Chapter 35: That night, he was awakened by a heat wave, his pajamas clinging to his back.

The small island of Nan'an, where Pei Jiqing lived, felt like a mint leaf floating in a cerulean dream.

The sea breeze, which kept the island's temperature at just 20 degrees Celsius year-round, filtered the sunlight into a golden hue, lazily scattering across the mottled stone steps of the fishing harbor. The starfruits in the old woman's bamboo basket dripped with water. Prices, like the tide, maintained a perfect balance, neither too expensive to pierce the flesh nor too cheap to

eat into the bones. He unfolded a map the night before his departure. He had originally chosen the north, but only because of the frost that cut into the air. A three-day train ride through the wilderness wouldn't be ideal for pregnancy, as his belly would swell and become inconvenient.

So, he opted for Nan'an instead.

Here, even the waves are soft curves, the rustling of palm leaves sings a lullaby, and every season seems to support each gradually plumping fruit.

He had no intention of hiding his identity forever, so his documents were neatly packed in his bag. His household registration papers and medical records lay quietly in the mezzanine, ready to give birth here and then leave.

Pei Jiqing thought, Chen Huixing should be grateful to him.

He left so abruptly, without even a hint of lingering, like an early curtain call, ceding the brightest center stage to the newcomer. How respectful, so tactful, leaving no room for criticism.

Five years was enough time for him to remember to leave some wiggle room before parting. He didn't let the tabloid reporters smell blood, nor did he nail Chen Huixing's name to the pillar of shame of unfaithful men. He simply turned and left quietly, wrapping the warmth in his belly.

It was fair—Pei Jiqing harbored an unspoken secret, and Chen Huixing committed a shameful betrayal.

The two canceled out, and neither owed the other anything.

Pei Jiqing suddenly felt fortunate that he had hesitated for so long, holding off on telling Chen Huixing about the child. Had Chen Huixing known of the unborn child, she would have been torn to pieces trying to escape. He

should let go of the past, and there was no need to look back.

Whether the Pei family rose or fell, Chen Huixing would brand him a fraudster along with her, and it would have nothing

to do with him anymore. An Alpha who couldn't even muster a shred of loyalty wasn't worth even a glance from him.

After a sleepless night, the dawn had arrived, and Pei Jiqing accepted reality with astonishing speed, just as he had witnessed Wei Ji's betrayal—the blade sheathed, the blood still wet, but his heart had already chilled.

He wouldn't repeat his mother's mistakes, spending the rest of his life trying to warm a stone that could never be warmed.

Especially from someone as stubborn as Chen Huixing, Pei Jiqing had faced the most twisted and unjustified accusations of his life.

He had tried to imagine a respectful breakup with Shen Huixing, a cleanly signed agreement that might preserve a last shred of false courtesy. But the thought shattered as soon as it formed. After all, when it came time to divide the property, Chen Huixing had a highly skilled team behind him, while he was alone.

Pei Jiqing had stumbled through the previous twenty years, and he had long since lost faith that anyone in this world would offer him an unconditional heart.

Aside from his mother, only that mother, now buried beneath a tombstone, had once, with her frail arms, built an undefended fortress for him.

He had entered the Pei residence, holding a glass heart lamp, only to be pierced by broken porcelain shards, leaving his hands bloodied.

After being tricked by the Pei family in his naiveté, Pei Jiqing learned his lesson and began to believe in equal exchange, always maintaining control.

Chen Huixing might have been the one knocking on the door of this relationship, but it was his turn to lock it and throw the key into the well.

When suspicion grew like vines, twisting trust into withered branches, Pei Jiqing simply couldn't imagine what good could come of two mutually devouring souls.

There were so many differences between him and Shen Huixing, from their big values to the smallest details. Pei Jiqing always thought that if he gave in endlessly, he would be able to make things smaller.

There were so many rifts between him and Shen Huixing, from the chasm in their creeds to the trivialities of life.

Pei Jiqing always thought that as long as he was forced to retreat continuously by Shen Huixing, until his back was pressed against the cold wall, those sharp differences would eventually be smoothed out by distance.

He never tried to trim the arrogant branches of Shen Huixing - perhaps this was precisely his oversight.

He transplanted the roots that were entwined around him, like a redwood seedling entwined around a bitter orange tree, peeling them inch by inch from the soil of his life.

The parts that were once intertwined were dug up and then separated with a subtle, almost inaudible cracking sound.

Male Omegas have deeper reproductive cavities, so the chance of pregnancy is not higher than that of female Omegas.

As a marked and visibly pregnant Omega, his mere presence attracted attention—some inquiring, some intriguing.

Pei Jiqing's rented courtyard was owned by a silver-haired Alpha couple, like pages from an old book gently caressed by time. The enthusiastic Omega, Lin, loved to fuss with flowers and plants in the morning light, a smile as sweet as honey etched in his wrinkles, and greeted everyone with a gentle local dialect.

His Alpha partner, Yan, mostly sat in a rattan chair, reading the newspaper through his reading glasses and passing a cup of dried mint tea to his busy partner.

Their children had long since fled the island, leaving the couple alone in their bougainvillea-covered courtyard, living a decades-long, unchanged existence.

