As the New Year approached, Xiao Fang’s project team was swamped, working around the clock to meet their deadlines. In contrast, Qiao Qiao’s team had a remarkably smooth workflow, having already completed their first-phase acceptance testing with Yiqiao Technology. Now, they only needed to send engineers for occasional technical support.
Xiao Fang, full of envy, said, “Our boss privately admits he admires your work capability and even acknowledges that you’re better than him.”
Qiao Qiao replied frankly, “It’s not really about that. It’s mainly because I’m familiar with Yiqiao Technology’s boss, which makes communication much smoother.”
Xiao Fang burst into laughter, “Qiao Gong, are you going to tell me again how close you are to Zhang Peng? I know you like Zhang Peng, but aren’t you afraid your boyfriend will get jealous?” The Audi A8 was parked across from their company at least three times a week—what a great boyfriend.
Qiao Qiao said, “Zhang Peng is my boyfriend.”
Xiao Fang laughed, “Hahahahaha, goose.” He laughed so hard he made a sound like a goose.
A passing colleague, Colleague A, struggled to suppress his laughter, “Tsk tsk tsk.” He nearly hurt himself holding it in.
Qiao Qiao kept a straight face, “I’m serious.” Is my face inherently funny or something? I can’t see it myself.
Why does no one believe me when I tell the truth?
Xiao Fang clenched his fist, “Then my husband is Wei Ning!”
Qiao Qiao kindly reminded him, “You know Wei Ning is already married, right?”
Xiao Fang waved his hand dismissively, “Just joking around. Isn’t Zhang Peng also deeply in love with his partner ‘Qiao’?”
Qiao Qiao insisted, “I’m serious… Uh, fine.” He thought for a moment and added, “I might get married next year, so I’ll invite you to the wedding banquet.”
Xiao Fang eagerly replied, “Sure, sure. Let me see how much your boyfriend resembles Zhang Peng.”
Qiao Qiao emphasized, “It’s like they’re the same person.”
Xiao Fang, laughing, said, “Okay, okay.”
Qiao Qiao gave up on further explanations and simply said, “You get back to work; I’m heading home.”
Xiao Fang replied with an “Oh” and returned to his grueling overtime.
Today, Zhang Peng was too tied up to pick Qiao Qiao up, so he had to take the subway home. Just as he was approaching the subway station, he heard a car horn blaring repeatedly behind him. He turned around to see a Maserati.
Qiao Qiao was puzzled for a second. The owner of the Maserati lowered the window, revealing most of their face covered by oversized sunglasses.
Qiao Qiao glanced around—no one else was there. He pointed at himself, “Looking for me?”
The person in sunglasses arrogantly nodded.
Qiao Qiao thought for a moment, then turned and walked straight into the subway station.
Sunglasses: “???” If you didn’t want to come over, you could’ve just said so.
The person hurriedly parked the car, rushed to catch up with Qiao Qiao, and panted, “We need to talk!”
Qiao Qiao caught the sweet scent of apricot blossoms and realized this person was an omega. He stopped and asked, “Do we know each other?”
The omega slid his sunglasses down slightly, revealing a pair of beautiful large eyes, “It’s me.” He quickly pushed the sunglasses back up.
Qiao Qiao: “?”
Omega: “?”
Qiao Qiao: “?”
Omega: “…”
Getting a bit exasperated, the omega said, “I’m Jiang Pi!”
Qiao Qiao paused. Jiang Pi, the famous star, and Zhang Peng’s brief gossip subject.
Jiang Pi regained his cold demeanor, “We need to talk, Qiao Qiao. I know who you are—you’re Zhang Peng’s current partner.”
He emphasized “current” as if that would somehow instantly make Qiao Qiao the “ex.”
Qiao Qiao was confused, “Is this necessary?”
Jiang Pi calmly replied, “It’s for Zhang Peng’s future. Yes.” His words were vague, and his expression was deeply serious.
Qiao Qiao became interested—was Jiang Pi going to offer him fifty million to leave Zhang Peng?
He pondered for a moment, “There’s a restaurant nearby with good privacy. If you really need to talk, I can spare some time.”
Jiang Pi haughtily responded, “I’ve already chosen the place. Let’s take my car.”
Qiao Qiao said, “Alright.”
He was intrigued, wondering how Jiang Pi would either threaten or bribe him to leave Zhang Peng.
As they left the subway station, intending to get into Jiang Pi’s car, they saw only the back of the Maserati slowly being towed away by traffic police for illegal parking.
Jiang Pi: “…”
Catching the subtle shift in the apricot blossom scent to something more like rice wine, Qiao Qiao chuckled, feeling a bit sorry for the guy. “Let’s just go to the place I mentioned. It’s only one subway stop away.”
Jiang Pi reluctantly agreed, “Fine.”
Once they were in the restaurant’s private room, Jiang Pi removed his sunglasses and said to Qiao Qiao, “I’m treating, so don’t hold back.”
Qiao Qiao didn’t hold back at all, ordering a full table of dishes.
Jiang Pi: “…”
Despite having spent all this time with Qiao Qiao, Jiang Pi still hadn’t managed to take control of the situation.
Amid the aroma of the dishes, Jiang Pi got straight to the point, “I’ll be direct—please leave Zhang Peng. You’re not suitable for him.”
Qiao Qiao munched on an Australian lobster and asked, “Why? Pipi, I heard from Zhang Peng that he doesn’t even know you. We understand that celebrities need to stay in the limelight, so we can overlook your attempt to latch onto him. But being a homewrecker is going too far.”
