The first meeting was very simple. The teacher roughly explained some arrangements for the second half of the semester, including matters concerning off-campus training, attending lectures, and participating in various activities and competitions.
Xu Ze sat in one of the middle rows, looking at the large screen. But during the process, he would always unconsciously lower his eyes and stare absentmindedly at the seats in the front row.
However, each time, he only spaced out for a second or two. He quickly came back to himself and looked toward the podium again.
Before the meeting ended, the teacher handed out the schedule. Most of the activities were organized and funded by the school, while the remaining portion required students to pay for themselves.
Following the dates down line by line, when Xu Ze saw the prices listed after the self-funded activities, his gaze paused.
Then he folded the schedule in half and put it into his school uniform pocket.
The others gradually left the conference room. The teacher was packing up his things. Xu Ze stood up, stepped down from the stairs, and walked to the side of the podium.
“Is there a problem?” the teacher asked.
“Teacher, do we have to participate in every activity?”
“There is no mandatory requirement, but I recommend participating in all of them. It will be helpful for your future admission direction and choice of major.”
At the same time, Lu He-Yang and He Wei were walking toward the door. The two of them heard the teacher ask, “Is there something inconvenient?”
The alpha standing in front of the podium stood very straight. After pausing for a second, he said, “I would like to apply not to participate.”
Lu He-Yang raised his eyes and happened to see Xu Ze’s profile. A moment later, he walked past Xu Ze from behind.
He Wei had an arm around Lu He-Yang’s shoulder. It was hard to tell whether Young Master He was simply unaware of the hardships of ordinary people or genuinely sighing with emotion.
In any case, he chuckled and answered his own question, “Is there something inconvenient? Of course there is~ Money is inconvenient.”
That afternoon, the last class was swimming.
Xu Ze came out of the changing room, and Chi Jia-Han was standing beside the swimming pool warming up. He was in Class Nine, and starting from eleventh grade, Class Nine and Class Eleven had their swimming class during the same period.
“Can you get in the water?” Chi Jia-Han glanced at the injury on Xu Ze’s ribs and was somewhat worried.
“It’s fine.”
“Even if there were a problem, you wouldn’t say anything.” Chi Jia-Han stretched his arms high above his head and casually said, “I just heard the PE teacher say that starting next week, your class’s swimming lessons are being moved to Tuesday.”
Xu Ze wasn’t particularly concerned about this, but he still asked, “Why?”
“Just a schedule change, I guess. After that, you’ll have class with Class One… and a few other classes, I forgot which ones.”
Xu Ze froze. Then, very slowly, his gaze shifted from the deep-blue swimming pool to Chi Jia-Han’s face.
“Class One?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Noticing that Xu Ze’s attention had suddenly become noticeably focused, Chi Jia-Han turned his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Xu Ze shook his head once. “Nothing.”
The whistle sounded. The two of them each returned to their respective alpha and omega groups. The PE teacher began assigning the training tasks, and those who completed them could leave class early.
Chi Jia-Han was terrible at swimming. Usually, Xu Ze would supervise him after completing his own required tasks. But today, after Xu Ze finished training and climbed out of the water, Chi Jia-Han noticed that his wounds had already turned pale from being soaked.
The PE teacher finished recording the data, looked up at Xu Ze, and hesitated for a moment. In the end, he said nothing and dismissed him.
After all, Xu Ze’s injuries had always appeared one after another. Whenever anyone asked him about them, they never got an answer. The teachers at the Preparatory School also strictly followed the principle of not interfering in the students’ private lives. Over time, they could only adopt an attitude of turning a blind eye.
An omega ran over to Xu Ze and said something to him. Xu Ze only lowered his head to look, then shook his head.
Anyone could guess with their knees that he was definitely saying “It’s fine” again.
Chi Jia-Han climbed out of the pool and walked over. He pushed Xu Ze toward the chairs, made him sit down, then took some iodine swabs from the public first-aid kit nearby and helped disinfect his wounds.
Xu Ze barely resisted the entire time. He only said, “It’s already healed. It won’t get infected.”
Chi Jia-Han was practically exasperated enough to laugh. “It won’t get infected, but those omegas will worry about you.”
Xu Ze had always been incredibly slow when it came to things like this—or perhaps he had simply never paid attention.
He frowned. “What?”
“Nothing. Don’t get back in the water later. I’ll practice by myself. Go home early and get some rest.”
“You’ll be kept after class.” Xu Ze knew Chi Jia-Han’s swimming ability very well.
Chi Jia-Han choked for a moment before saying, “I’ve improved recently. I can finish the training on time.”
“It’s fine. Let’s go.” Xu Ze casually pulled out a piece of gauze and pressed it against his wound. He stood up. “I’ll watch you from the side of the pool.”
When they returned to the poolside, the atmosphere seemed somewhat different.
Chi Jia-Han looked ahead and saw an alpha who had been half a class period late standing beside the neighboring pool, surrounded by quite a few omegas.
The PE teacher was holding a stopwatch and blew the whistle. The alpha entered the water decisively—Chi Jia-Han suspected that just the distance from where he entered the water would be enough for him to swim several seconds.
“He Wei, S-level, transferred here last week. Today is his first day attending class.” Chi Jia-Han said, “He’s very close with Lu He-Yang.”
Lu He-Yang’s background had always been a mystery, and very few people knew about it. He Wei, meanwhile, was a completely unfamiliar face who had transferred in only half a day ago. Before coming to the Preparatory School, there hadn’t been any information about him leaked at all.
The two of them walking together was somewhat intriguing. At the Preparatory School, people whose personal information could be kept completely confidential, without anyone being able to investigate even the slightest detail, were usually worth thinking deeply about.
