To Marry My Little Chestnut - Chapter 36

Zheng Tingyang was an excellent cook; even the pineapple buns were freshly baked that morning.

If Yu Yan had not spoken up, Zheng Tingyang’s heart would have remained as cold and ruthless as his expression.

Pei Changji’s Omega, named Li Yin, was a beauty with curly hair who was currently devouring a pineapple bun. President Pei sat beside him, handing him water and telling him to slow down. When Li Yin choked slightly, Pei Changji naturally patted his back and held out his hand to catch the half-chewed food Li Yin spat out.

Sitting at the table, Yu Yan listened and gradually pieced things together.

The headquarters of Changhang Group had moved to Haicheng. There was an upcoming international project that required frequent travel, and Pei Changji wanted Zheng Tingyang to have the headquarters take over the business. Zheng Tingyang had refused and was practically ready to kick the guests out.

Looking at them, it was hard to tell who was the superior.

Pei Changji said, “Li Yin’s ears are not good, so he cannot fly frequently. Otherwise, I would not trouble you. Besides, I do not trust anyone else to handle this. The frequent travel will only start in six months; after that, you will be in charge of the entire domestic headquarters. What do you think?”

Zheng Tingyang was unwilling. Yu Yan was due to give birth in less than two months, and his health was poor. He would never let Yu Yan exhaust himself by looking after the child alone, nor would he abandon his wife and child to go abroad frequently. For him, this was non-negotiable.

However, Zheng Tingyang had assets abroad and was familiar with controlling interests. When things got busy, he and Xiao Kai would need to monitor the markets. Various retail stocks were volatile factors; without being physically present at the company, the variables would be too high. The sums involved were massive, requiring someone absolutely trustworthy.

Zheng Tingyang frowned and finally pulled Pei Changji into the study to talk privately.

Yu Yan looked down at his abdomen, feeling a bit awkward. He wondered if he was making things difficult for Tingyang.

“I feel like your belly is bigger than mine was. When I was nearly seven months along, you could barely tell if I wore a hoodie. Your baby is so healthy; President Zheng has taken such good care of you!” Li Yin said with a smile, still biting his pineapple bun.

Yu Yan blinked. “Do you have a baby?”

Li Yin looked about the same age as him, but his baby face made him look younger, perhaps in his early twenties.

Li Yin quickly pulled out his phone and proudly showed a photo of a soft, white little bundle. “Cute, right?”

In the photo, a child in a diaper was biting a pacifier, lying in the sun like a little turtle. The baby looked like a snow-skin mochi. Yu Yan noticed something on the baby’s head. “Is that a headband?” It looked just like the rabbit ears on Li Yin’s head—a miniature version. In the live photo, the ears even twitched.

Yu Yan loved it. Realizing he would have a similarly cute bundle in two months, he smiled. “So cute. Did you buy that ear headband? Do you have a link?”

He imagined dressing his baby up and filling the house with photos. He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of becoming a father whose world revolved entirely around his child.

Li Yin slapped his forehead. “Oh! This? These aren’t a headband. They are real ears.”

He took off his knit hat, and Yu Yan stared in a daze. He realized the rabbit ears grew from Li Yin’s head—they were lop-ear rabbit ears. The drooping tips twitched in the air. Under the sunlight, the white fur looked soft and lustrous.

“Ears? Real ears?”

“Eh? Did President Zheng not tell you? He wants to take the animal injections later. My condition is a lingering side effect from childhood experiments; the ears won’t go back, so I usually wear a hat to hide them.”

Yu Yan asked, “What injections?” He couldn’t even finish his pineapple bun. His bright eyes were full of confusion and shock.

Seeing his reaction, Li Yin realized he might have said too much. He quickly covered his mouth, glancing cautiously toward the study. “President Pei and I are here to ask President Zheng for a favor. I won’t say any more!”

Li Yin had met Zheng Tingyang a few times. He felt that while President Zheng was officially President Pei’s subordinate, he was actually scarier than Pei Changji. He was like a leopard hiding in a cave; silent until he struck, and when he bit, it drew blood. The kind of blood that meant instant death.

“Please, tell me about it,” Yu Yan said softly.

Li Yin hesitated, but then he thought that his ears were no secret in Beijing. If animal injections were to be mass-produced in the future, Yu Yan would find out sooner or later anyway.

