Chapter 36: Maybe My Neck Looks Good
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
An Lan doesn’t care about the melodramatic conflicts, but based on his observations of Xiao Chen, this guy is quite resilient. He won’t easily bow down anywhere he goes.
“Gu Liyu didn’t come to see you because he went to support Xiao Chen.” Ye Yun said.
“Ah? Gu Liyu is helping Xiao Chen?”
Now, that’s some fresh news.
“Do you think they don’t look like friends, and why would Gu Liyu help him?” Ye Yun asked with a teasing smile.
“Yeah, what’s going on?”
Xu Xingran answered, “Remember when I told you that alphas have a protective instinct over everything within their territory?”
“Ah, yes. So Xiao Chen belongs to Gu Liyu’s territory?” An Lan asked curiously.
“Yes.” Xu Xingran squinted and smiled, “Xiao Chen is not only Gu Liyu’s classmate but also his teammate in the group competition. Even if they are not close friends, Gu Liyu won’t just leave him alone. Moreover, if our generation doesn’t unite, we’ll always be oppressed by those elders.”
An Lan didn’t expect Xu Xingran to say such things in front of him. It seems like Xu Xingran trusts him a lot.
Ye Yun also chuckled, showing a rare mocking expression. “Those old guys just love to rely on their age.”
“They prioritize family interests above all else. But for us, our own lives are more important,” Xu Xingran said.
An Lan knew that with Xu Xingran and Gu Liyu’s personalities, whatever they do is well thought out, not impulsive or rebellious like teenagers.
“It sounds like you guys are planning a rebellion,” An Lan half-jokingly said.
“Well… An Lan…” Ye Yun, who was originally lazy, suddenly became serious, “Do you want to join us?”
“I’ll do whatever I can.” An Lan is not someone who easily makes promises, but when friends need help, he doesn’t hesitate.
Ye Yun and Xu Xingran stayed with An Lan for a while before leaving. They chatted happily, but An Lan didn’t get a clear answer to that question from Xu Xingran.
Due to the sudden fainting and Xu Xingran not informing the classmates, Qiao Chuluo only heard the news from his parents on Sunday night and immediately called.
“Sob, Gongjing, do you have a third person outside? Otherwise, how could the pheromone stress reaction be so severe that you ended up in the hospital without telling me.”
An Lan wanted to laugh when he heard the tone of someone pretending to be heartbroken.
“Yes, I have someone outside. Not just a third, but a fourth, fifth, and sixth too!”
“What?” Qiao Chuluo, hearing this, changed his tone quickly, “Who are your third, fourth, fifth, and sixth?”
“Xu Xingran, Gu Liyu, Xiao Chen, and Ye Yun.” An Lan waited to hear Qiao Chuluo’s surprised voice.
“What? Ye Yun? How do you know Ye Yun?”
“Because we had a match together. And we also added each other as friends and planned to watch a movie together when we have the chance.”
“He’s my idol! The most handsome and cool omega! Can you take me with you when you watch a movie?”
“Sure.”
After chatting a lot about Ye Yun, An Lan told Qiao Chuluo about the doctor’s analysis of his pheromone stress reaction.
An Lan originally thought Qiao Chuluo would use his imaginative skills to create a melodramatic love triangle or something, but Qiao Chuluo, upon hearing it, seemed a bit anxious.
“An Lan, don’t treat this matter as a joke. This alpha is clearly interested in you. Liking this kind of feeling, even if the eyes don’t look, the mouth doesn’t speak, the pheromones can’t be hidden. He is in the same class as us, and even if he can suppress his pheromones internally, the release of Aplus is his nature, and he can’t stop it. Aplus is so trace that normal people can’t feel it, but since you have a need for his pheromones, you won’t be able to resist. Unless…”
“Unless what?” An Lan sat up straight.
“Unless he no longer likes you. But that’s unlikely to happen in a short time. Once a high-quality alpha develops feelings, it’s different from someone like Li Zhennan who’s fickle. It’s hard to change.”
An Lan took a deep breath. “So I need to talk to each of the three high-quality alphas in our class? But why do I feel like… none of them seem like they would like me.”
Is it not good enough to have an omega as sweet and versatile as Qiao Chuluo?
Or perhaps an omega as elegant and refined as Ye Yun is not attractive?
Brother, why did you set your sights on me?
“My An Lan, you better be careful. How do I feel like each of them has feelings for you?” When Qiao Chuluo said this, An Lan’s heart skipped a beat.
“What… really?”
“You think the class monitor is gentle and considerate, but he doesn’t care that much about other classmates’ affairs. You think Gu Liyu isn’t as cold as rumored, but he only ate something you treated him to and treated you to something in return. If you still think our math class representative is the typical mouth-strong-but-heart-soft representative… he’s not only mouth-strong but also fist-strong. Last time, the guy with glasses in our class reported to the office, and the office went to the internet cafe to catch people, and they caught Xiao Chen too. Xiao Chen directly punched the guy with glasses until he had a nosebleed.”
