Chapter 40: Ambergris
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Gu Liyu was pushed back by An Lan. He seemed to give up resistance and sat on the edge of the bed, easily falling as An Lan pushed.
He laid there, watching An Lan. It made An Lan unsure of what to do next.
After a silent moment, it was Gu Liyu who spoke first. “Aren’t you going to smell it?”
Previously, he didn’t feel much, but since that dream, An Lan realized that sniffing another alpha’s pheromones was a behavior full of “color.”
If Qiao Chuluo knew, he would probably have already imagined millions of words of explicit content.
“Go to sleep.” An Lan lifted his foot and lightly stepped on Gu Liyu’s shin.
Gu Liyu’s knee trembled slightly, but he eventually sat up and laid back on the other side of the bed.
An Lan’s emotions also calmed down a lot. The two of them, as if guided by some unspoken understanding, turned their backs to each other.
“Oh, by the way… Gu Liyu, are all the alphas in your Gu family of the same scent?”
“People’s feelings toward the same alpha can often be different, so the perceived scents are also different,” Gu Liyu’s voice, gentle and illusory in the quiet darkness, answered.
“So, your pheromones should belong to the same category?”
“Ambergris,” Gu Liyu said.
“Ah…” An Lan turned to look at him. “Ambergris is the fixed base of high-end perfumes, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So, even if all the alphas in the Gu family are Ambergris, the scents are still different. I read some popular science information online. Ambergris is very precious, and truly high-quality Ambergris is very rare. Low-quality Ambergris has a terrible smell, but the premium one not only has a soft and lasting fragrance but also enhances the scents of other fragrances. “
“But as the scent of alpha pheromones, it has strong possessiveness.” Gu Liyu replied.
An Lan thought for a moment, “How about letting me smell it? Ambergris that’s as good as gold… I can’t afford such an expensive smell.”
Gu Liyu seemed to smile, although it was very subtle, An Lan just knew he was smiling.
Unable to resist, he kicked him again with his foot. “What are you laughing at?”
“It’s the first time… someone described the scent of our Gu family alphas’ pheromones as ‘expensive.'”
The awkward distance that had been pulled apart seemed to become closer again.
“I won’t smell your neck. That would make us seem like we’re engaging in something inappropriate. Give me your wrist to smell again for me.”
An Lan turned over, looking at Gu Liyu.
“Aren’t you afraid that after smelling it, you won’t sleep well for the remaining few hours?”
“Once bitten, twice shy, thrice or fourth times sell tofu,” An Lan found himself with the potential for “a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water.”
“Fine.” Gu Liyu’s voice was soft and deep, gently extending his left arm towards him.
An Lan had a feeling of “we’re finally back to normal.” Gently holding Gu Liyu’s hand, he put it near his nose, then sniffed along Gu Liyu’s wrist and all the way to the palm.
“Did you smell it?” Gu Liyu asked.
An Lan closed his eyes. All his discerning abilities were focused, pushing aside the overpowering scent of shower gel, entering the most pure and primitive space. Gu Liyu’s fingertips moved slightly, as if wanting to play with An Lan’s forehead hair, but An Lan forcefully held Gu Liyu’s hand.
“Don’t move.” An Lan commanded.
Gu Liyu’s wrist to his fingertips all froze, as if time were rewinding, dew splashing back onto the dust.
“Seems to have a fresh moss scent… very vibrant.” An Lan whispered.
His breath fell onto Gu Liyu’s wrist, and Gu Liyu’s fingertips lightly hooked.
“It’s also like… a moist woody fragrance… a bit sweet.”
“An Lan…” Gu Liyu’s voice was hoarse, as if enduring something, and also like begging An Lan to let him go.
But An Lan didn’t hear it because the extremely faint scent of pheromones didn’t make him feel any aggression. On the contrary, it was ever-changing, mysterious, as if the more carefully identified, the more he would fall into a wonderful world.
