When elder Mr. Huo walked down the agalloch eaglewood staircase, the air in the entire grand hall, which had just loosened a fraction, suddenly turned violently heavy once more.
He was an industrialist who had fought his way through the blood and rain of the old era. Although he was now over seventy years old, his spine remained as perfectly straight as a weather-beaten spear that would never bend. The elder wore a deep crimson, traditional Chinese buttoned tunic, propping his hand on a red sandalwood cane carved with a dragon head.
Within those deep eye sockets that were identical to Hunter's, there was currently not a single shred of his grandson's characteristic warmth or recklessness; there was only the razor-sharp edge tempered after decades of navigating the volatile business world and weathering great storms. That gaze was heavy, carrying the absolute aura of a top-tier Alpha elder. Wherever it swept, even the air seemed to freeze over with a thin layer of frost.
"Grandfather."
Hunter stood up almost as a matter of conditioned reflex. Taking a large stride forward, he instinctively blocked the way half a step ahead with his tall frame. Like a young yet solid wall, he attempted to shelter Silas completely beneath his own wings.
However, elder Mr. Huo did not grant his grandson even a sidelong glance. Those eyes, weathered by time yet remaining exceedingly shrewd, bypassed Hunter's shoulders entirely and locked straight onto Silas like radar, without any reservation.
Silas did not hide. Bearing that scrutiny which was intense enough to make one suffocate, he rose to his feet unhurriedly. He smoothed down the hem of his overcoat. Against his crisp white shirt, that dark blue tie matching Hunter's was exceptionally eye-catching.
Silas gave a slight nod, his spine perfectly straight, his voice cool and polite. "Mr. Huo, I apologize for the intrusion."
"An intrusion?"
Elder Mr. Huo paused his steps at the base of the staircase, leaning a single hand on his cane. His voice was as resonant as a great bell, echoing under the high ceiling of the hall, making it impossible to discern any trace of pleasure or anger.
"You are that Professor Shen who caused quite a stir through the rumors at Beijing University—making my grandson move out of his dormitory, pack into an apartment, and completely neglect coming home?"
This question was asked in an incredibly tricky manner, carrying the customary interrogation and forced confrontation of an elder superior.
"Grandfather—!" The moment Hunter heard those words, he immediately grew anxious. His handsome face flushed crimson, and just as he was about to claim all the responsibility for himself, he felt his wrist captured by a slightly cool yet exceptionally firm hand.
Silas sent Hunter a look that told him to remain calm. Afterward, he picked up the conversation with a tranquil expression, his gaze meeting the elder's eye-to-eye without any evasion. "Yes."
He answered cleanly and decisively, lacking even a single shred of hesitation.
"But I have never forbidden him from coming home." Silas paused, his tone neither submissive nor overbearing, as if he were stating an indisputable scientific fact. "Whether Hunter Huo comes home or not is a choice and decision that has always remained in his own hands, not mine."
Elder Mr. Huo stood in place, his clouded yet razor-sharp eyes narrowing marginally.
He had lived for the better part of his life and had seen far too many beautiful Omegas attempt to climb the social ladder by entering the Huo family estate. Those people either appeared greedy and restless before the wealth of the Huo family, or were terrified into trembling wrecks under his oppressive aura. Yet this young professor before him, who was as slender as a stalk of bamboo and wore gold-rimmed glasses, was truly interesting.
Not only had he not been frightened away by his sharp question, but he had methodically drawn a crystal-clear boundary.
"Interesting."
Elder Mr. Huo gave a cold snort, taking large strides toward the center of the hall before seating himself upon an authoritative, yellow-rosewood armchair. He heavily thumped his cane against the floor tiles, producing a dull thud.
"Since you say the choice lies with him, do you happen to know the rules of the Huo family?" The elder leaned forward slightly, the absolute pressure of a top-tier Alpha elder pouring out without reservation. "In the Huo family, once an Alpha reaches adulthood, they either inherit the family enterprise and expand territories for the clan in the business world, or they form an alliance through marriage to consolidate the foundation of the Huo Group. Yet Hunter Huo is doing beautifully—he occupies neither. A grand second young master of the Huo family running off to the Life Sciences department to act as an unpaid assistant to a professor."
Elder Mr. Huo locked his eyes onto Silas, his tone dropping heavily. "Professor Shen, stripping away those deceptive pheromones, what do you think he is after?"
The moment this question was voiced, the atmosphere in the hall plummeted nearly to the freezing point. Sitting to the side quietly sipping his tea, Hunter's older brother, Julian Huo, set down his teacup, his gaze darting back and forth between Silas and Hunter.
Silas did not answer immediately.
Within this dead silence that lasted for several seconds, he did not look at the authoritative elder. Instead, he turned his head slightly, looking at the youth beside him.
