Chapter 37: Greedy Demands
Faced with a drunk who would not stop until he got what he wanted, Fu Rangyi was utterly helpless. He could only turn his face slightly and kiss Zhu Zhixi on the cheek.
“Is that enough?”
Zhu Zhixi scratched his cheek. He was not very satisfied. He even looked a little puzzled, as if the taste had disappeared before he could even savor it. But he really had no strength left to keep standing on tiptoe. His heels landed back on the ground, and he leaned against Fu Rangyi again.
“Where did you park the car?” While he had finally quieted down, Fu Rangyi lowered his head and asked, “Do you remember?”
Perhaps because it tickled, Zhu Zhixi shrank a little, his head pressed against Fu Rangyi’s chest as he rubbed back and forth. After a long while, his brain finally understood the question, and he raised a hand to point.
“Over there…”
That was far too casual. Fu Rangyi did not quite believe him, but he still supported him and walked in the direction he had pointed. Yet after only a few steps, Zhu Zhixi suddenly broke free and staggered toward the roadside.
“Hey, where are you going?” Fu Rangyi quickly followed.
“I… I want to ride a bicycle,” Zhu Zhixi muttered. “Ride a bike, go home.”
“Where is there a bicycle?” Fu Rangyi was completely confused. There was not even a shared bike on the roadside.
“Here!” Zhu Zhixi pointed at the white bicycle symbol painted on the ground and shouted.
That was clearly the sign for a non-motorized lane.
“Ride…” Zhu Zhixi’s legs went weak, and he really was about to lie down on the ground. Fu Rangyi hurriedly grabbed him, lifted him up, and pulled him into his arms.
“Zhu Zhixi, this isn’t a bicycle.”
“It is.”
“All right, it is…” Fu Rangyi had no choice but to change his wording. “But this bicycle is too short. Your legs are long. It’ll be uncomfortable to ride.”
“Short?” The drunk seemed somewhat convinced and raised his head in a daze.
His round eyes turned, and inspiration suddenly struck. He lifted his drunken face and wrapped his arms around Fu Rangyi’s waist too.
“Then I’ll ride you. You’re tall.”
Fine. Fu Rangyi did not hesitate for long before jumping into the pit he had dug for himself. He crouched down and carried Zhu Zhixi on his back.
“Hold on tighter.” He adjusted the person behind him.
How could he be this thin?
“Zhu Zhixi, can you eat properly in the future?”
Being called by name, Zhu Zhixi rested his heavy head on Fu Rangyi’s shoulder, his chin propped there, and answered messily, “It’s delicious. Your cooking is delicious.”
Fu Rangyi was a little helpless. “I’m telling you to eat on time.”
Zhu Zhixi even sounded wronged. “When you call me, I come out to eat.”
“What if I don’t call you? What if I’m not there?” Fu Rangyi asked. “Then you just won’t eat?”
“How could you not be there…” He gave a muddled little hum. “Are you going to dig dirt?”
Fu Rangyi wanted to laugh, but somehow could not. He had finally corrected this person’s routine and made him eat three proper meals a day. But now it seemed that with Zhu Zhixi’s self-discipline, it would probably be very hard to keep it up.
You’re thinking too far ahead, Fu Rangyi told himself.
“Are you really going? When?” Zhu Zhixi was still pursuing the question.
“I’m not going. This time doesn’t involve me.” Fu Rangyi did not want to continue the topic, so he asked again, “Is this the right direction? Are you sure you didn’t remember wrong?”
“Mm…” Zhu Zhixi raised his head slightly. “Turn right, then go straight… then turn left…”
Following his directions, Fu Rangyi carried the drunk on his back for ten minutes and still did not find his car.
Strictly following a drunk person’s instructions was already stupid enough.
Tiny snowflakes drifted down from the night sky. Zhu Zhixi lifted his hand and used his palm like a little umbrella to shield Fu Rangyi from the snow.
Fu Rangyi glanced up and saw his hand, so he temporarily stopped walking. “Aren’t you tired? Put your hand down.”
“No…”
“Hold onto me. It’ll be more stable.” Fu Rangyi coaxed him, then started walking again, looking around for Zhu Zhixi’s car. “Otherwise I keep feeling like you’re about to fall.”
“Oh.” Only then did Zhu Zhixi obediently lower his hand and wrap his arms around Fu Rangyi’s neck, burying his face in Fu Rangyi’s shoulder. Who knew what he was sniffing? He kept rubbing around, his cool nose drilling straight toward the side of Fu Rangyi’s neck.
