After Becoming the Scummy Alpha in a Substitute Romance (GL) - Chapter 24

Shen Shuyi lowered her gaze slightly. Deep down, she had already made up her mind in response to Li Jinlei’s threat.

“Mr. Li, I believe we both understand very well that our relationship is a partnership, not a superior-subordinate dynamic,” she said calmly, her clear eyes meeting his directly.

“Your company provided the initial funding for our project. In return, once the project is completed, fifty percent of the profits will go to your side. That’s what we agreed on. As for anything else, we also agreed from the beginning that neither side would interfere in each other’s internal decisions. So if your condition for continued investment is to interfere with our personnel arrangements, I’m afraid I have to decline. We’ll terminate the agreement peacefully, as stated in our contract.”

Her tone was steady and firm. Her stance left no room for compromise.

Li Jinlei found himself stuck, caught in an awkward position with no way to push forward or pull back.

Outside the lounge, Jian Ya hadn’t left right away and could faintly hear the conversation happening inside.

She wasn’t surprised by Li Jinlei’s threats or his sense of entitlement. What did surprise her was Shen Shuyi choosing to stand up for her.

Jian Ya had always thought Shen Shuyi kept her at a distance, barely tolerating her presence, and only doing so because upper management had arranged it. She believed Shen Shuyi simply had no choice.

But now, when she had a perfect and reasonable chance to send Jian Ya away, Shen Shuyi instead chose to defend her and let her stay.

That was something Jian Ya hadn’t expected.

It made her heart feel unexpectedly warm, and her mood lifted. She knew it wasn’t right to keep listening, so she stepped back a little. Far enough that she could no longer hear the conversation, but still close enough to react if something suddenly happened.

Jian Ya felt quietly happy.

But inside the lounge, Li Jinlei was in no such mood. Being turned down so directly made his already short temper flare up.

His low-grade Alpha pheromones began to seep out, mixing with the strong stench of alcohol. Soon, the lounge was filled with the thick, oppressive smell.

Xiao Liu, being a beta, couldn’t sense pheromones. He only noticed the overwhelming smell of alcohol and assumed Li Jinlei was just drunk.

But Shen Shuyi’s face turned pale almost immediately.

Because of the emotional shock she had suffered a few days earlier, she had developed pheromone imbalance syndrome.

One of the most serious symptoms of this condition was the unpredictable loss of control over her own pheromones. The attacks could come without warning and were almost impossible to suppress with willpower alone.

She had been taking her medication regularly, and her condition had been mostly stable.

But now, under Li Jinlei’s aggressive pheromone pressure, she could clearly feel her own pheromones starting to spiral out of control, building up restlessly inside her.

While suppressing her, Li Jinlei stretched out his words with mock politeness, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“Professor Shen, I’ll ask you one last time. Are you really willing to offend Raven Group just to protect one low-level employee?”

“I have no intention of offending your company,” Shen Shuyi replied, her tone cold but steady. She was trying hard to hold back the surging reaction in her body. Her face had lost all color, but her posture remained proud and composed. “But if you insist on seeing it that way, then go ahead.”

Li Jinlei’s face darkened. His mood shifted between frustration and arrogance.

After a brief pause, he suddenly laughed, then looked at her with a mocking expression.

“I honestly don’t get it. What’s so special about that employee that she’s worth this much to you? Unless…” He leaned forward slightly, his voice sleazy and suggestive. “Unless she’s been serving you real well in private. That would explain—”

Bang!

Before Li Jinlei could finish his sentence, the sharp sound of a teacup landing on the table interrupted him.

Shen Shuyi felt her pheromones were on the verge of spiraling out of control. Despite the turmoil inside her, she still looked calm and composed on the outside. Her voice was cold and firm.

“If you have nothing else to say, Mr. Li, then please leave. A partnership can only function when both sides cooperate respectfully. Since your company no longer intends to continue working with us, we will follow the terms of the contract and end things accordingly.”

Her meaning was unmistakable. Her attitude was strong and decisive.

Li Jinlei’s face twisted in frustration. He glared at her and threw out one last threat.

“Interesting. I hope you don’t end up regretting this.”

With those words, he turned and left.

Xiao Liu quickly followed, clearly flustered.

Inside the lounge, only Shen Shuyi remained.

Outside, Jian Ya had been waiting quietly. She watched as Li Jinlei stormed off, his face dark and furious, while Xiao Liu trailed behind him, trying to calm him down.

She could already tell that the conversation hadn’t gone well.

When Shen Shuyi didn’t come out after a while, Jian Ya grew more uneasy. She walked toward the lounge with concern growing in her chest.

As she neared the door, she caught a strong scent of Alpha pheromones lingering in the air.

Her heart skipped a beat, and a terrible sense of foreboding rose within her.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The scene in front of her made her freeze.

Shen Shuyi’s face was pale. Sweat had formed on her forehead and down her neck. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her expression was full of pain. She bit hard on her lower lip, clearly fighting her body with sheer willpower.

Jian Ya rushed over and gently helped her up from the floor.

“What’s happening to you?” she asked, panic rising in her voice.

Shen Shuyi was barely conscious. The exposure to Li Jinlei’s pheromones had caused her own to completely lose control. They were now surging wildly inside her, disrupting everything.

She kept biting her lip, trying to keep herself from making any sound that would betray how much she was suffering.

But the pain was too much. Her lip split, and a small line of bl00d appeared.

Jian Ya’s chest tightened at the sight. She could feel exactly how much pain Shen Shuyi was enduring.

Along with that pain, a wave of anger surged in Jian Ya’s heart. She was furious with herself for letting that man walk away so easily earlier.

But now wasn’t the time for blame. The most urgent thing was getting Shen Shuyi to the hospital.

Her body was burning hot, and her condition was worsening by the second.

“Shen Shuyi, just hold on a little longer. I’ll take you to the hospital right now,” Jian Ya said quickly.

But just as she turned to move, Shen Shuyi suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Using the last bit of her strength, she whispered, “Call an ambulance… the lounge…”

Then the sharp pain, combined with the backlash of forcibly suppressing her pheromones, completely broke her will.

A soft sound escaped her lips, something she had been trying so hard to hold back.

Jian Ya stood frozen, staring at her.

A faint pink flush was spreading across Shen Shuyi’s skin. Her tightly drawn brows and foggy eyes were filled with confusion, discomfort, and an unfamiliar heat.

Her lips, usually tight and emotionless, were now trembling slightly, letting out low, stifled moans.

Those fragile, broken sounds struck Jian Ya’s nerves again and again. The intense scent of sea-salt pheromones in the air kept hitting her, testing her restraint.

Even without knowing all the rules of the ABO world, even without fully understanding what was happening, Jian Ya knew one thing for sure.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

Shen Shuyi’s body had lost control, and she had been forced into an unplanned, overwhelming heat.