That was what was happening on that side, and combined with the boss’s passive-aggressive remarks about lateness, he could roughly guess what was going on.
So he lowered his head and typed.
I’m fine.
It’s not like I’m some delicate princess.
After waiting a while with no reply, Quan Zebai couldn’t help thinking that he’d better not be flattering himself. If that guy Jiang Fu made him lose face, then he would…
He hadn’t even figured out what he would do when his phone rang first.
I am delicate.
Trade back.
After sending the messages, Jiang Fu exited the chat and saw a message from the hotpot restaurant owner sternly reprimanding him for being late today, warning that if he was late again, he needn’t bother coming in.
Jiang Fu had been working at this hotpot restaurant for almost a month and knew the boss’s temper well.
He was genuinely afraid that the “pampered” young master would be scolded to tears, so he decided he would go do the part-time job himself tomorrow.
As for this side of things, they weren’t crazy enough to strictly follow this schedule every single day.
He trusted that Quan Zebai would find his own excuses to handle things over there.
So the next day, Jiang Fu headed out early, making his way home.
The bustling streets gave way to a cluster of shabby old buildings, with garbage piled along the roadside waiting to be burned, and a stray dog clutching stolen meat in its jaws, being threatened with a knife by the butcher shop owner.
This was an urban village in City A, where rent was cheap, the houses crammed together, messy and filthy.
Jiang Fu climbed the stairs with practiced ease. The narrow stairwell only allowed one person to pass at a time, and a tall guy like Jiang Fu had to hunch over as he walked.
The light hanging overhead flickered on and off, as if it would burn out the next second.
Jiang Fu carefully opened the door and found that Mother Jiang was already awake, sitting in her wheelchair, skillfully cooking.
Seeing her son return, Mother Jiang immediately asked with concern: “What were you doing out so early?”
Jiang Fu answered vaguely: “Taking out the trash.”
Seeing him wearing a mask and a hat, Mother Jiang hurriedly said: “What’s wrong? Why are you wearing a mask? Have you caught a cold?”
Jiang Fu said quietly: “A little.”
With that, he went back to his room, took out his account book, and started scribbling numbers.
Mother Jiang was quiet for a while, then took some medicine, came to Jiang Fu’s door, and knocked gently, her voice soft: “Come on, come out and take your medicine. Xiao Fu, what if it gets worse?”
Jiang Fu finished writing the last word, put the notebook back, and opened the door. Afraid that Mother Jiang might notice something was off, he hastily stuffed the cold medicine into his pocket and quickly tossed out a line: “Mom, I’m heading out.”
Before leaving, he even grabbed a sweet steamed bun and took a few bites of it.
Watching his retreating figure, Mother Jiang called out anxiously: “Be careful! Remember to take your medicine. This kid, running off so fast…”
After leaving home, Jiang Fu rushed nonstop to his tutoring job.
After teaching the little brat, Jiang Fu arrived at the hotpot restaurant right on time, changed into his waiter’s uniform, and silently got to work.
He had never felt like the crowd was so overwhelming. All kinds of smells burrowed madly into his nose, making his head swim. Could it be because he had become an Alpha?
Were all Alpha noses this sharp?
After several hours of work, the evening rush finally passed, and it was time for Jiang Fu to get off.
Tossing the trash in his hands into the garbage bin, Jiang Fu leaned against a tree and lit a cigarette.
Few people passed along the small path, and the dim lamplight was no brighter than the crescent moon overhead. Jiang Fu slowly exhaled a ring of smoke.
“You smoke?”
The familiar voice came from behind. Jiang Fu didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Only then did he remember he was smoking with someone else’s body. “Sorry.”
He moved to stub it out, but a hand took it from him.
Quan Zebai held it between his fingers, brought it to his lips, and tried a puff, immediately choking into a fit of coughs.
In the darkness, the corner of Jiang Fu’s mouth curved almost imperceptibly.
With such a strict upbringing, this was probably his first cigarette.
After coughing for a good while, Quan Zebai finally recovered, dropped the cigarette to the ground, and crushed it out.
