The weather today was lovely, boasting a clear blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. It was quiet outside, but Xiao Shuqing lay in bed, completely unable to drift off.
His heat was due, yet it stubbornly refused to arrive. His glands grew increasingly swollen and achy, making it difficult to fall asleep at night and leaving him utterly drained during the day. To maintain enough energy to function, he had resorted to fueling himself with coffee. The unfortunate result? Even less sleep at night, and an even heavier reliance on caffeine the next day.
It was a vicious cycle.
After spending nearly an hour reading in bed and another twenty minutes resting his eyes in vain, he finally gave up, got out of bed, and walked out of the bedroom.
In the living room, the Alpha was quietly curled up on the sofa, fast asleep under a large, plush blanket. Sunk deep into the fleece, he looked incredibly soft and fluffy. Saisa, the large, long-haired dog, was curled up right at his feet.
Hearing Xiao Shuqing come out, the dog lazily cracked an eye open before closing it again.
Xiao Shuqing watched them for a moment, then turned toward the kitchen to brew himself a cup of pour-over coffee.
The rich aroma of the coffee managed to lift his spirits a bit. Passing the dining table on his way out, he picked up a pack of cigarettes and headed to the small balcony.
The sleeping Alpha must have caught the movement. Half-awake, he mumbled sleepily, “Professor Xiao, are you awake? Are we going to the market?”
His voice was soft and thick with sleep.
Perhaps because he was unconscious, the young man’s pheromones had inadvertently leaked out. It was incredibly faint. If one wasn’t paying close attention, it was almost undetectable.
It smelled like the scent of fresh-cut grass wafting through the window at nine o’clock every morning when the campus gardener ran the lawnmower outside the classroom.
This was the first time Xiao Shuqing had ever smelled Yu Siyuan’s pheromones.
To his surprise, it was just like the boy himself—soft and gentle.
Tsk. A personality as soft as a rabbit’s, and even his pheromones smelled like grass.
Completely harmless to man and beast alike.
Looking at the younger man, who was already nodding off back to sleep, Xiao Shuqing said softly, “It’s still early. Keep sleeping.”
With that, he turned and stepped onto the balcony.
Yu Siyuan woke up half an hour later. Seemingly realizing that his pheromones had leaked, the very first thing he did upon waking was turn on the apartment’s ventilation system.
Seeing Xiao Shuqing sitting alone on the balcony, he padded over in his slippers to find him.
“Professor Xiao, I’m so sorry. My pheromones accidentally leaked while I was asleep. I’ll sleep in my room next time.”
Xiao Shuqing had just finished a cigarette, and the scent of smoke still lingered in the air. He shook his head mildly. “I was smoking out here, so I didn’t smell anything. It’s fine, no harm done.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Are we going to the market now? Or should we wait a bit longer?”
Xiao Shuqing checked the time, picking up his empty coffee cup as he stood. “Let’s go. We can take Saisa out for a walk while we’re at it, so we won’t have to go out again tonight.”
“Okay.”
The two first took the large dog for a short lap around the park, then stopped by a local deli to buy half a roast duck. They picked up two heads of lettuce, weighed out a small selection of braised duck necks and wings, and headed home.
Since the rice had been cooked in advance, dinner was as simple as plating the deli meats and whipping up a quick stir-fried vegetable.
For Xiao Shuqing, whose usual routine consisted of campus cafeterias or takeout, it had never occurred to him that preparing a meal could be this effortless—and eating it could be this comforting.
Midway through the meal, Yu Siyuan went back into the kitchen to slice some scallions, cucumbers, and cilantro, bringing them to the table on a small plate.
“I suddenly remembered—it tastes really good if you wrap the duck in lettuce and put some cucumber inside.”
And so, Xiao Shuqing was introduced to lettuce-wrapped roast duck.
The duck meat was incredibly fragrant, its skin rendered crisp and savory, which contrasted beautifully with the crisp, refreshing sweetness of the lettuce and cucumber. Every bite was an absolute delight.
Xiao Shuqing, who usually strictly stopped eating when he was 70% full, ate until he was completely stuffed for the very first time. Later that evening, as he stood in his study reading, he felt a twinge of regret: he really should have walked the dog after dinner.
It wasn’t until eleven o’clock at night, when he felt his dinner had finally digested, that he sluggishly went to brush his teeth.
