December 24—Li Xi’s birthday.
Without saying anything to Li Xi, Ying Zhiyu silently prepared a birthday gift and quietly adjusted his own plans because of Ying Zhiyu’s last-minute arrangements.
Ying Zhiyu hadn’t made anything mysterious; the day before, he had asked Li Xi to keep the day free, saying he would celebrate his birthday.
On the morning of the birthday, Ying Zhiyu took Li Xi to a small tavern—
To make a birthday cheesecake together.
Li Xi was stunned. He hadn’t heard of having to make your own birthday cake.
Ying Zhiyu lamented, “Can’t help it. All my money is invested in the family office. Can’t afford a fancy hotel, so we have to make a humble cake ourselves.”
Li Xi: “……”
Don’t think he didn’t know—Alpha had earned plenty from stocks.
Even if the money invested in the family office wasn’t immediately accessible, the monthly allowance would arrive on the 24th, so Ying Zhiyu had at least ten million on hand.
But Li Xi didn’t expose him; he knew this wasn’t a ploy for money.
Wearing aprons and washing hands, Li Xi was no longer unfamiliar with baking utensils after previously making mooncakes with Ying Zhiyu.
He asked, “What’s the first step?”
Looking up at Ying Zhiyu, he noticed the Alpha wasn’t even wearing an apron and was standing cleanly to the side.
Ying Zhiyu pointed to the kitchen: “I don’t know. Ask the chef.”
Li Xi froze and turned his head.
Just then, a male Alpha came out of the kitchen.
Ying Zhiyu introduced him: “A hidden culinary master from a small-town shop. I begged the chef for a long time, signed a confidentiality agreement, and promised the recipe wouldn’t leak—only then did he agree to teach us.”
The Alpha stepped up and punched Ying Zhiyu, though Ying Zhiyu dodged.
The chef realized it was awkward to hit another Alpha in front of an Omega.
He scratched his head embarrassedly, explaining to Li Xi: “Don’t believe him. He just transferred me thirty thousand. It’s a simple exchange of payment for service.”
Li Xi looked at the baking utensils laid out on the tavern table, thinking perhaps Ying Zhiyu had rented the place.
Now it seemed more like he knew the owner.
Ying Zhiyu became serious, walking back to Li Xi and formally introducing: “This is my senior from undergrad, Zhang Ke.”
Zhang Ke—Ying Zhiyu’s university senior. So also a graduate of the University of Biomedical Sciences?
…A top student from biomedical university becoming a chef?
Zhang Ke corrected him: “I was his senior for less than a month. Zhiyu and I were college roommates.”
Ying Zhiyu had entered the university’s gifted program at 15. Originally he needed two years of preparatory study, but after winning gold at the International Biology Olympiad, the university waived it to compete for top talent. He became classmates with Zhang Ke before turning sixteen.
Given they were college classmates, it was clear from their interaction that they were close.
Before bringing Li Xi, Ying Zhiyu must have explained their relationship to Zhang Ke.
At first, Zhang Ke was a bit reserved toward Li Xi, but seeing Li Xi’s relaxed demeanor, he loosened up.
While teaching Li Xi to bake, he chatted actively:
“Think I’m wasting my degree? Only after deciding to switch careers did I feel I’d found my life.”
Zhang Ke hadn’t started the tavern right after graduation. He had worked a year in genetic engineering.
He had chosen the major for its high entrance score; at 17 or 18, most students selecting majors had little idea what they wanted.
They had spent years studying, but forgot what dream they were pursuing or what life they truly wanted.
By university, Zhang Ke already realized he didn’t like biology, but family expectations and outside praise made it impossible to say, “I don’t like it.”
And so he endured four years. Finally, he graduated—but after graduation, he was faced with decades of professional work that seemed never-ending.
One day, he just couldn’t take it anymore.
Li Xi shook his head: “It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re willing to take responsibility for your choices, no one has the right to interfere.”
Ying Zhiyu interjected: “Who knows if the next moment we’re talking, we might suddenly get scolded to death? Why worry about how others see us?”
