To Marry My Little Chestnut - Chapter 3

Yu Yan had found this job shortly after his family went bankrupt.

He had studied design in university. His grades in high school were excellent, good enough to get into Beijing University, but his father refused to let him study in another city. In the end, he completed an ordinary undergraduate degree in Haicheng.

After his father fled the country, Zheng Tingyang helped him through his estrus, paid off his remaining debts, and gave him back his freedom.

Yu Yan found this job near the university town. The distance between the flower shop and their residence was only two streets away. It was very close.

The shop owner was a small businessman who also ran a few lottery stations and fish ponds. He had opened the flower shop because his wife liked flowers, and she would come by twice a month to arrange bouquets. The other employee, Ning Yuan, was a student at Haicheng University working part-time.

The two of them worked alternating shifts, though they worked together on Saturdays and Sundays when the shop was busiest.

Today was Tuesday. It had snowed heavily the day before, so there were few cars on the streets. The evergreens on both sides were covered in thick frost, and the wind shook large patches of snow from the branches.

The glass door of the flower shop opened, and the bell hanging beneath a dreamcatcher chimed crisply in the wind. Inside, Ning Yuan was wearing an apron and misting the lilies. The spray from the bottle condensed into a transparent rainbow under the lights.

Seeing him enter, the tall boy grinned, revealing a row of white teeth. “Good morning, Brother Yan.”

Yu Yan’s eyes were filled with surprise. Small water droplets from the short walk had condensed on his long eyelashes. He was wrapped up tightly in a scarf, mask, and hat. Nothing was visible except for his eyes.

“How did you know it was me?” he asked curiously.

Ning Yuan answered honestly, “Orange figured it out.”

Yu Yan turned to look. The fat ginger cat sitting on the sofa jumped down with a heavy thud and let out a long meow at him.

“He has been meowing ever since you got out of the car,” Ning Yuan said. “He has very sharp eyes.”

Yu Yan could not help but smile. He slowly set down his small backpack and took off his hat. The static electricity caused several strands of his short hair to stand up in the air. Ning Yuan wiped his hands and helped him smooth them down.

“You are dressed so extravagantly. This scarf is wrapped so tightly it is airtight.” Ning Yuan helped him unwrap it, then looked down as if he had seen something remarkable.

Yu Yan blinked. “What is it?”

“When you wear the mask, your breath hits your eyelashes and turns into water droplets. Brother Yan, are your eyelashes really this long?”

Are they? He touched his lashes, and a drop of water fell onto his fingertip.

“Your eyes are so beautiful. For my final project later this term, I am going to sculpt your eyes. It will definitely get a high score!”

Ning Yuan was a sculpture major with good grades. He even had a piece selected for the university exhibition at the end of the year. He had a lively personality and loved to talk. He had an older brother who worked at Haicheng University. He often told Yu Yan that if his brother had half of Yu Yan’s patience, his life would be much easier.

Yu Yan had no siblings, so he enjoyed the company of a younger brother figure like Ning Yuan.

When it was time for class, Ning Yuan threw on his crossbody bag while biting into a piece of freshly toasted bread. “I have to go, Brother. I will move the heavy flowers tonight; do not strain your back.”

“I am not that fragile,” Yu Yan mumbled with a frown. He took a bite of toast and fed the bacon bits inside to the fat ginger cat at his feet.

The dreamcatcher bell chimed again as Ning Yuan reached the door, but he paused, wrinkled his nose, and turned back.

“What is wrong?” Yu Yan asked.

Ning Yuan leaned over the table and sniffed the air near Yu Yan. “Brother Yan, is your scent-blocking sticker expired? There is a scent of cake in the shop.”

He leaned in closer, trying to be sure. “Is it just my imagination?”

Yu Yan let out a soft sound of surprise. “I put it on in a hurry this morning; maybe it is not on right. Hurry up or you will be late for class.”

“Christmas is coming, and the shop will be busy. If your scent leaks out, I am worried you will run into trouble. I will buy you some new stickers after class.”

“Okay.” Yu Yan smiled faintly.

Ning Yuan knew Yu Yan was married and pregnant, so his concern was purely platonic. He simply wanted to look after him, especially since he suspected Yu Yan’s marriage was not ideal.

Yu Yan had not registered his marriage until several months after discovering the pregnancy. Furthermore, his husband had never once appeared at the shop, let alone picked him up or dropped him off. Now that Yu Yan was clearly showing, the man was still nowhere to be seen. Ning Yuan felt sorry for him. Yu Yan looked barely older than himself and was so thin and small.

Yu Yan pushed him out to head to class. Before leaving, Ning Yuan took a quick photo of him on his phone, intending to ask his professor if he could sculpt those eyes.

The streets were sparsely populated as workers cleared the snow. Across the street from the flower shop, the window of a parked Maybach rolled down slowly. A bit of cigarette ash was flicked out before the window rolled back up, and the car drove off, leaving tire tracks in the snow.

Ning Yuan heard the roar of the engine and turned his head in confusion. He felt like he had been seeing that Maybach quite often lately.

Yu Yan put on his apron, trimmed some flower stems, and packed two delivery orders before he finally felt hungry.

The shop was bright and spacious, with shelves filled with different varieties of flowers. Orange paced back and forth, helping pull out bags before jumping from the flower stand to the checkout counter to wait for lunch.

The microwave beeped. As Yu Yan carefully divided lunch between himself and the cat, he noticed a cat treat and a pack of milk tablets at the bottom of the bag.

