“How could the suppressant be ineffective?” Nian Meilan stood outside the corridor, looking at the sealed door, a bit worried.

“Don’t worry yet; wait for the doctor to have a look,” Gu’s father soothed her.

This time Gu Sheng’s rut arrived with such ferocity that it took them completely by surprise.

It had been less than three months since the last rut. Although an alpha’s first rut doesn’t have a fixed schedule, the interval shouldn’t be this short.

Moreover, the Gu family only now realized that the suppressant had little effect on Gu Sheng; he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

This time Gu Sheng’s heat phase came on suddenly, and Gu Jinyan and Gu Yuan were also affected; they could only be sent away.

Gu Father and Nian Meilan already had lifetime marks, and on top of that they were Gu Shengshi’s own sons, the blood ties meant they were the least affected.

While waiting for the doctor, only the two of them took care of Gu Sheng.

But they found that after the inhibitor was administered, Gu Sheng’s hormones didn’t change at all; the sensitive period kept going.

Gu Sheng listened from outside the door as the doctor and his parents talked, saying it was the first time they’d encountered this kind of situation; if nothing else worked, they’d have to give him a sedative and ride out this sensitive period.

He clutched the blanket, bit down on his finger, trembling the whole time.

He cried and wanted to tell them that he didn’t want the sedative.

In the end, considering Gu Sheng was still a minor, regulations forbade giving him too many sedatives, so they could only prescribe him some mild relief medication.

Gu Sheng endured wave after wave of heat, his sweat soaking his clothes. He bit his own arm and sank into a semi-conscious state.

Gu’s father wiped his sweat and heard Gu Sheng talking in his sleep: “The box, the box.”

“What box?” Gu’s father asked softly, but Gu Sheng was already lost in his own world, eyes closed and trembling all the while.

Since they discovered Gu Sheng had been getting through his rut by hurting himself, they tied his limbs to the four corners of the bed, so Gu Sheng could only fall asleep in an awkward position.

Gu Sheng didn’t speak, he just kept crying.

Everyone’s rut and heat periods are different; pheromones amplify the hormones in their bodies, so during this time alphas become more prone to rage and omegas become more fragile and sensitive.

There really aren’t many alphas like Gu Sheng, who silently grit their teeth and endure it.

In the end, Father Gu could only call Gu Yuan and ask him to go to Gu Sheng’s place to find a box.

Gu Yuan took the box out of the trunk, not knowing what it would be used for.

“Is this it?” Father Gu asked as he carried it in. Gu Sheng looked at the box and nodded.

After another dose of the suppressant, Gu Sheng finally came out of the high-fever state, and Father Gu brought the key to help him open it.

Gu Sheng tumbled and scrambled, wrapping himself in the blanket as he fell off the bed to the floor. He reached out, opened the trunk, took the coat inside, and hugged it to his chest.

The cool touch of the fabric made Gu Sheng feel comforted.

Gu Sheng’s father watched him with a complex expression. If he wasn’t mistaken, that coat didn’t belong to Gu Sheng. As he helped him back onto the bed, preparing to lock him up, Gu Sheng called out to stop him.

“No need, Dad. I can do it.”

In the end Mr. Gu still listened to him, leaving him and that coat inside the room.

When he came out, Nian Meilan hurried over anxiously and asked, “How’s Shengsheng? Why did you come out?”

Mr. Gu pulled Nian Meilan close, looking at the dark bluish bruise under her eye and couldn’t help but feel a little pained. “Don’t worry, let him be alone for a while.”

Gu Sheng smelled the piece of clothing in his arms; the coat had been warmed by his body heat and could no longer give him any coolness, but he still refused to let go.

The scent on the garment had already grown faint. Gu Sheng buried his face in it, took a breath, and was still unsatisfied with the thin trace of smell.

He wasn’t exactly fully sober now; during an alpha’s rutting period, they come closer to their true nature.

