The two of them arrived at the access gate almost at the same time. Xu Ze stalled a step so that Lu Heyang could scan his face and enter the school first.
The screen was a medium-sized display, Lu Heyang stood right in front of it while other students lined up behind him. As Lu Heyang looked at the screen, he saw Xu Ze looking at the back of his head. A second later, Xu Ze looked at the screen, and in that instant, their eyes met.
Xu Ze didn’t expect to see Lu Heyang on the screen. He lowered his head.
“Verification passed, please enter,” the machine announced. Lu Heyang passed through the gate, and a few seconds later, Xu Ze also entered the school.
Xu Ze was still lost in thought as he thought about the omega who had dropped off Lu Heyang at school today. He remembered seeing that person in the old town when he helped Lu Heyang fix the flat tire. Only today, the omega wasn’t wearing sunglasses. From Xu Ze’s aesthetic point of view, the face was a rare beauty—cold and distant, unforgettable with just one glance.
Xu Ze always imagined that if Lu Heyang were to date, it would be with someone like this.
There were no feelings of sadness or grief. Xu Ze had never fantasized about any possibilities between him and Lu Heyang. When he discovered that the unattainable person belonged to another outstanding person, he only felt that the rules of this world made sense because the right people were together.
The beautiful trophy always belonged to the champion, and since he wouldn’t be the champion, all he could do was applaud and admire.
As they walked one in front of the other, Lu Heyang suddenly looked back.
It was just an ordinary glance. But when he turned to face the side, the sunlight fell on his face and created a silhouette when he turned back. Xu Ze unconsciously opened his mouth as if under some compulsion, but in reality, even he didn’t know what he would say if he made a sound.
Xu Ze quickly pursed his lips and swallowed those strange things.
Then he noticed that Lu Heyang had slowed down his pace. In a few steps, the two of them were walking almost side by side. Lu Heyang still looked ahead and casually asked, “You ride your bike to school every day?”
Xu Ze nodded but realized that Lu Heyang might not be able to see it, so he added, “Mn, it’s close.”
“Right, the old town is close to the prep school,” Lu Heyang said.
Xu Ze suddenly didn’t dare to answer rashly. He didn’t know if Lu Heyang remembered that he lived in the old town because he had helped him fix his car the last time, or because he had taken him home on Tuesday night.
If it was the latter, it meant that he was Xu Ze in front of Lu Heyang that night, not Seventeen.
In fact, Xu Ze’s memory of that night wasn’t clear. He drank too much and fell asleep in the car, so many details were fuzzy. The only thing he remembered was that Lu Heyang’s attitude was different from usual, the kind of attitude he would only have in front of Seventeen. Even though it was not obvious, Xu Ze could sense it a little every time.
Xu Ze decided to test the waters.
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, due to his lack of experience in “testing”, the test Xu Ze ended up giving was—he said, “128 yuan.”
Ktf jcalylbalmr jcv kjafg atja Oe Lfsjcu ybeuta tlw ijra alwf abajifv 128 sejc.
Coafg rjslcu la, We If gfjilhfv tbk raeqlv la rbecvfv.
Oe Lfsjcu kjr lc j vjhf, yea joafg j ofk rafqr, tf aegcfv jcv jrxfv, “Qtja?”
Ktf tfluta vloofgfcmf yfakffc tlw jcv We If kjr jybea atgff ab obeg mfcalwfafgr, rb tf ibkfgfv tlr fsfr rilutais ktfc tf ibbxfv bnfg. Dea We If rlwqis ofia jc ecfzqijlcjyif rfcrf bo qgfrregf ilxf tf kjr yflcu ibbxfv vbkc eqbc.
“No, it’s nothing.” Xu Ze said.
“Mn.” Lu Heyang had already gone to the flowerbeds in front of the school building. Since the two of them weren’t in the same building, he said, “I’ll head to the classroom.”
Xu Ze stood in place, “Okay.”
He watched Lu Heyang’s back until he reached the stairs. This behavior of seeing off an acquainted alpha schoolmate was strange, but Xu Ze didn’t realize it.
Before the end of the school day, Lu Heyang received a message from Xiao Feng containing the list of boxers for tonight’s match.
Lu Heyang looked through the list and asked: Seventeen isn’t on?
Xiao Feng: Ah, aren’t you and Seventeen friends? He didn’t tell you? Today he is fighting in a warm-up match, which is just a casual match with no prize money, fighting for nothing.
Xiao Feng: Also… I heard that Seventeen offended the big boss. Not only will he get no money for this week’s match, but apparently he’ll be facing a cruel boxer next Friday who has even KO’d people to death before.
Xiao Feng: Why don’t you persuade him… not to fight next week? I’m worried.
Lu Heyang stared at the screen without replying, then only asked Xiao Feng to reserve two seats. He Wei was ordered to go home for dinner today and couldn’t go to the Westside, so Lu Heyang was going with Gu Yunchi.
It was another day that Gu Yunchi didn’t go to school. Lu Heyang walked out of the school gates, and Gu Yunchi happened to have just arrived. Lu Heyang got into the car and said, “Take me to buy something first.”
The biggest difference between Gu Yunchi and He Wei was that he wasn’t overly curious and he didn’t need to get to the bottom of every detail. He hummed and asked Lu Heyang to say the address to the navigator.
Halfway there, Lu Heyang received a call from home. The housekeeper said that Lu Chengyu was going to catch a plane in the evening and told him to come back early.
“Okay, I’ll be back soon.”
