【Highlight: This and subsequent chapters are the continuation of the main text of the story, unrelated to the what if lines】
The first mating period without Shen Tazhi’s immediate company occurred three months after their marriage.
After getting married, Jiang Que and Shen Tazhi went on a month-long trip, then spent another month at home. Finally, Shen Tazhi started sporadically going back to work at the company during this month.
However, he no longer displayed the workaholic attitude of arriving early and leaving late. He now left work promptly at the designated time, giving off an air of “from now on, the emperor won’t attend morning court.”
On this day, when Shen Tazhi was leaving for work as usual. Jiang Que, still half-asleep, crawled out from under the covers to have breakfast with him, gave Shen Tazhi a sleepy kiss, then crawled back into bed to sleep.
He had stayed up late last night reviewing a new script and was now feeling drowsy.
When he woke up from another nap, it was already noon.
Jiang Que picked up his phone and checked the time.
It was only twelve o’clock.
He sluggishly got out of bed, freshened up again, went downstairs to reheat the leftovers from last night, preparing to make do with a meal.
As the microwave slowly rotated, Jiang Que watched the orange-yellow light, his thoughts a bit sluggish.
He remembered how Shen Tazhi had initially promised to take him to see a volcano—indeed, they had planned to leave right after their wedding.
But as luck would have it, the small country with an active volcano had erupted at that time, causing a brief period of chaos domestically. Even after the chaos subsided, they could only afford to take an airplane there.
Jiang Que and Shen Tazhi had to temporarily abandon their volcano plan and instead went on a tour of various nearby small islands.
So, he still hadn’t seen a volcano up to now.
Ding!
The microwave beeped, the orange light went off, but Jiang Que didn’t reach out to take the plate.
He hung his head, feeling a bit dejected.
Shen Tazhi hadn’t taken him to see the volcano, and Shen Tazhi wasn’t home with him now.
He missed Shen Tazhi, he didn’t want to eat leftovers alone.
These were all just small matters, but these insignificant emotions were magnified infinitely at this moment.
Feeling so lonely, so wronged, and missing Shen Tazhi so much.
Jiang Que’s consciousness began to blur, and he reached out to touch his own cheek. It was scorching hot.
The last bit of clarity made him realize that he might have entered the mating period. This was the first time he couldn’t physically see Shen Tazhi during this period. Jiang Que quickly took out his phone and called Shen Tazhi.
The call was quickly answered.
“Hello? Que Que, what’s wrong?” Shen Tazhi’s gentle voice came through the phone.
With Shen Tazhi’s voice, the last shred of reason vanished completely. Before Jiang Que could speak, tears started falling. He slowly crouched down on the ground, wrapping himself tightly with his tentacles, letting out a sob.
“Que Que?” Shen Tazhi sounded frantic on the other end.
Shen Tazhi’s voice, the desire to see him, to have him, Shen Tazhi, Shen Tazhi, Shen Tazhi…
The heart-wrenching pain almost left Jiang Que gasping for air. Through tears, he said, “Gege… mating period…”
Shen Tazhi quickly understood the situation. Sounds of a rolling chair and hurried footsteps could be heard from his end as he soothingly reassured Jiang Que, “I’m coming home now. I’ll be there in no more than twenty minutes, Que Que… please don’t cry, don’t cry. I don’t want to lose you, I love you, I’ll be back to be with you, okay?”
Shen Tazhi was afraid that Jiang Que might slip into a state of insecurity again, repeating his love for him over and over on the phone.
But Jiang Que was already hearing things in a daze. His vision blurred, crying until his limbs felt weak, almost dropping the phone. However, he couldn’t bear to lose the sound of Shen Tazhi’s voice. He extended a tentacle, wrapping it around the phone layer by layer until there was a faint, crackling sound from the device. It was only then that he released the tentacle as if awakening from a dream.
Shen Tazhi’s voice abruptly stopped. In his tentacle lay a broken phone split in two.
“Gege…?” Jiang Que stared blankly at his hand.
But there was no response.
“Gege, gege, please talk to me, keep me company… don’t dislike me, I… I won’t be so forceful…”
A great sense of panic surged through Jiang Que’s heart. At this moment, he was completely irrational, crying so hard that he was almost out of breath, but in his confusion, he remembered his tablet upstairs.
