TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 83

Dodging He Youjin’s wrath, Xia Tong couldn’t help but smirk. He dashed back to his bedroom, turned to lock the door—but a tall figure shoved its way in.

Xia Tong: “Hey hey hey—” He was silenced after just two words as Lin Mingfei’s large hand clamped over his mouth. Alpha turned, covering that hand with his other palm, then firmly shut the door.

Xia Tong was trapped in Lin Mingfei’s arms, perfectly still, his big eyes fluttering. Long lashes cast shadows on his lower lids.

Outside, He Youjin’s shouting gradually faded. Lin Mingfei held the little omega for a while. Once again, he caught the faint, sweet scent of Osmanthus, warm and comforting, filling his chest and lungs.

Since the start of the official prep activities, he hadn’t spent this much time alone with Xia Tong, and he missed it more than he realized.

“You’ve learned to be naughty now,” he murmured, lowering his head to meet Xia Tong’s bright, clear eyes, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

Xia Tong squinted, silent, but a hint of pride shone through. His soft, gentle breath tickled Lin Mingfei’s hand. Lin Mingfei’s eyes darkened slightly, muscles tensing like a predator.

Suddenly, his toes were lightly nudged twice.

“Let go~ Let go~” came the flat, monotone voice at his ear.

The alpha’s face darkened instantly.

…It was that dumb robot full of mischief again!

Debon’s little wheels “squeaked” as they rolled. Its short, stubby hands pushed against Lin Mingfei’s toes, trying to shove, but its power was too weak. It could only retreat, bump, retreat, bump, in an endless loop, trying to warn the alpha and appeal to his humanity.

Lin Mingfei rolled his eyes, finally letting go of Xia Tong and bending to pick up the pink idiot robot.

“You’re really annoying, you know that?” he growled through gritted teeth.

Debon: “Please keep away from underage omegas, or I will recite the International Omega Protection Act as a warning—”

Lin Mingfei rubbed his forehead: “Here we go again.” Remembering something, he turned to Xia Tong: “Xia Tong, are you taking your medicine on time?”

“Of course! Last time Manager He specifically talked to me about the seriousness of my heat. I’ve been extra careful!” Xia Tong freed himself, flopped onto the bed, rolled twice, pulled out his phone, and gleefully said: “I want to order takeout. Zero, are you eating?”

“When did you learn to order takeout?” Lin Mingfei tossed Debon onto the table, then sat down on Xia Tong’s bed, lying side by side with the little omega.

“I downloaded that ‘Hungry or Not’ app earlier—don’t you just pick what you want and fill in the address?” Xia Tong said. “I just didn’t want to order something unhealthy and make Manager He angry.”

The once rule-abiding, cautious little “flower vase” Xia Tong had now learned to sneak around He Youjin and even developed a craving for junk food. That was a qualitative leap! Lin Mingfei was both gratified and amused. Watching Xia Tong’s lively little expression, he encouraged him, “Just don’t let him see. It’s fine once in a while. Go ahead—if anything happens, I’ll take responsibility.”

“What do you want to eat then?” Xia Tong asked cheerfully, swinging his legs.

“I’ll eat anything—I’m not picky,” Lin Mingfei said. “Whatever you order, I’ll have too.”

“Okay, then I’ll get fried chicken wings and burgers! I see Fatty eats them all the time. And a chocolate pudding, and maybe an egg tart…” Xia Tong mumbled to himself, his fair fingertips tapping rapidly across the phone screen.

Lin Mingfei quietly lay beside him, resting his chin in his hands, tilting his head to admire the omega’s delicate, lively profile, unable to get enough of it. Suddenly, Xia Tong shifted his elbow and leaned closer. “Gege, my butt hurts. Rub it for me.”

Lin Mingfei: “…”

The little omega kept staring at the takeout app, probably calculating discounts, not even turning his head—as if naturally making a casual life request.

Lin Mingfei: “…Rub it yourself.”

Hearing that, Xia Tong froze, turned his head with a frown. “But I’m ordering food! My hands are full! And didn’t you just tell Manager He you’d rub my butt?”

Lin Mingfei: “That was just… politeness. Do you know what that means?”

Xia Tong: “No. Does it mean saying things you don’t mean?”

Lin Mingfei: “…Not exactly.”

Xia Tong pouted unhappily. “But it really hurts! Gege, just rub it once, okay? Just once! I’ll make it up to you after I finish ordering!”

Seeing the topic take a dangerous turn again, Lin Mingfei had no choice. “…Fine.”

He turned over, rubbed his palms together to warm them, then slowly reached toward Xia Tong—only to pause midway.

