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Title: 顶级掠食者 (Alpha Predator)
Author：水千丞 (ShuiQianCheng)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists ：沈岱 (Shen Dai -MC), 瞿末予 (Qu Moyu -ML)
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After work, Shen Dai went to the hospital again.
His grandmother’s condition has obviously improved today. Shen Qin said that she ate a whole bowl of porridge in the evening. Shen Dai is of course happy. But he couldn’t help to think that with just one word from Qu Moyu, his grandmother can get the best medical care. He has been calculating for the past few days whether to sell the house or not and he can’t tell what to feel.
Shen Qin said in a flattering tone: “Ah Dai, can you bring Qiuqiu over this weekend? I’ve never seen Qiuqiu. Isn’t it right, Mom?”
“Uh…” Grandma glanced at Shen Dai hesitantly. She knew that Shen Dai definitely didn’t want Shen Qin to see Qiuqiu, “wait for me to leave the hospital. Children can’t come to the hospital.”
Shen Dai suddenly felt uncomfortable. He didn’t know when his grandma would be discharged from the hospital, or if she could even be discharged from the hospital. He hurriedly said, “It’s okay. This ward is clean and quiet. I’ll bring him here on weekends.”
Grandma’s eyes lit up: “Oh, that’s good. Qiuqiu must have gained weight again.”
***
It was already nine o’clock when he got home. Qiuqiu usually went to bed between nine thirty to ten o’clock. He was a little tired today since he was busy with his own business, but he still wanted to give Qiuqiu a bath after that.
Qiuqiu had gradually understood and got used to the fact that his dad was going out to work. When he entered the house, Qiuqiu was being held in the arms by the nanny, playing with the carrot-pulling toy that Qu Moyu brought.
“Mr. Shen is back.” The nanny held Qiuqiu’s little hand and waved it, “Dad is back.”
Qiuqiu’s red mouth was grinning happily and he held a carrot in his other hand and stuffed it into his mouth.
“Don’t eat. Don’t eat.” The nanny pressed his hand back.
Qiuqiu went to grab another carrot.
Shen Dai smiled and said, “he still have a good time.”
“Yes. The young master is very energetic. Among the children I have taken care of, he is the best in development. He will be half a year older in four months now.”
“He didn’t develop well when he was first born. His physique was quite weak and he was a little premature.” Shen Dai came over.
“It’s completely different now. It’s getting stronger and stronger.”
As soon as Shen Dai sat down with him, he smelled a familiar scent. He frowned slightly, lowered his head and leaned towards Qiuqiu. He really smelled the smell of Qu Moyu’s ebony pheromone.
“What’s wrong?” the nurse asked in confusion.
Shen Dai’s eyes looked down. He wanted to take the carrot from Qiuqiu’s hand, but Qiuqiu didn’t want to let it go. As if he was thinking that Shen Dai was playing with him, he babbled on. So Shen Dai had to pick up another one to smell it. After smelling it, it is indeed the cold woody fragrance of ebony wood. It smelled very light, much like the smell left after spraying perfume.
Shen Dai was a little annoyed. He didn’t expect that Qu Moyu would play such a trick. First, he sprinkled a low concentration of pheromone on what Qiuqiu liked, so that Qiuqiu would relax his vigilance, and then gradually let Qiuqiu stop rejecting his smell…
Could it be that Qu Moyu also went to the hospital to make pheromone essential oils?
The nanny didn’t know why Shen Dai reacted that way: “Mr. Shen, a child can bite on this kind of mother-infant-level toy.”
“You didn’t smell…” Shen Dai then thought that the nanny was a beta, so she couldn’t smell it. Moreover, she was the nanny hired and paid by Qu Moyu. So she might do what Qu Moyu asked her to do. He was out all day and Qiuqiu was taken care of by her. What could he do?
The nanny looked puzzled.
“…It’s nothing.” Shen Dai said, “Give him a different toy to play with. This kind of plush is prone to mites.”
“Okay. Don’t worry. It will be old in a few days.” The nanny said with a smile, “Mr. Qu has sent people a lot of baby products today.”
Shen Dai asked alertly, “Which ones?”
“There are so many. Some toys, clothes, and daily necessities. Mr. Qu specially asked me to tell you that the saliva towels that Qiuqiu used before were not very good. The fabric is a bit stiff, so I’ve changed to a few new ones.”
Shen Dai walked over to open the drawer. He took out a few new saliva towels, and when he smelled them, they all contained Qu Moyu’s pheromone.
Shen Dai angrily closed the drawer. He grabbed the new saliva towel and walked over: “Sister Chen, don’t use new ones for him. The old ones are fine. He’s used to it.”
The nanny’s eyes showed a little surprised look. But she immediately agreed: “Okay.”
Shen Dai went to open the closet again and found that a faint scent of ebony wafted in many places. It already mixed with the original items and it was impossible to pick them out. He held the closet door with one hand and took a deep breath: “Sister Chen, Qiuqiu already has a lot of things. The old ones can still be used. He’s growing too fast. Don’t waste them.” He felt dumb. If Qu Moyu sprayed the pheromone by himself, the nanny wouldn’t even smell it. When she arrives, she will not be able to pick them out. If it is simply sprayed by the nanny at the behest of Qu Moyu, as long as she acts stupid, she will seem like she have nothing to do with it.
Qu Moyu this bastard! Shen Dai thought.
“Okay, Mr. Shen.”
Shen Dai turned his head and saw that Qiuqiu was still playing with the pulling carrot. He obviously liked this toy very much. He took it out and put it in his mouth. When it got wet with saliva, he replaced it with the next one. He went to pick up Qiuqiu: “Stop playing. Let’s take a shower and sleep.”
