Chapter 43

Lin Ke gripped the tissues tightly, wiping the bedsheet faster as she said guiltily, “…Wait a bit. I’ll take a shower before coming out.”

Lu Tu asked, “Why are you showering? You’re not there, but why is your suitcase at the door?”

Lin Ke choked on a breath. “I, I, I… I didn’t take my clothes!”

Guo Rongrong had gone to help them bring in the suitcases, but she had only brought in the one filled with Lin Ke’s everyday clothes.

Lin Ke herself had come in, but the suitcase was still outside.

Lin Ke: “…”

Lu Tu did not understand. After checking the luggage leaning in the corridor by the door, she reached out to knock. Just then, the elevator behind her dinged.

Lu Tu turned back. Fang Wuyu walked out wearing a thin trench coat.

Lu Tu: “…”

Fang Wuyu had her shirt collar loosened. Frowning, she strode over quickly and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Ah.” Lu Tu smiled awkwardly. “Doctor Fang.”

In the bedroom, Lin Ke took two of Lin Bingran’s clothes and held them in her arms as she twisted open the bedroom door.

Lin Ke wanted to go to another bathroom to shower. Just as she stepped half a foot out, Guo Rongrong’s voice came from the doorway.

“Doctor Fang?”

Lin Ke: “…”

Lin Ke nearly bit her tongue. She pulled her foot back, shut the door, and ran to squeeze into the bathroom with Lin Bingran.

Lin Bingran was slightly surprised. Steam filled the bathroom. Lin Ke panted heavily, pointing outside but unable to speak. Then, seeing Lin Bingran’s current state, her face turned even redder, and she raised her hand to cover her eyes.

Lin Bingran turned off the water and dried herself. “You were the one who did all this. What are you shy about?”

Lin Ke lowered her hand, turned her face aside, and dropped her gaze to the floor. With reddened ears, she said, “Teacher Fang is here.”

Lin Bingran was surprised. “She’s here already?”

Lin Ke hummed. She pointed vaguely around the bathroom and said, “I need to take a shower. Avoid me for a bit.”

Lin Bingran gathered up her wet hair, pulled open a drawer, took out a ruby hairpin, and fixed it in place. “Then I’ll go out.”

Lin Bingran changed into autumn clothes: conservative long sleeves and long pants, just enough to cover the kiss marks scattered across her neck and elsewhere.

But Lin Ke was not satisfied. Lin Bingran’s eyes were moist, and she looked fresh and tender, like new tea in March after being nourished by spring rain. The more she covered up, the more it invited imagination.

Lin Ke said, “Dry your hair before going out.”

Lin Bingran raised an eyebrow. “Weren’t you the one chasing me out?”

Lin Ke put the clothes on the shelf and pulled the shower curtain over, blocking their view of each other. Irritated, she said, “You’re covered in pheromone scent. Aren’t you going to hide it?”

Lin Bingran listened to the fine sound of water as she blow-dried her hair. Behind the shower curtain, Lin Ke slowed the water flow to listen to the sound of the hair dryer.

Lin Bingran had a lot of hair, and its quality was excellent. If she really wanted to dry it properly, it would take ages. When Lin Ke finished changing and came out, Lin Bingran was holding the hair dryer with a bored expression, leaning against the wall and nearly falling asleep.

Lin Ke snatched the hair dryer from her and quickly tidied Lin Bingran’s [Read on BaiLianTales]hair. She sprayed suppressant on both of them and tried hard to make Lin Bingran look a little more dignified before finally leaving the bathroom.

Fang Wuyu stood on the balcony, holding a cigarette between two fingers. The cigarette had burned to the end and was about to scald her fingertips when Guo Rongrong came over awkwardly to call her.

“They’re out?” Fang Wuyu asked.

Guo Rongrong nodded. Fang Wuyu walked into the living room. Lin Bingran was hooking Lin Ke by the back of her collar and dragging her toward the door.

“Didn’t you say you were leaving?” Lin Bingran asked. “Hurry up.”

Lin Ke resisted. “…I won’t! Lu Tu isn’t here yet. I’ll wait a little longer!”

Lu Tu poked her head in from outside the door. Hearing this, she very loyally withdrew again and closed the door.

Lin Bingran: “…”

“Ran-jie.” Fang Wuyu suddenly interrupted the two people messing around.

Lin Bingran and Lin Ke turned their heads together. One withdrew her hand, and the other stood up straight, smoothing the corner of her clothes as if nothing had happened.

