To Marry My Little Chestnut - Chapter 22.2

Gao Wenjing shouted from ahead, “Let us go!” The secretary followed gloomily, his heart unable to settle.

Gao Wenjing cursed indignantly in a low voice, “What is there for a Beta to be proud of? That master from the Yu family, I do not know how many hands that second-hand goods has passed through. They are all over the street.”

The doors opened, and Secretary Lin walked in from outside, coming face to face with Gao Wenjing. He handed over a folder.

Zheng Tingyang asked, “Is he asleep?”

“Young Master Yu said he is not sleepy. He is waiting for you upstairs.”

“Mm.” Zheng Tingyang handed over the auction paddle. Other savvy bosses flocked over to toast him. With Young Master Gao gone, they had to cling to this one. Zheng Tingyang lazily drained his glass. The sweetness and acidity of the grapes blossomed in his mouth. He took out a cigarette, and someone immediately offered a light from the side.

“Everyone, excuse me.” With the cigarette between his fingers, he unknotted his tie with one hand and strode outside.

In the underground garage, Gao Wenjing irritably took the phone his trembling secretary handed him. “It is the Old Master.”

“What is it?” Gao Wenjing got off the elevator. A valet was servicing his newly bought sports car, and the arranged driver had not arrived yet. Listening to the scolding on the phone, his temples throbbed. “What is wrong with me increasing the bid? I am telling you now! Zheng Tingyang cannot swallow this shipping route! A perfectly good cooperation flies away as soon as it hits your hands! You are useless! What use is there in raising you? Get the hell back here!”

Gao Wenjing shouted, “Based on what? I am going back to Haicheng tonight. If Zheng Tingyang dares to make me lose face today, what is he? Raised without parents. He thinks he can act tough by licking Pei Changji’s shoes and being his dog. I would like to see where he gets the 3 billion in startup funds.”

Gao Wenjing stood by the car listening to his father’s lecture, irritably pulling a cigarette from his pocket and putting it in his mouth. The black car window reflected the underground garage elevator closing again. A figure emerged from the elevator and walked rapidly toward him. Before he could even hear the footsteps clearly, his shoulder was grabbed. He was flung backward, stumbling until his back slammed into the Land Rover next to him, creating a dent. He gasped, “Fuck.”

Zheng Tingyang took off his watch unhurriedly. He picked up his phone from the ground, and as if anticipating that Gao Wenjing’s secretary would run, he threw the phone at the back of the secretary’s head, scaring the man witless. “If you leave, who is going to call the ambulance for him?”

Secretary Lin rushed over to catch the watch Zheng Tingyang tossed to him. Zheng Tingyang’s eyes were bloodshot; it was hard to tell if it was the alcohol or the nicotine excitement.

Gao Wenjing shouted, “Are you fucking crazy? There are surveillance cameras everywhere. You dare touch me? How many lives do you have? Fuck!” He staggered, trying to get up. The memory of being beaten by Zheng Tingyang in high school years ago resurfaced. Clenching his fists, he swung back, refusing to show weakness.

Alpha pheromones permeated the garage, stirring up dust. Normally, countless people would surrender because of his pheromones, but today his opponent was Zheng Tingyang. In a physical brawl where pheromones were ineffective, Young Master Gao did not have much of a chance. At seventeen, Zheng Tingyang carried heavy loads at the port; at eighteen, he was a thug collecting debts; at nineteen, to gain a foothold, he took a bullet for President Pei. Step by step, he had built himself from nothing, carving a path through blood and schemes in the Hong Kong factions. All for one person.

Zheng Tingyang locked onto Gao Wenjing’s neck. In the dust filled garage, every punch hit home. He stared at Gao Wenjing with blood-red eyes. Gao Wenjing’s counter-punches lacked power. Blood seeped from the corner of Zheng Tingyang’s lips. “Why are you not releasing your pheromones? Huh? Young Master Gao, what kind of skill is it to bully an Omega? If you have the ability to kill me today, I will not even make you pay with your life.”

