Chapter 39: The Awkward Physical Exam
Fu Rangyi had not fallen asleep.
After briefly cleaning Zhu Zhixi up, he opened the guest bedroom closet, originally intending to help him change into his own clothes. But when he pulled open the drawer, he hesitated. In the end, he went back to his own room and took a set of pajamas from the bottom shelf of his wardrobe, a set he had bought two weeks ago.
Back at the Fu family home, Zhu Zhixi had worn his pajamas, said they were very comfortable, and asked him to give him a set. Fu Rangyi had bought them, but he had never found a suitable, ordinary chance to give them to him, especially face-to-face.
What was he supposed to say? Didn’t you ask for these back then?
Zhu Zhixi would definitely grin wickedly and say, “You care that much? You even remembered that?”
Just thinking about it was embarrassing.
A deeply asleep Zhu Zhixi was much easier to deal with.
When he bought them, there had been many colors and styles, and he had been very troubled because he did not know which one Zhu Zhixi would like. So he simply bought one of each. Now, he was troubled again. In the end, he brought them all to Zhu Zhixi’s room and compared them.
Unexpectedly, every single set looked good on him…
It was the first time Fu Rangyi discovered he actually had difficulty making choices. What a time-wasting flaw.
“You prefer lighter colors, right?” he asked softly. Of course, the sleeping person gave him no answer.
“Then beige.”
After buttoning the buttons one by one, Fu Rangyi sat beside his bed, tucked him in, and quietly looked at him for a while. He reached out, brushed aside his fringe, and finally lifted it, leaning down to gently kiss his smooth forehead.
Then, his thin eyelids.
“Compensation…”
He stood up and murmured to himself, “I’ll take these.”
Back in his own room, he took a shower and mechanically relieved himself in the bathroom. In truth, he was not that upright or noble either. His mind was still filled with Zhu Zhixi’s appearance from earlier: his restless, twisting waist; his wet rabbit tail; the ankle resting on his shoulder; his bitten lips; the tears that had fallen out of control under the pressure of pheromones…
That light, soft voice, rising and falling, was like a strip of delicate silk. In memory, it wound around Fu Rangyi’s neck, making his veins stand out, slowly suffocating him. When everything ended, that silky strip gradually withdrew as well, disappearing without a trace.
Everyone had desires. Fu Rangyi had spent a long time accepting that fact. It was like a base-level program written into everyone’s DNA from birth.
Zhu Zhixi, of course, had desires too. Before him, Fu Rangyi had been extremely resistant to these things and only knew how to avoid them. This was the first time he had faced them clearly and consciously. He discovered that Zhu Zhixi, immersed in them, was extraordinarily beautiful. Extraordinarily… captivating.
Having desire, wanting release—these were all normal. But why, after waking up, had Zhu Zhixi come to hug him?
He had clearly heard Zhu Zhixi say at the door that he was coming in, and he had felt him lift the corner of the blanket, lie down, press against his back, kiss the nape that he had bitten, embrace him, and say good night. Everything was like a light, transparent dream, gently falling over him and covering him.
Fu Rangyi kept his eyes open the entire time. Only after he heard Zhu Zhixi’s breathing gradually even out and felt the arm around him gradually lose strength did he carefully try to turn over. After two or three attempts, he finally turned completely and faced him.
The scent of his pheromones still lingered on Zhu Zhixi’s body, but it was already much fainter than when he had bathed him. By tomorrow morning, it would probably be even fainter. Thinking of this, Fu Rangyi could not help releasing a little more, keeping it within a range that would not make Zhu Zhixi feel suppressed.
At that moment, he was even somewhat thankful that Zhu Zhixi was a Beta and could not smell pheromones. Only then could he properly hide his possessiveness and overflowing emotions.
In the darkness, he stared at that pure face. His eyesight was poor, but his mind slowly filled in every unclear detail.
Such a small face. Fu Rangyi stretched out his hand and compared it from a distance. One hand could cover it. But he also had such big eyes, pupils like black agate. When they turned nimbly a few times, he was about to start causing trouble.
His lips were very soft, very nice to kiss. When he slept, they were slightly pursed.
His teeth could not be seen. Fu Rangyi thought for a moment, then reached out and gently pinched Zhu Zhixi’s nose.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, the sleeping troublemaker parted his lips to breathe, revealing his rabbit teeth, smooth and rounded.
Only then did Fu Rangyi release his hand in satisfaction.
