ILYP Chapter Nine – Stress Disorder

Duan JiaYan couldn’t be bothered with him. Just as he was about to tell him to get lost, a surge of electricity coursed through his body.

The irritation which spread from his spine made him felt extremely sore. Duan JiaYan’s breathing also got a lot faster, his pale neck becoming as red as peach blossoms.

The pheromones from his body bared their fangs and spread out, the scent both sweet and without restraint, like a newly sprouted bud.

Duan JIaYan’s pheromones were too intense. Lu XingCi got so stimulated by him that the horrible possessiveness from his Alpha bone couldn’t help rearing its head. His gaze unconsciously swept across Duan JiaYan’s nape.

It looked so fair.

His instincts told him this was an Omega that has never been marked. It was as if a button was pressed in his head, the urge to possess the other person was madly coursing through his veins.

Lu XingCi averted his eyes and asked hesitantly, “Are you…?”

It was still pretty tolerable when he wasn’t talking. The moment he spoke, the aura that belonged solely to an Alpha become all the more prominent. Duan JiaYan suppressed the wave of desire that came over him.

“I’m going to the washroom,” after throwing that sentence out, Duan JiaYan immediately made his way to the washroom.

“Wait,” Seeing Duan JiaYan stopping in his steps, Lu XingCi paused for a moment before continuing, his voice a little hoarser than it was before. “I’ll accompany you.”

Duan JIaYan knows it was a dangerous period for him right now, so walking alone might not be the best idea. It will be safer walking with an Alpha. Without caring too much about anything else, he quickly nodded his head.

Lu XingCi followed behind him, the two of them maintaining a safe distance of one metre. 

But even so, the pheromones from the people they met along the way did not have as strong a presence as the person behind him. That sort of terrifying, difficult to deny attraction is making Duan JiaYan’s entire body giddy, he unsteadily made his way to the washroom and even stumbled a little when pushing the door open.

He had only just presented and his heats were still irregular. As a precaution, Fu Yuan would also remind him to bring along an inhibitor. 

Duan JiaYan dug out his inhibitor from his pocket and sighed in relief. Thankfully he listened to his mother’s words and it actually worked out.

After Duan JiaYan took the inhibitor out, he puzzled over how to use the item and it slipped from his hands, dropping to the ground.

Duan JiaYan angrily muttered under his breath. Bending over, he picked the inhibitor up.

Lu XingCi, who was standing on the other side of the wall heard him and asked if everything was okay. Duan JiaYan vaguely reassured him that everything was fine. 

Lu XingCi waited a long while for Duan JiaYan to use the inhibitor but the Omega pheromones in the air were not going away. In fact, it was getting even stronger. He couldn’t help asking, “Are you done?”

“I’ve no idea how to use this,” Duan JiaYan’s voice carried hints of hesitance and desapir. “Why won’t this cap open?”

Isn’t it because you don’t have any strength right now?

“Pass the inhibitor to me.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“……” Lu XingCi was originally becoming quite short tempered by Duan JiaYan’s pheromones and was caught off guard by the silly question. Thanks to that his short temper got better and he laughed, “Open the door and stick your hand out? Open a small gap for me.”

Duan JiaYan had also realised how silly his question was. He opened the door a little and held the inhibitor out through a tiny gap.

The wrist that was held out was pretty to look at, and perhaps because he was going through his heat, even his fingertips were flushed pink.

Lu XingCi did not look at it for too long and returned the inhibitor quickly after unscrewing it.

Seeing that the inhibitor was open, Duan JiaYan quickly stuck the needle into his arm. The effects of the inhibitor was immediate, the unnatural heat in his body quickly went away once it was used.

Duan JiaYan threw the inhibitor into the trash bin once he felt a little more refreshed. 

Opening the door, he gave Lu XingCi a look and walked straight to the sink to wash his face. It was only after the cold water washed away the desire inside him that he turned to look at the other person. 

Duan JiaYan softly muttered a word of thanks and Lu XingCi could see that his ears were still red. With his pheromones still floating around the washroom, it was not exactly appropriate for the both of them to stay in this place. He took the initiative to ask, “Let’s go out first?”

Duan JiaYan nodded his head.

But once they opened the door, Duan JiaYan felt that something wasn’t right.

He was now especially sensitive to the smell of pheromones and the air was teeming with the scents of different Alphas. The different pheromones made the hairs on the back of his neck stand and his skin felt like it was in pain.

The closer he got to a crowded place the worse Duan JiaYan felt. Lu XingCi initially saw that he was reluctant to leave the washroom and initially thought that he was just joking but he soon noticed that Duan JiaYan’s bare skin was slowly turning red.

His neck and face were both showing small patches of unnatural looking pink, it was different from the crimson colour of his heat. It looked like he was was having an allergic reaction.

“You should get it checked out,” Lu XingCi noticed that what Duan JiaYan was experiencing wasn’t normal. After he said that, he noticed Duan JiaYan turning to look at him, his eyes a little glassy.

Lu XingCi hesitantly raised his hand, wanting to just touch the patches of red on Duan JiaYan’s skin to see if it was swollen. Just as his hand was being raised, Duan JiaYan instantly caught it. Both of them were stunned the moment that happened.

Duan JiaYan never knew that physical contact with another person could feel this comfortable. It was just like when someone finally finds an oasis in the middle of a scorching desert, or drinking a potion when your health is about to be depleted.

What’s even more unbelievable was that the red patches that resembled an allergic reaction on his hand were fading at a speed visible to the naked eye. 

“I’m going to go see a doctor,” as he said that, Duan JiaYan was a little reluctant to let go of Lu XingCi’s hand. He tried asking, “… Why not, you come along with me?”

*

Initially, the both of them were unaware and went to see the dermatologist. 

The dermatologist took one look and said Duan JiaYan might need to be directed to an ABO specialist instead. Once they managed to make their way over, the doctor took one look at Duan JiaYan and immediately brought him in for tests.

While Duan JiaYan was doing his tests, Lu XingCi was waiting outside.

Their journey to the consultation room could be called a bloody rain. More than once Duan JiaYan almost lost his temper because a stranger was walking past him. If it wasn’t for Lu XingCi holding him down, Duan JiaYan could have found trouble already.

After a while, Lu XingCi could stand it no longer. He swept his gaze of Duan JiaYan’s face and asked, “Can you be a little more well behaved?”

Duan JiaWan was very depressed, “I want to but with all these people walking around me, I just feel like beating them.”

Lu XingCi saw the look on his face and was about to laugh out of exasperation, “Then, with me this close to you, do you feel like beating me?”

He did not expect Duan JiaYan to blink his eyes and say, “I don’t want to beat you.”

While waiting for Duan JiaYan to come out from the consultation, Lu XingCi was a little bored so he took his phone out to play. He answered a call from Jiang Yao.

“Grandma said you left two hours ago, why don’t I see you at home?” Jiang Yao’s voice was very gentle. “Auntie Su bought a salmon today. Autumn salmon was very fatty and good. She’s already steamed it, we’re just waiting for you to get home.”

“I met a classmate along the way,” Lu XingCi lazily stretched his legs out and moved around his neck that was always facing down. “He got into a little accident so I’m accompanying him to see the doctor.”

“Is it serious? Which hospital are you guys at? If it’s at Nan Shan do you need–”

“It’s okay,” Lu XingCi said. “He’s almost done.”

“That’s good then,” Jiang Yao said. “Then I won’t rush you any longer. You take your time.”

Lu XingCi gave an ‘en’¹ in reply and hung up. Just then a nurse stopped in front of him.

“Hello, are you Lu XingCi?”

Lu XingCi nodded his head.

Looking closely at his face, the nurse gently said, “Your friend is asking for you in the consultation room.”

Inside the consultation room, Duan JiaYan and a male doctor were waiting for him. Seeing him enter the room, the doctor asked Duan JiaYan, “This is the student you previously mentioned?”

Duan JiaYan nodded his head.

The look on his face was not particularly good, his whole body was sprawled over the chair lethargically but at least the red patches on his body were gone.

Looking at Lu XingCi, the doctor motioned for him to sit down.

He told Lu XingCi, “Your classmate is suffering from Alpha Stress Disorder. As he presented too late, the suppressors in his body is a little damaged. As long as he is in heat, any interaction with Alphas will result in him suffering from pains all over his body. If there is physical contact, it can even result in a wide range of allergic reactions.

Lu XingCi was stunned.

An Omega’s heat usually happened once or twice a month, and it is typically three or four days, sometimes even up to a week. Someone like Duan JiaYan who just presented will usually have irregular heats that could flare up anytime.

Lu XingCi asked, “Is there any way to treat it?”

“Currently there is no definite way to treat this kind of Stress Disorder. We usually recommend the Omega to quarantine themselves whenever their heat arrives for about three to five years. As the Omega grows up, the Stress Disorder will slowly go away.”

“He still needs to go to school. Quarantining himself is not a viable solution.”

Duan JiaYan softly gave an ‘en’ in agreement.

Lu XingCi glanced at him and Duan JiaYan said, “I’m a little touched, you’re finally speaking human words.”

Lu XingCi ignored him, “Is there no other way?”

“There is one, which is also why I called you in here,” the doctor looked at him with an interested gaze, as if he was a rare specimen that needed to be examined in a lab. “I might need to test your blood.”

“According to your classmate’s statement, he might only be not allergic to your pheromones. The percentage of this happening is extremely low but it has happened overseas before. If both of your pheromones have a compatibility of 95% and above, then you can help him deal with his Stress Disorder.”

If it was only his pheromones that were needed to help deal with the Stress Disorder, Duan JiaYan’s face would not be looking this ugly.

Lu XingCi felt that something was not right and asked, “How am I supposed to help him?”

“Kissing, extended hugs, temporary marks…” The doctor could see that with every word he said, the boy’s eyes were getting more and more expressionless and figured he might as well add, “Or even a permanent mark.”

After hearing it once and having to listen to it again, Duan JiaYan could feel his ears burning up.

God damn it…

What kind of horrible shit is this?

He raised his head and happened to meet Lu XingCi’s gaze.

Duan JiaYan was thinking of what to say to help resolve this awkward situation when he saw Lu XingCi’s beautiful black eyes narrowing. 

He heard Lu XingCi say, “I suddenly think that quarantining him is actually not a bad idea.”

Author note: Mom will give you another chance, you think hard about what you should say. 

---

1. 嗯 – If you’ve read CN novels before you will have heard of this but if you haven’t, it’s basically just a sound people give when they are acknowledging or agreeing with something.

---

T/N: Happy Lunar New Year everyone! If you celebrate it I hope you’ve had a great time with your family this year 😀 I know I did haha

Here’s one more chapter for the week to make up for my long absence ;;; Hope you guys like it! Also LXC, you sure you want DJY to be quarantined? (¬_¬)

ILYP Chapter Eight – Hospital

Lu XingCi finished his exercise book with four minutes to spare.

Not long after, the students who were using their mobile phones to look up the answers were also done with their chapter. They took photos of their exercise books and sent them into the class’ discussion group to share their answers. The atmosphere among them was quite enjoyable.

When the chemistry teacher had come out, he saw the exercise books laid out neatly on the ground. His gaze first went to Lu XingCi before moving onto the rest, “All done?”

The students nodded, and the chemistry teacher got them to send someone along with the class representative to carry the exercise books to the teacher’s office.

“If most of the answers are correct, I’ll take it that you guys have studied properly and let what happened earlier go. If there are too many mistakes, the knowledge points you guys need to copy will still need to be copied.”

A few female students hurriedly said, “Thank you teacher!”

“Go on in,” the teacher said. “There won’t be a next time. If you guys want to skip class again, just don’t do it when it’s my lesson.”

Inside the classroom.

Song Yi opened the bottle of water on his table and took a big gulp. Duan JIaYan was initially looking for his powerbank when he heard Song Yi exclaim, “I think our class monitor is really not bad.”

Without raising his head, Duan JiaYan, “Didn’t you always think he was not bad?”

“That’s different. Previously I was looking through the lens of a fan. With his capabilities, along with his charismatic aura, I was purely admiring him as a male god. But after what has happened, I really feel that his personality is pretty good after all.”

Duan JiaYan didn’t respond to that.

“Dude, you still don’t like him?”

Song Yi turned his head and saw that Duan JiaYan had found his powerbank. He charged his phone and as if remembering something, lazily pursed his bottom lip.

Song Yi heard Duan JiaYan ambiguously saying, “It’s just like that.”

*

When Lu XingCi returned home on Friday night, Jiang Yao was just done playing mahjong with a group of rich taitais and was just directing the family’s auntie to clean up the table. 

When they saw Lu XingCi, some commented, “Lu XingCi is so tall now?”

“This child grew up well, just like his mother.”

“His grades are good as well right? I heard our family’s Yuan Yuan say Lu XingCi got first place during the entrance exam,” one of the taitai said with a bright smile. She was part envious but still genuinely asked, “How did you teach him to be so good?”

“I didn’t teach anything,” Jiang Yao said genially. “He has been this sensible since young.”

Jiang Yao has always been healthy, with a pretty face. Apart from a few wrinkles at the corner of her eyes, she did not look like other women her age at all. 

After sending away her friends, Jiang Yao walked up to Lu XingCi and smelt the faint scent on tobacco on him and paused, “DId you smoke?”

“I went to the cybercafe for a while,” Lu XingCi said. “I didn’t smoke.”

Jiang Yao gave an ‘en’ in reply, “Your grandma fell down yesterday and is now in staying in the Nan Shan hospital.”

Lu XingCi was slightly startled, “Is it serious?”

“No it’s not, I just paid her a visit today. She was in pretty high spirits and will probably be discharged by this weekend,” Jiang Yao also helped to convey his grandma’s wishes, “She said she misses you. If you have time, why not go to Nan Shan and pay her a visit.”

Lu XingCi replied, “Then I will visit her tomorrow.”

“Want me to accompany you?”

“No need. Don’t you have something on tomorrow? I can spend a little more time talking to grandma.”

He had just put down his bag when he saw Jiang Yao looking at him with a huge smile, “Is there any interesting news in your school?”

Lu XingCi chuckled, “I don’t think so. What counts as interesting?”

With how casually he replied, Jiang Yao knew that the gossip she heard before were all nonsense. After relaxing her spirits, she also started joking around, “Perhaps, have you met any pretty Omegas in your school?”

She was originally just casually asking. Since he was young, Lu XingCi has never shown interest in any Omegas around him but this time, she saw Lu XingCi not answering her question.

A little curious, she squinted at him, “There’s really an Omega you find pretty?”

A figure suddenly flashed across his mind and Lu XingCi answered ambiguously, “I guess.”

A few days ago, the person was not even considered an Omega.

Yet Jiang Yao immediately got excited by his response, “If you find someone pretty, you should get to know them more. When your dad was chasing me, if it wasn’t for how persistent he was, meeting me everyday…”

Lu XingCi wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry. All he said was that he found someone pretty, and look where the conversation has headed.

