Chapter 40

The dentist’ssurname was Shen, he’d been responsible for Zhuo Xiang Ming’s teeth since he waseight years old. Tong Yan followed the nurse out. Zhuo Xiang Ming couldn’t gowith him and was waiting for him in the office.

The doctor laughed:“This is the first time I’ve seen him since the wedding. It’s actually been afew months now that I think about it. I see you guys seem to be getting along quitewell?”

He was talkingabout Tong Yan, who had a routine inspection before the marriage. The two men previouslyhad a few conversations about Zhuo Xiang Ming’s after marriage life. At thattime, although Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’t explicitly say anything, he didn’t lookvery enthusiastic.

Zhuo Xiang Ming hada tranquil expression on his face: “Still OK.”

The two talkedwhile waiting for Tong Yan. Most of the conversation was the doctor askingquestions, and Zhuo Xiang Ming answering.

”It’s stillstrenuous to raise a teenager.” The doctor said, “But he looks verywell-behaved, and doesn’t talk much. If he was rebellious, I reckon thingswould be even more troublesome.”

When outsidersdescribe Tong Yan, most of them used the word ‘well-behaved’, and those thatgot closer to him would praise his beauty. Zhuo Xiang Ming said: “Yes, butfor children, such and such matters are inevitable.”

Listening to these wordsthat resembled dialogue from an experienced parent, the doctor laughed again:“For example?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming wasquiet for a moment, then said: “For example, growing a wisdom tooth, and notwanting to extract a tooth.”

The doctor onlyregarded his complaints as commonplace, then hethought of the chaos in his own home, and put himself in Zhuo Xiang Ming’sshoes, agreeing before asking offhandedly: “I think it’s because he’safraid of pain, and also afraid of dentists. I explained it quite well just now,but it was useless. What did you tell him? I’ll write it down so I can use iton the next child who’s afraid of a tooth extraction.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming wassitting in the chair neatly, all throughout the conversation, his expression wasserious and his appearance was reticent, but when he heard this question, he fishedthe pamphlet out from his suit pocket and turned to a particular page,seriously pointing at it for the doctor to see: “He was scared of a futurepregnancy being affected, so he agreed to extract it now. Actually, I hadnothing to do with it.”

”…” In theend, Dr. Shen was in his fifties, he was dazed only for a moment beforecarefully sizing up the other man’s upright face and finally saying, “Suchand such matters? I think Mr. Zhuo seems to be enjoying it.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming putaway the pamphlet and didn’t say another word.

After returninghome, Tong Yan wasn’t in good spirits. He announced that he wanted to sleep,and went upstairs to his bedroom after taking the medicine.

Zhuo Xiang Mingwent to the balcony to collect the sun-basked quilt, then closed the curtains.Turning around, he saw that Tong Yan was already lying in bed, but he was stillwearing his coat. His upper body was twisted at a funny angle, his fur collarcovering most of his face.

”Take off yourjacket.” Zhuo Xiang Ming walked over, holding the quilt in one hand and playfullypoking at Tong Yan’s cheek.

Tong Yan brushed hishand away, sliding off his coat exasperatingly slow, and pushing it to theother side of the bed. Zhuo Xiang Ming covered him with the quilt: “Fallingasleep?”

Tong Yan nodded,his eyes struggling to open, he held Zhuo Xiang Ming’s wrist and rubbed againstit: “Suddenly really sleepy ah.”

The painkillers hada soothing effect. Zhuo Xiang Ming patted his face with the back of his hand, loweringhis voice: “Go to sleep.”

Tong Yan shut hiseyes, Zhuo Xiang Ming stayed a moment longer, but when he was preparing to leave,Tong Yan whispered: “Brother.”

”Yeah?”

Tong Yan releasedhis hand and shrank into the quilt, like a tiny squirrel afraid of the cold:“Never mind.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming leanedover and hugged him across the quilt, holding his face to look at his temporarilystill swollen right face, then he kissed his hair. Tong Yan was very sleepy, weaklyturning his head to bump his lips.

Zhuo Xiang Ming wasn’tin a hurry, sitting by the bedside for a while. After Tong Yan quickly fellasleep, he adjusted the temperature and humidity levels before closing the doorand leaving.

It was only twelveo’clock, the small house was still very quiet, with only the occasional very faintdebugging sounds from some appliances, and rustling sounds from the decorativemechanical watches. But these sounds didn’t break the calm, on the contrary, theywere part of its composition.

Before Tong Yan arrived,the house was also quiet like this, but this quiet seemed to be very different.

Zhuo Xiang Minghandled various jobs at his work station on the first floor, the overall efficiencywas a bit higher than yesterday, and a lot higher than this morning — he wasn’tfrequently checking his messages. When Tong Yan was home, there was nothing outsideworth worrying about.

