Chapter 31 We will never be this pitiful. If in the future...

Chen Huixing did not return all night.

The light of day crept up inch by inch, like a silent rout.

Pei Jiqing sat at the dining table, his fingertips touching the rim of the already cold cup, and he dumped all the food from the previous night into the trash can.

Is this the attitude that Chen Huixing gave him?

- He didn't even want to give him a chance to explain, and didn't even want to see him.

When Sister Zhang went downstairs, she saw Pei Jiqing's pale face, like a handful of cold ashes, and even his lips were pursed to a stiff line.

She quietly retreated to the corner of the corridor and called Xu Ze. The voice coming from the receiver was very low.

Xu Ze said that Chen Huixing was at the military headquarters last night. After he came back from Yan Zhen's place, he smashed the entire window, and the glass fragments were splattered all over the floor, completely ruining it. He also didn't answer calls from home, and locked himself in the office. No one knew what happened.

When Pei Jiqing heard that Chen Huixing had gone to see Yan Ke, he had a bad feeling, like a thin, cold needle crawling up his spine.

He dialed Yan Ke's number: "Keke, is your brother back?"

The young man's voice on the other end of the line still carried the lingering youthfulness, but was tinged with confusion. "He's back. What's wrong with you, Brother Pei? You guys are talking so strangely, and my brother is weird too. He's been mumbling about stabbing the building, meddling, and committing a sin... He's gone to bed now."

"Keke," Pei Jiqing called suddenly, the sunlight outside the window thinning his shadow. " Am I good to you?"

"Of course," Yan Ke replied without hesitation.

Pei Jiqing truly embodied the principle of loving everyone around Chen Huixing.

He treated Yan Ke kindly, like his own brother, not with superficial courtesy.

"Can you go see your brother? He has anything about me. It's very important to me." Pei Jiqing's drooping eyelashes masked the dark currents surging in his eyes. "Just a quick look. It wouldn't hurt your brother."

Yan Ke's hesitation froze into a long pause.

"Brother Pei," Yan Ke's voice was shrouded in worry. "You really won't hurt my brother?"

Pei Jiqing assured him, "No."

The rustling of papers on the other end of the line made Yan Ke's breath suddenly hitch. He lowered his voice to a whisper, "Brother Pei, my brother has a pheromone compatibility report..."

The boy paused. "It doesn't have your name on it, but it's citrus."

Pei Jiqing's knuckles unconsciously clicked together. "What's the time?"

"10:07 last night."

"What's the data?"

"43.2 percent." The number rolled off Yan Ke's lips with a brutal precision.

It turned out to be even lower than expected—his compatibility with Shen Huixing wasn't even up to the passing line. How had Shen Huixing become suspicious? Where was the investigation at this point?

Countless thoughts pierced his solar plexus like ice spikes, but Pei Jiqing only gripped the phone tighter, leaving fingerprints on the screen with his fingertips.

"Thank you, Keke."

The moment the call was disconnected, the phone slipped from his palm and hit the ground with a dull thud.

The sound echoed back and forth in the empty room, like the sound of some carefully constructed illusion finally shattering.

Pei Jiqing looked back at the house he had carefully built, his eyes tracing over this carefully constructed residence inch by inch - every furnishing was just right, and every inch of space was soaked with tender care. The skylight outside the floor-to-ceiling window cut in obliquely, pinning his shadow to the smooth floor.

Suddenly, a chill seeped from deep in his bones, spreading along the blood vessels to his limbs.

He slowly squatted down, wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and dug his fingertips deep into the fabric of his arms.

His shadow curled up into a small ball on the floor, forming a sharp contrast with this perfect, almost unreal house.

When Xu Ze raised his eyes, Pei Jiqing was standing in the corridor, holding a lunch box. His knuckles were red from the cold wind, but he still stubbornly maintained a decent posture.

"Madam," Xu Ze's Adam's apple rolled, "The boss won't see you."

Pei Jiqing's lips curved up, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He said softly, his eyelashes casting a grayish-blue cast under his eyes, "I know he's very busy, so I just took a look and left quickly."

Xu Ze's silence spread in the corridor, and after a long while, he spoke with difficulty: "Madam, this time... is different."

The end of the words almost turned into a sigh. Everyone around Chen Huixing was like this, so he couldn't help but soften his heart towards Pei Jiqing.

"The boss asked someone to check..." Xu Ze paused, "It's about the car accident a few years ago."

Pei Jiqing nodded, tightening and loosening his fingertips on the handle of the lunch box. He said he understood, and his thin shadow stretched out at the end of the corridor, as if it was about to break in some invisible abyss.

People's hearts are always pathetically stubborn, and they won't cry until they see the coffin.

At this point, there was no room for excuses.

