The Sickly Omega Is No Longer Pretending to Be Good/Obedient - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Lucid Dream

“Yes, you are a puppy.”

Wen Jiangchu’s breathing hitched. Meeting Shen Qiudu’s dark eyes, his body slowly slumped down, resting his chin on Shen Qiudu’s shoulder socket. His exhaled breath sprayed onto the exposed skin, feeling warm and moist.

“I’m sorry, Qiudu, I didn’t mean to, but I really couldn’t help it.”

“It just hurts quite a bit, the wound is pretty deep…”

As he spoke, Wen Jiangchu expertly grabbed Shen Qiudu’s wrist, which was dangling in mid-air, attempting to lead him to touch the wound, and deliberately traced it past his abs, moving inch by inch along the contours.

The rapidly escalating atmosphere made Shen Qiudu blush. Angrily, he lightly hit the tensed muscle of Wen Jiangchu, pushed his shoulder away, and instantly widened the distance between them.

He then tossed the scattered cotton swabs onto the bed in front of Wen Jiangchu, turned his face away, and said in a low voice, “I see you’re perfectly fine and still have the energy to say things like that. Then you can apply the medicine yourself.”

Wen Jiangchu’s eyes were fixed on Shen Qiudu. He chuckled muffledly, his eyes full of tenderness. “Alright, I’ll listen to Qiudu.”

He skillfully dabbed the ointment with a cotton swab and lowered his eyes to scan the area that Shen Qiudu had just carefully treated, pursing his lips.

He couldn’t say the technique was non-existent, only that barely any ointment had been applied, with most of it ending up on the uninjured skin.

“What are you looking at? Are you laughing at me?!”

Shen Qiudu’s face darkened. He put on a slight frown, crossed his arms, and his mouth drooped, giving off the feeling of a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on.

Wen Jiangchu held back a laugh, quickly shook his head, and explained, “How could I? I just think Qiudu’s method of applying medicine is too good, and I feel so lucky.”

Shen Qiudu slowly lowered his head, letting his growing hair fall forward. He said nervously, “I’ve never applied medicine to anyone else before. When I got hurt during work, I could only grab the ointment and casually rub a handful onto the wound with my hand. Otherwise, if it took too long, they would deduct my wages. I didn’t earn much to begin with, I couldn’t afford to lose any more…”

Wen Jiangchu felt truly terrible. He had only meant to tease Shen Qiudu but hadn’t expected it to bring up such painful memories.

He was a little flustered. He quickly applied some random ointment to the wound, tossed the cotton swab, and held Shen Qiudu’s shoulder with one hand. Shen Qiudu looked up in confusion, only to see Wen Jiangchu’s other hand unhesitatingly reaching for the hem of his shirt.

“Wen Jiangchu, what are you doing?!” Shen Qiudu instantly bristled, forcefully swatting Wen Jiangchu’s hand away.

Wen Jiangchu looked at the red mark on the back of his hand and instinctively lifted it to his nose to sniff.

Mmm, a scent of trumpet flowers, truly delightful.

But before he could savor it for a few seconds, Shen Qiudu slapped his hand away again. “Wen Jiangchu, are you an idiot?!”

Seeing that Shen Qiudu was genuinely annoyed, Wen Jiangchu quickly snapped out of it and coaxed, “I’m sorry, Qiudu. I… I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to look at your wound. Didn’t you say you were hurt?”

“That was in the past. It must be healed by now, right? Wen Jiangchu, are you an idiot?”

Shen Qiudu gave Wen Jiangchu an exasperated look, only to see that he was smiling despite being scolded. Wen Jiangchu followed his lead: “Yes, I’m an idiot.”

Wen Jiangchu carefully shifted his body, quietly moving the distance between them closer. Only when the scent of trumpet flowers became fully concentrated near his nose did he feel satisfied and smacked his lips.

He lowered his gaze and saw Shen Qiudu take a roll of medical gauze, gently bandaging Wen Jiangchu. However, Wen Jiangchu’s waist was more than twice his own, and Shen Qiudu clearly looked like he was struggling.

Wen Jiangchu felt a pang of heartache. He fantasized about Shen Qiudu’s teenage years, working to earn money and getting injured. Did he also curl up alone in a corner like this, using cheap, unhygienic gauze, or perhaps, to save money, using a washed-out, faded cloth, biting the corner of his shirt, and bravely wrapping the wound himself until the bl00d stopped flowing, letting the overwhelming pain numb his nerves?

