Why is this top-tier Alpha boss acting like this? - Chapter 21

At 10:28 PM, Cheng Yan stood at his front door, opening it with a wooden expression. Only a single light remained on in the house; the living room was quiet.

Qin Leyan had already gone to bed.

He changed his shoes and walked to the sofa, throwing himself into the soft cushions and closing his eyes to empty his exhausted mind. The overtime Song Yang called for—checking the retailer data—had actually turned up issues. They spent the rest of the time searching for alternative partners and haggling with the problematic retailers. Fortunately, no contracts had been signed yet, so there was still time to fix everything, but the process of arguing back and forth was mentally draining.

The guest room door opened, and Qin Leyan walked out in his pajamas. To get his brother’s attention, he intentionally stomped his feet as he walked.

The construction quality of this building was good, and the floors were thick, but Cheng Yan still frowned and spoke up. “Walk lighter in the middle of the night. If the neighbors downstairs hear you, you’re a public nuisance.”

Qin Leyan puffed out his cheeks and sat heavily beside him. “Hmph!”

Cheng Yan looked at him with amusement. “Still haven’t cooled off?”

Qin Leyan gave him a fake smile. “Not even a little! You actually helped an outsider bully your own brother!”

He spoke as if he had suffered some grand injustice. Cheng Yan gave a light chuckle. “Don’t put it like that. He only said two sentences, totaling eight words. He didn’t bully you.”

This time, Qin Leyan was truly laughed into a state of exasperated fury. “Brother! Can you really not hear it?”

At the moment Song Yang explained the reason for the overtime, Cheng Yan had actually wavered, but once they truly found the problems with those retailers, he believed in Song Yang again. The facts were right there; Song Yang had only called for the last-minute overtime because he noticed something was off. It was just as Song Yang said: there wasn’t time to notify anyone before Qin Leyan called. The logic held up. Therefore, Qin Leyan was truly overthinking it.

He turned his head and looked helplessly at his brother. “President Song really has no reason to make life difficult for a kid like you.”

Qin Leyan’s eyes widened, looking at Cheng Yan with total frustration. “Brother! I told you, don’t easily trust Alphas!”

Cheng Yan closed his eyes sleepily. “How did this turn into a gender thing again?”

This comment only drew another cold snort from Qin Leyan. Then, he heard the sound of Qin Leyan walking away. He forced one eye open to look; Qin Leyan had returned to his room.

He let out a tired sigh and closed his eyes again, planning to rest for a bit before washing up. But before long, Qin Leyan’s pitter-patter footsteps returned. He ran to Cheng Yan’s side, lowered his head, and slipped something onto his hand. “Good thing I was prepared! I’m just too clever!”

Cheng Yan sat up and looked at his wrist. It was a red string braided with a peace knot, with a small solid silver bar tied in the center, taking up about a third of the bracelet.

He raised an eyebrow. “What is this?”

Qin Leyan said proudly, “A peace knot hand-string! It’s been blessed… uh, it protects your peace. I specifically sought this out for you. Except for showering, you are not allowed to take it off!”

Cheng Yan smiled. “Fine, I’ll wear it.”

Satisfied, Qin Leyan stood up, gave a few more instructions, and went back to his room. Cheng Yan lifted his hand and looked at the red string again. It actually looked quite nice.

The next morning, he once again stepped into the office early. To his surprise, someone was even earlier than him. Seeing Xiao Lin and Zhang Qing who had arrived ahead of time, he raised a hand in greeting. “Good morning. Why are you two here so early?”

Xiao Lin, sporting two dark circles, gave a strained smile. “Morning, Boss. It’s because of yesterday. There was some cleanup work left over. It was too late last night, so we had to come in early today to finish it.”

Zhang Qing swallowed her bite of bread and nodded in agreement. “Me too. Yesterday was too exhausting.”

Cheng Yan walked to his station, pulled out his chair, and began tidying his desk. It was still a mess; last night’s work had drained his physical strength, and once the task was done, he hadn’t bothered with the clutter before heading home.

“Hey, Boss, when did you start wearing a red string? It looks pretty good.”

Zhang Qing’s curious voice reached his ears. He looked up to see her drinking milk while smiling at him. At the mention of gossip, Xiao Lin instantly perked up, jogging over to Cheng Yan’s desk. “Where? Where? Let me see. What red string?”

Xiao Lin peered and poked his head about; he didn’t dare touch it, but he was brave enough to stare. Cheng Yan simply extended his hand to let them have their fill. His hand was long and well-proportioned, with a delicate wrist bone. The bright red string tied to the silver bar looked indescribably handsome.

Xiao Lin tutted. “Wow, it is nice!”

Zhang Qing giggled. “Good taste, Boss. Where did you buy it?”

The corners of Cheng Yan’s mouth curled up slightly as he replied warmly, “A gift. I think it was sought from a temple.”

Xiao Lin raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. “From a temple? Blessed? Ohoho, could it be for matchmaking?”

Zhang Qing leaned in closer, inspecting the string. “It looks very detailed. Was it a gift from that Omega who brought you lunch last time?”

