Chapter 67: A Sweet Visit to the Site

The day before, Zhu Zhixi had coaxed the address of the archaeological site out of Fu Rangyi. On one hand, he was genuinely scared after the last incident and worried about not being able to find him again. On the other hand, he had long been planning a surprise visit.

However, after taking a taxi to the site, Zhu Zhixi realized why it was called a “worksite.” It was completely different from the mysterious, profound archaeological site he had imagined; it looked no different from a large construction site.

“Though it was discovered while digging for the subway, so that makes sense,” he muttered to himself, walking to the entrance. He saw a sign that read [Archaeological Site, No Unauthorized Entry] and found himself in a predicament.

Fortunately, not far away, a student was squatting down, slacking off.

“Hey! Hey, excuse me!” he stood next to the sign and waved at the person. The student looked up, glanced around, and finally met his eyes.

Perhaps it was because he had a very approachable face, the student actually walked over. But he seemed to have encountered similar situations before and came prepared with a speech: “Hello, outsiders aren’t allowed in here…”

He didn’t finish, the words getting stuck in his throat as his nose twitched.

“I understand, I understand, but my husband works inside. I’m here to deliver something to him, something very important,” Zhu Zhixi blinked.

“Husband?” The student scratched his head. “Who… might that be?”

Finally, the moment had arrived! The item he brought had its use! Like an FBI agent in a movie, Zhu Zhixi flashed his marriage certificate.

The student first glanced at it casually, then his eyes widened. He leaned in, his face almost pressed against the certificate. “Holy crap…” He sniffed the air carefully again and let out another “Holy crap.”

Zhu Zhixi wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, but he understood the mental state of a university student, having been one himself.

And just like that, he accomplished the first step of his plan. The student took out his phone and began typing furiously behind him.

“Hey, where is your Professor Fu right now?” he turned his head, nearly scaring the student into dropping his phone.

“Huh?” The student looked troubled. “Actually, I’m not in Professor Fu’s group, and this place is really big… But I can ask in the group chat. Oh, right, I also have a drone. I can help you look for him.”

Thus, with the help of manpower and technology, Zhu Zhixi’s surprise delivery plan was a success. Of course, his appearance also became a bombshell in the group chats, spreading among the students in no time.

But Zhu Zhixi was completely unaware of this. He spotted the half-squatting figure of Fu Rangyi from over a hundred meters away.

“I see him, thank you,” he turned and said to the student who had guided him. “Could I have your phone number?”

“Huh?” The student, an Alpha, blushed instantly. “Um…”

Zhu Zhixi opened his phone. “I want to order some afternoon tea. It’s so cold here, and everyone’s working so hard. Let’s have something hot and take a break together. Don’t you work at that entrance? Could you help receive the delivery? Please ask more classmates to share. Please?”

“But there are a ton of us,” the student said honestly.

“It’s fine, just tell me how many people,” Zhu Zhixi opened WeChat. “I’ll scan your code.”

The student was a bit overwhelmed by the favor. He glanced at the phone and accidentally saw the pinned contact nickname, which gave him a shock. Why is it ‘Ex-husband’?

An ex-husband is still visiting the worksite? Oh man, did I just stumble upon some major gossip, or is this just their kink?

Isn’t Professor Fu our college’s ‘lofty flower of the mountains’? Does he secretly engage in some taboo roleplay with his ‘ex-husband’…?

“Added. I’ll let you know when I’ve ordered,” Zhu Zhixi lowered his voice. “Make sure your Professor Fu doesn’t find out, okay? Thank you.”

Two hours later, everyone on the entire worksite was holding hot milk tea and small cakes. As they passed by Fu Rangyi, each person would say with a grin, “Thank you, Professor Fu,” like well-rehearsed NPCs.

Fu Rangyi himself was completely bewildered, but on second thought, there could be no one else behind this besides the person next to him.

“So you didn’t come all this way just to see me,” Fu Rangyi said nonchalantly, holding the coffee Zhu Zhixi had personally brought him, teasing him casually. “Second Young Master Zhu is here to flex his money power.”

“What ‘Second Young Master Zhu,’ why are you starting to talk like He Xueyao?” Zhu Zhixi, hands shoved in his pockets, nudged him with his elbow. “Speaking of which, I told my brother about yesterday’s meeting with him. Da Zhu might already be on his way to C City to hunt him down. Just thinking about it is fun.”

