked the Alpha intern who delivered the food container to his side, earning a flustered, blushing stammer in return. The young Alpha, over 1.8 meters tall, flushed and held out his WeChat QR code, stumbling to say that he had noticed Wen Zhiyi for a while and asked if they could connect on WeChat to go out and play sometime.

Go out and play sometime?

Wen Zhiyi thought for a moment, trying to locate the other person’s information from the colleague list Shi Xuening had provided. He finally vaguely recalled that the other seemed to be a sophomore, only appearing at Zhongcheng to gain internship experience during the summer vacation.

So, he righteously shook his head and refused—

University students should focus on studying, especially law students. Forget about playing, they should be diligently studying.

The rejected Alpha student looked heartbroken and tried to salvage the situation: “…Then can we study together? I remember you also went to Jingda University. Can we schedule study sessions together when school resumes?”

“No,” Wen Zhiyi replied with a sweet smile, refusing him again unhurriedly. “Have you ever seen a graduate student study? Diligent study is your business.”

“You look quite free, kid? You manage to add someone on WeChat just by handing out Qingbuliang?”

Li Zan put his arm around the clear-eyed student’s shoulder from behind. The shirt, rolled up to his elbows, was wrinkled beyond recognition due to this intimate and casual gesture. The layered watch and pearl bracelet on his left hand flashed under the light, making Wen Zhiyi instinctively look away.

Li Zan pressed almost half his body weight onto the intern. His already tall frame, combined with a subtle push, quickly made the intern instinctively step back. He leaned intimately toward the intern’s ear, complaining jokingly: “If I’d known you were so free, I would have arranged more work for you. It would have saved us lawyers from working overtime until midnight a few days ago.”

Wen Zhiyi looked up, frowning, at Li Zan, who was leaning on the intern. This inexplicable Alpha lawyer looked casual and undisciplined, completely lacking the necessary rigor and rationality of a professional lawyer. His words to the intern at this moment made Little Wen extremely uncomfortable.

Little Wen was too lazy to tease the young student anymore. He stiffly opened WeChat and added the intern, then lowered his head to look at his computer screen again, completely ignoring Li Zan’s hovering presence.

To be honest, Li Zan gave him the impression that he might suddenly start dribbling a basketball on the street.

Sensing Little Wen’s disregard, Li Zan raised an eyebrow. A hint of excitement appeared on his flirtatious, handsome face. He pushed away the intern, who was grinning foolishly after getting Wen Zhiyi’s WeChat, leaned over, and tapped on Wen Zhiyi’s desk. He said in an extremely polite tone, negotiating: “Why don’t you guys bring me along when you go out to play? There’s nowhere in Jing City I haven’t been to or eaten at. I can even be a free tour guide for you two.”

Wen Zhiyi didn’t look up, scooping a spoonful of Qingbuliang—perfect, it was his preferred coconut milk flavor—then looked up at the elegantly smiling Li Zan, and coldly refused: “You need to make an appointment in advance to enter Jingda University. No need to trouble Lawyer Li.”

He ate slowly, chewing thoroughly, making sure to swallow one mouthful before scooping the next. He only slowly replied to Li Zan after the food in his mouth was neatly swallowed, not worrying at all if the lawyer waiting for his response was getting impatient.

“No way, are you two really planning on purely studying in the library?” Li Zan pointed at the intern next to him with an exaggerated smile, then turned to look at Little Wen, sitting upright, seeming amused by his own joke.

…Why does it concern you?

Wen Zhiyi thought to himself.

He scooped another spoonful of Qingbuliang, slowly chewing the soft and sweet mung beans and coconut while looking at Li Zan, who maintained an exaggerated smile, standing in front of his desk—

I’m sitting, so what’s the rush?

But isn’t it tiring to smile for so long? Have Alphas evolved to have such terrifying facial muscles?

Li Zan waited for a long time without a reply. He wanted to drop the act but felt it would ruin his carefully crafted image of being easygoing. So, he awkwardly maintained his forced smile, staring blankly at Wen Zhiyi.

One minute passed, and Wen Zhiyi was chewing.

Five minutes passed, and Wen Zhiyi was still chewing.

The smile finally disappeared from Li Zan’s face. He cleared his throat, ready to speak again, but was deftly interrupted by Shi Xuening, who walked over. The clear-faced Omega provided a timely escape: “Lawyer Xie seems to be looking for you. Do you want to confirm with him personally? He said Lawyer Li will be back from the US soon, so he needs to align the work flow with you first.”

The “Lawyer Li” Shi Xuening mentioned naturally wasn’t Li Zan but Li Zan’s father, one of the founding elders of Zhongcheng who held immense influence.

Li Zan’s heart skipped a beat, and his smile stiffened for a moment. He maintained a calm and composed demeanor, quickly darting toward Lawyer Xie’s office, but not forgetting to turn back and smile-wave goodbye to Wen Zhiyi: “Let’s continue chatting later!”

