After saying those words, Cheng Shenzhi stood and created some distance between himself and Zhong Yu.
Only when the distance widened did Zhong Yu finally manage to breathe more easily. Even though he repeatedly told himself that Mr. Cheng was a good person who had helped him greatly…
Every time the alpha came close and those deep-black eyes enlarged until Zhong Yu was the only figure reflected inside them, he could never stop the faint trembling that began along his spine.
Like a poor rabbit locked in the gaze of its natural predator.
He guessed it might be because Mr. Cheng's rank was so high that even an insensitive beta could not ignore it.
Especially since, from childhood onward, Zhong Yu had always been as sensitive as an omega whenever he faced alphas.
Cheng Shenzhi very much wanted to rub Zhong Yu's head, but the moment was not appropriate. He settled for tucking the blanket around him and said warmly, "Think about it. There's no hurry. Rest first."
The door closed once again.
Zhong Yu sank into the soft bedding, opened the calculator, and calculated his savings again and again.
…Not enough. No matter how he calculated, it was not enough.
The still-young beta once again fell into enormous confusion. The back of his neck and his wrist continued to ache faintly.
His body felt terrible. He closed his eyes, wanting to rest, yet remained restless.
But exhaustion still pulled him into sleep.
When he woke again, a tiny fluffy head was curled beside the bed.
His weightless heart seemed to drop back into place all at once. Zhong Yu reached out and hugged his sister, his eyes stinging.
Zhong Jue woke drowsily and instinctively hugged her brother back, her voice thick with sleep. "Brother…"
Zhong Yu reached out, brushed aside the hair damp with sweat on the child's forehead, then pulled the blanket down a little so Zhong Jue's face was exposed.
Then he took his sister's hand. The unusually high temperature made him pause before he slowly wrote stroke by stroke in her palm: "You have a fever? Who brought you here?"
Zhong Jue was still sleepy. She instinctively rubbed against her brother's palm and answered slowly, "Uncle Cheng brought me… Before we came, my temperature was thirty-eight degrees. I've already taken medicine."
Zhong Yu tucked the blanket more tightly around her so no draft could get in.
He picked up his phone and held it in front of Zhong Jue.
[Brother wants to ask you a few questions. Then you can sleep again, all right?]
Zhong Jue obediently looked at the screen for two seconds, shook her head to wake herself up, and nodded.
Zhong Yu took a deep breath.
[If Brother leaves this place,]
Before he could finish typing, Zhong Jue burrowed under Zhong Yu's blanket and wrapped herself around him like an octopus, burying her face against his chest as she hurriedly said, "I'm going with you!"
Her small, warm body curled in his arms.
He remembered the first time he had held his sister. She had been so small and so soft that it seemed even a gust of wind could hurt her.
[But then you won't be able to see your friends anymore. And we won't eat well or sleep well. You might only get one new piece of clothing every few months…]
"Then I'm still going with you." Zhong Jue was on the verge of tears, speaking through sobs. "Brother, don't leave me behind."
How could he possibly leave her?
He had watched this child grow. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed, and she had long since become inseparable from his life.
[Brother will never leave you behind.]
Zhong Jue read the line and tilted up her face, blinking hard through the tears still shining in her eyes. "Brother…"
Zhong Yu tightly held Zhong Jue's small hand. Only after a while did he finally decide to bring up the other option.
[Do you like Uncle Cheng?]
Zhong Jue rubbed her eyes and thought before saying, "Uncle Cheng is a good person."
[Then if we lived with Uncle Cheng from now on, would you be willing?]
Zhong Jue did not understand what he meant and looked at Zhong Yu blankly.
[I mean the three of us living together.]
Zhong Jue immediately caught the important point. "Pan Wang and the others won't come?"
[No. Only you, me, and Uncle Cheng.]
Hearing that the people she hated would no longer bother them, Zhong Jue lowered her face and could not stop a secret smile. She whispered, "Wherever Brother goes, I go."
–
Two hours later.
Cheng Shenzhi held the medical examination report in one hand. Seeing that several of the child's health indicators had dropped significantly again, he could not help frowning hard.
Assistant Tao, standing watch outside the door, lowered his voice. "It's been very quiet in the room. They should both still be asleep. I haven't let anyone else near."
Only then did Cheng Shenzhi give a barely satisfied nod and push the door open. To his surprise, Zhong Yu was already sitting up, half leaning against the headboard and looking down at his sister with a gentle expression.
He reached out as though intending to touch his sister's hair, but when he suddenly heard movement, he instinctively raised his head and sat straighter.
[Mr. Cheng, let's talk.]
Zhong Yu tried hard to make himself look solemn, but unfortunately he was still sitting in bed, which greatly limited the effect.
