Gu Sheng took his phone and returned to his bedroom before finally looking at the message the system had sent.

He had meant to ask why his application hadn’t been approved for so long, but after typing it out he felt it was inappropriate and deleted the message from the chat box.

He kept editing and deleting, and never sent anything.

Meanwhile, Zhou Shiyi was also watching Gu Sheng’s status and kept typing; five minutes passed and Gu Sheng still hadn’t sent anything.

Zhou Shiyi took the initiative and sent a message: “I’m Zhou Shiyi.”

This time Gu Sheng replied quickly: “I know.”

“Is there something you need?”

Gu Sheng looked at that line of text and frowned. He didn’t know why he had added Zhou Shiyi, so he snapped back, “Can’t I add you if there’s nothing wrong?”

“The other person retracted a message.”

“Do you have time this weekend to give me a make-up lesson?”

Zhou Shiyi thought for a moment, then replied, “I’m busy.”

“Going to the hospital?”

“It’s not that — I’m doing a part-time job.”

After Zhou Shiyi sent the message, there was no response from Gu Sheng. He stared at the screen for a few minutes, then put his phone away and cleared the dishes.

Lying in bed, he glanced again; still no message from Gu Sheng, so he went to sleep.

Gu Sheng, however, froze when he saw Zhou Shiyi’s message and suddenly didn’t know how to reply.

He wanted to ask: Where? When? What kind of part-time job?

But with their current relationship, Zhou Shiyi would find it inexplicable, and it was also possible that Zhou Shiyi wouldn’t even reply.

He fretted about it until midnight; at two in the morning Gu Sheng sent him a message: “Then whenever you have time, come give me a tutoring session.”

Zhou Shiyi saw the message at six in the morning.

He replied, “Okay.”

Noting the time Gu Sheng had messaged, Zhou Shiyi said, “Make sure you get a good rest this weekend too.”

Gu Sheng, unsure whether he had been woken by the message or hadn’t slept all night, replied, “Mm.”

Zhou Shiyi closed the chat app; his old phone still lagged a bit and he didn’t know when it would finally die. He sighed and resolved to start saving up.

He promised Brother Chen yesterday that he’d go there today for training.

The engagement banquet is tomorrow.

After replying to the message, Gu Sheng set his phone aside and finally dozed for a while as dawn approached.

Time quickly rolled around to six o’clock on Saturday evening.

Zhou Shiyi wore a white shirt and black suit pants, a bow tie at his throat, his hair slicked back and fixed with gel, his entire face exposed.

Zhou Shiyi looked at himself in the mirror, still feeling a little dazed; he’d grown noticeably taller, and this outfit fit him perfectly.

Under Nian Meilan’s urging, Gu Sheng had also just finished changing and stepped out.

Gu Sheng wore an all-white suit, which suited his age—neither seeming disrespectful nor overly solemn. The tailored fit made him look long-legged and taller.

When he stepped out of the room, Nian Meilan’s face lit up.

“I told you this outfit suits you — you look much more spirited.”

But Gu Sheng felt unsettled.

They were going to attend Miss Gao’s engagement banquet today. The Gu family had worked with the Gao family for years; they couldn’t refuse this show of respect. Luckily none of them had other plans, so the whole family would go congratulate them.

Attending a banquet like this was only part about offering congratulations; in this setting it was also a good opportunity to network.

Nian Meilan also attended with the mindset of finding suitable omegas for her two adult alphas; she had Gu Yuan and Gu Jinyan both called back.

Gu Yuan and Gu Jinyan glanced at each other and both gave a wry smile.

The two of them—one devoted to his career with no plans to settle down, the other having gone abroad to study and rumored to be a heartbreaker over there—had somehow managed all these years without finding anyone to settle with.

Gu Sheng stood there, suddenly feeling unsettled; his right eyelid kept twitching, making him appear distracted.

But he couldn’t say exactly why — he only knew he really resisted this engagement banquet.

