Early Monday morning, Lu He-Yang entered through the school gate.
He Wei came from the nearby parking lot half a minute later. His face was gloomy, and he had barely taken a few steps when he was stopped.
“Please wear your bracelet.”
A mechanical warning sounded. The barrier gate locked in place, stopping He Wei and all the students behind him.
Young Master He had probably just been subjected to family discipline the previous night. Thus, although his expression was foul, he silently took out his bracelet and put it on.
After being allowed through, he walked a few steps to Lu He-Yang’s side and frowned.
“I’ll say, you completely look like you’re watching a show.”
“Absolutely not.” Lu He-Yang replied.
He Wei clearly didn’t believe him. He gave a light snort and asked, “Is the Chairman still at home?”
“He just left this morning.”
“Did you have another oppressive weekend?” He Wei lowered his voice. “My dad found out Uncle Lu came back and told me to go play at your house. I asked him if he wanted my life.”
Lu He-Yang smiled. “Is it really that scary?”
“Yes.” He Wei said. “I’ve been afraid of your dad since I was little. You know that better than anyone.”
After two seconds of silence, he spoke again.
“I haven’t really come back these past few years, so I don’t know… Is Uncle Lin doing okay?”
“He’s fine.” Lu He-Yang glanced at his watch. “Class is about to start.”
The two of them went upstairs.
He Wei had been assigned to Class Two, right next to Lu He-Yang’s class. He patted Lu He-Yang on the shoulder and lazily entered his own classroom through the back door.
“Excuse me, wait a moment.”
Lu He-Yang was just about to enter his classroom when he suddenly heard someone calling from behind.
The voice wasn’t loud, even rather low, but there weren’t many people in the hallway. It was quiet, so he could still hear it clearly.
He turned around.
Before he had time to see who it was, that person had already walked up to him, lowered his head, pulled a stack of papers from his hand, and handed them over.
“These are the materials regarding the class assignments.”
Lu He-Yang said nothing and reached out to take them.
Their heights weren’t very different. The alpha never raised his head. Lu He-Yang could only see his lowered eyelashes, high nose bridge, and pale lips.
There were faint blue-green marks around his brow bone and the corner of his lips, while his entire right cheek was red and swollen.
Apparently sensing his gaze, the alpha slightly turned his head toward the other side.
It was an extremely subtle movement.
“Thank you.” Lu He-Yang said.
The other person seemed to have been waiting for exactly that answer. He quickly nodded once.
“You’re welcome.”
The end of his voice was slightly hoarse.
After saying that, he turned around and left, going to knock on the door of the neighboring classroom and continuing to distribute the materials.
Lu He-Yang carried the documents into the classroom and passed them down row by row.
When he returned to his seat, his deskmate was holding his head and catching up on sleep. There was a scab of dried blood on his elbow—apparently, he had fallen while practicing skateboarding recently.
Lu He-Yang thought of the alpha who had just delivered the materials.
There were several purplish bruises scattered across the arms exposed beneath his short sleeves. The bracelet on his wrist was the cheapest kind—poor quality, old, and unable to adjust its setting.
Although simply wearing a bracelet would cause alphas to feel physically and mentally uncomfortable to some degree because their pheromones were being suppressed, there was still a difference between a bracelet costing tens of thousands and one costing only a hundred or so.
Generally speaking, the more expensive the bracelet, the less discomfort it caused.
Conversely, the cheaper it was, the stronger the discomfort.
It was rather strange. Even though he had never clearly seen that alpha’s face, those scarred arms were genuinely easy to recognize—they were simply too rare in the Preparatory School.
“Xu Ze?” The omega sitting by the door of the neighboring class looked a little surprised. “Why did you come to our building?”
Xu Ze seemed to be lost in thought. Upon hearing her, he looked at her somewhat slowly. He recalled for a few seconds, but still couldn’t remember who she was, nor did he know how the omega knew his name.
He answered, “I came to deliver the materials.”
