A blocking patch was placed on the back of Gu Sheng’s neck.

After an injured alpha, the pheromones in his blood can also affect other alphas and omegas. So Gu Sheng’s clothes and the blood-stained school jacket that Zhou Shiyi had were sealed away.

The nurse led Gu Sheng into a small partitioned area. Calling it a partition was generous — it was just curtained off and didn’t provide any real separation.

They gave Gu Sheng an anti-inflammatory injection inside, and only then did Zhou Shiyi arrive, somewhat belatedly.

Just now Zhou Shiyi went to ask the homeroom teacher for leave for himself and Gu Sheng.

Because Zhou Shiyi’s grades are good, getting leave wasn’t difficult, and since he was asking together with Gu Sheng, the homeroom teacher didn’t say much.

When he put down the phone, Gu Sheng looked at him with expectant eyes.

After the stitches, Gu Sheng still needed an anti-inflammatory injection, so his arm had been on an IV drip the whole time.

Zhou Shiyi asked with his eyes. Gu Sheng pressed his stomach lightly with his other hand and said, “I’m so hungry.”

They hadn’t eaten since leaving school; on top of that they’d been on the bus, and when they arrived they’d been in a life-or-death fight. One of them was injured, and the other had carried the wounded person all the way.

Both of them were pretty famished. Zhou Shiyi snapped, “Whose fault is that?”

He had just called the police, and because they had impulsively rushed in and fought the perpetrator, the cops had given him a scolding.

Hearing that both of them were injured, they were asked to recount what had happened; there was no need to make formal statements for now — if needed later, they would come back to supplement them.

Gu Sheng’s eyelids drooped, a little dejected and aggrieved.

Zhou Shiyi sighed inwardly, ruffling his soft hair with one hand and said helplessly, “Say it—what do you want to eat?”

Feeling the touch on his head, Gu Sheng looked at Zhou Shiyi in stunned surprise; it had been a long time since anyone had touched his head.

Zhou Shiyi realized the gesture was somewhat inappropriate; he pretended nothing had happened and asked, “Want some porridge?”

Gu Sheng touched his hair, still a little dazed.

Zhou Shiyi thought for a moment and said, “Then let’s have wonton soup — I saw a wonton shop nearby a moment ago.”

After saying that, without waiting for Gu Sheng to refuse, Zhou Shiyi fled in a panic.

He didn’t even know how his hand had gone up—patting a man’s head felt oddly intimate. Especially since Gu Sheng wasn’t just any man; in the ABO world, Gu Sheng was an alpha. Patting an alpha’s head felt even stranger.

Watching Zhou Shi Yi leave, Gu Sheng almost didn’t react.

It had indeed been a long time since anyone had touched his head.

The last memory of someone touching his head was back when Gu Sheng’s rut had come again; he’d been tormented badly and his memory was blurry. He only remembered someone wiping his face, then running a hand through his hair and letting out a soft sigh.

Who was it?

Gu Sheng felt a pain in his head; suddenly he couldn’t remember who that person was.

If you can’t remember, then don’t try.

A voice in his head told him that, and Gu Sheng complied. Sure enough, the headache faded.

After all that fuss, Gu Sheng suddenly felt a bit exhausted.

There must have been a sedative in the potion; tired, Gu Sheng closed his eyes.

Zhou Shi Yi bought a black T-shirt from a nearby shop and packed two portions of wontons.

The restaurants around the hospital generally served milder flavors, suitable for family members bringing food to patients.

He arrived when Gu Sheng was already asleep.

Seeing the dark purpling under Gu Sheng’s eyes, Zhou Shiyi still didn’t wake him and let him keep sleeping.

After setting the wontons on the bedside table, Zhou Shiyi suddenly felt somewhat at a loss.

He watched the medicine bottle bubble and hiss, the liquid running down the tube into Gu Sheng’s body.

All the way, he ran carrying Gu Sheng on his back; he could feel how thin Gu Sheng was—nothing but bones, pressing painfully.

Besides the lean build typical of boys that age, there was another, unhealthier kind of frailty.

