The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: He Contacts Me Only For The Child

By the time Wen Zhijie (Da Wen) dragged his weary body home, Lin Chang had already engaged Wen Zhiyi (Xiao Wen) in a lively conversation, thanks to his varied, humorous, and insightful stories.

Wen Zhiyi, whose hair was still slightly damp after his shower, sat cross-legged on the sofa, chatting intermittently with Lin Chang while waiting for Da Wen to return. He would even pursue certain interesting topics, which Lin Chang was naturally delighted about.

Lin Chang mentioned his previous climb of Mustagh Ata. The actual climbing time was only four days, but they trekked six or seven hours every day, walking until numb and broken over scree and snow piles—a climb that felt almost endless. At the summit, nearly 7,000 meters above sea level, most people were already frantically sucking on oxygen tanks.

Wen Zhiyi casually brushed his damp bangs back and stretched out his legs to reach for the slippers on the floor. He could vaguely hear the sound of the elevator running: “Most people? If you don’t use oxygen at over 7,000 meters, can anyone truly remain conscious?”

“Yes, they can.”

Lin Chang also stood up to greet Da Wen. He knelt down halfway to reach for the slipper Wen Zhiyi had accidentally kicked under the sofa. Fortunately, his arm span was long enough to reach the slipper effortlessly.

He naturally placed the slipper by Wen Zhiyi’s feet: “Tibetan guides generally endure without oxygen; the saved oxygen tanks count as income for them. As for me, not using oxygen back then was purely due to youth. My competitive streak flared up, and I tried to test my willpower against the guide’s.”

After speaking, he smiled slightly at Wen Zhiyi, signaling him to quickly put on the slippers.

Xiao Wen, served in this manner, instead stopped his movement, curled his legs back onto the sofa, pressing his snow-moon-like feet underneath. He raised an eyebrow at Lin Chang, who was kneeling before him, and calmly asked: “Why did you do that?”

Under the bright, warm living room light, the gray progress bar next to Lin Chang remained at 70% intensity. The older Beta, who had appeared mature and composed since their first meeting, slowly gave Wen Zhiyi a smile that was no longer peaceful and serene, but carried a sense of imminent action: “Perhaps because I was too young at the time? In short, I just wanted to prove that a Beta’s physical fitness is no worse than that group of Alpha guides. Gritting my teeth, I managed to persevere the whole way.”

This cunning person is downplaying the seriousness of the matter.

Wen Zhiyi narrowed his eyes.

But Da Wen’s footsteps were clearly audible. Xiao Wen didn’t want to dwell on the question, casually slipped on his slippers, and went to open the door. Da Wen, hiding his fatigue, greeted his brother with a smile.

He instinctively scanned Wen Zhiyi from head to toe, waved dismissively without waiting for Xiao Wen’s reaction, and squeezed into the apartment. Like a radar, he searched for Lin Chang, and only visibly relaxed after confirming that both men’s expressions and demeanor were normal.

…Seriously, what are you so nervous about?

Wen Zhiyi felt the relaxation signal conveyed by Wen Zhijie’s body language and returned to his room, feeling speechless and helpless.

The two left in the living room were silent for a moment. Da Wen casually checked: “You didn’t smoke inside, did you?”

Lin Chang glanced at him, naturally opened the fridge, selected a cold beer, crisply pulled the tab, and said in a low voice: “When have you ever seen me smoke indoors?”

He raised the can in his hand toward Wen Zhijie, clearly not treating himself as a guest: “Want a sip?”

Da Wen shook his head, untied his necktie, and prepared to wash up. Before leaving, he casually remarked: “Oh right, you know you should sleep in the guest room, right?”

Lin Chang replied, surprised: “Where else would I sleep if not the guest room? Did you plan on making me sleep in the living room?”

Wen Zhijie chuckled and said nothing more, turning and entering his own room.

Lin Chang, standing still, looked down at the icy canned beer in his hand, his long, bony fingers tightening slightly.

He knew exactly what Wen Zhijie meant.

When the latter bought the house, despite having limited funds, he insisted on a three-bedroom, two-living-room layout. He lived alone, so two rooms would have been enough, but why insist on three?

Because one room was reserved for Wen Zhiyi.

This way, even if guests came over, Wen Zhiyi could have his own room, and even if he argued with his parents, he wouldn’t be without a place to go.

Wen Zhijie was reminding him how important Wen Zhiyi was to him.

Back in his room, Wen Zhiyi continued to prepare his lesson plan. He turned his head to look at Zhuangzhuang (Fei Mi) curled up beside him, and suddenly felt mischievous, scooting his rear towards the wall, successfully squeezing the fat cat into a “cat-strip” shape between his body and the wall.

Suddenly enveloped in shadow, the fat cat meowed helplessly, its small, truck-like body producing soft, pitiful whimpers. And Wen Zhiyi fell for this entirely, scooping the fat cat onto his lap, looking at it left and right, wanting to kiss it.

The chubby little cat was so cozy (còu – *note: likely a typo/pun for cute or just a descriptor).

Wen Zhiyi hesitated for a moment, wrestling with an internal struggle, and frustratingly found that he couldn’t bring himself to kiss it.

