Zhou Rin got into the car and was driven to the place where Zhou Cun’s speech contest was supposed to be held. He watched the scenery pass outside the window with a lost expression in his eyes. His heart beat very quickly, unable to calm down the strange emotions that spread inside his chest from these sudden changes.
What was going on?
He’d initially thought that someone had played a prank on him. Using some unknown methods, they could have replaced the note and created a fake photo to put in the photo frame, working alongside his secretary to pull off such a joke.
But no one would dare toy with him in this way, especially regarding his brother. Everyone knew that Zhou Cun and Ji Ning were taboos that shouldn’t be mentioned in front of the Zhou family. No one would be willing to bear the consequences of such a meaningless prank.
But if this was all true, then his brother was still alive, and had become his Didi…
Zhou Rin’s expression didn’t change, but his palms were damp with sweat. He pulled out his phone to check its contents. His phone was specially encrypted so it was almost impossible for its contents to be altered. If he checked his phone, he would know what happened.
He looked down at his phone screen and saw that the date and time hadn’t changed. It was as if he’d been dropped into a parallel world.
Zhou Rin opened the photo gallery and found there was a specific album for pictures of his family which had a lot of stored photos. There were hundreds of photos from his teenage years to the present day.
Just like in the family photo in the office, his elder brother Zhou Cun often appeared in the pictures, appearing a few years younger than him. He himself had changed from an arrogant and reckless teenager to a mature adult who wore a suit.
In the chat history between his family, his contact ‘Gege’, had changed to ‘Didi.’
Zhou Rin scrolled back through pages and pages of conversations. In his messages, he often asked about his Didi’s studies in the way an older brother should, but even though they’d changed positions, their personalities seemed to have remained the same. As a teenager, Zhou Cun was still in high school, but his grades had always been top of the school and he’d won all kinds of awards, as well as being the head of the student union. He was unbelievably impressive.
But it seemed that, like before, when Zhou Rin was in high school he was a rebellious child. He didn’t study well and frequently acted out. Their father would often compare Zhou Rin to his younger brother which annoyed him to no end, but he always treated Zhou Cun well in private. As a result, even though he was resentful, his relationship with his brother had always been good.
Looking at the messages exchanged between the two of them, Zhou Rin’s fingers trembled slightly from the excitement and joy caused by this dream. He couldn’t help but lose his normal composure, his eyes rimmed red as the breath he was holding in his lungs felt sour and hot. For a moment, he couldn’t speak a word, covering his stinging eyes with his hands.
But what about Ji Ning? What had happened to Ji Ning?
Thinking of the Omega who had also been dead for a long time, Zhou Rin slowly calmed down his agitated breathing. Clutching his phone tightly in his hand, he wanted to open the address book but didn’t dare, too afraid of losing all hope once again.
But he was more desperate to know if Ji Ning was still alive and if they knew each other. If he really had the chance to come back, then could he have a chance of saving Ji Ning this time?
There was a burst of painful stuffiness in his chest as he tortured himself with hesitation and anxiety. Finally, he opened the address book, but because his hands were shaking so much, it took him several tries before he could click on the search bar and enter Ji Ning’s name.
There were no results.
There was no one called ‘Ji Ning’ in his contacts.
Zhou Rin looked down at the empty search bar, a sense of loss in his heart even as his tense body slowly relaxed.
Even when the relationship between the two of them was at its worst in their last life, they had exchanged contact information out of politeness because everyone in the Zhou family should share contacts. If he didn’t have Ji Ning’s contact information, that meant that the Omega was not connected with the Zhou family. Perhaps Ji Ning didn’t even exist at all.
In this world that seemed like a dream to him, Zhou Rin didn’t know what the answer was. But as long as Ji Ning was out there, no matter what he had to do, he would definitely find him again.
Except, there was another possibility. His Gege– his ‘Didi’ in this world, might already know Ji Ning, but just hadn’t yet introduced him to the family.
