ACBAM 32: Method

Luckily, the disposable chopsticks they sent over came with a small spoon, making it easier for Su Shijin to feed Gu Weiyang.

Su Shijin held his palm just beneath the spoon at a slight distance, to prevent any food from spilling onto the blanket, and carefully fed Gu Weiyang several spoonfuls.

Gu Weiyang even thought that it wouldn’t be so bad if both his arms were broken right now. This way, while he was recovering, Su Shijin would have to keep feeding him.

But the moment he noticed that Su Shijin was so focused on feeding him that he hadn’t taken a single bite himself, Gu Weiyang shook the thought away.

Gu Weiyang turned his head to avoid the spoon. “Alright, stop feeding me. You eat first.”

Su Shijin said, “I’m not in a hurry. I’m not the one who’s sick. You eat first.”

As if afraid Gu Weiyang might lose his temper the very next second, Su Shijin brought the spoon straight to his mouth. The spoon pressed into the alpha’s lips, leaving a slight indentation. “Open up.”

Gu Weiyang instinctively opened his mouth and was fed another spoonful.

After swallowing, Gu Weiyang asked, “Have you taken care of someone like this before? You seem pretty good at it.”

Su Shijin picked up a piece of cauliflower and fed it to him, casually saying, “There used to be some pets in the hospital that couldn’t eat on their own while hospitalized. I’d occasionally go to the inpatient ward to feed them.”

Gu Weiyang froze mid-bite. After a long pause, he spoke with difficulty, “Are you… feeding me like a dog?”

“Hm?” Su Shijin tilted his head. “Why would you think that? Of course not.”

It’s just that while feeding him, Su Shijin couldn’t help but picture a golden retriever in his mind—but it wasn’t that he saw Mr. Gu as a golden retriever. It’s just that when he thought of pets, it helped him stay calm while feeding Mr. Gu.

After all, this was Su Shijin’s first time feeding an alpha this big.

Oh—sorry, such a distinguished alpha.

Su Shijin carefully corrected the classifier in his mind.

Gu Weiyang was starting to regret pretending to be too weak. After Su Shijin fed him several more bites, he pretended to finally regain some strength, lifting his arm onto the table and letting out a sigh of relief. “I think I’ve got a bit of strength now. I can feed myself.”

Su Shijin looked at his hand. Athough it still seemed a bit shaky, he clearly didn’t need to be fed anymore so he handed him the spoon. “If your hand’s still weak, the spoon might be easier.”

Gu Weiyang gave a quiet thanks, took the spoon, and began eating slowly.

While he ate, Gu Weiyang kept finding himself sneaking glances at Su Shijin’s face.

Maybe it was because he had already gotten used to Gu Weiyang’s gaze, but Su Shijin kept his head down while eating and didn’t notice the way he was being looked at.

By the time Su Shijin finished eating, Gu Weiyang was more or less done too.

Su Shijin packed up the meal boxes, put them into the bag, and carried it out of the hospital room.

After a while, Su Shijin came back, holding a damp towel that had been wrung out. He handed it to him. “Want to wipe yourself down? You probably sweated quite a bit.”

Gu Weiyang took the towel and thanked him, lifting his shirt and sliding the towel underneath to wipe his body.

Su Shijin accidentally caught a glimpse of his exposed abs and quickly looked away.

Gu Weiyang had indeed broken out in a sweat. After wiping down his upper body, he felt much more refreshed.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” he said, placing the towel on the nearby table and pulling off the restraint garment still draped over his legs as he prepared to get out of bed.

“Can you walk?” Su Shijin instinctively reached out to steady him.

Su Shijin’s fingertips were a little cold, probably because the air conditioning in the room was set too low. Gu Weiyang felt the temperature was just right, but for Su Shijin, it was still a bit chilly.

Gu Weiyang directly took hold of Su Shijin’s hand, using his support to get out of bed. Before he could linger on the feeling of the omega’s palm, he let go and naturally placed his hand on the wheelchair. “There’s not much strength in my legs, but I’ll be fine holding onto your wheelchair.”

Su Shijin didn’t object, steering the wheelchair forward at the slowest speed. Gu Weiyang held onto the wheelchair handles, following behind at a slow and unhurried pace.

To be honest, Gu Weiyang thought the whole scene looked pretty pathetic. It’s like two people with bad legs helping each other walk.

Just outside the hospital room was a small lounge, and right next to it was the bathroom.

Su Shijin waited outside the door, and after Gu Weiyang finished using the bathroom and washed his hands, he helped him back using the wheelchair.

Once Gu Weiyang was seated back on the hospital bed and his color had more or less returned to normal, Su Shijin finally asked, “Mr. Gu, what happened last night? Why did you suddenly collapse?”

Gu Weiyang didn’t hide anything. “After my gland was damaged, my susceptibility periods started coming irregularly. Sometimes, if my emotions get too intense, the period gets triggered early.”

“Because of the gland damage, the periods come more frequently. Back before the Gu family found me, I used to inject a lot of suppressants during those times to protect myself so my adoptive family wouldn’t take advantage of me when I was vulnerable. After doing that for so long, I’ve developed some resistance to the suppressants.”

Su Shijin didn’t press him about how his adoptive family had mistreated him and tactfully steered away from that topic. Instead, he asked, “So the suppressant didn’t work because of the resistance?”

If that were the case, wouldn’t Mr. Gu be in pain every time his susceptibility period came?

Gu Weiyang shook his head. “Not exactly. Yesterday was a special case. I’ve had some resistance to suppressants before, but at most it just made me feel physically uncomfortable. It was something I could grit my teeth and get through.”

