Chapter 30: The First Date
Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi fell silent.
Zhu Zeran thought he had finally come to his senses, so he put on the air of an elder brother again and said earnestly, “Of course, it may be because he was young at the time, and adolescence coincided with his differentiation period. That was the stage when his pheromones were most unstable. He couldn’t control his pheromones, went into a riot, and that was why he hurt someone…”
“This matter might not necessarily have been his fault,” Zhu Zhixi cut in.
Zhu Zeran was dumbfounded. “Zhu Zhixi, just how badly have you been bewitched by that face of his? Do you still have a brain?”
“It’s precisely because I have a brain that I’m saying this.” Zhu Zhixi was quite calm. “You said you found out about him injuring a teacher. Then did you find out what condition he was in at the time? Was he hurt? Or did he suffer some psychological trauma? What caused the incident? Was it because of pheromones? Or was it simply a dispute?”
Now it was Zhu Zeran’s turn to be speechless.
Zhu Zhixi asked again, “Since you found out about his illness, it should’ve been through the hospital’s internal system, right? I remember you have connections at a lot of hospitals. Since you found out, then you must have found the earliest treatment record for this malignant syndrome of his. When was it?”
Zhu Zeran thought for a moment, picked up the file, and opened it while thinking inwardly, How did I get manipulated by this little brat again?
After reading it, he said, “Right after the incident in high school.”
Zhu Zhixi sharply noticed something. “Then do you know that teacher’s gender?”
Zhu Zeran: “Omega.”
As expected. Zhu Zhixi shrugged. “Isn’t that simple? Something pheromone-related must have happened between him and that teacher, causing him to develop extreme symptoms. In the end, he was sent to the hospital and diagnosed with this illness. The chain of logic is complete, and the motive is reasonable too.”
“That’s all just your guess.” Zhu Zeran took a deep breath. “You have no guard up against people or things, and your saintly compassion overflows so much that you want to help everyone you see. Don’t end up playing yourself into trouble.”
“I’m not stupid. I already said my marriage with him is mutual help.” After Zhu Zhixi finished speaking, he took the initiative to walk up to Zhu Zeran, opened his arms, and hugged him. “I know you’re worried about me. Thank you, Big Zhu.”
Zhu Zeran’s face fell. “I’ve said countless times, don’t call me Big Zhu… Everyone around you follows your lead and calls me that.”
“Hehe.” Zhu Zhixi let go. “It’s cute. You can call me Little Zhu too.”
“Call your head. You rubbed fur all over me.” Zhu Zeran patted himself again and again in disgust. “Anyway, I’ve done all I can. Don’t come crying to me later if you get bullied.”
“Got it. You don’t need to worry so much either. Putting a location tracker on my phone is annoying enough. Before, when I was running all over the world, I didn’t argue with you about it. I’m back now, so hurry up and turn it off.”
“I’m busy to death every day. You think I care where you’re fooling around?” Zhu Zeran nearly rolled his eyes. “I haven’t opened that app in eight hundred years.”
“Fine, fine. Busy man, stop worrying about your little brother.” Zhu Zhixi soothed him. “I’ll keep what you said in mind. I’ll also find a chance to ask him.”
“Fu Rangyi will tell you?”
Zhu Zhixi’s expression turned slightly ugly. After a pause, he said, “He’ll tell me sooner or later.”
Although he had said that so fiercely in front of his brother, Zhu Zhixi actually did not have much confidence. He knew better than anyone how tightly sealed Fu Rangyi’s mouth was. He had learned about the malignant syndrome before Zhu Zeran, but not because Fu Rangyi had told him in advance. It was because he had broken the rules and gone home, happened to run into it, and happened to meet Li Qiao, who knew about it.
Thinking about it this way, maybe Li Qiao knew.
But the moment this thought appeared, Zhu Zhixi gave up the idea of asking Li Qiao. He had a feeling that Fu Rangyi did not mention this matter perhaps because it had caused him psychological harm.
Although they had not known each other for long, he understood Fu Rangyi far better than Zhu Zeran did, even better than Fu Rangyi’s own family. This was a person who would rather cut his own arm to stay conscious than casually find an Omega to get through his susceptible period. He had silently endured harassment for so long, and his only counterattack had been to get married and escape being single.
What kind of person could have pushed him to the point of hitting someone?
Zhu Zhixi sighed and finally decided not to take the initiative to tear open Fu Rangyi’s scar.
By the time he got home, it was already ten-thirty. He had thought Fu Rangyi would already be asleep, but who knew that when he opened the door, the living room lights were still on. Fu Rangyi was still working, and he was working at the dining table.
