Massage

When Hua Yu brought food to the hospital, Wei Yin was asleep.

The treatment plan she’d laid out was incredibly detailed; even if she didn’t come, the doctor on duty and the nurses could still take care of Wei Yin.

But apart from a few specialized treatments, like acupuncture and phototherapy, that required equipment, Hua Yu had basically claimed everything else for herself. She didn’t want to leave it to anyone else.

Wei Yin on the hospital bed was very well-behaved. The nutritional agent she had taken that afternoon contained a sedative, and she was enjoying a sweet, deep sleep.

Hua Yu sat beside her and quietly studied her. Her gaze settled on Wei Yin’s face, so pale it seemed to have lost all color; on her dry, slightly curled lips; on her small nose; on her thin eyelids. Little by little, those features overlapped with the familiar face in Hua Yu’s memory.

Wei Yin was a very special person, something everyone at Q University knew.

Because her glands were underdeveloped, starting in her freshman year she had been pulled into the student union as a medical volunteer, responsible for delivering suppressants to AOs who suddenly went into heat on campus.

Hua Yu had once asked the then student union president why they didn’t have betas go instead. The answer she got was that betas had no glands and couldn’t sense the condition of an AO in heat, so it was easy to misjudge the dosage of suppressants and end up causing gland damage.

“Damage from too much is reversible; it’ll be metabolized out after a while,” Hua Yu said coldly. “And for AOs who don’t pay attention to their own heat cycles and just go into heat in public, giving them a little more suppressant is only right.”

Hua Yu had been a former student union president, and also a promising doctoral student in gland differentiation. Faced with her criticism, the current president could only explain with an awkward smile, “This really is senior’s specialty, but Wei Yin didn’t say anything, so it’s safer to be cautious. That’s also what senior taught me—we should try to protect every student.”

Hua Yu’s expression only turned colder, but before she could say anything, Wei Yin came over.

Speak of the devil; Wei Yin had just carried an omega out of the equipment room and come to report the situation.

The little omega had been marked, but the alpha who marked her had broken up with her. She couldn’t get any comfort, and her heat had hit hard and violently. She became irritable, cursing and lashing out, and even slapped Wei Yin.

Wei Yin’s skin was very thin; even a light mark would show clearly, let alone a slap across the face. Her clothes were also disheveled, and all kinds of chaotic pheromones from her violent heat still lingered on her. She looked absolutely miserable.

Hua Yu hurried over, her brows drawn tight. “What happened to your face? Does it hurt?”

Wei Yin smiled shyly, not really caring about the injuries on her body—or rather, she was used to it by now. “I accidentally bumped into something. I’m fine.”

That slow, easygoing, easy-to-bully look only made Hua Yu’s brows knit tighter.

The student union president raised his voice. “Did you send her to the infirmary?”

“She’s there.”

“Alright, you’re done here,” the president said, pulling out his phone and waving it off casually. “I’ll contact her parents. You can go back.”

Wei Yin nodded good-naturedly and blinked at Hua Yu. “Senior, I’m leaving first.”

Back then, Wei Yin only thought of Hua Yu as Yu Tiantian’s friend. She would greet her when they met, but they weren’t close, and she never took the initiative to get any closer.

Hua Yu had no reason to chase after her, so she could only stand there with a dark expression and watch her leave.

The matter was handled very well; aside from Wei Yin, no one was injured, and the student union president was in a great mood. “Senior, do you have time at noon? Let’s go out for a meal. My treat.”

Watching Wei Yin’s retreating back, Hua Yu said coldly, “She has underdeveloped glands and can’t feel discomfort, but that doesn’t mean she’s fine. Being exposed to heat pheromones all the time will only accelerate the damage to her glands. If I ever hear that you’ve had her rescue someone again, I’ll immediately issue an injury assessment report and sue you in front of the dean. Sacrificing one student to protect the others—that’s what I taught you?”

“Don’t, senior, let’s talk nicely,” the president panicked, his polished expression cracking as he rushed to explain, “I didn’t know about this. Why didn’t Wei Yin say she was sick beforehand? It’s all my fault for not screening properly. I’ll kick her out of the volunteer team right now.”

“Kick her out?” Hua Yu said expressionlessly.

The president’s face stiffened for a moment, then he hurriedly said, “No, no, I won’t kick her out. I’ll arrange easier work for her from now on; she won’t have to contact any AOs in heat again.”

