What to Do If Beta Cannot Be Marked? - Chapter 7

Chi Jinxian’s heart pounded so fiercely it felt like his entire chest was drumming, more thrilling and exhilarating than the Interstellar Alliance dropping a nuclear bomb in the pirate sector.

He knew he was being utterly ridiculous, but he couldn’t help the overwhelming joy.

Having received concern and proactive concern at that Chi Jinxian floated dreamily toward the living room, shutting the door behind him with a silly grin.

Yuan Si Bai was baking snacks in the kitchen and glanced back at the noise. He saw Chi Jinxian spinning his backpack by the strap around his wrist before tossing it onto the sofa, phone gripped tightly in his other hand as if his eyes were glued to the screen.

Chi Jinxian bounded over and leaped onto another sofa bed.

The soft cushions bounced beneath him, and the faint smile on his face instantly widened into a full-blown beam.

Lying on his back, he held up his phone and began typing rapidly, clearly replying to someone.

“Has he lost his mind?” A figure leaned over the second-floor railing, arms crossed as he peered downstairs with an expression of utter disbelief.

Chi Sui had caught the scent of desserts wafting from the living room all of Chi Jinxian’s favorites. Planning to sneak a taste before the brat returned, he’d emerged from his study only to find the little debtor already home and acting completely deranged.

For a moment, he wondered if his own shamelessness had somehow telepathically provoked the family’s young master, freezing him mid-step on the staircase.

“I don’t know,” Yuan Si Bai said, wiping his hands as he emerged from the kitchen with concern. “Chi Sui, come down and check if he’s sick. He just had a checkup today.”

Reminded of this, Chi Sui realized his son might genuinely be ill and immediately hurried down in his slippers.

Overhearing their “nonsense,” Chi Jinxian forcibly tore his attention away from Lu Zhi’s message. Belatedly recognizing his fathers’ misplaced worry, he shot upright from the sofa like a miraculous recovery, dodging an approaching hand. “I’m fine, not sick at all. Just chatting with someone.”

He stood and hugged Yuan Si Bai to reassure him. “How could you say I’m sick, Dad? I’m perfectly fine.” After the deliberate complaint, he turned to Chi Sui. “And you, believing it without even thinking for yourself.”

Yuan Si Bai: “…”

Chi Sui: “…”

Having his sincere concern thrown back like feeding a stray dog only to get bitten, Chi Sui snorted coldly, withdrew his hand, and diverted to the kitchen.

He slipped on oven mitts and shamelessly helped himself to the baked goods, openly stealing his kid’s treats.

“Oh? Chatting? With who?” He beckoned Yuan Si Bai over, fanning a freshly baked pastry before picking one up and offering it to the younger man. Without missing a beat, he continued questioning Chi Jinxian, “That Lu Zhi kid?”

“How did you know?!” Chi Jinxian clutched his phone protectively, suddenly wary that someone had seen.

Yuan Si Bai declined to be fed directly, coughing lightly as he turned away to take the pastry himself. He then walked over and handed it to Chi Jinxian.

“An An.”

“Tch.” Chi Sui scowled, finding Chi Jinxian thoroughly irritating.

“How would I know?” Chi Sui shot him a sidelong glance, his expression cold and unfriendly. “You’re asking me how I know? Have you no shame? Remember how I got to school during the first flag-raising ceremony in high school?”

Chi Jinxian: “…”

“Did you think you were being low-key at Interstellar Alliance High School?”

Chi Jinxian avoided the question, not daring to make a sound.

“Chi Jinxian, if it weren’t for your decent academic performance and the fact you haven’t done anything truly outrageous and because your other dad and I don’t want to restrict or discipline you too much you’d have been punished long ago, I’m telling you.” Chi Sui was quite intimidating when serious. His sharp features, combined with his direct lecturing, made it instinctively hard to defy him, leaving one feeling a bit nervous.

After all, Chi Jinxian wasn’t fully an adult yet, and his reverence for his father hadn’t faded. He timidly shrunk his neck, reached out to tug at the hem of Yuan Si Bai’s clothes, and whispered very softly, “Dad.”

“Ahem.” Yuan Si Bai calmly glanced toward Chi Sui and made a warning sound.

Chi Sui noticed, nearly choking on a bite of dessert. He didn’t dare cough and quickly grabbed a glass of water nearby, gulping down half of it. Hiding half his face behind the cup, he grinned at Yuan Si Bai, who averted his gaze, unconsciously rubbing his ear.

