extra ko-fi chapter, big thanks to Maggy for the ko-fi! ❤️🥰
The final exams ended on Friday. Today was Lu Heyang’s birthday, but as both Lu Chengyu and Lu Qingmo were tied up with Union government affairs, the birthday party was postponed.
Lu Heyang’s birthday was not just an ordinary birthday. It was a social event in the political circle that had nothing to do with celebrating his birth. The same went for Lu Qingmo’s birthday, which served the same purpose.
Lu Heyang’s desk was piled up with many gifts. As in previous years, he accepted gifts from his friends and politely declined those from unfamiliar schoolmates. The driver came to the classroom to help him with the gifts and returned with a car full of presents. Lu Heyang rode in He Wei’s car, and together with Gu Yunchi, the three of them went to dinner.
When they passed by the bike shed, Lu Heyang glanced over and noticed that Xu Ze’s bicycle wasn’t there. He must have left as soon as the exam was over.
After they parted ways at the hospital last week, Xu Ze was discharged early the next morning. This time he sent a message to Lu Heyang to say he was fine, but then made an awkward transition—in the first half of the message, he thanked Lu Heyang, but in the second half, he asked: Can you give me your home address? Just forget it if it’s inconvenient.
It was clear that he wanted to send a gift to Lu Heyang.
Lu Heyang didn’t stop him. He knew that Xu Ze wanted to give it, so he wasn’t going to deny Xu Ze a second time. Lu Heyang sent Xu Ze the address of the residential area and told him that the delivery would be signed by the property manager and then delivered to the residents.
Although it wasn’t actually the property management, but a guard.
Xu Ze replied with another thank you and said he was rooting for him in the final exams.
“Are you going to the summer camp?” He Wei asked Gu Yunchi.
“I can’t be bothered,” Gu Yunchi looked at his phone without raising his head.
The summer camp was organized by the Union government every summer. Just like the Preparatory School, it was mostly attended by the children of officials or wealthy families. Lu Heyang and He Wei had no choice but to attend, while Gu Yunchi had more freedom. If he didn’t want to go, no one could force him.
“Come on, didn’t we all go together in the past.” He Wei used a deeply grieved tone, “Young Master Gu, how many chances do you think the three of us will have to get together in the future?”
Gu Yunchi finally raised his eyelids, “I have to come back after ten days.”
“That works!”
Lu Heyang continued to receive various birthday wishes on his phone during the meal. After dinner, the three of them went to a bar with a group of close alphas and omegas from the Preparatory School.
As the protagonist of the evening, Lu Heyang ended up drinking the least, barely taking a sip.
They didn’t stay out too late, wrapping up the night around 9 pm. After the others left, He Wei suggested going to Lu Heyang’s house to drink hangover soup and play cards.
It started to rain on the way back. Lu Heyang was the one who drove as he hadn’t even drunk three milliliters. Lu Heyang was silent as usual during the ride, but He Wei couldn’t help but notice that his mood hadn’t been right all evening—revealing a lack of enthusiasm.
Well, it had been like that in the past. Lu Heyang never seemed genuinely happy on his birthdays. After all, few people could still enjoy it when their birthday was turned into a political and business conference.
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.
However, tonight was supposed to be just a gathering of friends, and He Wei couldn’t understand why Lu Heyang couldn’t muster any interest.
“Qts jgfc’a sbe tjqqs?” Lf Qfl ugjyyfv atf yjmx bo atf vglnfg’r rfja jcv wbnfv cfza ab Oe Lfsjcu. “Cgf sbe eqrfa mjerf atja bwfuj vlvc’a mbwf ab mfifygjaf sbeg ylgatvjs atlr sfjg?”
Oe Lfsjcu ralii vlvc’a rqfjx. Xe Tecmtl ugjyyfv Lf Qfl’r mbiijg jcv qeiifv tlw yjmx ab tlr rfja. “Hela yflcu j qjlc lc atf jrr.”
When they arrived at the house, the living room was filled with numerous express deliveries. The largest one was sent by Lin Yumian, which was a complete set of skydiving equipment. Lu Heyang picked up the other packages without opening them and only checked the delivery notes.
The housekeeper had prepared some hangover soup in advance and brought it over. Lu Heyang put down the last delivery box and sat down on the sofa. He Wei randomly chose a movie for some background noise. He remembered something while shuffling the cards, “Hey Heyang, why didn’t you invite Xu Ze today?”
“Why should I invite him?” Lu Heyang asked after taking a sip of the soup.
