Sometimes in front of Lu Heyang, Xu Ze couldn’t tell whether he was Xu Ze or Seventeen.
For instance at this moment. He was wearing a baseball cap with the brim pulled down low, and half of his face was concealed in the shadows. He didn’t know who he was to Lu Heyang.
But no matter what his identity was, he could never refuse Lu Heyang.
Xu Ze got into the front passenger seat. After the door closed, the car was silent. Lu Heyang didn’t turn on the music and even turned off the ambient lighting. The darkness gave Xu Ze a sense of security. He thought that Lu Heyang might not be able to see his face—he had drunk too much alcohol, making it difficult for him to maintain his usual facade; it would be easy to slip up.
Lu Heyang lightly tapped on the steering wheel with his fingers a few times. After a couple of seconds, he reminded Xu Ze, “Seatbelt.”
“…” Xu Ze quickly fastened his seatbelt. After some hesitation, he said, “Thank you.”
His voice was sluggish and hoarse. Lu Heyang reached into the cooler and took out a small bottle of mineral water. He unscrewed the cap and handed it to Xu Ze.
Xu Ze took the water and thanked him again. He opened the water bottle and took a sip. He heard Lu Heyang ask, “Did you drink a lot?”
“Mn.” Xu Ze nodded honestly. After he calmed down, his drunkenness also surged up. He thought about it over and over again, but he was still unsure what his current identity was in front of Lu Heyang.
Lu Heyang didn’t keep on asking him why he drank so much and simply started the car, “Are you feeling unwell? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Xu Ze had only minor injuries. He had long been used to them and would tough it out. But he thought that Lu Heyang probably assumed that he had a stomach ache after drinking alcohol. Xu Ze said, “I’m not sick, so there’s no need to go to the hospital.”
“Mn.” Lu Heyang glanced at him, “Where do you live?”
After some difficult mental calculations, Xu Ze realized that this place was at least 40 minutes away from his home.
“It’s a bit far,” he said, “I won’t bother you, I… I’ll take the subway back.”
Because Xu Ze was drunk, his voice was a little slurred. He recalled that the last time Lu Heyang passed through the old town, he found out that he lived in that area. If Lu Heyang now thought that the alpha in front of him was Seventeen and he mentioned that address, he might be discovered.
But Xu Ze quickly dismissed the thought. He felt that Lu Heyang would never remember that the person named “Xu Ze” lived in the old town.
“Security won’t allow drunk people on the subway.” Lu Heyang tapped the LCD screen to open the navigation and told Xu Ze, “Say the name of your community to it.”
The alcohol had completely taken over Xu Ze’s brain, which also alleviated the pain and made his heart race again. Xu Ze held the brim of his cap and pushed it down a little further. Then he leaned closer to the screen and said earnestly, “Xin’an Community” as if he was having a video conversation with someone.
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.
Ktfgf kjr cb gfrqbcrf, pera rlifcmf.
We If ofia rilutais qfgqifzfv jcv ibbxfv eq ja Oe Lfsjcu, yea tjiokjs atgbeut gjlrlcu tlr tfjv, tf ibkfgfv la jujlc, ofjglcu atja Oe Lfsjcu kbeiv rff tlr ojmf.
“Wlc’jc Jbwweclas,” We If aegcfv ab atf rmgffc jujlc jcv jgalmeijafv fnfgs kbgv. Llr qgbcecmljalbc mbeiv cba yf wbgf rajcvjgv.
Still no response.
“Why…” Xu Ze would never question whether He Wei’s favorite car had a problem, so he asked, “Why is it ignoring me?”
Lu Heyang turned the steering wheel half a circle, and only after completing the turn did he say, “Sorry, I forgot it has voice recognition.”
The car only recognized the voices of He Wei, Gu Yunchi, and him.
Xu Ze nodded and quickly glanced at Lu Heyang. The streetlights outside the car flashed by, and he saw a hint of a smile at the corner of Lu Heyang’s mouth, which didn’t seem to be an expression of “sorry”.
“Xin’an Community,” Lu Heyang said.
The system quickly displayed the route and started navigating.
After only five minutes, Xu Ze couldn’t hold on any longer and felt dizzy. At first, he was reserved and stiff, sitting upright with a gap between his back and the seat. However, as the car continued to move forward steadily, Xu Ze began to lean back and his consciousness became hazy. His back ached, and the combination of intoxication and exhaustion caused his eyelids and head to droop little by little. He began to drift off.
He wanted to stay awake, but that was easier said than done. As if he had fought a vicious battle while wearing heavy armor, now that he was in a safe and quiet environment, he couldn’t resist the urge to close his eyes and rest. Besides, the person sitting next to him was Lu Heyang, a person who would not harm him.