Seeing the effect was clear, Chi Sui set down the cup and resumed his lecture. “Come on, son, let’s review your name. The character ‘Jin’ in the middle do you know how to write it?”

Chi Jinxian nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“And the word ‘restraint’ do you know how to write that?”

“…”

“Your other dad and I have taught you since childhood to be humble and not too flashy, constantly reminding you what it means to be restrained.” Chi Sui placed the gloves he’d taken off back in their spot and pointed at Chi Jinxian. “But you? You agree and say you remember, then turn around and stand in front of someone declaring your feelings, still sending love letters and roses every single day.”

“And the ‘Jin’ for restraint you only chose that name for money. Look, Chi Jinxian, ‘Cash Pool’, what a great name. Even my nickname is ‘Little Cash’ now.” Chi Jinxian hung his head in shame, muttering a rebuttal before asking in an even quieter voice, “Dad, how do you even know about that?”

At that, Chi Sui fell into an odd silence. Just as Chi Jinxian grew curious and tried to sneak a glance, a large hand came down and covered his head, pushing him to sit on the floor!

Through gritted teeth, Chi Sui said, “Haven’t you noticed you’re almost stripping my garden bare? Did you think I wouldn’t notice you sneaking around every morning?”

Chi Jinxian: “…”

“Those are my flowers!”

Chi Jinxian: “…”

Yuan Si Bai chuckled softly from the side.

Chi Sui ruffled his hair into a bird’s nest, still grinding his teeth. “Cash Pool, my foot. Do I need your few dollars? You’re nothing but a little debtor.”

Only then did true embarrassment and shame flood his face. Chi Jinxian whined, covering his face, refusing to show himself.

But, if Chi Sui knew he was still sending roses daily, that meant he was well aware of his lingering feelings for Lu Zhi. So why had he invited Lu Zhi yesterday?

Before coming of age, their family never publicly revealed their children’s identities.

Chi Jinxian looked up and asked, “It was my birthday yesterday. Dad said it was to get familiar in advance, so he invited some uncles and aunts, as well as people my age but aside from Lu Zhi, there didn’t seem to be anyone else my age at the event, right?” His expression was numb, his tone tinged with suspicion. “Dad, did you do it on purpose?”

Chi Sui raised an eyebrow. “Hmm.”

“Hmm ?” To emphasize his indignation, Chi Jinxian dragged out the questioning tone, feeling as if he could stand up and put his hands on his hips.

“Why?” he asked.

Because of this, he almost missed lunch his dad was just too much!

But with this out in the open, the heavy stone of deception that had been weighing on his heart suddenly fell away. From now on, he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

Chi Sui said, “I wanted to see what kind of celestial beauty you were chasing.”

His tone was a bit sarcastic. After all, no one could be happy when their child was about to run off with someone.

“An An, you’re still young, but when it comes to emotions, if you’ve never experienced that kind of passionate feeling, you might regret it later. So even though your dad and I don’t want you stepping into a relationship so early, we haven’t interfered much, knowing you have a sense of boundaries. The more we resist, the more likely it is to backfire.” Yuan Si Bai pulled Chi Jinxian up from the floor and smoothed his clothes. “The reason we can trust you is that you’ve always been level-headed about everything and every problem. We believe it’ll be the same with your feelings.”

Chi Jinxian listened attentively but didn’t fully understand. He just nodded instinctively and replied, “Uh-huh.”

Chi Jinxian was stubborn, persistent, and held firmly to his own opinions just look at how, for two years, his eyes had been fixed only on Lu Zhi.

But he had one excellent trait: he maintained an optimistic attitude toward everything, naive and even a little foolish at times yet this was something many people longed for but couldn’t attain.

Yuan Si Bai wanted him to experience everything he went through with the most straightforward perception, embracing it all, whether good or bad. He had never spoken these words to Chi Jinxian before, but after meeting Lu Zhi that day,

“An An,” he said, “Alpha and Beta.”

“Third Brother! Brother Yuan! An!” The living room door was flung open with a clatter by an uninvited guest. Qi Suiyi rushed in, carrying a backpack stuffed with several sets of clothes, overjoyed and unable to contain his excitement.

It seemed as if he wasn’t just coming to stay for a few days but for a lifetime.

Yuan Si Bai was taken aback at the sight of him, blinked, and instinctively asked, “Xiao Sui? Did Dad agree to let you stay here?”