“Aren’t you two close?” He Wei started to deal the cards while exchanging them to cheat—he was too drunk to realize how obvious his actions were. “It’s a miracle that you two get along so well. To be honest, if Xu Ze was an omega, he would be one of my preferred types.”
He Wei’s ideal type was extremely diverse. With his good looks and circumstances, he didn’t need to take the initiative to attract an omega’s interest. Chi Jiahan was the first obstacle he encountered.
Gu Yunchi ate fruit without saying a word. Lu Heyang stared at the cards in his hand. After a while, he drew a card and discarded it.
“Crazy! You threw away such a big card!” He Wei shouted, “If you don’t want to play, then don’t play. Show some sportsmanship!”
Xu Ze exited the subway. After walking some distance, it started to rain. Unfortunately, there were no more convenience stores around. This was a residential area he had only heard mentioned in the news. There were no buildings along the way, just a wide road and a dense row of trees.
The rain was beating down on him, making his skin ache. Xu Ze ran in the rain for twenty minutes before he reached the security booth. As he approached, the motion sensor light turned on, revealing a guard in military uniform standing under the awning in front of the security room with a straight military posture.
Another guard opened an umbrella and walked over, looking up and down at Xu Ze before finally fixing his gaze on his face and inquiring, “May I ask what brings you here?”
“I came to deliver something.” Xu Ze wiped his face with the back of his hand.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No.”
“In that case, we need to contact the resident you’re visiting.”
Xu Ze shook his head, “I’ll just leave it here.”
“Alright, come and sign in.”
Xu Ze entered the security booth and took out the small box from his pocket. He had covered it the whole way, but the box still inevitably got wet. After the guard took it and checked it, he asked Xu Ze to fill out a form. Xu Ze wrote down Lu Heyang’s name and then signed his own name and phone number.
He thanked the guard and quickly rushed back into the rain. If he could, he would definitely prefer to hand the gift to Lu Heyang in person. However, since Lu Heyang should still be celebrating his birthday, all Xu Ze could do was deliver the gift before midnight.
After Xu Ze left, the guard picked up the phone to dial a number. The face of the alpha he had just met flashed in his mind—young, fair-skinned, with obvious injuries on his lips and cheeks.
The phone in the living room rang. The housekeeper immediately came out of her room when she heard it. Lu Heyang was conveniently near the coffee table, so he picked up the phone first.
“Hello, this is the security office.”
“Hello.”
“Is this Mr. Lu? Someone just left a package for you. Would you like it to be delivered right away?”
Lu Heyang gathered the cards in his hand on top of the table and asked, “May I ask who sent it?”
“His name is Xu Ze.”
“Where is he now?”
“He has already left, not more than a minute ago.”
“Okay, thank you. I’ll come pick it up myself.”
After hanging up the phone, Lu Heyang raised his hand to signal the housekeeper to go back to her room to rest. Then Lu Heyang put down the cards and stood up, “He Wei, lend me your car.”
“Oh.” He Wei pushed the keys over before reacting, and then asked, “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be back soon.”
Lu Heyang walked out the door while holding an umbrella. He drove He Wei’s car, which managed to throw off the bodyguards. After driving for some time, there was no sign of anyone following behind.
It took about ten minutes to drive from the house to the security office. Lu Heyang stopped outside the gate and lowered the car window. The guard came out with an umbrella to hand him the package. Lu Heyang thanked the guard, but rather than turning back, he proceeded to drive out.
The rain was heavy, and you would get drenched even if you were holding an umbrella, not to mention that Xu Ze didn’t necessarily have an umbrella.
Not “necessarily” but definitely didn’t have an umbrella. Three to four minutes later, Lu Heyang saw the figure by the side of the road, like a dandelion drifting in the boundless curtain of rain.
Xu Ze ran through the rain, feeling grateful that there was no thunderstorm tonight. He didn’t feel sad or regretful in the slightest, as he had managed to give Lu Heyang a birthday present. Good things happened this week; the two subsidies he had applied for over a year finally came through unexpectedly a few days ago, and they were more than he had expected. The final exams also went well, and he might have a chance to get a scholarship.
A car stopped sideways a few meters in front of him. Xu Ze didn’t stop and rushed forward until the car door opened. An alpha stepped out holding an umbrella and called out to him, “Xu Ze.”
Despite the heavy rain, Xu Ze heard it. He came to a sudden halt, almost choking on the rain as he gasped for air.
Lu Heyang walked toward him. Xu Ze stood under a streetlight, and the wounds on his face were visible.