Fu Rangyi felt a little uncomfortable from it and dodged. “Stop moving. Be good.”
This time, Zhu Zhixi really stopped moving, as if he had been frozen in place. Only after a long while did he speak in a muffled voice. “You think I’m annoying.”
“If I thought you were annoying, shouldn’t I throw you by the roadside?”
“You’re going to throw me by the roadside?” Zhu Zhixi sounded even more aggrieved.
Fu Rangyi realized that when communicating with a drunk, one absolutely could not use rhetorical questions. So he revised his usual sentence structure, and his tone softened considerably. “Of course not. I’m taking you home now.”
He returned to the previous question. After thinking about it, he added, “You’re not annoying at all. You’re very likable. Everyone likes teasing you. As soon as you speak, everyone becomes happy. You’re the only person like that I’ve ever met.”
Zhu Zhixi rubbed against the side of his neck again. When he spoke this time, his tone was even stickier.
“You’ve become so strange lately.”
Fu Rangyi was slightly stunned. For some reason, unease rose inside him. For no reason at all, he thought of what Zhu Zhixi had said in the car before they went to eat at the Fu family home.
[That’s why I actually think being with you feels very relaxed.]
Zhu Zhixi was not as simple and clueless as he appeared on the surface. He was very good at hiding himself. He seemed warm and friendly, but in reality, he became tired because of other people’s affection. Once he sensed it, he could no longer interact with them lightly.
“Changed?” As soon as Fu Rangyi became cautious, he started asking questions back again.
Zhu Zhixi nodded a few times against his shoulder, then suddenly used his cool nose to nudge at the collar of Fu Rangyi’s knit sweater, rubbing against the skin of his neck. It was very ticklish.
“The way you talk isn’t mean anymore. I’m not used to it. It feels like… sugar sprinkled on a razor blade. I don’t even dare lick it, because I’m afraid it’ll cut my tongue.”
What kind of description was that?
A few days ago, Zhu Zhixi had still been lecturing him, accusing him of speaking harshly and always being unhappy. Fu Rangyi had remembered all of it and was seriously trying to improve.
Why was he not used to it now that he had changed?
“What’s there to be afraid of licking?” Fu Rangyi’s voice was very low.
As soon as he finished speaking, the back of his neck was suddenly licked. Right on the gland.
In that instant, Fu Rangyi’s whole body went numb, and every pore trembled. A biological Alpha instinct was provoked. Every muscle in his body tensed. He almost loosened his grip by reflex.
Only when Zhu Zhixi nearly lost his balance and hugged his neck tightly, letting out a vague questioning sound from his nose, did Fu Rangyi quickly steady his breathing. He adjusted Zhu Zhixi properly on his back again, turned his head to avoid his lips, and questioned hoarsely, “What are you doing?”
“You told me to lick it!”
“…”
“Don’t lick randomly. The gland… is very sensitive.”
Clearly, trying to reason with a drunk was even more foolish than strictly following a drunk person’s instructions. It even had the opposite effect.
In the next second, he learned his lesson. A burst of pain came from the back of his neck. Rather than pain, the soreness and numbness brought by stimulation of the gland was even stronger.
He never would have dreamed that one day, the gland of an alleged S-level Alpha like him would be bitten, and by a little Beta at that.
“Zhu Zhixi, are you crazy?”
The little lunatic was still laughing, especially proud, shouting loudly, “I marked you!”
“What kind of mark is that…” It was about the same as being bitten by a mosquito.
Zhu Zhixi drunkenly lay back on his shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and used what he thought was a fierce tone. “Last time, you bit me. I finally got revenge.”
Then came another stretch of humming and whining.
“Mm, a tiny top Alpha can be tied up whenever I say so, marked whenever I say so, right?”
“Does it hurt?” Zhu Zhixi blew on him, but he found the wrong spot and kept blowing right into his ear.
Fu Rangyi was utterly helpless. It tickled and felt awful, and he could not dodge. “It doesn’t hurt. Settle down for a while.”
“It definitely hurts. I almost hurt to death…”
This time, he finally found the right place. And so, the back of Fu Rangyi’s neck was licked again. A soft, wet tongue, warm and slick, slid over the broken skin at the back of his neck, going back and forth across his gland like a little animal licking a wound—right there on a busy street.
That sour, swelling numbness attacked again. Fu Rangyi furrowed his brows, a thin layer of sweat appearing at his temple. His expression remained fairly composed, but his fingertips had already betrayed him. They trembled slightly, and he instinctively tightened his grip around Zhu Zhixi’s thighs.
