Wherever Luo Zhiyu went, even the parrot picked up a gangster-like air. Xiao Yan had no choice but to spend the rest of his vacation turning the streetwise parrot back into a cultured parrot with a high-school diploma.
On the third day after returning to school, Xiao Yan blocked Luo Zhiyu at the door of Class 3, Grade 10, as he arrived for class.
Using his heat as an excuse, Luo Zhiyu had taken two days off to rest in the dormitory. He thought he had successfully avoided the peak of Xiao Yan’s anger and swaggered toward the classroom with his schoolbag slung over his shoulder, never expecting Xiao Yan to be waiting right at the door.
“Did I catch you?” Xiao Yan stood in front of him. “Come over here and confess your crimes.”
“Move, move.” Luo Zhiyu pushed away the hand blocking him. “The statute of limitations has expired. I’m not admitting to anything anymore.”
Someone was far too good at talking nonsense. Less than a week after saying something, he had already forgotten it.
“You still have the nerve to say that. Do you know how much time I spent cleaning up after you?” Luo Zhiyu was wearing a light-gray scarf over his school uniform, which happened to cover the gland at the back of his neck.
Apart from the two of them, no one knew what exactly had happened in the lounge at the banquet that day.
“Let’s go. We’re on duty this week.” Xiao Yan reached out, grabbed the end of Luo Zhiyu’s scarf, and led him away.
“We still have duty?” The end of the scarf was held in Xiao Yan’s hand, so the scarf wrapped around Luo Zhiyu’s neck tightened slightly, brushing against the gland at the back of his neck. Because the temporary mark was still there, the place where he had been bitten gave off a faint warmth. Luo Zhiyu unconsciously quickened his pace.
“Final exams are next week. Let me study, Brother.”
Even though he said that, during those two days of resting in the dormitory, he hadn’t been able to cause Xiao Yan any trouble, and life had actually felt rather boring.
Before, the two of them hadn’t attended the same school. They would only occasionally run into each other on the road and fool around together, yet Luo Zhiyu had never felt that life was boring.
But now, some things were simply different.
“Objection overruled.” Xiao Yan rejected Luo Zhiyu’s request. “Come over here and explain what you did to my parrot.”
They ran into Fan Yue and Tangyuan coming toward them upstairs.
“We finished our duty. You two just need to organize the materials that have piled up recently,” Fan Yue said.
“Give me the keys.” Xiao Yan patted Fan Yue on the shoulder. “We’re going to the Student Affairs Office.”
“You two…” Fan Yue hesitated. “Last week… that thing…”
Tangyuan, however, enthusiastically greeted Luo Zhiyu first.
“You finally came! While you were gone these past two days, Brother Yan was completely listless. Whenever he had nothing to do, he’d wander around outside your classroom.”
Luo Zhiyu: “…”
No wonder the class monitor had been messaging him every day saying someone was looking for him!
“Let’s go.” Xiao Yan took the keys from Fan Yue. Without letting Tangyuan say anything else, he led Luo Zhiyu toward the office. “Come work for me. Don’t even think about running.”
Luo Zhiyu had joined the Student Union in the first place just to earn credits. He simply hadn’t expected that, besides the work for the Arts Department, the Student Union would assign him so many other tasks.
Especially recently, aside from attending classes, he spent all his other time with Xiao Yan. If all these tasks hadn’t been clearly written out on the schedule, he would have thought Xiao Yan was sneaking in extra work just to bully him.
Morning self-study had already begun. The corridor was filled with the sound of students reading from their books, and the teachers were all in their respective classrooms. On their way to the Student Affairs Office, the two of them didn’t run into anyone else.
“Xiao Yan,” Luo Zhiyu called.
“You have to call me Brother.” Xiao Yan didn’t turn around, bluntly expressing his dissatisfaction. “I’m older than you, you know?”
“Why do you suddenly have so many demands? You never complained when I called you a bastard or an idiot before. What’s wrong with calling you by your name?”
Xiao Yan stopped at the office door and took out the key. Luo Zhiyu stepped on his heel.
