Wei Qinan was still holding the cat litter scoop, wearing a slightly undersized work uniform whose fabric was stretched tight by the muscles underneath.
Seeing him stay silent, Shi Jing was about to press him further when he heard him say, “It’s nothing, just zoned out.” The truth was that Shi Jing looked far too charming when working earnestly, and he had accidentally gotten lost in thought.
Shi Jing’s internal reaction was clear.
He turned his head away and went back to handling the pads.
The inpatient department suddenly grew quiet, leaving behind only the friction sounds of scooping waste and changing pee pads.
Dragging the cleaning cart, the two of them went over to the dog inpatient area to do a quick sweep. Shi Jing checked the medical records, took a few leashes down from the wall, and asked, “Are you tired? If you are tired, you can go back to the break room to sleep for a bit. I still need to walk the dogs.”
Wei Qinan took the leashes from his hand and said, “I’m not tired.”
Youth indeed meant having boundless energy.
Shi Jing nodded, scooped out the dogs that needed walking, attached their leashes, and pointed out, “Pay special attention to these two. Check if their excretions are normal, and definitely let me know if there’s any blood in their stool or anything like that.”
“Okay.”
The dogs were all still in their recovery period, so their walking pace was slow. When going down the stairs, someone had to wait ahead of them.
At two o’clock in the morning, only a scattering of pedestrians walked the streets. The two of them walked one behind the other along the green belt, and Shi Jing looked back to tell Wei Qinan, “We can head back once we finish walking these few. Thanks for your help tonight.”
Wei Qinan shook his head and said, “It’s nothing.”
He bent down to pick up the waste with a poop bag and tossed it into the trash can.
A golden retriever walked beside him, nudging Wei Qinan’s leg with its head.
Bent over, Wei Qinan touched it with the back of his hand and muttered something softly.
Noticing the interaction between the person and the dog, Shi Jing couldn’t help asking, “Have you kept dogs at home before?”
Hearing this, Wei Qinan raised his head.
He happened to be standing right beneath a streetlight, a beam of light hitting deep inside his pupils while the lingering warmth of a smile remained in his eyes, causing Shi Jing to pause for a second.
Wei Qinan replied, “Never kept one, so I’ve always been curious what raising a dog feels like.”
With a cold expression, Shi Jing said, “It feels like having to go out and walk the dog even if the outside world is facing an apocalypse. If you’re interested, the dog at my house can be brought over.”
Previously, because his living address changed frequently, it wasn’t convenient to lug a dog around everywhere, so it was temporarily left at the old family estate.
Now that he was in a contract marriage with Wei Qinan, his living arrangements shouldn’t undergo any changes throughout this year.
Hearing Shi Jing’s words, Wei Qinan looked momentarily startled before his eyes curved upward quickly, making him look in extremely high spirits. “Good.”
Shi Jing nodded. After they walked close to the intersection and turned back, they led the dogs back to the clinic.
By the time they finished organizing everything and were ready to head home, it was already approaching four o’clock.
Fortunately, the apartment was very close. Once they got home, Shi Jing urged him, “You have classes during the day, so go take a shower and hurry up and sleep.”
If they stayed up any longer, the sky would start turning bright.
Obediently nodding, Wei Qinan headed into the bathroom for a quick combat shower, changed honestly into his pajamas, and crawled straight under the covers, leaving his phone casually discarded on the bedside table.
Shi Jing sat on the sofa to play a game for a bit, waiting until the lights inside the bedroom went out before heading into the bathroom.
The room still retained the scent of body wash, a fragrance Shi Jing liked very much with a faint aroma of sea salt.
A tiny trace of weak pheromones was mixed within it, and Shi Jing caught a faint hint of bitterness.
Shi Jing had a special fondness for taking baths; no matter how late he got busy on any given day, he always carved out some time to lie in the tub for a while.
After checking his unread messages, he discovered that Zhou Yongzhi had asked him earlier in the evening whether he wanted to go out and hang out.
It was already five in the morning now, which clearly meant the time for hanging out had long passed.
Still, Shi Jing replied: [Busy, next time.]
Before he could even exit the chat box, Zhou Yongzhi’s emoji arrived a step ahead of his text: [(Shy.jpg)]
Zhou Yongzhi: [I understand, I understand~]
Zhou Yongzhi: [Holy crap, it’s already five o’clock. You two are really intense!]
