Until they reached the hotel, Duan Ming couldn’t utter a word.
Liang Xiao tried to comfort him in a low voice: “Brother Duan, don’t think about it anymore.”
“It’s all in the past, just this one time.”
Liang Xiao swiped the card to enter the room and assured him: “I never lied to anyone after that.”
Duan Ming frowned deeply: “Is that what I’m concerned about?”
Liang Xiao paused, then thought for a moment: “My studying really wasn’t good… I tried my best.”
“Really,” Liang Xiao, fearing Duan Ming might think of him as a top student, confessed in advance, “I’m not lying to you, I memorize lines purely based on unyielding determination and wild intuition…”
Duan Ming’s pent-up emotions were thrown into disarray, and he felt a pain in his chest: “…I’m worried about you!”
Liang Xiao was stunned and didn’t say anything.
“Do you know that an omega’s pheromone outbreak could be life-threatening?”
The more Duan Ming thought about it, the more scared he became, wishing he could shake the water out of Liang Xiao’s head: “That was your first time! What if something had happened?”
“And Teacher Meng even asked you how to find a sense of near-death!” Duan Ming glared at him fiercely, “You relied on recalling that time, didn’t you?!”
Duan Ming could barely bring himself to think about it in detail: “How old were you then? Your first differentiation, enduring it alone without suppressants…”
Liang Xiao, afraid of scaring the assistant, called out: “Brother Duan.”
Duan Ming’s words faltered, and after a while, he let out a heavy sigh, took off his coat.
Duan Ming himself was a beta, but he wasn’t completely ignorant about omega differentiation.
Unlike alpha differentiation which immediately enhances physical qualities, omega differentiation is longer, and during formal differentiation, a guardian must be present to provide comfort, sometimes even requiring medical monitoring.
When Liang Xiao was hospitalized due to Long Tao’s scheme, Duan Ming ran errands for him and passed by the differentiation induction department quite often.
For families with omega children undergoing differentiation, it was always an all-hands-on-deck situation. Parents would follow doctors around asking questions, while grandparents would hold the child, patting their back and comforting them.
He had never seen anyone go through differentiation as dangerously as Liang Xiao did.
“If only he had been awake at that time,” Duan Ming said, his voice lowering, “Even if just to hold you… to tell you it wouldn’t hurt anymore.”
Liang Xiao didn’t feel that way: “He would have made me recite ‘Heaven, when about to place a great responsibility on a great man, always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones.'”
Duan Ming: “…”
Duan Ming took a deep breath and said with difficulty: “You did well to run away.”
Liang Xiao nodded in agreement and shook Duan Ming’s hand.
Duan Ming, now having a general understanding of what happened, numbly shook hands with him and sighed: “Alright… I’ll think of something else later.”
Duan Ming patted him: “Don’t worry about it anymore.”
Liang Xiao didn’t want to bring up this matter again, and Duan Ming understood, not wanting to force him.
Even if they didn’t go through Xingguan, they could privately discuss with Butler Huo later and come up with a different explanation.
Duan Ming made up his mind and shooed Liang Xiao towards the room: “Go back quickly, get some sleep.”
Liang Xiao wanted to say something, but was hurriedly pushed back into the room. Unable to resist, he lay down on the bed: “Brother Duan.”
Duan Ming helped pull back the blanket, paused when he heard Liang Xiao speak, and frowned, waiting for him to continue.
Liang Xiao took the blanket from his manager’s hands, quickly wrapped himself up, and poked out his head: “I’m fine now.”
Liang Xiao was good-looking, with beautiful eyebrows and clear, bright eyes. Those who didn’t know him couldn’t tell he had suffered at all.
Wrapped up tightly like a burrito, lying completely still with the blanket up to his chin, he looked deceptively well-behaved.
Duan Ming had seen this trick many times when Liang Xiao was hospitalized. After a moment of hesitation, he couldn’t help but smile: “Alright, I’m fine too.”
