But just as he was about to leave with Zhu Zhixi, He Xueyao, who was sitting at the door, suddenly stood up.

He held a business card between his fingers and handed it over.

Zhu Zhixi could even smell the perfume on the business card.

“Handsome, you look really familiar. Seriously, no joke. Let’s be friends.”

Zhu Zhixi understood now. Compared to a real fox spirit, he was nothing last night. No matter how hard he tried to seduce, he didn’t have this kind of natural flair.

Fu Rangyi naturally didn’t take it, and didn’t even look at him. But the business card had already been stuffed into the front pocket of his coat.

“I’m married,” Fu Rangyi’s tone was cold. He wrapped his arm around Zhu Zhixi’s waist. “This is my partner, your… friend’s biological brother.”

“That’s not important,” He Xueyao smiled, tilting his head and winking at Zhu Zhixi. “Just being friends. Your little brother won’t mind, right?”

After speaking, he stuffed another business card into Zhu Zhixi’s pocket and even patted it. “The more friends, the better.”

Zhu Zhixi turned his head and gave Zhu Zeran what he thought was a ferocious expression, only to find that Zhu Zeran’s expression was also very gloomy.

“Control your husband,” Zhu Zeran said rudely.

Zhu Zhixi got anxious. “You’re the one who should control your…”

“Let’s go,” Fu Rangyi said, holding him and leaving. As soon as they got out, he took out the business card from his front pocket. With nowhere to throw it, he simply stuffed it into Zhu Zhixi’s hand.

Zhu Zhixi had a baffled expression.

Li Qiao hadn’t had enough of the show yet. Like a self-aware but auto-following robot, he reluctantly followed them.

As soon as they got out, Zhu Zhixi broke free from Fu Rangyi’s embrace, not noticing that this action made Fu Rangyi pause for a few seconds.

He was inexplicably angry, but he didn’t know what he was angry about. It had never been like this before. Even with that Omega student of his, he could get along well.

He could only temporarily attribute this to the crazy Zhu Zeran.

“I’ll go do the B-scan by myself.”

“I’ll go with you,” Fu Rangyi said.

“No need. You have to get your pheromones checked yourself. Let’s split up to save time.” Zhu Zhixi ran off after speaking.

He was a little distracted during the B-scan. When the doctor told him to unbuckle his pants a little, he obediently did so. Only when he unbuckled them did he realize that there were red marks on his hip bones, quite a few of them, the most obvious on the mole.

The doctor, however, was unfazed, chatting with a colleague while applying coupling gel to his lower abdomen.

A new round of public execution.

When it was finally over, Zhu Zhixi asked anxiously, “Doctor, I don’t have a gland in my neck, right?”

“The results won’t be out for a while,” the doctor said again. “Betas have them too, it’s just that for some people, they’ve atrophied to the point of almost non-existence. Everyone is different. Just wait for the results.”

He nodded, put on his clothes, and left, heading to the department where Fu Rangyi was being examined by himself. Just as he arrived at the door, he heard the conversation inside.

“With this illness of yours, you can’t keep taking medicine like this. Look at this pheromone index, it’s severely disordered. It will only get worse and worse in the future. And many drugs will aggravate your depression during the rut period. Look at your hands, you can’t just muddle through anymore.”

Li Qiao’s voice appeared. “That’s right. I’ve been trying to persuade him. He even wants to have a gland removal surgery.”

“How can you do that? How did you suddenly jump from the most conservative treatment to the most extreme? You’re an S-class Alpha. Removing your gland will do much more damage to your body than to an ordinary person. Haven’t you seen the recent medical malpractice case? It was also an Alpha who had a fight with his lover, went abroad to have his gland removed, and almost died. We won’t do this kind of surgery.”

Fu Rangyi remained silent the whole time.

Zhu Zhixi’s heart tightened. He knew Fu Rangyi was obsessed with this illness, but he never expected him to be so extreme as to want to remove his gland.

He felt inexplicably sad.

“Indeed, did you hear that? It’s not me who’s stopping you from doing it. The expert has said it’s very dangerous,” Li Qiao said, then explained, “It’s mainly because he encountered some things when he first differentiated, a bit of post-traumatic stress. He has a very strong reaction to glands, pheromones, and so on.”

Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi thought of what Zhu Zeran had found out before, about Fu Rangyi, still a high school student, getting into a big fight with a teacher.

Does Li Qiao know too?

Right, they knew each other in school and were friends. How could they not know.

Only I, I know nothing, I’m clueless about everything.

In the room, Li Qiao asked again, “I heard from Director Wang that there’s a new treatment plan with good results recently. The patient also has malignant rut syndrome. What’s the specific plan? Can he try it?”

“Your friend’s is much more serious. His is a milder case. But it’s somewhat similar,” the doctor said. “The most important part of that plan is to extract a biotin from the glands and spinal cord of a direct Alpha relative as a pheromone antibody, and then inject it in courses. Currently, that subject has undergone two courses, and there has indeed been improvement. If you want to try, you can ask Director Wang to arrange it.”

Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi’s eyes lit up.

Finally, some good news.

Who knew that the silent Fu Rangyi would suddenly speak. “We’ll talk about it later. Thank you.”

Zhu Zhixi couldn’t hold back and stepped out from the wall to the doorway. “Why?”

Fu Rangyi looked up, stunned for two seconds, his eyes a little frightened.

