Fang Xingzhou had a rare dream.
In the dream, eerie crimson eyes lurked in the darkness, staring intently at him. Their gaze was filled with intense hunger, so ravenous it seemed they wanted to devour him whole, yet they cautiously kept their distance, watching him from the early hours of the night until the late hours.
Though it was just a monster conjured by his imagination in the dream, Fang Xingzhou inexplicably felt a strong sense of pity for it, as if there was something about it that connected to him, making him unable to resist the urge to get closer.
Following his instincts, he walked toward the eyes.
With each step he took, the eyes retreated, as if afraid of being discovered, hiding themselves deeper in the darkness. The eyeballs darted around nervously, seemingly searching for a suitable hiding place.
Fang Xingzhou stopped in his tracks, crouched down a few steps away, and smiled gently at the unknown little monster. In a tone so tender it surprised even himself, he asked, “Baby, what do you want?”
Seeing that he showed no signs of disgust, the eyes widened, and though still shielded by the darkness, they visibly became more active, boldly taking half a step closer to Fang Xingzhou. From its disguised human throat, it struggled to produce soft, sharp sounds, spitting out syllables one by one.
No matter how hard it tried, the human-like sounds echoing in the silent dream still sent chills down Fang Xingzhou’s spine.
“Eat…”
“Yummy… yummy…”
“Eat… eat…”
“Hungry… eat… mm… papa… eat…”
“Eat… papa… eat eat eat… eat… eat… papa… mm… ma… hungry… eat eat eat…”
Fang Xingzhou’s danger instincts were triggered. In the dream, his hair stood on end, and his heart pounded wildly. Yet, he couldn’t help but take a few more steps closer, wanting to see what the little monster really looked like.
As he approached, he asked softly, “What do you want to eat? Meat? Eyeballs? Snakes? …Or blood?”
But the moment he got closer, the creature quickly retreated, staring at him with unblinking vigilance, its strange vocal cords endlessly repeating:
“Eat… eat… hungry… eat… papa…”
Fang Xingzhou quickened his pace.
The “eyes” widened to their limit, nervously watching Fang Xingzhou. Seeing that he still hadn’t stopped, they suddenly vanished into the darkness.
“Hehe… eat… mm… eat… hehehe…”
The hidden little monster, now free from worry, began to chatter incessantly in its clumsy, awkward human language, muttering on and on until dawn.
When Fang Xingzhou opened his eyes, he still faintly felt as if something was whispering in his ear.
He stared at the ceiling for a while.
After waking up, the details of the dream quickly faded, and his memory became hazy. All he could recall was the endless repetition of “hungry,” “papa,” and “eat” echoing in his mind. He couldn’t help but reach out and repeatedly touch Lu Jianchuan’s belly.
Surprisingly, Lu Jianchuan was already awake early in the morning.
He was enjoying the rare feeling of being full, as if he had returned to the days before his pregnancy—energetic, vigorous, and embracing his lover every morning, waiting for him to wake up… How wonderful.
Though it had only been five months since those days, it felt like an eternity had passed.
Lu Jianchuan sighed deeply, covering Fang Xingzhou’s hand with his own, and kissed his forehead. His voice was lazy and content. “Good morning, Xingzhou. Did you feel anything?”
Through the layer of skin, Fang Xingzhou could sense the vibrant life beneath his palm, more vigorous than it had been in the past five months.
“The baby seems… to have grown a lot overnight,” he said, still somewhat uncertain, unable to distinguish between the dream and reality. “I think I had a dream.”
Lu Jianchuan shifted comfortably, gently brushing Fang Xingzhou’s eyelashes, his chest vibrating softly with his voice. “A good dream or a nightmare?”
The image of those crimson, pupil-less eyes surfaced in Fang Xingzhou’s mind, and his heart softened uncontrollably. He couldn’t help but smile slightly.
“A good dream,” he said. “I dreamed that our child could call me ‘daddy,’ though the pronunciation was a bit strange.”
Lu Jianchuan chuckled softly. “And then?”
“He kept saying he was hungry, that he wanted to eat,” Fang Xingzhou continued, frowning slightly. “Didn’t you two get enough to eat last night?”
Lu Jianchuan vaguely guessed what had happened and clicked his tongue, tapping his belly. “…It’s just too greedy.”
After scolding the restless embryo, he pulled Fang Xingzhou closer. “We ate very well last night. I don’t think I’ll need to bother the farm for a while. The owner has been looking at me like he wants to assassinate me lately.”
Fang Xingzhou felt relieved and kissed Lu Jianchuan’s lips lightly before getting out of bed. He walked barefoot to the wardrobe to change.
The “gaze” he had felt outside the house last night still bothered him greatly. He warned, “If you’re not going to the farm, then stay home and try not to go out.”
Lu Jianchuan leaned against the headboard, squinting slightly as he admired his lover’s back, exposed in the morning light as he changed out of his pajamas.
His brain automatically shifted into an excited state, filtering out Fang Xingzhou’s words. Eagerly, he asked, “Honey, are you trying to lock me up at home for some… games?”
Fang Xingzhou: “…”
Lu Jianchuan’s imagination ran wild. “Should we buy handcuffs? Anklets? Chains? Oh, and maybe some ru…”
Fang Xingzhou strode to the bed with a shirt in hand and efficiently gagged him, tying the long sleeves into a bow at the back of his head.