Seeing his mother go even further off tangent, he quickly found an excuse to leave, “I’ll go take a shower.”

Jiang Yao was not done talking but she could only let him go. 

Saturday at the Nan Shan hospital.

Duan JiaYan had accompanied Fu Yuan to the hospital to visit He YunShen. Fu Yuan and He Cheng might be married but due to their jobs, the couple did not have much time to spend together, till recently when He Cheng brought He YunShen to Ning City.

Fu Yuan is a twice married Omega. According to the doctor, a big reason why He YunShen’s body has always been frail is because Fu Yuan has removed her mark once before. Because of that, Fu Yuan has always felt guilt towards her youngest son.

He Cheng and Fu Yuan had suddenly stuff to settle and left He YunSheng under Duan JiaYan’s care for a while. As the little kid was making a fuss about going outside to play, Duan JiaYan had little choice but to wheel him out to the hospital’s garden.

“Big brother, I want to drink coke.”

“No, professionals never drink coke.”

“……”

“Don’t look at me like that, it won’t work,” Duan JiaYan squatted down and lazily looked at the kid in front of him. “Your brother has a heart made of stone.”

“……” He YunSheng pouted and miserably tugged at the corner of his shirt.

Duan JiaYan looked at him for ten more seconds before giving in.

“I’ll go get it for you but only the warm one, and you can only take one sip,” Duan JIaYan looked at him with a finger raised. “If you drink any more than that, your dad will get upset and will smack your butt tonight, got it?”

“Got it,” He YunSheng happily exclaimed. “Big brother is the best!”

Duan JIaYan was actually quite pleased with the praise and as he was about to stand up and leave, he heard a voice laughing.

Turning around, he saw Lu XingCi standing by the opposite side of the flower bed they were at.

Duan JiaYan thought that Lu XingCi was laughing at the way he coaxed the little kid and frowned, “What’re you doing here?”

“To see my grandmother, she was admitted into the hospital two days ago,” Lu XingCi came forward to where they were. “This is your brother?”

Duan JiaYan suddenly remembered listening to Fu Yuan complain on their way to the hospital that Nan Shan hospital seemed to have taken in some important guest the day before. The hospital’s director had even personally attended to them, and even wanted to clear the entire fifteenth level for them. Fortunately the patient did not want to make a big deal out of it, or else He YunSheng would have to change his ward.

It seems that the important guest was actually Lu XingCi’s grandmother.

There was a vending machine close by. Duan JiaYan said with a nod, “Can you help me look after him for a bit? I’m just going to buy a bottle of coke and will be back soon.”

After hearing Lu XingCi agree, Duan JiaYan turned and left. After he was gone, Lu XingCi quietly asked, “Duan JiaYan is your elder brother?”

He YunSheng nodded cutely and Lu XingCi turned to look thoughtfully at the little boy’s face.

Duan JiaYan came back not long later, a bottle of warm coke in his hands, already opened.

He repeated once again that He YunSheng was only allowed to take one sip and He YunSheng listened to his words, only taking one shallow sip.

When the two of them were together, the difference in their looks were all the more apparent.  The two brothers looked nothing alike. Duan JiaYan’s face was extremely pretty whereas He YunSheng looked delicate and pale, with pretty average looking features.

“I’ll send you up?” Duan JIaYan took a quick look at his mobile phone, Fu Yuan had just sent him a text message. “Your dad is on his way back. He is asking where are you guys.”

“Big brother are you staying for lunch?”

“No it’s okay. I’ll…” noticing the look of disappointment on He YunSheng’s face, Duan JiaYan turned to Lu XingCi. A moment of inspiration struck him. He has found an excuse. “I’ll be going to hang out with my classmate, so I can’t join you for lunch.”

Lu XingCi seemed to understand the relationship between the two brothers. After seeing how Duan JIaYan conveniently used him as an excuse, he decided to play along by giving confirming his statement.

He YunSheng said, “Then when big brother is on holiday next week, will you be able to play with me?”

Duan JIaYan honestly replied, “Most probably not.”

He YunSheng seemed to have realised something and quietly said, “Dad said that he bought a big house near your school. Once I’m discharged let’s all move in? Then we can have a meal together.”

Duan JiaYan hesitated for a moment, “Big brother might be moving to stay in the school’s dorm from next month onwards, so I can’t stay with you. You know how high school students are right? Their workloads can be very big…”

He YunSheng this little brat is very sharp and Duan JiaYan is afraid that he’ll realise something is wrong so he quickly roped in Lu XingCi again as a scapegoat. “You can ask my classmate. We are drowning in books and homework every day, we don’t even have time to go to the washroom right?”

Lu XingCi noted how he’s even dragged in his homework, and couldn’t help laughing, “Yes, your brother is very diligent in studying.”

Who would have thought after saying that, He YunSheng took one look at him, and then turned to look at Duan JiaYan. His eyes were starting to water up.

This little kid has always been a little sensitive, and could tell Duan JiaYan’s rejection towards him.

Duan JiaYan looked at his expression and froze, before thinking of how to coax him, “Don’t cry, I’m not putting my studies above you… Actually I really want to stay with you too… Don’t cry,  don’t cry, okay?”

He YunSheng was never one to cry and make a fuss so Duan JiaYan had no idea how to coax him. He did not have much experience in the matter as well. Seeing how Duan JiaYan was talking to him so nicely, He YunSheng couldn’t control his emotions and ended up crying for real.

Duan JiaYan was caught off guard and really had no clue why his coaxing caused the kid to cry for real. He thought about how He Cheng was reaching in any minute. If he came and saw He YunSheng crying, Duan JiaYan was not sure what he’ll assume.

Without a clue on what to do, he could only turn to Lu XingCi for help.

Though Lu XingCi had not much clue on how to coax someone, he did have little cousins in his home. After pausing for a bit, he gently rubbed the top of He YunSheng’s head, “Be good, don’t cry.”

He YunSheng started crying even louder.

Duan JiaYan, “!!!!!!”

Duan JiaYan was about to explode, “Lu XingCi do you know what you’re doing? He’s crying even louder this time.”

Lu XingCi, “……”

Lu XingCi suddenly thought of something. He was reminded of Duan JiaYan questioning him testily just now and smirked.

He suddenly asked, “There is a way but I’m not sure if it’ll work. If I can get him to stop crying…”

Duan JiaYan was dizzy from He YunSheng’s crying and hurriedly said, “If you can gt him to stop crying, I’ll call you father.”

After the words left his mouth, he regretted saying them a little but Lu XingCi only raised his head to look at him, softly saying, “You said it.”

He kneeled down, now on the same eye level as He YunSheng, and started whispering into the little kid’s ear as if he was sharing some top secret information.

He YunSheng paused and immediately raised his head, his teary eyes looking at Duan JIaYan. After looking for a while, it seemed like the tears in his eyes were being sucked back forcefully.

Duan JiaYan looked in disbelief at Lu XingCi. Right when he was about to ask what black magic did he perform, he heard the sound of footsteps running towards them. 

They turned out to be from He Cheng and he called out, “Uncle He.”

“The doctor already said that he should not be touching junk food like these…” He Cheng took the bottle of coke from He YunSheng’s hand. He glanced at Lu XingCi and seeing as how there was an outsider around, whispered to Duan JiaYan, “He’s young and ignorant, but why are you playing around with him?”

Duan JiaYan was startled, “I’m sorry.”

He Cheng heard his apology and was surprised.

He YunSheng noticed the tense atmosphere and interrupted, “It’s not like that dad. I was the one who wanted to drink the coke.”

He Cheng noticed Duan JiaYan’s downcast eyes and explained, “I’m not blaming you but the doctor has already said that drinking such things will negatively affect his health. Normally I don’t even let him touch these things. I was too hasty…”

Duan JiaYan nodded his head.

The atmosphere got a little awkward.

He Cheng asked, “I heard from your mom, you won’t be staying for dinner?”

“No, I’ll be going out to play with my classmate. Uncle He, you can bring YunSheng up first.”

“Then have fun, and stay safe.”

Duan JiaYan nodded his head in response.

As they were leaving, the wheelchair-bound He YunSheng turned around a few times to look at them. Only after the father-son pair were gone did the expression of Duan JiaYan’s face slowly change.

It had gone back to his usual lackadaisical expression. Seeing Lu XingCi looking at him, Duan JiaYan lazily raised an eyebrow, and casually asked, “What did you say to him just now? It was pretty effective, it got him to stop crying immediately.”

Lu XingCi seemed to be studying his face for a moment before narrowing his eyes, his words seem to carry a hint of something unknown. 

“I told him that if he kept crying, his brother will also start crying along with him.”

“……” Duan JiaYan never would have thought of such an idea.

“And afterwards he stopped immediately. He sure is sensible,” Lu XingCi seemed to have remembered something and added. “What about you? Isn’t there something you should be doing?”

“What?”

Seeing as how he intended to pretend to have forgotten what he had promised earlier, Lu XingCi magnanimously decided to help Duan JiaYan by giving him two options, “Do you want to call me daddy or father?”

Duan JiaYan thought in his heart, “I’d rather kill you.”

“I feel…”

“I feel that you won’t be the kind to go back on your words,” Lu XingCi said preemptively. “Right?”

Duan JiaYan felt that the hat Lu XingCi has made him wear was a dangerous one and decided that it was better to not go back on his words. 

But calling someone father like this, Duan JiaYan felt like he was making a loss. Under the other’s gaze, Duan JiaYan could only tell himself that it was just a greeting, just one greeting and it will be over.

One emotionless greeting.

That’s it!

“……er,” Duan JiaYan opened his mouth and realised nothing was coming out.

He could feel his face burning up.

Lu XingCi got a little closer, his gaze not moving away from Duan JiaYan.

He was already taller than him, with his steadfast gaze mixed with the cold and clean Alpha scent on his body, there was a clear feeling of a threat that formed. (TN: Basically LXC is unknowingly making DJY want to submit as an Omega)

He said, “Say it.”

Duan JiaYan quietly murmured, “Father.”

“Did you say it? I didn’t hear anything,” Lu XingCi said, lifting his eyes. “Louder.”

Duan JiaYan’s temper exploded, “……Father! Fa! Ther! Lu! Father did you hear that?”

“Yes I heard it,” Seeing how energetic he was, Lu XingCi couldn’t help smiling. “Call me one more time, I want to record it.”

Author notes: He (DJY) has yet to become Lu-ge’s wife but he’s already his son.

---

T/N: I’m so so sorry for the long break ;;; I’ve no excuse other than work and life just swallowed me whole and only spat me out this week. ;;;

But I am a lot more free to do translations now so I’ll be going back to a weekly schedule! Yay! \;;w;;/

Also I am not over LXC constantly thinking about how pretty DJY is hahaha and that last bit, Lu XingCi you must be very happy :^)

Also I wish everyone here a (very belated) happy new year and to all who celebrate it, a very happy lunar new year!

ILYP Chapter Seven – Threat

Class Ten got the match point, all they had to do was win the next round and the entire match will be over. 

After the third round started, perhaps it was because of the disparity in the scores but the sports class was getting a little impatient, with many moves not executed well. 

On the other side, because of that last shot in the previous round, Duan JiaYan felt that he actually has quite a bit of chemistry with Lu XingCi, their level of cooperation got better as the match went on, resulting in the difference between the scores to increase exponentially. 

The atmosphere on the court was getting tenser.

Unlike their explosive confrontation at the start, the Sports Class felt that they could actually lose this match and their actions got more desperate, with Du XuChen’s being the most obvious.

Even if he had to miss the ball, he’s determined to make things difficult for Duan JiaYan.

When playing basketball, it is very normal to collide with other players but to do it as much as Du XuChen, Duan JiaYan could clearly see that the other guy was out to get him. 

It’s just a pity that his speed was too slow, Duan JiaYan only had to pay a little more attention to his actions and he could easily avoid him. 

With one last rebound, the round was over.

“44 – 23”

What a massacre. 

“Aaaaa! My brothers in the Sports Class,” Chen Yue, who was sitting outside the basketball court, cried out. “The square dance on the flag-raising podium?”

A few of the students from the Sports Class were still devasted at the result of the match, and after hearing someone still asking for them to go perform the Square Dance, one by one slowly revealed an apprehensive expression. They clearly were reluctant to hold onto their end of the deal.

Seeing how the other side wanted to renege on their promise, the boys in Class Ten were clearly unhappy, “You dare to challenge us but don’t dare fulfil your end of the bet? You think you guys are masters even though you lost?”

“Weren’t you guys pretty adamant before?” It wasn’t sure who shouted out Hei Pi’s name, “Jiang Lin, what happened to your class?”

“That’s right, you aren’t the type to run away from a promise right Jiang Lin?”

Boys all have a certain level of self-esteem, especially Hei Pi, who is what one might consider a typical boy in society, with a strong sense of dedication and righteousness. When he heard the other side calling him by his name, he felt that they were respecting him and giving him face.

“Let’s dance,” Hep Pi gritted his teeth, looking towards his side of the court. “Previously we agreed to the bet in front of so many people, let’s not make an ass of ourselves.”

The boys in the Sports Class all looked ashen, especially when they overheard Duan JiaYan and Lu XingCi discussing whether to play ‘My Wife is the Best’ or ‘Seven Beautiful Celestial Fairies’. They were all shocked at Duan JiaYan’s crude song choices.

Lu XingCi couldn’t help laughing when he saw Duan JiaYan’s choice of songs, “I don’t really know these songs, you choose the song instead.”

Duan JiaYan had a really black heart. Looking left and right, he felt that since it was a Square Dance, these boys can still shamelessly try to weasel their way out of performing by saying that they can’t dance so he thought of an idea, “Why don’t you guys go follow the girls over there dancing aerobics, you have to properly learn the moves!”

He pointed in the direction of a freshman class’s physical ed lesson. A group of female students were currently dancing along to the music played by their teacher, it was actually quite refreshing. 

But asking these group of tall burly guys to twist their waists, twirl their arms, and spin around in circles was just frightening. 

“Once you’ve correctly mastered the moves, you can come down from the podium. Those that have not can continue following their dance, till the song is over,” Chen Yue piped in. After his suggestion was raised, the other boys in Class Ten readily agreed to it. 

This time, as a way to end this humiliating experience faster, those who were planning to lazily follow along to the dance had no choice but to properly follow the dance. 

“Hei Pi! Brother Hei Pi’s dancing is not bad!”

“I think so too! His dancing can be compared to those at the national level!”

Duan JiaYan lazily sat like an emperor by a tree. After hearing the others say that, he generously nodded his head, his actions were frankly asking for a beating, “Then Jiang Lin can come down first.”

Hei Pi released his breath.

After him, a few students were also pardoned from dancing, and could leave the aerobics team. All the way till the end, though it wasn’t sure if Class Ten did it on purpose, only Du XuChen was left. 