So, An Lan, don’t be naive!
“Then I’ll just go directly and talk to them!” An Lan decided that rather than being so nervous and thinking wildly, it’s better to cut through the chaos with a sharp knife.
Cut off these romantic entanglements and be good brothers!
“If you ask the class monitor directly, and he says, ‘Yes, I just want to bite you,’ will your face turn red with excitement, or will you agree?” Qiao Chuluo teased, “If you ask Gu Liyu, and Gu Liyu says ‘Mmm,’ is that ‘Mmm’ because he bit you or because he decided to bite you? If you ask Xiao Chen, and Xiao Chen directly grabs your neck, will it be a ‘crunch’ or a mouthful?”
“A ‘crunch’ is like sugarcane, right?”
“Yes, like biting sugarcane, snapping it off! You’ll also have to smash it to suck out the sugary water!”
Originally, An Lan, who had decided to have an open and honest chat with these three seniors, suddenly felt uneasy.
“So… do I have to pretend to be clueless until graduation?”
“So, I’ve come up with a good idea for you,” Qiao Chuluo said.
“Hurry up, don’t keep me in suspense!”
“Go online and buy a perfume that has the same scent as theirs. You know, Xu, Gu, and Xiao are all from prestigious alpha families. The scents of these three major families are well-known, and there are many imitations. Smell all three scents, stimulate your memory, and maybe you’ll remember who bit you in the first place!”
An Lan thought this was a good idea.
He immediately opened the shopping app and, after careful consideration, covered his eyes.
The perfumes with scents similar to those of the three big shots were all super expensive.
It was almost midnight when An Lan finally found a relatively reasonably priced… sample seller.
He placed an order for three samples, and only then did An Lan put down his phone to sleep.
The next morning, as soon as An Lan came downstairs with his backpack, he saw a familiar figure sitting on a bicycle parked in front of his house.
The person, carrying a backpack, stood on tiptoe with one foot on the ground, hands hanging on both sides, and the handlebars of the bicycle leaning toward An Lan.
The morning light penetrated the buildings, turning into gentle rays that fell on the tip of that figure’s nose and shoulders.
“Gu Liyu? Why are you here?”
An Lan quickly walked up to the person.
“I haven’t visited you since you were in the hospital, so I came today to invite you for breakfast.” Gu Liyu said.
“In that case, why don’t you let me copy your homework?” An Lan said casually.
“Sure, which subject?” Gu Liyu asked, looking at him.
An Lan felt a warm sensation in his heart. After being classmates for more than two years, he had never heard of anyone copying Gu Liyu’s homework.
Gu Liyu’s gaze was calm, and An Lan felt like he was a book casually placed on the bedside, creating a special sense of closeness because it was always being flipped through.
But this sense of closeness was different from the possessiveness and longing that the attending doctor had analyzed as nearly obsessive.
Because An Lan also wanted to be close to this Gu Liyu.
“I’ve finished writing. The monthly exams are coming up, so I dare not be lazy.” An Lan patted his shoulder, “Since you’re treating me to breakfast, have you decided what you want to eat?”
As An Lan spoke, he glanced at a shared bike and pushed it over to Gu Liyu’s side.
“You choose.” Gu Liyu replied.
An Lan heard this and smiled even more happily.
“Follow me, let’s go eat rice noodles. They have ones with leek and shrimp, minced meat and egg, tender pig liver… What flavor do you like?” An Lan asked while riding the bike.
“Any is fine.”
“Actually, it’s because you haven’t tried any of them, so you don’t know which one suits your taste, right?”
“Yeah.”
Even the “yeah” sounded very earnest, and An Lan inexplicably felt that Gu Liyu was a bit cute.
“Next weekend, my little uncle is hosting an art exhibition. Will you come?” Gu Liyu asked.
An Lan was momentarily stunned.
Although the matter of Gu Yunli’s family was well-known, it didn’t prevent the Gu family from producing outstanding talents.
Gu Liyu’s little uncle, Gu Yunyi, was a very famous contemporary artist, and his art exhibition was a highly sought-after event. Only invited guests could attend.
“Are you inviting me? But I’m not an art student or an art connoisseur. Would your little uncle mind?” An Lan asked.
“There’s a painting in this exhibition called ‘Youth in the Clouds.’ I think it looks a lot like you,” Gu Liyu replied.
His voice had a kind of clear and transparent coldness. Combined with his tone that didn’t fluctuate much, it sounded aloof at first, but An Lan could feel the seriousness and carefulness in his invitation.
