Chapter 26
Gu Yang was somewhat surprised, his amber eyes staring at Lin Xiaoran for a while. He lowered his head, rubbed his nose, and smiled somewhat helplessly. “Are you taking advantage of the situation? You know I can’t refuse you now.”
“Gu Yang, do you know that I used to dislike you?” Lin Xiaoran replied, deflecting the question.
Gu Yang: “…”
So straightforward? Although Gu Yang knew that Lin Xiaoran didn’t like him, he didn’t expect the other party to say it out loud voluntarily. A trace of astonishment flickered in his eyes.
Subtly, Lin Xiaoran didn’t miss it. He shrugged and said, “What’s so strange about it? Don’t you dislike me too?”
Uh…
Now Gu Yang was even more unsure of what to say.
Lin Xiaoran spoke so bluntly that even if he was speaking the truth, no one would be like him, saying it directly to someone’s face.
“So what? What do you want to say?” Finding it difficult to continue the conversation, Gu Yang returned to the previous topic, avoiding the awkwardness.
“Do you know why I used to dislike you?” Lin Xiaoran asked.
“Why?” Gu Yang readily went along, deciding not to do anything unnecessary to avoid the topic of why he disliked Lin Xiaoran.
But speaking of it, he was genuinely curious why Lin Xiaoran disliked him.
Instead of answering, Lin Xiaoran walked out of his room and gestured for Gu Yang to follow him. They walked all the way to the room at the end of the corridor.
Opening the door and turning on the light, Gu Yang immediately saw the room adorned with various certificates and awards. There was a storage shelf inside, displaying all kinds of honors, certificates, medals, and trophies that Lin Xiaoran had received from childhood to adulthood.
Gu Yang knew Lin Xiaoran was very talented. Although he used to think of Lin Xiaoran as just a bookish nerd, he had to admit that Lin Xiaoran’s academic achievements were indeed outstanding.
But even so, seeing the room filled with honors, he couldn’t help but feel amazed.
Moreover, he noticed that not all of them were academic achievements; there were also many other things, such as painting, basketball, and even piano.
It was evident that before high school, Lin Xiaoran’s interests were very broad and normal.
After high school…
Probably because of becoming a hidden Omega, he had to minimize his participation in group activities as much as possible, especially intense sports like basketball, which he avoided altogether.
Gu Yang couldn’t help but turn around to look at Lin Xiaoran standing by the door. It must be because of the aftermath of the temporary mark again. He suddenly felt sorry for him.
In his mind, the scene of Lin Xiaoran competing in basketball with Guan Jun suddenly flashed.
Honestly, Lin Xiaoran was really good at that moment!
But afterwards, he had to endure the onslaught of Alpha pheromones, causing his own pheromones to go out of control.
At that time, Gu Yang only felt that Guan Jun, as an Alpha, was too shameless.
Now, looking at the medal Lin Xiaoran won as the MVP of the city’s middle school basketball competition, he suddenly realized that Lin Xiaoran had to give up many things because of becoming an Omega.
Feeling his gaze, Lin Xiaoran looked up and met his beautiful peach blossom eyes.
At this moment, those eyes lacked their usual smile, but instead revealed a faint sense of distress, as if still worrying about him.
Lin Xiaoran’s heart skipped a beat, not knowing exactly what Gu Yang was thinking, but he inexplicably felt a kind of joy.
The next second, he averted his gaze, ignoring the aftermath of the mark, and returned to the topic. “I have participated in many competitions since I was a child, and my mom kept all the awards here. Only one second place award, I kept it myself.”
“Huh?” Gu Yang’s attention was brought back by Lin Xiaoran’s voice. He looked at Lin Xiaoran and asked, “You also got second place?”
“Yeah,” Lin Xiaoran nodded. “In my second year of junior high, the National Junior High School Mathematics Competition, I got second place. The first place that year went to someone named Gu Yang.”
Gu Yang looked into those clear eyes, momentarily stunned. “You were there that year?”
Gu Yang had always been a good student since elementary school, but he didn’t like to participate in competitions. He remembered winning first place, but other than that, he didn’t have much memory.
That year, Lin Xiaoran was there?
He lowered his head, searching his few memories, but found no results.
But…
He looked up at Lin Xiaoran, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but smirk with pride. “So, you hate me because you lost to me?”
I have to say, although this news surprised Gu Yang a bit, he also felt somewhat pleased. After all, being able to surpass Lin Xiaoran in academics was something worth bragging about. Moreover, the fact that the other party had remembered it for several years added to the satisfaction.
