In the end, Class 1 narrowly defeated Class 3 by three points and took first place in First High's second year basketball competition.
They had achieved glory, but after the game, the most talked topic in the school forum wasn't who won and who lost, but instead the incident that happened towards the end of the game.
After Bai YuWei had fallen into Jiang Yao's arms, she'd slowly woken up. It seemed that it'd been nothing serious, but for some reason, Jiang Yao hadn't removed his arms from around her waist.
Until Yin Ze had rushed over and hauled him away by his collar. "What are you doing?! Who do you think you're holding?!"
"I can't help my tongxue?" Jiang Yao had asked coldly.
The atmosphere had gone tense, knives drawn.
Fortunately, the PE teacher had run over to mediate, making the two of them return to the court and continue the game. Meanwhile, Bai YuWei had been helped by her classmates to the infirmary.
Some students who'd brought cameras to record the game filmed the whole incident, so it had been posted to the forum in its entirety. Heated discussion had quickly broken out. Students from other schools had all come around to watch, the view count reaching the thousands.
No one noticed that there was a person standing still and quiet in the background the entire time, unable to move a step.
-
After school was dismissed in the afternoon:
The driver was in the front seat driving and Yin Che was sitting in the back seat, reading the class group chat.
Zhou HaoLiang: [I searched through the whole forum. Not a single person had mentioned my name. I even used the search bar, wuwuwu......]
Guo ZhiXiong: [Xiongdi, don't be depressed, even my girl will only chat with me about Yao Ge.]
Zhang Ke: [So Yao Ge and Bai YuWei are really together? I thought the two of them had ended things long ago. Turns out they were just pretending for cover¹!]
Han Meng: [You're creating something out of nothing. It's just a coincidence, that's all. Don't overthink it.]
Chen YingYing: [I don't think Zhang Ke is overthinking it. It really is weird. No matter how sensitive you are to pheromones, going so far as to faint? What's up with her?]
Yang YiLe: [Um......it was said in biology class that the more an omega comes into contact with an alpha, the more sensitive they'll be to the alpha's pheromone. After being marked, they can basically only scent that alpha's pheromone.]
At that moment, the new message icon popped up in the upper left corner.
Yin Che clicked on it and saw Jiang Yao had sent him a single line: [Once again, I'm sorry.]
During the club session today, Jiang Yao had already apologized to him.
"Maybe it's because I was in close contact with her for a bit while I was chasing her and that's why she was so affected today. And why I was also affected afterwards. I lost control for a bit, so......I didn't withdraw my hands quickly enough. I'm sorry."
Jiang Yao's apology had been very sincere and his expression had been very guilty, so there was no way he could criticize him.
Yin Che had looked at him for a while, then said, "You didn't do it on purpose. Why apologize."
It was physiological instinct, the attraction between alpha and omega was engraved in their genes, how could it be easy to resist.
But now looking at Jiang Yao's message, he felt really annoyed again. Yin Che thought it over for a while, then replied: [Sorry my ass, I already told you there's no need to apologize.]
He didn't want to talk about the matter ever again.
"A message from your boyfriend?" Yin Ze said coldly from his seat beside him, "My advice to you, don't believe a thing he says, he's a slag."
Yin Che had no choice but to confront this issue again. "He's really fine. It was just an accident this time."
"Him treating you well and him being a slag aren't conflicting ideas." Yin Ze propped himself up against the door frame and looked over at him, "Ge, this may be hard to hear, but I have to tell you. It's really too easy for him to lie to you. Even if he two-timed you², you'd never find out, because you can't scent other people's pheromones on him."
Yin Che wanted to say 'he wouldn't lie to me,' but when he opened his mouth, the words didn't come out.
Jiang Yao had lied to him just last night.
Although it really hadn't been malicious, he'd learned for the first time that Jiang Yao could lie to him.
This time, he'd just happened to discover it, but what about in the past? Was there anything he hadn't discovered?
"And why would an alpha like him be with......a beta like you? Have you ever seen me date a beta?" Yin Ze asked.
Yin Che shook his head. "He wouldn't need to lie to me about that kind of thing. As you said, I'm a beta without pheromones. What could he be after by lying to me?"
"What he's after is novelty." Yin Ze snorted coldly. "He's tired of playing with omegas and thought a type like you would be novel, but after a long time, he thought that kind of thing, that omegas are still better. Regarding alphas, I understand so much more than you do. I advise you not to take his honeyed words too seriously. According to my intuition, he'll stop treating you so sincerely soon."
Yin Che didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he put on a big smile, "A-Ze, it's rare for you to be so concerned about me."
When he saw his indifferent attitude, Yin Ze got angry. "If you don't believe me, then when you get dumped, don't blame me for not warning you."