“You’re getting more and more troublesome. Aren’t you, Brother?”
For some reason, these past few days Luo Zhiyu had begun to feel that the temporary mark was a rather magical thing.
Its existence seemed to tear away the layer of righteous-looking orange peel covering Xiao Yan, exposing the false appearance of so-called “unity and friendship” and revealing the slightly nasty little nature of an alpha—domineering and forceful, a little annoying, but not unpleasant.
Brother Yan had always been a little obnoxious, but he had never bullied him like this before.
And now, something that had always existed between them had been broken. Luo Zhiyu felt it wasn’t entirely because of the temporary mark.
In any case, Xiao Yan no longer let him have his way.
“When did you ever call me that? I’ve never heard it.”
The office curtains were drawn, leaving the room dim even during the day. Xiao Yan didn’t turn on the lights. Instead, he applied a little force and pulled Luo Zhiyu into the room by his scarf, then locked the office door.
“It’s still a while before morning self-study ends. Come on, explain yourself. What else have you called me?”
“I…”
The alpha’s orange-scented pheromones quietly pressed toward Luo Zhiyu. Luo Zhiyu opened his mouth to stall for time, but his eyes had already drifted toward the broom leaning against the wall beside his feet.
“You wish.”
Xiao Yan was especially alert when it came to brooms. Before Luo Zhiyu could make his next move, he kicked the broom away from the wall, eliminating his weapon at the source. Then he gave the end of the scarf a slight tug with his right hand, forcing Luo Zhiyu to look up at him.
Luo Zhiyu had gotten into plenty of fights in middle school. The title of the “Little Tyrant of No. 19 Middle School” hadn’t been given to him for nothing.
But against Xiao Yan, he was still a little lacking.
Pinned against the wall, without a broom in hand, he lost his confidence. His eyes began darting around, and in the end, he simply confessed all the insulting nicknames he had ever given Xiao Yan.
“Stinky Orange, that idiot Xiao Yan, that bastard from Grade 11, that turtle bastard from the street next door…”
The alpha pheromones were making him uncomfortable, and Luo Zhiyu’s voice grew softer and less confident.
“The troublemaker I ran into at the school gate, that fighting rooster who’s a year older than me but I don’t even know which school he goes to… that guy from the senior class, that piece of trash…”
“…You started insulting me back in kindergarten?”
The temporary mark had already ended. After not seeing Luo Zhiyu for several days, Xiao Yan had finally gotten the chance today to use pheromones to bully him a little.
He hadn’t expected to be able to pry out so many things, either.
If he picked Luo Zhiyu up and shook him a little, perhaps there would be even more “surprises.”
Luo Zhiyu had already been forced into the corner by the door with nowhere left to retreat, so he was particularly good at reading the situation and immediately hid all of his gangster-like attitude.
He had always been clever. It had been the same since military training. He knew how to make use of his omega identity to gain more sympathy.
But that trick didn’t work on Xiao Yan.
When he pretended to be pitiful, his eyes became slightly red, holding a faint glimmer of tears. Seeing Luo Zhiyu like that only made Xiao Yan want to make him look even prettier.
“That’s all. Really, that’s all.”
The temporary mark was still there. Whenever Xiao Yan made his pheromones slightly more forceful, Luo Zhiyu’s legs went weak and he lost some strength. He raised his hands in surrender.
“Tone down your Orange. I’m uncomfortable.”
With the ridiculous compatibility between the two of them, Xiao Yan’s pheromones could already suppress him to this extent.
What if it were another alpha?
Luo Zhiyu didn’t want another alpha.
In the end, Xiao Yan couldn’t resist Luo Zhiyu’s pleading expression. He immediately reined in his pheromones completely.
Freed from his pressure, Luo Zhiyu didn’t even have time to catch his breath before bending down, grabbing the broom from the floor, and swinging it at Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan’s experience dodging brooms was already maxed out. The instant before Luo Zhiyu raised the broom, he had already slipped away.
Luo Zhiyu swung at empty air.
“You’ve really gotten bold.”
With a click, Luo Zhiyu turned on the lights.
