After being moved to tears by the sworn enemy's pheromones - Chapter 9

This encounter could be considered a narrow victory for Shen Jin, but he swore that Gu Yu was definitely the most painful beginner he had ever taught.

Ignoring the missed skill shots, this guy also liked to confidently charge towers and feed kills. Several hours passed, and he was still playing at a 0-6 level against bots. Shen Jin finally couldn’t help but say, “While others treat Summoning War as an e-sport, are you treating it as stroke rehabilitation?”

Gu Yu had played many single-player games before and mastering the gameplay of such online games wasn’t difficult. But he deliberately provoked Shen Jin, saying, “Well, others were there too, but why did that tower only target me?”

Shen Jin gripped his mouse tightly, ready to start a special language education session, but to his surprise, a teammate couldn’t hold back and began cursing at Gu Yu: “How early did your mom die for you to not know how to play the lane properly? And you’re even a duo queuing as lovers, I’m laughing.”

Gu Yu’s omega father did indeed pass away early, so he decided to block his teammate without a care.

Even though he was 0-6, he didn’t expect Shen Jin to suddenly retort to the teammate: “Do you want me to send you some toilet cleaner and mouthwash? What’s wrong with my omega darling being as obedient as a dog? Just win against bots, keep your mouth clean.”

Gu Yu was bewildered and couldn’t care less about who Shen Jin was scolding. He couldn’t help but ask, “Who’s your darling?”

And… omega darling?!

Shen Jin said, “Just joking around. Even someone as bad as you can have a sweet and soft omega like a coconut milk pudding as your partner. I’m happy to annoy my teammate.”

Gu Yu felt a painful tightness in his chest, but seeing the chat flood with exchanges between his teammate and Shen Jin, he tentatively started typing to “communicate” with them alongside Shen Jin.

But Shen Jin slapped his hand, menacingly saying, “Hungry? If you can’t curse, then don’t read. You don’t understand the intensity of trash-talking in the esports scene. I’ll handle it.”

With an unlit cigarette in his mouth, Shen Jin soon initiated a solo queue father-son match with the teammate.

Gu Yu was forced out and said, “How do I not understand? I’ve played plenty of single-player games, I’ve seen pigs run.”

Shen Jin replied matter-of-factly, “Can the intensity of live trash-talking be the same? I’m afraid my little strawberry will cry in my arms later.”

After this battle, Shen Jin thoroughly understood Gu Yu’s Achilles’ heel. The person beside him couldn’t say a word for half a day, and he smiled proudly. His gameplay also became twice as smooth.

The victory message quickly appeared on the screen. He was used to it and wanted to talk to Gu Yu about the hardships of having another child at home, but when he turned around and met Gu Yu’s gaze, he couldn’t help but pause and ask, “…Wait, I helped you with the father-son match, why are you staring at me so admiringly?”

Gu Yu froze for half a second, then immediately tugged at the purplish-gray wolf-tail-like ends of Shen Jin’s hair at the nape of his neck, saying, “Admiration? Senior, you should go back to elementary school to relearn the usage of adjectives. This is called hostility.”

“Ouch, that hurts.” Shen Jin’s ears turned red as he nervously tidied his hair, while punching him lightly, saying, “No sense of propriety. Be careful, or you’ll get struck by lightning. If it weren’t for the esteemed status of the vice president and the pack of soft cigarettes I received from the president, I wouldn’t bother with you.”

Then he quickly leaned on the table without looking at Gu Yu, saying, “Forget it, let’s take a break and fight again later.”

The dim light in the internet cafe made Gu Yu lower his gaze towards the back of Shen Jin’s head, noticing something. “Tired?”

An objective inquiry, not necessarily a concern. He thought to himself: afraid of the cold in winter, afraid of the heat in summer, and still loves to sleep in. Truly soft and delicate.

Shen Jin buried his face and vigorously shook his head. Gu Yu said, “The place I live is close by. If you’re tired, you can manage for a few hours. Considering that I didn’t learn the game well today, I won’t blame you, senior, for affecting the feng shui of my bedroom.”

