It was nearly dawn. With no other means of transportation, Dou Changxiao simply drove off in the men’s beat-up car. He drove to a less remote area, abandoned the vehicle by the roadside, and hailed a taxi straight to the Third Hospital.

He didn’t go back to school to rest. He hadn’t slept all night, but he wasn’t tired and had no desire to catch up on sleep.

With two hours left before his shift, Dou Changxiao bought a bottle of water, washed his face, rinsed his mouth in a hurry, and then went to the underground parking garage to wait it out in his car.

His pheromones were fluctuating wildly and remained highly unstable; his scent had also changed, and he had no idea when things would return to normal. Just past seven o’clock, he pulled out his phone and opened WeChat. The first thing he saw was Ning Zhu’s profile picture pinned at the top.

Tapping on it, he saw the meaningless, trivial messages he’d sent him over the past couple of days. Dou Changxiao wasn’t good at this; if he was the one to start and lead a conversation, it usually fizzled out quickly. But that never happened when he was talking to Ning Zhu.

He looked at the screen for a moment, then exited the app, scrolled down, found Lu Chao, and dialed a voice call.

At this hour, Lu Chao was already on his way to work and was picked up almost immediately.

“Bro.”

The voice on the other end sounded quite surprised. “The sun must be setting in the west today—you’re being so sweet all of a sudden?” He’d even taken the initiative to call him “brother.”

“You must need my help with something.”

“Mm-hmm,” said Dou Changxiao. “Could I borrow Uncle Qin’s men for a bit?”

There was a brief pause on the line, and the voice grew more serious: “What’s going on? Have you run into some trouble?”

Dou Changxiao replied, “A little.”

But he didn’t say anything else.

After a few seconds of silence, Lu Chao said, “Alright, you’ve always known your limits. I’ll have him contact you shortly.”   

“Thanks, bro.”

After hanging up, Dou Changxiao checked the time; it was time to head to the ward.

He sniffed at his own scent; he could still detect the overflowing pheromones, as well as the lingering smell of cigarette smoke. The unpleasant smell was the least of his concerns; walking into the hospital covered in that sales assistant’s pheromones would affect every Alpha in the entire department. Dou Changxiao tried to suppress his pheromones, but they had become difficult to control since last night.

He had no choice but to get out of the car and buy an inhibitor from a pharmacy outside the hospital—the first time in his life he’d relied on an external aid to control himself.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

The next day, before leaving work, Ning Zhu held a brief progress meeting with the Technical Director—who had come to Haicheng on a business trip with Qisheng—and two project managers. It ended a bit late.

The technical director walked out with Ning Zhu afterward, continuing the discussion from the meeting as they walked, and then reported to Ning Zhu which version of the optimized program had higher productivity.

It was rush hour, and Lu’s employees were trickling out of the building. One of them turned to glance at Ning Zhu as he passed by and suddenly exclaimed in surprise:

“Hey…”

Ning Zhu instinctively looked up.

The employee said, “Is that Cen Deng?”

The technical director standing next to Ning Zhu gave the employee a puzzled look, but without giving it much thought, he addressed Ning Zhu as “President Ning” when he spoke.

The employee immediately looked flustered, realizing he had mistaken him for someone else. He quickly lowered his head in embarrassment and walked away, but after getting a little distance, he hesitated and glanced back at Ning Zhu.

Ning Zhu, unfazed, exchanged a few words with the technical director before continuing on his way.

He had already walked a good distance, but his pace slowed. In the end, he did turn his head back, curled the corners of his lips at the employee who kept looking back, and raised his hand slightly in greeting.

The employee froze for a moment upon seeing this, looking confused yet slightly pleased as he waved back.

Ning Zhu returned to the temporary office prepared by Lu Corporation, closed the door, took a deep breath, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, staring expressionlessly at the scenery unique to Haicheng.

For the past few days, Ning Zhu had basically been shuttling between his hotel and Lu’s, relying on online deliveries for food and clothing, and avoiding going out unless absolutely necessary. He was worried he might run into a familiar face on the street, be called by his old name, or be dragged into a conversation about old times.

A few years ago, when he was still attending S University, he’d had a similar experience after being recognized by Wei Tingfeng.

By then, he had already been going by his new name for quite some time. Hearing his former name catch him completely off guard, Ning Zhu was dazed for a moment before he managed to snap back to reality; the rest of his conversation with Wei Tingfeng remained awkward throughout.

It had been over a decade since he’d parted ways with his old friends and classmates from Haicheng. Ning Zhu had assumed that even if he ran into them, they’d hardly recognize him at first glance. Besides, Haicheng was such a big city—the odds of a chance encounter in such a sea of people were practically nonexistent…

He never expected that after just a few days, he’d happen to run into someone with such a good memory.

He rubbed his face to wake himself up a bit, then raised his hand to massage his stiff shoulders.

Only then did he notice some unread messages on WeChat; aside from work-related ones, most were from Cheng Li.

【Cheng Li:】 Holy shit! Boss Ning, guess who I just ran into?  

Since Ning Zhu hadn’t replied for a long time, Cheng Li continued the conversation by asking and answering her own questions.

【Cheng Li:】 Ren Shaokun!

【Cheng Li:】 That asshole—I don’t know if he got beaten up or hit by a car, but his head is covered in bumps and cuts. Looks like he’s pretty badly hurt.

