This Beta Is Excessively Lazy - Chapter 4

Jiang Chen, who usually slept like a log, unexpectedly suffered a rare bout of insomnia last night. He tossed and turned in bed until two in the morning before finally drifting off. Having managed a measly five hours of sleep, he went through his morning routine of brushing his teeth, washing his face, and eating breakfast like a wandering ghost.

He slumped listlessly on the entryway bench, his backpack slung over one shoulder as he changed his shoes. His older sister had already left for the day.

“Bro! Have you even heard a single word I’ve said?!” Jiang Zhen grabbed his shoulders from behind and shook him forcefully.

This kid possessed a ridiculous amount of strength, despite spending every waking hour pretending to be a frail Omega. The sudden assault left Jiang Chen feeling dizzy and disoriented. “Let go, or I’m going to puke my breakfast right onto your face.”

Jiang Zhen, a total neat freak, instantly took a step back. Together, the two brothers left the apartment and stepped into the elevator.

Both brothers had inherited their mother’s striking good looks, sharing a solid seventy to eighty percent resemblance when standing side by side.

Jiang Zhen prodded again, “Bro, I’m talking to you. What are you spacing out for?”

Jiang Chen could barely keep his eyes open from sheer exhaustion. “What do you want?”

Jiang Zhen’s eyes flickered guiltily. “Can you give me a ride to school on your way? My bike is broken.”

Jiang Chen was exhausted, but he wasn’t stupid. The moment Jiang Zhen pouted, Jiang Chen knew exactly what kind of scheme he was cooking up. “Tell the truth.”

Blinking innocently, Jiang Zhen lowered his voice inside the elevator. “Oh, come on. Isn’t Brother Gu Xin going to the same high school as you now?”

“Stop scheming around him,” Jiang Chen said, rolling his eyes as he recalled the photos from the previous night. “He’s not going to fall for a flat little brat like you.”

Agitated, Jiang Zhen bounced on the spot, yanking hard on Jiang Chen’s backpack straps. “Doesn’t he like pretty Omegas? I’m beautiful! Who knows, maybe our compatibility rating is off the charts!”

Jiang Chen caught hold of his backpack strap to steady himself. “Have you no shame? And stop jumping around in the elevator! He likes…” girls.

The elevator chimes cut him off as it stopped on the tenth floor. Gu Xin walked in, catching the tail end of Jiang Chen’s sentence. “Hmm? Likes what?”

Jiang Zhen immediately switched into a docile persona, sidling up to Gu Xin while batting the large eyes he had spent half an hour carefully doing makeup on that morning. “Brother Gu Xin, could you give me a ride to school today? My bicycle broke down.”

Just as Jiang Chen was about to expose his brother’s melodramatic acting, Gu Xin spoke up calmly. “My bike doesn’t have a backseat. I can’t carry you.”

Jiang Zhen: “…” Damn it.

He whipped his head around to glare at his brother. “Bro, you ride me then.”

Jiang Chen replied with absolute seriousness, “No. Do you have any idea how much you weigh? Take the bus. Besides, our schools are in completely opposite directions. If I drop you off, I’ll be late.”

In reality, Jiang Chen had already been late three times in the two weeks since school started. His name had even been blasted across the school’s electronic bulletin board yesterday. He didn’t care about tardiness in the slightest…he was simply too lazy to chauffeur Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen puffed out his cheeks and huffed, “Fine, don’t then!”

Once they left the building and reached the gates of the residential complex, Jiang Zhen ran into a male Alpha classmate wearing the same school uniform. Instantly playing hard to get, Jiang Zhen put on a show and was just about to hop onto the back of the boy’s bike.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen finally snapped out of his daze and marched over. “Jiang Zhen, get over here. I’ll ride you to school.”

He wasn’t worried about the Alpha doing anything to Jiang Zhen; he was worried about Jiang Zhen corrupting a perfectly innocent, pure-hearted classmate.

Jiang Zhen turned around, dragging his feet as he muttered in a low voice, “Bro, you’re such a buzzkill.”

The male Alpha scratched his head, asking hesitantly, “Xiao Zhen? We’re not riding together?”

Jiang Zhen lowered his head, looking the picture of pure innocence. “My brother wants to take me.”

“Oh, okay,” the Alpha stammered, not daring to push the issue of a shared ride in front of the kid’s protective older brother.

Gu Xin witnessed the entire spectacle. Turning to Jiang Chen, he suggested, “I’ll ride your bike to drop Xiao Zhen off. You ride mine.”

Jiang Chen nodded readily. “Sure.” Carrying a passenger was exhausting, and he despised physical labor.

Seeing that Jiang Zhen had two older brothers fiercely guarding him, the male Alpha didn’t dare utter another word. It was blindingly obvious he held a massive crush on Jiang Zhen.

