Lop-Eared Guard

Edited and Proofread by: cream

Each of the four project plans was respectively fixed with paper clips at the corners. With each page flipped, it emitted the faint smell of paper and ink.

Yan Yi knew that Lu Shangjin was extremely efficient when he was working and he was always highly focused. 

Touching each line of strict logic and ideas in neat forms with his fingertips, he could imagine the alpha sitting in the study all night, treating Yan Yi’s absurd concepts like his own contract. 

He quietly put them into the drawer, pressed on top of the ring, and went down the stairs in his plush slippers.

Lu Shangjin was sitting at the dining table scrolling through the news on his phone. There were two bowls of noodles placed on the table, steaming hot.

“Handmade noodles…?” Yan Yi picked up the chopsticks and stirred it up twice, evening out the thickness. The soup stewed with big pork rib bones turned white, half the surface was covered with greens, while the other piled with small beef balls.

The alpha’s cooking skills were becoming more and more skilled and there was also less for Yan Yi to nitpick at in terms of taste.

Lu Shangjin said that he had separated the company from Lu Lin and that the family members formerly loyal to Lu Lin had turned against him. In the future, there would not be a single capital flow that would be monitored by Lu Lin.

“Before…I didn’t give you money, nor a house and a car…” He fished out two cards and a set of car keys and pushed them to Yan Yi, “It’s because Lu Lin can check the direction of flow. I just didn’t want you to get involved with him, but at that time I wasn’t thoughtful either.

“I know being like this is like having a sugar baby, but you know I don’t mean it like that. After all, you don’t want to marry me now…I just want to give it to you, give it all to you, I’ll give you your salary card too.”

After saying that, Lu Shangjin even gave an awkward laugh. He was usually very good at speaking during meetings, but was extremely stupid when it came to heartfelt words of affection. 

Yan Yi took the two cards and saw that the passwords were his birthday. This was just like the work of a romance expert, it would indeed make others happy. 

But having this password was enough.

Yan Yi pushed something back in front of Lu Shangjin, “I’ll also return the card from before to you.”

Lu Shangjin pursed his lips and looked at him, “You misunderstand.”

“The project plans…are very good, I’ve taken them.” Yan Yi evaded his eyes for a moment and raised his eyelids to meet Lu Shangjin’s gaze, “For money and arms, I can get them.”

Lu Shangjin raised the ends of his eyebrows and re-examined Yan Yi with probing eyes.

He picked up the greens with his chopsticks and placed them all into Yan Yi’s bowl, “Don’t let yourself get too tired, you can come look for me any time if you face any difficulties. I am your alpha.”

Yan Yi whispered, “You too…”

“Hm?”

“Nothing.”

Lu Shangjin took him to sit on the sofa, holding his waist with both hands as he asked him tentatively, “Can I touch the baby?”

Yan Yi stiffened a little, but he didn’t stop him. However when Lu Shangjin placed his hand on the small of the stomach, he still tensed up nervously. 

Paying close attention to Yan Yi’s reaction, Lu Shangjin withdrew his hand in embarrassment and held Yan Yi’s hand instead, kissing his neck apologetically, “I will work hard to make up for it.”

“I’m going to the bathroom.” Yan Yi gently pushed him away and ran to the bathroom to hide. 

“…” Feeling a little lost, Lu Shangjin picked up the phone he had left on the sofa and found the screen unlocked, showing pictures of Yan Yi’s trip to Yunnan.

Lu Shangjin looked up at the bathroom with the door left unlocked, smiled gently, and sent all the photos of Yan Yi into his phone, and then carefully zoomed in to look at them in detail. 

His own wife still looked the best. 

–

During this season, there was still some cool air in the house but it was thoroughly warm outside. Under the shade of the mulberry trees lining the road, the raw fruits were trampled by traffic and pedestrians. 

Assistant Xiao Ning brought Lu Shangjin a cup of coffee and put a document on the desk.

“This is the account you asked me to check.” Xiao Ning wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, “Madam and the rest, they…got a billion yuan within a month.”

