Chapter 68: A Skittish Bird
“Oh ho ho… okay, okay.” Shou Jiaxun nodded meekly, stood up, and carried his empty bowl into the kitchen. “Uncle, I’ll wash the dishes.”
Guo Ran followed him into the kitchen, wanting to say a few more words; but Shou Jiaxun shamelessly… just rinsed his own bowl and ran away.
As he ran, he even pressed his hand to his head, groaning affectedly, “Oh, I haven’t slept enough to get over the jet lag. My head really hurts.”
Escaping was truly shameful, but if someone was determined to use that tactic to its limit, even a god couldn’t do anything about them.
Uncle Guo usually got up early every day to randomly inspect the stores, but today he specifically stayed home to make breakfast for Shou Jiaxun.
As it turned out, Shou Jiaxun stayed in bed with the door locked, sleeping until after ten. When he saw his uncle after getting up, he said bluntly that he had a lunch date with a friend and wouldn’t be eating at home, and then he immediately fled again.
He could see that Guo Ran had already “joined the team” on Liang Bo’s side. It wasn’t that his uncle was favoring an outsider; on the contrary, his uncle genuinely believed it was for his own good, feeling that Liang Bo was a reliable enough partner. Thus, he was doing his best to matchmake Shou Jiaxun and the other man for a shotgun wedding.
Unfortunately, Shou Jiaxun’s rejection of marriage had absolutely nothing to do with the partner; he was simply the one with the problem.
This kind of problem couldn’t be solved by traditional thinking and couldn’t be explained in a few words. But not being able to explain was actually better, because if he did explain, people would think he was even more “sick.”
When Shou Jiaxun left, he took the specific address and keys to the new place he had rented. He went there first to take a look, then drove himself to a nearby large supermarket to buy bedding and daily necessities.
Quilts, pillows, towels, bathrobes, plus miscellaneous snacks and household items, filled two shopping carts. Fortunately, there weren’t many people in the supermarket on a weekday morning. President Shou, trailing two carts by himself, walked through the hypermarket with a swagger; he felt quite domineering.
Later, a stocker couldn’t stand it anymore and stepped forward to offer help with the carts.
Shou Jiaxun politely declined at first, saying he could manage.
The young man raised an eyebrow and smirked, revealing a row of white, neat teeth. “I’m afraid you’ll knock down those towers of goods in the aisles later.”
“Haha, alright, thanks.” President Shou compromised, handing over the cart with the larger items.
The person was a young man in his twenties. His orientation wasn’t obvious at a glance, but he had a lively face and was quite talkative. After walking a few steps with Shou Jiaxun, he started a conversation: “Are you new to the Imperial Capital?”
“No,” Shou Jiaxun replied casually.
“I haven’t seen you before,” the guy said.
“I just moved here; I’ll be coming often in the future.” By now, Shou Jiaxun had started walking toward the checkout counter, but halfway there, he suddenly felt something was missing. He stopped, frowning in thought for a moment, and turned to ask his helper, “Where is the toilet paper?”
“Haha, over there, I’ll take you.” The young man had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his looks were similar in style to Guo Duoyu, but he was fairer than Guo Duoyu. He smiled before he spoke, appearing particularly enthusiastic.
Since he was a boss himself, Shou Jiaxun was particularly prone to having a good impression of these kinds of cheerful young people who knew how to take the initiative with customers.
But at this moment, he didn’t feel very comfortable because the other person was getting too close.
So close that he could faintly smell the other’s body odor, which seemed like the scent of Alpha pheromones.
However, the air conditioning in the hypermarket was quite strong, and the scent was diluted. Shou Jiaxun couldn’t be sure if it was just his imagination, so he could only silently remind himself not to be too sensitive.
At the same time, he reflected that perhaps after having a physical relationship with Liang Bo, he had become like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring toward all Alphas.
Thinking this, Shou Jiaxun subconsciously reached up to touch the isolation tape on the gland at the back of his neck, telling himself there was absolutely no need to be jumpy and scare himself.
After settling his mind, even his footsteps became steadier. After getting the toilet paper, he picked up a jug of laundry detergent in the daily chemicals area nearby. On the way back to the checkout counter, passing through the kitchenware area, he even picked up a glass pitcher.
