Chapter 115: He finally realised, with unshakable clarity, that Li Songyun would never come back.

Li Songyun got up early and made an appointment to have his markers washed at the hospital as soon as he got his divorce papers.

The omega is only eligible for surgery if it has a divorce certificate.

Bai Zhi told him that some of the rules should be changed, for example, the one-year separation requirement for divorce could be changed to one that would prove the breakdown of the couple's relationship if the omega was willing to go to a legal institution to have the lifetime marker removed, since the fact that an omega could overcome the instinct to have the marker removed was an indication that he had reached a point of intolerability.

Bai Zhi is discussing with Tang Bai about the impact this could have and he hears that they are going to start investigating the data on omega's initiative to file for divorce, Li Songyun wants to help but Tang Bai tells him to rest in the meantime.

The higher the alpha level, the more damage he suffered, like the one Gu Mian left behind, which he had to wash four times to get completely clean.

Accompanied by Jiang Youwen, Li Songyun lay down on the operating table, the anaesthetic was injected into his body and Li Songyun closed his eyes as if he were having a big dream.

The dream was of his wedding night with Gu Mian, red pillows, red sheets, Gu Mian touching his eyes and commenting, "Red suits you."

The process of lifelong marking is long, and at this time the omega has no **, and is more of a bearer than a human being.

He feels his dignity, his personality, shattering little by little in the process of marking him.

The next day he wore a formal red dress lined with a snow-white vintage lace-collared shirt.

He was expecting a compliment from Gu Mian and then he heard Gu Mian say, "Watch your dress code, throw out anything with lace elements and don't wear colours that are too bright ......"

The sting of that moment woke him from his dream.

"The operation was a success, a second marker cleaning will be performed in a week, post-operative precautions ......" After the doctor had finished his explanation and left, Li Songyun lay on the bed, the painful ache that swept through him after the anesthetic had worn off, causing his body to tremble involuntarily.

Jiang Youwen was terrified and held his hand tightly, " Songyun, how are you? Is it hard?"

Li Songyun's hands were sweating and he saw his own woefully pale face in Jiang Youwen's eyes.

Yet he felt in better spirits than ever before.

Putting back together the shattered self-esteem and personality sure hurts, doesn't it?

Li Songyun smiled a little, took Jiang Youwen's hand back and whispered, "I'm fine, Youwen, I want to go shopping for clothes."

"Buy!" Jiang Youwen recalls Li Songyun's usual style of dressing and is about to name a few brands Li Songyun might like when she hears Li Songyun add, "Buy red clothes."

*

Gu Mian stood at the school gate waiting for Gu Peifeng to leave school, as it was the first time he had picked him up as Gu Peifeng's dismissal time clashed with the end of the military service.

The custody of Gu Peifeng was given to Li Songyun in accordance with his wishes, and half of the property in Gu Mian's name was divided between him and Li Songyun.

When Li Songyun asked him why, he said that this part was for Gu Peifeng.

Gu Peifeng's class was not dismissed at 4.30am, so Gu Mian stood for a while and saw several classes lining up to come out.

Parents around are chatting about their children's homework, what with chore punch cards, skipping rope punch cards and recitation punch cards ...... complaining that parents are now more tired of educating their children than their children, saying that they never had to do these things when they were in school.

Other parents said they were unlucky to have been drawn for parental stand duty and would need to stand all day tomorrow, and another parent said she had been chosen to go on a classroom clean-up ......

Gu Mian was unfamiliar with the content of these conversations; he had never heard Li Songyun mention them before.

-- "He needs to nurture four children, endure the absence of his husband during pregnancy, endure the absence of his husband during the child-rearing phase, and endure the absence of his husband during all phases of the child's development."

"Look, is that Year 5?" "It's finally out!"

Gu Mian was standing in the crowd when he saw Gu Peifeng standing in the middle of the line, not very tall, and he did not find the boy at first sight.

Gu Mian noticed that Gu Peifeng's eyes were a little swollen, as if he had been crying.

He always felt that Gu Peifeng was too soft, weak and gluttonous to be a child of the Gu Family.

Then I thought about how beta might be the way to go.

Gu Peifeng seemed to lock eyes with him but did not recognise him. He saw Gu Peifeng wave to the students around him as he exited the school and ran in the other direction.

Amidst the throngs of people, his eyes traced Gu Peifeng and finally landed on Li Songyun, dressed in red.

For a moment, Gu Mian did not recognise this as Li Songyun.

Li Songyun wears a black veiled cap, the lace veil covering his bright smile and warm red eyes.

Some people wear red to look gaudy or rustic, but on Li Songyun, the red is a calm and dignified colour, as he gracefully takes Gu Peifeng's hand and walks away in no hurry.

The evening sun was falling in the sky, reflecting Gu Mian's grey-blue eyes, as if a candle had been tipped over into the night.

He could feel a part of the lifelong mark he had left on Li Songyun being washed away.

