Chapter 21: Familiar, seemingly caring and thoughtful, impeccable. ^…

Pei Jiqing and Wei Ji both knew Wei Ji would agree to Pei Jiqing's request.

Like the tide responding to the moonlight's call, they were no ordinary old lovers, but rather "family" who supported each other in their darkest and most helpless moments.

Despite this situation, it couldn't change the fact that they had once tossed each other on a rope in the abyss, clinging to each other's flesh and blood as they fell.

The downtown area was a hodgepodge of good and bad people, a veritable riot of pus and blood oozing from the festering fringes of modern society, a behemoth with its organs eviscerated, its skeleton gnawed away by the iron teeth of modernity, then forgotten.

Forty years ago, when Pei's mother was only five years old, the pheromone furnace here exploded, sending a lingering radiation cloud. The "Prosperity Plan" was declared a failure, and many powerful figures were held accountable. Genetic drugs and medical teams were taken away, leaving the impoverished population with only the ever-present threat of various rare pheromone diseases.

Even if they didn't break out then, certain abnormalities would likely develop with age.

Depravity and instant gratification became the dominant theme of that generation, drowning in the embers of revelry, pawning their souls to a fleeting aurora.

But people always reproduce, new flesh and blood breaking through the ruins. The children, growing ever healthier, have forgotten the reasons for the previous generation's fate.

Pei's mother raised Pei Jiqing so well, he was like a white lotus emerging from the mud.

Many Omegas in the downtown area, still unopened, resemble butterflies drained of their honey, their wings still clinging to the glimmer of cheap ribbons.

But Pei Jiqing was different.

He was lifted from the mire by Pei's mother, a white jade lotus seed buried in the rotten soil, surrounded by rusty water and roiling miasma, and when it sprouted, it brought a chill.

Because of his beauty, there were always those who coveted Pei Jiqing from the shadows. His jade-white neck alone was enough to attract the alphas' lecherous gazes, the greedy eyes of night wolves, seeking to close in and devour him.

Pei Jiqing was saved because of the ever-illusory, powerful Pei father that Pei's mother spoke of. Her cold, contemptuous demeanor indiscriminately slashed at all glances directed at her and her son, whether they were curious, contemptuous, or filled with desire.

Her words were like knives. She held the young Pei Jiqing, covered his ears, and cursed the untouchables in the downtown area for wanting to covet her.

In Pei's mother's words, Pei's father was their patron saint, giving them endless money and glory. But in fact, those "cheap and outdated" luxuries that adorned their lives were all the crystallization of Pei's mother's years of savings, but it was enough to shock you when you got off the bus.

They would go out once a month. Pei's mother said she was going to see Pei Jiqing's biological father, but in fact she would take Pei Jiqing to the neighboring city for a day and take him to see a musical.

Pei Jiqing was actually so bored that he wanted to sleep, but Pei's mother always kept him alert.

She woven everything she had into Pei Jiqing's life like a meticulous stitch, using the money given by his father to build a seemingly impenetrable fortress. From a young age, Pei's mother instilled in him the concept of luxury, as if those expensive items were his birthright.

As an illegitimate child and a surrogate, he should have been a symbol of disgrace in the eyes of the world, a laughingstock in gossip.

While the poor always fear money and power, Pei's mother used her savings and the Pei family's reputation to weave an invisible net, tightly protecting Pei Jiqing and shielding him from the malicious eyes and prying eyes of the outside world.

When Pei Jiqing was very young, he didn't understand the weight of the word "illegitimate child." He was always neatly dressed, like a little prince from a fairy tale, a stark contrast to the dusty children of the downtown area.

His collar was always crisp, his cuffs spotless, and even the toes of his shoes gleamed faintly.

Pei's mother held him in her palm as if he were a meticulously crafted work of art.

He had once been as proud as a swan, intelligent, handsome, and with an innate dignity in his eyes. Whether studying or learning other skills, he was always one step ahead of others, as if talent was his birthright.

Pei's mother sent him to piano lessons, something unthinkable in the underprivileged downtown area.

Until one day, when he was old enough to understand, he once again heard someone describe him as "illegitimate." The voice seemed to come from a dark corner, piercing with mockery and contempt, as if he had been plucked from a fairy tale and thrown into the mire of reality.

Pei's mother had woven a magnificent dream for him, telling him he was a noble little prince, his father a king, his mother a queen. But the reality was that he was nothing more than an unacknowledged illegitimate child stranded in the downtown area.

His mother, no queen herself, had been driven home by the prosperity of Ling City and ultimately fled back to this dilapidated neighborhood with him. The house they lived in was an old one left by their grandmother, old and weatherproof, yet able to shelter them from the elements. The shop downstairs was owned by Pei's mother.

The very words "Lower City District" carried a deep sense of inferiority, like a forgotten corner of the world, piled high with all sorts of "lower class"—low status, low life, low fate.

