Part 4
The grave was on a sunny slope; Tang Xingye found it without much effort. Lin Mo carefully cleared the weeds in front of the tombstone. Tang Xingye set out simple offerings, lighting paper money and incense candles.
Tang Xingye closed his eyes, palms together, whispering something. His profile looked somewhat blurred in the smoke, expression showing a softness Lin Mo had never seen, shedding the usual cold alienation, revealing a rare fragility and sincerity.
Lin Mo stood a few steps behind him, not disturbing, just watching quietly. His gaze moved to this land that carried Tang Xingye’s entire childhood—dilapidated houses, silent fields.
If he had been born in this kind of place, experiencing everything Tang Xingye experienced from childhood, what would he want?
The answer seemed very simple. To live, money, dignity, love.
At this moment, Lin Mo seemed to understand Tang Xingye’s independence better, and the longing yet caution for warmth he occasionally revealed.
Looking back now, Tang Xingye’s desire not to lose, those little thoughts of revenge, hid the simplest wish: wanting a better life, pursuing a better self, clumsily and desperately running toward happiness.
His hostility and distance toward Alphas were all self-protection to avoid being hurt after stumbling.
Lin Mo had thought many times, how good it would be if he had met Tang Xingye when they were young. But from beginning to end, he was attracted by the tenacity in Tang Xingye, the natural and unpolished stubbornness.
This timely destined meeting made Lin Mo’s heart warm, firmly believing again: that accidental encounter was the starting point of his destiny’s gears turning, the best timing reserved for him by heaven.
Just as Tang Xingye bowed down to kowtow, Lin Mo moved.
He didn’t hesitate at all. His figure lowered silently, knees kneeling straight onto the withered grass and mud behind Tang Xingye. The dampness and coolness of the soil soaked through his trousers instantly, but he was completely unaware.
He knelt straight, gaze crossing Tang Xingye’s shoulder line, burning toward the engraved tombstone, eyes holding a near-mad piety.
—Grandma, did you see?
—It doesn’t matter if you don’t approve.
—This life, next life, the life after that… we will be together.
This thought rolled in his heart, like the most vicious yet deepest curse. He didn’t need a title, didn’t need recognition. He only wanted Tang Xingye. Life after life, locked together.
Tang Xingye straightened up, seemingly sensing something, turning his head slightly.
Almost at the same instant, Lin Mo stood up nonchalantly, except for the mud spots on his trouser legs.
On the way down the mountain, the sun grew warmer. They sat under the shade of a tree to rest. Lin Mo suggested, “I want to renovate the old house, build a small western-style house.”
Tang Xingye thought for a moment and gave a “Mn.”
Perhaps touched by the scene, Tang Xingye rarely spoke of some childhood stories.
Lin Mo listened very carefully, very seriously. His gaze rested on Tang Xingye’s profile, as if through those plain narratives, he could clearly see: Little Tang Xingye holding old books under the tree, fallen leaves on his shoulders. In leisure time, catching fish by the river; fish too small, silently putting them back.
Lin Mo couldn’t help blurting out, “So cute.”
Tang Xingye paused. He didn’t expect this word to come out of Lin Mo’s mouth. The contrast was so great he couldn’t help smiling. He didn’t think he had anything to do with being cute.
“Alright,” his tone carried relaxed teasing. “Don’t look at people with an 800-meter filter like Lu Zhi.”
“I am stating facts.” Lin Mo looked at him seriously.
Not the cuteness of seeing a small animal, but the cuteness born of love.
“…”
Lin Mo’s cold, ascetic face saying such straightforward, cheesy lines inconsistent with him made Tang Xingye want to laugh again. He shook his head, like helplessness, or some kind of indulgent acquiescence, finally nodding.
“Let’s go, Brother Fact.” He stood up, patted the dust off his pants, and reached out to Lin Mo. “Dawdle more and we’ll really be dried into jerky.”
Lin Mo held his hand, fingers interlaced. He was silent for a while, reflecting that he should improve in this aspect. “I will change.”
Tang Xingye’s eyes still held lingering laughter, deliberately dragging out his tone: “Don’t, absolutely don’t.”
His gaze fell on Lin Mo’s face written with seriousness, lips curving into a soft arc. “You being like this now, is very good.”
Lin Mo stared at him for two seconds, then responded with a “Okay.”
Ji Chen called.
Lin Mo turned his head to look at the sleeping Tang Xingye, eyelashes wet, cheeks still flushed. He quickly picked up the phone, walked out, and gently closed the door.
Hearing Lin Mo’s voice, Ji Chen frowned. “Where is Tang Xingye?”
Lin Mo’s gaze fell vacantly on the door, as if he could see the person inside through it. His voice carried the lazy huskiness of post-coitus (implied/misleading tone), saying, “He is still sleeping. Tell me if there’s anything, I’ll relay it to him.”
Brief silence.
Ji Chen naturally caught the subtle provocation hidden in Lin Mo’s words. Lin Mo didn’t wake Tang Xingye immediately but took the liberty to answer the call and respond on his behalf. This in itself was a strong signal.
Haze floated in his eyes, knuckles tapping the table.
When he spoke again, his voice carried no warmth. “Lin Mo, I don’t have time to play boring games with you. His medical report is out; several key indicators are abnormal, he needs to come back for a re-check ASAP.”
He paused, every word like quenched ice, smashing over accurately. “Or, in your view, satisfying your pitiful possessiveness is more important than his health? Is this what you call ‘not becoming a trouble’?”
Lin Mo’s breath hitched. Ji Chen knew too well how to poke his sore spot. Cold hostility surged in his eyes instantly, but on the topic of Tang Xingye’s health, his unwillingness and paranoia had to yield.
“I didn’t say we wouldn’t go back,” his voice was cold and hard. “Give me the address and time.”
