The Sickly Omega Is No Longer Pretending to Be Good/Obedient - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Ringing the Bell – “Like a Ghost”

It started raining in Suzhou City again.

White condensation streamed down the pale glass window. After exhaling a puff of white air, the first thing Shen Qiudu saw was his own unfocused eyes.

He sat alone on a chair against the wall, his thin frame hunched. On the desk, which smelled of wood, lay the medical examination report that had been handed to him not long ago.

But as the doctor extended his hand toward him, a crumpled, written note was subtly slipped into Shen Qiudu’s pocket—

“Shen Qiudu, tomorrow night at ten, I’ll be waiting for you in the underground parking lot. I’ll take you away.”

“I will arrange everything for your parents. Don’t tell Wen Jiangchu.”

It was a note passed to him by Xu Zhouye through someone.

At the same time, the doctor quietly revealed to Shen Qiudu that his father had been rescued by Xu Zhouye and told him not to worry.

Shen Qiudu stared at the note for a long time. Underneath his cold exterior, his bl00d was faintly boiling, and his breathing gradually deepened due to everything he was formulating in his mind.

It was like the moan and cry of a bird before breaking out of its cage.

Heavy raindrops struck the window. A drizzling, rainy day was the best kind of weather for concealing everything.

“Knock, knock—”

The sound of the door instantly calmed Shen Qiudu. He got up and opened the door. A tall, cold-faced man immediately blocked Shen Qiudu’s view.

Shen Qiudu remembered him; he was the doctor who had examined him personally a few days ago.

“Time’s up.”

The man’s voice was low and devoid of emotion. He informed him mechanically and then turned and went downstairs.

Shen Qiudu’s eyes, holding a murky reflection of the rain, became deep and dark. He followed the man downstairs in silence.

A medical room downstairs had been specially decorated overnight by Wen Jiangchu. The room was equipped with the world’s top medical equipment and medicines, all for the purpose of treating Shen Qiudu’s damaged scent gland.

The night Wen Jiangchu rescued Shen Qiudu’s mother, Shen Qiudu had agreed to Wen Jiangchu’s request to begin the process of restoring his scent gland.

This meant that Shen Qiudu had embarked on the path to becoming the carrier for Wen Jiangchu’s cure—

At least, that was how Shen Qiudu viewed it.

After all, that night, Shen Qiudu had no choice.

His mother, due to fright and excessive fatigue, combined with being injected with some unknown drug, had fallen into a coma, with even the risk of brain death.

If not treated immediately, the only path was death, but the only person capable of performing this surgery and the specialized medicines were utterly impossible for Shen Qiudu to acquire alone.

At that time, Shen Qiudu’s heart was on the verge of dying. He slumped against the cold wall in despair, his weak body unable to support anything. It felt as if a hard iron nail had nailed Shen Qiudu’s head to the wall from his temple. His swollen, aching head could not bear any thought.

It was then that Wen Jiangchu, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time, appeared before him with the man and the complete set of medicine. After just one night, Shen Qiudu’s mother was out of danger.

Shen Qiudu didn’t know what Wen Jiangchu did to make that man rush over overnight, but he knew one thing: he owed Wen Jiangchu too much, so much that he could never repay it.

Thus, Shen Qiudu proactively walked up to Wen Jiangchu and fulfilled all his previous promises. The man Wen Jiangchu brought became the person he saw the most these days, while Wen Jiangchu himself hadn’t returned home for several nights.

In the cold treatment room, Shen Qiudu followed the man’s pointing finger and sat on the specially customized treatment chair Wen Jiangchu had prepared for him. The expensive leather texture gave his exposed skin goosebumps. His expression was calm, but his erratic heartbeat couldn’t be faked.

The man glanced up and chuckled lightly. “No need to pretend. Just say it if you’re scared.”

Shen Qiudu stubbornly turned his head away, but the hand resting on the armrest unconsciously clenched.

Seeing this, the man wasn’t annoyed. He started preparing the medicines and medical instruments to be used next.