“What a lousy thing…” he muttered.
Watching him, Jiang Fu asked, “Is it that strange for me to smoke?”
“Very strange,” Quan Zebai answered honestly. “After all, you look like a ‘good student.'”
Jiang Fu offered no comment, only said in a slightly odd tone, “I hope that ‘good student’ was meant as a compliment.”
Remembering his own past assessment of Jiang Fu, Quan Zebai couldn’t help but laugh.
Who would have thought the two of them would end up bound together like this, grasshoppers on the same string.
What a twist of fate, truly beyond words.
It made Quan Zebai wonder aloud: “What if we never switch back for the rest of our lives?”
Jiang Fu considered it, then said calmly, “Then I’ll be the world’s first Beta who can smell pheromones.”
“That would be so cool. Then wouldn’t I be the world’s first Alpha to have his gland removed painlessly?”
“Also cool.”
The night wind swept up dead leaves, skimming them across the ground. In the quiet night, only the sound of breathing remained.
Before the two could come up with any solutions, troubles arrived one after another.
In class, the teacher kept calling on “Jiang Fu” to answer questions. Quan Zebai’s grades weren’t bad, but they were only middling, and he was helpless in situations that demanded real academic firepower.
He couldn’t exactly play dumb with the teacher in the middle of class, could he?
After much deliberation, the only option was to pretend to be sick.
To make it more convincing, Quan Zebai took a day off in advance, then came to school the next day wearing a mask.
Whenever he saw the teacher’s gaze land on him in class, he would put on a show of coughing a few times.
At the sound, the teacher would shift his attention to the person beside him.
It wasn’t a long-term solution, but it got them through one day at a time.
Meanwhile, Qian Li had grown used to having lunch with the top student every day, and with his naturally sociable personality, the four of them got along quite harmoniously.
“Man, I never expected you to be such a smooth talker. Before, I thought you were just a grind, someone with their nose buried in books all day.”
Quan Zebai glanced at the person beside him whose expression remained perfectly calm, and smiled awkwardly. “…Is that so, huh?”
That perked Qian Li right up. He nudged Jiang Fu with his shoulder. “Yeah! Don’t believe me? Ask Brother Quan, he thought the same thing before.”
A gaze landed on him, and Quan Zebai truly wanted to clamp a hand over Qian Li’s runaway mouth.
At the Monday flag-raising ceremony, a student was always chosen to give a speech and of course, it was based on grades. They’d hardly pick someone at the bottom of the class to go up there and ramble.
This week, it was “Jiang Fu’s” turn.
The sports field was orderly and packed with students, all neatly dressed in their uniforms. As the national anthem ended, Jiang Fu stood below, hearing his own voice carry through the microphone across the entire campus.
“Respected teachers, dear fellow students…”
It was an extremely subtle feeling.
Jiang Fu thought of the message Quan Zebai had sent him the night before:
What do I do? I’m afraid I’ll mess it up.
I’m a little nervous.
Someone who always carried an air of indifference was actually nervous over such a small thing.
As Jiang Fu’s thoughts were running wild, a hand holding a bottle of yogurt appeared in front of him, and a soft, sticky Omega voice sounded behind him: “W-would you like some yogurt?”
Perhaps because he was too nervous, the Omega’s face was slightly flushed, and the sweet pheromones spilling out of him enveloped Jiang Fu.
Jiang Fu frowned and was about to refuse out of habit when he heard the Omega say in a very small voice, “…Last time, you, you said you’d drink it…”
Hm?
It seemed someone had quite an unusual relationship with this Omega.
So he hesitantly accepted it. “Thank you.”
Seeing him take it, the Omega was so excited his ears turned red, and he stole glances up at that face.
He always felt that something about the person in front of him was different from usual. Those eyes that usually carried a smile now seemed so cold, and that distant expression made it feel like talking to a pane of glass.
The natural aura of an Alpha made people afraid to approach.
The Omega stammered, “Th-then I, I’ll be going now.”
