Chapter 25: Memory Fragments
Zhu Zhixi thought that for such an unreasonable demand, that petty ghost would absolutely refuse. Then he could openly mock just how stupid Fu Rangyi’s insistence on compensation was.
However, reality developed in another direction.
Fu Rangyi gazed at him and asked seriously, “Are all the requests you make within the scope of my ability?”
Huh?
Zhu Zhixi was caught somewhat off guard. He had thought the two of them would trade a few jabs back and forth and naturally dissolve all those self-loathing emotions.
“Of course.” He blinked, then scratched his cheek. “What kind of request could I make? It’s not like I’d ask you to pluck stars from the sky.”
There really was a “star” flashing in his palm, though right now, because Fu Rangyi was here, it was ticking very slowly.
Far slower than Zhu Zhixi’s heartbeat.
48 days, 04 hours, 41 minutes, 39 seconds.
Because of what they had done yesterday, the countdown had moved backward by an entire day.
Looking at the number, Zhu Zhixi felt a little complicated. Besides happiness, there was also a dull stuffiness in his chest. It was as if, within the coordinates of this countdown, yesterday had simply disappeared.
Only he could see the countdown, and only he possessed the complete memory. It was as if yesterday had never existed in the first place, as if it had only been a dream.
If this countdown did not exist, Zhu Zhixi thought, their relationship would be more equal. He would have taken care of Fu Rangyi purely out of kindness, not to gain one more day of life. That was his most sincere thought.
But now, that extra day had been stuffed into his palm. It was “payment” he was not allowed to refuse.
What was even more terrifying was that he could not deny the physical satisfaction he had received either. He had felt pleasure. It had been very comfortable.
And now Fu Rangyi was actually planning to satisfy his extremely tricky demand.
Eating and taking at the same time, exchanging one thing for three—Zhu Zhixi felt a little shameless.
“I agree.”
Fu Rangyi suddenly accepted this unequal clause.
Zhu Zhixi raised his head, a little dazed. “Huh?”
Fu Rangyi said very seriously, “Today, you may give me any instruction. I will do my best to carry it out.”
Instruction?
Why did that sound so strange? It made him sound like my robot.
But such an obedient Fu Rangyi was so rare it was almost heart-stirring.
Fine, then eating and taking at the same time it is!
Shameless is shameless… anyway, I don’t have long to live.
He was clearly the one making a huge demand, yet for some reason, he suddenly grew nervous. Zhu Zhixi touched the tip of his nose and forced himself into an air of ease. “All right. Then I’ll test it.”
He thought for a long time.
Fu Rangyi also stared at him for a long time.
“You now…” Zhu Zhixi said in an extremely small voice, “praise me.”
Getting this sharp-tongued ghost to praise someone was harder than reaching heaven, right?
Sure enough, Fu Rangyi’s expression changed subtly. But it was not like during the outbreak of his susceptible period, when he had pitifully acted spoiled and begged. He had clearly recovered his usual restraint, yet the slight widening of his eyes, his trembling lashes, the lips unconsciously pressed together behind the bite guard, and his slowly rolling Adam’s apple all betrayed a kind of emotion—just like the pheromones that, no matter how much he tried to rein in, still uncontrollably flowed toward Zhu Zhixi.
That floral fragrance that had overturned his desire completely.
Thinking of this, Zhu Zhixi was inexplicably pleased.
He deliberately moved closer, the tip of his nose almost touching the bite guard, and asked in a breathy voice, “Great professor, am I really that hard for you to praise?”
As expected, once he teased him like this, Fu Rangyi’s expression became even harder to describe, as if he were trying hard to suppress and restrain something.
This is enough to make you unable to handle it? I haven’t even forced you to call me master yet, Zhu Zhixi thought wickedly.
After a long time, Fu Rangyi finally spoke softly.
“You…”
“Are very smart. Very good at tormenting people.”
Zhu Zhixi raised a brow. “Are you sure that’s praise?”
Two or three seconds later, the coerced party spoke again. This time, his tone was as light as a snowflake.
“Very good-looking.”
Zhu Zhixi froze.
