Chapter 9: 9

Huo Tinglan took the ice pack and spray, and said softly, “Thank you.”

Seeing Ye Ci’s eyes flicker and look straight at the bridge of his nose, Huo Tinglan, who was suffering a crisis of trust, pondered for two seconds and mixed truth with falsehood: “There was a video conference just now, so I covered it up a bit.”

“Oh.” Ye Ci was startled. Knowing that Huo Tinglan had seen through his rude speculation, his shame immediately doubled and he nodded hastily, “I know, I’m aware.”

Huo Tinglan smiled and changed the subject. “Right, I forgot to thank you . . . . today’s treatment was very effective and I feel much better.”

“You’re welcome.” For the purpose of humanitarian aid, Ye Ci gritted his teeth and overcame his embarrassment, “Are those pheromones e–enough? I, I changed my clothes . . . . I haven’t washed them yet.”

Huo Tinglan burst into laughter and repeated with a bit of playfulness, “Haven’t washed them yet . . . .”

He really had no self-awareness of being an Omega.

Seeing Huo Tinglan’s profound and intriguing black eyes, Ye Ci suddenly felt bashful. The heat burned all the way from his cheeks to his butt, and he dug himself a deeper hole as he explained: “It’s the outer uniform, the jacket, and . . . . the shirt.”

“I know,” Huo Tinglan said gently. “What else?”

“Nothing, nothing else.” Ye Ci clenched his fists desperately.

This open mouth was truly unstoppable.

He stammered, so where did so many unnecessary words come from?!

Huo Tinglan smiled and didn’t overdo it. “I won’t use them for now. I don’t feel sick at the moment, your pheromones worked well on me.”

If he kept teasing . . . . Ye Ci might beat him up.

“. . . . That’s good.” Ye Ci nodded hastily, walking back in a mess.

Just a few steps out, Huo Tinglan stopped him again: “Wait a minute.”

Resisting the urge to start running, he turned around and asked, “Why?”

“We can change the way we do the treatment a bit.” Huo Tinglan folded his arms and leaned against the door frame, stroking the bridge of his nose to emphasize the injury and pretending to be magnanimous. “Otherwise my nose might not be able to take it.”

Ye Ci was apologetic, and deflated at once and honestly said: “You speak.”

“From next Monday, you should go home as early as possible after school every day and come to my study. I work, you do your homework, we spend a few hours in the same room together. This level of pheromone exchange can have the effect of treatment for me, and probably won’t make you uncomfortable either . . . .”

A few hours ago, he was still holding this person in his arms in the shade of flowers and trees, shamelessly sniffing and coaxing him, and even tore off the barrier patch and secretly put it in his pocket. Now he put on the mask of a gentleman again and asked in a warm voice, “Do you think this arrangement is okay?”

Ye Ci imagined the scene of the two of them busy in the study. It was much better than getting close for him to sniff the glands. He hastily nodded.

The only problem with going straight home after school was that there was no way to go to the racetrack. Fortunately, he had saved a lot of money during this time. And Huo Tinglan treated him so kindly. He didn’t have to take his mother away like in the worst-case scenario he had imagined before. Naturally, there was no rush to get money.

Moreover, he was no longer as resistant to Huo Tinglan’s highly aggressive pheromones as he was at first. Considering how few times they had spent time together, this kind of adaptation speed was already very fast. A 100% match was really not for nothing.

. . . . . .

This monday night, Ye Ci kept his promise and went home early. He spent a while alone in the living room, and did some mental preparations before he took the plunge and went into the study.

The door of the study was wide open. Huo Tinglan was sitting behind the desk reading a few documents, and when Ye Ci came in, he raised his chin and said: “Take a seat.”

He hadn’t asked anyone to set up an additional study desk. This desk was big enough for one person and a half, enough to not get in each other’s way.

“En.” Ye Ci nodded carelessly. Circling around, carrying a backpack on one shoulder and the other shoulder slightly relaxed to maintain balance, he strode coolly to the desk and sat down.

. . . . His performance was not bad.