Without the disguise, Gu Sheng instinctively searched for a familiar scent.

The coat was already stained with his pheromones, indistinguishable now; Gu Sheng suddenly felt reassured, and yet not satisfied.

He’d been suppressing himself, keeping Zhou Shiyi at arm’s length, but during the sensitization period the desires buried deep in his heart could no longer be hidden.

He needed this person, mentally.

That jacket was nothing more than a small comfort; Gu Sheng’s mind wasn’t very clear — he wanted to get close to the jacket’s owner.

In the end, Gu Sheng still dialed that well-memorized number. He hadn’t expected the other side to pick up, and he suddenly held his breath.

“Hello? Hi.”

The phone rang a few times; just as it was about to be hung up, Zhou Shiyi answered.

Gu Sheng hadn’t wiped the tears from his face yet, but upon hearing the voice on the other end he seemed suddenly soothed, listening intently.

After Zhou Shiyi spoke that one sentence, all he could hear from the other side was some noise—sounds like they were outside.

Gu Sheng still felt immensely satisfied.

He conceded—whether surrendering to physiological instinct or to the psychological dependence on Zhou Shiyi, Gu Sheng just wanted to hear Zhou Shiyi’s voice right then.

Because no one spoke, Zhou Shiyi hung up that inexplicable call.

He had seen an unknown number earlier and hadn’t really wanted to pick up, but worried it might be urgent, so after letting the people in the private room know, he stepped outside to answer.

Hearing the call end, Gu Sheng still refused to put down his phone.

He opened the call recording and played the less-than-a-minute clip over and over again.

He was like an addict now—Zhou Shiyi was his fix. Just catching a hint of him was enough to pull him up off the floor and cling to Zhou Shiyi’s side.

He kept replaying it until the phone died and shut off; Gu Sheng hugged the shirt in his arms and fell into a deep sleep.

Zhou Shiyi and the others returned to school, just in time for the school sports meet.

They were already in their third year of high school; whether they were heading abroad to study or following the regular, step-by-step path of the college entrance exams, senior year was the most tightly scheduled time of their student days.

After the sports meet ended there was a seven-day mini-holiday, so nobody was in the mood to sign up; the sports committee member tore his hair out over it and worked hard to rally students to join events.

Finally the homeroom teacher made the decision: everyone should look in the newspaper and sign up for a project.

Zhou Shiyi glanced over and saw that only the 3,000-meter event had no sign-ups, so, in the eyes of the sports committee member who looked at him like a savior, he wrote his name down.

“Sheng ge, what events are you going to sign up for?”

The sports committee member held the registration form and came up to Gu Sheng with a flattering expression.

In past years Gu Sheng had always been a star at the sports meet, and his physical fitness was excellent, so he often entered multiple events.

Gu Sheng was lost in thought; he paused when handed the form, then finally took it and checked a few events.

He noticed that in the very last race the only name listed was Zhou Shiyi’s—alone, solitary. He hesitated for a moment, but still didn’t sign up.

After the morning exercises, Qin Shu dragged Gu Sheng off to the supermarket in a conspiratorial way.

“Why don’t you just go by yourself?” Gu Sheng asked, puzzled.

Qin Shu slunk into the supermarket and headed straight for the household goods in the last aisle, where several people were already standing as if about to conduct some shady deal.

Gu Sheng strolled over leisurely and found them all looking at him with eager, almost excited faces.

Gu Sheng noticed each of them holding a bottle of pheromone blocker, sniffing to discern the scents.

“Sheng-ge, Wenwen just went through her first heat, and Wang Jianyu wants to give her a bottle of pheromone blocker, so he wanted you to pick which scent,” Qin Shu said with a malicious grin as he shoved several bottles of pheromone blocker at him.

Gu Sheng turned to look at Wang Jianyu. Wang Jianyu was usually a cheeky sort, but this was the first time Gu Sheng had seen him looking embarrassed.