Perhaps, in some mysterious way, his mother had a name, Xu Mingzhu, unwilling to accept her fate.

The people here desperately flapped their wings, trying to fly away, but those who did so rarely looked back.

Pei Jiqing gradually entered adolescence. He began to look at his mother with a mocking gaze, the eyes once filled with admiration now cold and distant. The dream his mother had carefully woven for him was being torn apart bit by bit, like tearing open a gorgeous package to reveal the ugly truth within.

Especially since he began to understand the strange looks around him, those glances filled with pity, ridicule, or even contempt, like fine needles piercing his skin, leaving him nowhere to escape.

Pei Jiqing wondered why he had become so well-informed, elegant, and polite. Is it to get the approval of the father who has never appeared? Or is it to maintain the last bit of dignity in this quagmire?

Whenever he thought of this, Pei Jiqing felt it was extremely ironic that all his efforts were just to perform a play that no one applauded.

Even the mother who despised him most would cry on his shoulder after drinking. The tears were scorching, as if they were going to burn through his shoulders, and those suppressed sobs were filled with wails. Pei Jiqing had love, hatred, and resentment for her, but also an inseparable cherishing.

He had no friends, and the loneliness of his days in the lower city was like a thin cocoon, wrapping him tightly.

The first time he saw a teenager from the lower city riding a motorcycle whizzing past him, bringing a gust of cold wind, Pei Jiqing stood where he was, as if swayed slightly by the wind.

Pei Jiqing returned to the grocery store at home, swiped his finger lightly across the shelf, and took down a pack of cigarettes. The boy's smooth and delicate profile was hidden in the dark corner. He inhaled nicotine into his lungs for the first time. Amidst the smoke, Pei Jiqing's eyes became blurred and trance. He looked at the smoke rising from his fingers, and a sense of confusion welled up in his heart - what kind of person did he want to become?

At that time, he himself could not explain it clearly.

After his mother left, he lost the beacon of life. The goals and expectations that Pei's mother had carefully constructed were like a collapsed castle, shattered into dust on the ground.

He stood in the ruins, looking around in confusion, not knowing which direction to go.

Pei Jiqing thought that when he was with Wei Ji in the past, it was his alienation and indifference that led to the dead end of their relationship.

Later, he learned to behave like a stranger to himself, changed his way, and tried to treat his life with Shen Huixing with tenderness and warmth, like a bird trying to change its habits, desperately trying to blend into another sky.

However, there was still no good result.

Those deliberate gentleness and compromises seemed to be in vain. How could he only feel tired and empty after acting till now?

Since he was a brainless person in Shen Huixing's eyes, he might as well be completely indifferent to her.

Wei Ji was silent for a moment, and said only one word: "Okay."

When Shen Huixing returned home, the house was quite deserted. The lights were only half on, and the dim light barely supported the huge space. This was the first time he felt that his home was so big.

There was no breath of living things, no figure who always came to greet him with chattering. The air was filled with an empty silence. Shen Huixing suddenly remembered that his secretary had told him that Pei Jiqing had told him that he would go upstairs to rest early tonight.

Pei Jiqing once wanted to have a pet, maybe a cat or a dog, but Chen Huixing refused on the grounds that it was "noisy", so Pei Jiqing could only go to Yin Ning's house occasionally to feed the small and exquisite Cavallone. The puppy always wagged its tail and looked at him with wet eyes.

After returning, Pei Jiqing stood in front of Shen Huixing, gesturing the appearance of a puppy with his hands, and his fingertips gently outlined an empty outline, as if the life was already leaping in his palm.

He sat sideways next to Shen Huixing, with anticipation and tenderness, and a bit of childish joy: "Yin Ning bought it for his son. Husband, can we have one?"

Chen Huixing's answer was flat: "It doesn't make any sense."

Pei Jiqing lowered his head and muttered softly: "Why should there be any meaning in raising a life?"

His voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible at the end, but with a kind of stubborn tenderness.

When Chen Huixing found him, Pei Jiqing was fast asleep on the desk in his study, his face resting on an open book. His white home clothes made his features look even more refined. A pen was loosely held between his fingers, and the tip of the pen left a few words on the paper in neat and beautiful handwriting.

The Omega's breathing was even and slow, the rhythm of sleep.

No matter where Chen Huixing sat, he looked like a general planning a strategy. His every move carried an unquestionable sense of majesty and control. But at this moment, Pei Jiqing sat in Shen Huixing's usual seat, but he seemed to have been forced to sit there, completely out of tune with everything around him.

Chen Huixing's gaze fell on Pei Jiqing's face. The glasses on his nose made him look even more bookish. Chen Huixing knew how much the Pei family had donated to send this young master to college, but he couldn't remember.

When Pei Jiqing woke up, Chen Huixing had already picked him up.

Pei Jiqing's arms naturally slid around Chen Huixing's neck, his face pressed against his collarbone. His breath was warm and even, lazily and dependent. "Honey, when did you get back?"