This was an answer he had not expected. Good-looking, pretty—he had been praised with words like these since childhood and had long since become immune to them. But hearing them come from that mouth, which was basically a controlled blade, was still a little too much.
Fu Rangyi raised his eyes and asked softly, “Happy now?”
He did not know. His heart was beating so fast. Zhu Zhixi was not sure if it was because of those words or because their eyes had suddenly met. It was hard to distinguish.
Am I really smart?
Why am I getting muddled at a time like this?
He cleared his throat and moved a little farther away. The countdown had stopped again and no longer flashed. But his heart was still thumping nonstop.
This gland cancer of mine couldn’t have arrhythmia as a complication, could it?
“Not bad. Barely… counts as passing.”
He pretended not to be too satisfied, yet secretly took a deep breath. Perhaps he inhaled too sharply all at once, because his stomach growled, especially loudly.
Zhu Zhixi felt a little embarrassed. He looked up and found Fu Rangyi staring at his stomach, so he raised a hand to cover it. “Yesterday, I spent the whole day… taking care of you. I barely ate anything. Of course I’d be hungry.”
And what he had done was all manual labor.
For once, Fu Rangyi did not mock him. He said nothing, only got up and climbed out of bed.
“What are you doing?” Zhu Zhixi also climbed up. “Lie down and rest. That’s an order.”
“Making something to eat,” Fu Rangyi said.
“You can still cook?” Zhu Zhixi very much doubted his stamina. After all, he himself was already exhausted. “Didn’t you just…”
Fu Rangyi stood at the doorway, turned back to look at him, and paused for a while before saying quietly, “If you’re worried, you can cook with me.”
Who exactly was ordering whom right now?
Zhu Zhixi did not know how to do anything. The only thing he knew was heating various canned foods before eating them, but he did not want to let Fu Rangyi go cook alone. He could not quite bear it.
“Just bring your rope. Anyway, didn’t you say you can tie up a top Alpha whenever you want?” Fu Rangyi said.
Sure enough, he had recovered. He had turned back into the grudge-holding, sharp-tongued ghost.
“You said it yourself.” Zhu Zhixi picked up the outdoor rope he had just put away, swinging it as he followed behind Fu Rangyi. “Don’t regret it if I tie you up later.”
Fu Rangyi unexpectedly obeyed the rules. “Mm. I won’t.”
After the two of them washed up a little, they entered the kitchen together. Fu Rangyi took down the beige apron hanging on the wall, slipped it over his head, and reached behind himself to tie the straps. But the moment his hand moved back, his shoulder ached badly. He froze for a moment and said nothing.
But at that moment, a pair of very warm hands suddenly appeared behind him and naturally took the straps from his hand, tying them into a bow.
“I may not know how to do anything else, but I’m very good at tying and untying ropes.” Zhu Zhixi’s light voice floated over, carrying a smile.
Their fingers touched unconsciously for a moment and quickly separated, but some fragments flashed through Fu Rangyi’s mind.
Reddened fingertips hooking around the bite guard.
Clenching tightly.
Gripping the bedsheet, the blanket, the tiles, and his…
He suddenly turned his head and fixed his gaze on Zhu Zhixi’s lowered hand.
“What’s wrong?” Zhu Zhixi blinked. “Is it tied too tight? I think it’s okay.”
“No.” Fu Rangyi shook his head.
Most likely, because his pheromones were still fluctuating, he was having some rather indecent fantasies.
When he saw the little duck that had fallen earlier, similar symptoms had appeared too.
He lowered his head to adjust the bracelet, but unexpectedly discovered a round ring of marks on his hand, very much like… teeth marks.
Moreover, the two marks in the very center were the deepest, while the others were much shallower.
He raised his hand, stared at the web between his thumb and index finger, then turned his head and glanced at Zhu Zhixi, who was currently being amused by a funny video.
Scan. Compare.
It was definitely his bite. His two little front teeth were longer than his other teeth, so they had bitten deeper.
When had he bitten him?
Fu Rangyi tried to recall, but some extremely restricted scenes floated through his mind, practically reaching the level of breathplay.
His heart thumped several times. Fu Rangyi nearly coughed. He clenched his fist and forced himself to sober up.