“F**k, aren’t you following the materialist path?” Shen Jin raised his head displeased, revealing his two beautiful eyes, and said, “But you reminded me, do you have air conditioning there? I’m really tired. Give me the key, I’ll go sleep in your bed now, and I guarantee there won’t be any feng shui left intact.”

Before Gu Yu could say anything, Shen Jin directly reached into his pants pocket and, with a speed beyond normal, succeeded in grabbing the key. “You annoyed me all night, so it’s time to pay back the debt.”

After saying this, Shen Jin greeted his roommates that he was going to rest, and there was no objection from anyone. Gu Yu immediately caught up, whispering, “Is it necessary to educate senior that robbery is a crime in our country?”

But Shen Jin didn’t even blink: “Which is more criminal, snatching keys or playing at a 0-6 level? I don’t need to say, right?”

Within minutes, the two arrived in front of the apartment Gu Yu rented. Shen Jin’s action of opening the door was as natural as if he were the owner himself. “Is the outfit I wore last time still here? The lingering scent of pheromones was delightful. You didn’t cuddle with it to ruin every day, did you?”

“…” Gu Yu ignored the comment, bent down to take out the new slippers he bought, and threw them in front of Shen Jin, saying, “I washed it twenty times that night, but luckily the quality is good and it didn’t get ruined.”

Shen Jin nudged Gu Yu with his elbow and then put on the slippers, rushing into the room, then washing up, climbing into bed, and getting under the covers in one go.

Recently, Gu Yu seemed to have switched to silk bedsheets, with two small bears, one brown and one white, placed on the pillow. It was much cozier and more comfortable than the last time he laid down.

But Gu Yu’s movements were sluggish, and by the time this guy got into bed, Shen Jin was almost at his limit of exhaustion.

The summer night was draped with a hazy full moon. In a daze, Shen Jin only remembered waiting for Gu Yu for a long time before finally grasping the corner of his clothes loosely.

“Gu Yu…” He couldn’t open his eyes, but important matters had to be discussed before sleeping, “For breakfast tomorrow… I want shrimp with scrambled eggs, sweet and sour spare ribs, and a bottle of 1982 Moutai…”

The moonlight fell on his dense eyelashes, making him look less aggressive than usual.

Gu Yu knew he wasn’t fully awake, so he bent down and pinched his chin in retaliation, pretending to interrogate him, “Is this how you order me around, Senior? Should I sell myself to buy you a bottle of 1982 Moutai?”

“Umm…” his senior’s voice was blurry but logical, “But, other alphas are very considerate of omegas… but I want shrimp, and you never give them to me…”

The tone of the other person sounded so aggrieved, as if Gu Yu not fulfilling his wishes would make his life unbearable. So Gu Yu couldn’t help but smile and lied, “Alright—then can I be very considerate of you too, Senior? It would be best to get up in the middle of the night to buy spare ribs, shrimp, and wine.”

He thought, at least in the eyes of others, their relationship was not ordinary. He couldn’t afford to leave any evidence of being a jerk, like sleeping with someone for a night and then only giving them vegetable congee the next day.

Now Shen Jin was satisfied, and in no time, he curled up in Gu Yu’s arms. Gu Yu stiffly tried to push Shen Jin away, but it backfired as Shen Jin used both his hands and feet to entangle him, making him unable to move for a while. He could only intermittently murmur, “It’s okay to hug, but not too tight.”

“I said not too tight.”

“…And don’t move around randomly.”

“I suspect your true intention is to take me to court—”

The whole night, Gu Yu endured through torture, sometimes clear and sometimes blurry. The next day at seven o’clock, unable to sleep, he simply got up to buy groceries. By ten o’clock, Shen Jin woke up and was surprised to see the table set with spare ribs for breakfast.

“Who’s having spare ribs for breakfast?” Shen Jin couldn’t help but be surprised.

“… ” Gu Yu stared at the computer screen, downloading “Summoning War,” and after a long while, he replied, “I think you’d be better off with vegetable congee, Senior!”

Shen Jin didn’t know why Gu Yu suddenly got mad, so he sat down to eat first. The sweet and sour taste filled his taste buds until he was full, and suddenly he remembered that this seemed to be the menu he had requested himself.

