"I'm sorry, Old Master! I truly believed we would have find the Second Young Master by now, eventually!" the man cried, his knees hitting the floor with a hasty, desperate thud.
"Eventually?" the Old Master roared, the word vibrating with cold, sharp fury. "You've lost him! And what's worse, you're telling me he's been off your radar for two days? You haven't even caught a glimpse of him! How could you let a single man slip through your fingers like this?"
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Old Master," the man stammered, his head bowed so low it nearly touched his knees.
"Do you honestly think I'm paying you for excuses?" the Old Master yelled, his voice laced with a dangerous, simmering heat.
"I'll find him! I'll track him down, I swear!" the man begged, his voice trembling with the fear of a cornered animal. "Please, just give me one more chance!"
"Fine!" the Old Master snapped, his eyes narrowing into menacing slits. "But if you fail again, don't bother coming back. If you still can't... bring me his shadow. Bring me that secretary of his—Wu Chengli. If he won't speak, I'll extract the truth from the servant myself."
With a dismissive, icy wave of his hand, he sent everyone scrambling from the room.
_____________________
"Excuse me! Can I see Qixian? He's an A-tier Alpha—Song Qixian. He's a doctor here," Haoran blurted out the second he reached the reception desk of ZH General Hospital. His voice was thin and vibrating with raw anxiety, his eyes darting around the sterile lobby as if expecting Qixian to appear from the shadows.
"Song Qixian?" The receptionist furrowed her brow, her mind racing through the thousands of staff files. Suddenly, her expression cleared. "Ah! You mean Doctor Zh—" She was cut off mid-name.
"He's been incredibly buried in work lately," a voice interjected smoothly, slicing through the air with practiced ease.
Haoran spun around, his eyes widening. "Oh! It's you—Qixian's friend!" he exclaimed, recognizing the man from the clinic. "Can I see him? He hasn't answered a single one of my calls since yesterday. I'm… I'm really worried."
"To be honest..." Chengli began, his voice trailing off as he watched the light die in Haoran's eyes. Seeing the crushing weight of disappointment on the older twin's face, a surge of genuine guilt washed over him. 'If my Young Master's twin heard the name 'Zhou Qixian,' the game would be over.' he thought.
Chengli offered a carefully crafted, sympathetic smile, ready to dismissed Haoran but his guilt won. He leaned in close, beckoning Haoran with a conspiratorial gesture.
Haoran didn't hesitate, leaning in, his expression vibrant with desperate hope.
"The truth is," Chengli whispered, his voice a barely audible breath against the sterile hum of the hospital, "he's currently in the middle of a rut. He's incredibly private about it and refuses to spend it with anyone, so he's gone into total isolation. It's... it's a difficult, painful process for him to fight those instincts alone. That's why he's unreachable."
Haoran pulled back, his brow furrowing in sudden understanding. "Oh... so that's why the calls aren't going through." A wistful, admiring sadness crossed his features. "I actually respect him more for that. To have that much self-control even when his body is screaming at him... it's amazing. Thank you for being honest with me, Chengli."
Chengli's heart twinging with a sharp, bitter regret. I'm sorry, he thought, his gaze lingering on Haoran. 'I'm really sorry, Haoran, but I have to lie, no one must know my Young master is not an Alpha but an Omega.' Chengli said to himself a bit of guilt for Haoran but also a loyalty towards his Young master, Qixian.
"Then, could you please… just tell him to call me the second he showed up?" Haoran asked, his voice softening with a lingering, brotherly concern.
"Of course," Chengli promised, offering a steady, reassuring nod that masked his own frayed nerves. "It will be the very first thing I tell him. You have my word."
"Thank you. Truly, thank you," Haoran said, his face beaming with a relieved, weary smile. He checked his watch, realizing how much time had slipped away. "I'd better get back, the clinic won't run itself. Take care, Chengli!"
With a final, grateful wave, Haoran turned and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Chengli standing alone in the sterile, busy lobby of the hospital, the secret of Qixian's true nature weighing like lead in his chest.
