President Huo felt like he was in an exceptionally long dream.
In the dream, he was still in Jiangnan, in the only bright colors of his entire youth, with Liang Xiao always by his side.
Little Liang Xiao pulled him into mischief, pulled him into disobedience, pulled him into rebellious acts he had never done in all his years of growing up.
Pulled him to splash in the light reflected on water in the rain, on wet, empty, wide roads, in the quiet night with twinkling stardust, where the streetlights’ glow was warm, so bright it seemed to splash up with the water.
Young Huo Lan was rigid and dull, so slow and stubborn it could drive anyone mad. Little Liang Xiao would get so angry he’d wave his arms like windmills, but then he’d calm down on his own, squeeze close, and pass him notes.
The thin, slender boy, happy and carefree, with eyes whose bright smile never carried a hint of gloom.
Making him believe that the world he saw… should be just like that.
He never knew that little Liang Xiao went to work, never knew that little Liang Xiao saved money to buy him food to strengthen his body, never knew that little Liang Xiao secretly protected him, and despite being ruthlessly retaliated against and threatened by the branch family, still stubbornly refused to leave.
He never knew that on that night when he was burning with fever, little Liang Xiao was actually by his side.
By his side, using an inducer to trigger his gland differentiation regardless of the cost, forcibly causing his pheromones to lose control and erupt.
To save his life.
The downpour on the night of his differentiation in his memory had never actually existed, nor was it an illusion-it was the pheromones that Liang Xiao had desperately induced to save him.
President Huo’s heart was forced by the cold, his chest constricted, almost shivering from the cold.
He uncontrollably recalled all the past events over and over, countless details that should have been noticed but were intentionally or unintentionally overlooked, suddenly becoming so vivid they couldn’t be ignored.
The day they confessed their feelings, Liang Xiao vaguely told him he didn’t want to see that person.
Drunk Liang Xiao cried so hard he could barely breathe, yet still stubbornly held back any sound, because he had something to hide and couldn’t let his friend from Jiangnan hear.
On that night when the past was brought up, Liang Xiao, delirious with high fever, still persistently clung to him, insisting that he must not bully the young Huo Lan.
…
President Huo didn’t dare to go against Liang Xiao’s words, yet he couldn’t help but despise his past self.
How could he have been so obtuse?
How could he not have noticed anything?
It was already so obvious, why hadn’t he realized it all along, why hadn’t he been able to figure it out?
Why had he been able to return to the capital with a clear conscience, live all these years with a clear conscience, and continue living until now with a clear conscience?
President Huo’s chest hurt to the point of numbness, and he closed his eyes.
Those page numbers that little Liang Xiao, enduring the pheromone eruption, had shakily erased that night, and the QAQs he had redrawn page by page.
How many things had he wanted to tell him… but had no chance to say?
“Mr. Liang did have something to tell you.”
The butler stood by his side and carefully spoke: “He originally wanted to find an opportunity to tell you properly. Mr. Liang was always worried you would find out accidentally, so he recorded a message for you…”
The butler clutched a voice recorder that had been prepared earlier and hesitated: “Do you want to listen?”
President Huo’s gaze fell on the voice recorder, his eyes softening slightly as he reached out to touch it.
President Huo took the voice recorder and slowly gripped it in his hand.
The butler was somewhat anxious: “No, you need to press here to play-”
President Huo shook his head, avoiding the butler’s hand, and carefully put the voice recorder away close to his body.
“He would say,” President Huo said, “not to blame myself, that he was happy to meet me, that meeting me was the happiest thing for him.”
The butler froze, opened his mouth, but couldn’t speak.
President Huo lowered his gaze, his voice even gentler and more measured than usual, as if afraid of breaking some dream: “He would be very spirited, would comfort me, would pretend not to be in pain at all, to keep me from feeling bad.”
“He would say… that leaving without saying goodbye was his fault, keeping it from me was his fault, that he was too young then and couldn’t find a better solution.”
President Huo’s eyes were calm and still, but his expression remained gentle: “He would tell me that what’s past is past, and we still have countless futures ahead.”
The butler had originally wanted to call Mr. Liang, but his hand holding the phone slowly lowered. He looked at him for a while and said in a choked voice: “Please stop.”
President Huo wanted to continue, shook his head, and said softly: “After running away from home-”
He was stung by these words, his eyes trembling slightly with pain, his brows furrowing slightly before he corrected himself: “After running away from where I lived.”
