HOYSE CHAPTER 61

Chapter 61 — You Reap What You Sow

The two entertainment reporters were both Omegas. The moment they stepped into the restroom, they sensed something faintly enticing in the air.

It was so light it was hard to distinguish. They both glanced at the locked pheromone-isolation stall, and sure enough, the red light indicated it was occupied.

Higher-end facilities for Men O and Men A were fitted with these stalls: 360-degree, fully sealed, even the venting system was customized. They existed to give AO the maximum safety and a place to handle emergencies when nature called. Of course, budgets did not allow building them in every restroom everywhere.

They took it in stride, assuming some Omega was inside injecting suppressants, and kept chatting as if no one were there.

“Plenty to write when we get back. Which angle will you run first?”

“Adult choices. Obviously, all of them.”

“Seeing Gu Xi change his expression on camera was once in a blue moon. Isn’t he usually the type who takes care of everyone? This Rong Jing is from the film academy too, right, same school, different years.”

“Bad luck. After being bundled with newbies year after year, there was bound to be one time he lost patience.”

“You think maybe Rong Jing did something he shouldn’t have. Alphas are no good.”

“If he really did, would the guy still be allowed to stay with the crew? Gu Xi even turned down the big investor earlier.” Their articles might run wild with embellishments for clicks and drama, but among people who knew the truth, reporters like them were actually closer to it. “There is a rumor a second-tier Alpha once tried to ‘take advantage’ in a scene with Gu Xi. You know the type. But Gu Xi is the kind who can hold his ground even with O.”

“And then?” Her companion perked up.

“Then he got punched and flew ten meters.”

Serves you right for fantasizing. Eat a fist instead.

“Whoa.”

Inside the stall, Gu Xi heard a quiet laugh at his ear, followed by a breath warm enough to skim his eardrum. “Ten meters?”

Gu Xi dodged the teasing with as much dignity as he could. That was ages ago. And it was not ten meters. At most a meter or two. If he were that strong, why would perverts keep targeting him?

Being made fun of by Rong Jing was both embarrassing and maddening. He wanted to throttle the slow, deliberate man behind him.

The tiny, cramped space magnified the other person’s presence. The pull between sexes was already strong, and with an almost perfect compatibility rating on top of it, the hunger clawed at him until he thought he would go crazy.

Gu Xi slowly closed his eyes, worried someone might hear him, and whispered to the Alpha at his back, “Hurry.”

He had not noticed before that Rong Jing could be wicked when he wanted.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than sharp teeth caught the back of his neck. The crash of information scents made Gu Xi let out a muffled “Mm—” he could not suppress.

He slapped a hand over his mouth. The instant he struggled to flee, the Alpha pinned him. Heat at his back, the chill of the door panel in front of him. Ice and fire.

That involuntary sound slipped beyond the stall. Outside, both reporters almost lost control.

The air was thick with tenderness and dominance, like a felled, unwilling doe forced into submission by a stronger beast. Even strangers hearing it flushed to the ears.

As Omegas, they knew exactly what kind of situation produced that sound. There had to be two people in the stall.

It was not unheard of. Compared to the sting of suppressant injections, being marked by a compatible Alpha felt better, with no side effects. Sometimes it even pushed you over the edge in your head.

With a sound like that just now, never mind gender, anyone would get hot.

Add in the light sweetness in the air. This was a top-tier O.

Omegas like that had such a high bar that ordinary Alphas did not catch their eye. Finding a partner was hard. The match center’s rates had been dropping for a reason.

They considered hanging around to see who it was, but Alphas who had just marked were fiercely possessive. Even same-sex bystanders could trigger indiscriminate aggression. Not worth it.

The two reporters left, their conversation fading into the distance.

“There were two in there, right?”

“For sure. A temporary mark. My, my. So lusty. These days O’s are…”

“One more uninhibited than the next.”

“Did you think every Omega is cold as ice like Gu Xi?”

“True. Gu Xi looks like the type who would never let anyone mark him in his lifetime. He is carrying Omega dignity on his back.”

The long mark left Gu Xi light-headed. He kept his arms around Rong Jing’s waist, afraid his legs would give out and he would slide to the floor.

Rong Jing had his eyes closed too, fingers absently stroking Gu Xi’s soft earlobe, breath a touch unsteady. “If we make a habit of this, what if I cannot control myself?”

“Then you reap what you sow.”

When he looked again, the person in his arms had slipped away like a wisp of cloud.

---

The holding area outside the station was quiet. As the Xie family’s second young master, Xie Jisheng had no one to pick him up.

Beyond the brothers who had already been released, and a few who had been detained for assaulting the police, it was suddenly empty.

If this had been before, Xie Ling would have sent people to bring the battered second young master home and calm him down, or at least worked the connections to get him out early. This time, Xie Ling had not even asked.

Everything felt like the work of that stupid, useless big brother. Had the poisoning attempt already been discovered?

Fear crept up his spine, but more than that was panic at his plan possibly being exposed. At this point he had no way back.

He dialed.

The voice on the other end was flat as ever.

“Why did you leave me in there so long without posting bail. You promised to help me,” Xie Jisheng snapped.

“I also said that if you failed, you would bear the consequences.”

Clearly the other party had no interest in hearing his complaints. After a couple of sentences, he was already about to hang up.