Zhang Ke: “……”
Li Xi: “……”
Rough words, but not without reason. Though today was your Omega’s birthday!
Zhang Ke silently screamed in his mind: rich people really care about taboos, you know!
Exhausted from worrying about his good friend, Zhang Ke finally finished teaching the cheesecake-making process.
When it came time to bake, Zhang Ke grabbed the cake and ran.
Since Ying Zhiyu said he “couldn’t” make a cake, he truly didn’t participate in any of the actual baking.
While Li Xi was learning from his college roommate, Ying Zhiyu busied himself with mischief: smearing a bit of cornstarch on Li Xi’s face here, squeezing some ugly cream letters there.
Once Zhang Ke went into the kitchen to bake, Li Xi washed his hands and asked: “Did you specially introduce your friend to me?”
Li Xi was perceptive; there was no reason Ying Zhiyu would deliberately bring him to such a small tavern for his birthday.
Whether Ying Zhiyu truly couldn’t bake or was pretending, the Li family had no shortage of bakers. There was no need to beg someone to teach them.
It could only be that the Alpha wanted an opportunity for him to get acquainted with his friend.
Hearing this, Ying Zhiyu paused.
It was partly surprise, partly expected.
He didn’t deny it, just joked: “Next time we fight, if I run away from home, there’s a 90% chance I’ll go to Zhang Ke. Li Dong, remember to come pick me up.”
Li Xi: “……”
An Alpha running away from home and expecting the Omega to come get him—never heard of it.
But Li Xi paused a second and then solemnly replied: “Noted.”
When Zhang Ke returned from the kitchen, he didn’t bring the cake but instead pushed a small cart full of dishes.
As the dishes—seafood platters, matsutake mushroom soup… even a bottle of noble rot sweet white wine from Gold Drop Winery—were served, Li Xi noticed something again.
Sitting across from Ying Zhiyu, he gave him a glance.
Ying Zhiyu winked playfully.
Li Xi held back from speaking until Zhang Ke went back to the kitchen with the cart. Then, across the table, he quietly asked: “You really transferred him thirty thousand?”
A whole table of dishes, yet the wine stood out. Turning the bottle, it was indeed a 2001 vintage.
Ying Zhiyu smiled, guessing what Li Xi meant, and explained: “The dishes replicate our first ‘date’ on July 8 at the Peninsula Hotel, but the wine is my own.”
He did transfer thirty thousand to his friend for the cooking expenses, but a rare collectible wine couldn’t be bought for thirty thousand, and even if it could, the friend might not have access or could get a counterfeit.
Ying Zhiyu had planned carefully, not leaving such a huge problem for his friend.
Li Xi relaxed.
After dinner, Zhang Ke timed it perfectly and brought out the cheesecake.
At first glance, Li Xi realized this cake was not the one they had made earlier.
The craftsmanship was in a completely different league, clearly from a professional baker.
He stared at the cake for a few seconds, then looked at Ying Zhiyu.
Ying Zhiyu said: “Freshly baked cakes need to cool. The one we made is for home.”
Li Xi was puzzled—if they couldn’t eat it now, why spend so much time making it?
One couldn’t eat two cakes in a day anyway.
Seeing Li Xi just staring at the cake, Ying Zhiyu proactively cut a slice and placed it on Li Xi’s plate, teasing: “Don’t worry, no ring inside.”
Li Xi: “……”
Yet two minutes later, Li Xi didn’t find a ring in the cake—but a key wrapped in plastic.
The key Ying Zhiyu hid in the cake was neither a house key nor a car key…
Well, technically it could count as a car key.
Because it was a bicycle key.
Seeing the two road bikes on the security car, Li Xi briefly thought the Alpha was mocking him today.
But then, seeing the direction Ying Zhiyu drove, he discarded that thought.
Ying Zhiyu drove toward the suburbs, to the Restful Cemetery.
Since 29 wasn’t a milestone birthday, Li Xi had long refused Li Songqian’s plan to throw him a birthday banquet, letting his father celebrate with his sister alone.
