Chapter 54: Second Check-up

Love.

It was a word Fu Rangyi had always avoided. He had disciplined himself for years, convincing himself not to crave such a thing. Even when he had clearly fallen for Zhu Zhixi and was aware of it, in every moment spent with him, in every analysis of his own feelings, he had consciously avoided this word. Like a person who would even lie in their own diary.

In his eyes, love and promises were the world’s most fragile fortresses. The moment they were spoken, they would collapse, turning into ruins and disappearing without a trace.

However, hearing this word from Zhu Zhixi’s mouth, his mind still went blank, his heart would stir, and he would yearn. If it was Zhu Zhixi, even if it turned to rubble, stone, and dust in the next second, it seemed it wouldn’t matter. He could take his trowel and dig through it bit by bit, spending a very, very long time to unearth the fragments and slowly restore it.

Fu Rangyi hugged the little god of love who had said “love” for the first time and kissed the top of his head.

“I like this truth very much.” He took Zhu Zhixi’s left hand, turned it palm up, and his index finger gently stroked the location of the countdown. He said softly, “Thank you, little dog. You understand me well.”

Zhu Zhixi felt an inexplicable flutter in his heart. It was as if his heart had truly become a fluffy, white little dog, and at this moment, it was being petted on the head by Fu Rangyi.

“Understand what about you?” he asked deliberately.

Fu Rangyi looked up and tilted his head ever so slightly. “What do you think?”

Another rhetorical question, a seductive rhetorical question. Zhu Zhixi’s teeth itched, so he stood on his tiptoes and bit his lip.

Fu Rangyi’s expression turned to one of shock. He pinched his chin. “Why did you bite me?”

“What do you think?” Zhu Zhixi mimicked him, tilting his head with a smile.

Although the shop was gone, they still managed to get the landlord’s contact information from the new clothing store owner, trying to contact the former pet shop owner through the landlord.

At night, the landlord finally replied, giving them the pet shop owner’s WeChat.

[Pet Shop Owner: I think there was a little white puppy. It was boarded with us for a week. A handsome young man in a high school uniform brought it over. I have a strong impression of him. He was wearing a muzzle at the time, seemed to be in his susceptible period, and didn’t look well. He didn’t talk much either, but you could tell from his expression he was very reluctant to part with it. After leaving it with us, he lingered at the door for a long time.]

Just imagining the scene made Zhu Zhixi feel sad, his heart was about to break.

[Pet Shop Owner: If I remember correctly, the puppy was adopted by a young couple, but I really don’t have their contact information. It’s been too long.]

[Zhu Zhixi: Thank you. If you find this puppy or notice anything else unusual, please contact me.]

The trail went cold again. Zhu Zhixi looked at his palm. [28 days 02 hours 16 minutes 30 seconds]

Time was running out, and to make matters worse, Fu Rangyi demanded that he report the countdown time to him every morning. The pressure on Zhu Zhixi was immense.

“Ah!” he yelled, throwing his head back against the sofa, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath. Before long, he heard footsteps approaching. Just as he was about to open his eyes, his forehead was kissed.

It was Fu Rangyi. He had bent over, his hands propped on the top of the sofa back, perfectly framing Zhu Zhixi’s shoulders. He lowered his head again and kissed his lips in an inverted position.

After the kiss, he even smiled and stood up. “Little whistling kettle.”

“Who are you calling a whistling kettle?” Zhu Zhixi rolled over and lay on his stomach on the back of the sofa to argue. “Have you ever seen such a beautiful whistling kettle?”

Fu Rangyi stroked his hair, his tone deadpan. “I have. Many ancient kettles were very beautiful. I’ll take you to see them next time.”

“You really have an occupational disease at all times. It’s a holiday, and your mind is still on work.” Zhu Zhixi lifted his head, receiving his palm with his face.

“But I do need to start working.” Fu Rangyi’s fingers slid over his brow bone, his soft eye sockets, and then his nose and lips, before lingeringly covering them again, only parting his fingers to look at Zhu Zhixi’s eyes through the gaps.

He opened his eyes, a little startled, and pulled his hand down. “So soon? Didn’t you say school doesn’t start until after the Lantern Festival?”

