What kind of twisted logic was that? Could zero percent really be used that way?
“What do you need help with?” Xiao Yan’s voice carried a hint of weariness. He pushed open the door with his eyes half-closed and leaned against the doorframe. When he saw Luo Zhiyu, he was startled at first, but after noticing the measuring tape in Luo Zhiyu’s hand, he immediately understood. He raised his chin toward Luo Zhiyu.
“What did I tell you? We’d be seeing each other all the time, right?”
The outstanding sophomore student representative Xiao, whom Luo Zhiyu had seen that very morning, was standing crookedly in front of him with his school uniform draped carelessly over his shoulders. He looked as if he had just woken up.
Luo Zhiyu: “…”
“Don’t start fighting, don’t start fighting. There’s no one else around for the moment.” Fan Yue had no particular talent besides smoothing things over. “You two can just make do.”
“Forget it. I’ll measure myself.” Luo Zhiyu turned to leave, but the other end of the measuring tape was suddenly yanked back.
“Come back.” Xiao Yan tugged the tape toward himself. “I’ll measure you. It’s legitimate student council work, with no personal feelings involved.”
Xiao Yan: “Don’t get mad.”
Jing Ximing was still waiting for lunch back at the dormitory, and Luo Zhiyu wanted to get back early. Since Xiao Yan had already said there would be no personal feelings involved, Luo Zhiyu was quick-tempered, but he wasn’t petty.
“You’re both high school students now. Talk things out properly. Whatever you do, don’t fight.” Fan Yue reminded them again.
The five male alpha students from the student council took their cups of instant noodles into the inner room, leaving only the two of them behind.
“Luo Zhiyu, are you going through military training tomorrow?” Xiao Yan gestured for him to raise his arms and, over the school uniform, wrapped the measuring tape around his waist. “Have you recovered after your differentiation that day?”
Luo Zhiyu gave an unhappy hum in response. His predicted second sex had been omega since birth, so differentiation had felt more like catching a cold to him: he had run a fever, gone to the hospital for the usual procedures, and that was about it. He had yet to experience any noticeable physical changes.
His waist was somewhat sensitive, and being touched there made him ticklish. While Xiao Yan measured his waist, Luo Zhiyu kept his lips pressed together and refused to say a word.
This was the first time the two of them had been this close without getting into a fight.
“Do you want to take off your school uniform?” Xiao Yan asked.
“Huh?” Luo Zhiyu froze.
“It’ll be more accurate this way.” Xiao Yan entered a number into his laptop. “There might be some error if we measure over the uniform. Then it might not fit properly.”
This was legitimate work, so Luo Zhiyu cooperated. He pulled down the zipper and removed his uniform jacket, folded the first-year jacket into a neat square, and placed it on the nearby table. He was left wearing the white autumn sports shirt standardized by No. 1 High School.
The rectangular metal nameplate beneath his collar displayed Luo Zhiyu’s name and class. Xiao Yan’s gaze paused for a moment on the number 3. Last year, he had also been in Class 3 of Grade 10, and aside from the name, he had owned an identical uniform.
“Hurry up,” Luo Zhiyu urged. “I have something else to do later.”
Xiao Yan acknowledged him and gestured for him to raise his arms again. Luo Zhiyu did so. The measuring tape pressed snugly against him as it went around his body, meeting in front of him. Xiao Yan tightened it slightly, both hands stopping over Luo Zhiyu’s chest.
“Student Luo Zhiyu, you don’t need to hold your breath. Just relax naturally.”
“Oh…” Luo Zhiyu had been holding his breath for quite a while. Only then did his chest begin to rise and fall again.
Xiao Yan’s uniform sleeves had ridden up slightly from the movement. When Luo Zhiyu lowered his head, he happened to see a small scar on Xiao Yan’s right wrist. It was faint in color, like a barely visible peach blossom petal.
Luo Zhiyu had bitten that scar into him when they first met at the age of three.
From then on, the two of them had been enemies. Every time Xiao Yan saw him, he would inevitably provoke him first, while every time they actually came to blows, Luo Zhiyu was always the one to make the first move.
A memory from when he was three was too distant for Luo Zhiyu to recall clearly. He had never expected the scar to remain for so many years.
