It was indeed acute gastritis, accompanied by a persistent high fever.
During the skin test, the Pei medical team discovered that Xin Hexue was allergic to several commonly used medications. Perhaps because Xin Hexue was a completely pure-blooded human, without any genetic modifications or body enhancements. Helplessly, after drawing blood for testing, the doctors could only administer IV fluids. Among all the plans, they chose the slowest-acting but safest medical approach.
As soon as the ice pack was placed on the burning forehead, the young man’s pale face tensed up, and his brows twitched slightly.
He tilted his head, and his cheek sank deeper into the soft down pillow.
The ice pack also slipped off as a result.
It was Pei Ying who had just taken the ice pack from the freezer.
Pei Ying clicked his tongue, trying to reposition the ice pack when the doctor advised, “Second Young Master, using this might give Mr. Xin frostbite.”
‘Frostbite?’
The hot-blooded Alpha held the ice pack in his palm and pressed it to his own face to test the temperature. For someone used to summer, it only felt cool, nowhere near enough to cause frostbite.
Pei Ying lowered his gaze. The young man on the bed had his eyes tightly shut, his expression restless even in sleep. The corners of his eyes were flushed from the fever, and his eyelashes were trembling faintly.
The doctor suggested, “It’s better to wipe him down with a towel soaked in warm water. Around 33 degrees Celsius is ideal. The wiping time should be controlled between ten to twenty minutes.”
Pei Ying took note of everything. The villa was brightly lit. The two silver cone studs in his left ear reflected a cold gleam.
Different from his usual lazy, rebellious demeanor, the second young master of the Pei family appeared especially obedient while taking down medical instructions.
Pei Ying: “There’s a guest room in the villa. Go rest for now.”
“If anything comes up, I’ll call you.”
The mountainside villa was spacious. Even housing twenty to thirty servants would be more than enough. However, Pei Guangji disliked having people around, so aside from them, the only ones moving about the villa were robots performing repetitive tasks in their respective roles.
Pei Ying was never a model student anyway. As the infamous second young master of the Pei family, skipping classes wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
With Xin Hexue’s fever not subsiding, he messaged the homeroom teacher and asked for leave the next day.
“Why is your skin so white?”
He wrung out the towel soaked in warm water and wiped Xin Hexue’s neck, frowning as he wiped.
The sick young man slept quietly, showing no reaction to Pei Ying’s muttering.
Pei Ying prepared to wipe down his body. But as he reached to undo the buttons, he paused for a moment, then muttered to himself, “What’s there to be afraid of? We’re both men. I’ll just take a look, it’s not like he’s going to lose a piece of flesh.”
Xin Hexue’s jet-black hair softly spread across the pillow. He slept with his eyes closed, the corners of his eyes and his lips especially red from the fever.
Pei Ying had seen him wearing only Pei Guangji’s shirt before, but this was the first time he had seen Xin Hexue’s completely bare body.
A slim waist and long legs, smooth and delicate skin, gentle lines subtly rising and falling across his entire body.
He was not as frail as Pei Ying had imagined, but this pale, almost translucent-looking body also couldn’t be considered healthy.
Beneath the cold white skin, faint blue veins emitted a fragile vibe, as if a light push could make him fall down.
Pei Ying had turned off the blinding ceiling light, leaving only the small nightlight by the bed.
Yet the young man’s body still appeared so white that it made his head spin.
‘Ah…there’s even pink.’
Pei Ying’s ears inexplicably turned red, the tip of his heart itching and swelling, like being bitten by ants.
Through the damp towel, the palm of his hand could measure every contour of the young man’s muscles and bones.
His nasal cavity felt hot.
Pei Ying clumsily covered his nose. The next second, he realized the wet towel in his hand had just wiped Xin Hexue’s body, even carrying a faint cold fragrance.
His nose began to bleed profusely and he scrambled to pull the blanket over Xin Hexue.
Then rushed to the bathroom to wash up and deal with the awkward situation.
[Pei Ying love value +3]
[Pei Ying love value +2]
[Pei Ying love value +1]
Even though K muted the notification sound as soon as he realized, Xin Hexue still turned over uneasily in his semi-conscious state.
…
‘Pink? Why is it pink?’
It was so exquisite that it looked like it was carved from white jade, with a hint of pink.
Completely different from the ferocious-looking thing he himself had.
Pei Ying couldn’t help comparing.
Then, he suddenly sat up.
Daylight had already filled the room.
In the latter half of the night, Xin Hexue’s body temperature had returned to normal. After the IV drip was finished, Pei Ying called the doctor back for another check-up. Seeing there was no problem, he let them leave.
The medicine box was placed on the bedside table.
But the bed was empty.
Pei Ying had stayed by Xin Hexue’s bedside and only fell asleep near dawn. Now when he checked the time, it was already noon.
He went downstairs.
The young man was sitting at the table, drinking porridge one scoop at a time.
His face still lacked color, but he looked much more spirited than the day before.
Xin Hexue heard him coming down and turned his head slightly, “There’s more porridge in the kitchen.”
Pei Ying met his gaze, then quickly looked away, flustered. “Got it.”
He sat across from Xin Hexue, but his eyes only dared to focus on the small scallion and lean pork porridge in his bowl, his mind a chaotic mess.
Pei Ying brought up a topic, “You didn’t sleep well last night. It sounded like you were calling someone’s name. Were you calling my brother?”
Xin Hexue had made a faint sound at the time, almost like a whisper. Even when Pei Ying leaned in, he could only catch a vague syllable. The last one sounded like his brother’s name.
He even messaged Pei Guangji about it.
[He is burning up really bad and keeps calling for you.]
Xin Hexue was surprised. He had no memory of this.
He responded vaguely, “Mm… maybe.”
