1122 - Chapter 13.1

Country M.

Chu Beiheng’s detached house was located not far from the university. It had been purchased by his family for convenience during his studies. The house was quite spacious too empty when he lived alone, but now with Jiang Yi moving in, it finally felt a bit more lively.

Under his family’s repeated warnings and instructions, he was tasked with taking good care of Jiang Yi, as they would drop by for surprise inspections at any time. There could be no mistakes especially under the strict orders of his grandfather. How could he dare disobey? He had no choice but to endure it dutifully.

What a sucker.

But he hadn’t expected Jiang Yi to be such a handful from the very beginning.

After all, Jiang Yi was an Omega. Even though he had originally been an Alpha and still carried those habits, he was far too careless and unrestrained.

For example, stripping off his shirt before even reaching the bathroom.

“Hey, hey, hey! Jiang Yi, you’re an Omega now. At least have some sense of propriety, okay? I’m an Alpha here.”

“What’s the big deal? I’m still a guy.”

“It’s not the same. Alphas and Omegas are fundamentally different.” Chu Beiheng sighed helplessly, bending down to pick up the shirt Jiang Yi had tossed aside. He held it up in front of Jiang Yi’s chest with a strained smile. “Come on, don’t be like this. You’re way too manly for an Omega give this Alpha some face, alright? Just cover up a little, for show.”

Jiang Yi raised an eyebrow, taking the shirt. He patted Chu Beiheng’s shoulder. “No need to watch over me like a dad. We’re just roommates now relax, okay?”

With that, he turned and closed the bathroom door behind him.

Chu Beiheng: “…” How could he relax? Ugh.

Aside from the shirt issue, there was another thing that drove Chu Beiheng up the wall Jiang Yi sleeping naked. The problem wasn’t the nudity itself, but the fact that Jiang Yi ended up with a fever afterward, one so severe he lost consciousness. Chu Beiheng had to break the door down to find him.

Terrified, he immediately called a private doctor to the house. After the examination, the doctor concluded it was due to catching a chill and advised that a pregnant person should not sleep naked. Since Jiang Yi couldn’t take medication or injections while pregnant, they had to rely on physical cooling methods.

In the bedroom.

“See? What did I tell you? When you were an Alpha, sleeping like this was fine, but now you’re an Omega and pregnant. You have to change your old habits. This isn’t just for you, but for the baby too.”

Jiang Yi’s face was flushed with fever, his mind hazy, but he could still hear Chu Beiheng’s nagging and feel the alcohol being gently wiped over his limbs.

Maybe it was the fever making him delirious, but his thoughts began to wander, and tears slipped out before he could stop them.

He had been in Country M for a month now, far away from home. He had been trying hard not to think about Yan Nanchen, but in this moment of physical weakness, his emotions betrayed him.

Because he remembered how Yan Nanchen had comforted him during his frequent fevers after his secondary differentiation.

He would hold him in his arms, whispering gentle reassurances.

He would stroke his hair and murmur softly by his ear.

He would tell him stories when the pain became unbearable, just to distract him.

So how long would it take for him to forget Yan Nanchen?

Chu Beiheng was just picking up a towel when he inadvertently looked up and saw Jiang Yi’s tear-streaked face. Startled, his hand trembled, and he quickly moved his chair to the bedside. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Or did I wipe too hard?”

Speaking only made it worse Jiang Yi burst into sobs.

Chu Beiheng: “!!!!” Instantly flustered, he fumbled awkwardly, unsure where to put the towel. “Don’t cry yet. At least tell me why you’re crying. Maybe I can help.”

“Seeing you reminds me of Yan Nanchen. It hurts. It’s unbearable. I want to kill someone.”

Chu Beiheng: “?!!!!” He glanced down at the towel in his hand, silently unfolded it, and held it up to cover his face. “Stay calm. Always stay calm. Now you can’t see my face. Bro, we live in a society governed by law. Murder is illegal.”

Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he stood up, muttered “Wait for me,” and dashed out of the room. Less than a minute later, he returned wearing a Doberman mask and sat back down by the bed.

“This was from last semester’s school masquerade. Perfect timing. Now you can’t see my face. Feeling better?”

Jiang Yi, eyes red, glanced at Chu Beiheng with the Doberman mask beside the bed. For some reason, his tears fell even harder. He turned over, hugged the blanket, and finally let out a heart-wrenching sob.

It had been a month since the breakup.

In that month, he had moved to a new environment to start afresh. Bored, he considered pursuing another master’s degree. Since Chu Beiheng was also in management, he borrowed his study materials, thinking of applying for graduate school in the U.S.

Compared to his previously hectic life, things had indeed slowed down. It felt like a much-needed respite, a chance to pause the past and begin anew.

He thought it wouldn’t matter.

He thought he’d forget soon.

He thought, as an adult, he should take responsibility for his own foolish mistakes and not wallow in self-pity.

Yet why, in his lowest moments, did he still think of the one who hurt him the most?

“Take off that mask,” Jiang Yi sobbed into the blanket.

Chu Beiheng was baffled. He removed it. “Why? Didn’t you not want to see my face?” He knew how much he resembled his younger brother Yan Nanchen and assumed his face was the trigger for Jiang Yi’s pain.

But now, it seemed the mask made it worse.

“That mask is a dog.”

“Yeah, it’s a dog.”

“I called Yan Nanchen ‘puppy.’ Also a dog.”

Chu Beiheng: “.”

Expressionless, he stared at the mask in his hand. So he couldn’t win either way. Sighing imperceptibly, he tossed it into the trash bin. “Fine, I’ll go buy a different one later.”

Jiang Yi said nothing more, lying with his back to Chu Beiheng. Even without seeing his face, the air around him was thick with sorrow.

The bedroom fell into brief silence.

Just as Chu Beiheng was about to fetch a fresh bowl of alcohol, a quiet question came from the bed.

“Chu Beiheng, do you know how to forget someone?”

Chu Beiheng: “…” He offered an awkward yet polite smile. “That question really stumps me. I’ve never been in a relationship.”

“Like, if someone deceived you emotionally, how would you get through the hardest part?”

Chu Beiheng heard Jiang Yi’s question and thought for a moment before answering casually, “Just for fun.”

“What kind of fun?”

“Whatever you want to do.”

“Can I go bowling then?”

“Of course. There’s a bowling alley near the school where I’m a VIP. I’ll take you there tomorrow.”

“What about pool?”

“What a coincidence, there’s a pool hall nearby where I’m also a VIP.”

“Then I want to go clubbing.”

“Wow, a pregnant dad clubbing? That’s so cool!”

Jiang Yi rolled over in bed, lying on his side with his hand tucked under his head as he stared at Chu Beiheng standing by the bed. His gaze lingered for a long moment.

Chu Beiheng felt his scalp tingle under Jiang Yi’s intense stare. He swallowed hard and instinctively wrapped his arms around himself. “Jiang Yi, I know my brother and I are twins, but I don’t do the whole ‘replacement’ thing.”

“No, I can tell now that the two of you are completely different,” Jiang Yi murmured, lowering his eyes. If only he had met the real Chu Beiheng earlier, he wouldn’t have mistaken them.

Because their personalities were nothing alike.

“How are we different?”

“He’s like a Doberman cold and aloof on the outside, mature and steady in personality, but actually gentle at heart. He’s very docile when he doesn’t need to be on guard, protective, occasionally even a little clingy. He gives people a strong sense of security.”

Chu Beiheng suddenly had a bad feeling. “And me?”

“A husky.”

Chu Beiheng forced a smile. “Thanks a lot.” He really appreciated that.

Jiang Yi laughed at Chu Beiheng’s exaggerated expression, but his laughter soon dissolved into uncontrollable sobs.

Why did fate have to play such a cruel joke? Why did he have to lie?

If only he hadn’t.

