Chapter 65: Unexpected Visitor

By the time he carried Zhu Zhixi to the bathroom to clean up, Fu Rangyi had already regained most of his reason.

In the bathtub, he held Zhu Zhixi in his arms, letting him sleep soundly against his shoulder. His movements were very careful and light, afraid of waking him. Looking at the kiss marks and bruises on Zhu Zhixi’s body, as well as the wound on the back of his neck, Fu Rangyi felt a little guilty.

Every time before, he had been very aware of his limits, not wanting to hurt him. But during his susceptible period, even as his reason constantly pulled at him, there were many times he couldn’t control his instincts.

During the cleaning, Zhu Zhixi seemed uncomfortable and whimpered in his arms, but he didn’t wake up.

“It’s okay, go to sleep,” Fu Rangyi coaxed. After confirming he was clean, he dried him off and carried him back to bed.

Zhu Zhixi was very clingy when he slept. It was as if he had a magnet; he could always find him, nuzzle up, rub against him, and precisely find the most fitting position to hold him and fall into a deep sleep.

Fu Rangyi, however, felt no sleepiness.

The scent of pomelo blossoms couldn’t be retained in his body for long. He was actually very clear that he couldn’t permanently mark Zhu Zhixi. After all, he was a Beta who couldn’t be marked. The fact that he could knot inside his body was something he should be content with.

But he wasn’t. Because he couldn’t mark him, couldn’t physiologically leave a permanent brand, he did it again and again. And Zhu Zhixi accepted him, again and again.

Although the marking wasn’t permanent, Zhu Zhixi could inexplicably soothe him.

Fu Rangyi could clearly feel that the pheromones in his body were stabilizing, the previous restlessness gone, replaced by peace. It was as if he had suddenly been scooped out of scorching magma and placed in a sun-drenched green meadow. A gentle breeze blew, and on the grass was a yellow checkered picnic blanket. Zhu Zhixi was sitting on it, turning his head and waving at him.

It was very calm, very soft.

He quietly held Zhu Zhixi.

The sleeping Zhu Zhixi was like a soft, fluffy sponge ball, his skin emitting a faint, sweet fragrance. It wasn’t entirely the scent of pomelo blossoms. The smell was very subtle, somewhat like the clear fragrance of rice porridge that had been simmered for a long time, or like the smell of a quilt that had been sun-dried for an afternoon in winter—warm and comfortable.

This person clearly had no pheromones, yet Fu Rangyi always smelled so many scents on him—the sweet apple pie from the street corner, the lush green scent of freshly cut roses, the faint sweet and sour notes of white wine, the soft baby powder, the damp moss on a rainy day, the cold, crisp air after snow, the free wind in the valley carrying the scent of grass…

After recounting them, he suddenly felt less regretful. Zhu Zhixi was good. This world was good. All the good smells in the world were his “pheromones.” Even someone as insensitive as him had smelled them one by one through Zhu Zhixi’s body, as if his senses had been opened, and he had been reborn.

He had never loved this world and thought he didn’t need to, but this world had handed him a big sponge ball, letting him try to embrace it, and prophetically told him: You will fall in love.

In the quiet night, he kissed Zhu Zhixi’s forehead, several times.

Then he softly repeated a sentence, many times.

“I love you.”

Until he fell into a soft dream with him.

When he woke up, Zhu Zhixi’s whole body was sore. It felt like not a single bone was intact, and his eyes were also a little swollen, unable to open. He habitually reached out and felt the side of the bed next to him; it was empty.

Only a rabbit doll was left next to him.

This woke him up for the most part. He grabbed the rabbit and suddenly looked up, scanning his surroundings. “Fu Rangyi?”

His voice was so hoarse that no sound came out… One might think his long legs from last night had been newly exchanged for his voice, which would explain why it hurt so much.

A wave of dizziness hit, and Zhu Zhixi fell back onto the pillow. He found his phone, opened it, and saw that it was 10:23 AM.

He squinted, opened the pinned chat dialogue, typed halfway, then remembered something and tapped on a certain someone’s contact name.

[Wife (rabbit emoji): Where did you go?]

[Wife (rabbit emoji): You can already go out? Am I that effective?]

