Chapter 77

The apartment was laid out as a two-bedroom, one-living-room flat, and from the decoration and arrangement there was nothing to set it apart from a residential unit — not at all like a dormitory. Most of the people living in this building were officers, which was why they were equipped with accommodations like this.

Lu Heyang poured Xu Ze a glass of water and set it on the coffee table. 'I've already said this physical exam didn't need to include me. I didn't expect them to have you come over so late — sorry for the trouble, Doctor Xu.'

'It's no trouble, it's my job.' Xu Ze forced himself to focus, to make sure he didn't say the wrong thing. 'Just a simple checkup.'

'Then let's begin — what do you need me to do?' Lu Heyang stood in front of Xu Ze, his head tilted slightly, looking very relaxed and cooperative.

Xu Ze instinctively looked elsewhere. 'Sitting on the sofa is fine.'

Lu Heyang sat down. Xu Ze set the medical kit down properly, opened it, and pulled up the physical exam form and the stethoscope's external software from the system. He stood beside Lu Heyang's legs, fitted the stethoscope into his ears, then bent down and pressed the chest piece against Lu Heyang's chest, listening while watching the waveform on the screen.

Xu Ze had auscultated many people — some would look down to watch how his hands moved, some would look at the screen with him, some would zone out — but rarely had anyone, like Lu Heyang, watched his profile from such close range with such calm, such directness.

He was glad he wasn't the one being listened to.

Time passed extraordinarily slowly. Counting silently to the last second, Xu Ze breathed a quiet sigh of relief inside. He saved the data to the information system, removed the stethoscope and set it aside, and went to open the collection tube. The packaging, usually easy to tear, refused to give after several attempts — Xu Ze frowned slightly, not in displeasure, but in vexation at himself.

A hand reached over and took the collection tube. Lu Heyang tore open the packaging, handed it back to Xu Ze, and said: 'Doctor Xu, don't be angry.'

Xu Ze was startled for a moment, looked down for a cotton swab, and explained: 'I'm not angry.'

'I know,' Lu Heyang said.

'I need to draw a small sample of Pheromone.' Xu Ze closed the cotton swab box lid, and, trying to sound as if he were simply inquiring about the examinee's physical condition, asked: 'Your gland and Pheromone... are they both alright?'

'They're alright.' Lu Heyang turned to the side, leaving his back to Xu Ze to make the procedure easier, and answered: 'Though about every three months I have a Susceptibility Period.'

Xu Ze thought he must have misheard — his whole body went still. An S-Class Alpha experiencing a Susceptibility Period had always been rare. He himself, because of a second differentiation, had experienced it many times, and by now the physical discomfort was secondary; the disruption to work was the greatest inconvenience. And Lu Heyang held an important position — he could originally have been forever free from the trouble of Susceptibility Periods.

Having waited a long time for Xu Ze to begin drawing the Pheromone, Lu Heyang tilted his head slightly and reminded him: 'Doctor Xu?'

Xu Ze made an 'mm' sound, lowered his hand, let his slightly trembling wrist relax for a few seconds, then raised it again, used iodine to disinfect the skin over the gland, and slowly pushed the needle in.

After drawing the Pheromone, Xu Ze pulled out the needle and held a cotton swab against the puncture hole on the gland. The living room lights were on a soft mode, not particularly bright. Xu Ze traced his gaze along the muscle lines of Lu Heyang's shoulders and back, and found no obvious scars — the Air Force really did rarely get injured. Injury meant the fighter jet had already been damaged, meant the pilot had very likely lost the ability to continue controlling the aircraft or to parachute, and in some sense, from the moment of being wounded at high altitude, one needed to be prepared to face death directly.

After a dozen or so seconds, Lu Heyang raised his hand: 'I'll press it myself.'

His hand inevitably covered the back of Xu Ze's hand — it looked a full size larger, capable of completely enveloping Xu Ze's hand. When the calluses on Lu Heyang's palm brushed against him, Xu Ze's skin felt itchy and numb. He drew his hand back somewhat awkwardly, went to put the collection tube away, then crouched by the coffee table and bent his head to write two characters on the label.

'Colonel?' After Xu Ze stuck the label on the collection tube, Lu Heyang said, 'I remember having told Doctor Xu my name before.'

'It's just a mark.' Xu Ze said. 'When I get back it'll all be entered into the system, a unique identification code will be generated and stuck on, to prevent names from being exposed.'