… Damn it. Shen Jin felt guilty and quickly cleared the dishes, saying, “Sorry to my precious junior for misunderstanding you~”

He went to the kitchen to wash the dishes and planned to clean up, but Gu Yu came over and dragged him out, saying, “I’m just trying out the new feature of the dishwasher. There’s a problem with the game update package, can you go take a look?”

Shen Jin was thrown to the dining table, and in front of him was Gu Yu’s tall and gentle figure. He couldn’t help but smile and say, “Is this the legendary alpha who is 24 filial before marriage? I wonder if our little strawberry will still do housework after we get married~”

“… I’m… not… getting… married.” Gu Yu said slowly, pretending to throw the dishcloth at him, “You ate my meal, didn’t thank me, and now you’re mad at me?”

Not getting married? Shen Jin was slightly stunned, but he still smiled, “Alright, benefactor, how about I add you as the beneficiary to my accidental insurance policy?”

Gu Yu was successfully rendered speechless with anger. After Shen Jin laughed for a while, he flicked the cigarette in his pocket with his fingers and jokingly asked, “If you’re really not getting married, what about your childhood sweetheart… I mean, one of your childhood playmates? I thought he would come to C University with you—”

“Senior is very familiar with him? Why do you keep mentioning him?” Gu Yu immediately turned around and walked towards him, saying, “And he didn’t even get into C University. My aunt said he went to the neighboring B University.”

B University, a reputable institution, also located in the university town.

Shen Jin secretly tightened his grip on the cigarette, not knowing why he kept pressing for answers, “Isn’t that pretty close? He won’t come looking for revenge on me, will he?”

You see, once when Shen Jin went to pick a fight with Gu Yu, this “friend” happened to be with Gu Yu and got involved too.

Shen Jin was reminiscing about the scene of the fight when Gu Yu pushed his forehead with a hand that still smelled like dish soap and said, “Don’t worry, besides me, no one can seek revenge on you. If he dares to trouble you, just contact me.”

Shen Jin looked at him for a moment before replying, “Okay, I’ll set you as my emergency contact. If you don’t come, I’ll hang myself at your doorstep.”

He figured if he stayed a second longer, he’d really get hit with a dishcloth, so he immediately turned to the computer desk to check the game update package as Gu Yu mentioned.

The configuration was fine, but there was a slight system version conflict. Shen Jin downloaded a few patches to start installing them, and while he was at it, he tidied up the clutter around the computer.

There were empty CD cases, scientific magazines as thick as a bible, and as Shen Jin was thinking about making some space to teach Gu Yu how to play the game later, his hand touched a cold box, catching his attention.

The box was open, and Shen Jin recognized it at a glance. It was a stack of battle cards from their childhood, which used to be very popular.

“Photon Game King,” a battle card game where you could buy a bag of cards for 5 yuan, containing 5 cards. The rarity of the cards depended solely on luck.

And the card placed at the front of the box was the High Priest calling for lightning in the storm—the rarest man in the vast card library. In today’s terms of gacha games, this would be at least an limited SSR card, far superior to the common SSR cards flooding the market.

Even though now it was just seen as a way for businesses to exploit children ten years ago, at that time, it was the biggest dream for many kids.

Shen Jin paused, not expecting Gu Yu to carry around something they played with in childhood, and even more unexpectedly, to see this card again in his life.

Sunlight poured in, shining on Shen Jin’s slightly stunned face. After a while, he lowered his gaze to look at the cloak of the High Priest on the card’s surface, feeling a moment of realization.

I’ve seen pigs run – The phrase “I have seen pigs run” is a colloquial expression used to convey skepticism or disbelief towards a statement or claim. It implies that the speaker finds the statement highly improbable or unlikely, as if they are saying, “I’ve seen everything, so I find it hard to believe what you’re saying.” It’s a way of expressing doubt or incredulity towards something that seems far-fetched or unbelievable.

****Moutai is a type of Chinese liquor, specifically a variety of baijiu, which is a distilled spirit. Moutai is produced in the town of Maotai in Guizhou Province, China. It is considered one of the most prestigious and well-known baijiu brands in China and is often associated with high status and special occasions. Moutai has a strong aroma and a high alcohol content, typically around 53% to 55% alcohol by volume. It is often served at formal banquets, business meetings, and celebrations in China.