Chapter 16: Ambiguous Interest
He had not expected Fu Rangyi to ask directly.
Zhu Zhixi suddenly felt a little awkward. “Just…”
Like… the look of someone who had stripped completely naked while sleeping, then, after being woken up, hurriedly grabbed whatever was nearby and threw it on. It really was pretty lewd.
He did not say it out loud. He only hummed twice in a mosquito-like voice, wanting to change the subject.
“Your pajamas are all so comfortable.”
Zhu Zhixi touched the top and said quite shamelessly, “Husband, give me a set.”
“Buy it yourself.”
“Stingy.”
Fu Rangyi heard Zhu Zhixi mutter a few things, but he could not make out the words. Still, he was certain they were nothing good.
“Well, anyway, let’s go downstairs. I…”
Before he could finish, Zhu Zhixi suddenly felt something was wrong. A warm stream flowed down from his nose. Quick-eyed and quick-handed, he caught it with his hand, hurriedly tilted his head back, and ran toward the bathroom.
“Mm! Why am I having another nosebleed?”
Bright red blood dripped, one drop after another, into the porcelain-white sink. Zhu Zhixi turned on the faucet. The rushing water diluted the bloodstains, turning them pale pink.
With a pained expression, he glanced at the countdown. Several more hours had vanished.
His heart suddenly began beating very fast. It was as if a bell had suddenly rung inside his mind. A vivid reminder of death.
These days, he had thought he had grasped a lifesaving straw, and he really had been floating a little too high—even starting to meddle in other people’s business.
There were forty-six days left. It was time for a follow-up visit. He did not know whether that damned machine could find out what illness he actually had.
Drip, drip. Blood was still falling.
Zhu Zhixi pulled out some tissues, stuffed them into his nose, tilted his head back, and wanted to tell Fu Rangyi to go downstairs and eat first. But in the next second, he felt a sudden chill on the back of his neck.
Fu Rangyi had also come to the bathroom door. Cool fingers covered the back of his neck and pressed with a bit of force, forcibly pushing down the neck he had just tilted up.
“What are you doing?” So inexplicable. Zhu Zhixi almost cried out.
But in the next second, Fu Rangyi pulled the blood-soaked tissue out of his nose and threw it into the trash can beside them.
“Keep your head down.”
After saying this in a low voice, he reached out with his left hand and pinched both sides of Zhu Zhixi’s nostrils tightly with his index finger and thumb, pressing the lower part of the nasal septum.
“Mm!” Zhu Zhixi frowned and made a very dissatisfied sound, but because his nose was being pinched, it made him sound like Donald Duck caught by the throat.
Fu Rangyi said nothing. He simply pinched firmly, then used his right hand to pull two white towels from the towel rack. He turned on the faucet, adjusted it to cold water, dampened them slightly, stuffed one into Zhu Zhixi’s hand, and kept the other in his own.
“Hold it properly. Press it to your forehead.” He gave the order without much emotion.
Zhu Zhixi suddenly felt he was very suited to being a doctor. He obediently listened, folded the wet towel, and pressed it against his forehead.
In the next second, the back of his neck went cold again, making him shrink his shoulders from the chill. The other cold towel had been pressed against the back of his neck by Fu Rangyi.
“So cold…” weak little Donald Duck complained softly.
“You’ll get used to it.” Fu Rangyi said coldly. “It helps constrict the blood vessels.”
His fingers, separated by the wet towel, pressed firmly against Zhu Zhixi’s nape.
Strangely, Zhu Zhixi suddenly thought of that bizarre dream from last night.
Because in the dream, after the younger and nastier Fu Rangyi bit him, he had even helped bandage him. It was inexplicably somewhat similar to the current situation.
Time passed little by little. Zhu Zhixi’s neck and forehead were so cold they were almost numb, but for some reason, his ears were very hot. It was as if his body temperature had relocated to a fixed point.
“Is it done yet…” he asked in a flattened voice.
Fu Rangyi estimated the time and felt it was about enough. But he deliberately dragged it out a little longer.
Sure enough, Zhu Zhixi asked again, sounding even more pitiful this time.
“It should be done now, right? My neck is so sore.”
Fu Rangyi let go and removed the towel. Zhu Zhixi’s originally snow-white nape had been chilled until it was faintly red. Under the light, he saw this person’s nape clearly for the first time.
As a well-bred Alpha, Fu Rangyi had known since adolescence that AOs had glands at the backs of their necks, and that this was a sensitive area. So he had never stared for long at anyone’s nape.
This was the first time.
And Zhu Zhixi was indeed different from them. The skin at the back of his neck was clean, smooth, and soft, without any wounds or marks.