They hadn’t planned to return to the Li residence that day.
Yet a child’s birthday was also the mother’s day of suffering.
It made sense that Ying Zhiyu would take Li Xi to visit Gan Ruyan today.
Once out of the city, Ying Zhiyu stopped, retrieving two brand-new road bikes from the security vehicle.
Li Xi wasn’t familiar with bike brands but could tell they weren’t cheap.
With his motorcycle experience, Li Xi learned to ride quickly.
They practiced a bit on the suburban roads of the capital.
With his height and long legs, Li Xi didn’t need help, riding back and forth twice. Only turning was still a bit clumsy; on straight roads, he looked like an experienced rider.
Traffic on the cemetery road was light.
After Li Xi learned to ride, Ying Zhiyu and he pedaled toward the cemetery, followed slowly by a bodyguard in a car and the security vehicle.
At the cemetery, Ying Zhiyu also brought out the cheesecake Li Xi had made.
Li Xi assumed the Alpha intended to give it to his mother.
Yet after the offering to Gan Ruyan, when they prepared to leave, Ying Zhiyu picked up the cake again.
Li Xi paused: “Not leaving it?”
Wasn’t the whole point of letting him learn to bake—like the Mid-Autumn mooncakes—so the Omega mother could have a gift?
Ying Zhiyu, carrying the box, replied matter-of-factly: “Auntie can’t eat it, leaving it would be wasteful.”
Even far from the cemetery, he still respectfully referred to Gan Ruyan as “Auntie.”
Li Xi: “……”
His son’s first homemade cake, carried all the way to his Omega mother’s grave for display.
Yet, to avoid waste, he wouldn’t leave it.
A brain with IQ 140, both superstitious and rational?
Returning to the city, Ying Zhiyu drove north.
Li Xi then realized the cake “saved for home” was meant for Ying Zhiyu’s parents.
They had dinner at Ying’s family home; this time, the dishes had no scallions, ginger, or garlic.
Perhaps because it was the second visit, or Ying Zhiyu had told them something, the atmosphere was no longer stiff.
Ying’s parents and sister Ying Zhiyan had already prepared birthday gifts for Li Xi.
After dinner, Ying Zhiyu, in a hurry, quickly left with Li Xi.
The cheesecake Li Xi made was left at Ying’s house.
In Ying Zhiyu’s words: “Serves as a return gift deposit for the birthday present.”
Yet less than half an hour after leaving, before even reaching their own home, Ying Zhiyu’s phone rang.
Since he was driving himself, he asked Li Xi to answer.
Li Xi intended to say they had Bluetooth, but obeyed, holding the phone to Ying Zhiyu’s ear.
Then…
As soon as he picked up, a sharp scream burst out: “Ying Zhiyu! What’s with this photo?! Is this a wedding photo?!”
“You little brat, you secretly…”
Ying Zhiyu, not on speaker but sounding louder than one, instinctively moved away from the phone.
He tilted his head toward the car window, calmly saying: “Explain it to my sister yourself.”
His voice was loud; Ying Zhiyan must have heard, and the scream on the other end immediately softened.
Li Xi paused briefly, then said into the phone: “Sister, we got married…”
After hanging up, Li Xi stared at Ying Zhiyu.
Ying Zhiyu kept his eyes on the road, speaking: “This isn’t a birthday gift. The time came, it was just right to tell the family.”
Nearly half a year of marriage, Ying Zhiyu was now known to Li Xi’s family and circle.
Yet his own inner circle remained completely unknown to Li Xi.
Ying Zhiyu had always believed Li Xi didn’t need to enter that circle.
It was both protection for Li Xi and a way to spare him unnecessary trouble.
But from the honeymoon incident—Li Xi taking the lead at midnight for a lifelong mark, forcing them to take emergency contraception—
To the last time when Li Xi asked to have a child early,
These incidents gave Ying Zhiyu new reflections.
He realized he might have been trapped in a certain fixed mindset.