Like a willingly falling heart.
“There’s also a gently swaying seaweed in seawater… connected into layers of thin veils…”
“An Lan… stop smelling…” Gu Liyu’s voice got even lower, as if trying harder to pull back his wrist.
But An Lan was still immersed in the almost non-existent scent.
“And the seawater and sunlight have filtered out all impurities… a hundred years… two hundred years… the scent of Ambergris…”
Gu Liyu stretched out his other hand and pinched An Lan’s neck. An Lan finally stopped talking and fell asleep.
The faint light of dawn outside the window descended, and Gu Liyu took a deep breath.
The air was filled with the fragrance of bamboo leaves, long and distant, entwining the nerves and penetrating deep into the thoughts.
Gu Liyu tried to pull back his wrist, but An Lan continued to hold on, as if he would wake up if he exerted force. Gu Liyu could only remain motionless.
After a while, An Lan fell asleep, emitting a slow and steady breathing sound, as if chasing something even in his dreams. Moving towards Gu Liyu, his forehead pressed against Gu Liyu’s shoulder, and Gu Liyu’s legs bent.
Although he had an absurd nightmare in the early part of the night, dominated by overpowering pheromones and featuring a domineering CEO, the kind that could fill an entire bookshelf with colored novels, An Lan slept soundly in the later part of the night, even described as sweet.
He was lured by the rich aroma of food, opened his eyes in a daze, and stretched out his hand to grab his phone on the bedside table. He looked at it and exclaimed— it was already half past noon!
Where was his alarm? Why didn’t it ring?
An Lan turned on the alarm and found it was in the off state. It couldn’t be; his alarm was automatically set, unless he had turned it off himself at six-thirty in the morning.
Turning over, he found that the other side of the bed was already empty; Gu Liyu had long gone.
Did he betray him and go to school alone?
An Lan slapped his head, quickly sat up to change clothes, but there seemed to be some movement in the living room downstairs. An Lan leaned on the stairs to look down and found several plates on the dining table.
An Lan sniffed, smelling the fragrance of steamed eggs. It seemed there was also scallion-braised shrimp? Yellow chicken wings?
An Lan quickly went downstairs and saw Gu Liyu placing a small pot on the table.
“Since you’re awake, hurry up, brush your teeth, wash your face, and have lunch,” Gu Liyu’s voice came.
“Aren’t we going to class? Why didn’t you wake me up for class?” An Lan asked.
Gu Liyu didn’t look up at him, just said, “You only fell asleep at three or four in the morning last night. Calling you to attend class wouldn’t work, so it’s better to let you sleep well.”
“But… what about school?!”
Skipping class in the third year of high school would get them scolded by the teachers.
“I’ve already applied for leave,” Gu Liyu replied.
“You applying for a whole semester of leave, the teacher won’t mind. But what about me…”
“I’ve applied for leave for you too,” Gu Liyu said.
“Huh? What reason?”
Don’t tell me it’s a common excuse like diarrhea or fever…
“Stress response to pheromones resulting in night terrors, irregular heart rate, and a low-grade fever,” Gu Liyu answered.
“… The teacher believes that?” An Lan asked in surprise.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Gu Liyu countered.
Indeed, Gu Li Yu naturally exuded an authoritative aura, and no one could deceive him, so why wouldn’t the teacher believe him?
“I’ve asked the family doctor to write you a sick leave.”
“Your family doctor is very obedient.”
He writes the sick leave you ask for.
“Not obedient, but he came to see you this morning.”
“Did I have another stress reaction?” An Lan widened his eyes.
Gu Liyu walked over, raised his hand to press An Lan’s head, and kept pressing him to the sink in the bathroom, where the toothpaste was already squeezed and placed on the counter.
“Yes, but it’s not very serious.”
“Oh.” An Lan lowered his head and started brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth.
Meanwhile, Gu Liyu watched from the side. This made An Lan a bit nervous; he had to make his tooth-brushing look “graceful” and not too ferocious as usual.
