What to Do If Beta Cannot Be Marked? - Chapter 39.1

Lu Zhi and Jiang Jin were born in the same year, while Ren Yiran was one year older than them. Throughout the more than ten years they grew up together, Ren Yiran had always been regarded as the older brother. Whatever he said among the three of them, Jiang Jin and the others would listen, and even though Lu Zhi had a cold personality and rarely spoke, he would still express agreement with Ren Yiran’s words.

Moreover, aside from receiving the respect befitting an older brother, Ren Yiran was actually the most pampered one among them.

Unlike Lu Zhi’s almost abnormally dysfunctional family, and unlike Jiang Jin’s family where he had several siblings and was the most easily overlooked, Ren Yiran’s family gave him the boundless affection that an only child deserved.

He was born and raised in a greenhouse free of opposition, refutation, grievances, or resentment only support, flamboyance, unrestrained freedom, and indulgence. Having never experienced the hardships of the outside world, he naturally remained unaware of them.

It was precisely because of this that Lu Zhi and Jiang Jin, having grown up with him since childhood, were equally willing to accompany his family in indulging Ren Yiran’s flamboyant and spoiled nature. After all, being able to live a life free from suffering is a good thing, something everyone dreams of throughout their lives yet remains powerless to achieve.

From their earliest memories until middle school, although they had disagreements, they were always minor and harmless. Their cold wars would never last more than a few days before they reconciled.

It wasn’t until their third year of junior high that Ren Yiran confessed his feelings to Lu Zhi. He thought that Lu Zhi, who had always silently indulged him since childhood, would surely have feelings for him. Even if he truly didn’t like him, he wouldn’t reject him too bluntly, out of consideration for his self-esteem and the joy of his first love.

But Lu Zhi refused.

And he did so very decisively.

He said, “Wake up.”

He also said, “You’re not the one I want to be with.”

The smile that had just appeared on Ren Yiran’s face froze abruptly. Jiang Jin, standing to the side, felt extremely awkward, unsure whom to console first.

Ren Yiran, who was usually proud and strong-willed, had never received such a straightforward, unwanted answer before. His face turned pale. To protect his self-esteem, Jiang Jin didn’t dare say a word. Instead of consoling either of them immediately, he ran away.

In the end, Ren Yiran still couldn’t believe he had heard such a clear rejection. Trembling, he asked, “The person you want to be with is a girl?”

Although it had been thousands of years since the interstellar era began, relationships between any genders were considered normal. As long as two people were compatible from body to soul, needing each other they deserved blessings.

But aside from this, relationships between men and women were still the norm in society. If Lu Zhi didn’t like men and rejected Ren Yiran for that reason, it wouldn’t be strange, and Ren Yiran wouldn’t have to take it so hard.

After all, not every male Alpha liked male Omegas.

But Lu Zhi told him in an even more resolute tone, “A boy.”

“…” Ren Yiran’s eyes reddened, and he was on the verge of tears.

Refusing to give up, his voice trembling with tears, he asked, “Then is he an Omega?”

Lu Zhi disliked Betas he knew that.

But the next moment, Lu Zhi replied indifferently, “No.”

Ren Yiran cried, weeping bitterly in front of Lu Zhi.

He didn’t dare ask again what gender the person Lu Zhi liked was, but in his heart, he already knew clearly: the person Lu Zhi liked must be an Alpha, just like him.

Ren Yiran was a Beta, and Lu Zhi detested that gender. So even though they had grown up together, Lu Zhi could disregard over a decade of camaraderie and reject him so decisively. And just now, he had also stated that he didn’t like Omegas.

After steeling himself for a long time, Ren Yiran felt that losing to an Alpha wasn’t shameful at all. After all, the Alpha Lu Zhi liked must be as formidable as he was.

But later, he discovered that wasn’t the case.

Chi Jinxian stared at the message still displayed on his phone screen, reading it over and over again. His eyes were wide with shock, as if no matter how he tried to process it, he just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

He even subconsciously held his breath, lips pressed into a thin line, only his eyes blinking repeatedly as if in disbelief.

A second later, he dialed the other person’s number.

Before the first “beep” of the busy tone could even sound, Lu Zhi answered.

“Bro,” Chi Jinxian called out.

Lu Zhi responded, “Mm.”

“Th-then, back then.” It seemed he hadn’t quite figured out how to string his words together properly. Chi Jinxian stammered, stumbling over his words, “Were you hurt back then?”

Lu Zhi seemed not to have heard him clearly, pausing for a moment in bewilderment before asking softly, “What?”

Chi Jinxian repeated the question, this time with a tone laced with heartache, insisting, “Were you hurt back then?”