Ye Ci unloaded his school bag, took out a set of papers, and tossed them on the desk. He took a deep breath and realized that his mental preparations were not in vain.

If he acted shy and embarrassed, the treatment’s atmosphere could also become complex rather than natural.

Huo Tinglan watched the whole process quietly with strong interest and a subtle smile. 

Ye Ci suddenly seemed to be aware that he was being watched. His eyes dodged away, and then glanced over vigilantly.

Huo Tinglan was a step ahead of him, having hidden his smile without a trace and lowered his eyes to read a document.

. . . . Phew.

Ye Ci sighed inwardly, feeling nervous.

The math papers were as difficult as ever. Ye Ci picked out a few simple questions and did them first, then took out his phone. While Huo Tinglan wasn’t paying attention, he took a picture of a question and used a search engine, patiently researching and analyzing the subject.

The explanation given by the application was not detailed enough, and the difficulty of the problem was high. Ye Ci was stuck on a key step and couldn’t understand it. Unwilling to copy the answer directly, he was so anxious that a few beads of sweat appeared on the tip of his nose. Just as he was feeling embarrassed, Huo Tinglan’s low voice suddenly sounded above his head: “What are you doing?”

He didn’t know when he had come over, or how long he had been standing there. As if it was premeditated, it seemed he intended to check his learning level.

Ye Ci’s hand shook. He locked the screen and said vaguely, “Nothing . . . .”

Huo Tinglan put one hand on the desk and leaned over slightly. He glanced at the large blanks on the paper and softened his voice, asking gently, “Is there anything you want to ask?”

Anything he wanted to ask?

There were blank spaces everywhere.

Ye Ci berated himself and clenched his hand.

The palm of his hand was moist, and he was in a hurry to understand the explanation.

He was anxious, and coupled with Huo Tinglan wanting to talk about the question, he almost blurted out a sentence.

– – How is this problem calculated?

When these words reached the tip of his tongue, Ye Ci suddenly remembered what Chu Wenlin had said when he introduced Huo Tinglan to him: Double degree from a first-class university, a top student in international finance. There was another specialized Master’s degree with a hard to pronounce name. He was the elite of the elite . . . .

To let Huo Tinglan teach him these simple high school math problems . . . . Ye Ci’s face suddenly became hot, and he felt a burst of shame.

“No.” He flipped over the exam paper, appearing to impatiently do his homework.

He would rather use rebellious behavior to camouflage his embarrassment and stupidity.

“If you don’t,” Huo Tinglan stretched out his hand and pressed his fingertips down on the paper on the desk with rare firmness, not allowing Ye Ci to hide it away in his school bag. His two eyes were dark, with a penetrating and difficult to fathom expression. “Then write it out yourself.”

Ye Ci couldn’t take the paper. Deeply worried, he grabbed at his hair and said very stiffly, “I usually . . . .  don’t write it out.”

Huo Tinglan stared at him for two seconds, then rolled his eyes and said slowly, word by word: “You should act like a student, and have the appearance of a student. You usually seem quite sensible, but I didn’t expect you to be so laissez-faire academically that you won’t even write out your homework . . . . although you are an adult, in this matter, I have to discipline you on behalf of your family.”

Saying that, he withdrew his hand from the paper and said lightly: “If these papers aren’t finished, you don’t leave today.”

Ye Ci, on the contrary, breathed a sigh of relief after receiving Huo Tinglan’s lesson, as if he had survived a catastrophe. He flattened the paper, turned his pen, and started to idle on the job under Huo Tinglan’s eyes.

If he couldn’t go, he couldn’t go.

Anyway, Huo Tinglan had to go back to the bedroom to sleep.

After a period of silence, Huo Tinglan leisurely passed judgment: “Peaceful protest?”

Ye Ci lowered his head and said nothing.

As if making up his mind to see this through to the end with the problem child, Huo Tinglan took a pen, tapped the paper with his knuckles, and said unhurriedly: “Then I’ll go through them with you one by one . . . . let’s start with this question.”

Ye Ci was startled, and hurriedly pricked up his ears to listen. He straightened his body unconsciously, and his sitting posture was inexplicably cute.

