HS Chapter 41

‘Are all these Alphas dogs?’

Before Xin Hexue chose to lay all his cards on the table to provoke Xi Zhengqing, he had already anticipated that after learning he had been played in reverse, Xi Zhengqing’s love value might drop. But in contrast, the heartbreak value would rise. Of course, that was the worst-case scenario Xin Hexue had considered. If only the heartbreak value increased while the love value stayed the same, that would be even better.

However, what happened was completely beyond his expectations.

Xi Zhengqing’s maxed-out love value remained unmoved, and even the heartbreak value didn’t increase in the slightest.

Could it be that after the surgery, the other party had replaced his heart with a bionic one made of stone?

Otherwise, Xin Hexue couldn’t understand why things had turned out like this.

Any normal person would feel angry, humiliated and sad after being toyed with.

Xin Hexue couldn’t understand him. It was like a cat trying to figure out what a dog was thinking.

He couldn’t understand Pei Guangji either.

After eavesdropping for so long, Xin Hexue was sure he had heard the whole truth. He should also have realized that he had taken the initiative to do something like “cheating”, and the one he cheated with was even his childhood friend.

However, after learning all that, Pei Guangji actually only cared about Xin Hexue’s comment on him.

A dull, old-fashioned man with no sense of fun?

Xin Hexue still remembered the condescending and arrogant expressions of these Alphas when he first met them and in the original script.

In his expectations, the chance of these two joining forces was practically zero.

No, maybe it was not entirely impossible…

Xin Hexue realized the crux of the problem. After the engagement banquet, he had behaved too intimately with Qiu Yuan, beyond the bounds of mere friendship.

In any case, no matter how bad the relationship between Xi Zhengqing and Pei Guangji, it was still far more promising than the relationship between either of them and Qiu Yuan. They wouldn’t allow Qiu Yuan to reap the fisherman’s benefit.

After all, to put it crudely, Qiu Yuan was a latecomer. He didn’t even count as the third party, at best a fourth.

So, even if Xi Zhengqing and Pei Guangji couldn’t stand each other, they could still temporarily join forces to put Xin Hexue back at the center of the scale. This way, they would filter out all other competition until it was only the two of them left to compete.

Xin Hexue stood still in place.

He was a Beta and had no glands, so naturally, he couldn’t smell the pheromones already filling the room.

The musk and mint pheromones clashed like fire and water. One side was fierce like a wild beast lacking reason, the other deep and steady like a vast forest or the earth, both wishing to tear the other to pieces. While confronting each other, they also tried every possible way to occupy the young man in between.

Xin Hexue couldn’t judge the state of the two Alphas through their pheromones, but the situation before his eyes was already crystal clear.

If he didn’t want his body to be torn apart today, it was best to let them fight.

Xin Hexue suddenly asked Pei Guangji, “Was that bouquet from you?”

He was talking about the bouquet of cosmos flowers that the waiter had delivered to him at Zuixian Restaurant.

Pei Guangji paused slightly, then slowly replied, “Mm. When I returned to the villa in Nancheng, they had already bloomed. They were very beautiful.”

Although Xin Hexue eventually asked the waiter to throw away the bouquet….

Pei Guangji didn’t know much about flowers. Before this, the gardens in his properties were all handled by smart butlers, who would calculate the most suitable flowers for each season and transplant them into the soil.

Pei Guangji: “Were those the ones you planted in the garden before?”

His tone was full of hope, as if he wanted to prove that Xin Hexue had feelings for him by confirming he had planted flowers in the villa they used to live in together.

But Xin Hexue denied Pei Guangji’s guess. “I didn’t plant them.”

“They were brought by the bionic butler sent by Xi Zhengqing. He’s taken very good care of me.”

Hearing this, Xi Zhengqing looked like he had already secured the upper hand. He gave Pei Guangji a mocking smile. “Did Ah Xue say anything wrong about you just now? You really are a dull and old-fashioned Alpha with no sense of fun. Life with you must’ve been hard for him every day, right? At least the bionic butler is thorough in every aspect…you can’t even compare to a bionic man.”

“So what’s wrong with Ah Xue choosing me in the end? You were the one who couldn’t keep him.”

