A World Asunder - Chapter 2

As soon as Zhao Yexi stepped into the pet hospital, he heard Tao Qiaosheng’s panicked wail: “I can barely afford to raise you anymore, and you’re giving me a litter of six?!”

The response was a sweet and dainty “meow.”

Catching Zhao Yexi in his peripheral vision, Tao Qiaosheng looked like a dying video game character who had just spotted a health pack. He dashed toward the door.

“Xi-zai! I cannot believe this. Are you here to witness me becoming a grandfather? No, wait, it should be maternal grandfather. Hold on, paternal grandfather also makes sense.” Mid-sentence, Tao Qiaosheng spotted the guy following behind Zhao Yexi and nearly bit his tongue. “Ah!”

Lu Huangzhi asked, “Introduction?”

Zhao Yexi remained expressionless. “My childhood friend, Tao Qiaosheng. This is Lu Huangzhi.”

Tao Qiaosheng let out a shriek of excitement. “Oh-ho-ho-ho!”

Lu Huangzhi looked slightly surprised. “You know me?”

“Of course! The campus heartthrob of Zhongshan University,” Tao Qiaosheng said enthusiastically. “Xi-zai mentions you in front of me all the time.”

Zhao Yexi had a bad feeling. “Shut your mouth.”

Lu Huangzhi looked intrigued. “What has he mentioned?”

Tao Qiaosheng grinned. “Said you’re handsome.”

Zhao Yexi snapped, “You’re full of it!”

Lu Huangzhi chuckled. “You can say those things to my face in the future. No need to be shy.”

Zhao Yexi was utterly exasperated. “Lu Huangzhi, have you no shame?”

“I don’t. If you want some, I’ll give mine to you.” Lu Huangzhi glanced around. “Where’s the cat?”

Zhao Yexi hadn’t planned on bringing Lu Huangzhi along, but the pet hospital was far from campus and it was nearly impossible to hail a cab during rush hour. Lu Huangzhi’s car just happened to be parked at the school. After a brief internal struggle, Zhao Yexi had swallowed his pride and gotten in.

In the exam room, Tao Qiaosheng’s Ragdoll cat was being held down on the table by a nurse, exposing its snowy-white belly. Its expression was docile, bordering on dazed. A young vet with glasses was moving an ultrasound probe across its stomach.

“How is it?” Tao Qiaosheng asked.

“It’s definitely six,” the vet said. “I’ll count them for you. Here’s one, here’s another.”

Zhao Yexi knit his brows. “That’s not the point.”

Lu Huangzhi asked, “Can I hold it?”

Tao Qiaosheng was generous. “As long as you’re a good-looking guy, hold him as much as you want.”

Lu Huangzhi took the cat from the nurse, lifted its tail, and saw two fluffy little spheres. “Zhao Yexi, come look at these balls.”

Refusing to give up, Zhao Yexi gave the little fluffs a light squeeze. Thousands of words condensed into one: “Holy sh*t.”

“Hard to believe, right?” the vet said in a worldly, detached tone. “To tell you the truth, the first time I saw this, it was a pregnant male rabbit. I was so scared I called the police.”

Tao Qiaosheng asked, “And then?”

“Then, the police arrived with researchers in white coats and took the rabbit away.”

Tao Qiaosheng gasped in horror. “To dissect it? Will my son suffer the same fate?!”

The vet comforted him. “They probably have enough samples by now. It won’t be his turn.”

Zhao Yexi couldn’t wrap his head around it. “No; you guys are just accepting this? It’s a male! A male is pregnant!”

Lu Huangzhi replied, “We’ve already finished being shocked.”

Tao Qiaosheng chimed in, “Don’t worry, Zai. When I first saw the news, my reaction was even more dramatic than yours.”

Zhao Yexi recalled a trending topic he’d seen earlier and asked with a trembling voice, “Wait, can this virus spread to humans? Dammit, I just touched the cat’s balls!”