What was the difference between this and doing it in public? Fu Rangyi’s breathing quickened. He could no longer keep walking.
Forget it. He’s a Beta. He has no common sense. He got zero marks in biology class. I can’t argue with him.
Even not arguing was no longer possible.
Fu Rangyi directly tipped him down. The drunken rabbit let out an “aiyo” and nearly fell flat on his backside, but he did not. Fu Rangyi caught him first and directly carried him in a princess hold.
The passersby all stared.
Let them stare. It was still better than getting hard in public.
The drunk kept burrowing into his arms, mumbling stickily, “Sweet… I’m the first…”
Fu Rangyi let out a long breath, steadied himself, and tried hard to ignore the bursts of electric stimulation coming from the back of his neck, focusing instead on finding the car. Hard work paid off. After wandering around in circles, he finally found Zhu Zhixi’s white LS500.
After getting into the car, Zhu Zhixi was just as restless. His eyes were already unfocused, yet he insisted on helping Fu Rangyi fasten his seatbelt. He fumbled for ages, his hands touching and rubbing around Fu Rangyi’s waist, making it impossible for Fu Rangyi to bear. He had no choice but to press those not-so-innocent paws together, catch them with one hand, and buckle the seatbelt himself with a click.
“Thank you. It’s fastened.”
“Hehe.” Zhu Zhixi laughed foolishly and tried to pounce over to hug him again, but his hand accidentally slapped the dangling heart pendant. This time, he became obedient.
Not only did he obediently sit back in the passenger seat, he even lifted his hand and slurred at the little heart, “Hi, Mom.”
Fu Rangyi had originally been somewhat restless, but in that instant, his heart softened.
Who knew that in the next second, Zhu Zhixi would begin “introducing” him. “This is your daughter-in-law!”
Fu Rangyi: “…”
“Quick, say, good evening, Mom.”
“…Good evening, Mom.”
What kind of warm yet absurd scene was this?
After finally getting home, Fu Rangyi felt even more exhausted than if he had spent ten days straight digging in the field. Both his body and mind were drained. He helped Zhu Zhixi onto the sofa, changed his coat, washed his hands, poured a large glass of honey water, brought it over, and fed it to him.
“You really shouldn’t have drunk today.” Fu Rangyi watched him sip the water in small mouthfuls and scolded him. “You have a physical exam tomorrow. Drinking like this will make a lot of the results inaccurate.”
He could only make him drink more water to speed up metabolism.
“If they’re inaccurate… then forget it.” Zhu Zhixi did not want to drink anymore and fell back onto the sofa, eyes empty. “If they find something, I’ll be sad again.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Fu Rangyi put the water down, then helped Zhu Zhixi sit up and took off the coat on him.
But Zhu Zhixi would not let him. “Mine!”
“…The heater is on. You’ll get hot soon.” Fu Rangyi coaxed him patiently. Only then did Zhu Zhixi let go and lean against his shoulder.
A faint crackle of static sounded, as if it flowed along the fibers and onto Fu Rangyi’s skin. Zhu Zhixi rubbed against the side of his neck again. This time, it was not only the tip of his nose, but also his lips.
Fu Rangyi could not understand what Zhu Zhixi intended to do. Or was he simply like this when he got drunk?
What about when he got drunk in front of other people? When Fu Rangyi was not there?
Fu Rangyi dodged, gripped his chin, and moved him away.
His gaze turned somewhat cold as he lowered his eyes and stared at Zhu Zhixi’s flushed face. “Aren’t you a Beta? Why are you suddenly in heat too?”
Zhu Zhixi tilted his face up and let Fu Rangyi hold his chin. He said nothing. Even his rapid breathing slowed. After a while, as if the signal had finally connected, he suddenly smiled.
Those bright, translucent eyes now seemed veiled in mist. He stared straight at Fu Rangyi, yet his pointed chin pressed downward. His damp lips rubbed against the web of Fu Rangyi’s thumb, parted slightly, and took that thin layer of skin into his mouth.
The mole on the web of his thumb was gradually swallowed. Fu Rangyi had a strange association. It felt as though his heart was being swallowed mouthful by mouthful.
Teeth sank in and bit down, neither lightly nor heavily.
A hole opened in his heart. A secret pleasure, mixed with aching soreness, surged out with a crash. He should stop this now. He knew that clearly. Yet his throat was dry and raw, unable to utter a single word. It was like falling back into an old vice. Fu Rangyi half-resisted, half-yielded, and in the end chose indulgence.
