GBROTAH CH5

Xie Yuanxing was bustling around the bar, not quite used to the noise but very much at home in the dim lighting.

No one stared into his eyes when talking, no one looked at him. He was taciturn, moving back and forth with a tray, becoming a dark backdrop.

He deliberately ignored a certain spot, and naturally, he didn’t notice the frequent glances cast his way from there.

Zhou Chao, holding his drink, clicked his tongue in wonder. Following someone’s gaze, he also looked over and teased, “That waist looks good. I wonder how it feels to the touch.”

Shen Bianye downed the drink in his glass. His susceptibility period hadn’t fully passed, and the alcohol stimulated his brain.

Zhou Chao’s words sparked a connection, and without much effort, he could easily recall the sensation of gripping that waist. So slender and soft. It was just through a layer of fabric; he couldn’t feel the skin. Now that he thought about it, there was an unbearable itch, like scratching an itch through a boot.

“Damn it.” Shen Bianye cursed almost soundlessly, then poured himself another drink and gulped it down, drinking quickly and fiercely, trying to calm himself. The cold liquid slid down his throat, determined to extinguish the fire in his lower abdomen, but he forgot that this wasn’t water. When alcohol meets a spark, it only ignites a fiercer backlash.

Zhou Chao, seeing that Shen Bianye ignored him, felt rebuffed and sulkily said, “Why aren’t you talking?”

Shen Bianye slanted a glance at him, letting out a short, contemptuous laugh. “Say what?”

“What kind of feel can a skinny little chick have? It’d be uncomfortable to hold.”

Though he spoke dismissively, the veins on his seemingly casually placed arm bulged. His thumb pressed on the needle mark left by the inhibitor injection, with such force it seemed like he wanted to press the flesh into the bone.

Zhou Chao: “I think it’s alright. Nowadays, Omegas are too delicate. Someone like that, you can toss them around however you want in bed, and they’ll be fine. It’d be exciting to be with them. Speaking of which, what’s your relationship?”

Shen Bianye’s eyebrows subtly furrowed, his face looking a bit unpleasant. “Roommates.”

Zhou Chao’s usual manner of speaking was like that. He didn’t need to warn his childhood friend for the sake of a roommate he didn’t care for. Thinking this, he swallowed those words and looked at the almost untouched drink in front of Zhou Chao, raising an eyebrow unhappily.

“You called me out for a drink, and you’re just taking care of your stomach here?” Saying that, he picked up another glass, poured a mix of the various drinks in front of him, not caring if they were the same kind, and pushed it towards Zhou Chao.

Zhou Chao stared, dumbfounded. “Damn, is it that serious?” He picked it up and took a sip, grimacing at the burn. As he drank, he didn’t forget to say, “I think your roommate is pretty short on cash, right? If I threw money at him, do you think I could get him to fool around?”

Shen Bianye: “You like him?”

Zhou Chao laughed and said, “Just for fun. Just because he can make you lose your cool, I’m quite interested.” “If you have no objections, I’ll go try.”

Shen Bianye gave him a cold look.

“I don’t care how you mess around, but if you go provoke someone because of me, that’s utterly despicable, and I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t beat you for being so base.” Saying that, he awkwardly touched his nose, and gave a cough as if to cover something up.

Then he said, “Don’t pretend. If you say you didn’t smell my pheromones on him, I’ll throw you in front of a doctor tonight and have him check your sense of smell.”

A day had passed, and while the lingering scent on Xie Yuanxing was much fainter, he still had Shen Bianye’s bite mark on the back of his neck.

When he bent down to arrange the drinks, he could still smell a very faint scent. The bar was filled with the smells of smoke, alcohol, and perfume; most people wouldn’t notice that faint, lingering scent. But anyone familiar with Shen Bianye would know whose pheromones they were.

Zhou Chao gave an embarrassed laugh, still unable to suppress his curiosity.

“Tell me about it. I’ve been curious for a long time.”

He hadn’t noticed when the server first leaned over to place the drinks, but when Shen Bianye came over and he realized the two knew each other, he immediately understood that the scent on the server should be Shen Bianye’s pheromones.

Shen Bianye said indifferently, “There’s nothing to tell.”

His gaze fell on Xie Yuanxing not far away, who was bending over, sweeping peanut shells and fruit peels off a table with his hand.

The fitted, cinched-waist vest seemed as if it would break that slender, narrow waist.

When Xie Yuanxing picked up the trash can and stood up, Shen Bianye instinctively withdrew his gaze, picking up his drink as if to cover it.

In Xie Yuanxing’s peripheral vision, the hand half-gripping the glass had distinct knuckles, and on his wrist was Shen Bianye’s astonishingly expensive mechanical watch.

He wondered if Shen Bianye’s promise to compensate him was still valid. It would be great if he could get a thousand. Five hundred would also be fine. If he were bitten by a dog, a rabies vaccine alone would cost five hundred yuan. Xie Yuanxing carried the trash can to the backstage, thinking absently as he walked.

At the bar booth, Shen Bianye watched Xie Yuanxing’s figure disappear into the backstage entrance, then lowered his head and silently finished another drink.

Zhou Chao looked amused. “Are you that annoyed?” “Didn’t you say he’s just your roommate? Don’t tell me you like him.”

Shen Bianye scoffed, “My pheromones are messed up; my brain isn’t.”

Zhou Chao froze, his mind instantly enlightened by that remark. He leaned closer to Shen Bianye, lowering his voice and saying incredulously, “Your pheromones are messed up, and you mistook him for an Omega and bit him?!”

He had only smelled Shen Bianye’s pheromones on the person and hadn’t seen the bite mark, only assuming it had been picked up at some point. Now, hearing Shen Bianye mention his problematic pheromones, he suddenly realized.

Shen Bianye didn’t deny it.

