What's Wrong with This Alpha? - Chapter 37

Chapter 37 – Susceptible Period Syndrome

Duan Yi hadn’t intentionally kept the parallel world and transmigration a secret. He’d told Sheng Yunze about it long ago, but Sheng Yunze hadn’t believed him.

“It’s bleeding,” Duan Yi said, changing the subject. He touched the back of his neck. Sheng Yunze had bitten hard, determined to cover up his original teeth marks. He hadn’t expected his own bite to overlap, and he tasted his own pheromones on Duan Yi’s body.

This is fucking supernatural.

If he hadn’t lost his memory or developed early-onset dementia, he would remember that he’d never marked Duan Yi, let alone given him a lifelong mark—the kind that required deep penetration into the reproductive organs.

The color drained completely from Sheng Yunze’s face. In the darkness, Duan Yi couldn’t see his expression clearly.

There were tissues on the bedside table. Duan Yi grabbed one and wiped the back of his neck twice. Only then did Sheng Yunze react, like a computer rebooting. He suddenly grabbed Duan Yi’s hand, startling him.

“Let’s get one thing straight. No ‘once bitten, twice shy’ bullshit, and no doggy bags. I let you bite me once out of the kindness of my heart. We’re not even together, and it would sound terrible if people found out. Twenty years ago, they’d have dragged us out and drowned us in a pig basket.”

Sheng Yunze’s hand trembled slightly, and even the oblivious Duan Yi noticed. He grabbed Sheng Yunze’s hand. “Are you still feeling sick?”

Sheng Yunze’s body felt fine, but his heart ached.

Anyone would be upset to learn that the person they secretly loved had been permanently marked by someone else.

Especially when that “someone else” looked exactly like him.

It was like something out of a fantasy novel.

Logically, the world was a material world, and Sheng Yunze was a material Sheng Yunze. Duan Yi, on the other hand, seemed like an ordinary high school student who had stepped out of some fantasy novel, as if hiding a huge secret—and he was now avoiding telling Sheng Yunze.

So—

Did Duan Yi really like him?

Sheng Yunze suddenly felt confused.

I had a car accident during summer vacation and married you in another parallel world.

You were an A, and I was an O. We even had two sons.

Have you ever read those transmigration novels? It was exactly like that.

For some reason, after living there for over ten years, I suddenly transmigrated back here!

And when I came back, the pheromone bond between us didn’t disappear.

In an instant, Duan Yi’s words from the beginning of the semester, whispered in his ear two and a half months ago, came back to him clearly.

Sheng Yunze thought he’d forget, but he remembered everything clearly.

Not a single word was wrong.

Could it be… was he telling the truth?

“Sheng Yunze, Secretary Sheng, School Beauty? Gege?” Duan Yi waved his fingers in front of Sheng Yunze’s face.

Sheng Yunze looked at him with a complicated expression.

“What’s wrong with me?” Duan Yi asked.

He realized his mistake and rephrased, “What’s wrong with you?”

If it was true, did Duan Yi like him, or did he like “him”?

Sheng Yunze didn’t dare think about it too much.

Duan Yi awkwardly rubbed his nose, feeling uncomfortable with the silence. He wanted to start a conversation immediately, even if it was just small talk, anything to break the tension.

Sheng Yunze quietly hugged his blanket tighter. Duan Yi had planned to tease him, but he also had a nesting instinct. If he teased Sheng Yunze now, he knew this cunning, sharp-tongued man would retaliate with ten times the mockery later.

After a quick calculation, it didn’t seem worth it.

Duan Yi patted Sheng Yunze’s shoulder generously. “It’s okay, man. Everyone has a nesting instinct. Every Alpha dreams of building a love nest for his wife.”

“Not that I’m saying I want to be your wife, or that you should be mine. I’m just using an example…”

Duan Yi quickly tried to explain, but only made things worse.

Sheng Yunze didn’t argue or tease him today. He just sat on the bed, hugging the blanket, unusually quiet.

Duan Yi thought, Wait, what? I’m the one who got taken advantage of! I haven’t even reacted, and you’re already acting like this?

He quickly got off the bed. “If you’re feeling better, I’ll go sleep in the other room.”

Sheng Yunze: Stare—

Duan Yi: ……

“Stop looking at me with those sad eyes!”

It seemed like leaving wasn’t an option.

