The Sickly Omega Is No Longer Pretending to Be Good/Obedient - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Jingle the Bells “I Want Some Peace” [Revised]…

Sūzhōu City entered the plum rain season. The grayscale sky looked like a lifelike, old-fashioned chandelier, constantly on the verge of collapsing.

The slums, filthy and saturated with decay, reeked everywhere of mildew.

Shen Qiudu walked alone on the narrow paths within the slums, his steps heavy.

His forehead was burning, his body was weak and sore, and he felt like he was soaking in watery porridge—sticky and powerless.

However, Shen Qiudu was long accustomed to dragging his frail body around, at least to earn a little money.

Clutched tightly in his long, yet rough hands were the ten-odd paper bills, some with surfaces even rusting, that he had earned from a full day of dirty work.

Here, the already meager work opportunities would certainly not be given to an Omega with a defective scent gland. So, even when he was sick, he dared not speak of it.

Thinking of this, Shen Qiudu’s eyes trembled, and his palm unconsciously touched the corner where he had carefully hidden the scar.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed behind him, splashing the stagnant water in the potholes.

Shen Qiudu turned back alertly. It was a neighbor who lived near his dilapidated rental house.

“Shen Qiudu! Those debt collectors are at your house again, hurry back and take a look!”

“Seriously… I finally get a day off, and I’m being tormented by the noise. If you don’t have money, why gamble? You might as well just drop dead.”

The neighbor cursed impatiently. Shen Qiudu knew it was likely the debt collectors had disturbed the neighbor’s home, prompting the urgent warning.

In the slums, no one would suddenly show unconditional kindness; merely surviving from day to day was the absolute limit.

So, when the neighbor saw Shen Qiudu’s frail, pale appearance, he merely frowned in disgust.

“Hurry back! An Omega is always wandering outside…”

“Tell your dad to stop gambling! If the debt collectors come again, don’t blame us neighbors for being heartless!”

Shen Qiudu nodded silently. The excessive fatigue coupled with the humid weather left an iron-like taste in his mouth.

He ignored it and hastened back.

A strong smell of bl00d, shards of broken wine bottles scattered everywhere, and a gambler lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious.

Although he had prepared himself mentally, Shen Qiudu’s heart still sank.

The group of debt collectors seemed to be waiting for Shen Qiudu to walk into the trap. Their thick clubs leaned against the door, making the already thin figure of his father look even more desperate.

Shen Qiudu had never had the luxury of choice.

He walked up to his mother, who was covering her mouth and sobbing, and glanced straight past his father. His eyes darkened, “How much money does he owe you this time?”

The man held up one finger, saying nothing, his expression like he was watching a joke.

Shen Qiudu pulled a bankbook from a drawer. It was the thousand dollars he had saved from endless days of hard work.

“Here is a thousand dollars.”

“Tsk, who the hell told you a thousand?” The man tore up the bankbook in contempt, disgustedly stood up, and fiercely kicked the gambler on the floor, “It’s one million! Your great father lost it all!”

One million.

Buying him out probably wasn’t even worth that much, right?

“Didn’t you say… you wouldn’t gamble again?”

Shen Qiudu lowered his voice, exerting all his strength to utter that one sentence.

The man on the ground scurried up like a dog, grabbing Shen Qiudu’s trouser leg, cursing himself, and apologizing incessantly.

“I’m sorry, Qiudu, I’m sorry, but those people forced me! Just help me this one last time… I absolutely will never gamble again!”

The debt collectors had no time for this family drama. One of them spat, letting his gaze linger on Shen Qiudu’s face for a few seconds.

“What’s wrong, you have the guts to borrow but not the guts to pay back?”

“Then what do you want?”

Shen Qiudu turned his face away, silently shielding his mother behind him, and looked up at the group.

He sensed the man’s malicious gaze and was used to this kind of scrutiny.

Shen Qiudu had known since he was young that his appearance was something many people longed for, but unfortunately, he was in the slums, a place where a powerless Omega could easily fall victim.

There were plenty of low-grade Alphas here who couldn’t afford suppressants.

Shen Qiudu scanned the group; they were all Alphas, their physical strength far superior to his, making a forceful confrontation impossible.

The man snorted, lazily walked around the room, and his gaze caught the cheap suppressants on the table. He raised an eyebrow, “Omega?”

Shen Qiudu took an imperceptible step back, a huge sense of unease pressing down on his heart.

He lowered his eyes, only to meet the gaze of his man-eating father.

As if grasping a life-saving straw, the weak and paralyzed man suddenly rushed in front of Shen Qiudu.

The always cowardly and incompetent man, in this moment, ironically exerted all his strength.

He grabbed Shen Qiudu’s hair violently, dragged him in front of the man, lifted the hair to expose the damaged scent gland, his pupils shining, “Yes… Yes! He’s an Omega!”

“Do you want him? He’s very good-looking!”

“Take him… take him! Exchange him for my life!”

“Please, please spare my life—”

Shen Qiudu endured the pain without making a sound, struggling to shake off his father’s restraining hand and hastily covering his scent gland.

The man’s flippant gaze lingered on him. He sneered in disdain, “An Omega with a defective scent gland, what use is that?”

Shen Qiudu flinched. The intense shame and feeling of inferiority caused his heart to feel rotten, making it difficult to breathe.

His father was completely demoralized and went mad, picking up a sharp shard and nearly stabbing the weeping woman beside him.

“It’s all you! It’s all your fault!”

“Who the hell told you to cut off this little b1tch’s scent gland?! It’s all your fault, all your fault!”