It looked like the second cart was almost full too.
The young man suggested with a smile, “With so many things, it’s hard to carry. How about I walk you to the parking lot later?”
“Sure, thanks. You’re a good person, haha.”
With the young man’s help, Shou Jiaxun scanned the two carts of daily necessities one by one at the self-checkout area. The small items alone filled four large shopping bags.
The young Alpha helped him carry the things to the parking lot and put them in the trunk. Just as Shou Jiaxun was about to thank him and say goodbye, the guy suddenly asked, “Do you live alone? I saw you only bought one pillow. Did you just move out of your boyfriend’s house?”
President Shou immediately felt that something was wrong. He had just closed the trunk when his body was suddenly embraced and pressed firmly against the back of the car.
The young man’s expression was still enthusiastic, but the words he spoke made the hair on Shou Jiaxun’s body stand on end.
“I want to smell your scent.” As he spoke, he ripped off the tape from the back of Shou Jiaxun’s neck.
His other hand reached around to Shou Jiaxun’s face, tightly covering half of it, pressing his nostrils and mouth into his palm.
“Mmph—” Shou Jiaxun instantly tensed his muscles, desperately tearing at the hand covering his face while trying to elbow behind him.
The strange young Alpha laughed silently, licked the gland at the back of Shou Jiaxun’s neck with his tongue, and then bit down hard.
“Mmph—!” Shou Jiaxun’s internal scream was all blocked in his throat. This bite made something feel like it had exploded in his head.
His mind went blank from the shock. In the moment of crisis, a figure suddenly became clear.
Liang Bo! Liang Bo, help… Shou Jiaxun couldn’t make a sound; he could only beat his hands helplessly against the car.
Thank God, after two thuds, all the lights on his car began to flash, and at the same time, it emitted a piercing alarm.
The ear-splitting, sharp siren immediately echoed through half of the parking lot.
However, the young guy didn’t immediately retreat in fear. Instead, he increased his strength and bit Shou Jiaxun’s gland harder, and then thrust his hips against Shou Jiaxun’s buttocks a few times before letting go and backing away casually. He watched as Shou Jiaxun scrambled into the car, his face still smiling, and he slowly walked away.
Shou Jiaxun locked the car doors. For a moment, his hands and feet were numb and weak, and he was shaking so hard that he couldn’t drive.
After waiting for two minutes, when he slowly recovered a bit, a parking lot attendant finally came over to check on the situation.
But by now, Shou Jiaxun was a genuine skittish bird. Seeing a strange Alpha, he didn’t dare open the door or window to ask for help at all.
Instead, he waved his hand to the man in the security uniform, indicating that he didn’t need help. Then he immediately pressed the start button, drove the car out of the parking space, and fled as fast as he could.
As the car drove out of the parking lot, the temperature inside the cabin rose within three to five minutes. In the cabin, which was over forty degrees, Shou Jiaxun didn’t turn on the air conditioning and still felt his whole body shivering with cold.
About fifteen minutes later, when the young President Shou was waiting for a red light at an intersection, he finally collapsed onto the steering wheel and fainted from the heat.
Fortunately, his right hand happened to be resting on the horn button. The horn blared abruptly, drawing a hysterical aria on the parched street. The drivers in the cars in front and behind were all drawn out by his “beep” to check the situation.
Someone then called the police, someone called for medical help, the traffic police came to pry open the car door, and President Shou was hauled out and carried into an ambulance, finally ending this ordeal.
The first person to discover that something had happened to Shou Jiaxun that day was Bai Fan, the professional gossip-monger who had a lunch date with him. As lunchtime approached, Little White waited and waited but didn’t see the boss return to the company to treat him. He thought, Shou Jiaxun, you wouldn’t go that far, would you? To save a few bucks on meals, you’d even abandon the company?
So he called to ask about his whereabouts. As a result, the call was answered by a traffic policeman on the other end. After clarifying his identity, the officer briefly informed him, “Your friend has heatstroke and is currently being treated in the hospital.”
Then he asked, “Can you help contact his family? Someone needs to come and handle the follow-up.”
