Chapter 3

Yu Lan, who was not a child, was fed again and finally taken upstairs.

The housekeeper warmly said, “Just tell us if you need anything, just treat this place as your home, no need to be restrained.”

Yu Lan nodded and said, “Thank you.”

This room was huge and looked very comfortable.

Yu Lan didn’t know how to describe it. Even if he escaped the couple’s clutches, he never thought he’d be able to live such a life.

Yu Lan remembered the man and subconsciously asked, “Mr Shao’s room is next to mine?”

“Yes,” The housekeeper’s mind moved and added with a smile, “If you have any problems, you can go to Mr Shao.”

“En,” Yu Lan obediently replied, “Thank you so much.”

“It’s fine, no need to be so polite. You should get some early rest.” The housekeeper smiled and said goodnight.

After the housekeeper left, Yu Lan was left alone in the room.

Yu Lan walked around the room.

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The bed was big, and it felt like it could fit three people… There was a desk by the window with books on the shelves, but Yu Lan hadn’t come across books in a long time and couldn’t recognise many words…

There were no clothes in the wardrobe at the moment. The housekeeper had just said that some would put in tomorrow…

Finally, Yu Lan sat on the bed, staring out the window at the peaceful night.

An indescribable sense of security.

I’m really…completely free, I guess…

*

After a quick shower in the bathroom, Yu Lan went to bed early.

Although he had already slept under the effects of the drug, in the end, he had never relaxed before, so this time he still fell asleep quickly.

Only to wake up in the middle of the night with a headache.

Yu Lan was used to the pain and didn’t open his eyes. He curled up and bit his lower lip, silently enduring it.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, probably ten minutes or an hour, Yu Lan didn’t really care. Anyways, when the pain gradually faded, he fell back asleep in a daze, covered in sweat.

When he woke up again, the sunlight was bright.

Yu Lan changed into yesterday’s home clothes and went downstairs. Aunty Jiang had just prepared lunch and warmly greeted him. “Mr Yu woke up? Come on down and eat.”

Yesterday Mr Shao had said to let Mr Yu sleep until he woke up himself and there was no need to disturb him.

Yu Lan hurriedly thanked her, went to the table, sat down and looked around suspiciously. Aunty Jiang smiled. “Mr Shao is usually quite busy. He went to the office early this morning.”

Yu Lan slowly spoke, “Oh…”

“Uncle Liu went to the animal hospital to pick up Little Mars,” said Aunty Jiang, “Little Mars is a shepherd dog that Mr Shao is raising. It ate something random had diarrhea the day before yesterday and was sent to the hospital to get saline drips for three days. It’s better now and is back today.”

Accompanied by Aunty Jiang, Yu Lan drank another bowl of porridge and Uncle Liu, the housekeeper, returned with the big dog.

The first time one person and one dog met, both sides went wide-eyed.

Yu Lan thought to himself, what a big dog. Such long and smooth fur, he had only seen them before on the orphanage TV! Will it bite? Does it behave?

Little Mars…it tilted its head and wagged its tail wildly, its eyes shone brightly.

The housekeeper, Uncle Liu, nudged its head, laughed and scolding, “It only likes the good-looking ones!”

Little Mars scampered up to Yu Lan, moving briskly. You couldn’t tell at all that he was a sick dog before.

He circled to the left and right around Yu Lan, who laughed at his amusement and reached out to touch him. In his excitement, Little Mars just stood up and put his two front legs on Yu Lan’s shoulders…and crushed Yu Lan to the ground.

Uncle Liu quickly pulled Little Mars up and scolded him a bit.

Seeing Yu Lan and Little Mars playing together, Uncle Liu remembered what Mr Shao told them last night.

He didn’t know what previous history there had been between Mr Shao and this young gentleman, but he already knew that Yu Lan was from a human trafficker and had previously been imprisoned for sixteen years.

Uncle Liu was shocked on the inside. If he didn’t know, he wouldn’t have been able to imagine that this young man, who could still smile like a little angel, had had that kind of experience.

