That night in his room, after finishing two practice test papers and washing up, Wen Yu grabbed his pillow and came to Fu Chen’s bedroom.
When Wen Yu entered, Fu Chen had just finished taking a shower. Wrapped in a navy blue bathrobe with steam still rising from his skin, the collar of the bathrobe was slightly loose, revealing a fair chest and prominent collarbones.
Fu Chen looked at Wen Yu with a cold snort, then sat down on his own bed and issued a chilly warning. “If you dare to sneak into my bed in the middle of the night, I will kill you.”
Wen Yu did not say anything. He desperately wanted to explain to Fu Chen that he had no intention of crawling into his bed and that the previous two occasions were purely accidental.
Wen Yu packed his school bag, got into bed, and turned off the lights. Throughout the night, Fu Chen remained on high alert, occasionally opening his eyes to glance at Wen Yu in the neighboring bed.
With his back turned toward Fu Chen, Wen Yu remained completely quiet without making a single sound, looking thoroughly well-behaved. Soon, Fu Chen could no longer fight off the exhaustion and gradually drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Fu Chen unexpectedly woke up quite early, even earlier than Wen Yu. With Wen Yu facing him, Fu Chen gazed at his serene sleeping face, letting his eyes sweep from his long, dense eyelashes all the way down to his delicately shaped lips.
Wen Yu woke up precisely at that moment, and their eyes locked.
Fu Chen quickly looked away. He had to admit that this was the best sleep he had gotten since contracting this illness.
Wen Yu got up briskly, returned to his room to wash up, and arrived at the first-floor dining room at the same time as Fu Chen. This was the first time the two of them had breakfast together, leaving Uncle Chen looking somewhat surprised.
Following a silent meal, the two of them boarded the driver’s car, once again sitting as far apart as possible in the back seat. Upon arriving at the classroom, Fu Chen did not even sleep, instead using his communicator to read the day’s military news.
Quite a few people glanced over at them, finding it rather novel.
After all, Fu Chen held the honorary nickname of the Sleeping God of First High.
Ever since entering high school as a freshman, there had not been a single morning when he was awake. Yet Fu Chen’s grades consistently remained near the top of his grade level. Everyone simply assumed he utilized an extreme study method of staying up late to exhaust his sleep, so they were long accustomed to it.
Because Fu Chen performed well in every subject, the teachers turned a blind eye to his habit of sleeping in class. During today’s lessons, almost every teacher made a point of remarking that Fu Chen actually stayed awake today.
Each time, it would prompt the entire class to burst into roaring laughter.
Fu Chen simply rested his chin in one hand, his entire face dark as ink.
At noon, Ji Chen came to look for Fu Chen for lunch as usual, and he was similarly astonished to find Fu Chen wide awake.
“Did the sun rise from the west today?” Ji Chen exclaimed in surprise.
“Are you ever going to finish?” Having listened to expressions of shock all morning, Fu Chen felt like calluses were forming in his ears.
Ji Chen glanced sideways at Wen Yu and noticed that Wen Yu’s complexion looked quite good today.
Normally, Wen Yu possessed a sickly pallor, but now his face showed a flush of healthy color beneath his fair skin, making him appear much more vibrant.
In truth, Wen Yu felt that he really had slept quite well last night, marking the best sleep he had experienced since coming to the Fu household. He could not help marveling at the magic of pheromones between Alphas and Omegas; Fu Chen’s pheromones gave him a strong sense of closeness, naturally generating a marvelous feeling of security whenever he stayed near him.
This was the physiological characteristic brought by a high match rate. The pheromone compatibility between destined mates approaches one hundred percent infinitely, making it difficult for them not to feel a sense of mutual closeness.
After school on Friday, Fu Chen planned to follow Ji Chen to find Song Chengfeng, as the three of them had agreed to play billiards.
Wen Yu trailed behind Fu Chen. This time, Fu Chen did not say much, silently accepting Wen Yu’s presence, though his expression remained unpleasant.
The doctor had earnestly advised both of them to stay together as much as possible, with the maximum separation time not exceeding two hours.
Ji Chen asked softly on the side, “Are you bringing Wen Yu along?”
“Pay no attention to him,” Fu Chen replied.
When Fu Chen and Ji Chen got into the car, Wen Yu clearly looked a bit hesitant, considering this was the Ji family vehicle.
“Get in,” Ji Chen told Wen Yu.
Wen Yu nodded. “Thank you.”
In the back seat of the car, Fu Chen sat on the far left, Ji Chen sat right in the middle, and Wen Yu sat on the far right.
Fu Chen kept staring out the window without speaking.
Wen Yu was actually somewhat prone to motion sickness, especially with the hot weather and the car’s air conditioning turned on, which only added insult to injury for someone susceptible to travel sickness. The moment Wen Yu got into the car, he leaned sideways against the window, looking listless and drained.
Ji Chen consciously tried to keep himself from paying attention to Wen Yu, but his peripheral vision still caught Wen Yu’s discomfort.
“You,” Ji Chen tilted his head slightly to look at Wen Yu, “are you feeling a bit unwell?”
Fu Chen cast a glance at Wen Yu as well at that moment.
“Are you feeling carsick?” Ji Chen asked.
Ji Chen had a cousin who was also prone to carsickness; the moment she got into a vehicle, she would wilt like a withered flower, looking utterly drained of energy.
Wen Yu opened his eyes, seemingly surprised that Ji Chen had noticed his motion sickness, and nodded. “Yes, a little bit.”
“Uncle Li, please roll down the window,” Ji Chen instructed the driver.
“Very well, young master.”
With the window rolled down and air circulating, Wen Yu felt somewhat better. “Thank you.”