Hearing that name, Fu Rangyi didn’t engage. Zhu Zhixi’s eyes darted, and he moved closer, his face almost touching Fu Rangyi’s. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you triggered by sister-in-law?”

Fu Rangyi let out a light, ambiguous laugh and said casually, “I’m triggered by both your brother and sister-in-law.”

Zhu Zhixi quickly corrected him, “What do you mean ‘your’? It’s our family. Say it again.”

Fu Rangyi took a deep breath. “…Our brother and sister-in-law.”

Satisfied, Zhu Zhixi added, “I just wanted to tell you, He Xueyao has to deal with my brother now, so he won’t have time for anything else. He probably won’t be pestering you for an answer anytime soon.”

Fu Rangyi fell quiet, gazing at the neat rows of excavation pits in the distance and the students clustered together, chatting and drinking milk tea. After a while, he looked back at the person beside him and found Zhu Zhixi squatting on the ground, playing with the custom trowel he had gifted him.

He squatted down too, grabbed a small stool nearby, and gave it to Zhu Zhixi to sit on. “What are your thoughts on this?” he asked.

Zhu Zhixi sat down, but it wasn’t very comfortable, so he went back to squatting and gave the stool to Fu Rangyi. “Me? I don’t have any thoughts.”

I only care if your illness can be cured.

He wanted Fu Rangyi to be less resistant to his susceptible periods, to not have to suffer through painful medications and injections, to be like a normal Alpha. Even though they found pleasure and satisfaction during those times, Zhu Zhixi could feel Fu Rangyi’s intense self-loathing and self-destructive tendencies, and he could feel his regret and self-blame afterward.

Being unable to mark him already made Fu Rangyi, as an Alpha, feel insecure. Zhu Zhixi just wanted him to be more at ease.

He didn’t answer. His throat was still a bit sore. He turned his head and leaned over, smoothly taking the straw of Fu Rangyi’s coffee in his mouth and taking a sip.

“There’s warm water.” Fu Rangyi stood up, walked to an empty spot nearby where a plastic sheet was spread out with his large backpack on it. He took out his thermos from a side pocket, came back, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Zhu Zhixi.

“Thank you, Professor Fu.” Zhu Zhixi tilted his head up and smiled at him.

After urging him to drink a few more sips of hot water, Fu Rangyi returned to their previous topic.

“Do you think that if what He Xueyao said is true, and his guess is right, I’ll have a family?”

Zhu Zhixi came back to his senses and turned to look at him. The brilliant diamond earring swayed, and misty white vapor floated around his face. He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he took the handle of the small trowel and lightly tapped Fu Rangyi on the head.

Fu Rangyi’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What are you thinking?” Zhu Zhixi said with a pout. “You already have a family. Your family is me, and my brother, my dad, and my mom. In the future, there might be a sister-in-law, and little nephews and nieces. A whole bunch of people. Who says you don’t have a family?”

Hearing this, the corners of Fu Rangyi’s mouth lifted slightly. He raised an eyebrow and asked, “Does an ex-husband count as family?”

Zhu Zhixi almost gasped. How did he find out? He began frantically replaying the events in his mind.

“You looked at my phone!” he pointed at Fu Rangyi, launching a preemptive strike.

“Turning the tables on me, are we?” Fu Rangyi gestured towards the surrounding excavation pits with his chin. “Since you’re here, you might as well help your ex-husband plow the fields.”

“How can you be like this! You’re too much…” he muttered under his breath.

“Is it really?” Fu Rangyi leaned his face closer, whispering in his ear, “At least I didn’t show up reeking of someone’s pheromones everywhere, only to grant them the status of ‘ex-husband.’ Besides, everyone here knows your ex-husband took a susceptible period leave a few days ago.”

“You!” Zhu Zhixi’s face turned red, and he clenched his fists. “That’s because I don’t have pheromones. If I did, you’d be going to work wearing my pheromones every day too.”

Fu Rangyi chuckled and said in a low voice, “I don’t think so. Given our relationship, it wouldn’t be very ethical to do something like that.”

Help me… Zhu Zhixi was utterly defeated.

How did it come to this?

No, wait, Fu Rangyi was always like this from the start, with a mouth that couldn’t pass a security check…

Fine, he was the one who changed the nickname. Zhu Zhixi decided to surrender. He had intended to rest his chin on Fu Rangyi’s shoulder to act cute, but then he suddenly remembered they were surrounded by people. Instead, he just bumped against him and said softly, “Well, if I accept your second proposal, then I won’t be an ex-husband anymore, right?”

