Lop-Eared Guard

The bedroom door was gently opened. Wrapped up tight in his pyjamas, Yan Yi stood at the door on the carpet and looked at the two of them in shock. 

The little spider omega held in his cry and sobbed as he looked back at Yan Yi.

He stared blankly for a few seconds, then weakly stretched out his small hand towards Yan Yi.

Yan Yi widened his eyes before hesitantly reaching out to hold the child from Shao Wenjing’s arms.

“Bunny.” Shao Wenchi hugged Yan Yi’s neck, his tender little face rubbing against the crevasse of Yan Yi’s neck.

Yan Yi’s dull eyes brightened gently. He patted the little baby in his arms as he slowly released soft soothing pheromones and gently coaxed, “Don’t cry.”

“Mm,” Shao Wenchi obediently pursed his lips, pouting his soft white face, and in a small voice, he explained to Yan Yi, “He’s not a bad gege, he doesn’t usually bully people, don’t be afraid of him.”

Shao Wenjing furrowed his brows and gave a slight smile. Holding his arm in a gentlemanly manner, he leaned against the door frame, “Oh, of course. You should remember, I’m a great guy.”

Young master Wenchi suddenly ran over. The chef had made a few more dishes. Shao Wenjing instructed his bodyguards to remove all pheromone traces left by Shao Wenchi outside the manor when he came so as to not give Lu Shangjin a chance to take advantage of it. 

Everything was well arranged. Shao Wenjing turned around in time to see Yan Yi sitting with Wenchi at the dining table. Wenchi was obediently holding a small ceramic spoon to eat while Yan Yi peeled a shrimp, breaking it into two small pieces before placing it in his small bowl. 

Wenchi blinked his big eyes and said thank you in a crisp voice. 

His face, as white as milk-jelly, had a drop of ketchup on it. His pair of dark sparkling eyes set on his little palm-sized face. He and his brother were the same, their eyes both shone with a metallic luster, like a very cute little spider, cluelessly looking at things that intrigued him. 

Yan Yi was stunned for a moment. He pursed his lips and smiled, scooping up a spoonful of corn kernels onto his empty plate, and added two pieces of vegetables. 

Wenchi looked at the vegetables in distress. Feeling embarrassed, he said in a small voice, “This doesn’t taste good.”

Yan Yi held his cheek in one hand and looked at him gently, “It’s good for your body, you won’t get red pimples on your face when you get older. Just eat a little.”

“Hmm.” Wenchi hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth. 

“Good boy.” Yan Yi picked up the vegetable leaves and fed them into Wenchi’s mouth, the tip of his chopsticks scraped the vegetable soup from the corner of his mouth.

Having been praised, Wenchi puffed out his cheeks and his big eyes curved into an arc.

“You spoil him once, and he will need you to feed him everyday in the future.” Shao Wenjing’s shadowy figure appeared leisurely from behind, his hands propping up on the back of Wenchi’s chair. He lowered his head and scolded, “Shao Wenchi, eat by yourself.”

“Hmph, stinky spidey.” Shao Wenchi picked up a shrimp and clumsily peeled at it with his little fingers. Not a moment later, he got ketchup all over the child’s sleeves as he ate with great relish. 

Shao Wenjing leaned down and touched Yan Yi’s hair and ears. He sat across the table, and using only the tips of his chopsticks in his right hand, he skillfully peeled two shrimps, one for Wenchi and the other he placed in Yan Yi’s bowl.

“I don’t know what kind of vegetable dishes you like, so I just let them make a few, there’s also fish and shrimp, they can help replenish your body.” Shao Wenjing peeled a few more shrimps and placed them on the side of the plate. Surprisingly, his hands didn’t become dirty at all, like the fine motor control of a spider. It was indeed amazing. 

Yan Yi looked at Shao Wenjing’s slender right hand and fell in a daze.

