CH 5

Translator: Abo Dammen

Thanks so much for the kofi, Nessas! <3 All the love~ 

Fragmented glass shards lay scattered on the ground, reflecting the warm lemon lustre overhead.

Bai Tang’s panicked pleas for mercy enveloped him in a jumbled manner. Jiang Yunshu’s gaping mouth couldn’t say anything; all the feeble words clung to his throat, and the vivid blood smeared on the pointed glass shards pained his eyes.

The bone-chilling cold went from the soles of his feet to the top of his head and swam all over his body, paralyzing him.

A formless thread connected each fragmented piece together, and then all of a sudden, everything made sense. 

Why Bai Tang wouldn’t sit on the table, sleep on the bed or eat meat. Why Bai Tang had bruises on his body, why Bai Tang was always on edge, and why the relationship between them wasn’t great, but he’d be obedient to him.

Jiang Yunshu recalled asking Bai Tang what the whip and stick and other stuff in that cabinet were used for.  Bai Tang had lost all blood on his face at that time, his legs retreated in disobey, as he muttered absentmindedly, “Sir, I was wrong, I will do better…”

And how did he respond at the time? He appeared to have given up on Bai Tang’s never-ending evasive responses. He exhaled, stood hopelessly up, and returned to the bedroom. “Nevermind.”

Jiang Yunshu chastised himself for his ignorance, wishing he could go back in time and punch his careless self. His gut was churning with remorse. That was victim-blaming Bai Tang!

Did Bai Tang stare at his back, thinking he’ll climb up and find something to beat him with? Was Bai Tang scaredly huddled in a corner in a feeble attempt to protect himself?

Cr tf kjr lc Aljcu Tecre’r ybvs, tf jrrewfv ‘tlr’ gbif qgfrewqaeberis, yfilfnlcu atja ‘tf’ tjv cfnfg mbcvemafv jcs vbwfralm nlbifcmf – yea tf tjv obgubaafc atja tf jcv Aljcu Tecre kfgf cba bcf jcv atf rjwf. 

Piece of human shit. Jiang Yunshu’s clasped fists whitened. He actually got reborn to the sort of guy he despised the most.

Llr jaalaevf jcv mbcvema abkjgvr Djl Kjcu atgbeutbea atf qgfnlber kffx oijrtfv yfobgf tlr fsfr ilxf j wbnlf. Aljcu Tecrte uglaafv tlr affat jcv rdeffhfv bea, “P erfv ab yfja sbe?!””

Glass shards punctured his weak feet, and blood trickled all over the floor, but Bai Tang didn’t even flinch. He’s sat on the glass-strewn ground, firmly embracing his shaking body and gasping heavily, as if sobbing.

He shook in fear as he heard Jiang Yunshu’s question and couldn’t stop himself from moving back. However, his half-squatting stance caused his center of gravity to shift, causing his body to tilt. 

Bai Tang reflexively used his hand as support to keep his balance—in an instant, his entire palm was immediately pushed on the shattered glass.

Jiang Yunshu’s eyes shrank and his clenched teeth hurt. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. The most important thing right now was to stabilize Bai Tang’s emotions.

He took a few steps back. “Bai Tang, I’m not going to hit you; I just lifted my hand because I was concerned you’d step on the glass shards, it’s not to beat you,” he said softly.

“Don’t move. Does your heel hurt? I won’t hit you, really,” said Jiang Yunshu in a pacified voice, his chest rising and falling. 

Bai Tang was deathly pale, but he followed and didn’t make another move.

“Good, Bai Tang is amazing,” Jiang Yunshu crouched a bit and approached him gradually. “Don’t be scared. Your heel is hurt, so I’ll carry you out now, okay?”

His homeclothes were stained with blood. It flowed from his palm, trickling down to his fingertips and into the ground.

Bai Tang obediently squatted still, curled into a small ball, yet when examined closely, his lips were ashen pale from being pressed too tight, fine cold sweat dripped all over his face, and the other hand clutching his clothes shook constantly. 