After hanging up the phone, Lu Heyang looked out of the car window mindlessly. He knew that Lu Chengyu didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart talk to strengthen their father-son bond. It was because the bodyguards had reported his location and Lu Chengyu ordered him to return in this way.
“Uncle Lu is back?” Gu Yunchi asked.
“Yeah.”
Gu Yunchi glanced at him, “Then watch for a while and go home.”
Lu Heyang nodded without saying anything.
When they arrived at the boxing ring, the opening match had just ended. Lu Heyang didn’t sit in the audience. After talking to Gu Yunchi, he headed backstage.
Xiao Feng wasn’t there, so Lu Heyang took the same route as last time and walked toward the backstage area. The backstage was likely shared by the entire venue, with corridors leading to other sections. On both sides of the hallway, there were storage rooms, dressing rooms, and makeup rooms. Since it was early, the backstage was packed with people, most of whom were wearing heavy makeup or smoking cigarettes. Lu Heyang appeared to be overly clean among them. Some people couldn’t help but check him out, but they hesitated to approach him since he was an S-level alpha.
Lu Heyang went straight to the dressing room at the end of the corridor, knocked on the door, and opened it.
Inside were two boxers who turned to look at him warily, “Who are you?”
“I’m looking for Seventeen.” Lu Heyang said with a calm expression, “I have something for him.”
One of the boxers nodded toward the door next to the closet, “He’s in there.”
“Thanks,” Lu Heyang said.
He walked over and opened the door. Inside was a small toilet and shower with dim lighting. Seventeen was standing in front of the sink with his back to him, bent over with a towel draped over his shoulders. The faucet was running, and Seventeen seemed to be washing his face. Lu Heyang took a step to the side and saw that the yellowed sink was full of blood, slowly flowing down the somewhat clogged drain.
Seventeen turned off the tap and straightened up. When he removed his hands from his face, blood still dripped from his nose.
The moment he raised his head, his eyes met Lu Heyang’s in the smudged mirror. Seventeen eyes widened. He immediately turned his head to confirm that Lu Heyang was really standing behind him.
“You…” Seventeen turned around, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and paused before asking, “Did you just get here? I didn’t see you earlier.”
“Yeah,” Lu Heyang looked at him with a vague smile on his lips, “Were you looking for me?”
Seventeen had unintentionally set a trap for himself. Realizing this, he lowered his eyes, wiped his nose again, and said, “Just asking.”
Lu Heyang glanced at the time on his wristband, then handed Seventeen the cardboard box in his hand, “This is for you.”
The filament of the light bulb above them flickered and made a faint hissing sound. Seventeen looked at the box, then back at Lu Heyang. Eventually, he took the towel from around his neck and wiped his hands clean before taking the box.
“See if you like them,” Lu Heyang said.
Like a programmed robot, Seventeen silently followed Lu Heyang’s instructions and opened the box.
The smell of fresh leather wafted out. Seventeen stared at the pair of black-red boxing gloves. When he saw the brand name imprinted on the edge of the gloves, he raised his head in surprise. His face was dirty, covered in low-quality paint and muddy, undried blood. But his eyes were clean, a dark gray with a hint of almost imperceptible blue undertones under the extremely low wattage light.
It was an overly expensive gift—both the gift itself and the person who gave it were so valuable that it made him reluctant to accept it, yet eager to look at it a little longer. Seventeen swallowed and asked quietly, “Why are you giving me this?”
“To celebrate your victory,” Lu Heyang said.
A bad thought crossed Seventeen’s mind. He wanted to accept the gift to celebrate a victory, but he quickly dismissed the thought—akin to a child’s first attempt at lying, burdened by a guilty conscience and lacking experience. In the end, he decided to obediently tell the truth instead.
“I didn’t win. I lost the opening match,” Seventeen murmured, sounding regretful, which was unusual for him as he usually didn’t care about winning or losing.
However, Lu Heyang didn’t look surprised or disappointed. He just smiled, “It doesn’t matter, it’s not important. Let’s consider it an early celebration for your next victory.”
Seventeen didn’t resist any further. He looked at the boxing gloves. He stretched out his hand and touched the smooth leather. Then he said to Lu Heyang, “Thank you.”
Lu Heyang could feel his happiness, even though Seventeen didn’t show it openly—he didn’t smile and his eyes didn’t light up. Seventeen kept examining the gloves as if he treasured and loved them. It was hard to conceal such a feeling.
The phone in his pocket vibrated, and he knew it was the housekeeper urging him without checking. Lu Heyang ignored it but realized he was running out of time and had to go.
“I got to go.” Lu Heyang said, “See you next week.”
Not only did Seventeen get expensive new gloves, but he also got an agreement to meet next week. Even the messy and protruding hair on Seventeen’s head from the fight appeared content and at ease. He looked directly into Lu Heyang’s eyes and pursed his lips in a small smile.
Seventeen said earnestly, “See you next week.”
Author’s note:
Well… Seventeen don’t get too excited. When you meet next week, your disguise will be gone.
Noooo the author’s note is giving me anxiety 😭
Thank you anon for the ko-fi and to doububu for the chapter 🤍
Thank you for the chapter!
i really enjoy this novel!!
thank you for the chapter<33
author casually teasing us with that note
I’m…. excited?? but also worried?!?
what’s the author preparing for us to see, brr. please author-nim, make it a comfortable reveal. All I want is my babe’s happiness with his caring husband. 💐
Tysm for today’s chapter </33 have a great day. 🙂
The author clearly loves spoilers XD
Thanks for the translations!
Not the author spoiling us lmaooo