Ch23.3 - Three-In-One (Part 3)

When Ling Che came over, Xu Tangzhou subconsciously retreated: Could this be considered the after-effect of getting marked?

He honestly doubted that Ling Che had no prior experiences before. Who on earth would take so long to do a temporary mark with such fierceness at that, and nearly made him sob by hesitating around his nape for a while. 

If Ling Che were to take an extra bite, he may not be able to take it anymore.

Yet Ling Che did not do anything else.

He merely lay on the side of the sofa and placed his head on Xu Tangzhou’s lap before giving out orders in a deep voice like a big boss: “Only massage my temples and nowhere else.”

Ling Che’s body emits a faint aroma and flavor of pheromones as it causes a slight acceleration in Xu Tangzhou’s heartbeat: “Kay.” 

He wholeheartedly agreed.

Ling Che finished his remark before closing his eyes and waited for the service without another word of nonsense.

Xu Tangzhou thought back to what Huang Qian said about “Ling Che’s hair is a no-go zone, you aren’t allowed to make contact with his hair”, so it seems to not be that exaggerated, and he wasn’t denied from coming into contact.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he tentatively put his hand forward: “Are you okay with this?”

The texture of Ling Che’s hair was soft, which was completely different from the person himself.

It had the resemblance of…… smoothing the fur of a lion.

“I am fine with it.” Ling Che’s furrowed eyebrows gradually disappeared after a few well proportioned massages.

So, this is just really a case of letting him in and asking for a massage now, ah? 

Xu Tangzhou heaved out a sigh: Even if you aren’t planning on giving me a mark, it’d still be nice of you to help me apply a glandular patch or something.

Not long afterwards, just as Xu Tangzhou was assuming that Ling Che had fallen asleep, his movements came to a halt.

Ling Che, however, grasped his hand in one fell swoop: “Xu Tangzhou.”

Xu Tangzhou’s face instantly reddened: “What’s the matter? You… you aren’t asleep?” 

“It’s not as if I am a pig that thought about taking naps all day long.” Ling Che opened his eyelids, and no trace of drowsiness was visible in his amber-coloured pupils.

Thump, thump.

It was the first time that Ling Che had teased him in such a tone as if they were close acquaintances who had known each other for a long time.

They met each other’s gaze and the acceleration of heartbeats intensified. 

Does it belong to him or Ling Che? Xu Tangzhou cannot distinguish the difference.

“I heard that you had memory loss.” Ling Che said, “Does this mean that you have no recollection at all?”

Was it as Huang Qian had stated?

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Xu Tangzhou believed that the answer should be yes and responded: “En. My memory of the past few years is gone. There are instances where I would bump into my former classmates on the road and recognize none of them.” 

The doctor stated that recovery is solely dependent on the situation.

Ling Che continued asking: “Since when have you known me?”

Xu Tangzhou didn’t dare to talk about the naughty things he did in his dream so he simply said after pondering for a bit: “It should have been four years ago. Your hair was slightly longer when I first discovered you.”

He was fascinated the first time he saw Ling Che on TV. 

Ling Che went for emo fashion at the time but he was a charming type, and his long hair does not appear to be discordant or feminine. The fact that there was a sort of valiance belonging to a male on him made Xu Tangzhou feel that he resembled a blood-sucking vampire. During that period of time, Ling Che composed songs about the newspaper presses and enjoyed being associated with the color gray. Even until now, there still exist some melancholy underground bands who regard his light rock as classics.

Hearing Xu Tangzhou’s narration, Ling Che had roughly figured out when.

It was after their separation.

Xu Tangzhou had actually lose his meomories that earlier on. 

“I am fond of the song called《Excuses》composed by you at the time.” Xu Tangzhou told him, “As well as《After You》, the one that Mi Fei sang. Your fashion sense back then was to my liking but the current you ain’t bad either, it gave off a different vibe.”

Ling Che has a short hair style at the moment, his brow bones are high, and so is the bridge of his nose. No dead ends are visible through all angles in his hair without trimming. There’s even a saying that Ling Che’s shadow can outshine ordinary people.

Xu Tangzhou listed a few more classic pieces, yet Ling Che asked, “What else?”

In Xu Tangzhou’s opinion, the posture that they were currently having a conversation in was really a little intimate. 

With one of them sitting while the other lying down on the former’s lap, chatting with their heads lowered— Only a couple would do this.

He didn’t have time to think about the changes involved, assuming that it was only the temporary mark which brought them closer together by physical means. There was a saying that some sort of minor submissiveness will exist between a temporarily marked Omega and his Alpha, which is established based on suppression of absolute power. This relationship was by no means troublesome, and there is even the desire of wanting to get closer to each other.

Is that what’s happening to him right now?

“What about myself?” Ling Che sat up, and looked at him like so, “Didn’t you say that you were fond of me and I was the reason that you wanted to partake in the show?” 

Xu Tangzhou morphed into a statue.

What’s that supposed to mean? Settling scores after the temporary mark was done? It couldn’t be that Ling Che falsely came to a conclusion that he did all of this to cheat a temporary mark off of him right?

Xu Tangzhou reacted and swiftly said: “It’s true.”

“You have my approval.” 

Ling Che no longer kept pursuing with the questions and averted his gaze before awkwardly spitting out four words.

Xu Tangzhou: “???”

This time, his brain was truly filled with question marks: Approval for what? Approval for him to partake in the show? Isn’t this a bit too late? He was already on the show!

