Sheng Li really wanted to spend more time with Zuo Chi, but he also knew they were discussing cooperation between companies, and it might involve some business secrets. He had no reason to push himself into the conversation.
He watched Zuo Chi and Qin Xu walk into the restaurant, feeling somewhat choked up. After aimlessly wandering around for a while, he received a call from Li Mingchuan, asking him to return to the Sheng family for dinner.
Since the engagement was called off, Sheng Changyu hadn’t looked at him kindly, and their father-son relationship had reached a freezing point again. Li Mingchuan wanted Sheng Li to spend more time at home and communicate with his father to ease the family conflict.
Sheng Li returned to the Sheng family. When he entered, Sheng Changyu didn’t say a word to him. Li Mingchuan gave his son a meaningful look with his eyes, wanting him to take the initiative.
Sheng Li asked about Qin Xu’s background, which annoyed Sheng Changyu once again. The relationship between the Sheng family and the Qin family wasn’t particularly close, but they had always maintained superficial relations. It was unclear why Qin Yanren hadn’t sent them an invitation to this birthday banquet.
Forgetting seemed unlikely. With so many people in the Qin family, not a single person remembered? Could it be that the invitation was sent to the wrong address? It was unlikely to make such a basic mistake. Sheng Changyu couldn’t recall any grudges he had with the Qin family.
Li Mingchuan said, “A bastard child, how could the Qin family agree to let him replace Qin Rui’s position?”
Sheng Changyu shot Sheng Li a glare. “The Qin family’s affairs are none of our concern. Instead of worrying about others, why don’t you worry about yourself?”
Sheng Li sneered, “Is the Sheng Group struggling? Do you need to sell your son to turn things around?”
Li Mingchuan frowned. “Sheng Li!”
Sheng Changyu slammed the table in anger. “If you weren’t my son, what right would you have to sit in the office of the Sheng Group! Shouldn’t you be putting in some effort for the company?”
Li Mingchuan sighed helplessly. “Changyu, calm down a bit.”
Neither father nor son were willing to back down. Sheng Li left before finishing his meal. Once in the car, he messaged Zuo Chi, asking if he had finished eating.
Zuo Chi didn’t reply, probably still discussing work.
For the next week, Sheng Li worked during the day and either went to the gym or had dinner with friends at night. On Friday, after work, he went to visit Xu Hui and Bai Fan’s new home. Surprisingly, Xiang Yiqun and Xu Hui bet on whether Zuo Chi would come with him.
Sheng Li looked at Xu Hui in surprise. “You didn’t know?”
Xu Hui asked, “Know what?”
“My engagement with Zuo Chi has been canceled,” Sheng Li said casually. After all, the engagement had once been a constraint on him and Zuo Chi.
“Isn’t your father eager for you and Zuo Chi to get married immediately? Didn’t canceling the engagement get you into trouble?” Xu Hui asked.
After drinking a bit, when Xiang Yiqun asked again, Sheng Li’s thoughts suddenly returned to the night Zuo Chi returned to the country. The words “canceling the engagement” popped out of Zuo Chi’s mouth, making him both disbelieving and unable to accept it.
Didn’t Zuo Chi like him? Although perhaps only a little, why cancel the engagement?
He took a sip of wine, feeling an unusual desire to confide. He wanted his friends to help him analyze it. “Zuo Chi canceled it voluntarily.”
“How is that possible? If he was going to cancel it, why agree in the first place, making things awkward for both of you and ruining your friendship?” Tai Xingyu said. “Did you force him?”
Why indeed? Why would Zuo Chi, regardless of his feelings, blindly agree to the engagement, ruining their friendship, only to suggest canceling it now?
Was it because he didn’t want to sacrifice himself for the future of the company anymore, or was it because he couldn’t face their deteriorating relationship? Did he pressure Zuo Chi into it?
Thinking about bringing a model to the birthday party, Sheng Li felt a bit guilty. He squinted his eyes, leaning back in his chair, hesitating to ask, “Does this mean we can’t even be friends now?”
A sarcastic laugh came from Xiang Yiqun. “You still want to be friends with him?”
Zhou Jing bluntly retorted, “Scumbag.”
Xiang Yiqun echoed, “Exactly!”
Sheng Li felt a bit embarrassed. “Alright, enough criticizing me. Today is about celebrating Xu Hui and Bai Fan moving in together. They are the main characters.”
Shifting the topic away from himself, Sheng Li felt a heavy weight in his heart. His friends were calling him a scumbag without knowing what had happened between him and Zuo Chi. From Zuo Chi’s perspective, he must be… Sheng Li had spent the two months since Zuo Chi left China reflecting on his behavior. He seemed to have been unfair to Zuo Chi, letting negative emotions control him since the engagement began. He often spoke without thinking, always hurting Zuo Chi.
He wasn’t stupid. Zuo Chi said they were still friends, but it was obvious that Zuo Chi wasn’t as clingy as before.
He must be angry with him.
He should apologize.
It was already past eleven when Sheng Li came out from Xu Hui’s house. He called a designated driver and waited by the roadside.
Xiang Yiqun and Zhou Jing were sticking together affectionately. Tai Xingyu asked, “Aren’t you guys feeling hot?”
Xiang Yiqun replied, “You wouldn’t understand, being a single dog!”
Tai Xingyu laughed and looked at Sheng Li. “Do you understand?”
