Chapter 7: 7

The two left the police station. Huo Tinglan had been in a hurry when he left home. He didn’t send a second car, so he went around to the front and sat in the passenger seat, pretending to be a gentleman.

Twenty minutes later, the car drove back to the Huo residence and Ye Ci got out of the car, trying to hide his unnatural gait. He entered the door and sat on a stool to change shoes, but as soon as he took off his sneakers, Huo Tinglan stopped him.

“What’s wrong with your feet?” Huo Tinglan stood by the door and pointed at his feet with a frown.

Ye Ci pulled up the loose trouser legs of the school uniform and looked down.

He felt pain in his right ankle. In the previous melee, he had kicked the steel pipe with one foot, and at that time, the pain made his head buzz. He’d checked it himself at the police station, and didn’t take it seriously when he saw that it was just a bruise. He didn’t expect it to be swollen like a steamed bun now. It looked really scary.

“. . . . It’s fine.” Ye Ci took a perfunctory attitude and put down his trouser legs, about to go.

In his opinion, it was okay as long as it wasn’t broken. It was enough to apply ice. Children who grew up in the slums were not so delicate.

“Hold still.” Huo Tinglan squatted directly in front of him on one knee and said solemnly, “Let me see.”

The tone of the command was so powerful that Ye Ci was startled and forgot to refuse.

Huo Tinglan held Ye Ci’s bruised ankle with his left hand and pulled up his trouser leg with his right. There was no actual touch, but across that thin distance, the vigorous heat of the Alpha’s palm still baked his ankle that was extra sensitive from the swelling.

Ye Ci clenched the strap of his school bag tightly and stiffly stretched out his foot.

It was an Omega’s foot, with a slender arch. It was long and thin, tightly wrapped in pure white cotton socks. 

The cotton was half-worn but rinsed white. When it was lifted from the sneakers, there was no smell at all. The shape of his toes showed through the tip of his sock, slightly raised due to tension . . . . they were very cute.

“The swelling is so bad, a fracture can’t be ruled out.” In fact, the inspection process only took two or three seconds, or even shorter. To avoid suspicion, Huo Tinglan looked away with restraint. “I’ll take you to the hospital for an x-ray.”

“It’s not fractured . . . . I, I know these things.” Ye Ci noticed the subtle change in the atmosphere, and his right ankle that was held in the palm of that hand suddenly became numb. The shame and embarrassment was intolerable. He suddenly retracted his foot, pulled on his slippers, and was about to leave.

“Don’t step on the ground yet.” Huo Tinglan subconsciously grasped it.

He had already held this ankle a thousand times, not only holding it, but kissing and sucking on his shoulders. No matter his thoughts, today was not yesterday. Ye Ci was still estranged from him, and every second, he warned himself to pretend to be a gentleman. He wanted to avoid arousing suspicion, but it was also inevitable that there would be moments of forgetfulness and loss of perspective.

The sweatpants were made of smooth fabric and covered a nimble, gazelle-like calf.

Because of his thinness, it was slightly skinnier than before.

Since Ye Ci’s accident in the last life, until now . . . .

How long had it been since they had physical contact?

The one he longed for, his lost and found lover, was so youthful and lovely. Huo Tinglan’s heart throbbed with heat, and one of the tense strings in his brain broke. Not only did he not release his hold immediately, but he almost dragged that ankle in for a kiss.

At the same time, the pheromones of the A+ grade Alpha easily penetrated the fabric. Ye Ci was scalded as if by red-hot tongs, and the tension inside him that had been strung tight day and night since he moved into the Huo residence snapped with a ding.

Before Huo Tinglan could do anything inappropriate, Ye Ci had already pulled back his feet and shouted fiercely and embarrassedly, “Don’t touch me!”

Immediately, he limped back to the bedroom with red ears and slammed the door.

There was a loud bang.

“. . . . . .” Kneeling on one knee, Huo Tinglan came to his senses after a while, apologetic, and a riot of mixed emotions rose up.