There were no fluctuations in Ling Che’s tone as he spoke with a tinge of dominance: “Three conditions. Firstly, you aren’t allowed to go back on your word. Secondly, you aren’t allowed to hook shoulders and play buddies with others. Lastly, come over and give me a massage each night or else I won’t give you my pheromones.” 

So it turns out that they were have a discussion about the temporary mark!

Xu Tangzhou suddenly came to a realization: “Got it!”

The duration of a temporary mark only last for a few days and its effects varies from person to person.

Xu Tangzhou can only take his meds again upon returning home, therefore he had to thicken his face and ask Ling Che for a temporary mark just to be safe, but who would’ve expected that Ling Che could be such an understanding individual. 

“I promise I will achieve it!” Xu Tangzhou was a little hyped up, “There’s no way that I’ll violate any of them! How can you be so nice? My fondness towards you was not in vain!”

Seeing the expression of the person in front of him had brightened up all of the sudden, Ling Che’s gaze sankened a little as he clears his throat: “……Got it. Keep a low profile when we are recording the show.”

“I will never reveal it to anyone else!”

Xu Tangzhou swore an oath this instant. 

“That’s not what I——” It was as if Ling Che had given up on pursuing, “Nevermind.”

Speaking of the show, a huge burden was lifted off and Xu Tangzhou can finally spare some energy to contemplate about this matter without the need  to be constantly concerned about the Omni-occurring Pseudo-heats.

The two of them hadn’t really discussed about their next plan of action after arriving at Sulilan. Taking advantage of the decent atmosphere at the moment, Xu Tangzhou tallied up the amount of base funds for Ling Che—— They were allowed to stay one more day at the cabin for free, but they are already down to less than 3000 yuan.

A free pass to the tourist location would be given to them tomorrow, but they still had four days ahead of them and it was obvious how broke they were. 

There’s a possibility that they may even need to learn from the Xia Sisters and rent a tent.

“Tent……” Ling Che pondered for a moment, “Not for now. We can think of a way to get the reimbursement for your pheromone suppression spray.”

Xu Tangzhou was uncertain: “How so?”

Ling Che: “By staying put.” 

He told Xu Tangzhou: “There should be results tomorrow.”

*

Xu Tangzhou did not notice any abnormalities until the third day of recording.

Xu Tangzhou wore a short sleeved shirt today, there aren’t any clothes that can conceal the bite mark after the application of a glandular patch. 

He had obviously prepared excuses yet not even one person from the entire program team asked him what was going on.

But he was uncertain as for where the abnormalities lies.

After breakfast, he hadn’t had time to go outside and join the others when Ling Che called out to him: “Zai-zai.”

Xu Tangzhou’s footsteps came to a halt and there was a slight blush on his face. 

Each time Ling Che calls out to him like this, he’d be embarrassed. It’s fine if he were to get used to it, but it only pops out of Ling Che’s mouth once or twice. Xu Tangzhou is basically sure that the chances of it happening is higher when Ling Che is in a good mood.

“What’s the matter?”

“Come over here for a moment.”

Xu Tangzhou looked back, and Mo-mo along with the cameraman withdrew tacitly, only leaving the two of them inside the cabin’s dining room. 

What was that for?

He walked over to Ling Che and Ling Che’s scent was still emitting from his body which made the latter very satisfied.

In order not to waste resources doing outdoor filming, all cameras remained turned off, meaning that there aren’t any eyes watching them right now. That being said, Xu Tangzhou feels more nervous than when the camera are turned on.

Because it will always remind him of the previous time when Ling Che marked him…… Like that in a place with no cameras around. 

Ling Che pulled open his collar with his hand and looked at the crookedly positioned glandular patch: “Redo it.”

Xu Tangzhou found it a bit embarrassing as he himself wasn’t a rigorous person and the bite mark can easily be noticed if the glandular patch was applied crooked.

“You are going to give me a hand?”

Ling Che: “Nonsense.” 

After the two of them entered the room, Xu Tangzhou took out the glandular patches from his pocket and delivered them to Ling Che.

When their fingertips came into contact, a numbing sensation ran through them, making Xu Tangzhou’s ears turn red.

Ling Che had come to notice it.

He silently peeled off the piece applied on his neck before taking a look at the bite mark. 

It was him who was careless last night. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he was unable to fall asleep the entire time after Xu Tangzhou left, he would’ve looked up the precautionary measures that should be taken after a temporary mark is done online. He was still unaware that the gland of an Omega can easily be infected if they are not properly cared for after being bitten.

One piece of medical advice that was offered says an Alpha’s saliva contains a lot of active ingredients for repairing its own bite marks, and it could also be used to heal the bite marks on their partner as well.

As for how—- It’d be of course no different from the way a cat licks its cubs.

The person before his eyes was sensitive to the degree that their ears would turn red before he even did anything. If he were to really use that sort of method, how would it turn out? 

Ling Che thought so and said lightly: “Your bite marks have turned red, there’s a possibility for infection.”

Xu Tangzhou lowered his head and couldn’t see Ling Che’s expression, but knew where the latter was looking.

He was so nervous that he sweated in the palms of his hand: “I believe that…to…morrow, it’d heal.”

It was all thanks to you for blindly marking me! Xu Tangzhou complained, and with such fierceness at that! 

He has a lot of theoretical knowledge thanks to Qiu Yin, and he was aware of what Alpha ought to do to allow him to have a speedy recovery.

As he was in the process of pondering, a sensation spread from the back of his neck where he had only ever felt in his dreams—- Warm and gentle, mixed with moisture and exhales.

He couldn’t help but tremble at once out of reflex: “Ling Che?

Ling Che grabbed his waist from behind to prevent him from slipping. 

And lazily let out a single “En”.