His eyes hurt from crying, but he still tried to keep them open and opened the wristband monitoring software. This time the wristband was online, and it was no longer a sea of scarlet. There were only a few isolated orange-red spots; the rest were the yellow of a fluctuation period and the stable blue.

Zhu Zhixi let out a sigh of relief, and then felt a little satisfied.

So it turns out you can soothe an Alpha even without pheromones? And a top-tier Alpha in their susceptible period at that.

There aren’t many Betas like me who excel at everything they do.

Holding his phone, he closed his eyes to rest, feeling smug. Before long, his phone vibrated.

[Ex-husband: Buying things. On my way back.]

[Ex-husband: Do you want coffee?]

Zhu Zhixi felt at ease.

[Wife (rabbit emoji): No, so sleepy, I want to sleep more.]

After replying, he tossed his phone aside, closed his eyes, and pulled the covers over his head, wanting to continue sleeping. But strangely, even though he was very tired and sleepy, he tossed and turned and couldn’t fall back asleep.

Until he heard the sound of a card swiping, he was startled and quickly hugged the fake rabbit, pulling the covers over his head to pretend to be asleep.

Through the quilt, he heard the door open, then the sound of Fu Rangyi changing his shoes. The deliberately softened footsteps and the rustling of a plastic bag gradually approached and came to the side of the bed.

He heard a very soft “Baby?”, but didn’t respond and continued to feign sleep. He somewhat regretted it; he should have slept on his stomach instead of his back. This way, it was really easy to give himself away. Although he didn’t know why he suddenly wanted to pretend to be asleep.

Then, he felt Fu Rangyi lift the quilt from over his head. A cool palm rested on his forehead, brushing his hair aside, and a soft, light kiss fell.

Without a second call, Fu Rangyi got up and left. He seemed to have gone to the bathroom. After washing his hands, he took something out of the bag, and then there was a long silence.

What is he doing? Zhu Zhixi was curious. Just as he was thinking this, another sound came. It was the sound of unwrapping a package, and then… it sounded very much like a thin rubber film being applied to skin…

The quilt was lifted.

What’s going on? He’s not going to do it again as soon as he gets back, is he! He didn’t wear one before, and now he remembers to wear one?

Zhu Zhixi lay on his back facing the ceiling, his back tense, about to sweat. Fu Rangyi was sitting next to him. He didn’t dare to open his eyes, but he could feel his hand slipping under the covers. Strangely, when it touched him, the hand was much warmer than before.

The warm hand held his right leg and gently lifted it up. Just like that, the crook of his knee rested on Fu Rangyi’s arm.

This was simply too familiar. He was easily opened up. The other hand, just as he had imagined, expertly found a certain spot.

Do you really want to be a widower?? Zhu Zhixi was about to jump up and argue with Fu Rangyi. But in the next second, he was so chilled he almost whimpered.

The fingers were warm, covered by rubber finger cots, but the gel was too cold. The moment it touched him, Zhu Zhixi couldn’t help but flinch.

So it was applying medicine…

Seemingly sensing this, Fu Rangyi didn’t speak but paused for a few seconds before continuing. However, in the next second, besides the coldness, a foreign sensation followed. He wasn’t just applying it to the surface.

Zhu Zhixi’s brow furrowed tightly. It felt very strange. Perhaps his movements were very gentle, and the cool ointment quickly soothed the burning sensation, but, but…

He felt Fu Rangyi’s fingertip stop at a certain spot and scrape it.

Was that on purpose?

“Do you need to apply it that deep??” Zhu Zhixi finally couldn’t take it anymore. He propped himself up on his arms and questioned the “doctor.”

He thought the great Dr. Fu would tilt his head in a daze and then stop. But who knew that he would take advantage of Zhu Zhixi’s propped-up posture to go even deeper.

“You’re awake?” Fu Rangyi asked flatly.

Through the thin layer of rubber, Zhu Zhixi could even feel the touch of the cool wedding ring. Zhu Zhixi’s eyes widened as he met his gaze in disbelief.

“You knew I was pretending to be asleep?”

Fu Rangyi hummed in agreement. “I knew as soon as I came in.”

“Why?” Zhu Zhixi couldn’t understand. “How did you find out? I thought I acted it out very well.”

Fu Rangyi withdrew his finger, squeezed out more medicine, and said casually, “You can tell after watching it enough times.”