He opened the refrigerator and took out ingredients. When he opened the freezer on the left side, he suddenly remembered that he had previously bought quite a lot of nutritional fluid. Back then, no one had taken care of him. When he fell ill, he had no way to cook, so drinking that could quickly restore his strength. Although the taste was average, with a strange vanilla flavor. But Zhu Zhixi probably would not hate it.
Afraid Zhu Zhixi would suffer low blood sugar after being hungry for too long, he wondered whether he should heat some for him to hold himself over.
He had noticed long ago that this person’s eating habits were irregular. Ever since the young master moved in, he had hardly ever cooked. He looked like the type whose fingers had never touched spring water. He often ordered takeout, and the kitchen appliance he used most was the microwave.
“Are you hungry now? If you are, cooking will take a while. Do you want…”
He rummaged through the freezer and discovered that out of three bags of nutritional fluid, only two were left.
Some sounds appeared as if from a hallucination.
It’s nutritional fluid. It isn’t poisoned. Didn’t you just say you wanted to drink it?
Suck.
Suck.
Licking. Stirring. Biting and grinding.
Gripping his jaw, forcefully sucking on the tip of his tongue, the soft flesh inside his mouth, his teeth…
He turned his head and stared over in a daze. The kitchen had no door. It was open-plan, separated into inside and outside by the island counter. Zhu Zhixi was currently leaning on the breakfast chair outside the island, his hands stacked together and his chin resting on top.
When their gazes met, Zhu Zhixi tilted his head and even smiled, revealing those two clean, bright rabbit teeth, shining almost like evidence of a crime.
Those images were far too real. They did not feel like a dream, nor like… fantasy.
He could even taste the sweet flavor in Zhu Zhixi’s mouth, as well as… the damp, soft sensation.
He might truly not have been lying.
They really had kissed.
And it seemed… not just kissed.
“I just ate some chocolate. I’m much better now. That chocolate is really good. You never eat it, so I’m the only one eating it.” As Zhu Zhixi spoke, his fingers slid across his phone. “Eh? The frozen pizza I like has a new flavor.”
Fu Rangyi was washing baby carrots and asparagus. His mind was chaotic, and he originally did not want to speak. But when he heard Zhu Zhixi say, “I’m going to stock up a whole box,” he still could not help opening his mouth.
“Why buy so much?”
“It gets eaten quickly.” Zhu Zhixi raised his head. “And this is really good. I used to buy this brand all the time when I was in school. Just heat it in the oven and you can eat it.”
Cannot refute. Cannot retort. Must obey orders. Fu Rangyi silently repeated this several times in his heart.
But he still could not help speaking.
“If it isn’t takeout pizza, it’s frozen pizza. Are you a pizza brain?”
Zhu Zhixi, however, raised his index finger and shook it solemnly. “No. I’m a pizza heart.”
“Not funny at all.” Fu Rangyi was not very good at hiding his displeasure.
“Not being funny isn’t illegal. Even if it were illegal, criminals can still eat.” Zhu Zhixi refused to let it go. “I want to eat it. I order you to clear out one layer of the freezer drawer to store my noble Parma ham thin-crust pizza.”
Fu Rangyi cleared out the space as requested and showed him the empty drawer, but then took his phone away. “Don’t buy it yet. Help me wash the vegetables.”
Zhu Zhixi stood up. “Then say thank you.”
“Thank you.”
He walked around the island counter and entered the kitchen, arms crossed. “Say, please help me wash the vegetables, Zhu Zhixi.”
Like a robot, Fu Rangyi repeated, “Please help me wash the vegetables, Zhu Zhixi.”
Zhu Zhixi moved a little closer, tilting his small face, his smile growing even smugger. “Say, Zhu Zhixi, you’re so good to me.”
“Zhu Zhixi, you… are so good to me.” The corner of Fu Rangyi’s mouth twitched slightly.
He shifted forward just a tiny bit more, his chest almost pressing against Fu Rangyi, as if he were issuing orders without thinking at all. “Say, Zhu Zhixi, you really are my good hu—”
But he stopped.
This little villain who toyed with people’s hearts suddenly got stuck himself, as if he had bitten his tongue.