"Just now," Chen Huixing replied briefly and calmly.

Pei Jiqing hummed softly, then whispered, "Honey, I've been reading all day. I'm so tired."

Pei Jiqing didn't feel cowardly or evasive. He simply knew that some words, once spoken, would stir up uncontrollable waves.

Given Chen Huixing's understanding, his questions would only devolve into an endless argument, one that often left him utterly fuming, unable to change anything. Once

Chen Huixing made a decision, there was rarely room for change.

Pei Jiqing decided against humiliating himself.

Having already predicted the trajectory of the storm, it would be truly foolish to run into it again.

The glass cage of marriage always requires someone to hold their breath and remain silent until it is completely shattered.

When Chen Huixing emerged from the bathroom, mist swirled behind him, creating a hazy backdrop. Pei Jiqing was leaning against the door, his fingertips resting lightly on a glass of milk. The light cast a shadow over his slender waistline.

As he passed the cup to Chen Huixing, the warmth of his fingertips and the warmth of the milk passed through.

Chen Huixing took the cup and drank without hesitation, his Adam's apple rolling slightly. Pei Jiqing took the empty cup and left. When he returned a short time later, he yawned, his eyes slightly red. He lay down on the bed, wrapped in a beige cashmere blanket, looking like a doll with its bones removed.

"Honey, I'm going to sleep first."

Chen Huixing looked at his back to her, and a strange emotion suddenly welled up in her heart. It

was familiar, seemingly caring and considerate, impeccable. When they had just married, he had gone to the battlefield. Pei Jiqing had been concerned about his health and rest, like a mechanical routine, repeating the same words for a long time without adding anything new.

Whenever Chen Huixing wanted to change the subject and end the call, Pei Jiqing would say regretfully, "Honey, are you tired of me? Then I won't bother you anymore."

That gentle, perfunctory feeling had actually been there since the beginning of their marriage, but it was harmless. Later, their lives gradually developed their own rhythm, like two springs, gradually merging into a stream, gurgling and flowing in unison. When Pei Jiqing looked at him, his eyes could reflect the light of the stars.

Perhaps it was because Shen Huixing had long been accustomed to Pei Jiqing's constant, tense gaze, like the tide under the moonlight, silent but omnipresent.

Therefore, even if Pei Jiqing's gentleness lacked some weight, Chen Huixing could quickly notice it. That subtle difference was like a piece of a perfect puzzle that was suddenly missing. Although small, it was enough to make the whole picture incomplete. Pei Jiqing's smile was still gentle, his tone was still soft, but Chen Huixing could sense a hint of detachment and perfunctoriness from those tiny gaps.

"What did you do at home today?"

Pei Jiqing looked up, wondering why Chen Huixing was chatting with him about family matters. "I read today. Didn't you tell me to read more?"

"That's it?"

Pei Jiqing said with his eyes closed. "What else? The books are really hard to read."

At this moment, Chen Huixing looked at Pei Jiqing's pale and tender profile, which looked like a painted oil painting, still vivid and lively.

He didn't know why he had an indescribable feeling of irritation, like the sultry air on a summer afternoon. He couldn't explain the source of this emotion, but he felt like an invisible flame was blocking his chest, burning him uneasy.

Chen Huixing moved closer to Pei Jiqing, as if trying to grasp something that was about to disappear, and reached out to wrap himself in his quilt. At that moment, Pei Jiqing's body stiffened slightly, and then slowly relaxed.

As the weather gradually warmed up, Pei Jiqing didn't need Chen Huixing, the human-shaped warm baby, so he asked someone to prepare two quilts.

Why did Chen Huixing come to squeeze with him tonight?

Moreover, Chen Huixing didn't seem to be in a good mood today. Pei Jiqing chose to close his eyes, thinking that he would turn around quietly later.

But before he found that opportunity, he felt a hand around his waist. The moment the palm of his hand touched his waist, it was as hot as a quenched iron chain. Chen Huixing usually didn't ask Pei Jiqing if it was okay? His question was like the teeth marks on the side of his neck, and he continued to do what he wanted to do amidst his low moans.

Some things really can't be refused, and under the influence of pheromones, there is not much reluctance. Chen Huixing's hard muscles only trapped Pei Jiqing in a circle, forcing him to look up and endure it, but when he turned his head to dodge, the soft flesh on his cheek was bitten.

The force of the tiger's mouth gripping the back of his neck was like pinching the vital point of a cat. Pei Jiqing was dragged into the hot fit, and his cheek was also bitten, leaving a wet mark.

Chen Huixing used one hand to clasp his neck and lifted him up.

Pei Jiqing was confused, a muffled sound rolled out from his throat, his waist swaying non-stop. Pei Jiqing thought vaguely in the dizziness of the bumpy ride that he clearly did not add anything to Chen Huixing's milk tonight.