This knowledge made him feel as if a piece of his heart had been plucked out of him.

At last it became clear to him that Li Songyun would never return.

*

"Uncle Lai went to the hospital to have his lifetime mark washed off." Tang Bai sits in the theatre and bites her ear with Xie Ruhang, "Mum says Uncle Lai looks terrible and says he was never in such a bad state when he had his baby."

"It hurts so much to wash away the Lifetime Mark." Tang Bai whispered, "The process of forming the lifelong marker also hurts."

Tang Bai has seen the knot formation diagram in physiology class and he thinks alpha is really a bit perverted when it comes to lifetime markers.

Xie Ruhang looks at the worried Tang Bai, a delicate little omega with skin so tender that it can be pinched, and a look that has never suffered since she was a little girl.

Xie Ruhang took Tang Bai's hand in his and after a moment's thought, he whispered as if he had made up his mind, "Then ...... I don't mark you for life from now on?"

Tang Bai: "......?"

Tang Bai turned her head in surprise and met Xie Ruhang's serious phoenix eyes.

" Brother Xie, are you serious?" Tang Bai said incredulously, "I've heard that you alpha's have a strong obsession with marking omega's for life."

An omega marked for life becomes subservient to the alpha, easily unable to disobey the other when the alpha releases its pheromones. It is said that after an alpha with an extreme match has marked an omega, no matter what excesses that alpha does, as long as the pheromones are released, the omega cannot leave the other, even if it crawls, to the other.

The influence is mutual, possessive and protective for the alpha and submissive and attached for the omega.

Tang Bai has not had his pheromones and Xie Ruhang's pheromones tested by a professional body, but he feels that they are a good match for each other.

During the Xie Ruhang susceptibility period, his emotional liking for Xie Ruhang and his willingness to satisfy Xie Ruhang is one aspect, while his body is influenced by pheromones is another crucial aspect.

Tang Bai and Xie Ruhang looked at each other for a moment and found those phoenix eyes so genuine that Xie Ruhang said to him, "False."

Tang Bai: "????" What's wrong with you?

"I can't take away the pain you feel when you are marked for life," Xie Ruhang assures in a soft voice, "but I will spare you the pain of washing the mark."

Tang Bai could sense that Xie Ruhang was serious at this time, and his tone was so certain that he couldn't help but ask, "How can you guarantee that I won't wash the markers in the future?"

"If I meet someone I like better ......" Tang Bai instinctively sensed danger in front of those gradually narrowing phoenix eyes, but since he had known Xie Ruhang until now, Xie Ruhang had never done anything excessive to him, and suddenly seeing this side of Xie Ruhang, Tang Bai found it quite exciting.

Tang Bai had the nerve to say, "How about trying a new relationship?"

The cinema was dimly lit and those dark eyes seemed like tumbling ink, unable to read any emotion.

"I'll get you back."

The hand that had been holding him slowly loosened, and the palm of his hand silently covered his neck, pressing suggestively against his glands.

"Then re-tag you."

Tang Bai's glands are so sensitive that a single brush of coarse fingertips causes an electric tingle and his eyelashes flutter before his eyes widen slightly...

A warm touch comes from the earlobe.

Xie Ruhang nibbled lightly on Tang Bai's earlobe, his low, deep voice ringing in Tang Bai's ear, "Keep marking, marking until you no longer dare to wash it off."

He spoke slowly and spelled out clearly, constantly marking the depression and horror of the process all outlined in one short sentence.

Tang Bai covered his licked earlobe and looked carefully into the obscure phoenix eyes as he swallowed hard, "Really?"

Phoenix eyes curved and a helpless smile flashed through them as Xie Ruhang said in a gentle tone, "False."

He didn't know what it would be like if he really started to go crazy.

But he couldn't let go if what he was about to do would hurt Tang Bai.

Tang Bai rubbed his ears and meekly conceded, "Let's just get on with the film."

This is a romance film in which the omega heroine is unable to undergo the already well-established mark-washing procedure because of her underdeveloped glands, which means that she can only receive one lifetime mark in her life.

The heroine is afraid to make a lifetime mark with the hero for fear that she will not know the right person and will be entrusted with the wrong one.

The hero, unaware of the heroine's secret, and the heroine engage in a series of hilarious cross-channel exchanges on the subject of lifetime marks.

At this point the movie proceeds to the point where the hero mistakenly thinks the heroine is afraid of pain, he runs to the hospital specifically to try the pain of the lifetime mark, the pain is so tigerish that he comes back and says to the heroine I went to the hospital I get it all ......

Someone in the theatre let out a laugh as Tang Bai tossed a popcorn into his mouth while saying, " Brother Xie, although the lifetime mark hurts, if that person is you ......"

Xie Ruhang turned his head to look at Tang Bai and muttered, "I don't think it's a problem."

"If I do cry in pain by then, just remember to kiss me."