Just like that, Class 8 casually finalized its only two performance acts for the upcoming school event. The other act featured seven female Omegas performing a seductive modern dance, which didn’t have much to do with Jiang Chen or Gu Xin anyway. Two acts from a single class were more than enough.
When the day’s classes finally ended, Jiang Chen, who had spent the entire time slacking off like a total salted fish, packed up his things to head home. But before he could make a break for it, Yang Xiu called out to stop him.
“Jiang Chen, you can’t leave yet. You need to stay behind.”
“For what?” Thanks to the “bad boy” reputation carried over from No. 19 Middle School, Jiang Chen always looked a bit like a fierce school bully to his classmates whenever he spoke.
Naturally, after dozing through a whole day of classes, Jiang Chen had completely forgotten about the duet.
Yang Xiu clarified, “The violin and piano duet with the Class Monitor. Don’t tell me you forgot? It’s not too late to back out right now.”
The moment the words left her mouth, several Omegas whipped their heads around to stare at them, practically begging to hear Jiang Chen say he was dropping out.
But Jiang Chen was on a mission to squash any early romance brewing around Gu Xin. How could he possibly yield his spot? Resting his chin in his hand, he said, “Back out? No way.”
Playing the piano was a minor detail; stopping his childhood friend from dating early was the real priority.
Wei Meng was just about to invite Jiang Chen to play basketball and was shocked to hear he actually intended to practice. “Chen-er, you’re seriously going on stage? You weren’t joking this morning?”
Jiang Chen lied with a perfectly straight face. “Who’s joking? I’m completely serious. I just want to contribute my part to the class.”
Yang Xiu silently wished he was joking. Jiang Chen looked entirely unmanageable and fiercely independent; being the entertainment committee member was proving to be way too hard.
Right now, Jiang Chen didn’t actually want to practice the piano or play basketball. He glanced over at Gu Xin, who was still talking to Jiang Yibai.
“Gu Xin, are you practicing piano or playing basketball?”
Gu Xin turned at the sound of his voice. “I’m heading to basketball practice first.”
Jiang Chen immediately turned back to Yang Xiu. “See? He’s going to practice ball. There’s no point in me practicing alone. Let’s wait until Gu Xin is free.”
Yang Xiu pressed on, “But you two need to decide on a piece so the music teacher can give you some guidance.”
Gu Xin walked over. “Jiang Chen and I will talk it over this weekend. Once we decide, we’ll let the music teacher know.”
“I guess that works then,” Yang Xiu sighed. “Class Monitor, please put some effort into it.” She was subtly hinting at Jiang Chen, who hadn’t given the teachers a moment of peace since the semester started.
She honestly couldn’t understand why the Class Monitor had chosen Jiang Chen when there were so many cooperative Omegas dying to fill the spot.
Gu Xin barely registered Yang Xiu’s underlying meaning. Instead, he asked Jiang Chen, “Are you coming to practice with me, or heading straight home?”
Jiang Chen naturally wanted to go home and lie around like a couch potato, but going home meant facing his mother’s endless nagging. Ultimately, he chose to tag along with Gu Xin so he could just lounge on the sidelines.
“I’ll watch you play.”
The school was quite wealthy; the indoor basketball court was fully air-conditioned, making it significantly cooler than the scorching heat outside. Jiang Chen had never been to the indoor court before, but he instantly realized he had found the ultimate napping spot. The moment he stepped inside, he found a comfortable corner on the bleachers to lean back and lounge.
However, he didn’t end up closing his eyes to rest as planned. Not far away sat a group of Omegas who erupted into hushed squeals whenever the players on the court pulled off a high-difficulty move. They whispered excitedly among themselves, and Jiang Chen repeatedly caught Gu Xin’s name drifting over.
Back in their middle school days, whenever a holiday came around, Gu Xin’s desk would be buried under a mountain of gifts. He was constantly confessed to by countless Omegas, and even Betas would join in on the fun.
Logically, Jiang Chen should have been used to it by now. Yet, watching these Omegas swarm around Gu Xin was still incredibly annoying. They always seemed to pop up out of nowhere to confess right when he and Gu Xin were walking together, or purposefully bump into Gu Xin to grab his attention, exactly like a cliché scene from a romance drama.
While Jiang Chen was lost in thought, the coach downstairs had to leave for a moment. As the captain of the freshman basketball team, Gu Xin took charge and split the players into two teams for a scrimmage. The Omegas in the stands grew even more ecstatic, their cheering noticeably louder, and Jiang Chen’s eyes involuntarily followed Gu Xin’s movements.