Little Wen, who received his high-profile farewell, put on a puzzled expression, pointed to his ear, and smiled, signaling he couldn’t hear.

Mr. Little Wen, wearing a confused expression, is also so handsome!

—A certain dazed, confused Alpha intern floated back to his workstation, giggling to himself occasionally, as if he had eaten magic mushrooms and was hallucinating.

Shi: Lawyer Li Zan’s father is also a partner in our firm. He thinks very highly of Lawyer Gu. Apparently, he met Lawyer Gu in America, and Lawyer Gu’s current team was established with Lawyer Li’s support. Lawyer Li Zan might seem a bit casual, but he’s a decent person, just not on very good terms with Lawyer Gu, so he can be a little difficult to talk to sometimes.

The WeChat icon in the taskbar flickered a few times. Wen Zhiyi casually clicked on it and saw this message from Shi Xuening.

He finished the last bite of Qingbuliang, neatly packed up his utensils and container, placed them at the designated recycling spot in the corner of the office, then carefully washed his hands and stood by the hallway window, gazing out into the distance for a while.

Having completed all this, Little Wen returned to his workstation and slowly typed his reply.

Wen: Senior, why are you telling me this? Rose Rose

Why tell this to him, an intern?

Wen Zhiyi sincerely asked.

Shi Xuening on the other end remained silent for a moment, then replied naturally: It’s nothing. I was just worried you might have gotten a bad impression of Lawyer Li Zan. Heart Heart

Wen: Senior might be mistaken. Lawyer Li Zan and I exchanged only a few words. We don’t have enough interaction to form an impression of each other, and the same goes for Lawyer Gu. Rose Rose

He politely and courteously stated his position. All the lawyers, including Shi Xuening, were merely colleagues during his internship. Little Wen did not intend to connect with them outside of work, nor did he plan to become close friends. Therefore, all of Shi Xuening’s subtle probing gestures were meaningless to him.

Saying they were completely meaningless wasn’t accurate, either; Little Wen would get annoyed if they occurred too often.

Probing his relationship with Gu Yansheng? Probing his opinion of Li Zan? Probing what attitude he would adopt between Gu Yansheng and Li Zan?

Frankly, Wen Zhiyi saw himself only as an intern. He couldn’t understand the circuitous probing exhibited by Shi Xuening and could only attribute it to the high sensitivity of a seasoned professional.

Shi Xuening, receiving Little Wen’s official reply, stared at the computer screen with an unchanged expression. He pondered for a moment, looking thoughtfully toward where Li Zan’s back had disappeared. His slender, fair fingers gently rubbed the scent gland protection patch on his nape.

Alphas cannot truly mark Betas because the latter lack that small, complex scent gland and the sufficient pheromones to drive an Alpha mad.

So, there’s nothing to worry about.

…

Meanwhile, Ning Meng, who had officially moved into the same neighborhood as Elder Wen and Little Wen with her boss, was racking her brain to offer strategies to Chen Que.

“Mr. Little Wen is a lawyer, right? The most important thing for a lawyer is case sources, right? But we can’t do anything illegal or disorderly just to get close to Mr. Little Wen.”

Ning Meng ran her fingers through her long hair, turning her beautiful, spirited face toward Chen Que, attempting to gain some inspiration from her boss.

As a habit when thinking, she scratched the scent gland protection patch on the back of her neck. A flash of inspiration hit her as she recalled that a famous sculpture museum in Jing City was about to exhibit Chen Que’s work:

“Hey, hey, hey, I heard Dahui is a repeat offender, often getting into disputes with other participating artists. How about we try a ‘bait-and-switch’ tactic? I remember the authorization agreement our studio signed with them hasn’t been completely finalized. Maybe we can deliberately create a loophole? A lawsuit like that would take years, which would absolutely guarantee your time with Mr. Little Wen. Maybe you’ll have successfully reconciled before the lawsuit is even over.”

Ning Meng, getting more excited as she spoke, didn’t notice that her scent gland protection patch was slightly loose. A subtle, imperceptible scent of pine pheromones drifted to Chen Que. The pale, cold Alpha immediately frowned and wrinkled his nose, reaching out without hesitation to firmly pinch the back of his assistant’s neck, brutally pressing the patch tightly shut.

It smells awful.

Facing her boss’s outstretched hand, the terrified Ning Meng couldn’t even manage to dodge before the S-class Alpha pinched her squarely.

She swallowed, mourning the dignity of her A-class Alpha status in her heart.

Chen Que expressionlessly withdrew his arm, frowning at the pale hand that had just pressed another Alpha’s scent gland protection patch—

It was long, bony, with prominent blue veins, like a stone sculpture carved with a knife and axe, nails neatly trimmed, and the fingertips rough and dry.

I kind of want to chop it off.

He could barely tolerate the sudden surge of disgust, genuinely wanting to sever this hand from his body at this moment. But then he quickly recalled that this hand had once intertwined fingers with Wen Zhiyi.

Chen Que suddenly sighed in relief.

It’s still clean.