extra ko-fi chapter for Beverly (1/2) thank you so much!! 💕
Xu Ze went to the club after school on Monday. Lately, he would come over to do odd jobs whenever he had free time. When he went to the nursing home yesterday, Zhou Zhen said that Ye Yunhua had been put on a new medication. It would be a little more expensive than the previous one, but the effect would be better and the side effects would be reduced.
The expenses were increasing day by day. It was already too difficult to rely solely on one match per week, not to mention Xu Ze would be assigned to fight in casual matches without pay from time to time.
Xu Ze returned backstage at around 10 pm. He took off his cap and drank some water. A boxer opened the door and came in to get his bag. Before leaving, he whispered, “The boss is here.”
Xu Ze turned to look at him, but the boxer had already left in a hurry. Xu Ze didn’t hesitate and rushed to his locker to grab his backpack. But before he could stand back up, the door was opened. A tall alpha bodyguard stood at the door and informed him expressionlessly, “The boss is on his way. You wait here.”
“Okay,” Xu Ze put his backpack on the table.
A few minutes later, Tang Feiyi entered the room and locked the door behind him. He walked over to the table and tossed a stack of photos in front of Xu Ze. Tang Feiyi sat down on the chair and lit a cigarette. After blowing out a puff of smoke, he raised his eyes and looked at Xu Ze.
Xu Ze picked up the photos and looked at them one by one. His expression did not change, but it was clear that he was serious.
The photos were all of him and Lu Heyang: Lu Heyang supporting him into the dressing room when he was drunk, the two of them refilling the vending machine in the lobby, and him applying chalk to Lu Heyang’s cue in the pool hall… From close up to far away, from blurry to clear, a dozen or so pictures.
The more serious he looked, the darker Tang Feiyi’s expression became—Xu Ze never seemed overly concerned about anything.
“Have you seen enough?” Tang Feiyi flicked the ash from his cigarette and asked.
Xu Ze stacked the photos together and ran his finger along the edges to straighten the uneven parts like someone with OCD. He asked, “What do you mean?”
“I noticed you haven’t mentioned the extra matches anymore. Turns out you found a gold mine.” Tang Feiyi leaned back in the chair and scrutinized Xu Ze from head to toe, “What, after more than two years of prep school, you’ve finally seen the light?”
Xu Ze heard the implication in his words that he had already investigated Lu Heyang. He glared at him, but Tang Feiyi just laughed, “What are you nervous about?”
“You don’t have to be nervous. After all, he’s friends with Gu Yunchi.” Tang Feiyi threw the cigarette butt on the ground. This was what irritated him the most. The relationship between those two alphas and Gu Yunchi was not ordinary, but he could not find any personal information about them. This level of confidentiality meant that their background was at least at the Union level.
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.
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“That’s my business.” Xu Ze turned his face away, his eyebrows furrowing. “It’s none of your business.”
“None of my business?” Tang Feiyi slammed the photos on the table. Suddenly he grabbed Xu Ze by the neck and pushed him backward until his back hit the wall. Tang Feiyi’s grip was strong and his voice was deep and vicious, “Who was it that brought you here and gave you a way to make a living? Whose money did you borrow for your grandmother’s operation when you needed it in a hurry? Why didn’t you say it was none of my business back then?”
Xu Ze’s face quickly turned red from the lack of air. He didn’t struggle, but managed to say coldly, “I’ve already paid you back.”
He didn’t think he owed Tang Feiyi anything. Even if he hadn’t come here to box, he would have found another place to fight. Had it not been for the contract and the fact that Tang Feiyi would intensify his harassment from its breach, Xu Ze would have left long ago.
His S-level alpha pheromones spread out, driving Tang Feiyi to be even more ruthless. He sneered, “He’s just playing with you. Do you really think he’d be serious with an alpha like you? He’s just looking for fun and novelty. You, a poor alpha with no parents, what are you dreaming of? Be careful, you won’t even know what hit you.”
These words could not cause harm to Xu Ze. After all, he had never had such dreams. He didn’t think that he had anything fun or novel that would interest Lu Heyang. As for being a “poor alpha with no parents”, Tang Feiyi wasn’t wrong.
Xu Ze didn’t want to explain or refute. His neck was squeezed so tightly that he was unable to speak. He closed his eyes partly and frowned. It was unlikely that Tang Feiyi would really let him die. It was best to avoid any further complications by not struggling or resisting.
Every minute and second without oxygen felt endless. Xu Ze could feel his heart racing erratically. When Tang Feiyi finally released his grip, Xu Ze could no longer stand. He bent down and coughed violently with his chest heaving. Xu Ze wiped his eyes and looked up to see Tang Feiyi return to the table. Tang Feiyi picked up the photos and set them on fire with a lighter.
The flame was blinding. Xu Ze wiped his eyes again and stared at the burning photos until Tang Feiyi threw them to the ground.
Once Tang Feiyi opened the door and left, Xu Ze stood up straight. He took a few steps and crouched down in front of the pile of ashes. He picked up an unburned photo and wiped it with his hand. The photo was still hot to the touch. It had been burnt to the point that only the side of Lu Heyang’s face and Xu Ze’s hand in the lower right corner remained.
