Bonus chapter (7/25) as thanks to Lianhua‘s ko-fi~
Downstairs of Unit A, Building 1, Glory District.
Yan Jing was holding five kilograms of oranges. Although he was not complaining, he looked miserable, as if he would pass out from exhaustion at any moment.
He had a weak body and his hands had never carried anything heavier than chemical reagents. Today he carried no less than ten kilograms of fruit from the fruit shop in front of the school to downstairs Xiao Yiheng’s house, completely testing the limits of his physical strength.
Li Cheng had never seen an alpha who was weaker than him before.
“Enough, stop whining.” Li Cheng complained, “You wanted to visit Xiao Yiheng and buy him oranges so what’s the use of whining now?”
“……” Yan Jing who was being bullied by the completely unreasonable school tyrant cried out, “I don’t want to visit Senior Xiao now so can I leave?”
The answer was, of course, no.
Before going upstairs, Li Cheng took out a woollen hat out of nowhere and placed the hat tightly atop his hand, hiding every strand of his hair under the hat and making it impossible to see his hair colour.
Yan Jing: “Huh? Why are you wearing a hat on such a sweltering day?”
Li Cheng fixed his hat through the reflection of the glass window as he replied, “I’ve heard that Xiao Yiheng’s parents are very old-fashioned. They would definitely not let me in if they saw my blonde hair.”
“Oh, so it’s because of that. Li ge, you’ve really put some thought into this.” Yan Jing patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry. An ugly daughter-in-law will have to face her parents-in-law sooner or later”
Li Cheng: “……” Mister Genius, what do you mean by that?
The two went to the guard to register their information. The guard saw that they were wearing the uniform of HC1 so he muttered in surprise, “That kid from the Xiao family actually has friends?”
The sharp-eared Li Cheng heard him and was a little curious so he asked, “Uncle, could it be that no students had visited him before?”
The security guard uncle saw that he had a pretty face and pure eyes so he bluntly told the truth, “His parents are extremely strict. I’ve been working here for the past five or six year but I’ve never seen him play with other children. I never saw him going out to play basketball or football during weekends or even winter and summer vacations. He’s always alone.”
Li Cheng thought, Are they raising a child or a dog? Even if they were raising a dog, they would still have to take it for a walk frequently.
“We’ll most likely come back often to find him in the future.” Li Cheng pointed towards himself and Yan Jing who was beside him, “You have to remember our faces. Don’t ask us to register every time!”
Yan Jing was shocked: “……Come back?”
Li Cheng shot him a death glare.
Yan Jing: “……Right, we’ll come again.”
The two took the elevator up. The district that Xiao Yiheng’s family was located in was a high-end neighbourhood and had a good environment. Each unit had a private elevator and even the hallways were sumptuously decorated.
They stopped at the door of Xiao family’s house.
Li Cheng took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
However, the security door did not open. Instead, a female voice came from the intercom speaker.
“Who are you?”
The voice was ice-cold, typical of someone from the Xiao family. She sounded around forty-years old. When she asked the question, her voice held an arrogance that was deep-seated in her bones.
Yan Jing loudly replied, “Hello. We’re Xiao Yiheng’s classmates. We heard that he’s sick so we came to visit him.”
As he spoke, Yan Jing also raised the oranges in his hand to the camera.
He had the face of a studious student who was well-behaved and close to his parents. Unexpectedly, his irresistible ‘charm’ met its Waterloo, Mother Xiao.
“Thank you for coming,” Mother Xiao said, “but he needs to rest now. It’s not convenient to receive guests so you can take your oranges back and eat it yourself.”
Yan Jing: “……” Fuck, what kind of parent is this? They can actually ask students visiting a sick classmate to leave. That must be why Xiao Yiheng has no friends. Who can put up with having their good intentions rejected?!
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.
He wanted to say something but Li Cheng suddenly stopped him and leaned in front of the intercom to speak.
“We came to visit him on behalf of the whole class. The oranges had also been bought using our class fund. If we go back this way, we wouldn’t be able to explain it to the whole class. Even if you won’t let us see him, please open the door and accept the oranges. Please……” Li Cheng paused, “……jiejie. You should be Xiao Yiheng’s sister, right?”
Yan Jing ridiculed inwardly, What’s this drivel talk? You called a mom a sister!
However, reality proved that Li Cheng’s strategy was effective.
Less than five seconds after Li Cheng spoke, the security door in front of them opened.
Yan Jing: !!!