-
After dinner, he returned to his room to do his homework and Jiang Yao sent a video call as usual. His opening sentence was once again: "I'm sorry, CheChe."
Yin Che was almost annoyed by hearing it. "We don't need to talk about——"
"I just used the suppressant."
"......what?"
"I said, I just used the suppressant." Jiang Yao looked like he was in a very cheerful mood, smiling brightly. "As soon as I got back from the hospital, I used the one I mentioned last time, the permanent one. You don't have to worry anymore, I won't be affected by omega pheromones again."
Yin Che stared in shocked silence for a bit. He heard himself say slowly, "Oh......that's great."
Great my ass.
Jiang Yao was giving up being his emblem of being an alpha, but yet here he was thinking, great, Jiang Yao will no longer be attracted to other omegas.
Fully aware of how selfish he was, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. I'm selfish to the extreme.
"Your pheromones are really gone forever?" the feeling of guilt in his heart drove him to ask.
"Not gone, just concealed. As long as I don't have sex with an omega, causing a pheromone explosion, it will never lose its effectiveness." Jiang Yao joked half-seriously, "My partner is a beta, so it's equivalent to being effective forever."
It's okay, there's still an out, Yin Che said in his heart.
Jiang Yao continued, "Oh, yeah, I took the trip to the city hospital and paid a call to the president while I was there."
"Mhm, how is he?"
"Very good, he asked why you didn't come. I said you'd escaped with your di right after school was dismissed." Jiang Yao laughed. "Why have you been going home every week recently? I feel like my boyfriend status is dropping lower and lower, I'm not as important as your di."
"What does status have to do with it? Even if I stayed at school, you wouldn't be there."
"Says who. Next time, I'll stay at school and you'll stay in your boyfriend's room."
"Says you." Yin Che smirked. "If you have the ability, take a group photo at that time and post it in the class group chat."
Jiang Yao chuckled and scratched his nose, looking as if he felt a little embarrassed. "No need for that. I'm afraid it'll scare them."
"I'm serious. When will you make them stop speculating about your relationship drama in the group chat?"
"Are you eating vinegar?"
"What do you think?"
"I think the brat is anxious." Jiang Yao chuckled lightly and asked in a soft tone, "Why do you suddenly want to make things public? Did the matter earlier irritate you? I really won't get all muddled up anymore, I promise."
Not only because of that matter earlier in the day, but also because of my guilt. Jiang Yao's sacrificed so much for me and I've paid him back so little.
"Didn't you say it previously, that we'd make it public after waiting for the trouble to pass, or do you still not want to go public?"
"How could I not want to. Alright then, don't go home next weekend. Come to my dorm to spend the night. I'll take the group photo and send it to the group chat. Do you dare?"
"Why would I not dare?"
"Then it's a deal."
He hung up the call but couldn't get his thoughts back on his homework. After thinking it over, Yin Che woke up his phone and sent a message: [Doctor Feng, increase the intensity of the treatment.]
-
In late May, the temperature gradually entered the range of early summer.
Many girls changed out their school uniform trousers for formal skirts. The more aesthetically inclined secretly altered the waist of the skirt to a smaller size, and then rolled it up to show as much of their long legs as possible. But they couldn't expose too much leg, to avoid being caught by Zhang Jiaozhu.
For PE class, they had to change back to their trousers, which was really annoying, but still didn't change the minds of the fashionable ones.
During the breaks between classes, more and more boys gathered in the hallway outside the classrooms. They appeared to be laughing and chatting, but they were actually all looking at the legs of the girls passing by. Looking made them feel embarrassed, so they continued to pretend to joke around.
Chen YingYing came back after getting some water and saw the three alphas of their class standing in the corridor. "Hey, hey, what's wrong with you three? Guo ZhiXiong, don't you have a girl? Stop with the roaming eyes, be careful or I'll tell your girl. "
"Class monitor, you've wronged me! I'm sharing the prize money for the basketball competition with them." Guo ZhiXiong slipped two ten yuan bills to the other two, then ran back into the classroom without glancing around. "Class monitor, please don't make any irresponsible comments to my girl!"
"Got it!" Chen YingYing then asked the remaining two, "And why exactly did you two come out here?"
Han Meng said, "Don't ask me, I just came out for some fresh air, not to look at the girls. Who could even have legs longer than mine? What's so good to look at, I might as well look at my own."
The logic was strange, but there was no way to counter it. Chen YingYing was struck dumb, so she had nothing left to do but ask the last one, "Jiang Yao, you have a partner, right?"
She wasn't sure whether Jiang Yao and Bai YuWei were really together. Zhang Ke had pinged him in the group chat several times over the weekend, asking him to answer the question online, but Jiang Yao hadn't replied.
Han Meng watched him carefully. "Think carefully before you answer, I am watching you."
