Chapter 38

Chapter 38

The full moon celebration was scheduled for the evening.

As it was only a small family dinner, the attendees for Li Qin and Han Qiyu’s newborn son’s full moon celebration included only the important members of the Li and Han families and their spouses. The rest consisted of the heads and heirs of families with long-standing ties to the Li family, along with several core members of the LI Group’s board of directors and key business allies.

This was also the first time Ying Zhiyu had met the Omega married to Li Lv in this lifetime.

During the previous wedding, Li Lv’s Omega, who was part of an arranged marriage, had feigned illness while traveling abroad and did not return to attend Li Xi and Ying Zhiyu’s wedding.

This time, for the full moon celebration of Li Qin’s newborn son, Li Lv made a grand appearance with his spouse.

Aside from Li Lv’s Omega, Ying Zhiyu also saw several people he had known in his previous life but was meeting for the first time in this one.

For example, one of the heirs from a family with long-standing ties to the Li family who attended was Meng Lancheng.

An Alpha, Meng Lancheng was the eldest grandson of the Meng family’s main branch, 25 years old this year, having recently returned from studying abroad. He was gradually becoming involved in the Meng family’s business and was also the presumed next-generation successor of the Meng family.

As one of the two wealthiest families in the capital, second only to the Li family, Ying Zhiyu had some interactions with Meng Lancheng in his previous life.

In fact, Meng Lancheng could be considered one of the few Alphas in the upper-class circle whom Ying Zhiyu truly admired for their character, ability, and temperament.

At the same time, Meng Lancheng was also a closet admirer of Li Xi in Ying Zhiyu’s previous life.

After Ying Zhiyu joined the National Institute of Biological Sciences in his previous life, he learned that the institute not only received national research funding but also accepted donations and support from various sectors of society.

The Meng family had always been supportive of national scientific research. It was at the launch event for the joint laboratory established by the National Institute of Biological Sciences and the Meng Group that Ying Zhiyu truly had the opportunity to interact with Meng Lancheng.

They became fairly good friends.

Due to the unique nature of Ying Zhiyu’s status as a "live-in son-in-law" of the Li family, some of the younger Alphas in the upper-class circle looked down on him while also trying to use him as a means to curry favor with the Li family.

In his previous life, Ying Zhiyu was fully focused on his scientific research work and would decline most such invitations whenever possible.

Within the circle, he was often regarded as stuck-up and, much like his Omega, notoriously hard to invite.

However, this difficulty rarely applied to invitations from Meng Lancheng.

As a researcher, Ying Zhiyu was naturally curious about many new things. While he had no interest in the crass parties of the Alphas in the circle, that didn’t mean he wasn’t eager to absorb and learn the refined aspects of high society.

And the gatherings Meng Lancheng invited him to usually were the latter type.

As for Meng Lancheng’s feelings for Li Xi, Ying Zhiyu had realized it early in his previous life. However, since he had been forced to marry in himself, he occasionally felt a bit of pity for Meng Lancheng’s "unrequited crush" but didn’t have many other feelings about it.

As an outsider, he clearly understood that even without him, Meng Lancheng and Li Xi could never have gotten together.

Firstly, no matter how outstanding Meng Lancheng was as an individual or how pure his feelings for Li Xi were, as long as he was part of the Meng family, Li Xi, who was vying for control of the LI Group inheritance, would never consider an Alpha of his status.

Secondly, even setting aside family issues, Meng Lancheng’s overly courteous, gentle, and refined nature as an Alpha meant he couldn’t keep up with Li Xi.

Ying Zhiyu wasn’t sure if Li Xi had been aware of Meng Lancheng’s feelings in his previous life, but he was certain that Li Xi felt nothing for him.

In the later part of his previous life, the Meng family faced a major project with a broken funding chain and sought cooperation and assistance from the Li family.

At that time, although Li Songqian was still the chairman of the LI Group, Li Xi had already been promoted to vice president of the group. He firmly opposed the LI Group getting tangled in that mess during the board meeting.

