“In a month?” Zuo Shihuan asked with difficulty.
“If there are no other unexpected events, yes. There’s no rush. Alphas of your age are normally married, and after fully differentiated into Alphas, they also need an Omega to comfort them during their susceptible period. Why are you not satisfied with the young lady of the Yu family?” Father, Zuo Zoujian, asked.
His temples were slightly gray under his dark hair. He was smoking a gold-thread cigar in one hand, leaning back in his chair and fiddling with the elegant and fragrant orchid on the desk with the other hand. His dark brown eyes were deep and charming, with mature fine lines at the corners of his eyes and fine stubble on his chin.
The Alpha before him was a middle-aged man, his body showing slight signs of weight gain, though one could still vaguely see the handsomeness and charm of his youth.
His features resembled Zuo Shihuan’s, yet the temperament was utterly different—this was a completely different kind of man, a scoundrel of a father.
Zuo Shihuan’s light brown eyes flickered. The carved desk lamp cast a cold shadow across them, the interplay of light and shade on his elegant features lending him an inexplicable air of gloom and maturity.
The engagement was set for one month later.
He couldn’t even say what it was he was struggling with inside. He had known all along this would be the result.
If he didn’t marry Yu Lizhu, he would marry someone else. He wouldn’t suddenly fall for a Beta bartender, nor could he change the fact that he would marry an Omega he barely knew, perhaps only meeting once.
By comparison, Yu Lizhu was already the best choice of fiancée.
Yet Zuo Shihuan’s heart was far from calm.
It was as if his body had been bound to a heavy stone.
Thrown into a river of undercurrents with that stone, Zuo Shihuan could no longer think clearly. Dragged down, he sank, the weight stirring up what had once been placid waters in his heart.
Clarity was gone.
He let himself sink to the riverbed, fleeing the suffocating stillness of the surface waters, where hidden beneath, forbidden feelings rose in the dark currents away from prying eyes.
“Father, am I really to marry an Omega I’ve only met once?”
His heart heavy, Zuo Shihuan’s voice came out hoarse, like something breaking out from the soil: “What if I wanted to marry a Beta?”
Zuo Zoujian’s face immediately changed.
Yet, seeing that his son had not long returned to the Zuo family and was still adjusting to the changes in identity and status, he refrained from bursting into rage.
“You don’t want to marry an Omega you’ve just met, but you want to marry a Beta?” His tone was subtle.
Zuo Shihuan did not nod, but turbulence stirred in his eyes.
He knew it was wrong, knew it was something never to be allowed—yet still, a fragile, reckless hope rose within him.
Zuo Zoujian’s hand, holding the cigar, paused.
For the first time, he saw his newly returned Alpha son’s expression break from that calm, unreadable mask, revealing an emotional ripple.
From the first day Zuo Shihuan had entered the Zuo household, Zuo Zoujian had been observing him.
The boy had been far too calm.
Confronted with the wealth and extravagance of a great house, he remained cool, detached. Fine food he sampled only lightly. Luxury watches and jewels he treated as mere social accessories, showing no favoritism. In every social event, he shed his greenness quickly, becoming poised, adept, steady.
He neither smoked nor drank, nor chased after women.
Even when a maid crept into his bed late at night, Zuo Shihuan had mercilessly thrown her out.
It was the first time Zuo Zoujian had seen such restraint in an Alpha. How could an Alpha neither drink, nor smoke, nor indulge in any vice?
He had even dared to refuse a cigar offered by his own father.
It shattered the image of a docile, obedient son. Zuo Shihuan had his own steel, listening only to what he found rational and useful.
Sometimes Zuo Zoujian doubted whether this really was his own flesh and blood.
After all, he knew what kind of man he was—yet he had sired such a completely opposite son.
And as Zuo Shihuan accompanied him to more social gatherings, learning the duties of an heir, his aura had only grown stronger.
Even when Zuo Zoujian lit a cigar, just the wisp of smoke was enough to make Zuo Shihuan frown—saying nothing, yet his eyes said everything.
It left even his father feeling a twinge of guilt just for smoking.
If not for the genetic test report stating clearly their blood relation as father and son, Zuo Zoujian might have suspected they had the wrong child.
And yet this calm, self-controlled Alpha son of his had suddenly voiced such a request—wanting to marry a Beta?
Zuo Zoujian’s curiosity was piqued: “Is it someone you knew in the lower city?”
After a pause, Zuo Shihuan answered: “No.”
Zuo Zoujian narrowed his eyes with a smile: “It’s fine. Who hasn’t liked one or two people when young? Between father and son, what secrets can there be? Who is this Beta? Where are they from?”
