TAO | Chapter 19

Just now, as Wei Xiaochi passed by him, Jiang Zhan once again caught a whiff of that strange scent on him.

It was as if under some kind of spell, and he couldn’t help but lean closer to Wei Xiaochi, brushing against the collar of his shirt. His long lashes fluttered as he lowered his eyes, looking soft and almost delicate.

Wei Xiaochi froze in place, unsure of how to react.

His passive submission only seemed to fuel Jiang Zhan’s actions, with his nose trailing up from the collar toward the back of Wei Xiaochi’s neck.

Catching an omega’s pheromones was an instinctual reaction for any alpha, a natural impulse.

A chill shot up Wei Xiaochi’s spine, sending a tingly, electric sensation down his neck, making him shiver involuntarily.

By the time he came to his senses, Jiang Zhan was already close to his neck.

Wei Xiaochi stared at Jiang Zhan in confusion, and Jiang Zhan seemed to sense something. He lifted his lashes and stared back at him directly.

Their eyes met.

The usually proud and aloof eyes of the alpha now looked soft, almost as if washed by rain, glistening and moist. Wei Xiaochi’s eyes widened in shock.

The way he looked, completely stunned, seemed to jolt Jiang Zhan into reality. He hurriedly pushed Wei Xiaochi away, his expression full of frustration.

Wei Xiaochi’s neck already felt uncomfortable, and now it was burning with the way Jiang Zhan had brushed against it.

What exactly was going on? Wei Xiaochi couldn’t help but rub his neck.

“Don’t touch randomly,” Jiang Zhan snapped, slapping Wei Xiaochi’s hand away. “That’s where the gland is. What are you messing with it for?”

Wei Xiaochi thought to himself, “What gland? I’m a beta, where would I have a gland?”

For a beta, the neck was just a regular body part, with no special meaning, and it didn’t secrete pheromones.

But just now, Jiang Zhan seemed to think he was an omega. Why did he say that?

While Wei Xiaochi was still puzzled, Jiang Zhan pushed his hand off the bicycle handlebar and snatched the bike from him.

Wei Xiaochi was shocked, “What… what are you doing?”

“Let’s go to the hospital for a gender test,” Jiang Zhan said coldly, his tone final.

He parked Wei Xiaochi’s bike by the side of the road and pulled out his phone to call a ride. The app showed a car nearby, which would arrive in about a minute.

It was clear that Jiang Zhan suspected Wei Xiaochi was an omega, so he was determined to take him for a gender test. Wei Xiaochi felt utterly confused.

This was completely impossible. Both his parents were betas—how could they have an omega child?

The probability was so low it might as well be like winning the lottery, so Wei Xiaochi didn’t believe Jiang Zhan’s words at all.

He bypassed Jiang Zhan and began pushing his bike. “I’m not going to the hospital, I have make-up classes today.”

Jiang Zhan, with his usual domineering attitude, said, “No. You have to get the gender test today!”

Wei Xiaochi mumbled to himself, “Both my parents are betas, I can’t be an omega.”

“I smelled it on your neck…” Jiang Zhan paused for a moment, turned his head, and grumbled, “If you didn’t have pheromones on you, why do you think I’d be sniffing you?”

For an alpha, smelling an omega was not necessarily a desire; it was more like a natural instinct triggered by the pheromones.

Recalling Jiang Zhan’s strange behavior twice now, Wei Xiaochi felt his face twist.

Could it be that he really was an omega?

Wei Xiaochi tugged at his collar, lowered his head, and sniffed. He didn’t smell anything.

But they said that alphas had keen noses, and their glands could track pheromones over hundreds of meters, pinpointing an omega in heat with precision.

Such a terrifying ability.

The car Jiang Zhan called had already arrived, honking from the side of the road.

The alpha’s eyes narrowed, full of impatience. He glanced at Wei Xiaochi with an unfriendly look. “Do you want me to carry you into the car?”

“No, no need,” Wei Xiaochi shook his head, clearly reluctant. “I can walk myself, but my bike won’t be safe here. I want to lock it in the neighborhood.”

Jiang Zhan stared at him for four or five seconds with a dark expression, finally spitting out two words, “Hurry up.”

Wei Xiaochi didn’t dare waste a single second. He pushed his bike into the neighborhood, parked it in a safe spot, locked it, and ran back out.

The round trip took exactly one minute and twelve seconds.

By the time Wei Xiaochi was caught by Jiang Zhan and taken to the hospital, it was already 5:30 p.m., and the doctor would be off work in half an hour.

During this time, most of the departments were empty, so Wei Xiaochi only had to wait ten minutes before it was his turn.

He had signed up for the pheromone physiology department, and the doctor, who was calmly sitting at his computer desk, asked, “What test are you here for?”

Before Wei Xiaochi could speak, Jiang Zhan cut in. “Gender test.”

The doctor didn’t say anything, simply stared at his screen while scrolling with the mouse—Wei Xiaochi could tell that this was the moment the doctor was preparing to charge.

Wei Xiaochi hurriedly asked, “How much does the gender test cost?”

Jiang Zhan had already set up the medical card for him, and Wei Xiaochi saw him deposit two thousand into the account.

The amount shocked him, and Wei Xiaochi was worried about the cost of the test.

The doctor didn’t even lift his head, “Not expensive, 435.”

435 was a lot for Wei Xiaochi, and he hurriedly tried to stop it. “Wait, don’t charge it yet.”

“It’s already been charged,” the doctor said, glancing at Wei Xiaochi. “What’s the matter?”

