The August wind was laced with a stifling heat, and rolling waves of warmth lingered heavily in the air.
Few people wandered through the alley in the afternoon. The cicadas in the treetops dragged out their sharp, piercing notes half-lifelessly, as a slender young figure sprinted quickly toward the end of the alley, causing a pack of cats and dogs to chase wildly after him and bark in disorder.
Yu Silin paid no mind to these furry friends. Carrying a fresh, sweet scent of lychee, he pushed open the courtyard gate at the very end of the alley. The native dog dozing in the courtyard had its ears pricked high in surprise by him, barking frantically at the litter of puppies and kittens trailing behind him.
“Gege! Jiaheng Gege!” Disregarding the dog, the teenager pushed open the living room door in a rush and headed straight for the second-floor room. “Gege, Gege, Gege!”
Receiving no response, the boy called out repeatedly. Without even knocking, he pushed open the study door and barged right in. He saw Xu Jiaheng lounging lazily in an esports chair, his long, fair fingers resting on the mouse and keyboard, clicking lightly every now and then.
He ran over, pushed aside the mouse and keyboard in Xu Jiaheng’s hands, and leaned forward to get right up close to Xu Jiaheng’s face. With bright, sparkling eyes, he said, “Gege! I have undergone differentiation! Hurry up and smell my scent.”
As the teenager spoke, he stretched his head toward Xu Jiaheng, exposing a section of his fair, slender back neck. Right there on his neck was a tiny, slightly pink, circular bump—an Omega’s gland.
A wave of fresh, sweet lychee fragrance washed over the air. Xu Jiaheng lowered his gaze to look at the teenager’s back neck for a moment, then raised a hand to push him away, saying indifferently, “Do you not know that AOs should keep a respectful distance?”
Pushed away by Gege, Yu Silin let the corners of his mouth droop into a pout, let out a soft huff, and said, “I know. But you are my Gege.”
“I am also an Alpha,” Xu Jiaheng reminded him.
“So what if you are an Alpha?” The teenager repeated his previous words. “You are my Gege. Is there anything wrong with you smelling my pheromone scent?”
Xu Jiaheng raised his eyes to look at the person standing beside him. The boy’s disappointment at being rejected was written all over his face, and his deer-like eyes carried an unmistakable grievance. Noticing his gaze, the boy averted his face, looked away, and muttered under his breath, “Gege is mean.”
“That makes me mean?” Xu Jiaheng chuckled softly and asked.
“Hmph.” The boy turned his head back to look at Xu Jiaheng, accusing him, “I came to find you the moment my differentiation period ended. It was so sunny and scorching outside, and Xiao Hua, Xiao Bai, Xiao Huang, and Little Holstein chased right behind me, but I did not pay any of them attention. And yet you are still rejecting me! If you are not mean, who is?”
Xu Jiaheng raised an eyebrow, his voice cool, “Are you comparing me to the group of cats and dogs in the courtyard?”
Hearing this, the boy guiltily glanced away, putting up a bold front while feeling cowardly, “You are discriminating against small animals.”
Too lazy to argue back and forth with him, Xu Jiaheng stood up, pulled a physiology textbook from the bookshelf, handed it to him, and said, “Pheromones and glands are personal privacy. You cannot just let anyone smell your pheromone scent casually, and you certainly cannot let anyone touch your glands at will.”
With his hands clasped behind his back, the teenager refused to take the book and muttered, “You are not an outsider.”
Xu Jiaheng placed the book on the desk, pulled Yu Silin’s designated chair over to the computer desk, placed it right next to his own, and said, “Sit down. Read the book.”
“…”
Yu Silin was 15 years old this year and would start his second year of high school when classes resumed in September. He had already studied this physiology textbook during the first semester of his freshman year.
It was just that at that time, Yu Silin had not undergone differentiation yet, nor did he pay much attention to secondary genders; during class, he either dozed off or secretly finished his homework.
That led to the current situation where he leaned in close to Xu Jiaheng and asked someone to smell his pheromone scent.
Pushed down into the chair by Xu Jiaheng, with a black gel pen thrust into his hand, Yu Silin heard Xu Jiaheng’s cool voice ringing in his ear: “Finish reading the first three chapters this afternoon. I will spot-check you before dinner.”
“I do not want to. I am not reading it.” Yu Silin tossed the pen aside. It was summer vacation, after all; who wanted to study?
“No mango crepes tonight,” Xu Jiaheng said.
