Translator: Abo Dammen
Editor: Scarlet
Proofreader: Kuro
Jiang Yunshu purchased a burial site in a remote suburb that was deserted and very cheap. Had it not been for Bai Tang, he would’ve never spent money on a cenotaph for that bastard.
Two Tangs were in the back seat on the way to the site. Bai Tang held Heitang in his arms while Heitang gazed out the window. Bai Tang’s face showed his anxiousness visibly as the scenery changed from high-rise buildings to fields and mountain peaks and he became quite fidgety.
They drove past a farmhouse. The villagers had constructed their own greenhouse. Snacks such as beef brisket and radishes, grilled sausages, roasted chestnuts, and so on were sold at the shop’s front door.
A tanned uncle in a straw hat waved at them. Jiang Yunshu pulled over on the side of the road and asked, “Bai Tang, do you want to eat something?”
Bai Tang didn’t want to eat as he wasn’t hungry at all. “I don’t want to eat…”
“I’m afraid there are no restaurants ahead of us. Why don’t we just have our lunch here.” It was nearly noon. Jiang Yunshu said, “Have you ever eaten in a place like this? They all cook with firewood, which smells delicious.”
The food was fragrant and appetising, and the wisps of white smoke floating from it made it even more tempting. Bai Tang shook his head. His parents didn’t like him, and his grandmother was too old to take him out. After marrying Jiang Yunsu, he hardly ever went out.
Jiang Yunshu said, “Let’s get off. We should always eat.”
Bai Tang was hooked by the smell after they got out of the car, which woke up the glutton in his stomach. He dutifully trailed behind the alpha.
After a while, he sat back in a restaurant chair, holding eight fish balls in a disposable plastic bowl with a lump of red tomato sauce and four bamboo sticks. He pushed the fish balls between the two of them without hesitation.
Heitang was bound to the alpha’s chair leg. When it saw the fish balls, it stretched its head and wanted to lick them, but Jiang Yunshu quickly moved it away, and he forked a fish ball to save face, dipped a large lump of tomato sauce in it, and put it in his mouth.
Bai Tang looked at him with delight, as if he had discovered a kindred spirit. “I also like to dip in a lot of tomato sauce!”
So the two ordered more fish balls and consumed one-third of the bottle of tomato sauce.
Stainless steel plates were used to serve farm dishes: Stir-fried local pork, fried three treasures, and bean sprout soup.
Bai Tang could already sense the food from afar. It was the kind of aroma that was impossible to replicate at home. When he put it in his mouth, it was still steaming. His eyes lit up after taking a bite; it was rare that he managed to eat two full bowls of rice.
Jiang Yunshu felt at ease. At the very least, this brief episode alleviated Bai Tang’s anxiety and fear.
But as soon as they finished eating and got in the car, that unknown complex emotion welled up again, making Bai Tang even more agitated. Even Heitang was fidgety, moving around constantly.
🍬 —🕊— 🍀
“Let’s go, Bai Tang.” Jiang Yunshu parked the car in an open space in a desolate area outside town, surrounded by weeds and a small water channel. He got out of the car first and opened the back seat door. The soles of his shoes made a sound as they rubbed against the pebbles on the ground.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Lflajcu jiwbra pewqfv bea yea Aljcu Tecrte wjcjufv ab ugjy lar vbu ifjrt.
Djl Kjcu abbx j ofk vffq ygfjatr, afcajalnfis ragfamtfv bea bcf obba, jcv ijcvfv la bc atf ugjnfi gbjv.
Pa kjr j gfjiis yjggfc mfwfafgs. Ktfgf kfgf cb uejgvr ja atf ujaf, bcis j ofk rafifr. Vbwf bo atf rafifr kfgf rb bnfgugbkc klat kffvr atja atflg bglulcji jqqfjgjcmf kjr tlvvfc ogbw nlfk, jcv atf kbgvr fcugjnfv bc atfw kfgf yjgfis ifulyif.
