最佳契合 (Perfect Match) – 十九瑶
Chapter 54
April is a rainy month in town.
There are clouds in the sky that look like a thousand thick, sticky cobwebs that won’t move or drift away. They have been kept out of the sun for several days in a row, and yet it hasn’t poured.
It was raining, and no one was in the shop. Zheng Feiluan stood behind the bar and stared across the street. No one had come or gone from Olive Inn for quite some time, and the door was slightly open. The whitewashed wall was moss-covered, and a row of cornflowers at the base swayed left and right, nodding and bending in reaction to raindrops.
Since that long talk at the end of March, He An hasn’t ever brought Linglan back to the pastry shop.
Zheng Feiluan misses them so badly.
He replayed his actions from that day in his head over and over again, trying to figure out where he went wrong by analyzing each word he said. In fact, he was sure that He An wasn’t mad when he left.
What happened exactly after that?
It was giving Zheng Feiluan a headache to think about it when, all of a sudden, a tiny figure walked out of the inn’s door.
It’s Linglan.
She stood behind the entrance, taking two steps to the left and two steps to the right, raising her miniskirt as if she were getting ready to leave. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to climb the half-foot-high wooden barrier because of her short height. She was clearly excited to leave and seemed to be in a rush. She got down on her knees and embraced the entrance. As she lay there, she did her best to raise her right leg, hook her foot, stick her butt out, and eventually lie cross-legged.
If she doesn’t keep her weight balanced in this position, she will fall.
Concerned that something might happen to her, Zheng Feiluan quickly left his duties and raced out to rescue her. Surprisingly, the little girl acted very bravely and without a second thought, carried out her plan without reluctance. As soon as Zheng Feiluan stepped onto the stone bridge, he fell to the other side and landed awkwardly.
“Linglan!”
In a sudden surge of adrenaline, Zheng Feiluan ran three steps at a time, reaching for his hand to help her get up on her feet.
However, she acted like everything was fine, brushed off the dirt on her skirt, and tried to bolt before she was able to stand steady. But the rain was falling like a waterfall, and under the canopy was just a small patch of dry ground the size of a palm. Zheng Feiluan didn’t have the courage to let her out in the rain because he knew she was born with deficiencies and was a regular patient, just like He An. So, without hesitation, he picked her up and asked, “Where are you going?”
“Looking for… dad…”
Linglan had trouble making gestures.
After that, Zheng Feiluan took her inside to find He An. But there was no one in the cold courtyard, no one in the bedroom, and Cheng Xiu was the only one on duty in the living room, focused on his laptop as he typed advertising material for the inn.
Zheng Feiluan asked, “Where’s He An? Linglan is looking for him.”
Cheng Xiu looked up from the keyboard with a dazed look on his face, “He should be… taking a nap, I think?”
“The door is locked.”
“Locked?” Cheng Xiu was surprised. He scratched his head and thought for a moment, then he spoke, “Ah! I remember him going to Xiangxiu Street to buy flowers!”
When he finished speaking, he slapped himself in the forehead and quickly stood up, “Oh no, he went there before it rained; he didn’t bring an umbrella!”
No umbrella?
Zheng Feiluan frowned and thought for a while. For the past thirty minutes, the rain has been falling steadily. In other words, was He An stranded?
It was raining harder outside the window. Shortly after putting down his laptop, Cheng Xiu quickly grabbed an umbrella from the stand at the living room’s entrance and ran to find someone. He almost rushed into the rain, but he stopped and slapped his head again, “Dai Xiao went to buy paint and light bulbs, and he forgot to bring an umbrella too!”
Zheng Feiluan: “…..”
Cheng Xiu quickly turned around and ran back to get the second umbrella. He then stood there with his back to the two umbrellas and thought about “who should be picked up first?” in a sad way.
“Let’s split up.”
Zheng Feiluan took one from his hand, popped it open on top of his head, and carried Linglan in his arms, going through the rain.
“Hold on!” From behind, Cheng Xiu extended a hand and asked, “Who picks up who?”
Without turning around, Zheng Feiluan left the room.