Li Cheng glanced at him triumphantly and whispered, “Tsk tsk. It seems like you don’t know women enough.”
When the two stepped into the entrance hall, Mother Xiao was already waiting there.
Her appearance was remarkably like Xiao Yiheng. There were some wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and her lips were pressed tightly shut. She looked like someone who would keep people at arm’s length. Even though she was at home, she did not wear loose and comfortable home clothes. Instead, she was wearing an extravagant and luxurious dress.
Her appearance was extremely suitable to appear in a melodramatic drama in the local TV station. She would be the upper-class lady that liked breaking up affectionate couples. Her only line in the drama would be, ‘Take this hundred million and leave my son alone!’
Li Cheng was amused by his imagination.
Mother Xiao gave them slippers to wear and led them to the living room to have a seat.
The house was decorated with elegant simplicity. The tabletop and the floor were spotless. The floor was so clean and shiny that Li Cheng could see his reflection on it, causing him to walk so carefully.
It was too clean, which he did not like. Li Cheng suddenly missed his messy doghouse-like dorms.
Mother Xiao poured them two glasses of plain water. With much reluctance, she spoke, “You’ve taken the trouble to visit Yiheng. Please put the oranges on the table. It’s getting dark now. Your family will be worried if you go home too late.”
This is really getting rid of someone after making use of them. She’s asking us to leave now.
Li Cheng refused to leave. Since he had already come inside, he did not intend to just put down the oranges and leave.
He had not seen Xiao Yiheng yet. Thus he asked, “How is Xiao Yiheng? I heard that he has a fever. Is it serious?”
Mother Xiao replied, “Thank you for your concern. He had a fever of 38°C this morning. He ate medicine and slept so his temperature had dropped to 37.5°C. It’s nothing serious. He’s now answering a practice examination in his room.” She looked at her watch, “It would take him two hours to answer it and he had just started so he really can’t see you right now.”
Li Cheng: “……” He has a fever yet he’s still answering practice examination questions. Is Xiao Yiheng an examination-answering machine which doesn’t need to rest?
Mother Xiao was urging them to leave but Li Cheng stood rooted to the spot and refused to leave.
Yan Jing sighed inwardly, thinking that he had to take matters into his own hand. He was simply the old ox in this Cowherd and the Weaver Girl story, always the first to matchmake the two.
“Aunty, it’s like this,” Yan Jing pushed his glasses up, “The teacher had given us revision points today and gave us a few questions. We came here today to tell him the key points.”
When Mother Xiao heard his words which were a complete lie, her expression became serious, “Oh, so it turns out that you wanted to help Yiheng catch up with his studies. Hold on then. I’ll tell him to stop answering the papers and let you study first.”
After that, Mother Xiao quickly turned around and went to Xiao Yiheng’s room to inform him.
Yan Jing looked at Li Cheng and shrugged, “Tsk tsk. It seems like you don’t know women enough.”
Li Cheng: “……”
……
Three minutes later, Mother Xiao finally led Li Cheng and Yan Jing to meet Xiao Yiheng.
Xiao Yiheng’s room was very spacious. When they entered the room, what caught their eye the most was the wall filled with golden medals. Prize certificates from various competitions at the provincial or municipal level were displayed on the shelf close to one another.
In front of the desk next to the display shelf was Xiao Yiheng who was wearing loose pyjamas, waiting for them.
He did not seem to be in good spirits. A fever-relief pad was stuck on his forehead and a pile of unfinished papers could be seen on the desk.
Li Cheng’s gaze shifted towards him, thinking that he would receive a response but Xiao Yiheng coldly looked away as if he were not the one who patiently tidied him up last night.
Li Cheng’s fist suddenly felt itchy.
Xiao Yiheng looked at his mother and said, “Mom, I’m going to study with my classmates. Please close the door when you go out. Don’t come in and disturb us.”
Mother Xiao’s former indifference was gone as she asked enthusiastically, “Should I cut some fruits for your classmates? They brought oranges.”
When Xiao Yiheng heard the word ‘orange,’ Xiao Yiheng’s expression changed and his mouth curved up into a slight smile, “Yes, I’ll have to bother you to cut it. Apart from that, please also give me another cup of yoghurt.”
Mother Xiao nodded and left.
After she left, Xiao Yiheng’s countenance instantly softened. If he was like a freezing hard ice earlier, now he was like snow. Although he was still cold, he was much gentler and softer.
