Xiao Yan paused, clearly not expecting him to say that. Then he smiled.
“Okay.”
Once he gave in, Luo Zhiyu instead felt like he was the unreasonable one.
It was clearly Xiao Yan who was in rut, yet here he was making Xiao Yan coax him. Even being willful had to have some limits.
“Forget about that.”
Luo Zhiyu gently rubbed the back of his neck. Actually, this temporary mark was much better than the last one. It was just that Xiao Yan had been too fierce when he bit him, making it difficult for him to handle the sudden invasion of pheromones at that moment.
Being the reasonable person he was, Luo Zhiyu found himself an acceptable explanation.
After all, the pheromone compatibility between the two of them was close to zero. If Xiao Yan wanted to get an adequate soothing effect, he probably had to bite harder.
After that period had passed, Luo Zhiyu no longer felt any pain.
It was just that the temporary mark had formed again, and he wanted to stay with Xiao Yan a little longer.
“I let you bite me and you actually bit me.”
Luo Zhiyu said,
“You really don’t stand on ceremony.”
Xiao Yan laughed and neither confirmed nor denied it.
The lights of the shops along the street gradually went dark, leaving only the streetlights and the colorful lanterns hung for the Lantern Festival.
Before they knew it, it was almost eleven at night.
Luo Zhiyu couldn’t remember exactly what he and Xiao Yan had talked about. The entire evening had simply been filled up like that.
Luo Zhiyu answered a call from home. His sister asked where he had gone.
“I’m at the art studio,” Luo Zhiyu said. “Don’t come pick me up. I’m with a friend. I’ll be back soon.”
“Let’s go.”
Xiao Yan stood up and reached over to turn off the lights in the studio.
The room went dark.
Luo Zhiyu’s eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness, and he stumbled into Xiao Yan while feeling around.
Xiao Yan reached out to steady him and, in the process, drew him toward himself.
The darkness in the room blurred their sense of time.
Xiao Yan felt as though he had held Luo Zhiyu for a very long time.
Yet in Luo Zhiyu’s hazy perception, the embrace-like gesture seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye.
At that instant when their sense of time converged, Luo Zhiyu even developed a strange illusion.
This seemed to have nothing to do with the attachment brought on by pheromones.
He had simply, little by little, through their day-after-day bickering and time spent together, developed an inseparable longing for Xiao Yan.
He heard Xiao Yan unlock the door.
The warm orange light from the corridor slanted into the room, and his eyes, which had just begun adjusting to the darkness, once again saw the light.
The light was something to be happy about.
But he seemed to be even more attached to the heartbeat that had been so close in the darkness just now, and the warmth of the other person’s hand.
“I’ll walk you home.”
Xiao Yan helped Luo Zhiyu lock the door.
“It’s best not to get the wound from the temporary mark wet tonight.”
“I know, I know.”
Luo Zhiyu found it annoying.
“It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been injured. I’m not that delicate.”
For some reason, those words seemed to touch upon some particular point between the two of them.
Neither of them spoke again on the way.
Xiao Yan walked him to the intersection, then pushed a piece of orange-flavored hard candy into his hand.
“I got it from the banquet. I forgot to give it to you earlier.”
He should have given it to him right after the temporary marking.
Now Luo Zhiyu had already finished crying and gotten his temper back.
Maybe it was a little too late to comfort him now.
“Thanks.”
Luo Zhiyu unwrapped the candy, clearly in a good mood.
“See you Monday, Brother.”
“You haven’t even finished celebrating the New Year, and you’re already having so much fun.”
Luo Sixue was watching TV in the living room.
“Didn’t you used to not eat much candy?”
“Depends on my mood.”
Luo Zhiyu disappeared straight into his room.
There were quite a few new posts on Moments.
Apparently, during the last two days before school started, everyone had no intention of studying seriously either.
@Little Spicy Strip Yan Zihan: Friends, Big Spicy Chip and I are back together!
Jing Ximing: Congratulations on eliminating the discrimination hierarchy.
Tangyuan: As long as you two are happy…
Zhiyu: Fuck.
Xiao Yan, who had just gotten home, also posted a Moments update.
The picture was of a lantern they had encountered on their way back.
The lantern had been made in the shape of an orange.
At the time, Luo Zhiyu had walked around it several times and gone on and on about its artistic value and all sorts of nonsense.
@Orange: [Image] Ran into a little orange.
Fan Yue: There’s something here.
Jing Ximing: So cute!
Tangyuan: Why are there two shadows on the ground?
Tangyuan’s source: Oh, Luo Zhiyu.
Fan Yue replied: …
Zhang Shu Is Not Mochi: Why didn’t you invite us when you went out? I was almost driven crazy by a little brat tonight. Also, how did Tangyuan tell it was Luo Zhiyu? Amazing.
——
For the first few weeks after school started, the students were still going through an adjustment period after the vacation.
Throughout the entire month of March, the students at No. 1 High School were busy with the opening exams and monthly exams. Most of their time was spent adjusting to the rhythm of school life and studying.
Compared with the previous semester, the academic workload this semester had clearly increased.
The amount of homework began to grow, taking up the students’ fragmented free time.
After the initial chorus of complaints, everyone gradually adapted to this rhythm of studying.
Luo Zhiyu was still the same as before.
He would do the useful assignments, but for repetitive and tedious homework, he would simply copy the answers and muddle through it.
“You don’t need to explain your thought process to me. We think the same way.”
Xiao Yan flipped open the homework and used his pen to poke the person lying lazily on the desk beside him awake.