The colour drained from Bai Tang’s lips as he walked, and when he reached the entrance he stood motionless for several minutes. He was terrified of places like the cemetery, not to mention THE Jiang Yunsu tomb inside.
Jiang Yunshu talked over, “We won’t go to that ground. We’ll just stand below and look from a safe distance.”
Bai Tang remained silent. His legs seemed to weigh a thousand catties, and he stared fixedly inside, motionless.
Jiang Yunshu relaxed his tone and chatted casually, “Still going in? If you don’t want to go, there’s a wetland park two kilometres away. You can bring Heitang to play.”
Bai Tang’s answer rolled around the tip of his tongue, until he finally squeezed it out, “…I’ll go.”
Yesterday, Jiang Yunshu checked the Internet. Holding hands or giving a hug to a friend or loved one may help them feel more at ease. He extended his hand. “Wanna hold hands?”
Bai Tang turned to face him.
“It’s me,” said Jiang Yunshu. “Don’t be afraid.”
Forcing himself to stay in control, Bai Tang placed his hand in the alpha’s palm and gripped it tightly.
Jiang Yunshu was about to lift his foot when he was abruptly pulled back. When he turned his head, he noticed Bai Tang seemed to realise something and exclaimed, “Wait wait… No, you can’t go…”
“Why?”
Bai Tang anxiously grabbed him and spoke incoherently, “What if you went to his tomb, hit some mechanism, and then your souls…switch back. W-what if you leave?”
Jiang Yunshu felt both distressed and amused. He said, “It’s a cenotaph. There is nothing underneath, it’s empty. Only his information was written on the stone. Besides, I’ve been here several times already. Wouldn’t we have switched sooner?”
Bai Tang kept a blank face and said nothing. He just held onto him, refusing to let him in.
Ever since he learned that the alpha had been replaced, Bai Tang had been on the edge about these supernatural things and would never touch any possibility that would make Jiang Yunshu disappear, even with a 0.1% probability.
Even if it had only been more than half a year or so, he couldn’t and wouldn’t accept Jiang Yunshu’s disappearance from his life.
“I-I want to go in by myself…” Bai Tang trembled thrice in a sentence.
Jiang Yunshu frowned. However, he compromised and said, “Then take Heitang.”
Bai Tang said, “Not good… Heitang will keep barking, it will disturb others…”
Jiang Yunshu was stunned for a moment before he understood who the “others” were. He felt helpless for a moment. “Why do you believe in these things so much now?”
The alpha’s delivery seemed to throw Bai Tang off. With a trembling voice, he also refuted, “You’ve appeared in front of me. Can I still, can I still not believe it?”
That makes sense. Jiang Yunshu remained silent. It was too risky to let Bai Tang go in alone without emotional support. He had seen many patients who were severely stimulated and frightened into madness and hallucinations. It was irreversible mental damage.
“No.” He disagreed firmly. “Either I will go in with you, or Heitang will go in with you.”
Bai Tang resolutely chose Heitang.
Jiang Yunshu squatted down on one knee and patted Heitang’s butt. “Follow your owner, don’t bite and bump him. Got it?”
Heitang stuck out his tongue funnily. “Arf!”
Bai Tang stepped into the cemetery. The surrounding environment was bleak and the occasional wind brushed against his ankles.
The hand gripping the dog leash shook. He was so rigid that his eyes couldn’t even risk a sideways glance, so instead, he stared at the branch in front of him. His mind told him he was walking several times, but when he came to, he realised he was still very close to the second tomb.
After an unknown amount of time, when his legs started to feel numb, he finally stood in front of the fourth tomb. Jiang Yunshu said that this location was the cheapest.
Heitang should be following behind obediently, but he couldn’t feel anything. His five senses seem to be sealed and replaced only by dread and despair, an involuntary dread that sunk in his bones, occupied his brain and dominated his body and even made him unable to lift his head.
Bai Tang clutched his stomach and gasped for breath. His eyelashes were slightly damp, and the rough dog leash had left red marks on his palm. He heedlessly raised his head and his eyes locked with Jiang Yunsu‘s cenotaph.