Fu Rangyi very keenly caught that little tail of his that had originally been wagging so high it was almost flying.
“Good what?” He recalled what Zhu Zhixi had just said. “Good hu—”
“Good teacher!” Zhu Zhixi said, standing on tiptoe to pat Fu Rangyi’s shoulder. “Little Student Fu, today we’re switching roles. I’m your teacher, and you’re my student.”
“What can you teach me?” Fu Rangyi regretted it a little the moment he finished speaking.
Did that sound too arrogant?
He handed the phone back to Zhu Zhixi, and before doing so, he deliberately exited the shopping app.
Zhu Zhixi took it without looking and said solemnly, “I can teach you happiness.”
His heart rate rose very obviously.
Happiness.
What kind of happy things?
His brain, which had not fully returned to normal, began automatically supplying answers, supplying images.
Kissing. Holding hands. Caressing. Hugging. Holding each other with no gaps at all. So tight they could not breathe. Kissing until both of them were wet. Mouths open. Eyes rolled back. Pushing in. Pulling out. Calling his name in a sobbing voice…
“Fu Rangyi.”
He abruptly came back to himself, even looking at Zhu Zhixi with a little alarm.
“I want to drink mulled wine.”
Zhu Zhixi had finished washing the vegetables. He stretched his wet hands over and wiped them on Fu Rangyi’s apron, issuing a new command. “Make some for me.”
Fu Rangyi looked at the damp marks on the apron.
Would he have wiped his hands like this before? Would he have been this lacking in boundaries?
As Zhu Zhixi spoke, he took out his phone again. “I’ll order a bottle right now and have it delivered. Do we need any other ingredients?”
“Don’t buy any.”
Zhu Zhixi seemed to have expected that he would refuse. He had already prepared a countermeasure and almost instantly raised his head, squeezing out an aggrieved expression. “Why won’t you make it for me? This is an order.” Another little combo move.
Only then did Fu Rangyi realize he had misunderstood.
He said in a low voice, “The wine at home is much better. Go pick one yourself.”
Zhu Zhixi immediately became happy and ran off smiling to pick wine from the wine cabinet.
When he came back, he still wanted to enter the kitchen and help, but Fu Rangyi rejected him on the grounds that he was afraid Zhu Zhixi would make trouble. He also handed him a small bowl of fruit yogurt that he had made at some unknown point.
“For me?” Zhu Zhixi brought over his laptop, planning to work while waiting.
“Mm. It’ll go bad if you don’t eat it soon.”
Zhu Zhixi pursed his lips, scooped a spoonful, and stuffed it into his mouth.
It was clearly so fresh.
In his line of sight, the two-faced Pretty Widower was wearing an apron, glasses, and a bite guard, lowering his head as he carefully chopped vegetables. This strange combination somehow carried an unusual visual charm.
How did he know how to cook? He had clearly been born into a family where even a small thing like pouring water was done by an auntie, and he was the first child too. He should have been especially doted on, right?
Just like Zhu Zeran, who wished someone else could even change his clothes for him.
Fu Rangyi quietly chopped and prepared the vegetables, opened the oven, set the temperature, and moved with calm precision. Compared to during his susceptible period, he was much calmer, yet he was not like his usual distant, indifferent professor self either. He was somewhere between the two: steady, gentle, and very good at taking care of people.
Zhu Zhixi stared, entranced, for quite a while. Realizing that this was seriously affecting his work efficiency, he quietly moved to the dining table to work.
He had not been working for long before Fu Rangyi produced a whole spread of food: salmon and seasonal vegetable miso hot pot, roasted prawns and baby carrots, and mulled wine, placing them one by one on the dining table.
“Wow.” Zhu Zhixi’s eyes lit up. “You’re way too amazing.”
Without another word, he first ladled himself a large cup of mulled wine. He was about to serve Fu Rangyi a cup too, but halfway through, he put it down and switched to hot water instead.
“You’re not feeling well today, so Teacher Little Zhu won’t order you to drink with me. You drink water.”
The rich aroma of mulled wine drifted out, making the entire dining table feel warm and cozy. The baby carrots and prawns were roasted until slightly charred and arranged neatly on the plate, looking extremely appetizing. The little pot that had been brought over was still bubbling away.