Duan Yi climbed back into bed and pulled back the blanket. “Then… I’ll sleep on the edge?”

Sheng Yunze kept staring.

Duan Yi lay down stiffly. Only then did his body start to relax. He closed his eyes, not wanting to open them again.

The Alpha’s pheromones were very calming. Duan Yi felt like he was in a very comfortable place, except for the slight pain in the back of his neck.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, Sheng Yunze woke him up with a tap.

If he could, Duan Yi would have posted online for help: Urgent! Are Alphas in rut just like girls on their period? Moody? Sad? Do they wake you up in the middle of the night to look at the stars at a 45-degree angle?

Duan Yi had never owned a cat, but he could see that Sheng Yunze’s current behavior was no different from one.

He’d heard that when owners fell asleep, their cats would scratch at the door, making a racket. Once inside the bedroom, they’d even press their paws against the owner’s chest, trying to wake them up.

A classic case of “If I’m miserable, you’re going down with me.”

Duan Yi opened his eyes, tears streaming down his face. “Ge, can you give me a break? Just tell me what’s bothering you!”

Sheng Yunze sinisterly pressed his hand against Duan Yi’s chest, forcibly suppressing him with his pheromones.

Duan Yi looked at him innocently. “I want to sleep.”

Sheng Yunze parted his lips slightly, revealing his small canines. His teeth clicked together, then he bared them—a classic feline warning of impatience. “I don’t want to.”

In other words, you’re staying awake with me.

Duan Yi let out a pained “Augh!” and rolled around on the bed in agony before finally sitting up in resignation.

Might as well look at the test papers. Nothing else to do.

Sheng Yunze was furious, convinced that Duan Yi was the worst kind of scum, the absolute bottom of the barrel.

They were on different channels. Sheng Yunze was watching a melodramatic urban romance drama on Lake Blue Satellite TV, a show about Sheng Ai Li wondering if she’d been betrayed by her own feelings. Meanwhile, Duan Yi was watching a lighthearted children’s sitcom on CCTV Children’s Channel, a show about Liu Xing not wanting to get up to study.

In short, one was on Lake Blue Satellite TV, the other on CCTV Children’s Channel—they weren’t even watching the same thing.

When Cinderella marries into a wealthy family…

Jiang Wangshu’s haunting voice suddenly popped into Sheng Yunze’s head, his exaggerated gestures playing out vividly in his mind.

…their fairytale life turns into a bubble…

Sheng Yunze’s face darkened. He tried to shake off Jiang Wangshu’s voice, but then he saw Duan Yi staring intently at his test paper, not even glancing at him. Is that more interesting than me? he thought angrily.

Selfish, narrow-minded wife!

Sheng Yunze: ……

Fuck.

“It’s too loud,” he snapped irritably.

Duan Yi, caught off guard, jumped. “I didn’t say anything?”

Sheng Yunze wrapped himself tightly in the blanket and buried his face in the bed, sinking into the covers.

Even Duan Yi, who was usually oblivious, could tell Sheng Yunze was in a bad mood. Still—he couldn’t help but find Sheng Yunze adorable.

Duan Yi couldn’t quite put it into words, but he thought the Alpha’s rut, with its mix of insecurity and anxiety, was just too good.

The Alpha’s rut, whose official name Duan Yi had forgotten, was a period of intense emotional fluctuations.

Its clinical symptoms included heat, heightened aggression, insecurity, distrust of one’s Omega, nesting behavior, and actions driven by possessiveness, paranoia, and self-doubt.

In severe cases, Alphas might even cry alone.

Of course, there were also those who cried while still fucking their Omegas.

It was just the nature of men—they might cry, but they still wanted to fuck their wives.

Was this some kind of divine reward? A rare chance to see the school beauty in such a vulnerable state?

Compared to the usually sadistic, scheming, and sarcastic Secretary Sheng, who could spit out four snide remarks in three sentences, the Sheng Yunze before him was simply too adorable!

Could this be a reward for his recent hard work, determination, and outstanding performance?

Duan Yi chuckled, lifting a corner of the blanket. “Hey, are you there?”

Sheng Yunze: “Asleep.”

Duan Yi: “Oh.”

Still unwilling to give up, Duan Yi asked again, “Do you know if Sheng Yunze is home?”

Sheng Yunze replied impatiently, “No.”

