Chapter 4: The Iceberg Savior
“One: Although both parties shall have a marriage relationship in the legal sense, there shall be no actual marital relationship. In private, both parties must maintain distance and must not engage in any form of sexual harassment or violation.”
“Two: During the six-month period of cooperation, both parties must cooperate with each other and maintain a good spousal relationship in front of anyone other than the other party. Neither party may disclose the contents of this contract to any third party in any form…”
Reading up to this point, Liang Yien raised an eyebrow at Zhu Zhixi and reminded him, “Hey, you’ve already breached the contract.”
Zhu Zhixi was perfectly justified. “What’s there to be afraid of? He doesn’t know. Unless you run off and snitch. Then I really won’t have anyone left on my maiden-family side!”
Liang Yien smiled and flipped through the contract, only to find that the signature column at the very bottom was still blank. “You haven’t signed yet?”
“Mm. He said I should look it over first and see if there’s anything I want added. We’ll sign after confirming everything.”
Three days had already passed. If they did not sign soon, he was genuinely afraid this whole thing would fall through.
The moment Zhu Zhixi saw the countdown, he sighed. He had tried wrapping it with bandages or tape, but this thing could not be covered at all.
He also had no way to stop himself from looking. It was like someone addicted to staying up late playing on their phone, always unable to resist glancing at the time in the upper-right corner—4:30? Then I’ll play a little longer.
He did not have that much time left to play.
After observing it over the past few days, Zhu Zhixi had summarized a few rules about the countdown:
- Most of the time, the countdown proceeded at a constant speed.
- If he and Fu Rangyi appeared in the same space, the passage of time would slow down. The closer the distance, the slower it became.
- When physical contact occurred, the countdown would pause. The longer the physical contact lasted, the longer the pause would last.
- At present, no second person had the same effect.
Zhu Zhixi lowered his head and sent another text message to that number he had not even saved with a name, saying that he had already thought it over.
“Marriage isn’t a small matter. He’s an Alpha, and the only S-rank in his family at that. In terms of physical quality, you can’t beat him at all. Aren’t you even a little scared?” As a friend of many years, Liang Yien knew his temper too well. Once something caught his interest, he would do anything on a whim, never considering the consequences at all. He had a completely childish temper.
“What’s there to be scared of? I’m a Beta. It’s not like he’d ignore a whole bunch of Omegas and come looking for me, right?”
After saying that, he looked at Liang Yien. “Aren’t you an Alpha too? Who would know better than you? Even during a rut, Betas are useless. Comforting him still requires an O with pheromones. What could he want from me?”
As an adult Beta with rich life experience, Zhu Zhixi was not worried at all. “Besides, when I was wandering all over the world, what remote places haven’t I stayed in? What kind of people haven’t I met? Would I be afraid of him?”
“What if he’s just not a good person?”
Liang Yien still found it strange. Top Alphas were rare to begin with. Even if they had no romantic experience, their families would start searching for suitable spouses for them based on pheromone compatibility from the age of twenty. Yet Fu Rangyi had been single all these years, and now he was suddenly going on blind dates and getting married, and in such a hurry too.
There was obviously something wrong here.
“Isn’t he a professor at your school?” Zhu Zhixi simply would not listen. “Weren’t you the one who said the students all like him?”
Liang Yien sneered. “With a face like his, could the students not like him? If they don’t like him, are they supposed to like those old professors with beer bellies and receding hairlines?”
“So I’m not losing out either.” Zhu Zhixi started acting. “At least no one will point at my spine and say, heavens, how could you be so blind as to find such an ugly husband? Don’t you black out every morning when you wake up?”
As he spoke, he took a carrot stick that Liang Yien had cut while making dog food and chewed on it as he continued, “If I take him out, I won’t need some long-winded explanation for why I married him. That face is the most convincing reason.”
“That’s true.” Liang Yien could not deny this point either. “You don’t know this, but when he was doing his PhD, he attended a top conference and just happened to hit his rut. He wore a bite guard during his report. I remember his hair was a little longer than it is now, and he wore a black coat and rimless glasses. After it ended, photos were everywhere. The S University forum almost praised him into a celestial being…”
Zhu Zhixi drifted off a little.
Whether he was celestial or not, he was still his miracle elixir, his life-prolonging medicine.