Mr Shao had given him some instructions. Uncle Liu thought about it and said to Yu Lan, “Mr Yu, if you’re bored, you can take Little Mars out for a walk. This whole manor is Mr Shao’s so it’s safe and the weather is nice today, so you can take a walk around.”

Yu Lan was a little surprised.

When he came back last night, it was so dark that he didn’t look closely enough to know that they were in a manor. Also, this whole manor was Mr Shao’s?

When Little Mars heard this, he had run off on his own and came back with a red leash. It was very smart.

Yu Lan had nothing else to do anyway, so he obediently put the leash on Little Mars.

Aunty Jiang smiled and said, “Little Mars is smart and knows the way.”

Yu Lan touched Little Mar’s head and whispered, “Then I’ll trouble you to lead the way.”

Little Mars, “Woof!”

*

The manor was large beyond Yu Lan’s imagination. He was utterly shocked.

Mr Shao had a massive piece of land.

In front of the villa was a lawn with a fountain in the centre, flanked by groves of trees.

Little Mars went straight to the grove.

This place was in the middle of summer, but the woods were shaded and very refreshing. Flowers were blooming on both sides of the trail, creating a beautiful view.

This place was so~peaceful…

They reached a fork in the road as they walked and as Yu Lan was struggling with which way to go, Little Mars wagged his tail and turned left.

…It really knows the way!

Given that Little Mars seemed really smart, Yu Lan, who admitted himself that he didn’t know anything, took Mars as a teacher.

“Little Mars, which way is it?”

“Woof!” Forwards!

“Little Mars, there’s a stream over there!”

“Woof woof!” Cross over, cross over!

“Little Mars, what is this flower called?

“Awoo!” I don’t know either!

“Little Mars, is this a fruit? Is it edible?

……

Yu Lan talked to himself the entire time until the end, and when Yu Lan asked again, Teacher Little Mars turned his head to look at him with a look of helplessness and wagged his tail when he turned back.

Yu Lan called out, “Little Mars?”

Little Mars: Wagging tail, didn’t hear.

Suddenly, Little Mars became excited, yelled and rushed forward.

Yu Lan followed it for a bit and when he looked up, he saw the man turning out from a path ahead.

Dressed in a white shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his elbows, the man had nothing on him but one hand in his pocket and looked as if he had taken a slow stroll here.

Aunty Jiang said Mr Shao went to the office early in the morning, did he already come back so quickly?

Yu Lan involuntarily jumped up.

Little Mars was so strong that Yu Lan had to run when it lurched forward, so Yu Lan simply let go of the leash.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he let go of the leash, Little Mar’s footsteps stopped. It then bit the leash and “pitter-patter” ran to Yu Lan, raising its head, indicating that he shouldn’t let go. Its gaze was very dissatisfied.

Yu Lan, confused, held on the leash again…and Little Mars lunged at the man with another “Awoo Awoo”!

This time, Yu Lan was dragged to the man by it.

The man raised the corners of his lips and smiled, rubbing Little Mars’s head and saying to Yu Lan, “It loves drama like that.”

Seeing a man smile for the first time, Yu Lan’s ears reddened.

“How did you sleep last night?” The man straightened up, looked at him and asked.

“Very well, thank you.” From yesterday to today, Yu Lan didn’t know how many times he had said “thank you”, he moved his lips and tried to ask, “Are you… off from work?”

“Mhm, I came back early.” Shao Mingyu asked, “Are you going back?”

Yu Lan immediately nodded.

Shao Mingyu didn’t head back in the direction Lu Yan came from but chose another direction.

When walking side by side with the man in the woods, Yu Lan always had an unexplainable nervousness.

Likewise, he was not a man of many words.

For the past sixteen years, even though they were locked in the same cage with other omegas, everyone was quiet and numb. Sometimes no one made a noise in the whole day.

Occasionally Yu Lan couldn’t even distinguish between reality and dreams, only to feel the dead silence no matter which side it was.

He wanted to try to chat to Mr Shao but he wasn’t very skilled at finding topics.

Fortunately, after walking for a bit, Shao Mingyu took the initiative to speak, “I’ll ask the doctor to come over tomorrow and give you another checkup.”

