Chapter 31: Nightmare

Early in the morning, the students of Class 7 gathered in the hotel lobby. Since it was the weekend and there was no need to return to school, many students had arranged for family drivers to pick them up. After checking out, they were free to go, while those who preferred the school bus prepared for the journey back.

As she watched the students register and depart one by one, Wen Xi caught a glimpse of Cheng Si out of the corner of her eye. He looked like a wilted eggplant—listless and drained—and a subtle flicker of complexity crossed her mind.

Although she had told him the previous night that they couldn’t be too intense, she hadn’t quite been able to help herself. Under the guise of “punishment,” she had spent a very long time with him.

Cheng Si turned out to be gifted at the art of temptation. He was quite adept at finding his own pleasure and, taking advantage of her limited experience in certain areas, used his own body to show her how things could be deeper and more stimulating. Wen Xi had never met someone like him; even though he was the one suggesting the “tricks,” in the end, it looked like he was the one being bullied.

Still, she had pushed him to his limit, and she wasn’t so cold as to be completely indifferent to his state. She had intended to return to Nanjiang with him.

However, Xu Linshen had somehow caught wind of her autumn trip and dispatched Old Xu, the family driver, to pick her up. By the time the other students were leaving, Old Xu had already arrived. She was forced to send a message to Cheng Si on StarChat, telling him to take a taxi back.

A taxi from here to Nanjiang would cost several hundred dollars at least. Cheng Si couldn’t bring himself to spend that much, but he didn’t dare lie to Wen Xi, so he simply told her he had a ride. He did, indeed, have a ride. When he boarded the school bus, he realized that aside from the driver and Jin Ping, he was the only student on board.

Jin Ping looked at him with a mix of surprise and knowing. He hadn’t intended to say much, but as soon as Cheng Si got on, he collapsed into a seat. His face was flushed with an unnatural heat, and he looked utterly withered.

Jin Ping walked over, frowning. “Are you feeling unwell?”

Cheng Si coughed tiredly, his voice so hoarse he could barely speak. “I think I have a fever.”

He had felt off since waking up, but he assumed it was minor. He hadn’t expected his forehead to get hotter or the chills to set in. He suspected the fever was an early side effect of his heat cycle rather than a direct result of Wen Xi’s actions, so he hadn’t told her. Of course, it likely wouldn’t have mattered; Wen Xi wouldn’t have chosen a school bus over a private car just because he was sick.

Jin Ping was startled by the sound of his voice. “Did you take any medicine?” “I’ll take some when I get back,” Cheng Si rasped.

“…” Seeing how calm he was, Jin Ping thought to himself that with a two-hour drive ahead, the boy wasn’t even afraid of frying his brain.

Jin Ping stopped the bus to buy him fever reducers and watched him swallow them. He then went to speak with the driver. The driver waved him off: “Teacher Jin, the bus has to stop at the school. It’s against the rules to drop students at their doorsteps.”

“He’s the only one. If we drop him at school, he’ll have to wander around to get home,” Jin Ping argued. “You saw him; he has a high fever. If we delay and something happens, we’re all in trouble.”

The driver, not wanting to take the blame, grit his teeth and eventually agreed, asking for Cheng Si’s address.

Cheng Si slept for the two-hour journey. By the time they reached Nanjiang, he was much more lucid. Jin Ping suggested he go to a hospital, but Cheng Si declined and thanked him profusely.

The exhaustion of the past few days hit him the moment he stepped inside his home. After groggily replying to Wen Xi’s message asking if he was home, he fell into a deep sleep. It was a long sleep, filled with jagged, clawing nightmares that threatened to swallow him whole.

In the dream, a dark shadow pressed down on him, preventing him from waking. His mind felt like it was filled with molten lava, burning his past memories into a roaring fire before turning them to ash, leaving him in an endless, boundless darkness.

“Dad, Mom—I got into the International School!” In the dream, a sixteen-year-old Cheng Si held his admission letter to Nanjiang International School, happily announcing the news to his parents.

His mother cried tears of joy. She took a rare day off work to cook a massive feast and cleaned the house until it sparkled. She nagged him about things she’d said a thousand times—how to use the iron, which ingredients shouldn’t be left overnight, how to change the bedsheets, and how often to clean the washing machine.

