The two of them reached the passageway gate almost at the same time. Xu Ze stopped for a moment and let Lu He Yang scan his face and enter the school first.
The display screen was neither large nor small. Lu He Yang stood directly in front of it, with the other students waiting in line behind him. On the screen, Lu He Yang saw Xu Ze looking at the back of his head. A second later, Xu Ze looked at the display, and their gazes met in that instant.
Xu Ze hadn’t expected to meet Lu He Yang’s eyes through the screen, and he immediately lowered his head.
“Verification successful. Please enter.”
The machine’s prompt sounded. Lu He Yang passed through the gate, and a few seconds later, Xu Ze entered the school as well.
Xu Ze still hadn’t quite recovered. He was thinking about the omega who had driven Lu He Yang to school just now. She was the same person he had seen in the old city district last time, when he helped Lu He Yang repair his tire.
The only difference was that the omega wasn’t wearing sunglasses today. From Xu Ze’s perspective, her face was exceptionally beautiful—coldly glamorous and distant, the kind of face that was difficult to forget after seeing it even once.
Just as Xu Ze had imagined. He had wondered before that if Lu He Yang ever fell in love, his partner would probably be someone like this.
Xu Ze felt no sadness or heartache. He had never imagined any possibility between himself and Lu He Yang.
To Xu Ze, when he discovered that the person he could admire but never reach belonged to another outstanding person, he would only feel that the rules of this world always made a certain kind of sense, because people who were well-matched had ended up together.
A beautiful trophy would always belong to the champion, and he would never be the champion. So all he needed to do was applaud and look up from afar.
Walking one behind the other like this, Lu He Yang suddenly turned his head and glanced back.
Here’s the English translation:
It was just an ordinary glance, but when that face turned sideways and was illuminated by the sunlight, then turned away again into a back view, Xu Ze seemed to have been bewitched somehow. He actually opened his mouth instinctively, though even he himself had no idea what he would have said if a sound had really come out.
Xu Ze immediately pressed his lips together, swallowing down those strange thoughts.
Then he noticed that Lu Heyang had slowed his pace. After only a few more steps, the two of them were walking almost shoulder to shoulder. Lu Heyang was still looking straight ahead as he casually asked, “Do you ride your bike to school every day?”
Xu Ze nodded, then remembered that Lu Heyang probably couldn’t see him nodding, so he said, “Yeah. I live pretty close.”
“The old town district is indeed relatively close to the Preparatory School,” Lu Heyang said.
Xu Ze immediately didn’t dare answer casually. He didn’t know whether Lu Heyang remembered that he lived in the old town district because Xu Ze had helped him repair his car last time, or because Lu Heyang had driven him home that Tuesday night.
If it was the latter, that meant that on that night, in front of Lu Heyang, he had been Xu Ze, not No. 17.
In fact, Xu Ze’s memories of that night weren’t very clear. He had drunk too much and had even slept in the car for a while, so many of the details were hazy. He only remembered that Lu Heyang’s attitude had been somewhat different from usual. It was the kind of attitude he would only show in front of No. 17. Although it wasn’t obvious, Xu Ze could always sense a little of it.
Xu Ze decided to test him once.
But because he didn’t have even half a shred of experience when it came to “testing” someone, what Xu Ze ultimately came up with as his test was—
He said, “128 yuan.”
128 yuan. The anti-inflammatory medicine and medicinal solution Lu Heyang had bought for him last time had cost exactly 128 yuan in total.
The moment he said it, Xu Ze realized how unbelievably stupid that was.
Lu Heyang froze for a moment, but it was only after walking a few more steps that he turned his head and asked, “What?”
He and Xu Ze were about three or four centimeters apart in height, so when he looked over, his eyes were slightly lowered. Yet Xu Ze felt almost as though he were being looked down upon, the pressure making him completely unsure how to explain himself.
“Nothing. It’s nothing,” Xu Ze said.
“Mm.” They had already reached the flower bed beneath the teaching building. The two of them were in different buildings, so Lu Heyang said, “I’ll head to class first.”
Xu Ze stopped where he was. “Okay.”
He watched Lu Heyang’s back until the other man reached the staircase. Seeing off an alpha schoolmate whom he wasn’t even particularly close to was actually a very strange thing to do, but Xu Ze himself didn’t realize it.
Before school let out that afternoon, Lu Heyang received a message from Xiaofeng. It was the lineup for tonight’s boxing matches.
After looking through it from top to bottom, Lu Heyang asked:
Is No. 17 not fighting?
Xiaofeng: Ah, aren’t you friends with No. 17? Didn’t he tell you? Today he’s fighting in the opening warm-up match, the kind that’s basically just for entertainment. There’s no prize money. He’s fighting for free.
Xiaofeng: Also… I heard No. 17 may have offended some big boss. Not only is he not getting paid for his match this week, apparently the guy he’s fighting next Friday is a really vicious boxer. He’s killed someone in the ring before.
Xiaofeng: Why don’t you try talking him out of it… Tell him not to fight next week. It feels pretty dangerous.
Lu Heyang stared at the page for a while without saying anything. He only told Xiaofeng to reserve two seats.
Today, He Wei had been ordered to go home for dinner and couldn’t go to the west side of the city, so Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi would go together.
It was yet another day when Gu Yunchi hadn’t come to school. By the time Lu Heyang walked out of the school gates, Gu Yunchi had coincidentally just arrived as well.
Lu Heyang got into the car and said, “Take me somewhere to buy something first.”
The biggest difference between Gu Yunchi and He Wei was that he wasn’t particularly curious. He also wouldn’t keep digging, insisting on figuring out every little detail, whether big or small.