At times, his memories were blurry yet sometimes clear. He remembered being with his alpha out for dinner once. In his impression, his alpha’s hand was not this smooth, the back of his hands were covered in scars from the scraping of shrapnel shells. 

His alpha also wasn’t as dexterous. When he peeled shrimp shells, he would often make little cuts on his fingers before placing the finely peeled shrimp into Yan Yi’s bowl. 

But who was the alpha he had this impression of?

Was it Shao Wenjing?

It seemed like it wasn’t. Maybe it was a previous alpha whom he had provided for, he couldn’t remember.

In an effortful moment of clarity, Yan Yi felt guilty that his mind should not be thinking about another alpha when he had a family. 

Shao Wenjing peeled the last shrimp and placed it in Yan Yi’s bowl. 

Wenchi’s round eyes stared in amazement. His brother had clearly always saved the last best bits for himself. 

But when he gave it some thought, bunny should eat more because he looked so sad. 

Yan Yi only ate a little and was full. He washed his hands and went straight back to the bedroom.

He laid curled up on his side with his eyes opened in a daze.

Then he suddenly touched his belly.

There should have been a little baby here.

Where did it go?

He closed his eyes in confusion. Muddled images stirred up in his mind into a chaotic mess, multicoloured splashes slowly blending into black. 

A comfortably warm meatball was placed into his arms. Yan Yi opened his eyes sluggishly, finding Shao Wenjing was holding a sleeping Wenchi and had stuffed him into his arms. 

The little spider just finished taking a bath. His small hands and face were hot, his eyelashes drooped down cutely. Smelling Yan Yi’s pheromones, he smacked his mouth and squeezed over, curling up in a ball as he nestled into Yan Yi’s arms. 

Shao Wenjing sat on the edge of the bed, gently stroking Wenchi’s soft fine hair and said softly, “My parents were killed by gland hunters. Wenchi was only one and a half years old at the time, and ever since he could talk, he has always asked when my dads will come back.”

“I have no way of explaining it to him, I can only say that our dads became stars and that they are watching him from the sky. Isn’t it so unoriginal?” Shao Wenjing smiled, warm and gentle, he was calm like he was telling someone else’s story.

“He is the most important relative to me.” Shao Wenjing curled his index finger and brushed it against Wenchi’s little jelly-like face, “You saved him, I’m sorry, I really didn’t know that before.”

Yan Yi shook his head, he actually didn’t remember anymore.

He took Wenchi in his arms, releasing a soft pheromone that let the soft and fragile little omega feel safe and sound.

The little white face buried in his chest was beautiful, like a porcelain doll. Omegas really did look very fragile. 

Yan Yi timidly lifted his fingers and gently caressed his soft little back.

It was unbelievably beautiful.

If he had a child, it would definitely be the same kind of cute and beautiful little bunny baby. So he must protect the fragile little o, he can’t let anyone hurt him.

Feeling tired, Yan Yi fell asleep, still hugging Wenchi to his chest.

Shao Wenjing pulled a thin quilt over them. He leaned over to carefully study the little white rabbit’s sleeping face, which was peaceful and carefully curled up into a ball, the little spider protected in the embrace of his arms around him.

The little rabbit looked calmly attractive. The age written on the document was 27 years old, but he actually still looked like a teenager.

He placed his hand on Yan Yi’s forehead and kissed the back of his hand.

“…I’m sorry.”

He closed the bedroom door softly, then took a suit and tie of a dark purple colour. There were a few close friends from out of the country who had just come back from abroad, Shao Wenjing met with them at an independent restaurant within the manor. 

The drive over needed 20 minutes, so he gave Wenchi’s school principal a call and asked about Wenchi’s near-miss car accident in an unpleasant tone.

One of his friends brought a pastry chef with him, who made 12 snacks for afternoon tea. Shao Wenjing didn’t actually have a sweet tooth, but he fancied a honey mango layered cake and went into the kitchen to humor the chef for a while before ordering two freshly made ones to-go. 