Hunter was currently staring at him without moving an inch. A layer of fine sweat had actually beaded across the youth's forehead, his Adam's apple bobbing restlessly and violently from his immense tension. Today, he was clearly wearing his most formal tailored suit and that meticulously selected dark blue tie, his entire posture upright and dignified—completely unlike his usual self as a puppy who ran wild and acted spoiled in the laboratory.
Yet Silas could still see clearly that Hunter's large hand, hanging down by the side of his trousers, was trembling ever so slightly and uncontrollably.
—That was absolutely not because he feared elder Mr. Huo. That was merely a clumsy puppy who was terrified that the divinity he placed at the center of his heart would suffer even a single shred of grievance or difficulty before his elders because of him.
Noticing Silas looking over, Hunter even forced the corners of his mouth to stretch, attempting to give him a foolish "don't be afraid, I'm here" smile.
Silas's heart felt as though it had been smashed heavily by something soft yet burning hot, causing the cold detachment accumulated over long years within his palms to melt away entirely under that orange-scented foolishness in this instant.
He withdrew his gaze and faced elder Mr. Huo, who sat in the seat of honor.
"He isn't after anything."
Silas's voice remained cool, yet it sounded like pearls dropping onto a porcelain plate, carrying an absolute certainty that brooked no question.
"If I must state what he is after—"
Silas straightened his chest slightly, that matching tie appearing exceptionally prominent under the light. "He is after a person who makes him stand in a queue for two hours in the early morning just to buy soup dumplings; he is after a person who makes him stay awake guarding the laboratory door just to hand over a cup of warm water; he is after a person who will stand foolishly in a downpour getting soaked through just to block the wind for the other party."
Silas looked at the elder's bewildered eyes, the cool lines of his brows completely softened by the tenderness of the mortal world.
"Mr. Huo, I do not know how the outside world views the second young master of the Huo family. But in my eyes, your grandson is the silliest Alpha I have ever met, yet he is also... the best Alpha I have ever met in this lifetime."
Inside the living room, a genuine, vacuum-like dead silence fell in this instant.
Hunter was entirely dazed in his spot. He widened those eyes that were as dark as obsidian, his lips parting slightly as he forgot to breathe entirely. The rims of his eyes turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye the exact moment Silas said the words "the best Alpha". Massive droplets of emotion and aching sweetness practically threatened to spill over from those deep eye sockets.
Never in his wildest dreams did he anticipate that his professor—who was always implicit and restrained in matters of love, to the point where even a statement of liking someone was uttered with extreme ambiguity—would actually throw such an unreserved, confession-like straight pitch right in front of all the elders of the Huo family.
Even Julian Huo, who was well-accustomed to commercial negotiations on the side, froze his hand holding his teacup dead in mid-air.
His gaze fell upon Silas in a somewhat dazed manner. For some unknown reason, watching Professor Shen confront the elder for Hunter's sake at this very moment made Julian suddenly recall that Beta doctor—Dr. Louis Lu—in his private clinic who refused to give him even a single smiling face.
That person was exactly the same; he never treated him differently just because his surname was Huo or because he was the president of the Huo Group. Yet when his stomach pain flared up due to high-intensity work, that doctor would place a bowl of freshly brewed millet porridge on the desk with a cold face.
So it turned out... sincerity and death-defying favoritism were things that could truly be contagious.
Elder Mr. Huo similarly locked his eyes onto Silas. Within his sharp eyes that had spent the better part of his life reading people, his emotions shifted unpredictably.
After a long while.
Clap, clap.
Two crisp sounds of applause resonated.
Before Hunter could practically crush his own palms, elder Mr. Huo's tense mouth suddenly curled upward. Across that face which was permanently stern, cold, and as rigid as granite, a dense network of smile lines carrying a trace of intense admiration rarely surfaced.
He tapped his red sandalwood cane against the floor twice with some gratification. "Good! What a 'silliest yet best Alpha'!"
The elder turned his head, casting a sharp look that sliced across Hunter's foolishly stunned face, yet his tone was entirely packed with un-conceasable teasing. "Hunter Huo, did you hear that, you brat? Your eye for picking people is significantly stronger than your ability to do business."
"Ah? Grandfather?" Hunter looked as though he had not yet returned his senses from that magnificent confession just now, standing frozen in place like a complete blockhead.
"What are you still standing there dazed for? You've already brought the person back, hurry up and sit down to eat!"
Elder Mr. Huo waved his hand with mock disdain. Afterward, his softened gaze bypassed his grandson and fell with immense warmth upon Silas's slender shoulders. "The kitchen specially stewed fresh spare rib soup today. Professor Shen, you work far too hard conducting research on regular days—look how thin you are. Once you're at the table in a moment, you must eat two extra bowls."
The ice in the grand hall melted away completely in this moment, dissolving into the faint aroma of food drifting through the ancestral estate.