Suddenly, Zhu Zhixi moved and mumbled something indistinctly, pulling his hand away. But in the next second, he rubbed against the sheets and squeezed toward Fu Rangyi.
This made Fu Rangyi feel unused to it. He had almost always slept alone, from childhood to adulthood. Even so, he instinctively opened his arms and let Zhu Zhixi burrow into his embrace.
That smiling face buried itself in his chest, accompanied by waves of warm breath. The side of his neck fit perfectly against Fu Rangyi’s arm. He could even feel the pulse of Zhu Zhixi’s artery.
So strange. Fu Rangyi was somewhat at a loss. Afraid of waking him, he could only gently lower his other arm and rest it on Zhu Zhixi’s waist.
He did not sleep well all night, and completely ignored his own overexcitement, attributing all his insomnia to Zhu Zhixi.
Sleeping Zhu Zhixi was just as restless as when he was awake. In one night, he changed sleeping positions seven or eight times, treating Fu Rangyi like a large body pillow and hugging him in all kinds of ways. But according to Fu Rangyi’s observations, Zhu Zhixi still liked the face-to-face, buried-against-the-chest style of hugging best.
When dawn was just beginning to break, he finally grew sleepy and fell asleep holding Zhu Zhixi’s warm body. In his haze, he vaguely dreamed of his teenage self finally having a little dog that belonged to him. For the first time, he held it in his arms and took a sweet, steady afternoon nap.
When Zhu Zhixi woke up, his eyes were not even open. His first reaction was to reach out, feeling left and right. On the large bed, he was the only one there.
“Mm?” He sat up and dazedly froze for a while, then realized this was indeed Fu Rangyi’s room.
Scared me. I thought he’d moved me back again.
Soon, he heard some sounds, seemingly coming from the living room. His suspended heart settled considerably.
He had thought Fu Rangyi had gone to work by himself.
Lifting the covers, Zhu Zhixi got out of bed. He had already been planning to go barefoot, but when he looked down, he froze.
His own slippers were neatly placed beside the bed.
He slipped into them and pushed the door open, just in time to see Fu Rangyi walking toward the master bedroom. He had already changed his clothes: a beige knit sweater paired with dark mocha suit pants, glasses on, looking about the same as he did when he usually taught classes.
The two met in the narrow hallway, and even their awkwardness was perfectly in sync.
Zhu Zhixi scratched his hair, wanting to turn around, then turned back again.
“I didn’t make breakfast today,” Fu Rangyi spoke first.
“Oh.” Zhu Zhixi nodded, lowering his eyes. “Are you going to be late for work…”
Fu Rangyi was quiet for a moment, then chuckled. “I knew you forgot.”
“Mm?” Zhu Zhixi looked up.
I didn’t forget. I remember everything clearly. Otherwise, why would it be this awkward? One look at you and my mind starts reversing like crazy.
But Fu Rangyi said, “You have a physical exam today. You need to go to the hospital on an empty stomach.”
Zhu Zhixi suddenly understood. “Ah… right, the physical exam.”
He really had forgotten it completely.
He quickly washed up and changed. He folded the pajamas he had taken off, looked at them for a while, and touched them. He did not return them to Fu Rangyi.
On the way from home to the hospital, both of them were very silent, and both tacitly avoided mentioning everything that had crossed the line last night.
Zhu Zhixi felt ashamed of his own debauchery from the previous night. He simply felt as if he had been possessed by something unclean. Even a fox spirit would not be as wanton as him.
Thinking of this, he could not help knocking his head against the car window.
“Headache?” Fu Rangyi looked over.
Zhu Zhixi hurriedly shook his head. “No.”
Fu Rangyi did not ask further either, looking straight ahead and focusing on driving.
Zhu Zhixi secretly glanced at his side profile.
He realized he truly did not have the talent to be a fox spirit. He had already used every trick he had with the help of alcohol, but Fu Rangyi had still stopped at the right point. Although he had kept compromising, kept trying to satisfy him, he had also kept refusing.
He refused the kiss, refused his invitation, repeatedly reminded him of the fact that this was a fake marriage, until Zhu Zhixi had lost his mind and brought up death. Only then had Fu Rangyi wavered.
To Fu Rangyi, his death was actually something very difficult to accept.
That, instead, made Zhu Zhixi afraid.
When they were almost at Hospital S, Fu Rangyi finally spoke again. “Li Qiao said it will take some time for the results to come out. You don’t need to feel too burdened. Just treat it as a routine annual checkup.”
