The first meeting was quite simple. The teacher roughly explained some arrangements for the second half of the semester, including matters related to off-campus training, attending lectures, and participating in various activities and competitions.
Xu Ze sat in the middle row and watched the screen. But every now and then, he would unconsciously lower his gaze and look at the seats in the front row, lost in thought—but only for a second or two each time, and he would quickly return his attention to the podium.
At the end, the teacher passed out the schedule. While most of the activities were funded by the school, some required students to pay for themselves.
After reading the dates, Xu Ze paused when he saw the expenses for the self-funded activities. Then he folded the form and put it in his school uniform pocket. The others gradually left the conference room. Xu Ze got up and walked down the steps toward the podium while the teacher was packing up.
“Any questions?” The teacher asked.
“Teacher, do I have to participate in every activity?”
“There’s no mandatory requirement, but it’s advisable to participate as it will be helpful for future admission and major choices.”
At the same time, Lu Heyang and He Wei were walking towards the door, and they overheard the teacher asking, “Is there any inconvenience?”
The alpha in front of the podium stood up straight, paused for a second, and said, “I want to apply not to participate.”
Lu Heyang raised his eyes and happened to see Xu Ze’s profile. A moment later, he walked past Xu Ze. He Wei put his arm on Lu Heyang’s shoulder. It was hard to tell whether Young Master He was unaware of the world’s suffering or just wondering. Either way, he chuckled and thought out loud, “Is there any inconvenience? Yea~ money is an inconvenience.”
In the afternoon, the last lesson was swimming. Xu Ze came out of the locker room. Chi Jiahan was warming up by the pool. He was in Class 9, and from the second year of high school, the swimming classes for Class 9 and Class 11 were held at the same time.
“Can you go into the water?” Chi Jiahan looked at the injury on Xu Ze’s ribs and was worried.
“It’s fine.”
“You wouldn’t say even if it wasn’t.” Chi Jiahan stretched his arms high and said casually, “I just heard the gym teacher say that your class will have swimming lessons on Tuesdays starting next week.”
Xu Ze wasn’t particularly interested but asked anyway, “Why?”
“Just adjusting the classes. From now on, you will be in the same class with Class 1… and a few other classes, I forgot which ones.”
Xu Ze flinched, then slowly turned his gaze from the dark blue swimming pool to Chi Jiahan’s face, “Class 1?”
“Yeah, that should be the case.” Sensing that Xu Ze was suddenly focused, Chi Jiahan turned to ask, “What’s wrong?”
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.
Xu Ze shook his head, “Nothing.”
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After all, Xu Ze’s injuries had always been endless, and inquiring about them never yielded any results. The teachers at the Preparatory School strictly adhered to the principle of not interfering with the students’ private lives. As time passed, they could only turn a blind eye.
An omega ran up to Xu Ze and said something to him, but Xu Ze just looked down and then shook his head.
It was a no-brainer, Chi Jiahan knew that he must be saying “it’s fine” again. Chi Jiahan climbed out of the pool, walked over, and pushed Xu Ze to a chair to make him sit down. He disinfected his wound with an iodine swab from the public first aid kit.
Xu Ze didn’t resist along the way and just said, ”It’s already healed, it won’t get infected.”
Chi Jiahan almost laughed at him in anger, “It won’t get infected, but those omegas will feel distressed.”
Xu Ze had always been slow in this regard—or perhaps he had never paid attention to it. He frowned, “What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Just don’t go into the water later. I’ll practice by myself. You should get off school early and rest.”
“But then you’ll need to stay behind after class,” Xu Ze was well aware of Chi Jiahan’s swimming skills.
Chi Jiahan was struck dumb, then said, “I’ve improved recently and can finish the practice on time.”
“It’s okay, go ahead.” Xu Ze casually placed some bandages on the wound and stood up, “I’ll watch you by the pool.”
The atmosphere seemed to be different back at the poolside. Chi Jiahan looked ahead and saw an alpha who was half a class late standing by the adjacent pool, surrounded by many omegas. The gym teacher blew the whistle while holding a stopwatch, and the alpha promptly entered the water—Chi Jiahan suspected that the place where he entered the water would be enough for him to swim for a few seconds on his own.
“He Wei, S-level, transferred here last week and just started attending classes today,” Chi Jiahan said, “He has a good relationship with Lu Heyang.”
Lu Heyang’s background had always been a mystery known only to a few. He Wei was a new face who had transferred to the Preparatory School less than half a day ago, and no rumors had leaked out about him before he arrived. So the two of them coming together was somewhat intriguing—in the Preparatory School, personal information that could be kept completely confidential without being discovered was usually worth noticing.
In Chi Jiahan’s opinion, even if everyone in the school were probing, Xu Ze wouldn’t be one of them. He seemed detached from everyone else and indifferent to everything—he was quiet, anti-social, and not interested in entertainment; you wouldn’t know what he cared about, what he liked, what desires he had. If the face on his head was a little more ordinary, he would be completely lost as a nobody on campus.
However, Chi Jiahan still felt that as a friend, he had a duty to educate Xu Ze on some human knowledge. Even though Xu Ze would never take the initiative to cause trouble, it was always a good idea to understand a little more at the Preparatory School.
