What's Wrong with This Alpha? - Chapter 23

Chapter 23 – Battlefield

“Duan Yi, am I handsome?” Nan Yi grabbed Duan Yi’s face, forcing it toward himself. “Who are you looking at? Look at me.”

Duan Yi pulled away. “Ow! What’s so good about this uniform?”

He stepped back, looking at Nan Yi, and thought he looked plain and unremarkable.

Nan Yi pouted. “Then why were you staring at Sheng Yunze? Don’t I wear the same uniform?”

Duan Yi: “Who’s staring at Sheng Yunze?”

Nan Yi: “You were just staring at him. I saw everything.”

He put one hand in his pocket and said seriously, “Am I not handsome?”

Duan Yi laughed so hard that he slapped him. “Second-year students aren’t even here. Why aren’t you back yet?”

Nan Yi: “Not everyone in our class came. What did you sign up for in the sports meet?”

Duan Yi: “The 1500-meter long-distance run.”

Only three from their class signed up for long-distance, Duan Yi, Sheng Yunze, and Pingtou.

Jiang Wangshu stuck his head out. “What did you sign up for?”

Nan Yi: “Long-distance too. What’s your bib number?”

Duan Yi called out, “Sister Ma! Show me my bib.”

Sister Ma, real name Ma Lu, was the PE rep for Third Year Class 1. She was a strong, healthy woman with wheat-colored skin and a bold personality.

She was also the guardian of the female students and Omegas in class. Usually, Betas and Alphas didn’t dare to make lewd remarks to girls or Omegas. Otherwise, there would be no innocent souls under Sister Ma’s iron fists!

She had a bold personality and spoke loudly, her voice echoing through the entire class, “What do you need? I’ll put it in the audience stand!”

Duan Yi: “I want to see the long-distance race schedule.”

Sister Ma: “It’s afternoon. Don’t rush. I’ll give it to you after the opening ceremony. By the way, President Duan, call your classmates back. We’re about to line up.”

Duan Yi shooed Nan Yi away, “Go!”

Nan Yi clung stubbornly, “Are you feeling better?”

Duan Yi: “I’ll feel better when you’re further away.”

Nan Yi’s Alpha pheromones affected him slightly, but not much.

This jab hit Nan Yi’s sensitive heart. He pouted and ran off, then circled back moments later, unwilling to give up, “I’ll find you after the opening ceremony.”

He glanced at Sheng Yunze and said deliberately, “He’s quite lucky, isn’t he?”

Then left.

Duan Yi instinctively looked at Sheng Yunze, who had already joined the other hosts. He stood at a distance, maintaining his aloof, untouchable image.

There were four hosts for the opening ceremony. From Second High School were Jian Qiao and Sheng Yunze, both seniors.

From Seventh High School came two juniors. The boy had a small middle part in his hair, a round face, and wore makeup. The girl had short, slightly curled hair and also wore makeup. For some reason, they both seemed very mature, not like high school students.

The Seventh High School girl kept trying to talk to Sheng Yunze. She smiled at him through Jian Qiao. Jian Qiao asked her several work-related questions, but the girl didn’t answer. Instead, she kept changing the topic to Sheng Yunze, making Jian Qiao look uncomfortable.

Luckily, Sheng Yunze only replied with short “mms,” his expression calm, though no one knew what he was thinking.

Jiang Wangshu sighed. “Our Second High School’s twin flowers are still prettier. With looks like these, they beat Seventh High School completely.”

Duan Yi agreed. Jian Qiao was known as a sweet and pure host from Hang City’s children’s channel. Her style and manners were far better than the Seventh High School hosts. Even though Jian Qiao was a year older, she looked younger than the Seventh High School girl, with more of the energy and girlishness expected of a high school student her age.

As for Sheng Yunze, there’s no need to say more. The school beauty has never met anyone who could match his looks since birth, right?

Only Qin Shu from First High School could rival him in looks.

Jiang Wangshu watched for a while, then said, “Why is that Seventh High School girl always clinging to Commander Sheng?”

Hao Shanshan replied, “Fu Ya? I know her. She’s just like that.”

Jiang Wangshu asked, “What do you know?”

Hao Shanshan pressed her lips together, like she didn’t want to gossip about others behind their backs. But she couldn’t hold back, “I was in the same class as her in middle school. This girl’s behavior isn’t good. She likes being a third wheel and stealing other people’s boyfriends. She got beaten up in high school, then found an older brother at Fourth Vocational to protect her. Now she walks around Seventh High School like she owns it, and no one dares to mess with her. In short, she’s a delinquent.”

Jiang Wangshu said, “Wow, her life story is quite eventful.”

