Chapter 23: A Moment of Vulnerability

If Ding Wei and Yu Xi had come over at this moment, they would have seen that Brother Lu, who had been so effortlessly toying with everyone on the basketball court not long ago, was now being led by the hand to practice writing, just like an elementary school student.

As he wrote, Lu Shi couldn’t stand the temperature of the palm against his own. He quickly said, “I’ve got it! I’ll do it myself.”

Shen Zheming let go, not insisting. He watched as Lu Shi practiced writing on the paper stroke by stroke.

The result was much better than before, but Lu Shi seemed to have some problem controlling the pen, as the characters were still a bit crooked.

Shen Zheming said, “Personally, I think what you need now is not competition problems, but a copybook for calligraphy.”

Lu Shi squinted, comparing his own writing with Shen Zheming’s. “Huh? I’m not buying that stuff.”

Since the owner of the ugly handwriting had no objection, Shen Zheming didn’t say more.

The problems Shen Zheming had circled were all answered correctly by Lu Shi, except for the ones Lu Shi couldn’t solve and left blank.

Shen Zheming’s approach to explaining problems was quite unconventional. He was very good at learning, but that didn’t mean he was a good teacher. Even when he deliberately broke things down step by step, he sometimes unconsciously skipped steps.

Lu Shi was one of the few who could keep up with his thinking.

The two sat from three in the afternoon until five. Lu Shi’s butt went numb.

Later, Shen Zheming even modified the problems, and Lu Shi was able to infer the rest from one example.

“No wonder you signed up for the Aoqiao Cup. You’re really smart.”

Shen Zheming rarely praised people; this evaluation was already very high.

“Flattery, flattery.”

Lu Shi hadn’t learned so smoothly in a long time.

He slowly stretched, and after sitting for so long, instinctively wanted to stand up and move.

“Sigh…”

Halfway up, his neck suddenly hurt.

Lu Shi clutched his gland and sat back down.

The feeling was exactly the same as last time; Omega pheromones uncontrollably leaked out.

It all came suddenly, without warning.

“Shen Zheming, the injection…”

Lu Shi suddenly felt very fortunate that he was with Shen Zheming this afternoon.

Shen Zheming’s place wasn’t far from here, about a ten-minute walk. He could hold out.

Shen Zheming didn’t move. Instead, he reached into his pocket.

Lu Shi was slightly stunned when he saw what Shen Zheming pulled out.

He hadn’t expected Shen Zheming to carry this injection with him all the time.

Shen Zheming looked up. “Come here.”

The slight shock made Lu Shi ignore some of the pain. He sucked in a breath, dazed. “Where to?”

Shen Zheming leaned back in his chair. “Sit on my lap, facing me. That way it’s easier to control you and prevent you from moving around.”

Lu Shi’s expression was rare blank for a moment, and immediately his heart retreated. “Brother Shen, can we use a different position?”

“Then what do you want? Should I pin you down on the table? Or tie you up with something?”

His vision was blurring, and Lu Shi’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably. “How is this getting more and more perverted?”

Shen Zheming’s tone was calm. “I’m just proposing a reasonable solution.”

The moment the words fell, Lu Shi turned on the chair. “How about this: I’ll just hug the chair.”

Shen Zheming looked at him, paused for two seconds. “Alright, but you’d better not struggle, or the needle might get crooked.”

Lu Shi: “…”

If he accidentally moved and bent the needle, it would hurt ten times more than a normal injection, and he’d be stabbed for nothing.

Seeing Shen Zheming approach and lean down to pull open his collar,

“Wait.”

Lu Shi gave in.

Since he had to be injected anyway, why not be good to himself and choose the most comfortable position to suffer less?

He just had to treat Shen Zheming as a chair.

‘Shen Zheming is just a human cushion, Shen Zheming is just a human cushion…’

Lu Shi repeated in his mind, his face resigned to death.