“Study more and stop reading those random and porny stuff,” he said incredulously. “What’s going on in your head?”
Lu Jianchuan: “Mmm, mmm, mmm…”
After changing, Fang Xingzhou added, “Don’t run around, don’t open the door for strangers, don’t eat random things. If you’re hungry, text me, and I’ll bring you something good to eat.”
The gagged Lu Jianchuan blinked vigorously.
“Be good, both you and the baby,” Fang Xingzhou said.
Lu Jianchuan: “Mmm mmm mmm.”
Fang Xingzhou picked up his work card and left for work.
…
Only after leaving Lu Jianchuan’s range of perception did Fang Xingzhou dare to take out his phone and check last night’s chat history.
Li Xuan had created a small group of three yesterday afternoon and sent a message.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Fang! How did you like the ingredients from today? How did they taste?”
“The other person in the group is my colleague and also Mr. Lu’s attending physician at the institute. He’s very excited to hear your feedback and hasn’t been able to sleep for three days. @Yan Xin”
Yan Xin, with a golden snake as his profile picture, replied: “Hello, Dr. Fang! It’s an honor to be of help to you. How did Mr. Lu find the ingredients? How long did it take to digest? Did the fetus grow larger? Were there any rejection symptoms like vomiting or abdominal pain?”
“Dr. Fang, are you busy? If you see this, please reply when you can~”
“Dr. Fang, it’s morning. Time to get up and work. How was the food yesterday? Let me know when you have time!”
The last message was sent at 10 p.m. It seemed Dr. Yan might have stayed up all night waiting.
Fang Xingzhou felt a pang of guilt. After reading the chat history, he began typing:
“The taste was excellent. Deer has never eaten so well before. The fetus has also grown noticeably, and there were no rejection symptoms. Thank you.”
Yan Xin instantly replied with three rows of excited, screaming emojis.
“That’s great!!!”
Fang Xingzhou: “Also, I wanted to ask, did you detect any magnetic field changes last night?”
After a moment, Li Xuan replied: “Yes, at 9:15 p.m., we detected a significant energy fluctuation on Xiangxing Street. Perhaps Lu Jianchuan reverted to his true form to digest after eating?”
9:15 p.m. was exactly when Lu Jianchuan had gone to the bathroom.
Fang Xingzhou: “Yes, most likely. Anything else?”
Li Xuan: “Aside from that, many innocent little animals were drawn to the area. Fortunately, Mr. Lu was full last night and didn’t hunt.”
Fang Xingzhou: “Does he usually… hunt small animals?”
Li Xuan: “Of course. Haven’t you noticed how the ecosystem on Xiangxing Street has improved since he got pregnant? No rats, no bugs, no mosquitoes, not even cockroaches.”
Fang Xingzhou stared at the word “cockroaches” for a long time, instinctively beginning to think about how to scientifically disinfect humans or monsters.
Lu Jianchuan… you’ve worked hard.
He took a moment to collect himself, then asked, “Anything else unusual about the magnetic field?”
Li Xuan: “No. Or did you notice something?”
Fang Xingzhou wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he decided to share the information with the institute: “I felt as if something dangerous was watching us, from the three o’clock direction.”
Li Xuan: “Noted. We’ll investigate and let you know if we find anything.”
“Also, Yan Xin, when is the next nutritional supplement scheduled?”
Yan Xin sent another row of excited emojis and replied: “The embryo is only five months old. For a monster, that’s still a very early stage. Too frequent nutritional supplements could cause it to develop too quickly, posing a threat to the ‘mother’. So, I’ve scheduled the next supplement for three weeks from now.”
“Once the embryo reaches ten months, we can increase the frequency of supplements.”
Fang Xingzhou frowned: “Ten months? Will it still not be born by then?”
Yan Xin: “Well, that depends on the baby’s development. It’s hard to predict the due date now… Regular supplements will help the embryo develop better and might even bring the delivery date forward.”
Fang Xingzhou thought of Lu Jianchuan’s increasingly noticeable belly and sighed softly: “Okay, thank you. I understand. I’ll contact you if there are any issues.”
Li Xuan: “Wait!”
“Let’s discuss any related issues in this group from now on. I think we should give the group a name. Xingzhou, what do you think? ‘Pregnancy Nutrition Exchange’? ‘Pregnancy Log’? ‘Latest Academic Findings Exchange’?”
Fang Xingzhou thought for a moment.
He clicked into the group description and changed the name to:
【Meat Market Discount Group】
Then he changed Li Xuan’s nickname to “Old Butcher Li” and Yan Xin’s to “Supplier Master Yan.”
Li Xuan: “?”
Yan Xin: “?”
Fang Xingzhou: “We can’t let Lu Jianchuan find out. This group name is safer. Call me if anything comes up.”
Li Xuan: “You’re truly a versatile genius :)”
Yan Xin: “…Then we’ll meet again in three weeks. Next time, I’ll personally deliver the goods and get to know Dr. Fang properly [smile].”
Three weeks…
Fang Xingzhou looked at the words on the screen, turned off his phone, and couldn’t help but feel that Yan Xin had vastly underestimated Lu Jianchuan and the baby’s digestive capabilities.
__________________________
translater notes:
hahahahahahahahahahhhahaha
It’s so weirdly wholesome lol
Two negatives make a positive~ because both of them are un-normal so it makes the relationship look so normal lol