To Marry My Little Chestnut - Chapter 23

Birds circled and flitted as the ice and snow began to melt. In the capital, the snow turned into a damp, heavy mist before it could even touch the ground. The earth was slick and greasy with slush. When a cat stepped outside, the snow on its paw pads was instantly melted by the heat of its body.

Inside the bedroom, Yu Yan did not know how many pheromone supplements he had taken. The air was humid. No lights were turned on and the curtains were only half-drawn, allowing a silver crescent of moonlight to spill across the floor like scattered shards of glass.

Orange-red is never the true peak of a flame. As the temperature rises, the color shifts from orange to red and finally to blue. This was a deep blue night.

Yu Yan’s shirt failed to cover his pale legs. His buttons were undone and he was in a state of soft collapse, sinking into a pre-built nest. He was curled into a ball beneath the quilt with his head almost entirely buried.

The Omega’s pheromones began to spiral out of control. He felt a sense of suffocation, unable to find any comfort. The room was saturated with his own scent. The evaporating pheromones felt like a sheet of water-soaked lace pressed against his face, creating a sensation of waterboarding. He buried his cheek against the man’s chest, softly seeking a patch of ice and snow to soothe his frantic heart.

During an Omega’s pregnancy, as the reproductive cavity grows, manual intervention is often required for expansion because male internal organs are relatively small. Otherwise, the baby would grow haphazardly in the lower abdomen, and his body would not be able to withstand the turmoil. If the baby feels their house is too small, they become restless, leaving the parent with no peace.

The concentration of pheromones was already too high for an Omega to bear. He felt as if he were trapped in a scalding steamer, unable to focus on anything else.

Dizzy, Yu Yan was lifted by Zheng Tingyang. His head slumped softly against the man’s neck, and his nose twitched like a kitten as he instinctively searched for the other’s pheromones. He whispered, “Tingyang, bite me.”

But Zheng Tingyang could smell nothing. All he felt was the burning heat of his wife’s body. A thought flickered in his mind: When I use him, he must be like a little furnace. I wonder if his tears would be scalding as well.

“Little Fish, you forgot. I cannot smell anything. I am useless,” he said, stroking Yu Yan’s back.

His fingertips traced upward along the slender curve of Yu Yan’s spine, grazing his butterfly bones and his sensitive nape. When his fingers stopped at the sensitive gland, they trembled slightly. With just a bit of force, he could personally unveil his own madness and twisted secrets.

Yu Yan leaned into his arms, his soft lips catching the man’s loosened necktie. The buttons clicked against his pearly teeth. He let out a muffled, questioning sound.

“There is a baby in my belly. I can do it myself. Do you want to watch?” he asked with a whimper.

He thought Zheng Tingyang was unwilling to touch him. He had no strength left. His legs were too weak to stand, so he could only press his small belly against Zheng Tingyang, almost leaning his entire weight onto him.

That soft little belly seemed to become a focal point. He shed his shirt, letting it slide down to hang precariously off his lower back.

“I am very sweet. It is a very sweet smell,” he exhaled, eyes blinking wetly as he leaned toward Zheng Tingyang’s lips.

Zheng Tingyang lowered his head, his palm cradling Yu Yan’s wobbling head to bring him into a kiss, their lips and teeth grinding together.

Yu Yan tasted chestnuts. They were his sugar-roasted chestnuts.

“It is this smell. Can you taste it? It is very sweet and delicious. It is not sugar. Everyone else likes it and wants to smell it. Why can you not smell it? If you smelled it, you would like it. How can I make you like it?”

Zheng Tingyang bit his lip and flipped him over, pinning him down. His voice was hoarse as he asked, “Can I not love you just because I cannot smell it?”

“Bite me,” Yu Yan said as he shook his head. “Bite me.”

Was he asking for a bite or asking for him? It was all the same.

Yu Yan hooked his arms around the man’s neck, his eyes blurred with dazed longing. “Will you?”

Of course, it was more than fine. Zheng Tingyang curled his lips and replied, “Okay.”

“Can someone who is not an Alpha still bite? Even if it will not take away your discomfort, do you still want me to bite? Why is Little Fish so good? Why are you so unafraid of pain?”

Yu Yan rubbed his belly against the man’s palm and whimpered. He could barely breathe. The pheromones were too thick and he needed a distraction. He needed a scent that would let him breathe.