“You touch me? Get lost! Do you think I am easy to bully, you motherfucker?” Gao Wenjing swung his fist, the wind whistling.

A loud bang followed as it was caught directly in the air by Zheng Tingyang. Zheng Tingyang chuckled and twisted his arm back. The sound of joints creaking seemed exceptionally loud in the empty garage. It was terrifying.

“Cough, cough,” Gao Wenjing’s eyes bulged. His neck was squeezed so tightly he could not breathe; his eyeballs almost popped out.

“If you cannot kill me, remember to walk around me whenever you see me in the future.” Zheng Tingyang slowly stood up. Looking down from a height, he grabbed Gao Wenjing by the collar and hauled him up, then slammed his knee hard into the man’s abdomen. With a crack of bone, Gao Wenjing’s legs went weak. Once released, he thudded to his knees. Thick blood dripped from his mouth; his gaze was vacant, his voice raspy. “Zheng Tingyang”

“You actually”

“Actually what?” Zheng Tingyang looked down like a deity at this dust-like ant, feeling only disgust. “Young Master Gao, it has been a while.” After venting his anger, the taste of blood permeated Zheng Tingyang’s mouth. “Still the same trash as before.”

Secretary Lin, seeing it was enough, stepped forward to hand over the watch. He respectfully offered his business card to Gao Wenjing’s secretary, who was already paralyzed with fear. “If you want to take the legal route, you can contact this lawyer. For a private settlement, you can contact me. You can call the ambulance now.”

Gao Wenjing’s secretary, Jiang Xiao, froze in terror before nodding. “Okay.” His hand was still shaking uncontrollably as he reached for the card. Secretary Lin, accustomed to this, kindly tucked the card directly into his pocket. “Sorry for the trouble,” Secretary Lin smiled.

Zheng Tingyang stepped over the man lying on the ground and unhurriedly put his wristwatch back on. He faced the mirror to tidy up the obvious bloodstains on his body. The skin on his knuckles was broken, but he never cared about such small injuries. The man cast a cold glance at Jiang Xiao and then turned to leave. His broad back was as straight as a lion’s after a hunt, inspiring fear.

Zheng Tingyang always kept business and personal matters separate. Once he entered the Pearl Plaza, he was President Zheng of Changxing. Once he took off the watch and the bidding paddle, he was Zheng Tingyang. He was a man who would use any means to achieve his goal, even the most primitive or despicable; as long as it worked, how could it not be considered good?

“Is President Zheng going to miss the celebration banquet?” The people in the lobby swarmed toward him again with smiles when they saw him return. Although there were scratches on Zheng Tingyang’s face, they were not obvious under the dim lights. Even if someone smelled the blood on him, they would play dumb.

“Handling a small matter,” he chuckled, his words heavy with meaning. Acting in the wine scene, three parts real, seven parts fake.

At this banquet in Pearl Plaza, many people stayed behind to see how Zheng Tingyang would lose money on this project after paying three billion. As glasses clinked, an ambulance drove into the building, buzzing as they carried someone out of the garage. Onlookers gossiped in curiosity. They learned the person being carried into the car was Young Master Gao. His face was a bloody mess, and his glands had been cut by gravel, posing a high risk of infection. It had been done in such a short time. Everyone whispered, their eyes turning unanimously toward the culprit in their hearts.

Zheng Tingyang leaned over to carefully observe a new plate of cake. His somewhat swollen knuckles pointed as he said to the waiter, “Send one of these to room 7088.”

“Understood.”

“Plus a glass of hot orange juice.”

The elevator opened with a ding. Secretary Lin supported him as he walked steadily, leading him to the balcony at the end of the hallway to catch the breeze. The night in the capital was not as cold as in Haicheng; the wind seemed gentler. He threw his cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it, then took a chestnut candy from his pocket, holding it in his mouth until it shattered.

Pei Changji’s call came just in time. Any later, and he would have returned to his room.

“Hello,” Zheng Tingyang said.

Pei Changji was five years older than him. The Changxing Chamber of Commerce had come alive in his hands. Pei Changji opened his mouth to question, “Three billion. Zheng Tingyang, have you not had enough of acting crazy?”