“This looks like a meal from the foreign cartoons I watched when I was little.”
After saying that, he raised his head, only to receive something that looked even more like it had come out of a cartoon.
Fu Rangyi handed him the pale-yellow fairy wand seasoning shaker.
“What’s this for?” Zhu Zhixi froze for a second, but accepted it very reverently.
Fu Rangyi explained, “My sense of taste is affected during the susceptible period. I don’t know if the seasoning is enough. If you think it’s bland, add some yourself.”
Zhu Zhixi raised the “fairy wand” above the little pot and shook his wrist. He looked at it, then shook it again.
“Eh? Did anything come out?” Zhu Zhixi peered carefully. “It seems a little hard to use. Why won’t the salt come out…”
Fu Rangyi noticed that Zhu Zhixi suddenly went silent.
Very abruptly.
Not only that, his expression also changed, and his ears visibly turned red.
Want to pinch them.
Fu Rangyi was startled by his own thought.
“So that was what you were talking about back then…” Zhu Zhixi muttered in an extremely small voice, then set the fairy wand aside.
He touched his nose, scratched his cheek, picked up the cup, and gulped down more than half a cup of mulled wine.
“Why are you drinking so fast?”
“I… want to drink it.” Zhu Zhixi put down the cup and licked his lips. “Is that not allowed?”
That tiny tip of his tongue only appeared for an instant, but Fu Rangyi still felt something was very wrong.
It was as if it had licked his lips, his tongue. That sensation resurfaced in his senses with frightening realism.
Inhale. Exhale.
With a ding, both of them came back from their daze.
“What rang?” Zhu Zhixi asked, rubbing his ear. “There’s more food?”
Fu Rangyi gave an “mm,” got up, and went to get it. A short while later, he brought over the final dish and placed the oven mitts aside.
When Zhu Zhixi looked, it was actually Parma ham pizza. The crust was small, but the ham, arugula, and cheese on top were all in extra-large portions. So much that if it were sold, the shop would surely lose money, go bankrupt, and close down.
“When did you make this?” Zhu Zhixi widened his eyes and pointed excitedly. “So cute. A mini version.”
Fu Rangyi thought he disliked that it was small. “It’s all yours.”
Zhu Zhixi froze after hearing this, then smiled. “Then I’m eating it?”
Fu Rangyi nodded and helped him cut it with a bread knife.
Zhu Zhixi picked up one slice and took a satisfied bite, pulling out a long string of cheese.
“Mm! So good!” His cheeks were stuffed full. “Good thing I didn’t buy it. Yours is way better than the frozen one.”
A hidden sense of pleasure rose in Fu Rangyi’s heart. He stared motionlessly as Zhu Zhixi ate the pizza, then picked up a baby carrot and held it between his lips, eating it bit by bit like a rabbit. The pointed end of the baby carrot slowly shortened until it finally disappeared between his lips and teeth.
“Your cooking is really delicious.” He licked the corner of his mouth again and took a sip of wine, his lips even redder and fuller than before.
How could someone even eat in such a…
Fu Rangyi lowered his head slightly, rubbed his temple, then glanced at his own lower body and exhaled.
…It’s my problem.
He adjusted the bracelet threshold to the highest setting, unlocked the bite guard, and also began eating.
As Zhu Zhixi ate, he secretly glanced over. Fu Rangyi looked no different from usual, as if he had already broken free from the susceptible period: rational and restrained, with excellent table manners, slow and composed, very well-bred. He also did not raise his head to look at him at all.
Not even once.
Yesterday he had clearly been so clingy.
The dining table was so quiet that only the crisp clink of cutlery remained, dinging and clattering, mingling with the curling steam before dissipating into the aroma of mulled wine.
Zhu Zhixi picked up a large piece of salmon and blew on it several times. The steam drifted over, almost brushing Fu Rangyi’s face.
He contentedly stuffed it into his mouth, making a muffled but not unpleasant chewing sound.
Then, with a clang, Zhu Zhixi suddenly slammed down his chopsticks and raised a hand to cover his throat. “Cough, cough, cough—” He coughed desperately, his neck and face instantly turning red.
