PA chapter 6

He said to start with math, and surprisingly, he really started from scratch. Qu Baiyuan could explain math from start to finish without needing to look at a book, allowing Lin Sheng to truly experience the diversity of the world.

The textbooks in private schools were very different from those in public schools, but the compulsory content was the same. Qu Baiyuan organized it for Lin Sheng according to his own system, and Lin Sheng didn’t know which parts were from their usual curriculum.

Qu Baiyuan spoke slowly, jotting down key points on the draft paper as he explained. He used an example for each point to illustrate, and when Lin Sheng didn’t understand something, he would stop and explain it carefully.

After finishing a point, he would look into Lin Sheng’s eyes earnestly, “Did you understand?”

In the pounding of his own heartbeat, Lin Sheng nodded and said he understood.

The two were very close, and the bright sunlight filtered through the leaves in front of the house, casting golden spots in the dining room.

In the long separations that followed, Lin Sheng would repeatedly recall the summer when they first met, and his mind would be filled with this scene.

As noon approached, the people who had gone out to play in the water returned, making a fuss.

Lin Sheng put away his books, thanked Qu Baiyuan, and then went upstairs. Bai Ji happened to come in, deliberately coming to the table side to hook Qu Baiyuan’s neck and whisper, “How’s it going?”

Qu Baiyuan pushed him away unhappily, “You guys came back too early.”

“Dang, it’s too hot outside, unbearable.” Bai Ji sat in the seat Lin Sheng had just vacated. “Tell me, he…”

Halfway through, Yan Leyan walked over to the refrigerator behind them to get drinks. Bai Ji paused and turned to Yan Leyan, “Get me a Coke!”

“It’s right behind you, can’t you get it yourself?” Yan Leyan complained as he handed him a bottle.

After Yan Leyan walked away, Bai Ji continued, “Does he have feelings for you?”

Qu Baiyuan glanced in the direction of the stairs and said vaguely, “Probably.”

“Have you two kissed?”

Qu Baiyuan glanced at him sideways, “So soon?”

“Tsk, it’s been a whole morning and you haven’t made any progress. What have you been doing?”

Qu Baiyuan: “Teaching him math.”

Bai Ji gave him a look that said, “Are you kidding me?” and gave him a thumbs up. “Ge, you’re something else.”

Before breakfast, Qu Baiyuan went to Bai Ji’s room and asked him to clear the others out so he could spend some time alone with Lin Sheng.

Bai Ji was almost jaw-dropped; he had known Qu Baiyuan for four years and had never seen him show interest in anyone.

His standards were too high, and it was always others who actively approached him.

“I think I might know what having a crush means,” he said at the time.

Only Qu Baiyuan knew he was lying. It wasn’t a crush; it was a reunion, one-sided.

He had just finished a long and boring summer study trip before returning to City C, and had a very unpleasant argument with his father about choosing a major.

As the only son in the family, his father wanted him to stay in City C and study business so he could become an excellent successor in the future. But Qu Baiyuan wanted to pursue theoretical physics in the future, which was undoubtedly meaningless in the eyes of businessmen.

The father and son parted ways unhappily, and Bai Ji happened to invite him to stay at a homestay for a few days at this time, so he packed up his unopened suitcase and left.

To be honest, he was very unhappy these days, but the surprise of meeting Lin Sheng made his troubled mood a little better, and he hoped it could get even better.

Qu Baiyuan liked everything that was controllable. Even falling in love had to have clear goals and clear plans.

Lin Sheng was very attractive; every aspect of him fit his aesthetic, and the milky fragrance also made him very excited. If the Lin Sheng on the competition field aroused his sexual fantasies, then the current Lin Sheng gave him a very strong desire to explore, making him unable to resist wanting to explore his innermost thoughts and soul.

Shang Fuer defined love as a feeling that creates perfect illusions, and Qu Baiyuan deeply agreed. In his opinion, everything in the world has certain rules of operation, and once it deviates from the rules, it will lead to destruction. Love is precisely the most easily derailed human emotion, so it must be handled very carefully.

In order to obtain a controllable experience of love, he treated the fans who used to like him as samples, analyzed and established a perfect theory, constantly modifying and perfecting it through simulation and deduction. He obtained his favorite rhythm, like a perfect piece of music, with each note placed in the right position.

He looked forward to playing this piece of music on Lin Sheng.

The afternoon sun was dazzling, shining brightly in the courtyard. After playing wildly all morning, everyone now felt like they had been drained of their souls and just wanted to huddle on the couch after eating.

Lin Sheng also felt that after studying math for more than two hours, his brain cells were already drained, so he went back to his room to take a nap.

Downstairs, a poker game started, and laughter echoed in the yard. Lin Sheng was too lazy to get up to close the windows, so he buried his face in the thin blanket and fell asleep.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

In a semi-conscious state, he heard the sound of punching a sandbag… No, not punching a sandbag! It was the sound of someone banging their head against the wall!

Suddenly startled awake, young Lin Sheng ran barefoot into his mother’s room. His mother was kneeling weakly on the bed, wearing a washed-out cotton skirt. One of her hands was shackled to the iron railings at the head of the bed, and she was smashing her head against the wall.

On the gray-white wall, fresh and old blood mixed together, forming patches of black and red.

