61

Wen Ran, who had no manners, had been hit with one shock after another lately. First, coming home from work to find Gu Yunchi standing in the living room. Then, waking up the next morning to Gu Yunchi sitting at the dining table. Then, getting a strange call late at night while working overtime, only to find out it was Gu Yunchi on the other end. And finally, coming home after a long day, carefully opening the door, confirming there was no Gu Yunchi inside, breathing a sigh of relief—then flipping on the lights and nearly jumping out of his skin at the sight of brand-new appliances everywhere, thinking he'd walked into the wrong house.

Every appliance. The ones that still sort of worked, the ones on the verge of quitting. Big stuff like the fridge, the AC, the water heater. Small stuff like the kettle, the lights, the hair dryer. All of it, replaced down to the last piece. Wen Ran stood there in a daze for a long time before finally coming back to himself. He slowly walked a circle around the place, paying special attention to the energy efficiency labels on the high-power appliances, confirming they were all Grade One.

He thought about taking them all down and making Gu Yunchi take them back, but Gu Yunchi would definitely refuse, and his old appliances were already gone without a trace.

Wen Ran looked at his mobile phone. The message thread with that unfamiliar number still only contained one line—'That rude?' He stared at it quietly for a while, then closed the screen. Like every other time he came home after working late, he grabbed his pajamas and went to shower.

He was already very practiced at 'not thinking about Gu Yunchi.' Seven years of hard-won experience.

For the first half year or so, every time he caught Gu Yunchi's pheromone on himself, he couldn't help but think of him constantly. Even so, whenever Fang Yisen asked if he wanted to reach out to Gu Yunchi, Wen Ran would just shake his head in silence. He knew what kind of awkward situation he'd face if he went back.

Even if Gu Yunchi, after learning the full picture, didn't see him as part of the Wen Family's scheme, and even if the Gu Family would offer him some compensation out of consideration for the permanent mark—Wen Ran figured he'd just go from being a chess piece to being a burden. Not much better.

He didn't want to become a burden who, because of the permanent mark, forced Gu Yunchi to take responsibility for him. And he knew Gu Yunchi would never marry someone he didn't like. So going back to the Capital City to announce his survival was overstepping. There was no place for him there.

If he could survive a gland implant surgery with only a 60% success rate and an explosion that nearly killed him, then becoming Li Shu and building an ordinary person's independent life should be doable too.

He'd already decided that. But he still couldn't stop the missing. So he secretly let himself think about it. It didn't feel great, but no law said he couldn't. And no one would ever know.

Until nine months later, as his body gradually recovered, his long-suppressed heat—stalled for various reasons—erupted without warning. Wen Ran discovered for the first time just how strong he was. It took four or five omega nurses to hold him down. In the end, he was forcibly strapped into a restraint suit, and the doctor injected sedatives and a heavy-duty inhibitor directly into his gland.

As his eyes slowly closed through the panting and the tears, Wen Ran vaguely remembered that the only two heats he'd ever had before, Gu Yunchi had been there for both of them.

He heard the doctor sigh: 'A permanent mark from a high-match Alpha makes your heat a hundred times more painful, and there's no substitute pheromone medication that can ease it. Consider getting the mark removed.'

He couldn't remember anymore how much the mark removal hurt. He only remembered the feeling of that familiar scent gradually fading from his body over the week that followed—he lost the only pheromone in the world he could still smell, and with it, the only physical link to Gu Yunchi.

It was a node where his past life officially ended. Wen Ran began a process of self-suggestion and self-hypnosis: everything came from the match rate alone. Once the mark was cleared, his brain wouldn't be triggered into remembering by some smell. He'd be able to block the memories soon, and eventually forget completely.

If his relationship with Gu Yunchi was an umbrella, then compatibility was the rib. When the rib broke and there was nothing left to hold up the canopy, the wind and rain would wash everything away. It had to be that way.

He'd always thought he'd done a pretty good job with this years-long brainwashing. Until Gu Yunchi reappeared in front of him.