Jiang Fu gave a flat “mm.”
Behind him, Qian Li nudged Song Yuncheng, signaling him to look.
“He actually took it? Doesn’t he never take anything?”
Song Yuncheng shrugged. “…How would I know?”
After the speech ended, each class filed back in order. Since Jiang Fu’s and Quan Zebai’s classes were next door to each other, they walked close together, and as Jiang Fu passed Quan Zebai, he tossed the yogurt into his arms.
“An Omega gave it to you.”
Quan Zebai caught it, looking bewildered. “Which one?”
“He said it’s the one you wanted to drink.”
Quan Zebai’s mind circled around before he found the right person, it must have been a thank-you gift from that Omega he’d helped by putting away the gym equipment. He twisted off the cap, took a sip, and held it out. “Want a taste?”
“Drink it yourself.”
With that, he turned and walked away without looking back.
Quan Zebai couldn’t help cursing, “Terrible temper.”
Back in the classroom, Jiang Fu wanted to lie down and catch up on sleep, but the class monitor grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him up from the desk.
The class monitor grinned. “Wanna go play ball later?”
Jiang Fu: “No.”
“Hey, you…” The class monitor was just about to protest his cold-heartedness when a fierce-looking boy beside them cut in: “Don’t ask Brother Quan to play ball. He’s been studying lately.”
The class monitor pushed up his glasses, not believing it at all.
The fierce-looking boy was their class’s sports committee member, tall and burly, with an easy-to-remember name Li Zhuang. He was a sports student.
He leaned in with a wicked grin. “That’s right. The last few times I asked him, he wouldn’t go, and he doesn’t even sleep in class anymore. Isn’t that a sign he’s going to study?”
Qian Li, who had just walked in, heard Li Zhuang’s words and came over to join the fun. The two of them draped themselves over Jiang Fu’s shoulders, chattering away nonstop.
Whether it was because Alphas were naturally repelled by each other or for some other reason, Jiang Fu had a strong urge to send both of them flying.
But before he could lose his temper, a head poked in at the door. Quan Zebai spotted Jiang Fu surrounded by the crowd at a glance, and then, as if without thinking, hurriedly called out, “Jiang Fu!”
His voice was loud enough for everyone in Class Two to hear.
They stared at him strangely, not understanding why he was standing at the doorway shouting his own name.
Quan Zebai belatedly realized something: “Uh…”
Jiang Fu: “…”
Dragging the guy into a bathroom stall, Quan Zebai couldn’t hold back his own laughter either.
Jiang Fu was speechless for a moment, not understanding why the two of them were crammed into a bathroom stall.
Quan Zebai pulled suppressants out of his pocket and gestured for Jiang Fu to bare his arm.
Jiang Fu: “What for?”
Quan Zebai raised an eyebrow: “Your pheromones are leaking out. Didn’t you notice?”
“Really?” As he spoke, Jiang Fu instinctively lifted his wrist and sniffed. Sure enough, he caught a faint trace of sweetness, but the scent was so light it vanished in an instant.
Seeing himself innocently sniffing his own fingers, Quan Zebai found it oddly strange.
He grabbed Jiang Fu’s wrist and, without a word, injected the suppressant in one swift, decisive motion.
Jiang Fu immediately felt a wave of tingling numbness spread through his body, nearly losing his balance. He braced himself against the stall wall to steady himself.
The scent of pheromones filled the entire stall, and this time Jiang Fu truly smelled the sweet lemon aroma.
The sweetness was laced with freshness, like lemonade with ice, jingling and chiming nonstop.
Even dizzy and lightheaded, Jiang Fu couldn’t resist a jab: “It smells like an Omega, so sweet.”
That was undoubtedly a challenge to an Alpha’s instincts, since no Alpha would ever want to hear themselves compared to an Omega.
Anyone with a hot temper might have already thrown a punch by now.
Quan Ze merely smiled, lowering his head to toss the syringe into the trash, and said, following up on his words: “You say that as if you’ve actually smelled what an Omega smells like? Hm?”