Fu Rangyi explained, “They’re building a subway in C-City and dug something up. It’s estimated to be a rather large archaeological site. They have a partnership with our university and need to borrow experts. Many professors are going. The leadership called me too. I already missed the last fieldwork practicum, so I can’t turn this one down. I could only say I have family matters and will go a few days late.”

“Ah, what should I do…” Zhu Zhixi started acting pitiful, grabbing his hands and not letting go, burying his face and pressing his forehead against his wrist, knocking it again and again.

“What are you doing?” Fu Rangyi asked.

Zhu Zhixi’s tone was reverent. “Kowtowing to my life-saving straw, begging him not to leave me.”

Fu Rangyi smiled. He turned his hand over, tickled Zhu Zhixi’s chin, and voiced the thought that had been spinning in his mind since he received the call.

“Come with me.”

Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi looked up. “What can I do there?”

Fu Rangyi: “Aren’t you very good at plowing fields?”

“You’re really treating me like an ox.” My life is already short. He couldn’t say that.

Zhu Zhixi let go of his hands, sighed, and said seriously, “Forget it. You should go. Work is important. My exhibition is also in the final critical stages, and I still have to find the dog…”

The smile on Fu Rangyi’s face also faded. He said, “I’m only going for the preliminary site investigation. It shouldn’t take many days. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Zhu Zhixi nodded. “Okay, husband. I’ll take care of things at home.” Then he made a request. “I want to go back to my room. Carry me.” After speaking, he stood up and stretched out his arms.

Fu Rangyi looked at Zhu Zhixi standing on the sofa, much taller than him, and thought of an Arctic hare. He didn’t pick him up immediately, only saying, “That last sentence, say it again.”

“Hm?” Zhu Zhixi replayed it in his mind. “I’ll take care of things at home!”

Fu Rangyi: “…The one before that.”

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Zhixi spoke again. “I still have to find the dog.”

Fu Rangyi suspected he was doing it on purpose. Helpless, he crossed his arms and stared at him.

Only then did Zhu Zhixi break character and laugh, wrapping his arms around Fu Rangyi’s neck. “Okay, husband.”

And so they completed the koala transfer mission together, though the destination was slightly off. Zhu Zhixi didn’t end up back in his own room, but in Fu Rangyi’s, pressed against the large bed in a sticky kiss.

Zhu Zhixi’s hands were tangled in the hair at the back of his head, rubbing, and he asked between kisses, “Who said he wanted to come to the master bedroom?”

“Isn’t the master bedroom a room?” Fu Rangyi was being cunning without any restraint. “The bed here is bigger.”

Zhu Zhixi suspected he was implying something. The day before yesterday, he had proactively invited Fu Rangyi to sleep in his room. He said it was for sleeping, but it was actually seduction. As soon as the lights were off, he started to grope restlessly, but because he had mentioned an upset stomach during dinner, Fu Rangyi refused to take the bait.

He said he could only use his hands. Zhu Zhixi was dizzy with anger, loudly saying who wanted to negotiate with him, and directly rolled over and straddled him, saying he wanted to quickly extend the countdown. As a result, it was too dark in the room, and he misjudged. In that one straddle, half his body almost fell off, scaring him to death. He reached out for a life-saving straw, but who knew he would also pull the dazed Mr. Straw down with him.

The two of them fell onto the carpet together, the culprit’s head being protected by the victim’s large hand. He meowed against Fu Rangyi’s chest, and Fu Rangyi couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The two of them laughed for a long time before getting back on that small bed.

“What do you need such a big bed for?” Zhu Zhixi didn’t finish his sentence. A hand reached to the back of his neck and tore off the waterproof bandage stuck there, as if tearing off an inhibitor patch.

Fu Rangyi: “Marking.”

For a moment, he felt as if he could really sense Fu Rangyi’s overflowing pheromones. He desperately needed a shot of suppressant.

What he wanted to do was more than just marking. For Zhu Zhixi, marking meant being bitten, which was painful and uncomfortable. But his other requests were rejected.

“We have a medical check-up tomorrow,” Fu Rangyi said, but his kisses covered his entire body.

“Then don’t kiss me…” Zhu Zhixi’s last word trembled and changed pitch. He was covered in sweat, and even his ears were burning.

And kissing so immorally, so improperly.