He hadn't been sleeping well these past few days. Every morning, the first thing Wen Ran did after opening his eyes was turn his head to look toward the partition bookshelf, confirming no one was sitting in the living room.

The man himself hadn't shown up again, but on the cabinet by the entryway, every single day without fail, there was an insulated lunch bag sitting on top. As if Gu Yunchi was absolutely certain Wen Ran couldn't bear to waste it and would eat every last bite.

This couldn't keep going. The night before, Wen Ran stuck a note on the door handle: Please stop sending breakfast.

The next morning, the lunch bag was on the cabinet as usual. The note had been taken down and placed to one side, and on it, besides Wen Ran's message, was Gu Yunchi's reply.

: What's it say? Your handwriting's so ugly I can't read it.

Wen Ran looked at it for a while. He didn't touch the breakfast on the cabinet. He opened the door, went downstairs on an empty stomach, and took the subway to work.

Today was the wind tunnel test for the model aircraft. After lunch and a half-hour break, a few engineers headed to the lab to meet up with the colleagues from the prototype department.

An aircraft from a nearby Air Force Base was also being tested, and it was scheduled before them. Because of the Military Headquarters' full confidentiality procedures, everyone waited inside the aircraft model hangar.

This was Wen Ran's third time at the lab. The Company's model aircraft was covered by a dust cover. He carefully lifted a corner of it and, with gloved hands, lightly touched the smooth fuselage.

'Colonel Cheng.' A senior colleague from the department suddenly spoke up. 'Long time no see!'

Wen Ran pulled the dust cover back into place and turned around. His colleagues had clustered into a crowd, blocking his view. He could only vaguely see through the gaps the Air Force colonel who had mentored him during a training project three years ago—Cheng Duó.

Cheng Duó walked over and shook the senior's hand. 'Great, I heard you'd be coming today, so I made a point of stopping by. Didn't expect to actually run into you.' He raised a hand. 'Oh right, let me introduce—'

While he was speaking, Wen Ran walked toward the group. His gaze passed over his colleagues' shoulders and he got a full view of that line of Alphas in military uniform.

'This is Gu Yunchi, Army lieutenant colonel, commander of the North Theater Command.' Cheng Duó clapped the man beside him on the shoulder, smiling. 'The war just ended a couple days ago and he just got back. He happened to be visiting our Military Base, so he came along.'

Gu Yunchi's expression was as if Cheng Duó were introducing someone unrelated to him. He stood there with a distant look on his face, his gaze passing over the crowd and landing on Wen Ran.

He was wearing an Army service uniform—a very pale gray shirt with one button undone, a smooth, crisp tie, immaculate black-and-gold shoulder boards, sleeves rolled to the elbows, and a military wristband on his fair wrist.

Their eyes met for only a moment before Wen Ran turned to look somewhere else. A thin layer of sweat seeped out under his gloves.

Not expecting the triumphant commander from the recent broadcast to be standing right in front of them, the colleagues immediately stirred, rushing forward one after another to shake Gu Yunchi's hand and greet him. No one noticed Wen Ran, standing perfectly still and looking a little stiff.

Until this unexpected social session ended. Gu Yunchi, who had been standing in place the whole time, stepped around the crowd and slowly walked a few steps until he was in front of Wen Ran. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he casually extended his hand toward him.

The vast hangar fell silent in an instant. Gaze after gaze turned their way, bearing witness to Lieutenant Colonel Gu's warm and even-handed care for the introverted, socially anxious engineer.

Wen Ran looked up at Gu Yunchi for a moment, then lowered his eyes, pulled off his gloves, and very lightly shook his hand.

When their hands met, skin brushed against Gu Yunchi's gun calluses, sending an odd tingling through him. Wen Ran let go fast, his slightly damp palm brushing Gu Yunchi's fingertips for an instant.

'Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Gu.' Out of sheer politeness, Wen Ran spoke in a dry, flat voice.

Gu Yunchi looked at the soft hair on top of his head and asked, 'Hello where?'

The atmosphere turned strange. The people around them started exchanging puzzled looks.

'Ahem.' Cheng Duó coughed a few times for no reason. 'Well, ours should be done testing. Let's go check the data.'