At that time, Wei Yin was in her second year and had already been volunteering for more than a year. Hua Yu didn’t know what impact all those experiences had had on her body, or what connection they had to Wei Yin’s current condition...

Wei Yin opened her eyes and saw Hua Yu sitting by the bed, her gaze distant, as if she were thinking about something.

She curled up under the blanket and looked at Hua Yu quietly without disturbing her.

From her angle, Hua Yu wasn’t wearing a white coat, which meant she wasn’t on night duty. She was dressed in loose beige loungewear, her hair loosely tied into a bun on top of her head, giving her a soft, relaxed air. There was a tiny red mole on the tip of her nose; it looked very pretty, though her attitude was a little cold...

Wei Yin let out a tiny yawn, closed her eyes, and muttered to herself, “Don’t stare at people, don’t stare, that’s rude, Wei Xiaoyin.”

“You’re awake?”

Wei Yin’s movement drew Hua Yu’s attention.

“Mm, just woke up.” Wei Yin pressed her lips together and looked away; her cheeks were a little red.

Hua Yu took out one dish and one soup and said softly, “Eat light at night; it’s easier to digest. Your stomach isn’t very good either; you’re sensitive to cold and have diffuse inflammation, so you need to pay more attention to your diet.”

Wei Yin listened obediently and, under Hua Yu’s gaze, finished every bite of dinner.

Hua Yu was rather sleepy; between lack of sleep and the many things on her mind, her face had a slightly numb, blank look.

While Hua Yu was putting things away, Wei Yin asked, “Dr. Hua, have we met somewhere before?”

Hua Yu’s hands paused; then she put the lunchbox away as if nothing had happened and asked calmly, “Why do you say that?”

She had read Wei Yin’s chart about memory damage; after the age of eighteen, basically all memories related to other people had disappeared, and there was little chance of a complete recovery.

Right now, she didn’t want to rashly accept the identity of Wei Yin’s “acquaintance.” She wanted to know what exactly had happened to Wei Yin after she rejected her.

Fortunately, Wei Yin didn’t keep asking.

“Sorry, I probably got the wrong idea again.” Wei Yin scratched her forehead in distress. Her brain really was glitchy; how could she know someone like Hua Yu?

These past few days, she had heard Hua Yu’s name in the hospital. A genius medical student who had completed a combined bachelor’s and doctorate program at a prestigious university; incredibly beautiful; tall and long-legged; and now the youngest associate chief physician at the provincial hospital. How could such an outstanding high-level alpha possibly know someone like her?

The person in front of her was frowning, her head round, and the look of deep thought made her seem a little more lively than when she lay on the hospital bed.

Hua Yu could clearly remember that half a day ago—that was, after she learned that the person who couldn’t pay her fees and wanted to discharge was Wei Yin—she secretly came to see her for the first time.

Skin and bones, weak and helpless, like a white rose that had never bloomed and no one knew when it would ever gather enough nourishment to bloom; quietly losing all its color, dry and curled up, shattered just like that.

If Hua Yu hadn’t rushed over, if the director hadn’t said that one unnecessary sentence, then by now Wei Yin would probably have already been discharged, carrying the little money she had left to curl up somewhere, and quietly die without even knowing how serious her illness really was.

Die.

Hua Yu furrowed her brow hard and lowered her voice. “Why has your gland atrophied so quickly over the past few years?”

If there wasn’t some special reason, an underdeveloped gland would remain at a juvenile stage of development; it wouldn’t go into heat and wouldn’t be easily affected by pheromones. It was impossible for it to atrophy. Hua Yu knew that perfectly well.

Even with malnutrition, the most that would happen was that the gland’s development would stop.

Gland atrophy could only appear after the gland had matured.

“I seem to have been injured; I can’t remember the details,” Wei Yin said, touching the back of her neck before looking at Hua Yu cautiously. “Dr. Hua, is there a problem?”

“Do you have any hospitalization records?”

Wei Yin felt Hua Yu’s mood drop at some point just then, though she didn’t know whether it had anything to do with her. She could only answer seriously, “I checked my own hospitalization records; there aren’t any.”

Hua Yu’s expression darkened even more.

Good; memory loss, gland damage.

Wei Yin was a little scared and shrank a few inches deeper under the blanket.

Hua Yu came back to herself; seeing Wei Yin’s expression, she softened her face a little. “It’s fine. I’m not upset with you.”

Wei Yin actually wasn’t that scared. Hearing Hua Yu coax her, she quickly poked her head back out and smiled at her.