Lu Shangjin’s hand flipping through the contract froze. He took the folder and raised his eyes to glance at Xiao Ning, “Did Yan Yi go to rob the bank?”

As he flipped through the document page by page, Lu Shangjin’s tight frown slowly loosened. He held the document and leaned against the back of the chair, chuckling as he asked him:

“Isn’t my wife pretty attractive?”

The boss’s smiling face, which had been a rare sight for decades, scared assistant Xiao Ning back several steps. He pulled a fake commercial smile and stretched out a thumbs up; zan1. 

Yan Yi leaned against the bar counter and connected a dozen or so phones, keeping notes of the number and type of equipment he lacked without any sign of being in a fluster.

Tan Meng jumped on the high stool with his computer and showed Yan Yi his Twitter message; it was from a joint application from the high-grade omega clubs in Australia and France.

Yan Yi rested his hands on the bar behind him and waved his little rabbit ears, “Take your time. Don’t make too much noise, there will be alpha families out to cause trouble for us.”

Tan Meng said confidently, “Let Bi Ruijing handle the matters of blocking alphas. Who told him to get in trouble with me?” 

The door was lightly tapped three times and both eyes were drawn to it.

Standing outside the door, Xia Jingtian was hanging an arm over Gu Wei’s neck and holding an address, asking if the great Tan Meng was around because they were here to talk about a strategic cooperation. 

He then turned to ask Gu Wei, “Is this how you say it, dog?”

Gu Wei narrowed his eyes, pushed Xia Jingtian’s face to the door, and approached the bar with his guitar carried on his back, “I have something to say about the high-grade omega anti-hunting organization.”

Tan Meng gestured to Yan Yi to listen to him as he grabbed a can of oranges and twisted it hard. When his hands turned red, he bit his lips and pushed the can to Yan Yi, “It’s too tight, use your keys to pry it open.”

Yan Yi tried to pry it open for a long time but couldn’t do it. Xia Jingtian wanted to take it to help him twist it open, but Cang Xiao’er just happened to come down from the gym upstairs carrying a bag. 

“Let me, let me.” The little hamster’s eyes shone as soon as he saw the can and took it from Xia Jingtian’s hand. He held the head of the can as his little tail swung back and forth with full strength and he opened four cans in a row, before taking a small spoon and drinking half a can with his head facing up. 

“How refreshing, today’s fitness training is all for nothing now.” Cang Xiao’er wiped his lips and leaned against the wall, only after did he realize that there were two more alphas in the room. His smile gradually disappeared and his little tail clamped down. 

Xia Jingtian stared at him with wide eyes.

Gu Wei stroked his chin as he observed, “Shit, what did I just say.”

– 

These days, Yan Yi got home later and later. Today, due to missing the time from discussing things, it was already 7:30 at night when he remembered to look at his watch. He hastily sent a text to Lu Shangjin saying that he wouldn’t go back for dinner today. 

Lu Shangjin sat at the dining table and frowned at the message.

He had left work early today to specially prepare some dishes for Yan Yi that he had newly learned. He even redid it halfway between because he wasn’t satisfied with the taste. 

He picked up the chopsticks to try every dish. The vegetable soup was too salty; fortunately Yan Yi wasn’t coming back to eat. 

The room was very quiet. Even though the lights in every room were on, it still felt like it was a little dark somewhere. 

Eating alone was a little unpleasant.

He couldn’t resist giving Yan Yi a call. There was some noise on the other end of the phone, sounding like he was at a hotel, and there were quite a few people. 

Yan Yi asked, “Is there something wrong?”

Lu Shangjin leaned back in his chair and asked, “Wife, where are you? I’ll go pick you up.”

He replied that everyone was having dinner and if it was too late he would stay at Tan Meng’s place.

Lu Shangjin rubbed the bridge of his nose, “You’ve been outside all day and night for the whole month, you don’t even come home anymore, can you let me worry less?”

Yan Yi also got a little angry, “I go back every night. I just don’t eat at home occasionally. Today is just a special case, why do you have to worry so much?” 

