The Protagonist and the Villain Both Kissed Me [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 15

“What?” Su Xi opened his mouth in bewilderment. He hadn’t heard a word of what Duan Cheng said. Hearing the man’s interrogative tone, his eyes instantly turned red. He pursed his lips. “I just woke up and saw you weren’t here… I was afraid of disturbing you, so I… why are you being so mean?”

The words at the tip of Duan Cheng’s tongue were swallowed back down the moment he saw the boy’s pitiful appearance. Realizing his attitude had been too harsh, he remained silent for two seconds before letting out a helpless sigh. He reached out, scooped the boy up by the waist, and carried him back inside. He placed him gently on the bed and pulled up the covers.

“Sleep,” he said softly.

Su Xi leaned against the headboard, lowering his gaze to hide his emotions. His long, curled eyelashes trembled as he remained silent. He bit his lip and muttered in a small voice, “I can’t sleep anymore.”

“What?” His voice was too soft; Duan Cheng hadn’t heard him clearly.

“I said… can you hold me while we sleep?” With reddened ears, Su Xi grabbed Duan Cheng’s sleeve. The gaze he turned toward the man was full of innocence and undisguised affection.

Duan Cheng was only human; he was not immune to the uncontrollable urge to love beautiful things. He felt a stir of emotion in his heart. In the silent night, he could almost hear his own heart thumping vigorously in his chest. An alluring scent of orchids lingered at the tip of his nose.

On the soft, spacious bed, Su Xi found a comfortable position and slept peacefully in Duan Cheng’s arms. Feeling the man’s warmth and cool aura, all the irritability in his heart was smoothed away. One after another, the system’s notification chimes rang in his head.

With the “fragrant jade” in his arms, Duan Cheng’s body felt a bit stiff. He lowered his eyes to look at the boy, who seemed to have already fallen asleep. Curled up in his arms, the boy was as well-behaved as a rabbit seeking shelter after a fright. His fair face was flushed at the corners of the eyes, and through his slightly parted lips, one could vaguely see a small tip of a pink tongue.

Duan Cheng could no longer remember how many times Su Xi had been this defenseless in front of him. Did he truly believe, with all his heart, that this once-hated fiancé would sincerely fall in love with him and stay with him willingly?

As the most popular, pampered Omega in the Empire, Su Xi could make many people lose their composure just by releasing a bit of pheromones. He was arrogant, overbearing, and prone to “fox-vowing-the-tiger’s-might.” Yet, he was clearly a simple-minded person. Had it not been for his status, how could he live so comfortably and freely in a school teeming with socialites and powerful elites?

Duan Cheng had heard others evaluate Su Xi behind his back more than once. They feared that once the family declined, he could only become a “canary” in upper-class society—a plaything for the powerful to observe and enjoy.

A fragile rose that would easily die if not cared for meticulously and watered with total devotion.

He originally thought he would never have any further intersection with the boy. Yet, every event occurring now told him that the willful young master seemed to have set aside their past grievances and was approaching him with a purpose.

Su Xi slept heavily, naturally unaware of what was going on in Duan Cheng’s mind. He only felt, in his muddled state, something cool being pressed against his gland. Strands of orchid fragrance leaked out under the pressure. He wanted to see who the culprit was, but his eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and he couldn’t open them no matter what.

He whimpered and could only wave his hands blindly. However, the gland being suddenly treated roughly made his entire body go soft. He could only murmur indistinctly, “Don’t press it… it’ll break…”

“Who am I?” a hoarse voice whispered in his ear.

Su Xi’s consciousness was chaotic; he could only speak based on instinct: “A-Cheng.”

He couldn’t remember how many things he had been enticed into saying before he was finally let go. He only knew that when he woke up the next day, the skin around the gland on the back of his neck was somewhat swollen. He had to layer two scent-blocking patches together to cover it up so it wasn’t obvious.

“What even…” Su Xi truly didn’t understand why the man liked his gland and pheromones and such so much. Did they really have that much allure?

Fortunately, after spending time with Duan Cheng yesterday, the Salvation Value had not only returned to its previous level but had also increased by ten points. Now, the number on the screen was fixed at 75. This was already past the halfway mark on the progress bar; he was naturally very satisfied.

“If I confess to Duan Cheng at the birthday banquet, it should reach 90, right?” Su Xi looked at himself in the mirror, pondering his next move to maximize his seduction of the man.

In his usual live-streaming room, forget about him chasing someone even if he just frowned slightly, people would send massive gifts to make him happy. Where else would he need to exhaust his mind to pursue someone, or even sacrifice his “charms” to seduce them?

After washing up, he opened the door and walked out. When he went downstairs, Duan Cheng was already ready. He was sitting on the sofa, flipping through a colorful collection of stories piled randomly on the coffee table. The covers were bright and gaudy. Su Xi hurried forward, only feeling relieved when he saw that Duan Cheng had only read the first two pages of the introduction.

“Let’s go, let’s go out for breakfast.” He didn’t come to the villa often, so it wasn’t stocked with ingredients. Glancing at the clock on the wall as it flickered and jumped to 8:00 AM, he wasn’t surprised. He simply added, “There’s a breakfast shop nearby with decent food. Let’s go try it.”

The shop he mentioned was one the original owner had visited on a whim once with Li Huai. The environment was clean and the taste was good. Most importantly, the location was relatively secluded, so there wouldn’t be many customers at this hour.