Previously when there were still other students it was still okay, but now that there was only Du XuChen, watching him follow the female students with their dance felt like one was watching a play.

Class Ten was trying its best to hold in their laughter, even the Sports Class was having trouble holding in their laughs.

Someone chortled, ”God damn it, this is too funny.”

“Du XuChen is pretty funny, his basketball skills are also horrible.”

“Fuck, why did I decide to help him play basketball…”

Chen Yue saw Lu XingCi using his phone by the side and made his way over, “Lu-dog, what are you doing?”

“Nothing much,” Lu XingCi said.

He looked towards Du XuChen, the latter had already finished the dance and was making his way down. Because he had probably figured out that he was being deliberately targeted by Duan JiaYan, the gaze he levelled at the guy was discomforting. 

After everyone dispersed, Lu XingCi told Chen Yue he’ll make his way back to class by himself, and told Chen Yue to make a move first. 

After taking a look, he made his way to where Du XuChen was.

Du XuChen had headed to the washroom. As lessons were still going on, the sinks were all empty. Hearing footsteps behind him, Du XuChen turned around to see who it was, a jolt of fear stabbed through him, “Lu-ge?”

“I want to talk to you about something.”

Du XuChen was a little confused, “About what?”

Lu XingCi held his phone out in front of him, on the screen was Du XuChen’s performance from earlier. He probably only started filming towards the end as Du XuChen was the only one in the video. His dumb-looking actions coupled with the aerobics music resulted in a pretty funny video.

Du XuChen instinctively reached out to snatch the phone.

As if anticipating the move, Lu XingCi drew his hand back, easily avoiding him.

Du XuChen saw that his sneak attack failed, and not daring to continue fighting with Lu XingCi, quickly changed his attitude.

“Delete it alright, Lu-ge,” Du XuChen said with a slight small. “There’s no point in you keeping that video, funny videos are a dime a dozen. If you like to watch that, I’ll send you another video later. We haven’t added each other as friends yet. Aren’t we considered acquaintances already, why not add each other and we can continue chatting…”

“Promise me one thing and I will delete this.”

“What thing? If it’s too difficult, I might not be able to do it too,” After hearing that Lu XingCi was willing to delete the video, Du XuChen’s attitude got even warmer. “Don’t be too hard on me ah. If it’s something even you can’t do, I’ll definitely not be able to do it.”

“It’s not difficult,” Lu XingCi laughed. “After I delete this, don’t go looking for trouble with Duan JiaYan.”

Du XuChen startled, opening and closing his mouth yet not saying anything.

Lu XingCi noted his hesitation and raised an eyebrow, “Too difficult for you? Then I’ll hold on to this video. It is quite interesting, maybe I should share it with a few others to spread the joy.”

If Lu XingCi really spreads this video around, his face will be utterly lost. 

“No no no!” Du XuChen had always cared about his face, if not why would he start a basketball fight with Class Ten. Lu XingCi had completely gotten hold of his weakness. “The next time I see Duan JiaYan I’ll walk the other way. No, I’ll run the other way, okay? I wouldn’t dare touch someone you’re protecting Ge.”

Lu XingCi nodded, he pressed his phone twice, “It’s deleted.”

“Lu-ge, are you able to…”

Lu XingCi looked at him, “Don’t believe me?”

Because he has single eyelids, his gaze looked exceptionally sharp. 

Du XuChen was scared by his one glance and held back his tongue. He laughed eagerly, “How can I? I just wanted to take a quick look to put myself at ease.”

Without a word, Lu XingCi took out his phone and showed his gallery to Du XuChen.

The video was really deleted.

Du XuChen released his breath.

With the threat gone, his tightly wounded mental state could finally relax. He thought in his heart that this young master was really a little too naive, he so easily believed Du XuChen’s words. Although he wouldn’t dare touch Duan JiaYan in front of everyone, if he did something behind his back…

Just as he was thinking about this, Lu XingCi patted him on the shoulder as he made his way out. “Don’t forget what you promised me. If you forget, I’ll have to find a way to make you remember. It’ll be troublesome for both of us.”

He didn’t know if Lu XingCi did it on purpose but the moment when his hands landed on Du XuChen, he released an overwhelming amount of Alpha pheromones. That moment of aggression was akin to throwing a bomb on Du XuChen’s shoulder.

This need to oppress one another is natural among Alphas, as is their instinct to go against one another. Out of respect, Alphas would usually put on scent blockers daily.

Du XuChen saw white from Lu XingCi’s pheromone assault, and did not move an inch till Lu XingCi was far away.

He did not know when it started but he realised his body was covered in cold sweat

*

Lu XingCi made his way to Class Ten and saw that the students who had made their way back before him were all miserably standing outside the classroom. Each of them held onto a textbook and looked like they were meditating with it. 

Lu XingCi realised that this was chemistry class.

The teacher in charge of this class had an explosive temper, and was harsh and ruthless to his students. Seeing his classmates like this, it was likely that the chemistry teacher had exiled them to outside the classroom.

Chen Yue saw him making his way over and waved the book in his hand, “Teacher said that he originally wanted to use the time in class to review our exercise books but since more than half the class was gone, it showed that we only needed half an hour to do that. So if we aren’t done writing about these two chapters by the time class is over, we’ll have to write down the knowledge notes of these two chapters.”

Zhou XingChen was already resigned to his fate, “Which two chapters? Let me see if it’s a lot to write or not.”

Lu XingCi knew that his teacher was irritable but he never thought he’d be this irritable.

But after all, over twenty students in his class, both girls and guys, skipped his class. Looking at the classroom from his table must have been like looking at the empty gums on an old lady. 

One look and he’ll be frustrated.

Looking at Lu XingCi turning all quiet, everyone ended up feeling bad from dragging him into this, “Class monitor, you can try knocking on the door, Teacher will definitely let you in.”

Even Duan JiaYan didn’t refute this suggestion.

Chen Yue had earlier taken out Lu XingCi’s exercise book as well. Flipping through it, Lu XingCi said, “Chapters seven and eight right? By the end of the lesson, I’ll be done with one chapter. For the other chapter, you guys can do some research with your phones?”

Everyone was so god damned touched that they almost cried. 

What is this strength? With one word he could give an incomparable sense of security to everybody present.

This is the power of a genius.

Their exercise book was made by the chemistry teachers at Yi Zhong, every chapter only had a few questions but the difficulty was high. It was almost impossible to find the exact question online. One could only find a similar question and work out the answers from there. 

The students who fared a little better academically divided up the questions and started looking up the questions to solve it.

Duan JiaYan who didn’t even get a question to solve had the audacity to fan the flames bigger, “The battle between men and machine has started! Who will be able to use these remaining 15 minutes to solve the questions before the bell rings? Will we be congratulating Team Smartphone, or will we be congratulating Lu XingCi–”

Lu XingCi twirled his pen around as he glanced at him, “How are you this capable at talking?”

Duan JiaYan, “My mouth has a mind of its own. It likes to talk, I can’t bring myself to stop it.”

Lu XingCi’s gaze fell to his lips and Duan JiaYan somehow felt like he was getting hooked.

He felt something like a current traveling down his spine.

Thinking that this was some new way of taunting him, Duan JiaYan retorted, “Never seen it before?”

Lu XingCi, “I’ve indeed never seen it before.”

He’s suddenly being so amiable, Duan JiaYan felt that something was amiss.

Lu XingCi drawled, “You have such a way with your mouth, why don’t you use it to help you solve these chemistry questions?”

Duan JiaYan, “…”

Author notes:

He still has you ah.

---

T/N: Duan JiaYan omg HAHAHA Also Lu XIngCi is being a good (future)bf in this chapter d’awww.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

ILYP Chapter Six – Playing Basketball

Duan JiaYan’s grades have always been near the bottom, so the question on the board was really beyond Duan JiaYan’s scope of knowledge. He dumbly stood by the blackboard for around three minutes before the math teacher shot him an exasperated look and sighed.

“Go back and sit down.”

And so Duan JiaYan just quietly made his way back to sit down.

Just as he was sitting down, Song Yi immediately came up to him and said, “My ancestor! What were you and the class monitor doing yesterday? How did the both of you end up together?”

Earlier when he saw Duan JiaYan silently leave the classroom, he thought he was just heading to the washroom. Who knew that after ten minutes, She ChiLie would send him a whole row of exclamation marks, Class Ten and Holding Up Yi Zhong’s Sky chat groups also exploded.

Both the groups were frantically discussing how Duan JiaYan had slammed Du XuChen against the wall, and how the Omega who was engaging in some ambiguous activities with Lu XingCi was also Duan JiaYan…

Duan JiaYan!

Song Yi silently swore in his heart. It’s just been a night since they saw each other and his good brother’s suddenly a different gender? Then from now on is it okay for him to call Duan JiaYan his sister?

“Want to know how I became an Omega? Want to know what Lu XingCi and I were doing in the washroom? Want to know what happened to Du XuChen?”

Song Yi was so curious he could die. 

Duan JiaYan, “Then help me write my three thousand word reflection essay.”

Song Yi, “…”

Duan JiaYan, “When you’re done, Xiao Duan will tell you a story.”

Song Yi, “…Get lost.”

The bell rang, signifying the end of the class. Duan JiaYan’s phone began to violently vibrate. He glanced at it and saw that Song Yi has added him into a new chat group. Looking up, he saw that the group’s name was Holding Up Yi Zhong’s Sky.

[Welcome new person!!]

[Is this a transfer student? Why’s there an O suddenly joining the group chat now?]

[Welcome little cutie!]

Song Yi, [It’s Duan JiaYan.]

The group chat was silent for a long while before it suddenly exploded. 

[Brother Duan!!! I’m so grateful for you brother Duan!!!! Luckily the Omega that got together with Lu XingCi is you!!!]

[I felt so relieved once I heard your name, our Lu Lu didn’t betray mum after all!!!]

[Really, Grandfather Duan gave me a sense of security I’ve never felt before. He’s made me believe that even if he’s slept with the school’s hottie, they can still maintain a pure relationship between classmates the next morning.]

In his heart, Duan JiaYan thought that this was all nonsense, what brother or grandfather. But this group of Omegas are extremely passionate and Duan JiaYan didn’t want to sound too rude so he replied with a “Thank you?”

[Even a thank you can sound so gallant. How worthy of Yi Zhong’s tyrant.]

“Fuck,” Duan JiaYan laughed. “Everyone in your group is really something.”

“Everyone in our group,” Song Yi corrected. “You’re also an Omega now. Presenting when you’re sixteen to seventeen, your puberty sure came a little late.”

–

For most high school students, physical education class is usually the most highly anticipated lesson for the week.

The autumn sun is shining so brightly that it makes one lazy so after running for a few rounds, the physical ed teacher gave the students some free and easy time to do what they want.

Chen Yue wanted to go play soccer and since Lu XingCi had nothing better to do, they gathered a few other boys from the class to go take a soccer ball from the storeroom. 

The number of boys that usually play soccer is typically lesser than the ones who prefer to play other sports like basketball and badminton. Just as Lu XingCi was about to pick up the soccer ball, two students came in, chattering as they walked.

“Class Ten and the Sports Class¹ really got into a fight?”

“Du XuChen really knows how to push himself. His head injury just got better and he’s already rushing to play basketball with others.”

“He’s probably just trying to save some face. After all, he was just beaten up by Duan JiaYan a few days ago, he probably couldn’t show his face anywhere after that…”

Lu XingCi’s hands paused. After a few seconds, he still ended up scooping up the white soccer ball into his arms and made his way out of the storeroom. At the basketball court, he could see Duan JiaYan and Du XuChen who seemed to be in some kind of confrontation, their match seemed to not started yet.

Yi Zhong High School has a big area, nevermind the sports hall and basketball court, even the sports field has a giant soccer court.

Just then, Chen Yue saw Lu XingCi heading out of the storeroom and waved at him, calling him over to join the crowd.

“They’re just done placing their bets, the losing team will have to go to the flag podium and do a square dance²,” once the bet was brought up, Chen Yue felt that this move by Duan JiaYan was was such a bad one. “Duan JiaYan has a lot of quirky ideas but if our class really loses, he’ll have to go and do a dance.”

Zhou Xing Chen who was also looking from the side said, “Disregarding everything else, performing a square dance is definitely flashy.”

The news of the bet spread fast and many students rushed over. Soon the crowd consisted of students from not only Class Ten and the Sports Class, but also other students who have caught wind of the bet between Duan JiaYan and Du XuChen. These two names have been at the top of every student discussion board nowadays, who would have thought that the pair would clash again so soon. 

Their clash this time sounds like it’ll be quite a show. 

As they were chattering, the atmosphere in the basketball court grew more fervent. The guys in the Sports Class were all tall and muscular, out of the five students on the court, two were in the school’s sports team. 

The guys in Class Ten were also by no means weak, they played well with Duan JiaYan and were mostly kids who used money to enter Class Ten. So while they were not particularly inclined to studying, they all adept at gaming and sports. 

Truth be told, this game is looking very interesting.

They had agreed to play four rounds, if they couldn’t determine a winner within the four rounds, they’ll play an extra five minutes to find a winner. 

The strongest in the sports class was a dark-skinned boy. Despite his tall stature, his reaction was still incredibly fast. Meanwhile, in Class Ten, the best player was undeniably Duan JiaYan, his speed in shooting hoops were shockingly fast. With just a toss of his hand, the ball will fall into the hoop with startling accuracy. The crowd was going wild. 

Both sides were going neck and neck, with neither side giving way to the other. At the last few minutes, Duan JiaYan got hold of the ball and without hesitation threw it towards the hoop successfully. 

It was a three-pointer, pulling their score even higher. 

“My God,” Chen Yue couldn’t resist saying. “That was too much. He suddenly became so cool.”

Lu XingCi gave an ‘en’ and looked towards Duan JiaYan who was surrounded by a number of boys on the court. Successfully winning the first round, everyone was excited.

Chen Yue animatedly said, “I say, during our freshman year, if only he took part in the basketball competition. Our class wouldn’t have lost the first place to the Sports Class.”

Zhou XingChen sighed, “He’s only so-so.”

Chen Yue, “Don’t lie with your eyes wide open. Disregarding everything else, his skills with the ball are really good.”

Chen Yue, Zhou XingChen and Lu XingCi were the main forces for their class in the freshman basketball competition. The sports committee member originally wanted to get Duan JiaYan into the team too but the moment he heard that he had to play alongside Lu XingCi, he immediately rejected. 

Chen Yue seemed to really have gotten into the fiery mood of the competition and have forgotten the animosity between Duan JiaYan and the two guys sitting beside him.

He took a bottle of water and said to Lu XingCi while drinking, “Xiao Duan is definitely worthy of being someone that has had a special toilet experience with you. That way he plays with the ball is just so–”

For a moment he couldn’t think of an appropriate word to use, just as he was thinking of drinking a sip of water, Lu XingCi raised his hand and quietly lifted Chen Yue’s bottle of water. 

