Ongoing Translation
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
HOYSE CHAPTER 49
Chapter 49 — ！
From a distance, Rong Jing thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. For a split second, Gu Xi looked unbelievably enticing.
There were so many people seeing them off. For a lot of Gu Xi-fans, the crew was basically heading off to represent the nation, which felt like an honor by proxy. In the jostling, a young girl bumped into Rong Jing.
The impact was strong enough that his phone flew from his hand.
The girl apologized over and over. “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean it.”
The fan-site mod had warned them already. In the past couple of years, fandom had acquired a bad reputation. Normal folks heard “fandom” and slapped on the “brainless” label without asking whose fans you were. Gu Xi was right at the center of attention right now, and they had just clawed back a bit of goodwill. Under no circumstance should they cause trouble for him, so everyone had to watch their behavior.
“It’s fine. Is this yours?” Rong Jing stooped to pick up her banner. It was hand-drawn, which was unusual, and there was even a small signature in the corner: Luoluo.
“Y-yes.” So tall. Almost one ninety, right? And most importantly, crazy handsome!
“You drew it really well.”
“T-thank you!” Why do I feel like dancing. Is it because this Alpha’s face card is off the charts?
A few friends hurried over to pull the girl aside. One of them fetched Rong Jing’s phone, saw that the lock screen was the poster for Lota, the one of Gu Xi looking up at the sky, and could not help asking, thrilled and careful, “Are you a fan of Gu Xi?”
Rong Jing did not deny it. “Does a film fan count?”
“It counts, it counts!”
“Please keep supporting his new drama!”
They said goodbye and then squealed quietly to each other. A fan was actually such an S-tier Alpha. Too handsome to be legal. They wanted to debut him on the spot.
By the time this little detour ended, Gu Xi had vanished from Rong Jing’s sight.
Just then his phone rang. The caller ID flashed “Wu Hanqi,” and Rong Jing’s eyelid twitched. Wu Hanqi rarely called him first. When he answered, the man did not bring up the Xu family issue, as if it were really in the past. Instead he mentioned Wu Fuyu’s upcoming birthday and hoped the young people would gather more often.
Rong Jing made polite conversation while scanning for Gu Xi and finally saw crew staff escort them through security. He let himself exhale. As he headed toward the shuttle area, he joked with Wu Hanqi. This big fish he planned to keep at a careful distance for now. As for going to the birthday party, if nothing urgent came up, attending or not did not matter.
On the other side, Gu Xi’s breathing was turning ragged. The heat hit without warning this time, and he was completely unprepared. He had gone through the entrance but had not gone through security.
After making sure the fans and photographers had basically dispersed, he pulled on his assistant’s jacket and hurried back outside the terminal, then slipped into the under-renovation T3 building. He found a restroom in a quiet area almost no one passed, shut the door, went into a sealed stall designed for heat episodes, and shared his location with Rong Jing.
That burn felt like it had its own will, surging up without asking, turning the air thick and wild, a tension that could swallow anyone whole.
His vision swam. His limbs went weak.
Hands shaking, Gu Xi started a timer. If he did not make it five minutes, he would inject the inhibitor.
Sweat beaded and clung. The hand gripping his phone trembled.
Rong Jing hung up on Wu Hanqi and could not shake the look in Gu Xi’s eyes just now, sudden and off.
He worried he had missed something.
He sent a WeChat: Did you have something to say to me just now?
A red exclamation popped up. Message not sent?
Signal that bad here? Or did the earlier drop crack his phone?
He was almost out of the terminal when something made him look back. In the crowd he spotted Mo Dian, Gu Xi’s assistant, searching for someone. The team had clearly gone through security. Mo Dian should have been glued to Gu Xi, so why was he here?
When Mo Dian, looking left and right, suddenly had his arm grabbed by that Alpha with the overwhelming presence, he jumped. His first impression of Rong Jing had been “fierce,” mostly because when Rong Jing’s stepfather had the accident, Rong Jing got out of the car with his aura unchecked. Gu Xi might not have noticed, but the poor assistant had nearly died of fright.
“Y-you are here to see Gu Xi off too?” he asked, trying to sound calm.
“Where is he? He is not with you?” Rong Jing asked.
“He… he was here, but just went out to find a restroom and told me to wait.” Since Gu Xi had been acting very out of character lately and was even staying at the man’s house, Mo Dian hesitated but told the truth.
Rong Jing’s gentle gaze hardened. He looked at the red exclamation under his WeChat.
In the original, after Maya City Gu Xi never had a spontaneous heat again. Every time it was forced out by the scum-gong. No matter the reason now, finding Gu Xi came first.
If he was right, he would not be receiving messages from Gu Xi for a while.
He remembered the airport had vending machines that sold Omega inhibitors for emergencies. They were pricey, but available. Which meant there should also be Alpha “self-control” injectors, which did what the name suggested: when an Alpha could not restrain himself, one shot to hold the line. Ten bottles of baijiu worth of punch. No human willpower could take it.
The daylight flipped like a switch. Moments ago the sky had been full of sunset. Now heavy clouds massed again. As he turned back, thunder flickered across the sky to a chorus of oohs. The terminal glowed like a lighthouse in the storm.
