He’s So Sweet After Class

When Mo Lingqiu and Jiang Chenming arrived at the cafe, Fan Nian was sitting on a seat in the corner covering his nape. 

The elegant mixture of a strong rose fragrance and a cold wine aroma reached their noses. The rose scent came from Fan Nian’s pheromones. 

“Here.” Mo Lingqiu handed him the inhibitor.

Jiang Chenming stood far away, not daring to go near them, but the expression on his face was incomprehensible. 

Fan Nian gratefully took the inhibitor and drank it all in one gulp. “Thank you.”

“You’ve been marked?” Mo Lingqiu frowned. The wine aroma seemed very familiar.

“…En, temporarily marked. I’m alright.” Fan Nian’s eyes were a little evasive.

Jiang Chenming stared at him for a moment before taking out his cell phone to call Jiang Junshen. He took a while to answer, and, when he did, his voice was a bit hoarse.

“Hello, Chenming.”

“Brother, where are you?” Perceptive, Jiang Chenming quickly noticed something was off and took a step outside. 

“…I’m at the office.”

“Brother, I saw Dr. Fan.” Jiang Chenming didn’t even need to think deeply to know that Jiang Junshen was lying.

On the other end of the phone, there was a moment of silence until Jiang Chenming said, “Dr. Fan almost went into heat. Brother, did you…” 

“Where is he?” Jiang Junshen asked through clenched teeth.

The suspicions in Jiang Chenming’s mind were gradually confirmed. “He’s fine now, and Teacher Mo is keeping him company. There’s something else I’d rather ask…Did the two of you have dinner together today?” 

“…En,” Jiang Junshen slowly replied after hearing that Fan Nian was okay.

“Did you guys know each other before this?” Jiang Chenming more or less knew what his brother’s temperament was like. There were only two types of people who could make his brother voluntarily go out for dinner: those who he had to cooperate with for work and those who he associated with in his personal life. It was obvious, he guessed, that Fan Nian was in the latter group. 

Jiang Junshen didn’t say anything, clearly not wanting to answer the question.

Jiang Chenming fell silent for a moment before he said, “Forced markings have effects for Omegas.”

“…I know.” Jiang Junshen grinded his back teeth together—he could taste a drop of blood, mixed with the faint scent of roses. 

“Brother, please apologise to Dr. Fan when you have the chance to, or else Teacher Mo will be angry.” Jiang Chenming didn’t want to see Mo Lingqiu angry.

“En.” Jiang Junshen once again asked where Fan Nian was before he hung up the phone, but Jiang Chenming kept his mouth shut and didn’t say anything. Jiang Junshen could only give up and end the call. 

Jiang Chenming put his phone away and reentered the cafe. Fan Nian had calmed down, and Mo Lingqiu was sitting in front of him with a serious expression, trying to ask him what had happened. 

Fan Nian bit his lower lip and refused to tell him. “It’s okay, I can fix it by myself.”

“If you need to fix it, then why did you get marked? Who did you meet with today?”

Fan Nian couldn’t say that it was the blind date he’d introduced him to. Moreover, he and Jiang Junshen were otherwise involved and he couldn’t explain it all at once. 

“You don’t want to say?” Mo Lingqiu’s face grew dark, clearly very unhappy and worried about Fan Nian’s condition. Although the temporary mark would disappear in time, Fan Nian clearly valued the pheromone compatibility rate, so, if it was forced, how could it be a good thing?

“I’m really okay.” Fan Nian sighed. “I allowed it.”

This time Mo Lingqiu was dumbfounded. Fan Nian had allowed it?

“100 percent compatibility rate?”

“…No.” He and Jiang Junshen didn’t have a 100 percent compatibility rate; their compatibility rate, in fact, even belonged to a lower percentile. 

Mo Lingqiu was amazed. No 100 percent compatibility rate, but Fan Nian had allowed the mark. Who was it that had, once and for all, made him make such a compromise? 

