Lop-Eared Guard

“You go and sober up first.” Yan Yi pushed away his alcoholic smelling body. Lu Shangjin wasn’t standing steadily and so he took half a step back. 

Stunned, he stood blankly for a few seconds, then saw the hamster omega standing beside Yan Yi and backed away quietly in embarrassment. 

Yan Yi’s sickly weak voice on the phone echoed in his mind.

“Jin Ge, do you really like hamsters that much? If I pinch my ears, I can look like a hamster too.”

Lu Shangjin hugged Yan Yi despite his pushes, murmuring, “You don’t look like a hamster, you don’t look like a hamster, rabbits are cute.”

“We’ll talk about it when we get back.” Yan Yi sat on a stool and tore Lu Shangjin off his body before waving to Tan Meng and Cang Xiaoer, then dragged Lu Shangjin out of the clubhouse. 

Maybe after drinking too much, he would develop the instinct to find a toilet. Yan Yi went and brewed a cup of sobering tea, but couldn’t find him once he returned. He found him lying on the edge of the toilet in the bathroom.

“How much have you had to drink?” Yan Yi slipped the sobering tea into his hand.

“Eight or nine taels.” Lu Shangjin sat on the ground and leaned against the wall, staring up at the overhead light.

Yan Yi frowned, reaching out his hand to shield his eyes, “Don’t stare at the lights.”

“I’m staring at Yan Yan.” Lu Shangjin removed his hand and stared at the lights, lost in thought. His light was no longer willing to burn itself to illuminate him; it had left decisively and he could not catch up to it. 

Unspeakable sourness spread throughout his whole body. Yan Yi leaned against the door, letting Lu Shangjin calm himself for a while before going to clean up the dining room.

There was still a bowl of half-made noodles on the table, which were mixed with each other for a long time. After a day of drying up, they became hard lumps.

Chopped carrots and ground beef fillings were cut into irregular sizes and arranged in the kitchen. In order to make Yan Yi willing to eat some meat, Lu Shangjin went to great pains to do so. 

Yan Yi was washing dishes when someone suddenly hugged him from behind.

Seemingly sober and focused, Lu Shangjin dried Yan Yi’s hands for him. Because of his drunkenness, his body wasn’t very obedient. After feeling for the detergent several times, he finally took it in his hand and squeezed it onto the dishcloth with a trembling motion, then bowed his head to scrub the bowl.

“You must be very tired carrying the baby outside for the whole day. You should go to bed, I’ll clean up here.” Lu Shangjin seemed a little tired, his body slumped to the wall and leaned against it, scrubbing the chopsticks and knives clean.

His right hand was trembling slightly again. When he was wiping the knife, the part of his hand between the thumb and the index finger got cut.

“That’s enough, don’t make things worse.” Yan Yi turned on the faucet to rinse the foam and blood from Lu Shangjin’s hand and drew a tissue for him to stop the bleeding by himself, then turned around to find alcohol and band-aids.

Like a child being criticised, he stood by the sink and pressed his wound.

“Yan Yan…did you hurt your hands when washing dishes before?”

Yan Yi paused slightly in his steps. He put the alcohol and band-aids on the table and told him to clean up the dining room, kitchen and himself, and then went upstairs.

Lu Shangjin inexplicably followed him to the bottom of the stairs. He tilted his head slightly to look at him going up the stairs. It wasn’t until Yan Yi entered the bedroom and closed the door that Lu Shangjin’s lonely gaze was cut off.

He sat down at the table to disinfect the wound on his hand. The smell of alcohol was so strong that it masked the sweet scent of milk-candy that had touched the bottle.

Yan Yi buried his face into the pillow and irritably turned over and over in bed, unable to sleep.

His WeChat alert sounded. Yan Yi picked up to see the message. Tan Meng had sent a dozen of today’s group photos, and Cang Xiaoer sent a “humble hamster” emoji.

I’m not I’m not a little hamster: Ah Yan, don’t misunderstand. Although I have a high compatibility with your husband, he really doesn’t mean anything to me. He wanted to replace my glands with you the first time he saw me. I don’t know what happened between you two. In my opinion, Lu xian-sheng may have used the wrong method, but it’s not as bad as you think…

Yan Yi replied with a few words of comfort and said good night.

