Chapter 123: Ch 123: Bamboo Pressure and Quiet Backup

As the guests began moving toward their assigned partners, the soft forest light filtered through the leaves in shifting patches of gold. Su Wanyan tightened her hold on Mo Xingxue’s hand once more. The pressure was firm, almost desperate.

"I’ll be here. Just call me, okay?" The nervousness in her voice was impossible to hide. The quiet worry sat heavy in her chest, sharp and protective.

Mo Xingxue squeezed back and nodded, smiling at her alpha with quiet love and fondness. The soft snow-lotus scent between them felt steady and familiar. "Don’t worry yourself to death," she teased gently, hoping to ease some of the tension. The words were light, but the reassurance beneath them was solid.

Fortunately, it worked. Su Wanyan managed a small smile and nodded. "I wont." The promise was quiet but certain.

They held on a moment longer, fingers lingering as if reluctant to let the contact end. Then they finally released each other’s hands. The sudden emptiness felt sharper than it should have. Su Wanyan walked toward Han Jiho, who was waiting a short distance away, her steps still hesitant. The soft grass pressed under her feet, and the dappled light shifted across her shoulders as she moved.

At the same time Gu Chengze stepped closer to Mo Xingxue and offered his hand, intending to escort her. The gesture was deliberate, almost formal. However, the omega did not even glance at him. She remained exactly where she stood, her posture still and closed.

Gu Chengze’s hand hung awkwardly in the air. The soft forest light caught the edges of his fingers as the silence stretched. His expression darkened. She’s humiliating me again! Anger rose quickly, hot and familiar. If this were Lin Xuanyu, he would be honored—

The thought stopped short. Why am I even comparing her to Lin Xuanyu?

He shook his head and forced himself to calm down. They’re different, he reminded himself. Lin Xuanyu was like a rare flower—pure, delicate, a white rose. Precious, yet not completely unattainable. Rarity did not mean there were no others like him.

His gaze drifted to Mo Xingxue’s side profile, and his expression softened. But her.. she is like an unattainable flower. In his mind she stood high on a distant mountain peak, surrounded by heavy snow that few could survive.

Even if someone reached the summit, they would find her utterly one of a kind. The comparison soothed his injured pride. She’s like this with everyone, he told himself. The justification was familiar and convenient.

Just then a loose strand of Mo Xingxue’s hair slipped free. The soft movement was small and ordinary. Before she could raise her own hand, Gu Chengze reached out and brushed it back, his fingers grazing her ear. The contact was light, almost careful, yet it carried the weight of presumption.

Mo Xingxue’s body went ice-cold. Her chest tightened painfully and her vision darkened at the edges. Nausea surged, sharp and immediate. The soft forest air around her suddenly felt thinner. She forced herself to stay upright, forced the rising sickness down, and jerked away from his touch. With precise, controlled movements she fixed the strand herself. Her face was cold as winter, yet a dangerous heat of rage burned in her eyes.

"Don’t touch me without my permission," she said, voice sharp and freezing. She stepped farther from him and closer to where Su Wanyan still stood. The distance she created was deliberate and absolute.

This time Gu Chengze did not grow angry. Instead a smile spread across his face—the usual cold, terrifying expression completely gone. He brought the fingers that had touched her ear to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss against them. The gesture was soft and possessive, completely detached from the rejection he had just received.

As expected, he thought, dark obsession swirling in his gaze as he looked at her. Only I have the right to pluck this thorny flower.

The memory of that night rose unbidden: Mo Xingxue’s repeated refusals, the way she had eventually been overwhelmed, the tears and the wide, stunned eyes. In his twisted recollection it had been a night filled with passion and love—something he alone had been allowed to claim.

Yes. Only I have that right, he told himself, straightening his posture and taking another step toward her. The soft forest light continued to shift through the leaves, the breeze stirred the canopy, and the quiet tension under the trees settled heavier than before.

Meanwhile, Su Wanyan saw everything.

