MOFB Chapter 58

Jiang Heng’s actions froze in place.

Recording diary… what is that?
What recording diary?

For a moment, Jiang Heng’s mind went completely blank. He couldn’t quite comprehend why these things existed in Xie An’s study.

On the desk, there were only a few sheets of paper, all dated from when he was ten years old. Ten years old—that was the third year after Xie An and Jiang Jin’s divorce.

What is Nutritional Supplement Type H?

Is this an improved diary of the supplement? Then what are the drug ingredients? Jiang Heng felt his brain was a bit overwhelmed.

Aside from the top line, the rest was filled with dense data that Jiang Heng couldn’t understand. He even felt a desire not to understand it. He stood in front of the desk for a while, with his hands resting on the surface, brows furrowed, eyes fixed on the papers for a long time.

It wasn’t that cold when he left the room earlier, but now, Jiang Heng felt a piercing chill.
What do those numbers represent? Jiang Heng was somewhat afraid to think deeply about it.

The only thing that came to his mind was the time when he was about to differentiate. His body suddenly felt unwell, the pain was unbearable, and he fainted. The differentiation process for an Omega is inherently uncomfortable. At the time, Jiang Heng didn’t think there was anything wrong with his differentiation. Even if there were complications, he didn’t think there was any other issue.

Because it was something he was born with. It’s indeed normal for a small number of people to have problems during differentiation.

But if one day someone told him that his differentiation wasn’t due to his natural genes, but because of… artificial changes, he didn’t know if he could accept it.

Standing there for a moment, Jiang Heng closed his eyes, trying to stop his mind from running wild.
After all, considering how much Xie An cared for him, recording his daily life was quite normal. Moreover, at that time, Xie An’s laboratory was indeed researching new nutritional supplements, and they did have him taste-testing them. It might just be records for improving the nutritional supplement…

He raised his hand and thought for a moment, but still didn’t touch the papers or anything on the desk.
Instead, he took out his phone and photographed each of the papers on the desk. It wasn’t until he was taking the pictures that Jiang Heng realized his hands were shaking badly.

Damn it.
What the hell is he thinking? What is he afraid of?
He’s been watching too many sci-fi movies. Jiang Heng, get a grip. This is real life, not a movie.

As he left the study, Jiang Heng’s mind was filled with these thoughts. He didn’t turn off the light in the study and left the door ajar again, just as it was before he went in. Everything looked as if he had never been there.

Xie An’s bedroom door was still tightly shut. Jiang Heng had no idea where Xie An went at three in the morning on New Year’s Day. Entering his own room, he didn’t know why he deliberately closed the door quietly, as if afraid of being heard. It wasn’t until he locked the door that he felt an uncharacteristic sense of weakness and exhaustion.

Leaning against the door, the room was eerily quiet, with only the sound of the air conditioner running. The windows were closed, and the air conditioner had been on for a whole day and night, making the room stuffy and hard to breathe. Despite the heat, Jiang Heng still felt cold. Yet his body was covered in sweat.

He gasped for air, feeling more and more drained, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor. The coolness seeped through his pajama pants, bringing him back to his senses slightly. Jiang Heng gripped his phone tightly, his finger lingering over the unlock screen for a long time, unable to summon the courage to open the photos he had just taken.

He wasn’t sleepy at all now. He didn’t know what he wanted to do.
Stay here, or… wait for Xie An to come back and ask her? What do those numbers represent? Why record these?

Suddenly, he recalled Xie An’s expression when she woke up abruptly on the sofa that evening.
So unfamiliar. Completely different from the usual Xie An.

Xie An was a very famous biology professor. Although she was a Beta, her abilities far surpassed many Alphas. In Xie An’s lab, where the majority were Alphas, she, as a Beta professor, was highly renowned and well-regarded, both for her personality and achievements. She was always very gentle. Even though she was busy with work and didn’t have much time for Jiang Heng, he always felt she loved him.

But now, Jiang Heng had a very strange thought. He even felt a bit scared.

He should unconditionally trust his mother. Even if he had doubts, with his personality, he would normally just ask Xie An directly what those things were. But this time, he couldn’t do it.
These thoughts ran rampant in Jiang Heng’s mind. Until the sound of the door opening and closing outside interrupted his thoughts.

Xie An, with her head down, was messaging her assistant.
If it weren’t for wanting to get the pheromone comparison report as soon as possible, she wouldn’t have gone downstairs at three or four in the morning. She had been in such a rush that she forgot to lock the study door, which annoyed her a bit. However, she comforted herself with the thought that her son didn’t have the habit of getting up in the middle of the night, so he wouldn’t have seen anything.