Wei Xiaochi opened his mouth, but in the end just shook his head, indicating nothing was wrong.

He actually wanted to ask about the probability of two betas having an omega child—if it was too low, he didn’t want to waste money.

He was definitely Wei Dongjian’s son, and there was no way for any messy drama to occur.

He was so sure because he had done a paternity test with his father. The year his parents divorced, his grandmother suspected that he wasn’t truly from the Wei family, so his father took him for a test.

Wei Xiaochi was still young and didn’t remember much, but he vividly recalled the days when his parents were divorcing, including the paternity test.

If he wasn’t Wei Dongjian’s son, he wouldn’t have stayed in that family for so long.

Now that the money had already been deducted, he had no choice but to go through with the test. Losing 435 made Wei Xiaochi feel awful.

If the test showed he was an omega, then at least the money wouldn’t have been wasted.

But if it really turned out that way, it would mean he’d have to buy suppressants every month, which was another ongoing expense.

Wei Xiaochi felt that not being an omega would be the better deal, plus he wanted to marry and have children, not be the one who was married off.

After finishing the pheromone physiology test, Jiang Zhan took him upstairs to do a six-item hormone test.

Along the way, Wei Xiaochi quietly followed behind Jiang Zhan, his head down, not saying a word.

The test results wouldn’t be ready so quickly, and the doctor told them to come back tomorrow morning to get the results.

As they walked out of the hospital, Jiang Zhan suddenly stopped, and Wei Xiaochi almost bumped into him. Fortunately, he managed to stop just in time.

But Jiang Zhan’s face was still dark, his eyes full of menace. “Did you lose your mind?”

Wei Xiaochi didn’t lose his mind, he lost his money.

But it wasn’t just the 435 that bothered him—he was also worried about the test results tomorrow.

Being a beta for eighteen years, now suddenly being told he might be about to become an omega was a strange feeling.

He had planned out his life for the future and was steadily working toward it. Who knew such a big change would happen in the middle of it?

Wei Xiaochi was caught off guard by this twist and felt a bit lost inside.

And if he really was an omega, how would he explain that to Wei Dongjian? Would his father want him to do another paternity test?

Wei Xiaochi felt troubled and filled with anxiety, but he had no one else to confide in, and since he didn’t have any other friends, he had to digest it all himself.

He forced himself to perk up and said to Jiang Zhan, “It’s okay, let’s go back. I still have a make-up class today.”

Jiang Zhan shot him a glare, “What kind of class do you need at a time like this?”

Why couldn’t he still attend class before the results came out?

Besides, what if Jiang Zhan was wrong, and he wasn’t an omega at all?

Just as Wei Xiaochi was about to speak, his phone vibrated in his pocket. It was a call from Li Suilin.

Wei Xiaochi quickly picked it up. “Class monitor, sorry, I might be late today, I…”

Before he could finish, Jiang Zhan grabbed the phone from his hand and impatiently told the other side, “He doesn’t have time for class today.”

Li Suilin, recognizing Jiang Zhan’s voice, raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Why are you with Xiaochi?”

Jiang Zhan didn’t answer. He hung up the phone and threw it into Wei Xiaochi’s arms.

Wei Xiaochi hugged the phone to his chest to keep it from falling and quickly dialed Li Suilin back.

Even if he turned out to be omega tomorrow, he still had to go to class today to make money for suppressants.

Before the call connected, Jiang Zhan snatched the phone again, hung up the call, and stuffed it into his own pocket.

With a flick of his hand, Jiang Zhan hailed a taxi, then shoved Wei Xiaochi inside, following him, closing the door, and telling the driver to head to a shopping mall.

The whole sequence of actions was so fluid, Wei Xiaochi didn’t even know how to respond.

The shopping mall was in the opposite direction of Li Suilin’s place, and Wei Xiaochi was going crazy inside, but he didn’t dare to confront the irritable alpha directly.

He tried to suggest, “If you don’t want to go to class, you can shop by yourself. Just drop me off, I’ll go back on my own.”

“Shop my ass.” Jiang Zhan’s face was as dark as a frying pan. “We’re going to buy suppressants.”

Wei Xiaochi froze. “But the test results aren’t out yet. Isn’t it too soon to buy suppressants now?”

Wasn’t there supposed to be a transition period before omega’s glands awakened and they started to differentiate?

Jiang Zhan scoffed, arrogantly replying, “No need to wait for the results. My nose is the detector.”

“…”

Wei Xiaochi paused, then couldn’t help but ask, “Since you’re so sure, why did we go to the hospital? Wasting over four hundred on a test.”

Jiang Zhan glanced at him, “At your age, who knows if your gland is malfunctioning.”

“…”

Wei Xiaochi was rendered speechless. Most AOs differentiated early in adolescence, around fourteen or fifteen, but some people’s glands developed late, and they might not differentiate until high school or even university. While this was rare, it wasn’t unheard of.

Jiang Zhan’s words made Wei Xiaochi feel like he had been branded as a “substandard omega.”

Sighing, Wei Xiaochi muttered, “Give me my phone.”

Jiang Zhan immediately became alert, his tone cold. “What do you need the phone for?”

Wei Xiaochi replied, “To pay you back for the gender test.”

Jiang Zhan’s expression softened a little, and he said indifferently, “No need. I’m not short of money.”

Wei Xiaochi said the most assertive thing he had ever said in his life, “I may be short, but I still want to pay you back.”

Author’s Note:

On Jiang Zhan’s art of speaking: “At your age, who knows if your gland is malfunctioning?”
Such a great alpha, but unfortunately, he’s got a mouth that can’t speak properly.