“Huh?” Qi Suiyi said, “Didn’t An An tell you?”

He then explained that he would be staying until Monday. With another troublemaker added to the household, Chi Sui gritted his teeth, clearly unenthusiastic. After hearing the explanation, Yuan Si Bai chuckled softly, understanding, and said, “Well, you and An An can go upstairs and play. Dinner will still be a while.”

Qi Suiyi cheerfully agreed, ran over, threw an arm around Chi Jinxian’s neck, and headed upstairs.

“Tidy up your own room,” Chi Jinxian said as soon as they reached the top of the stairs, pointing to the room next door.

It was the room Qi Suiyi usually stayed in, and the furnishings inside hadn’t changed.

Qi Suiyi quipped, “When we were kids, we often shared a room.”

Chi Jinxian snapped, “Get lost.”

“Hmph.” Qi Suiyi grabbed his belongings and turned into the neighboring room. As long as he didn’t have to go home and study, he’d even sleep on the floor.

As soon as the person disappeared, Chi Jinxian immediately slipped back into his room, closing the door, kicking off his shoes, and jumping onto the bed in one fluid motion.

Lying on the bed, he opened his phone to find two more messages from Lu Zhi.

Lu Zhi: [Were you startled to see me at your birthday party yesterday?]

Lu Zhi: [What does that have to do with going to the hospital?]

At the Lu residence, Lu Zhi sat at his desk, his phone lying untouched before him. His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, feeling as if something was growing on the chair, making him rather restless.

His fingertips tapped lightly and arrhythmically on the desk, the sound only adding to his irritation. A trace of agitation gradually rose in Lu Zhi’s eyes, his gaze unconsciously drifting to a white medicine bottle in the corner of the desk.

“Buzz ”

Lu Zhi jolted, his eyes instantly drawn to the phone. His brow had already smoothed, though he hadn’t noticed it himself.

Meanwhile, Chi Jinxian was rolling around on his bed in his room, typing out a lengthy message word by word, a ridiculously sincere essay.

Cash Pool: [First of all, I want to apologize to Brother Lu for lying about my family being poor. I’ve deeply reflected on it and realized how wrong it was, but my family’s money isn’t mine, I’m still very poor. After seeing Brother Lu yesterday, on one hand, I was afraid you’d blame me and be angry, and on the other, I was worried about not being able to mooch meals anymore. I felt like I couldn’t win over the person I like and was also going to starve to death. Overwhelmed by fear and sadness, I couldn’t sleep all night, and by noon, my bladder was about to burst. So, I finally fell ill and had to go to the hospital. The doctor said it’s a psychological issue and that I can only be cured if I can mooch a meal every day from now on.]

As he typed, Chi Jinxian added sound effects to his own words, each sentence sounding utterly sincere, pitiful, honest, and vulnerable in his mouth so much so that he almost believed it himself.

A full half hour later, Lu Zhi finally replied: [You’re full of it.]

Just from the typing, it was clear his expression must be utterly indescribable.

Chi Jinxian laughed joyfully, collapsing onto the bed, and began confessing his feelings to Lu Zhi.

The other party directly ignored him and didn’t respond.

The next day, Chi Jinxian went to the hospital with Yuan Si Bai to get his test results, which were exactly the same as the previous two times.

Normal physical signs, no abnormalities.

No signs of differentiation either.

When Monday came and it was time to go back to school, Chi Jinxian no longer sneaked around. He openly went to the garden and picked the most beautiful fiery red rose blooming that day after all, his father already knew about his antics. After wrapping it up, he headed to school.

Another day to see Brother Lu his mood was even better!

Today, Lu Zhi arrived a bit late, showing up just ten minutes before class started.

As the back door creaked open, Chi Jinxian turned and placed a carton of milk on his desk. “Good morning, Brother Lu. Milk.”

Lu Zhi glanced at it but didn’t touch it. Instead, before Chi Jinxian could turn away, he extended two fingers, handing something over.

Chi Jinxian was slightly taken aback and looked down.

It was the meal card that had been slapped onto him last Friday.

Lu Zhi’s.

Chi Jinxian looked up, blinking in slight confusion, like a young deer staring with exceptionally bright eyes.

Just like last time, Lu Zhi lightly tapped the card against Chi Jinxian’s collarbone, his eyes downcast as he said indifferently, “From now on, you’ll buy lunch.”