Chapter 32 Pei Jiqing was already on a plane bound for a foreign country, his private...

When Chen Huixing returned that day, he had deliberately changed his shirt.

The fabric hugged his stiff shoulders, and the collar was slightly creased.

The next day, Pei Jiqing dug up the bitter orange sapling in the backyard. His spade cut into the soil, revealing a tangled web of roots. As he separated it from the redwood, the scent of orange blossoms wafted from the broken roots.

Ling City's climate had preserved the two plants in their naive form, nestling together in the shadow of the iron fence.

The bitter orange tree's foliage was more lush than the redwood's. New branches embraced the redwood, while the redwood leaned against the bitter orange tree, bark brushing against bark.

Fine raindrops drifted from the sky, like a hazy veil, gently enveloping the entire courtyard.

Raindrops fell on the soil, leaving dark stains, then slid down the grass.

Sister Zhang approached, holding an umbrella, its canopy tilted slightly to shade Pei Jiqing's head. She watched him dig. Each stroke of the shovel stirred up damp soil, revealing a tangled web of roots. She couldn't help but whisper, "Madam, the roots of both trees have grown together. You've damaged them. Neither will survive."

Pei Jiqing didn't reply, simply continuing to dig in silence until the bitter orange tree was completely free of the soil, its roots exposed to the rain, dripping wetly.

He and Shen Huixing had planted these two trees together a few months ago.

He picked them up and walked away, leaving the young redwood tree standing alone, its roots half exposed, its branches trembling gently in the rain.

Pei Jiqing walked out of the yard, finally stopping by the green path. He squatted down and carefully planted the bitter orange tree in the new soil.

Rainwater trickled down his hair, dripping onto the tree's roots before seeping into the soil.

Pei Jiqing crouched down, staring at it, whispering, "I know you can survive."

Sister Zhang, observing Pei Jiqing's unusual behavior, frowned, confusion filling the fine lines at the corners of her eyes. Her lips moved slightly, her voice tinged with cautious tentativeness: "Madam, what happened?"

Raindrops slanted between them. Pei Jiqing raised his eyes, the gray sky reflected in them, but a faint smile played across them. That smile, however, held genuine warmth. He whispered, "Nothing. Thank you for being so kind to me all these years."

Sister Zhang was startled, her fingers unconsciously clenching the umbrella handle. "Madam, what do you mean?"

Pei Jiqing shook his head and said, "Nothing."

The night before he was to accompany Chen Huixing to a speech,

dusk flooded into the living room like a tide, drenching the darkened space in a dim amber.

Pei Jiqing had vomited that afternoon and woke curled up on the sofa, a bitter, sour taste still lingering in his throat. A wool blanket silently draped over him.

He opened his eyes and saw Chen Huixing standing in the shadows at the edge of the French window. His silhouette in a suit and tie was split into light and dark by the setting sun. Half of his body was in shadow, making Pei Jiqing feel for a moment like he was in a dream.

"Xinze said he saw you at the hospital?"

Chen Huixing's voice floated from the intersection of light and shadow, with a cold tone that remained unchanged over the years.

Pei Jiqing's gaze passed over Chen Huixing and looked out. "An old illness has come back. I wasn't kidding."

The figure in the shadows shifted.

"I'll ask Yan Zhen to come over."

Pei Jiqing's pale face sank into the goose down cushions. He shook his head. "No need. I've been to the hospital. The doctor said I just need to take the medicine."

Chen Huixing's gaze lingered on him for a long time, as if trying to see through the pale skin into Pei Jiqing's body.

Pei Jiqing's current condition was visibly worse. His eyelashes cast a faint shadow under his eyes, like two wings about to wither.

In the past, he would have snuggled into Chen Huixing's embrace, acting like a spoiled child, but now he just sat there, his fingers unconsciously clutching the blanket around his knees.

Chen Huixing finally sighed, a sigh shrouded in emotion, a sigh thick with tiredness. "Pei Jiqing, you're always like this...sure I'll relent, right? Can you try something new?"

Pei Jiqing felt as if the words had pierced an old wound. He lowered his eyes, staring at a faint pattern on the carpet.

"Let's talk about it after the election," Chen Huixing's voice had regained its usual calm. "I won't give you a chance to lie to me again."

Pei Jiqing was silent for a long time before saying, "...not anymore."