Xie An paused at Jiang Heng’s door before turning and heading towards the study. The study door was still ajar, and she couldn’t remember if she had left it open or closed when she left. But that wasn’t important. What mattered was that nothing in the study had been disturbed.
That was the key.

Knowing Jiang Heng’s personality, if he had seen the papers on the desk, he would have certainly asked her about them. As she went upstairs, she had already prepared a new explanation for the data, but now it seemed unnecessary. Thinking of this, Xie An smiled softly and shook her head. Her smile was gentle, with a slight curve to her brows and eyes. It was clear that she had been very beautiful in her youth, and even now, she still was. She locked the papers back in the cabinet.

Each time she returned home, she reviewed the past data meticulously. A good scientist must always remember their data. A good mother also records every step of her child’s growth.
In the future, she would show all of this to Jiang Heng, and he would be grateful for everything she had done.

Inside his room, Jiang Heng listened to Xie An’s footsteps as she moved from the study to her own room, followed by the sound of her door closing. Even though it was a normal sound, Jiang Heng instinctively held his breath. It wasn’t until everything was silent again.

Jiang Heng couldn’t remember how he got back to bed. He lay there, staring at the ceiling for a long time, still wide awake. His mind was a jumble of the incomprehensible data he had seen and Xie An’s gentle demeanor over the years. He had no idea how much time had passed.

Jiang Heng glanced at the time again. A little past five in the morning.
At this hour, Shen Huaizhi would still be asleep. He couldn’t go to Shen Huaizhi now.

Jiang Heng reassured himself once more. It was okay; maybe he was just overthinking things. He hadn’t even understood the data. After contemplating for a while, Jiang Heng got up from bed.

He took a pen and paper and started to look up the meanings of the technical terms and data records from the papers, one by one, on Baidu, carefully noting them down. Throughout the entire process, he remained unusually calm.

–

When Jiang Heng stepped out of his room, no one else was home.
Xie An had left a note on the fridge.

“Mom went to the lab. There are some meals in the fridge that you can heat up~”

The moment he saw the note, Jiang Heng felt his heart clench briefly. His eyes were sore, but he still didn’t feel the slightest bit sleepy. There were indeed freshly prepared meals in the fridge.
There was also a neatly arranged row of nutritional supplements. These were from Xie An’s lab. Jiang Heng didn’t know if these were the Nutritional Supplement Type H that Xie An had written about.
The supplements were light blue, in long glass bottles with no labels.
Cork stoppers.
Each cork had a small “M” on top. Probably the model number of the supplement.

Jiang Heng had never paid attention to these details before when drinking them. He put the supplements back in the fridge, and his phone rang. His brow furrowed instinctively, but he relaxed when he saw who it was from.
【Pervert: Are you up?】

The anxiety he had been feeling suddenly eased a bit.

【Water worker Wang Xing: I’ve been up for a while, getting ready to do homework.】”
As Jiang Heng replied, he walked towards the study.
The study door was now locked, and he couldn’t open it. Xie An’s bedroom door was also locked.
Apart from these two places, the rest of the house looked normal.

【Pervert: Okay, want to do homework together?】
It was quite unusual for New Year’s Day.
【Water worker Wang Xing: Have your relatives all left?】
Just as Jiang Heng sent his message, Shen Huaizhi’s video call came through.

This time, there wasn’t even a buffer period for a voice call. Jiang Heng hesitated for a moment, adjusted his expression, and made sure his eyes weren’t bloodshot before answering Shen Huaizhi’s video call.
Shen Huaizhi was wearing light blue loungewear and was already sitting in his study. Jiang Heng glanced at his background and realized it was the study at Yujing.

Jiang Heng hesitated slightly, “You’ve already gone back?”
Shen Huaizhi smiled and nodded, “Yes, I came back alone.” His gaze fell on Jiang Heng’s face, noticing the tired look, and that he was still wearing the wrinkled clothes from last night.

He frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed, sounding a bit aggrieved, “My parents took my grandparents on a trip.”

His family’s relatives had all left early this morning. For the Shen family, this marked the end of the New Year celebrations.

Every year was usually like this. The period before the New Year was the busiest time, and from the first day of the new year until the end of winter break, there was basically nothing for Shen Huaizhi to do.
Ruan Shu and Shen’s father would typically take the elderly out traveling, knowing that Shen Huaizhi didn’t like it, they wouldn’t force him to go. So, by the first day of the new year, the house was usually left with just Shen Huaizhi and the household staff.

As he spoke, Shen Huaizhi’s brows furrowed slightly, showing a rare look of grievance that seemed a bit out of place on his face. Jiang Heng couldn’t help but laugh.