The car accident that happened many years ago was a killing spree set by the Pei family to take Pei Jiqing's life. But in the eyes of outsiders, Pei Jiqing has always been connected to the Pei family by blood, and their crimes are bound together. If the truth of the marriage fraud is revealed, Pei Jiqing will be nailed to the moral rack forever.

The time for Chen Huixing to run for commander-in-chief is getting closer.

A week later, Chen Huixing finally returned home. The straight outline of his military uniform cut a cold line in the twilight, and the badge on his chest reflected the cold light, giving him a layer of alienated metallic texture.

Pei Jiqing looked at him as if from another world and asked him if he had eaten. Chen Huixing

walked straight past him, his military boots stepping on the stairs.

"Chen Huixing, you can't do this to me," Pei Jiqing's voice suddenly tore through the silence, "We have been married for five years!"

The footsteps stopped abruptly.

When Chen Huixing turned around, the shadows in the stairwell cut his eyebrows and eyes particularly sharply.

"Five years?" He sneered, each word etched with ice. "You know we've been married for five years."

The entire house fell silent, the only echo of Chen Huixing's hushed voice: "Pei Jiqing, you've treated me like a fool for five years. Did you take great pleasure in seeing me being played around by you all these years?"

Pei Jiqing's voice was like sandpaper. "There are many things I can't help... Over the years, I've tried very hard to make it up to you."

"Can't help myself? Make up?" Chen Huixing's words were laced with sharp sarcasm. "After the election, I'll have a lawyer contact you."

Pei Jiqing seemed not to understand. "What?"

He stumbled forward half a step, his voice suddenly rising: "Are you going to divorce me?"

The chandelier in the stairwell cast a slender, resolute figure on Chen Huixing's back. He didn't answer, only the dull thud of his military boots on the steps, each one akin to crushing five years.

Chen Huixing's freshly bathed body was still steaming, and water droplets dripping from his hair cast dark stains on his robe. Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. Pei Jiqing pressed his cheek against his back, and his warm breath pierced the thin fabric. "Hubby, your pheromones are messy... I can soothe you."

Chen Huixing's fingers pried open the intertwined ten fingers one by one, with such force that he almost crushed Pei Jiqing's wrist bones: "I don't need it."

"Hubby..." The call was followed by a broken tone.

"I said I don't need you!" Chen Huixing's fist slammed on the wall beside Pei Jiqing's ear, making a loud noise. A blizzard surged in the Alpha's eyes, "I will settle everything with you after the election. Pei Jiqing, a 40% match - how dare you mess with me?"

Pei Jiqing's eyes were red, and tears trembled between his eyelashes but stubbornly refused to fall: "But your pheromones in the past... have always been very stable, haven't they?"

"Do you think it's all your credit?"

"No?"

Chen Huixing: "40%, do you think that with this pitiful compatibility, I would have been admitted to a mental hospital like Ying Chen a long time ago?"

"I know I lied to you..." Pei Jiqing's fingertips pinched into his palm, "But all these years, have you really not been moved at all..."

"Heartbeat?" Chen Huixing interrupted. "Have you ever spoken the truth?"

He stepped back, creating distance. "You're a liar. I'll settle every account I have with the Pei family, Pei Jiqing, how dare you?"

Pei Jiqing wiped the moisture from his eyes, his gaze stubbornly fixed on his. "Really... is there no hope?" Chen

Huixing stared at the tears brimming in Pei Jiqing's eyes, a fragile and sorrowful expression—he thought, almost grimly, this was probably just another disguise.

Everything was fake, the cold numbers on the fitness report were false, and perhaps there was a deeper conspiracy behind that fatal car accident.

Perhaps only his love for him was real, and only his love for him was real.

Chen Huixing was being manipulated by the person closest to him. This marriage was fraught with cracks from the start, and he suddenly felt ridiculous—what had blinded him? Was it the warmth of that person's fingertips against his face, the lazy smile in the morning light, or the cautious kiss on his cheek in the middle of the night?

Every clue turned into tiny needles, densely packed and piercing his heart, reminding him of this absurd scam that had lasted for five years.

"No,"

Chen Huixing's answer was like a knife, cleanly and neatly severing all possibilities.

Pei Jiqing said softly, "Okay."

Days passed, and the countdown to the election rolled on the news, overwhelming reports like a tide.

Pei Jiqing's body began to react violently, and the bitter acid in his stomach almost hollowed him out.

He had no choice but to go to Yin Ning.

Yin Ning, an Omega who had given birth to several children, smiled immediately upon hearing the news, her eyes lighting up as she said, "This is great news! The Executive must be incredibly happy, right?"

Pei Jiqing lowered his eyelashes. "He's running for office, and I don't want to distract him."

He paused. "Can you keep it a secret for me?"

"Of course," Yin Ning agreed readily, but her eyes couldn't help but linger on his still-flat stomach, a soft tinge of envy. "Their father is an S-class Alpha. Your child will surely be exceptional from birth."

