Chapter 27: The Proposal Declaration
Ever since getting to know Fu Rangyi, Zhu Zhixi had deliberately teased him countless times, stepped on his boundaries, and forced him to do things he was unwilling to do just to watch his reactions… Every time, he had gained plenty of amusement from his mischief.
This was the first time he had made himself so embarrassed.
What was strange was that he could not call a stop now. Another voice in his head kept answering for him: I want it! I want it.
He also knew it was because today was special. It was because Fu Rangyi had strictly kept his promise: he could not refute him and had to fulfill every request he made. That was how this rushed and ridiculous proposal had come about.
“I…” Zhu Zhixi did not know what to say. In the end, he only blinked. “Then propose.”
The delivery guy frowned, his gaze drifting back and forth between the two of them. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
This level of pheromones had to come from going at it for a whole day and night, right? So why did these two seem so unfamiliar with each other? Friends with benefits turning official? No, that wasn’t right. Wasn’t this supposed to be a “make-up” proposal? What decent person gets married first and then becomes friends with benefits afterward…
He looked once again at this top Alpha customer.
“All right.” Fu Rangyi lowered his head, looking at the pair of rings placed side by side inside the jewelry box, and spoke softly and slowly. “Then I’ll…”
“Wait.” The temporary witness suddenly raised his hand, but the moment he opened his mouth, he was nearly made nauseous by the pheromones and swallowed the words back down.
“Uh, I just wanted to say, normal proposals are usually recorded, right? Would you two like to record one as a keepsake?”
Our marriage isn’t normal either. Zhu Zhixi wanted to pretend to be drunk and muddle past it, but his fake husband spoke first.
“Then please help us record it.”
Zhu Zhixi blinked.
He couldn’t have realized I’m pretending to be drunk and wants to leave evidence to settle accounts later, right?
“Oh, sure. I’ll record it.” The witness took out his phone, aimed the camera, then directed, “Mr. Fu, please close the box first. Yes. When I say start, kneel down and then open it.”
Fu Rangyi felt something subtle.
It seemed many people were ordering him around today.
But he still did as told.
The instant the witness called “start,” the entrance hall of the apartment seemed to turn into a film set filled with lighting and camera positions. He was a rookie actor with terrible acting skills, no script, no technique, and the director’s skill level was also rather average. He could only clumsily imitate similar scenes he had seen before, even if it was very cliché.
“Zhu Zhixi…”
His body sank, intending to kneel on one knee, but in the next second, his arm was grabbed.
When Fu Rangyi looked up, he saw Zhu Zhixi’s flushed face.
“No need to kneel.” He said softly. “Aren’t we…”
Not real partners?
Zhu Zhixi also stood up, swaying slightly, lowering his head as he finished the sentence.
“…aren’t we equal?”
The scene partner suddenly delivered an improvisation that could be called a stroke of genius, and the rookie actor became even more panicked.
He stood stiffly, opened the ring box, inhaled, exhaled, and was just about to speak.
A long vibration sounded, especially clear in the quiet entrance hall. The three of them had different expressions. The witness frowned, looking around as if searching for the culprit who had ruined the atmosphere.
It was me.
“Sorry…” Zhu Zhixi lowered his head and took out his phone from the pocket of his hoodie. When he saw the caller, his vision went dark.
Damn Big Zhu.
He pressed decline without hesitation and muttered, “Continue.”
Half a minute later, the rookie actor once again mentally prepared himself. After taking a deep breath, he spoke in a low voice. “Zhu Zhixi, are you willing…”
He was interrupted again.
This time, it was a bout of retching.
Because it was not his own fault this time, Zhu Zhixi had a bit of a mentality of eagerly seizing someone else’s mistake as revenge. Holding his head, he looked at the “witness” and used his “drunkenness” to talk nonsense.
“Are you pregnant? Congratulations!”
It’s because your husband’s pheromones are too strong! The witness swallowed, coughed dryly twice, and covered his mouth. “Sorry, please continue…”
But Fu Rangyi did not pick up where he left off and recite his lines again. He lowered his eyes and looked at the rings. A few seconds later, with a soft snap, the jewelry box closed.
He left the entrance and walked farther into the apartment, leaving the two of them staring at each other.