“First of all, don’t call me Pipi.” Jiang Pi elegantly sipped his tea, then immediately spat it out. “How is this so hot?” He set the burning hot cup down and said, “Zhang Peng may not know me, but I know him. Jiang Wan is my brother. I saw Zhang Peng in his WeChat moments and fell in love at first sight.”
Qiao Qiao had a sudden realization, “Oh, Pipi, so Jiang Wan is your brother. I was thinking of adding him on WeChat.”
Jiang Pi raised a finger, “First of all, don’t call me Pipi.”
Qiao Qiao finished his lobster and moved on to the abalone, “Pipi, your mom also fell in love with Zhang Peng at first sight.”
Jiang Pi: “?”
Qiao Qiao thought for a moment, “Oh wait, your mom was interested in Zhang Peng on behalf of your brother.”
Jiang Pi: “Whew.” He sighed in relief.
Determined to regain control of the conversation, Jiang Pi said, “Qiao Qiao, I’ve done extensive research on you and Zhang Peng. Before Zhang Peng differentiated into an alpha, you two might have been a good match, but now, I think it’s no longer suitable.”
Qiao Qiao retorted, “I don’t care what you think, I care about what I think.”
Jiang Pi continued to argue, “You may not feel it now, but as Zhang Peng’s differentiation becomes more complete, his alpha instincts will influence him. Alphas are destined to be with omegas.”
Qiao Qiao flipped him off and prepared to leave.
Jiang Pi frowned—this beta was too crude. He was even more convinced that the cold and handsome Zhang Peng shouldn’t be with such an ordinary beta.
Jiang Pi went on to list numerous tragic stories of AB pairings, trying to convince Qiao Qiao to give up on this unrealistic combination. Qiao Qiao, having eaten his fill, got up to leave.
A vein bulged on Jiang Pi’s forehead as he nearly shouted, “Did you even hear what I said? One day, if your alpha gets attracted to another omega and marks them, you’ll be the one crying.”
So now, I should just hand him over to you?
Just as Qiao Qiao was about to unleash a string of expletives, the private room door opened from the outside.
Jiang Pi froze, “Brother?!”
Standing at the door was none other than Jiang Wan, his fair complexion and stunning appearance rivaling that of his celebrity brother.
Jiang Wan waved his hand, and two men in black suits emerged behind him. They walked up to Jiang Pi—one lifted him by the head, the other by the legs—and promptly carried him out.
Of course, Jiang Pi was firmly against this and struggled to resist.
But those two black-suited men seemed trained, and in just a few moves, they had Jiang Pi on the ground.
As Qiao Qiao listened to Jiang Pi’s increasingly distant sounds of struggle, he stood still like a chicken, too scared to move.
Some people might look delicate and youthful, like high school students, but in reality, they are big-time gangsters.
Qiao Qiao was certain—Jiang Wan’s presence was definitely that of a mafia boss.
Jiang Wan gently closed the private room door with a soft “click” startling Qiao Qiao. Was it his turn now?
Qiao Qiao was filled with regret, deep regret. He shouldn’t have entered such dangerous territory just to tease Jiang Pi.
But who could have known a celebrity would have a mafia boss for a brother?
However, Jiang Wan didn’t make any threatening moves. Instead, he sincerely apologized, “I’m sorry for the trouble. We’ll make sure to discipline Jiang Pi properly when we get home.”
Qiao Qiao waved his hand, “No worries, no worries.” Actually, it’s you who scares me more, big brother.
Jiang Wan took out his phone, looking natural as he said, “Let’s exchange WeChat. If Jiang Pi or my mom bothers you again, contact me directly on WeChat.” He smiled sheepishly, a gentle smile that made him seem a little shy, and softly said, “My family is full of idiots. They need to be knocked around from time to time.”
Qiao Qiao couldn’t help but laugh.
How could such a sweet, gentle omega say the word “idiots” so adorably?
Qiao Qiao was starting to like Jiang Wan.
He pulled out his phone and let Jiang Wan scan his QR code, then accepted the friend request.
Jiang Wan smiled warmly, “Xiao Qiao, we should go shopping together sometime.”
Qiao Qiao imagined a delicate omega holding his arm, chummy like best girlfriends, and couldn’t help but shiver, “Next time, for sure, next time.”
Jiang Wan nodded and even made sure Qiao Qiao got home safely.
Qiao Qiao originally intended to tell Zhang Peng about this, but Zhang Peng had been so busy that their schedules didn’t match up, and he ended up forgetting about it.
By the time Zhang Peng found out that Qiao Qiao had suddenly added Jiang Wan on WeChat, they had already been chatting for a few days.
Zhang Peng still remembered, he had Jiang Wan on his blacklist—this guy had the nerve to compliment someone else’s boyfriend as cute!
Can an alpha be jealous of an omega?
Yes!
Zhang Peng pretended to be nonchalant, “You and Jiang Wan seem to get along well.”
“Not really,” Qiao Qiao chuckled. “Jiang Wan likes an alpha and wanted me to give him some advice.”
Damn, so it was just a case of “girlfriends’ talk.” A huge weight lifted from Zhang Peng’s heart.
Qiao Qiao even showed him the chat history.
——What’s that alpha like?
——Just a kid.
——Go get him, Wan Wan!
——He likes younger, cuter types [frown].
——I’m kinda old.
——You’re adorable. Let me teach you.
——OK.
Zhang Peng couldn’t help but tease Qiao Qiao, “You’re all ‘OK’? You’re shameless.”
Qiao Qiao put on his new bunny ear hat and, in a high-pitched, cutesy voice, whined, “What’s not cute about me?”
Zhang Peng grabbed him by his… “This part.”
Qiao Qiao froze, then admitted, “Yeah, this part is pretty big, definitely not cute.”
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