The pastry chef smiled while cutting the mango, “Sir, you must have children at home, all children love eating this dessert.”

Shao Wenjing leaned against the door, hands tucked in his pant pockets as his peach blossom eyes bent into a line: 

“Yes. I have two.”

He got home and from afar, he saw Yan Yi holding Wenchi in his arms while sitting under the maple tree in the courtyard. Wenchi’s school bag hung upside down on the chair, and he was holding an English homework booklet in distress as he listened to Yan Yi speak.

Yan Yi took an automatic pencil and wrote down a few lines of notes, teaching Wenchi some grammar, line by line, well-organised and easy to understand. 

Wenchi listened for a moment, but then dozed off in Yan Yi’s arms.

A small head bumped against his forehead. Shao Wenjing sat next to him, shaking Wenchi awake, “You little stinky, you weren’t paying attention at all. Do you sleep all day in school?”

Wenchi covered his head and shot Shao Wenjing a hard glare before sticking back to Yan Yi. He looked back at Shao Wenjing to show off, “Bunny taught me how to say I love you in eight languages.”

Shao Wenjing listened and looked at Yan Yi who was holding Wenchi, a subtle smile in his eyes.

Having not realized that the little rabbit was more than just a killing machine, Shao Wenjing began to look at him from a fresh angle.

He brought out two thin, round kraft paper boxes. Wenchi’s eyes lit up and he immediately carried away a box, sitting on the bench as he compliantly untied the ribbon, “What’s the gift today.”

Yan Yi blankly received the dessert box. He untied the ribbon and the fresh aroma of mango and honey entered his nose.

He got a gift, and he was now at a loss.

Shao Wenjing rested his hand on the back of the bench, the corners of his eyes slightly raised, “Can I hear the I love you’s in the eight languages?”

Yan Yi opened his mouth, but hung his head again. 

He wasn’t able to speak so openly to others. 

“I love you”, “I like you”, he couldn’t say such deeply emotional words.  

Wenchi held the small spoon in his mouth as his round eyes looked between Yan Yi and his brother. He felt that it was awkward for his brother, so with a big mouthful of honey mango in his mouth, he said loudly:

“ILOVEU!”

This made Shao Wenjing pick him up and kiss him on the cheek, “I love you, honey.”

Yan Yi looked down as he ate the dessert in small bites. 

This type of life was also very comfortable and safe, the peace that he yearned for. However, he felt a sense of loss, like something had been blown away by the wind, lost, not even leaving a memory behind. 

    ——————————————————————

During the May Day holiday, the school was extra quiet. The wisteria under the corridor seemed like a sea of upside down flowers, and a light fragrance of grass was present in the warm air. Looking into the empty classroom through the glass, chairs were placed properly upside-down on the desks.

Only a few were on duty in the offices, and the sound of stern scolding echoed out from the principal’s office.

Shao Wenchi’s homeroom teacher, Ms. Jiang, was suspended because she withheld information about Wenchi’s near-miss car accident. 

Jiang Xiaohong was severely scolded by the principal, and even had to hold a grade level meeting to rectify the teacher’s negligence problem afterwards. 

Shao Wenjing only requested the principal to take the matter seriously, but in the principal’s eagerness to suck up to him, he misunderstood and directly suspended Ms. Jiang. 

She absent-mindedly walked out the school gates in her high-heeled shoes, her mind still buzzing chaotically from the headmaster’s fierce scolding.

She was extremely regretful for not reporting this matter to Shao Wenjing, which had caused him to be angry.

She had only been afraid of losing her job at the time. 

Ever since she had been slapped by her unemployed and alcoholic husband two years ago, she moved out with her children at once and demanded an immediate divorce.

In the last two years, it was only her that had been taking care of her children, not only did her salary alone have to pay for the mortgage, but it also had to support her parents as well as her children.

Her husband died and never agreed to divorce her. Her parents also tried to convince her to settle down. At her age, how can you live as a divorcee, and endure a moment of peace and quiet. 