Seeing him cry again, Chu Beiheng quickly reassured him, “Hey, a husky’s fine! I didn’t say it was bad. It’s great, I really am kind of a dog, aren’t I? Don’t cry. It’s not good for your health, especially since you’re pregnant. You don’t want to make yourself sick over this.”

“I want to go bowling now.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah.”

“But you still have a fever. That’s not a good idea, is it?”

“Exercise will make me sweat, and then the fever will break.”

“That kind of makes sense.”

By unspoken agreement, neither of them mentioned the name “Yan Nanchen” again.

And so, under the care of his goofy roommate Chu Beiheng, Jiang Yi managed to live each day in relative happiness. During the day, he’d tag along to Chu Beiheng’s classes, occasionally go on camping trips, and on weekends, he’d get dragged into reading parenting books. Lately, they’d even started learning how to knit baby shoes and sweaters together.

In fact, when Chu Beiheng went back for Little Gold Bean’s full-month celebration, he’d brought along a pair of tiny knitted shoes, one pair from each of them. Since it was a girl, they’d used pink yarn.

As long as he didn’t think about the past, everything was fine.

But despite his relatively stable mood, his morning sickness grew increasingly severe.

At three months pregnant, he fainted from severe nausea and was rushed to the hospital. It was then that he was suddenly told he was carrying twins.

“Yes, they’re fraternal twins. The reason we didn’t detect it earlier is because one of the gestational sacs developed more slowly and was too small to be noticed. But both embryos currently have normal heartbeats. May I ask, is he your Alpha?”

Jiang Yi glanced at Chu Beiheng and shook his head. “No.”

The doctor’s expression turned grave. “You’re a Secondary Differentiation Omega. Your body is inherently weaker during the initial differentiation phase. Without your Alpha by your side during pregnancy, it’s actually not conducive to fetal development. You and your Alpha are.”

Jiang Yi fell silent for a moment. He initially wanted to say “dead,” but after some thought, he changed his wording: “We’re separated.”

Chu Beiheng glanced at Jiang Yi.

“In that case, you’ll need fetal preservation treatment. Let’s start with a fetal preservation injection. After the injection, you’ll need complete bed rest for a week with a nutrient-rich diet. If you experience any discomfort in your birth cavity, come to the hospital immediately. Later, we’ll conduct genetic screening to check for secondary differentiation genes.”

Jiang Yi detected the seriousness in the doctor’s tone. Feeling uneasy, he tightly gripped the fabric of his pants over his knees. “Is this secondary differentiation hereditary?”

“Yes, it can be either dominant or recessive. Yours is a typical recessive case very difficult to detect. However, it can trigger sudden secondary differentiation under extreme emotional distress from severe trauma or special drug stimulation. If you’re pregnant, there’s a fifty percent chance it could be passed to your child.”

“And if it’s inherited, what would happen?”

“Since you’re carrying dizygotic twins with separate placentas, if one fetus tests positive for the dominant gene, its viability would be relatively low. So if you ever feel discomfort in your birth cavity or notice any unusual discharge, you must come to the hospital immediately for examination.”

“What if it’s recessive? I’m a latent secondary differentiation patient, so my children would most likely be recessive too, right?”

“Not necessarily. Of course, the best outcome would be if they’re recessive.”

Jiang Yi suddenly felt a sharp headache. He raised his hand to massage his forehead, brows furrowed tightly as his eyes gradually reddened. What if he lost a child because of his own condition?

“Doctor, is there any chance it won’t be inherited at all?”

“There is, but the probability is very low only one percent. And that’s only possible if your Alpha is by your side throughout the entire pregnancy. The fetus develops more healthily when exposed to high concentrations of alpha pheromones.” Noticing Jiang Yi’s pale complexion and the way he was rubbing his forehead, the doctor hesitated before adding, “For now, let’s proceed with the fetal preservation injection. Try to stay in a positive mood.”

“Alright, thank you, Doctor.”

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