Duan Yi: “Oh. Can I come in and wait for him?”

Sheng Yunze: …

Duan Yi put down his test paper. In a flash, Sheng Yunze grabbed him and pulled him under the covers.

Duan Yi laughed loudly, refusing to let Sheng Yunze win. The two wrestled on the bed, the blanket twisting and turning. Finally, Duan Yi ran out of energy and Sheng Yunze pinned him down, blanket and all.

“No more, no more…” Duan Yi gasped, his laughter cutting off. It took him a moment to catch his breath. “I surrender! I demand a strategic stalemate!”

Sheng Yunze was in his rut, hyper-sensitive to Duan Yi’s every word and action.

He wrapped his arms around Duan Yi, pulling him close. Duan Yi knew Sheng Yunze was feeling insecure and let him hold him without moving, even feeling touched by his own “international humanitarian aid spirit.”

If I don’t win a “Top Ten Omega to Move China” award this year, it’ll be a travesty.

Meanwhile, Sheng Yunze desperately wanted to ask him something.

Is the transmigrating thing you said real?

Is the marrying me in another world thing real?

Do you like that me or this me?

Do you think we’re the same person?

You—do you like me because of him?

But he didn’t dare ask either question.

He hoped Duan Yi would say what he wanted to hear.

He also feared Duan Yi’s real answer might be something he didn’t want.

Wait.

If all this was true, had Duan Yi divorced “me” over there?

He hadn’t mentioned a divorce… and he had two sons?!

Fuck.

Sheng Yunze felt like he’d been struck by lightning, completely stunned.

I was forced to be a third party?

Duan Yi, oblivious to the storm raging in Sheng Yunze’s mind, lazily squinted his eyes. “Can I really fall asleep?”

Sheng Yunze hugged him tighter.

Duan Yi asked tentatively, “Can I? Can I? Can I really fall asleep?”

Sheng Yunze nodded.

Duan Yi relaxed. “Don’t wake me up again. I have a midterm tomorrow. Don’t ruin my chances of getting into Tsinghua and Peking Universities.”

Sheng Yunze, young and full of energy, had just tasted the temporary marking. He struggled to control himself. Duan Yi kept asking, making him itch with desire. He pretended to be angry. “Stop asking.”

Duan Yi realized Sheng Yunze wasn’t joking and immediately shut up.

The next day, Duan Yi and Sheng Yunze left the hotel without a word, neither mentioning the previous night.

Duan Yi sprayed a whole bottle of scent-blocking spray before daring to go to school. Fortunately, Jiang Wangshu was a Beta and couldn’t smell anything. Looking up from his book, he asked, “Where did you go last night for a wild night?”

Hao Shanshan was still chanting the next day, but instead of her exam permit, she was now reciting physics formulas, buzzing away. She looked up and asked, “Dear Dad, why are you wearing a scarf today?”

Even though it was mid-November, the weather wasn’t cold enough for a scarf.

Duan Yi sniffed. “I stayed up all night studying for the exam and caught a cold. Can’t I wear a scarf?”

Hao Shanshan: “Sure, but the tag’s still on. It looks brand new.”

Duan Yi: …

The next day, after all the exams were done, Third Year Class 1 was buzzing with excitement.

Everyone was comparing answers.

Five students with the same answers cheered wildly, while one student with a different answer buried their face in their hands and cried—literally hugging their head and sobbing.

Duan Yi, who usually didn’t care about checking answers, was now going through the stolen test paper with Jiang Wangshu, question by question. Surprisingly, he hadn’t made many mistakes.

Jiang Wangshu was stunned. “Did you eat some brain-boosting pills?”

Duan Yi’s tail wagged proudly as he tapped his test paper with a thwack, thwack. “See? This is what a genius looks like! A regular-looking little genius. It’s called ‘silent until it strikes, then astonishing!'”

Jiang Wangshu refused to give up. “Did you eat some memory bread? Or use some other high-tech brain-boosting product? Smart pills? Brain Power?”

Duan Yi scoffed. “You should eat some brain-dead pills!”

Hao Shanshan’s womanly intuition proved strong. Clutching her chest dramatically, she sighed, “It’s so great when a big shot gives you the answers.”

Duan Yi patted Hao Shanshan’s head kindly. “My girl has good taste.”