Eyes closed, heart hardened.

But the feeling and the position were really strange. Lu Shi had only seen adults hold children like this.

At first, Lu Shi didn’t dare to actually sit; he was still supporting himself with effort.

After all, he was a 179 cm tall guy. No matter how thin, he couldn’t be light.

An arm wrapped around his lower back and suddenly pulled inward, tightening.

Lu Shi lost control of his center of gravity, his chin lightly bumped Shen Zheming’s shoulder, and his whole body pressed close.

Shen Zheming uncapped the needle.

His voice was right by Lu Shi’s ear. “It’s okay, you’re not heavy.”

“…”

Lu Shi’s hands had nowhere to rest. He fumbled around and finally had to grip Shen Zheming’s shoulders.

An Alpha’s body temperature is naturally a bit higher than normal. With their bodies pressed together, the skin under the cloth radiated an astonishing heat, as if baking.

But soon Lu Shi had no time to care about that.

The sharp pain of the needle piercing his skin overwhelmed him again.

This time was better than the first, maybe because Shen Zheming was gentler, or maybe because Lu Shi was mentally prepared.

Lu Shi closed his eyes, not making a sound, but his body couldn’t stop trembling.

I don’t know how long passed. Shen Zheming’s injection didn’t hurt as much as Shen Luo’s, but because he pushed it in more slowly, the time felt especially long.

“Done… done yet?”

Lu Shi’s voice was muffled.

He lowered his head as if trying to curl into himself.

But there was no space in front of him, so he could only press his eyes against Shen Zheming’s shoulder.

Only now did he realize how wise it was for Shen Zheming to use this posture for the injection.

It allowed him to clearly see Lu Shi’s neck and easily hold his neck to prevent him from moving.

And for Lu Shi, compared to the pain of the injection, it was more the fear during the injection.

Because he didn’t know how long it would take, or if it would suddenly hurt more the next second.

Now, clinging to the person in front of him like a sloth, he felt much more secure than during his first injection.

“Done.”

Lu Shi didn’t react when the needle was pulled out.

Shen Zheming pressed a cotton ball against Lu Shi’s neck, lightly brushing his thumb and index finger beside it, as if soothing.

The tense nerves finally relaxed, and Lu Shi slumped.

The air was filled with a faint scent of Omega pheromones, minty and very refreshing, easily identifiable. It mingled with the Alpha pheromones Shen Zheming had released intermittently, overpowering the original smell of shower gel.

Lu Shi took two seconds to recover before springing away.

When he turned around, Shen Zheming noticed the tips of his ears were red.

Lu Shi, always so slow and as if the sky could fall and he wouldn’t care, was now hastily gathering his things.

“Thanks for today. I just remembered I have other things to do. We can go over the rest of the problems another day.”

He clamped the scratch paper together, taking everything regardless of whether it was useful, and quickly packed up the pens and exercises on the table.

When he went out, Lu Shi even tripped over a table leg.

Shen Zheming watched his flustered back, the lingering warmth still in his arms.

He glanced down at the shoulder where Lu Shi had been lying.

There was a soybean-sized patch on the cloth that was darker than the surrounding fabric.

It seemed to be from tears.

Lu Shi walked very fast.

When going downstairs in the elevator, he kept looking back, as if afraid Shen Zheming would follow.

‘So embarrassing…’

Lu Shi gritted his teeth, leaning in the elevator, grabbing his hair.

How many years had it been since he last cried? Actually, since he could remember, he rarely cried.

Before, when he fought with Lu Jinguo until he bled and his vision blurred, he didn’t cry. When he was surrounded by a group of people insulting and mocking him, he didn’t cry.

But just now, while being held by Shen Zheming for the injection, he couldn’t hold back and even wiped his tears on the other’s clothes.

“Ding—”

The elevator doors opened.

Lu Shi fled from Minxing at a speed of eight hundred kilometers per hour, not looking back.

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