Like a small stray kitten abandoned on the roadside, alone on a rainy night, seeking a dilapidated but sheltered trash can, silently licking its wounds.

Wen Jiangchu’s heart clenched. He took the gauze from Shen Qiudu. The excessive heartache made Wen Jiangchu want to understand Shen Qiudu more—his past pain, the injustices he had faced, and whether he had encountered anything extraordinary.

“So, Qiudu, you used to bandage your wounds all by yourself like this?”

“Yeah,” Shen Qiudu said calmly, seemingly unfazed by these things. “That man was often not home, only returning when he ran out of money. I didn’t want to trouble my mother and make her worry, so I would usually find some steps near the workplace, apply the medicine, and then go home.”

“What about places that are hard to reach, like your back or lower waist… what did you do if you hurt those?”

Wen Jiangchu’s throat tightened. He felt more and more that Shen Qiudu was simply too resilient. His nose stung, and tears fell unexpectedly, scalding Shen Qiudu’s skin.

Shen Qiudu’s face froze at the question, and his expression seemed off. He nervously avoided Wen Jiangchu’s gaze.

He raised his hand and instinctively wiped away Wen Jiangchu’s tears, clearing his throat. “A fellow worker helped me. We were too poor back then. As long as we could survive, gender and secondary gender characteristics were secondary. It didn’t matter.”

Wen Jiangchu’s tears immediately stopped. “Fellow worker…?”

Shen Qiudu nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know his exact identity. I only know that, like me, he dropped out of school early to work. He seemed to be a Beta; I never heard him mention a heat period. We generally didn’t talk much, focused solely on making money. We would only occasionally help each other when applying or buying medicine.”

“I remember the day I ran away and you picked me up was the last day of our work term. He came and said goodbye to me, said he had saved enough money and was going back to school. He said he had one more chance to go to school and asked if I wanted to go with him.”

“And you… how did you answer?”

Wen Jiangchu’s breathing slowed, and the hand resting on Shen Qiudu’s shoulder suddenly tightened. He knew he was scared, he was worried. He was afraid that his intervention might have caused Shen Qiudu’s potentially better life to plummet, afraid that he might have been the last straw that broke Shen Qiudu’s life.

Wen Jiangchu had never felt this way before. Everything had always been under his control; the world was merely a chess game in his hands.

But with Shen Qiudu, the slightest change in his tone could send Wen Jiangchu spiraling into self-doubt.

Wen Jiangchu’s tears flowed even more fiercely.

Shen Qiudu looked up and quickly understood the emotions Wen Jiangchu was hiding. He smiled helplessly. “Wen Jiangchu, stop crying. If you cry any more, this place will turn into a small river.”

“Besides, I didn’t agree to it. I was wary of everyone back then. Applying medicine was absolutely necessary, and it only happened once or twice. To me, his suggestion sounded like he was trying to trick me into going to an unfamiliar place to have my organs harvested. How could I believe that?”

So, Shen Qiudu actually knew in his heart that a person like him, inherently suspicious and not even trusting himself, needed to be intensely possessed and showered with love.

Moreover, the word “school” was too foreign to Shen Qiudu. They weren’t eligible for public schools, and they couldn’t afford the tuition for private schools. So, Shen Qiudu was forced to drop out in his second year of high school because that man had completely taken over the tuition fees for his private school that year.

So in the past, he only wanted to live safely, but now…

Shen Qiudu’s gaze fell on Wen Jiangchu’s reddened eyes, and his lips curved into a smile.

Now, he seemed a little greedy.

“Qiudu…”

Wen Jiangchu’s voice was mixed with an almost imperceptible sob. His rough thumb started at Shen Qiudu’s shoulder, sliding down gently, caressing his exposed delicate skin, like a puppy wagging its tail to express happiness and trying to rub against Shen Qiudu.

As if remembering something, Wen Jiangchu suddenly looked up. “Does Qiudu still want to go to school now?”

“I’m past the age for school now. Let’s just forget about it.”

“Then, does Qiudu want to intern at the company?”

Shen Qiudu looked at Wen Jiangchu as if he were an idiot. “…If you’re not afraid of me losing you a hundred million a day.”

“It’s fine.” Wen Jiangchu rubbed Shen Qiudu’s head. “I have enough money. I can afford to lose a hundred million a day.”

Judging by Wen Jiangchu’s expression, he didn’t seem to be joking. With the previous incident in mind, Shen Qiudu subconsciously glanced towards the door, afraid that he would bring cash over and force it upon him.

Shen Qiudu changed the subject. “By the way, what exactly happened with Xu Zhouye in the end? And that man, why did he suddenly appear here?”