And a hint of cautiousness.
“Sure.” An Lan agreed, then added, “But I’m not a youth in the clouds; I’m a faint youth.”
“Hmm?” Gu Liyu turned his head to look at him.
“Haha, I’m just making fun of myself! We’ve arrived at the rice noodle shop!” An Lan parked the bike on the side of the road.
This time, they didn’t go to a street vendor but to a small shop dedicated to making rice noodle rolls.
As soon as they entered, there were seats available.
Gu Liyu was tall, and with his handsome features, when he walked in, all the customers who were having breakfast looked over.
An Lan ordered leek and shrimp rice noodle rolls and minced meat beef rice noodle rolls.
Unexpectedly, Gu Liyu said, “Order two more.”
“Ah? You’re not even sure if you like them, and you want to order so much?” An Lan tilted his head, looking at Gu Liyu with his eyes.
“Because you’ll get hungry by the second class,” Gu Liyu said, looking at the leek and shrimp rice noodle rolls brought over by the boss.
An Lan paused, then propped his chin and turned his head, smiling.
“Why are you smiling?” Gu Liyu asked again.
Because you’re very considerate, and you don’t live entirely in your own world.
Clearly, you care about others.
But An Lan didn’t say that; instead, he replied, “Probably because you’re too handsome, and the rice noodle rolls brought by the female boss are a bit more than usual.”
An Lan split the chopsticks and handed them to Gu Liyu, then pushed the leek and shrimp rice noodle rolls in front of him.
On the side, there happened to be a mother having breakfast with her son. The little boy struggled to handle the chopsticks, and the slippery rice noodle rolls he picked up would often slip back into the plate.
The mother had to pick them up and feed her son. The little boy opened his mouth wide, took a bite, and smiled at his mother with squinted eyes while eating.
Gu Liyu picked up a piece of rice noodle roll, handling the chopsticks with great stability. His slender fingers folded between the two chopsticks, creating a visually pleasing scene.
An Lan was still waiting for him to take the first bite, but unexpectedly, Gu Liyu extended the chopsticks toward An Lan.
“You…” An Lan didn’t immediately understand what Gu Liyu meant.
“They all do it this way,” Gu Liyu said.
An Lan just noticed that besides the mother and son, there was also a young couple in different school uniforms. They ordered different flavors of rice noodle rolls and were sharing them. One of them, probably an alpha, picked up a piece and fed it to his little boyfriend.
“We are neither father and son nor in a romantic relationship,” An Lan reminded Gu Liyu in a low voice.
“Forget it,” Gu Liyu put another rice noodle roll into his mouth, then lowered his head and ate silently.
An Lan turned his face to look at Gu Liyu, but he didn’t lift his head to meet his gaze.
At this moment, the boss lady brought another plate of beef and scrambled egg rice noodle rolls to the table.
An Lan picked up a piece and approached Gu Liyu.
“We are neither father and son nor in love,” Gu Liyu said indifferently.
An Lan thought, oh, he’s really upset about this.
“The rice noodle roll is slippery; if you don’t eat it now, I won’t be able to hold it,” An Lan’s chopsticks moved closer to the corner of Gu Liyu’s mouth.
Gu Liyu continued to eat only the shrimp and chives in front of him.
Hmm… he really has a temper, quite a big one.
An Lan shook his chopsticks, and a small piece of beef fell onto the shrimp and chives.
“Never mind.”
An Lan was about to retract his chopsticks, but unexpectedly, Gu Liyu suddenly opened his lips, took the rice noodle roll, and An Lan felt a slight bite on the tip of his chopsticks. His fingertips tingled as if touched by an electric current, and a sensation surged through his heart.
An Lan quickly retracted his chopsticks.
“What did the doctor say?” Gu Liyu asked.
“Huh? What?”
“The other day, your stress reaction was severe. It looked like…” Gu Liyu didn’t finish his sentence.
It looked like the heat of an omega in estrus.
“You should know that I was injected with Eve’s Apple in the KTV, right?” An Lan said.
“Yeah.”
“At that time, an alpha mistook me for an omega in heat and gave me a temporary mark. Since then, when my pheromones are low, I subconsciously look for him.”
“He won’t mistake you for an omega,” Gu Liyu said.
“Why?” An Lan asked curiously.
After all, Eve’s Apple made An Lan exhibit symptoms of omega in heat.
“Because you are powerful,” Gu Liyu replied succinctly.
An Lan couldn’t help but laugh. “So, you think he didn’t misunderstand me as an omega? Then, if he wanted to bite me, why not elsewhere? Why did he have to bite my neck?”
Gu Liyu fell silent.
An Lan, while eating rice noodle rolls, felt inexplicably nervous. It was better to ask that question now.
“Gu Liyu, that day…”
Did you go to the KTV that day?