Wenwen is the talented girl in their class — an omega. I don’t know how the two of them got to the point where they could exchange pheromone blockers.

“Then if you’re going to have him choose, why come to me?” Gu Sheng shoved the bottle back.

Qin Shu grew anxious. “Sheng-ge, you’re the only one here who’s gone through oestrus. What do you normally use? Give us some advice.”

“Yeah, Sheng-ge, you still haven’t said what oestrus feels like. We need to mentally prepare.”

Mentioning the vulnerable season, Gu Sheng’s expression showed a brief moment of awkwardness, which he quickly hid.

He hesitated for a moment, then watched the group of alphas cluster together, sniffing the scent of the pheromone blocker.

Gu Sheng stood to one side and noticed a box of ice-blue pheromone blockers nobody was paying attention to. Curious, he picked it up to take a look.

“What is this? None of you like this scent?” He picked it up and sprayed it lightly; a smell of disinfectant wafted out.

“Sheng ge! Don’t—” Qin Shu covered his nose and took a step back. “I should’ve said it sooner. This bottle is the disinfectant-scented pheromone blocker. Almost no one buys it anymore.”

Gu Sheng was briefly stunned. All pheromone blockers worked the same way; at first the disinfectant scent was the most common. Later, because most people disliked that disinfectant smell, other scents were made.

Strawberry, pomelo, and pine were the most common and the most popular varieties of pheromone blockers.

Because Gu Sheng had been using the pheromone blocker his family had prepared for him, he didn’t know that the original disinfectant-scented version sold in stores had been relegated to the warehouse, never to see the light of day.

“Oh wow, how does the supermarket have this odor blocker? Every time I smell that disinfectant scent, I feel like I’m in a hospital.”

Others also said they didn’t like the disinfectant-smelling pheromone blocker.

“Maybe it wouldn’t sell outside, so the supermarket bought it in bulk.”

Gu Sheng also wasn’t fond of that scent. It really was like they said—smelled like a hospital, especially for someone like him, who had spent the last years of his life stuck in hospitals and labs soaked in disinfectant.

But as Gu Sheng looked at that bottle of pheromone blocker, he suddenly thought of someone.

That person always carried a faint scent of disinfectant year-round, and mixed with him it smelled very pleasant.

That familiar scent made Gu Sheng think of that cold embrace; the frenzied pheromones coursing through his body were finally soothed.

He lightly sniffed at the lingering disinfectant in the air—no, something still seemed missing.

A flurry of complicated memories flashed through his mind, and Gu Sheng’s ears suddenly reddened. He gave a concealing little cough.

“I actually quite like it. I’ll buy it and try it out when I get home.”

Gu Sheng picked up a bottle of pheromone blocker and went to pay, leaving Qin Shu and the others looking utterly incredulous.

“Sheng-ge really is Sheng-ge—such unique taste.”

Gu Sheng pretended not to hear. After he walked for a while with the pheromones in his pocket, he happened to see Zhou Shiyi.

When he’s in a receptive period, his memory isn’t particularly coherent, but he still remembers certain fragments.

Just now in the supermarket, with an undisclosed purpose, he had taken an inhibitor whose scent resembled the person in his memory; in the blink of an eye, the owner of that scent appeared right in front of him.

The hand Gu Sheng had slipped into his school uniform pocket tightened nervously around the bottle of inhibitor, feeling somewhat guilty.

But Zhou Shiyi didn’t see him. Relieved, he still felt a little disappointed.

Since the last time he called Zhou Shiyi and replayed his voice over and over, Gu Sheng blushed and his heart raced every time he saw Zhou Shiyi.

Including just now, when he bought that bottle of disinfectant-scented pheromone blocker, Gu Sheng had to admit he felt that embarrassing desire for Zhou Shiyi.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he kept feeling a little warm; when he touched his forehead, though, his temperature was completely normal.

What he didn’t know was that his face looked flushed now, and his eyes were reddening.