One week later.
Shen Zhinian’s rut ended, and Bo Chengjing finally came home.
Bo Chengjing searched all the way to the walk-in closet before finding Shen Zhinian packing clothes into a suitcase.
Hearing footsteps, Shen Zhinian turned his head to glance at him, ignored him, and continued lowering his head to fold clothes.
Bo Chengjing walked into the walk-in closet and stopped right beside him.
Yet Shen Zhinian acted as if he couldn’t see him, picking up a piece of clothing and moving to another spot to fold it.
Bo Chengjing smiled and said, “Packing your things to run away from home?”
Ignoring him, Shen Zhinian placed the neatly folded clothes inside the luggage.
Bo Chengjing watched for a moment and said, “Military training is only two weeks long. Just how many white tees did you bring?”
Shen Zhinian would start school tomorrow, and his closed-door military training would begin the day after.
“You also know I start school tomorrow.” Shen Zhinian squatted beside the suitcase and suddenly looked up at him. His facial features were sharp and well-defined, carrying a strong sense of aggression when he wasn’t smiling. “Why didn’t you wait until I was a sophomore next year before coming back and asking me how military training felt?”
“Didn’t I come back now?” Bo Chengjing leaned over and patted his head. “I’ll take you to school tomorrow, stop being mad.”
“Am I mad because of this?” Shen Zhinian frowned.
“Then what are you mad about?” Bo Chengjing asked, somewhat playing dumb.
Shen Zhinian said, “I was in rut, and you threw me at home all by myself! Is your heart made of titanium alloy?”
“Stop talking nonsense.” Bo Chengjing’s cool voice carried a trace of gentleness, his brows and eyes smiling. “The cooking and cleaning aunties, the driver, and the bodyguard were all at home. Even the doctor was invited by me to stay at the house. What? Did they turn transparent?”
Shen Zhinian lowered his head again, shuffling through the clothes in the suitcase, and then muttered softly, “You weren’t home.”
“What would I be doing at home? Beat you?” Bo Chengjing patted his head again. “Your pheromones that day could have drowned people. How could I stay home?”
Shen Zhinian fell silent. After a moment, he asked, “Did I bite you?”
Bo Chengjing smiled, seeming not to take the matter to heart at all: “The young master hasn’t forgotten, huh.”
“Are you okay?” Shen Zhinian asked softly.
“What could possibly happen from a single bite?” Bo Chengjing said.
“Oh,” Shen Zhinian replied.
Bo Chengjing asked, “How was the effect of the suppressants this time?”
“Just like that,” Shen Zhinian said. “It didn’t hurt as much.”
Shen Zhinian’s rut phases were always extremely intense every single time, and he had some aversion to suppressants, suffering terribly whenever he took them.
“The doctor should have told you everything anyway. Why are you asking me?” Shen Zhinian said.
“Just in case you didn’t want to tell the truth to the doctor,” Bo Chengjing replied.
Shen Zhinian fell silent again, neatly arranging his clothes one by one.
Bo Chengjing watched him.
Every single piece of clothing was folded flat and square to the exact same size.
It had been like this since he was a kid; his things always had to be in absolute order.
“Brother,” Shen Zhinian suddenly called out to him.
Bo Chengjing raised an eyebrow. He rarely heard Shen Zhinian call him “Brother,” and whenever he did, there was bound to be something coming after it.
“Why are you always able to control your ruts so well every time?” Shen Zhinian asked.
Bo Chengjing’s gaze froze for a split second.
Hearing no reply, Shen Zhinian turned his head back to look at him: “Hmm?”
“Why ask this all of a sudden?” Bo Chengjing asked.
“I’ve never smelled your pheromones,” Shen Zhinian said.
Bo Chengjing looked into his eyes, paused for a moment, and said, “I’m never home during my ruts, so you’ve never seen it.”
“Will you be like me?” Shen Zhinian asked.
Instead of answering his question, Bo Chengjing said, “When you go to college, meeting an omega you like…”
Before he could finish, Shen Zhinian dropped his gaze and refused to look at him anymore: “Why are you like a matchmaking parent? Say less, I don’t want to listen.”
Bo Chengjing stopped talking and kept his mouth shut.
The two-week closed-door military training came to an end.
