Luo Zhiyu had never been a diligent person. His excellence and diligence required a certain amount of rules and discipline to keep them in check. That was why, back in high school, he had been forced to study and forced to get up early. After the Gaokao ended, aside from Xiao Yan, nobody could get in touch with Luo Zhiyu in the mornings.
Today was no different. The physical exhaustion made Luo Zhiyu even sleepier than usual. The noise of Xiao Yan getting out of bed disturbed his dreams, and Luo Zhiyu turned over with extreme displeasure.
“Is it already five? Why are you getting up so early?”
His body still carried the lingering sensations from the previous night. Even this tiny movement made him feel sleepier. Something seemed different now. Even with his eyes closed and his body lying still in bed, he could sense Xiao Yan watching him.
The faint scent of oranges accompanied him, lingering around him as though afraid of disturbing him. It didn’t come any closer.
“Taotao, I’m going out for a bit,” Xiao Yan whispered. “I’m taking the keys with me.”
It really wasn’t five o’clock yet. Luo Zhiyu hadn’t been wrong. Xiao Yan simply had something on his mind and wanted to find out the results as soon as possible.
Luo Zhiyu didn’t even bother responding.
Yesterday had been Luo Zhiyu’s own doing. Today, his anger was steadily climbing. When Xiao Yan left, he even took the broom from the house and carried it outside.
At the entrance of City Central Hospital in X City, Xiao Yan met Qian Shuyu, a friend he’d made at university. Qian Shuyu had stayed up all night gaming, so he’d simply decided not to sleep. He had also come to the hospital early to keep an eye on the test results.
“Here’s the previous test report.” Xiao Yan handed it to his friend. “Only mine is left. Luo Zhiyu scribbled all over his until it was unreadable.”
“Relax. There’s no way your compatibility is 0.001%. That’s not what low compatibility looks like, let alone when it comes to a permanent mark.” Qian Shuyu examined the report from every angle. “Good thing your little one wasn’t in heat yesterday.”
Xiao Yan’s fingers tightened around the keys in his hand.
“It’s my fault.”
“It’s an extremely rare situation. You can’t really blame yourself.” Qian Shuyu said, “And it’s not the hospital’s fault either. Test strips and blood tests have been widely used for ages. This kind of thing doesn’t happen when two people aren’t both high-level individuals.”
“I know.”
In truth, there wasn’t anything left to regret. Xiao Yan and Luo Zhiyu had already done everything they should and shouldn’t have done.
“Hello, Dad?” Qian Shuyu answered a phone call. “Yes, yes, yes… Don’t start scolding me for staying up all night. Help me check a test report first.”
99.999%.
That was Xiao Yan and Luo Zhiyu’s actual pheromone compatibility rate.
Their pheromones had never said they were incompatible. He and Luo Zhiyu were perfectly suited to each other.
In fact, there had been signs all along. They hadn’t never suspected something was wrong. It was just that once the numbers were laid out in front of them, everyone had assumed the two of them were incompatible.
Back in high school, when other Alphas and Omegas were caught together, they were accused of puppy love.
When Xiao Yan and Luo Zhiyu were caught together, they were accused of fighting.
It was because a highly compatible Alpha was nearby that Luo Zhiyu’s inhibitors had failed in the first place.
The Alpha who had made Xiao Yan jealous for so long had turned out to be none other than himself.
Qian Shuyu exclaimed, “Wow! I’m so jealous!”
“This is an ideal match in scientific terms. A permanent mark at this compatibility level will make both of you unable to bear being apart from each other. That’s pretty fair.”
Thinking about what he’d witnessed at Municipal No. 1 High School, Qian Shuyu burst out laughing.
“So all this time, you two thought you were defying science and common sense by having some extraordinary kind of relationship?”
Xiao Yan: “……” Wasn’t that exactly what they’d thought?
Even the people around them had believed the same thing.
Something he had long since stopped caring about had now appeared before him as an extraordinarily high number. Along with his overwhelming joy came a sense of disbelief.