Doesn’t Bai Tang want to hide? He wanted to, but he was trying to suppress the need to flee from horror since he knew that if he acted obedient now, he would receive less beatings.

Jiang Yunshu was disoriented for a short while. This was due to the omega pheromone’s effect on him. He kept his composure and held his breath. “I’ll be reaching out to carry you now. Don’t move, it’s okay.”

The body he handled was so light and rigid as if it didn’t belong to an adult male at all; he was all bones and had such slender hands. Jiang Yunshu calmly put Bai Tang on the sofa, suppressing the nameless fire in his heart. 

“Sit and hold up, don’t touch the wound,” Jiang Yunshu said as he stood up to search for the medical kit. “Where’s the medical kit, Bai Tang?”

“The second to the right side of the cabinet…” Bai Tang’s voice trembled in pain,  his face pale and his eyes sullen, coupled with the palpable sharp pain in his hands and feet. His wounds didn’t look good.

As a surgical oncologist, their most basic skill was wound treatment. Jiang Yunshu returned with the medical kit and reached out to grasp Bai Tang’s skinny wrist.

Bai Tang’s muscle memory from the long-term abuse made him want to retreat instinctively, but he abruptly halted midway. “I-I’m sorry, sir, I…” 

Jiang Yunshu shook his head. “It’s me who should apologize. I’m going to hold your wrist and treat your wound right now; Endure it, it will hurt.”

The body he was holding trembled still. Jiang Yunshu got the impression that he was holding a human skeleton specimen from a laboratory. His wrist was so thin that he appeared to be capable of breaking it with little to no effort.

Using sterilised tweezers, he took the glass shards sticking out of the flesh piece by piece, steady and fast, throwing the fragments after, followed by the sound of the glass hitting the bottom of the garbage can. 

“Good thing the puncture wasn’t too deep.” Jiang Yunshu gently rinsed the wound with clean water, the brilliant crimson blood becoming pink. The omega’s sweet pheromone pounced forward. “Or else we’ll have to go to the hospital for stitches.”

Bai Tang bit his lower lip. The stinging pain made his mind sluggish. His vision grew hazy as a layer of fog coated his eyes. Because his body had just been stimulated, he unconsciously avoided the hazy form, but Jiang Yunshu gently gripped him.

“Next, I’ll disinfect with iodophor. It’ll hurt a bit, but endure it,” Jiang Yunshu remarked.

“Ugh!” Bai Tang didn’t respond at all; the terrible pain had rendered his thoughts blank, and a groan spilled from his mouth. 

Jiang Yunshu used a bandage to create a visually pleasing knot. “All well, I’ll lift your foot next.”

Bai Tang bent and shed physiological tears which trickled down his chin. The rim of his eyes were red. He was obviously trying to endure the discomfort, yet he did not shout in pain.

“Close your eyes. I’ll try to finish it as quickly as possible.” Jiang Yunshu found it hard to watch. But what he didn’t know was that due to an omega’s sensitive body, the pain would be magnified several times than that of betas and alphas. “Relax your feet. Don’t stretch them, or it’ll hurt more.”

His heel wound was rather big. Fresh blood rushed forth at instantly once the glass pieces were extracted, dripping down his feet.   Jiang Yunshu responded immediately, placing Bai Tang’s shin on his thigh and resolutely pressing the cotton over the bleeding injury.  

“I’ll stop bleeding first,” Jiang Yunshu remarked. The leg he was holding stretched out a lovely line, jerking lightly. “It’ll be alright soon.”

Bai Tang sat on the sofa, his forehead drenched in cold sweat that clung haphazardly to his clammy face; his hands and feet were numb with pain.

After bandaging his wounds up, Jiang Yunshu exhaled a sigh of relief. He suddenly understood what the phrase “the attraction between AOs is irresistible” in the pamphlet meant. He wearily wiped the sweat from his temple. Trying to stay sober in this space full of omega pheromones took all of his energy; just like placing heroin in front of a drug addict, it’s too difficult to battle instinct.

Jiang Yunshu was grateful for his procrastinating habit. Fortunately, he still pasted the pheromone blocker, otherwise, the results would be unimaginable.