In fact, based on what Ying Zhiyu knew at the time, he even felt that Li Xi somewhat intended to exploit the situation of the Meng family’s crisis.

Aside from Meng Lancheng, there was another acquaintance of Ying Zhiyu’s at the full moon celebration for the Li family’s eldest daughter’s newborn son.

Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi stood in front of the dessert area, watching from a distance as a tall figure signed in with a congratulatory message before accompanying an older female Omega toward the photo display area.

Ying Zhiyu elbowed Li Xi beside him, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "He actually came too?"

Li Xi followed Ying Zhiyu’s gaze to the person in the distance.

The handsome Alpha over there seemed to sense their attention and precisely turned to look in their direction.

With a relaxed and polite demeanor, he naturally nodded toward Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi.

As if greeting them.

Li Xi nodded back, though neither side seemed inclined to approach for a closer conversation.

Ying Zhiyu suppressed a laugh and teased, "Tomorrow’s headlines won’t be something like ‘Rivals Meet with Tempers Flaring: The Ultimate Alpha vs. Alpha Showdown Between the Live-in Son-in-Law and the Outsider at the Extravagant Full Moon Party,’ will they?"

Li Xi: "…"

Rolling his eyes at the tease, Li Xi still explained seriously, "There’s nothing between us. The rumors were lies; the photos were taken during the day, and I never gone to his home in the middle of the night."

The one accompanying the only female Omega on the LI Group’s board of directors, aside from Li Xi, to the full moon celebration for Li Qin’s newborn son was the famously flirtatious "social butterfly" Alpha—Yan Jue.

Li Xi’s former rumored fling.

Back when Li Xi chose to get married during that period, it was partly due to being entangled in scandalous rumors and wanting to put an end to the nuisance once and for all.

He hadn’t specifically explained it to the young Alpha, but Li Xi believed that with Ying Zhiyu’s intelligence, there was no room for misunderstanding.

After all... Li Xi thought he had made his feelings quite obvious.

Ying Zhiyu, of course, had not misunderstood.

He hadn’t misunderstood in his previous life, let alone in this one.

However, when the full moon celebration began and Li Qin and Han Qiyu held their baby to cut the cake, this so-called "walking pheromone bomb" Alpha, reputed to have a compatibility of over 60% with any Omega, walked right over to Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi’s table with a glass in hand.

In this lifetime, it was Ying Zhiyu’s first time meeting him.

He pretended not to know the man, maintaining a polite smile.

But just as he thought the Alpha had come specifically to greet Li Xi, the man bent down and raised his glass toward Ying Zhiyu.

"I’ve heard so much about you—seeing you in person is even better. I’m Yan Jue. Want to be friends?"

What a coincidence—the "Number One Live-in Son-in-Law" and the "Number One Social Butterfly" of the capital’s upper-class circle, the two biggest embarrassments among Alphas, surely were the perfect pair to be friends, weren’t they?

Ying Zhiyu turned around, about to pick up his own glass, but Li Xi took Ying Zhiyu’s glass away first.

Ying Zhiyu: ?

Li Xi held Ying Zhiyu's champagne glass: "He's not up for drinking today. I'll drink it for him."

Ying Zhiyu: "..."

Yan Jue: "..."

It's always been Omegas who are not up for drinking; no one has ever heard of a young, healthy Alpha being unable to.

Moreover, having an Omega drink on his behalf?

Ying Zhiyu gave a subtle tug at Li Xi's clothes under the table, but Li Xi paid no attention.

Yan Jue recovered, cleared his throat lightly, and took the initiative to ease the awkwardness: "How could I trouble Mr. Li to drink for him? If he’s not up for it today, we can wait until another time. I’ll finish this glass now, and Ying’s glass can be saved for later. This gives me an excuse to come and 'collect the debt' another day."

Yan Jue’s popularity in high society wasn’t just due to his devastatingly handsome looks and his natural advantage with pheromones—his emotional intelligence was also top-notch.

