Classical Conditioning

No one knew that Professor Yan, who had dazzled the entire academic world, was troubled by his mental health. He took his medication on schedule and avoided going out on rainy nights. For years, everything was peaceful. So when he saw Mu Changjue on a drunken night, Yan Zhi was as calm as ever. Even though Mu Changjue should have been eleven thousand kilometers away, accepting yet another Best Actor award and giving his speech. Yan Zhi could always see Mu Changjue: the older brother who had been part of his life for the first nineteen years; the Best Actor who shone like gold in every frame; the ex-boyfriend who had vanished without a trace along with the night rain. He had tried every kind of aversion therapy, yet in the end he still lost to the conditioned reflex he had developed first. No matter how much it hurt when the rubber band snapped against his wrist, it could not overcome the urge brought on by that unreal embrace. But it was all right. He spent the night without a care, thinking that by the next morning, Mu Changjue would disappear along with his aching muscles. Just like always. When he woke up, Yan Zhi thought he would have to change his medication or increase the dosage again. He did his best to ignore the fuzzy head on the bed and the broad back crisscrossed with scratches. He just wanted to check out as though nothing had happened. Sure enough, the receptionist politely asked him, “Sir, have you left anything behind?” Yan Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. “No.” “Is that so?” The man spoke calmly beside him, fastening his cuff links without a hint of haste. “Teacher Yan, you spent the whole night ‘setting an example as a teacher,’ and now that you’re awake, you’ve forgotten your ‘student’?” A self-restrained professor with a mental disorder, the beautiful shou, × an actor gong who treats his kid as his whole world and would blow up the Earth if he lost him *Classical conditioning: A psychological term for associative learning, also known as the conditioned reflex. When two things repeatedly occur together, the brain’s memory of one becomes associated with the other. *Rubber band therapy: An aversion therapy in which a patient snaps a rubber band against their wrist to develop an aversive conditioned response. [2022-05-21] Your guide to the good stuff: * Older gong, 1v1, happy ending. * Updated daily at 9 p.m. I’ll post a notice if I need to take a day off. * The gong’s personality changes a lot between the beginning and the later parts. The shou has physical and mental health issues, and there may be an excessive amount of descriptions of his frail health, beyond what the plot or logic calls for. For reference, check any of my completed works in my author profile =3= I have another completed novel with the same mental-disorder × getting-back-together trope, Raising a Kid Is Impossible, and Other Things That Shouldn’t Be Done. Feel free to give it a try~ * There’s a big information gap between the two, and they’ll need time to adjust to each other. (But “older gong” means “he gives in,” just as “younger gong” means “he obeys.” (((Did anyone ask you?))) * Completely fictional setting, completely fictional setting, completely fictional setting. * No children. The only kid the gong is destined to have is the shou. * No romance before adulthood. * Mutual feelings. The gong’s world revolves around the shou, and without him, the Earth stops turning. * I’m an amateur at writing a two-person relationship-focused story QAQ. All the plot logic that remains fragmented and flimsy despite my best efforts exists entirely to serve the romance. * All medical treatment and academic details are fictional, based on research and adapted to suit the plot. They are not intended as real-world guidance. (In short: I made it up.) * Repeated disclaimer: There’s an illogical amount of frail-health content. No one will die from being frail. Some of it doesn’t move the plot forward. There’s so much of it mainly because it’s my thing. [2023-02-04] [Revised 2023-09-07] Hey, could you check out my upcoming novel? Mercy The courtyard house in Ren Kuaixue’s family had been passed down through generations. When it was passed from his father to him, it came with a half-grown boy. The boy was said to be descended from a prestigious family, and Ren Kuaixue was asked to lend a hand while no one else was looking after him. But their alley had no shortage of “descendants of prestigious families.” One bowl of braised offal could splash three of them. Looking after kids was not Ren Kuaixue’s strong suit. But Lang Tu was an especially easy child to raise. He spent every school holiday in Ren Kuaixue’s care, year after year, and somehow survived. He also did whatever Ren Kuaixue told him. If told to go east, he wouldn’t go west. He’d fan him in winter and warm his bedding in summer. Above all, he was obedient. Eventually, the boy grew up and returned to his “prestigious family.” When Ren Kuaixue sometimes had leftover food he couldn’t finish, he found himself missing him a little. Later, Ren Kuaixue saw the so-called “only heir in five generations of the Lang family” describing his ideal type on television. Without a moment’s hesitation, he sold the courtyard house and quickly disappeared from the city. To Ren Kuaixue, a powerful family, excessive wealth, and immense influence were nothing but trouble. Setting aside the mismatch in their status, Lang Tu was only twenty-two, still a kid, and already daring to say, “I want us to grow old together.” Ren Kuaixue was steeping himself in herbal medicine. Whether he would even live to old age was another question. Three years later, Ren Kuaixue fell seriously ill and heard that “the Lang family had been squandered by an unworthy descendant.” He needed to go back to the neighborhood office for a certificate confirming he had no relatives, as part of the preparations for surgery. While he was at it, he decided to visit the courtyard house. He turned past the familiar screen wall and saw the person in the rocking chair stand up and walk over at an unhurried pace. “Other than this place, I have nowhere to go.” Lang Tu lowered his eyes, as obedient as he had been all those years ago. Though Ren Kuaixue was completely overshadowed by him, he still let his heart soften when he shouldn’t have. Fortunately, there wasn’t much at stake. “But this isn’t my home anymore.” “If you really only have six months left to live, could I trade you this courtyard for a place to stay?” Lang Tu asked, calm and sincere. “Once you’re dead, I’ll take it back.” Of all the things Ren Kuaixue should never have done, raising a wolf as if it were a dog was the worst. * Younger gong raised by the shou / old flame rekindled / two-person romance * Gentle, decisive, and ruthless, the beautiful sickly shou [truly merciless] + X + a wolfdog gong who seems pure on the outside, then dark, then pure, then dark again, and is really a dog * The shou is very hard to win over. The gong will stop at nothing. There may be something like a groveling redemption arc (haven’t decided yet). * The shou won’t die. Happy ending. Theme: Treasure what you have.