Sunlight lay at his feet. His pale, glowing skin was sandwiched between another pair of legs—slightly darker in complexion, firm and strong. Shi Yuxing lay on his side, slowly opening his eyes. The pain nerves in his brain were triggered, and he winced, drawing in a sharp breath. A faint ache throughout his body made him suddenly spasm, his toes curling tight. An arm hung loosely around his waist; when he kicked his leg, the hand slid down a little. The swollen tumor inside him shuddered violently. Trembling, he laboriously twisted half his body around and stared incredulously at the man behind him.
The alpha’s chiseled features were relaxed, his thick brows fading into his temples, a straight nose paired with thin lips—by any standard, he had the looks of a celebrity. But at this moment, Shi Yuxing found him utterly detestable.
Lunatic! Beast!!!
He closed his eyes. A bead of sweat rolled off Gu Lingzhou’s well-defined nose tip, the crystal droplet landing on Shi Yuxing’s neck, gleaming as brightly as the ring. Shi Yuxing opened his eyes, the redness spreading from his earlobes as he cursed under his breath.
“He’s insane—”!!!
Who was this old man’s voice?!
Shi Yuxing covered his Adam’s apple and swallowed. The pain rising from deep in his throat made his body tense.
The alpha seemed to sense this pain alongside him, letting out a low grunt and furrowing his brow. Shi Yuxing’s heart jumped, and he looked over in fright. Gu Lingzhou’s handsome face could cancel out half his anger—but there was still the other half that no amount of good looks could erase. After mulling it over, he chose to flee between the options of murder and escape.
His upper teeth pressed against his lower lip; a faint taste of blood seeped out. Shi Yuxing drew in a sharp breath—Gu Lingzhou really was a dog; his lip was chapped. He cursed under his breath, then endured the twitching pain as he carefully inched toward the edge of the bed. Only nineteen, eighteen, seventeen centimeters left… just five centimeters from the edge! He counted down softly, silently cheering himself on. Watching the distance grow closer, a surge of joy welled up inside him, his heart pounding rapidly—like the elation of a climber stepping onto the final stone step.
“Slap!” The next second, Shi Yuxing stepped on loose gravel, tumbling down from the mountainside and landing back at the starting twenty-centimeter mark. Two sounds rang out simultaneously. Large teardrops fell from the omega’s beautiful peach-blossom eyes. His swan-like neck arched back, cutting off his cry, replaced by heavy breathing and uncontrollable sobs.
The scent of magnolia exploded, intensifying so thickly it made one cough. He lay atop Gu Lingzhou, the side of his ear covered in dense kisses. The low, husky voice intoxicated him, making his ears ache. “Good morning, baby.” Beyond that, the earlier movement had revealed to Shi Yuxing a rooster’s crow that had been prepared long ago. Wave after wave of pleasure assaulted him on the seventh morning after the rut.
Shi Yuxing hummed an off-key tune, broken and breathless. “You—what time did you—wake—uh—up?” The moisture at the corners of his eyes made those agate-like eyes even brighter. “You—get—off!” Gu Lingzhou had disobeyed Shi Yuxing’s orders many times over the past few days, and this time was no exception. He kissed the burning face before him. “When you were cursing me.”
That meant he’d been awake the whole time?! Bastard!!!
Shi Yuxing angrily raised his hand to strike, but the moment before it came down, Gu Lingzhou caught his wrist and placed his palm on his stomach. The General shamelessly whispered dirty words, letting out low, wicked laughs as Shi Yuxing trembled and convulsed. “Keep counting, baby… don’t want to? Then I’ll help baby count—twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen…” That demonic voice echoed in his ear, hammering Shi Yuxing until he could barely endure it, his Adam’s apple bobbing violently. “One centimeter… one more time—hah!… Twenty, nineteen…” The omega clenched his abdominal muscles, gritting his teeth. Torrents of tears burst forth, the root of his tongue trembling.
