Chapter 23

Hugging his knees, phone in hand, Zuo Nian sat on the bed with his cheek resting on his legs.
Had Duan Baisui been trying to tell him, in a roundabout way, that he didn’t need him at all? That he could get through his susceptible period completely on his own?
They were legally married. They existed for each other, were *made* to bear each other’s impulses—that was instinct.
Physically and emotionally, he relied on Duan Baisui enormously.
But in this relationship, to Duan Baisui, he was seemingly optional.
He was too weak—so weak that even when his Alpha’s susceptible period hit, the man could endure it alone without thinking of him in the slightest.
Zuo Nian’s fingers crept to the small bump at the back of his neck.
The doctor had said he was recovering very well.
He was now no different from any other Omega and, because he’d been close to the one he loved, he’d even smelled his Alpha’s pheromones and shown faint signs of going into heat.
All of that proved his glands were maturing.
From now on, he would only grow more and more dependent on his Alpha.
His compatibility with Duan Baisui would rise with each increase in his level.
He would go mad for him.
But… Duan Baisui would not.
Because he still couldn’t entice his Alpha at all.
Balling his hand into a fist, Zuo Nian thumped the back of his own neck. “Useless. Completely useless.”
“No matter how much this dummy changes, he’s still a dummy. The most useless of all.”
Following doctor’s orders, Duan Baisui hadn’t gone out in days.
Lately his father had been handling company affairs, and his assistant only contacted him now and then by email to coordinate some work.
With nothing urgent to deal with, his days had suddenly become very leisurely.
Lying in the big bed, he scrolled through the news on his phone.
As time passed, the discomfort in his body gradually faded, his mind cleared, and his mood finally stabilized.
Dominating the entertainment trending list that day was a long apology letter Rong Jin had posted on an overseas social account, which fans had promptly brought over to Weibo.
After lying low for a long time, he’d picked what he clearly felt was the “right” moment to admit his mistakes.
But Duan Baisui sensed no real sincerity in it.
From first line to last, Rong Jin framed everything around how deeply he loved Ju Xiao but, haunted by the trauma of a childhood kidnapping, his personality had become twisted, leaving him unable to express that love correctly.
Line by line, the essay oozed calculation.
Compared with the harm done to Ju Xiao, the “love” Rong Jin professed seemed to be the real headline.
In the comments under the hot‑search post, hired water‑armies were blatantly guiding public opinion, painting Rong Jin as a young master driven “mad” by love.
Every cruelty he’d inflicted on Ju Xiao, they reframed as obsession:
He’d humiliated and tormented him because of a possessiveness born of love, desperate to catch his attention.
He’d tried to forcefully change his secondary gender because he wanted to claim him so completely that no one else would dare covet him.
All of his bullying, they insisted, had been *because* he loved him.
A pampered golden boy’s crazed, deranged love for a Beta—naturally, it made for juicy drama.
Scrolling through the comments, Duan Baisui couldn’t help a hollow laugh.
It was obvious from countless variety clips and behind‑the‑scenes footage that Rong Jin did, in fact, have feelings for Ju Xiao. A person’s eyes didn’t lie.
But using “love” as an excuse to commit harm was the height of stupidity, and never something that deserved forgiveness.
Unsurprisingly, Ju Xiao felt the same.
Later that evening, he publicly responded to Rong Jin’s essay, firmly stating that he would neither forgive nor reconcile, and that he did not accept the “love” Rong Jin spoke of. He would be pursuing the matter through legal channels in full.
Sleepiness crept up on Duan Baisui. He tossed his phone aside and curled up in the pile of clothes that still smelled like Zuo Nian.
The hardest first three days of his susceptible period were finally behind him; now the main symptom left was excessive drowsiness.
According to the doctor, this was normal.
His body had spent days in a state of high tension—physically and mentally, he’d had hardly any rest.
Now that his susceptible period was nearly over and everything was slowly returning to normal, his body was compensating with extra sleep, and his glands were regaining control, no longer flooding the air with aggressive pheromones.
He slept like the dead. He didn’t know how much time had passed when the murmur of voices outside his room drifted into his dreams.
“Is Gege still in there?”
*Zuo Nian?*
For a moment, he couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or awake.
He tried to open his eyes, but his consciousness was still sluggish and foggy.
“Yes, he probably fell asleep again,” someone replied.