Zuo Shihuan only glanced at him, offering no reply.
Indeed, there were secrets even between father and son.
When his Alpha son gave no answer after a long while, Zuo Zoujian’s face turned slightly stiff. He forced a laugh: “I wouldn’t do anything to that Beta. Whether you like a Beta or an Omega, what’s the harm? Keep them outside, tucked away, it doesn’t matter.”
“But a Beta can’t help with an Alpha’s susceptible period. Once you’ve fully matured, you’ll understand who you need to marry.”
“If you’re really fond of that Beta, they can be a lover. But a wife must be an Omega from a noble family, to uphold our standing. Wild flowers outside are just fleeting novelty.”
Zuo Shihuan’s brows drew low, as he looked at his father: “I don’t want anyone as a lover.”
Zuo Zoujian’s face didn’t change: “Young men are always stubborn with pride. Don’t tell me you really mean to bring a Beta from the lower city home? Even if I agreed, the rest of the Zuo family would never allow a Beta, incapable of bearing strong Alpha heirs, to become the household’s matron.”
“As a lover, though—play as you like. There are plenty of Betas out there. If you want, I can even send you one.”
Zuo Shihuan’s gaze grew cold: “No need, Father. I don’t want to end up like you, with a trail of illegitimate children.”
Zuo Zoujian’s mouth curved upward, looking at his aloof Alpha son, not angry but amused: “If not for my philandering and illegitimate children, you wouldn’t have been born!”
“When you truly enter the inner circles of high society, you’ll see your old man is already considered clean. I’ve never forced anyone—everything was mutual. How can you blame me alone?”
“Especially when you hit your Alpha susceptible periods, you’ll know how unbearable it is without the soothing of Omega pheromones. What, do you plan to live your whole life on suppressants? What use is a Beta by your side? Sooner or later you’ll tire of him, and throw yourself into the arms of an Omega’s tenderness.”
Father Zuo Zoujian seemed to be speaking with reason.
But having suffered under him, Zuo Shihuan would never be deceived by such sophistry.
His biological father, Zuo Zoujian, was in every respect a thorough scoundrel—a man who abandoned wife and son, dabbled in sordid affairs, once considered charming and romantic in his youth because of his good looks, but now known throughout the upper circle as nothing more than a lowly old lecher.
Every time he accompanied his father to a banquet, as soon as introductions were over, Zuo Shihuan would want to distance himself.
And it wasn’t just Zuo Shihuan—others at the banquets felt the same.
There was no reason to keep close to this old lecher unless forced to by business.
Especially those guests who brought female companions, lovers, or wives and daughters—they would all be on guard.
Even the hosts themselves had to watch out for this old rogue.
Just last year, Zuo Zoujian attended a banquet and got involved with the host’s Beta male butler, which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate daughter.
The butler was kicked out by his employer; Zuo Zoujian didn’t care, and instead carried the child into the Zuo household to climb higher. He even made a scene in front of Madam Zuo, making sure the entire upper circle knew of the scandal.
It had long become routine for people to show up at the Zuo house with children in their arms.
The upper circle’s reaction had shifted from heated gossip to weary indifference, until eventually, when only a few such incidents occurred in a year, people actually thought the old lecher Zuo Zoujian had reformed.
But this time proved that depravity had no bottom line.
That butler was middle-aged, overweight, with a thick waist and round face—calling him plain would be generous. His eyes were narrow and ingratiating, his education poor, his abilities mediocre. He’d only become a minor butler by flattering others and leaning on connections.
In the past, at least Zuo Zoujian targeted beauties, big or small.
But now he hadn’t even spared another man’s unremarkable Beta butler. Since when had he become so desperate, so undiscerning?
In the end, Zuo Zoujian had to step in with money to pay off the butler. The infant daughter, only a few months old at the time, was left in the old Zuo family estate.
A year had passed since.
After moving into the Zuo house, Zuo Shihuan had seen the nanny carrying that chubby, round-faced baby girl, now over a year old, but he had never once seen Zuo Zoujian voluntarily visit the child.
Even now, the child had no name.
Raised like a stray cat or dog.
In fact, worse off than the pets—at least cats and dogs had names and owners.
The new nanny was at a loss as to what to call the child. At over a year old, she was already at the age to start learning to talk.
But though the Zuo household seemed crowded with people, it was cold and devoid of affection—no one cared about that child.
Finally, the nanny, with no other choice, looked to Zuo Shihuan, who had been appearing more often around the master these past months. Hugging the chubby little girl, as plump as a piglet, she timidly asked Zuo Shihuan for help.
That was how Zuo Shihuan learned of the matter.