Xu Ze stood up and put the photo in his backpack. He rubbed his neck and left the dressing room quietly.
The next afternoon, more people attended the swimming class as the end of the semester approached. After Xu Ze finished training, he looked around the pool, but Lu Heyang was nowhere to be seen. Xu Ze went back to the locker room. After taking a shower, he stood in front of his locker and turned on his phone. He wanted to send a message to Lu Heyang to let him know that he was waiting for him in the fourth locker room to return his shirt after class.
Xu Ze opened Lu Heyang’s contact on his phone. He started typing but kept on deleting the message. It was a simple task, yet regardless of how he phrased it, it seemed wrong.
Xu Ze was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice that an alpha had walked up to him.
A few seconds later, Xu Ze heard someone asking him, “Are you writing an essay on your phone?”
Xu Ze’s hand trembled, and his phone almost fell to the ground. He turned around in a bit of a panic to see Lu Heyang standing right next to him. Water was still trickling from his hair as he had just come from the pool, leaving marks on his well-defined muscles.
“Did I startle you?” Lu Heyang smiled and patted Xu Ze’s back like comforting a frightened child. He said, “I’m sorry.”
Xu Ze regained his composure and shook his head. He answered Lu Heyang’s first question, “I was sending a text.”
As he said this, he raised his phone. Lu Heyang glanced at it and asked, “To me?”
“Mn.” Xu Ze nodded, “I want to return your shirt.”
As soon as he said it, he remembered why Lu Heyang had lent him the shirt in the first place. Xu Ze quickly turned back to the locker to get his backpack. He had specially packed the T-shirt in a bag and placed it separately in the second compartment of the backpack.
“No need,” Lu Heyang said.
Xu Ze was puzzled and looked at him again. He was thinking about explaining that he had washed it, but in the end, he said nothing and just nodded.
“The shirt is new. I tried it on after washing it and the shoulders are a bit thigh,” Lu Heyang explained, “It fits you well, so keep it if you’re willing.”
He didn’t say “take it” or ask “do you want it”, but instead used the word “willing”, which left enough room to decline. However, it made it impossible for Xu Ze to refuse.
Xu Ze was silent for a while and said, “Thank you.”
He didn’t give any thought to why Lu Heyang had packed clothes that didn’t fit him. He would believe whatever Lu Heyang said and go along with it without question.
A strand of hair fell onto Lu Heyang’s forehead and caught Xu Ze’s attention. He pointed at Lu Heyang’s face and said, “There’s a hair.”
Lu Heyang didn’t move but just looked at him. Xu Ze paused, then reached out and gently plucked the stray hair. Drops of water rolled down the bridge of Lu Heyang’s nose, so Xu Ze wiped them off as well.
For some reason, the surroundings suddenly became quiet. Xu Ze had an inkling that there was something strange in the atmosphere. It was so strange that he lowered his eyes, not daring to look at Lu Heyang.
Lu Heyang’s gaze swept from Xu Ze’s eyes to his lips and then downwards before coming to a stop.
He moved closer subtly and pulled the towel around Xu Ze’s neck aside.
A long purplish-blue mark ran across the middle of Xu Ze’s neck, which stood out against his pale skin.
The strange atmosphere disappeared. Xu Ze realized what Lu Heyang had seen. Xu Ze had ignored the strangulation mark all day, just like he had never cared about the injuries he received from boxing. But in front of Lu Heyang, Xu Ze couldn’t help but care.
He tried to adjust the towel and wrap it up better, but Lu Heyang grabbed his wrist to stop him and then pulled the entire towel off Xu Ze’s neck with his other hand.
“What happened?” Lu Heyang asked.
Lu Heyang seemed calm, leading Xu Ze to believe he was asking offhandedly. So he offered a lousy lie, “I had a match yesterday, so I got a little injured.”
Of course, Lu Heyang wasn’t so easily fooled. Strangling someone in a boxing match was just as low as pulling hair or scratching with nails. It wasn’t something a professional boxer would do. Not to mention, choking was too boring and low-class for the underground boxing ring.
“Really?” Lu Heyang looked at Xu Ze, who was obviously evading his gaze, and said, “Xu Ze, look at me.”
Xu Ze blinked nervously and raised his head to look at him.
Before he could meet his eyes, Lu Heyang choked his neck.
It wasn’t entirely accurate to say “choke” because Lu Heyang used almost no strength and the pressure was light. His grip on Xu Ze’s neck was weak as he pushed him one step back against the locker.
The arteries in Xu Ze’s neck throbbed rapidly in his palm. Lu Heyang’s hand matched the strangulation mark on his neck perfectly. Xu Ze showed no resistance and even submitted blindly. He looked at Lu Heyang’s face, but Lu Heyang was no longer looking at him, fixating solely on his neck.
Lu Heyang asked Xu Ze, “Care to tell me who did this?”
He already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Xu Ze’s reply.
So excited for the next chapter ~
Thank you for the chapter ☺️~
Omg another double extra update??? You’re just spoiling us at this point- 🫠🫠
Thank you so much as always~
Who dares to hurt his Xu Ze!!