“It is just… my father used to be a biologist. He invented an animal injection that can merge animal traits into humans. But there were very few test subjects.”

Li Yin’s father had conducted illegal human experiments, starting with his own son. Many children from the same batch as Li Yin ended up disabled; only Li Yin was a success. Once discovered, the experiments were forcibly halted, and Li Yin’s father fled abroad to escape punishment. Because of the animal injection, Li Yin’s pheromones had an extremely high compatibility with Alphas.

Merging animal traits into humans meant, for example, that someone with poor eyesight could recover by taking eagle genes. However, the experiments were stopped over a decade ago because the drawbacks were immense. For instance, Li Yin’s rabbit ears could not be retracted, and he once could not hear sounds over 80 decibels without fainting from shock. The lop-ear rabbit gene was chosen only for ease of pregnancy and high compatibility with Alpha pheromones; Li Yin’s father had cultivated it to satisfy his own curiosity and to provide “gifts” for the elite.

A year ago, when Li Yin was pregnant, his rare blood type required a donor. Pei Changji found a family of a patient in a vegetative state who had no hope of waking up. Unexpectedly, the experiment succeeded on that patient too. The patient not only woke up but became an Omega with extremely high pheromones and an excellent gland.

“The experiment has been restarted. Currently, the test subjects are relatives of patients in vegetative states. Normal people have not participated yet.”

Yu Yan’s head suddenly throbbed.

That day in the study, Zheng Tingyang had held Yu Yan’s arm, trembling, his eyes wild as he shouted, “Xiao Yu, I have already invested in new experiments! Sooner or later, I will grow a gland! I can become an Alpha! I can! Believe me!”

Yu Yan hadn’t taken it seriously then, thinking Tingyang was just venting in his grief. He never imagined it was real.

“Is the experiment dangerous? Is Tingyang participating?”

Li Yin frowned. “He is participating. But half of the vegetative patients in the previous trials failed, which actually accelerated their deaths. For a healthy person, the risk factor would be even higher. They will likely need to adjust the formula; it probably won’t be ready for healthy humans for another year.”

Yu Yan’s palms were slick with sweat. In his mind, he saw Zheng Tingyang, tortured by the desire to become an Alpha during his illness, desperately searching for a way, hating his own limitations. If he could choose, Yu Yan would not want to be an Omega either; he didn’t want to see Tingyang blame himself over and over because of him.

Li Yin bit his lip, nervous. “Should I not have said so much?”

Yu Yan shook his head. “No, I just didn’t know before.”

“He didn’t tell you because he probably wanted to surprise you?” Li Yin smiled, revealing a cute dimple. “When I met President Zheng before, he seemed cold and terrifying. But just now, when he helped you out of the bedroom, his eyes were full of smiles. I heard you’ve known each other for a long time. Are you childhood sweethearts?”

Yu Yan thought, I suppose so.

The study door opened. The two men had finished their talk. Pei Changji grabbed his coat and told Li Yin they were leaving.

Zheng Tingyang saw Yu Yan’s pale face and furrowed brow. He walked over and touched the pineapple bun on the table. “Is it cold and not good? Do you feel sick?”

Yu Yan shook his head. After Pei Changji and his spouse left, Zheng Tingyang felt uneasy and touched Yu Yan’s forehead. “What is it?”

Yu Yan hadn’t eaten much for breakfast, and because of his fever, his body felt as soft as if he had no bones. His face still carried the pallor of illness. The way he looked at Zheng Tingyang with such sorrow made the man feel both pained and anxious. “I will call the doctor.”

“Tingyang,” Yu Yan stood up and reached out to hug him.

His protruding belly pressed against Zheng Tingyang’s abdomen. His eyes brimmed with tears as if they were about to fall.

Zheng Tingyang’s body stiffened. He looked down at the soft, jade-like person in his arms, his heart sinking along with Yu Yan’s worried gaze. His voice was hoarse. “Is the baby bothering you again? Your eyes are all red.”

Yu Yan hugged him with great force, biting his lower lip hard. Zheng Tingyang used his thumb to pry his lips apart. “Do not bite.”

Yu Yan rested his chin against him. For the first time, he bit Zheng Tingyang’s fingertip like a kitten showing its claws. He used force intentionally, wanting to give Zheng Tingyang a lesson for not caring about his own body.

But Zheng Tingyang did not flinch; he did not even frown. He looked at Yu Yan and could sense the boundless sadness in his Xiao Yu’s eyes.