Cheng Xiu stayed in that funny pose for three seconds. An image of Zheng Feiluan rescuing Dai Xiao from the rain flashed through his mind. A cold chill ran down his spine, and he instinctively retracted his hand, as if jolted by a lightning strike. He realized he had asked a question that was so smart that his IQ passed through the sky.
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On Xiangxiu Street, you can find a small flower garden from which He An usually buys flowers.
Zheng Feiluan knows exactly where it is.
His omega is a natural romantic who is a little picky. Bouquets that are overly commercialized and have preset colors and styles are not his style. His favorite thing to do is visit the flower garden outside of town and snip the most exquisite bouquets by himself. As expected, right when Zheng Feiluan turned the corner, he saw He An standing at the flower garden entrance with a bouquet of yellow and white daisies. He was playing with the big scarlet-breasted parrot in the cage while waiting for the rain to stop.
“He An!”
Zheng Feiluan called out from afar.
After turning around and seeing Linglan under the umbrella, He An jumped to his feet on tiptoes and smiled brightly as he waved at them. By the time they were about five or six steps apart, he ran over, flowers in hand, ducking his head under the umbrella, ignoring the falling rain.
Linglan’s eyebrows raised, and she lunged up to reach for He An. The flowers, which smelled nice, naturally fell into Zheng Feiluan’s arms.
Zheng Feiluan held the bouquet of flowers steady and smiled, “She couldn’t wait for you to come back and almost ran out to find you. Thankfully, I caught her.”
“Really?” He An asked Linglan in surprise, “Do you miss dad so much?”
Linglan giggled, flashing a few bright white baby teeth, and kissed He An on the cheek.
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The mountains are shrouded in clouds and rain, and the empty alleys are flooded. Under the umbrella, a new world seems to form.
The three of them walked slowly together along the slippery stone path. From time to time, a gust of wind would come up and hit them with rain. Zheng Feiluan then lowered the umbrella’s edge and tilted it more to the opposite side. Returning to the inn was a long and winding journey, and it was incredibly quiet. Linglan was the only one who was talking, snuggling around He An’s neck and babbling words here and there.
At first, He An didn’t want to be close to Zheng Feiluan because he felt awkward around him. Luckily, the rain had cleared the air, the air was filled with the scent of flowers, and his pheromones were peacefully sleeping, so he didn’t feel too uneasy.
“It was also raining when we met for the first time,” Zheng Feiluan said, “It rained nearly as hard. I walked with you while holding an umbrella like this.”
With a hint of surprise, He An asked, “You remembered?”
Zheng Feiluan smiled, “Like I said, I remember everything that happened in the past that had anything to do with you. That was three years ago, on May 9th, at the Jinyuan Twin Towers, right?”
“…Yes.” He An gave a gentle nod.
So…
Zheng Feiluan thought happily: So you haven’t forgotten either.
On May 9, that year, Yuanjiang was still stuck in the cold of late spring. In the morning, a gusty, whirling rain fell, making it even colder. Zheng Feiluan had to make a quick trip to the northern economic development zone of the city. As he stepped out of the Jinyuan, he waited patiently with a long-handled umbrella, hoping that the driver would arrive soon so he could get in.
Suddenly, he noticed a young man frantically walking up the stairs while carrying a flower, and he rushed past him. As soon as he walked by, the delightful scent of omega filled his surroundings.
How extraordinarily fragrant.
No, the term “fragrant” is too cheap and too weak to express Zheng Feiluan’s ecstasy in that moment. The omega’s pheromones are warming, cooling, and refreshing. It’s like hiding inside an ice cream shop on a scorching summer day. The cool, air-conditioned wind blows in front of you, taking away the irritation from sweating and giving you the smell of something sweet.
This was the first time Zheng Feiluan had ever smelled such a fascinating scent.
A flower petal landed on his shirt, and the water glistened with light. As soon as he touched it, he could smell a hint of timid love. When he looked back, the omega was long gone.
Soon after that, the driver rushed over, opened the door, and asked him to get in, but something in his heart held him in place, unable to move an inch. Raising his umbrella quickly, he pointed to the side to tell the driver to move the car.