Jiang Que stood up, staggered upstairs, and almost immediately threw himself onto the bed, dialing Shen Tazhi’s number again.
It was all his fault. He wasn’t as capable as Shen Tazhi and always seemed to make mistakes. He had broken the phone Shen Tazhi had given him, his first phone ever…
Shen Tazhi would surely find him troublesome. What if Shen Tazhi didn’t like him anymore? It was a ludicrous conclusion, but in Jiang Que’s current state of insecurity and muddled reasoning, it seemed like the most logical guess.
Holding onto the pillow on the bed, which still carried Shen Tazhi’s lingering scent, large tears fell onto the pillow.
The call was answered again, and since the tablet was on speaker by default, Jiang Que could hear Shen Tazhi’s anxious voice even without holding the tablet.
“Que Que, the call got cut off suddenly, are you okay?”
Jiang Que sobbed, “I lost my phone… gege, gege, you love me, don’t dislike me… where are you? Please come back quickly…”
His words were a jumble, but Shen Tazhi probably understood. He tried to comfort Jiang Que, saying, “I’m in the car now. I’ll get you a new phone and be home soon.”
That’s what he said, but who knew if Shen Tazhi was actually heading home? What if he found himself annoying and intentionally stayed at the office instead of coming back?
The more Jiang Que thought about it, the more fearful and wronged he felt. The poor pillow in his arms had been twisted into knots by his restless tentacles, and his tears still hadn’t stopped.
“I want you to kiss me now… you didn’t take me to see the volcano, I’m eating leftovers alone… you don’t love me, I… wahhh…”
When Jiang Que uttered the words “you don’t love me” in reference to Shen Tazhi, he completely broke down in tears.
He couldn’t bear to listen to Shen Tazhi’s words anymore. Curling up on the bed, he alternated between feeling hot and cold. Finally, he stood up abruptly, opened the wardrobe, and crawled inside.
It was a tight fit with his tentacles in the wardrobe, but since half of it was filled with Shen Tazhi’s clothes, squeezing himself in gave him a sense of being surrounded by Shen Tazhi.
Jiang Que didn’t forget to bring the tablet with him into the wardrobe. In a pitiful posture, he huddled among the clothes, grabbing a handful and holding them close.
“I want Shen Tazhi… I want gege… I don’t want to be alone…”
“Que Que, Que Que?”
Shen Tazhi was on the verge of going crazy, wishing he could fly back home right now.
“Que Que, there was a big commotion just now, what happened? Please don’t hurt yourself, I love you, I don’t not love you.”
Jiang Que only heard the words “don’t love you” and started crying even harder.
From morning till now, he hadn’t even had a chance to drink water, feeling quite parched. Maybe he should go out to get some water first, but Jiang Que didn’t want to leave the wardrobe. He stubbornly clung to Shen Tazhi’s clothes, unmoving.
Shen Tazhi, Shen Tazhi… why hadn’t Shen Tazhi appeared yet? Right now, all he wanted was Shen Tazhi.
“Jiang Que.”
Shen Tazhi’s voice came through the phone. Rarely called by his full name, Jiang Que jolted, momentarily regaining some clarity before overwhelming distress flooded his heart. Shen Tazhi must truly not love him anymore; he wasn’t even calling him Que Que.
Jiang Que sniffled, about to cry again, when Shen Tazhi timely intervened before he fell back into chaos, “There’s something in the wardrobe…”
Jiang Que was about to cry but froze completely.
Shen Tazhi’s voice was low, “It’s made to your measurements. You always like to prevent me from releasing the eggs, right?”
“Que Que, take a deep breath, calm down. I love you. When I get home, you can use it to block me throughout the entire mating period… Play with my belly however you’d like.”
“After the mating period, I’ll take you to see the volcano. You won’t have to eat leftovers in the future. I’ll have lunch sent to you… Stop crying, please don’t cry.”
Shen Tazhi’s voice was slightly distorted through the phone, but it felt as if he was right next to Jiang Que’s ear at that moment.
Jiang Que blinked away his last tear, trembling as he reached for the drawer in the wardrobe. As expected, he found what Shen Tazhi had mentioned inside.
Without a trailing end, Shen Tazhi knew he didn’t like anything resembling his tentacles, so it was just something simple to block with.
It was a bit too stimulating, but it actually helped Jiang Que clear his head momentarily.