Hao Shanshan looked worried, like someone had insulted her family’s swan. “Stop joking! I really want to warn Commander Sheng to stay far away from this girl.”

Jiang Wangshu turned his head. “What do you think? Xiaoduan?!” He sang in a serious way, “A new rival has appeared, how can I stay still? I must try my best…”

Duan Yi: “You’re no rival… Don’t sing ‘Diago’ at your age! You’re not doing it justice!”

Jiang Wangshu: “Better than your Uncle Li joining the Red Army, right?”

He glanced at Fu Ya. She was getting closer to Sheng Yunze, her breath sweet like flowers. Even with his 2.0 vision, he could see her arm almost touching Sheng Yunze’s.

Fuck, Duan Yi thought, Seducing a married man? You’ll pay!

Sheng Yunze finally walked away, face dark.

“Holy shit! How did you not curse her out? She’s harassing our school beauty!” Jiang Wangshu was shocked.

Hao Shanshan: “When Commander Sheng returns to class, you need to expose this woman’s shady past. She’s not easy to deal with. She’s definitely after our school beauty now… sob my poor crush…”

Second High School’s opening ceremony usually takes half an hour, plus athlete oaths and principal speeches. At most, forty minutes.

After joining with Seventh High School, we had to add their formation and principal’s speech. It took an extra hour to finish.

All classes were dismissed to return to their assigned seats. Jiang Wangshu, having stood for two hours, collapsed in his seat as soon as he reached the audience area, too tired to move.

Sheng Yunze had disappeared somewhere to quickly change out of his event uniform and back into his double-layered autumn school uniform. His outfit looked cool, with a level of middle school fashion sense.

A label on his seat showed his student number. He moved his backpack aside, seeming to search for something.

Duan Yi had been secretly watching Sheng Yunze since he sat down. Now he finally had a reason to talk to him. After pretending to be busy for a while, he turned to look at Sheng Yunze with a just-right puzzled expression and a classmate’s casual tone, “Why are you here? Looking for something?”

Sheng Yunze spoke while searching, “You watched me for ten minutes just to come up with that opener?”

Duan Yi’s neck quickly turned red, spreading to his face, “You were watching me!”

Sheng Yunze said confidently, “If you weren’t watching me, how would you know I was watching you?”

Duan Yi was shocked by Sheng Yunze’s shamelessness.

Both of them forgot about the kisses from the past few nights and last night’s small argument.

But no one dared to look the other in the eye, silently avoiding each other’s gaze.

Duan Yi made a dry “oh” sound, leaving it at that.

One stared straight ahead, sitting ramrod straight, as if trying to see all the way from Second High School’s location to Tianmu.

The other lowered their head, searching through something, their back stiff, mechanically flipping through the same backpack eighty times.

If not for the noisy crowd and lively surroundings, this awkward atmosphere might have made them both dig a hole and bury themselves in it.

Together, even.

Perhaps both wanted to break the silence, they spoke almost at the same time.

“What did Nan Yi want with you?”

“What did that Seventh High School host say to you?”

“…”

“…”

Duan Yi suddenly stared at the international building’s big clock, as if trying to cement his neck in place, vowing never to turn and look at Sheng Yunze.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!!!

Duan Yi silently screamed in his mind, Why does this damn atmosphere keep getting more awkward every time I think it can’t get worse?!

Then a small, tingling current ran through both their hearts at the same time.

Is he jealous?—That was Duan Yi.

Has he been watching me?—That was Sheng Yunze.

After a while, the cold and beautiful school beauty finally gave up teasing his backpack. She said carelessly, “I didn’t hear her talk. Her voice was too sweet and annoying.”

Duan Yi saw Sheng Yunze giving him a way out. Tears filled his face as he quickly said, “Oh, I know. I just heard she was that…” He stopped halfway, realizing it wasn’t good to badmouth girls behind their backs.

He had always been someone who only believed what he saw, not rumors. Without knowing Fu Ya, he wouldn’t make quick judgments.

But seeing Fu Ya constantly trying to get close to Sheng Yunze made his heart feel like being pricked by needles, making him unhappy.

The conversation took a sudden turn. Duan Yi quickly found a way to change the topic, “You don’t like girls with sweet voices?”

“Depends on the person,” Sheng Yunze said. He added unnecessarily, “I only like it when the person I like acts cute.”

Duan Yi’s heart skipped a beat. He stared at the concrete ground without showing any emotion, “Oh.”

Was just saying “oh” too strange?

Duan Yi thought about it and added a line like someone hiding silver, “Why are you telling me this?”

He felt a bit of anticipation.

Sheng Yunze, confused, broke his daydream, “You asked me first.”

Duan Yi: …

The first clash between romanticism and rationalism ended in a very sad way.