“Wait, Uncle Wu.” While in detention, Xie Jisheng had felt that not only had the Xie family abandoned him, even the Ji family had gone silent. Something had definitely happened. “You supplied the unknown toxin. If something happens to me, you will not wash your hands of it either.”

Wu Hanqi sounded entirely unthreatened. “I am only a supplier. Think of it like a gun. As the seller, I only sell it. Whose hands it ends up in, and how it is used, is not under my control.”

Only then did Xie Jisheng realize he had no evidence to threaten Wu Hanqi. In fact, Wu Hanqi had him by the throat.

“Uncle Wu, help me. I am afraid Xie Ling knows the truth. And about that year… I am afraid he will take revenge on me. Now that I failed, he will never trust me again. Uncle Wu, please…”

A long pause stretched. He was about to give up hope of an answer when the voice said, “In the Xie family, who holds power right now?”

“Xie Ling.” Although Xie Zhanhong was the president, everyone knew he was an empty figurehead. Actual executive power had always been under Xie Ling’s control. He had been the first in line since he was a child.

The line clicked dead.

Wait. Xie Ling was still only the heir. He held acting authority.

Which meant the true powerholder had always been the old master in the nursing home.

Despair in his eyes flickered and began to spark.

Although they had already shot one scene in the morning, everyone knew it was mostly to cool the negative chatter.

The afternoon table read was the real deal. The three pillar teams would meet, the actors would get to know each other, and prep would be laid out. Sometimes these meetings involved hundreds, even a thousand people, although usually not that many.

The so-called three pillars were the directing team, the costuming-makeup-props and lighting team, and the cinematography team.

Rong Jing arrived early, spread out his script, and kept studying the role. He never worked less than anyone else.

This was the key project that could rebuild his reputation. He took it seriously. As he focused, a crisp voice piped up. “Wow, you take notes down to your thoughts. You probably wrote character bios too.”

Yes. Most of it was written by Gu Xi, with Rong Jing’s annotations built on top.

He rose to greet her. She was one of the actresses with a standout role and many scenes opposite him, playing Consort De, Xia Manni.

She was the kind of face audiences knew well, even if they could not place the name. The go-to supporting actress in idol dramas. Outside of roles she was youthful and stylish, fine-featured and polished. Among the young starlets her acting was solid. She had just been stuck in supporting roles too long and never exploded. Thus, she was hungry for a breakthrough. The Consort De role was her chance to break out.

Like others, she had heard the rumors and seen the stage-accident video. She had been unhappy about the director choosing this male lead and had even considered dropping out for a higher-paid idol project.

But after seeing this morning’s scene, she changed her mind. And with a script marked this meticulously, he was clearly putting in the work. Her impression began to shift.

“Don’t be so polite. I am not a senior to anyone,” she said, and found herself liking this polite, handsome Alpha even more. “We have a lot of scenes together. Since the read has not started, want to talk through how we see our characters?”

Rong Jing thought that made sense. As they talked, he realized the young woman had her own take on things. He admired people who took the work seriously. Xia Manni, meanwhile, was surprised. Rong Jing did not feel like someone acting for the first time. Some of his insights cut deep.

Others drifted in one after another, and the two ended up sitting side by side. Whatever they felt privately about a newcomer leading the cast, on the surface everyone took care to be cordial. Some even praised his morning performance, said he was gifted, though a few pairs of eyes hinted otherwise.

Seeing it, Xia Manni leaned over and murmured, “Ignore them. The ones who greeted you just now are from the same company as Xun Jiarui. They think you got in through the back door. And the other lead, Han Jie, is Xun Jiarui’s senior.”

Rong Jing had not paid attention to that. “Do you think I used the back door?”

She smiled. “Not when you look this justified and confident.”

He could not help smiling too. Her personality reminded him of his second sister’s, breezy and direct, rough around the edges but sharp inside.

When Gu Xi came in, he happened to see an A and an O leaning close, talking easily like they got along very well. Everyone stood for the biggest name in the cast. Gu Xi adjusted his expression, offered a mild smile, and greeted the room. When he reached Rong Jing, he only dipped his head a fraction. Rong Jing mirrored him. In public, they acted as if they did not know each other.

If someone had asked the people present, they would have sworn up and down that the rumors were baseless.

At the first table read, the three pillar teams spoke first. Once introductions were done, Director Liu Yu said, “Today is mainly for everyone to get to know each other. We are together for months. If anything comes up, we communicate.”

Throughout, Gu Xi watched with his peripheral vision, and the more he watched the stranger it felt.

Rong Jing occasionally leaned to whisper to Xia Manni. That had never happened before.

Rong Jing might look gentle, but he was hard to get close to in truth. He usually kept a layer between himself and others.

A thought he had noticed once but never examined seriously now rose up.

Rong Jing seemed to pay more attention to women’s needs. He tended to give way to women, whether they were A, B, or O.

He remembered Assistant Zhou You had once left a magazine in the car, an Omega-centered one featuring both male O and female O. When he flipped past male O spreads, Rong Jing showed zero interest, page after page. Gu Xi could still see his expression then, cool and tinged with disapproval. In his eyes, a male Omega in lace looked odd. He had not lingered on the female O pages either, but there it had at least felt normal to him.

In daily interactions too, Rong Jing treated the three male genders in a businesslike way, but toward the three female genders he was noticeably gentler.

Threading the clues together, Gu Xi’s heart sank.

He realized something.

Rong Jing might only like women.

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