The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Stunt Rider Wen Zhiyi

Skipping class?

Hearing that phrase, Wen Zhiyi truly wanted to grab Wei Xingjiang’s head and see what exactly was inside that brain of his.

Suggesting that a teacher skip class with their student—only Wei Xingjiang would be capable of that.

He rested his hands behind his head. His posture was relaxed, but his tone was earnest and peculiar: “Wei Yuzhi only comes once in a blue moon. It definitely wasn’t for me. Do you think he’d be willing to leave after just seeing you once? If you don’t leave with me now, there might be variables, and you don’t want to have dinner with him tonight, do you?”

Facing that ice-cold face, who could possibly eat?

Wei Xingjiang, who had unknowingly mastered his cousin’s and father’s cold expressions perfectly, grumbled to himself without any self-awareness.

He was around 188 centimeters tall. Because he had only recently entered adulthood, his physique wasn’t overly robust; the mature male body, which required time to accumulate, was still some distance away for him. However, the Alpha’s typically broad skeletal frame was already taking shape, and clear muscle lines were visible on his shoulders, arms, and core.

In short, although he still seemed callow next to Wei Yuzhi and Wei Zhao, Wei Xingjiang was tall enough for most people. The young Alpha was currently trying to convince Wen Zhiyi to trust him.

He wanted to be dependable in Wen Zhiyi’s eyes.

Xiao Wen, of course, did not perceive this subtle, young-Alpha thought. He raised his gaze, chuckling, and met Wei Xingjiang’s eyes: “Even if I’m leaving, can’t I just leave alone? Do I have to bring along a burden like you?”

Wei Xingjiang, dubbed a “burden,” snorted, losing a bit of his smile: “I know exactly how many surveillance cameras there are from here to the back gate. Guess who the real burden is?”

…That actually sounds a bit thrilling.

Wen Zhiyi thought.

Wait, he was just here to tutor. Why was he inexplicably about to stage a secret escape?

Xiao Wen pushed aside all the random thoughts and slapped the lesson plan onto the desk, decisively stating: “Class first. We’ll talk about everything else after class.”

Hmph.

Wei Xingjiang lazily walked behind the desk, kicked his long legs, and sat in the chair Wei Yuzhi had occupied earlier. He rested his arms on the desktop, propping his chin in his hand, watching Wen Zhiyi slowly clear his throat, pull up the chair opposite him, open the lesson plan, and begin today’s work.

He watched the earnest Little Mr. Wen without blinking, nonchalantly counting his eyelashes. As for the knowledge points the teacher was explaining, they smoothly entered his brain and exited straight out his ear.

Hmm, the left eye has one more eyelash than the right. No wonder the left eye looks slightly larger. I heard you’re supposed to wear false eyelashes to make your eyes look bigger. Wei Xingjiang desperately recalled the scene of standing by his mother’s dressing table as a child, using it to tentatively explain the conclusion he observed about Little Mr. Wen.

He observed closely again, feeling a bit uncertain. Is the left eye really bigger? They look the same size, don’t they?

Wen Zhiyi, who was being intensely watched by the young Alpha, remained composed. At most, he just marveled that the high school student who had been too awkward to even look at him last time now understood the importance of studying hard.

No longer needing to observe Wen Zhiyi through the bookcase glass, Wei Xingjiang achieved a strange truce with himself.

“When are we getting Jack neutered?” Taking advantage of the break, Wei Xingjiang lightly tapped the table, attempting to draw Wen Zhiyi’s attention.

Wen Zhiyi considered for a moment, offering two options: “How about next Friday or Saturday? You should have time then, too.”

Wei Xingjiang nodded: “I’ll pick you up next Friday. Afterward, I’ll find someone to deliver nutritious meals for Jack.”

At this point, he inevitably felt a little bad for the fat cat. Fortunately, neutering a male cat was a minor surgery. If it were a female cat, Wei Xingjiang would neither want it to have surgery nor want it to have kittens. After much deliberation, he’d probably still choose neutering.

How formal.

Wen Zhiyi felt the importance Wei Xingjiang placed on the matter and agreed solemnly.

After the third lesson ended, the butler lightly knocked on the study door, conveying a standard, official message: Mr. Wei cordially invited Little Mr. Wen to stay for dinner, and Little Mr. Wen absolutely must honor the invitation.

Wei Xingjiang’s expression showed, I knew it.

He cleared his throat, replied coldly to the butler outside that he understood, then turned to raise an eyebrow at Wen Zhiyi: “Even if you refuse, he’ll use all sorts of soft-and-hard tactics and excuses. Instead of wasting breath, it’s better to outwardly comply but secretly defy. Now do you see how great my suggestion was?”

The casual use of the word “great” seemed to be a habit of the young.

Wen Zhiyi, who considered himself an adult, slowly sighed.