“Mm, I know.” Zhu Zhixi nodded, watching him park the car. He also unfastened his seat belt and prepared to open the door.
“Wait.” Fu Rangyi suddenly called out to him.
Zhu Zhixi turned his head. Fu Rangyi leaned over and gently kissed the corner of his mouth.
“Daily task.” Fu Rangyi quickly sat back, pushed up his glasses, and lowered his head as he said, “Forgot when we left.”
In that instant, his tangled heart melted again.
He realized he had even forgotten to check the countdown, even though so much had happened last night.
[42 days, 3 hours, 39 minutes, 07 seconds]
Even after they arrived at the agreed floor, Zhu Zhixi was still staring at his palm.
Something’s wrong. Why does it feel like intimate contact doesn’t affect the countdown as much anymore? Last night, he…
…his hand was already inside. How did it only turn back by half a day?
Could there be tolerance to this too?
As he was thinking, he suddenly heard someone call Fu Rangyi’s name. He looked up at the sound.
The person approaching was Li Qiao.
He wore a white coat and strode toward them, pulling his right hand out of his pocket and waving.
“He’s out of prison?” Zhu Zhixi asked Fu Rangyi.
Fu Rangyi nodded. “Mm. You can tell from how smug he looks.”
Li Qiao walked over with a grin. He looked as though he had been about to say something, but when he got close, he paused, his nose twitching.
“Mm?”
He had only let out a single gossip-laden syllable when Fu Rangyi immediately interrupted him. “Shut up.”
“Tsk.” Li Qiao rolled his eyes at him, then looked at Zhu Zhixi and stretched out his hand. “Long time no see.”
Zhu Zhixi slapped his hand instead of shaking it. “Why do I feel like nothing good happens whenever I see you?”
“No wonder you two are a married couple. You both talk so harshly and both avoid doctors like the plague.”
“Enough.” Fu Rangyi lifted his chin. “Which test starts first?”
“Blood draw first.”
The heavy physical examination began. Zhu Zhixi became a little white mouse, sent onto an assembly line filled with the smell of disinfectant. One test after another, exhausting him thoroughly.
Meanwhile, Li Qiao pulled Fu Rangyi aside and raised his brows with a grin. “Fake marriage? Are you kidding me? I go to prison for a bit, and the world changes when I come back?”
“You’re thinking too much.” Fu Rangyi’s face was expressionless. “We didn’t do what you think we did.”
“You didn’t?” Li Qiao sneered. “Only a ghost would believe that. Last night your bracelet went crazy, fighting for its life sending me messages. I was watching a movie with Teacher Yang, and my phone vibrated for half an hour like some damn little toy!”
Fu Rangyi said, “Turning your phone off during a movie is basic theater etiquette.”
“You’re blaming me now?” Li Qiao was speechless. “Why don’t you just delete me? Anyway, you have a new emergency contact now.”
Fu Rangyi did not hesitate for even a second. “Fine.”
“You really have no conscience!”
“If I had no conscience, I wouldn’t have introduced you to an Omega.” Fu Rangyi frowned just thinking about it. “If I weren’t married, Teacher Yang would have thought I was the one asking her out.”
“You deserve it. Back in school, how many love letters did I collect for you? You owed me this.”
Fu Rangyi nodded perfunctorily several times. Li Qiao bumped him with his shoulder, and only then did he belatedly remember the panicked look on Li Qiao’s face last night when he had turned off his phone in the movie theater. Fu Rangyi lowered his head and laughed.
The moment Zhu Zhixi came out, he saw this scene and froze, thinking Fu Rangyi looked truly beautiful when he smiled.
But very quickly, the smile on Fu Rangyi’s face disappeared, and he walked toward him.
“This part’s done, right? Next…” Li Qiao flipped through the list. “Go to reproductive medicine.”
And so the three of them went to the reproductive medicine department together. As they passed through the corridor, a young doctor came out of one of the consulting rooms and brushed past them. For some reason, Zhu Zhixi felt he looked a little familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
The other person seemed to recognize him too. When Zhu Zhixi looked back, that person also turned back and looked at him.
“What’s wrong?” Fu Rangyi asked.
“Nothing.”
Li Qiao led them to Consulting Room 09. Inside sat an old professor in his fifties. Li Qiao greeted him warmly, “Director Wang, good morning!”