Hey, shake my brain a bit? Did you hear that? Did you hear the sound of a pure boy’s beautiful dreams being crushed?

Duan Yi laughed in his mind. I’ll never date a science guy in this life, no, not in my whole life. Why don’t I use that energy to get into Cambridge or Harvard? Why waste it on a science guy like him? A walking human calculator with no romance at all. He deserves to be single his whole life! Anyone who marries Sheng Yunze is crazy!

Halfway through cursing, Duan Yi realized he was cursing himself. He got even angrier.

Jiang Wangshu came back to his senses and finally noticed something was wrong with Duan Yi. Seeing Sheng Yunze, he asked, “Commander Sheng, what are you looking for?”

“My watch.” Sheng Yunze zipped his backpack.

“Your watch?” Jiang Wangshu asked. “You’re not wearing it?”

He remembered Sheng Yunze had been hosting earlier, so he probably wasn’t wearing a watch. He must have lost it.

Sheng Yunze’s usual watch was an expensive Vacheron Constantin. Losing it would be a big deal. But he didn’t seem to care much. After searching a bit, he lost interest in looking.

Jiang Wangshu had only heard that Sheng Yunze came from a scholarly family. But if his surname was Sheng, and he had connections in Beijing, there was only one family with that name in the capital. Could it be… that coincidental?

“Do you need it urgently?” Duan Yi suddenly asked.

“No, check the time.” Sheng Yunze sat down. “I have a long run this afternoon.”

“If you need it urgently, I’ll give you mine.”

Boys love watches, and Duan Yi was no exception. The watch on his wrist was a Richard Mille RM5201, a gift from Duan Shaoheng for his last birthday. With a skull in the middle, it looked cool and stylish, just the way Duan Yi liked it.

Jiang Wangshu had asked to borrow it several times, but Duan Yi always refused. Now he handed it straight to Sheng Yunze.

So Jiang Wangshu made a face of shock.

Sheng Yunze paused for a moment, not planning to take it at first.

But Jiang Wangshu’s whining came next, “Duan-bao, are you human? You refused me so many times, but lend it to Commander Sheng now? You bastard! You have no sense of fairness!”

Duan Yi flushed a little. “Sheng Yunze needs it for a purpose, okay? You just want to show off. I won’t lend it to you, and we’re the same gender anyway. Thanks.”

Sheng Yunze took the watch. For some reason, seeing Jiang Wangshu’s frustrated expression made him feel secretly pleased.

The special treatment Duan Yi gave him brought a hint of joy.

But the joy didn’t last long. Nan Yi climbed over the fence, greeted a familiar student council member, and came straight to the third-year students’ area.

“Duan Yi, you still haven’t told me which batch you’re running in this afternoon?”

Nan Yi’s school uniform couldn’t hide his handsome looks. As soon as he arrived, the third-year senior girls’ eyes fell on him.

As expected of a second-year class grass, rumored to be a “little turtle” returning from abroad, every part of him screamed “fashionable”.

“Sister Ma said I’m in the second batch. What about you?”

Nan Yi’s face fell. “Third batch. I want to run with you. I’ll find someone to swap numbers with.”

Duan Yi quickly grabbed him. “Are you crazy? You’re already so busy. Why add more work?”

Nan Yi: “I…”

He opened his mouth to speak, but froze. Through the iron bars, he grabbed Duan Yi’s wrist—thin and pale as snow. “Where’s your watch?”

“Oh, I lent it out.”

“Lent it out?” Nan Yi stared strangely at him.

He knew Duan Yi loved this watch, owned for only a year—still in the honeymoon phase. Lending out his “girlfriend” watch seemed out of character. Even Jiang Wangshu, his best friend, hadn’t borrowed it.

“Who did you lend it to?” Nan Yi asked like a supervisor checking work.

Before Duan Yi could answer, Sheng Yunze slowly stood up. He pulled his school uniform sleeve back, put on Duan Yi’s borrowed “girlfriend” watch—Lady Richard—at half speed. Then he turned around like a model, showing off the watch from every angle.

Next, Sheng Yunze, former student council president and former disciplinary committee chairman, tapped the railing. He showed his watch and asked the new disciplinary committee chairman, “Don’t you want to be chairman anymore? Letting a second-year student into a third-year class?”

The disciplinary committee chairman jumped. Seeing Nan Yi, he quickly said, “Second-year student, get out! Or we’ll deduct points from your class!”

Nan Yi’s heart churned. A thousand emotions flooded through him as he glared at Sheng Yunze.

Sheng Yunze didn’t look away. He calmly met Nan Yi’s gaze.

Both saw the same hostility and jealousy in each other’s eyes.