Chapter 48: The Difficulty of Striking a Balance
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Hearing that sound, An Lan instinctively straightened his back and even stretched his neck. After all, he had to help Xiao Chen block the teacher’s line of sight.
After Xiao Chen sat down, he poked An Lan’s back.
“Ah? What’s wrong?”
Did he not stretch his neck enough?
“What are you doing? Blocking my view of the blackboard.” Xiao Chen said.
An Lan turned around, whispering, “Don’t… you sleep during class?”
“Sleep in class? Am I that kind of person?” Xiao Chen’s tone fell just as the classmates, who were chatting before, suddenly fell silent in the classroom.
An Lan also paused.
Huh? Aren’t you the one who sleeps in class?
Even Bald Qiang, who was arranging seats by the podium, looked at Xiao Chen with surprised eyes.
Other classmates came in one after another.
Finally, it was Qiao Chuluo’s turn. He carried his bag, staring longingly at An Lan.
The development of this situation completely exceeded An Lan’s expectations, but at least Qiao Chuluo could choose the position next to the Class Monitor this time… that was the only consolation.
However, Qiao Chuluo did not choose the position next to Xu Xingran but instead chose the seat in front of An Lan.
Watching the furious back of Little Qiao sitting down, An Lan happily leaned forward and said, “This is indeed my Little Qiao, never forgetting the color of loyalty.”
Qiao Chuluo didn’t look back, giving An Lan the middle finger.
Soon, everyone’s seats were arranged.
Bald Qiang stood on the podium and made a concluding statement, “Dear students, are you satisfied with your seats?”
An Lan thought about it; he was surrounded by the Boss Alphas on the left, on the right, and behind him. This was truly a blessing… An Lan drowned in the envious gaze of his classmates.
Next was math class. The teacher explained the mock test questions of this month’s exam on the podium. Xiao Chen, who claimed, “Sleep during class? Am I that kind of person?” fell asleep on his seat in less than three minutes.
After finishing the questions, there was a five-minute time for questions and discussion.
Qiao Chuluo turned with the mock test paper, “The teacher said this multiple-choice question can be solved without calculation. I didn’t quite understand.”
“I didn’t understand it either.”
When the two big Buddhas weren’t sitting beside him, An Lan could calmly ask them questions. But now… Asking Gu Liyu seemed to belittle Xu Xingran, and asking Xu Xingran seemed to show a lack of trust in Gu Liyu’s ability to explain.
When An Lan glanced at Xu Xingran, Xu Xingran gestured with his eyes to the back and showed a somewhat mischievous smile.
The meaning was clear: ask the math class representative.
“An Lan, do you have a question for Xiao Chen?”
“Ah… oh, yes.”
Hearing their conversation, Xiao Chen, in a daze, sat up and said, “Which question?”
“It’s this one… The teacher said this multiple-choice question can be solved without calculating, and other, more time-saving methods can eliminate options…”
Xiao Chen frowned and said, “You don’t know this?”
An Lan shook his head.
Xu Xingran said from the side, “Go up and explain.”
The question stem of this question was still on the blackboard. At this moment, the teacher said, “Is there no one who can solve it?”
Only the sound of Xiao Chen’s desk was heard, and then he stood up, grabbed An Lan’s test paper, and walked up to the podium.
Not only the students but even the teacher showed a surprised expression. No one expected that Xiao Chen, who always slept in class, would take the initiative to answer questions on the blackboard!
Boss Xiao, on the stage, silenced the entire classroom. Even the teacher looked nervous.
Holding a chalk, facing An Lan, Xiao Chen pointed back on the blackboard, “This question indeed can be quickly solved by excluding wrong options. I have more than ten methods to eliminate options. Listen carefully.”
The warning in the last sentence made An Lan straighten his neck again.
Other students also widened their eyes, afraid of being caught slacking by Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen’s chalk work was impressive, making a rhythmic sound on the blackboard.