Being interrupted again and again like this, anyone would wilt.
Listening to the footsteps growing farther away, Zhu Zhixi felt complicated, wondering whether it would be better to call it off now.
If he had known Fu Rangyi would take it so seriously, he would not have teased him.
He took a deep breath and was just about to say to the delivery guy, “Thank you, you don’t need to keep recording, you can go back,” when Fu Rangyi returned.
He was also holding half a bottle of red wine—the bottle of Pinot Noir Zhu Zhixi had picked from the wine cabinet not long ago, the leftover from making mulled wine.
Clearly, Fu Rangyi had taken a few sips. The bite guard had been removed, and some wine still remained on his lips, making them look red and moist.
He placed the wine on the entryway cabinet, glanced at Zhu Zhixi’s eyes, then lowered his lashes. When he spoke, his voice was very calm.
“Around this time last year, I wasn’t here. I was at an archaeological site. At the time, I had already been there for five months, from summer to winter…”
The witness held up his phone, his face full of confusion.
Was this still a proposal? Or had they moved on to another part of the process? Don’t divorce in front of me, you two! If you fall out, please don’t complain about me, okay? Working a job isn’t easy.
He looked at the Beta who had just been acting drunk and crazy, only to find that this person was now surprisingly calm too.
“One night, there was a snowstorm. The snow snapped some tree branches, and I was woken up by the noise. It was three in the morning. I was very worried that the excavation site would be damaged, so I threw on a down jacket, took a searchlight, and went to the site alone. The ground had frozen over and was very slippery. I accidentally fell into a very deep drainage ditch… Fortunately, it was only a fracture in my left tibia. I had a fever for a few days and stayed in the hospital for a while. It wasn’t too serious.”
His tone was extremely flat, without much emotional fluctuation, as if he were telling someone else’s story.
“So last Christmas, I also spent it in a small local hospital. At the time, there was a middle-aged couple in the same ward. They loved each other very much. That Alpha’s wife came to visit him every day, wiped him down, fed him, and was a very kind Omega. On Christmas Eve, she even gave me a very pretty apple. I was very grateful.”
The witness listened on, still not understanding what this had to do with a proposal. But he did not dare make a sound.
“Every day, I watched the way they interacted, and it felt very unfamiliar. It was as if that kind of life had nothing to do with me at all. I resisted intimate relationships and hated being close to people. At the time, I lay alone in the hospital bed with my leg hung up in a cast, still working, and told myself that this was not the life I wanted to choose. If I had known that one year later, I would already be married and would need to drink red wine to ease my nervousness, perhaps I would not have been so certain back then.”
Back then, when he looked at the apple, it was only an apple. Now, looking across the axis of time at that pretty fruit again, he might think that it would be perfect for the candied apple Zhu Zhixi had never gotten to eat.
“To be honest, married life is very different from what I imagined. Suddenly, there was another person at home. My rhythm of life was disrupted, and the situation was not stable at all. There were even many times when things went out of control. It was terrible.”
As he spoke, he looked at Zhu Zhixi. That fellow sniffed, lowered his head again, and rubbed the tip of his nose.
“Later, I realized that all these feelings were actually because I was not used to it.” Fu Rangyi paused, then smiled slightly. “I was like… a child who had never been to an amusement park before. Afraid of heights, afraid of water, and very timid. But by accident, I received a limited-time ticket and walked inside, forcing myself to accept this colorful, fresh amusement park. After getting used to it, I also tasted some sweetness and felt happiness.”
Zhu Zhixi remained silent the entire time, and Fu Rangyi also continued speaking on his own.
“We… are different from other partners. From the beginning, we both knew that very clearly and had already made an agreement. However, now I want to add one more thing: no matter what the true emotional connection behind this relationship is like, no matter how long it lasts, I am grateful. Even if this relationship ends, you will still be my forever friend, my family, and the most special existence in my life.”
He wanted very much to add one more thing: he did not have many friends, currently only Li Qiao. So this actually carried a lot of weight. But after thinking about it, he felt there was no need.
He did not look at Zhu Zhixi’s reaction. With lowered eyes, he opened the ring box for the final time, took out the ruby wedding ring he had chosen for him, stared at its brilliant, dazzling fire, and took half a step forward.
