Even though Li Cheng heard the words ‘shotgun puppy love’, he didn’t intend to take it seriously.
He had no interest in dating. For him, games weren’t fun and even fights weren’t exciting. How could dating be interesting for a boss like him?
However, the problem was that if he couldn’t find an alpha that he’s satisfied with to bite him, then he could only accept the ‘arranged partner’ that Coach Wu and his wife had chosen. They planned to find a suitable alpha from his seniors who had already graduated to help him through this plight.
“You should first try finding one from the people you know,” Coach Wu said, “Although I can easily find an alpha from your swimming team seniors, I don’t want people to feel wronged.”
Li Cheng: “??? Wait, I’m demeaning myself in letting them bite me so why are they the one who’ll feel wronged? I’m the omega alright?”
Coach Wu retorted, “But you’re Li Cheng!”
……That seems somewhat reasonable.
In order to prevent the scent of Li Cheng’s pheromones from affecting the people around him, Doctor Wang gave Li Cheng inhibitor patches. One only needed to stick an inhibitor patch on their glands once the estrus period had arrived to prevent their pheromones from being released (The omega would still be on estrus but the people around them would not be able to smell the omega’s pheromones).
The texture of the inhibitor patch was similar to that of a band-aid. It was transparent and round. Once it covered the glands, it could effectively block the spreading of pheromones. People wouldn’t be able to smell the pheromones on one’s body unless they placed their nose close to the glands.
After leaving the infirmary, Li Cheng idly strolled around the campus.
The bell had rung a long time ago but he had no intention of going to class.
His mind was wholly occupied by the thoughts of his nearing estrus. He was itching to rush to the street and bring a neat and beautiful alpha back as his wife.
He didn’t plan on telling his lil’ brothers about this since their brains didn’t function that well. They did everything with great fanfare so they would surely pass on the news to ten people who would then pass it on to a hundred people. It was highly likely that he would have to hold an assembly for him to select his concubine.
He still wanted to find the suitable person by himself.
However, because he was a highly sensitive omega, he needed to find an alpha who had formidable and outstanding genes in order to suppress his estrus.
It was like water and fire.
An omega during their estrus would feel like they were being roasted over a blazing fire. The alpha pheromone was the water that could extinguish the fire, but if there wasn’t enough water, the water would instantly be evaporated by the fire.
This was why Coach Wu wanted to introduce his former trainees to help Li Cheng. Alphas that could become athletes had strong and robust bodies that could match Li Cheng.
However, Li Cheng was rather unwilling to let an alpha that he had never seen before bite his glands.
The reason was that he had a secret that was too embarrassing to tell anybody⸺ Compared to others, his glands were…… quite different. He wasn’t sure if it was because he differentiated late but his glands were particularly unusual. When he previously went to the hospital, the doctor had told him that an unusual gland like his would only appear once in every ten thousand people.
He only told the coach and the team doctor about this matter. Even his sister Youyou didn’t know.
Laden with worries, he walked the way out of campus but when he reached the wall that he was familiar with, he was surprised to find the security guard instructing workers to put up barbed wires and install CCTVs on the wall.
Li Cheng: “……”
He asked, “Security uncle, why are you suddenly installing these things here?”
The security uncle answered, “Oh, we received a call from a warmhearted student. He said that he found a ladder with footprints outside the wall and suspected that someone had climbed the wall to enter the school and steal something. So we immediately strengthened the security here.”
Li Cheng: “……That warmhearted student that you mentioned, is he Xiao Yiheng from Class 3-1?”
Security guard: “Eh? You know him?”
Li Cheng replied, “Of course I do.”
“He’s your classmate?”
“No,” Li Cheng spoke through gritted teeth, “He— Is— My— Grand— Son!”
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.
“……?”
If he had not retained his rationality, he would have rushed into Xiao Yiheng’s class and had a proper argument with him.
When Li Cheng thought of being forcefully separated with his fried chicken, barbecue, hotpot, night club and internet cafe, he felt half of his soul dissipate into the air.
He kicked pebbles as he continued walking, imagining the pebbles as Xiao Yiheng’s eyes and hating that he couldn’t blow it to pieces with his feet.
