The Ultimate Glow-Up Guide for Straight Men - Chapter 4

“It is a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding,” Shen Zhinan laughed awkwardly. Since his phone would not even turn on, there was no evidence to prove otherwise. “Haha, I was just taking a picture of the noodles.”

The man stared at Shen Zhinan for a long time. After a moment of contemplation, he said, “Have we met somewhere before?”

Shen Zhinan stared back at the man for a few seconds, certain he had never seen this person before. After all, this “little white face” had the kind of looks that were hard to forget after a single glance. Even though Shen Zhinan was a bit face-blind, he would have a deep impression of someone this striking.

“No, no,” Shen Zhinan began to flatter him. “Sir, anyone who sees someone like you once would remember it for a lifetime!”

The man narrowed his eyes slightly at Shen Zhinan for a few seconds. Finally, he said nothing and sat back down to continue eating his noodles.

The noodle shop owner came out. Seeing the mess on Shen Zhinan’s table, her eyes widened slightly. She quickly took a notebook from her pocket, wrote something rapidly, and handed it to Shen Zhinan.

{Child, let me make you another bowl.}

The shop owner was a middle-aged woman. Shen Zhinan looked at the square characters on the notebook and then at her wrinkled face, which was weathered by time. He realized she appeared unable to speak.

“No need, Auntie. I can just eat this bowl,” Shen Zhinan said.

The noodles were not inedible. When he was a child, he could eat steamed buns that had been sitting out for two days. He hated wasting food. After he spoke, the owner looked at him with a confused expression.

The man nearby tugged on the owner’s sleeve. As she looked at him, the man made some gestures with his hands. After a moment, the owner showed a look of realization and smiled at Shen Zhinan.

“She is deaf and mute,” the man said to Shen Zhinan.

“Oh,” Shen Zhinan was somewhat surprised. He was not only surprised that the owner was deaf and mute, but also that the man knew sign language.

Just as Shen Zhinan was about to lower his head to eat, his body suddenly went limp. He felt like he could not catch his breath, his head spun violently, and his vision began to blur. His whole body felt inexplicably hot, especially the back of his neck. He touched it and found it was terrifyingly scorched.

Most terrifyingly, he felt like he was producing “nectar” again. Shen Zhinan squeezed his legs together. No, this feeling was too strange, far too strange.

Clatter!

The noodle bowl fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. Shen Zhinan stood up, gasping for air. He had to find a clinic. He was in pain, so uncomfortable, so hot, and so itchy.

Shen Zhinan pulled a relatively large bill from his pocket, placed it on the table, and stumbled out. He had no idea how thick the scent emanating from the back of his neck was. The moment he left, the scent lingered around the man’s nose.

The man found the scent familiar, as if he had smelled it somewhere before. Where was it? This was the scent of hibiscus.

Hibiscus?

“Wang Xiao Ming!”

Fu Yanshi’s pupils dilated as he realized something. He stood up from his seat and chased after him.

Shen Zhinan’s body was as soft as a pool of water. He leaned against the wall as he walked slowly, but soon he could go no further. He slid down the wall and collapsed onto the ground.

Was he having a fever? But this felt different from a fever. This feeling was more like the day he was drugged. It was so hot, so hot. It was so itchy, so itchy. He felt like he was going crazy.

At this moment, Shen Zhinan did not realize that his physical reaction was exactly the same as the Omega heat symptoms he had read about in a book two months ago. He wanted to call for emergency services, but his phone screen remained black and would not open.

“Shit!” Shen Zhinan cursed under his breath. Had he offended the heavens recently? He tried to sit up from the ground, but after several attempts, he still could not succeed.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared before him. Shen Zhinan squinted his eyes and looked up, meeting a pair of peach-blossom eyes.

“Help me,” Shen Zhinan grabbed the man’s pant leg and bit his lip hard. His eyes were misty and blurred with tears. “Please.”

Fu Yanshi knelt in front of Shen Zhinan and looked him in the eye. He lifted Shen Zhinan’s chin to examine him closely. The Omega’s eyes were shrouded in mist, his long, thick eyelashes fluttering incessantly. His eyes, cheeks, and ears were all deeply flushed. He truly looked like a peach blossom in full bloom, his face radiating the aura of spring.

An Omega in heat, crying and begging an Alpha for help? He was practically asking to be taken.