Li Cheng keenly sensed the change in Xiao Yiheng. Could it be that he was so indifferent towards him just now because his mother was there?
“Have a seat.” There was a large carpet in Xiao Yiheng’s room as well as a few cushions. The three of them sat down on the carpet with a round, low table in the middle.
Yan Jing was already exhausted earlier. He sat down in an upright manner and put down his schoolbag. Then, he took out a few exercise books and spread them across the table.
Li Cheng was taken aback: “Hey, did you really mean what you’ve said? Why are you taking out your books? I don’t want to study!”
Xiao Yiheng also took an exercise book, “My mother will come in soon. We will definitely raise doubts if she saw us only chatting to each other.” He deliberately emphasised, “Class—mates—, even if we are just putting on an act, we should still pretend to be studying.”
Li Cheng: “……” He couldn’t resist asking, “Xiao Yiheng, I just wanted to ask. Are you always that polite when talking to your mom? And, your mom looks so serious.”
Although he had lost his parents when he was less than ten years old, his mother was the epitome of gentleness. She was very considerate and meticulous. She would tell him stories with her soft voice, totally unlike Xiao Yiheng’s mother who was as strict as a principal.
Xiao Yiheng tapped the pen on his exercise book as he emotionlessly replied, “Perhaps it’s because my family are all alphas so I can only communicate this way.”
Seeing that the two of them were just chatting, Yan Jing urged, “Li Cheng, take out your books before you start chatting.”
Li Cheng spread his hands out, “Books? My books are all in school. I don’t even read books in class. We’re not in class now so it’s even less unlikely for me to bring books!”
Yan Jing was astonished, “Then why are you carrying a schoolbag?”
Today, Li Cheng had fully prepared his act. Not only did he wear a woollen hat despite the heat, he also wore a clean school jacket which he had taken from one of his lil’ brothers and carried a schoolbag which he had grabbed from God knows who. The bag was full and bulging so it did not seem like nothing was in it.
Li Cheng curled his lips as he opened his bag,
“Gah!” Lil’ Lemon poked its head out of the schoolbag. It was fluffy and yellow, looking like a plush toy.
Yan Jing: “……”
Xiao Yiheng smiled and patted lil’ Lemon’s head, praising it for being well-behaved.
Li Cheng also moved closer, teasing the duckling with him.
When the two looked down at the duckie, their eyes carried the same exact gentleness. One was clearly the school tyrant while the other was a study tyrant but both became silly fathers in front of lil’ Lemon.
Yan Jing’s hand was itching to pet the duck’s fur but was slapped away by the two fathers at the same time.
Yan Jing clutched his slapped hand and understood that he was just a tool who was being discarded after being used.
After a while, Mother Xiao came into the room to deliver the fruits. Li Cheng hurriedly pulled a workbook to hide lil’ Lemon, for fear of being discovered by Mother Xiao.
Fortunately, Mother Xiao did not notice his actions. After confirming that the three were indeed studying, she quietly left.
After she left, Li Cheng finally released the breath he had been unconsciously holding. His shoulders slumped and he sat cross-legged on the carpet, not bothering to sit properly.
The oranges had been attentively peeled. The white pith had been removed and the orange had been cut into small bite-size pieces. Li Cheng popped one into his mouth, enjoying the refreshing sweet flavour that exploded in his mouth.
“This orange is really sweet.” Li Cheng praised ceaselessly. The imported fruits at the fruit shop in front of his school were so expensive that he usually could not bear to buy from them. If he did not have to visit a sick person today, he would not have paid for such an expensive fruit.
“Really?” Xiao Yiheng also ate a piece after hearing his praise, chewing it carefully, “Its sweetness is only average,” he looked up to Li Cheng who was sitting opposite him and pointedly said, “It isn’t that sweet compared to you.”
The puzzled Yan Jing: “????”
Did I just hear some incredible gossip just now???
Li Cheng did not expect Xiao Yiheng to suddenly say such a thing. He was still chewing the fruit in his mouth when he was startled by Xiao Yiheng and started coughing.
“Cough… Cough cough! Xiao Yiheng, you fucker— cough!”
He coughed and coughed until he was gasping for breath. Seeing the cup of yoghurt on the table, he quickly brought it to his mouth.
Little did he know that after taking a gulp, Xiao Yiheng would slowly speak out.
“Drink more.” Xiao Yiheng continued, “I’ve always been curious. If you drink yoghurt, will you turn into a yoghurt fruit salad?”