In his last life his memories of this engagement banquet were vague, but he kept feeling like he’d forgotten something.

When he saw Gu Jinyan fiddling with a pheromone blocker disguised as a bracelet, it suddenly came to him.

Before attending the banquet, all the alphas and omegas would carefully spray on pheromone blockers and put on pheromone-blocking devices.

Twenty years ago, some alphas would courteously put on bite guards out of respect for the omegas present, making themselves appear less threatening.

Noticing Gu Sheng’s gaze linger on her wrist, Gu Jinyan flashed a hand bowl at him: “Jealous? Wait until you’re an adult—you’ll find wearing a pheromone blocker is really annoying. You have to be mindful of it everywhere.”

Gu Sheng shot her an annoyed look: “You’re the one who’s jealous. When is your sensitive period?”

Every alpha, after reaching adulthood, experiences a characteristic sensitive period; for omegas, it’s the heat.

Asking an alpha about his rut carries, to some extent, a taunting implication.

Gu Jinyan lifted his beautifully arched brow and studied Gu Sheng for a moment.

Asking about someone’s rut has a provocative tone, but it depends on who asks.

“It just passed last month, what’s wrong?”

Gu Sheng let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

After adulthood, susceptibility and mating seasons occur at fixed intervals, usually once every six months.

Alphas or omegas with partners will need their partner’s company during this time; those without partners need to find an empty room and rely on inhibitors to get through it.

So generally speaking, taking a dose of inhibitor every six months, or taking one two weeks earlier, allows you to get through your special period smoothly and feel less miserable.

But that’s relative — on ordinary days when there’s no omega in heat around, a pheromone blocker is usually enough.

If an omega in heat is of too high a ranking, they can pull other nearby omegas into a false estrus, releasing large amounts of pheromones, stirring the surrounding alphas and causing them to become restless, and can also trigger an early susceptibility period.

If things get out of control, they’ll need to inject the inhibitor immediately.

A creature’s instinct will push an alpha to find its omega, and when an omega is in heat they will feel feverish, weak, and desperate to be marked by an alpha.

“Do you want to bring the suppressants and give one to each family member?”

A pack of inhibitors contains five vials. Generally, getting through one special period requires three to five vials, but to prevent accidents people usually keep an extra pack, so Gu Jinyan should still have some inhibitors left.

Gu Jinyan made a small “hm?” but didn’t contradict him; she called Gu Yuan over.

After discussing for a while, the two of them still decided to bring the inhibitor.

The inhibitor works for both alphas and omegas.

Mr. Gu and Nian Meilan have already completed their lifelong bond; if they encounter an emergency, they’ll be stronger than those without a partner.

But they each took one too—better safe than sorry.

Seeing that his family hadn’t asked any questions and had all brought a dose of the inhibitor, Gu Sheng was touched by their unconditional trust.

He still didn’t know how much turmoil his sudden departure had caused the family before.

In a family like theirs, protecting the younger generation was taken to the extreme.

And Gu Sheng had been raised by the whole family together.

No one in the Gu family knew when—or how many times—he had been hypnotized to the point that he now needed to see a psychiatrist, and that alone was enough to make them take notice.

They couldn’t not be angry, so they accepted Gu Sheng’s somewhat abrupt proposal wholesale.

Gu Jinyan brought the last inhibitor over and teased, “Do you want it?”

Gu Sheng looked at her as if she were an idiot; as an underage alpha, of course he wanted it.

Gu Jinyan looked at him like he was an alien.

A minor alpha can still be tempted by pheromones but can control themselves—unless they’re the sort who’s almost of age, already sensing their susceptibility period approaching and afraid it will strike suddenly, in which case they carry suppressants with them.

“Are you telling us this because you know your susceptibility period is about to start?”

Gu Sheng put the suppressant away and didn’t answer.

