It went without saying that the “exercise” Yan Ruojun was speaking of at this moment could not possibly be any kind of proper sport that could be displayed in front of others.

As for the training results, they would mostly manifest on Lin Zhu’s body.

The man spoke with absolute transparency, but hearing it enter his ears, Lin Zhu only wanted to take a few steps back—ideally retreating straight back into the bathroom.

But quite evidently, he could not do so.

Consequently, Lin Zhu’s grip on the doorknob tightened a fraction. His entire frame stiffened, and in the end, he could only brace himself to speak: “Ge, your appetite has always been very consistent. You haven’t gained any weight…”

This was the absolute, unadulterated truth.

Yan Ruojun was currently in the early stages of pregnancy, just one day shy of a full month. The embryo inside his reproductive cavity was not even the size of a single soybean, so it was naturally impossible for it to distend his belly.

It was simply that once an Omega entered pregnancy, the sex hormones within their body underwent corresponding alterations, causing a localized accumulation of fat in specific areas, which gave the illusion of gaining weight.

It was merely an appearance.

Hearing this, Yan Ruojun turned his face back. He was in no rush to put on clothes, standing just like that before the mirror in his completely unclad state. Looking left and right, he blurted out out of nowhere:

“Then what if I just want it? Is that not allowed?”

Confronted with the man’s increasingly blunt demands, Lin Zhu fell silent for a brief moment before offering a tactful rejection: “Ge, I’m a bit tired. I want to rest early tonight…”

This rationale was actually not particularly sustainable.

He claimed to be busy with work, but Lin Zhu was merely an intern. The workload allocated to his hands was foundational and strictly limited, primarily designed to broaden his horizons rather than keeping him turning in endless circles to the point of complete mental and physical exhaustion.

His current state was predominantly due to the fact that Lin Zhu had found it exceedingly difficult to sleep peacefully at night during this period.

He had become a very light sleeper, frequently experiencing fragmented dreams that he would usually forget completely the second his eyes snapped open, leaving behind nothing but a head of fine sweat and a racing pulse.

Yan Ruojun was entirely different.

He had been sleeping exceptionally deeply recently, his breathing far heavier and more relaxed than usual. This was also one of the classic characteristics of a pregnant Omega.

Fortunately, it was so.

Only because of this had he failed to notice the recent issues with Lin Zhu’s sleep quality.

Seeing that the man made no move to get dressed for a long duration, Lin Zhu took a deep breath. Advancing with a few quick strides, he rummaged through the wardrobe to retrieve one of his own cotton T-shirts, rapidly slipping it over the other’s frame.

His movements were exceptionally swift; before Yan Ruojun could even register what was happening, his body had already been enveloped by the fabric.

The hem of this T-shirt was slightly long, draping right down between the man’s waist and hips, yet not completely covering him.

Moving with agile precision, Lin Zhu fished out a tiny scrap of fabric from the inner divider of the wardrobe, speaking concurrent with his actions.

“Ge, lift your left foot.”

“Hold onto my shoulder.”

“Right foot.”

In the blink of an eye, Yan Ruojun’s waist and abdomen were thoroughly concealed, leaving exposed only his two arms and a pair of sleek, long legs.

This was still not the end of it.

Perceiving that the man wasn’t wearing slippers, Lin Zhu directly swept him up in his arms and carried him to the bed. He then shook out and smoothed the thin summer quilt, pulling it up in one motion right under Yan Ruojun’s chin.

The four corners were tucked in with extreme neatness, airtight and secure.

Lin Zhu himself mounted the bed as well, but he switched off the main light, leaving on only the bedside reading lamp. Following this, he produced a professional textbook he had purchased recently and began to read.

Throughout the entire sequence, he did not afford the man a single opening to speak.

Yan Ruojun: “?”

It took a full two minutes before Lin Zhu realized that his behavior was slightly inappropriate. He tucked the bookmark precisely back into its original place, returned the professional book, and immediately slid down, lying flat.

Click.

Lin Zhu conveniently switched off the light.

“Ge, goodnight.”

The bedroom instantly plunged into absolute darkness.

