Part 2
Tang Xingye was waiting for the ointment to take effect, so he hadn’t pulled up his clothes. Thinking Lu Zhi was reviewing today’s sparring with him, seeing the other raise his hand, he subconsciously dodged.
“Don’t be afraid. There’s a bruise on your shoulder blade you can’t reach,” the Alpha emphasized. “I’m wearing an inhibition collar every day now, and I have suppressants in my pocket. Don’t be afraid.”
Speaking of this, Lu Zhi felt happy again.
Collar-style inhibitors were generally used to prevent pheromones released by Omegas during heat from being marked by Alphas.
Rarely would an Alpha actively wear this to prevent themselves from biting others.
Lu Zhi wearing the collar inhibitor now didn’t feel it was a constraint anymore. On the contrary, his chest was filled with satisfaction, just like actively wearing a chastity cage for Tang Xingye.
So being a bootlicker feels this good.
Tang Xingye: “Not afraid.”
His voice was very faint. “Just not used to being touched.”
Lu Zhi knew this was the truth. He washed his hands clean, fingertips dipping in the ointment. The moment he pressed gently, he felt the snow-white flesh tremble under his finger pad.
The ointment spread on the skin. Lu Zhi’s finger pad felt Tang Xingye’s body temperature. Slightly lower than average people, carrying a chill just like him. The bathroom was too quiet; he could hear their interlaced breathing and his own increasingly obvious heartbeat.
“Zhou Lin trouble you?” After applying the medicine, Lu Zhi tried to break the silence, masking the loud thumping noise.
Tang Xingye pulled up his clothes, not wanting to take that topic, and changed the subject casually. “You’ve been wearing the inhibition collar? Since when?”
People with serious illnesses generally avoided doctors/talking about it. Lu Zhi also didn’t want others to know he had Pheromone Disorder Syndrome.
Lu Zhi thought for a moment. Feeling the other party was Tang Xingye, he was a bit afraid the other would despise him after knowing his illness, so his voice became much lighter. “Since not long after I differentiated.”
Tang Xingye looked sideways slightly.
Those eyes were very calm, containing nothing.
Lu Zhi originally didn’t want to mention these things, but noticing Tang Xingye’s gaze, as if encouraged—he didn’t know why he just wanted to talk about this with Tang Xingye.
But Lu Zhi hadn’t thought about how to explain the disorder in detail, so he blurred it over. “My differentiation had some problems. After seeing the diagnosis report, my family felt the sky was falling. Only my grandma thought it was nothing.”
Speaking of this, he paused. “She said back then, ‘They are too greedy. Little Zhi, when you were just born, we looked at the tiny you, and all we thought was it would be good if this child could grow up safe and sound.'”
Tang Xingye lowered his eyelashes and said seriously, “Mn.”
He also had grandparents who treated him very well.
Brief affection, like a mayfly, had warmed him for an instant before leaving.
A trace of reminiscence appeared on Tang Xingye’s face, outlining a rare softness. He lowered his eyelashes, lips curling up slightly, as if recalling some warm past event.
The usually cold and distant eyes were now like a frozen lake suddenly brushed by a spring breeze; that coldness melted away, revealing a rare tenderness.
Lu Zhi was dazzled and dared not blink, staring blankly at Tang Xingye.
All along, Tang Xingye had been a loner, self-reliant, rejecting others’ approach. Everything around him wasn’t enough to make him lower his guard.
He was like a solitary cat, elegant and alert, dodging hands that wanted to be intimate or touch, leaping lightly onto the wall, looking at them coldly and distantly.
Occasionally he would allow others’ closeness, but he had never opened his heart.
The transparent but sealed door deep in his heart remained unmoved no matter how people outside called.
At this moment, Lu Zhi finally touched a bit of Tang Xingye’s inner softness.
He shouldn’t have treated Tang Xingye with avoidance and distance from the start.
Subtle feelings climbed up his heart like vines.
Lu Zhi gazed at Tang Xingye’s side profile, his Adam’s apple rolling gently, his voice unconsciously becoming very soft. “Your grandma must have been a very gentle person, right?”
Tang Xingye: “Mn.”
Watching Lu Zhi being allowed in, ears hearing the faint sound of water and Lu Zhi’s low voice from the bathroom…
Zhou Lin’s expression turned cold.
Why is it Lu Zhi?
They are both roommates. In terms of relationship, they should be closer. Clearly, he knew Tang Xingye first.
But just now, Lu Zhi could easily walk into his private space.
Zhou Lin’s fingers unconsciously rubbed that bar of sulfur soap, fingertips scraping its rough surface as if suppressing some emotion about to erupt.
Tang Xingye’s low response came from the bathroom. The content was unclear. Zhou Lin’s fingertips tightened slightly, and the soap was squeezed a bit out of shape in his palm.
