On Wednesday morning, when Xu Ze opened his eyes, his head felt heavy and groggy.
He glanced at the time and realized that his alarm had already gone off for the third time.
He immediately got up, washed, and rode his bike to school.
The cafeteria was very quiet in the morning.
In fact, the cafeteria at the preparatory school was always quiet. Most of the students had their nannies deliver food or had drivers take them out to eat. Only a small number of people ate in the cafeteria.
Chi Jiahan was sitting in his usual spot, eating breakfast.
Xu Ze walked over and sat down across from him.
Chi Jiahan raised his head and froze for a moment.
“What happened to the corner of your mouth?”
The punch the bodyguard had landed on Xu Ze’s face the previous night had been too heavy. Half of Xu Ze’s face was somewhat swollen, and the bruising at the corner of his lips was very obvious.
“Got into a fight,” Xu Ze answered.
“It was only Tuesday yesterday.”
Chi Jiahan’s brows immediately furrowed.
“You had another match?”
Xu Ze felt that he really shouldn’t have habitually sat down across from Chi Jiahan today.
He had drunk too much alcohol the night before, and his mental state hadn’t been very good since getting up that morning. For a moment, he had forgotten about the injury on his face, only for Chi Jiahan to notice it.
“Then why did you get into a fight?”
Xu Ze took a bite of bread and lowered his eyes.
“Tang Feiyi asked me to go drink for him.”
“Is this what you meant when you said you would think it over carefully?”
Chi Jiahan was so angry that even his expression changed.
“Xu Ze, you really are stubborn.”
If he could, Chi Jiahan wanted to curse Xu Ze out properly.
But he understood better than anyone why Xu Ze had done this.
Besides, Xu Ze wasn’t the kind of person whose mind would change just because someone gave him a scolding.
“Then what? Why did you get into a fight?” Chi Jiahan suppressed his anger and asked again.
“I wanted to leave, so they made me fight a bodyguard. They said I could leave if I won.”
“Did you win?”
“No.” Xu Ze shook his head. “It was a draw.”
“Impossible.” Chi Jiahan immediately said, “Tang Feiyi would never allow a draw to happen.”
“Gu Yunchi and the others came halfway through.”
That was an unexpected name. Chi Jiahan thought for a few seconds before saying, “Tang Feiyi has offended the Gu family before. It’s possible Gu Yunchi came in and interrupted things halfway through… But Gu Yunchi doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would meddle in something for no reason. He’s not that bored.”
Then he casually asked, “Besides Gu Yunchi, who else was there? He Wei?”
“Mm.”
“Was Lu He Yang there too? The three of them are so close, so they should all have been there.”
Xu Ze paused before saying, “He wasn’t.”
“Lu He Yang wasn’t there?” Chi Jiahan took a sip of milk and raised his head to look at Xu Ze, only to see a rare trace of uneasiness on his face—it was a very strange feeling. So Chi Jiahan asked, “Were you recognized?”
“No, I was wearing a cap.”
Chi Jiahan still felt that something was off.
He quickly realized what it was.
There was a school-wide assembly that morning, and all the students were gathered around the athletic field in the spectator stands to listen. The six sophomore classes were seated in a row, and Chi Jiahan was in Class 9, with one class between him and Xu Ze’s Class 11.
Chi Jiahan casually glanced toward Class 11, only to notice that Xu Ze’s gaze was intently following something. He followed Xu Ze’s line of sight and saw students from Classes 1 and 2 walking over. There were too many people, and Chi Jiahan couldn’t tell who Xu Ze was looking at.
But he knew that, for Xu Ze, who he was looking at wasn’t important. What mattered was the act of “looking” itself, which already represented something unusual.
Xu Ze never paid attention to anyone at the preparatory school. Even if someone walked right up to him and stepped on his foot, Xu Ze might not even look up. He would simply quietly walk around them and continue on his way.
Soon, Chi Jiahan saw Xu Ze’s gaze stop directly ahead, then move downward as the person he was watching sat down.
Class 2 was in front of Xu Ze. Chi Jiahan looked over and saw He Wei.
And beside He Wei, there was an alpha who did not belong to Class 2.
Lu He Yang from Class 1.
At first, there was still no way to be certain of anything. But then an alpha sitting diagonally behind Lu He Yang patted him on the shoulder and smiled as he spoke to him, probably asking why he had come to sit in Class 2’s seats. Lu He Yang turned his head, and Chi Jiahan clearly saw Xu Ze hurriedly lower his head and withdraw his gaze at that exact moment.