And that’s how she had been spending her days. She’s highly-educated, experienced, and served as a head teacher at the noble elementary school in Nan Qi. It was tiring but she received a high salary, and it provided really good treatment.

Because she had offended Shao Wenjing, she lost this job, and her future in this industry was gone forever.

Her heel got stuck in the stone cracks. Jiang Xiaohong stumbled and twisted her foot. It hurt so much she had to curl up and lay on the ground for a while.

She managed to get up, limped to the curb and sat down. Setting her heels aside, she clutched her arms and buried her head and cried.

At the end of the day, Shao Wenchi was completely unharmed. Why did Shao Wenjing take out his anger on her? Can one who is high-ranking and an immortal who doesn’t eat human food really understand how exhausting her life is?

How could he, because of his little brother, cut off a normal family’s means of survival?

On what basis?

Why were there so many happy couples in the world, and yet her own marriage was such a crushing failure?

She sat on the curb and cried angrily, the grievances she had to endure throughout the years suddenly spilled out of her. She didn’t notice the Bentley parked 10 meters away.

Lu Shangjin leaned on his steering wheel and watched her quietly.

He had just come from the hospital where Yan Yi had his last physical exam. Maybe it was because the hospital felt guilty, but the inspection report was not signed off by the doctor.

But through the residual pheromones, he would be able to find the doctor who wrote the test report.

He wanted to know exactly how much hatred this doctor had in him for him to deceive a little rabbit who had only wanted a child.

Dr. Sun was blocked by Lu Shangjin in the bathroom, the door was locked. 

Lu Shangjin had pressed his head fiercely into the sink filled with cold water, and in a deep whisper, forced a confession out of him.

The cold, deep voice made it feel like an interrogation from the king of hell.

Dr. Sun was tossed around within an inch of his life before uttering the name “President Shao”.

Lu Shangjin suddenly understood.

Shao Wenjing had been secretly sowing discord, his methods were so cunning that he could unknowingly make the gap between them grow bigger and bigger until they went their separate ways.

Shao Wenjing had his eye on Yan Yi’s A3 glands. 

Yet, he himself failed to protect Yan Yi.

Lu Shangjin grasped the steering wheel, his eyes burned red almost like they were about to drip blood. He couldn’t fall asleep for a minute. Every time he closed his eyes, he would hear Yan Yi’s trembling plea for help and see his helpless face. He remembered that day when he pressed the little rabbit to the ground, making his pain worse than death. 

Was his little bunny doing alright?

Lu Shangjin pressed his hand against his heart as it ached in threads one after another. 

He needed to save the little rabbit and bring him home, to love him well, to take care of him seriously, no longer letting him do anything with fear and trepidation, no longer letting him love himself with so much pain. 

He wanted to say to the little rabbit “I’m sorry”, it was his fault, it was all his fault. He will reflect on his rudeness and recklessness, he will reflect on his own coldness and indifferences these past few years.

What kind of person would be hurt by him though?

His irritability and indifference didn’t matter to irrelevant people. Only those close to him will worry about him, only they will be stung by the vicious words he blurts out, only those who embrace him without reservation will be pierced by the spikes on his skin, and only those who love him to the bone will give up everything they once had for him. 

He was a complete let down, he betrayed a heart that had once burned with pure love.

The female teacher sitting on the curb had already been crying for 10 minutes. It was making Lu Shangjin even more distracted and restless.

After zoning out for a bit, if it wasn’t for his fear of it making it on the news, he also wanted to just sit on a curb and cry for a while.

Lu Shangjin followed a trace of devil’s snare pheromones and found a spider omega similar to Shao Wenjing, it was roughly ranged within the elementary school, but as it was just on time for the holiday, none of the students were in.

When the female teacher came out from the school, Lu Shangjin thought for a moment; how would he ask her about it without startling her?

