After Pei Ningyu’s face disappeared from the holographic screen, Fu Chu closed his eyes. His handsome features carried a hint of nonchalance as his well-defined fingers tapped rhythmically against the desk. A faint smile lingered on his lips, as if savoring something amusing.
How would Ningyu bring him home?
Would he defy his brother for him?
Fu Chu rubbed his temples, the curve of his lips deepening.
Outside the room, workers bustled about, moving furniture back and forth. The clamor of footsteps and voices rose and fell. Under normal circumstances, no one would dare make such noise while he was still home.
But clearly, compared to pleasing a beta like him destined to be pushed out of the family’s inner circle these workers now had far more important tasks.
Preparing for the arrival of the Fu family’s new heir.
That illegitimate younger brother, so carefully hidden by their father, had finally gotten his wish to step into the light.
Father must have truly loved that omega from outside.
Otherwise, why had all his previous investigations into the bastard’s identity turned up nothing?
Every trace had been meticulously erased. Father must have gone to great lengths.
What a pity now, it had all come to light effortlessly.
All that effort, wasted.
Fu Chu hadn’t forgotten what his father had said when his secondary gender test results came in: “If you had even a shred of shame, you’d hang yourself in this room after turning out to be a beta.”
Hang himself?
If that bastard had been the one to present as a beta, would Father have been so eager to see his precious child dead? No he’d probably have panicked, scrambling to defy the Empire’s strict policies to spare his darling from the nightmare of the White Tower.
Yet, at this moment, Fu Chu’s focus wasn’t on the illegitimate heir. His long fingers twitched slightly, but he couldn’t suppress the dryness in his throat.
Pei Xu was truly useless he couldn’t even control those two betas around Pei Ningyu.
Children shouldn’t be allowed to keep betas.
Pei Xu was an irresponsible older brother.
Everyone feared Pei Xu’s methods how he applied the same brutal interrogation techniques used on military prisoners to discipline his unruly younger brother. There had been a time when repeated punishments left Pei Ningyu’s back a mess of festering wounds, his authoritarian approach suffocating.
But Fu Chu thought differently.
Pei Xu had been too soft. Otherwise, after years of relentless discipline, why was Pei Ningyu still that same arrogant, untouchable brat? Paired with his lethally beautiful face so striking it invited wicked thoughts it was hard not to feel provoked.
If he were Pei Xu, he’d have beaten the defiance out of that child long ago.
He’d have made sure Pei Ningyu learned
what was off-limits,
and who deserved his obedience.
After ending the call,
Pei Ningyu’s expression darkened. Standing in the center of the study, his back burned as if scorched. He grabbed the golden trophy that had always sat on the desk, raised it high, and smashed it against the hardened glass surface in the corner. Instantly, the sturdy glass shattered like fragile tissue paper.
The atmosphere in the room froze instantly. The trophy lost its original shape the moment the glass shattered, scattering across the floor with a dull metallic clang. The neatly stacked documents on the desk were now strewn haphazardly.
Suddenly, urgent knocking sounded at the door.
Pei Ningyu stepped forward to open it was Pei Xu.
“What do you want?” Pei Ningyu’s tone was sharp. “Here to watch me under house arrest? How amusing”
Before he could finish, Pei Xu’s brow furrowed. His hand rose and fell in one swift motion, the whip lashing across Pei Ningyu’s face.
The strike was too vicious, too sudden.
Even Pei Xu himself wasn’t psychologically prepared.
He hadn’t expected it to land on the face.
A bloody welt split open on Pei Ningyu’s cheek, the sharp pain piercing through him as blood dripped steadily downward.
Pei Xu frowned, immediately gripping Pei Ningyu’s chin to inspect the wound, only to have his hand slapped away violently.
Clearing his throat quietly, Pei Xu withdrew his hand. “Why are you still so defiant?”
Pei Ningyu’s eyes burned like an enraged beast’s, pupils glinting dangerously under the light.
What had he even done?
Hadn’t he stayed confined to this room all month without stepping out?
His hand seized Pei Xu’s collar once impeccably pressed, now twisted and disheveled like wheat fields ravaged by a storm. In his fury, even Pei Xu seemed momentarily pushed back by the intensity.
“Pei Xu, if you want to lose your mind, go find someone else ”
Pei Xu cut him off. “Fu Chu injected the secondary gender conversion serum. You did this again, didn’t you?”
Pei Ningyu stiffened as if electrocuted, the words lodged in his throat vanishing instantly.
He stared at Pei Xu, disbelief freezing his expression.
What?
Everything had happened too abruptly. Pei Ningyu had barely ended his call with Fu Chu when Pei Xu’s whip struck. Amidst the chaos, only one thought flashed through his mind:
The person who’d just professed wanting to become his beta had immediately swallowed contraband, fabricating a scene where Pei Ningyu forced himself upon an unwilling man who then resorted to suicide.
By now, how could Pei Ningyu not realize what was happening?
Fu Chu hadn’t undergone beta differentiation at all.
This was all a trap one meticulously timed, waiting for him to fall into it. Fu Chu was so eager to see him beaten by Pei Xu?
No.
Fu Chu abandoned the critical battle at Hengjing Fortress just to frame him? If this wasn’t insanity, what was?
Did the Crown Prince know about this?
Pei Ningyu fell silent, quiet revulsion surfacing in his eyes.
He really did despise Fu Chu.
And Pei Xu, this utter fool.
Pei Ningyu touched his wounded cheek, meeting Pei Xu’s complicated gaze head-on. Under that dark scrutiny, he still couldn’t muster the will to explain.
To him, Pei Xu’s opinions mattered less than a stray dog’s. “So what if I did it?” Pei Ningyu said with self-abandonment.
His sharp features, usually aloof and aristocratic, now radiated intimidating fury, the edges of his presence growing even more cutting.
“Pei Xu, what exactly can you do to me?”
Not knowing what had crossed his mind, Pei Ningyu’s expression suddenly changed. His tightly furrowed brows relaxed in an instant, and with his eyes lowered, he actually looked somewhat docile as he said, “Want me to apologize again?”
The previously resentful and discontented young man seemed like a different person now, all traces of reluctance gone as he casually smiled, “It’s just an apology, no big deal.”
Pei Xu observed this sudden shift in Pei Ningyu’s attitude, which only made him more wary. His intimidating gaze swept over Pei Ningyu from head to toe. Though Pei Ningyu maintained his indifferent demeanor, Pei Xu couldn’t shake off a growing unease, his cold stare fixed firmly on him.
Pei Ningyu clenched his fists and brought his wrists together as if handcuffed, his shifting eyes carrying an indescribable disdain. “Pei Xu, if you’re not taking me to apologize now, what are you waiting for?!”
The two locked eyes in a battle of wills until finally, Pei Xu was the first to look away. He lowered his gaze, concealing the emotions in his eyes before uttering a single word after a long pause, “Fine.”
Pei Ningyu thought to himself that in families like theirs, cold detachment was the norm. To prevent the family’s power from diminishing over generations, the tradition was to have the eldest legitimate son inherit everything rather than divide the wealth and authority.
He had always believed that he and Pei Xu could peacefully share everything.
But no one remains indifferent to enormous benefits. Who would willingly become a stepping stone in the struggle for power?
As long as Pei Xu existed, he would never have access to the family’s core authority.