The sweet aroma of baking coconut cakes filled the courtyard, and Pei Jiqing fell in love with the house at first sight. It felt like a work of art, sculpted by the sea breeze and sunlight, imbued with fairytale hues.

The window frames were so blue that they seemed to melt into the waves. The coral stone walls were covered with pink and white bougainvillea. The shell wind chimes hanging under the porch shattered into gold in the sunset.

The light yellow house he rented was particularly charming. The bougainvillea that jutted out from the second-floor terrace cascaded down like a waterfall, spreading purple and red watercolors on the brick walls.

Pei Jiqing heard that this was built by Uncle Yan himself when he was young.

In the twilight, the fishing net lights they hung under the eaves emitted a warm orange light, immersing the entire courtyard in a honey-like gentleness. Even the ferns growing out of the cracks in the steps were exceptionally lush, as if the house itself was a living thing that could breathe.

Pei Jiqing occasionally thought that when Chen Huixing got old, he would probably look like Old Man Yan - with an unbreakable seriousness between his brows, and even the frown he frowned when reading the newspaper was exactly the same.

However, the thought was blown away by the sea breeze as soon as it emerged. After all, what that man would look like when he was sixty was nothing to him.

This seaside town with lagging information has as few new things as shells on the beach after the tide goes out. So on the day he showed up, almost half of the town's eyes were glued to him.

The young Omega wore a camel-colored windbreaker that hung down to his calves. The hem of the coat billowed with his steps, occasionally revealing the blue striped shirt underneath that was like the clear sky. Sunglasses couldn't hide his porcelain-white jawline. He held a bunch of lisianthus in his arms and pulled a suitcase.

When he took off his sunglasses and stood at the ferry looking around, even the sea breeze stopped for him. He didn't look tired at all, but like a TV star who came to collect some light.

So that day, the news that a star had come to Nan'an Town and was staying at the Yan family spread.

After living there for more than half a month, the initial strangeness gradually faded away.

Pei Jiqing's ability to make friends has been perfected over the years.

That evening, Pei Jiqing stood under the corridor covered with sunset light, his eyelashes drooping, tears rolling down his cheeks. His voice was so soft that it was almost drowned by the sound of the waves. He told the old ladies and uncles that his husband had passed away early, leaving him alone with the stigma of "unlucky husband" and being kicked out by his husband's family. Now the baby in his belly was his only support, so he came out to relax.

Most of the young and middle-aged people in the town had left long ago, and most of those who stayed were the old ladies and uncles with gray hair. When they heard this, their eyes reddened, and they sighed and said "What a sin", looking at his slightly bulging belly, and scolded the short-lived Alpha for being so cruel that he was willing to abandon such a beautiful Omega and the unborn child, leaving the orphan and O alone to wander in the world.

Pei Jiqing gently wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand, nodded, and raised his chin in a graceful arc. "I will raise this child well... on my own!"

The elderly women and men gathered around him all praised him as a good child and told him not to worry. It wasn't long before word spread around town that Omegas were miserable, their Alpha husbands having died young.

After Pei Jiqing woke up that day, he stretched, the hem of his loose cotton and linen shirt gently waving with his movements. A plain headscarf loosely held his hair as he carefully cradled his landlord, Uncle Lin's, pot of nearly-opened jasmine, about to be placed on the porch in the sun—the curve of his pregnant belly cast a soft shadow in the morning light.

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached from his arms and took the pot. Their knuckles were long and slender, carrying the lingering warmth of exercise.

Pei Jiqing tilted his head and met a pair of starry eyes. The collar of the young man's tracksuit was still stained with dew from his morning run, and the backpack straps accentuated the vigor of his shoulders.

"Are you Brother Pei Qing?" the man's voice was as clear as a mint leaf, a smile spreading from the corners of his eyes to his dimples. "My dad told me to take good care of you. Leave these things to me."

Pei Jiqing suddenly remembered that this was the landlord's youngest son, studying away from home—the boy in school uniform in the old photo frame in the living room. Now he was standing before him. It was summer vacation, and he was home.

What made Pei Jiqing's fingertips tingle was the young man's undisguised pheromones, which spread over him unrestrainedly like a sun-kissed lime.

Pei Jiqing touched the slightly swollen belly, thinking it was probably an illusion of pregnancy. If he were a few years younger, he might have thought it was some kind of ambiguous test, but now he just thought it was just his own suspicion.

They had dinner together.

Until one evening, when Pei Jiqing was walking along the coastline, Lin Qin, wearing a snow-white tracksuit, turned back from the front. Her hairband held back her sweat-soaked hair, she walked backwards in time with him, each step shattering the sunset as they chatted all the way back.

When the boy called him "Brother Pei", the sea breeze made the name light and soft.

That night he was awakened by the heat wave, his pajamas stuck to his back, and Pei Jiqing suddenly had the urge to smoke.

The vibrant scent of lime seemed to still linger in the darkness.

The bodies of low-level Omegas are always so honest, but in Pei Jiqing's poor love memories, there is only the gasp of Chen Huixing when he was sinking. When the moonlight flowed through the window lattice, he stared at the faded ring mark on his ring finger, and suddenly thought - I can't be a widower all my life, I should consider finding a father for my child.