Chu Huaize sat down next to Qi Yang, putting his empty schoolbag aside, and looked at Qi Yang, who was curled up in a ball.
“You don’t want to be seatmates with me? Do you hate me that much?”
Qi Yang said awkwardly, “It’s not that I hate you. It’s just that I finally managed to get a single desk to myself. The class happened to need one person to have a single desk, but previously those were always assigned to others.”
Hearing Qi Yang’s reply, Chu Huaize smiled and said, “Then didn’t I just score a huge bargain?”
Qi Yang’s awkward feeling vanished instantly. “That’s true, or else it wouldn’t have been your turn.”
Li Lan told Fu Yue to pass down the physical examination forms.
She cleared her throat and then said, “Hold on to your physical examination forms; they need to be put into your personal archive folders after high school graduation. Later, our class will be the first to do the physicals, and once you are done, hand the forms over to Fu Yue.”
Then, looking at Fu Yue, she added, “Thank you for your hard work. Deliver them to the infirmary for Dr. Pei. If he is not there, leave them in the usual spot.”
Qi Yang felt an inexplicable sense of closeness toward Chu Huaize and really wanted to talk to him. Even though Qi Yang could sense Chu Huaize’s alpha aura, it didn’t make him feel uncomfortable at all.
This feeling was quite magical. Previously, Qi Yang’s seatmates had all been betas or omegas; no alpha had ever been able to sit next to him because the feeling was wrong and very uncomfortable, especially when an alpha’s scent leaked out—it made Qi Yang feel so miserable he wanted to die.
Consequently, he had once spoken to Li Lan without explaining the specific reason, simply saying he hoped he could sit with betas or omegas. Li Lan hadn’t suspected anything and agreed.
Now, with Chu Huaize sitting right next to him, he actually didn’t have any reaction at all. This was amazing.
Qi Yang lowered his voice and asked, “Are you an alpha?”
Chu Huaize nodded, then looked at Qi Yang with a puzzled expression. He didn’t really show much emotion on his face, but Qi Yang could sense it.
“It’s nothing, just that you don’t make me hate you.”
Chu Huaize smiled. “So that means you like me?”
The comment flushed Qi Yang’s face a little red. “What liking or not liking? Do you often flirt with omegas?”
Chu Huaize didn’t reply to that, just sitting up straight.
When unusual things happen, there must be a demon behind them.
Li Lan’s voice came from the front. “A moment ago you were curled up like a turtle, and now what are you chattering on and on about?”
She told Qi Yang to stand up. “What did I just say?”
Qi Yang awkwardly stood up to face the gaze of the entire class, pausing for a long time. Fu Yue in front of him kept calling his name, but Qi Yang hadn’t heard a single thing. He looked back at Chu Huaize and found that Chu Huaize was furiously writing something down, showing no intention of helping him out.
Qi Yang felt a bit resentful, muttering under his breath, “You little brat, you are really something. Are you selling me out just like that?”
Watching Qi Yang whispering, Li Lan found it somewhat amusing. “If you have something to say, speak up louder! Do you have an objection?”
Qi Yang immediately looked up at Li Lan, signaling that he had no objections whatsoever.
Li Lan smiled as she looked at him. “Qi Yang, what did I just say? Come and repeat it. Or did you not listen at all?”
When Li Lan smiled like that, trouble was more than likely coming. This smiling tiger was always like this; if she were genuinely angry, she would maintain a beaming smile while thinking of a million ways to make people miserable.
Qi Yang wanted to apologize to let this matter slide.
Right then—faster than speech—Qi Yang saw a piece of paper suddenly appear in front of him. Without even thinking, he read right off it, and it happened to cover every single key point Li Lan had mentioned.
Li Lan wasn’t actually all that angry; she had just felt a bit irritated when someone kept whispering down below while she was talking. The person talking was none other than Qi Yang, who always topped the grade rankings. She had always thought this kid was good at everything except for having a somewhat passive personality, seeming a bit indifferent to everything. It was rare to see him this lively, even if it was because of a new classmate.
However, since she was still in the middle of talking, she just wanted to call him out to make him pay attention.
Li Lan waved her hand to signal him to sit down and continued making her announcements.
Qi Yang sat down safe and sound. All the resentment he had harbored toward Chu Huaize just moments ago evaporated almost completely. Then, realizing that speaking out loud made it too easy to get caught, he switched to passing notes.
Only now did he pay attention to the handwriting on the note. Chu Huaize’s script leaned toward the semi-cursive style, yet didn’t quite look like it; in short, it was exceptionally nice-looking. This was Qi Yang’s first impression of Chu Huaize.
Qi Yang fished a pen out of his schoolbag, sat up straight facing Li Lan as if listening to her talk, but kept his hand busy writing on the note for quite a while.
Qi Yang: I thought you sold me out just now. I never realized your reflexes were so fast—you would be wasting your talent if you didn’t become a special forces soldier.
Chu Huaize: No, my peripheral vision just happened to catch it, so I sat up straight. I forgot to warn you, my apologies.
Qi Yang: It’s fine, you warned me just in time anyway.
Qi Yang: We have to board at school now, are you happy about it? I don’t want to live on campus.