Unfortunately, he had been listening half-heartedly. He was too excited, wanting only to take his admission letter to find Wen Xi. He had a gift for her birthday, wanting to tell her that even after leaving the Wen household, he was keeping his promise, working hard to get closer to her, and had made it into the same high school.

After his parents were dismissed by the Wen family, Cheng Si had lost his chance to see Wen Xi, aside from occasionally lingering near the estate. His luck was usually poor; he never ran into her. But he thought that on her birthday, his chances would be much higher.

Xu Linshen was throwing her a party at the Wen villa. It wasn’t a massive affair, but relatives and friends were invited. He figured Wen Xi might come out when seeing guests off. As expected, he saw her—but he wished he hadn’t.

Wen Xi was walking Pei Huanzhou to a car, looking somewhat unhappy.

“I can’t act too familiar with you,” Pei Huanzhou said. “The gift is on the dining table; remember to open it.”

“You actually sent it?” Wen Xi’s face was full of surprise. “That’s incredible. You’ve fulfilled every one of my birthday wishes every year.”

Because Xu Linshen celebrated with her every year, Pei Huanzhou was never able to wish her a happy birthday in person. He felt that giving gifts after the fact was meaningless, so he never prepared anything special. Last year, Wen Xi had made a specific wish: she wanted Pei Huanzhou to give her a gift just once. She didn’t know how he had managed it, but he had actually been invited by Xu Linshen to her party.

Pei Huanzhou couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s because your wishes are always so simple. ‘I wish Pei Huanzhou eats on time,’ ‘I wish to see Pei Huanzhou once a week,’ ‘I wish Pei Huanzhou gives me a gift’… how could I not fulfill those?”

Wen Xi didn’t get angry at being teased; she just laughed along. “This year’s wish might be a bit harder.” “What did you wish for?”

Amidst the sound of summer cicadas, Wen Xi’s voice was clear and devoid of hesitation. She said: “I wish for Pei Huanzhou to stay with me forever.”

Cheng Si stood in the shadows of the villa’s high walls for a long time. He forgot how he eventually left. He always told himself his luck was bad. The gift, of course, was never given. It was locked away in that summer along with his delusions about Wen Xi.

Even though he had gained some self-awareness back then, fate wasn’t done with him. As he walked home, heart-stricken, he received a call from his father. His mother had been in a severe car accident and was being rushed into emergency surgery.

That accident left his mother in a vegetative state. His father, his face covered in stubble after days of no sleep, didn’t hesitate to spend every penny of their savings on her treatment. By some miracle, after months of care, she began to improve. Though she couldn’t speak, her eyes opened, and her hands could move. One more surgery, and she might begin rehabilitation.

Money in a hospital is like paper; it burns by the second. Their savings were wiped out by the high costs of the ICU. After much thought, his father decided to sell their house. He contacted an agent and listed it that same day.

It was as if their family were cursed. Despite being in a good location and priced for a quick sale, the house sat on the market for half a month with no buyers. The hospital was pressuring them, and his father was at his wit’s end. Finally, someone called, expressing interest in buying the property.

They were both too desperate. They didn’t stop to wonder how someone could bypass the agent to call them directly. Under the silver-tongued persuasion of a scammer, his father took out a massive loan using the house as collateral. Under the guise of a “bank audit,” the funds were transferred entirely into the scammer’s account.

The life-saving money was gone. The house was gone. His father begged relatives for help, but those who heard of their situation avoided them like the plague. Because the collateralized house couldn’t cover the massive debt, the bank sued his father, applying for compulsory execution.

His father collapsed under the weight of self-reproach. His hair turned white overnight. He knelt by his wife’s bed, weeping and head-butting the floor until he bled, wishing he could just end it all with a knife.

Thankfully, his mother’s willpower was strong. Even with conservative treatment, her condition didn’t worsen, and she could occasionally vocalize a few syllables. But the suffering didn’t stop there.

One day after school, he went to the hospital as usual. His father told him over the phone that his mother could now express simple words. They were both happy. As they spoke, the debt collectors arrived at the hospital. His father hung up in a hurry.