Zheng Tingyang held the crushed chestnut candy, waiting for the wind to clear his head. His Adam’s apple rolled. “How is it crazy? I can earn the money.”

“Stocks, futures, manipulation? The rumors are tight lately. What is the difference between being a market manipulator and signing a gambling agreement?” Pei Changji took a deep breath and dropped the final bomb. “Yu Yan’s father went bankrupt because of a gambling agreement. I do not want the next time I see you to be in prison. Three billion. You really fucking have the nerve to ask for that.”

Zheng Tingyang curled his lips. “Do not worry, it will not involve you.”

Pei Changji said, “We have a life and death bond, and you are saying this to me? Back then, you used your life saving favor to ask me to let Yu Yan get married. Now your wings are strong; I cannot keep you anymore. Changxing is too small a temple for you.”

At seventeen, Zheng Tingyang dropped out of high school. Because he was too young, he worked odd jobs at the port. The older guys asked him why he was doing this at such a good age. At the time, Zheng Tingyang lived on meager food. From an odd job worker to a small leader in the port chamber of commerce, he was already filled with a fierce aura by the age of eighteen.

The Pei family, who controlled the Changxing Chamber of Commerce, was even more of a mixed bag; father and son were at odds. The first time Zheng Tingyang caught Pei Changji’s attention was because he proactively blocked an assassination bullet. At that time, Pei Changji gave him a chance to make a wish. With a gunshot wound in his chest that had not yet healed, he drove to Haicheng. At five o’clock, when the students finished class, he stood across the street and took a photo.

In the picture, his face was pale from blood loss, and a bandage was still wrapped around his chest. He handed the camera to Pei Changji. “President Pei, can you take a photo for me?”

“Right here?”

“In three minutes. An Omega carrying a drawing board, probably wearing a sky-blue hoodie.”

One photo. Zheng Tingyang stood on this side of the road, and Yu Yan had just come out of the school gate. The asphalt road was a Milky Way with no magpies, separating them and cutting everything off. Pei Changji could see that the other party’s family background and a penniless person like Zheng Tingyang were from two different worlds.

“Omegas from wealthy families are mostly used for political marriages.”

Zheng Tingyang’s palm clenched into a fist unnaturally. Pei Changji gave him a number, “Five years. I can guarantee that the Omega from just now will not be able to get married within five years. As for what position you can climb to in these five years, and whether you will be qualified to marry him, that is up to you.”

However, Pei Changji asked curiously, “Why him?”

Zheng Tingyang could not help but smile as he looked at the photo of the two of them on his phone. “Because he tore up the love letter I gave him.”

Pei Changji was Zheng Tingyang’s benefactor. For those five years, to repay the debt and even more to create a world of his own, he worked for Pei Changji, the scars on his back growing year by year. In the end, he stood firm and married the person.

Pei Changji knew that Zheng Tingyang’s ability was not limited to being an Executive Director of a branch. The night trading and futures he handled privately abroad had been booming for the past two years. Zheng Tingyang stayed at Changxing only to repay his kindness, and because his purpose in this life was simply to watch over Yu Yan.

Time flew, and the memories came to an abrupt halt. Zheng Tingyang捏着手机, exhaled a puff of white mist. “When are you returning to the country?”

Pei Changji chuckled. “I am afraid that if I return, you will throw Changxing back to me to manage. I had better be lazy for a bit longer. My wife has not been feeling well lately.”

“I will handle the three billion matter myself. Does Changxing want to invest?”

Pei Changji said, “Of course. When President Zheng becomes successful in the future, do not forget me, your mentor and friend.”

Holding a piece of candy, Zheng Tingyang sniffed himself uncertainly. He did not want the smell of alcohol to bother Yu Yan, and his steps became somewhat hesitant. Finally, his footsteps stopped at the door. His nerves, numbed by alcohol, became sluggish. Even precision instruments have moments of slow thinking. He wondered how to explain the injury on his knuckles.