Surprisingly, Jiang Yao answered frankly, "I do. I'll tell you all who it is another day."
Chen YingYing had a rough guess. "Yet you're still looking at the girls?"
"I didn't look at any girl, I was looking at my deskmate." Jiang Yao smiled, "I always look from the left side when class starts, so I wanted to look from the right side after class ended. Mhm, sure enough, he looks good from any angle."
Yin Che, who was sitting next to the corridor window, raised his head, showing a cold expression, "Fuck off." After speaking, he lay his head back down to sleep.
Han Meng said, "Seeing your deep xiongdi relationship makes me feel relieved."
Chen YingYing said, "......I suddenly don't know which of you two is more sick."
-
After a while, the bell rang and soon there was no one in the corridor.
This class was Chinese literature and language. They were originally going to write classical poems from memory, but when Wu GuoZhong entered the classroom, he waved one large hand and said cheerfully, "Our basketball team changed the very last position into the very first. That was no easy feat, so I'll reward you. No writing from memory today!"
Before the podium, thunderous cheers instantly broke out. Zhang Ke shouted, "Wu-laoshi is so handsome! I love you, mwah!!"
"Hey, be serious, be serious." Lao Wu pretended to cough a few times, but couldn't keep from smiling. "Look how happy you all are just because there's no writing from memory. It's just postponed for a day, that's all."
"Isn't postponing death for a day great though!" someone yelled and the students roared with laughter.
Jiang Yao noticed his deskmate shift a little and said, "Don't sleep. Lazy little bunny, class is already in session."
Yin Che slowly raised his head. The hair on his forehead had been pressed into a mess and he looked a bit confused.
Jiang Yao brushed at his hair, "Why are you so sleepy today? Feeling off?"
"I didn't sleep well last night." He waved Jiang Yao's hand off.
But Jiang Yao seized the opportunity to grab his hand, pulling it under the desk and holding it tightly.
"Come spend the night tonight?" Jiang Yao whispered, "I'll make sure you definitely have a good night's rest."
"A good night's rest, hmm?" Yin Che withdrew his hand, "I'm afraid you won't let me sleep."
He definitely wouldn't take that bait.
But on Friday night, he'd have no choice but to take the bait, since he'd made the promise himself.
-
After school ended, the boarding students went home one after another. Zhang Ke came out of his room with his luggage and saw Jiang Yao was empty-empty-handed. He said suspiciously, "Yao Ge, you're not going home?"
"Mhm, there's no one at my house this weekend, so I'm not going back."
Jiang Yao smiled and waved goodbye to him, then he turned and opened the door to enter the room next door, "CheChe, grab your pillow and go to my room to sleep......"
His and Yin Ze's gazes locked. "Go to your room? Ge, are you not coming home this week because of him? You two have already progressed to that level?"
Yin Che's head started aching. "I'm just staying in the room, that's all, nothing will happen."
"Can you guarantee that he won't do anything? He's an alpha and you're...... How can you be so casual about this?"
Jiang Yao said, "He's my boyfriend, isn't it normal to live together?"
"Normal my ass, my ge is still underage!"
Jiang Yao wasn't the least bit concerned, "Only for a few more days."
Yin Che was stunned into silence.
Yin Ze had reached his last straw, "You! Come outside with me!"
"I'll be back in a bit. Take your pillow over first. Be good." Jiang Yao winked.
Yin Che was still a little stunned. Only for a few more days...... What does that mean?
Recently, Jiang Yao seemed to be getting more and more impatient.
Yin Ze angrily walked to the sixth floor, then kicked open the door of the dorm building's roof, frightening the couple who was making out there right at that time.
"Apologies, I'm commandeering this site."
"Oh oh oh, we'll leave right away......"
Jiang Yao let the couple brush past and closed the door. "What's going on, didi, why so angry?"
Yin Ze's chest was heaving up and down, as he tried his best to keep his cool. "What did Doctor Feng say when you went to the hospital last time?"
"Which time?"
"Don't play dumb! Last time when you suspected that my ge was......an omega, you said that you'd go to the hospital the next day to find out, but there's been no information since. What was the result?" Yin Ze watched at his expression carefully.
The wind was a bit strong on the rooftop and Jiang Yao's smile seemed to be blown hollow a bit by the wind as well. "Oh, right, I questioned him thoroughly."
"So? Is he or not?"
"Yeah......I was mistaken," Jiang Yao said slowly, "Your ge, he's not an omega."
—
Footnotes:
1. Pretending for cover (暗度陈仓): saying based on a stratagem used by Liu Bang against Xiang Yu in 206 BC, to divert someone's attention towards something while secretly doing something else to achieve a goal ↩
2. To two-time (脚踏两条船): literally to stand with a foot in two boats, figuratively to have two lovers at the same time ↩
—
Well not right now....