It was an emotion resembling nervousness and panic. But Chi Jiahan remembered that Xu Ze hadn’t shown an expression like this even when facing an opponent twice his size at the underground club.
For some inexplicable reason, Chi Jiahan’s heart sank.
During the entire half-hour assembly, Chi Jiahan didn’t hear a single word. After they were dismissed, he caught up with Xu Ze and pushed him toward a path beside the flower bed.
“Go this way.”
As they gradually moved farther away from the crowd, Xu Ze asked, “What’s wrong?”
“That’s what I should be asking you.” Chi Jiahan said, “What’s going on between you and Lu He Yang?”
Xu Ze was visibly stunned for a moment. Then he asked, “What do you mean?”
For Xu Ze to give such a roundabout, evasive response, there had to be something going on even if there hadn’t been before.
“You keep looking at him. It’s so obvious. Do you know that?”
Xu Ze didn’t say anything, nor did his face show any expression. But Chi Jiahan could clearly tell that he was thinking—thinking about exactly what had made it so obvious.
So Chi Jiahan decided to ask about the most outrageous, most impossible possibility first.
He asked, “You keep looking at him. Do you like Lu He Yang?”
Xu Ze stopped walking and stared blankly at a newly sprouted tender shoot in the flower bed.
Chi Jiahan didn’t think this was a difficult question to answer. The answer was obviously supposed to be no. He had no idea what Xu Ze was spacing out about.
“I like him,” Xu Ze said.
Like what? Did he like this little sprout?
Chi Jiahan also stared at the sprout. After looking at it for two seconds, his expression suddenly changed.
“You really like Lu He Yang?” he asked incredulously to confirm.
“Mm.” Xu Ze nodded without hesitation.
Chi Jiahan was speechless for a moment.
Xu Ze actually liked someone.
Xu Ze already had someone he liked.
The person Xu Ze liked was an alpha.
Xu Ze liked Lu He Yang.
Every single one of these facts shocked Chi Jiahan, and the shock came in waves, each one more intense than the last.
He had always thought Xu Ze was like a robot, detached from everyone at the preparatory school. He had his own programming, logic, and way of doing things—quiet, indifferent to everything, uninterested in anything. You couldn’t see any trace of human warmth or emotional fluctuation in him.
Yet the facts proved that this robot had fallen for another human being of the same sex, and the other person was a popular alpha with outstanding qualities.
It was simply absurd and painfully cliché.
“Why?” Chi Jiahan instinctively felt that Xu Ze’s unrequited love had definitely lasted for quite some time, and he found it difficult to process. “How could you like an alpha? How could you like Lu He Yang? Is it because you think he’s perfect?”
Xu Ze seemed somewhat puzzled by the adjective “perfect.” After a pause, he said, “I don’t think he’s perfect.”
Everyone had flaws. It was only a matter of how many or how few. No one was perfect, and Xu Ze wasn’t blind enough to that extent.
But if there were a vote for the alpha who came closest to perfection, Xu Ze would choose Lu He Yang. At least, that was how he felt.
“I don’t understand.” Chi Jiahan rubbed his eyes, finding it difficult to recover from the shock.
Xu Ze reached out and removed a small leaf that had drifted onto the omega’s hair.
“Class is about to start.”
“…Let’s go back to class.” There were so many things he wanted to say, but he didn’t know what would be the right thing to say. Chi Jiahan sighed.
He felt that Xu Ze was always encountering—or always doing—things that were so difficult, whether it was risking his life to make money or falling for someone who could never possibly be his.
Friday morning, after washing up, Lu He Yang went downstairs. He crossed the living room, and when he reached the entrance to the dining room, he saw someone eating breakfast at the table, but there wasn’t a sound to be heard. It was so quiet that it was almost oppressive.
Lu Qingmo glanced at Lu He Yang. After meeting her eyes, Lu He Yang turned toward the alpha sitting at the head of the long table and called, “Dad.”
Lu Chengyu turned a page of the Alliance’s internal daily newspaper and glanced at his watch before saying, “Sit down. Eat breakfast.”
“Mm.”
The brief exchange ended there, and the dining table once again fell into dead silence. The expressions on Lu Qingmo and Lu He Yang’s faces remained unchanged. They had long since grown accustomed to this kind of family atmosphere—distant, cold, and silent.