Fu Rangyi’s heart tightened. He immediately stood up, walked to his side without even thinking, and bent down.
He knew Zhu Zhixi easily got fishbones stuck in his throat. They had talked about it, written it down, and he remembered every line of the questionnaire. When preparing the ingredients, he had removed the fishbones one by one and checked three times.
How did he still get one stuck?
Did they need to go to the hospital?
“Is it stuck?” He reached out, lifting Zhu Zhixi’s chin with two fingers, somewhat forcefully trying to slip his thumb in from the corner of his mouth to open his oral cavity. “Let me see.”
But in the next second, Zhu Zhixi, who had coughed until his face was bright red, suddenly panicked and froze.
There was clearly nothing left in his mouth, and he was no longer coughing either. Only glistening tears still sparkled at the corners of his eyes, his nose red, his lips even redder, vivid and wet, very warm, catching on Fu Rangyi’s finger.
Fu Rangyi confirmed that he had been tricked. His shoulders loosened, and he withdrew his hand, letting it fall. His expression swiftly changed.
But when he was about to leave, his hand was held back again.
As always, Zhu Zhixi blinked those innocent eyes of his, drawing out his tone, softening his voice as if coaxing someone. “Don’t be angry. It was too quiet while eating, and I… I’m not used to it. I just wanted to make a joke and tease you.”
Fu Rangyi lowered his eyes and stared for a while at the wrist being held.
Probably because he had drunk, Zhu Zhixi’s hand was hotter than usual, and his eyes had become slightly red. His whole body exuded a warm, sweet scent of fermented grapes.
“Don’t joke about something like that.”
“Okay.” Zhu Zhixi obediently nodded, still not letting go. “Then you’re not angry, right?”
He poked his head out, tilted his face upward, his tone even stickier than usual. “I order you not to be angry with me today.”
Fu Rangyi pulled his arm back, returned to the seat opposite him, sat down, and deliberately avoided meeting his gaze.
Those rosy lips kept swaying before his eyes, chewing food, drinking wine in big mouthfuls. Even if he did not look, they would appear in his head and automatically be replaced by even more unbearable things.
Too terrible.
How could an Alpha become susceptible to a Beta? This simply did not conform to physiological logic.
After waiting for a long time without an answer, Zhu Zhixi giggled again.
He seemed truly close to drunk. Under the table, he actually used the tip of his slipper to touch Fu Rangyi’s calf. The movement was very light, like scratching an itch.
“Fu Rangyi.” Bad Bunny deliberately dragged out the ending tone. “Listen to the order.”
“I’m not angry.” Fu Rangyi stared at the ring of marks on the web between his thumb and index finger that was about to disappear, especially the two deepest little marks.
“Your order is invalid.”
After saying that, he added, “Drink less. Don’t get drunk. I still haven’t fully passed the susceptible period yet. You should have a little more vigilance yourself.”
“Huh? Oh…” Zhu Zhixi was dizzy, holding his face in both hands as he nodded.
It seemed the reminder had come too late. Fu Rangyi looked at him and confirmed that he was basically drunk.
Should he take advantage of his drunkenness… to ask clearly?
Could it be that I really went to bed with this bad rabbit?
Feeling that Fu Rangyi was finally willing to look directly at him, Zhu Zhixi also raised his eyes and stared at him with those watery, reddened eyes without blinking.
“Fu Rangyi, you… you…”
“What about me?” He was even stuttering.
Zhu Zhixi stared at him, feeling that this time, maybe, perhaps… he had tricked him.
There was a reason why pretending to have a fishbone stuck had failed. Anyone would be startled if their mouth was pried open like that. But pretending to be drunk was different…
Borrowing the “drunkenness,” he spoke nonsense—or more accurately—fished for information.
“At the mall… that Omega we ran into, the very pretty one… is he, or is he not, your white moonlight?”
Author’s Note:
One wants to take advantage of the other being drunk to fish for information, while the other wants to pretend to be drunk to fish for information from him. You two really are a match made in heaven in every sense. Just don’t play too far and end up falling into your own trap. Though even if you fall, you’ll both fall into the same pit, which is pretty nice.
