After Unbinding the Simp System, I'm Targeted by the Villain - Chapter 42

When Duan Huaijin received Ji Zhou’s call, he was discussing a project with an elderly professor from the Economics and Management Department.

Despite only having attended a few classes, the old professor thought highly of him. After class, he frequently invited Duan Huaijin to his office to drink tea and chat with several of his prize pupils.

Ji Zhou had a tendency to exaggerate when describing illnesses. Even though Yu Chucheng had been able to stand steadily and open the door for him that morning, in Ji Zhou’s mouth, he had become a delirious mess with a fever of 40°C.

Duan Huaijin gave the professor a nod. “I’m sorry, I have something urgent to attend to. I have to leave.”

“Hmph, quite the ego on him,” one of the senior students muttered with a dissatisfied curl of his lip.

The old professor shot him a stern look, then waved a hand dismissively at Duan Huaijin. “It’s fine, go ahead and take care of your business.”

Since the professor had spoken, the others didn’t dare voice further objections.

That senior student rolled his eyes privately. The person next to him quickly gave him a nudge and whispered, “Don’t be so aggressive. He entered with the highest score in the whole school—he’s the favorite of every teacher here.”

“So what? In this school, if you study management and don’t have a family background, you’re nothing.”

* * *

Inside the apartment, the bedroom curtains were drawn, leaving the room in dim twilight.

Yu Chucheng was buried under the covers sleeping, his brow furrowed. He had no idea what time it was.

He was woken up by a delicious aroma.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar, and he could vaguely see plates set out on the dining table. Yu Chucheng sat up with a sore back; even though he hadn’t done anything, he felt as if he had been shoved into a sack and beaten.

“Ji Zhou, how did you get back so fast today?”

Yu Chucheng walked out with half-closed eyes, only to find no one else in the room.

Strange…

He walked to the table and stared blankly at the three dishes and one soup set out before him. As far as he knew, Ji Zhou couldn’t cook. Who made these? A “Snail Girl”? (Note: A Chinese folktale character who secretly does housework for a kind man).

Just then, the sound of a key turning came from the door lock.

Duan Huaijin walked in carrying fruit and fever medicine he’d just bought downstairs. He glanced at the red marks on Yu Chucheng’s face that hadn’t faded yet. “Awake?”

Yu Chucheng took a startled half-step back. “Duan… why are you in my house?”

Duan Huaijin put the fruit in the sink. “Ji Zhou gave me the keys.”

Yu Chucheng ruffled his hair and muttered under his breath, “I knew it was him again.”

Looking at the food on the table, Yu Chucheng hesitated for a moment before looking at Duan Huaijin with a sense of novelty. “You made all of these?”

Duan Huaijin: “Mm. I don’t know if it’s to your taste, but you have a fever of 38.5°C; you can’t go without eating or drinking.”

Yu Chucheng was shocked.

When did he take my temperature?! Why didn’t I know!!

He sat down quite nervously. Perhaps guessing he had no appetite, Duan Huaijin had even prepared an appetizer-style yogurt for him.

“Thanks…” Yu Chucheng bit the straw of the yogurt, an indescribable sense of defeat rising from deep within.

He had promised to treat Duan Huaijin to a meal next time; instead, not only had he failed to treat him, but he’d let Duan Huaijin cook for him.

Yu Chucheng took a bite with a complicated mood, only to find that Duan Huaijin’s cooking was exceptionally good. After tasting it, he actually felt hungry.

His eyes lit up. While digging into his favorite dish, he stole glances at Duan Huaijin, who was wearing an apron and slicing fruit.

Duan Huaijin had his sleeves half-rolled up, his movements practiced and his knife skills precise. Paired with that aloof, distant face, the scene felt strangely surreal.

If someone had told him back when he first met Duan Huaijin that the villain would be in his kitchen cooking for him, he would have lunged forward to cover that person’s mouth.

Cease your reckless words and stop slandering a good man!

Amidst his wandering thoughts, Duan Huaijin handed over a plate of fruit with forks already inserted. Yu Chucheng snapped back to reality, nearly biting his own tongue.

This felt different from when the auntie at home took care of him. When the auntie sliced fruit, he wouldn’t get nervous, let alone feel his heart racing.

“Is it good?” Duan Huaijin pulled a tissue to wipe his hands. He hadn’t been in a kitchen for a long time and didn’t know how much of his original skill remained.

When Yu Chucheng got nervous, he tended to talk nonsense. “It’s great! Even five-star chefs can’t cook like you. If you got a chef’s certification, the cooks at those famous big restaurants in Kyoto would be out of a job.”

Duan Huaijin: “…”

He could tell Yu Chucheng was trying to praise him, but the excessive effort made it a bit awkward.

Duan Huaijin glanced at Yu Chucheng’s loose clothing. Yu Chucheng was lean, with thin wrists, and after not sleeping well for several days plus the head injury, he looked utterly pitiable. Sometimes Duan Huaijin couldn’t help but wonder how someone from a wealthy family with doting parents and an older brother had managed to raise himself to be like this.

“I have another class this afternoon, so I have to head out first.”

Yu Chucheng, who had been looking down pretending to be very interested in his bowl of rice, immediately sat up straight like he’d been granted a general amnesty. “Okay!”

Duan Huaijin wrote down the dosage and precautions for the fever medicine on a sticky note, then reached out and slapped it onto Yu Chucheng’s forehead. “Don’t forget.”

Yu Chucheng yanked it off. His head felt swollen from the fever. Duan Huaijin’s handwriting was slightly cursive, with sharp, elegant strokes.

Yu Chucheng froze for a second, and before he could say anything, the other man was already out the door.

He had a stomach full of bashfulness and fluster with nowhere to put it, which finally transformed into heartless “bullets” as he went to interrogate Ji Zhou.

While waiting for the elevator, Duan Huaijin pulled a high-potency suppressant from his bag.

Calculating the time, his rut was almost here. Over the past few days, he could clearly feel the pheromone concentration in his body rising, occasionally slipping out of his control.

But the moment the needle touched his skin, Duan Huaijin’s movement stopped as something suddenly occurred to him.

A few days later, Duan Huaijin’s rut arrived as scheduled. This was an Alpha’s most dangerous and unbearable time.

However, he didn’t rest at home. Instead, he arrived at the City First Hospital according to his appointment info.

In the Alpha zone corridor, every Alpha who smelled his restless pheromones underwent a drastic change in expression, hurriedly taking the long way around for fear he would lose control and go on a rampage at any moment.

Inside the pheromone extraction room, the doctor was fully clad in protective gear. “Next, Duan Huaijin.”

Hearing his name, Duan Huaijin opened his heavy eyes and forcibly suppressed his wild pheromones.

“Director, he seems to be in his rut.” The intern doctor, seeing Duan Huaijin’s state and noticing the detected pheromone concentration was three times higher than an average person’s, hurriedly reported.

“Are you sure you want to proceed with the extraction?” the chief physician asked Duan Huaijin seriously, holding a long, thick vacuum needle.

In all his years of medicine, this was the first time he’d seen someone come to extract their own pheromones during a rut. Extraction itself was a painful and lengthy process; doing it during a rut was akin to double lingchi (death by a thousand cuts).

Duan Huaijin sat in a special chair. To prevent an Alpha’s self-preservation instinct from causing harm during extraction, his hands were secured by specialized iron rings.

“I’m sure. Besides, the concentration is highest at this time; the effect will be best.”

Maintaining a cautious and responsible attitude, the chief physician asked, “May I ask what you plan to do with the extracted pheromones?”

Duan Huaijin lifted his eyes calmly. “To make an extraction liquid.”