Chapter 3: Pheromone

Receiving guests is generally the job of an omega. Even the most difficult clients find it hard to lose their temper in front of an omega who is as gentle and beautiful as an angel.

Shiye was truly exhausted today. He stretched lazily, leaned against the shelf, and slowly sipped his milk tea, planning to leave for home as soon as the customers were gone.

"Xiao Ye!"

Shiye's nerves tightened, and he instinctively stood up.

Duo Duo rushed up the stairs, leaning against the door frame, panting heavily. His eyes were unusually bright, and his fair face was flushed with excitement. "Big client! Big client! I casually mentioned the goods that just arrived two hours ago, and the client wanted everything! All the cat food and treats in the store! I'm going to get a big commission this month!!"

Shiye raised an eyebrow cautiously. "Is that true? It wouldn’t be a prank video, would it?"

As he spoke, he glanced down at the waiting area, but Duo Duo blocked his view of the customer. All he could see were a pair of long, shapely calves and a flowing sky-blue skirt, indicating a tall woman.

Duo Duo was practically bouncing with joy. "It’s true! She even pulled out a black card! It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a black card in my life!!"

Rui Rui, the female beta store clerk, was packing cat treats and food from the shelf. Hearing the commotion upstairs, she urged, "Duo Duo! Hurry up, the customer is waiting!"

"I'm coming!"

Duo Duo found the shelf where the cat food was stored, checking the inventory list. "Xiao Ye, these boxes are all cat food, right?"

The shelf was taller than Duo Duo's head. As he turned back, Shiye had already crossed over and hoisted a large box of cat food onto his shoulder. "You take the cat treats from the right shelf; I'll handle these boxes of cat food."

Duo Duo gratefully said, "Xiao Ye, you're so kind!"

Hearing this, Shiye felt no pain in his waist or legs. In less than ten minutes, he had cleared out the entire cat food shelf and was now sitting on a small stool behind the shelf, organizing the goods.

Tap, tap, tap—

The sound of high heels stopped in the pet area. Shiye looked up from his position and caught a glimpse of the customer and Duo Duo's backs.

The female customer was taller than Duo Duo, nearly as tall as Shiye. Her silky black hair fell like a waterfall, long and straight. She wore a sky-blue long dress with a white blazer over it. When she turned to look at Duo Duo, her eyes sparkled with a smile, and the ends of her hair gently swayed, exuding a soft and gentle aura.

Shiye speculated that she was a female omega, but staring too long would be impolite, so he quickly lowered his head to organize the remaining goods.

"Miss Jiang, here are the packed cat food boxes. These ten boxes contain 24 cans each, priced at 50 each, and these ten boxes have 20 cans each, priced at 30 each. On the right are the cat treats... The total comes to 32,200. I’ll give you a 5% discount, making it 30,600! Will that be online payment or card?"

Duo Duo’s voice was tinged with uncontainable excitement. "Here’s your receipt, please keep it safe. Oh? Miss Jiang, did you come alone? Do you need us to help you carry it to your car?"

As Shiye heard this, his waist tensed, and his back stiffened as he glanced at the mountain of boxes piled on the floor, feeling anxious.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I didn’t come alone," the female customer replied.

Her voice, much like her demeanor, was as pleasant as a handful of spring snow, melting softly in Shiye's ears, almost intoxicating.

Moments after she spoke, several alphas in security outfits entered the store. In less than five minutes, they had moved everything away.

After the female customer left, Shiye picked up his backpack from the bench and prepared to head home. Just as he reached the door, Duo Duo suddenly called out to him, "Oh no! Miss Jiang left her car keys here! She must still be nearby!"

If they lost it in the store, they wouldn’t be able to afford the compensation.

Shiye grabbed the car keys and rushed outside.

Beneath the streetlight, an SUV was parked, but there wasn’t a single person around. It was nearly ten at night, and the foot traffic was sparse. After waiting for a while and seeing no one return, Shiye grew worried and began searching while calling out.

—

Jiang Chizao had already finished in the nearby restroom and had a smoke outside. She was washing her hands repeatedly when she suddenly heard chaotic footsteps approaching from behind. She paused her actions, her lips curling slightly as she hummed a tune while washing her hands.

After drying her hands and tossing the wet tissue away, she turned around, only to find three drunken faces with ill intentions staring at her.

The leader whistled. "Hey! What a fine omega!"

Jiang Chi appeared startled and tightened her grip on her bag, lowering her head to pretend not to see as she tried to walk past them. But after just two steps, she was bumped back.

Jiang Chizao timidly asked, "Are you looking for me?"

The group of alphas exchanged glances, swinging the baseball bats in their hands, and laughed. "Nothing much, just that it's windy tonight, and we see you're dressed so lightly. We were worried you might catch a cold, so we wanted to invite you to our place to warm up and have some fun… Hahaha!"