“But speaking of which, the two of you really do look quite compatible. I heard his family background is good too, and both his parents are in business. At first, I thought this was a marriage alliance.”
No wonder Old Zhu had been pushing so hard. So he was not looking for a live-in son-in-law after all.
“What alliance? I don’t plan on working for my family. He’s already a professor, so there’s an eighty percent chance he doesn’t intend to inherit the family business either.”
“That doesn’t stop resources from being exchanged. These days, marriage is no different from doing business. You’re so carefree now, but don’t act until the fake show becomes real.”
Zhu Zhixi really did not want to listen anymore and wanted to change the subject.
“Ah, I suddenly thought of that little white dog I picked up outside the police station again. Hey, didn’t you say you picked one up too? Where’s the dog you picked up? Let me see?”
Unexpectedly, Liang Yien did not answer this question.
“You’re changing the subject now because you think it’s actually possible you’ll fall for him?”
Zhu Zhixi immediately declared, “Don’t worry, absolutely impossible. His personality is exactly the type I dislike the most.”
“What personality? I heard he’s very responsible toward his students, polite, and doesn’t put on airs. He never orders people around just because he’s a teacher.”
The moment personality came up, Zhu Zhixi laughed out of anger.
“Polite? When I sat at the wrong table on the blind date, he didn’t remind me, and on top of that, he made sarcastic remarks. Also, I discovered that this person has extremely heavy gender stereotypes. He immediately assumed I was an O. Forget all of that. Most importantly, he looks super boring at first glance. It’s not like you don’t know—I hate boring people the most.”
Listening to his machine-gun-like complaints, Liang Yien’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper, utterly unable to understand.
A celibate who had never even dated was suddenly entering a flash marriage on impulse, and a fake marriage at that. The marriage partner was even the type he would never choose as a friend. What on earth was he thinking?
Both of these two had ghosts in their hearts.
“So why do you want to marry him?”
Hearing this question, Fu Rangyi suddenly fell silent.
Not long ago, he had still appeared very casual and indifferent, as if this contract concerning a major life event like marriage were nothing but a few sheets of scrap paper, less important than the bar menu in front of him.
“Hey, I’m asking you.” Li Qiao turned his wrist, the pale golden martini swaying in his glass.
He smiled and stared at Fu Rangyi, repeating all of Fu Rangyi’s earlier evaluations one by one. “Didn’t you say he looked unreliable at first glance, careless, strange in personality, frivolous in behavior, and even questionable in mental state?”
Fu Rangyi was momentarily at a loss for words and did not know how to answer.
Was he supposed to say that it was because he had seen Zhu Zhixi’s attitude toward that server and had lost focus for a second? Or because of the bracelet he was wearing?
Someone who adopted wild animals could not be that bad, right?
These reasons were all somewhat laughable.
Unable to wait for an answer, Li Qiao suddenly asked again, “Don’t tell me it’s because he’s good-looking?”
Fu Rangyi lazily lifted his eyes and glanced at him, but said nothing.
Li Qiao laughed. “Did I hit the mark? What does he look like? Let me see.”
Like a snowman.
“It has nothing to do with his looks. I told you, it’s because he’s a Beta.” Fu Rangyi set down his glass, and the suppression bracelet on his wrist made a crisp sound against the stone bar counter.
This was also the truth. The moment he saw that face, he had instinctively taken the other person for an Omega and rejected him without even thinking. He did not want to have any entanglement with any O.
A Beta was very good. They would not be affected by pheromones, would not create unnecessary trouble, and would be easy to cut ties with.
“Ha.” Li Qiao laughed. “Fu Rangyi, there are far too many Betas in the world. This correlation is too weak, isn’t it? Is this how you find reasons? Then I’ll have to question your academic standards.”
“Think whatever you want.” Fu Rangyi was too lazy to reply. Continuing would only trap him in his own words. Very stupid.
Li Qiao was an understanding person and did not keep talking about it. Instead, he let out a long sigh and teased, “Ah, a new Omega at our research institute was asking about you a few days ago. I was so certain when I turned them down, saying that you were devoted to archaeology and had no interest in love, so they should give up. And the result? Back then, we agreed to be golden bachelors together, but in the blink of an eye, you abandoned me and ran off to get married. Not loyal at all.”
“You know why I’m getting married, don’t you?” As Fu Rangyi spoke, he frowned again, and the irritation on his face could not be hidden.
Of course Li Qiao knew.