Qiuqiu kicked his legs in his arms, looking dissatisfied.
***
Although it was not like living in Qu’s house, he had to face Qu Moyu every day. But Shen Dai felt that even if he moved out, Qu Moyu would still surround his life every day.
Today, Qu Moyu forwarded a few articles to his WeChat, “What to do with constipation for a five-month-old baby“, “Precautions for alpha baby’s glandular development in the early stage“, “Infants and young children’s information to AO parents“, “How to Guide Vegetarian Dependence“.
After waiting for a few hours, Shen Dai didn’t reply to him. He deliberately raised a question about parenting so that they could discuss them. This time, Shen Dai couldn’t turn the other cheek. So he replied, “Sister Chen has experience. If you don’t understand, just ask her casually.”
“I’m reading the book recommended by Sister Chen recently.” Qu Moyu took a photo and sent it over, “It’s written in the book.”
Shen Dai clicked on the photo and saw that there were more than a dozen books on Qu Moyu’s desk. This parenting book is a comical contrast to the various financial literature and history tools on the background bookshelf.
“It has to be combined with the actual situation.” Shen Dai remembered that Qu Moyu sprayed the things he gave to Qiuqiu with his own pheromone and started to get angry again.
Qu Moyu sent a voice note.
Shen Dai hesitated to open it. Qu Moyu’s gentle and magnetic voice came from inside: “Ah Dai, I have a strong learning ability. I can also be very experienced if I have the opportunity to practice.”
Shen Dai put the phone upside down on the table and ignored him.
***
When he got home in the evening, Shen Dai saw Qu Moyu wearing his apron in the living room. The apron was a gift from Xiao Die, with Qiuqiu’s 100-day birthday photo printed on his chest.
Qu Moyu held a thread in his hand. The other end of the thread was tied to a carrot toy he bought. It dangled slightly above Qiuqiu’s line of sight. Qiuqiu opened his mouth and stared blankly at it like a puppy. Looking at the carrot, his neck and eyeballs turned as it swayed, and the larks kept flowing down.
Shen Dai was also stunned, not knowing how to react for a while.
Qu Moyu looked at him with a smile: “You’re back. You didn’t work overtime today?”
“…” Shen Dai had an indescribable feeling of being out of place.
“I bought some food and wanted to try new complementary food for Qiuqiu. Sister Chen is cooking. I’ll play with him for a while.” Qu Moyu and Qiuqiu still kept a distance from each other. But he was slightly excited. He said, “Look, I can play with him.”
Shen Dai felt a little irritable. He said coldly, “His neck will be tired. Don’t tease him like this.”
“I think he is very happy.” Putting down the carrot, Qu Moyu stared at Shen Dai with deep and affectionate eyes, “I haven’t seen you for several days.”
Shen Dai put down his backpack, lowered his head and pretended to organize his things. Until he felt Qu Moyu’s approach, he was alert. He looked up.
Qu Moyu walked to his side. He reached out and stroked his hair: “It’s hot. You’re sweating…”
Shen Dai took a step back subconsciously.
Qu Moyu’s hand froze awkwardly in the air. He slowly lowered his hand. His eyes couldn’t hide the look of loss.
Qiuqiu cried. Shen Dai walked over and hugged Qiuqiu. There was a faint smell of ebony wood in the air. At the same time, he could smell the white elm. Even he felt unwell by the smell and Qiuqiu seemed to be used to it. There is an innate blood connection between father and son after all. It is only a matter of time before Qiuqiu will fully accept Qu Moyu. But the closer it was to that moment, the more sense of crisis Shen Dai felt—it was a kind of crisis where he felt like Qu Moyu was going to take Qiuqiu away.
“Ah Dai, Qiuqiu is really not afraid of me anymore. Look at him. He is more and more curious about me.” Qu Moyu emphasized.
Shen Dai said solemnly: “You deliberately left pheromones on his things.”
“Is there any problem with that? I’m his alpha father.” Qu Moyu’s eyes were a little complicated, “So you deliberately sprayed more Bai Xiangwan’s pheromone perfume, right?”
Shen Dai raised his eyes and looked at Qu Moyu: “Qiuqiu has been using it all the time. Why did you do this on purpose?”
“Substitute pheromone is just a substitute after all. My pheromone is What Qiuqiu really needs. Now that Qiuqiu has me, why do you keep obstructing this matter?”
Shen Dai looked down at Qiuqiu. Qiuqiu was staring at Qu Moyu with curious eyes. Yes, he is still a child. He didn’t understand anything. His instinct would tell him to explore. After all, there were countless connections between father and son that could not be cut off even though they were invisible. He couldn’t stop Qiuqiu from wanting to get close to his alpha father.
But this is his child. His own child. This is obviously a child that Qu Moyu doesn’t want. Why should Qu Moyu appear in a grandiose manner after he was born and try to raise him, saying, “Now Qiuqiu has me.”
Why?
Qu Moyu just looked at Shen Dai’s with his eyebrows raised. He knew that the atmosphere was wrong again. He stood aside uneasily like a student who had made a mistake.
After a long time, Qu Moyu said softly: “Ah Dai, I will not take Qiuqiu away. He is our child.”
Shen Dai looked at Qu Moyu calmly: “Mr. Qu should not forget. The reason why I am here with you was that you threatened me with Qiuqiu’s custody.”
Qu Moyu’s eyes flickered. At this negotiating table, he was unable to speak.
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Next update: 2022.08.18
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*Translator’s note: This squid is very tricky. QMY is not a genius for nothing hahaha -K