Huo Tinglan caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. The corners of his lips curled into a smile, which was quickly concealed again.

As a top student in the finance department of a first-class prestigious school, Huo Tinglan played with high school math problems like they were a game. His level of explanation exceeded that of the search software by 100,000 miles. Ye Ci was good at mathematics and physics, but he had dropped out of school and abandoned them for too long. His brain was still bright, and he listened to Huo Tinglan for a while. Several difficult problems that had made him want to die before instantly became transparent.

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“. . . . The foundation is weak, but your brain is smart enough to keep up with me talking so fast.” Huo Tinglan’s tone was a little gentler than before, and his eyes flashed with a trace of mischief. “You’re just deliberately not learning, aren’t you?”

“. . . . En.” Ye Ci pursed his lips.

He lied to keep from being embarrassed. Ye Ci’s face burned a little and he dared not look up.

“Still dare to say ‘En’?” Relying on Ye Ci being unable to look at him, Huo Tinglan raised the corners of his lips slightly, but his voice was serious, and he educated the child in deadly earnest.

Ye Ci hung his head and listened, listened, and listened. Doubts grew in his heart, and his thin and delicate eyebrows trembled slightly. He slanted a glance at Huo Tinglan, then looked away again. 

Somehow, he vaguely felt that . . . . Huo Tinglan was doing this intentionally.

He knew he had the character flaw of finding it difficult to calmly accept the gentleness and kindness of others. It would make him embarrassed; he was more comfortable with being treated harshly. And Huo Tinglan’s performance tonight was just the right degree of unnatural. Every word was smooth and deliberate, as if he had seen through him, so that he could accept help with peace of mind.

But could this be possible?

It was too self-indulgent. Why would he do such a thing?

Ye Ci rationally corrected his thinking.

Huo Tinglan leaned against the edge of the desk, his eyes lowered, studying Ye Ci’s ever-changing micro-expressions. Holding back a smile, he said solemnly: “You keep staring at me, why? . . . . Are you surprised I’m teaching you? You’re not convinced?”

Silly little gentleman. It was so much fun, it was hard to stop.

“I’m not,” Ye Ci had been caught, and stared back at the paper, “I’m not . . . . staring.”

Huo Tinglan tapped a few more sentences.

Like a frustrated thorny cactus who was tired of studying, so as not to disturb the peace, Ye Ci promised Huo Tinglan that he would try his best to complete his homework in the future, and would ask him if he didn’t understand something.

The goal had been achieved. Only one question was left on the paper. Huo Tinglan ended the conversation and tapped the question with a pen, saying: “Continue.”

His actions tonight were not so much to give Ye Ci a way to save face, but it would be better to say that he had improvised a way for Ye Ci to get ahead.

Failing the college entrance examination had always been the regret of Ye Ci’s previous life.

Perhaps due to Ye Hongjun’s serious illness, Ye Ci once wanted to apply to a medical school, but unfortunately encountered too many setbacks in his senior year of high school. He was unable to improve his grades, and the series of events that happened after did not allow him to try again. Later, he participated in races at the racetrack for a living. He didn’t give up on self-study during this time, but unfortunately, the adult college examination he took later was also a failure . . . .

Huo Tinglan wanted to make up for his shortcomings with his own hands.

He hoped that Ye Ci would have the power to make his own choices.

At the end of the paper was a big question with three small problems, which could not be answered within ten minutes. Huo Tinglan had been leaning on the desk with one hand for a while, and no matter how great his physical strength was, he felt a little tired. He read the question, grabbed the swivel chair, and sat next to Ye Ci. 

When he sat down, the distance between the two suddenly narrowed.

The aggressive alpha pheromones sunk in, and Ye Ci subconsciously licked his lower lip. His lips were smooth and red, and his saliva was filled with the sweetness of vanilla.

The lingering Alpha pheromones reminded Ye Ci that he had moved from the bedroom to the study in order to do homework – not to listen to Huo Tinglan’s lectures, but to provide him with pheromones to delay the arrival of his susceptible period.