As the feeling of suffocation intensified, Yu Yan cried haphazardly, sinking into the soft bed. His eyes were covered by Zheng Tingyang using the shirt. He shook his head, trying to hide. “Tingyang, do not cover me. I am uncomfortable and my tears are so heavy.”

His wet lashes pressed against the fabric of the shirt. His hot tears turned into cold water. His wrists were immobilized and there was only darkness.

“Little Fish, I will go soft-hearted. Do not beg for mercy.”

Before Yu Yan lost his senses, the only thing he heard was a low, raspy whisper by his ear. “Do not beg for mercy. I am begging you.”

Beg for mercy? Beg for what? Yu Yan did not understand.

Since childhood, he had been a canary who obeyed his father’s every word, kept in a gilded cage. His father’s intentions for raising him were base, yet in his entire life, he had only begged for mercy once. He had begged his father to let Zheng Tingyang go. He had knelt in the rain as punishment for his mistake. From then on, he and Zheng Tingyang had gone their separate ways, never to meet again. That was his one act of pleading.

Why would Zheng Tingyang not let him beg for mercy now?

He was baffled. The blackness before his eyes was a wasteland. Zheng Tingyang coaxed him, “Want something to eat? Little Fish, I will fix you. Even without pheromones, I can make you feel good, okay? Be good and open your mouth.”

Yu Yan was very obedient. By the time he could not swallow any more water and wanted to refuse, he could not escape the cup. Zheng Tingyang gripped his wrist and said, “Taste it.”

The heat of the rut had dulled his sense of pain, but his skin had become hyper-sensitive. Every capillary was feeling the sensation. The scalding water cup made his entire body tremble.

Yu Yan was dazed. He was dreaming again. In the dream, the culprit appeared once more. The car that had crushed him repeatedly forced him into a corner from which there was no retreat. It smashed a hole in his closed heart. The hole was filled with spiderwebs, sticky and clinging to him as he gasped for fresh air, suffocating to the point of shock.

Zheng Tingyang held him from behind, pinning him in place. He roughly forced his mouth open but spoke tenderly into his ear. “Baby, breathe. Open your mouth and breathe.”

Yu Yan cried until his shirt was soaked. The water he drank made him choke and cough, leaving him lightheaded. “There is no air.”

This time, in the dream, he clearly saw Zheng Tingyang’s gaze, which was as deep as a pool, and his back was covered in tattoos.

So what if Zheng Tingyang could not mark him? Like a wolf or a tiger, he could tear him apart. In the hands of President Zheng, he was a lamb that had walked into the dungeon of its own accord. There was no escape and no retreat.

A grapevine on the man’s back spread from his lower waist to his nape. Sinuous thorns entwined his flesh in a terrifyingly large area of ink. The thorny vines finally reached the man’s neck.

The tattoo on Zheng Tingyang’s nape was a fuzzy sphere which somewhat resembled the sun from Greek mythology. That pattern was a freshly ripened chestnut that had not yet been stripped from its burr.

“No more,” Yu Yan pleaded.

“More,” Zheng Tingyang said as he woke him up.

Yu Yan’s cheek was pressed into the pillow by the man’s large hand. He felt like a fish on a cutting board, flipped back and forth until both sides were cooked through. He was thoroughly done in.

After midnight, Zheng Tingyang carried Yu Yan to a new room next door to stay.

By the time he was carried, Yu Yan had long since fainted. His arms hung limp like the lifeless tentacles of a small octopus, moving however he was handled. The original mattress was ruined, so Zheng Tingyang had someone throw it away.

The sky brightened and darkened again. After calling the doctor, Zheng Tingyang returned to the room, pulled the boy into his arms, and gently woke him up. After a heat, there is usually a period of body heat and fever. Limbs feel weak and the person becomes listless.

Yu Yan’s memory gap was so severe that when he woke up and tried to roll over by bracing his lower back, he saw the red marks on his wrists and the bruises on his body. He could not quite process it.

Zheng Tingyang fed him some pumpkin porridge, but seeing he was still burning up, he called the doctor to hurry over from Haicheng.

Yu Yan let out a soft groan as memories slowly trickled back. Zheng Tingyang’s transformation was terrifying. It even made him flinch slightly at the man’s shadow when he entered the room.

What was that thing? Was it grown from his body?

His eyes were too swollen from crying. After several hours of lethargic sleep, Zhou Jiangru was finally pressured into coming over to check on him.

Zhou Jiangru was a female Alpha. Even though Zheng Tingyang had changed rooms, she was still nearly parched by the lingering scent of sweet pheromones when she entered.

