Gu Lingzhou had originally intended to carry Shi Yuxing home, but before the car had even come to a full stop, the sound of the back door opening beat the handbrake. He was about to stop him when he heard a “swish,” followed by the steady sound of Shi Yuxing landing firmly on the ground.
Before Gu Lingzhou could react, Shi Yuxing pointed at that pile of tissues, his face red, and dropped a line: “They’re all your offspring. You deal with them yourself.”
“Wait for me.” He pulled the handbrake, quickly disposed of the trash in the back seat, and then wanted to take Shi Yuxing’s hand to lead him upstairs. However, his wife clearly didn’t want him to hold it—he pulled his hand back and refused to let him touch it. The handsome and tall alpha curved his lips and couldn’t help teasing: “Still shy about what happened earlier?”
“You’re talking nonsense, I’m not!” Shi Yuxing quickened his pace, putting distance between himself and Gu Lingzhou. Gu Lingzhou followed, telling him to slow down, but the next second Shi Yuxing nearly stumbled and fell.
Thankfully, General Gu’s eyes and hands were quick—he caught him around the waist. “If you keep this up, I’m going to carry you. You can barely walk steadily and you’re still being stubborn.”
Shi Yuxing’s face turned even redder at whatever came to mind. “Take your right hand off me. You haven’t washed it and you’re touching me—that’s disgusting.”
“Disgusted?” Gu Lingzhou found it amusing and switched to his left hand, but Shi Yuxing was even less pleased. “Your left hand is still holding tissues. I don’t want that either.” It wasn’t that Shi Yuxing was actually disgusted—he just wanted to stay far away from Gu Lingzhou right now. The restrained yet pleased expression on Gu Lingzhou’s face in the back seat, along with the bobbing of his Adam’s apple as he leaned over him, made Shi Yuxing’s whole body prickle with discomfort. He knew his own expression at that moment must have been absolutely mortifying. Thinking about how the alpha’s stomach still contained the “food” he’d produced made him want to crawl into the ground.
Gu Lingzhou raised an eyebrow, ignored everything, bent down, hoisted him up, and draped Shi Yuxing over his shoulder with a hand on his butt.
“Ah!” Shi Yuxing’s stomach ached from being pressed against his shoulder. He slapped Gu Lingzhou’s back twice, hard, but Gu Lingzhou kept walking, his upper body as steady as a mountain, completely unaffected by Shi Yuxing’s egg-against-a-rock strength.
The more he struggled, the hotter the palm on his backside felt.
The person on his shoulder finally deflated. Gu Lingzhou stopped, unable to see Shi Yuxing’s face, and could only ask: “Baby tired?”
Shi Yuxing let out a soft whimper. By the time Gu Lingzhou noticed and put him down, the omega’s face was glistening with tears—he had already cried himself into a mess. Gu Lingzhou reached out to touch him, but Shi Yuxing squatted down in the nearest corner, turned his face away, and covered his eyes to wipe his tears.
Gu Lingzhou thought, Oh no, did I pat too hard and hurt him? He walked over, found a position where Shi Yuxing could lean against him, and squatted down, apologizing softly: “I’m sorry baby, does it hurt a lot?”
“Wuwu…” Shi Yuxing turned in another direction and continued covering his eyes. He didn’t know why he was like this—the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. Normally, he definitely wouldn’t cry if Gu Lingzhou did this. Maybe it was his shame acting up. The omega found an imaginary crack in the earth to crawl into. He took off his jacket and buried his face in the fabric, pressing his lips together and falling silent.
The inner lining underneath was very thin. His lean spine protruded, trembling slightly, and the sight made Gu Lingzhou’s heart ache. The general took off his own jacket and draped it over Shi Yuxing, only to have it brushed away by an outstretched hand. Gu Lingzhou covered him a fourth time before Shi Yuxing finally stopped pushing the clothes off. By then, the sobbing had subsided, though his shoulders still shook intermittently, and the hair on top of his head swayed dazedly.
“Baby, I’m sorry,” Gu Lingzhou didn’t dare forcefully dig him out, and he had no toy to lure this stubborn little cat out with, so he could only keep apologizing. “I’m sorry, I won’t pat you anymore.”
Seeing that Shi Yuxing wasn’t responding, Gu Lingzhou leaned close to his ear and asked, “How about you pat me back?”
Hearing this, Shi Yuxing’s trembling lessened. Gu Lingzhou saw an opening and kissed his exposed cheek, apologizing gently: “Don’t cry anymore, okay? Hubby will let you get back at me tonight—however you want, just don’t cripple me.”
Shi Yuxing rubbed the spot of skin that had gotten Gu Lingzhou’s saliva on it and revealed one wet eye. His lashes were clumped into little black clusters, and the rims of his eyes were red from crying. Gu Lingzhou tucked the hair stuck to his face behind his ear. “Has baby forgiven me?”
The two squatted not far from the basement exit. The light above cast their shadows small and dark, like two insignificant little ants huddled together between heaven and earth.
“No.” Shi Yuxing’s voice was muffled, still thick with tears, and that one eye glared at him resentfully, though his attitude had softened slightly. Gu Lingzhou slowly reached out and pulled him into his arms. Shi Yuxing bumped into him in frustration, nearly losing his balance.
“Baby’s so fierce,” Gu Lingzhou rubbed his chest, still playing pitiful. “Ow, that hurts.”
“Hmph!” Shi Yuxing revealed his other eye, an angry little cat wanting to bite him to death. “I hope it hurts you to death.”
Gu Lingzhou curved his lips. “Can’t have that—if baby becomes a widow and gets taken away, what would I do?”