“Kissing is fine,” Fu Rangyi’s voice was a bit hoarse.

Such a cruel sentence.

“Fu Rangyi, what is wrong with you…”

As if he couldn’t hear, Fu Rangyi pressed him down, licked and kissed that dark mole, then bit the thin skin there, slowly and leisurely, kissing from the side to the middle, using his teeth to bite the edge of the fabric and pull it off.

Alright, there are other services. Then it’s fine. Zhu Zhixi’s head was spinning. His hands clenched his hair. Short, bristly hair. He had grown it long before, had worn it in a small braid.

He actually began to fantasize about the scene of Fu Rangyi pressing down on him, first tying his own hair with a thin black rubber band. Not a husbandly fox spirit, but a pure, dog-like undergraduate student.

“Mmm…”

What happened next became a bit like a dream. Zhu Zhixi, not quite conscious, lifted his legs, crossed and wrapped them tightly. The short stubble of hair brushed against the skin of his inner thighs, very itchy.

He lifted his body, chaotically grasping Fu Rangyi’s hands, lacing their fingers together. Not long after, he fell heavily back onto the large bed, panting, letting Fu Rangyi return and give him an even stickier kiss.

“Pervert…” He was kissed until his words were slurred, even his curses were not quite right.

“So what?” Fu Rangyi smiled at him with his seemingly righteous and noble flower-on-a-high-peak face, then lowered his head and meticulously kissed away the stuff he had gotten on him.

Zhu Zhixi was dazed by this smile. Soon, he felt he was being too pathetic, always being mesmerized by this face, so he deliberately said, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

Hearing this, Fu Rangyi let out a low laugh. “You don’t want to talk to me again.”

After a moment, he grabbed Zhu Zhixi’s shoulders, flipped him over, and held him tightly with his arms.

“No need to talk, just moan.”

Zhu Zhixi had wanted to hold back, but he still moaned during the marking.

In the end, although he had preserved a moment of dignity, his thighs and the back of his neck did not escape unscathed.

He lay there, drenched in sweat, his mind replaying the events. So, as Fu Rangyi panted into the crook of his neck, he let out a strange sigh.

“Alphas really should have long hair.”

Fu Rangyi lifted his face.

“…”

As if the network had suddenly disconnected, he maintained this position with his face lifted, frozen for a long time, then suddenly understood and lowered his head.

He had almost hit a certain Alpha third party.

Zhu Zhixi was completely oblivious to this and continued his spell. “Long-haired guys are good, long-haired guys are handsome, long-haired guys tying up their sweaty hair after doing it are super cute.”

But Fu Rangyi said nothing, just buried his face again and quietly ground his teeth on his collarbone for a while.

Did he not get such an obvious hint? Zhu Zhixi was speechless and poked his ribs with his elbow.

Fu Rangyi looked up. “Were you talking to me?”

Zhu Zhixi: “Who else?”

Fu Rangyi: “Didn’t you say you weren’t talking to me anymore?”

Zhu Zhixi was so angry he rolled over to bite him, but his move was anticipated, and his chin was caught in a kiss. When he was almost breathless from the kiss, the former long-haired man finally let him go, his large palm stroking his back, coaxing him to sleep.

The next morning, they arrived at the hospital. As they were in the elevator, Zhu Zhixi’s phone vibrated. He opened it to see a WeChat message.

[Nian Nian: Shared a photo]

The background of the photo was clearly an archaeological site. Fu Rangyi was standing inside, facing sideways to the camera, holding a large drawing board and drawing stratigraphic lines. He was looking down, a strand of half-long hair falling across his jaw, half-covering his face. A small braid was tied at the back of his head.

Zhu Zhixi audibly gasped in the elevator. Everyone looked at him.

“It’s nothing,” he looked up and smiled, waving his hand. “The elevator is fine. I won a prize. Congratulations to all of us.”

The other people, alarmed, didn’t know what expression to make and turned their faces away. Only Fu Rangyi was holding back a laugh.

[Nian Nian: Retracted message]

“Why did you retract it?” Zhu Zhixi quickly grabbed his guilty hand. “Ah, I’ll kill you!”

The people in the same elevator were very confused again, peeking through the mirror. The prize is gone so quickly?