Shi Jing: [We just rescued a cat and happened to help out at the clinic.]
Terrified of being misunderstood, he explained in great detail.
Yet Zhou Yongzhi clearly didn’t believe that helping out could stretch all the way until five in the morning, stubbornly insisting that the two of them must have been up to something else.
Right before Shi Jing was about to lose his temper, Zhou Yongzhi prudently reined in his teasing: [Right, let’s go shopping tomorrow and buy some things.]
Shi Jing felt he wasn’t that close with Zhou Yongzhi: [Need to catch up on sleep.]
Zhou Yongzhi: [Bro, I’m begging you, come keep me company. Come with me, come with me, come with me!]
Shi Jing’s internal reaction was clear.
His phone buzzed again, and he saw the other side send another line: [(Aggrieved.jpg)]
Shi Jing was a sucker for softness rather than harshness. Though he had no idea why Zhou Yongzhi would suddenly ask him out, he still agreed reflexively: [What time?]
Zhou Yongzhi: [You need to catch up on sleep, so let’s make it the afternoon. I’ll come pick you up in the afternoon?]
Shi Jing: [OK]
Having blindly agreed to go shopping with someone, Shi Jing rubbed the bridge of his nose, and after finishing his bath, pushed open the bedroom door with light, cautious steps.
The room was pitch black, with floor-to-ceiling windows blocking out the daylight completely, showing no trace of morning breaking.
Stepping on the soft carpet, Shi Jing held his breath entirely for fear of waking Wei Qinan.
He lay down on the bed, and before he even had time to put down his phone, he heard a slight movement from the person beside him.
Wei Qinan turned over, keenly capturing Shi Jing’s position in the darkness, scooted closer to his side, and rasped in a hoarse voice, “Why are you only sleeping now?”
“You’re one to talk,” Shi Jing asked. “The sky is already bright, and you’re still not asleep.”
Wei Qinan’s heartbeat was a bit fast as he spoke softly, “I stayed up too late, so I couldn’t fall asleep.”
“That’s why I said you should have come back to rest earlier tonight.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Wei Qinan shifted another bit closer to Shi Jing’s side. “Thinking about what Jiang Qi said today has my mind a bit jumbled.”
“Don’t take his words to heart,” Shi Jing said in a calm tone. “Stop thinking about it. How about drinking a cup of hot milk to calm down?”
Wei Qinan shook his head. “Can you release a little bit of your pheromones?”
Lying flat on his back facing the ceiling, Shi Jing opened his eyes and asked, “Why?”
Wei Qinan answered, “We’ve been marked; it might help with falling asleep.”
Having said that, he turned over again with his back facing Shi Jing and continued, “Actually, never mind. This isn’t part of the contract. You should get some rest too.”
Shi Jing’s internal reaction was clear.
His expression turned somewhat peculiar. “It’s not like I refused.” Releasing a little pheromone wasn’t going to do any harm anyway. Since Wei Qinan put on such a thoughtful act in front of others, helping Wei Qinan do a small favor felt quite reasonable.
Shi Jing intentionally exercised restraint. The scent of hyacinth remained faint, quickly dispersing throughout the bedroom.
Having no idea how to comfort an Enigma, he simply followed what the biology teacher taught and released pheromones using the method meant for soothing Omegas.
Soon enough, he heard Wei Qinan’s rhythmic breathing, indicating the person had already fallen asleep.
An Alpha’s pheromones truly did possess a soothing effect on Omegas, and when applied to sleep, it could barely scrape past the border of being called a lullaby.
He just hadn’t expected it to work on an Enigma as well.
Shi Jing had no idea when he fell asleep. When he woke up, the sun was high in the sky, and the other side of the bed was already empty.
Wei Qinan’s note lay quietly pinned to the top of WeChat: [I’ve gone to class. Lunch is already made and sitting in the thermal box. (Obedient.jpg)]
Wei Qinan: [Thanks for your pheromones; I wasn’t sleepy at all during class.]
Shi Jing’s internal reaction was clear.
It was originally a trivial matter, but having Wei Qinan highlight it so heavily made him feel somewhat embarrassed instead.
With aloof coldness, Shi Jing replied with an “Mhm.”
At this hour, it was already lunchtime, and Wei Qinan replied very quickly: [Are we eating together tonight too?]
Remembering that he was supposed to go out with Zhou Yongzhi, Shi Jing typed: [No need, sort it out yourself.]