“I don’t know,” Gu Liyu suddenly said.
“What don’t you know?”
“I don’t know why your neck was bitten.”
An Lan was stunned for a moment and almost burst into laughter.
“You’ve been thinking about this question all this time?”
“Yeah,” Gu Liyu’s expression was still serious.
“Forget it. Maybe my neck just looks good.”
Since you didn’t bite me, of course, you wouldn’t know why they bit my neck.
An Lan raised his hand, ordered two more servings of rice noodle rolls, and then leaned toward Gu Liyu.
“Hey, I want to tell you something.”
Perhaps for the first time, someone got so close to Gu Liyu, and he just stared at An Lan without moving.
“If I get bitten by that alpha again… I might turn into an omega.”
“You probably don’t want to become an omega,” Gu Liyu said.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want any alpha to control your life,” Gu Liyu answered.
No one wants another person to control their life.
Most alphas are accustomed to being leaders, but very few are as straightforward as Gu Liyu in expressing it. Many alphas even consider marking and having an omega as something natural. Like Li Zhennan.
“I won’t let anyone control my life. Whether I’m a beta or become an alpha… even if I become an omega,” An Lan said seriously.
“You may underestimate the influence of alphas on omegas,” Gu Liyu looked at An Lan.
“Powerful alphas can indeed induce omegas into heat, but if I want to participate in a shooting competition, he can’t stop me. Things I feel I must do, he can’t change my bottom line. And things I dislike, he can’t make me like.” An Lan tilted his head, “Do you remember that Li Zhennan? He even threatened me and Xiao Qiao. Until now, he can’t make Xiao Qiao like him.”
“What if one day you’re forcibly marked by an alpha?” Gu Liyu asked again.
An Lan squinted his eyes, approached, and asked, “Hey, are you worried about me? Wake up, brother, I’m not an omega yet.”
“I’m just saying… if,” Gu Liyu still looked serious.
Because they were so close, An Lan saw himself in Gu Liyu’s eyes—distinctive, bright, and lively.
“If I become an omega, the first thing I’ll do is enroll in self-defense classes. My mom has always been ridiculously confident, thinking I’m good-looking,” An Lan replied.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Gu Liyu seemed to smile, even though his smile was always subtle.
But it was that not-so-obvious curvature, appearing like sunlight filtering through the clouds, as if a seemingly cold story hid warm details and a touching ending.
“I can teach you, too.”
“Teach me self-defense?” An Lan also smiled.
“But maybe… the person you need to guard against the most will become me.”
“Huh?”
“Aunt should be more confident because you really are good-looking.”
Gu Liyu’s voice still lacked fluctuations, but it felt sincere.
An Lan recalled that night when Gu Liyu stood in front of his bookshelf, saying his childhood photos were “very beautiful.”
This breakfast was indeed treated by Gu Liyu. After he paid the bill, An Lan ordered another serving of leek and fresh shrimp rice noodle rolls.
“Taking it to the classroom?” Gu Liyu asked.
“For the class monitor. He asked me to treat him to breakfast last time,” An Lan said with a smile.
Then, on the way, Gu Liyu didn’t say a word…
When Xu Xingran arrived, he saw the packed rice noodle rolls on his desk and immediately smiled.
Turning his head, he saw An Lan and Qiao Chuluo’s heads close together, deeply engrossed in conversation.
“Thank you for buying breakfast for me,” Xu Xingran said.
“Huh? How do you know I bought it?”
“An Lan style,” Xu Xingran said.
At this moment, Xiao Chen unexpectedly entered the classroom.
He walked to An Lan’s back row and put his backpack in the drawer.
Everyone in the class unconsciously glanced at the time. Xiao Chen was not the type to come to the classroom before morning self-study.
The incident of him running away from home was widely known. Could it be that after running away from home, he also had a change in personality?
However, his expression was not good, languid, as if he could easily pick someone up and use them as a punching bag.
Everyone sensibly sat in their seats, doing their own things, not even daring to copy homework too loudly.
What was even more important was that Xiao Chen had been sitting in his seat for more than a minute, and he hadn’t leaned down, laid down, or fallen asleep. His front-row classmates thought maybe their backs weren’t straight enough, so they forced their necks to straighten up.
Xu Xingran had already started eating the rice noodle rolls. Since the school-issued nutritious meals, it was rare to see Xu Xingran eating in the classroom. Several girls and even omegas couldn’t help but look in Xu Xingran’s direction.
Xu Xingran didn’t mind the gaze of others, enjoying the meal as if it were a luxurious feast. He first opened the round plastic container containing the sauce.
With a “pop,” the lid popped open, and the rich aroma of the sauce spread throughout the classroom.
Xiao Chen squinted his eyes from the back.
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