“Who cares about you.” Gu Lingzhou could obviously tell it was just angry talk. His hand slid down to Shi Yuxing’s backside and rubbed, startling the omega so much that he sprang up and hit his chin against Gu Lingzhou’s with a hard thud.
With a “thump,” both of them fell to the ground. Gu Lingzhou landed on the cement floor with his back, his stomach still shielding Shi Yuxing. He propped himself up on his elbows. “Did you get hurt?”
Shi Yuxing scrambled to his feet, brushed the dust off himself, and looked at Gu Lingzhou’s outstretched hand. He chose to ignore it, turned his head, and spat out three words: “Serves you right.”
Abandoned by his wife’s series of cold-shoulder attacks, the General could only pick himself up. “Baby, I’ll wait for you to get back at me tonight.” Shi Yuxing hugged his clothes and shook off the military uniform jacket from his shoulder again. “Hmph!” He strode toward the exit without any intention of waiting for Gu Lingzhou. Gu Lingzhou dusted off his jacket while taking long strides to catch up with Shi Yuxing, draping it back over him.
When he opened the door, the two “husband-watching stones” inside happened to open the door and run into Shi Yuxing. Xiao Zhou enthusiastically pressed up against him. Shi Yuxing saw that face identical to Gu Lingzhou’s and was about to refuse, but stopped himself from pushing him away, instead rubbing against this young alpha.
His coquettish wife was rather adorable. Xiao Zhou shot Gu Lingzhou a provocative smile. Unexpectedly, today Gu Lingzhou didn’t snap back at him—he just watched quietly, his gaze still intimidating.
Xiao Zhou: “Did wife work overtime today? Why are you back so late?”
“Mm.” Shi Yuxing let go of him, not exposing Gu Lingzhou’s crimes.
“Why aren’t you wearing your jacket properly?” Da Ling stepped forward and wiped the corner of Shi Yuxing’s reddened eye, feeling a faint hint of moisture. He frowned and looked at the certain driver responsible for pick-up and drop-off. “If you can’t take care of him, I’ll pick him up from now on.”
Shi Yuxing quickly changed his shoes and darted into the house. Gu Lingzhou walked past the two gatekeepers, watching the tall, slender figure race up to the second floor.
“No need for your concern. I can take care of him.”
—
Shi Yuxing slipped into the study and locked the door, then walked over to where the velvet box was hidden.
The wedding ring lay inside just as it had last time—the smooth, shiny silver surface faintly reflected his face. Shi Yuxing pinched it out, then slid it onto the base of his ring finger. A perfect fit, as if custom-made for him.
His tea-colored eyes traced the gleam of the ring. This was the second time he’d worn this cold band on his finger, and his state of mind was completely different from before.
The first time—on their wedding day—Shi Yuxing hadn’t even had a chance to look at it before it was taken off. Last time, he hadn’t wanted to put it on, so naturally he’d never had a proper chance to examine this ring.
He and Gu Lingzhou had four rings in total. At their engagement, Gu Lingzhou had put the engagement ring on him—a circle of blinding diamonds surrounding an impossibly ugly oversized red diamond in the center. Anyone would have thought it was one of those diamond candies sold at elementary school gates. Shi Yuxing thought it was ugly and later made him return it for a new one. The one he kept was much more to his liking—simple and pretty.
Shi Yuxing had originally thought about rewarding Gu Lingzhou by wearing the ring and showing it off in front of him, but Gu Lingzhou’s despicable behavior earlier had made him especially angry. This ring could stay in the red velvet box a little longer.
He huffed through his nose. Besides, Gu Lingzhou himself didn’t even wear his on his hand—hanging it around his neck didn’t count. Thinking this, Shi Yuxing was about to take the ring off when the study door suddenly swung open.
The person with an exclamation mark over his head hastily shoved his hand into his pocket and composed his expression before looking at the person at the door—the very subject of his silent complaints just moments ago.
“Baby, time to eat. What are you doing in here?” Gu Lingzhou pushed the door open and entered, fixing his gaze on those eyes full of rippling emotion. He narrowed his eyes slightly, brows furrowing slightly—what mischief was he up to?
Shi Yuxing’s single hand was clamped around the ring on his left ring finger, but the ring fit so perfectly that his thumb couldn’t budge at all in the limited space.
“How did you get in? I locked the door.” Shi Yuxing listened to the footsteps approaching him—not monotonous, keeping time with his heartbeat—swallowed hard, shifted half a step back, his whole body bristling.
Gu Lingzhou smiled and said, “The key was hanging on the door.”
Shi Yuxing: !!!
He really was blind not to have noticed the key hanging on the study door.
“This is my private time. Get out.” Shi Yuxing forced himself to come up with an excuse to kick Gu Lingzhou out. The General first glanced at the very familiar open red velvet box beside him, then shifted his gaze to Shi Yuxing’s bulging pants pocket. Having figured something out, the amusement in his eyes deepened.
Being sized up by those dark pupils wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Shi Yuxing turned his head away and sped up his movements, finally managing to pry the ring loose from his finger.
Gu Lingzhou watched him for a good while before finally looking away and speaking: “Alright then. I’ll wait for you outside to eat.” Shi Yuxing watched him turn and close the door behind him, letting out a breath of relief. He quickly pulled his hand out and yanked the ring off, shoving that scorching hot thing back into the box as if it were a burning potato, and locked it up.
“What an idiot. Almost got caught.” He didn’t know who he was grumbling about—perhaps it was the alpha leaning against the doorframe, pretending to know nothing while secretly curving his lips upward.
By the time Shi Yuxing came out of the study, he cautiously swept his gaze over the beaming, foolishly happy person at the door, didn’t leave a single word, and thundered down the stairs in a clatter—leaving behind Gu Lingzhou, who slowly followed in his footsteps, quietly laughing to himself.
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