Water quickly flowed out. Unable to react in time, Chen Yue ended up choking on the water.

Chen Yue could not stop coughing, raising his pale face, he said, “Lu-dog…cough cough, why did you want to harm me?”

“You’re pretty amazing, you can go write a novel already.” Lu XingCi stared at Chen Yue’s pitiful face, the corner of his lips hooking up a little. “Special toilet experience?”

“…” In his heart, Chen Yue was thinking that Lu XingCi this dog is getting more difficult to get along with.

The second round has started. 

Because they took the first round, Class Ten was feeling pretty good.

Chen Yue and Zhou XingChen were spectating by the side and would chime in with their own comments every now and then.

Chen Yue, “Du XuChen is pretty good, passing the ball to him is equivalent to feeding our class’s basket.”

Zhou XingChen, “And that Guard on their team, letting him on the court is such a crime.”

Chen Yue, “I feel that this match is pretty stable.”

Zhou XingChen, “More or less stable, yes.”

Just as the two were done talking, the tanned boy knocked into Class Ten’s Small Forward just as he was trying to dribble the ball across him. 

The boy fell down and sat on the floor, curling up while he covered his knee. 

The move from Hei Pi³ was considered a foul and someone softly mentioned that he saw Hei Pi purposely knocking into the Small Forward’s stomach with his elbow. The atmosphere between the two classes immediately turned sour. 

Someone from Class Ten shoved at Hei Pi, “That was on purpose, wasn’t it? Looking for trouble?”

“You have a problem,” Hei Pi said while pointing at his eyes. “Me, looking for trouble? I had only accidentally knocked into that classmate over there.”

The knee of the boy who was knocked down had turned purple, and was still bleeding. He could not even walk at the moment, much less continue playing the game.

Duan JiaYan looked at the situation the boy was in and laughed, “An accident?”

Though his laugh was beautiful, it carried a chilling air, as if he was strongly holding back his anger.

Once the school tyrant laughs, everyone knows something is about to happen. 

“Duan JiaYan,” the boy who was knocked down suddenly piped up. “I’m alright. Don’t go fighting them. They’re just looking for an excuse to cause a scene.”

Just a few days ago he got into trouble with Du XuChen, if Duan JiaYan was to get into another fight now, even Zhao MinJun wouldn’t be able to help him.

Hei Pi continued talking, “Don’t go accusing us just like that. You guys are flattering yourselves too much, it’s just a basketball match after all–”

“You, leave this court,” Duan JiaYan said coldly. “Get someone else up here.”

“My brother, there’s no need to go that far right?”

Duan JiaYan did not reply to that.

Hei Pi locked eyes with him, snorted derisively and turned around, leaving the court. 

The Small Forward was unable to continue playing and so the match was temporarily stopped to allow both sides to change their players. Song Yi say that they were lacking a member and came forward, “Xiao Duan, why don’t I join?”

Song Yi’s basketball skills were still passable, he usually also played as the Small Forward, but it was just that his physique was lacking a little, and reaction speed was also not particularly fast.

Duan JiaYan took a look at the Sports Class, as he was leaving Hei Pi also called the Guard who wasn’t performing as well as he should off the court, switching both him and the Guard with two new students. The line up was exactly the same as their freshman basketball competition.

Duan JiaYan didn’t really want to let Song Yi join the match only to get bullied but if he didn’t let Song Yi join, he really couldn’t think of anyone else that could help.

As he was mulling over this, someone walked up to him and picked up the basketball on the ground. 

“I’ll replace him,”  Lu XingCi said.

Sounds of heavy chatter could be heard from the crowd. Once they say Lu XingCi going up, even the girls who were leaving once the school bell rang came running back.

It’s a miracle.

The school’s idol and tyrant are actually teaming up to play basketball together. 

Seeing Lu XingCi step up, the boys of Class Ten some had happy looks on their faces, while some shot worried glances towards Duan JiaYan. Everyone was aware of Lu XingCi’s capabilities, but they just weren’t sure if Duan JiaYan will agree to play together with him.

Under the anticipatory gazes of his teammates, Duan JiaYan suddenly said, “You do know that we have to do a Square Dance if we lose right? Doing it in front of everyone is very embarrassing.”

“I know,” Lu XingCi passed the ball towards him, signalling for him to start the match. “I have no plans to do the dance.”

So calm and yet so arrogant.

Duan JiaYan chuckled, bouncing the ball on the ground a few times. The Sports Class saw that the newest member of the opponent’s team was already taunting them and wanted to retort, only to realise that it was Lu XingCi, so they could only grit their teeth and hold their temper in.

Hei Pi, who was sitting outside the court, said, “Lu-ge, just because you play well, doesn’t mean your teammates can do the same. This is a team sport after all.”

As the boys in the sports class were laughing at that remark, Lu XingCi pointed out, “My teammate has already made you step off the court. You tell me if he’s good or not?”

“…”

And so the match continues. 

Although Duan JiaYan and Lu XingCi’s individual strengths were very high, both of them have never played together before and so, have no tacit understanding with each other. On the other hand, the situation on the other team is completely different. They were probably also provoked by Duan JiaYan’s earlier actions that’s why the members that got swapped onto the court ended up being all from the school team. 

One of the guys from the Sports Class’ three-pointers were particularly good, it was as if he could score from any angle. The scores between the two teams were originally neck and neck, but in the last minute, that guy scored one last three-pointer, pulling the Sports Class’ score up by one. 

The events of the first round seem to have been replayed, the only difference was, the winning team was swapped around. 

The Sports Class let out a series of celebratory shouts. Just as everyone was thinking that the round will end with the Sport Class’ victory, Duan JiaYan managed to get the ball from the opponent team’s Guard, turned around and quickly made his way to the Sport Class’ basket.

Du XuChen almost laughed when he saw it. His position was in Class Ten’s three-point line but he was too lazy to even run towards his own team’s hoop.

With this little time left, Duan JiaYan is still planning to blindly hope to score, he really thinks he can create a miracle?

Duan JiaYan turned and dribbled the ball across several guys who were chasing after him, only stopping when the opponent’s Center came right in front of him.

The Center was one of the members that just joined the match and was very skilled in blocking. If he rashly chose to move past him with the ball, it’s highly likely that he’ll end up getting blocked.

Duan JiaYan was a little anxious. At this critical moment, his choice will determine which team ends up victorious this round. He swept his eyes across the court and found that his other teammates had been left behind by him, only Lu XingCi had managed to keep up with his rhythm.

Should he pass the ball to Lu XingCi?

Can he trust him?

…

“Hey!”

With that cry, Duan JiaYan passed the ball to Lu XingCi. Lu XingCi also had guys blocking him but in a flash, he managed to dodge and avoid all of them, directly rushing towards the hoop to dunk the ball. 

Because of his momentum, Lu XingCi ended up rushing past the court. Just then, the ball was thrown at a difficult angle by him from behind the board towards the hoop.

Under the gaze of everyone, the ball was thrown forward where it was knocked into the hoop and rolled down aggressively. 

It was an unbelievable score from behind the backboard. 

What a show. 

That ball was worth two points, reversing the situation. Somebody then shouted out, “Time’s up!”

The crowd immediately surged, even those who had no idea about basketball knew that Lu XingCi’s actions single-handedly won Class Ten the round. 

The boys in Class Ten were laughing happily, “Our Lu-ge is amazing isn’t he!”

Without waiting for the other guys’ response, a few girls by the side started screaming, “Amazing~! Very very amazing! Our class monitor is so handsome aaaaaaaa!”

Chen Yue cracked up and purposely raised his voice, “Lu-dog is so spectacular! He’s good at both sports and working as a team, won’t you teach me some tips?”

After saying this, another round of laughter came. The Sports Class, on the other hand, did not look so good, especially Hei Pi whose expression was looking particularly ugly. 

After playing for two consecutive rounds, everybody stopped to take a break. Chen Yue originally wanted to ask Lu XingCi if he wanted to drink some water or not, but before he could head over, Duan JiaYan already came over with an unopened bottle of water.

“Here, MVP,” Duan JiaYan really had a lot of respect for Lu XingCi’s earlier buzzer-beater. “That shot earlier was amazing.”

Chen Yue was still in shock at how Duan JiaYan gave a bottle of water to Lu XingCi when he heard Lu XingCi’s response, “Your turns were also not bad.”

Duan JiaYan didn’t understand Lu XingCi, but Chen Yue did, and he knew just how difficult it was to get a single praise out of that man.

Duan JiaYan clearly did not know anything about humility, “It was alright I guess, that’s how I normally play.”

As he said it, Duan JiaYan casually brought the collar of his t-shirt up to clean his sweat. Because of that, the bottom hem of his shirt rode up, exposing a thin and smooth looking waistline. 

Lu XingCi glanced at him.

The waist that the boy exposed had tight, solid-looking muscles.

It looked so fair.

Author notes:

Lu Lu, is that nice to look at?

---

1. I previously called them the Physical Education class, will be changing it to Sports Class from now on.
2. Square Dance is an exercise routine performed in plazas or parks. You’ll typically see older Chinese women doing it. You can watch a video of it here!
3. The author never really gave him a name and ‘Hei Pi’ is the name used to refer to this guy for the whole novel even though it was originally the word used to describe him. So I’ll be calling him by this from now.

---

T/N: This chapter was so difficult to translate sjkhgkl all the basketball terms. I apologise if any of them sound awkward.

Anyways, December is looking to be a pretty busy month for me but I will try my best to keep to a weekly upload schedule!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. LXC’s thirst is starting to show ahaha

ILYP Chapter Five – Teacher’s Office

The corridor fell into a moment of silence.

It took a while for people to slowly react, the murmur of quiet whispers slowly filled the air. Du XuChen stared with his mouth agape, unable to say anything. 

If Duan JiaYan really is an Omega, then he’ll be losing even more face. He is an Alpha after all, but not only was he pulled around by an Omega, he was even hit in the head by one. 

“Damn it,” he held back the anger in his heart and rebutted. “How are you in any way an Omega…”

Before he could complete his sentence, he was hoisted up by Duan JiaYan and swung him in the direction of a wall. 

Du XuChen could feel his pupils constrict as he was about to be slammed against the wall. Just then he was pulled by Duan JiaYan who pressed a hand on his neck with his other hand grabbing his hair.

“Which part of me isn’t?” Duan JiaYan chuckled beside his ear. “Weren’t you just saying that I was very lewd? Sigh, Du XuChen, you gave me such high praise, are you secretly in love with me?”

His voice was very quiet, but because the corridor was so quiet, almost everyone heard what he just said. 

Someone in the crowd couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing. 

Du XuChen was so angry that his whole face turned red. Originally when he heard Duan JiaYan call himself an Omega, he thought that he wouldn’t dare retaliate but who would’ve known that Duan JiaYan will act like such a crazy person. Du XuChen was furious, he struggled while shouting, “Get lost! Duan JiaYan you better stop fooling around with me.”

He had just finished saying his sentence when his head got slammed into the wall by Duan JiaYan. Du XuChen was already hit in the head by Duan JiaYan and this slam nearly made him pass out from the pain. For a split second, he thought that someone should come and teach this lunatic a good lesson. 

Duan JiaYan saw Du XuChen’s ugly expression and was prepared to slam his head against the wall a second time when someone from behind him grabbed his wrist. The boy behind him smelled very clean, like the first drops of snow in winter. Duan JiaYan subconsciously took a step back and accidentally hit the boy’s hard chest muscles.

“The teacher’s about to be here,” Lu XingCi said. “Stop fighting.”

Duan JiaYan twisted his wrist but did not manage to get Lu XingCi to release him. Lu XingCi’s strength was terrifying, Duan JiaYan was held tightly in his grasp and could only give up. 

“What’s going on here?! What are you guys doing? What are you young ones tossing around?” The sophomore level head shouted as he made his way through the crowd.

Du XuChen was breathing heavily after he was released by Duan JiaYan. When he noticed that Duan JiaYan was distracted by the level head and was looking particularly vulnerable, his expression changed and he surreptitiously peeked at the chair that was thrown to the side.

Just as he was about to pick it up, someone came forward and kicked the chair away.

“Still want to cause trouble?” Lu XingCi said above the sound of the chair screeching on the ground. “Stop looking for trouble for yourself.”

His gaze with chilling and coupled with his tall stature, he looked especially intimidating. Du XuChen quietly kept his hand back. 

The level head was furious when he saw what had happened. Swallowing down his anger, he looked at Lu XingCi, hesitation appeared in his eyes. He really did not know how to handle this.

“You’re also involved in this?”

“He didn’t do anything,” Duan JiaYan hurriedly answered. “It was just Du XuChen and me fighting.”

Lu XingCi swept his gaze in Duan JiaYan’s direction.

After asking a series of questions, and confirming that the fight only involved Duan JiaYan and Du XuChen did the level head release his breath and bring the both of them to his office. 

Zhao MinJun never would have thought that she’ll be seeing Duan JiaYan so soon. 

She had previously brought Lu XingCi in for questioning. After teaching him for a year, she naturally did not believe that Lu XingCi did as the messages claimed and forced himself on an Omega but as investigations were still ongoing, she had to bring him in to ask some questions. 

According to Lu XingCi, a classmate had an accident and he was just passing a scent blocker to him. When he was explaining, every teacher in the office could hear him but when Zhao MinJun asked for the name of the student, Lu XingCi lowered his voice and told her a name quietly. 

After getting over her shock when she found out that the student was Duan JiaYan, she initially wanted to call him and pressure him to come to school since this matter had gotten pretty big. She’s even heard that Du XuChen wanted to report this matter to the police, so it was better to get everyone involved together to sort the matter out, the earlier the better.

However Lu XingCi stopped her, stating how Duan JiaYan had just presented, and maybe was not feeling too well so even if he can’t make it to school today, there is always tomorrow. 

Since Lu XingCi seemed so relaxed about everything, Zhao MinJun pretty much already believed everything he said. She also felt that Duan JiaYan should not be feeling too well since he was a newly presented Omega and should not have too much energy to do much. So she was stunned when she saw Duan JiaYan being brought into the office by the level head, as well as Du XuChen who seemed to have a head injury.

Du XuChen’s injury was still bleeding and the teachers had originally wanted to bring him to the hospital. But the brat kept resisting and insisted that his wound was not deep. He just slapped two band-aids on himself and insisted on making his statement here if not he wouldn’t go to the hospital.

Du XuChen and Duan JiaYan each recounted what happened and roughly managed to explain what exactly took place. 

The teacher in charge of the sports class was called Wang and was a jovial teacher. Duan JiaYan had also heard about how protective he was of his students, and would frequently find ways to save them whenever they got in trouble. 

After listening to their explanation, Teacher Wang said, “So it was Duan JiaYan that made the first move? No matter what, beating someone up is not right.”

Du XuChen immediately followed up, “I was just cracking a few jokes and next thing I know, he was coming at me like some crazy person.”

