After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Zhu Yunqi, I Like It Very Much.

Last night, Zhu Yunqi had taken the medicine prescribed by the doctor to stimulate pheromone secretion. This morning, she already had mild symptoms of the sensitive period.

The needle pierced her skin. At first, she felt nothing, but when the syringe’s plunger began to pull back, Zhu Yunqi felt a sharp, electric pain that instantly shot through her entire body from her gland.

It felt as if her gland wasn’t being extracted, but rather sliced with a blade, then ripped from her flesh after being shredded. An invisible needle seemed to roam freely under her skin, like a meat grinder. Her gland felt as if it were being seared by a flame, the flesh shriveling and bleeding, yet forced to remain stretched for the extraction.

The agony made time seem to stretch on forever.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but Zhu Yunqi felt half of her body go numb. Suddenly, something cool touched her scorching hot neck, and then the doctor said, “It’s done.”

Zhu Yunqi took the sterile, pain-relieving cotton ball from the doctor’s hand and pressed it down. A five-milliliter tube of a pale pink liquid was now on the sterile tray. Pheromones were originally transparent, but a small amount of blood was unavoidably drawn during the extraction, creating this beautiful and corrupted pale pink color.

A flicker of displeasure appeared in Zhu Yunqi’s eyes.

It took almost half a century to extract just this much?

“Is this enough? We can continue if it’s not.”

The doctor carefully placed the tube of pheromones into a shock-resistant box and replied, “It’s enough. After filtration, purification, and other procedures, this will only yield about 0.1 milliliters of usable pheromones. However, Omegas don’t need much pheromone during their heat. 0.01 milliliters of pure pheromone can have a great soothing effect, and with your 99.9% match, even less will be needed.”

After speaking, the doctor sent the pheromones for the next step. Zhu Yunqi was kept for half an hour for observation and was then forced to have a full-body check-up in a medical pod. Only after all her vitals were normal did the doctor let her go.

As she was leaving, the doctor handed Zhu Yunqi a big bag of nutritional supplements. When she opened the bag, it was full of Alpha-specific supplements: for the heart, kidneys, liver, blood, and brain…

A complete tonic.

Zhu Yunqi felt she could turn into a superhero after taking all of them.

She threw the supplements into the trunk and sat in the car, turning on the massage function to rest for a while. Although her vitals were fine, her head felt a little dizzy, which the doctor said was normal.

She planned to rest for a while before leaving.

The fatigue of the past few days rushed in, and Zhu Yunqi fell asleep without realizing it.

She woke up an hour later.

She took a sip of water and told the car to drive home. Her mother said that the formal gown the tailor had come to make for the engagement was ready and had been delivered this morning. She wanted Zhu Yunqi to go home and try it on.

Hehe. Wen Yue had been shot, and their families were still thinking about marriage.

Her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of an Omega walking out of the hospital entrance. Shi Li was wearing a white tracksuit and three-quarter-length pants that revealed a particularly fair and slender pair of calves. Her legs were very straight, and the Achilles tendons were long, making her legs look exceptionally long. Paired with her thin and expressionless face, the overall effect made her look like she was 1.8 meters tall.

Because of her illness, she was even thinner than before, as if a gust of wind could blow her away. The black backpack she was wearing looked like a big pot strapped to her slender back. Her hair was tied into a puffy bun at the back of her head, with two curved strands left at her temples for a touch of adornment, which blurred some of her pallor and gave her a hint of playfulness.

An Alpha bumped into her client, who was just discharged from the hospital, at the entrance. Should she go up and say hello and offer to drive her home?

Zhu Yunqi gave a definitive “yes.”

She was a responsible client, after all.

The car stopped precisely in front of Shi Li.

Shi Li’s steps faltered. She glanced at the low-key, luxurious car and immediately recognized who was inside.

After getting in the car, Shi Li asked, “Zhu Yunqi, why are you here?”

Could the back she saw that morning, which she thought was Zhu Yunqi, have really been her?

“Hmm, I came to the hospital to investigate a situation with the doctor,” Zhu Yunqi replied without a hint of guilt. “Are you going home? Or somewhere else? I’ll give you a ride.”

Shi Li gave her the name of a restaurant. She had promised to treat Tang Yingchi to a meal.

Shi Li felt she should also treat Zhu Yunqi to a meal. She thought the restaurant was in a secluded location, so it was unlikely she would run into Wen Yue there… After Wen Yue’s outburst in the hospital room last time, she had been dutifully staying at the Combat Department, eating all her meals in the cafeteria.

“Would you like to have lunch with us?”

Zhu Yunqi wanted to go. But if she didn’t go home to try on the dress, her mother would probably make a big fuss. Besides, she wasn’t comfortable interrupting someone else’s meal and ruining their original plan for two people.

“I have something to do for lunch.” She didn’t elaborate further.

Shi Li understood that Zhu Yunqi was politely declining.

The car wasn’t going very fast. The weather was nice today, with a clear blue sky. The early summer temperature was no longer as comfortable as spring and was a little hot, but it was just right for the two people who had just come out of the hospital. As they passed a lawn, they saw people flying kites.

So Zhu Yunqi lowered the car’s altitude to avoid hitting the kite strings.

Zhu Yunqi asked about Shi Li’s health. It would be difficult to see her after she was discharged.

If all went well, Shi Li should have just been injected with her pheromones.