The pebbles rolled far away on the ground with a clatter, landing next to the feet of another person.
Li Cheng’s gaze followed the pebbles and he turned to look at the person.
“Teacher Qiu?” When he saw Qiu Xian supporting her pregnant belly as she stood under the tree shade with a look of discomfiture and anxiety, he felt that something was wrong so he quickly walked over and inquired, “What’s wrong? Where does it feel uncomfortable?”
Facing the gentle and demure art teacher, Li Cheng didn’t even dare to speak too loudly.
Seeing him approach, Qiu Xian hesitated for a while before pointing to her feet.
It was only then that Li Cheng noticed that one of Qiu Xian’s shoelaces had been untied. Because of her pregnant belly, she simply couldn’t bend down to tie her shoelace. However, she could easily trip herself if she didn’t tie it up.
Without further ado, Li Cheng bent down and helped Qiu Xian to tie her shoelace, ensuring that it was tightly tied lest the shoelace became undone once again.
“Should I re-tie your other shoelace?” He asked as he looked up at her.
While he was inquiring, warm rays of sunlight fell upon his tousled hair. He found it hard to open his eyes with sun shining down on him so he blinked incessantly, the sunlight seemingly following the flutter of his eyelashes.
Qiu Xian didn’t expect this lil’ demon incarnate to actually help her tie her shoelace and was rather surprised, “No need, it should be fine… Thank you Li Cheng.”
People who weren’t familiar with Li Cheng always thought that he didn’t show respect to elders, that he dared to skip classes and oppose the teachers and that he’s definitely not a good student; but in fact, Li Cheng was very caring towards the small and the weak. If he saw a grandma crossing the road, he would offer them help on his own initiative.
After tying up Qiu Xian’s shoelace, he helped her go back to the art classroom.
Qiu Xian asked him, “It’s class time, don’t you need to go back to class?”
Li Cheng smiled ingratiatingly as he replied, “If I go to class, who’ll help the teacher tie her shoelace?”
Qiu Xian: “……”
Fine, this kid really spouts out one fallacy after another.
The art classroom was empty but there were two classes today thus Qiu Xian arrived early to prepare in advance.
Li Cheng helped her sit on a chair, brought her a cushion and poured hot water for her. It was only after seeing her expression becoming better after drinking the hot water that he felt relieved.
“Teacher Qiu, you’re eight months pregnant so you actually don’t need to continue teaching classes.” Li Cheng crouched down beside her with hands folded on his lap, his golden hair falling upon his forehead like those angels in oil paintings who were bearers of good news. Of course, that was only if you ignored his fiery temper every now and then.
Qiu Xian shook her head, “The doctor advised me to walk more. I can’t stop working just because I’m pregnant.” Her hand caressed her round belly as she continued, “Moreover, the baby likes to listen to me teaching students. Isn’t that so?”
Then, an amazing thing happened. As soon as she asked, her belly suddenly moved and an imprint of a tiny foot could be seen.
Li Cheng had not seen such a thing before. He was so astonished that he lost his balance and fell on his butt.
“T-teacher Qiu, your belly……” He stared at her wide-eyed, unable to utter a word.
“It’s a fetal movement.” Qiu Xian didn’t expect that Li Cheng, who was widely-renowned as a daredevil in school, would be frightened by the baby’s movement. She pulled Li Cheng’s wrist and gently placed his hands on her belly.
Li Cheng went stiff. He was curious yet scared at the same time. After hesitating for quite a while, he plucked up the courage to press his palms against Teacher Qiu’s protruding belly.
Gulp.
Li Cheng gulped loudly. His two eyes were curiously fixed on to Teacher Qiu’s belly as he felt the movement of life inside.
In here… There’s really a baby.
A soft, clever, little baby who loves to listen to his mother teaching students and is growing accompanied by the smell of paint.
For reasons he couldn’t explain, Li Cheng suddenly wanted to cry.
Li Cheng was only six years old when his mother was pregnant with Youyou. He didn’t understand anything at that time. He just felt as if his mother’s belly became big in the blink of an eye, and in another blink of an eye, a life called ‘sister’ came into his arms.