It’s over. I still don’t love my cozy cat enough.

Xiao Wen sighed heavily and messaged Wei Xingjiang: “Did you guys brush Zhuangzhuang’s teeth before?”

The person on the other end replied almost instantly.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t brushed his teeth once this whole time.”

“…”

Wen Zhiyi felt guilty for a second. He had never owned a cat before. When consulting the pet store owner about precautions, he opted for the dental freeze-dried food the owner recommended, completely neglecting the fact that cats also needed their teeth brushed. Fortunately, he now learned from Wei Xingjiang that Zhuangzhuang had developed a toothbrushing habit from a young age.

Just as Xiao Wen was silent, Wei Xingjiang sent several voice messages.

“Jack is already used to having his teeth brushed. Just use a long-handled toothbrush; it prevents him from scratching you.”

“It’s best to use fish-flavored toothpaste; he tolerates that better.”

Xiao Wen, seeking advice humbly, listened to them one by one, diligently recording them in his memo pad.

He had thought Wei Xingjiang would delegate the trivial care of Zhuangzhuang to specialized personnel, but it seemed the other person was clearly hands-on with everything, even having so much experience to share about a small task like toothbrushing.

“Next time you bring Jack over, I’ll demonstrate for you.”

This was Wei Xingjiang’s last voice message.

The rebellious high school student was rarely this serious, and Wen Zhiyi felt a little unaccustomed to it.

He quickly finished writing his lesson plan, turned off the light, and lay down on the bed, closing his eyes to contemplate the recent events, recalling the past in detail, item by item. He felt there was nothing he had overlooked, and then subconsciously thought of the former lovers who had come one after another—

One after another.

Wen Zhiyi, realizing he had used this descriptor, was so amused he wanted to laugh.

He recalled what a certain person (Gu Yansheng, implied ex-lover) had said to him today, recalled the past the person desperately wanted him to remember, and the love and forgiveness the person sought from him. He let out a brief sigh in the dimly lit night.

He felt that tonight, he would not dream of when he was seventeen.

Seventeen and nineteen was a fragile shell. The past Wen Zhiyi and Gu Yansheng could share this shell, fall asleep inside it, whisper secrets, and even briefly kiss. But five years of tidal time had washed this shell away, and both of them now had new shells.

At least Wen Zhiyi had a new shell.

Therefore, some of Gu Yansheng’s questions were difficult to answer, some had no answer, and fundamentally, Wen Zhiyi didn’t need to answer.

That past—where he lied for him when he needed to lie, and carried him forward when he needed to stop—would never return to Wen Zhiyi’s dreams again.

He slowly drifted into a peaceful sleep, neither insomniac nor plagued by many dreams.

While Wen Zhiyi had already turned off the lights and fallen asleep, Wei Xingjiang, who had just sent him several voice messages, was still standing on a brightly lit roadway. This time was far from his usual resting hour.

He looked down at the messages on his phone screen, leaning against his motorbike in a lazy, casual posture. The polished surface of the bike glowed faintly like a jewel under the night lights. His heart, which had been beating fiercely from the high-intensity exercise, gradually stabilized. The accelerated blood flow and dilated pupils caused by the adrenaline rush slowly faded away. The young Alpha’s high level of body control began to assert itself little by little.

The sweating young Alpha accepted a towel handed to him by a nearby person. The impromptu race in the high summer night temperature had left Wei Xingjiang covered in sweat. His handsome and striking features looked even more heroic and cold with beads of sweat hanging on them, but his face was young, not yet fully inheriting his father’s cold depth.

At this moment, he unconsciously bit his full lips, inherited from his mother, and frowned at the chat box with Wen Zhiyi.

“If a person sometimes messages you actively, but then ignores you for three days, what’s the reason?”

His companion, holding the helmet Wei Xingjiang had tossed aside, laughed a few times. They exchanged glances and loudly teased: “Is Young Master Wei experiencing his first crush? Which Omega has the power to make this ‘Iron-Blooded Straight Alpha’ a late bloomer?”

Wei Xingjiang didn’t seem to care. He lazily lifted his eyelids to glance at the one teasing the loudest, and after a moment, gave a cold sneer without speaking.

The crowd of surrounding rich kids, who were fawning over him, caught his gaze and slowly quieted down.

The teasing, the giving of advice, and the timely gossip were all just to make Wei Xingjiang feel the sensation of youthful love. All the reactions they displayed were merely to satisfy the rare youthful mood of the young master.

“Maybe it’s reserve? Aren’t Omegas quite strategic these days?”

Unfortunately, this guess was ridiculously wrong, starting with the gender assumption.

The person holding Wei Xingjiang’s helmet, after being given a fleeting glance, offered what he thought was a very reasonable explanation.

The helmet in his arms, with its exaggerated colors and cool design, was exactly Wei Xingjiang’s WeChat profile picture.

The young master, with an ambiguous expression, shook his head, noncommittally tossing the used towel onto the motorbike’s dashboard. He strode away with his long legs, leaving behind a faint reply:

“He contacts me only for the child (cat).”