It was still raining in the city, but the rain around Xu Ze stopped. Lu Heyang held the umbrella above his head. Xu Ze wiped the water off his face. He looked at Lu Heyang and opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything. He was tongue-tied, unable to even say “Happy Birthday” when facing him.
“Did you have another match today?” Lu Heyang asked.
“A boxer couldn’t make it today, so I filled in for a match.” Lu Heyang’s tone was cold, and Xu Ze felt an inexplicable sense of pressure. He explained, “It’s not serious, it looks worse than it is.”
Xu Ze hadn’t planned to go, but another boxer told him that Tang Feiyi wouldn’t come for a while because someone had ruptured the tendons in his hand. It had been days, and Tang Feiyi was going mad with no leads about the perpetrator—the downside of having too many enemies.
“Did you come just to deliver this?” Lu Heyang took out the small box and asked.
Xu Ze nodded.
After finishing the boxing match badly beaten and covered in injuries, he withstood the downpour to deliver a birthday gift. Upon arrival, not knowing whether to call or send a text, he silently walked away—such a stubborn and foolish person.
“It’s a bit rough, I made it myself,” Xu Ze carefully opened the cover, “If you don’t like it, you can just toss it in some corner, it won’t take up any space.”
Inside the box was a three-dimensional silver pendant that was twisted in a simple yet artistic way.
Xu Ze wanted to give Lu Heyang the best, but unfortunately, he had nothing. The only thing he could do was to melt down the bracelet he wore as a child and turn it into a pendant. He had started working on it as soon as he found out Lu Heyang’s birthday month. He went to a jewelry shop near his neighborhood and asked the owner to teach him the process. He found time to work on it little by little until it was completed.
“It can be hung on a keychain,” Xu Ze thought about it and added. In reality, it would be more appropriate to be made into a necklace or bracelet, but Xu Ze didn’t expect Lu Heyang to wear it.
Lu Heyang hadn’t said a word. Xu Ze felt a little nervous and guilty, thinking that he might have interrupted Lu Heyang’s party with his friends. He thought that he should be more decisive and straightforward, finish what needed to be said, and not waste Lu Heyang’s time.
“The second opportunity.” The rain had soaked through Xu Ze’s T-shirt, making him cold. He struggled to smile at Lu Heyang, “I hope you’ll be happy and safe in the future.”
Of the three opportunities Lu Heyang had given him, there were still two left. Xu Ze decided to use the second opportunity to make a wish—using such a precious opportunity, the wish would definitely come true.
He didn’t just want to wish 17-year-old Lu Heyang a happy birthday, he wanted Lu Heyang to be happy every day.
Lu Heyang remained silent. His face was obscured in the shadows beneath the umbrella, making his expression unclear. Xu Ze held the umbrella and pushed it toward Lu Heyang to shield him from the rain. Then Xu Ze let go of the umbrella and said, “I’ll get going.”
He took a step to the side, brushing past Lu Heyang’s shoulder, to continue running alone on the road in the pouring rain.
Xu Ze’s wrist was suddenly grabbed. He turned around in confusion. He hadn’t even registered what was happening when he was yanked to the side. Xu Ze felt himself stepping onto the grass as he was pushed backward until his back was against a damp tree trunk.
A cloud drifted over—not a real cloud, clouds weren’t that low, but rather Lu Heyang’s umbrella. The umbrella surrounded them like a giant mushroom. Xu Ze’s vision became blurry due to the heavy rain, causing him to blink his eyes. He caught the scent of grass and smelled Lu Heyang’s pheromones—not only smelled them but tasted them as well.
At that moment, Xu Ze heard thunder.
A few seconds later, he realized that it wasn’t thunder; it was his heartbeat.
Author’s note:
The subsidies: You don’t seem to care at all as to why on earth I suddenly arrived in your bank account.
Translator’s note: Xu Ze is too good for this world 🥺
xu ze is so precious please let my baby be the happiest in the world 🙏😭 lu heyang is so. i can’t. they’re so dear to my heart already wth 😭
thank you so much for the chapter!! 🧡
So sweet…please be a little greedy my foolish baby~
Thank you for the chapter ☺️
“If you don’t like it, you can just toss it in some corner, it won’t take up any space.”
Baby noooooooo 😭😭😭😭
Thank you for the chapter <3
Cliff hanged under the umbrella while raining with Lu and Xu… ..kiss kiss..lol
What happened next..more more please
Thanks for the new Chapter 👍🤩
😋
just let them be together my gooood 😭😭😭
I ACTUALLY CRIED. I have read so many angst and tragic novels and some even failed to move me but this is another level of sadness, Xu Ze is truly a treasure, such a precious baby. 😭