His piled-up work wasalmost cleared up, the memos on the shared screen were eliminated one by one. Forsome mysterious reason, Zhuo Xiang Ming opened up an encyclopedic search, browsingkeywords from “wisdom teeth”, “pericoronitis ” to “pregnancyprecautions “. The transition was smooth and natural, no peculiarities.

When he realizedwhat he was looking at, he coughed, although there was no one around him, tohide his embarrassment and self-contempt.

Tong Yan’s nap wasvery long, it was almost three o’clock, he really should get up soon. Zhuo XiangMing decided to go upstairs and wake him up, but when he entered Tong Yan’s bedroom,the quilt was piled up on the bed, but no one was inside.

There was no one inthe bathroom or the walk-in closet. Zhuo Xiang Ming turned away from the walk-incloset, but before he could close the door, he turned his head and noticed thatthe dry and warm afternoon sunshine was spilling on everything in the corridor.Many tiny dust particles cruised in the light path, and a certain too smooth floorardently reflected the light, dazzling the eyes.

The tip of his nose touched the light fragrance emitted by the woodendoor panel, a somewhat artificial aroma. This was the result of a whim the couplehad two weeks ago. They went shopping at an automated supermarket together,and the detergent Tong Yan chose to switch to had the scent of cape jasmine. Afteradjusting, it was very close. Tong Yan said that it was identical many times,but Zhuo Xiang Ming felt that it couldn’t compare with the hint of pheromone TongYan released from time to time, when he was unable to suppress it.

Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’tsearch through any other rooms, heading directly to his bedroom. Sure enough, hisdark colored bedding was wrapped around a small squirrel that was hibernatingto get through the winter.

Tong Yan slept verydeeply, and there was no isolation patch on his nape. The pheromones henaturally emitted during deep sleep unconsciously filled the room.

Thinking of how,while he was working downstairs, Tong Yan momentarily woke up and drowsily switchedto his bedroom to sleep, Zhuo Xiang Ming had a flash of irrepressible badthoughts.

Together with thequilt, he easily pulled Tong Yan towards himself, when he discovered that TongYan was also hugging his pillow. Seeing this, he rained kisses down on him.

The feeling of a goodnap being disturbed couldn’t be worse, but Tong Yan was the type of person withthe least morning grumpiness. He strived to sit upright, half asleep, half awake,but his eyes still couldn’t open, and his two hands gripped the corner of thequilt. His eyes, nose, and lips were kissed. He stared foolishly, his body tremblingslightly with each kiss. A good while later, he struggled to open his mouth,“Brother …”

Zhuo Xiang Ming hummed,and he asked again, “What’re you doing?” His face was still swollen, soTong Yan’s speech was a little unclear.

Zhuo Xiang Mingsaid mildly: “It’s after three, time to wake up.”

Tong Yan closed hiseyes, nodding jerkily, like a chicken pecking rice: “Oh, okay, I’ll wakeup in a moment.”

Seeing his cuteabout to fall asleep again in the next second, but trying his hardest not tolet himself fall asleep appearance, Zhuo Xiang Ming’s heart trembled. As aresult, Zhuo Xiang Ming became even more wicked, pinching Tong Yan’s nose,forcing the boy to open his mouth to breathe, then sealing his mouth with akiss.

Tong Yan wassluggish from sleeping on Zhuo Xiang Ming’s bed, he had no strength to resist therepeated bulling. In the end, his lips became red, his eyes were also a little red,and most of his sleepiness had run away. He was still wrapped in the quilt,hugged by Zhuo Xiang Ming. He asked softly, “What are you doing ah?”

This still couldn’tbe called an interrogative tone. Zhuo Xiang Ming counterattacked,“What time do you think it is? All you’ve done is sleep since you cameback, it seems that you didn’t miss me at all.”

Tong Yan hurriedlysaid: “I missed you.”

”Oh?”Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’t look very convinced.

Tong Yan explained:“Soon after I fell asleep, I felt my tooth throbbing a little. I didn’tknow what was happening, so I thought about going to your room. I planned toget up at half past one, but I just kept sleeping …”

Zhuo Xiang Minginterrogated him well, Tong Yan ceded reparations, and took the initiative to cupZhuo Xiang Ming’s face, kissing him, struggling to prove that during thisseparation period, he really missed Zhuo Xiang Ming.

The two peacefully embracedfor a while, then Tong Yan asked in a low voice, “Still angry?”

Zhuo Xiang Ming magnanimouslysaid: “Not angry.”

Tong Yan laughed,still languid, wiggling out of the quit to hug Zhuo Xiang Ming.

”You said yourtooth was throbbing, does it still hurt now?” Zhuo Xiang Ming turned tolook at his face. It wasn’t swollen as badly as this morning, but it was stillswollen.