“So, Zhu Zhixi, are you willing to accept this promise and become the person with the highest priority in my interpersonal relationships?”
Zhu Zhixi’s lips were tightly closed. He felt it was a little hard to breathe, and his eyelashes were trembling. His heart filled with an ache, as if something was about to swell and burst, flowing out from the corners of his eyes.
This was the strangest proposal speech he had ever heard in his life. He had been to so many places and met countless people, but none were like Fu Rangyi.
Was there anyone else who would take a drunkard’s request seriously? Was there anyone else who, while proposing, would not say sweet words, but instead fill every line with endings and separation?
Fu Rangyi. Meticulous at work. Picky in life. Yet at this moment, he clumsily hid the subtext: even if we started as a contractual marriage, an emotional connection still happened sincerely and naturally.
They could be the closest friends under a marriage contract, or family under the title of partners. No matter what kind of feeling it was, it was precious to him.
Zhu Zhixi suddenly wanted to laugh. Never mind this “witness,” who was completely outside the situation. In the whole world, perhaps only the two of them could understand this proposal.
But he did not laugh.
He was afraid that if he laughed, tears would fall first.
And he had not even figured out why those tears had come. His heart and his emotions were all a tangled mess.
He picked up the bottle of wine from the entryway cabinet and gulped the rest down himself.
Even so, even though Zhu Zhixi could not sort through his thoughts at all, he clearly knew one thing—he did not want to make Fu Rangyi wait.
After drinking it, he put the bottle down, clenched his slightly trembling hand, then stretched it out and raised his head to look at Fu Rangyi.
“I’m willing.”
Fu Rangyi visibly froze for a second.
“Hurry.”
Only then did he lower his head and put that ring onto Zhu Zhixi’s finger for the second time. This time, his movements were clearly slower and more careful.
This time, Zhu Zhixi did not wait for Fu Rangyi to bring it up himself either. He naturally picked up the other ring. Before putting it on, he held it in front of his eyes and examined it carefully. Suddenly, he sucked in a breath and shouted, “They engraved the numbers wrong!”
“What?”
The other two people present were both startled.
Zhu Zhixi giggled. “I lied.”
After saying that, he smiled at the witness too. “And you too.”
When he turned back like this, he was also startled. The witness’s face was covered in tears, glittering brightly.
“No, he’s proposing to me. Why are you crying?” Look how moved you are, sobbing like this. Zhu Zhixi could not understand. “Do you even understand what you heard?”
The witness wiped his tears with his work uniform and sniffed.
I was overwhelmed by your husband’s pheromones!
Zhu Zhixi turned back again, grabbed Fu Rangyi’s hand, and, just like during their first blind date, held it with both of his own. “Your hand is so cold. I’ll warm it for you.”
Fu Rangyi stared at the drunk him, and at the ring that looked very easy to lose, and softly reminded him, “Put it on me quickly.”
“Oh, okay.” Zhu Zhixi happily held the ring, aligned it several times, and finally put it on. Then he lifted Fu Rangyi’s hand and asked the witness, “Does my husband look good wearing this?”
The witness, tears and snot streaming down his face, nodded. “Good. He looks too good.”
Zhu Zhixi smiled again. “I think so too. So good-looking.”
In the next second, he collapsed into Fu Rangyi’s arms like a weak-legged shrimp. This time, he was not pretending. He was truly drunk.
“Ah, Mr. Zhu seems to have blacked out,” the witness said. “I was just about to tell you two to kiss.”
Kiss?
Impossible.
Fu Rangyi held him half in his arms and glanced at the hindsight-stricken witness, who was still crying. He felt the man was rather pitiful too, having followed along to witness this farce.
So he thanked him, helped Zhu Zhixi to the sofa, watched him lie down, then went back to the study, opened a box, took out several packets of wedding candy he had previously given to colleagues, handed them to the delivery man, sent him off, and then transferred him a huge red packet under the name of a tip.
When he returned home, he unexpectedly found that Zhu Zhixi had actually sat up again.
He was leaning quietly against the sofa cushion, his face flushed, his eyes still clear and bright, only unfocused, as if he were spacing out.