“Yesterday, the suppressant completely failed. That was the first time something like that has happened.”

Su Shijin looked a bit worried. “Then if another susceptibility period hits, will it be like this again?”

Gu Weiyang paused. “It’s hard to say. Even the doctors can’t guarantee anything.”

Su Shijin knew this was the first time something like this had happened, and the hospital had already responded quickly but he still wanted to know. “Isn’t there any way to fix it? You can’t possibly just tough it out every time your susceptibility period hits, can you?”

Su Shijin couldn’t shake the feeling that with Gu Weiyang’s damaged gland, forcing his way through like this wouldn’t last long and his gland wouldn’t be able to take it.

And that was indeed the case. The doctors had already warned Gu Weiyang about the risks of toughing it out, and it wasn’t as if there were no solutions.

“There is a way,” Gu Weiyang said, his mouth opening slightly, as if the words were hard to say. “But…”

Su Shijin looked at him seriously and asked, “But what?”

“…” Gu Weiyang fell silent, his gaze landing on Su Shijin’s face. His lips moved slightly, but in the end, he didn’t say anything.

Su Shijin asked, puzzled, “Is it something you can’t tell me?”

“No.” Gu Weiyang shook his head and let out a helpless laugh. “I’m just afraid it’ll put you in a difficult position if I say it.”

Su Shijin’s eyes widened in surprise. “It has something to do with me?”

He was smart, after all. Once he realized the solution might involve himself, it didn’t take long for him to figure out what it was. “…Is it that—you need to mark an omega?”

Gu Weiyang sighed inwardly, he really is sharp, then nodded. “Other omegas won’t work. Only you can.”

Su Shijin only needed a moment to figure out why. “Because of the compatibility rate?”

Gu Weiyang gave a helpless smile. “You guessed it.”

Su Shijin opened his mouth, a bit surprised that this would actually be the solution.

But thinking about it, it did make sense. Besides medication, the best way to deal with an alpha’s rut was indeed to mark an omega, flooding the omega’s glands with pheromones to release the excess aggression and pheromone overflow caused by the sensitivity period.

Just like how an omega instinctively craved to be marked by an alpha during their heat, although Su Shijin didn’t particularly like this animalistic, instinct-driven method of marking, he couldn’t change the fact that it was still the most effective solution for both an alpha’s rut and an omega’s heat.

Seeing Su Shijin lower his head in silence, Gu Weiyang realized he had pushed too far too quickly. He quickly added, “Of course, we signed an agreement before and I won’t ask you to help me through my susceptibility period. That agreement still stands. I’ll just stay in the hospital for a few days until it passes.”

Su Shijin gripped the armrest tightly, still caught in hesitation and inner conflict.

He hadn’t actually known Gu Weiyang for very long, and whatever happened to him really had nothing to do with him. Even if the susceptibility period was painful, Su Shijin had every right to refuse to help.

Su Shijin knew this very well. The agreement laid it out clearly, and Gu Weiyang would never force him.

Maybe it was because Gu Weiyang had been so considerate when he had injured his ankle that Su Shijin couldn’t shake the feeling that if he didn’t help him now, in his most painful moment, it would weigh on his conscience.

It was just that, because of certain experiences from his childhood, Su Shijin had a strong resistance to AO marking. He was deeply afraid that once Gu Weiyang marked him, he would develop a kind of dependency—like being controlled by pheromones—during the time the temporary mark remained active.

He had seen his own omega father and alpha father, clearly lacking any affection for each other, forced into a pheromone-based marriage because of their high compatibility. In the end, after being permanently marked, his omega father couldn’t help but instinctively rely on his alpha father, while the alpha believed the lifelong mark had only happened because he had been seduced by the omega’s pheromones. That made him resent the omega father even more, and after Su Shijin was born, his cold attitude toward him never changed.

Su Shijin still remembered that when he was four years old, during his omega father’s heat, his father had pleaded with his alpha father for a single mark, only to be coldly rejected and told to go get a suppressant instead.

At that age, he shouldn’t have been old enough to remember much, but that scene had etched itself deeply into his memory.

He had seen the despair in his omega father’s eyes, and the indifference in his alpha father’s face so he couldn’t bear to imagine that one day, after being marked, he might become just like his omega father, controlled by pheromones to depend on someone who didn’t truly love him.

Even just thinking about it now, Su Shijin’s hand tightened around the armrest, trembling uncontrollably, his face turning noticeably pale.

Gu Weiyang immediately noticed something was wrong. “What’s the matter? Why do you look so pale?”

He suspected he might’ve pushed Su Shijin too hard. After all, just bringing something like this up could feel like moral coercion—forcing Su Shijin into a corner.

Gu Weiyang quickly said, “I don’t need your help, really. You don’t have to overthink it. I’ll be fine after staying in the hospital for two or three days at most.”

Su Shijin shook his head, signaling that he was fine.

But Gu Weiyang still wasn’t reassured. “You look really pale. Am I putting too much pressure on you? Why don’t you head back first? I’ll have someone come pick you up and take you home.”

“It’s fine, it’s not because of you.” Su Shijin slowly let out a breath to calm himself, then looked up and gave Gu Weiyang a faint smile. “I just remembered something from the past. It’s nothing now.”

Gu Weiyang looked at his face, lips pressing together. “But isn’t it because I made you feel pressured?”

“It’s not that. You don’t have that much of an effect on me,” Su Shijin said.

Gu Weiyang: …

For a moment, he didn’t even know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.