“It’s really okay. You’ll find out later.” Fan Nian didn’t dare to confess at that moment, afraid that Mo Lingqiu would blame himself upon finding out who it was. 

Mo Lingqiu became sullen after not receiving sufficient answers to his questions. He and Jiang Chenming sent Fan Nian home before they returned to the Jiang family’s house. 

Jiang Chenming was hesitant to tell Mo Lingqiu—he was afraid that after revealing Jiang Junshen as the person who had made the mark, Mo Lingqiu would really get into a fight with him. Besides, after hearing what Fan Nian and Jiang Junshen had both said, he felt that they were hiding something. 

It was late at night and Mo Lingqiu was already dead asleep. Jiang Chenming heard a door close next door. He quietly got up from the bed and walked out of the room. 

Knock, knock. He knocked on Jiang Junshen’s door.

Not long after, Jiang Junshen opened the door. “…What’s wrong?”

“Can I come in and talk?” Jiang Chenming was afraid that he would wake up Mo Lingqiu if they kept talking in the hallway. 

Jiang Junshen’s expression was dismal. After a moment, he turned his body and gave way. 

Jiang Chenming walked in with a few strides and Jiang Junshen closed the door. “What do you want to ask?”

“Brother, what’s going on between you and Dr. Fan?”

“We knew each other before.” Jiang Junshen looked cold to the point of being indifferent. 

Jiang Chenming was stunned for a moment. He asked, “Is he the person you used to like?”

Jiang Junshen froze, silent, but his expression was so transparent that Jiang Chenming could tell in one glance that he was right. 

“I guessed it right?” Jiang Chenming was surprised. “Brother, you and Dr. Fan used to be classmates?”

“En. High school classmates,” Jiang Junshen answered. But that was all he said.

Jiang Chenming kept asking questions, but Jiang Junshen kept his mouth shut until he was advised to properly chase Fan Nian.

“I know. We still have some misunderstandings that haven’t been solved.” Jiang Junshen was at a loss, which was a rare moment. “I’ll make arrangements afterwards.”

“Then, Brother, I won’t ask anymore since you’ve said so. But Dr. Fan is Teacher Mo’s friend. I hope that you can treat him well. Otherwise, Teacher Mo won’t be the first one to get angry—I will.” Jiang Chenming always prioritised Mo Lingqiu’s emotions. 

“…En.” Even Jiang Junshen wasn’t sure of himself. Things hadn’t even started to take shape yet, and he’d gone overboard today. He still didn’t know how to solve this. 

Jiang Chenming fell silent and then returned to his room.

Just as he laid down, Mo Lingqiu, who he had thought was in deep sleep, quietly spoke. “Did you go talk with your brother?” 

“…Teacher Mo.” Jiang Chenming panicked, like he’d been busted. 

“Did you go?” Mo Lingqiu opened his eyes, catching his eyes in the darkness.

“…En. I asked him a few things,” Jiang Chenming said. “Teacher Mo, about Dr. Fan…”

“I already guessed.” Mo Lingqiu had actually remembered after returning to the villa where he had already smelled that wine aroma: it was the scent of Jiang Junshen’s pheromones. 

Although the residual scent in the villa was very faint, Mo Lingqiu could still detect its traces. However, he hadn’t opened his mouth because he couldn’t really figure out a good way to ask Jiang Chenming. 

“Okay, then.” Jiang Chenming was helpless. As expected, his Teacher Mo was still very smart. “I went to ask my brother what was going on with Dr. Fan, but he didn’t tell me.”

“En.”

“He only said that they used to be classmates.”

“In high school?” Mo Lingqiu quickly asked. He had known Fan Nian in college, but he hadn’t known that Fan Nian was hanging around Jiang Junshen.

“Yes.” Jiang Chenming nodded. “Didn’t I tell you yesterday that my brother used to have a person he liked when he was studying?”