The moment Haoran disappeared into the crowded hospital entrance, the air around Chengli turned predatory and cold. Before he could even draw a breath of relief, a group of men came to him, boxing him in.
"Can I help you, gentlemen?" Chengli asked, his voice strained with a thin, desperate professionalism. He tried to play it off, forcing a casual smile.
"Young Master Zhou Qixian—the second son of the Zhou family," the leader stated, his voice a flat, menacing drone. "You know exactly where he is, right? Tell us."
"Who? Qixian?" Chengli let out a forced, nervous laugh that sounded hollow even to his own ears. "I'm afraid I have no idea who you're talking about, sir. You must have me mistaken for someone else."
"Take him," the leader commanded, his gaze unblinking and icy.
The group moved in. Realizing the game was up, Chengli's fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. He spun around, trying to bolt toward the exit, but the men were coordinated and ruthless, cutting off every escape route. He thrashed against their grip as they began to forcefully drag him toward the parking garage.
The surrounding patients and staff froze, paralyzed by sheer, suffocating terror. The receptionist tried to step forward to intervene. "Stop! You can't—"
She was callously shoved aside, hitting the desk with a sharp cry. No one else dared to move as Chengli was hauled away, his silent prayer for Qixian's safety the only thing left in the wake of his capture.
Chengli surged with a final, desperate burst of adrenaline, wrenching his arm free from the man's iron grip. He stumbled back, heart hammering, just as a commanding silhouette appeared at the hospital's glass entrance, silhouetted against the afternoon sun.
"Who do you think you are, laying hands on my brother?" A voice rang out—sharp, elegant, and vibrating with cold fury. She stepped into the lobby, every inch of her A-tier Alpha demeanor radiating power. Her suit was perfectly tailored, but her eyes were deadly.
"Older Sister!" Chengli breathed. The word was a messy collision of shock, relief, and a lingering, childhood fear of her temper.
"Miss Wu Yanlan!" The receptionist gasped from the floor, her voice lighting with hope as she recognized the formidable woman.
Yanlan's lips curled into a predatory smirk, her presence filling the room like a physical weight. She looked every bit the savior descending from above.
"Chengli! Come here. Now!" She commanded. Chengli didn't hesitate, scrambling to hide behind her. Yanlan turned her icy gaze back to the group of trackers, her voice dropping into a low, dominant hum. "Now… which one of you is brave enough to try and take my little brother while I'm standing here?"
"Don't let one woman rattle you!" the leader barked, his voice cracking with a hint of desperation. "There's only one of her and a dozen of us! Move!"
"Underestimating me?" Yanlan's lips curled into a dark, mocking smirk. She didn't even shift her stance, her gaze scanning them like they were insects. "How remarkably foolish. Even my brother wouldn't dare cross me, yet you bottom-feeders think you have a chance?"
The group lunged forward, but they didn't even make it three steps.
Suddenly, the air in the lobby turned thick and suffocating. Yanlan released her pheromones—a heavy, resinous scent of Orchid that felt like a velvet cloak lined with needles. It was cloying and sweet, like a viscous, dark sap, wrapping around the attackers until their movements turned sluggish and their breath hitched in their throats.
"That's my sister's pheromones," Chengli whispered, his voice beaming with a sudden, cocky confidence now that he was behind the shield of her power.
"Shut it, Chengli," Yanlan snapped, not even looking back. Her voice was a low, dangerous hum. "I haven't even begun to settle my own score with you yet."
Hearing that, Chengli shut his mouth tight, his confidence vanishing as he realized he was still in trouble with the one person scarier than the kidnappers.
"Miss Wu! Look! One of them is making a break for it!" The receptionist cried out, her finger trembling as she pointed toward a shadowed figure scrambling toward the exit.
Yanlan's head snapped toward the door, her eyes narrowing with predatory precision. "I have already decided your fate," she murmured, her voice a low, icy vibration that seemed to chill the very air. "And yet you think you have the right to run?"
She didn't move a muscle, but she unleashed a targeted surge of her pheromones. The heavy, resinous scent of Orchid swept across the lobby like an invisible tidal wave, slamming into the runaway just as his hand touched the glass door. He locked up instantly, his body paralyzed as if he'd been turned to stone right in front of the exit.