At Gu Sheng’s age, he was right in the middle of growing, seemingly brimming with boundless energy; boys his age needed to let loose on the sports field, sweating freely and burning off all that excess vigor.

But Gu Sheng had been very quiet lately; at school he would just lie face-down on his desk and sleep, as if he could never get enough rest.

He wasn’t at school; whenever Gu Sheng took time off, nobody knew what he was busy with — he seemed to be getting sick every few days.

Gu Sheng slept straight through until the medicine finished; even the voices of Zhou Shi Yi and the nurse talking didn’t wake him.

In the meantime, Zhou Shi Yi changed his IV twice, but Gu Sheng didn’t react at all.

Only when Zhou Shi Yi pulled out the needle did the sensation in his hand rouse Gu Sheng from sleep.

He opened his eyes, a bit disoriented.

“Awake? If you’re awake, press it yourself, I’ll bring the IV over.”

Gu Sheng glanced around; they were getting a drip in the lobby, it was noisy and quite crowded, and the nurses were swamped.

He reached out, pressed on the puncture site, watching Zhou Shi Yi tidy up the IV.

Gu Sheng wakes up in a terrible mood—any little sound easily startles him, so when he’s jolted awake by a nightmare in the middle of the night he often can’t fall back asleep.

At school, maybe because the environment had become familiar, he fell asleep very quickly, so he took naps in class and used the evenings for self-study.

Now he lay on the hospital bed, breathing in the disinfectant smell he hated most, and could sleep peacefully—sleeping like a dead pig in front of Zhou Shiyi.

Gu Sheng suddenly didn’t want to wake up.

When Zhou Shiyi returned and saw Gu Sheng sitting there with a look of utter despair, his hair sticking up from sleep, Zhou felt his hand tingle again, wanting to press that unruly lock down.

The two sat facing each other, wordless.

“Gurgle,” Gu Sheng frowned, not daring to believe it—he was really being this useless.

He heard Zhou Shiyi give a soft chuckle; Gu Sheng looked at him with a wronged expression.

Zhou Shiyi cleared his throat and put away his smile. “You were sleeping so deeply just now, I didn’t wake you. Hungry? I’ll take you out to eat.”

Gu Sheng glanced around—the place was noisy, not somewhere to talk—so he followed him out of the hospital.

He was in a complete mess, his school uniform soaked with blood. Zhou Shi Yi wasn’t much better; his blazer had been used as a makeshift bandage for Gu Sheng.

Gu Sheng was wearing the shirt Zhou Shi Yi had bought as an emergency and trailed listlessly behind him.

The two of them, bandaged up, stood by the roadside trying to flag down a car, but drivers, wary of trouble, refused to stop and pick them up.

Gu Sheng was terribly hungry, but he still refused to go into someone else’s shop to eat in his current state.

Not to mention he was so disheveled—out of character after all these years—his wounds hadn’t healed, and pheromones were still seeping from them.

Betas can’t smell pheromones, so the nurse put a pheromone-blocking patch on Gu Sheng and didn’t worry further.

By the time they finally hailed a cab, Gu Sheng almost couldn’t stand.

Zhou Shi Yi hurriedly shoved Gu Sheng into the backseat and squeezed in after him.

“Where to?” the taxi driver asked as he started the meter.

Zhou Shiyi thought for a moment, then looked at Gu Sheng.

“To my place,” Gu Sheng said without putting up a fuss.

Zhou Shiyi understood and gave the driver the address of Gu Sheng’s villa.

Gu Sheng looks like this now — he can’t go home, it would worry his family. And he can’t take Gu Sheng home himself; there’s an elderly person at his place, and seeing them covered in blood would surely give them a fright. So going to Gu Sheng’s villa is the most suitable option.

In the car, Zhou Shiyi ordered takeout first, so it would be ready for Gu Sheng as soon as he got back.

Gu Sheng’s left scapula hurt, so he could only lean to the side in the back seat. He happened to see that Zhou Shiyi had ordered him a bowl of vegetable-and-lean-pork congee and a plate of stir-fried pork liver.