Three days ago, He Yanzhou said he had found Wang Xiao Ming. However, when Fu Yanshi looked, the body shape was similar, but he could not smell the other person’s pheromones. He had smelled them that night; that Omega had the scent of hibiscus.

Upon further investigation, it turned out Wang Xiao Ming was a fake name. When the manager was hiring, he only looked for good looks and did not check identity information carefully. Now that the person had vanished, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The manager had simply found a substitute.

Under Fu Yanshi’s interrogation, the manager finally confessed. He Yanzhou had instructed him that night to ask if Wang Xiao Ming was willing to serve a VIP for the night. If the deal went through, the manager would receive a handsome fee. When Wang Xiao Ming refused, the manager did not want to lose the money, so he drugged him and tied him up in the room, intending to force the issue. That was how the misunderstanding started.

Originally, Fu Yanshi truly did not have any intentions, but seeing Shen Zhinan in this state now, he actually felt a bit of dry heat in his throat. Over the years, Fu Yanshi had spent all his time and energy on the company he founded, Fengyuan. Because his glands had been injured when he was young, he only reacted to the pheromones of an Omega with a compatibility of 90% or higher.

It was rare to encounter an Omega he was somewhat interested in. This look, this fierce temper, it suited his appetite. Looking at the wound on his head, Fu Yanshi even wondered if he was a masochist.

“I will give you one more chance,” Fu Yanshi said. “Do you want to come with me?”

Shen Zhinan was nearly delirious from the heat. He was so uncomfortably hot that he did not even pay attention to what Fu Yanshi was saying. He nodded dazedly.

Fu Yanshi picked him up and held him in his arms. “This time it is voluntary. Do not go hitting me again.”

“Buddy, stop talking,” Shen Zhinan gasped. “Just give me some fever reducers and an IV drip. I really cannot take it anymore.” After saying this, he fainted in Fu Yanshi’s arms.

Given the current scene and the previous conversation, Shen Zhinan’s words sounded quite suggestive to Fu Yanshi. This Omega did indeed need some medicine to reduce his “heat” and an “injection” of fluids. For someone so young, his word choice was quite bold.

Fu Yanshi took him to a high-end apartment under his name. He did not usually live there, but someone cleaned it regularly. He stripped the man and placed him in the bathtub, intending to give him a bath first.

“I am only serving you this once.”

Shen Zhinan frowned, unable to stop squeezing his legs together. Due to the heat, his whole body was tinged with a faint pink hue, and he kept gasping for breath. He looked like a ripe honey peach.

Fu Yanshi had once wondered if he was asexual, but seeing this Omega now, his throat felt incredibly parched. He looked enticing no matter how he viewed him.

Fu Yanshi dried him off and carried him to the bed. As he sat on the edge of the bed and began to untie his bathrobe, the Omega actually woke up. He stared at him dizzily at first, then sat up and crawled toward Fu Yanshi on his knees. He straddled Fu Yanshi’s lap with his thin white legs, sitting face-to-face with him.

Shen Zhinan smelled the scent on Fu Yanshi’s body with fascination. He stretched his neck toward Fu Yanshi’s glands and sniffed deeply. “You smell so good.”

With such high compatibility, not only did Fu Yanshi react to Shen Zhinan’s pheromones, but Shen Zhinan was also naturally attracted to Fu Yanshi’s. Even outside of heat, they would be enticed, let alone now. Shen Zhinan did not realize that for an Omega to lean in and smell an Alpha’s glands was an incredibly bold act; it was practically a direct invitation.

Fu Yanshi’s eyes turned red. He grabbed Shen Zhinan’s face with one hand. The Omega’s face was small enough to be held in a single hand. His eyes were as black as ink, his eyelashes were long and curled, his nose was small and delicate, and his lips were bright red. This face was not the most beautiful Fu Yanshi had ever seen, but it was inexplicably pleasing to the eye.

Shen Zhinan also stared at Fu Yanshi’s face. His first reaction was that he was beautiful. He had never seen someone so good-looking. How could someone look like this? The eyes, nose, and lips, every part was perfect. And he smelled so good.

“What is your real name?” Fu Yanshi suddenly asked. One should always know the other person’s name before going to bed.

Shen Zhinan stared into Fu Yanshi’s beautiful peach-blossom eyes, appearing somewhat lost. He said hoarsely, “Li Hua.”