“I actually knew all along that Xu Zhouye hated me and would stop at nothing to slander me and try to kill me. But I endured it all because my mother instructed me to take good care of him before she passed away.”

“Mom and Aunt Xu always had a good relationship, but because of Dad, the relationship became a little awkward. However, Aunt Xu later came to terms with it. But we didn’t expect Uncle Xu to be the one who cared the most, even going mad, self-harming, and eventually locking Aunt Xu up, which caused Aunt Xu to leave.”

“Mom felt very guilty, thinking she was partly responsible for what happened, especially since she was the one who suggested Dad help the Xu family. She didn’t expect such things to happen, which directly led to the collapse of the Xu family’s relationship.”

“So, since then, Mom told me to treat Xu Zhouye as my own younger brother, as a relative of the Wen family, and she would even call me into her room every day to report on Xu Zhouye’s daily psychological and health status, and whether he had done anything bad.”

“So after they passed away, I didn’t want my mother to worry in heaven, and I kept enduring it, until I found out he was actually leaking the Wen family’s company secrets to the Song family.”

“He even teamed up with the Song family to sabotage the cooperation I had reached with the Qin family, just to collapse the Wen family. That was Qin Mao’s most important collaboration, and it resulted in Qin Mao losing billions.”

“That’s when I knew Xu Zhouye couldn’t stay. So I reached an agreement with Qin Mao: he would release your parents, and I would personally deliver Xu Zhouye to him. As for Xu Zhouye’s final fate, I’m not sure.”

“However, Qin Mao’s methods are well-known.”

Shen Qiudu raised his hand and touched Wen Jiangchu’s wound, suddenly remembering what Xu Zhouye had mentioned earlier regarding Wen Jiangchu’s parents.

“By the way, he hinted to me earlier about your parents’ plane crash…”

“It wasn’t him.” Wen Jiangchu forced a smile, letting go of all his strength, allowing himself to be supported by Shen Qiudu’s hand. “It had nothing to do with anyone. It truly was an accident.”

Wen Jiangchu completely exposed his vulnerable and weak side, tears silently streaming down his face. Shen Qiudu’s body stiffened. He was never good at comforting people. He could only imitate the way Wen Jiangchu used to comfort him, tentatively patting his back and stroking Wen Jiangchu’s head.

However, Wen Jiangchu’s hair was so soft that Shen Qiudu didn’t stop in time, and the way he was stroking it was a bit… messy.

Wen Jiangchu reluctantly lifted his head, gently bumped his forehead against Shen Qiudu’s, and indulged him: “Shen Qiudu, are you petting a dog?”

“That’s right.” Shen Qiudu immediately seized the opportunity to tease Wen Jiangchu.

“You are a puppy.”

Before Wen Jiangchu could respond, the door was suddenly forced open from the outside.

Xue Shan Ke stood leaning against the door frame, one hand holding the medicine and the other pinching his nose, looking a bit distraught. “My goodness, are you two going to drink this medicine or not?!”

Shen Qiudu and Wen Jiangchu exchanged a silent glance, then simultaneously looked at the confused Xue Shan Ke.

Hmm, this was the real dog coming.

Xue Shan Ke rolled his eyes, speechless. “By the way, Uncle Liang said to come downstairs now. It seems someone wants to discuss a collaboration with the Wen family about establishing a public school in the slums. The person is waiting in the living room now.”

“Also, Shen Qiudu, you should come down too. After you finish the medicine, we will continue the treatment.”

Shen Qiudu followed Wen Jiangchu downstairs. Just as he was about to walk with Xue Shan Ke to the treatment room, he was suddenly called out to.

“Shen Qiudu?”

Shen Qiudu turned back and saw the person from his memory standing in the living room in a suit, completely contrary to the humble, rough image he had in his mind. The world truly was too small.

The man quickly walked up to Shen Qiudu and asked in confusion, “Why are you here?”

“I…” Before Shen Qiudu could speak, Wen Jiangchu’s figure instantly shielded him, his face darkening, and he spoke in an unfriendly tone: “What are you doing? Aren’t you here to discuss a collaboration?”

The man looked Wen Jiangchu up and down, as if remembering something, and instantly became emboldened. He directly bypassed Wen Jiangchu, ignoring Shen Qiudu’s struggle, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to shelter behind him. He looked Wen Jiangchu straight in the eye, filled with anger.

“I should be asking you what you’re doing keeping Shen Qiudu trapped here?! You stalker!”