Boom.
Expression blank, Rong Jing was almost certain now. He might not be a soul of this world, but this body was.
If he could not be erased cleanly, they would just arrange “accidents.”
Everything he had done and was about to do went against the script. What? I mark your precious son and now you have opinions?
Is it because I am a cannon fodder?
So what if I am? Today I am going to mark him.
If you hate it that much, drop a bolt right now.
As if provoked, a thick streak of lightning slammed into the lightning rod above the terminal. Airports are grounded against strikes at the construction stage and can usually handle it, but this one landed right above Rong Jing’s head and cracked the air as if to split the whole building, freezing travelers in place.
A Gu Xi-fan who had not left yet was tugged along by a friend. She happened to look up and saw a man standing proud under the thunder. She could not help snapping a picture. The presence. Was he the god of thunder?
Rong Jing bought the self-control injector and asked staff how many restrooms T2 had. Three, the map said. The nearest was packed and the other two likely were as well. If he were Gu Xi, which one would he choose?
…
Gu Xi watched the timer crawl closer to zero. Outside the thunder roared and the rain came down hard. He lowered his sweat-damp face and fumbled for the inhibitor in his bag. His hands shook and the injector rolled to the floor.
At that moment, he heard the restroom door slam open, then shut, then footsteps. He tensed. He had no idea who was outside. He pinched his arm hard. The sting cleared his head a little. “Who is it?”
No answer.
He pulled out his pocket knife again. Even if T3 was under renovation and no travelers would come this way, there could still be construction workers.
Whoever it was did not speak. They just pounded the stall door over and over like a drum.
Gu Xi stared at the door without moving, gaze fixed, ready to strike back.
Every second stretched into a year.
Suddenly, the banging stopped. The person seemed to leave.
In its place came another set of steps. The restroom door opened and shut again. The lock turned. A familiar voice came through, breathing hard like he had run. “Gu Xi?”
The instant Gu Xi unlatching the stall, his scent flooded out, unfiltered. Rong Jing pressed a hand to his dizzy head. The Omega he had run into at Maya City had indeed been Gu Xi. Back then, the tiny spillover had been ten bottles of baijiu. Even with the injector, this felt like fifty. The world pitched.
Not… good.
Every cell in him roared to life, crazed to tear, to claim the Omega before him. An Alpha’s instinct, at the edge of his control. He staggered back a few steps, afraid of scaring Gu Xi like this. The natural tension between the sexes was a net dropping over them both.
Gu Xi was on the verge of madness too. Every cell howled to tackle the man in front of him, yet he did not miss Rong Jing’s retreat. His body burned, but his heart cooled by half. “If you do not want to, then— ah!”
Rong Jing grabbed him hard, shoved him against the partition, and slammed the stall shut.
In that instant, the spring in the air yanked to its extremes and snapped back to one.
Two men in a single stall was too cramped. They were almost touching.
“Inhibi… the inhibitor.” Gu Xi had managed only that before the injector got crushed underfoot.
Rong Jing narrowed his eyes. “Are you talking about me?”
Gu Xi said nothing. He had never heard Rong Jing’s voice sound this soaked with heat.
Rong Jing dipped his head. They were so close he could see the sweat on the other’s skin. In the narrow space, the smells of blocker and pheromones tangled.
“I might be a little rough and I might regret it later.” His knuckles stood out white as he clumsily wiped sweat from Gu Xi’s brow. His eyes were blood-shot. Gentle was not in him. He was at the edge.
Gu Xi said nothing and shrugged off Mo Dian’s jacket without hesitation.
Rong Jing was right there. His soft lips brushed lightly, both a silent refusal and the perfect response.
He turned Gu Xi around. The loose beige sweater tugged up. Gu Xi was pale to translucence. A swan’s neck, butterfly bones rising under the skin. Dim light and shadow lay over a body thin but not weak.
He faced away, nervous under the dizziness, heat rising, breath loud.
“Rong… Rong Jing, after the first mark you will be affected too. You should consider…” Think it through. They would be possessive of each other.
“Mmn.”
Before he could finish, Rong Jing pinned him, leaving no room for regrets.
Gu Xi trembled head to toe. Sweat slid from his brow down his jaw to his throat. He made low, blurred sounds, words he could not hear himself say. He sank into the haze and smothered the instinct to cry for help in the cradle.
Alpha pheromones flooded in. His blood rebelled, then little by little was eroded and subdued, until under the pressure of force it had to yield, his body accepting what it was made to feel. His lips trembled. He clenched his teeth against the urge to fight back. He told himself again and again that it was Rong Jing.
Outside, thunder shook the walls, rain hammered down. In the tiny stall, near and far, warmth and heat sank under the sound of the storm.
In the fog of his mind, Gu Xi remembered a post he had read once that said an Omega’s first mark hurt. If the match rate was high, it would be a different experience. But in these times they championed free love. Finding a highly matched partner was like winning the lottery.
And now, he finally understood what that other experience meant.
