Sometimes, Even the View from a Cliff Was Nice

"Are you holding up, brother?"

Halfway up, Pei Jiaqian straddled a rock with one leg, steadied himself, and reached a hand back.

Of course he was! Even if he was a beta, he could not say he was not up to it.

Ye Qingpu's calves trembled as he panted weakly, swatting away the hand in front of him.

"Today... I'll show you whether a mature man is really up to it."

After making that bold declaration, Ye Qingpu took a step forward and lifted his leg onto the rather tall rock. But his legs were so weak that he had to brace himself with both hands to barely climb up.

Damn it, it was scorching.

He unzipped his jacket and panted heavily while kneeling on all fours.

The temperature was not high today, so why was it this hot? So hot that every organ in his body seemed to be clamoring.

Pei Jiaqian's gaze darkened as he looked at the collarbones faintly visible beneath Ye Qingpu's clothes.

The manager, who had been chattering endlessly about the planned route, changed expression and hurried forward to help the man on the ground up, only to be stopped by Little Pei extending a hand.

Pei Jiaqian bent down and looked at Ye Qingpu's pale face. Knowing how much Ye Qingpu cared about appearances, he asked softly,

"What did you drop, brother?"

Ye Qingpu closed his eyes and tried to recover. His head was throbbing now, pounding to a rhythm like the clubbing music his great-grandfather had loved when he was alive.

Had he dropped something... His positive attitude and passionate outlook on life. They had probably fallen all over the ground just now because he was too tired.

"Boss, have some water."

Seeing this, the assistant hurriedly unscrewed the cap and stepped forward, holding the water to Ye Qingpu's lips as he watched him take a small sip with a weary expression.

"Sorry, Little Pei, Manager. Our boss has caught a bit of a cold lately."

As the assistant spoke, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the water from the corner of Ye Qingpu's mouth.

Even though Ye Qingpu had tried to stop him, someone beside them still darkened in expression.

Naturally, the manager knew of this famously sickly richest man. Using the rare plants around them as an excuse, he suggested they take a short rest.

Pei Jiaqian shifted to block the wind blowing directly at Ye Qingpu. Catching a cold breeze after sweating would only make his cold worse.

"I'm fine now. Let's go."

Once Ye Qingpu had recovered somewhat, he took off his jacket and casually held it out to the side.

Before the assistant could reach for it, he watched helplessly as his boss handed the jacket to Little Pei standing beside him—and Little Pei accepted it just as naturally.

"Did those two know each other before? They seem pretty close."

The manager spoke quietly. Judging by the tense atmosphere earlier, he had thought the two did not get along.

The assistant shook his head, declining to comment, and silently followed after them.

Ye Qingpu strongly felt as though he was about to die of exhaustion on this mountain. He could only lament that he had become this frail.

Before he turned eighteen, he could climb a mountain like this eight hundred times without even breathing hard.

Now, before they had even reached halfway up, he was already sweating profusely.

He took out his phone and checked the weather. It showed cloudy skies, with rain expected later.

No wonder it was so hot.

But was muggy weather supposed to feel like this?

Ye Qingpu felt his face and neck burn. More accurately, his entire body was unbearably hot. This unexplained heat irritated him, as though countless fire ants had crawled into his body and were gnawing at his skin along every sinew.

He thought of the susceptible periods omega people around him had described.

But he was an inferior beta.

He raised a hand to feel his forehead.

It was not hot either.

"With your hand that hot, what can you tell?"

Pei Jiaqian sounded somewhat helpless. When he had taken the jacket earlier, he had sensed Ye Qingpu's abnormal temperature even through the fabric. After thinking for a moment, he leaned closer and asked quietly,

"Brother... are you in heat?"

"...Fuck your mother!"

Ye Qingpu flew into a rage and swung a punch, but his unsteady center of gravity sent him tumbling straight down the slope.

In his panic, he instinctively tried to grab onto something to steady himself, but he could not stop the world from spinning.

"Fuck, Boss!"

"Fuck, Little Pei!"

The two people on the roadside cried out at the same time. The manager was scared half out of his wits. If Harbor City's richest man and the boss's son were seriously injured under his watch, everyone in his ancestral graves would have to crawl out and kneel in apology.

Because something had cushioned his fall, Ye Qingpu was not badly hurt.

Pei Jiaqian was not so lucky. He had served as a human cushion throughout the fall, and even when they rolled several meters down to the bottom of the slope without any buffer, he had been quick enough to protect Ye Qingpu beneath him.