Her own pheromones being injected into an Omega’s gland, like a mark but not a mark… Zhu Yunqi’s gaze lingered on the back of Shi Li’s neck, and a strange ripple spread through her heart.

An indescribable sense of satisfaction welled up inside her.

Shi Li didn’t hide her condition at all. She briefly described her condition to Zhu Yunqi and candidly said, “I just got an injection of a volunteer Alpha’s pheromones. Dr. Ji said her pheromones are a very high match for mine. I feel…”

She paused, looked at the kite flying outside the window, feeling both ashamed and relieved. “Very comfortable.”

Before the Alpha pheromone injection, Shi Li hadn’t felt any obvious discomfort. It was just that a large, invisible hole seemed to have appeared inside her body, silently eating away at her nutrition, energy, and sleep. She would easily feel tired no matter what she did, and she couldn’t control a slight, subconscious anxiety. Tang Yingchi had told her this was just the weakness of her body not fully recovered after an illness.

But when the transparent liquid from the syringe was injected into the back of her neck, after a brief sting, it was as if a pair of warm hands had smoothed away her anxiety and weakness. She felt like a desert that had been scorching in the sun, suddenly welcoming a downpour that belonged only to her; or like being surrounded by warm sunlight and a rising tide, with clouds swirling around her. She was a ship that had just weathered a storm and had finally arrived at a peaceful harbor, where she found infinite security.

What Shi Li didn’t tell Zhu Yunqi was that the feeling of this comfort felt somewhat familiar.

It was the same soothing comfort she had felt from the fresh, bitter scent of orange wood on Zhu Yunqi that night in the suburban villa.

The treated pheromones had no smell, so Shi Li couldn’t guess who had donated them to her.

She didn’t know many Alphas, and the most familiar one was Zhu Yunqi.

But it couldn’t be Zhu Yunqi. Dr. Ji said the donor Alpha had a 99.9% match with her. With such a high match, she wouldn’t be able to handle just smelling the other person’s pheromones. And yet, she had acted so sensually in front of Zhu Yunqi, but Zhu Yunqi hadn’t even kissed her.

Zhu Yunqi clearly didn’t want to mark her, so it was impossible for them to have such a high match.

Because she was looking at the kite to avoid eye contact, Shi Li didn’t notice the flicker of emotion in Zhu Yunqi’s eyes.

“It’s good that you’re not uncomfortable anymore,” Zhu Yunqi said in a low voice.

After a moment of hesitation, she couldn’t help but ask about the flowerpot and the little plant.

Zhu Yunqi pretended not to know that the flowerpot and plant had been thrown away. “Did you see that little plant? You were sleeping at the time, so I just put it on your bedside table.”

She just wanted to know who had thrown it away.

It was fine if Tang Yingchi threw it away, or Wen Yue, or even the doctor. It didn’t matter.

As long as Shi Li didn’t throw it away herself.

Although the plant and the flowerpot were not valuable, it was a gift that she had carefully selected for a long time. It would be a little heartbreaking if the person who received the gift threw it away.

Shi Li wouldn’t lie to her.

Unexpectedly, when the little plant was mentioned, Shi Li’s spirits lifted.

“I saw it. I love it very much. I brought it home after I was discharged and put it on my bedside table. I water it and give it sunlight every day, and it’s growing super fast. It’s about this tall now,” Shi Li said, gesturing with her index finger and thumb to show an inch of height.

Her tone was a little higher as she vividly described the plant’s growth.

As Shi Li spoke so vividly, the light in Zhu Yunqi’s eyes dimmed.

Hadn’t the little plant been thrown away?

Was Shi Li lying to her to avoid making her sad?

She could have told her the truth. An Alpha’s heart couldn’t possibly be so fragile that it couldn’t handle a little plant being cruelly thrown away.

But then, Shi Li pulled up a few pictures on her light brain. She turned on sharing mode and sent the set of pictures to Zhu Yunqi.

It was a series of photos of the little plant’s growth. But the bald little dog flowerpot looked different in some places, as if someone had drawn a few lines on it with a pen, making it look old and broken.

“I’ve been keeping a record every day,” Shi Li said, scrolling from the first picture. The background of the first few pictures was the hospital ward. From the fourth day onwards, the background changed to a brown bedside table, with a cute humanoid mech model next to it.

“I accidentally broke the flowerpot in the hospital. I glued it back together with water, but no matter how I glued it, the cracks remained and couldn’t be removed. I’m sorry, I didn’t take good care of it.”

As soon as Shi Li finished speaking, the car suddenly accelerated. She was pushed back into the seat, feeling the thrilling acceleration of the luxury car.

Zhu Yunqi slowly reduced her speed. Her heart was racing. She had accidentally stepped on the gas pedal.

Suddenly, she felt the weather had become much clearer, perfect for lying on the grass and basking in the sun.

So the little plant wasn’t thrown away. Shi Li had been carefully taking care of it all along.

The corners of Zhu Yunqi’s lips lifted slightly. She bit her lip, her eyebrows relaxed, and her heart felt like a cloud, light and wanting to fly.

“It’s fine if it’s broken. You didn’t have to fix it. A new one is very cheap.”

“I like it very much,” Shi Li repeated. “Now that it’s been broken once and has cracks, those cracks make it completely unique. I really love it.”

“Zhu Yunqi, thank you for such a wonderful gift.”

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