Fully conscious, he stared at the drunk, watching as that tongue slipped out and circled the mole on his hand. Whether because Zhu Zhixi was inexperienced or because he was dizzy from drinking, he missed the spot several times.
“Where exactly are you licking?” Fu Rangyi asked coldly.
Zhu Zhixi smiled again, still tilting his face up as he stuck out his tongue.
At that instant, a strange thought suddenly rose in Fu Rangyi. He stretched out his left hand and pinched that small exposed tip of tongue.
But it was too soft and too slippery, like a little fish impossible to catch. He was far too stubborn about it, and by the time he reacted, his fingers were already stirring inside Zhu Zhixi’s wet, soft mouth.
“Mm…” The foreign sensation made Zhu Zhixi furrow his brows slightly, his eyes dazed.
What am I doing?
Fu Rangyi came back to his senses and withdrew his drenched fingers. But Zhu Zhixi seemed to have become addicted, as if he had tasted something and wanted more. He actually chased after them.
Only, he found the wrong finger. His lips closed around the tip of Fu Rangyi’s ring finger.
He curled his tongue, swallowing and sucking downward, all the way to the base of the finger. His clean teeth knocked against the cold metallic ring, making a tiny sound.
The tip of his tongue swept over the gemstone, bit the metal, and inch by inch, removed Fu Rangyi’s wedding ring.
For some reason, Fu Rangyi felt unsafe, as if he had lost the most stable connection in this marriage. He looked at the little drunk holding the ring in his mouth, dazed for a moment, then reached out to him.
“Give it back,” he ordered.
Zhu Zhixi blinked. After reacting for a while, having played enough, he stretched his head over and obediently spat the ring into Fu Rangyi’s palm.
Before Fu Rangyi could close his hand and grip it, that fluffy head lowered a little more. Zhu Zhixi stuck out the tip of his tongue and licked the soft spot in Fu Rangyi’s palm where the ring had left a circle.
His restraint was on the verge of collapse.
He pinched Zhu Zhixi’s cheek. “Why are you so bad?”
The bad thing clearly did not think so. He broke free from Fu Rangyi’s hand and pounced over to wrap his arms around his neck. “I’m not bad. I’m a Beta. What’s there to be afraid of? I don’t have pheromones. I can’t induce your… rut…”
Do you really think you can’t?
Inducement without pheromones was even worse.
Now there was not even an excuse.
Fu Rangyi reached around Zhu Zhixi’s back to steady him, then, somewhat irritated, unfastened the suppressor bracelet that kept flashing and tossed it onto the sofa.
“Hurry and kiss me. Kissing me is very safe…”
“Mm. Safe.” Fu Rangyi repeated the word in a low voice, letting Zhu Zhixi rub against him. Like an impartial prosecutor, he questioned him unhurriedly. “So right now, are you simply acting recklessly because you’re drunk, or do you want to extend your life?”
“Mm?”
He thought Zhu Zhixi would say, “I don’t know,” lightly, carelessly, and vaguely. Just like when Fu Rangyi had once asked, “You think we won’t fall in love with each other?”
But in reality, Zhu Zhixi had surpassed even his past self. After humming for a long while, he simply did not want to give him even a single word. In the end, he rubbed up from the side of Fu Rangyi’s face and pressed his lips against his of his own accord.
Fu Rangyi dodged and gripped the back of his neck. “Answer me.”
Zhu Zhixi seemed tickled by his grip. He only laughed and did not speak, his eyes misted with water.
This person had always been cunning. But Fu Rangyi thought, what essential difference was there between the two options he had given? Whether it was to extend his life or drunken recklessness, neither was the answer he wanted.
Ha. He did not even dare include the answer he wanted among the choices.
“What is our relationship now?” Fu Rangyi despaired of himself, so he changed the question.
“We’re married.” Zhu Zhixi smiled even more happily, like a child. “Fake.” His tone rose slightly, the tip of his tongue carrying a little playful lilt, as if this were something very amusing.
Fu Rangyi’s voice grew even lower.
“Can people in a fake marriage do these things?”
No.
He answered himself in his heart, restraining the very last shred of his boundaries.
Zhu Zhixi was starting to lose patience. The arms around Fu Rangyi’s neck tightened, like a rope strangling his organs.
“We violated the contract, right? I know. But… I can compensate you. How much do you want?”
Fu Rangyi looked at him calmly, his gaze somewhat lost and helpless. These were the rules of the game he had made. What fault did Zhu Zhixi have? Now he was merely suffering the consequences of his own actions.