No wonder Xiao Yan held a grudge.
Xiao Yan pulled the measuring tape away. Noticing Luo Zhiyu’s gaze, he lowered his head and glanced at his own wrist.
“Remember?”
“Do your damn job.” Luo Zhiyu snapped. “Why do you keep asking questions? You sure have a lot of crap to say.”
“Okay, okay, okay.” As expected of Luo Zhiyu—he was set off at the slightest provocation. Xiao Yan gave in. “Turn around.”
Luo Zhiyu turned around, presenting his back to Xiao Yan. The slightly cool measuring tape touched his neck, gradually conforming to the skin around his throat.
The collar measurement was not even finished when Xiao Yan’s hands stopped.
“Should I close my eyes?”
The gland at the back of Luo Zhiyu’s neck was covered by a pheromone-blocking patch, which concealed the earlier sweet peach fragrance completely. Perhaps he thought the plain white patch looked too boring, because he had drawn a panda head on it.
“Why would you close your eyes? What’s the point of measuring with your eyes closed?” Luo Zhiyu scolded him. “Isn’t the panda head I drew cute?”
Xiao Yan did not know how to explain it to him. Luo Zhiyu’s parents were busy with work and were away from home for long periods. His older sister and older brother were both alphas, leaving Luo Zhiyu as the only omega in the family. Having just differentiated, he had not yet taken the high school biology class covering second-sex physiology. Apparently, he did not know that an alpha staring at an omega’s neck was an extremely impolite thing to do.
“Hurry up,” Luo Zhiyu said impatiently. If they kept dawdling, the cafeteria would run out of food.
Zero percent, Xiao Yan repeated silently to himself. He wrapped the measuring tape around Luo Zhiyu’s neck, tightening it slightly, then left a one-finger-wide gap around the gland at the back of Luo Zhiyu’s neck. After that, he released the tape and recorded all the measurements.
“Go on, go on.” Xiao Yan sat down in front of the computer to submit the data and waved him away. “Leave your dormitory number. Someone will probably deliver it to you tonight.”
Luo Zhiyu had already darted away with his uniform in his arms.
Fan Yue walked in holding his cup of instant noodles and discovered that only Xiao Yan remained in the room.
“That fast?” Fan Yue gave him two thumbs-up. “Zero percent really is absolutely safe.”
Luo Zhiyu’s dormitory was on the first floor. It was a double room with a small balcony. When he opened the door, Jing Ximing was injecting himself with an inhibitor.
The air conditioner had been set to a very low temperature. Luo Zhiyu handed the lunchbox to Jing Ximing, then comfortably sprawled out on his own bed.
“Being an omega is great.” Jing Ximing picked up the lunchbox. “My heat coincided with the start of the school year, so I don’t even have to do military training.”
“Yeah, it really is great.” Luo Zhiyu agreed wholeheartedly. “Only we get double rooms. They all have four-person rooms.”
In present-day society, omegas made up only 15.3 percent of the total population. They were few in number and highly valued, so it was only natural that omegas received better treatment at school than alphas and betas.
The two students, whose sense of identity was at a perfect score, each picked up their lunchboxes, took a mouthful of food, put it into their mouths, and chewed twice.
Their smiles gradually disappeared.
Luo Zhiyu: “…”
Luo Zhiyu: “This is awful.”
Jing Ximing: “You’re right.”
Jing Ximing: “Then we’re screwed. This is the best food No. 1 High School has to offer? This?”
Luo Zhiyu was stunned too. He had rushed across half the campus in such a hurry just to buy this?
“Wait a second.” Luo Zhiyu opened WeChat and pulled up the outstanding sophomore student representative.
[Not Cicada]: Fairy Frowning.jpg
Outstanding Sophomore Student Representative: Fairy Frowning.jpg
Outstanding Sophomore Student Representative: You ran away so fast. Give me your dormitory number.
[Not Cicada]: Building 3, Room 101.
Outstanding Sophomore Student Representative: Okay, got it.
[Not Cicada]: Get your ass back here. Who said you could leave?