Others don’t understand Lu Shangjin, he does. With a typical alpha’s character of irritability, conceitedness and possessiveness, Lu Shangjin made so much commotion now wasn’t because he wanted a piece of candy, but because Yan Yi wasn’t giving it to him as he wished.  

Yan Yi often saw children who are several years old catch ants and throw them into the water, watching them struggle and swim in the water, and finally drown. They were childish yet cruel, but it was obvious they were not malicious either. 

He curled up on his side and gently stroked his small belly that had developed a slight curve.

The little one in the belly was getting lively day by day, occasionally moving around mischievously.

He was still a little uncomfortable by night time. Yan Yi hugged the eiderdown quilt, not sleeping soundly. 

Every night at twelve o’clock, Lu Shangjin would quietly walk in on time and sit by the bed to release enough soothing pheromones for him.

Yan Yi didn’t fall asleep, but closed his eyes and refused to wake up. The excessive amount of soothing pheromones wrapped around the body had actually eased the difficulty of pregnancy to a great extent.

However, Yan Yi couldn’t convince himself to accept this disturbing open offer.

Today’s soothing pheromones were not as strong as before, and the concentration was unstable. It may be that some of it had been consumed from him going out and fooling around in the past two days. Yan Yi didn’t want to think too much.

Lu Shangjin sat by the bed and waited for a long time. When he felt that Yan Yi had fallen asleep, he gently reached out to touch his back.

After making sure that Yan Yi had fallen asleep and wouldn’t drive him away, he laid down on the edge of the bed. He didn’t dare to hold the omega completely in his arms, and could only smell him from half a foot away. 

During the two days of his business trip, Lu Shangjin had been anxiously thinking about the omega at home. Not even staying for one more night, he took the latest flight to come back and hadn’t had time to rest.

He was a little tired and was looking forward to the omega’s soothing pheromones, just a little, enough to lift his spirits.

Yan Yi suddenly rolled over and looked at him lightly.

Lu Shangjin, who was about to fall asleep, opened his eyes drowsily and subconsciously released soothing pheromones.

“Will it work, when our compatibility is so low?” Yan Yi asked. 

There were no lights on in the bedroom. Through the darkness, Yan Yi vaguely saw the hurt in Lu Shangjin’s eyes.

It turned out that saying thorny words would also cause himself pain, but was not too much to say that it was revenge to taste the pain of stabbing the other in the heart. 

After a long time, Lu Shangjin asked hoarsely, “It wouldn’t work even a little?” 

Yan Yi gave a light hum and rolled over to hide under the covers.

Very quickly, the soothing pheromones around them doubled in intensity, and Lu Shangjin reluctantly asked from behind him, “What about now.”

Yan Yi stopped answering.

After about ten minutes or so, the soothing pheromones gradually faded. The alpha nearly tripped as he got out of bed, holding his shoulder as he slowly walked out.

Yan Yi fished out his phone from under the pillow and flipped aimlessly through his photo album. He stayed on each photo of two people embracing each other sweetly. The screen was too bright, his eyes turned sore, and there was wetness going down along the corner of his eyes. 

In the morning, the sun was just right, shining through the warm yellow bunny curtains into the bedroom.

Assistant Xiao Ning came over to deliver fresh vegetables and fruits, cleaned up the refrigerator, and brought in two pots of flowers from outside the door. Two heavy-petaled daffodils were in full bloom.

When Yan Yi saw that he was struggling, he came to help him carry them.

“Don’t, don’t, don’t, you leave it to me.” Xiao Ning didn’t dare to let the boss’s wife work while he was carrying the dragon’s seed. He raised his face and smiled with ease, before moving the flower pots to the balcony. 

Yan Yi went to pour Xiao Ning a glass of water and leaned over the balcony to chat with him, “The curtains in the bedroom are well chosen. It feels very comfortable using them.”

Xiao Ning patted the dirt on his hands, straightened up and recalled puzzledly, “Curtains? Oh, oh, boss picked them. I was afraid you wouldn’t like it at the time, but boss said you’d like it. Boss still knows you well.” 

