The Beta From the Countryside (20)

Summer thunderstorms came with particular violence, pelting the windows with a rattling patter.

The atmosphere in the room was heated.

In a corner lit by the glow of a lamp, a delicate, beautiful Beta was pinned against the wall by a powerfully built Alpha, who kissed him as he pleased.

It was a kiss devoid of technique, all relentless attack.

The second time lasted longer than the first.

By the time Xue Ci was released, his mouth was so numb he couldn't feel it. The kiss had probably left him truly dazed; when the man asked in a low, husky voice, "How did that feel?" he could only give an honest answer.

"Not very comfortable..." Xue Ci's arms and legs had gone weak, and he had to drape his arms over the man's shoulders to hold himself up. He sniffled, his voice already pitiful. "I... I don't want treatment anymore."

The sight of him was far too enticing to Gu Ling, whose expression was full of possessiveness.

Still, the Alpha had no intention of scaring him away the first time.

"Did I do something wrong?" Gu Ling tightened his hand against the small of Xue Ci's back, though his expression was somewhat forlorn. "I'll change everything I did wrong, all right?"

His tone was humble to the point of self-reproach.

Someone a little smarter would have noticed how deliberate his tone was. Unfortunately, one fool was too slow on the uptake and immediately felt guilty at his words.

"It wasn't your fault, big brother."

Xue Ci paused for a moment and licked his lips, which had been kissed bright red. A rich, intense fragrance wafted from the tip of his tongue, as if it had been stained with the juice of crushed roses.

He was dizzy and muddleheaded, his mind barely working, and he didn't much feel like talking anymore.

But just then, the man asked, "Didn't it work?"

"I'm sorry, Xiao Ci. It's my fault."

"No..."

Xue Ci's eyes were misty from the kissing, and his voice sounded as watery as his eyes. "...It wasn't very comfortable."

That was putting it mildly. It had actually been very uncomfortable.

Xue Ci had never dated or kissed anyone before, and this wasn't what he'd imagined.

His whole mouth had been enveloped, his tongue and the inside of his mouth sucked until they ached.

He hadn't known a kiss needed to be so deep.

Seeing that he seemed to have gone too far bullying him, Gu Ling coaxed him softly. "Let's rest for a bit first, all right?"

Xue Ci nodded slowly and took his arms off Gu Ling's shoulders. Just as he was about to turn around, he felt his field of vision sway.

Was this...

Was he going to carry him back to his room?

While Xue Ci was struggling to figure out how to tell Gu Ling he could walk back to his room himself, the man had already carried him there and was gently wiping his tear-wet cheeks with a wet wipe.

Gu Ling wiped very slowly, and whenever his fingers accidentally brushed Xue Ci's swollen lips, the young man would shiver slightly.

One kiss and he'd cried like this.

Gu Ling didn't know whether it was good or bad that Xue Ci was a Beta.

Betas could never be marked, but it was precisely because they couldn't be marked that some highly possessive Alphas would do filthy things to make them reek of their pheromones again and again.

After resting for a while, Xue Ci's mouth wasn't as sore and numb anymore. Dinner had already been delivered to his room, so he wouldn't need to leave it for the rest of the evening.

But why had Gu Xu and Xin Yue gotten into a fight?

Before he could figure it out, 11 reminded him: [Host, that person sent you a message?]

Once he registered what 11 had said, Xue Ci reluctantly opened it.

[Baby, which shoulder did he touch you with? Was he trying to kiss you?]

[Baby, answer my messages.]

[Baby baby baby baby baby, I like you so much. When someone else touches you, I really want to kill him.]

Xue Ci thought he'd gotten himself involved with a lunatic.

Lunatics didn't do things logically. Afraid of implicating the people around him, he decided to play along for now and keep the man's emotions under control.

11 reminded him: [Host, you can't use such a soft tone! You can't let him get a hold over you. You need to threaten him!]

Xue Ci nodded, copied the phrases he'd found in his search, and sent them.

[If you do that, I won't reply to you anymore. You don't want me to hate you, do you?]

[Behave yourself, and I'll give you a reward.]

What strange things to say.

It was Xue Ci's first attempt at threatening someone, and he wasn't very practiced.

Still, it worked.

[Baby, don't hate me.]

[Then can you stay away from other men, baby?]

Xue Ci stood firm: [No.]

The man on the other end went quiet for two minutes before sending another message: [I'll listen to you, baby. Will you give me a reward, then?]

Xue Ci thought he wanted him to answer another call and was about to refuse when another message arrived: [Then could you send me a photo, baby? One of you right now.]

[Baby, send me a photo. I swear I'll be good and do as you say, and I won't bother anyone else.]

Xue Ci was out of options. He didn't like taking photos, so he opened his front-facing camera, took one on the spot, and sent it over.

But as soon as the man received the photo, he went crazy-

[Baby, your mouth is so swollen. Which other man kissed you?]

[Were you with someone else when you didn't answer my messages just now?]

[Baby, you've practically been kissed ripe. Are your lips broken?]

[Does it hurt, baby?]

[From now on, will you only let me kiss you like that, baby?]

The constant buzzing startled Xue Ci into a daze. Just then, someone knocked on the door, and he immediately silenced his phone.

When he opened the door, Gu Xu was standing outside.

Probably because of the fight that afternoon, his tone was a little awkward. "Xin Yue and I... are fine now, but this afternoon, when he got so close to you, was he trying to-"

Gu Xu stopped midsentence, his gaze fixed on Xue Ci's lips.

Startled by his stare, Xue Ci instinctively took a step back.