He continued, “You were in your Heat Period back then, without any Suppressant, and you were induced by aphrodisiacs. Not just your body, but your Scent Gland is the most vulnerable. Were you hurt? Did it hurt?”

This guy really, Faced with the fact that the person he liked had almost been forced into a situation, though the word “forced” was involved his first reaction wasn’t to ask how far this “almost” had gone, but to inquire whether the other had been injured.

As if, to him, nothing else mattered except Lu Zhi himself.

Yet for most people, their primary concern would be whether the other was still “pure.”

Lu Zhi grew even more bewildered. He fell silent on the other end of the line for a long while. Only as Chi Jinxian’s tone grew increasingly anxious with repeated questions did he finally speak, his voice slightly hoarse, “It hurt. But I wasn’t injured.”

No matter how much the other had suffered, Chi Jinxian couldn’t travel back in time to care for him. Still, hearing this, Chi Jinxian let out a sigh of relief. After all, “not injured” was the best answer he could have hoped for.

“As your childhood friend, how could Ren Yiran do such a thing!” After a moment, Chi Jinxian suddenly burst out angrily. “From now on, don’t even ask me to talk to him, I won’t even give him a single glance!”

Feeling that still wasn’t enough to vent his anger, he added, “How old were you both back then? How could he even think of something like that? Not only did he think of it, but he actually went through with it! That’s just too much, he’s really terrible!”

He went on ranting and raving, but the other end remained silent.

In the growing stillness of the night, only a faint trace of moonlight seeped through the window, casting a barely perceptible warm speck on the glass.

Chi Jinxian was pulled back to his senses by Lu Zhi’s calm, steady breathing. He abruptly shut his still-chattering mouth and whispered, “I didn’t mean to talk bad about him Bro, I’m not trying to drive a wedge between you two either…”

“There’s no relationship between us, so what could be stirred up?” Lu Zhi interrupted him, his tone indifferent yet carrying a hint of reassurance. “If you want to scold me, just scold me.”

Chi Jinxian laughed. Being explicitly told to scold someone made it impossible to actually do so. He said, “I’ve said enough.”

Lu Zhi: “Mm.”

Chi Jinxian: “Bro.”

Lu Zhi: “Mm.”

Chi Jinxian seemed to have lain down on the bed; there was a faint rustling sound from his side. Lu Zhi consciously softened and steadied his breathing.

After a moment of silence, he spoke again: “What’s wrong?”

“Mm.” Chi Jinxian buried half his face in the pillow. Lying on his side, he held the phone with one hand while the other grasped a corner of the blanket, fiddling with it as if searching for the right words. But after a long, drawn-out “mm,” he gave up on finding the perfect phrasing and went straight to the point, asking bluntly, “I heard from someone else that you beat up your childhood friend in middle school that was Ren Yiran, right? Did you really break his arm?”

When he first heard about it, he had been skeptical, dismissing it as “ridiculous.” But now that he knew such an incident had indeed occurred during Lu Zhi’s middle school years, the claim that he had shattered someone’s arm bones seemed plausible.

No longer angry about whatever Ren Yiran had done to Lu Zhi, Chi Jinxian unconsciously shrank his neck, feeling that Brother Lu was indeed a bit fierce.

Even though he had never witnessed it himself.

“Jiang Baixiao told you?” Lu Zhi asked abruptly, sidestepping Chi Jinxian’s question.

Chi Jinxian jolted in surprise. He had just been thinking how fierce Brother Lu could be, and now the other had guessed that Jiang Baixiao was the source of the information.

Last time, Lu Zhi had warned Jiang Baixiao for “believing rumors.”

He wouldn’t actually hit Baixiao, would he?!

“N-no, no, no, it wasn’t him,” Chi Jinxian stammered in denial, his voice trembling with urgency.

“Are you afraid of me now?” Lu Zhi asked.

In that instant, his voice carried an indescribable chill.

Chi Jinxian replied, “No, why would I be afraid of you?” He meant it sincerely, speaking calmly and with conviction. “You never get angry with me, I’ve hardly seen you lose your temper these past few years.”

Lu Zhi: “Hardly?”

“…” Chi Jinxian lightly scratched his cheek and muttered, “That one time, you pinned me against the door, wouldn’t let me move, and wouldn’t let me go home You were angry then.”

“Were you afraid that time?”

“No.” After a moment’s thought, Chi Jinxian amended his statement more accurately. “I was just a little timid, and… my legs went weak.”

Just from the words “legs went weak,” it was unclear what unspeakable, indescribable thoughts were running through his mind. His voice grew hesitant, as if he were embarrassed.

Lu Zhi seemed to catch on, letting out a low “Hmm?” from deep in his throat.

