[Nominations for the Best Moments at the Autumn Sports Meet]
1L: It actually didn’t rain this year. That’s rare.
2L: Best moments? Does Luo Zhiyu from Class Three, Grade Twelve, suddenly developing a sense of collective honor count? That lazy bum actually charged ahead and came in first. Luo Zhiyu really is lazy. The only ball sport he plays is badminton, and he only plays it with Xiao Yan. His smashes are especially vicious.
3L: Hahahahaha, I saw the school heartthrob come back looking for a beating. Luo Zhiyu was so fierce when he pounced on him. No one could hold him back. They’ve graduated and they’re still at it. Are they planning to keep fighting all the way through university?
4L: Actually, things are pretty good between them now. Back when we were first-years, their relationship was truly terrible. Compared to then, what they do now is practically flirting.
5L: Flirting, huh? The director is still just as nervous as ever.
6L: The director has seen it all. He’s witnessed the two of them coming up with every possible way to torment each other, so now he’s jumpy at the slightest sign of trouble.
7L: I feel sorry for him for a second. I remember that for quite a while, Xiao Yan would wait outside Luo Zhiyu’s dormitory every morning, making the schoolteachers nervous to death. During the break before evening self-study, Luo Zhiyu also liked running upstairs.
“Why did you bring a broom?” Luo Zhiyu asked. His excitement had finally worn off, and only then did he realize he had accidentally come in first. It seemed he might have revealed something about himself.
“Oh my God…” The entire Class Three was shocked. “He managed to get through the sports meets of the past two years without anyone finding out!”
Jing Ximing had genuinely had no idea that his roommate was a short- and long-distance running talent. “What a waste! What a loss!”
Xiao Yan pulled Luo Zhiyu over to sit with him in the bleachers. Luo Zhiyu had just finished exercising and was leaning against his shoulder, breathing slightly heavily. Xiao Yan rather liked how things felt at that moment. He weighed the broom in his hand.
“I don’t know why, but I always feel that if I’m holding this, you’ll be able to spot me in a crowd at a glance.”
Luo Zhiyu: “……”
That was actually true.
Several of Xiao Yan’s classmates had come along to watch the fun, too. According to Xiao Yan, they wanted to see a high school sports meet, and they also wanted to watch Xiao Yan’s boyfriend compete.
“People from U University are so stupid,” some Class Three students whispered to one another. “I went over to give Luo Zhiyu some water just now and heard them saying how good Luo Zhiyu and Xiao Yan’s relationship is.”
“They really are stupid,” another student agreed. “So much for university students. Just ask anyone at No. 1 High School. Everyone knows Xiao Yan came back looking for a chance to fight.”
Luo Zhiyu: “?”
This mistaken impression only grew stronger after Luo Zhiyu climbed over the school wall several more times. One day, while he was climbing over, a tree branch caught him and left a small bruise on his arm. Jing Ximing happened to notice it during evening self-study and launched a humanitarian condemnation of Xiao Yan, who was several streets away.
“I fell while climbing the wall myself…” Luo Zhiyu tried to interrupt him several times without success. In the end, he decided that, for the sake of Xiao Yan’s reputation, he would have to take better care of himself from now on. “It has nothing to do with Xiao Yan. We didn’t fight.”
Even though they lived only a few streets apart, Luo Zhiyu and Xiao Yan didn’t get many opportunities to see each other once December arrived. Luo Zhiyu began preparing for and taking various exams, and his schedule inevitably became rather busy. Most of their communication shifted to WeChat.
[Orange]: Are you done with your exam?
[Zhizhi]: Just got out. I’m going back to the dorm to do my homework.
[Orange]: Seeing you this busy is actually taking some getting used to.
[Orange]: Let’s have a video call. I’ll watch you do your homework.
[Zhizhi]: Once the exams are over, it’ll be fine. Next year, I’ll be a slacker right alongside you.
[Orange]: Fairy frowning.jpg Big Brother here is not a slacker. Big Brother has an excellent GPA.
[Zhizhi]: Just a few more months, and I’ll be joining you at U University.
[Zhizhi]: Come on, come on.
Jing Ximing wasn’t in the dorm, so Luo Zhiyu started a video call and propped his phone beneath his desk lamp, adjusting the light.
“Have you lost some weight?” Xiao Yan asked, displeased.
“It’s probably the camera angle.” Luo Zhiyu turned the camera slightly. “You saw me just last week.”
On the screen, the boy in his third-year high school uniform sat quietly beneath the desk lamp. His pen moved as he worked through his calculations, and every so often he looked up and smiled at the camera. Perhaps to create a bit of a virtual homework atmosphere for his boyfriend, Xiao Yan shut down his computer on the other end and found some paper and a pen of his own.