With Fu Rangyi’s current situation, continuing to stay single was indeed very troublesome.
He also did not want his friend to keep feeling upset, so he smiled and said, “All right, then. I hope the identity of a married man really can save you from suffering.” At the end, he quietly added, “I just hope it doesn’t pour oil on the fire…”
“Li Qiao.”
“Just kidding.” Li Qiao grinned cheekily, picked up his glass, and clinked it against Fu Rangyi’s, deliberately disgusting him. “Then let’s celebrate our Teacher Fu’s happy newlywed life? As your buddy, I’ll definitely throw you a grand bachelor party. How about tonight? Look…”
“No. I have something to do today.” Fu Rangyi glanced at his wristwatch and gestured to the bartender.
“What is it? So important?”
After paying the bill, Fu Rangyi picked up his coat and prepared to leave.
“Signing a contract, registering, getting the marriage certificate. Important enough?”
He pushed open the heavy door of the bar. The clinking of glasses and the holiday-flavored melody dissolved into the cold wind, and the world once again turned into a folded Christmas card—gray and white all over, with no irritating surprises, something one only wanted to toss into a drawer immediately.
Until his car window was knocked on with a dong, dong, dong. The window rolled down, and a bright smiling face appeared in his field of vision. Only then did Fu Rangyi feel that this greeting card, which ought to have been discarded, had once again been forcibly opened by someone.
So this person did not naturally have curly hair.
This time, he had not dressed himself up in all sorts of colors. He wore a short white down jacket and white trousers, with a fluffy white cold-weather hat on his head. The few colors on his body were the red-and-green plaid cashmere scarf around his neck and the red mole beneath his eye.
His eyelashes were damp from the cold wind, and his pupils were as bright as last time—so bright they were almost excessive.
Was he wearing the same colored contacts as during the blind date?
Zhu Zhixi pulled open the car door and climbed in with a gust of cold air. He turned his head, suddenly grabbed Fu Rangyi’s arm, and tugged at him.
“Did you wait long?” he asked with a smile, not forgetting to sneak a glance at the countdown.
Sure enough, it had stopped!
It worked so well. Iceberg Bro really was his savior.
“Only nearly seventeen minutes.” Fu Rangyi found the sudden physical contact inexplicable. He pulled his arm free and instinctively touched the suppression bracelet on his wrist, wanting to raise the threshold, but very quickly froze again.
This person was a Beta. He had no pheromones. Neither of them would have any effect on the other.
“I didn’t get it wrong this time, right? I spent ages looking by the license plate number,” Zhu Zhixi said with a smile.
Fu Rangyi gave a low hum. “Congratulations. You’ve made a certain degree of progress in numerical recognition.”
Zhu Zhixi laughed dryly. “Actually, last time really was an accident.”
Who knew this person would add, “I understand. It’s because my license plate doesn’t contain a 6 or a 9, so there were no interfering factors.”
Zhu Zhixi: “…”
What a sharp tongue.
Who exactly said he had a good personality? Their filter was way too strong.
In his heart, Zhu Zhixi pinched his own philtrum and clenched his left palm.
Forget it, forget it. Staying alive came first.
He took out the contract. “I think there aren’t any problems, so I’ve already signed it. It’s just…”
“Just what?” Fu Rangyi took it and glanced over the signature. The handwriting was nicer than he had imagined.
When he had looked at the ID card last time, he had already remembered this person’s name. Zhixi. “Those who understand me are few.” A name that made it obvious at first hearing that he had been born into his parents’ love.
Another spoiled young master.
“Regarding the sexual harassment part, about the specific scope, I have a tiny little…”
It was normal to be guarded against an Alpha. Fu Rangyi spoke directly. “Don’t worry. I won’t touch even one of your fingers.”
“We don’t even need to live together. We only need to appear at the same time occasionally, show our faces, and let other people know I’m married.”
“No, I’m not worried about you doing anything to me.” Zhu Zhixi squeezed out a smile. “What I mean is, occasionally, there still has to be a little physical contact, right?”
Fu Rangyi raised his eyes and stared at him. “Why?”
Because I need to extend my life, bro. If you don’t even touch one finger of mine, how am I supposed to live?