He regretted it. He’d had a sudden burst of kindness, wanting to help the other get through his rut—what a huge idiot he was!!!
He didn’t know how many times the numbers had gone from twenty to one and back to twenty again. Eventually, Gu Lingzhou only repeated those two numbers, and the person in his arms could only watch the blurry ceiling draw near time and time again. The fruit of the tumor inside him burst, his chest heaving violently, sticky tumor fluid coating the walls—aside from breathing, he could do nothing.
The distance to the edge of the bed finally reached zero. Shi Yuxing collapsed onto the pillow, not even having the energy to get angry. Two large raspberries adorned the unmelted snow, rising and falling with his chest. Gu Lingzhou stared at the lingering white stains, the trailing marks making his Adam’s apple bob involuntarily.
Shi Yuxing: “…………”
Fortunately, the General still possessed a shred of conscience and didn’t cut off the food supply. He gathered his fragile wife in his arms and carried him to warm water.
Shi Yuxing’s anger remained unresolved. While Gu Lingzhou helped him clean away the discharge, he slapped him across the face. The alpha leaned his head over, indicating he was free to hit as much as he liked—but his dexterous fingers seemed to be taking revenge instead. His pale fingers gripped the edge of the tub, droplets of water adorning his pink joints. The water grew murky.
…
Congee was brought to Shi Yuxing’s lips. He pressed his lips together in refusal. He hadn’t eaten any proper meals these past few days—only having thin liquids fed to him during his bouts of unconsciousness. Now that he was awake, they still wanted him to eat liquids? No way. He wanted meat.
“Good baby, eat a little something first, then you can hit me, okay?” Gu Lingzhou coaxed him to open his mouth, slipping the spoon in during the moment Shi Yuxing opened his mouth to curse at him.
“Mmph…” Shi Yuxing opened his mouth and swallowed. Soon, half the small bowl was gone.
Behind his back and under his hips were the soft cushions Gu Lingzhou had specially arranged. He shifted his body lower and stated his demand: “I want meat.” His voice was still hoarse but no longer as raspy and grating as before—it sounded much clearer now.
“Okay.” Gu Lingzhou took some of the plain boiled meat torn into strips that had been set aside, mixed it into a new bowl of congee, picked up the spoon, blew on it, and then offered it to Shi Yuxing.
“I don’t want this.” Shi Yuxing glared at him, tears still visible at the corners of his eyes. He wrinkled his nose. “I want sweet and sour pork ribs. I want something sweet. And shrimp. And braised pork belly.”
Gu Lingzhou blew on the spoonful again. “Once you’re healed, hubby will make it for you. Those are all inflammatory foods—you can’t eat them right now.”
“You liar.” Shi Yuxing shrank back into the blanket and ignored him.
His phone, which had been dead since he was carried out of the bathroom, had finally finished charging. When he turned it on and saw the date, Shi Yuxing realized he’d been absent from work for nearly a week. At the same time, he realized he’d been fooled by Gu Lingzhou for nearly a week too—that ox-like man had been at it for a whole week, lying through his teeth. Thankfully, Gu Lingzhou had helped him request leave in the middle of it, or else he’d have been working for the hospital for free for half a year. He wondered what his colleagues were thinking about his sudden absence all week…
At Imperial Hospital’s Glandular Department, the overwhelmed Dr. Lin was frantically staring at the long list of patients on his computer screen, desperately praying for Shi Yuxing to come back from his vacation.
“Baby, open up. If you don’t, I’m coming in myself.” Gu Lingzhou gently patted the blanket, trying to coax Shi Yuxing out from underneath. Shi Yuxing’s mind was full of images that couldn’t be broadcast. He was already hot and stuffy under the blanket, and Gu Lingzhou’s words only made his face burn hotter. “Pervert! Lecher! Ahem, ahem…” In his agitation, he almost coughed his lungs out.