Gu Xin played small forward. His three-pointers were deadly accurate, sinking one after another. The young Alpha’s body was starting to fill out; his long, powerful legs gave him an incredible vertical leap. Rising high into the air, he released the ball, sending it in a perfect arc smoothly through the net.
During a quick break, Jiang Yibai, who was playing alongside Gu Xin, teased him, “Why are you so hyped today? Your shooting accuracy is through the roof. Is it because it’s Friday and there are more Omegas watching? Got you feeling energized?”
Gu Xin slapped him across the back. “Stop bringing up Omegas every two seconds. Are you permanently stuck in a rut or something?”
Jiang Yibai chuckled. “Don’t you think that girl in the stands is incredibly gorgeous? I haven’t seen her around the past few days.” She didn’t look like a freshman.
Gu Xin replied with utter indifference, “Not interested.” He’d rather spend that time sinking a few more baskets. Besides, Jiang Chen was the one watching.
After draining two more three-pointers, Gu Xin glanced up at the stands, only to realize Jiang Chen wasn’t in his original spot. Instead, he was being yanked by the collar by a tall Alpha. Jiang Chen’s neck was bent backward slightly, and the surrounding Omegas were screaming in terror, scattering toward the stairs.
“Fuck!” Gu Xin’s eyes turned icy. Staring dead at the Alpha grabbing his friend, he immediately vaulted over the court’s protective railing and bounded up the bleachers three steps at a time.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Yibai, who had been expecting a pass, only heard the usually gentlemanly Gu Xin curse before completely vanishing from the court.
On the opposing team, Wei Meng also realized something was wrong. Seeing someone trying to get violent with Jiang Chen, he charged over instantly. “Fuck! Who dares touch my Chen-ge?!”
The other players on the court noticed the commotion in the stands as well. A few Alphas were surrounding a single Beta…was this a classic case of dynamic bullying? Gu Xin and Wei Meng had already charged up, so Jiang Yibai couldn’t lag behind and bolted after them.
But before Gu Xin could even reach them, the seemingly slender and soft Jiang Chen grabbed the wrist of the Alpha yanking his collar and slammed him violently against the bleacher seats!
Jiang Chen looked down at him coldly. “Try pulling my clothes again, you motherfucker.”
The Alpha cried out in pain, collapsing awkwardly onto the chairs. He never expected this seemingly meddlesome, soft-looking Beta to actually pin him down so effortlessly!
“Fuck, I’m gonna kill you!”
Jiang Chen casually cracked his wrist and said unhurriedly, “If you don’t kill me, I’ll kill you. What a piece of trash.”
Gu Xin lunged forward in one giant stride, stepping right next to Jiang Chen. “What happened?” He wore his oversized jersey, radiating waves of heat from the intense exercise.
Gu Xin recognized these three Alphas. They were sophomores. He had seen them once when he went to the sophomore building to help a teacher pick up some materials; they had been caught smoking and fighting by the Dean of Students and received a massive scolding.
“They were causing trouble,” Jiang Chen whispered, stepping back slightly to stand beside Gu Xin. “First they were harassing the girls, and then they targeted me.”
Near them stood two Omega girls. The rest of the crowd had fled, leaving only three people, though one of them looked surprisingly calm.
Gu Xin couldn’t care less about anyone else. He scanned Jiang Chen up and down. “Are you hurt?”
The sophomore Alpha stood up, nursing his wrist. “I was hitting on an Omega! What the fuck does a Beta like you think you’re doing sticking your nose in my business?!”
Furious, he lunged forward to throw a punch, but Gu Xin intercepted it cleanly. With a swift kick, he sent the Alpha…who had a streak of purple dyed into his bangs…flying back into his two companions, who barely caught him.
Gu Xin threatened coldly, “I dare you to lay a single finger on him.”
The purple-haired Alpha rolled up his sleeves, raring to charge again. “Fuck you! Another meddler? You kids think you’re tough, huh?! Just a bunch of puny freshmen acting brave. You clearly don’t know whose territory this is!”
This time, Jiang Chen didn’t let Gu Xin stand in front of him. Instead, he hurled his backpack straight at the guy’s face! “If you wanna fight, then fight! Stop talking so much damn trash, do you think you’re a movie villain?”