“Do you want to go back to your room to sleep?” Fu Rangyi walked over and half-crouched in front of him. “I’ll help you back.”
Zhu Zhixi lowered his eyes. His dazed gaze seemed to catch its target, and he smiled childishly.
In this instant, Fu Rangyi had a strange guess. Was this what Zhu Zhixi was really like when drunk? Very quiet, very obedient, not speaking.
He quietly looked back at him, until Zhu Zhixi stretched out his burning hand and pinched his cheek.
Fu Rangyi frowned and also held his wrist. “What are you doing?”
Zhu Zhixi smiled again.
The long vibration sounded again. It was still Zhu Zhixi’s phone, ringing nonstop. But he did not seem to want to look at it at all.
Fu Rangyi reminded him, “Your phone is ringing.”
Only then did Zhu Zhixi slowly open his mouth and speak. “Zhu Zeran. Annoying. Ignore him.”
“You find him annoying?” Fu Rangyi asked.
“Mm.”
“Who else annoys you?”
“…Old Zhu. Controls too much. Also annoying.”
“And?”
Zhu Zhixi kneaded his face, suddenly moved in front of him, and said in an extremely tiny voice, “And you.”
Their noses brushed. Fu Rangyi froze for a moment, feeling as if even his breathing was about to stop.
After a while, he also asked in an extremely tiny voice, “Why do I annoy you?”
Zhu Zhixi blinked very slowly, and the movement of his hands stopped. “You made my heart very messy.”
Heart. Very messy?
Zhu Zhixi took a long, light breath, then said, “You made me messy too, but I don’t blame you. You were sick. You didn’t want to either.”
Fu Rangyi’s face was being held by him, and he felt the warmth of Zhu Zhixi’s palms seem to transmit little by little to his own cheeks, growing hot, growing burning.
After hesitating for a moment, he still wanted to ask the same question again, even though he had just made that graceful declaration, claiming that any kind of emotional connection was fine.
Even though he told himself that Zhu Zhixi loved every person around him who had ever helped him. So of course, he would also burn his sincere love for anyone, lighting up a dark room and soothing bruises.
A little god of love. Born knowing how to love people.
It was just that Fu Rangyi had happened to be chosen, becoming the lucky audience member who could experience half a year of this partner game.
Even knowing this, he still could not help himself.
“If, I mean hypothetically, the sick person were someone else?”
Zhu Zhixi tilted his head slightly. “Someone else?”
“Yes. Not Fu Rangyi.”
Zhu Zhixi’s gaze shifted. He no longer looked at him, but looked upward instead. This made his eyes seem especially bright, large and round.
After a few seconds, he shook his head. “No.”
“No?” Fu Rangyi’s heart stirred.
“Other people can’t use a bite guard to rub all over me. They can’t kiss me, and they definitely can’t lick me or touch me down—”
Fu Rangyi covered his overly honest little mouth at exactly the right time.
“All right. I understand.”
After a moment of silence, he said to Zhu Zhixi, “Thank you.”
He held Zhu Zhixi’s wrist and lowered his hand. He noticed that Zhu Zhixi now had a ring on his hand, but the beaded bracelet he always wore was missing from his wrist.
Where had it gone?
Zhu Zhixi seemed to be sleepy now. He collapsed onto the sofa and did not want to get up.
Fu Rangyi turned his head and glanced at the clock. It was already past ten. No wonder his voice had grown quieter just now.
After thinking for a moment and hesitating briefly, he stood up, bent down, and lifted the little drunkard sideways into his arms.
He walked from the living room to the guest bedroom. He was about to step inside, but paused. He raised his elbow and knocked on the door.
Knock, knock—
He lowered his head and asked softly to the person in his arms, “May I come in?”
Who knew whether the drunkard heard clearly or not. He only hummed twice in Fu Rangyi’s arms and buried himself deeper against his chest.
“Then I’ll take that as you inviting me.”
After Fu Rangyi said this, he walked in, placed him on the bed, took off his shoes and socks, and covered him properly with the quilt.
Zhu Zhixi was still muttering something, but his words were not very clear. Fu Rangyi leaned closer and barely managed to make them out.
“Limited-time experience ticket. There are two. One for you, one for me.”