After changing his shoes, Zhu Zhixi walked over and sat across from him. He took a tiny sip of red wine from Fu Rangyi’s glass, then spoke in an extremely small voice. “Why are you still working overtime?”
“Aren’t you working overtime too?” Fu Rangyi did not look at him, staring at the 3D model on the screen as he asked softly in return.
I wasn’t exactly working overtime.
Fu Rangyi’s nose moved slightly. “Weren’t you with eucalyptus leaves?”
“Who’s eucalyptus leaves?” Zhu Zhixi’s brain short-circuited for a moment before he finally reacted. “Ah, you mean Director Zhou. We weren’t together after the afternoon. Right now, the scent on me should be… vetiver plus ambergris, I guess.”
Fu Rangyi’s brows furrowed even tighter. He opened his mouth, then said nothing. After a moment of silence, he still raised his eyes to look at him. “Whose pheromones are those?”
Zhu Zhixi laughed, moved a little closer, and said in an extremely tiny voice, “Guess?”
Fu Rangyi quietly stared at him for several seconds, then picked up his laptop and prepared to leave. “I’m not interested.”
Zhu Zhixi immediately grabbed his wrist, even forgetting to keep his volume down. “Hey, hey, don’t go. It’s my brother. He’s also a top Alpha, so the scent probably lasts a little longer.”
Speaking of this…
Zhu Zhixi suddenly remembered that machine-gun-like tirade Zhu Zeran had launched earlier. There seemed to be one important point he had almost ignored.
Then what’s with the pheromones on you? He put them on you to warn other Alphas, didn’t he?
Would Fu Rangyi release pheromones on me? Why does he never say so?
Does he think I’m a Beta, so I wouldn’t know even if he did?
Then every day, I’ve been wandering around covered in his pheromones? Wouldn’t other people think I’m having wild nights at home every day? Is this the legendary slandering of a widow’s reputation?
And the one spreading rumors about this widow is the Pretty Widower in my own house.
After Fu Rangyi heard this, he only gave an “oh,” as if the person who had just cared about the pheromones was not him. He lowered his head and raised the wrist Zhu Zhixi was holding. “Do you have anything else to say to me? If not, wash up and rest early. Aren’t you going to the cultural festival tomorrow?”
I do have something I want to say to you, but I’m afraid that once I say it, you won’t go watch the play with me tomorrow.
Zhu Zhixi thought for a moment, then raised his head and smiled at him. “Yes. This morning, I didn’t get up, so today’s life-extension task didn’t get done. Can I extend it now?”
After saying this, he held Fu Rangyi’s hand and forcibly interlocked their fingers, even swinging his arm.
Fu Rangyi did not refuse, nor did he speak. He only silently stared at their joined hands.
First, they actually had checked in. Zhu Zhixi simply did not know.
Second… holding hands at night seemed different from holding hands in the morning, especially when Zhu Zhixi held his hand while smiling brightly and saying “good night” in a breathy voice.
“Good night.” After he let go, Fu Rangyi also replied softly.
He did not sleep well all night. This rarely happened. As soon as he closed his eyes, he thought about how Zhu Zhixi would be coming to the university the next day, how they would walk around the campus cultural festival together, and how they would watch the drama club’s performance together.
But he, an insider who had studied at S University for many years and now taught at S University, had never once participated in the New Year Cultural Festival, even though he knew this event was extremely lively and was the day students looked forward to most every year.
Since he was an insider, should he not shoulder the heavy responsibility of being a guide? At the very least, should he not make some plans? It was impossible to rely on Zhu Zhixi for these things. He had no choice.
So, for the first time ever, Fu Rangyi stayed up late, searching the campus forum, finding the dedicated event thread, collecting all sorts of information, and finally writing a guide in his notes app. He filtered out club booths, food stalls, and game activities that Zhu Zhixi might be interested in. It even included a little-known route for collecting commemorative stamps on postcards.
Finally, Fu Rangyi checked the next day’s weather. The temperature would be very low, and it might even snow at night.
He knew very well Zhu Zhixi’s bad habit of loving beauty more than life. Telling him would be useless. In order to prevent him from catching a cold, infecting Fu Rangyi, and affecting his work, Fu Rangyi specially wore a very large, thick scarf before going out in the morning, so that he could use it at any time to wrap Zhu Zhixi up.
This caused him to sweat from the heat the moment he entered the office.
Fortunately, he only had two classes all day, both concentrated in the morning. Just after class ended, Fu Rangyi received Zhu Zhixi’s message.