At the point where he could not keep from tugging hard, Rong Jing forced himself to stop. He rested his forehead on Gu Xi’s shoulder, breath ragged. In the chaos there was only one thing clear: Gu Xi.
…
By the time Gu Xi came back to himself, he was still leaning against Rong Jing. Rong Jing said nothing. The silence was strange, almost heavy. He helped straighten Gu Xi’s clothes, sprayed blocker around the restroom, and didn’t look at him once.
Don’t ask. If you do, it means Gu Xi still couldn’t steady his breathing.
They didn’t speak the entire time. For a while, it felt like everything worth saying had already been left unsaid.
Neither of them noticed the man who stepped out from the corner after they left, watching their hurried backs until they disappeared.
Chu Yang dialed a number, cheerful and spry. “Uncle Wu, do you still remember Xiao Yang?”
Wu Hanqi said, “Didn’t I tell you to stay put at the sanatorium. Acting up again?”
Back when he was fifteen, Chu Yang had fallen for Gu Xi at first sight. A kid spoiled rotten at home, used to getting anything he wanted, and Gu Xi alone ignored him. If you won’t look at me, then I will take you away and keep you until you do.
Unfortunately he had been too young, not fully mature, and could not mark him. Later, Gu Xi escaped and was saved by Wu Hanqi. Wu and the Chu family made a deal. He had Gu Xi withdraw the suit, and the Chu family locked Chu Yang in a sanatorium.
“The sanatorium is boring. No one will play with me. It took forever to sneak out.” Chu Yang’s voice crackled with manic energy. “Uncle Wu, my favorite toy got snatched by some random passerby!”
Wu Hanqi was reading briefings on Fun. After Rong Jing had snatched the project, Wu had looked into it out of boredom and found it was promising indeed. He passed word to his assistants to watch all of Rong Jing’s investments and report immediately. This kid had some bite.
He listened with half an ear to Chu Yang’s rant. “Then snatch it back.”
“He’s a very strong Alpha. I might not be able to. Uncle Wu, you won’t take sides, will you?”
“That depends on what you are talking about.” He glanced at the sunset outside. Purple and orange interlaced on the clouds, beautiful enough to linger for.
“In your lab, besides studying unknown toxins, isn’t there a drug that makes an A or O forget being in heat or in love, the more intense the feeling, the better it works?”
Wu lifted a brow. “Still in trials. How did you know about it?”
Forgetting love was a fanciful way to put it. As a Beta, Wu Hanqi had an unusual passion for pheromone research. He had always thought love ran like pheromones. If it could arise, it could be extinguished.
“You forgot my sister works in your lab?” Chu Yang’s eyes lit. “Uncle Wu, without your authorization I cannot get it. Give me a few pills, please.”
“Pouting does not work on me. I am not your parents. And it only works on A and O in a state of arousal.” With pheromones involved, you got twice the result with half the effort.
“Perfect. Best if they are not aroused yet!”
“I do not care who you plan to use it on, but if it drags me in, do not blame me for what follows.” Wu was short on test subjects. Since one had delivered himself to the door, he did not mind the business. “Remember to sign an NDA. And my things are not easy to get. There will be a price.”
After separating from Rong Jing, Gu Xi waited until his legs were steady, then hurried to the VIP lounge. Boarding was in half an hour.
Since they had been invited to Venice, the tickets were first class for once, reimbursed. Not easy for a poor crew.
People had been staring since he arrived. He sorted his backpack and found his inhibitor, then came across a small strange box. The one Rong Jing had told him to open on the plane. What was it? He shook it. It made no sound. Maybe earphones.
He realized almost everyone was looking at him. Practically every Alpha in the lounge had eyes on him. Even if he knew his name recognition was decent, people rarely stared like this in a lounge. “?”
Liu Yu lived up to thean internet slang term popular
in Chinese online communities. It refers to someone who is
hopelessly infatuated or overly eager in love,
often used teasingly to describe lovestruck behavior. LSP
Gu Xi, baffled, went. The moment he saw his reflection, like someone who had been thoroughly drenched in dew, he squatted down in mortification.
So when we parted just now, is this what Rong Jing saw?
He opened the tap and splashed cold water over his face until he was sure he no longer looked like a drought meeting rain for the first time, then walked out.
He wanted to send Rong Jing something to ease the tense, brittle mood when they parted, but found the location pin he had tried to send earlier had never gone through. If it had not, then how had Rong Jing found him? Scarily smart. Stranger still, the sky outside had gone dark all at once, while people in his Moments were still posting sunset shots. They were all in Shangjing. Could the weather really have two faces?
[Gu Xi, I really want your eyes to only see me.]
He was still enduring overlapping heart-voices. If not for Rong Jing’s voice balancing him, he would have split. Then he heard a familiar one.
Chu Yang!?
How could he forget a voice from hell. He looked left and right and saw no one. He schooled his face and boarded the shuttle with the others.
All the way, he used the corner of his eye to observe. He stowed his carry-on and sat. First class did not have many seats. A figure in full disguise took the seat in front of him. Even though the build had changed a lot, he had seen him recently. This was Chu Yang, all grown up.
Comments
Post a Comment