In Chi Jia-Han’s view, even if the entire school was guessing, Xu Ze would not be one of them.
He seemed to exist outside everyone else, completely indifferent to everything—quiet and taciturn, neither socializing nor entertaining himself. No one knew what he cared about, what he liked, or what desires he had.
If the face on his head were a little more ordinary, he would completely be just another nameless student swallowed up by the school.
Still, Chi Jia-Han felt that as a friend, he had a duty to give Xu Ze a little bit of basic knowledge about interpersonal relationships.
Even though Xu Ze would absolutely never take the initiative to cause trouble, at the Preparatory School, knowing a little more could never hurt.
Xu Ze looked at the swimming pool over there and gave a quiet “Mm,” as usual, offering no opinion.
Chi Jia-Han really had improved. He completed today’s training requirements five minutes before class ended.
Meanwhile, He Wei finished all of his training tasks within fifteen minutes.
Back in the changing room, He Wei took a shower. When he came out, Lu He-Yang was sitting on a chair in front of the lockers, looking at his phone.
Hearing footsteps, he raised his head.
“Done?”
“Done. Thanks for coming all the way here to wait for me, Young Master Lu. Let’s go eat.”
The two of them walked out along the long corridor between the changing rooms and the showers.
When they passed the entrance to Changing Room No. 4, an alpha suddenly walked out from inside.
He was wearing a black T-shirt that had been washed so many times that it was slightly frayed and faded. His hair was half wet, and droplets of water at the ends of his hair rolled down his pale neck and disappeared into his collar.
Xu Ze lowered his head as he stood at the entrance of the changing room, fastening his bracelet while making way for the two alphas who were walking out.
Unexpectedly, the two of them didn’t walk past him.
Xu Ze heard someone call his name, and it was the kind of pronunciation where each syllable was deliberately drawn out.
“Xu—Ze.”
The tone sounded like someone had come specifically to corner him.
Xu Ze expressionlessly raised his head and looked over coldly, but he froze the instant he saw them.
He Wei was smiling at him with the corner of his mouth curled up.
“The teacher told me that your training score today was the best among all the alphas. Do you normally like swimming?”
Clearly, He Wei was the one asking him the question, but Xu Ze’s gaze landed on Lu He-Yang’s face first.
When he met that unfamiliar yet calm gaze, Xu Ze’s fingers unconsciously curled, and the bracelet slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
“I don’t like it.”
Xu Ze came back to himself, bent down to pick up the bracelet, and answered quietly.
“Then that means you’re naturally talented. Next week’s swimming class happens to be the midterm exam. Want to have a race?”
Xu Ze continued fastening his bracelet, but for some reason, he couldn’t seem to fasten it properly.
In the end, he simply gave up. His hand dropped to his side.
“Our class’s swimming lesson is being moved to Tuesday from now on.”
“Tuesday?” He Wei thought for a second, then turned his head to ask Lu He-Yang, “Your Class One’s swimming class is on Tuesday, isn’t it?”
“Mm.” Lu He-Yang answered.
“Then that’s a coincidence. You two can have a race.”
He Wei seemed like the kind of person who would die of boredom if he didn’t stir up some trouble.
Lu He-Yang didn’t respond, looking like he didn’t really care. He glanced at his phone. “Gu Yun-Chi said he’s here. He’s telling us to hurry over.”
“Tsk. When is his patience ever going to get better? Let’s go, let’s go.” He Wei put an arm around Lu He-Yang’s shoulder and walked forward. As they passed Xu Ze, he casually said, “Get a new bracelet. It’s too old. That’s why it’s so hard to fasten.”
Xu Ze lowered his head slightly and didn’t answer. After they left, he picked up the bracelet again.
The corridor was dimly lit. Xu Ze spent a full half-minute putting it on before finally fastening the bracelet. He slung his backpack over his left shoulder and walked out. A drop of water slid down from his bangs into his right eye, and half of his vision immediately blurred. Xu Ze raised a hand and wiped his eye.
For some reason, he felt a little frustrated.
“What are you trying to do?” Lu He-Yang suddenly asked on the way to the parking lot.
He Wei played dumb. “What do you mean, what am I trying to do?”
Lu He-Yang glanced at him.
“You mean Xu Ze?” He Wei smiled. “I didn’t do anything. What’s wrong with chatting with him for a couple of sentences?”
“Why did you bring up replacing the bracelet?”
“I really didn’t mean anything by it. I just mentioned it casually. I didn’t think that much about it.” He Wei twirled his car keys. “My younger female cousin used to be in the middle school division of the Preparatory School. She transferred out last year. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“That kid came crying to me in ninth grade, saying she’d confessed to a senior and been rejected. I only remembered today after hearing Xu Ze’s name. He’s that senior.” As he spoke, He Wei got into the driver’s seat. “So I was curious.”
“Don’t be so bored next time,” Lu He-Yang said.
One of He Wei’s strengths was that he was full of curiosity. His weakness was that he never used that curiosity where he was supposed to.
“We’re both alphas. Don’t make it sound like I bullied him.” He Wei started the car. “He’s an S-level, after all.”
Lu He-Yang said calmly, “I’m worried you’ll cause trouble.”
“How could I? I’m the most well-behaved person there is.” He Wei shamelessly boasted. “But you—I feel like Xu Ze is really afraid of you. You only looked at him once, and he dropped his bracelet on the floor.”
After saying that, he even asked Lu He-Yang, “Did you notice?”
Lu He-Yang took off his bracelet, hooked it around his finger, and weighed it in his hand as he answered, “Didn’t notice.”