Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Though the bakery wasn't officially open yet, Lu Yao and the other pastry chefs were already trying out the new equipment in the kitchen.

Xia Shiyue had even called over Xia Wenjin's assistant. The assistant was far more competent than Xia Shiyue, so with him around, Xia Shiyue's only task was moseying around the bakery. To make himself seem less idle, he went over to help Lu Yao, watching him make desserts.

The new work environment was great. Lu Yao and the other pastry chefs baked sweet-smelling mini cakes together, and they all sat down to taste them.

Lu Yao was very satisfied with his current life. Having what he had now was already more than he'd hoped for, and he only wished these days would continue indefinitely.

The assistant still had to return to the company and soon left. Xia Shiyue went on and on about his grand ambitions with everyone, and Lu Yao laughed along for a while before getting up to use the restroom.

Lu Yao lowered his head to wash and dry his hands. His scent patch was failing, so he needed to replace it.

Perhaps because Fu Yanhuai's rank was too high, the scent patch that was supposed to last 12 hours had already failed to block the scent of Silver Fir by mid-morning. Lu Yao angled himself toward the mirror to remove it.

A faint trace of caramel was barely noticeable amidst the overwhelming Silver Fir. His gland, swollen with pheromones, was very sensitive. When Lu Yao's fingertip accidentally brushed against the skin there, his body shivered.

Fu Yanhuai had bitten him too much last night. Lu Yao struggled to keep his composure as he pulled out a fresh scent patch and reapplied it.

Fu Yanhuai seemed to really enjoy biting his gland—liking to suck it into different shapes in his mouth, liking to watch Lu Yao cry from his actions.

Lu Yao didn’t leave the restroom immediately. He turned on the ventilation system to cool his flushed face.

Gazing absently at his reflection, he waited until the flush faded a little before preparing to leave. But just then, his phone, tucked in his pocket, suddenly rang.

It was a number he didn't recognize.

Lu Yao answered with slight confusion, "Hello?"

"Lu Yao, let's talk."

Lu Yao fell silent for a moment. "Shen Jinyan?"

"Yes."

Shen Jinyan confirmed without preamble. "About your withdrawal from school."

Lu Yao had never gotten over it—he had just been forced to accept it without objection. But just as he was gradually letting go, the matter was brought up again.

"Alright, what do you want to say?"

Shen Jinyan didn’t get straight to the point. "Shenglang Group’s collaboration with Fu Yanhuai has been terminated this time. My father went to his company to see him, but Fu Yanhuai abruptly brought you up."

Finally, thick resentment and unwillingness flashed in Shen Jinyan’s eyes. "At that banquet, I was supposed to be the one introduced to Fu Yanhuai. My father pulled strings for this—even Mrs. Wen knew about it."

"Awareness isn't endorsement," Lu Yao pointed out the flaw in his words. "The Fu family never interferes with Fu Yanhuai’s private matters. You should know that well."

"Besides, Fu Yanhuai didn’t even know me back then."

Fu Yanhuai might have helped him out of impulse or for some other purpose, but Lu Yao wasn’t lying—Fu Yanhuai had left immediately after saying those words. Lu Yao didn’t know what happened afterward. The manager had politely persuaded him to leave, and that part-time job just fizzled out.

Just like his education.

Shen Jinyan continued speaking as if to himself, "I couldn’t let you have another chance to get close to him. Coincidentally, your brother Lu Qianxing had always resented you studying at Beijing University. You know how things unfolded from there."

Lu Yao lowered his eyes with a mirthless smirk.

"So, what exactly do you want to say?"

"I can apologize to you." Shen Jinyan’s grip on the phone was tight, and Lu Yao could hear the strain of swallowed pride in his tone.

"But you have to speak to Fu Yanhuai and get Shenglang Group brought back into the deal."

Lu Yao blurted out incredulously, "How could you possibly think Fu Yanhuai would listen to me?"

Had Shen Jinyan lost his mind? Lu Yao never believed he could sway Fu Yanhuai’s decisions.

Yet Shen Jinyan was dead certain. "He will listen. Lu Yao, I don’t want to rehash old grievances in the past, but this time—"

"I won’t say anything." Lu Yao cut in sharply. "And I don’t need your apology. Those words aren’t worth that much."

Could "sorry" make up for that diploma? It was too cheap—Lu Yao wouldn't take it if it was free.

Shen Jinyan seemed stunned into silence by Lu Yao’s response, and dead air stretched between them for a moment.

"If that’s all you wanted, then I think we have nothing more to discuss."

"Wait—"

Lu Yao didn’t let Shen Jinyan continue. He hung up and blocked the number immediately.

Even after doing so, his emotions took a long time to settle. Lu Yao stood in the restroom, his chest heaving, before slowly calming down.

This unexpected call had affected his mood. Biting his lip, he pushed the door open and walked out, stopping when he saw the large group bustling with chatter and laughter in the distance.

How strange. Lu Yao studied his trembling hands.

Though this was indeed a raw nerve, he hadn’t felt this angry in a long time.

Lu Yao often got blue sometimes, but he rarely saw red like this.

Puzzled, he cast a look over his shoulder. "Is it because of pheromones? Or something else?"

Why had he suddenly lost control of his emotions? Was it a side effect of his differentiation?

