After lunch, the teacher instructed everyone to return to their rooms to take a nap and leave at exactly 2:30 pm to attend the lecture. He Wei and Gu Yunchi had slept enough on the bus, and Lu Heyang had rested before the meal, so the three of them planned to go out for a stroll.
Before leaving, Lu Heyang walked over to where Xu Ze was sitting and handed him the room key card, “Here’s the room card. I’m going out for a while.”
Xu Ze took the room card, his eyes lingering on Lu Heyang’s fingers as he replied, “Okay.”
Back in the room, Xu Ze washed his face and closed the curtains. As he walked toward the bed, he paused. After a moment of hesitation, he bent down and meticulously smoothed out the crumpled corners of Lu Heyang’s bed sheet.
The hotel bed was soft and Xu Ze wasn’t used to it. He turned over a few times before finally lying on his left side, looking across the aisle at Lu Heyang’s pillow, and slowly closed his eyes.
About 40 minutes later, Xu Ze woke up and checked his phone. It was 1:30 pm. He was about to sit up when he heard a very light knock on the door—as if it wasn’t serious, but rather a few probing taps.
Xu Ze got out of bed and walked to the door. Without checking the peephole, he opened the door directly.
Lu Heyang stood outside the door, holding a bag in his hand, and looked like he was about to leave. As the door creaked open, he turned around with a smile on his lips, evidently in high spirits. He asked, “Did I wake you up?”
Xu Ze, still groggy from just waking up, had a few strands of hair sticking up messily, and his T-shirt collar was crooked. After realizing what was happening, he opened the door more and said, “No, I just woke up.”
“Well, that’s perfect.” Lu Heyang smiled again. He walked past Xu Ze and placed the bag on the table. “Don’t close the door yet. He Wei and Yunchi are coming over soon.”
“Okay.” Xu Ze partially closed the door and then went to open the curtains.
As Lu Heyang unpacked the bag, Xu Ze passed him a box of tissues. Upon glancing sideways, Lu Heyang noticed that Xu Ze had seemingly shaken off his drowsiness, yet still appeared somewhat unnatural. Xu Ze said, “Use this to wipe your sweat.”
“It’s okay, I’ll shower in a while.” Lu Heyang took a cup of watermelon juice out of the bag and put it on the table. He asked Xu Ze, “Want some? It’s freshly squeezed.”
Xu Ze hesitated, thinking that the cup must belong to one of the three of them, not him, and intended to refuse.
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.
However, Lu Heyang went on to say, “I brought it for you. If you don’t like it, that’s fine.”
Ktf rec yfjwfv yglutais bearlvf. Oe Lfsjcu’r ojmf tjv aegcfv rilutais gfv ogbw atf rec. Llr tjlg kjr mjgfifrris qertfv yjmx jcv yfjvr bo rkfja aglmxifv vbkc tlr obgftfjv. Gfrqlaf atlr, tf vlvc’a jqqfjg atf rilutafra yla vlrtfnfifv. Yc atf mbcagjgs, tf rffwfv j ilaaif ifrr mbiv, rtbklcu j abemt bo atf kliv jcv nlubgber jiqtj cjaegf, mbwqifwfcafv ys atf qtfgbwbcfr atja atf ibk-dejilas kglrayjcv mbeivc’a fcalgfis yibmx.
Xu Ze’s fingers twitched as he sensed the imposing aura emanating from the other S-level alpha. Rather than causing discomfort, it triggered an instinctive urge to compete within him.
“Thank you,” Xu Ze said in a low voice, his throat dry.
Lu Heyang went to the bathroom to take a shower. Not long after, He Wei and Gu Yunchi pushed the door and entered. Seeing Xu Ze standing by the table, looking a little distracted with his hair disheveled and collar crooked, He Wei immediately blurted out, “Wow, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Lu Heyang did something to you.”
The bathroom door opened, and Lu Heyang came out wiping his hair, and asked, “What was that?”
“Are you sure you want to hear him repeat that crap?” Gu Yunchi said.
Lu Heyang nodded in agreement, “Forget it then.”
“I don’t feel like talking to you guys.” Approaching the table, He Wei set down a bag and took out some bayberries from it. “Ugh, I just now fell into the river trying to catch the fish.”
Gu Yunchi sat on the sofa, “If you hadn’t fallen into the river, we wouldn’t have come back so early.”
That was a fact. He Wei mumbled, refusing to accept it. He inserted a straw to drink the watermelon juice. After a few sips, he raised his head and asked Xu Ze, “Did you try this? This watermelon juice was squeezed by Heyang. It’s super sweet.”
Without waiting for Xu Ze’s response, Lu Heyang found a straw from the bag and inserted it into the cup of watermelon juice on the table. He handed the drink to Xu Ze and grabbed another cup for Gu Yunchi.
“There are also iced bayberries.” He Wei was simply a young master who found everything in the mountains fascinating. He selected the biggest bayberry, took a bite, and said, “The owner mentioned they were chilled in mountain spring water, and they taste especially refreshing.”