“I heard something interesting, actually,” Xiao Yan said.
“Tell me.” Luo Zhiyu stopped writing.
“Looks like our families have a small business collaboration going on.” Xiao Yan scrolled through his recent chat history with his family. “Business before personal grudges. At the end of January, when everyone has some free time for the New Year, the project organizers will probably hold a small dinner. That’s when you’ll get to see our two mutually hostile families sitting at the same table, eating together.”
“That sounds interesting.” Luo Zhiyu imagined his father struggling to maintain a smile.
“Also, quite a few people will be attending, so there may be some networking involved. I’ll be there, and I expect your parents will bring you along, too.”
Luo Zhiyu could no longer smile. “You mean we’ll have to share a banquet hall and eat together?”
“Exactly,” Xiao Yan said. “And we’ll have to put on a bit of an act.”
Luo Zhiyu grew serious. “What kind of effect are we going for?”
“Familiar, but not familiar.”
Luo Zhiyu: “?”
On the evening of the banquet, Xiao Yan had just entered the hall when he spotted a small sofa near the entrance. A certain high school student who had been forced to attend the dinner had brought a workbook and was calculating answers with it propped on the sofa’s armrest.
Seeing that no one was paying attention, Xiao Yan took a step over and lightly brushed his fingertips against the back of Luo Zhiyu’s neck.
“Still studying?”
“You’re here.” Luo Zhiyu didn’t look up. “It’s so boring. Several alphas and betas have already come over to ask if I’m almost eighteen. I told them I’m preparing for the college entrance exams and they shouldn’t disturb my studying.”
Xiao Yan took the other end of the sofa, sitting with his back to Luo Zhiyu and facing the banquet hall.
“No way. They’re still thinking about arranged marriages? Do your homework. Don’t look up.”
They had to cultivate an atmosphere of being familiar, yet not familiar.
“I could form an alliance with you,” Luo Zhiyu said, writing an answer in his workbook. “Same industry, suitable age, alpha. There’s one right in front of me. I think you’d be a pretty good match.”
“Zhizhi,” Xiao Yan whispered, “given our families’ backgrounds and our current situation, what we’re doing isn’t called an arranged marriage. It’s called defection.”
Luo Zhiyu: “?”
Meanwhile, the two company bosses who had been forced to sit together for dinner had begun competing with each other, both openly and covertly.
“Could you tell your Luo Zhizhi to stay away from my son?” Xiao Yu said, sounding faintly worried. “He’s so fierce.”
Boss Luo refused to back down. “Nonsense! Our Taotao is an omega. He has a very good temper. How fierce could he possibly be? Besides, his full name is Luo Zhiyu!”
“My nephew went to No. 19 High School. Don’t think I don’t know your son was the local boss there.” The contest continued.
“? That’s because Luo Zhiyu is popular! Since when did being popular become something you could interpret that way?” Luo Yi defended his precious child. “Ever heard of first come, first served? Luo Zhiyu was sitting on that sofa first. And Luo Zhiyu is still a high school student. Tell your son not to disturb his studying. Besides, Xiao Yan’s reputation isn’t exactly great either, is it?”
From a distance, Luo Zhiyu could only catch a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the two families’ parents talking. He couldn’t make out what they were actually saying.
“Meaningless conversation,” Xiao Yan said, shaking his head. “They’re just going around in circles about the same issue over and over. There’s no point.”
“Oh, I think I can guess what they’re talking about,” Luo Zhiyu said. “To sum it up, neither Xiao Yan nor Luo Zhiyu is any good.”
“This is too difficult.” Luo Zhiyu slammed his workbook down, walked over to Xiao Yan, and shoved him on the shoulder. “Why do we have to talk as if we’re in a spy movie? Speak to me properly!”
Xiao Yan: “……”
“Your son is hitting people! He’s so fierce!” Xiao Yu pointed toward the other side. “Aren’t you going to do something about him?”
“Someone got hit? Who?” Boss Luo looked around. “I can’t see anything.”
Luo Sixue, who was listening nearby: “……”
The two bosses went on to engage in another extremely friendly contest over whose son was more promising. Only after that did they finally move on to the business collaboration planned for after the New Year and begin discussing the contract.
“Xiao Yan! Check this problem for me! Is the question wrong? Something feels off.” The irritable Luo Zhiyu tossed his workbook into Xiao Yan’s hands and strode off toward the restroom.
While Luo Zhiyu had been doing problems, he’d used the excuse that he was a third-year high school student to keep people from bothering him. Now that he had stood up, however, he turned out to be quite popular among the crowd.