Xu Ze looked at the swimming pool at the other end and said “Mn” as usual, without expressing any opinion.
Chi Jiahan had indeed improved and completed today’s training goal five minutes before the end of the class. Meanwhile, He Wei had completed all training tasks in just 15 minutes.
Back in the locker room, He Wei took a shower. When he came out, Lu Heyang was sitting on the bench in front of the lockers, looking at his phone. Upon hearing footsteps, he raised his head and said, “Done?”
“Yep. Busy Young Master Lu came all the way here to wait for me. Let’s go and eat.”
The two of them walked out along the long corridor between the locker rooms and the bathroom. When they passed the door of the fourth locker room, an alpha suddenly walked out. He was wearing a slightly frayed and faded black T-shirt. His hair was half wet, and water droplets from the tips of his hair were trickling down into the neckline along his white nape.
Xu Ze stopped at the locker room door with his head down, putting on his wristband and making way for the two alphas to walk out.
Unexpectedly, the two individuals didn’t pass by him. Xu Ze heard someone call out his name, word by word.
“Xu. Ze.”
The tone sounded confrontational. Xu Ze raised his head with an impassive expression and looked over coldly, but was instantly stunned.
He Wei smirked at him with the corners of his mouth raised, “The teacher told me that your results today were the best among all the alphas. Do you like swimming?”
Even though He Wei had asked him the question, Xu Ze’s eyes fell on Lu Heyang’s face first. When he met the unfamiliar yet calm gaze, his fingers unconsciously curled up and his wristband fell to the ground.
“I don’t like it,” Xu Ze came to his senses, bent down to pick up the wristband, and replied in a low voice.
“That means you’re gifted. Next week’s swimming class happens to be the midterm exam. How about a competition?”
Xu Ze continued to fiddle with his wristband, but somehow he couldn’t fasten it properly. In the end, he simply gave up, lowered his hands, and said, “My class’s swimming lessons have been moved to Tuesdays from now on.”
“Tuesday?” He Wei thought for a second, then turned to ask Lu Heyang, “Doesn’t your class swim on Tuesdays as well?”
“Mn,” Lu Heyang responded.
“What a coincidence. You two can have a competition.” He Wei seemed to be bored to death if he didn’t stir things up.
Lu Heyang didn’t say a word, as if he didn’t care. He looked at his phone, “Gu Yunchi said he’s here and is urging us to come.”
“Tsk, when will his patience get better? Let’s go, let’s go.” He Wei put his arm on Lu Heyang’s shoulder and walked forward. As he passed Xu Ze, he casually commented, “You should change your wristband. It’s too old, that’s why it’s so hard to clasp.”
Xu Ze lowered his head slightly and didn’t answer. After they left, he took the wristband again. The corridor was dimly lit, and it took Xu Ze almost half a minute to put the wristband on. He slung his backpack over his left shoulder and walked out. A drop of water fell down his bangs and flowed into his right eye, instantly blurring his vision. Xu Ze lifted his hand to wipe his eyes.
For some reason, he felt a bit annoyed.
“What are you up to?” On the way to the parking lot, Lu Heyang suddenly asked.
He Wei acted dumb, “What do you mean what am I up to?”
Lu Heyang gave him a look.
“You’re talking about Xu Ze?” He Wei smiled and said, “I didn’t do anything, just had a casual chat. What’s wrong with that?”
“Why bring up changing the wristband?”
“I really didn’t mean any harm and just mentioned it in passing. I didn’t think too much about it.” He Wei turned the car key, “My cousin, who used to be in the middle school of the prep school, transferred to another school last year, you know that, right?”
“Right.”
“This kid cried to me when she was in the third grade of middle school, telling me that she confessed to a senior and was rejected. When I heard Xu Ze’s name today, I remembered that he was that senior,” He Wei said as he sat in the driver’s seat, ” So, I was curious.”
“Don’t be so bored in the future,” Lu Heyang said.
One of He Wei’s strengths was his curiosity, but his weakness was that he didn’t use it in the right places.
“We’re all alphas. Don’t make it seem like I’m bullying him,” He Wei started the car. “He’s an S-level after all.”
Lu Heyang replied indifferently, “I’m afraid you’ll cause trouble.”
“How could I? I’m the most restrained person,” He Wei boasted shamelessly. “It’s you. I have a feeling that Xu Ze is afraid of you. Just one look from you, and his wristband fell to the ground.”
After saying this, he asked Lu Heyang, “Did you notice?”
Lu Heyang removed his wristband and hooked it on his finger to balance it. He replied, “I didn’t notice.”
Author’s note:
You clearly know that your buddy’s wife’s living conditions are not good, why did you bring up changing the wristband, He Wei?
I’m slightly feeling emotional about Xu Ze’s situation. I mean, as a poor person, it’s really hard to be surrounded with wealthy people and getting left behind yingyingying
Aw, Chi Jiahan is such good friend looking out Xu Ze, knowing this guy would hide his pain or not bothered by it when he is supposed to
Despite being rude, is He Wei trying to hint something to Lu Heyang ???
My heart aches for Xu Ze
I know I’m looking at my phone but why is it so annoying to read someone always looking at their phone
fr!