The blind date came quickly—just two weeks after his arrival at the Zuo household.
In those two weeks, Zuo Shihuan had crammed social etiquette, been led by his father to numerous gatherings, and had his identity announced publicly. He also got a general sense of how many siblings he had, and finally met the eldest—Zuo Shijie.
The elder brother did not resemble their father; he looked more like Madam Zuo. At first his attitude was lukewarm, but he did invite Zuo Shihuan out for a meal at an Italian restaurant.
Zuo Shihuan ate quietly. He had to admit, it was the most comfortable meal he’d had—no one else interfering.
Even Zuo Shijie noticed. Lighting a cigar, he chuckled easily: “What’s the matter, is the food here really that good?”
Zuo Shihuan set down his dessert, brows faintly furrowed, gaze fixed on that cigar.
Zuo Shijie noticed, then pushed the red wine the waiter had poured earlier closer toward him. “If not a cigar, then the wine? I saw you haven’t touched a drop.”
Zuo Shihuan: “No, thank you.”
His brother raised a brow. “No smoking, no drinking—you really don’t seem like part of the Zuo family. Come, try. Business dealings can never avoid smoke and alcohol. Father will be bringing you into business soon. It’ll be busy.”
Zuo Shihuan couldn’t refuse further. He took a sip, but just one. The cloying taste lingered in his throat.
Annoyed, he set the glass down.
Zuo Shihuan asked, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going. Father and I still have a banquet tonight.”
It was as if Zuo Shijie had been pierced. He suddenly stood, voice rising with resentment: “Don’t you hate him? That Zuo Zoujian—your so-called father who abandoned you at birth! And now, because you’ve differentiated into an Alpha, he pretends to welcome you back.”
Zuo Shihuan’s gaze flicked toward the restaurant’s exit, frustration mounting that he couldn’t just leave.
Zuo Shijie leaned over the table, voice sharp and cajoling: “Maybe you don’t know. That old b*stard has long had a genetic illness. It was what got you expelled back then, what nearly killed you in the hospital.”
“Zuo Zoujian could never father a healthy Alpha child. Yet outside, he still sowed a brood of b*stards. You’re an exception, but not the only one. There was another once—an illegitimate son who had the chance to differentiate into an Alpha, but died from that same genetic flaw.”
The eldest brother, Zuo Shijie, grabbed his collar in agitation, hissing hoarsely by his ear: “You’re the lucky one. Maybe a genetic mutation, maybe something else—you actually endured the torment of second differentiation and became an Alpha. But can you forget the pain of almost dying alone back then?”
“My dear brother, give your elder brother a chance. We share the same blood, we both hate the same father. We don’t have to be rivals.”
Zuo Shihuan turned his face aside, brushing past the ambition in his brother’s eyes—an ambition that was limited.
“I told you, I have a banquet tonight.”
Zuo Shijie felt it was absurd. This so-called ‘younger brother’ of his was calm from beginning to end—even when invited to conspire in overthrowing that old man’s position as head of the Zuo family, he remained calm to the point of being chilling.
Had he misunderstood him? Not every rat that crawled up from the slums was terrified of falling again into the abyss—so terrified they’d cling desperately to what they had now, even if it meant short-sightedness and groveling servility.
Zuo Shijie tried hard to see through this newly arrived Alpha brother. After venting his anger, he collapsed into a rattan chair, leaned forward, hands gripping his thighs, and asked Zuo Shihuan: “What is it you want? Tell me.”
Zuo Shihuan straightened his disheveled collar, picked up his coat, and said politely: “That’s enough. Time is about up. I’ll be leaving first.”
Zuo Shijie, flustered, tried to stop him.
As if sensing something, Zuo Shihuan turned his head toward him and said: “Rest assured, I won’t complain to Father. As for what I want…”
“It’s just this life I have now.”
Food that was tasty, a place comfortable to live. He would marry, have children, pass his days in orderly calm, without upheaval, and at the end live out his life in peace.
That was what he had longed for back in the slums, breathing foul air—abandoned once by his father, once by his mother, once cast aside by school because of his genetic illness, once waiting in a hospital for his life to be discarded.
Struggling again and again under fate’s mockery— What he had dreamed of was simply a quiet life.
***
“Here is my youngest daughter—Yu Lizhu.”
“And this is my son—Zuo Shihuan, recently brought back. Come now, Shihuan, greet Uncle Yu. We’ve been old acquaintances for years.”
Zuo Shihuan politely offered: “Uncle Yu.”
His father, Zuo Zoujian, gave him a tolerant pat on the back and said with a joking smile: “And don’t forget Miss Yu. You’re the same age, surely you’ll have plenty to talk about.”
Zuo Shihuan looked down. A pair of elegant high heels, a white lace cheongsam falling to the knees—graceful yet modest. A hand, with a camellia bracelet at the wrist, was extended toward him.
“Hello, my name is Yu Lizhu.”
The gentle, soft voice of the woman made Zuo Shihuan suddenly realize—if this blind date went well, this would be his wife for life.
A sudden bewilderment stirred in his chest.
He raised his head, saw pearl and jade earrings at her ears, the elegant curve of her white lace cheongsam, her slightly curled hair pinned up, her lips touched with faint pink.