The moment Gu Chengze’s fingers brushed Mo Xingxue’s ear, the way the omega’s body went rigid, the sharp, freezing rejection, and the dark, satisfied smile that followed—all of it registered with painful clarity.

Su Wanyan’s first instinct was to step between them, to hide Mo Xingxue behind her back, to put herself between the omega and the man who had already hurt her once.

But she couldn’t.

The assistant director was glaring at her as if she were an obstacle, his eyes sharp and waiting for any excuse to call her out. At the same time she did not want to suddenly leave Han Jiho. Doing so would be disrespectful, and it would humiliate her buddy’s omega in front of the cameras.

The conflict sat heavy in her chest. Su Wanyan gritted her teeth and hesitated, one foot half-lifted, torn between the two obligations.

Just then she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

She looked back and found Han Jiho smiling at her. The usual dry sarcasm in his expression was gone, replaced by something quieter and more understanding.

"What are you hesitating around for?" he asked, chuckling softly.

Su Wanyan widened her eyes. "You noticed?" Disbelief crossed her face. I thought I hid it perfectly, she thought, suddenly doubting how well she had managed her expression.

Han Jiho only smiled. "Don’t sweat it," he said gently. "Just go to Teacher Mo." A lazy, almost careless curve touched his mouth. When Su Wanyan’s gaze flicked toward the assistant director, Han Jiho added, "Don’t worry about him either. I’ll handle it." The words carried the easy confidence of someone who already had a plan.

Su Wanyan shifted her attention back to him and smiled, the tension in her shoulders easing a fraction. "Thanks."

She turned and walked straight to Mo Xingxue’s side.

The moment she reached the omega, the protective space she had wanted to create finally settled into place.

The assistant director, who had been carefully watching her, opened his mouth to call her out. Before he could speak, Han Jiho’s voice cut across the shaded clearing.

"Hey!"

The assistant director looked at him, frowning. Han Jiho only smiled brighter, the expression sharp beneath the politeness.

"My partner just wanted to sit closer to another guest," he said, stepping closer. Soft, controlled bamboo pheromones slipped into the air, subtle at first, then steadily pressing against the assistant director’s neck. The scent was clean and cool, but the pressure behind it was unmistakable.

Han Jiho stopped directly in front of him and smiled coldly. "Don’t tell me it’s against the rules for us to sit close to each other." He tilted his head slightly. "Oh, and why didn’t you tell us the rules before starting this segment?"

The questions landed one after another, leaving the assistant director no room to interject. Han Jiho kept the pheromones focused, the quiet pressure making it difficult for the man to form a coherent argument.

Then Han Jiho’s cold face suddenly brightened into an unusually cheerful smile. "Surely you weren’t just making up the rules as you went, right?" he turned his head and looked straight at Gu Chengze, whose expression had already darkened to the color of a burnt pot bottom. "Surely no one is telling you the ’rules’ as you go, right?" The words were light, but the implication was clear enough for every viewer watching the live stream.

Gu Chengze’s jaw tightened. Han Jiho smiled with quiet satisfaction and turned back to the assistant director, whose face had grown visibly anxious.

"Right?" Han Jiho asked again, tilting his head, a knowing look in his eyes.

The assistant director pursed his lips and discreetly glanced at Gu Chengze. After a brief, silent exchange, Gu Chengze gave a small shake of his head. The assistant director’s shoulders dropped a fraction.

"....No. It’s not against the rules," he said at last, the resignation clear in his voice.

Han Jiho immediately withdrew his pheromones. The pressure in the air eased. He smiled, the earlier edge melting into something easygoing and almost playful.

"Thank you~"

He walked over to where Su Wanyan now stood beside Mo Xingxue and held up his hand. Su Wanyan met it in a solid high-five. The soft sound of their palms meeting cut briefly through the heavier atmosphere under the trees.

Around them the forest continued its quiet rhythm—the rustle of leaves, the shifting golden light, the distant calls of birds. But under the shade of the old trees, the forced pairings had already begun to fray at the edges, and one clear, public refusal to play along had been recorded for everyone watching.

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I was supposed to release this earlier, but ya girly forgot TvT LMAOO