Even though things had reached this point, Cheng Si didn’t give up. He had the heart to reach for the moon and the tenacity to refuse his fate. He had it all planned out: he would work after graduation. He had his credentials from the International School and good grades. If he worked hard enough, it wouldn’t matter if they weren’t wealthy—as long as the family was together.

However, when he arrived at the hospital, his father was gone. His mother had developed a concurrent lung infection and was in critical condition.

The bad news came without warning. He called his father countless times, but no one answered. He waited outside the emergency room in a panic all night. No miracle occurred.

When the doors opened, his mother’s face was covered by a white sheet. A nurse found a handwritten suicide note from his father in a drawer. It stated that if both parents died and he didn’t inherit the estate, he wouldn’t have to carry the massive debts. His father wrote that he owed him too much in this life, and this was the last thing he and his mother could give him.

That was the first time Cheng Si believed in fate. In the face of a cruel destiny, fragile humans had no room to strike back. Cheng Si was nearly broken; he almost didn’t make it out of that hospital room.

But he couldn’t collapse. He had to find his missing father, and he had to bury his mother. He couldn’t leave her body in a cold hospital forever.

The air in a hospital is always suffocatingly cold. Farewells are always too late. People there are more devout than any believer, yet the halls are filled with despair and death, shattering hopes with endless tears and panic.

He really, truly hated hospitals.

Cheng Si woke up from the nightmare, clutching his racing chest, drenched in sweat. The back of his neck felt chilled. He sat on the bed for several minutes before slowly coming to his senses in the silence of the room.

He hadn’t had such a terrifying dream in a long time; the sense of panic lingered. He let out a stiff breath and felt his forehead. Aside from the persistent ache in his waist, his fever had broken. Looking at the time, he realized he had slept until the afternoon of the next day.

He had only taken one day off from the CLUB, so he still had to go to work that night.

After barely pulling himself together, Cheng Si headed out. On the way to the CLUB, he passed a pharmacy. He suddenly remembered that during the entire rut, Wen Xi hadn’t used a condom. Without thinking twice, he walked into the store.

The clerk behind the counter asked what he needed. Cheng Si’s lips moved tentatively. “Contraceptives,” he said, the word difficult to utter.

The clerk looked him up and down. “Pre-coital or post-coital?” “Post-coital,” Cheng Si said.

Hearing this, a trace of mockery flickered across the clerk’s face as they pulled a box from the shelf. “Go back and tell your Omega that they shouldn’t eat for two hours after taking this; it can cause significant side effects. But I sincerely suggest you Alphas use protection next time. You shouldn’t take this often.”

Cheng Si froze, his face turning red as he quickly denied it. “It’s… it’s for me to take.”

Not expecting him to be an Omega, the clerk’s mockery froze on their face.

Cheng Si asked awkwardly, “How long is this effective for?”

“Generally, it’s effective within 72 hours after the fact,” the clerk said, their voice softening slightly. “But if it’s been more than 48 hours, the effectiveness drops significantly.”

Cheng Si frowned, calculating the time. It had definitely been more than 48 hours. “So there’s still a chance of pregnancy?” The clerk gave a professional answer: “Theoretically, yes.”

“…” Cheng Si’s lips thinned into a line, his heart sinking to the bottom of his stomach.

He desperately wanted to pray that there would be no pregnancy. Even if the rate dropped after 48 hours, the odds were still high. But his luck was so bad; there was no guarantee he wouldn’t “win the prize.”

Wen Xi certainly wouldn’t want a child right now. If he was pregnant, it would only be a burden. This wouldn’t be a child born into a world of anticipation. Not only was he not ready to be a father, but he was still a student. He had no ability to raise a child, no way to provide health or stability.

Even if the child were born, they would receive no blessings. Perhaps Wen Xi would even loathe them, along with the child’s father.

Thinking of this, Cheng Si walked out of the store with the medicine, a persistent “rain” falling in his heart.

The clerk chased after him, stuffing a pack of throat lozenges into his hand with an apologetic smile. “That… I misunderstood you earlier, I’m sorry. We’re having a promotion, and I noticed your voice is very hoarse. This is free.”

“…” Cheng Si instinctively touched his throat. His spine stiffened as he remembered all too easily the “shape” Wen Xi had forced into it.

He said he didn’t need them and, with a face flushed crimson, walked quickly away from the pharmacy.