On the first Thursday after the two officially established their relationship, Huo Xingchen's phone was nearly shaken to pieces by the mocking laughter of his own younger brother.
Huo Xingran had just finished his morning molecular biology experiment; he hadn't even had the chance to peel off his lab coat before he dialed his brother's number, his tone brimming with a schadenfreude that practically overflowed through the screen: "Brother! I heard from Lin that your personal assistant stood outside the clinic for two hours last night? Not bad, CEO Huo! I hear that in order to win over Dr. Lu, you didn't hesitate to present yourself at his doorstep as an 'unqualified experimental specimen'? What about that high-and-mighty 'Risk Assessment Report' you usually present at board meetings? Was it tossed directly into the shredder by Dr. Lu as medical waste?"
Huo Xingchen was currently sitting on the sofa in his private apartment. He loosened his collar with one hand, his gaze passing through the clear glass partition to settle on Lu Yu, who was standing not far away in the kitchen, brows slightly furrowed as he boiled a hangover-recovery soup for him.
Even in the kitchen, Dr. Lu's back remained as straight as a stalk of green bamboo. His fair fingers held the ladle, his expression as rigorous as if he were compounding some precise reagent.
Withdrawing his gaze, Huo Xingchen spoke blandly to the foolish brother on the other end of the line. Instead of any annoyance at being exposed, his tone carried a kind of boastfulness that would make any single person's teeth ache: "The final conclusion of the report is that the investment project carries extremely high risk. Therefore, as CEO, I have voluntarily abandoned all defensive mechanisms and surrendered unconditionally to my doctor."
Huo Xingran rolled his eyes so hard it felt like a cosmic event on the other end of the line before slamming the phone down in indignation.
On Saturday evening, the old Huo family residence hosted a long-overdue dinner.
If this had been half a year ago, the atmosphere at the dinner table would have either been filled with cutthroat intrigue about how to spike an opponent's drink with laxatives, or Huo Xingran would have been unilaterally subjected to his brother's sub-zero, bloodline-suppressing glare. Yet today, the entire dining room was permeated with an eerie, unprecedented sense of tamed docility and devotion.
The afterglow of the meal dyed the entire flourishing grove of orange trees in the backyard of the Huo estate into a warm, golden-red hue.
A gentle breeze blew past, mixing the fresh scent of earth with the sweet and sour aroma of mature citrus. Lu Yu and Shen Qingzhou—two Omegas renowned in their respective fields for their cold, rational demeanor—were standing side-by-side under the thickest orange tree to escape the heat, each holding a cup of warm digestive tea.
Not far away, the two most fearsome top-tier Alpha brothers in Beijing were currently squatting in the dirt with zero regard for their image, bottoms poked out as they meticulously picked oranges.
Huo Xingchen had his suit trousers slightly rolled up, holding a large, freshly picked orange. He lowered his eyes, his expression so focused that it looked as if he were signing a multi-billion-dollar international contract. His long, slender fingers patiently peeled away the white pith from each orange segment, bit by bit. Only after confirming there wasn't a trace of bitterness remaining did he pat the dust off his clothes, walk over with long strides, and naturally offer the pristine, succulent orange meat to Lu Yu's lips.
On the other side, Huo Xingran's approach was much more chaotic.
In order to pick the sweetest one, this "Golden Retriever" had taken a massive bite first, only to have his handsome face twist into a grimace from the sourness, his ears practically drooping. But even so, when he tasted the faint hint of sweetness at the core, his eyes lit up. He immediately protected the remaining fruit with one hand as if offering a treasure, trotting over to Shen Qingzhou and insisting on shoving it into the professor's thin lips regardless of his resistance.
Lu Yu obediently accepted the perfectly sweet orange segment from Huo Xingchen's hand. He turned his head slightly to look at the sticky, shameless way Huo Xingran was circling Shen Qingzhou—even going so far as to nuzzle his head against the professor's shoulder like a rascal—and then looked at Huo Xingchen, who was standing by his side, eyes fixed unblinkingly on his lips. He said to Shen Qingzhou with a chuckle:
"Professor Shen, to be honest, when I was researching the psychological behavior of high-tier Alphas, I always believed that creatures standing at the top of the pyramid were, at their core, forever yearning to conquer territory, plunder resources, and manifest control. I thought it was impossible for them to be willingly bound by anyone, or by any mundane rules."
Shen Qingzhou was completely at the end of his rope with Huo Xingran's clinginess. While he dodged back with a look of feigned distaste, he couldn't help but part his lips when he met the boy's wet, "eat-it-eat-it" puppy eyes, letting the sour-sweet juice burst in his mouth.
Hearing Lu Yu's words, Professor Shen's elegant profile looked exceptionally soft under the gilding of the sunset. He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and, looking at the man clinging to his side, curved his lips into a smile—extremely faint, yet extraordinarily gentle:
"The quantitative analysis in psychology is correct. But Alphas are mammals, too. If they have fought enough in the outside world and are lucky enough to encounter that 'territory' that truly belongs to them—the one that makes their souls resonate..."
Shen Qingzhou reached out a finger and gave a light, deliberate flick to Huo Xingran's messy golden hair, his cool voice laced with a tactile pull and certainty:
"Not only will they lose all intent of aggression, but they will actively shed their claws and fangs. Like the most docile house dog, they will proactively slip on the sturdiest collar, buckle the lock with a click, and hand the other end of the leash over to you, without missing a single inch."
Under the trees, the breeze made the orange leaves rustle.
As if sensing with telepathy that the two Omegas' gazes were resting upon them, the golden head and the black head—which had just been secretly competing over "peeling techniques"—turned in unison. The most intense and warm residual red of the sunset fell exactly onto the handsome contours of the two brothers. Looking at their respective Omegas from several meters away, they simultaneously revealed an unguarded, even slightly goofy, flamboyant smile.
The smiles were too clean, and too scorching. In the dusk of late autumn, they illuminated the entire territory they claimed as their own, making it look as bright as day.