DREB CHAPTER 72

Injecting the arm would be too obvious. If Li Yan raised his hand, he might notice the mark. The ankle, however, was a better choice. Even if it bruised, Li Yan wouldn’t examine it too closely. Lu Lianning felt confident in his choice. The sleeping pills were effective, and the plan should have been foolproof. Yet somehow, when it came to Zheng Zhi, it seemed full of flaws.

Lu Lianning watched indifferently as the butler saw Zheng Zhi out, his gaze drifting back to Li Yan, who remained sound asleep. His breathing was steady, and he hadn’t even turned over.

Lately, Li Yan had been fiddling with the TV at home, trying to figure out the function of every button. He’d switch from the entertainment channel to the finance channel, hoping to catch any news about Lu Lianning and Song Ruan.

The butler no longer stopped him from playing with the TV, but Li Yan still hadn’t found any updates. He kept silently praying that maybe he had just missed it.

Lu Lianning noticed these small actions but oddly didn’t get angry. He felt it was better for Li Yan to focus on the TV rather than going out every day and mingling with people like Lin Sheng or any other “Li Sheng” he could find.

During this time, Lu Lianning had been spending more time at home than usual, which left Li Yan feeling a bit less at ease.

One day during a meal, with the butler standing by the table, Li Yan wasn’t keen on speaking to Lu Lianning. Midway through the meal, he felt a twinge in his ankle. Looking down, he noticed a small bruise. He whispered to the butler, “My ankle’s been hurting these past few days.”

The butler glanced at Lu Lianning, who remained calm but responded sharply, “Your ankle hurts? Maybe if you stopped running around so much, it wouldn’t. Is the food here not enough for you?”

Li Yan pursed his lips, lowered his head, and continued eating in silence.

But it wasn’t just his ankle. Li Yan felt something was off with his body, though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

For instance, he often woke up in the middle of the night, feeling unbearably hot. At first, he thought it was because Lu Lianning was holding him too tightly. Then he wondered if the room temperature was set too high.

But nothing had changed—neither Lu Lianning nor the room temperature. Yet the heat he felt was overwhelming, burning from within.

One night, his little movements woke up Lu Lianning. Surprisingly patient, Lu Lianning turned to look at him. Li Yan’s face was flushed, his gaze unfocused as he looked at Lu Lianning, his breath hot as he pressed against him.

Lu Lianning instantly became alert, any trace of sleep gone.

He asked, “What’s wrong?” As he spoke, his hand slid down Li Yan’s back, and he immediately sensed something was strange.

Lu Lianning’s eyes lit up, finding this both unexpected and pleasantly surprising.

Li Yan ended up being tormented to the point of weakness but couldn’t understand what had provoked Lu Lianning this time.

“I haven’t even been out much lately…” Li Yan felt uncomfortable and said, “Did I do something wrong… Is this a punishment?”

Lu Lianning remained silent, offering no response. This made Li Yan believe he was right, though he still couldn’t figure out what he’d done. So, he apologized, admitting fault just in case.

Yet, Lu Lianning didn’t seem inclined to let him off. Hesitantly, Li Yan asked, “Is it about Qi Zhen… Fine, I’ll apologize to him…” He assumed Lu Lianning was teaching him a lesson for hitting Qi Zhen’s head.

When Li Yan whispered “I’m sorry” again, Lu Lianning, as if unable to hold back any longer, muttered two words, “No need.”

Then he added, “You don’t need to apologize to him!” A moment later, his tone softened. “And you don’t need to apologize to me either.”

Despite being told not to apologize, Li Yan still felt as if he hadn’t been forgiven.

On the upside, Lu Lianning’s temper seemed to have improved slightly. It appeared that he was deliberately restraining himself from losing his temper with Li Yan.

But two and a half months into administering the catalyst, a small accident occurred.

Li Yan discovered the injections.

It was a typical Monday morning, but Li Yan was nowhere to be found in the house, even though the butler confirmed he hadn’t left.

Lu Lianning’s expression turned ugly, realizing he had let his guard down, and they were now just two injections short of completing the three-month course.

It seemed Li Yan had developed resistance to the medicine, causing him to wake up earlier than usual after the last injection and realize something was wrong.

After searching the house twice and reviewing the security footage, they saw Li Yan hadn’t even left the bedroom.

Lu Lianning even checked under the bed but still found nothing.

He scanned the room, and his eyes finally settled on the tall wardrobe in the bedroom. The door was slightly ajar, barely noticeable.

His gaze shifted to the bright light in the room as he quietly approached the wardrobe.

Slowly, he pulled the door open. As expected, Li Yan was inside, knees drawn to his chest. A layer of sweat covered his forehead, and despite the faint light coming through the crack, the darkness of the space made him visibly anxious.

Li Yan’s wide eyes looked up at Lu Lianning, his breathing erratic.

Lu Lianning could tell that Li Yan was on edge, so he made sure not to startle him. He glanced briefly at Li Yan before his gaze froze.

He was stunned. Half the clothes in the wardrobe belonged to Li Yan, and the other half to Lu Lianning. Yet right now, Li Yan was curled up among Lu Lianning’s clothes.

In fact, he had even pulled down a few items to sit on, with several more lying crumpled in front of him.

Subconsciously, Li Yan was dependent on Lu Lianning’s pheromones, though he seemed unaware of it himself.

Lu Lianning took a few moments to compose his expression, then casually opened the wardrobe wider as if he were simply getting clothes and not specifically searching for Li Yan.

He said, “Get up. You’re sitting on my clothes.”

Li Yan blinked in surprise and slowly lowered his head, noticing that he was indeed sitting on Lu Lianning’s clothes.

He obediently lifted his butt slowly, allowing Lu Lianning to pull the clothes out from under him.

But just as Li Yan started to rise, Lu Lianning changed direction. Instead of grabbing the clothes, he wrapped an arm around Li Yan’s legs and pulled him out of the wardrobe.

Li Yan immediately began to struggle. “No, I don’t… I don’t want the injection…”

He struggled so hard that Lu Lianning had no choice but to put him on the bed, holding him down as he tried to calm him. “Come on, Li Yan. Listen to me. You’re a little sick, and you need this injection.”

“I’m not sick!” Li Yan, drenched in sweat and gasping for air, shouted back.

“You are. You’ve noticed something’s wrong, haven’t you?” Lu Lianning’s voice was frighteningly calm as his eyes locked onto Li Yan’s.

Li Yan, genuinely intimidated by his words, gradually stopped resisting. He had felt that something was off with his body lately.

Seeing Li Yan calm down, Lu Lianning slowly loosened his grip on his shoulders and gently called his name, “Li Yan?”

Although Li Yan’s breathing was still uneven, his emotions had settled. He glanced at Lu Lianning, clearly uncomfortable.

Lu Lianning’s hand gently touched the back of Li Yan’s neck, resting on the glands where he had been marked. Slowly, he released a small amount of pheromones.

Over an hour later, Zheng Zhi finally entered the bedroom with the butler.

Li Yan was half-embraced by Lu Lianning in the all-too-familiar position for getting an injection. Zheng Zhi glanced over and opened the case he had brought with him.

When Li Yan saw Zheng Zhi approach with the needle and the butler nearby, he became visibly embarrassed, instinctively shrinking closer to Lu Lianning.

Lu Lianning calmly rolled up the sleeve of Li Yan’s pajamas, his movements smooth and practiced. “No need to hide. They all know, and no one will laugh at you.”

Zheng Zhi paused when he heard this, giving Lu Lianning a surprised look, as if taken aback by him finally saying something sensible.