Pei Jiqing twitched his lips, a faint, almost imperceptible smile. "I hope so."

Yin Ning went to get the report for him, then went to the hospital alone, where she ran into Mu Xinbai and Shen Xinze.

The smell of disinfectant lingered in the hallway, cold and pungent. At the corner, Shen Xinze's arm was around Mu Xinbai's waist, their gesture intimate, but the moment he saw Pei Jiqing, they suddenly separated.

Mu Xinbai turned his head away, a faint blush tinging the tips of his ears.

Chen Xinze raised an eyebrow, his eyes searching behind Pei Jiqing. "Sister-in-law, didn't my brother come with you?"

"I can do it alone." Pei Jiqing looked at them. "Is anyone sick?"

"He's busy all day long," Chen Xinze suddenly smiled, his eyes filled with unconcealable pride, and his tone was joyful. "Sister-in-law, I'm going to be a father."

Mu Xinbai stood aside, his expression awkward and soft. Pei Jiqing looked at them, thinking that such a pair of lovers who once had a grudge against each other could actually achieve a happy ending - it turned out that fate is something that cannot be stopped.

"...Congratulations," Pei Jiqing said softly. "You haven't told your brother and father yet?"

Chen Xinze pouted, his eyebrows dancing with joy. "I don't want to tell him. Let's tell Dad later." He

finished with a hint of anger in his tone: "People like him always think that others will never grow up, as if they are the only one in the world who can support this family."

Pei Jiqing looked at him quietly: "Your eldest brother also wants you to be well. "

Chen Xinze did not comment.

Pei Jiqing said goodbye to them when he saw Yin Ning coming over.

A few days later, Yan Ke's voice came from the receiver. He told Pei Jiqing that he had hacked into his brother's computer and saw that Brother Shen's pheromones had been fluctuating violently recently.

"There is one more thing," Yan Ke's fingertips tapped on the keyboard, and he told Pei Jiqing carefully, "They have activated the compatibility matching system."

Because of Ying Chen, the date of the next pheromone verification is approaching.

So Shen Huixing no longer needs him.

Pei Jiqing thought that he was no longer valuable to him. He was not docile and well-behaved enough, and even his pheromones were not compatible enough, so he would naturally be abandoned.

New Omegas are continuously added to the system every year, and there will always be more suitable ones that can better appease the S-level Alpha.

"What is the Omega that is most compatible with Shen Huixing?" Pei Jiqing heard himself ask this, his voice unspeakably calm.

Yan Ke paused for a moment, and then replied softly: "Ninety-five percent... Brother Pei, don't be sad. "

When Chen Huixing stepped into the house again, it was the last few days before the election. The dusk coated his outline with a layer of cold and hard edges. He needed Pei Jiqing to accompany him to a speech - not to discuss, but to notify.

Pei Jiqing raised a gentle arc at the corner of his lips and said, "Of course."

As if they had not had the quarrel a few days ago.

The think tank behind Chen Huixing filed in one after another. The elites in suits and ties brought the cold breath of data and strategy. When Pei Jiqing approached the study with a teacup, intermittent conversations leaked out from the half-open door. "

Ninety-five percent..." Someone lowered his voice, "The election is imminent, it's okay to get in touch?"

"Sure." "Chen Huixing's answer was brief and firm, like a muffled thunder hitting his ears.

The information sent by Yan Ke lay quietly in the mobile phone - twenty-one years old, named Ning Xun, an art student in the same school as Mu Xinbai, majoring in cello.

Pei Jiqing sat in the car, watching the young Omega walk towards Chen Huixing's car. The man was as tall and straight as a bamboo, with a good temperament. The violin case cast an elegant shadow on his shoulder. Someone took it for him, and then the car window slowly rose, isolating the space inside from another world.

Pei Jiqing's knuckles clasped the steering wheel tightly, and the leather made an unbearable sound in his palm.

Destiny is such an enviable word, as if they were born to be together.

Pei Jiqing seemed to taste the taste of rust surging in his throat, and he realized that jealousy has a shape, like thorns growing in his blood vessels, and every breath brings out a dripping wound.

This was the first time that Pei Jiqing openly concealed his jealousy, greed, and paranoia, and at the same time, he could not hide his fatigue. He had sacrificed everything he had to Chen Huixing.

His mother's withered hand suddenly appeared before his eyes, her cold fingertips pinching his wrist, her dying breath like a curse: "Jiqing, you must remember, if you find yourself being abandoned in the future... get rid of that person first..."

"We will never be the pitiful ones like this."

Pei Jiqing suddenly covered his mouth and laughed softly, the laughter echoing in the closed compartment, and tears fell with it.

It turns out that the most pitiful thing is not asking for something but not getting it, but realizing after offering all your sincerity that you were never in the script written by fate.