As they spoke, they closed in on her.

Jiang Chizao backed away repeatedly until she found herself in a dark alley, her back pressed against the wall. She pulled out her phone from her bag. "I—I don’t know you. If you come any closer, I’ll call the police!"

The more she said this, the more reckless the thugs became. One of them snatched her phone away. "Call the police? Go ahead and try!"

The stench of alcohol and sweat mixed with the cheap alpha pheromones assaulted her senses.

An S-grade alpha's instinct for aggression triggered within her making Jiang Chi's nape glands heat up slightly. The shadow obscuring her face made her smile grow wider as she focused intently on the hand reaching toward her chest, ready to explode at any moment—

Suddenly, the thug's wrist was seized.

Jiang Chizao was stunned, and so was the thug.

Before the thug could react, he was thrown to the ground in a shoulder throw. Jiang Chizao still in shock, was pulled securely behind someone who shielded her.

She looked at the short stubble in front of her and the black tactical jacket on her body, eventually settling on the tightly grasped wrist, vaguely recalling the employee from the pet store earlier.

In Shiye's hand was a steel pipe picked up from the trash can, and he turned on the phone screen that was still on a call: “Publicly molesting an omega is a criminal offense. I’ve already called the police; the station is less than two kilometers away, and the police will arrive in three minutes!”

“Damn it...!”

The thug cursed, yanked up the person who had fallen to the ground, and scrambled away.

The cool breeze blew into the dim alley, and Shiye sighed in relief, tossing away the steel pipe: “Miss Jiang, are you okay?”

When he turned to see the omega's face, Shiye's pupils constricted, his lips parted slightly, and a look of undisguised amazement surfaced in his eyes.

The omega resembled Jiang Chicheng to a significant degree, yet exuded an aura distinctly different from any alpha.

The wind was a bit strong at night, blowing the omega's hair up, her eyes slightly red, and amidst the disorder, there was a broken beauty. Her jacket was oversized, draped on her shoulders, accentuating her slender figure and reminding one of Lin Daiyu from Dream of the Red Chamber: “In tranquil moments, she is like a delicate flower reflected in water; in motion, she resembles a weak willow swaying in the wind.”

Jiang Chizao shook her head, her eyes even redder: “I’m fine, thank you. If you weren’t here, I don’t know what would have happened.”

As she spoke, she began to sob.

Shiye quickly took a packet of tissues from his pocket and handed it to her: “Don’t be afraid; I’ve already called the police. Where are your bodyguards? Why aren’t they with you?”

“I sent them all to carry cat food; I didn’t expect to encounter this kind of situation…”

“Here!”

A petite girl with curly hair rushed into the alley, looking like another omega.

She lunged forward and hugged Jiang Chizao: “What happened?” Her gaze swept over the steel pipe on the ground and the fallen phone, finally landing on Shiye's hand gripping Jiang's wrist, her eyes filled with hostility: “Who is he?”

Shiye, following her gaze, belatedly realized his tight grip on her wrist and jerked his hand back as if it had been burned, stepping back half a pace, his face turning beet red: “N-No, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it! Miss Jiang, your car keys were left in our store! I came to return them!”

The girl with curly hair said, “You’re delivering keys and tugging on people in a place like this?!”

Jiang Chizao: “Stop it!”

“…”

Jiang Chizao took the keys and expressed her thanks again. As she was about to leave, Shiye, feeling uneasy, asked, “Can I give you a ride?”

The girl shot him a glare: “No need!”

Shiye scratched his head, guessing that he might have been misunderstood by her friend, and didn’t explain further.

He stood at the alley's entrance with his hands in his pockets, watching as the two got into the car, and only felt relieved when the car disappeared from sight.

At ten-thirty that night, Shiye finally returned home.

The house he shared with Jiang Chicheng was a three-bedroom apartment; Shiye occupied one room, Jiang Chicheng another, and the remaining room was a cat shelter housing stray cats that Shiye had brought back, totaling eleven.

As soon as Shiye entered, a few cats came over meowing at him. He hummed a tune, changed into slippers, and casually picked one up as he walked into the living room. Jiang Chicheng was sitting on the couch watching a movie with the lights off.

Shiye abruptly turned on the light and saw half a plate of crayfish and half a plate of braised chicken left on the table. Starving, he pulled out a chair and sat down: “Jiang Chicheng, are you going to eat? If not, I’ll finish it all!”

Jiang Chicheng was watching an AB love story, thoroughly absorbed. He glanced back, clicked his tongue lightly, kicked off his slippers, and walked over to take the plate: “If you’re going to eat, at least heat it up.”

Just as he was about to turn around, a sudden aroma invaded his nose, creating an unusual sensation as if a stranger had intruded into his personal space. The intense repulsion it provoked in him could not possibly come from an ordinary alpha.

