Alvano set the plate aside and pulled out a tissue to wipe the grease from the corner of Fusheng's mouth. This time he did it sincerely, as a way to thank Fusheng for the meatball.
Fusheng lifted his chin, gave a somewhat dissatisfied huff, and continued eating once Alvano finished wiping.
Yichen looked at the hand that had just flashed before his eyes. Alvano's hand looked like a piece of flawless, top-grade mutton-fat jade—the fingers white and slender. It dazzled his eyes and made his heart itch.
Yichen withdrew his gaze, recalled Merkel's words, moved his chair a bit closer, leaned his head toward Fusheng, and looked at Alvano's pretty face as he asked, "Shensheng, have you thought about what I asked you last time?"
Fusheng didn't want to pay any attention to Yichen at all, but Yichen poked him in the arm with a chubby elbow.
He felt quite annoyed. How was he supposed to know what matter Yichen was talking about? He had merely witnessed Fusheng's life as an onlooker, not lived it himself; it was already a miracle that he remembered he was Fusheng's fuer. With Yichen rambling on about countless things every day, how was he supposed to know which one this was?
"What matter?" Fusheng asked Yichen vaguely, a meatball still in his mouth, without even raising his head.
"It's... it's just..." Yichen stammered, tugging at Fusheng's clothes. Fusheng had no intention of coddling him; he brushed Yichen's chubby hand away and kept eating.
"Shensheng, didn't you say you were going to give Alvano back to me?" Yichen, terrified that Fusheng might actually ignore him, cast aside his coyness and began tugging at Fusheng again.
Alvano was originally a Zerg that the Albert Family had given to Yichen, but through a twist of fate, Fusheng had taken him away, and he had ended up as Fusheng's secondary spouse.
However, Fusheng didn't like Alvano either, and coupled with the fact that Alvano was exceptionally pretty, having him wander around the house every day made Yichen's heart itch.
In fact, he had brought this up with Fusheng long ago. Fusheng had refused, merely saying he hadn't vented his anger enough and still wanted to punish Alvano properly. Besides, Yichen simply couldn't bear to watch Fusheng treat such a beautiful Zerg that way—it was an absolute waste of heaven's gifts—and he had long wanted to have Alvano brought to his own side.
Alvano was standing beside Fusheng. Hearing Yichen's words, his entire body stiffened. He lowered his head, his fingers gripping the porcelain plate turning white from the force.
Yet Alvano said nothing, because his words were useless; the power of decision rested firmly in Fusheng's hands.
Though he had originally come for Yichen—since Yichen never mistreated Zergs, was extremely indulgent toward pretty ones, and never skimped on pheromones, making him very popular on the Capital Planet, with most Zergs beating down doors to get close to him—he was already Fusheng's secondary spouse. And while Alvano desperately wanted to stay with the Kris family, he did not want to be casually discarded and traded like a piece of cargo. That was nothing less than grinding his dignity into the dust.
Fusheng could hardly believe what his brain had just processed. With a meatball still in his mouth, his eyes widened slightly in a daze. He needed to sort this out.
Alvano was his secondary spouse—even though he didn't acknowledge it, that technically made him Yichen's daughter-in-law.
Fusheng's CPU had completely fried. Was this body really Yichen's male cub? It utterly shattered his pitiful ethical framework.
Alvano knew Fusheng had already made his decision. Keeping him around in the first place had been purely for revenge; it seemed the revenge was finally complete, seeing as he hadn't beaten him at all these past few days. So that was it.
In truth, he would rather endure whipping than suffer this kind of humiliation.
Some of the Zergs gathered around Yichen, like Claire, wore blank expressions, as if they were already used to it. They were well aware of Yichen's fickle nature—how he couldn't help himself whenever he saw a pretty Zerg.
Others, however, were deeply dissatisfied. They either didn't understand Yichen well enough yet, or they understood him all too well while being hopelessly trapped in deeper. Yichen already had numerous Zergs, and they were even more resentful of Alvano joining the fold.