Yu Yan had a tendency to get low blood sugar due to his frail health, but he did not like candy. Zheng Tingyang must have put them there.

“Meow.” Orange began rubbing against his hand, flopping onto the checkout counter. Its chubby body pressed the calculator, which began beeping “6666.”

“Alright, I will feed you.” Yu Yan laughed. He popped a milk tablet into his mouth and began feeding the cat treat to Orange. The tablet was not overly sweet but had a rich, milky flavor.

He touched his gland; it was still warm. He did not have a fever, so he assumed it was just the tail end of his estrus period.

He arranged a bouquet of tulips and baby’s breath to take home for his own vase. As he chewed the milk tablet, the shop’s television replayed yesterday’s financial news from Haicheng.

Changhang Group was a rapidly expanding giant that had monopolized half the international shipping ports in the country, with brands ranging from clothing to jewelry. Everyone was desperate to work there.

The CEO of Haicheng operations: Zheng Tingyang.

Just listening to the news while arranging flowers made Yu Yan’s mood much better.

“Xiao Yu, did you see the TV!” A voice message arrived on his phone. “Zheng Tingyang! He is actually the CEO of Changhang Haicheng?! Holy crap!”

“Xiao Yu” was his childhood nickname.

Yu Yan touched his belly, shielding it as if to tell the baby that bad words were not part of prenatal education. “I saw it,” he hummed, chewing the last of the milk tablet.

Xiang Qian was his best friend from high school and university. He was a Beta and had been in the same class as Yu Yan; he had been copying Yu Yan’s homework since they were kids. He was also the only person who knew Yu Yan’s husband was Zheng Tingyang.

“I am sorry I could not help with your father’s situation, Xiao Yu. You know how strict my family is. When my dad found out your family was in trouble, he would not let me contact you. He grounded me for months. It was so annoying,” Xiang Qian complained over the phone.

Yu Yan’s father had signed a gambling contract to buy a mine, but the veins did not yield the promised amount, leaving behind hundreds of millions in debt. His father had fled, leaving Yu Yan to face the debt alone. Even after selling the house and all properties, it was not enough to fill the hole. When Xiang Qian tried to take a few million from his family’s company, his father beat him and forbade him from speaking to Yu Yan again.

Everyone in their circle thought the young master of the Yu family was doomed. He would either be beaten to death by debt collectors or played to death.

Yu Yan still remembered the night he was auctioned off by the debt collectors. He had been injected with an estrus inducer and locked in a cage on a stage. He watched the bosses below bid until the price reached sixty million.

There was a saying in Haicheng: Pearls in the sea are easy to find, but a young master of the Yu family is rare.

Old Master Yu had several illegitimate children, but they were all sent to other cities for alliances once they came of age. Yu Yan was only one raised in the Yu residence, solely because his pheromone concentration was the highest, he was a premium Omega. Whether he was given away or traded for business, he was a guaranteed profit. For this reason, his father had been very strict with him since childhood.

That night, sixty million was not nearly enough to pay the debt. That meant that after his first marking was sold, he might be sold a second time. He was terrified, his shoulders shaking as he wept.

Then, a man in the corner raised his paddle, walked onto the stage, and placed a “Sky Lantern” bid, meaning he would outbid anyone, no matter the price. He was determined to have the Omega in the cage.

That man was Zheng Tingyang.

Their first night happened smoothly. Yu Yan was suffering and humiliated by the estrus injection. Zheng Tingyang gently asked if he could touch him there to help. As a Beta, Zheng Tingyang could not mark him, so he asked if he could enter the reproductive chamber to relieve the pain.

Yu Yan had agreed in a daze. Zheng Tingyang’s embrace was much warmer than the cage. He held the man tightly. When he woke up the next morning, he learned the man had already paid off his hundred-million-dollar debt. Zheng Tingyang gently asked if he wanted to stay.

Yu Yan shook his head; he wanted to live on his own. Zheng Tingyang did not stop him and even told him not to feel burdened by the debt he had paid. At the time, no one in Haicheng knew a businessman named Zheng Tingyang; they did not know where he had come from.

“Xiao Yu? Are you there? Are you okay?” Xiang Qian asked worriedly. “Is he good to you?”

Yu Yan chewed the milk tablet, a beautiful, deep dimple appearing as he smiled. “He is very good.”

Xiang Qian breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, he is a CEO now, so I guess he has turned his life around. Otherwise, based on how he was in high school, I would not be at ease. If he ever dares to lay a hand on you, I will call the police for you!”

Yu Yan replied, “He was not that bad in high school.”

“Did you forget? He was the most famous delinquent in our school. He was a freshman and dared to pick fights with seniors. He was such a bastard.”

Yu Yan pursed his lips, his hands pausing. “Was he? I am not really sure.”

“That is true, you were too busy studying.” Xiang Qian muttered that he would find a way to sneak out and visit him soon.

Yu Yan’s thoughts drifted as he poked at Orange’s fur. Not close… were they?

On the phone, Xiang Qian ranted about how much of a slave-driver his father was, forcing him to go on blind dates with idiots, and occasionally pausing to curse Zheng Tingyang for being “insincere” and getting Yu Yan pregnant so quickly. Yu Yan poked Orange again.

He thought to himself: There is no one in the world better or purer than Zheng Tingyang.

At seventeen, he had torn up Zheng Tingyang’s love letter in front of him and told him he was not worthy. At twenty-four, he was sold by his father, and Zheng Tingyang sat in the audience, paying a fortune for his first night.

After everything, it was still Zheng Tingyang.

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