I Like Your Pheromones - Chap 42
As they were leaving the haunted house, Duan Jiayan seemed to almost feel a sense of release. Compared to the staff that scared them occasionally, it was more draining to be walking with Lu Xingci.
Chen Yue and Zhou Xingchen left the house earlier than them and were waiting by the exit.
When he saw Duan Jiayan, Zhou Xingchen seemed to still feel dredges of fear in his heart, “What was up with that female ghost just now? Coming as and when she wanted to, not even letting us prepare ourselves.”
Duan Jiayan laughed, “You were screaming so wretchedly, it’s good that she didn’t get scared by you.”
As he was laughing, the sound of a young kid crying travelled over.
It was a little girl who seemed to be around five to six years old, wearing a pale downy jacket. She looked just like a little ball.
Seeing that there was no adult around her, Duan Jiayan shot a few more glances in her direction. Even when they were about to leave, the little girl was still crying.
Duan Jiayan informed the others and made his way over.
He hesitated for a moment before squatting down, quietly saying, “Little girl, where are your parents?”
“I dwon’t know… Cawwot find papa…”
The little girl was crying so hard that Duan Jiayan could only gingerly rub her head. Sensing that she was not rejecting his touches, he reached out to pat her on the back, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, gege will stay with you for a while. Your mama and papa will come to look for you soon.”
After hearing this, the little girl raised her big eyes full of tears and looked at him.
He was good looking, with an air of a clean youngster on his body. The girl watched as Duan Jiayan shot her a smile, before taking a few steps forward and hugging him.
Duan Jiayan never thought that she would not be afraid of strangers. After realising what happened, he immediately opened his arms and hugged her.
Zhou Xingchen had originally wanted to ask him why he walked over for but after seeing what was happening, he was struck dumb, “Is the person hugging the small child in front of me Duan Jiayan?”
Lu Xingci saw him looking as if his world had turned upside down and laughed, “What about it?”
“I thought he’d be like those that will threaten to beat up any little kid that cries in his household,” Zhou Xingchen had a look of disbelief on his face. “He actually knows how to coax little kids?”
Chen Yue was also curious, “I also find it amazing.”
Chen Yue looked at Lu Xingci who did not seem surprised by what he saw and asked, “You don’t think this is anything special?”
“I saw him taking care of his younger brother,” Lu Xingci thought back to the scene in the hospital. “He’s actually quite soft-hearted.”
Chen Yue, “……”
Chen Yue thought this must be what it’s like to look at someone through love-tinted filters.
After a while, the little girl’s parents managed to find her.
Her parents were an alpha-omega pair. The omega’s emotions were a little unstable, their eyes turning red after seeing their daughter. Seeing Duan Jiayan hugging her, both of them kept thanking him profusely.
Duan Jiayan ended up being a little embarrassed by the parent’s enthusiastic response. The little girl was brought into the omega’s embrace and the omega seemed to be speaking to her quietly. She suddenly turned her head around and shot Duan Jiayan a bright smile.
“Thank you gege! Bye bye gege!”
Her voice sounded crisp and when she was not crying, her pronunciation was very clear.
Duan Jiayan smiled together with her, “Bye meimei.”
After they left, Zhou Xingchen could not resist asking, “Do you like kids?”
Duan Jiayan did not reply, only giving him a reserved glance.
Chen Yue casually answered, “I quite like them. It’ll be nice if I have a daughter in the future, a little princess.”
Zhou Xingchen, “I also want a daughter. Hopefully, Hu Li can give me a daughter.”
Chen Yue, “What about you Lu-gou? Do you want a son or a daughter?”
As Chen Yue was speaking, Zhou Xingchen suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Duan Jiayan, “That’s right, you can give birth to your own child.”
Seeing Zhou Xingchen looking at him with a look of respect, Duan Jiayan laughed coldly, “The f*ck am I giving birth for.”
“I’ve no thoughts on this,” The boy beside him answered slowly and calmly. “If he doesn’t want to give birth, then he doesn’t need to. I’ll listen to him.”
Chen Yue, “……”
Chen Yue thought in his heart, ‘Being taken advantage of like this, it’s actually quite smart.’
Duan Jiayan could not hold it in any longer, “Lu Xingci!”
The latter replied innocently, “What’s wrong? I’m talking about my future wife.”
Duan Jiayan, “……”
Duan Jiayan really had no way to retort.
As they were leaving the theme park, it was snowing heavily.
Monday night, Duan Jiayan had just finished showering and was drying his hair on the balcony when his phone started ringing.
After seeing who it was, Duan Jiayan answered the call.
“Mom?’
Over the phone, Fu Yuan was silent for a long while before gently saying, ”
“Ah Yes, Yun Sheng’s illness got worse.”