Fu Rangyi reached out and casually fiddled with the diamond hoop on his earlobe. “Mm, you’d be my fiancé.”

“What kind of fiancé gets a marriage certificate first?” Zhu Zhixi took out his own certificate, holding it between his thumb and index finger and swinging it back and forth. “Look, irrefutable proof.”

Fu Rangyi was helpless against him. “Stop showing off. You’ll drop it in the dirt and then panic, and you’ll have to borrow a trowel from your ex-husband to dig it out.”

“Fu Rangyi, why are you so relentless?” Zhu Zhixi also began to settle scores. “Then tell me, who was it that wouldn’t listen to me? I said no, not even one more time, but you had to be provocative. So is there anything wrong with me changing your nickname?”

“No problem, I accept the identity of ‘ex-husband’,” Fu Rangyi’s tone was light. “It’s pretty good. I was a ‘widower’ in your contacts before anyway.”

It’s over. Zhu Zhixi was dumbfounded. This guy can really hold a grudge! When did he find out about that nickname?

Seeing Zhu Zhixi fall silent, Fu Rangyi leaned in, the brims of their caps bumping together. With a face that was almost too handsome for this environment, he asked with a half-smile, “Why is one word missing this time? Are you tired of looking at me now? Am I not ‘cute’ anymore?”

Zhu Zhixi couldn’t handle it and almost fell backward into the dirt, but Fu Rangyi grabbed his wrist.

“[ciao]… happy now?”

Fu Rangyi chuckled. “Why are you greeting me in Italian? Did you change your nationality after the divorce?”

He can still make a pun at a time like this. Zhu Zhixi gave up. “…Bro, you’re hilarious. You use all your wit on me.”

Fu Rangyi said with a straight face, “Mm, I took a stand-up comedy class after the divorce.”

There was no way out. He chose to use all three tactics: acting cute, throwing a tantrum, and turning the tables.

“Fine, Fu Rangyi, I see it now. You keep calling me ‘ex-husband’ because you don’t want to be with me anymore, right? Then I’ll give you the ring back, how about that.”

As he spoke, he started to pull at the ring on his ring finger, pretending it was stuck while putting on a pitiful act. “It’s a good thing I’m a Beta, not an Omega. Otherwise, I’d have to go to the hospital to get your permanent mark washed off. Just thinking about it hurts.”

Fu Rangyi was helpless. He reached out, caught his hand, and pushed the ring back to the base of his finger. “Alright, I was just teasing you.”

As soon as the situation shifted, Zhu Zhixi’s expression changed instantly, the smile at the corners of his mouth impossible to suppress. “See, see? You’re not happy about a real divorce.”

“Mm, not happy. So change it back for me, quickly.” Fu Rangyi surrendered and stopped bickering with him, smiling helplessly. In the distance, another professor called his name and waved at him.

“Wait here for a moment,” Fu Rangyi said, getting up to go over.

His back looked so handsome. His outfit was a perfect ten. There was even a hickey on the back of his neck, encircling the mole that he loved.

Zhu Zhixi waited obediently, his head following the busy figure of Fu Rangyi as it moved from left to right, then right to left. To his surprise, Fu Rangyi returned shortly after.

“So fast?”

Fu Rangyi came back carrying a folding camping chair. He nodded and bent down to open it. Tucked inside were a thin cushion and a small blanket. He took them out, patted them down, placed them on the chair, and said to Zhu Zhixi, “You sit here. I have to go to a meeting.”

“Oh.” Zhu Zhixi obediently sat down.

Fu Rangyi pinched the brim of his cap. “If you get cold, go back first.”

“I’m not cold,” Zhu Zhixi spread his arms, his sleeves long enough to cover his hands. “I’m wearing your down jacket. It’s so warm.”

“Alright, I’ll come find you after the meeting.” Fu Rangyi gently patted his cheek, then turned and walked toward his group.

It was after dark when his work finally ended. When he came back, he couldn’t find Zhu Zhixi. The camping chair was empty, though the ground around it was covered in various cartoon drawings.

He checked his phone and found a message from Zhu Zhixi.

[Wifey (rabbit emoji): I went to help out. I’m near the camping chair.]
[Wifey (rabbit emoji): Photo Shared]

There were two photos. One showed where he was, and the other was a screenshot. The nickname had been changed to [Hubby].

[Hubby: Who told you to go work?]