Zuo Shihuan’s expression was grave as he gripped the communicator tightly in both hands, reading carefully through the message from Yu Lizhu, who said she was being watched and detained at the Zuo residence. It wasn’t hard to guess whose decision that was, his father’s.
In order to suppress news of the chaos at last night’s engagement banquet, Father not only smothered all external reports but even went so far as to confine Yu Lizhu.
Yu Lizhu was completely innocent. She was only dragged into this mess because of him, because he’d broken their agreement about the fake marriage, putting her in danger.
Zuo Shihuan had never wanted to drag anyone else down with him. Yet no matter how hard he tried to push everyone around him away from this whirlpool, he had to face the truth: it was his fault they were caught in it at all.
Especially Yu Lizhu, who was, in name, his fiancée.
They had agreed to a fake marriage, an arrangement meant to last until both of them gained enough power to escape their families’ control.
By then, Yu Lizhu could reunite with her real boyfriend, Ji Shenwen, and Zuo Shihuan could choose the kind of life, and the Omega partner, he truly wanted.
But fate loves to mock people.
Because there was already someone in Zuo Shihuan’s heart.
That person was not the ideal Omega partner his family wanted for him, but a Beta man with a complicated, mysterious background, Gu Heng. Yet no matter how he tried, Zuo Shihuan couldn’t control the way his heart and eyes followed Gu Heng.
Unfortunately, he’d been rejected.
When he later learned that Gu Heng had left the Federation’s capital planet, his heart had slowly gone cold. Eventually, he gave up completely and agreed to his family’s wishes, to become engaged to a distinguished Omega lady from a noble family.
Luckily, that Omega lady had turned out to be Yu Lizhu.
He could treat her as a friend, an ally, a partner in shared interest, but not as a wife.
Because he still hadn’t forgotten Gu Heng. And he refused to enter a marriage while carrying the remnants of another love.
That would be a despicable lie to an innocent person, a deep and cruel harm to someone who didn’t deserve it. Especially when that person was supposed to become his wife, the mother of his future children.
Having grown up in a broken family, Zuo Shihuan knew too well what damage such relationships could inflict. Even as an adult, he still couldn’t let go of the pain.
He didn’t know what a normal, happy family looked like, but he knew it wasn’t his. And he knew that real parents would never be like his own.
So when he’d first met Yu Lizhu and discovered that she already had someone she truly loved, and that she didn’t like him at all, he’d actually felt a rush of relief.
But now things had come to this.
The more thankful he had once been that his first arranged match was with Yu Lizhu, the deeper his guilt and self-reproach were now.
Yu Lizhu had known nothing about Gu Heng crashing the engagement banquet. Yet when she saw Zuo Shihuan turn away from Gu Heng in pain and confusion, she had been the one to step forward and suggest giving up the engagement, telling him to leave with Gu Heng.
And now, he had selfishly fled the wedding, leaving Yu Lizhu alone to face the chaos and clean up the mess.
Could he be any more selfish?
And now she was being held captive in the Zuo household.
Even if Zuo Shihuan believed that his father wouldn’t physically harm her, that all this was just to contain the scandal, to minimize the fallout from his escape, perhaps even to forcibly bind Yu Lizhu more tightly to the role of “fiancée”, the Zuo residence was still no better than a dragon’s den or a tiger’s cave.
Zuo Shihuan shut his eyes tightly, then opened them again with renewed resolve. He clenched the communicator once more, then loosened his grip, and finally began to type out his first message of the day.
【Zuo Shihuan: Yu Lizhu, are you all right right now? Did my father do anything to you? I saw your message, I’m really worried. Please reply as soon as you can!】
After he sent the message, seconds trickled by, but no reply came.
Zuo Shihuan’s face grew darker. He could already guess that his father had confiscated even Yu Lizhu’s communicator.
Unable to get any word from her, guilt churned in his chest until he couldn’t sit still.
If an outsider like Yu Lizhu was being detained in the Zuo household, there was no telling what might happen. Even when he had first arrived there, he’d suffered no small amount of hardship and humiliation.