The last rays of sunset were fading outside the French windows. Pei Jiqing stared at the other man's gilded profile. "Are you going to divorce me after the election?"

Chen Huixing's face darkened, his lips set in a cold, hard line. He neither admitted nor denied, simply standing there in silence.

Pei Jiqing raised his eyes, his gaze tracing the contours of the Alpha before him. That face, once so familiar to him, now seemed to be shrouded in mist, a frightening unfamiliarity.

"How are you going to deal with the pheromone inspection?"

A gloomy glint crossed Chen Huixing's eyes, his Adam's apple rolling as he uttered words with a vengeance: "You won't let me touch you, so you don't need to care."

These words were like a thunderclap, pounding Pei Jiqing's ears.

His fingertips curled unconsciously, his nails digging deep into his palms, yet he felt no pain.

-- Because you won't let him touch you, so you went to find someone else, right?

This thought slithered into his mind like a venomous snake. Pei Jiqing looked at the person in front of him and suddenly felt that for a moment, this Alpha who had once shone brightly in his heart was rotten from the inside out.

Pei Jiqing's Adam's apple rolled gently, and that 95% existence rolled and rolled on the tip of his tongue like a piece of red-hot charcoal, finally burning his throat as if it had been burned through, leaving him speechless.

When Wei Ji said she loved him, she was as gentle as melting snow in spring, but betrayal was also a constant presence.

He had never even dreamed of Chen Huixing's love; that was too much. Pei Jiqing only wanted loyalty, for those eyes to always reflect his reflection, for those hands to never touch anyone else.

But even such a humble wish was shattered.

It turned out that the so-called S-rank Alpha was nothing more than a prisoner of desire. He had believed Shen Huixing's unwavering willpower was as fragile as a damp sheet of paper in the whirlwind of power and rules.

Pei Jiqing had once believed Shen Huixing was different, a lone, courageous individual who dared to take on the entire world.

But now he understood that Chen Huixing was just another ordinary person caught in the trap of fame and fortune, and like all Alphas, he ultimately succumbed to his instincts.

Accompanying Chen Huixing to one of his last public events before an election, Pei Jiqing sat by his side the entire time.

Then something unexpected happened.

The venue, under the spotlight, suddenly exploded with a piercing crackle, and the crystal chandeliers trembled with tiny fragments of light and shadow amidst the sound of gunfire.

Chen Huixing's previous corruption case had been utterly ruthless.

When the gunshot rang out, Pei Jiqing's palm instinctively clasped his earlobe, and Chen Huixing's arm had already reached across.

The hug came so quickly, almost instinctively.

The redwood-scented suit fabric pressed heavily against Pei Jiqing's nose. Chen Huixing pressed his entire face into his violently heaving chest, practically enveloping him tightly in his arms.

The Alpha's palm tightly protected the back of his head, as if to keep all the flying debris away from his bones.

They were too close, so close that Pei Jiqing could hear the suppressed tremor in Chen Huixing's throat.

The bodyguards formed a human wall to escort them away. The whole time, Pei Jiqing could only catch a glimpse of Chen Huixing's tense jawline, followed by a chaotic scene of light and shadow.

Chen Huixing's nose was filled with the strange pheromones of Pei Jiqing, like a bitter orange wet by rain mixed with some bitter medicine, but he just regarded it as the confusion after being frightened and did not think too much about it.

After calming down, Pei Jiqing was half-supported and half-dragged into the car, and Chen Huixing asked someone to check.

The leather seat was cold, and Pei Jiqing almost immediately broke away from Chen Huixing's hand and huddled in the corner, like a wounded animal, refusing any touch.

Chen Huixing frowned, his voice cold and deep, with a hint of imperceptible anxiety: "What are you doing?"

Pei Jiqing did not answer, but turned his head to look out the window.

The air in the car was stagnant. Chen Huixing was silent for a moment before finally speaking, his tone unquestionable: "Don't go out recently. If you go out, you must have bodyguards with you."

Pei Jiqing's eyelashes trembled slightly, and a barely audible "hmm" escaped his lips.

The two people in the car were each mired in silence, neither of them speaking again.

Pei Jiqing hadn't left the house since the shooting.

While taking the laundry that day, Sister Zhang pulled a receipt from the inside pocket of Chen Huixing's suit. It listed a diamond ring called "Xinghui" and the price paid was eye-wateringly high. The purchase date was a few days ago.

