Keztranslations

Chapter 39

　　On Friday night, Tong Yan went home, telling Zhuo Xiang Ming in advance that he would inform Tong Li Qin about the two of them. Zhuo Xiang Ming originally said that he would accompany him, but Tong Yan felt a little embarrassed and wouldn’t let him.

　　The two were loath to part at the villa’s gate. Finally, Tong Yan recovered some rationality and pushed Zhuo Xiang Ming away, panting while saying goodbye to him: “If you kiss me again, my dad might come out and see us.”

　　Zhuo Xiang Ming’s eyes were very deep, he hummed quietly, wiping his damp lips with the back of his hand.

　　While at home, he thought very clearly, but when he was finally in front of Tong Li Qin, Tong Yan couldn’t open his mouth.

　　Why didn’t Tong Li Qin mention Zhuo Xiang Ming? Didn’t he bring him up several times last week? Why ignore him today?

　　Tong Yan was antsy.

　　After dinner, the father and son had nothing to talk about, and it was too early to return to their rooms, so they watched TV in the living room.

　　When they switched on the TV, the human x AI love drama Tong Yang was watching was playing, and it was at the most melodramatic point: The human gave up a lot and decided to wholeheartedly be together with the AI, but the AI accidentally lost a section of his database, not only forgetting the love between him and the human, he also fell in love with another engineer who helped him restore his database, the forgotten lover was disheartened, deciding to end their life.

　　Tong Li Qin sighed with emotion: “Talk about a desperate love.”

　　Tong Yan didn’t let any chance slip by: “Dad, in fact, I’m also in a relationship.”

　　”Hmm.” Tong Li Qin almost spurted out his tea, “What? When? With whom?”

　　Tong Yan said in a quiet voice, “That, um, I’ve been dating … for some time, Z-Zhuo Xiang Ming.”

　　Tong Li Qin opened his mouth slightly, but couldn’t respond.

　　One minute ago, he was still worried about Tong Yan’s very painful unrequited love, and the next minute, he was angry at Zhuo Xiang Ming for disrespecting the agreement and cradle robbing.

　　A storm inside his brain, nonchalant on the surface.

　　Tong Li Qin asked Tong Yan as calmly and rationally as possible: “For some time … why didn’t you tell Dad? Y-you’re together, but he goes to work, and you go to school, how did it happen?”

　　Tong Yan pursed his lips, saying truthfully: “I wanted to cultivate our feelings first, then tell you, um … about that, there’s a lot of free time after school, it’s e-enough.”

　　The words “for some time” and “cultivate feelings” echoed in Tong Li Qin’s mind. Looking at his tender, flower bud-like small son in front of him, he thought about him living under the same roof with a nearly thirty-year-old alpha, dating, even “for some time”. Tong Yan seemed to have a soft, unlikely to reject someone appearance… How did he cultivate feelings?

　　Was Zhuo Xiang Ming really human?

　　”Dad?” Seeing Tong Li Qin’s cloudy expression, Tong Yan was a little uncertain, “Are you angry?”

　　Tong Li Qin subconsciously said: “No, of course not.”

　　Tong Yan was immediately relieved: “Great, I was afraid you’d get angry. Then I’ll head up first, good night Dad.”

　　”Tong Tong.” Tong Li Qin called out to him, “Come here.”

　　Tong Yan sat back down: “What’s up?”

　　Tong Li Qin opened his mouth, but remained silent.

　　Tong Yan looked at him, then, as if suddenly understanding Tong Li Qin’s worry, said: “I won’t let this affect my studies.”

　　Tong Li Qin: …

　　Tong Li Qin: “Is he good to you?”

　　If he evaluated the other man as another boss in the business world, Tong Li Qin would give Zhuo Xiang Ming a very high score, but he didn’t have enough information to evaluate his performance in his emotional life. Tong Yan’s “very good to me” made Tong Li Qin feel the powerlessness of striking cotton with fists.

　　Did he know what ‘good’ was? Matters involving omegas and alphas, could Tong Yan really protect himself properly?

　　The two sat silently for a while, the next episode of the drama series started up. Tong Yan observed Tong Li Qin’s face and said: “Dad, Zhuo Xiang Ming is an adult, I’m also not a small child, we … we’re serious. But this really is too sudden, I’m sorry Dad, I should’ve told you earlier.”

　　Tong Li Qin grasped Tong Yan’s hand: “There’s nothing to be sorry about. Dad understands, you can go up.”

　　At night, Zhuo Xiang Ming and Tong Yan had a video call. Tong Yan was very cheerful, Zhuo Xiang Ming asked him how it went, and Tong Yan laughed: “Very successful.”

　　Seeing his naïve appearance, Zhuo Xiang Ming remained skeptical. Sure enough, the next day, Tong Li Qin asked to meet. Zhuo Xiang Ming found that Tong Yan wasn’t particularly successful.