Lin Ke tucked her short hair behind her ear, revealing her bare, fair, glowing face. She called, “Teacher Fang.”

Fang Wuyu glanced at Lin Ke, her gaze chilling.

Lin Bingran said, “Hurry up.”

Fang Wuyu remained silent. She lifted the enlarged medical kit she had brought, took out a syringe, and prepared to extract Lin Bingran’s pheromones.

Lin Bingran swept aside the messy hair stuck to the back of her neck.

Fang Wuyu said, “I’ll draw a tube of blood. I’ll take it back to the hospital to extract glandular secretions and do a basic screening. If the values are unqualified, you must go to the hospital immediately for an examination.”

Lin Bingran said, “Mm.”

“What illness?” Lin Ke asked.

Fang Wuyu said, “Mind your mouth.”

Lin Ke’s face tightened, and she was choked speechless.

Lin Bingran glanced over and said, “Heat-cycle disorder. I’m still receiving treatment.”

Fang Wuyu snapped the medical kit shut, took the syringe, and walked to Lin Bingran’s side. She reached out to press down Lin Bingran’s collar, revealing the mottled marks on the back of her neck.

Lin Ke stared, then suddenly stood up and swept Fang Wuyu’s hand away.

The collar stood upright again, covering Lin Bingran’s nape.

Lin Bingran watched Lin Ke with interest, while Fang Wuyu’s face turned stern. Coldly, she said, “Move.”

“I’ll do it,” Lin Ke said faintly. She was just over 160 centimeters tall, yet she lifted her chin and stood there with a stubborn force, confronting an alpha.

Lin Bingran curved her lips and raised her chin at Lin Ke. “Don’t poke me painfully.”

Fang Wuyu said, “I’m a doctor!”

Lin Ke snapped back, “Who hasn’t been a doctor before!”

Lin Bingran said, “Hm?”

Red-faced and thick-necked, Lin Ke retorted, “I was ​Read on BaiLianTales​a volunteer in the community health department in middle school! I even wrote an eight-hundred-word volunteer reflection essay! What, do you want to read it?”

Lin Ke fired off a whole string of words. Fang Wuyu’s forehead veins swelled from listening. Lin Bingran fell onto the sofa laughing, patting the backrest again and again.

“Pfft! Hahahahahahaha!”

Lin Ke: “…”

Lin Ke pressed the corner of her mouth down and imitated Fang Wuyu’s arrogant, high-and-mighty manner, saying coldly, “Move.”

Fang Wuyu took one step back, leaving space for Lin Ke.

Lin Ke lowered the back collar of Lin Bingran’s clothes. The needle pierced the skin around Lin Bingran’s gland and drew out a little blood.

Lin Bingran hissed.

Lin Ke immediately said fiercely, “Endure it if it hurts!”

Lin Bingran: “…”

Lin Bingran did not dare make a sound anymore.

Fang Wuyu: “…”

Lin Bingran cooperated with Lin Ke’s little mood and put on an awkward smile. “Henpecked.”

Fang Wuyu’s expression instantly changed. “…”

Lin Ke was soothed. After pulling out the needle, she rubbed the back of Lin Bingran’s neck for her. “Aside from the heat-cycle disorder, are there any other illnesses?”

Lin Bingran’s expression did not change. “Are you hoping I’m riddled with disease?”

Lin Ke said, “Pah, pah, pah! Watch your mouth!”

Lin Bingran smiled and avoided the important part. “When there are too many people, I get a little tinnitus.”

“Really?” Lin Ke asked Lin Bingran, but she was looking at Fang Wuyu.

Fang Wuyu tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Yes.”

Lin Ke did not believe it. “Why would she get tinnitus?”

Lin Bingran said, “I fell once before.”

Fang Wuyu folded her arms. After Lin Ke finished drawing the blood, Fang Wuyu took it and looked at it several times under the bright sunlight after the rain.

“It’s this thin. Your heat cycle is unstable, and your pheromone secretion is limited,” Fang Wuyu said faintly. “Don’t ruin your body because of some little girl who doesn’t know restraint.”

“Will that happen?” Lin Bingran asked. “Then check her too. She’s even weaker than me. What if…”

Lin Ke pinched Lin Bingran’s arm. “I, I’m full of vigor! You’re the weak one!”

Fang Wuyu: “…”

Lu Tu knocked outside. Lin Ke said, “I’m leaving.”