But he wasn’t surprised. After all, his father was a scoundrel who indulged in pleasure without ever taking responsibility.
Zuo Shihuan didn’t hold back as he retorted sharply: “There are too many ‘tender homes of beauty’ already. Father, I suggest you take care of your health and slow down a bit. Don’t attend banquets at other people’s homes anymore. Even a middle-aged, overweight Beta butler wasn’t spared—no wonder you’ve already been blacklisted by your hosts.”
Zuo Zoujian’s face darkened immediately; he didn’t want to recall that humiliating incident.
That matter had been the butt of jokes among his peers for a long time. He’d just been drunk—so drunk he could mistake a pig’s head for a beauty. Afterward, when he went to banquets, some ugly, overweight middle-aged Betas even tried to seduce him. He had been so disgusted it made him abstain from women for a while before recovering.
A little guilty, Zuo Zoujian brushed it off: “Just being drunk, that’s all. Not such a big deal. Honestly, that Beta wasn’t as ugly as everyone says. And anyway, it’s all in the past now.”
After seeing so many beauties and flowers, sometimes he wanted something “wild.”
In truth, Zuo Zoujian had fooled around several more times afterward. Otherwise, with such a low fertility rate among male Betas, even he couldn’t have hit the jackpot on the first try.
Zuo Shihuan’s expression stayed cold: “Oh? That child is already over a year old. I suppose it really has been a long time. So long that you even forgot to give her a name. The nanny came to me, her half-brother, instead of to you, her biological father.”
Zuo Zoujian: “…”
As a father, he should have sternly scolded this son for being insolent. But the situation was a little… different.
Especially when this Alpha son looked at him with that cold face—he was reminded of his own late, stern, old-fashioned grandfather. And since this Alpha son had been abandoned for so many years, Zuo Zoujian couldn’t help but feel vaguely guilty toward him.
On the other hand—
This Alpha son who had suddenly been found and brought back had also saved Zuo Zoujian from being ousted as head of the family.
The Zuo family wasn’t ruled by him alone.
It was a family enterprise. Many members of the vast clan held posts within the Zuo-owned Blue Eagle Group. Even those who didn’t still occupied influential positions across various industries.
The Zuo family stood at the very top of the upper circle.
Their Blue Eagle Group had existed for over a thousand years. The Federation had only broken away from the Empire and been established a few hundred years ago. The Group was founded by the then Zuo family head, a brilliant genius scientist now hailed as the Father of Federation Mecha. Even the hostile Empire had awarded him a Nobel Prize, funding, and a noble title in an attempt to lure him over.
But the fact that the Zuo family remained in the Federation showed the scientist had refused. He had been satisfied with the Federation as a new land of free development. The patents from his weapons and mecha research continued to bring enormous profits to the Zuo family more than a thousand years later.
Blue Eagle Group’s products covered every level of Federation society—from military weapons, mecha, and transport ships, down to civilian communication chips, hover cars, household robots, and appliances.
One could say that from the very first moment a citizen of the Federation touched technology, they were already inseparable from the Zuo family’s Blue Eagle Group.
Even the very first second-hand communicator Zuo Shihuan bought at age ten bore the logo of Blue Eagle Group.
He just never knew that the biological father he had never met actually came from such a long-established, prestigious family.
By now, the Zuo family controlled far too many scientific patents. The Federation government had even revised anti-monopoly laws specifically to limit Blue Eagle Group’s immense size, and supported various research institutes and tech companies to counter it. Yet, Blue Eagle Group still held an unshakable, conglomerate-like dominance in civilian technology.
Even though the Zuo family had become much more low-profile than before, and even after signing an agreement to cede part of their mecha patents when the new female Alpha president of the Federation took office, their status as one of the Federation’s top aristocratic conglomerates remained utterly unaffected.
The actions of such an important family could sway the entire Federation’s situation.
Once he was publicly announced as heir to the top-tier Zuo family, Zuo Shihuan suddenly received all manner of invitations from society’s elite—many were people he had only ever glimpsed in newspapers, yet now they extended warm and friendly hands to him.
It was then that Zuo Shihuan truly caught a glimpse of the world of great families.
Perhaps it was because he held that thick stack of invitations for too long.
His father, Zuo Zoujian, noticed the discomfort and shock hidden beneath his expressionless face. Laughing, he clapped him on the shoulder:
“What’s this? In the future, they’ll all be lining up to meet you. When the Federation’s annual gala comes around, you’ll even receive a dinner invitation from the President herself.”
Zuo Shihuan frowned in surprise: “The President of the Federation?”