He of course remembers when his first estrus was—one week after he turned eighteen, the day after his college entrance exams ended.

Everyone was relieved that no one had entered a susceptible period in the examination room — himself included.

Now that he was carrying inhibitors, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Facing the teasing looks from his family, Gu Sheng kept his eyes straight ahead as he got into the car.

By the time they arrived, quite a few people had already come to the banquet.

At the banquet, goblets clinked and drinks flowed; the guests and today’s hosts were all impeccably dressed, their manners polished and proper.

Guests lifted glasses of champagne from the waiters’ trays and chatted with one another.

When Gu Sheng entered, he greeted his parents and the Gao family.

“So these are the three alphas from your family, huh? All grown up.”

From the moment the Gu family stepped through the door, they drew everyone’s attention.

A family of five, all strikingly good-looking, and with the pedigree behind them, naturally made people want to get closer.

“Greetings, Uncle Gao.” Gu Sheng was nudged by his parents to address him.

Gao Jingyuan smiled and returned the greeting, and after the polite exchanges, the younger generation dispersed to mingle freely.

Gu Yuan was called to sit with the elders; Gu Jinyan had little interest in that—her career was focused abroad—so she only paid attention to the young people at the party.

But because Nian Meilan was anxious about her marriage prospects, she couldn’t sit too close either, and could only eat cake by herself at the side.

After separating, Gu Sheng kept monitoring the distribution of the pheromone blockers at the banquet, as well as the safety measures in place to handle emergencies.

The pheromone blockers were prepared for careless guests, in case someone leaked their pheromones during the party and offended others.

Facilities for dealing with emergencies are stocked with suppressants. The guests who come here are either rich or noble, and most are rare alphas and omegas, so these are all necessities.

At high-end banquets like this, the hosts double- or triple-check these things to ensure the event goes off without a hitch.

Even knowing that, Gu Sheng’s right eyelid kept twitching; he felt uneasy until he’d checked it several times.

He stood at the edge, and yet someone still noticed him.

Qin Shu had his parents nagging him to study with Gu Sheng and not cause trouble at school; his family had also sent him along to the engagement party.

Qin Shu, listless, suddenly saw Gu Sheng in the corner.

“Sheng-ge, salt and water!”

Qin Shu called out, drawing everyone’s attention, and the one being called suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

Qin Shu gave Gu Sheng a bear hug from the front. With others watching, Gu Sheng could only grit his teeth and pat the back of Qin Shu several times.

“You really are my good brother.” The line came out of Gu Sheng with a tone of barely concealed bitterness.

The others were also amused by them.

Being among the younger generation isn’t exactly easy either; they’ve been involved in family affairs from a young age. People around their age are at once rivals and opportunities to build connections.

After all, the pie is only so big—everyone wants a slice.

Where the young gather is no less fraught with backstabbing than where the elders are.

After recognizing everyone, Gu Sheng leaned against the side to rest by himself.

His spot was perfect—he could see the entire banquet to guard against any sudden situations, and a potted plant shielded him so people outside couldn’t see him.

After he arrived, a few more people came and spoke outside; because they hadn’t seen Gu Sheng, they didn’t bother to lower their voices.

“That waiter just now was so handsome.”

“Yeah, I saw him too, but sadly he’s just a beta.”

“What’s so sad about that? Betas have low fertility anyway — even if it’s just for fun together, it’s no big deal.”

Gu Sheng realized he had been eavesdropping and felt a little embarrassed, but he frowned slightly at the content of their conversation.

He knew that some people in the circle liked to play around, so they’d pick betas, switch them out after a while, and the boundaries were very loose.

Some people look glamorous on the surface, but behind the scenes they act without restraint, crossing everyone else’s boundaries.

“Look, he’s coming!”

Gu Sheng followed the direction of the gaze and suddenly saw an unexpected person.

Zhou Shiyi! How could he be here?

📘 The complete novel is available for download in PDF via the link below.