The tense tone exposed his extreme reluctance. Ji Chen seemed to have anticipated his submission, chuckling lightly, quickly saying an address and time, adding a sentence at the end with undisguised warning:
“Lin Mo, listen clearly. Regarding his matters, I never talk principles, and have even less of a bottom line.”
…
The temperature dropped on the return journey. Tang Xingye was afraid of the cold, shrinking inside the blanket the whole time, only exposing a small half of his face. Lin Mo was afraid he would suffocate, reaching out to gently pull the blanket down. Naturally holding him, Tang Xingye leaned over half-asleep, using him as a human hot water bottle, nestled in his arms, not wanting to move.
When Tang Xingye landed, the waiting Alphas pulled him to see a senior expert at the research institute.
After a series of complex checks, the expert looked at the report sheet, eyes flashing with excitement: “Your gene sequence is very special, presenting a rare broad-spectrum compatibility and high matching degree. This allows you to indiscriminately capture and parse pheromone signals from other Alphas and Omegas.”
“This isn’t the cause of my hormone abnormality?” Tang Xingye frowned. This contradicted the conclusion given by the previous physical exam.
“Yes and no. Superficially it’s a hormone problem, but the actual root is your latent gene.”
The expert pushed his glasses, giving a more direct conclusion: “Simply put, it’s because someone has developed a strong emotional tendency toward you. Similar to ‘liking,’ ‘infatuation,’ or even deeper emotional obsession. This emotional signal is like a key; your gene gets activated, thereby capturing and parsing the pheromones unique to that person.”
“So, this is why you, as a Beta, can smell pheromones.”
The expert slowed his tone, seeming to look for an apt metaphor. “This isn’t a pathological phenomenon; you are the… Resonator for someone’s strong emotion.”
“Is it convenient to reveal when you started being able to smell the pheromones of people around you?”
Tang Xingye: “…”
From the beginning.
From the day differentiation ended, he could smell pheromones. He thought it was a sequela of failed differentiation.
Turns out, it is sensing pheromones because of being loved.
His gaze fell on the few people from the dorm, scanning Lu Zhi first. Chronologically, it matched. Just after school started, at night, he was choked by Lu Zhi’s pheromones so much he couldn’t sleep. At that time, he only thought it was environmental allergies or psychological effects.
Lu Zhi: “…”
Stared at by Tang Xingye’s knowing gaze and the instantly focused gazes of those around, Lu Zhi was rarely tongue-tied for a moment. His Adam’s apple rolled, then he straightened his body, chin slightly raised.
So what if I fell for Wife earliest? What’s weird about it!
Fortunately, Tang Xingye didn’t answer this question directly, saving Lu Zhi’s face.
Tang Xingye’s gaze continued to move, taking the other few in the dorm into his eyes, thoughts landing on the only person not here—the person he almost didn’t see during winter break.
Ji Chen… Ji Chen wasn’t here.
He was the last person to appear in his life circle, and the last cold pheromone he smelled.
Cedar pheromones permeated the rehabilitation center. Ji Chen was enduring another round of severe nerve pain, fine sweat beads oozing on his face. The therapist watched the significantly active signals on the instrument, surprised: “Your nerve response threshold is lowering again! The speed of pain perception recovery far exceeds expectations; this is simply a miracle!”
At first, he was just curious, gradually wanting to bind Tang Xingye with the relationship of patient and caregiver.
Recovering pain sensation itself didn’t have much meaning to Ji Chen; being able to perceive stinging pain again didn’t make him happy.
But recovering pain sensation because of Tang Xingye—this matter was significant. This secret, unique link seemed to re-anchor his chaotic, disordered world. It was also putting shackles on himself; if he hurt Tang Xingye, he would inevitably suffer the pain of equal retaliation.
This was what Ji Chen wanted.
The winter snow had started to melt, like washing away the accumulated gloom of the past. The spring breeze carried fresh chill, yet made one sober, stinging his skin that had just recovered some sensation slightly.
Ji Chen came out of the rehabilitation center, steps a bit hesitant, momentarily not knowing where to go. The person he wanted to see most should have many people around him; he might not be needed.
He aimlessly paced through a few streets, footsteps stopping slowly outside a shop. Suddenly remembered, it seemed to be near this shop that he met Tang Xingye. At that time, he had just finished enduring family punishment, released from the ancestral hall, feeling a bit vexed. He went to buy candy to suppress the lingering sweet rusty taste in his throat.
Passing by a bowing, frail figure, in the breeze stirred up, there was a trace of clear sweet aura. Very faint, but it left a deep impression.
Thinking about it now, perhaps that was the first signal about Tang Xingye captured by his chaotic senses.
Ji Chen stood under a budding tree, looking at the street corner. Then, time seemed to overlap.
He looked up, coincidentally colliding with the gaze of the person coming toward him. Seeing those clear eyes, as if hanging with scattered starlight, magnificent and soul-stirring.
That slender figure walking out from deep memory, against the light and shadow, step by step, realistically walked toward him.
“You’re back,” he suppressed all surging emotions, didn’t mention the torment of rehabilitation, nor leaked the anxious longing, keeping his tone calm as if just passing a regular holiday. “School starts officially tomorrow.”
Regardless of what soul-stirring entanglements they experienced, everything walked forward like flowing water.
Tang Xingye was about to speak when a very slight itch came from his palm.
It was a rose, dew still on the petals, drifting from somewhere with the wind, falling exactly into his palm.
He was slightly stunned, then closed his fingers, gently holding the unexpected spring color.
“Mn,” he looked up, smiling lightly, eyes reflected by the spring light, exceptionally bright and brilliant.
“I’m back.”
——Main Story End——
T/n: we have reached the ending of this story. Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!
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