"Why... are your lips so red?" Gu Xu was tall, blocking out almost all the light. His voice was low, and there were still bruises on his face from the fight.

Xue Ci wanted to say he'd bitten them himself, but he received an OOC warning. He pressed his lips together and changed the subject. "How are the injuries on your face?"

Gu Xu parted his lips, wanting to say something in response to Xue Ci's concern, but changed his mind. "They... they hurt a little. That brat Xin Yue doesn't know how to hold back."

Xue Ci wanted to say that he'd started the fight, but seeing how pitiful Gu Xu looked, he comforted him instead. "There's medicine downstairs. Do you want to put some on?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the progress bar advanced one notch, and 11 quickly issued a task: [Host, you need to go downstairs with Gu Xu!]

Afraid Gu Xu would refuse, Xue Ci immediately grabbed his arm and led him downstairs.

The soft touch left half of Gu Xu's body numb, and he felt as though he were floating.

He'd seen Xin Yue act pitiful in front of Xue Ci before and thought it was disgusting. What kind of grown man put on an act over such a minor injury? But now he only regretted not doing it sooner. Xin Yue and Xue Ci were so close now, even though he had met Xue Ci first.

Meanwhile, Xue Ci diligently worked on his task. After leading Gu Xu downstairs, he took povidone-iodine and cotton swabs from the first-aid kit and turned around. Just as he was about to hand them to Gu Xu, the other man suddenly bent down and brought the right side of his face close.

Did this mean... he wanted Xue Ci to apply the medicine for him?

Xue Ci stared at Gu Xu's bruised face and couldn't bring himself to leave him like that.

With gentle, careful movements, he dipped a cotton swab in povidone-iodine and spread it evenly over Gu Xu's wounds.

"There's some on this side too."

Gu Xu turned his other cheek, having completely forgotten how he'd criticized Xie Yishu by saying, "It's not like his arms and legs are all crippled."

He was very close to Xue Ci, close enough to count the young man's eyelashes and feel his light breathing, and... see his moist, plump lips.

They looked so kissable.

His lip tubercle was red, just the right size to hold in one's mouth. A casual suck would probably make it swell, and a light bite would send juice spilling out.

A layer of hot sweat broke out on Gu Xu's back, and his heart and temples throbbed.

Hearing the notification that his points had been credited, Xue Ci was satisfied. He was just about to get up from the sofa when a hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder, and Gu Xu leaned close.

"What do you think of marriage between our families?"

Wh-what?

Xue Ci froze.

"Why don't we get engaged? So many people at school keep staring at you, and Xin Yue definitely has those kinds of thoughts about you too. If I hadn't stopped him, he definitely would have kissed you. Those people think about dirty things all day. If we get engaged, they definitely won't dare be so brazen anymore."

Gu Xu had come up with what he thought was a very suitable reason, unaware of how much he sounded like a jealous husband as he said it.

Xue Ci truly had no idea what Gu Xu was thinking. At this point, the other man should have hated him, so why was he the one proposing an engagement?

Although he couldn't understand Gu Xu's reasoning, an engagement would definitely affect the plot. Xue Ci tactfully offered an excuse. "We're still too young. I want to focus on my studies."

Gu Xu nodded solemnly. "Don't worry, it'll only be an engagement for now. I won't do those things until after we get our marriage certificate."

That's not what I meant... Xue Ci felt a little awkward.

After a brief silence, Gu Xu seemed to vaguely sense the attitude of the person opposite him. "I... wasn't thinking straight. Just pretend I didn't say anything."

"Oh..."

Xue Ci quickly got up. Afraid Gu Xu would suddenly bring up the subject again, he washed his hands and immediately went upstairs.

When he checked his phone, the lunatic hadn't sent him any more messages. Instead, Xin Yue had contacted him on WeChat.

Xin Yue: [It hurts so much.]

Xin Yue: [Photo.jpg.]

In the photo, the Alpha had exposed his broad shoulders and narrow, smoothly defined back. Even the V-lines of his lower abdomen were perfectly clear, while the bruise at the corner of his mouth had been reduced to a speck too small to see.

11 was so startled that he materialized: [Host, delete it, aaah, you can't look at that!]

Xue Ci enlarged the photo but still couldn't see the bruise. Hearing 11, he belatedly said, "Oh," and had just zoomed back out when a deep voice sounded beside his ear. "What are you looking at?"

Xue Ci's fingers clenched in fright. He looked up to find Gu Ling staring at his phone.

Feeling the shame of being caught by a parent looking at an inappropriate website, he immediately turned off the screen.

Downstairs.

Gu Xu was very bothered by Xue Ci's reaction to what he'd said earlier. He'd thought Xue Ci was traditional and would surely go through with the arranged marriage in the end.

But Xue Ci had clearly looked hesitant.

Did he think Gu Xu was too frivolous? He wasn't actually in that much of a hurry. Gu Xu felt he hadn't made himself clear, so he went upstairs to find Xue Ci.

Xue Ci's door wasn't completely shut.

"You should focus on your studies. Things like dating and marriage can wait until later... No, it won't be too late to think about them when you're twenty-five."

Why was his brother in Xue Ci's room? And wasn't twenty-five a little late to start dating?

Gu Xu was just about to go in and tell his brother to stop meddling so much when, through the crack in the door, he saw the tall Alpha bending down close to Xue Ci's face.

His fingers were caressing the young man's lush lips.

"Do your lips still hurt?"

"I'm sorry. I'll be gentler next time."

Gu Xu went rigid.

Had his brother... kissed Xue Ci?

The author had something to say:

Yes, and your buddy even sent him that kind of photo.

Gu Xu: Gently shattered.