Cheng Yan retracted his hand and nodded. “Yes, he gave it to me.”

“Gave you what?”

The teasing expressions on Xiao Lin and Zhang Qing’s faces froze for a split second. They turned back in unison. “Pres… President Song!”

Had they been caught by Song Yang while chatting again?

Cheng Yan looked over and indeed saw Song Yang standing nearby. Today, the man was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with gray cargo pants, a short-sleeved button-down layered over it, and a black crossbody bag on his shoulder. He had switched back to the “college student” look.

Song Yang nodded to them. “Don’t be nervous. It’s not working hours yet.”

With that, he walked over, pulled over a chair from the workstation next to Zhang Qing, and sat down. “You were just saying, what did an Omega give you?”

Song Yang looked up at Cheng Yan and asked with a smile, “Can I see?”

Unlike his usual sternness, Song Yang’s expression today was relaxed, making him seem less distant. But for some reason, Cheng Yan felt his smile was a bit strange.

Because it was Song Yang, Cheng Yan felt it was a bit embarrassing to display his hand again. So, he directly unfastened the red string from his wrist and placed it on the desk. “It’s nothing special. Zhang Qing and Xiao Lin just thought it looked nice, so they asked a few questions.”

Song Yang’s gaze fell on the red string for several seconds. “Oh, it is quite nice. From a temple? What does it protect?”

Cheng Yan recalled what Qin Leyan said last night and answered honestly, “It protects peace.”

Song Yang gave an “oh.” “The style is okay, and the meaning is good. We should hold a team-building event and have everyone go seek one.”

Song Corp’s team-building was always generous—trips for eating and playing—and at the end, the boss would send large Red Envelopes in the group chat. They never did those messy collective games, so the employees actually enjoyed them.

Seeing Song Yang being exceptionally amiable today, Xiao Lin gathered his courage and joined the conversation. “That actually sounds great. Boss can ask which temple it is. We can go pray first and then find a place to have a big meal.”

Zhang Qing poured a cup of water and brought it over, placing it by Song Yang’s hand. “President Song, have some water.”

Song Yang turned and thanked her. “Thank you, but there’s no need. I brought my own water.”

With that, he unzipped his crossbody bag and pulled out a thermos.

A pink one.

Cheng Yan looked at that familiar pink thermos, and his brain went numb. He stared blankly as Song Yang unscrewed the lid. A plume of steam rose up; Song Yang, like an old cadre, blew on the cup and lowered his head to take a sip.

Beside him, Xiao Lin and Zhang Qing were dazed.

Family, who could understand this! A world-class powerful Alpha, whose pheromones alone could make all of Song Corp tremble, was actually—right in front of them—generously pulling out a… soft, pink thermos…

The visual was comparable to an ancient general wearing lace.

What was going on? Could it be… President Song’s iron heart was blooming?

Xiao Lin’s mouth twitched. His expression was clearly terrified, but he couldn’t resist his curiosity. He asked tremblingly, “President Song, this… cup… is?”

Song Yang replaced the lid, cradled the cup in his arms, and the smile on his face deepened. “Oh, this? Someone gave it to me.”

Zhang Qing’s smile was awkward yet full of gossip. “Was it… an Omega?”

Song Yang shook his head. “No, it was an Alpha.”

Cheng Yan took a deep breath and couldn’t help but cut in. “President Song, that was the only color left at the time. I explained that to you.”

The two stunned gossiping colleagues snapped their heads toward him, the fire of curiosity burning brighter in their eyes. It turned out the Alpha who gave the cup was right here!

Song Yang said dismissively, “I know. I think it works quite well. What about it?”

What about it?

Cheng Yan’s lips moved, but he couldn’t find the words. Thinking carefully, there wasn’t… really anything wrong with it. He gave the cup, Song Yang thought it was useful, and he brought it to use the next day. No problem there.

But he just felt something was weird.

Seeing him remain silent, Song Yang stood up. “It’s getting late. I’m going back to my office.”

With that, he stuffed the little pink cup into his bag, turned, and slowly walked out.

Once Song Yang left, the two gossiping spectators were “unsealed.” They surrounded him on both sides, saying nothing, but their eyes said everything. Cheng Yan, with a headache, recounted exactly what happened yesterday.

It was just a perfectly normal event. Once the two heard it, they lost interest and turned back to their work.

However, he didn’t expect that for the rest of the day, Song Yang would bring that cup to meetings, bring it on inspections, and when people came to submit files, he would make a show of taking a sip from the cup before letting them leave.

By the end of the day, Cheng Yan was pulled aside by everyone he met to inquire about Song Yang’s private love life. His WeChat was being bombarded; if he didn’t look for a moment, it was 99+. Everyone was asking if Song Yang had an Omega. It took him forever to find actual work messages.

There is no damn Omega! He’s just sick in the head!

After work, he didn’t go straight home. Instead, he drove to the nearest mall and walked into a store specializing in thermoses.

Cheng Yan: “Hello, which larger thermoses do you have in stock?”

He thought for a moment and added a requirement: “I want it in black.”

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