“The medical facilities in Ning City are not enough, his doctors are advising us to move to Hai City for treatment.”
“The doctors in Hai City said that his medical condition is a little unique and he needs comfort from both his parents’ pheromones. Uncle He and I will be following him there.”
Compared to Ning City, the coastal city of Hai City was more developed technologically. Fu Yuan had also previously considered working in Hai City but because Duan Jiayan was still schooling, she decided to remain in Ning City.
“……En.” Duan Jiayan draped his towel over his shoulder and shut his eyes before quietly saying. “You’re leaving?”
Fu Yuan paused for a while before gently continuing, “I’d like to ask, do you want to follow us to Hai City?”
Fu Yuan probably knew that this news came out of the blue and so elaborated more on what will happen over the phone. This included the school that Duan Jiayan will attend if he decides to follow them, as well as other issues such as the dorm he’ll be staying in.
It’ll be for a long time.
Duan Jiayan quietly said, “I’ll take a few days to consider this.”
The heater was turned on in Yi Zhong’s classroom, causing a white fog to appear on the glass windows.
During class, Duan Jiayan’s mind was filled with his conversation with Fu Yuan, not concentrating at all in class.
He grew up in Ning City, his friends were all here. He did not want to go to a foreign city, but he also did not want to be away from Fu Yuan.
Duan Jiayan’s parents divorced a long time ago and his father did not take long to build a new family. Even though he’d still transfer a hefty monthly allowance, every year he’d only have a few phone calls with Duan Jiayan.
After all this time, he had pretty much forgotten what his father looked like. To him, Fu Yuan was his most important family member.
While Duan Jiayan was lost in thoughts, Zhao Minjun walked up to the podium.
“Half a month later, the second city entrance examination for this semester will be taking place, your marks will be ranked with the other students in the city,” Zhao Minjun’s gaze swept across the class. “I hope everyone will study hard and fill up any gaps they have. Do your best to achieve your best results during the examination.”
Song Yi whispered into Duan Jiayan’s ear, “This city entrance examination is more or less an end-of-year report I think. I heard that the teachers’ year-end bonus will be tied to our results.
Duan Jiayan turned around and asked, “What do you mean?”
Song Yi, “It means, the worse our class scores, the lower Zhao Minjun’s bonus will be.”
Yi Zhong was a private school. In order to encourage teachers to do their best in teaching, the school will reward the best performing teacher each year. Homeroom teachers tend to be quite heavily rewarded.
Hearing this, Duan Jiayan frowned.
He suddenly raised his hand, “Teacher Zhao, will you be affected by our results?”
Zhao Minjun looked at him for half a second before shooting him a smile, “Whatever your results are, it’ll have a bigger influence on you.”
After she spoke, the sound of chattering rose in the class.
Zhao Minjun continued, “I hope you students will study hard. If you guys score well for this examination, I’ll take the class out to watch a movie.”
Hearing this, Song Yi could not resist aggressively shoving Duan Jiayan, “Xiao-Duan!”
Duan Jiayan was caught off guard by his enthusiastic shove and nearly fell off his chair, “I know! I’ll study!”
Both of them were pretty loud. The students around them could hear what they were saying and could not resist looking over. Quite a few of them started laughing.
Zhou Xingchen heard them too and excitedly shouted, “Duan Jiayan you really want to study? Then I’ll study too.”
Duan Jiayan laughed, “You? Forget it, you can just wait for me to bring up your average score.”
Zhou Xingchen and him would constantly bring down class ten’s score. On the last monthly test, both of them were the last and second last in the entire class.
It just so happened that Zhao Minjun had to leave the classroom to answer a call. Seeing that the teacher was gone, Zhou Xingchen bounded over to Duan Jiayan’s table, “You’re looking down on me?”
Duan Jiayan pointed to himself, “Me, I’m someone with experience. As long as I’m willing, and with the right conditions, I’ll be able to improve greatly.”
Zhou Xingchen was a little lost, “Then what are the right conditions you speak off? Being able to cheat?”
Duan Jiayan gave a light sneer, obviously disdaining his suggestion.
He was just thinking of turning around to ask the person behind him for study materials but mid-turn, he felt that something was not right.
Lu Xingci and him no longer had a pure front-back deskmate relationship.
Looking to the other for help, seems a little inappropriate right?
Duan Jiayan stayed rooted to the spot.
In the face of Zhou Xingchen’s curious gaze, Duan Jiayan drily said, “I’ll self study and turn myself into a genius.”
Zhou Xingchen, “Hahahahahaha!”
Duan Jiayan saw Zhou Xingchen laughing himself silly and raised an eyebrow, “What’re you laughing about?”
Without waiting for Zhou Xingchen’s reply, Duan Jiayan said, “Laugh all you want, you won’t be laughing once we get our results back.”
