Dr. Yao? Shi Yuxing didn’t register it at first. It took a moment before he realized who she meant. “You’re talking about Yao Jiaqi?”
“Yeah, yeah! Haven’t you noticed he hasn’t been around these past few days?”
Shi Yuxing shook his head. There was no schadenfreude in his expression, no ripples in his eyes. “I don’t care about him. As long as he doesn’t bother me.” As long as Yao Jiaqi didn’t come into his face, Shi Yuxing couldn’t even be bothered to spare him a glance.
The nurse nodded. Dr. Yao was always badmouthing Dr. Shi behind his back. As someone who appreciated good looks, she firmly stood behind Shi Yuxing—after all, beauty backed by real talent was simply too captivating, making her want to be biased in his favor.
Shi Yuxing lit up his phone screen. His peripheral vision caught a figure. He followed the gaze and squinted—a masked person was staring intently at him. The moment they saw him looking, they quickly ducked their head to hide.
Who was that? Shi Yuxing furrowed his brow. He didn’t pay it much mind, but his eyes lingered on that figure for a few extra seconds. He didn’t remember anyone like that.
“I’ll be going now. Get back to work.”
“Goodbye, Dr. Shi.”
Watching his tall figure disappear, the nurse took a breath, pressed her lips together, and prepared to start her day. Just then, someone tapped on the nurses’ station. “Excuse me, are all the doctors in the Glandular Department working today?”
…
“Doctor, my neck has been hurting terribly these past few days—I can’t even sleep at night. Painkillers don’t help either.” An elderly woman described her symptoms.
Shi Yuxing brushed aside the stray hairs on her neck, then picked up his pen to make notes. “Why did you wait until today to come in?”
“I’ve been busy picking up my grandson. I thought it was nothing serious, but it hasn’t gotten better after several days, so I finally came to see you. It’s not something serious, is it, Doctor?”
Shi Yuxing determined it was an inflamed, infected gland. He wrote out a prescription and instructed: “Go pay at the first floor. This is gland inflammation. Cut down on greasy and salty foods. And next time your gland hurts, come see me immediately—don’t put it off.”
The patient nodded and thanked him repeatedly. Shi Yuxing looked up to call in the next patient, only to see a head poking through the doorway—that strange masked man. An inexplicable unease settled over him. “Are you patient number 04?”
The man didn’t move. A moment later, the real patient number four heard their name called and pushed the door open, blocking the man outside. Shi Yuxing quickly pushed him out of his mind.
At lunchtime, An Bao’s call arrived before Gu Lingzhou did.
The background noise on Officer An’s end was chaotic. “Little sister-in-law, we’ve got results. It’s a coordinate.”
“Mm, I know.” Shi Yuxing put it on speaker. “We managed to crack it last night.”
“Last night? You cracked it yourselves?” An Bao couldn’t believe it—then why had they bothered asking him for help?
Just then, a knock came at the door. Shi Yuxing walked over to answer it while still on the phone, and ran into Gu Lingzhou holding a bouquet of magnolias. He covered the receiver, curled his lips, and invited him in.
“Hello? Little sister-in-law, you still there?”
Shi Yuxing picked the call back up. “I’m here, Officer An.”
“So what did you come up with? On my end it’s 1…”
“120e, 30n—coordinates at the West Wing of the Gu Old Mansion.” Gu Lingzhou glanced over and answered first. The chaotic background noise on An Bao’s end nearly drowned out his voice. “Holy shit—it actually matches! That’s insane, little brother—you guys managed to crack it first.”
Gu Lingzhou said: “We’re about to eat. Can we hang up now?”
“Wait, I’ve got more to say.” An Bao stopped him. Gu Lingzhou: “What else?”
An Bao’s tone turned serious: “You guys still remember that Chu Xiaoyun case, right? That kid Tang Jue—little sister-in-law, you remember? Fuck, seriously. Back then you mentioned it might be gland trafficking—and it really is! We found out that the blood sample drawn from Tang Jue overlapped with the same drug from Tu An’s previous lab report. High chance it was done by the same group.”