The youth’s body was too thin and weak, and there was no telling how many hidden dangers lurked in his sixteen years of captivity.

Yu Lan quickly nodded, feeling warm from the man’s arrangement.

Shao Mingyu turned around, looked at the youth who was following him nicely, and said, “If the doctor confirms that it’s okay, I’d like to arrange some lessons for you, how about some teachers?”

Yu Lan was startled.

He didn’t think Mr Shao would even consider this.

Yu Lan wanted to live a normal life and to understand the world better, he wanted to learn, he wanted to absorb, but…he blushed and said, “I, I still have a lot of words that I can’t read.”

At twenty-two, he was afraid that he was not even as knowledgeable as many little children.

Shao Mingyu’s eyes darkened as he said, “It’s okay, the basics are quick to learn, I’ll have my teacher teach from scratch.”

Yu Lan pursed his lips, nodded heavily and added, “Thank you very much.”

“No need to be so polite,” Shao Mingyu suddenly asked, “Did you learn it from Uncle Liu and the others? You don’t have to call me that, you can just call me by my name, whatever is comfortable for you.”

Yu Lan opened his mouth…call him Shao Mingyu?

He already knew the man was twenty-seven, only five years older than him, but for some reason, he just felt that he couldn’t say it out loud.

But after the man said this, he looked at him as if he was waiting for Yu Lan to call him.

After taking a few steps, Yu Lan whispered, “…Mr Shao.”

“…” Shao Mingyu rubbed his head.

Yu Lan’s heart was beating fast and his face was red.

It was also at this time that Shao Mingyu stopped in his tracks.

Yu Lan followed his gaze and saw a grapevine.

It was probably at the right time of year now. Bunches of purple grapes hung like jewels on the vine, one by one, large and full.

Shao Mingyu looked thoughtfully at Yu Lan and asked, “These batches of grapes have just ripened, do you want to taste them?”

Yu Lan nodded her head and followed Shao Mingyu.

Shao Mingyu picked one off and handed it to Yu Lan, who carefully peeled off the skin and stuffed the flesh into his mouth.

Sour and sweet, he narrowed his eyes like a kitten.

Shao Mingyu’s smiled, “Is it good?”

Yu Lan nodded, delicious!

By the way, his pheromones are grape-flavoured too…

A gust of wind swept past and a leaf fell down leisurely, grazing the tip of Yu Lan’s nose.

The sun casts its rays down through the gaps between the leaves, one by one, dropping spots of light on the ground.

Yu Lan’s conditioned reflex was shrinking his neck when the leaves grazed the tip of his nose and continued to fall…landing in the man’s hands.

Yu Lan looked up confusedly into the man’s dark eyes.

It was as if he saw something else in the man’s eyes at that moment.

Yu Lan didn’t understand, but he was a little intoxicated.

His heart was numb and itchy, a feeling that was too foreign to Yu Lan.

Yu Lan’s Adam’s apple rolled down.

He gazed at the man and briskly asked, “Why does Little Mars like that kind of drama?”

Shao Mingyu closed his palm, held the leaf in his hand, and said, “It…likes to watch TV.”

*

The next day, Yu Lan and Little Mars were nestled on the couch, watching TV without moving.

In the hallway outside the house, the man smokes a cigarette.

The two doctors compiled their information and walked out backwards and forwards.

The psychiatrist said that Yu Lan’s status is a B, which means he’s not at his best, but he’s okay, even if he’s immediately exposed to the outside world, so don’t worry too much.

After it was over, another doctor stepped forward and handed the examination report to Shao Mingyu.

Shao Mingyu took it, but his smoking was stagnant.

Inside the room, the youth was hugging his knees, curled up like a child, intently watching the cartoons on TV.

And the report listed one item after another.

Long-time malnutrition required some adjustments in food.

Having been injected with all sorts of drugs for a long time, his body’s various mechanisms were in disarray and it was impossible, but to continue taking medicine.

There also seemed to be some issues with his head, the specifics of today’s report will be needed to be brought back for analysis.

