Lop-Eared Guard

Yan Yi was conscious before he was pushed out of the ICU. 

Pressed under his fingers were two neatly folded notes, each one containing a concerned greeting and an imaginary farewell. 

The nurse came to prepare the operation and gently plucked Yan Yi’s closed fingers, taking the notes out and putting them aside.

On the way from the ICU to the operating room, someone was chasing after him. This person was holding his hand, so hot to the touch that the panic spread from this person into Yan Yi’s mind with just the touch of his fingertips.

Yan Yi gently tightened his fingers, trying to give this person some comfort.

But all of a sudden, the alpha was pushed away and could only stare after him from a distance.

An anaesthetic needle was inserted into his bones, and Yan Yi was once again immersed into a dream as soon as a glimmer of his consciousness was cleared. He could no longer feel it at all when the back of his neck was cut open.

He saw that alpha again.

The alpha sat woefully in front of the steps, his body torn up with wounds all over. His back was curved in a lonely arc as he sat in front of the door looking into the distance and waiting. 

Yan Yi walked over and stood in front of him. 

The alpha raised his head and Yan Yi realised that he couldn’t see his face clearly. He put his hand on the alpha’s cheek and wiped the tears and blood from his face. 

Yan Yi felt all the pain of every wound on his body clearly, but could not hug him with compassion.

Suddenly, his waist was tightened. The alpha reached out to put his arms around him and delicate kisses fell on his forehead and hair on his temples. 

Yan Yi struggled to push him away, but the arm around his body grew tighter and tighter as if the alpha was afraid that he would leave.

“Forgive me, don’t leave…” The alpha’s voice was low. It unexpectedly sounded a little meek and humble, quite different from his original voice which gave off the impression of arrogance. 

Yan Yi couldn’t get a clear view of him, so he didn’t dare to agree to forgive him that easily.

The alpha lowered his head and hugged him tightly around the waist, like a child who couldn’t get the candy he wanted. He picked Yan Yi up carefully and went into the house behind him.

The familiar sense of safety once again enveloped his whole body.

The surgery was a success. It had a higher rate of success as they used Yan Yi’s own glandular stem cells; there had been no rejection so far. 

After the examination, Lu Shangjin’s injury turned out to be very serious. He had rib microfractures, shoulder bone fractures, excess blood loss, and continuous glandular energy overdraft. His whole being was a wreck, even going to the bathroom was difficult. 

He didn’t let anyone take care of him, and didn’t want to see anyone either. He instructed the nurse to come over and tell him when Yan Yi’s ward was ready for visits.

He leaned against the head of the bed in silence, holding Yan Yi’s notebook in his hand, turning the pages one by one, and gently turning the ring that had fallen off Yan Yi’s left hand between his fingers. 

“Jin ge took me to see a movie. It’s the first time I went to the theatre, the screen was huge and the popcorn was so sweet. The movie was really good, I specifically went and bought a CD to keep. +17 points.”

“Movie.” Lu Shangjin asked for a red pen and circled ‘movie’. It’s been a while since he had paid any attention to what was new in theatres. After Yan Yi gets better, he’ll take him to one.

Yan Yi likes everything that any ordinary little o likes. He doesn’t like guns. 

He flipped a page. On it was a drawing of random stick figures with a figure kissing a small rabbit’s ears.

The drawing was quite a mess. Since young, Yan Yi’s drawings were so ugly that they were cute. His drawings would look like anything to others, but Lu Shangjin could always understand what he meant.

Over a decade ago, they weren’t together yet. At the time, Yan Yi liked Tuzki, a cartoon design with squirted eyes drawn by a few black lines. It was extremely popular in the 2000s. Yan Yi liked to pinch his ears to make them really small, and learned to imitate that little expression, cheaply shaking his noodle arms.

So he didn’t wear any of the branded outfits that Lu Shangjin bought him, he only wanted to wear Tuzki white t-shirts that cost just a few dozen yuan.

Lu Shangjin was disgusted and helpless.

After they got together, Yan Yi began to study luxury goods, suits, and red wine. Lu Shangjin was also pleased that he finally had a little taste. Thinking about it now, he did that probably in order to not lose his identity as he stood beside him.

His dad had said about the omegas of his grade, that even if they don’t fall in love with anyone, they will be fine for the rest of their life.

