Chapter 36: Lemon part 1
[Bring him back]
Those three words meant pushing him back into Shen Qiming’s clutches, back into that hell that had turned him into what he was today.
How could he? How could he personally send Jiang Zhaosheng back again? The person he had fought so hard for, even going as far as playing the part of a fool and a rival, just so he could watch and guard him from afar?
Qin Yichuan instinctively calculated the days when Jiang Zhaosheng had been completely imprisoned and “polished” by Shen Qiming—that period was exactly when he had been assigned by Shen Qiming to carry out a long-term undercover mission.
By the time he returned, scarred and battered, the news he received was that Jiang Zhaosheng and Shen Qiming had fallen in love and then broken up, with no further word, his life or death unknown.
A belated regret seized him—if he had been there, would things have been different? Even if only a tiny, insignificant bit different?
…
His consciousness seemed to be floating in the deep sea.
Jiang Zhaosheng felt warm currents wrapping around his body, and steaming heat moistening the air. Lingering at the tip of his nose was the familiar scent of the body wash he usually used, which made his tense nerves relax slightly. He instinctively spread his limbs, seeking a sense of security, and buried himself as much as possible in the comfortable warm water.
“…Sigh, be careful not to choke on the water!”
Qin Yichuan had just wrung out a towel and turned around, only to see the person in the bathtub like a puddle of melted slime, slowly sliding down. The thick black hair floated on the water’s surface like seaweed, and the exquisite chin had already submerged, looking like a newborn baby—utterly defenseless. The sight made his heart tighten inexplicably.
Before any more dangerous bubbles could rise from the surface, he hurried forward. Somewhat flustered, he reached out to cup the slippery cheeks and lift the man’s head out of the water.
“Cough… you can’t drink that… hurry and spit it out.”
Jiang Zhaosheng still had his eyes closed in exhaustion. His wet forehead and sideburns clung damply to his fair neck and prominent collarbones. Droplets of water rolled down the long lines of his neck, disappearing deeper.
This sight made Qin Yichuan feel in a daze… as if what he held in his hands wasn’t the sharp-tongued Jiang Zhaosheng, but a fragile and simple mermaid that had just come ashore.
Then, the “mermaid” seemed to choke. He frowned, his long eyelashes trembling, and he obediently spat out a small mouthful of clear water.
A faint breath, carrying a damp warmth, fanned against Qin Yichuan’s palm.
“…Idiot.”
Qin Yichuan cursed softly, but his tone held no real blame. Instead, it was filled with the helplessness of doting.
Some people were born to serve, and some were born to be served—Qin Yichuan thought. He was likely born as the former, and Jiang Zhaosheng was undoubtedly the latter. Even though he was currently in a dire situation, the nobility and the trait of being lovable in his bones hadn’t diminished in the slightest.
“…Jiang Zhaosheng, you really are lucky.”
An indescribable bitterness and ache welled up in his chest. He could only mutter to himself in a low voice toward this unconscious person, as if this could vent the heavy emotions that had accumulated for years and were almost drowning him—
Suddenly, a slightly cool and wet hand grabbed the wrist that was currently wiping his face.
The force wasn’t heavy—it was even a bit limp—yet it made Qin Yichuan stay in place as if he were being held by an invisible collar.
“Your scent… why has it changed?”
Jiang Zhaosheng’s tone was one of pure incomprehension and confusion, as if he had just discovered a minor, illogical thing.
Absurd things had been happening all night. After the initial shock, anger, and powerlessness, Jiang Zhaosheng’s heart had, strangely enough, moved infinitely closer to calm. He even had the mental capacity to wonder: Is Qin Yichuan okay?
Although he was a stupid dog, at least he wasn’t a pervert like Shen Qiming.
But this stupid dog was right about one thing: he was born with a defect—
As a Beta, he could smell the pheromones of Alphas and Omegas.
Before Shen Qiming had acted against him, perfumes and pheromones were no different to him—one was a post-hoc blend, while the other was an innate emission.
The secondary ABO gender differentiation happens during adolescence. Jiang Zhaosheng remembered that Qin Yichuan had differentiated very late—so late that many of their peers in training had already adapted to their secondary sexual characteristics. It was so late that he almost thought the other would be a Beta like himself, indifferent to pheromones.
Qin Yichuan was being hunted when he differentiated. Hearing the news, Jiang Zhaosheng took it upon himself to pick him up.
Of course, the love for racing was a secondary reason—Jiang Zhaosheng never missed an opportunity to make things difficult for Qin Yichuan.
He drove his favorite bulletproof sports car, making an arrogant sharp turn and braking in the night. The front of the car nearly touched the person who was clutching his shoulder and panting against the wall of the alleyway—if he had braked even a fraction of a second later, Qin Yichuan would likely have broken a few more bones.
Jiang Zhaosheng rolled down the window, leisurely waiting for the other to break into a furious tirade. To his surprise, Qin Yichuan just looked up and stared at him blankly. Those eyes, which always burned with a fire that refused to admit defeat, were now filled with some strange, violent, and turbulent emotion, as well as a look that was… nearly greedy.
“Your brain,” Jiang Zhaosheng thought it was strange. He lowered his sunglasses and made a gun-shooting gesture toward his temple with his index and middle fingers, “was it injured?”
Qin Yichuan suddenly took a sharp breath as if being startled awake, and abruptly moved his gaze away.
“…Hurry and let me in the car.”
As if he had laid down all his thorns and resistance, the person who usually wouldn’t stop being stubborn even if he had only one breath left was now easily showing weakness. This instead caught Jiang Zhaosheng—who had a bellyful of mockery prepared—somewhat off guard.
Jiang Zhaosheng didn’t suspect anything, assuming only that Qin Yichuan’s injuries were too severe. He took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his coat pocket. The car door gave a light “beep” sound.
“Get in.” His tone still wasn’t particularly good.
At that time, Jiang Zhaosheng was obsessed with a newly released, quite bizarrely flavored lemon soda. As soon as Qin Yichuan got in the car, he spotted the familiar empty glass bottle in the slot beside the driver’s seat and couldn’t help but sigh softly:
“…You really do have a pica (allotriophagy).”
Almost everyone thought that soda was cheap and tasted terrible, with a pungent artificial flavoring—only Jiang Zhaosheng enjoyed it tirelessly. It was as if he had found some treasure, and he always maliciously and forcefully recommended it to others, enjoying the twisted expressions on their faces after they drank it.
“…The artificial scent is too strong; it’s not refreshing at all.”
When Jiang Zhaosheng drank the soda, his fleshy lips would be slightly depressed by the hard, thin straw. When he spat out the straw, residual juice would moisten his lower lip, making it glisten—captivating without him even knowing it.
If it weren’t for Shen Qiming’s intentional control, given how those “simps” would scramble to pay for it, Jiang Zhaosheng would probably have that lemon soda flowing through his veins.
“An inferior product; it’ll go bankrupt and stop production sooner or later…”
A sudden brake.
Qin Yichuan lurched forward unexpectedly, sucking in a cold breath of air from the pain of his wounds being pulled. He closed his eyes and thought: Is it here? Jiang Zhaosheng’s counterattack and harassment.
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