Ying Zhiyu nodded readily, agreeing to owe this "debt of a drink."

After Yan Jue left, Ying Zhiyu looked at Li Xi curiously: "I’m not up for it today?"

He wasn’t up for it? How come he didn’t know?

Li Xi directly poured the wine from Ying Zhiyu’s glass into his own and said flatly, "Seeing a psychologist is still seeing a doctor. If you need to take medication, then you’re not up for it today."

In the few months since marrying Ying Zhiyu, Li Xi had come to understand that the Alpha was definitely not the type to make a fuss over nothing or exaggerate minor issues.

Since Ying Zhiyu had secretly gone to see a doctor and had so seriously given him a heads-up in advance, the issue with Ying Zhiyu’s arm couldn’t possibly be just a "minor problem" as he had described.

At the dinner table, Li Xi kept an eye on his Alpha.

Every time a toast was called for, he stepped in for him.

This back-and-forth didn’t go unnoticed by many guests at the table.

Even Li Songqian was drawn to the scene.

As the full moon banquet neared its end, Li Songqian, followed by Steward Zhou, approached his son and son-in-law’s seats.

Li Xi and Ying Zhiyu immediately stood up. Li Songqian looked at Ying Zhiyu’s left hand but saw nothing apparently wrong.

"What’s wrong with your hand?"

Earlier at the table, when a servant brought soup and Ying Zhiyu tried to adjust the position of the soup bowl, Li Xi had rushed to help him, as if afraid he might burn himself.

It was after witnessing this that Li Songqian came over to ask.

Ying Zhiyu quickly explained, "Dad, it’s nothing. I’ve just been busy moving recently, and I might have pulled it a bit while helping carry luggage yesterday."

He came up with the excuse on the spot after standing up. Although it sounded reasonable, it made Li Songqian’s expression shift subtly.

Looking from Ying Zhiyu’s arm back to the Alpha’s face, Li Songqian felt as if he were looking at a "drama queen"!

To be so tall and strong all for show!

An Alpha being so delicate!

-

After moving into their new home near Biomedical University, Ying Zhiyu dressed Li Xi in one of his own clothes, making him look like a college student, and put a mask on his face before they headed out, holding hands.

On the way, Li Xi kept glancing down at the clothes he was wearing.

It had been a long time since he’d been on a campus, and suddenly wearing such casual attire made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Ying Zhiyu said, "It’s just a little oversize. College students often wear oversize clothes. It looks great on you."

Due to his height and his rare status as a male Omega, Li Xi had often been mistaken for an Alpha since childhood.

Now, with the mask on, Ying Zhiyu holding Li Xi’s hand made them look very much like a same-sex Alpha couple holding hands in public.

Occasional strange looks were cast their way from the surrounding crowd.

Li Xi couldn’t tell whether those looks were directed at Ying Zhiyu, who wasn’t wearing a mask, or because people found it strange for two "Alphas" to be holding hands.

Sensing Li Xi’s subtle attempt to pull away, Ying Zhiyu turned to him: "What’s wrong?"

Since they had moved near the university district, it was only natural to experience the culinary delights of the area.

The university district in the eastern part of the capital, home to top institutions like Capital University, Biomedical University, Capital University of Political Science and Law, National Defense University, and Aerospace University, was filled with food streets offering a wide variety of both local specialties and international foods.

Ying Zhiyu guessed why Li Xi was uncomfortable and reassured him, "Even if people think we’re a pair of Alphas, it’s fine. College students are very open-minded nowadays. Alpha-Alpha relationships aren’t discriminated against."

Li Xi paused for a moment but still said, "What if we run into students who know you?"

While Ying Zhiyu wasn’t particularly well-known across all universities, he was quite well-known at Biomedical University.

In an ABO society, due to pheromone matching, Alpha-Alpha and Omega-Omega relationships were still generally frowned upon by mainstream society.

