Chapter 21
Gu Yang stood by the door, looking at Lin Xiaoran. His mouth moved slightly, but he ultimately swallowed back the words “I don’t want to talk right now” that were on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he followed Lin Xiaoran into the room, closed the door behind him, and sat down on the bed. He smiled at Lin Xiaoran and asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
His room was laid out exactly like Lin Xiaoran’s, with the only difference being the color scheme of the decor. Lin Xiaoran’s side was predominantly white, while his side was predominantly blue. But both rooms were minimally furnished, with just a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf. Next to the bookshelf was a spacious bay window.
Gu Yang had spread a soft blanket on the window sill because sometimes Bai Tang would sleep there.
At this moment, Lin Xiaoran seemed quite familiar, casually sitting down with his legs curled up on the window sill, leaning against it, and turning his face to look at him. His clear eyes blinked, and he said, “I feel like you want to talk.”
Lin Xiaoran seemed to really like white. At home, he always wore soft white cotton loungewear, and his hair looked soft too. Now, he lazily nestled on a fluffy sky-blue blanket, looking soft and beautiful.
Every time this happened, Gu Yang couldn’t help but think that this guy was truly an Omega, and a remarkably beautiful one at that.
Gu Yang couldn’t help but gaze at his face for a moment, then chuckled, “Clearly, it’s you who wants to talk, so why push it onto me?”
“Hmm?” Lin Xiaoran, who had been awakened from sleep, was a bit lazy at the moment, even less inclined to talk than usual. He tilted his head, propping it on his arm, and looked at Gu Yang with a hint of confusion in his voice, as if asking: Do I really not want to talk?
Finally, Gu Yang’s amber eyes moved away from his face and looked out the window, which was pitch black with nothing to see.
He wondered, how thick were Lin Xiaoran’s nerves? As an Omega, why did he come to his room in the middle of the night wearing pajamas? What was he thinking?
But then again, he could have refused, couldn’t he?
He wasn’t in a good mood to begin with and didn’t want to talk much, yet he inexplicably let Lin Xiaoran in.
Was his subconscious really yearning for conversation?
He remained silent, and naturally, Lin Xiaoran didn’t initiate the conversation either, just watching him with his head tilted.
The room fell into silence, one looking out the window, the other looking at the person.
After a while, Gu Yang withdrew his gaze, chuckled, and lowered his head to rub his nose. He felt stupid, realizing he was competing with Lin Xiaoran to see who could stay silent longer. No one could outdo Lin Xiaoran in that department, right?
“Well, I’ll talk. But there’s not much to say. You’ve been living here for a while now and know that my relationship with him isn’t great. He might be repressed, so he vents from time to time, like he did just now.”
Gu Yang spoke with the same expression and tone as usual, with a habitual smile, seemingly unaffected by Gu Xiuyuan.
But was he really unaffected?
“And you?” Lin Xiaoran looked at him, his foggy eyes suddenly becoming clear, staring at Gu Yang without blinking.
Gu Yang was surprised by this question for a second, then smiled, “Me? It doesn’t matter to me, really. I don’t care about his attitude.”
“Really? You don’t care?” Lin Xiaoran asked.
Gu Yang shrugged.
“I think you do care. Otherwise, why would you deliberately try to outdo him with childish antics like deliberately ranking last?” Lin Xiaoran looked at him, sounding very sure of himself.
Gu Yang: “…”
He stared at Lin Xiaoran, somewhat taken aback.
“I looked at your test paper. Many of the questions were similar to ones we’ve done before, but you left them blank.”
Seeing Gu Yang’s test paper during the day, Lin Xiaoran understood.
Before, he hadn’t had much contact with Gu Yang and didn’t know about his academic performance. But recently, Gu Yang had been diligently completing assignments every day and then handing them over to Lin Xiaoran for inspection.
He understood which questions Gu Yang had studied and understood thoroughly just by looking at the test paper.
So when he got the test paper, he saw through it.
As for whether Gu Yang did it intentionally, he couldn’t be sure, but this time it was definitely intentional.
“Heh…” Gu Yang was surprised for a second, then smiled, “You didn’t tell me you were going to check the test papers too. I left them blank because I found it troublesome. Actually, I answered all of them. At most, I would have become second to last. What’s the difference between that and being last?”
As for Lin Xiaoran’s accusation that he was trying to provoke Gu Xiuyuan with these methods, he completely ignored it.
Lin Xiaoran didn’t pursue the matter further. After all, everyone may have secrets they can’t easily speak out about, so there was no need to force it.
In fact, he felt he had been a bit meddlesome today. Perhaps it was because he still felt a bit resentful that he hadn’t been able to surpass Gu Yang when he was at his best.
Jumping off the window sill, he seemed to have forgotten about the previous topic and threw out a statement, “From now on, I’ll check the test papers too.”
“Huh?” The curve of Gu Yang’s lips froze. “Do you have to do that?”
“I never said that the homework I assign every day is just the few sheets of paper given by the teacher. Starting today, not only do you have to take the tests seriously, but you also can’t skip class.”
“Huh? This…” Gu Yang’s lips twitched. He never expected Lin Xiaoran to suddenly come up with this.
This way, wouldn’t he lose all his freedom?
Wasn’t that a bit too much?
“Of course, if you can’t do it, you can admit defeat.” Lin Xiaoran had reached the door and turned back to cut off the negotiation that was on the tip of Gu Yang’s tongue. He raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a smile that was not quite a smile.
Admit defeat? Fine!
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but Gu Yang swallowed them back.