“It really seems to have stopped.” Zhu Zhixi lifted his head and looked at himself in the mirror, touching his pinched-red nose with his hand. Then he turned and smiled at Fu Rangyi. “Thank you, Teacher Fu.”
Fu Rangyi lowered his head and washed his hands. “You don’t have even a bit of common sense.”
“I rarely had nosebleeds before. Recently, it’s been happening a lot…” Zhu Zhixi stopped the topic, lowered his head, and checked the pajamas. “Luckily it didn’t drip onto your clothes. Otherwise, you’d have killed me.”
“Not to that extent. You’d just have to explain it yourself.” Fu Rangyi left the bathroom.
“Explain what?” He followed him out.
When they reached the bedroom door, Fu Rangyi paused, turned around, and said seriously, “Why did you get a nosebleed when I came upstairs to wake you? What happened in between? You’ll need to make up a good story, great director.”
For the first time, Zhu Zhixi realized this person was actually quite shameless.
“Fu Rangyi, you really…”
But the other party did not wait for him to finish. He directly opened the door, walked out, and left the corridor. Zhu Zhixi lowered his head and glanced at the countdown. It had been still for quite a long time just now, but now it had started counting down again.
The blood and the flickering numbers were both constantly reminding him that, even after so many days, Zhu Zhixi still had not completely desensitized himself. Whenever he got carried away, they would jump out again and punch him, trying to force him to accept reality.
Do not think you have really found a lifesaving straw. Everyone dies. When time is up, not even the gods can save you.
As they walked down the stairs, Zhu Zhixi suddenly tugged on Fu Rangyi’s sleeve.
“Are you cold?” Fu Rangyi did not turn his head, but asked.
“No.” Zhu Zhixi moved closer and said softly, “Is it possible that I’m dying soon?”
Fu Rangyi frowned and looked at him, confusion in his eyes.
“Does that reason sound believable? I mean as the reason for the nosebleed.” Perhaps because of the emergency treatment just now, his eyes were damp, and his neck, forehead, and the tip of his nose were all red.
“It’s not impossible.” Fu Rangyi stopped walking.
Right? Because that is the real reason! Fake husband, I really am about to die.
“People can die in bed too. A lustful ghost is still a ghost,” Fu Rangyi said coldly.
When Zhu Zhixi heard this, he nearly jumped up and strangled him. “Fu Rangyi, is there something wrong with your brain? You’re a professor! A people’s teacher!”
The curse slipped out of his mouth. The person being cursed actually laughed.
Pale golden sunlight poured through the enormous floor-to-ceiling glass windows, filling the entire spiral staircase. Fine dust danced and fell onto his shoulders, which trembled slightly because of his laughter.
Zhu Zhixi looked at those slightly curved brows and eyes, that raised corner of the mouth, and suddenly froze on the spot.
“Shh, lower your voice.” Fu Rangyi made a silencing gesture at him. The smile on his face also stopped slightly, and he pressed his lips together.
“I was joking.”
After saying this gently, in front of a passing servant, he held Zhu Zhixi’s wrist and led him to the dining table.
Fu’s father had already finished eating and smiled as he greeted Zhu Zhixi. “Sit down quickly. Eat more, Zhixi. I still have a meeting, so I’ll head out first.”
“Ah, Dad, you’re leaving already?” Zhu Zhixi stood beside the table and watched him leave.
As Fu’s father put on his coat and walked toward the door, he said, “Yes. The weather is nice today. After eating, have Rangyi take you around nearby and climb the mountain.”
“Oh, why climb a mountain? How would the child still have the strength for that…” Fu’s mother scolded him fondly a few times, then invited Zhu Zhixi to sit. “Don’t listen to your dad. He doesn’t understand anything.”
Zhu Zhixi felt something was off. He gave two dry laughs and obediently sat down.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, compared with last night’s meal, lunch had many more dishes he liked. Not only that, there was also a fruit platter, half strawberries, the other half halved figs.
Fu Liaoxing sat on Fu’s mother’s right. During the meal, he talked a little about the group, but perhaps because Zhu Zhixi was present, most of it was insignificant content. Zhu Zhixi was too lazy to listen and focused seriously on eating. As he ate, his phone vibrated twice.
“I’m done.” Fu Rangyi happened to stand up.
“So fast? Have some soup.” Fu’s mother smiled and filled a bowl. “This dried scallop chicken soup is quite good.”
“I’m full. Mom, you drink it.” He even deliberately pressed his hand on Zhu Zhixi’s shoulder and said gently, “Don’t rush. Eat more.”
But on WeChat, he was a completely different person.
[Pretty Widower: I’m going upstairs to change. You can eat for five more minutes at most.]
Zhu Zhixi almost rolled his eyes.
[Bad Rabbit: Why? I only just came down, and now you want me to go up again. What do you mean? Your mom will think I have some huge addiction.]