“Why talk about it later?” Zhu Zhixi looked at Li Qiao. “Quick, help him arrange it.”

Li Qiao didn’t know the specific situation, but he still respected Fu Rangyi’s choice. He smiled at the bewildered doctor and said, “Thank you. We’ll discuss this further.”

“Sure. Anyway, the paper will be published after the third phase of treatment. It’s safer for you to wait.”

After Fu Rangyi came out, he only asked in a low voice, “Are you done with your check-ups?”

This attitude made Zhu Zhixi furious. He was clueless, yet he was giving orders here. It was really presumptuous.

A lump formed in his throat. Zhu Zhixi didn’t know what to say. His heart was in a knot. In the end, he only managed an “Mmm” and turned to leave.

Seeing this, Li Qiao patted Fu Rangyi’s arm. “Go on. There are no more check-ups. I’ll send you a message when the results are out.”

“Mmm,” Fu Rangyi said his thanks and quickly caught up with Zhu Zhixi.

The hospital was bustling with people. Zhu Zhixi charged straight ahead, not even waiting for the elevator, and took the stairs directly. He quickly went down three floors, pushed open the heavy safety door, and outside was a vast expanse of white—the snow-covered hospital garden.

His footsteps changed from angry thumps to cautious crunches.

He walked forward sullenly, not wanting to turn back, only pricking up his ears to listen. Hearing the footsteps following behind, he felt a little better, but not much.

The cold air froze his hands. Zhu Zhixi put his hands in his pockets and touched the two business cards from the red fox. He became even more annoyed. He took out the business card and sniffed it. It also had a floral scent.

Damn floral scent. Everyone can smell it except me.

There weren’t many people in the garden. A few children were playing in the snow. One little fat kid was chasing another short kid in a snowball fight. He walked on and came to a pine tree.

Why are you following me? You’re not catching up, just following me all the way.

Zhu Zhixi was unhappy. He stood under the tree, watching the two little kids, wrapped up like dumplings, darting around. He wished he could grab some snow from the ground and have a snowball fight with them.

The little fat kid was chased to the tree, his foot slipped, and he fell against the trunk. Zhu Zhixi was startled and subconsciously wanted to help him up, but his arm was grabbed, and he was pulled into an embrace.

Whoosh—the snow from the pine tree was shaken down, falling to the ground. Zhu Zhixi was spared, only getting a little on him.

He parted his lips, and a few wisps of white mist came out, making his eyes seem even brighter and clearer.

Fu Rangyi reached out, brushed the snow from his head, also let go, and stepped back a little.

Zhu Zhixi stepped back even more, creating a large distance between them. He said sullenly, “Why are you following me?”

Fu Rangyi said in a deep voice, “To go home.”

Who wants to go home with you. Zhu Zhixi casually made up a lie. “I have an appointment. I’m not going back. you can go ahead.”

Fu Rangyi frowned and asked, “Who?”

“A friend.”

“What friend?” Fu Rangyi pressed. “Which friend?”

Zhu Zhixi: “You don’t know him.”

“Don’t know him?” Fu Rangyi asked with a gloomy face. “Does your friend not have a name?”

Zhu Zhixi was cornered by the questioning and his defenses broke. “You’re so strange. Can’t I have friends you don’t know? Who was it that said we wouldn’t interfere in each other’s private lives? It’s just a fake marriage. you’ve been reminding me of this all along. Why have you forgotten it yourself now?”

Fu Rangyi’s focus once again deviated. “You didn’t black out this time.”

“That’s right, I didn’t black out. I remember everything you said,” Zhu Zhixi laughed out of anger. “By the way, yesterday you also said what, I took care of you once, you paid me back once, we don’t owe each other anything. You’re very good at calculating, but I don’t think you’ve calculated clearly enough. I’m the one who took advantage, used you for release and to extend my life. I owe you.”

Another barrage of accusations. Fu Rangyi stood there, saying nothing, just looking at him silently.

Zhu Zhixi held out his hand and stuffed the business card he had been clutching into his hand. “And this. The Omega likes you and gave it to you. Why did you give it to me? Who am I to you, to be holding on to these things for you.”

Fu Rangyi blinked slowly, looked down at the business card, and turned to leave.

Zhu Zhixi was so angry he almost stomped his foot, but he soon found that Fu Rangyi had stopped by a trash can and thrown the business card into the recyclable bin.

Alright. Zhu Zhixi kicked the snow lightly.

Fu Rangyi came back and stood in front of him. The glass lenses reflected the snow, concealing the emotions in his eyes. Zhu Zhixi turned his head away, not looking at him, but he caught a glimpse of him reaching out, as if to pull him into an embrace. But in the end, he only gently pinched his frostbitten cheek.

Tentatively, he took a step forward, almost pressing against him, then lowered his head and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, “Why are you so angry?”

---

Author’s Note:

I’ve discovered that I really love writing about young couples bickering and arguing (I discovered this XP in my last book). It’s best if they argue all the way to bed ().

Da Zhu’s couple won’t have too many scenes in this book because they are only involved in some plot points (just like Xiao En and Xiao Yu, they have a mission to fulfill). I might write a separate story for them in the future, I’m not sure, it’s just a certain possibility!

Don’t worry, everyone, whether it’s a separate story or a side story, it will be separate from this book. I basically don’t write side CP side stories in a certain story. They are all put in the side story collection in my column. Don’t be troubled by this. The appearance in the main text definitely has a plot-introducing role.