Chapter 64

Ruan Tang hadn't expected Auston's weak spot to be exactly here. Seizing the opportunity at once, he began to tease him: "Tang Tang? My lord, the way you say it sounds like a pet name. Am I right in thinking you're flirting with me?"

"What nonsense — I just mistyped." Auston's fingers had slipped, and he certainly hadn't anticipated that Ruan Tang's attention would land on that, of all things.

He turned it over in his mind a few times. Tang Tang... Tang Tang... It did have a rather nice ring to it, rolling off the tongue smoothly enough...

But he would never let that shameless Omega know it.

He thought a moment, then sent Ruan Tang another message, needling him with deliberate malice: 'What kind of girly name did you change it to? Even worse than the old one — sounds awful.'

Ruan Tang was entirely unfazed: "Since you keep making typos, my lord, why not just send me voice messages instead? I think hearing you call me Tang Tang would sound absolutely lovely."

Because Auston's skin was so paper-thin, Ruan Tang felt his own had been rubbed thicker and thicker by comparison.

The more he saw Auston like this, the more he wanted to tease him.

Auston hadn't expected this Omega to spiral further and further down the path of shameless wildness. His face flushed red with fury, and he couldn't be bothered to respond.

A good while later, Ruan Tang sent another message: "My lord, may I ask you a favor?"

"What favor?" Auston didn't know what this Omega was up to now, or whether he was trying to bait him into revealing himself. But seeing that Ruan Tang had actually used the word "beg," he still replied instantly.

Ruan Tang gathered his thoughts and said, "It's like this — my mother has fully recovered, and my eldest brother has been awarded the title of Empire Lieutenant General. The military has arranged quarters for him. He doesn't want to trouble us, so he's planning to move out with our mother and eldest sister..."

Tang Yun was a deeply traditional Omega woman. Once she learned that her Alpha eldest son had been given military housing, she no longer wished to impose on her youngest son-in-law's home with the whole family.

No matter how Ruan Tang tried to dissuade her, she wouldn't be moved. And with Ruan Yang's repeated assurances that he could care for her and Ruan Yue properly, Ruan Tang finally gave in.

"If they want to leave, of course you should respect their wishes." Auston was largely indifferent to the matter — he wasn't close to Ruan Tang's family.

He also knew that among the old-fashioned nobility of the Imperial Star, the traditional view still held that Alpha children bore responsibility for elderly care. An Omega child's home was, in many elders' eyes, essentially a stranger's house — living there permanently was considered deeply shameful, unless the Alpha child was incapable of supporting the parents, or there was only an Omega child to rely on.

Though Auston personally couldn't care less, if Ruan Yang's pride as an Alpha was at stake, he could understand that.

But then something occurred to him, and he asked: "Or is it that you don't want them to leave? You want them to stay and keep you company?"

He remembered that this Omega was quite clingy and deeply attached to his family.

If Ruan Yang insisted on moving out with their mother and sister, Ruan Tang would be lonely, wouldn't he?

At the thought of this, Auston decided it was time to find some way to stop Ruan Yang from moving out with Tang Yun and her daughter...

"That's not it," Ruan Tang said immediately. "Before they move, my mother really wants to meet you, my lord. So I'd like to invite you to meet my mother and eldest brother."

Ever since Ruan Yang had woken up, he had mentioned countless times that he wanted to meet Auston — each time, Ruan Tang had put it off with one excuse after another.

But this time, with Tang Yun now fully conscious, if Auston still refused to show his face... Ruan Tang felt he was running out of ways to explain.

Auston had been scheming how to delay Ruan Yang's family from moving out when Ruan Tang's message came out of nowhere. His expression changed instantly, and he refused without hesitation: "Meet your family? No. Absolutely not."

It was the same reason as before, when he'd refused to see Ruan Yang — he still didn't want to meet Ruan Tang's family.

It just felt awkward and strange.

"I'm begging you, my lord. My eldest brother and mother really want to meet you..." Ruan Tang didn't know what method would make Auston yield, so he resorted to sheer persistence.

But Auston's attitude was ironclad: "Begging me won't help. I said I won't see them, and that's final. If you really can't manage, just tell your family that our relationship fell apart long ago and we're waiting to divorce."

He didn't know how to face Ruan Tang's family.

Nor did he know how to answer if Ruan Tang's family asked him to give Ruan Tang a lifelong commitment. He didn't want to lie — and if that was the case, it was better not to meet at all.

"Even if you're ready to divorce me at any moment, we haven't actually divorced yet. My mother just recovered and can't handle any shocks. Just do me this one favor — put on a show for them, let them think we're happy together for now, please? My mother's health really can't take the stress. I just want her to believe I'm doing well..." Ruan Tang was undaunted and rattled off a long string of reasons.

Auston ignored him.

Ruan Tang switched directly to voice messaging and said one more thing: "I'm begging you, my lord. I'm really, truly asking you."

In the recording, the Omega's voice was utterly different from usual — soft and sweet and yielding, with an extra touch of baby-softness from the pleading and beseeching, unbearably adorable.

It made Auston's very liver tremble with the force of it.

But his text reply to Ruan Tang remained unchanged, his heart as unyielding as iron: "You're so annoying. Stop it. I said I'm not going, and I'm not going."