He merely said, “Mm,” and had Lu Heyang give the address to the navigation system.
Halfway there, Lu Heyang received a call from home. The housekeeper said that Lu Chengyu would be getting on a plane that evening and told him to go home early.
“Okay. I’ll be back soon.”
Lu Heyang hung up and casually looked out the car window. He understood that Lu Chengyu wasn’t trying to have a heart-to-heart with him or strengthen their father-son relationship. It was simply that the bodyguards had once again reported his whereabouts, and Lu Chengyu was ordering him to come home in this manner.
“Uncle Lu is back?” Gu Yunchi asked.
“Mm.”
Gu Yunchi glanced at him. “Then just stay for a while and go home afterward.”
Lu Heyang nodded once without saying anything.
When they arrived at the boxing gym, the opening match had just ended. Lu Heyang didn’t go sit in the audience. After saying something to Gu Yunchi, he headed backstage.
Xiaofeng wasn’t there, so Lu Heyang followed the same route as last time toward the backstage area.
This backstage area seemed to be shared by the entire club. The other venues all had passages leading here, and various storage rooms, makeup rooms, and changing rooms lined both sides of the corridor.
Because it was still early, there were a lot of people backstage. Most were heavily made up or smoking. Among them, Lu Heyang’s appearance seemed excessively clean-cut. Some people kept looking him over, but because he was an S-rank alpha, they didn’t dare approach him casually.
Lu Heyang walked straight to the changing room at the very end, knocked on the door, and pushed it open.
Two boxers were standing inside. They turned around and looked at him warily.
“Who are you?”
“I’m looking for No. 17.” Lu Heyang’s expression was indifferent. “I have something for him.”
One of the boxers lifted his chin toward the door beside the lockers.
“He’s in there.”
“Thanks,” Lu Heyang said.
He walked over and pushed open the door.
Inside was a cramped bathroom and shower room. The lighting was very dim. No. 17 was standing with his back to him, bent over the sink, a towel draped over his shoulders.
The faucet was running. No. 17 seemed to be washing his face.
Lu Heyang took a step to the side and saw that the yellowed sink was full of bloody water, slowly draining through the somewhat clogged drain.
No. 17 turned off the faucet and straightened slightly. When he moved his hand away from his face, blood was still dripping from his nose.
The instant he raised his head, his eyes met Lu Heyang’s in the mottled, grimy mirror.
No. 17’s eyes widened slightly. He immediately turned his head around, confirming that Lu Heyang was really standing behind him.
“You…” No. 17 turned around and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. After pausing for a second, he asked, “Did you just get here? I didn’t see you before.”
“Yeah.” Lu Heyang looked at him with an almost amused expression. “Were you looking for me?”
No. 17 had somehow walked himself into a trap. Realizing it, he lowered his eyes, wiped his nose again, and said, “I was just asking.”
Lu Heyang glanced at the time on his wristband, then handed the paper box in his hand to No. 17. “It’s for you.”
The tungsten filament in the light overhead flickered, giving off a faint buzzing sound. No. 17 looked at the box, then at Lu Heyang. In the end, he took the towel from around his neck, dried his hands, and accepted the box.
“See if you like it,” Lu Heyang said.
Like a robot that had been programmed, No. 17 quietly followed Lu Heyang’s instructions and opened the box.
The fresh scent of leather spread through the air. No. 17 lowered his head and stared at the pair of black-and-red boxing gloves. When he saw the brand name printed along the edge of the cuffs, he looked up in surprise.
His face was filthy, covered in cheap stage makeup and streaks of muddy, half-dried blood. Yet his eyes were exceptionally clean—deep gray, with the faintest hint of blue visible under the low-wattage light.
It was a gift that was far too valuable—whether it was the gift itself or the person giving it. Valuable enough to make someone afraid to accept it, yet unable to resist looking at it a few more times.
No. 17 swallowed and asked softly, “Why did you give these to me?”
“To celebrate your victory,” Lu Heyang said.
A rather wicked thought flashed through No. 17’s mind. He wanted to accept this gift meant to celebrate his victory, but he quickly dismissed the thought—as if he were a child attempting to lie for the first time, too inexperienced and too troubled by his conscience to go through with it. In the end, he decided to obediently tell the truth.
“I didn’t win. I lost the opening match.” No. 17’s voice was low, sounding somewhat regretful. He had never cared much about winning or losing before.
But Lu Heyang didn’t look surprised or shocked. He merely smiled.
“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter. Just consider it an early celebration of your next victory.”
No. 17 didn’t refuse again. He looked at the gloves and reached out to stroke the smooth leather surface. Then he said to Lu Heyang, “Thank you.”
Although No. 17 didn’t show it very obviously—he didn’t smile or have his eyes light up—Lu Heyang could still sense that he was happy.
No. 17 kept examining the gloves, and the way he treasured and liked them was something very difficult to hide.
The phone in Lu Heyang’s pocket began to vibrate. He didn’t need to look to know that the housekeeper was urging him to come home. Lu Heyang ignored it, but he also knew clearly that he was out of time. He had to leave.
“I’ll go first,” Lu Heyang said. “See you next week.”
Not only had he received an expensive new pair of boxing gloves, he had also gotten a promise to see each other next week. Even the hair on No. 17’s head, disheveled and sticking up from the boxing match, seemed to become light and cheerful.
He looked directly into Lu Heyang’s eyes, pressed his lips together, and gave what looked like the faintest hint of a smile.
No. 17 said seriously, “See you next week.”