“…Don’t tell me that person is Fan Nian.” Mo Lingqiu didn’t quite believe it; it was a bit too coincidental.

“It’s him. When I asked my brother, he didn’t deny it.” No denial meant that it was the correct answer. 

“…No wonder Fan Nian didn’t tell me about it.” Mo Lingqiu figured that Fan Nian had probably recognized Jiang Junshen, and that the two of them must have been somehow involved in high school. 

“…No wonder my brother agreed without hesitation to the blind date yesterday.” Jiang Chenming was also helpless. Their matchmaking effort had indeed produced results, but, somehow, they had felt that the process was very peculiar and that it would be a bit difficult to predict the outcome. 

In the darkness, their eyes stayed locked on the other’s. Jiang Chenming heard Mo Lingqiu’s short sigh. 

“Teacher Mo, don’t worry too much. Weren’t you the one who said Dr. Fan isn’t a sheep?” Jiang Chenming didn’t know how to comfort him.

Mo Lingqiu thought about it. “Even though I did say that, I’m still hoping he isn’t.” 

“My brother is still reliable. If something goes wrong, I’ll be the first to find him and straighten him out,” Jiang Chenming assured him with conviction.

After that, until the eve of the Spring Festival, Fan Nian and Jiang Junshen didn’t meet with each other. Or, they might have met, but Mo Linqiu and Jiang Chenming weren’t made aware.

Mo Lingqiu and Jiang Chenming gradually put the matter aside and began to prepare for the New Year.

Mo Lingqiu’s parents didn’t have a holiday this year and had to stay at the Research Institute during the Spring Festival. Mo Lingqiu also planned to stay in the Jiang house, at Jiang Chenming’s request, to mark the first Spring Festival since the start of their relationship.

However, his Yuanqiao Apartment house and Jiang Chenming’s house in Shihao Garden still needed to be cleaned a bit, and they had to put up Spring Festival couplets in both houses.

After Mo Lingqiu went home and finished cleaning, he took out the Fortune character that he had brought back and pasted it on the door with Jiang Chenming. He then went downstairs to paste a small Spring Festival couplet saying “Wishing us peace and safety wherever we go. Happy New Year” on the back of the silver car.

The two of them didn’t need to clean anything when they arrived at Shihao Garden since the hourly aunt usually cleaned the place all the time, but there were a lot of Spring Festival couplets that needed to be put up. 

They first put up the couplets on the gate outside the compound before going to the entrance. Starting from the entrance door, they pasted things up one by one as they moved deeper into the house. Some were couplets and some were just the word Fortune. After half an hour of work, they got it all done. 

“It’s not good to have a big house,” Jiang Chenming said, teasing himself. 

“Wouldn’t this be more difficult in your family’s house?” Mo Lingqiu thought of their unrealistically large house after hearing Jiang Chenming’s words. 

“Yes, Uncle Yu is there. He’ll bring someone to put everything up,” Jiang Chenming said.

Mo Lingqiu was speechless. Later, he and Jiang Chenming left the house and got into the car. Jiang Chenming was driving for once and he chatted with Mo Lingqiu as he drove. 

“Teacher Mo, I’m taking you somewhere tonight.”

“Huh?” Mo Lingqiu froze. It was New Year’s Eve, where else could they go at night?

“Don’t worry, it’s near my house.”

Mo Lingqiu didn’t respond. Near Jiang Chenming’s house, but it seemed rather far. 

“It’s really near.” Jiang Chenming twisted his head to look at Mo Lingqiu who didn’t seem to believe his words. He smiled as he explained, “It’s a place I liked to go to when I was a kid. I have some surprises for you there.”

Upon hearing the second half of Jiang Chenming’s explanation, Mo Lingqiu’s eyes started to light up. “Is that so?”

“En. If you like it later, promise me something.”

A/N: Nian Nian and Brother don’t have a 100 percent compatibility rate~