So you weren’t sleeping, just watching me sleep, Zhu Zhixi thought.

“Oh, I don’t want to apply it anymore,” he reached out to grab Fu Rangyi’s wrist. “That’s enough, it’s so cold.”

“Bear with it. It feels inflamed,” Fu Rangyi said. “I also bought anti-inflammatory medicine. You need to take it after you eat.”

“But you don’t have to put it all the way inside…” Zhu Zhixi twisted his waist to dodge, but couldn’t get away and was held by the waist by Fu Rangyi. He was both angry and amused. How could someone be so serious?

So he deliberately teased, “Professor Fu, you’re not going to apply it to the opening of the cavity too, are you? Your fingers aren’t long enough for that.” As he spoke, he reached out his hand, his fingers slithering into his shirt like little snakes, tracing lines here and there.

Fu Rangyi caught his hand, lacing their fingers together. The roots of his ears turned red, yet he said with a straight face, “Don’t move around. It’ll be over soon.”

Zhu Zhixi wanted to laugh. It was as if the person who had been fucking like his life depended on it before wasn’t him. But seeing how seriously Fu Rangyi was applying the medicine, he thought again, could it be that now that Fu Rangyi was sober, he felt very guilty? This should be the first time in his life he had lost control like this.

Zhu Zhixi still remembered that at one point in the middle of it all, he had been so drained of energy that he seemed to have briefly passed out, which had scared Fu Rangyi into stopping, holding him and shaking him until he woke him up.

At that time, he seemed to have mumbled some nonsense, something about wanting to eat strawberry tarts… Fu Rangyi had held him in his arms for a long time. He had rubbed against his chest and fallen asleep again.

Fu Rangyi must have been terrified.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhixi leaned over, wrapped his arms around Fu Rangyi’s waist, and said to him, “I’m fine, you know. I feel pretty good.”

“But you were crying the whole time afterward,” Fu Rangyi said with his eyes downcast. “I asked if it hurt, and you said it didn’t.”

Of course, that was a lie. I’m the kind of person who cries out twice just for fun even from a paper cut.

“It really didn’t hurt,” Zhu Zhixi rested his chin on his leg and said in a small voice. “It was very comfortable. It was because it was too comfortable that I cried.”

Fu Rangyi stared at him for a while, then released his hand and tapped his nose.

“You also said before that if I didn’t let you stay, you would cry until my susceptible period ended. The result of staying was about the same.”

“That’s very different,” Zhu Zhixi looked up and gave a sweet smile. “The tears I shed these past few days were tears of happiness. If you had sent me away to live in that stupid special ward, I would definitely have washed my face with tears of sorrow at the visitation window every day.”

The medicine application was over. Fu Rangyi took off his gloves, leaned over, and kissed the red mole on his eyelid.

“My eyes are all swollen…” Zhu Zhixi said.

“Mm,” Fu Rangyi touched it again with his lips. “It’s like kissing a little water balloon.”

Zhu Zhixi grabbed his arm and bit it.

Fu Rangyi let him bite without getting angry. With his other hand, he grabbed a pillow and stacked it behind Zhu Zhixi. After he was done biting, he lifted him up to lean against the pillow, got up, found a shirt to drape over him, and then went to the table, bending over to rummage through a paper bag.

“What are you doing?” Zhu Zhixi put on the shirt, randomly buttoned a few buttons, and watched him.

Before long, Fu Rangyi returned and sat down next to him, holding two small boxes in his hand. Zhu Zhixi leaned over to look and was dumbfounded.

It was actually strawberry tarts and a slice of chocolate mille-crêpe cake.

“You really bought them?” Zhu Zhixi’s swollen eyes lit up. Wasn’t this just his delirious rambling?

“Mm. But they didn’t have a strawberry flavor,” Fu Rangyi pointed at the pile of strawberry chunks on the tart. “I went to a fruit-cutting shop to buy strawberries and assembled them.”

Zhu Zhixi smiled. “The assembly is too perfect.” He carefully took the tart. The strawberries on top trembled and were soon popped into his mouth.

“Mmm!” Zhu Zhixi gave a thumbs up. “So delicious.”

“Slow down,” Fu Rangyi used a napkin to wipe his mouth.