He didn’t dare to move an inch as though he was frozen by a magic spell, feeling all the movements of the little life under his palm. He imagined the baby sleeping, turning somersaults and playing.
It was amazing. Really amazing.
Qiu Xian looked at the boy squatting in front of her with a face full of amazement, as if he was touching a unique piece of art.
“Teacher, is your baby a boy or a girl?”
“It’s a boy.”
“Teacher, why did you choose to conceive it yourself? Science and technology are advanced enough in today’s world. A lot of people nowadays opt for artificial wombs, don’t they?”
“Because I feel that if I conceive him myself, the baby would be closer to me.”
“Teacher, what’s your wife’s gender?”
Qiu Xian laughed, “She’s an alpha.”
“Alpha…” Li Cheng’s hand that was gently caressing Qiu Xian’s belly paused before he weakly retracted it. He sat cross-legged on the ground and propped his hand on his chin, his expression becoming gloomy.
Qiu Xian was curious and asked him: “What’s wrong?”
At that moment, Li Cheng didn’t look like a little lion but like a little monkey instead. He scratched his head and his face became flushed with embarrassment.
“Teacher, since your wife is an alpha, then she must have marked you? What does it feel like?” When he said the word ‘marked’, he intentionally slurred the word as he was embarrassed to say it clearly. After all, he was a virgin who had not even had his first love. Everything that he knew about marking came from the ‘action’ movies that he had secretly collected.
In those ‘action’ movies, the alpha would either gently or roughly pounce on the omega’s body. Then, they would bite the omega’s nape and pierce the gland with their teeth, letting their pheromones intertwine.
At that moment, the ‘director’ would give a close-up of the omega ‘actor’ below them.
Some had tears at the corner of their eyes; Some shuddered incessantly as if they had been electrified; Some resisted ceaselessly and cried bitterly; There were also some who were completely immersed in the sea of desire, clenching their toes in enjoyment.
Li Cheng was confused by those ‘action’ movies and even had a sense of fear that he could not explain.
He couldn’t imagine what it would feel like when someone else’s pheromones were poured into his body.
Although Li Cheng spoke indistinctly, Qiu Xian caught what he had said.
Qiu Xian was amused and badly wanted to pinch his blushing cheeks.
“The feeling of marking…..?” Qiu Xian placed her hand on her belly as she recalled, “That feeling… It’s like all of a sudden, my soul is closely connected with another person.”
Li Cheng titled his head in confusion.
“Before an omega’s estrus, we will all feel tired and exhausted right? In fact, this tiredness and exhaustion has a deeper meaning⸺‘Emptiness’. It feels like something is missing inside our body.” Qiu Xian tried to use simpler language to explain it to the confused youth in front of her, “That’s why many omegas would have nesting behaviours during their estrus. In actuality, they’re trying to fill that emptiness.”
The so-called nesting behaviour was when omegas meticulously collected soft and bright things such as pillows, quilts, stuffed toys etc. Once their estrus had come, they would stay in the ‘nest’ they built and refuse to leave.
Qiu Xian continued, “But when an alpha marks you, you will feel all that emptiness being filled up. His pheromone will be far more warm and comfortable than all those soft pillows.”
In fact, these details were taught in the 《National Health Education Course》.
He could not completely understand what he had heard. He was still young and had never had nesting behaviour. He still couldn’t understand what the so-called emptiness and being filled up meant.
Seeing Li Cheng’s blank expression, Qiu Xian realised that she was talking to a brick wall.
“You don’t have to think so much about it now,” Qiu Xian smiled, “You’re only seventeen. Why are you asking about marking now? Could it be that you already have an alpha you like?”
“Of course not!” Li Cheng jumped up at once and his face became red as he denied, “I’m just casually asking! I’m not interested in an alpha!”
If it were not for his urgent need of having a ‘shotgun puppy love’, he would not have inquired about this kind of thing.
He just wanted to quickly find a reserved and obliging alpha who would act as his inhibitor that would bite him to delay his oncoming estrus so that he could effortlessly win the gold medal in the swimming competition and bring honour to his coach.