[Pretty Widower: What are you thinking?]
[Pretty Widower: We’re going out later. Are you planning to go in pajamas?]
[Bad Rabbit: Where are we going? Our mom won’t let me climb a mountain. She’s afraid I’ll get climbed broken.]
[Pretty Widower: Then stay behind and accompany her to a ladies’ afternoon tea gathering. With how much you talk, you’ll definitely be very popular.]
Infuriating.
Zhu Zhixi locked his phone screen and looked up to drink his soup. Suddenly, he felt wisps of white mist drifting beside him and almost thought he had suddenly died and ascended to immortality.
He abruptly turned his head and discovered that the auntie had pushed over a standing aromatherapy humidifier.
Scared me.
He continued drinking his soup.
Fu’s mother answered a phone call and stood up with a smile.
“Oh my, I’ll be there soon. A holiday? What gifts? Those people in my family have no sense of romance at all. I didn’t receive even half a gift.”
Based on the information from earlier, Zhu Zhixi guessed that this was the phone call for the ladies’ tea party.
All at once, only he and Fu Liaoxing were left at the dining table. Zhu Zhixi glanced at the time. There were only three minutes left before the deadline order issued by his dead husband. He sincerely prayed that Fu Liaoxing would not open his mouth.
“My brother really has become a different person.”
Knew it…
Zhu Zhixi smiled and played dumb. He had always been good at that.
“Ah?”
Fu Liaoxing propped his face up with his hand and lowered his voice with a smile. “He used to be basically frigid. Even during his susceptible period, he would only take medicine and injections, forcibly enduring it through willpower. Now he seems like a completely different person.”
“Really?” Zhu Zhixi was genuinely a little curious. An ordinary Alpha who relied purely on suppressants to suppress pheromones during susceptible periods would experience side effects, let alone an SA with even more domineering pheromones.
“Really. But I guess there was a reason for it. After all, when he was a teenager, he ran into that kind of…”
But at this point, he suddenly fell silent and somewhat abruptly changed the subject. “Anyway, he’s always been pretty indifferent. In this area, he hardly interacted much with the opposite sex either. Oh, right, there was one omega. What was their name? Yu something? Pretty good-looking. They even came to the house. At the time, we thought they were dating. My mom specially looked into it and said their pheromone compatibility was very high. Everyone thought they were his susceptible object. Do you know them?”
How would I know?
Zhu Zhixi’s expression became somewhat solemn. In his heart, he thought, Such important intelligence—why didn’t anyone notify me in advance? I know absolutely nothing.
What if we’re exposed?
Is this a white moonlight or some ex-boyfriend?
Why has he never mentioned it?
Zhu Zhixi knew very clearly that he should now act a little jealous, but all of a sudden, he did not know how to perform.
He was a little dazed.
“Mm…”
After a few seconds, he asked again, “I probably don’t know them. Who are they?”
“Seems like a student at their school?” Fu Liaoxing smiled, as if trying to comfort him, and added, “But it’s fine. I know my brother very well. If he were with someone, it would definitely be because he liked them, never because of pheromones. He thinks that’s animal nature, not humanity. Compatibility, pheromones, all that stuff—it doesn’t matter. Anyway, you two are already married. Don’t feel insecure over things like that.”
“How could I? I have an extreme sense of security.” Zhu Zhixi put down his chopsticks, propped his face up with both hands, and said confidently, “Fu Rangyi is super—into me.”
Was that too deliberate…
Fu Liaoxing froze for a moment and laughed. But after lifting his head, his smile quickly faded, and he properly called, “Brother.”
Zhu Zhixi had just taken a sip of soup and almost choked on it.
When he turned his head, he saw Fu Rangyi coming down the stairs, lowering his head to adjust his cuffs as he walked down step by step.
He was still wearing those rimless glasses, with a coffee-colored shirt. The collar was slightly open, revealing the fitted black half-turtleneck knit base layer underneath. Over it all, he wore a mocha wool coat. His silver cufflinks matched the suppressor bracelet very well.
Such a standard refined scoundrel.
A dishonest refined scoundrel.
If I ran into a comrade like you on a battlefield, I’d lose my life! He vented a few lines in his heart.
“Still not finished?” Fu Rangyi walked over, tilted his head slightly at Zhu Zhixi, raised his hand, and tapped his watch twice.
“Finished!” Zhu Zhixi immediately stood up. “I’ll go upstairs and change right now. Right away. Little brother, take your time eating!” After saying this, he vanished in a flash.
Fu Rangyi stood beside the dining table, raised his hand to turn off the humidifier nearby, picked up the phone Zhu Zhixi had stupidly left on the dining table, and casually put it into his own coat pocket.
Then he looked at Fu Liaoxing, his tone as gloomy as his expression.