Just then a staff member came to let them know the next model aircraft was ready to go in. The senior and the colleagues each got moving. Relieved, Wen Ran immediately went to grab his computer, tucked it under his arm, and ran toward the control room.

'First meeting and you're already acting crazy, like you're about to eat the guy alive.' Cheng Duó threw an arm around Gu Yunchi's shoulder from behind, grinning mischievously. 'I guessed it, didn't I? You heard me say he was good-looking and you got all antsy, came specifically to see for yourself. Looks like you've been on the battlefield too long—even our young master Gu is getting proactive! So? Did you fall for him at first sight?'

Gu Yunchi ignored him, pulled out a cigarette case, and headed for the exit.

The test lasted nearly two hours. Wen Ran sat in front of the screen, seriously studying the data, discussing with his colleagues as he went. By the time the test ended, the improvement plan was pretty much ready too—just a few very minor issues with the wing box materials that needed small adjustments.

Wen Ran was the last to walk out of the control room. From a distance, he saw the senior chatting and laughing with Cheng Duó. Gu Yunchi had probably already left.

Seeing the senior wave him over, Wen Ran ran up.

'You go with Colonel Cheng to the Military Base.' The senior clapped him on the shoulder.

Cheng Duó picked up immediately. 'Don't be nervous, Engineer Li. Mainly the Engineering Department wants to have an in-depth discussion with you about that design proposal you made before.'

So much time had already passed. Wen Ran had no idea what there was left to discuss. He nodded. 'Okay.'

After seeing off the senior and his colleagues, Wen Ran followed Cheng Duó to a military vehicle. A soldier opened the rear door. Wen Ran bent down and stepped in, only to find Gu Yunchi sitting at the other end, looking at his communicator.

But he could only brace himself and get in. Wen Ran pressed himself against the car door, just like the first time he'd gone to Luan Mountain long ago, sitting in the same car as Gu Yunchi on the way back.

Cheng Duó got in the passenger seat. The car started moving. He cleared his throat and began doing his absolute best to play matchmaker.

'Engineer Li, did you know? Lieutenant Colonel Gu has heard of you too.'

In his peripheral vision, Wen Ran saw Gu Yunchi put away his communicator, fold his arms, and lean back against the seat. Wen Ran looked at Cheng Duó's smiling face turned toward him from the passenger seat and said, 'Oh, really?'

'Three years ago, when you took part in that training project, didn't I tell you I had a colleague who took one look at your handwriting and his heart rate went through the roof, nearly didn't make it? Remember? That's Lieutenant Colonel Gu, hahahahahaha!'

Wen Ran stared blankly for a good while, feeling like he was about to go into arrhythmia himself. He'd never been able to figure out how Gu Yunchi had discovered he was still alive. If Gu Yunchi had been sure from the start that he hadn't died in that explosion, he could have found him within a month. He wouldn't have waited three years.

Which meant Gu Yunchi had found out suddenly.

There was a certain absurdity to it, and something almost laughable. He'd hidden safely for years, only to be betrayed in the end by his ugly handwriting—exposed, still alive.

Compared to surviving against the odds, to other people it probably looked more like fleeing the scene of a crime. Seeing through a massive lie with his own eyes, Gu Yunchi was probably so angry his heart rate had spiked.

Wen Ran's face went a little pale. He forced a smile at Cheng Duó. 'So that's how it was.'

Gu Yunchi had just finished reading a new message on his communicator. He closed it, turned his head to glance out the window, and with his left thumb and forefinger, lifted the communicator onto his leg, spinning it idly.

'Yeah, you don't know this, but back then Yunchi was still a sniper. He got blown up trying to save someone, serious injuries, had just woken up from a coma. He saw your handwriting and his heart rate just shot up. Scared me half to death.'

His heart gave two heavy thumps. The work badge hanging around his neck swayed as Wen Ran unconsciously gripped it in his hand. His head turned just slightly, very slightly, but he held himself back and didn't look at Gu Yunchi. He just lowered his gaze and stared at his knees.