But which alpha could help me? Li Cheng thought of the group of repulsive alphas and betas around him but couldn’t think of anyone who was pleasing to the eye.
His closest lil’ brother Huang Yelun?
Nah, not only is he a beta, he’s stupid too.
His recent recruit, Hu ge?
I’ll become rich if I dated Hu ge but isn’t it too tacky to engage in the unspoken rules with an underling?
His loyal lapdog, Wei Rong?
Although he’s an alpha, he’s too greasy. His greasiness can be said to be unmatched by any other.
That only leaves Xiao Yi…..
⸺Ptooey!
Li Cheng immediately swatted the name out of his mind.
What type of person do you think Li Cheng was? He’s the ever-victorious champion in the swimming pool, the school tyrant leader who had beaten up all his opponents within a range of five kilometres and the strongest king in the game.
Could he possibly be amiable towards Xiao Yiheng for a mere temporary marking?
He’s a golden-furred lion king, not a kitten that one could casually touch after giving it some money!
The author has something to say:
Lil’ Orange’s gland is very unusual. I’ll leave that info here for now. Find out more later with Xiao Xiao~
Also, I included the idea of nest-building in this ABO setting. As mentioned in the chapter, omega will collect soft things to build their nest when their estrus is coming. After being marked, it will turn into building a nest of things that has their alpha’s scent. (Of course they wouldn’t build a nest on top of a tree but they’ll build a small castle in their homes like small animals do.)
This setting is more common in ABO manhuas/mangas and also in Western fictions.
T/N: Thank you yuri_bae, Mikki, Kurtsy and Lucy for your kind donations!
ybcer mt obg vfm: 6 / 25 mtr
Oh come on, Li Cheng! Just ask him! >< Also, love that the author is including the nesting in this, bc I absolutely love the whole idea of omegas collecting soft things to comfort themselves!
Thanks for the chapter! 🙂
I actually would like to see our little orange nestled with tons of cute pillows…until I remembered that he is trying to be a manly omega…
Thanks for the chapter~
because hes manly it just makes me want to see it even more😂
Ahhh he’s so cute 😍
Thanks for the chapter <3
+1
O.o so sweet
Thank you for the chapter
If I weren’t a broke student I would buy you another 19 coffees and get those extra chapters!
Omg Li Cheng is such a little softie, you make my heart melt.
Thank you so much for the chapter!!!
It’s said Li Cheng doesn’t know anything about nesting, but he hid Xiao Yiheng’s jacket!! He’s already starting.
Thanks for the chapter!
That’s not the same thing, if he was nesting he wouldn’t have washed the jacket or put it in the closet. He just his it because other people can easily misunderstand.
Teacher Qiu’s explaining marking with nesting behaviour and feeling of emptiness was interesting.
Lil’ Orange has an ideal candidate in Xiao Yiheng for a alpha 😉
Thanks for the chapter 💕
Thanks for the chapter!!
I can see where this is going and I don’t like it at all. If LC asks XY to mark him, won’t XY have won? Why should he win when he’s already a top alpha dog? So omegas (women) should always submit to and be suppressed by alphas (men)? Especially because they’re at odds and and the alpha clearly already has the upper hand, I find this offensive. I really did hope this would be more like ShaoWang but I’m bitterly disappointed. The translation quality is excellent though, thanks for your hard work!
Thank you for the chapter!
I love the nesting setting the author added to their ABO
Now i’m kind a getting irritated by how unreasonable LC is, SIGH
And why most people scolding XY as if he did some mistake, he is clearly minding his own business, when LC crossed his path, SIGH, i don’t want to be partial in gender just because LC is an omega doesn’t mean he can be unreasonable and XY is an alpha he could endure everything? XY told him he is in heat, what did he do? Punched him? SIGH
Thank you for the chapter <3
It was just like Wei Wuxian asking “Shijie, what does it mean to like someone? ”
So cute!❤️
I finally know what nesting means 😭 I don’t normally read ABO since most of the content is used for NSFW stuff, so now I know some more terminology.