Embarrassed, he tightened his fingers and looked up at Cheng Shenzhi, waiting for his response.
Cheng Shenzhi first glanced at Zhong Jue.
Zhong Yu shook his head.
[It's all right. We won't wake her.]
Only then did Cheng Shenzhi look back at him and ask softly, "What do you want to talk about?"
Zhong Yu did not avoid Cheng Shenzhi's gaze, though his two hands twisted nervously together. After a while he finally lifted them, only to suddenly forget the sign for marriage.
After all, before this, he had never imagined that marriage would happen to him.
But Cheng Shenzhi was still watching him.
In his panic, his hands moved faster than his brain. Four fingers arched and pushed forward, and he accidentally made a heart toward Mr. Cheng.
…What was he doing?
Cheng Shenzhi quickly coughed lightly to suppress the smile nearly escaping him. He raised a fist politely to his lips and very considerately did not stare at the child's reddening ears. "Is this about us getting married?"
Zhong Yu nodded in embarrassment.
He handed over his phone. Dense lines of tiny text filled the screen.
During those two hours, he had gone over and over countless things and finally listed everything he could think of.
Cheng Shenzhi lowered his gaze to read.
[I am willing to fulfill every responsibility expected of me as your wife. Whatever you ask of me, I will do my best to accomplish. But I have one condition: I need to bring my little sister with me.
My mother left enough money to cover all her expenses until she grows up. I will also work part-time and save money for her. You don't have to take responsibility for her. You only need to give her one small bed.
She's in third grade now. In another three years she'll start middle school, and then she can board at school. She won't take up much of your space.]
Zhong Yu lowered his head anxiously, repeatedly pinching his own fingers as he waited uneasily for Cheng Shenzhi's decision.
He knew the request was strange. Who got married and brought their little sister along?
But this was the one condition on which he could not compromise.
If the other man refused, there should still be time for Zhong Yu to buy tickets now.
"All right."
Cheng Shenzhi agreed immediately. He looked at the lowered eyes of the person before him. Probably because Zhong Yu was nervous, his long, thick lashes were trembling faintly.
Cheng Shenzhi wanted to touch them, but in the end he restrained himself and remained where he was. In a warm voice he said, "After we marry, your sister will also be my sister. That's only natural. Besides, I like her very much too."
It was unexpected.
The other man's attitude was even better than the best response Zhong Yu had imagined.
He looked up in surprise and hesitated for a second or two.
[Then is there anything you need me to do?]
As soon as he asked, Zhong Yu suddenly remembered their brief conversation the night before.
At the time, Mr. Cheng had said he needed Zhong Yu to help him through his rut…
Betas did not need specialized physiological education about one another the way alphas and omegas did, but because of Zhong Yu's ambitions and his field of study, he still knew a fair amount about the special cycles experienced by alphas and omegas.
According to what he knew, alphas in rut were temperamental, irritable, gloomy, and also very…lustful.
The higher an alpha's rank, the stronger the reaction during rut.
Mr. Cheng was unquestionably very high-ranked, but in front of Zhong Yu he had always been a courteous, considerate, mature gentleman. Zhong Yu found it difficult to imagine what he would be like during rut.
Surely it could not be as extreme as the textbooks described?
He thought uncertainly.
But Cheng Shenzhi did not mention the matter at all. He merely smiled gently and said, "My family has been urging me very strongly. After we're married, accompanying me home a few times will be enough."
It was a perfectly reasonable request.
The tension in Zhong Yu's shoulders eased almost imperceptibly. He lifted his face, held his expression carefully steady, and asked whether there was anything else.
Cheng Shenzhi shook his head. His gaze rested on the child's carefully controlled expression. The wicked side of his alpha nature suddenly surfaced, and he tossed the question back. "What do you think, Yuyu?"
Zhong Yu opened his mouth.
Of course he had questions. For example, the unresolved issue of Cheng Shenzhi's rut.
But although his sister was sleeping deeply, with a third person presentâand especially a childâZhong Yu found it difficult to discuss something so…embarrassing with his future husband.
After hesitating again and again, he could only give a small shake of his head.
This was enough.
But Cheng Shenzhi refused to let the matter pass so lightly. Instead, he stepped closer twice and called him in a low voice. "Yuyu."
The alpha's voice was deep, mellow, and magnetic. Deliberately lowered in the dim hospital room, it almost sounded as though he were speaking directly beside Zhong Yu's ear.
Zhong Yu instinctively wanted to retreat, but his fingers groped helplessly and first touched his sister's soft, warm body beside him.
==========Author's Note:==========
Sir, you wouldn't want your little sister to find out, would you?