Someone who could be trusted unconditionally.
Three minutes later, Xu Ze leaned back on the seat, his head tilted as he fell asleep completely.
Lu Heyang turned his head to look at him. The streetlights flickered by, illuminating the chin protruding from under his cap and the bruised corners of his lips, which were still stained with blood. The side of the alpha’s neck was white and smooth, with a slight flush from the alcohol. He showed no sign of caution.
—
When Xu Ze opened his eyes again, he found the car was parked by the roadside. The driver’s door was slowly closing, and Lu Heyang was buckling his seatbelt.
It was highly likely that his IQ had plummeted to zero due to him being drunk and half asleep. At this point, Xu Ze’s reaction ability had reached its lowest point. With his eyes partly closed, he opened his mouth to ask something, but all that came out was a small mumbling sound.
Lu Heyang placed a bag on his lap. Xu Ze touched the bag with no strength and asked, “What is it?”
“Antibiotics.”
Xu Ze froze for a few seconds before letting out an “Oh”.
“You were sleeping soundly.” Lu Heyang asked, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll sell you?”
“Sell me where?” Xu Ze lacked the ability to think clearly, so he just kept asking.
“I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it yet,” Lu Heyang replied with a hint of amusement.
Xu Ze remained silent for a while before suddenly asking, “Who am I?”
He had an indescribable and strong desire to know whether he was Xu Ze or Seventeen to Lu Heyang.
“You tell me.” Lu Heyang didn’t treat this strange and seemingly random question as the ramblings of a drunkard. He stretched out his hand and touched the brim of Xu Ze’s cap with his finger. As if to deliberately tease him, he lifted the hat a centimeter and said, “Show your face and I’ll find out.”
Xu Ze instinctively raised his hand to hold onto his cap and buried his head. His tone was a little anxious, “Don’t.”
“Why?” Lu Heyang asked him without looking curious at all.
Xu Ze continued to cover his head and mumbled, “No.”
Lu Heyang asked again, “Why?”
“You didn’t say who I am,” Xu Ze could only reply.
“If I say who you are, will that make you who you are?”
This made Xu Ze even more puzzled and he nodded with confusion.
“He Wei,” Lu Heyang called him.
An unexpected name, Xu Ze was stunned, not understanding what he meant.
“It’s late. I’ll take you home,” Lu Heyang smiled and started the car without saying anything else.
Ten minutes later, the car stopped at the entrance of the residential area. There were no streetlights, no gate, and no security booth. Only a few residential buildings could be made out more than ten meters away, with a few scattered windows lit up. Lu Heyang asked, “Is this the place?”
“Yes.”
Lu Heyang had intended to drive further in, but Xu Ze said, “Just… park here. There are a lot of rocks on the ground, it will damage the car.”
After all, it was He Wei’s favorite car, so it still had to be treated with a certain amount of care.
“Do you recognize which one is your home?”
“I do.” Xu Ze pointed to one of the residential buildings, “There, the second building.”
“Mn.”
Xu Ze unbuckled his seatbelt and took out the mineral water and medicine. He opened the car door and got out. He turned to say to Lu Heyang, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Lu Heyang replied.
The car door closed. Xu Ze took a few steps to the side. Just as Lu Heyang was about to start the car, he suddenly saw Xu Ze bending down. Xu Ze looked so solemn that he suspected that he was about to make a deep bow or kneel down. Lu Heyang was about to unbuckle his seatbelt and get out of the car when he saw Xu Ze lean over to pick up a small piece of paper from the ground.
It was the receipt for the antibiotics that had fallen out of the bag.
Xu Ze lowered his head, carefully folded the receipt, and put it back into the bag. When he looked up again, he noticed that the car hadn’t left yet. Although Xu Ze didn’t know if Lu Heyang could see him, he waved to him anyway.
Lu Heyang gave him a quick glance, then started the car and drove away.
As the taillights of the car disappeared around the corner, Xu Ze slowly took off his baseball cap. The moonlight was bright tonight. Step by step, he made his way back into the community, returning to the world where he belonged.
He thought that he had probably had a dream, and that dream lasted the forty minutes Lu Heyang had sent him back.
Author’s note:
We still don’t know whether Lu Heyang knew Xu Ze’s identity that day.
Thank you for the chapter 🙂
Thank you for the chapter! (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡
Xu Ze is such a little cutie in this chapter, Lu Heyang likes to tease him 👉👈🥺
I hope his suffering will be over soon, but I really admire his determination, reminds me of He Yu from the novel ROR. All these precious buns must be protected at all cost.
Thank you so much for the chapter 🤍
+1😭❤️
Excuse me! What is ROR?
Not sure whether you have found out but it’s Route of Retreat that is being translated here in cg
Thank you so much!