“Does it not hurt?” Yu Yan sniffled, letting go of his finger regretfully.

Zheng Tingyang did not withdraw his finger. Instead, he probed deeper, pressing down on Yu Yan’s tongue. “They say a kitten’s tongue has barbs. I see this cat isn’t fierce at all; how can there be no barbs, only softness?”

His finger moved against Yu Yan’s tongue as if using that warmth to soothe the pain in his fingertip.

Yu Yan’s heart was softer than a Buddha’s; even if he wanted to be a fierce cat, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt anyone. After biting someone, he would still ask carefully if it hurt. Xiao Yu’s heart was not a cold lump of stone.

“It does not hurt. Do you want to bite again?”

Yu Yan shook his head, feeling defeated. His long-brewed fit of rage had no intimidating power at all.

Seeing Yu Yan quietly shedding tears, Zheng Tingyang panicked. He thought he had upset Yu Yan by laughing at how cute his “anger” was. He helped him sit on the sofa and began carefully wiping away the tears.

Whenever Zheng Tingyang coaxed him or listened to him, he almost never sat beside him. Instead, he would quietly kneel on one knee before him, so Yu Yan didn’t have to turn or lift his head; he only had to look down to see Zheng Tingyang’s sincere eyes. After all, this marriage was something Zheng Tingyang had begged for himself. He treated Yu Yan as a treasure sent by the gods and enjoyed being the one in the lower position.

Zheng Tingyang used a tissue to silently wipe away the tears, like collecting broken pearls.

“Can you tell me what is wrong? What made Xiao Yu unhappy? Hmm?” His voice was low and coaxing, as if charming a child.

“Tingyang, I do not want you to turn into an Alpha. You are just you. I do not want it. We are fine as we are. Please do not participate in any experiments, okay? Why did you not tell me? You want to be an Alpha, but I do not want to be an Omega. Okay? No danger.”

“I do not understand your business, but I am afraid. I… I do not get marked, and that is fine. It really does not bother me at all.”

“If you are in danger, that is when I am uncomfortable,” he said. Every word struck Zheng Tingyang’s heart like a sad melody.

An experiment, a life, just for a hollow, ethereal marking? How was that different from a flower on a cliff? Once one fell, the flower would continue to drift away in the wind and rain. His heart throbbed with fear, and Yu Yan’s eyes were swollen from crying. He was emotionally sensitive during his pregnancy and could not handle a fright.

Zheng Tingyang’s palm felt the moisture of Yu Yan’s hot tears. The broken little pearls slid down his hand. As Yu Yan cried, his abdomen twitched slightly, and his shoulders trembled.

Zheng Tingyang’s brow furrowed tightly. He slowly closed his palm over Yu Yan’s small hand. “Do not be afraid.”

Yu Yan’s voice trembled. “I am afraid.”

Zheng Tingyang pursed his lips, his eyes full of tenderness. He truly wanted to become an Alpha; he wanted to mark him. He was truly fed up with the days of feeling insecure. Even though he had suppressed it over the years, it was hard to control. The feeling was too painful. When he thought that Yu Yan might one day change his mind and could settle down with another Alpha at any time, and that he would have to let go… what then?

He did not believe he was good enough to keep Yu Yan forever. But his Xiao Yu was good enough to make everyone fall for him; no one could refuse his tears.

“Tingyang, do not do this, okay?” Yu Yan sobbed, tugging at Zheng Tingyang’s sleeve like a pouting child. “I will be very good from now on. I will not wander off. I will listen to everything you say.”

He was willing; he truly was. He just didn’t want Tingyang to take any injections. It was a choice between life and death, and he didn’t want him to take the risk. Even if he couldn’t leave the house now, even if there were cameras everywhere, even if he knew Tingyang always smelled his worn undergarments, it didn’t matter. He knew Tingyang was just under too much pressure and that he was his painkiller. If monitoring him or playing with him made Tingyang feel better, he was willing.

Zheng Tingyang wondered: Can Yu Yan’s health ever be fully restored? He truly wished to serve Yu Yan until he was completely comfortable, returning the overflowing love he received.

“Is that okay?”

Zheng Tingyang simply knelt there, supporting himself with both hands on the sofa to enclose Yu Yan within his space. He tilted his head up and brought his face closer. “Then will Xiao Yu be fierce with me? Okay? Hmm?”

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