“Is my life not a life? Are there no other doctors in the capital that you had to call me?” she practically wanted to curse. She knew Zheng Tingyang was narrow-minded, but she did not expect it to be this extreme. He would not even allow a stranger to examine his wife’s body.

“He has been asleep for almost two days. When he wakes up, he just cries. Is it from pain?”

As soon as Zhou Jiangru lifted the quilt, she sucked in a breath of cold air. “Did you commit domestic violence?”

Yu Yan’s body was covered in green and purple bruises, especially the base of his thighs, which were bright red. Not to mention his waist, there were even finger marks on his pregnant belly.

“Big brother, were you helping him or going crazy?”

As she spoke, Zhou Jiangru felt Yu Yan’s forehead and nape. The temperature was consistent. It was not a typical fever.

“He has severe dehydration, which was caused by multiple instances of incontinence. Have him drink electrolyte water. Can he not speak?” she leaned in to ask Yu Yan.

Yu Yan gave a small nod, his face almost entirely buried in the quilt. His lashes trembled as if he were about to drift off into another daze.

Zhou Jiangru clicked her tongue and turned to scold Zheng Tingyang. “You went too far. How did this happen? Do you not know he is pregnant? You did this all night? This kind of unconscious lethargy is not good. Could his reproductive cavity be inflamed?”

Zheng Tingyang frowned slightly. “Just once.”

Zhou Jiangru looked at him in disbelief.

Yu Yan could not listen anymore. He wished he could just faint right now. He reached out a warm hand and tugged at Zhou Jiangru’s fingertip, nodding to confirm that Zheng Tingyang was telling the truth.

He felt so pathetic. It really was only once. It was just that his skin was very sensitive. If someone was not extremely careful, even a little force would leave marks. Furthermore, he had been blindfolded yesterday and could not see a thing, but his sensations were vivid, especially during the unique state of an Omega’s heat.

“Is he too sensitive?” Zhou Jiangru frowned. She had never seen such a fragile Omega. “He must have lost control as soon as that bead went in, right?”

Zheng Tingyang hummed in affirmation. “How do I check if his reproductive cavity is inflamed?”

Hearing their conversation, Yu Yan felt even more ashamed. He felt useless. Before Zheng Tingyang could even do much to him, he had already completely lost it. Especially since he could clearly feel the change in Zheng Tingyang. How did it change shape?

People often say things change at eighteen, but does that place change too? He could not take it from the very start. It was so embarrassing. He was bubbling everywhere. He heard the mattress had been thrown away. He was such a useless little fish, the most useless in the world.

Later, when Zheng Tingyang realized the bubbling was too much and saw him crying to the point of fainting, he had felt bad. He helped him clean it up, but Yu Yan had been so overwhelmed that he moved around too much, causing his own injuries.

The thought of his wild behavior yesterday made Yu Yan want to die of shame. His constitution was poor. It had been the same after his last heat, leaving him miserable and painful.

“This kid’s life is certainly tough,” Zhou Jiangru remarked, pointing at Zheng Tingyang. “He takes after you.”

Yu Yan frowned slightly.

“Do you want to vomit?” Zhou Jiangru asked.

Yu Yan shook his head. He had just drunk some water, and because his stomach was empty and his digestion too fast, he needed to use the bathroom.

Zheng Tingyang carried him to the bathroom. Yu Yan asked in a small voice, “What is a bead?”

“From yesterday,” Zheng Tingyang replied.

Yu Yan blinked, not quite understanding.

Zheng Tingyang said, “If you do not like it, I can have it removed. It seems you cannot adapt to it. My intention was to make you feel better. Since I am not an Alpha and cannot mark you, I just wanted to find another way to compensate.”

After all, the result was far from what he expected. Yu Yan had cried heart-wrenchingly, and his throat was so strained he could barely speak.

“It seems I am still a cripple. No matter what I do, I cannot make up for it, and I even dehydrated you. I am sorry.” Zheng Tingyang pressed his face affectionately against Yu Yan’s. “There will not be a next time.”

Yu Yan only half-understood.

“You are not a cripple,” Yu Yan whispered. In any case, by the end of yesterday, he could not remember being in heat at all. Instead, he felt like a little water-spraying truck, splashing everywhere.

“Hmm?” Zheng Tingyang was busy washing his hands and leaned down to listen.

“It was… too comfortable.”

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