Although Ji Chen kept a calm exterior, he felt pleased inside, thinking to himself that it was no big deal.
Fu Chen let out a cold sneer. Why had he never noticed Wen Yu getting carsick during their daily trips to school together? He did not get carsick riding in the Fu family car, yet motion sickness struck the moment he boarded the Ji family vehicle. Did this Omega’s motion sickness symptoms fluctuate depending on who owned the car?
Given that they had been friends for so long, Ji Chen was hardly someone who enjoyed meddling in other people’s business. Yet this Omega was evidently trying to seduce his friend as well. Fu Chen muttered inwardly that this Omega would stop at nothing to climb into high society, determined to exhaust and monopolize every available resource.
Even the household staff had been bought off by him, frequently praising Wen Yu to Fu Chengzhe and Shen Wanjun for being efficient at chores and kind-hearted, with even elderly Uncle Chen chiming in along with them.
If he could manage to influence the Fu family servants to that extent, it went without saying what he might do toward someone like Ji Chen, whose background was clearly extraordinary.
“Why roll down the window when it is this hot? All the air conditioning is escaping,” Fu Chen crossed his arms, his tone impatient. “It is burning up. Uncle Li, close it back up.”
Ji Chen glanced at Fu Chen, thinking to himself what kind of act he was putting on.
Fu Chen’s ambition was to enter the White Wolf Special Operations Unit, and he had previously attended a summer camp specially organized by them, which was notoriously grueling with baking sun and harsh conditions. Fu Chen had gone through it and returned with top marks, so there was no way he could not tolerate a little bit of heat.
Besides, it was already late evening; where on earth was it that hot?
“This,” Uncle Li hesitated, catching the gaze of his young master through the rearview mirror.
Ji Chen rolled his eyes mentally, silently condemning Fu Chen for being overly finicky. Yet he found himself caught in a dilemma. No matter what, this was still his brother, and he had to choose between his brother and a beauty. After hesitating for 0.003 seconds, Ji Chen made his decision: he would definitely choose the beauty.
“We will arrive in twenty minutes. Just bear with it.” Ji Chen nudged Fu Chen with his elbow. “An Alpha should know how to cherish an Omega. Understand?”
“Not every Omega is worthy of being cherished,” Fu Chen insinuated with sarcastic mockery. Hearing this without much expression, Wen Yu understood that Fu Chen was doing it on purpose. Knowing Ji Chen meant well and that it was a trivial matter anyway, Wen Yu saw no need to make things so awkward.
“It is fine. Close it,” Wen Yu gently tugged at the hem of Ji Chen’s shirt. “I already feel much better.”
Watching the prominent red mole revealed beneath Wen Yu’s lowered eyelids, along with his somewhat pale lips, Ji Chen felt a pang of sympathy. But since Wen Yu himself had said so, he found it inappropriate to persistently butt heads with Fu Chen.
Therefore, he instructed Uncle Li, “Then close it.”
“Will do.”
Ji Chen knew Fu Chen disliked Wen Yu, but hearing was one thing while seeing was another. Based on Ji Chen’s observations, Wen Yu was not the type of person who would resort to any means necessary to latch onto the Fu family, as Fu Chen claimed.
For instance, he once saw an Omega get injured, and Wen Yu carried him on his back all the way to the infirmary. On another occasion, a deaf-mute uncle who frequently wandered around the school gates lost his puppy, and Wen Yu helped the old man search for it for a long time, eventually finding it nestled in a small patch of bushes.
Furthermore, he discovered that Wen Yu actually knew sign language, communicating with the deaf-mute uncle for quite a while before leaving. Ji Chen had subsequently witnessed Wen Yu greeting the deaf-mute uncle warmly on multiple occasions. Many people treated the deaf-mute uncle with disdain because he appeared untidy and could neither hear nor speak, yet Wen Yu treated him with great patience.
Wen Yu also studied diligently. Almost every time Ji Chen walked past the classroom of Class 1, he would see Wen Yu diligently working through practice problems.
Moreover, Ji Chen felt that Wen Yu simply did not look like a bad person.
In short, Ji Chen’s intuition told him that Wen Yu was definitely not the kind of person Fu Chen made him out to be, and there was likely some misunderstanding at play. Ji Chen had even tried mentioning these good deeds of Wen Yu to Fu Chen, but Fu Chen insisted that Wen Yu was merely trying to seduce Ji Chen.
With all the household staff supposedly bought off by Wen Yu, Fu Chen viewed these actions as mere manipulative tactics, concluding that the Omega possessed a frighteningly deep scheming nature.
Not to mention Ji Chen.
Was this what they called the primacy effect?
Once a poor first impression was formed, it became exceedingly difficult to change.
Ji Chen sighed.
They reached their destination in roughly twenty minutes.
The billiards hall was run by a cousin of Song Chengfeng. Having opened only recently, the interior was decorated with a grand and spacious ambiance. It consisted of two floors, with the first floor dedicated to billiards and the second floor serving as a lounge and bar.
Naturally, a place like this was not meant purely for playing pool and drinking. Many people seeking favors from Song Chengfeng’s cousin frequently patronized the business, meaning the clientele included numerous high-ranking officials and nobles. An ordinary passerby looking at the exterior might not even guess it was a billiards hall.
Song Chengfeng had been waiting for quite a while. Seeing Fu Chen and Ji Chen arrive, he smiled, but his expression froze when he spotted Wen Yu trailing behind them with a school bag.
He thought to himself that while Fu Chen claimed to detest the person, he was now bringing him along even for activities meant strictly for the three of them.
Tsk tsk, saying one thing while meaning another.
“Wait, why are you even bringing a dependent along?” Song Chengfeng spoke with profound significance.