Jiang Wangshu asked, “Did Secretary Sheng give you the answers?”

Duan Yi replied, “Of course.” He changed his tone. “I never believed Sheng Yunze was smart before, but now I’m convinced. We’re just casting a wide net and hoping for the best, but he’s like a sniper—one shot, one kill!”

Jiang Wangshu: “As expected of you, even your writing skills have improved since you started dating. You two are really in sync!”

Duan Yixin, feeling guilty, retorted, “Who’s dating? Stop spreading rumors! I’m focused on studying right now.”

He glanced nervously at Sheng Yunze’s seat.

Sheng Yunze was as usual, leaning back in his chair with white headphones, completely shut off from the world, oblivious to everything around him.

This High Mountain Flower act—if Duan Yi hadn’t seen how clingy he was last night, he might have actually believed Sheng Yunze’s claims of being uninterested in romance!

Jiang Wangshu laughed heartily and didn’t press further.

Duan Yi felt wronged. Sheng Yunze had barely acknowledged him since they left the hotel that morning.

He could understand during the exam, but even after it ended, Sheng Yunze hadn’t come to find him.

Why was he suddenly giving him the cold shoulder?

That evening, while Jiang Wangshu was soaking his feet, he nearly knocked over the foot basin. Duan Yi, legs crossed as he read, looked up to find Jiang Wangshu staring at him like he’d seen a ghost.

Duan Yi lowered his book. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Wangshu’s eyes welled with tears, like a worried mother clutching her daughter’s hand. “President Duan…”

Duan Yi: ?

Why are you suddenly acting so dramatic?

“You’re okay, right?” Jiang Wangshu wiped away imaginary tears. “Nothing is more important than your life. Don’t do anything rash…”

Duan Yi: “Do you want me to punch you?”

Jiang Wangshu straightened up, regained his composure, and touched his nose. “Just so you know, I saw this on the forum.”

The Second High School forum never had anything good to say.

Duan Yi: “Spit it out. Does it involve me?”

Jiang Wangshu: “Yes and no.”

Under Duan Yi’s puzzled gaze, Jiang Wangshu blurted out, “Sheng Yunze seems to be dating an Omega…”

Duan Yi: “I thought you were going to say something important. The forum was talking about this ages ago.”

Jiang Wangshu: “It’s different now. Someone said they smelled Omega pheromones on him today. It’s definitely true.”

Duan Yi’s face flushed suspiciously. Did I not spray enough blocker? How can my pheromones still be there?

Jiang Wangshu looked heartbroken. “Xiaoduan, you should dump this jerk! How can he flirt with you while marking another Omega?”

Duan Yi deliberately said, “What does it have to do with me?”

Jiang Wangshu asked, “Don’t you like the school beauty anymore?”

Duan Yi shamelessly replied, “I only like bad boys.”

Jiang Wangshu: …

“You’re still joking at a time like this?” Jiang Wangshu grumbled. “Whatever. Since you don’t seem too upset, I’m relieved. You didn’t like him as much as I thought.”

If only you knew that Omega is me, Duan Yi thought.

Having settled Duan Yi’s emotional state, Jiang Wangshu grew curious. “I wonder what kind of Omega could win over Sheng Yunze? I’m so curious!”

“They must be exceptional,” Duan Yi replied.

Jiang Wangshu nodded. “That makes sense.”

Duan Yi secretly smirked.

Jiang Wangshu calmly added, “Oh, and by the way, your ship with the school beauty has completely sunk on the forum. It’s as tragic as the day I had a miscarriage for you there.”

Duan Yi: …

Jiang Wangshu pulled out a tissue. “My child… your mother has finally avenged you! Can you see this from heaven…?”

“Get lost!” Duan Yi snapped.

He flipped onto the bed and sent a WeChat message to Sheng Yunze, “Are you asleep?”

Duan Yi was nervous, as if testing to see if Sheng Yunze was still giving him the cold shoulder.

The contact labeled “Someone” replied, “No.”

Duan Yi’s bad mood vanished instantly. He had no idea how conflicted Sheng Yunze was upon receiving his message, and foolishly sent another, “Our CP fans on the forum are all gone. Aren’t you going to do anything about it?”

At that moment, Sheng Yunze was carefully and seriously typing into a Baidu search bar, with a respectful attitude, “What kind of behavior counts as being a third party?”