Chapter 74: Because you were in pain then

Ji Jinxuan’s institute was located on the outskirts of the capital, isolated for miles around. Entry required clearance, and security was tight.

He had said it was inferior to the military academy’s facility, but judging by its scale, this was already at the pinnacle of research institutes.

It was vast. Along the tree-lined paths, staff in uniform could be seen moving about. They all seemed to work under Ji Jinxuan.

The car drove for a while and stopped in front of a building. It looked like a dormitory.

“This is the residential area. I’ve prepared rooms for you. The top two floors.” He handed Xu Lin the key cards.

Xu Lin hesitated, not taking them.

Ji Jinxuan understood. “I don’t live here.”

Xu Lin reached out and took the cards from him.

They rode the elevator to the top floor together. Tasks like this usually did not fall to Ji Jinxuan, but he seemed unbothered, personally guiding them.

The room he had arranged for Xiao Zhao was spacious, more than twice the size of his home. It had a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and even an extra game room. Xiao Zhao had never seen anything like it. He ran excitedly from room to room in disbelief. “This is… all for me?”

Ji Jinxuan nodded.

He set down Xiao Zhao’s luggage and said to Xu Lin, “Yours is next door.”

Xu Lin went next door and found his room was even larger than Xiao Zhao’s. It was excessive, big enough for a party of dozens.

Before he could speak, Xiao Zhao ran over from his room, saw it, and exclaimed, “Wow, this is even bigger!” He looked at Ji Jinxuan with admiration. “Ji-ge, you’re so rich.”

Whether familiar or not, he called everyone “ge.” He was very outgoing.

Xu Lin rubbed his forehead. “We don’t need all this. Xiao Zhao and I can share a room. Xiao Zhao, go get your things.”

“Okay!” Xiao Zhao ran off.

Ji Jinxuan was taken aback. “Wouldn’t that be inconvenient?”

Xu Lin frowned, confused. “What’s inconvenient?” Xiao Zhao was only twelve, a boy. How could Ji Jinxuan even think that?

Xiao Zhao quickly returned, clutching all his belongings. He carefully placed his backpack and water bottle next to Xu Lin’s suitcase, muttering to himself, “Great, I won’t be scared if I sleep with Li-gen. Otherwise, I’d have to shout to talk to him.”

Ji Jinxuan was silent for a moment, then dropped the subject. He changed the topic. “Do you need to rest? If not, we can take him for a preliminary checkup.”

Xu Lin was not tired. He asked Xiao Zhao, “Do you want to sleep?”

Xiao Zhao had slept on the plane and was full of energy. He shook his head. “I’m not tired.”

They went to the main experimental building.

Xiao Zhao changed into clean blue hospital pajamas and followed a Beta into the examination room. Before entering, he glanced nervously at Xu Lin. Xu Lin said, “I’ll be right outside. Don’t be scared.”

The novelty of the new place was instantly overshadowed by the cold machines in the room. He forced a weak smile for Xu Lin, then the door slowly closed.

Xu Lin let out a long breath and sat down on the bench outside. He noticed a figure beside him and looked up in displeasure.

Ji Jinxuan was still there. Or rather, he was standing right in front of him, staring.

“Don’t you have work to do?” Xu Lin frowned.

Ji Jinxuan snapped out of it, averting his gaze. He took a card from his pocket and handed it to Xu Lin. “This card will let you move freely here.”

It had Ji Jinxuan’s photo and name on it. His ID card.

Freely? Xu Lin said, “You’re giving me this? Aren’t you afraid I’ll wander into somewhere I shouldn’t and steal your secrets?”

Ji Jinxuan said, “With you, there are no secrets here.”

Xu Lin took the card.

Ji Jinxuan still did not leave. His stare was making Xu Lin more and more irritated.

Had he already forgotten what he had said on the plane? That he would stay out of Xu Lin’s sight? It sounded nice, but now he was not even making an effort to avoid him.

Sure enough, he never kept his word.

Xu Lin glanced at the glove on Ji Jinxuan’s right hand.