After the military training performance ceremony concluded in the morning, Bo Chengjing went to the school to pick up Shen Zhinian.
He parked the car at the school gate and, following Shen Zhinian’s instructions, found his dormitory building and waited for him downstairs.
Five minutes later, Shen Zhinian emerged from the dormitory building.
In a white tee and gray sweatpants, he looked full of energy. The two weeks of military training didn’t seem to have tanned him at all.
Broad shoulders, narrow waist, standing well over 1.9 meters tall, he was a robust alpha who could be identified as such at a single glance.
Perhaps because he had finally taken off that high school uniform, he suddenly felt older and more mature.
As Bo Chengjing was watching this, a boy suddenly intercepted Shen Zhinian.
A very pretty boy with slightly wavy hair that looked soft to the touch.
Bo Chengjing narrowed his eyes. He really had grown up.
Time for romance, it seemed.
From Bo Chengjing’s angle, he could only see the boy holding two pieces of what looked like admission tickets and handing them to Shen Zhinian.
Shen Zhinian must have refused.
But the boy gave him the tickets and turned around to run off.
After running a short distance, he even turned back and waved at Shen Zhinian.
Shen Zhinian stood in place with the two tickets for a moment before walking towards Bo Chengjing.
Shen Zhinian pulled a long face. “What are you laughing at?”
“Pretty cute,” Bo Chengjing said.
“Then here, you go instead.” Shen Zhinian handed the tickets to him.
Bo Chengjing took them and looked: admission tickets for the Conservatory of Music’s welcome gala. “Do welcome galas need tickets nowadays? And they’re made so exquisitely; I thought they were invitations to some banquet.”
As he finished speaking, he flipped the ticket over and found contact information written on the back of one of them.
“Huh?” Bo Chengjing said.
Shen Zhinian saw it too, but seeing Bo Chengjing keep staring at that string of numbers, he suddenly snatched the ticket back: “What are you doing?”
“What’s wrong?” Bo Chengjing asked.
“You don’t really want to go, do you?” Shen Zhinian asked.
“Yeah,” Bo Chengjing said. “I never participated in these kinds of activities when I was in school. I might as well experience your college life through this.”
“Could it be that you’ve taken a fancy to that omega?” Shen Zhinian stared at him and asked.
“Maybe,” Bo Chengjing said.
“Bo Chengjing!” Shen Zhinian called out through gritted teeth.
Bo Chengjing smiled and walked towards the outside of the school: “What do you want to eat for lunch?”
“Did you fall for him?” Shen Zhinian chased after him and asked again.
“No, I’m just teasing you,” Bo Chengjing said. “You should socialize a bit more appropriately; don’t always stay by yourself.”
Shen Zhinian didn’t speak.
As the two walked through the campus, people kept glancing over in their direction from time to time.
“How does college feel?” Bo Chengjing asked.
“Just like that,” Shen Zhinian said. “Boring.”
“And your roommates?” Bo Chengjing asked.
“Roommates… There’s good news and good news. Which one do you want to hear first?” Shen Zhinian asked.
“Let’s hear a good one first,” Bo Chengjing said.
“I got a double room,” Shen Zhinian said. “The conditions are great, very spacious.”
“And the other piece of good news?” Bo Chengjing asked again.
“The counselor said if home is close by, you can apply to commute from home,” Shen Zhinian said. “I submitted the application.”
“Mm,” Bo Chengjing said. “That’s nice.”
The two walked out of the school and got into the car.
Before starting the engine, Bo Chengjing asked him what he wanted to eat again.
Shen Zhinian wanted Japanese food.
Bo Chengjing called to book a private room, then started the car.
In the passenger seat, Shen Zhinian pointed at his forehead and stared at him.
“What’s wrong? Haven’t seen me in two weeks and you think I transformed?” Bo Chengjing kept his eyes on the road ahead.
Shen Zhinian smiled and said, “Brother, I have a question.”
“I refuse to answer,” Bo Chengjing said.
Ignoring his refusal, Shen Zhinian pressed on: “You’re already twenty-five, haven’t you ever thought about dating? In all the people you’ve met, haven’t you ever met an omega you liked?”
Bo Chengjing wondered if this kid had gone a little crazy. He glanced at him sideways, thought for a moment, and said, “How do you know I haven’t been dating?”
Shen Zhinian: “?!”