The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: He Saw Wen Zhiyi Come and Go in His Heart…

“Little Que, since you’ve decided to come back, completely settle down. How about transferring that studio you set up outside to your father’s company? Anyway, you’ll take over when your father passes.”

Chen Que sat in a long-legged, minimalist style office chair in a languid posture. His sitting posture was far from rigorous or serious; his waist was slightly bent, and his expression was cold and indifferent. The adjustable office chair was set to its highest position, but his height of 1.92 meters meant his legs still had to rest on the ground.

His phone, tossed aside, emitted a faint light from its half-lit screen. A gentle, magnetic female voice flowed from it. It was apparent that the woman speaking had a remarkable classical singing ability.

The black charcoal pencil between his pale fingers quickly and roughly sketched the basic shape. Chen Que listened absentmindedly to his mother’s nagging concern, but in reality, he was not considering her proposal at all. He quietly focused on the nascent figure emerging in the center of the canvas, occasionally replying with a perfunctory “Mmm” to his mother on the other end of the line.

Chen Que’s mother’s suggestion was purely from the perspective of financial support, completely disregarding other factors. In her view, having enough money was the absolute principle.

However, Chen Que’s sculpture studio had extremely high recognition within the industry. Many artists considered it a benchmark. While he himself didn’t have overly lofty artistic pursuits, he wouldn’t casually hang it under an entertainment company. Since he wasn’t short of money, there was no need to ruin his reputation for it.

The saying “A kind mother spoils the son” came half true in the Chen family.

Chen Que’s father attributed his son’s mental issues to his wife and his son’s S-class Alpha genetics to his own inheritance. In Chen Que’s early childhood, Mr. Chen often expressed slight dissatisfaction with Ms. Wang’s excessive doting. However, having inherited the Chen family’s tradition of fearing one’s wife, Mr. Chen dared not say much besides shaking his head and sighing.

Ms. Wang once angrily slapped Mr. Chen several times after the latter casually mentioned the inheritance theory. Mr. Chen, rubbing his stinging cheek, chose to hold his wife’s hand to check if she was hurt.

Ms. Wang was a beautiful but volatile S-class Omega. Mr. Chen was a gentle-tempered A-class Alpha. This meant that in their pheromone confrontations, Mr. Chen was usually the one who lost and surrendered. Absolute rank suppression was like the food chain in nature for AOs, an instinct of submission engraved in their genes.

They were a very loving and harmonious couple, and this branch of the Chen family had a healthy and congenial home environment. Yet, Chen Que, who grew up in this environment, did not inherit his mother’s cheerfulness or his father’s gentleness. Instead, he exhibited a series of traits such as being taciturn, aloof, and cold from puberty onward.

In contrast, Ms. Wang’s younger brother—a melancholy and stunningly beautiful male Alpha—and his aloof and taciturn partner raised a lively and lovely female Omega, whose personality was practically a miniature sun illuminating the world.

Ms. Wang, who doted on her son, naturally didn’t suspect they had the wrong child. However, Mr. Chen secretly sent people to investigate behind his wife’s back, finally feeling reassured that “Little Ice Block” and “Little Sun” were not swapped, and that his and his wife’s genes had simply produced this anomaly.

Since he differentiated into an Alpha during puberty and could smell pheromones, Chen Que stopped living at home. He couldn’t tolerate any trace of pheromones from others. This highly adhesive substance was like arsenic to him.

Unable to tolerate even his biological parents’ pheromones, Chen Que believed he would maintain this state of distance from everyone for the rest of his life.

Until his sophomore year, when the China Academy of Art (Guomei) and the neighboring Jingda University held a social dance, located in Guomei’s central auditorium. Chen Que had always been uninterested in such boring social events and naturally had no intention of attending this time.

But his close friend at the time, who would later co-found the studio with him, insisted. As the organizer of the event, he had leveraged the “legendary ice flower” of Guomei’s sculpture department being present as a selling point, securing a large sponsorship from a plethora of rich and beautiful Omegas.

“Just one minute. If you show your face, everything will be fine.” The friend sincerely pleaded, hands clasped.

Chen Que, standing tall and straight in a thin jacket on a cold winter night, stared expressionlessly at his friend, weighing in his mind whether their decade-long friendship was worth wasting this one minute.

The friend, being stared at, quietly hid his black nail-polished fingers behind his back.

I almost forgot this big shot’s obsession with cleanliness.

The long-haired man, whose overall style was flamboyant and cool, jingled with every slight movement. He wore seven or eight trendy rings just on his hand. He carefully minimized all movement, afraid that any sound would make the seemingly wavering Chen Que change his mind.

They were currently at the midpoint between the central auditorium and the parking lot. Chen Que, who had decided to walk toward the parking lot, was stopped by his friend. The two started arguing next to the greenery—strictly speaking, Chen Que stared ahead coldly while Zhu Qiao launched a one-sided verbal assault.

