Shi Jing almost lost his breath, and he lost all mood to take a bath.
Triggered by the scene, he recalled a part of that night all over again.
Shi Jing’s hands shook slightly with anger, and he threw those inexplicable items all the way down into the bottom compartment.
After changing into his pajamas and coming out, Shi Jing’s face darkened by another shade.
Aunt Wang naturally assumed the two of them would sleep in the same quilt, so she had only prepared one quilt.
Wei Qinan was busy remaking the bed, having found a new blanket in the storage room.
Seeing Shi Jing come out, he asked, “Which side are you sleeping on?”
“The inside.” Not wanting to speak with Wei Qinan right now, Shi Jing pulled back the covers, lay down, and turned his back to him.
Seeing this, Wei Qinan slowed his movements. “What is wrong?”
He took a bath and managed to get himself mad?
“Nothing. It is not because of you that I am unhappy.” Unwilling to offer a detailed explanation, Shi Jing only said, “Tomorrow you can go to school on your own, and you can drive my car. There are only two cars here at Xinluo, so pick whichever one you like.”
“Alright. Are you going to the company in the morning? I will drive you.”
“No need,” Shi Jing answered simply. “I run a pet hospital.”
When he had free time, he would go to the shop to help the receptionist triage customers and occasionally tease the pets.
Today he had originally planned to check on the injured rabbit in the inpatient department, only to run into that stinking salted fish causing trouble.
“I understand.”
Shi Jing stopped talking and closed his eyes.
He was tired today and fell asleep early. Just as he had drifted off into a hazy sleep, he was awakened by a ringing phone.
When he opened his eyes, a dark figure loomed over him, giving Shi Jing quite a scare.
Realizing it was Wei Qinan, Shi Jing narrowed his eyes and spoke unhappily, “What are you doing?”
Wei Qinan’s arm was propped beside Shi Jing’s neck, while his other hand was reaching for Shi Jing’s phone.
Hearing that, he lowered his head. “There is a call. I wanted to help you hang up.”
Little did he know, Shi Jing had not fallen deeply asleep yet, waking up at the slightest movement.
“Oh.” Awkwardly pushing Wei Qinan away, Shi Jing reached out for the phone on the bedside table and glanced at the caller ID.
Zhou Yongzhi, a social butterfly in the local second-generation wealthy circle.
He did not like to party much, but there were only so many juniors in the circle, and after running into each other in business settings over and over again, they naturally got to know one another.
Shi Jing picked up the phone and gave a hum.
The sound of music and dancing on the other end of the line was deafening, with the screams of men and women echoing one after another.
Panting heavily, Zhou Yongzhi had no idea how long he had been jumping around. “Hello?!”
It was too loud all around, so Zhou Yongzhi shouted “Hang on a second” at the top of his lungs and walked into the restroom.
Having been woken up, Shi Jing was not in a very good mood. “What is it?”
“Listening to your voice, you are sleeping? So early?” Zhou Yongzhi lit a cigarette and shoved it into his mouth, biting down on it as he spoke. “Tomorrow is my mom’s forty-seventh birthday. Remember to come and show some support.”
The bedside lamp in the bedroom was still on, and unable to stand the glaring light, Shi Jing rolled over. “Your mom is having another birthday? Which mom is it this time?”
Zhou Yongzhi’s father had made quite a bit of money in his youth and married his primary wife, who gave birth to Zhou Yongzhi. Afterward, he kept quite a few Omegas outside.
The primary wife made a fuss at first, but later had to turn a blind eye.
Fortunately, Zhou Yongzhi’s old man still had a bit of conscience left and had never knocked up any other Omegas, simply having Zhou Yongzhi call all of them godmothers.
The man did not even think anything was wrong with himself, treating his glorious achievements as talking points whenever he went to business banquets.
At that time, Shi Jing’s Alpha father, Shi Si, happened to run into Zhou’s father at the same wine banquet, and in order to broaden Shi Jing’s horizons, he brought him along. Upon hearing these events on the spot, Shi Si rolled his eyes and almost laughed out loud.
Bizarre.
A psycho.
Truly bringing shame to Alphas.
Yet the Zhou family business was doing well, and after growing older, they struck it lucky and made a massive fortune, running a business even more impressive than the Shi family.
Zhou Yongzhi said on the other end of the phone, “My biological mom, the one who gave birth to me.”
“So sudden,” Shi Jing said.
“We were not planning to host it, but this year my dad found a master who said he needs to treat his legal wife better this year, otherwise he is prone to getting struck by lightning. It was decided last minute.”
Shi Jing: “Now who could even tell the difference between Old Man Zhou and a genius.”
He gave a perfunctory response. “Send the address to my WeChat.”
“Right at my house. Come early tomorrow afternoon. I invited everyone in the circle, so remember.”
“Mn.”
After acknowledging it, Shi Jing remembered something and added, “I am bringing someone else.”
“Who?”
Shi Jing spoke the words reluctantly. “My boyfriend. I am just bringing him over so you all can get to know him.”
Without waiting for Zhou Yongzhi to howl on the other end, Shi Jing decisively hung up the phone.
He turned off the phone and tossed it back onto the bedside table.
“Tomorrow afternoon, a friend of mine’s mother is hosting a birthday banquet. I will come to the school to pick you up,” Shi Jing said.
He remembered the schedule; Wei Qinan had no classes tomorrow afternoon.
Wei Qinan turned off the bedside lamp. “Alright. Come to the school cafeteria for lunch tomorrow.”
Shi Jing had spent four years at that school, and the cafeteria windows were still the exact same few, almost making him throw up from eating there so much. “No.”
“My roommate will be there too, so it is a good chance to introduce you,” Wei Qinan continued. “Didn’t you say you wanted everyone around us to know?”
Shi Jing: “Got it.”
The air conditioner was running in the bedroom.
Shi Jing pulled the quilt over his head, and his breathing lightened shortly after.
However, having just been woken up right after falling asleep, falling back asleep was not nearly as stable as before.
In his dream, Shi Jing always felt very hot, and the spot on the back of his neck that had been bitten carried a faint, subtle stinging sensation.
He did not wake up, but his body unconsciously tossed and turned, kicking off the quilt.
In his hazy state, another scent of pheromones lingered around the tip of his nose, easing the dry heat within his body slightly.
In the dark, Wei Qinan found Shi Jing, who was about to fall off the bed, pulled him back into his arms, released a little bit of his own pheromones, and gently patted Shi Jing’s back with his palm, just like their first night.
If an Omega was marked by an Alpha, they would develop a dependency on the other party’s pheromones until the mark faded.
The same applied when an Enigma marked an Alpha.
Even if Shi Jing himself was not conscious of it, and the dependency was not as intense as an Omega’s, Wei Qinan could still perceive his changes.
Teachers did not need to teach physiology classes about this; when Enigmas differentiated, the instincts imprinted in their genes were already awakened along with it.
Shi Jing did not remember when his discomfort eased, but when he woke up, the sky was already completely bright.
The quilt was neatly tucked up to a position below his neck, and there was already no one beside him.
Shi Jing sat up and touched the back of his neck.
He felt that the mark had faded a bit, and his condition was better than yesterday’s.
Lying in bed, Shi Jing did a few crunches before rising with satisfaction.
He had recovered in just two nights. As expected of him, his physical fitness was super strong.
Today Wei Qinan also had early-morning classes and had headed out very early.
There was rice porridge he had cooked waiting in the pot.
Shi Jing drank a bowl to warm his stomach, grabbed his car keys, and headed to the pet hospital first.