Yet her face alone seemed blurred, as if veiled—no matter how he tried, he could not clearly see it. Finally, he gave up.
Expression blank, Zuo Shihuan said: “Hello, Miss Yu.”
They sat down.
The fathers chatted enthusiastically.
One said: “My daughter attends Olina Ladies’ Academy, studies horticulture, she’s gentle and elegant, bound to make a good wife.”
The other said: “My son attended Federal University, studied mech repair, though he’s on leave now. In time we’ll have him change majors and return, so he can take over the Zuo family business.”
While the elders probed and praised, both appearing very satisfied with each other’s conditions, the two young people sat opposite in silence.
The awkward quiet stretched on.
As always, Zuo Shihuan focused only on eating.
He was so intent that Miss Yu finally pushed a glass of white wine toward him, softly reminding: “Drink some? This French fruit soup is a little salty.”
Zuo Shihuan: “Thank you, I don’t drink.”
Yu Lizhu replied gently: “Then never mind.”
After speaking, she swirled the glass of white wine, glancing at the two middle-aged men beside them, chatting away as though they might swear brotherhood on the spot.
Her eyes flashed with dissatisfaction. Still wearing the flawless smile of a noble lady, she boldly downed the entire glass of wine.
Zuo Shihuan, polite as ever, said: “Miss Yu, if you drink like that you’ll get drunk.”
Yu Lizhu smiled with grace, but her words were barbed: “So even a blockhead who only knows how to stuff his face at a blind date knows what it means to be drunk?”
Zuo Shihuan faintly sensed that the young lady before him was not as she appeared. He nodded: “Once drunk, one disgraces themselves—like some out-of-control monster, wandering the streets.”
Yu Lizhu’s interest was piqued. “I heard you’re from the slums—the lower city?”
Zuo Shihuan: “That’s right.”
Surprise flickered in her eyes. “I thought you’d try to hide it. After all, coming back from the slums isn’t exactly respectable. The upper circles all mock the Zuo family for picking up an Alpha b*stard from the gutter.”
Zuo Shihuan: “Other people’s opinions aren’t mine to control.”
Yu Lizhu gave a thin, mocking smile: “True enough. The slums are only dirty on the surface. The filth of high society is filth of the heart.”
Zuo Shihuan did not echo her words.
She studied him for a while. Indeed, this blind-date partner was unusual, quite unlike what the upper circles speculated about the Zuo family’s newly-returned Alpha b*stard.
“It seems you really don’t like talking. If you don’t drink wine, then will you drink tea?”
Not wanting to refuse twice, Zuo Shihuan agreed.
Yu Lizhu seated herself at the tea set, her movements flowing like water as she brewed, poured into delicate celadon cups. Her posture was graceful, like that of an ancient beauty. Extending her hand, she said: “Please, have some.”
Zuo Shihuan politely expressed his thanks.
He couldn’t put into words the specific taste of the tea, but it was true that the tea brewed by Miss Yu carried a more lingering fragrance.
By the time Zuo Shihuan realized, he had already set his empty teacup in front of Yu Lizhu.
Yu Lizhu was slightly startled. Her smile gained a touch of genuine warmth as she poured the freshly brewed tea into Zuo Shihuan’s emptied cup. With lips pressed together in a smile that showed no teeth, she said, “Mr. Zuo really does take me as a little maid for making tea.”
Zuo Shihuan’s hand trembled as he held the cup, not knowing whether he should take it or not.
Yu Lizhu smiled: “Don’t worry. At least you’re someone who simply enjoys drinking tea. Brewing tea for you makes me happy too. After all, I stayed so long in that boring Omega bride school—compared to those meaningless courses, tea ceremony was one of the few things I actually liked. And you, Mr. Zuo, are one of the rare people I don’t dislike brewing tea for.”
Suddenly, a middle-aged man’s laughter cut in.
Father Yu laughed heartily: “Looks like the two young ones get along well. I agree to this matter.”
Father Zuo Zoujian was pleased: “Then let’s hold the engagement ceremony in a while. Shihuan, from now on, Miss Yu will be your fiancée.”
Zuo Shihuan suddenly felt lost and adrift.
Just like that, an engagement was set? To spend a lifetime with an Omega he had never even known before?
***
“You two young people who are engaged should go and cultivate your relationship.”
And so, they were shooed out.
The two of them stood at the entrance of the banquet hall, a cold wind blowing over them.
Zuo Shihuan was still stuck on the shocking fact that he suddenly had a fiancée, unable to recover for a long while.
Still, out of gentlemanly manners, when he saw Miss Yu’s face pale, he took off his coat to hand it to her.
But she refused.
“No need. Mr. Zuo, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Yu Lizhu stood facing him.
This time, Zuo Shihuan finally saw her face clearly.
Not tall, fair-skinned with dark eyes, dressed in a delicate and elegant white lace qipao, her softly curled hair pinned up with a pearl headband—like a gentle, refined pearl in a box, dignified, gentle, virtuous, petite. Like a pearl bird carefully raised in a cage.
The pearl bird in the cage poked its head out, seemingly bold.
Yet in truth, her round black eyes were timid and fearful of the world. Without anyone even approaching, this pampered, delicate bird could frighten itself into tears.
Yu Lizhu widened her eyes seriously: “I can’t possibly be engaged to you. I already have someone I like!”
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