After all, he was still a victim, the teachers all saw how miserable he looked and after finding out that he didn’t retaliate at all throughout the whole fight, felt that Duan JiaYan might have gone too far. 

Du XuChen saw that the tides were going in his favour and continued, “Really, Duan JiaYan you went too far this time. I was beaten up so badly by you that—”

“You’re still talking?” Duan JiaYan looked at his askance. 

Du XuChen immediately stopped when he saw Duan JiaYan glaring at him. It took him a moment to realise that they were still in the teacher’s office, and he’s already safe. He wondered where did Duan JiaYan get his confidence from. 

Zhao Min Jun frowned, “Why are you threatening him?”

Teacher Wang looked like he was on the verge of laughing, “Teacher Zhao, your students sure have a big temper.”

Duan JiaYan: “He talked about me first.”

Zhao MinJun: “And what did he say? How bad was it? Was it worth getting into a fight for?”

Duan JiaYan: “…”

Earlier, he was able to say the words Du XuChen said about him in front of other students his age but once he’s in front of these group of teachers, he found that he really couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. 

Just as everyone was at a stalemate, someone knocked on the office door. 

“Come in.”

Lu XingCi and a female student made their way into the office.

Duan JiaYan found the student familiar, she might have been the Omega student talking to Du XuChen earlier. 

“Teacher Zhao, Teacher Wang, Du XuChen earlier said some pretty insulting sentiments regarding Omegas,” Lu XingCi said and stepped aside, exposing the female student to the gaze of everyone in the room. “Sun Meng can testify for that.”

The teachers all initially thought that the students were just insulting each other as students usually do, usually with just cuss words, which timately meant no real harm. But if what were said involved insults to another person’s sex and gender, then the situation becomes completely different. It’s outright discrimination.

Teacher Wang was stunned. From the moment Lu XingCi came in, he didn’t really dare protect Du XuChen any longer, so he directly asked the female student, “Sun Meng, Du XuChen really said those kinds of words?”

The girl hesitated, “Yes he did, he said…really nasty things.”

The girl glanced at Lu XingCi who nodded at her, and as if her courage got renewed, she continued, “It’s not just me. Ren Jue, Xu HaiBin and the rest also heard it, as well as other students that were walking by. Du XuChen was indeed talking about Duan JiaYan and it was because Duan JiaYan overheard thats why they started fighting.”

Lu XingCi handed over a mobile phone, on its screen was a screenshot, “Du XuChen posted a long message on his social media account yesterday, and on the post it mentioned several things…”

He trailed off, letting the teachers read the screenshot for themselves.

Teacher Zhao and Teacher Wang both took a good look at the screenshot and frowned. 

The message carried a joking tone, with Du XuChen claiming that the school’s prince is doing unspeakable things in the school’s washroom. He also mentioned about the Omega that met an accident in the toilet, his words carrying a heavy sexual undertone. 

Although no names were mentioned, it was clear that the ‘prince’ in the message was referring to Lu XingCi. 

Du XuChen looked at the screenshot on the phone in disbelief. He had clearly deleted the post after he was reminded by a friend and he also did not add Lu XingCi as a friend, so how did he get that screenshot?

It was then that the teacher who was sent to investigate the situation came back.

“I’m done checking. The two students are from Teacher Zhao’s class and they entered the bathroom, one after another, all within the span of a few minutes…”

With that, what exactly happened could not have been more clear.

Lu XingCi was completely dragged into this whole situation and was innocent. Zhao MinJun breathed a sigh of relief. If Lu XingCi was really involved in this, the Lu family will definitely exert pressure over the school and then she will have to face pressures from both sides.

After a discussion among the teachers, and getting the students opinion, they ultimately decided to give a warning and punished both of them to write a three thousand words reflection essay, and have to apologise to each other.

After Du XuChen stuffily apologised to Duan JiaYan, it was Duan JiaYan’s turn to apologise.

Duan JiaYan looked at him for a long time before slowly saying, “Oh I’m sorry that I hit you too hard and injured you.”

His apology felt very fake but considering his identity as an Omega, and thinking about the harm that Duan JiaYan had suffered, Zhao MinJun decided to let it slide and not talk about it. She did not expect that Lu XingCi will join in as well.

“I’m also in the wrong,” Lu XingCi said to Du XuChen. “I should have stopped him earlier. You might have been hurt a little less if I did.”

Duan JiaYan was happy when he heard that and tried his best to hide his smile in front of the teachers, he quickly added, “That’s right, why didn’t you stop me earlier?”

The corners of Lu XingCi’s lips lifted a little in a smile. 

This person, he was naturally born with a lofty appearance and sense of distance to others. Even his apologies felt insincere. 

Indeed, Lu XingCi’s ability to anger someone did not disappoint Duan JiaYan, “This was the first time I saw an Omega beating an Alpha to the point where he could not retaliate. I was too shocked to react.”

As he said his sentence, he even gave a few pats to Du XuChen’s shoulder. The latter seemed to be trembling in anger.

“I apologise. Please be magnanimous about this.”

He spoke truthfully but the sentence “Please be magnanimous about this.” felt like he was indirectly insulting Du XuChen.

After they left the teacher’s office, Duan JiaYan walked by Lu XingCi’s side as they made their way back to class. This was the first time he thought that the other person was pleasing to look at. 

“Why did that girl suddenly agree to help me? Also that screenshot in your phone, how did you get it?”

“Sun Meng’s character is good, she saw how you were pulled into the teacher’s office and came to find me. The screenshot was sent to me by someone yesterday,” Lu XingCi said, the smile on his lips deepened a little, as if thinking that the way Du XuChen dug his own grave was particularly amusing. “I’d never thought he’ll do himself in like this.”

The bottom line was, even if Du XuChen did not get into any trouble today, Lu XingCi still had no intentions of letting him go. 

Duan JiaYan suddenly felt that the guy beside him was a little terrifying. But only for a brief moment as he recalled how angry Du XuChen got over Lu XingCi’s words and couldn’t stop his laughter. 

“I have to say Class President,” Duan JiaYan said. “You really are something.”

Not waiting for Lu XingCi’s response, he added, “This time I don’t owe you anything anymore.”

“?”

“You didn’t tell Song Yi that the one who needed the scent blockers and inhibitors was me right? You also did not tell anybody else. Actually I don’t really care if I’m an Omega or Beta, but I’m also not dumb, I knew you were doing it for me,” Duan JiaYan saw that the other party was looking at him with a slightly stunned expression and thought to himself, ‘I’m not that ignorant okay?’

He coughed, “Anyway, I beat him up, so this time everyone knows that he’s the one spouting nonsense.”

He went directly to beat the person up just now. Other than to relieve his anger and disgust, he also intended for the matter to blow up, because he knew that even if the teachers were aware of what happened, there is bound to be students who will continue to gossip behind their backs.

 So with the incident blown up, those who were listening in to the gossip will also know that Du XuChen is the real butt of the joke here. 

“No need to thank you. After all I love to help others and if you really want to thank me then the next time Jiang QiNian gives you a cup of milk tea, please reject her and send her my way.”

“You’re chasing after Jiang QiNian?” They were almost reaching Class Nine. Lu XingCi saw Duan JiaYan nodding his head. “She didn’t accept you? Her standards must be pretty good then.”

Duan JiaYan took a while to process what Lu XingCi said and gritted his teeth as he walked up to him, “Are you—” asking for a beating–?

Before he could finish his sentence, Lu XingCi opened the door to their classroom.

The teacher in charge of the lesson frowned as he shouted at Duan JiaYan, “What are you screaming around for? Duan JiaYan, answer this question now.”

Duan JiaYan, “…”

Lu XingCi, this person, is really fucking sly. 

Author notes:

Today we have Xiao Lu who’s cleaning up his wife’s mess. 

---

T/N: LOL Du XuChen stood no chance against the both of them.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter! I’ll be back next week with another. ^^/ (Or maybe earlier if my schedule permits)

ILYP Chapter Four – Fight

Duan JiaYan’s felt his head turn fuzzy the moment Lu XingCi came back. 

Originally, when the other person left, the floating feeling in his head got significantly better. But the moment Lu XingCi came back, Duan JiaYan felt like there was a switch in his body, and when the switch was turned on, he inadvertently felt himself wanting to get closer to Lu XingCi. 

He thought back to when Song Yi bleakly told him then that just looking at Lu XingCi will make one feel like getting closer to the individual. At that time, he still laughed at Song Yi, making fun of his lack of self-control.

He’s wrong, oh so wrong. 

Duan JiaYan really didn’t like the feeling of losing control so he took the scent blockers from Lu XingCi’s hand, and after hesitating for a bit, gave a quick and soft “Thank you”. 

The item in his hand looked a lot like a spray bottle, he’s seen Song Yi using it before. Duan JiaYan aimed the nozzle towards himself and pressed it a few times. As he could not smell his own pheromones, he could only ask Lu XingCi for help.

“Is there still a smell?”

The scent of an Omega was covered by the scent blockers, Song Yi’s scent blocker even came in the flavour of milk. Lu XingCi looked at him and said, “It should be gone.”

As the other person was standing too far away, Duan JiaYan was not entirely relieved. 

The scent blocker seemed to have compounds to help calm a person down. After using almost half the bottle, he found that he was no longer dizzy, and felt a lot more refreshed. 

“You’re standing so far away, what are you even trying to smell?” Duan JiaYan pulled down his collar and pointed towards his glands. “Why not come over here and take a closer sniff?”

Lu XingCi continued to silently stare at him. 

Duan JiaYan had just presented as an Omega, so he was not aware of what he was doing but Lu XingCi knew that when an Omega asks an Alpha to smell his glands, it can be taken as a very obvious invitation. 

“There’s no smell,” Lu XingCi reiterated. 

Seeing that he was so sure of his answer, Duan JiaYan decided to let it rest. He straightened out his uniform and left the washroom. 

There was no one outside the washroom. Duan JiaYan took out his phone to check the time and phone that lessons were almost over. 

Duan Jia Yan really wanted to find out what was going on with his body right now so he shoved the scent blocker into Lu XingCi’s hand.

“I’m going to make a trip to the hospital. Help me return this to Song Yi,” Duan JiaYan instructed. “I can tell with a glance that it’s his. That small kid always uses milk-scented scent blockers.”

Lu XingCi looked at him. The moment he said the word ‘milk’, Duan JiaYan ended up laughing first himself.

Despite mocking others, this fellow wasn’t exactly mature himself. 

“Duan JiaYan,” Lu XingCi thought to himself for a bit and decided to still remind him. “Don’t let others smell your scent.”

Duan JiaYan didn’t take his words to heart. 

Yi Zhong’s security guard recognised Duan JiaYan so even though school was not over, they still allowed him to leave the school. Duan JiaYan boarded a bus and promptly made his was over to the Central Hospital. 

He did not want to spend too much time waiting so he registered his case as an emergency. Fortunately, as at this hour on a weekday, there was not many people in the hospital and it quickly reached his turn. 

The doctor who called him in was a female doctor and Duan JiaYan succinctly explained what happened to him. After asking him about his age as well as a few other questions related to his body, she asked, “How did you find out that you might be an Omega?”

“A classmate of mine, he smelled me.”

The female doctor’s hand that was on her mouse paused, “An alpha?”

Duan JiaYan gave an affirmative noise in reply. 

“Then that classmate of yours must be a really good person.” The doctor wrote a bill for him, “Go and make payment first, then we’ll do an evaluation for you.”

Thinking back to what Lu XingCi said earlier, Duan JiaYan felt that something was a little odd. After leaving the doctor’s office, he took out his phone and found Shen ChiLie’s contact.

Shen ChiLie and Song Yi were his friends from elementary school, they had a lot of fun playing together. After they got to high school, Shen ChiLie went to Class Four. Shen ChiLie’s an Alpha and back then Song Yi even made a joke about how the three of them could form an ABO band.

Duan JiaYan sent a text message over, [If an Omega asks you to smell him, how will you feel?]

Shen ChiLie was probably playing with his phone and so his response came very quickly.

[I’d feel like I’m incredibly blessed to be there.]　

Duan JiaYan felt that something was still vaguely wrong and sent a series of question marks in response. Seeing Shen ChiLie’s next reply, Duan JiaYan felt like his brain could explode.

[An Omega letting an Alpha smell him, what other meaning could there be?]

[Isn’t it plain and simple seduction?]

“……”

Duan JiaYan stood motionless in front of the self-service payment machine for quite a while, he could feel his ears burning up.

He quietly swore under his breath. 

*

That night, Duan JiaYan got his medical report back. 

According to the results, the Omega hormones in his body had already exceeded the average amount and it seems like it still has the potential to increase. He was indisputably an Omega that just presented. 

It was also the first time the doctor met someone who presented as an Omega at this age and she could see that a myriad of emotions were going through the boy’s handsome face. After the shock has worn down, she carefully instructed Duan JiaYan to take note of certain things and also prescribed some inhibitors and scent blockers for him. 

The doctor also reminded Duan JiaYan to find time to change his personal data on the government’s registry, from Beta to Omega. 

Duan JiaYan happened to bump into Fu Yuan as he was opening the door to his house. 

It seemed like Fu Yuan was rushing out to settle something. She stood by the living room making a few calls, her usually calm demeanour carrying hints of anxiousness, “… Okay, I’ll make my way over soon.”

“Mom,” Duan JiaYan called out to her. “It’s already this late and you’re still heading out?”

“Xiao Yun is in the hospital again,” Fu Yuan replied. “Uncle He is already in the hospital with him. That child’s body has never been the best but the doctor has said that if he makes it pass the age of ten, his condition will get better. If you have time, do pay him a visit, he really likes you…”

Duan JiaYan made a noise in acknowledgement.

Fu Yuan rambled on, only realising after a while that Duan JiaYan should be attending self-revision right now. “Why are you back so early?”

“I went to do a health evaluation.”

He handed the medical report to Fu Yuan. After taking a look at the results, Fu Yuan looked at Duan JiaYan disbelievingly. 

“Ah Ye, you…” She paused for a moment. “Is your body okay? Are you adjusting fine? How are you feeling about this situation?”

Ah Ye is Duan JiaYan’s nickname. The nickname was coined by Fu Yuan when Duan JiaYan was still young, it was both affectionate and catchy. The long series of questions, coupled with the concerned look on the woman’s face made the corners of Duan JiaYan’s mouth quirk up. 

“I’m fine,” he reassured her. “There’s not much difference between an Omega and Beta.”

Fu Yuan’s brows were still creased. She had originally just thought that with how good looking this child is, as well as his sharp temperament, being a Beta will not make him lose out in any way. Who would have thought that he was actually a late bloomer, and was actually an Omega all along. 　

“As long as you don’t mind that’s fine,” she said. “We need to find time to change your personal information. I should have time next week—”

Her phone rang once again. The voice on the other end seemed to be rushing her and Fu Yuan did not know what to do. Duan JiaYan could see that she was being put on the spot and said, “There’s no need, I can find time to go change it by myself or I can get Song Yi to accompany me. You hurry on to the hospital.”

