Pei Ningyu stepped forward, only to be immediately struck by a whip from Pei Xu. His figure swayed slightly from the impact, his head snapping to the side, but he quickly straightened himself again.
The whip had landed squarely on his shoulder, its tail leaving a red mark across his neck.
The pain transformed into excitement, waves of it crawling up Pei Ningyu’s spine.
Being beaten was nothing unfamiliar to Pei Ningyu. In fact, the faint thrill of successfully provoking Pei Xu only emboldened him further. With reckless audacity, he continued, “Brother, why don’t you propose to the Xu family on my behalf? I quite like Xu Sidu.”
“If he becomes my beta, given the Xu family’s current standing, it would benefit His Highness the Crown Prince, you, and me.”
Pei Ningyu’s lips were red, his eyes bright his refined appearance a product of being coddled in luxury. Yet his words carried an eerie, unsettling edge.
Pei Xu’s brow furrowed. He could no longer deny it the child he had raised was nothing short of a scoundrel. “Xu Sidu is a good kid. And he deserves you?”
Why wouldn’t he?
Pei Ningyu’s cold smile drained the color from his lips, leaving them nearly bloodless. “He should be grateful just to have the chance to be my beta.”
To Pei Ningyu, Xu Sidu being deemed worthy of him was already an act of extraordinary mercy. But his desire to marry Xu Sidu had nothing to do with affection. In fact, back at the base, he had barely even noticed Xu Sidu.
No it was simply because Xu Sidu had dared to defy him, even threatening to report him to Pei Xu right to his face.
If he let someone who challenged his dignity live out their days in peace, he wouldn’t be Pei Ningyu.
Once he married Xu Sidu, he would make sure to ask him did he still dare to provoke him?
Then he’d force Xu Sidu to his knees, demanding apologies and penance, making him kowtow until he was forgiven.
How about making Xu Sidu apologize while biting him?
And if Xu Sidu refused well, he could always relieve himself down Xu Sidu’s throat.
Pei Xu narrowed his eyes slightly. “You haven’t even presented yet. How do you expect to marry Xu Sidu?”
Pei Ningyu raised a brow. “What does that matter? Everyone knows I’ll present as an alpha ”
Before he could finish, the secretary burst into the study without knocking an emergency required immediate attention. “General, the Xu family just rushed Xu Sidu to the hospital.”
“They say, he injected himself with contraband.”
Pei Xu’s heart sank. He prayed this had nothing to do with Pei Ningyu, but he shot him a warning glare before pressing, “What contraband?”
The secretary hesitated upon seeing Pei Ningyu present, stammering, “Secondary gender conversion serum.”
Pei Ningyu cut in, “Did he receive the wedding attire I sent?”
The secretary nodded. “He did.”
Glancing at Pei Xu’s expression, the secretary reluctantly added, “It seems… that might have been why he took the serum.”
It was clear that Xu Sidu’s decision to inject the conversion serum wasn’t solely because of Pei Ningyu. But his taunts, his humiliation sending wedding attire like a mockery undeniably played a part.
Pei Xu must have realized that his once obedient and adorable younger brother had somehow drifted far away from him.
Even Pei Ningyu chuckled lightly upon hearing this: “Good thing he saw it. It would have been such a shame if he hadn’t received it.”
“That kind of contraband made by betas can’t even guarantee the purity of its refinement. He sure has guts.”
The secondary gender conversion serum was created by a group of beta pharmacists. It was said to allow betas to undergo secondary differentiation into omegas or alphas, and for a time, it became popular among the beta population.
However, as early as twenty or thirty years ago, betas gradually discovered that the conversion rate of the serum was extremely low. The vast majority of betas who injected it would die in agonizing pain, still clinging to the beautiful fantasy of embracing their new secondary gender.
Only in the hands of 1% of betas did it function as intended, allowing them to successfully escape their beta fate. But this 1% existed only in rumors on the StarNet no one had ever actually seen a successfully converted beta.
For most betas, it was simply a form of suicide, the only difference being that those who chose this method died in pursuit of a better life.
Thus, the government classified the serum as a fraudulent substance and imposed strict controls, gradually removing it from circulation.
Pei Ningyu didn’t seem to care at all. He turned back to Pei Xu and said, “Brother, should we prepare mourning clothes? Although we’re not close to the Xu family, it wouldn’t be right not to help at all.”
“No.”
Pei Xu remained silent for a long time before finally speaking. His gaze was complicated as he looked at Pei Ningyu, and after a long pause, he said, “Because the most important thing for you right now is to kneel and go to the hospital to apologize.”
“Apologize? On my knees?”
The smile instantly vanished from Pei Ningyu’s face, his body stiffening momentarily. His voice came out through gritted teeth: “Brother, what kind of joke is this?”
He couldn’t understand why his brother would scold him over someone else even demand that he kneel to apologize.
Before, he had done something similar. That beta had merely been teased by him a few times before inexplicably choosing to die, but back then, his brother had only grounded him at home.
Was it because Xu Sidu was more influential than that beta? Was his brother afraid of retaliation from the Xu family?
Pei Xu was always like this always siding with outsiders.
Pei Ningyu really didn’t want to apologize. Frowning, he clenched his jaw and said, “No matter how much Xu Sidu was favored before, he’s just a beta now. Why should you be afraid of the Xu family’s retaliation?”
Pei Xu: “I’m not afraid of the Xu family’s retaliation.”
“You bear the Pei name and enjoy the privileges that come with it. You should know that you must bow to the head of this family.”
As he spoke, Pei Xu lowered his head to look at Pei Ningyu, allowing him to see the dark turbulence in his cold, sharp eyes. His sharp, sinister face loomed over him with an oppressive presence.
His words struck Pei Ningyu’s ears one by one.
Backlit, Pei Xu’s faint silhouette imprinted itself in Pei Ningyu’s vision: “You’re always thinking about when you can finally escape my control… Maybe in your mind, it’ll happen when you turn twenty or graduate.”
“I don’t care if you’re twenty, thirty, or forty years old.” Pei Xu’s tone was gentle, as if discussing something trivial, “You must accept discipline from your elder brother.”
Pei Xu threw the whip in his hand onto the floor, and a robot immediately slid over to swallow it up.
“You see, it’s precisely because of my negligence that you’ve become like this.”
Pei Xu’s gray eyes rested on Pei Ningyu, brimming with unspoken emotion: “And I will help correct you.”
Pei Ningyu furrowed his brows tightly, remaining silent. Who knew what madness had seized Pei Xu this time?