Before Lu Shangjin could make a move, a cab pulled up and stopped in front of the female teacher.

Jiang Xiaohong waved her hand, covered her mouth and whimpered that she did not need a lift. 

The driver rolled down his window, stuck his head out and greeted Jiang Xiaohong, “Ms. Jiang, why are you here?”

Once she heard the familiar voice, Jiang Xiaohong lifted her head, “Mr. Chen? Why are you driving… a taxi…”

It had always been Mr. Chen who picked up Wenchi before. Jiang Xiaohong would always see him and greet him often.

Mr. Chen gave a bitter smile, “I was fired by the boss. I’m guessing it’s the same situation as yours. I see that it’s inconvenient for you to walk, come get in the car. I was just switching shifts, let’s find a restaurant and think of a way.”

“Thank you, thank you sir.” Jiang Xiaohong looked around before bringing her high heels and got into Mr. Chen’s car.

Lu Shangjin had excellent eyesight and understood what they were saying just by reading their lips.

After the cab pulled away, Lu Shangjin started his engine and followed.

Mr. Chen helped Ms. Jiang into a restaurant and Lu Shangjin followed them in. 

A wall of grease and smoke hit him as he walked in, his microscopic vision allowing him to see almost all the hundreds of billions of bacteria through the uncleansed grease on the table.

But he couldn’t care about all of that. He sat in a corner and randomly ordered two dishes, mainly focused on the two people pouring out their bitterness to each other. 

“Boss Shao fired me. Before, it was always me who drove his little brother to school. Then one day the boss promised he would send Wenchi to school, and I don’t know why but that plan fell apart. The child is stubborn. I persuaded him for so long but he didn’t get in my car and ran off by himself.” Mr. Chen swallowed a mouthful of beer and hissed out a breath.

“I was thinking, the way over is so close, a day without sending him off should be fine. Besides, other people’s children all go to school by themselves. It just so happened that my mother fell in the bathroom that day and I was in a hurry to go to the hospital, so I didn’t follow him.”

“Alas, who knew this would happen? Taking a step back to look at this, I saw young master Wenchi come back from a good vacation, he didn’t get hurt at all.”

Ms. Jiang could only manage to cry.

A mix of good and bad people were in the small restaurant. Occasionally, there were flyer distributors sneaking in to hand out a card to each table.

Lu Shangjin was also given one. He picked it up and looked at it. It was a recent report bounty sent by the gland hunters club.

The gland hunters were searching for high level glands to sell for a living and they roamed throughout the city. High grade glands were scarce, and with such few gland hunters, it was hard to keep track of their movements.

So they mobilized the masses, letting more people help them in their search by offering rewards. Those that could provide reliable clues would be able to get a substantial bounty. If they successfully captured one, those people could get rewarded as well.

Jiang Xiaohong had a low alcohol tolerance, and after seeing this small flyer, she subconsciously whispered to Mr. Chen, “Oh right, there’s a thing you definitely don’t know. Before the children’s organized medical examination, I peeked at Shao Wenchi’s file, guess what I saw…”

Mr. Chen chewed on a peanut while he drank, “What?”

“Shao Wenchi actually has the gland differentiation potential of M2.”

Mr. Chen violently choked on a mouthful of beer.

Lu Shangjin’s face changed slightly.

No wonder that little spider always had the scent of a high-grade alpha around him. He’s probably closely protected by bodyguards arranged by Shao Wenjing. That little spider’s glands had not yet been differentiated and upgraded, he wasn’t yet capable of self-protection.

School medical reports were immediately sealed, and strict rules were placed in that no institutions were allowed to privately test minors for glandular grade and differentiation potential. Pheromone testing needles were also prohibited.

The document was never marked with differentiation potential.

Lu Shangjin narrowed his eyes and stared at the female teacher whose moral character was now questionable. Through his suspicious eyes, he measured her up and down.

And then he saw her quietly fold the flyer before stuffing it into her handbag.