What to Do If Beta Cannot Be Marked? - Chapter 32

The phone screen had gone dark. Lu Zhi lowered his gaze and pressed the power button, immediately revealing a lockscreen photo of well-defined abdominal muscles.

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy was energetically shooting a basketball toward the hoop ahead, his expression neutral. His wrist tilted slightly downward, revealing taut tendons, while his five fingers seemed to grip the ball as if magnetically attached his form was impeccable.

Standing beyond the three-point line, the boy put his whole body into the shot, causing his shirt to ride up above his waist and unmistakably exposing a pale, sculpted set of abs and Adonis belt. His physique was quite impressive.

Lu Zhi’s face showed neither surprise nor peculiarity; seeing himself used as a lockscreen seemed almost routine to him. Only the slight twitch of his brow betrayed any reaction.

“Not a bad shot,” he remarked flatly.

Chi Jinxian couldn’t care less about whether it was a good shot or not! He was still struggling to process what had just happened.

The meal card had definitely appeared right in front of him he’d seen it, and he’d heard Lu Zhi say the word “exchange.” But now, as Chi Jinxian stared intently at the spot where the card had been, it was empty.

After a long moment of bewilderment, Chi Jinxian finally lifted his gaze from the desk and looked at Lu Zhi with astonishment.

Not only was Chi Jinxian baffled by this maneuver, even Jiang Baixiao was dumbfounded. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Jiang couldn’t suppress a snort of laughter. Realizing the inappropriateness of the timing, he quickly covered his mouth and composed himself.

Chi Jinxian felt thoroughly embarrassed by that blatant laugh and shot Jiang Baixiao a resentful glance, silently conveying, “If you dare make another sound, I’ll definitely assassinate you tonight.” Receiving the threat, Jiang understood, nodding with an adorable smile and making no further noise.

“Lu Zhi,” Chi Jinxian called out softly, his tone aggrieved.

Without looking up, seemingly preoccupied with his phone, Lu Zhi responded, “Hm?”

Chi Jinxian gritted his teeth. “How could you lie to me?”

Lu Zhi didn’t answer.

Chi Jinxian spoke again, this time with a hint of grievance. “Lu-ge, give me back my meal card.”

“No,” Lu Zhi said.

“…”

Jiang Baixiao had descended into utter chaos. In Class 10 Senior 3’s second group chat, messages were pouring in incessantly, all his live updates on the “real-time situation.”

Most people had heard about what Lu Zhi was like in middle school his temper was truly foul. Otherwise, after three years as classmates, aside from Chi Jinxian, no one would dare approach God Lu. The rumors about him hitting someone were definitely true; if not for General Lu, Lu Zhi’s academic record would have been marred by a serious demerit.

But over the past two years, not only had he not hit anyone, he had hardly even lost his temper.

And now, he was even “flirting” with Chi Jinxian! To get what he wanted, he’d lied without batting an eye! Jiang Baixiao couldn’t fathom why their God Lu had changed like this, but it thrilled him beyond measure. For a while, the second group chat was flooded with enthusiastic agreement and his own wildly excited commentary.

No one knew why Lu Zhi had transformed this way, but they all knew their little Xianjin was making them proud!

Just look catching God Lu was now within reach!

The group chat immediately became even more lively, and by now almost no one was paying particular attention to Chi Jinxian and Lu Zhi anymore.

Chi Jinxian was still facing backward. He silently watched Lu Zhi for a while, intending to make him feel guilty with this method, hoping he would immediately slap the meal card into his palm. But the latter didn’t even look up, seemingly oblivious to everything as he tapped his phone screen. A four-digit passcode popped up with the tap, waiting for its owner to input it.

Seeing this manual barrier protecting the phone, Chi Jinxian’s eyes lit up slightly, and he grinned. He spoke in a somewhat smug tone, “If you don’t give me the card, I won’t tell you the password.”

“So.”

Chi Jinxian’s voice trailed off oddly, the smile at the corners of his mouth vanishing once again.

He stared wide-eyed at his now-unlocked phone, his face now genuinely displaying the word “confused.”

Chi Jinxian: “…”

Chi Jinxian: “…?”

Chi Jinxian: “?”

As soon as the phone unlocked, his chat history with Jiang Jin was displayed wide open. Chi Jinxian blinked, staring intently at the indeed unlocked screen, then stared intently at Lu Zhi, before finally lowering his head to check his pockets, thinking his phone was still in his hand.

As expected, he only found air.