“Did I also say I wanted to eat chocolate mille-crêpe cake when I was talking nonsense?” Zhu Zhixi ate with great relish but couldn’t remember at all.

“Nonsense? No,” Fu Rangyi said casually. “When I was buying the tarts, I saw people lining up to buy this. I thought you might like it too.”

Lining up to buy dessert. That really didn’t seem like something Fu Rangyi would do.

“Thank you,” Zhu Zhixi smiled and wrapped his arms around his neck. “After eating these, I feel like I’ve come back to life. I could run a marathon, no problem!”

“Don’t talk big,” Fu Rangyi tapped his forehead and stroked his back. “Did you get enough sleep?”

Hearing this, Zhu Zhixi felt something was wrong and frowned. “What’s wrong? Do you have to work? Didn’t you say you took leave for your susceptible period?”

“No,” Fu Rangyi thought for a moment, as if it were a difficult question to answer clearly. Finally, he reached out his hand to Zhu Zhixi. “Let me borrow your phone for a second.”

Zhu Zhixi, his voice hoarse, thought, might as well act it out. “Yes, Your Majesty.” He took the phone and presented it with both hands in an exaggerated manner. “If you please.”

Fu Rangyi was amused by him, naturally unlocked it, then, facing his own phone, dialed a number and held the phone to Zhu Zhixi’s ear.

After a few beeps, the call connected. A familiar voice came from the other end.

“Hello?” The familiar, upward-lilting, fox-like tail of a voice.

Zhu Zhixi’s eyes widened. He looked at the other fox spirit very close to him, blinked rapidly, and mouthed while covering the receiver: He Xueyao?

Fu Rangyi nodded with a blank expression, then gestured with his chin, signaling him to speak.

Zhu Zhixi cleared his throat for a long time and greeted with a slightly awkward smile, “Hello, sister-in-law.”

There was a second of silence on the other end of the line. When he spoke again, the upward lilt was even more exaggerated. “Little brother, don’t just call me whatever. I still have to get married in the future. But speaking of which, what happened to you? Which brat set off firecrackers in your throat?”

Zhu Zhixi’s expression changed.

He didn’t know about anything else, but that mouth of his was a perfect match for Da Zhu.

Zhu Zhixi: “What did you call for?”

The other end laughed. “Baby, take a look at who’s calling?”

Eh? Zhu Zhixi moved it away a little to look at the screen, and in the next second, the phone was taken away by Fu Rangyi and put on speaker.

“Let’s get down to business,” Fu Rangyi’s expression was much gloomier than before. “You should know why I’m calling back with Zhu Zhixi’s phone.”

Zhu Zhixi blinked. Why?

He Xueyao’s tone was amused. “To avoid suspicion, of course. Don’t worry, I’m not interested in married men. Professor Fu’s eyes are practically glued to Second Young Master Zhu’s face. How could I not see that? But I really do have something important. In an hour, let’s meet at the coffee shop on the first floor of your hotel and talk face-to-face, okay?”

Fu Rangyi glanced at Zhu Zhixi and asked softly, “Is that okay?”

Zhu Zhixi thought of what Zhu Zeran had said before he came and figured that maybe He Xueyao really did have something important. Even if it wasn’t anything serious, he could help Zhu Zeran find out. After all, that guy rarely asked for help, and this time he had even come to him.

“Sure,” Zhu Zhixi said with a smile. “See you at the coffee shop, sister-in-law.”

“I’ll say this one last time, don’t call me sister-in-law,” He Xueyao said, leaning back on the booth sofa. He smiled, his eyes sweeping over the two of them.

Faced with Zhu Zhixi, who had been calling him random names from the start, he just smiled and chided, “Xiao Xi, is my name that hard to remember? If so, you can call me Brother Xueyao, or Xueyao, whatever you like.”

Fu Rangyi’s face darkened again.

“Just kidding. I know you two aren’t dating,” Zhu Zhixi said, pulling Fu Rangyi to sit down with him.

“That’s not a funny joke,” He Xueyao looked up at him, his face full of suspicion. “Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors? Did someone hit you?”

Zhu Zhixi was startled by his words and rubbed his nose. “No, my eyes… are a little swollen.”

“Oh,” He Xueyao glanced at Fu Rangyi, smiled, and raised his hand to turn his own neck and wristband to the highest setting. “Professor Fu seems to have had a very nourishing business trip.”