The aloof and handsome Alpha was starting to get impatient. He looked down at the thin layer of snow accumulating on the ground, considering whether throwing money could make Zhu Qiao shut up.

Too noisy.

He decided to turn and leave.

He did make the motion to turn.

And saw Wen Zhiyi walking toward the central auditorium.

A day with light snow like this must be quite cold for genders other than Alpha, right?

A biting, knife-like cold wind happened to blow past. The person walking on the fine, salt-like snow instinctively shrank into his scarf. Even though his black, shiny down jacket had a fluffy, furry collar around the hood, he was still wearing a large, somewhat gray-toned haze blue scarf. The fluffy, fox-tail-like fur collar and the neatly tied scarf created a warm and cozy texture. The owner of the scarf was turning his head, smiling sweetly, and conversing with his companion.

A face with suitable lines and excellent depth emerged from the fluffy mass. It was like a spirit from a Liao Zhai tale, curled-up tail and all, appearing by the roadside, captivating passersby with a perfectly sculpted face, yet possessing an infinitely innocent and gentle demeanor when bowing his head or turning.

Zhu Qiao gasped, raised his hand, pointing at Wen Zhiyi, and frantically grabbed Chen Que, his face flushed as he forcefully whispered: “Did you see him?!! Look, look!”

See what?

Chen Que coldly watched Wen Zhiyi approaching. As the distance between them gradually closed, he acutely smelled a trace of pheromone dissipation.

Light, faint, cold, with a hint of heart-refreshing sweetness.

Like a piece of mint candy half-melted and soft enough to be drawn into threads.

It couldn’t be Zhu Qiao; he consciously put on two protection patches every time he came to see Chen Que.

So, it could only be this person who seemed to be an Omega.

“I feel like my graduation project is walking towards me! My god! My muse! My source of inspiration!” Zhu Qiao cupped his chin, hearts practically popping out of his eyes. His handsome, cool face was completely ruined. “I feel like I’m going to get married, really! How many kids do you think he’ll want? Can all the kids look like him…”

“Do you know him?” Chen Que, for the first time, responded to Zhu Qiao’s fantasy.

“You also think I’m dreaming, right?” Zhu Qiao continued to mutter, “Should I go add him on WeChat first? Should I step with my left foot first or my right foot? Should I extend my left hand or my right hand for a handshake? Or should I bow to show seriousness?”

Lunatic.

Chen Que, who inherited his maternal uncle’s gene for mental illness, gave the above evaluation of the normal Zhu Qiao.

He didn’t want to waste a single second of attention on Zhu Qiao. His eyes remained fixed on Wen Zhiyi, who was about to enter the central auditorium. His dark, cold, radiant deep pupils were like two moons in the night, constantly revolving around their own planet without straying.

Wen Zhiyi was that planet.

The social dance hadn’t started yet. The central auditorium’s speakers were playing one cheerful pop song after another. Chen Que, who had never noticed this before, heard the grand music from the outside world for the first time. In a daze and with a stirring heart, he subtly frowned, subconsciously looking down at the faint footsteps already covered by the fresh snow.

“Longing turns into air, sighing, How much I want to lie in your arms, That is the message brought by love, Making one foolishly certain, Love can never be anticipated, It requires courage to face the determination.”

He saw Wen Zhiyi pass through the scattered, flowing notes, coming and going in his heart.

And Wen Zhiyi—Wen Zhiyi had absolutely no memory of this initial meeting outside the central auditorium.

The social dance required a significant number of Omegas and Alphas from Guomei and Jingda, as they were the main target audience for the event. However, the number of Omegas at Jingda was always scarce. Even on the day the dance was officially held, they couldn’t meet the required number. So, the minister responsible for organizing the event at Jingda had a flash of inspiration and personally persuaded Little Wen to attend.

She was deeply impressed by this Beta junior who had caused a sensation upon entering the school, firmly believing that even if he put a band-aid on his nape, a crowd of Alphas would mistake him for a high-ranking Omega.

Little Wen, who had just finished his first semester of freshman year, initially refused. His second reaction was to grit his teeth and agree for the sake of volunteer hours.

Volunteer hours! One dance could earn sixty hours of volunteer time!

Wen Zhiyi not only agreed readily but also voluntarily offered to spray on some pheromone perfume for disguise.

The so-called pheromone perfume was intended for Betas whose own pheromones were sparse to non-existent. The magic of this perfume was that it didn’t create a fragrance out of thin air but amplified the Beta’s own pheromones using highly volatile substances, acting as an amplifier from 0.01 to 10.

It was thanks to the pheromone perfume provided by the minister that Wen Zhiyi smelled his own pheromones for the first time in his life.

A bit strong.

He subtly turned his head and sniffed his shoulder, quite satisfied with the scent.

Of course, he had to be satisfied. His own is the best.

Wen Zhiyi firmly believed this.