"Sis, that's enough," Chengli interjected, his voice soft and cautious. "You can't actually kill them here. Let it go."
Yanlan turned her withering gaze on him, one eyebrow arching in a slow, dangerous challenge. "Oh? You're brave enough to give me orders now, my little brother?"
"No! No way! Absolutely not! That's impossible." Chengli immediately said, his bravado evaporating into thin air. He let out a strained, nervous laugh, his eyes darting toward the floor to avoid her terrifying stare. "Why would I ever do that? I was just… making a suggestion."
Yanlan let out a sharp, weary sigh, the heavy pressure of her presence finally receding as she pulled her pheromones back. She cast one last lethal look at the cowering group. "Leave. And if any of you even think about touching my brother again, I won't be so merciful. Get out!"
The trackers didn't need to be told twice. They scattered like rats, tripping over their own feet in their desperation to escape the reach of the Orchid Alpha.
"Are you hurt?" Yanlan asked, her voice dropping its jagged edge the second she turned toward her brother. Her eyes scanned him with clinical, sisterly precision, looking for any sign of a bruise or a tear.
"I'm fine, really," Chengli reassured her, offering a shaky smile as the adrenaline began to fade.
"Who the hell were those bottom-feeders?" she demanded, her gaze snapping back toward the empty doorway where the trackers had vanished. Her voice was a low, simmering growl of redirected fury. "Who thinks they have the right to lay a finger on a Wu? And to make it worse, lay a hand on my little squishy brother?"
'squishy? I didn't do anything did I?' Chengli thought. "Drop it, Older sister. Just… let it go for now," Chengli said, gently taking her by the elbow. He could feel the vibrating tension still radiating off her. "Come on, let's get you off your feet. You must be exhausted after tearing through the city like a whirlwind to get here."
He began to lead her toward a nearby bench, his touch grounding and soft. Despite being the one who was almost kidnapped, he was now the one playing the role of the calming influence, guiding his fierce sister back to reality.
"Wait a minute," Yanlan said suddenly, her voice dropping into a sharp, accusatory tone.
"What? I didn't do anything else, did I?" Chengli asked, his posture shifting into a wary, defensive crouch.
"Oh, you absolutely did! Have you really forgotten?" Yanlan demanded as she finally sank into a chair, her expression shifting into one of pure, icy unimpressedness.
"That's exactly why I'm asking," Chengli countered, offering a weak, sheepish grin. 'Would I be asking if I actually knew?' he thought, his eyes pleading for mercy.
Yanlan performed a slow, dramatic eye-roll. "Unbelievable! This was literally the entire reason I came here to see you in the first place!"
"I forgot… I'm sorry," Chengli said, his voice softening into a calm, placating hum. "Just tell me what it is so I can find a way to make it up to you, my dearest older sister."
"Fine. Let's settle the score right now," Yanlan said, fixing him with a lethal, narrowed glare.
Seeing that look, Chengli instinctively bolted upright, putting several feet of distance between himself and his sister. "Look, whatever it is, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I swear, my dear sister Yanlan!"
"You really don't know?" she hissed, her gaze sharpening into literal daggers. "You promised to help me go shopping! You were supposed to be on bag-carrying duty!"
"I'm sorry! Things got… complicated!" Chengli pleaded, his eyes shimmering with desperate hope. "Can I have one more chance? Just this once? Please?"
"I babysit your daughter every single time you're 'busy' with work," Yanlan said, her voice cracking as she squeezed out a theatrical, fake tear. "And this is how you show your appreciation? By abandoning me?"
"Of course I'm grateful! I appreciate everything you do, but—" He was cut off by a loud, dramatic sniffle from his sister. He sighed, his shoulders slumping in utter defeat. "Fine. Fine! How about this? We'll go shopping with my daughter this weekend. We'll hit every store you want, and then we'll have a five-star dinner. My treat. Every cent comes out of my pocket. How does that sound?"
Yanlan's fake tears vanished instantly, replaced by a bright, triumphant beam. "Really? Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place?"