GBROTAH CH66

Chapter 66: Muzzle

“You finally moved into this place after buying it so long ago?”

“You bought it before your first year of university even started, right? And you’re only moving in near the end of your second year. You’re so rich, young master, buying a house just to let it sit empty for two years.”

Zhou Chao walked in empty-handed, and as soon as he sat down, he looked around and started exposing Shen Bianye’s secrets.

Shen Bianye watched him coldly from the side. “Nobody will think you’re mute if you don’t talk.”

“Don’t act like you’re so poor.”

Zhou Chao clicked his tongue, shaking his head and sighing.

Who was he even saying all this for?

Wasn’t it to let Xie Yuanxing know that Shen Bianye could have moved out long ago but had deliberately dragged it out for a year?

As he thought this, he glanced at Xie Yuanxing, who was walking over. After carefully examining his expression and finding nothing unusual, he sighed again.

He was working so hard to help his friend’s relationship, but he couldn’t get any reaction from Xie Yuanxing’s placid face.

And that fool Shen Bianye didn’t even appreciate it.

Zhou Chao shot a gloomy look at Shen Bianye, meeting the latter’s cold gaze, and silently cursed.

Damn it, what was he even doing this for?

Of course, Xie Yuanxing showed no surprise about something he already knew. He walked over and placed a cup of tea in front of Zhou Chao.

Xie Yuanxing was wearing a shirt and light blue trousers that wrapped around his well-proportioned, slender legs. As he bent down to put the teacup down, the nape of his slender, fair neck was exposed.

Perhaps it was the domestic environment, or Xie Yuanxing’s manner of hosting a guest, but as Zhou Chao watched, he surprisingly got a sense of a “wifely” aura.

He clicked his tongue inwardly. When he turned his head, he met Shen Bianye’s even colder gaze.

Zhou Chao: …

Shen Bianye frowned in annoyance. “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘showing up uninvited’?”

“Also, why are you staring at Xie Yuanxing?”

Zhou Chao replied, “What’s wrong with me coming to see your new place now that you’ve moved?”

“And what’s wrong with me looking at Xie Yuanxing? He’s good-looking. Can’t I just appreciate him?”

Xie Yuanxing was speechless. “…You two chat first. I’ll go get some fruit.”

Shen Bianye grabbed his arm. “Baby, don’t worry about it. He won’t eat it.”

Zhou Chao unabashedly called his bluff, even holding out a hand. “I’ll eat.”

Just as Xie Yuanxing was about to go, Shen Bianye stood up and pushed him down onto the sofa. “Don’t you get it. I’ll go wash them.”

Xie Yuanxing rubbed the space between his eyebrows, not understanding where Shen Bianye had learned his hospitality from.

Shen Bianye’s friend comes over, and Shen Bianye doesn’t entertain him but goes to wash fruit instead, leaving him and Zhou Chao to stare awkwardly at each other in the living room?

He opened his mouth, about to tactfully speak, when he heard Shen Bianye say first, “Zhou Chao, don’t just sit there either. Come in.”

Xie Yuanxing: …

Well, now the problem of awkward staring was solved.

He sat alone in the living room, blinking in a daze.

Shen Bianye and Zhou Chao entered the kitchen one after the other. Once the door was closed, Shen Bianye took a bunch of red grapes from the fridge, threw them into the washing basket, and jutted his chin. “Didn’t you want to eat? Wash them.”

Zhou Chao was exasperated. “…Is this how you treat your guests?”

As he spoke, he resignedly rolled up his sleeves and started washing the grapes.

Shen Bianye didn’t forget to pull out a bag of lychees. “It just so happens that Xingxing said he wanted to eat frozen lychees yesterday. You can peel these too.”

Zhou Chao: “…”

He stared at the hard-shelled lychees, finding it unbelievable. “I just said I wanted some fruit. You don’t have to go this far, do you? You have the nerve to make me, a guest, peel lychees for you two?”

Shen Bianye ground his teeth. “You had the nerve to show up empty-handed. Why wouldn’t I have the nerve?”

His annoyance actually stemmed mostly from Zhou Chao complimenting Xie Yuanxing.

There was nothing inherently wrong with it, but Shen Bianye knew how much Xie Yuanxing liked compliments.

Shen Bianye always felt that he wasn’t special to Xie Yuanxing; it was just that Xie Yuanxing was too generous with his praise, and he was just one of the recipients.

It sounded too insecure and ridiculous to say out loud, so Shen Bianye couldn’t bring himself to say it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want others to praise Xie Yuanxing. He did.

But compliments from someone who was frequently around Xie Yuanxing still made Shen Bianye very unhappy.

Seeing that Zhou Chao had finished washing the grapes, Shen Bianye brought them out, placed them on the coffee table, and picked one to feed into Xie Yuanxing’s mouth. “Baby, have a grape.”

Xie Yuanxing was caught off guard by the sweet, cold grape stuffed into his mouth, and his cheek moved.

Shen Bianye’s hand paused by his mouth. “Spit it out.”

Xie Yuanxing wasn’t quite used to it, but Shen Bianye was much more at ease. Seeing him look up, Shen Bianye even frowned slightly. “What’s wrong? Did you eat it with the skin?”