The curtains were not drawn tightly, leaving a sliver of a gap. The exterior moonlight and the white glare of the streetlamps leaped inside through it, making the room appear even darker by contrast.

Yan Ruojun: “…”

The man blinked his eyes, thoroughly bewildered by Lin Zhu’s sequence of swift, decisive operations. It took half a minute before he finally voiced: “Puppy Lin, it’s only just past eight o’clock right now, and neither of us has even taken a shower…”

“Have you truly reached such a level of drowsiness?”

As he spoke, his limbs spread wide, causing the four tucked corners of the quilt to pop open simultaneously. He then pinched one of the corners to edge over to Lin Zhu’s side, wrapping the other youth inside along with him.

Lin Zhu lay flat on his back, his two hands resting at his sides, completely motionless.

—He didn’t dare move.

But Yan Ruojun had already cozied up against him.

One of the man’s legs casually slung over his body as he lay partially propped on his side. His head pressed close to the side of Lin Zhu’s neck, his burning breath fanning against his collarbone…

The scent of a sea breeze wafted over.

The setting of darkness seemed to inherently possess an amplifying effect. Yan Ruojun spoke softly into his husband’s ear, yet the volume felt significantly magnified, sounding almost deafening to the ears.

“Lin Zhu, do you not miss me?”

How could he possibly not miss him?

Although sex and love were two entities of entirely disparate natures, they frequently arrived before people hand in hand. It was no exaggeration to say that in this regard, Yan Ruojun constituted the entirety of Lin Zhu’s fantasies.

The moment he saw Yan Ruojun—

He thought of love, and he also thought of sex.

This had already become an almost instinctive reality.

Moreover, in this world, Yan Ruojun was the sole individual who could make him indulge in wanton fantasies, even transforming those various fantasies into reality.

Lin Zhu held back for a good two or three minutes before feeling that he had already reached his absolute limit. He was entirely incapable of ignoring Yan Ruojun, so he could only lower his chin and turn his face, pressing a light kiss against the crown of the man’s head as he inquired:

“Ge, how about I use my hand?”

A long silence ensued.

The man shifted slightly within his embrace, his grip tightening but not with too heavy a force, as he simultaneously murmured in a low tone, “Puppy Lin, who do you think you’re fooling?”

With their current dynamic, even if they switched to ordinary methods, it always felt as though something was missing.

It wasn’t fulfilling enough.

Guilt-ridden, Lin Zhu could only whisper, “…During this period, we both need to rest well, so…”

In the darkness, Yan Ruojun shifted his leg with clear displeasure. He was just about to speak when his knee sensed a certain tactile feedback, causing his tone to instantly pivot:

“Can you even rest when you’re like this?”

Lin Zhu: “…Ge, don’t move around recklessly.”

Yan Ruojun wasn’t about to listen to him.

Hearing Lin Zhu tell him not to move recklessly, he directly executed a massive movement, his entire body sliding down into the quilt. He resembled a sleek fish cutting through waves, incredibly agile.

Lin Zhu didn’t even have time to dodge before he was completely pinned down.

“Ge, don’t…!” A flush of heat rushed to his face, his tone dripping with sheer urgency. “I haven’t taken a shower yet, do you not find it dirty?!”

Yan Ruojun was already incapable of speaking.

Lin Zhu tightly gripped the man’s arms, wanting to pull him back out, yet not daring to be too rough. Ultimately, it was Yan Ruojun himself who grew breathless, allowing Lin Zhu to utilize a clever leverage to successfully extricate his body.

The bedroom light was switched back on.

The man sat kneeling right in the center of the bed, the outer corners of his eyes and his cheeks completely flushed crimson. He glared sideways at Lin Zhu, who was standing by the bedside pulling up his trousers, lodging a highly dissatisfied accusation:

“Puppy Lin, this is marital cold violence!”

The exact second the words left his mouth.

The system’s electronic voice suddenly resonated inside Lin Zhu’s brain.

It first let out a couple of coughs, resembling a certain Antarctic bird, before offering a prompt in a deeply profound tone:

“Host, is this also a part of the plan?”

“The assignment progress bar has actually ticked upward.”