Chapter 9

Everyone looked at the young man in a hoodie, then at the sixteen year old behind him who was not much shorter than him, and couldn’t help but, “….”

Chen Mo’s mother was stunned for a moment then stamped with fury as she said, “You ‘smelly boy’.1 Who are you taking advantage of?”

The long, bright red nails decorated with diamonds drew an arc aiming straight at Xia Yuzhou’s face. There’s a child behind him, making him unable to move, so he could only turn his face sideways and raise his elbow to block.

“Pa!” The expected pain did not appear, and a thin pale hand tightly grasped the woman’s wrist. Looking past that hand, everyone was shocked. It was actually that sick young man that was hiding behind Xia Yuzhou.

Chen Mo held the corner of Xia Yuzhou’s clothes with one hand, while the other firmly grasped his mother’s wrist. He said in a hoarse voice, “Still not satisfied with the trouble you’ve caused?”

The woman looked at Chen Mo, then at her hand, her face inconceivable, “Chen Mo, are you talking to me?”

On the back of his hand that was filled with needle scars, the thin bones and blue vessel starkly protruded, trembling slightly. The young man’s face was drenched with cold sweat, but his eyes shone brighter than ever, “If not you, then who else…”

The last word turned into a breath, and the pale hand suddenly lost its strength.

Xia Yuzhou saw that hand fall down, and caught the waist of the falling young man, “Chen Mo!”

The young man’s eyes were closed and he made no response.

It threw the surrounding people in a mess. The nurses came to help while Xia Yuzhou changed his support and directly picked him up sideways. The boy had thick bones and even if he was skinny, he still had a certain weight. When he threw him on the bed, Xia Yuzhou heard his waist creak.2

The doctor on duty passing by came in to check the patient’s condition. The people in the hallway who were previously watching the excitement gossiped about. There was one aunt who couldn’t take it anymore and pointed at Chen Mo’s mother. “How can you call yourself a mother? He’s already so sick like that, and you still can’t help but quarrel with him.”

“It’s none of your business!” The aunt’s words ‘choked’3 the woman and she couldn’t help look at her child. She didn’t come near the bed, standing two steps away as she looked at her feeble son. She held her hands together and in the process, unconsciously scratched off one of the diamonds on her nails.

“It’s okay. It’s only hypoglycemia,” The doctor put away the stethoscope and asked the nurse next to him, “Has he eaten this morning?”

“Yes, it wasn’t much but he vomited it in the end.” The nurse said bitterly. Because of the continuous injections of chemical drugs, Chen Mo’s own appetite had never been good. Him vomiting this morning did not arouse any suspision to the nurse.

The doctor sighed, “Look for Doctor Si and prescribe some glucose for him.” Si Jun is the attending doctor, the one who handles all of Chen Mo’s drug prescriptions. Without his approval, no other doctor has the right to prescribe to his patient. The nurse went to see Si Jun, while the doctor soon left after her, and the ward became quiet again.

He Yu walked in and said to Mother Chen. “Ms. Yang, let’s talk.”

The little assistant took out a thick agreement and handed it to Mother Chen. “Ms. Yang, our research institute has decided to provide Chen Mo with bone marrow transplant, free of charge treatment. Please sign here.”

Mother Chen ignored him, still wringing her hands persistently, thereby causing one of the diamonds on her thumb to be plucked, and it shot onto the snow-white sheet hospital bed. After a while, she took out her mobile phone and took a picture of her unconscious son. “Don’t think me ignorant. You want to experiment on him, I will never sign that agreement. He is so capable now, why don’t you let him sign it himself if he wants to be cured?”

After that, she left with the reporters and cameramen.

“Hiss——” Xia Yuzhou slowly stood up straight while kneading his waist, “What the hell was that?!”4

He Yu took off his white coat and handed it to his assistant. It revealed his long-sleeved, wine-red shirt inside. “She’s a lunatic and must be confined to the hospital as soon as possible. When I heard she appeared here in the morning, I didn’t even have time to take off my research uniform and from the lab, directly ran here.”

Xia Yuzhou’s eyes lit up, “If you’re too busy, go back first. I’ll take care of him.”

He Yu smiled and shook his head, “You have nothing to do with him. How can I trouble you? The assistant has already proceeded with the transfer procedure. We will leave after he has finished the glucose.”