Fu Yuan nodded and started putting her shoes on. Duan JiaYan asked with a degree of forced casualness.

“Now that Uncle He and He YunShen is in Ning City¹, will you still be moving over to stay with them?”

Fu Yuan casually replied, “Uncle He bought a new apartment in Xin Huai, it’s rather close to Yi Zhong. We can move there together in a month?”

Duan JiaYan froze. 

“Ah Ye, do sleep earlier,” Fu Yuan said as she opened the door. “I might not be coming home tonight. Be sure to set an alarm for yourself okay. Don’t be late to school tomorrow.”

After she left, Duan JiaYan silently stared at the door and mumbled to himself, “…But I don’t want to live with them, I only want to live with you.”

His voice was very soft and in the vast empty house, it sounded a little lonely. 

Maybe it was because he just presented but that night Duan JiaYan could not get a good night’s sleep. He forgot to set his alarm and ended up missing two lessons in the morning. 

Once Duan JiaYan got to school, a huge portion of the class was already over. He had just made his way to his seat when Song Yi came over with stuff to say. 

“Bro, something big has happened,” Song Yi put down the phone that was always in his hand and looked at Duan JiaYan. “I don’t know what’s Du XuChen smoking but he’s insisting that he saw Lu XingCi fooling around with an Omega yesterday. Du XuChen said that the Omega’s probably not legal and that Lu XingCi forced himself onto the Omega. If he really did force himself onto the Omega then that’s illegal…”

In today’s society, the proportion of the ABO three sexes is roughly 3:6:1. Omegas are naturally rare so to protect them there have been strict laws implemented to prevent any from being harmed. 

Duan JiaYan felt his grogginess from the morning disperse. Raising his head, he noticed that Lu XingCi’s seat was empty. 

Song Yi heard Duan JiaYan say, “Lu XingCi didn’t tell you anything?”

“Tell me what?”

Duan JiaYan saw how lost Song Yi looked and was sure that Song Yi did not know that his scent blockers were used by Duan JiaYan himself yesterday. He thought back and realised that he was so focused on heading to the hospital that he did not discuss with Lu XingCi about where it was okay to tell others about him being an Omega. 

And so Lu XingCi did not tell anyone. 

Does this count as him… being protected?

“Where’s he?”

“I’ve no idea, I think he went out.”

Duan JiaYan made a noise in affirmation. Standing up, he made his way to the Sports class. 

Class Ten was situated in the corridor on the far left, while the physical ed class was on the far right. Duan JiaYan headed straight for the back door of the Sports class. 

This was where Du XuChen’s seat was located. He barely reached the class and he could already hear Du XuChen joking around with his classmates. He was very loud.

“Lu XingCi made a stupid mistake this time. He still dared to fool around in school, so what if he has his family to protect him, this matter will not be able to be smoothed over so easily.” A male student turned to talk to a girl beside him, “You Omegas have a forum right? A forum used by the top few schools in Ning City, why not post this on the forum?”

The girl hesitated.

Last night Du XuChen even went so far as to send a series of messages related to this event. This morning she saw Du XuChen delete his friends from his contacts, as if afraid of being caught. 

Since she also didn’t want to get in trouble, she replied ambiguously, “Let’s wait a minute, isn’t this matter still being investigated?”

“What are we still waiting for? The whole cohort knows he locked someone in the toilet with him. The teacher has even said that there were remnants of Omega pheromones in the toilet,” Du XuChen said with a smack of his lips. “But we can’t really put the blame solely on Lu XingCi. That Omega is really too lewd, not even using his inhibitors or scent blockers, isn’t he just waiting for someone to screw him?”

The girl frowned, not pleased by what she heard, “Sometimes it’s difficult for an Omega to control their pheromones. Is that what you all think?”

Du XuChen saw that she was upset and rushed to coax her, “No I don’t mean it like that. There are many different types of Omegas. You and that guy are not the same. His kind…”

He gleefully said with a wave of a hand, “He’s just asking to be screwed.”

The moment he said that, the back door of the classroom was kicked open.

Du XuChen’s seat was right next to the back door and so he was hit hard when the door swung open. He staggered off his chair, almost falling onto the floor. He turned around, wanting to ask which idiot decided to open the door with so much strength when he saw Duan JiaYan standing by the door. 

Duan JiaYan grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled hard. Du XuChen ended up being pulled by him out of the classroom. Putting aside the fact that Lu XingCi is able to move him around, it was more than embarrassing to have a Beta like Duan JiaYan pull him along so easily, especially when it was in front of so many people. 

Duan JiaYan saw how hard he was struggling and let go. The moment he was let go, Du XuChen immediately shouted, “Fuck! Duan JiaYan are you crazy?”

Duan JiaYan took a chair from the back of the class and swung it towards Du XuChen’s head. Du XuChen was stunned, he could feel a warm liquid flowing down his face. The pain came a moment later and it was only then that he realised he was bleeding.

Everyone was in a daze. 

At that moment, Lu XingCi happened to be leaving the teacher’s office and witnessed what was happening. Duan JiaYan tossed the chair aside and glared at Du XuChen who had just gotten a beating. The boy looked absolutely furious, his smile not reaching his eyes.

“I’m that Omega that you said is just waiting around to be screwed by others,” Duan JiaYan locked eyes with Du XuChen’s look of utter disbelief. He asked in a cold voice, “Tell me, do I look like I’m waiting to be screwed?”

Author’s notes:

I can’t answer this question, Xiao Lu will answer this.

---

1. 宁城 – I previously typed it as Ning Cheng, will be translating it as Ning City from now on.

---

T/N: Duan JiaYan is no damsel in distress, he’ll fight his own battles. \O/

Also, they’re not even together and Lu XingCi is already protecting Duan JiaYan aaaaa

ILYP Chapter Three – Male Washroom

Before language class was over, Zhao MinJun distributed the homework and instructed the class to memorise Li Sao¹ by next week.

Lu XingCi was the leader of the group situated by the window. Duan JiaYan gave a quick look in their direction and noticed that a girl was already trying to memorise the poem when the class has just ended. 

Naturally, Duan JiaYan will not memorise the texts.

He took out his phone, prepared to play some games on his mobile phone to distract himself. He’s been feeling a little restless recently.

When he was playing at an internet cafe near his school yesterday, someone he knew came up to him and rested an arm on his shoulder. He was an alpha and for some reason,  at that moment, it felt like every cell in his body was resisting his friend’s close proximity to him. If it wasn’t for him stubbornly not reacting, he might have ended up pushing his friend away. 

Just as he was about to play his game, he received a text message from Song Yi. Duan JiaYan felt that it was strange how Song Yi was sending him a message when they were sitting right beside each other. Opening up the message, he saw that it was a picture of Lu XingCi. 

 Lu XingCi seemed to have just exercised, his head slightly damp and the muscles along his arm lined with a thin sheen of sweat. 

He was drinking from a water bottle, and with his eyelids half hooded over his pair of crystal clear eyes, one could feel a sense of youth coming from the photo. 

The whole photo reeked of pheromones and was clearly secretly taken. 

Duan JiaYan, “?”

Song Yi withdrew the photo and turned around to explain, “I sent this to the wrong person. I was planning to send it to the ‘Holding Up Yi Zhong’s Sky’ group.”

‘Holding Up Yi Zhong’s Sky’ this name sounded incredibly cool but actually it was actually made up of the Omegas in Yi Zhong. Previously Duan JiaYan glanced at Song Yi’s phone and found that the group was talking about which Alpha had the biggest member. They really had no limits. 　　

“It’s even secretly taken wow. If you have the skills then you should use it to memorise your class texts,” Duan JiaYan nodded towards the language book with the words ‘Li Sao’ on it. “Li Sao’s not even as provocative² as you.”

Song Yi laughed and as if just noticing something, hooked an arm around Duan JiaYan, “A male junior complimented you today, praising your looks. He said that if you were an Alpha, he would have definitely chased after you. What followed after is just… Xiao Duan your popularity is nothing to scoff about too ah.”

“Then you tell that junior,” Duan JiaYan said as he booted up his game. “If he wants to chase then go for it, Xiao Duan will be waiting right here.”

Song Yi took what Duan JiaYan said as a joke and didn’t place too much emphasis on it. He might talk a lot but at the end of the day, Song Yi knows that since they were kids, Duan JiaYan has only liked girls. 

The Omegas in the group seem to have a really good impression of Duan JiaYan as they were still praising him incessantly. Song Yi could only silently shake his head in response　

*

Duan JiaYan pretty much slept his way through his afternoon classes. 

He felt especially tired today, his entire being did not really have much energy. He still had one class left, once they were done with it the school will let them out for dinner. Duan JiaYan lazily made his way towards the toilet.

Though he was still groggy from sleep, everyone else around him was very much awake. Occasionally a breeze will sweep through the corridors and cause the scent on his body to become more obvious, causing some students to turn his way as he made his way down the corridor. 

“Where did Duan JiaYan get the smell of pheromones from?”

“From sticking closely to an Omega maybe, aren’t they using scent blockers?”

“At the end of the day, a boss is still a boss, so arrogant.” 

Duan JiaYan caught people talking about pheromones but because his body was not feeling well, he only heard bits and pieces of it. He still thought that it was because he was holding in his pee for too long so he made haste and entered the wash room. Except he still did not feel much better after going to the loo, his head still felt dizzy and his whole body felt like it was having a fever.

Just as Duan JiaYan was rubbing his temples, someone brushed past him. The person carried with him a crisp and clean scent. Duan JiaYan’s height made it right to the person’s ear so he unconsciously found himself looking up to see who it was.

It turned out to be Lu XingCi and Duan JiaYan could feel the impulse to rub himself on the other person die down a little. Strangely enough, when Lu XingCi made his way closer, the feverish feeling in Duan JiaYan’s body seemed to get a lot worse. It’s as if there is something running rampant in his body and it can’t wait to burst out. 

Duan JiaYan softly grunted, his legs almost giving out. He quickly held onto the handle of the door of a toilet stall. 

Lu XingCi paused. His eyes swept Duan JiaYan up and down and he asked hesitantly, “You’re a Beta?”

Duan JiaYan heard his question that was heavily laced with doubt and laughed, “What do you think?”

Lu XingCi saw how confident Duan JiaYan was and for a brief moment thought that he really made a mistake. If it wasn’t for the tears welling up in Duan JiaYan’s eyes and the trembling hands gripping onto the door handle, Lu XingCi might have really needed to take more than a minute to reassess his judgement. 

He never would have thought Duan JiaYan would ever show such a weak side of him one day. 

It was not everyday that he was willing to think about others but Lu XingCi still decided to gently break the news to Duan JiaYan, “You have Omega pheromones on you.”

Duan JiaYan pondered for a moment, “You’re jealous?”

“……” After living for so long, this was the first time Lu XingCi has met someone who thinks so weirdly. In order to stop Duan JiaYan’s mind from taking another weird turn, he went straight to the point, “You might need to take another health evaluation. The pheromones are coming from you, you can’t smell them?”

Duan JiaYan immediately understood what was going on and was stunned. Before he could recover from the shock of possibly being an Omega, he saw Lu XingCi hovering in front of him before slowly saying, “Go find a stall and wait for me in there.”

“…Fuck.” Duan JiaYan was really scared this time. He warily looked at Lu XingCi, “What are you planning to do? Just kill any thoughts you have right now, we both don’t have to lose out.”

“Your pheromones are almost overflowing. I’ll head back to the classroom and get an inhibitor for you.” 

Duan JiaYan could not believe what he just heard. 

When Lu XingCi saw how Duan JiaYan was ready to fight him off, he suddenly had the urge to bully him. 

Duan JiaYan could feel his scalp tingle when Lu XingCi’s gaze went to his glands, as if he were a fish about to be killed on the chopping block. 

He heard Lu XingCi say suggestively, “If you wish to let me help you…”

Duan JiaYan, “See that door? Class monitor, please head towards it and do not turn back.”

Lu XingCi, “…then you can keep on wishing.”

Lu XingCi swallowed down a smile and lazily continued, “Even if I were to have any thoughts, it wouldn’t be towards you.” 

Not one to take things lying down, Duan JiaYan retorted, “Well, even if I were to have no suiters, I wouldn’t let you take a bite.”

Even though the sentence was clearly meant to provoke him, Lu XingCi only felt like laughing. Just as he was about to make his way back to the classroom, he felt a tug on the corner of his shirt, a tug that was neither too strong nor too weak. 

“I’m not…” Duan JiaYan initially felt that it was a little difficult to say what he wanted to say, but after looking at how calm Lu XingCi was, he felt a little irked. He’ll lose too much face if he got shy in front of Lu XingCi. 

Duan JiaYan tried his best to be calm, “I’m not in heat, you can just get scent blockers.”

In the end, Lu XingCi is still an Alpha, he wouldn’t know what’s really going on with an Omega. 

Duan JiaYan has never been through a heat but he learnt about it in class and he knows that the situation he’s in right now is not that serious yet. His legs are just a little unsteady right now and he feels giddy. 

Lu XingCi nodded and made his way back. Only when he returned to the classroom did he remember that he doesn’t have a scent blocker. Chen Yue and Zhou XingChen are both Alphas like him and randomly asking anyone might raise unnecessary questions. After thinking it over, he made his way to Song Yi’s table and quietly asked, “Do you have scent blockers?”

Song Yi was stunned for a little while before he finally nodded. 

Although Duan JiaYan said he did not need one, but Lu XingCi still decided to ask for it just in case, “Inhibitors too?”

Song Yi continued nodding, took out two small boxes from under his desk and passed them both to Lu XingCi.

After seeing Lu XingCi thank him and walk out of the classroom, Song Yi felt like he was waking up from a dream. 　　　

Damn, he was so focused on admiring the face, he forgot to ask Lu XingCi what he needed the items for!

Song Yi took out his phone and found the ‘Holding Up Yi Zhong’s Sky’ group chat. 

[Sisters!!!] He screamed in the group chat. [Class monitor just asked me for Omega scent blockers and inhibitors!!!]

[Fuck! Is my male god becoming a mortal now?]

[My god???]

[Lu Lu who are you trying to bed, mom’s not gonna allow it aaaaaa]

*

When Lu XingCi returned to the washroom, he saw a guy standing outside the male toilet, looking in its direction.

The guy seemed to be from the physical ed faculty and was a little familiar to Lu XingCi, but he couldn’t seem to remember his name. 

Du XuChen was momentarily distracted by the person making his way over to where he was. He only found out today that the person Jiang QiNian gave her milk tea to was Lu XingCi, the person Jiang QiNian liked was Lu XingCi. Since he was looking at his love rival, Du XuChen’s mood was a little complicated. 

Lu XingCi and Duan JiaYan were not the same. He’s able to badmouth Duan JiaYan in front of others but he did not dare provoke Lu XingCi. 