Wei Xingjiang, who had endured similar tactics for years, knew the following process intimately. Mr. Wei would first appear gracious about the refusal, then use the mouths of others to subtly bring up all possible consequences, even using people Wei Xingjiang cared about to force him to submit. Mr. Wei himself would always remain calm, composed, and understanding.

Wang Han and even Feng Yun had once been people Wei Xingjiang cared about.

The former played the loving mother for over ten years, and the latter appeared before a ten-year-old Wei Xingjiang as a sister. At the time, he thought Feng Yun was truly a teacher deserving of his respect, until he painfully and helplessly walked in on Feng Yun entering Wei Zhao’s bedroom.

He genuinely believed that his obedience could protect Wang Han and Feng Yun, and he truly believed that Wang Han and Feng Yun, protected by him, genuinely cared about him.

Unfortunately, the facts that struck Wei Xingjiang like a cold whip in the following years proved that Wang Han’s love for him was far outweighed by her fear of Wei Zhao, and Feng Yun’s… concern for him was outweighed by her… “love” for Wei Zhao.

Later, when Wei Xingjiang stopped caring about anyone around him, Wei Zhao’s methods truly shed all pretense and became cold and merciless. As a scheming adult, he naturally knew that emotional manipulation was only effective on those who cared.

Recalling the past, Wei Xingjiang’s face gradually darkened.

He lowered his head slightly to look at Wen Zhiyi, asking, in what he thought was an emotionless voice: “Now, do you want to run away with me?”

His voice was trembling.

Wen Zhiyi sighed again.

He looked up at the unlucky child in front of him, somehow reminded of Zhuangzhuang struggling and confused amidst the continuous flow of traffic.

He gripped the porcelain rabbit charm on his backpack zipper, thinking that being around a chuunibyou idiot really was contagious.

Then, he extended his hand to Wei Xingjiang:

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

…

As Wen Zhiyi followed Wei Xingjiang, navigating past the main corridor to the service corridor, constantly weaving through the shadows of large potted plants and floor sculptures along the way, he began to question, poker-faced, why he had ever listened to Wei Xingjiang.

Wouldn’t just walking out the back door openly be more normal than being this sneaky?

Also—

He looked expressionlessly at Wei Xingjiang holding his hand. How long was he going to hold it? Heaven knows he had only meant to high-five the other person, but the idiot high school student, as if making a firm decision, had just grabbed his hand.

When the two successfully reached the back door of the villa, far from the main corridor, through the laundry room and staff working area, Wen Zhiyi watched as the young master skillfully exchanged a few words with the security guard, and they were smoothly and crisply waved through.

“…All that complexity for one sentence?” Xiao Wen finally couldn’t help but complain.

The tall, long-legged Alpha turned around, looking slightly surprised at the disappointed Beta behind him: “I thought you’d want something more exciting.”

…So, he was being treated like a chuunibyou idiot by a chuunibyou idiot.

In any case, having decided to escape, taking a car from the Wei family garage was obviously inappropriate. Wei Xingjiang led Wen Zhiyi to his secret garage, which was regularly maintained by professionals. He only came here to ride his motorbike when he was in a bad mood.

Wen Zhiyi took the helmet Wei Xingjiang handed him. He looked at the pitch-black helmet in his hands, trying to protest: “Can’t we really just call a cab?”

“Calling a cab sounds too unexciting,” Wei Xingjiang coldly refused.

Fine. Wen Zhiyi understood he had to be a stunt rider (guǐ huǒ youth) at the age of twenty-two.

He took a deep breath, striking a cool pose as he pulled the strap and put on the complex, matte black motorcycle helmet.

It’s dark.

Wen Zhiyi shook his head, slightly unaccustomed to the visibility afforded by the tinted visor. He fumbled for a moment, unable to find the switch to open the visor, so he patted Wei Xingjiang’s shoulder, signaling him to flip the visor up for him.

He felt Wei Xingjiang reach up and operate a button on the side of his helmet, and then, he impatiently and gently flipped the visor open.

Wei Xingjiang watched the Beta in front of him flip up the visor—

And he was forced to directly face the other person’s eyes, now mere inches away.

The face whose color he was intimately familiar with was framed by the cool-looking helmet that covered his jaw and cheeks, leaving only a pair of slightly curved, smiling eyes and the upper half of a straight, delicate, high nose bridge. It was like a strongly defended clam shell unknowingly holding out its most precious pearl.

He thought he saw the shimmering water surface in the spring sunlight once again, and when the other person’s slender, long lashes trembled slightly, this water surface would be greeted by scattered, unstable, dazzling light spots.

It made him feel irritated and unsettled.

Wei Xingjiang instantly pulled Wen Zhiyi’s visor down.

Wen Zhiyi: …?