After dropping Jiang Zhen off at his school, Jiang Chen left him with a stern warning not to bully his classmates. Having been escorted to school by Gu Xin, Jiang Zhen’s vanity was thoroughly satisfied, prompting him to nod like a woodpecker.

The detour cost them a bit of time, but it didn’t slow their arrival at their own school. Without switching their bikes back, they rode straight through the campus gates.

Gu Xin’s face was already a famous trademark among the tenth graders; he had delivered the freshman welcome speech, so practically everyone recognized him. Several students noticed him riding a blue bicycle equipped with a backseat today, and knowing looks immediately exchanged hands.

His bike has a backseat today! He really is together with the school beauty!

The rumors about Gu Xin getting “jealous” on the sports field yesterday…when he stepped in after another boy asked Yao Ruoyi for her WeChat…were already spreading like wildfire.

As the clueless protagonist of the rumor, Gu Xin had no idea he had already been labeled as a guy with a girlfriend. When he and Jiang Chen walked into the classroom together, they were greeted by the curious gazes of the entire class.

Because of their minor friction early on, the two weren’t sitting together. One sat in the third row of desks, while the other was over in the fifth row.

Up until now, none of their classmates thought they were on good terms. Even seeing them enter the room together only fueled the whispers. Students huddled up, gossiping about how the two were romantic rivals, speculating that Jiang Chen must absolutely despise the class monitor by now.

Jiang Chen carried his backpack loosely, his eyes glued to the floor. The morning ordeal with Jiang Zhen had thoroughly annoyed him, leaving him with a deeply disgruntled expression.

The classmates whispered beneath their breath.

“Jiang Chen looks incredibly pissed. He must really be fed up with the class monitor.”

“Well, the school beauty didn’t give him her WeChat, and everyone saw the class monitor stepping up to protect her yesterday.”

“Look at him, he’s glaring dead at the monitor’s shoes.”

“God, I want the drama so bad.”

Gu Xin, sitting in the third row, turned to walk down the aisle first, while Jiang Chen continued toward his own desk.

Sitting down, Jiang Chen began rummaging around for his textbooks and pens. After groping around for ages, he realized his pencil case was missing. His lack of sleep had clearly caught up with him, causing him to leave it behind during his morning rush. Pulling his chair back to stand up, he wasn’t careful; the legs scraped loudly against the floor, instantly drawing the attention of the room. He marched straight toward Gu Xin.

The surrounding students grew incredibly tense, watching his every move.

“Look, look! Jiang Chen is going up to the class monitor!”

“Here comes the drama!”

“This is going to be the first major showdown between romantic rivals since Class 8 started.”

Jiang Chen didn’t notice the prying eyes at all. Walking up to Gu Xin’s desk, he gave it a sharp knock.

Expecting a world-ending, arrogant declaration, the classmates held their breath, their hearts practically stopping.

Then, they heard Jiang Chen utter just four words: “Forgot my pencil case.”

Practically operating on muscle memory, Gu Xin smoothly pulled a black pen and a red pen from his own pencil case and handed them over. “Here.”

He was entirely accustomed to Jiang Chen’s frequent forgetfulness when it came to stationery. It was a bad habit Jiang Chen could never seem to shake, so Gu Xin had long since made it a habit to pack extra supplies in his own bag.

Jiang Chen took the pens and walked back to his desk, leaving the classroom enveloped in a stunned, profound silence.

Why is this completely different from what we expected?

What happened to ‘romantic rivals seeing red upon meeting’?

What kind of wholesome, harmonious scene is this? No one told us these two were tight enough for this!

Gu Xin’s current desk mate, Jiang Yibai, had watched the entire interaction unfold. The moment Jiang Chen returned to his seat, Jiang Yibai eyed Gu Xin up and down. “Blink twice if you’re being threatened.”

Twirling the pen in his hand, Gu Xin opened his Chinese textbook. “What threat?”

Jiang Yibai had suspected something was up between Gu Xin and Jiang Chen since yesterday. “You’re acting weird. You’ve been weird since yesterday. Jiang Chen asks for a pen and you just hand it over?”

Gu Xin propped his chin up with the pen cap. “Yeah. Is there a problem?”

Jiang Yibai pressed, “What’s the deal between you two anyway?”

Gu Xin rolled his eyes. “Neighbors and childhood friends.”

Jiang Yibai dragged out his words, “Ah, childhood sweethe—” He caught himself and whipped around. “Wait, no. School started over half a month ago, and you two haven’t spoken a single word to each other. What kind of neighbors and friends just don’t talk?”

Right then, the Chinese class representative stepped up to the podium to lead the morning reading. The homeroom teacher also walked in to inspect the room. As the class monitor, Gu Xin had to lead by example, so he ignored Jiang Yibai’s further prompts, leaving the latter burning with unsatisfied curiosity.

Jiang Yibai wasn’t the only one overthinking it. As a focal point for the entire grade, Gu Xin naturally had countless eyes monitoring his every move.