Fortunately, he hadn’t had time to do anything yet.

However, even though he didn’t have time to do anything, he was still regarded as a scoundrel.

All of his previous efforts had been lost, ah . . . .

Huo Tinglan rubbed his forehead.

In any case, Ye Ci’s foot injury couldn’t be left alone. Huo Tinglan turned his head. Uncle He was already standing a discreet distance away, busily pretending to work, as if he hadn’t noticed the predicament of the child and Huo Tinglan “attempting to take liberties.”

Huo Tinglan inwardly laughed, and ordered him to call his personal doctor to see Ye Ci. He went back to the study by himself, reluctantly calmed down, and dealt with the work that had been interrupted earlier.

Huo Tinglan was very efficient when he was immersed in work, and the remaining contracts were finished quickly. After closing the last document, Huo Tinglan grabbed the phone and checked the time. Less than an hour had passed.

He estimated that Ye Ci had calmed down a little by now. He took the cell phone and wanted to explain that his actions today were not malicious. When he clicked on Ye Ci’s WeChat, the empty chat interface actually displayed, “The other party is typing.”

Huo Tinglan was curious as to what Ye Ci would say, and waited patiently. But three minutes passed, and the top of the interface still intermittently said, “The other party is typing.”

“. . . . . .” Huo Tinglan smiled and switched the app to his album instead. There were several clips of the surveillance video from the racetrack, which he saved at the police station.

The earliest clip had nothing to do with the fight. In the video, Ye Ci and another driver ended their race. Ye Ci straddled the rugged heavy-duty motorcycle in his school uniform, took off his helmet, and tossed his fluffy black hair. With a pretentious sophistication, he took a stack of banknotes from the other driver and tucked them away. The next few segments were videos of Ye Ci’s unscathed one against five fight.

Huo Tinglan watched the surveillance videos several times, and his lips twitched into a smile.

This was the Ye Ci that he failed to understand in his previous life. Hidden under that cold and fragile ceramic beauty was a little poplar boy. [1]

He just couldn’t see it.

When he switched back to the chat interface, the chat box was still empty.

The other party is typing . . . .

A pause for a few seconds to think about the wording.

The other party is typing . . . .

Pause, enter, pause, enter.

Over and over again.

Huo Tinlan felt sorry and also wanted to laugh a little.

Even an 800-character composition should have been finished by now, was Ye Ci . . . . impeaching him?

He wanted to send a message first, but he wasn’t sure about Ye Ci’s state at this time, afraid that a disagreement would cause the child to explode with shame and anger. Then he locked the screen. He would control himself and wait.

Over in the bedroom, Ye Ci didn’t know that Huo Tinglan had been waiting in the study for a long time. Wrapped in a quilt on the bed, he carefully crafted the words in the dialogue box. His forehead was sweating.

He knew he had overreacted tonight and was quite rude. After his stress response to the Alpha’s pheromones had subsided, he was so tangled up that he had twisted himself into a knot. He knew that he should apologize to Huo Tinglan, but he was ashamed to speak in person, afraid of the effect of stuttering three words out of nine. But typing didn’t seem to be any better, and communicating with others had always been his Achilles heel.

Ye Ci typed a bunch of words and deleted a portion of them. After dawdling for a long time, he finally closed his eyes, physically and mentally exhausted, and pressed send.

[Ye Ci]: I’m sorry about what happened today, I didn’t mean to yell at you.

Huo Tinglan, who was ready to accept the impeachment, looked at those words so weak in strength, and was stunned for a moment. Then he slightly curled the corners of his lips and wrote his response.

[Huo Tinglan]: It’s okay.

[Huo Tinglan]: I was the one who was careless. I want to say sorry to you too.

He was pretending to be very solemn and serious.

[Huo Tinglan]: Has your foot been seen by the doctor?

Ye Ci heaved a sigh of relief.

[Ye Ci]: He saw it, it’s been dealt with.

