This time, it was Pei Yumian whose entire body went rigid. Strictly speaking, He Qingye had helped him, so he ought to return the favor somehow.
But the moment he imagined the scene, Pei Yumian began to tremble.
Before Pei Yumian could reach any conclusion, He Qingye kissed the skin around his gland.
“How could I ever bear to make you do something like that? You think far too badly of me.”
“What I really want to prove to you is that you aren’t some defective omega. We just need more time. We can slowly learn and explore each other’s bodies.”
Pei Yumian’s throat tightened until it felt dry, yet his body relaxed despite himself. After a long while, he finally pushed He Qingye’s hand away.
“This is all your fault. Now I have to shower again.”
With that, Pei Yumian hurried into the bathroom, leaving He Qingye alone on the bed cheering.
Pei Yumian changed into a fresh robe and returned to the bedside. The first thing he saw was He Qingye’s expectant gaze.
Pei Yumian coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment.
“No more fooling around. I have to get up early for school tomorrow.”
He Qingye nodded with incomparable obedience, then made plenty of room and lay rigidly at the side of the bed.
The moment Pei Yumian lay down, he regretted it. He should have told He Qingye to leave.
Even if He Qingye did absolutely nothing, just having him there made Pei Yumian’s thoughts run wild.
Pei Yumian had never shared a bed with anyone before. What if he snored or ground his teeth? What if he kicked He Qingye off the bed in the middle of the night…?
After worrying himself in circles, Pei Yumian somehow drifted into a muddled sleep.
In the middle of the night, he unconsciously rolled over and rolled straight into a warm embrace. When he tried to roll back out again, he found himself trapped and could only end up tangled around the other person.
When Pei Yumian began to wake, he instinctively shifted his legs. The return of circulation brought an aching pins-and-needles sensation, and he let out a dissatisfied hum.
“Mianmian… sleep a little longer…”
He Qingye’s voice jolted the drowsy Pei Yumian awake and made him suddenly aware of his current position.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw He Qingye’s chest and arms. His legs were locked between He Qingye’s, and his entire body seemed embedded in He Qingye’s embrace.
They were pressed far too close together, which made certain morning reactions especially obvious.
Pei Yumian abruptly shoved He Qingye away and fled into the bathroom. Only after sitting down on the toilet did he rub his face in mortification.
How had he ended up sleeping in He Qingye’s arms? And why was Little He so big? It was like an eggplant…
While Pei Yumian was still struggling with his thoughts, He Qingye’s voice came from outside the door.
“Mianmian, you’re going to be late. Hurry and wash up. I’ll go make breakfast.”
Pei Yumian slapped his forehead and remembered that he still had to go to school.
Even after hurriedly washing up and stuffing down a few bites of breakfast, Pei Yumian still ended up trapped in morning rush-hour traffic.
Embarrassed, Pei Yumian explained the situation to Chen Er. Not only was Chen Er not angry, he even reassured Pei Yumian a few times.
That made Pei Yumian feel even more embarrassed, and he decided he would treat Chen Er to lunch later.
The morning traffic crawled along the road. No matter how anxious Pei Yumian was, there was nothing he could do. Worse, they were still three kilometers from the university. Even getting out and walking would not solve anything.
Pei Yumian helplessly watched the cars inching outside the window as his phone kept chiming with message notifications.
He did not even have to look to know they were from He Qingye. He unlocked the screen and, sure enough, found a dense stream of worried messages.
[Mianmian, have you reached school yet?]
[Mianmian, is the school assignment tiring? Do you need someone to help?]
[Mianmian, I forgot to give you your water bottle earlier. Remember to buy some water.]
…
[Mianmian, are you coming home for lunch?]
More than ten messages, and not a single question repeated. Pei Yumian could not help admiring how attentive He Qingye was.
Only… this seemed to be the first time anyone had ever cared about him this much.
Ever since Pei Yumian was born, his parents had handed him over to a group of professional nannies, and even those nannies were replaced every three years.
In their eyes, he was only an omega destined to marry out of the family. All they had to do was casually give him a little warmth, and Pei Yumian would become utterly devoted to the Pei family.
In fact, this method had been used many times in the Pei family, and without exception, it had always worked.
For a time, it had even worked on Pei Yumian when he married He Qingye.
But then He Qingye was involved in a car accident. Because Pei Yumian was carrying Xiaopang, the He family accepted him, Qin You protected him, and he finally escaped the Pei family’s control.
And after becoming a father himself, Pei Yumian finally understood just how badly his own parents had treated him.
When He Qingye woke, Pei Yumian had once thought he would be forced back into his old life. Instead, the awakened He Qingye not only had amnesia, he had also developed feelings for him.
The concern that grew out of those feelings was something Pei Yumian had never experienced before.
Just like now. He was only going to school, yet He Qingye had fussed over him with more than a dozen questions.
Pei Yumian released his lower lip from his teeth and began replying to He Qingye’s messages one at a time.
[Traffic jam. Not there yet.]
[No need.]
[There’s water in the car.]
…
[I’ll come home to eat.]
After replying to each message, Pei Yumian rubbed his slightly flushed face, put his phone away, and forced himself to stop thinking about how childish he and He Qingye were being.
At that moment, the traffic finally began moving again. Barely ten minutes later, the car stopped at the university gate.
When Pei Yumian got out, he casually grabbed a bottle of water.
By the time he reached the classroom, only Chen Er, Lin Qi, and several student-council members moving supplies were still there.
At the sound of Pei Yumian entering, everyone turned to look at him in unison.