Chi Jinxian turned both pockets of his school uniform inside out, they were whiter and cleaner than his face. After a long silence, Lu Zhi scrolled up through the chat history, and before long, his brows furrowed slightly in discomfort. Chi Jinxian pursed his lips, thought it through to the end, and asked very, very softly, as if uncertain, “Brother Lu, are you looking at my phone?”

Hearing this, Lu Zhi looked up, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

“How do you know my password?”

Lu Zhi lowered his gaze, as if he had finished reading the chat history, and opened Jiang Jin’s detailed profile page, tapping it twice lightly.

He asked casually, as if making small talk, “What’s the password?”

Chi Jinxian instinctively replied, “0608.”

“Mm,” Lu Zhi responded, his attitude and tone rather nonchalant, “Unfortunately, I remember my own birthday quite clearly.”

Chi Jinxian: “…”

Knowing his own birthday and knowing that Chi Jinxian used it as a password were two different things! Chi Jinxian’s fluttering heart was about to leap out of his chest.

After barely managing to suppress his pounding heart, Chi Jinxian thought, Just look at yourself, Chi Jinxian, your way of pursuing someone is so unskilled setting this password is as good as not setting one at all!

Thinking this, he couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.

Lu Zhi said, “Have you finished reading the chat history with that Jiang bastard?”

Chi Jinxian was still lost in the unreality of how easily Lu Zhi had guessed his password. When he suddenly heard “Jiang bastard,” he couldn’t react immediately and dumbfoundedly let out a “Huh?” By the time he realized Lu Zhi was probably referring to Jiang Jin, he was even more shocked, his mouth slightly agape as he said again, “…Huh?”

Lu Zhi actually cursed? Lu Zhi actually knew how to curse?!

“Finished?” Lu Zhi frowned, a trace of displeasure in his eyes. It seemed as if, had that Jiang bastard been there at that moment, he would have strangled him on the spot. Yet his face remained completely expressionless.

Before the look in Lu Zhi’s eyes grew even more unfriendly, Chi Jinxian hurriedly spoke up, “I hadn’t gotten to the later parts yet when you asked for the phone back.”

Unconsciously, his tone carried a hint of complaint after all, he genuinely wanted to know what Lu Zhi’s pheromone was.

But after a moment’s thought, Chi Jinxian decided it didn’t matter. He told himself that it would be the same when Lu-ge returned his phone later. After all, Jiang Jin was already in his friend list, and Lu Zhi wouldn’t delete their chat history for no reason even if the two of them had been discussing his pheromone behind his back.

Hearing this, Lu Zhi’s furrowed brows relaxed instantly, and the faint trace of hostility around him vanished completely.

He replied, “Mm,” and handed the phone back to Chi Jinxian.

Seeing his phone, Chi Jinxian’s face lit up with a smile again. He happily reached out to take it, immediately turned back to his seat, and opened it, eager to “admire” Lu Zhi’s pheromone.

But,

He couldn’t find Jiang Jin’s chat window.

Puzzled, Chi Jinxian scrolled down, then up, but found no trace of the conversation that had just taken place. It was as if he had never accepted Jiang Jin’s friend request at all. Unable to hold back, Chi Jinxian let out a confused “Huh?” and began searching for his friend in the search bar, typing “Jiang Jin.”

A second later, a single result appeared below the search bar “Search for Jiang Jin: Mini-programs, Official Accounts, Articles, Moments, Stickers, etc.”【Note】

Chi Jinxian: “?”

He turned around with an incredulous look on his face. “Ge.”

Lu Zhi, about to put on his earphones, didn’t look up but responded, “Mm.”

“Did you delete Jiang-ge?” Chi Jinxian asked, his voice filled with shock.

“Mm,” Lu Zhi admitted without hesitation or concealment. “Blocked and deleted.”

“?” Chi Jinxian didn’t understand. “Why?!”

Jiang Jin wanted to know too! He had been chatting happily with Little Cash, just getting to the part about Lu Zhi’s ordinary pheromone having extraordinary effects. Jiang Jin, as if struck by a sudden bout of chattiness, was typing furiously.

Until he sent the message: 【Cash, now you know what Lu-dog’s pheromone is, right? Next time you accidentally get his scent on you, I can tell you.】 After that, everything he sent was met with a bright red exclamation mark.

Jiang Jin was stunned.

No Ambition: 【? [Red exclamation mark]】

No Ambition: 【??? [Red exclamation mark]】

No Ambition: 【Cash?! Little Cash? [Red exclamation mark]】

No Ambition: 【Was it Lu Zhi threatening you? If you’re being coerced, blink twice! [Red exclamation mark]】

Forget blinking twice none of his frantic messages went through. Jiang Jin was a little annoyed.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhi coldly gave Chi Jinxian his reason: “He talks too much.” After saying this, he lifted his eyes and met Chi Jinxian’s gaze with a hint of pressure, signaling him not to bother him further about this and to turn back and focus on his studies.