“Another thing is, Mr Yu’s estrus problem…”

*

Yu Lan didn’t pay too much attention to the test results. Although he knew that Mr Shao had sent the doctor over because he was worried about him, he himself felt as if he was still healthy.

He and Litt Mars had just spent the afternoon watching cartoons on the couch and had dinner with Mr Shao.

After the meal, Aunty Jiang handed over a bowl of black medicine.

Yu Lan stiffened and asked in a small voice, “…Is it bitter?”

Aunty Jiang coaxed, “It’s always a little bitter, but just drink it in one gulp. It’s good for your health.”

Yu Lan gulped, a little apprehensive. The medicine was taken, but not so much that he wanted to put it in his mouth.

He eyed the man, who was leaning against the stairs, looking at him as he made a phone call, with one word in his eyes, drink.

Yu Lan, “…”

He took a deep breath, held it, and swallowed the medicine in one big gulp.

After swallowing it, it was so bitter that Yu Lan’s small face crumpled into a frown.

The next second, a piece of fruit candy was shoved into his mouth.

Yu Lan blinked and looked up. Shao Mingyu was still on the phone, talking to the other party about work, and after stuffing his mouth with the candy, he rubbed Yu Lan’s head.

Yu Lan kept the candy in his mouth.

It was grape-flavoured.

He raised the corners of his lips, a little inexplicably happy.

“Don’t get too close to the TV.” Knowing that Yu Lan was going to watch TV again, Shao Mingyu instructed during the call.

“Okay.” Yu Lan complied and ran to the couch.

In the next second, Little Mars barked wildly.

Shao Mingyu sharply turned back. The youth knelt by the sofa, one hand gripping the armrest, his entire body curled into a ball.

Aunty Jiang noticed Yu Lan’s condition, wiped her hands and came out of the kitchen, and said in a panic, “What’s wrong?”

Yu Lan knelt on the ground, his head aching so much that he could barely hear anything as if he had directly lost his hearing. At the same time, he was aware that his pheromones were leaking out uncontrollably-

He was in heat again.

He was obviously in heat yesterday and it happened again today.

Was it going to come every day instead of once a few days?!

Yu Lan’s fingers strained until the veins stood out.

He gasped for air, enduring the pain from his head and the physical oddities brought on by his estrus, but he couldn’t stop the pain from coming out of his throat…

A pair of arms lifted him off the ground.

Yu Lan gasped and raised his head as the other man moved.

It was Mr Shao…

Yu Lan leaned into the other man’s arms, shaking slightly and grabbing him.

Uncle Liu, the housekeeper, also heard the commotion at this moment and rushed in from outside, immediately saying when he saw the situation, “I’ll go get the inhibitor.”

“Wait a minute.” Shao Mingyu stopped him.

Uncle Liu stopped and looked at the man in confusion.

The man was silent for a moment and said, “The doctor says he can no longer abuse the inhibitors.”

Outside the corridor during the day in the afternoon.

The doctor sighed, “Some traffickers, in order to… sell them for a high price, will keep them until when they’re adults and get their estrus period. Then, they deliberately speed up their estrus with drugs. The way they do this is by constantly administering inhibitors, even when they aren’t in estrus and as a result, their estrus will be completely messed up and it comes quicker. He can no longer use inhibitors any more often. You have to cut the amount down, first to once a month. Other times, you have to rely on temporary markers to keep it down, or…he’ll be broken.”

At this moment, Uncle Liu was startled. “What? T-then what should we do-”

Uncle Liu’s thoughts turned and he hesitantly said, “My son is an alpha. If he needs a temporary mark to keep him from-”

Yu Lan vaguely heard Uncle Liu’s words and nervously struggled to stand up.

However, his wrists were clasped by the man.

Yu Lan looked back, trembling, at the man and the other gazed at him, paused, and whispered, “Do you trust me?”

Yu Lan gasped, startled.

After a while, he nodded slowly with red eyes.

He didn’t know what to make of the temporary marking, but he was willing to trust the man.

Shao Mingyu tightened his arms and held him tightly, then lowered his head and sprayed his breath on the back of Yu Lan’s neck.

“It’ll be over soon, don’t be afraid.”