Yan Yi’s perception of luxury or cheap things was still very vague, the brooch he had before was just made of plastic. Lu Shangjin was certain he would like it, but he couldn’t bear to send something so cheap.

By reading between the lines, he could tell that Yan Yi liked the twenty year old Lu Shangjin, not him.

He still had a chance to beat his twenty-year-old self, and the things he didn’t accomplish at twenty, he could do them for Yan Yi. 

There was a gentle knock on the ward door and a nurse came in to give Lu Shangjin his new medicine, followed behind her was the little one.

Lu Shangjin bore half his arm and unwrapped his bandages to reveal three slightly septic wounds. An injury this serious was rare to see, it made the nurse a little worried so she deliberately made her actions gentler.

Lu Shangjin sat up lazily, as if not feeling any pain at all. He propped his elbow on his crossed legs and rested his chin on his hand, looking at the little grey rabbit who was lying quietly on the side of the bed.

“Have you contacted your family?”

“Mhm.” The little rabbit nodded obediently, “Dad is going to pick me up soon, he wants to know your name, he said he wants to thank you.”

“We’ll get to know each other once he gets here.” Lu Shangjin took an apple from the head of the bed and threw it to him. Maybe Lu Shangjin didn’t care who his father was, but there were very few people who haven’t heard of the name of the young master of the Lu family.

The little grey rabbit took the apple and nibbled at it obediently.

“What have you been up to these last two days?” Lu Shangjin asked, “Let Xiao Ning take you out to play.”

Assistant Xiao Ning had been quite idle lately, his day was done after buying fruit and sending meals to Lu Shangjin everyday. 

The little grey rabbit said that he called his classmates and teachers to report that he was safe. Shao Wenchi had helped remind him of his homework, which had kept him busy for the last two days.

Lu Shangjin stroked his chin and raised his eyebrows, “You share a desk with Shao Wenchi?” He vaguely remembered that little spider had also mentioned him before.

The assistant came in with the information in the morning. This little rabbit’s background was not simple. His alpha father had done a lot of overseas business, and his omega father was a jewellery brand designer who had heard of Lu Shangjin.

Brilliant.

Lu Shangjin had a favourable impression on the entire rabbit race right now. His pity towards this little rabbit was just a form of comfort under his panic. 

Once he returned back to his senses, Lu Shangjin habitually calculated his gains and losses. He had saved him, so he must get benefits off of him, because he wasn’t Yan Yi.

After all, his love for the house extended even to the crows perched on the roof. He wanted to do better for Yan Yi. 

As he spoke, the assistant knocked the door from outside, “Boss, they’re here. Would you like to meet them?”

“No, you know what to say.” Lu Shangjin gave the little rabbit a little push, “Your dad is here to pick you up, off you go.”

The little rabbit’s omega dad hugged his child, his eyes turned red. The alpha on the side hugged his wife and the child, kissing him excitedly. He came over and asked if it was convenient for him to meet young master Lu, so that he could thank him face to face.

The assistant politely declined, “My boss really is injured badly, he is mentally and physically exhausted so he currently can’t meet with people.”

The alpha had no other way. He was not one to owe favours, and he had no business crossovers with Lu Shangjin. The gift he brought to thank him seemed like not enough of a token of appreciation for Lu Shangjin. So he swiftly asked Xiao Ning about what young master Lu likes. It would be great to use this opportunity to become friends with Lu Shangjin on this occasion.

The assistant said softly, “The only thing our boss likes is his wife who is now in the ICU. I don’t know the details, just that the boss has a grudge against young master Shao.”

The alpha was startled for a moment, gently touching his chin, “Which Master Shao?”

“Which other Master Shao could annoy our boss?” The assistant thought he had said too much so he brought up a jewellery exhibition that young master Lu had recently planned.

The alpha could not pretend that he didn’t get the hint, he understood what Lu Shangjin meant.

After sending off the little grey rabbit with the two gentlemen, the assistant went to the ward to relay a message.

Lu Shangjin had his head down and was busy copying something from the notebook. He looked at the top of the page, the first line was “raising and nursing a lop-eared rabbit””.