“Experts have already debunked the rumors. The appearance of a second gender is based on genetic mutation; it has nothing to do with a virus and it’s definitely not contagious.”

Zhao Yexi breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the vet added, “However, there’s a chance this mutation could appear in humans as well.”

The three boys’ gazes snapped onto the vet.

The vet waved his hands dismissively. “That’s not me saying it; it’s the experts.”

“Which expert?” Zhao Yexi said skeptically. “Sounds unreliable.”

The vet picked up a tablet, opened a video, and said, “Take a look.”

A familiar face appeared on the screen. Zhao Yexi nearly choked. “Dad?”

Lu Huangzhi replied, “Present.”

Zhao Yexi’s itching middle finger finally lost its restraint, snapping up right in front of Lu Huangzhi’s eyes. “You really don’t do a single thing that qualifies as human, do you?”

Tao Qiaosheng leaned into the screen. “It really is Uncle Zhao. Xi-zai, your dad is an expert on the second gender?”

“But the last time I saw him, he was just an ordinary, slightly chubby middle-aged man.”

Tao Qiaosheng said sourly, “The Director of the Seventh Research Institute of Suicheng is ‘ordinary’; then what does that make me?”

Zhao Yexi replied, “To be honest, I’ve always viewed you as illiterate.”

The vet was stunned. “So you’re Young Master Zhao! My apologies, I didn’t realize.”

Lu Huangzhi asked, “How long has it been since you saw your dad?”

“Just a week.” After Zhao Yexi graduated with his bachelor’s, his family bought him an apartment near the university. He usually lived there and only went home on weekends.

In the video, Zhao’s father looked every bit the high-level intellectual. He explained the emergence of the second gender in mammals in an orderly fashion, urging the public not to listen to or spread rumors. When a reporter asked if humans might show similar symptoms, he spoke realistically: “We cannot rule out the possibility. Currently, we know it appears in common mammals like dogs, cats, rabbits, and mice, as well as less common ones like dolphins, giant pandas, and chimpanzees. The differentiation goes in two directions: masculinization and feminization, with probabilities of about 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.”

The interview ended with the reporter thanking him: “Professor Zhao Guangyao’s team is currently sequencing and studying the mutated genes. We will continue to follow up.”

A silence fell over the group. Tao Qiaosheng broke it first: “If humans get a second gender, does that mean we could get pregnant too?”

Zhao Yexi’s scalp tingled. “What’s with that look of anticipation on your face?”

Lu Huangzhi said, “Unfortunately, these are all forms of sexual reproduction.”

Zhao Yexi didn’t catch his drift immediately. “What does that mean?”

“It means that unless you’re the receptive partner in a same-sex act, a human male won’t get pregnant just because he differentiated.”

“Oh, right!” Tao Qiaosheng said regretfully. “My son got pregnant because he was mounted by another male cat. As long as we don’t get mounted by men, we’re fine even if we differentiate.”

Lu Huangzhi asked meaningfully, “So, Senior Zhao Yexi, what exactly are you worried about?”

Zhao Yexi was speechless. His skin was fairer than many girls’; when he was angry, his cheeks flushed slightly, and his large black eyes looked almost damp.

You forced my hand.

Zhao Yexi pulled out his phone, opened WeChat, found Lu Huangzhi’s profile, and deleted him right in front of his face.

Lu Huangzhi blinked, covered his face with his hand, and lowered his head. His shoulders shook slightly as if he were stifling a laugh.

Tao Qiaosheng had known Zhao Yexi for twenty years. Every time Zhao Yexi got angry, he would provide a play-by-play commentary: “It’s here! Xi-zai’s ultimate move: using an angry face and childish blocking behavior to melt the opponent’s HP bar while inflicting a brief stun effect.”

Lu Huangzhi looked up and smiled. “This move is pretty powerful. My health is critical.”