"Madam!" Sister Zhang stroked the receipt with her fingertips, her voice filled with irrepressible joy. "The gentleman has a surprise for you!"

Pei Jiqing stared at the thin paper and took it to examine it. The wedding ring on his ring finger was plain, almost bland, the same style his secretary had ordered according to procedure.

The band now pressed against his knuckles, cold as a piece of iron that could never be warmed.

It turns out that Chen Huixing would deliberately choose a name with the word "Xing" when buying a ring. It turns out that the sparkle of a diamond can really reflect the depth of love.

He suddenly felt his breathing tighten, as if there were shards of glass mixed with blood foam stuck in his trachea. Pei Jiqing really couldn't stand it.

Pei Jiqing couldn't imagine how glorious it would be when Chen Huixing became the commander-in-chief and married a new bride.

Wei Ji was right. Chen Huixing was actually the same. There was nothing special

about him. In the first year of their marriage, they didn't meet often.

Pei Jiqing often stayed alone in Shen Huixing's study at that time. One evening, he accidentally turned to a leather diary. The corners of the inner pages had curled up slightly. Chen Huixing was still a teenager who could correct typos between the pages.

Most of the diary entries were brief and restrained -

"March 12, cloudy, first place in running today."

"May 6, second place in the physics competition."

Pei Jiqing thought of the bored Alpha.

But on certain pages, Chen Huixing's handwriting would suddenly become heavy, his emotions evident. For example, after placing second in the physics competition, he would record his basketball losses for four consecutive days, only to circle the words "87:85 win" in red on the fifth day.

A fiercely competitive Alpha, Chen Huixing aspired to be a soldier, like his Alpha father. He was ambitious, held himself to high standards, and would write down his insights on current events.

His softest brushstrokes appeared on the pages of his physiology homework. Sixteen-year-old Chen Huixing would write about his future partner, a topic assigned by the teacher. Pei Jiqing had also taken this class, but he never wrote in detail. He bit the tip of his pen, thought of Wei Ji, and shook his head. Meanwhile, Chen Huixing wrote meticulously, stroke by stroke, sensible, understanding, and dependent.

Pei Jiqing had become the perfect wife he had imagined in his youth, understanding all his aspirations, relying on him with just the right amount of reliance, even loving him against his will.

Yet, he still couldn't reap his love.

He longed for a honeymoon with Shen Huixing in the north, like longing for a snowfall that never arrived.

At the campaign site, the gilded chandeliers stretched the figures into elongated shapes. Shen Huixing and Cen Yuean sat across the table from each other, like generals on opposite sides of a chessboard.

Halfway through the meeting, when the vote counter showed Shen Huixing's overwhelming lead, Pei Jiqing suddenly pressed his stomach and whispered to his bodyguard, "I'm not feeling well."

Seeing his displeasure, the bodyguard took him to the break room.

Not long after, Xu Ze's phone suddenly vibrated with a glaring light, and the headline of the news push was like a blade slicing through the calm.

Xu Ze's pupils dilated at the first sight, and he almost lost his composure as he quickly showed it to Shen Huixing, "Sir!"

The headline was blazing: "The military's chief executive officer fabricated data to evade the ABO Association's scrutiny. How could an S-class Alpha holding such a prominent position abuse his power and convince the public?" The room erupted in uproar.

The title of S-class Alpha has become the most bitter irony at this moment. The sound of gasps echoed under the dome of the venue, and whispers slithered between the seats like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue.

The corners of Cen Yuean's mouth raised a delicate arc, and the eyes behind his glasses flashed, like a hunter looking at a trapped beast. He smoothed out the non-existent wrinkles on the front of his suit, revealing a smile of confidence.

Chen Huixing's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and a kind of uneasiness that was stronger than losing the election flowed over his spine like ice water.

When the electronic sound of the commander's result was announced, Pei Jiqing had already boarded a plane to a foreign country. The private plane he was riding was penetrating the stratosphere.

The sea of clouds rolled outside the window, and the cabin of the Cen family's plane was very luxurious. Pei Jiqing put his palm against the window.

In the reflection of the glass, Pei Jiqing's eyes were calm. He thought that since he could not be the most virtuous Omega of Chen Huixing, he would become the most unforgettable existence for the rest of his life.