As Duan Jiayan spoke, he stood up from his chair.
Zhou Xingchen was very aware of his actions, “What are you doing? Going to study behind my back?”
Duan Jiayan said helplessly, “Laozi is going to the toilet, do you want to follow me?”
Zhou Xingchen, “……”
On the way to the toilet, Duan Jiayan thought of Fu Yuan and was reminded of his conversation with Zhou Xingchen. His mind was in a mess.
After returning to the classroom, he saw that in a blink of an eye there was a pile of study material on his desk.
“……”
Duan Jiayan nearly did not dare sit down.
They just swapped seats last week. The academic committee member was seated in front of Duan Jiayan. She turned around and saw him dazedly staring at the pile of study materials and explained, “We heard about it from Song Yi that you only have textbooks and no extra study materials. So each of us contributed one subject per person and decided to give it to you.”
The committee member lifted the study materials and pointed at a stack of printed paper, “There are also a collection of learning points below, you can take a look.”
“……” Duan Jiayan was stunned by their actions and suddenly burst out laughing. “You guys are so concerned about me?”
The committee member nodded, “Do well for this exam. Whether or not we’ll get to see a movie will depend on Zhou Xingchen and you.”
Duan Jiayan said just as sternly, “Okay, we will definitely be able to watch that movie.”
After sitting down, Duan Jiayan realised that there was a pile of lollipops beside the study materials. He paused, “What’s this?”
Chen Yue saw the colourful pile and wanted to laugh, “Zhou Xingchen that idiot, heard about us donating our study materials to you and decided to give you ten lollipops to wish you all the best in losing out to him.”
Duan Jiayan understood what was going on.
This is a challenge.
Without a second thought, Duan Jiayan took out a bag of chips and a box of cake from his drawer. He then took a post-it note from Song Yi’s desk and wrote down these words, [Want to win your father? Wait till your next life.]
Duan Jiayan passed the item to the boy beside him, “Help me pass this to Zhou Xingchen, thanks.”
The boy had overheard their earlier conversation. He saw what was written on the post-it note and laughed as he helped him pass it along.
By the time it got to the front, there was a steady stream of laughter.
“What is this about?”
“Duan Jiayan and Zhou Xingchen are betting on who will be able to score better for the exam.”
“F*ck hahahahaha, this upcoming exam will definitely be one to look out for.”
“Ah this won’t do, even the campus bully is turning over a new leaf, shouldn’t I be working hard too?”
“With your results, you do indeed need to work a little harder.”
“Zhou-ge, if I work hard, will I also get a lollipop?”
Zhou Xingchen just gave him the bag of chips Duan Jiayan passed him, “Score well or else won’t you’ll be letting down Teacher Zhao? Our scores this time will be tied to Teacher Zhao’s year-end bonus, don’t you know?”
The boy took the bag of chips and said, “Previously I didn’t know, but now I do. If that’s the case, then I must score really well.”
There was a lot of chatter in the classroom.
Duan Jiayan eyed the study material on his desk, as well as his classmates around him.
The question that he was troubled by, seemed to have an answer now.
He bowed his head down and sent a message to Fu Yuan, [I’m not leaving, I want to stay here.]
As soon as he sent the message out, he got a call from Fu Yuan. Under normal circumstances, Fu Yuan would never choose to call him during school hours. She most probably felt like this was a special circumstance.
Over the phone, Fu Yuan seemed to have said something but the classroom was too noisy. Duan Jiayan quickly stood up, “I can’t hear you clearly, let me head out to talk to you.”
He made his way to the corridor.
After finding a relatively quiet spot, Duan Jiayan said, “It’s better now, what were you saying?”
“Ah Ye,” Fu Yuan’s voice was very gentle. “Can you tell me why do you not want to go to Hai City?”
Duan Jiayan was quiet for a while before replying, “Mom, I really like my life here now.”
Fu Yuan gave an affirmative sound, indicating for him to continue.
“I like the school I’m in now, as well as the teachers and students,” He spoke slowly. As he rarely said stuff like this, Duan Jiayan was a little embarrassed. “My friends are all here, this semester……”
A few names flashed across his mind.
Chen Yue, Zhou Xingchen, Gu Li……
Finally, it stopped on a name that was slightly different from the rest.
Lu Xingci.
He was originally someone he hated. But after getting to know him, he realised he was someone that was very interesting.
“I made some new friends this semester, they are very nice to me. I want to be able to graduate with them.”
“Technology is so advanced now, Hai City and Ning City are only 3 hours away from each other by flight. I can come over anytime to see you, and likewise for you.”
“No matter what,” Duan Jiayan paused before deciding to say what he always wanted to tell her. “We are family, this is something that will never change.”
The call became silent.
Fu Yuan was actually very surprised that Duan Jiayan had so much to say.