Tong Yan nodded: “Stillhurts a bit, but it’s not very painful.”

The doctor alsosaid that after taking the medicine, it would definitely still hurt. He had towait a few days after the inflammation disappeared, then go for a few checkups,all problems would be solved after the wisdom tooth growing in a problematic placewas plucked out. Zhuo Xiang Ming knew this, but seeing Tong Yan’s listlessness,he still couldn’t express his heartache, desperately wanting to make the boyhappy.

That afternoon, neitherof them had anything to do. Tong Yan’s homework was completed, and Zhuo XiangMing also didn’t need to work. They were both happy to waste time, but Tong Yan,feeling significant discomfort, didn’t want to play with Lego, and also camedown with a slight case of clinginess disease, reclining unstirringly in Zhuo XiangMing’s arms while Zhuo Xiang Ming found a family comedy to put on.

After the young couplein the family comedy had a premarital pregnancy. On the wedding day, thebride gave birth to the firstborn, the scene was chaotic, and the comediceffect was full.

Tong Yan looked abit interested, grabbing Zhuo Xiang Ming’s hand and asking, “Would youlike an alpha or an omega?”

Zhuo Xiang Mingwanted to laugh, but the smile couldn’t come out, his expression looked odd. Herestrained and said, “You’re still young, but think about having childrenall day long.”

”What about it?”Tong Yan said unhappily, “I’m not giving birth right away, is thinkingabout it a crime?”

After waking up completely,his bad temper also come out, Zhuo Xiang Ming hurriedly coaxed him: “It’snot a crime, think about it, think.”

The two almost perfunctorilywatched the TV, then had a light dinner. Tong Yan had no appetite, so he didn’teat much. Zhuo Xiang Ming also put down his chopsticks after him. Aftershowering, they said a few words, then went back to their rooms.

At around one inthe morning, Zhuo Xiang Ming still hadn’t sleep much, thinking about going to takea look at Tong Yan—he’d never experienced such a feeling before, he didn’t knowwhy he felt so worried about another person, at least, he’d never felt that wayabout his own affairs.

When all was saidand done, Tong Yan just had a toothache, but since this afternoon, the boy’s moodwasn’t very good. Zhuo Xiang Ming kept feeling distressed, anxious about TongYan getting a fever, or like yesterday, being unable to sleep from the pain, butenduring it all alone, afraid to disturb others’ rest.

Before going tobed, he securely pulled the blinds in Tong Yan’s room, but he didn’t remember totake care of the ones in his room. The mid-month moon was disk shaped, hanging brightlyin the sky, silver white light covering the floor, reflecting the shapeless treebranches under the window.

Before Zhuo XiangMing could get up, the door was gently pushed open a crack, and at the edge ofthe moonlight, a person slipped in. It was Tong Yan, hugging his quilt, the cornerdangling on the ground, doubtlessly dragged along the whole journey. He stood inthe doorway for a short moment, as if hesitating, but he didn’t hesitate fortoo long, soon closing the door behind him and walking over to Zhuo Xiang Ming.

Tong Yan didn’texpect that Zhuo Xiang Ming also wasn’t asleep, he froze by the bedside, hisface somewhat red.

The boy wore horizontal stripped pajamas, his hair a complete mess, combinedwith his swollen face and big eyes, he looked like a pitiful, small homelessanimal, trembling in fear and trepidation, only showing some intimacy with ZhuoXiang Ming.

”Did I wakeyou up?”

”No.”Zhuo Xiang Ming opened his quilt to let him into the bed. The quilt Tong Yan broughtwas quietly left on the bed corner. He reservedly squeezed into Zhuo Xiang Ming’sembrace, and the two hugged each other.

”Does it stillhurt?” Zhuo Xiang Ming asked softly.

The night was very dark,Tong Yan gave an aggrieved grunt, whimpering a bit.

During theafternoon, he never made such groans, Zhuo Xiang Ming hugged him tightly, pullingthe quilt up to cover his shoulders. He tried to keep his pheromones within amoderate range, slowly coaxing Tong Yan to sleep.

The next day, TongYan didn’t return to his room. The day after that, he also didn’t return. Aftertwo check-ups, his inflammation was cured, and his tooth was successfully extracted.He’d also completely settled into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s bedroom.

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T/N:

Teenager- lit. Half-big child. Doesn’t seem to have a fixed meaning, so Isettled on teenager.

The doctor only regarded hiscomplaints as commonplace– 医生只当他寻常抱怨, unsure of translation

automated supermarket- lit. offline supermarket. Seems to be automated, sometimes unmanned,physical stores. One news article called Amazon Go stores this, so that’s whatI went with

counterattacked- or make bogus accusations

premarital pregnancy- lit. ‘Buying a ticket after getting on the bus/train” lol

FOD vol 2 re-translation is out. Goread it.