The other person is typing…
The other person is typing…
[Not Cicada]: [Image] Banana Stewed with Strawberries, Mango Stir-Fried with Shrimp, Cheese-Baked Cucumbers? Fairy Frowning.jpg
[Not Cicada]: Is “pfft” all you have to say? What the hell were those things you recommended to me?!
Outstanding Sophomore Student Representative: I honestly didn’t think you’d actually go buy them. Sweating.jpg
[Not Cicada]: You’re dead. I’m not letting this go.
“What happened?” From Jing Ximing’s angle, he could see Luo Zhiyu’s smile gradually becoming more sinister.
“I’m arguing with a bastard.” Luo Zhiyu put down his phone and gave up on the culinary monstrosity in the lunchbox.
Xiao Yan stopped replying to his messages. Luo Zhiyu didn’t need to think to know that the man was definitely laughing at his misfortune. Fortunately, the two of them had plenty of snacks stocked in the dormitory, so they wouldn’t have to go hungry.
Jing Ximing had been looking listless these past few days. After eating, he lay down to rest. Luo Zhiyu quietly opened his drawing-board bag, set up his drawing board in the dormitory, and spent the entire afternoon sitting there.
Toward evening, the screen of Luo Zhiyu’s phone on the desk lit up.
Outstanding Sophomore Student Representative: Come out and pick up the takeout.
[Not Cicada]: ? I didn’t order takeout.
Even so, he stood up, raised a hand to wipe away the watercolor paint he had accidentally gotten on his cheek, picked up his keys, and went outside.
Outside the dormitory area of Building 3, Xiao Yan stood against the wall with the sunlight behind him. He was carrying several bags in his hands.
“Take your clothes.” Xiao Yan handed one of the bags to Luo Zhiyu. “We sophomores are busy studying. No one’s eager to deliver them to you.”
“Thank you, Student Xiao.” Luo Zhiyu thanked him without a trace of emotion, turned to leave, and was stopped again by Xiao Yan.
“This is for you too.” Xiao Yan handed him another bag. Inside were neatly packed dishes.
“As for the cafeteria incident, count it as my fault.”
Luo Zhiyu accepted the bag suspiciously. The aroma of food hooked him in, and, especially shamefully, he failed to come up with an insult.
“We’ve been fighting for so many years. I’m tired too.” Luo Zhiyu found himself an excuse to back down. “How about we leave it at this? Ceasefire. From now on, we’re just ordinary classmates.”
Xiao Yan had apparently not expected him to come to his senses. He paused for a moment, seeming almost disappointed, then smiled and turned to leave.
“We’ll see.”
He was still carrying a huge transparent plastic bag containing an entire watermelon and numerous cans of soda.
“Hope you choke on it.” Luo Zhiyu mentally spat at Xiao Yan’s retreating back. Fine, no ceasefire then. They were at the same school now, and he refused to believe Xiao Yan could come up with anything else to torment him with.
It was not until the following afternoon that he realized what the things in Xiao Yan’s bag were for.
Under the blazing sun, the first-year students participating in military training stood in neat formations, shouting loud slogans. The class bell rang from the teaching building in the distance.
Luo Zhiyu watched helplessly as a familiar figure strolled all the way from the other end of the field to stand motionless in front of the formation belonging to Class 3 of Grade 10.
Luo Zhiyu: “…”
Carrying yesterday’s bag, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on the grass, rested his chin in his hand, and stared at him without moving.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Luo Zhiyu mouthed silently.
“Middle of the first row, add five minutes to your military posture training.” The instructor immediately noticed the commotion.
Luo Zhiyu: “…”
Fuck, did this guy really have that much free time? He had actually come all the way here just to provoke him.
The temperature in early autumn was high, and the military training uniform was not breathable. Sweat covered Luo Zhiyu’s cheeks. He was hot, thirsty, and unable to move. He bit the tip of his tongue, trying to shift his attention away from the sensations of heat and thirst.
Unhurriedly, Xiao Yan took a chilled can of soda from the bag and waved it in front of Luo Zhiyu. The corners of his mouth curved upward as his slender fingers hooked around the tab.
With a hiss, he popped the can open.
The cheerful little bubbles of orange soda leaped into the air.
Luo Zhiyu felt that he was probably not far from losing his mind.