It rained harder and heavier, and wet footsteps continued to pass by one after the other. Without knowing how long, Zheng Feiluan finally caught a whiff of the scent once again.
The omega showed up after delivering the flowers and ended up stuck in front of the hotel because of the heavy rain.
Zheng Feiluan looked at him quietly through his peripheral vision. Even though the young man was just a few steps away, he hesitated and kept looking at him, as if he wanted to get closer but wasn’t brave enough to try.
Do you want to borrow an umbrella?
With a smile on his face, he offered a hand to meet him and chat, “Are you going somewhere? I can give you a ride.”
“The bus…bus stop.”
The young man looked anxious; his shoulders were slouched, and he spoke stutteringly.
Zheng Feiluan couldn’t make out his face until that moment. His features were sweet and attractive, and he was even more stunning than he imagined.
He was never interested in white rabbit-like omegas, but he found himself so smitten with this one for no apparent reason that he couldn’t help but show his naked, hostile possessiveness, even if it made the other person nervous.
What difference does it make?
Love at first sight is always difficult and can’t be stopped. And the omega’s eyes conveyed a love that was stronger than he had imagined.
They would be together soon, maybe tonight.
The burning fire of love consumed Zheng Feiluan. He desperately wanted to kiss this strange omega. He wanted to carry him upstairs in front of all the hotel employees and guests. Jinyuan has plenty of guest rooms, so he can reserve one and spend the entire night together, making love. He would do anything to offer the omega the most special favor, and if the other person asked, he would even be willing to tie the knot.
The omega’s personality, preferences, and objectives remained a mystery to Zheng Feiluan, but that didn’t bother him. Because the pheromones chose this person for him, he believes that as long as they get along, everything will go as planned.
Pheromones never lie.
But this intense fire that consumed his mind only lasted a short time. It was as if this subconscious had been drowned in a bucket of cold water.
You can’t.
Have you forgotten what a sad ending a similar urge gave you the last time? Have you also forgotten about that omega named Xie Yan? Traps created by pheromones are dangerous, and falling into one of them once is enough.
Never allow a second time.
Not ever again.
Right then and there, all of the burning stopped, and Zheng Feiluan, who had been captivated by He An earlier, was also locked in to the unconscious mind, with only a small, inexplicable “kindness” left.
Zheng Feiluan’s eyes went cold.
His “like” for something led him to believe it meant “politeness,” so he kept acting like a kind gentleman. Following He An’s directions, he carried an umbrella to the bus stop located at the end of the square. For such a long time, they walked next to each other without saying a word.
He An got on the bus, and Zheng Feiluan got into the car too.
The rain poured through the car window, blurring He An’s face and erasing the memory of these ten minutes from Zheng Feiluan’s mind. In an instant, he felt an overwhelming sense of anxiety as he leaned on the armrest.
It was as though he… had taken the wrong turn at an important point in his life.
The anxiety keeps building up every day.
This small, flickering flame intensified over the course of forty days, eventually becoming a raging fire that engulfed Zheng Feiluan’s sanity.
At night in June, when it was lightning and thundering, the locked black box was opened for the first time.
He had someone call hotel surveillance on May 9, find the room where He An’s flowers were delivered, call the guest, and ask which florist her partner had ordered the flowers from. He then went to the room himself, threatened and bribed the guest, and after paying a hefty “consulting fee,” he got He An’s name and address.
This long line of thinking depleted Zheng Feiluan’s remaining mental strength.
He was absolutely worn out from running nonstop through the endless streets on a rainy night. He was also drenched all over. After all that, he finally reached the address given to him and knocked on He An’s door.
That was his first effort at seeking a mate, and it also marked the beginning of He An’s suffering.
As time went on, Zheng Feiluan couldn’t help but wonder if he had loved He An more—even a little more—when they first met and overcame that strange barrier of resistance… Could every pain that followed be avoided at all?
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Thank you again, Lolilu for the generous tip! <3
Translated and edited by janemoyu (01/28/24)