Gu Lingzhou quickly pulled him out from the darkness, soothingly stroking his back and unconsciously laughing: “How did you end up choking yourself?”
“It’s your fault. All your fault.” Shi Yuxing rested his chin on Gu Lingzhou’s shoulder, pouting as he accused him.
Gu Lingzhou accepted the blame—he admitted to every accusation.
“Pervert.”
“Mm, pervert.”
“Freak.”
“Okay, okay, freak.”
Seeing that he couldn’t provoke him, Shi Yuxing’s eyes darted. “The turtle-bastard who wears his ring on his nipple?”
His lower back was lightly smacked. Shi Yuxing wrinkled his nose. “You hit me—I’m reporting you for domestic abuse.”
That lightly smacked skin was soothed by a large palm, and then his waist was encircled as Gu Lingzhou held him tight. “I wouldn’t dare—what if I broke you?”
“Hmph,” Shi Yuxing continued his accusations, “You’ve already broken me. I’m never getting you through your rut again. You can spend it with your right hand.”
The alpha knew he was soft beneath that tough talk—if he really didn’t want to, he’d have pushed him away by now. “I’ll be gentler next time, baby.”
“Even if you beg, I’m not doing it again.” Who was really the one begging here? Gu Lingzhou curved his lips, turning to kiss his ear. Shi Yuxing dodged, his flushed skin radiating an enticing magnolia fragrance, like warmed fine wine: “And who told you to go in without protection?”
“There wasn’t any prepared here.” Gu Lingzhou looked at him with slight innocence—indeed, this room had nothing prepared. It had been deliberately arranged for them to conceive. “It’s okay—if we didn’t go all the way to a permanent mark, it’s all external.” Shi Yuxing’s face burned even hotter at that. He waved away the pheromones wafting from Gu Lingzhou and retreated back to the bed. “I’m hungry. I want to eat.”
The cooled congee was brought back to his lips. Shi Yuxing took a sip and asked: “How are Da Ling and Xiao Zhou? I haven’t seen any messages from them.” His message feed was full of greetings from various colleagues—most of them from Lin Anran, asking when he’d be back from his “vacation.”
“The butler said they’re staying in the lab for now and are safe.”
Shi Yuxing’s swallowing paused. Gu Lingzhou wiped the sticky residue from the corner of his mouth. “It’s okay. The butler is on our side.” He told Shi Yuxing everything the butler had told him. The person on the bed was full of shock, pondering for a good while before speaking: “Grandmother just wants our child’s gland?”
Gu Lingzhou leaned in and pecked away the leftover congee at the corner of his mouth. “Mm. Don’t worry—if we really have one, I’ll protect you both.” At this, the omega’s face flushed hot. “Who said I’m having a child with you? When we get back, I’m taking a whole box of birth control pills. I’m not having one.”
Seeing him getting worked up again, Gu Lingzhou soothed him: “Okay, okay, no children. When we get home, we’ll take birth control.”
Shi Yuxing touched his stomach—filled with plain congee, but possibly containing other white things as well. He pursed his lips. Even though it hadn’t entered the cervical opening, there was still a probability, just like how there was a chance of pregnancy even with a condom.
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He threw off the covers and tried to get out of bed. Gu Lingzhou quickly stopped him. “Wait, you can’t stand.”
“Bullshit, I’m not that weak—” The next second, his weak, sore legs tangled up like knotted ropes. A flash of TV static crossed his mind. The overlooked gland at his inner thigh now made its presence known, pain shooting through him as he collapsed into the alpha’s arms.
Shi Yuxing gasped, holding his lower back and howling: “Beast.” Gu Lingzhou let out a soft sigh and placed him back on the bed. At that moment, the other phone that had been charging alongside Shi Yuxing’s began to ring.
One “beep” and An Bao’s voice burst through the receiver, unbridled and brash: “Major intel! Come pick me up at the landing point—fast.”
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