【Cheng Li:】 I ran into him on the road. I recognized his car. I glanced through the window, and that asshole immediately rolled it up. I’m sure it was him. Too bad I couldn’t snap a picture—the look on his face was absolutely satisfying!

【Cheng Li:】Oh my god, that was so satisfying! He must have made too many enemies—someone he’s crossed must have gotten their revenge. I knew that jerk was bound to get what was coming to him 【fireworks】【celebration】

Ning Zhu read through each message one by one, furrowing his brow.

He’d been worried that Ren Shaokun would come looking for trouble, but he never expected the other guy to get his comeuppance first.

However, Ren Shaokun was known for his underhanded tactics. Once he’d been wronged by someone, he’d stop at nothing to get his revenge.

Who would go and provoke that mad dog… Ning Zhu suddenly thought of Dou Changxiao.

It wasn’t that he thought Dou Changxiao was involved in this matter; it was just that the other man’s sullen, fearless demeanor made Ning Zhu involuntarily draw a connection.

He replied to Cheng Li with a couple of words, then began idly fingering the edge of his phone, lost in thought.

Actually… he hadn’t really had a proper conversation with that kid in the past few days.

Dou Changxiao seemed to have a lot on his plate these past couple of days. Although he replied to messages quickly, Ning Zhu couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with his mood. Text messages can only convey so much, and he couldn’t be sure if it was just his imagination.

After a moment’s hesitation, he tapped the call button.

When the call connected, Dou Changxiao’s slightly surprised voice came through the phone: “Ning Zhu?”

“Mm.”

Ning Zhu considered his opening line, then said, “Have you eaten yet?”

“……”

Dou Changxiao: “Did you need something?”

There was nothing wrong with his tone, but the question still made Ning Zhu’s brow furrow. “Can’t I call you just because I want to? You’re so cold to your patron… to me.”

Dou Changxiao said, “If you’re contacting me for no reason, that means you miss me.”

Ning Zhu: “…”

Ning Zhu didn’t know how to respond.

“I do have something.” Recalling what Cheng Ligang had just said, he decided to play it safe and asked, “Has anything happened these past couple of days?”

Dou Changxiao: “What do you mean?”

Judging by his lackluster reaction, he probably hadn’t run into any trouble. Ning Zhu silently told himself he was overthinking it, then said, “Nothing, just asking.”

Dou Changxiao muttered, “Is that all you’re asking?”

Ning Zhu pondered for a moment before asking, “How’s your internship going lately?”  

“It’s going very smoothly. Why do you ask?”

Ning Zhu hesitated. “Really? I thought you’d been in a bad mood these past few days—that maybe something at work was bothering you.”

There was a two-second silence on the other end. “…I’m not in a bad mood.”

“That’s good then.”

Dou Changxiao: “Boss, could you send me the address of your hotel in Haicheng?”

Ning Zhu paused, then perked up: “Huh? Why do you need the address? Are you coming over this weekend?”

“Didn’t you say we’d meet every Saturday?”

“Not if I’m out of town on business.”

Dou Changxiao’s internship was already grueling enough; making the round trip on the weekend wasn’t easy.

Back when their transactional relationship wasn’t just a formality, Ning Zhu might have called him over without a second thought just to get a dose of medicine, but now…

He continued, “But you live in Haicheng too, right? If you’re heading home, you could swing by my place on the way… that’d work.” 

“I’d like to,” Dou Changxiao admitted honestly, “but I’m not sure.”

Ning Zhu understood: “Oh, that’s fine. After all, it’s quite a long way from Haicheng to Beicheng.”

“That’s not the reason. My pheromone levels have been a bit unstable lately.”

Ning Zhu was taken aback. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

“It’s nothing serious. Maybe just a periodic reaction,” Dou Changxiao said with a hint of resentment. “Anyway, the smell isn’t very pleasant—you wouldn’t like it. So I’ll just skip it.”

Ning Zhu’s eyelid twitched. “The way you put it makes it sound like I’m only after your pheromones.”

There was a pause on the other end before he asked, “Isn’t that the case?”

Ning Zhu: “…”

“Then what else are you after?”

Ning Zhu: “…………….. ”

“Not my pheromones…” Dou Changxiao’s voice took on a slightly hollow, drifting quality. “So does that mean you miss me, Ning Zhu?”

Ning Zhu held back for a moment.

Dou Changxiao didn’t seem to mind his silence at all. “Ning…”

“Hey, Xiao Tao!?” Ning Zhu called out, “Ugh, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now? I told you to be careful when working on someone else’s turf… Alright, I’m on my way.”

Ning Zhu didn’t know if Dou Changxiao believed him, but the laughter coming through the phone sounded genuinely happy. Ning Zhu hung up the phone in a flash.

Before long, someone knocked on his office door. It took Ning Zhu a moment to compose himself before he said, “Come in.”

“Mr. Ning, did you call for me?” Xiao Tao, who had been about to clock out, walked in looking a bit intimidated and a bit bewildered.

Lu’s arrangements were very thoughtful; he’d been assigned a smaller office right next to Ning Zhu’s, which is why he’d heard the conversation just now.

Xiao Tao asked cautiously, “What… what did I do wrong?” 

Ning Zhu: “…”

Not receiving a reply, Xiao Tao finally dared to look up at his boss’s face—and froze.

It was the dead of winter, yet his boss’s ears were as red as two hot irons. Ning Zhu waved his hand at him. “Uh… It’s nothing. Let’s call it a day.”