They were far more curious about the relationship between Jiang Chen and Gu Xin than Jiang Yibai was.

Before they knew it, the four morning classes finally ground to an end. Unlike the other students who bolted toward the cafeteria or rushed to the food stalls outside the school gates, Jiang Chen took his time. San Zhong High wasn’t a strict boarding school; it had both residential and day students, meaning the environment was relatively free, offering plenty of lunch options.

Lately, Jiang Chen had been eating with Wei Meng. Gu Xin had given him space because he knew Jiang Chen was mad at him. Now that Jiang Chen’s anger had evaporated, it was only natural for them to eat together again.

While Jiang Chen’s brain was caught in a fierce debate between taking a nap or getting food, Gu Xin had already walked over to call him.

Gu Xin rested his palm against the back of Jiang Chen’s head. “Time for lunch.”

Jiang Chen leaned his head back against the palm. “Too tired.”

Gu Xin countered, “Eat first, then come back and sleep.”

“Oh,” Jiang Chen muttered, lazily pulling himself out of his chair.

Wei Meng, a step behind, could only gape in astonishment from his seat. He watched in awe as Jiang Chen…who usually required an eternity of coaxing just to crawl out of bed…suddenly became so compliant. What kind of magical spell does Gu Xin hold over him?

What was supposed to be a lunch for two quickly evolved into a party of four.

Gu Xin asked Jiang Chen, “What do you want to eat?”

Jiang Chen replied, “Whatever.”

Gu Xin decided, “Let’s have Malatang today then.”

Jiang Yibai piped up, “I didn’t even know there was a Malatang place around here.”

Wei Meng finally found his opening to speak. “I know it! It just opened recently. I heard it’s pretty good. If you go early, you get a seat. Go late, and you’re out of luck.”

Gu Xin hadn’t expected Wei Meng to explain so thoroughly. He had only suggested it because he knew Jiang Chen loved Malatang; he had spotted the place on his way in this morning and saw great reviews online, so he brought him over.

The four of them arrived at the Malatang shop.

And right then, Jiang Yibai and Wei Meng witnessed firsthand exactly how Jiang Chen transformed into a completely helpless dependent the moment he was next to Gu Xin.

Gu Xin picked out the ingredients for Jiang Chen’s bowl, brought the finished dish to the table, mixed in the condiments, split the disposable chopsticks, and handed them over. “Chopsticks.”

Jiang Chen propped up his chin, so exhausted that tears were welling in the corners of his eyes. “Oh.” He lowered his head and picked through the bean sprouts. Spotting a few coriander leaves floating on the surface of the soup, his nose wrinkled in distaste. Poking at the leaves, he whined, “Gu Xin.”

Without a word, Gu Xin fished out the coriander and transferred it all into his own bowl. “Anymore?”

“No, but there are too many lotus root slices.” Jiang Chen transferred a portion of the lotus roots into Gu Xin’s bowl. With the coriander gone, the Malatang suddenly looked much more appetizing. Jiang Chen dug in, biting into a meatball, his eyes narrowing happily as he approved, “This place is good. Tasty.”

Gu Xin didn’t mind the shared lotus roots at all, picking up his own chopsticks to eat.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yibai and Wei Meng were staring open-mouthed, utterly dumbfounded. How could these two be this close?

If you guys are like this, why on earth did you ignore each other for the past two weeks?!

Still oblivious to the campus gossip, Wei Meng asked cautiously, “Chen-er, you and the class monitor knew each other from before?”

Gu Xin answered on Jiang Chen’s behalf. “Yeah. We met before we could even speak properly. We’re neighbors.” He then turned the question to Wei Meng. “You and Jiang Chen were classmates for three years in middle school?”

Completely missing the intense look Gu Xin was giving him, Wei Meng chirped, “Oh, so you’re neighbors!” Always the careless type, he didn’t read into it and rambled on happily. “Chen-er and I are incredibly close! Back in middle school, we shared the exact same hobbies. We used to go hit the arcades together every day after school!”

Gu Xin’s voice dropped a register. He turned his head slowly to look at Jiang Chen. “So, the fact that your grades were so terrible in seventh grade wasn’t actually because I transferred to a different school?”

Underneath the table, Jiang Chen delivered a vicious kick to Wei Meng’s leg, shooting him a furious glare.

He had worked so hard to make Gu Xin feel guilty, successfully conning him out of ten gaming cards.

But admitting defeat now was out of the question. Jiang Chen doubled down stubbornly, “Of course it was because you transferred.”

Gu Xin wasn’t buying the excuse. “Your gaming cards are revoked.”

Jiang Chen instantly shifted closer, clinging to Gu Xin’s arm as he softened his voice into a sweet, pleading whine. “Gege~”

To save his gaming cards, selling a piece of his soul was a small price to pay. Besides, Gu Xin really was a month older than him anyway.

Gu Xin nearly bit his own tongue. “…”

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