　　However, the frank face-to-face talk had better effect than letting Tong Yan mediate. Zhuo Xiang Ming had to make some guarantees before the matter was officially cleared up.

　　Tong Yan was immersed in the happiness of both parents knowing about their romantic relationship, but the new week immediately brought new troubles.

　　On Sunday morning, Zhuo Xiang Ming waited until 8:30 to receive the news that Tong Yan could come back. He grabbed the car keys and went out, then he came back in, changed his tie and prepped in front of the mirror for a long time, even spurting some hair gel.

　　Two nights of separation, Zhuo Xiang Ming drove just under the speed limit, and one hour later, he harvested an omega with a puffy right cheek.

　　”What’s wrong with your face?” Zhuo Xiang Ming parked at the gate, “A toothache?”

　　Tong Yan’s eyes widened: “How did you know?”

　　He’d packed up earlier and was waiting for Zhuo Xiang Ming with bag in hand. Zhuo Xiang Ming took the bag, and pinched Tong Yan’s face with his other hand: “Let me see.”

　　Tong Yan opened his mouth to show him. The wisdom tooth on the right side had just emerged, and a wide expanse of his gums were inflamed. No wonder his face was bulging so terribly.

　　On Saturday morning, the two had a video call. Tong Yan did his homework, and Zhuo Xiang Ming worked, at that time, Tong Yan was still fine. Zhuo Xiang Ming let go of his face and frowned, “When did it start to hurt?”

　　Tong Yan: “Yesterday afternoon.”

　　Zhuo Xiang Ming brought him into the car, saying, “Why didn’t you tell me? Have you called the dentist?”

　　His gums were swollen so much, he probably hadn’t slept well last night. Thinking of this, Zhuo Xiang Ming felt anxious, feeling more uncomfortable than if the wisdom tooth was growing in his own mouth.

　　The toothache was indeed painful. This was also the first time Tong Yan had suffered this kind of hardship. Painkillers were strictly regulated; he couldn’t find any after turning over every medicine box. He kept thinking about enduring it, so he didn’t call out to Tong Li Qin, tossing and turning all night. He got up and held ice water in his mouth several times, but it didn’t work. When it was almost dawn, he really couldn’t hold on, and slept for a few hours.

　　Tong Yan truthfully said: “It was slightly sore yesterday afternoon … it really only hurt a bit, so I thought it’d go away if I endured it. I haven’t called the doctor yet, he doesn’t work on weekends, and he’s usually only available after 10.”

Zhuo Xiang Ming helped him fasten his seatbelt, and couldn’t help pinching his face to look inside again. After taking a quick look, he also couldn’t harden his heart to scold, letting go and printing a kiss on Tong Yan’s lips: “I’ll take you to the hospital.”

　　Tong Yan had also planned to let Zhuo Xiang Ming take him to the hospital for some medicine, but he didn’t expect the doctor to attentively inspect, do a lab test and take an x-ray, then finally declare, “It needs to be extracted.”

　　From childhood, Tong Yan’s most frequently contacted health professional was the dentist. Periodic inspections were done every month. It was reasonable to say that he should have no contradiction to examination and treatment in the dental field, but he was scared. He was scared the moment he stepped inside, and now, being told that his tooth needed to be extracted was equivalent to hearing a max level horror story.

　　No, it was greater than max.

　　The inspection was being done in a private clinic. Zhuo Xiang Ming had contacted his own dentist. He was somewhat old, about fifty, and he smiled a lot. He was also very gentle, patiently comforting Tong Yan.

　　”Don’t be scared, you’ve never had a tooth extraction, you’re only scared because you don’t understand.” Seeing Tong Yan not responding, the doctor added, “Modern anesthesia is very good. Extraction only takes a few minutes, and there’s absolutely no feeling.”

　　Tong Yan: “Does it hurt after the anesthesia wears off?”

　　The doctor thought about it, then said, “Yes.”

　　Tong Yan gulped, and the doctor smiled again: “But it certainly doesn’t compare to the pain you’re enduing now, it also won’t last very long.”

　　Tong Yan subconsciously wanted to find Zhuo Xiang Ming, but Zhuo Xiang Ming was waiting outside. He had no choice but to ask again: “Can’t you just prescribe some medicine? Painkillers.”

　　”I can prescribe you medicine, but you can’t take this medicine all the time.” The doctor flipped through the medical record, “Children definitely shouldn’t take much of this medicine.”

　　Tong Yan was silent again, and the doctor asked, “Should I call in your guardian?”

　　Tong Yan hurriedly nodded: “Yes.”

　　Zhuo Xiang Ming looked a little anxious–much more anxious than Tong Yan had imagined, making Tong Yan also feel that a toothache was a very big deal, very serious.

　　”How is it?” Zhuo Xiang Ming walked over to Tong Yan and placed a hand on Tong Yan’s shoulder as he asked the doctor.