The teacher only explained three methods, just enough to eliminate three wrong options. But when Xiao Chen went up, his voice was lazy, yet every word was focused, and his logic was clear and easy to follow.
After finishing all twelve elimination methods, Xiao Chen tapped the chalk on the blackboard and asked An Lan, “Did you understand?”
An Lan nodded immediately, “Understood!”
“That’s it. If you still don’t understand, you might need to go to the hospital to check your brain.” Xiao Chen raised his wrist, and the chalk landed steadily back in the box.
Xiao Chen was about to come down, but the teacher spoke, “Xiao Chen, I wasn’t asking about this question. I was referring to the last question on the exam paper.”
“Ah?” Xiao Chen showed a puzzled expression, perfectly suitable for a reaction meme, but unfortunately, no one dared to take photos.
Clearly, the question stem of this multiple-choice question was on the blackboard. When Xiao Chen was awakened by Xu Xingran and An Lan, the teacher asked, “Is there no one who can solve it?” How did it become another question?
The teacher continued, “The multiple-choice question on the blackboard, your explanation was excellent and touched me. But this question has been asked a long time ago. I hope you can keep up with everyone and not fall behind.”
Xiao Chen looked at Xu Xingran and An Lan.
Xu Xingran’s fist was against his lips, obviously laughing.
An Lan lowered his head, and his shoulders trembled lightly. Oh God, he didn’t expect to “trick” Xiao Chen using this method.
“Since you’ve come up, let’s explain the last question to everyone.”
Finally, the “math class representative” Xiao Chen had a purpose. How could the teacher not seize this opportunity?
An Lan immediately raised his head, put his hands on the table, and smiled at Xiao Chen, saying with his lips, “Teacher Xiao, please explain the problem.”
Xiao Chen pinched the chalk and gestured on his neck, meaning: you’re done for.
Such a simple action made the little Omegas in the class restless; it was too A and too cool.
Xiao Chen seems a bit retaliatory in nature. When solving problems, he spoke very quickly, and the characters he wrote on the board seemed as if they wanted to fly off the blackboard.
Everyone was focused before, but when it came to this problem, they all entered a state of confusion.
What does “riding a plane” mean? The whole classroom, except for encouragement and Xu Xingran, entered a state of flight.
Xiao Chen explained this problem in just one minute, lazily turned around, and looked at An Lan, asking, “Did you understand?”
The whole classroom fell silent.
Only An Lan shook his head, “Didn’t understand.”
“Then listen to the teacher.”
Xiao Chen smiled and was about to throw the chalk back into the box, but unexpectedly, Xu Xingran spoke up, “Let me explain. I understand this problem.”
The teacher nodded in agreement, but Xiao Chen didn’t come back.
“Good deeds to the end, I’ll explain until you understand.”
Xiao Chen turned back to the blackboard, and the students, who had relaxed for a moment, instantly tensed their nerves again.
The teacher was stunned, Xu Xingran had long anticipated this result. He sat calmly in his seat, with no intention of getting up at all.
Xiao Chen turned sideways, writing on the board. Surprisingly, the characters, which were originally so messy that one had to squint to distinguish Arabic numerals, became neat.
“Do you understand?” Xiao Chen slowed down his pace and turned to ask An Lan after writing two paragraphs.
“Understood,” An Lan nodded.
Even the teacher couldn’t help but comment, “Xiao Chen, if your Chinese composition had this kind of neatness, you might be the first in the grade.”
Xiao Chen raised his eyelids, “I remember you’re the math teacher, right?”
The math teacher fell silent, feeling sorrow for the Chinese teacher deep down.
Xiao Chen continued to explain, and his pace slowed down, unexpectedly giving a slightly gentle feeling.
“For the line y=x+1 intersecting with the graph of the function y=f(x) at (X0, Y0), then Y0=X0+1…”
The entire classroom became completely focused, and the math teacher felt sorrowful once again. When he explained this question, why didn’t these little brats show any respect? Some were dozing off, and some were daydreaming.
As the question progressed, surprisingly, quite a few students nodded along.