While answering, Xu Ze hadn't yet stood up — beside his shoulder was Lu Heyang's knee, as if he were crouching at Lu Heyang's feet. Xu Ze explained very earnestly, very thoroughly, as if worried Lu Heyang might be displeased by it.

Lu Heyang looked down at Xu Ze and told him: 'I'm not angry.'

Xu Ze paused, looked up at Lu Heyang for a moment, then quickly turned back and said: 'I know.'

'Doctor Xu, when did you start wearing glasses?' Lu Heyang asked suddenly.

'High school... my final year of high school.' Xu Ze pushed his glasses up.

His first pair of glasses had been a gift from Lu Heyang.

Lu Heyang tossed the cotton swab into the trash: 'Can I see your glasses?'

Xu Ze nodded, not considering at all what was worth seeing about the glasses. He took them off and held them up to Lu Heyang.

His nearsightedness wasn't that deep, and occasionally he could function normally without them. But the moment he removed them, not quite adapted for the moment, Xu Ze narrowed his eyes — the light was cut by his lashes into countless fragmented shadows. He felt Lu Heyang was looking at the glasses, or perhaps at him, giving him the illusion of eye contact.

When Xu Ze's vision recovered, Lu Heyang handed the glasses back. Xu Ze put them on again and stood up.

Time to go. Xu Ze packed up his things, hesitated a moment, and asked: 'How do you usually get through your Susceptibility Period?'

He wasn't a Military District doctor, so the question might not be quite appropriate, but Xu Ze asked it anyway.

But Lu Heyang seemed very interested in the formal 'you,' and smiled as he asked: 'Aren't we the same age?'

'Yes.' Xu Ze thought for a moment. 'But you're a superior officer.'

'In high school, you were He Wei's desk-mate.' Lu Heyang propped both hands on the edge of the sofa and lifted his head slightly to look at Xu Ze. 'We should have spoken, shouldn't we have?'

Xu Ze looked at the medical kit on the coffee table and began to feel that if only He Wei had never mentioned him to Lu Heyang, they could have become complete strangers with no prior acquaintance, and wouldn't have to be like now — to Lu Heyang, merely a high school alumnus whose face and name were both very vague.

'We spoke a little.' Xu Ze couldn't lie about the past, couldn't lie and say they had never had any interaction.

Lu Heyang nodded: 'Sorry, my memory isn't very good.'

Xu Ze closed the medical kit and suddenly smiled very faintly — that hard-to-describe smile, a little regretful, a little absent. He said: 'Mm, your memory isn't good.'

The living room fell quiet. Realizing he had said something strange, Xu Ze stood still for a while, then said: 'You should rest early. I'll be going now.'

Lu Heyang didn't answer, and stood up. Between the sofa and the coffee table there was only a little over half a meter of space, and two adult Alphas standing in it looked somewhat crowded. Xu Ze felt Lu Heyang's body heat very clearly. He instinctively stepped back, but his calf immediately met the edge of the coffee table.

'Would you like some water?' Lu Heyang picked up the glass on the coffee table.

It was phrased as a question, but Xu Ze, as if obeying some kind of request or order, after a brief hesitation, took the glass and said: 'Alright.'

When he tipped his head back to drink, Xu Ze's lashes naturally fell, casting two fine, dense shadows beneath his eyes. He seemed truly thirsty — his lips pressed against the rim of the glass as he drank most of it down, his Adam's apple bobbing, producing a faint sound of swallowing.

'Thank you.' The words were addressed to Lu Heyang, but Xu Ze didn't look at him. Xu Ze licked his moistened lip corner and set the glass back on the coffee table.

He didn't know where to direct his gaze, so he could only look out toward the balcony. He could see a cluster of lush treetops, branches and leaves swaying, which made him think of his old house — outside that small room, there had been trees like this too.

The Wristband had been set to maximum before entering the room, yet Xu Ze still caught Lu Heyang's Pheromone — faint, but already enough to make him remember many things.

Face, body, gaze — these elements that made up Lu Heyang were always deep and clear in Xu Ze's mind, but only when he smelled that specific scent belonging to him did every scene become complete: that summer filled with the night's downpour, the afternoon sunlight, white Plum Blossom, and the throb of a restless heart.