“You look so silly, Shen Huaizhi,” Jiang Heng teased, then poured himself a glass of water before heading back to his room, “So, you’re seeking comfort from me?”
Shen Huaizhi nodded without hesitation, “Yes, I’m seeking comfort from my boyfriend. Is there a problem with that?”

At his words, Jiang Heng fell silent for a moment, the smile fading from his lips, his expression unexpectedly serious. Jiang Heng didn’t have a particularly gentle appearance; in fact, when he wasn’t speaking, he often looked somewhat fierce. Now, in his silence, there was a hint of coldness, a look that seemed to push people away. It was somewhat reminiscent of how Jiang Heng looked when he was mocking others.

Seeing this expression, Shen Huaizhi frowned slightly. He remembered Jiang Heng being fine when they went to sleep last night. Could he have had a nightmare?

Jiang Heng thought for a moment, then pulled the corner of his lips slightly, as if nothing had happened, and scoffed lightly, “Not really a problem.”

“But your way of seeking comfort from your boyfriend is quite unique,” Jiang Heng said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Shen Huaizhi responded with a hum, “What’s up?”

By this time, Jiang Heng had already sat down at his desk, with the things he organized and noted down last night now hidden in his backpack. Jiang Heng never thought that one day, his backpack would be used to hide such things.

He snorted lightly, “Helping my boyfriend with homework.” He paused and then added, “Actually, supervising my boyfriend doing homework.”

Although Jiang Heng had previously decided to study diligently, he found it very easy to get distracted while doing homework, mainly because there were many problems he couldn’t solve. Before the final exams, if it weren’t for Shen Huaizhi’s diligent supervision, Jiang Heng felt that no matter how determined he was, he wouldn’t have been able to keep up. His determination was built on Shen Huaizhi’s supervision.

After he finished speaking, he heard Shen Huaizhi chuckle softly. “So, what do you want to do?”

Shen Huaizhi’s tone suddenly softened.

Jiang Heng paused for a moment, suddenly catching the hint of another meaning in Shen Huaizhi’s tone. His previously scattered thoughts were disrupted by Shen Huaizhi’s words, making his mind heat up a bit.

Jiang Heng pursed his lips, with a hint of warning in his voice, “Class monitor, can you act like a decent person right now?”

Shen Huaizhi seemed to seriously consider his words, lifting his eyelids slightly, his eyes clearly filled with amusement. “How am I not acting like a decent person?”

“Didn’t I ask what you want to do?” Shen Huaizhi paused, “I didn’t change the word order.”

“Don’t misuse inverted sentences and misidentify subjects and objects.”

Jiang Heng: “…?”

Jiang Heng gritted his teeth, “What did I misidentify?” He had never seen anyone turn the tables like this before.

Shen Huaizhi chuckled and shook his head, “Nothing.” After a few seconds, he sighed with a hint of regret, “Through the screen, even if you misidentify, it’s useless.” He seemed genuinely regretful.

Jiang Heng: “…”

In the past, when Shen Huaizhi said something like this, Jiang Heng would usually blush and change the subject directly. But today, he looked up at Shen Huaizhi, then lowered his head, taking out all the unfinished papers.

Jiang Heng held his pen, remaining silent for a while, before slowly looking up at his phone screen again.
Shen Huaizhi was still looking at him through the camera.

Jiang Heng found it hard to deny that no matter the situation, Shen Huaizhi’s gaze was always fixed on him. He could always see his own reflection in Shen Huaizhi’s eyes. Now, who else could he trust besides Shen Huaizhi? Maybe, for a fleeting moment, he had doubted if he could even trust Shen Huaizhi.

But the moment he met Shen Huaizhi’s eyes, that thought was completely extinguished. His Alpha deserved his complete and unwavering trust. Shen Huaizhi was the only person he could fully trust.

Before Jiang Heng could speak, Shen Huaizhi’s smile faded slightly as he seemed to notice something amiss. He softly asked, “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare last night?”

Aside from that, Shen Huaizhi couldn’t think of any other reason for Jiang Heng’s sudden drop in spirits. Even though Jiang Heng tried to hide it, Shen Huaizhi could still tell from his every move. Usually, when video-calling at home, Jiang Heng would wash his face first, often wetting his collar.

He would typically curse the teachers who set the assignments before starting his homework, and he would habitually bite his pen or twirl it. Today, he did none of those things. He looked tired, yet he hadn’t mentioned feeling sleepy even once. It was highly unusual.

Jiang Heng bit his lip and lowered his eyes again. The person on the screen always looked somewhat unreal. Shen Huaizhi noticed his eyelids trembling and how he seemed to grip the pen tighter. After a long silence, Jiang Heng finally lifted his eyelids again.