　　The doctor showed him the x-ray he’d just taken and pointed: “I just gave him treatment and some medicine. However, the wisdom tooth is growing in a very bad position, extraction is recommended.”

　　Tong Yan’s mood was obvious, so Zhuo Xiang Ming asked a few more useless questions: “What if he doesn’t extract it?”

　　”It’s understandable to be afraid of tooth extraction, but just how bad is this position? Let’s put it this way, for other people, it might take four or five days, or even a week, to go from slight pain to inflammation. Some don’t ever get inflammation. Tong Yan went from slight pain to this state in just one night. If he doesn’t pull it out, afterwards, he’ll easily get repeated periods of inflammation, and this will lead to Pericoronitis, which is even more troublesome. For a young child, if it’s extracted at this time, it most likely wouldn’t relapse, and they’ll suffer less pain.”

　　The doctor looked at Tong Yan and smiled, “But if the child is a little conflicted, then a guardian might be needed to coax them.”

　　Tong Yan leaned against Zhuo Xiang Ming. Zhuo Xiang Ming touched his face and said, “I’ll take him outside to discuss.”

　　The doctor nodded and said again to Tong Yan, “Did it hurt a lot before? After extraction, it won’t even hurt half as much.”

　　Tong Yan nodded at him and followed Zhuo Xiang Ming out.

　　The nurse prepared the lounge. Tong Yan was dejected and dispirited, because of the pain, because of sleepiness, and because of the fact that his tooth needed to be extracted.

　　Zhuo Xiang Ming sat on the sofa and hugged him onto his lap, lightly touching his swollen cheek with his finger: “Does it hurt?”

　　After taking some medicine, it wasn’t as painful as last night. Tong Yan shook his head and weakly leaned on Zhuo Xiang Ming’s shoulder.

　　He asked Zhuo Xiang Ming, “Can I not extract it?”

　　Zhuo Xiang Ming held his hand and caressed it: “It’ll hurt; didn’t you hear what the doctor said?”

　　”Tooth extraction also hurts.” Tong Yan said quietly, “It doesn’t hurt much now.”

　　Tong Yan was leaning against him with the swollen side, Zhuo Xiang Ming didn’t dare move, afraid of hurting him, “Won’t it still hurt after the medicine wears off? I’ll be with you during the extraction. I’ll stand next to you and hold your hand, then we’ll go home immediately after the extraction, OK?”

　　Tong Yan didn’t say anything, just rubbing his face against his shoulder.

　　Zhuo Xiang Ming held the educational pamphlet given by the doctor just now. Tong Yan grabbed it and randomly flipped through it. Zhuo Xiang Ming wrapped both arms around him and leaned in to kiss his forehead.

　　”…” Inside his embrace, Tong Yan suddenly froze. Zhuo Xiang Ming subconsciously looked over at the pamphlet.

　　Tong Yan had flipped to a particular page, a woman with a big belly was pictured undergoing an oral examination. The text next to it said that with the onset of pericoronitis, pregnant women and their unborn children could both be seriously affected.

　　Guessing what Tong Yan was possibly thinking about, Zhuo Xiang Ming’s breathing also hitched.

　　After staring at it for a few more seconds, Tong Yan suddenly closed the pamphlet and randomly shoved it into Zhuo Xiang Ming’s hand. He turned around and hugged him, hiding his face in Zhuo Xiang Ming’s neck, shy pheromones uncontrollably leaking.

　　But age was displayed here, again feeling blood rushing into his brain, Zhuo Xiang Ming also had to calm down first.

　　He contemplated calmly while placatingly touching Tong Yan’s back. The boy wore a coat with a fur collar when he left early this morning. At this time, Tong Yan was deep in his embrace, and his lower jaw was repeatedly assaulted by fluff and Tong Yan’s hair. Zhuo Xiang Ming found Tong Yan’s ear within the fur and kissed it, softly calling out: “Tong Tong, baby?”

　　”Don’t talk.” Tong Yan said, “If you dare laugh at me, I’ll really ignore you.”

　　Zhuo Xiang Ming: “Laugh at what? I won’t laugh at you.”

　　Half an hour later, Zhuo Xiang Ming led a blushing, red eared Tong Yan back into the doctor’s office. The inflamed area was retreated, and a week’s worth of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs were prescribed —also, a tooth extraction was scheduled for next weekend.

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T/N:

cradle robbing- an old cow eats young grass, a romance where the man is significantly older than the woman

x-ray- it said ‘took a picture’ in the raws, but that makes no sense in a dentist office

But his age was displayed here, again feeling etc. –但年纪在那里摆着，再觉得血往脑子里涌，卓向铭也得先冷静. Unsure of translation. God, every time I think it’s going to be an easy chapter, this author throws in some shitty sentence that makes no sense. I really like this story, but I’m never translating anything by this author again. 16 more chapters, you can do it Kez.

I’m busy this month, so don’t expect frequent updates. FOD vol 2 re-translation should be uploaded by Monday.