By now, the reflexive wariness he’d developed kicked in; Lin Mingfei glanced toward the pink robot sitting on the table. Debon was silent, but the LED eyes on its head were glowing brightly, fixed on him with an accusing glare.

Half-narrowing his eyes, Lin Mingfei stared back at it for a long time before drawling, “Xia Xiaotong, I’m a little cold.”

“I have a blanket! It’s at the foot of the bed, just shake it out and cover yourself!” Xia Tong said. “I don’t mind!”

That was exactly what Lin Mingfei wanted to hear. “Oh, okay.”

At the foot of the bed was a light-yellow quilt printed with rows of little yellow ducks—clearly Xia Tong’s own.

Lin Mingfei crawled over, shook the blanket open, and lifted a corner to his nose. Sure enough, it carried a faint sweet osmanthus scent unique to the little omega.

Still busy calculating discounts, Xia Tong muttered, “Spend 25, get 8 off… spend 55, get 15 off… Wait, how does this feel like I’m losing money? No, that’s not right…”

Then—swish!—the surroundings suddenly went dark. The quilt fell over them completely, leaving only the glow of the phone screen, lighting up Xia Tong’s face and Lin Mingfei’s close by.

Xia Tong blinked, turning his head. “Are you really that cold?”

“Mm.” Lin Mingfei replied shamelessly, then reached over and pressed his hand down.

The feel was soft yet springy—clearly different from the lean, low-fat build of an alpha. A pity it wasn’t exactly well-padded; falling on it would probably still hurt.

“Here?” he asked, kneading twice.

“A bit more to the left!” Xia Tong gasped and guided him. “Ow ow—right there! It’s sore and achy! Ahh, do I have a slipped disc?!”

“You’re way too young for that,” Lin Mingfei said, half laughing. “It’s just a strained muscle at most. I’ll tell Old He to put a cushion in your chair back at Cocoon.”

“Okay! Okay! Gege, harder~~~”

“Hah! You sure know how to order people around. Am I getting paid for this massage?”

“Come on, I’m buying you fried chicken! The least you can do is try harder! I’ll massage you later too! Ahhh ~ mm ~ so comfy!!”

“Can you keep it down, seriously—hey, hey…”

They were in the middle of their noisy back-and-forth when—bang!—a loud noise came from outside the blanket.

Silence lasted less than a second before the quilt was yanked away. He Youjin stood there, hands on his hips, face blazing with fury—seeing an A and an O lying side by side on the bed, the little omega’s fuzzy pajama pants half-slipped down behind his knees, and Lin Mingfei’s hand planted squarely on the one place it absolutely shouldn’t be—

He Youjin’s voice exploded like a banshee’s wail:

“LIN!! MING!! FEI!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!”

“What—what??” Lin Mingfei practically fell off the bed, stumbling backward without even putting on his slippers. “I didn’t do anything!!”

“You didn’t do anything?! You pulled his pants down and you didn’t do anything?!” He Youjin’s hair was bristling as he jabbed a finger at him, livid.

“He’s still got a whole pair of thermal pants on!!” Lin Mingfei tried to argue.

“What do you mean still?! There’s only that thin pair left!!” He Youjin shoved Xia Tong behind him protectively like a furious mother hen. “And you wrapped yourselves in a blanket!!”

“That’s because I was cold—”

“Cold my ass!! You go running at dawn in just a T-shirt and tell me you’re cold?!”

Lin Mingfei didn’t even have the strength to roll his eyes. “…Old He, calm down, listen to me. The truth is that his waist hurt, so I was just helping him massage it—”

“You think I’m blind? Is that the waist? Is that the waist?” He Youjin snapped. “You think a dog alpha like you can just touch an omega’s butt whenever you want? And even if you were massaging his waist, do you have to both lie down on the bed to do it?!”

“We were lying on the bed because—” Lin Mingfei realized that saying ‘because we were trying to order takeout together’ would sound ridiculous coming from his mouth, and He Youjin would never believe it. So he could only pin his hopes on Xia Tong.

“Xia Xiaotong, you tell him—why were we lying on the bed together?” he said solemnly.

Xia Tong let out a small “ah” and awkwardly slipped the phone they’d used to order takeout under his butt to hide it.

If Manager He found out he refused to eat Aunt Song’s cooking and secretly ordered junk food with Zero… Manager He would be furious. (qaq) When he lost his temper, he was really scary (qaq).

So the little omega trembled, swallowed nervously, and looked down with an innocent, pitiful expression. “Because Zero was helping me rub my butt…”

Lin Mingfei: “…”

Great. He’d never recover from the shadow of the words ‘rub my butt’ for the rest of his life.

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