Li Cheng coughed even harder.
Yan Jing: “……”
He understood it at last. It was now prevalent to deceive single dogs into a room to kill them!
Yan Jing could not understand the couple’s weird topic but he was aware that he was merely a light bulb there.
Thus, he hurriedly excused himself to the bathroom and left Xiao Yiheng’s room.
Since he left, there were only two people and a duck in the room.
Lil’ Lemon flapped its wings, jumped onto the low table and craned its neck to eat an orange. Xiao Yiheng lightly hit its butt and moved the fruit bowl aside.
Li Cheng coughed so much that his face had turned red and tears welled up in his eyes. He glared at Xiao Yiheng in what was supposed to be a vengeful manner, as if he were deliberately acting cute.
Li Cheng cursed him in a low voice, “Xiao Yiheng, are you sick? Why are you talking rubbish in front of others?”
Xiao Yiheng replied, “I’m sick. I have a fever.”
Li Cheng: “……”
If he beat a sick person to death, would it be considered as the strong bullying the weak?
He was about to raise his fist when his gaze inadvertently flittered from the fever-relief pad on the alpha’s forehead to his lips that were slightly pale due to fever and dehydration. Yesterday, Xiao Yiheng’s lips had touched his glands, licking and biting it. He could still clearly remember the bloodstains that coloured his lip…
The little amount of guilt and the miniscule amount of concern rushed out from the bottom of his heart.
“That,” Li Cheng felt his throat constrict, his eyes fluttering all over the place, “You having a fever today, does it have anything to do with the temporary marking?”
Xiao Yiheng was stunned. He asked, “Why do you think so?”
“I’ve checked it online. Temporary marking is a very exhausting task for an alpha. An alpha needs to mobilize the pheromones in his body to help the omega suppress their estrus, like a hero transferring their power to someone else. There are some weak alphas who would be extremely ill after temporarily marking someone. Their strength would be completely drained.”
Li Cheng cleared his throat, and finally looked at Xiao Yiheng in the eyes, “Don’t be embarrassed. I, Li ge, am not the kind of person who doesn’t value loyalty…. If I really drained you completely, I will take responsibility.”
Xiao Yiheng: ?
The author has something to say:
Round 1
Player Xiao Yiheng unleashed [You taste sweeter than orange] to trap Li Cheng.
Player Li Cheng used [What nonsense are you talking about] to defend himself.
Player Xiao Yiheng’s trapping failed!
Round 2
Player Li Cheng unleashed [If I drained you, I will take responsibility] to attack.
Player Xiao Yiheng +10000 Anger -10000 Défense.
Player Li Orange had invited trouble!
Poor Yan Jing, he’s being bullied into being the third wheel again, feels like deja vu.
Thank you for the chapter <3
Tsk tsk Yan Jing you never learn your lesson aren’t you? How many times have you been a light bulb for XY and LC to use for!? tsk tsk for a top student like you I’m disappointed of you –_–#
Thanks for the chapter<3
OMG they are so dang cute!
Yiheng’s parents are something else. He’s feverish and she still has him answering exam questions.
Thanks for the chapter <3
Player lil Lemon used surprise attack! Player Xiao Yiheng rubbed his head in return.
Thanks for the chapter~
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter
What a strict mom. Is she for real?!
Thanks for the chapter!
The school tyrant and study tyrant, with Lil’ lemon and the Lightbulb – may the shenanigans continue 😂
Thanks for the chapter 💕
Hahahhahaha I love that
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
Thanks for the chapter!!!
The author is so humorous in the end notes 😛
Thank you for the chapter!
I am smiling like an idiot again because of that conversation about orange. HAHAHAHAHA!
Hohoho take responsibility you say?
Thank you for the chapter (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
LC ah LC, XY will mark this words in his little revenge dairy, just wait in future, you’ll know if he is weak or not😂
Isn’t this some type of abuse too? Controlling and limiting their son is one thing but now making him study while sick?? Are you even a mom?? Don’t even give me the alpha excuse. I’ve seen sweeter alphas that are much more reasonable than these Xiao parents.
And Yiheng? You smooth talker, you know what you’re doing ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Thanks for the chapter <3
His parents are really something else. I hope ge cuts them off later
Yeah I don’t think there’s any reasoning with them and I feel like that’s gonna be a lot of angst and drama with them later he needs to cut them off and I know some people are gonna say that’s typical Asian parents and I’m like sure😓
She’s just like my mom. Strict asf 😭