Seeing that Lu XingCi was choosing to remind silent, Du XuChen decided to speak first, “There’s an Omega in heat inside?”

Lu XingCi did not reply. This man was blocking the door to the washroom so he was unable to go in. If he were to just make his way in, the man will surely follow. He’s not sure but he thinks Duan JiaYan would not want others to find out that he’s an Omega. 

Remembering Duan JiaYan’s tear-filled eyes, Lu XingCi could not help frowning a little. 

Du XuChen took his silence as consent. He recalled that Lu XingCi had no girlfriend or boyfriend so he assumed that the other party was also here to join in the fun, his gaze subtly changed, “I have to say, the scent smells really good.”

“I’d never thought that you will also be interested in…” Du XuChen was attracted by the smell of the pheromones. Till now he has never smelled such a light and fragent scent. It was like a thin misty fog, though the smell was faint, it was more than capable of inciting an Alpha’s need for conquest.

He was so tempted by the scent that he spoke without thinking, “He’s doing it on purpose right? There are so many Alphas in the school and yet he’s not using any inhibitors. Isn’t he just waiting to be—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Lu XingCi suddenly grabbed him by the collar and shoved him aside. 

Du XuChen made some noise in protest at being pushed, and his head was also cleared. Lu XingCi might be taller than him but after all, he was from the physical ed faculty. His body was fit and he had a little more fat compared to other Alphas. He would never have thought that Lu XingCi could single-handedly push him from the door to the basins outside, his leg did not even exert much force on the ground. 

Lu XingCi glanced and saw that from here he could not see the washroom’s door and finally released his hand. 

“You find the scent nice? Stand out here and smell it to your heart’s content then. If you take even one step forward…” Lu XingCi stared at him. “Why don’t you take a step and see what happens?”

Du XuChen was scared by Lu XingCi’s gaze. The other person was evidently still wearing a uniform and out of the both of them, he clearly looked more like a delinquent but for some reason, he really did not dare make a single move. 

He even secretly told others in the past that Lu XingCi from Class Ten might look formidable but with his good grades, he wouldn’t dare get into any trouble. He would never have thought that this person will look so terrifying when he gets serious, his entire being felt nothing like a student. 

Seeing that Du XuChen was not replying him, Lu XingCi made his way to the washroom and closed the door behind him. 

Du XuChen finally snapped out of it after a few minutes. He angrily made his way to the washroom, and raised his hands to push on the door.

Only to find that it was locked. 

Du XuChen could not believe it and pushed on the door once again, his hands trembling a little. 

Is Lu XingCi crazy? He dares to play so big in school?

Author notes: 

The door is locked, no going in.

---

T/N: So I spent a day or so binging this and I have to say that I love Duan JiaYan and Lu XingCi so much aaa I’m so excited to bring this story to you guys. That said, I don’t really have a set schedule for this but I will update with a chapter whenever I can. Ideally at least once a week.

Also I might periodically go back and change some words and phrasing. Just thought I’d let you guys know–

---

1. Li Sao ( 离骚 ) is a Chinese poem written by Qu Yuan.
2. “离骚都没你骚。” – Duan JiaYan made a pun on Li Sao’s name as it uses the same character as provocative.

ILYP Chapter Two – Provocative

This taunt by Lu XingCi, was mean yet still polite. 

The atmosphere between them turned subtle. 

Duan JiaYan’s gaze is wrong, Song Yi thought has he felt his scalp go numb from that fake smile on Duan JiaYan’s face, he doesn’t know what’s currently going through Lu XingCi’s mind. 

Duan JiaYan’s mouth twitched a little, the corner of his eyes hooking up, as if he had something to say. 

In his heart, Song Yi said, “It’s here it’s here, the fight of the heavenly mountains is about to start–”

“What are you all standing around for?” The form teacher’s voice suddenly cut through the air.

“Are you all holding a meeting here?” The flag raising ceremony is about to start,” Class Ten’s form teacher Zhao MinJun is in charge of language. The first person that caught her eye as she made her way over was the one whose outfit was sticking out like a sore thumb, Duan JiaYan, “Duan JiaYan, where’s your uniform?”

Seeing that their teacher is here, Duan JiaYan lowered his eyes, “I forgot to bring it.”

“Discipline committee members, write his name down,” Zhao MinJun said to the two female students before turning back to nag at him. “Next time don’t forget to bring it. You tell me, how many times have you properly worn this school’s uniform?”

Looking at Lu XingCi walk away, Duan JiaYan seemed to have lost his will to fight, only dejectedly giving an “En.” in response.

Zhao MinJun and his mother were university classmates. Whenever it came to her mind, his mom would run over to Zhao MinJun to ask for his situation in school, that’s why in front of Zhao MinJun, it’s better for Duan JiaYan to be a little more well behaved. 

Zhao MinJun saw him looking all dejected and quietly asked, “What issue do you have with him?”

Duan JiaYan raised his head.

“Don’t get into any trouble,” Zhao MinJun nagged. “You’re already a sophomore. Okay?”

Seeing him agree, Zhao MinJun made her way back to the front of Class Ten. 

As one of the best private high schools in NingCheng, there are scores of students who want to come in every year. Since the school was founded, the strength of its teaching staff was very strong, especially for Class Ten. The school allocated the best of their teaching resources to that class, for no other reason than for the sole fact that Lu XingCi was in that class.

Aside from its genius, there are a few students that made their way in through their parent’s connections. Being able to wrangle these special students, as a form teacher, Zhao MinJun’s skills are, needless to say, obviously top-notch.

At least under her hands, Duan JiaYan has become a lot more obedient. 

After the flag raising ceremony, Duan JiaYan and Song Yi both didn’t want to return to class. After being called out by some students from Class Three, Duan JiaYan figured he should just ask for a few more students from his class and go play basketball with the guys from Class Three.

After playing for nearly two periods, the boys are all feeling exhausted, they lazily made their way to the long bench to rest. 

Duan JiaYan raised his head to quench his thirst, his adam’s apple rolling with every swallow. His long legs were placed against the ground, his whole body looked extremely relaxed.

A boy from Class Three asked, “Duan-ge, what’s up with Du XuChen from the Sports faculty? He was making a fuss today, talking about how you were giving attention to his goddess, when he was the one who first laid eyes on Jiang QiNian.

Before Duan JiaYan could speak, Song Yi nest to him laughed, “Du XuChen has no shame huh? We still have to say who comes first and second when chasing after a girl? Why not take a number and queue up?”

Everyone laughed at that, including Duan JiaYan.

The boy who first asked the question laughed too, “That’s why I’m letting Duan-ge know about this first. Du XuChen said he has long been displeased with you, and that he’ll find an opportunity to get even with you.”

“Will our Xiao Duan be scared of such an idiot?”

“Du XuChen is an ass, a stupid ass.”

“Ah,” someone in the group suddenly asked. “Did Duan JiaYan have an altercation with Lu XingCi this morning?”

“It doesn’t count as one,” Duan JiaYan thought about it for a bit. “He told me to get a uniform from the classroom, and I didn’t want to.”

“I was right beside them,” a student from Class Ten interrupted. “Class monitor’s appearance was a little frightening. I was about to break out into cold sweat from his one laugh.”

“Duan JiaYan you’re good,” a Class Three student continued, thinking back to the scene from this morning, his heart still felt some lingering fear. “You even dared to rebuke him, you aren’t afraid of starting an incident?”

Song Yi cut in, “Rebuke? What rebuke? It was merely a few sentences. Do you think everyone’s as unreasonable as you? What about you Guo Ran, if you were given that priviledge, will you still be around?”

“Hahaha, that’s right. If I was half as amazing as him, I’ll not only ascend the heavens, but also descend to the seas.”

---

While a class was still going on, the boys who skipped the class silently made their way into the classroom. Song Yi was gnawing on a sausage while Duan JiaYan was empty-handed stayed all the way at the back. 

Song Yi and him were sitting in the second last row. On the way back to their seat, they will have to pass by Lu XingCi’s seat, Duan JiaYan gave a casual glance in his direction, he seemed to be solving some math problems. 

Lu XingCi’s head was bowed down, lazily propping his head up with his other hand as he slowly solved the math questions in front of him. 

Duan JiaYan suddenly stopped in front of Lu XingCi’s desk.

He licked his lips, standing beside Lu XingCi’s desk, his tone ambigous, “Class monitor, I couldn’t tell, but your mouth looks pretty good.”

Lu XingCi’s pen abruptly stopped.

Usually, even with Chen Yue noisily playing his mobile games beside him, Lu XingCi can ignore him and finish his homework but this time, for some reason, his train of thought was broken by Duan JiaYan. Duan JiaYan was still waiting for his response, the little punk lackadaisically standing on the spot. 

Lu XingCi raised his head, his inky black eyes looking Duan JiaYan up and down, and casually asked, “You’ve tried it before?”

Chen Yue who was sitting beside him could not hold it in and started laughing. 

Duan JiaYan, “……”

Duan JiaYan was stunned, he didn’t thinking Lu XingCi will follow his conversation, and even give him such a reply. He did not know what response to give, and not wanting to stand there for too long, he turned and made his way back to his seat. 

Seeing his ashen face, Song Yi inwardly shook his head. After taking his seat, Duan JiaYan seemed to be lost in thought, even when the bell rang he still wasn’t moving. Song Yi good-naturedly asked, “Ancestor, your anger made you dumb?”

Duan JiaYan frowned, “Did you smell Lu XingCi’s scent?”

Even though the number of Betas far outnumber the number of Alphas and Omegas around, with Omegas in recent years even becoming something akin to rare, endangered animals that need protection. But in school, it’s not just Omegas, but Alphas have to also use scent-blockers daily.

Song Yi thought that the question was meant to taunt him. After all, he was an Omega and he has not yet smelt Lu XingCi’s pheromones. More accurately, no Omega has smelt Lu XingCi’s pheromones before. There was a female student who once tried to find a way to find out what the school’s idol smelt like, but Lu XingCi’s self-control has always been strong, he has never lost control before. 

Song Yi was currently waiting for Duan JiaYan to scold someone only for Duan JiaYan to quietly mutter, “It smelt pretty good…”

---

When Zhou XingChen made his way back to the classroom, he happened to see a girl sitting in front of Lu XingCi and Chen Yue. 

It was free period in the evening and so there was next to no one in the classroom. The girl folded up the test paper on the table.”

“As always, Class Monitor is still the best. This week’s math quiz is really too difficult, I could not understand the teacher at all when he was explaining it,” the girl shot a smile in Lu XingCi’s direction. “But I immediately understood the question once you explained it. Thank you!”

Lu XingCi replied, “It’s no trouble.”

The boy really had too many admirers. On a normal day, she would usually not be able to even speak more than two sentences with him.

The boy’s face was handsome and clean, being about to be so close to him, her heart couldn’t help but itch. She gathered up her courage and asked, “Next time if I have any questions I’m not sure of, can I come find you for help?”

Lu XingCi chuckled at that, and Chen Yue helped to answer, “Ah, next time why not come find me? I know how to solve the questions too.”

The girl quietly looked at Lu XingCi, who had a lazy look on his face, with no intention of replying.

Knowing that this was his way of tactfully refusing her, she bit her lower lip in disappointment and said to Chen Yue, “Then I’ll come look for you next time.”

“Okay okay okay, if you don’t find me, I’ll come to find you.”

After waiting for the girl to leave, Zhou XingChen sat on the seat she was sitting on, his two long legs stretched out, “Since when has our class committee member been interested in Lu-ge? That said, her qualifications aren’t bad, good grades and pretty looks.”

Chen Yue bent down to fiddle around with his phone, “Lu-ge isn’t even interested in our school’s flower. That girl might be even further from the mark.”

“Who’s our school flower?”

“Isn’t that Jiang QiNian?”

Zhou XingCheng gave a short exclamation, “And here I was thinking that it was our family’s fox.”

“You had an argument with Gu Li?”

“Argued yes. Every time we argue it is me chasing after her ass asking for forgiveness, as if afraid she’ll skin me. Every word I say is about me being in the wrong. This time I won’t coax her, if I back down then I am a dog.”

“Hen pecked,” Chen Yue shook his head. “A good for nothing.”

“You know nothing. This is called ‘My wife is the best.’ It’s a privilege only given to the best of men,” Zhou XingChen twisted around. “Aren’t I right Lu-ge?”

“You’re asking him?” Chen Yue was amused. “Since when would he want to be controlled by someone?”

“I want it ah,” Lu XingCi laughed along. “It’s only that I don’t have the chance to.”

“And who can we blame for that? Aren’t you the one pushing people away?” Thinking back to the sea of ladies that like this men, Zhou XingChen’s heart ached for them. “When will I get to see you taking the initiative to chase a lady?”

“There was someone he took the initiative with,” Chen Yue suddenly thought of something, and added. “He was so provocative today, even asking the person if they have tasted his….” Isn’t his mouth great.

Seeing Zhou XingChen get all excited, Chen Yue purposely gave a sigh, to tease him, “Man, it was too provocative, I can’t say it.”

Zhou XingChen, “……”

Zhou XingChen, “!!!!!”

Zhou XingChen, “An Omega? Pretty? From our class?”

Chen Yue nodded his head, “From our class yes, but not an Omega.”

He was so serious that Zhou XingChen couldn’t help being drawn in, his own tone turning serious, “Who is it?”

Beside Chen Yue, Lu XingCi watched as Chen Yue took Zhou XingChen for a spin, and didn’t say anything to stop him. 

Seeing how hooked Zhou XingChen was, Chen Yue began laughing crazily, “It’s Duan JiaYan! Hahahaha! He came today to provoke Lu-gou. He really is interesting…”

Before he could finish, he say Zhou XingChen’s expression dim a little, “Oh him…”

Chen Yue noticed his strange expression and casually asked, “What?”

“The incident at Qiao Nan, I still remember it,” Zhou XingChen said. “He was so good at getting into trouble, you would think he’s a natural at it.”

ILYP Chapter One – Flag Raising Ceremony

It is the end of September in NingCheng¹, the temperature is slowly cooling down. 

The rain is pitter-pattering on the window and the sky is dark, the perfect weather for sleeping in. 

The students in the back of the classroom have long fallen asleep. Wang JiaYan, who is usually the first to fall asleep in class, is currently lackadaisically holding up his face with his palm while holding a conversation with a goddess on WeChat. 

The goddess Jiang QiNian is a student from the art faculty. The two of them have been chatting for quite a while and can be considered to be pretty familiar with one another. Jiang QiNian sent JiaYan a message saying that she’ll send him a cup of milk tea during the next class which helped to wake Duan JiaYan a little from his daze, a grin appearing on the corner of his lips. 

Just as he was finished typing his reply, Duan JiaYan felt that someone was always looking at him. He subconsciously lifted his head and just so happened to meet the gaze of his physics teacher standing on the podium. 