At 8:00 AM, the breakfast shop was bustling with activity. Customers shouting for soy milk scanned their payments and left with their food. The owner grabbed the towel hanging around his neck to wipe away sweat, while his wife was busy boiling fresh meat wontons, scooping away the surface foam before serving them.

Su Xi looked at the already cramped shop, now packed with people. Just looking at it made him feel uncomfortably sticky. He stood on the opposite side of the street, feeling conflicted, and turned to Duan Cheng. “There seem to be quite a few people today. How about we leave…”

“Hey, Little Su is here!” The owner, busy frying dough sticks, saw Su Xi standing across the way and waved. Guessing the boy’s thoughts, he quickly called out, “Come, come, come! Go sit on the second floor. There’s no one up there, and it’s cool.”

By all accounts, a customer like Su Xi, who had only visited once, should have been unremarkable among the many patrons the owner saw daily. But who could help it? Su Xi was beautiful and well-behaved; he looked like a cherished child, making it hard not to feel soft-hearted toward him.

Su Xi sat on a wooden chair on the second floor. Indeed, as the owner said, it was very cool and there were no other customers it was as if it were specially reserved for a VIP.

The owner brought up two bowls of signature wontons and some soup dumplings, placing them on the table with a grin. “Yo, you didn’t come with Little Huai today? Is this a new friend?”

Su Xi’s brow furrowed slightly before he hooked his arm through Duan Cheng’s. He introduced him with a smile: “Fiancé.”

The owner nodded to show he understood, cheerfully told them to eat and drink well, and then turned to go downstairs. He said to his wife, “Little Su’s fiancé… he’s just an ordinary Beta?”

Even though the couple’s brief conversation was kept low, Duan Cheng heard it anyway. His face remained expressionless as he took a tissue to wipe away some soup Su Xi had accidentally spilled.

Following his gaze, Su Xi was eating the wontons in small bites with his head down. The freshly cooked wontons were still steaming. He took a bite and got burned, scowling as he grabbed his water glass. His lips were turned a deep crimson by the moisture.

A peerless beauty who accidentally fell into the mortal world.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Su Xi swallowed his wonton and reached for the aged vinegar nearby. He looked up to see that Duan Cheng hadn’t moved his spoon, he hadn’t even touched the food.

He was a bit puzzled. The data hadn’t said Duan Cheng disliked these things. And if he remembered correctly, Duan Cheng should quite like things like soup dumplings…

Su Xi also set down his spoon and asked softly, “Do you not like these?”

Duan Cheng picked up the vinegar, poured it into a dipping dish, and pushed it toward Su Xi. Seeing the boy’s dazed look, a hint of a smile touched his pitch-black eyes. “It’s not that I dislike them.”

Only after watching the man eat half a bowl of wontons did Su Xi turn back to finish his own meal with satisfaction. The wontons here had thin skins and generous fillings; served in a broth of dried shrimp and seaweed, the flavor lingered in the mouth it was delicious. Su Xi ate half a bowl and two soup dumplings dipped in vinegar.

He leaned against the chair with a face full of contentment, sipping iced soy milk as his dark lashes cast light shadows on his eyelids.

By the time they finished breakfast and returned to school, it was 10:00 AM exactly when morning classes ended. At a glance, the area was swarming with people.

Su Xi’s classes were different from Duan Cheng’s, so they parted ways halfway. Today, he was mainly going to the laboratory for two biology lectures. He recalled how he had specifically avoided entering when he came with Jiang Wenyuan before; he hadn’t expected he still wouldn’t be able to escape it.

“Host, I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” As Su Xi walked down the corridor, ignoring the frequent looks from those around him, he heard System 1368’s voice.

“Bad news first.” Su Xi maintained a skeptical attitude toward System 1368’s “good news.”

“The bad news is… a message just came down from Headquarters. They want you to follow the plot. You cannot reject Fu Heng, nor can you distance yourself from Li Huai. Otherwise, there will be corresponding punishments.” System 1368 fell silent after speaking. It had no physical body, but it could clearly feel the atmosphere around Su Xi drop instantly, his expression turning cold.

It hurried to compensate: “But the good news is that Duan Cheng’s salvation level has already reached 80!”

Su Xi was so angry he almost laughed. He detoured into an empty classroom, and only after closing the door did he speak: “Weren’t there supposed to be three opportunities for ‘no-rule restrictions’? What is this supposed to mean now?”

“The system detected that the host’s actions might cause the world to collapse, so that right has been temporarily revoked. However, the rewards will be doubled after the mission. Host, why don’t you give it a try? Both Fu Heng and Li Huai seem to like you quite a bit; they probably won’t make things difficult for you like in the original plot. Besides, it’s just moving up the timeline.” System 1368 explained the reasoning based on the information from above and then made the suggestion.

“…I understand.” Su Xi nodded.

So, his main mission was to grind Duan Cheng’s salvation value, while his side missions were to grind the favorability of Fu Heng and Li Huai.

After chatting with the system for a few more minutes, he intended to open the door and leave. To his surprise, he ran straight into Fu Heng, who had just finished research in the lab. The man was still wearing a snow-white lab coat, his expression cold and sharp. Several people were following behind him.

Calculating the time, he hadn’t seen the man since that “incident” in the library reception room.

Fu Heng’s gaze landed on the suddenly appearing Su Xi, a flash of shock in his eyes. He glanced at the bulletin board next to the silver-white door. After seeing the information recorded there, he parted his lips: “Get inside.”

“I don’t want to, I have class” Su Xi’s scowling refusal came to an abrupt halt.

Ding! Violation of settings detected. This is a warning. A second violation will result in an electric shock punishment. Please take note.