Chu Huaize: It’s alright, no strong feelings. Just changing a place to stay, that’s all.
Chu Huaize: I’ve stayed at home for a long time, so living somewhere else is quite nice.
Qi Yang: I live at home too, but whenever I leave home, I get so homesick.
Chu Huaize: I haven’t stepped out of my house for four years. I’ve stayed inside the whole time.
Seeing this, Qi Yang looked at Chu Huaize in disbelief. Not stepping out of the house for that long?
Qi Yang: Were you placed under house arrest by your family?
Chu Huaize: No, I was just sick and needed treatment at home. Now that I’m mostly better, I’m finally allowed to come out.
Qi Yang: Wouldn’t you be bored to death staying in just one house?
Chu Huaize: I live in an estate in the suburbs. Watering flowers, basking in the sun, reading books, life goes by okay.
When Qi Yang saw this line, he completely stopped writing. Is this Chu Huaize some kind of wealthy young master? Then why don’t I know him? I’m considered a fairly well-known figure among the wealthy young masters myself; how could I have never seen Chu Huaize before?
Chu Huaize was definitely bragging. Qi Yang thought of this and chuckled out loud.
Having finished speaking, Li Lan saw Qi Yang furiously writing notes for a long time, but she couldn’t be bothered to care. Today was just registration anyway, and school and boarding started tomorrow; she’d deal with it tomorrow.
Li Lan gave a few final instructions: finish the physicals and go home, bring luggage tomorrow morning, and check into the dorms.
Watching Li Lan walk out of the classroom, Qi Yang clutched his head and began to agonize over what his future life would be like.
Laying his head flat on the desk, Qi Yang muttered, “I wonder if I can bring my VR headset to school.”
Chu Huaize heard him clearly. “You can, but you can’t bring it into the classroom. The dorms are equipped with computers.”
Qi Yang instantly popped up from the desk. “Everyone gets a computer?”
Chu Huaize shook his head. “Only the top four students in the grade get computers.”
Qi Yang patted his chest, thanking his lucky stars that he was currently ranked first.
Watching Qi Yang’s relieved expression, Chu Huaize asked, “Are you addicted to the internet? Can’t live without a computer?”
Qi Yang waved his hand embarrassedly. “No, I just have some very important business to finish. Now it’s fine—as long as my ranking doesn’t drop, I’ll have a computer to use.”
Qi Yang hadn’t told anyone about his gaming hobby; the only person who knew he played games was himself.
Mostly he was afraid of embarrassment. If he admitted he loved gaming, his classmates would definitely ask questions, and wouldn’t he instantly become the center of attention? Qi Yang couldn’t handle that kind of thing; he was a thorough introvert at heart and lacked the confidence to tell others he did this sort of thing.
Besides, you could watch pro players game on computers, and their plays were always super impressive. Qi Yang especially loved watching those video clips while eating his meals.
The physical education teacher at the door called their class to go for their check-ups. Being Class 1, they were first in everything.
The physical examinations were held on the second floor of the gymnasium, split across five different stations.
Qi Yang’s number one hatred was getting his fingertip pricked for blood. Every single doctor who drew blood from him seemed to have a personal grudge against him, jamming the needle in fiercely. They could easily just prick it gently as long as blood came out, but it always hurt terribly.
Qi Yang’s number two hatred was the physical body check. It involved drawing curtains to examine every part of the body, along with pheromone extraction.
The curtain-drawing part literally meant stripping down to just your underwear to make it convenient for the teachers to check for any abnormalities all over the body.
The most awkward thing about this session was when an omega doctor examined Qi Yang and always critiqued his physique, saying he was too thin, had no meat on his bones, and didn’t look like an omega who was built well for childbearing.
Then the doctor would look down at Qi Yang’s lower body, make eye contact with him, and finally shake his head while muttering, “It’s a good thing you’re an omega. If you were an alpha, this would be unbelievable.”
Qi Yang would always listen to the doctor awkwardly, not daring to utter a single extra word. Having a fifty- or sixty-year-old veteran doctor talk to him like that always made him want to find a crack in the floor to crawl into.
Extracting pheromones was an agonizing process, and Qi Yang was extremely reluctant to experience it a second time, but he had no choice. The school required logging omega pheromone stability values every year to check if omegas had any pheromone disorder issues.
This procedure was fast: a needle was poked into the gland sac to extract gland fluid, followed by lab testing. Usually, there were no abnormalities, but the feeling after the extraction was extremely unpleasant, it felt like someone had beaten you hard with a heavy club.
Qi Yang finished his vision, oral exam, and blood pressure tests.
Then he trudged with difficulty toward the curtain for the omega physical exam. It wasn’t far away, but suddenly, Qi Yang caught a whiff of pheromone scent. While smelling pheromones normally was commonplace, it was strictly forbidden for pheromones to leak out in the physical examination area.
When unusual things happen, there must be a demon. Right after that, he saw a doctor hurriedly run out from the alpha pheromone extraction cubicle.
Qi Yang, along with everyone else, was ushered out of the gymnasium. The situation felt urgent, and before Qi Yang even fully processed what was happening, he was chased outside, leaving the students staring blankly at one another.