Chapter 33 SJC

Chapter 33: Feelings Gone Sour

Now that things had been laid out this far, Gu Yan suddenly didn’t know what to say anymore.

He mulled over it in his head for a long while, debating whether “I won’t ever let you down” or “I’ll make you happy from now on” sounded better.

But then he figured this little Flower Peacock would probably faint on the spot if he heard something that cheesy.

After a long internal struggle, Gu Yan swallowed the words and took a different route. “Marriage isn’t a small matter. You should think it through carefully.”

Shen Jinnian rested his chin on his knee and his long raven-black lashes cast a shadow over his eyes making him look a bit absentminded.

“I know,” Shen Jinnian nodded his head.

Gu Yan responded with a muffled “Mm,” and didn’t say anything else.

He took the opportunity to turn away, adjusting his expression with his back to Shen Jinnian.

He really had no idea what stroke of luck had hit him—he’d only meant to kindly escort Shen Jinnian home, yet somehow ended up picking up a wife along the way.

And not just anyone, but someone he’d spent three whole years trying to win over.

Originally, he’d planned to slowly clean up his image in Shen Jinnian’s mind over time, then wait until after graduation to find the right chance to pursue a relationship. Who could’ve guessed they’d skip such a huge step entirely?

They went straight on the road of marriage first and love later.

Gu Yan tried hard to suppress the rush of emotions in his chest, his eyes turning red at the corners from holding back. It took him a long while before he could relax his stiff lips.

“When do you plan to register the marriage?” Gu Yan asked.

Shen Jinnian suddenly froze and snapped his head up. “Huh?”

He was only talking about the idea of marriage—how did things get so detailed, all the way to getting a marriage certificate?

“For the marriage registration,” Gu Yan explained. “You need a marriage certificate to register the baby’s household registration.”

Shen Jinnian frowned. “I know that, but I can’t apply for a marriage certificate on my own right now.”

Gu Yan straightened up at those words.

Shen Jinnian caught his movement clearly. “That’s why I came to ask for your help.”

Gu Yan didn’t hesitate at all. “I know. I’m willing.”

“Really?” Shen Jinnian hadn’t expected Gu Yan to be so open and easygoing. “You’re really okay with helping me find the baby’s other father?”

…?

Gu Yan found that statement a bit hard to swallow.

Something about the logic here didn’t sit right.

What did he mean by—help me find?

Shen Jinnian leaned in and asked Gu Yan, “Are you an only child? Do you have any omega brothers?”

Gu Yan’s brain short-circuited in an instant—everything Shen Jinnian had said earlier completely vanished from his mind.

So…

When Shen Jinnian had just confessed that the baby looked like him, and carefully explained the plan to get married and register…

All of that was based on the assumption that Shen Jinnian was marrying an omega, and the child’s other parent was that omega.

Not once had Shen Jinnian considered that the baby’s other half might be him.

Gu Yan’s entire world collapsed.

Shen Jinnian clearly saw the moment Gu Yan’s eyes lost focus, his pupils dilating to nearly double their size.

He reached out worriedly and waved a hand in front of Gu Yan’s face. “Are you okay?”

Gu Yan suddenly grabbed Shen Jinnian’s wrist.

His palm was burning hot, scalding Shen Jinnian’s delicate skin until it turned red and painful.

Shen Jinnian tried to shake him off twice but couldn’t. Gu Yan’s expression frightened him, making his heart pound with unease. “Gu Yan, what the hell is wrong with you?!”

Gu Yan didn’t respond immediately.

He stared at Shen Jinnian's face for a long time with a piercing gaze.

In the end, he could only blame himself.

Blame himself for having secrets he couldn’t tell—for not being able to openly admit who he really was.

Gu Yan let go of the other man’s wrist, a hint of disappointment in his tone. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any Omega siblings.”

Shen Jinnian rubbed the red mark on his wrist with one hand. “I thought we’d be in-laws in the future.”

“You said the kid looks like me, didn’t you?” Gu Yan prompted carefully.

There was no doubt about it.

The child did look like him.

And everyone had already come to the same silent conclusion.