Startled, Pei Yumian awkwardly stopped where he was and apologized on instinct.
“Sorry, I’m late.”
Lin Qi stood and walked over carrying a pile of things.
“You’re not late, not late at all. I was waiting for you.”
With someone rescuing him from the awkwardness, Pei Yumian relaxed and followed beside Lin Qi, asking what they needed to do.
Lin Qi curled his lips, looking annoyed as he lifted the rolls of posters in his arms.
“Put up posters. Once we’re done, we can go home.”
Lin Qi’s displeasure was far too obvious for Pei Yumian to miss. Feeling guilty, Pei Yumian quietly asked,
“Did I make you get scolded because I came late?”
Lin Qi’s face fell and he let out a long sigh.
“It’s a good thing you came late. You have no idea what those stupid alphas were saying behind your back!”
“I was furious! Luckily the president is our class monitor. He chewed them out properly.”
Pei Yumian took some of the things from Lin Qi and comforted him gently.
“Don’t pay attention to those alphas. Anyway—”
Catching Lin Qi’s curious look, Pei Yumian’s smile gained a touch of arrogance.
“None of them can beat me on exams. They can only stay beneath me as defeated opponents.”
Lin Qi gave an excited cry.
“Exactly! Our Yumian is so smart. Those stupid pigs are only good for whispering behind your back.”
Putting up posters was easy work. Only after asking did Pei Yumian discover that Chen Er had deliberately saved this task for the two of them.
According to Lin Qi, their class monitor had truly mastered the art of balancing everyone while playing favorites.
Pei Yumian found that amusing. What favoritism? Chen Er was obviously just secretly taking care of the person he liked.
During Pei Yumian’s first year after transferring into the major, he had already noticed Chen Er’s feelings for Lin Qi. Yet two years later, their relationship had progressed no further than friendship.
After they finished putting up the posters, Pei Yumian intended to go home, but Lin Qi caught his arm with a mischievous grin.
“Don’t rush home yet. There’s somewhere I’ve wanted to browse for ages, but I’ve never had the right friend to go with. No time like the present, so…?”
“Yumian~ Come on, come on~”
Pei Yumian did not really have friends. Schoolwork and taking care of Xiaopang consumed nearly eighty percent of his time.
Even after being in this program for so long, Pei Yumian still could not clearly remember the faces of everyone in his class.
If he had not accidentally been paired with Lin Qi this time, he probably would have graduated without ever interacting much with his classmates.
Faced with Lin Qi’s pleading gaze and sweetly coaxing voice, Pei Yumian thought he might as well treat it like humoring a child.
The moment Pei Yumian nodded, Lin Qi dragged him straight toward his little electric scooter.
Lin Qi very carefully put a helmet on Pei Yumian. “Let’s go!”
Ever since He Qingye woke up, Pei Yumian seemed to have experienced many strange new firsts. Just like now: sitting on the back of Lin Qi’s scooter as they sped through the alleys.
Feeling the breeze and catching all kinds of scents drifting through the air, Pei Yumian suddenly thought that once He Qingye recovered, he should make He Qingye learn to ride an electric scooter and take him around too.
The thought flashed by. In the next instant, Lin Qi stopped the scooter and Pei Yumian planted his long legs on the ground before stepping off.
Pei Yumian removed the helmet and handed it to Lin Qi, then looked up at the sign. The only thing he could make out were the four large words, Secret Past. Nothing else gave him the slightest clue what kind of place it was.
After parking the scooter, Lin Qi excitedly dragged Pei Yumian into Secret Past.
The moment they entered, Pei Yumian understood why Lin Qi had said he could never find the right person to come with. Among omegas who had not yet married, Pei Yumian, as a married man, really was an unusually suitable choice.
The shop was dim, its lighting an ambiguous pink. All kinds of alpha-shaped toys were arranged in glass display cases. Lin Qi blushed while exclaiming over them.
Pei Yumian had thought he might vomit at the sight of such things and ruin Lin Qi’s fun. But these toys looked so far removed from actual human anatomy that, to his surprise, he felt no discomfort at all.
Lin Qi excitedly grabbed Pei Yumian’s arm and exclaimed in a low voice,
“Oh my god, there are so many kinds! I’m going to buy one and try it. Do you and your husband want something to spice things up?”
Pei Yumian’s face grew redder the longer he looked. Staring at the oddly shaped objects in front of him, he hesitated before saying,
“They’re kind of pretty. Maybe I’ll buy one?”
Lin Qi said he was buying one, but ended up buying several. Pei Yumian was much calmer and bought only one, colored pink and blue. If no one explained what it was for, it could almost pass for a decorative ornament.
The shop owner apparently saw long-term-customer potential in both of them and even slipped two little vibrating balls into each of their sealed bags.
Pei Yumian’s face turned even redder. He had never imagined that the price of being softhearted would be carrying things like this home.
Pei Yumian and Lin Qi parted outside Secret Past. Lin Qi rode his scooter home, while Pei Yumian got into the car back to the villa.
The moment Pei Yumian entered the villa, he carried the bag upstairs like a thief. He was in such a hurry that he only came back later to change into slippers.
He Qingye, who had been waiting in the living room, naturally noticed. Pei Yumian had a habit of showering and changing clothes whenever he came home from outside. Taking advantage of that, He Qingye quietly slipped into Pei Yumian’s room and found the bag on the bedside cabinet.
When Pei Yumian emerged from the bathroom, he saw He Qingye holding the thing he had bought between his fingers, wearing a teasing smile.
“Mianmian, is this prettier and more useful than the real me? ”