After that, Ruan Tang sent him countless more messages. He ignored them all, replying to none.

But Ruan Tang didn't give up. When Ruan Yang booked a restaurant to celebrate Tang Yun's recovery and requested that Auston attend, Ruan Tang still didn't mention that Auston had refused.

Instead, the day before, he simply sent Auston the time and location of the gathering via message...

Auston still didn't reply.

......

But when the time for the gathering arrived, Auston showed up on schedule.

Watching Auston appear, impeccably dressed and pushing a wheelchair, the corner of Ruan Tang's lips curved into an immediate smile. He stepped forward and took Auston's hand without hesitation.

He knew, in the end, he had won.

Beaming with delight, Ruan Tang turned to Tang Yun and Ruan Yang: "Mom, eldest brother, let me introduce you — this is Auston, my husband. He's been very busy and hasn't had time to come see you... I hope you won't take it badly."

Auston was startled as Ruan Tang seized his hand. Feeling the warm, soft touch of the Omega's palm and thinking of Ruan Tang's feelings toward him, he felt profoundly uncomfortable and was tempted to wrench his hand free.

But considering the occasion, and that he ought to give Ruan Tang face, he forced himself to endure it.

He turned the matter over in his mind for days, and in the end felt that Ruan Tang had a point. He hadn't yet reached the stage where he absolutely had to divorce Ruan Tang — they were still getting along rather well, life was comfortable. There was no need to make things so strained right now that Ruan Tang's family would start to worry...

Since Ruan Tang had begged him, playing along for a short performance in front of his family wasn't the worst idea.

His decision was the product of careful deliberation, with perfectly sound reasoning — it had absolutely nothing to do with being moved by this Omega's pleading or the image he'd imagined of Ruan Tang looking pitiful and helpless.

"Oh, not at all, not at all — how could I possibly take offense?" Tang Yun said, one after another.

After all those years of confusion, she hadn't been able to care for her son in the slightest. Auston, as Ruan Tang's husband, had treated Ruan Tang so well and shown their entire family such extraordinary kindness and generosity — how could she possibly take offense?

Auston hesitated for a long moment. Looking at Ruan Tang's two nearest and dearest before him, he was struck by an inexplicable nervousness, completely at a loss for how to carry himself.

Tsk — honestly —

He'd said it all along: meeting this Omega's family was nothing but trouble.

"Say something, will you? Hurry up and greet Mom and eldest brother." Seeing Auston standing there like a wooden post, Ruan Tang poked him to prompt him: "What are you spacing out for?"

Auston had just barely maintained the façade of calm composure, when Ruan Tang's words exposed the truth — that he'd been standing there frozen like an idiot.

He nearly leapt up to curse, to fly into a rage right then and there. Damn it — this Omega's nerve was growing by the day.

But with Tang Yun and Ruan Yang present, he obediently and excruciatingly forced out a greeting: "Mom... eldest brother..."

It was so unbearably awkward. He hadn't called anyone "Mom" since he was twelve years old — not even the Empress.

It was the most excruciating thing in the world.

"Good, good." Tang Yun answered in succession, overcome with emotion.

Auston had no idea how to talk to elders. Terrified that he'd lose his temper the moment he opened his mouth, he spent the entire dinner endlessly piling food onto Ruan Tang's and Tang Yun's plates. Only occasionally, when Ruan Tang or Tang Yun asked him a question, did he manage a few brief replies.

Ruan Yang, on the other hand, found topics to discuss with him at length. Though Auston was erratic, he had always held official duties. When it came to politics and mecha — topics that Alphas found deeply fascinating — he could hold forth with considerable eloquence.

The two hit it off before long.

Ruan Yang had been worried that Auston mistreated Ruan Tang and that his brother was merely pretending to be happy in front of him. But meeting Auston in person, seeing how casually Ruan Tang interacted with him and how indulgent Auston was toward him — combined with what Auston had done against the Xia Family, exerting every effort though he hadn't shown his face —

and seeing the way Ruan Tang looked at Auston with stars kindling in his eyes, clearly in love, Ruan Yang finally set his heart at rest.

Though Auston spoke little, his very taciturnity, paired with his diligent efforts to set aside his duke's dignity and serve food to Ruan Tang and Tang Yun, left Tang Yun and Ruan Yang with the impression of a steady, dependable, honest man.

Despite the flaws in his face and legs, judging solely by the care and attention he showed Ruan Tang and their family — meticulous, considerate, and solicitous — he was practically the kind of partner you could only dream of finding, far surpassing the two Alphas Ruan Yue had been married to before.

"From now on, we're entrusting our little Tang to you. You must take good care of him." As the dinner drew to a close, the look in Ruan Yang's eyes as he regarded Auston was practically brimming with admiration.

Auston's voice was measured and unhurried, his gaze steady — the very picture of dependability: "Rest assured, eldest brother."

Ruan Yang's gaze grew even more approving. He was more and more convinced that Auston's terrible reputation on the Imperial Star was nothing more than malicious slander — the same as his own brother's undeserved reputation as a black-hearted schemer.

This man was practically a model citizen.

Even through a brother-in-law's scrutinizing eyes, he couldn't find a single fault to pick at.