Gu Sheng asked suspiciously, “Didn’t you just say you were going to buy me wontons? Where are the wontons?”

Zhou Shiyi noted to stir-fry the pork liver without any spicy seasonings, placed the order, then put his phone away: “You weren’t awake earlier, and I saw the wontons had gone cold, so I ate yours too.”

Gu Sheng looked at Zhou Shiyi’s stomach, which showed no reaction even after eating two portions of wontons, and scoffed lightly, “You really can eat.”

Zhou Shiyi made a soft affirmative sound. “Growing bodies eat a lot, that’s normal.”

Gazing at him sideways for a moment, Gu Sheng looked as if he’d discovered a new world. “Zhou Shiyi, have you gotten taller?”

“Probably.” Zhou Shiyi wasn’t sure; he hadn’t measured himself.

Gu Sheng compared their shoulders, to make sure it wasn’t his imagination. “You really have gotten taller. You used to be shorter than me, now we’re about the same height.”

In his last life, Zhou Shiyi developed pretty late — he was still growing through college.

Gu Sheng is now about 1.8 meters; he grew to 185 cm in university, but starting in Zhou Shiyi’s sophomore year, Zhou was already taller than him.

Conservatively speaking, Zhou Shiyi was still going to grow another bit.

Gu Sheng suddenly felt a little irritated. In his last life he ate well and slept well and still didn’t get that tall — did this beta Zhou Shiyi take hormones to grow so fast?

After being reborn, he had suffered from insomnia ever since. These past few months his height hadn’t changed at all—how was he ever going to outgrow Zhou Shiyi?

Gu Sheng spent a lot of effort trying to compare their shoulders and finally pushed himself until his vision went dark. He kept himself in line and closed his eyes to rest.

Zhou Shiyi also let out a breath. When they’d been so close moments ago, he could smell the metallic tang of blood on Gu Sheng, and a lingering scent of mint that clung to him.

This mint was unusual—like a custom mint perfume—but it didn’t feel refreshing or invigorating; the more he inhaled it, the more dizzying it became.

Zhou Shiyi not only didn’t dislike it, he actually rather liked it.

All the way there, after comparing the two of their heights, Gu Sheng hadn’t spoken once. Zhou Shiyi wasn’t much of a talker either.

The driver was nervous the whole time; after picking them up he had some regrets, but he couldn’t kick them out of the car.

After dropping them off, the driver hit the gas and sped away.

Gu Sheng looked listless, his lips deathly pale, as if a gust of wind might topple him.

Zhou Shiyi delivered him home, and just then the takeout arrived.

Zhou Shiyi checked the time—it was already five in the afternoon.

Gu Sheng hadn’t eaten all day, so he combined two meals into one, but he didn’t have much of an appetite.

He couldn’t raise his left hand, and his right arm was wrapped in a bandage where it had been cut by shattered glass on the ground.

He held the spoon and ate with uneven mouthfuls; fortunately, for reasons unknown to him, Gu Sheng must have had some kind of belief driving him, and he managed to force down that bowl of lean-meat congee.

After eating, Gu Sheng slumped into a chair to let his meal settle.

He watched Zhou Shiyi bustle around, tidying up the mess.

He didn’t have much strength, but he’d sweated profusely earlier and then rolled on the floor; half his body was stained red with blood. He really couldn’t stand not taking a shower.

“Zhou Shiyi, I need to take a shower.”

Zhou Shiyi came out of the kitchen and saw the various bandaged wounds on Gu Sheng’s body, feeling somewhat disapproving.

Gu Sheng insisted, “I feel awful if I don’t shower.”

Zhou Shiyi could only give ground: “Wipe yourself down for now. Wait a couple of days until the wounds scab over, then you can wash.”

Gu Sheng could only manage a reluctant nod.

Zhou Shiyi filled the tub for him in the bathroom, then came out and wrapped a few more layers of cling film over Gu Sheng’s gauze to prevent it from getting wet.

Zhou Shiyi placed a small stool in the bathroom in case Gu Sheng suddenly went weak and fainted halfway through washing and collapsed there.

Now it’s a matter of taking a bath.