When he turned off the hallway lights, he noticed the light in the Alpha’s room was still on. But today was Saturday, and the boy was only twenty-four—the prime age for staying up late. Xiao Shuqing chose not to meddle and went straight back to his master bedroom.
To his surprise, just as he was about to switch off his lamp and sleep, his phone buzzed with several consecutive messages from the next room.
Yu Siyuan: Professor Xiao, about this afternoon, I’m sorry. Everything you said was right, and you only said those things because you care about me. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. It was very childish.
Yu Siyuan: I’m sorry. I’ll be more mature in the future.
He was actually apologizing for what happened that afternoon.
Xiao Shuqing didn’t even need to see him to know: the poor kid had undoubtedly been clutching his phone, agonizing over this the entire evening. When Xiao Shuqing was washing up outside earlier, the boy had probably been straining his ears, listening to his every move.
Xiao Shuqing couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of his nose in resignation.
From the very first day they met, he had realized that Yu Siyuan possessed a people-pleasing personality. People-pleasers were usually highly sensitive, particularly to the shifting moods of others. But he hadn’t expected an Alpha to be psychologically fragile to this extent.
In a situation like this, how should he reply?
If he were too blunt, he could say: You don’t actually need to care so much about my opinion. We may be married, but at most, we’re just roommates getting through life together.
But that would be cold and hurtful.
If he were too incisive, he could say: There’s no need to obsess over these things, you’re just exhausting yourself.
But he had already driven the boy to tears this afternoon.
Besides, it was the dead of night—the hour when emotions were at their most vulnerable. If he sent a careless reply, the kid might end up crying into his pillow for hours.
After careful deliberation, he typed out two lines:
Xiao Shuqing: It’s fine. You’re still young, take it one step at a time.
Xiao Shuqing: Don’t stay up late on weekends either. Go to sleep early.
Given that their relationship wasn’t deep enough for profound heart-to-hearts, this response was likely the most appropriate.
With two clean taps, the messages were sent.
He then promptly switched off his bedside reading lamp and lay down to sleep.
He had absolutely no idea that the two sentences he had crafted so meticulously would leave the little creature in the next room tossing and turning until the early hours of the morning before finally drifting off.
The next day, Sunday.
Xiao Shuqing woke up early to walk the dog. When he returned home at eight in the morning with breakfast in hand, the person who had vowed so fiercely the night before to be “more mature” was still fast asleep.
In the end, it was Saisa who realized his human was missing. The dog let out a couple of sharp barks at the bedroom door and scratched at it a few times before finally rousing the occupant inside.
The young man emerged yawning, with prominent dark circles shadowing his eyes.
He was visibly sleep-deprived.
“Did you stay up late last night?” Xiao Shuqing asked.
The freshly awakened boy stiffened at the question. He choked back the second half of his yawn by sheer force of will and mumbled softly, “I didn’t stay up late. I just had a bit of insomnia.”
“Go wash up and get ready to eat. I bought pan-fried buns, savory scallion pancakes, and silken tofu pudding.”
“Ah, okay!” Then, shuffling in his slippers, he scurried off to the bathroom.
Ruan Fu’s messages arrived while the two were having breakfast, incoming with a flurry of rapid-fire chimes.
Yu Siyuan’s phone was resting on the table. He had set his font size rather large, so with a casual glance, Xiao Shuqing caught the text flashing across the screen.
[Babe, keep it up! There’s no problem at all, trust… +4 more messages]
[Ahhhh, Yuanyuan! Professor Xiao is a literal god… +3 more messages]
Out of respect for the other’s privacy, Xiao Shuqing averted his gaze after a brief glance. However, he instantly deduced that the topmost message was likely from Yu Siyuan’s Alpha boyfriend.
It seemed the kid had run into some trouble yesterday, and his boyfriend was offering words of comfort.
He hadn’t expected that Alpha to speak so sweetly.
Then again, when he had run into the two of them outside the classroom back then, even though they had only exchanged a few brief words, it was clear that the Alpha did indeed take exceptional care of Yu Siyuan.
It wasn’t surprising.
“Fu Bao sent a message, Professor Xiao,” the boy’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts.
Xiao Shuqing turned his head to look at him. “What did he say?”
“Late last night, an anonymous submission was posted on the H University Confession Wall. It matches the rumors circulating in the group chat yesterday. It must have been posted by Tao Jing.”