“Is it so urgent?” Xia Yuzhou touched his son’s forehead and gritted his teeth covertly. This is not something that can be solved with a shot of glucose. He has just completed the transformation and urgently needs to drink blood.

“Huff, huff…” Chen Mo slowly opened his eyes. The weakness brought by the First Embrace made more apparent, with him gasping for breath while he looked pitifully at Xia Yuzhou.

Xia Yuzhou suddenly understood the feeling of a breastfeeding woman. The child is hungry and crying to be fed. He really wanted to strip and milk for him on the spot.

He looked up and glared at his suddenly unsightly senior. The bloodfang hidden in the mask slowly raised, and ‘a sudden impulse to murder came to him.’5

At this moment, another assistant quickly walked in wearing a distressed expression. “Professor, the hospital is refusing the transfer.”

“Why?” The assistant holding the coat was surprised, “Didn’t they already give us the greenlight?”

“He’s not fit to transfer now.” Si Jun came in holding a stack of lab test results.

He Yu took the papers in his hands but didn’t read it, simply looking at him suspiciously.

Xia Yuzhou looked at Si Jun who stood upright, and his fingers unconsciously curled up. This person actually came to help him, even after I gave him such an absurd reason!

A bizarre sense of suffocation filled Xia Yuzhou and only when he felt his fingertips numbed was he able to gently spit out a breath. No matter what Si Jun is thinking, it’s great to be able to receive his help. What reason did he use to persuade them?

The research institute is ready, and the hospital has already given its approval. Now, it appeared as if Si Jun went back on his word. He was rash when he made that request to him, the fact that Si Jun is just a small time doctor who had just become a full-time doctor, and how he had to fight against his senior who is already an associate professor never came to his mind. Even if He Yu has a good temper and wouldn’t be angry, there must at least be a valid reason to convince him.

Si Jun looked down and examined the patient, and with an attitude of completely having no intention of explaining, he said, “You can go now.”

Xia Yuzhou, “…..”

He Yu did not raise any objections, but calmly looked at him, “When can I transfer him?”

“When I say he’s able to.” Si Jun looked back, and because of his taller height, he somehow looked superior.

“Okay.” He Yu’s eyes bent as he laughed mildly. He wore his eyeglasses again, and went to the bedside to say his goodbye to the young man who’ve finally caught his breath. “Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.” He rubbed the top of the young man’s hair, nodded his leave to Xia Yuzhou and left together with his assistants.

Chen Mo held up his weak body and sat up, raising his hand to touch the top of his head while his face remained in disbelief, “Did Teacher just touched my head just now?”

“!” Xia Yuzhou locked the door of the ward and drew the curtain closed.

“That was so magical, he actually talked to me in such a gentle tone, and even touched my head!” Chen Mo confirmed again, his tone inconceivable.

Xia Yuzhou turned around and grunted while ruffling his son’s head. “What are you being so excited about when he just touched your head.”

“No, Professor He is ‘extremely fastidious’6 and never touches other people,” Chen Mo began to gasp after saying those words, but still firmly continued on, “Besides, I haven’t washed my head for three days.”

Xia Yuzhou wiped his hand on his son’s hospital gown. He cast a glance on the corner of his eyes to look at Si Jun, who’s acting like a pillar, and didn’t know what to say in the end. He lowered his head and took out the thermoplastic pack from his backpack which contained the still cold blood.

The handsome Mr. Pillar finally spoke, “You’re giving him this?”

“He’s a vampire now, he’ll starve to death if he doesn’t drink blood,” Xia Yuzhou shook the blood pack in his hand, “Rest assured. This is duck blood. I didn’t kill anyone.”

As the last Bloodling, their old Xia family has always followed modern laws and regulations. No killing, no biting, only drinking animal blood.

Si Jun frowned in disapproval.

Xia Yuzhou became angry when he saw his expression. Then he remembered that this man had just helped him, so he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He cut open the blood pack and gave it to his son, “Come on, drink. You don’t have bloodfang yet, so just swallow it.”

Before the kid could even open his mouth, Si Jun had snatched the blood pack and put it at the tip of his nose for a sniff. “He currently has very low immunity. Why would you give him unsterilized blood?”

“What sterilization? After cooking, the ‘duck’ blood will turn into blood tofu, even if you ‘drink[shout]’ ‘chicken’…”7 Remembering this person’s dislike for obscenities, Xia Yuzhou braked the speeding car and switched to civilized mode.

Si Jun sighed gently and handed him a glass bottle, “Let him drink this.”