“Mom!” he cried out, rushing over to hug her head.

That fragile female omega, her face had become contorted in madness, her thin cheeks deeply sunken, only her eyes could reveal her former beauty.

Lin Sheng hugged her tightly, she buried her face in Lin Sheng’s chest, wailing loudly, each cry sharper than the last.

“Ah—”

“Let me go!”

“Let me die!”

She screamed, her emaciated hand clenched into fists, pounding Lin Sheng’s back.

Lin Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, the blazing sun outside was blinding, and his back was already soaked in sweat. He sat up, threw the T-shirt stuck to his body onto the bed, and hugged the blanket, panting for a while before calming down.

When was that? Lin Sheng couldn’t remember anymore, probably when he was six or even younger.

He hadn’t dreamed about his mother for many years.

From his earliest memories, his mother had always been locked in a room. When she wasn’t going crazy, she would hold little Lin Sheng and tell him stories, using the hand that wasn’t shackled to stroke his face.

Grandpa said his mother was useless, turning herself into this for an Alpha. Lin Sheng didn’t understand what that meant at the time, only when he grew up did he learn what the Final Mark meant. But it seemed that other people’s parents didn’t end up like this even after divorcing; they could wash off the mark and start over.

One day, Yan Leyan and his mother came to their house. Yan Leyan’s mother sat in Lin Sheng’s mother’s room for a long time, then she used the key stolen from Grandpa to unlock the handcuffs and took his mother away.

Yan Leyan stayed with Lin Sheng for a whole night.

The next morning, his mother came back. It was as if she had regained her life; she hugged Lin Sheng and kissed him, she had never been so happy before.

Lin Sheng saw gauze on the back of his mother’s neck, soaked red with blood. After his mother passed away, he learned that it was a gland removal surgery, performed illegally in a black clinic.

After Grandpa came back, he had a big argument with his mother. Lin Sheng saw Grandpa, who was as hard as iron, cry. For an omega, removing the glands was equivalent to suicide, but his mother said that the time she awaited death was the happiest time of her life because she had gained freedom.

Three months later, she passed away.

Lin Sheng didn’t quite understand his mother’s choice. What kind of emotion could only be relieved by death? Grandpa said it was because she was too weak.

So every time he didn’t do well in training, Grandpa would wave his fists and shout, “Don’t be like your mother!”

Don’t be as weak as your mother, don’t be as useless as your mother, don’t turn yourself into a madman for an Alpha like your mother did!

Lin Sheng covered his face with both hands, images of his mother going crazy and his mother’s last three months of normalcy flashed alternately in his mind. He had briefly had the best mother in the world.

However, never having been loved was probably better than briefly having and forever losing.

He took a deep breath and held back the tears that were about to fall.

The doorbell seemed to ring for a long time, but he ignored it. After a few seconds of silence, the door was forcefully knocked again.

Lin Sheng casually put on a piece of clothing and went to open the door. It was Qu Baiyuan who had been knocking.

Seeing him open the door, Qu Baiyuan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “If you hadn’t opened the door, I would have had to call someone.”

“What’s wrong?” His voice was hoarse, as if he had just been crying. Qu Baiyuan looked at his reddened eyes, softened his gaze, and lowered his voice. “I heard you yelling loudly in the corridor just now.”

“Oh,” Lin Sheng hesitated for a moment. “I might have had a nightmare.”

Qu Baiyuan looked at the bright room illuminated by sunlight and reached out to touch Lin Sheng’s forehead. His palm was dry and warm, and he gently touched his forehead before retracting. “Are you okay now?”

Lin Sheng nodded and said he was fine.

Qu Baiyuan hesitated for a moment and then asked, “Do you need suppressants?”

It was only then that Lin Sheng remembered it was the second day of his heat cycle, and he had forgotten to take the suppressants. The pheromones in the room had already become as thick as spilled milk.

Voices from the corridor could be heard, with Bai Ji walking towards them while talking on the phone. Before Lin Sheng could react, he grabbed Qu Baiyuan’s arm and pulled him inside, slamming the door shut with a bang.

Lin Sheng’s mind was in turmoil, and after doing this, he was startled by his own actions. He palely explained, “I don’t want Bai Ji to find out.”

After a pause, he added, “I’ll call Yan Leyan to ask him to bring one up for me.”

He dialed Yan Leyan’s number, but Yan Leyan’s phone rang in the room.

Lin Sheng: “…”

He held the phone somewhat at a loss, and Qu Baiyuan approached him, gently touching his shoulder. “I’ll go get it for you, is that alright?”

Lin Sheng’s mind was blank, from having a nightmare to feeling dizzy now.

More precisely, he had been restless since the previous night, and now his mind was filled with the scent of high-mountain red tea. Every cell in his body was longing for it. He didn’t want the suppressants; he wanted Qu Baiyuan’s pheromones.

This desire terrified him. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, feeling like a traveler stranded in a desert longing for water. But this time, Qu Baiyuan had controlled the pheromones very well, leaving his unsatisfied heart feeling empty.

“I’ll go get it for you,” Qu Baiyuan repeated, turning to leave.

Lin Sheng inexplicably grabbed his arm, avoiding eye contact as he tentatively approached. With his nose near Qu Baiyuan’s neck, he asked softly, “Can I have some of your pheromones?”