Xie Yun was startled, but by the time he reacted, it was already too late. The drop of cold liquid instantly bloomed on the white rubber glove, and half a second later, a searing sensation like fire scorched into his skin.
“Sss—”
He knit his brows in pain. Zhou Yichao, who had caused the accident, finally snapped back to his senses.
With a loud bang, the glass door was shoved open. Lu Yibing, scowling, yanked Zhou Yichao aside and threw his arms around Xie Yun with a panicked tone: “Brother, let’s get to the school clinic, fast.”
Xie Yun didn’t move yet. He calmly took off the glove and placed his hand under flowing water to rinse it. The glass vial containing the chemical hit the floor, shards and liquid splashing onto the hemlines of their trousers. The person holding Xie Yun shot a glare at Zhou Yichao, and once the person in his arms finished rinsing, he hurried Xie Yun toward the clinic.
Zhou Yichao’s expression darkened.
Without even having time to change their clothes, the two rushed toward the school clinic—a white building over ten stories high. The clinic had quite a long history; a stinging ray of sunlight hit its peeling, yellowish white walls, and the side walls, marked by the passage of time, were covered in a dense layer of ivy.
The clinic wasn’t crowded today. As they reached the lobby, a nurse approached them: “What happened, students?”
“Sister, my brother was just accidentally dripped on by a chemical liquid that’s 80% corrosive,” Lu Yibing said, his expression looking somewhat frantic.
The nurse glanced at the back of Xie Yun’s hand, which had been scorched red by the liquid, and quickly treated it for him. As luck would have it, the injury was on his right hand, meaning he wouldn’t be able to write for several days.
Xie Yun sat on a cold iron chair, glancing at his hand, which was wrapped in several layers of snowy-white gauze. Unlucky, he sighed inwardly.
Lu Yibing, who had brought him to the hospital, remained seated by his side, his brow furrowed as he stared at the tightly wrapped hand. If only I had arrived a bit sooner, Lu Yibing thought.
Xie Yun felt uncomfortable under the intense gaze. Whether he was comforting the other or himself, he said softly, “The injury isn’t very serious. Stop looking.”
“It must hurt a lot, right, Brother?”
A trace of gloom swirled in Lu Yibing’s pitch-black eyes as he looked at Xie Yun, his brow knitting even tighter. The other’s eyes were filled with worry, which Xie Yun could see very clearly. A mist was about to spread over his dark pupils as Lu Yibing lowered his gaze heavily: “It’s all my fault, Brother. If I had gotten there in time, you wouldn’t have…”
His voice trembled; he looked as if he might burst into tears at any moment. Xie Yun paused, and almost instinctively, he knit his brows and hurried to coax him: “It’s not your fault.”
He started to reach out to pat the other’s back but stopped. Xie Yun simply felt that if Lu Yibing started crying here, it would be as embarrassing as if he were being bullied by Xie Yun himself. So, the actual back-patting wasn’t necessary.
But suddenly, seeing Xie Yun dazed, Lu Yibing reached out first and threw his arms around him. A wave of warmth covered Xie Yun’s waist as a faint sea-salt scent drew closer. Lu Yibing closed his eyes and buried his face in Xie Yun’s chest.
His somewhat messy black hair brushed against Xie Yun’s chin, making it itch. Before he could dodge, he was held tightly by the other: “I’m sorry… Brother.”
A muffled, raspy sob squeezed from his throat right by Xie Yun’s ear. People were coming and going on the first floor of the hospital, and many doctors and nurses cast glances at the two entangled figures.
Xie Yun couldn’t push him away with only one hand. “I don’t blame you. Let go…”
Xie Yun knit his brows tighter as another figure appeared in his line of sight.
The newcomer was wearing a crisp blue-and-white school uniform and carrying a box of an unidentified item; his long legs stepped into the room. Sitting there, Xie Yun lifted his eyes and met his gaze. The man had already removed his white lab coat, and the uniform outlined his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Zhou Yichao smiled at him, his voice gentle: “Classmate.”
Hearing the voice, the person in Xie Yun’s arms opened his eyes, revealing pitch-black pupils that stared at the newcomer.
“What are you doing here?” Another muffled voice came from his chest—a complete departure from the pitiful tone of a moment ago.
Through his dark bangs, the boy’s gaze was like a cold blade scraping against the other, looking so sinister that no one dared approach. Moreover, it was laced with a hint of displeasure.
Zhou Yichao ignored him, focusing solely on Xie Yun with a smile as he approached: “Sorry about that, classmate. It was my mistake in the lab just now. Please take this as an apology. I’ll reimburse the medical fees later.”
“You…” Xie Yun began.
“No need.” Lu Yibing answered for him, glancing at the Red Velvet cake packaging. “Besides, my brother doesn’t like sweets, and he doesn’t need your ‘fake’ kindness.”
Zhou Yichao finally deigned to spare Lu Yibing a glance. Their gazes met directly, and the air fell into an eerie silence.
A strong scent of balsam fir filled the space. Since Xie Yun was a Beta and had no pheromones, who was emitting this scent? Zhou Yichao stared into Lu Yibing’s sinister eyes and couldn’t help but frown. Could it be him? Was an Omega’s pheromone scent always this unpleasant?
With a hint of frivolity, Zhou Yichao’s eyebrow arched as he looked at Lu Yibing, who was still hugging Xie Yun tightly with his face buried in his chest. He looked like a swaddled infant who only knew how to cry against its mother’s chest. Like a child. Zhou Yichao lowered his eyelids. Yet, looking at him made him feel quite annoyed.
The two remained locked in a cold, silent confrontation. Xie Yun was about to hold his head and sigh. The first meeting between the lead Alpha and the lead Omega—how had it turned into this? Xie Yun felt like he had messed everything up.