Xia Yuzhou took it, looking at it suspiciously. The thin glass bottle was clean and transparent, seemingly containing some dark red liquid. It looked like a ‘“Three No’s” pigmented drink’8, “What is this?”

“Pasteurized blood.”

“What?”

“Pasteurized blood,” Si Jun repeated. He showed him the flat-bottom of the bottle, where the production date can be seen. “It was just delivered yesterday and hasn’t expired yet.”

Pasteurization is a cryogenic disinfection technology used in the production of fresh milk, it can preserve the flavor of fresh milk to the maximum extent. This, Xia Yuzhou knows, but he had only ever heard of pasteurized milk, never had he heard of pasteurized blood. Where on the market can I find such a thing!

”

”

“No, wait a minute. What is that?” Xia Yuzhou’s thoughts became a little tangled, “Why do you even have such a thing?”

“This is my breakfast today. I haven’t had the time to drink it yet.” Si Jun honestly replied.

Oh, breakfast.

Breakfast?

Xia Yuzhou opened the cork and smelled it. It tastes much better than the crude blood he usually drinks. It’s sweet and mellow, but it is indeed blood! Why is this man’s breakfast blood?!

“Do you have a ‘pica’ diet?”9 Xia Yuzhou can only think in this direction.

During that time when Su Jin saw him try to nip someone before, he reacted fiercely and warned him not to treat people as food. Could it be that what happened back then left him a psychological shadow, and has caused him to gradually become abnormal in these years of seperation?

“No.”

“Are you a Bloodling?”

“Hmm.” Si Jun took the opened bottle and handed it to the kid who’s about to faint in hunger.

Chen Mo looked at Xia Yuzhou, but he couldn’t get his approval after waiting anxiously for a long time, so he could only swallow his saliva.

“How is that possible? How could you be a Bloodling?” Xia Yuzhou didn’t notice his son’s longing gaze at all, still shell shocked at the revelation that shook his whole family’s history.

His father once said that their family is the last Bloodling. Right now, apart from his converted stupid brother in their family line, he’s the only one left in the old Xia family, as well as the last purebred Bloodling in the world.10

“…I thought you knew.” Si Jun’s voice was a little hoarse.

“How the hell should I know? If I knew…” His words stopped abruptly, Xia Yuzhou suddenly looked up at him, and zeroed on the small red mole on his left ear lobe. Like a red agate that fell on frosted snow, it was conspicuous and dazzling on that fair to almost transparent skin.

Ear!

Yes, I bit Su Jin’s ear!

Up till now, Xia Yuzhou still remembers the taste of that blood drop, it was the sweetest blood he’d tasted so far.

“So it turned out to be like this.” Xia Yuzhou smiled bitterly. What the hell has he been doing these past five years!

Su Jin heard a faint 'sorry,” causing the hands hanging on his side to suddenly clench. He quietly watched Xia Yuzhou slowly approach. He raised a slightly trembling hand and gently pressed it against his face.

The re-awakening of that dearly reminiscent heat caused the both of them to tremble slightly.

Xia Yuzhou sniffed and choked, “Junjun, Dad is sorry. I will take good care of you in the future.”

At that time, he had yet to read his ancestor’s letters, so he was unaware what and how the process of the Blood Pledge ritual goes. So he, in his ignorance, gave his boyfriend the First Embrace.11

It’s no wonder, Si Jun reacted so much after being bitten.

It’s no wonder, Si Jun became very nice to him after his anger passed.

Where is the thoughtfulness of a boyfriend, it’s actually the filial piety for being kin!12

Xia Yuzhou inhaled slowly, the pain tearing at his heart turned into a breath and flowed out his mouth to his exhale. It has never been the person who chose his own path, but rather, he follows through the established well trodden ethical guidelines, otherwise, there will be no future that awaits.

Over the years, Si Jun has suffered a lot, no matter how much pain, he endured in spite of everything. However, he is still resentful. So much so that he’d thought of paying back as much, despite his ridiculous expectations.

The furthest distance in the world is not between life and death, but when I stand in front of you, we became father and son.

Blue veins popped out on Su Jin’s forehead one after another, it used up all his 20 years of ‘cultivation’13 of self-control to ‘restrain his voice’.14 He pulled away the hand on his face, gritted his teeth while squeezing out a sentence, “I was born a Bloodling, just like you. Not! Related! To! You!”