Fu Rangyi said with a straight face, “I accidentally sent it to the wrong person.”

Zhu Zhixi smiled without smiling, muttering through gritted teeth, “Then which little vixen did you originally intend to send it to?”

Fu Rangyi lowered his head and leaned close to his ear. “Last night’s rabbit spirit.”

The elevator doors opened, and the people inside rushed out. Zhu Zhixi, his ears red, continued to pester him for the photo, acting cute and throwing a tantrum, and finally got it. He enlarged the photo and looked at it for a long time.

“When can you grow it long again?”

Fu Rangyi said, “My job requires me to pay some attention to my appearance. Short hair is more formal. Long hair is not so proper.”

That was true. But Zhu Zhixi wouldn’t give up. “Then grow it out for me during the summer vacation. Don’t cut your hair.”

“Summer vacation can only grow this much,” Fu Rangyi gestured with his hand. “It’s very ugly.” It was a somewhat ridiculous bob cut.

“I don’t care,” Zhu Zhixi said. “I want to see it.”

“Then you can buy a wig. You can have it as long as you want.”

As they talked, they arrived at the reproductive medicine department. It was still Director Wang. When he saw the two of them, he pushed his reading glasses up his nose, smiled, and familiarly wrote out a request form, sending them for a check-up.

This time, Fu Rangyi accompanied him throughout the imaging process. So when the coupling gel was applied and the kiss marks were visible, Zhu Zhixi was even more embarrassed.

But Fu Rangyi still had that icy face, staring intently at his lower abdomen.

After the scan, they went for a blood test and other follow-up items. When they returned, the digital images were already out.

Director Wang looked at the images on the computer, stroking his chin and mouth, his brows furrowed, his expression a bit grave. This scared Zhu Zhixi.

“Director Wang, am I okay? Why aren’t you smiling?” he asked in a low voice. Director Wang looked up, glanced at him, and then sighed. Zhu Zhixi’s heart was in his throat. Fu Rangyi also frowned.

Then Director Wang said, “After I wrote out your forms just now, I thought I’d eat a rice ball for breakfast. But I accidentally bit my mouth. I can’t smile.”

Both of them fell silent.

Fu Rangyi closed his eyes. “Then is his condition okay? Although Li Qiao said there shouldn’t be much change in such a short time, we were still a little worried, so we came for a check-up early.”

“Li Qiao was right, which is why I feel something is off.” He looked at the images again, clicked his tongue, and then looked up, his gaze sweeping back and forth between their faces.

Zhu Zhixi suspected that every doctor had taken a course on scaring patients.

“Have you two had sexual relations recently?”

This question again. But Zhu Zhixi was not the same person he was before.

He nodded vigorously. “Yes, that’s right, Director Wang. Not only did we have relations, but I also let him bite my neck. Every day. There’s not a single good piece of skin on my neck now.”

Director Wang raised a hand. “No need to be so detailed.”

“I told Li Qiao before that Xiao Zhu most likely has a latently developed gland.” He turned the computer screen around and pointed to a small shadow on the image. “Look, the left is from last time, the right is from this time. The volume has doubled.”

As he spoke, he clicked the mouse again, jumping to another image. “This is the lower abdomen. See this shadow? It wasn’t this dark last time, and the area has also become larger.”

Zhu Zhixi’s palms were sweating. “What is this… it’s not a tumor, is it?”

Fu Rangyi gripped his shoulder tightly.

“What tumor?” Director Wang almost rolled his eyes. “This is a reproductive cavity. Look at you two. You and your physiology teacher both need to be criticized.”

Zhu Zhixi’s brain almost crashed. His first reaction was actually: The physiology teacher is indeed on site.

“A reproductive cavity?” Fu Rangyi frowned. “Didn’t you say last time that his reproductive cavity was almost completely atrophied? That it was negligible.”

“Yes, almost. See how rigorous my wording is.” Director Wang leaned back in his chair and took a sip of tea. “It has most likely undergone secondary development due to the influence of pheromones. The opening of the cavity has even grown out, although it’s still very small. I had to magnify it several times to be sure.”

“Why would this happen?” Zhu Zhixi blinked.

“Why?” Director Wang looked at the two of them with a smile. “Ask yourselves.”