Shi Yuxing’s nerves tightened immediately. He pressed further: “So did you find Tang Jue?” A long silence on the other end. Shi Yuxing stared at the call timer ticking away on his phone, thinking the line had cut out. “Officer An? Hello? Did you find him?”
“Mm…” A single syllable, carrying too much information—perhaps the worst outcome. “We found him. But… his gland is missing, and he’s in critical condition.” Shi Yuxing’s heart involuntarily clenched. He looked up to meet Gu Lingzhou’s eyes, unable to say a word.
This was simply devastating news. Gland loss had a much higher mortality rate than gland removal surgery.
Gu Lingzhou let out a silent breath. “Was he taken to the hospital?”
“He’s in surgery right now. I’m on my way over to check on the situation. Hope they can save him.”
No wonder the background noise was such a mess.
“Where was the kid found?” Shi Yuxing licked his lips and swallowed. “Did you catch the perpetrator?”
An Bao’s voice came through choppily—he must have entered a space-time tunnel. “No… yeah, actually—he was found this morning by a sanitation worker… ah, at the landfill now. Right in the incineration zone. These bastards are ruthless—took his gland and then tried to destroy the evidence.”
The person on this end of the line shuddered. Gu Lingzhou frowned: “Be careful.”
“Don’t worry, little brother. Your big brother will watch his own back. Gotta go—signal’s bad here.”
With two “beep-beep” tones, the air fell silent.
Shi Yuxing had lost his appetite. He stared at the dishes laid out before him with a troubled expression. He remembered back when he’d gone to check on Chu Xiaoyun’s hospital room—the little girl had asked about Tang Jue and gotten no answer. The look of dejection on her face had been painful to witness.
The food container was pushed in front of him. Gu Lingzhou served him plenty of good dishes. “Eat at least a little.”
“Gu Lingzhou,” he turned his head, “I was thinking before—whether there’s a connection between Tang Jue and Tu An’s cases. Tang Jue is an alpha, and Tu An is too.” Shi Yuxing suddenly thought of that deputy general’s terrifying neck scar and added: “And Wen Lan—he used to be an alpha too. I don’t think this is just a coincidence. Do you know what I mean?” Something was on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn’t sure.
Getting no response, Shi Yuxing tilted his head. “Why aren’t you saying anything?” Gu Lingzhou picked up a bite of braised eggplant and brought it to his lips. Shi Yuxing obediently opened his mouth and ate it, his cheeks working as his eyes stayed fixed on him.
“I think you’re right.” He brought another bite of rice to Shi Yuxing, but the latter didn’t eat it. “Don’t you talk about these things with Wen Lan? Aren’t you curious why he had his gland removed? Not interested at all?”
Gu Lingzhou shook his head, his furrowed brows full of disgust. “I’m not interested in him.” Then his pitch-black eyes fixed on Shi Yuxing as he said: “I’m more interested in you.”
Shi Yuxing opened his mouth to accept the food Gu Lingzhou fed him, his red lips glistening with oil, his lowered lashes hiding the crystalline drops beneath. Damn Gu Lingzhou—he felt like the guy had gone to some emotional intelligence training camp. His mouth sure knew how to talk.
The tender meat was about to touch his lips when Shi Yuxing grabbed the alpha’s wrist. His tea-colored eyes stared unblinkingly at the man before him. The black pupils suddenly trembled as a fingertip pressed gently against his lips.
“General Gu’s lips…” Shi Yuxing’s gaze shifted to his mouth, where he could still see the bite mark from this morning. “They’re really good to kiss.” As the words fell, the piece of meat on the chopsticks dropped to the floor. Shi Yuxing let go, but the next second, Gu Lingzhou reversed their grip.
His wrist tightened, and a massive weight pressed down on him. Shi Yuxing instinctively braced himself against the alpha’s chest.
Damn—the door wasn’t locked!