Lu-ge is still in a mood, Chi Jinxian thought to himself. Better behave. So he obediently complied.

Jiang Jin, on the other end, was still frantically sending messages to Chi Jinxian, all to no avail. After sending nearly a hundred messages, he finally grew tired and inwardly acknowledged that it definitely wasn’t Little Cash who had blocked him. He immediately turned his attention to the real culprit.

No Ambition: 【Lu Zhi, you really are a dog】

A message notification sounded in Lu Zhi’s earphones. He took out his phone, glanced at it, and his expression grew even stonier. He ignored the fool.

Jiang Jin didn’t stop typing: 【I was chatting with Cash, so how did his phone end up in your hands? And you’re not even doing proper human things I just added him, you know?】

No Ambition: 【Afraid to reply? I’m coming to your class to find you (smiling)】

The next second, Lu Zhi replied.

Lu Zhi: 【Come.】

No Ambition: 【…】

Originally, Jiang Jin was just making a bet. After all, the Chi involved in Class 10 of senior high hadn’t told him mainly because he couldn’t whether it was really Lu Zhi who took his phone. But Chi Jinxian would never do something like blocking him. After thinking it over, the only one left was Lu Zhi.

But thinking was one thing; getting confirmation was another.

Through Lu Zhi’s single-word reply “Come,” Jiang Jin knew that blocking him was indeed done by that Lu guy. Forget about confronting him face-to-face to seek justice he even chickened out.

Being caught red-handed discussing someone behind their back he had no ground to stand on in a confrontation.

No Ambition: 【Forget it.】

No Ambition: 【I’m not going.】

No Ambition: 【I’ll let you off this time.】

Lu Zhi watched him feign calmness and save face, ignoring him.

About ten minutes later, another message came from Jiang Jin’s chatbox.

No Ambition: 【But Lu Zhi, seriously, I’m really curious about one thing】

Lunch break had already started. Lu Zhi had just closed his book to rest for a while. When he opened his phone and saw this message, his movements to pack his things paused.

He probably knew what Jiang Jin was going to ask.

Sure enough, the next moment, Jiang Jin’s question was thrown over.

【Every time before, you’ve brushed it off with your firm “don’t like” attitude. Don’t change the subject this time be honest, what do you really feel about Cash?】

Lu Zhi stared at his phone screen, silent.

But Jiang Jin didn’t give him time to think or react.

No Ambition: 【Aside from that time your Heat Period came early, you’ve also left your pheromones on him, right?】

No Ambition: 【So many people chase after you, and there are plenty with persistence besides little Cash. You know very well in your heart whether your attitude toward others is the same as your attitude toward him. Even now, the whole school still thinks it’s just Cash being too persistent and even I was fooled. Cash is persistent, no doubt, but there’s definitely your indulgence in this too!】

No Ambition: 【I’ve already browsed the forum, you know. The forum says someone saw you last Friday you were the one pulling Cash to make up with him. He clearly wasn’t following you anymore, tsk.】

Watching the words from the other side come faster and more numerous, Lu Zhi frowned slightly and condescended to reply.

Lu Zhi: 【You talk too much.】

No Ambition: 【See? Getting impatient, aren’t you?】

So Lu Zhi had no choice but to suppress his temper and delete the words he had just typed in the chatbox one by one.

Let Jiang Jin have his fun.

No Ambition: 【These past two years, even though you never accepted the roses Cash gave you, he’s been secretly stuffing them into the side pocket of your backpack. You must have seen them when you got home. Where did the roses go? Could it be that you planted them in your Rose Manor?】

Lu Zhi wanted to tell him, even wanted to confront him: if he had really browsed the forum so thoroughly, how could he not know that he had already taken the initiative to accept Chi Jinxian’s things last Friday? And yet here he was, wildly guessing.

Therefore, whether it was because of this thought or because Jiang Jin’s flood of messages was utterly annoying, Lu Zhi irritably pressed his lips together and replied with two more words.

Lu Zhi: [Piss off.That’s all I can recall for now, I’ll add more later. I just want to ask, what exactly are your feelings toward Cash?]

Lu Zhi didn’t reply.

Ten minutes later, Jiang Jin understood Lu Zhi’s temperament, getting any words out of him was harder than scaling the heavens.

Jiang Jin stiffly yet smoothly changed the subject: [Tell Cash to remove me from his blacklist.]