[Huo Tinglan]: Good, rest early.

There was silence from the other side.

Like he was frantically mulling over the wording again.

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After a while, the message alert sounded.

Ye Ci: En.

Poised and leisurely.

For some reason, Huo Tinglan suddenly remembered the birds swimming on the lake . . . . the upper half was calm and composed, but a pair of small feet were desperately paddling underwater.

He smiled lightly and put down the phone.

He didn’t know what those little feet deleted, deleted, modified, and didn’t post.

. . . . . . 

The incident at the police station had increased Ye Ci’s trust in Huo Tinglan.

He was neither stupid nor lacking in experience. Gangsters often sought revenge and fought. Entering the police station was nothing more than some monetary losses to reconcile accounts. Huo Tinglan must have played a role in cleaning up those people on the charge of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

However, due to the subsequent misunderstanding, the relationship between the two did not ease significantly. It was true that Huo Tinglan had always behaved mildly and gentlemanly, but Ye Ci had terribly thin skin. The guy had three tons of baggage. Even if he had apologized, it was inevitable that his scalp would tingle with embarrassment when he remembered that scene.

Because of this, he was extra careful to stagger his living time with Huo Tinglan again. As a result, as soon as he entered the dining room that morning, he was taken aback to realize that Huo Tinglan, who should have woken up half an hour later than him, was sitting at the table drinking coffee.

Not only did he get up early, but he was also well-dressed in a navy blue suit with a straight half inch of eye-catching white on the cuffs. His fingers fiddled with the pearl cufflinks leisurely, as if he was deliberately stopping him here.

Ye Ci was stunned, then took a step back, trying to slip away.

“Morning.” Huo Tinglan raised his eyes and looked directly at him. “You should finish eating breakfast before you leave.”

“. . . . Morning.” Ye Ci paused. He bit the bullet and said, “I know.”

He moved diagonally to Huo Tinglan and sat down. Feeling vaguely aware of something, his nose twitched slightly.

Huo Tinglan’s body was filled with the light fragrance of tequila, a trace amount of pheromones escaping from the barrier patch. Ye Ci was already used to and familiar with this alcohol-like atmosphere, but he didn’t know if it was his own illusion that this morning’s aura seemed to be different from before. It was more intense than before, more aggressive, and also mixed with a wisp of something – the musky scent of a wild and savage beast.

The back of his neck became faintly hot, and Ye Ci felt so awkward that he poured a few mouthfuls of milk in a flurry, wanting a quick fix for breakfast.

Huo Tinglan looked at him quietly for a moment, took a sip of coffee, and said slowly, “There is something I want to discuss with you in person, and I got up early for fear that I wouldn’t be able to see you.”

The implication was that it was a special case for him to get up early today, so that Ye Ci did not have to put so much effort into getting up earlier to avoid him . . . . he was afraid that a certain child would get up in the middle of the night to go to school.

Ye Ci squeezed the cup of milk and sighed softly, asking, “What’s up?”

After speaking, he glanced at Huo Tinglan. Without knowing why, he didn’t think he had woken up early, but had instead had a sleepless night, his whole body radiating an exhausted excitement.

Indulgence . . . . overindulgence?

Ye Ci abruptly looked away.

It was extremely difficult for A+ grade Alphas to find an Omega, but they could use pheromone-insensitive Betas to vent their serious excesses . . . . so what?

“Actually, my susceptible period is about to begin,” Huo Tinglan interrupted Ye Ci’s wild thoughts. “Without intervention, it will probably just last these two days.”

The air was suddenly quiet.

Probably last just these two days . . . .  just these two days . . . . these two days . . . .

Ye Ci gulped and muttered, “Oh,” almost crushing the glass of milk in his hand.