Jiang Chiqing set the plate down again, hooked a finger under his collar, and suddenly leaned down to sniff him.

Shiye shrank his neck back: “What are you doing... Hey! What are you doing?!”

Shiye’s dog-like behavior sent chills down his spine, and he pushed him away forcefully.

Jiang Chiqing stumbled back a step, the fierceness in his eyes flashing away as he interpreted the residual pheromones: S-class alpha, in an excited state, with extremely high aggressiveness.

To leave behind this concentration of pheromones could either be intentional or due to prior physical contact.

Jiang Chiqing felt his blood flow quicken.

Shiye rubbed the smooth skin on the back of his neck, which still bore the warm, moist traces of breath, making him quite uncomfortable: “Are all you alphas like dogs? Do you have to sniff each other out upon meeting?”

Jiang Chiqing inhaled deeply, covering his nose: “Did you not shower after training? Why do you smell so strongly of alpha?”

“I did shower.”

“You reek; go wash again.”

Jiang Chiqing firmly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him towards the bathroom.

Shiye guessed that it was the scent left by those alpha thugs who had bullied Miss Jiang. His curiosity piqued, he shrugged off Jiang Chicheng's hand and lowered his head to sniff his own body: “What smell? I don’t smell anything.”

“Stink.”

Shiye didn’t believe it and stretched his palm in front of Jiang Chicheng, raising an eyebrow smugly: “Why don’t you take a good whiff and see if there’s any omega scent?”

Jiang Chicheng seized his wrist, staring at his calloused palm, the rich alpha scent piercing like a thorn in his eye, making his temple throb.

Shiye said: “She was hiding behind me at that time; she must have been scared and released pheromones. I think I caught a whiff of something, but I’m not sure if it was a wine scent? Hmm, it seems there was also a hint of honey sweetness…”

Jiang Chicheng pushed open the bathroom door, tugging Shiye’s hand to place it under the faucet, turning it on to maximum.

“Damn!”

Shiye shouted as he stumbled forward, nearly hitting his head on the sink, and as he came to his senses, he yanked his hand back. Just as he pulled it back, Jiang Chicheng forcefully pressed it back under the faucet and poured a whole bottle of liquid soap onto his hand, making Shiye really mad. He swung a fist and punched Jiang Chicheng in the face.

Jiang Chicheng staggered back two steps, his skin scraped, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.

Taking the opportunity, Shiye pulled his hand back: “Jiang Chicheng, what the hell are you doing?! What have I done to you?!”

Jiang Chiqing pressed his tongue against his painfully numb right cheek, leaning against the cold wall, darkly watching him: “Did you not listen at all in health class in middle school? Is your brain still as slow and dull as when you were a child? Has no one ever told you not to talk about other people’s pheromone scents in front of alphas?”

Shiye raised an eyebrow: “Why?”

"I'll put it simply: in the eyes of an alpha, this is no different from discussing what positions you two used in bed last night."

When Jiang Chicheng said this, his expression was quite grim, as if he had been cuckolded.

Shi Ye washed off the remaining foam on his hands and shook them dry. "So you wear my clothes every day. They must have your pheromone scent on them, right? What does that mean in the eyes of you alphas?"

Jiang Chicheng’s eyes turned red. "..."

Shi Ye stepped in front of Jiang Chicheng, punching his shoulder repeatedly. "Jiang Chicheng, let me put it simply: I'm not an omega. If you want to live in peace in the future, you need to put away your big A authoritarianism towards omegas!"

Jiang Chicheng stared at his jacket. "I don’t like having another alpha’s scent in my home."

Shi Ye met his gaze, then quickly took off the water-soaked tactical jacket he had gotten splashed with while washing his hands and tossed it into the trash can. He turned and stormed out.

"I’m not staying here anymore!"

Bang!!

The front door slammed shut, shaking the glass in the room twice. This was the first fight they had since reuniting.

Jiang Chicheng stayed in the bathroom for a long time. When he came out, his face was swollen like a pig's head. He squatted on the sofa, blankly watching the credits roll at the end of the video. A cat came over and nudged his hand, then sat on his lap.

Jiang Chiqing wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, sniffed, then took out his phone and pressed the dial button, trying several times before it connected. "Sis, buy more cat food. Buy a lot."

"Is two carts enough?"

"Yeah, come early tomorrow."

After hanging up, Jiang Chicheng sat on the floor for a while before calling back.

"What is it now? I’m busy!" Jiang Chicheng's sister sounded impatient, and there were muffled moans in the background, seemingly from more than one person.

Jiang Chiqing was already used to her behavior and was not surprised. "Help me check on an alpha, S-rank."

Hearing this, Jiang Chiqing's sister perked up. "Oh, are you stealing omega?"

"Don’t worry about it. I’ll message you on WeChat later."

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