His father puffed on a cigar, his shrewd brown eyes fixed on him like an old lion teaching a young cub who had just come of age to hunt.
“Don’t be daunted by the title of President. As my Alpha son, unless something unexpected happens, you will inherit the Zuo family when I retire. Sooner or later you’ll have to deal with the Federation government. No matter how great the person, they’re nothing more than a negotiating partner for the Zuo family’s benefit. Family interests always come first.”
Family interests above all—even the family head could not place himself above them.
The annual family meeting was the most important event for the Zuo clan. It set the course for the year’s development. Distinguished Zuo family members from across different worlds and star systems all came to attend.
Even after selection, the number of attendees reached seventy or eighty thousand—a force strong enough to sway the choice of family head.
In the past, Zuo Zoujian’s scandals had left many debts of lust behind. He had seduced countless people’s wives, offending many figures. They held back only because he was the Zuo family head, but even within the Zuo family, dissatisfaction ran deep.
On top of that, Zuo Zoujian carried a genetic defect. Despite decades of debauchery and enough illegitimate children to make up several football teams, not one of them was an Alpha fit to inherit.
Some branches of the family were ambitious, preparing to propose at the family meeting that he be replaced. Even the venerable elders of the Zuo family were watching closely; unless absolutely necessary, they did not wish to change heads.
It wasn’t as though Zuo Zoujian had contributed nothing over the years.
But compared to his absurd scandals and his failure to produce a worthy heir, the family’s reputation had suffered. Clearly, for the sake of all, it would be better to replace him.
When the wall falls, everyone pushes.
No matter how capable, Zuo Zoujian could not withstand the opposition of the entire clan.
At the critical moment, when he was about to be ousted as head, he discovered Zuo Shihuan, who had undergone a secondary differentiation into an Alpha—like grasping a life-saving straw.
Yet many within the family were still watching. Whether Zuo Shihuan could truly serve as a qualified heir remained to be seen.
At this time, finding him a powerful family alliance through marriage became very important.
Zuo Shihuan could never marry a Beta.
Still, in some ways Zuo Zoujian would have to rely on this Alpha son in the future. He didn’t want to strain the relationship too far. He wanted to soften things, regain some reputation as a father.
Rubbing his brow, Zuo Zoujian compromised: “Fine. I’ll have the nanny bring that child up, I’ll give her a name.”
“Or perhaps—you, as her half-brother, can name her instead.”
Zuo Shihuan lowered his gaze, puzzled: “Why should I be the one to name her?”
His father’s eyes grew deep, and he smiled: “Think of it as early practice. As the heir of the Zuo family, you will one day inherit my position as family head. Not only this half-sister of yours, but all the younger siblings in the old estate, even the elder brothers and sisters, will one day rely on you. In the future, every Zuo clansman and the millions of employees under Blue Eagle Group will depend on you for their livelihood.”
“Thinking about it that way, isn’t naming a child a very simple matter?”
Zuo Shihuan furrowed his brows, then bowed his head in reluctant submission: “Thank you, Father. But you are the Zuo family head. As your child, she should rightfully be named by you.”
Zuo Zoujian was satisfied with his son’s obedience. Seeing such an outstanding young Alpha standing before him, the tangled and complicated emotions in his heart eased considerably.
As long as he remained family head, the entire Zuo family had to listen to him.
A knock sounded at the door.
The nanny entered, carrying his half-sister.
Zuo Shihuan came back to himself, slowly raising his head to look at the chubby, white, clueless baby girl in her arms.
But before he could say anything—
His father exclaimed in astonishment: “How come this child looks like a little piglet, so fat she doesn’t look like mine at all?”
As if sensing her scumbag father’s disgust—
The little sister in the nanny’s arms immediately burst into wails, her round, soft face like a plump steamed bun, fat tears rolling down, her wrists plump like lotus root segments.
Clearly, she was well-fed—her weight more than double that of a normal baby. Even her cries boomed like a bell, almost too much for the nanny to hold.
Her scumbag father looked on with even more distaste: “Even uglier. Just call her Zuo Piglet.”
Zuo Shihuan’s face darkened.
He thought of how he had such a worthless father—and how, one day, his own children would have such a scoundrel as their grandfather.
If not, he might as well cooperate with the Zuo family’s branch line right now, first drag that scumbag father down from the patriarch’s seat, and send him off to some remote, barren little planet where even birds won’t shit, never to return to the Federation’s main star again.
Later he could just tell the child: Grandpa is up in the stars in the sky.
Can’t wait until next week to see more? Want to show your support? Come to my Patreon where you can get 5 or more chapters of After Being Deceived, I Married Someone Else and Had Children right away ! Or go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