Yan Yi’s smile was frozen on the corner of his lips. He stared blankly at the two pots of daffodils brought by Xiao Ning for a while.

One moment assistant Xiao Ning left, the next moment Lu Shangjin came back early from work, bringing a small slice of strawberry cake to Yan Yi.

Yan Yi walked through the foyer and looked at him.

Lu Shangjin handed him the cake box with a rose in its carrying handle.

He thought he would refuse as usual, but Yan Yi reached out and took it.

Lu Shangjin’s eyes became a little excited.

Yan Yi drew the roses out and threw them onto the table, taking the strawberry cake upstairs, before turning back and said, “Put those two pots of flowers in your room. It smells disgusting.”

Lu Shangjin’s shoulders shook. He gripped the staircase railing hard and looked up at him, “Did I provoke you again today?”

Yan Yi turned back and leaned over the railing to look at him, “Is that enough?”

Lu Shangjin sped up the stairs, grabbed Yan Yi’s hands and pressed him to the wall. With his big hands cushioning the back of his head, he lowered his head and dropped a sloppy kiss on the corner of his lips.

“Baobei, don’t say that.” Lu Shangjin put his head against the crook of Yan Yi’s shoulder and said with a smile, “I’m very sad.”

Yan Yi lowered his eyelids, and his eyes fell on the alpha’s thin and capable waist.

He had lost a little weight.

As this thought wormed into his mind, Yan Yi disorderly stopped himself from thinking any further.

“Want to go see a movie tonight?” Lu Shangjin rubbed against his ear, “There are three new movies on. Want to pick one?”

Yan Yi felt like he was going to spoil the fun again.

“I don’t like movies that much.”

The one who just liked to accompany him to watch movies in the beginning had also, with extension of his love, left a CD as well. The sweetness that he savoured when repeatedly replaying the movie was that two people reached into the empty popcorn bucket at the same time; Yan Yi grabbed the popcorn and Lu Shangjin grabbed his fingertips.

He went upstairs and went back to his bedroom, leaving Lu Shangjin sitting alone on the stair steps, his back bowed in an arc with a sense of loss. 

Yan Yi sat at his bedroom desk and unboxed the cake. He ate the creamy strawberries spread all over the top layer and listened to the sound of Lu Shangjin moving the flower pots outside the door.

That night, Yan Yi woke up in a daze. He glanced at the phone, it was 12:05. 

Lu Shangjin usually came on time. He would come at twelve o’clock in the middle of the night and stayed for half an hour to release soothing pheromones for him.

Yan Yi got up to go to the bathroom and found that the door to the study was half closed with the lamp still on. Lu Shangjin was asleep with his head buried in front of the computer.

Before he knew it, he had walked to the door of the study. Yan Yi hesitated for a moment and stepped in with soft suede slippers.

Walking to the desk, Yan Yi saw a pile of documents by Lu Shangjin’s hand, all of which were private information about PBB.

Only the lamp was turned on in the study; the warm white beam spread across the side of Lu Shangjin’s face, casting a deep shadow from the bridge of his nose and eye sockets. 

Yan Yi looked at it for a long time before he took his eyes off Lu Shangjin’s face.

Only to find that the entire wall was covered with frames of varying sizes.

They were all selected from their travel photos. Yan Yi looked over one by one, remembering that each one was what he had told he liked to Lu Shangjin on the plane. 

In addition to the travel photos, there were some sneaky shots taken in awkward angles, all of Yan Yi. Some were of him nestled in the swing sofa in the balcony, dozing off, while some were of his face staring out at the balcony.

He saw an old group photo of a ten-year-old Lu Shangjin with a seven-year-old bunny standing next to him. The photo was also sealed with plastic, but he could tell from the marks that it was not in his collection.

Yan Yi walked past half of the wall, grasping his lapel and holding it tightly in his palm, hesitating to stop walking.

He suddenly saw two pairs of small shoes placed on the bookshelf; a pair of light blue, a pair of light yellow, both similarly delicate and lovely, and there was also a pile of new and beautiful baby clothes pressed under the shoes.