“…”
Yu Silin glared angrily at Xu Jiaheng for three seconds, ultimately bowing his head for the sake of the mango crepes and resignedly picking up the black gel pen to flip open the book. Barely two pages in, he started taking apart the gel pen in his hand, and after studying it thoroughly, reassembled it.
Xu Jiaheng tilted his head to watch for a moment. Seeing that the boy had finally started reading seriously, he placed his hand back on the mouse and continued editing his video.
He would be a high school senior when school started again, so his study workload would naturally be heavier than that of a freshman or sophomore. The time he had for livestreaming and video editing would definitely be drastically reduced. Therefore, taking advantage of the summer vacation, he livestreamed almost every day and updated a video every three to five days.
Before his differentiation, Yu Silin had still been throwing tantrums because Xu Jiaheng only livestreamed video editing during the break and would not go out to play with him.
Now that the roughly week-long differentiation period was over, this guy had completely forgotten what happened before and came happily looking for him again, even asking him to smell his pheromone scent.
Xu Jiaheng’s gaze shifted slightly, his peripheral vision falling on the boy beside him. The boy had no proper sitting posture and before long, slumped face down onto the desk, exposing his slender, graceful neck completely unguarded to his line of sight.
The tiny, circular gland was covered by a thin layer of flesh and skin, and the pheromone scent was strongest right there. The fresh fragrance of lychees lingered around the boy.
He had probably already grown so accustomed to this scent that he did not realize he was covered from head to toe in pheromones, and one did not need to lean in close to him to catch the scent of lychees.
Xu Jiaheng quietly withdrew his gaze, his expression unchanging as he tapped his fingers twice on the keyboard, pressed the delete key twice, stood up to lower the air conditioning temperature by two degrees, and pulled open the study door to go outside.
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Yu Silin tossed the pen aside and reached out to grab the smartphone on the desk.
Just as his fingertips brushed Xu Jiaheng’s phone, he heard the sound of the door handle being pushed down. He quickly withdrew his hand, sat up straight, belatedly grabbed his pen, and began scribbling a pretense in his draft notebook.
“Go to the bathroom and put it on yourself.” Xu Jiaheng handed over a square, boxy object.
Yu Silin instantly threw down the pen, caught it, and asked in bewilderment, “What is this?”
Xu Jiaheng glanced at him and sat down in front of the computer desk: “A gland patch. Since you just differentiated, you cannot control your pheromones well yet. When you go out, you either wear a gland patch or spray barrier spray.”
A gland patch can effectively cover the gland, though its concealing effect on the pheromone scent is not quite as good.
Barrier spray can effectively block out the pheromone scent, but it cannot cover the gland itself.
Therefore, most people would combine the two around the time of their differentiation, rutting, or heat periods.
However, since it was currently summer vacation, aside from his own home, the place Yu Silin spent the most time in was Xu Jiaheng’s study and bedroom, so he did not need to be quite so fully armored.
“Oh,” Yu Silin acknowledged, taking the gland patch and heading into the bathroom.
When he first entered his differentiation period, his mother had taught him how to use a gland patch. Although it was his first time using one properly, he managed to apply it quickly.
Returning to sit at the desk after applying it, he used his peripheral vision to secretly eye Xu Jiaheng, who was deeply focused on editing videos. His pitch-black eyeballs rolled, and he pushed Xu Jiaheng’s mouse aside again, leaning right up close with the air of someone fishing for praise as he said, “Gege, are you not going to check how well I applied it?”
Xu Jiaheng lowered his gaze to look at him, pinched the flesh of his cheek, and said, “Are you not annoying?”
The little pest lacked any self-awareness and leaned even closer to Xu Jiaheng, “I am not annoying. Gege, check it for me.”
“Yu Silin, sit properly,” Xu Jiaheng said emotionlessly.
“Oh.”
Of all things, Yu Silin hated it most when people called him by his full first and last name. One was his mother, and the other was Xu Jiaheng.
By comparison, he hated it even more when Xu Jiaheng called his full name.
When his mother called his full name, it was mostly because he had caused some trouble; all he had to do was act spoiled and coax her a little, and his mother would still be his mother.
Yet when Xu Jiaheng called his full name, he always had the illusion that the relationship between the two of them suddenly became distant. Gege would turn into Xu Jiaheng Gege from next door, and he did not like that.
All afternoon, Yu Silin obediently flipped through the physiology textbook, leaving behind plenty of key points scribbled and drawn in his draft notebook.