Suddenly, he stood up and walked over to Ji Jinxuan. His sudden approach caught Ji Jinxuan off guard. In that moment of vulnerability, Xu Lin reached out and pulled off the glove.

Ji Jinxuan’s right hand was instantly exposed.

He immediately hid it behind his back.

But Xu Lin had already seen the flash of silver.

The air went still.

Xu Lin clutched the glove. It was soft fabric, but it felt like sandpaper against his palm.

Xu Lin asked, “Why did you pick it up?”

They both knew what he meant. Ji Jinxuan said nothing, only hiding his hand behind his back, foolishly hoping Xu Lin had not seen the ring he had thrown away in the rain and retrieved.

The tension between them drew stares. No one dared to approach, afraid of overhearing something they should not.

Xu Lin’s patience ran out. He let the glove fall to the ground. He held out his hand to Ji Jinxuan. “Give it to me.”

Ji Jinxuan did not move.

Xu Lin said, “That’s mine. What right do you have to take it?”

Ji Jinxuan stammered before finally speaking. “You gave it to me.”

“Gave it to you?” Xu Lin laughed in disbelief. “When did I give it to you? A gift that was never received, never opened in time—it was never successfully given. It always belonged to its original owner. Is it wrong for me to take back what’s mine?”

The two rings, wrapped in a paper dragonfly and hung on the rearview mirror, had been left in the garage for six years. The paper had faded, and the rings had lost the power of any promise. The moment Ji Jinxuan discovered them, all commitments had expired.

Ji Jinxuan refused, unable to meet Xu Lin’s eyes.

“No,” he said hoarsely, his throat bobbing. “Don’t throw it away. I only have…”

He was rarely this tongue-tied, desperate to keep the ring from being discarded again. He stubbornly hid his hand.

Just then, the examination room door opened behind them.

The tension broke.

Ji Jinxuan seized the opportunity to step past Xu Lin and speak with the Beta who had examined Xiao Zhao.

Their conversation could not continue.

“All vital signs are normal. No major issues.”

Xiao Zhao was young, and his gland had not fully developed. Ji Jinxuan’s plan was to start with conservative treatment—medication for a period, followed by another exam. If that did not work, they would use injections to stimulate the gland to regrow.

After Ji Jinxuan explained everything to Xu Lin, Xu Lin looked at the forms and casually asked, “Why wasn’t it this complicated for me?”

It was an offhand remark, just a simple question without any personal animosity. But to Ji Jinxuan, it sounded like another accusation of his past misdeeds. He held his breath, anxious.

When he had forced Xu Lin to differentiate, he had only fed him medicine and bitten his gland obsessively, never injecting anything strange. The medication alone had been painful enough; injections would have been far worse. Xu Lin worried Xiao Zhao might not be able to endure it.

“Because he doesn’t have an Alpha’s pheromones to induce it,” Ji Jinxuan said.

Xu Lin’s fingers stiffened.

Yes, he had not been injected with anything because the Alpha who had bitten his gland had been high-grade. His pheromones had entered Xu Lin’s gland, replacing the catalytic drug.

Xiao Zhao was different. At his age, using Alpha pheromones to induce gland development would be a crime.

“His gland is very fragile right now. One mistake could affect his health. I want to minimize his pain during recovery, so I chose conservative treatment.”

So considerate now, caring about whether someone hurt.

As if reading his thoughts, Ji Jinxuan said, “Because you were in pain then.”

Xu Lin’s mind went blank, as if struck.

What was this? Guilt-fueled compensation? Ridiculous. What was the point?

Xu Lin gritted his teeth and looked away.

After the checkup and dinner, Xiao Zhao grew sleepy. Xu Lin took him back to the room. Xiao Zhao said goodnight and quickly fell asleep under the covers.

Xu Lin could not sleep.

He went out to the terrace and closed the door behind him. Leaning against the railing, he lit a cigarette.