“He wandered for two months, drinking tap water desperately when he had no food, sleeping on lounge chairs when he had nowhere to stay.”
President Huo continued: “He couldn’t take care of his health, was always desperately trying to earn money, and when he finally had a place to stay, he went to study.”
“At that time, Feiyang Pharmaceuticals’ suppressants hadn’t been developed yet.” President Huo slowly continued, “Hospital suppressants had unstable effects, had to be used long-term, and could lead to pheromone loss of control at any time.”
President Huo said calmly: “Each loss of control was another brush with death.”
The butler was too heartbroken to continue listening and said hoarsely: “President Huo-”
“I can’t bear to hear it either,” President Huo said. “But he survived.”
It was extremely difficult for him to even listen to it once-the ten years that Liang Xiao had struggled through, covered in wounds, because of him.
If they had never met, Liang Xiao might not have needed to study, would have been healthy, could have done anything he wanted.
Without meeting him, Liang Xiao wouldn’t have been targeted by the branch family, wouldn’t have had to flee to the capital, wouldn’t have damaged his body to the point where it still hadn’t fully recovered.
He wouldn’t have been used as bait by Long Tao, wouldn’t have had another brush with death.
President Huo had always been trying to suppress his guilt. He didn’t want this guilt to become a burden between them; he wanted to be with Liang Xiao properly, to give Liang Xiao everything he had long deserved.
But… this final straw, he hadn’t anticipated.
He had never thought about it, never dared to even slightly consider it.
President Huo could even imagine how Liang Xiao would comfort him, what words he would say, but these words somehow didn’t seem enough to erase everything that had happened.
The butler trembled with pain and said hoarsely: “It’s not your fault, you never knew…”
President Huo’s gaze fell on the window outside, looking at the overwhelming rain curtain, and asked in return: “Isn’t that exactly why I should be blamed?”
The butler was speechless.
President Huo closed his eyes.
Liang Xiao’s fate had been entangled in wounds and thorns because of meeting him, and he hadn’t even known.
He hadn’t known anything, had lived with a clear conscience, had even loved Mr. Liang with a clear conscience.
People around him all seemed unable to escape this strange cycle. When he thought he was unforgivable for harming his mother, Liang Xiao was struggling alone for his life, barely managing to continue living with all his effort.
He had even been envisioning their future.
After harming Liang Xiao to this extent, he was still envisioning a future.
President Huo lowered his gaze, masochistically repeating in a soft voice: “I actually knew nothing.”
President Huo: “How can I ever repay him?”
–
By the time the car stopped at the villa entrance, the rain was so heavy that people could barely be seen.
The night was deep, everything before them submerged in the rain curtain, an overwhelming cold waterscape pressing down so heavily that one could barely breathe.
President Huo didn’t let the butler follow and went upstairs alone.
“How did it come to this?” The head of the bodyguards had been vigilant against the branch family’s mischief but never expected an accident in this regard. He paced anxiously. “What should we do? Contact Mr. Liang?”
The butler was physically and mentally exhausted: “First… don’t rush.”
President Huo’s current condition was too poor, and the butler wasn’t sure whether to notify Mr. Liang at this point. He sighed heavily: “Even if Mr. Liang came now, it might not be good for President Huo… Let President Huo calm down first.”
“I’ll contact the doctor first; President Huo’s pheromones might be problematic.”
The butler grabbed the head of the bodyguards: “You must keep an eye on the branch family no matter what. If anyone causes trouble, make an example of them immediately.”
“I know.” The head of the bodyguards ground his teeth, barely containing his murderous intent. “These bastards…”
Alpha bodies are much stronger than ordinary people’s, and President Huo, apart from being troubled by pheromone issues, hadn’t been sick for many years. This time, with the unexpected physical and mental shock, there was no telling what problems might arise.
The butler didn’t dare relax, sent a message to the private doctor, looked at the head of the bodyguards, and bit his lip: “Give me… a few of your bodyguards.”
The head of the bodyguards felt his heart sink and frowned deeply: “Is it that serious?”
“Better safe than sorry.” The butler was also out of ideas and sighed heavily. “Let’s wait a day first and see when the weather clears.”
The butler looked at the rain outside and said softly: “If President Huo can’t get over this hurdle, we can’t just do nothing… Let’s take it one step at a time.”
The prophecy came true.