The backpack hit the purple-haired Alpha square in the face, infuriating him further. The other two sophomores jumped in, while Wei Meng and Jiang Yibai closed the distance, triggering an all-out brawl!
The remaining basketball players originally intended to break it up, but then the coach walked in!
“What the hell do you think you’re all doing?!”
The three sophomore Alphas were promptly pinned down by the basketball players. The basketball coach, who also happened to be the physical education teacher for Class 8, blew his whistle repeatedly!
The coach roared from below, “Gu Xin! You’re the team captain and you’re leading a brawl?! Everyone get down here right now!”
The players who had originally gone up to break up the fight had somehow gotten swept into the melee. Realizing they shouldn’t take all the blame and punishment alone, they held onto the three sophomore instigators tightly and dragged them down together.
Jiang Chen tried to slip away behind Gu Xin’s back, but the PE teacher had long since memorized his face.
“Jiang Chen, you get down here too.”
Gu Xin whispered in his ear, “Don’t worry. I’ll tell him I started it.”
Jiang Chen wasn’t the type to betray a friend, nor did he intend to let Gu Xin take the fall.
When they were kids, he used to make Gu Xin take the blame whenever he got into fights. However, their parents always knew Jiang Chen was the real culprit. Gu Xin’s record remained perfectly clean; not only did he escape punishment at home, but his parents would even praise him for finally showing some Alpha grit. Jiang Chen, on the other hand, would invariably be grounded by his mother and forced to wash clothes with his older sister. The contrast in treatment was astronomical.
Thinking back to their childhood brawling days, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but compliment him. “That punch you threw just now was pretty cool.”
Gu Xin couldn’t resist showing off a little. “I learned some sanda from my uncle last winter break.”
He used to be terrible at fighting. For an Alpha to be worse at fighting than a Beta was pretty embarrassing, though that wasn’t why he learned sanda. He just wanted to be able to protect Jiang Chen whenever he got picked on…even though they rarely got into fights anymore.
“Teach me sometime,” Jiang Chen said. As lazy as he usually was, he still occasionally took an interest in new things.
“Sure, we’ll talk about it when we get back,” Gu Xin agreed with a nod.
Before he could say anything else, Mr. Jia Ming…the PE teacher and basketball coach…singled them out for a harsh lecture.
Mr. Jia scolded, “I think you all have it too comfortable in this air-conditioned court! Everyone, start running laps! Ten laps around the gym! Anyone involved in the fight will write a one-thousand-word self-reflection essay due on Monday! Gu Xin, you’re the captain, so you write two thousand words!”
Gu Xin truly lived up to his reputation as a model student who knew exactly how to handle teachers. He put on a deeply sincere expression and said, “Teacher, we know we were wrong. We didn’t mean to start a fight. The seniors attacked us verbally and physically first, and we only reacted because we were provoked…”
Feeling respected by his student, Mr. Jia’s anger instantly deflated by half. “Even if you have a reason, fighting is wrong! If anything happens to you all, I’m the one held responsible. Now, everyone out to the track and give me ten laps! Let’s burn off some of that excess energy!”
Wei Meng took a step back, pulling Jiang Chen with him as he whispered, “The Class Monitor is seriously amazing. One explanation from him is worth ten from anyone else.”
Jiang Chen agreed completely, though his memories of it were filled with pain. “Tell me about it. He’s been the teachers’ pet since we were kids.”
Sure enough, after Gu Xin took the lead to admit their mistake, most of Mr. Jia’s anger vanished. He began demanding the names and details of the three sophomore Alphas. Since they weren’t his students, he couldn’t punish them directly, so he noted down their classes, took their photos, and sent them straight to their respective grade supervisors.
Wei Meng looked deeply envious. “Man, if we knew how to do that back at No. 19 Middle School, the teachers would’ve loved us.”
Jiang Chen rolled his eyes at him. “Keep dreaming. You couldn’t pull that off if you practiced for ten years.” Gu Xin was unique; no one else could copy him.
Jiang Yibai leaned in, highly gossipy. “Jiang Chen, did you pick a fight over those Omegas?” He gestured with his chin toward the few Omegas still standing in the bleachers, including the gorgeous one he had pointed out to Gu Xin earlier.
Jiang Chen answered half-heartedly, “I guess so.”
Gu Xin walked back over just in time to catch Jiang Chen’s reply about fighting for some Omegas. The smile instantly vanished from his face, replaced by a heavy, suffocating feeling in his chest. Without a word, he turned around and led the team out to run their laps.
He felt a bit annoyed.