“Do you need to rest?” Wei Yin asked. “You seem a little tired.”

Hua Yu shook her head. “I’ll leave later. First I’m going to do a gland massage for you.”

“Ah?”

Wei Yin’s eyes went wide in an instant.

Hua Yu rolled up her sleeves; the loose long sleeves slid up easily, and under Wei Yin’s bewildered gaze she walked closer and said lightly, “Come on, lie down.”

Wei Yin: !

Hua Yu’s attitude was completely professional, with absolutely no sign that she was joking. Seeing Wei Yin frozen in place, she asked in confusion, “Is there a problem?”

Wei Yin thought for a few seconds. Her oxygen-starved, blood-starved brain had just been stuffed full of delicious food, and she really couldn’t think of any problem at all. “No.”

Wei Yin pushed the cup to the foot of the bed, obediently lay face-down on the sheets, and then for some reason had no idea how to move anymore.

“Bury your face in the pillow and expose the back of your neck.”

Exposing the most vulnerable part of her body, with nowhere to brace herself, was a posture that made one feel very insecure.

Wei Yin grabbed the bedsheet, her fingers bunching up several creases, but she stayed very quiet and didn’t move around.

With her head lowered, her field of vision was limited, and she couldn’t see what Hua Yu was doing behind her; every small sound was magnified.

The rustle of Hua Yu putting on gloves, the mattress dipping as Hua Yu knelt on one knee on the bed, and the faint scent Hua Yu always carried with her; Wei Yin took a deep breath and let it out softly.

Relax, relax, rel—mmph!

Hua Yu’s fingertips pinched Wei Yin’s shoulder and moved it left and right. “One of your shoulders is a little higher than the other.”

Wei Yin’s voice came out muffled. “Mm.”

After graduating, she had been doing all kinds of odd jobs. People like her who couldn’t get into a normal company could only work in service jobs or do hard labor.

Over time, her muscles would get tired, and her shoulders would tilt a little along with them.

With a soft click, fine and crisp, Wei Yin hadn’t even reacted before Hua Yu set her shoulder straight again.

“Gland massage is a required course, and setting bones is also good for gland recovery,” Hua Yu said in a low voice. Her slightly hoarse voice flowed into the night like a quiet cello, pleasant to the ear and carrying a hypnotic effect, easily easing Wei Yin’s tension. “Relax your shoulders; imagine all the muscles in your back and shoulders have disappeared, and your whole body is soaking in warm water.”

Wei Yin’s head drooped. Listening to her, she gradually became dazed and unconsciously followed what Hua Yu said.

Soon, she felt Hua Yu’s fingertips kneading her ten fingers, wrists, elbows, and shoulder blades; the pressure was neither too light nor too heavy, just right, before finally settling on her neck.

Beneath the pale, nearly translucent skin was a small protrusion; that was where an omega’s gland was located, the most vulnerable and most sensitive place.

A normal omega would have a soft swelling centered around the spinous process of the cervical vertebra, usually only 2 to 4 millimeters high, but 4 to 6 centimeters in diameter; it would be vibrant and healthy, covered in abundant glandular nerves.

Wei Yin, however, only had a symbolic bulge near the spinous process, about the size of a coin in diameter, with a thickness that was almost invisible to the naked eye; on ultrasound, it measured only one-tenth that of a normal gland.

To activate an atrophied gland, seven acupuncture points around it had to be stimulated. Medically speaking, electrical stimulation was best; ordinary massage was slow to work and required long-term persistence.

But electrical stimulation was extremely painful.

Hua Yu pressed on Wei Yin’s gland and didn’t move for a long time.

Wei Yin turned her head slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“Your neck is red,” Hua Yu said flatly. “Very red.”

Being exposed so suddenly, Wei Yin clenched her fingers; the crimson color spread all the way from her neck, and she explained in panic, “I, I just... ah!”

Hua Yu immediately found the acupuncture points and, while Wei Yin’s attention was scattered, began massaging them in a steady rhythm.

The first touch hurt a lot; she had to press on the gland to find the points. But after that first one, the rest felt much better.

Soon, the flesh around the gland began to fill with blood, and the warm circulation washed over the gland that had long been stiff and stagnant. The gentle nourishment made Wei Yin tuck her neck in comfortably and close her eyes.

After that Hua Yu didn’t speak again. Once the massage was over, she left the ward, took out her phone, and sent a WeChat message.

“Come with me to the gathering on the 21st.”