Lin Bingran said, “Mm.”

“What about Doctor Fang?” Lin Ke asked. “When is she leaving?”

Fang Wuyu said, “Rongrong, see the guest out.”

Lin Ke ground her teeth. So Fang Wuyu had become the host, and she had become the guest?

Lin Bingran rubbed her forehead and stood up. “I’ll see you off.”

Fang Wuyu’s face was ashen. “Fine.”

Lin Bingran held Lin Ke’s hand and led her toward the bedroom. “You didn’t take all your things.”

Lin Ke looked puzzled. After Lin Bingran pulled her into the room, she pinned Lin Ke’s wrist behind the door.

“What a huge vinegar jar,” Lin Bingran said. “Smells sour.”

Lin Ke blustered, “I’m a green plum. How could I not be sour? How funny!”

Lin Bingran gripped Lin Ke’s chin tightly and leaned in, wanting to kiss her. “I’m saying you’re jealous. Why are you pretending to be stupid?”

Lin Ke leaned backward, shaking her head left and right to dodge. “Did you brush your teeth?”

Lin Bingran puffed her cheeks like Lin Ke and answered softly, “Nope.”

Lin Ke pressed her lips together. “Then I won’t kiss you.”

Lin Bingran asked, “You dislike your own taste too?”

“…I dislike it.” Lin Ke covered her own mouth with the back of her hand.

Lin Bingran moved her hand away and smiled in an extremely ambiguous, tempting way. Her voice lowered, her eyes shifting beautifully. “Don’t be afraid. I swallowed it all clean. Ate it right into my stomach.”

Lin Ke: “…”

Lin Bingran said, “When will you help me eat something too?”

Lin Ke instantly transformed into a kettle. Her whole body burned red and even seemed to be steaming white smoke. She pushed Lin Bingran away and retreated backward on all fours, then pulled open the door and fled the room in one breath, rolling and crawling.

Holding back laughter was truly hard. Lin Bingran let out a breath and went out to eat.

After running downstairs in one breath and diving into the car, Lin Ke buried her face straight into her knees.

Lu Tu held the steering wheel [unauthorized copy]and asked, “What’s wrong with you? Aren’t you afraid of your brain getting congested and lacking oxygen?”

Lin Ke raised her head. Sure enough, it was congested. Her face was as red as a monkey’s butt.

Lu Tu glanced at her, startled, and said, “Holy crap, can your temperature come down? Are you okay?”

Lin Ke squeezed out a stream of airy sound. “…No.”

The second half of that “no” disappeared directly, like a water gun sputtering to the end, whooshing twice and pressing out its last drop of water.

Lu Tu: “…”

Noticing something strange about herself, Lin Ke simply pressed her face against the car window to cool down. She cleared her throat and said, “It’s nothing.”

Lu Tu asked, “Embarrassed?”

Lin Ke said, “…Spicy. I ate something too spicy. I’m overheated.”

Lu Tu casually asked, “What did you eat?”

Lin Ke said, “Dry-pot lamb. Extra spicy level. Spicy and hot. Mm, I ate too much.”

Lu Tu: “…”

Lu Tu asked, “Your luggage is all dragged out. Are you still going back there today?”

Lin Ke said, “No. I don’t live off others.”

Lu Tu said, “If a little omega doesn’t live off others, what should she live off? I really want to.”

“No backbone!” Lin Ke shouted at Lu Tu. “It’s not my house. I’m a guest!”

Lu Tu said, “…Shy one moment and angry the next. Are you having a mental episode?”

Lin Ke said, “I’m weak.”

Lu Tu: “…”

Lin Ke muttered, “Fang Wuyu said Lin Bingran has kidney deficiency…”

Lu Tu said, “Kidney deficiency? That gossip is way too explosive!”

Lin Ke said, “…Remember to keep it secret. I want to eat lamb.”

The car drove farther away. Lin Ke and Lu Tu muttered all the way.

Lu Tu said, “Didn’t you just eat?”

“I haven’t,” Lin Ke said. “Lin Bingran’s metabolism isn’t good, so she eats light meals. I want something oily and smoky. Lamb, I guess. I need to nourish myself. I’m about to be sucked dry by Lin… that…”

Lu Tu asked, “That what?”

“Just…” Lin Ke blushed, her fingers picking at the dark plastic film on the car window. Just now, she had really felt as if she were about to be sucked dry by Lin Bingran.