Xiao Chen threw the chalk back into the box and said with a somewhat threatening tone, “Did you all understand this time?”
In unison, everyone replied, “Understood!”
The math teacher suffered another blow, feeling like his job was becoming unstable.
Xiao Chen walked back with An Lan’s test paper, and as he passed by, he casually threw the paper onto An Lan’s face. Then he said chillingly, “Dare to scheme against me.”
An Lan immediately lowered his head, and Xu Xingran lightly laughed, supporting his chin.
Meanwhile, the omega group was buzzing.
[Ah ah ah ah~ Today Chen Chen explained problems on stage! And he explained two problems!]
[Exactly! The first multiple-choice question had only three elimination methods from the teacher, but Chen Chen has twelve! The choice is yours!]
[Did you see the expression Chen Chen made when he realized the teacher had already explained the first question? Super cute~]
[Exactly! But most importantly, he explained the second problem twice! The first time was too fast to understand!]
[But the second time, he was so patient! Chen Chen’s voice is so pleasant~ Not a word should be missed!]
[Wait… Have I been away from the group for too long? Who is Chen Chen?]
[He’s the math class representative of Class One!]
[Are you guys crazy? How can you call him that? I can already feel the death stare from XC!]
[No, today Chen Chen is really cute!]
…
Class was over, and Qiao Chuluo turned around, sitting so that he could chat with An Lan.
Unfortunately, surrounded by alpha classmates with excellent hearing on both sides, Qiao Chuluo opened his mouth but could only continue chatting with An Lan through WeChat.
Little Qiao: [I think they planned it from the beginning, deliberately messing up the exam so that you could choose your seat first. Wherever you choose, they sit there!]
An Lan: [I feel like there’s something like that. But what’s the benefit of sitting with me?]
Little Qiao: [Near the water tower first gets the moon.]
An Lan: [Then why didn’t you choose the position next to the Class Monitor?]
Gu Liyu went to get water again, Xu Xingran was reading a book with his chin propped up, and An Lan chatted with Little Qiao without worries. Suddenly, Qiao Chuluo, who was sitting opposite, stopped typing and just stared at An Lan.
An Lan also looked at him, “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Chuluo didn’t answer but continued to look at him.
An Lan suddenly felt the light dimming again, and it seemed like there was another person’s shadow on his desk.
Holding his breath, he slowly raised his head, turned his face, and met Xiao Chen’s profile, almost dropping his phone to the table in shock.
Xiao Chen was tall, with both hands on the table. Bending down a bit, he could see what An Lan was doing.
“How can you look at my phone!” An Lan said sternly.
Xiao Chen frowned, “From my angle, I can’t see your phone at all… Are you being guilty and badmouthing me?”
An Lan was silenced by Xiao Chen’s response and could only say, “Anyway, peeking from behind is not good.”
“I’m not peeking” Xiao Chen replied.
“Huh?”
“I’m openly looking.” Xiao Chen replied.
“…”
An Lan felt their conversation was childish.
Gu Liyu came back with a cup of hot water. He glanced at Xiao Chen, sat back in his seat, and Xiao Chen finally sat back too. An Lan breathed a sigh of relief, and Qiao Chuluo continued to send him messages on WeChat.
Little Qiao: [I want to eat spicy hot pot. How about having it together tonight? Celebrate your good performance in the monthly exam.]
An Lan: [My parents won’t be home tonight. Let’s cook at my place.]
Little Qiao: [No problem. Let’s go to the supermarket after school!]
An Lan: [I suddenly realized a very serious problem…]
Little Qiao: [What serious problem? Is it that your house doesn’t have a pot, or you don’t have money? Or is your older sister coming to freeload off us again?]
An Lan: [It’s more serious than all those issues… the genius from the desk behind me lives in the same neighborhood as me…]
Qiao Chuluo immediately understood. Since Xiao Chen lived with them, not inviting him to eat hot pot seemed not right.