“Holy shit!!” Zhou Chao sprang to his feet, his expression a mix of excitement, delight, and shock. The sudden commotion drew the attention of people nearby. Shen Bianye stood up and patted his shoulder. “Let’s talk outside.”

At one in the morning, the two found an empty curb. Under the faint light of a streetlamp, they squatted on the ground. A few cans of beer bought from a convenience store sat by their feet.

Zhou Chao: “Can’t we find a more upscale place to talk?”

“You, the son of A-City’s richest man, the future heir of the Shen family, a top Alpha. And while my family isn’t the richest, we’re still respectable. Is this really appropriate, squatting on the roadside with beer?”

He looked down.

“And you, you damn pineapple beer for two bucks a can. You really don’t care, do you?”

Shen Bianye clicked his tongue. “As long as it’s drinkable, why be so picky?” Zhou Chao was dumbfounded for a moment, then cursed, and opened his pineapple beer as well.

After a moment of silence, Shen Bianye spoke, “This susceptibility period has been better than before. The inhibitor has also had an effect on me.”

Now it was Zhou Chao’s turn to chug his beer. The pineapple beer had little alcohol content, but he felt his head spinning. “Really?” “Brother Shen, are you serious?” “Because of your roommate?”

The streetlamp cast a shadow on the beer. Shen Bianye’s voice was soft and distant. “Probably. Not sure.”

Zhou Chao couldn’t sit still. He paced back and forth.

“Then what are you waiting for? Talk to him, get him to cooperate with you, take him to the doctor together.”

“No, aren’t you even a little anxious?” He suddenly squatted down again, gritting his teeth.

“Because your pheromone disorder can’t be cured, your dad’s women outside are already trying IVF. You should be anxious!”

“If you get cured, and your dad produces an illegitimate younger brother who then has to fight for the family inheritance, how disgusting would that be?”

Shen Bianye gave a sarcastic laugh, then spoke calmly, “Don’t worry, he can’t give birth.” Zhou Chao paused, keenly sensing something, and didn’t speak again. The two big men just squatted under the streetlamp, each lost in their own thoughts, neither speaking for a while.

A moment later, Zhou Chao: “I say, let’s go find a club to sit in. My legs are numb. Aren’t yours?”

Shen Bianye was silent for a moment, then slowly said, “A little.”

…From the bar to the curb and then to a club, Shen Bianye drank heavily in all places. The lights in the private room were hazy, their swing revealing one empty bottle after another. Zhou Chao watched him helplessly. “Still drinking? How much have you had?”

“Isn’t it good news that your roommate helps alleviate your pheromone disorder? Stop drinking. Tell me what you’re thinking. I’m so anxious, why are you still drinking?”

Shen Bianye was a little drunk. Hearing this, he grunted, “The emperor isn’t worried, but the eunuch is.”

Zhou Chao was speechless and refused the drink Shen Bianye offered. “I can’t drink anymore now. What happened yesterday?”

If it weren’t so late, he would have dragged Shen Bianye for a check-up right then. They were brothers who grew up together. He didn’t usually talk about it, but the knowledge of Shen Bianye’s pheromone disorder had weighed on his mind.

Shen Bianye, hearing Zhou Chao’s question, silently drank another glass. He was a bit drunk, couldn’t hold his liquor, and after a dizzying thought, he spoke, “What else could happen? I bit him thinking he was an Omega.”

Zhou Chao had guessed, but was still shocked: “Isn’t he a beta? How could he be mistaken for an Omega and bitten?”

Shen Bianye held his glass, turned his head to look at him, leaned closer, and spoke mysteriously, “Don’t you think he smells really good?” “Like milk, fragrant.” The last part came out with a hint of foolishness.

Zhou Chao looked at the row of empty bottles on the table and recalled what he had drunk at the bar, reasonably concluding that the man was truly drunk. “And then? After you bit him?”

“Then I passed out.” Shen Bianye reached for the bottle, poured himself a full glass, and after taking a swig, he spoke with some gritted teeth, “Xie Yuanxing actually just left me there!”

“He made me sleep on the table all night!” Saying that, he couldn’t help but take another swig of alcohol, feeling depressed and angry: “He didn’t even bother to cover me with a single piece of clothing!”

“I woke up this morning with sore shoulders, and no one was in the dorm. Do you understand that feeling?”

“I felt like I’d been, like, prostituted, and the person who prostituted me just ran off.” He turned to Zhou Chao and questioned, “Do you understand that feeling?”

Zhou Chao listened numbly, thinking that he couldn’t understand. And if he wasn’t drunk, and his logic was clear, wasn’t Shen Bianye the one who bit first? How did he become the one who was prostituted?

Shen Bianye evidently didn’t need his answer and continued to himself, “Forget it, since I was the one who bit him, I thought I’d talk to him properly when he came back.”

“But I waited in the dorm all day,” he slammed the table, angrily, “waited for the damn whole day, and Xie Yuanxing never came back!”

“I was waiting eagerly for him, and he didn’t tell me where he went?!”

“Am I anxious? What’s the point of me being anxious, he doesn’t even care about me.”

Zhou Chao: “……”

He pinched his eyebrows, half-suspecting that he was actually drunk too.

That mixed drink he’d had, it would be reasonable to be drunk, otherwise, why would he hear resentment in Shen Bianye’s words?

“I say, for something like this, you should just talk to him properly. You pay the money, he cooperates, and you get treatment, wouldn’t that be better?”

Shen Bianye snorted, “Those doctors can’t come up with a reliable treatment method. I got relief by biting him. The only treatment method doctors can suggest is to keep biting.”

Thinking about having to keep biting Xie Yuanxing, he felt angry and said loudly, “If it can’t be cured, then it can’t be. Why should I bite a beta?!”