Jiang Yunshu’s heartbeat quickened as he watched Bai Tang. Everything seemed to be normal at first. Bai Tang walked very smoothly without losing the rhythm of his steps, and Heitang obediently followed behind. One person and one dog soon stood a step below Jiang Yunsu‘s tombstone.
The outcome was almost instant. Bai Tang suddenly fell forward, striking his forehead on the rock.
Jiang Yunshu didn’t hesitate for a second and rushed in to help him up.
🍬 —🕊— 🍀
When Bai Tang woke up again, he was curled up in a warm embrace, his face pressed against a hard chest where he could hear a heartbeat.
“It’s me.” Noticing his slight struggle, a gentle and steady voice came from above his head. “Don’t be afraid.”
Jiang Yunshu repeatedly stroked Bai Tang’s arched back until his stiff body relaxed.
“I-I saw his name….” said Bai Tang.
“Mhm.”
Bai Tang unprecedentedly felt a touch of reality. “…He is dead.”
“Mhm.”
It was already dusk outside. Bai Tang didn’t know how long he had been unconscious for, but he later realised that amidst the overwhelming fear, he was tinged with a tinge of excitement.
The alpha holding him now was not Jiang Yunsu.
Jiang Yunsu was really dead.
The demon who abused him for three years was really dead.
The surrounding environment was deathly quiet, save for the occasional chirping of birds and crickets and the swaying branches and leaves of a few saplings.
With his effective pacification of his back, Bai Tang spoke softly, his eardrums vibrating slightly as he spoke, which left a tickling sensation. “Why are you helping me to this degree? How could someone invest their time and energy boundlessly?”
Jiang Yunshu paused for a second.
A long silence.
After a long time, he spoke in a heavy tone, “I have a patient, a little boy named Zhou An, who looks a lot like you. I treated him for three full years, but he lost a head of black hair and a left leg.”
Bai Tang blinked, and slowly raised his head from the alpha’s chest.
Jiang Yunshu looked at the black smoke floating from the chimney to the sky in the distance. “When I died, he had just passed his 15th birthday. His malignant tumour cells had metastasized to his lungs, and his condition deteriorated so badly that he had at most a year to live.”
Jiang Yunshu paused. “I don’t know if he is still alive in that world.”
Bai Tang clutched the alpha’s index finger. “I’m sorry…”
Jiang Yunshu pushed back Bai Tang’s bangs, revealing the omega’s beautiful eyebrows and eyes. “I’m not investing my time and energy boundlessly. I’m very despicable. I’m trying to use this method to somehow alleviate my guilt for my incompetence.”
He stared into Bai Tang’s eyes, thinking that the other party would at least have some angry emotions, but unexpectedly, after a moment, Bai Tang lowered his head again, leaned against the pit of his stomach, and asked in a low voice, “Would you like a cupcake…”
The subject of the conversation changed so drastically that it took a while for Jiang Yunshu to catch on. “What?”
“I said, do you want cupcakes when you go back? I can make it for you,” muffled Bai Tang. “But this time you have to tell me how many grams of sugar to put in it…”
Aww Bai Tang is so cute! ☺
Thanks for the chapter !!
Stage five: acceptance (now they can fall in love)
Ahhh Bai Tang finally starts to open up… So proud of ma baby (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Baby Bai Tang deserves the best! And Dr. Jiang being so patient with him is such a green flag trait. Thank you so much for the update <3
My heart warms up so quickly
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Thank You for the new chapter (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡
Slowly moving forward!
1) Totally a date! They are together and liked it. 2) If course he’d be afraid of a cemetery since they have absolute proof that souls do not in fact stay put after death! 3) The whole exercise would be pointless if Bai Tang died from fainting and hitting his head – unless he reappeared in a different body 😄.
this marathon was one of the best of my life!! so good!! thank you so much for being translating this novel💜
😻
Читаю через автоперекладач українською. І тут є цікавий нюанс: “кекс” як тістечко та “секс” як секс мають схожість, тому це прозвучало як завуальоване запрошення переспати (що дуже дивно в даному контексті)