Chapter 40: Pheromone Guidance p2
After dinner, Ming Fei watched cartoons with Ming Zaozao in the living room.
At first, she watched even more attentively than Ming Zaozao, but gradually, her attention began to wander, and Ming Zaozao started playing with Lego on the carpet.
Ming Fei didn’t leave.
She picked up the smart reader, clicked on the e-book library, and connected to the public network, trying to search for information on the ancient creature W1215304 from the ancient book.
But after twenty minutes of trying, she still found nothing.
Then, she logged into the Independent State of Yi Meng’s public data network and searched for relevant information again.
This attempt also ended in failure.
The two consecutive search failures didn’t make Ming Fei lose patience. She reopened the electronic version of the ancient book, located page 113, and stared at the introduction of the ancient creature on this page again and again.
Because she was so focused, she didn’t even notice her daughter moving to her side.
“Eh?”
Ming Zaozao said in surprise, “Mommy, why are you looking at this?”
Ming Fei caught a hint of strangeness in her daughter’s tone, as if she had seen this thing before.
She asked, “This? Zaozao, do you know it?”
Ming Zaozao nodded: “Mm-hmm! Baby has seen it.”
The question was confirmed, but Ming Fei froze, because this was clearly related to the mysterious research institute. And her daughter had actually seen this ancient creature, which only existed in ancient books, without her knowing.
This made Ming Fei, worried about her daughter’s safety, feel a chill down her spine.
She quickly hugged Ming Zaozao, checked her body and limbs for injuries, and asked anxiously, “Where did you see it, Zaozao?”
Ming Zaozao hummed: “Mommy, it was Auntie Yuan next door.”
“Once, Aunt Wang took Baby downstairs to play, and we met Auntie Yuan in the elevator.” Ming Zaozao, eating milk candy, struggled to organize her words. “Baby greeted her, and she was wearing a black bracelet with this on it.”
After checking, Ming Fei felt a little relieved. If it wasn’t so late now, she would even want to take Ming Zaozao to the hospital for a full checkup.
Ming Fei postponed this plan until tomorrow morning and placed the reader in front of Ming Zaozao, asking her to take another look.
“Zaozao, are you sure it’s this one?”
Ming Zaozao patted her round belly and assured her, “It’s this one! Baby is sure. Baby asked Auntie Yuan what it was, and she said… it was a magical animal!”
Hearing this, Ming Fei was even more certain that Ming Zaozao probably hadn’t made a mistake.
Because, besides this, Yuan Xiu, who lived in Hui Fu Garden, was a teacher at W University next door, and her research area was paleontology. And she had heard the information registrar downstairs mention that Yuan Xiu hadn’t originally been in the paleontology department, but had later transferred to W University’s Institute of Paleontology for some unknown reason.
Although she wasn’t yet sure if Yuan Xiu was related to the research institute, Ming Fei immediately sent this important information to Zhu Yiqiao.
She clearly described the whole story and attached a link to Yuan Xiu’s profile on W University’s official website. After sending the message, Ming Zaozao leaned against her, causing Ming Fei to accidentally touch an emoji.
So, an extra image was added to her message—
[[Little rabbit knocking on the door.jpg]]
“Mommy, Baby is sleepy~”
“Mm, then let’s go upstairs and rest.”
Ming Zaozao acted coquettishly: “Baby wants to sleep with Mommy tonight!”
“Okay.”
Ming Zaozao smiled like a bright sunflower.
Ming Fei picked up her daughter with one arm, no longer caring about retracting the little rabbit emoji. After returning to the bedroom on the second floor and washing up, Ming Fei softly told Ming Zaozao a bedtime story.
“…The king in the fairy tale finally defeated…”
Soon, Ming Zaozao fell asleep.
The room was quiet, the bed warm and comfortable, and the little one in her arms was still warm, all of which made Ming Fei drowsy.
Just as her consciousness was fading, the phone on the other side suddenly vibrated with a new message.
Ming Fei’s sleepiness instantly vanished.
She picked up her phone and glanced at it, finding that it was a message from Zhu Yiqiao.
[Thank you, I’ll have someone look into it.]
This message was received at 9:40 pm. She was washing up at the time, and after coming out, she hadn’t looked at her phone, picking up a storybook and coaxing Ming Zaozao to sleep.
And the latest message was received a minute ago.
[Come upstairs.]
Ming Fei rubbed her eyes and replied, a little puzzled,
[Is it about Yuan Xiu?]
The other party’s reply made Ming Fei’s remaining sleepiness disappear completely.
[Pheromone guidance.]
Ming Fei’s eyelashes trembled, like a little sparrow that had strayed into a lotus pond, flapping its wings helplessly.
…So soon?
She didn’t know anything, hadn’t prepared anything.
Calling her a blank slate wasn’t an exaggeration.
Because of her anxiety and nervousness, Ming Fei remembered the question she had asked that afternoon.
At that time, she had asked Zhu Yiqiao for a reason, and Zhu Yiqiao had directly listed the various pheromone disorders that could be caused by not undergoing pheromone guidance.
All the listed pheromone disorders were, without exception, extremely serious, eventually even leading to a shortened lifespan and death.
And Zhu Yiqiao had frankly said that she didn’t want Ming Zaozao to lose her mother, and told her that pheromone guidance was also compensation for her cooperation in acting intimate and playing the part.
Perhaps she had been too surprised at the time, or perhaps too confused and bewildered, that in the end, she had blurted out a question to Zhu Yiqiao.
“If it were someone else, would you also help them like this?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she didn’t even understand why she had asked that. She subconsciously wanted to apologize, because this question had crossed the line, and it also made her seem ungrateful and unreasonable, like a fool who didn’t know her place or appreciate her kindness.
But Zhu Yiqiao actually answered her.
“—No.”
After saying that, Zhu Yiqiao left, leaving her alone in the room, still in a state of confusion.
Now, another message popped up in the notification box.
[Come directly to the bedroom.]
Ming Fei’s ears felt hot after reading the message.
She repeatedly edited her reply, typing and deleting, deleting and typing again, and finally only sent two words and an emoji.
[Okay.]
[[Kitten teleporting.jpg]]
Before getting out of bed, Ming Fei covered the sleeping Ming Zaozao with the blanket and placed the little lamb plush toy she had brought with her on Zaozao’s right side. As the door closed, Ming Fei’s shadow flitted across the corridor.
The sensor wall lamp along the corridor automatically turned on.
She walked towards the stairs leading to the third floor, her heart beating faster and faster as she approached her destination.
Finally arriving at the bedroom on the third floor, Ming Fei glanced at the heart rate data on her pheromone bracelet and found that her heart rate had reached 130 beats per minute.
This was really… too fast.
She pursed her lips, not pressing the doorbell, but choosing to send a message to Zhu Yiqiao.
[Jiejie, I’m outside the bedroom door.]
[[Kitten peeking.jpg]]
In the dim light, Ming Fei was still looking down at the chat window, and the security door, the next moment after the message was sent, opened as if it had sensed her presence.
A new message arrived immediately.
[Come in.]
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