“Morning? It’s almost noon. I was just thinking about asking my student to order lunch for me.” Director Wang pushed up his reading glasses, and his gaze landed on Zhu Zhixi and Fu Rangyi, who had come in behind Li Qiao.
Li Qiao smiled and introduced them. “These are my friends, Little Zhu and Little Fu. I mentioned them to you before.”
Then he said to Zhu Zhixi and Fu Rangyi, “This is a big shot in reproductive medicine, the famous Professor Wang. Look at all these pennants.”
“With that mouth of yours.” Director Wang looked at the two of them, glanced over the form, and said, “You’re married, right? Have you had sex recently?”
The moment those words came out, the atmosphere in the consulting room changed abruptly. Zhu Zhixi and Fu Rangyi both stiffened at the same time. Neither of them spoke, while Li Qiao hid behind Director Wang, holding back laughter.
No one answered. Director Wang was a little puzzled. He lifted his head and asked again, “Have you had sex recently?”
Zhu Zhixi scratched his cheek and said in a very small voice, “No…”
“No?” The shock in Director Wang’s tone was extremely obvious.
Fu Rangyi said calmly, “Only peripheral sexual behavior. No substantive contact.”
How can he talk about something like this as if he’s giving a report… Zhu Zhixi became even more embarrassed.
After listening, Director Wang nodded, typed rapidly, then asked, “Then when was the last peripheral sexual behavior?”
Fu Rangyi: “…Last night.”
Zhu Zhixi lowered his head like a student admitting his mistake. Clearly, when they woke up this morning, both of them had been avoiding the topic and did not dare mention it. Now, great. Public execution.
Damn Li Qiao. Thinking of this, he gradually began to grit his teeth.
“Then why didn’t you continue?” Director Wang, full of a doctor’s benevolence, asked patiently, “Was there some kind of obstacle?”
Zhu Zhixi: “…”
Fu Rangyi paused for a few seconds and said in a low voice, “No. It was just…”
He hesitated for a few seconds before continuing, “There was nothing at home. Lubrication and protection weren’t fully prepared, so…”
Was that the reason? Zhu Zhixi shouted inwardly.
It was clearly because you didn’t want to. It was a matter of your subjective will.
Forget whether everything was prepared or not. Even if I’d been lying in a pool of lube last night, you still wouldn’t have done it.
“Mm, being cautious is a good thing. Very good.”
Drawing on his many years of professionalism as a doctor, Director Wang began rationalizing the matter himself. “One of you is an S-level Alpha, and the other is a Beta. In this respect, you’re actually not very compatible. You need to prepare very thoroughly before proceeding, otherwise it’s easy to get injured. Not to mention Betas—even an Omega came in not long ago, brought in by a top Alpha. Tsk, tsk. The person had fainted. That was intense. Ah, I think they made an appointment to come back for a follow-up today…”
The topic was drifting farther and farther away, and it was a little frightening. Fu Rangyi reminded him, “Director Wang, is there anything else you need to ask?”
“Oh, I went off topic. Since there hasn’t been substantive sexual activity yet, we’ll first do a color Doppler ultrasound and a B-scan.” He wrote the order and handed it to Zhu Zhixi.
Fu Rangyi was just about to accompany him when he was suddenly called back.
“Wait, Alpha, come back. You need to be examined too.”
“Me?” Fu Rangyi frowned in confusion and looked at Li Qiao.
Li Qiao, who had been halfway through enjoying the show, suddenly remembered. “Right, I forgot to say. I made an appointment for you too. Professor Wang is also a major expert in treating Alpha susceptible periods. Let him take a look at you.”
After saying that, he turned to Professor Wang. “His last susceptible period was induced by an Omega. It was quite serious. I tried several new medications on him, and I’m not sure if there are any aftereffects.”
“Mm, looking at the historical data, it was indeed quite serious. If it keeps developing like this, that won’t be good. There’s a risk of pathological change.” As Professor Wang spoke, he stood up. Seeing that Fu Rangyi was too tall, he pointed to the chair across the desk. “Sit.”
Fu Rangyi was somewhat at a loss about this sudden examination, and he was not particularly willing—especially unwilling to be treated in front of Zhu Zhixi. So after sitting down, he turned back and said to Zhu Zhixi, “You go do the color Doppler first.”
But Zhu Zhixi instead walked back. “No. I want to stay with you.”
Professor Wang smiled as he put on his gloves. “Oh my, your relationship is quite good. You haven’t been married long?”