He wanted to raise a peacock well, so he was doing it the way one would raise a peacock.

He cared for him meticulously, not even bearing to see Xie Yuanxing wash a little fruit for a guest.

He didn’t mind holding out his hand to catch the fruit skin Xie Yuanxing spit out.

Shen Bianye did it so naturally, not feeling there was anything wrong with it at all.

Xie Yuanxing turned his head to get a tissue and spat the grape skin onto it. “You don’t have to do that. Don’t you have mysophobia?”

Shen Bianye pressed his hand against Xie Yuanxing’s lips, his knuckles pushing inward slightly. “Not for my baby.”

These habits couldn’t be formed overnight, so Shen Bianye wasn’t surprised. He stood up and said, “I’ll go see what Zhou Chao is doing. He’s been in there for a while.”

He made no mention that Zhou Chao had washed the grapes, nor did he mention that the person who hadn’t “come out” was left behind to peel lychees by him.

Shen Bianye walked in, not forgetting to close the door behind him again, and warned, “If you dare say you’re staying for dinner and make Xie Yuanxing cook for you, I’ll kick you out.”

Hearing this, Zhou Chao was amused. “Xie Yuanxing can cook?”

“Then I absolutely have to stay.”

Shen Bianye glared at him with a dark face. Zhou Chao smiled smugly, threw away the last lychee peel in his hand, and tilted his head. “Where do I put these peeled ones? In the freezer?”

“Yes, freeze them,” Shen Bianye said irritably.

Zhou Chao was no longer in a hurry. He reached out and put the lychees in the freezer.

In the time it took him to turn around and wash his hands, Shen Bianye had opened the door and announced loudly, “Xingxing, Zhou Chao says he’s going to cook for us tonight.”

Zhou Chao froze, turned off the tap with the fastest speed of his life, and chased out of the kitchen to explain.

Xie Yuanxing, eating grapes, said blankly, “Huh? That doesn’t seem right, does it?”

Just as Zhou Chao was about to nod, Shen Bianye blocked him and said rapidly, “That’s what I said, but he said he came empty-handed and felt bad, so he insisted on showing us his skills.”

“And he insisted we don’t help, saying that helping would be looking down on him.”

The expression on Zhou Chao’s face was truly something to behold. He pulled Shen Bianye over and whispered, “What the hell am I supposed to show you? Do I even know how to cook?”

“I’m begging you, please look down on me.”

Shen Bianye also lowered his voice. “Good luck. I believe in you.”

“There are plenty of cooking videos online now.”

Damn it!

Zhou Chao looked at the front door in the distance, contemplating whether running away right now would be too embarrassing.
…

For dinner that day, Zhou Chao had Shen Bianye distract Xie Yuanxing while he sneakily went to the door to get takeout, which he then arranged on plates.

To make it look authentic, he stayed in the kitchen alone for an hour, squatting there like a thief while listening to the cheerful sounds of the little couple playing video games together outside.

He even went downstairs to throw out their trash for them, lest it be hard to explain the lack of kitchen waste.

Zhou Chao, who had never been such a sucker in his life, decided to stay the night.

Lu Qiang laughed on the other end of the phone. “Then why are you staying over?”

“To annoy Shen Bianye?”

Zhou Chao stood by the window, opening it slightly to light a cigarette. The neon lights from outside cast shadows on his face, his expression languid. “Am I that kind of person?”

“I saw that both their rooms have bedsheets, so they’re probably still sleeping separately. Since I’m already here, I might as well give Shen Bianye a hand.”

“Among our group, it’s the one who won’t live long who is the most innocent.”

The room’s soundproofing was excellent, so the conversation from the other side of the wall didn’t reach Xie Yuanxing and Shen Bianye.

Two people lay on the large, soft bed. Beneath the thin summer blanket were scorching bodies. The air conditioner hummed, blowing cool air, but the atmosphere still seemed to burn.

Xie Yuanxing shrank back a little. Shen Bianye’s eyes instantly darkened, and he said insincerely, “Baby, maybe I should go sleep in the living room.”

“You won’t catch a cold sleeping in the living room in the summer. It’s just that the sofa is a bit small, so my back might be sore, but it’s okay. The bed at school was pretty small too, and I got through it.”

The corner of Xie Yuanxing’s mouth, hidden in the blanket, curled up silently. “Then you should go squeeze in with Zhou Chao for a night. You won’t get a sore back sleeping on a bed.”

Shen Bianye: …

He ground his teeth and pulled Xie Yuanxing into his arms, kneading his face lightly as if to vent his frustration. “Baby.”

He wanted to say something, but it turned into a sigh. “Let me hold you for a while, then I’ll go out, baby.”

One hand hooked around the back of Xie Yuanxing’s neck, unconsciously caressing it. His fingertips were scorching, making the skin on the back of Xie Yuanxing’s neck feel like it was on fire too.

Xie Yuanxing pursed his lips and chuckled softly. “I’m not trying to kick you out. I just moved away a little because it was too hot.”

The sensitive and fragile Alpha made Xie Yuanxing feel a bit amused and helpless.