Three minutes later, Lu Chengyu put down the newspaper, ending his breakfast. The housekeeper immediately came over to tie his tie and put his coat on him. After Lu Chengyu fastened his buttons, his tall, straight figure and immaculately styled hair made his face still look remarkably young. An expensive gold-rimmed pair of glasses rested on the bridge of his high nose, barely softening the oppressive presence of an S-rank alpha.
There was no small talk and no goodbye. Once Lu Chengyu had finished getting dressed, he left the dining room. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Lu He Yang watched the driver open the car door for Lu Chengyu, then close it. The car subsequently drove out of the garden.
“Dad went to a meeting.” Lu Qingmo took a sip of milk. “We got back together around midnight.”
“How long are you staying home this time?” Lu He Yang asked.
“He’s leaving tomorrow. I’m leaving the day after.”
Lu He Yang gave a quiet “Mm” and continued eating breakfast.
After breakfast, Lu Qingmo drove Lu He Yang to school, after which she had to attend a diplomatic event. The two barely spoke throughout the drive. It wasn’t until they were almost at the preparatory school that Lu Qingmo finally said, “You’ve been going to the west side of the city quite often lately. Dad knows.”
“Mm.” Lu He Yang wasn’t surprised. The bodyguards had probably reported his whereabouts to Lu Chengyu the very first time.
“It’s too chaotic over there. Try to go less often,” Lu Qingmo said. “If Dad has to bring this up with you himself, it won’t be as simple.”
Lu He Yang said nothing. Lu Qingmo turned to look at him.
“Don’t worry.” Lu He Yang looked back at her and smiled. “You know I’m very obedient.”
“I don’t know.” Lu Qingmo frowned slightly. “Sometimes I don’t understand what you’re thinking.”
She slowly brought the car to a stop at the entrance of the preparatory school and said, “I don’t want you to end up like me, but I also don’t want you to actually cross the line.”
“I won’t.” Lu He Yang got out of the car and went to the back seat to retrieve his schoolbag. He walked to the driver’s-side window and said, “Be careful on the road. After the event, go home and get some proper rest.”
Lu Qingmo held the steering wheel, her eyelashes lowered. Only occasionally, when she was in front of Lu He Yang, would she reveal traces of fatigue. The rest of the time, she was always mature and capable—the universally recognized youngest and most accomplished diplomat in the Alliance.
“No time to rest.” Lu Qingmo smiled faintly. “I’m having lunch at the Wei family’s today.”
In the entire capital, the Wei family was one of the few families that could barely rival the Gu family in terms of wealth and influence. It had only been a year and a half since the Wei family’s eldest son, Wei Lingzhou, married Lu Qingmo. Lu He Yang had only met his brother-in-law a few times, but he could hear his name in almost every piece of gossip in the capital’s upper-class circles.
Of course, under a marriage arranged for political and business interests, not interfering in each other’s private lives was an unspoken understanding. The wedding a year and a half ago had been nothing short of grand and extravagant, bringing together all the powerful and influential figures in the Alliance. Lu Qingmo had sat in front of the mirror wearing her wedding dress, while Lu He Yang stood beside her. In the mirror, what he saw was a face that held no expectations for love or marriage—a face of breathtaking beauty, yet utterly numb and lifeless.
Fifteen-year-old Lu He Yang had felt for the first time that his sister’s beauty was somehow heartbreaking.
When they exchanged wedding rings, Lu He Yang, sitting in the front row, saw Lu Qingmo’s eyes redden, making her look like a bride moved to tears. But he knew that wasn’t the truth. He knew what Lu Qingmo regretted, and whom she regretted for.
Once a person’s weakness was seized, they would be forced to accept one thing after another against their own wishes, with no possibility of ever turning back. It was a dead knot.
Lu He Yang took a step back and waved.
“Goodbye. Drive carefully.”
After Lu Qingmo turned the car around, Lu He Yang headed into the preparatory school. Just as he turned around, he happened to see Xu Ze standing on the sidewalk leading from the parking area.
Xu Ze looked as though he had been walking along and had unconsciously been drawn to something, causing him to stop there without realizing it. He probably hadn’t even noticed how conspicuous he looked, standing still among a crowd of moving students.
From a distance, their eyes met.
Xu Ze looked as though someone had suddenly tapped him. He turned his gaze away and continued walking.