In her mind, Duan Jiayan was still that naive little child that did not know about the world. Somehow before she knew it, he seemed to be slowly getting more understanding.
Due to various reasons, she was not able to accompany him every step of the way while he grew up. She tightened her grip on the phone and sighed, “If you have already thought it through, then I definitely will not stop you.”
Unknowingly, perhaps it was due to familial reasons or maybe it was because of his friends, he had grown up. The speed at which he is growing is even exceeding her expectations.
Fu Yuan felt gratified by the fact, but also felt a sour pang in her heart.
“If you want to stay here, then do so. I’ll get someone to clean the house regularly so if you ever find that staying in the dorm is too troublesome, you can just go home.”
Seeing that she was not against him staying, Duan Jiayan felt a lot more relaxed. He then remembered that he never asked about Fu Yuan’s plans, “When do you and Uncle He plan to leave?”
“Aren’t you guys about to take the city entrance examination soon? I heard from Teacher Zhao that after the exams will be the parent-teacher meeting,” Fu Yuan gently said. “Mom will accompany you for that before leaving.”
After hanging up his call with Fu Yuan, Duan Jiayan made his way back to the classroom.
Fu Yuan has always been concerned about his living conditions. If he scored better for this exam, she should be able to relax a little more. Add to that the joke of a bet that he made with Zhou Xingchen, after returning to the classroom, Duan Jiayan miraculously did not play with his phone and instead started flipping through the teaching materials his classmates passed him.
Chen Yue slung his arm around Lu Xingci and pointed with his chin in the direction of Duan Jiayan who was studying. His meaning was clear, ‘Bro your chance is here.’
Lu Xingci laughed and did not say anything.
Just like this, Duan Jiayan studied the day away.
Aside from the first monthly test after school started, he hadn’t been studying for a while now. However, after studying the books, there was a lot of questions he did not understand and could only seek the help of others to explain it to him.
Over the course of the day, he asked the academic committee member, he asked Chen Yue, he even asked Song Yi whose grades were just a little better than his.
Song Yi was also not sure of how to answer this question. After calculating for a long while, he simply threw his pen down and asked softly, “Why aren’t you looking for class monitor? Did you two have an argument?”
It was currently the night self-study period. Zhou Xingchen had made his way over to look at Duan Jiayan’s studying situation. He saw both Song Yi and him looking at the question in a daze and blurted out without thinking, “Both of you can’t solve this? Just ask Lu-ge then, Lu-ge knows everything.”
Zhou Xingchen was not as considerate as Song Yi, his voice was very loud and everyone around them could hear him.
Duan Jiayan, “……”
Duan Jiayan simply wanted to kick him away.
Suddenly, someone patted him on the shoulder.
Lu Xingci’s voice travelled over, “What question is it? Let me take a look.”
Duan Jiayan say him acting naturally and felt it was unnecessary to be acting weird all by himself. Book in hand, he turned around and pointed to a question, “This one.”
Lu Xingci studied it for a while before taking a pen and paper to explain the solution to him, “First you need to analyse the force. This object has been subjected to three times the force……”
Chen Yue spotted Lu Xingci explaining a question to Duan Jiayan and suddenly understood what Lu Xingci meant with his circumspect attitude from before.
He did not rush to offer help. Instead, he waited for the other to offer themselves up to him.
Like this, it can be considered as Duan Jiayan taking the initiative.
Chen Yue muttered, “How detailed.”
Lu Xingci’s explanation was very clear or perhaps it could be due to the other having tutored him before, he knew the best method to let the other understand what he was trying to say.
After hearing Lu Xingci’s explanation, Duan Jiayan was enlightened and could not resist commenting, “Lu-ge, the first place in our entire cohort has to be specially tailored just for you.”
He kept on praising till he saw Lu Xingci smile. He relaxed and before he knew it, his mouth moved faster than his brain, “When you are revising can you—”
Mid-sentence, he realised something was not right and forced himself to change what he meant to say, “All the best with your revision.”
However, Lu Xingci knew what he wanted to say.
“You want me to help you revise?”
“……” Duan Jiayan hesitated.
Lu Xingci leaned forward a little and indicated for Duan Jiayan to do the same.
Duan Jiayan followed suit and inched closer to the table but suddenly felt that something was not right. The person in front of him watched as he fell into his trap, traces of amusement floating in his eyes.
This was the look of joy a hunter would have as they watched their prey walk into their trap.
For a second, Duan Jiayan instinctively wanted to run.
But it was too late.
The boy in front of him curled his lips into a smile and spoke in a volume only the two of them could hear, “Say you like me and I’ll make sure to help with your revision.”
The author has something to say: I’ll also make sure to help you get into an early romance.
I’m not writing mpreg, putting this out here first.