Zhou Rin wished he could immediately send a message to Zhou Cun to ask him if he knew Ji Ning, but such a question was too abrupt. He couldn’t just ask him directly.
The venue for the speech contest was in the auditorium of University A, the best university in the city and one of the top institutes in the country.
The car slowly drove into the campus and stopped near the auditorium. Zhou Rin’s throat rolled and he sent a message to Zhou Cun, asking him where he was. He quickly got a reply telling him to meet outside the entrance.
“Gege.”
Zhou Cun, who had a teenage appearance, stood outside the auditorium and smiled at Zhou Rin, greeting him.
Compared with Zhou Rin’s most recent memories, the boy’s face was a little more childish, but he was still handsome. In a neat school uniform and with a clear temperament, standing next to a mature and handsome Alpha, the two brother’s outstanding appearances quickly attracted the attention of several people.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
His Gege, who had been dead for many years, had suddenly become a teenager standing in front of him. Even though he’d spoken to the teenager through a text message, Zhou Rin was still taken aback at the sight of him, his eyes prickling. He lowered his head slightly to hide the whirling emotions on his face.
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“Yeah.” The boy smiled and nodded, “Then, I’ll go backstage and prepare, it’s going to start soon. Dad, mom, and sister have already gone into the auditorium. You’re sitting with them, so just look for where they are.”
Zhou Rin nodded and said goodbye to the teenager before entering the auditorium. There were a lot of people and the seats were nearly all full. Fortunately, it was easy to find where his family was sitting and he took a seat next to his sister.
In his memory, he vaguely recalled his brother participating in this competition before. Back then, he had only been young, so his impressions from the day were hazy. He only remembered that the dome of the ceiling was very high and there was a lot of applause after his brother’s speech. He’d won the top award by a mile and Zhou Rin remembered holding a bouquet of fragrant flowers in his arms, but that was it.
After a while, the lights in the auditorium dimmed and the competition officially started. Zhou Rin settled back in his seat and casually glanced around the room.
His sister sat on his left, while his right side was empty, the space reserved for Zhou Cun. He was late in the running but still wanted to watch the other contestants after his speech instead of hiding backstage.
Because he didn’t want his family background to affect the results of the competition, Zhou Cun kept a low profile and didn’t use the Zhou family name, but as he was one of the contestants most likely to win, his family were provided with a private box.
Having no strangers around was best for Zhou Rin, as he was extremely sensitive to pheromones. Omega pheromones in particular made him feel nauseous, so he didn’t like to get too close to people outside his family.
Zhou Rin was absentminded, thinking about the series of events that had occurred so rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, they were already halfway through the first contestant’s speech.
Deep in thought, he didn’t notice that someone was approaching until they sat in the empty seat next to him. Automatically, he said softly, “Sorry, this is-”
Suddenly a burst of pleasant sweetness filled his lungs. Startled, he looked up at the person sitting next to him.
“Is there already someone here.”
The person’s voice was very soft, and he made to stand back up, “Sorry to bother you, I thought the seat was empty, I’ll go.”
“No.”
Zhou Rin grabbed the person’s hand. With a hint of urgency in his voice, he prevented him from leaving, “There’s no one here, you can sit, it doesn’t matter.”
“…”
His sister glanced at him with a slight smirk, but unexpectedly didn’t say anything, turning her head back to the stage to watch the speech.
“Okay, thank you.”
The man sat gently back down, his beautiful face revealed in the dim light as he sent Zhou Rin a small smile.
The fragrance belonging to the epiphyllum flower lingered faintly in the air, its gentle temptation almost enough to make Zhou Rin cry.
It was Ji Ning.
It was him.
He really appeared.
Zhou Rin’s eyes prickled as he stared at the Omega in front of him. His hand never let go of the other’s wrist and instead tightened, until he left finger marks in his pale skin.
Ji Ning’s eyes widened, looking a little scared. He tried to pull his wrist away and asked in a low voice, “Sir?”