So he had heard it.
“Mm. And then?”
“And then…” Zhu Zhixi rambled, “Only mine is real. A limited-time ticket.”
Fu Rangyi did not quite understand. “Why?”
Zhu Zhixi clearly could not answer him logically. He only said softly, “I’m very scared.”
This did not sound like Zhu Zhixi at all.
“You also have things you’re afraid of?” Fu Rangyi tucked in the corner of his quilt for him.
Zhu Zhixi nodded. “I… am afraid of dying.”
Afraid of dying?
“Then why did you go skydiving, bungee jumping, and exploring in primitive forests and tribes before?” Fu Rangyi took advantage of his drunkenness and said it all.
There were too many of those videos. He had watched every single one, and he had almost memorized the opening line—because every opening was the same. Zhu Zhixi would smile brilliantly at the camera and shout, “Mom, look!” Such a little mama’s boy.
At this moment, Zhu Zhixi did not realize either that his world-travel videos had long since been watched clean through by someone. There was only one thing in his mind, so he merely mumbled to himself, “I’m afraid of dying. I promised Mom I’d live a little more for her, live a little longer, see more of this world for her. But this world is too big. There’s no way to see it all. Mom.”
Fu Rangyi suddenly froze, understanding something.
No wonder he had never seen Zhu Zhixi’s mother.
“So your mother…”
He could not finish, because he discovered that those two beautiful eyes in front of him, which always carried a mischievous spark, were suddenly filled with tears. Very quickly, crystal-clear tears streamed down.
When Zhu Zhixi cried, he bit his lip and held back his sobs. He was quieter than Fu Rangyi had imagined.
What would make you cry:
Crossed out.
I haven’t cried since I became an adult. No need to write this. You don’t need to fill it in either.
So that was how it was.
Fu Rangyi carefully dabbed away his tears for him, but he did not know how to comfort him. Just as he was feeling anxious, his hand was caught.
Zhu Zhixi looked at him with tearful eyes and stammered, “That countdown I told you about is real. I really am seriously ill. I wasn’t lying to you.”
Fu Rangyi nodded. “You also said that I can help you.”
“It’s true. That part is true too. Yesterday, after you kissed me, the countdown didn’t just stop, it… it even moved backward. Yesterday, after you and I did… that together, it moved backward by a whole day.”
“Fu Rangyi, from now on, can I…”
Fu Rangyi’s mood suddenly became very complicated, very chaotic. For one instant, it was as if he had escaped into a vacuum, where only the sound of wings beating remained. He had flown over. He had been struck by an arrow. Everything had a reason.
But before Zhu Zhixi could say it more explicitly, more carefully, he said in a low voice, “You can.”
Today was special. He quickly found a reason. It was “the day when he had to obey Zhu Zhixi’s orders.” It was compensation.
“If it can help you.”
Author’s Note:
Mini-Theater: Professor Fu Cleaning Up the Mess
After coaxing Little Zhu to sleep, Fu Rangyi got up, originally planning to leave the guest bedroom directly. Before going out, he turned around again, came back, walked to the tent, cleaned out all the clothes inside, and carried them to the washing machine to sort them.
Before stuffing them into the washing machine, he held the clothes, lowered his head, looked at them for a while, buried his face in them and smelled them for a while, then, expression unchanged, stuffed them inside and started the wash.
At this time, Little Professor Fu cleaned the dining table, tidied the kitchen, put the cookware and dishes into the dishwasher, then returned to the master bedroom to change the sheets and duvet cover. Finally, he entered the master bathroom.
He found ice-blue beads all over the floor. He half-knelt and picked them up one by one, also collecting the final memory fragments. All the memories from the previous day returned.
After freezing for one minute, he stood up, carried the beads to the study, took out a small ceramic bowl, and poured the little beads into it with a clatter. Then he opened a drawer and found a small velvet box in the very back. Inside was an identical bracelet, completely new.
Holding this one, he went to the guest bedroom, gently knocked on the door again, entered, came to the bedside, pulled out Little Zhu’s hand, and slipped it onto him.
Before leaving, he took Little Zhu’s left hand and gently pried open his fingers bit by bit, checking his empty palm.
Then he said, “Pause quickly.”