Bad Bunny: I’m downstairs at the teaching building where you have class!
Bad Bunny: If people see us together, will you feel embarrassed? If you will, I’ll hide.
Pretty Widower: Where can you hide? Just wait obediently by the flowerbed downstairs. I’ll be down soon.
After class, a large crowd of students left the teaching building in a mighty stream. Fu Rangyi was also submerged in this crowd, but he spotted Zhu Zhixi waiting outside almost at a glance.
Winter scenery was a uniform, muddled gray. The sky was gray-white, the ground was dark gray, and wedged between them was a lifeless gray-brown withered grove. The wind was unreasonably strong, blowing everyone into a wrinkled, dusty mess.
But Zhu Zhixi was always full of life.
He wore a blue-purple utility jacket, beige trousers, and a beige hoodie underneath. The hood was pulled over his head, and he also wore silver-gray headphones, a white fleece scarf, a slouchy black backpack, and blue sneakers. He seemed to have waited for quite a while, boredly nodding along to the rhythm of the music, both hands in his pockets. One foot rested on the edge of the flowerbed, while the other stretched out and stepped on a purple skateboard from who knew where, sliding back and forth in place.
He looked very much like a university student, and also like an iris that had run out of the flowerbed.
Fu Rangyi walked over. But Zhu Zhixi seemed very immersed in the music and did not notice him approaching.
Not until Fu Rangyi reached out and tugged lightly at his headphones. “You’re wearing this much today?”
Zhu Zhixi froze and suddenly turned his head. “You’re here?” But because he was too excited, the moment he finished speaking, his center of gravity shifted. He lost his balance and nearly stepped on the skateboard and slid away.
“Hey, hey—”
He flailed his limbs in a mess, but failed to save himself. Instead, he tumbled chaotically into Fu Rangyi’s arms, right in front of a crowd of students who had just finished class.
Zhu Zhixi looked very apologetic about this, with a guilty expression as though he was afraid of being scolded. But Fu Rangyi did not think anything of it. Instead, he directly lifted him down from the flowerbed and let his uncooperative feet land firmly on the ground.
Then Zhu Zhixi’s expression visibly became even stranger.
Fu Rangyi found this very amusing. Pointing at the skateboard rolling farther and farther away as if trying to give itself freedom, he asked, “Where did that come from?”
With red ears, Zhu Zhixi ran to chase the skateboard back, then came back panting. “I just bought it at the skateboarding club’s booth. Isn’t it nice?” He flipped the skateboard over. “Look, the back even has your school’s map printed on it. I found this building by relying on this map!”
So you actually went around by yourself.
“Mm. Then you’re very impressive,” Fu Rangyi said lightly.
“Why do I feel like you’re being sarcastic?” Zhu Zhixi chased after him and asked.
“You only visited the skateboarding club’s booth?” Fu Rangyi asked.
Zhu Zhixi stretched his index finger in front of him and shook it left and right. Then, like revealing a playing card, he pulled out a postcard, which already had six colorful commemorative stamps on it.
“Ta-da! While Great Professor Fu was still working hard to teach and educate, I had already walked around a big circle. Oh right, I forgot to say, this is this year’s S University Cultural Festival postcard. You can collect seven stamps on it, but I saw that it was almost time, so I came here first. Someone like you, who is devoted to academia, definitely wouldn’t know about such improper activities, so I won’t waste your time.”
After Zhu Zhixi rambled all of this in one breath, he turned his head to one side and realized Fu Rangyi was not beside him. When he turned back, he saw that Fu Rangyi had not followed at all and had a gloomy expression.
He blinked in confusion. “What now?”
Did I say something wrong?
Zhu Zhixi thought for a moment, then said, “Don’t worry. I’ll go get the final stamp myself in a bit too. I already asked clearly where it is. A very warmhearted Omega beauty told me earlier.”
After Fu Rangyi heard this, his expression seemed to worsen.
“Since you’re afraid of troubling me, then go watch the play by yourself.”
Zhu Zhixi immediately ran back. “How can that be? I still have to introduce you to my good friend.”
“Why?” Fu Rangyi said. “I’m not interested in your overly extensive social activities either.”
“What other reason could there be? You’re my husband.” Zhu Zhixi smiled, picked up the skateboard, and handed it to him. Then he spun in place and turned his back to Fu Rangyi. “Help me put this in my bag.”
Fu Rangyi caught sight of the back of his neck. Today, Zhu Zhixi had not put on a bandage. The bite mark had already become very faint. But seeing it made Fu Rangyi feel much more at ease.