Pei Guangji’s eyes darkened, and he shot back coldly, “Don’t try to dress up the act of illegally breaking into someone else’s home and stealing their lover as something so dignified. That won’t justify your disgraceful behavior. Your pheromones suit you well, just like an unevolved animal, showing no regard for public order or morality.”

“I think you’ve misunderstood our relationship,” Xin Hexue suddenly said to Pei Guangji. “Can our relationship even be described as lovers? I thought that was clearly written in black and white on the contract.”

Pei Guangji couldn’t find a single word to refute Xin Hexue. He opened his mouth, but could only force out, “I…”

Xin Hexue struck back at Pei Guangji, but didn’t forget to mock Xi Zhengqing too.

“Don’t call me Ah Xue. I feel sick every time you call me that.”

He glared at the two Alphas, clear annoyance at the corners of his eyes and brows. “If you want to fight, take it outside.”

………

These two actually went out and fought.

The bedroom door was tightly shut. Xin Hexue could hear the crashing sounds of things breaking in the living room, and could even faintly catch the thuds of fists hitting flesh.

“…”

This was good too.

He didn’t have to worry about dealing with both of them.

Hopefully, they’d fight to the point of mutual destruction.

[How long until your electric shock cooldown ends?]

Xin Hexue asked K.

K: [It resets every three days.]

Xin Hexue frowned. He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and realized it was sealed shut from the outside and couldn’t be opened. Even the balcony connected to the bedroom had its access blocked off.

Were they worried he might run away? Or simply afraid he’d do something foolish?

It was probably the latter.

Outside was a vast mountain range. Without an aircraft, there was no way to escape.

And Xin Hexue hadn’t found any sharp objects in the bedroom. The floor was covered in velvet carpet, and even the corners of cabinets and bed frames were wrapped in soft fabric.

The chaotic sounds from the living room, like a battlefield, lasted for half an hour.

Just as Xin Hexue noticed a squirrel jumping up onto a tree branch in the forest outside, the bedroom door quietly opened again.

An Alpha with bruises on his face walked in with heavy footsteps. It seemed that even defeating a semi-mechanical modified person who had already been electrocuted wasn’t an easy task.

Blood seeped from the corner of Pei Guangji’s forehead and wound its way down to the area around his ear. He didn’t mind it at all, just casually pulled out a tissue and wiped it off.

Pei Guangji’s gaze stayed fixed on Xin Hexue. There was no light in his eyes, only a murky darkness. “Since you were lying to him, then… What about me?”

Xin Hexue stood by the window, looking at him without speaking.

Pei Guangji’s shoulders sank, as if something was pressing down on him, but he still held onto hope for an answer. “Before all this, did you like me even a little?”

Xin Hexue looked at him like he was a lunatic. “Are you sick in the head?”

Pei Guangji stepped forward. He seemed not to understand Xin Hexue’s sarcasm and was still wearing a serious and solemn expression. “No. If you’re worried about me, I can go get a psychological evaluation after today and bring the report to you.”

Xin Hexue turned his head to look outside the window. “No need. I don’t care.”

Pei Guangji saw what was outside the glass; towering pine trees, and a squirrel perched on a treetop.

This scene overlapped with a photo Xin Hexue had once shared with him. In the backyard garden of their villa on the mountainside, a squirrel had also lived on the pine tree.

At that time, he had been completely immersed in the young man’s gentle and clingy façade.

Maybe, Xin Hexue had truly liked him a little?

Looking at the scene in front of him, Pei Guangji’s heart rekindled with hope.

After a while, he lowered his gaze and softly asked, “Why did you do this? Do you hate me? Do you want revenge?”

Xin Hexue glanced at him, then turned around lazily. He leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window and faced Pei Guangji directly. “Is that what you think? Then you really think too highly of yourself. I just think you two are ridiculous…funny, even. When you were looking down from your high horse and handing out scraps, did you ever think that you were being played around by an ordinary Beta?”

Pei Guangji’s Adam’s apple rolled as he swallowed, and he asked hesitantly, “Just… for fun?”

“What else?”

Xin Hexue was tearing down the persona he had built up in front of Pei Guangji. He knew that what Pei Guangji had fallen for in the beginning was the illusion of tenderness and resilience he had created.

A gentle and tenacious Beta youth, pure and flawless, who could only depend on him…

That was the illusion Pei Guangji had seen.