Is it because Lu Zhi’s pheromones are milder? Or is it because… Tang Xingye actually doesn’t hate him?
This thought was like a thorn, piercing fiercely into Zhou Lin’s nerves.
He suddenly raised his hand, knuckles knocking twice on the bathroom door, voice low and restrained. “Tang Xingye, your soap is still in my hand.”
Tang Xingye: “…”
He paused, remembering he was too annoyed with Zhou Lin just now and had smashed the sulfur soap directly at him.
Lu Zhi held Tang Xingye’s wrist, tone serious. “Don’t open it. That soap is dirty; don’t want it anymore. Get a new one.”
Tang Xingye: “…”
The bathroom door was suddenly pushed open. Zhou Lin leaned on the door frame, still twirling that bar of sulfur soap in his fingers. His gaze went over Tang Xingye’s shoulder, meeting Lu Zhi’s eyes, a dark glint flashing in his depths.
At this time, he doesn’t remember settling the score for the online scam? Acting as the flower protector?
“Chatting happily?” Zhou Lin chuckled lightly, malice quenched in his gentle voice. “Lu Zhi, isn’t it time to change your inhibition collar? The cocoa smell is so strong it can’t be covered.”
Lu Zhi’s pupils constricted abruptly. This secret he had carefully hidden, not yet ready to tell Tang Xingye, was pierced so lightly by Zhou Lin.
He subconsciously looked at Tang Xingye, Adam’s apple rolling. “Zhou Lin.” The meaning of warning was self-evident.
Zhou Lin ignored it.
His gaze swept lightly over Lu Zhi’s neck, a mockingly curled lip. “Wearing this is very uncomfortable, right? After all…” He deliberately slowed his speech, “A mad dog putting on a collar can’t change its nature of biting people.”
Lu Zhi’s knuckles cracked. But in the next second, he suddenly pulled out a sneering smile. “So concerned about my private affairs?” He took a step forward, the Alpha’s oppression released without concealment. “Are you jealous?”
“Jealous of what?” Zhou Lin laughed out loud. “Jealous of a… beast… who can go into a rut anytime, anywhere, and can’t even control his heat?” He spat out the word “beast” lightly between his lips and teeth.
Zhou Lin suddenly turned to Tang Xingye. “Tang Xingye, do you know how dangerous Alphas with Pheromone Disorder Syndrome are?” He spoke methodically, “Especially…” He glanced pointedly at Lu Zhi’s arm where blue veins were bulging, “This kind that pretends to be good.”
Lu Zhi’s breathing clearly hitched.
This weakness he desperately hid was torn open bloody by Zhou Lin just like that.
But soon, he pulled out a cold sneer. “Better than some people.” He approached Zhou Lin. “Heard the Zhou family is looking for an Omega for you? What, if the Alpha genes aren’t passed down according to tradition, that control-freak father of yours will go crazy, right?”
The smile on Zhou Lin’s face vanished instantly.
Lu Zhi hooked the corner of his mouth viciously. “Truly pitiful. Can’t even decide who to mark yourself. What’s the difference between you and breeding livestock?”
The air seemed to solidify for an instant.
Zhou Lin suddenly smiled, but his eyes were icy. “At least I won’t be like some people, unable to control their own pheromones.”
Lu Zhi’s cocoa pheromones surged violently, the metal inhibition collar emitting a piercing alarm sound.
Tang Xingye didn’t care about their quarrel. What he cared about most was the poor sulfur soap, which was about to be crushed.
Crushed into crumbs, how am I supposed to use it?
Two Alphas’ pheromones sandwiched him in the middle. Tang Xingye tilted his head slightly; in front was Zhou Lin, behind was Lu Zhi.
Their pheromones permeated the small bathroom, wrapping him up from head to toe.
Among these two tall Alphas, Tang Xingye, sandwiched like the filling of an Oreo cookie, suddenly raised his hand—
Slap!
Slap!
Two slaps crisply and neatly interrupted this standoff.
“Shut up.”
“Stop.”
Tang Xingye snatched that poor soap from Zhou Lin’s fingers. The soap body had already been squeezed into pieces, crumbs falling rustlingly from the edges.
He looked at Zhou Lin, whose left cheek was flushed, then at Lu Zhi, whose right jaw was tight. Both Alphas had bright red palm prints on their faces, yet were still confronting each other with their eyes.
Tang Xingye said coldly, “Both of you, roll out.”
The only winner in this chapter is the sulfur soap, receiving Little Green Leaf’s most genuine concern.
Little Green Leaf’s assets almost: -2
Little Green Leaf: Wash the sulfur soap, stick it back together, and it can still be used.
~~~
Translator’s note: I can’t stop myself. I love Tang Xinyue so much. Hahahaha.
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