“Luo Zhiyu…” Luo Zhiyu had been with Xiao Yan the entire time, and now that the two had finally separated, someone wanted to get acquainted with him. “You really live up to your reputation. You look even sweeter and more handsome in person than in the photos. Could I…”
“Huh?” Luo Zhiyu was already in an irritable mood. When he turned around, he looked fierce enough to startle the alpha who had called out to him.
“I think I’m sweet, too.” Luo Zhiyu managed to recover some of his friendliness. These people were business partners of his family, after all, and he did want to make some friends. “Really, I’m not usually fierce. Still want to get to know me? I’m amazing at video games.”
Xiao Yan choked on his water and began coughing violently in the distance. Luo Zhiyu, with one hand hidden behind his back, gave him a contemptuous gesture.
“Go say hello,” Luo Zhiyu’s father told Luo Sixue. “Tell them Taotao already has a boyfriend, so we’re not considering an arranged marriage for the time being. They don’t need to bother him.”
“Our Xiao Yan has a boyfriend, too,” Xiao Yu suddenly remembered. “I think it’s been a while already.”
“Do you really have to turn even this into a competition?” Boss Luo muttered in displeasure. Then he said, “Oh, and what does that have to do with us?”
After washing his hands, Luo Zhiyu sauntered back and wiped them on Xiao Yan’s sleeve. His neatly trimmed fingernails lightly brushed Xiao Yan’s wrist.
“The question is wrong. You were right.” Xiao Yan tossed Luo Zhiyu’s workbook back to him and slipped the pen into his hand. “Redo the last fill-in-the-blank question.”
Familiar, but not familiar. Luo Zhiyu and Xiao Yan felt they had pulled it off. After all, the two families, who were about to collaborate in business, were still openly and covertly competing with each other, comparing this and that. As far as each family was concerned, their own child was better than everyone else’s in every possible way.
“They’ll find out eventually,” Xiao Yan said.
Luo Zhiyu thought it was going to be difficult. “How are we going to get them to accept the fact that we’ve defected? Oh no, the thing I was worried about is going to happen. We really are committing a terrible act of rebellion.”
“It’s fine. If necessary, I’ll figure something out and handle it myself.” Xiao Yan took responsibility for the problem. “You, as a third-year high school student, just focus on studying and doing well on your exams.”
“Okay.”
The high school student retrieved his workbook and leaned against the sofa’s armrest, returning to his fill-in-the-blank problem. He had to admit that mathematics was Xiao Yan’s strong suit. Even in the short time available, Xiao Yan had spotted the part he’d overlooked.
There were two answers, but Luo Zhiyu had missed one of them. Xiao Yan noticed it at a glance.
“Not bad today. You’ve improved,” Xiao Yan praised him. “You didn’t scribble all over the numbers on your test paper, you didn’t turn a 3 into an 8, and you didn’t turn a 1 into a 7. That’s quite a rare achievement.”
The things he was praising were trivial, yet Luo Zhiyu felt happy. The corners of his lips curved up slightly, and Luo Sixue happened to catch the smile from a short distance away.
While Luo Zhiyu went to greet the elders, Luo Sixue walked over and chatted with Xiao Yan for a few moments.
“Now I remember. You just graduated from No. 1 High School. Wasn’t Luo Zhiyu making you do his homework for him before?”
“An equivalent exchange,” Xiao Yan said. “Don’t worry, Sis. I’m not losing out.”
“Actually, I’ve always felt that family problems shouldn’t be passed down to the next generation. Luo Zhiyu looks obedient, but he’s actually very restless. He has a bad temper and is conceited, and he doesn’t really like communicating with people about what he’s thinking. Honestly, there aren’t many people who can handle him.”
“I saw you helping him with his homework just now, and he even smiled at you. I should apologize to you. I was immature back then. When Luo Zhiyu first started kindergarten, I shouldn’t have told him to bite your hand. After that, every time the two of you met, you’d fight. Even when you weren’t attending the same school, you’d still find a way to get into a squabble.”
“…It was as if that one incident had started everything. You kept repaying each other in kind, over and over. He’d carry a tree branch to the entrance of your school and wait for you to finish classes, and then you’d throw plane tree fruits at him on his way home. It went on like that for years. And now, you’ve both grown up.”
“I also saw the news about the two of you ending up in the hospital after a group fight, right when you both presented with your secondary gender. It was Luo Zhiyu’s fault. He’s thoughtless and loves fighting and fooling around.”
“…Otherwise, even if your pheromone compatibility weren’t very high, you two might have become very good friends by now.”
“No.” Xiao Yan interrupted Luo Sixue’s reflections. A glimmer of the most genuine sincerity imaginable appeared in his eyes. “There’s no need to apologize. He did a great job biting me.”
Luo Sixue: “?”
Wasn’t he supposed to say something like, It’s fine. That’s all in the past. Let’s forget about it?
“Thank you, Sis,” Xiao Yan said.