A few hemlines caught in the hot wind drifted into the clinic as two more people in school uniforms entered. The cool air-conditioned draft in the lobby dispersed the irritability in the air. Two youths of similar stature walked toward Xie Yun together. They looked travel-worn, as if they had run there.
“Transfer student.”
The three words, spoken in a magnetic, somewhat raspy tone, fell like a heavy stone into Xie Yun’s heart. It hit his auditory system so hard he wanted to shut it down automatically. Here we go again.
Cui Yiyang arched an eyebrow: “I heard you were injured…”
“Who said that? I’m not injured.” Xie Yun, whose hand was wrapped in thick gauze, immediately interrupted without changing his expression.
Cui Yiyang was speechless. “You think I’m not in your class?”
“And look,” he said, pulling out his phone and clicking the link to the Field Academy forum. “It’s spreading like crazy on the forum.”
[Field Academy Forum]
[OP]: WK, my Yun-yun seems to have been accidentally splashed by chemicals during lab class. I saw LYB rushing him to the school clinic right now!
[2L]: Is it serious? How bad is the injury? Poor baby Yun-yun, it’s my fault as your husband for not protecting you. qvq
[3L]: …What kind of brainless fantasy is 2L having again?
[4L]: I heard F3 Zhou Yichao did it! Then LYB played the hero, saved the beauty, and hurried him away. Some Alphas in our class who weren’t doing their experiments spotted them from the corner!
[5L]: I thought Zhou Yichao was from the other class? Did the other class have lab today too?
[6L]: Our class didn’t have it. I bet he did it for our YY. After all, YY is so handsome. Falling for YY and using some tricks to see him is only natural.
[7L]: My god… I didn’t expect that. Usually, the senior is so gentle and sunny; I can’t believe he’d do something like that!
[8L]: It’s to get XY’s attention. After all, he’s so beautiful. If it were me, I’d do it too—maybe even something worse. As long as it gets XY’s attention and makes a deep impression, it’s worth it for such a top-tier Beta, right?
[9L]: …Is a Beta really worth all that?
[10L]: He’s absolutely worth it. You don’t know how satisfying it would be to pin such a beauty down and watch him plead for mercy with tears on his face. Oh man, it’s too good. Just thinking about it makes me get a [redacted].
[11L]: ……
[12L]: ……
[13L]: If you need to pee, I can throw you in a toilet. This isn’t your bathroom.
[14L]: But XY’s figure and looks are just so… vibrant. It makes people’s imaginations run wild. Don’t you guys feel expectant? Have you never fantasized about personally messing up such a proper beauty…?
[15L]: And he looks very [redacted].
Cui Yiyang scrolled through the screen and showed it to Xie Yun. Seeing that the person sitting there was raising an eyebrow higher the further down he read, Cui Yiyang finally seemed to realize something and quickly stopped and tucked his phone away. “Cough cough, anyway, that’s the gist of it. Zou Shichen and I just came to check on you.”
As he spoke, he nudged the person beside him with his elbow. Zou Shichen stood there with a wandering gaze, muttering, “I didn’t say I wanted to come. You’re the one who forced me.” Despite saying that, he couldn’t help but steal a glance at Xie Yun.
Truly, thank you all, Xie Yun thought.
As soon as those words left his mouth, Cui Yiyang looked at him and argued in disbelief, “What the hell are you talking about? Didn’t you say in the classroom just now that you really wanted to see Xie Yun?”
Zou Shichen didn’t back down. “When did I say that? Your ears must be broken.”
Cui Yiyang smiled and said through gritted teeth, “Zou Shichen, do you dare talk to me like that? Are you looking for a beating?”
Zou Shichen: “You want to fight me here? Stop always putting on your ‘Eldest Young Master’ act.”
Lu Yibing, still buried in Xie Yun’s chest, and Zhou Yichao, standing to the side, listened silently to their bickering. The nurses and doctors here were the low-level workers of the noble academy; they naturally didn’t dare provoke the bickering young masters and simply hurried past with one eye shut.
“Enough.”
Xie Yun’s ears were starting to hurt. He finally spoke: “I appreciate the thought, but you aren’t needed here. Go back; class is about to start.”
The corner of the person’s mouth in his arms curled into a subtle, unnoticeable arc.
Hearing Xie Yun say this, Cui Yiyang was about to turn to him and ask why he was always like this when his eyes met Lu Yibing’s.
Cui Yiyang: ?
The two sitting side-by-side were still in their lab coats with goggles perched on their foreheads. Xie Yun sat there properly, but Lu Yibing was leaning against him from the side, his entire body practically collapsed into his arms.
Seeing this, Cui Yiyang knit his brows. For some reason, a strange sense of irritation slowly rose in his heart. He reached out, intending to pull Lu Yibing away, his tone a bit sharp: “You damn illegitimate son, when did you crawl into his arms? Get up—”
A snowy-white arm reached up. With a cold face, Xie Yun grabbed the wrist that was about to seize Lu Yibing’s collar: “I allowed it. Is there a problem?”
As the words, as stagnant as pond water, fell, the air was instantly frozen. No one spoke. As Xie Yun’s long lashes lifted, his tone betrayed no emotion; everything sounded flat, laced with a hint of chill.
Lu Yibing at this moment looked like a favored minister beloved by an emperor, holding the world in his hands. Meanwhile, the F-somethings standing there were starting to look like resentful concubines banished to the cold palace.
Faced with that, Cui Yiyang’s expression naturally soured. He let out a cold laugh: “Xie Yun, don’t forget who your family is currently collaborating with. I am the Eldest Young Master of the Cui family—your designated marriage partner. Can you afford to offend me?”