It was Shen Jinnian who refused to take that step mentally.

“Can you have children?” Shen Jinnian shot back without hesitation. “We’re both biologically male in every way.”

There wasn’t a single documented case—at least not yet—of two Alphas being able to have offspring.

Gu Yan, as one of them, was the first person to be ruled out.

But Gu Yan wouldn’t accept that.

He believed the child had come from a parallel universe. In that case, anything was possible.

“So, you’re from a parallel world too?” Shen Jinnian laughed in disbelief. “Let’s go to the hospital. If they find you have reproductive capabilities, we’ll get married.”

And not just married—he wanted a second child, too.

He was determined to find out where this Alpha freak managed to get a baby from.

Gu Yan wasn’t about to back down. “Why make it so complicated? Let’s just do another DNA test.”

“…”

A DNA test cost tens of thousands. Was he supposed to test everyone remotely suspicious, like he was running a charity?

Gu Yan saw Shen Jinnian hesitating and calmly added, “I’ll pay for it.”

“Gu Yan!” Shen Jinnian was so furious, his chest rose and fell with every breath. “Even in a parallel universe, there’s no way the two of us could have a baby together.”

Because even in another world, they’d still be them.

Still Alpha and Alpha.

Just because some detail in the story changed didn’t mean biology suddenly would too.

No matter how wildly fate diverged, there was no way an Alpha’s body could reshape itself to carry a child.

Those words cut like a knife, straight to the heart.

Gu Yan fell silent for three whole minutes before stubbornly repeating, “I can do a DNA test.”

He couldn’t explain his Enigma status yet—so a DNA test was the clearest evidence he could provide.

Shen Jinnian gave in.

He lowered his head while breathing heavily. “Do whatever you want.”

He truly had no idea where Gu Yan got this ridiculous obsession from—like he was possessed or something, hell-bent on tying his life to his.

To outsiders, it’d probably look like their relationship had turned romantic.

Frustrated, Shen Jinnian closed his eyes and ignored Gu Yan altogether, curling up beside the baby.

The argument ended in a one-sided cold war.

Gu Yan looked at Shen Jinnian’s back, a pang of regret rising in his chest.

Maybe Shen Jinnian’s misunderstanding wasn’t that unreasonable.

In fact, Shen Jinnian's misunderstanding was understandable.

He shouldn't have argued with him so eagerly, causing Shen Jinnian to ignore him again.

He should’ve comforted this prickly little cat instead of ruffling its fur.

Gu Yan got up and left the room, carefully shutting the door and windows behind him to keep the wind out and avoid anyone catching a cold.

The moment Shen Jinnian heard the man leave, his eyes snapped open. He grabbed his phone from his bag and began searching multiple websites for any examples of Alphas bearing children.

He even made up a story and messaged Shen Huaili to ask about it.

That scared Shen Huaili half to death—he thought Shen Jinnian wanted to give someone else a baby and threatened to send him to a mental institution for rehab.

Without hesitation, Shen Jinnian blocked him and sent him off for his “rehab.”

Just then—

The wooden door creaked open slowly.

Shen Jinnian thought it was Gu Yan and quickly tossed his phone aside, shutting his eyes to fake sleep.

But the voice that reached his ears belonged to the young boy who usually followed the old master around.

The boy patted Shen Jinnian lightly. “Mr. Shen… this is the birth chart my master specially calculated for you before his nap.”

Shen Jinnian sat up. “The baby’s?”

“No, sir,” the boy replied. “My master said it’s for the baby’s parents.”

Shen Jinnian opened it and glanced at the contents.

Sure enough, two sets of birth dates were written on the paper:

Year of Gengchen, Month of Bingxu, Day of Guichou
Year of Guiwei, Month of Gengshen, Day of Yichou

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T/N: Gu Yan’s birthday should be around October 2000. And I just realised Shen Jinnian’s birthday is just 3 days away from mine. Lol. I wanna be in a relationship tooooo(TヘTo)

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May goal: 3 more members on either Patreon or kofi for 3 extra chapters~ 

I'm kinda procrastinating on uploading chapters on kofi because I have no members there. /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\