He spoke slowly, his voice a bit hoarse, “Shen Huaizhi, I want to go back to Jin City.”
After saying this, he fell silent again. He didn’t want to stay here. He didn’t want to see Xie An.

He was afraid he would confront Xie An and ask what those records of his pheromone levels at age ten meant, and what the nutritional supplements and drug components were for.

Did Xie An want him to differentiate into an Alpha?

He had searched each obscure and difficult professional term on Baidu. For those he couldn’t find there, he visited specialized forum websites to compare, spending several hours translating them. Below were those incomprehensible data points, recording his pheromone levels from that time.

Jiang Heng remembered that ever since he was sensible, he would undergo a check-up every once in a while. During those times, no matter how busy Xie An was, she would always find time to accompany him, just like this time when he returned home for a reexamination.

And so, from a young age, he knew he would differentiate into an Omega. Differentiation genes are set at birth for everyone, and this was unquestionable. At that time, Jiang Heng found it quite puzzling why an Alpha and Beta would have an Omega child. Later, Xie An explained to him that it was because Xie An’s mother was an Omega.

Jiang Heng had never met his own grandmother; she passed away when Xie An graduated from university. Hearing this, Shen Huaizhi was briefly stunned.

“Have you talked to your mom about this?” he asked, not questioning why.

Shen Huaizhi felt that Jiang Heng had his own reasons for everything he did. All Shen Huaizhi wanted was to support Jiang Heng in whatever he chose to do. After a moment’s pause, Jiang Heng shook his head honestly.

“No,” he replied. He paused again before adding, “I don’t want to talk to her about it.”

His straightforward attitude left Shen Huaizhi feeling momentarily at a loss. Jiang Heng lowered his head, appearing somewhat crestfallen and carrying a mix of emotions.

Shen Huaizhi couldn’t quite discern what was going on with Jiang Heng at this moment, but through the screen, he had an instinctual urge as an Alpha to protect his Omega, to gather him close and shield him from whatever was troubling him. He didn’t want to see Jiang Heng in this state. He faintly felt that something significant must have happened.

There was a moment when Shen Huaizhi’s breathing slowed.

“Okay, if you want to come back, then come back,” he said after a pause. Then, lowering his voice even further, softer than before, as if not to disturb Jiang Heng’s emotions and with a hint of coaxing, he added, “Should I send a car to pick you up?”

When Jiang Heng had previously returned to the city, Shen Huaizhi had offered to send a car, but Jiang Heng had declined outright. Shen Huaizhi was surprised that he was now following through with his offer, and Jiang Heng hadn’t quite caught on yet.

This person really was like that – whatever he wanted, he got. If one day Jiang Heng discovered that Xie An had also done something bad to Shen Huaizhi, Jiang Heng didn’t know if he could continue to stay by Shen Huaizhi’s side.

Jiang Heng pursed his lips. “Okay,” he said. Then, realizing the atmosphere seemed a bit low, he half-smirked. “So, if I finish one exam paper, will I see the car downstairs at my place?” He thought for a moment and joked, “Or maybe a helicopter?”

Shen Huaizhi looked at him with lowered eyelids.

At his words, Shen Huaizhi chuckled somewhat helplessly. “A helicopter might take a while to arrange.”

“A Mercedes then? Can we settle for that?” Jiang Heng snorted lightly. “I thought rich people could do anything.”

His tone lightened considerably from earlier, as if the person feeling down just moments ago wasn’t himself.

Shen Huaizhi shook his head with a smile and explained to Jiang Heng that arranging a helicopter required procedures, and since his father wasn’t around, even for a Mercedes, there were procedures to be done before the car could arrive in the nearby city. After explaining, he went to give instructions.

The car from the Shen family to pick him up arrived quickly. Jiang Heng hadn’t finished even one exam paper before the car arrived. The driver responsible for picking him up had seen Jiang Heng several times before, so when he came down with his luggage, he promptly handed over the lunch Shen Huaizhi had instructed him to bring and conscientiously took Jiang Heng’s luggage.

“I’m here, Young Master Jiang. Please get in the car first.”

Hearing this address, Jiang Heng couldn’t help but twitch his lips, as if feeling a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era.

He didn’t say much. Before getting into the car, he glanced back in the direction of the residential area.

If… if things weren’t as bad as he feared, would he come back here again?

It wasn’t until he was in the car that Jiang Heng sent a message to Shen Huaizhi to let him know he was safe, and then another message to Xie An.

“Mom, I’m back in the nearby city. Forget about transferring schools. I won’t agree to come back.”

He disguised everything as if he had run away from home because he was still resentful about Xie An’s previous suggestion that he transfer back to the distant city.