The back of the chair arched under the pressure. Shi Yuxing tucked his chin in, his lashes fluttering rapidly. “What are you doing?” Calloused fingers gripped the back of his neck, searing heat traveling through his skin. The softness on his lips sent tremors through his entire body, his heart rate spiking. The hot breath at his nose immediately burned his cheeks.
Shi Yuxing pushed twice, but failed. Moisture assaulted him like a sudden downpour. The alpha followed his lips, pried open his teeth, and hooked onto the equally wet softness inside.
The faint taste of braised eggplant spread—salty, carrying the aroma of oil.
Gu Lingzhou’s kissing technique wasn’t exactly good, but it was suffocating enough. The wet sounds mixed with ragged breaths made one’s face burn and heart race. Oxygen-deprived, the person pinned against the chair had no strength left to resist, letting Gu Lingzhou delve deeper.
His tongue was stirred, and even his palate was licked twice—so ticklish.
“Mmph…” Shi Yuxing spat out Gu Lingzhou’s tongue in one breath. A clear silver strand glistened in the light before breaking.
“Cough, cough, cough—” He covered his heaving chest, the reddened corners of his eyes glistening with moisture. The tip of his crimson tongue peeked out slightly, a trail of wetness sliding down from the corner of his mouth. Gu Lingzhou reached for a tissue to wipe his lips, but Shi Yuxing slapped it away.
The flushed corners of his eyes made him look pitiful, but in truth he was a wild, clawing spirit. Shi Yuxing scolded: “Huff—huff—you! Are you crazy!” Gu Lingzhou endured his curses, wiping away the drool that had spilled—unclear whether it was his own or Shi Yuxing’s.
“Asshole.” Shi Yuxing hit his arm, and when that wasn’t enough, dug his nails in hard, leaving crescent marks. “Who kisses like that?! You even licked my uvula!”
“Sorry.”
Shi Yuxing wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, glaring at this clueless man. There wasn’t a trace of remorse on Gu Lingzhou’s face—his eyes were clearly filled with laughter. Shi Yuxing reasonably suspected this guy was getting revenge for this morning. Yes, definitely revenge for this morning.
Shi Yuxing gritted his teeth: “Sorry isn’t good enough. You’re not allowed to kiss me whenever you want from now on.”
“I was just carrying out your orders.” Gu Lingzhou suddenly dropped this line, the corners of his mouth curling slightly, his eyes like a predator locking onto prey. “You said this morning that next time I should French kiss you.”
“I didn’t!” Shi Yuxing argued back, knowing full well he was getting payback. The curl of Gu Lingzhou’s lips didn’t fade, and Shi Yuxing didn’t know whether to be angry or embarrassed. Unable to out-argue him, he spun his chair around to face away and sulk.
The swivel chair was easily turned back by Gu Lingzhou. Shi Yuxing didn’t want to face him and turned away again. A finger touched his shoulder—the man seemed to be making amends. Shi Yuxing shrugged his shoulder, pinning the finger against the backrest.
Gu Lingzhou could have pulled it out, but he didn’t.
“Sorry.” That voice didn’t sound sorry at all.
Shi Yuxing: “What are you sorry for?”
Hot breath brushed past his ear. “For kissing you whenever I want.”
Shi Yuxing glanced sideways—Gu Lingzhou’s nose was almost poking his eye. “Your technique is terrible. Who kisses by licking the palate? If you keep doing that next time, I’ll bite your tongue off. Got it?”
“Okay.” A soft laugh came through as he was hugged from behind. Gu Lingzhou’s voice carried indulgence. Shi Yuxing felt satisfied inside and was about to turn the chair when he heard Gu Lingzhou exhale a sinister whisper: “If my technique is bad, I need more practice. Let’s continue.”
“Wait!” He grabbed the chair that was being straightened in terror. Gu Lingzhou pressed down on him again. Shi Yuxing pointed at the door—then quickly lost strength and let his arm drop.
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