He was such a grown man; if Yu Yan found out he had been foolishly fighting, he did not know if it would scare him. The hotel did not have the surveillance his home did; he could not be sure if Yu Yan was asleep. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Was he asleep?

The room was dark. One of the few lights in the high-rise came from the street lamps outside the floor-to-ceiling window. The water in the infinity pool on the balcony shimmered. His Adam’s apple rolled. He was not prepared to bother the person in the room, lest he do something wrong while drunk. After a glass of water, he felt the scattered medicine bottles on the table.

He had brought many medicines on this trip to the capital. Most were vitamin supplements; he did not remember bringing medicine in a bottle like this. By the light, he saw clearly what this bottle was: Gestational Pheromone Supplement.

This was the medicine he had specifically given Yu Yan before to help him sleep deeply. The pheromones were high concentrations formulated in a lab. Usually, even when he gave it to Yu Yan, he would only give him half a tablet. It seemed Zhou Jiangru had prescribed this specifically for Yu Yan to take during his next heat period to help with pain during certain activities. Taking this would make Yu Yan drowsy, but if he took too much, it would make him…

Zheng Tingyang’s eyes narrowed slightly. By the time he realized it, it was too late. He opened the bedroom door. Yu Yan was half-kneeling on the bed, in the same posture he used in the bathroom at home. As Zheng Tingyang suddenly burst in, Yu Yan’s eyes were filled with panic.

Betas cannot smell pheromones. So, from the moment he walked in, Zheng Tingyang did not know that Yu Yan, just behind the door, was being tortured by the heat, making himself wet all over. The sweet chestnut flavor still left a bit of residue in Zheng Tingyang’s mouth. The sweet medicine; a honey pot like him.

“Tingyang, you are back,” Yu Yan bit his lip, hesitating for a long time. He was wearing one of Zheng Tingyang’s shirts. The suitcases were scattered on the floor, rummaged through and messy. He was biting the collar of another shirt, buried entirely in the nest he had built for himself. A quilt was clamped between his legs, and he was slowly rubbing against it until it was damp.

His skin was delicate, and the hotel quilt was a bit abrasive. He reached out and crawled out of his little nest. He had not managed to pull his pants up properly. His flushed face and the sob in his throat as soon as he opened his mouth said it all, “You came back so late, so late.”

The chestnut candy in Zheng Tingyang’s mouth gave him the illusion that he could actually smell the pheromones. The man walked to the bedside with restrained control and sat down. “What did you take?”

“Medicine.” Yu Yan crawled out of the nest softly. Zheng Tingyang caught him by the waist to protect his pregnant belly. “I was afraid of the pain. If I take this, it will not hurt.”

A beautiful galaxy swirled in his eyes. The shirt buttons were all open, the scenery inside partially visible. His soft pregnant belly protruded, reaching the man’s abdomen even before his hug could. His belly pressed against him, nuzzling him. “The baby is nuzzling you.” He had already lost his clear mind due to the pheromone supplement, falling into the senselessness of the heat period. “I want to nuzzle you, too.”

“Why did you take this? Is your body uncomfortable?”

Yu Yan bit his lip, brought his small face close, and asked him in confusion, “Do you really not know? Tingyang, how can you not know? I do not have any money.” He sniffled, accusing him piteously and aggrievedly. “You are so good to me. How can I be good to you? Want to use me? I am very good. You only used me once, and I already got pregnant.” He hummed and buried his face in Zheng Tingyang’s chest. “You think of me, and I think of you. Other than myself, I have nothing else.”

“And a few bags of fertilizer I bought for the bird-of-paradise flowers at home.”

The crying little fish. His little belly pressed against him like a pregnant cat rolling wantonly in his arms. He took a bite of Zheng Tingyang’s lower lip, wet and soft.

“Yu Yan, do you know what you are doing?” Suddenly, a very low and abrupt question came.

A few minutes ago, he was still recalling the pain of unrequited love. At this moment, his favorite little person had taken the initiative to lie on the bed, turning into a gift waiting for him to unwrap. Waiting for him to grind his teeth, waiting for him to do it.

“Today, you really will not escape.”

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