On the leisurely midsummer afternoon, Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi were lounging on the sofa, while He Wei sat at one end of the coffee table. The sunlight outside was intense, and the air-conditioned breeze rustled the thin curtains. The three alphas chatted about a variety of topics from He Wei’s purebred horses in the stable, to the famous painting Gu Yunchi had bought at an auction with his grandfather last week, to the gliding and skydiving that Lu Heyang regularly participated in… Xu Ze sat quietly at the foot of his bed and looked at them, feeling that this moment was good, even though he didn’t belong in their group.
Some boundaries were obvious. Lu Heyang and the others were polite and well-mannered, but that was the extent of it. The distance between them would never truly close. Their social circles had been defined since birth. Others couldn’t easily become close with them, and they did not need additional connections.
But that didn’t matter to Xu Ze, he didn’t dwell on such things. For now, at least he could sit here and observe how Lu Heyang behaved in front of his close friends—a side of him that he had never had the chance to see before.
At half past two, they left the room. The corridor wasn’t wide, and the four alphas walking together felt crowded. Xu Ze instinctively lagged behind. Within a few seconds, Lu Heyang slowed down his pace and fell behind to walk alongside him.
Once everyone was assembled, the school bus headed up the mountain and arrived at the base about ten minutes later. However, today the researchers were collectively doing reports, which prevented them from visiting the base until tomorrow.
The lecture was held in the auditorium. In addition to the S-level students from the Preparatory School, there was also a group of students from a top high school in the local area. It was a rare sight to see a group of S-level AOs together. Even after they sat down, the curious gazes continued to dart toward them. Xu Ze sat in the second last row, three rows away from Lu Heyang and the others.
Shortly after the lecture began, an omega from the other school on Lu Heyang’s left turned to talk to him. Based on his expression, it didn’t seem like he was talking about the lecture.
Xu Ze watched them for a while before turning his attention to the screen and quietly taking notes.
The lecture concluded after three hours. The S-level students took the bus back to the hotel at the bottom of the mountain. While it wasn’t dark yet, He Wei suggested they go catch some fish. To him, going to the river in the mountains to catch fish was fresher and more exciting than going fishing to the sea on a private yacht.
Lu Heyang intended to give the room card to Xu Ze, but after looking around, he couldn’t find any sign of him. He went to ask the teacher, who gave the reply, “Xu Ze asked for leave as soon as we got off the bus. He said he was going out.”
“Where could he go?” He Wei made a random guess from the sidelines, “It can’t be that he was kidnapped by an omega from the other school.”
“Tell you what, I’ll contact Xu Ze and ask him to go to the front desk to get another room card.” The teacher said, “Be safe while you’re out. It’s going to rain tonight, so come back early.”
“Mm-hmm.” Lies came as soon as He Wei opened his mouth, “We’re just going to check out the scenery and take a walk.”
The fish in the mountains were very agile. After fishing for over an hour, they only caught a few small fish. The three of them released them back into the river. They climbed ashore to return to the hotel for a shower and dinner.
In the ten minutes on their way back, heavy rain started pouring down. By the time they reached the hotel, their hair and clothes were soaked. When Lu Heyang opened the door to his room, it was pitch black—Xu Ze hadn’t returned yet.
Even at the end of dinner, after 8 pm, Xu Ze still hadn’t returned. It was still raining heavily outside. The teacher told Lu Heyang as he left the restaurant, “Xu Ze told me he’s on his way back. Remember to open the door for him.”
“Okay,” Lu Heyang replied.
Back in the room, Lu Heyang turned on the TV. The news channel was replaying the morning news. Watching the alpha surrounded by high-ranking officials on the screen, he changed the channel with the remote control with no expression on his face.
About ten minutes later, he heard a knock at the door.
Lu Heyang got up from the sofa and opened the door.
Xu Ze stood outside the door, appearing as though he had just been fished out of water. He was drenched from head to toe, with water droplets trickling down the tips of his hair. His thin white T-shirt clung to his body, distinctly showing the contours of his figure. His lips and face were pale, yet when their eyes met, his dark gray eyes suddenly lit up, and his eyelashes trembled slightly.
Xu Ze was carrying a bag wrapped in several layers of clothes, and he couldn’t see what was inside.
“Come in,” Lu Heyang reminded Xu Ze when he noticed him standing still.
Xu Ze stepped into the room. Lu Heyang turned up the air conditioner temperature using the control panel next to the door. He didn’t ask where Xu Ze went or what he did, because that was the other’s private business. Lu Heyang just said, “Take a shower first.”
“Mn,” Xu Ze replied in a low voice. He put the bag on the table and took some clothes out of his backpack. He appeared somewhat hesitant as if he already knew the answer but still wanted to ask something.
After some delay, Xu Ze finally asked, “Did you already have dinner?”
“Yeah.”
Xu Ze nodded silently and took his clothes to the bathroom.
Translator’s note:
You can have a midnight snack after dinner! ! ( •̀ ᴖ •́ )
(杨梅) apparently it has many names in English: Chinese bayberry, red bayberry, yumberry, waxberry, Chinese strawberry…
Oh no, don’t tell me he went to buy dinner for them…?
ANGSTY ANGSTY
Thank you so much for the update <3
Love it❤️
Don’t tell me he went to get food from the place that lu told him about!!! xu ze you fool in love😣
I’M HEARTBROKEN. LET ME DIE（ｉДｉ）
Oh Zu Xe bought dinner 🥺. I have a question, does Lu Heyang suspect that Zu Xe is Seventeen?