Sheng Li shook his head blankly, staring at his shoes. “Xingyu, did I do something wrong…?”
Tai Xingyu hooked his shoulder. “Let me ask you two questions. First, regardless of what kind of feelings you have for Zuo Chi, can you accept losing him?”
Sheng Li didn’t hesitate. “I can’t lose him.”
For over twenty years, Zuo Chi had become a part of his life.
Tai Xingyu wasn’t surprised. “Second, if you don’t want to lose him, then there are two paths—either you two are together, or you each go your separate ways with others. Can you accept him being with someone else?”
Sheng Li suddenly looked up. When Tai Xingyu mentioned this scenario, a scene from his dream popped into his mind—the one where Zuo Chi and Cheng Xiangwan stood together by the claw machine.
He thought he could accept it, especially since he witnessed Zuo Chi dating several Omega boyfriends. But now, as he delved deeper into his memories, he had to admit that he hated the idea of Zuo Chi being with someone else. Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
Zuo Chi should be closest to him, and no one else should think they could take his place in Zuo Chi’s heart.
Was this love?
Was this considered love?
Tai Xingyu saw his expression and knew the answer. “You can’t both not want him to be with someone else and not give him any promises. Zuo Chi has no reason to wait for you forever.”
The designated driver arrived. Tai Xingyu looked at Sheng Li’s dazed expression with some helplessness. “Let’s get in the car first.”
Sheng Li got into the car, his mind in turmoil. He thought about everything that had happened between him and Zuo Chi in the past half year, and the more he thought, the more confused he felt. He often deliberately ignored Zuo Chi’s messages, said he didn’t seem like an Omega, suspected Zuo Chi of manipulating him, and brought other Omega’s in front of Zuo Chi…
What had he done? He treated Zuo Chi worse than any other Omega, but clearly, this wasn’t what he wanted.
He just… couldn’t understand his own heart.
But as Tai Xingyu said, Zuo Chi had no reason to wait for him forever. Faced with his repeated indifference, had Zuo Chi’s heart been broken?
Had that little bit of affection been completely consumed?
For the first time, Sheng Li viewed these matters from an outsider’s perspective, as if waking up from a big dream, his heart dull with pain, filled with regret and fear.
He told the driver Zuo Chi’s new address. Watching the passing street scenes through the car window, he prayed for the car to go faster. He had so much to say to Zuo Chi; he wanted to apologize, to let Zuo Chi scold him, hit him, kick him, anything…
The phone rang, breaking the quiet atmosphere in the car. Sheng Li glanced at the caller ID—it was Zhang Xiaoyun. “What’s up?”
Zhang Xiaoyun exclaimed, “Dude! Sheng Li! I just found out some major gossip today!”
Sheng Li didn’t want to hear it. “It’s okay, I’ll hang up.”
“Don’t! It’s really juicy! I was out with Stone and the others, guess who we bumped into?”
He didn’t need to answer. Zhang Xiaoyun continued, “We ran into Han Qice! Do you remember him?”
Sheng Li said, “I’m not sure…”
“The Alpha who liked Zuo Chi back in middle school! I remember Zuo Chi said he was an Alpha just to reject him!”
Sheng Li remembered, because Zuo Chi had rejected him outright, he hadn’t bothered to find out more about him. The mention of Zuo Chi sparked a desire in him to hear more. “What about Han Qice?”
“Han Qice is here drinking alone. Stone used to be friends with him, so he asked what’s wrong. Han Qice said he couldn’t understand why Zuo Chi didn’t look for him after canceling the engagement. Stone asked what was so hard to understand, didn’t Zuo Chi like Omegas? And then Han Qice said, if Zuo Chi likes Omegas, why did he get engaged to that illegitimate child from the Qin family? Damn it! When did Zuo Chi get engaged to Qin Xu? Do you know?”
Sheng Li was dumbfounded, feeling like a huge stone was dropping in his heart. He remembered seeing Zuo Chi and Qin Xu entering the restaurant together during the day, feeling like a complete idiot.
Why didn’t they bring along their assistants if it was for business? Qin Xu had just returned to the country; what business could they discuss so quickly? Were they discussing cooperation or something else during their private dinner? Was their visit to the taekwondo gym also a private date?
He had asked Zuo Chi, but Zuo Chi hadn’t told him the truth! Why keep it from him?
Why cancel the engagement with him, only to turn around and get engaged to Qin Xu? Was he so eager to marry an Alpha?
How could Zuo Chi get engaged to someone else after breaking up with him?
Through the phone, Zhang Xiaoyun didn’t notice Sheng Li’s discomfort. “Didn’t Zuo Chi tell you? Is it true or not? Han Qice said it was Qin Xuan who told him, so it shouldn’t be wrong.”
Qin Xuan?
Sheng Li remembered at the old master’s Qin’s funeral, Qin Xuan had called Zuo Chi “in-law.” If Qin Rui hadn’t gotten into an accident, then the one engaged to Zuo Chi would be Qin Rui.
Now that Qin Rui was still unconscious but Qin Xu had appeared, after such a big detour, the Zou family found that marrying into the Qin family was still the most beneficial. Everything went back to square one.
What was he? While he agonized over his own faults, Zuo Chi was having dinner with other Alphas.
Sheng Li clutched his chest, feeling like something had been forcibly torn away from him, his heart hurting so much he couldn’t breathe.