As Yu Siyuan spoke, he handed his phone over.
“The view count is really high. It already has two hundred reposts, over three hundred comments, and three thousand views. Fu Bao took a screenshot. Is this enough traffic?”
Xiao Shuqing took the phone and tapped open the screenshot attached to the message:
[H Uni Confession Bot]: Someone sent me an anonymous submission. They claim a certain professor at our school looks respectable on the outside but is actually rotten to the core hhh (you all know what I mean by ‘hhh’). Enough talk, here’s the submission.
The screenshot displayed a blurred-out profile picture alongside a lengthy, essay-style narrative. It repeated essentially the same allegations as before, though the story had been embellished to sound even more scandalous.
The bot account had even left a specific disclaimer in the comments section:
[The poster swore on their life that this is true and insisted I post it! For the record, I don’t necessarily believe it myself; I’m just a messenger. If you have a grievance, take it up with the source—please don’t come after me, parties involved!]
Below the post, the comment section was a sea of “Hahahahas.”
[Long Hair, H Uni’s most beautiful Omega campus heartthrob, Professor Xiao]: Why don’t you just call me out by name directly?
[Professor Xiao shakes his head]: Why bother naming names? That’s too formal. How about you just read out my ID number instead?
[Who on earth is talented enough to make up a story like this? They can’t be from H Uni, right? Whether Professor Xiao is married or not might be hard to tell, but it’s pretty obvious whether an Omega has been marked or not, okay? A quick fact-check would prove this is completely fake.]
[This has been submitted to the Weibo gossip hub “Gossip Central.” Come on everyone, let’s go watch the drama together!]
[Upstairs, don’t blow this too out of proportion, hey. Will this negatively affect Professor Xiao?]
[The university leadership isn’t blind or stupid. What kind of impact could it have? Chill, chill.]
After looking through the screenshots, a “+2” popped up at the very bottom of the chat interface.
It was another couple of messages from Ruan Fu:
Fu Bao: Haha, Gossip Central just posted it on Weibo!
Fu Bao: The blogger even screenshotted the view count and tagged Professor Xiao in the comments! Aaaaah, as expected of Weibo—how long has it even been? The views are already at 5,000! So, does this kind of dissemination count? Can we sue now? [Web Link]
Xiao Shuqing tapped the link to check. The blogger had just updated the view count in the comments section; it had already reached 11,000.
According to Lawyer Nie, this level of reach was more than enough. However, he wasn’t sure if the traffic generated by a third-party repost like this would count toward their legal case.
“I’ll forward this to Lawyer Nie so he can take a look,” he said, selecting the chat records to prepare a bulk forward.
Right before pressing the button, he remembered this wasn’t his own phone. He looked up at the Alpha beside him. “Do you mind if I operate your phone for a second? I need to forward these chat logs.”
The young man pushed the phone a little closer to him. “Go ahead, Professor Xiao.”
Without standing on ceremony, Xiao Shuqing tapped forward.
He scrolled down the chat list looking for his own name, but couldn’t find it at first. Glancing upward, he realized that he was actually pinned to the very top of the boy’s chat history.
There were five pinned chats in total.
Two were group chats—one named “Project 3-1” and another called “Group HQ Coders”—evidently work groups.
The other three were individual chats. One was Fu Bao, whom they had just been discussing; another was “Dad”; and the one currently sitting at the absolute top of the list was Xiao Shuqing himself.
The contact name read: Professor Xiao (Wife)
For a partner in a marriage of convenience to be pinned and labeled as “Wife” was already slightly absurd.
But what was even more bizarre was the chat dialog with “Dad,” which currently displayed a red notification badge with a “4.”
Beneath the name was a snippet of the last message: [Babe, keep it up! There’s no problem at all, trust Dad.]
So, the message that had flashed across the screen earlier, from an Alpha he assumed was the boy’s boyfriend, was actually his father?
Then what about his Alpha boyfriend?
Just as the confusion set in, another chat thread was bumped to the top by incoming messages:
Senior Zhou: Xiao Yuan, we’re heading back to City H today. I bought a little duck ornament, you definitely…
Senior Zhou: Our project is finally over! Let’s get together for dinner on Thursday and I’ll give it to you. Also, I have some very important things to tell you…