After lunch, the teacher told everyone to return to their rooms for an afternoon nap and leave promptly at two-thirty for the lecture. He Wei and Gu Yunchi had gotten plenty of sleep on the bus, and Lu Heyang had also rested before lunch, so the three of them planned to go out and look around.
Before leaving, Lu Heyang walked over to Xu Ze’s seat and handed him the room card.
“Here, take the room card. I’m going out later.”
Xu Ze accepted it, his gaze lingering on Lu Heyang’s fingers.
“Okay.”
Back in the room, Xu Ze washed his face and closed the curtains. When he reached the bedside, he stopped. After a brief hesitation, Xu Ze bent down and pulled up the crumpled corner of the quilt on Lu Heyang’s bed, carefully smoothing the covers.
The hotel bed was very soft, and Xu Ze was not used to it. He tossed and turned several times before finally lying on his left side, looking across the aisle at Lu Heyang’s pillow, and slowly closing his eyes.
About forty minutes later, Xu Ze woke up and checked his phone. It was one-thirty. He was about to sit up when he suddenly heard a very soft knock at the door. It did not sound like someone was actually knocking, more like they were tentatively tapping a few times.
Xu Ze got out of bed and walked to the door. Without looking through the peephole, he opened it directly.
Outside, Lu Heyang was carrying a bag in one hand and looked as though he was about to leave. When he heard the door open, he turned around with a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips, clearly having had a good time.
“Did I wake you up?”
Xu Ze was still in that sluggish, dazed state of just having woken up. A few strands of his hair were sticking up messily, and the collar of his T-shirt had slipped to one side. Once he realized what was happening, he opened the door a little wider and said, “No, I just happened to wake up.”
“Perfect.” Lu Heyang smiled again. He walked past Xu Ze and placed the bag on the table. “Don’t close the door yet. He Wei and the others are coming over soon.”
“Okay.”
Xu Ze left the door slightly ajar and then went to open the curtains.
Lu Heyang was untying the bag when a box of tissues was suddenly handed to him from beside him. He turned his head and saw Xu Ze, who seemed to have fully come to his senses by now. His expression had become somewhat unnatural.
“Wipe your sweat.”
“It’s fine. I’m going to take a shower later.” Lu Heyang took out a cup of watermelon juice from the bag and placed it on the table. He asked Xu Ze, “Want some? It’s freshly squeezed.”
Xu Ze froze for a moment. Then he realized that the drink should have belonged to one of the three of them. In any case, it certainly could not have been meant for him, so he was about to refuse.
But Lu Heyang continued, “I brought it for you. If you don’t like it, that’s okay too.”
The sun outside was intense. Lu Heyang’s face was flushed from the heat, and his messy hair had been pushed loosely back. Sweat trickled down from his temples, but he did not look disheveled in the slightest. Instead, the heat had stripped away some of his usual aloofness, revealing a hint of the wildness inherent to an alpha—vibrant and vigorous, accompanied by pheromones that even the wristband’s low setting could not completely suppress.
Xu Ze’s fingertips twitched. He clearly felt the pressure brought by the other S-rank alpha. It did not make him uncomfortable. Instead, it triggered an instinctive urge to compete and resist.
“Thank you.” Xu Ze’s throat felt dry as he spoke softly.
Lu Heyang went into the bathroom to shower. Not long afterward, He Wei and Gu Yunchi pushed the door open and came in.
Seeing Xu Ze standing beside the table looking somewhat dazed, with his hair and collar also disheveled, He Wei immediately spoke without thinking.
“Wow. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Lu Heyang had done something to you.”
The bathroom door opened. Lu Heyang walked out while drying his hair and asked, “What?”
“You sure you want to hear him repeat that nonsense?” Gu Yunchi said.
Lu Heyang nodded in agreement.
“Then never mind.”
“I can’t be bothered to explain it to you guys.” He Wei walked over, picked up the bag on the table, and carried it to the coffee table. He took out a bag of waxberries. “I even fell into the river just now trying to catch fish.”
Gu Yunchi sat down on the sofa.
“If you hadn’t fallen into the river, we wouldn’t have come back so early either.”
That was a fact. He Wei muttered unhappily, then stuck a straw into his watermelon juice and took two sips. Afterward, he looked up and asked Xu Ze, “Have you had yours? Heyang squeezed this watermelon juice. It’s really sweet.”
Before Xu Ze could answer, Lu Heyang found a straw in the bag, stuck it into the cup of watermelon juice on the table, and handed it to Xu Ze. He then opened another cup for Gu Yunchi.
“There are iced waxberries too.” He Wei was simply the kind of rich young master who found everything fascinating after coming into the mountains. He picked out the biggest waxberry for himself, bit into it, and said, “The owner said they chilled them in mountain spring water. They’re incredibly refreshing.”
On a leisurely midsummer afternoon, Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi leaned against the sofa, while He Wei sat at one end of the coffee table. Outside the window, the sunlight was blazing, and the air conditioner stirred the thin curtains.