“You two will probably end up in our department’s textbooks. They’ll ask for your consent beforehand, of course. The dean will contact you.” Qian Shuyu explained. “We used to have to test people when their rutting and heat periods overlapped, but now only one of the two needs to be in that state.”
“When your little one comes in for his heat, your compatibility rate should be even higher. It might even reach 100%. It just depends on whether you’re willing to bring him out for another test.”
“No need.” Xiao Yan shook his head. “This is already enough.”
He had finally obtained the answer he was owed from the past. Now, their relationship had become truly legitimate in every sense of the word.
“I’m jealous. The number on your marriage certificate will be higher than everyone else’s, too. That’s just too impressive!” Qian Shuyu said sourly.
The mention of a marriage certificate solidified an idea Xiao Yan had been considering since early that morning.
Xiao Yan spent the entire first half of the morning at City Central Hospital. Before he had even made it home, he could already sense that Luo Zhiyu was angry.
[Orange]: I’m coming back right away!
[Knowing Cicada]: So you do remember you have a home to return to. Fairy frowning.jpg
[Orange]: What do you want for breakfast? I’ll buy it!
[Knowing Cicada]: No need. Just bring the delivery from downstairs up for me, thanks.
[Knowing Cicada]: You locked the door pretty well, didn’t you? The house keys and the broom have both disappeared.
[Orange]: ……
[Orange]: I was wrong.
Admitting fault first was the right move. Xiao Yan had experience with this by now.
[Knowing Cicada]: Oh, don’t say that. You did nothing wrong, did you? Weren’t you pretty impressive last night?
[Orange]: ……
[Orange]: I’ll come back immediately. There’s something I need to tell you.
Luo Zhiyu wasn’t actually that angry. He had been the one to throw away the Type-A inhibitors, after all. Whether he was in pain or struggling with discomfort, he’d brought it on himself. He wasn’t so unreasonable as to blame Xiao Yan for everything.
It was just that Xiao Yan had hurried out early the next morning, immediately after everything that had happened, and that left him a little confused.
What could possibly be so urgent?
While waiting for Xiao Yan to return, Luo Zhiyu hugged the laptop and sat on the bed, helping Xiao Yan with his physiology homework.
He had almost finished all the other types of questions.
It was this essay question that he couldn’t answer.
[What is a permanent mark? What significance does it have? What does it mean for an Alpha and an Omega? Based on existing theories, discuss your views from multiple perspectives, including physiology, society, family, and the individual.]
The answers he found through online searches included all kinds of little stories, some true and some false. After reading them, Luo Zhiyu couldn’t help feeling a little sorrowful.
He and Xiao Yan had such a tiny pheromone compatibility rate. They probably wouldn’t have the chance to experience any of this.
[Luo Sixue]: Remember to check your Gaokao results!
[Knowing Cicada]: Someone will check them for me.
[Luo Sixue]: You’re still at your boyfriend’s house?
[Knowing Cicada]: Yep. I’m helping my boyfriend with his homework. It’s so difficult. I don’t know how to do it.
[Luo Sixue]: You can actually do something like that? Back then, you even made Xiao Yan do your homework for you.
[Knowing Cicada]: ……I don’t know how to explain this to you.
[Knowing Cicada]: So I’ll just not explain it.
[Luo Sixue]: I’m heading out to sign a contract. Let me meet your orange-flavored boyfriend sometime when you have the chance.
[Knowing Cicada]: We’ll see.
[Knowing Cicada]: You might not actually want to meet him.
The sound of a key turning came from outside, followed by the door closing. Xiao Yan carried Luo Zhiyu’s takeaway into the bedroom and placed the breakfast on the bedside table.
“If you’d come back any later, I could’ve gone straight to lunch.” Luo Zhiyu spoke coolly. “You even took the keys with you when you left. You locked me in your apartment. Were you afraid I’d run away or something?”
He was wearing only the top of Xiao Yan’s pajamas. The shirt was a little too long for him, its white hem partially covering his hips and thighs.