There was no way he could say it, looking at Lin Xiaoran’s smug appearance, admitting defeat was simply unspeakable.
Instead, he blurted out, “What are you thinking? I’m still waiting for you to admit defeat.”
The corners of Lin Xiaoran’s pink lips curved slightly, and he lightly tossed out two words, “Dream on.” With that, he closed the door and left.
Staring at the closed door, Gu Yang shook his head with a wry smile, feeling that his brain was not working properly. Why did he have to compete with Lin Xiaoran? It would be better to just admit defeat and have the freedom to skip class and not do homework in the future, wouldn’t it?
But…
He lay flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling, his distinct palm gently pressing against his left chest.
It didn’t feel as uncomfortable as before.
Lin Xiaoran came over specifically because he sensed that Gu Yang was not in a good mood at the moment.
Gu Yang rolled over and lay on his side, propping his head up with his arm, and the curve of his lips turned up a few degrees.
He really didn’t expect Lin Xiaoran to have such a caring side. He always thought that guy was dull in everything except academics.
Thinking of Lin Xiaoran leaning drowsily on the window sill and looking at him just now, something inexplicable stirred in Gu Yang’s heart, not painful, but rather itchy.
After a while, he finally got up from the bed, pushed Lin Xiaoran out of his mind, and went to take a shower.
However, he was destined not to sleep well that night, as he kept having dreams. In his dreams, Lin Xiaoran held his failing test paper in one hand and a teaching whip in the other, looking at him with a smile that was not quite a smile. Behind him seemed to be a fluffy tail swaying, and two pointed ears popped out from his head, like he had turned into a mischievous fox.
No matter how Gu Yang tried to escape, the fox Lin Xiaoran could always find him and force him to study properly, threatening to whip his palms with the teaching whip.
After enduring until dawn, Gu Yang woke up groggily, feeling dizzy and even more tired than if he hadn’t slept all night.
He turned over, intending to change positions and continue sleeping.
Knock knock knock!
The sound of knocking on the door.
Gu Yang didn’t intend to respond, so he grabbed the blanket and buried his head in it.
The next moment, the door handle turned, and the door was opened.
“Get up.” A clear voice came in.
Gu Yang couldn’t believe it. He peeked out from the blanket, looking at the Omega at the door, his mouth moving, unsure whether to say “What the hell” or “Good morning”.
Seriously, was this guy going to let anyone live?
After running around in his dreams all night, he was now being woken up.
Gu Yang felt like his seventeen years of upbringing were about to go down the drain.
But Lin Xiaoran had no awareness of disturbing someone’s dreams. He woke Gu Yang up and casually threw out a sentence, “If you’re late today, consider it your loss,” then turned and left.
Was it because he had dreamt too much? Gu Yang looked at Lin Xiaoran’s figure, always feeling like there was a fox tail behind him.
And this thought kept lingering in his mind, to the point where during breakfast, he looked at Lin Xiaoran opposite him and always felt like he had two pointed ears on his head and a fluffy tail swaying behind him. It was so distracting that he couldn’t help but stare at him.
Lin Xiaoran was puzzled by his gaze and looked back, asking, “What are you looking at?”
At this moment, Lin Xiaoran’s cheeks were puffed up from eating xiaolongbao, his lips were rosy and shiny from the soup, and yet in Gu Yang’s eyes, he still had a pair of pointed fox ears on his head. The combination made him look like a greedy little fox.
“Hehe…” Gu Yang couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
This attracted Lin Xiaoran’s displeasure, and he shot a cold glare at him.
Gu Yang was about to explain, but Lin Xiaoran had already finished eating, put down his bowl and chopsticks without paying attention to him, got up, hugged Bai Tang, and left, not even bothering to acknowledge him. He took his backpack and left.
Huh?
Gu Yang suddenly remembered something and quickly followed with his bowl and chopsticks.
At the door, he saw Lin Xiaoran getting on his bike. Gu Yang was quick to grab the back seat, smiling, “Can we discuss something? How about I give you a ride?”
Lin Xiaoran put one foot on the ground, turned his head and said, “Not interested.” With that, his cold gaze fell on Gu Yang’s hand holding the back seat, clearly indicating for him to let go!
“Don’t.” Gu Yang didn’t release his grip and even sat on the back seat. “It’s this time already, I’ll definitely be late if I walk to school. Can you give me a ride?”
Lin Xiaoran: “…”
This guy had really thick skin!
He pursed his lips and hesitated whether to just kick Gu Yang off the bike.
“Ah, going to school?” In the midst of his hesitation, Gu Xiuyuan walked out, his face gentle and wearing a polite smile, looking no different from usual.
But his eyes kept glancing at Gu Yang, seeming a bit… guilty.
Did he want to apologize?
Lin Xiaoran couldn’t help but look at Gu Yang.
But Gu Yang had already stood up from the back seat of his bike and walked away without even looking back.
Gu Xiuyuan smiled helplessly, then turned to talk to Lin Xiaoran, “It’s not early, Ruirui, you should go to school soon too.”
Lin Xiaoran nodded and rode away on his bike.
On the secluded path, Gu Yang didn’t walk as casually as usual. He took long strides, and by the time Lin Xiaoran rode out on his bike, he had already walked quite far.
But at this rate, he would still be late.
Lin Xiaoran unconsciously pursed his lips, thinking it was none of his business.
But as he passed by Gu Yang, he still stopped, “Hey, give me a ride.”
Gu Yang was a little surprised. He turned around and looked at him for a second, then smiled and said, his eyes curved, “Sure.”