Lu Zhi: [Deleted.Lack of ambition.

Not striving for progress:

Not striving for progress: [Well done]

Not striving for progress: [Then recommend him to me so I can add him, or recommend me to him so he can add me]

Both had already laid things out so explicitly. Jiang Jin believed he had clearly exposed Lu Zhi’s secret. Having his secret laid bare, Lu Zhi ought to show him some respect to avoid provoking him into spilling everything to Chi Jinxian, just like what happened earlier when he was chatting with Chi Jinxian on the phone.

So after making his request, Jiang Jin wasn’t the least bit worried that Lu Zhi would refuse to recommend him.

But after waiting several more minutes, there was still no response from the other side. Jiang Jin sent a [Hurry up] to urge him, only to be met with an unmistakable red exclamation mark.

Lu Zhi had blocked him.

Jiang Jin: “…”

In the neighboring classroom, Jiang Jin stared wide-eyed at that exclamation mark, his mind completely numb, let alone his face.

His childhood friend, his buddy of 18 years, they’d practically grown up bare-bottomed together. And today, Lu Zhi had blocked him!

Jiang Jin gripped his phone, sitting bolt upright in his seat, forcing a smile while gritting his teeth and muttering under his breath: “Damn, well done.”

His deskmate had just yawned, planning to rest his head on the desk, but Jiang Jin’s cursing jolted him slightly awake. “Did my yawning offend you?”

“None of your business, go back to sleep,” Jiang Jin retorted without turning his head, still glaring at the screen that had turned him into a red exclamation mark.

He reached out and pressed his deskmate’s head down: “Weren’t you complaining about being tired all day?”

The deskmate lay his head on the desk under the pressure, giving Jiang Jin a strange sidelong glance.

But since it didn’t concern him, he yawned again, mumbled “Yeah,” and closed his eyes to seek out the Sandman.

Similar to the scenario earlier when he was “blocked by Chi Jinxian,” Jiang Jin refused to believe it, refusing to accept that Lu Zhi could be so heartless.

He sent a confirmation message, followed by a rhetorical question, but the red exclamation mark continued to shut him out.

“Tch.”

Angry, Jiang Jin gave up trying and turned off his phone screen.

The next second, “Buzz.”

Just as he was about to stash his phone in his desk, Jiang Jin paused and smirked, thinking to himself, See, I knew Lu Zhi wouldn’t be so heartless.

In an instant, Jiang Jin’s brows slowly, slowly furrowed as he stared intently at the sender an old friend who had sent him an ordinary greeting after lunch.

This time, the message was no longer so ordinary.

Having committed the “evil deed” of blocking someone twice today, some of that evil appropriately came back to haunt him.

For over half of the lunch break, Lu Zhi didn’t have a single moment of peaceful sleep.

It seemed he had a dream.

And in that dream, he saw Yan Yue.

Many years ago, at the gate of the Interstellar Alliance’s First Elementary School, all the children had been dismissed, and Lu Zhi was waiting alone at the school entrance.

In his memory, Lu Zisheng was a General of the Alliance, always busy, and only occasionally came to pick him up.

The rest of the time, it was Yan Yue who picked him up, sometimes along with the butler Uncle Fang Shou.

But most of the time, they didn’t come together. Yan Yue would walk alone to pick up Lu Zhi.

That day, Yan Yue was late again after school. The school gate was covered in surveillance cameras, and the teacher had waited with him for half an hour before leaving to attend to other children after all, this had been the case since Lu Zhi started kindergarten, and he was used to it.

The child of General Lu was sensible and well-behaved; when he grew up, he would surely be as capable as General Lu, perhaps even more so.

One by one, the children at the school gate were picked up by their parents. Lu Zhi held a fiery red rose in his hand. The fragrance of the flower, carried by the wind, brushed against the little master’s face and the tip of his nose.

It smelled wonderful.

Lu Zhi lowered his gaze to the slightly clumsily wrapped rose clearly not the work of an adult. He seemed to be counting the layers of overlapping petals, his small face expressionless from start to finish.

“Xiao Zhi.” A breathless call came from not far away. Lu Zhi lifted his eyes from the rose and saw Yan Yue jogging toward him.

Lu Zhi took a few short steps toward him and called out, “Dad.”

As usual, Yan Yue had arrived in a hurry, his cheeks flushed from running. He crouched in front of Lu Zhi, grabbed his arm, and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Xiao Zhi, for making you wait so long again.”

Lu Zhi shook his head and took his hand voluntarily.

Yan Yue enveloped his small hand firmly in his palm, stood up, and began walking home with him. Noticing the rose in the boy’s other hand, he chuckled softly and asked gently, “Did Xiao Chi give you a rose again today?”