The rain persisted for an entire day, and the villa was motionless, almost eerily calm.
President Huo didn’t appear particularly abnormal and even rang for dinner the second night. The butler urgently supervised the kitchen and personally delivered the meal, only to find President Huo seriously working on the problems Mr. Liang had given him.
He was down to the last problem.
The butler didn’t dare disturb him, left the food quietly, and left. Two hours later, he suddenly felt something was wrong and rushed up with people to break open the door.
President Huo had collapsed in the corner of the room, drenched in cold sweat and barely conscious, the room chillingly cold.
…
“A stress-induced pheromone eruption… Alpha pheromones are inherently unstable and easily affected by emotions.”
The doctor couldn’t enter the room and stood guard at the door: “Suppressants can control it, but the aftereffects are too severe, especially for special variant-type alphas, whose pheromone intensity exceeds normal levels by three to five times.”
The doctor wasn’t clear about what had happened but still reminded softly: “It would be best… to have an omega present.”
“It’s not that we don’t want Mr. Liang to come.”
The butler was all too aware and sighed heavily: “If Mr. Liang were to come now, President Huo might lose even more control over his emotions.”
When President Huo’s pheromones erupted, he would be overwhelmed by instinct and difficult to control, only able to endure through willpower. When they first signed the contract, there had been an accident where he nearly hurt Liang Xiao, which even led to a trending topic.
If this eruption accidentally hurt Mr. Liang again…
The butler didn’t dare to think further and shook his head forcefully: “First… use suppressants for emergency treatment.”
“This is also President Huo’s intention,” the butler said softly. “I can make the decision.”
The doctor sighed and didn’t insist further, writing out a prescription: “Can you also make decisions about the treatment plan?”
The butler bit his lip and was about to nod when he suddenly paused.
President Huo’s condition couldn’t be delayed any longer. The doctor was waiting for his answer and urged: “Can you or not?”
The butler opened his mouth with difficulty: “No…”
The doctor sensed something was wrong and turned his head along with the butler.
Liang Xiao had run all the way up, his breathing not yet steady, supporting himself on his legs to stand straight.
The head of the bodyguards had been forced to reveal the whole truth by Liang Xiao downstairs and couldn’t stop him. He hurriedly followed, anxiously making gestures from the staircase.
Liang Xiao could make the decision. He raised his hand to take the prescription from the doctor and looked at it.
“Mr. Liang.” The butler couldn’t imagine how he had appeared here. “How did you-”
Liang Xiao casually crumpled the prescription: “President Huo knows?”
The butler struggled for a moment before nodding with difficulty.
Liang Xiao closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, suppressed his coughing and panting from running all the way, and slowly exhaled.
“Please… don’t be anxious.” The butler supported him. “It was our fault…”
“I don’t blame you; I didn’t consider the situation here.”
Liang Xiao rubbed his forehead: “When they came to beat me back then, I didn’t realize they were from the branch family… I thought they were competing with us for the fraud territory.”
The butler: “…”
The butler smiled bitterly and said softly: “That’s about right…”
Liang Xiao nodded: “I’m going in.”
The butler was startled and hurriedly tried to stop him: “You can’t; President Huo isn’t very calm right now.”
The butler was truly afraid of him getting hurt and anxiously pleaded: “Please don’t push President Huo; he really doesn’t want to hurt you. He truly doesn’t know what to do; President Huo wants to protect you more than anyone…”
Liang Xiao frowned: “I know.”
When he couldn’t contact President Huo last night, and even the butler was vague and incoherent, Liang Xiao guessed something had happened.
He had waited all night but received no reply. Early this morning, he had taken leave, rushed to get a flight back, without even having time to bring his manager and assistant, and was prepared for the situation: “Isn’t President Huo’s pheromone unstable?”
“Yes.” The butler was extremely anxious. “Alpha pheromones are related to emotions. If you go in, President Huo might become even more unstable-”
Liang Xiao was puzzled: “Why would I want President Huo to stabilize?”
The butler was taken aback, speechless.
Liang Xiao had brought a youth differentiation inducer himself, prepared just in case, and hadn’t come with the intention of calming President Huo down.
He didn’t waste any more time, felt his pocket, pulled out a key on a red string from his collar, and opened the firmly locked master bedroom.
The butler was still worried and anxiously took half a step forward, only to be pulled back by the doctor.
Liang Xiao closed the door behind him.
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
