Beta Chapter 11: Is it good?

Chapter 11: Is it good?

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Luo Songran had no expectations for grilled fish anymore. Because they couldn’t even catch a fish to begin with. In the late afternoon, the two of them sat by the shore for three hours, but they couldn’t catch a single fish.

Duan Yizhou was speechless. He silently put away his fishing rod, “Perhaps today isn’t a good day for fishing.”

It’s not like this usually.

Luo Songran placed the fishing rod by his feet, rolled up his pants, and looked down at his legs covered in mosquito bites, “No fish, but the mosquitoes sure got their fill.”

Duan Yizhou turned to see the mosquito bites on Luo Songran’s calves, furrowing his brows, “How are you getting bitten even with pants on?”

“Maybe the mosquitoes find me irresistible.” Luo Songran put down his pants, then leaned closer to Duan Yizhou, “Uncle Duan, have you smelled my pheromones? Do I smell good?”

Duan Yizhou’s expression became subtle upon hearing Luo Songran’s question, “Although you’re a beta, you can’t just casually ask others if you smell good or not, it’s a kind of…”

He pondered on what word to use, but Luo Songran cut in before he could.

“Seductive?” Luo Songran grinned wickedly.

Duan Yizhou stopped talking to him. Are all kids like this now? If so, he really needs to adapt, especially after leaving the alpha-only research institute and returning to the group, he needs to adapt. He stood up to take the fishing rod back to the car when he heard a sound of water behind him. His expression softened instantly when he turned around and saw what was happening.

Luo Songran was playing in the water. He thought something had happened, like a fall.

“I think using a net to catch fish would be faster than fishing.” Luo Songran took off his shoes, rolled up his pants, grabbed a fishing net, and went straight into the water. He was enjoying the coolness, bending over, step by step, searching for fish. The stream was surrounded by towering trees, very cool and comfortable. The youth scooping fish in the water seemed to find it fun, with a smile on his face, completely different from before.

“Duan Feizhou!! I caught some!!” Luo Songran lifted the net excitedly, shaking it towards Duan Yizhou on the shore, “Four fish!”

“…” Duan Yizhou felt a bit uncomfortable seeing Luo Songran so happy. Why did ‘Duan Feizhou’ sound so unpleasant?

“See, I told you catching would be faster.” Luo Songran walked back to the shore with his catch. Because his pants were too big and long, they got soaked and started slipping down. With one hand holding the net and the other holding up his pants, he almost tripped. So he reached out to Duan Yizhou, “Give me a hand, my pants are falling down.”

Before he could react, Duan Yizhou walked to the shore, bent over, and lifted him out of the water effortlessly. Like holding a child.

Without hesitation, Luo Songran crossed his legs and hooked them around Duan Yizhou’s waist, hugging his neck tightly and not letting go. With the net in hand, he looked very pleased, “Uncle Duan, you’re so strong.”

“Put your shoes on.” Duan Yizhou carried Luo Songran to his shoes and tried to put him down.

“I won’t.” Luo Songran, having been picked up, had no intention of coming down. He held on tightly, “You wanted to hold me, and now you want me to come down. Shame on you.”

Duan Yizhou was speechless. He couldn’t help but laugh and cry, “Could you be a bit reasonable?”

“Where am I being unreasonable? I have my reasons. I just wanted you to hold my hand, but you lifted me without my consent. Clearly, you’re the one being unreasonable.” Luo Songran poked Duan Yizhou’s shoulder with his hand, “So rude, trying to seduce me.”

Without another word, Duan Yizhou put the little troublemaker down and onto his shoes like a lump of maltose, then took the net from his hand and walked away, “I’ll go deal with the fish.”

Luo Songran didn’t have Duan Yizhou’s strength, so being put down was inevitable. Seeing Duan Yizhou take away his fish, he put on his slippers and snorted, “Can you even deal with the fish?”

The lively and plump fish were struggling desperately in the net.

“…” Duan Yizhou stared down at them. He could cook fish, but how would he kill them? Just stab them with a barbecue fork?

As night fell, the lights of the camper and the umbrella lit up, like the brightest stars in this little world, tranquil and bright. If only they could block out the constant arguing over a fish.

“You have to gut the fish, take out its liver.”

“Grilling it will make it edible.”

“That’s not good, it’ll taste fishy.”

“You do it.”

“I’m scared.”

“I’m scared too.”

In front of the barbecue grill, the two looked at the four fish already skewered on the barbecue forks, exchanging glances.

Luo Songran looked utterly speechless as he gazed at Duan Yizhou, “You’re at least studying to be a biology teacher, right? How come you don’t even know how to kill fish?”

“I’m studying biology, not becoming a chef,” Duan Yizhou said, holding a knife somewhat unsure of where to start. He bent down to examine the fish, contemplating how to gut them.

Luo Songran pointed to one side of the fish, “Open it here.”

Duan Yizhou looked up at Luo Songran, somewhat surprised that he knew where to open. He used the knife to make a small incision where Luo Songran had pointed, “Here?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen my dad gut fish before, and he always starts here, taking out all the fish’s organs,” Luo Songran said.

Duan Yizhou made the incision, indeed a small one.

Luo Songran sighed, “Put some effort into it. If you make such a small cut, how are you going to take out the organs with your hands?”

Duan Yizhou looked up again, “Take them out?”

“Otherwise? Do you expect these dead fish to take out their own organs?” 

Duan Yizhou was speechless. Good thing he brought gloves.

It took over half an hour, but they finally gutted and cleaned all four fish. When the fish were placed on the grill, both of them felt an indescribable sense of achievement. Perhaps only a non-kitchen-enthusiast would feel such accomplishment.

The barbecue grill was placed on a milky-white folding table, and they sat facing each other, both hands busy turning the fish, afraid they might burn, while also eagerly awaiting this hard-earned dinner. It wasn’t until the cumin powder and salt were sprinkled on the golden brown grilled fish that the rumbling sounds of hungry stomachs could be heard.

Luo Songran looked at Duan Yizhou, meeting his gaze. Unable to hold back, he smiled, “Are you hungry?”

The bulbs under the umbrella were brighter than the ones under the greenhouse last night, but it seemed that his smile dimmed the lights.

“Yeah, I haven’t eaten much today,” Duan Yizhou said, lowering his gaze, trying to focus on the fish. When you’re hungry, you should stare at the food, not at someone else’s kid.

“Professor Duan, you haven’t called me,” Luo Songran said, resting his head on one hand while flipping the fish with the other.

“Called you what?”

“Nickname, like I call you Professor Duan, Uncle Duan.”

“Luo Xiaoxue?”

Luo Songran’s face instantly fell, “Too unfamiliar.”

“Luo Xiaonie?”

Luo Songran was annoyed and smashed the fish, “No! That sounds terrible!”

Duan Yizhou felt exasperated by his childishness, “Then what do you want me to call you? RanRan?”

“Just call me that,” Luo Songran said somewhat satisfied, then continued grilling the fish, “Except for my family, no one else can call me that way.”

Duan Yizhou nodded, “Right, after all, I can be your uncle.”

Luo Songran’s grip on the barbecue fork tightened, eyebrows furrowed with irritation, “Do you actually know or not?”

Duan Yizhou, “?”

“You can’t tell that I like you?” 

Duan Yizhou was speechless.

Seeing the momentary stiffness in the man’s expression, Luo Songran suddenly understood. This man had no idea he liked him at all. With a thud, he put down the fish, “What’s wrong with you? If you don’t like me, why are you getting close to me and going out on dates with me?”

Duan Yizhou suddenly felt he had oversimplified things. At noon, he thought Luo Songran knew he was only getting close to him because of the chip observation, but apparently not. These past two days were a coincidence for them both. And he thought Luo Songran was just joking around, thinking the kid loved to play, but he never expected Luo Songran to actually say he liked him. Liked him? Can someone really like another person so easily?

“Duan Feizhou, don’t you like me?” 

The name ‘Duan Feizhou’ brought Duan Yizhou back to reality. He met Luo Songran’s eyes, who looked like he was about to cry, eyes red and teary.

Duan Yizhou suddenly felt guilty. His proximity was to observe chip adaptation reactions, and he even used a fake name. How was this any different from deception? Luo Songran had shown clear signs of wanting to get close to him from the beginning, purely because he was infatuated with him. This kid had fallen for him at first sight.

“I like you,” Luo Songran broke down in tears, burying his head on the table, crying loudly. This crying seemed to tear Duan Yizhou’s heart apart.

This cry left Duan Yizhou at a loss. He stood up and walked to Luo Songran, squatting beside him, “RanRan, stop crying, Uncle was wrong.”

“Go away, I don’t want you to be my uncle…” Luo Songran decided to showcase his best crying skills. He refused to believe that he couldn’t eat Duan Yizhou this way. Either way, he wouldn’t give up. He might not have much else, but patience was his greatest skill.

Duan Yizhou had no experience in coaxing people. He had only ever coaxed his niece, but his niece needed to be held and coaxed along with her mood. But how should he coax Luo Songran? Should he pick him up too? Would that make him seem even more like a weird uncle? But if he didn’t, and Luo Songran kept crying, what should he do?

Just as Luo Songran was thinking that his tears were about to dry up and wondering why this man hadn’t responded yet, suddenly he was lifted up. Startled, he looked at Duan Yizhou, who was holding him, then felt himself being placed on his lap.

He was being held by Duan Yizhou!

Duan Yizhou looked at the teary-eyed Luo Songran in his arms, tears still on his lashes, eyebrows furrowed in grievance and annoyance. He compromised and coaxed, “It’s my fault. I didn’t explain why I watched you at the bar that day.”

“Why?”

“Actually, my name isn’t Duan Feizhou, it’s Duan Yizhou. I’m the project leader for the ‘Super Memory Chip’ implantable medical project. It’s been over a week since you had the chip 2.0 implanted, and you haven’t fully integrated yet. I’m here to observe how your chip adapts to your body.”

Luo Songran stopped crying. He pursed his lips, squinting at the man holding him. “So, you’re saying you only got close to me to observe my situation? A biology teacher? Studying for exams? You lied to me.”

No, to be precise, it was Duan Yizhou who had actively approached him. But this man actually lied to him, calling himself Duan Feizhou?! And lied about being a biology teacher?! He actually believed it?

“Duan Yizhou? That name sounds familiar.”

“Yes, so I apologize to you,” Duan Yizhou didn’t want to continue. It was wrong to deceive a child, especially to the point of making him cry, “I was worried you wouldn’t want me to observe, so I resorted to this plan. But I didn’t expect you to like me. It’s my fault.”

Luo Songran was speechless. Alright, he was getting angry now. At this point, if he couldn’t have Duan Yizhou, he wouldn’t be able to resolve the resentment in his heart. This man was even worse than he thought. So he took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, lowered his head, and continued to cry. “I don’t care that you lied to me. I like you as a person. Do you really not like me at all?”

Seeing the child in his arms start crying again, Duan Yizhou, behind his glasses, looked distressed. This was more difficult to understand than the things he studied. It wasn’t something he could deduce logically, “Then what do you want me to do?”

“You need to like me,” Luo Songran lifted his head, reaching out to grab Duan Yizhou’s collar, pulling him closer, tears glistening in his eyes, “Today, if you don’t like me, then like me a little bit tomorrow. And then a little more the day after tomorrow, and even more the day after that. Eventually, you’ll completely fall in love with me. Okay?”

This ‘okay’ was like a bubble in soda, faintly popping in Duan Yizhou’s heart. It was both domineering and pleading, an irresistible display of weakness and coquettishness.

Author’s Note:

Duan Yizhou: Okay, then I’ll arrange to love you.

—

Hehehe, today is May 20th, let’s have a sweet post-marriage theater for you! And there are 52 little red envelopes!! I beg for comments and BaiBai fluids~~

[Post-Marriage Sweet Theater]

The most severe quarrel between RanRan and President Duan was when RanRan told President Duan he wanted a divorce and didn’t want children, and President Duan didn’t coax him anymore, saying, “It’s your decision, and I respect it.”

RanRan was so angry that he left home that night.

Then he went home and asked his dads with the “I have a friend” series.

“Dad, I have a friend who’s been arguing about divorce with his husband lately.”

“Is it serious? What’s the matter?”

RanRan guiltily said, “He’s being unreasonable.”

Dad & Papa were speechless.

Papa said, “Then let your friend sincerely apologize to his husband and coax him, and it should be fine.”

RanRan also felt that what he said to President Duan was indeed too much and decided to apologize. That night, he slept in his room, hugging his pillow, feeling sad because it didn’t smell like President Duan. He wasn’t used to it anymore, so he sent a text message to President Duan. But to his surprise, President Duan didn’t reply to him. He cried under the covers, feeling that President Duan must not want to forgive him.

On the other end, President Duan received the message from the little ancestor that only had one word, “Hmph.”

President Duan was speechless. If this was an apology, can someone teach me how to reply?

 

 

 

 

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