“Do you know several aphrodisiac spices used in the palace?”
An Lan was still brushing his molars, but since Gu Liyu was talking about something other than studying, it was quite interesting. He shook his head.
“Well, let me think…”
I only know musk.
“Yes, musk ranks first. It comes from the glands of male deer during their mating period. It has a very powerful effect on males but is also very domineering and harmful to pregnant women and infants.”
“Ugh… Hmm… I didn’t expect it when I thought carefully…”
I only knew that Xiao Chen’s family used musk.
“And Ambergris, also a very important aphrodisiac fragrance in ancient palace courts.”
“Pfft—” An Lan, who was still gargling, sprayed the water out, splashing the entire mirror with water.
He stood there, at a loss, not knowing whether to pull tissue to wipe it or… wipe it.
Gu Liyu, however, seemed completely indifferent, continuing, “Ambergris can instantly induce strong desires in people. In terms of fragrance, it’s not as overpowering as musk, but it causes less harm to pregnant women and children. Because top-grade Ambergris takes several hundred or even thousands of years to form, so this kind of Ambergris is only found in the inner court of the imperial palace… used by the emperor.”
An Lan’s entire face turned red.
“Did I enjoy the treatment of an emperor yesterday?” An Lan smiled awkwardly.
“Yeah. I originally wanted to help you change your pants, but I thought you might feel embarrassed, so I let you do it yourself after you wake up.”
“Pants?”
An Lan slowly lowered his head. When he understood what Gu Liyu meant, he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
He couldn’t go on living; he really couldn’t go on living!
Clearly, he had already spit out the toothpaste, but An Lan still held the toothbrush, continuously brushing, as if trying to brush away all his embarrassing history.
“So, you’re really embarrassed,” Gu Liyu said.
An Lan was about to faint. Buddy, can you shut up?
He actually developed that feeling because of Gu Liyu’s pheromone scent? D*mn, he couldn’t remember anything.
“An Lan…”
“Don’t call me!” An Lan couldn’t take it anymore, glaring at Gu Liyu.
“Okay.” Gu Liyu turned around, looking like “I’ll let you be.”
“Don’t say ‘okay,’ since you called me, just finish what you were saying!”
Don’t keep people in suspense like this!
“I just wanted to ask you… Does my pheromone scent smell good?”
“Huh?” An Lan was stunned.
What kind of question is this? Ambergris is so high-end, a fragrance used by the royal family, and you’re asking me if it smells good?
“It’s nothing.” Gu Liyu’s eyebrows lowered slightly, turning away.
Suddenly, An Lan understood why Gu Liyu asked such a question.
With the same pheromones, Gu Yunli’s scent was full of oppression and dominance, truly like an emperor, decisive and relentless, not stopping until the goal was achieved.
Even after many days, recalling that kind of pheromone, An Lan still associated it with the phrase – “achieving success at the cost of countless lives.”
Gu Yunli’s pheromones completely centered around himself, like a huge vortex, distorting the entire world towards his center.
“Your pheromones smell very good,” An Lan said.
Gu Liyu stopped in his tracks, turning to look at him. “Are you comforting me?”
An Lan shook his head.
“I actually can’t remember, but I just know… your pheromones are gentle, as if they can embrace all life and meaningfully sustain all small lives. This is probably the origin of the aphrodisiac effect.”
“Hmm?” Gu Liyu tilted his head slightly. Despite having an alpha’s tall stature, he carried a childlike innocence.
“It’s not an instant stimulus but a long-lasting attraction, making people have a desire to love. This is probably… the origin of the aphrodisiac effect.”
An Lan looked into his eyes and said candidly.
Gu Liyu’s lip line softened.
An Lan knew he smiled.
“Let’s eat.”
“But there’s a monthly exam. Skipping class is not acceptable. Finish your meal quickly and go to school after.”