At these words, Lu Zhi’s small hand tightened slightly around the cellophane wrapping. He lowered his eyes and his head drooped slightly, as if staring at the tips of his shoes. After a long pause, he let out a low “Mm.”

A child’s happiness or unhappiness was easy to read at a glance. Yan Yue bent down to meet his gaze and coaxed softly, “Why is Xiao Zhi unhappy?”

Lu Zhi remained silent.

So Yan Yue stopped walking, crouched down, and hugged Xiao Luzhi, pulling him into his embrace.

He coaxed, “Tell Dad, okay? Dad wants to know.”

Lu Zhi kept his eyes fixed on the flower in his hand. It took a long while before he mumbled, “Dad, Xiao Chi didn’t really play with me today.”

“Ah?” Yan Yue straightened his collar and asked, “Why not?”

“He has a new friend now,” Lu Zhi whispered.

It seemed this wasn’t the first time he had been upset over something similar. Yan Yue sighed almost imperceptibly, as was his habit, and began to console him gently, “Xiao Zhi, no one can have only one friend.”

Yan Yue was right, and Lu Zhi knew it deep down. But he didn’t want to accept it, didn’t like it. After Yan Yue finished what he thought were convincing words to help Lu Zhi understand, Lu Zhi asked a question in the next moment.

And at these words, Yan Yue’s face suddenly changed, turning very unpleasant and somewhat pale.

He instinctively grabbed Lu Zhi’s arm tightly, his tone serious and stern: “Lu Zhi, this is wrong. Xiao Chi can’t possibly have only you. You mustn’t hurt him, understand?”

“If you want to be friends with him, if you like him, then treat him well. Only your sincerity can earn his in return. When that happens, he’ll naturally treat you the same way. Understand?”

Lu Zhi didn’t understand, but as Yan Yue spoke, his lips turned pale.

After all, they were just children, easily frightened. Lu Zhi immediately said: “I know.”

But Yan Yue wasn’t much comforted by those three affirmative words. After a moment of silence, he suddenly covered his face with one hand, biting his lip hard as tightly shut eyes failed to hold back his falling tears.

Xiao Luzhi was already terrified. He took half a step forward to get closer to the adult beside him, shaking the hand holding his as he called out, “Dad.”

Yan Yue was still crying. On that gradually darkening autumn afternoon, amidst Lu Zhi’s repeated calls of “Dad,” Yan Yue choked out in a murmuring whisper, “Don’t be like your father.”

The same autumn, different time. The sunlight outside the window, neither warm nor hot, slanted through the glass, bypassing people’s nose bridges to spill across the desk, casting an intangible shadow on their faces.

When the class bell rang, Lu Zhi jolted awake abruptly, his breathing heavy.

His eyes snapped open, the ink-black pupils devoid of any light, leaving only ferocity.

Beneath the fierceness lingered a trace of the dazed confusion from just waking.

His gaze automatically searched forward for someone’s figure empty.

Chi Jinxian had already woken up. One minute before the bell rang, he had tiptoed out of the classroom.

Lu Zhi sat up wearily, raising a hand to press hard between his eyebrows. The area on both sides of his nose bridge wasn’t spared either, turning slightly red.

“Tap.”

Suddenly, someone lightly tapped on the window glass. Some classmates were still sleeping, so the person outside only tapped once, not intending to do it again.

Lu Zhi’s motion of pinching his brow halted as he glanced sideways.

Jiang Jin wore an uncharacteristically serious expression.

It didn’t look like nothing was wrong definitely not because of being blocked twice.

Lu Zhi remained silent, stood up, and pulled open the back door to step out.

“Lu Zhi.”

“What’s wrong?” Lu Zhi still had a headache and didn’t look at him.

Jiang Jin said quietly, “Yiran sent me a message.”

An afternoon gust of wind suddenly swept through, stirring the few strands of hair that had fallen over Lu Zhi’s forehead from sleep. He abruptly lifted his gaze, exposing his overly dark pupils.

Jiang Jin pressed his lips together. Only when Lu Zhi looked away from staring at him did he continue, “He said he wants to transfer schools.”

Lu Zhi asked, “Where to?”

Jiang Jin didn’t respond.

Lu Zhi understood, his voice cold. “Whatever. Everyone has their freedom.”

After speaking, not just his tone but even his eyes carried a layer of ice. “Jiang Jin, Chi Jinxian’s reputation extends beyond this school. Warn him if he doesn’t want to get beaten to death, he shouldn’t get involved with Chi Jinxian.”