Xiao Yan glanced at him once, then immediately looked away.
“You’re awful, Yan Yan,” Luo Zhiyu accused him. “You disappeared first thing in the morning, and didn’t you read in the textbook that an Omega needs some care after sex?”
Xiao Yan had taken care of him the previous night. But the little rascal hadn’t been entirely conscious at the time, so he couldn’t remember the things he’d mumbled. He’d also forgotten how he’d fallen asleep in the bathtub, half-conscious and dazed.
Xiao Yan, however, said nothing. He let Luo Zhiyu accuse him as much as he wanted and even poured him a cup of warm water.
“Are you feeling wronged, Yan Yan?” Luo Zhiyu hadn’t been particularly angry to begin with. Seeing that Xiao Yan wasn’t responding, he couldn’t bear to keep going. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop. I’m the one who got bullied, yet somehow I’m the one who has to comfort you.”
Things seemed different after they’d become intimate. Luo Zhiyu found Xiao Yan quite pleasing to the eye now. He even liked the orange scent.
It was as though something more intimate than a temporary mark had tied them together.
“Luo Zhiyu.” Xiao Yan called his name.
“Hm?” Luo Zhiyu was busy reaching for his breakfast. “Why are you being so formal? What is it?”
Xiao Yan didn’t usually call him by his full name like this.
“I need to tell you something. Prepare yourself mentally.”
Luo Zhiyu: “?”
“Let’s both take this seriously. This isn’t a trivial matter. I’m not a scumbag Alpha, and you can’t be a scumbag Omega either.”
Luo Zhiyu: “??”
“Last night… I think I gave you a permanent mark.”
Luo Zhiyu: “???”
“When did that happen?” Luo Zhiyu asked.
“When you were crying the hardest.”
Luo Zhiyu: “……” He had some vague memories of that.
“Wait a minute.” Luo Zhiyu raised a perfectly reasonable objection. “Our pheromone compatibility rate is so low. We were lucky just to manage a temporary mark. We can’t complete a permanent one. You have to believe in science. Science says that we…”
A brand-new test report was handed to him by Xiao Yan.
Luo Zhiyu’s eyes immediately caught a certain figure on the paper, and the bun in his hand dropped to the floor with a plop.
Test subjects: Luo Zhiyu, Xiao Yan
Test date: X year, X month, X day
Pheromone compatibility rate: 99.999%
Probability of romantic compatibility: 99.999%
Remarks: It is recommended that testing be conducted at a different stage. The possibility of an even higher compatibility rate exists.
Luo Zhiyu: “……”
Compatibility rates above 90% were already rare. Yet the number he was looking at now was far higher than 90%.
“How is this possible…?” Luo Zhiyu stared at the report, reading it over and over. “How could we possibly…”
“Taotao.” Xiao Yan moved the report aside and gently kissed the corner of Luo Zhiyu’s slightly reddened lips. “Stop talking nonsense. Take responsibility for me. Let’s go home, steal our household registration booklets, and get married.”
Luo Zhiyu was stunned.
“If you think that’s too rushed, we can register our engagement first and get married after we graduate from university. Would that be okay?” Xiao Yan said. “So you’ll go steal your household registration booklet, and I’ll go steal mine too.”
Luo Zhiyu: “……” Was there any difference?
“So, in other words…” Luo Zhiyu began to summarize.
“In other words,” Xiao Yan finished for him, “we have to go home and confess that we’ve defected to the other side. Things are about to get lively.”
Half an hour later, Luo Sixue received another message from her younger brother.
[Knowing Cicada]: Sneaking around.jpg
[Knowing Cicada]: You there? Is anyone home?
[Luo Sixue]: ? Nobody’s home. Not even the cat.
[Knowing Cicada]: Great! I’m going home for a bit. Sneaking around.jpg
[Luo Sixue]: What are you doing? Did you fight with your boyfriend? Why are you suddenly going home?
[Knowing Cicada]: Where’s the household registration booklet? I’m going to sneak in and steal it. Sneaking around.jpg