The night sky was dark and still, a cool breeze blowing. Xu Lin looked out into the distance. On the horizon, he could see faint yellow lights—the brightly lit city center of the capital.

Only then did he truly realize he had returned to the land he had sworn never to set foot on again.

He bit the filter, the red ember glowing in the night like a firefly.

He glanced down and froze.

Squinting, he focused on the row of ginkgo trees below. There was nothing there except leaves and wind.

“My imagination,” he thought. It seemed as if he had seen Ji Jinxuan. But Ji Jinxuan did not live here. Surely he would not be lurking around in the middle of the night.

Below, in the shadows, Ji Jinxuan leaned against a ginkgo tree. He poked half his face out from behind the trunk, looking up at Xu Lin on the terrace.

He watched, a faint smile curling at the corner of his lips.

“Goodnight.”

Early the next morning, someone knocked on the door. It was the person coming to take Xiao Zhao for treatment.

Xu Lin went with him, but when they arrived, Ji Jinxuan was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Chief Ji?” someone asked.

Another Beta glanced at his watch. “It’s already nine. No need to wait. He won’t be coming. Today is just a simple medication trial. I can handle it.” He crouched down to Xiao Zhao. “Come on, little one. Come with me.”

This Beta was the doctor who had examined him yesterday. Xiao Zhao had a good impression of him and did not resist.

“I’m going in now,” Xiao Zhao said obediently. Xu Lin ruffled his hair. “Go ahead.”

Once Xiao Zhao and the doctor entered the treatment room, Xu Lin grabbed someone and asked, “What do you mean? Where is Ji Jinxuan?”

Many had seen the confrontation between Xu Lin and Ji Jinxuan yesterday. It was clear their relationship was unusual. The person explained politely, “Chief Ji gave instructions. If he hasn’t arrived by nine in the morning, we’re not to wait for him. He’ll be gone for a few days. Where he goes, we don’t know. He’s always busy.”

Xu Lin sensed something off. “When was the last time this happened?”

“About two months ago.”

After hearing that, Xu Lin fell silent. The person had things to do and was about to leave, but Xu Lin stopped him again. “Where is his dormitory?”

When Ji Jinxuan was busy, he could not have been commuting between home and the institute every day. He must have had a place to rest there.

Xu Lin had never imagined Ji Jinxuan would be living in the basement.

He stared at the glass door in front of him, behind which a staircase descended.

Why was he living here?

Xu Lin took out the card Ji Jinxuan had given him and swiped it. The lock clicked. The glass door opened. Xu Lin descended the stairs, the door closing behind him.

The further down he went, the darker it got.

He did not know where the light switch was, so he felt his way along the wall.

He did not know if Ji Jinxuan was there.

Given Xiao Zhao’s condition, only Ji Jinxuan could provide the treatment that would put everyone at ease. How could he just disappear without a word?

At the bottom of the stairs, a closed door stood at the end of the corridor.

Xu Lin knocked.

No sound.

He turned the handle and pushed. The door opened.

It was unlocked.

Xu Lin froze, quickly pulling his hand back.

As the door opened, a faint floral scent wafted out.

Xu Lin caught an unexpected glimpse of the room inside.

It was small, cramped, oppressive. A bed, a desk—it resembled his room in District Thirteen. But he knew it was not. It was only an imitation.

The largest thing in the room was a fold-out bed.

The room was dimly lit by a small bedside lamp, barely illuminating the figure on the bed.

Ji Jinxuan lay curled up, drenched in cold sweat, his eyes unfocused. He clutched a crumpled old shirt to his chest like a lifeline. The hideous scar on the back of his hand and the glint of the ring on his ring finger caught Xu Lin’s eye.

The shirt was old, but Xu Lin recognized it.

It was his. It should have been hanging in his closet in District Thirteen.

Pu Sha had said Ji Jinxuan had taken one of his shirts.

Now he knew which one.

Hearing the door, the person on the bed slowly turned his head and looked up.

His gaze was unfocused, settling on Xu Lin.

There was no doubt about it.

Ji Jinxuan’s heat had come.