Seeing Duan Ming’s expression soften, Liang Xiao felt relieved and smiled back.
Duan Ming patted the burrito, raised the room temperature by two degrees, drew the curtains, and quietly left the room.
Lying on the bed, Liang Xiao heard the outer door close and closed his eyes.
He actually hadn’t thought about this incident for a long time.
He was young then, and didn’t consider many things thoroughly. Looking back now, there were many things he shouldn’t have done.
But once done, there’s no chance for regret.
Feeling a slight discomfort in his gland, Liang Xiao reached back to press it. Calculating the time, he took out a portable suppressant from his pocket.
…
Although he had upset his manager greatly, Liang Xiao actually didn’t feel very scared at the time.
Having always had to endure everything on his own since childhood, the gland differentiation and pheromone outbreak were just a little more difficult to endure than other things.
In terms of suffering, it was far less painful than memorizing and writing out the entire “Li Sao” from memory, only to find out that the whole text didn’t need to be memorized and written out.
Liang Xiao got lost in thought for a while, couldn’t help but smile, and rolled over wrapped in his blanket.
At that time, even if he didn’t wake anyone up, he could have left a note explaining the situation.
But the young Liang Xiao from eleven years ago was all alone, never having stopped anywhere long enough, not knowing what it meant to have friends.
The young Liang Xiao of that time had a stubborn and self-contained logical system.
As long as they don’t ask for names, two people aren’t considered friends, but rather a cold relationship of mutual exploitation.
As long as he manages to help the other person escape danger, it’s considered repayment for the meals of these past days.
As long as he doesn’t cry out in pain, he can still endure.
When Xiao Liang climbed out the window to escape, he was already unsteady on his feet. Pushing through with an unknown burst of energy, he made it onto the train before completely passing out.
That train journey lasted seventeen hours. Liang Xiao drifted in and out of consciousness, opening his eyes to the shifting light and shadows as the train moved forward, realizing there were only about ten minutes left until arrival.
The bite wound on his arm hadn’t been treated, and blood had soaked through two layers of clothing.
Fortunately, he was wearing thick clothes at the time and tightly hugged his backpack to cover it, so no one noticed.
Liang Xiao raised his hand to shield his eyes and let out a sigh.
Later, he experienced many more complex events, and many scenes had already been worn faint by time. He couldn’t clearly remember how he worked to earn money or how he gradually found a place to settle.
After that, relying on the foundation he had been forced to learn back then, along with the acting skills honed through deception, he was admitted to the performing arts academy.
The initial outburst during that first differentiation had left lasting effects. Without special suppressants, the medication prescribed by the hospital could barely control it, and his pheromones had gone out of control a few more times on a smaller scale.
He had always endured it the same way.
It wasn’t until Feiyang Pharmaceuticals developed Valu that a complete solution was finally found.
Liang Xiao rarely dwelled on the past, but today he indulged his thoughts for a while, lying quietly before moving his hand up to touch his own head.
Remembering Duan Ming’s words, Liang Xiao cautiously looked towards the door for a moment, confirming no one was there, then pressed his head and softly tried: “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
…
Liang Xiao felt that his agent was probably tricking him, quickly withdrew his hand, closed his eyes, wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, and fell asleep.
Rarely stirred by memories, Liang Xiao woke up from one unsettling dream after another, and when he opened his eyes again, he felt somewhat light-headed and heavy-footed.
Liang Xiao got up and took his own temperature, but didn’t notice anything unusual.
No fever or cough, so it probably wasn’t a cold.
Liang Xiao checked the weather forecast, found some auxiliary medication kept by the pharmaceutical company, took it, and deliberately drank a few extra mouthfuls of hot water.
After being discharged from the hospital back then, Liang Xiao had been genuinely frightened a few times by his agent’s excessive concern and paranoia. He usually didn’t tell Duan Ming about these things, mostly dealing with them on his own, and nothing serious ever happened.
Maybe his glands were missing President Huo.