Moreover, today Xiao Chen went on stage to explain problems, which improved everyone’s impression of him. Qiao Chuluo didn’t find him as difficult to get along with as he had imagined.
Also, Xiao Chen’s leaving home with his sister was widely known throughout the school. In this situation, not inviting him to eat hot pot seemed a bit unkind.
An Lan turned his head and knocked on Xiao Chen’s desk, “Hey, tonight, Little Qiao and I want to eat hot pot at home. Are you coming or not?”
Xiao Chen, who was sleeping on the table, raised his eyelids, “My sister is coming back tonight.”
It meant that he had to accompany his sister for dinner.
“Bring your sister along,” An Lan said, feeling a bit awkward about the phrase “bring your sister.”
“Oh, she likes fish tofu.”
“So let’s go buy together after class. Buy whatever she likes.”
After saying that, An Lan received a message from Qiao Chuluo: [Invite the Class Monitor and the school grass too. Otherwise, your battlefield, I’m afraid, will become a Shura field.]
An Lan looked slowly towards Gu Liyu on the left, who was wearing earphones and didn’t know what he was listening to. An Lan lightly tapped on his desk, and Gu Liyu took off his earphones, looking at him.
“We are planning to cook spicy hot pot for the next few evenings. Can you handle spicy food? Come join us?”
Gu Liyu nodded lightly, “Sure.”
“Then after class, let’s go to the supermarket together to buy the ingredients.”
“Okay.” Gu Liyu nodded again and put his earphones back on.
An Lan turned to the other side, “Class Monitor… you heard it, right? Join us?”
Xu Xingran smiled, “If you didn’t invite me, I might get angry.”
An Lan chuckled twice.
Fortunately, with Little Qiao’s reminder, it didn’t turn into a chaotic situation.
Being a person is really hard, being someone who pleases everyone is even harder.
Today was the release of the monthly exam results, so evening self-study was suspended for a day, giving everyone time to bring their mixed doubles results home and face their parents.
An Lan and Qiao Chuluo were casually riding bikes at the school gate. To the surprise of the whole school, Gu Liyu, Xu Xingran, and Xiao Chen were following them, and it didn’t look like they were just “going the same way.”
Xiao Chen, riding his bike and looking at his phone, said, “I searched online, and it said the hot pot base from ‘Xiao Tang Men’ is the best.”
“That’s what we’re buying!” An Lan replied.
Xu Xingran added, “Do you guys eat duck intestines? Let’s have some in the spicy hot pot!”
An Lan and Qiao Chuluo turned to him, “Class Monitor, what did you say? You actually eat duck intestines?”
“What’s wrong? Is it too heavy for you?” Xu Xingran smiled.
“No—we like it!” An Lan and Qiao Chuluo said in unison.
Xiao Chen frowned, “You two are so compatible, why don’t you just get married on the spot?”
Qiao Chuluo almost fell off his bike.
An Lan tried to help but lost his balance and fell down instead.
Suddenly, someone grabbed An Lan’s arm and pulled him up. The bike fell over, its wheels spinning helplessly.
With that pull, An Lan stopped right on time.
He turned his head and saw Gu Liyu.
“Thanks.”
If it weren’t for Gu Liyu’s quick reaction, he might not have caught Little Qiao and would have used him as a cushion.
“I want to eat bamboo fungus,” Gu Liyu said.
This was the first time Gu Liyu had mentioned what he wanted to eat.
“Okay, but the supermarket only has dried ones. We’ll soak them after buying.”
“Okay.”
The five of them, in school uniforms, entered the supermarket.
An Lan was already a handsome guy, and with Xu Xingran and the others, three good-looking individuals, the young people shopping in the supermarket couldn’t help but discuss.
“Is this supermarket shooting a promotional video?”
“Just feelin’ really handsome…”
An Lan and Qiao Chuluo pushed the cart, and when they turned around, they saw the three of them picking things from the shelves or the freezer. Qiao Chuluo whispered, “Feels like traveling with big shots.”