“Can I go in?” The man’s voice was tight with anxiety.
“You’re his Omega, of course you can. And today’s already the fifth day. Young Master has no more dangerous symptoms now, just occasional drowsiness,” Aunt Liu said.
“Okay. Thank you, Aunt Liu.”
The conversation faded.
Just as he was about to sink back into deeper sleep, he heard the door open.
Someone walked slowly toward him.
The mattress dipped on one side as a cool hand touched his forehead.
“Temperature… normal,” the person murmured to himself.
“Skinnier. Much skinnier.”
That palm slid to his cheek, covering it gently.
“Gege, Nian‑nian’s back.”
That was where his memory cut off. After that, Duan Baisui plunged fully into dreamless dark.
When he next woke, the sky outside the window was already black.
The curtains had been drawn halfway, revealing a slice of night.
The bedside lamp glowed softly, casting a warm pool of light.
As his mind cleared, Duan Baisui finally noticed the lump on the other side of the bed—
A person curled up under the covers.
Tentatively, he reached out and brushed the back of that person’s head.
Only then did he fully believe it: Zuo Nian was really home. This wasn’t some heat‑drunk hallucination.
Leaning over him, Duan Baisui took in the sight of the Omega sleeping sweetly, long lashes resting against his cheeks, A‑Beibei clutched in his arms. The whole scene radiated a quiet, domestic peace.
Curling his fingers, Duan Baisui nuzzled his knuckles against Zuo Nian’s cheek in a small, indulgent caress, murmuring low, “Now that you’ve got that ugly doll, you turn your back on me to sleep, huh?”
When Zuo Nian woke, the space beside him was empty.
The covers on Duan Baisui’s side had been folded neatly; not even a trace of lingering warmth remained.
Scrubbing a hand through his messy hair, he muttered, “Lazy Nian‑nian. Said he’d take care of Gege, but he slept like a pig instead.”
The bathroom door clicked open.
Duan Baisui stepped out in a white bathrobe, the collar slightly loose, revealing a glimpse of firm, but not overdone, chest muscles.
Drops of water slid from his damp black hair down his neck and disappeared into his chest. Whatever lay underneath that robe was enough to fire anyone’s imagination.
Zuo Nian stared, dumbstruck. He’d never seen this side of Duan Baisui before. Usually, after a shower, the man always came out in a full pajama set with every button done up to the very top.
Today’s casually tied bathrobe was eye‑opening, to say the least.
“You’re awake?” Duan Baisui asked.
Face flushing all the way to the tips of his ears, Zuo Nian turned his head away and gave a soft “Mm.”
Duan Baisui sat down beside him, bringing with him the warmth of water and the clean scent of body wash. “Dad asked us to come over for dinner. Go wash up, the driver will be here soon.”
“Okay~” Zuo Nian answered, climbing out of bed.
He went to the sink and had just stuck his toothbrush into his mouth when Duan Baisui joined him.
Zuo Nian gave him a startled look, but Duan Baisui merely plugged in the hair dryer and began drying his hair from behind.
They were standing very close. Wedged between his Alpha and the sink, Zuo Nian went stiff as a board. A fine, tingling numbness crawled up his back.
After brushing his teeth, he bent over to wash his face.
As he leaned down, his raised backside bumped squarely into Duan Baisui.
Heat flared across his cheeks. Scooting his feet inward, he pressed himself as close to the counter as he could.
At last, the buzzing of the hair dryer cut off.
Busy rinsing the foam from his face, Zuo Nian couldn’t see what Duan Baisui was doing. All he heard was the cabinet door opening; he guessed he was putting the dryer away.
Once he’d rinsed the lather from his face, Zuo Nian patted it dry with a towel. When he straightened up, someone leaned over him, closing in from behind.
Bracing one hand on the sink, Duan Baisui lowered his head to look at him. “When did you get back?”
The sudden nearness made Zuo Nian’s heart all but leap out of his chest.
“Y‑yesterday afternoon,” he stammered.
Duan Baisui nodded. “Didn’t we agree I’d pick you up? Why didn’t you call?”
“Y‑you were in your susceptible period,” Zuo Nian said, meeting his gaze. There was still little emotion to be seen in the man’s eyes, impossible to read. “F‑fatty Dad came to get me instead. It’s… it’s the same…”