Between biting him and losing his temper, Fu Rangyi chose to help him put away the skateboard and forced him to say, “Say thank you.”
“Thank you.” Zhu Zhixi turned around and very naturally wrapped his arms around Fu Rangyi’s arm. “Thank you, husband.”
The drama club’s performance venue was S University’s small theater. Compared to the street dance club and music club, there were far fewer audience members here. It was even colder than expected.
The two of them arrived half an hour early. Just as they reached the ticket checkpoint, Zhu Zhixi suddenly received a call from Liang Yi’en.
“Emergency. Urgent as fire burning my eyebrows,” Liang Yi’en said on the phone. “Hurry to backstage and help me with something.”
So after getting his ticket checked, Zhu Zhixi handed the difficult task of choosing seats to Fu Rangyi alone, then ran backstage without another word.
Inexplicable.
Fu Rangyi held Zhu Zhixi’s backpack, which even had a big skateboard sticking out of it. He looked somewhat disgusted, but still freed one arm to carry the backpack and walked toward the corresponding theater. Seeing the roll-up poster outside the venue, with the play title written on it—The Angel’s Love—for some reason, he had a faint bad premonition.
Just looking at the title, it felt rather terrible.
But after all, this was the first play he and Zhu Zhixi were watching together.
Fu Rangyi took out his phone and, very awkwardly, took a photo. Beside him, a Beta-Omega couple arrived, holding their ticket stubs beside their faces and taking a selfie with the poster.
So Fu Rangyi silently deleted the photo he had just taken, took out the two ticket stubs belonging to him and Zhu Zhixi, raised them up in front of the poster, and snapped a new photo.
In a certain sense, this should also count as…
“Professor Fu?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Fu Rangyi’s expression changed. His head immediately ached terribly.
He had completely forgotten that Yu Heng was also coming to watch this play.
But he still turned around, maintaining a certain distance, and said nothing.
Yu Heng had very clearly misunderstood. There was even a hint of excited joy on his face as he asked directly, “You—you still came? You didn’t reply to my email, so I thought you weren’t coming.”
If this had been before, Fu Rangyi would definitely have said nothing, turned around, and left directly. He would not have watched this play anymore either.
But now, he did not want to do that.
“I came with someone else.”
Yu Heng’s brows drew together. “Someone else? But…”
“My partner.” Fu Rangyi went straight to the point, wanting to cut off his fantasies directly. “His friend gave us two tickets, so we came. You can consider it a date.”
Sure enough, upon hearing the word date, Yu Heng’s expression became extremely dark.
Fu Rangyi did not want to get entangled with him too much. After saying this, he intended to go inside and find seats. But just as he took a step, he heard Yu Heng speak without any regard for propriety.
“Do you two really have feelings for each other? He and you have only known each other for a short time, right? You two are clearly together because of a family marriage arrangement.”
Fu Rangyi was quite surprised. He had not expected this person to be so shameless. There were so many people coming and going here.
“You’re a top Alpha. How could you choose a Beta? He can’t soothe you during your susceptible period, and—and you won’t have children.”
“Daddy—”
Hearing a child’s voice, both of them froze.
Especially Fu Rangyi. When he turned his head, he was even more startled.
It was actually Zhu Zhixi who had returned, and he was even holding the hand of a child Fu Rangyi did not know at all. That beautiful child, who looked like his brain did not work very well, was pointing straight at Fu Rangyi and still wanted to call out a second time, but Zhu Zhixi covered his mouth with a dry laugh.
“How did you…” Fu Rangyi’s eyes widened.
Zhu Zhixi quickly walked up, very naturally and smoothly took Fu Rangyi’s hand, and leaned beside his ear to mutter in an extremely small voice, “Aiya, it’s a long story, stop asking for now. I’ll explain everything carefully later. This child isn’t mine and isn’t yours either. In short, let’s go in and find a seat first.”
After saying this, he even turned his head and smiled at the shocked Yu Heng. “Hello, hello. Sorry to interrupt your reunion. I’ll take these two inside first. You should come in soon too, or there won’t be any good seats left.”
Yu Heng looked utterly shocked.
The moment he mentioned children, a child appeared? He must have been possessed. He had to go get his fortune told.
Update Posting Schedule: Starting next chapter, posting schedule change from posting every day to 3 chapters every Wednesday~
Author’s Note:
Xiao’En: I thought the fire was only burning my own eyebrows. I didn’t expect everyone’s eyebrows to be on fire.