“Enough, enough—”

The endless beating made the weak woman suddenly fight back. She clutched the kitchen knife she had hidden beneath her and swung it at the crowd without warning.

In the ensuing chaos, Shen Qiudu felt a warmth on his palm.

In just a few seconds of daze, the door was locked, and he was violently pushed onto the street by his mother.

“A-Du, run!”

Shen Qiudu’s first instinct was to save his mother, but as his trembling hand touched the door handle, he saw his mother’s desperate, pleading eyes through the broken glass window.

In that moment, he stopped.

While his mother repeatedly chanted the same phrase, Shen Qiudu fled onto the street without hesitation.

He had never run so hard in his life.

Crying and cursing echoed behind him, but he never looked back, and his empty eyes couldn’t shed a tear.

Shen Qiudu didn’t know how long he ran, nor where he was going.

It wasn’t until the downpour began, covering his dry face with cold rain, that he finally stopped, gasping for breath.

The heavy fog blurred everything.

His thin, ragged clothes offered no defense against the chill.

Shen Qiudu could no longer see anything. His body gave way, and he collapsed on the side of an empty road.

He was like a withered, broken lotus, dissolving into the obscure, dark puddle.

As his consciousness completely faded, Shen Qiudu heard the screech of a car horn.

Followed by the sound of leather shoes stepping on the pavement.

While unconscious, Shen Qiudu felt trapped in a swamp. In his ears were the happy laughter of his parents lifting him high in the air as a child, but immediately following were his father’s repeated drunken curses.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t gamble?”

“They… they forced me to go!”

“Qiudu, just this one time, I’ll win back the principal! Then I’ll take you away from the slums!”

“…F***, why are you women crying? It’s just losing some money?!”

“You lost the money A-Du saved up to buy suppressants!”

“……”

It hurts so much, my whole body hurts.

But Shen Qiudu had always been able to endure pain.

When his father threw his young self to work on construction sites, and his leg was broken by a brick, he endured it.

When his mother personally cut off his scent gland to protect him, he only bit his lip until it bled.

But this time, he didn’t know why, he couldn’t bear it any longer.

Just before the strong urge to die took over, Shen Qiudu suddenly felt a warm touch, followed by a fresh floral scent.

“Why hasn’t he woken up yet? Did we not hire a good enough doctor?”

“Young Master, you’ve almost called every doctor in the city. This is the last one.”

“But he still looks very uncomfortable, I don’t want him to be in so much pain.”

The noisy sounds brought Shen Qiudu’s drifting thoughts back. Contrary to expectation, what greeted him was not a cold hospital room, but the intense gaze of an unfamiliar man.

“You’re awake!”

The man’s palm covered Shen Qiudu’s cheek, wiping away the dirt.

Familiar scent and warmth.

Ah, it’s this person, always touching him inappropriately while he was unconscious.

In that moment, all the malicious possibilities flooded Shen Qiudu’s mind.

He frowned and turned his face away, refusing to look at this disrespectful fellow.

“Are you okay? How’s your body? Is there anything uncomfortable?”

The man, as if determined, moved to the other side of the bed and leaned closer to Shen Qiudu.

Shen Qiudu chose to close his eyes and shake his head.

The feeling of fatigue had not completely faded, and the fear of being in a strange place made Shen Qiudu choose to shut himself off.

Perhaps the sudden silence made the man misunderstand something; he suddenly raised his arm, trying to touch Shen Qiudu’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!”

Shen Qiudu abruptly opened his eyes, defensively shrinking his body, looking exactly like a frightened young rabbit scampering back into its hole.

In Shen Qiudu’s expectation, his voice should have been sharp and piercing, ideally enough to scare off the man in front of him.

But in reality, due to his weak body, he couldn’t muster any strength, and the words that came out were soft and powerless, lacking any deterrence, but rather pulling at one’s heartstrings.

The palm that pushed away the man’s arm was icy cold, yet extremely soft.

“Don’t be afraid, I’m not a bad person…”

Would a bad person ever say they were a bad person?

Shen Qiudu clearly didn’t believe the man, curling up and dodging his touch repeatedly.

The overly large emotional fluctuation after waking up tightened Shen Qiudu’s chest, and he instantly coughed up a little bl00d.

Shen Qiudu was long used to this useless body, but the man was startled and approached him despite Shen Qiudu’s struggle.

The close proximity allowed Shen Qiudu to truly see the man’s appearance.

Gentle and distant, yet with an inexplicable touch of ruthlessness, though deeply hidden. There was a small black mole beneath both eyes.

Shen Qiudu knew these were called “teardrop moles” by some.

However, the man in front of him did not look like a crybaby no matter how one looked.

“What’s going on? Where’s the doctor? Didn’t you say his body was recovering well?”

“I’m fine.”

Shen Qiudu spoke before the questioned butler could answer, his expression indifferent.

“It’s nothing serious. When my emotions fluctuate too much, I cough up bl00d. No need to waste time worrying about this.”

Shen Qiudu said these words with pale lips and a blank expression, yet it was completely unconvincing.

Especially to the man in front of him.

“How can that be—”

Before the man could step forward, the butler interrupted him first.

“Young Master, the patient’s greatest need right now is rest.”

“But seeing him like this, I’m very worried.”

Shen Qiudu scoffed inwardly.

Worried about what? Afraid he’ll run away?

Shen Qiudu closed his eyes and turned his face away, sketching in his mind everything he might have to face next.

Although he knew his current resistance and silence were just futile efforts, Shen Qiudu was still unwilling to simply accept his fate.

The atmosphere solidified for a few seconds. In the silent deadlock, Shen Qiudu was surprised that the man seemed to have seen through his thoughts and willingly conceded.