Lin Xiaoran barely curled his lips, swallowing back the explanation that was about to come out. He let Gu Yang misunderstand him.
“So let’s have another competition, this time about our college entrance exam scores. Are you up for it?” He leaned against the door, looking at Gu Yang with a clear and serious gaze.
Facing his beautiful yet seemingly determined eyes, Gu Yang almost blurted out “Let’s do it”, but in the end, he restrained himself and laughed, “That’s not fair. I haven’t been putting much effort into…”
“Don’t make excuses. Do you dare or not?”
Lin Xiaoran interrupted him directly, staring at him with his clear eyes, the corner of his mouth carrying a teasing smile. The provocation was too obvious; it was clear that he was deliberately trying to goad Gu Yang.
Gu Yang knew, but knowing didn’t help.
The competitive spirit of youth made him absolutely unable to say soft words.
Raising his eyebrows, he smiled brightly at Lin Xiaoran, and their eyes met. “Let’s do it then!”
In an instant, he saw a beautiful curve appearing on the corner of Lin Xiaoran’s lips, and the teasing smile turned into an extremely beautiful and warm smile, as if he was in a great mood.
Gu Yang couldn’t help but stare at him continuously, but he noticed that the smile came suddenly and disappeared without warning. In just a few seconds, Lin Xiaoran had already returned to normal and said, “So be it then! Don’t go to the internet cafe, go to school tomorrow.”
With that, he turned and walked to the living room, picked up his backpack from the sofa, and turned back to greet Gu Yang, “I’m leaving now.”
“Huh?” He’s leaving just like that? Gu Yang was caught off guard. “What about the dinner you promised?”
Blinking in confusion, Lin Xiaoran suddenly remembered that he did indeed say that earlier.
At the time, he had indeed planned to treat Gu Yang to dinner, but now…
He looked outside and saw that it was already completely dark.
After hesitating for a second, he handed half of the roasted chestnuts he had bought outside the community to Gu Yang. “Take this as compensation.”
“Huh?” Gu Yang looked at the half package of chestnuts handed to him, then at Lin Xiaoran. The other’s clear eyes were serious, indicating that he was not joking.
Gu Yang couldn’t help but feel amused. “Are you being stingy? I treated you to breakfast in the morning, and now you’re trying to compensate me with half a bag of chestnuts?”
Gu Yang didn’t really expect Lin Xiaoran to treat him to anything, but for a moment, he was genuinely amused by Lin Xiaoran’s quirky train of thought.
Seeing him hesitating, Lin Xiaoran took back the half package of chestnuts. “Forget it if you don’t want it. Let’s have dinner another day. It’s already dark, and if we eat now, it’ll be late. Besides, your mark aftermath might act up again, and you’ll have to take me back. Trouble!”
As he spoke, he couldn’t hide the disdain in the corner of his mouth, clearly finding Gu Yang’s mark aftermath troublesome.
Gu Yang: “…”
This is going too far!
“Do you think I want to?” Gu Yang was unhappy. “I’m also innocent, you know? I won’t bite next time!”
Lin Xiaoran remained noncommittal, waved his hand, pushed the door, and left.
It was only when the door closed again, leaving the huge house with only one person, that Gu Yang realized belatedly that their current situation with Lin Xiaoran was also quite strange. He had moved into Lin Xiaoran’s house, while Lin Xiaoran had gone to his house.
Strangely, neither of them felt that it was inappropriate.
After Lin Xiaoran left Tianjun Peak, he went straight to the Gu household.
He hadn’t returned home all night since last night, although Gu Xiuyuan had not asked anything. However, since Lin Lan had let him stay at the Gu family’s house, Gu Xiuyuan had a responsibility. If he didn’t go back, Gu Xiuyuan would be in a difficult position.
Sure enough, as soon as he returned, Gu Xiuyuan came downstairs. He didn’t ask where Lin Xiaoran had been last night, but seemed to want to confirm that he had returned. Of course, he also wanted to indirectly inquire about Gu Yang’s situation.
“Gu Yang… hasn’t he gone to school today?”
“No, he hasn’t. But I heard that the Omega went to the police station to change her statement today. Gu Yang must be innocent, right?” Lin Xiaoran raised his head from his food, looking at Gu Xiuyuan knowingly.
Gu Xiuyuan seemed a little embarrassed, hesitating for a while before saying, “Yes, the police station called me today. That Omega was too nervous at the time and said nonsense. In fact, Gu Yang helped her.”