“Because…” Zhu Zhixi’s brain spun rapidly, and then he smiled at him piously. “Because we can’t give ourselves away. Didn’t you say so? We have to make it look real, make it seem like we have a good relationship, and not let people expose us. But what decent married couple refuses to even brush against each other after marriage? Wouldn’t that obviously look suspicious, Professor?”
After hearing this speech, Fu Rangyi also fell into thought.
He paused, then said, “Then in front of outsiders, some necessary contact is allowed.”
A moment later, he added, “Except hugging.”
“Why?”
“No reason. I just don’t like it. I hate it.”
Fine. Zhu Zhixi did not say anything more. After all, hugging was not necessary.
First, he had to get the marriage registered. When the time came, he could think of ways to lean against him, bump into him, casually stage little accidents. It was not impossible. Bumping heads counted as physical contact too, right?
He would try bumping next time.
With the countdown weighing on his mind, Zhu Zhixi could not spare any attention. After signing the contract, he did not even glance at it and directly stuffed it into his bag.
“Happy cooperation.” With no life-extending motive this time, he reached out toward Fu Rangyi. “I hope these two months go smoothly.”
I hope I can live until the day we divorce.
Fu Rangyi looked at him, and in the end, still reached out to shake his hand.
“Happy cooperation.”
On the way to register their marriage, Zhu Zhixi had no real sense that he was about to step into another phase of life. Perhaps it was because the person about to become his spouse was a genuine stranger, but more than that, he thought it was because he had never had any mental preparation for, or expectation of, marriage.
His life was like a little bird without restraints. He could fly anywhere he wanted to go, stop on any branch, and leave at any time.
By sheer coincidence, he was a Beta. This was a talent given by heaven, granting him the capital of freedom from birth. He was not controlled by pheromones, would not experience cyclical heats, and did not need to bond with someone else in order to break free from the control of animal instincts. He lived freely and easily.
On a deeper level, because of his mother’s early death, Zhu Zhixi had received an education on death too early, and had seen too early how painful his father’s life was after losing his mother.
In his eyes, marriage and death were almost bound together. Both were boring, and both were certain.
What he had not expected was that just as he flapped his wings and smugly believed he would never linger long for anyone or anything, a giant net called “death” had dropped down from the sky.
Marriage had instead become the means by which he tried to break free from that net.
This was fate, perhaps.
“Sir, sir?”
Hearing the voice, Zhu Zhixi withdrew from his thoughts and looked at the smiling staff member at the counter. He also smiled. “Mm, what is it?”
“Your fiancé went to handle some household registration-related procedures. There’s a registration form here that needs to be filled in. Just write both parties’ names, phone numbers, and addresses.”
“Sure.” Zhu Zhixi did not think much of it and immediately filled in his own information. But when it was the other side’s turn, he froze right at the name column.
Oh no. Which three characters made up my future husband’s name again?
He had only heard him introduce himself, but he could not match the exact characters. He had been too excited earlier and had forgotten to look at his signature… He also had not read the information Big Zhu had sent, nor had he secretly glanced at the ID card.
Seeing his troubled expression, the staff member asked, “Is there a problem? If you accidentally wrote something wrong, we can switch it for a blank form.”
“Ah? It’s not that I wrote anything wrong…”
“Then is there anything I can help you with?”
Can you help me confirm my husband’s name?
Zhu Zhixi was terribly embarrassed.
Should he… open his bag and secretly peek at the last page of the contract?
But before he could put that plan into action, a pale, well-defined hand suddenly appeared in his field of vision and naturally took the pen from his hand.
At this extremely close distance, the person signed his name on the other half of the form.
Fu. Rang. Yi.
Zhu Zhixi silently recited these three characters in his heart.
So it was those characters.
After filling it in, Fu Rangyi handed the pen back to the staff member. The corners of his mouth carried a faint smile, and his tone was gentle and polite.
“Thank you for the pen.”
Compared to how he acted when facing Zhu Zhixi alone, he was simply a different person.
“You’re welcome.” The staff member smiled too. “I was wondering. I thought something had gone wrong somewhere.”
“No. He’s just like this. He always forgets how to write characters the moment he picks up a pen.”
After saying that, he turned his face to look at Zhu Zhixi, raised his brow slightly, and asked with a smile, “Isn’t that right?”
Author’s Note:
See? The married-man feeling is here, isn’t it?
Everything these two say early on will come back to slap them in the face later. This is the first time I’m writing a young couple getting slapped in the face together. I’m dying of laughter.