Li Xi didn’t want any unpleasant rumors to spread or for Ying Zhiyu to be looked at strangely by students at his university.

However, Ying Zhiyu wasn’t concerned: "If we run into them, so what? I’m the one in this relationship, not them. Whether it’s AA or AO, or even AB or BA, it’s none of their business."

Li Xi hesitated in his step. He looked up and asked, "...Are we in a relationship?"

Ying Zhiyu nodded naturally. Just then, he spotted something he wanted to eat and pulled Li Xi along as he asked in return, "Hmm? Don’t we look like we’re dating?"

No one said that being married meant you couldn’t also be dating.

Li Xi remained silent.

Ying Zhiyu waited for a moment but heard no reply from Li Xi. He turned to look back at him.

Li Xi’s face was partially concealed by the mask, his eyelashes lowered, making it impossible to see the emotion in his eyes.

Noticing Ying Zhiyu looking at him, Li Xi turned his head away, defensively avoiding Ying Zhiyu’s gaze.

Ying Zhiyu also stopped short.

For some reason, even though he hadn’t seen anything, he felt as if, in that moment, he had touched upon something shaped like "affection."

Even though the two had already completed their permanent bonding and even discussed when to have children, from Li Xi’s suspiciously evasive action, Ying Zhiyu distinctly felt "affection" and "heartbeat."

So much so that, for a moment, he was momentarily confused.

At that moment, was it Li Xi's heartbeat clearly reaching him, or was it his own heart racing in that instant?

Ying Zhiyu had been hanging around the university town for over six years and knew all the best eats around the food streets like the back of his hand.

He took Li Xi around to various stalls and small shops.

Like takoyaki, grilled squid, roasted pig trotters, fried chicken cutlets, wolf-tooth potatoes, sugar-oil cakes...

Sweet, spicy, meaty, or vegetarian—Ying Zhiyu had Li Xi try a bit of everything.

Li Xi possessed a rare trait many powerful people lack.

When he was out of his element, Li Xi would quietly observe, listen, and learn, never faking knowledge or butting in.

This seemingly simple habit is actually quite difficult for those used to being top dog.

Too much praise can go to your head.

And once a person becomes arrogant, they're headed for a fall.

Ying Zhiyu showed Li Xi around the food scene. Whatever Ying Zhiyu bought, Li Xi would eat.

Li Xi slipped one side of his mask off his ear, leaving the other still hooked. He ate with refinement.

He never ate while walking. Whenever Ying Zhiyu handed him a snack, he would take it, find a spot out of the way by the roadside, and slowly savor it.

At such moments, Ying Zhiyu often had the illusion that Li Xi was really obedient.

And whenever Ying Zhiyu felt this way, he couldn't resist the urge to tease him.

Ying Zhiyu pointed to a barbecue stall and asked, "Want to try some grilled 'See You Tomorrow'?"

Li Xi looked puzzled. "See You Tomorrow?"

Noticing Li Xi didn't get the reference, Ying Zhiyu smiled and explained, "Enoki mushrooms are called 'See You Tomorrow' because what you eat today looks the same when it comes out tomorrow."

Although Li Xi didn't know enoki mushrooms had that nickname, he understood exactly what Ying Zhiyu meant by "coming out the same."

He glanced at the nearby barbecue stall, thinking it over for a moment before explaining.

"Although its appearance might not change much, nutrition-wise, once it's digested in the stomach, the nutrients of the enoki mushroom are already absorbed."

Li Xi added seriously, "Otherwise, if it really 'saw you tomorrow,' people trying to lose weight could just snack on it, and there’d be no need to develop diet pills."

After Li Xi finished speaking, Ying Zhiyu didn't reply but simply looked at him with a smile.

Li Xi belatedly started to feel awkward.

As a biology student, Ying Zhiyu obviously knew this already.

The alpha was probably just trying to keep things light and share a fun joke, but his own serious explanation had killed the mood.