Seeing his unease, Zhou Rin jolted, like he’d woken up from a dream. He quickly let go of his wrist, bowed his head and said, “I’m so sorry, I just remembered something, did I hurt you?”
“It’s fine.”
Seeing his sincere attitude, it seemed like a momentary error rather than an attack from the unfamiliar Alpha, so the Omega once again showed him a gentle smile and shook his head, “Let’s watch the contest.”
Zhou Rin nodded and fixed his eyes back on the stage, but he was unable to hear a word the speaker was saying, all of his attention focused on the Omega beside him.
He’d really seen Ji Ning again…
Not only had his brother come back, but Ji Ning appeared with him.
Zhou Rin’s hands gripped tighter on the armrest, nearly cracking the plastic material. Only then, did he control his excitement, keeping his face carefully blank to prevent any strange expression from emerging.
He wanted to keep looking at Ji Ning, but he’d already embarrassed himself just now. If he kept staring he would definitely leave a bad impression, just like the first time they’d met.
But this time and their first encounter had become completely different.
Zhou Rin didn’t know why Ji Ning had appeared here. As far as he knew, Ji Ning first met his brother when he was in college and the two had gone to different schools.
At that time, his brother had gone on a business trip in another city and met Ji Ning out of coincidence. They had a good impression of each other from their first meeting and exchanged their respective contact information. After speaking through texts and calls for many months, they gradually developed feelings for each other.
But now everything had changed. As he was only a teenager, his brother had no reason to travel to that university in the middle of nowhere, so he hadn’t met Ji Ning yet. This time, the person who met Ji Ning first was him.
Did that mean he could change his destined fate?
What if his brother didn’t die? What if Ji Ning didn’t fall in love with his brother, but….fell in love with him?
A wave of applause spread out, and Zhou Rin joined in automatically. The next contestant to appear was Zhou Cun, so he forced himself to restrain his various delusions and finally focused his attention on the stage.
The youth was calm and confident in his speech and effortlessly held the audience’s attention. Furthermore, his outstanding appearance was enough to soften people’s hearts. When he finished his speech and bowed, it took a long time to calm down the audience’s applause.
Soon after, Zhou Cun found where his family was sitting but was surprised to find it had been occupied by an unfamiliar Omega. Slightly irritated, he said, “Sorry, that’s my seat.”
“Ah? Really, I’m so sorry…”
Ji Ning stood up and Zhou Rin automatically started to follow him, when his sister said abruptly, “No need, Xiao Cun, come and sit in my seat. I have to go back to the company for a meeting.”
She got up and let the teenager sit in her empty place.
“…Ah, okay.”
The boy listened to his elder sister’s words and obediently sat down. His sister curled her lips into a smile, winked at Zhou Rin and mouthed ‘You’re welcome’ before leaving the auditorium.
Soon after, the intermission arrived and the auditorium became lively as the audience started moving around. Ji Ning turned to Zhou Rin and thanked him sincerely again, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know this was Zhou Cun’s seat.”
“My Didi didn’t say he was sitting here before and I thought you might not be able to find another seat, it’s not a big deal.”
Zhou Rin explained casually. His brother’s head whipped around to look at him, giving him the same suspicious look his sister had before.
“It’s my own fault for coming late.” Ji Ning shook his head, “I didn’t expect the competition to be so popular.”
“Why did you come, are you supporting someone?” Zhou Rin asked, naturally continuing the conversation with Ji Ning.
“One of the contestants is my student.” Ji Ning smiled, “I have a good relationship with his family so because his parents are at work today and can’t come, he asked me to film his speech.”
“You’re a teacher?” Zhou Rin looked surprised, “But you look so young.”
Ji Ning laughed and explained, “I’m not an official teacher yet, I just tutor some students. I’m still studying in the mathematics department of this university.”
Ji Ning was a student of University A? Zhou Rin’s heart pounded, not only had their first meeting changed, even the school he attended was completely different from before.
Since Ji Ning was a tutor…
“If you got into this university, your grades must be very good.”
