Breakfast Needs Meat

The doctor's words became a needle lodged in Ye Qingpu's heart.

He sat in the riverside park downstairs, smoking several cigarettes.

Ash scattered across the ground. Ye Qingpu dusted off his clothes before limping back home in the elevator.

What surprised him somewhat was that Pei Jiaqian was already awake, sitting propped against the bed and fiddling with a phone alongside Jiang Jifu.

"You're awake."

Ye Qingpu walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and leaned in to see what the two of them were doing.

Jiang Jifu instinctively shifted the phone aside, trying to avoid his uncle's probing gaze.

"What?"

Ye Qingpu frowned slightly. Was there something he was not allowed to see?

"Well... since you're back, Uncle, I'll get going."

Jiang Jifu put away his phone and gave a slightly guilty smile.

"Where are you going at this hour?"

Ye Qingpu checked the time. It was already past midnight.

"I'm going home. I told my dad I came here to pick something up. If I don't go back, he'll really beat me up," Jiang Jifu said with a helpless smile.

"Mm, all right. Be careful on your way."

Ye Qingpu reminded him, watching the scatterbrained man grab his bag and head out. Only then did he turn his gaze to Pei Jiaqian.

"What were you looking at just now?"

Pei Jiaqian's eyes were still bloodshot, but there was a faint smile at the corners of his lips. He pulled up a photo and handed the phone to Ye Qingpu.

"A collector's-edition photo of Brother. Jiang Jifu sent it to me."

Pei Jiaqian leaned back against the headboard, his eyes half-lidded and looking somewhat listless.

Ye Qingpu took the phone and looked at it, then was a little surprised—it was a photo of him in high school.

He wore a white school uniform. He had been young then, with a somewhat unruly hairstyle, every inch of him brimming with youthful immaturity.

Vaguely, he remembered that this photo had been taken during the school anniversary celebration, when Jiang Jifu had come to find him to hang out.

"It's been so long," Ye Qingpu said with a wistful smile, handing the phone back to Pei Jiaqian.

"Was Brother seventeen or eighteen in this?"

Pei Jiaqian asked, though his gaze remained on the spirited youth in the photo. His smile was beautiful, bright, vivid. Every trace of that flourishing vitality was enough to draw people in.

"Mm, probably just before I turned eighteen."

Ye Qingpu smiled. He was a little dazed himself, thinking unconsciously, Ah... so I used to be that full of life too.

Pei Jiaqian quietly looked at the photograph. The eighteen-year-old Ye Qingpu he had met had worn a white school uniform soaked in blood, his body covered in wounds. Yet there had been a stubbornness in his bones, and kindness too. In that cramped warehouse, he had held the younger Pei Jiaqian close and softly reassured him over and over, "Don't be afraid."

To help him relax, eighteen-year-old Ye Qingpu had pressed a hand over the bleeding wound on his abdomen and lay flat on the cold concrete floor, gazing at the drafty roof as he told him about himself.

When he spoke of a dog he had raised since childhood, Pei Jiaqian could clearly see the glimmer in his eyes even in the darkness.

It had been full of hope, overflowing with love and vitality.

"Do you like puppies?"

That was the first thing Pei Jiaqian had ever said to Ye Qingpu.

"Yes. Puppies are cute and loyal. Their eyes are always wet, but they're always so positive too, like they have energy that will never burn out..."

"Can I... can we still go back?"

"Of course we can. Your family will definitely come save you. I'll protect you until they get here, so don't be afraid."

"My classmates say I'm an inferior Alpha. They say I won't even be able to mark an omega in the future, that I'll bring shame to my family. So maybe my mom and dad won't care about me."

"Superiority and inferiority aren't standards for judging whether someone is outstanding. Whether you're an Alpha, omega, or beta doesn't matter. If others look down on you, then prove them wrong. Even a relatively weaker omega can cover the sky with one hand and make Alphas submit, can't they... If your classmates dare make fun of you again, give them my name."

"What's your name, big brother?"

"Ye Qingpu. My mother hoped I would have the heart of a bodhisattva."

"What are you thinking about?"

The familiar voice from his memories, now much steadier, pulled Pei Jiaqian back to his senses.

He instinctively looked toward the source of the voice. At some point, Ye Qingpu had finished showering and was standing there wrapped in a bath towel, drying his hair.

Pei Jiaqian instinctively took the towel, pulled him over to sit on the edge of the bed, and knelt halfway on the mattress as he dried his damp hair.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

Ye Qingpu braced both hands behind himself and tilted his head back slightly, revealing the smooth line of his neck and the faintly visible muscles of his chest.

Pei Jiaqian's throat tightened at the sight. He glanced out the window and only then realized that dawn had come at some point.

How strange... When had it gotten light? How had time passed so quickly?

"...Anything is fine. What does Brother want to eat? I'll make it for you," he answered.

"I'll make it. I feel like cooking once in a while too. How about egg noodles?" Ye Qingpu asked.

"Mm, that's fine."

Pei Jiaqian set down the towel, wrapped an arm around Ye Qingpu's waist, and enclosed him in his embrace. Burying his face in Ye Qingpu's neck, he let out a soft sigh.

"Does Brother like puppies?"

"Mm, I do."

"Does Brother like me?"

The tips of Ye Qingpu's ears heated up. He nodded, then echoed softly,

"I do."

"I love Brother very much too."

Pei Jiaqian nuzzled against him and held him even tighter.

"By the way, you still haven't told me when you found out that I..."

Ye Qingpu let him hold him, raising a hand to rest over the hand around his waist.

"Brother, I'm the enigma who marked you. I'm very familiar with your pheromones. Doesn't Brother know that the dominant partner is highly sensitive to even subtle changes in their partner's pheromones? I noticed the moment I smelled that Brother's pheromones were a little different."

As Pei Jiaqian spoke, his voice was muffled, but his hand was anything but gentlemanly.

"So early in the morning..." Ye Qingpu jolted and tried to change the subject.

"So you knew from the beginning?"

"More or less. I just wasn't certain all along."

"Mm... you!" Ye Qingpu curled up, instinctively rising onto his toes and pressing his legs together.

"You... weren't certain about what?"

"I thought Brother hated me. After all, I did something terrible to Brother at the beginning, and I turned you into an omega. I'm very sorry."

Pei Jiaqian rested his chin in the hollow of Ye Qingpu's shoulder and watched him with lowered eyes.

"Brother said my hand would look better with a little decoration, so I've been wearing the ring Brother gave me the whole time."

Ye Qingpu gritted his teeth, wanting to curl himself into a shrimp. Suddenly, he regretted giving Pei Jiaqian that ring... It was a little uncomfortable.

"Brother, could you move a little farther in?"

"Huh? There's so much room here..."

"Just move over a little."

"...No..."

Ye Qingpu's voice was muffled. His hair was still slightly damp, and a misty sheen spread across his eyes.

"Brother, please take pity on me~"

Pei Jiaqian nuzzled Ye Qingpu's ears, red enough to drip blood, in a coaxing manner.

"All... all right."

Ye Qingpu gritted his teeth and agreed in one breath.

"Brother spoils me the most... I want to be Brother's puppy for the rest of my life~"

"Such a smooth talker..."

Ye Qingpu lightly bit the back of his hand, his eyelids flushed crimson as well.