After he returned home, Uncle He had also gently reminded him to rip off the barrier patch in order to facilitate the spread of pheromones . . . .

In other words, at this moment, Huo Tinglan was smelling him.

. . . . No.

How could normal treatment be like this?

Ye Ci couldn’t control his thoughts, and the more he thought, the more awkward he felt. As if wanting to rub his spine due to soreness, he covered the back of his neck with his hand and looked at Huo Tinglan.

As it turned out, Huo Tinglan looked unconcerned, and his profile was particularly handsome due to his focus.

At a glance, Ye Ci could see that he had made a blind conjecture.

Ye Ci was ashamed for a while, and listened carefully with a correct attitude.

The subject that caused Ye Ci’s scalp to go numb was quite simple for Huo Tinglan. He wrote down the arithmetic and explained his thinking, and half of his mind was still idle.

– – The half that was beginning to stir, his Alpha mind.

Without his authorization, it captured and analyzed every breath that escaped from Ye Ci’s body.

The vanilla-scented pheromones

Very sweet.

This plant was native to the tropical rainforests and was popular with European royal families in the old days. Its sweet scent was reminiscent of cream.

Huo Tinglan didn’t show any trace of his thoughts, looked at Ye Ci calmly and naturally, and asked him a question about formula substitution.

Ye Ci pursed his lips, afraid that his stammering would be annoying. With his left hand, he rubbed his neck in a daze, and with his right hand, he wrote a series of formulas. 

He exuded the scent of cream.

This person was indeed like a small spoonful of soft white cream.

Soft, quivering, trying in vain to hide its sweetness. Pretending to be tough, for fear of being licked.

But the more he tried, the more attractive he was.

An A+ grade Alpha’s sense of smell was too sensitive. Other than Omega pheromones, Huo Tinglan could passively smell something else.

Bleach from washing the collar and cuffs of his clothing, which smelled like disinfectant.

There was also a citrus-scented laundry detergent that exuded a warm, clean smell from his polyester tracksuit.

A small amount of sweat – not unpleasant, very light, hot and fresh like a small animal. It was soaked into the fabric of the pure cotton fabric inner layer, warmed up by the boy’s body temperature with a fresh, sweet sensuality . . . .

This was his eighteen-year-old lover.

Wearing a school uniform, holding a gel pen, his flesh white and tender as if glowing.

The Alpha glands on the verge of sending him into his susceptible period were soothed and became calm.

However, something else was just about to move.

Huo Tinglan quietly smelled Ye Ci’s scent. His eyes darkened, his love was surging, but his tone was level, as if he really didn’t have any evil intentions. He just adjusted his sitting position and folded his left leg over his right, blocking the eyes that might catch a glimpse from the side, and smiled: “. . . . The final answer is this, understand?”

“Understood.” Ye Ci nodded, so excited that he had stopped stammering. “This line of approach is very novel.”

Huo Tinglan’s problem-solving method was tricky and interesting, and saved steps. Ye Ci had never seen such wonderful work, and his eyes were shining. He couldn’t wait to pull out this exercise set from his school bag, wanting to find a similar problem to do independently while the iron was hot. However, as soon as the exercise set was opened, he realized that his “reform” speed was too fast, and his facade of a stubborn boy had collapsed before it could stabilize. He raised his eyes in embarrassment, meeting a pair of unfathomable dark eyes, and his heart thumped. Using his finger to straighten the curled corner of the exercise book, he knew he couldn’t conceal the truth: “Today, you . . . . you were right . . . . I will change.”

Huo Tinglan nodded, and said with a half smile: “Knowing your faults and making amends, that is very good.”

Ye Ci thoroughly understood his attitude.

Huo Tinglan did that on purpose, substituting discipline for mercy, quietly following along so that he could accept help calmly.

Ye Ci’s fingers on the pen’s grip turned white, and he lowered his head to flip through the exercise set. He seemed to be looking for a question, but in fact it was to conceal his stinging eyes.

Mr. Huo . . . . was really a very good person.

 

 

The author has something to say:

Dog Huo who adjusted his sitting position because he was sniffing the cub : Indeed

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