As soon as the assistant came over, the tip of Lu Shangjin’s pen paused for a moment and he immediately wanted to close the notebook. But on second thought, he opened the book back up and continued his copying righteously.

The assistant had been beside Lu Shangjin for so many years and had long honed the ability to read people’s minds. He just remembered that he had spotted a library nearby when he had gone out to buy dinner, so he ran out to pay a deposit for a card to borrow a stack of books on raising rabbits for Lu Shangjin.

Xia Pingtian just happened to bump into him while he was on his way over to change his brother’s dressing on his wound. He wondered if Lu Shangjin’s business vision was ready to shift towards agriculture.

He quickly came back to his senses because of Xia Jingtian’s scream when he was changing his dressing. He leaned against the wall and taunted, “Serve you fucking right, little brat.”

Books were piled up at the head of the bed like a high school student’s desk. Lu Shangjin leaned on this sea of knowledge to learn how to raise a rabbit.

He was a quick reader, finishing one book in half an hour, he even had a photographic memory for the main points. 

“Timothy hay, clovers.” Lu Shangjin copied down names of several rabbit foods, and then went to the pet rabbit forum to research on brands.

He had never known before that the lop-eared rabbit was such a delicate kind of rabbit. They’re timid and easily frightened, very sensitive, afraid of both the heat and cold, and they can’t eat anything too cold, and can’t eat meat.

Before, he had brought him shrimp loin ravioli, even feeding him a lot of frozen strawberries. Yan Yi must have been very uncomfortable, and he got through it without saying anything. 

Rabbits liked to be pet. If it sneaks up and puts its butt up in front of you, it’s an invitation for you to pet them. If they don’t get pets, they will get sad and become depressed over time.

In the three years after their breakup, he hadn’t given Yan Yi much care, let alone touching. The little rabbit said that he had skin hunger and thirst, probably hinting that he wanted to be petted.

Lu Shangjin took a glance at his watch, when can he visit him?

He hasn’t held the fragrant and soft little rabbit in his arms for so long. How is he? Will he still be in pain once the anaesthesia wears off? Is he lonely sleeping alone in the ICU?

Lu Shangjin thought for a long time. He got off the hospital bed and made his way over to take the elevator to the door of the care unit to take a peek at Yan Yi through the door.

Xia Jingtian was sitting next to the door, lazily propped up beside the wall. He looked up and asked, “I just heard that we can visit, but we’re not allowed to stay long. Will you go in and see him?”

Lu Shangjin was stunned for a moment before he placed his fingertips on the door.

“I didn’t go in,” Xia Jingtian lifted his bandaged forearm, “I’m only here for the dressing change.”

Lu Shangjin went to make sure that he could visit before walking in gently. Yan Yi was still asleep on the hospital bed. There was gauze attached to the glands on the back of his neck.

Lu Shangjin carefully restrained his pheromone scent in order to not to irritate Yan Yi. As he sat on the side of the bed, he held Yan Yi’s thin left hand in his palm.

The omega’s skeleton was small to begin with, but these days he could only rely on nutrients and energy agents to support him. His arm was so thin it was like it only had a thin layer of soft flesh left, it felt like nothing as it was being held in his hand. 

He wanted to hold him against his chest and coax him while he rested on the hollow in his shoulder. 

Based on the doctor’s advice, Lu Shangjin tentatively released a little soothing pheromone to him, then observed whether his expression changed.

Dr. Zhong had said that the gland was completely damaged and replaced, the marks from before had disappeared.

But Lu Shangjin still subtly controlled the soothing pheromones. The pheromones had made Yan Yi feel pain and resistance before, so he didn’t dare to do anything rash.

The weak hand resting in his palm moved gently, tightening slightly, and grasped the tip of Lu Shangjin’s fingers.

His hand was cold, but Lu Shangjin could feel a warm comforting feeling placed in his palm. A trickle of blood flowed towards the small wound he had on his palm, and it healed him.

Lu Shangjin tried his best to restrain himself from leaning in closer. Yan Yi’s faintly sleeping face reflected in his pupils, each brush and stroke of which was traced and engraved on his heart, never to be forgotten again.

He wanted to make a grand promise to make it up to him, but his nose suddenly ached, his throat got choked up and his voice became hoarse. So he just lowered his head and kissed his forehead.

“Thank you, baobei.”