“Don’t I teach better than the teacher?” Gu Liyu retorted.
Suddenly, An Lan felt like he was using cheats for the monthly exam.
Arriving at the dining table, An Lan realized he had missed breakfast, but lunch was more abundant than he imagined. Most importantly, it seemed like Gu Liyu had prepared the entire spread.
He was holding a bowl, serving soup for An Lan.
“I saw you guarding this pot of soup… Did you cook these dishes?” An Lan curiously asked.
“Auntie stewed the soup because I didn’t know when you’d wake up. I watched over it. Among these dishes, one of them I made.”
Gu Liyu looked down.
This seemed to be a guessing game for An Lan.
Scallion-braised shrimp, yellow chicken wings, stir-fried lotus root slices with beans, and steamed eggs.
“To stir-fry shrimp with scallions, you need to use oil, and for yellow chicken wings, you need to grind salted egg yolks… Both have a bit of difficulty. The color of these stir-fried lotus root slices with Dutch beans is bright and shiny… Did you cook them?” An Lan said.
Gu Liyu shook his head.
“So… the steamed eggs?”
Gu Liyu nodded.
An Lan immediately laughed, “I knew it! Even if you’re a top student, when it comes to men’s cooking skills, we’re all the same.”
They all feel like they’ve conquered the world just by making steamed eggs.
But An Lan still gave face. The first thing he did was pick up a spoon and took a scoop of the steamed eggs Gu Liyu made.
When this spoonful went down, An Lan discovered it was extraordinary.
The base of the steamed eggs turned out to be a hollowed-out small pumpkin? Although the steamed eggs also had shrimp and scallops, the addition of the sweet taste of the pumpkin elevated the overall flavor.
After the first bite, An Lan couldn’t resist going for a second. But when he thought that the main host, Gu Liyu, hadn’t eaten yet, he smiled at him while holding the spoon.
Gu Liyu’s fingers pointed at the small pumpkin, pushing it toward An Lan.
“Have it. It was originally made for you.”
In just a couple of moments, An Lan scooped out all the steamed eggs, licked his lips, and said, “What else did you put in the steamed eggs? It’s soft and smooth…”
“Baizi,” Gu Liyu replied.
“Huh? What?”
“White in color, and ‘zi’ as in son.”
“What’s that?”
Gu Liyu unexpectedly didn’t answer him directly but lowered his head to slowly sip the soup.
Today’s soup seemed quite nourishing, waist flower soup, but it wasn’t fishy at all, and it was quite fragrant.
There was nothing that the internet didn’t know. An Lan took out his phone and searched for “baizi.”
The content that appeared almost made An Lan’s phone fall into the waist flower soup.
Baizi – the testes of fish.
Common cooking methods include sashimi, hot pot, and barbecue.
Although it was an indescribable part, it was also known as the indescribable delicacy.
Steamed eggs were already a very tactful method.
“No wonder… you’re not eating…” An Lan felt like there was a charcoal fire burning under his chair, and he couldn’t sit still.
“You need to replenish,” Gu Liyu replied.
“Why do I have to replenish, and you don’t?” An Lan felt upset.
This completely damaged his dignity as a man!
“Because you consumed a lot last night,” Gu Liyu said.
Like a teacher answering a question objectively, Gu Liyu was very matter-of-fact.
The charcoal fire under An Lan’s chair seemed to burn more vigorously. For the first time, he hated Gu Liyu’s serious expression and this expression that had nothing to do with him.
“The doctor said you must pay attention to nutrition. Baizi contains rich protein and can strengthen the development of your alpha neurons, reducing the negative impact of my pheromones on you.” Gu Liyu answered.
Actually, the previous part made An Lan feel quite comfortable, but the sentence “reducing the negative impact of my pheromones on you” made An Lan inexplicably unhappy.
The author has something to say:
Gu Liyu says that his pheromones don’t smell like shower gel. Please remember this, hahaha.
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