“Talk to him less.”
This rare display of aggression was not known to Zhu Zhixi upstairs.
There were no spare clothes for him to change into at Fu Rangyi’s house, so he still put on the brown leather jacket he had worn when he came, took out the sunglasses he had nearly forgotten, and placed them on top of his head. Fortunately, the sun was shining outside, and the temperature had risen, so it did not feel cold going out.
Winter air was crisp and sharp, rushing into the nose like mint, carrying a barely perceptible thread of sweetness. He twitched his nose and sniffed carefully.
It smells so good. If you added a little wood and floral scent to it, would it smell even better?
“Hurry and get in the car.”
“Oh.”
After buckling his seat belt, Zhu Zhixi felt his pockets and suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air.
“Crap, I left my phone at your house!” He hurriedly unbuckled his seat belt and was about to open the door and get out.
But the car door was already locked.
“Open the door first. My phone…”
“It’s with me. In my pocket,” Fu Rangyi said.
“Ah? You took it for me?” Zhu Zhixi remembered that he seemed to have left it on the dining table. He did not ask Fu Rangyi for it and directly reached out to dig through the right pocket of his coat, but came up empty.
“It’s not on this side.” Without thinking much, he braced one hand on the center console, leaned his whole body over, and reached out to touch Fu Rangyi’s left pocket.
But suddenly, he realized that this distance was too close.
So close that Fu Rangyi frowned.
“Ah, sorry.” Zhu Zhixi obediently sat back, blinked twice, then brought both hands together and stretched them toward him.
“Please give me my phone. Thank you.”
Fu Rangyi instinctively wanted to open the window to disperse the scent of another Alpha’s pheromones on him, but after glancing at Zhu Zhixi’s cold-reddened hands, he instead turned on the heater and outside air circulation.
He took the phone out, but did not place it in Zhu Zhixi’s hands. Instead, he put it on the center console.
“Keep it properly yourself.”
“Oh.” Zhu Zhixi giggled twice. After saying thank you, he asked again, “Where are we going? Home?”
Fu Rangyi drove out of the garage. “You’ll know in a while.”
So Zhu Zhixi peacefully fell asleep in the car.
He could eat and sleep, remembered nothing, and worried about nothing. In Fu Rangyi’s eyes, this kind of person was basically as long-lived as a tortoise.
When they arrived at the B1 level of the mall parking garage, Zhu Zhixi was still sleeping soundly.
His head was tilted against the window, his sunglasses had slid down to the bridge of his nose, and his whole face was tucked into his scarf. His breathing was somewhat obvious.
The red mole on his eyelid was the same.
Fu Rangyi did not get out of the car immediately. He sat for a while. The car was very quiet, and he heard faint music. Very soon, he found the source: the Bluetooth earbud Zhu Zhixi was wearing.
He frowned and reached out, tapping his fingertip twice lightly against the earbud.
The music disappeared.
If he can sleep this deeply with the volume this loud, he might as well not keep his ears.
After doing a good deed, he took out his phone. Several messages popped up. They were from Li Qiao, sent while he was driving.
[Li Qiao: Tell me, bro, am I awesome or what? I really found him. Don’t say it, he’s pretty popular. He has over three hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube.]
[Li Qiao: You don’t have any proper photos of him? I asked you to send a photo and you could only secretly take one while he was sleeping?]
[Li Qiao: He’s actually pretty cute. It’s just that your photography skills suck.]
[Li Qiao: By the way, I’m going to prison for the next few days. The closed joint research project between the Brain Science Institute and the military is about to start. You might not be able to contact me then.]
[Li Qiao: Isn’t your susceptible period coming soon? You have another emergency contact, right?]
Fu Rangyi opened the car window and took a breath.
After two minutes, he replied.
[Abstinent Professor (Married Version): Stop worrying about it. Go to prison.]
[Abstinent Professor (Married Version): Delete the photo.]
Very soon, he heard a strange humming sound beside him, sticky and soft. When he turned his head, it was the pig who had slept the whole way waking up. He had not opened his eyes yet, his head lowered, rubbing his face in circles with both hands.
To be accurate, a hybrid species of pig and rabbit.
“Where is this?” Zhu Zhixi yawned, his eyes damp.
“Slaughterhouse.”
“Ah?” Having just woken up, Zhu Zhixi’s brain was still a little muddled and failed to run quickly enough to retort. He dazedly pressed himself against the car window, narrowed his eyes, and glimpsed the glowing advertisement sign in the parking lot.
“The mall… You’re buying something?”
Buying a collar for the pig-rabbit.
Author’s Note:
No ex-boyfriend, no white moonlight. Both are each other’s first love.
Li Qiao: Everyone, don’t listen to little bro’s nonsense!