The first lesson of the day was physics and most of the students were inevitably unable to avoid feeling lethargic. This was something the teacher was used to, though to his surprise, Duan JiaYan actually managed to stay awake. After teaching Duan JiaYan for more than a year, this was the first time the teacher has seen this happen. 

“Hey! Duan JiaYan, I’ll pick you then,” the physics teacher said with a smile. “Answer this question.”

Duan JiaYan stood and glanced at the big screen in the classroom, it seems every question is a multiple-choice question, “I’ll pick C?”

Physics teacher, “……”

Sounds of laughter came from the classroom, Song Yi who was Duan JiaYan’s table buddy seemed like he was close to dying from laughter, “Hahahaha, are you sleepwalking? The teacher asked you to explain a problem-solving question.”

“Alright, sit down,” the phsyics teacher said as he slapped the podium to get the student’s attention. “Everyone concentrate, there’s only 10 minutes left till class is over.”

Right at this moment, the sounds of chatter came from the back of the classroom. 

“…Lu-ge, the back door is closed.” 

“Should we knock? Right now it’s physics class right? Ol’ Feng’s temper is good, if he sees his best students knocking on the door he wouldn’t say much for sure.”

“Once the class monitor is standing there, Ol’ Feng will happily open the door.”

“It’s class time now, what are we doing going in,” a light-sounding male voice came from behind the door, “Isn’t it the same just sitting on the floor to rest?”

“But my phone and water bottle is in the classroom…”

“Are you stupid? We just changed seats yesterday, the one sitting in the back of the classroom now is Duan JiaYan.”

Right after saying that, the man who first spoke looked at the back door with some apprehension, but then thought of something, “Lu-ge’s not afraid of him.”

Outside the door, Chen Yue laughed, “Will you die if you speak a little less?” Are you a kid? Still talking about being scared or not.”

Then the bell rang. The physics teacher promptly dismissed the class after a few quick words and the class soon become noisy. Just then someone kicked open the front door of the classroom.

Chen Yue, the one who kicked open the door, looked at his physics teacher’s twitching mouth and gave a mischievous laugh, “Hello teacher Feng!”

“Went to play?” The physics teacher’s gaze swept over the young boy’s slightly sweaty forehead. It wouldn’t take a genius to guess what these boys skipped class to do.

The first few times Lu XingCi skipped class, the teachers of Class Ten got a fright, thinking that the student has finally learned to be bad. 

It was only after a while that they realised the boy is just taking some time off to destress himself. He still ended up being the top of his cohort. The teachers of Class Ten were now very accustomed to the habits of this young master. As long as his results were good, nothing else mattered. 

Chen Yue said without a shred of guilt, “Only you understand us students best. It was too boring this morning, so we went to exercise for a bit to wake our brains up.”

One could tell he was not saying this seriously and laughter rang throughout the class. Chen Yue really liked being in the spotlight and just as he was about to add a few more words, someone gently kicked his calf, quietly telling him to not block the way.

Chen Ye silently closed his mouth and went on his way. 

“Lu XingCi,” the physics teacher said to the tallest boy in the group. “You got first place in this week’s physics quiz. The paper was definitely not easy so seeing as you got full marks, you must have studied hard. It is very worthy of praise.”

Hearing the teacher praise Lu XingCi so, Chen Yue directed a strange gaze to Lu XingCi.

This Lu-dog², studying hard for a physics quiz? After teaching him for more than a year, has the teacher not realised that he has a talented genius in his midst?

It is funny no matter how they think about it and a few boys around Lu XingCi could not help laughing. Yet the face of the one getting praised remain unchanged, his long eyelashes drooping.

“Thank you teacher.”

So, he can still pretend to be a model student. 

The youths who just finished exercising carried a vigorous air around them, full of vitality. Although he just became a sophomore, Lu XingCi’s shoulders were already broad, with the muscles on his arms clearly defined whenever he was carrying books.

Song Yi, who was sitting next to Duan JiaYan, was looking to his heart’s content, “Oh man, the class monitor’s so good looking. His handsome face has once again made its way into my heart.”

Duan JiaYan smiled, “Since it’s already in your heart, why don’t you make your move?”

“Since it’s already in my heart, I’m contented with just looking. So many people have their eyes on him, if I really go out with you I’ll surely be the target of their jealousy and scorn……” Song Yi said. Following this line of thought, he added, “Though if he were to just give me a smile, I wouldn’t mind all the trouble.”

Duan JiaYan could not be bothered with him, and left his seat to exit the classroom. 

Many students pass by the corridor, Duan JiaYan was lazily looking at the spider ivy hanging from the floor above him when he heard someone shout his name. 

He turned around, eyes lit up. 

It was Jiang QiNian, smiling as she held up two cups of milk tea. Her long chestnut dyed hair was tied into a bun sitting atop her head, she wore lipstick and on her large school uniform was a small, white tie. 

Since young, Duan JiaYan has always had a preference for glamourous looking girls. Song Yi had even teased him for having the same taste whenever he was picking a female. 

Duan JiaYan softened his tone, giving her a smile and said, “Why’d you bring two cups?”

“One’s for you, and one’s for your class monitor.”

After she said it, Duan JiaYan’s smile froze. Concentrating on her last point, he asked, “Lu XingCi?”

Jiang QiNian did not pick up on his emotions, “The one with half sugar is yours, and the one with one-third sugar is your monitor’s. Don’t take the wrong one alright, he doesn’t like drinking anything too sweet.”

Seeing as how Jiang QiNian was already holding the cups of milk tea in front of him, Duan JiaYan could only accept. Jiang QiNian continued, “Let me know once he’s accepted the milk tea okay? Thank you!”

Duan JiaYan carried the two cups of milk tea inside the classroom. 

His gaze swept across the classroom before hesitantly stopping by the window seat in the fourth row. 

The boy sitting there has long legs and a nice looking body, Song Yi had even praised his face to the high heavens earlier. 

If he was to be perfectly honest, he really has a handsome looking face. It just deserved a beating. 

Duan JiaYan expressionlessly placed the cup of milk tea on Lu XingCi’s table, “It’s from Jiang QiNian.”

Without knowing when, the gaze of the class ended up converging on the both of them. 

Lu XingCi raised his eyes. He has single eyelids, and long and dense eyelashes, his gaze somehow always carrying a sense of distance and isolation. 

The boy’s slender fingers traced the lid of the cup, “I don’t drink this.”

Duan JiaYan patiently replied, “This only has one-third sugar, it’s not sweet.” 

Without waiting for Lu XingCi to reply, he added, “If you’re not going to drink it then just throw it away.”

Seeing him leave after giving the cup of milk tea, Chen Yue who was sitting being Lu XingCi gave a short “En” before sitting forward. 

Everyone is in the same class, and they all could always tell that Duan JiaYan more or less did not really like Lu XingCi. Chen Yue had his earphones on so he did not hear that the milk tea was a gift from Jiang QiNian. He blinked his eyes at this surprising phenomenon and said absentmindedly, “Is the end of the world here? I actually say Duan JiaYan giving you a drink? Lu-dog, do you think the drink is poisoned?” 

Lu XingCi actually laughed.

“What are you laughing for?” Chen Yue said incredulously. “It’s really poisoned?”

“No poison,” Lu XingCi said, bringing out the physics questions he missed from the lesson before, prepared to have a look at it when he has nothing else better to do. “I just felt like his look just now was pretty amusing.”

Honestly speaking, Duan Jiayan’s pose just now, instead of sending a cup of milk tea, was more like he was picking a fight. 

Seeing him return, Song Yi could not hold his question in any longer, “Where did you get the milk tea from?”

Duan JiaYan answered acerbically, “Jiang QiNian gave it to him.”

“……” Song Yi did not know what to say in reply.  

Song Yi and Duan JiaYan have known each other for quite a few years. Duan JiaYan is a Beta, from a good family. His family is not very strict with him in terms of discipline and though his grades are not worth looking at, but luckily he was born with a good looking face, which made life smooth sailing for him. 

But, after attending high school, as if falling under a curse, every girl that Duan JiaYan has feelings for ended up liking Lu XingCi instead. After a number of incidents, Duan JiaYan ended up treating Lu XingCi as his life’s enemy, a threat he can’t remove. 

Song Yi always felt that, if Lu XingCi was not the one Duan JiaYan was facing, according to Duan JiaYan’s character, he would have probably long tried to solve this problem with violence. 

Duan JiaYan’s mobile phone started vibrating. It was Jiang QiNian asking him on WeChat is Lu XingCi has accepted her milk tea or not. 

Duan JiaYan grinded his teeth and replied with a “Yes, he accepted it.” He glanced at Song Yi, “Let me ask you, Lu XingCi and me…eh?”

Unlike Duan JiaYan, Song Yi is an Omega, and is much clearer than Duan JiaYan on Lu XingCi’s attractiveness as an Alpha. Even though Duan JiaYan was good looking in his own right, he still could not be compared to Lu XingCi.

Of course, he could not say this. If he did, he will definitely be pummeled by Duan JiaYan who lack the concept of ABO gender differences in his brain. Fortunately, Song Yi has a hundred ways to coax the Beta, “Hee hee, of course you are better. You’re much more approachable, unlike the Monitor was who is definitely an Alpha I will never be able to get close to. Us sisters will be happy just looking.”

Duan JiaYan, “……”

Caught off guard by the term ‘sisters’, Duan JiaYan asked, “When did you male Omegas start calling each other sisters?”

After seeing that this ancestor’s attention was diverted, Song Yi struck while the iron was still hot, “We have many popular terms among us male Omegas, do you know what’s called–”

Duan JiaYan suddenly narrowed his eyes, “I’m approachable?”

Song Yi, “……”

Duan JiaYan has already vented his anger, he lazily poked the cup of milk tea Jiang QuNian sent, and mumbled to himself, “I’m already so approachable, will it kill to like me back a little?”

For a split second, Song Yi heart clenched at how cute he looked.

Just for a split second. 

–

It was Monday’s flag-raising ceremony and the whole school was gathered in the field. 

Duan JiaYan came late and slowly made his way to the Sophomore level’s Class Ten. On his way there, girls kept trying to sneak a peak of him.

“Look at that, Class Ten really does have handsome looking dudes.”

“But Duan JiaYan has always looked this handsome ah.”

“He’s still a little punk though, plus his grades are so bad…”

The boy was tall and fair-skinned, but his eyes were rimmed with red and his hair was messy. One look and you can tell he just woke up. 

“The students who have yet to fall in line hurry up!” The school’s director said atop the flag-raising podium. “Don’t take your own sweet time, make haste, quickly find your own class.”

Duan JiaYan turned a deaf ear to the nagging as he slowly made it to the end of Class Ten. In front of him was Song Yi, who was no better than him, arriving only two to three minutes ahead of him. 

“Good morning Xiao Duan,” Song Yi turned back while sucking on a packet of yoghurt, his speech a little slurred, “Why aren’t you in uniform?”

Duan JiaYan gave a short “Ah–” before adding, “I forgot.”

Right after Song Yi asked his question, two female students from the Discipline committee made their way to his class.Song Yi thought that Duan JiaYan was about to have his name recorded, they don’t really care about getting in trouble anyway. Who would have thought that Duan JiaYan would give a short laugh to the female students before adding, “Fellow students, can you not record my name this time around?”

The female student was originally about to put a cross at the back of his name. After hearing his question, she paused.

The other female student softly murmured under her breath. The first Discipline committee member turned to look at her partner, then back at Duan JiaYan, not sure what to do for a moment there.

When Lu XingCi turned his head around, this was the scene that greeted him.

He did not know what Duan JiaYan said but it made the female Discipline committee member’s ear turn red. Duan JiaYan has a good face, with a pair of youthful, bright-looking eyes, high nose bridge, and pale lips, whenever he smiled it always carried a lazy air to it, looking both amorous and affectionate. 

Chen Yue reminded him earlier that the discipline committee was stopping by their class for too long, and might attract the attention of the director. With their teacher not here, it was his responsibility as class monitor to try and find a way to chase the discipline committee members away. 

Chen Yue just mentioned it as a joke, knowing how Lu XingCi usually will not butt into other people’s matter, but who knew that this time, he actually started making his way over to the end of the line. 

His arrival broke the students out of their stalemate, “Is it okay if he goes to the classroom now to get a school uniform to wear?”

The two girls looked up at him, then looked at each other, both their gazes looking a little shy.

One of the two female students quietly answered, “The flag-raising ceremony hasn’t started yet so y-yes he can…”

Lu XingCi turned to look at Duan JiaYan, “Head on to the classroom, Chen Yue hung his uniform on his chair, you can wear it first.”

Duan JiaYan met his gaze for a moment. Inexplicably, the last string in the back of Duan JiaYan’s mind, under the ease of how Lu XingCi handled the situation, snapped. 

An air of mischief rose from his body, Duan JiaYan lifted his eyes, stifling a smile. 

“I twisted my ankle, so it’s not convenient for me to get the uniform. Going to the classroom and back just to get the uniform might make it worse,” he said as he looked Lu XingCi in the eyes. “Class monitor, why not you go get it for me? Won’t you help a classmate in need?”

Everyone in the class knew that the pair rarely saw eye to eye, yet it was not often that Duan JiaYan was this nice to Lu XingCi.

The pair’s conversation ended up attracting the attention of not only their class, but the attention of the classes around them.

Lu XingCi met Duan JiaYan’s gaze, not breaking his line of sight. 

Even though he was still developing, the pressure eminating from the body of the Alpha was more than enough to make one break out in cold sweat. Though Duan JiaYan seemed like he was not affected in the lease, Song Yi was more than ready to start kneeling for him already. 

Xiao Duan really was all brawns and no brains³.

He had always thought that Duan JiaYan would only antagonise Lu XingCi behind his back, while acting like a normal human face to face. Who knew that he will actually do this now?

The both of them always had some friction between them, but it was usually Duan JiaYan looking for trouble on his own, Lu XingCi usually doesn’t bother. 

Song Yi always felt that, in the great Class Monitor’s eyes, Duan JiaYan was but a small child, no matter how bratty, it wasn’t worth his attention. But this time was different, the bear child is finally acting wildly in front of the parent. 

Even with just Lu XingCi standing there, the alarm is Song Yi’s heart is already sounding thousands of times for Duan JiaYan.

Under everyone’s eyes, Lu XingCi smirked a little, his gaze playful.

“How convenient. I’m having a bad cold. Taking off my clothes could make it worse.”

It was raining just a while ago, so the field was indeed pretty cold.

Song Yi was feeling a sense of deja vu when he saw Lu XingCi give Duan JiaYan, who was wearing a sweater, a once over, “Tell you what, why don’t you take your sweater off, I’ll go take the school uniform and exchange it with you for the sweater.”

---

1. 宁城 – City of Ning?
2. 路狗 – Literally Lu Dog but it’s more a nickname.
3. 莽夫 – I’m not too sure on this. Chinese site says this is used to describe someone that has a well developed body but isn’t all that bright?

T/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter!