Xiao Can felt triumphant, becoming more and more immersed in his performance.
“You’re too despicable, pretending to be noble but thinking dirty things!” His eyes reddened, a mix of sorrow and indignation on his face. “There’s no proof when it comes to who released the pheromones. Let me ask you one question: did you BQ intentionally at me in the elevator?”
“…”
He Xingzhou was struck by this unexpected attack, his hand movements stopped, and he fell into complete silence, gradually losing his composure.
Xiao Can, feeling emboldened, suppressed his shame and, with a flushed face, raised his voice. “Answer me, did you BQ because of me?”
He repeated it twice, and the clever Charlie quickly followed, shouting, “BQ’d! BQ’d!”
He Xingzhou clenched his fists, calling out to his parrot in a low voice, “…Charlie!”
“What makes you think I would actively want to have a relationship with you?” Xiao Can stood up, pointing at him. “You’re shameless!”
Charlie hopped onto Xiao Can’s shoulder, raising its head proudly. “Shameless! Shameless!”
He Xingzhou frowned, contemplating for a while before also standing up. He looked down at Xiao Can’s face, licking his lips.
There was a noticeable difference in their sizes, and Xiao Can instinctively recoiled.
“What do you want?” he asked nervously.
“Fine, everything you said is correct. I have sinister intentions, I’m not well-meaning. I’m a potential rapist,” He Xingzhou said. “Now, it’s just the two of us. Are you afraid?”
“…No way,” Xiao Can thought, “What about your self-proclaimed high moral standards?”
“There are extra soundproofing devices in this building. Even if you scream your lungs out here, no one will hear,” He Xingzhou continued.
Xiao Can couldn’t tell if he was being deliberately reckless or genuinely angry. Feeling scared, he stammered, “Wh-what do you want to do?”
“I won’t pursue what happened before,” He Xingzhou said. “Just answer me one question. How did you know about the mark on my body?”
After circling around, they finally returned to the original topic.
Xiao Can regretted it deeply. He should have stopped while he was ahead and suggested leaving.
It was all because he got too carried away and now, he had messed things up.
Despite He Xingzhou being injured, he was still an Alpha. Ignoring their physical differences, He Xingzhou only needed to release pheromones to make him completely powerless to resist.
Feeling anxious, he caught a faint whiff of mint in the air.
Xiao Can immediately realized what it was, growing pale with shock, subconsciously retreating and awkwardly falling back onto the sofa.
Charlie flapped and flew up, landing on the back of the sofa.
He Xingzhou didn’t approach, his expression and posture returning to calmness. His tone became composed. “Since you’re so afraid, just answer my question.”
Xiao Can wasn’t unwilling, but he didn’t know how to answer.
As he anxiously thought of what to say, he pleaded, “Can you stop…?”
“Stop what?” He Xingzhou asked knowingly.
“The pheromones,” Xiao Can tried to sit up straighter, gasping softly. “I can’t communicate with you like this.”
He Xingzhou furrowed his brow and pulled out the spray he had seen before, moving it towards his neck before abruptly stopping.
“Tell me first, how did you know?” he asked Xiao Can, holding up the spray.
Xiao Can shrank back on the sofa, his eyes moist with tears, forced to answer, “I… I saw
“Did you see it with your own eyes?” He Xingzhou was surprised.
Xiao Can nodded. Seeing that He Xingzhou was still staring at him, he had to muster the courage to continue, “Your door wasn’t properly closed. I noticed a strange smell and heard noises like ‘um’ and ‘ah’ coming from inside, so…”
“…”
He Xingzhou’s face actually turned red. He turned his head away and quickly sprayed his neck, then pressed the switch for the room’s ventilation system.
“And then…”
“That’s enough,” He Xingzhou interrupted him. “Don’t say anymore.”
Xiao Can closed his mouth, anxiously looking at him, not sure if he understood what happened afterward.
With the ventilation system running, the concentration of pheromones in the air rapidly decreased. Xiao Can finally calmed down a bit, and his thoughts became clearer.
He tentatively said, “At that time, were you…”
He Xingzhou avoided eye contact. “As I said last time, I was influenced by drugs at that time,” he said, then paused before adding, “Tan Zhen was also affected by me.”
Tan Zhen? Why mention him suddenly?
Xiao Can suddenly remembered what He Xingzhou mentioned not long ago, that only Tan Zhen had seen that red mark that day.
A slightly absurd conjecture popped into his mind.
It seemed that He Xingzhou completely misunderstood what he had seen.
“Did you two get together because of this?” Xiao Can asked.
“This is our private matter.”
Xiao Can bit his nails.
Could it be that when he left, he didn’t properly close the door, and Tan Zhen went in afterwards for the same reason? This guy, He Xingzhou, under the influence of drugs, didn’t notice the change of person and completely forgot that he had sex with Xiao Can?
It seemed that calling him a beast wasn’t wrong at all!
He Xingzhou was oblivious to his silent criticism, his cheeks still flushed, looking embarrassed.
He must have misunderstood, thinking that Xiao Can saw him and Tan Zhen in that situation.
Xiao Can couldn’t help but wonder, what if he hadn’t chosen to leave?
After He Xingzhou regained his senses, would he have proposed to be in a relationship and even proposed marriage to him?
The thought scared Xiao Can.
“Did you come to my room that day just because you smelled the pheromones?” He Xingzhou asked.
“What else?” Xiao Can replied.
“To check the situation after you placed the drugs in my room,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you finished yet?”
He Xingzhou remained noncommittal.
“I could see inside because your door wasn’t properly closed,” Xiao Can said. “Isn’t it reasonable that I smelled something if it wasn’t closed properly?”
“The pheromone detector in the corridor didn’t sound an alarm,” He Xingzhou said.
“Can’t I be sensitive?” Xiao Can was getting angry.
He Xingzhou raised an eyebrow.
“Is the criminal still not caught?” Xiao Can asked, puzzled. “Isn’t it something that should be easy to investigate?”
“…They’ve been caught,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can suddenly became furious. “Then why are you acting so weirdly towards me?”
“What if there are accomplices?”
“Did the criminal confess to this?” Xiao Can asked.
He Xingzhou shook his head. “No.”
“Then your paranoia is bullshit!” Xiao Can couldn’t take it. “Can you stop being so self-absorbed? Who would want to harm you so much? Tan Zhen was just unlucky to meet you. If it were me—”
“What about you?”
“—I would’ve treated it like being bitten by a dog and wouldn’t have told you at all. I’d want to stay as far away from you as possible and have nothing to do with you.”
“You’re also fantasizing about me,” He Xingzhou said.
“Psychopath!” Xiao Can stood up. “I’m leaving!”
He Xingzhou widened his eyes slightly. “Not staying for dinner?”
After so many rounds of intense confrontation between them, he could still casually say something like this, leaving Xiao Can completely speechless and even feeling a bit amused.
“I put a lot of effort into preparing,” He Xingzhou said, “with only one arm.”
Xiao Can shook his head repeatedly and walked silently toward the entrance.
Quiet for a long time, Charlie suddenly fluttered his wings and bounced over. He was followed by He Xingzhou.
“Are you worried about what I just said?” He explained, “I was just annoyed by what you said and wanted to scare you. I wasn’t serious.”
Xiao Can didn’t look back. “I want to go.”
“Releasing pheromones wasn’t intentional. I wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t said anything.”
“Who knows if you’ll lose control again later,” Xiao Can said as he reached the entrance, bending down to change his shoes.
“I’m quite good at cooking,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can’s movements paused for a moment. After quickly changing his shoes, he stood up and asked, “You don’t want to keep me; you just want someone to appreciate your cooking, right?”
“I prepared enough for three people. It would be a waste if you left too,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can ignored him and turned and waved to Charlie, who was perched on a shelf, “I’m leaving. Bye!”
Charlie flapped his wings and suddenly shouted, “BQ! BQ!”
“Look at what you’ve taught it!” He Xingzhou was in pain.
Xiao Can wanted to laugh. He resisted the urge, turned around, and closed the door himself.
As the door closed, he heard He Xingzhou’s complaining voice.
“Shut up, you nosy bird.”
1 “BQ” stands for “勃起” (bóqǐ) in Chinese, which translates to “erection” in English. It’s used in a colloquial or slang manner to refer to an erection or getting hard