Lu Yao had been away for a while. Xia Shiyue craned his neck toward the bathrooms and saw him standing at the door, frozen in place.

"Lu Yao!" Xia Shiyue called out loudly. "Come over! What are you doing?"

Shaking himself out of it, Lu Yao decided not to dwell on the oddity. "Coming!"

Aside from this small incident, the day at the shop went smoothly.

Lu Yao didn’t ask the butler to send a car for him. Instead, he took the subway back, letting the train's rhythm rock him.

He repeated his daily routine—eating dinner alone, straightening up the master suite, and waiting for Fu Yanhuai to come home.

Cleaning wasn’t too tiring since Fu Yanhuai’s room was always neat. Mindless scrolling wasn't cutting it, so Lu Yao preferred keeping himself busy.

The movie playing today was some rom-com, but Lu Yao still drifted off despite himself, only waking up when Fu Yanhuai returned.

Sitting up, Lu Yao scrubbed at his eyes. "I must have stayed up too late last night. I didn’t wait long."

Fu Yanhuai’s jacket was two sizes too big for Lu Yao, swallowing him whole.

"I didn’t hold back last night," Fu Yanhuai mused offhandedly. "Go upstairs and sleep."

Pink creeping up his neck, Lu Yao peered up through his lashes. "Then… can you do what you did last night?"

"Will you carry me upstairs like yesterday?"

Fu Yanhuai raised an eyebrow and leaned down, waiting for Lu Yao to cling to his shoulders.

So clingy and spoiled. Fu Yanhuai thought idly. In that sense, Lu Yao really was like an omega.

Once in the bedroom, Lu Yao shot Fu Yanhuai a nervous glance and casually brought up, "Is Shenglang Group no longer working with the Fu family?"

Fu Yanhuai turned his head at the question. "Who told you that?"

He guessed, "My mother? Or the butler?"

"Neither." Lu Yao quickly explained, "I just heard the chairman of Shenglang Group has the surname Shen, and I thought I might have known him before..."

"It's Shen Jinyan."

This time, Fu Yanhuai confirmed it directly, though he soon frowned and asked, "Why did he contact you?"

Lu Yao replied uneasily, "He just brought up some old things and seemed to think the termination of this collaboration had something to do with me."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Yao felt ridiculous for even thinking it. Though the situation was indeed strange, there was no way Fu Yanhuai would terminate a business deal over him.

He quickly added, "I know it’s not because of me. It’s just that Shen Jinyan was acting weird. If it’s inconvenient to tell me, that’s fine."

Fu Yanhuai pressed his fingers over Lu Yao’s gland patch, causing Lu Yao’s body temperature to spike. He shyly tried to dodge. "Don’t..."

"There is some part of it that involves you."

Fu Yanhuai peeled off the gland patch like unwrapping a treat.

Lu Yao forgot what he was even supposed to do next, staring blankly at Fu Yanhuai as the latter leaned in to sniff his neck. The caramel scent had grown slightly stronger since noon, but Silver Fir’s scent still dominated.

Another marking wasn’t a good idea. His gland, still newly matured, couldn’t produce that much pheromone yet. During the seven-day estrus, every drop of Lu Yao’s pheromones had been used up, and now his secretion rate couldn’t keep up with the concentration needed for marking.

Lu Yao’s heart hammered in his ears. "So... you mean... but how did you know Shen Jinyan and I had met before?"

The moment he asked, Lu Yao realized how foolish the question was. Fu Yanhuai could find out anything, of course.

"I knew you weren’t to blame for the expulsion. Whatever Shen Jinyan says, ignore him. You have my assistant’s number, don’t you? Next time, just have Shen Jinyan contact him directly."

Lu Yao’s eyes welling up. Such a simple phrase—"the expulsion wasn’t your fault"—was something he had never heard from anyone before.

He struggled to hold back tears. The accusations from all sides could finally fade away now—at least Fu Yanhuai believed him.

Lu Yao pretended everything was fine. "Okay, I won’t answer next time."

Fu Yanhuai caught the tremor in his voice and sighed softly, letting Lu Yao lean against him. "The forum posts have all been deleted."

Lu Yao looked up in surprise.

"Pulling the surveillance footage took time. The clarification will take a while."

This was the first time Fu Yanhuai had ever comforted an omega. "Being expelled means you can’t go back to school, but if the disciplinary action itself was unjust, perhaps your student status can be reinstated. If you want to go back then, you can. If not, that’s fine too. If you don’t want to deal with Shen Jinyan, just refer him to my assistant. I’ve already instructed security to bar the Lu family from entering. You can do whatever you want."

An omega who’d been with him this long, whom he had fully marked, coupled with a bit of harmless affection.

Lu Yao had Fu Yanhuai’s favor—even if temporary.

Lu Yao was overwhelmed by the sudden rush of happiness. He buried his face in Fu Yanhuai’s shoulder. "Yanhuai..."

Fu Yanhuai really was that good, just as he had been that year at the banquet when he had stood up for him.

Lu Yao’s chest warmed with happiness, but at the same time, he felt a twinge of insecurity. "But I don’t have anything to give you in return."

"It’s fine." Fu Yanhuai didn’t mind. "Call it compensation."

Compensation? For what?

Lu Yao didn’t dwell on the meaning behind those words. He obediently bared his gland, doing his best to soothe his alpha.

It was perfect—the one he loved was finally loving him too.