But in Pei Ying’s ears, that was a tacit confirmation.
Already at an age full of pride, Alphas naturally hated losing, so Pei Ying suddenly felt restless.
He had taken such good care of him all night, so why was Xin Hexue still calling for his brother?
He stood up and left the table. “I didn’t sleep last night. I’ll go rest a bit.”
Xin Hexue thanked him gently, “Thank you for last night.”
[Pei Ying love value +5]
…
The situation in District Six was rather tricky.
Among those involved in causing the West City pharmaceutical factory fire were not only members of the Black Snake underground organization but also mutant species. It was hard to believe this was a mere coincidence.
Pei Guangji leaned more towards the belief that Black Snake had been secretly colluding with the mutant species. Otherwise, it was difficult to explain how the underground group had managed to take such firm root in District Six.
Though the district government was corrupt, it hadn’t been so weakened and incompetent in the past.
If the government completely lost its grip in the struggle against underground forces, leading to a breakdown in law enforcement, it would do more harm than good for the conglomerates.
Especially since most of the pharmaceutical factories were established in District Six by the Pei family.
Pei Guangji needed to return to the family’s main estate in the core zone to obtain more authority from the old man.
However, he changed his route and went back to his villa in the mountainside first.
It was already evening.
The light of dusk was dim, filtering through the curtains, casting the silhouette of a human figure under the blanket.
With his thin lips pursed into a line, Pei Guangji silently approached the bed. The fever should have subsided, as Xin Hexue was sleeping peacefully.
Noticing the slight movement of the other person’s lips, he leaned down to listen. “Guangji…”
Pei Guangji suddenly recalled the message Pei Ying had sent him.
His heart trembled.
He hadn’t expected…
That Xin Hexue had fallen so seriously ill.
And had kept calling for him.
Pei Guangji had thought, when Xin Hexue brought the contract to his study that day, the message had been clear, and he should have understood that they were merely in a transactional relationship.
He frowned.
Just then, Xin Hexue’s lashes fluttered. He feigned waking up, then sat up and asked in surprise and delight. “Guangji?”
But then he quickly lowered his eyes. “No, Mr. Pei.”
As if that brief moment of joy had only been Pei Guangji’s illusion.
The atmosphere froze.
Pei Guangji: “…Your fever’s gone?”
He was still leaning in close, and the young man’s cool temperature pressed gently against his forehead.
Before he could react, Xin Hexue had already pulled away.
Pei Guangji remained immersed in that brief moment of contact.
Xin Hexue said shyly and politely, “Mr. Pei, my fever has already gone down.”
Pei Guangji straightened up a beat too late. “Mm, that’s good.”
[Pei Guangji love value +5]
Xin Hexue pursed his lips and smiled.
[Gege, you woke me up just in time.]
K: […Mm.]
…
That night, Pei Guangji didn’t stay and went straight to the core zone.
The next day, Pei Ying didn’t take leave. He still had to go to school. When he got up, the second floor was quiet, so Xin Hexue probably hadn’t woken yet.
Pei Ying quickly found the exercise book he had tossed on the couch in the living room, stuffed it into his bag, and went to school with a slice of toast in his mouth as usual.
At school, he never listened in class and spent most of the time sleeping.
Only during breaks was he awake.
Lunch was settled at the high-end cafeteria on the third floor of the school.
During the lunch break, his Beta desk mate, the math class representative, asked, “Pei Ying, did you bring your workbook? You’re the only one who hasn’t turned in the last assignment. I need to hand it in to the teacher.”
Pei Ying casually pulled it out from his bag and laid it on the desk. “I didn’t do it.”
He tossed it over without even looking, then laid his head down for a nap.
His desk mate exclaimed, “But didn’t you write it? Why did you only write it on draft paper and not in the workbook?”
The Beta curiously flipped through the draft paper. “Aren’t all of these correct? And the steps hit every scoring point perfectly.”
Pei Ying sat up. There was a red mark on his forehead from sleeping on the desk, and he looked annoyed. “I said I didn’t…”
His voice suddenly cut off.
He stared hard at the elegant, free-flowing handwriting on the draft paper.
This wasn’t his handwriting.
He snatched the workbook and draft paper from his desk mate. “I’m not handing it in. Just tell the teacher I didn’t do it.”
Pei Ying kept staring at the two sheets of draft paper.
Damn it, the steps were written so clearly… would Xin Hexue think he was an idiot?
Pei Ying had skipped doing the homework on purpose. After all, whether he could or couldn’t do it, in the Pei family he was always the defective product. Playing the role of a rich, spoiled young master made life easier.
But he didn’t want Xin Hexue to think he was a fool.
Pei Ying’s brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly.
Suddenly remembering something, he asked his desk mate, “You’re a Beta too?”
It was as if he was just noticing his desk mate’s gender. Xin Hexue was also a Beta.
Pei Ying subconsciously wanted to ask if he had missed something in the sex education class? Otherwise, were all the ones for Betas pink?
Not just down there… even above?
But he wasn’t stupid enough to ask that out loud.
He immediately realized it was probably just Xin Hexue.
His desk mate was confused. Thinking he was still confused from sleep, he went back to the original topic. “Alright, I’ll just tell the teacher you didn’t write it. Oh, and there’s a parent-teacher meeting this afternoon. You gave your invitation to your guardian, right?”
Students at Nancheng No.1 High were either rich or noble. Even the school loved to create some pretentious formalities to increase the sense of ceremony.
Pei Ying: “What invitation?”
Desk mate: “You weren’t around when they were handed out during break. So I stuck it in your workbook for you but forgot to remind you. You didn’t lose it, did you?”
Pei Ying flipped through the workbook. Other than the two sheets of draft paper, there was nothing else.
Suddenly, he felt uneasy.