Fu Rangyi clearly had no patience to chat with him. “If you have something to say, say it directly. I’m only giving you fifteen minutes.”

“Do you two have something urgent to do?” He Xueyao raised an eyebrow. “Not going to let our Xiao Xi rest a bit?”

Fu Rangyi’s patience was running out. “You don’t want to talk here? We still have time to go to the police station now.”

Zhu Zhixi was stunned. “Police station??” He grabbed Fu Rangyi’s arm, gave it a tug, and then smiled at He Xueyao opposite him, as if to say: He’s just like that.

He Xueyao, however, showed no reaction. The flirtatious look on his face also disappeared. “Your counter-surveillance skills aren’t bad. Did you discover I had someone follow you a few days ago?”

Fu Rangyi said with a cold face, “The person you hired was very unprofessional.”

On the day he bought the suppressants, he had noticed something was off. His first reaction was that it was the person who had been sending harassing text messages. He had deliberately eaten oden at the convenience store to see if that person would follow him in.

Sure enough, the other person came in. It was a face he had never seen before, an Alpha, but with a considerable size difference. He felt he could take him down in a few moves.

Fu Rangyi wanted to know the other person’s intentions and pretended to be oblivious. When he was about to get up and leave, the person who had been lingering by the shelves for a long time finally made a move, seeming to want to leave the convenience store with him, and even deliberately bumped into him.

He didn’t seem like a stalker, much less someone who was going to commit a crime. He was more like a thief.

“He had your pheromones on him, very faint. It must have been from accidental contact,” Fu Rangyi said directly. “So, what do you want?”

After hearing this, He Xueyao smiled. “Actually, I didn’t plan to approach you directly at first. You’re both married, and I don’t want to get involved and bring trouble upon myself. So I was more inclined to ask Xiao Xi for this favor, but unfortunately, Xiao Xi didn’t answer my call.”

Zhu Zhixi was a little dazed and muttered to himself, “So what Da Zhu said was true…”

He Xueyao’s expression became serious. He also sat up straight, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop. After a moment of consideration, he spoke, “Professor Fu, we’re all smart people, so let’s not waste each other’s time. Forgive my bluntness, but your current parents are not your biological parents, are they?”

---

Little Theater: After Little Baby Zhu Fell Asleep

After the last round, Xiao Zhu passed out again. Fu Rangyi pinched his cheek, leaned over, and heard the “fufu” breathing sound that Xiao Zhu only made when he was asleep.

He was relieved. He got up to run a hot bath, then carried him in for a soak. Since it was daytime, he called hotel service and asked them to come change the sheets while they were bathing, as the previous ones were all wet. Professor Fu specifically reminded them on the phone that it would be best if the staff were Beta.

By the time he was done cleaning Xiao Zhu, the room was also brand new. He put Xiao Zhu back in the clean quilt, held him, and stared at him for a long time, playing with his hair, tracing his lips with his fingers, pinching the tip of his nose, and gently slipping his fingertip under his rabbit teeth, laughing when he was bitten.

After playing with Xiao Zhu for half an hour, he was finally willing to sleep. Before sleeping, he searched for some terms online:

[How many days will a Beta be sore after doing it with an Alpha]

The posts below were practically a collective complaint from Betas and a confession room for Alphas. Fu Rangyi almost joined the latter but held back.

Search: [Pain relief ointment after XX]

He saw a comment from a Beta: [XXX ointment is very good. I always buy some to have on hand. It’s impossible to count on my husband. He only does it and takes no responsibility. If I had known, I wouldn’t have married him. No wonder they all say AB relationships don’t have good outcomes…]

Fu Rangyi stared at that comment for a long time, and finally couldn’t resist replying: [AB relationships are great. Your husband is not so great. You might consider a divorce.]

Then he was cursed at with “Are you crazy?” and blocked.

Zhu Zhixi trembled in his sleep, held him tighter, and whimpered a couple of times, which made Fu Rangyi feel much better. He didn’t bother with that stupid Beta.

Exiting that question, he searched: [Nearby shops that sell tarts], found a target, confirmed the opening hours, and set an alarm.

Hugging the little rabbit, smelling the little rabbit, he went to sleep.