Zhao Yexi looked at them like they were idiots. “Do you two think you’re funny?”

Lu Huangzhi, seemingly having had his fill of fun, tucked away his smile. “If there’s nothing else, shall I drive you back to school?”

Zhao Yexi tried his best to look fierce. “Drive for me? Are you worthy?”

Lu Huangzhi actually thought about it. “I think I’m quite a good match.”

Zhao Yexi completely lost his temper. “The door is that way. Please get lost.”

This time, Zhao Yexi held his ground and didn’t hitch a ride. Tao Qiaosheng watched Lu Huangzhi get into his car and sighed, “Lu Huangzhi really is so handsome.”

Tao Qiaosheng was a vain boy with a naturally pretty face. He spent thirty minutes on his hair every morning, never missed a face mask at night, and only wore designer-coordinated outfits. But the campus god title he worked so hard for was nothing compared to Lu Huangzhi. Lu Huangzhi could throw on any random clothes and a hat and still outshine him instantly.

“Dammit, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten,” Zhao Yexi began to settle the score. “When did I ever say Lu Huangzhi was handsome?”

“At the start of the last school year! You told me a total hottie had arrived at your school and even showed me a photo. Did you forget?”

It seemed that did happen.

Zhao Yexi tried to save face. “I hadn’t seen his true colors back then, which is why I said something so blasphemous. You have no idea; after I said it, I was on edge for ages, feeling like I was going to be struck by lightning.”

“You said it more than once. You said it again later.”

“Impossible!”

“Your exact words were: Lu Huangzhi is utterly useless aside from his face.”

Zhao Yexi immediately corrected himself: “Oh. Well, I wasn’t wrong then.”

“But I think his personality is fine. He’s pretty interesting,” Tao Qiaosheng said. “Xi-zai, why do you dislike him so much? Is he a bad person?”

Zhao Yexi didn’t have a habit of badmouthing people behind their backs. He replied grudgingly, “Not exactly.”

Tao Qiaosheng snapped his fingers. “I get it. A guy that handsome must be a player. You’re angry on behalf of all the girls.”

“No.” From his observation, Lu Huangzhi was quite a gentleman to girls, never making off-color jokes. He was a completely different person around them compared to how he acted with Zhao Yexi.

“Is it really just because your mentors don’t get along?”

“A conflict of core values is serious.” Zhao Yexi said coldly, “Besides, can’t you see he loves messing with me?”

“Messing with you? That’s just how friends joke around,” Tao Qiaosheng said. “Don’t you always want to be my daddy too?”

“How long have you known him that you’re already defending him?” Zhao Yexi scoffed. “He’s a paragon of virtue to everyone else, but he targets me specifically. But that’s fine; I’m keeping track. I’ll give him a taste of his own medicine, a hundred times over!”

Tao Qiaosheng looked at his childhood friend, who was half a head shorter than him, and said affectionately, “As long as our Xi-zai is happy.”

After parting with Tao Qiaosheng, Zhao Yexi went home. His father wasn’t there; only the nanny was home. Zhao Yexi asked, “Auntie, do you know where my dad is?”

“I do,” the nanny said. “Isn’t he researching that second gender thing?”

“You watched the news too?”

“He told me before he left. He said he’d be very busy and would be eating and sleeping at the research institute, so I didn’t need to cook for him.”

If even the nanny knew and he didn’t, he must have been a secret adoption.

Zhao Yexi called both of his parents. His dad didn’t answer, and his mom’s phone was turned off. His parents often took part in classified research, disappearing for months at a time. Zhao Yexi was used to it; at least this time he knew what they were doing.

After dinner, Zhao Yexi lay on the sofa scrolling through his phone and received a friend request.

[Huang wants to add you as a friend] [Verification message: You there? Let’s make up?]

Zhao Yexi was so angry the back of his neck felt hot. Since when did a fight between arch-enemies end with “making up”?!