“Ah, I know. The dean must have grabbed a student to run an errand halfway there, right?” The omega stood up and reached out to take them. Only then did she see the injuries on Xu Ze’s face, and she immediately sucked in a breath. “You…”
Xu Ze didn’t turn his head even slightly, making no attempt to hide them at all. He said, “These are the materials regarding the class assignments. Please pass them around.”
“Okay…”
The omega held the materials, hesitantly looking at Xu Ze’s face. Xu Ze quietly said, “Thank you,” then turned and left.
“Did you see Xu Ze’s face and arms?” The omega passed the materials down and turned to whisper with her deskmate.
“Why does he always have injuries? I heard from someone else that he got into trouble outside and was beaten up.”
“I don’t believe it. He doesn’t seem like that kind of person.”
“I don’t really believe it either, but that’s what everyone says…”
Xu Ze walked across the skybridge. The wind blew over, clearing his head a little. He turned back to look at that teaching building. With class about to begin, the corridors were completely empty, with only a few students delivering materials scattered across the other floors.
Xu Ze lowered his head again and looked at his arms. Then he raised his hand and touched his right cheek. It still hurt, and it was a little hot as well.
That afternoon, all the S-level students in the eleventh grade, thirty-five people in total, were called to the conference room for a meeting.
According to the usual practice in previous years, these thirty-five students would be combined into two classes during their senior year, and they would receive early admission qualifications from various universities in the Alliance.
Aside from the beginning of the first year of high school, today was considered the S-level students’ first official group gathering. The second semester of their eleventh-grade year was already nearly halfway over, and afterward, there would be more and more activities specially arranged for them.
“Gu Yun-Chi didn’t come?” After sitting down in the conference room, He Wei looked around. “Has he even been to school for more than thirty days this year?”
Lu He-Yang answered, “Probably not.”
Not long afterward, the teacher arrived. After roughly counting the students, he began taking attendance.
“Class Eleven, Xu Ze.”
No one answered. The teacher raised his head and called again, “Class Eleven, Xu Ze.”
“He hasn’t arrived yet?”
The teacher moved the mouse and was just about to make a note when a tall, slender figure suddenly appeared at the door.
That hand wearing an old bracelet and covered in bruises lifted up, its long fingers curling as it lightly knocked on the door.
“Present.”
His voice was very clear and clean. The alpha was still breathing slightly hard.
“Sorry, teacher. I’m late.”
“It’s fine. Come in. Find a seat yourself.”
“Xu Ze.” He Wei leaned back in his chair, spinning a pen between his fingers. He said with interest, “Isn’t this the alpha we saw at the school gate last week? The one riding a bicycle. Turns out he’s an S-level too.”
Lu He-Yang lowered his head and looked at the documents on the table. “I vaguely remember him.”
“Mm-hm. That’s rare.” He Wei paused, then realized something. “Wait, that’s not right. You said last time that you didn’t know him.”
“He delivered some materials to our class this morning.”
“Oh… I see.”
As they spoke, Xu Ze had already walked over. He Wei narrowed his eyes and suddenly reached out, flicking his index finger.
Lu He-Yang’s pen was struck by the force and, carried by its momentum, rolled noisily onto the floor—landing right in front of Xu Ze as he was about to walk up the steps.
From the corner of his eye, Lu He-Yang saw Xu Ze stop. In the instant he stopped, Xu Ze’s body very noticeably swayed.
Then he quickly bent down, picked up the pen, and gently placed it on the edge of the desk.
Lu He-Yang’s gaze followed the alpha’s fingertips up along his arm, finally landing on the left side of his face, which looked much more normal compared with his bruised and swollen right cheek.
“Thank you.”
Xu Ze looked somewhat hurried, probably because he was late. He quickly nodded, gave a quiet “Mm,” and continued walking up.
“Interesting.” He Wei leaned forward onto the desk in a posture as if he were sleeping, grinning as he said, “He looks kind of gloomy. Didn’t expect him to be pretty willing to help others.”
Lu He-Yang picked up the pen from the edge of the desk and placed it in front of himself. He only said, “Next time, throw your own pen.”
He Wei: Someone else’s wife. Interesting.