Ji Xingjian woke up in a daze, struggling to open his heavy eyelids. Before he was fully conscious, he let out an instinctive low groan, his throat feeling as though it had been filled with sand, dry and aching.
He swallowed his saliva to moisten his throat, but it felt like swallowing a razor blade, causing him to frown in pain.
The indoor light was very dim, and the temperature was somewhat low. Ji Xingjian’s entire back was outside the quilt, the chill seeping into his skin and transmitting to his cerebral cortex, causing him to shiver reflexively.
He did not know when he had fallen asleep. He only remembered that the Alpha had been fierce, charging back and forth without any technique, as if trying to nail him to the bed.
After resting for about five minutes, Ji Xingjian slowly propped himself up to sit on the bed, lifting his sore arms to rub his forehead. His gaze drifted slightly, but he did not see the Alpha’s figure anywhere, though the scent of the Alpha’s pheromones still lingered in the air.
From waking up until now, he had not heard any movement, which meant Huo Chengye had already left.
Ji Xingjian took a deep breath, slowly relaxing. He reached out to grab the remote control and turned off the air conditioning. The moment he stepped out of bed, he collapsed to the floor, his legs shaking weakly. With great difficulty, he managed to steady himself, stood upright, and walked over to the window to pull back the curtains.
Sunlight instantly poured in, causing Ji Xingjian to instinctively close his eyes before opening them a moment later. Judging by the position of the sun, it should be afternoon.
Ji Xingjian was still somewhat groggy and almost fell over while taking a shower. The residual fluids inside could be washed away, but the marks on the surface of his body could not be eliminated in a short time, making him look like a canvas splashed randomly with dye.
Changing into dry clothes, Ji Xingjian finally dug out his phone to check the time, his voice hoarse, “It is already past three.”
When going downstairs, Ji Xingjian’s steps were completely floating, giving him a lightheaded feeling.
Hearing footsteps, Xiao Ye ran out from its bed, circling around Ji Xingjian several times as if asking why he had woken up so late today.
Ji Xingjian stroked the dog’s head feebly, “You must be starving. I will go get you something to eat.”
“Woof, woof.” Xiao Ye fished its food bowl out from beside the dog bed, lifting its head to look at him with an expression that seemed to be complaining.
Ji Xingjian looked in surprise at the half-full bowl of kibble, his brow furrowing as he thought to himself that surely he hadn’t poured this for Xiao Ye during his sleepwalking last night, right?
Pouring dog food, unlocking doors with keys—his sleepwalking symptoms seemed to be getting worse.
Xiao Ye let out a sigh-like sound, clawing at Ji Xingjian’s trouser leg to lead him toward the living room, and nudged the insulated bag on the coffee table toward him.
Ji Xingjian unpacked the bag, finding a portion of soup dumplings, a portion of shrimp dumplings, two egg pancakes, and a bowl of porridge. Alongside them was a note with handwriting so ugly it looked like Xiao Ye had scratched it out with its claws, though it was barely legible: Eat more, gain weight.
Whether it was from being tossed around by Huo Chengye or because he had stayed in the low-temperature environment for too long, Ji Xingjian very unluckily caught a cold.
First his throat felt uncomfortable, then he started coughing. He didn’t think much of it at first, figuring he would just take some medicine and sleep it off, but by the next morning it had gotten worse as he began running a runny nose and his body felt burning hot.
To avoid delaying tomorrow’s class, Ji Xingjian had no choice but to go to the hospital for an IV drip.
Monday, eight in the morning, School of Architecture.
Huo Chengye propped his chin with one hand while his other hand was busy spinning a pen rapidly, completely not listening to the lecture.
He looked at the middle-aged professional course teacher standing on the podium, thinking idly that if Ji Xingjian were standing there right now, their class would definitely have a 100 percent attendance rate with no one cutting class.
Earlier, he had seen Ji Xingjian’s schedule in the professor’s office, and he had a class during this first period today as well.
He wondered what topic Professor Ji was teaching today. He had caught fragments of the previous class, and it had actually been quite interesting.
Ever since Saturday up until now, Huo Chengye had called Ji Xingjian and gotten no answer, sent messages that were read but left unreplied, much like a petty couple throwing a tantrum.
Halfway through the class, Huo Chengye couldn’t help pulling out his phone again to send messages to Ji Xingjian.
“Are you in class?”
“Why are you leaving me on read without replying?”
“At least make a sound.”
“Are you free at noon? Let us grab a meal together.”
Huo Chengye sent a bunch of messages. The female Alpha sitting beside him leaned over to glance at them and snorted, “Who are you messaging? Oh my, don’t tell me you have a significant other?”
Huo Chengye raised an eyelid, “Mind your own business.”
The female girl wasn’t annoyed, instead teasing him, “Big sis here is an old hand in the romance department. From the messages you just sent, I can tell at a glance that the two of you are fighting.”
“You, an old hand in the romance department?” Huo Chengye rolled his eyes at her and turned back to continue messaging Ji Xingjian.
“Even if I am not an old hand, I have at least been in a few relationships, and I definitely know more than a novice like you.” The female Alpha glanced at the teacher and quietly shared her experience with Huo Chengye, “Let me tell you, when you make the other person angry, you must offer a sincere apology. Just sending messages is useless, you need practical action.”
The female Alpha shifted closer to Huo Chengye and pointed at his phone screen, “You shouldn’t have sent this one. To coax someone, you must first lower your posture. If you ask me, you should just go find him directly. Apologize to his face. If he refuses to forgive you, just kiss him. There is nothing a forced kiss cannot solve, and if there is, make it two.”
Her voice was a bit loud, startling the teacher on the podium, “Ahem, that student over there, why don’t you come up and present?”
The female Alpha chuckled awkwardly, “Teacher, my mistake. Please continue.”
The bell for the end of class rang. Huo Chengye took out his phone again and called Ji Xingjian. After the ringing tone, the mechanized female voice came through the earpiece: “Sorry, the user you are calling is busy, please try again later.”
“What is this, is he really mad? I didn’t even provoke him.” Huo Chengye stared at the phone with a baffled expression. Should he go over and take a look? Walking from their college to the College of Fine Arts took fifteen minutes, and he had another class next period, so he probably wouldn’t make it back in time.
Yet if he didn’t go right now, he wouldn’t be able to see Ji Xingjian, let alone figure out why he wasn’t replying to messages.
“Huo Chengye, what are you spacing out for? Let us go.” Seeing him standing there stupidly in a daze, Lu Wei dragged him out of the classroom with a look of annoyance.
Walking halfway, Huo Chengye suddenly stopped in his tracks and walked off in the opposite direction.
“What are you doing? Going to the restroom?”
Huo Chengye casually chimed in, “Yeah, it might take a while. Tell the teacher during roll call.”
Lu Wei complained, “Can’t you hold it for a bit?”
“No.”
“A lazy donkey on the millstone produces endless excuses.”