Let alone Yu Lizhu, an outsider, and one abandoned by the Yu family.
Otherwise, his father wouldn’t have been able to detain her so easily. Clearly, the Yu family had consented. And Zuo Shihuan could sense his father’s intent clearly enough.
Father wanted to use Yu Lizhu to lure him out.
It was a trap, bait laid specifically for him.
Yu Lizhu must have realized that too. That was why she had urged him to run, to escape while he could. As long as he wasn’t caught, she’d lose her value as leverage, and sooner or later, they’d have to let her go.
But Zuo Shihuan wasn’t as cold-hearted as his father. He couldn’t bring himself to abandon those who had helped him, to just walk away, knowing they’d suffer in his place.
Father, Zuo Zoujian, knew him far too well. He knew that his son came from humble origins, that he was unexpectedly sentimental, and soft-hearted.
Despicable as it was to use the people around Zuo Shihuan as hostages, Zuo Zoujian didn’t care. As long as it worked, as long as it brought his son back, that was enough for him.
Zuo Shihuan scrolled through the chat logs, Yu Lizhu’s messages, then his father’s, which were full of threats.
The record stretched from the moment he’d fled the engagement banquet, through the afternoon and night, filled with nonstop messages and calls.
From Yu Lizhu:
【Yu Lizhu: Zuo Shihuan, have you left the hotel yet? After you ran, your father went mad. He sealed off the venue, none of the guests, hotel staff, photographers, or reporters were allowed to leave.】
From his father, Zuo Zoujian:
【Zuo Zoujian: Zuo Shihuan, as long as you come back and attend the banquet, I’ll forgive everything! Otherwise, if I find that Beta lover of yours, he won’t have a good end!】
And from Yu Lizhu again:
【Yu Lizhu: Zuo Shihuan, did you two manage to escape? Don’t get caught by your father… I saw him send out a large squad of Zuo family guards, with guns, to hunt you and Gu Heng down.】
[Yu Lizhu: Your father probably won’t go so far as to kill you, but now that Gu Heng has taken you away, he’s become a thorn in your father’s eye. It’s hard to say whether those armed Zuo family guards have received any secret orders, that aside from you, Zuo Shihuan, everyone else’s life or death doesn’t matter. You must be extremely careful!】
[Yu Lizhu: If you plan to leave the Federation’s main star, call this number XXXXXXXX and ask for someone named XXX. The Yu family used to smuggle certain special goods through him, he has several covert transport routes and can help you leave quickly without leaving any trace.】
On the other side,
Father, Zuo Zoujian, seemed to have already received word from the Zuo family guards. They had searched the entire hotel and its surroundings but couldn’t find any sign of Zuo Shihuan or the others. They must have escaped farther away.
He was starting to fear they’d really gotten away. Unable to catch Zuo Shihuan, he began to pretend to be lenient, softening his tone.
[Father, Zuo Zoujian: Zuo Shihuan, if you really like that Beta so much, you can keep him outside as a lover. No matter what, you’re still an Alpha, you’ll need to bond with an Omega wife eventually. Do you really think a Beta can soothe your rut periods?】
[Father, Zuo Zoujian: It’s normal for young people to act on emotion. I admit, that Beta you picked has some cunning tricks, so sly that even the Zuo family’s network can’t find you. But tell me, you might like this crafty Beta for a while, yet can you stay infatuated for life? Can you hide and run for the rest of your days?】
[Father, Zuo Zoujian: You finally returned to the Zuo family and worked so hard, everything you’ve done, I’ve seen it all. And now you’re going to throw away the Zuo family’s name, wealth, and power just for a Beta? Is it worth it? How about this, we both take a step back. As long as you come home, I’ll overlook the fact that the Beta kidnapped you.】
Zuo Shihuan couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.
His father didn’t really mean to let things go. He just hadn’t found him and Gu Heng yet. That talk of “taking a step back” was all pretense, his father still refused to give up forcing him home.
And sure enough, Zuo Shihuan continued reading Yu Lizhu’s messages from yesterday.