And it made him sound like a stuffy professor.

Just as Li Xi pursed his lips, getting more and more frustrated with himself,

Ying Zhiyu jumped in, "Yeah, enoki mushrooms are great. Let's buy more and get some nutrients."

Previously, riding shared bikes, taking the subway, and buying breakfast from street stalls near elementary schools were all decisions made by Ying Zhiyu, with Ying Zhiyu doing the purchasing.

But now that they had moved to the university town, Ying Zhiyu wanted Li Xi to experience the local scene as well.

Two students were standing in front of the barbecue stall, and Ying Zhiyu encouraged Li Xi to get in line and buy something to eat.

"Yu Yu wants to see *Gege* every day. Xi Xi *Gege*, buy me some 'see you tomorrow'~"

"..."

After the two had eaten their fill, they needed to find some activity to walk off their meal.

When it came to bedroom matters, Li Xi was never shy.

With his competitive streak, once they were on the "battlefield," Li Xi was actually one of those rare Omegas who was surprisingly adventurous.

He went with whatever felt good, and if he got too worked up, he didn't mind helping himself out.

And if Ying Zhiyu suddenly wanted to try a new position or explore a new "map" in the room, calling him "*Gege*" was usually enough—Li Xi rarely refused him.

That night, after washing up, Ying Zhiyu stood by the bedside table opening a condom.

Under the soft bedroom light, the alpha's careful, gentle motions as he opened the package seemed oddly tender.

Li Xi stood by the bathroom door, recalling the time Ying Zhiyu picked out a longevity lock for Li Qin and Han Qiyu's youngest son.

Even though he knew the child's parents wouldn't think much of such a small item.

As descendants of the Li and Han families, they had everything they could want. Even if they wanted a longevity lock, they would never wear the one given by Li Xi and Ying Zhiyu.

Yet, when choosing a gift for the full-moon celebration, the alpha not only picked it out himself but also looked into various traditions and taboos before making the final decision.

"If you like children, we can have one now."

Li Xi stood at the bathroom door and said to Ying Zhiyu.

Previously, the alpha's reason for postponing having children was that Li Xi had his own plans.

As for Ying Zhiyu's argument that he was still studying and would only get busier after graduation, there was no logic to the idea that they had no time for a child now but would later.

Ying Zhiyu looked up at the sound of Li Xi's voice.

Li Xi walked over from the bathroom door. "Plans change. Having a child sooner or later didn't matter much to me."

After all, he would inevitably need a child, perhaps even more than one.

If the alpha liked children, having their first child before he turned thirty would be fine by me.

Ying Zhiyu didn't respond immediately but instead looked at him carefully.

Lately, because Ying Zhiyu had told Li Xi that his hand was "having some issues,"

Li Xi had stopped letting him do almost anything—no cooking, no lifting heavy objects, and even during their nighttime activities, Ying Zhiyu couldn't do any of the work, not even to support his own weight.

Ying Zhiyu was a light sleeper. Sometimes, when the person beside him woke up in the middle of the night and carefully checked his left hand, Ying Zhiyu was actually aware of it.

Back when he had just been reborn, he had wanted to ask Li Xi a question.

If, one day, he were dying,

what would he say to him?

This was Ying Zhiyu's final question before his death in his previous life, but now he would never ask it again.

Li Xi was so perceptive—just by mentioning that his hand had some issues, Li Xi could immediately associate it with something like phantom limb pain, checking him for symptoms like twitching or spasms.

If he really asked about "death," it would definitely worry him.

Ying Zhiyu smiled, kept tearing the packaging, shook his head, and said, "No rush."

"We haven't had enough couple time yet."

Author's Note:

Note: The "social butterfly" comrade Yan Jue, who made a cameo appearance at the full moon banquet, is the unfortunate soul (just kidding) in the upcoming pre-released novel *Taken Home by a Noble Omega*, who will transmigrate into a pitiful test subject—a genuinely clever and devastatingly charming top.