Chi Jinxian, flustered, quickly said, “Ah, stop teasing me. Weren’t we talking about you? Why are you so mean?”

Afraid that Lu Zhi might ask who was being mean and derail the conversation entirely, Chi Jinxian hurriedly added, “Bro, is it because you beat him up that the Lu Family and the Ren Family aren’t as close as they used to be?”

Lu Zhi first replied with an “Mm,” then said, “I didn’t hit him.”

Chi Jinxian: “Huh?”

Lu Zhi had a poor relationship with his family though “very” couldn’t quite describe it with his father, it was still relatively strained.

Because of Yan Yue, even though no explicit conflicts had ever occurred between him and Lu Zisheng, they were never particularly close.

Thus, the childhood friend who grew up with him became his emotional anchor during his younger years.

The villa left to him by Yan Yue was off-limits to Ai Duoyan and Lu Wan. Lu Zisheng was allowed to visit, but he seldom did. First, he had little time; second, it stirred painful memories.

So, aside from Lu Zhi, who spent half his time there, Ren Yiran and Jiang Jin had relatively free access.

But even they had to follow the rules inside they were not to touch Lu Zhi’s Rose Manor.

Not long after the high school entrance exams ended, Lu Zhi realized his Heat Period had arrived. He went to the living room to find a Suppressant, tore open the packaging, and injected it near the edge of his Scent Gland.

By the time he noticed something was wrong with the injection, a flush had already rapidly spread to the corners of his eyes.

His body felt as if it were on fire.

Even without prior experience, a teenager of fifteen or sixteen could instantly recognize what was happening to him.

A certain area below his abdomen felt unbearably awkward and abnormal completely different from an Alpha’s Heat Period urges to destroy things or press their beloved into intimacy.

An Alpha in Heat could be soothed by their partner, even without sexual intimacy. The mere presence, scent, or even clothing of their partner could allow the Alpha to build a nest around themselves, proving they possessed their beloved at all times, thus bringing significant relief.

But at that moment, Lu Zhi had only one primal sensation: even if the partner he desired were here, nothing except pressing them down, losing all reason, making them completely his, even permanently marking them could calm him.

It was at this moment that Ren Yiran appeared before Lu Zhi.

He saw Lu Zhi on one knee on the floor, one hand gripping the sofa, the other desperately clutching his clothes, chest heaving violently.

Ren Yiran seemed startled to see Lu Zhi in such a disheveled state and hurried over. “Lu Zhi, are you in pain?”

But Lu Zhi wouldn’t let him touch him. As that hand was about to reach him, Lu Zhi suddenly mustered strength to stand, staggering back unsteadily, his expression extremely grim.

He rasped, “Who replaced my Suppressant? You or Jiang Jin?”

Ren Yiran halted his movement, slowly withdrawing his hand. “Me.”

Lu Zhi stared fixedly at him, silent.

Ren Yiran said calmly, “You hate Betas, so you reject me, dislike me. That’s fine.”

“If I can’t have your heart, can’t I at least have you once?”

As he spoke, he took a step forward. Lu Zhi retreated, searching for his phone.

Ren Yiran said, “You told me the one you like no, the one you want to be with isn’t an Omega. So I thought, that person must be an Alpha as strong as you. But Lu Zhi, do you remember your habit of keeping notes?”

Lu Zhi’s expression had turned cold, yet his face was flushed. As a dominant Alpha whose pheromones alone could make other Alphas weak-kneed and drop to their knees, he currently possessed no intimidation or threat whatsoever.

Ren Yiran chuckled lightly: “I remember Uncle Yan had the habit of keeping notes you’ve picked that up too.”

“You seriously described that boy on paper so unlike your character. But you portrayed him as radiant and dazzling as the sun itself. Though you didn’t specify his gender, I think the probability of him being an Alpha is practically zero.”

Lu Zhi had already retrieved his phone, dialing a number with fierce movements.

Amid their tug-of-war, he had retreated to the dining room.

“Hello, Lu Zhi?” Jiang Jin’s voice came through the speakerphone.

The smile froze on Ren Yiran’s face.

The area around Lu Zhi’s eyes grew increasingly red, bloodshot veins appearing in the whites. Gripping his phone tightly, he spoke rapidly: “Jiang Jin, I don’t want to directly involve my father and uncles, otherwise I can’t guarantee what extremely foul things I might say.”

Just as Jiang Jin might have wanted to ask what foul language he could possibly utter given how sparingly he usually spoke Lu Zhi immediately continued: “Ren Yiran is currently at my house. He replaced my Suppressant with aphrodisiacs. Go find Uncle Ren immediately, let him see what kind of disgraceful son he’s raised.”

Jiang Jin: “…”

Ren Yiran: “…”