Around four or five o’clock, the boy could no longer hold out. His eyelids fought up and down, and his brain felt as though it had been stuffed with paste. Before long, he dropped his pen, slumped over the desk, and fell fast asleep.
Glancing sideways to see that two black marks had been drawn by the black gel pen on Yu Silin’s cheek, Xu Jiaheng flicked the pen away with his finger. He stood up, fetched a blanket to drape over Yu Silin, turned the air conditioner temperature back up, and sat down again to continue editing his video.
At half-past six, the nanny auntie came over to cook dinner. Xu Jiaheng went downstairs to ask her to prepare an extra portion for dinner and called Yu Silin’s mother to let her know she did not need to cook dinner for Yu Silin tonight.
The group of cats and dogs that had chased after Yu Silin earlier were now lounging beneath the jujube tree in the courtyard. Seeing him come out, they all stood up, wagging their tails and opening their mouths to bark and meow. Xu Jiaheng swept a cold glance over them and said in a low voice, “Shut up.”
Instantly, the little creatures deflated, tucking in their tails and gathering in a huddled group to watch Xu Jiaheng.
Xu Jiaheng pulled three bowls out from the small wooden shed behind the doghouse and lined them up in order. He poured dog food into the first bowl, clean water into the second, and cat food into the third.
Knowing these were meant for them, Xiao Hua, Xiao Bai, Xiao Huang, and Little Holstein took a tentative step forward, though none dared to actually rush over.
Xu Jiaheng picked up Xiao Hua and placed her before the bowl of dog food, then set Xiao Huang before the bowl of cat food. With that, the remaining cats and dogs split up consciously, surrounded their respective food, and buried their heads to eat heartily.
Disoriented, Little Holstein scampered over to the cat food bowl, only to be grabbed by the neck and lifted back into the dog pile by Xu Jiaheng.
Having taken care of these uninvited guests, Xu Jiaheng picked up the dog food again and poured some for his own anxious native dog, which was pacing around in agitation.
With the cats and dogs fed, it was time to feed the person upstairs.
Washing his hands clean, Xu Jiaheng retrieved a bunch of red grapes from the refrigerator, clipped them off one by one with scissors, washed them thoroughly, placed half of them into a fruit platter, and carried them upstairs.
The sleeping person had already woken up, wrapped in a blanket as he leaned against the chair in a daze. Catching sight of Xu Jiaheng pushing the door open out of the corner of his eye, he weakly called out, “Gege.”
Xu Jiaheng gave a low hum of acknowledgment, placed the fruit platter filled with red grapes in front of him, and said, “Eat less.”
Plucking a red grape, Yu Silin popped it into his mouth, then picked up another to feed Xu Jiaheng, saying, “Gege, you eat too.”
Xu Jiaheng raised a hand to take it, but Yu Silin pulled back out of reach. Xu Jiaheng shot him a glance.
The red grape in Yu Silin’s mouth had not been bitten open yet, bulging his right cheek out roundly as he smiled and said, “I will feed you.”
Watching him for a moment, Xu Jiaheng leaned forward and bit away the red grape pinched between Yu Silin’s fingertips.
Only then did Yu Silin readjust the blanket draped over his shoulders, hugging the fruit platter as he continued to eat.
Xu Jiaheng turned the air conditioning temperature up by another two degrees before picking up his book to read again.
Having finished his grapes, Yu Silin sat in his chair in a daze for a while. Suddenly, he stood up, tossed the blanket aside, and walked toward the door, saying, “Gege, I am going downstairs to feed Xiao Hua and the others.”
Xu Jiaheng did not reply.
Before long, Yu Silin aggressively pushed open the bedroom door, lunged at Xu Jiaheng, and accused him, “You already fed them! Why did you not tell me? You made me run all the way down for nothing.”
Perhaps because the gland patch had taken effect, the lychee scent on Yu Silin had faded significantly. Yet as he lunged over like this, Xu Jiaheng’s nasal passages were filled entirely with Yu Silin’s pheromone scent. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he said, “Get up.”
Refusing to listen, Yu Silin instead stretched his arms out to wrap them tightly around Xu Jiaheng’s neck, arguing righteously, “I will not! You made me make a wasted trip! So I am not getting up. I am sleeping with you again tonight! I am hijacking your bed.”
Xu Jiaheng paused mid-motion of pulling at his arm, glanced down at him, and said mercilessly, “You cannot share a bed with me tonight.”
Amidst Yu Silin’s look of disbelief, he continued to announce, “You will not be allowed to sleep with me ever again, either.”