Lu Heyang didn't say 'you're welcome.' In the moment Xu Ze was distracted, he asked: 'Would Doctor Xu mind if I smelled your neck?'

Never refusing Lu Heyang, and never probing Lu Heyang's motives — this habit hadn't changed even now, so much so that Xu Ze, without thinking, instinctively nodded and agreed to this strange request: 'I don't mind.'

They were very close. With one raised hand Lu Heyang could have touched Xu Ze. He lightly pressed Xu Ze's side neck, lowered his head, and brought the tip of his nose close to the area on Xu Ze's nape near the gland. Warm breath pressed against his skin — Xu Ze suddenly hunched his shoulders, and stared blankly ahead with wide eyes. Such a gesture was overly familiar to him, like the posture they used to take when kissing.

The pause was very brief. Lu Heyang straightened up, and the hand resting at Xu Ze's neck lowered as well. He stepped to the right, retreating to a normal social distance of one step away, while Xu Ze still stood there motionless. The light fell down, and the white coat made his hair look unusually black; beneath his fair skin a more pronounced flush than before showed through.

'For Susceptibility Period, I generally use Inhibitor and some special medication.' Lu Heyang delayed until now to answer Xu Ze's question, then said to him: 'Doctor Xu worked hard today.'

Xu Ze's gaze shifted slightly, and he slowly came back to himself. He bent down to pick up the medical kit and said softly: 'It's no trouble.'

'Has the sergeant who came in with you arranged a car to take you back to the dormitory?' Lu Heyang walked past Xu Ze, went into the room to retrieve the black T-shirt he had taken off earlier, and put it back on.

On the way here he had passed the Medical Staff Dormitory, and Xu Ze estimated that walking from here would take about five minutes — a very short distance. He made a noncommittal 'mm' sound, without saying he would walk back later.

Lu Heyang walked out of the room — whether he hadn't heard or for some other reason, he looked into Xu Ze's eyes: 'Doctor Xu?'

Being looked at like that, Xu Ze could no longer be evasive. He avoided Lu Heyang's gaze and said: 'Walking back only takes a few minutes. It'll be quick.'

Lu Heyang said nothing, walked through the living room and opened the door. Xu Ze immediately and voluntarily walked out. After exiting, he couldn't help but glance back, having expected to see only the door about to close — but unexpectedly Lu Heyang was right behind him.

'I can go down by myself,' Xu Ze said.

'Really?' Lu Heyang asked.

'Mm.' Xu Ze nodded.

'But the elevator requires a fingerprint to start,' Lu Heyang informed him helpfully.

'...Alright.'

After fingerprint recognition, Lu Heyang pressed the first floor for Xu Ze, then walked out of the elevator and stood facing Xu Ze. Xu Ze held the medical kit. There probably wouldn't be many opportunities to see Lu Heyang after this. He actually wanted to say something, but the things he most wanted to say weren't appropriate to say to the Lu Heyang in front of him.

Xu Ze suddenly raised his head and met Lu Heyang's eyes directly for a moment, then his gaze fell back to the ground.

The elevator doors slowly closed, and Xu Ze heard Lu Heyang say: 'Doctor Xu, until next time.'

Xu Ze wanted to answer 'alright,' but that door had already completely shut before he could open his mouth.

After exiting the Accommodation Building, having walked less than half a minute on the road, a military vehicle drove up from behind and stopped beside Xu Ze.

'Doctor Xu, I'll take you back to the dormitory.'

It was an unfamiliar soldier. The car was already pulled up in front of him — refusing would only waste time. Xu Ze said 'thank you,' then got in the car. He didn't ask the soldier whose orders he was following to come pick him up — most likely the sergeant who had led the way earlier.

Lu Heyang returned to the apartment and heard the Mobile Phone ring. He searched the living room for a while before finding it, because he usually only used the military communicator — the Mobile Phone had practically been abandoned.

'Hello?'

'I must be hearing things — Colonel Lu's Mobile Phone can actually be reached for once.'

Lu Heyang laughed, and with one hand pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it into the laundry basket: 'Officer He probably isn't hearing things.'

'It's already been three hours since I returned to the Capital City, and I'm very puzzled — why hasn't Colonel Lu come to welcome me back yet?'

'A bit busy these past two days. Thursday, then.'

'Alright, please have Colonel Lu send a helicopter to pick me up.'

'Sure.'