Bai Fan stood up in shock, exclaiming, “Treatment?!… Have we already reached the stage of handling the funeral?!”
The traffic policeman shouted back in anger, “What?! The towing fee! The medical fee! Tell his family to come and pay them.”
“Oh, you scared me to death…” Bai Fan plopped back into his chair. After asking about the specific address of the car and the person, he felt the car keys in his pocket and immediately got up to head out.
As he walked, he asked the policeman again, “How could he get heatstroke? He’s not an outdoor worker.”
“He drove without turning on the air conditioning or opening the windows. When the person was pulled out, it was over sixty degrees in the car. He almost suffocated in there. I say… does he have a mental illness?”
Bai Fan was puzzled and bewildered. “I don’t know! Why don’t you ask him?”
“Alright, alright, stop being flip. Get someone down here quickly.”
Bai Fan arrived at the hospital twenty minutes later. Shou Jiaxun had already woken up. He had an “ice pack” patch on his forehead and was sipping a sugar-salt solution the doctor had prescribed while receiving an IV.
A middle-aged man in a traffic police uniform sat not too far or too close to the bed—the one who had called Bai Fan.
There weren’t too many taboos between old classmates. As soon as Bai Fan entered the room, he said “ouch” twice with a face full of concern, asking why he didn’t turn on the air conditioning when driving.
Shou Jiaxun looked depressed. He finished the sugar-salt solution in the paper cup in one gulp and explained with a sigh, “I ran into something just now and got very nervous… in my nervousness… I lost sense of heat and cold.”
Bai Fan’s expression was shocked. He leaned over and held the edge of the bed, lowering his voice to ask, “What happened? Did you run into Xiao Yu?”
Shou Jiaxun frowned and complained, “Tsk, why would I be nervous about meeting him? Sigh! Don’t mention it, it was just so unlucky.”
Bai Fan pressed, “Exactly what happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Then use more words. We’re not in a hurry.”
Shou Jiaxun actually didn’t want to say it because it felt very shameful, making it difficult for him to speak.
But he couldn’t resist Bai Fan’s “loose lips,” which were good at leading the conversation. After ten minutes, the little President Shou had managed to tell the whole story.
After hearing it, Bai Fan slapped his thigh and made a demand to the policeman by the bed: “We want to report a crime! You heard it just now. File a case quickly.”
The middle-aged policeman blinked at him. “No… for public security matters, call 110. I’m here waiting for you to come and pay the towing fee.”
Bai Fan was greatly shocked. “He’s awake, why didn’t you let him pay it himself?”
The policeman smiled at him but didn’t speak.
Bai Fan waved his hand. “Alright, alright, I get it. You were waiting here to hear the story. How much is the towing fee?”
“Two hundred.”
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it…” Shou Jiaxun hurriedly picked up his phone from the bedside table and scanned the QR code on the bill in the policeman’s hand.
On the surface, his mental state seemed okay, but his hands kept shaking. They shook when he held the water cup, and they shook when he held his phone. He couldn’t control it himself. Others thought he looked quite pitiful, but it wasn’t appropriate to discuss the terrifying experience too deeply right now.
Regardless, he needed to rest quietly for a while—it could be a day or half a day, or it could be a week or so. In any case, it wasn’t suitable for him to repeatedly recall the horrific experience.
After the policeman left, Bai Fan sat back on the edge of the bed and asked cautiously, “Should I help you report it to the police?”
Shou Jiaxun pondered for a moment and slowly shook his head. “I have a headache and I’m nauseous right now… I’m really miserable. I don’t think I have the energy to deal with questioning.”
Little White grabbed his hand that wasn’t on the IV to comfort him. “It’s okay. I recorded what you said just now. I’ll help you handle it.”
[This might be called professional quality.]
President Shou chuckled awkwardly. “It’s really a waste for you to just be an account operator.”
Translator’s Note: “A skittish bird” (惊弓之鸟): This is a Chinese idiom that literally translates to “a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.” It refers to someone who has been so traumatized by a previous event that they become fearful of even the slightest hint of it recurring. Poor Jiaxun is really going through it!
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