“Stop sleeping. Get up. I understand the logic, but why am I the one helping you copy your homework?”
“You’re just helping me copy a little homework while you’re at it.”
Luo Zhiyu rested his head on his arms and looked up at Xiao Yan.
“And I’m simply using the precious time before evening self-study to come up here and see whether you’re doing okay.”
“I’m about to be a senior and I still have to help you copy homework.”
Xiao Yan grabbed Luo Zhiyu by the collar and lifted his drooping head a little.
“Get up. Do you think I’m doing okay?”
“Anyway, you directly skip the homework you don’t care about. I know you too well.”
Luo Zhiyu sat upright and casually pulled out one of Xiao Yan’s blank notebooks.
“When I have enough confidence next semester, I’ll do the same. If anyone asks, I’ll say you taught me.”
Xiao Yan tapped the back of Luo Zhiyu’s hand with the pen.
“Talk all you want, but get your hand away from my collar. You’re being way too much of a gangster.”
Luo Zhiyu let out an “ow,” withdrew his claws, and rubbed the back of his hand himself.
It had been almost a month since Xiao Yan had given him the previous temporary mark.
At the beginning of the semester, whenever they had free time, he would spend it with Xiao Yan every day.
They still messed around, but it was all harmless little trouble, which moved Old Wu to tears.
Now the temporary mark had faded, but Luo Zhiyu’s habit hadn’t changed.
Whenever he had nothing to do, he would come upstairs for a stroll.
Sometimes he came looking for trouble, and sometimes he came looking for fun.
In Jing Ximing’s words, he swaggered into Class 3 upstairs every day, creating the atmosphere of someone strolling into a brothel.
At first, Fan Yue had paid close attention to the two of them.
After enough time passed, he had become completely numb to it.
He was even used to Luo Zhiyu occasionally taking over his seat.
When he saw Luo Zhiyu in the hallway, he almost treated him like a student from his own class.
The Grade 10 students, after spending an entire semester adapting, had finally become familiar with the No. 1 High School campus.
The restlessness inherent in teenagers could no longer be hidden.
They began testing the boundaries of how far they could push their teachers and parents before getting a reaction.
The homeroom teachers emphasized several times every day how early romance was harmful to studying.
Even so, during the first month after school started, the school still caught several pairs of students dating.
Aside from criticism and education, there wasn’t much else the school could do about this kind of thing, and the homeroom teachers were quite troubled by it.
During the first semester of Grade 10, Luo Zhiyu could receive several little notes from admirers in a single day.
Alphas, betas, and omegas all had people who liked him.
But by the second semester of Grade 10, he received far fewer.
Because Luo Zhiyu had gotten annoyed.
He declared on the forum that he didn’t like anyone whose grades weren’t better than his, scaring off a large wave of academically weaker students.
The head of the grade even used this as a positive example, praising Student Luo Zhiyu for having only studying in his heart and being completely different from certain restless students going through adolescence.
After that, quite a few people on the forum started imitating him and making similar posts.
“What did you say to them back then? Let me copy your homework.”
Xiao Yan handed his phone to Luo Zhiyu.
“I’m annoyed too. Remember to use my tone.”
“Sure. I’ll post it for you.”
Using Xiao Yan’s forum account, Luo Zhiyu made a new post.
[Declaration to Study Hard and Not Date]
1L (Smoke Everywhere): Reposting.
2L: Fairy Frowning.jpg. No dating. No time. Unless you can score higher than me on the exams.
3L: Fuck, another one.
4L: Took a look at the OP. Xiao Yan?
5L: By this standard, aside from Luo Zhiyu, there’s no one suitable for you.
6L: Not dating is good too. Dating in high school for fun while studying is just asking for trouble.
7L: Is the head of academic affairs undercover on the floor above? Dropping in from nowhere to break people’s legs. Also, wasn’t it said before that Xiao Yan already had someone he liked?
The words “suitable for” entered Luo Zhiyu’s eyes just like that.
The idea that dating affected studying didn’t apply to Luo Zhiyu.
He didn’t want to date young because he simply didn’t seem to have that much interest in other people.
If there was an alpha he found even slightly interesting, it seemed that the only one was Xiao Yan.
A question he had never thought about before suddenly occupied his entire inner world.
Luo Zhiyu’s logical reasoning began operating again—
He doesn’t like other alphas = he doesn’t dislike Xiao Yan = he enjoys going to Xiao Yan to cause trouble and have fun.
Causing trouble and having fun = wanting to try dating in high school.
Therefore, he’s willing to date Xiao Yan in high school?
Luo Zhiyu: “???”
“I’m done copying.”
Xiao Yan tossed the homework back to Luo Zhiyu.
“Bring your unfinished homework upstairs again and see if I don’t beat you up.”
“Oh.”
Luo Zhiyu forced himself to respond, picked up his homework, and walked away somewhat dazed.
Xiao Yan: “…”
[Orange]: I was joking. I won’t beat you up.
[Orange]: Come play again.
[Orange]: I’ll do the homework.
[Orange]: Fairy Frowning.jpg
[Orange]: Where are you???
Luo Zhiyu didn’t reply.
“Are pheromones important?”
During evening self-study, while Luo Zhiyu was bent over his homework, he suddenly asked the question.
It startled Jing Ximing.
“Huh?”
Jing Ximing stopped writing.
“Of course they’re important. Didn’t you get full marks in biology? Why are you suddenly asking about this?”
“Do you think it’s possible for an omega and an omega to…”
Luo Zhiyu hesitated, struggling to force the question out.
Jing Ximing: “???”