Lin Xiaoran nodded, “Hmm, I also believe that Gu Yang couldn’t have done such a thing.”
His voice was clear and pleasant, very nice to hear and casual, as if this sentence didn’t carry any weight at all. But to Gu Xi’s ears, it was completely different.
Even classmates and friends could completely trust Gu Yang’s character, but as a father, Gu Xiuyuan completely ignored Gu Yang’s explanation and insisted that he had done something shameful to the Gu family.
Thinking back to that night when he spoke without thinking, Gu Xiuyuan felt regretful for a while.
Lin Xiaoran looked at him, put down his chopsticks, and obediently said, “Uncle Gu, I’m full. I’ll go upstairs first.” After speaking, he got up and went upstairs.
Gu Xiuyuan hurriedly stopped him. “Ranran.”
Lin Xiaoran turned his head on the stairs.
“It’s like this,” Gu Xiuyuan also walked out of the dining room, hesitating in his words, “Uncle wants to ask you to help contact Gu Yang and ask him to come home, okay?”
“But Uncle Gu, I feel like this matter will only be effective if you say it. You misunderstood him.” Lin Xiaoran said.
Gu Xiuyuan was stunned, looking at Lin Xiaoran moving his lips, for a while not knowing what to say.
He didn’t expect Lin Xiaoran to be so straightforward.
Indeed, he had misunderstood Gu Yang in this matter, but as an elder, he couldn’t apologize to his son, could he?
“Uncle Gu,” Lin Xiaoran spoke again, “When I was in kindergarten, I understood one thing: when you misunderstand someone, you should apologize.”
After speaking, he smiled gently and turned upstairs.
In the living room, Gu Xiuyuan stood still for a long time, his mind echoing Lin Xiaoran’s last words repeatedly.
After a while, he walked slowly upstairs.
The next morning.
On the main road of Xizhong Middle School, Chen Hongqiang was holding a pancake in his mouth and a carton of milk in his hand, swaying towards the school.
Suddenly, he caught sight of a familiar figure ahead, tall and slender, unmistakably Gu Yang, who hadn’t been seen for several days.
Oh my god!
Chen Hongqiang rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t mistaken and immediately caught up with him.
“Brother Yang, you finally came to school! It’s been boring at school without you these past few days.” Chen Hongqiang was excited, busy buying breakfast for Gu Yang while sharing the gossip from school.
Gu Yang smiled as usual, not saying a word, but he was in a good mood.
“Speaking of which, Lin Xueshen is really capable. He got Du Yan sorted out as soon as he took action. Otherwise, Brother Yang, you wouldn’t have been able to clear your name.”
“Lin Xiaoran?” Gu Yang was surprised. “He went to find Du Yan?”
Chen Hongqiang: “You didn’t know? Then why did you come to school today? Don’t you know that Du Yan changed her statement at the police station to clear your name?”
Is that so?
Gu Yang was completely unaware.
Seeing that he wasn’t joking, that he genuinely didn’t know, Chen Hongqiang immediately recounted the phone call Lin Xiaoran made to him yesterday asking for Du Yan’s contact information and the subsequent incident where Du Yan went to the police station to change her statement.
“Brother Yang, you really didn’t know? Lin Xueshen didn’t tell you anything?”
Gu Yang shook his head. Lin Xiaoran hadn’t mentioned it at all since they met the night before yesterday. Gu Yang felt that given Lin Xiaoran’s personality, he didn’t like to meddle in others’ affairs, so it was normal for him not to mention it.
But he didn’t expect that Lin Xiaoran would take the initiative to find that Omega to help him without saying a word.
What should he say?
Gu Yang was unsure of what he was feeling at that moment. He should feel grateful to Lin Xiaoran, but he didn’t have the inclination to express gratitude. Instead, he felt a subtle sweetness in his heart, as if being protected by his own Omega brought him a sense of sweetness and satisfaction.
This feeling lingered for a long time, so much so that when he walked into the classroom and saw Lin Xiaoran, his mood surprisingly improved.
His gaze almost glued to Lin Xiaoran’s profile, unable to shift away.
Sensing his gaze, Lin Xiaoran turned his head to look over, and their eyes met. Lin Xiaoran was slightly taken aback, then turned his head away from Gu Yang’s gaze. However, his heart started to beat faster.
It was inexplicable; he felt a bit nervous because of Gu Yang’s gaze.
It must be the manifestation of the aftereffects of the mark.