Fu Rangyi nodded. “Mm.”
“An AB relationship isn’t easy. Physically, Betas have a hard time, and psychologically, many Alphas lack a sense of security…” As he spoke, Director Wang walked behind Fu Rangyi. “Because they can’t mark them, after all. Alphas—marking is instinct…”
Then he froze.
On the back of this young top Alpha’s neck was actually a very deep ring of bite marks, red and raw, with scabs forming in some places.
He looked at Li Qiao, then turned to look at Zhu Zhixi, and even tilted his head to look at Fu Rangyi, whose face had already darkened. “This…”
Zhu Zhixi awkwardly raised his hand. “I did it…”
Li Qiao finally failed to hold back and burst out laughing, then quickly crouched down.
Director Wang also gave a dry laugh. “Haha, young people nowadays really are different from our generation. Hiss… You play in quite a novel way. But about this, I still have to say: Betas can’t mark Alphas. You know that, right?”
Facing this earnest instruction, Zhu Zhixi nodded in embarrassment. “I know.”
“That’s good. Many Betas know nothing at all. You’re not bad; at least you listened during physiology class.”
Fu Rangyi suddenly laughed.
Director Wang felt the gland. “Fortunately, judging from the appearance, there shouldn’t be any pathological changes in the gland. It looks fine. For everything else, we’ll need pheromone and glandular fluid tests.”
After saying that, he sat down.
“Then…” Zhu Zhixi raised his hand again. “If I bite him, it won’t stimulate his gland, right?”
“Open your mouth and let me see.”
Zhu Zhixi obediently opened his mouth. “Ah—”
“With your little teeth, it won’t go that far. If you’re afraid of inflammation, apply some iodine after biting him to disinfect it.”
Li Qiao, hiding behind the desk, laughed even harder. “I have iodine over there. Plenty of it. Want me to send some to you two?”
Fu Rangyi could no longer tolerate it. “Shut up.”
Just as Zhu Zhixi was so embarrassed he wanted to dig his toes into the ground, his phone suddenly vibrated. He took it out and saw that it was actually Zhu Zeran.
“Sorry, I’m going out to take a call.” After saying this softly, he opened the door, walked out, and answered the call.
Before he could even speak, Zhu Zeran started firing at him like a machine gun, his tone irritable and explosive. “Zhu Zhixi, you’re really something. I haven’t seen you for a few days, and you’ve managed to fall straight into reproductive medicine? What are you doing there? Taking a stroll? I’m warning you, if you dare use that completely underdeveloped reproductive cavity of yours to have that brat’s child, just try me. Do you believe I’ll get Old Zhu to break your legs—”
“Wait, have what?” After listening to that string of words, Zhu Zhixi was completely stunned. “What nonsense are you talking about? Zhu Zeran, are you sick? Why do you keep coming up with random things? Are you projecting because you got some Omega pregnant out there or something?”
Just as he finished retorting, a figure appeared around the corner of the corridor. Zhu Zhixi looked up and was startled badly.
Wasn’t that the machine gun himself?
No, why was he dragging someone along? He looked like a human trafficker.
Not daring to think too much, Zhu Zhixi hurriedly opened the door, went back into the consulting room, and slammed the door shut. Inside, Fu Rangyi had just taken off his shirt. Everyone looked at one another.
“It’s nothing…” Zhu Zhixi laughed dryly twice, panting as he turned around. “Um, I ran into someone.”
Fu Rangyi was not embarrassed. After all, last night, not only had someone seen it, that someone had also used his chest to wash his face.
He asked, “What kind of person?”
Recalling Fu Rangyi’s previous “evaluation,” Zhu Zhixi laughed dryly twice. “A… very impolite person.”
Knock, knock, knock—
Someone knocked on the door.
Author’s Note:
——Zhu Zeran receives a WeChat message from his informant——
[Little Chen from S Hospital’s Reproductive Medicine Department: President Zhu, is this your younger brother? He came to reproductive medicine? I remember he just got married not long ago? Is there good news? Congratulations to you.]
Good news? Congratulations???
After reading it, Zhu Zeran’s head hurt badly. He muttered, “Little brat. If Mom hadn’t risked half her life to give birth to you, I wouldn’t bother caring about you…”
The person he had dragged along beside him did not forget to watch the drama. “Zhu Zeran, are you acting as his brother or his father? You’re meddling too much…”
“Shut your mouth.”