“Don’t worry, today is just to check the extent of the damage to your scent gland and to inject a dose of the medicine to observe your body’s reaction. I’ll only officially start once everything is ready.”

“Besides, if I dared to treat you without Wen Jiangchu present, and he found out, I’d definitely get an earful. You’re very precious to him. I don’t want to anger a lunatic like Wen Jiangchu.”

The man’s clear voice carried a rare upward inflection when mentioning Wen Jiangchu, suggesting he was very familiar with him.

“Your name is Shen Qiudu, right?”

Shen Qiudu nodded, sitting obediently on the treatment chair. The roots of his hair, which had been specially cut short and hardened for work, had now grown out considerably. His black hair drooped on both sides, slightly covering his ears.

“My surname is Xue, Xue Shankè. You can call me Xue Shan, just like Wen Jiangchu does.”

Hearing this name, Shen Qiudu found it novel. “Xue Shan… Kè?”

“Yep, my name sounds good, right? I chose it myself. Doesn’t it sound cultured the moment you hear it?”

Shen Qiudu’s mouth twitched. He looked up and saw that Xue Shankè, who had just been wearing a stern face, acting like he wanted to be a thousand miles away from people, was now humming a tune while preparing the medicine.

This transformation was truly significant.

Noticing Shen Qiudu’s probing gaze, Xue Shan habitually explained, “Are you surprised by my change?”

Shen Qiudu didn’t want to hide it and nodded. Perhaps it was the infectiousness of Xue Shan’s relaxed mood, which gradually made him lower his guard as well.

“That’s a trick Wen Jiangchu taught me. He said being too enthusiastic at first might put people under pressure, and he also told me that talking too much would make me look unprofessional.”

“And I also noticed that when I treat those wealthy nobles, they maintain their dignified postures so rigidly that it made me unintentionally imitate them.”

Xue Shankè chuckled at himself. He walked up to Shen Qiudu with the prepared medicine bottles and syringe. But he set them aside, sat on the chair next to him, and picked up a book to read.

“Aren’t we… going to start?”

Shen Qiudu was momentarily stunned, watching Xue Shankè put on the demeanor of a gentleman noble again.

“Didn’t I say that I can only treat you when Wen Jiangchu is present? This guy… we’ve known each other for so long, and he’s still worried about this and that. You’re not a kitten or a puppy. He acts like he’s terrified I might do something to you…”

As soon as Wen Jiangchu was mentioned, Xue Shankè couldn’t stop talking. He quickly leaned in front of Shen Qiudu and began a long speech—

“Let me tell you, Wen Jiangchu and I have known each other for over ten years. Back then, I wasn’t called Xue Shankè. I got an exception to study at a high-level school because of my good grades, and I happened to be in the same class as Wen Jiangchu.”

“At first, we didn’t get along. Why should he always make me the perpetual second-place? And this guy has a good family background, a great personality, and is an S-class Alpha. He’s practically flawless, which makes him incredibly jealous. Look at me—average family background, and just a very ordinary Beta. There’s no comparison, no harm.”

“But later, when I said I wanted to be the first Beta to reach the pinnacle of the medical field, he was the only one who supported me and didn’t mock my arrogance. He was also the one who introduced me to a medical professor abroad for advanced study after I graduated.”

“I know I owe Wen Jiangchu a huge debt of gratitude, so when he called me a few days ago, I immediately rushed back to the country.”

“But I didn’t expect him to distrust my medical skills! He insisted that he was worried you might be scared and that he could only feel at ease if he was present… Honestly, for his sake, I will definitely treat you and your mother well. Don’t worry, you two.”

“After all, I’m the man who is about to reach the pinnacle of the medical field. If I can’t handle such a small matter perfectly, how can I reach the top? Don’t you agree?”

“Oh, right, have I told you why I chose this name for myself? Actually, my original name was very ugly. As for how ugly… well, it was as ugly as can be, so you better not hear it.”