Huo Tinglan tapped the tabletop with his fingertips. His eyes were sharp, scratching Ye Ci’s blushing face inch by inch. After two seconds of silence, he smiled self-deprecatingly: “I was afraid you wouldn’t be mentally prepared, and I didn’t want to tell you. But I’ve made do with medication for the past few days and feel there is little difference between eating and not eating. This susceptible period is more serious than before and may not be easy to control once it starts, so I still want to ask your intentions.”

During their susceptible period, Alpha hormones were secreted in excess, heart rate and blood pressure increased sharply, and the acuity of the five senses was raised to the limit of tolerance, and glandular activity was greatly enhanced . . . . In primitive times, this series of changes was to help the Alpha find, track, and capture the Omega that belonged to him.

Therefore, an Alpha’s susceptible period could be delayed if it could be eased by Omega pheromones, because the brain would think that he had found the right Omega.

This was not a long-term solution. At most, it could delay a susceptible period for a month or two, but there was no other way.

“If you can help me delay the arrival of this susceptible period, that’s not a bad thing for either of us . . . .” Huo Tinglan’s tone sank, “I don’t think you’d want to live with an Alpha who is at risk of going out of control.”

The intensity of an Alpha’s susceptible period was strongly correlated with their mental state.

Experiencing mental trauma caused by divorce, widowhood, being chronically single, or an Alpha with a strong desire for a particular Omega, could make the symptoms more severe and longer-lasting.

– – Unfortunately, Huo Tinglan met all of the above conditions.

So this time his susceptible period would be quite dreadful. Once started, the gentle and innocuous gentleman’s mask would be difficult to wear.

As far as the current state between the two was concerned, it was natural to delay as long as possible.

Ye Ci mumbled, unable to speak.

Huo Tinglan didn’t rush, and waited quietly for him to state his position.

The agreement had been signed, and Huo Tinglan had treated him with ample generosity these days. In light of reason, he should not refuse.

“What do you . . . . need –” Ye Ci’s fingers trembled, and he had to curl them up into the sleeves of his school uniform. “ – need to do?”

Huo Tinglan stared at the boy who was pretending to be calm, a little awkward. The following words, written out in black and white, were fine when written out as terms, but once he said them with his mouth . . . . it seemed that no matter the wording, it would be difficult to clear himself of the suspicion of being a scoundrel.

He wouldn’t mind playing a scoundrel properly . . . .

He was just afraid that Ye Ci wouldn’t like him as a scoundrel.

Seeing that Ye Ci was about to collapse while waiting, Huo Tinglan cleared his throat, making his tone sound businesslike: “According to the agreement, you can provide me with some pheromone-containing items.”

“. . . . . .” Ye Ci licked his lower lip, completely speechless.

Items containing pheromones seemed like nothing at first glance. However, those that could contain pheromones, other than the scent barrier patch attached to the back of the neck, were probably . . . . clothes.

Ye Ci subconsciously raised his hand and stroked the scent barrier patch on the back of his neck.

The square piece of non-woven fabric that rose and fell with his vertebrae felt smooth to the touch. Because it was so close to the skin, it was inevitable that it would be contaminated with sweat, so it felt slightly damp when peeled off. Soft, full of vanilla-scented Omega pheromones . . . . Thinking of giving such a private item to Huo Tinglan, Ye Ci’s hand shook and he retracted it as if he had received an electrical shock.

Barrier patches wouldn’t work.

Then only clothes were left.

Ye Ci squeezed the zipper of his school uniform and hesitated. His brain had been roasted by the fires of shame, and he asked in a daze: “You, you’re going to take it . . . . and sniff it?”

His IQ returned as soon as the words came out, and he wanted to sew his mouth shut in remorse.

“. . . . . .”

Things were complicated and couldn’t be explained in one sentence. Huo Tinglan was silent for a moment, trying to keep his voice as soft as possible: “What would I do otherwise?”

 

 

The author has something to say:

Huo Dog: Otherwise, could I lick it?

Young Ci: Pinching himself to wake up .jpg

 

[1] Little poplar, 小白杨, refers to a Chinese military song where the male character grows from weakness into a soldier. ⮐

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