The three alphas chatted, starting with the thoroughbred horses He Wei kept at his family’s horse ranch, then moving on to the famous painting Gu Yunchi had accompanied his grandfather to purchase at an auction the previous week, and then to the gliding and skydiving activities Lu Heyang regularly participated in…
Xu Ze quietly sat at the foot of the bed and watched them. He felt that this moment was very nice, even though he did not belong to any of them.
Some boundaries were very obvious. Lu Heyang and the others seemed polite and courteous, but that was all. Their actual distance would never become smaller.
Their circles had already been drawn from the moment they were born. It was difficult for anyone else to become close friends with them, and they did not need anyone else to.
But none of this mattered to Xu Ze. He had never thought about any of it.
It was just that, at least for now, he could sit here and quietly watch what Lu Heyang was like in front of his close friends—something he had never had the opportunity to see before.
At exactly two-thirty, several people left the room. The corridor was not particularly wide, and having four alphas walking together made it a little crowded. Xu Ze consciously fell behind by himself. Less than two seconds later, Lu Heyang slowed his pace and dropped back to walk beside him.
Once everyone had assembled, the school bus drove up the mountain. After more than ten minutes, they arrived at the base. However, today was the day when the researchers were giving their reports collectively, so they could not tour the facility and would have to wait until tomorrow.
The lecture was held in the conference hall. Besides the S-ranks from Preparatory School, there was also a group of students from several key high schools in the city.
It was a rare sight for S-rank AOs to appear as a group. Even after they had taken their seats, those gazes continued to move back and forth over them, carrying a hint of curiosity.
Xu Ze sat in the second-to-last row, three rows away from Lu Heyang and the others.
Not long after the lecture began, the omega from another school sitting to Lu Heyang’s left turned his head and started talking to him.
Judging from his expression, they probably were not discussing anything related to the lecture.
Xu Ze watched them for a while before turning his gaze toward the large screen and quietly taking notes.
Three hours later, the lecture ended.
The S-ranks took the bus back to the hotel at the foot of the mountain. While it was still light out, He Wei suggested going fishing again.
To him, going down into the river in the mountains to catch fish was actually a little fresher and more interesting than taking a private yacht out for deep-sea fishing.
Lu Heyang planned to give the room card to Xu Ze first, but after looking around, he did not see him anywhere.
He went to ask the teacher, who answered, “Xu Ze asked me for leave as soon as he got off the bus. He said he was going out for a while.”
“Where could he have gone?” He Wei began making all sorts of wild guesses from the side. “Could he have been carried off by an omega from another school?”
“How about this? I’ll contact Xu Ze. When he comes back, I’ll have him get another room card from the front desk,” the teacher said. “Those of you going out to have fun, be careful. It’s going to rain tonight, so come back early.”
“Mm-hmm.”
He Wei’s lies came out effortlessly.
“We’re just going to look at the scenery and take a walk.”
The fish in the mountains were very agile.
After catching them for more than an hour, they ultimately only managed to catch a few small fish. The three of them released them back into the river, climbed onto the bank, and returned to the hotel to shower and have dinner.
During the ten minutes they spent walking back, a torrential rain suddenly came down from the sky.
By the time they reached the hotel, their hair and clothes were already soaked.
Lu Heyang opened the door to the room.
It was pitch-black inside.
Xu Ze still had not returned.
Even after dinner was over, past eight o’clock, Xu Ze still had not appeared.
It was still pouring heavily outside.
When Lu Heyang left the restaurant, the teacher told him, “Xu Ze told me he’s on his way back. Remember to open the door for him.”
“Okay,” Lu Heyang replied.
After returning to the room, Lu Heyang turned on the television. The news channel was rebroadcasting the morning news.
Lu Heyang looked at the alpha surrounded by a crowd of high-ranking officials on the screen. There was little expression on his face.
He pressed the remote control and changed the channel.
About ten minutes later, he heard a knock on the door.
Lu Heyang stood up from the sofa and went over to open it.
Standing outside was Xu Ze.
He looked as though he had just been pulled out of the water, completely soaked from head to toe. Droplets of water fell one by one from the ends of his hair.
His thin white T-shirt clung tightly to his body, clearly revealing the lines of his body beneath the fabric.
His lips and complexion were pale, but when their eyes met, his dark-gray pupils seemed to suddenly gain some life. His eyelashes trembled slightly.
He was carrying a bag in his hand, wrapped layer after layer. It was impossible to tell what was inside.
“Come in.”
Seeing that Xu Ze was still standing there without moving, Lu Heyang reminded him.
Xu Ze moved his toes slightly and walked into the room.
The switch panel was beside the door. Lu Heyang raised the air conditioner’s temperature.
He did not ask where Xu Ze had gone or what he had done, because that was the other person’s private business.
Lu Heyang only said, “Take a shower first.”
“Mm.”
Xu Ze answered in a low voice.
He placed the bag on the table and went to his backpack to take out some clothes. He looked a little hesitant, as though he already knew the answer but still wanted to ask something.
After hesitating for a while, Xu Ze finally asked, “Have you already had dinner?”
“Yes.”
Xu Ze silently nodded once and carried his clothes into the bathroom.