He hadn’t expected that the period of coldness and neglect would leave such a lasting effect on Shen Bianye.

Xie Yuanxing wanted to correct it, but it didn’t seem to be very effective.

As if remembering something, he asked, “I don’t think I’ve smelled your pheromones in a long time.”

“Is it because you haven’t released them, or is your illness cured so I can’t smell them anymore?”

Shen Bianye’s expression stiffened slightly, but he quickly composed himself. “I haven’t been releasing them, baby.”

“They make you uncomfortable, so I’ve been keeping them suppressed.”

He could no longer taste Xie Yuanxing’s scent, and Shen Bianye was desperately avoiding finding out whether Xie Yuanxing could still smell his pheromones.

In any case, Xie Yuanxing didn’t like it, so it didn’t matter if he kept them suppressed.

Xie Yuanxing poked him. “Release them.”

They still had a few years together, and Xie Yuanxing didn’t want to see Shen Bianye constantly holding back.

Shen Bianye’s eyes showed a struggle. “Let’s not. Doesn’t the smell make you choke, baby?”

Xie Yuanxing shook his head. “It’s okay. Just don’t make it too strong all at once.”

The scent of embers left after a raging fire slowly spread through the room. Shen Bianye watched the expression of the person in his arms with intense concentration, staring fixedly, a hidden anxiety slowly emerging in his eyes.

The hand holding Xie Yuanxing unconsciously tightened, and he instinctively held his breath. He was like a person on the verge of suffocating, desperately craving a sliver of air from Xie Yuanxing’s expression.

No one could save him, except for Xie Yuanxing. Only Xie Yuanxing.

He spoke, his voice surprisingly distorted. “Baby.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Xie Yuanxing frowned and began to cough. “Cough, cough… cough… wait, pull back a little.”

Xie Yuanxing could smell it!

In that instant, Shen Bianye felt as if he had been acquitted of a crime, a wave of relief washing over him. He looked at the frowning, coughing Xie Yuanxing and suddenly tightened his arms, holding the person tightly in his embrace.

Xie Yuanxing could smell it. Xie Yuanxing could still smell it.

He nuzzled against Xie Yuanxing’s shoulder, feeling his own eyes start to well up. He whispered, “Okay, I’ll pull back a little.”

Shen Bianye’s fingertips repeatedly caressed the back of Xie Yuanxing’s neck, as if trying to confirm something, his tone anxious. “Baby, can I bite you?”

“I want to mark you, baby.”

The calloused fingertips brushed against the back of Xie Yuanxing’s neck again and again—urgent, anxious, like a snake repeatedly checking its prey before striking.

Xie Yuanxing was held very tightly and said in a muffled voice, “No.”

“It hurts. Every time you bite me, it hurts a lot.”

He could try to endure the suffocating pheromones for Shen Bianye, but that didn’t mean he had to endlessly tolerate Shen Bianye injuring him with bites.

He was a beta. Shen Bianye’s bites were destined to never leave a mark. No matter how many times, it was fated to be in vain.

Shen Bianye’s eyes were dark, the anxiety within almost breaking through. He called Xie Yuanxing’s name in a hoarse voice, over and over, cloying and urgent. “Baby, Xingxing baby, my Xingxing baby.”

His hand on the back of Xie Yuanxing’s neck clenched tightly. After taking a deep breath, he suddenly let go, threw off the covers, and was about to get out of bed.

Xie Yuanxing grabbed him, dazed. “Where are you going?”

Shen Bianye’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “To get an inhibitor, baby.”

Xie Yuanxing immediately said, “No.”

Shen Bianye’s body couldn’t handle any more inhibitors. He should know this as well as Xie Yuanxing did.

Those two short words pinned Shen Bianye to the spot. His eyes were filled with a struggle, obscure and unbearable, yet he truly made no further move to leave.

Xie Yuanxing looked at him, pressed his lips together tightly, then turned over and took a box out of the bedside table drawer.

“Wear this.”

His lips were pressed into a straight line, the tips of his ears slightly red. “I was… planning to give it to you for your birthday.”

Shen Bianye opened it. Inside the box was an Alpha muzzle. It was black and didn’t cover the whole face, but the mouth part was like a cage, resembling a dark face guard.

He reached out to put it on, but when his gaze fell on the inside, his eyes instantly became scorching hot. He looked up sharply at Xie Yuanxing, his voice husky. “Baby?”

The person being stared at, whose fair face had turned crimson at some point, looked away uncomfortably. The small earlobes visible beneath his short black hair were also red.

Xie Yuanxing felt exceptionally uncomfortable under Shen Bianye’s burning gaze. He wanted to hide, but could only turn his head away futilely and whisper, “You were the one who said you liked it… so I had someone custom-make one.”

It wasn’t that he was strange and wanted to give such a gift.

Shen Bianye’s eyes burned, as if he wanted to devour Xie Yuanxing, but he held back, slowly fastening the muzzle onto his face. “I love this gift, baby.”

“I love it very much.”

On the inside of the cold, black muzzle, near the mouth, three small characters were engraved.

Xie Yuanxing.