Shen Qiudu: ……?

“I hadn’t initially planned to change my name, but then I suddenly noticed that the names of the people in the medical field were all super sophisticated, like Elaine, Lovien, Estara, Areda. Oh my goodness, I can’t even pronounce them. So, I went to Wen Jiangchu, and he said I could choose one for myself since I was abroad and my identity was what I made it.”

Shen Qiudu leaned back against the soft chair, watching Xue Shankè’s mouth move up and down non-stop, only finding this world increasingly absurd.

He hadn’t expected that the ostensibly refined and aloof man, the type of well-dressed gentleman in stories, was actually a huge chatterbox in private, and the kind who often missed the point.

Shen Qiudu now completely understood why Wen Jiangchu had told him to talk less.

He took a deep breath and interjected, seizing the opportunity, “So, why did you choose this name?”

“Because it sounds sophisticated! I searched through ancient books for an entire night to find it, and I even have an English name now, Rank. How great is that? Two birds with one stone!”

Seeing Xue Shankè try to continue his explanation, Shen Qiudu quickly changed the subject. “Wen Jiangchu hasn’t been back much these days. Did something happen?”

Upon hearing this, Xue Shankè sighed helplessly. “Yes, I don’t know much either, only that there’s a mole in the Wen Group. The Wen family has been working with the government on post-disaster reconstruction recently, but someone tampered with one of the steps, which led to many disaster victims not receiving the compensation they were due. They’re gathering and causing trouble in the slum area.”

“These days, he first has to appease those people, and then he has to fill the loopholes. He hasn’t even had a decent night’s sleep.”

Shen Qiudu’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of “mole.”

“Has the mole been found?”

“No, where’s the time and effort to look? Now that the Wen family is left with only Wen Jiangchu, so many things are suddenly flooding in. He can’t possibly handle everything at once. He probably has to wait until everything stabilizes before he can catch the mole.”

“But Wen Jiangchu is very smart. I think he probably has an idea, but he’s unwilling to expose them publicly just to save face.”

“That Wen Jiangchu, he’s just too honest. He always thinks the world is beautiful and often looks at others from the most benevolent perspective, so he always gets taken advantage of.”

“Do you think he’s wrong? Of course not. It’s just that this world, this society, won’t allow a person like him to succeed smoothly.”

Xue Shankè’s voice dropped heavily, and his expression darkened. “But don’t worry. Wen Jiangchu said that your matter is always the priority. He’ll rush back to be with you no matter what.”

“Besides, he’s always been amazing since he was little. Whether it’s academics or interpersonal skills, it’s as if he has a talent buff. And he seems to have no flaws at all, too perfect, so you don’t need to worry.”

But how could a real person be utterly flawless?

For example, that body that was about to break down from exhaustion.

The rain outside the window was falling harder. Wen Jiangchu should be on his way back.

Shen Qiudu pondered for a moment and slowly spoke, “Xue Shan, do you know Xu Zhouye?”

Xue Shankè nodded. “Yes, I know him. He’s Wen Jiangchu’s childhood friend, but I’m not very close with him.”

As he spoke, Xue Shankè cautiously looked around, leaned in front of Shen Qiudu, and lowered his voice. “Let me tell you, this guy is the strangest person I’ve ever met.”

“He always likes to pop up out of nowhere, and the things he says are very uncomfortable. Whenever Wen Jiangchu and I were chatting before, he would hide in the dark and stare at Wen Jiangchu without blinking. His eyes looked like he wanted to kill him. It was terrifying.”

“I mentioned it to Wen Jiangchu before, but he explained it away as pheromone influence. Anyway, I don’t understand it.”

“Later, I heard people say that everyone in the Xu family is like that, especially his father. I don’t know the specifics.”

“Maybe all Alphas are weird. Either crazy, or sinister, or fake, or pretentious. In short, completely different from us Betas.”

“I advise you to stay far away from that Xu Zhouye. He’s simply like a ghost…”