Now Xin Hexue was going to destroy it with his own hands.

“If you weren’t the heir of the Pei family, what made you think I’d even spare you a glance? You’re just a textbook arrogant and conceited Alpha,not even thoughtful…”

“Your skills are terrible too.”

“What advantages do you have, aside from being born into the Pei family?”

Xin Hexue spared no mercy in tearing down the Alpha in front of him. The cold and indifferent air about him was completely different from the young man Pei Guangji remembered.

But what Pei Guangji couldn’t deny was that his emotions were still tied to this person. When he got close to Xin Hexue, his heart still beat faster for him.

Somehow, something Xin Hexue said hit one of Pei Guangji’s sore spots, and Xin Hexue noticed that the other party’s emotions had suddenly been stirred. Pei Guangji stepped toward him one step at a time, and his taller frame brought a natural sense of pressure.

“Did Xi Zhengqing make you feel more comfortable?”

The words were very direct, and it sounded like the other party was on the verge of losing his mind and could no longer maintain politeness.

“Hmm?” Xin Hexue’s lips curved into a smile as he chuckled softly. “Didn’t you already hear it over the call?”

Pei Guangji did recall that call. Back then, he had heard the young man’s ambiguous gasps on the other end.

“Xi Zhengqing really is much better than you. He licks better, and he fucks harder…”

Xin Hexue hadn’t even finished before Pei Guangji effortlessly lifted him up. His waist and stomach were just about to crash into the Alpha’s hard shoulder, and he couldn’t help cursing.

Why wasn’t the heartbreak value increasing at all?!

Did this guy have no sense of dignity?

He’d been dragged through the mud by him already, and he still had the nerve to try this kind of thing?

Xin Hexue was laid down on the bed.

Pei Guangji’s ears were flushed a deep red, the kind that came from holding in too much anger, and his chest rose and fell with deep breaths. Even though the rage was clouding his head, he still eased his grip, trying to be as gentle as possible instead of tossing Xin Hexue onto the bed.

Xin Hexue braced himself on his elbows and tried to retreat, but the moment his intentions became clear, a force gripped his ankle and dragged him back and closer to Pei Guangji.

He’d lost both the lady and the army.

Xin Hexue had only wanted to provoke the other party to gain some heartbreak value, but he really couldn’t figure out what this dog was thinking.

Right now, he just felt like he wouldn’t be able to escape .

Xin Hexue took a deep breath. [K, is the body protection program I exchanged earlier still within its effective period?]

That had been back when the antidote at the Pei manor had been flushed down the drain. He had used three points to redeem a program that would passively trigger under special circumstances and enhance his physical fitness.

K: [The body protection program remains permanently active after redemption.]

Sounds more useful than the system itself.

But during the moment he communicated with the system, Pei Guangji had already stripped off the clothes on his upper body, revealing his firm and well-defined muscles. The veins on his arms were bulging because of the subtle force he was exerting, and the ridges of his abs were sharply outlined.

He slowly spread Xin Hexue’s legs.

Summer clothes are thin and light, which makes them easy to pull away from the hips. Xin Hexue’s skin was delicate and white, just like the last character in his name.

**”Xue” means snow.

The clothes brushed past the light pink knees, separated from the slender ankles, and were then discarded to the carpet without a second glance.

Xin Hexue let out a muffled groan and his spine arched like a taut bow, drawing out a beautiful curve. Beads of sweat silently slid from his temples and traced down his cheeks and neck.

Pei Guangji slowly inserted his fingers.

He discovered Xin Hexue’s spot was quite shallow, and his middle finger hadn’t even fully gone in before it already met soft flesh.

Pei Guangji had never held a pen properly since he was a child, and he’d never corrected his grip, so a light callus had formed on the side of his middle finger.

He rotated his finger once.

The young man’s chest rose sharply, and his lips bit down so hard they left a white mark.

The transparent water overflowed and slid down the defined knuckles, soaking a patch of the bedsheet.

Pei Guangji kissed the corner of Xin Hexue’s eye, and like a child asking for a candy reward, asked, “Am I really that much worse than Xi Zhengqing?”

Xin Hexue gritted his teeth in anger and sneered coldly. “Yeah.”

Pei Guangji lowered his eyes and stared at the place where his fingers slowly withdrew. “But you looked like you were enjoying it.”