In his previous life, Ying Zhiyu’s research in AO differentiation had shown that his findings weren’t limited to reproductive chambers being affected by mood…
If it were just that kind of conclusion, it would be far too simplistic and crude.
It wasn’t as if he had only just started his research.
After the last academic conference in Shenzhen, where he had deeply discussed “AO differentiation,” Ying Zhiyu’s lab at the Institute of Biology had continued to explore in this direction.
With the foundation from his previous life, Ying Zhiyu had already confirmed that an Omega’s reproductive tract functions as an “emotional organ.”
But in his previous life, he had been stuck there for a long time—unable to pinpoint which emotion was the key to “AO” differentiation, or which emotion acted as the dominant influencing factor.
This life, he was still stuck in the same place… until the last visit to a southern lab with his advisor, when his hand had a problem.
Surprisingly, Ying Zhiyu had derived a new line of thinking.
He realized that, without even noticing, he had been trapped in an emotional whirlpool over losing his fingers.
So when the ring scratched his finger, his brain mechanism immediately malfunctioned, even generating hallucinations.
Ultimately, this was a long-term state of anxiety and unease—something he had simply ignored before.
If he were to be precise, it should be called—
A “lack of security.”
Ying Zhiyu suddenly thought: could it be that all the past incidents—the time Li Xi mistakenly thought he had another’s pheromones and went through a lifelong marking, or the child he thought Li Xi had terminated—were rooted in a lack of “security”?
He had never considered that, as the dominant party in a relationship, one could also lack a sense of security.
And now, in this life, with Li Xi once again taking the lead on the lifelong mark and suddenly proposing to have a child ahead of plan, Ying Zhiyu realized he might need to do a little more.
Li Xi looked at Ying Zhiyu.
It seemed to happen every time.
He couldn’t describe the feeling.
Whatever he was thinking, even before he spoke, the Alpha had already acted with calm confidence.
Getting their marriage certificate, the heat period, visiting his mother, accompanying him to Yaoxing to see his grandparents—
Even today, introducing him to his social circle, revealing the marriage to family.
Every time, without Li Xi being prepared, sometimes without even realizing he had that kind of need, the Alpha had already taken care of everything.
Li Xi couldn’t help but hug him first.
While driving, Ying Zhiyu glanced at the person resting on his leg and said seriously: “This affects traffic safety.”
But when the car stopped at a red light, he casually draped one arm around Li Xi again.
Li Xi tightened his hold on Ying Zhiyu’s arm.
From a slightly upward angle, he looked at the Alpha in the driver’s seat.
Li Xi studied the young Alpha’s handsome face, the sharp jawline, the prominent Adam’s apple…
He thought of Li Yue—why had she suddenly wanted a quick marriage?
Because she saw a positive example and envied the life Li Xi now had.
But Li Yue didn’t know.
She didn’t know how fully immersed Li Xi’s brother was in what appeared to be a stable and happy marriage, how many nights of nightmares he had once feared so much.
Since adulthood, after investigating their parents’ past entanglements and discovering the true cause of their mother’s death, Li Xi had always understood: a bully does not deserve the pure love and admiration of the bullied.
Although Li Songqian did love Gan Ruyan, growing up in the Li family, Li Xi knew all too well how the Alpha father favored him and his sister.
Even their names—“Xi” and “Yue”—had radicals linked to their late mother.
Yet Li Songqian’s love was insufficient to make Gan Ruyan “forgive” the arrogance of a dominant.
Even if Li Songqian wasn’t the direct perpetrator, their perspectives were different. As a dominant, he could never truly understand Gan Ruyan’s pain and struggle under oppression.
So he didn’t deserve her love.
Li Xi had understood this clearly after investigating the past.
Yet even knowing this, he never imagined who he would love, or who would love him.
His feelings toward his parents were so thin; he had assumed this was what life’s emotions were like.
Li Xi lifted his head, unable to help but ask Ying Zhiyu a question:
“If back then, you didn’t want to marry, and I forced you, what would you have done?”