“Right, they’re big shots, and we’re just little brothers carrying bags…”
Before An Lan finished speaking, his head was lightly tapped from behind. When he turned around, it was Xu Xingran.
“I’ll push the cart for you and be your little brother. Two Bosses, pick whatever you want.”
An Lan and Qiao Chuluo looked at each other and immediately started putting items like grass-fed beef rolls and lamb rolls into the cart.
Xiao Chen, who was studying shrimp and fish tofu, was dumbfounded by their actions.
“These two don’t look like they can eat so much…”
When they went to pay, the cart was full. It was easy to imagine that the hot pot night tonight would be very satisfying.
After paying, Xu Xingran, Gu Liyu, and Xiao Chen started bagging the items.
Originally, they thought these three would act like young masters, such as standing aside and watching others work, but unexpectedly, the three of them neatly and skillfully packed everything. Qiao Chuluo couldn’t even intervene.
“I’ll go to the restroom! I’ll be right back!” An Lan said.
“Okay.” Qiao Chuluo nodded.
The supermarket restroom was not like the one in the upstairs mall. It was a bit dirty and stuffy.
Fortunately, there weren’t many people in the men’s restroom. An Lan had just finished washing his hands when his phone vibrated. He opened it and saw a WeChat message from Ye Yun.
Ye Yun: [I looked for the male companion brought by the guests that day, but there aren’t many who meet the criteria.]
After saying that, Ye Yun sent over a few photos.
The criteria referred to the man An Lan saw in the restroom at Gu Yunyi’s art exhibition. He was in his twenties, male, and if he was the one who bit An Lan, he had to be a high-quality alpha.
An Lan was eager to know the answer. Ignoring the journey home, he stood in place and opened those pictures.
But the people in the photos… were all strangers.
An Lan replied: [Still no sign.]
A sense of disappointment surged in his heart.
Could it be that he really couldn’t find that person?
Ye Yun: [Then there’s only one possibility left.]
An Lan’s spirit lifted: [What possibility?]
Ye Yun: [If you didn’t see or hear wrong, and that person really exists, then he’s not a guest but a staff member. He doesn’t need an invitation, so he won’t be on the guest list.]
An Lan was lost in thought. He recalled the person’s demeanor. However, no matter how he thought, the other person didn’t seem like a staff member.
He exuded confidence and a trustworthy aura.
An Lan breathed out a sigh of relief, but suddenly, a hand reached over from behind and unexpectedly covered his mouth and nose.
“Ugh… mmm!”
An Lan widened his eyes. At first, he thought it was a prank, but when he looked at the mirror in front of him, it was a complete stranger!
Moreover, the person held a handkerchief in his hand!
A chill surged through him. An Lan couldn’t even hold his breath. Before he knew it, everything turned black in front of his eyes, and he fell down.
The person held him and, at this moment, the restroom cubicle behind him opened. A man in a wheelchair came out. The two of them lifted An Lan onto the wheelchair and covered him with a blanket.
The phone that fell on the ground rang, and Qiao Chuluo’s name flashed on the screen.
One of them shut down An Lan’s phone, casually threw it into the trash can next to the sink, as if nothing had happened. They pushed the wheelchair out of the restroom, put on hats, lowered their brims, and headed to the underground parking lot.
Qiao Chuluo stood next to the cart, frowning, “Strange, why is the phone turned off? Did it fall into a pit?”
“Could it be that someone stole the phone?” Xiao Chen asked with a smile.
Gu Liyu spoke, “I’ll go find him. You guys watch over the things we bought.”
Qiao Chuluo nodded, “Okay, just don’t let it be that the phone is really gone. But his phone isn’t a new model!”
Gu Liyu took a few steps and then started walking faster.
Xu Xingran looked at Gu Liyu’s back, furrowed his brows, and said, “I’ll go with him.”
Xiao Chen said to Qiao Chuluo, “You watch the things; we’ll go find An Lan. If he comes back, give us a call.”
“Okay.” Qiao Chuluo nodded.
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