Xin Hexue couldn’t stand seeing him happy, so he deliberately said, “Anyone can make me feel good.”

Pei Guangji’s gaze darkened. Just the thought that Xin Hexue, in places and times he couldn’t see or know about, had already been taken by other Alphas countless times while he was unconscious, made jealousy surge through him like wildfire. “Besides Xi Zhengqing, were there others?”

Xin Hexue smiled, eyes curving ambiguously. “Take a guess?”

Pei Guangji’s last shred of rationality left him completely.

But the heartbreak value still didn’t rise at all.

Xin Hexue’s body only felt empty for a few seconds before a sharper, more forceful weapon broke through his defenses and buried itself deep inside.

He couldn’t suppress the scream that tore from his throat, and his voice was erratic and disjointed as he cursed Pei Guangji, “Bastard, go to hell…”

Pei Guangji froze completely, like a statue.

Memories of many previous moments where he suddenly lost consciousness during intimacy flooded his mind. He had always thought it was because of his rut period.

But the young man’s raw, unpracticed reaction seemed to reveal a truth.

Pei Guangji slowly lowered his head.

Too many emotions surged through his heart all at once, and it was beating wildly as if it was overloaded, with joy and chaotic emotions squeezed together.

This was their respective, and also their shared, first time.

He kissed Xin Hexue gently. After immediately getting slapped in the face, Pei Guangji actually laughed.

He kissed Xin Hexue’s thin eyelids. He kissed Xin Hexue’s high, straight nose. He kissed the smooth, slightly sharp jawline.

Lastly, he kissed those beautifully shaped lips, their color having changed from light pink to light red.

Xin Hexue grabbed his shoulders, curled his fingers, and the rounded nails dug in fiercely, dragging down with force and leaving red marks like a cat’s scratch.

“Why don’t you move? If you’re going to do it, then do it. Did you not eat or something?”

The young man glared at him coldly, and even though tears born from physical stimulation were slipping down the corners of his red-tinged eyes, his attitude was still arrogant and condescending.

Pei Guangji had originally been worried he hadn’t adapted yet. But hearing that, his eyes darkened. After his Adam’s apple rolled up and down twice, his entire demeanor became tougher.

He leaned down and held Xin Hexue tightly, just as the other party trembled like a willow branch in the wind, he answered in a deep voice, “Mn, I’ll prove it.”

………

Xi Zhengqing propped himself up against the corner wall of the living room. His lip had been split by a punch. The bleeding had stopped and a scab had already formed.

He looked out the window. The rain was so heavy it seemed like the sky was about to collapse.

It hadn’t been long.

Not even an hour later, a fully dressed Pei Guangji walked out of the bedroom.

Xi Zhengqing sneered, “That fast?”

‘So this was the sexual prowess of a genetically modified Alpha?’

‘Useless.’

Pei Guangji lowered his gaze. “He fainted.”

Xi Zhengqing choked, his mocking expression immediately vanishing. “You’re shameless.”

Just like the agreement they made before fighting.

Xi Zhengqing took the ointment and went in.

The young man had already been cleaned up in the bathtub and was now sleeping peacefully on the bed.

His body was tall and slender, but he was curled up slightly like a kitten, as if he lacked a sense of security.

To make massage and applying medicine easier, he was only wearing the top half of his pajamas.

Xi Zhengqing lifted the blanket. As expected, he saw mottled red marks on his body. They were like plum blossoms scattered across pristine snow, with a delicate and fragile beauty.

The corners of his eyes were still red. Though faint, the color stood out starkly against the snow-white of his skin, even glistening with moisture.

Xi Zhengqing clenched his molars. He lowered his head, coated his fingers with ointment, and carefully rubbed it into the swollen area.

Perhaps it was too sensitive. The moment the transparent fluid touched it, the ointment became slick and was immediately squeezed back out.

Xi Zhengqing frowned.

Applying it like this would be ineffective.

It would just leak out before being absorbed.

Xin Hexue’s eyelashes fluttered and he opened his eyes slightly. “Mn?”

His voice was soft and hoarse, sending an electric jolt down Xi Zhengqing’s spine.

Xi Zhengqing looked up and met Xin Hexue’s gaze. Something in his brain short-circuited, and he directly asked, “How about… you sit on my face and I help you block it.”