"Fuck, don't die!"

After scrambling to his feet, Ye Qingpu looked at Pei Jiaqian, who was frowning and gritting his teeth, and began to panic.

"Don't worry, I won't die, brother."

Pei Jiaqian's face was deathly pale, but he forced out a smile.

"Check whether you're hurt anywhere."

Ye Qingpu scrambled over to him and carefully checked him over, lifting his arms and legs.

"I meant for you to check your—"

Before Pei Jiaqian could finish, he met Ye Qingpu's terrified eyes.

"Y-your leg..." Ye Qingpu's eyes were full of guilt, and even his voice trembled.

"Hm?"

Pei Jiaqian recovered himself and gathered strength, wanting to sit up and inspect it.

"Don't look, don't look... It's too bloody..." Ye Qingpu hurriedly stopped him.

Pei Jiaqian tried moving his legs, only to find that he could not feel them at all. His brow furrowed—had his legs fallen off? That could not be possible.

He patted Ye Qingpu's hand to show that it was fine, then sat up and looked. He immediately let out a sigh of relief.

Luckily, his left ankle was merely broken, twisted at an unnatural angle. He had been worried that the bloody sight of his leg being torn apart would scare Ye Qingpu.

Ye Qingpu was proud and bad-tempered, but he was soft-hearted beneath it all. He could not bear seeing anyone in such a state before him, especially when that person had ended up so miserable because of him.

"It's fine, it's fine."

Pei Jiaqian smiled indifferently. With Ye Qingpu supporting him, he held himself up on one leg. Looking up, he could see nothing through the trees. Dense woods and shrubs surrounded them, and for the moment, he had no idea which direction to go.

Ye Qingpu had previously looked into the terrain around the survey route. He roughly calculated that they had rolled down more than thirty meters. Fortunately, some trees and rocks along the way had cushioned their fall...

Fuck, it was a miracle they had not died. Ye Qingpu looked at Pei Jiaqian with lingering fear.

After surveying the surroundings, he spotted a cave on a slope not far away.

Ye Qingpu helped Pei Jiaqian over, found him a flat rock to sit on, then knelt halfway in front of him and lifted his injured leg.

"It's okay, brother."

Pei Jiaqian smiled reassuringly.

"Shut up."

Ye Qingpu's brows were drawn tighter than usual. He turned his head and coughed twice, forcibly ignoring the bloody taste rising in his throat. He placed Pei Jiaqian's leg over his knee and rolled up his pant leg.

"N-no need..."

Pei Jiaqian blushed slightly and tried to pull his leg back, pressing down on Ye Qingpu's hand as he removed his shoe.

"Why? Your feet stink?" Ye Qingpu looked up, utterly serious.

Pei Jiaqian froze, then burst out laughing.

"Brother, I pay a lot of attention to personal hygiene," he said helplessly with a smile.

Ye Qingpu felt a little awkward from his laughter. He took off Pei Jiaqian's shoe and sock, then carefully twisted his ankle. Thankfully, it was only dislocated. Popping it back into place would do.

"Brother, you know how to examine injuries?" Pei Jiaqian propped himself up with both hands behind him and stared at Ye Qingpu without blinking.

"What do you think this sickly invalid did when he couldn't leave the house?"

Ye Qingpu did not even look up before suddenly asking,

"Was sleeping with me better, or sleeping with someone else?"

Pei Jiaqian's mind went blank from the question. Just as he was about to answer, a dull pain came from his ankle with a crack. He gasped silently, and cold sweat instantly soaked the loose strands of hair on his forehead.

Ye Qingpu gave a wicked smile, then stood and snapped several branches from a nearby tree. Using the jacket that had somehow appeared here, he bound and secured Pei Jiaqian's reset ankle.

Pei Jiaqian gradually relaxed his tensed muscles and answered through shallow breaths,

"I've never slept with anyone else."

Ye Qingpu did not reply. His phone had been in his bag, but the bag had disappeared in the fall.

"Do you have your phone?"

Pei Jiaqian shook his head apologetically. He had rushed over in such a hurry that morning, eager to see Ye Qingpu, and had left his phone in the car.

"Then I'll check around—"

Before Ye Qingpu could finish, his vision went black and he fainted.

Pei Jiaqian instinctively caught the frighteningly hot man, but his injured leg struck a rock, and the pain made him bare his teeth without any concern for his image.