Lu Shangjin didn’t know how to control the tone of his voice either, “You’re carrying a baby in your stomach now, don’t you know! Can I not worry when you’re out running about! Isn’t it dangerous!”

Yan Yi didn’t argue with him again and gave a light “mm”. 

Lu Shangjin put down the phone and scratched his head. He brought the dishes to the kitchen, thinking that if Yan Yi were to stay at Tan Meng’s tonight, why not just eat the leftovers from dinner for tomorrow morning and make do with it, without having to re-make it?

He freed up a few dishes to wash. The glass door to the kitchen was tightly closed, the sound of water rushing. 

When he came back out, he looked at the dining room and froze for a few seconds. 

Sitting at the table, Yan Yi chucked a piece of squid roll into his bowl and ladled a spoonful of vegetarian chowder mixed with rice.

“Hey, it’s all cold.” Lu Shangjin came over and took the bowl in his hand, “Didn’t you eat outside?”

Supporting his cheek, Yan Yi looked at him putting the food into the microwave and took it out after 30 seconds. His eyes suddenly curved slightly:

“I’m not full.”

Lu Shangjin placed the bowl in front of Yan Yi and pressed the rim of the bowl, saying, “Don’t stuff yourself to coax me.”

Yan Yi swept his hand away, “Don’t praise yourself.”

Lu Shangjin pulled him into his arms and kissed his forehead, before suddenly bending his knee and carrying him up the stairs.

“Liar. I’ll cut some fruit for you later. Sleep after you eat.”

When he carried the fruit upstairs, Yan Yi was lying over his desk in the bedroom writing something.

Lu Shangjin propped his hands up on the desk and looked down at him from above. He forked a strawberry and fed it to Yan Yi’s mouth, saying, “Baobei, have you got any silver yet?”

Yan Yi answered with an “mm”, “It’s no big deal.”

“How much did you get?”

“Twenty.”

Lu Shangjin was stunned, “Wasn’t it ten?”

Yan Yi lifted his head, “You checked my account.”

Lu Shangjin covered up with a cough, “That- I was afraid you robbed a bank or illegally fundraised or something. Did you also obtain equipment?” 

“Of course. Many of the retired PBB members are members I’ve led and a batch was still tossing arms around.”

Lu Shangjin was rendered speechless. He lied back against the chair and held up his thumb in front of Yan Yi, “Awesome, you are.”

Yan Yi was deciding on the location of the alliance headquarters and recruitment documents.

Lu Shangjin pointed to one of the lines, took the pen in Yan Yi’s hand, leaned down and crossed off that line, then made another line of annotation under. 

“Master Yan, the place you chose collides with a boss I know and he’s also planning something on this land. Why don’t you leave it to me, little brother, to handle it?”

Yan Yi looked at the annotation Lu Shangjin made with his eyes lit up then changed to a red pen to make a mark where Lu Shangjin crossed out. 

He was planning to make another change, but Lu Shangjin looked at his watch and forcibly pressed the light switch before carrying Yan Yi to bed.

“It’s already ten. You might not need sleep, but the baby is tired.” 

The scent of soothing narcissus pheromones filled the bedroom, relieving Yan Yi’s tiredness throughout the day. 

Feeling his alpha dad’s pheromones, it was like the little fellow in his belly wanted to jump out and hug his dad, arching into a little pouch from Yan Yi’s belly; this would make people’s heart melt if anyone saw it. 

Lu Shangjin really wanted to touch this little fellow; his hand was raised mid-air and stopped abruptly when it was close to touching his bulging belly.

He lowered his head and through a layer of soft skin, he gently kissed the little Lu Yan who was not yet born.

There was no longer a need to leave a wall lamp on in the bedroom to give Yan Yi an increased sense of security. Lu Shangjin lied on his side with his head propped up, taking advantage of the darkness to summon the courage to ask him in a low voice:

“Is the smell of narcissus really that disgusting?”

“It’s fine.” 

Footnotes

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