The person in his arms seemed to have burned into a flame. Every patch of skin that touched him scalded painfully, yet Fu Rangyi was unwilling to let go. The more it hurt, the less willing he was.
There were countless butterflies in the world, but not every one of them was born in a beautiful rainforest.
No. He was not a butterfly at all. He was only a moth that lost its mind at the sight of light and fire.
He laughed, dazed and heavy. “What I want is too much. You can’t give it.”
He had indeed made adult matters complicated. Mutual desire was mutual desire. In any case, Zhu Zhixi would forget everything by the next day, and he could also pretend nothing had happened.
But Fu Rangyi simply did not want to. He was ill, but at least right now, the illness had not broken out.
After saying this, he freed himself from Zhu Zhixi’s soft arms and stood up, intending to leave and come back to take care of him after he calmed down. But his hand was pulled back.
Zhu Zhixi lowered his eyes, as if he were about to cry. Like a spoiled child, after trying every trick he had, all he had left was unreasonable tantrums.
“Fu Rangyi, you can refuse to kiss me, but you can’t wipe someone else’s face. You can’t give your clothes to someone else. You can’t call someone else…” He was very confused. Halfway through speaking, he suddenly stopped and frowned. “Forget it. You can. Of course you can. But only after I die.”
He suddenly raised his hand and stammered through the countdown on it. “There isn’t much time left. Forty-one days, thirteen hours, twenty-four minutes…”
“Shut up.” Fu Rangyi shoved him down onto the sofa and kissed him hard, like a wild beast. The kiss was deep and painful. He gripped Zhu Zhixi’s chin and bit his lips. He desperately hoped Zhu Zhixi would struggle. As long as he struggled even once, Fu Rangyi would stop immediately.
But Zhu Zhixi did not. Instead, he hooked his arms around Fu Rangyi’s nape in satisfaction, wanting to press himself closer, so forcefully that he almost lifted his upper body. He kissed back, licked, panted in dizzy desire, and still did not forget to speak.
“There’s a smell of smoke… You smoked? Why didn’t I know you smoked?”
“So many things… I don’t know…”
Fu Rangyi did not want to answer any of these questions. He only kissed him silently, forcefully. Teeth knocked together, tongues tangled, deeper and hotter. And so this kiss gradually strayed from pain and rawness, stirring out honeyed water, pleasure becoming impossible to conceal.
He clearly tasted a faint sweetness of blood. This had to hurt, right? Yet Zhu Zhixi said in a trembling voice, “Fu Rangyi, you’re so good at kissing. It feels so good…”
The punctuation between each word was a pleased moan, a gasp, the wet sounds of kissing. Broken. Sticky.
Soft hands kneaded the gland at the back of his neck.
A lawless Beta, wild and unrestrained. Even without pheromones, he insisted on inducing him. Even if he had to act shameless and roll around, he would still seduce him. Even if he bit someone, he would insist it was a mark.
But Fu Rangyi was helpless. His head was heavy and dazed. He had been tempted into lighting the cigarette he had quit for three years, and he had been lured into losing his self-control. Depravity. Falling into diseased desire. He finally admitted that he truly wanted the touch of these hands, wanted a tight embrace, and most of all, wanted to be…
“Are you also afraid I’ll die?”
Desire was interrupted. The knife stabbed in again.
He wanted so badly to know how this person could say that word aloud. So easily, again and again.
Fu Rangyi’s eyes stung. He bit Zhu Zhixi’s tongue, making him whimper in pain, his fingers clutching hard at the back of Fu Rangyi’s neck, almost digging into his skin.
He was very impolite. “If you want to kiss, then kiss. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you. But you’re not allowed to say die. Do you understand?”
Those hazy drunken eyes reddened, looking at him somewhat aggrieved. In the end, Zhu Zhixi nodded.
Fu Rangyi lowered his head and was about to kiss him again when Zhu Zhixi suddenly spoke.
“Don’t be so fierce.”
Fu Rangyi took a deep breath. And again, his heart softened. A new round of self-reflection. An even deeper fall.
He said in a low voice, “Sorry,” then, according to the request, adjusted his mode. He lightly touched Zhu Zhixi’s slightly swollen lower lip and asked, “Like this?”
But Zhu Zhixi shook his head again.
“Use your tongue…” His waist had softened so much it seemed about to melt into water, yet he still raised his legs and wrapped them around Fu Rangyi’s waist. “Like… during your rut.”