Shen Tazhi loved him, and Shen Tazhi was on his way back.
He couldn’t cry anymore. If he cried, Shen Tazhi would worry, and if he worried, he might stop liking him. He needed to get through the mating period with Shen Tazhi, who wanted to give birth to little tentacles with him…
Jiang Que’s thoughts began to blur again, but this time, he didn’t continue crying. He whispered softly to the tablet, “I won’t cry, please come back quickly… Keep your promise.”
“Keep your promise.”
With Shen Tazhi’s affirmative response, Jiang Que reluctantly felt satisfied. He looked at the empty bed and felt a bit dissatisfied again. With the need to have many little tentacles, the bed only had a faint hint of his and Shen Tazhi’s scent, not enough to resemble a nest. Jiang Que glanced towards the wardrobe.
With determination, he used his tentacles to pile up stacks of clothes onto the bed, meticulously preparing a living space. He arranged the clothes around the bed, leaving a gap in the middle. That seemed more like it.
Satisfied, Jiang Que climbed onto the bed, curling up inside, continuously asking Shen Tazhi on the other end of the tablet, “Have you come back?”
“Still two traffic lights away, Que Que. Can you find… them and wait for me to come home, okay?”
Jiang Que glanced at the items he had already brought to the bedside and continued asking, “Have you come back?”
“I’ve passed one traffic light, the next one should be green. I’ll be home soon.”
“Have you come back?”
Is gege back? Has gege returned?
Although Jiang Que had a brief moment of clarity earlier and was no longer crying now, his mind was filled with the simplest and most eager thoughts. After countless inquiries, Shen Tazhi, who patiently answered him, said, “I’m back.”
As the sound of the door being pushed open echoed, all the tentacles that had been curled up together lunged forward in that instant.
Without giving Shen Tazhi a chance to speak, Jiang Que directly enveloped him in the nest he had constructed. Finally, he held Shen Tazhi in his arms. His hands were warm, and Shen Tazhi trembled all over due to his actions, still soothingly patting his head, “I’m back… Que Que, I’m sorry, I won’t go out at this time again in the future.”
Jiang Que’s nose tingled, and tears welled up in his eyes once more.
“Gege… gege.”
He anxiously leaned in to kiss Shen Tazhi.
The tentacles rolled up the items Jiang Que had placed by the bed. While kissing and crying, he pitifully said, “Gege, don’t go out. gege, in the future, you’ll give birth to little tentacles for me…”
Shen Tazhi watched Jiang Que’s swollen tentacles and couldn’t help but swallow hard. He truly felt that if he couldn’t give birth this time, he would be in for a rough time.
…The problem was, he really couldn’t give birth. Not to mention blocking for seven days, even if Jiang Que wanted him to be pregnant from now on, he couldn’t do it.
But clearly, this wasn’t the time to reason with Jiang Que, who had lost his rationality.
Shen Tazhi sighed and gently kissed the corners of Jiang Que’s tearful eyes.
“Alright, I’ll give birth for you from now on. Stop crying; if you cry more, you won’t look pretty.”
Seven days later.
Shen Tazhi, with a cold expression, threw the things he had custom-made into the trash.
Jiang Que sat quietly and obediently on the side, not daring to argue. It was only when he saw that Shen Tazhi wasn’t very angry that he cautiously extended a tentacle to touch his waist.
“Mmm…”
Even as he was being roughly kneaded, even though his stomach was now flat, Shen Tazhi couldn’t help but flinch away.
Jiang Que leaned in to hug him, kissing his cheek, and sweetly said, “Gege, I’m sorry. I won’t be so excessive in the future… I’ll massage you, don’t be angry.”
Shen Tazhi pursed his lips. “I’m not angry, but in the future…”
“In the future, I definitely won’t do it.” Jiang Que hugged him affectionately.
“If we ever do, it will be with my own…, or it would be cute if gege took the initiative to ask me to block it.”
Shen Tazhi: sighs
Shen Tazhi playfully tapped Jiang Que on the head, watching him cover his forehead, looking at him with a pitiful expression, and couldn’t help but soften.
“…Alright, just don’t be so excessive in the future.”
Jiang Que happily hugged him again, kissing him on both cheeks, smiling with his eyes bent. “I love you so much, gege. You are the best to me.”