“Stinky Orange, you’ve learned how to bully people now, huh?”
“Come over and sit properly,” Xiao Yan said. “There are so many files to organize. What are you doing?”
“Your double standards are painfully obvious.”
Luo Zhiyu tossed the broom aside, extremely dissatisfied.
“How come you weren’t in such a hurry just now when you had me pinned against the door interrogating me?”
“You’re nowhere near as double-standard as I am.”
Xiao Yan sorted the physical examination documents for the Grade 12 students.
“I haven’t even learned half the essence of your double standards.”
“Talking nonsense. I’m not.”
Luo Zhiyu walked over to him and picked up a form.
The medical examination form had ID photos of the Grade 12 students on it. In a few months, these students would leave No. 1 High School, take the college entrance examination, and go searching for their own futures.
Luo Zhiyu himself had never had a particularly clear idea of what the college entrance examination meant to him.
Whether it was competing over grades or competing for evaluation points, it all seemed to be the result of his surroundings. There had always been someone pushing him forward.
What kind of person he would eventually become, he wasn’t really sure.
It was just that, along this path, he had happened to discover someone who was just like him—someone who also liked breaking the rules and doing things his own way.
And for some inexplicable reason, that had made him look forward to this road just a little.
Come to think of it, at this time next year, Xiao Yan would also be a Grade 12 student.
Once Xiao Yan graduated and entered university, there probably wouldn’t be anyone left at No. 1 High School to fool around and bicker with him.
Then wouldn’t that—
be rather lonely?
Luo Zhiyu was startled by his own thought.
Xiao Yan hadn’t been part of his life before. So how could he suddenly feel lonely without him?
“Zhiyu.”
Xiao Yan was calling him.
“I almost forgot. When you called me in the hallway just now, what did you want to say?”
The two of them had been fooling around and bickering all the way into the office, and both of them had completely forgotten what Luo Zhiyu had originally wanted to ask.
“Oh, nothing.”
Luo Zhiyu remembered.
“I just wanted to ask when your heat is.”
“I don’t have a heat.”
Xiao Yan tapped him on the head with his pen.
“How many times have I told you? Alphas have ruts. Why can’t you ever remember?”
Luo Zhiyu genuinely couldn’t remember.
After all, deep down, he felt there wasn’t much difference between the two. Either way, the person going through it would feel equally miserable.
“So, are you getting close?” Luo Zhiyu asked.
“We differentiated on the same day. Theoretically, this time should be about the same for both of us. Just a friendly reminder—be prepared. It really isn’t comfortable.”
“Got it, got it. The doctor previously estimated it would be before the New Year.”
Xiao Yan didn’t know how to explain the issue of an alpha’s rut to him, so he could only brush it off for now.
“It’s rare to see you being this concerned. I’ll just give myself an injection. Unlike certain people who need someone else to give them one.”
As long as an omega with an extremely high compatibility wasn’t nearby, an alpha only needed to make sure to keep away from crowds during a rut. It wasn’t like Luo Zhiyu’s earlier heat, when even after getting the injection, he had still needed a temporary mark.
This little gangster sure does care about everything.
“Fine. Look down on me, why don’t you.”
Luo Zhiyu sat on the desk and rubbed the back of his neck. The gland that had been pressed by the scarf was faintly aching.
“I was thinking of helping you out, but I guess there really isn’t anything I can do.”
“It’s just a normal physiological stage. It’s not that difficult. Don’t be so nervous.”
Xiao Yan noticed his movement. He put down the documents in his hands, walked over, and loosened Luo Zhiyu’s scarf.
“Zhiyu, did I hurt you just now?”
“I’m fine. The scarf rubbed against it on its own.”
Luo Zhiyu lowered his head.
“I’m not that fragile. Otherwise, who’s going to mess around with me in the future?”
“That’s not right, either.”
Before Xiao Yan could speak, Luo Zhiyu realized on his own what Xiao Yan had always been emphasizing.
“It’s only you. If another alpha treated me like this, I’d beat him up. With me, you’re the exception.”
“You’re the same for me.”
An exception worth moving forward for without hesitation.