He pretended to think for a few seconds, then said, “I have a bit of a rude request. My Didi isn’t very good at maths and I’ve been looking for a tutor for him. It must have been my good luck to speak with you, I don’t suppose you have any time in your schedule?”
“I do have time…but you say Zhou Rin’s maths is poor? He sounded extremely intelligent…” Ji Ning wondered out loud.
Zhou Rin looked at Zhou Cun. The teenager spoke slowly after a beat of silence.
“…I’m really bad at maths, I’m just good at liberal arts. Like my Gege said, my family was planning to hire a tutor for me.”
“Okay, let’s talk about this in detail later…can I have your contact information?” Ji Ning asked.
“Of course.” Zhou Rin took out his phone, “My name is Zhou Rin, using the ‘Rin’ from awe-inspiring.”
“Hello, I’m Ji Ning.”
The two exchanged contact information and after the intermission, the second half of the competition continued. When it was Ji Ning’s student’s turn to appear, he carefully recorded a video. After the speech competition ended, the two sides politely said goodbye and left.
“Not good at maths, huh…”
After they got into the car, the teenager picked up his school bag and stuffed the first place certificate and medal inside, giving Zhou Rin a probing look. He pulled out a folder and handed over a test paper.
“I must have forgotten to show you my mid-term paper.”
Zhou Rin looked down at the teenager’s paper, marked with a bright red perfect score. He handed it back and said lightly, “Then ask the tutor to consolidate it and continue making persistent efforts.”
“Of course.” The young man smiled and took the test paper back. “But you obviously aren’t doing this for my maths, you’re just using me as a shield. Gege, are you interested in him?”
“…”
Zhou Rin froze for a moment, then turned to look at the teenager, “What if I said yes?”
“I think that’s good.” The boy said, “But isn’t he an Omega, won’t his pheromones disgust you?”
“No.” Zhou Rin shook his head, “I like his pheromones. To me, he smells like an Omega should.”
“Such an Omega exists?”
His brother looked shocked, then blinked hard and laughed happily, “That’s great…Gege he must be your destined partner, you mustn’t miss him.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
Zhou Rin’s gaze turned darker. Meeting the pure eyes of the young teenager, he said in a low voice.
“This time, I won’t miss him.”
The author has something to say: For me, getting full marks in maths is an ancient memory from primary school. By the way, little darlings who are still in school and need to take their mid-term exams, I wish you good grades! =3=
I think one of my worst nightmares would be waking up as the youngest of my family – there is no dignity and no authority!! But, I suppose it would be nice to be doted on…
Bleh, my exams start next week and go on until May!! They’re pretty spaced out, so my update schedule should stay regular but if I miss one or two you guys can’t get mad ก₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎ค
Honestly I thought that Ji Ning would be his fiance and that the reason Zhou Rin couldn’t find his name in the contacts was because he was labeled as ‘Husband.’
Thank you for the chapter and good luck on your exams!! ╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑
Me too!! I was so disappointed, I thought the twist was he’d saved Ji Ning under a cute nickname (´-ω-`)
and thank you!!
Somehow, I feel kinda sad for Zhou Cun… LOL T_T )… Even though they aren’t destined or linked by fate, he still treated Ji Ning really well and loved him seriously (in their “real world”). Even though this is pretty much a simulated world, it still feels bittersweet to see him turn into the younger brother. Glad that Zhou Rin can finally experience happiness though. Ji Ning was too harsh on him jshdja
Also, good luck on your exams!
Zhou Cun is really quite pitiful – and the fact that he’s helping Zhou Rin seduce Ji Ning through the tutoring sessions, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!! I do think the next few chapters bring a really satisfying conclusion to the two brothers, please let me know what you think!!
Thank you very much – I’ll do my best!
Zhou Cun more like Zhou Cucked 😔 I love the little cat kaomoji you use 💕
p.s. There’s a typo! “Zhou Rin’s maths is poor” -> “Zhou Cun’s maths are poor”