Merkel stood a short distance away with a smile, clearly quite pleased with what he was seeing.
"What?" Anger brewing in his chest, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth, Fusheng slammed his dinner plate down onto the table with a bang and asked again to make sure.
Seeing Fusheng raise his head to speak to him with a smile still lingering on his lips, Yichen assumed Fusheng was about to agree and spoke up happily, "Didn't you say you were going to give Alvano back to me?" Blinded by lust at this point, Yichen completely failed to notice the peculiar nature of that smile on Fusheng's face.
This time, Fusheng heard it loud and clear, and his anger reached its absolute peak. Letting out a piercing shriek, he lashed out and kicked Yichen—chair and all—violently to the ground, a thoroughly uncultured display.
Whatever the original Fusheng might have promised, what did that have to do with him, the new Fusheng?
Yichen crashed to the floor, letting out a squeal like a stuck pig. Fusheng planted a foot squarely on Yichen's body, his narrow eyes devoid of emotion as he spoke in an icy tone: "Shut up."
Pressing his foot against Yichen's arm, Fusheng grabbed him tightly by the collar. With pressed lips and a dangerous expression, he glared down at Yichen with a fierce, paranoid, and absolute conviction: "Alvano is mine."
Alvano was his, and he wasn't going anywhere.
The suddenness of Fusheng's actions caught everyone off guard; no one had expected things to escalate into such a situation. Once they recovered their senses, they swarmed forward.
Alvano hurried over to pull Fusheng back. Fusheng viciously grabbed Yichen, getting ready to kick him a couple more times, but when he turned his head and saw it was Alvano, he loosened his grip.
The Zergs also rushed forward to help Yichen up, while several sub-Zergs surrounded him, weeping. Yet they dared not do anything to Fusheng, and could only glare at Alvano, the instigator of the incident.
Yichen was still wailing as they helped him up, claiming everything hurt.
"We'll take the lord husband to the hospital. You guys stay here and accompany the male cub," Claire said. Looking at the groaning lord husband and daring not to delay, he prepared to take the lord husband to the hospital alongside the other Zergs, leaving Vane and Alvano behind to look after the male cub.
Although he was Yichen's primary consort, Fusheng was not his biological offspring, and on top of that, he was a male cub; he didn't dare handle this matter himself.
How to deal with it would have to wait until his lord husband recovered.
Fusheng felt that Claire was making a mountain out of a molehill, thinking with disdain that it was just a little fall—what could possibly be wrong? If anything, they should take him to the hospital to get his brain checked.
Watching the flustered Zergs running about, Fusheng figured they really ought to rush him to the hospital quickly, or else his wounds might heal on their own.
Acting as if nothing had happened, Fusheng sat back down and continued eating his leftover meatballs. With Yichen gone, all the meatballs were his.
Standing behind him, Alvano felt a complex mixture of emotions. He kept his head lowered in silence. He didn't know why Fusheng had kept him; he was well aware that Fusheng didn't like him, and the most likely explanation was that he still wanted to torture him. Yet Fusheng had no reason whatsoever to beat Yichen on his own account.
In the end, unable to make sense of it, Alvano chalked it up to the possibility that Fusheng was truly out of his mind.
He did not agree with Fusheng's words—he could never belong to Fusheng—but that single statement by Fusheng would provide him with protection. At the very least, Yichen wouldn't dare bring up the matter again.
Vane hovered around Fusheng, checking him over to make sure he hadn't been hurt by the recent commotion.
Fusheng didn't stop eating until he felt pleasantly full. He rubbed his belly, narrowed his eyes, and leaned back in his chair with a look of utter contentment.
"Candy, lord husband," Alvano said, extending a hand and opening it in front of Fusheng. In his palm lay three pale yellow candies—which were actually digestive tablets.
Fusheng flashed Alvano a smile, reached out to take two of them, and left one for Alvano.
As expected, protecting Alvano just now hadn't been a waste; now he was even giving him candy to eat. He liked Alvano.